The Cardiff Times

ELECTRIC^ YEAST All BAKERS and GROCERS who require GOOD YEAST Should apply to THE LONDON AND WEST OF ENGLAND YEAST COMPANY, BRIDGE-STREET, CARDIFF, OR 1, OLD DOCK-STREET, NEWPORT. CHIEF OFFICES 53, BETHNAL GREEN-ROAD, LONDON, E. AND 31, STAPLETON-ROAD, BRISTOL. See Testimonials from Dr DA VIES, late Medical Officer of lleaitli to. Bristol. 13210

THE TWO THOUSAND EJECTED MINISTERS. By the fiev. Kilsby Jones. A DISSERTATION ON NONCONFORMITY. Nonconformity, as understood and inter- preted by a man who believes in Christ and the four Gospels, is the lawfully begotten product of light, conscience, and self- sacrifice. It loves light, for in it it lives, Cloves, and has its being. It is its native 4ir. Without it, it would, must, and ought to die. Ignorance would speedily put it to death, and for that reason it has bought against it and in its deepest poverty it has lighted its farthing rush- lights which, at the lowest estimate, did serve to make the darkness visible, and therefore its existence believable. One of the penalties of Nonconformity for a long number of years was exclusion from the English universities, and it must and should be mentioned to the credit of that ecclesias- tical giant, the late Bishop of St. David's, that he was the first Churchman who ad- vocated the admission of Dissenters to our national seats of learning. He carried what We reverently and thankfully call a head on his shoulders, and in that head a pair of eyes which had power to look far and deep into the future. Prudence with its small eyes and timid ways is a little sister of Wisdom. The mean, despicable, cowardly, beggarly plan has been to deny Dissenters the means of education at the command of Church parsons, whether they were worth the trouble and pother of being born or not, and then to 'fllirit Dissenting ministers with being neither scholars nor gentlemen. The difference in the certificate value of an Oxford and London University degree consists in this — the former, unless won in honours, means that a man has spent four years among gentle- men (?), and the latter that the man has done so much work. A scholar may not always be a drawing-room gentleman. The late learned Archdeacon Williams when asked in what books he wished to be examined for his degree at Oxford, re- plied without hesitation, the classics, and was highly complimented by the examiners on his extraordinary scholarship, but told very unceremoniously that he was no gentleman —a drawback which failed to cause a Moment's uneasiness to the brilliant classic. We have always regarded the Welsh dis- senting ministers as having a lawful right to style themselves the only true representative descendants of the apostles by whom, sainted souls, they would now be acknowledged as such, for did not they at, and long after the birth of Nonconformity, preach the gospel at their own expense, maintaining them- selves and families often by faith when things seeable failed them. If it was no disgrace for the Apostle Paul to be found working hard at tent-making until late on Saturday night, and preaching the gospel ou the following first day of the week, it surely was no degradation to many dissent- ing ministers in days that are gone by to appear in the pulpit on Sunday dressed in a suit of home spun, some with hands horny through holding the plough till late on Sat- urday night, others with shoemakers' wax or tailors' thread marks on their fingers, Specially as they were content and thankful to be the servants of Him who so honoured labour—the irrevocable ordinance of his Father—as to choose the calling of an obscure country village carpenter. We should be charged with speaking ill of top- ping folks if we were to describe lawn- sleeved, mitred, aproned, gaitered, and well paid bishops as having been in any respectable sense related to penniless apostles, more fittingly Represented by vulgar radical sectarian parsons, and we confess that it is scarcely polite and courteous to remind high digni- taries of the rock out of which they were hewn," and "the pit whence they were digged," for when it suits their purpose they do not deny that their origin was as low as that of apostles of Him who had no place where to lay His head." Five thousand a year, and a seat in the House of Lords, is as good as "supporting grace" to them to bear without a murmur the imputation of having only a very humble origin, and a pedigree in which Lewys Dwnn would have discovered many missing links. Many of the Welsh ejected ministers, in number about 105, were put to sore and trying shifts in order to keep their own souls and bodies together, as well as of those dependent upon them. There were a few among them who were university men, and really, not presumably, learned—"apt to teach." But the vocation of the scholars at that time Was not esteemed one of honour and r Worldly gain. School learning was not deemed necessary for the public at large, only for those who wished and could afford to enter the learned professions and now even it is chiefly valued as a means of what is understood as getting on in the world. There is much land yet to be possessed before parents and teachers are able to see and feel that the primary object of education is to enhance the personal value of the man— as a companion and worker. What share necessity, and what share a sense of duty and a desire to benefit the ignorant, had to do with the Revd Samuel Jones's opening a school we know not. It is supposed that he cultivated his own farm in Llangynwyd parish, and that the small profits of a school were not absolutely necessary to filling his cupboard. It was not an exclusive school of the prophets," but a public one, and which, owing to Mr Samuel Jones's reputation for scholarship, he would not, even at that time, have found any difficulty in filling with a superior class of pupils. Able and competent teachers were very scarce, though there was gross ignorance, but with- out consciousness of it, and therefore with only a partial wish or effort for its removal. Our respect for a teacher, religious and secular, is deep, and all schoolrooms we regard as land lighthouses. It is devoutly to be hoped that at no very distant period the schoolmaster will .supersede the soldier and the policeman Samuel Jones, M. A., who,as already stated in a previous sketch, had been for some time tutor at Jesus College, Oxford, set up the first school for training young men for the Christian ministry among Welsh Non- conformists. While he continued a minister of the Established Church no one thought of Questioning his teaching power, and it Requires a considerable enlargement of the imagination to suppose that lie was punished with a diminution of that rare and covetable gift in consequence of his ejection. His pupils must have consisted of laymen and theologians. Thir school was opened soon after his ejectment. He conducted it with great efficiency to the end of his invaluable life in 1697, of which the best proof of its character was its removal at his death to Abergavenny, where it was placed under the presidency of a Mr Roger Griffyth but that gentleman, in the course of two or three years, deserted the ranks of Nonconformity, and became parson of New Radnor and Archdeacon of Brecon, by the favour and interest of R. Harley, Esq., and not long after died miserably in debt, to say no more. And there is no need. He could not pay for the contents of the fieshpots, or else he relished them right well. It must be pleas- ant for a man to have to do with things which he understands, aed enjoys, provided he can pay for them. Mr Samuel Jones, of Tewkesbury, under whom Bishop Butler, of Analogy fame, studied, and Mr Thomas Perrot, of Carmarthen, were for some time pupils of Mr Griffyth. When the tutor at Abergevenny conformed, the school was again removed to the neigh- bourhood of Bridgend, and Mr Rees Price, father of the celebrated Dr. Richard Price, presided over it for a few years. Mr Price, who had been educated under Mr Jones, at Brynllwarch, was a good scholar and a very successful minister. In doctrine he was a rigid Calvinist. He died June 28, 1738, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. As he con- sidered the Christian ministry the prime work of his life, he consented to undertake the superintendence of the school only until a suitable successor could be secured. The history of the school will be continued next week.

