Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-08-30
FARMING IN ENGLAND.

A Picture which Ought to Make Ameri-
can Agrieulturists Contented.
American farmers wives and daugh-
tiers may be interested in an account of
the daily life of an English farmers
wife. as recently told by Nj. Langlois.
French journalist who has been en-
gagged in studying into the agricultural
depression which has for some time
been complained of in England. He
found sample case Of the life on a
farm in Shropshire-a farm whose ten
ant, William BilstOn, with his hard
working wife and family, manages to
make a very fair living, but at the cost
of almost endless toll.
William BilstOn is a man of fifty
years, well-preserved, with an honest.
open face. deeply Drowned by the sun.
His wife, who is about forty-five years
old. is a strong. vigorous woman. She
wears her working clothes every day,
except Sunday, in order to be able, she
says, "tO put her hand to the task at
any minute" They have seven chill
dren, five daughters and two sons.
Bilston's farm contains three hundred
acres. OF the amount of work it takes
to cultivate observation-disclosures farm
in England, one may judge from the
following account of Mrs. Bilston's
daily round of duties, related by her to
the correspondents:
''At quarter before four in the
morning ! jump out of my bed, and
awake the whole household. My
daughters and make very brief tot
let. and while one or two OF them are
doing the house-work, go to the barn
yard with the rest, and feed the cattle
and poultry. It's good deal of work
to give every animal its morning meal,
to take care of them all and make every
thing neat and clean. At seven o'clock
we take breakfast. which is composed
of bread of our own cooking. and milk;
only on Sundays we add little slice of
ham. The children and l never sit
down at the table until my husband
makes us sign to do so. After break
fast Mr.. Bilston gets the family Bible,
sits down in a chair, and reads chap
ter-always chapter, neither more
nor less-interrupting his reading now
and then to explain some passage to
the children. After the family wor-
ship, we all go out to our regular work
in the house or on the farm, and work
faithfully until noon.
Then we have dinner. Generally
the meal consists of q meat soup, and
some rice or else pudding. Some
times in winter We have apple-tarts,
and. on grand occasions, fruit-cake. |
The men and boys take glass of cider,
and the girls and cup of milk |
After dinner one of my daughters stays
in the house to clear the table, wash the |
dishes and put the room in order; the
others go out with ne to help at the
teamwork. At four o'clock We come |
in and take tea, and then my girls and
/ go out ard fetch home the cows, and |
make sure that the poultry and all the
other creatures are safe in the barn
yard. This done we go into the house
and take our needles. At nine o'clock
make tour of the house. to see that
every body is in bed, and that no light
is left burning, which would be dam
ger to the house and q useless ex-
Throughout the whole period, when
the tOilsOme wife and her daughters
are thus employed. Farmer BilstOn and
his two sons are busily engaged in the
direction and actual work of the farm,
and it is said that only those, whose
farms, hours Of toll and expenditures
are as well-Ordered as his, have been
able to resist the recent agricultural
crisis, and meet their engagements.-
YOUTHS Companion.