The club gets its beer
direct from the brewer, by the barrel. So they get it good; at once
much cheaper, and much better, than at the public-house. The
members take it in turns to be steward, and serve out the beer: if
a man should decline to serve when his turn came, he would pay a
fine of twopence. The steward lasts, as long as the barrel lasts.
When there is a new barrel, there is a new steward."
"What a noble fire is roaring up that chimney!"
"Yes, a capital fire. Every member pays a halfpenny a week."
"Every member must be the holder of an Allotment-garden?"
"Yes; for which he pays five shillings a year. The Allotments you
see about us, occupy some sixteen or eighteen acres, and each garden
is as large as experience shows one man to be able to manage. You
see how admirably they are tilled, and how much they get off them.
They are always working in them in their spare hours; and when a man
wants a mug of beer, instead of going off to the village and the
public-house, he puts down his spade or his hoe, comes to the club-
house and gets it, and goes back to his work. When he has done
work, he likes to have his beer at the club, still, and to sit and
look at his little crops as they thrive.
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