The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-03 00:00:00

THE COSTERMONGERS AND LORD
SHAFTESBURY.

In London, the annual meeting of Costermongers in
connection with the Golden-lane Mission was held at
Foresters' Hall, Wilderness-row, (loswell-street. The
anniversary of the foundation of the society was
celebrated by a tea at five, a donkey show at six' and
a public meeting at seven o'clock. A cord slung from
the Foresters' Hall to the front of the opposite building
in Wilderness-row supported a banner which made it
known to all men that the Costermongers' Mission
was in session. In the basement room of the hall some
three or four hundred people sat down to tea, and ate
and drank with exuberant and noisy geniality. Most
of the men present wore a scarf of blue watered silk
edged with yellow, and bearing an elaborate design in
raised white and red. This design represented a
lion and a lamb in friendly repose, and included
the inscription " Amicitia, amor, et veritas." The
ladies ot the party went unadorned, the decorating
scarf being worn only by members of the club
associated with the Mission. Tea being over,
the guests adjourned to a forlorn and hilly little piece
of land at the side of the hall, where a dozen donkeys
and two small ponies were on view in the care of their
respective owners. The Costers' brass band, number-
ins. fourteen performers, took their stand in the centre
of the ground, and played several popular airs In the
mist of this performance the Earl of Shaftesbury, ac-
companied by Lady Edith Ashley and Mr. Cowper-
Temple, ALP., arrived, and inspected the little show
of animals, all of whom were evidently well fed
and carefully groomed. One unusually handsome
and especially well-groomed donkey was here, as
the gift of the Costers' Club to his lordship, who
has been President of the society from its com-
mencement. The donkeys having been passed in
review, his lordship having put some few ques-
tions to each proprietor, the assemblage moved
once more, this time to the upper room of the
hall, where, after some delay, the proceedings of
the meeting were opened by the singing of a hymn
called" Hold the Fort." The room was hung with a
number of banners inscribed with suitable mottoes, and
the cleanly and respectable aspect of the audience and
their hearty and orderly behaviour were very notice-
able. After a prayer offered by Mr. Curtis, Mr.
Osborne, the treasurer of ths society, addressed the
meeting. He congratulated his audience upon the
fact that Earl Shaftesbury once more occupied the
chair at their annuarmee ting, remarking that "although
his lordship had told them last year that he was no
chicken," he was still alive and hearty, and appeared
to have the strength and energy of a younger
man. He called upon his hearers for a cheer for
his lordship, and they having responded with a
most stentorian "Hurrah," the speaker went on to
discourse of the life of the coster, and of the insti-
tutions now existing which have for their purpose
the amelioration of his condition. None of those
institutions are above ten years old, but the costers
are growing in unity, and all their societies
are flourishing. It was not to be supposed, said
Mr. Osborne by those who only saw the coster in
his holiday dress, that his life was always happy,
and easy, and jolly. He had hard lines of it some-
times—had dreadful struggles to become possessed of
a donkey, and hard work to keep him when he had
got him. "Why, a donkey takes a bob a day to keep.
He won't eat any of your common rubbish, like a
country donkey will." The truth of these statements
was borne out by the sympathising murmurs of the
audience. There was a donkey—so the treasurer told
the tale—belonging to the club who at this minute
was sufferidg from influenza, and was wrapped up in
mustard plaisters, his demise being hourly dreaded.
The financial condition of the society was very satis-
factory. Nearly £lOO was now in hand, all liabilities
having been discharged, and all this had been raised
by the weekly subscription of the members—fourpence
per week per man.
Mr. oS6orne's speech being concluded, the Earl of
Shaftesbury presented a very handsome embroidered
scarf to the hon. secretary, Mr. Carter, who was
greeted with ;tremendous cheers, and who returned
thanks for the presentation in a brief speech.
Another hymn, "Ring the bells of Heaven," was then.
sung, and Mr. Smithies made an offer for a prize of one
sovereign for any pair of donkeys which should be brought
forward in a certain stated condition of perfection.
The event of the evening the presentation of
the donkey to his lordship—then came on. There
was great excitement when the donkey was
ushered into the room, and when the harmonium was
moved in order that he might have free promenading
space below the platform; but when the treasurer, moved
by the fervour oflthe cheers, proposed to have the donkey
on the platform itself, the idea was at once adopted
with delighted and approving roars. Mr. Cowper-
Temple, ALP., and the noble Chairman, with every
desire to meet the feeling of the meeting, could scarcely
keep back an expression of some embarrassment as
they rose from their places on the platform to make
way for the four-legged guest; but whatever mo-
mentary feeling of unfitness his lordship may have
felt he quelled it at once, calling loudly, amidst the
laughter of the assembly, "Put him in the chair."
Mr. Carter, the secretary, then presented the animal
to his lordship. The donkey, he stated, had stood
before his shop for years, and he knew him well and
all his docile, patient, and intelligent ways. "Why,
look at him," said the secietary enthusiastically, "he
can all but speak."
Lord Shaftesbury, in a genial and humorous little
speed], accepted the gift, and promised that it should
be well taken care of. With this singular presentation
the warmer interest of the assembly may be said to
have subsided. Other speecheg were delivered and
113, mns sun,,, and the behaviour of the audience, though
now and then a trifle,boisterous in applause, was always
most attentive, most patient, and most orderly. Men and
women were alike cleanly and tidy in appearance, and
the Miso deserves to be congratulated upon the
good work it is undoubtedly doing in a field which is
still only too rich in opportunity for cultivation.