THE MISSION OF CANON GIRDLESTONE. 229 



more than ordinary labourers ; or, in lieu of extra wages, 

 had their cottages and gardens rent free. The North Devon 

 labourer had, Canon Girdlestone affirmed, absolutely no privi- 

 leges in addition to his money wages. There was the 

 nominal privilege of what is called grist ' corn, already 

 referred to, the labourer, all the year round, being allowed 

 to have wheat from the farmer, his employer, at one fixed 

 price, whatever the state of the wheat market might be. 

 In dear seasons this was an advantage ; but when wheat 

 was cheap, the labourer still paid the same price, which, in 

 such a case, was frequently higher than the market price. But 

 the advantage gained during seasons of scarcity was counter- 

 balanced by the fact that the ' grist ' corn was always of 

 inferior quality, consisting, as it did, of the - tailings/ or 

 wheat which was too small in grain for the market. From 

 his acquaintance with the ' grist ' corn custom, Canon Girdle- 

 stone came to the conclusion that it conferred no privilege 

 whatever upon the labourer. As to work, the labourer 

 was obliged to commence at seven o'clock in the morning, 

 and he was supposed to leave off about half-past five in 

 the evening, being allowed during the day half an hour for 

 ' forenoons ' luncheon and an hour for dinner. At this 

 rate, the nominal day would last ten hours and a half. 

 Really, however, the regular labourer was often kept many 

 hours later, on overtime, but without any extra pay what- 

 ever, and sometimes from six in the morning until eight 

 and nine o'clock at night ! Piecework in North Devon, 

 at the time referred to, was not very general, the majority 

 of the labourers being employed on the regular weekly wages 

 already named. In harvest time both in hay and corn 

 harvest the men were usually employed much beyond 

 the regular hours, frequently until nine and ten o'clock at 

 night. For this extra work, each day, they usually got 

 their supper, but seldom any additional wages, except in 

 cases where the harvest was done by piecework. But it 

 has been seen that piecework was not the general practice. 

 Women were employed to a great extent, and they earned 

 sevenpence or eightpence a day. But, deducting the wear 

 and tear of clothes which was considerable in the case of 

 women the advantage was so small as to be scarcely 

 appreciable. On this ground, many women would have 

 refused to work at all, but for the fact that they were very 

 often compelled to do so by the agreement made between 

 their husbands and the farmers ; the latter making the 

 employment of the wife a condition of the engagement of 

 the husband. Fuel was only given to the labourer in pay- 

 ment for the work of - grubbing up ' the foundations of a 

 hedge, or cutting a hedge down, such work being always 

 performed during overtime the fuel obtained being what 

 was '- grubbed up.' In very many cases the peasant of 

 North Devon was forbidden by the farmer to keep a pig 

 or even poultry, for fear he might steal the food for fatten- 



