New-York tribune., 1894-01-07
THE ENGLISH COTTER
HIS POSSIBILITIES IN THE OLD AND THE
NEW WORLD.

D..
SUNNY MANITOBA. Its Peoples and Its Indus
tries. By Alfred @. legge WIN Map ,nddn ana 1t
These books both appeal ultimately to the
English agricultural worker. The one seeks
remedies for his miserios at home the other de-
picts the easier and less restricted life In
growing colony where lands are cheap, taxes
low and the returns large for labor wisely
directed. a region where tithcs are unknown and
landlords can hardly be said to exist Ii Mr.
Heath Is right in his account Of the poverty
and wrotchedness of English cottcrs then the
picture drawn by Mr.. Legge must prove at
tractiye TO them. Not that Mr. Heaths nara
tive is wholly dark. His aim is 20 show that
the English peasant Is worthy Of all the EFFORT
made in his behalf, and that he has always
responded by improvements in himself and IN
the conditions which he can control TO every
fraction OF relief from oppression lie antici-
mates a dav for the agricultural abOrer as
Joyous as those in the past have been sorrowiul.
But he dates the Improvements in the laborer
affairs from the moment when a trade union
was first formed, and 50 he is obliged by his
theory to deny the upward progress OF labor
since the time Of the Kentish uprising under
Richard H. In this he is true disciple Of
Cobbett who looked upon the mediaeval period
as the golden age Of English farm labor, COM
drink as one of the worst influences in the life
of the laborer at present while quoting. If not
approvingy at least without censure. the re-
mark Of an hist brian that the odtime peasant
drank water only al rare intervals. statistics
have led TO some strange differences as to the
comparative comfort of the laborer in past
times But drink could not have been a
blessing once and curse now IL was only
that the contrast between the laborers condi-
tion and that of those above MIN, was less
marked in former times. Even when he was
a serf he was less distant from his master than
he is now. when he is merely reckoned as a
nameless unit in the masses over against
master who may be an equally unknown unit Of
the Glasses" When the peasants themselves
find voice their uterances strangely
similar from age to age. Mr.. Heath CLEANS
from Langlands "vision of Piers. The Plough
man." the fact that aborers would no longer
dine off stale vegetables, and were not even con-
tent with penny ale and bacon. but expected
fresh meat or fish fried or baked and that
straight from The fire" That was well enough
for the fourteenth century. In fact. it was FAR
better than the worker Jared much of the time
for the old poet. in the name Of his hero con-
fesses that he has no money TO buy chickens
or geese, and that he has only two green
cheeses a little curds and cream and two
loaves OF beans and bran for his dinner. and
not a scrap OF bacon. Thus he was not after
ALL so much better off than the Dorset cotter in
the nineteenth century. who also has his poet,
master of his art I'm the neighbOrhood of
Dorchester the cottagers kill pig now and
then" says Mr.. Heath. but they too commonly
live on bread cheese and potatoes and then he
quotes from the Dorset poet, William Barnes.
few lines that show how much content sweetens
simple fare. In a little poem on the fathers
return a. eventme. the wife is made 10 say:
Your suprers nearly ready. I've a-got
Some te;ties here a-doen in the pot;
l wish wi all my heart had some meat.
I got a little ce;ike too, here a-beaken on
Upon the ver. 'Tis done by this time. though;
He's nice and moist; when ] were
a-me;iken ON.
] stuck some bits Of apple in the dough.
There may have been in Langland's time
layer of humanity beneath that which he de-
scribed. His peasant had the capacity to under
stand the affairs of the nation. and spoke not
at all like serf or one who had recently been
bound to the lands of another. He had not
only his half acre b. the highway" besides his
homestead. But after all, he was no better
satisfied than the modern Dorset cotter who ex-
claims:
An be happy wi my spot
o. freehold ground an mossy cot.
Then as now the pressure from above threat
ened TO destroy the lowest class. that by which
all the rest subsisted. The fierce satire of Long
land was not significant of contentment with
the state Of things in medieval England. He
too, might have talked Of the decay of class
OF men more valuable TO the country than the
nobility. and then as now II could well be SAID
that ito destroy race of men who are at once
free yet contented is to turn the natural sup>
porters Of things as they are into discontented
serfs who will gladly them overturned"
Whatever hardships the English peasant has had
to endure. he has shown In the long run always
the same good qualities. Describing peasant life
in the New Forest, Mr. Heath exclaims eight
centuries Of deer stealing. one might have sup
posed would have so ingrained poachng into
the nature of forester. that their removal
would have only driven him to seek a new chan
mel for the qualification of his propensity. But
such has not been the case with the greater
part of the population. The deer abolished, the
laws concerning them dead letter. and the de-
moralized people rapidly return TO law-abidng
ways" Among Northumbran kinds and Cheviot
Shepherds the value of education is we'll
understood as among people OF more wealth Mr.
Heath speaks with emphasis Of 1.-The innate
delicacy of the Dorset peasant" and yet he is
the one who has worked for generations at a
lower money wage than any other member OF
the agricultural community. These are things
never to be forgotten when the miseries of peas
ant life are considered Human nature is almost
always better than its environment. If it yield
to immortality to disease. TO despair. 1t does so
only when the tide is overwhelming. and II re-
covers quickly when the deluge has passed away.
On the one hand. the feeling is TO be condemned
Of those who deem the agricultural laborer an
inferior species Of animal compared with those
above him. Hodge may betray the effects of
meagre fare and unlimited labor. but another
generation with plenty Of food and more reason
able tasks shows how the race recovers its
strength. He is neither dull nor coarse minded.
nor insensible to the joys and sorrows OF his lot
He is represented everywhere "by natures Of the
gentlest ~,ould." unselfsh and uncomplanng.