166 = 500 
The Agricultural Labourer. 
Scotch 
shepherds 
compared wi 
labourers in 
southern till 
age districts. 
th 
Northern 
labourer 
superior to 
southern. 
shepherd of northern England or of the Highlands of Scotland 
compaie him, mentally or physically, with the illiterate and li 
capable .labourer of the southern English counties. The distil 
tion between these two, which is very plain to well-inform 
Englishmen, may be less obvious at first sight to a foreign 
since they both undoubtedly live to some extent under simi 
agricultural conditions. The training of the two men is, ho 
ever, of such a different character, that a much higher degree " 
intelligence is engendered in the one case than the other ; a f ; 
which compels me to allude in a very few words to the physi 
features of Great Britain. 
A considerable portion of northern England and the grea * 
part of Scotland is, as is well known, occupied by a rugged a . 
mountainous district, which, from its hilly nature and its la: • 
rainfall, is more adapted to grazing and stock-rearing than i 
cultivation. In such regions the " labourer " is almost entir • 
represented by the shepherd class — men engaged almost entir ' 
in the charge of flocks and herds. The isolation of the lives f 
these men and the difficulties of their calling have so con ■ 
buted to thoughtfulness and reflection upon the matters wh i 
concern their everyday life and the welfare of their charges, 1 1 
it would perhaps be difficult in any country to find a class p - 
sessed of greater natural intelligence and sagacity. Trail 1 
from the cradle to the intelligent use of every bodily facu , 
and enjoying the advantages of education which have long b l 
highly prized by their fathers, the hill shepherds of the nc i 
form a somewhat remarkable race, but one which, I fear, a 
hardly be said to typify in general characteristics the class I a 
about to describe. 
In the more southern districts of our island, tillage, favou i 
by a more genial climate and a more level surface, rei s 
supreme. Here the land is laid out in large holdings occuj i 
by tenant-farmers, each one employing a considerable stafi I 
labourers, engaged without cessation in the regular cultiva B 
of the soil ; ploughing, sowing, reaping, stacking, thresh: ^ 
from day to day and year to year. Receiving from the far tr 
or his steward the most minute directions concerning e\ J 
detail of their work, it is perhaps no wonder that habits )f 
mental forecast should in some cases have been unformec >r 
neglected, and that therefore these men should compare so 
what unfavourably with those whose training has been of a n 
instructive character. 
The superiority of the northern shepherd over the southern f 
servant extends also in a great degree to the northern laboi" 
engaged in almost identical pursuits with the other. !• 
I 
i 
! 
Northumbrian " hind " is markedly different to the Hamps t 
