The morning call., 1891-11-15
TIE CANAL FOLK
OF ENGLAND
A Visit to the Man Who BGttGrtd Their
Condition.
The Kind Of Boats They Use and the Distance
Travelled in Day-Narrow Quarters
Inns Along the River Banks.
tyeciaI to The SUNDAY CALI.
CR1cK England. Nov. .. 1891


noted and certainly one of the worthiest
men of England. am his friend and guest.
1t is all humble abedc. three three-century
old cabins merged into one, with gabled
roof, huge fireplaces, low ceilings, tiny
windows and all manner of mysterious
cubby-holes, hooks aud passages; and with
hree of the sweetest women in England,
mother and two lovely maldens, to give the
quaint old place unceasing light and joy.
1t is not the first time have been here at
Crick. II is my only home-spot in foreign
land. When tired of wandering up and
down the face of Britain. here is where l
come for rest. There are both rest and de-
light in old, cid Crick; rest, because it is
me of the few English villages which stands
Just as it always stood; where the roar OF
woTkaday worlds activities never comes;
where the old parish church, the grave
yard, the decayed manOT-houses, the huge
stone doye-cOt;S which house 800 families of
doves. the matched farm-lab0rers cottages,
the ivied and messy walls, and the simple
village folk, all invite TO repoSe; and Of de-
light because, with my host and friend,
George Smith of Coalyille, sage. phlloso-
pher and phanthropiSt, We wander among
English lanes, find old paths over English
fields, hunt out English antiquities, Visit
English battle-ground, talk OF and visit the
gypsics and all tie other lowly we both
know and love, and altogether lead a life,
for tie few days we are happily together,
unmixed with envy untainted by ambition
and idyllic in the Hottest friendship and
humb,eSt content
An good men aud women who believe in
the lettering of the world through the saw
ing of its man-t0rsaken and almost God
f,rsaken children, should know some hing
# this man, GEORGE Smith OF Coalvile. as
be is everywhere In England called. No
other Engilshman, perhaps no other man,
over ACCOMPLISHED SO much for helpless
children. He was born to q brick workers
life In 1881. His father before him was
brick worker. The boy grew up in the
misery and drudSery of the English brick
Yards. While still a lad OF years, his
labor, Ike thousands OF other brickyatd
children. was to continually carry forty
pounds of clay on his head from the brick
nile to the table on which the bricks were
made Before he had reached Is years of
age he had Travelled nearly four times the
distance around the earth in the same toll.
Hs realized the brutality and misery
which he suffered, and with which all brick
yard children were surrounded, with pur-
pose. With every cuff kick and Uatn admins
Tered was az in clnChed a determination TO
eman ipate himself and his kind. From
he extra fee secured by watching tie brick
kilns Two nights Of each Week, he got four
years of night schooling and q few books.
When he had reached mans estate lie be-
came the George Smith IF COalvile, whose
name all Ensla5 d now knows almost as a
household word, by securing the manage
ment of a small rcd-brick ward at that
plaza. He made the owners rich, but
eventually lost his position through his
ceasel-sS agitation in behalf of the brick
yard children. Ii is a long, lie IT breaking
stOry-that of his starvation, suffering, con-
iuuey and sacrifices, until he made all
England hear him. His grand battle for
these helpless ones was made along all
lines in marvellous and sympathetic sim
plicity, but with the tremendous force of
personal conviction from personal suffering.
He will carry TO his grave the sears Of hurt
and wrong that the children for whom he
pleaded we're enduring. He had something
20 tell Of ong0ings in English brick-felds
ana hrickyards; and he "bulkel It OUT
aS he himself says in his work, :" The Cry
of the Children from the Brick-Yards OF
England" in all
ITS LARGENESs AND SHAME"
In brief. he found, as a lad of I years. 3d.
