THE FARM BAILIFF.
"If a job _has_ to be done you may as well do it first as last."
--WILLIAM BELL.
The labourers born and bred in the Vale of Evesham are mostly tall and
powerful men, and mine were no exception; where the land is good the
men compare favourably in size and strength with those in less
favoured localities, and the same applies to the horses, cattle, and
sheep; but the Vale, with its moist climate, does not produce such
ruddy complexions as the clear air of the Hills, and even the apples
tell the same story in their less brilliant colouring, except after an
unusually sunny summer. In the days of the Whitsuntide gatherings for
games of various kinds, sports, and contests of strength, the Vale men
excelled, and certain parishes, famous for the growth of the best
wheat, are still remembered as conspicuously successful.
My men, though grown up before education became compulsory, could all
read and write, and they were in no way inferior to the young men of
the present day. They were highly skilled in all the more difficult
agricultural operations, and it was easy to find among them good
thatchers, drainers, hedgers, ploughmen, and stockmen; they were,
mostly, married, with families of young children, and they lived close
to their work in the cottages that went with the farm. They exhibited
the variations, usual in all communities, of character and
disposition, and though somewhat prejudiced and wedded to old methods
and customs they were open to reason, loyal, and anxious to see the
land better farmed and restored to the condition in which the late
tenant found it, when entering upon his occupation seven years
previously.
The late tenant, my predecessor, though a gentleman and a pleasant man
to deal with, was no farmer for such strong and heavy land as the farm
presented; it was no fault of his, for the farmer, like the poet, is
born, not made, and, as I was often told, he was "nobody's enemy but
his own." His wife came of a good old stock of shorthorn breeders
whose name is known and honoured, not only at home, but throughout the
United States of America, our Dominions, and wherever the shorthorn
has established a reputation; and my men were satisfied that she was
the better farmer of the two.
I had scarcely bargained for the foul condition of the stubbles,
disclosed when the corn was harvested shortly before I took possession
at Michaelmas; they were overrun with couch grass--locally called
"squitch"--and the following summer I had 40 acres of bare-fallow,
repeatedly ploughed, harrowed, and cultivated throughout the whole
season, which, of course, produced nothing by way of return. My
predecessor had found that his arable land was approaching a condition
in which it was difficult to continue the usual course of cropping,
and had expressed his wish to one of the men that all the arable was
grass. He was answered, I was told:
"If you goes on as you be a-going it very soon will be!" I
heard, moreover, that a farming relative of his, on
inspecting the farm, shortly before he gave it up, had
pronounced his opinion that it was "all going to the devil
in a gale of wind!"
I soon recognized that I had a splendid staff of workers, and, under
advice from the late tenant, I selected one to be foreman or bailiff.
Blue-eyed, dark-haired, tall, lean, and muscular, he was the picture
of energy, in the prime of life. Straightforward, unselfish, a natural
leader of men, courageous and untiring, he immediately became devoted
to me, and remained my right hand, my dear friend, and adviser in the
practical working of the farm, throughout the twenty years that
followed. Like many of the agricultural labourers, his remote
ancestors belonged to a class higher in the social scale, and there
were traditions of a property in the county and a family vault in
Pershore Abbey Church. However this might be, William Bell was one of
Nature's gentlemen, and it was apparent in a variety of ways in his
daily life.
Shortly before my coming to Aldington he had received a legacy of
£150, which, without any legal necessity or outside suggestion, he had
in fairness, as he considered it, divided equally between his brother,
his sister and himself--each--and his share was on deposit at a bank.
Seeing that I was young--I was then twenty-two--and imagining that
some additional capital would be useful after all my outlay in
stocking the farm and furnishing the house, he, greatly to my surprise
and delight, offered in a little speech of much delicacy to lend me
his £50. I was immensely touched at such a practical mark of sympathy
and confidence, but was able to assure him gratefully that, for the
present at any rate, I could manage without it. On another occasion,
after a bad season, he voluntarily asked me to reduce his wages, to
which of course I did not see my way to agree.
