ROMANCE AND REALITY. 185 



assist the poor old " granny " to obtain what the three 

 shillings of parish allowance could not provide, was it 

 must not be forgotten the high-water mark of his 

 incomings. The father of the family was " delicate," 

 and frequently could not work ; so that the average of 

 his wages did not reach the normal weekly half-sovereign ; 

 but assuming it to be a typical condition that the ten 

 shillings was maintained what a sad struggle it must 

 have been for the eight people to live, and provide all that 

 mere existence necessitates ! Let us suppose an un- 

 broken continuance of the thirteen weekly shillings the 

 average for each member weekly was the sum of barely 

 one shilling and eightpence to cover all contingencies 

 food, clothes, house rent, and sickness ! 



There was, however, one other asset the pig : but 

 that had to be obtained from " savings," and how 

 savings could be made was a mystery. Possibly, now 

 and then, a farmer might give a young pig, but I heard 

 of no instance of such generosity. The one belonging 

 to the tenant of " Rose Cottage " had been honestly 

 bought. It was a very young one ; but, nevertheless, 

 it cost twenty-six shillings. Its predecessor had been a 

 dead loss for it got the " measles " and became unfit to 

 eat. So that, now, anxious expectation centred round 

 the new one : but it would not live and grow fat with- 

 out food, and the weekly sum of " scraps " from the 

 meagre table of the family would not be nearly enough 

 for the normal appetite of a thriving pig. The " scraps," 

 therefore, must be supplemented by purchases of barley 

 meal a half-bushel of barley meal cost at the time under 

 review half a crown, and it is needless to suppose that 

 such a big sum could be shared out of the weekly 

 wages : so the meal had to be obtained on "^ credit," and 

 such a score would soon mount up to be a set-off 

 against some portion of the pig when killed. This was a 

 plan not unfrequently adopted the living pig being 

 a sort of tacit security against the supplies of meal. 



