NUNBURNHOLME 55 



adjoining parishes Burnby, Kilnwick- Percy, and 

 Londesbopough to which a fourth (Warter) might 

 subsequently have been added, the same fact held 

 good. To this state of things he frequently alluded 

 afterwards in his letters and other writings with 

 feelings of the greatest satisfaction. 



Although the village was practically free from 

 temptations to the curse of drunkenness, there were 

 other evils which had to be reckoned with. The 

 parish being purely agricultural, such evils as existed 

 were those which ordinarily beset country villages. 

 To one of these he paid special attention in the 

 year that he came to Nunburnholme. This was 

 the system that prevailed all over the East Riding 

 of hiring farm servants. As a magistrate and as 

 a parish priest, he knew only too well the evils 

 that attended that system, and in this year he 

 published a pamphlet dealing with the subject and 

 suggesting remedies. Nothing could be worse than 

 the state of things in those days in connection with 

 this matter. The servants were engaged by the 

 farmers annually at Martinmas, and their engage- 

 ments were binding for one year only. For a 

 week at Martinmas the young people were allowed 

 to go to their homes for a holiday, and nothing 

 could exceed the scenes of wild excitement that 

 took place on these occasions, especially in the 

 market towns, where the young servants of both 

 sexes assembled on the hiring days, and, amid sur- 

 roundings of the utmost disorder and unseemly con- 

 duct, gave free expression to their hilarious feelings. 



