Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-23


Thara ara about l.5OO families, on
rough calculation. depending on the daliX
earnings of agricultural labor IN one slL,i ~
county. Where a labOrer is engaged III
Constant work on a farm, believe IS. per
week is above, rather than below, the
average Of his pay. Six shlllIngs WesA
for half the year and 5s. week LOT ele
other half is generally the Tate VI $500 81
When men are not kept In regular anu
constant work the average pay would DC
about 9s. per week for about nine months
out of the twelve, and II commonly nap
mems that they are unable 10 get work
during the other three months. Out OF THIS
sum the labOrer has, OF course 10 keep MINI
self and family. He often mas 10 pay rom
Sos. TO 42 year for his nttle CABIN, anu
perhaps a miserable patch OF ground
around it, ON which he painfully Tolls
when he is lucky enough to have Ito
grow pOtatOes. In many cases man pays
as much as "a year for his cabin. In
considerable number of instances the
laborer who is not in constant employ
ment engages TO give days work 81 IN eacn
week as the rent of his house. This ar
rangement sometimes acts harsnly against
him. The farmer who has let his hut does
not, perhaps. want his labor during con-
siderable part of the year ana does
want ii at spring time and at harvest,
when wages are at their highest; Inc
laborer has 10 turn out then ana give
his work without reference TO the IN
creased rate of wages, and thus has yirtu-
ally to pay a genuine rack-rent for his
miserable homestead A very miserable
place it truly is. Anybody who has been
in ireland at all must have some knoWl-
edge of the outside Of laborers
cabin. 1t is a small, lop-sided wig
wan, built of stones and mud,
with a matched roof, and with
- L Sc s,.& Io tx-aD m QPf fhn
part of door and windows. The traveller
who stops to look into one Of these
huts seems at first to see nothing but
darkness visible. When his eyes get
used to the lack of light he sees a
howell almost absolutely devoid of furni-
ture, and very often consisting Of only one
room for the family, however numerous,
to live in. The mud villages in which the
fellaheen of Egypt live contain few novels
| so hopelessly grim and cOmfortless as
those that may be seen in many parts OF
| Ireland. and the Egyptian peasant has
| climate around him which allows him, if
/ he chooses, to pass his whole life in the
/ open air, while in Ireland the rain comes
/ down often for days and days together
without stint. Into that castle of the Irish
peasant truly the wind may enter and
/ the rain may enter. On wet nights the
/ drenching showers soak through the ILL
/ matched roof and come dripping down on
/ the beds of the sleepers. / used the word
! ''bed' in order TO convey the idea Of
! place where the inmates sleep rather than
4 of any article of furniture constructed for
the purpose of being slept on. In many
cases the bed and bedding consist only of
straw and some old sacks that once held
! Indian meal or guano. A cabin with sec
| ond room in it is a somewhat exceptional
possession with the Irish labOrer of the
poorest class. The food of the laborer
consists principally Of potatoes, or else of
| Indian meal mixed with flour and soda.
Tea of the thinnest and poorest kind, Of
tener without milk than with it, is the
enjoyment of the laborer and his family.
1t is the drink they would have at all
times if they could only get it. | sup
pose there still are persons in this cOun-
try who think of the Irish agricultural la
/ bOrer as of a man gong about perpetually
with a bottle of whisky in his hand and
ready at every opportunity TO lift the
mouth of the bottle to his lips. l Won
der whether such persons have ever
considered what the price of bottle
vilest whisky-wOuld be, and how many
such bottles the Irish peasant could treat
himself to in the course of year out of
the surplus of his wages? The truth is
that the laborer of this class very seldom
drinks spirits or porter unless when
somebody better off than himself is gener-
Gus enough to stand him treat. Nor can
he easily keep himself warm by. less
| dangerous means than the swallowing of
strong drinks. For more than half the
year in some places he finds it very hard
| to get fuel for the poor little household
fire, and is often depending on the brush
wood or the rotten sticks which his wife
and his daughter may gather from the
roadside or the bitches.