Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-04-04
THEN AND NOW.
The Labortng Class a Century Are.

From McMasters History Of the People Of the United
States.
There can be no doubt that wonderful ameli-
Grafton has taken place since 1854 in the condi-
ton Of the poor. Their houses were meaner,
their food was coarser, their clothing was Of
commoner stun, their wages were despite the
depreciation that has gone on in the value Of
money, lower by one half than at present A
man who performed what would now be called
unskilled labor, who sawed wood, who dug
bitches. who mended the roads, who mixed NOR
tar, who carried boards to the carpenter and
bricks to the mason, or helped to cut hay in the
harvest-time, usually received as the fruit of his
daily toll two shillngs. Sometimes when the
labOrers were few he was paid more. and be-
came the envy of his fellows if, at the end of q
week. he took home to his family fifteen shil-
lIngs sum now greatly exceeded by four dol
lars. Yet all authorities agree that in 1854
the hire of workmen was twice as great as in
1774.
On such pittance it was only the strictest
economy that mechanic kept his children from
starvation and himself from iail In the low
ana dngy rooms which he called his home were
wanting many articles of adornment and of use
now to be found in the dwellings of the poorest
duty as carpet. There was no glass on his
table, there was no china in his cupboard there
were no prints on his wall. What stove was
ne DID not know. coal he had never seen,
matches he had never heard Of. Over fire of
fragments of boxes and barrels, which he lit
with the sparks struck from flint, or with live
Goals brought from neighbours hearth his wife
cooked up rude meal and served it in pewter
dishes He rarely tasted fresh meat as often as
once IN a week, and paid for it a much higher
price than his posterity Everything, indeed,
which ranked as staple of lite was very costly.
Corn stood at three shiilings the bushcl wheat at
eight and slXpence, an assize of bread was four
pence pound of salt pork was tenpence.
Many other commodities now to be seen on
the tables OF the poor were either quite I'M
known, or far beyond the reach of his scanty
means Unenviable is the lot ofthat man who can
not, in the height of the season. when the
whar1s and markets are heaped with baskets
and crates of fruits. spare three cents for a
pound OF grapes or five cents for as many
peaches, or, when Sunday comes round. indulge
MS FAMILY with WaterrnelOnS or cantalOupes.
One hundred years ago the wretched fox-grape
was the only kind that found its way to market.
and was the Injury of the rich. Among the
fruits and vegetables of which no one had then
even heard are cantalOupes. many varieties of
peaches and pears tomatoes and rhubarb sweet
corn, the caulifiower, the eggplant. head let
tuce, and Okra. On the window benches of
every tenement-hOuse may be seen growing ge-
raniums and verbenas, flowers not known
century ago. In truth. the best-kept gardens
were then rank with hollyhocks and sun flowers,
roses and snow balls, lilacs, pnks, tulips. and
ABOVE all, the Jerusalem cherry-a plant once
much admired. but now scarcely seen.
If the food of an artisan would now be Thought
coarse his clothes would be thought abomina-
bic A pair of yellow buckskip or leathern
breeches. checked shirt, a red flannel Jacket. a
rusty felt hat cooked up at the corners, shoes of
neat s-skin set off with huge buckles of brass
and ieathern apron, comprised his scanty
wardrobe, The leather he smeared with grease
to keep 1t soft and flexible. His sons followed
IN ms footsteps or were apprenticed to neigh
boring tradesmen. His daughter went out to
service. She performed. indeed all the duties
at present exacted from women of her classbut
with them were coupled many others rendered
useless by the great Improvement that has since
taken place in the cOnveniences of life. She
mended the clothes, she did up the rutfs she
ran on errands from one end of the town to
the other, she MIXED the cows. made the but
ter, walked ten blocks for pail of water. spun
flax for the family linen and when the year
was up received f10 for her wages. Yet small
as was her pay, she had, before bestowing her
sell in marriage on the fOOtman or the gardener
laid away in her stocking enough guineas and
Joes to buy few chairs, table and bed.