Rent-Day.
English Farmers.
This picture represents a scene very common in England, but more rare with us. A farmer is paying the rent of the house and farm he occupies, to their owner. Here the farmer usually owns the land he tills and the house in which he dwells. It is not always so, but land is so cheap with us, that he may generally be the proprietor of enough for the support of a family, together with a tenement sufficient for their comfort.
In England there is hardly such a class of persons as our independent, prudent, intelligent owners of the soil: the farmers are there, for the most part, persons of some wealth, who hire land upon leases of twenty-one years. They are a highly respectable class of persons, seldom laboring themselves, and only overseeing their numerous workmen. The persons they employ are often exceedingly poor, toiling very hard for small wages, with poor fare.
The wife of the farmer in England is generally a stout, rosy-cheeked, handsome woman, very neatly dressed; she oversees the dairy, and the various operations of the household. She is generally very systematic in her affairs; each person has her particular course of duty, and is expected to do it thoroughly.
The English farm-house is generally of brick or stone; it is irregularly built, and seems to have been put up at many different times, according to circumstances and without any regular plan. It looks ancient, dark, respectable and comfortable. Within, it is a pattern of neatness, and is full of good furniture. The beds are plump, and the sheets white as snow. Every bedroom is furnished with a carpet, table, bureau, &c.
The table of the English farmer is generally well provided, and when the family is seated around it, the scene is a very pleasant one.
An English Farm-yard.
The barns in England are usually of stone, and often several buildings are crowded together. A good deal of the hay is preserved in stacks. The barnyard of a thriving English farmer is generally a scene which seems to bespeak wealth and abundance; but it must be remembered that we are speaking of the wealthier class. Some of these cultivate several hundred acres, and it is not uncommon for one farmer to pay an annual rent of from five to ten thousand dollars.