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Cornell University Library 
 LA2377.R32 R32 
 
 Memoir of Sir Charles Reed 
 
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 3 1924 030 581 692 
 
M ^ Cornell University 
 VM Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030581692 
 
MEMOIE 
 
 SIE CHAELES EEED 
 
MEMCriE 
 
 SIK CHAELES EEED 
 
 KY HIS $0N 
 
 CHARLES E: B;' REED, M.A 
 
 ACTBOR OF ''THE COMTAXIOSS OF THE LORI» " 
 
 M A C M I L L A N AND CO, 
 
 1SS3 
 
 M. 
 
 r*« Right 0/ Translation and BeproductiOH is Reserval 
 
A, /'^^.Y. 
 
TO HER 
 
 WHOSE SYMPATHY, EVBK SOUGHT AND NEVBE FAILING, 
 
 STBENGTHENED THE LIFE OF HER HUSBAND, 
 
 AND NOW HAS AIDED 
 
 THE PEN OF HEE SON, 
 
 THESE PAGES 
 
 AEE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 
 
PREEAOE. 
 
 Although the following pages tell a plain 
 story that needs no introduction, a few words 
 may be allowed the writer as to the materials 
 he has had at command, and the use he has 
 sought to make of them. 
 
 The materials have in some respects been 
 scanty. Sir Charles Reed's correspondence was 
 for the most part brief and confined to business. 
 Nor did he leave any private diary, from which 
 his biographer might draw — ^perhaps be tempted 
 to draw with too free a hand. He was too 
 active a man to chronicle the doings of each 
 day ; while as to putting on paper his thoughts 
 and reflections, he would probably have agreed 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 with a worthy minister who, after keeping a 
 diary of this kind for some months, closed it 
 with the remark : — " If I write down my 
 better feelings, people iwill think too well of 
 me; and if I record my worse, I shall pain 
 those who care for me." 
 
 In using the materials that were available, 
 the writer has endeavoured to foUow two prin- 
 ciples — the one, to restrict himself to matters 
 of general, as distinguished from family, interest ; 
 and the other, to dwell only on what was in 
 some degree characteristic. While, therefore, 
 the public movements in which Sir Charles 
 took part could not be passed by, they are 
 introduced only as a background, and with a 
 view to make his figure stand forth more 
 clearly on the canvas. 
 
 For it is the man, and not his surroundings, 
 that one cares to paint. Striking incident is 
 not essential in order to justify a biography. 
 The one element that is needed is power; it 
 may be power of bold and rapid movement, or 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 of intellectual leadership, or — as it is believed 
 will be found here — of high, concentrated, and 
 steadfast purpose. And if this purpose has 
 been pursued amid paths trodden by the many, 
 then the value of the record as an incentive to 
 others should not be lessened, but enhanced. 
 
 It may be added that this Memoir has had 
 to be prepared in the intervals of other work- 
 The writer has thus been prevented from con- 
 sulting many of his father's old friends, who 
 might have been able to contribute valuable 
 information. Among those who have kindly 
 assisted, none deserve more grateful mention 
 than the Rev. Andrew Heed, elder brother to 
 Sir Charles, and Mr. G. H. Croad, head of 
 the stafif of the London School Board. 
 
 April 12th, 1883. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE . 
 
 
 FAQE 
 
 
 . . . ix 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 1819-1841. 
 
 
 CHESHtJNT — HACKNEY — SILOOATES — LEEDS 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DAYS OF TOIL AND THE DAY OF BEST. 
 1842-1867. 
 
 BUSINESS CAEES — HOME LIFE — SUNDAY ... 19 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 TEE SUNDAY SCHOOL. 1831-1880. 
 
 WORK AS A TEACHER — SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION— 
 
 CENTENAKY OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS . ... 30 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 PUBLIC SPIRIT. 1842-1881. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY — UNDENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES — 
 
 HIS father's INSTITUTIONS 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 LMISXIRE HOURS. 1849—1874. 
 
 ANTIQUARIAN PURSUITS — LITERARY WORK — HOLIDAYS . 74 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 CITIZEN OF LONDON. 1855-1874. 
 
 FREE LIBRARY — CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL — BEORGE 
 
 PEABODY — BUNHILL FIELDS — IRELAND 95 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 PARLIAMENT. 1868-1881. 
 
 HACKNEY — ST. IVES, CORNWALL . 119 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL BOARD FOR 
 LONDON. 1870-1873. 
 
 PAGE 
 THE ELEMENTAET EDUCATION ACT — EARLY WOBK OF 
 
 THE BOAKD 137 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD. 1873—1876. 
 
 VISIT TO AMEBICA — WOEK OE THE SECOND BOAED — THE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION 157 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 CHAIRMAN. 1876—1881. 
 
 WOKK OF THE THIED BOAED — CAXTON CELEBEATION— 
 THE PAEIS EXHIBITION — CHAEAOTEE OF THE FOITETH 
 BOAED 177 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 BENT NOT BROKEN. 1875-1881. 
 
 CONSTANCE EEED — EAELSMEAD — KENNETH EEED — CANNES 
 
 — ST. IVES — THE LAST WINTER . .... . 194 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 TEN YEAKS OF THE WOKK OF THE LONDON SCHOOL 
 
 BOARD, 1870-1880 217 
 
 INDEX 247 
 
 The Portrait which forrns the Frontispiece is Engraved 
 G. J. Stodakt, from a Photograph taken in 1880 iy 
 Messes. Elliott and Fby. 
 
MEMOIE 
 
 OF 
 
 OslW niT A T? T T? e -"T? 17 E Tk 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 Pagei 137, line 3, for "wood," read "wool." 
 
 Of gladness full, and fuU of lofty hopes.' " 
 
 " A GOOD education is a fortune which a chUd 
 can never spend and a parent can always bestow." 
 So said Andrew Reed, the watchmaker of St. 
 Clement Danes, to his wife, who kept what, in 
 these instructed and inspected days, would be 
 called a private adventure school, and in all like- 
 lihood be condemned accordingly. They had no 
 opportunity of applying their doctrine in the case 
 
 B 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 TEN YBABS OF THE WORK OF THE LONDON SCHOOL 
 
 BOAED, 1870-1880 217 
 
 INDEX 247 
 
MEMOIE 
 
 OP 
 
 SIE CHAELES REED 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 " What God 
 Intended as a blessing and a boon, 
 We have received as such ; and we can say, 
 ' A solemn, yet a joyful, thing is life. 
 Which, being full of duties, is for this 
 Of gladness full, and full of lofty hopes. ' " 
 
 " A GOOD education is a fortune which a child 
 can never spend and a parent can always bestow." 
 So said Andrew Reed, the watchmaker of St. 
 Clement Danes, to his wife, who kept what, in 
 these instructed and inspected days, would be 
 called a private adventure school, and in all like- 
 lihood be condemned accordingly. They had no 
 opportunity of applying their doctrine in the case 
 
 B 
 
2 CHARLES REED'S GRANDPARENTS. [ch. i. 
 
 of several of their children, who died early ; but 
 as for their eldest surviving son, the bearer of his 
 father's name, and a lad of great promise, they 
 were resolved to give him the best possible educa- 
 tion, though they admitted " it must be at some 
 sacrifice, for war-taxes are fearful, and bread is 
 sixteenpence-halfpenny the quartern loaf." 
 
 This boy, afterwards Dr. Andrew Eeed, was 
 trained for the Christian ministry, and doubtless 
 owed much of the interest he felt through life in 
 the welfare of the orphan to the fact that his 
 own mother had lost both her parents at an early 
 age. He was not long left to pursue his studies 
 alone. The watchmaker had saved money, and 
 come in for a small legacy, so that the school had 
 been given up. But to enable her husband to 
 devote himself to mission work amongr "the 
 heathen round about them," Mary Ann Reed nobly 
 resolved to go into business on her own account. 
 " I mean," she said, " to give him scope for study, 
 and if I can help it, he shall not take even 
 coach hire from the poor folk he goes to minister 
 unto." The unusual sight was thus presented 
 of father and son poring over the same books, 
 with the same high aim before them. On the 
 Sunday the two would journey out afoot as far as 
 Ponders End, and after spending the day in 
 
1819-41.] HIS PARENTS AND BIRTH. 3 
 
 preaching and holding cottage meetings, would 
 return home to receive welcome from her who 
 so wiUingly spared them for this service. 
 
 After a while Andrew Reed the younger became 
 a student at Hackney Theological Seminary, having 
 declined from conscientious reasons an offer of 
 admission to Cambridge under Mr. Simeon. Dur- 
 ing his college course he developed remarkable 
 powers of preaching, and at its close accepted 
 a call to the pastorate of New Road, the church 
 of which he was already a member. Here he was 
 ordained on the 27th of November, 1811, his 
 twenty-fourth birthday. Five years later he 
 married Eliza, daughter of Mr. Jasper Holmes, 
 of Reading. The issue of this union was five 
 sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Andrew, 
 is stUl living, after more than forty years of 
 ministerial service; the second, Jasper, died in 
 infancy; while the third was Charles Reed, 
 the subject of the following pages. 
 
 His birth took place on the 20th of June, 1819, 
 at a farmhouse in the village of Sonning, near 
 Henley-on-Thames, where the family were spend- 
 ing the summer. Their settled home was in the 
 East of London, and here the child was baptized 
 in the autumn by the Rev. Matthew Wilks. In 
 
 B 2 
 
4 CHILDHOOD AT CHESHUNT [CH. i. 
 
 the following spring Mr. Reed felt it necessary to 
 move for a time into the country, that he might 
 secure some relief amid the incessant cares of his 
 city church. He found a retreat to his mind in a 
 roomy treUised cottage at Cheshunt, with windows 
 opening upon a lawn, and surrounded by high 
 elms. The place was within easy distance by 
 stage of London, and to the children it proved 
 an Arcadian bower in which their earliest years 
 were spent. 
 
 The simple lessons of a country life were 
 taught them by a wise and gifted mother, aided 
 by Miss Maria Newell, a lady whose talents for 
 teaching were afterwards of eminent service ia 
 China, where she became the wife of Dr. Charles 
 Gutzlaff, the missionary. A third influence, not 
 less powerful for good, was that of Mr. Reed's 
 only sister, Martha, who appears from her pub- 
 lished life to have been a woman of rare piety 
 and single-heartedness. Her death fell upon 
 the house as a sad interruption of the sunny 
 Cheshunt life, and made a deep impression on 
 the children. She was laid to rest under a 
 yew tree in Cheshunt churchyard, a spot often 
 revisited in later years by her nephews. 
 
 Their father was at this time engaged, not 
 only in the oversight of his church, but in 
 
1819-41.] AND AT HACKNEY. 5 
 
 fostering the first of those philanthropic institu- 
 tions which it was his chief hfe-work to establish. 
 The London Orphan Asylum, projected in 1813, 
 had been begun on a small scale in a house at 
 Mile End ; but by this time it had so grown 
 that a site was taken for it at Clapton, and on 
 this site a large building was in course of erec- 
 tion. The progress of the new asylum made it 
 necessary for its founder to live in the immediate 
 neighbourhood. Accordingly he removed his 
 family from Cheshunt to Hackney. A tempo- 
 rary home was found in Well Street ; but it was 
 a gloomy contrast to the freedom of the country, 
 and it was made the more sombre for the children 
 by the sudden death of a little sister. Mean- 
 while Mr. Reed was building himself a more 
 commodious house at Cambridge Heath, half- 
 way between his church and the Asylum, in an 
 open and agreeable district, from which the like- 
 ness of the country had not yet been chased. 
 Every Saturday the boys were taken by their 
 father to Clapton, where they helped him to 
 lay out the grounds, and learnt to make friends 
 of the orphan children. 
 
