No one can deny the fact that some of the children look well, but, on the other hand, a vast number look quite the reverse of this, pictures of starvation, neglect, bad blood, and cruelty. An Englishman is born for a nobler purpose than to lead a vagabond’s life and end his days in scratching among filth and vermin in a Gipsy’s wigwam, consequently, upon those of our own countrymen who have forsaken the right path, the sin attending such a course is dogging them at every footstep they take. I don’t lay at the door of their wigwam the sin of child-stealing, but this I have seen,i.e., many strange-looking children in their tents without the least shadow of a similarity to the adults in either habits, appearance, manner, or conversation. Some of the poor things seemed shy and reserved, and quite out of their element. Sometimes the thought has occurred to me that they were the children of sin, and put out of the way to escape shame being painted upon the back of their parents. Sometimes my pity for the poor things has led me to put a question or two bearing upon the subject to the Gipsies, and the answer has been, “The poor things have lost their father and mother.” When I have asked if the fathers and mothers were Gipsies a little hesitation was manifested, and the subjectdropped with no satisfactory answer to my mind. I have my own idea about the matter.
The hardships the women have to undergo are most heartrending. The mother, in order to procure a morsel of food, takes her three months’ old child either in her arms or on her back, and wanders the streets or lanes in foul or fair weather—in heat or cold. Some of them have told me that they walk on an average over twelves miles a day. They are the bread-winners. I have seen them on their return to their wigwams, in the depth of winter, with six inches of snow on the ground, and scantily clad, and with six little children crying round them for bread. No fire in the tent, and her husband idling about in other tents. In cases of confinements, the men have to do something, or they would all starve. For a few days they wake up out of their idle dreams. I know of Gipsy women who have trudged along with their loads, and their children at their heels, to within the last five minutes of their confinement. The children were literally born under the hedge bottom, and without any tent or protection whatever. A Gipsy woman told me a week or two since that her mother had told her that she was born under the hedge bottom in Bagworth Lane, in Leicestershire. When I questioned her on the subject, she rather gloried in the fact that they had not time to stick the tent-sticks into the ground. This kind of disgraceful procedure is not far removed from that of animals. I should think that I am speaking within compass when I state that two-thirds of the Gipsies travelling about the country have been born under what they call the “hedge bottom,”i.e., in tents and like places. The Gipsy women use no cradles; the child, as a rule, sleeps on the ground. When a boy attains three years of age, so says Hoyland, the rags he was wrapped in are thrown on one side, and he is equally exposed with the parents to the severest weather. He is then put to trial to see how far his legs will carry him. Clayton told me that when he was a boy of about twelve, his father senthim into the town and among the villages—with no other covering upon him only a piece of an old shirt—to bring either bread or money home, no matter how.
Among some of the State projects put forth in Hungary more than a century since to improve the condition of the Gipsies, the following may be mentioned: (1) They were prohibited from dwelling in huts and tents, from wandering up and down the country, from dealing in horses, from eating animals which died of themselves and carrion. (2) They were to be called New Boors instead of Gipsies, and they were not to converse in any other language but that of any of the countries in which they chose to reside. (3) After some months from the passing of the Act, they were to quit their Gipsy manner of life and settle, like the other inhabitants, in cities or villages, and to provide themselves with suitable and proper clothing. (4) No Gipsy was allowed to marry who could not prove himself in a condition to provide for and maintain a wife and children. (5) That from such Gipsies who were married and had families, the children should be taken away by force, removed from their parents, relations, or intercourse with the Gipsy race, and to have a better education given to them. At Fahlendorf, in Schütt, and in the district of Prassburg, all the children of the New Boors (Gipsies) above five years old were carried away in waggons on the night of the twenty-first of December, 1773, by overseers appointed for that purpose, in order, that, at a distance from their parents or relations, they might be more usefully educated and sent to work. (6) They were to be taught the principles of religion, and their children educated. Their children were prohibited running about their houses, streets, or roads naked, and they were not to be allowed to sleep promiscuously by each other without distinction of sex. (7) They were enjoined to attend church regularly, and to give proof of their Christian disposition, and they were not to wear large cloaks, which were chiefly used to hide thethings they had stolen. (8) They were to be kept to agriculture, and were only to be permitted to amuse themselves with music when their day’s work was finished. (9) The magistrates at every place were to be very attentive to see that no Gipsy wasted his time in idleness, and whoever was remiss in his work was to be liable to corporal punishment.
