SEED-TIME FOR REVOLT. 25 



" was not fit to carry offal to a bear." Two or three day? 

 afterwards this extraordinary scene was the subject of a 

 cartoon in Punch. The ladies of the Girdlestone family 

 had to suffer insults ; but this did not deter the brave 

 parson from carrying on his admirable work for six years, 

 and in that period between four and five hundred men were 

 sent away to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Kent, Sus- 

 sex, and other counties. The migratory movement spread 

 from Devonshire into Wiltshire and Somersetshire and gen- 

 erally with a northward tendency. Canon Girdlestone 

 left Devonshire in June 1872 for Gloucestershire ; and there 

 is no doubt that the publicity given to the conditions of 

 life in Devon, in the Press, paved the way for Arch's 

 movement. 



The labourer's life in the Midlands, fortunately for him, 

 was better than in Devon. Herefordshire in 1871 had 

 formed a Union in the village of Leintwardine where it was 

 backed up by the Rector a most unusual occurrence in those 

 days. It spread over six counties and boasted of 30,000 

 members. " Emigration, Migration, but not Strikes," was 

 its motto, and probably it was instrumental in raising wages 

 in some of the Midland counties from gs. or los. to us. 

 or i2s. a week. This Union carried on Canon Girdlestone's 

 v/ork of migration by sending labourers into Yorkshire, 

 Lancashire, and Staffordshire, where wages were a few 

 shillings a week higher. 



In Herefordshire the farm labourer in addition to his 

 IDS. to I2S. a week would get two rows of potatoes in one 

 of the fields, a supply of skim milk and an occasional rabbit. 

 Meat was of course a luxury seldom indulged in. Bacon 

 took its place. The most common dish was one called 

 " flummery " made from oatmeal with the water drained 

 off. The pot would be put on the centre of the table and 

 folk would help themselves. They would dip their spoons 

 into the jelly-like mixture and then plunge the spoon into 

 a bowl of milk before carrying it to the mouth. I am told 

 by one who has often eaten it that the mixture had a sour 

 taste. 



There were no stated hours of work ; frequently men 



