“JOTTINGS FROM THE PLOUGH”

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4270, 26 November 1874, Page 3

“JOTTINGS FROM THE PLOUGH”

The above is 'the title of a column in the People’s Courier, the organ oFJfche Laborers’. Union. We select a few:— Geography.—Mr. H. Cox, of Pangboume, writes , that the numerous 'readers of the Peoples Courier in Berks know more about Queensland than they do about their own country. They would like .Queensland beef better than its geography, but the pot of Atlantic brine prevents them tasting it. Bare Pact, —The wife of a laborer of Stoke Mandeville, the mother of ten children in nine years, was left a widow with five children under eight. Three persons heard this statement: one laughed, -another exclaimed, “Dreadful !” and the third said “Legislate”’ The mother doesn’t’ laugh,-nor think it. dreadful ; but will be glad to know what legislation can do for her. Pensioners and Paupers.—A certain duke’s great uncle watched a great big battle from behind a tree; pension, thousands per annum -for ever. A farm servant - of the duke’s; a man of, - toil fifty years, went through ■ the battle of life, tho father of thirteen children; pension, half-a-orown a week and a loaf, for life only. Moral; study English history. Aliases, Our Poor-houses, alias , Union Workhouses, alias Licensed Gruelling Institutions, separate husband from wife, and children from parents. If Dean Swift was alive, he .ymuld say,i—“Whom God has united let not the devil go between.” There is no fear of the devil going between in our workhouses he would be starved in a week, the only merit of such institutions being cleanliness. , Eigbtpence.i—The wives of many Oxfordshire laborers go ink) the field for eightpence a day. Do the men keep their wives, or do the wives keep themselves ? And pray, who keeps house? Teetotalers are no better than they should be. If there were a few more in the world the Sun would shine just as bright ; and if all were to turn teetotalers to-morrow, the result would almost affect workhouses, asylums, gaols, hospitals, schools, and. churches. Teetotalism is not religion, any more than Unionism is, but a good deal of both may be stowed away in the heart without overcrowding it. Was I right ?—Speaking one day about bad cultivation and waste lands, I said—True, I am neither landlord, tenant, nor laborer ; can neither plough a straight furrow nor a crooked one, nor tell the age of a horse by its teeth ; at the same time, I am 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 sevenpence when fourpence should satisfy them. • Boaz is dead.—Said a D.D. in the course of his sermon, expressly compiled for the edification of some hundreds of farm laborers.—“ Contrast your 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. “ And she gleaned in the field after the reapers.” The Jewish poor gleaned com amongst the sheaves ; the English poor are hardly allowed to glean stubble. Who Say Bread and Lard?—At Aston Abbot’s Club feast the members sat down to boiled beef, roast pork, Yorkshire pudding, 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. Once a year is quite enough to feast. Bread and lard is quite good enough for poor people. Never Satisfied—The Cublington laborers have been waiting patiently for the last century for some allotments. Afield has at last been cut up into one rood farms, and now these laborers have got a rood they want an acre. Just like their masters, never satisfied. Mutton Hoes.—A bean field near Marston 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- the absence of the laborers, and has run right away into couch, and also into another man’s possession, who is now wreaking his vengeance upon it in the shape of a steamplough. Behold the reward of giving farms rest and holidays; they run away from you. A Dear Dinner. —Two pheasants, a blancmange, and one bottle of champagne. A Good Dinner.—What you like, and what likes you, and plenty of it. Words and Actions. —The labor agitators have used hard words against both farmers and landlords, but they have not forcibly ejected an employer from his 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 Shoeleather.—A Dullingham laborer walked eight miles a day, to and from work, for fourteen years ; _ that is forty-eight miles per week, 192 miles per month, 2496 miles per year, and 34,944 miles altogether, besides twelve hours’ work daily at 2s. 6d. per day. A good business that for shoemakers. Logic.—A miner once drank one bottle of champagne ; therefore all miners do the same thing. One coal-ownor made a fortune ; therefore all coal-owners are making fortunes also. Looked-Out.—A farmer locked-out all bis men, and the thistles grew so rank in his field that they locked out all the sheep. The men couldn’t go to work, and the sheep couldn’t go to eat. Funny, yet true. Thistle Grazing.—Wanted, by the Cambridgeshire farmers, 500 good hard-mouthed donkeys to eat up a few loads of thistles that the locked-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 passers-by “was it 5?” and by 4 p.m. had asked over twenty people. Will no one give an old watch to that little boy? When asked the reason for his anxiety about the time, ho replied, “ I’m hungry." The boy got more starvation than the crows did. His Lordship's Compliments.—A Rutlandshire farmer (120 acres) lost £IOO 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 bares and other game.' On the morrow the gamekeeper paid a visit to the small farmer with “ his lordship's compliments, and he has 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.”