132 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



threatening total collapse. The ground-floor room had been 

 partitioned into two, with the result that both halves were in a 

 state of semi-darkness, even when the sun was shining brightly 

 and the cottage door wide open. The front room was a stifling 

 box in which you might touch both walls with extended arms. 

 At the tune of his visit the occupier (a woman) and^a neighbour 

 were themselves whitewashing the place. The bedrooms were 

 miniature lofts, unpapered, in a crumbling condition, separated 

 by a warped and cracked door, which for years had ceased to 

 answer its original purpose. One window had lost all its panes 

 and was boarded up. The ground-floor window was a curiosity. 

 As the panes had fallen out the occupier had put in glass from 

 one or two picture frames, but the last collapse having exhausted 

 the available glass, a family Bible had been pushed against the 

 sash to keep the wind out. The woman who lives in this hovel 

 with her boy of nine years (who helps to support the ' home ') 

 gave me a heartrending account of her miseries during her first 

 confinement in one of these wretched bedrooms. It was in the 

 depth of whiter and ladies of England, in your sheltered homes, 

 think of it ! the snow lay upon the quilt on her bed, under 

 which shivered mother and new-born babe. The melted snow 

 produced a flood upon the floor, and found its way through the 

 rotten floor and ceiling. Scarcely a ray of light came into the 

 room, and at night the place was in utter darkness, for the wind 

 blew through great holes in the roof in such a way that a candle 

 or lamp was out of the question. On a rough night the cottage 

 shakes so much that the occupant is obliged sometimes to leave 

 the house for fear of its falling. Is it surprising that the woman 

 since the experiences of that awful lying-in, has spent much of 

 her tune in the hospital, and is now quite unable to do any but 

 very light work ? She receives 25. 6d. from the parish and her 

 son earns 55. a week, and out of this the owner of the hovel takes 

 is. a week for rent. The cottage of a small holder is nearly as 

 bad. The whole of the top windows have been blown out, and 

 their place is taken by sacks. 



" The owner of all these cottages is Simon Watson-Taylor, 

 Esquire, D.L., J.P., lord of the manor, lay impropriator, and 

 principal landowner of this and neighbouring villages. At 

 Earlstoke he has a noble mansion, commanding from its elevated 

 position, beautiful views, surrounded by a well-timbered park in 

 which deer roam by lake and cascade." 1 



" Warwick (Ratley). In several instances it is impossible, on 

 a wet night, to sleep in some of the bedrooms, and in the case of 

 one cottage, by standing on a mound close to the house, you may 

 look through the roof into the bedrooms. The landlord of some 



1 Amongst the Agricultural Labourers, 1894. 



