Wag

“ One evening, when Silas Wegg had grown accustomed to the arrival of his patron in a cab, accompanied by some profane historian charged with unutterable names of incomprehensible peoples, of impossible descent, waging wars any number of years and syllables long, and carrying illimitable hosts and riches about, with the greatest ease, beyond the confines of geography--one evening the usual time passed by, and no patron appeared. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I saw plenty of stock, hogs and cattle, but was afraid [Pg 53] to shoot one so early in the day; I hunted around for water, and above the plantation I came to the river, about one mile and a half from where our horses were. I went back to the camp; Wages and the negro were still asleep; the horses had filled themselves and were lying down under the shade of a tree. I took another dram, a little water and laid down to rest. In about an hour Wages awoke and got up; said he felt better. I then related to him my discovery; he said we must be very cautious, and told me to lie down and take a nap. ”

“ Wages rose in the morning and easily waked me, for I was not in a sound sleep. We took our guns; I crawled close to where the young man lay, and got my gun ready. Wages was to fire first. He put his light against a small brush, and the old man partly waked and turned his face toward Wages, who fired the contents of one barrel in the old man’s forehead. ”

“ Mary Wager says she knows a man who prayed night and morning, preached on Sundays, and was a rich farmer be sides. His wife milked the cows in all sorts of weather, cut most of the wood, built the fires, churned, economized, and died of consumption. ”

“ Though these people are inclined generally to jesting, and merry scenes often take place with our wags, during which the former are a pattern of good humour, yet they still remain extremely mistrustful in barter. ”

“ "Why do you strike?" asked Margaret. "Striking is leaving off work till you get your own rate of wages, is it not? You must not wonder at my ignorance; where I come from I never heard of a strike." ”

“ I told them that I had a wife and one child; that I had two good wagons, one a heavy one-horse wagon, with thills, and that I had a large mare which was equal to a common span; that the mare and wagon would do me. I wanted some bedding and our clothing, and some other traps of little value. I had a good milk cow that I wished to give to a friend who had lost all his cattle. His wife had died a short time before, leaving a little babe that must have milk. ”

“ But all through the harvest he ate as much and he worked as little as he could; and when the fall came and he went to get his wages from his master all he got was a single pea. "What do you mean by giving me this?" he said to his master. "Why, that is all that your labor is worth," was the reply. "You have eaten as much as you have earned." "None of your lip," said the man; "give me my pea; at any rate I have earned that." So when he got it he went to an inn by the roadside and said to the landlady, "Can you give me lodging for the night, me and my pea?" ”

“ I at once replied that my master had sent me to town to hire myself out for a few weeks, and that I was ready to go with him immediately. The joy I felt at finding employment so overcame me, that all thought of my wages was forgotten. Bidding farewell to the man who had given me my breakfast, and thanking him in my heart for his kindness, I followed my new employer, who informed me that he had engaged to remove a thousand bales of cotton from a large warehouse, to the end of a wharf at which a ship lay, that was taking in the cotton as a load. ”

“ He couldn't do better, and lifted the lid, and it was a puppy that lay in the basket.
When the man came home from his trip to town, the lad stood out in the yard, and wondered what he should get for his wages for the first year. ”

“ Another trick of these wags is the screwing up a number of pieces of paper longitudinally with a portion of black ink inside them, and lying on the table before some person, whom they will endeavour to engage in serious conversation upon the state of the market, when it is ten to one if he does not roll some of these twisters between his fingers, and from agitation or deep thought on his approaching losses, or the risk of his speculations, blacken his fingers and his face, to the horse-laughical amusement of the by-standers. ”

“ There you would have seen remarkable, even comical things; poor people, for example, tied their cattle to two-wheel carts, armed as though they were horses, carrying their few possessions, together with their small children, in the wagon. ”

“ The wages of servants hired by the year and kept, were for a farm servant man, from 20s. to 50s. a year, according to his qualifications; those obtaining more than 40s. were expected to be able to do all the skilled work, as mowing, thrashing, thatching, making ricks, hedging, and killing cattle and pigs for daily consumption. Women servants, who could bake, brew, dress meat, make malt, &c. ”

“ Not always with a keen mind, but with a surplus of muscle, which he is ready to exchange at the mouth of the pit or by the furnace’s hot blast, for a higher wage than he could earn in the miry fields of his native village;—but it is by no means settled who gets the best of the bargain. ”

“ The poor English hind or agricultural labourer is greatly to be pitied, on account of the low wages he receives; but, as it respects the nature of his location and employment, he is to be envied by the town labourer, living in a garret in a dirty, narrow alley ”

“ I saw men working in the fields for six shillings, and seven shillings, a week, and women for sixpence, and seven-pence, a day, out of which they boarded themselves. Of course they lived in the most primitive manner; it could not be otherwise, where a woman's wages for an entire day were not sufficient to buy a pound of meat. ”

“ The second class consists of agricultural labourers, farm-herds and hut-keepers, which require little bodily strength, and in which men of all kinds soon become proficients, if they are honest enough to do their duty by their employers. The wages of this class of men are at present twenty pounds per annum, with the rations I have before mentioned; but I anticipate a fall to fifteen pounds, or even to twelve pounds, rations continuing of course the same. ”

“ Wages then told them that just after daylight that morning his dog had awakened him, and he looked some distance off and saw a white man and a negro on horseback, traveling a new road, in a southeast direction, and about twenty miles southeast from that place. The negro had a lead horse. Then Wages described to them the horses (which were the same we had) . They said they were the same, and immediately turned their course. Wages gave them some directions and they all left. Wages then hurried to our camp as fast as he possibly could. ”