 Hitherto Charles had been taught at home, 
 but now he was despatched to a private school 
 within easy walking distance, called Madras 
 
6 SCHOOL TEOUBLES. [en. i. 
 
 House, and a year or two later to the Hackney 
 Grammar School, in the establishment of which 
 his father had taken part. Here his troubles 
 began before he reached the doors of learning. 
 On his way from home he became involved in 
 fights with the rough boys of a charity school, 
 who went into the fray with the sense of superior 
 strength. He used to tell in later life how a 
 burly young plebeian captured him one morning 
 and dragged him to the Hackney brook, where 
 he was held ignominiously head downwards until 
 some comrades rescued him from imminent 
 suffocation. 
 
 Nor when arrived at school does his experience 
 seem to have been of the happiest. Speaking in 
 1864 at Coleraine, he said: "Education is not 
 now what it was when I was ten years old. The 
 senseless modes then adopted have passed away. 
 It is now understood that education is not a 
 thing to be driven in at the hands, but that the 
 true avenue is through the heart, which is to be 
 won only by love, and held only by the force of 
 sympathy and kindness." 
 
 The shortcomings of school were, however, 
 atoned for by the good which Charles Reed 
 gained from his holidays. These were commonly 
 spent at Blackheath, where his grandparents. 
 
1819-41.] HOLIDAYS. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, had come to reside. His 
 uncle, Jasper Holmes, was an enthusiastic student 
 of natural science and literature ; and in his library 
 and laboratory the boy used to spend hour after 
 hour putting questions, and opening his mind to 
 thoughts and impressions such as the class-room 
 had never suggested. Nor was it a small ad- 
 vantage that these visits introduced him to a 
 godly and well-ordered Church-of-England home. 
 The objection which, as a man, he felt to a 
 State-supported Church, was always accompanied 
 by a recognition of the beautiful lives growing 
 under its shelter, the memories of boyhood un- 
 consciously helping him to maintain catholicity 
 and a generous spirit. 
 
 During these early years abundant indications 
 are apparent of that thoroughly healthy disposi- 
 tion which distinguished him through life. He 
 was not a morbid child, nor preter naturally good. 
 The playful humour, which all his friends will 
 remember, began in a strong love of teasing, 
 which brought upon him many reproofs. He 
 was, however, easily led by his parents, and the 
 pictures given by his mother in her Original 
 Tales exhibit him and his elder brother as frank 
 and tractable boys. 
 
 His first movement towards religious decision 
 
EARLY IMPRESSIONS. [oh. i. 
 
 he was wont to trace back to one Sunday evening 
 when his mother had been speaking about his 
 future course, and asking what he meant to be. 
 She read to him the account given by Bunyan of 
 the Interpreter's House : — " So he had him into 
 a private room, and bid his man open a door ; the 
 which when he had done, Christian saw the 
 picture of a very grave person hang up against 
 the wall, and this was the fashion of it : it had 
 eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in 
 his hand, the law of truth was written upon bis 
 lips, the world was behind his back. It stood 
 as if it pleaded with men, and a crown of gold 
 did hang over his head." This picture was hence- 
 forth stamped upon the boy's mind. Forty years 
 after, in addressing a congregation of children, 
 he said that it was that evening spent with his 
 mother that witnessed his earliest resolve to be 
 like the man whose picture hung upon the 
 Interpreter's wall. 
 
 His father possessed a remarkable power of 
 enlisting men of all grades in any good work on 
 which his own strong will was set, and it was not 
 likely that his children should escape the spell. 
 The whole of Sunday was spent by them at his 
 church, and several hours of the morning and after- 
 noon were given to the schools. Thus, at quite an 
 
181941.] SUNDAY BOOKS. 
 
 early age, Charles was initiated into the teaching 
 of the young. His sister Bessie and he shared the 
 management of a large class of infants, and he 
 notes in a letter with evident pride that two black 
 children were among them, as though these gave 
 scope for specially interesting effort. When the 
 family returned home at night, not much of un- 
 bending was allowed ; the reading and conversa- 
 tion must be suitable to the sacred character of 
 the day. It-'is told that, on the eve of a holiday 
 which was to be spent at Blackheath, the brothers 
 went to bed on the Sunday night resolved to keep 
 watch by turns, so as to ensure an early start. 
 The result of loyally observing the rule of the 
 house about " Sunday books " was that the one 
 who had to stay awake till midnight found the 
 page he was reading too strong a soporific, so that 
 the other was never aroused and the plan failed. 
 
 At the age of fourteen Charles was sent to 
 school in Yorkshire. The head master of Silcoates, 
 near Wakefield, was the Rev. Ebenezer Miller, an 
 Independent minister who had previously laboured 
 in the East of London; and Mr. Reed felt the 
 utmost confidence in placing his son under his 
 care and that of his excellent wife. When the 
 new boy arrived the love of mischief was strong in 
 
10 SILCOATES. [CH. I. 
 
 the school, and an amusing incident is recorded in 
 which he took a leading part. The pupils attended 
 on Sunday a neighbouring chapel, and occupied 
 front seats in the gallery. Immediately below 
 them sat a worthy Yorkshireman, whose luxuriant 
 locks agreed so iU with his general maturity of ap- 
 pearance that the boys were tempted to suspect 
 a wig. To test their conjecture, a line with a bent 
 pia at the end was let down during the long 
 prayer, while the victim was devoutly standing, 
 and deftly entangled in his curls. When the 
 prayer was over and he sat down, an indisputable 
 wig was left dangling in mid air. Whether the 
 gaUeiy was cleared history telleth not, but 
 Charles E,eed used to admit, even in senatorial 
 days, to the satisfection he had derived from this 
 piece of successful angling. 
 
 His fun had ia it, however, nothing of ill- 
 nature or deceit. On the contrary he made a 
 stand for truth, and a letter remains in which he 
 is severely rated by a schoolfellow for having 
 been "so much disgusted and put out" by some 
 trickery in which he had been urged to join. 
 The Rev. J. G. Rogers, one of his companions at 
 SUcoates, says : — " Looking back on those distant 
 days, one feels how true it is that the child is 
 &ther of the man. The bright and sunny spirit. 
 
1819-41.] THE AMULET. 11 
 
 the genial and equable temper, the constant 
 activity that was characteristic of his riper years, 
 were with him as a boy." 
 
 He appears to have been fonder of natural 
 science than of classics or mathematics. In a 
 lively set of verses which he composed for the 
 school anniversary of 1834, he complains of the 
 ordeal of a public examination — 
 
 " Through all the various studies of the year, 
 For Greek and Latin though we don't much care." 
 
 English, however, was more to his mind. He 
 contributed regularly to a manuscript magazine 
 called the Amulet^ a magazine so select that the 
 privilege of reading it was confined to the con- 
 tributors to its pages ; and when he left school 
 the editor sent after him letters, begging him 
 to send some more of his " splendid articles." 
 He chose for the most part historical subjects, and 
 what he wrote was strongly marked by the Liberal 
 opinions he had formed, or imbibed, at home. 
 
 His religious convictions were deepened by 
 intercourse with his teachers, and with some of 
 the elder boys, whom he joined in establishing a 
 prayer meeting. But he was brought to decision 
 by the counsels of a devoted American missionary, 
 the Rev. David Abeel. This good man had spent 
 
12 RELIGIOUS DECISION. [CH. i. 
 
 some weeks as a guest in Dr. Reed's house ; and 
 by way of return for the kindness shown him, 
 he determined to visit Silcoates on his journey 
 to Liverpool, and see if he could be of service to 
 his host's son. His earnest counsels prevailed ; and 
 when Charles left school a couple of months later 
 and returned to London, his first act was, together 
 with his sister who had been brought under the 
 same influence, to seek admission to his father's 
 church. 
 
 By this public step he threw himself into a 
 strong current of religious enthusiasm. While 
 Dr. Reed had been absent in America, engaged in 
 visiting the churches to which he was deputed by 
 the Congregational Union of England and Wales, 
 a movement sprang up among his own people at 
 Wycliffe Chapel which surprised him on his 
 return by its force and genuineness. His own 
 ministry assumed a deeper tone, and large addi- 
 tions were made to the church. In the following 
 spring (1835) a return deputation from America 
 visited England ; and as its members stayed under 
 Dr. Reed's roof, Charles and his sister were 
 thrown into the society of men like Dr. Gardiner 
 Spring and others, who encouraged them in the 
 resolutions they were forming. In their father's 
 church they found a sphere for immediate work 
 
1S19-41.] MINISTER OR LAYHAN' ? 13 
 
 the duty assigned to Charles being that of looking 
 after the vexing men of the congregation. 
 
 Under these circumstances it is not strange 
 that he should have cherished the purpose of 
 becoming a minister of the Gk)spel. One of 
 his best friends. Miss Hannah Eawson, of Leeds, 
 says to him in a letter, dated December 1, 
 ISoo : " Your hesitation as to preparing for the 
 ministry does not surprise me. In deciding on so 
 important a question, you have every advantage 
 to assist your judgment, from the experience of so 
 eminent and successful a pastor as yoiu- father; 
 and whatever may be your determination, I have 
 no doubt you wiU be guided aright, from the self- 
 distrust expressed in your letter." This mistrust 
 of himself was the reason that led him to 
 abandon his intention; though more than once, 
 and particularly at the time of his brother 
 Andrew's ordination, he recurred to it. Possessed 
 as he certainly was of many qualities which 
 go to make a useful minister, it may yet be 
 doubted whether he would have been able in 
 any pulpit to render as valuable service to his 
 generation as he did render in the varied 
 walks of social influence which ai-e open to a 
 Christian layman. 
 
14 APPEENTICE IN LEEDS. [ou. i. 
 
 A trace of this desire of his youth may be 
 found in the high regard in which he always held 
 the office of a religious teacher. Critical remarks 
 about ministers or sermons he invariably checked 
 in the family circle; and in the choice of pro- 
 fession for his sons he was anxious that they 
 should fairly weigh the claims of the ministry. 
 Thus to one he writes at the new year : " You are 
 in young life and health, and these early years 
 come and go rapidly, and are charged with little 
 care ; but this one must give to you and us more 
 than ordinary anxiety. In it you must make 
 choice of your future work, and this is one of the 
 greatest acts of the brief space called life. This 
 work may be found in the world as well as in the 
 Church ; but while one is the entire consecration 
 of the time to religious duties, the other is the 
 daily discharge of Christian obligations amid 
 the engagements of honourable business. You 
 have the choice before you : I can open the way 
 for you in business, or I can give you the 
 education you require for the ministry." 
 
 After about a year and a half at home, during 
 which time Charles Eeed attended lectures at 
 University College, he returned to the North. In 
 December, 1836, his father apprenticed him to a 
 
1819-41.] BUSINESS AND HOMANCE. 15 
 
 firm of woollen manufacturers in Leeds. For the 
 first two years of his time he was put in charge 
 of their mill at Kirkstall, and was occupied from 
 early morning till late at night with the roughest 
 details of the work. As he afterwards told the 
 young men of Leeds, " he could put in a weft 
 as well as any man in his workshop, though in his 
 day it was always in a hand-loom." It was in 
 skating round the mill one winter's night to see 
 that all was secure that he sustained a severe fall, 
 breaking the bridge of his nose, though not in a 
 way to mar the effect of his naturally well-formed 
 features. 
 
 In his scanty leisure he took delight in ex- 
 ploring the neighbouring abbey, clambering with 
 sure foot among its ivy-covered ruins, and en- 
 gaged sometimes in reconstructing the haunts 
 of the old monks, and anon in building the less 
 substantial castle of his own fortunes. At such 
 moments he commonly sought to express his 
 thoughts in verse ; for this practical youth had a 
 romantic side to his character, and many a sheet 
 he filled — some, perhaps, would say spoiled — with 
 the results of these solitary musings. But his 
 mind was always active, and his aspirations pure. 
 
