From Crow-Scaring To Westminster; An Autobiography Part 2

CHAPTER III

EDUCATION AT LAST

In the spring of 1870 I went to work in a brickfield at Alby. Here I met a woman who was to play a wonderful part in my future life. Her name was Charlotte Corke, daughter of the late Mr. James Corke of that parish.

She herself had felt the pinch of poverty, being the youngest child of nine.

We became engaged, and on June 21, 1872, we married at Alby Church. A record of this event is still to be found in the church register.

At this time I was given a note of liberty by the Aylsham Primitive Methodist Circuit Quarterly Meeting, permitting me to speak in their chapels, and I was appointed to accompany two accredited lay-preachers by the names of Edward Gladden and James Applegate. This continued for two quarters, after which my name appeared on the plan of preachers. In October of the same year I returned to my former employment, agriculture, obtaining a situation with Mr. James Rice of Oulton. I hired a cottage at Oulton, which is near Aylsham (Norfolk), where we lived for the first seven years of our married life. I worked for Mr.

Rice for two years, when a dispute arose over the right to stop work for breakfast, and I left and again returned to brickmaking, and went to work at Blickling, about a mile and a half from my home, which distance I walked morning and night. Mr. James Applegate was the contractor and foreman on this yard, on which was manufactured all kinds of ware. My foreman was quite a skilled tradesman and he took great interest in me and set me to manufacture all kinds of ware, and he also taught me the art of burning the ware. I stayed with him about five years, when, by his a.s.sistance, I obtained a situation as brick-burner with a Mr. John Cook of Thwaite Hall and, on October 11, 1879, I moved to Alby Hill into one of my employer's cottages.

The September Quarterly Meeting of 1872 of the Aylsham Primitive Methodist Circuit decided that my name should appear on the preachers'

plan as an "Exhorter," and I was planned to take my first service on the third Sunday in October of that year.

Up to this time I could not read, I merely knew my letters, but I set myself to work. My dear wife came to my rescue and undertook to teach me to read. For the purposes of this first service she helped me to commit three hymns to memory and also the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. It was a big task, but she accomplished it, and this is how it was done. When I returned home from work after tea she would get the hymn-book, read the lines out, and I would repeat them after her. This was repeated until I had committed the whole hymn to memory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. AND MRS. EDWARDS'S FIRST HOME AFTER MARRIAGE, OULTON-NEXT-AYLSHAM, NORFOLK.]

My first three were good old Primitive Methodist hymns. The opening verse of the first hymn I learned was:--

Hark, the Gospel news is sounding, Christ has suffered on the tree.

Streams of mercy are abounding, Grace for all is rich and free.

Now, poor sinner, Look to Him who died for thee.

The second hymn was:--

There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

The third hymn was:--

Stop, poor sinner, stop and think Before you further go.

Will you sport upon the brink Of everlasting woe?

On the verge of ruin stop, Now the friendly warning take, Stay your footsteps or you'll drop Into the burning lake.

The last hymn does not appear in the present-day Primitive Methodist hymnal. Needless to say, I have long ceased to use the hymn. It was too horrible for my humanitarian spirit. I might say that at my first service I was not quite sure that I held the book the right way up, as I was not quite certain of the figures. I had, however, committed the hymns to memory correctly, and also the lesson, and I made no mistakes.

In those days we used to give out the hymns two lines at a time, as very few people could read, and they could possibly remember the two lines.

There was no musical instrument in many of the small village chapels at that time. My wife went with me to my first appointment and listened. My first text was taken from the first chapter of John: "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d which taketh away the sin of the world." I would not like to say the sermon was a very intellectual one. It was, however, well thought out as far as my limited knowledge would allow me to do so, and in preparing it I had the a.s.sistance of my wife. We had spent nights in thinking it out, and it certainly was orthodox in the extreme. I made rapid progress with my education under the tutorship of my wife, who would sit up very late at night to teach me. She would sit on one side of the fireplace and I on the other. I would spell out the words and she would tell me their p.r.o.nunciation.

By the time the next plan came out I could just manage to read my lesson and hymns, but not until I had gone through them many times with my wife and had mistakes rectified.

