071 Cottage Economy and Cookery* 97* 



In short, close economy is the very life and existence of a poor 

 mans comforts. Without it he will run in arrear with every one 

 with whom he deals ; starvation will stare him in the face ; the 

 wretchedness of his wife and children will drive him in despair 

 to the beer-shop ; and that, finally, as a drunkard, a pilferer, and 

 a poacher, to the workhouse ; whereas, if on the Saturday night 

 he finds that by good management he has made both ends meet, 

 without running into debt, he wdll have the heart-felt satisfaction 

 of providing bread for his children, and perhaps for a worn-out 

 parent who fed him while he was himself yet more helpless ; he 

 will shun the profligate associates of the pot-house ; he will cling 

 to his humble home, and look forward with satisfaction to his 

 evening meal ; his family will be happy, and himself respected 

 in his station ; and if at the close of the week he can lay by a six- 

 pence, he will, by pursuing the same plan, acquire habits of 

 careful industry, which will at length surely render him to a 

 certain degree independent. It can, however, only be done by 

 his having in hand at least a week's wages to the fore ; so as to 

 enable his wife to buy everything for ready money, without having 

 a score at the chandler's shop. 



He should, therefore, pinch and screw the family even in the 

 commonest necessaries until he gets it ; for, if in debt to the 

 shopkeeper, he will pay for everything at the highest price, and 

 of the worst qualit}^ Neither can it be done unless, besides 

 being of industrious habits, he is a good workman ; for, low as 

 wages now are, yet such is the present competition for employ- 

 ment, that it is to be feared no labourer who is not a superior 

 workman can look for more than a mere subsistence ; and al- 

 though the price of labour may be higher in many of the mining 

 and manufacturing than in the purely agricultural districts, there 

 is in such places a corresponding increase in the cost of the neces- 

 saries of life, which deprives the workman of any additional benefit. 

 He should toil early and late to make himself perfect in plough- 

 ing, ditching, draining, and every farming practice which he may 

 be called upon to execute. He will then not only have constant 

 employment at the highest wages, but also frequent profitable jobs 

 at task- work ; and if known to be a trustworthy, intelligent fellow, 

 he may look forward to become the bailiff of the farm, with the 

 prospect of one day renting land for himself. This, to be sure, 

 is the work of time, for a good character cannot be acquired in a 

 moment ; but farmers and land-agents are not unobservant of the 

 habits and qualities of those employed under them, and will ever 

 prefer a man on whom they know that dependence can be placed. 



If the poor man does this on his part, there can be no doubt 

 that the rich will do theirs. They are the natural guardians of 

 the poor, and they cannot but discover their own advantage in 



VOL. III. H 



