Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-10-26


mo more poles" This is in turn shouted |
by the poie-pullers; and at once scores, and
often hundreds. of pickers' voices will
echo, frequently derisively, and always in
mimicry, the order for temporary release
from toll. In many fields the pickers wed
their cry to imprOvised doggerel rhymes
fitted to the air of the latest popular Lon
don music-hall ballads, and make much
melodious clamor as they are leaving the
fields.
or the 5000 to 100000 souls who secure
nearly months lucrative employment in
the hop gardens OF Kent, perhaps one
third are Kentish cottagers and villagers.
The remainder are from the lowllest and
one might say the most hopeless classes OF
London and its immediate suburbs;
although sprinkling of responsibility
leavens the latter in a few broken down
folk who have seen better days and inva-
lids with lung and throat troubles who
have been told that the country air and a
long smell o. the ops" would relieve
their ailments. But this great army of
pickers which each year takes possession
of Kent, divides instantly and sharply into
three grand divisions.
The first comprises the kentish rural
and village folk. These are favorites with
the masters. They include the entire
families of the farm laborers. the hedge
| builders, the drain-layers, the hop-dryers
and all countryside folk; while from the
village comes the painter, the shoemaker,
the saddler, the carpenter, the bricklayer
and stonemason, and all their families;
| while have even seen the family of the
schoolmaster and the poor country curate
| not ashamed to thus add to their yearly
| dole. Separate fields are nearly always
given to these folk, Among them you
will find most Interesting groups lusty
youths, handsome lasses, fine and rugged
4 old men and women, and some OF the
peachiest and prettiest children in all
England. To these the hop'gathering days
have bright, genial, almost social aspect.
When the days work is over, as they tran
along the lanes and highways to their
village homes, they form wonderfully
pastoral groupings, fitting so character,
fully into the mellow and reposeful
Kentish autumnal landscape, that it is a
pity the near worlds metropolis has no
artist heart and hand to transfer TO canvas
their marvellous simplicity and winsome-
ness.
Another class numbering all told from
5000 to 5000 souls, whose guest have al
ways been whenever visiting the hop gar
dens of Kent, are the London and sub
urban gypsy van jewellers. Its members
living i'll vans or house wagons of every
conceivable description, circle around ant
around the outer edges OF the great city
lowering like birds of prey near race
tracks, outing resorts, and all places whert
crowds of the lowly may gather, an
glad to say that while any duckering ant
dickering among the hop.garden throng
Is never overlooked by them, that the
J always come here for honest work. The.
travel in their creuking vans which con
, tain all that may be required for food an
cooking; pitch their hooded tents Q
"whummel'' their single carts for add
D inn ora oH nj n
shifts and exigencies of outdoor living
/. are really the best conditioned of all til
: Foreigners who sweep in upon Ken
and as to morality and common decency
4 which are generally utterly abandoned
+; the hoppers' camps, they are infinitely 81
i perior TO all others who come. They ar
! quick, delft, silent. They are the tastes
!, cleanest pickers in Kent; and | have fir,
a quently known single large family r.
4 turn from their seasons work with |
: much as 920 with which TO assist them
Z tiding over the to them bitter whit
months.
I; But oh, that other mob that comes dow
from the purlieus of London Sometiu
y shall write story about the pestilenti
g lot. To truly tell of its awful hordes wit
q out the tender lights of romance vii
y which to search out and reveal redeemil
traits. would be to commit an unfo
u givably revolving literary crime. Best
y women, men more brutal than brute
u with few exceptions, are these. Amol
;. the exceptions have come upon d
D most interesting phases of character m
d In all my years of wandering. In all q
d others no wanderer since the world beg
" ever found more hopelessly sodden
"a desperately wicked animals in hum
rs frames. No wonder the masters herd the
ID in the deserted sheds of their cattle,
y straw huts behind the hills, or in tent
lr camps that may subsequently be burnt
~ by the roadside as far as possible from
10 peaceful old Kentish country homes.
Id EDGAR L. WAKEMAN