34 



for if the money spent in liquor were expended in useful articles there would 

 be a wonderful revival in trade. A couple of men could soon brew enough 

 beer to ruin thousands- 

 Mr. Clakkk, of Buckland Dinham, said he had been a teetotaller for 

 thirteen years. When he signed the pledge, his young nuister told him he 

 ought to be shot or hung, but his old master said if he heard such an 

 expression again he would •' stop the tap'' altogether. The speaker then 

 enlarged on the advantages of teetotalism in all kinds of farm work. 



WHAT THE FARM LABOURERS SAY. 



* Dear Sih, — I am greatly pleased with what you are doing to do away 

 with paying men engaged on the land with beer. I can bear my testimony to 

 the harm that has been done to the men, and especially the lads. I believe 

 that thousands get drunk for the first time in the hay and harvest field, on the 

 drink given by the master. Vast numbers learn to like the drink in this way, 

 and so all that they have learned at school and church is undone, and a life of 

 sin and poverty is commenced. The practice of giving men, women and boys 

 beer as has been done in the past is wrong ; it is unjust ; it is cruel and 

 demoralizing. The idea is that more work is got out of the men, but it is not 

 so. 1 can speak from experience, and I know that a man can do moi-e work 

 without the beer, because he can then get proper food with the money saved 

 from beer. Every working man knows that it is food that gives strength. 

 The beer only takes the strength out of him ; then more than this, men get 

 drunk in the field, as Sir Philip Rose said in his letter, and if they have a 

 public to pass on their way home, they cannot get by, they often go on drink- 

 ing till they are turned out, and go home drunk at a very late hour. What 

 state can such men be in for their work the next day ? Then the beer system 

 often leads to quarrelling and fighting. I remember once two men, after they 

 had had their beer at four o'clock, quarrelled and fought with their scythes, 

 and one cut the other fearfully, and I assisted in sowing up the wound in the 

 poor drunkard's body. I have had a good deal of experience in farm work, 

 and I am satisfied that you are doing a work that will prove to be a real 

 blessing, both to employers and labourers, and if the society had been at work, 

 as it is now, 20 or 30 years ago. the labourers would have been in a very much 

 more comfortable and contented position than they are at present. I cannot think 

 that thoughtful employers will go on in forcing the beer upon the labourers, 

 when they know what a curse it is to men and their families, to both body 

 and soul. The church cannot do a better thing. God is blessing your work, 

 and I feel sure that He will bless it. 



Your humble Servant. 



A WORKING MAN. 



MOWING THREE ACRES OF CORN IN ONE DAY, 

 WITHOUT BEER. 



It will be remembered by our readers, that at a Conference, held in the 

 Music Hall, on May 2yth, in connection with the Leamington branch of the 

 Church Temperance Society, and under the presidency of A Hodgson. Esq , 

 President of the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture, that jMr. J . Abbey, 

 of Oxford, in a speech stated that he had known a man mow 3 acres of corn 

 in one day. This statement was challenged by Mr. W^akefield, of Fletchamp- 

 stead. Air. Abbey accepted the challenge, and stated that he would give £5 

 to the Leamington Hospital if he failed to establish his statement, if Mr. 

 Wakefield would agree to do the same if he succeeded. It appears that 

 Mr. Abbey sent the report of the conference to several people in Yorkshire, 

 and the following letters have been received, which the vicar ot Leamington 

 has forwarded to us for publication. It will be seen that Mr. Abbey's state- 

 ment is fully sustained, and to prove that the letters are bana fide, names, 

 and addresses are given. — Leamington Chronicle. 



My dear Sir, — In answer to your enquiry, I am glad to say that I have 

 frequently mown 3 acres of corn per day. 1, and my brother George, once 

 cut 7 acres between us in one day, and at the time were honest teetotallers of 



