An Old English Home

airs for repose at night for the entire family, and this reached by a stair like a ladder. Very poor quarters as we

with straw in it. This makes a warm and excellent wall, and one that will endure for ever if only the top be kept dry. Brick cottages are later. Timber and plaster

ut up to bear the weight of slate, so have to be renewed, and then it is said by the agent, "Pull the whole thing down, it is not worth re-roofing. Build it afresh from the foundation." Then, in the place of a lovely old building with its windows under thatch, and the latter covering it soft and brown and warm as the skin of a mole, ari

of the West, and of the Welsh hills, and the Lake district, infinitely surpass them in the picturesqueness of their groups of cottages. Slat

en of the first necessaries of life. No hope cheers their monotonous career; a life of constant labour brings them no other prospect than that when their strength is exhausted they must crave as suppliant mendicants a pittance from parish relief.

2

2

ided in a town. No doubt he evolved this sad picture out of his int

hristmas Day. Un

er Christmas.

, Su

, Bank Holid

Year's Day, Genera

rday; not

Sun

istmas Day.

rday; not

, Su

and pantomime. Half the wo

he men off running afte

description. Of course it is not Christmas time all the year, but at other times are other festivals, flower shows, reviews, harvest festivals, club feast

rom whom most money was taken. The answer was, "From the young agricultural workmen. Squires didn't come, farmers didn'

gretted that it was one class only th

e of garden he pays from ￡4 to ￡6 per annum, hardly sufficient to pay for keeping the cottage in repair, consequently it may be said that he has garden and half the house rent given to him. The garden is worth to him from ￡4 to ￡6 per annum. Consequently his receipts per annum may be reckoned at ￡42 or ￡48. He has to pay out of this into h

ant proprietor abroad who would jump at

agricultural labourer grumbles at his lot. On the contrary, their songs, the very outpouring of their hearts, are full o

ome socialistic sentiment, some cry of anguish of the o

a scolding wife. That alone made him poor, and that af

in village which is nearly all ruinous; but there all the ruinous cottages are held on lives. It is quite true that the landowner can force the holder of the tenure to put it in repair, but he is reluctant t

s cottage he has n

downtrodden labourer, his wail of anguis

work is ended an

o market to

walks, O! and shri

e the ploughboy's a

e ploughboy, whe

maiden he'll t

rown ale, and this so

happier than the

same very rude melody in a Gregorian tone, that shows it has expres

en a

nd your joc

sten we'r

of songs t

e the plou

one that li

ughboy doe

s the sweet

ightingal

eat of th

ttle we

ie beside

our, or

nks of sw

my noont

can kiss a

ty as t

er must have

ar he ca

ler with hi

idle m

tsman gives

adesman st

r man bread

e for all

the very innermost heart of the ploughman. He

n can go wherever there is a demand for him. And this is one reason why we have so many examples of a

el. But if every parish has one of these latter, there is hardly one that

ergy, which is in immense demand, and at a premium-and that is honesty. In ancient Greece the churlish philosopher is said to have lit a lamp and gone about the streets by day looking for an honest man. It is, perhaps, the failing of advanced and widespread culture that it encourages mental at the expense o

n no longer repose trust in their workmen, in their clerks-all have to be w

he was brought in contact. He began life with little to favour him. His father was a quarryman who was killed by a fall of rock, and his mother died not long after, never having recovered from the shock of the loss of a dearly lov

is service to clean boots and run errands at sixpence a day, and after a while, as the fellow proved

t last I've found out. He's made an arrangement with the gardener on certain mornings to be up very early before his regular work begins, that he may go round the greenhouses with him and help him there, and a bit in the gardens. Richard won't be a minute late for his work in the house, but he do so dea

ow much happier he would be in the gardens than in the house, they put

till had difficulties in bringing out what was in his heart, but at last it came forth. He thought he had learned all that could be learned from the head gardener; indeed, in several points, aided by books, the underling believed he knew more than his superior, who, however, was too conservative in his habits to yield his opinions and change his practice. Richard wished to better himself. It was not increase of wage that he desir

nd that is what ought not to be done with any young mind. I have already written about you to Mr. Kewe, the great nurseryman, and

came to take his leave, and thank his master again for his help, with heightened col

Rich

omehow we have always thought of each other as like to be made one some day, and now that I see

he squire, and did not at on

is not a better g

of that, Richard

herself; but, sir, her mother's very poor, and more's the reason I should marry her, for

a strong or useful wife, though that she is a

ead," answered the young gardener, "and that, sir, is one reas

that nothing advanced in his favour by the squire, his good customer, was unfounded. He en

doubtful whom else in his gardens he could trust, and plants require the most careful watching and tending. One day's neglect in watering, one night's frost unforeseen, may ruin hundreds of pounds' worth of goods. The thrip, the mealy bug

nto the nursery gardens, and entering one of the conserva

s just now at his dinner. If it be parti

ugh the houses, and I daresay you will be good enough to accompany me. I have an hour at my disp

e nursery, and told him the names of the plants, put

"but you and all my friends grow these to perfection, whilst there is a fatality with mine; they won't f

he soil, sir. Wh

st things do well

hrive on hay, nor a horse on mutton chops. Each plant has its own proper soil in which i

who was lifting and r

nder it and bear it easily-thus. You are transplanting that tree in altogether a wrong manner. You hold it-suspend it by the delicate twigs and leafage, and le

ith a bow withdrew, but not before he had heard

ardener. Poor fellow, he has had brain fever, and is quite beyond managing the gardens again. His head and memory are affected, and his nervous irritability make him

n elderly m

one who understands the business. You know

a little older--" b

t particular

y lord-that man who has been

dger. "I took a fancy to him at once. He loves p

for intelligence, there is no lack

ger. "I took stock of the fellow w

seryman, "and yet I should be more sorry to

, a good income, and employment in which he was sure he could be happy and give satisfaction to his

that his Mary, whom he had loved since boyhood, was manifestly in a decline. Hoping against hope, snatching at e

ful soft eyes were larger than they had ever seemed, even in childhood; h

truth; but, indeed,

re is a little bit of life left o

an but be

e. Give me the one thing I have thought of,

Oh, Dick, only p

s month be ou

so i

me, ghostlike, to church, and I shall never forget the pathos, the tenderness, the sincerity with which each

ottage at Lord St. Ledger's. There she ebbed away, happy, peace

hardly a day passed without some of them coming to see her, and Lord St. Led

was brought back to her native village and

id Richard to the sexton.

e squire, went to him, took his arm, and said

d a great

gai

ppy had she not been mine. But she be

ned to h

*

at he was Richard's elder brother. Richard had been advanced from gardener to steward of the St. Ledger estates. Faithful in his garden, he was faithful in his management of the property, and

man. Now if you favours me anyway, and my lord puts me up a bit, folk 'll say, 'Oh, it's all becos he's Mr. Richa

ed, but the relationship was not discovered till one day Richard was dead. He had ca

Richard's own brother, and I knowed his heart's wishes, as was told to none other. He sent for me when he was a dyin', and sez he to me, 'I've got a double grave made at t