The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-02-02
From the Democratic Review, January No.
A RECENT RAMBLH
Among the Peasantry Of England.
1T JUDGE CARLETON, OF LOUISIANA.

aces, lords and ladies', bu. say nothing o
the condition Of the pesantry the elias
OF mankind by whose humble labors tn,
rest are fed. Nor can Just information b,
had from citizens casually met in public
vehicles, taverns, or steamers. 10 under
stand the subject, was, therefore, com
PEELED to enter their cottages and examin,
for myself, in all the states of Europe
through which passed, especially il
England, where | resided, at intervals
more than twenty months.
When | first saw that beautiful Eng.
land, its roads, bridges, hedges, hills anc
valleys. fields and forests the green earll
sprnked with cottages, to which the sill
greener ivy clung; here, thought |, hapi
ness has fixed her earthly home. Yet an
occasional glance at the interior of lheil
houses on the nearer approach of the We.
l'iclc, and the aspect Of the ragged child
rem about the doors, filed me with dis.
trust.
Being told that the peasanlry, here
called laborers, lived in great abundance
and content in Sumerselshire, ,hi!her
set out from London in November, in
1912. by the Southampton railway to
Winchester, where | took a seat, abou,
sunset. in coach for Wircanton.
The interior of an English coach is a
prlson-house, where man of ordinary
stature canno, stretch his limbs nor look
on! upon the country through its Harrow,
and lll-conrived window. The French
Diligence is greatly TO be preferred !;
though uncouh and clumsy, they are
more comfortable and safe, and move
with equal speed. The seats are all under
cover; whereas the English are perched
on the outside upon naked wooden bench
es, hanked with small iron rods that chafe
and Gu, the flesh, exposed to the unceas-
ing rains and chilly winds of their re-
mOrseless climate. Their exactions upon
travellers are moreover, so enormous, that
the third classes, as they are called, are
glad to compound for mere transportation,
like the cattle, in their steamers and rail
cars, with whom they are often seen in
close alliance.
Our progress was suddenly arrested by
wagon sunk to the axle in the soft,
ciialky earth of newly-made road, through
which we waded on foot more than half
: mile, leaving the empty vehicle To be
dragged by the horses. One of The ladies',
a pretty, fragile creature, was so over.
come by exposure to the weather, that
the guard, touched with compassion,
transferred her to The inside, where kind
gentleman and myself restored her 10
speech by rubbing her hands and throw
ing our cloaks about her half frozen
limbs.
We arrived at Wincanton al six o'clock
IN the morning, when the guard presented
himself for his usual 6onas. followed
The example of my neighbor and gave
him a half-crown, and two shillngs more
to the driver, making altogether one dol
lar and five cents tax upon each traveller,
independently of The fare, which is fifty
per cent higher than in any other coun.
try Of Europe.
At ten o'clock, l hired carriage, and
accompanied by two gentlemen, wen,
three miles to Stoney Stoke and Shepton
Montagu, two villages in which the la
borers are clustered in considerable num-
bers. addressed myself 10 an elderly
woman, one of the principal persons
among them, who for eight pence-which
she said was days wages-undertook
to be my guide. She was regarded with
much consideration wherever she appear
ed, for she was rich, having better fur
nlshed house than her neighbols, more
cups and saucers and plates of crockery,
five or six chairs. good deal table, two
beds of dust, that is, GA. chaff, a cat and
n pig. She was the mother of three chill
dren, whose labor brought something to
the common stock kcr husband received
nine shllings week, and she tasted meat
three days out Of seven.
In the second cottage we visited, there
were six in the family, scan,ily fed upon
potatoes and salt, with an occasional loaf
OF white bread. The mothers time being
bestowed mostly upon her infant children
that multiplied rapidly abou, her, they
were maintained by the husband alone, |
whose innrm,ies prevented him from
earning more than six shillings week.
The floor was Of broad ill.assorted
stone; the roof Of straw the interior
whltewashed and The exterior Of yellow.
,sh hue; the walls, as are those of mos.
English cottages. being built of rough
stone. having one room, below, twelve or
fifteen feet square, and another above stairs
of the came dimenaiona. hui lo,v and In.