Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1853-02-03
From the Saturday Euening Pos
"reminiscences Of England.


"reminiscences Of England.
Eng2iSh Farm Laborers and their UIages.
Factory OperatiUes-HoO they Lire
-Intemperance, 3c,
My pleaSantest "reminiscences of Eng
land point invariably to the rural districts;
yet they are not unmi1ed with pain
Precisely where saw the greatest evil
dence of successful agriculture where
the land appeared Paradise of beauty,
there l heard the most frequent complaints
from the laboring classes. l am well a
ware that one must take, with some cau-
tion, the expression of an individual as
an indication of the average comfort Of
his class, or even of the actual condition
of his informant. He may justly query,
whether complaints from such quarters
may not arise from that disposition in hu-
man nature to think the present lot the
worst possible. Yet, when I found the
rate Of wages to harmonizs so well With
their cry of "hard times" thought that
their dissatisfaction had another origin
than in fault finding disposition. Let
me mention the rate of wages in War
wickshire, the best cultivated country
which | visited. Men at work, from
morning til night, said they received l6d.
orIsd. Women, who worked as long and
as hard, according to universal custom,
received half price. Teamsters, who rose
with the Sun in Summer and long before
him in Winter, and who never found their
beds till after sunset, received 0 shillings
per week. Lads Of II and IA, who should
have been az school, were breaking stones
for TIE road, az sixpence day. At these
rates, too, they find their morning, their
midday and their evening meal. IL the
same neighborhood, chatting with the
keeper of toll-gate and his wife, | had
the curiosity to make some inquiry into
their well-being. They considered them
selves rather fortunate pair BY their own
and their children's ezertions, they could
make twelve or thirteen shillings weekly.
They pitied their neighbors, who, with
larger families, could only make nine shil-
lings per week, and many, they said, had
TO be content with seven. am at loss
to know how they succeed in appearing
so comfortable, or so little money. Their
cottages are almost uniformly neat, envel-
oped generally in profusion of vines and
rose bushes, and surrounded by little
patches, of perhaps half an acre, on which
they raise no inconsiderable part of their
vegetables. These cottage. rent for G5
or s5 per annum. Meat must be to most
of them luxury they do not often taste.
They exercise an economy in clothing,
that is rarely seen among Americans
They have little acquaintance with. the
latest Paris fashions the drab, corduroy
breeches, and the well worn, well brushed,
well kept coat, speak in unmistakeable
language of "Long, long ago" After
all, they perhaps enjoy as good health,
live as long lives, as those who eat roast
beef and plum pudding every day Ny
sympathieS are less interested for them
on account of what they eat, drink and
wear, than because they seem to be de-
prived of all supply of intellectual food.
Schools, for the free education of all, are
inconceivable to most Of them. The ne
cessity for them must press itself upon
the attention of every inquirer. The lad,
to whom 1 have already referred as a
stone-breaker, was very ignorant. Sun
day Schools had given him all the educa-
ton he had received, and in the branches
upon which / catechised him, be showed
that they make very poor substitute for
the common school. l did not step out
ofmy department to make inquiries into
his theological attainments.
Myfuquiries respecting the condition
ef the agricultural classes were not con-