900 boys and girls, many more youthful than
himself, In a condition of abuse, horrible
slave y, vice, ignorance and misery impOs-
siDle fox the pen to describe. He worked,
starved and battled thirty wears for these
children, and finally on the 10Th of August,
1871, heard the voice of the Speaker OF the
House of Commons ring out The ayes have
iIl' on the passage Of bill which became
the fifth clause Of the Factory and Workshops
Amendment Act; gave him the enthusiastic
Ct'Do dNuialltHS VI A4io kAFdlcol uISu VI LII
gland; led Lord Salisbury to exclaim.
BLESS God for his grace on your efforts" !;
and had achieved for him the great victory
Of his life. Alone aud unaided one brick
yard graduate had rescued 10000 fellows
# N the slavery and degradation of this in
c0neeiyab.y brutal and bighting form of
child-labor; while the actual result was to
send. on January l, 1872, 10000 half-naked
children out Of the brick and tile yards to
schools, and forever prohibited girls under
l6 being employed in this form of labor.
But George Smith of Coalville had only
begun. His second crusade was in behalf
+ The caua.-bOat children. AS q boy slave
he had toiled in brick-yards abutting the
canals In these boats and barges he saw
thousands more children employed in q
drudgery equally murderous, and living in
a condition infinitely more degrading Per-
haas 125, 600 persons, men, women and chill
dren, were employed in navigating som g
%, 600 boats over nearly 5000 miles of
canals and nayigabe rivers in England.
They did not thrOng railway stations. They
were in secluded places; and even literature
had woven poetic glamOr abot them. Their
poor children had dropped out OF sight.
They were growing up In the stutfy cabins
almost like wild beasts. Thrashed, kicked,
beaten with ropes, sticks and heavy iron
boots, many became as stupid as the asses
which they drove. Blasphemy, drunken
ness, thieving, and inconceivable degrada-
ton among these folks we're universal
This children's friend determined to rescue
these lost heathens rs he had rescued the
brick-y ard children.
II. wrote thousands of letters and cireu-
lars; tramped hundreds of miles along
caual-banks; stormed the newspapers ana
besieged Parliament; and all the while
suffering for bread. Finally, in 1875, he
managed TO publish his book, "0ur Canal
Population" With this he made England
stad still and listen again. In 1876 he
bad succeeded In enlisting the Government
so far that 1t instituted official Inquiries
and took evidence; and then he was asked
10 frame bill. his was "bocked "
In all manner OF WAYS In committee and
Tor time the measure seemed lost, but on
the tnal day OF the session of Parliament in
August, 1877, but not until Secretary Cross
hsd been called to Osborne House for an
Interview concerning the matter with the
Queen, who has always been sympathetic
caiiy and practically a friend of this un-
letiered philanthroplst. his second great
triumph Tor England's lowly children was
achieved, and The bill was unanimously
passed, while. half fainting with anxiety,
aud with not slXpence In his pocket, he
sat in the Speakers gallery thanking God
Tor what had been accomplished.
Briefly this bill provided for the regis
tration of canal-boats in England by the
sanitary authorities precisely the same us
any residence habitatOn, which absolutely
abolished the former Sbomin able disease
breeding and carrying character of the tiny
crafts. 1t brought all the 10000 canal-boa,
children under the education act, so that by
SYSTEM OF FASHIONS
They were enabled to attend any school
where they might be temporarily tarrying.
1t abolished, by inspection on the part OF
local authorities, all possibility of relations
oil canal-boat folk who had heretofore beer
under no authority and surveillance. Il
limited the number of occupants in the
diminutive cabins, and il resulted In plaoint
three-fourths of the entire canal folk o.
England in homes along the canal banks
Evils, OF course, still exist; but the change
for the better has been OF marvelou.
character.
George Smith Of Coslv!le not onl,
brought about both tho great brick-varc
and canal-boat reforms, but he has beer
as persistent an agltator in seeing that tn,
provisions Of the two bills were carried out
He has tramped thousands OF miles In doini
this; his long flowing white hair and beard
his kindly smiling fatherly face, his power
full figure, his benign though piercing ewes
which seem to instantly penetrate the yer,
marrow Of incidents, home-lore and secret
NJ Vofar-aida hrick-vor1 apd ,yipsr 49,.