, 1884-05-29
OLD ENGLISH DAYS.
England's Poor People in the Times
of the Thirteenth Century.
A Leaf from Rogers 'ssIx Centuries
of Work and wages"-
Better Times Then
Than Now.

n lnlI ltenIn CENTURY NlllhRe contained
from sixty to eighty inhabitants. Most of
them were engaged in husbundry, which
meant the supplying OF food. There were few
handicraftsmen The carpenters work was
done by fa nm hands, as, for four or five CEN
turtles later, it was done by the farmers. The
smith was an important man. He did all the
odd jobs that in our day are distributed
among many men. Clothing was as neces-
Sary as food; so there was weaving. in the
village, and the tanning Of leather was COM
mon. In the peasants cottages were made
coarse linen and wooden, and the family were
clothed by the industry of the housewife and
the daugters. In many an English cottage
were heard such merry airs as
IT'S | can weave wooden and linen,
with its recurrent thirds and ffths as given in
the "Songs of Old Ireland" by Alfred Perce-
val, Graves and Villiers Stanford. While the
women were occupied with hemp and fax,
and men were busy in the fields, or shaping
such Of their implements as were not iron or
steel or shod with iron.
Nearly everybody possessed land and Guilt
yated it. Even the great lords gave some
personal att ention to their great farms The
baiIir, who still is hated by the tenantry,
was already a petty despot. He purchased
stock and materials. hired labor, sold pro-
duce, and submitted his yearly balance-sheet
Manuscript accounts of the tims are easily
to be procured. The name Of the estate IL
engrossed on the head of the roll of parch-
ment. Then the name of the hniliF, with
the date of the regnant year Of II, Lux, or
the date of the Abbots or AbLoss' cleo
tion-for many OF the villages grew up
around monasteries, as indeed did the great
towns. Then follow tho items of the accounts.
The figures are all Roman, the Arabic nu-
mernls not coming into common use until the
reign of Elizabeth. The account is drawn up
by a clerk who is paid a fee-a small one.
The ownership of land was 80 universal
that a landless man was an outlaw The
peasant cultivator had his farm and byre as
well as his cottage. Competitive rents were
unknown. Fixity of tenure at uniform pay
ments was the custom. When the days
work was over the folk were out on the COM
mon, and games and pastimes, muscular
and roistering were the rule. The
rector came down from the glebe. or
the abbot from the church, and
mingled pleasantly with the people.
Next after him in Importance was the miller,
whose wheels and sails were kept in repair
by the | andlord, who required the peasants
to patronize his miller. In the parish church
meetings were held, even markets in some
places, mysteries were performed, and secu-
lar plays at certain seasons. The host was
always removed before the edilce was put to
HN~Aah@A Ae,aH - ~ - SO - RNSAV
house for grain and wool. The tower was
tho castle of the village, and as late as the
parliamentary wars the Royalists of Hamp-
shire garrisoned the parish church and stood
a siege and cannonade.
The houses were mean and untidy, built of
timber, the spaces in the frame
being lathed and plasterod within
and without, or filled with clay,
kneaded up with chopped straw. The floor
was bare earth. The sleeping-rooms under
the matched roof were reached by a ladder.
A few chests were arranged around tho
walls. To the rafters was attached the
bacon-rack. Around the walls were the i'm
plements of husbandry. A wood fire
smoked on a hob of clay. The smoke went
through tho open door, for chimneys were of
n latter age, except in the great houses. Ar
tificial light was a great luxury, a pound of
candles being worth n days work. Close by
the door was the mixen, a collection of
denominations, which, in rainy weather, fer
tilted the lower meadows and polluted the
stream. Tho domestic outfit in "a
PEASANTS cottage consisted of some
foul bedding and n few pieces of
earthenware. The most valuable articles in
use, even in the best houses, were copper or
brass pots and common iron utensils, all
metals being dear. Thus lived the villager
in the thirteenth century. His servants were
ew and he supplied them easily by his labor.
Famine was unknown. Labor was abundant
and had a reward which satisfied nature.
Compare this picture with that daily given
in the journals of the English metropolis of
the dwellings, food and clothing of the poor,
and il seems to be clear that labor is by no
means as we'll oil in the magnificent centers
OF human activity in the nineteenth az it was
in tho rude village OF the thirteenth century.