The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-10-29 00:00:00

A TALE OF HUMBLE LIFE.

A little book has just been published, under the title of
" The Life of James Davies." The volume is written by
Sir Thomas Phillips, and contains the story of the life of
a man of whom the late Bishop Copleston was accustomed
to say that if he had been a member of the Romish
Church, he would probably have been canonized. In our
own, he lived and died a village schoolmaster. The sub-
ject of the memoir was born in humble circumstances,
and educated in a village school. " His school learning
was very limited, and to the close of his life he spelt many
common words very inaccurately ;" but he had a mother
who " instructed her children in the Holy Scriptures."
In early life he was apprenticed to a weaver; and for fif-
teen years he continued to work at the loom. " The oc-
cupation of a weaver was not, however, well suited to a
bodily frame which long manifested consumptive tenden-
cies, and the toil and exhaustion of severe bodily labour
could be ill sustained by a fragile constitution and feeble
health." He abandoned the loom, and his new occupa-
tion was that of a travelling pedlar. "To this period of
his life, and to the wandering habits by which it was cha-
racterized, he was indebted:for an extensive acquaintance
with the poor." In 1812 he became master of a school,
then first established at Usk, South Wales, where his
.salary was £3O a-year. When that school was satisfacto-
rily established, his mind dwelt upon the spiritual desola-
tion of a district he had visited in his wanderings, and in
1815 he left Usk to settle at the Devauden, at the age of
fifty. Here he was enabled to build a school-room ; but
the income derived from the school was very fluctuating,
often falling short of £l5. After a time it was fixed
at £23, and • this was his remuneration for twenty
years ; and out of this pittance he has been known
to contribute to missionary and other purposes con-
siderable sums. Still the spiritual destitution of the
district pressed heavily on his heart; the school was not
enough to master it, " and the erection of a church at
Devauden became now the cherished object of his life.
Years of anxious desire passed over his head before his
supplications were answered, but the idea was never
abandoned, and he lived to witness the realisation of his
fondest hopes." In the temple there raised he officiated
as clerk and bell-ringer until he left the Devauden in
1848. During his residence there his summer vacation
was always employed in wandering through districts which
were little cared for and distributing to the poor copies of
the Holy Scriptures, the Prayer Book, and religious tracts.
An affecting incident in his life before he left the Devau-
den is very delightfully told ; it is his love for a lad of the
name of William James, whose death-bed he watched.
" One proof of his attachment for W. James remains to
be mentioned. For eleven years the old man treasured
with affectionate care the clothes of the young man for
whom he had felt a love as touching as that of David for
Jonathan, and when his own death was not distant, he
requested that they might be buried with him. His com-
mands in this' respect were faithfully obeyed; and the
clothes of W. James were folded and placed in the coffin
under the head of James Davies." On the return from
Llangattock Lingoed, the scene of his early life, whither
he had proceeded fifteen miles to distribute Bibles, in
1847, he disclosed to Archdeacon Crawley his anxious
wish that a school should be established in that parish, a
desire which the archdeacon readily seconded. A sub-
scription was raised, and the school was built, the foun-
dation stone being laid by James Davies, and the school is
'called "James Davies' School." Archdeacon Crawley
having enquired of him how lie meant to live at Llangat-
fork without wages, he replied, that he still retained the
£lOO that had been given him ten years before by Dr.
Warneford for his support in old age; that £l4- yearly
would be enough for his own wants, that £3 would supply
books for his school, and £3 would be needed for other
charities in the parish ; and that, by thus limiting his
whole expenditure to £2O a-year, he would possess a pro-
vision for five years. The school was completed, and the
old man arrived at Llangattoek on the 28th October, 1848.
He was subjected to a new trial here soon after his arrival ;
the £lOO had been lent to a farmer, who undertook to pay
in yearly instalments of .220. His debtor pleaded inability
to make the first payment at the time, and the old man's
resources were reduced to a few shillings. Relief. however,
came in the person of a. gentleman who appeared ueex,-
pectedly at the school door with £2, which he had been
commissioned to give him. A portion of the £lOO was
soon after paid. hut not much of it was used, for in Octo-
ber, 1849, James Davies died after a few hours' illness.
A subs-ription has been commenced for the purpose-of'
fully carrying out the old man's wishes by endowing the
school ; the money raised is as yet insufficient for the
purpose, and one great object which the author seeks to
accomplish in the labour of love he has so admirably per-
formed is to stimulate a Christian public to complete the
work. Here was a man who was born in humble life,
educated in a village school, and carried a pedlar's pack
on his back, and who subsequently conducted a charity,
school at Usk •, who suddenly left his home and his friends
at the age of fifty, to do his Master's work, in a district:
the destitution of which had dwelt on his mind from the
time lie had visited it during his wanderings as a pedlar.
There he dwelt and exerted himself to purge the people
of the gross darkness of their minds, and he has left a
village church and school to mark the spot which was
blest by his labours. But this place, where he lived up.
wards of lb irt.y years was not to be the last scene of his
labours on earth. In his summer wanderings he found
near the home of his childhood a district yet more desti-
tute, and, at eighty years- of age, he determined to leave
the Devauden, and to minister to a new people, trusting
to God to feed him, for here he laboured with tittle help
from man. The very- slight sketch we have drawn will
stimulate curiosity, and we have no misgivings of the re
sult. The school will be endowed, and the name of
"James Davies" will be read over its portal for ages yet

to come.

