16 A WORTHY PEASANT* 



produced perhaps seven pounds to each, a most 

 comfortable addition to their means, when we con- 

 sider that this has been obtained by the weak and 

 infirm, at intervals of time without more than the 

 cost of labour, when employment elsewhere was in 

 no request. 



I may perhaps be pardoned in relating here the 

 good conduct of a villager, deserving more appro- 

 bation than my simple record will bestow ; and it 

 affords an eminent example of what may be accom- 

 plished by industry and economy, and a manifesta- 

 tion that high wages are not always essential, or 

 solely contributive to the welfare of the labourer. 

 When I first knew A. B., he was in a state of po- 

 verty, possessing, it is true, a cottage of his own, 

 with a very small garden ; but his constitution being 

 delicate, and health precarious, so that he was not 

 a profitable labourer, the farmers were unwilling to 

 employ him. In this condition he came into my 

 service : his wife at that time having a young child, 

 contributed very little to the general maintenance 

 of the family : his wages were ten shillings per week, 

 dieting himself, and with little besides that could 

 be considered as profitable. We soon perceived 

 that the clothing of the family became more neat 

 and improved ; certain gradations of bodily health 

 appeared ; the cottage was white- washed, and en- 

 closed with a rough wall and gate ; the rose and 

 the corchorus began to blossom about it; the pig 

 became two; and a few sheep marked A. B. were 

 running about the lanes : then his wife had a little 



