The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-10-26

lar position with the country families who
own land and till it themselves, but he be-
longs to the next grade below them, and
usually enjoys their respect and is quite
dlgnitary in the village near which he lives.
Of course he takes rank above the trades
men, because OF the old aristocratic idea
that land and servants, or slaves in the far
OH time, are the badges of position. AS
| Things never change in this land where all
is complete, the gentleman farmer takes
MS place In the great range of classes as an
interesting figure of everyday existence.
O1ttlmes the peasant likes to work for
hlm better than for those who own the land
because they get closer to their master,
put as a rule the English farm hand prides
himself upon working for a man of posi-
llon, and will go out of his way to secure a
pace Wnere the owner has title, rather
than with one who has not.
Inc lord of this manor is dead, and Lady
mcintosh is the mistress of this rich
country side. She lives in beautiful
house, on the brow of hill about three
miles from where | am writing, and from
her lovely home she can
OVERLOOK A GREAT STRETCH OF COUNTRY
from which she can collect rent, or gather
the fruit of the labor of the peasants she
employs. There are cluster Of fine homes
all ABOUT her, and she has good social life
with people who have money and know
now TO enjoy 1t while living in the country.
% sne takes her place in the great stack of
classes and Is queen in her circle. | can
conceive OF no more enviable position on
the lace OF this earth than to be lord or
lazy OF the manor, they have the oppor
llunity OF getting so much enjoyment out of
lie with so few perplexities. The men
they employ to look after their interests
never trouble them with any of the fric-
tlons OF management. Then they have an
opportunity of doing great deal of good,
and mlny ofsthem do il among the peasantry
who labor for them They have none of
the social cares of the way-up aristocracy,
and life runs on an even keel at all seasons
of the year
Lady Pemberton Barnes, the Matthews
family, the Trenches, the member of parlia-
ment whose name | do not recall, and
dozen other people who stop the wheel of
lhelr lives at the lady of the manor's class,
oave beautiful homes along the perfect
roadWays OF this charming locality 1t is
TINS leisure class which makes life so de-
llghtful here and hereabouts, and this is
only type of many other spots in different
| sections of Old England l am trying to
Illustrate life here not as exceptional, but
as typical OF the vast majority of the agri-
cultural communities in this country, for
therein is its only value.
| Along the roads which thread the land in
every direction are the two-story
BRICK HOUSES OF THE PEAsANTRY.
They bear about the same comparison to
the homes OF the rich that the small foot
nils do to the great mountains. Yet in
these little abodes of the bone and sinew
OF the land dwell arstocrats in their
sphere. They think themselves a range
higher than the common town scrub who
ekes out precarious living by doing odd
! lODS. oil
hand at petty larceny. He has no place
with those who control the land,
Whlle the real peasant is his best
TREND. The good landlord sees to it that
ms laoorer has a good home and is con-
tented. de makes money out of that con-
dltlon OF affairs as well as the worker, and
the average Englishman never loses a
chance TO turn an honest penny be he high
or low IN the class scale. Of course there
are many severe masters in this country,
as We'll as In ours, who drive harsh bar
gains and exact the pound of flesh, but it
is the common testimony TO me direct from
many lips that those who employ men to
work on their farms are, as rule not only
just but lenient. [ hardly see how it can
be otherwise with the evidences that are
scattered along every roadside in the land
where the peasants dwell.
Inc wage question, of course, is the very
meat OF ali this inquiry, and 1 am aston
lshed 10 IND how well the peasants live and
how well they are paid. In this particular
community the regular farm land receives
from three to five dollars a week, the aver
age being about four dollars, VITA extra paw
during harvest and haylrg time, wnen not
only the peasant but bis whole family york.
Besides the house and garden he rents, he
can have half acre of ground for pas
ture or more garden, for 81 80 a year or an
acre for So. 1t is these little places the
home OF the what people are pleased to call
poverty, that make
EVERY ROADSIDE BEAUTIFUL
with their flowers and neat gardens
| Every peasant has a home in the truest
sense of the word. II is by no means such
unslghtly places as are rented out to the
poor IN The United Statesr but a veritabla
little abiding place of which no man in
| humble circumstances need feel ashamed
In a long course OF research and travel in
! England | have never seen one vet no
matter how old and crumhled, that was rot
made attractive by the master, mistress
and children who dwell therein. Natu-
rally, they are often crowded when the
peasant has good-slzed family as they
usually do In this country, but they are
well kept and very many times a pony and
doS-cart are added TO well-ordered home.
A dollar goes q great way with an Eng
| Y,
he can get it from e-third to one-haIf
what 1t costs man of equal rank in the
! United States, and he knows and practices
so many more economies than our laborers
co that his 81 week, as be applies it, is
equal TO IS week in our country. where
rents are so high, living expensive and all
| ambitions tending towards extravaganza.
l think 1t would keep any person busy to
| tind a purely agricultural community in
| America lal. -
more than 81 day for his work, and it
would be very exceptional locality where
he could command s. a week, winch would
scarcely be equivalent To the price paid the
English peasant, when the difference in the
cost of living is taken into consideration.
Then again he would have no such homes
to live in and no such SURROUNDINGS. for
the average PEASANTS residence is equal to.
II not better than those which shelter
many OF the small farmers in the United
States who own land. In fact,
RENTS ARE so CHEAP.
that cannot see where the landlord gets
his return for his Investment but he nm
doubtedly does.
Taking this as perfectly fair sample of
the higher agricultural communities of Enc
land, it is put fair TO look at the less IA
vored localities. Going south from here
thirty miles, l find that the wages RIM
from two dollars and seventy-five cents a
week TO three dollars and half. while me-
chanics labor tor four dollars. But in
those places the cost OF living is again
lowered, and the rental of house with
garden runs from thirty six cents to tiftv
cents week, which about makes the score
even.
Both in these favored agricultural com
munities, or in the darker places, such as
may be found in our country in greater
abundance than here, the economies prac-
ticed in the PEASANTS household are en-
tirely unknown to our working people At
many if NOT mnct ceaSOnS of tho wool fro