 When he was transferred to another large mill 
 in the town, belonging to the same firm, the social 
 
16 INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS. [CH. i. 
 
 side of his nature had more room to develop, and 
 he at once undertook Christian work in con- 
 nexion with the church of the Rev. John Ely. 
 Charles Reed became a zealous teacher in his 
 Sunday school, and in 1837 joined with others 
 to invite to Leeds David Nasmyth, the weU-known 
 promoter of young men's societies. He was also 
 one of the secretaries of the Leeds Literary 
 Institution, afterwards amalgamated with the 
 Mechanics' Institute. 
 
 Literature and politics claimed at this time 
 much of his thought. A magazine called the 
 Leeds Repository was started in 1839, of which 
 he and his friend Thomas Edward Flint were 
 joint editors; and to this he contributed many 
 articles showing freshness of mind and breadth 
 of sympathy, though amid undeniable juvenilities. 
 When Cobden and Bright were engaged in their 
 crusade against the corn laws, Charles Reed was 
 honoured by some personal notice from the former, 
 who instructed his eager young disciple on certain 
 perplexed questions, to his infinite pride and 
 delight. Throwing himself into the stir of public 
 life, he was found in 1841 working night and day 
 for Lord Morpeth, when that nobleman, who had 
 so admirably represented the West Riding, was 
 unexpectedly defeated at the poll. 
 
1819-41.] FRIENDSHIPS. 17 
 
 During his residence in Leeds the young ap- 
 prentice had formed many friendships ; for, as all 
 those who knew him will believe, he carried his 
 passport on his countenance. There were families 
 into which he had been received when at Sil- 
 coates, such as the Eawsons and Claphams of 
 Leeds, and the Taylors of Bradford ; and amongst 
 all these he was a welcome visitor, spending with 
 them such evening hours as he could rescue from 
 the claims of philanthropic and literary labour. 
 It was not, however, in the sympathy of any of 
 these, invaluable as he felt it to be, that he found 
 courage to bear up against repeated disappoint- 
 ments in his business prospects. The light of an 
 early hope shone steadily within his heart ; and 
 while he spoke of it as his guiding star, it may 
 be said that no needle could be truer to its point 
 than was he to the object of his love. Through 
 seven long years of gleam and shade he waited 
 for the hand of Margaret, youngest daughter of 
 Mr. Edward Baines, the senior member for Leeds 
 — years beginning with vacation Sundays, when, 
 as a school-boy, he gazed across the dreamy 
 breadth of the quaint old chapel to what he then 
 considered the inaccessible state of her father's 
 pew, and reaching to the eve of his departure 
 from Leeds. During the latter part of the time 
 
 c 
 
13 "THAT LIGHT OF LOVE." [ch. i. 
 
 nothing hiadered but his inability to find a settle- 
 ment in the cloth trade of the Xorth. Amid 
 " suspense, agonizing suspense," one opening after 
 another closed before him, like delusive lanes of 
 water before an Arctic navigator ; and at last, 
 through no fault of his own, he was obliged to 
 turn his steps southwards, and reconcile himself 
 to the cheerless prospect of searching for work in 
 London. WTiat wonder then at his ecstasy when, 
 instead of the torch being snatched from his hand 
 and his soul being plunged ia darkness, he was 
 allowed to grasp and hold it high ? " She is 
 mine," he writes to his elder brother and life- 
 long friend, "mine for ever; her decision was 
 made in the hour of my deepest sorrow, when all 
 prospect of settlement was removed. Is not this 
 nobihty ? " 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 DAYS OF TOIL AND THE DAT OF BEST. 
 
 " Where holy groimd hegins, unhallowed ends, 
 Is marked by no distinguishable line ; 
 The turf unites, the pathways intertwine." 
 
 " "We are ... to conceive of religion as . . . the sun of the 
 soul, first gilding the mountain heights of reason and con- 
 science, but shining more and more until the whole surface 
 of our life reflects its light, and the most humble and 
 hidden places revive and rejoice in the enlivening rays." 
 
 The first half of 1842 was spent by Charles 
 Eeed in fruitless search for a business. Offers 
 were not lacking, but either they were not to 
 his taste or they could not bear inquiry. At 
 last, however, a partnership was found which 
 promised well ; and in July appeared the pro- 
 spectus of the firm of Tyler and Reed, printers, 
 of Bolt Court. 
 
 This modest tributary of Fleet Street was at 
 that time the scene of considerable literary 
 
 c 2 
 
20 MARRIAGE. [CH. Ii. 
 
 activity. It was the head-quarters of influential 
 organs belonging to the Nonconformists ; and in 
 the editors' rooms there used to gather a number 
 of men of ability and keen interest in public life, 
 from whose conversation the young printer learnt 
 much. He was able also to contribute his share 
 to the symposia ; for his opinions had, as we have 
 seen, been formed and tested in the robust school 
 of the North, and he could give them frank and 
 vigorous expression. 
 
 After a couple of years of bachelor life, spent 
 under his father's roof at Cambridge Heath, he 
 went down to Yorkshire to claim his bride. The 
 marriage took place on the 22nd May, 1844, and 
 a few weeks later Charles and Margaret Eeed 
 took possession of their home in New Broad 
 Street. The respectability of that quarter of 
 the City of London had not as yet been dis- 
 turbed; but it was undeniably dull, and could 
 be regarded only as a temporary abode. It was 
 brightened by the frequent visits of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Baines of Leeds; and for their daughter it pos- 
 sessed the recommendation of being near enough 
 to her husband's place of business to admit of his 
 dining at home in the middle of the day. 
 
 Their eldest child was born in the summer of 
 1845 ; but a long and dangerous illness, from 
 
1842-67.] A^ ANTIQUARY'S HOUSE. 21 
 
 which he suffered, affected the health of both 
 parents so severely that they felt it necessary to 
 remove into the suburbs. A house was found in 
 St. Thomas's Square, Hackney, which answered 
 the requirements of the family, and served as 
 their home for twenty years. It was quiet and 
 old-fashioned, with enough of unused •space to 
 encourage the acquisitive habits of an antiquary, 
 who was always picking up bargains in the shape 
 of old books and prints, autographs, armour, 
 pottery, and the hke — all needing to be housed 
 until the time for "weeding" and "arranging" 
 should come. Modern furniture he abjured ; but 
 if he could plan bits of old oak-carving into a 
 sideboard, or make a table out of the timbers of 
 the old Guildhall, or adorn the garden with a sar- 
 cophagus found in the Lea valley, his soul was 
 satisfied ; his rest, he maintained, did him twice 
 the good if taken in a chair worked by Anne 
 Boleyn or bearing Cromwell's initials. 
 
 The situation of his house, flanked by two 
 burial-grounds, occasionally awakened remon- 
 strance from his friends; but the young people 
 kept the best of health despite their surround- 
 ings, and only knew that the sacred soil was 
 favourable to the growth of fniits pleasant to 
 themselves and of leaves dear to their silk worms 
 
22 FAMILY CAEES. [oh. ii. 
 
 Though their father was prevented by long hours 
 in town from being much at home, he encouraged 
 them in every out-door sport, and was never too 
 tired to hear the account of their latest feats in 
 the gymnasium, or of the " stout-bodied moths " 
 they had found in their expeditions to the Forest. 
 
 The first winter in the new home was sad- 
 dened by the death of an infant daughter named 
 Edith Margaret, who was laid beneath the snow 
 in Abney Park one January day in 1849. This 
 was the only bereavement in the immediate 
 family for more than twenty-five years ; but then 
 three of its members were called away in quick 
 succession. 
 
 In the education of their children, Charles and 
 Margaret Reed shrank equally from the narrow- 
 ness of private tuition and from the perils of 
 boarding schools. They were particularly anxious 
 to keep their boys under home influence, and 
 deemed themselves fortunate in finding an ex- 
 cellent day school in Clapton, with the principals 
 of which they were in complete accord. Both 
 here, and at the City of London School to which 
 the boys were afterwards sent, a healthy spirit 
 prevailed ; there was the necessary amount of 
 friction and competition, while at the same time 
 the parents were able, by daily intercourse with 
 
1842-67.] CHANGES IN BUSINESS. 23 
 
 their children, to keep the ice of reserve from 
 forming upon the waters of the family life. Two 
 of the lads found their father one evening asleep 
 in his study, and left on the table a little note, 
 in which were scrawled in rude text-hand the 
 words — ■" We will help you when you are old, if 
 aU's right." This paper he put carefully by, with 
 the note, " Written by my dear lads on a night 
 when, overpressed with work, I had fallen asleep 
 in my chair." 
 
 To be overpressed with anxiety, as well as 
 work, was a common experience during those 
 early years of married life. Trials and reverses 
 in business befell him which sorely taxed his 
 courage. Though not very willing to bring his 
 troubles home, he was wise enough to have no 
 secrets from his wife, and in her sympathy and 
 counsel he found strength. In 1849 he dissolved 
 his connexion with Mr. Tyler, and joined Mr. 
 Benjamin Pardon, of Hatton Garden, also a 
 printer. The new firm removed to Lovell's 
 Court, Paternoster Row, where by dint of un- 
 flagging exertions a good position was by degrees 
 secured. Still the strain of heavy hours and 
 fierce competition continued year after year, so 
 that in 1861 Charles Reed was ready for another 
 change. The retirement of his friend Alderman 
 
2i "WyCLIFFE CHAPEL. [oh. ir. 
 
 Besley from the type-founding business made an 
 opening of which, through the kindness of some of 
 his relatives, he was able to avail himself, and he 
 immediately began to breathe more freely. His 
 sons were now growing to an age when they could 
 give him help ; and he was thus in a position to 
 liberate himself, not for repose, but for the 
 demands of public service that had begun to 
 press upon him. 
 
 For a long time after his removal to Hackney 
 he kept up his membership with the church over 
 which his father had for nearly forty years pre- 
 sided. Accompanied by his wife and elder 
 children, he used to take the long walk to White- 
 chapel for the purpose of attending the Com- 
 munion, which was observed on the first Sunday 
 evening of the month. This service, as the 
 members of Wycliffe know, was singularly 
 impressive. The body of the church was com- 
 pletely filled with the communicants, numbering 
 nearly a thousand, while the spectators, hardly 
 less numerous, crowded the galleries. In the 
 midst stood the venerable minister, calm in 
 manner though often deeply moved, and swaying 
 the whole congregation at will by his authorita- 
 tive and impassioned appeals. More people, he 
 
1842-67.] THE OLD GRAVEL PIT. 25 
 
 used to say, were brought to Christian resolve 
 through that service than by any other agency 
 of the church ; and many are still living who can 
 testify to the effect produced both on the timid 
 and the indifferent by witnessing that great 
 company of avowed believers, and listening to 
 the soul-stirring words of their leader. 
 
 The church usually attended by Charles Reed 
 was the Old Gravel Pit, Hackney, of which Dr. 
 John Pye Smith, a close and honoured connexion 
 of his wife's family, was pastor. Acute in con- 
 troversy, yet of guileless and most gentle nature, 
 this universally beloved and saintly man — a true 
 " angel " of the Church — ^had gathered about him 
 an influential congregation. His successor, the 
 Rev. John Davies, was too retiring to be very 
 widely known ; but a,mongst his people, and others 
 who could discern true genius, he was regarded 
 with the warmest admiration' and affection. 
 Charles Reed's note-books are full of jottings of 
 his sermons, in which the quaintness of a Puritan 
 divine was blended with epigram and original 
 observations, such as could come only from a 
 powerful and vigilant mind. For more than 
 twenty years Charles Reed found it his unfailing 
 refreshment and privilege to worship in this 
 church; and when in 1871 the congregation 
 
26 SUNDAY AT HOME. [oh. ir. 
 
 removed to a new building in Clapton Park, he 
 migrated with it. Its later pastors, Dr. James 
 Spence and the Rev. Samuel Hebditch, were 
 among his much valued friends, and at the 
 request of the latter he consented to undertake 
 the office of deacon, from which he had preferred 
 hitherto to hold himself free. 
 
