perhaps be the last recorder of the mop or statute hiring as an existing custom; for the employers of Gloucestershire and some other places have wisely and kindly proposed to substitute better methods for the disagreeable old custom of mop-hirings. I speak of it as a remnant of barbarism; but it still exists, and finds its place as a characteristic of the season.
Those who have walked through an American slave-market cannot fail to be reminded of it in witnessing a mop-hiring. There stand the women, dairymaids, domestic servants, and field hands,—in rows, with their hands before them, and the awkward carriage of persons unaccustomed to stand still! There they stand, disadvantageously fine in their dress, unaware how every flaunting ribbon and gay trimming tells against them with all the best mistresses. Good mistresses will remember, however, that girls are fine to-day who may be plain enough on every other week-day of the year. There they stand, some lolling, some rocking themselves, some giggling, some looking too self-respecting to offer themselves to a casual hirer; and there are the farmers’ wives walking before them speaking to one and another, and occasionally returning to renew an argument about the wages. There is little use in arguing. These people don’t understand distinctions and differences; and all explanations about the advantages of one’s own service are thrown away. The wages asked are always declared to be high; and there is no hope of making any impression on the askers. The case is just the same where the farmers are inspecting the ploughmen, and shepherds, and cow-boys. There the rustics stand, kicking their heels, and playing with straws,—each, perhaps, with a badge in his hat,—the plaited whipcord in the teamster’s hat,—the wool in the shepherd’s,—the wisp of cow’s hair in the herd-boy’s; and the hirers find them as deaf to reason about wages as the women are.
Bystanders might agree with the one party or the other on this point. I, for my part, have no idea that agricultural servants are often overpaid: but the quality of the article thus bought at the fair must be considered; and it is not generally found to be very valuable. The method of hiring tends to unsettle servants, and encourage a gambling spirit as to places. In districts where mops are held there seems to be an annual shifting all round; and the servants get to fancy that they somehow lose a chance if they don’t put themselves up to a fresh sale. There is yet more complaint of the consequences of these gatherings in corrupting morals and manners; and a day of standing in public for appraisement, followed by a night of jollity among acquaintances of every degree, and utter strangers, may well be dangerous to people simple and ignorant enough to undergo the process, and to regard it as a treat. In the next generation it will be a wonder that such a custom could exist in our time. The plan of the Gloucestershire gentry and farmers—of registering, without cost, the employers and labourers of each district who may wish to be mutually suited in a quiet and promising way, must soon destroy the human-market method,—so like the slave-market!
The fairs over, the rest of the month is a grave and studious time to the prudent farmer. The prudent farmer takes stock before the winter, and as soon as convenient after he has ascertained the result of the harvest, and the prices of all his commodities at the autumn sales. During the day he examines the condition of every animal on the farm, and computes the contents of every stack and root-house; and in the evenings the room must be kept still while he is at his figures. His wife, with a stocking on her arm, and her ball of worsted and scissors before her, sits beside him, ready to be questioned or consulted. The children steal away to some place where they may make a noise. Everybody wishes the fortnight was over,—the fortnight or more during which the master is grave and calculating, and exceedingly particular about the condition of everything; and the mistress nervous and exacting, and full of proposals to reduce expenses in all directions. At last comes the night when, after hours in which the ticking of the clock and the scratching of the pen are the only sounds, some long sighs are heard, and the paroxysm is over for the year. The results of the columns of figures in the books are contained on a bit of waste paper, over which the conjugal heads pore till the united conjugal mind is satisfied. Then comes the supper, with a glass of wine extra, the kind and significant nods, by way of a toast, and either a joke or two, and talk of a new gown, or consoling reflexions on the value of education to children, however hard to provide, and proverbs about things mending when they are sufficiently bad. Whatever the result, farmer and farmer’s wife go about the next morning with freer minds and more open brows than ever since the books were brought out.
And plenty there is for them to do, between this and the first frosts. There is not the ancient October business of salting down, for seven months’ food, the cows which could not be kept alive through the winter. We do not live on salt lean cow-beef for half the year, as our forefathers did; and we do not slaughter beasts because the grass does not grow in winter. Still there is a good deal of preparation required for winter. The pigs must be fattened for killing; and not only the pigs, but the poultry which have been thriving ever since the barns have been filled. The women look to all this! for the men are all wanted for getting up the potatoes, and sowing the spring wheat, and manuring the pasture lands, and clearing and cleaning everywhere for the reception of winter stores. The last gathering of the mangold leaves, before the final cropping, affords a sweet meal to the cows. How soon to take up the roots is an anxious matter. Some kinds are increasing in weight, so that it would be well to let them stand through October: but then, an early frost, like that of last year, may cut off in a night the winter food of a thousand dairies.
When these tasks are done, it is as well to set about the complete repair of the fences and gates, as well as the clearing of drains and the cleaning of ditches. There are more creatures astray now than there will be till the sheep grow wild and hungry in early spring. Good things lie scattered about the fields; and animals are allowed to seek what they can find. The hedges have been pulled