“ They leave to the women the tilling of the ground, the hoeing of the corn, the carrying of water, and all the heavy work; and to the boys and old men the tending of the cattle, while they themselves spend the year in hunting, dancing, eating, and robbing their neighbours—except when occasionally they deem it expedient to do a few days' work at such wages as they may think proper to dictate. ”

“ They dragged him out of the melée, and, their fury redoubled, returned to make a combined onset on the labourers. Had they been at all equally matched in numbers, the farmers would now probably have driven their foes from the field, and, overmatched as they were, they twice forced the labourers back on the old folks, and women still huddled round the waggon [39] eagerly watching the fight through the gathering darkness. ”

“ I continued; "if you have a workman or two disposed to earn a day's wage by being useful to me, bid them be ready with all that is requisite at the mouth of the pot to-morrow."
"Ay! if we can addle us a bit brass that road," responded the farmer, "we're t' chaps for thee. ”

“ Wagner accordingly investigates, before anything else, the conditions of the economic life of the community, and in subordination to this, determines the sphere of the economic freedom of the individual. ”

“ After receiving the benedictions of the elders of the church, Wages and I left about three o’clock. We had left our guns at a house about two miles distant from the camp ground. We took them, procured some bread and meat, and a bottle to carry some water, and then went to the place where Wages had concealed the horses, found them safe, and more green corn around them than they could have eaten in two days. We [Pg 57] then took out our bridles from our bundles and fitted them on. Wages had stolen blankets with the horses, and two bed quilts. ”

“ They try and run the wages down.
They offer such small wages, oh dear!
Will scarce serve you throughout the year,{197}
They want servants, the greedy elves,
To work for nought, and find themselves.
Says John, I ask twenty pound a year,
I’ll take no less I do declare,
There is plenty of work, they say,
For years to come, on the Railway.
So let each servant lad, and man,
Stand up for wages when you can,
For wages they must rise I’m told,
Or else they’ll go to the Railroad. ”

“ Wages got out; the negro’s horse bogged; he jumped off and took the bridle, and the horse got out. Wages then told me to bear up, which I did, and got through. We then got water, filled our gourds and took each a dram, mounted our horses and pushed on again till daylight appeared.
Wages and I then consulted, whether to keep on or lay by through the day. We concluded it was safer to stop, conceal the negro and horses, and watch the road. We began to look out for some woodland, and about half an hour after sunrise [Pg 49] we descried woodland to the west, at some distance. ”

“ Waggs, my lord, that’s my name. I’ve come to be cook, ’earin’ as you was in want of a temp’ry from my good friend Mrs. ’Amilton, who washes the steps, pore thing, of a Saturday when the other lidy ’as to be at ’ome.’
[46] Lord Griffinhoofe examined the paper very carefully, and cleared his throat again.
‘H’m! It’s very awkward. My wife’s away. I hardly know what to do. You’re a cook, you say?’
‘Mrs. Waggs, my lord. Good plain or fancy with the best of character’s, though short, bein’ a temp’ry.’
‘Can you ... can you dust things, Mrs. Waggs?’
‘Dust? Me dust? ”

“ And always two of these persons to continue in Court in wages, being present to warn at the King's ridings, when he goeth to horseback, as oft as it shall require. And by their blowings the Household-men may follow in the countries. And if any of these two Minstrels be sick in Court, he taketh two loaves, a mess of great meat, a gallon of ale. They have part of any rewards given to the Household. ”

“ In proportion, therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases. ”

“ If you do your fair day's work, you are certain to get your fair day's wage—in praise or pudding, whichever happens to suit your taste. ”

“ the more the division of labor and the application of machinery extend, the more does competition extend among the workers, the more do their wages shrink together. ”

“ The night of the third day there was activity on the other bank of the Missouri. Unknown to shack and fort, the squalid line of shanty saloons that stretched itself like a waiting serpent along a high bench opposite the new stockade, sprang into sudden life. Two wagons filled with men and barrels crossed the bend and emptied themselves into the dilapidated buildings. And far into the early hours, loud laughter, the click of chips and the clink of glasses disturbed the quiet of the night. ”

“ Fair day's-wages for fair-day's-work! exclaims a sarcastic man; alas, in what corner of this Planet, since Adam first awoke on it, was that ever realised? The day's-wages of John Milton's day's-work, named Paradise Lost and Milton's Works, were Ten Pounds paid by instalments, and a rather close escape from death on the gallows. ”

“ “There is this difference— where a man works for himself, or where, when working for an employer, he takes his wages in kind, his wages depend upon the result of his labor. Should that, from any misadventure, prove futile, he gets nothing. When he works for an employer, however, he gets his wages anyhow—they depend upon the performance of the labor, not upon the result of the labor.” ”

“ The farmer, from a small beginning, rapidly became, like Job, a man of substance, possessed of thriving herds of cattle—a very patriarch among the mountains. But, alas! wanting Job’s restraining grace, his wealth made him proud, his pride made him forget his obligation to the elfin cow, and fearing she might soon become too old to be profitable, he fattened her for the butcher, and then even she did not fail to distinguish herself, for a more monstrously fat beast was never seen. ”

“ Elphinstone suddenly cried out at a number of tongues of smoky red flame leaping up above the houses in front of them against the hot, blue sky. The tumultuous noise resolved itself now into the disorderly mingling of many voices, the gride of many wheels, the creaking of wagons, and the staccato of hoofs. ”

“ He who wears the iron collar has no more to do with lance or sword. So then," added the "horse-dealer," reading from his tablet with a sigh:
"No. 7. Bull; race, Breton Gaul; of great strength and very great height; aged twenty-nine years; excellent laborer." Then he said:
"Your character?"
"My character?"
"Yes, what is it? rebellious or docile? open or sly? violent or peaceable? gay or moody? The buyers always inquire as to the character of the slave they are buying, and although one may not be compelled to answer them, it is a bad business to deceive them. ”