The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-04-26

generally held guilty by his associates
of demoralizing the labor market.
But to this so cents OF a dollar a
day which the hired man received in
cash was also to be added his board
and to some extent his clothes-that
is, he was frequently permitted to
wear some of the boss's old pants
and shirts when about his work.
But there was another considera-
ton which was rarely worth while and
would be esteemed as such by some
even in these days of Sc a day hod
carriers. He occupied a position of
what amounted to social equality with
his employer. He slept in the same
house with him, ate at the same table
with the rest of the family and occu-
pied the same pew in the church. If
there was daughter in the house he
was permitted to pay court to her
if she found it agreeable, as she often
did, and he went along with the rest
of the family to the donation parties
and the grange meetings.
AS would of necessity follow he
often married the daughter and took
he rto a farm Of his own or worked
the home place on shares or ''snears"
as they used to say in those days.
All these privileges compensated as
may be seen readily in measure for
the fifty cents or dollar a day which
constituted his cash emoluments.
But the hired man worked, and I
am going to ask the printer to put
that in big letters. In those days the
farmer got up at or A o'clock in the
morning, and, as Josh Billings used
to say, burned out five pounds of
wood and five cords of candles wait
ing for daylight. Josh was all right
about the wood and the candles, but
there was little waiting for daylight.
The farmer and the hired man went
to work. The stock had to be fed,
the tie-up cleaned up, the milking
done, commonly called chores.
After chores came breakfast and
then work. At noontime came dinner
and then work until supper time. In
the summer time when the daylight
came early and stayed late, the hired
man and his employer generally lab
ored from four o'clock in the morning
until eight at night, with time out for
meals. This was especially true of
haying time.
The hired man had the rest Of the
time to himself as the saying is. In
The fall and spring it was not as hard
and in the winter he would sometimes
get by with a short day of ~ hours.
Some farmers were constantly
changing hired men, with a new one
almost every year and sometimes two
IL three different ones year. Others
the same man year after
year until he became as much of
ixture on the farm as the well sweep
If the barn. Often violent quarrels
would take place between the farmer
md his man, and cases were not I'M
Known when they would come to
blows, but it rarely occurred that
hese violent differences led to
severance of relations.
1t came to be understood that the
natter of personalities had nothing
o do with the hired mans job. Even
the farmer did not discharge his
nan after a quarrel, it was more Of
en- than not that he would come
round again the next morning.
In the old days the hired man was
Yankee, like his employer, and as
ar as birth was concerned was his
quail socially and, as | have said, was
reated as such.
Farm help isn't paid Sc or So
ay, as labor of that sort gets IN the
tiles and towns, but there are no
1ore $50 a month men. More often
, is twice OF three times that, and
hat includes board.
It CRATES on the farmers, especially
he old farmers, to pay the wages
hey have to nowadays, and they get
ogether at their oranges and resolve
hat an outrage it is. But they pay ,
;, which is the only thing they can