 His Sunday afternoon was generally devoted 
 to visiting schools and addressing children ; but 
 a part was spent in his own family, where 
 he sought to make the day not the gloomiest 
 but the happiest of the week. One who some- 
 times stayed at his house says : — " Those first 
 days of the week were truly Lord's Days. From 
 early morning till the evening, a subdued yet 
 joyous atmosphere pervaded the home. He and 
 his on the day of rest — husband, wife, children, 
 servants, meeting in a worshipping circle — these 
 are recollections which abide in our minds." 
 
 At the same time he refrained from judging 
 those whose views of the Sabbath diflfered from 
 his own. To one of his sons at Cambridge, who 
 had sent him an account of preparations for the 
 May Eaces, he replied : — " We all rejoice to hear 
 of the success of your boat. I am a little doubtful 
 as to your Sunday morning training breakfast, 
 unless the rest of the men are like A , which 
 
1842-67.] THE TWO CITIES. 27 
 
 is hardly likely. You can best judge, but I think 
 the intercourse may be unfriendly to the true 
 spirit of worship." 
 
 His decision of cha-racter was recognised by 
 many who had little sympathy with his religious 
 principles. While in the world as completely as 
 any of the men around him, they could not help 
 acknowledging that he was not of the world. In 
 his friends he excited no common enthusiasm. 
 One who knew him for thirty years says: — "I 
 looked up to him as one of the few typical men 
 who go far to realise what floats before my mind 
 as the ideal of what a man should be — a servant 
 of God but also a servant of his country, working 
 for the good of the city here which is not abiding, 
 while vividly conscious of his higher citizenship in 
 the city which hath foundations." He often 
 spoke, both in public and private, of the advantage 
 he had found in early nailing his colours to the 
 mast, and letting no one be in doubt as to his 
 nationality and destination. A letter to one of 
 his sons contains this passage : — 
 
 " Our opportunities of intercourse at home are 
 so frequent that we do not perhaps converse enough 
 on the best things ; and now, when you are away 
 
28 COUNSEL TO A SON". [ch. ir. 
 
 from us, I feel prompted to put the question which 
 I have often desired to press upon you. You 
 have shown your interest in religion and religious 
 work ; you are now at an age to judge and act 
 for yourself ; is there any reason why you should 
 not avow what I hope is your secret faith ? The 
 young man in the Pilgrim's Progress made his 
 way to the table at the foot of the tower and said, 
 'Write my name in that book,' and this is the 
 declaration I want you to make, if your heart is 
 inclined to do so. Do not misunderstand the 
 act ; it is not an avowal of hohness, it is the 
 very reverse, but at the same time the sense 
 of unworthiness should not hinder. Such pro- 
 fession is due to God, as it is just to yourself. You 
 want to give Him your best service, and your 
 example is of great value ; you wish to be 
 aided by His strength; He honours them who 
 honour Him ; you wiU be a better son, a better 
 brother, a better man of business — better for this 
 life and better for ever by an open confession of 
 love to Christ." 
 
 The following lines, written later in Kfe, show 
 the basis that underlay his business career, and 
 the pure source whence he fed activities so many 
 and so varied as to surprise those who knew him 
 
1842-67.] ON THE "WAY. 29 
 
 only in public. When on a visit to the North, he 
 was suddenly recalled to London by a summons 
 which left him no choice but to travel up on the 
 Sunday night. He borrowed from his hostess a 
 copy of the Christian Year, and wrote within the 
 cover the thoughts born of the journey : — 
 
 "This book. 
 So kindly lent, is gratefully returned. 
 Forgotten lines now happily relearaed, 
 Memories awakened which had long since slept. 
 And vows remembered that have not been kept ; 
 Musings, on earth's fair scenes of sweet delight 
 And my own home, made short this Sabbath night ; 
 Some resolutions for a holier life, 
 Some courage gained for daily Christian strife, 
 Some high content 'mid growing public cares. 
 Some sweet confiding trust and humble prayers ; 
 Some glimpses of a nobler life to come. 
 Some foresight of the light beyond the tomb. 
 
 " Lady, may it through coming years be thine, 
 Hearts to lift up, as this night thou hast mine ! " 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. 
 
 " I stand 
 And work among Christ's little ones, content." 
 
 " Let me show," said Charles Eeed in 1878, 
 " what an enormous national advantage has been 
 gained by the introduction and working of the 
 British Sunday School. I would ask, is it nothing 
 that some hundreds of thousands of teachers are 
 engaged every Sabbath in instructing children 
 drawn, for the most part, from humbler classes 
 than themselves ? Is it nothing that the barriers 
 of rank are broken down ? Is it nothing that the 
 rich man's daughter comes from her home, and 
 sits in the school surrounded by the poorest 
 children from the humblest districts ? Is it 
 nothing that sympathies, which would be har- 
 dened and closed up but for these little ones. 
 
1831-80.] A NATIONAL DEBT. 31 
 
 soften and expand till they form a centre of 
 interest and attraction to the youth of our better 
 classes ? . . . . Who keeps this country in order, 
 whether in city, town, or village ? Not the few 
 policemen. No ! the people are their own police. 
 I greatly mistake if the law-abiding spirit of our 
 people has not sprung very much from the in- 
 fluence and teaching given in the Sunday Schools 
 of the land." 
 
 Then, after affirming the service rendered 
 by the institution in checking the taste for foul 
 literature, combating intemperance, and curbing 
 the appetite for war, he continued : — 
 
 " Have we no thanks to render to the Sunday 
 School for the part she has played in the cause of 
 national education? When the nation neglected 
 its duty, and could not or did not form any system 
 of instruction for the children of the land; who 
 instructed them how to read the Word of God ? 
 It was the teachers of the Sunday School who, 
 in addition to giving the scholars that religious 
 instruction which was their proper duty, gave 
 them enough of secular knowledge to enable them 
 to read the Bible. The nation, I venture to say, 
 owes to the Sunday School a deep debt of gratitude 
 
32 "WITH THE INFANTS. [oh. hi. 
 
 for the work she has done during the last fifty 
 years for the cause of popular education." 
 
 It would have been strange if the son of Andrew 
 Eeed had not developed a love for such work. As 
 far hack as 1800 his father had been a teacher 
 at Scotland Green, near Enfield. Summer and 
 winter he trudged out from the city, halting on 
 his way at Edmonton, where breakfast was pro- 
 vided for him in a cottage, and then walking on 
 to the school, which he reached at nine o'clock, 
 accompanied by a group of children whom he 
 drew from their homes as he passed. When this 
 earnest youth became minister of a church, he 
 naturally made the training of the little ones his 
 concern, and the members of his own family were 
 early enlisted in the Sunday School. 
 
 Charles is said to have tried his hand first upon 
 a large class of infants taught by Mrs. BuUen, a 
 lady of unusual powers and the mother of dis- 
 tinguished children. Whether she followed a 
 hint given by Dr. Reed, or whether she was a 
 believer in Abernethy's methods, it appears that 
 the first time Charles and his sister came into the 
 room she turned over to them the entire manage- 
 ment of the class and declined to give them any 
 aid. Her visitors were sorely disconcerted; but 
 
1831-80.] HALF-TIMERS. 83 
 
 there was nothing for it but to pluck up courage 
 and go through with the dreaded task. They 
 succeeded better than they had feared ; and, once 
 made, the effort was never again so formidable. 
 If you would learn to swim, said Charles Reed in 
 after life, don't hire a bathing machine and corks, 
 but get a sailor to row you out of your depth and 
 make you leap overboard with a line round your 
 chest; and to those who sought confidence in 
 public speaking he advised a similar bold plunge. 
 
 While he was serving as an apprentice in Leeds, 
 and at work till midnight on the Saturday, he 
 was yet punctual at the Salem School next 
 morning, and the afternoon found him in his 
 place again. For he had a strong objection to 
 the " half-time system," and would never believe 
 that a class conducted by two independent 
 teachers could yield as good results as one for 
 which a single teacher held himself responsible. 
 He Hved to see the spread of what he regarded 
 as the more indolent and less satisfactory system ; 
 and still more did he regret the decadence of the 
 morning school, experience assuring him that in 
 the forenoon the minds of teacher and scholar 
 alike were most active and susceptible. 
 
 In 1839 he was made secretary of the Leeds 
 Sunday School Union, a well-organized body, and 
 
34 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION. [ch. hi. 
 
 one which gathered in reports from numerous 
 branches, some of them bearing suggestive names, 
 such as Bethel Bank, Joy's Field, and Sodom ! 
 In the autumn of 1840 be brought his friend, the 
 Rev. John Curwen, down to Yorkshire to lecture 
 on Sunday School methods, and accompanied him 
 on a visit to several of the West Riding towns. 
 
 After his marriage he joined the Committee 
 of the Sunday School TJnion in London, and 
 through it came into contact with schools all 
 over the country. The work of this TJnion 
 Committee he held in the highest honour. 
 It was purely voluntary ; it was rendered by men 
 of business who could call few hours their own ; 
 the funds at their disposal were not large, nor 
 could they, with justice to the churches, exercise 
 any direct authority over their constituents; yet 
 by their steadfastness and generous purpose they 
 had won the confidence of innumerable churches 
 belonging to various denominations, and were the 
 acknowledged leaders of schools containing over 
 a million children. To be staff officer in an army 
 like this he considered a great privilege, and it was 
 an office which he retained, despite the demands 
 it involved on his time, to the end of life. 
 
 There are probably few of the larger towns in 
 
1831-80.] THE "DEPUTATION." 35 
 
 England that do not preserve some recollection of 
 a visit from Charles Reed on Sunday School busi- 
 ness, when "the London deputation" pleasantly- 
 disappointed his audiences by turning out to be 
 more sprightly and much less wooden than 
 deputations are commonly supposed to be. His 
 pocket-books abound with sketches of such visits ; 
 though, as might be expected, they show rather 
 what capital people he met on his travels than 
 what he himself contributed to the entertainment 
 in the way of geniality and practical sense. 
 
 One Whitsuntide, for example, he went on 
 behalf of the Union into Somerset. " Transported 
 from the heart of London, at the end of my 
 week's work, I found myself in a few hours the 
 sole occupant of a pretentious little omnibus, 
 rattling over Taunton Bridge." On the Sunday 
 he set himself to make the acquaintance, not 
 only of the schools, but of the dwellings from 
 which the scholars came. He was surprised to 
 see the children flocking out of squalid " colleges," 
 as their homes were called, yet in appearance 
 fresh and tidy. Though Whitsunday was a bad 
 day for observing the regular order of the schools, 
 he went from one to another, gratified to note the 
 large proportion of elder scholars. " Passing 
 through the class-rooms of one school, to the 
 
 D 2 
 
36 A COUNTRY .CONFERENCE. [oh. hi. 
 
 number of twenty-one, I saw that they were 
 filled with young people of from sixteen to 
 twenty years of age, while there were many 
 fathers and mothers, with children of their own, 
 who evidently had no intention of leaving teachers 
 and studies so much endeared to them. I said to 
 a friend, ' These are workshops indeed.' ' You 
 may well call them so,' he replied, 'for I dare 
 say there is not one in which the work of the 
 Holy Spirit has not been made manifest.' " 
 
 Whitmonday brought a conference, attended by 
 teachers from all parts of the West of England, 
 which " the deputation " had to open. At its 
 close, a model class was conducted in public, and 
 Charles Reed was surprised to hear the teacher 
 in charge of it acknowledge that his own devotion 
 to the work was due to an appeal which their 
 visitor of that day had made in Bristol fifteen 
 years before. The afternoon was spent in further 
 conference; and then came the great evening 
 meeting, over which he had to preside. After so 
 tiring a day, he felt that wordy resolutions and 
 long speeches would be intolerable; so he an- 
 nounced himself to be armed with dictatorial 
 power, said he should call on whom he pleased, 
 and expect obedience in the shape of the briefest 
 speeches. "The plan was met good-humouredly 
 
1831-80.] PRIZE ESSAY. 37 
 
 by ministers and laymen, who would otherwise 
 have spoken half an hour each, but who did 
 speak only a very few minutes, giving us a series 
 of most interesting and earnest little addresses, 
 which delighted the audience, and kept up the 
 spirit of the meeting to its close." 
 
