The Agricultural Labourer. 727 =531 
r form without his remark, and his cunning eye could detect 
r as she lay therein at a distance which would baffle far more 
actised persons. In these early years his sole chance of book- 
e lay in the influence of the night and Sunday schools ; 
t he was not much pressed on this matter, and he became 
icidedly more qualified for the post of ploughman than of 
ijrk. 
(Promotion came in time, and the first great object of his 
abition was gratified when he held the plough and obtained 
( nmand over the much-enduring horses. At twenty years of 
. being a decent ploughman and a strong lad, he got a 
;uation as horse-keeper or carter, and was now in receipt of 
aple wages, and with a fair prospect before him. But one 
ie day he found himself wending his way to church, dressed in 
li best, and with a somewhat smart-looking damsel, a little 
hunger than himself, by his side. A home has been promptly 
tien ; a table, a bed, and a couple of chairs thrust therein ; and 
iw behold him in his new capacity as a married man ! From 
ts time his daily life is somewhat as follows : — He rises early, 
likes the fire, and prepares his simple breakfast, consisting 
( a cup or two of hot tea, and some hot toast or bread with 
Itter or dripping. Shortly after 6 A.M. he sallies forth, being 
jierally expected to be at his work at 6.30. The basket 
\ ich he carries with him, and which contains his provision 
I the day, includes a loaf of white bread ; a piece of bacon 
( beef, more or less substantial, according to his means ; a bit 
< cheese or butter ; and a bottle containing cold tea or coffee, 
(have previously remarked that in the cider counties of Eng- 
lid an allowance of about two quarts a day of that beverage is 
; lerally made to each man the year through. The custom, 
1 ivever, is gradually diminishing, and a money payment taking 
t' place of the allowance.) The garden, also, always furnishes 
1 n with some relish. In winter two or three onions and some 
];atoes, in summer a lettuce or two, or some broad beans or 
] IS, are placed beside his other provisions, and the whole is 
1 itly covered with a white cloth. The bread in question is, of 
< use, the staple food with him, and a word or two must be 
s d about it. It is always wheaten bread, and of the whitest 
( our and the finest quality which it is possible to procure from 
t ' baker. In nothing is an English labourer's wife more par- 
t ular than the colour and quality of the bread which she buys, 
ii admixture of meal is tolerated, and it is generally eaten 
^ en one or two days old. " The better the bread " (i. e. in 
\ iteness and fineness) " the further it goes," is with her a 
xim of daily life. An experience so extensive as that which 
