The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-06-27 00:00:00

be stonvbrNe Obserba.

SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1874.

•IVOP ECREATION.

in i nr,o's progress through the world ir
11!.. presorit day, it is impossible
.not to be

ruf:l:-. with th.: fulvant94s wh;eh. Jipos•

ses aver those who went nefore him only

a ~encration ago. True, even the workman
.4;11,1+, day, in tome towns at all events, had
his mechanic's institute in which to pass an

e but those associations were often
supported very indifferently- by the classes
above those who !MVO been called the horny-
handed sons of toil. Just half a century has
. .

elapsed since the idea of starting institutions
for the improvement of the mind of the me.
ehanic and artisan was carried into practical
effect by Dr. Birkbeck. Lord Brougham
heartily- joined in the movement, and cast
his energies so fully into it that he became
personally liable for a large amount of money
necessary to the success of the London In-
stitution in Southampton Buildings. The
idea was not at first taken up with any
. . .

degree of spirit. It was a time of political
interest, or rather of discontent The people

were beginning to agitate for Parliame.ntky
Reform, for in thoso ihtys not even the £lO

- .
householder in towns !IA

vote; and mere

villages returned the majority of the Ifonm:
of Commons, leaving th,• l•irge towns entire'
. _.

' unrepresented. Th ,se who preferred what
they called the good old times, naturally re-
garded the proposal to impart more know-
ledge to the working classes with disfavour,
not to say suspirion. Why not let well
alone ? Once generate a spirt of inqu:ry in
the minds of these people, and who knew but
what they might be asking unpleasant
questions respecting matters about which
they had better remain in ignorance ? Be-
sides, a very serious matter was as to the

supply of the workmen of the future. If by
education the working classic* twanie too
well informed, the Aimee,: were, in the eyes

oTthe objectors, that intellectual cult-tire
would be incompatible with physical labour,
that the race of hewers ,)f wood and drawers

or water would be extinct, that we nhould

have no artsians to build our towns, no
labourers to cultivate the soil. In inutgi-

nation it was conceived that the people
would become so intelligent as to crowd into

the professions and to stun those avocations
. .