All these suggestions and plans of operation may not suit English life; be that as it may, they were suitable to the condition of the Hungarian Gipsies, and no doubt laid the foundation for the improvement that has taken place among them. The Hungarian Gipsies are educated, and are tillers of the soil. If a plan similar in some respects had been carried out with our Gipsies at the same period, we should not by this time have had a Gipsy-tent in the country, or an uneducated Gipsy in our land. What a different aspect would have presented itself ere this, if the 5,000 Gipsies among us had been tilling our waste lands and commons for the last century. With proper management, these 5,000 Gipsy men could have bought and kept under cultivation some 20,000 acres of land for the well-being of themselves and for the good of the country. There is neglect, indifference, and apathy somewhere. The blame will lay heavily upon some one when the accounts are made up.
It is appalling and humiliating to think that we, as a Christian nation, should have had in our midst for more than three centuries 15,000 to 20,000 poor ignorant Asiatic heathens, naturally sharp and clever, and next to nothing being done to reclaim them from their worse than midnight darkness. A heavy sin and responsibility lays at our doors. Take away John Bunyan, a few of the Smiths, Palmers, Lovells, Lees, Hearns, Coopers, Simpsons, Boswells, Eastwoods, Careys, Roberts, &c., and what do we find?—a black army of human beings who have done next to nothing—comparatively speaking—for the country’s good. They have cadged at our doors, lived on our commons, worn ourroads, been fed from our tables, sent their paupers to our workhouses, their idiots to our asylums, and not contributed one farthing to their maintenance and support. Rates and taxes are unknown to them. There is only one instance of them paying rates for their vans, and that is at Blackpool.
It is a black, burning shame and disgrace to see herds of healthy-looking girls and great strapping youths growing up in ignorance and idleness, not so much as exerting themselves to wash the filth off their bodies or make anything better than skewers. Their highest ambition is to learn slang, roll in the ditch, spread small-pox and fevers, threaten vengeance, and carry out revenge upon those who attempt to frustrate their evil designs. Excepting skewers, clothes-pegs, and a few other little things of this kind, they have not manufactured anything; the highest state of perfection they have arrived at is to be able to make and tie up a bundle of skewers, split a clothes-peg, tinker a kettle, mend a chair, see-saw on an old fiddle, rap their knuckles on a tambourine, clatter about with their feet, tickle the guitar, and make a squeaking noise through their teeth, that fiction and romance call singing. The most that can be said in their favour is, that a few of them have become respectable Christians and hard-working men and women, and have done something for the country’s good—and whose fault is it that there are not more? They have been the agents of hell, working out Satan’s designs, and we have stood by laughing and admiring their so-called pretty faces, scarlet cloaks, and “witching eyes.” For the life of me I can find no more bewitching beauty among them than can be found in our back slums any day, circumstances considered—and where does the blame lay?—upon our own shoulders for not paying more attention to the education and welfare of their children. It is truly horrible to think that we have had 15,000 to 20,000 young and old Gipsies at work, carrying out the designs of the infernal regions at the tip end of the roots of our national life, vigour, and Christianity.
Only the other day the country was much shocked, and rightly so, at a hundred poor Russian emigrants landing upon our shores; and yet we have two hundred times this quantity of Gipsies among us, and we quietly stand by and take no notice of their wretched condition. The time will come, and that speedily, when we shall have the scales taken off our eyes, and the thin, flimsy veil of romance torn to shreds. Sitting by and admiring their “pretty faces” and “witching eyes” will not save their souls, educate their children, or put them in the way of earning an honest livelihood. It is not pity—whining, sycophantic pity—alone that will do them good. The Rev. Mr. Cobbin’s Gipsy’s petition, written fifty years ago,
“Oh! ye who have tasted of mercy and love,And shared in the blessings of pardoning grace,Let us the kind fruits of your tenderness prove,And pity, oh! pity, the poor Gipsy race.”
