St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-10-19

of cheerfulness the village shows is to be
found.
Thus the villagers lot is sufficiently want
ing in animation. His material condition is
poor, and has been worse. l dwelt upon this
in my former letter: let me illustrate it here
by two examples. Old Will P, at seventy
four, crippled in both his legs, and hardly by
the aid of sticks able TO stand or move, ekes
out small allowance from the parish by
breaking stones. From early morn to late
eve the sound of his hammer goes on. Thus
closes life which has been one of labor
from almost its commencement Bill M,
a little younger, spends the last years of his
life a dependent, with his wife, upon the
charity of children i'll able to afford anything
from their own wants. From IAN early age
toll claimed him, like others of his class, for
IS own. Upon scanty breakfast of dry
barley bread he would walk three miles TO his
work. With often no other food he would
get through his days work and return home.
Then only a basin of broth, made by
stewing vegetables with bit of bread, and
sometimes bit of pork, refreshed his
strength. For eight young children clam
ored, and a wife giving suck, needed nour-
ishment; and seven shIllings a weeks does
not 90 far Is ii Il wonder that now in his
declining years the old mans mind tottres
even more than Lis steps! Bill is imbe-
Gle.
Wages are no longer at that starvation
level, but even twelve shillings a week will
not allow much surplus after supplying the
requirements of u family. And it is the la
borer's all, and the future holds out no prom
Use Of more. Is it to be wondered at, if with
such present and with no better prospect his
gaze turns to the vague but grand possibili-
ties offered by the town! And to the monot-
ony and cOlorlessness of his life here rise up
in sharp contrast the color and light, the an
imation and gayety that prevail there. Is it
wonder II his gaze gets fascinated! The
need is apparent for every village of a village
hall, in which the tedium of the long winter
evenings may be beguiled, and opportuni-
| ties afforded the viliager of mental and moral
| improvement. AS things are what public
buildings does the village possess! Two
the church and the inn; the former opened
one day in seven aud sparsely attended, the
latter opened daily and to more numerous
yotaries.
| have said that drunkenness in this vii
lage, as in every village around, has largely
declined. But there are still topers, men
who from loug habit are seldom able to dis
sOciate themselves from the settle before
they have taken too much to carry home
with steadiness. Young unmarried men,
also, in few instances finding the improved
wages of these days more than sufficient for
their single wants, yield to the temptation.
And on club days and other special occasions
when people come together from several vii
lagos, drunkenness invariably prevails to a
greater or less extent In this drunkenness
the drunkenness of tO-day-there is an
evil feature which was not known to the
drunkenness of former times. | refer to
the quality OF the liquor sold and its i'll eff
tects. Formerly man got drunk, became
noisy or silly, and was nuisance. The next
day, however, he was able to go to his work
and did not feel much the worse for what he
had taken. Under the influence of the
compounds of to-day he gets maddened
and becomes a danger He is ut
terlv incapable of honest work on the NOR
row, and his drinking, if persisted in, soon
effectually saps his moral energy and phys-
zeal yigor. No one who has not tried it can
imagine what deleterous stuff it is that is
poured down the Threats of our drinking
peasantry. The other day a woman, reduced
to state of extreme weakness, was ordered
by the doctor to drink soda and brandy.
The prescription seemed piece of bitter
irony. So far as the genuine spirit was to be
had, he might as well have ordered soda and
nearly affecting health and not unconnected
with crime, stringent adulteration laws
should not be in force. If their effect were
as in the case, | believe, of milk at first to
the town consumer-to raise the cost of
drink to the tavern haunter, and SO indi-
rectlY to diminish its consump tion, no wife
or child in rural England, think, would re-
greet the result. The will age public house, as
place of drink. is a village evil, qualified to
this extent only. The determined druukard
gets drunk here instead of in his own house
But as he must ultimately take his drunken
ness home, the qualification does not 90 for
much.
But the publc-house, apart from its drink,
is the only place at present where men can
gather for discussion, and for that inter
change of views whereby false views can gst
corrected and true ones receive precision.
1t is the only educational influence, wrethed
as it is, for adults which the village affords.
In its higher or lower kitchen l have often
listened to discussions on general or local
matters L have heard the Tory leaders COM
pared, and the premier contrasted with either
Political questions get aired, though the air
is sometimes close. Narrow views and the
prejudices born of ignorance and interest
are painfully APPARENT, and potatious often
unduly warm the language and ultimately
obscure the argument. Nevertheless, it is
discussion, and, so far, good. Without it
the village mind might stagnate. Also the
public house is the only place where
anything of light and life is to be found.
where there is aught to lift the peasant out of
himself and make him for while forget his
toll and his cares. In giving him in a greater
degree and under conditions perfectly
healthy, these advantages, the main ground
would be cut from under the public house
and its happy despatch promoted; but while
it remains the only place of entertainment
in the village, its extinction is hardly to be
looked for or altogether desired.
If the villager is in need of wholesome
recreation, he is not less in need of means
for mental improvement. In the sense of
culture the darkness of his mind is most
palpable Education he has only shadow
of. He.is able to read, write and cast up ac-
counts. His only literature is his local news
paper, and in that his interest lies in the
local items and in such general news as is
of ponderously striking character. Books
he has practically none. With the exception
of bibles, hymnals and the like, 1 know of
not single volume. 1 doubt If any exists.
The most intelligent of the villagers has at
different times alluded to n
Goldsmith's history as existing some
where, but 1 could never discover where. I
have grown as skeptical of its existence as
Mrs. Prig was that of Mrs Harris Mention
the name of shakespeare to any laboring
man, tenant farmer, or small shopkeeper.
and he will receive it with a start. He
hears it for the first time. And if a belief in
witchcraft is any proof of ignorance, the
peasant supplies it. No one who has not
lived among and mixed with the peasantry
of England, particularly in the west, to what
an extent this belief prevails. Here an old