The National tribune., 1883-09-13
AMONG THE NAlLERS,
The Sorry Lot Of the British LabOring
Classes.
Special Correspondence National Tribune.

BIRMINGHAM, ENa., August IL.
thought Halesowen sorrowful village, and
l wrote last week under that impression. But
l nave spent mornings since thea IN Tye-
Waste aud Cradiey, and iIaiesowen, By force
OF comparison, IS beginning to seem to me a
cheerful dwelling place.
Iye-Nsste is a uaiI-nakiug settlement some
twelve mics out of Birmingham q place 50
dreary, SO dirty, so hopelessiy ugly and unfit
for human homes that the vision OF the town
rises before me IN waking and IN sleeping
hours, a hideous memory OF suffering that cries
aloud and finds no help.
There were no ca0s at the station, and. we
walked along the coal blaekeued road between
rows OF shabby houses, asking from time 20
time where we should find women nall
makers ut work. one Of the persons who
pointed out cur path offered to guide Us, and
on second thought we engaged him for the
morning. tie was TO show IS women making
nails, and to have sixpence extra i he found
child at work. It's easy enough TO ind the
women and wenches, but its none 50 easy to
find the children, for fear of inspectors" said
our guide, leading us along the Dudley road
whose bed with It's layer of eOaiduSJ afforded
better footpath than the irregular patches Of
brick pavement IN front of the waetched houses.
We were TO go first TO Stocking Lane, and
on the way we drew out our guides own his
tory. He was a mailer by trade, but had not
made q nail in fye-and-tw-nty years, finding
other work more profitable. Apr0pGS of this
he produced his peddiers license, fsr which he
pays five sntllings year, and which ne must
always have on his person. This set forth that
the owner IS George Wall, aged tifty-n!ue, with
sandy hair, fresh conp! !eXiou. and power 10 sell
what he will lie was a sturdy man. clad Ia
shabby blue coat and round nat, with scarf
about his neck, brIck-clay stains on bis brown
corduroy trousers. and q hole in each of his
coarse boots. His peddling has been done
within q circuit Of thir5y miles of BFunnIagsIn
$50 he called Birmingham, and he knew the
purchasing power of ali the kinds of working
people III this crowded region. He had never
been more than fifty miles hence IN his life,
and his one ambition. cherished through many
years and now reluctantly abandoned, was to
visit Liverpool, whence he believed he might
see the ocean. But niaety-fiye miles make more
than peddler's tramp, and seven and slxpence
tSLSIl he cannot spend for car fare. When, by
degrees, we learned lis whole means Of support,
we knew that his visit to Liverpool could
never be made except on the way to America
as an assisted emigrant. He had q wife and
daughter. His wife earned tEO and siXpcnce
(sixty-twO cents) per week by taking care Of
the baby for woman who worked iii brick
yard. His daughter earns seven sliillings IN a
brickyard herself. His own earnings are most
precariOus, though bads they are they'm
better'n the nails" Cut of these pittanees
they pay TIVE and twopeuee fifty -four eentsl
week for their house, with its living room and
two sleeping rooms, without garden. cellar.
workshop, or water pipes. How they buy
clothing they only know. The brickmaker
daughter needs no shoes or stockings for her
| work, and this is great saving.
BRIcK1IAKER's APPETiTEs.
But, alas, it Is cOunterbaianced by the need
of ample food, which brick making entails.
| 4" Her do eat three times more n mel" said
our guide, in speaking OF his daughter. When
we visited a brickyard later in the day, we
perceived the bitter significance of this saving
I of shoes and need OF food. The mans own
| year of precarious work has one bright spot.
This is the hop picking time, when he draws
ont the vine-eiad poles and lays them on the
| ground, so that the women who pick the hops
| may reach the vines speedily. This happy
I period lasts through three weeks. And then 1
| gets two shillin a day reg lar and cruel mornin
! and evenin'. and cider besides" This certainty
1 Of fifty cents day and Cruel fOr three weeks
| suficed to bring twinkIing light into our
I guides gray eyes st every mention. Peddling
/ had not been profitable of late, and George had
1 been thankfully hoein' turnips for fort
/ night before we made his acquaintance.
have dweit upon the story of this one family be-
! cause our guide, selected at random. proved to
be type of the working people Of the neigh
| b0rhood. Those nsIIers who can find anything
whatsoever to do, = heein' turnips." pedGling,
| making bricks, or picking hops, are flying from
starvation to ills they know not.
Stocking Lane is q place to be Stunned, for,
.onee seen, it cannot be forgotten, and 70 re-
| member it is pain / should not risk again.
/ 1t is space carpeted with eoaiduzt and wa
tered with surface drainage. Stocking Lane
| is bound on one side with nail5rs FORCES, such
as we had seen at Halesowen, and on the other
| By with naiiers' homes such as never ought
to be seen in the civilized world. Three rooms,
as usual among the uaiers, formed each house,
one on the ground with an eaFthenwaTe floor
and two abeve,-the house having no cellar,
garden or waterpipes. The living room IA the
Stocking Lane houses had not the c0siness
which our admirable family at Halesoweu con
trived to give to their one inhabitabie spot
though even in Stocking Lane the fine
fiber of the people, both their family affection
and their longing TO beautify their poor homes
might be seen IN the display of cheap photo
graphs of absent sons, usually soldiers in Her
Maiesty's army for the bad pay OF a private Is
a great gain TO any mailer. Where there were
no photographs there were bright cards on the
walls, advertisements sometimes, Of things
which Stocking Lane is little apt To buy
HOW THE SCHOOL ACT WORKS.
From every house children go to school, and fol
every child fees must be found. In one house
little girl-iust turned thirteen, she assured U:
was nursing a heavy baby, hideously FepuisIyt
by reason of its poor sore eyes. For this heavy
task, as the girl told us IN a weary tone, she re-
ceiyeS tenpence week from the childs mother
and tenpence just pays for her own three
younger brothers in the school. Sometimes it
ard TO get the fees, said the mother, to 'avs
'em ready in the mornin' but then the children
is sent home for the money, an If they're not
reg lar at school for any reason were I'D Ea, alC
there's fines TO pay There were 40 children
of school age to be seen in Stocking Lane, FOL
parents are glad to have little ones, in the use
less age from three TO Eve, cared for IN the IN
fant schools and the inspectors during tai
past year have watched with persistent, in
flexible severity over children whose rengtt
tempted parents To utilize them before the
longed-for thirteenth birthday. Staining in
Stocking Lane howell looking at the carewOrI
face and brawny arm of the Mailer mother anS
the detected face OF the girl of thirteen with he
| revolving charge, the only eudurahle feature o
the place was the fact that bhe strong arm O
the law was snatching the three Ycunge
brothers for q few hours q day from such sur
roundings. But even then we did not know
what We learned later, namely, that thesi
houses were rented at two shiliings week
though not, as we then supposed. because of thei
obvious hadness-their want of back doors SnC
windows, their dearth of drains. their lack o
all tnat makes u dwelling decent. These items
were insufficient to explain the nailer'
paying but half his weekly earnings in house
rent in Stocking Lane. The real reason of thei
cheapness is that these houses are IN danger o
falling at any moment into the vast elay-pi
that extends below them. A contractor leases
I've riSht 70 reIuaVa and uapd his rfSh