“Oh! ye who have tasted of mercy and love,And shared in the blessings of pardoning grace,Let us the kind fruits of your tenderness prove,And pity, oh! pity, the poor Gipsy race.”
has been little better than beating the air, and it may be repeated a thousand times, but if nothing further is done more than “pity,” the Gipsies will be worse off in fifty years hence than they are now, nor will presenting to them bread, cheese, ale, blankets, stockings, and a dry sermon, as Mr. Crabb did half a century ago, render them permanent help. We must do as the eagle does with her young: we must cause a little fluster among them, so that they may begin to flounder for themselves. Take them up, turn them out, and teach them to use their own wings, and the schoolmaster and sanitary officers are the agencies to do it. The men are clever and can get money sufficient to keep their families comfortable even at skewer-making and chair-mending, &c., if they will only work. All the police-officer must do will be to take charge of those who prefer to fall to the ground rather than to struggle for life with its attendant pleasures and enjoyments. The State has taken in hand a more dangerous class—perhaps the most dangerous—inIndia, viz., the Thugs, and is teaching them useful trades and honest industry with most encouraging results. Before the Government tackled them, they were idling, loafing, rambling, and robbing all over the country, alike to our Gipsies; now they have settled down and become useful and good citizens. In Norway the Gipsies are put into prison, and there kept till they have learnt to read and write. In Hungary the Government has appointed a special Minister to look after them, and see that they are being properly educated and brought up. In Russia, the laws passed for their imprisonment has had the effect of causing them, to a great extent, to settle down to useful trades, and they are forming themselves into colonies. And so, in like manner, in Spain, Germany, France, and other European countries, steps have been taken to bring about an improvement among them. In these countries nearly the whole of the Gipsies can read and write; and we, of all others, who ought to have set the example a century ago in the way of educating the Gipsy children, have stood by with folded arms, and let them drift into ruin. I claim it to be our duty—and it will be to our shame if we do not—to see to the welfare of the Gipsy children for four reasons. First, that they are Indians, and under the rule of our noble Queen; second, that they are in our midst, and ought to take their share of the blessings, duties, and responsibilities pertaining to the rest of the community; third, that as a Christian nation, professing to lead the van and to set forth the blessings of Christianity and civilisation; and, fourth, their universal desire for the education of their children, and to contribute their quota, however small, to the country’s good, and for the eternal welfare of their own children; and I do not think that there will be any objection on their part to it being brought about on the plan I have briefly sketched out.
I fancy I can hear some of the artists who have been delighted with Gipsy models—the novelists who have hung many a tale upon the skirts of their garments—thedramatists who have trotted them before the curtain to please the public, and some old-fashioned croakers, who delight in allowing things to be as they have always been—the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever—saying, “let everybody look after their own children;” and then, in a plaintive tone, singing—
“Woodman, spare that tree!Touch not a single bough;In youth it sheltered me,And I’ll protect it now.”
“Woodman, spare that tree!Touch not a single bough;In youth it sheltered me,And I’ll protect it now.”
First,—I would have all movable or temporary habitations, used as dwellings, registered, numbered, and the name and address of the owner or occupier painted in a prominent place on the outside,i.e., on all tents, Gipsy vans, auctioneers’ vans, showmen’s vans, and like places, and under proper sanitary arrangements in a manner analogous to the Canal Boats Act of 1877.
Second,—Not less than one hundred cubic feet of space for each female above the age of twelve, and each male above the age of fourteen; and not less than fifty cubic feet of space for each female young person under the age of twelve, and for each male under the age of fourteen.
Third,—No male above the age of fourteen, and no female above the age of twelve, should be allowed to sleep in the same tent or van as man and wife, unless separate sleeping accommodation be provided for each male of the age of fourteen, and for each female of the age of twelve; and also with proper regard for partitions and suitable ventilation.
Fourth,—A registration certificate to be obtained, renewable at any of the offices of the Urban or Rural sanitary authorities throughout the country, for which the owner or occupier of the tent or van should pay the sum of ten shillings annually, commencing on the first of January in each year.
Fifth,—The compulsory attendance at school of alltravelling children, or others living in temporary or unrateable dwellings, up to the age required by the Elementary Education Acts, which attendance should be facilitated and brought about by means of a school pass-book, in which the children’s names, ages, and grade could be entered, and which pass-book could be made applicable to children living and working on canal-boats, and also to other wandering children. The pass-book to be easily procurable at any bookseller’s for the sum of one shilling.
