New-York tribune., 1882-04-23
THE PROSE or ENGLISH FARMING.

THE PROSE or ENGLISH FARMIN".
With every new instaIment of Captain Maync
Reids series of papers for THE TRIBUNE on Eng
Ii sb rural life, there is positive gam III interest
and value The squire, the paIson ana the FARMER
have been photographed III turn, ana now inc
farm laborer with the wretchedness ana nope
essness of his lot appears in silhouette, outlined
with n strong but sympathetic hand. III is
most painful figure that is presented to the eye.
There is genuine English blood Ill the farm
laborer there is thoroughly good stun III MN
vet his life is an unending struggle to keep soui
and body together, and his future IL the herit-
are of abect poverty emhittered by ntemper-
ance and despair. Working twelve hours day
and boarding himself, he gets scant three dol
lars week. and with a rent of 500 or $25
wear for his cottage, and with beef and mutton
90 cents pound and flour 81 bushel, he cam
not save single shilling. His wife may help
him out by keeping chickens and fattenlng
pig. but his children as soon as they can earn
nythng are forced 10y statute to go to coun-
try school where their time is wasted rather
than improved by teachers who themselves
need to be taught. Every winter he must beg
for " bit of a Job" and if he can find anything
to do in mine or on "A railway he counts hm
self highly favored by fortune. His only prlNl-
lege hastens his ruin, for the gallons OF harvest
beer and the free tap of horse pond cider which
are drunk in the field induce habits of lntem-
perance and thriftesSnesS. The worst feature
of his lot is his heplessness. lie cannot get
money enough to einigrate. lie Is chained to
the rock by the thongs of poverty lie must
stay where he is, half-stdrying when there Is
something to do and living on bread and
water. or rather water and bread-crumbs, when
there is bad weather. or when winter comes, or
when he is too sick to work.
We believe that Captain Mayne Reid Is
Radical, possibly a thorough going English ke-
publican, but there is no evidence that his views
of the agricultural conditions OF his country are
colored by political prejudice. He lives IN
prosperous county, az prosperity goes i'll the
unhappy England of to-day, and has not been
confronted with unusual forms of rural distress,
vet his heart has been touched by the hardness
of the farm laborer's lot. 1t is the testimony OF
his ewes and ears, the results of the experience
of many years, on which our readers may
proftably reflect this morning. If they have
natural taste for controversy they will find
themselves questioning the wisdom OF land
system. an economic policy and social order
which have plunged class of sturdy and noble
agricultural workers into impoverishment and
despair. If they have an instructive loyalty to
truth they will honor the sincerity and un-
affected simplicity of this trained observer who
tells what he knows of the sorrows of his once
Merry England" If they have an enlightened
sense of patriotism they will find new cause
for gratitude that their own land has not only
been highly favored in natural resources, but
that its legislators have separated themselves
from English economic policy and laid the
foundations of American prosperity Ill free
and liberal system of landholding, III the pro-
lection of native industries and i'll the diversif-
cation of human labor. If they have eyes Tor
most effective contrast in literary workman
ship they will recall the poetic and artistic
papers on England contributed to this journal
not long ago by Mr.. Winter and use the painful
revelations and stern facts now sent us by Cap
tain Mayne EeId as a foil to them. The American
found country "almoSt beyond parallel
peaceful, gentle and beautiful" with rural
regions thoroughly cultivated and exquisltely
adorned" and with potential, manifold and
abundant sources of beauty, refinement and
peace" 1t is a land that woos poetic soul by
| its grace and beauty. Yet the hard prose re-
mains, and only an Englishman to the manner
| born can tell it.