JOHN HOPKINS'S 
 
 NOTIONS 
 
 'A ON 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 "CONVERSATIONS ON CHEMIS-yRY," 
 "POLITICAL ECONOMY,*' &c./ 
 
 'tl^*^XJ^ 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ALLEN AND TICKNOR. 
 
 1833. 
 

 I. R. BUTTS; SCHOOL STREET. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The miscellaneous character of the following 
 tracts is accounted for by their having been 
 written at different periods. Some of them were 
 published, with the author's permission, about 
 two years ago, by a society established in Gla- 
 morganshire for the improvement of the laboring 
 classes. It will be obvious to the reader, that it 
 is for that rank of life that this little work is 
 principally intended. 
 
 9fX 
 
THE 
 
 RICH AND THE POOR 
 
 A FAIRY TALE. 
 
 In the time of the Fairies, things went on no 
 better than they do at present. John Hopkins, 
 a poor laborer, who had a large family of chil- 
 dren to support upon very scanty wages, ap- 
 plied to a Fairy for assistance. " Here am I 
 half starving," said he, '• while my landlord rides 
 about in a fine carriage ; his children are pam- 
 pered with the most dainty fare, and even his 
 servants are bedizened with gaudy liveries : in 
 a word, rich men by their extravagance, de- 
 prive us poor men of bread. In order to gratify 
 them with luxuries, we are debarred almost the 
 necessaries of life." — '"Tis a pitiable case, 
 honest friend," replied the Fairy, '' and I am 
 ready to do all in my power to assist you and 
 your distressed friends. Shall I, by a stroke 
 of my wand, destroy all the handsome equipages, 
 fine clothes and dainty dishes, which offend 
 
6 THE RICH AND THE POOR. 
 
 you?" — "Since you are so very obliging," 
 said honest John, in the joy of his heart, " it 
 would perhaps be better to destroy all luxuries 
 whatever : for, if you confine yourself to those 
 you mention, the rich would soon have recourse 
 to others ; and it will scarcely cost you more 
 than an additional stroke of your wand to do the 
 business outright, and get rid of the evil root and 
 branch." 
 
 No sooner said than done. The good-natur- 
 ed Fairy waved her all-powerful wand, and, won- 
 derful to behold ! the superb mansion of the 
 landlord shrunk beneath its stroke, and was re- 
 duced to an humble thatched cottage. The 
 gay colors and delicate textures of the apparel 
 of its inhabitants faded and thickened, and were 
 transformed into the most ordinary clothing ; 
 the green-house plants sprouted out cabbages, 
 and the pinery produced potatoes. A similar 
 change took place in the stables and coach- 
 house ; the elegant landau was seen varying in 
 form, and enlarging in dimensions, till it became 
 a wagon; while the smart gig shrunk and 
 thickened into a plough. The manes of the 
 horses grew coarse and shaggy, their coats lost 
 all brilliancy and softness, and their legs became 
 thick and clumsy : in a word, they were adapt- 
 ed to the new vehicles they were henceforward 
 to draw. 
 
THE RICH AND THE POOR. 7 
 
 Honest John was profuse in his thanks, but 
 the Fairy stopped him short. " Return to me 
 at the end of the week," said she ; " it will be 
 time enough for you to express your gratitude 
 when you can judge how much reason you have 
 to be obliged to me." 
 
 Delighted with his success, and eager to com- 
 municate the happy tidings to his wife and fam- 
 ily, John returned home. " I shall no longer," 
 said he to himself, '' be disgusted with the con- 
 trast of the rich and the poor : what they lose 
 must be our gain, and we shall see whether 
 things will not now go on in a different manner." 
 His wife however did not receive him with equal 
 satisfaction ; for, on having gone to dress herself 
 (it being Sunday) in her best cotton gown, she 
 beheld it changed to a homely stuff; and her 
 China tea-pot, given her by her landlord's wife, 
 and on which she set no small store, though the 
 handle was broken, was converted into crockery 
 ware ! 
 
 She came with a woful countenance to com- 
 municate these sad tidings to her husband. John 
 hemmed and hawed, and at length wisely deter- 
 mined to keep his own counsel, instead of boast- 
 ing of being the author of the changes which had 
 taken place. Presently his little boy came in 
 crying. " What ails you. Tommy ? " said the 
 father, half pettishly and somewhat suspecting 
 
THE RICH AND THE POOR. 
 
 that he might have caused his tears also. ^' Why, 
 daddy," repHed the urchin, " as I was playing at 
 battledore with Dick, the shuttlecock flew away 
 and was lost, and the battledores turned into two 
 dry sticks, good for nothing but to be burnt." 
 " Psha ! " cried the father, who was beginning to 
 doubt whether he had not done a foolish thing. 
 In order to take time to turn over the subject in 
 his mind, and console himself for his disappoint- 
 ment, he called for his pipe. The good wife ran 
 to fetch it, when lo and behold ! the pipes were all 
 dissolved ! there was pipe-clay in plenty, but no 
 means of smoking. Poor John could not refrain 
 from an oath, and, in order to pacify him, his 
 wife kindly offered him a pinch of snufF. He 
 took the box : it felt light, and his mind misgave 
 him as he tapped it. It was with too much 
 cause ; for, on opening it, he found it empty ! 
 At length, being alone, he gave vent to his vex- 
 ation and disappointment. " I was a fool," cried 
 he, " not to desire the Fairy to meddle with the 
 hixuries of the rich only. God knows, we have 
 so few, that it is very hard we should be depriv- 
 ed of them. I will return to her at the end of 
 the week, and beg her to make an exception in 
 our favor." This thought consoled for a while ; 
 but, long before the end of the week, poor John 
 had abundance of cause to repent of all he had 
 done. His brother Richard, who was engaged in 
 
THE RICH AND THE POOR. 9 
 
 a silk manufactory, was, with all the other weav- 
 ers, turned out of work. The silk had disap- 
 peared ; the manufacturers, with ruin staring 
 them in the face, had sent their workmen out 
 upon the wide world. Poor John, conscience- 
 struck, received his starving brother into his 
 house. " You will see great changes for the 
 better soon," said he, " and get plenty of work." 
 — "Where and how?" cried Richard. But 
 that was more than John would say. 
 
 Soon after. Jack, his eldest son, returned home 
 from the coachmaker with whom he work- 
 ed ; all the carriages being changed into wag- 
 ons, carts, and ploughs. " But why not re- 
 main with your master, and work at the carts 
 instead of the coaches ? " said his father. — 
 " Nay, but he would not keep me, he had no 
 work for me ; he had more carts and wagons 
 than he could dispose of for many a day : the 
 farmers, he said, had more than they wanted, 
 and the cartwright business was at an end, as 
 well as coachmaking." 
 
 John sighed ; indeed, he well-nigh groaned 
 with compunction. " It is, however, fortunate 
 for me," said he, " that I earn my livelihood as a 
 laborer in the fields. Corn and hay, thank God ! 
 are not luxuries ; and I, at least, shall not be 
 thrown out of work." 
 
 In a few days, however, the landlord, on 
 
10 THE RICH AND THE POOR 
 
 whose estate he worked, walked into the cot- 
 tage. John did not immediately know him, so 
 much was his appearance altered by a bob 
 wig, a russet suit of clothes, and worsted stock- 
 ings. "John," said he, "you are an honest 
 hard-working man, and I should be sorry you 
 should come to distress. Here are a couple of 
 guineas, to help you on till you can find some 
 new employment, for I have no further occasion 
 for your services." John's countenance, which 
 had brightened up at the sight of the gold, now 
 fell most heavily. He half suspected that his 
 landlord might have discovered the author oi 
 all the mischief (for such he could no longer 
 conceal from himself that the change really 
 was), and he muttered, that " he hoped he had 
 not offended his honor ? " " Do not honor 
 me : we are all now, methinks, peasants alike. 
 I have the good fortune, however, to retain my 
 land, since that is not a luxury ; but the farm 
 is so much larger than, in my present style of 
 living, I have any occasion for, that I mean to 
 turn the greater part of it into a sheep-walk, or 
 let it remain uncultivated." — "Bless your 
 honor, that would be a sad pity ! such fine 
 meadows and such corn ! But cannot you sell 
 the produce, as before ? for corn and hay are 
 not luxuries." — "True," rephed the landlord, 
 *'but I am now living on the produce of less 
 
THE RICH AND THE POOR. 11 
 
 than half my estate ; and why take the trouble 
 to cultivate more ? for since there are no luxuries 
 to purchase, I want no more money than to pay 
 my laborers, and l3uy the homely clothes I and 
 my family are now obliged to wear. Half the 
 produce of my land will be quite sufficient for 
 these purposes." 
 
 Poor John was now reduced to despair. The 
 cries of distress from people thrown out of work 
 everywhere assailed his ears. He knew not 
 where to hide his shame and mortification till 
 the eventful week had expired, when he has- 
 tened to the Fairy, threw himself on his knees, 
 and implored her to reverse the fatal decree, 
 and to bring back things to what they had been 
 before. The light wand once more waved in 
 the air, but in a direction opposite to that in 
 which it before moved; and immediately the 
 stately mansion rose from the lowly cottage ; 
 the heavy teams began to prance and snort, 
 and shook their clumsy harness till they became 
 elegant trappings : but most of all was it de- 
 lightful to see the turned-ofF workmen running 
 to their looms and their spindles ; the young 
 girls and old women enchanted to regain pos- 
 session of their lost lace-cushions, on which 
 they depended for a livelihood ; and everything 
 offering a prospect of wealth and happiness, 
 
12 THE RICH AND THE POOR. 
 
 compared to the week of misery they had 
 passed through. 
 
 John grew wise by this lesson ; and whenever 
 any one complained of the hardness of the times, 
 and laid it to the score of the expenses of the 
 rich, took* upon him to prove that the poor were 
 gainers, not losers, by luxuries ; and when argu- 
 ment failed to convince his hearers, he related 
 his wonderful tale. One night at the public 
 house. Bob Scarecrow, who was one of the lis- 
 teners, cried out, " Ay, it is all fine talk, folks 
 being turned out of work if there were no luxu- 
 ries ; but for his part, he knew it, to his cost, 
 that he at least lost his livelihood because his 
 master spent his all in luxuries. The young 
 lord whom- he served as game-keeper set no 
 bounds to his extravagance, until he had not a 
 farthing left ; and then his huntsmen, his hounds, 
 his game-keeper, and his laced livery-servants, 
 were all sent off together ! Now, I should be 
 glad to know, honest John," added Bob, " wheth- 
 er we lost our places because there was too 
 much luxury, or too little ?" John felt that 
 there was some truth in what Bob said ; but he 
 was unwilling to give up the point. At length 
 a bright thought struck him, and he triumphantly 
 exclaimed, " Too few, Bob ! why, don't you 
 see, that as long as your master spent his money 
 too freely in luxuries, you kept your places, and 
 
THE RICH AND THR POOR. 13 
 
 when he was ruined and spent no more, you 
 were turned off?" 
 
 Bob, who was a sharp fellow, saw the weak- 
 ness of John's argument, and replied, that it 
 was neither more nor less than a quibble, fit for 
 a pettifogging lawyer ; for," ,said he, " suppose 
 that every man of substance were to spend his 
 all, and come to ruin, a pretty plight we poor 
 folks should be in : and you can't deny, that, if 
 the rich lived with prudence, and spent only 
 what they could afford, they would continue to 
 keep us in employment." John felt convinced ; 
 and he was above disowning it. " I grant you," 
 said he, " that there may be too much luxury as 
 well as too little, as was the case with your 
 young lord. But then you must allow, that if 
 a man don't spend more than he can afford, that 
 is, if he don't injure himself, we have no reason 
 to complain of his luxuries, whatever they may 
 be, because they give us work, and that not for a 
 short time, after which -^we are turned off, as 
 was your case, but regularly and for a continu- 
 ance." 
 
 John now went home, satisfied that the ex- 
 penses of the rich could not harm the poor, 
 unless the expenses first injured the rich them- 
 selves. No bad safeguard, thought he ; and 
 as he trudged on, pondering it in his mind, he 
 came to this conclusion : — 
 
14 THE RICH AND THE POOR. 
 
 " Why then, after all, the rich and the poor 
 have but one and the same interest — that is 
 very strange ! I always thought they had been 
 as wide apart as the east is from the west ! 
 But now I am convinced that the comforts of 
 the poor are derived from the riches of the 
 rich." 
 
WAGES. 
 
 A FAIRY TALE. 
 
 John Hopkins did not soon forget this les- 
 son, though he was far from deriving all the 
 benefit from it that he ought. He acknowledg- 
 ed that he had not hit upon the right remedy ; 
 but, after having long turned the subject in his 
 mind, and talked it over with his neighbors, he 
 came at length to this conclusion : — Let the 
 rich have as many luxuries as they can pay for ; 
 but let them give us higher wages for our labor. 
 It is by the sweat of our brow, and by the 
 work of our hands, that everything is produced. 
 Why, the rich would not have even bread to 
 put into their mouths, unless we ploughed the 
 ground and sowed the seed for them ; so it is 
 but fair that we should be better paid for our ser- 
 vices. If wages were doubled, we should be as 
 well off again as we are now ; and the rich 
 would be but a trifle the poorer, that is all ; for 
 double wages would be nothing for a man who 
 
16 WAGES. 
 
 is rolling in wealth to pay ; and yet it would be 
 a mighty matter for us poor fellows to re- 
 ceive." 
 
 Chuckling over this discovery, John sets off 
 for the abode of the Fairy, and begs her, with 
 the stroke of her wand, to cause wages to be 
 doubled. " Are you sure," inquired the Fairy, 
 " that you will have no reason to repent of this 
 request if I should grant it?" — *' No, no," said 
 John, " this time I cannot be mistaken ; for I 
 have considered the matter thoroughly." " Well, 
 then," replied she, " we will make the trial. 
 But it shall be for three months only. After 
 that time we shall see whether you w^ish your 
 present scheme to be continued." 
 
 As John was returning home, he could not 
 help thinking that, this time at least, he should 
 not meet with a discontented reception from his 
 wife ; yet, as he opened the door of his cottage, 
 he looked rather anxiously in her face : — it 
 beamed with joy. " Good news for you, hus- 
 band !" cried she ; " the baihff" has been here 
 to pay your week's wages ; and see, he has giv- 
 en me all this money ; for he says there 's a new 
 law in the land, and every one must pay double 
 wages !" John thanked the Fairy in his heart, 
 for the expedition she had used in comply- 
 ing with his wishes. The news soon spread 
 through the village ; all received double wages ; 
 and the rejoicing w^as universal. 
 
WAGES. 17 
 
 John was resolved to make a holyday ; so, 
 next market day, instead of sending his wife, he 
 proposed to go to market himself, and to lay out 
 his store of money in clothes for his ragged chil- 
 dren. This was readily agreed to, provided he 
 would take a basket of plums, and a bundle of 
 straw-plait which one of his little girls had made, 
 and sell them. To market he went ; and what 
 was his delight to learn that plums and straw- 
 plait had risen considerably in price. He little 
 dreamed that this was owing to his good offices ; 
 but, on inquiring the cause, he was told that, the 
 condition of the laboring classes being so much 
 bettered by their increased wages, they could 
 afford to buy new straw bonnets ; so that straw- 
 plait was very much in demand, and would fetch 
 a good price. " I should not give you so much 
 for it," said the bonnet-maker, " if I was not sure 
 that I could sell my bonnets at a higher price 
 now there is such a demand for them." 
 
 " And why are plums risen in price ?" in- 
 quired John of the fruiterer. "Because I have 
 none left," replied he. "I had as fine a store 
 of plums this morning .as ever I had any market 
 day ; but there has .been such a swarm of young 
 brats with their halfpence to buy them, that they 
 were all sold by nine o'clock ; for, do you see, 
 now the fathers get double wages, they havQ not 
 the heart to deny their children a halfpenny to 
 2 
 
18 WAGES. 
 
 buy fruit. I began selling my plums at four a 
 penny ; but when I found they were likely to 
 fall short, I would not let the urchins have more 
 than three for a penny ; and as for your basket, 
 Hopkins, I mean to sell it at two a penny: so 
 you see I can afford to give you a good price for 
 it." John did not quite understand this ; " but 
 it shows," thought he, " that I have hit the right 
 nail on the head at last. It seems that as much 
 unforeseen good comes of the Fairy's wand, this 
 time, as there came unforeseen bad luck before." 
 And now that he had sold his plums and his 
 plait, he determined to go to the w^oollen-dra- 
 per's to buy cloth for his children's jackets. 
 He looked rather blank when, on entering, he 
 found that cloth had risen in price, and was two 
 shillings a yard dearer than before. He express- 
 ed his surprise. " Why, there's no end to my 
 customers this market day," said the draper. " I 
 verily believe half the town means to have new 
 coats, and I have not near cloth enough to fur- 
 nish them all : so those that will have it must 
 pay the price I ask, or go w^ithout." '' That's 
 not fair, to my mind," cried John : " the cloth 
 cost you no more than it did last market 
 day ; so you can afford to sell it as cheap as 
 you did then." — " Perhaps I could," repli- 
 ed the woollen-draper; but, since I can get 
 more for it, I will. Don't you know, Hop- 
 
WAGES; 19 
 
 kins, that, when corn falls short at market, the 
 price rises ? When there is more of an article 
 to be had than is wanted, why you must sell it 
 for what you can get, though you may chance 
 to make a loss instead of a gain ; but when there 
 is less to be sold than is wanted, why you may 
 sell it at an advanced price. That is my case 
 now : many more want the cloth than I can 
 supply ; sc, why should I let you have it rather 
 than another, unless you pay me a better price ? 
 We must make hay while the sun shines." — 
 " To be sure," said John to himself: " I sold my 
 plums and my plait dearer than last market day, 
 though they stood me in no more ; and it's nat- 
 ural enough the draper should do the same. 
 Well," said he, addressing the draper, " it's a 
 bright sunshine, and we are all right to make 
 the most of it ; but, as my boys can wait a bit 
 longer for their coats, I shall stop till you lay in 
 a new stock of cloth, and then it will be cheap- 
 er." — "I won't promise you that," replied the 
 draper. " There's no saying what will come of 
 these double wages, it's such an out of the way 
 thing. It looks fair enough, to be sure ; but all 
 is not gold that glitters, as you know, Hopkins J' 
 
 ^' But when you have a fresh supply, and 
 plenty of cloth for all the customers that may 
 come, I see no reason why it should be dearer." 
 
 " I have not had time to turn it well in my 
 
20 WAGES. 
 
 mind ; but it seems to me, that when I have 
 sold my stock on hand, and go to the manufac- 
 turer for more, he will not let me have it on the 
 same terms, seeing there is such a demand for 
 cloth, and that I sell it at an advanced price. Be- 
 sides," continued he, rubbing his forehead, " a 
 thought just comes across me, — he can't afford 
 to let me have the goods so cheap ; for, since he 
 is obliged to pay his workmen double wages, the 
 cloth must stand him in much more ; and if he 
 can't get it back from the shopkeeper, why the 
 factory must go to ruin. Is it not so, Hopkins ? " 
 — "It looks very like it," rephed Hopkins, 
 thoughtfully. " Well, then," continued the dra- 
 per, " it's impossible for me to say whether the 
 manufacturer will be able to sell his cloth higher, 
 or whether he will be ruined : all I know is, that 
 if I must pay him a higher price for his cloth, 
 I must get it back from my customers, or I may 
 as well shut up shop ; ay, and better too ; for I 
 should be losing instead of making money." — 
 ''Well, then," said Hopkins, mayhap I had as 
 well buy the cloth now, dear as it is." Having 
 made his purchases, he found that he had scarce- 
 ly money enough to pay for them. He was 
 sadly disappointed ; for he had flattered himself, 
 that, what with the high price he had got for his 
 plums and his plait, and what with the double 
 wages he had received, he might contrive to eke 
 
WAGES. 21 
 
 out the money, so as to buy himself a new smock 
 frock, of which he stood much in need ; but that 
 was now out of the question. 
 
 His wife and children impatiently waited his 
 return. The little ones had strolled to the end 
 of the lane, in hopes of seeing him, and soon 
 ran home with the glad tidings that " father was 
 in sight, with a great big bundle on his sh,oul- 
 ders." Jenny had been promised a new thim- 
 ble, and Jem a penny whistle, if any money 
 was left after the more necessary purchases had 
 been made. John at length arrived; and, after 
 wiping his brows, he began by boasting of the 
 high price he had got for the basket of plums 
 and the bundle of plait ; whereupon his wife 
 gave him a hearty kiss, calling him " a good man 
 as he was ; " and the children crowded round 
 his knees, and began to untie the bundle he had 
 brought home. The contents fell far short of 
 their expectations ; and they rummaged in vain 
 for the presents they had expected. Then fol- 
 lowed the indispensable explanation of the rise 
 in price of cloth as well as of other goods. 
 " Humph ! " cried the good wife, " if we must 
 pay so much more for everything we have to 
 buy, I don't see how we shall be any the better 
 for the double wages we get." — "Well, but," 
 retorted her husband, '' it's not only me, but 
 Dick and Sally at the factory get double wages 
 
22 WAGES. 
 
 too ; so there's no room to complain wife ; for, 
 if our means run short, they would be willing 
 and able to lend us a helping hand." 
 
 Some time after, Dick came home ; but, alas ! 
 far from lending a hand, it was to tell the sad 
 news of his being discharged from the factory. 
 " Why, how's this, Dick ? " said his father ; 
 " were not you satisfied with double wages ? " — 
 " I had little need to be so," replied he ; " double 
 wages one week, and none at all the next : I 
 would rather by half have had the common 
 wages, without being turned off." — " But why 
 should you be turned off, if you did your duty ? " 
 — " Oh, for that matter, there was no fault found 
 with me ; only the master had not enough to 
 pay us all, so he discharged half his men^ and it 
 fell to my lot to be one of the number." 
 
 "Well, but," said John, "by turning off half 
 his men, he can get only half the work done ; 
 and then, how can he supply the shopkeepers ? " 
 — " He says the shopkeepers won't want so 
 much goods as they did before this new law was 
 made." 
 
 " There he's wrong," cried John, " to my 
 certain knowledge : for it's scarce a month back 
 that the draper told me he sold a deal more cloth 
 than he did before the rise of wages, though 
 the price was higher by two shillings a yard." 
 
 " That was only just a spirt at first," cried 
 
WAGES. 28 
 
 Dick. " When folks first got their double wages, 
 they were so flush of money, they thought 
 there would be no end to their riches ; but when 
 they came to find that so many buyers made 
 prices rise, (and more especially when half their 
 families were turned out of work, and they had 
 their children to support idle,) they saw that 
 there was more outgoings than incomings ; and 
 that they had enough to do to provide food, 
 without furbishing themselves out with new 
 clothes." 
 
 Hopkins felt conscience-struck : he looked 
 blank, and had not a word to say for himself. 
 ^* No, no," continued Dick : " brisk as the cloth 
 was at first, it's slack enough now, and prices are 
 falling apace." 
 
 " That I know to my cost," quoth Dame 
 Hopkins. " Why, last market day I could not 
 sell my fruit nor Jenny's plait, for much more 
 than half you got for it, John, when wages first 
 rose. Folks begin to find they have no such 
 store of spare money as they thought for, to lay 
 out in new bonnets, or to give their children to 
 buy fruit." 
 
 The fall in price, John thought, was all in 
 his favor ; for he had more to buy than to sell. 
 This made him pluck up courage ; and he 
 said, — "Why, Dick, we must be better for 
 things coming round to their natural price, so 
 
24 WAGES. 
 
 as wages don't lower too ; but I should have 
 done wiser to have waited, and have bought the 
 boys' jackets later." — " Wiser still not to have 
 bought them at all," replied his son ; " and that's 
 what you would have done had you waited ; for 
 times will fall heavy on us now, father, so far as 
 I can see." 
 
 '' Never be disheartened, lad," cried Hop- 
 kins, giving his son an encouraging thump on 
 the back ; you see things all askance, because 
 of being turned off at the factory : but surely," 
 said he, with a hesitation in his voice which he 
 would not let out in words, " such high wages 
 must be a good thing." — '' Much good may 
 it do those that get them," muttered Dick, sulk- 
 ily. " If things don't change, the manufacturers 
 will all be bankrupts ; and then there will be 
 work neither at fifteen shillings, nor at thirty. 
 There's well-nigh half the machines at our fac- 
 tory going to wreck and ruin by standing idle ; 
 and one of the great steam-engines, that cost 
 master a power of money, lying just like dead. 
 But how is he to help it, while the wages eat up 
 all his profits ; ay, and more too ? so, the less 
 he works the better ; for it's my belief he sells at 
 a clear loss." 
 
 " One would think this new law was made to 
 mock us," said the wife ; "for it promises fair, 
 and just makes fools of us for beheving it." 
 
WAGES. 25 
 
 " It's a rare lesson, however," exclaimed Hop- 
 kins, with a sigh ; ''for it shows that a rise of 
 wages is full of danger and mischief." 
 
 " I don't agree with you, there, father," 
 cried Dick : " a rise of wages, in a fair and 
 natural way. Is a very good thing. Last year, 
 when our master had more orders than he 
 could well get done, he raised the wages, so as 
 to get more hands ; and people came flocking 
 in from all quarters, and quitting other employ, 
 where they did not get so much. Then he 
 could afford to pay us all well, because trade 
 w^as brisk, and he got good profits. When 
 wages rise because there is a greater demand 
 for workmen, we are all the better for it, master 
 and man too ; but when they rise from a foolish 
 and arbitrary law, it does us all harm instead of 
 good ; and it is to be hoped that those who made 
 it will soon see the folly of it, and bring us back 
 to the natural wages." 
 
 This observation came home to poor John, 
 who kept his own secret, but swore in his heart 
 that, when once out of this scrape, he would 
 never more apply to the Fairy. A few weeks 
 after, Sally, who worked at the silk mills, came 
 home with the same story as her brother. " So, 
 here we are, saddled with two more children," 
 cried his wife ; " and this comes of high wages'.' 
 — " Well, at least I have got high wages to 
 
26 WAGES. 
 
 maintain 'em," replied John, who was still un- 
 willing to confess that he had been in the 
 wrong. 
 
 As he was speaking, the bailiff entered the 
 door. " Good morrow to you, John," said he : 
 — " why, methinks you do not look in such 
 glee as you did last month, about the rise of 
 wages." — " Nor have I cause, muttered John : 
 " see, here are two of my grown children sent 
 home to me, out of work. But, mayhap," 
 added he, brightening up at the thought, — 
 " mayhap you, Master Barnes, might get 'em 
 some work at the farm. Though they are not 
 used to that kind of labor, I 'm sure they will 
 turn their hand to it, and thank ye heartily for 
 it." — " Ah, I might have given 'em work be- 
 fore this change," answered the bailiff; " but 
 my master can't afford to pay 'em double 
 wages ; and the new law won't allow us to give 
 less. To say the truth, I am now come upon 
 a very different errand ; for, d 'ye see, we are 
 trying, instead of increasing the number of our 
 workmen, to do what we can to reduce them. 
 My master says he has too great a respect for 
 you, John, to turn you off: you have worked 
 nigh a score of years for him, and have got 
 such a large family to maintain." — " Thank 
 his honor kindly," said John. " I have worked 
 for him long and hard, too Master Barnes. I 'm 
 
WAGES. 27 
 
 sure I have followed the precepts of the Bible, 
 and earned my bread by the sweat of my brow. 
 Thank his honor " — " Ay, but, John, in- 
 terrupted the bailiff, "you stopped my mouth 
 with your thanks before you had heard me out. 
 You know, however willing the squire may be, he 
 can't coin money ; so, what is he to do ? Now, 
 this is what he has thought of : — he says he 
 will employ you three days of the week, instead 
 of six." — "And what am I to do the other 
 three ? " asked John. — " Why, fyou must seek 
 for work elsewhere." — " Seek, indeed, I may; 
 but I shall not find," quoth John. " Why, 
 there's Dick and Sally both turned adrift ; and 
 if they can't find work, an old man like me stands 
 no chance." — " Well," said the bailiff, " if you 
 sit with your hands across three days of the 
 week, you are as well paid for the three others 
 as you used to be for the whole week , besides, 
 his honor is stretching a point for your sake, 
 John; for, d'ye^see, he pays you the same 
 wages a week as before, and yet he will have 
 only half the work done." John thought that but 
 poor comfort, when he saw he had two children 
 more on his hands. The bailiff took his depart- 
 ure ; and, as he shut the door, the poor wife 
 lifted up her hands, fetched a deep sigh, and said, 
 — " Ah, well-a-day ! how httle we understand 
 these matters : who would not have thought 
 
28 WAGES. 
 
 that, when the law obhged the rich to pay us 
 double wages, it would have made us much 
 richer, and made them only a trifle poorer? 
 but now it seems it will bring us all to ruin to- 
 gether." 
 
