London to John O 1 Groat's. 223 



being cut down through with a jack-knife into morsels 

 when eaten. 



Such is a habit that devours a lion's share of the 

 English laborer's earnings, and leaves Food, Raiment 

 and Housing to shift for themselves. If he works by 

 the piece and finds his own beer, it costs him more 

 than he pays for house rent, or for bread, or meat, or 

 for clothes for himself and family. If his employer 

 furnishes it or pays him commutation money, it amounts 

 for all his men to a tax of half-a-crown to the acre for 







his whole farm. There is no earthly reason why agri- 

 cultural laborers in this country should spend more in 

 drink than those of New England. I am confident 

 that if a census were taken of all the " hired men " of 

 our six states, and a fair average struck, the daily 

 expenditure for drinks would not exceed 2d., or 4 cents 

 per head, while their average wages would amount to 

 4s., or 96 cents, per day through the year. Yet our 

 summers are far hotter and dryer than in England, our 

 labor equally hard, and there is really more natural 

 occasion for drinks in our harvest-fields than here. It 

 would require a severe apprenticeship for our men to 

 acquire a taste for sharp ale or strong beer as a beverage 

 under our July sun. A pail or jug of sweetened water, 

 perhaps with a few drops of cider to the pint, to sour it 

 slightly, and a spoonful of ginger stirred in, is our 



