Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-07-25
BRITISH LABOR.
How the Work of the Farm Is
Performed in England.

The foreman on the farm was de-
scribed by his employer as man of
high principle. who had been with him
twenty-eight years. Perhaps l should
say Mr.. Thompson had been with the
foreman twenty-eight years, for when
farm changes hands the laborers by
choice remain on the place AS Mr.. T.
said: "When a man has nice comfort
able place, cottage and other fixtures,
he does not want to move" What
contrast to us restless Yankees! Four
generations of the foreman's family
have worked for Mr.. Thompson, begin
ming with the grandfather, and it is his
great grandson who is driving the horse
in the reaper.
All the land now hold on your honor's estate
Is the same that my grandfather titled
1t is quite probable that living thus
on one spot limits the ideas In a near
hamlet | called ON an old pair of a
more well-to-do class, who spoke in
the Sussex dialect, and still nsed the
old style of reckoning for their rent
days. AS a new style of reckoning
was introduced in 1852, l may say
that they were in this matter only 130
years behind the times.
AS the pay of the agricultural labor
er, Mr. Thompson's foreman earns Fl
or about S. weekly, and an extra pound
every quarter, but is not boarded. EN-
ployment, however, is found for him in
the winter as well as in summer, the
open winters of this region differing
from those of Pennsylvania. AT Mr..
Ford's l am told that the plowmen get
about 1915, or Is shillings, and their
rent, and the shepherd about II shill-
ings, 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 ami
mails they use old Sussex cries, such as,
"Matker-woof or "Come hither, wilt
thou ?" The hours of labor are moder-
ate, men going out to work about seven,
even in summer, and coming in about
halfpast five. But during harvest
they work from five in the morning as
long as they can see, stopping only for
breakfast, dinner, and afternoon "bait, :"
or lunch. During the harvest month,
August, they receive double wages, or
sometimes the farmer pays f2 extra
for the month.
Is the laborer intelligent? Twenty
eight years ago, when Mr.. Thompson
came to his farm in the downs, he
thinks there was not a man on the
place who could read fuently; now
every house takes a paper. Education
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's
foreman "of high principle" has not a
vote because he does not occupy a
house paying rent of sl2 year. (In
boroughs all householders have votes. }
Mr.. Thompson says as the foreman
does net drink or use tobacco, he has
no tax to pay for the support of the
government, excepting that on tea.
What is his pecuniary status? With
this high character; 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 ofthe "bene-
fit societies." common among laboring
men. In his old age he is entitled to
relief from the parish; to accept it, says
Mr. Thompson, is no disgrace. 1t is
his share of the wealth of England
Harper's Magazine.