Sixth,—The travelling children should be at liberty to go to either National, British, Board, or other schools, under the management of a properly-qualified schoolmaster, and which schoolmaster should sign the children’s pass-book, showing the number of times the children had attended school during their temporary stay.
Seventh,—The cost for the education of these wandering children should be paid by the guardians of the poor out of the poor rates, a proper account being kept by the schoolmaster and delivered to the parochial authorities quarterly.
Eighth,—Power to be given to any properly-qualified sanitary officer, School Board visitor or inspector, to enter the tents, vans, canal-boats, or other movable or temporary habitations, at any time or in any place, and detain, if necessary, for the purpose of seeing that the law was being properly carried out; and any one obstructing such officer in his duty, and not carrying out the law, to be subject to a fine or imprisonment for each offence.
Ninth,—It would be well if arrangements could be made with lords of manors, the Government, or others who are owners of waste lands, to grant those Gipsies who are without vans, and living in tents only, prior to the act coming into force, a long lease at a nominal rent of, say, half an acre or an acre of land, for ninety-nine years, on purpose to encourage them to settle down to the cultivation of it, and to take to honest industry—as many of them are prepared to do. By this means a number of the Gipsies would collecttogether on the marshes and commons, and no doubt other useful and profitable occupation would be the outcome of the Gipsies being thus localised, and in which their children could and would take an important part; and in addition to these things the social and educational advantages to be reaped by following such a course would be many.
I have not the least doubt in my mind but that if a law be passed embodying these brief, but rough, suggestions, on the one hand, and steps are taken to encourage them to settle down, in accordance with the idea thrown out in clause nine, on the other, we shall not have in fifty years hence an uneducated Gipsy in our midst. Many of the Gipsies are anxious, I know, for some steps to be taken for the children to be brought up to work. The operation of the present Hawkers’ and Pedlars’ Act is acting very detrimental to the interests of the Gipsy children, as none are allowed to carry a licence under the age of sixteen, consequently all Gipsy children, except a few who assist in making pegs and skewers, are neither going to school nor yet are they learning a trade or in fact work of any kind; they are simply living in idleness, and under the influence of evil training that carries mischief underneath the surface.
It is truly appalling to think that over seven hundred thousand sharp, clever, well-formed human beings, and with plenty of muscular power, have, as I have said before, been roaming about Europe for many centuries with no object before them, and accomplishing nothing. Something like ten millions of Gipsies have been born, lived, died, and gone into the other world since they set foot upon European soil, and what have they done? what work have they accomplished? Alas! alas! worse than a cipher might be written against them. They have lived in the midst of beauty, songsters, romance, and fiction, and they have been surrounded by everything that would help to call forth natural energy, mechanical skill, and ability, but they have been in some senses like children playing in the street gutters. They havethe elements of success within them, but no one has taken them by the hand to put them upon the first step, at any rate, so far as England is concerned. It is grievous to think that not one of these ten millions of Gipsies who have gone the way of all flesh has written a book, painted a painting, composed any poetry, worth calling poetry, produced a minister worthy of much note—at least, I can only hear of one or two. They have fine voices as a rule, and except some half-dozen Gipsies no first-rate musicians have sprung from their midst. No engineer, no mechanic—in fact, no nothing. The highest state of their manufacturing skill has been to make a few slippers for the feet, as some of them are doing at Lynn; skewers to stick into meat, for which they have done nothing towards feeding; pegs to hang out other people’s linen, some tinkering, chair-bottoming, knife-grinding, and a little light smith work, and a few have made a little money by horse-dealing. There are others clever at “making shifts” and roadside tents, and will put up with almost anything rather than put forth much energy. Since the Gipsies landed in this country more than one hundred and fifty thousand have been born, principally, as they say, “under the hedge bottom,” lived, and died. They are gone “and their works do follow them.” Their present degraded condition in this country may be laid upon our backs.