WELSFTGUEANINGS. (By Lloffwr.) Last week I noticed the issue of the new na- tional song, Up with the Leek," published by Mr D. Jenkins, Aberystwyth. This week I have had sent me specimens of the series of National Songs by Dr. Parry. Among them I find "• Y Ddau. Wladgarwr" (The Two Patriots), the words of which have been Written by the Rev. T. Lod- wick, of Ffestiniog, and the music by Dr. Parry. This is a duet for tenor and bass, and contains elements that should make it a popular piece at Welsh concerts. It is a pity that, from a literary point of view, so excellent a piece of composition should be spoiled by the setting of an English compositor. To a Welshman such things as "walia wen," heddy w'n," dryl lia'r," w ill be a perpetual eyesore. If we are to have Welsh National Songs," let us by all means have them free from such blemishes as these. Let those who cater for the Welsh public take the hint. What would be said of an "English National Song" containing such specimens as the following great britain," "toda-y," watc liing?" and yet these are not one whit more absurd than what appears in the composition now before me. Many of my readers will be glad to have a specimen of the words of this series. The beau- ktiful words of "Oymru Fydd," by Watkyn Wyn, have already been given. I give here those of The Two Patriots— Y DDAU WLADGARWR. Fy Ngwlad, fy Ngvvlad, 0, deffro'n awr, Arwyddion Rhyddid gluda'r wawr, A Rhyddid ltwyr adseinia'r llawr. 0, fy ngwlad Cwyd, cwyd dy ben a dyrcha drwy Elynol drais, paid cy.-gu'n hwy, D'wed, marw raid i ormes mwy, Fy ngwlad, 0, fy ngwlad Arglwydd, gwrando, gwrando gri Ein gweddiau atat Ti, Arwain ni i Ryddid gwir, Llwydda heddweh yn ein tir Mae Cymru heddyw n dod i'r lan, I'w gorsedd dritiga yn y man, Erlidiwn drais a brad Yn llwyr o Gymru fad Ni rown ein gwaed dros Walia Wen, A'I chlodydd seinhvn hyd y nen, Bydd Gwalia byth mewn moesau'n ben! Ein gwlad, 0, ein Rwlad Fy Ngwlad, fy Ngwlad, dy enw mwyn I'm calon sydd yn for o swyn, v A'th Ryddid di yw lief fy nghwyn, 0, fy ngwlad Daw lief o serch dros donau'r lli',— Ein caiori ytvhen Walia gu, Gwlad can a thelyn ydyw hi; Fy ngwlad, 0, fy ngwlad Argwiydd Kwrando. gwrando ni Dryllia'r gadwyn, 0, em Rhi! Llefwn arnat yn ein gwaed, Dyro Gymrii ar ei thrned Mae ysbryd dewr Hen Gymry gynt Yn sibrwd heddyw yn y gwynt,— Daw rhyddid Cymru fad. Er gwaetlfaf Iraia a brad Wladgarwyr ffyddlawn, byddwn bur I'n hiaith a'n gwlad, tra môr a thir, A mynwn Ryddid Cymru'n wir; Ein gwlad, 0, ein gwlad Lest some readers should have misconstrued a note of mine in a previous issue, J gladly insert the following letter to hand from an active fellow- worker in the Welsh cause, who hails from Edin- burgh University :— Dear L!oSwr,—AI!ow me to draw your atten- tion to a reference you made last week to yet another Welsh Students' Society.' which you say is 'to consist mainly of students at the different colleges.' I'venodoubt but that the errorhappened in connection with formation of a Glasgow Welsh Students' Society,which was established some few weeks ago. Soon after its formation, it received some circulars from another university in connection with the Inter-university Welsh Stu- dents' Union ihcT at their last meeting the Glasgow society unanimously decided that they were ready to join the inter university movement. The list of officials you mention relates only, of course, to the Glasgow society, as the Inter- university UniooJsnot yet lormed. "As regards the Intar university Welsh Students' UOlOn. the Btovement for the formation of this society is still favourably progressing. Some eight bundred circulars have lately been sent to the various local Welsh university unions, and to the friends of Welsh education in the various parts of the king- dom. Many professors and students, and several Welsh students' unions have expressed their desire to join the society, if foimed and not a single individual has opposed the movement. We understand that one importanttq^at forSt David's Day this year, at several universities, will be'The Success of the Inter-university Velsh Students' Movement.' "During this winter the Wehh Society in Edinburgh have had the opportunity of listening to two distinguished men-the Author of the 'Epic of Hades/and the Professor of Celtic in the Edinburgh University. Professor Mackinnon ecture^on Celtic Literature in tie Highlands.' After the lecture, I had some conversation with him on Welsh affairs. He expressed his entire sympathy with the efforts that are made to bring the Welsh language into use in day schools, and was delighted to hear of the formation and work of the Welsh Utilization Society. He approved, too, of the Inter-university Welsh Students' Union, and expressed his desire to become a member as soon as the society was actually formed." » • I have before expressed my own views with regard to thi* Union. The idea is a veiy happy one, and if suitable men can be found to devote the necessary time to the work of organizing the society and working out the scheme, the Union may be the means of doing much good. & ♦ One of the most noticeable features in the national revival all Welshmen are proud of is the increased interest that is being taken in the Welsh language. Whenever there is anything like a literary or a debating society formed, there also does the question of the value, the preservation, or the ntil zation of the Welsh language crop up. The secretary of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language tells me that not a week passes but that be receives applications from all parts of the country for pamphlets dealing on the work of the society, which are asked for to enable the applicants to study the question of the utilization of the language in view of an approaching debate. In more than one instance the leaders of the opponents of the language, who had accepted that position from conscientious .conviction, have become so fully convinced by studying the question of their being in the wrong that they have become among the most zealous supporters of the movement. Tijisisonly right, and as it should be. ♦ ♦ The tercentenary of the Welsh Bible has directed public attention to the first publication of the Scriptures in Welsh, and has brought out many interesting facts in connection therewith. Not the least interesting is the following extract from Elizabeth's command for the preparation of a Welsh translation of the Scriptures :— By 5 Elizabeth, Cnp. 28, it is enacted that before 1566 the whole Bible and a Book of Common Prayer shall, under the direction of the Bishop of Hereford and the four Welsh Bishops, be trans- lated into the British or Welsh tongue, and copies supplied to every Cathedral and Parish Church and Chapel, and the divine service performed in that tougue where the Welsh language is com- monly used. And if the said Bishops neglect to execute the Act they shall forfeit £ 50 each to the Queen. A Welshman residing in Cairo writesSince I took my abode in this land of plagues, I have been naturally looking out for fellow countrymen amongst the large number of visitors that come here during the winter months, and I have succeeded more than once. Last winter, in scanning over the names of visitors staying at Shepherd's Hotel, I found a Dr. E. Jones on tijo li,t. It struck me at once that it might be the well-known Dr. Eyton Jones, of Wrexham. At any rate, it was a Welsh name, and I deter- mined to find out if he was or was not a true-born Briton. Accordingly I sent to the hotel a circular with a line written in Welsh at the