sacks of damsons, which he sold at 1s. 6d. per gallon,
or L6, 18s. I know of a case in which a labourer--an earnest,
intelligent, hard-working man--makes L2 a week on an average all the
year round. But then he works only at piece-work, going from farm to
farm, and this is, of course, an exceptional case. The old men, worn out
with age and infirmity, are kept on year after year by many farmers out
of charity, rather than let them go to the workhouse, though totally
useless and a dead loss, especially as occupying valuable cottage-room.
There is a society, the annual meetings of which are held at Chippenham,
and which is supported by the clergy, gentry, and farmers generally of
North Wilts, for the object of promoting steady habits among the
labourers and rewarding cases of long and deserving services. There is
also a friendly society on the best and most reliable basis, supported
by the gentry, and introduced as far as possible into villages. The
labourers on the Great Western Railway works at Swindon earn from 15s. a
week upwards, according as they approach to skilled workmen. Attracted
by these wages, most of the young men of the neighbourhood try the
factory, but, usually, after a short period return to farm-work, the
result of their experience being that they are better off as
agricultural labourers. Lodgings in the town close to the factory are
very expensive, and food in proportion; consequently they have to walk
long distances to their labour--some from Wanborough, five miles;
Wroughton, three and a half miles; Purton, four miles; and even Wootton
Bassett, six miles, which twice a day is a day's work in itself. Add to
this the temptations to spend money in towns, and the severe labour, and
the man finds himself better off with his quiet cottage and garden on a
farm at 12s. a week, and 1s. for milking, with beer, and a meal on
Sundays. The skilled mechanics, who earn 36s. to L2 per week, rent
houses in the town at 6s. to 8s.; and in one case I knew of 12s. per
week paid by a lodger for two rooms. These prices cannot be paid out of
the mechanic's wage; consequently he sub-lets, or takes lodgers, and
sometimes these sub-let, and the result is an overcrowding worse than
that of the agricultural cottages, around which there is at least fresh
air and plenty of light (nearly as important), which are denied in a
town. The factory labourer and the mechanic are liable to instant
dismissal. The agricultural labourers (half of