JOTTINGS FROM THE PLOUGH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 283, 30 November 1874, Page 4

JOTTINGS FROM THE PLOUGH.

The above is the title of a column io the People's Courier, the organ of the Laborers' Union. We select a few:-— Geography.— Mr H. Cox, o Paogboorae, writes that the numerous readers of the People's Courier in Berks fcuow more about Queensland than they do about their own country. They would like Queensland beef better, than its geography, but ihe pot^ of Atlantic brine prevents them tasting it. Bare Fact.— The wife of a laborer of Stoke Maodeville, the mother of ten children in nine years, was left a widow with fire children ooder eight. Three persons heard this statement: one laughed, another exclaimed, "Dread* ful!" aad a third said "Legislate." The mother doesn't laugh, cor think it dreadful i but will be glad to know what legislation can do for her. Pensioner* and Paupers.— A certain dokeV great ancle watched a great big battle 1 from" behind 5 a tre.e ; pension, thousands per annum. A farm servant of the duke's, a man of , toil fifty years, weot through the battle of life, the father of thirteen children ; pension, halfra-crowa a week and a loaf for lffe qnly> Moral : study English history, , '.', Aliases. ~ Qnr Boor-bouses, alias Union Workhouses, alias Licensed Gruelling Institutions, separate husbands from wife, . and children frora parents. If DesD Swift was alive be would 6ay,-~ w Whom God has united let not the devil go between." There is pq fear of the devil going between in our workhouses; he would be starved iri a w&k, the only merit of such institutions being cleanliness. JEigblpence.— The wives of many Oxfordshire laborers go into the field for eigbtpence a day. Do the men keep their wives, or do (he wives keep themselves? And pray, who keeps home ? Teetotalers are no better than they should be. If there were a few more in the world the son would shine just as bright ; and if all were to turn teetotalers to-morrow, the result would •lmoas- affect workhouses, asylums, gaotf,' hoepiials, schools, and churches Teetotalism is not religion, any more than; Unionism is, bat a good deal of both may be stowed away in the heart without overcrowding ii. Was I right ?— Speaking one day •bout bad cultivation and Waste lands, I laid— True, lam neither a landlord, tenant, nor laborer; cao neither plough sy straight farrow nor a crooked one, nor telJ the age of a horse by his teeth ; at the same time, lam not such a fool as not to be able to tell the difference between wheat and poppies, barley and thistles ; and some farmers have been growing five acres of weeds to every fifteen acres of grain. That's why Englishmen eat seven pence when four. pence should satisfy them. Boaz is dead. — Said a D.D. in the coarse of his sermon, expressly compiled for the edification of some hundreds of farm laborers, — " Contrast yoor position with that of the Jewish poor, and you will find it infinitely better." This learned divine had evidently overlooked the time of Boaz and the Book of Ruth. "Aod she gleaned in ihe field after the reapers." The Jewish poor gleaned corn amongst the sheaves ; the English poor are hardly allowed to glean stubble. Who say Bread and Lard '—At Aston Abbott's Club feast the members sat down td boiled beef, roast pork, Yorkshire podding, vegetables, cheese, bread and beer, and after eating as though they were hungry, they all declared that a : poor man should have such a dinner every day. How people do talk., £ Quce a year is quite enough to feast. Bread aod lard is good enough ftr poor people. Never Satisfied.— The Cublington laborers have been waiting patiently for the last century for some allotments. A field has at last been out up into one rood farms, aod now these laborers have got a rood they want an acre. JostUke their masters, never satisfied. Mutton Hoes. — A bean field near Marsion Gate station wanted hoeing, and so a flock of sheep and lambs were turned in to do the work. We should be glad to know if the mutton hoes were by the day or on piece work, because a good many were lying down alongside their work. Idle Land. — There are a few score • ; acres of land in Quainton parish that have yielded such enormous profit that the owner in gratitude has been allowing the land to have a two years rest and holiday. The farm took advantage of ihe absence of the laborers, and has rim right away into couch, and also into another man's possession, who is wreaking his vengeance upon it in the ■ifihape of a steam-plough. Behold the *f reward of giving farms rest and faoli- ~' Jays; they run away from you. A D'dit Dinner,— Two pheasants, a blancmange, and one bottle of champagne. Jk Good Dinner. — What you like, and what likes you, and plenty of it. Words = and' Actions. — The labor agitators have used hard words against botir farmers and landlords, but they have not forcibly, ejected an employer from bis home, nor a landlord from his mansion, we hear of some Dorset drudges that have been passing the day and night .under the- hedges. The * Weather is in their favor. And Finds His Own Sboeleather. — A DiiUiogham laborer walked eight miles a day to and from work, for fourteen year*; that is forty-eight miles per week", 192 miles per month, 2496 miles

per year, and 34,944 miles altogether, besides 12 hours' work daily at 2a 6J. per day A good business that for shoemakers Logic— A miner once drank one hotile of champagne; therefore nil minere do the Sanaa thing, One coal-owner made a fortune; therefore all coal-ownsrs are making fortune also. Locked -Out.— A farmer Jacked-oui all his men, and the thistles grew so rank iv his fleld that thyy loeked-out all the sheep. !he*men couldn't go to wotk, n<\i die sheep couldn't go to eat. Fuany, yet true Thistle Grazing- — Wanted, by lbs Cambridgeshire farmers, 500 good hard-mouthed donkeys to eat up a few loads of thistles that the loeked-out laborers have left growing in the fields. Excellent thistle grazing. Terms on application to the Chairman of the Defence Association. Is it Five! — A boy starving crows near Winslow began at 11 a.m. to ask pasaers-by " was it 5 !" and by 4< p.m. had asktd over twenty people. Will no one give an old watch to the little boy! When asked the reason for his anxiety about the time, he replied, I'm hungry." The boy got more starvation than the crows did. Bis Lordship's Coroplimeuts. — A Rutlandshire farmer (120 acres) lost £100 in one year through his lordship's weakness for game preserving. One day the landlord, with a number of princes, came and shot over the estate, bagging some fourteen dozen hares and other game. On the morrow the gamekeeper paid a visit to the small farmer with " his lordship's compliments, and he baa sent you a brace of hares." These hares were skinned, stuffed , and roasted, and the farmer, a pious man, said grace before meat: " May the lord make us truly thankful for these two hares out of the two hundred I've fatted for my landlord since last shooting season.'