 In the year 1851 he wrote an essay on The 
 Infant Class in the Sunday School, which took the 
 first prize offered by the London Union. He was 
 impelled to this task partly by a desire to meet 
 a most unjust charge that had appeared in a 
 recent Government report, where it was stated 
 that " in aU the factory districts great numbers of 
 children, who had been in regular attendance at 
 Sunday School for five, six, or even nine years," 
 were found on examination to be " not only alto- 
 gether ignorant of Christian principles, but to 
 know nothing whatever of the events of Scripture 
 history." At the same time, he could not repel 
 this accusation without admitting a partial failure 
 of the Sunday School system, owing to the great 
 mistake, as he considered it, of "limiting the 
 invitation to children of seven and eight years of 
 age;" and he asked whether the result of this 
 exclusion of the little ones had not been to leave 
 multitudes of children untaught, and greatly to 
 
38 MILK FOR BABES. [cH. in. 
 
 increase the difficulty of dealing with those who 
 were in the schools. 
 
 The essay is written with a degree of sympathy 
 that betokens an author thoroughly at home with 
 his subject. For corporal punishment he could 
 find no place ; such chastisement might crush, it 
 could never amend. No teacher, in his opinion, 
 needed to resort to physical force, seeing that 
 a loving heart could exert a far more powerful 
 influence. Nor had he any patience with the 
 demands often made by the Church upon the 
 attendance and attention of the young at services 
 designed for adults. " Children, if uninterested, 
 will be unruly. We require them to be idle and 
 quiet at the same time. It is impossible : any 
 enforcement of such a law must render the state 
 of the children one of complete misery.'' 
 
 During the ten years that followed the publica- 
 tion of this essay, no subject engaged more 
 thought among Sunday School workers than the 
 development of infant classes. That this was due 
 to the plea he had advanced, Charles Reed was 
 too modest to affirm; but in a later edition of 
 the essay he expressed his joy at observing that 
 what had been an almost unknown adjunct of the 
 school was now recognised as one of its most 
 necessary and promising departments. 
 
lSSl-80.] HIXTS TO TEACHEII& 39 
 
 Amongst his papers has been found one on the 
 same topic which is 'svorth noticing, since the rules 
 he there lays down are the same that guided him 
 when he came to be occupied in the work of the 
 London School Board. Education, he held, began 
 with infency. In the quaint words of Roger 
 Ascham, whom he was fond of quoting, " the pure, 
 clean will of a sweet young babe is like the 
 newest wax, most able to receive the best and 
 i&drest printing, and like a new, bright silver dish, 
 to receive and keep any good thing put into it." 
 Early training, again, must be of the simplest 
 kind. ■ If you begin by teaching creeds and 
 catechisms, or even texts of Scripture, before 
 you excite ideas, you do manifold harm; you 
 present no images of love and beauty to fill the 
 heart, and you leave no impression but one of 
 weariness at listening to your unintelligible words. 
 First comes the discipline of the affections ; then 
 that of the memory." 
 
 He was a strong advocate for allowing liberty 
 to the teacher. "Give him power to order his 
 own little society. One teacher is usually enough, 
 ilonitors are useless, s;\ve for the purpose of being 
 trained themselves. They seldom help, more 
 often they embarrass ; a quick-speaking eye, 
 ranging over the room, is more effective than 
 
40 A LONG EXPERIENCE. [ch. hi. 
 
 many hands — hands which can scarcely touch 
 without inflicting pain, and which rarely put to 
 rights without leaving all wrong." He heheved 
 in the capacity of female teachers, provided 
 gentleness were accompanied by energy; slow- 
 ness in a teacher was fatal, for " in this college 
 there is no chair." Once more he was opposed to 
 overdoing it. " To overload a field with seed is 
 simply to feed the fowls. Be sparing even of 
 your anecdotes, and bring them in only when 
 they are wanted ; don't make a door on purpose 
 to fit a door-plate." 
 
 Thus twenty years before School Boards were 
 invented, Charles Reed was actively engaged in 
 the work of education, with ideas that had borne 
 the test of experience, and the sympathy of a 
 heart that had not grown, and was not to grow, 
 old. On the first Sunday of each month he gave 
 an address to the school connected with his own 
 church at Hackney ; almost every week his home 
 had to spare him for the visitation of schools in 
 London or the country ; and to the end of life he 
 was ready to plead for an institution which, as he 
 then said, had always lain nearest his heart. 
 
 In 1852 he read a paper before the Union on 
 The Census and Sunday Schools, in which he 
 
1831-80.] SCHOOLS IN THE NORTH. 41 
 
 urged the establishment of separate services for 
 very young scholars, and of a higher kind of in- 
 struction for those above fourteen years of age. 
 In 1853, 1859, and 1860 he addressed the Con- 
 gregational Union of England and Wales on 
 various aspects of the Sunday School question. 
 On the last-named occasion the meeting was held 
 at Blackburn, and he made it his aim to show 
 the part which Lancashire had taken in the 
 movement, and the changes that were then pass- 
 ing over it. In the North, he said, the Sunday 
 School is a grander thing than we find it in the 
 South; "it is a thing of the people rather than 
 of the poor ; it lives in the afifections, and does 
 not struggle for existence among unfriendly in- 
 fluences ; and it presses into its service a higher 
 class of teaching power than can be obtained 
 with ease elsewhere. The greatest change," he 
 continued, " which has taken place in the history 
 of the Sunday School was its becoming a volun- 
 tary institution, whereas in its origin it connected 
 
 work with wages At Stockport, in 1784, 
 
 teachers were paid eighteenpence a day, and at 
 this rate it may be fairly assumed that the 
 Sunday School budget of 1860 would require a 
 sum of 989,000Z. Let the men of Oldham take 
 the glory which belongs to their town, for it was 
 
42 A TEAKSITION. [oh. hi. 
 
 an Oldham teacher whose pious heart was first 
 prompted to do good, ' hoping for nothing again.' 
 
 "Though this example found many followers, 
 the Sunday School did not at once become a 
 religious institution; it took long years to con- 
 vince even its noble voluntary supporters that 
 conversion was the great aim of the teacher. 
 For a long period its religious character was 
 sacrificed to secular work. Upon the plea of 
 necessity, reading, writing, and arithmetic were 
 taught, a deference for religion being shown by 
 the selection of Scripture texts for copies ; whUe 
 even sums were done, we are told, ' upon religious 
 principles.' 
 
 " We are just now in the transition state. 
 With the bonnets and tippets, and other badges 
 of charity, have gone the alphabets, the primers, 
 the spelling and the lesson books in endless 
 variety; we have done with the drudgery of 
 secular teaching; for the day school is doing 
 its own work, and entering upon its legitimate 
 province ; and the Sabbath School is now 
 vindicating its complete right to be designated 
 a rehgious institution." 
 
 Two New Year addresses from his pen attained 
 a wide circulation, though their titles will scarcely 
 
1831-80.] BELOW GEOUND. 43 
 
 now be remembered. One was called The Teacher's 
 Keys; the otber, prepared for scholars, was en- 
 titled Diamonds in the Bust. The latter contains 
 a little autobiographical sketch which may serve 
 to illustrate the work he was accustomed to do, 
 and his style when addressing the young. 
 
 "In the dust of poverty and humble life, in 
 many a city cellar, in many a ship's hold, in the 
 rustic's cot or the mud hovel ; in the virtuous 
 life of men and women, in the earnest, truthful, 
 and Christ-fearing life of little children, many, 
 many precious stones send forth into this dark 
 world their gleaming lustrous Ught. 
 
 " Such an one was my treasure some years ago 
 when I had a class in the North of England, in 
 the land of collieries. ' Teacher, you don't come 
 to see me,' said George, as he heard me promising 
 to take tea the next day with one of my scholars 
 whose parents had sent me an invitation. I saw 
 an arch look on the lad's face, and replied, ' How 
 can I, George, when you live under ground ? ' I 
 said no more ; but knowing the pleasure a surprise 
 would give him, one day I walked out to the coal- 
 pit where he was employed, and asked leave to go 
 down. Work was just over for the day, and the 
 manager said, if I liked to try it, I was welcome ; 
 he advised me, however, to change my clothes 
 
44 "GEORGE." [cH. in. 
 
 before the bucket came up, and then promised to 
 send a miner down with me. It soon came out 
 that he knew I was a teacher in the school to 
 which George went ; and as George was one of 
 the boys selected, on account of good conduct, to 
 attend to visitors, a signal was sent down the 
 pit to tell him that he was to be in readiness. 
 In due time up came the bucket, and, there not 
 being a minute to spare, I and the foreman jumped 
 in as it swung round, and seiying upon the great 
 rope by which we were to be suspended in our 
 descent to the lower earth, I held fast enough, I 
 assure you. In an instant we were rapidly de- 
 scending the shaft of the pit, jolting roughly 
 against its coal-black side, and jerking downwards 
 with a terrible unsteadiness. AH below was deep 
 darkness ; above, the great round hole at the pit's 
 mouth had diminished already to the size of 
 a chimney-pot, and presently it looked like a 
 large star. 
 
 "Presently a speck of light appeared below, 
 and my companion struck two blows on an iron 
 rod, and these vibrations going down to the 
 bottom told how many were coming. It was 
 George's hand that received the message, and with 
 the other one he held out his lamp to guide me, 
 as I felt the bottom and wondered what to do. 
 
1831-80.] THE COLLIERY BOYS. 45 
 
 ' Here's a hand, sir.' It was something in that 
 dark and suffocating region to hear any voice, hut to 
 feel the warm rough hand of a poor scholar, as it 
 helped me out of the bucket, was pleasant indeed. 
 I need not teU you of our surprise and joy, and I 
 have not room to tell you what the boy showed 
 me as we wandered along those rough galleries, 
 hewn out in the solid coal. 
 
 " ' How are we to get back ? ' I said. ' Oh, 
 teacher, there's a way up where we hand and foot 
 it ; ' and, looking, I saw the holes cut, but even 
 then it seemed that I could never climb in that 
 fashion. Still following George, I found him 
 standing with his light in his hand in the middle 
 of the large vault, which had a low seat all round, 
 cut in the coal. ' This is where we have our read- 
 ing and learning class after work hours, teacher, 
 and there's a good lot of us works in relays, and 
 we turn down here when our off hours are on.' 
 I could scarcely believe ears or eyes, but I listened 
 as George proceeded, 'There's scarce one who 
 don't like to have reading, for it's dull enough 
 down here. The men talk and sing songs, and go 
 up at night, most ways ; but we go up Saturdays 
 and Mondays. There's no swearing, and not 
 much drinking ; and smoking is denied, so they 
 takes to chewing tobacco and singing, and we 
 
46 THE "MISHONERY BOX." [oh. iii. 
 
 lads wlio can, read in turns ; and they're real fond 
 of our lib'ries.' ' Oh, the library books,' I said ; 
 ' that is right.' ' Yes ; we take turn about at the 
 candle, and they's rare fond of singing. We sing, 
 " Glory," " Round the Throne," " Happy Land," and 
 "Hand in Hand," — that's a Primitive's one, for 
 we've all sorts, but it's all one and the same like 
 here. And there's no chaffin' and larkin', as you'd 
 suppose; it's as quiet as Sunday. We've just 
 finished John Williams, and Moffat's done, so 
 one of our lads' mothers is going to lend a book 
 about Greenlanders she got from Fulneck School.' 
 ' Oh,' I said, ' the Moravian Mission, I dare say.' 
 'Yes,' said George, 'we give them Moravians a 
 share at quarter days ; one of our men is a local 
 preacher, and he shares the missionary money. 
 See here, teacher; you wouldn't think what 
 this is.' To my astonishment he showed me in 
 the wall a slit plastered up aU round, and chalked 
 white all over, and the words cut with a knife, 
 ' MISHONERT BOX.' ' This is where we collect for 
 aU of them, and when New Year's Day comes 
 in we share it out. There's a deal of Methodists, 
 and some Primitives, and some that's nothing ; 
 but it's all the same to us, we let it go share and 
 share alike, only we like to hear at odd times 
 what comes of the money.' 
 
