The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-01
BRITISH LABOR.
How the Work Of the Farm Is Performed
in England.

The foreman on the farm was describ-
ed by his employer as man of high
principle. who had been with him TWEEN
ty-eiglt years. Perhaps | should say
Mr. Thompson had been with the fore
man twenty eight years, for when a
farm changes hands the laborers by
choice remain on the place. As Mr.. L.
said: when man has nice COM
Portable place, cottage and other fix
lures. he does not want to move. -
What contrast to us restless Yankees!
-Four generations of the foreman fami-
Il have worked for Mr.. Thompson, E4-
ginning with the grandfather, and it is
his great grandson who is driving the
horse in the reaper.
Al the land now boil on your honors estate
Is the same that nay grandfather titled.
1t is quite probable that living thus
on one spot limits the ideas. In a near
hamlet | called on IN old pair of more
well-to-do class, who spoke in the Sus-
sex dialect, and still used the old style
of reckoning for their rent days. As a
new style of reckoning was introduced
in 1892, | may say that they were in
this matter only 130 years behind the
times.
As to the pay of the agricultural la
borer, Mr.. Thompson's foreman earns
Fl or about s. weekly, and an extra
pound every quarter, but is not boarded
Employment, however, is found for him
in the winter as well as in the summer,
the open winters of this region differ
ing from those of Pennsylvania. At
MIR. Ford's / am Id that the plowmen
get about So rs weekly, or Is shillings,
and their rent, and the shepherd about
II shillings. but he has to work every
day in the week. When the land is
heavy here, they generally plow with
from three to five horses in single line,
and must, therefore, have two men,
called the carter and his. mate. To
their animals they use old Sussex cries,
such as, ''Mather-woof, or ''Come
hither, wilt thou?" The hours of labor
are moderate. men going out to work
about seven, even in summer, and COM
ing in about half-past five. But during
harvest they work from five in the
morning rs long as they can see, stop
ping only for breakfast, dinner, and af-
ternoon ''bait, or lunch. During the
harvest month, August, they receive
double wages, or sometimes the farmer
pays E2 extra for the month.
Is the laborer intelligent? Twenty
eight years ago, when Mr. Thompson
CIIllS iO ms 1dIIli III the uOW us, He
thinks that there was not man on the
place who could read fluently; now,
every house takes paper. Educa-
ton in England is now compulsory, and
when the laborer can read and vote we
shall doubtless cease to hear of Hodge
and his master Mr. Thompson fore
man of high principle has not vote
because he does not occupy a house pay
inc a rent of E12 year. In boroughs
ali householders have votes.) Mr.
Thompson says as the foreman does not
drink or use tobacco, he has no tax to
pay for the support of the government,
excepting that on tea. What is his pc
cuniarg status? With this high charac-
ter; with his having perhaps lived all
his life on this one estate, what has he
accumulated? Probably he has not laid
by anything; he has not even joined one
of the 'heneiit societies" common
among laboring men. In his old age
he is entitled to relief from the parish;
to accept it, says MIR. Thompson, is no
disgrace 1t is his share of the wealth
of England Hnrpef's Magazine.