Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-12-10


Yesterday 1 spent at Mailing, an an |
cient market town about 80 miles from
London, which is in the midst Of one of
the most fertile and extensive hop dis
tricts in the world, the soil being of the
rich quality that produces the famous |
golden hop. I stood on an eminence
and surveyed in every direction t.,
plantations Of tall hops, lr~-artont on
the straight, firmlv eer poles, the deep
green of enc vine leaves beautifully
geCamed by the great punches of golden
flower. On a hillside little distance
to the left were the uniform white tents
Of the hop pickers, like the encampment
of an army-for you must know that
the hop pickers are not residents Of the,
neighborhood. They come from distances
by families. large proportion OF them
from London. And, be it known, tie
majority of the hop pickers are wretch
edly poor. The pay for hop picking is
30 very little that only by the united
efforts Of a family Of three or four
workers is the result Of the days labor
worth the effort. Lastlyear, fer exam
p4o, l---iHa a. : e'4-!Ing
for seven bushels, so that worker had
20 complete seven bushels before the
shilling was earned This year condi-
tions are a little better, bubat the best
hop picking is only profitable when the
family has six or eight Fairs of expert
hands to strip the vines swiftly. Some
of the women have reduced this picking
to an art, the deft facility with which
they take four or five flowers at time
completely deoeiving the novice, whe
imagines skill to be. nothing i'll this
business.
The poles in hop held are so perfectly
set at right angles chat you may look
down a uniform avenue Of Oyerhanging
vines in whatever direction you turn
your eyes. But tins exaotitude is less
for beauty Of appearance than for con-
venience of arrangement of picking par
ties, for field isl let out in small Sec
tions, so many hills-two poles make a
hill-to afamily, according as the fam
ily has agreed f or half bin or more.
Therefore, as you walk down the path
that intersects a hopfeld, you seq here
and there at fixed distances apart the
different independent groups of pickers,
their canvas bins, with wide, haring
mouths, all Of regular size, stretched Oh
poles and set on crOsspieoes the length
of their section, and while the man cuts
the vines third of the way up the poles
and pulls up the poles to carry to the
bin side the women and children inces-
sanity work from 6 a. m. to z p, m,
save only for the half hour at noon fol-
dinner. And what sight it isl AT the
very edge of the field whore l spent
most time rears, rugged and tall, the
ivy draped tower of st. Leonards, sale
to be the very first, and therefore thC
Oldest, of the Norman towers the pic
turesque ruins of which so interest the
intelligent visitor to rural England
This tower was built by Gundulf, bishop
of Rochester, somewhere about l07S.90
This abbey, by the way, has been re
stored and is once more home of nuns
At the foot Of this old tower yesterday
rolled and tumbled score of grimy
half naked, tatterdemalion children, o.
ages running from the infant that should
have been in arms to pair Of 4-year
old twins, in patched, dirty rod dresses
and with huge brass earringshiding thu
lobes of their unclean little ears. Thu
did half barbarou5 young modesty kiol
up its slovenly little legs in contempt o.
that still grim though dismantled tower
built eight centuries ago to Depel the
assaults of those eayages who We're fore
runners Of the present day Englishman
And among the vines yonder were the
motley groups of persons to whom thesC
little human blots appertained. Not by
any means as picturesque and flscinat
ing as Italian grape pickers nothing o.
the rich, dark beauty Of the southern
types, but different sort of interest at
taohes to these hopalessly ignorant, hal
vagrant creatures. who have come tt
the picking-by donkey cart, by train
ON foot-bearing with them their mis-
cradle utensils for cooking and faring
in their rags and their tatters, the filti
of which they are not ashamed, sleep
ing by night in tents if they are so for
tunate, behind hedges and under rude
wigwams of boughs, if they must, work
ing from day dawn to evening close fOl
mere pittance-yet not wOltish or sur
ly, not rude-indeed, good natureC
when you address them, and in rough
way ocular or in shy way communioa
tive. Here and there, to be sure, some.
thing more pretentious, the epitome Of
lower middle class shift and ridiness,
but in the main q hop picking scene
such as you may witness at Mailing
tells yoR what pitiful poverty AND
wretchedness are hidden from the world
by the purple splendOr of the richest ma
tion upon which the curious sun looks
askance.
Fill in imaginatively the picture Of
which have given but true outlines.
Scan the hillside enoampment, where in
fancy and age swarm about the evening
fires Walk through the fields of vine girt
poles, that seem a compact mass as you
look down upon them. Talk with these
women and children stripping the yell
low flowers swiftly from the stems.
Glance at the various troops of thought.
legsly begotten infants rolling on the