1831-80.] A TETJE DIAMOND. 47 
 
 "I looked round upon the scene, and blessed 
 
 God with all my heart for what I saw and heard. 
 
 Here was a little band of poor boys, deprived of the 
 
 light of heaven, working Hke young slaves in a 
 
 deep, dark, horrible pit ; some lying half the day 
 
 on their backs, in the narrowest openings, to hack 
 
 out the coal for the men ; others filling up the 
 
 sieves, so that the dust might be screened off 
 
 before the coal went up to the pit's mouth. This 
 
 pit was not so deep as some ; there was more air 
 
 than many enjoyed, for the owner was both 
 
 humane and generous, and spared no pains to 
 
 secure the health and comfort of his workpeople ; 
 
 stiU, with all this, how could they live where I 
 
 could scarcely breathe, and live so contentedly, 
 
 spending 'i the dull, monotonous hours in study 
 
 and self-improvement ? I had little thought that 
 
 my poor colliery boy, so regular in his class on the 
 
 only day he could call his own, was doing there, 
 
 in his own humble way, the work of the living 
 
 missionary. Surely here, amid the duU world 
 
 of coal in this subterranean cavern, I had found 
 
 in the dust a bright and flashing diamond of 
 
 greater worth than the Koh-i-noor or the 
 
 wonderful jewel of Portugal. 
 
 " Again and again I looked at the rough-hewn 
 money-box. I had not a word to say about the 
 
48 "WHAT " GEORGE " BECAME. [oh. hi. 
 
 spelling, — that was bad enough; — but the tears 
 sprang to my eyes, and grateful joy filled up my 
 heart when I looked my boy in the face, and said, 
 with my hand upon his shoulder, ' God bless you, 
 my lad ; He will own this work, and though it is 
 unknown by the great societies to whom you send 
 your share of hard-earned savings, it is surely 
 seen by Him whose eyes are in every place, 
 beholding the evil and the good.' 
 
 " George is now a viewer, a man respected and 
 trusted; he visits many pits, and he has done 
 more good than I can tell in improving the con- 
 dition of colliery boys in and around his district. 
 
 "Such diamonds shine out, not only in the 
 dark places under the surface, but everywhere 
 where brave and pious hearts are beating with 
 love for Christ and a desire to do His gracious, 
 merciful, and earnest work. The httle cheer- 
 ful helper in the house, the one who ' minds 
 baby,' or tends the overwrought sick mother ; the 
 lad who becomes the bread-winner for a family, 
 left orphans in helpless childhood ; the lonely 
 widow, the hopeless incurable ; — go in and inquire 
 into the history of their striving, enduring, and 
 patient lives, and you shall find that the gloom of 
 affliction and trouble only sets off the lustre of 
 these gems." 
 
1881-80.] THE CENTENARY. 49 
 
 A subsequent chapter will show that Charles 
 Roed did not forget the Sunday School when he 
 entered Parliament, but that his first effort there 
 was to secure for it exemption from rating. His 
 homo was always open to foreigners connected 
 with Sunday Schools abroad, and his short 
 holidays at Easter and Whitsuntide were still 
 ])laccd at the disposal of the Union Committee 
 for the visitation of provincial schools. 
 
 In the celebration of the Centenary of Sunday 
 Schools, tho year before his death, he took the 
 (IcHjpest interest. The position of treasurer and 
 (•hairman of the Sunday School Union, which he 
 occupied at the time, naturally threw upon him a 
 leading part in the movement ; but the sympathy 
 he gave it was far from being official. The history 
 of Robert Raikes had long been his study; ho 
 looked on him as a benefactor whose services, 
 like those of William Tyiidale, had never been 
 properly acknowledged; and he therefore em- 
 braced eagerly the opportunity afforded by the 
 Centenary to get a tardy act of justice done. In 
 the course of his researches he came upon original 
 letters of Raikes which enabled him to prove that, 
 while children had been gathered for instruction 
 before the year 1780, it was then first that the 
 
 E 
 
50 EOBEET RAIKES. [ch. hi. 
 
 idea of doing this on a large scale was conceived. 
 Speaking at the great Centenary meeting held 
 in Gloucester on the 9th July, 1880, he gave the 
 following account of the event commemorated :-^ 
 
 " We celebrate to-day two victories, hoth 
 achieved by your distinguished citizen, Robert 
 Raikes. The one is a triumph over ignorance 
 and vice, the other a victory over prejudice 
 and bigotry. Raikes was born in a century of 
 gloom and disaster. In 1760, when he was 
 twenty-five, famine prices ruled, grinding taxes 
 bore down the people, the workhouses were full, 
 gaols were crammed, executions were plentiful, 
 and ruin stared the nation in the face. Raikes 
 had a benevolent heart; he visited the prisons 
 of Gloucester, received John Howard as his guest, 
 and set himself to ameliorate the condition of 
 young criminals. The almanacs, of the day were 
 the common vehicles of public instruction, and I 
 find the following in Maoris for 1780 — 
 
 " 'For God and your poor pining country's sake 
 Avoid the danger, and new measures take ; 
 Then shall we hope to see Heaven's harmless dove 
 Bring us the olive branch of peace and love, 
 Eeliglon flourish, and all know full well 
 This is the land where God delights to dwell.' 
 
1831-80.] THE FIEST SCHOOL. 51 
 
 These lines are remarkable, and so is the astro- 
 logical prediction as to the influence of this year, 
 in these words : — ' And the month ends with 
 smiles from Hejiven upon the endeavours of 
 deserving men who labour to do good in their 
 generation.' Certainly that was true of the man 
 of 1780, though he was no doubt ignorant of the 
 prediction. An errand of business takes him to 
 St. Catherine Street ; he engages in conversation 
 with an inhabitant about the wild condition of 
 the children. She invites him to come again on 
 Sunday. He sees for himself, and says, 'Can 
 nothing be done ? ' The poor woman tells of Mr. 
 Stock's day school, and deplores the want of 
 something like it on the Sunday. Kaikes says, 
 'I will try.' 
 
 " WeU do we honour the memory of James and 
 Mary King and the first teachers of that cottage 
 school, whose names are now familiar to the 
 public ij for from that pattern the Sunday School 
 became a powerful institution, watched over by 
 Raikes for years, and producing such good 
 influence in the town as to give rise to the 
 local proverb, 'As sure as there's a God in 
 Gloucester.' A Gloucester man, under the 
 signature of 'A lover of virtue,' writes on No- 
 vember 25th, 1784, to Mr. Sylvanus Urban, 
 
 E 2 
 
52 IGNORANCE AND [ch. ni. 
 
 gentleman, London (the editor of the Gentleman's 
 Magazine, then a leading periodical), an account 
 of the first institution of Sunday Schools, 
 inclosing a letter from Mr. Kaikes, of Gloucester, 
 on his new and excellent scheme of Sunday- 
 Schools. He says, ' It is one very direct means 
 of bringing about the reformation of manners 
 which is so much wanted at present.' I am 
 fortunate enough to have that letter, and one 
 other, giving an account in later years of Kaikes's 
 visit to Windsor. Raikes never claimed to have 
 established the first Sunday School, and it is 
 certain that he could not do so. . . . 
 
 "But we celebrate a second victory. Raikes 
 saw from the first that his work would be stayed 
 if his Church preferences stood in the way. A 
 boy in his school was reported to have left 
 because his parents were Dissenters, and they 
 found that the Catechism was taught. He would 
 not allow him to be thus driven away. WiUiam 
 King, of Dursley, walked his thirty-two miles in 
 and out of Gloucester to consult as to the Dis- 
 senters, and Raikes said, though it would spoil 
 the scheme to let them be too prominent, he 
 should work with them for all that. Raikes 
 succeeded because he allowed no question of class 
 to interfere. He did not flout the common people, 
 
1831-80.] PREJUDICE DEFEATED. 53 
 
 but remembered the injunction, 'Mind not high 
 things, but condescend to men of low estate.' It 
 is known that he was greatly grieved with the 
 indifference of the bishops, and remonstrated with 
 them. They openly assailed the new institution, 
 and many of the clergy echoed the cry, ' Refrain 
 from these men.' Rowland Hill, who established 
 four schools in London, wrote an apology for 
 Sunday Schools, but it was of no use. The secret 
 objection was that it was a lay institution, and 
 the schools were denounced as ' schools of atheism 
 and disloyalty, in which the minds of the chil- 
 dren of the very lowest orders are enlightened, 
 that is to say, taught to despise religion, the laws, 
 and aU subordination.' 
 
 "Thus the Sunday School was laid hold of 
 by the Dissenters, and in their hands it be- 
 came a thing of power, which in after years 
 being seen, the Dean of Lincoln addressed his 
 counsel to the clergy thus : ' Divine Providence 
 seems to have pointed out a measure to counteract 
 Sabbath breaking, a &st step in national guilt. 
 The measure, which appears to me to possess this 
 invaluable antidote to the poisonous manners of 
 this depraved age, is the establishment of Sunday 
 Schools.' Following this, an organized deputa- 
 tion was received by the then Archbishop of 
 
54 RECOGNITION "WON. [cH. in. 
 
 Canterbury in London, and it was agreed 'that 
 Sunday Schools are adapted to improve the morals 
 of the common people.' Raikes plaintively says 
 in 1794, ' What are we to do ? For the education 
 of the dense mass of the people no provision is 
 made. That class has drifted out of the cognisance 
 of the Church. The charity and free schools are 
 organized on too narrow a scale. My Sunday 
 School has just begun to be known, and the only 
 real teachers are the Methodists.' 
 
 " Raikes was a lover of Christian union. His 
 descendant spoke truly in this city, when he 
 said that ' Robert Raikes was less conspicuous as 
 an eminent and devoted Churchman than as an 
 active friend of the Nonconformists.' Yes, he was 
 an eminent and catholic Christian ; and the words 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury last week in the 
 Guildhall of London, truly described his spirit as 
 the spirit by which in these celebrations we 
 should be actuated. Many cities claimed Homer 
 as their townsman ; the whole world claims 
 Raikes as its benefactor. Twelve millions of 
 children this year will hear his name. Let no 
 city claim him, for he was an Englishman. Let 
 no Church claim him, for he was a Christian : 
 and this is the crowning glory of this day's 
 celebration." 
 
1831-80.] GUILDHALL MEETING. 55 
 
 Thus convinced of the importance of the occa- 
 sion, Sir Charles and his colleagues resolved to 
 prepare a fitting celebration. An international 
 conference was planned, and delegates invited 
 from all parts of the world. It was at first 
 intended to unite all denominations in the move- 
 ment; and this intention was so far carried out 
 that a grand inaugural meeting was held at the 
 Guildhall, London, on Monday, June 28th, when 
 addresses were delivered by the late Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, Lord Hatherley, the Earl of 
 Aberdeen, Sir Charles Reed, Dr. Morley Punshon, 
 and Dr. Vincent of New York. Similar meetings 
 were held in many parts of the country; but 
 so far as the raising of funds was concerned, it 
 was found impracticable to proceed upon a joint 
 basis. 
 
