New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-28
BY ROBERT p. PORTER. MEMBER OF THE LATE
TARIFF COMMISSION
wy
SHEFFIELD AND ITS SlEEL-WORKEB3


were in an ampbithnatre of hills In spite of the
smoke and the mist of the dingy workshops and Of
the sooty broken down dwelling places, and In
spite Of the coarse-featured, shsbbiy-dressed men
and women who throng the narrow Streets all Oh
which mar the natural beauty of the surroundings,
the most casual observer can see the remains OF
state of natural beauty which once made this DIS
trict the favorite seat of nobility. and at ono time
so intimately connected it with the general history
Of the Kingdom. Indeed all this neighborhOod Is
associated with events OF historical Importance.
But why waste space in depicting the beauties and
the blemshes of this famous old town when
it has been done with all the grace and classical
knowledge of one of Englands poets
And Sheffield smoke-involved; dim where she stands
Circed by lofty monntsins, which condense;
Frequent and sullied; as the neghboring hills
ons their deep veins and feed their governed flames
70 s aGT Hvs 2 se or s crowns or smiling sretchd
The shelly sceptre There no poet royed
Re catch bright I'M piration. Blush. aD blush,
Thou venal genius OF these outraged groves;
Vel: VINO has thus thy beauteous charge resgnd
To he bitants ill-smted; hast slow'd
And bosrse rude throats TO light the gentle train;
Dryads and fairhar'i Naiades;-the song
To silence :-diseDohant the Poets spell,
And to a gloomy EIebus transform
The destined rival OF Iempeah 'aies'
The father of English poetry sang of the Sheffield
knife.
and since that time every historian. including Le-
land and Camden, and every guide book from De-
foe,, manual 70 the last haf-crown illustrated
guide TO Sheffield. have spoken OF ChauceTs Mil
Ter and the Sheffield thwytel" which he bare IN
his hose. The antiquity OF Sheffelds great indus
fry has therefore been satisfactorily settled but
f,r all that Sheffield did not strike the ola chroh-
iclers as very much of place, and as Iate az mo
eighteenth century the neighboring town Oh hoth-
erham. now with only $4,000 inhabitants, was
ahead in the race and in those dsys Sheineld near
Rotherhamr was not unheard-ot ADDRESS Le-
land after quoting the Chaucer hnes says OF smell
held: "It is large circular, closely 0ullt, smoky
market town at the foot of high hills" Camden in
the seventeenth century devotes about fifteen lines
70 Sheffield and Rotterdam. The former he said
was a town famous for ircn-wOrks and defended
with an ancient and strong CASTLE" while the lat
ter WAS only noted for beng tho birthplace or
Thomas Rotterdam, Archbishop of York. Another
old wrtersays "In Rotterdam be very good smlthes
for all cutting tooles" DefOe in the eighteenth
century devutes two pages In his manual 10 ohei-
field and describes it as very populous ana largo
town with narrow streets, houses DulIt OF stoho
looking black by the continual smoke OF the forges
which are ALWAYS at work." OF its trade, he adds:
Sheffield is reputed to excel Birmingham III cut
lervware and files Birmingham Is allowed to out
steeD Defoe also gives the first statistics, that
no less than 40 900 hands were employed In the
iron trade in Sheffield and the adjacent tract OF land
| called Halamshire."
| leaving the station Won cross a viaduct some
| thing like that of Holborn. London. On the left
are a lot of little wooden shantles used as ohees
and on the right a sort of wholesale vegetable mar
| ket about as untidy as that on RandOph-st, Chi
| cago. Here old women may be seen buying pota-
| toes carrots and cabbages and tying them up IN
| large spotted cotton handkerchies. As you enter
the centre of the city OF the first things tna1
trikes a stranger il the cook shops" on the Lon
don plan. The smoking hot meat and the steamed
pudding are placed in the window and carved III
the sight of the hungry street arabs, who congre-
gate TO buy pennyworths of pudding, when Is
served to them steaming hot on a piece OF paper
and which they eagerly devour on the streets Ihe
time to see the working classes OF Sheffield Is sat
urday afternoon. when the narrow streets, with
their PERCEPTIONS hills, are crowded. sixty years
arO il is said all the spring knife cutters weio
| knock kneed from being underfed, ana had long
| arms from the peculiar manner IN which they
worked 1t can hardly be said they underfed
| now though a good many of them waste the money
that should 20 for wholesome food and comfortable
| bons.s in beer and spirits The workman on the
| streets when "cleaned up" is dressed with blue
! niot iacket of a peculiar British workman cut,
billy-cock hat white spotted handkerchief tled
round his neck, and thick, hOb-hailed boots. There
| Is 10 mistaking him. ,
The dwelling houses in the ctv.o Sheffield Itself
are the most squald ever saw, not excepting DIM
| dee Some of them mere dens Dullt OF stohe'
| Int since plastered over with gray plaster now
| moss grown with aye, and rooted with layers OIL
split sand. stone. They are irregulary DuiIt' the
| floors of some being on level with the streets
A. hn,a van m AZ
and two and even three steps to reach the gen
oral room.Y The windows are as irregular, both IN
| si,s and location as the doors. In some the mar
row. old-fashioned diamond pane exists; IN others
| glass of a larger size is used.
Go to the top of Snow Hill, near ST. johns
| Chnroh. and another such view there Is NOT per
| hans in the world: old gable roofs. covered wiz"
| moss and black with age; chimneys crumDhns
down with pots at every conceivable angie, somc "a
| them wretched places with every windo"-pa,'
| broken, with the roofs actually falling thious"
| with the very walls crumbling down iroui aye
There are wretched old lodging houses IN TINS ei"'
| occupied by laboring men, which were ouii' "
| l7lO The census returns OF 1881 snow 'na' W
tenth of the houses of Sheffield are not ihha'
and in some quarters of the city the weli'peins -
the people would be better served IL one na,
,b,m we're vacant Ii is hardly possible that tneio
il another town. even in England with such NV"
t,tudinous array of courts aud alleys. They e.i''
literally on all hands, and one hesitates to ehpO'e
them. lest lurking in those dreary slums whee -,
sun never shines, where ventilation Is unhho"'
and fresh air rarely penetraes are all sorts Oh w.
taCious disease On the doorsteps OF most Oh Wv
houses in these courts and alleys and side SUI. as.
in strange contrast to the sooty exterior anu
dark green or dark maroon shutters, are u" ,'s,
whiting Within, the houses OF course o'n nh
Some found to be wretched, filthy places VIZ VIZ
the usual slovenly women and ragged, un"
children. Others presented fair amount OF sow
FORT but it is evident that these haoltatOu' Shst
had depressing effect upon the workman Oh 'H''