The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-05-03
BRITISH LABOR.
How the Work Of the Farm Is Performed
in England.

The foreman on the farm was describ-
ed by his employer rs man of high
principle, who had been with him TWEEN
ty-eight years. Perhaps l 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.. 7.
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-
ly have worked for Mr.. Thompson, be-
ginning 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.
Ii is quite probable that living thus
on one spot limits the ideas. In near
hamlet called on an 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 1852, may say that they were in
this matter only 130 years behind the
times.
As to the pay of the agricultural Ia
borer, Mr.. Thompson's foreman earns
IL or about So 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
Mr.. Ford's am told that the plowmen
,raf bC11t % xrraal-lr- oh,
and their rent, and the shepherd about
IL 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 s'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 il the
morning as 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 t2 extra for the month.
Is the laborer intelligent? Twenty
eight years ago, when Mr.. Thompson
came to his farm in the downs, he
thinks that there was not man on the
place who could read fluently; now,
every house takes a paper. Educa-
ton in England is now compulsory, and
when the laborer can read and vote we
shall doubtless cease to hear of Hodge
ana his master" Mr.. Thompsons fore
man ''of high principle" has not vote
because he does not occupy house pay
ing rent OF E12 year. In boroughs
ali Aouseholders have votes) Mr.
Thompson says rs 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
cuniary 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 noteven joined one
of the ''beneft 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.