Labour 



any longer — in short it is " Sad England " instead 

 of " Merry England." They are light-hearted 

 perhaps whilst young, but once married and 

 a family on their shoulders the cares of life bear 

 upon them; the women's faces become lined, and 

 the men's recreation is the public house. 



What was the cause of this change? After the 

 Golden Times we have mentioned there came 

 very bad times indeed when the landowners 

 who had the power passed a series of Enclosure 

 Acts, and gradually stole these common lands from 

 the people. There is no other word for their 

 action, indeed it is not half strong enough for 

 one of the most dastardly affairs in our history. 

 It turned Merry England into Mournful England 

 — how mournful, you must read in the books 

 that have been written. I give below a quotation 

 from a work by Hammond on the Village Labourer 

 from 1 760- 1 830. 



" Those were lean and dark years when the 

 country was governed by its magistracy and the 

 House of Commons echoed from a distance its 

 voice. The country poor — robbed of their land 

 by Enclosure Acts (which for bare-faced brigand- 

 age outdo in boldness the schemes of the wildest 

 Socialists of to-day) — barred from escape from 

 their parish by the Law of Settlement; subject 

 to imprisonment for collective bargaining for 



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