The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-03-11

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M.zvaIs
From the London Saturday Review.
One of the most important in the last
series Of Parliamentary blue books 4
fine report of the commissioners VINO
we're sent to inquire into the condl.ion
of women, young persons, and enid
rem employed in agriculture. listen
sibly limited to the labor OF females
and children in the fields, the inquiry |
has diyerged into the general condition |
of the agricultural poor OF England |
And this the report makes out 10 DC
very far from satisfactory t appeal
rbat children are sent into the neIds |
AT the age Of eight. They are 100 |
Young and weak for really nara work
But there is a good deal of necessary.
labor which they perform. They tent
in the fields-that is, they watch them
and friohten away the birds. They
naturally take part in the work which
requires STOPPING, such as dlbbllng Ia
peas, pulling up turnips, and weedingr
For such work they may earn shll-
ling or two a week.
But. il is said, this life is brutaliZing
and demoralizing. The boys grow
up stupid, heavy, animal, not only
without power freading and writing
but without LI4t pow Ct Vi OOcEL III
and rejecting, while the girls IN the
ield-work lose all respect, not only
for chastity, but for the semblance Of
decorum; and, if not ruined in their
morals, become utterly unified for
the duties of wives. We fear that
there is too much truth in this. At
the same time, the description Of one
class of people by an entirely differ
ent class is liable to eXaggeration.
With regard TO the condition Of the
woman and children in certain dis
tricts, it is simply abominable. But
this is confinedt to certain districts, and
is owning 10 causes which we shall
notice later.
What we wish now to remark is, that
inspectors and clergymen are gener-
ally prone to cXaggerate the evils
which they witness. They forget that,
at the best, the whole welt of agricul-
tural life is almost necessarily coarse;
and that it is unreasonable TO expect
from men who have tOiled all their
DAYS on a farm the same Qecorous
speech as they hear 8Tom snug trades
Ineu In a country town. There always
be palmer and hOmelier phraseolo-
~ among country laborers than among
city artisans or domestic servants
But there need not be that shameless
immOdesty and disregard for chastity
which seems to characte riZe some of
the female gangs. At the same time,
some of the assistant commissioners
might have asked themselves the ques-
ton whether, batting the obsceniCy of
the language, there was 20 very great
u difference in the actual morality of
tho IatyorfiIg class and that of q class
very much above them. Women work
in the fields of agricultural France and
Germany. Their work Is heavier than
that of men; their food and language
quite a. coarse as those OF men. But,
batting n kind of rough and indecorous
phraseology. there is not so much sys
tematic profligacy in the villages as in
the cities of France and GERMANY
And there is with them. as with Us,
the virtue of undeniably hard and
healthy work.
1t must be very aggravating to a
poor man who has been toiling from :
A. NJ. to II. VI. On a cold wet March
day, and who comes home thrice soak /
ed through to a not very strengthen
ing supper, to be catechised by a we'll /
fed and well-dressed gantlcmeD re |
specting his earnings, his wifes earn /
lngs, and the duty of sending his boys /
and girls to school. If lie could only /
find words in which 70 vent his indig- |
nation, he might ask his critics
whether man who was laboring hard |
the greater part of the year from
morning TO night for his family was
not to be excused some breaches of
manners and some outbreaks OF gaiety.
And IL ire u1d send his children to 7
work instead of school, was it not the
normal discomfort in which he habit
ually lived that made every additional
siXpense which they might earn a
matter of Importance to him and
tn j.
and corruption 20 ,vhi Il
his daughters were o. =, ~ ~, !" = -G1
labor, might he -Apose~ + ~ H tilJ
begun oral corruption had been
nv the insufficient and lll-con-
ructed houses in which he and they
were compelled to live? III ne had
better house and better wages, ne neeu
not deprive his children OF good ed
ucation or subject them 70 norman
faint. But is it possible to get these
biGher wages and better homes cutof
tn6 q I-tfIIZ s.sa-e.--r '--A*- - -
fits? Who will build cottages without
regard to interest, or pay wages with
ont reference to profits! On TINS
noint we must hereafter recur TO the
rrport of the commissioners. mat
the evils which they point out are
Grave nobody will gainsay. But no
one Ctil ldll " HtN AhNAN NAAN
which it is hopeless to correct by sud
den and wholesale legislation; that
their mitigation depends on changes
affecting the whole agricultural class,
and that their extirpation will only be
effected when machinery does the
work. not only of women and chill
dren, but also of men, That day will
perhaps come, sooner or later, but it Is
far more likely to come later than
sooner. 1t came early in America.
because in America, the supply of land
was unlimited, while that OF men was
stinted. And it will not be till the
agricultural population of England
has been diminished, by some cause or
other. that women and children in the
rural districts will be relegated to the
duties of home and the labor5 of
school.