The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-11-04

his weekly shillings few, cannot but pro-
duce troublesome results now and then.
A shrewd political economist would dis
Germ omlnous possibilities in the as.
pect OF these stunted giants, with their
short limbs and broad. massive chests, their
bare, grimy arms, their tattered, dirty
clothing, their hard, blackened, low-brow-
cd, sulen faces, wearing very much the
same expression as the bulldogs that SLOUGH
at their heels. II Is an awkward matter
when such men become penetrated with
the conviction that there Is no room for
them on the face OF Gods earth, and that
Ii IL all one what they may do. When IL
comes 10 that, there Is but one step to the
realization OF that CHASTITY vision which
Shelley saw siXty-three years ago:
LAST came Anarchy; be rode
on white hOr.c splsshed with blood:
lie was pale cen to the lips,
Like Death In the Apocalypse.
And he wore a kngly crown
In his grasp sceptre sbOne;
On his brow this mark saw
Il am God. and king, and Law"
Prove to one OF these men, in the clear
est possible way, that the very laws Of ma,
ture forbid universal equality aud "redis-
tribution THAT II he and bis fellow
workmen could dispose Of the whole earth
at their pleasure, some men would still be
rich and others be poor-and what answer
would be make? What but the haunting
answer that one OF his own class made
long ago: 81 don't know nothin'
bout them things, but l do know
that the children and me are damned
hungry" Ii is just at this point,
indeed, that the convenient theories
OF amateur politicians always break down.
Men who are fighting for bare existence
have no leisure for theorizing. Volumes
could not say more than the half-grotesque,
hnlf-pathetic reply Of Staffordshire me-
chanic's wife 10 O well-meanIng but inju-
dicious clergyman who was taking her to
task for not going TO church. GO TO
choorch. say'st thou, paarsoni Dost know
how ! spend my Secondary! Whoy,
a-washin' Of he" pointing to her
husband, who certainly appeared to stand
much in need OF IT, 81 keep scrubbin'
away at he a the day, and the best l can
max Of him be Just light brown
about ta-tIme." Many will doubt
less laugh at this story AZ joke, and they
are lucky to be able to find in II any cause
for laughter. But to those who have to
face the realit, itself, 1t is no laughing mat
ter. Among those whose evidence was
taken by the author OF a report now be-
fore me was poor Cradley widow, who,
with the help Of her eldest daughter, girl
OF thirteen, supported herself and her six
children by toiling at the forge from in
the morning till 10 or IL at night. In this
way she contrived TO earn los. (S250) a
week, out Of which she had to pay IS. cd.
about 20 cents for the rent Of her little
two-roomed cottage and tho siniihy ad-
joining il. After telling how her
younger children were so nearly nude
that il was impossible for them to 20 about
the streets, and that consequently their sole
playground was among the cOal-slsck and
ashes OF her smithy, she continued: 90
Soonday morning, when there's nought
doin' at the forge, | gle them a regular
good scrubbrn', and when that's done they
lie 4 bed while / wash their clothes and
get 'em dry for MONDAY" But with all
this the brave little woman did not lose
heart. "SiXteen hours day is nouSht
when you're regularly used to 1t. So Ions
us can get a cup o. tea and bit o. 'bacca
I don't care. When / haven't penny TO
buy 'bacca | dry the leaves left from my
h'porth (half-penny WORTH OF tea, and Just
smoke them instead"
The noblest deeds are not always those
Of which the world hears most. Joan OF
Arc, hewing her way through the English
pikemen; Marguerite OF France rallyiug
the falnting Crusaders to man their walls
once more against the Saracen; Queen
Elizabeth watching with stern calmness the
countless hulls OF the Armada blackening
the seward horizon the Maid OF Sara
gosss firing with her own hand the gun at
which its last artiileryman had Just fallen
Gead-for beroincs such as these the world
sounds It's loudest trumpets aud twines
its brightest laurels. But what place is
there in the temple OF fame for the unro-
mantle figure Of this gray-haired widow
woman--ragged, stunted, s0ot-begrimed-
smoking dried tea-leayes In a short black
piper Still less would the aristocratic
Muse Of History admit into the glorious
company OF her well-dressed apostles such
low people as the "pug" girls OF Stour-
bridge, who, bareiooted and with rags
twisted round their hair 10 save 1t from the
bot clay, carry the latter in huge Jumps to
the molders all day long for fifty cents
day, bearing load Of 10 pounds for fifty
yards or upward and then setting II down
and coming back for more. OF course there
can be no real grandeur about such Glow,
vulgar creatures :" as these. But II had
Victoria Cross to bestow to-day, know TO
which class OF herones l would award II.
II is easy to accuse such statements OF
exaggeration, and till very recently the
charge would have been only too often Jus
titled. The agitator's trade is too proits-
BILE to be easily relnquished, and even now
there are not few persons who, in their
OVERLOOKING compassion for the working
man, are perfectly ready, ION receipt Of
handsome salary and all expenses to be, as
one OF them phrased il, "a father to the
fstherless, friend to the friendless, and a
widow b the wiGowless." But there
are some truths which even these lying
rascals cannot garble. When we have re.
iected all testimony save that OF our own
eyes and ears, the fact still remains-snd a
very ugly fact il is-that In a free country
and amid the highest civilization there are
thousands OF human beings who find life
TO prefer the risk Of Imprisonment, penal
servitude, or death itself, TO longer endu-
rance Of it.
But although the evil Is terribly manifest
1t Is not 80 easy TO discern the remedy.
Countless ingenious plans have already
been propounded, the only objection to
them being that they are impossible. At
the present moment education seems to be
the favorite cry. ''Instruct the ignorant
masses and you elevate them" cry certain
worthy amateur politicians who are strong
in the good old faith that the whole world
can be created over again by act OF Parlia-
ment. ELEVATE them and You enable
them to help themselves. knowledge is
power.v Perhaps 1t Is. provided the pu-
pills can contrive to live without food for
a year or two while their education Is pro-
crossing. But how il they cannoty To
recommend education to struggling la
borers who can barely keep body and soul
4 4 l.il;x.cx al lux axaI Lall h.