 The amount of work undertaken by Sir Charles 
 in connexion with this Centenary surprised even 
 those who knew him best. Although he was now 
 sitting again in Parliament and pressed by School 
 Board duties, and though he had but lately 
 recovered from an illness which had obliged 
 him to winter abroad, he visited Gloucester, 
 Leeds, Leamington, Rochester, Brighton, and 
 Carisbrooke, besides addressing an enormous 
 open-air meeting in Victoria Park. 
 
56 EETKOSPECT. [oh. hi. 
 
 A few months only passed, and the Sunday 
 Schools of the land lost in his death one of the 
 heartiest and most influential friends they have 
 known. " From the age of seven years," he wrote 
 in 1869, " I have been in the Sunday School ; 
 and with many memories of public work, and yet 
 more responsible duties before me, I can truly 
 say there is no reward in any public service equal 
 to that which falls to the lot of the faithful 
 Sunday School teacher." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PUBLIC SPIRIT. 
 
 " I cannot praise a fugitive and cloister'd vertue, imexerois'd and 
 unbreath'd, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, 
 but slinks out of the race, where that immortall garland is 
 to be run for, notwithstanding dust and heat." 
 
 There was nothing which, in his later yeai's, 
 Charles Reed used more keenly to regret than 
 the decay of public spirit. Living in the suburbs 
 of a great city, he had- ample opportunity of 
 judging on this point. He remarked how people 
 who, in their old homes in the country, had been 
 liberal and large-hearted, supporting literary in- 
 stitutions, subscribing to schools, and never failing 
 at an election to vote blue or buff — save indeed 
 when they voted blue and buff — as soon as they 
 migrated to London, or one of the other huge 
 centres of population, would settle down unat- 
 tached and unrecognised, identified with no 
 
58 EELIGIOUS LIBERTY. [CH. iv. 
 
 church, forming no neighbourly ties, isolated and 
 utterly unpatriotic, without a care for the im- 
 provement of the district — except to get the 
 parish to pave their particular road — or a thought 
 of helping to promote the good government of 
 the land. Observing this narrowing tendency in 
 many around him, he was anxious to guard against 
 it in himself; and though surrounded by a large 
 family and inclined to hobbies that could best be 
 pursued at home, he was determined to acknow- 
 ledge the duties resting on a loyal citizen, 
 and go to the limit of his strength in efforts to 
 advance the public good. 
 
 At first his energies were chiefly given to 
 fighting the battle of religious liberty, in company 
 with men of earnest purpose like his own ; but 
 afterwards he found greater pleasure in those 
 forms of philanthropic work in which Churchmen 
 and Nonconformists could unite. This was but 
 the change that comes to most men with ripening 
 age. At the outset of Hfe they are carried eagerly 
 to the fray by their perception of first principles 
 on which they have just laid a firm grasp, by 
 their ardent sense of justice and desire to redress 
 wrongs. But there comes a time when they have 
 seen the drawbacks of controversy, the party spirit 
 
1842-81.] THE FACTORY BILL. 59 
 
 evoked, the false and narrow issues raised ; and 
 then, without presuming to check the zeal of 
 others, they are for their part ready to pursue 
 quieter paths, where solid progress may be 
 secured. 
 
 On the introduction, in 1843, by Sir James 
 Graham, of his Factories' Education Bill, the 
 Dissenters assailed it with unexpected vehe- 
 mence. They denounced it as a scheme for 
 destroying the educational machinery they had 
 at great expense provided, and for throwing the 
 care of the young into the hands of the clergy 
 of the Church of England. It was in the East 
 of London that the opposition to this measure 
 originated. A committee was formed, of which 
 Dr. Andrew Reed was chairman, and his son 
 Charles secretary. For many weeks this body, 
 composed chiefly of young men, met every morn- 
 ing at seven o'clock for a couple of hours' work. 
 So scrupulous were they that they would not 
 charge even their plain breakfast to the fund ; 
 and in the evening, when each member had 
 despatched his day's business, he would be found 
 busily engaged at one or other of the public 
 meetings, which were being held all over 
 the metropolis. The agitation spread to the 
 provinces, and rapidly attained a force which 
 
60 THE EAST LONDON [ch. iv. 
 
 surprised its promoters. In the month of May 
 the secession of the five hundred ministers from 
 the Scotch Establishment came like a strong sea 
 breeze to carry in the tide ; and by the begin- 
 ning of June the Bill, after being in vain modified 
 by its author, was abandoned. 
 
 The young politicians who had gained this 
 victory were destined before long to witness, and 
 undergo, strange fluctuations of thought in regard 
 to popular education; but for the present they 
 were bent on establishing the East London 
 Eeligious Liberty Society, on the basis that 
 legislation on matters of religion is not within 
 the province of civil government. Of this society 
 Charles Reed and his friend Mr. J. Carvell 
 Williams acted as honorary secretaries, labouring 
 in its behalf nearly every evening for about a 
 year, when it was merged in the British Anti- 
 State Church Association. Charles Reed was 
 associated about the same time with Mr. Samuel 
 Morley and others in founding the Congregational 
 Board of Education, an institution organized on 
 the purely voluntary principle, with a Training 
 College at Homerton where teachers from all 
 evangelical sections of the Church were prepared. 
 
 On the publication of the famous Minutes of 
 Council of 1846, the East London Dissenters 
 
1842-81.] DISSENTERS. 61 
 
 were again first in the field. Their strenuous 
 opposition was, however, on this occasion unsuc- 
 cessful. The saying of Macaulay that "to deny 
 the education of the people to be the duty of 
 Government was to make Government the great 
 hangman," had sunk into men's minds ; and 
 there were many even among the Nonconformists 
 who had come to believe that the State might 
 give secular instruction, and that to that extent 
 its aid could be accepted by religious bodies 
 with a clear conscience. To this number Charles 
 Reed did not belong. He had not yet given 
 up hope that the voluntary system would prove 
 adequate to the needs of the country ; nor had he 
 grasped the idea, which in after years he held so 
 firmly, that it was possible for the State, without 
 violating the rights of parent or taxpayer, to give 
 an education based upon moral and religious 
 training. 
 
 Although the opposition to the Minutes failed, 
 the East London Committee kept up its organiza- 
 tion in view of the approaching general election. 
 The dissolution came in July of that year (1847), 
 and immediately Mr. George Thompson, the 
 ''eloquent advocate of the anti-slavery cause, was 
 brought forward for the Tower Hamlets and 
 triumphantly returned. Charles Reed, besides 
 
62 THE ELEOTOB. [oh. iv. 
 
 acting as one of his secretaries, published a 
 
 weekly paper called the The Nonconformist 
 
 Elector, which ran a vigorous course of a couple 
 
 of months, and flattered itself that it materially 
 
 helped to secure the election of candidates 
 
 favourable to voluntary education. For it was 
 
 on this point that the struggle turned. The 
 
 motto qi the Elector was taken from Milton's 
 
 Sonnet to Cromwell — 
 
 " New foes arise, 
 Threatening to bind our Souls with, secular Chains ; " 
 
 and in its last number, when recording the 
 incidents of the campaign, it exclaimed :— " We 
 must arouse ourselves to a new and mighty effort 
 in favour of the voluntary and uncompulsory 
 system of extending popular education. We do 
 not like the State to interfere. We must do all 
 we can to prevent the necessity of it." With 
 this uncompromising utterance we may leave the 
 subject of Charles Eeed's views on education 
 until we come upon them again when he was 
 in Parliament. 
 
 Born and brought up among the Free Churches, 
 he remained through life firmly attached to their 
 principles. Their freedom and simplicity he 
 loved; Puritan blood flowed in his veins, and 
 
1842-81.] EELIGIOCrS DISSENT. 63 
 
 he was jealous of any diange in doctrine or 
 worship that might endanger the spirituality of 
 religion and interpose any intellectual or priestly 
 barrier between the commonest man and his 
 Maker. He was an active member of the Con- 
 gregational body, taking frequent part in the 
 deliberations of its leaders, and supporting its 
 missionary and benevolent societies. The records 
 of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies show that 
 for many years, indeed from 1847, he was on the 
 committee of that ancient yet watchful body. In 
 1868 he was made chairman, and this position he 
 held until his appointment to the chair of the 
 School Board obliged him to relinquish it. 
 
 He was sometimes called a religious, not a 
 political. Dissenter, but he did not feel it fair to 
 accept the compUment intended by this dis- 
 tinction. He knew the deep convictions and the 
 freedom from self-seeking that belonged to some 
 who were branded as political Dissenters ; and he 
 also knew that any Nonconformist who felt an 
 injury was being done to the cause of religion by 
 the predominance given by the State to one 
 Church, .noble as the traditions and achievements 
 of that Church might be, would be unfaithful if 
 for peace' sake he did not seek to influence men 
 in accordance with his views. People might call 
 
64 THE IRISH CHURCH. [oh. iv. 
 
 him political as much as they pleased, provided 
 they could not show him to be acrimonious or 
 unjust in his way of stating his opinions. His 
 language on ecclesiastical questions was decided. 
 Thus, writing to one of his sons, who had consulted 
 him about a speech to be made at the Cam- 
 bridge Union on the Irish Church, he said : — 
 
 " I send you the best book I know on the 
 question. It is a flagrant abuse, supported by the 
 English Church in violation of her own argument 
 in favour of the majority of the people having a 
 right to the patronage of the State. In Ireland 
 the Roman Catholic population is largely on the 
 increase ; even in Londonderry, the stronghold of 
 Protestantism, it is in the ascendant. The Pres- 
 byterians are powerful, but the Eegmm Bonum 
 paralyses them, for the Irish Church supports the 
 grant to quiet them on the establishment question. 
 I know parishes where there are not ten Pro- 
 testants, — and part of these Presbyterians, — where 
 the incumbent preaches once a year and draws 
 £800 for his ' cure of souls.' The cruelty is felt 
 keenly by the people, and is at the bottom of 
 their political grievances and chronic grumbling. 
 It is a splendid case for arguing, and I hope you 
 may have a good debate." 
 
lSi2-Sl.] IDriTEESlTT TESTS. 65 
 
 A couple of Tears later, vrhen a number of Non- 
 conlbrmisT undei-graduates at the same UuiversitT 
 were preparing an address on the abolition of 
 tests, \rhich address ■was to be sent to Noncon- 
 formist ministers throughout the country, he 
 ■wrote : — 
 
 '■ I heartily approve of the project. Only a fe^w 
 suggestions occur to me. For instance, if you 
 refer to the Index of Petitions, you TriU find 
 that for many years the Dissenting Deputies and 
 Congregational Union have steadily petitioned on 
 this subject. Last year I personally sent seyeral 
 petitions to Mr. Coleridge, and no ' apathy ' can 
 be said to exist because we have allowed it to be 
 understood that it was desirable for Church people, 
 if they ■were wiUing, to do their own ■work." 
 
 Yet, while finding his home among the self- 
 governing Churches of the land, Charles Reed was 
 never disposed to work exclusively with men of 
 his own ecclesiastical statture and complexion. He 
 enjoyed looking over the denominational hedge 
 and shaking hands with the excellent folk on the 
 other side; and public life gave him fi^quent 
 occasion for stepping across the boundary. Many 
 of his happiest hours were spent in the committee 
 rooms of mixed societies: and it ■was, ■without 
 
 F 
 
66 THK BIBLE SOCIETY. [oh. it. 
 
 doubt, his experience of the deep and true evan- 
 gelic union that may exist between those who 
 take their stand upon the Word of God and look 
 the common foes of humanity full in the face, 
 that led him subsequently to the conviction 
 that unsectarian religious education was not the 
 phantom some persons declared it to be. 
 