 " Never fear," said John, " it is the Fairy's 
 doing ; it will be all over at the end of three 
 months, and two of them are gone already." 
 
 So it was. At the expiration of three months 
 the influence of the Fairy's wand ceased, wages 
 returned to their usual rate, Dick and Sally 
 were restored to their work at the mills and 
 the factory, and John labored with more good 
 will six days of the week than he had done 
 when he was employed only three, though at 
 double wages. 
 
 Moreover, he had learnt how dangerous it 
 was to meddle with things he did not under- 
 stand : and he came to a firm resolution of 
 never more applying to the Fairy; but to en- 
 deavor to get clearer ideas on such matters. 
 This he was in some measure enabled to do 
 through his son Dick, during the time he re- 
 mained at home ; for Dick, working at a factory, 
 and living in a town, had many more opportuni- 
 ties of picking up knowledge than a country la- 
 borer, whose life is comparatively solitary. Fac- 
 tory men have so deep an interest in the rise 
 and fall of wages, that they are in the habit 
 
WAGES. 29 
 
 of talking the matter over, till at last they get 
 pretty good notions on the subject. They are 
 aware that their own employment depends on 
 the manufacturer being able to sell his goods 
 with profit : they see, therefore, that the pros- 
 perity of the master and his workmen go hand 
 in hand. John was surprised that Dick should 
 turn out so knowing a lad, as he had had very 
 little schoohng. Dick observed, that working 
 in a factory was like going to school, only that 
 they learnt by talking, instead of by reading. 
 " Well, but I should have thought your talk 
 would have run on merrier matters, and that 
 you would not have worried your brains with 
 such difficult subjects," said John. — ^' Men are 
 sharp witted, father, when their interest is at 
 stake ; and if it 's fit that they should learn 
 their calling, it 's just as fit that they should be 
 able to judge whether their calhng goes on well 
 or ill, and the reason why and wherefore." 
 
 " It's not all good that's learnt by your talk 
 in a factory, Dick. I 've heard say that one 
 bad man will corrupt a whole factory, just as 
 one rotten apple will infect the whole heap." — 
 "It's no such thing," replied Dick; "when 
 men can earn their livelihood fairly and honest- 
 ly, they are ready enough to go on in the straight 
 road : it 's want and wretchedness that leads 
 them into the crooked paths, you may take my 
 word for it." 
 
THE THREE GIANTS 
 
 As Hopkins was sitting one evening at his 
 cottage door smoking his pipe, and his children 
 gambohng around him, an old pedlar came up, 
 and offered his little wares for sale ; their pur- 
 chases were small, for small were their means ; 
 but as the poor man seemed much tired, they 
 offered him a seat, and some refreshment. — 
 " It is a weary length of way I am come," said 
 the old man, " and where can I get a night's 
 lodging ?" — "I wish I had one to give you," 
 replied Hopkins, " but we are overcrowded with 
 the family already ; however, there 's a bit of an 
 outhouse behind, where I could make you up a 
 bed of clean straw, with a warm coverUd, if that 
 would serve your turn?" — " Ay, and a blessing 
 to you for it," replied the pedlar ; " and if it 
 will please these young ones, I can tell them a 
 story in return, to wile away the evening." — 
 Upon this all the children crowded around him, 
 crying out, "A story! a story!" — I hope it 
 will be a wonderful one," said Tom, ^' about 
 giants or faries, and such like." — " Pooh, pooh, 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 31 
 
 cried Jenny ; " I like a true story- 
 better by half." — "True or false," said Hop- 
 kins, " I care not, so as there be but some sense 
 in it, that one may learn somewhat by it." — " Oh, 
 pray," cried little Betsy, " tell us a pretty sto- 
 ry like those in my book of fables ; but none of 
 the moral at the end, if you please, that is al- 
 ways so stupid." — "I fear I shall have a hard 
 matter to satisfy you all," said the old man: "one 
 is for the marvellous, another for truth, and an- 
 other good sense, and the little one likes a 
 fable. Well," said he, " I will do my best to 
 suit your tastes." So, after clearing his throat, 
 he began thus : — 
 
 " A long while ago, when the times were no 
 better than they are now, and perhaps worse 
 for aught I know, a poor laboring man, encum- 
 bered with a large family of young children, and 
 finding it every day more difficult to earn where- 
 withal to maintain them, resolved to go and seek 
 his fortune beyond seas. Several of his neigh- 
 bors, who felt the same distress, had joined to- 
 gether to sell what little they had, in order to 
 fit themselves out, and pay their passage to one 
 of the foreign colonies, where they w^ere told 
 they might have farms of their own just for a 
 mere nothing ; and our good man Jobson thought 
 he could not do better than take his wife and 
 family thither. So off they all set for Liver- 
 
32 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 pool, where they embarked for , I cannot re- 
 collect the name of the place ; but it matters not, 
 for the poor folks never reached it ! When they 
 had been at sea some weeks, far away from 
 land, and nothing but wide waters all around 
 them, there arose a great storm, w^hich drove the 
 ship out beyond all reckoning ; and the sailors, 
 do what they would, could never manage her ; 
 so she drifted before the wind for several days 
 and nights, and at last struck upon a rocky 
 shore, and w^as wrecked. The poor folks had 
 much ado to save their lives ; they did so, how- 
 ever ; and were somewhat comforted when they 
 saw that the land to which they had escaped 
 was a pleasant, fruitful country. They found no 
 inhabitants. So much the better, thought they ; 
 we shall have all the land to ourselves ; and we 
 may live as happily here as we could do in the 
 colony, if we can but get our farming tools from 
 the wreck, and a few clothes. ' And some of 
 the pots and pans for cooking,' cried the wo- 
 men. ' Oh, pray remember the poor hens in 
 the coop,' hollowed out one of the children, as 
 the men were trudging off to the wreck to see 
 what they could save. They brought ashore 
 much more than they expected ; and, to make 
 short of my story, they settled themselves pret- 
 ty comfortably ; and in the course of a year each 
 of the families had a neat log-house and a little 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 33 
 
 garden of vegetables : fruit they found in abun- 
 dance growing wild ; and, as it was a hot cli- 
 mate there were grapes, and figs, and cocoa- 
 nuts, and a number of fruits, the names of which 
 they did not know. They had sown corn, and 
 bad got in a fine crop, enough for them all ; but 
 the difficulty was to turn it into flour for bread. 
 They had no other means than by bruising it be- 
 tween two stones, for it could hardly be called 
 grinding ; and it took up so much time and 
 labor, that Jobson, who had a large family to 
 feed, found it a hard matter to make all ends 
 meet." 
 
 " Well, but there 's nothing wonderful in this 
 story," said Tom : " I hope you will come to a 
 ghost, or a giant, or a fairy soon." 
 
 ** All in good time my lad," replied the 
 pedlar ; " youth must have patience with old 
 age ; we cannot scamper on so fast as you do ; 
 but it 's coming." Upon hearing this, the chil- 
 dren all crowded still closer around him. — 
 " Well, one day as Jobson was taking a stroll 
 over the new country, and thinking how he wish- 
 ed his boys were big enough to assist him in his 
 work, (for he felt well nigh worn out himself,) 
 iie came to a valley wdiere he had never been 
 before ; a river wound through it overshaded 
 with trees : and it was so beautiful, that he 
 could not find in his heart to turn back ; so he 
 3 
 
34 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 went on and on, till at last he came within sight 
 of an object that made him start back and 
 shudder." 
 
 '•'Oh, here it 's coming ! " cried Tom, clap- 
 ping his hands : " what was it ? it could not be a 
 fairy, for that would never have frightened 
 him." 
 
 " It was as little like a fairy," said the pedlar, 
 " as anything well could be. It was an enor- 
 mous giant, stretched at his whole length upon 
 the ground. Jobson would have fled ; but the 
 giant's eyes were shut, so that he appeared to be 
 asleep ; and he looked so harmless and good hu- 
 mored, that Jobson stood gazing on him till his 
 fear was nearly over. He was clad in a robe of 
 dazzling brightness where the sun shone upon it, 
 but the greater part was shaded by the trees ; 
 and it reflected all their difterent colors, which 
 made it look like a green changing silk. As 
 Jobson stood, lost in amazement, the giant open- 
 ed his eyes, and turned towards him with a good 
 humored smile." 
 
 " Then he was not a wicked giant ? " said 
 Betsy. 
 
 " Far from it," replied the old man. " Still, 
 when Jobson saw that he was awake, and 
 stretching himself as if he was going to rise, he 
 took to his heels ; but the giant remained 
 quietly stretched on the grass, and called after 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 35 
 
 hini in a tone of voice so gentle, that Jobson 
 was tempted to stop. ' Fear me not, good 
 man, because I am strong and powerful ; I am 
 not cruel, and will do you no harm.' Jobson 
 hesitated : but the giant looked so kind-hearted, 
 that he felt inclined to trust to his words, and, 
 step by step, he approached. ' Why should 
 you fear me because of my size ? ' said the giant ; 
 ' you are not afraid of yonder hill, which is 
 bigger than lam.' — ^ Ay, but you are alive,' 
 rephed Jobson, ' and I have read of giants being 
 very wicked. It is true, I never saw one before. 
 Indeed, till now, I thought they were only idle 
 stories made to amuse children.' — ' The wicked 
 giants you have read of are so,' repUed he ; ' but 
 there are real giants in nature, who, far from 
 being inclined to evil, are willing to do all the 
 good to mankind that lies in their power ; and 
 I am one of these.' — ' Then a deal of good 
 you can do,' rephed Jobson ; ^ for you must 
 be as strong as Samson.' — He then began to 
 cast over in his mind what good the giant might 
 do him, seeing he was so ready ; for, thought he, 
 if he is willing to work, he can do more in a day 
 than I can in a month ; so I '11 e'en make bold to 
 ask him the question. ' I am ready to do any 
 work you will set me ; but I must tell you, that, 
 not having been in the habit of working in this 
 desert island, I shall require some teaching in or» 
 
36 THE THREE GIANTS, 
 
 der to know how to set about it.' — ' If that is 
 all/ said Jobson, ' I can teach you any work 
 you would like to do.' But a difficulty occur- 
 red to him ; he concluded that the giant would 
 require to be paid in proportion to the work he 
 did ; and he asked, with some anxiety, what 
 wages he would expect. ' Wages ! ' replied the 
 giant, smiling : ' I cannot expect any ; I do not 
 even know what wages mean.' Jobson was 
 ready to leap for joy at the idea of getting a la- 
 borer who could do the work of a hundred men 
 without wages ; and he was hurrying away to 
 tell his wife the good news, when the giant said, 
 ' If you will let me carry you home, it will save 
 you the trouble of walking, and you will be tliere 
 much sooner.' Jobson rather hung back ; yet 
 not liking to show any distrust of one who was 
 willing to do him so much good, he consented. 
 ' You may think it strange,' said the giant ; ' but 
 as I never carried any one before, you must 
 show me how to do it.' — ' He seems rather stu- 
 pid,' thought Jobson : ' however, it is well he 
 takes so little upon himself, and is so ready to be 
 taught.' — ' Will you mount upon my back ? or 
 shall I carry you in my arms ? ' continued the 
 giant. Jobson was very glad to have the option, 
 for he had much rather mount him like a horse, 
 than be carried in his arms like a baby. Besides, 
 if the truth must be told, he was still rather fear- 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 3T 
 
 ful of seeing the giant stand upright, and of being 
 folded in his arms : having, therefore, first sad- 
 dled him with some planks of wood, to make a 
 comfortable seat, and having cut himself a long 
 pole, which might serve to hasten his pace, in 
 case of need, he desired him to take the road 
 homewards. The giarit obeyed : he neither 
 walked nor trotted, but glided on so smoothly, 
 that, though he went at a pretty brisk pace, Job- 
 son felt scarcely any motion. In a short time 
 they reached the cottage. But you may imagine 
 the fright of Dame Jobson and all her little crew 
 when they beheld him mounted on such an enor- 
 mous animal : the children ran screaming away, 
 as if they had seen a wild beast, and the poor 
 woman wrung her hands in despair, and fell a-cry- 
 ing ; then she threw herself at the feet of the 
 giant, begging him to set her dear husband at 
 liberty. ' He is quite free,' said the giant ; I 
 only brought him home to save him the fatigue 
 of walking ; — and now, good woman, if there is 
 anything I can do for you, you need but tell me ; 
 for I ask no better than to be busy. The dame 
 courtsied, and trembled, and wiped her eyes, and 
 tried to smile ; but she was so astounded with 
 wonder at the sight of this monstrous giant, and 
 so surprised at his good-nature, that she began 
 to doubt whether she was in her right senses. 
 And when her husband talked to her, and told 
 
38 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 her all that had passed between them, and how 
 much the giant had promised to do for them, she 
 lifted up her hands and eyes, and said she would 
 try to believe it ; but she thought it was only too 
 good to be true. In the mean while, the chil- 
 dren, who had scampered away, when they saw 
 their father and mother in friendly talk w4th the 
 giant, ventured gently to return. * Look at his 
 legs,' cried little Jack ; ' I am sure I could not 
 reach round the calf.' — ' If he stood upright, he 
 might gather the cocoa nuts without climbing,' 
 said Will. As they drew near, they crow^ded to- 
 gether, as if for defence : but when they saw the 
 giant smile upon them, and heard their father 
 and mother say there was nothing to fear, their 
 terror ceased ; for neither father nor mother had 
 ever deceived them, so they had full belief in all 
 they said. Their fright w^as no sooner over, than 
 they gave way to their curiosity. The giant was 
 still stretched upon the grass ; and in a few min- 
 utes the little ones were crawling and climbing 
 all over his huge body, and making a playfellow 
 of him. 
 
 " In the mean time, the father and mother 
 were consulting together how they should man- 
 age to lodge and board the giant. ' Why, he 
 will want a room bio^fijer than all our house,' said 
 the dame, ' and I 'm sure no one can build it but 
 himself: then, as for his food,' continued she, 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 39 
 
 he will eat us out of house and home ; he will 
 devour a plantation of cabbages and a flitch of 
 bacon at a meal.' This Jobson had never con- 
 sidered ; and he began to doubt whether, after 
 all, he had made so good a bargain as he had 
 supposed. 'We had best go and speak to the 
 giant, wife,' said he ; and accordingly they went 
 to inquire what sort of fare he would want. ^ No- 
 thing more than a draught of fresh water,' repli- 
 ed he. — ' Well, that is very moderate, indeed,' 
 exclaimed Jobson ; ' neither spirits nor even malt 
 liquor ! ' — ' Ay, but for your eating, friend,' 
 quoth the wife, who began to tremble for her 
 kitchen. — ^ I never eat,' returned the giant : 
 ' strong as I am, I require no food, so do not dis- 
 turb yourselves about that ; and as for house- 
 room or bedding, I always lie on the grass when 
 I am not employed.' You would have thought 
 that Jobson and his wife would have gone wild 
 with joy, when they heard that their powerful 
 laborer worked without board, food, or wages ! 
 ' Why, we shall no longer want for anything,' 
 cried they, ' provided he always keeps in this 
 good temper, and ready to work.' — ' We must 
 not overshoot the mark,' said his wife, ' but do 
 what we can to make things agreeable to him.' 
 So they went and told him they should not think 
 of asking him to do what would fatigue him, and 
 begged he would work only just when he liked. 
 ' That depends upon you, my good friends ; I 
 
40 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 am ready to work whenever you have work to 
 give me ; as for fatigue, 1 do not know what it 
 means.' — ' Indeed !' exclaimed Jobson and his 
 wife ; ' more and more wonderful ! So, then, 
 you want no further rest than your night's sleep?' 
 — • ' I never sleep, rephed the giant ; ' and can as 
 easily work the four and twenty hours round as 
 I can a single minute.' Jobson was lost in as- 
 tonishment, and overjoyed at his good luck. 
 They now put their heads together to settle what 
 work they should set the giant to do first. ' He 
 shall begin by bruising the corn that I am so 
 tired of working at,' cried Jobson ; so he showed 
 him how he used the stones for that purpose. 
 But this proved mere child's play to the giant ; 
 and Jobson thought, if he could but get two 
 large flat stones, such as were used in a mill, the 
 giant would be able to get through much more 
 work. But then the quarry was a long way off; 
 and when they were cut, how could they ever 
 be got home ? ' They will be no burthen to 
 me to carry,' said the giant ; ' let us be off.' 
 Jobson only staid to fetch his tools, which he 
 placed in a sort of large shallow box upon the 
 giant's shoulders. This served him also for a 
 seat ; and carrying the long staff in his hand, 
 away they went to the quarry, where they soon 
 cut the stones, which were placed in the box on 
 the giant's back, and brought home. When 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 41 
 
 the stones were properly arranged, the giant 
 went to work as steadily as if he had done noth- 
 ing else all his life. At nightfall the happy 
 couple begged him to leave off and take some 
 rest ; but they could not persuade him to do so. 
 They went to bed themselves ; but not without 
 first returning thanks to God in their prayers, for 
 having sent them so great a blessing as a labor- 
 er who worked both day and night without want- 
 ing either food or lodging." — " And pray what 
 was the name of this wonderful giant ?" said 
 Tom, interrupting the pedlar. 
 
 " Aquafluentes,^^ replied he. 
 
 " Oh, what a long hard name !" exclaimed lit- 
 tle Betsy ; " I never heard such a name before." 
 — " Giants have not the same sort of names 
 as we men have," rephed the pedlar ; " but I 
 assure you it is a very significant one. Howev- 
 er, now let me go on with my story. 
 
 " The children were awakened in the night 
 by the noise of the giant grinding corn ; and, 
 frightened at the unusual sound, they called to 
 their mother, who told them what it was. And 
 when she saw her husband quietly sleeping by 
 her side, and thought what a world of labor he 
 was spared, she ejaculated a blessing on their 
 new friend before she again fell asleep. The 
 next morning, Aquafluentes having ground all the 
 corn, asked for more work ; and while Jobson 
 
42 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 was thinking what he could set him to, he began 
 to wash the house, and carried away all the dirt 
 and filth in a trice. He then took the children 
 down to the water side, played with them for 
 some time, and began teaching them to swim : 
 this delighted them beyond measure ; and when 
 they returned home to breakfast, clean and fresh, 
 and with rosy cheeks and good appetites, they 
 were full of the praises of their playfellow, Aqua- 
 fluentes. In the mean time, Jobson had settled 
 on a task for him : he had long wished to bring 
 home a large tree which had been blown down in 
 the forest, for the purposeof cutting it into planks, 
 in order to floor his cottage, which got damp and 
 muddy in wet weather ; but it was impossible for 
 him either to carry so heavy a burthen or to cut it 
 into planks. Now nothing was more easy; he 
 slung the tree across the giant's shoulders, who 
 brought it home without difficulty. Then Job- 
 son showed him how to use the saw ; he soon 
 took to it ; and, after some little time, proved a 
 much more exact and regular sawyer than his 
 master. Jobson thought he got on prodigiously 
 with his w^ork ; yet he said to himself, — ' If I 
 could fasten eight or ten saws together, parallel 
 to each other, with handles at each end, 1 am 
 sure he would be strong enough to pull them 
 backwards and forwards, and to cut eight or ten 
 planks at once.' The difficulty was to obtain such 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 43 
 
 a number of saws. Jobson applied to his neigh- 
 bors, and agreed to provide them with a stipula- 
 ted quantity of planks in return for the use of 
 their saws. The fame of the laborious giant had 
 spread throughout the colony, and every one was 
 eager to furnish a saw, in order to partake of the 
 benefit of his work. One of the men, who had 
 been bred a carpenter, undertook to arrange the 
 saws in a kind of framework; others dug out 
 a large sawpit. This took some time ; but when 
 it was accomplished, and the giant fairly set to 
 work, the whole tree was cut into neat planks in 
 the course of a day. 
 
 " After Jobson had paid for the use of the 
 saws, there remained planks enough not only to 
 floor his cottage, but to make a door, a set of 
 shelves, and a good sized table. The carpenter 
 offered to make these things for Jobson, on con- 
 dition that he would allow Aquafluentes to grind 
 his corn. This was a bargain advantageous to 
 both parties, and therefore soon agreed upon ; 
 and when the rest of the colony saw how com- 
 fortable and tidy Jobson's cottage was become, 
 they set to felling trees in the forest for the same 
 purpose. Then it was necessary to pay Jobson 
 for Aquafluentes's labor to bring them home and 
 saw them into planks ; for it was not to be' ex- 
 pected that Jobson should part with the services 
 of such a workman without compensation. Each 
 
44 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 brought him what he could best spare, or what 
 he thought Jobson most wanted. One came 
 laden with a basket of fish, being part of a 
 draught he had just caught; another brought 
 half of a young kid he had lately snared; anoth- 
 er some wild ducks he had shot ; and so they 
 went on, till Jobson's cottage was so well stored 
 that it might have been taken for the larder of 
 some great inn. One man brought Jobson a 
 purse of money which he had saved from the 
 wreck, and offered to pay him in cash for the 
 use of the giant's labor. ' Why, my good fel- 
 low, what should I do with your money ? it 
 would be of no use to me here ; and a guinea 
 would not be half so valuable as these good 
 things which your neighbors have brought me: 
 however, as I have more food than we shall be 
 able to consume for many a day, [ will take your 
 money for once ; mayhap, some day or other, it 
 may turn to some use.' Last of all came a poor 
 widow, who had lost her husband since they 
 were wrecked : she wished much for a floor of 
 planks to keep her children dry and clean ; but 
 she had nothing to offer in exchange for the gi- 
 ant's labor but a basket of potatoes from her lit- 
 tle garden. ^ I shall not take your potatoes, 
 Martha,' cried Jobson, ' so carry them back 
 again. ' Alas !' said the poor widow, I have 
 nothing else to offer : you know how destitute I 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 45 
 
 am. Jackson has kindly promised to cut me 
 down a tree, if I can obtain the giant's services 
 to bring it home and saw it into planks ; and I 
 dare say the carpenter would lend me a hand, 
 some leisure day, to lay down the floor.' — ' And 
 do you think I am the only one who will not 
 give a turn to a poor neighbor without reward ? ' 
 muttered Jobson, half sulkily. ' Go your ways, 
 my good woman ; bid Jackson cut down your 
 tree ; and as soon as that is done, Aquafluentes 
 shall take it in hand.' The poor woman thank- 
 ed him with tears in her eyes ; and away she 
 trudged with her load of potatoes, which, to her, 
 felt lighter than if she had carried back the bas- 
 ket empty ; so pleased was she to have them to 
 dress for her children's dinner. 
 
 " There were two men still loitering about the 
 door of Jobson 's cottage, w^ho would gladly have 
 got the use of the giant's services ; but, having 
 always been idle fellows, who had done no more 
 than scrape together the bare necessaries of life, 
 they had not a single thing to offer in return. ' If so, 
 you had as well be gone,' said Jobson ; ' the giant 
 does not work to encourage idleness, I promise 
 you.' — ' What can we do ? ' rephed one of them ; 
 ' if we have got nothing, we can give nothing.' — 
 ' You have, both of you, got a good pair of arms ; 
 and if you had made a right use of them, you would 
 not have come empty handed now.' — Jobson's 
 
46 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 wife, knowing they had each of them a wife and 
 children, could not but have a fellow feeling 
 towards them, — 'you have still got your arms,' 
 said she ; ' and if you will use them for us for a 
 time, I '11 venture to say my good man will lend 
 you the giant's services.' — ' But,' said Jobson, 
 * while we have the giant to work for us, what 
 need have we of the help of others ? ' — ' There 
 is a power of things Aquafluentes cannot do, you 
 well know, Jobson ; and have not I many a time 
 heard you say that he does his work so fast, that 
 it 's more than you can do to get it ready for him ; 
 now, why should not you, husband, take your 
 ease a bit, and let others prepare the work for 
 him.' — ' That 's true enough,' replied he ; ' see- 
 ing we are so well to do in the world, there 's no 
 manner of reason why I should slave myself. 
 But then,' added he, ' I doubt whether I can 
 trust these idle fellows.' — ' You may give an eye 
 to them, and see that they mind what they are 
 set about : besides,' added she, ' I sadly want a 
 set of large baskets to keep the store of good 
 things our neighbors bring us.' So it was agreed 
 that the giant was to grind the corn of these two 
 men, on condition that they should do such work 
 in return as Jobson and his wife required. Then 
 one of them was sent to strip off the bark from 
 the trunk of a tree, and place it in the pit ready 
 for the giant to saw ; whilst the other was des- 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 47 
 
 patched to gather slips of willow, and make them 
 into baskets. 
 
 " It would be endless to relate all the advan- 
 tages, which the colony reaped from the giant's 
 labor ; but, though the benefit was general, Job- 
 son, being master of his services, was by far the 
 greatest gainer by them. This led his neigh- 
 bors, when they had a leisure day, to stroll about 
 the unknown parts of the country, in hopes of 
 meeting with some other giant, whom they might 
 engage in their service. Many were the inqui- 
 ries nlade of Aquafluentes, whether there were 
 any other giants in the island. ' I have a broth- 
 er,' rephed he ; ^ but we seldom meet : I love to 
 repose in the valleys ; and he for the most part fre- 
 quents the hills.' — ' And can he do as much work 
 as you do ? ' — ' Yes,' replied Aquafluentes, ' when 
 he is in the humor ; but he is more variable in his 
 temper, and now and then is over boisterous. He 
 sometimes overcomes the natural calmness of my 
 temper, and works me up into a rage.' 
 