Bell was always ready with a smart reply to anyone inclined to rally
him, or whom he thought inclined to do so; but his method was
inoffensive, though from most men it would have appeared impertinent.
In the very earliest days of my occupation the weather was so dry for
the time of year--October and November--that fallowing operations,
generally only possible in summer, could be successfully carried on, a
very unusual circumstance on such wet and heavy land. Meeting the
Vicar, a genial soul with a pleasant word for everyone, the latter
remarked that it was "rare weather for the new farmers." Bell, highly
sensitive, fancied he scented a quizzing reference to himself and to
me, and knowing that the Vicar's own land--he was then farming the
glebe with a somewhat unskilful bailiff--was getting out of hand,
replied: "Yes, sir; and not so bad for some of the old uns." Bell
happened to pass one day when I was talking to the Vicar at my gate.
"Hullo! Bell," said he, "hard at work as usual; nothing like hard
work, is there?" "No, sir," said Bell; "I suppose that's why you chose
the one-day-a-week job!"
Labourers have great contempt for the work of parsons, lawyers, and
indoor workers generally; a farmer who spends much time indoors over
correspondence and comes round his land late in the day is regarded as
an "afternoon" or "armchair" farmer, and a tradesman who runs a small
farm in addition to his other business is an "apron-string" farmer.
With some hours daily employed on letter-writing, accounts and labour
records, which a farm and the employment of many hands entails, and
with frequent calls from buyers and sellers, I was sometimes unable to
visit men working on distant fields until twelve o'clock or after, and
I was told that it had been said of me by some new hands, "why don't
'e come out and do some on it?"
It was remarked of the late tenant, "I reckon there was a good parson
spoiled when 'e was made a farmer." And of a lawyer, who combined
legal practice with the hobby of a small farm, that there was no doubt
that "Lawyer G----s kept farmer G----s."
Bell's favourite saying was, "If a job _has_ to be done you may as
well do it first as last," and it was so strongly impressed upon me by
his example that I think I have been under its influence, more or
less, all my life. He was certain to be to the fore in any emergency
when promptitude, courage, and resource were called for; he it was who
dashed into the pool below the mill and rescued a child, and when I
asked if he had no sense of the danger simply said that he never
thought about it. It was Bell who tackled a savage bull which, by a
mistaken order, was loose in the yard, and which, in the exuberance of
unwonted liberty, had smashed up two cow-cribs, and was beginning the
destruction of a pair of new barn doors, left open, and offering
temptation for further activity. The bull, secured under Bell's
leadership and manacled with a cart-rope, was induced to return to its
home in peace. When felling a tall poplar overhanging the mill-pond,
it was necessary to secure the tree with a rope fixed high up the
trunk and with a stout stake driven into the meadow, to prevent the
tree falling into the pond. Bell was the volunteer who climbed the
tree with one end of the rope tied round his body and fixed it in
position. He was always ready to undertake any specially difficult,
dirty, or hazardous duty, and in giving orders it was never "Go and do
it," but "Come on, let's do it." An example of this sort was not lost
upon the men; they could never say they were set to work that nobody
else would do, and their willing service acknowledged his tact.
One day a widow tenant asked me to read the will at the funeral of an
old woman lying dead at the cottage next her own. I consented, and
reached the cottage at the appointed time. It was the custom among the
villagers, when there was a will, to read it before, not after, the
ceremony, as, I believe, is the usual course. I found the coffin in
the living-room and the funeral party assembled, and the will, on a
sheet of notepaper, signed and witnessed in legal form, was put into
my hands. Looking it through, I could see that there would be trouble,
as all the money and effects were left to one person to the exclusion
of the other members of the family, all of whom were present. It was
quite simply expressed, and, after reading it slowly, I inquired if
they all understood its provisions. "Oh yes," they understood it "well
enough." I could see that the tone of the reply suggested some kind of
reservation; I asked if I could do anything more for them. The reply
was, "No," with their grateful thanks for my attendance; so, not being
expected to accompany the funeral, I retired. I was no sooner gone
than the trouble I had anticipated began, and the disappointed
relatives expressed their disapproval of the terms of the will, some
going so far as to decline to remain for the ceremony. Bell was not
among the guests or the bearers, but, hearing raised voices at the
cottage and guessing the cause, he boldly went to the spot, and in a
few moments had, with the approval of the sole legatee, arranged an
equal division of the money and goods; whereupon the whole party
proceeded in procession to the church. I think no one else in the
village could so easily have persuaded the favoured individual to
forgo the legal claim; but Bell was no ordinary man, and his simple
sincerity of purpose was so apparent, that his influence was not to be
resisted. Later in the evening a plain, but very useful, old oak chest
was sent to me, when the division of the furniture was arranged, as an
acknowledgment of my services and in recognition of the saving of a
lawyer's attendance and fee, with the thanks of the persons concerned.
