THE FARMER SWINGS HIS SCYTHE. 57 



in the manufacturing districts to elicit renewed support from 

 the trade unionists and the general public. Though Taylor 

 warned them of the difficulties of a long tramp, quite a 

 number of elderly, worn-looking men volunteered and were 

 chosen to take part in the pilgrimage. Amid great cheer- 

 ing from the men left behind and some weeping from the 

 women, sixty or seventy English peasants in velveteens 

 and smocks with the Union's blue ribbons prominently 

 displayed and with banners flying began their pilgrimage. 

 A light wagon bore the flags when they were not needed for 

 display, and carried what scanty baggage the labourers 

 brought with them. 



Cambridge was the first town to receive this quaint pil- 

 grimage. Eye-witnesses have declared that they looked in 

 need of a substantial meal, and this is not to be wondered 

 at, considering the poor food they had been living upon, 

 and that many of them had walked seven or eight miles 

 from their respective villages before they tramped the 

 fifteen miles to Cambridge. After a meal they processed 

 to the Common, where Taylor was again the chief spokes- 

 man. Twenty-five pounds were collected, 12 of which 

 consisted of pence and halfpence. After Cambridge they 

 visited Bedford, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, 

 Birmingham and Coventry, though it must be admitted 

 that many of these towns were reached by rail. They cleared 

 700 by this pilgrimage, after paying expenses. 



The public received them with great enthusiasm as they 

 marched through the manufacturing towns singing songs 

 written by their friends. 



When harvest began in the third week of July in some 

 parts of the eastern counties, it was a bitter pill for the 

 labourers to swallow, to see the corn they had sown reaped 

 and harvested by strangers. A greater use was made of 

 the reaping machines, and the steam plough was brought 

 into play to break up the stubble. By the beginning of 

 August union men began to go back to their jobs on their 

 masters' assumption that they had thrown up their union 

 ticket. 



Yet Mr. Clifford tells us that he found in Suffolk no feeling 



