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The villeinage that all peasants had to adhere to prevented them from spending enough time working their own land. This caused widespread poverty until the year 1844 which is when they abolished the laws pertaining to villeinage. However, even after these laws were repealed somehow the peasantry still somehow managed to committing themselves to hauling limestone for the landowners. This limestone had to journey from the Faxe limestone quarry to Faxe Ladeplads. A distance of approximately 3/4 of a Danish mile. Through this work they still managed to fulfill their responsibilities that came with them renting their land. Every peasant back then was a tenant farmer, which meant that they had rented the land that they lived on for the lifetime of the couple. To be precise, the contract was for the duration of the man's life. However, if he died and his widow remarried then the new husband was required to be the new tenant. This was legalized by having all paperwork signed over into his name. Before the widow could wed her new husband she was required to "renegotiate" with her children. The widow, or rather her prospective husband was then required to go with the children down to the probate court, where the courts would determine satisfactory compensation for the children. This money was to be their inheritance from their biological father. Later on, the children would also be able to claim an inheritance from their mother. If she didn't get remarried she'd be granted full guardianship over her children's affairs.  

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My schooling:

Time kept marching on and I was about eight years of age, a time when I was suppose to start school. It was one of the worst experiences ever! I never had enough time to read, not to mention the fact that I also didn't have anything to read in. My parents didn't have money to spend on books and could really only spare four Schilling which were to go towards my catechism. I also never had enough time for my homework because I was supposed to herd the pigs, the sheep and the geese. As well as help bring water to the cows twice a day during both summer and winter. During the summer months they were always tied down and had to be moved five time a day. In the winter my brothers and I had to clean out the stables, which was hard work because we had a wheelbarrow that didn't always have a wheel attached to it. Furthermore, since the harvest often was scarce we didn't have much straw to put down. This left the manure very soft which in turn meant that we couldn't move much of it at a time. We therefore came up with the idea of tying a rope to the front of the wheelbarrow and while two of us were pulling the third would steer. That's how we managed to get