foot. This was highly successful-tho little line in Welsh did its work splendidly, for in a short time Dr. Eyton Jones himself was in my room, talking Welsh by the yard. The worthy doctor was exceedingly well received in the highest circles in Cairo during his stay, and be proclaimed everywhere that he was a Cymro glan gloew." As may be imagined, his genial presence was very cheering to a lonely compatriot in a place like this. After spending a few weeks in Cairo and its neighbourhood he went up the Nile, as far as Luxor, a distance of some eight hundred miles. Before returning to Wrexham, I understand that Italy and Germany were visited by him. While in Cairo, Dr, Jones was not idle, and the result of his visit, from a professional point of view, was embodied in a paper, read before the British Medical Association at Dublin last year, •">«p-. ♦ '• This winter, again, Cuiro has been honoured by the presence of two warm-hearted and patriotic Welshmen, viz., Messrs O. W. Jones and W. T. Jones, of Llandderfel, Bala, who are on a tour round the world. While in Cairo I had much of their company, and the pleasure of accompany- ing them to some of the great sights. One day we "did" the Pyramids, and the patriotic Welshmen took possession of the great Pyramid of Cheops for "Cymru Fydd," ending by singing Hen WJad fy Nhadau on the top, to the great perplexity of the other visitors and attendant Arabs. From Cairo they went to Jerusalem and Jericho, thence to Beyrout and Damascus. On Christmas Day they happened to be in Alexandria and were entertained to dinner at the Khedivial Club by Mr Samuel Evans, who at present is located there. A few days later they left Suez by the s.s. Clyde for India. They intend crossing India by rail, then take steamer to China and Japan, proceeding to San Francisco, thence across the great American continent to New York for home. Should all be well, they hope to return some time in May next. I am sure all Welshmen will heartily wish them a very pleasant and successful tour. They certainly deserve this for their courage in undertaking such a journey, which is no small matter even in this travelling age. May they arrive home as safe and sound as they will be rich in experience and knowledge, and may Providence soon send more warm-hearted Cymry to Cairo is the sincere wish of your correspondent.

A ROYAL RESIDENCE. "Sandringham, Past and Present," by Mrs Herbert Jones, and published by Messrs Jarrold and Sons, London and Norwich, is a book that is interesting in its way. The first part is devoted to a description of the present aspect of the place, and then particulars are given concerning its earlier owners. The estate was purchased, in 1861, by the Prince Consort, as a shooting-box for the Prince of Wales, but it was so attractive that the latter determined to make it his chief country seat. One ot the chief features of Sandringham is the excellent capability it affords for sports of almost every description. Yet it not only pro- vides pheasant shooting and partridge driving of the first order, besides abounding with woodcock, snipe, and sea-fowl, but has gradually developed into a convenient home, and holds up a noteworthy example of what can be done to improve an estate and to raise to a high standard of excellence the cultivation of its land, the construction of its roads, the character of its cottages and farm premises, the quality of its stock, the disposition of trees in its woods and plantations, and, above all, the condition, physical and mental, of its inhabitants." Tbe estate is about three miles from the sea, and comprises five parishes, altoge- ther about 8,000 acres. The district abounds in beautiful specimens of flora, which delight tbe botanist and are tbe 'joy for ever' of the lover of nature." The principal entrance to Sandringham is through a large iron gate, a fine specimen of the work of the handicraftsmen of Norwich. This gate opens onto an avenue of limes, ending at but not faced by tbe house. The present halt built in 1869, is a red brick house, with white stone- work and windows of modern form. On its west side is a suite of drawing-rooms, united by a wide corridor to the saloon two spacious and well- furnished libraries look out of the east side of the house. In 1883 a new wing was built, at right angles to the east side, containing a ballroom 60 feet by 30 feet, "theinterior of which is delicately colouted, so quaintly ornamented, so cheerfullv lighted as to seem like fairyland." Separated by a large shrubbery, on the east of the house are the stabler, which hold sixty horses. There is one little stable, lined with pale green and white shining tiles, containing the stalls, ornamented with silver, for the four tiny ponies which form the team of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.

THE ONLY REMEDY, Mother— Bobby, I think you are the noisiest little boy I aver saw. You drive me to distrac- tion. Bobby-U Well, why don't you buy me a dram, then, mi? only thipg thaVl^ke&p.K^ waist, .1 'J'

MEMORIES OF THE PAST: Being the Random Recollections of a South Wales dournalist, BY J. C. MANNING (CARL MORQANWG), Author of Frozen Hearts," Paul Tracey's Legacy," &c. CHAPTER Y. THE FIRST DAILY PAPKR IX WALES, On Monday, the 20,,1. of May, 1861, what was then known as the Cambrian Daily Leader first saw the light in a dingy room in one of the narrowest, and in thosfc days one of the dirtieo;t and glomiest, streets of Swansea, known as Caer-street. An eccentric old friend, who claimed to be a remote cousin of the 81 ing member, talked politics and sold T-fr at "ue corner of the street urc e s grocery store formed tbe bulwark at the other corner Mr L. Andrew, I think it was, dis- pensed medicine at the third, and the immortal Professor Staveley bad-whathe called his classical academy in a spare lofb^about the middle of the thoroughfare. The new paper was heralded into existence by the vociferous crowing of cocks in the s a e yard of the Castle Hotel at tbe back, the interminable cackle of hens of the same ilk the last plaintive speech of a dying p,g, with sundry other natural phenomena of A similar character traceable to the feline instincts well calculated to impress one with the solemn importance of the great historical event. TF A PROMISING PROSPECTUS. 1 u- j00 • 'Mentions, marching ostentatiously em noisy fanfaronades and flourishes of trumpets, possessed any value as a means of making a dauy paper pay, then the new venture would have been a brilliant success. But as soft words are a poor substitute for butter with parsnips, even so the grandiloquent utterances of a prospectus, with no money behind it, may be taken as a doubtful kind of currency in the matter of journalistic success. I h,ve a copy of tll0 original prospectus of the Cambrian Daily Leader before me. It tells the world that the first daily paper ever issued in Wales will make its appearance on the date I have named. Its price is o e one penny per day, it is to be called so an so, is to be published early every morning at Swansea, and is to reach all parts of Wales the same day. Then it was to contain all the impor- tant foreign and home new, up to the hour of gomg to press, and its columns were to be enrich ad from time to time by leading articles from the pens of the most eminent living Welshmen. Its aim was to be the development of the trade and resources of the country, and the permanent wel- fare of the people by their elevation to a higher moral condition. Its politics were to be strictly Liberal particular attention