The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-06

Degradation Of Female Farm Laborers
I'm EngIfnd.

In En8iGuos
Kate Tanqueray, in Contemporary Review.
On Jan. l. 1858, 1.-THE agricultural gangs
act' came into operations This In a meas
ure affected the whole of rural England: IL
affected more especially the large crop
growing areas OF the eastern counties. In
Fenland gangs OF fema : workers are TO
be found on every farm; and every year
because of stated hoi,rs and increased
wages-held labor grows Fir favor with the
daughters Of farmhandsl In the Hunting
donshire and Cambridgsshire Fens IL Is
now generally accepted that q girl most
enter a gang as soon as she leaves school.
and as natural consequence the ranks OF
domestic service find fesrer and fewer re-
cruits. The Fen child issbrought up to re-
gard the gang as her Ultimate goal. When
she is still an infant shb is drawn In her
perambulator to the fel& and left to sleep
In shady corner while ser mother works:
her school holidays are; regulated by the
harvest; and, in spite OF laws TO the con-
trary. she is again and again kept at horne
TO help In the potato picking. This potato
picking is the despair of Fenlend school,
masters and schooimistiesses; the irreg-
ular attendances resultisg in small aver
ages, lower grants and unsatisfactory ex-
aminations. AS soon as sthe necessary ex-
animation t. is passed gu hires herself to
the year goes out day after day for eight
hours labor, starting az a. m, half AN
hour being allowed for lench-
In the main the agricultural gangs act 10
good one. taking account OF the health
and the morals of the wSmen and children
employed. Nevertheless: they who live in
the districts where the g.ng system is most
in vogue see in the sysTem a canker that
is destroying both the dsmesticity and the
morality of Fenland village life. To quote
from paper by Lord Nelson In the Nine
teenth Century
work in the fields is ;nistake. 1t may
apparently increase the wages for a time,
more in clothes and brok.n health than the
extra money brings in; lit makes uncom-
Portable f homes and keebs the elder girls
looking after the childref."
This refers, of course IL the married field
workers, and it is obviaus that disorder,
uncleaniiness and household neglect must
follow when the moth.r Is away from
home all day. She returns too tired to do
more than hastily prepare rough meal
for the children, and the s1ousecleaning and
the wash" are put off ustil the first really
wet day keeps the womaa within doors.
But, speaking generally, the married
women only go out at TIE busiest seasons.
composed entirely of girls from about thir-
teen to eighteen years df age. And IL Is
precisely girls of this sse for whom the
system is bad. The tore OF female field
workers is exceedingly l:w. their ideas OF
morality are small and their speech is full
of expletives and obsceniFes.
In fact, after living among them for the
last twelve years, / aIs convinced that
every girl who works irf gang becomes
coarse both in thought asd speech.
Their minds stagnate fntil they become
literally of the earth earshy. This is par
ticularly noticeable in tlteir hours of leis-
ure; there is no actual jofousness. no spon-
taneity of simple girlisk fun horse play
will provoke a horse lauth. and with that
their sense of humor cesses. Once when
entertaining a party OF gang girls | sug-
gested Dumb Crambo's This is entered
into with zest, but theirsonly idea of act
ing was TO repeat the sgork of the day;
hoeing potatoes. choppiI.g mangolds: the
whole round OF the wea;isome labor gone
over in a playa pathetic proof of minds
| that had ceased TO expand