The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-08-10 00:00:00

A

A WORKMAN'S TOWN.

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the proceedings by some introductor- y remarks, in the
course of which he paid • warm tribute to Lord
Shafteebury's consistent endeavours to levate tho
working classes in the scale of civilization and
humanity. His lordship then took the trowel and
mallet, and laid the stone with the skill and self.pos-
seer-ion of a finished workman. Having pronounced it
truly laid, his lordship then addressed the assemble.
He said :
"My good Friends, —Having laid the first stone of this noble
experiment—an experiment which seems to me deserving of
the most unqualified success—l cannot separate from
you without a few words of thaukfulness and congratelw-
tion that we have met to-day for such a worthy purpose..
We have founded this slays e orkusen's city ('• beer,
and apnlause). mid we have fenteltai it upon the very best,
Priocilles- We have folinded it upon the great principle
ef self hey, and upon the great p ',dole of itioepeedence.
By tudependt nee. I miss ohout any otl.er iamb, anew
than that which vier, man hron a fled to receive from
his fellow.mah---aympatlfy and kiwi aid—and that is
what every man, either great or small, stands in Deed
of from another. (tier, hear,) You have rot:feted the work-
men's city upon your own efforts ant by your owe contribu-
tions, and ter the great and wise purpose of advarwiug your
social position and bony health es well se your intellect and
general prosperity. And most 10-artily do 1 say for myself--
and I also say it in the names of hundreds and thousands of
your fellow-men—that the blessing of .alleiglity God will
rest upon the good work a inch you have inaugurate d to-day.
(Applause.)
" I like the principles you have laid downfor your guidance.
You have ahown your ciselom in a morel point of view by
excluding publichouses and tap-room ; and you have done
with them as the people did of old by the lepers, you have
put theta outside the camp. (lieer, hear.) You have, too,
founded the buildings with a due regard to the necessary
arrangements. There are schools for the children, and there
will also be a library and reading-rooms for yourselves, and
a club-room, where you will have the advantage of indulging
in beneficial amusements. I hope, however, you will not
forget the women, who are by far the best part of you, let
me tell you. . Laughter.) In those intellectual amusements
take care that your good wives and daughters are sot ex-
cluded, for you will find there is no social progress without
the aid of the female sex. If the woman floats, she MAU
like a cork, and drags the man after her. (Laughter and
applasusey
'1 am glad, then, to say that you have inaugurated this
workmans city upon a sound and wise basis, and also that
every man shall have his !nurse to himself, son. to fulfil the
national saying that an Englishman's house should be his
castle, and to maintain the great principle that the working
man should be the master of his house, and the happy head
of a moral and industrious family. 1 would urge you most
sincerely, as longi'as you have breath, to bad fast to the great
social family relations of life. '[list will be the first step in
the prosperity of your city, and it is the grand security of
empires. Hear, hoar) lam delighted, too, to find that
you have established a recreation ground in the centre of
your city for the healthy enjoyment of your children ; but I
would strongly urge you not to devote this space to flower
beds and gravel walks, but to leave It tree for cricket, for
football, and for all those manly and exhilarating games by
which the healthy development of the body may be pro-
moted and secured. 'The schools which will be established I
hope will be turned to good account, and thus save your
children from rho temptation .1 the pot-house and "penny
gall.' More mischief is done in London by children frequent,
big such places than many people are aware of. (Hear, hear.)
You cannot do better than look to your children, and see
them properly educated. because in early life lasting impres-
shine are made. A child, eight years of age, will retain
early impressions which will never, while life buds, be wholly
effaced A good, tender, pious mother will make impreatrions
on her child which may for a time leave it in manhood, but
which will sootier or later return. (Hear, hear.'
"Ills lordship then alluded to the impressions created by
the culture of flowers and window gardening, and then
passed on to picture the wretched and ill-ventilated homes
of some of those who were conipelled to dwell in-the midst
of the metropolic lie said—lmegine a young meta, about
20 years of age, in the prime of life, corning up from the
country to seek work in Loudon. Ile may obtain, perhaps.
as much as 355. per week. As smatter of necessity he takes,
as it were, the first place he can get. The place is ill-
drained and badly ventilated. Ile lives, perhaps, over a
pestilential stream, aud in a few months he is numbered
with the dead, and his wife and family come upon
the parish for assiatance. Hear.) There is nothing so
economical as humanity. Whatever it May coat at the
outset, good air, good water. and no overcrowdlog
in close, noisome rooms, will be found the most economical
and best means of developing the physical and moral
energies which God has given to you. 'The domiciliary con-
dition of the people involves health, comfort, and happiness.
It involves also contentment, and people who are contented
always give a Government less trouble than those who are
not. When men are contented they become excessively
reasonable, and employer and employed lied that their in-
terests are identical. They must hold together, and by
united action give force to progress. I should like them to
see, from the Queen upon the throne to the lowest in the
land, one feeling of united sympathy of action, and one and
all give 'a long pull, a strung pull, and a pull together'
(Applause)
"1 can only say that I have been delighted beyond mea-
sure at what I have seen to-day. For more than 30 years
I have been engaged in advocating improvements in the
domiciliary condition of the people ; but it is not by che
enable means that the work can be ett ected. It must bo.
done by the exertion of your own hearts and hands. You
must say, ' We are Christians, and will live like men.' (Ap-
plauto) I trust that this will be the commencement of A
great work destined for the advancement of the social posi-
tion of the people.
In conclusion, his lordship said he fit an honour
had been conferred upon him by being invited to attend
that highly interesting gathering. Ile said that a library
was to be established in COlinesiOn with the school ; and,
so
a memorial of the day, he hoped the committee would
allow him to be the donor of the first book. The book
he should give would be 11,-me without Hands, a wonder-
fully interesting accomit of the way in which Cmaturea
not provided with hands were enabled by the in-
stinct which God hart given them, to provide them-
selves with safe and healthy habitations. He selected
it not only for the sake of the Information to he derived
from it, but also for the sake of the reflections that it was
calculated to suggest. Ile hoped, when the city on which
they were then engaged was completed, when every man
was sitting under his own vine and his own tig-tree, enjey-
Ing the blessings which God had given him, that their
thoughts would be called to another place, in Which lie
trusted he should some day meet them—to shame without
hands, eternal in the heavens."
A vote of thanks to Lord Shaftesbury was carried
by acclamation. His lordship then took his departure,
and the assembly diepenied to inspect the estate and to
partake of refreshments in a marquee provided for the
purpose,