The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-13 00:00:00

WORKMEN ABROAD.

The following is an extract from the evidence
given before the Factory Commissioners, by Mr. E.
Rose, a millwright and engineer, who had worked at
several places on the Continent ; he was called.:--
" Is a man with thirty-five sous a day in France
better off than a man with ls. 6d. in England ?—Ac-
cording to their way of life, certainly he is. They
had generally little plots of ground which their wives
cultivated, and his wages seemed to be for other
things than necessaries. A man there is satisfied
with a deal coarser clothing than those here, and the
climate was so warm that very little did in summer.
They seemed to be more contented to their work than
men are here. They were mostly Protestants at
Mulhausen, and after going to the church of a morn-
ing, where they were regular enough, they could go
out into the country to dancing, or akitthng, or dif-
ferent games and pastimes, and so they seemed to go
more content to their work again ; for here a ma'
must break a day if he wants to get a little diversion.
Should you say the French were a sober set ?
Yes, they appeared a very comfortable set of people.
I am very well pleased with them for my own part.
I did not see them get beastly drunk as working-
men are inclined to do here.
What amusements or innocent recreations has a
working-man here on a Sunday ?—None at all that 1
know, but taking a walk in the country, which is not
forbidden that I know of
Did you go to church at Mulhausen )-1 ; bat
from not so well understanding the language, it made
it very awkward. Igo to the old church here pretty
regularly, but having the care of Mr. Roberts mita
chinery, and living on the premises, I cannot al-
ways go.
Judging from what you saw in France and Switzer-
land, do you think it conducive to the morality and
good conduct of the working class that they should
spend a portion of Sunday in such recreations as you
have described ?—Judging from what I saw there,
should say that it was much better than the way in
which people are forced to spend Sunday in England.
It is a thing I have thought of ever since I was
there. Here a man can do nothing but go to the
public-house on a Sunday, and he goes with the in-
tention to get drunk, as it were ; and sit drinking
glass after glass ; there, people going out to dances and
different games, and having different recreations
at 'the places where they go, such as cards and
dominoes, can cheerfully enjoy themselves, drinking
but little. But here a man can do nothing at a.
public-house, if he goes there, but drink, and he can
go nowhere else on a Sunday. It seemed to me that
they went easier and happier to their work again
there than they do here. Everybody has a right to
his own opinion ; but, after what 1 saw there, I am
confident that nothing would be more conducive to
the good behaviour of the working class here than for
them to have such innocent recreations on a Sunday
as they have there. I was left fatherless myself here
at seven years of age, and I went to a Methodist
Sunday school in Lever-street, where I was taught
hymns and prayers, but nothing of reading and writing,
when a young fellow with whom I was acquainted
took me to a Sunday.school in Mosley-street, belong-
ing to the Unitarians, where they taught reading and
writing on a Sunday. This I found of great service.
lam not a Unitarian. I know that children do not
get any good by being taught prayers and hymns, as
I was at a Methodist school. They sing and say,
but don't understand them. Something useffil should
be got into their heads. There are thousands of
children that go to Methodist schools : they are never
taught anything but to read the Bible, and not to
write. lam sure they should be taught something
else. Judging from myself as a child, and from
others that I have seen, I consider the manner the
Methodists treat their children in Sunday schools a
complete loss of time ; it keeps them out of the streets,
and that is all.

Then your opinion is, that religion among the
working class would not be injured by spending the
Sunday in England as they do in France and Switzer-
land ?--I do really consider it would be improved;
for even now, if a young fellow wants a little
recreation on a Sunday, he gets up early and takes *
stroll into the country, and comes home in the middle
of the day tired, and then he thinks of a public-house.
But if he knew that, after the middle of the day, he
could go out into the country to cheerful society and
lively meetings, I do really believe he would be more
apt to go to church of a morning. I was struck with
the advantages that the working class seemed to me
to have in France and Switzerland over us here in
spending their Sundays. It does produce there what
I never see in England.

THE LATE FATAL FIRE DI OXI"o3D-STXEET.---
FUNERAL OF TIIE SUFFERERS.—Testerday afternoon the
mortal remains of Mrs. Williams and her two children were
removed from the house cf her brother, Mr. Abbott,
boLt,Rtalricerged
to t
victualler, in High-street, St. Giles's, e h
fiettneral wases
ati:
place, at Kensal-green cemetery.
mournful procession. It mnst
f
flounced to take place at two o clolcletie,teatindreolorunngtdhbeethfdoewerehgethusasier
anxious to catch a glimpse of tee mt
time crowds of persons were co
be a source of gratification to the friends
melancholy occasion. With one
alitatlefuronmdetrtakhefteim:e.
hood where the fire took
lady to hear of the respect whicherto,s.poate(xteoep_tiierenupaonll this
shops around the neighbourhoodthe
b eseenrllyal servants
and they were yesterday conveyed to, and met the procession
out
at the cemetery.
twi-leer;
icrleorseedd.ug
ofb bodies
eesroufm
JOHN KEMBLE IN FALSTATE—John Ramble it 15
well known entertained the intention of acting the cha<
ld se
rade of Falstaff ; indeed, unless we are much mistake,
this
who undertaking,c()u
his appearance in the part was actually announced-
From h onwo•ethv einr,gheo
f w at eh
edishsuumadoerdous fat
knight his
friends,r
knight in the grave and dignified representatives of the
heroes of old Rome. But far other than the convese
tional stage-Falstaff, the model followed more or less
closely by the generality of actors, was Kemble's notion
of that extraordinary Shaksperian character, the Falstaff
of Henry the Fouril, not be of The Merry Wires of
I Windsor, for between them there are wide difference* in
many eiaential respects. Dr. Ma 'nn, is kis " Shak-
speare Papers," says—" we must observe that he (Fal-
staff) never laughs. Others laugh with him, or at him,
but no laughter from him who occasions or permits it.
lie jests with a sad brow. The wit which he profusely
scatters about is from the head, not the heart. Its 81-
tire is slight, and never malignant or affronting ; bat
still it is satirical, and seldom joyous. It is anything
but fun. . . . I fear that this conception of the ch.,-
rater could never be rendered popular on the stage; but
I have heard in private the part of Falstaff read with $
perfectly grave, solemn, slow, deep, and sonorous voice,
touched occasionally somewhat with the broken tone of
age, from beginning to end, with admirable effect. But
I can imagine him painted according to my idea.. He is
always caricatured, and so he is in the acting." Did
Kemble's conception of the character bear any affinity to
this of Dr. Maeinn's (which not unlikely it did), his
' performance, though it might not at once have sap-
; planted the popular idea of Sir John, would at least have
taught the public that he was somethings superior to the
mere fat buffoon to which they had thereto been aceus
tomed
ErracTs or PRIEF.-A few days ago one of the
men belonging to the detachment of the 58th Foot, about to
proceed to New South Wales as a convict guard, was singu-
larly affected by parting with his parents at Chatham. Hie
father and mother had stayed with him during the night,
and he bade them farewell before going on parade, where he
seemed rather low-spirited. As the detachment, however,
was marching along the military road, the poor fellow re-
cognised his mother, who was weeping at a little distance,
and the t sht so affected him that he appeared to lots all his
gar, at 3 he wall at last placed ia u =lbw, as wag
vaa mete vs ere =V. - •

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