292 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



special occasions. It is made the object of the greatest 

 care by the labourer, who will carefully lock it up during 

 the six days of the week ; and if his wife be a good, thrifty 

 woman the one suit of black will last a lifetime." 



From another Devon correspondent came the com- 

 munication : 



" The present dress of the peasant is certainly in great 

 contrast to what it used to be. But whether the present 

 style be more conducive to comfort and adaptability to 

 labour than was that of the past I mean the style of the 

 fathers and mothers of the present generation of farm 

 labourers is, I think, questionable. The ' tally system,' 

 under which so much per week is paid towards an article 

 of dress or cheap jewellery, too often unsuitable and un- 

 becoming, has engendered a taste for finery in the wives 

 and especially in the daughters of our labourers a taste 

 that, in its results, is sometimes almost grotesque." 



Confirmatory communications all tending to similar 

 conclusions came to us from Somersetshire. One simply 

 said, in reference to the dress question : 



" It has partaken of the spirit of the age. It is not for 

 me to say whether the peasant's expenditure on dress is in 

 excess of his income." 



Another remarked : 



" Dress shows no distinctive feature, and usually consists 

 of cord trousers, and cloth coats and vests which have com- 



Eleted their Sunday duty. The useful and durable ' smock 

 ock ' is here a thing of the past. For Sundays the men 

 generally have a very good suit of clothes, the children are 

 neat and tidy, and the women are sufficiently well clothed 

 to make a respectable appearance at church or chapel, when 

 they choose to go." 



From another Somersetshire parish the vicar wrote : 



" The ' Clothing Club ' in this district is in a flourishing 

 condition, and does much to improve the social position 

 of the children." 



He concluded : 



" A lady not lo 

 we had had for our school treat. ' We have not had one,' 



" A lady not long ago congratulated me on the fine day 

 our school treat. ' We 



