AGRICULTURAL LABOR IN ENGLAND- 



285 



gutter. There are two or tlircc naiTow pas- 

 sages leading from tlie street, betw eon the houses, 

 to the back ol' them. Behind the cottages 

 the ground rises rather abi-uptly ; and about 

 three j-ards up the elevation are placed the pig- 

 sties and privies of the cottages. There are also 

 shallow excavations, the receptacles apparent- 

 ly of all the dirt of the families. The matter 

 constantly escaping from the pig-stie.s, privies, 

 &c. is allowed to find its way through the pas- 

 sages between the cottages into the gutter in 

 the street, so that the cottages are nearly sur- 

 rounded by streams of tilth. ]t was in these 

 cottages that a malignant typhus broke out about 

 two years ago, which afterwards spread through 

 the village. The bed-room 1 have above de- 

 scribed is in one of them. 



This is. perhaps, au extreme case ; but I hard- 

 ly visited a cottage where there were any at- 

 tempts at draining. The dirt of ilie family is 

 thrown down before or behind the cottage ; if 

 there is any natural inclination in the ground 

 from the cottage, it escapes ; if not, it remains 

 till evaporated. Most cottages have pig-sties 

 joiuing them ; and tJiese add to the external un- 

 cleanliness of the laborers' dwelling. 



With reference to the subject of lodging, Mr. 

 Phelps, au agent of the Marquis of Lausdowne. 

 says: 



" I was engaged in taking the late census in Brem- 

 bill parish, and in one case in Studley I found twen- 

 ty-nine people living under one roof; amdBg them 

 were manied men and women, and young people of 

 neai-ly all ages. In Studley it is not at all uncommon 

 for a whole family to sleep in the same room. The 

 number of bastards in that place is very gi-eat ; the 

 number of unmanied women is gieater than that i/i 

 the neighboring places. I do n't think this state of 

 things is attriljutable to the women working in the 

 tields, but more to the want of proper accommoda- 

 tion in the cottages." 



Hon. and Rev. S. Godolphin Osborne, rector 

 of Bryanstou, near Blandford, in Dorsetshire, 

 says: 



"To say nothing of the physical injury done to 

 himself (the laborer) and family from the want, in 

 most instances, of anything like proper drainage 

 without his dwelling, and the foul air which they are 

 compelled to breathe from the too contined space of 

 the dwelling within, from infancy to puberty his chil- 

 dren for the most part sleep in the same room with 

 his wife and himself; and whatever attempts at de- 

 cency may be made, (and I have seen many most in- 

 genious and praiseworthy attempts.) still there is the 

 (act ot the old and young, married and unmaiTied. of 

 both sexes, all herded Id^ethcr in one and the same 

 sleeping apailment. Wiihin this last year I saw, in a 

 room about 13 feet square, three beds : on the first 

 lay the mother, a widow, dying of consumption ; on 

 the second two unmarried daughters, one 18 years of 

 age, the other 12; on the third a young niamed 

 couple, whom I myself had married two days before. 

 A married woman of thorough good character told 

 me, a few weeks ago, that on her confinement, so 

 crowded with children is her one room, they are 

 obliged to put her on the Hoor in the middle of the 

 room, th.it they may pay her the requisite attention : 

 she spoke of this as to "her the most painful part of 

 that her hour of trial. I do not choose to put on pa- 

 per the disgusting scenes that I have known to occur 

 from this promiscuous crowding of the se.xes togeth- 

 er. Seeing, however, to what the mind of the young 

 female is exposed from her very childhood. 1 have 

 long ceased to wonder at the othervrise seeming pre- 

 cociouj licentiousness of conversation which may be 

 heard in everj' field where many of the young arc at 

 work together. Kariy robbed by circumstances of 

 much of that puiily which is hCr honor's safest 

 guard, field-work lends a finish to the mischief" | 



(585) 



Mr. Spooner, of Blandford, surgeon, says: 



" Generally the cottages are too small for the fami- 

 lies living in them, and tend to produce and aggi-a- 

 vBte disease, fiom the inmates living so closely to- 

 gether. Two years ago typhus fever occuiTcd in a 

 neighboring piuish, which I attend ; there was one 

 cottage I attended which consisted of one room on 

 the gi'ound-tioor, and two small bed-rooms up stau-s. 

 in this cottage lived an old man, with his wife, hia 

 two daughters, middle-aged women, and his son and 

 wile, with three children — in all, ten individuals. — 

 The whole family had the fever, some of them very 

 sevei'ely. The son's wife, with two of her children, 

 were on a bed in an out-house ; in the out-house was 

 a well, and a large tub containing piss' victuals, and 

 was the general receptacle for everything. The floor 

 was earthen, with no ceiling but the thatch of tlie 

 roof. In the same village there were more than forty 

 cases of tj-phus, and the spread of the disease must 

 be atti-ibuted to the people living so densely packed 

 together." 



The clothing of women employed in field- 

 labor would appear to be inadequate for their 

 work, but the deficiency is not complained of 

 by them. A change of clothes seetiis to be out 

 of the question, although necessary not only for 

 cleanliness, but for convenience and saving of 

 time. The upper parts of the underclothes of 

 women at work, even their sta3-s, quickly be- 

 come wet through with perspiration, whilst the 

 lower parts cannot escape getting equally wet 

 in nearly every kind of work they are engaged 

 in, except in the driest weather. It not unfre- 

 quentlj' happens that a woman, on returning 

 home from work, is obliged to go to bed for an 

 hour or two to allow her clothes to be dried. It 

 is also by no means uncommon for her, if she 

 does not do this, to put them on again the next 

 morning nearly as wet as when she took them 

 oiF. It does not appear that any ill consequences 

 to the health have been obsei-ved by medical 

 men to arise from this cause, unless rheumatism 

 be partly attributable to it. The want of a 

 change of working-clothes, however, does not 

 prevent the generality of working women hav- 

 ing a better gown and other articles of dress for 

 Sundays or holidays. 



With reference to the question of clothing and 

 linen for the family generally, a great change 

 has been effected for the benefit of the laboring 

 classes within these few years by the clothing 

 club.s, which are excellently contrived for aid- 

 ing the poor, and at the same time making such 

 assistance depend upon their own exertions and 

 good conduct, and for avoiding all the mischiefs 

 of indiscriminate charity. I had an opportunity 

 of examining the clothing club at Blandford, in 

 Dorsetshire, and its arrangements and working 

 appeared equally excellent. Any laboring fam- 

 ily of good conduct was allowed "to belong to it, 

 sub.scribing Id. 2d. or 3d. a week, according to 

 its size and other circumstances. At the end of 

 the year, Christmas, the.se subscriptions are 

 doubled by the donations of persons in a better 

 position of life, living in the neighborhood. The 

 subscribers are then entitled to purcha.se of the 

 tradesman appointed to supply the club, to the 

 amount of their respective shares of the funds, 

 any plain articles of dress or of hou.sehold linen. 

 The tradesman of the club, in consideration of 

 the large sum of money thus laid out, and 

 promptly paid at his shop, which in the Bland- 

 ford club exceeded £2,000 last Chri.stma.s, sup- 

 plies the best yticles of the description wanted 

 at a price rather lower than he could afford to 

 .sell them to the laborer dealing with him in the 

 ordinarj- way. It is also an imperative rule of 