This book, with its many faults and few virtues, is my own as in the case of my others, and all may be laid upon my back; and my object in saying hard and unpalatable things about the poor, ignorant Gipsy wanderers in our midst is not to expose them to ridicule, or to cause the finger of scorn to be pointed at them or to any one connected with them, but to try to influence the hearts of my countrymen to extend the hand of practical sympathy, and help to rescue the poor Gipsy children from dropping into the vortex of ruin, as so many thousands have done before. It is not unlikely but that I shall, in saying plain things about the Gipsies, expose myself to some inconvenience, misrepresentation, malice, and spite fromthose who would keep the Gipsies in ignorance, and also from shadow philanthropists, who are always on the look out for other people’s brains; but these things, so long as God gives me strength, will not deter me from doing what I consider to be right in the interest of the children, so long as I can see the finger of Providence pointing the way, and it is to Him I must look for the reward, “Well done,” which will more than repay me for all the inconvenience I have undergone, or may have still to undergo, in the cause of the “little ones.” That man is no real friend to the Gipsies who seeks to improve them by flattery and deception. A Gipsy, with all his faults, likes to be dealt fairly and openly with—a little praise but no flattery suits him. They can practise cunning, but they do not care to have any one practising it upon them.
I dare not be sanguine enough to hope that I shall be successful, but I have tried thus far to show, first, the past and present condition of the Gipsies; second, the little we, as a nation, have done to reclaim them; and, third, what we ought to do to improve them in the future, so as to remove the stigma from our shoulders of having 20,000 to 30,000 Gipsies, show people, and others living in vans, &c., in our midst, fast drifting into heathenism and barbarism, not five per cent. of whom can read and write, at least, so far as the Gipsies are concerned; and those children travelling with “gingerbread” stalls, rifle galleries, and auctioneers are but little better, for all the parents tell me their children lose in the summer what little they learn at school in the winter, for the want of means being adopted whereby their children could go to school during the daytime as they are travelling through the country with their wares,i.e., at their halting-places.
In bringing this book to a close, I would say, in the name of all that is just, fair, honourable, and reasonable, in the name of science, religion, philosophy, and humanity, and in the name of all that is Christ-like, God-like, and heavenly,I ask, nay I claim, the attention of our noble Queen—whose deep interest in the children of the labouring population is unbounded—statesmen, Christians, and my countrymen to the condition of the Gipsies and their children, whose condition is herein feebly described, and whose cause I have ventured to take in hand, praying them to adopt measures and to pass such laws that will wipe out the disgrace of having so many thousands of poor, ignorant, uneducated, wretched, and lost Gipsy children in our midst, who cannot read and write, on the following grounds—
First. Their Indian origin, which I venture to think has been satisfactorily proved, and over which country our Queen is the Empress; consequently, our Gipsies ought and have as much need to be taken in hand and their condition improved by the State as the Thugs in India have been, with such beneficial results, a class similar in many respects to our Gipsies.
Second. As the Government in 1877 passed an act, called “The Canal Boats Act,” dealing pretty much with the same class of people as the Gipsies and other travelling children, they ought, in all fairness, to extend the principle to those living in tents and vans.
Third. As small-pox, fevers, and other infectious diseases are at times very prevalent among them—a medical officer being called in only under the rarest occasion—and as the tents and vans are not under any sanitary arrangements, there is, therefore, urgent need for some sort of sanitary supervision and control to be exercised over their wretched habitations to prevent the spread of disease in such a stealthy manner.
Fourth. As the Government took steps some three centuries ago to class the Gipsies as rogues and vagabonds, but took no steps at the same time to improve their condition or even to encourage them to get upon the right paths for leading an honourable and industrious life, the time has now come, I think, both in justice and equity, forthe Government to adopt some means to catch the young hedge-bottom “Bob Rats,” and to deal out to them measures that will Christianise and civilise them to such an extent that the Gipsies will not in the future be deserving of the epithets passed upon them by the Government for their sins of omission and commission.
Fifth. By passing an Act of Parliament, as I suggest, or amending the Canal Boats Act, in accordance with the plan I have laid down, and embodying the suggestions herein contained, the Government will complete the educational system and bring under the educational and sanitary laws the lowest dregs of society, which have hitherto been left out in the cold, to grope about in the dark as their inclinations might lead them.
Sixth. The families who are seeking a living as hawkers, show people, &c., apart from the Gipsies, are on the increase. By travelling up and down the country in this way they not only escape rates and taxes, but their children are going without education, as no provision is made in the education acts to meet cases of this kind. By bringing the Gipsy children under the influence of the schoolmaster our law-makers will be adding the last stroke to the system of compulsory education introduced and carried into law through its first difficult and intricate phases by the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P., when he was at the head of the Education Department under the Liberal Government, and through its second stages by the Right Hon. Lord Sandon, M.P., when he was at the head of the Education Department under the Conservative Government.
