FIFTY YEARS AGO IN ESSEX. 29
and as soon as a field was cleared women and children of all sizes
poured into it to glean the fallen ears of corn, often picking up sufficient
wheat, when made into flour, to last the family for weeks. No farmer,
unless he was what would be called a curmudgeon, would think of
putting stock into the field until the wives of his and his neighbours'
labourers had exhausted the gleaning. Schools were rare, and the
children of the labourer were early taught to work, and so, if needed,
made up any deficiency of the father's income. The daughters, like
their brothers, generally turned out early to domestic service, and I
have no doubt it would have been easier then to get a cook than a
governess or a clerk from the labouring class. There was very little
letter-writing among the working classes, unless their master or
mistress acted as scribe ; many a love-letter I well remember to have
written or read for our maids and younger men. Letter-writing
then was a serious matter, postage being rarely less than eightpence,
and if you lived, as we did, some miles from the post-town, twopence
more for delivery. Delivery of letters was accomplished by a sort of
carrier, who visited the parish twice a-week. The belief in witch-
craft was very common, and I remember an old harmless woman at
Canewdon who was credited with the possession of fearful powers.
Of this belief she took full advantage, and if I saw her coming I
always gave her a wide berth ! I remember a child whose symptoms
made a strong impression on my mind, and who from my experience
I now know was afflicted with hydrocephalus. He was supposed by
the neighbours to be suffering from Mother Cowling's spells, to
remove which another wise woman was consulted, who advised
certain incantations in a carefully closed room at the propitious hour
of midnight. The operators were also to provide themselves with a
sheep's heart; into this were to be thrust pins, and the heart was then
to be heated (in a frying-pan, I think, or it might be the fire, but I
forget exactly), and it was supposed that the heated pins would pro-
duce the same pain in the witch's heart as they would if thrust in
there instead of into the sheep's, and so she would be compelled to
remove her spells to free herself from the pain. Poor old Mother
Cowling! The direful spell had not much effect on her apparently,
and the child died in the usual manner.
Smuggling was very rife; if you saw three people going to the well
for water, one of the three would be sure to have his or her pail
made out of old brandy or gin tubs, a form of cask adapted for the
convenient carriage of the illicit spirit.