was to be paid to the promo ion o education, the advocacy of rotrench- en in a parts cf the public expenditure, a pacific policy as that best becoming a Christian country m its dealings with foreign powers, and reform as the prospectus tells us in the mellifluous meTnM 8 literatio«-not merely in the parcb- neoDlfl° Th' S' bufc in tho Principles of the pe p e. Then we are reminded that at the request of numerous „ ioiirnP?r0m° "i8 kad defcermined to make their ral/UPPly the W necessity for an independent daily paper for Wales, and that they expected for it a large circulation forth with. ters ti! 00,1163 8 USUal Silded Pi" for adver- afford'pd t? Ulat an opportunity is thus that » H W THEY never bad before," and that" ad vertiselDents would be charged at the wnrM S'Xl!8°ce Per l»ne -for cash." Finally, the tvinm* Wa8'ilformed tbat tfce offices of the new lishment°Up at H' A' PricG'd P"QtW estab- isbnaent, Caer-street, Swansea. PISHING WITHOUT SUCCESS. of was the bait thrown out on the broad river of Welsh lifa in the early days of May, in the It wa °usand eight hundred and sixty-one. s 8 a smartly-bedizened caterpillar, was that sftriiw*>r0S*>eC''US~~W'(:'1 fanciful wings of thp f-,lVe and silky down that covered (•Wo °°k. An astute fisher of men, and nnri k' Tu ,a 8':0°d at the handle-end of the rod, a i r6W ^le ^'l^e £ l bait out on the river with wit*, v.6006 deserved better things, labouring wnni<f rave bea*t in the face of sorry sport that ni >n TT*0 BR°KEN the heart of any ordinary lUan. But this great central reSult has to be recorded: Wales never rose to the fly, and the fisber of men had to go away empty-hauded. NOT PKINTSI) IN WALKS. The first daily paper ever issued in Wales was not printed in Wales. Three pages of it w.re made up out of matter used for the Evening Star l! i"1 °tD-' Pa £ e paper being left n which we in Swansea had to supply. It was mixed up in some way with the then almost oetunct Dial scheme, and perhaps this was why Welshmen fought shy of it. Burnt children invarIably dread the fire, and as, at the outset of the Dial venture, Welsh patriots supplied more money to start it than those of any other district 17 S'X JV-88 tbe acrea8e in a°y ether part of the BI e ingdom, and wore sorely bitten for their patriotism, one can hardly wonder that Wales should have hesitated on being asked to put its nffers between tbesame bars a second time. So the fell flat. But the chief promoter iaa tuij faith in it notwithstanding. This was •Lir David Morgan Thomas, son of the Jlev David lomas, of Stockwell. Mr Thomas was a rising young barrister of promising ability, full of energy and enterprise, endowed with many excellent qualities that go to make up men of mark, and a sterling good fellow. It was to this gentleman that Wales was indebted for its first daily paper, aided by his young manager, Mr rederick Wicks, then only 18 or 19 years of age, but who has since risen to the highest pinnacle of journalistic effort, and is now the proprietor of one of tbe best and most vigorously-conducted daily papers in the United Kingdom. "WHAT A REFLECTION The birth-night of the Cambrian Daily Leader often recurs to me in fancy as one of the curiosities of journalistic production, and its first issue was a thing to brood over. "What a reflection I" said Mr Thomas to me, on that eventful night. He was pacing thoughtfully up and down the printing office ill Caer-street. The two men and a boy were engaged pickmg up the requisite quantity of type to filJtbe blank space of the sheets that were then speeding down from Lon- don as fast as a slow train could bring" them. I stood with my back to the fireplace revising a proof, and friend Price sat smoking bis pipe con- tentedly. It was in the dead of night, and the only sound that could be heard was the sharp click of the type against the composing stick made by the two men and a boy who formed the whole of our elaborate staff of-compositors. GOING TO ELECTRIFY WALES. What a reflection repeated Mr Thomas, thoughtful and solemn, ail though a great idea bad just opened up to him. "Here we are at work — scarcely a sound is to be beard-=-and yet we are doing that which will electrify Wales in the morning." It was clear from this that the pro- moter of the undertaking had^formed a very high estimate of his mission, but, a&lar as I can remem- ber, Wales got out of bed next morning and experienced no inconvenience from the deadly charge of electricity which the two men and a boy had psepared for it, even if ft^JJkind of electric shock was felt at all, which J Jiave very good reason to doubt. But down cihie the sheets from London in due course, the six columns of matter were made up, and proudly borne to tbeimposmg- iron on galleys by Mr price, the immortal heading was put to the paper, bang went the mallet against the unfortunate quorAs with a flourish worthy of the historic occasipn^ the steam had been/got up in the little donkey-engine that fizzed and spluttered fussily at the end of the office, the one solitary forme was borne tin; triumph to the machine from which the Swantta Journal was went to see tbe light. CJ-o^ aj-head was the. great historic order proudly giyen. A rumble of machinery and a gush of steam were the answer, and the first copy of the first daily paper ever issued in Wales bectltoe a living literary and typographical fact. It ^>dked like a big event then, but seen through th^" lapse of years, and by the light of an enl&jg^d experience, it bean the aspect of a storm in a very small teacup, THE TITLE ALTERED. flrhftiiwt the -Mw, venture bad to encounter was a lawyer's letter. It was written on behalf of the proprietor of the Cambrian news- paper, and took the shape of a demand that the title of the new paper, being an infringement of existing rights in tue word Cambrian," should be altered forthwith, and that without any delay. What do you think of that ?" said the chief promoter to the chief printer, coming into the printing office, and tossing the letter on to the im- posing stone, with tue thunders and lightnings of twenty Jones's gathering about his expressive eyes. I looked at the legal missive as it lay, and remember the circumstance well. Who could forget it ? The chief printer took up the letter, and looked at it with one of those characteristic, smiles of his, as though he were mentally saying, I thought so. I knuw that shop of old. Just like 'em!" Then be quietly asked, What do you intend to do ?" Do re-echoed the chief promoter with a con- temptuous inflexion of the voice. I have a clear answer in favour of the retention of the title, but the great work cannot be impeded by such con- temptible trifles, and the way out of the difficulty is simplicity itself." The chief printer looked at the chief pro- moter, and seemed rather at a loss to understand precisely what he meant. I think it must have been the youthful manager who, with that fertility of resource which is the making of men, had suggested this easy- way out of the difficulty, for at that moment he appeared on the scene from the little dark shanty below which did duty as publishing office, editor's room, sub-editor's room, reporters' room, adver- tisement office, and all the rest of it, rolled into one. "Simple enough," said he, as the last words of the chief promoter fell on his ear. Besides," he added, we represent the country of Wales—we don't represent the man of Wales, and the title as it now stands is ungrammatical. Take away the letter N and you have the proper title." The chief printer smiled another characteristic