This very ancient and rude contrivance had been
employed in many countries as well as our own; nor had it as yet fallen
into complete desuetude in parts of Scotland and the Shetland Islands.
Mr. Trevelyan had seen it with the army in India, and he hoped by
getting samples of various kinds of quern, to have one constructed that
would be of considerable importance in the present crisis, especially in
very out-of-the-way districts. In September, Lord Monteagle, who showed
much practical good sense and kindheartedness throughout the famine,
called the attention of the Treasury to this matter, and requested that
some steel mills and querns should be placed at the disposal of the
Commissariat officer on duty in his district; for, said he, the markets
are rising, and the people, by buying corn and grinding it for
themselves, will have food cheaper than if they bought meal; and
moreover they can thus occupy old people for whom no other employment
can be found. The quern, adds his lordship (alluding to Matt. c. 24, v.
41) is literally the Scripture mill--"two women shall be grinding at the
mill," etc. As to the steel mills, such as those used for grinding
coffee, they were considered too expensive to be brought into use; mills
of this description, specially tempered to grind Indian corn, not being
purchasable even in quantity at a less cost than from four to five
pounds each.
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