 " The search of the colonists was long fruit- 
 less ; at length, one day Jackson, climbing a high 
 rock in pursuit of a wild goat, saw . a magnificent 
 figure seated upon the summit. He could scarce- 
 ly distinguish the shape, for his eyes were daz- 
 zled by its brightness ; but what struck him most 
 were two enormous wings, as large as the sails of 
 a ship, but thin and transparent as the wings of a 
 
48 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 gnat. Jackson doubted not but that this was 
 the brother of Aquafluentes. Alarmed at the 
 account he had heard of the uncertainty of his 
 temper, he hesitated whether to approach : the 
 hope of gain, however, tempted him : and as he 
 drew nearer, he observed that he also had a smil- 
 ing countenance ; so, mustering up courage, he 
 ventured to accost him, and inquire whether he 
 was the person they had so long been in search 
 of; and whether he would engage in his service. 
 * My name is Ventosus,' cried the winged giant ; 
 ' and I am ready to work for you, if you will let 
 me have my own way. I am not of the low grov- 
 elling disposition of my brother, who plods on 
 with the same uniform pace. I cannot help 
 sometimes laughing at his slow motion, and I 
 amuse myself with ruffling his placid temper, in 
 order to make him jog on a little faster. But 
 then I frequently lend him a helping hand when 
 he is laden with a heavy burthen. I perch upon 
 his bosom, and, stretching out my wings, I move 
 with such rapidity as almost to lift him from the 
 ground.' Jackson was astonished to hear Aqua- 
 fluentes accused of sluggishness : he told Ven- 
 tosus what a prodigious quantity of work he had 
 done for the colony. ' He is a snail to me, for 
 all that,' hollowed out Ventosus, who had some- 
 times a very loud voice ; and, to show his rap- 
 idity, he spread his wings, and was out of sight 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 49 
 
 in a moment. Jackson was sadly frighten- 
 ed, lest he should be gone forever ; but he soon 
 returned, and consented to accompany Jackson 
 home, on condition that he would settle him in 
 an elevated spot of ground. ' My house is built 
 on the brow of a hill,' said Jackson, ' and I shall 
 place yours on the summit.' — ' Well,' said the 
 giant, ' if you will get me a couple of millstones, 
 I will grind you as much corn in one hour as 
 Aquafluentes can in two : like my brother, I work 
 without food or wages; but then I have an 
 independent spirit, I cannot bear confinement, I 
 work only when I have a mind to it, and I fol- 
 low no will but my own.' — ' This is not such 
 a tractable giant as Aquafluentes,' thought Jack- 
 son ; ' but he is still more powerful ; so I must 
 try to manage his temper as well as I can.' His 
 wonderful form and the lightness of his wings 
 excited great admiration. Jackson immediately 
 set about building a house for him on the hill, 
 to grind corn in ; and, in the mean time, Ven- 
 tosus took a flight into the valley to see his 
 brother. He found him carrying a heavy load 
 of planks, which he had lately sawed, to their 
 proprietor : they embraced each other ; and 
 Ventosus, being in a good humor, said, — ' Come, 
 brother, let me help you forward with your load ; 
 you will never get on at this lazy pace.' — ' Lazy 
 pace ! ' exclaimed one of the children, who was 
 4 
 
50 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 seated on the load of wood on the giant's "back ; 
 ' why, there is no man who can walk half a quarter 
 as fast.' — ' True.' replied Ventosus ; * but we are 
 not such little pigmies as you.' So he seated 
 himself beside the child, stretched out his wings, 
 and off they flew with the rapidity which at first 
 terrified the boy ; but when he found he was 
 quite safe, he was delighted to sail through the 
 air almost as quickly as a bird flies. When they 
 arrived, and the wood had been unloaded, — 
 ^ Now, brother,' said Aquafluentes, ' you may help 
 me back again.' — ' Not I,' replied Ventosus ; 
 ^ I am going on, straight forward : if you choose 
 to go along with me, w^ell and good ; if not, 
 you may make your way home as [you please.' 
 Aquafluentes thought this very unkind, and he 
 began to argue with his brother ; but this only 
 led to a dispute : Aquafluentes' temper at length 
 grew^ ruffled ; Ventosus flew into a passion ; he 
 struggled with his brother, and roared louder 
 than any wild beast. Aquafluentes then lost all 
 self-command, and actually foamed with rage. 
 The poor child stood trembling with fear at a 
 distance : he hardly knew the face of his old 
 friend, so much was his countenance distorted 
 by wrath ; he looked as if he could almost have 
 swallowed him up. At length Ventosus disen- 
 gao^ed himself from his brother, and flew out of 
 his sight ; but his sighs and moans were still 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 51. 
 
 heard afar off. Aquafluentes also murmured 
 loudly at the ill treatment he had received ; but he 
 composed himself by degrees ; and, taking the boy 
 onhisback, slowly returned home. Jackson in- 
 quired eagerly after Ventosus ; and when the child 
 told him all that had happened, he was much 
 alarmed for fear Ventosus should never return ; 
 and he was the more disappointed, as he had 
 prepared everything for him to go to work. 
 Ventosus, however, came back in the night ; and 
 when Jackson went to set him to work in the 
 morning, he found that nearly half the corn was 
 already ground. This was a wonderful perform- 
 ance ; yet, upon the whole, Ventosus did not 
 prove of such use to the colony as his brother. 
 He would carry with astonishing quickness ; but 
 then, he would always carry his own way ; so 
 that it was necessary to know what direction he 
 intended to take before you could confide any 
 goods to his charge ; and then, when you thought 
 them sure to arrive on account of the rapidity 
 with which they were conveyed, Ventosus would 
 sometimes suddenly change his mind, and veer 
 about with the fickleness of a weathercock ; so 
 that the goods, instead of reaching their place 
 of destination, were carried to some other place, 
 or brought back to the spot whence they set out. 
 This inconvenience could not happen with re- 
 gard to grinding corn ; but one, of no less im- 
 
52 THE THREE GIANTS- 
 
 portance, often did occur. Ventosus, when not 
 inclined to work, disappeared, and was no where 
 to be found. 
 
 " The benefit derived from the labor of these 
 two giants had so much improved the state of 
 the colony, that, not only were the cottages well 
 floored, and had good doors and window-shut- 
 ters, but there was abundance of comfortable 
 furniture — bedsteads, tables, chairs, chests, and 
 cupboards, as many as could be wished ; and the 
 men and women, now that they were reheved 
 from the most laborious work, could employ 
 themselves in making a number of things which, 
 before, they had not time for. It was no won- 
 der, therefore, that the desire to discover more 
 giants was uppermost in men's minds. In reply 
 to their numerous inquiries, Aquafluentes one day 
 said, with a sigh, — ' I know but of one more of 
 our species to be met with in this island, and that 
 is a truant son of my own. It is many years 
 ago since he left me ; and, from that day to this, 
 I have never beheld him. His mother was of 
 the tribe of Salamanders, and he always took to 
 her relations more kindly than to mine ; and, one 
 sultry day, as he was basking in the sunbeams, 
 he rose up of a sudden and disappeared from 
 my sight.' — ' Then there is little chance that 
 any of us should find him,' cried the colonists, 
 ' he has probably left the island.' 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 53 
 
 ^' Perkins, one of the most enterprising among 
 them, was not wholly discouraged by this ac- 
 count : he returned alone to talk to Aquafluen- 
 tes about his runaway son ; and learnt that there 
 was reason to believe he had not wholly aban- 
 doned the island, as he was known to amuse him- 
 self ^occasionally with bathing in a hot spring 
 which flowed from a rock in a distant valley, 
 where none of the inhabitants had ever been. 
 ' The fact is,' said his father, ' he takes so much 
 after his mother, that he cannot hve but in a ve- 
 ry high temperature. These waters are boiling 
 hot ; but this only increases his vigor.' Perkins 
 inquired if he was a powerful workman. ' I can 
 only speak by report,' replied the father ; ' and 
 from that 1 should judge that he can do more 
 than I and Ventosus together: the difficulty, 
 however, is to catch him and confine him, for he 
 is just the reverse of Ventosus ; he will only 
 work when imprisoned : then, he differs from 
 both of us by being a great feeder.' — ' Oh ! ' 
 exclaimed Perkins, ' if so, he loses one of his 
 principal merits ; for, if he is near the size of 
 either of you, it will be difficult to satisfy his ap- 
 petite, and it may cost me as much to procure 
 him food, as I should gain by his labor.' — ' Nev- 
 er fear,' returned the giant, ^ the only food he 
 takes is coals or wood, which he devours burning 
 hot, and the more you give him the better he 
 
54 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 will work, provided, as I said before, he is im- 
 prisoned.' — ' But where can we meet with a 
 prison large enough to enclose a giant ?' — ' Why, 
 in regard to his size,' replied Aquafluentes, 
 ' though he sometimes reaches up to the skies, 
 he can, at others, be squeezed into a very small 
 compass, and the smaller the space in which you 
 confine him, the harder he will work.' — ' Surely 
 he cannot take a pleasure in being imprisoned,' 
 said Perkins. — ^ Oh, no I' replied Aquafluentes ; 
 'he works only with a view to get free; for he 
 is as fond of his liberty as Ventosus.' — ' Well,' 
 said Perkins, ' If you will help me, perhaps we 
 might manage to get hold of him.' According- 
 ly, the next morning they set out together, Per- 
 kins having purchased the services of Aquafluen- 
 tes by a fine ham which he took to Jobson. As 
 they were on their road, Perkins quietly seated 
 on the back of the giant, he inquired of him by 
 what means he thought they could confine his 
 son, if they should be so fortunate as to meet with 
 him ? ' I have brought a vessel for that pur- 
 pose,' said the giant, and showed him a bottle ; 
 upon which Perkins fell a laughing, and declared 
 ' that he believed Aquafluentes was making game 
 of him.' In a short time they arrived at the hot 
 spring. As they drew near, they observed a 
 great body of vapor rising from the pool. — 
 ' Look, look !' cried Aquafluentes, ' there he is.' 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 55 
 
 Perkins looked with great eagerness : he saw 
 nothing but a cloud of steam. In a few moments, 
 however, this cloud took the form of an enor- 
 mous giant, whose head reached almost to the 
 clouds : the figure, as it continued slowly rising, 
 became more and more indistinct, till at length 
 it wholly disappeared. — ' There he was, indeed !' 
 exclaimed Perkins ; ' but he is gone, perhaps 
 fled forever !' — ' No, no !' replied Aquafluentes ; 
 ^ since we know the spot he haunts, we may be 
 more fortunate another time.' Another time they 
 came, but no giant was to be seen. ' So much 
 the better,' said Aquafluentes ; ' we must pre- 
 pare to catch him when he rises ;' so he drew 
 out his bottle, which he held with the mouth 
 downwards over the pool, and he gave the cork 
 to Perkins, charging him to thrust it into the 
 bottle, as soon as he saw it filled with vapor. 
 Perkins had much to do to refrain from laughing 
 at the idea of squeezing a giant into a bottle ; 
 however, he w^as too intent on an object of such 
 importance, to venture to give way to his mirth. 
 In a short time the vapor began to rise ; Aqua- 
 fluentes held the bottle inverted over it, where it 
 appeared thickest : it was soon filled, and well 
 corked ; but Perkins could not be persuaded 
 that they really were in possession of the long- 
 sought treasure. ^ Well, if he is within the bot- 
 tle,' said he, ' he submits to his confinement with 
 
56 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 a very good grace ; he is as quiet as a lamb.' — 
 ' Never trust to that,' rephed Aquafluentes, ' he 
 is cool now ; but you will see the difference by 
 and by. When they got home, Aquafluentes 
 told him to place him in the chimney corner as 
 near the fire as possible : ' Heat is his element,' 
 said he, ' and unless you contrive to keep him 
 scalding hot, you will do nothing with him.' 
 Perkins, in order to give his new host complete 
 satisfaction, placed him in a pot of boiling water 
 over the fire, when, to his utter consternation, 
 the cork flew out, and he saw the figure of the 
 giant, of a diminished size, come out of the bottle, 
 and, increasing in dimensions as it arose, make 
 its escape through the chimney. Perkins, quite 
 discomforted, went to relate the disaster to Aqua- 
 fluentes. ' What a trick the lad has played you !' 
 said he ; ' but we will catch him again, depend 
 upon it.' — ' What 's the use of catching, if we 
 can't keep him ?' retorted Perkins. ' I advise 
 you,' said Aquafluentes, ' to see if among the 
 things saved from the wreck, there is not an iron 
 or a copper vessel, which would be strong enough 
 to hold him, when he is alive and active, and fit 
 for work.' Perkins inquired throughout the col- 
 ony, and at last found a man who had a brass 
 vessel of a cylindrical form, which Perkins pur- 
 chased with a pair of old shoes. ' I defy him 
 to burst this,' cried Perkins, ^ it is so thick and 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 57 
 
 Strong.' — ' I have known him crack stouter ves- 
 sels/ rephed the giant, ' when he is much heat- 
 ed by passion ;' but, on' examining it, he said he 
 thought it would serve their purpose ; for he ob- 
 served, that there was a small opening closed 
 with a little door. ' He will make nothing of 
 lifting this door,' cried he, ' when he is violent ; 
 but it is too small for him to escape by. How- 
 ever, it will serve him to vent his wrath and 
 keep him more temperate.' The next day off 
 they posted ; succeeded in enclosing Vaporoso 
 (for that was his name), as he arose from the 
 boiling pool; and carried him home in triumph. 
 " When Vaporoso was fairly captured, he was 
 ready to come to terms with his master, and of- 
 fered to do almost any sort of work he chose to 
 set him to. ' But,' said he, ' it would be beneath 
 my talents to grind corn or to saw planks. I can 
 work a manufacture of cotton or woollen, or raise 
 coals or water out of a mine.' — ' As for coals,' 
 said Perkins, ' we have such abundance of wood, 
 that we need give ourselves no trouble to get 
 coals ; and in regard to mining of any sort, that 
 is quite beyond our reach. But if it were possi- 
 ble to manufacture the cotton that grows in such 
 plenty in this country, it would be a great bless- 
 ing ; for we are all short of shirts, and our wo- 
 men, and children are half naked. So I must 
 consult with the rest of them, and see if it would 
 
58 THE THREE GIANTS. ■ 
 
 be possible to build some mills to spin the cot- 
 ton and weave it.' This was so desirable a 
 thing, that every one was ready to give his as- 
 sistance to the best of his abihty. The car- 
 penter, the smith, and the wheelwright were 
 of essential service ; and, after much toil and 
 trouble, a mill was erected. A manufacturer 
 from Manchester would have laughed at it ; but 
 it proved a most valuable treasure to the little 
 colony ; which, by the by, continued the ped- 
 lar, I ought to have told you, had increased con- 
 siderably in population, as well as in wealth." — 
 " Wealth 1 " interrupted Tom : " I thought you 
 said they made no use of money, and did not 
 care about it." — " True," replied the pedlar, 
 " the wealth I speak of was the corn, and cattle, 
 and vegetables, and furniture, and better houses, 
 and boats with which they caught plenty offish, 
 and other things without number. After a 
 few years had passed over their heads, no one 
 would have known the colony again, so much 
 was it increased and improved. Thanks to 
 Aquafluentes and Ventosus, and above all, to 
 Vaporoso : not that the people were idle ; they 
 had enough to do to prepare work for the 
 giants, and finish it up after they had performed 
 their part. Thus, the men had to build houses, 
 and to make furniture, and boats, and carts, out 
 of the boards which Aquafluentes sawed. Then 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 59 
 
 they were obliged to raise the corn for Ventosus 
 to grind, and afterwards make It Into bread." — 
 " And the women must have had plenty of work 
 too," said little Betsy, " after they made cotton, 
 to sew it up into gowns and petticoats for the little 
 girls." — " Very true, my dear," said the old 
 man ; " and the little girls helped them at this 
 work ; for there was a school set up to teach the 
 children to sew, and to read and write ; and the 
 poor widow was the mistress of it. Then there was 
 a church built, it was neither very large nor very 
 handsome ; but they prayed to God in it as pious- 
 ly and as sincerely as if it had been finer and rich- 
 er ; and never failed to return thanks for the 
 wonderful assistance he had sent them." — " But 
 pray, what did the men do for coats ? " asked 
 Tom ; " for theirs must have been worn out in 
 time, as well as the women's petticoats ? " — 
 " Oh ! " said the pedlar, " when once the manu- 
 facture of cotton was found to answer, another 
 for wool was set on foot ; and after that they 
 raised flax, and manufactured linen ; and, built 
 as many mills as they would, Vaporoso worked 
 them all. At last they undertook to build a 
 ship ; and then the three giants began to dispute 
 which should take charge of it. — ^ It cannot 
 move without my assistance,' said Aquafluentes. 
 ' Nay,' said Veijtosus, ^ you may support it, but 
 a pretty snail's pace it will move at, unless I 
 
60 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 perch upon the deck, and stretch out my wings ; 
 and then it will fly upon the surface of the wa- 
 ters.' — ^ Ay, but it must fly the way you choose 
 to go,' cried Vaporoso, ' while I can take it in 
 any direction they choose it to go, and at a quick- 
 er rate than either of you. Aquafluentes was 
 obliged to give up the point ; for though he could 
 have carried a vessel as far as the mouth of a river, 
 he had no power to walk on the sea. The other 
 two determined to divide the charge amicably be- 
 tween them. When Ventosus was in a humor to 
 conduct the vessel towards the place of its destina- 
 tion, he was to be captain ; but if he grew refracto- 
 ry, the command was to be taken by Vaporoso. 
 The colony had now an opportunity of either re- 
 turning to England, or seeking the spot where it had 
 at first been their intention to settle ; but, during 
 the course of twenty years that they had been es- 
 tablished in this desert island, they had improved 
 it so much, and become so attached to it, that they 
 had not the least desire to leave it. Besides, the 
 young people were now growing old ; but those 
 who had been born in the island, or had arrived 
 there at a very early age, were curious to visit 
 England, of which they had heard so much from 
 their parents. They carried thither a cargo of 
 goods, the produce of the island, which they 
 thought would fetch a good price in England, 
 and brought in return such commodities as the 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 61 
 
 colony required. Thus, manufactures and com- 
 merce were established in the country, and from 
 that time they went on in an almost uninterrupted 
 course of prosperity. And so now I am come 
 to the end of my story," cried the old man, who 
 began to be out of breath with so long a narra- 
 tive. " And a very pretty story it is," cried 
 Tom, " with giants in plenty ! " — " But I 
 should be glad to know where the sense lies ? " 
 said Hopkins ; " for as it has not pleased God to 
 give us such helps as you describe, I see no 
 good that can come of setting us a longing for 
 what we can't get, and so making us discontent- 
 ed with what we have." 
 
 " Are you sure that you have no such helps ? " 
 said the old man, with an arch smile. " I could 
 give you an explanation of my tale, but little 
 Betsy would say it was the stupid moral at the 
 end : so I think the children had better go to 
 bed before I proceed." Betsy and little Jem, 
 who were beginning to yawn, agreed to this ; 
 but the other children all begged leave to stay 
 and hear the explanation. 
 
 " Well, then," cried the old man, '' Nature 
 has, in reality, given these gigantic powers to 
 assist the labors of men." The children look- 
 ed around in astonishment, as if doubting whether 
 they should not behold one of the giants. " Tell 
 me," continued he, addressing Hopkins, '' who 
 
62 THE THREE GIANTS; 
 
 is it turns the mill that saws the wood yonder ? " 
 
 — " No one," cried Hopkins : ^' it is turned by 
 a stream of water." — " And does not that stream 
 of water work, without requiring either food, 
 lodging, or wages ? " — <" That is true, indeed," 
 replied Hopkins, scratching his head, as if to 
 make the meaning enter into it the easier. " It 
 is strange that never struck me before." — 
 " Aquafluentes," continued the pedlar, " means 
 no other than a stream of running water." — 
 " Oh, that is the reason cried Jenny, " that he 
 cleaned the house, and washed the children, and 
 taught them to swim ; but I do not understand 
 how running water can fetch and carry cargoes 
 of wood and other things, as Aquafluentes did." 
 
 — «' Why, in a boat," said Tom, " no doubt : 
 don't you remember they placed a large shallow 
 box on his back, to hold things in : what was 
 that but a boat ? " — " Ay, true," replied Jenny ; 
 " and the long pole or staif to make the giant go 
 on, must have been an oar." — " Well, it must 
 be confessed," said Hopkins, " there is as much 
 truth as fiction in your tale." 
 
 " Then Ventosus," continued the pedlar . . . 
 " Oh, stop," cried Tom, interrupting him ; " let 
 me try to guess what Ventosus means." After 
 thinking awhile, he exclaimed, — " I do think 
 Ventosus must be the wind ; because, w^hen he 
 quarrels with his brother, Aquafluentes, he makes 
 
THE THREE GIANTS. 63 
 
 the waves rage, and swell, and foam. Oh, it is 
 certainly the wind which turns the mill to grind 
 the corn." — "True," said Hopkins, thoughtful- 
 ly ; " the wind is another gigantic power in na- 
 ture for which we have never thought of being 
 thankful. Well, my good friend," continued he, 
 " your story has taught me that we possess bless- 
 ings I little thought of; and I hope it will teach 
 us to be grateful for them. But what is the third 
 power, which is more able than the other two ? " 
 — " It is one you know less of, — it is steam ; 
 which, confined in the cylinder of the steam-en- 
 gine, sets all our manufactures in motion. As it 
 rises from boiling water, I have called it the son 
 of water and of fire or heat. It is now, you 
 know, applied to vessels at sea, acting always 
 steadily and regularly, while the wind is not un- 
 der our command. But, observe," said the ped- 
 lar, " though these powers do so much for men, 
 they do not take the work out of tlieir hands : on 
 the contrary, when the mills or manufactures 
 thrive, they give them more to do. It was the 
 giant Vaporoso that introduced the -cotton mills 
 in this village, which gives so much work to all 
 the folks in the neighborhood ; andif Ventosus did 
 not grind the corn, depend upon it there would not 
 be half so much raised ; no, nor near so many 
 bakers : for, when men were obliged to bruise 
 
64 THE THREE GIANTS 
 
 their corn themselves, it would take up the time 
 which they can now give to sowing and reaping 
 it.'' — " Nor would there be so many floored 
 cottages, and doors, and window shutters, and ta- 
 bles, and chairs," said Tom (proud to show that 
 he had not forgotten the number of articles men- 
 tioned in the tale), ''if Aquafluentes had not 
 been such a capital sawyer of wood." — -'Well, 
 but," said Dame Hopkins, who hitherto had 
 made no remark, for, being busied about her do- 
 mestic affairs, she had not heard above half the 
 story, " if these giants do but make men work the 
 more, I can't see what good they do them." — 
 " Why, wife," answered Hopkins, " we don't 
 wan't to be idle ; but we want to earn a com- 
 fortable livelihood by our work ; and I see now, 
 that, if it were not for the help of these powers 
 which nature has given us (and we must have 
 been as blind as buzzards not to have observed 
 them before), our cottage would have been un- 
 floored, we should have had neither bedstead to 
 lie on, chair to sit on, or table to eat off; and, 
 what 's worse still, a sad scarcity of bread to set 
 on the table at meals. We have now the pro- 
 duce of our own work and of theirs also ; and, 
 as they do a hundred times more work than we 
 can, why, w^e get a hundred times more food and 
 clothing, and comforts of one kind or other." 
 
THE TH&EB GIANTS. 65 
 
 " -Ay," said Jenny ; " where should we have 
 got our cotton gowns and petticoats, or you 
 your shirt, Tom, if Vaporoso had not set the 
 cotton mills a-going ? " — '^ Well," said Hopkins, 
 snuffing up the air, '^ I smell the smell of sup- 
 per. I see my good woman has been busy to 
 some purpose." — '' Ay, and it 's all the work 
 of my own hands," said she : '^ none of your 
 giants have had anything to do with it." But 
 the pedlar, who stood up, for the credit of his 
 giants, replied, — "By your leave, mistress, I 
 think you are mistaken. These potatoes could 
 never have been so well boiled without .the help 
 of steam ; nor would the iron, of which the pot 
 is made, have been so easily got out of the 
 mine, without the use of a steam-engine." — 
 " I think that truant young giant is the greatest 
 favorite of yours," said Hopkins, " of the three." 
 — " Not whe,n he was running wild about the 
 country," replied the pedlar ; " but, after he was 
 reclaimed, and took to working, he certainly did 
 more than the other two." — "And, mother, 
 who ground the corn that made this bread ? " 
 cried Tom, archly. "And I doubt whether 
 Ventosus had not some hand in bringing this su- 
 gar over the seas from foreign parts," said Hop- 
 kins. "Well, well, come in and eat," cried the 
 good dame a little angry that she did but half 
 understand the meaning of the story, which 
 6 
 
66 THE THREE GIANTS. 
 
 seemed to be more attended to than her supper. 
 So they all went in laughing and joking, and sat 
 down to a comfortable meal ; which, in spite of 
 all the credit the good dame claimed for her cook- 
 ing, they declared she could not have brought to 
 the table without the help of Aquafluentes, Ven- 
 tosus, and Vaporoso. 
 
POPULATION, he. 
 
 THE OLD WORLD. 
 
 " Father," said Tom the next morning to 
 Hopkins, " I can't, for the hfe of me, make out 
 why we are so poor in old England : for the real 
 giants work much more for us here than they did 
 for the folks in the desert island. What is a sin- 
 gle water-mill, and a single wind-mill, and such 
 a bit of a factory as they set up, compared to all 
 those we have here ? And yet they lived in 
 plenty, while we are often half starved." 
 
 " Their island was but a nut-shell to ours," 
 cried Hopkins ; " and there were but a few of 
 them in it ; and so the single water-mill, and 
 wind-mill, and bit of a factory, as you call it, did 
 all. the work they wanted; while here, we are 
 too many by half for all the mills and factories in 
 the kingdom." 
 
 " Well, then we have nothing to do but 
 
68 POPULATION, ETC. J 
 
 to build more ; there 's no want of hands with 
 us." 
 
 " Ay, but you must have wherewithal to pay 
 the builders ; and money runs short among so 
 many." 
 
 " It can't run shorter than it did in the isl- 
 and," replied Tom ; " for they had but one 
 pursefull that I heard of, and that they made no 
 use of. So why cannot you build without money 
 here, as well as they did there ? you need only 
 feed the workmen, instead of paying them wa- 
 ges." — " That 's all one," said Hopkins ; " feed 
 and clothe the workmen, or pay them wages 
 comes to the same thing : and if food and cloth- 
 ing run short, the factory cannot be built, nor 
 worked, if it were built. The fault lies in there 
 being more people here than there is food to 
 maintain, clothes to cover, or houses to lodge 
 them. There 's your mother there has had six- 
 teen children ; and God knows we have never had 
 wherewithal to bring up half that number. But 
 you are too young for these matters, Tom, so be 
 off to your work, and don't stand idling here." 
 
 When Tom was gone, his mother said, — 
 " Ay, its very hard that I, who have brought 
 sixteen children into the world, and worked, as 
 one may say, day and night, should not be able 
 to give them clothes to their backs, nor a hearty 
 meal of wholesome food ; no, nor a bit of learn- 
 
OR, THE OLD WORLD. 69 
 
 ing to lift them on in the world. You know 
 what a hard matter we have had to place out 
 Dick and Nance ; and now that I am looking out 
 for Jenny, there is nothing to be had. I sent 
 her after Farmer Wilkin's place, but there were 
 no less than six girls about it already ; so they 
 underbid each other, and one of them got it, 
 who offered to go for nothing more than her 
 board and a pair of shoes a year." 
 
 " That is because there are more girls than 
 places for them/* said John. 
 
 " Well, and what is to be done with them at 
 home is more than I can tell ! Why^ there is 
 Jenny gets such an appetite now-a-days, there is 
 no satisfying her. She would be willing enough 
 to earn the bread she eats, if she knew but 
 how ; but they won't take her in at the mills, 
 and there is no want of hands at the factory." — 
 ^' That is because there are more hands to work 
 than work to be done,^" replied her husband. — 
 " Don't be telling me of your 'cause this, and 
 'cause t'other," cried the impatient wife ; " but 
 tell me, what is much more to the purpose, how 
 am I to get bread to put into my children's 
 mouths ?" But John said, with a sigh, that was 
 more than he could tell. 
 
 ^' But I suppose you can tell the cause ?" re- 
 torted his discontented wife. — '' Yes, that is 
 easy enough," replied John ; " there are more 
 
70 POPULATION, ETC.; 
 
 mouths to be fed than there is bread to feed 
 them." — " Well, and where is the remedy ?" — 
 " That is a harder matter, wife. Now we have 
 the children, we must make the best of it we 
 can, and divide what we have among them ; 
 but if you had not had such a swarm of brats, 
 we should all have fared better. Look at neigh- 
 bor Fairburn's ; why, they never want for any 
 thing!" — "Ay, that is true enough," replied his 
 wife ; " there was his Sukey at church last Sun- 
 day in as neat a cotton gown as I would wish to 
 set eyes on : and, God forgive me ! I could not 
 but cast a look of envy on it, when I compared 
 it with our own poor girls' patched rags. Well, 
 I remember the time, when Patty there was but 
 a little one, she had as good a gown to her back 
 as Sukey Fairburn ; but times are sadly chang- 
 ed now !" — " As for that matter, dame," cried 
 John, " cotton gowns are a great deal cheaper 
 now than they were then ; but you have had 
 thirteen children since, Patty ; so it is no wonder 
 you can't give them a new gown so often, even 
 though you may buy the cotton at half price. 
 When we had only three children, why, it was 
 natural -we should do as well as Fairburn does 
 with his three, for both he and I get the same 
 wages ; but when you come to divide among 
 three, or among sixteen, there is a wide differ- 
 ence." — " Nay, but you know, John, we never 
 
OR, THE OLD WORLD. 71 
 
 had sixteen alive at once, nor near," cried the 
 wife. — " That is true," said he; "but so many 
 dying, is but a proof we had more than we could 
 rear. If you and I had not married till the time 
 of life Fairburn and his wife did, we should not 
 have been troubled with such a monstrous fami- 
 ly." The good dame, who could not bear any 
 reflection being cast on the number of her chil- 
 dren, and yet was at a loss for an argument in 
 its favor, said coaxingly to her husband — "Well, 
 but, John, you know the proverb says, ' The 
 more the merrier.'" — "Ay, but you forget 
 what follows, wife, — ' The fewer the better 
 cheer.' " 
 
 John then went on to show that if the labor- 
 ers took care to have small famihes, they would 
 gain another and a still greater advantage ; not 
 only would they have fewer children to clothe 
 and feed, and therefore their money would go 
 farther, but also their wages would necessarily be 
 higher. The rich^ instead of having too many 
 workmen, would have too few. His wife thought 
 that this would not mend matters, for that the 
 fewer the laborers, the more work would each 
 have to do. But John replied very properly, 
 " Nay, nay, we are not slaves, and cannot be 
 forced to work more than we are willing. Now," 
 continued he, " if we were fewer in number, the 
 rich would be looking out for workmen, instead 
 
72 POPULATION, ETC ; 
 
 of workmen looking out for employers, as is the 
 case now. And if there w ere a want of hands in- 
 stead of a want of work, those who wanted work 
 to be done would be ready enough to pay high- 
 er w^ages. We might say to our employers, * If 
 you do not choose to give us a better price for 
 our labor, we will go elsewhere to others who 
 will.' But if any of us were to say that now, 
 when there are so many all wanting employment, 
 we should starve in idleness, for others would 
 consent to work at the low prices which w^e had 
 refused." 
 