I was loath to accept it, but it was of course impossible to refuse
such a delicate attention.
Bell's cheerfulness and his habit of making light of difficulties were
very contagious. I had early recognized the seriousness of the problem
presented by the foul condition of the land, but, as we gradually
began to reduce it to better order, I remarked that the prospect was
not so alarming after all. His reply was that when once the land was
clean, and in regular cropping, "a man might farm it with all the
playsure in life."
Though no "scholard," his wonderful memory stood him in good stead,
and was most valuable to me. He came in for a talk every evening, to
report the events of the day and arrange the work for the morrow.
After a long day spent with one of the carters delivering such things
as faggots--locally "kids"--of wood, he would recall the names of the
recipients, and the exact quantities delivered at each house without
the slightest effort. His only memoranda for approximate land
measurements would be produced on a stick with a notch denoting each
score yards or paces. This primitive method is particularly
interesting, the numeral a _score_ being derived from the Anglo-Saxon
_sciran_, to divide. Similar words are plough _share, shire, shears_,
and _shard_. He could keep the daily labour record when I was away
from home; but though I could always decipher his writing, he found it
difficult to read himself. A letter was a sore trial, and he often
told me that he would sooner walk to "Broddy" (Broadway) and back, ten
or eleven miles, than write to the veterinary surgeon there, whose
services we sometimes required.
We had a simple method of disposing of small pigs; it was an
understood thing that no pig was to be sold for less than a pound. I
had a good breed, always in demand by the cottagers, who never failed
to apply, sometimes, perhaps, before the pound size was quite reached,
as it was a case of first come first served, and there was the danger
that the best would be snapped up before an intending buyer could have
his choice. Bell's face was wreathed in smiles when he came in and
unloaded a pocketful of sovereigns on my study table, saying, when
trade was brisk, "I could sell myself if I was little pigs!"
Many and anxious were the deliberations we held in the early days of
my farming; the whole system of the late tenant was condemned by my
theoretical and Bell's practical knowledge, but they did not
invariably coincide, and, after a long discussion on some particular
point, he would yield, though I could see that he was not convinced,
with, "Well, I allows you to know best."
When, a few years later, I introduced hop-growing as a complete
novelty on the farm, he regarded it at first as an extravagant and
unprofitable hobby, akin to the hunters my predecessor kept. He
"reckoned," he said, that my hop-gardens were my "hunting horse," and
I heard that my neighbours quoted the old saw about "a fool and his
money." Bell was not so enlightened as to be quite proof against local
superstitions; I had to consult his almanac and find out when the
"moon southed," and when certain planets were in favourable
conjunction, before he would undertake some quite ordinary farm
operations.
He was a clever and courageous bee-master, and "took" all my
neighbours' swarms as well as my own, my gardener not being _persona
grata_ to bees. The job is not a popular one, and he would, when
accompanied by the owner, always ask, "Will you hold the ladder or
hive 'em?" The invariable answer was, "Hold the ladder." He firmly
believed in the necessity of telling the bees in cases where the owner
had died, the superstition being that unless the hive was tapped after
dark, when all were at home, and a set form of announcement repeated,
the bees would desert their quarters. I had an alarming experience
once with bees when cycling between Ringwood and Burley in the New
Forest, my present home. As I passed a house close to the road, a
swarm crossed my path, rising from their hive just as I reached the
hedge before the garden. There was a mighty humming, and I felt the
bees, with which I was colliding, striking my hands and face with some
violence. I expected a sting each moment, but my greatest fear was
lest the queen should have settled on my coat amongst the bees it had
collected, and that presently I should have the whole swarm in
possession. It was dangerous to stop, so I raced on some distance,
dismounted, discarded my coat, shaking off my unwelcome
fellow-travellers, and I was much surprised to find that none of them
retaliated.