smile, the chief promoter reflected with a self- satisfied air over the easy way out of the diffi- culty, the n was lopped off from the word "Cambrian," and the paper came out next morning with the title it bears to this day. WRONGLY QUOTED. But another difficulty shortly arose in reference to the title of the new venture. An ingenious master-printer down Pembroke way-I faucy it was Mr Davies, of Pembroke Dock—discovered that what ought to have been a C in the word Cambria was really an E," and being the editor and proprietor of a paper himself, he was in the habit, week after week, of quoting paragraphs from what he called the "Eambria Daily Leader," till we succeeded in transforming the luckless E into a C. This was accomplished by the chief printer picking out the offending part of the heading with his penknife, accompanied by the expression, I wonder what they will find fault with next!" I THE FIRST ADVERTISER. I think it is to Mr Roberts, the father or the uncle of Mr Roberts, the estate agent, who is now a member of the Swansea School Roard-or was if he is not now—history will have to assign the distinguished honour of having given the firft advertisement to the first daily paper ever issued in Wides. Mr Roberts was agent for the Royal Insurance Society, and it was an advertisement— a rather lengthy one -connected with that office to which I refer. The promoters of the new venture had worked out a curious calculation as to advertisements. There was a sort of traditi6n going round the office that two columns of matter at 6d per line would bring any daily paper up to the paying point. It was soon found, however. that the prescribed two columns were filled with advertisements long before the 61 per line could be obtained, and then three columns were pro- claimed as the coveted maximum that was to place the new venture on a sound commercial founda- tion. But somehow or other it came to be discovered that the influx of advertisements and the price paid for them failed to work in har- monious ratio, till the original dream of 61 per line-or even a quarter of that Ejum-vanisbod into very thin air, and was never realised. NO LOCAL NEWS. Then the subscribers began to cry out that the advertisers were having it all their own way, and that there was no news from Wales in the paper—a complaint that had some justifiable basis, seeing that the only available six columns were now taken up, or nearly sos with unremunerative advertisements, and the remaining part of the paper was printed in London. We must print the paper ourselves," said the chief promoter one day, as if awaking from a dream. How's that to be done ?" the youthful manager wanted to know. We will see what we can do," was the reply of the chief promoter. The chief printer had nothing to say on the subject. He was kept in the dark, tor obvious reasons. He smelt a rat all the same. A proposal was made to him to allow the Sivansea Journal to be absorbed in the daily venture, and to part with his typographical belongings for a small consideration. He failed to see it. The daily venture had already swallowed up a Wednesday's issue of the Journal that had previously been published, and the rod was held over the chief printer with the suggestion that the Saturday's issue would soon be gobbled up too, so that he might as well make a virtue of necessity, and let the swallowing go on without kicking up a row about it. Still, he failed to see it I felt as though I could have cried," said he to me, to think that tha old Journal was going to be doomed in that way." And his humid ejes showed that he meant it. His paper was a plrfect hobby of his, and his nffection for it took the shape of an overmaster- ing passion. Well," said I, you have warmed the boa-constrictor, and now it is going to squeeze the life out of you. That is just what is break- ing my heart," he replied with tremulous voice, and burying his face in his hands he cried and sobbed like a child. No," said he at length, with surprising energy, and starting up from his chair, the old paper shall never die while I am alive He kept his word. ALL PRINTED IN WALES. From that time forward the desire of the chief promoter to print the new venture himself took more emphatic shape, for bis relations with the chief printer bad grown uncomfortably strained. Then those relations suddenly went off with a bang, and the new venture found itself located in a room in Oxford-street, the paper coming out joyfully one fine morning with the announcement, displayed in tremendous type, as though pro- claiming the fate of a nation—" The whole of this paper is now printed in Wales (To he continued.)

HIS FALL. Miss Violet-" Your brother Percy is studying for the ministry, is he not ?" Mr Daze-" Yes, and he is going to take orders in a few weeks." Miss Violet—" Going to take orders ? Good. ness It is bard that he should have to abandon his good calling to wait iu a restaurant."

It is when a man igurir.Ll- to preserve bis balance that he hesitates to give an v»c>;ouut of himnftlf.

Samuel's Sentiments. Some Men who Live without Working. HERE are some men who can aff. rd to live without working, some nteri wlj,) are born with silver spoons in their mouths, which must be rather uncomfortable, ove-the-bye, from a p .ysical point of view. Some men, too; marry money and live without working — and their wives genetally let them kuow about it when the former are in bad tempers. It must be distinctly under- stood that in this article I do not refer in any degree to such persons as I have mentioned—to men, in fact, who can admittedly afford to live without working (I always speak of them with some degree of respect -for they are useful friends, eh ?) I am writing, sir, of the men who are in some respects mysteries —of the men who live and don't work; of the men who, as I believe, would die if they did work. I am not for one moment, sir, going to attempt any moral dissertation upon drones in the hive of life (I call that sentence "werry good"; I shall charge extra for this article), for I am not good at prayching I only intend referring to a few people I have observed, and who always seem to have money to spend and never appear to earn any. Of course, if I myself wished to live without working I should join the police force, which "plays harder than any body of men I know of. When I had been n month in the force I should get a watch—if I dldnle the watch-committee would probably dispense with my services. You never met V l'VK GOT MY HYtt ON YKR." with a. policeman who hadn't a watch-even if it was only a night-watch, a day-watch, or a Water- bury. This would supply me with lots of little emoluments. For instance, I should go into an hotel and call for a glass of rum hot; then I should fumble about in my pcckets (policemen's pocket are so hard to get -it-rather) till the land- lord said All right, lad," with a wink. Then again I should look after lost dogs and children, and leave all the thieves alone. The thieves can take care of themselves they don't want any of your interference they can take care of them- selves-the lost children can't, and the mothers of the latter are always good for sixpence and a nip of something comforting. Next to policemen, the men who do nothing most agreeably are militiamen. It is true that they are-called up occasionally by the military authorities-and by the magistrates, but this only serves to pass the time away. They have no fighting to do-except among themselves. I judge that they would "PREPARE TO RKCErvE —REFRESHMENTS." fight