 " I can't think the rich would ever allow us to 
 fix our own price," said the wife ; " for they 
 are wiser, by far than we are, and they are 
 mighty clever at having things their own way. 
 They would get a law made to forbid the raising 
 of w^ages, mayhap ! It is true, as you say, they 
 can't oblige us to work, but they may oblige us 
 by law^ to take low wages, if w^e do w^ork, and 
 you know well enough we can't live w^ithout it." 
 — ^' There 's no doubt of that," replied John ; 
 " and it reminds me, that when I went to pay the 
 last quarter's schooling, I found the master mus- 
 ing over an old book, and he bade me stop to 
 hear what it said ; for that it was a curious thing, 
 and concerned the laboring people ; and moreo- 
 ver that it was true. Well, as far as I can re- 
 collect, he read that once upon a time there was 
 
OR, THE OLD WORLD. tS 
 
 a mortal disease fell upon the people of England, 
 called the plague, and that as many as half of 
 them died of it." — " Poor creatures !" exclaim- 
 ed the wife, in a tone of compassion, " how 
 shocking !" Then, after a little thought, she 
 added, " Laborers must have been scarce enough 
 then, God knows !" — " Well," continued John, 
 " the book went on to say, that those who sur- 
 vived took advantage of their numbers being re- 
 duced, to ask higher wages." — " Ay, but there 
 is one thing I can't understand," said the wife ; 
 why should there be a call for more laborers ? 
 for if there were fewer poor folks to labor, there 
 were fewer rich folks to labor for ; for the plague 
 is no respecter of persons, and falls on the rich 
 as well as the poor, as we read in the Bible it 
 did in the time of Pharaoh." — " Sure enough," 
 replied John ; " but then the rich can pay for 
 doctor's stuff, and all manner of things to help 
 them through it ; so more of them are likely to 
 recover than of the poor, who are pent up in 
 their small cottages, and have no money to pay 
 nurses or doctors. However, there is no doubt 
 but that many of the rich died too. But look 
 ye, wife, when they go down to the grave, their 
 riches are not buried with them ; no, no, that re- 
 mains above ground, and goes to their friends 
 and relations ; so you see the plague did not 
 take the money, and there was not less of that 
 
74 POUULATION, ETC.; 
 
 in the land, though there were fewer people. 
 Now mind ye, wife, it is wealth that sets the 
 people to work, So if h^lf the rich folk had 
 died, others would have come in for their wealth ; 
 and these, becoming so much richer than they 
 were before, would have wanted more people to 
 work for them." 
 
 "They might loant and welcome," said the 
 wife ; " but how could tliey get them if they 
 were dead?" — ''And it is just because they 
 cannot get those who died, that those the}' can 
 get (I mean those who survived) are sure to get 
 higher wages ; for, as I said before, when labor- 
 ers are scai'ce, the rich ai'e ready enough to pay 
 them high wages. But the book went on to say, 
 that when the King who reigned in those times 
 heard that his subjects would not work without 
 higher wages, he fell into a rage, and made a law 
 such as you were thinking of, wife, to forbid, un- 
 der severe pains and penalties, that the poor 
 should take higher wages than they had before 
 the plague." — " Why, then, I think he was no 
 better than a tyrant, to hinder the poor from get- 
 ting what they fairly could : he must hav^e been 
 quite another sort of man from our good King 
 William." — "That he was," said John; "but 
 it would not do ; and after a hard struggle, the 
 King was obhged to give in, and the people got 
 the wages they asked." 
 
OR, THE OLD WORLD. 75 
 
 " Well, but I do not know how it is," said his 
 wife, after a pause, " my mind sadly misgives 
 me about high wages ever since the Fairy's wand 
 brought on such a train of ill luck, that w^e so 
 Httle looked for.'- — " That was because the 
 high wages then was not the natural rate of wa- 
 ges, as one might say. The Fairy forced wages 
 up, and had no better success than the King's 
 law to force wages down ; but you see, wife, that 
 the nature of things is stronger than King's laws 
 or Fairies' wands ; and that when the number of 
 laborers was so much lessened by the plague, it 
 was quite natural that the wages should be high, 
 and so they were, without any ill luck coming 
 of it." 
 
 " Well, for my part, I can't see the difference," 
 said the good dame. " Why should not the 
 manufacturers send away half their workmen 
 when wages rise after the plague, just as they 
 did when the Fairy's wand did the business." 
 
 " Mercy on me," cried John, "how thick- 
 headed you are, wife ! Don't you see that half 
 of them are sent away already by the plague in- 
 to their coffins ? so, instead of discharging any 
 more, they must pay high wages if they wish to 
 keep those that remain ; for when laborers are 
 scarce, and there is a great demand for them, 
 they won't work without good pay." 
 
 "Then," said his wife, returning to her favor- 
 
76 POPULATION, ETC. ; 
 
 ite subject, " when the laboring people were so 
 well off they might marry young, for they could 
 afford to provide for a large family if they chanc- 
 ed to have one." John readily agreed lo this, 
 observing, at the same time, " that people must 
 take care, however, not to overshoot the mark ; 
 for that if they increased and multiphed so much, 
 that in the end the market were again overstock- 
 ed with laborers, wages would naturally lower 
 again, and then the poor would be in no better 
 plight than they were before the plague. And 
 that is the plight we are in now," continued 
 John. " But God forbid that a plague should 
 ever come to thin our ranks !" — " Heaven pre- 
 serve us from it !" cried his wife ; '^ for though 
 those that outlive it may fare the better, who 
 knows, John, that you and I should escape with 
 our lives ; and I '11 promise you," added she, with 
 a look of affright, " it would snatch away some 
 of the children that are still left to us." 
 
 " Ay, I trust the plague will never return ; but 
 we may learn a lesson from that which is past, 
 though it be so many years back. For we may 
 be sure that if we have but small, or at least mod- 
 erate sized families, in the course of a few years 
 it will bring about the same good to the working 
 people." 
 
 " To be sure," said his wife, " If there had 
 been only one or two girls after Farmer Wil- 
 
OR, THE OLD WOKLD. , 77 
 
 kin's place, Jenny would have stood a much 
 better chance of getting it, and perhaps have 
 had two or three guineas wages ; for if girls were 
 scarce, they would not be so simple as to be sat- 
 isfied with their board and a pair of shoes." 
 
 " Well, dame, the country is like our family, 
 there are too many of them for every one to get 
 a hvehhood." — "God help the country ! " cried 
 the wife ; "it is more than we can do to help 
 ourselves." — " Why, what is a country made 
 up of, but of families like ours ? " said John. — 
 "And if every family had taken care of them- 
 selves, there would have been no distress in the 
 country. When God has given us hands to la- 
 bor with, and heads with common sense to teach 
 us what we ought to do, we have no reason to 
 complain, and it is our own fault if we do not 
 guard against poverty by prudence and saving. 
 We ought not to have married so young, and 
 then we should not have been troubled with so 
 large a family. But what is done can't be un- 
 done, only it should serve as a warning against 
 another time." 
 
 " We are little likely to marry again, either of 
 us," said his wife ; " and if we did, sure enough 
 it would not be over young." 
 
 " I was not thinking of you and me, wife, but 
 of the young ones. There is our boy, George, 
 who is but two and twenty, hankering after 
 
78 POPULATION, ETC.} 
 
 Betsy Bloomfield, and she is but nineteen. 
 Now, George has not a farthing more than the 
 labor of his hands to support her and the dozen 
 of children they are likely to have at those years. 
 I say, I will not hear of it. George must work 
 hard and lay up something before he marries the 
 girl. And let her go to service, and get some- 
 thing to lay by too ; and then, when they have 
 a little money in hand, and a few more years 
 over their heads, they may come together with- 
 out harm." 
 
 " Mercy on us ! what will they say to that ? 
 it will be a hard thing upon them, John." 
 
 '' But it would be harder still upon their chil- 
 dren, if we let them marry so young. They 
 would be half starved, and rickety, and breed all 
 sorts of distempers, and so they would die off, 
 and be an affliction instead of blessing to their 
 parents." 
 
 '^ Ah ! " said the good woman, heaving a 
 sigh, *' like our poor babes." Then, after a 
 pause of painful remembrance, she added, — 
 " But one of them, you know, John, was car- 
 ried off by the measles, and that is not bred by 
 lack of good food, but comes of the will of God." 
 
 " Yes," returned John ; " but if it had not 
 been a poor weakly thing, it might have got 
 through the measles as well as the rest of them. 
 Why, to be sure, none of them died of starva- 
 
OR, TiPE OLD WORLD. 79 
 
 tlon ; but who knows but that they might all 
 have lived, had they been reared in plenty? ^' 
 
 " Alack ! " said the poor woman, drawing the 
 back of her hand across her eyes ; " it was not 
 so much their deaths I minded, for I knew they 
 would want for nothing in a better world ; but it 
 was their puling and crying when they were alive, 
 as if they had not a moment's peace, poor babes ! 
 They were a sore trouble to me ; and the more 
 I loved them, the harder it was to bear. One 
 while," continued the poor woman, " we lost our 
 children by the small-pox ; and when the cow- 
 pox was found out, I thought they would be 
 safe ; but they went off the same, one by one 
 sickness, another by another ; so I can't but think, 
 husband, that it is the will of God that poor 
 babes should drop off, as the blossom drops from 
 the trees ; for it never all comes to fruit." 
 
 " It is the will of God," answered John, " that 
 children should die if their parents do not pro- 
 vide for them so that they may live. And when 
 there is no small-pox, why, the sickly ones are 
 carried off by the measles or hooping-cough ; 
 nay, even a cold will do the work : for die some 
 of them must, when there is not food to rear 
 them all." 
 
 " Nay, John, I can't bear to hear you talk 
 after that fashion. It seems for all the world as 
 if you thought their dying a good riddance." 
 
80 POPULATION, ^TC. ; 
 
 " No ; but I think it a sin and a shame to bring 
 children into the world just to suffer, and send 
 them out of it. First a cradle, and then a coffin ; 
 and little else between than fretting. But, at 
 least, let us have no grandchildren born to die 
 off in that way : we must live and learn, or we 
 shall hve to little purpose. So get Betsy Bloom- 
 field a service as soon as you can." 
 
 " Well," said Dame Hopkins, after a little 
 thought, " there is the Squire's lady was here last 
 week, in want of a girl for her nursery. I beg- 
 ged hard for our Jenny ; it would have been the 
 making of her ; but it was lost labor, for the lady 
 would have it she was too yonng. She cast an 
 eye upon Patty, there," added she, in a half 
 whisper ; " but I told the lady she had other 
 thoughts in her head. Now this place w^ould 
 just suit Betsy, who is a nice tidy body, and has 
 reared up her brothers and sisters, and is fit for 
 a nursery." 
 
 John turned towards his daughter Patty, who 
 was sitting by the casement window, sewing. 
 When she saw that her father observed her, a 
 blush came over her face ; for she could not con- 
 ceal the tears that were trickling down her 
 cheeks. " Hey-day, w^hat is to do, now ? " cried 
 he ; " have you and Tom Barton had a lovers' 
 quarrel ? Never fear, girl, you will soon make it 
 up again." — " Oh no," cried Patty, " he never 
 
OR, THE OLD WORLD. 81 
 
 gives me so much as a cross word ; but I have 
 heard all you have been saying, and I am no 
 older, you know, than Betsy ; nay, even younger 
 by three months ; so I suppose," added she, sob- 
 bing, " I must give up the wedding, and think of 
 going out to service as well as Betsy." 
 
 " Hey, never take on so child," cried the 
 father ; " that is quite another thing : Barton is 
 able to support you ; ay, and as many brats as 
 you may chance to have. He has neither kith 
 nor kin ; and his father has left him the shop, and 
 all the stock in trade, and a good lot of money 
 beside ; so there is no harm can come of your 
 marrying him. Quite the reverse, you see, 
 deary, for you are a burthen upon us, who have 
 so many of your brothers and sisters to maintain." 
 Patty cast up her tearful eyes, which seemed to 
 complain that she should be thought a burthen. 
 The mother, who understood her looks, said, 
 " Your father does not mean that we shall be 
 glad to be rid of you, Patty : nay, nay, child ; 
 but we shall be glad to see you happy, and to 
 have your share of the meals to give to your 
 brothers and sisters." 
 
 Patty brightened up at these words ; but a 
 cloud again passed over her brow as she thought 
 of poor Betsy. 
 
EMIGRATION 
 
 A NEW WORLD. 
 
 Hopkins's wife, as we have seen, loved her 
 children tenderly ; and, hard as it was to main- 
 tain them, she could not bring her mind to re- 
 gret that she had so large a family ; for there 
 was not one of them she would have hked to 
 part with. ''Dick and Nancy," thought she, 
 " earn their own livelihood, so they are none too 
 many for us ; and I had trouble enough to let 
 them go so far away. Then Patty is soon to be 
 married, and it will be hard to part with her even 
 to a good husband, fond as the girl is of him ; 
 and well she may, for one may go far and near 
 and not meet with the like. Jenny and Tom, 
 to be sure, are growing so fast, they are enough 
 to eat us out of house and home ; but then it 
 does one good to see them so hearty ; and they 
 will be the better able to work, when they can 
 get anything to do. Betsy eats but little, as yet, 
 
A NEW WORLD. 83 
 
 and is so healthy that she gives one no trouble. 
 Then, as to my poor little darling Jemmy, he is 
 but an ailing child, I must own ; but I love him 
 the better for all the care he gives me ; and 
 many a heartache have I had for fear I.should not 
 rear him." So the good woman went on, num- 
 bering up the qualities which endeared her chil- 
 dren to her. At length, addressing herself to 
 her husband, she said, with a sigh, — " What a 
 pity 't is, John, that the world is not a little 
 wider, that there might be room, and work, and 
 food for us all." 
 
 " As for that matter," cried Hopkins, the 
 world is big enough, in all conscience ; it 's only 
 Old England that 's a bit of the smallest for the 
 lots of people it has to hold. Why, there are 
 some countries, as they tell me, that want work- 
 men. America, they say, is too large by half 
 for the folks that live in it ; and ship loads of 
 people go over there, becauce there 's a scarcity 
 of hands, and wages run high. They go such 
 lengths as to say, that the more children you 
 have there, the better you are off. They are no 
 burthen there ; for, as soon as ever they can do 
 any sort of work, they are sure to get it, and a 
 good pennyworth by it. I 've heard, that a wid- 
 ow woman, with a large family, is counted a 
 prize there, and will get a second husband as 
 soon as ever she chooses." — " Then they may 
 
84 EMIGRATION; OR, 
 
 marry young in those parts ? " said his wife. 
 — " No doubt ; the sooner the better," repHed 
 Hopkins : " they tell me the country swarms 
 with children, all living in plenty." — " That 's a 
 fine thing," said the dame ; " but yet it would 
 be hard to leave one's own country, where one 
 has been bred and bom ; it is like leaving father 
 and mother. Besides, husband," added she, 
 after a thoughtful pause, " if such numbers of 
 poor go over to America, it will soon be stocked 
 full ; and then they will be in no better plight 
 there than they are here." — " Bless you," cried 
 John, " it is not so easy to fill America with peo- 
 ple. 1 Ve heard a deal about it from the mate 
 of the ship at Liverpool, which takes them over 
 the sea ; he calls it emigrations^ 
 
 " Emigration !" repeated the wife ; " why, 
 one would think they were sent across the seas 
 for some crime, it sounds so like transporta- 
 tion." 
 
 " What matters the sound," cried John, " when 
 it 's quite another thing ?" 
 
 " Well, but do, John, tell me all about it," 
 said she coaxingly, to her husband. 
 
 " Why, what can you understand of these 
 matters ?" rephed he. But he was a kind-heart- 
 ed husband, and let his wife have her way when 
 she was not unreasonable ; so he told- her "that 
 America was so large, that the mate said it would 
 
A NEW WORLD. 85 
 
 take a thousand years, and more, to fill it with 
 people, like Old England. There is so much 
 land there, that it may be had for asking ; and 
 those who engage to cultivate it may get as many 
 acres as they choose. And most of those who 
 go over, the mate says, won't stay in the towns 
 and work for the high wages they could get there, 
 but take their goods and chattels, and go up the 
 country, and settle in a farm of their own." 
 
 " A farm of their own !" exclaimed the wife, 
 " lack o' day ; if our landlord would but give us 
 one poor acre by our cottage, how happy we 
 should be !" 
 
 John began to fear his wife might take a fancy 
 to go over to America, so he added, — " It 's not 
 all so smooth and easy as you may think, wife. 
 First, there 's such tossing to and fro on the salt 
 seas, and they are all sick to death before they 
 get there. And wdien they are landed, and go up 
 the country and choose their ground, there are 
 no farm houses, no barns, no ricks, no live stock ; 
 no, not even fields ready for them, meadow or 
 arable, nothing but woods without end." — 
 " And are there no wild beasts in those woods ?" 
 asked the good woman, timidly. — " Why, not 
 many of them, I believe," replied Hopkins ; " but 
 plenty of snakes and reptiles, and such hke. 
 Well, the first thing they have to do is to cut 
 down the trees, and clear them away before they 
 
»b EMIGRATION; OR, 
 
 can sow their seed ; and then they are obhged to 
 build themselves log houses to live in, and make 
 a shift for furniture. Then they must carry their 
 tools with them to work with, and some few 
 pots and kettles, for you find none of those things 
 in the woods. So, you see, there 's a deal to 
 be done before you can settle comfortably." — "I 
 wonder," said his wife, " that when poor men are 
 turned off at the factory, and can't find work, and 
 those, too, ^vho can no longer get a livelihood by 
 the hand loom, do not pack up their all and go 
 over to America. 
 
 " How should they ?" cried Hopkins : " they 
 have not wherewithal to pay their passage. The 
 captain won't take them over for nothing, and 
 feed them while aboard the ship. And it's well 
 for them that he won't, for America would not 
 suit such people as these. Set a weaver to cut 
 down a tree ! why he knows no more about it 
 than a child, and he would be a week at it. Then 
 he would never get a log house over his head be- 
 fore the winter set in, and starved him outright. 
 They who have been used to the closeness of the 
 factory by day, and to sleep four or five in a 
 room by night, why they would perish in the 
 wild woods, with no one near them for miles 
 around." — " Well, but," said she, " there must 
 be firing in plenty to keep them warm : no one 
 to forbid their picking up the dry sticks, nor pull- 
 
A NEW WORLD. 87 
 
 ing down a branch when they wanted it."^ — " Sure 
 euough, they will not want fuel," replied he ; 
 " it 's easy enough to boil the pot, but not so 
 sure of having something to put into it. Now 
 your country folks, that have been used to out- 
 door work, get through hardships much better 
 than the factory men, who have been mewed up 
 all their days like chickens in a coop. Why, 
 the first time they slept out in those woods they 
 would be sure to get the ague ; and then who is 
 to work for them ? No such plenty of hands 
 there. No, it is only fit for folks who are used 
 to hard out-of-doors labor ; and it won't do for 
 them either, unless they have some httle proper- 
 ty to set them agoing ; for, besides taking so ma- 
 ny things with them, they must have a supply of 
 food till they can get their crops in, or they 
 would run some chance of being starved. That 
 has happened to more than one who has gone 
 without forethought. They say a whole col- 
 ony has sometimes been cut off by famine and 
 sickness, before they could get in their first har- 
 vest." — " Why, I can't well make out what you 
 mean, husband ; first you are after saying Amer- 
 ica's such a fine place that it almost made my 
 mouth water ; and then you talk of so many 
 hardships and difficulties, that I would not ven- 
 ture there for the world." — *' Why there 's both 
 good and bad in it," replied Hopkins : " a hard 
 
88 EMIGRATION j OR, 
 
 working man, with no ailments about him, and 
 able to pay his passage, or get it paid for him, 
 and with money enough to buy the tools he 
 wants, may find it answer ; ay, and become a 
 wealthy farmer after some years, and bring up 
 his family in peace and plenty : but he will al- 
 ways meet with difficulties at first, such as would 
 knock up your indoor men in no time." 
 
 " But then you say that in towns wages are 
 high, and the men from the factory might get 
 employment there." 
 
 "Ay, a good handy carpenter, or wheel- 
 wright, they tell me, can earn as much as a dol- 
 lar a day, and that 's more than four shillings." 
 
 " Mercy o^ me !" exclaimed the wife, " what 
 a sum !" 
 
 " But," added he, " these fellows from the 
 factory, or the hand loom, who have done no- 
 thing else all their lives, would be mighty awk- 
 ward at any other work." 
 
 " They might work in the factories in Amer- 
 ica, as there is such want of hands : their pay at 
 the factories must be worth having." 
 
 " They have scarcely any factories in Amer- 
 ica," replied Hopkins, " being all so busy in till- 
 ino^ the ground." 
 
 " Then what do they do for clothes ?" quoth 
 she. 
 
 " Oh, they mostly come from England. For, 
 
A NEW WORLD. 89 
 
 look ye, they have such loads of com that they 
 would not know what to do with it, if they did 
 not send it over here, where, God knows, we are 
 short enough of it : so then they get, in return, 
 our Manchester cotton, and Leeds cloth, and 
 Birmingham hardware, and whatever else they 
 may want. Corn is their money, as one may 
 say, for it pays for every thing." 
 
 *' It must be a rare place for poachers," obser- 
 ved the dame ; " for I suppose there 's plenty 
 of game in those great woods, and corn to fatten 
 them, and no one to hinder them killing as ma- 
 ny as they can catch." 
 
 '^ It 's no use killing more than you can eat, for 
 there is no one to sell it to. But it is a good 
 thing to know how to handle a gun ; for you 
 may knock down the birds in no time, and so 
 keep the pot a boiling ; and, indeed, that is what 
 a man must mainly depend upon till his crops 
 come in." 
 
 " Then there must be some wild fruits," said 
 the dame ; " and, mayhap, they might pick a 
 salad of one sort or other to eat with the 
 birds." 
 
 " Ay, but they will be better off when they 
 get a bit of garden about their log-house, and 
 a plot of potatoes and cabbages of their own." 
 
 " There 's too much danger, one way or 
 other," said his wife ; " better stay at home. " 
 
90 EMIGRATION-: OR, * 
 
 " If you can earn a living at home," said Hop- 
 kins ; " if not, in ray mind, it 's better to seek 
 your fortune abroad, than to be half starved, or 
 go to the parish." 
 
 " But then they should not go like ninnies, 
 not knovv^ing what to provide or what to expect ; 
 and it is easy enough to know, by asking those 
 that do." — " They say that sometime the gov- 
 ernment, or the parish, will lend a helping hand, 
 and pay their passage, or supply them with the 
 needful, to prevent their becoming a burthen 
 upon the parish." 
 
 " They owe them no great thanks for that, if 
 it is just to get rid of them." 
 
 " Nay, but it is their own wish, wife, else they 
 would not go ; and if they go prudently provid- 
 ed for, that is to say, able to do for themselves 
 till they can get in their crops, when once that is 
 done, they will get on swimmingly." — "And 
 why should we not do so in England ?" said his 
 wife. — ''For the best of all reasons," replied 
 he ; " because the land in England is all culti- 
 vated already." — " Nay, how can you say that, 
 husband, when you know there 's Broom Heath, 
 not half a mile off, that is all a barren waste ?" — 
 " And why is it so ? but because it is not worth 
 the cultivating." — "It is true," said his wife, 
 " the soil may not be so good as the field you 
 were ploughing the other day, that gives such 
 
A NEW WORLD. 91 
 
 heavy crops. But if it was well ploughed and 
 sown, surely it would yield something ? And 
 any thing is better than nothing, you know, John ; 
 if it was but even enough to make a score of 
 loaves, why there would be a score more than 
 there was before." — " Ay, but when the soil is 
 so bad, the ploughing, and dunging, and seed 
 corn, and reaping, would cost more than the corn 
 would sell for at market ; and who will be such 
 a fool as to raise corn which costs him more than 
 it will fetch at market ? Undertake a concern 
 that brings in a loss instead of a gain ? not I, faith. 
 Why, if they gave me the land free of cost, as 
 they do in America, I would not say thank you 
 for it." 
 
 '* Well, but you know it sometimes answers to 
 take in commons, John," said she ; " there 's 
 Ashdown Common, that was parcelled out among 
 the parish." 
 
 " Ay, that 's a better soil : it grew grass, and 
 the parish fed their cattle and sheep on it before 
 it was parcelled out. So their crops are not all 
 clear gain, for they have lost the pasture now 
 that it is turned into arable land." 
 
 '^ Yes," rephed his wife, " I have heard neigh- 
 bor Partridge say, she has often sorrowed for 
 the loss of the milk her httle ones got when her 
 dappled cow fed on the common ; yet, upon the 
 whole, she owned they were better off now. 
 
92 EMIGRATION j OR, 
 
 ' My husband,' said she, ' makes more by his five 
 acres now, than he could get by the cow former- 
 ly ; and though I am sorry poor Biddy is gone, 
 the money she sold for bought us a bit of good 
 dung for the land ; which was so poor, that the 
 seed put into it would have been as good as lost 
 without it.' " 
 
 " There is farmer Stubbs, said Hopkins, " who 
 had a good big slice of the common (for he 
 bought up the shares of some of the poor par- 
 ishioners, who had not the means to cultivate 
 it.) Well, he says as how he was obliged to lay 
 so much dung on it, that he had not enough for 
 his ow^n farm ; and he thinks he has lost as much 
 by injuring the crops of his old land, as he has 
 gained by that of the new. For it is but a poor 
 crop after all. Then to think of the labor it cost 
 him ; why, there were more men at work on that 
 bit of ground than there was to raise twice the 
 quantity of corn on the old land ; and it is small 
 encouragement to have to work harder and get 
 less. However, he expects it will do better 
 next year, and pay him in time. And look ye, 
 wife, I don't pretend for to say, that it will not 
 answer to turn up any common or waste." — 
 •^ No, that you can't," returned she ; " for you 
 know that when we got leave to take in that bit 
 of a bank by the road-side into our garden, what 
 a pretty crop of potatoes it gave us." 
 
A NEW WORLD. 93 
 
 " That It did ; but you may remember, dame, 
 how you complained of the cabbages that same 
 season. And why did they fail? Just because 
 they were stinted of manure ; for T was obliged 
 to lay some of it on the new land, before I plant- 
 ed my potatoes. So you see, after all, it was 
 robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the saying is. 
 However, the bit of ground is not bad, and it 
 will answer in the end. But, as I said before, 
 you must not reckon all you get from new land 
 as clear gain, on account of the outlay." — 
 " And what do they do to manure the land in 
 America ? " said the wife : '' it must want it sad- 
 ly, never having had a morsel laid on since it was 
 created." 
 
 '^ If there has been no manure laid on, there 
 have been no crops taken out of it," said Hop- 
 kins ; and so the soil has never had any work to 
 wear it out." 
 
 "No more has a common, when it is first 
 ploughed up," quoth she. 
 
 "That's true enough; but then think, what 
 are the commons and heaths of Old England ? 
 They are just nothing but the poorest land that 
 is neglected, after all the better soils are taken 
 into cultivation. Now see the difference in 
 America. It 's a large country, with very little 
 of it cultivated : — the land lies before you, and 
 you have only to pick and choose ; if one spot 
 
94 ' EMIGRATION ; OR, 
 
 don't please you, why, another will. Besides, 
 the land so far from being poor, the mate swears, 
 is as fine a soil as you could wish to see ; and 
 instead of wanting manure, when first it 's turned 
 up, it w^ill yield crops for many years without 
 having any thing at all put upon it. 
 