One interesting little incident occurred about this time. I went to an appointment one Sunday about eight miles from my home. A brother lay-preacher was planned at the chapel in an adjoining village, hence we travelled most of the way together. Coming home it was very dark, and we had to travel some distance by a footpath across some meadows. We lost ourselves! I told my companion to follow me, but it turned out that it was a case of the blind leading the blind, for no sooner had I instructed my companion than we both walked into a ditch up to our knees in water, and had to walk the rest of the way home with wet feet! This was not the day of bicycles nor yet horse-hire. The circuit to which I was attached was very large, and for many years I walked sixteen miles on the Sunday, conducted two services, and reached home at eleven o'clock at night. Whatever may have been our weaknesses in those days, it must be admitted we were enthusiastic and devoted to the cause we advocated. No sacrifice was too great.

Having once learned to read, I became eager for knowledge. Until then I possessed only a Bible and hymn-book and two spelling-books. But I had no money to buy other books. My wife and I talked it over, and I decided I would give up smoking and purchase books with the money saved. I was then smoking 2 oz. of tobacco a week, which in those days cost 6d. This did not seem much, but it was 1 6s. a year. It was a great sacrifice to me to give up smoking, for I did enjoy my pipe. I had, however, a thirst for knowledge, and no sacrifice was too great to satisfy my longing. My first purchase was Johnson's Dictionary, two volumes of _The Lay-preacher_, which contained outlines of sermons, Harvey's _Meditations among the Tombs_ and _Contemplation of the Starry Heavens_, a Bible dictionary, and a _History of Rome_. These I bought second-hand from Mr. James Applegate, who was a great reader. The _Lay-preacher_ I used extensively for some years, and it certainly did help me for the first few years. I ultimately discarded the two volumes and relied upon my own resources, and I should advise every young man with the advantage of education, who is thinking of engaging in such great and good work, never to use such books, for it is far better for him to think out subjects for himself and store his mind well with knowledge.

The different Primitive Methodist services of my early days would be out of date now, and the quaint sayings of those days, though effective then, would cause some amount of amus.e.m.e.nt to our young educated folk of to-day. One form of service was called a "love-feast," at which small pieces of bread were taken round with water. The meeting was thrown open for anyone to speak, and then the simple, faithful, uneducated, saintly people, in relating what to them was Christian experience, would express themselves in peculiar phrases. I call to mind the statement made by a brother at one meeting who said he felt "like a fool in a fair." At the same meeting another said he thanked G.o.d that although that was the first time he had attempted to speak, he was getting used to it. Others would relate what dreadful characters they had been and what religion had done for them.

Although my preaching efforts did not give me entire satisfaction, still I can look back with pleasure at some of the results of my labours.

Although uneducated and not well informed and although I used such phrases and put the Gospel in such a way that I should not think for one moment of doing to-day, still it had its effect. I can recall instances of ten and twelve of my hearers at my Sunday services making a stand for righteousness. Many of them in after years became stalwarts for truth.

They also soon began to be dissatisfied with the conditions under which they worked and lived. Seeing no hope of any improvement they migrated to the North of England, and found work in the coalfields, and never returned to their native county. When in Newcastle last December I met several of my old converts and friends.

With my study of theology, I soon began to realize that the social conditions of the people were not as G.o.d intended they should be. The gross injustices meted out to my parents and the terrible sufferings I had undergone in my boyhood burnt themselves into my soul like a hot iron.

Many a time did I vow I would do something to better the conditions of my cla.s.s.

CHAPTER IV

PIONEERS AND VICTIMS

The year 1872 will throughout history be considered the most interesting period from the standpoint of the agricultural labourers of England.

There had been some improvement in the condition of the labourers of England through the increase of the purchasing power of their wages, largely due to the abolition of the wicked Corn Laws and the adoption of Free Trade. Moreover, agriculture was never more prosperous than it was from 1849 to 1872. But, despite the increase in the purchasing power of the labourers' wage, the condition of the workers had not improved at the same rate as agriculture had improved. The working hours were as long as they had been for the preceding hundred years, the labourers were no more free to bargain with their employers than their fathers had been for fifty years before, and there was much discontent. In fact, the whole countryside was seething with discontent and we were much nearer a serious upheaval than many people thought. The farmers were arrogant and oppressive, and the gulf between the farmer and the labourer was greater than ever before. The labourer had acquired a little knowledge and the town workers were uprising. Many of the sons of the labourers who had left agriculture since 1864, being disgusted with the low wages of the labourer, had sent glowing accounts over to their friends, and a great migration had again set in until very few young men were left in the villages.

