Vanity, of course, is not to be shut out even from so simple an existence:  the girl must have a ‘fashionable’ bonnet, and a pair of thin tight boots, let the lanes be never so dirty or the fields never so wet.  In point of education they have much improved of late, and most can now read and write.  But when they write home the letter is often read to the mother by some friend; the girl’s parents being nearly or quite illiterate.  Tenant-farmers’ wives are often asked to act as notaries in such cases by cottage women on the receipt of letters from their children.

When such a girl marries in the village she usually finds the work of the cottage harder than that of the farmhouse.  It is more continuous, and when children arrive the trouble of nursing has to be added to the other duties, and to occasional work in the fields.  The agricultural labourer’s wife, indeed, has a harder lot than her husband.  His toil is for the most part over when he leaves the field, but the woman’s is never finished.  When the man reaches home he does not care, or will not turn his hand to anything, except, perhaps, to fetch a pail of water, and he is not well pleased if asked to do that.  The want of conveniences like an accessible water supply is severely felt by the women in many villages and hamlets; whilst in others there is a quantity running to waste.  Many of the men obtain a more than liberal amount of beer, while the women scarcely get any at all.  While working in the field they are allowed a small quantity by some farmers; at home they have none.

Very few cottage women are inclined to drink, and they are seldom seen at ‘public’ or intoxicated.  On Saturdays most of them walk into the nearest town, perhaps five or more miles distant, in order to buy household stuff.  Often a whole bevy of neighbours then meet and return home together, and that is about the only time when they call at the roadside inn.  Laden with heavy parcels, with a long walk yet before them, and after a hard week’s work, it is not surprising that they should want some refreshment, but the quantity of ale then purchased is very small.  When there are a number of young children, and the parents endeavour to keep them decent, the woman works very hard indeed.  Many farmers’ wives take much interest in such families, where there is an evident endeavour to go straight, and assist the women in various ways, as with cast-off clothing for the children.  A basketful of apples even from the farmer’s orchard is a treat to the children, for, though better fed than formerly, their diet is necessarily monotonous, and such fruit as may be grown in the cottage garden is, of course, sold.

With the exception of vegetables the cottager now buys almost everything and produces nothing for home use; no home-spun clothing—­not even a home-baked loaf.  Instances have been observed where cottagers have gone to much expense (for them) to build ovens, and after baking a few batches abandoned the project.  Besides the cheap outfitters in the towns, the pack-drapers come round visiting every cottage.  Such drapers have no shop-window, and make no display, but employ several men carrying packs, who work through the villages on foot and range over a wide stretch of country.