ADVENTURE WITH A LADY
YOUNG MEN.

,-WARNING TO

(From the Preston Chronicle,)

Some months since, a joyous, courageous young wo-
man, the daughter of highly respected parents, found her-
self unintentionally detained at the house of an acquaint-
ance one evening, and, scarcely before she was aware of
the fact, night set in. The distance to her own residence
was but short, however, and as she expected a little
gathering of ladies and gentlemen that evening at her
father's, she determined upon returning home unattended,
and bidding her friends good night, she hurried along the
street towards her residence, into which her family had
quite recently removed from another part of the town.
Upon turning the first corner, she was suddenly startled
by the approach of a well-dressed young man, who ac-
costed her with a " Good evening," and offered his ser-
vices to escort her home. Alarmed for an instant, she
would have avoided the stranger, but as he advanced to
her side she ventured to turn towards him, and a glance
satisfied her—she recognised the young man as a familiar
acquaintance. Disguising her voice, and replying in a
mild tone, she accepted the proffered gallantry, deter-
mined at once to administer a lesson to her young friend
which he could not forget. The conversatian which
passed was brief. The beau, suspecting nothing, as he
was not aware that the family had changed their quarters,
tripped along at the young lady's side, apparently well
pleased with his companion. In a few minutes they
halted before a modest brick house in a retired street, and
the lady relinquished her attendant's arm. " Will you
come in ?"' whispered the lady, softly. "Thank you,"
was the reply.; and the fair companion opened the front
door. Closing it carefully, they found themelves in the
passage, in total darkness. " Wait a moment," said the
young woman, " and be perfectly quiet ; I will return
instantly." And with these words she ascended the
stairs which led to the parlour. The first the' tof 0

young man, as she retired, was to open the door and
remove;: for he suspected all was not as he anticipated.
He turned to the door—it was fast. He fumbled for a
latch, or whatever secured it—it was not to be found ;
and in an instant afterwards he heard footsteps approach-
ing in the dark. His heart thumped against his ribs, and
he began to wish himself safely out of doors again. He
was quickly re-assured by the encouraging whisper of his
new-made acquaintance, who approached him apparently
with great caution. " Hush ! ' she said, " all is safe.
Be quiet, now, a moment ; remove your boots from your
feet. I wil return in an instant." Our hero was content,
and drawing off his boots, he secured them together, and
held them in his hand to await the return of his lady
friend, who again ascended the front stairs. Entering the
parlour a moment afterwards, the female rogue found
some dozen or score of vounz female friends with their

brothers and beaux present, to whom she quickly and
aLacizua WILLI Luetr
briefly communicated the adventure. " I've got him in
the entry down stairs," she said. " Put out the lights;
keep perfectly still ; don't betray the slightest sound ;
and I'll show you some sport in a moment." The lights
were removed, the party, arranged themselves around the
room—the bulk of the company knew the victim inti-
mately—and again the lady descended the stairs and ap-
proached her friend. " Softly, now," said she, taking
the hand which was occupied with the boots ;. "softly,
All is quiet up stairs ; all is arranged ; come," and
she led her gallant shyly along up the stairway. His
boots dangled against the railing. "Oh !" exclaimed the
fair one, " for pity's sake, make no noise, or all is lost !"
The beau moved on, grasped the boots more securely by
his side, nor dreamed of aught save bliss Least of all
did he suspect the existence of a rent in his stockings ;
but he was a bachelor, and this was but a trifle. They
entered the parlour, and all was darkness and silence.
The lady closed the door behind them, and led her com-
panion into the centre of the room. Not a breath was
heard, and little did the gentleman suppose that he was
surrounded by a dozen of his acquaintances. " Remain
here one moment, said the girl, " and I will get a light."
The gallant raised the soft hand which had conducted him
thus far towards—he knew not what—and ventured to
press upon it a kiss ; but it was dexterously withdrawn
" at the very nick of time," and his lips came in contact
with his fingers. " Wait a moment," added his inamorata,
leaving him quickly; and then passing a door at theinfuutre-
ther extremity of the room, she disappeared.
gentle footsteps
naent ; it was an age to the victim.
But towards the
phaardtysc,awrcheoly,
xevlearpesende,abouyt icthsoekeemdedwaithmosnutphprtessAetdhemmleirtrtlie.
were heard again ; the beau gazed anxiously
gushed into the parlour ; an
Ladies and gentlemen,"
an old and familiar acquaintance.
ha
door ; it opened with a single moyement
" ha! ha !" as
she said, " this is Mr. F—.. Such
went up from that littlesel-
domswould be too faint a term :he frozen—actually
d and he hugged his boots to his side, coughed,
statueise ;
chuckled, and then grmne a ghastly smile. As
dlapulageihtnegt4twhaesfoorveerthtehevieltaidiny
heard in the neighbourhood before
d Poor
sneezed,
F stood for a moment—notd
coterie at thwatasmomentwa
ofan b behind ne
exactly
al et l
y beheldparbal ayztsheeenf,fa lightcteh that
tf
said, "Pray be Seated, Mr. He turned upon
his tormentor a look of comical recognition, and stam-
mered out, " Did you think I did not know you ?"
bsoroanaghast
forward
aprdaraoactsamir,
Another roar from tho party followed this remark. He
managed to get out of the house as soon as possible, and
we have reason to believe that he will for ever hereafter
avoid making *is Acq,iteihtancet iW the atreete.