The stupid theory that a labourer ought to be "
grate- ful " to his employer, who is nothing but his customer for labour, is expounded at two columns' length in the Times- by Mr. Jefferies, who dates from Coate Farm, Swindon, and seems almost to hate the labourer for his poverty. He objects to his wearing broad-cloth on Sundays, objects to his daughters "plastering their hair with strong-smelling pomade,' —the whole description is as minute as if the labourers were a new tribe of negroes—objects to his dinner because "his bacon is the cheapest he can buy at small, second-class shops—oily, soft, wretched stuff ; his vegetables are cooked in detestable style, and eaten saturated with the pot-liquor," and actually
declares that pot-liquor is a favourite soup. "I have known cottagers actually apply at farmers' kitchens not only for the pot- liquor in which meat has been soddened, but for the water in which potatoes have been boiled,—potato-liquor—and sup it up with avidity." And then he denounces the poor half-starved wretch who can only buy bad bacon, and is grateful for the water in which potatoes have been boiled, for not being " grate- ful " for his perquisites. The Times sings a preen over this letter, and says the labourer has "no cares,"—which is true also of a pauper,—but it does not foresee its effect. The "agitators" have only to read that letter out word for word at their meetings to quadruple the subscriptions to the Union.
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