THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



113 



Durham in her day, and seemed a nice roan-coloured 

 little cow, with a very well sprung rib, but not just 

 what we liked, behind the shoulders. She was half 

 gone again to McTurk, and her Voting Emma was by 

 her side in the shape of a thrifty and well-made calf, 

 with a light milking neck. Fleda's last calf Freebooter 

 by Freemason is a dark roan, and " clever," as " The 

 Nestor of Shorthorns " would observe ; and the Wa- 

 terloo tribe could boast of its No. 18th andSlst, dam 

 and daughter, from Mr. Bolden's sale. The latter of them 

 is by Third Grand Duke (1G182). Annie a robust 

 and bonny yearling from Fleila came struggling across 

 the meadow in the herdsman's grip ; and the white 

 bull-calf Prince Patrick by Nunwick had prophesied 

 favourably of his dam, Pearl 7th by Sir Charles from 



Pearl by Homer, who was in waiting for us at 

 the meadow gate, and stood up right well for the honours 

 of her tribe. The halter did not suit her at all, 

 and when that had been removed, she settled herself 

 into an attitude, which for picturesque motionless beauty 

 we have seldom, if ever, seen exceeded in our Shorthorn 

 pilgrimage. With the exception of being, perhaps, a 

 trifle lightish in the tliighs, we had nothing to urge 

 against her : her bone is beautiful, and worthy of her 

 top, and the rather Roman-nosed Venus head has 

 a neck-vein and bosom beneath it of no ordinary stamp. 

 It is right to keep a pleasant image in your eye, and 

 the white pearl of Cumberland might well haunt us 

 when we took train at Plumpton, for Lancashire, once 

 more. P il f^ 



LONDON, OR CENTRAL FARMERS' CLUB. 



THE CONDITION OF THE LABOUREK. 



The ordinary monthly meeting of the members for dis- 

 cussion was held on Monday, December 10, at the Club 

 House, Blackfriars. Mr. L. A. Coussmaker, of Weslwcod, 

 presided, and there was a vei-y full attendance of members. 

 Amongst these -v^ere Messrs. Spencer Skelton, C. Stokes, 

 W. Fisher Hobbs, John Thomas, James Howard, W. Ben- 

 nett, J. Cressingham, J. B. Spearing, G. Bobito, G. 

 Smythies, T. Congreve, B. E. Ward, R. Bond, J. Brad- 

 shaw, J. Carter, J. W. Paul, T. E. Pawlett, James Wood, 

 Charles Howard, J. G. King, E. Little, T. F. Wilson, W- 

 Walton, E. Tattersall, S. Sidney, G. Hilton, G. Boddington, 

 E. B. Acton, E. Edmonds, J. Dunbrell, J. Colemau, W- 

 Butcher, E. Purser, J. C. Morton, H. Middleton, J. Thomp" 

 son, Robert Smith, J. F. Baines, G. P. Tuxford, W. Cother, 

 J. Goodwin, N. Rix, John Fowler, E. B. Waite, W. C. 

 Spooner, T. B. Browne, J. Hooker, J. Sanderson, and J. 

 OJams. 



The subject appointed for consideration was " The Con" 

 dition of the Labourer in England and Scotland, and his 

 State on the Continent," to be introduced by Mr. R. Scott 

 Burn, of Stockport, Cheshire. 



The Chairman said the improvement of the agricul- 

 tural labourer — of his dwelling, his education, and 

 his position generally — had more than once formed 

 the topic of discussion in that room. Of the state of the 

 labourer abroad they knew nothing as a club ; but the gen- 

 tleman who would introduce the subject had had many 

 opportunities of making himself acquainted with it, and 

 would no doubt give tliem intei'esting information on that, 

 as well as on the other branches of the question. 



Mr. BuKN then proceeded as follows : 



Mr. Chaii-man and Gentlemen, when I was honoured 

 by your committee asking me to read a paper on the sub- 

 ject named, for this evening, on the card of the Club, I 

 undertook its preparation with considerable hesitancy and 

 fear. For I felt very acutely, that the importance of the sub- 

 ject demanded its treatment by a better authority than my- 

 self, and a more graphic pen than I wield, to do justice to its 

 many requirements. In order to obtain the advantages of 

 a sj-stematic arrangement of subject — for the time allowed 

 me is all too brief to do full justice to one only of its many 

 departments — I propose, with your permission, to glance 



at the various phases of a peasant's life, in somewhat like 

 the following order : — Commencing with the earliest 

 stages of his existence, we shall examine the condition of 

 the house in which first he sees the light, whether in its 

 construction and interior economy it is calculated to aid 

 in the development of a high class of physical health and 

 strength, of habits of cleanliness and decency, and of a sound 

 morality, Tracing the career of our supposed labourer 

 we shall see him fitted to bo sent to school, and sliall have 

 an opportunity to examine the condition in which he can 

 receive his education, and how far that education is calcu 

 lated to aid him in the every-day work he will be called 

 upon to perform. Educated or not educated, his next step 

 in life is to obtain employment ; and tracing him so far, 

 we shall be led to inquire into the mode by which he can 

 ofler liis services to, and in which they will be accepted 

 by a farmer, thus opening up the discussion of statute 

 fairs and hiring markets ; and this again will naturally 

 lead us to inquii'e as to the wages wliicli his labour will bring 

 him. Having seen our labourer educated for his work, 

 and how that work is rewarded, I shall glance at the extent 

 of the time allotted to him for rest and recreation, and 

 what is the nature of the recreation of which he can avail 

 himself; finally inquiring what is likely to be his position 

 in advanced years, and what provision he is capable of 

 making for that time in the life of every man, when, how- 

 ever much willingness to work exists, capability to do it fails. 

 The task I have chalked out for myself is, you will per- 

 ceive, no common one, nor is it free from difiiculties 

 which might well alarm me. In making my remarks I 

 hope to do so with freedom from presumption and over- 

 confidence. I fear it is impossible for me to get rid alto- 

 getlier of prejudices which result from a long-continued 

 examination of the subject; but these prejudices I shall 

 protrude upon your notice as seldom as may be, and if I 

 have a hobby, as I believe I have, I shall not perpetually or 

 over-much parade its paces before you. I wish "nothing 

 to extenuate or set down aught in malice," but I know that 

 I must of necessity express opinions which will run counter 

 to those^of many who hear me — " many men, many minds ;" 

 for it is a remarkable feature connected witli tliji subject of 

 my paper, that while there is a singular unanimity as 



