148 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



turbed by some riotous men in the tap-room, which is the 

 other side of the big chimney. Mrs. Jones seemed trying to 

 prevail on them to leave the house, which they refused to do, 

 singing &quot; We won t go home till morning.&quot; Mrs. Jones is a 

 little, quiet, meek, soft-spoken woman, and we were appre 

 hensive for her safety. I was about to go to her assistance, 

 when the maid entered and said, &quot; If you please, sir, my mis 

 tress would like to see you.&quot; I went hastily round into the 

 tap-room, and found two stout, dirty, drunken men, swinging 

 pewter mugs, and trying to sing &quot; There was a jolly collier.&quot; 

 Mrs. Jones stood between them. I pushed one of them aside, 

 and asked her what she wished me to do expecting that she 

 would want me to try to put him into the street. The men 

 made such a noise that I could not hear her mild voice in re 

 ply, which, she perceiving, turned again and said, in a tone 

 that at once quelled them, &quot; Stop your noise, you brutes !&quot; 

 and then to me, &quot;will you please step into the kitchen, sir?&quot; 

 She only wished to know what we would like to have for our 

 breakfast and dinner, as the shops would close soon, and, to 

 morrow being Sunday, they would not be open before noon. 

 You talk about woman s feebleness ! 



The next morning, when we were going out, she came to 

 unlock the door of the passage or entry, and told us she was 

 obliged by law to keep it locked till two o clock. At two 

 o clock we found it open, and immediately after saw a man 

 drinking beer in the tap-room again. 



There is a continual and universal beer-drinking in Ches 

 ter. Mrs. Jones tells us that the quality of the beer made 

 here has long been a matter of town pride, though now there 

 is very little brewed in families, every one almost being sup 

 plied, at a great saving of trouble, from the large breweries. 

 She says there used to be a town law that whoever brewed 

 poor beer should be publicly ducked. Sunday night, young 