Bell was an excellent brewer, and with good malt and some of our own
hops could produce a nice light bitter beer at a very moderate cost.
In years when cider was scarce we supplemented the men's short
allowance with beer, 4 bushels of malt to 100 gallons; and for years
he brewed a superior drink for the household, which, consumed in much
smaller quantities and requiring to be kept longer, was double the
strength. His methods were not scientific, and he scorned the use of a
"theometer," his rule being that the hot water was cool enough for the
addition of the malt when the steam was sufficiently gone off to allow
him "to see his face" on the surface.
Owing to his having lived so long in such a quiet place, and the
limited outlook which his surroundings had so far afforded, Bell was
somewhat wanting in the sense of proportion, and when I had a field of
10 acres planted with potatoes, he told me quite seriously that he
doubted if the crop could ever be sold, as he didn't think there were
enough people in the country to eat them! I remember a parallel
incident at the first auction sale of stock ever held at Chipping
Campden, a lovely old town and, for centuries now long past, a leading
centre of the Cotswold wool trade. The pens, in the wide spaces
between the road and the footways, were, as I stood watching, rapidly
filling with fat sheep, and, I suppose, the scene being so novel and
so animated, the interest of the inhabitants was greatly excited, as
they stood in little groups at the house doors looking on. I heard an
ancient dame marvelling at the numbers of sheep collected--probably
only 1,000 or 1,200 all told--and expressing her certainty of the
impossibility of rinding mouths enough to consume such a mass of
mutton. As a matter of fact, there were, I suppose, four or five large
dealers present, any one of whom would have bought every sheep, could
he have seen a fair chance of a possible profit of threepence a head;
to say nothing of innumerable smaller dealers and retail butchers,
good for a score or two apiece. What I may call the parochial horizon
is well illustrated, too, by the announcement of a domestic economist:
"Farmer Jones lost two calves last week; I reckon we shall have beef a
lot dearer." And again by the recommendation of a shrewd and ancient
husbandman of my acquaintance that it was desirable for any young
farmer to get away from home and visit the county town sometimes, at
any rate on market days, and attend the "ordinary" dinner, even if it
cost him a few shillings--"for there," he added, "you med stick and
stick and stick at home until you knows nothin' at all." Shakespeare
puts the matter more tersely, if less forcibly, "Home-keeping youth
have ever homely wits." I cannot forbear, too, the temptation to
recall _Punch's_ picture at the time of King George's coronation. The
scene depicted two rustics gossiping at the parish pump, as to the
forthcoming village festivities, and the squire's carriage with the
squire and his family, followed by the luggage cart, on their way to
the railway station:
_First Rustic_. Where be them folks a-goin' to; I wonder?
_Second Rustic_. Off to Lunnon, I reckon, but they'll be back for the
Cor-o-nation.
Soon after the reopening of the church I overtook Bell as we were
returning from Sunday morning service. It was a dark day, and the
pulpit, having been moved from the south to the north side of the
nave--farther from the windows--the clerk lighted the desk candles
before the Vicar began his sermon. I asked Bell how he liked the
service, referring to the new choir and music; he hesitated, not
wanting, as I was the Vicar's churchwarden, to appear critical, but
being too conscientious to disguise his feelings. I could see that he
was troubled, and asked what was the matter. Then it came out; it was
"them candles!" which he took to be part of the ritual, and he added,
"But you ain't a-goin' to make a Papist of me!"
