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570 THE LEADER. [No. 429, June 12,1858.
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THE CHASE. The Horse and the Round; thei...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A Matter Of Fact Romance. Self-Help Hy T...
race were Pilgrim Fathers ' of Co-operative IndustTy , and they set sail in their May Flower of Toad-lane , with a faculty of organization , an indomitable will , and a sturdy faith which no apparent impossibilities can break down , characteristic of the best specimens of our English race . In 1848 , the flannel-weavers of Rochdale astonished their masters by " asking for more . " Some of the most generous agreed to give it if others would follow the example . In other respects they left the men to figlit the battle as well as they could . With subscriptions of twopence a week , trades unions , and a strike , the weaversdid their best to beat the capitalists in the old-fashioned clumsy way , and as often happened , before and since , got beaten for their pains . Thus for the time , at least , their position was made worse . There was a good deal of anger and unreasonableness , but
strong sense lay at the bottom , and after much dispute and discussion they came to the conclusion , that by twopenny subscriptions and some kind of socialism , their Rochdale world was to be saved . To carry © u"t this notable project the twopences were collected , and a " constitution" drawn up , which unlike the fifteen—more or less- ^ -that Talleyrand swore to , proved to be of * very vital and serviceable character . It looks droll enough now , surveying the matter backwards , and it must have looked still droller at the time , surveying it forwards , to see a few rough , dingy ¦ weavers , "who could "with difficulty squeeze out of empty pockets the small contribution of twopence a week to form the collective capital of the Association , sitting toge ther in conclave , arid determining to build houses , manufacture articles , purchase
land , and deal m all sorts of goods—nay , further , " as soon * as practicable /' to arrange "the powers of production , distribution , education , and government , " so as to produce a t ; self-supporting home colony . " Little more absurd would it have appeared to worldly-wise men , if the poor weavers had "talked seriously of purchasing the moon to cut up into small candles , and thus save an expenditure of dips in the long winter evenings . Their ¦" as soon as practicable" seemed , at least , as far off as the millennium , ¦ calculated upon much longer range principles than , those of Dr . Gumming and the Prophetic Press ; but they bad other capital than that of the combined twopences—the capital of honest , self-denying hearts , and a
determination to stick together and get on . So great were the obstacles they had to overcome , that the collector of forty twopenny subscriptions had to travel about twenty miles to get them in . But three collectors were appointed , and horrible as the ' ¦ * ' uncircumcisedJews . " or " Hebrew Christians" might think it to do good work on the Sabbath day , they visited the members every Sunday , and thus the little fund grew . By-. and-by the rate of subscription was raised to threepence , and at last the industrial knights-errant became possessed of 2 SL , with winch they were to purchase all the arms and outfit necessary to stay the dragon of Competition ¦ and set their order free .
Well might " Toad-lane" laugh when the " Equitable Pioneers , " memorable December evening in the year 1844 , took down their shutters and opened their store for the sale of flour , butter , sugar , and oatmeal , purchased tothe extent of 14 / -or 151 ., which was . all that remained of their capital after fittings and other preliminaries had been duly paid for . But as Rochdale phrased it , " the owd weavers' shop was opened at last , " although in a very small way , and with apparently poor chances of competing with the wealthy tradesmen who could purchase cheaper and make a profit in underselling the Socialist magazine . This created great difficulty , and James Daly proposed that the members who would not purchase at the store should be paid out . This Charles Hannah stoutly opposedas
savour-, ing of despotism . He , good man and true , had a firm belief in , freedom , and much as he liked co-operation , he would forego it rather than infringe upon a higher law . James Daley withdrew his motion , and the store grew upon wiser principles , so that in March , 1845 ,-we find its proprietors raising capital to go into the tea and grocery line . Then , " for the first time , " says their biographer , "do we hear of any member being in possession of more than twopence . " One " promised to find" half-acrown , and another became a financial hero by undertaking to procure U These promises were fulfilled , and at the close of the year the association numbered upwards of eighty members , and possessed a capital of 18 ]/ . 12 s . 3 d .