Early in the year 1872 a few labourers met in the village inn at Barford, in Warwickshire, and decided to make an effort to form a Union.

But they were without a leader, and it was in search of such a person that they turned their attention to Mr. Joseph Arch, who was a Primitive Methodist lay-preacher. They waited upon him at his residence and informed him that they wanted to form a Union for the agricultural labourers and asked him if he would lead them. Mr. Arch hesitated for a time, as his clear vision could discern that it would cause a tremendous upheaval and he was not sure of his cla.s.s. After due thought, and through the persuasive powers of Mrs. Arch, he ultimately consented.

Accordingly it was arranged that a meeting should be held under what is now known as the Welbourne Tree.

This meeting was attended by at least two thousand agricultural labourers from all parts of the country, and it was there decided to form a Union. The news of the meeting spread rapidly throughout the country. All the newspapers gave it prominence with such headlines as "The Uprising of the Agricultural Labourer." Numerous meetings were held in various parts of the country, and in the second week in May a meeting was held on the children's playground at Alby where I was at work. This was a month before my marriage. I attended the meeting. It was addressed by a local preacher, who was an agricultural labourer, named Josiah Mills, and by Mr. Burton from Cromer. I also spoke, although, as stated before, I could not read. Still, I related my experience of how I was obliged to go to work at the age of six.

A branch of the Union was formed and I became a member. But, as Mr. Arch had foreseen, trouble soon arose, for this new movement met with the most bitter opposition.

Labourers were discharged by the hundred. It was evident that the farmers were bent on crushing the movement in its infancy. Many labourers who lived in their employers' cottages were victimized and turned out into the road. One case which personally came to my notice was that of a poor man and his wife and family who were turned out on to the road with all their furniture and a friendly publican took them in.

Scores of farmers locked their men out because they would not give up their Union cards.

This threw Mr. Arch on to his beam ends, as he and his men had no previous knowledge of Trade Unionism. Happily for him and the movement generally a leading Trade Unionist by the name of Mr. Henry Taylor paid Arch a visit and offered him all the help possible. This brought help from other Trade Unionists.

In Norfolk we were specially favoured, as the proprietors of the _Norfolk News_ and the _Norwich Mercury_ (the latter one of the country's earliest newspapers) opened the columns of the _Eastern Weekly Press_ and the _Peoples' Weekly Journal_ respectively to Labour news.

Thus the news of the Union spread rapidly and the story was told of the uprising of the agricultural labourer. Hundreds of meetings were held in Norfolk as well as in other counties, branches of the Union were formed everywhere, and within six months 150,000 labourers had joined some Union. It must be remarked that in the first six months the branches formed were all independent Unions.

During the summer Arch, with the help of Mr. Taylor, drew up a list of rules and called a conference of the branches formed in the Warwick district, at which it was decided to form a National Union, its central office to be at Leamington. Mr. Arch was elected President and was sent on a mission throughout the country to explain the rules. Arch soon gathered around him a number of persons who were prominent in the political world, including the late Sir Charles Dilke, Howard Evans, John Bright, George Mitch.e.l.l, and a host of others. Among those in Norfolk who rallied to Arch were the late Mr. Z. Walker, who remained a faithful follower to the end, the late Mr. Lane of Swaffham, the late Mr. Colman, the late Mr. George Rix, and Mr. George Pilgrim. But all the branches did not join with Mr. Arch. Kent and Suss.e.x formed a Union of their own, which became very strong in those two counties. Lincolnshire also formed a Union and it became known as the "Lincolnshire Amalgamated Labour League." A Mr. Banks became its General Secretary. This Union gained considerable support in Norfolk and had several strong branches in the county, and among its warm supporters were the late Mr. James Applegate of Aylsham, the late Mr. James Ling of Cromer and Mr. James Dennis of Hempton.

All these Unions grew in strength, but unfortunately a spirit of rivalry grew up between them and much mischief was done.