Seventh. There is an universal desire among people of the classes I have before referred to for the education of their children, in fact, I have not met with one exception during my inquiries, and the Gipsies will be glad to make some sacrifices to carry it out if the Government will do their part in the matter.
Eighth. The Gipsies and other travellers of the samekind use our roads, locate on our commons, live in our lanes, and send their poor, halt, maimed, and blind to our workhouses, infirmaries, and asylums, towards the support of which they do not contribute one farthing.
Ninth. As a Christian nation professing to send the Gospel all over the world, to preach glad tidings, peace upon earth and good-will towards men everywhere, to take steps for the conversion of the Gipsies in India, the African, the Chinese, the South Sea Islander, the Turk, the black, the white, the bond, the free, in fact everywhere where an Englishman goes the Gospel is supposed to go too, and yet—and it is with sadness, sorrow, and shame I relate it—we have had on an average during the last three hundred and sixty-five years not less than 15,000 Gipsies moving among us, and not less than 150,000 have died and been buried, either under water, in the ditches, or on the roadside, on the commons, or in the cemeteries or churchyards, and we, as Christians of Christian England, have not spent 150,000 pence to reclaim the adult Gipsies, or to educate their children.
Tenth. As a civilised country we are supposed to lead the van in civilising the world by passing the most humane, righteous, just, and liberal laws, carrying them out on the plan of tempering justice with mercy; but in matters concerning the interests and welfare of the Gipsies we are, as I have shown previously, a long way in the rear. We have passed laws to improve the condition of the agricultural labourer’s child, children working in mines, children working in factories, performing boys, climbing boys, children working in brick-yards, children working and living on canal-boats, and a thousand others; but we have done nothing for the poor Gipsy child or its home. In things pertaining to their present and eternal welfare they have asked for bread and we have given them a stone; and they have asked for fish and we have given them a serpent. We have allowed them to wander and lose themselves in the dark wilds of sin andiniquity without shedding upon their path the light of Gospel truths or the blessings of education; and to-day the Gipsy children are dying, where thousands have died before, among the brambles and in the thicket of bad example, ignorance, and evil training, into which we have allowed them to stray blinded by the evil associations of Gipsy life.
“An aged woman walks along,Her piercing scream is on the air,Her head and streaming locks are bare,She sadly sobs ‘My child, my child!’”
“An aged woman walks along,Her piercing scream is on the air,Her head and streaming locks are bare,She sadly sobs ‘My child, my child!’”
A faint voice is heard in the distance calling out—
“My dying daughter, where art thou?Call on our gods and they shall come.”
“My dying daughter, where art thou?Call on our gods and they shall come.”
“So mote it be.”
London: Printed byHaughton & Co., 10, Paternoster Row, E.C.
Just Published,price1s.6d.,cloth boards.
“The name of George Smith, of Coalville, is familiar as household words, and the unpretending memoir just published by Messrs. Haughton & Co. of him, to whose deep sympathy and ceaseless effort the populations of our brick-yards and canals owe so much, will be read with interest by all.”—The Graphic.
“Readers of Mr. Smith’s letters in numerous papers, and of his descriptive articles in theIllustrated London News,Graphic, and other journals and magazines, will be glad to possess this little work, which tells the story of his career in a brief but interesting manner. The book is elegantly printed on good paper, and is embellished with an excellent portrait and with an engraving of Mr. Smith among the Gipsy children.”—Capital and Labour.
“This is ‘a chapter’ in philanthropy, yet it contains three times as much in the way of practical philanthropy as would suffice to make any man a benefactor to his generation. His devoted, self-denying, persistent, and successful endeavours on behalf of the brick-yard children, the canal population, and more recently the Gipsy ‘arabs,’ of our country and time, are concisely and vividly set forth in this neat volume.”—The Christian.
“The name of George Smith, and his noble work amongst the canal-boat folk and the Gipsies, have become familiar and welcome to multitudes in Great Britain. This volume is an excellent sketch of Mr. Smith; it contains a capital likeness, and should be read by all who desire to possess increasing zeal in rescuing the perishing.”—Christian Age.
“A smartly written biography of a man who may be justly termed the Children’s Friend. It is well got up, and contains an excellent portrait of the great social reformer. It is well that this fascinating sketch should be given to the world.”—Literary World.
