AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 49 



example, which came under my observation. In Arbroath, near 

 the magnificent ruins of the ancient abbey of Arbroath, I heard 

 the movements of a hand-loom, and I took the liberty, with due 

 ceremony, of going in. A middle-aged Scotch woman, of pleas 

 ing appearance and neatly dressed, was weaving. I asked her 

 how much she was able to earn. She replied that if she rose 

 early, at five o clock, and worked all day through the week, after 

 paying for the use of the loom and the cost of winding her 

 spools, her week s work would amount to four shillings. She 

 received n parish assistance. She paid three pounds sixteen 

 shillings for the rent of her house. Her fuel cost her ninepence 

 per week ; and out of the remainder less than two shillings 

 she had to support and clothe herself and an aged mother, who 

 was very infirm, and incapable of helping herself. What the 

 support that either of the poor creatures could have under such 

 circumstances must be left to conjecture. The woman spoke of 

 her circumstances as being difficult, but she made no complaint, 

 and presented an example of true Christian philosophy, which 

 would have done honor to a superior education and the highest 

 condition in life. 



In all parts of the country, women are more or less employed 

 on the farms, and in some parts in large numbers ; I have fre 

 quently counted thirty, fifty, and many more in a field at a time, 

 both in hoeing turnips and in harvesting. I have found them, 

 likewise, engaged in various other services in pulling weeds, in 

 picking stones, in unloading and treading grain, in tending thresh 

 ing-machines, in digging potatoes and pulling and topping tur 

 nips, in tending cattle, in leading out dung, and in carrying lime 

 stone and coals. Indeed, there is hardly any menial service to 

 which they are not accustomed; and all notions of their sex 

 seem out of the question whenever their labor is wanted or can 

 be applied. The wages of women are commonly sixpence and 

 eightpence, and they seldom exceed tenpence a day, excepting 

 in harvest, when they are as high as a shilling. The hours of 

 labor for the men are usually from six o clock, A. M., to six, 

 P. M., with an interval of an hour for breakfast and an hour for 

 dinner. The women rarely come before eight o clock, and quit 

 labor at six, with the usual indulgence for dinner. Many of the 

 laborers walk two and three miles to their work, and return at 

 night. Their meals are taken in the fields, and in the most 

 simple form. The dinner is often nothing more than bread. 

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