Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-01-27
-ATFYANDRIA GAZETTE AND VIRGINIA ADVERTISER.
1COMMUGNATED.

enclose you few extracts from tie re
norts Of Special Assistant Poor Law Comlnls-
s:oners on the Employment Of Women anc
Children in Agriculture, presented to ootn
Houses Of Parliament, by command CT her
Majesty, and printed in London, in lol3
The Families find Themselves out Of their
qOaqes 1t is near enough to reckon (but 1t is
something less pound at S. q shilling at 70
cents and penny at cents.
Cottages generally have two rooms, (wth
rare exceptions) great many have only one
Often grown. up persons, OF different sexes
brothers and sisters, fathers ana daugnters'
sleep in the same roorn. Three or four persons
frequently sleep in the same bed. At Stour-
pain, a village near Blardford measured
bed room in q cottage e two rooms, the BED
room up stairs, the other on the ground moor
in which the family lived during the Gay -
earningsin money were les. I'd. weekly; the
father q bushel of corn weeks. 6elo" Inc
market price a quarter of an acre, tor when
they paid q rent of Is. I'd. a year Inc % D :
room 10 feet square, with recesses .t 10 i
the middle of the chamber about feet high
Only one window, 10 in. square. FIRST BED DC
cu;ied by father, mother, 3 little boy, aged l3
and an infant, aged months Second bed
three daughters, two eldest (twins) aged ~ the
other aged I. Last bed, four sons. aged II,
Is, IA and 10. There was no curtain, or any
kind Of separation between the beds; this was
not an extraordinary case The ground moor IS
always of stone, vet and damp through the
| winter months,
Mrs. hustle, wife Of Charles Bustsr, farm la
| borer, Whltchurch, Dorset, examined H.
| My husband is carter for Mr.. Fowler, ue
| has Is week. We have our cottage ana ten
| Tugs of potatoe ground rent free. We have
bushel Of ta,lings week at S. per bush NY
| husband has Ell at harvest. 1 have glris ana
a boy. don't think they earn Is. week De-
| butchers meat, except y piece is glvenus
! Susan Vacher, widow of Milton Abbas, Dor
set have earned Is. day and quarts Ia
harvest. For haymsking Sd. but it depends
on the weather. For COUGHING and craving
| weeds "a. Wages Of women are pretty much
the same.
Most ladorers manage to Lsep some Of tie pig
aoAen they kill it nearly always half OF 1t ia
chel Hay wife of John Hayward, farm
| laborer. Stourpan, Dorset There are eleven
daughters and six s u.s. We have two + oms,
ono down stairs the other up stairs over 1t
| We all sleep in the bed room My husband
gets 5s, or Is with grist, bushel week,
| We pay IS ID rent year for potatoe ground
and is for the cottage. Coal and wood cos Us
| ls Cd. week, at this time Of the year (Dec.)
| We eat pound Of bread each day (m!nd there
| are eleven in family with potatoes. buy
| each week ID. soap, OF. tea and ! 10. bacon.
What "land of PROMISE those poor, stinted
hard working people would find in Virginia
How luxurious would appear the supply of
food and shelter, with half the wages received
by many blacks What gratitude would be
returned for kindness, which only creates in
some of our blacks an increase Of insolence.-
Surprising you are cringing to them to secure
their services? Some exceptions there may be.
I hope Europe will soon deliver us from the
pl esent state-of affairs. by sending us countless
numbers OF her industrious poor. May they
Come as the winds come, when forests are
| rended
Come as the waves come, when navies are
strandedn'