“In this book we are presented with a sketch of the life and labours—labours which have been attended with a large measure of success—of one of the most devoted of living philanthropists.”—Scotsman.
“A fine biography, which every one should read in order to understand the noble character of a man who must be pronounced a great benefactor.”—Free Press.
Price3s.6d.,cloth boards,with Illustrations.
New Edition, with Supplement.By GEORGE SMITH, F.S.A., Coalville, Leicester.
“A little book called ‘Our Canal Population,’ lately published and written by Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, furnishes the most incredible details of what is going on on our silent highways.”—Morning Advertiser.
“The notorious state of ‘Our Canal Population,’ the women and children who live on barges, and in whose condition Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, has awakened public interest, is described as ‘revolting and intolerable.’ If only a part of the statements made were true it would be enough to make the ears of them that hear it tingle for pity and shame.”—Daily News.
“Although the statements made by Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, in ‘Our Canal Population,’ were doubtless, in some instances, open to the charge of exaggeration, in the main they were largely correct. Mr. Smith has earned the thanks of the community in this philanthropic object, as he previously earned our thanks for his efforts to ameliorate the condition of children in the brick-yards.”—Standard.
“Canal Boats.—On the 1st inst. came into operation an Act (the 40 and 41 Vic., c. 60) which is calculated to do much good. Hitherto ‘Our Canal Population’ were left pretty much to themselves. They were considered outside the pale of local and educational authorities. They were permitted to live in their boats as they pleased, and to bring up their children without any interference from school authorities. Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, whose efforts on behalf of the children employed in brick-fields were attended with such beneficial results, turned his attention to ‘Our Canal Population,’ and the credit likely to be won by the passing of the Act of last Session will be mainly his.”—The Times.
“Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, who has done so much for the well-being of ‘Our Canal Population,’ is now busied in attempts to ameliorate the condition of juvenile Gipsies.”—Daily Telegraph.
“This gentleman represents by name, at least, a very large family, but he has won for himself considerable distinction among the ‘Smiths’ for his unparalleled efforts to ameliorate the wretched condition of ‘Our Canal Population’ on the English canals, the women and children working in the brick-yards, and the Gipsy children.”—Christian Herald.
Price3s.6d.,cloth boards,with Portrait of Author and other Illustrations.
With Observations on the Carrying-out of the Act.
By GEORGE SMITH, of Coalville, Leicester.sixth edition.
“We heartily commend to our readers’ notice a new edition of a work which is full of thrilling interest to those who sympathise with childhood, whose hearts bleed at the story of its wrongs and leap for joy at any humane or beneficial measures on its behalf.”—Sunday School Chronicle.
“This book, now in its sixth edition, has many capital illustrations, and is a monument to the patient self-denial and unwearying zeal brought to bear in favour of the poor children by the author.”—Weekly Times.
“His cry for the protection for the helpless little ones is one that must assuredly command attention.”—Daily Chronicle.
“This book is the record of a splendid service nobly done. The author is likewise the hero of it. The value of the book is enhanced by the careful and tasteful manner in which Messrs. Haughton have fulfilled their share of the undertaking.”—Derby Reporter.
“This is a title of an interesting work. The whole forms a most interesting record of a noble-hearted work. We hope the book will meet, as it deserves, with an increasingly large circulation.”—Derbyshire Advertiser.
“‘The Cry of the Children’ and ‘Our Canal Population’ are unique in many ways. They have brought prominently before public attention two unsuspected blots upon our civilisation. We wish any word of our’s could give still wider publicity to his self-denying labours.”—Live Stock Journal.
“Mr. Smith writes with vehement energy, which he puts into everything he does. Some will perhaps think that his language is occasionally too little measured, but then it is probable that a man of more delicacy of feeling and expression would have never undertaken, and we think it is certain that he would never have carried through, the work which Mr. George Smith has accomplished. That work is of no small value.”—Staffordshire Sentinel.
“A good deal of new matter is inserted in this edition, including an interesting account of the history and progress of the movement. . . . The volume is certainly worthy of a careful perusal.”—Birmingham Gazette.
“In it is written the author’s account of his single-handed struggle for the emancipation of the poor children of the brick-yards—a struggle long and patiently sustained, and which at last, in 1872, met with its past merited reward in freeing 10,000 of these little ones from their dark slavery.”—The Graphic.
