236 A Walk from 



ten or twelve shillings a week, and he will learn some- 

 thing that his philosophy never dreamed of. 



Even while bending under the weight of the beer- 

 barrel, thousands of agricultural laborers in England 

 have accomplished wonders by their indefatigable in- 

 dustry, integrity and economy. Put a future before 

 them with a sun in it- some object they may reach 

 that is worth a life's effort, and as large a proportion 

 of them will work for it as you will find in any other 

 country. A servant girl told me recently that her 

 father was a Devonshire laborer, who worked the best 

 years of his life for seven shillings a week, and her 

 mother for three, when they had half a dozen children 

 to feed and clothe, Yet, by that unflagging industry 

 and ingenious economy with which thousands wrestle 

 with the necessities of such a life and throw them 

 too, they put saving to saving, until they were able to 

 rent an acre of orcharding, a large garden for vege- 

 tables, then buy a donkey and cart, then a pony and 

 cart, and load and drive them both to market with 

 their own and their neighbors' produce, starting from 

 home at two in the morning. In a few years they 

 were able to open a little grocery and provision shop, 

 and are now taking their rank among the tradespeople 

 of the village. But if the farm servants of England 

 could only be induced to give up beer and lay by the 



