EYE-WITNESS EVIDENCE. 259 



at a dame-school he learnt enough to enable him to 

 decipher such big letters as those on posters, waggons, 

 and directing-posts. He had, however, never learned 

 to write. As a boy he worked from six in the morning 

 to six at night, and for this long labour he was paid 

 eighteenpence a week ! At nine years of age he earned 

 two shillings a week, and half a crown wiien he was 

 ten. At that early age he led horses in ploughing, 

 driving carts, and odd jobs, and when eleven years of 

 age he got three shillings a week, and got sixpence more 

 per week up to fourteen. At sixteen he could perform 

 a man's work, and earned six shillings a week. Then 

 came a shilling extra for each of the succeeding three 

 years. At twenty-five, with ten shillings a week, he 

 married, and thereafter brought up a family of nine 

 children. Like the farmer already mentioned, this 

 labourer of eighty-one had his opinions on educational 

 matters, and, although unable to read himself, he 

 thought reading and writing were useful ; but he con- 

 sidered there was danger in " summing," as it tended 

 to " breed cunning." 



