354 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS WANTED. 



Multifarious indeed are the inducements for con- 

 sulting the advertisement columns of a newspaper. One 

 man wants to hire a house, and another to sell a horse. 

 This is on the look-out for a servant, and that for a 

 master, A. B. is desirous of forming a matrimonial 

 connexion, and C. D. is seeking an agreeable com- 

 panion. Here a highly-rcspcctable " party" is al- 

 most over-anxious to lend his money, and there another, 

 with equally unexceptionable references, is quite as 

 ready to borrow it. A susceptible traveller has lost his 

 heart in a railway journey from London to Brighton, 

 and a serious person his watch and appendages some- 

 where in the vicinity of Exeter-hall. '* Will Annie be 

 on the bridge in Kensington-gardens at twelve on 

 Tuesday ?" And two sovereigns and no more will be 

 given on the return of a rough-coated gentleman, with 

 a black eye and a short tail, who answers to the name of 

 " Smut." Such notifications as these jostle side by 

 side with where we shall get the cheapest dinners, and 

 how our funerals may bo most economically performed, 

 with the new work that is in the press, and when Mr. 

 Sims Keeve will appear next. But, after all, the most 

 methodical of these several Lines are those which mar- 

 shal into due order the ministering angels of our much- 

 cherished Penates. The Hebes and Ganymedes, the 

 Phaetons and Mercurys, the Mentors and Minervas of 

 evcry-day life, gardener, coachman, cook, nurse, up to 

 governess or tutor, are all duly wanting or wanted. There 

 is scarcely anything you need look in vain for, from 

 the any ways-but- plain cook who must have a scullion 

 or two under her, or the punctilious housemaid 

 " where a footman is kept," to the Tilly Slowboy girl 

 of all work, or the very odd man who " is willing to 

 make himself generally useful." We repeat, if u ser- 

 vant wants a place or an employer wants a servant, he 

 now turns to the advertisements as a matter of course. 

 We are getting, however, a point beyond this. There 

 is an innovation ci-ecijing into the groom, butler, 

 and coachman business, or that of "servants" as so 

 distinguished. There is other kind of aid required, 

 quite as much or even more of a necessity, and people 

 now look about for a labourer — " a common working 

 man," as he is called — as keenly as they might do in 

 the Backwoods of America, or the New Settlements of 

 Australia. 



Let us toss over the Ti?nes' Supplement, and go to 

 the country for a novelty. It is in every way a sug- 

 gestive one. In the Nottinghamslnre Guardian then, 

 is the following advertisement, which we allow Mr. 

 Brett the full benefit of some further circulation : — 



rj.wo 



J. wa: 



AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS 



'ANTED by Mr. Brett, Oxton Grange, near South- 

 well. None need apply but men of Industry and good cha- 

 racter. 



This would seem, at the first glance, almost altogether 

 unprecedented. But it is not so. Within a short period 

 a very similar announcement has appeared iu the district 

 journal of the little town of Arundel, in Sussex, only 

 with the more definite considerations of "liberal wages 

 and a cottage provided." There may be many more in- 

 stances than we have here to ofier, but even these speak 

 significantly enough to the change that is coming. 

 The labouring man is no longer a drug. It is no 

 longer a matter of policy to " bolt" him from his 

 home, like the rats, or rabbits, or any other vermin. The 



ingenuity of man is no further taxed to keep him with- 

 out a settlement, and to pass him like a bad shilling 

 from hand to hand, with nobody willing to own him. 

 The question is not now what we shall do with our 

 labourers, but what we shall do loithoiit them, and 

 what we can do for them .' So openly admits 

 Mr. Brett, and so will many more have to confess 

 with him. Of course, it is easy enough to under- 

 stand that almost at any time and under any cir- 

 cumstances there will be touchy, tyrannical, over- 

 exacting employers, who will be continually short of 

 hands — masters, that the men would rather go to " the 

 House," the woods, or the recruiting serjeant,than stay 

 with on any terms. But we have taken the trouble to 

 ascertain something as to Mr. Brett, and we are glad 

 to say that he himself enjoys that same " good cha- 

 racter" he stipulates for. As our informant advises us, 

 " he is just the man I .should like to let a farm to." 

 Most probably the gentleman at Arundel would turn 

 out to be equally eligible; and their need, either in 

 Notts or Sussex, will soon be, if it is not already, the 

 common one. 



And what are we to do ? Mr. Harry Bunbury, the 

 celebrated caricaturist o^more than half a century since, 

 sent out two very successful etchings. The one, " How 

 to make the most of a horse;'' and the companion 

 plate, "How to make the least of him." In the 

 former, the master had his nag well fed, well 

 cleaned, and well pulled together. He pats him on 

 the neck as they go cheerfully over the good road, and, 

 to use a very applicable phrase, they are evidently on the 

 best terms with each other. In the reverse scene, the 

 half-fed ill-conditioned animal is left altogether to 

 himself — with his head loose, and no assistance what- 

 ever from his rider. He stumbles along, manifestly 

 little caring whether they come to grief or not. Surely 

 the simile is self-evident. If we want to go the pace — 

 if we wish to keep pace with the times, we must 

 make the most of our men — see them well fed, well 

 housed, and really cared for. Wo must virtually 

 abolish of ourselves — if Parliament will not do it for 

 us— that odious Law of Settlement. For what is this 

 in its absolute action and intent, but a means to 

 hold the industrious labouring man but as a mere ma- 

 chine, with which we have no sympathies and no con- 

 genial interest. We take even his heart's blood and 

 strength out of him at ai-m's length ; and give him to 

 distinctly understand that he has no claim here. It is 

 in obedience to such a self-immolating influence as this 

 that we have gradually come to deserted villages and 

 isolated homesteads. It is by such artful strategy 

 that we wear a man out ere he reaches his occupa- 

 tion, and then send him back for rest and health and 

 comfort to the overcrowded purlieus of some neigh- 

 bouring city, where rents are high and morals low. 



It is here that we must begin to make the most of a 

 man. We may have friendly societies, and premiums for 

 good conduct and excellence in workmanship. We may 

 discuss his condition at our meetings, and propose his 

 health at our dinners. We may welcome him amongst 

 us at certain times and seasons, at harvest-homes and 

 ploughing matches. But we must do more than this. 

 We must have him amongst us. We must draw him 

 away from the enervation and pollution of the worst 

 room in the worst house in the neighbouring town. We 

 must make him heart and body one of us again. His 



