Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/211

 Mr. Arch inherited his moral stamina. She was a woman of well-defined views in religion and politics, leaning strongly towards Nonconformity and Radicalism. She could both read and write,—rare accomplishments for one in her lowly station of life; and, before her boy was six years of age, he could, thanks to her tuition, do likewise.

Thereupon he was sent to the village school, where he remained for two years and three-quarters; and then his education was pronounced complete. Money was wanted above all things in the Arch household; and at the ripe age of eight years and three-quarters young Arch commenced to earn his livelihood as a bird-scarer or "crow-kepper," with wages at the rate of fourpence per diem. In South Warwickshire the living scarecrows are dressed as nearly as possible like the more common inanimate objects with which farmers are wont to adorn their potato-fields. They are supposed to be more effective than the voiceless stationary "keppers," inasmuch as from dawn till eve they move from field to field, emitting all manner of strange and alarming sounds. Their garb is, however, so grotesque, that the birds, it is hinted, draw near for the purpose of laughing at them; and so the provident husbandman's laudable aim is frustrated.

At ten years of age Joseph was considered ripe for the more responsible occupation of plough-driving. All day long the poor lad would trail his heavily clogged boots by the side of the horse, to whose gearing he would occasionally have to cling from sheer exhaustion. Thereupon the furrow would bulge, and the incensed ploughman, dexterously hurling at him a great clod, would lay him prone, face downwards, on the just upturned soil.