 That seems very strange to us here,^' cried 
 the dame. — "And well it may, because all the 
 good land was turned up, and cultivated ages 
 ago : it is natural enough to choose the best first, 
 and then when all the best is cultivated, why, 
 you must take up with the second best ; and 
 after that, with land of the third quality, and so 
 on, worse and worse, till you come to the poorest 
 land of all ; and that is all we have left now," 
 quoth he, " that is not cultivated. So, if you 
 turn up that, you must needs humour it and give 
 it a bit of good stuff, and make much of it, if 
 you expect it to pay you. But those woods in 
 America, that have grown time out of mind, 
 since the beginning of the world for ought we 
 
 know " " Nay," interrupted his wife, " it 
 
 can but have been but since Noah's time, for 
 those woods must have been all destroyed by the 
 flood." — " Well, well," retorted he, impatient- 
 ly ; " they have had time enough in all con- 
 science to grow since the flood — but you have 
 put it out of my head what the ship's mate told 
 me." Then, after recollecting himself, he w^ent 
 
A NEW WORLD. 95 
 
 on. " These same trees, d' ye see, shed their 
 leaves every year, and there they lie on the 
 ground, for the^re is no one to meddle with them. 
 So when the rain comes they are well soaked, 
 and they become manure as it were, and help to 
 nourish the soil ; and when once the labor of 
 felling the timber and clearing it away is over, 
 the ground wants nothing more than scratching 
 over with a light plough to be ready for sowing, 
 and it brings forth crops unheard of! " 
 
 *"' And how comes it," said the wife, " that 
 America, seeing it is such a large place, and 
 such a fine soil, has so much fewer people to live 
 in it than England ? " 
 
 " Because," said Hopkins, " it is so far away, 
 that it was not found out or known that there was 
 such a country in former times. The mate says, 
 that in those days no ship ventured to sail out so 
 far on an unknown sea : they were not so handy 
 at their rigging as they are now ; nor the ships 
 either so well built or so well managed ; and as 
 for a steam-boat, why, they never so much as 
 heard of such a thing, because they were not in- 
 vented as yet." — " They must have been but 
 dolts in those times," cried his wife. ^' And 
 how came they to find out America, after all ? " 
 
 " Why, once upon a time, a matter of three 
 hundred years back, the mate says there was 
 one Christopher Columbus, who was a fine, 
 
96 EMIGRATION ; OR, 
 
 brave fellow, and had set his heart upon doing 
 what no one had ever done before. So he got 
 a ship and sailed on fearless in those unknown 
 seas, till he reached land, and that land was 
 America." 
 
 " How pleased he must have been when he 
 first saw it ! " cried dame Hopkins ; '' and well 
 he deserved to be pleased, for being so bold ; 
 for there is no saying what might have befallen 
 him, or whether he would ever have found his 
 way home, if he had not met with land." — 
 " So the sailors thought," replied Hopkins ; 
 " for they were all in such a taking, for fear they 
 should sail on forever without coming to land, 
 that at last they mutinied, and had well nigh 
 thrown him overboard. Then he begged hard 
 for three days more, and promised, that if at .the 
 end of that time they should not see land, he 
 would give all up, and sail homewards. Well, 
 what should turn out, but on the third day, just 
 as they were going about, the sailor at the top of 
 the mast cried out, ' Land ! ' and sure enough it 
 was land, for they sailed on a little longer, and 
 then came to America. There is a whole book 
 written about it, and it tells all that happened to 
 them afterwards. They say it is as amusing a 
 book as one could wish to read." — " Well," said 
 the dame, " this same Christopher Columbus, 
 with his hard name, was a fine daring fellow^, and 
 
* A NEW WORLD. 97 
 
 Old England has reason to be proud of him." — 
 " Why, good wife," returned John, hesitating 
 whether to confess the mortifying truth or not. 
 *' Christopher Columbus was not an Englishman, 
 as you might have guessed by his name." — 
 " Not an Englishman ! " exclaimed she, lifting up 
 her hands in astonishment ; " who would ever have 
 thought that a foreigner would dare to go where 
 an English sailor had not ventured ? " — "I 
 should not credit it," said Hopkins, '' if I had not 
 heard it from the ship's mate at Liverpool, but 
 I '11 warrant he is not mistaken, for he seems to 
 know everything, especially about those parts. 
 However, we must remember, wife, that we are 
 all God's creatures ahke, English or foreigner, 
 Protestant or Papist, Jew or Gentile ; as you 
 may call to mind in the parable of the good Sa- 
 maritan, which Patty read to us last Sunday ; he 
 was but a foreigner to the Jews, and yet he was 
 worth more than any of them." 
 
 " And are there any other countries besides 
 America, where poor folks can earn their bread 
 easier then they can here ? " asked Dame Hop- 
 kins. 
 
 " Yes ; brother Bob tells me there are several, 
 and one above all the rest which he sailed to in 
 one of his voyages ; he declares it a very Para- 
 dise for fine weather, beautiful prospects, and 
 abundance of all things — fish, flesh, and fowl, 
 7 
 
98 EMIGRATION ; OR, 
 
 besides fruit and garden-stuff. But then there 's 
 one thing that would never please you wife." 
 
 ''And why not, pray, if it's such a pleasant 
 place ? " — " Why, because they send convicts 
 there," replied her husband. " However, that 
 don't so much matter, everything else being so 
 agreeable. Indeed Bob says people are but too 
 happy when they can hire some of the convicts 
 to work for them, hands being so scarce." — 
 " Mercy on me ! " exclaimed the wife, •' I should 
 always be fancying they were going to murder 
 me ! " — " Women will have foohsh fancies," 
 replied he ; " but you would soon be used to 
 them. Then there 's no danger ; for those that 
 are unruly are made to work in chains, with an 
 overseer to watch them. But many a poor lad 
 has been transported, that poverty has brought to 
 crime ; and when he has worked out his freedom, 
 there 's no reason why he should not turn out as 
 good as his betters who never were transported. 
 Several have been known to thrive and prosper 
 in that country, and bring up their children as 
 Christians should do." 
 
 " And pray, what is the name of that country ? " 
 inquired the wife. 
 
 " It is called Van Dieman's Land, after one 
 Van Dieman who discovered it ; and it lies in 
 the same part of the w^orld as Botany Bay." 
 
 " Ay, one may guess that by the convicts 
 
A NEW WORLD. 99 
 
 being sent there ; but that is * at the end of the 
 world, PS one may say. Dick White once got a 
 letter from his brother there, and he said it was 
 well nigh a year coming." — " Yes, it 's a sad 
 long way off," said Hopkins ; " and that makes 
 it the more difficult to get there. All the world 
 would be going to such a pretty place, if the 
 expense of the long passage on board of ship was 
 not so heavy." 
 
 ^' Well, for my part," returned his wife, " I 
 don't like long voyages, because of the sea sick- 
 ness ; and I don't like convicts, because of their 
 wickedness : so if it were the very Paradise that 
 Adam and Eve lived in, I would none on 't ; for 
 I'm sure the Devil would be behind the bush, in 
 the shape of a serpent, or a convict, or some such 
 creature." 
 
 This set her husband laughing. " So you 
 are after cutting your jokes, are you ? " cried he. 
 " Well, it is not much more that women know 
 about such matters, and it 'smy belief that I have 
 only just been losing my time, in telUng you all 
 about it." So he took up his hat and walked 
 off; while his wife, who liked to have the last 
 word, called after him — "A Paradise full of 
 convicts, forsooth ! Why, it 's more like a prison 
 by half." 
 
THE POOR'S RATE; 
 
 THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND 
 
 " Good morrow to you, Dame Hopkins," said 
 Farmer Stubbs, as he entered her cottage ; " how 
 fares it with you and your family ? ' 
 
 " Pretty well in health, thank you, sir," said 
 she, wiping a chair with the corner of her apron 
 for him to sit down ; " but, with such a family 
 as ours, it 's a hard matter to make all ends 
 meet ; and, indeed, we never could do it without 
 the help of the parish. John is only just gone 
 down to get the weekly allowance." 
 
 " Indeed ! I thought Hopkins held himself 
 above receiving relief from the parish." 
 
 *' And so he did, till the children were well 
 nigh starved. Ah, I shall never forget it. It 's 
 just two years come Michaelmas, we had five 
 of them ill of the measles at once ; and there 
 were but four got through it," added she, a tear 
 starting from her eye. — " And, as soon as the 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 101 
 
 fever was off, though the poor things were so 
 weak they could scarce crawl about, they had 
 such craving appetites, and a morsel of food did 
 them so much good, that when I had not enough 
 to satisfy their hunger, I told John I could bear 
 it no longer ; ' So bring down your proud spirit,' 
 said I, ' and go and claim your dues. We have 
 as much right to the parish money as others ; ay, 
 and a better right than many of our neighbors, 
 who make no scruple about it. It is better to 
 come to the parish than to come to be beggars ; 
 and I would rather ask alms than see my chil- 
 dren starve.' Then John said, ' I had thought 
 to have gone through the world without demean- 
 ing myself by askmg aught of the parish ;' and I 
 do think that a tear came into his eye ; but I did 
 not dare notice it. So he took his hat and trudg- 
 ed off with a heavy heart ; and, to this very day, 
 he never goes with a light one ; but," added she, 
 with a sign, "use blunts the edge of things we 
 can't help." 
 
 " True enough, you can't help it now," re- 
 turned the farmer ; but, if your husband had 
 been a prudent man, and had belonged to the 
 benefit club, he might have got relief when his 
 children were sick, without going to the par- 
 ish." 
 
 " Ay, but that weekly sixpence, to be paid 
 down every Saturday, when, God knows, we 
 
102 THE POOR'S RATE: OR, 
 
 have a sixpence too little when the day comes 
 round, rather than one to spare for the club.* 
 Sixpence seems a mighty small matter to you, 
 Master Stubbs ; but, to come every week, it 's 
 a heavy call upon a man with so large a family 
 as ours. 
 
 " He should not have had such a large 
 family. Dame, if he could not provide for them 
 in sickness and in health ; for he knows that 
 sickness and trouble is the lot of man in this 
 world." 
 
 " We have good reason to know it," re- 
 torted Dame Hopkins, who was nettled at the 
 farmer's rebuke ; "for we have had our full 
 share. And, as for the number of our children, 
 we know pretty well, by experience, the hard- 
 ships that brings on us, too : and has not John 
 been breaking off the match between George and 
 Betsy Bloomfield on purpose ?" 
 
 '* A very prudent step," replied the cautious 
 farmer ; " but here he comes. — Well, John, 
 how much have you got from the overseers ?" 
 
 " Not more than I had need of," answered 
 John, sulkily, as if he thought that that was no 
 business of Farmer Stubbs. — " Why, I want to 
 know how much of it comes out of my pocket, 
 
 * Many of the benefits of Friendly Societies may be 
 insured at a smaller rate of payment than sixpence a 
 week. 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 103 
 
 " And if some of it does," retorted John, " I 
 owe you no thanks ; for it is not I that take it 
 from you, but the law of the land." 
 
 " Ay, but if you, and such as you, did not 
 come to want, the law of the land would not 
 meddle with my money." 
 
 " You are well to do in the world, and can af- 
 ford to pay the poor's rate : and let me tell you, 
 that if you have little pleasure in paying it, w^hy 
 we have not much in receiving it. It is dealt 
 out in such a niggardly grudging manner, and 
 with such a surly tone, that one would think the 
 overseers were giving you their own." 
 
 " Why, for that matter, they pay pretty heav- 
 ily towards it ; so they have some cause to be 
 discontented." 
 
 " Well, it is hard," said John, " to grudge us 
 the only law that is made to favor the poor, 
 when there are so many to favor the rich." 
 
 '' Why, by your own account, John, it is not 
 a good law ; for you allow that it is both paid 
 and received with an ill-will." 
 
 " Yes, but it gets us bread, which we can't do 
 without, either with a good will or a bad one," 
 said Dame Hopkins, " and I don't take it over 
 kind of you. Master Stubbs, to be grumbling at 
 my good man about the parish money, w^hen I 
 have just been telling you how he hated to go 
 for it." 
 
104 THE POOR'S RATE: OR, 
 
 " Why, look ye, John," said the farmer ; " it 
 is natural enough that I and the overseers, and 
 the rest of us that pay the poor's rate, should 
 grumble at it. You say I am well to do in the 
 world ; and it is true I have a little property ; 
 but I have a large family as well as you." 
 
 '' Ay, but they hve in clover, " cried John. 
 
 " Why, I wish to do the best I can by my 
 children, as we all do, and to turn my means to 
 the best account. Well, here are these twenty 
 acres of common I have been turning up : I 
 could have brought them to good account, if I 
 could have bought as much manure and have 
 paid as many hands as the land required to bring 
 it into good order. But while I am reckoning 
 up my means, and turning in my head how I can 
 manage it, in comes the collector for the poor's 
 rate, five shillings in the pound ! and when I 
 complain, he tells me that, besides the large fami- 
 lies, there are I don't know how many able-bodi- 
 ed single men, who can get no work, and must 
 be maintained by the parish. Then, indeed, I 
 fell in a passion, and said, ' You are going to 
 maintain them in idleness with the very money 
 which I should have paid for their labor, if they 
 had come to work for me.' — ' Oh, they will be 
 ready enough to work for you.' — ' Well,' replied 
 I, ' then leave me the money to pay for them ;' 
 but he answered, ^ You know well enough that I 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 105 
 
 must collect the rate that has been assessed : 
 
 make what agreement you will afterwards.' — ' I 
 can make none,' replied I ; ' when you take away 
 my money, you take away my means. ' Now, 
 if this happened to me only, you might say that 
 I argued for my own interest ; but it happens to 
 every one who pays the poor's rate through- 
 out the kingdom ; and that not once and away, 
 but every year, regularly, more or less." 
 
 " Well, but you don't reckon fairly," said 
 John, " if you say that the rate you pay is all 
 sheer loss ; for, depend on it, if the overseers did 
 not pay a part of the maintenance of children, 
 farmers would be obliged to give higher wages, 
 else the families would be starved to death ; and 
 then I should be glad to know how you would 
 get your work done ?" 
 
 " I would willingly pay higher wages, and em- 
 ploy more hands, too, could I once be rid of 
 this poor's rate ; for then I should get the value 
 of my money in labor ; while now I get nothing 
 in return, and it goes to support a set of vaga- 
 bonds who can't get work. And 1 will tell you 
 why ; — because they won't seek it, and because 
 their labor is not worth having : and so these la- 
 zy fellows are employed idling their time away 
 over some parish labor ; and taking away the 
 money that would have employed an honest 
 hard-working man, and have enabled him to 
 
106 THE POOR'S RATE: OR, 
 
 have maintained his family without going upon 
 the parish." 
 
 " Get me paid wages enough to maintain my 
 family, and I promise you the overseers shall 
 not see my face again." 
 
 "But you have such a swarm of children, 
 John ; now I pay a man the value of the work 
 he does for me, without minding the number 
 of his children : for that is his business, not . 
 mine." 
 
 " Then the poor's rate must make up what 's 
 wanting," cried Dame Hopkins ; "for mothers 
 won't let their own flesh and blood starve : and, 
 if they can't maintain them by their labor, why 
 they would beg, borrow, or steal, sooner than 
 come to that. And as for the poor's rate. Mas- 
 ter Stubbs, there can be no harm in taking what 
 the law gives you." 
 
 " I tell you it is a bad law : bad for the rich, 
 because it hinders them from employing the 
 poor, (at least so far as the rate goes ;) bad for 
 the poor, because it encourages them to increase 
 and multiply, till they come to rags and star- 
 vation. Let me ask you, Hopkins, — when 
 you married, had not you an eye to the par- 
 ish relief, in case you should come to dis- 
 tress ? " 
 
 " Mayhap I might : and sure, a prudent man 
 ought to look forward to the changes and chan- 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 107 
 
 ces that may happen in hfe ; for then he is 
 the better able to provide for them when they do 
 come." 
 
 " Better provide against their coming at all," 
 replied Stubbs ; " but you counted not on your 
 own efforts, but on the parish for helping you in 
 distress." 
 
 " And could I do better, when the law makes 
 such a provision for those that come to poverty, 
 and can't help themselves out of it ?" 
 
 " They would not have got into it if the law 
 did not make such a provision for them. You 
 yourself own you would not have married so ear- 
 ly, had you not reckoned on the parish. Others 
 would not either: families would have been 
 smaller ; laborers would have been fewer ; they 
 would more easily have got employment ; ay, 
 and have been better paid, too." 
 
 " Why, that is just all I have been telling my 
 wife ; but I never thought the poor's rate had any 
 thing to do with it. I am sure our distress all 
 comes from having too many children ; not 
 from the poor's rate, which helps to maintain 
 them." 
 
 " But what is it encourages large families ?" 
 cried Stubbs : " why the poor's rate." — " What 
 is it lowers wages ?" retorted John : " why, the 
 poor's rate ; you can't deny that." 
 
 " No, I don't ; bijt I tell you again it 's the 
 
108 THE POOR'S RATE: OR, 
 
 poor's rate that brings them to the brink of star- 
 vation ; for, is it not large families, low wages, 
 and want of work, that does it? Ay, and it 
 is not receiving it only that does the damage ; 
 for, paying it, many a time, brings those to pov- 
 erty who would else have been able to keep 
 their heads above water." 
 
 " That's true enough of one I saw this morn- 
 ing at the vestry," said John ; and a hard matter 
 I had to see her ; for she wrapped herself up in 
 her cloak, and pulled her bonnet over her face : 
 but my heart misgave me, — • it was the widow 
 Dixon ; and so I turned short upon her ; and, 
 when she saw me right before her, the blood 
 came up into her face, which is, you know, as 
 white as a sheet, and has been so ever since she 
 lost poor Dixon, except round her eyes. And 
 when I asked her how she came to be so re- 
 duced (thinking her husband had left her pretty 
 well off), she said, ' No, Master Hopkins ; he 
 did all he could not to bring me down to a lower 
 station while he lived ; but his means were but 
 small, and the profits of our little shop did but 
 just serve to maintain us. We should have laid 
 by a trifle every year, if it had not been for the 
 poor's rate ; but that eat up all our savings. 
 However, I ought not to complain of it now, since 
 it brings me rehef ; but it is hard to have shame 
 and sorrow come upon me at once :' and the 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 109 
 
 tears ran down her cheeks. I told her there 
 was no shame in taking her own again. She, 
 who had paid it so long, had more right to it 
 than any of us. She said, * God's will be done !' 
 but she looked as though sorrow and shame would 
 break her heart. It was sad to see her." 
 
 " And why should you needs be thursting 
 yourself upon her," cried his wife, " when you 
 saw she had no mind to be noticed ? You should 
 just have let her have her way, poor woman, since 
 you could not give her any help." 
 
 " Ay, but it lightens the load upon the heart 
 when any one gives you a good word and a kind 
 look, as much as to say, ' You should not have 
 come to this pass if I could have helped you ; ' 
 for the widow Dixon thinks more of the disgrace 
 than of the want of bread, or she would not 
 have been so shamefaced." 
 
 " Well, if the poor's rate goes on increasing 
 and increasing, as it has done of late years, it is 
 what we shall all come to at last," said the farm- 
 er ; " and then who is to pay it ? " 
 
 *' Nay, it will never come to that pass. Master 
 Stubbs." 
 
 " Mayhap not ; but the time may come when 
 the collector will not be able to raise the rate 
 that is assessed : and that time is well nigh come 
 in some parts of the country, as I can tell you, 
 John, of my own knowledge ; for, bad as the 
 
110 THE POOR'S RATE; OR 
 
 poor's rate is here, there are some places in which 
 it is still worse ; that is some comfort." 
 
 " Much good may it do you, Farmer Stubbs; 
 but, to my mind, it is a poor comfort that comes 
 from the distress of one's neighbor." 
 
 " As for that," returned Stubbs, " there is not 
 much neighborhood in the matter ; for I am talk- 
 ing of the counties in the south of England, and 
 that is some hundred miles off." 
 
 " Ay," but what does the Scripture teach us. 
 Master Stubbs ? " said Dame Hopkins • ''to love 
 our neighbor as ourselves ; and that neighbor, the 
 parson tells us, does not mean the next door 
 neighbor only, no, nor the next market town, 
 but every body and every where. So we ought 
 not to get comfort from our neighbor's trouble 
 any more than from our own." 
 
 " Well, but how is the poor's rate managed 
 in the south ? " said John. 
 
 " Why, I will tell you," replied Stubbs, " if 
 your dame has ended her sermon. The men 
 are paid according to the number of their chil- 
 dren, not according to the value of their work." 
 " Well, but, asking your pardon. Master 
 Stubbs, you said a bit ago, that farmers care 
 much more for the goodness of the workman 
 than for the number of his children ; and that 
 they will employ an able-bodied, hard-working 
 man, without asking whether he be married or 
 single." 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. Ill 
 
 " To be sure they will ; but let me go on with 
 my story. Well, as I was saying, this regulation 
 began in Berkshire. The magistrates declared 
 that it was very unfair that the single and the 
 married should get the same wages ; and as they 
 could not oblige the farmers to give the one more 
 than the other, they agreed to make up the dif- 
 ference from the poor's rate. So they made a 
 table of the rate of wages ; saying so much would 
 maintain a single man, and then they doubled it 
 for a married man with one or two children ; 
 then it went on so much more for five, and so 
 much for seven children. Then, again, the 
 wages were to depend on the price of bread 
 also." 
 
 " Well, one must say that was very thoughtful 
 of the magistrates," exclaimed the good wife, 
 " and very humane too ; I did not think they cared 
 so much about the poor as to portion out his lot 
 to each so fairly and honestly." 
 
 " Stop a bit, till you have heard the end of it. 
 Dame ; and tlien, if you give them credit for 
 good will, you won't for clear-sightedness. I 
 heard all about it from an uncle of mine, who 
 is a landholder in those parts, and he says the 
 poor's rate is intolerable to those that have to 
 pay it ; and as to those it maintains, they are 
 worse off there than in any other part of the 
 country." 
 
112 THE POOR'S RATE; OR 
 
 " But bow is that, when ther« is such a pro- 
 vision for them ? " 
 
 " Why, when the regulation was first made, 
 it did well enough, for a while. But no sooner 
 did the young lads find that a married man got 
 double wages, and more, too, if he had several 
 children, than their heads were all agog after 
 getting wives ; for you know it is natural enough 
 they should fancy the girls, when they get the 
 money to boot. My uncle says, that he remem- 
 bers the time when a decent young man never 
 thought of a wife till he had put by forty or fifty 
 pounds ; and some, much more : but now, in- 
 stead of working hard to save up the money, and 
 so getting habits of industry before they marry, 
 they take a wife in order to get the money with- 
 out working for it, and so begin life with habits of 
 indolence. Why, the magistrates might just as 
 well have gone about driving the young couples 
 into church, as you would sheep into a fold. 
 Well, the next year the children swarm, increas- 
 ed rates must be raised ; and so it goes on year 
 after year, till the young ones grow up fit for 
 work. But there is no work for such numbers ; 
 and they come more and more upon the parish, 
 till at last the parish is forced to give in, and can't 
 keep to its agreement, for no rate will satisfy 
 so many mouths. So then the youngsters fall 
 to grumbling, and after that to poaching and pil- 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 113 
 
 fering ; for when a man cannot get a livelihood 
 honestly by his labor, he is little like to resist a 
 temptation that falls in his way to get it other- 
 wise, especially when he has been bred up to in- 
 dolence : then come prisons, and trials, and trans- 
 portations, and sometimes the gallows : and 
 though it is no more than their deserts, they 
 won't put up with it ; and so, at last they come 
 to rioting, and sending threatening letters, and 
 burning of farms, and all that sort of thing, as you 
 know they did last autumn." 
 
 " God forgive them, poor souls ! " ejaculated 
 the good wife, " seeing it is no fault of theirs, but 
 of their parents, who brought them in1;o the world 
 before there was room for them." 
 
 " Yes, but they should know how to behave 
 themselves when they are in it," rephed Stubbs. 
 
 " Where is the use of being industrious and 
 hard-working," cried John, " when you get noth- 
 ing by it? We don't work for the pleasure of the 
 thing. Master Stubbs, as you well know, but for 
 the gain it brings us ; and if the parish will main- 
 tain them without it, they won't wear themselves 
 out for nothing. And then as for laying by forty 
 or fifty pounds, as you said they did formerly, 
 why, it would be impossible with these regula- 
 tions, even if they had no mind to marry ; for, 
 while wages are so low to a single man, he can 
 make no savings." 
 8 
 
114 THE POOR'S RATE; OR, 
 
 " When wages were alike to all," said Stubbs, 
 " the single man had to spare, and could lay by, 
 though the married one was straitened." 
 
 " And do you call that fair and honest," said 
 the dame, " to straiten the man with a family, in 
 order to give the single man more than he can 
 spend ? " 
 
 " I believe it is wise and prudent, wife," said 
 Hopkins : " for, instead of driving the lads into 
 wedlock, it,w"ould make them keep out of it; at 
 least, till they had got somewhat to maintain a 
 wife and family." 
 
 " True enough," said Stubbs ; " so you see 
 that this humane regulation of the magistrates 
 encourages idleness just as much as it encour- 
 ages early marriages, and a superabundance of 
 children." 
 
 "But the worst of all," said the wife, " is, that 
 it teaches them to be idle, discontented, and riot- 
 ous, and madly to burn the very ricks of corn that 
 misht have made them bread." 
 
 " Yes, my uncle said, that the laborers now- 
 a-days were quite different from what they used 
 to be. Their characters quite changed within 
 his memory; not but there may be some among 
 them right-minded still, but, take the general run, 
 they are a bad set. There was one of them so 
 impudent as to say to his employer, — ' If you 
 don't give me better wages, I will marry to-mor- 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 115 
 
 row, and then you must maintain me at double 
 cost.' For the fellow was sharp enough to know, 
 that, though the magistrates paid the difference, 
 it came out of the farmer's pocket in the shape of 
 poor's rate." 
 
 " But when the parish maintains them, the 
 parish ought to make them work," said John. 
 
 '' So they do, as far as they can : they send 
 them round to the farmers in gangs, and when the 
 farmer can find them work, they pay the wages 
 to the parish, who let them come off cheap, as 
 they help to maintain these paupers." 
 
 " The more fools they ! " cried John ; " for 
 the farmer will turn off his laborers at regular 
 wages to employ these cheaper hands, and 
 then these others will come upon the parish too." 
 
 " And cruel it is," said the wife, " upon those 
 that are turned out of their natural work by these 
 gangs, and so forced to go upon the parish them- 
 selves." 
 
 " However," continued Stubbs, " the farmers 
 find they make no great savings by employing 
 these gangs of roundsmen, as they call them, for 
 they don't do half the work of a common day 
 laborer." 
 
 " Why should they ? " cried John — " do little, 
 do much, they get no reward but their mainte- 
 nance ; just like an ox, or a horse, that won't 
 work without the whip." 
 
116 THE POOR'S RATE; OR, 
 
 " Or like the negro slaves in the West Indies," 
 said Stubbs, " who want the whip, too, to stir 
 their indolence." 
 
 " What a sin and a shame," cried the dame, 
 " to use men like negro slaves and brute 
 beasts ! " 
 
 " Why, it all comes of your fair, honest, and 
 humane regulations made by the magistrates," 
 cried the farmer, laughing at her. 
 
 " It is no laughing matter, methinks, Master 
 Stubbs : you may be in the right, and I in the 
 wrong ; and if I am, why I am free to confess it. 
 But I can't but think that, in all this talk, you 
 have had more an eye to your own interest, than 
 to the good of others." 
 
 " And if my interest, and the good of others, 
 go along together cheek by jowl, where is the 
 harm of thinking of one's own interest ? Let us 
 each take care of number one, say I." 
 
 " No objections to that." said the dame, " if 
 you don't forget number two when your interests 
 don't jog on together." 
 
 " Well, T maintain that it would be for the 
 good of one and all to put down these poor's 
 rates. Did you ever hear what a sum they 
 amount to? — Why, above six millions." 
 
 '' Gracious me !" cried the wife, " what a pow- 
 er of money that must be !" 
 
 " Well, and all this to be employed in doing 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 117 
 
 more harm than good, — for I don't pretend to 
 say that it does no good. No ; when the large 
 famUies are there, and distress and poverty keep 
 close at their heels, then the poor's rate lends a 
 helping hand, it is true. But it is a treacherous 
 friend, that pretends to do a mighty deal of good 
 by giving you a mouthful, after it has taken away 
 a whole meal. You don't think of the lost meal, 
 because you never saw it, and don't understand 
 it. But just think a bit : if this enormous sum of 
 money, instead of being paid in poor's rate, was 
 employed in setting people to work ; why, the 
 poor would earn the same money by labor that 
 they get now as paupers, and the hard-working 
 and industrious would come in for the best share, 
 which now falls to the lot of idle vagabonds." 
 
 " There is some sense in all that, no doubt," 
 said John ; " but still, though we should get the 
 money another way, there would not be enough 
 for all, any more than there is now." 
 