well on occasion-if they had to storm a canteen, for instance. Insuchacase as that they would be found where the enemy was most numerous. But, sir, beyond these heroes there are men who wax fat withoutworking They get up about dinner time — possibly to save a meal, and then they com- mence a day of intellectual enjoyment; they go to the police court or to a football match or a quoit match, or they sit in a public-house (especially on a Monday) till a man with some money, and the disposition to spend it, turns up. Then they are in their natural element beer As a general rule it is supposed that their relations are "well-to-do," and they themselves must fifili that it is well to do their relations. Some of them affect to do odd ions'— very" odd" jobs indeed, I should imagine. They are always (ac- cording to their own account) on the look out for work. They look out forwoik by leaning over the front railings, smoking. By their own state- ments (if you areonpuchtenns of intimacy to cross examine them) they gene- rally belong to some trade whar- A LOAFER HARD AT WOIUC. in work is often Pearc-P. Where there is- work, you will often find that tJuyara scarce. With them twu always bad-auy sort of work is bad 5: m uCtr~or "sIack." How they live goodness (or badness) alone knows. Their wives and daughters must work, I suppose, or they have a lodger or two. Of curse, l ,"i ,W1.ves an(1 daughters are employed it wouldi. t beseem them to work—they, mu-st stop at home and see that no one runs away with tbe house; it isn't well to leave a house, lik, a ^"0WKs' tfi ve-pound note, all a loan. In a some- what better class you find innumerable "beings who are supposed amongst their acquaintances to be "agent" • but where the agency comes in no one can precisely say. Some of them are pre- sumably in the spirit trade, judging by the aTT)<»unt of the spirit trade which goes into them. Thev commence business rather late, but they make up for it by leaving off early. Their office hours th«ir u mlfans 80 i°"K apparently as their off-ish hours. They will boastfully EMPLOYED BY "STREET AND WALKER." assure you that they are demons to work when they begin, but as n o oneever sees them begin they never call wit- oessell to prove their statements. Some of them affect to do some- thing on the turfthough, to all appearance, their trans. actions never ex- ceed a shilling, and then you oftener see them receiving "tri- fles" than pay- ing them. And then, lSir, by re- ferring to my list of persons who live without working, I find war office clerks, and music-hall 'stars," and lecturers for tbe "Society for ^he Spreading of .Shirts before the Heathen." Then there are diplomatists, and billiard markers, and corporation officials, and German Princes, who have the best of the bargain in this life. Men like you and my- self,, sir, who industriously plod and oat the bread of honest industry,are not half so well off as inspectors (of all sorts and sizes) and other men wbo live without working. Somehow I always myself stnek to work I found that work stuek to me, perhaps that's the reason. And I can always work best when I have nothing to do I can go in with such a swing and do it. But tfdoes not appeat to me that, in the case of many men, work is a necessity. All men are differently constituted, you know, and I call it a hardship that a man who is built the other way should have to torHike the born workers. Sometimes I think that I myself was not born to work, but I am soon dis- illusioned in that regard-especially about Sátnr- day, when I find that the balance due to me is not what it ought to be. I wish I had an obele {I don't mean what you mean) or somebody or other who would sav that he didn't think I ought to strike a bat; I would bless him, and say that I agreed wit b him. SAMUEL: His SENTIMENTS.

TALK OF THE TOWN. CNBAGGED THE SECRET TREATY — A DOUBLE POINT OF VIKW—A FORGOTTKN BLUEJACKKT- "TOM BOITLING "-PRATTI'S DI-NNER-A YANKEE BULLION AIHE'S BEAN FEAST — THE CROWN AT HOME.'—MR COX "CELLED"—"SALVE"—THE LORD CHANC LLOR — HERO WORSHIP — DICKENS' POSTERtTY — MAUT AN] >ERSON — BROWNING — A FINE VIOLINIST—THE WOLVES—A LIONESS IN DANGER. THE great political events of the month, so far as it has waned, are, first, the official publication of the treaty of alliance between Austria, Hungary, and Germany, then Bismarck's grand oration, with its keynote of "peace," and lastly, the re-opening of St. Stephen's, and the usual speech from the Crown. As to the first item, it was a premeditated, altogether timeons, and uuexpected I LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE B-I.G- I C.milt Andrassy on the one hand, and the German Chancellor on the other. These two master-spirits agreed, at the drafting of the treaty, that rigid secrecy should be maintained as to its Anti-Mu>covite Alliance, in consideration of the assurances given by the Cz,¡r of the pacific character of his warlike preparations of 1379. The original compact included only Berlin and Vienna afterwards Italy was added. The Czar knew what was in that bag, but he was not informed of the intention of its holders to let the cat out. Following this hich-handed measure, the speech of Prince Bismarck will re-assure the worid, and the nations may sheath swords yet awhile. Our great political rulers have always held the power of the Press in awe the iron Chancellor sets it at defiance. "The Press, for bim, was only printer's ink on paper, to which he attached no importance." Behind every article in the Press was only an individual who wielded the pen in order to launch an article into the world." Only an individual What does the Thunderer say It is the anonymity of the political Press that gives it the sort of mysterious power it possesses. I met a journalist lately who told me he was a rabid Tory," but that he was in the habit of writing on both sides of the question—one for his own side, the other for the opposite. I do this, he said, to thresh the question out-the soundest logic being, of course, on the Tory side. I thought self-deception could go little further. He took the hire of both papers, of course. I have known many all-round writers on the Press, men who write syndicate articles for both the Liberal and Conservative papers but these men have no political convictions-tbey are simply philosophical machines. We are having a-many anniversaries—a-many reminders of notable dead. There was the lately passed anniversary of the execution of Charles Stuart, at one time called the Martyr King; and on the same day, the centenary of the death of bis latest legitimate descendant, for the repose of whose soul no mass could be organised. Then we had the Byron centenary, and a retrospect of the man and the poet. Now the vane points out to sea, and we are reminded of Robert Blake, the sea-king, who founded England's supremacy, but whose ashes lie unhunoured by stone or inscription in a promiscuous pit," in the yard of St Margaret'?, Westminster Abbey, where they were thrown at the Restoration, along- with the remains of Cromwell's venerable inotner and others. Dean Bradley a-ka us to collect £ 200 for a suitable monument to the heroic dead—hardly the price of a good Civic dinner Ah "Seek not for the names thatare blazoned in story, The time of our youth is the time of our glory." The world is getting worn out; its memory is failing. What was it that Robert Blake did ? Deeds too many to enumerate here-somp few I will recall a fifth standard boy will tell you the rest. lie reduced the Channel Islands. As sole Admiral of the