. Vanishing England . 348 VANISHING ENGLAND the poor people are governed by all the harsh rules of thePoor Law, where husband and wife are separated fromeach other, and those whom God hath joined togetherare, by man and the Poor Law, put asunder ; wherethe industrious labourer is housed with the lazy andneer-do-weel. The old almshouses were better homesfor the aged poor, homes of rest after the struggle forexistence, and harbours of refuge for the tired and wearytill they embark on their last Cottages at Evesham CHAPTER XVIVANISHING FAIRS THE oldest inhabitants of our villages canreme
. Vanishing England . 348 VANISHING ENGLAND the poor people are governed by all the harsh rules of thePoor Law, where husband and wife are separated fromeach other, and those whom God hath joined togetherare, by man and the Poor Law, put asunder ; wherethe industrious labourer is housed with the lazy andneer-do-weel. The old almshouses were better homesfor the aged poor, homes of rest after the struggle forexistence, and harbours of refuge for the tired and wearytill they embark on their last Cottages at Evesham CHAPTER XVIVANISHING FAIRS THE oldest inhabitants of our villages canremember many changes in the social conditionsof country life. They can remember the hardtime of the Crimean war when bread was two shillingsand eightpence a gallon, when food and work were bothscarce, and starvation wages were doled out. They canremember the machine riots, and tumultuous scenes atelection times, and scores of interesting facts, if only youcan get them to talk and tell you their recollections. Thechanged condition of education puzzles them. They canmost of them read, and perhaps write a little, but theyprefer to make their mark and get you to attest it with theformula, the mark of J—N. Their schooling was soonover. When they were nine years of age they wereploughboys, and had a rough time with a cantankerousploughman who often used to ply his whip on his lad oron his horses quite indiscriminately. They have seenmany changes, and do not always hold with modernnotions ; and one of
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