 " I don't know that," replied Farmer Stubbs., 
 " for the poor's rate is the root of the evil ; and 
 if you cut down the tree, root and branch, there 
 is no saying how much good may come of it. 
 Poor folks would not marry so early in life, and 
 have such swarms of children ; in the course of 
 time laborers would become scarce, and they 
 would get higher wages ; and so,, after a while, 
 all would be set to righ;ts," 
 
118 THE POOR'S RATE; OR, 
 
 " If there never had been any poor's rate, 
 perhaps it would have been better; but now 
 that we have the large families, and the low 
 wages, and the want of work, we can't do with- 
 out it." 
 
 " The more is the harm of having brought the 
 poor to such a condition," said Stubbs ; but it 
 might be done by degrees." 
 
 " I don't see how, except by starving half our 
 children ; and I shan't agree to that, I promise 
 you." 
 
 " Mercy on me ! " interposed the wife, raising 
 up her hands, how can you talk after that man- 
 ner, husband ? And how can you put such 
 thoughts into his head. Master Stubbs ?" 
 
 " No, no, I am not so hard-hearted as that 
 comes to," said Stubbs : " but suppose a law was 
 made that no child born after three or four years 
 from this time should be entitled to parish relief, 
 why, that would give time for people to think of 
 the consequences ; large families would thus be 
 discouraged ; and when those who receive relief 
 from the parish died off in the course of nature, 
 why, the poor's rate would die of a natural death 
 too ; for if there was none to want it, it would 
 not be raised ; so the landholders would get their 
 own again, the laborers higher wages and plenty 
 of work, and the world would jog on merrily." 
 
 " Ay, but do what you will. Master Stubbs, 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 119 
 
 a poor man is always falling in with bad luck : 
 first there is sickness ; then there are acci- 
 dents." 
 
 " Here and there a case," said Stubbs ; " but 
 that is not an every-day evil : besides, when a 
 man gets good wages, he may put aside a penny 
 against the unlucky day, and lock it up safe in 
 the club-box, that he may not be tempted in a 
 merry freak to spend it at the alehouse ; or, what 
 is better still, he may put it in the savings' bank, 
 where it is safe and sure, and gives you interest 
 into the bargain. Besides, you know, John, that 
 in case of accident there is no want of hospitals, 
 where there are as skilful doctors , and as handy 
 nurses, as the rich have themselves. And then 
 the great folks are, many of them, very good to 
 the poor in case of need, and would do still more 
 for them when they knew they had not the 
 parish to go to for help." 
 
 " Well, it is a hard matter to understand the 
 right and the wrong of these things," said John ; 
 '' and if we did not feel them any more than we 
 can understand them, why, I should not trouble 
 my head about them. But a hungry stomach is 
 apt to make one discontented, and turn it in one's 
 mind how things might be changed for the bet- 
 ter. They are bad enough now, God knows ! so 
 I am one that would not object to make trial of 
 some change, if it were done fairly and softly." 
 
120 THE POOR'S RATE ; OR, 
 
 " Well, I hope we shall live to see it," said 
 the farmer, taking up his hat ; " and so a good 
 day to you, John ; and to you, too, dame, if you 
 bear me no ill will." 
 
 Dame Hopkins contented herself with drop- 
 ping him a slight curtsy as he went out ; and no 
 sooner was he gone, than she exclaimed, " Have 
 a care, John, how you lend an ear to that man, 
 though he is one of your betters ; for it is as 
 clear as broad day that he thinks of nothing but 
 his own good." 
 
 "Ay, one may see that with half an eye," said 
 John : '' but for all that, he has his wits about 
 him, and knows more than I do of these matters ; 
 and 1 can't but think that what he said was very 
 near the truth." 
 
 " True or false," cried the dame, " I can't 
 abide to hear him talk in so hard-hearted a man- 
 ner." 
 
 " Ay, but the matter is much more to the 
 point than the manner ; and I do agree with him, 
 that, if we understood it righly, the interest of the 
 rich and poor might go hand in hand, like a lov- 
 ing man and wife, who, though they may fall out 
 now and then, jog on together till death parts 
 them." 
 
 " Ah, John ! if the husband were rich, and 
 the wife poor, they would not long go on loving- 
 ly together." 
 
THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND. 121 
 
 " Well, you won't believe me, because you 
 don't understand it ; but come, now, Tom shall 
 read you a fable, and an apt one it is, — it shows 
 how the rich stand in need of the poor, as much 
 as the poor in need of the rich ; and if so, their 
 interests must lie the same way." 
 
 Then he called Tom to bring his book, and 
 bade him read the Fable of the Belly and the 
 Members. 
 
 Tom, who had been some time monitor at the 
 Village School, began in an audible voice, and 
 we shall leave them to their lecture. 
 
MACHINERY; 
 
 CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS 
 
 Jackson, a poor weaver, had all his life sup- 
 ported himselfby working at the hand-loom. At 
 length, finding that he could no longer gain a 
 livelihood in this manner, he made up his mind 
 to go to America. Before setting off, however, 
 he went round the village to take leave of his 
 friends ; and when he came to the cottage of 
 Hopkins, who was standing at his door, he was 
 thus accosted by him : — 
 
 " So then, neighbor Jackson, you are off for 
 America, are you ? Well, good luck go with 
 you ! I have heard it 's a rare place for wa- 
 ges ; but it 's a strange land, and there 's no tell- 
 ing the changes and chances that may happen 
 before you get well settled there." 
 
 " Happen what may," replied Jackson, " I 
 
MACHINERY, ETC. 123 
 
 have no choice but to go there or to the parish ; 
 and it shall not be said of me that, able to work, 
 and without encumbrances, I became a burden 
 to my country. I Ve staid here year after year, 
 struggling and striving to get a livelihood in my 
 old calling, but all to no purpose : since the in- 
 vention of the power-loom, it 's all over with us 
 at the hand-loom. We work both harder and 
 later to endeavor to make all ends meet, but 
 there 's no standing against these new machines ; 
 they do the work of a dozen of us. Ay," con- 
 tinued he, with a sigh, " machinery will be the 
 ruin of us all one day or other. They are for- 
 ever finding out something that will do the work 
 cheaper than we can ; and unless we could work 
 without wages, like their machines, that have 
 neither hungry stomachs to feed nor helpless 
 children to rear, we have no chance for it. Why, 
 I remember the time when I made no less than 
 twenty shillings a week by my hand-loom ; but 
 now, that the power-loom does as much work 
 for the value of three or four shillings, they will 
 give me no more, without considering how much 
 more labor it costs me." 
 
 " It 's natural enough," replied Hopkins, " that 
 the masters will get their work done at the cheap- 
 est rate ; in the way of business, men look to 
 their interest, and nothing else." 
 
 This was poor consolation to Jackson ; and it 
 
124 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 pleased him little better when Hopkins advised 
 him to turn his hand to some other work : for he 
 had stuck so closely to the hand-loom all his life, 
 that he thought there was no other possible 
 means of gaining his livelihood. — "Well, per- 
 haps," said Hopkins, '^ you had rather try your 
 luck in another country ; and having neither wife 
 nor children, you may be right to risk the ven- 
 ture." 
 
 " Though I have neither wife nor child," re- 
 plied Jackson, '^ I have no wish to leave my own 
 country and my kinsfolk ; but when you have 
 been used to one sort of work all the days of 
 your hfe, it 's no such easy matter to turn your 
 hand to another. And, besides, if you did so," 
 added he, " no sooner is a man again settled in 
 an honest way of earning his bread, and there is 
 some other new machine or invention that does 
 the work cheaper, and so he is again turned 
 adrift. It 's my turn now, neighbor Hopkins, 
 but it w^ill be yours by and by ; for, it 's my 
 belief, they will never stop finding out new 
 helps till they come to tilling the ground 
 with machines, as well as using them in fac- 
 tories." 
 
 " Why, for that matter," cried Hopkins, 
 "they do so already, sure enough; for the 
 plough is a machine., to all intents and purpo- 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS: 125 
 
 " Ay,'' retorted Jackson, " they say that once 
 upon a time it was all spade husbandry. What 
 numbers of men must have been employed in 
 digging the cornfields ! There could have been 
 no lack of work then." — ''No, but a sad lack 
 of corn," replied Hopkins ; "work as hard as 
 they would, they could never produce half so 
 much as the plough. Now, the people can get 
 no more corn than there is to be had ; you will 
 grant me that ? " 
 
 There 's no denying it ; for it 's as clear as 
 two and two make four." 
 
 " Ay, and what 's more," continued Hopkins, 
 '' the poor won't get all there is to be had ; for 
 the rich will have the largest share ; which is 
 natural enough, they having the most money to 
 pay for what they want. Now, corn raised by 
 the spade would be very scarce ; and what is 
 very scarce is very dear, as we all know : so we 
 poor folk should scarcely get bread enough to 
 keep hfe and soul together. Besides," added 
 Hopkins (when he found that Jackson had not 
 a word to answer,) " if you are so averse to ma- 
 chines, a spade is a machine as well as a plough ; 
 so, if you are for doing away with machines, one 
 and all, you must destroy the spade as well as 
 the plough, and fall to scratching up the ground 
 with your hands, like very savages. A famous 
 improvement that would be, indeed I and I should 
 
1«J6 MACHINERY i OR, 
 
 like to know how much corn we should raise 
 after that fashion ? " 
 
 " Nay," replied Jackson, '^ now you are run- 
 ning into extremes ^ there 's a wide difference 
 between scratching up the earth with hands, and 
 doing nothing at all with them. I don't say that 
 all machines that help us on with our work are 
 bad. A hand-loom is good enough, it has gain- 
 ed me a livelihood many a year ; but the power- 
 loom is the very devil." 
 
 *' Suppose that, in after-times," said Hopkins, 
 " a machine should be invented that would cut 
 out the power-loom, just as the power-loom has 
 cut out the hand-loom ; would not the weavers at 
 the power-loom call their own a good machine, 
 and the new invention the very devil ? " 
 
 Jackson could make no reply : but he knew 
 that the argument afforded him no relief, so he re- 
 turned to the old point, and said, — " But I don't 
 allow that the spade is a machine ; it is but a sim- 
 ple tool at best." — " Well," replied Hopkins, 
 " in my mind a machine, a tool, an implement, or 
 an instrument, is all one. Besides, what matters 
 the name ? I call machinery, whatever helps us 
 to make things easier or better than we could do 
 with our naked hands ; whether it be a spade or 
 a pickaxe, a hammer or a chisel, or the great 
 steam engine that sets all the cotton-winders' ma- 
 chines a-going." 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 127 
 
 " Well, but granting the spade to be a ma- 
 chine," rephed Jackson, " it 's one that does us 
 no harm. It can't turn us out of work, for there 
 must be a man to every spade ; just as there is 
 a man to every hand-loom. And those are the 
 only right sort of machines, I maintain," said he 
 raising his voice, and laying a stronger emphasis 
 on his words as he felt himself stronger in his 
 argument : " they help you on, and never turn 
 you off. While the machines that do the work 
 of twenty men, and require only one to manage 
 it, throw nineteen out of work ; that 's clear. 
 No, a spade and a hand-loom for my money ; 
 with a man tacked to each of them." Having 
 finished his phrase, he stood looking with an air 
 of triumph at Hopkins, whom he thought he had 
 now fairly mastered. 
 
 " Why," said Hopkins, casting a look at him 
 somewhat between a smile and a sneer, ^' that 's 
 just the reason they are not used. For, look ye, 
 if every spade must have his man, every man must 
 have his wages : so that it would cost the farm- 
 er a mint of money to raise corn by the spade." 
 
 " What care I for the farmer ? " cried Jack- 
 son, vexed to be again crossed, when he thought 
 he had made out his point. " It is better to 
 care for the poor who eat the bread, than for the 
 rich who grow it." 
 
 "Ay, but what costs dear to grow, cannot be 
 
128 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 sold cheap, and that 's what the poor look to. 
 Unless, indeed," continued Hopkins, laughing, 
 " men can gain a livelihood by driving a losing 
 trade." 
 
 " I 'm no such fool as to think that a farmer 
 will sell his corn for less than it cost him to 
 raise," said Jackson ; " he ought to get a fair and 
 reasonable profit too." 
 
 " Well, then," said Hopkins, " a plough with 
 a team of oxen, or of horses, and a couple of 
 men, will do the work of fifty spades ; and the 
 corn, being raised so much the cheaper, will be 
 sold the cheaper. The poor will be able to pay 
 the price of it, and will be better supphed with it." 
 
 " Yet it is well known," said Jackson, " that 
 the spade breaks up the ground better than the 
 plough ; else, why is it used in gardens ? " 
 
 " I don't deny that the spade is the best in- 
 strument of the two," replied Hopkins ; " but 
 for all that it would not raise so much corn as 
 the plough; because farmers could not afford 
 to employ spades enough, and the poor could not 
 afford to pay the price of corn raised by spade 
 husbandry. Take my word for it, that it is be- 
 cause the plough digs up our fields, the drill sows 
 our corn, the threshing machine beats it, and the 
 wind or water-mill grinds it ; that bread does not 
 cost one half of what it would, were these cheap 
 means of producing and preparing it unknown. 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 129 
 
 And should more new contrivances be made to 
 till the land easier, and make bread cheaper, 
 why, so much the better, say I." 
 
 Jackson, finding that he was not a match for 
 Hopkins, had no other resource than to stick ob- 
 stinately to his old argument, " that if all w^ork 
 was done by machines, those who had no means 
 of living but by their labor must starve." 
 
 " We are apt to say," replied Hopkins, " that 
 we live by our labor; but that 's only a way of 
 speaking ; for labor would rather be the death of 
 us than make us live, if it was not for the wages 
 it brought us." 
 
 " Well, methinks it is you, Hopkins, who are 
 speaking after an odd fashion ; we are none of us 
 such fools as not to know that labor, on the long 
 run, wears us out, and that when we say we 
 live by our labor, we mean by the wages we earn 
 by it. Nay, indeed, if you are so particular, we 
 do not live by wages either, for we can neither 
 eat nor drink, nor wear the wages we get. They 
 are of no use to us till we spend them ; so that 
 we live on what our wages will buy." — " Ay, 
 you are in the right road now," cried Hopkins. 
 "And the cheaper things are the more we can 
 buy with our wages ; eh, Jackson ? " 
 
 " Sure enough," returned the latter. 
 
 " Well, then," continued Hopkins, " which is 
 the way to have things cheap and plenty ? Is it 
 9 
 
130 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 by making them by the hands of man, or with 
 such helps as mills and steam engines, which re- 
 ceive no wages, but are set a going by a pufF of 
 wind or a bubble of steam, or a stream of cold 
 water, good creatures, that do the work of 
 hundreds of men, and all free cost ; and yet, 
 instead of being thankful, you fall abusing them." 
 
 Jackson, who had felt his losses too bitterly to 
 be easily satisfied, replied — " I grant you they 
 work cheaper, and mayhap better than we do ; 
 but I say it again, what 's that to us who are turn- 
 ed adrift by them ? If we have no work we have 
 no wages, and then we have no means of getting 
 at the goods, be they cheap or dear." 
 
 " There 's no factory that can go alone," re- 
 plied Hopkins : " there are always men and 
 women, ay, and children too, wanted to manage 
 the machinery. — Now, answer me this one 
 question. Do you think that as machines im- 
 prove, and new ones are invented, there are more 
 or fewer people employed in factories than be- 
 fore ?" — " Fewer, no doubt," said Jackson, " by 
 just the number thrown out of work by the new, 
 or improved machinery." 
 
 " So it is, if you look no further than your 
 nose," answered Hopkins. ^' You never think of 
 the increase of work at the factories in conse- 
 quence of the new machinery ; and of the num- 
 ber of people in the end employed in them. I 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 131 
 
 have heard old Master Spires, who has had no 
 less than fifty years' experience in the manufac- 
 turing line say, that when first spinning-mills were 
 set up, numbers of hand spinners could no longer 
 get their bread, the mills doing the work so much 
 cheaper than the spinning-wheel. So there was 
 great alarm among the people, and rioting to 
 such a pitch, that several of the mills were de- 
 stroyed ; but at last the mills were built up 
 again, and the rioters put down." — " Ay," in- 
 terrupted Jackson, that 's the way of the world, 
 the rich are the strongest and always gain their 
 point in the end." 
 
 " Well, but let us see what that end is," cried 
 Hopkins. " Old Spires told me, that no more 
 than ten years after the setting up of the spinning 
 mills, the trade increased so much, in conse- 
 quence of the goods being cheaper, that the num- 
 ber of people employed^ both as spinners or 
 weavers, was no less than forty times as many 
 as when the spinning was done by hand. So, 
 you see, that if the folks were thrown out of 
 work one while, they had ample amends after- 
 wards." 
 
 '' Ay, but they might have been all starved 
 before the ten years were out." 
 
 '' Why, look ye, Jackson ; the mills did not 
 employ forty times as many all on a sudden, as 
 it were, at the end of ten years. No, it increas- 
 
132 MACHINERY ; OR, 
 
 ed by degrees. When the mills were first set up 
 they began on a small scale. Let us say, that 
 they turned half of the hand spinners out of 
 work. At the end of a twelvemonth the trade, 
 perhaps, had increased so much, that all those 
 who had forsaken their wheels might find work 
 at the mills, if they chose it. The next year 
 the mills would perhaps employ double the 
 number, and so go on regularly increasing, till at 
 the end often years they set to work forty times 
 as many as gained their livelihood by spinning 
 before the mills were set up. 
 
 " Master Spires told me another story, about 
 an old crone, who was somewhat of your way of 
 thinking, Jackson. — 'She was sitting at her 
 wheel,' said he, ' in the chimney-corner, and 
 grumbling at me who was concerned in the fac- 
 tory, because she could not get half so much 
 by her spinning, as she did formerly. Just then 
 the bell at the mills rung, and the people were 
 let out from work. Soon after, in came two 
 men, three women, and four or five children, who 
 were all grand-children, or great-grand-children 
 of the old woman. — "And what do these get 
 by their work ?" said Spires ; " twenty times as 
 much as you ever made by your wheel, I '11 
 warrant ?" But she would not listen to reason, 
 and fell abusing the factory, insisting that the old 
 times were the best. I asked her how much she 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 133 
 
 gave for a cotton gown in those good old times.' 
 " Why I never had one to my back," rephed 
 she. " Cotton gowns were only made for our 
 betters in those days ; for they cost a power of 
 money far beyond our reach." — " Well," said 
 Spires; " look at your grand-children, the lads 
 have cotton shirts, and the lasses neat cotton 
 gowns ; and I '11 be bound to say, they do not 
 cost them more than five shillings each ; while I 
 know that in the days of your youth they cost a 
 guinea, or more. And why are they so much 
 cheaper now ? Because the cotton is spun and 
 woven at the factory." — " Umph ! " cried she, 
 drawing herself up ; " they might have worn 
 stuff gowns, as their betters did before them." — 
 " Ay, but," said one of the lads, " we could not 
 wear stuff shirts, gran-dam. — " And as for stuff 
 gowns," said a smart-looking girl, turning up her 
 nose with a look of contempt ; " they are not 
 half so nice and so clean as cotton ones, for sum- 
 mer at least." — " Besides," said Spires, " stuffs 
 are made in a factory as well as cottons." The 
 old woman still stood out for the good old times, 
 so Spires thought he would take her upon anoth- 
 er tack, and asked her what she paid for stock- 
 ings in the days of her youth ? " Nothing at 
 all," answered she ; for I was fain to go bare- 
 footed : stockings were too dear, and we never 
 found the want of them." — " Then, why not 
 
134 MACH[NERY; OR, 
 
 do without them now, and spend the money in 
 something you do want ? But, methinks, you 
 would be loth to part with that pair of worsted 
 stockings that keeps your feet so warm and com- 
 fortable ; and your grand-children w^ould not be 
 willing to part with theirs either, for the comfort 
 or the look of it." — " There's no need we 
 should," cried the old crone ; " they are cheap 
 enough now for us to afford to wear them." — 
 " And why ?" replied Spires ; '' because they were 
 woven in a loom, and made with half the labor 
 that was bestowed on them, when they were 
 knitted." — " Lookye, goody, added he ; " not 
 only is this large family of yours supplied with 
 food and clothing by machinery, but some of 
 them may owe their very lives to it ; for they 
 might have died from want, had there been no 
 factory here." — '' For thai matter,'' cried the 
 dame ; '^ it pleased the Lord to take more 
 than half my children ; for I had twelve born 
 alive, and I reared only four." — " That was 
 in the good old times," said Spires, smiling 
 archly. " But tell me, have you lost half your 
 grand-children ?" — " No," rephed she ; " their 
 mothers had better luck. I have had sixteen 
 grand-children born, and only six died." — "No 
 luck in the case," replied Spires ; '' only the 
 children were better provided for, and it is the 
 will of God, that children should die, when their 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 135 
 
 parents either do not or cannot provide for them. 
 So, it 's my belief, that these likely lads and bux- 
 om lasses not only owe their cotton shirts and 
 gowns to the factory, but one half of them their 
 lives to it also." ' — "And he was right, continued 
 Hopkins ; there 's no reckoning up the good that 
 comes of machinery one way or other. We man- 
 ufacture goods not only for ourselves, but for al- 
 most every other country, as I 've heard say, 
 and why ? Because we can make goods cheap- 
 er, and all on account of the superiority of our 
 machinery. 1 tell you there 's no country has 
 so many factories as old England ; and there 's 
 none employ so many hands. How, then, can 
 machinery prevent labor ? on the contrary, it in- 
 creases it, and affords a maintenance to thou- 
 sands." Hopkins now stopped, fairly out of 
 breath, and left time for Jackson to observe, that 
 other countries had factories as well as England. 
 '' They have," replied Hopkins; " they are al- 
 ways after copying our machinery ; but John 
 Bull is a shrewd fellow, and contrives to keep 
 a-head of them all. He has a quick insight and 
 a ready hand, and is forever inventing something 
 new to improve his machinery, and get the work 
 done better or cheaper than his neighbors, so as 
 to be able to undersell them." . 
 
 Jackson could answer nothing but a repetition 
 of his old complaint ; he declared, that the new 
 
136 MACHINERY ; OR, 
 
 inventions made the fortunes of the master man- 
 ufacturers, but starved the laborers. 
 
 The patience of Hopkins was well nigh ex- 
 hausted, at having this argument again brought 
 forward, when he thought he had completely 
 refuted it ; but he was so desirous to bring round 
 Jackson to his way of thinking, that he determin- 
 ed to make another trial. — " Yours is a hard 
 case, Jackson, I allow," said he ; '' and it is that 
 v/hich blinds you to the truth ; but there cannot 
 be many cases like yours ; else, how could the 
 country become more and more populous every 
 year ? and that no one can deny. Why, if ma- 
 chinery drove people away to foreign lands, or 
 starved them at home, there would be a decrease 
 instead of an increase of people, would there 
 not ? " 
 
 " As for that matter," replied Jackson, " the 
 population depends on the numbers that are 
 born ; and I think, for my part, that the poorer 
 folks are, the m.ore children they have." 
 
 '' Remember what Master Spires said to the 
 old crone, Jackson ; though many be born, few 
 can be reared, unless there be food for the stom- 
 ach, and clothes to the back. So, if there are 
 more children reared now than there were for- 
 merly, you must admit that their parents are bet- 
 ter off. Now, it is not so much because more 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 137 
 
 are bom, but because fewer die, that the country 
 increases in population. 
 
 "Fewer die!" repeated Jackson, laughing; 
 " why, you know as well as I, that they are all 
 sure to die one day or other." 
 
 ''Ay! but it makes a rare difference, whether 
 that day comes soon or late, eh, Jackson ? I 
 tell you, people's lives last out longer than they 
 used to do years ago. More children grow up 
 to man's estate — grown-up men are more 
 healthy, and the old have fewer infirmities, and 
 are not so soon cut off. Fifty years back, one 
 man in forty died every year ; now only one in 
 fifty-eight dies ; that makes eighteen years dif- 
 ference ; and you and I shall not be sorry to 
 have a fair chance of living eighteen years long- 
 er than our forefathers ? Nay, if you go back to 
 the good old times, some hundred years ago, 
 there were two died then for one that dies now. 
 And why ? Because we are better fed, better 
 clothed, better nursed when young, and better 
 doctored when sick. Now, all this bettering 
 comes from things being made cheaper, and sold 
 cheaper through the help of machines ; so, in- 
 stead of grumbling at them, you should thank 
 God for having given men the power of invent- 
 ing contrivances to shorten and cheapen labor ; 
 and the sense to find out, that wind, and water, 
 and steam will work without tiring, both by night 
 
138 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 and by day , and, what 's more, without pay." 
 " Ay, I wish you had heard the story an old 
 pedlar told us one day ; he said, that wind, and 
 water, and steam worked like giants, and without 
 requiring either food or clothing, or lodging, or 
 wages." 
 
 " And for what purpose ? " interrupted Jack- 
 son, who was only waiting for an opportunity to 
 thrust in his old argument, " just to turn us poor 
 folk out of work !" — " No such thing ! " retort- 
 ed Hopkins, impatiently ; " for the purpose of 
 making the good things of this world cheap and 
 plenty ; so that the poor may be able to get at 
 them as well as the rich." — " Talk till dooms- 
 day," repHed Jackson, "you will never persuade 
 me, that when the master manufacturer hits upon 
 some new devise to improve his machinery, it 's 
 with an eye to the good of any but himself." 
 
 " Mayhaps not," replied Hopkins ; " but the 
 fact is, that they can't do good to themselves 
 without doing good to others also. I tell you, 
 it 's in the nature of things ; for," added he, devout- 
 ly raising his eyes, " there is One above who 
 looks to the good of the poor as well as of the 
 rich ; and if he puts it into the head of manu- 
 facturers how to shorten labor and to cheapen 
 goods, he does it for our advantage as well as 
 theirs. Yes," added he, with a pious emphasis, 
 " God Almighty, who made ' the sun to shine 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 139 
 
 upon the just and the unjust/ is good to all ; and 
 he created wind, and water, and steam, to work 
 for the benefit of all, the poor as well as the 
 rich." 
 
 " Well, if it had pleased God," exclaimed 
 Jackson, '^ to have given us food and clothing 
 ready to our hand, as he has given us water to 
 drink and air to breathe, without stir or trouble, 
 we should have wanted neither work nor wages. 
 The world would have gone on famously then," 
 added he, chuckling at his bright idea. Hop- 
 kins was not sorry to hear something new. 
 There was some ingenuity in Jackson's ob- 
 servation ; and, though Hopkins thought it 
 could not be true, he knew not what objection 
 to raise against it. He had recourse (as he 
 commonly had in such a dilemma,) to scratch- 
 ing his head ; and if the action did not call forth 
 new ideas, it at least gave him time to reflect on 
 w^iat he should say. " So one would think," at 
 length replied he ; ^' but you may be sure God 
 knows best what is good for us ; and, since it has 
 not been his pleasure to give us food and cloth- 
 ing gratis, as it were, you may be certain that it 
 would not have been for our good. Why and 
 wherefore is more than lean tell : perhaps," add- 
 ed he, with more alacrity, a bright thought hav- 
 ing crossed his mind, — '^ perhaps, because it 
 would have made us all idle : and I am apt to 
 
140 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 think that would have led us to frequenting the 
 public house. If beer and spirits had been as 
 plenty as water, what drunkards we should have 
 all been ! and then the broils that would have 
 followed ! No, Jackson, it is better as it is : idle- 
 ness is the parent of vice, you know." 
 
 '^ Why, now you are not consistent," quoth 
 Jackson : " if it is good for man to labor, why 
 get machines to do the w^ork instead of us ?" 
 
 " Not for the sake of being idle," replied Hop- 
 kins ; " but because the less labor we bestow on 
 one thing, the more we shall have to give to an- 
 other ; and the less labor things cost, the cheap- 
 er we shall buy them. Now, it is quite as im- 
 portant for us to have things cheap as to have 
 plenty of work ; for the wages of one week will 
 buy as much of cheap goods as the wages of two 
 weeks will of dear ones. And I have told you, 
 over and over again, (but I cannot hammer it 
 into your head,) that the way to make things 
 cheap is to produce them by machinery. When 
 wind, and water, and fire and steam do the work, 
 the goods are sold so reasonably, that almost ev- 
 ery one can afford to buy. You well know 
 there 's a much greater demand for cheap than 
 for dear goods ; and, in order to satisfy so great a 
 demand, more and more must be made, and 
 more hands taken in at -the factory ; till, in the 
 end, many more come to be employed to man- 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 141 
 
 age the machinery than there was before to do 
 the work without it. And, when increase of em- 
 ployment goes along with cheapness of produc- 
 tion, you have every thing you can wish ; — 
 more commodities, more work, and more com- 
 fort and enjoyment within your reach." 
 
