THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER 561 



be earned in the towns ; and even if this means no real advan- 

 tage, if the extra cash is more than absorbed in the extra ex- 

 penses, the average man likes to have the handling of money. 

 He does not think of the rent of the squalid rooms, of the cost of 

 the tramcars and the music halls ; he does not reck of the time 

 when he will begin to grow old and be pushed out of his place by 

 some new-comer from the land. Yonder it is thirty shillings ; 

 here it is only eighteen. That is what he remembers. So he goes 

 to accomplish his destiny, whatever it may be. 



But it is not solely a question of wages ; he and his wife seek 

 the change and the excitement of the streets. Nature has little 

 meaning for most of them, and no charms ; but they love a gas 

 lamp. Nature, in my experience, only appeals to the truly edu- 

 cated. Our boasted system of education seems to make it detest- 

 able a thing to flee from. Lastly, in towns, there is a chance of 

 rising ; but in the country, for nineteen out of twenty, there is no 

 hope that they will become farmers on their own account. So the 

 countryman chooses the town, and as a consequence the character 

 of Englishmen appears to be changing, not as those who have 

 observed certain recent scenes, at Waterloo Station and elsewhere, 

 may reflect entirely for the better. 



Before speaking of possible remedies for evils which are gen- 

 erally admitted to exist, I wish to allude very briefly to the condi- 

 tion of those engaged in agriculture, as I have found it to be. 

 Of the three classes connected with the land the landowner, 

 the tenant farmer, and the labourer I believe that, taking the 

 country- through, the owner has suffered most. In many counties, 

 such as Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, there is often 

 nothing at all left for him after the various expenses have been 

 met, whereas, if it is in any way encumbered, landed property is 

 as a millstone round his neck. In such counties the possession of 

 land is becoming, or has already become, a luxury for rich taste for 

 sport. Than this no state of affairs can be more unwholesome 

 or unnatural ; the land should support men, not men the land. 

 Also there are more acres than there are rich folk to buy them. 



In some parts of England, however, the landlords are still 

 living on their rents, but where they have no other resource, in 



