222 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



In saying that the position of affairs thus pointedly 

 and truthfully outlined by Mr. Osborne had not 

 materially changed in thirty years, it is perhaps just 

 to note that there were some signs of an upward tendency 

 towards a better condition of things ; but they were 

 very slight. To illustrate the slight change for the 

 better, it may be mentioned that a decrease was observ- 

 able in the number of persons unable, on marriage, to 

 sign the parish register, but having to make marks. 

 In 1855, in one illustrative county, Devonshire, no less 

 than 27 per cent, of the men and 33 per cent, of the 

 women had to sign by marks. Ten years after, namely, 

 in 1865, the proportion was 18 per cent, of men and 

 22 per cent, of women. It is curious that the exact 

 proportion between the two classes was maintained at 

 the later date, as compared with 1855, the result, tried 

 by " rule of three," leaving no fraction. 



"There was evidence, too, in 1868-69" the present 

 writer remarked in 1872 " of a greater desire on the part 

 of parents to secure education for their children than had 

 previously existed ; though plans and proposals for education 

 were more conspicuous than any practical efforts to make 

 instruction a reality. There were signs, too, of a slight 

 improvement in morals, in so far, at least, as a diminution 

 of drunkenness was concerned ; but the terrible evils of 

 overcrowding still existed in full vigour, and the ' mop,' 

 ' hiring/ or ' statute ' fair, to which no reference has yet 

 been made, had not ceased to disgrace some of the smaller 

 towns of the western districts. These fairs, annually 

 held to enable servants of both sexes to be hired, were often- 

 times the occasion of the greatest drunkenness and pro- 

 fligacy. Young girls dressed in their finest clothes were 

 exhibited, like cattle, to be hired by the would-be employers 

 who came to the fair to seek their services ; and the scenes 

 which frequently took place at the close of the day were top 

 disgraceful for description. But though the ' mop ' fair 

 had not then, as it has not yet, become an institution of 

 the past, there were, happily, signs that its decline had 

 commenced." l 



1 " Peasant Life in the West of England." 



