The Express.
London, England, 1863-10-24 00:00:00

[Stamped, ld. Additional.)

THE COTTAGE NOYES or ENGLAND.

Mom the NorfoUt Nom)
Our second excursion was in East Norfolk again,
but in a district wide spat from that comprised in our fret.
We will not my that we did not find a few decent cottages
in the occupation of agricultural labourers, but they wore
really few compared with those which were unfit for habi-
tation altogether. Stopping at the village of H—, shoat
eight mike from Norwich, the lead of which is °weed
chiefly by a clergyman wed a former M.P., we fated a
number of cottages, the general features of which so nearly
resemble those of the places already described, that to give
particulars would be little else than repeating what we have
already written. We came apes cottage after cottage of
this dam, and the only purpme that could be served in par-
tiontariniag them at all would be that the pr prietoe—
barug a shrewd gum to what property we alluded—might
he iedaaed to take some steps without delay to remedy the
, evil.

With this end in view we will briefly say that J. H. mid
wife, with four children, have but one doming-room, that
the ventilation is bad, that there is no &sleep ;
no
yard before or behind, and so privy ; that H. B.
sad wife sad four children are 'Mated precisely the same ;
that a widower—H. R.—ot meserity deem in the same
room as hie marled daughter and he, lowland sad three
children ; that here too there is so privy aoecaunotiatioe ;
and that there is in fact a cluster of cottages of the same
wretched character, all in bad repair, sad all belonging to
the urea landlord, Mr. H., of Norwich.
At B. L, eleven miles hem Norwich—where 8. J. P. is
theme.g lendelmer—mediere are en Wiese. H. C. sad
ni llhread eillarai AMM batenetmell end illmwtihned
eleephignimen, la s mottos. ledemaging to Me. J. A., el the
village of L.
Net far off lime J. Y., • widower, formerly owner of
the cotes., widish is now la the Irma of a gentlanien a
Norwich. As iatelligent young women, of genteel ap-
manses aid amain, steed 22, the only person at home
at the time, admitted with evident shame that the and
two lade. aged 14 and 9 reepsetively, slept is the same room
with her teem; and oil examinitig the premises we found
that here also there was DO privy aoommodetioa. It
may give rose ides, tem, of that abeam of an indepeadent
spirit which is so eiNa to be found in the lurid perishes,
when we state that—gosearog from a patio& al we caught
eight of in the home that the family were dimities—the
yoga( wooiaa mold not be 'Mooed beastly to admit the
fact until assured that is our eatiu.atioe at least they ware
nom the worse for their nonconformity to the establish-
ment.
In mother cottage, one of the smallest we ever maw, live
G. 8. sod wife and three children, all sleeping together is
the testeet roam it would be pcosikdo to cram them into,
sad which it approached by a /adder throegh a trap door
that hea to he abet down before 'pace can be toned in the
1 drunker for Moving about at all ; and this cottage, tow,
*qua Wasps; to ilia a P., a lady of high position, boa
atiP moommodatioa.
es
ir P., a widower, liv in a wretched hovel belongim to
Illei vy
N. Me seas are al sea during the maceerelead her-
digveyegear bet Mother none be sleeps with his yoga's**
am in • Womble ill-ventilated room, elide in anotherquite
las i bed sleep a son aged 15, another moo aged 18, and a
aged 21. The ebeniter here, as in many el the
we impeded, has the reeds and rafter, hare, and :
being lot with the eaves of the Muldtmg, it se
=, pooldble to Mead upright in the centre, and the sidle
NOY down dens upon the beds. The window' too, is very I,
amsll, and, ea a necessary owasequesco, the rocuu is exceed- 1
hey close sad mbeelthy. No peiy. .
The motive esewpeed by B. W., sad wife and six Mildews,
wed eke bokeiging to Has. N., ia very similar in its chasm-
MA The only bedrooms eery small, and the sole Tenths- 1
Um a little window, Omagh which a child could scarcely •
erowL Bare, too, we found the roof eloping deem to the ,
Wpm sad the reeds sad rafters bars. And yet is this us- ;
kiimhby place deep—mospt while the two eldest sous am
deafsg—• giii el 7, girt Of 8. moo 10, son lb, gkl 17, son 19,
see 26-411 lathe same room without, say possibility of
. • The father mid mother sleep I. a small beck
er. The pawns say it is sot decent, and they
ilatet bet these Mae better place to be bad.
At wore dills/me from these we tame lepoe_two eatillitt
by the road side. sad ow inquiry we eseertelsed that owe of
them ma occupied • br.l. W., hie wife's amit, and two
&Adana. The gamete gimp below stairs, while the only
despingloom is occupied by the aunt, dauAter 13, boy 13,
boy 11, and - three lonepr lads. The ironies rye that
another danghtor, aeli sow at homer had shared the sante
room with her honker, ead tamed out sadly " %lapin."
iiiired
Aid what wonder ant she • Next door matters, if poe-
Whig; neeletillil worst. DM is lalelitelbibillitionfla
whisk the buds secemerily each other, ma 29 and
daughter 25, sett sometimes also daughter 30, daughter 21,
eon 20, and daughter 17. The door, too, was covered with
apples sod mom, the produce of the pad's, and the oily
ventilatMo was a easement 22 in. by 10 ie. The parents, as
usual, slept below. They said they bad lived in the same
place six-and-thirty years, sad could not find a better. Both
thew cottages belong to S. J. P., sad we saw several others
in the same parish iu every way se bed.
'But we will pen or to soother village. We certainly