requiring bodily exertion.
Years roll by, and we see the chimeras
raised by our forefathers have been dissi-
pated. Cities and towns are still constructed
as in days of yore, there is no falling off. in
the quallity of street architecture; no dimi-
nution in the tillers of the land. Seedtime
and harvest find the agriculturist quite as
fully occupied as be was ages ago. Hodge
has not become a clergyman, Giles a lawyer,
or Clodpole a doctor. In fact, it is only too
obvious that so far as the rural districts are,
concerned, the influence of the mechanics
institute has been really nil. The hard-
headed workman in the town—the engineer,
the skilled artisan, the factory hand of the
better class, and the ingenious fashioner of
metals—were unable to acquire in these
places an amount of knowledge which, if it
did not tend to raise them a step at least in
On Tuesday afternoon, a Large open-air
the social scale, fitted them to enjoy life as
meetiog of colliers belonging to the Old Hill
they found it in a rational and wholesome
district was held at Garmtt's Lana. Mr.
manner. Amongst the working classes in
Newman, of Hales Owen, occupied the chair,
large towns there are to be found scores, and
and in a few appropriate remarks he intro-
even hundreds of intelligent men who are
duced Mr. Juggius, of Darlaston, who observ-
excellent practical botanists, entomologists,
ed that the subject they had met to discuse
geologists, and students of natural hi: i,,ey
was of a very serious character. It occupied
generally, whilst there are quite as in N
the attention of thousands who were not
members of the same doss who are well r'etall.d
connected with the coal trade. The present
in mental and moral philosophy. These men
aspect of affairs clearly indicated that the
have raised themselves above the ordinary
men had no favour with the masters, who
level of the shop, and in nine cases out of
treated the men's reasonable request to refer
ton it will have been found that the stimulus
the point to arbitration with the utmost
to studies of this kind, as well as the needled
indifference. The men frankly admitted
help in prosecuting them, has been given ley
that they did not want to carry on the
the mechanics' institute. It may be that in
struggle, and they- openly and honestly said,
the first instance the man has been att reeled
"Lot us refer our dispute to some independ-
to the reading room by the prospect of find-
ent person, and abide by his decision." No-
ing a comfortable apartment where he may
thing conld be fairer. There was scarcely
look quietly over the daily papers. By-and-
to be found any person het who admitted
bye lee be ecrews a book from the libeary to
that the men where in the right and the
read at his own home when the weather for-
neamers were in the fault lhe time was
bids him to stir abroad, and so it has gradeii-
gonebv when might cc acid conquer right—
allv ""ti Pass that he has becume a steat'ylevier). As English men, they said
idol painstaking student of some one of the'
that clay, We shall never ho conquered.-
higher subjects. And so far from the lie-
--(applause). Might must not be Ahmed
quirement eel knowledge nnfitting a work-
to ride roughshod oVl'l right . In times gone
111311 for the per fi ermance of the sterner e hie ies
lev that had been done to an alarming extent,
of life, it is now a universally reciegniseil fact
lint now the men said they wenn! have no
that the entire intelligent the lean, OK eiore
more of it. The we elasses looked
valuable lit' is. Ile can earn a larger sum
after No. 1. and great .00(1 followed. 'llle
thaet the ea n. who is ceeldent with m'''ron:
men were fortunate ice leaving a numb:r of
thee work, and he is the better appreecteet
clergymen and minsters to adi-ocate their
by his employer. Indeed, so far from vies--
i mese: and that the men deserved t he sympa lii)
ing the progress of education is ith dist i wet,
.ii tho public generally. On the other hand,
the only subject of regret is that a more .4ys-
some of those gentlemen said the men ought
tematie use has not been made of it. What
to work twelve hours a day. Ile wished the
has education done for Germany ? W het her
gentlemen would practise what tliey
in peace or war, it must be admitted that the
preached. Let them work 12 hours a day
intelligence of the Germans has been of em.
aced' see how they would like it. They had
mense service to them. Tn peace it hasgiven
been in the habit of singing the good old
them a foremost place amongst the nations "Britons never shall be slaves, and
of the "rid' "t 1 tit "r there ts ite nem' now they were trying to free themselves.
awful agent than the German army. .
They had read in the papers, of the contests
The gradual (-4ablishment of School
that were going on in different parts of the
Boards in agricultural districts will in time
country ; and they had also read how the .
tend to relieve the dense ignorance which has
1111211 were treated by their masters. He
hitherto seemed to be inseparable from them.
Wollild say a word to the men of the district.
The saying that " God enae.e the country.
S, one of the masters and their agents lead
and man made the town," is as true now as
declared that they would have no intercourse
it has been for generations ; bid it must be with the men's agents. He would mention
eanfesseel that the worker in the town lees
one, Who and what was Mr. E. Fisher
many advantages over leis friends in the
Smith, the Earl of Dudley's principal mining
country. Nothing is heard eel era-Aland
agent? He was merely a paid agent, and he
labourers' institutes, where the toilers upon
Was paid well—(Ile:1r, hear). Mr. Fisher
the surface of the hind may improve their
Smith got more from his master than all the
minds after the fatignes of the day.
Tee men in that vast assembly. It was no use
those whose lives are spent in popnlonseities for the masters' agents to ridicule the men's
a country walk is thoroughly appreciated, agents—one was no better than the other—
because it is a relief front the inexorable (hear, hear). They must acknowledge both
pressure of the crowd, from the dense mass
sieles, and must reason together, if peace and
of chimney-stacks, and from the smoke-laden harmonv was to prevail. The speaker eon-
atmosphere. But to the labourer, whose chided au eloquent speech by extolling
mind has never been trained to admin.. the t rodes unions, and denouncing the conduct
beaut ies of nature, the everlasting spectacle of Ihe „at masters.
of the fields and the hedgerows, the silent Mr. Levi Britan (Dudley), next addressad
verdure of the hills, and the hew mu rueri lig
tho meeting. He said the masters had
of the brook in the valleys mast often be. re.el ired large fortunes clueing the past few
monotonous, and there is rue means bv. which roars hid denied the men a fair share of the
OM he relieve it. Even after his days wea '
k profits in 39' 4,0' and 41', people would get
is done, unit he sallies forth tee Sp,llll an hour
the lx.st coal for 7s. Bs. and Hs. fid., per ton,
sway from home, he is met by the same eter- but now they had to give £1 is. per ton, and
nal calm and qui 4. !woken lee-chip-s by lied' nine. Thirty years ago, there were men
distant lowing if rattle in some far-off mea- who were now living in large houses and
dows. The rising of the stm—an uncom-
mon sight to many a time resident—presses- driving their carriages and pairs, were on a
level Wit h those present, but the colliers were
sea no romance for hem ; the geeing down of
no better off, and it was high time the men
the same in a soa of Fel anti gloryp,'",_ses, i had a heir share of the profits. Reference
unheeded and sugg-..sts no re,itect eons. .s USE
i had been made to the advantages of their
persons will agree that anyth ng whale ean 1
unions, and if the men believed that they
be done tel give a little diversityto a life such I, wore
good,
he would advise them to cling to
as this, should deserve success; and there them. His opinion was that the only re-
need he no apprehension that, with opportn;
I medys for the men's woes and sufferings was
nities for mental improvement, Gil" will 1 combination. He hoped to see the day when
become less able to sow the sued, or less every trade thoughout the length and breadth
willing to reap the harvest. of the land would have their union. He
should hail the day when the six millions of
working men in the country belonged to one
common bond of brotherhood. If each of
WietvraHANYTON, Wednesday. the six million working men contributed
All business is being as nmeh as possible one penny per week towards a fnnd, it would
reserved till after the quarterly r:.e.ctiugs, be X 25,000 per week, which would keep
which will be held on the 'Bth of next month .50,000 mu on strike, by giving each man
in Wolverhauapt, n, arl 'p . . 1 he: I:th in 10s. per week. He should lik,. to see-all ells-
Birmingham. (1).."1eg lie the. action which putes referred to a Board of Arbitration or
the grew imik Of tie.. e -ii'.-. . are taking Li Conciliation, and peace and harmonay reign-
refusing Li '-et 'i 1-11 - , -- k .. ,- - i term., lag among employers and employed-00nd
no sate f..C.1i,.1:. ~....L ~.' aiiit4(‘k, a:. 44., L•li.: pr.s.-tu. aeielsiu4e).

THE IRON TRADE,