A WORTHY PEASANT. 
19 
obtain something- — and there is a constant demand for 
the article. The winter accumulation is carted away 
as the frost occurs, or the spring repair comes on. Our 
laborers, their children and cottages, I think, present a 
testimony of their well-doing, by the orderly, decent 
conduct of the former, and the comforts of the latter. 
There are years when we have disposed of about 3000 
tons of stone, chiefly broken up for use by a few of our 
village poor; if we say by twenty families, it will have 
produced perhaps seven pounds to each, a most comfort- 
able additiop to their means, when we consider that 
this has been obtained by the weak and infirm, at inter- 
vals of time without more than the cost of labor, when 
employment elsewhere was in no request. 
I may perhaps be pardoned in relating here the good 
conduct of a villager, deserving more approbation than 
my simple record will bestow ; and it affords an eminent 
example of what may be accomplished by industry and 
economy, and a manifestation that high wages are not 
always essential, or solely contributive to the welfare 
of the laborer.— When I first knew A. B., he was in a 
state of poverty, possessing, it is true, a cottage of his 
own, with a very small garden ; but his constitution 
being delicate, and health precarious, so that he was not 
a profitable laborer, the farmers were unwilling to em- 
ploy him. In this condition he came into my service : 
his wife at that time having a young child contributed 
very little to the general maintenance of the family : 
his wages were ten shillings per week, dieting himself, 
and with little besides that could be considered as pro- 
fitable. We soon perceived that the clothing of the 
family became more neat and improved ; certain grada- 
tions of bodily health appeared ; the cottage was white- 
washed, and inclosed with a rough wall and gate ; the 
rose and the corchorus began to blossom about it ; the 
pig became two ; and a few sheep marked A. B. were 
running about the lanes : then his wife had a little cow, 
which it was “ hoped his honor would let eat some of 
the rough grass in the upper field but this was not 
entirely given : this cow, in spring, was joined by a 
better; but finding such cattle difficult to maintain 