Fleet, with twenty-three sail he defeated Van Tromp, the Dutch admiral, with a force nearly double. On two several occasions Blake afterwards conquered Van Tromp and a large fleet. He sailed into the Mediterranean and demolished the Castle of Tunis because the Bey retused to release his English captives, and, later on, the great stronghold of Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, burning the ship", and bringing his own almost scatheless out of the fray. He died 27th May, 1637, on his return home, just as the ship entered Plymouth Harbour. He was buried in West- minster Abbey, nnearthpd, and thrown into the obscure pit, over which reverent hands would raise a fitting monument. One more eminence of a different kidney is also to the fore- Sea-song Dibdin, over whose grave no fitting stone tells his story. If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." To leave such stirring and patriotic songs as Charles Dibdin left is a claim a brave country like Eng- land cannot forego. So long as the British tar exists, Tom Bowling" will be his Psalm of Life. I saw a happy suggestion lately to the effect that there should be a limited company for providing wedding presents; society feels the tax of these gifts so heavily. Not a bad idea. I know of two brides who received—the one 13 biscuit boxes, the ether eight five-o'-clock-tea services A company would not repeat itself so uselessly. Why, then, should there not be a company, limited, also, for keeping the memory of the famous dead fresh in mural monuments — poets and soldiers, chief spirits of all cults! We need not then send round the hat. Dean Bradley says a public dinner often costs JB200. His reverence evidently had not heard of the American gentleman who called at Hatcheti's Hotel, in Piccadilly, last week, and said he wanted to give a real bean-feast to eight friends what would it cost ? The proprietor said his European dinner was good at five shillings, and that the Parisian at seven shillings and sixpence was unsurpassed. But the Yankee said he should not insult his friends by giving them such trash. Would J3500 fetch out a decent repast? "It would, said Mr Pratti, "procure every conceiv- able luxury." The order was to get the dinner, and a cheque for £ 100 was at once given on account. I said one of the latest political features of im- portance was the opening of St Stephen's. I I THE GREAT DOORS ARE ALWAYS THROWN OPEN j BR THE CROWN, 1 either ia parson pr ispreaeattftively. Looking at the stately edifice just after the clock began to be illuminated. I bethought me of MR COX, M.P IN HIS CELL, picking oakum, and I wondered if he too would be cured of lion-taming. What is done, by the way. with this historic oakam ? Could it not be made into matting for the coming Parliamentary House in Dublin-there ought to be sufficient by this time-or into door-mafcsforthe doors ot Holloway, with the simple word "Salve" on the surface. The point of interest always at the opening of Parliament is THE LORD CHANCELLOR READING THE QUSEK'S SPEECH. This be does even when her Majesty is present. To revert to birthdays. Dickens' birthday passed on the 17th, and, taking that date as a text, a contemporary gives us an instance of modern hero-worship which has few equals. This is the collection of Mr W. R. Hughes, the Birmingham borough treasurer, which represents the great novelist in almost every aspect. In a room known as the Dickens' Room, and devoted to the purpose, Mr Hughes has stored, besides sixteen portraits of his hero, medallions, busts, &.c., pictorial reproductions of scenes and characters from his bocks, all his letterpress, in every form and condition, 200 vols. of his works alone, 45 biographies of the man, and works dedicated to him, and odds and ends of the same subject covering a heterogeneous and vast range. This is hero-worship indeed. At Mr Felix Moscheles' studio, two or three days ago, I heard five grandchildren of the great novelist- children of Mr Henry Dickens, barrister-at-law- sing and illustrate a negro melody in the most charming manner. One-a boy-held a tam- bourine to emphasise points of the ditty, which he did very cleverly; but the second in range, a girl apparently about seven years old, phrased her song wonderfully, in a voice which had pathos and promise of power. Two dear wee tots sang in thin treble a song from the Mas- catte very sweetly. It was the artist's birth- day, and Miss Mary Anderson had brought him a pretty pin, with a stone like a moonstone, shining, when held in the light, like a bright star-as Mr Moscheles said, a star from a star." The charming actress who, as Hermione, draws full houses nightly showed me with pride a fancy head her friend had presented to her. Mr Moscheles has a wonderful faculty in giving, not enly a true likeness of his portraits, but tb. individual characteristics. Misf Anderson it perfectly natural in her manner, very spirited, and without even a tinge of self consciousness. She moves with great grace. Mr Browning, the poet, was of the natal company also. He dresses with evident care, looks extremely weil-bred, and is very simple in his manner. He looks a well- preserved man, well up in years, by no means sc old-looking as his portraits, and a man I should never, think of describing as venerable." M. Adamou.-ki, the Russian violinist, played divinely, Mr Moscheles is to be an early Celebrity in the World. Pasha. Broad ley, who" does" most of these biographettes usually takes breakfast with his subject, gathering his material then, and writing data afterwards. Corney Grain-the ever fresh and ever charming -has been interviewing himself. He has been interviewed by others ad nauseam. His humorou sketches of his patrons arc most amusing. Mr George Grossmith, when offended by the people he is called upon to entertain, works them intc his impromptu skits, and naturally they don't like it. There is nothing a self conscious masbe? can so ill bear as ridicule. Mr Corney Grain it about to be married, and I am told the lady sti, pulates that he retires from the platform. If be does he dies A man verging on fifty cannot stand a sudden break of the habits of a lifetime he will mope, sigh for the footlights, and Mre Comey Grain will probably be only too thankful to see him resume his vocation. We are more than the creatures of habit-we are the slaves. An eye-witness describes the scene at Sanger's last Saturday night as terrifying. When the door of the stables was opened, and THE EIGHT WOLVES WERE SEEN DRAGGING DOWN THE HOMK. the trainer was appalled. The remaining horses, valuable trained animals, were some of them struggling with their halters, others, having broken loose, were careering madly about, but, fortunately, the one victim kept the pack too busy to permit of them molesting the rest. The trainer. "Alpine Charley (Mr Taylor), showed wonder- ful pluck. It went to his heart to see the poor mare, Shrewsbury, still alive, while the savage beasts gnawed at her throat and abdomen. She died in 12 minutes. It is due to the trainer, Mr John Du Humphreys, that so little damage ensued. The neighbourhood only quieted down when word was brought that the brutes had been recaged. It is believed that the letting out of the animals was not the result of accident. Five parrots have died of fright. On Saturday morning, as the lion tamer was dragging two new lionesses across the board 8 behind the stage, one of them got loose, and rushing forward, fortunately fell down a pit about 15H. in deptbi wbwtfthe was recaptured uninjured. ZWOO.