thought, while writing the remarks which were publialischin
oar last week's kill% that we had, singularly enough,
in our fine moursion, met with some of the very
worst specimens of the "cottage homes of England" which
could be found is all Nodolk—that we bad fallen, in fact,
upon some solitary, neglected, and blighted spot, where
`the bold peasentry," so fez from being "their eountay's
pride," were regarded as so many noxious excresessoes of
nature, which were simply not swept away_ became It would
call for • little more martial thee the dilettante outer of
the sod on which they grew bad cared to exercise; or ea
MOO ugly animals which, though useful in their way, were
by no means agreeable to ?Mind sensibilities, and for the
moommodation and comfort of width gentility could have
no concern. It is of mune at all times exceedingly uncom-
fortable to be obliged to feel that there are &amp& the ride
sad luxurious, men who give no thought for the sad neces-
sities of the poor— even of the poor whom they might with
memo show of name disclaim RS their poor. It is more die-
treeeiag still to be wider the oecetwary 000victioa that there
see notepads not • few in which sea blessed with ea
abandance of all the goods that this world affords, sod
living in the lap of luxury, receive rents tor wretched
boyish that are as mud to marble, compared with the hand-
some nernions is which they themselves reside—hovels
whereas large families have no pomihki alterative but to ,
"huddle" together with the most promiscuous niinglement
of *ex. In the vilhige Of effer--, *bout twelve mile, from
Norwich, we met with cottages of this kind by the dozen,
• few of them belonging to people as poor as the occupants
themselves, bat most of them the property of • Mr. P—,
about whom the poor folks bitterly complain that,
his gulden opportunities for good are great and nientlyo,t
evinces but little disposition to give them the means of ob-
serving even the &cooties of life. A stranger cannot entarthe
village without being struck with surprise at the wretched
and desolate condition. Lea where he may be sees little else
but thatched roofs, old, rotten sod shapeless, full of boles,
sad overgrows with weeds; windows sometimes patched
with rep, and sometimes plastered over with clay ; the
walls, which are *early .11 of clay, full of cracks and cran-
nies ; and sheds and outhouses— where there are any—look-
lag me if they Lad been overthrown by a harriesee very
early I. the present century, sad left in the lamellas con-
fusion in which they fell. We know nothing except by
desaiptiou of the mud cabins of Ireland, bat cannot con-
ceive that more miserable, equalid, crazy, end disgraceful
hovels wane ever to be seen in the sister country than are
to be found in the village of which we are &pushing. We
refer, of comma, to their mon aal ooaditice more paitica-
kdy ; but internally they axe quite as bed, so far me regards
than state of disrepair. As to their cleanliness, we had
menderable gratificatioo in finding that is most inetesom
the iontstas had Etroggled hard to pat the best face oe the
water by continual whitewashinp—the operation extending
eves to the bare reeds and rafters of the root.
The Sem hut we entered wee, outside, a fair sample of
' the whole. Bat for the outlined window one would scarcely
have imagined fora moment that it was inhabited. The
I cracked clay wills, half dismantled roof, and drunken chimney
I had so clamorous ma rimed that no gentleman would dream
of risking the misty of a home or cow by putting the
salami latewith • place. It is occupied, however, by • men
end Lis wife and Six children, who very iu age from one
year to 14. The six children deep in one small ill-veatilated
chamber, and the gamete in another. Both these rooms
are without Outer, sad the dee of the roof are emported
by nicks placed across, " foe," said the mompante, • when-
ever there is • little wind, the place shakes, and we lie in
fear of being smothined by its falling." They appear to
Lave been formerly is better circumstauces, for the wife re
marked with comiderable emotion—` While my hosbend
had a vote he we looked wpm, bet now he may go
where be ma." TheSes haloes, to Mr. P---, wise has
loin talked of pu • it down—if he tam muck
looser he will be spa the trouble. Adjoioiog this
is mother clay hovel, also belonging to Mr. P—. the eta.
dittos of which is eves wore—creekieg sad tumbling about
is all dimness inside lied out. There are but tee room,
both oe the same level, and both ameismily dirty from
the crumbling of the walla sad col*. In the mall, ill-
metilated piece used for sleeping steed two old broken
stump hadsteidi, side by AM, and covered only with rage,
me of the bedsits& belag appropriated by the mother, who
is a wide*. and a ilissegfeber, aged 90; while a daughter
aged IS, • &aside( mood 14, and s eat aged 16 sleep togs.
Sher cm the alba. The poor woman lannota that, having
three daughters, she can, is such a miserable hole, make no
more decent is, bet sotwithetaiolieg this, sad
the fact Mist the plw to wither wind *or water tight, she
eosupLaine that the is obliged to roman where she is, as
there le so better oomainiodatioa to be bad in the village.
It should Moo be mentioned, ea an aggravation of the evil,
that *either el these tenemeate Ina say privy totem mods.
tics et way Mod.
Mother day hut, Wimpg also to Mr. P—, has Mime
bedroom for era, wife, and three grows up ices. Beet
31. 10h a year. • privy has recently been built, but they