At first the store paid two and a half per cent , interest on money borrowed , then four per cent . After paying this interest and the small expenses of management , all profits were divided among the purchasers at the store in proportion to the amount ¦ expended . All transactions were for ready money , and therefore the risk of the capitalists was reduced to a minimum , and the division of profits araoiv the purchasers was a great move towards an . equitable settlement of the claims of consumers , regarding them as producers of profits , in which ordinarily they have no share . Admirable as this arrangement was it could not be easily carried out , as Mr . Holyoake says : is
Poverty a greater impediment to social success than even prejudice . With a tSSlLTmi ^ T " ^ J ^ ^ otl articles nor cheap ones . What is bought at a X ™\ f T I PW ** y »» worse and dearer than the same articles elsewhere . This SSX SSL ? ° « °° \ « them ° VCry ponny mu 8 t tell > and ™ ry P « nny «* tra they SiitTn ! Ji ° t ? , ' and tlVey wiU not often incur " It ^ a of no U 8 e The / So STJhZ W " ?* £ ?™ " ° ba ° * at thc end * *» 1 ™ ^ - They do not bohevo tn the end of the quarter . . . . You have to teach as well as to . save the very poor , © no would think that a customer ought to be content when ho 3 . J 5 L lT V ° tVZ ? " ° ° ntrary ' h 0 iB Q 0 t fiati 8 fle ( l with the prices e £ ^ ance l ^ ^ nt contentment is the slowed plant that grows vpon the soil of These remarks exhibit some of th « difficulties of the enterprise , and give -a notion of the merits of the men nnd women by « h « m thev were over come . We must refer to Mr . Ilolyonke's pages for an account of he pro-« re 3 S mude from th , s point by the Pioneers , ho » v their institution SMvy lJtL -flour-null panic" and other storms , until , from beintf » concern . iLTfn . L « minute ot lour articles
quantities , it grew to a multifarious business re turning 1 * 3 , 000 / . a year As a savings bank its operation has been vcr ^ beneficial ; the accumulation of prolits credited to the customers 2 | up phed little fortunes to many who never before enjoyed the 1 of being beforehand with the world . * iu . vmy ot The social aspects of Tood-lano are as astonishing n 8 the economical
" We read of 450 J . 3 s . 4 | d . spent on the library and reading-room , an d find the owd weavers' * in advance of British senators in the matter of " woman ' s rights . " Mr . Holyoake says : — " Women may be members of this store and vote in its proceedings . Single and maTried women join . Many married women become members because their husbands will not tafce the trouble , and others join It in self-defence to preven t the husband from spending their money in drink . ' The husband cannot withdraw the savin < 's at the store standing in the wife ' s name unless she signs the order- Of cours « , as the law still stands , the husban d could by . legal process get possession of the money . But the process takes time , and the husband gets sober and thinks better of it before the law can move . These few poor weavers have found practical solutions for difficult social problems , and made themselves captains of industry by renderino- strict obedience to moral and economical laws . Longfellow was right '• when he declared there was a nobility of labour as -well as a long pedigree of toil .
570 The Leader. [No. 429, June 12,1858.
570 THE LEADER . [ No . 429 , June 12 , 1858 .
The Chase. The Horse And The Round; Thei...