WORKMEN'S TOPICS. BY W.Abraham, M. P., Mabon. UNION IS STRENGTH. The avowed object of trades unions is to secure for the workmeu that share of the profit of pro- duction which is due to labour."—G. Potter. In view of the fact that the vast majority of our working population continue to be bard workers, and have to be content with the bare necessaries of life, oftentimes with hardly sufficient food and raiment, and with no better prospect than the continuance of ever being hewers of wood and drawers of water, this is a fair question of such importance as to demand special attention. Can there be no lawful way of influencing the general arrangements of society in favour of working men —any mode of making their wages somewhat higher and their work somewhat less? THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. Wages, we are told, must depend on the law of supply and demand. When work is plentiful and workmen few, wages must and will be high when, on the other band, work is scarce and workmen plentiful, wages must and will be low. This, according to political economy, is the great law of nature, and it should be left to settle the question. As a general principle this is doubtless correct. The law of supply and demand must be the great regulator of wages. Any violent inter- ference with this law will, in the end, defeat its object, and lead to mischief. But it is still a ques- tion whether the law of supply and demand is a purely self-regulating one—whether it can be trusted to adjust itself, or whether it may not require at times some artificial pressure—the kind of pressure which is supplied by combinations and strikes—to determine what the relation of demand to supply is a.t a given time, what ill the highest sum that employers can give, and tbe lowest that workmen will accept. LABOUR NOT HAB ITS DUB SHARE. That labour in past time has not obtained its fair and due share of the profits of production is certain from the fact that many employers have made large fortunes, and that most of them live in a style of comfort which indicates that they made large profits. Eridently the different circum- stances of capitalists and labourers prevent the law of supply and demand from operating freely, and from determining equitably what the employers ought to give and the work- man ought to take for his' labour. If the law of supply and demand is to operate, the pressure, so to speak, on buyer and seller ought to be equal. If one of the parties be subjected to a pressure which the other does not feel, the fair action of the law will be interfered with. If the one wants to sell his commodity immediately, the advantage is on the side of the purchaser. The labourer, as a rule, lives on his earnings from week to week, and usually supports | a family. Therefore he cannot wait, while the capitalist has other means of living, and does not require to buy at once. The labourer is thus exposed to the risk of soiling his commodity, through necessity, for anything that it will fetch at the moment. To remedy this evil he combines with other labourers. By this means a fund is accumulated, which gives support to the labourer if his employer and himself differ as to terms, and the labourer is often saved the trouble and necessity of parting with bis labour at a sacrifice. WHY TRADE SOCIETIES ARE FORMED. It is under this plan of trades unions and combination that workmen, feeling that individu- ally they are weak and helpless, and too much at the mercy of capitalists, form themselves into trades societies, which are designed to give to their members the strength that comes from unions and to afford protection and aid in every important matter where the members' interests are at stake. As a rule, the unions are designed to aid workmen in any dispute that may arise between them and their employers as to the rate of wages, the hours of labour, and the regulations of the trade generally. Especial attention is paid to the rates of wages and continuity of employ- ment. When disputes arise between employers and employed it is usually attempted to get such disputes amicably settled but in the event of a refusal by the em- ployer to come to terms, recourse is had by the men to a strike, which, by throwing the EMPLOYKB ON HIS SEAM-ENDS, renders bis machinery idle, and he has thrown on him the cost of keeping his works in repair while his capital is idle. Often he is forced to accept the men's terms. Trades unions, in addi- tion, often make provisions against sickness and migration, and not a few have widow and orphan funds attached. But these objects do not concern our present article so much as the effect of trades unions on wages and the continuity of employ. meat. A VALUABLE FORCE. Without in any way being presumptuous, thore is no doubt whatever, in my own miud, that trades unions have proved a valuable force in securing to workmen improved conditions of labour and better pay. And what is more, I have not the least doubt also that workmen are, to a gieat extent, the masters of their own fates," and that many of the faults that tell both against their continuity of employment and their rates of wages are in themselves. The industries in which the operatives have built up solid, en- during organisations, that include the majority of the men who follow these trades, show a higher rate of wages, and even less fluctuation in employ- ment, than those in which unionism is weak or non-existent. While the trades possessing unions yield to the workers nearly all that is possible to them, workmen in disorganised trades often obtain less than what is called the market value of their labour,and through not unitedly asserting their claim to it. TWO CLASSES OF WORKMEN.' Two classes of workmen are prominent in shirking their duty in regard to trades unions— those who are too vicious in their habits to think of the claims of their craft, and those who, while possessing enough intelligence, skill, and indi- vidual thrift, care little for the general welfare of their order, and keep, aloof from its trade move- ments, especially if by so doing they can obtain personal favours. The general body of workmen have equal cause to regret the degradation of the one class and the desertion of the other. Working men greatly need to keep and use all the intelli- gence they can to leaven and guide them. When some men amongst them fight for their own hands, the weaker men of tbe class are left I\'n easy prey 1 to the greed that is displayed by some employers. And, after all, these weaker links are the real measure of the strength of the labour chain, for the management cannot continue giving personal favours, even to those who have been pliable tools in their hands, once a reduction in wages has become general. Personal favours must then end, unless the same men are again used to commence another course of devastation. EXCUSES. Other causes and excuses are used for failing to find the necepsary time to devote to the good of the trade and the benefit of the general com- munity to which one belongs. But no devotion to any other good cause can justify a working man who neglects to do his part to im- prove the industrial position of his fellows. If all who seek to escape from their responsibility to their class would help, the development from within would increase, and working men would not only be better off :,s working men, but would much sooner elevate themselves from being for ever an employed class into a more honourable position-a position of partnership with # capital, or become their own employers. My contention is, and always has been, that by their labour organisations workmen can do much to remedy many of the causes that influence prejudicially both the conditions of employment and the rate of wages. IMPORTANCE OF FEDERATION. To seek a remedy for the ills thsvt pfflict the country's industrial life is worthy of an effort,and one that is sure to be useful, if sufficient control is given to a self-preserving common sense not to adopt as remedies schemes that would tend to increase the evils. Some say that labour organisations should take up labour questions more broadly—that they are now too narrow, limited too much each to their own trades. The Trades Union" Congress having won complete legal freedom of combinations, it is contended that it ought now to put in practice the idea of trade federation, and that the real identity of interest between workmen of all trades should be acted upon, for it is evident that only the general elevation will ensure to each branch of producers' security of the wages tenure," which would be the following of an employment at just rates of wages, without fearing the compe- tition of an outside army of underpaid labour." If this be true in a general sense-and there is no doubt about it—nothing can be more evident and obvious than the identity of interest that exists between the colliers of Monmouthshire and South Wales f and that the formation of local organiza- tions going on at present, with the view of federating the whole, will be an effective lever in the elevation of the whole body if, when formed, the organization is well managed and wisely guided.

It is the matutinal angler who appreciates the fact that the early worm catches the fish. The main thing in putting Haggard's Jess on the stage is to secure some man who will make a creditable ostrich. The other characters can be taken by stage carpenters and chambermaids. LITTLE DINNERS.—The sincerest form of hos- pitality, and by far the most enjoyable left to us, is little dinners. Showy banquets and display feeds may possess some interest sys spectacles, and various forms of glorification, private and public, individual or collective but the real soul of good fellowship is in a gathering of six to a dozen persons —intelligent, congenial—round the table of a discriminating, experienced host or hostess {or both), who invite their friends. not to show the extent of their wealth and the luxury of their plate—though there is no objection to beautiful things, if one possesses them—but whose first thought is comfort, and a little season of unclouded and, therefore, rational enjoyment on such a basis as can be repeated and made a part, indeed, of the daily life»ifcs tod happy occasior "<