Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1892-08-11
ENGLISH WAGES.

INU IlD1l w hUIDs
we manage to live somehow. From
America? l hear workingmen are better
off in America and wage is better. Well,
| am glad for them and | wish | could go
there. Thank you, sir. Good-morning
I sir, and long life to you, master"
! At 'corn chambers" Omitted States
| feed store) the man who takes out the
goods with horse and wagon gets So. IS
week and is supposed to get as much
or more from the street; his assistant
who delivers goods with the barrow
(hand cart) gets $3.50 per week and is
supposed to get dollar more. Both
board and lodge themselves.
For women's work have learned some
of the prices. The waiter-girl who
brought in my chop and coffee said she
got twelve pounds, ($60), per year, and
worked from seven in the morning till
nine at night and Saturday nights stayed
till eleven or half past; gets her food at
the place but sleeps away. In a private
hotel, the girl who does chamber work,
answers the bell, runs with errands,
blacks the boots, gets eight pounds a
years and board, but lodges away. A
cook who has been in her place six years
and cooks for 40 boys, gets Is pounds,
board and lodging, while the housemaids
and sewing women get IA pounds.
Housemaids at the best houses get from
l6 to 20 pounds per year and board and
lodging. The barmaids in hotels get
in wages from nothing to 20 pounds a
year; in large and crowded places getting
no pay from the owners, in some cases
am told even paying for their places and
relying on the "tips" from customers for
their compensation.
lhad an interesting experience at Oak
ley, in Bedfordshire. Oakley is owned
by the Duke of Bedford; and | called
there to see what an English rural viii
lage was like. L strolled down from the
station to the public house and asking
for room, was told the rooms were all
taken; so | thought as there were so
many cottages would try a private
house. The first one [ tried, the missus
said she would be glad to keep me, but
the steward had forbidden their taking in
dodgers on penalty of notice to quit. The
man said farm hands get 16 or II ''bob"
there, but up above at Melton they get
now ID or Ia bob and their house. "a
bob" is shilling, or % cents, a sstan-
ner" is sixpence and "quid'' is a
sovereign or $5.) ''In winter we get
only II bob and we has to cut it pretty
fine to live on II bob. We work from
six to eight and then have 40 minutes for
breakfast, some porridge; and then till
one and have an hour for dinner, bit of
bread and some potatoes. No, we don't
get much meat; nave bit of Sunday,
perhaps more in good times.''
| thought l would try another place
for bed, as it seemed so very strange
that man hiring house could not take
in person. l did not know but there
might be some other reason and that put
forward for an excuse; so [ came to
where a man was spading up his little
piece of ground in front of his tenement
and introduced myself with the usual
and very efficient sixpence. "Yes, he
lived here and worked for the master
No, not the duke, but for the farmer who
rented the land from the dukes steward"
He had II shillings week and took care
of the horses. He pays seventeen four
($4.33) rent. His house was tenement
in block Of eight or ten such. After a
little more conversation he asked me to
see the horses he cared for and then to
come in and have some tea. [ accepted
the invitation to 60 in but did not want
tea.
The living room was perhaps ten feet
square, a floor Of bricks about eight
inches square, plainly furnished but neat
and clean. On the right was a room
used for Mushroom and back kitchen,
and back of them but under the same
roof, the "barn," which was room
where Goals, tools and a little brushwood
were kept. The building was of stone,
and stone or brick floors in all the rooms
on the ground floor. Back of the house
was another small piece of ground for
which he paid 80 cents year rent.
For breakfast, he said, they had bread
and dish OF tea, for dinner, pudding.
[ asked what kind of a pudding. How
Is it made? He replied: "The missus
takes some flour and mixes it up with
some water and milk and puts in a bit
of meat if we has it and some scrap. of
potatoes and puts it in bag and pumps
| it in the pot and boils it," which is the
| pudding and the dinner. "For supper a
| pit of bread and butter, If we have the
butter; if not we use little lard" On
asking if | could stay over night | met
the same reply, "the steward had for
| hidden it." The woman said she had an
extra bed and would like to accommodate
me and the pay would be most welcome.
The railway men would like to stay in
Oakley, or some of them; but they were
not allowed so had to pick up my grip
and get back to Bedford to where there
happened to be a train or L don't know
how my night would have been spent.
Some gentlemen to whom | have re-
lated the incident, have expressed great
surprise and said it must be an ex
ceptional case, probably done without
the dukes knowledge; but at least two
other similar instances have come to my