The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-01-05 00:00:00

DEAN STANLEY ON INDUSTRIAL

WORK.

In London, last Saturday, Dean Stanley opened the
Westminster and Pimli Working Classes Industrial
Exhibition, held at the Townshend Schools Rochester-
street. There was a large attendance of gentlemen
interested in the success of the undertaking. More
than 300 articles were exhibited, arranged in five
classes with a view to adjudication and subsequent
distribution of prizes.
Of work produced by mechanics, each in his own
line (Class 1), may be noticed an inlaid marble table
slab of excellent design and workmanship; and a
model of an orthopaedic carriage bedstead, most inge-
niously contrived. Cleopatra's Needle was a favourite
design, some dozen or more representations of the
obelisk being shown. One imitated the rose granite in
oak apples, but, ignoring the monolith idea, built up
his structure of 1,790 pieces.
Among amateur works of art, as drawings, models,
and designs (Class 2), were a couple of oil paintings by
a policeman, who, after being fifteen years on duty at
the National Gallery, had caught a taste for art.
The subjects were a "Madonna at Prayer," and
"Shoeing of the Horse." There was also a Hippo-
philos," or patented self-feeding nosebag for horses,
designed to prevent the waste of their food.
In Class 3, for work connected with domestic in-
dustry, there was a large show of bed quilts worked by
the soldiers of the Wellington Barracks.

To work done by children under 14 (Class 5) the
various schools in the neighbourhood largely contri-
buted, including the "One Tun" Ragged Schools, the
girls of which exhibited a Christmas plum-pudding of
their own making. --"

Dean Stanley opened the ceremony with some intro-
ductory -semarks meant to encourage industrial works
of the kind, and especially their being done at home.
He had been reading the life of the late Prince Albert,
and urged those present to do the same. The Dean
then continued
It is impossible to read the life without seeing that the
Prince was one of the most indefatigable and industrious
workmen. Of course, most of his time was occupied in
great affairs of State, and in carrying out all kinds of bene-
volent objects on the largest and widest scale. He was also
extremely fond of gardening when he had any leisure,
which was rarely ; and there is a very beautiful letter of
his addressed to one of his daughters, the Crown Princess
of Prussia, in which he commends her very much for the
time she bestows on sculpture and making models. The
Prince then enters into an interesting comparisbn, which
more or less applies to all works of this kind. He says
the art of modelling and the art of sculpture in which
you are employed is much more interesting than even
the art of painting, because it enables you to get below
the surface; it is something solid, it is something which
in itself you can understand, and which enables you to
comprehend somewhat about the dimensions of space
and the solidmatter with which you have to deal. What
you want is to put life into your studies. I can understand
how in the old days sculptors used to pray that their works
should be endowed with life. Gardening also appears to me
to have great advantages, because you can see how the
things which you arrange and put in order really grow in
your hands; you can look after them and begin to have a
love for them, and in that way you will have the very best
result out of the work your are doing. Now, this'comparison
about painting and sculpture and gardening might be applied
to the different kinds of work which one sees before him
here. These are general remarks on the advantage of having
these models and exhibitions of useful works; but there are
one or two things of a special nature which I think one might
say on such an occasion, and they are suggested by the day
on which we are met. You perhaps know that I am rather fond
of making whatever use I can of anniversaries. Now, to-
day is the anniversary of the murder of Thomas a'Becket. I
do not intend to enter upon all the questions excited by
that sad and tragical event ; but I think it well suggests an
illustration of the principle on which I have enlarged.
Sometimes we are in the habit of imagining the small
things which we see before us are not worthy of pursuit; but
in reality small things are often deserving of consideration.
There is a story which probably all of you know, and the
authenticity of which has been doubted in these latter
days. It refers to the father and mother of I homes a'Becket.
his father was a Londoner and went to the crusades. He
was there taken prisoner and married a poor Saracen girl,
who loved the English crusader. Afterwards he was ran-
somed from prison and got back to England, but was unable
to carry away his wife with him, as she was living in Syria.
She was, however, determined to follow her husband all the
way from Syria to England. Unfortunately, she knew only
two English words—" Gilbert," the name of her husband, and
"London." She enquired at every town she came to the
way to London and actually reached her destination. When
she entered the streets of the metropolis she began to make
use of the only other English word she knew—" Gilbert."
She found her way from street to street, until at last she
discovered the house of her husband, near London Bridge.
My object in recalling the story is to show the importance
of making use at all times of whatever little knowledge we
may possess. Well, there is another story which I will
relate to show how erroneous is the impression that because
there are certain things which we were unable to do in our
youth, we shall never be able to do them at all. There are
certain faculties given to some and withheld from others,
and there are also faculties dormant at a certain period of
our lives but which can be developed afterwards. This
story I will tell you, because this happens to he the birth-
day of a celebrated person now living—namely, Mr. Glad-
stone. (Applause.) I said before that I was not going
to enter into the exciting and diveigent points about
the murder of Thomas a'Becket, nor do I mean to
enter upon the serious questions raised by mention-
ing the name of Mr. Gladstone. (Laughter.) There
are many questions regarding him upon which we may differ
widely, but there is one point at least upon which most
people agree—that he is a great financier. (Applause.) He
can deal with figures with wonderful facility; he can east
' up large sums easily, and at a glance can tell the price of
every chair and every object in the room. This is one of his
most extraordinary gifts, and you may suppose that lie was
always endowed with this faculty. But it is not so. There
is a small school near Liverpool, at which Mr. Gladstone was
brought up before he went to Eton. A few years afterwards
another little boy, who also went to this school arid whose
name I will not mention, called upon the old clergyman
who was the head master. The boy was now a young man,
and he said to the old clergyman, "There is one thing
in which I have never in the least degree im-
proved since I was at school—the casting up of
figures." Well, replied the master, "it is very
extraordinary that it should be so, because cer-
tainly no one could be a more incapable arithmetician at
school than you were ; but I will tell you a curious thing.
When Mr. Gladstone was at the school he was just as in-
capable at addition and substraction as you were; now you
see what he has become. He is one of the greatest of our
financiers." When the change occurred Ido not know, but
I have often thought that it is a very cheering encourage-
ment to all those who are dull in youth dr at school never to
despair; that some sleeping faculty may be stirred up in
their minds, and that they may become able to do things
which when they were twelve or thirteen or fourteen they
found to be impossible. These are the two lessons which
I leave with you from the 29th of December. (Applause.)
Sir R. Allcock, in proposing a vote of thanks to the
Dean of Westminster, said if he might be permitted
to throW out a hint to a few exhibitors whose produc-
tions were made up of very minute pieces, he would
say to such that, in his opinion, their time and powers
would have been better employed in manipulating
larger pieces.
The vote having been carried by acclamation, the
Dean declared the Exhibition open.