THE CHASE . The Horse and the Round ; their various Uses and Treatment . By Kirarod . Third . Edition . Edinburgh : Black and Co . Ciiari . es James Affehley , better known to sportsmen by the soubri quet o £ " lUimrod , " has contributed more to the literature of sylvan sports than any other . writer of earlier or later times . He was by birth a gentleman , by education a scholar , and the classic tastes imbibed . during a Ion «¦ and honourable career at college are perhaps rather too ostentatiously exhibited in all his writings . In many cases they seem entirely out of place ; irrelevant matter being ; often : introduced merely as pegs on which to han « a Greek or Latin quotation . Does he recommend the " summerino- ° hunters , " - — i . e . the removing the animal ' s halter for a three months' gambol among daisies and buttercups—the noble horse ' s wild and joyous riot ' this partial recovery of his imtural liberty must be illustrated by Homer's description of the return of Paris with Hector to the battle-lield of Troy : — Qs , S ore Tts q-totos t 7 nrof , aKOcrxr / o-as iirl d > drnv }
Aeo-uoi » anopprj ^ as deiy TredLoLo Kpoaivcav , & c . & c . The author ' s companionable qualifications , at least , were unquestionably first-rate . Each master of hounds deemed the attractions of his hunt dinner to be all in all if Nimrod ^ s feet were settled beneath his mahogany . More than once , in the vicissitudes attendant on an expensive sporting career , was he called upon to acknowledge the bounteous liberality of the ° country gentleihen of England , who showed their respect and regard by extricating him from embarrassments by which , "but for their kindness , he must have " been -wholly overwhelmed . On his thorough practical knowledge of the mysteries of St . Hubert some doubt las been cast . Certainly there were hundreds of lis contemporaries who rode to hounds with equal , perhaps superior , taut and skill . We need scarcely suggest that in all relating to the economy and conduct of a racing stud establishment the mere gentleman amateur cannot , and never will be able to , compete with any early initiated professional trainer . .
What constitutes a thorough-bred horse ? is a query oftener asked than satisfactorily replied to . Indeed , it has never yet been satisfactorily defined . A . " thorough-bred" we belLeve to be—and this definition applies to the equine race only—one lineally descended without inferior stain from Arab or Barbary sire and dam . Among the progeny sprung from the Darley Arabian—so named because imported by Merchant Darley—and King Charles ' s " Royal Mares" were some noble animals , of marvellous beauty , speed , and endurance . These , and the Godolphin Arabian , purchased out of a cart in Psiris , laid the foundation of that unrivalled breed
of horses which makes Great Britain the envy of all Europe , and no very superior race-horse has appeared in England for many ye ^ rs past which cannot be traced to their blood . Having once gotten possession of . the essential constitutional parts of a perfect racer , the English turf has benefited nothing during the 1 nst three-quarters of a century by tlie importation of foreign blood . In whatever country and in whatever climate his lacing powers are tested , he has scarcely found a rival except under palpable disadvantages . Every trial over the Desert , no matter what the distance , during 182 G-55 , between English and Oriental horses , has resulted in a crowning triun ' tpli to the former .
It may , however , be here noted , that the style of the animal now so adequately adapted for every purpose of war and the chase , was lightly esteemed by the most renowned stud-masters of the seventeenth century When good " King Jaiaie" gave five hundred guineas for an Arab horse , the then Duke of Newcastle , a great authority and a writer on . equitation , foretold the utter degeneracy of the old English war hoise , in case the fashion of breeding from these diminutive Levantine horses should generally prevail . Indeed , if wo ro / lect on the enormous weight imposed on the charger of three centuries ago , the huge demi-peaked steel-plated warand his rider
saddle , clothed in the same iron panopl y ^ the strong and bony , though perfectly well-bred animal which seems stepping from the pedestal at Charing-cross , was far bettor qualified for service in the field . Let not undersized horses be however entirely despised . Some of the readers of this review probably remember Lord Oxford ' s beautiful little forty-eight inch horse , thc oll ' spring of the Clive Arabian and a Welsh mountain puny , which , ridden by a small lad , could beat any of his lordship ' s speediest racers . During the drawing of Irish lotteries in the beginning of thc present century , all the expresses between Holy-head and London were convoyed by ponies at tlic rate of nearly twenty miles in tht > hour . horse t bo of
" A good canno a bad colour . " The ancients preferred the bay { badkes ) , and dark , or " Jersey bay , " is still the favourite English choice . The famous Iiotso Eclipse , a renl eliesnut , had a small dark spot on hJs quarter whi-ch has been sometimes ibund in his descendants of the fifth and aixth generation . " Wo do not , " observes aSTiinrod , again indulging for the hundredth time in his ultra -classical tustes , " fiuid much benelit from our research into ancient authors on the subject of hounds . " Here , of course , follow Oppian , Claudian , Gratius , and Virgil ; the " Canes Odorcs" of tlio first , and the " Cnnis Vesti gator" of Columclla , with the : a ^ r ( 5 mai and the
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061858/page/18/
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