 " And, pray, where did you pick up all this 
 learning ? " inquired Jackson. ^' It 's surely never 
 out of your own head." — " No, for a truth," 
 replied Hopkins ; " my head has, however, been 
 given to these matters for a long time past ; and 
 I never missed gathering what I could from those 
 who knew more than myself. I have learnt a 
 good deal from talking with my landlord, who 
 has a great knack at these things, and he gave 
 me a little book, called ' The Working Man's 
 Companion ; ' but small as it is, there 's a world 
 of knowledge in it. I found it rather hard at 
 first ; but he helped me on with it by an expla- 
 nation now^ and then ; and it 's there I learnt all 
 the good that comes of machinery, and the follv 
 and wickedness of opposing it." 
 
 " Well, I should like to see the book," said 
 Jackson. — " Here it is," returned Hopkins, 
 producing the volume on the results of machinery. 
 " Come, I will read you a bit," continued he, 
 turning over the leaves till he came to a place 
 which he thought suited his purpose. " Here," 
 said he, " they are talking of a poor ignorant 
 
142 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 people called the New Zealanders, who had no 
 machinery whatever ; scarcely so much as a tool 
 to work with. 
 
 ^' Page 31. ' The chief distinction between man 
 in a rude, and man in a civilized state of society is, 
 that the one wastes his force, whether natural or 
 acquired ; the other economises, that is, saves it. 
 The man in a rude state has very rude instruments ; 
 he, therefore, wastes his force : the man in a civil- 
 ized state has very perfect ones ; he, therefore 
 
 economises it One of the chiefs of the 
 
 people of New Zealand, who, from their inter- 
 course with Englishmen, had learnt the value of 
 tools, told Mr Marsden, a missionary, that his wood- 
 en spades were all broken, and he had not an axe 
 to make any more : — his canoes were all broken, 
 and he had not a nail or a gimlet to mend them 
 with : — his potatoe grounds were uncultivated, 
 and he had not a hoe to break them up with : — 
 and that, for want of cultivation, he and his peo- 
 ple would have nothing to eat. This shows you 
 the state of the people without tools 
 
 " ' The New Zealanders hve exactly on the 
 opposite side of our globe ; and, therefore, very 
 seldom come near us ; but, when they do come, 
 they are acute enough to perceive the advantages 
 which machinery has conferred upon us : and 
 the great distance, in point of comfort, between 
 their state and ours, principally for the reason 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 143 
 
 that they have no machinery, while we have a 
 great deal. One of these poor men burst into 
 tears when he saw a rope-walk, because he per- 
 ceived the immense superiority which the process 
 of spinning ropes gave us over his countrymen. 
 Another of these people, and he was a shrewd 
 and intelligent man, carried back to his country a 
 small hand-mill for grinding corn, which he priz- 
 ed as the greatest of all earthly possessions.' 
 
 " Now," continued Hopkins, laying down his 
 book, " you must know that Old England and 
 New Zealand are much of a size ; and, while 
 we have twenty-six millions of people, New Zea- 
 land has only ten thousand ; that is, two thousand 
 six hundred men in England to one in New Zea- 
 land. And, moreover, one of us working people 
 in England is better off by far than the chiefs of 
 New Zealand ; — better fed, better clothed, and 
 more comforts in every respect : and that be- 
 cause they have not yet found out how to make 
 wind, and water, and fire, and steam work for 
 them ; and so they remain poor, half starved, half 
 naked savages, living in huts, such as you would 
 scarcely put a pig in. 
 
 " And, do you know, Jackson, that, if you 
 read the history of England, you will see that, 
 once upon a time, (it 's ages ago ; before any 
 factories were set up,) England was no better off 
 than New Zealand ; so you see what we have 
 gained by our machinery." 
 
I 
 
 144 MACHINERY; OR, 
 
 Jackson still looked discontented ; and Hop- 
 kins confessed that his was a hard case, a very 
 hard case ; '' But you cannot," added he, " say 
 that the power-loom does an injury to the peo- 
 ple at large. If the weaving is cheaper done by 
 itj the goods are cheaper sold ; and all those who 
 buy are gainers by it : you and I as well as oth- 
 ers. You are always harping after the loss you 
 make as a weaver, and never think of the bene- 
 fit you receive as a consumer." 
 
 " Much good will the cheap weaving do me 
 here," cried Jackson, " when I am far away." 
 
 '' I don't know for that," replied Hopkins ; 
 '' go w4iere you will, the English manufactures 
 will follow you ; especially in America : and 
 there you would not be sorry to get them as low 
 as you could." 
 
 " All I know," grumbled Jackson, " is, that 
 the power-loom has been the ruin of me here." 
 
 " But when we talk of the good of the people 
 and the good of the country," said Hopkins, em- 
 phatically, " we must remember that there are 
 others in the country besides yourself and your 
 fellow weavers at the hand-loom. You are the 
 only sufferers, w^hile the whole of the population 
 are gainers. Now, I ask you, would it be fair to 
 set aside the power-loom merely to benefit these 
 few^, to the loss of millions of men ? It would be in- 
 juring ten thousand, at least, for the good of one. 
 
CHEAP GOODS AND DEAR GOODS. 145 
 
 Then, let me tell you, if you had not stuck so 
 obstinately to your hand-loom, though losing 
 ground by it every year, you might have turned 
 your hand to something else, as many others 
 have done. 1 have been told there are no less 
 than twenty thousand journeymen silk weavers 
 who were turned adrift, and are now working at 
 the cotton factory at Manchester. One must 
 take courage, man, and go along with the stream ; 
 for we cannot stop it, do what we will. Many 
 have tried hard at it by rioting and violence ; but 
 what was the end of it ? The rioters were al- 
 ways put down, sooner or later : some were 
 hanged, others transported, and the improve- 
 ments in machinery went on all the same." 
 
 " They had their revenge, however, on the 
 masters of the factories," said Jackson ; " for 
 many a steam-engine and a factory has been de- 
 stroyed in such riots. ^' 
 
 " And where 's the good of that ? " cried Hop- 
 kins : " why, it is burning your own house to set 
 your neighbor's stables on fire I tor, when the fac 
 tory is destroyed, the workmen are all turned 
 adrift ; and what are they to do ? no one will 
 employ them ; so, for one master ruined, there 
 are perhaps five hundred of his men in the same 
 predicament. Then take the people at large : 
 the goods the factory made would become more 
 scarce and dearer than before ; and they would 
 10 
 
146 MACHINERi% ETC. 
 
 suffer from this till the factory was rebuilt and 
 placed again upon the old footing. So, after 
 quarrelling and fighting, and being punished, 
 (some by the law, others by their own folly,) you 
 just return to the point from whence you set out. 
 Can there be greater madness, than, when you 
 want to live cheap, to destroy the very means of 
 making things so ? Why, it is much of a piece 
 with burning the stacks of corn to make bread 
 cheaper. No, believe me, if you could show a ma- 
 chine to be an evil, you only increase the evil by 
 attempting to destroy it. Master manufacturers 
 will make their goods at the cheapest rate : do 
 what you will, you can't prevent it ; and I say, 
 thank God for it : for the cheaper they make, 
 the cheaper they sell ; and we are all benefited 
 by that. But, since you choose to seek your for- 
 tune elsewhere, why, I wish you success with all 
 my heart ; a prosperous voyage, and good luck 
 at the end of it." 
 
 Upon this he shook Jackson cordially by the 
 hand, and they took leave of each other ; Hop- 
 kins fancying that his arguments had produced a 
 great effect ; but Jackson was too much blinded 
 by his prejudices, and the losses he had sustain- 
 ed, for his mind to be open to conviction ; and, as 
 he went away, he mumbled to himself, — '■ Ay, 
 it 's fine talking ; but where 's the good of all these 
 helps, when they do not help me to a single 
 meal?" 
 
FOREIGN TRADE; 
 
 THE WEDDING GOWN. 
 
 One evening, when John returned from his 
 work, he found his daughter Patty showing off a 
 new silk gown to her mother. It was a present 
 which her lover had just given her, for the ap- 
 proaching wedding day. Patty's eyes, which 
 had seldom beheld any thing so beautiful, shone 
 with delight, as her mother admired it ; and her 
 father gave her a hearty kiss, and said she would 
 be as smart a bride as had ever been married in 
 the village. " Ay, and it is a French silk, too, 
 mother," exclaimed Patty. — " Why, as for that," 
 replied her mother, " I don't see the more merit 
 in its being French ; and I did not think, Patty, 
 you were such a silly girl as to have all that non- 
 sense in your head. No, indeed, it is bad 
 enough for the great lady-folks to make such a 
 fuss about French finery, so that they can't wear 
 a bit of honest English riband. I don't like your 
 
148 FOREIGN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 gown a bit the better for being French. No ; 
 and I should have thought that your husband, 
 that is to be, might have given you an Enghsh 
 silk instead." 
 
 Patty was not pleased that her mother should - 
 find any fault with her new present, and her 
 future husband ; so she said, she thought there 
 was no harm in the gown being French, if Barton 
 could afford to give it to her ; "and for my own 
 wedding too," added she, with a blush. — " It 
 is not that he can't afford it, child ; but don't you 
 see the shame of an Englishman going to buy 
 French silks, while his own countrymen are 
 working so hard for their bread at the manufacto- 
 ries at home ? Why, they can get nobody to 
 buy their English goods now, and the poor work- 
 men will soon have to go to the parish or starve ; 
 and all because the fine ladies must be forever 
 sending over to foreign parts for their lace and 
 silks, and all that." 
 
 Poor Patty was sadly put out : but her moth- 
 er did not perceive it ; and she went on abusing 
 the gown, which she had admired so much until 
 she had learned that it was French. " No, no,'' 
 continued she, " I shall be ashamed if my girl is 
 not married in an English gown, and tell Barton 
 so," she added, pushing aside the smart present. 
 
 Patty tried to put in a word, but in vain. 
 " Why, there is our girl Nancy, who works for a 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 149 
 
 riband weaver at Nottingham, your fatlier wrote 
 to ask whether she could get in one of her 
 youngest sisters ; but she sent back word that 
 trade was very slack, and that they were more 
 likely to turn off hands than to take any more in : 
 that while so many ribands came from France 
 one could expect no better ; and that it was well 
 if we did not see her home again for want of 
 work. It is a crying sin," added the dame, indig- 
 nantly; " and I should be glad to know whether 
 my Nancy can't make as good a riband as any of 
 the French girls ? I 'm sure the one she sent me 
 was as pretty as any one need wish to look on." 
 John readily agreed that the English could make 
 these things just as well at home, as others could 
 in foreign countries. " Nay, and even if we did 
 not," said the wife, " I think the great people 
 ought to give a turn to their own country folks, 
 and encourage home manufactures, instead of 
 having all their finery made by foreign hands, 
 and sent to them from foreign parts. Why, I 
 have heard Lady Charlotte's maid, up at the 
 castle, say, there 's no end to the loads of silks, 
 and laces, and ribands, and flowers, her Lady- 
 ship gets from beyond seas ; and, instead of 
 being ashamed of it, she is proud to wear them, 
 and to show them off to her acquaintances." 
 
 Now Tom, who was a good sharp lad, and 
 given to be waggish, said, — "I wish that the 
 
150 foreIign trade ; OR, 
 
 French mounseers, instead of sending so much 
 frippery for the rich, would send some good 
 bread and cheese for us poor folks." — " And 
 so they would, if you would pay for it," replied 
 his father ; " for they are not such fools as to 
 send us their goods for nothing." — = " Well, but 
 how are the goods paid for? " asked Tom; *' for 
 uncle Bob, who has been over the sea to foreign 
 lands, tells me, that when he goes to an alehouse 
 in those outlandish parts, and has to pay for a 
 draught of beer, they won't take our English 
 money ? " Uncle Bob, although he had not yet 
 joined in the talk, had been in the room all the 
 while ; for he had come up from Liverpool on 
 purpose to be present at Patty's wedding. He 
 now pulled off his spectacles, and laying down 
 the newspaper, which he had been quietly read- 
 ing in a corner, said, — " That is true, but you 
 should not say an alehouse, Tom, for there is 
 little enough of ale or beer to be had there : they 
 give you nothing but wine at their public houses. 
 And, sure enough, they would take neither pence 
 nor shillings, nor pounds either (if I had had them.) 
 The French will be paid in their own money, 
 which, they call sols and francs ; and the Span- 
 iards will have their own dollars." — " And how 
 do you manage to pay for what you buy there ?" 
 asked John. — "Why, I get my English money 
 changed into the money of the country where I 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 151 
 
 happen to be. That is easy enough for the 
 little I want ; but it would never do to pay for 
 all the goods that come over here from foreign 
 parts." 
 
 This puzzled John not a little, when suddenly 
 a wiser thought than usual came across him : — 
 " If they won't take the money," said he, "per- 
 haps they will take the money's worth, and that 
 is all one." — '' What do you mean by the mon- 
 ey's worth, father ? " — " Why, something that 's 
 worth as much as the money. They will take 
 goods, for instance, instead of money. Ay, for 
 now I remember, when I went over to Leeds to 
 see your brother that works in the cloth factory, 
 there was such a power of broadcloth piled up, 
 of all sorts and fashions ; there were some with 
 mighty fine patterns ; and I thought them rath- 
 er queer for us Englishmen to wear ; but Dick 
 said that all those pieces were for foreign parts ; 
 and that if they did not please the fancy of for- 
 eigners, who liked showy patterns, they would not 
 take our goods. ' You may guess,' added Dick, 
 ' by the piles you see of them yonder, how much 
 they like these.' And he told me they had orders 
 for many more, so that they should be wanting 
 more hands ; and that if I sent one of the boys 
 next spring, he thought they could find work for 
 him. Now, don't you see, Tom, this is the way 
 we pay for French goods. We pay them in 
 
152 FOREIGN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 kind, as it were ; goods for goods ; and the goods 
 being worth as much as the money we should 
 have paid for them, it is all one, as if we had paid 
 in money." — " Why, it is much Hke my chang- 
 iffg my top again for Harry Fairburn's marbles," 
 said Tom. " And do they send us as much 
 goods as we send them ? " 
 
 " Why, as for that," replied his father, scratch- 
 ing his head, while he was thinking of an answer, 
 " as broadcloth is much more bulky than laces or 
 silks, we must send over larger cargoes than we 
 receive in return. But, mind you, not more 
 costly. No, no, we are sharper than that comes 
 to. We should never be such fools as to send 
 to foreigners what was worth more than they 
 sent us. We give money's worth for money's 
 worth." 
 
 *' Then, if they work for us as much as we 
 work them," said Tom, '' methinks it 's tit for tat ; 
 and there is no one turned out of work, neither 
 here nor there." 
 
 " Why, have not you just heard that your sis- 
 ter Nancy is like to be turned off at Nottingham, 
 because they will wear so many French rib- 
 ands ? " 
 
 " Ay, but," said Tom archly, who could not 
 help thinking of his own prospect, " but have 
 not you said that I am likely to be taken in at 
 Leeds, because foreigners wear our English 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 153 
 
 cloths ? So you see, father, it is as broad as it is 
 long." 
 
 The father was puzzled, and he could think of 
 nothing to reply to Tom, who had certainly the 
 best of the argument. While he remained half 
 grumbling at being set down by so young a lad, 
 uncle Bob exclaimed, " The boy is right enough. 
 Where is the sense of crying down French 
 silks ? why, it is just crying down our own 
 broadcloth." — Patty's face brightened up, and 
 she thought that Barton was right after all, 
 and that she should wear her gay gown at the 
 wedding. Uncle Bob continued, — ^' If we 
 won't wear any more foreign merchandise, why 
 foreigners won't wear any more of ours ; for 
 we shan't send ours over for nothing, that is 
 quite certain." — ''So much the better," mut- 
 tered John, " let us each wear our own manu- 
 factures." 
 
 " Better for Nancy, but w^orse for Dick and 
 Tom too," cried uncle Bob ; " for, if there are 
 no French silks and ribands to pay for, there 
 will be no cloth made to pay them with, for look 
 ye, cloth is the money we pay with. I say, and 
 I '11 maintain it too, that every piece of silk, and 
 not silk only, but lace, or cambric, or wine, or 
 what not, that comes from France, or Spain, or 
 Germany, or even from as far off as the Indies, 
 East or West (for Bob was fond of talking of the 
 
154 FOREIGN TRADE: OR, 
 
 many countries he had seen) ; I say, every piece 
 of foreign goods that comes over to England, em- 
 ploys just as many of our workmen as if they 
 made it themselves. What care our workmen 
 whether they are making ribands and silks for 
 their own countryfolk, or broadcloth for foreign- 
 ers ? What they want is to be employed, and 
 that is all. — Why, it is as clear as broad day ; 
 though it never struck me before, till the lad hit 
 on it." 
 
 John was not much pleased to find his brother 
 take part with Tom ; however, he could not but 
 think they seemed to be in the right, and that 
 foreign trade did neither good nor harm. But 
 they had not got at the v/hole truth yet, as the 
 second part of the story will show. 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 John had pondered all these things a good 
 deal in his mind, at a loss what to think or what 
 to believe, when one day his landlord looked in 
 upon him to talk over farming matters. Before 
 the squire went away, John took courage to ask 
 him about what was uppermost in his mind, and 
 said, — " May I be so bold as to ask your honor 
 a question ?" The landlord nodded good natur- 
 edly. " Why, then, my brother Bob and my son 
 Tom, but a bit of a chap as he is, have been ar- 
 guing with me that' we neither gain nor lose by 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 155 
 
 trading with foreign parts, and wearing foreign 
 manufactures." Then observing the landlord 
 smile, ''you may think, perhaps," added he, 
 twirling his hat in his hands, " that I ought to be 
 minding my own concerns, and not troubling ray 
 head about what is above my capacity." 
 
 " I am very far from thinking," said the land- 
 lord, " that it is not your business to reflect and 
 consider what is or what is not good for your 
 country. It is not only the right but the duty of 
 every free-born Englishman to do so to the best 
 of his abilities. This, thank God, is not a land 
 in which we are afraid of the people learning to 
 distinguish between right and wrong, even in 
 matters v hich concern the welfare of the coun- 
 try." 
 
 John was pleased : he held up his head and 
 seemed to think all the better of himself for be- 
 ing counted among those who had a right to think 
 about the welfare of the country. "I am sure," 
 thought he, " if I had informed myself to the best 
 of my ability before I went to the fairy, I should 
 never have been such a fool as to have made her 
 turn every thing upside down, as I did twice 
 running." Then, addressing the landlord, he 
 said, — " Indeed, your honor 's right ; for, in my 
 mind, there is more mischief done for want of 
 knowing better than there is from sheer wicked- 
 
156 FOREIGN TRADE; OR, 
 
 "I am quite of your opinion," replied the land- 
 lord ; ^' but, as for Bob and young Tom, there, I 
 think they are somewhat mistaken in supposing 
 that the country neither loses nor gains by for- 
 eign trade." 
 
 " Ay, I told you so," said John exultingly, 
 addressing himself to his brother and the boy. 
 
 " Then I hope your honor will set us right," 
 replied Bob. — ''Why," said the landlord, "I 
 maintain that, when two countries trade freely 
 with each other, they are both gainers." — 
 " Hear what his honor says now," cried Bob : 
 " no loss on either side, but both gainers: — all 
 prizes, and no blanks ! " 
 
 " This requires some explanation," said the 
 landlord, " which I will try to give you. For- 
 eigners send over to us such goods as they can 
 make or produce cheaper and better than we 
 can ; therefore, when we buy those goods, we get 
 them cheaper or better than w^e could have made 
 them ourselves." 
 
 " There 's no denying that," cried Bob, " for 
 if they were not either cheaper or better than we 
 can make, we should not buy them." Tom 
 chuckled in a corner, though he did not dare 
 open his lips." 
 
 '•' Now, for instance," continued the landlord, 
 observing the piece of silk for Patty's wedding 
 gown, which was laid upon the table j " they 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 157 
 
 have the art of making silks cheaper in France 
 than we have in England. You may buy a silk 
 in France for the value of two shillings a yard, 
 which would cost you three in England. Well, 
 then, every yard of French silk sold in England 
 (supposing there were no duty) would be a shil- 
 ling saved to those who buy it." 
 
 " And a shilling saved is a shilhng gained," 
 said Bob. " Then, she who buys a French in- 
 stead of an English silk gown (supposing it took 
 ten yards) would have ten shillings left in her 
 pocket, would she not ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; and so, if many French gowns 
 were bought, there would be many a ten shil- 
 lings saved. This money," continued the land- 
 lord, '' might be laid by till wanted ; or it might 
 be spent immediately, in cotton^ gowns, perhaps, 
 for the children, or shoes and stockings, or pots 
 and pans ; in short, whatever article may chance 
 to be wanted ; but, whatever it be, it will liave 
 employed people to produce it ; and there is so 
 much the more work for the laboring classes. 
 While, on the other hand, if an English silk gown 
 had been bought, the ten shillings saved would 
 have been spent, and nothing more could have 
 been purchased." — *' Then it is very clear," said 
 Bob, " that, if people wear the dear English silk 
 gowns instead of the cheaper French ones, there 
 is less work for our work people." 
 
158 FOREIGN TRADE; OR, 
 
 '' You are quite right," answered the landlord ; 
 " and it is just the same with every other article 
 that is purchased from abroad as it is with silk. 
 So long as we, get goods cheaper we make a sav- 
 ing, and that saving sets more hands to work." 
 
 " Ay," said John, '•' that 's all very well for us ; 
 but your honor told us that the French were 
 gainers by the trade as well as ourselves : now, 
 it seems to me, that what we gain must be their 
 loss." 
 
 a Why so," cried the landlord. " Take an ex- 
 ample or two : — We have more Iron in the 
 bowels of the earth, here, than they have in 
 France ; we are therefore more used to work it, 
 and do it better than they do. Then we know 
 how to construct steam-engines better ; so that 
 the French can purchase wTought iron and steam- 
 engines cheaper and better of us than they can 
 make them at home. If, then, we send them iron 
 and steam-engines in exchatige for their silks, 
 they are gainers as well as we." 
 
 " But I thought," said John, " that we sent 
 the French people broadcloths in exchange for 
 their silk and laces." 
 
 " No ; the broad-cloths, I believe," said the 
 landlord, " are exported to Spain, Portugal, and 
 other countries. But the name of the country is 
 of no consequence, any more than the name of 
 the goods exchanged ; the principle is the same. 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 159 
 
 Buy the goods wherever they are to be had 
 cheapest and the best." 
 
 " To be sure," cried Dame Hopkins ; " that 
 is just what we do ourselves, husband : often is 
 the time that I trudge over to the market town 
 to buy things a trifle cheaper than I can get 
 them in the village." — "Yes, and when you 
 get there," cried Bob, " you go to the best shop, 
 without caring whether its master be friend or 
 foe." 
 
 " But," said John, " We don't go over to 
 France to choose the goods as we do at market. 
 It is they send them over to us ; and they 
 may chance to send us such goods as we can 
 make as well and as cheap at home : in a word, 
 goods that we don't want from them." 
 
 " I can assure you," replied the landlord, 
 " that merchants often do go to foreign coun- 
 tries for the very purpose of choosing such goods 
 as will be most wanted in England. And when 
 they don't go, they write, which answers much 
 the same purpose." — " But how can they tell 
 what is wanted?" cried Bob, "for, one wants 
 one thing, another wants another ; but, to say 
 what most people want, must be a hard matter 
 to make out." — " Far from it," said the land- 
 lord ; " there is as sure a means of knowing it as 
 if the different sorts of goods had each a voice, 
 and one cried out, ' I am the most wanted ;' 
 
160 FOREIGN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 another, ' I am next ;' and another, ' I not at all.'" 
 — This made them all stare ; and they hstened 
 with great attention to learn what this voice 
 could be. — "It is neither more nor less than 
 the price of the goods," said the landlord. 
 "The more goods are wanted the better price 
 they will fetch ; so it is the price which I call 
 their voice ; and, and moreover, a voice that al- 
 ways speaks the truth." — This set them all 
 laughing. " Now," continued the landlord, as 
 soon as they had had their laugh out, " we cannot 
 expect that the French or any other foreigners 
 should send over such goods as we want, just 
 for the pleasure of obliging us : their view is to 
 make money." — "As every dealer's is and 
 ought to be," interrupted Bob, " when it is done 
 above board ; that is, fairly and honestly ; so we 
 need bear them no grudge for that." 
 
 " Very true," continued the landlord ; " they 
 seek their own. interest, not ours; and send over 
 the goods that will fetch the best price, because 
 those will give them the greatest profit." 
 
 " If they don't seek our interest, they find it 
 nevertheless," said Bob ; " for the goods which 
 will fetch the best price, are just those which 
 we most want. So, what suits them to sell, suits 
 us to buy : well, to be sure, that is cleverly con- 
 trived." 
 
 " No wonder that it is clever," replied the 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 161 
 
 landlord ; " for it is in the nature of things ; 
 which means that it is so ordained by the Au- 
 thor of Nature, an all-wise and beneficent Prov- 
 idence. 
 
 '^ Well, you see, my good friends," continued 
 the landlord, "that foreign trade — that is, trad- 
 ing with foreign countries — is advantageous to 
 every country engaged in it ; for, what is true of 
 one, is true of all : and when we buy a piece of 
 foreign goods, be it what it may, or come from 
 whence it will, we encourage the British manu- 
 facture thereby, just as much as if we bought the 
 piece of goods at Leeds or Manchester." 
 
 " Ay, and a little more, too," cried Bob, " ac- 
 cording to your honor's reckoning ; for you have 
 forgot to take into the account the money saved 
 by buying the cheaper goods, which saving is 
 laid out in something else, and so sets more hands 
 to work," 
 
 " That is true," cried the landlord ; " I was 
 falling into your argument, my honest tar, that 
 there was neither loss nor gain in foreign trade ; 
 but I am glad to find you steer so clear of error 
 that you can become my pilot. We are agreed 
 then, that there is gain on both sides ; and I hope, 
 John, that you begin to think so too." 
 
 " Why," said John, to be sure your honor 
 must know best ; and, if all you say be true, 
 11 
 
162 FOREIGN TRADE; OR, 
 
 (as no doubt it is,) why I can't but say it must 
 be so." 
 
 " Well," continued the landlord, " but there is 
 another advantage in foreign trade, which I have 
 not yet mentioned. There are somethings, such 
 as good wine, that it would be impossible for us to 
 make, because our climate is not hot enough to 
 cultivate vineyards ; so, if we did not get it from 
 other countries, we should be obliged to go 
 without." 
 
 '^ Oh ! for the matter of that,'' cried John, 
 '• foreign wines will never come within our reach : 
 we poor folk should not be the better for them, 
 even if they paid no duty at all." 
 
 " But you are sometimes the better for foreign 
 spirits, John, I take it," said the landlord. 
 
 " And sometimes the worse, too," said his wife. 
 " However, I have no right to complain ; for 
 that is only once in a way." 
 
 "Well, to say nothing of the wine and the 
 spirits," continued the landlord, addressing him- 
 self to the wife, '' you, good dame, would not 
 have a spoonful of sugar to sweeten your tea, 
 without foreign trade. Nor could you give me a 
 pinch of snufF," added he, holding out his hand 
 to John, who first tapped his box and then open- 
 ing it, respectfully offered it to his landlord. — 
 *' And as for the English silks," said Bob, " why 
 we should have had none- to dispute about with- 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 163 
 
 out foreign trade ; for, though we can spin and 
 weave silk, we can't breed silkworms in our cH- 
 mate." — *' Nor could you smoke your pipe," 
 said the landlord ; '• for tobacco is not raised in 
 England any more than silk." — " But I have 
 heard some talk," said John, "of passing a law 
 to let them grow tobacco in Ireland." 
 
 " If the law of the land should allow them, I 
 doubt whether the law of nature would," re- 
 plied the landlord ; " for the warm climate of 
 Virginia, in America, whence it comes, is much 
 more favorable to its growth ; and, if they at- 
 tempt to raise it in Ireland, I doubt but that it 
 will cost them dearer, and not be so good." -— 
 '^ Why, then," said John, " it would be wiser to 
 make a law to prevent instead of to allow them 
 to grow it." 
 
 " The best way would be to pass no law, either 
 for or against," rephed the landlord. •' Let men 
 have their own way, and plant and sow, buy and 
 sell, just where and how they hke ; they will 
 soon find out what will answer best. If they can 
 raise tobacco in Ireland as cheap and as good as 
 in America, they will do it ; and if they cannot, 
 they will let it alone." 
 
