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Story
June 3, 1878
Orleans County Monitor
Barton, Orleans County, Vermont
What is this article about?
William Bailey, a successful former farm laborer in England, tells mowers how quitting beer while working improved his life, leading him to abandon manual labor for business success, urging them to do the same.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
DOING WITHOUT HIS BEER.
Thousands of workmen toil to keep some brewer rich or to clothe the wives of the rumseller in silk, while their own wives dress in cheap calico. To such we commend this anecdote: In England there was a man named Wm. Bailey, who had once been a farm laborer, and who now owns an establishment whose business amounts to thousands and thousands of dollars. Some years ago this man happened to cross a wheat field, and saw some laborers at work mowing. He was dressed in a fine suit of black, but walked over among the laborers, and asked one of them if he might be allowed to mow.
The man said "Yes," and Bailey took a scythe and began to work. He had not been long engaged when one of the laborers said, in some surprise, noticing his attire and deeming him a wealthy gentleman, "Why, you have mowed before!"
"Yes, I have," Bailey responded, "and I used at one time to drink beer regularly when I did. But while I was mowing one day, and drinking beer, the idea suddenly came to me that I could mow just as well without beer."
"Oh! I couldn't work without beer," interrupted one of the laborers. "I never could get on."
"Well," continued Bailey, "after I began to mow without the beer, I soon discovered that I could get on without mowing altogether."
"We should like that very well," said the laborers.
"Oh, no," returned Bailey; "you cannot do without your beer, and you will go on mowing and mowing all your lives, without rising to anything better."
Thousands of workmen toil to keep some brewer rich or to clothe the wives of the rumseller in silk, while their own wives dress in cheap calico. To such we commend this anecdote: In England there was a man named Wm. Bailey, who had once been a farm laborer, and who now owns an establishment whose business amounts to thousands and thousands of dollars. Some years ago this man happened to cross a wheat field, and saw some laborers at work mowing. He was dressed in a fine suit of black, but walked over among the laborers, and asked one of them if he might be allowed to mow.
The man said "Yes," and Bailey took a scythe and began to work. He had not been long engaged when one of the laborers said, in some surprise, noticing his attire and deeming him a wealthy gentleman, "Why, you have mowed before!"
"Yes, I have," Bailey responded, "and I used at one time to drink beer regularly when I did. But while I was mowing one day, and drinking beer, the idea suddenly came to me that I could mow just as well without beer."
"Oh! I couldn't work without beer," interrupted one of the laborers. "I never could get on."
"Well," continued Bailey, "after I began to mow without the beer, I soon discovered that I could get on without mowing altogether."
"We should like that very well," said the laborers.
"Oh, no," returned Bailey; "you cannot do without your beer, and you will go on mowing and mowing all your lives, without rising to anything better."
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Personal Triumph
What themes does it cover?
Moral Virtue
Fortune Reversal
What keywords are associated?
Temperance Anecdote
Laborer Success
Quitting Beer
Moral Lesson
Rags To Riches
What entities or persons were involved?
Wm. Bailey
Where did it happen?
England, Wheat Field
Story Details
Key Persons
Wm. Bailey
Location
England, Wheat Field
Event Date
Some Years Ago
Story Details
Wm. Bailey, once a farm laborer, now a successful businessman, demonstrates mowing to laborers and explains how quitting beer led him to quit manual labor and achieve prosperity, advising them to forgo alcohol for better opportunities.