184 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



plaining misery. Nothing on the floor besides the - bed- 

 stead ' and the ' table ' and - chair ' ; no pictures, even 

 of the rudest kind, on the walls. One tiny window, cut 

 through the thick wall of the cottage, admitted a little 

 light into this chamber ; and there, with her head in the 

 darkest corner, had lain, for years, this poor old creature, 

 the helpless mother of an English agricultural labourer ! 



"It is terrible to witness want and misery in the foul 

 slums of a great city ; but it is assuredly much more 

 terrible to find it in rose-bound cottages embosomed in 

 the most charming of country nooks, where the very 

 richness of nature seems to rebuke the meanness of man. 

 The poor old bedridden woman had received from the 

 parish a weekly allowance of two shillings and a loaf of 

 bread : but it appeared that even the parochial eyes had 

 moistened at sight of her helpless misery, and the parochial 

 pocket had furnished forth one extra shilling a week in 

 lieu of the hebdomadal loaf of bread. I tendered a trifle 

 in money to the poor old grandmother, whose wrinkled 

 face shone for a moment with a pleased expression, whilst 

 she fairly overwhelmed me with thanks which were alto- 

 gether disproportioned to the smallness of the gift. Turning 

 away, I went, before descending the stairs, into the other 

 of the two bedrooms. Words can hardly convey, with 

 sufficient effect, an impression of the abject poverty which 

 silently, but eloquently, told its piteous tale in that small 

 room. A ragged-looking bed was before me. It filled up 

 the greater part of the room. An old brown, worn tester 

 stretched over this bed, in which the father, mother, and 

 the two youngest children slept. Looking at the ceiling 

 over this tester I noticed dark stains in the plaster, and I 

 said, f Does the rain come in there ? ' The rain had come 

 in upon their bed, I was told, often and often, in wet weather, 

 but now the roof was repaired, although many vain requests 

 had been preferred before this work was done. On the 

 floor at the foot of the bedstead there was a nondescript 

 heap of rags, amongst which the three elder children slept. 

 Seven human beings in this tiny ill-lighted room ! As in 

 the case of the adjoining chamber, there was only one small 

 window. Several of the panes were out, and I expressed 

 my surprise that the landlord had not ordered new ones to 

 be put in. But the landlord never mended windows : 

 that was the tenant's duty ; and this was one of the 

 ' duties ' which the poor tenant of this ' Rose Cottage ' 

 had neglected. These poor people may be pardoned if 

 they cannot understand the proper and legal relationships 

 which exist between landlord and tenant." l 



But the ten shillings a week of the bread-winner for 

 this family of seven a sum that had to be stretched to 

 1 " The English Peasantry." 