Bell was proof against attempted bribery, and often came chuckling to
me over his refusals of dishonest proposals. A man from whom I used to
buy large quantities of hop-poles required some withy "bonds" for
tying faggots; they are sold at a price per bundle of 100, and the
applicant suggested that 120 should be placed in each bundle. Bell was
to receive a recognition for his complicity in the fraud, and he
agreed on condition that in my next deal for hop-poles 100 should be
represented by 120 in like manner. The bargain did not materialize.
I found Bell a very amusing companion in walks and excursions we took
to fairs and sales for the purchase of stock. He knew the histories
and peculiarities of all the farmers and country people whose land or
houses we passed, and his stories made the miles very short. I often
helped with driving sheep and cattle home, and their persistence in
taking all the wrong turnings or in doubling back was surprising; but
two drovers are much more efficient than one, and we got to know
exactly where they would need circumventing. When we visited a town I
always took him to an inn or restaurant and gave him a good dinner.
Visiting what was then a much-frequented dining-place--Mountford's, at
Worcester, near the cathedral--we sat next to a well-known hon. and
rev. scholar of eccentric habits. He would read abstractedly,
forgetting his food for several minutes, then suddenly would make a
noisy dash for knife and fork, resuming the meal with great energy for
a while, and as suddenly relinquish the implements and return to his
reading, and so on continuously. I noticed Bell watching with great
surprise, much shocked at such unusual table manners, and presently he
could not forbear very gently nudging my elbow to draw my attention to
the performance.
Mountford's was celebrated for succulent veal cutlets with fried bacon
and tomato sauce, also for Severn salmon and lamperns; visitors to the
cathedral and china works generally refreshed themselves there, and it
was amusing to watch their exhausted and grim looks when entering and
waiting, in comparison with their beaming smiles when confessing their
indulgences on leaving; for no bills were rendered, and guests were
trusted to remember the details consumed. You will always find the
best eating-houses near the cathedrals; vergers' recitals are apt to
be long-winded, and visitors require speedy refreshment after a
complete round.
It was a popular village belief that bad luck follows if a woman was
the first to enter a house on Christmas morning, and Bell always made
a point of being the first over my threshold, shouting loudly his
greetings up the staircase.
Bell's wife survived him, living on in the same cottage in which he
was born and had passed his life. She was a hard-working woman, and
came over to my house once a week for some years to bake the bread,
made from my own wheat ground at the village mill. It was somewhat
dark in colour, owing to the most nutritious parts of the grain being
retained in the flour, but it was deliciously sweet and kept fresh for
the whole week. I only wish everyone could enjoy the same sort; the
modern bread is poor stuff by comparison, and its lack of nutritive
value is undoubtedly the cause of much of the poor physique of our
rural and urban population at the present time.
I had a very human dog, Viper, partly fox-terrier; though not very
"well bred," his manners were unexceptionable and his cleverness
extraordinary. One summer afternoon Mrs. Bell was greatly surprised by
Viper coming to her house much distressed and trying to tell her the
reason; he was not to be put off or comforted, and, seizing her
skirts, he dragged her to the door and outside. She guessed at once
that her two boys were in some danger, and she followed the dog. He
kept turning round to make sure that she was close behind, and led her
down a lane, for perhaps 300 yards, to a gate leading into a 12-acre
pasture. They pursued the footpath across the field, through another
gate and over the bridge which spanned the brook, into a meadow
beyond. There she found the children in fear of their lives from the
antics of two mischievous colts which were capering round them with
many snorts and much upturning of heels. It was really only play, but
the boys were alarmed, and Viper, who had accompanied them, had
evidently concluded that they were in danger.
Before the days of the safety bicycle an excellent tricycle, called
the "omnicycle," was put on the market; and the villagers were greatly
excited over one I purchased, of course only for road work, expecting
me to use it on my farming rounds; and Mrs. Bell was heard to say, "I
knows I shall laugh when I sees the master a-coming round the farm on
that thing."
Bell always spoke of her as "my 'ooman," and, referring to the
depletion of their exchequer on her returns from marketing in Evesham,
often said, "I don't care who robs my 'ooman this side of the elm"--a
notable tree about halfway between the town and the village--knowing
that she would then have very little change left.