Morning journal and courier., 1882-05-22
The English Farm Laborer.

GCaptain Mayne Rs i'd in New York Tribune.1
 On the lowest round of England's social
 ladder-if indeed on it at all-is the farm
 laborer. Politically, socially, he has no
 status whatever; neither any in an economic
 sense, his pay being the least in the land, and
 barely enough to keep body and soul togeth-
 CT. Yet he Is often manly, noble fellow,
 morally and Intellectually the equal of those
 who employ him; aye, often their superior
 Between him and them there is little or no
 difference in breed or blood; only the acci-
 dent of some money on one side with none
 at all on the other. But the education, re-
 hnement and manners which the possession
 of means might be supposed to bestow are
 not marked characteristics of those who in
 the social scale stand immediately above the
 farm laborer; while in practical and useful
 knowledge he is more than on a par with
 them Money he has none; nor is he ever
 likely to have it. Out of 12 shillings a
 week, or scant $3-his wages in most parts
 of the country-laying by as much as a sin
 gle sixpence would be problem to puzzle 8
 miser. For, be it understood, that they are
 "board wages' out of which he must main.
 tain himself and family, feed, clothe and keep
 roof over their heads, besides paying rates
 and taxes. The poorest proletarian and
 humblest householder in England is not be-
 meath the notice of the tax gatherer, nor ex-
 empt from his periodical vistations. In giv- G laborer, I put it at it's maximum in most parts of the country; for in most places is he only too glad to get this, and thinks him. self among the favored ones if he can secure @ contract for 1t throughout the whole year. Unless @ first-rate hand, that he is not al ways able to do; and in many districts 10 shillings or even is a common scale of pay ment where it is permanent; less still if he be aged, or otherwise not up to his work. Considering that beef is rarely under 20 cents a pound, mutton about the same, and other sorts of fresh meat still dearer; that
 bacon Of good quality is IS cents, and flour usually about SS2 the bushel that his cottage of two or three rooms stands him in rent $2O to 1925 per annum, 1t needs little arithmr tic
 to figure up the amount of life's luxury pos
 sible to his position. Enough of life's misc ry is there in it, however, and more than enough, for the worst is not yet told. There may be days of rain, and are,-not unfre- quently a week of it,-when his wages cease, and want enters his cottage. Or be may be laid up with sickness, 6 heightened spell !; then the want comes nearer to what might be called famins-a diet of bare bread and wa ter, even in stinted allowance at that Such cases are by no means rare In my own neighborhood, comparatively a prosperous
 one, hear of them almost every day, and
 too we'll know them to exist Yet this is the
 merry, happy England of Chauvinistic news
 paper writers and bragging orators-men
 who know as much about the reality of her
 rural life as they do of that in the moon, or,
 knowing, falsely represent To them the
 condition of farm or other laborer is of
 slight concern, and little care they whether he
 be merry or sad.
 The labor he gives in return for the above petty wages is great out of all proportion
 His regular hours of work are from 6 a. m.
 till p. m., half hour being allowed him for breakfast and whole one for dinner. Unless his cottage chance to be close at hand he does not go home for either meal, the time not permitting it. They are brought with him in his little bagor ''pail," and eaten by the ditch side, even in winter or if work ing about the farmstead, the repast will be made in the cart shed, barn, or other out building. As to his sitting down to spread table inside the farmers house, even the kitchen of it, that is an occurrence of the rarest, and eating at the farmers own table thing altogether unknown to him. Poor is the fare he subsists on, the very commonest and cheapest to be procured at best only bread and boiled bacon, cold, of course. He deemed himself well off with this, and can not always get it. often having to fall back upon 'bloater'' (salt herring) eaten cold too. But of all the food commodities pur- chasable by him, cheese is his chief staple and by. It goes further for the amount Of money expended, ana many tarm laDOrer both for breakfast and dinner has naught but this to ''kitchen" his bread with. Tea he can only get on his return home after his task s done; and of this he is fond; for, not the tax on it, it is possibly the most economical and certainly the most luxu- rious of his meals.
 True, in addition to his wages he has dai- y allowance of beer, or in the apple growing | shires of cider. But this counts for nothing in the way of economy, and it is in truth | rather loss than gain to him, as it tends towards habits of dissipation. In hay-mak- gagement, his pay is somewhat better as then he works by the ''piece" or job Mow- ng he undertakes by the acre; two or more banding together to do the work. The terms Ire about $1 an acre for cutting meadow grass, and somewhat less for clover. This includes drink which the soythe-men provide