[TWOPENCE

were twenty-om years without one; while in another !e-
-steem we fatal that a family had been without seek &0110111.
modation for thirtymeen years, haring ben in the ram
beam" tLirty-nine years, and the privy bed
bthouevzoPutvidl3
slily two years ago. That nth places have be.
at Let is at course very proper—that if the are to
remain—but they ought to he all uneezeimelously swept
away together.
Twee are 'moral other hovels of a precisely similar cha-
racter, holmium to the same miser —an fact there are but
few decent cottages in the piece. And if the mearenews of
the tenants are to be shad upon, there is not in thin Ja-
deites, as is doubtless the ems in sway others, the excuse
that all the mate heiag paid through se agent, the forme is
himself ignorant of the condition of has property. The
occupiers go up to "the hall" and pay the money direct.
and make their complaints direct also ; but all to so pur-
pose. Year after year there here been •• of Au:mid-
most, but the promises are yet nafaldlled. We hope the
work of improvermot will not be much lather delayed.
Before we conclude, there is a point on which it may be
advisable to say a word. Ia the Earl of Leicester's very ad-
=liable speech at the meeting of the Docking Itesoeistiost,
his lordship expressed an mullion that the ware I the
agricultural labourer never ought to go below lOs. a week.
le almost every cottage we inquired what wage were
really paid, and except is the case of &somata,. who
earn a shilling more them the others. we could Doi
hear of a single cane where the most robust and able-bodied
man was earning mare than 9c, while Bs. was in some in-
steams the inimitable pittance with which • man had to
support himself sad wife and several children, and pe his
rent besides. On some of the forlorn aid bwe
cabins in which they are compelled to heed, we saw placards
of Illessm. Jarruld's " unitary" pahhcationa, proclaintini
in large letters "The advantages of Wanes
al* eases • " Comfailable
the P. SN." Fortunately or unfortunately far their
peace of mind, we found that very few of thsenapeople
could read, or they west have regarded
Dounoements almost in the light of an Pit/Mimi to "add
km& to iojury." Warm clothing nowt be bad—or
scarcely any clothing at all—out of such misersbleminthip ,
aid as to " comfortable " homes, the wonder is how men
who, coming home weary from a Lad day'a work, are under
the sad moresaity of sleeping ro a mom so small, se fell, and
no badly ventilated, can sufficiently recruit their estreugth
to be et for the work of the morrow. And yet we found
several meet is which men trudged into another pariah to
their daily labour—some because they could not get °ot-
ters were their employment was, &Dreams bemuse they
were unwilling to leave the piece where they bad bees been
sad had spent all their lives, sot lilting to gain a settlemeet
is a parish to which they were strumgen.
The excunlese which we have dam made into other prim
of the county, hare convinced us that what we have a
described as the state of the colts' occupied by therig
s'
cultural population, is the boreal cooditioa cif things—
by tar the great majority di them are iallecently over-
crowded, wretchedly ventilated, and altogether devoid of
the mesas of observing the common decencies of civilized
life. nit will be clearly shown by the observations we shall
have to record in oar next report.