Gents Mag 1890 part 1 p.535
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Gentleman's Magazine 1890 part 1 p.535
the "statesmen" spun the wool, and even wove it into cloth. This at one time was done in almost every house, and by the light labour the long winter evenings were pleasantly beguiled. And it is somewhat strange that the occupation was one much indulged in by the poorer clergy who guided the spiritual lives of the yeomen. Of one of these as a type of the rest we shall speak. He assisted his neighbours at hay and at shearing; and instead of receiving money reward he was paid "in kind." He made wills, butter prints, and was Notary Public to the whole parish. And for little offices as his reward "in kind," he invariably chose wool; and for a reason. The tributaryv fleeces he was wont to collect with the aid of a shaggy white "galloway," with which he always tramped the fells. Across the back of the old horse were two panniers carried crosswise, in which the fleeces were conveyed. The annals of this quiet neighbourhood tell how, for eight hours in each day, he was occupied in teaching the children, his seat being within the Communion rails. While they repeated their lessons by his side, he was busily engaged with his spinning wheel; and every evening, too, he continued the same labour, exchanging, by way of variety, the small wheel at which he had sat, for the large one on which wool is spun, the spinner stepping to and fro. And thus the spinning and winding wheels filled up the interludes of his evening labour. The elder of his children assisted in teasing and spinning the wool; and at the whole trade it was well known that both he and his family had become proficients. When the various processes were completed, and the whole ready for sale, the good man would lay on his back by 16 or 32 lbs. weight, and on foot would convey it to market, seven or eight miles, even in the depth of winter. And yet this primitive parson was a pronounced type of his contemporaries. He, as they, not only cultivated the glebe about the house, but had, like the rest of his neighbours, a sheep "run" on the fell. In his live he held three "livings," and occupied the last sixty years; he died aged ninety-three, and during the time he was busily employed as we have stated, he never once neglected his more important spiritual duties. These he discharged zealously and faithfully, brought up, educated, and established well in life a large family, and died "universally lamented." His fortune at his death, amassed by this great industry, amounted to L2,000, besides a large quantity of linen and woollen cloth spun by himself, and chiefly within those Communion rails of which we have spoken. The following extract is from a letter describing him "at home": "I found him sitting at the head of a large square table, such as [i]s |
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