24 



abstinence for the most part, and in one or two specially uncertain cases 

 continues. The result of all this has been a decided success. Not only were 

 the men enabled to work heartily and well together through the entire harvest, 

 without bickerings, disputings. or any unpleasantness, but they did so, as they 

 willingly admit, without in the least degree wanting beer, and as being better 

 satisfied, better in health, able to do more work, less fatigued, and. nu)reover, 

 considerably better in pocket, than with it. The wives of the men and the 

 mothers of the boys are unanimous in declaring that they never had so 

 pleasant and profitable a harvest-time ; and tliey are grateful for the working 

 of the Temperance Society in general, and for Mr. Archer's excellent 

 development of it in particular. 



1 cannot close this paper without adding, that the men distinctly state that 

 they could not have borne the heat and fatigue of harvest work without beer 

 as before, if ]Mr. Archer had not provided them with a beverage in its place ; 

 in other words, if left to their own resources, they could not, liowever desirous 

 of doing so. have found any other drink than beer, and therefore, for this 

 simple reason, beer they must have had. 



As a consequence, plainly enough deducible. I would point out that our 

 Society must address itself as forcibly and as influentially as it can to the 

 employers of agricultural labourers, to enlist their sympathy wdth, and to lend 

 a helping hand to them. The" men may be very willing, but they can 

 practically effect little unless the masters come forward to lead and assist them. 



FREDk. burn HARVEY, 

 May, 1877. Rector of Cheddington, Bucks. 



BEVERAGE ABOVE REFERRED TO. 



To make one gallon : Take half a pound of oatmeal, quarter of a pound 

 of cocoa, and half a pound of sugar ; mix with a little cold water into a thick 

 paste; put the whole into a gallon of boiling water, or into hot water, and 

 boil it. 



The men like it best warm, as more pleasing to the palate and more 

 effective in quenching thirst and even satisfying hunger. If used cold, it tnust 

 be fresh and never more than a few hours old. The cost of this gallon is 

 cheap enough: half a pound of oatmeal, Hd. ; quarter of a pound of 

 cocoa, 2^d.. ; half a pound of sugar Ud. Thus 6"d. per gallon, or l^d. per 

 quart, is the outside cost of the beverage. It was given two or three times a 

 day. F. B. H. 



Bu.scoT Wick, Fauingdon. 



* Dear Sir, — 1 have received your letter in which you referred to a 

 ccmference about to be held in the Corn Exchange, Wallingford, on the 2nd 

 of March. I shall not be able to attend personally, but as I approve of its 

 object, I will rery readily give you my experience. 



To begin with myself. I have been an Abstainer for thirty-three years, 

 and think that if T abstain from all alcoholic drink myself, I cannot 

 conscientiously offer them to others. Moreover, I am well aware that any 

 kind of farm labour can be done better without beer than with it. I am at 

 the present time farming upwards of 200 acres, and consequently employing 

 a good deal of manual labour. The wages I am giving at the present time are 

 fourteen shillings a week, with a good house and garden rent free, and in the 

 harvest piece-work as long as it lasts. During hay-making and harvest only do 

 I give any perquisites : we then make some tea, with plenty of new milk and 

 sugar ; and when late of an evening, their supper ; and 1 can assure you that 

 I have never yet had one complaint made from any one man of my treatment 

 in not giving beer to those in my employ, and 1 have men that have been in 

 my employ now for five years. 'J'he best testimony 1 can give will be that of 

 my carter who will have been with me three years the 6th of next April. I 

 will ask him to write a few lines stating his experience. When he first entered 

 my service he was an habitual drunkard lie has been an Abstainer for 

 nearly two years, and is now an honest, hard-working man ; whereas before 

 he was only an injury to himself, bis wife and children badly clothed and 