 " Ay," cried Bob, " a man has a sharper 
 look out for his own interest than any one else 
 can have for him." 
 
 ^' So you see, my friends," continued the land^ 
 
164 FOREIGN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 lord, " foreign trade has two advantages ; for it 
 not only procures things better and cheaper, but 
 things which our climate renders it impossible 
 for us to produce at home ; such as wine, sugar, 
 tobacco, plums, currants, rice, spices, cotton, 
 silks, and other things without number." 
 
 " Oh, then," cried the good woman, "I could 
 not even treat my children with a plum pudding 
 at Christmas without foreign trade ; for there 's 
 no making it without plums and spices." 
 
 Patty smiled, and cast a look upon her wedding 
 gown, which her mother observing, said, — 
 " Well, child, take it up and make it up. I 
 should be loth to say or think ill of it, after all the 
 squire has told us," - 
 
 THIRD PART. 
 
 " Well, after all," said John, '' it 's lucky for 
 us they won't take our English money for their 
 goods in foreign countries ; for, if we sent them 
 money instead of goods, it might be quite another 
 story." — " And why not send them money ? " 
 inquired the landlord. '' Why, your honor 's 
 joking now," said John, with a smile and a shrug : 
 " you know it would not encourage our manufac- 
 tures ; for we do not manufacture money : we 
 get it from South America, as I have heard." — 
 J* And have you heard," asked the landlord, " how 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 165 
 
 we pay for it ? " — " Why no, I can't say I 
 have," said John, ruminating. " Pay for money ! 
 why it 's Mke giving them the money back again ; 
 it can't be so : and yet it must be paid some- 
 how." — "It 's sure enough," cried Bob, '^ the 
 Americans will not send it us for nothing : they 
 would no more do that than the French would 
 send as their silks for nothing : and yet, how to 
 pay for money I can't well guess. We cannot 
 give gold for gold ; that would be like sending 
 coals to Newcastle." 
 
 ^' If we paid for the money in cash," said John, 
 *' it would be just sending them back what they 
 had sent us. And there would be all the ex- 
 pense of sending it across the ocean and back 
 again, just for nothing at all." 
 
 " Besides, I doubt their taking it back," said 
 Bob ; '' for they want anything there rather than 
 money." — "True," said the landlord ; "they 
 are all so busy digging for gold and silver there, 
 that they have no time to manufacture goods ; 
 so, it is manufactured goods which they want." 
 
 ^- Then we pay for money with manufactured 
 goods," said John : " that seems very odd to us, 
 who are so used to do just the contrary, and pay 
 for goods with money." — " And what do the 
 Americans do ? " said the landlord. — " They 
 give us the money in return for our goods," re- 
 plied John. 
 
166 FOREIGN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 '' Why, father," cried Tom, " methinks that's 
 no more nor less than buying our goods." 
 
 '' Sure enough," cried Bob, "they buy our 
 goods with gold, and we buy their gold with 
 goods." 
 
 " Now," said the landlord, " Supposing that 
 you sent money to France to pay for their silks 
 and laces, you would want more gold from Amer- 
 ica, and you must manufacture more goods to pay 
 for that gold." 
 
 " Ah, so it is," cried John, as the truth sud- 
 denly came across his mind ; " and it 's all one 
 whether we send the goods to America to pay 
 for the gold, or to France to pay for the silks." 
 
 " In both cases," continued the landlord, " the 
 laboring manufacturer will have employment. 
 Thus, you see, my friends, work in one country 
 is sure to produce work in another country, pro- 
 vided a free trade — that is, liberty to exchange 
 goods — be allowed. But, though this advan- 
 tage will be generE^l, I do not mean to say that it 
 will be without exception : some manufactures 
 may occasionally suffer. If we import French 
 silks and French china, we shall make less silk 
 and less china at home ; but then, other manu- 
 factures will flourish in proportion as these fail ; 
 o that, if workmen are turned off in the one, 
 they may find employment in the other." 
 
 " Ay, but," observed John, " it's no such easy 
 
THE WEDDING GOWN. 167 
 
 matter to turn one's band from one sort of work 
 to another." 
 
 " That 's very true," rephed the landlord ; 
 " and many are the poor who suffer from being 
 obliged to make sucli a change. This world is 
 not perfect, as we all well know ; but il is im- 
 proving ; and a free foreign trade would do much 
 towards increasing the industry, wealth, and com- 
 forts of the poor ; for, I trust you are now satisfi- 
 ed, that the country which deals with foreign 
 nations will employ considerably more laborers 
 than those which produce and manufacture only 
 for themselves." 
 
 The landlord now took his leave ; and John 
 confessed that he had explained it all so clearly, 
 that he had been quite brought over to his way 
 of thinking. Patty had understood so far as re- 
 lated to her wedding gown, which she now took 
 up, and skipped away in great glee to have it 
 made up. 
 
THE CORN TRADE; 
 
 THE PRICE OF BREAD. 
 
 John Hopkins was walking with farmer Stubbs 
 over his farm one day, examining the crops. 
 They passed through a field of wheat in w^hich 
 the scarlet poppies were nearly as plentiful as the 
 ears of corn. " Methinks, Master Stubbs," said 
 John, ^'this field will scarcely pay you the labor 
 it has cost you ; you will get but a poor penny- 
 worth out of it ; and I '11 venture to say, you 
 must have put a good pennyworth into it, to 
 make it yield even the little it does, seeing it 's 
 such a bad soil.'' 
 
 " I 'm not such a fool as that comes to, neither," 
 returned the farmer. '' Though I may not 
 have served my time at book -keeping, I know 
 how to reckon up the goings out and the com- 
 ings in ; ay, and to give a shrewd guess w^hat 
 they are like to be before I sow my crop ; and 
 if I did not see a fair chance of the field 
 
THE CORN TRADE, ETC. 169 
 
 paying its expenses, ay, and a profit to boot, why, 
 I should not hav£ sown it. It is true, corn does 
 not fetch so good a price as it once did, but it is 
 good enough yet to make even this pitiful bit of 
 soil give me a profit." 
 
 '^ Ah ! but," says John ; " you have some 
 beautiful corn fields on the sunny side of the hill, 
 with the stream at the bottom. That's a fine 
 soil and a fine aspect, and those are crops it does 
 one's heart good to look at, and will pay you 
 well, and make up for the poverty of this here 
 field, and so one with another you make a fair 
 profit ; but if you were to sow this field alone, I 
 question whether you would get anything by 
 it." 
 
 " There you are mistaken," rephed Stubbs ; 
 " for if I did not make anything by it in corn, I 
 should lay it down in grass ; or if it was not good 
 enough for that, I should plant it." 
 
 "But how can you tell," said Hopkins, 
 " whether you make anything by this very field 
 or not ? for you send your corn to market in 
 the lump, without reckoning which field it comes 
 from." 
 
 " It 's a farmer's business," replied Stubbs, 
 " if he means to thrive in the world, to find out 
 what answers and what don't. I know how ma- 
 ny bushels of corn this same field gives me, and 
 how much I sell it for : then, on the other side, 
 
170 THE CORN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 I reckon the labor, and the manure, and the seed 
 corn, in a word, all that the crop cost me; and 
 if I did not find that I got a profit — mind ye, I 
 do not mean such a profit as the crops t 'other 
 side of the hill give me, but a decent profit — 
 for such a soil, this field would be a corn-field no 
 more." 
 
 " Well," said John, with a sigh, " it 's ha^'d 
 that we poor folk are forced to pay so much for 
 our bread, that you farmers may make a profit on 
 such a miserable bit of soil as this." 
 
 " Why, it 's not I that fix the market price," 
 retorted Stubbs. " I must sell my corn for what 
 it will fetch, cheap or dear, or I should not be 
 able to carry on the outgoings of the farm ; for 
 I've no store of money on hand as our landlord 
 has, who may keep his crops back when the 
 price is low, until the market rises. Then I 
 should be glad to know, how you would be the 
 better for this field not being sown ? for suppos- 
 ing this field, and all other fields in the country 
 that had no better soil, were laid down in grass, 
 why there would be much less corn in the mar- 
 kets (for there 's a good number of such fields in 
 the land, I can tell you) ; and you know well 
 enough what follows a scarcity of corn at mar- 
 ket, Hopkins ?" 
 
 " Why, a rise of price," answered Hop- 
 kins. 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 171 
 
 *' So, then, you see, man, you are all in the 
 wrong," exclaimed Stubbs, exultingly, " to think 
 that my raising corn on poor land does you any 
 harm. Why, it 's all for your good, John ; for 
 you see that if I and others did not do so, corn 
 would rise, and bread would be dearer." 
 
 '^ Not quite so sure of that, neither. Master 
 Stubbs," replied John, demurely. '' You may 
 think it bold in me, who am but a poor man, and 
 no farmer, to venture to argue with you, who 
 know so much about it. But, you must know" 
 that I have had a deal of talk of late with the 
 squire, (who is your landlord as well as mine,) 
 about foreign trade ; and, if 1 could but tell you 
 all he said, Master Stubbs, you would be quite 
 in a wonderment to hear the good foreign trade 
 does to the country. And brother Bob, who 
 has been so much in foreign parts, was all of one 
 mind with his honor. Nay, it was so clear, that 
 even my boy Tom understood it: and, though I 
 tried all I could to argue against them, they 
 brought me round at last." 
 
 " Clear as it may be, I think it has turned 
 your head, Hopkins," replied Stubbs. " I should 
 be glad to know what foreign trade can have to 
 do with my raising corn on poor land." — ^' Why, 
 don't you see," replied John, "if we could get 
 our corn from foreign parts, where it is cheaper 
 than it is here, we should be better off?" 
 
172 THE CORN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 " Oh, that 's what you are ^fter," cried Stubbs, 
 with a shrug : " and so you would ruin the farm- 
 ers of your own country, would you, to make the 
 fortunes of your outlandish French jackanapes. 
 Well, I thought better of you than that comes 
 to." — '^ Don't you fly off in such a huff. Mas- 
 ter Stubbs," said John. " God knows, I have 
 no wish to ruin you or any other farmer ; nor 
 was I for caring about making the fortune of for- 
 eigners : what I was thinking of, w^as, how to 
 get bread cheapest for my own children : and 
 every poor man has a right to think about that : 
 and, what 's more, it is his duty, too." — " Well ; 
 but you will not persuade me that the squire told 
 you that it was good for the country to get corn 
 from foreign parts, unless it be in times of scarc- 
 ity, when the price is very high ; and then, you 
 know, the law allows it ; for it don't hurt the 
 farmer. But, as for making a free corn trade at 
 all times, as some folks talk of, why, our land- 
 lord knows his interest too well to dream of such 
 a thing." 
 
 " And why should not the poor look to their 
 own interest as well as the rich ? " said Hop- 
 kins ; " and if corn coming from foreign parts 
 would make bread cheaper, why should they 
 not say that the law of the land ought to allow 
 it, and have an eye to their good as well as that 
 of the landholder ? " — '' You may think and you 
 
THE PRICE OP BREAD. 173 
 
 may say what you please," cried Stubbs ; '• but 
 let me tell you, that as long as the landholders 
 make the laws, they will not be such fools as to 
 make a law to undo themselves. Ask a man to 
 cut his own throat? why it 's sheer nonsense." — 
 " Well, I 've a better opinion of the landholders 
 than you," replied Hopkins. " Take our land- 
 lord, for example. It 's true, he did not say any 
 thing about corn." — " No, I was sure enough 
 of that," interrupted Stubbs. — " But he told us," 
 continued John, " that whenever we could get 
 anything from abroad cheaper than we could 
 make it at home, it was for the good of the 
 country that we should get it from abroad. I 
 can't go over all his arguments, but they were 
 as clear as broad day." — " It may be so, for 
 aught I know," said Stubbs, " with manufactured 
 goods, their French silks and frippery, that's 
 made with hands ; but we don't make corn, we 
 grow it." — " Well, but though the squire did 
 not just speak of corn, he made no difference 
 between things that are grown and things that are 
 made ; for he talked of tobacco, and currants, and 
 raisins, and loads of other things, the growth of 
 the soil: and I am sure he would have said as 
 much of corn, if it had but come into my head to 
 have asked him." — " Nay, nay," retorted Stubbs, 
 shaking his head with an incredulous look, " he 
 has too good a head for that." — "I know he has 
 
174 THE CORN TRADE; OR, 
 
 a good head," replied Hopkins ; " for he not on- 
 ly understands these matters, himself, but he 
 knows how to make us poor unlettered folks un- 
 derstand them too. But then, Master Stubbs, 
 I '11 warrant his heart is as sound as his head : 
 and if he thought it was for the welfare of the 
 country that the corn trade should be free, and 
 that we poor folks would fare better for it, why 
 he would give it up manfully ; and never mind 
 it's hurting himself a bit." 
 
 " He 's free to do as he likes," said Stubbs ; 
 '' but let me tell him, he must not expect me to 
 pay him such a rent as I do now, if every for- 
 eign vessel that chose to bring their trash of corn 
 into our ports were free of our markets. No, no, 
 as soon as my lease was out, (and that is next 
 Michaelmas come two years), I should say, 
 ' You may take the farm upon your own hands, 
 OP let it me at a lower rent, for I have been los- 
 ing, instead of gaining a livelihood ever since the 
 corn trade has been free.' " — " Well, then you 
 need not be in such a taking. Master Stubbs ; for, 
 let the worst come to the worst, you can but be 
 a loser for a couple of years. No farmer could 
 be a loser beyond the term of his lease ; for then 
 he would strike a new bargain. Besides, I am 
 given to think, that, if the trade were free, there 
 would be such an outcry among the farmers, that 
 the landlords would make them some amends 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 175 
 
 even during the run of the lease." — *' No, no, 
 they will not be over ready to come down before 
 they must," cried Stubbs. '^They would know 
 their loss would be forever and aye ; for they 
 would never oet such rents for their farms again 
 — no, never ; at least, as long as the trade was 
 free." — " And if once it was," cried John, it's 
 my mind it would be for ever and aye : for, when 
 the poor know what it is to have bread cheap 
 and plenty, they won't put up with dearness and 
 scarcity." — " And pray at what price do you 
 think you would have corn, if the trade were 
 free ? " cried Stubbs ; " for half what you pay 
 now, perhaps ; but you're quite mistaken. Corn 
 costs land and labor, wherever it be grown ; and 
 I should be glad to know where there 's farmers 
 who understand the raising it better than we do 
 here ; for I 've always heard there 's no farming 
 to be compared to that of Old England." — 
 " That may be true," replied John, '' but yet I've 
 always heard that foreign corn was cheaper than 
 that we grow at home." — ^' Then," said Stubbs, 
 " it must be worse than ours, for the best farmers 
 ought to raise the best crops ; you can't deny 
 that?"— "Why it may, audit may not be," 
 cried John thoughtfully. "If foreigners should 
 have a better soil, or greater plenty of land, so that 
 their rent don't run so high, or a finer climate, 
 they may be able to grow corn as good as ours, 
 
176 THE CORN TRADE; OR, 
 
 and yet cheaper, though they do not understand 
 farming so well as we do. " — " Well, but 
 granting that in some parts corn may be a 
 trifle cheaper than in England, you forget that 
 there 's the freight to pay ; and the further it 
 comes from, the more that costs. Then there 's 
 sea risks : the ship may be wrecked, and the car- 
 go lost ; and even when it arrives in port, often- 
 times the sea water gets in and it rots ; and 
 though it may not be good enough to bring to 
 market, it must be paid for in the main ; for, 
 d' ye see, they won't bring over corn for nothing, 
 and what they lose in one cargo must be made 
 up in the price of another: so, one way or an- 
 other, I '11 venture to say, the trade being open 
 would scarcely make any difference in the price." 
 " Well, all I can say," replied Hopkins, " is, 
 that if it makes but little difference to me who 
 buy corn, it will make but little difference to you 
 who sell it ; so you need not set up such an out- 
 cry against it. But I will tell you honestly, that 
 in my mind it would make a great difference ; for 
 I know that in America corn is very cheap, and 
 for this plain reason. America is a very large 
 place, with but few people in it : so they have as 
 much land as they choose, and they sow corn on 
 the choice soils. Indeed, they say the soil is so 
 good, that it is well nigh all choice ; and 
 wants no manure, and only just scratching 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 177 
 
 over with the plough. So they may well afford 
 to sell their corn cheap, when it costs them so 
 little to grow it ; besides, they are ready enough 
 to sell it, being so few to eat it at home." 
 
 " Now that 's what comes of talking of what 
 you don't understand," exclaimed Stubbs : — 
 *' few people in America, say you ? why, I have 
 been told there 's ten times as many there as there 
 is in Old England ; and you know there 's no 
 lack of folks here." John was at first puzzled at 
 this assertion ; but, after scratching his head, and 
 burning the matter in his mind, he said, — ''May- 
 hap, Master Stubbs, America may be a hundred 
 times bigger than England ; and then, you know, 
 it would be much thinner of people, though they 
 were ten times our number. I know you have 
 got a book of maps ; so let us give a look into it 
 when we come to the house." They did so, and 
 were both astonished to find that America was 
 not only one hundred, but many hundred, times 
 larger than England. " But, look ye, what a 
 w^ay off it is," cried Stubbs ; " and what a heavy 
 charge there must be to bring corn from such a 
 distance." — '^ It 's all across sea," said Hopkins, 
 pointing to the Atlantic Ocean ; " and freight, 
 aboard ship costs but httle. Then, when it gets 
 to England, you see, it comes up one of these 
 great rivers, to London, or to Bristol, or to Liv- 
 erpool. Besides," continued John, '' without go- 
 12 
 
178 THE CORN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 ing SO far as America, I 've heard say, that 
 there 's many countries nearer at hand, where 
 corn is much more plentiful, and cheaper, than 
 with us. In Poland, where the poor folks have 
 been fighting so hard lately, they have abun- 
 dance of corn, and are ready to send it over to us 
 w^henever the law allows it." 
 
 " Ay, provided we pay them a good price for 
 it," cried Stubbs. 
 
 " But, what 's a good price to them, who grow 
 it cheap, is a low price to us, who grow it dear," 
 replied Hopkins. " Think how it would do one'§ 
 heart good to get corn as low as forty shillings a 
 quarter, and the quartern loaf at five-pence ? why, 
 it would be a great saving to you. Master Stubbs, 
 with your large family, who eat as much as ever 
 they like." — " Save a penny, and lose a pound," 
 replied Stubbs, sulkily. — " Well, but when you 
 get a new lease," said John, ''you will save the 
 penny without losing the pound." 
 
 " That's true enough," replied Stubbs, bright- 
 ening up. *' But still," added he, after a little 
 thought, "look ye, Hopkins, — if bread was so 
 cheap, it would never pay me to raise corn on 
 poor soils, as I do now." 
 
 "To be sure," answered Hopkins, " the field 
 we passed through must be laid down in grass : 
 but you would get a fair profit, still, on your corn 
 fields by the river-side." 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 179 
 
 " Fine talking, indeed," cried Stubbs, angrily : 
 " as if it was a mere nothing to lay down land in 
 grass, when you hav^e been laying loads of dang 
 on it for years past, and lime and what not, to 
 better the soil, and make it produce corn ! All 
 that 's to be wasted, is it ? Why, you never 
 dream the money that. is gone that way !" 
 
 " There 's no help for that," replied Hopkins : 
 " if the trade be made free, that money is clear 
 gone away forever : and, if you went on raising 
 corn on poor soils, to sell at a loss, I don't see 
 how that would mend the matter." — " That's 
 why I don't want the trade to be thrown open,'' 
 cried Stubbs. 
 
 '' But 1 am talking of what would happen if 
 the trade be thrown open, whether you will or 
 no," said Hopkins. 
 
 " Well," said Stubbs ; '' but though the land- 
 lords would.be obliged to lower their rents, I 
 doubt much whether they would bring them 
 down so low as to clear us farmers of any loss 
 by the trade being throw open." — " Why, you 
 are always at liberty not to take the farm," said 
 John. — ^' Ay ; but one would rather make a 
 sacrifice than part with house and home that 
 one has been used to ; nor can you part with it 
 without a great loss : besides, how is one to get 
 another farm on better terms, if the landlords 
 agree to hold out against the farmers ? " — " Why, 
 
180 THE CORN TRADE; OR, 
 
 then the farmers must hold out against the land- 
 lords : and what are they to do, if they cannot let 
 their farms ? If they won't allow farmers a fair 
 profit, why, they will look ahout them for some 
 better means of getting a livelihood." — "Ay, 
 but,'' replied the farmer, " it 's no easy matter to 
 turn your hand to anything, especially at my time 
 of life ; so 1 must put up with what I canget, 
 rather tlian seek to change my condition." — 
 " Well, but farmers, if they cannot change, they 
 would at least bring up their children to some 
 other calling ; and when the landlords found they 
 had a hard matter to let their farms, they would 
 be obliged to come round at last." 
 
 " But," said Stubbs, " suppose you were to 
 get all the corn from those cheap countries' you 
 talk of, and there breaks out a war, why, they 
 would send us no more ; and we should be in a 
 pretty pickle then." 
 
 " If we went to war with one country, ' we 
 should get the corn from another," said John : 
 " we should hardly fall out with all the corn 
 countries at once." 
 
 " I can't answer for that," replied Stubbs, " as 
 the fashion is in these revolutionary times." — • 
 " I don't know what you mean by the fashion 
 of the times, Master Stubbs : here 's well ni^h 
 twenty good years we have had peace in Old 
 England/' said John : " and I have heard say^ 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 181 
 
 no one can recollect so long a peace before. 
 There has been fighting abroad, and plenty, it is 
 true ; but then, it has not been, as they tell me, 
 so much one nation coming to blows with anoth- 
 er, as it has been the people rising up against 
 their rulers when they ruled them with an iron 
 rod ; then they wrested it out of their hands, and 
 knocked them down with it. But, take my 
 word for it, war or no war, those who have got 
 corn to sell, will contrive to get it over to a good 
 market. Besides, Master Stubbs, T was never 
 for having all our corn from abroad : grow as 
 much as you will here, on good land ; for then it 
 will cost you little to raise ; and you can afford 
 to sell it as cheap as we can get it from abroad.'' 
 — '^ Ay ; but you are forgetting the high rent 
 that 's paid for good soil, w^hich makes the corn 
 stand you in as much as that grown on a bad 
 soil." 
 
 " Nay," replied John ; " it is you who are 
 forgetting that, next Michaelmas two years, your 
 rent will be lowered if the trade be thrown open ; 
 so that you may get your profit and we may eat 
 our bread cheap ; and all the loss will fall on the 
 landlords, who are best able to bear it. Besides, 
 the poor soils will not he fallow, though, you do 
 not sow them with corn : they will be turned to 
 grass, and feed cattle, which you may make 
 a pretty penny by : and so, meat, and milk, and 
 12* 
 
183 THE CORN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 butter, and cheese, would be more plentiful 
 and cheaper, as well as bread ; and our little 
 ones would stand some chance of getting a mess 
 of milk and bread for their breakfasts, and we 
 might more often get a bit of meat in our pot for 
 dinner. Oh, those would be brave times, Stubbs, 
 for us poor folk ! " 
 
 " Well, you may say Vv^hat you will," cried 
 Stubbs ; *' but I can't but have a fellow feeling 
 for the landlords, and would rather by half give 
 them a good turn than your foreign corn-deal- 
 ers." — "Give a good turn to the poor of your 
 owncountry, Master Stubbs ; it 's they want it 
 most ; and if, by so doing, we chance to serve 
 our neighbors, why, so much the better, though 
 they are but foreigners. If they have more corn 
 than they want, is not it better that we should 
 have it, than that it should be wasted ? " — " Oh, 
 as for that matter," cried Stubbs, '' they will take 
 care not to grow more corn than they have a 
 market for. If they have no sale for it abroad, 
 they will raise no more than they want at home. 
 They would not be such fools as to grow corn to 
 have it lie on their hands and rot. Corn is not 
 grown without expense, and a heavy one, too, 
 on the best of soils ; so no man in his senses 
 would grow more than he has a fair chance of 
 selling, and with a fair profit besides. No, no, 
 John : wait till home crops fail, and then you 
 may get foreign corn, and welcome." 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 183 
 
 *' But," said John, archly, ^' have not you just 
 been saying, that, in the corn countries, they will 
 not grow more than they want at home, if they 
 have no regular sale for it abroad ; so, if we wait 
 till there comes a scarcity with us, they will not 
 have any to part with." — "Oh, leave them 
 alone for that," cried Stubbs ; " when the price 
 rises high, they would sooner take it out of their 
 own mouths than miss the making so good a bar- 
 gain." — " But, think ye what a price must be 
 paid to tempt them to half starve themselves, in 
 order to let us have the corn. While, if we got 
 some from them regularly every year, why, they 
 would grow it regularly for our market, and we 
 should have no extra price to pay. Then, if 
 there came a scarcity, being such good custom- 
 ers, they would let us have a larger supply than 
 usual, without raising the price out of all reason." 
 — '^ Well, but they might have a scarcity as well 
 as us," rephed Stubbs ; " and then what 's to be 
 done ? Our corn fields^ that have been laid down 
 in grass, cannot be ploughed up in a hurry." — 
 " Nor would there be any need of it," answered 
 Hopkins; ''for, if the trade were thrown open, 
 we should not deal with one corn country only, 
 but with a dozen, mayhap ; and it 's hard if their 
 crops all fail the same year. If the season is 
 bad in this part of the world, there 's a good 
 chance of its being fair in America, which lies 
 
184 THE CORN TRADE ; OR, 
 
 quite another way. Look, what a deal of land 
 there is here," cried Hopkins, pointing to the 
 map of the world : " why, England is but a nut- 
 shell to it all : and why must you be for having 
 all the corn we eat grown in this little spot ? " 
 
 '' Well, it don't sound well of you to say any 
 thing to the disparagement of Old England," 
 cried Stubbs. " If it is but small, it 's a tight 
 little island, and able to withstand many a greater 
 country when put to it. And why should we 
 not be able to grow corn for the people that live 
 in it, as well as other countries do ? " — '' Why 
 just because we are a great people, living in a 
 little country ; there 's more of us than the land 
 can feed." — "But the more people there is, 
 the more hands there is to work, and so the 
 more corn they can grow," said Stubbs. — 
 " Ay," replied Hopkins, " but the country grows 
 no bigger for being more thickly peopled ; and 
 it 's land we want to raise corn upon." — " Nay, 
 nay," cried Stubbs, •' you cannot say there 's 
 any want of land, when so much lies waste in 
 commons and such like." — " But it 's w^ant of 
 good land that I complain of ; such soils as you 
 may grow corn on cheap, as they do in corn 
 countries. If there was but half the number of 
 people to feed, perhaps corn enough might be 
 grown in the country to feed them : but the 
 English people are a great nation, as great as any 
 
THE PRICE OF BREAD. 185 
 
 in all this map, I '11 be bold to say. Where is 
 there such a trading country as we a^e ? and 
 why ? because we have so many manufactures : 
 but then we must have people to work at the 
 manufactures, besides those that work in the 
 fields ; and both must be fed. Why, for her 
 size, England has perhaps twice as many people 
 as most other countries ; and yet you won't let 
 us have more bread than we can grow at home ? 
 I tell you it is half starving us : first, because 
 there 's not enough ; and next, because you grow 
 the corn on bad soils, and must sell it dear to 
 make it answer." 
 
 " Why, Hopkins," replied the farmer, ^'you 
 are now boasting of the great population of this lit- 
 tle island, and forgetting that it was but the other 
 day you were complaining of it ; and saying, that 
 the misery of the poor came from there being 
 too many people." — " And so I do still," cried 
 John, " so long as you will not let us have bread 
 to eat, cheap, and plenty ; that is, as cheap as 
 we might get it if the corn' trade were free. If 
 there 's too many people, it 's not for want of 
 room to live in, and stir about as much as they 
 will ; but there 's too many people, because 
 there 's not food enough for all. Let us be free 
 to have corn from all parts as cheap as it is to be 
 had, and then, mayhap, there may be enough for 
 all. There never can be too many people when 
 
186 THE CORN TRADE ; ETC. 
 
 there 's wherewithal to maintain tliem ; there 
 cannot be too many happy people : but when 
 they are pinched for food, and suffer in body and 
 mind, they can do no good to themselves or to 
 others either, and the country would be all the 
 better whhout them." 
 
 THE EXD. 
 
ocris/5<5