46 THE GREAT WAR 



ever, is not a desirable occupation for women ; 

 and it will be found that, as a rule, they will not 

 return to it, especially as they can so easily 

 get employment in the towns. 1 Here again the 

 principle of ownerships comes in to solve this 

 difficult labour problem. The objection to 

 field work for women does not apply to wives 

 and families of peasant proprietors. On the 

 Continent it is seen almost universally that the 

 family, as regards labour, is the main help of the 

 men-folk, who cultivate their own land. The 

 wife can attend to her household duties, and can 

 occupy her spare time by working on the holding 



women in agricultural work, see " Colonization of Eural 

 Britain," pages 229 onwards. 



1 The writer's mother, when a young woman, worked 

 in the fields, as was the custom in those days. Some years 

 ago he had speech with an old farmer at Broadhembury, 

 Devon, who told him, " Your grandfather, who was the 

 finest all-round labourer in the parish, worked for me till 

 he was above eighty years of age, and when he was past 

 regular work he came on butter-making days to turn the 

 churn. I paid him eight shillings a week, and his three 

 daughters (one of them the writer's mother) sixpence a day 

 each, with an allowance of cider." These wages, together 

 with the small earnings of the sons, made the total income 

 of the family a fairly good one. One of the sons was 

 apprenticed to a blacksmith, another to a cartwright, and 

 the third enlisted as a soldier. 