“This is a deeply interesting book, both from the facts which it sets forth and the cause it advocates.”—Christian Age.
“Every true philanthropist will read with deep interest Mr. Smith’s account of the history and the passing of the Act, which marks one of the brightest victories yet won over prejudice and self-interest in the United Kingdom.”—Derby Mercury.
“This excellently got-up work will strike a cord of sympathy in the bosoms of all who are interested in the works of Christianity and philanthropy. . . . Should find a place upon every book-shelf because its contents are of thrilling interest. . . . The book is essentially a statement of facts, and no one can peruse its pages without feeling the impulse of the living spirit which breathes in this ‘Cry of the Children.’”—Potteries Examiner.
“Mr. George Smith has, in his ‘Cry of the Children from the Brick-yards of England,’ raised issues too serious, and advanced pleas too passionate, to be treated with indifference.”—Daily Telegraph.
“In the present volume, which contains a number of excellent woodcuts, we have gathered up the full story of the evils which used to prevail, which in the hands of a person of less moral courage and perseverance than Mr. Smith would have failed.”—Leicester Daily Post.
Crown8vo, 216pages.Price,paper covers, 1s.;post free, 1s.2d.Cloth binding,with Portrait, 2s.,post free.
“A carefully prepared story of the public life of Mr. Gladstone in the several spheres of politics and literature. It would be well if similar books to this were as sensibly compiled. It is a handy and useful little book, honestly worth its price.”—Christian World.
“Written with great fairness and impartiality, as well as with considerable literary ability. It furnishes the reader with a key to the study of that which is undoubtedly one of the greatest characters of modern times. We can hardly conceive of a more useful political publication at the present moment. It is clear, pains-taking, and dispassionate. We commend it to the favourable attention of all.”—Leads Mercury.
“Those who desire to know what Mr. Gladstone’s life has been, and what are the objects to which he has devoted himself, what have been the growth of his political mind and the tendency of his political conduct, will do well to get this book. It is neatly and simply written, and contains a great many facts which have a bearing even beyond the life of its subject.”—Scotsman.
“No one can read this book without advantage. The author has presented Mr. Gladstone in a manner easily recognisable by friends and foes alike. The volume forms an important chapter in Parliamentary history, extending over half a century.”—Literary World.
Bound in cloth,with four Illustrations,price1s.6d.
“The appearance of this little work is very seasonable, and to young readers especially it will be very acceptable.”—North British Daily Mail.
Cloth binding,post free, 2s.6d.
“A new contribution to an important chapter of church history, and promises to be of much interest.”—Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
“The remarks in this work on the general relations of the Methodists to the tendencies of the age are full of instruction.”—Dean Stanley.
“We have read this book with considerable interest and pleasure, feelings which any reader who approaches it from the Church of England point of view can scarcely fail to share.”—Spectator.
“Bearing, as it does throughout, the impress of thought and calm judgment, as well as of an intimate knowledge of the varied aspects of the subject dealt with, it should be of universal interest.”—Morning Post.
“The author has rendered a splendid service to Methodism. Much that the writer tells us with respect to the various agencies of Methodism is extremely interesting.”—Edinburgh Daily Review.
PRICE ONE PENNY EACH.
“Written with great ability, and is full of interest. It contains a complete review of the principal events of Her Majesty’s reign. This biography should be circulated by thousands among the masses of the people.”—Review.
“A grand biography of a grand man, and replete with sterling interest. It is as fascinating as a work of fiction.”—Review.
“Very full, just, and interesting, and very brilliant is this account of the Prince of Wales. His visits to the United States and to India are well and fully described.”—Review.
“The penny ‘Gladstone’ has a mass of facts in small bulk.”—Liverpool Courier.
“Contains the leading events of Mr. Gladstone’s life in a small compass.”—Echo.
“We can hardly conceive of a more useful political publication at the present moment. It is clear, pains-taking, and dispassionate. We commend it to the favourable attention of all.”—Leeds Mercury.
“An admirably drawn sketch.”—Edinburgh Daily Review.
“These penny biographies have a laudable spirit in common. They are free from party bias.”—Liverpool Courier.
“Sets forth the principal events in the career of this remarkable man.”—Review.