 For nearly twenty years he sat upon the Com- 
 mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 for whose work he entertained an unqualified 
 admiration. " He never came amongst us," said 
 one of his oldest colleagues, " but I felt what an 
 advantage and privilege it was for us to have a 
 man of his great wisdom and mature and earnest 
 piety. Though holding steadfastly to his own 
 opinions, he did it in a way that commended them, 
 not only to those who agreed with him but to 
 those who differed from him." It was a cause of 
 thankfulness to Sir Charles that one of his sons 
 became officially connected with this noble 
 enterprise. 
 
 To the Keligious Tract Society he gave not 
 merely counsel but laborious service. Even when 
 he was in Parliament and burdened with pubhc 
 cares, he would spend the Monday night in town 
 so as to ensure being at the early breakfast of 
 the Committee on the Tuesday morning. The 
 
1842-81.] THE TRACT SOCIETY. 6" 
 
 business despatched around that table satisfied 
 him that Christian men might carry their 
 co-operation into a region distinct from that 
 traversed at the Bible House. There it was 
 the simple text of Scripture that they joined to 
 circulate ; but here agreement was found possible 
 in the issuing of endless publications designed to 
 elucidate and enforce the truths of the Bible. 
 
 A year or two before his death, Sir Charles was 
 one of those who supported the bold course of 
 starting weekly papers of general interest for boys 
 and girls. His observation of London schools had 
 saddened him, as he saw how the homes of the 
 poor were cursed by a deluge of sensational and 
 impure periodicals — periodicals that suggested sin 
 and distorted virtue ; and he knew that, with few 
 exceptions, private publishers had been unable 
 without serious loss to maintain papers of a 
 higher character. Why should not an influential 
 Society seek to stem the tide by issuing papers 
 that would hold their own against aU rivals for 
 attractiveness, and yet be pervaded by a manly 
 and generous spirit ? Care must be taken 
 not to obtrude religious teaching in such a way 
 as would inevitably defeat the object in view; 
 but he for one believed that an immense service 
 would be done to the cause of Christianity, if 
 
 F 2 
 
68 A DUTIFUL SON. [ch. iv. 
 
 the false and immoral could be beaten off the 
 field. Even though no single seed were sown, 
 was it not worth while to bum the weeds, pluck 
 out the stones, and prepare the furrows ? The 
 attempt was made, though not without mis- 
 givings ; but the success of the B(nfs Own Paper 
 was so immediate and remarkable as to induce 
 the Committee to confer a similar boon upon 
 girls. To this subject he referred when presiding 
 at the anniversary of the Tract Society in the 
 spring of 1880 : — 
 
 " These papers had exactly met the public 
 demand. They were publications of rare merit, 
 and the golden thread of true religious teaching 
 could be seen running through tales and adven- 
 tures fit to be read in any family. Children 
 in the elementary schools of the country were 
 not simply learning to read — they were being 
 taught to think; and the demand for pure, in- 
 structive, and interesting literature was growing 
 apace." 
 
 There was another department of public service 
 for which Charles Eeed could always find time. 
 Augustine tells in one place how his sainted 
 mother broke off in one of her last ecstasies of 
 
1842-81.] REMOVING THE HAT. 69 
 
 devotion that she might call him dutiful; and 
 one of the blessings that certainly rested on 
 Charles Reed was that of the loyal, the pious 
 son. From boyhood he was marked by a deep 
 veneration— for it was more than affection — for 
 both his father and his mother ; and this feel- 
 ing he never lost. 
 
 A little incident may be mentioned in illus- 
 tration of this, drawn from later life. On a 
 certain public occasion at the Mansion House, 
 the hall and staircase were Hned with busts and 
 statues of eminent men. Among them was a 
 marble bust of Dr. Andrew Reed, lent from the 
 vestry of Wycliffe chapel. As Charles Reed was 
 passing through the hall, he saw one of the Lord 
 Mayor's footmen cooUy hang his hat upon it. 
 Silently, but with indignant gesture, he removed 
 the hat. An old gentleman who happened to be 
 standing by noticed this, and inquired his reason. 
 " That was my father," was the reply. Nothing 
 more was said at the time, and the two parted 
 without becoming known to one another. After- 
 wards, however, when they were again thrown 
 together, the stranger turned out to be none other 
 than George Peabody. He recalled their first 
 meeting, and said, in justification of his asking 
 assistance in his plans of benevolence, " I am 
 
70 FOUNDER'S DAY. [CH. rv. 
 
 certain that one who could show himself so 
 affectionate a son must be a true man." 
 
 This bears out an observation made by some of 
 Charles Reed's closest friends, that the only way 
 of provoking him to anger was to speak dis- 
 respectfully of his father, or of the charities he 
 had, with so much labour, established. In the 
 direction of more than one of these he took an 
 active part. The catholic basis on which they 
 were founded he was always ready to vindicate ; 
 and before his death he had the satisfaction of 
 seeing four of his^sons on their various boards of 
 management. The youngest, but not the least 
 flourishing of these institutions, the Eoyal 
 Hospital at Putney, continues to observe Dr. 
 Reed's birthday as Founder's Day. On this 
 occasion Charles Reed made a point of being 
 present ; and nowhere did his light, yet earnest 
 and sympathetic, style of address show to greater 
 advantage than when he was speaking to the 
 intelligent and favoured patients gathered in the 
 assembly hall. 
 
 This reference to his addresses may fitly in- 
 troduce one or two remarks upon his qualities 
 as a speaker. His powers in this line were 
 exhibited less in Parliament than outside. He 
 
1842-81.] QUALITIES AS A SPKAKER. 71 
 
 hfu] not sat in the House of Commons for eighteen 
 months, as will be seen later on, when the 
 Elementary Education Bill became law, and 
 opened to him a career of extra Parliamentary 
 activity, which soon engrossed almost the whole 
 of his time. As a popular speaker, however, he 
 retained to the close of life a considerable 
 gift; the same attentive hearing which he had 
 always secured in the Sunday School, he succeeded 
 in gaining at election meetings, whether in 
 Shoreditch Town Hall, or on the quay among 
 the fishermen of St. Ives. 
 
 Mr. Morley says, in explanation of Cobden's 
 oratorical ability: — 
 
 " I have anked many scores of those who knew 
 him. Conservatives as well as Liberals, what this 
 secret was ; and in no single case did my in- 
 terlocutor fail to begin, and in nearly every 
 case he ended as he had begun, with the word 
 permiaswenesa!' 
 
 The same feature will probably stand out in the 
 recollection of those who have listened to Charles 
 Reed. His speeches had that first of all virtues 
 — they were interesting; the matter was clearly 
 put, and his practice in speaking to the young 
 
r-i EEAEiiyES.S [73. IT, 
 
 had taught him the yaiae of ait" ilhistratiflns. 
 Bjs deliverv was io easy and na^'iral t'tat tie 
 maimer was eatiFefy hidden hehimi 'Le sobject; 
 and tiiis he treated with rir-t ritceritv and g<»i 
 taste that his hearts -sTeTfr cisp'/seii to zit^ him 
 their trust. Amid the .severe temptati'/ns <rf not 
 a few contested electionH. he "sroa many to h^ 
 ade fcv his s-jod-hmnfj^ir and scznpiloiis :&im£S6 : 
 while xhose -wiM heard him night afi^* nisfiit were 
 astonished at his sentleiies; and =.e-i-eontioL 
 
 Another BaOcesMe iesinre in hi? ?p^'^r,g was 
 Li? sreat readiness. He se'^inei instinctivefy to 
 £ni common gronnd with hi? andience. and seized 
 on tie htimonr of tie rsoiiient in a way t^jat 
 quickly ptit him on the best of terti.? with them. 
 There were, no dotiTjt. occasi:r^s when ii= style 
 was laV-'tLrei and flie e5ect dLsaj^obtting ; hot 
 tiese were meetiiigs at which he had to otrntend 
 witii a rade orgarize'i opp.-sitioii tiat no ainoant 
 of siiiksiine coold mek &-« ar. Generally he was 
 very socces^il in dis&nLisg objecfaHS. Once. 
 when there ~5uS nrach stir orer an imp^tding 
 election, a -« oriisig nian cansed some amusement 
 it a pirate iLeetii^ by admilllug xhat he had 
 f-.turd his way in widioat a ticket; " srirrepttiotLi- 
 Eke," as he pat it. and proceecirg to speak in & 
 
1S42-81.] AIv'D TACT. 73 
 
 violent manner; whereupon Sir Charles, instead 
 of attempting to silence him, took his side, and 
 so well expressed what he had been straggling to 
 say about the claims of his class, that the foe 
 was turned into a friend. In succeeding yeais, 
 as Chairman of the Board, he foTind scope for 
 all his tact, particularly at the pubhc opening of 
 new schools, where parents and ratepayers, and 
 often the managei-s of volTintary schools, had to 
 be reasoned with and appeased. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LEISUEE HOURS. 
 
 " Wings have we — and as far as we can go 
 We may find pleasure ; wilderness and wood, 
 Blank ocean and mere sky, support that mood 
 Which with the lofty sanctifies the low. 
 Dreams, books, are each a world ; and books we know 
 Are a substantial world, both pure and good. 
 Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood. 
 Our pastime and our happiness will grow." 
 
 Like most men who have great powers of apph- 
 cation, Charles Reed possessed the enviable faculty 
 of freeing himself at will from the burden of his 
 work. It did not worry him beforehand, and 
 when it was done he could dismiss it from his 
 mind. While love of home and a quick sense 
 of humour made it easy for him to unbend, no- 
 thing yielded him such unfailing diversion as his 
 antiquarian tastes. For many years he was a 
 contributor to Notes arul Queries, and his inter- 
 leaved set of the volumes abounds with his 
 
1849-74.] "PILGEIMS' SIGNS." 75 
 
 comments on quaint subjects of all kinds ; but 
 when in 1849 he was elected a Fellow of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, he confined his researches 
 within Hmits, and devoted himself specially to the 
 antiquities of London. 
 
 Though nothing was common or unclean to him 
 provided it bore the stamp of age, he was not 
 content to accept insufficient evidence ; if his in- 
 quiries were not satisfactory, he was as ready as 
 Edie Ochiltree to cry, " Prsetorian here, Prsetorian 
 there, I mind the bigging o't." This cautious 
 spirit enabled him in 1861 to do a public service 
 by the exposure of a collection of " pilgrims' 
 signs," said to have been found by the workmen 
 engaged in excavating Shadwell Dock. Not a 
 few of the learned were deceived by these relics ; 
 and the matter excited the greater interest from 
 an action being brought against the Athenceum 
 for daring to impugn them. At the trial evidence 
 was given by dealers, shore-rakers, and connois- 
 seurs in favour of these tokens, which were 
 ascribed to the end of the fifteenth or the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 As the judge laid down • that no case whatever 
 existed against the journal, evidence for the de- 
 fence was not called; and hence Charles Eeed 
 felt that the objects in question might still be 
 
76 THE MAKING OF HISTOEY. [oh. v. 
 
 accepted by the unwary as genuine. Being 
 himself convinced that they were manufactured 
 to meet a growing demand, he resolved to 
 hunt down the imposture ; and in a paper read 
 before the antiquaries he describes his mode of 
 procedure : 
 
 "My attention was directed to the spot from 
 which these objects were said to have been 
 brought ; and having satisfied myself that the 
 articles produced in such numbers could not, if 
 found there, have been removed without notice, 
 I set myself to trace out the two men who had 
 been the acknowledged purveyors, — acting daily 
 as between the alleged finders and the dealer. 
 The statement that the two men were shore- 
 rakers was found to be perfectly true, but it was 
 quite clear that no communication took place be- 
 tween them and the navigators in the dock during 
 the day time, nor, so far as I could discover, after 
 work in the evening. In 1859 a man employed 
 in constructing the City Sewers called on me, and, 
 while offering some pieces of pottery for sale, 
 showed me some of these leaden objects. On 
 questioning him I learned that he fully believed 
 that they were forgeries, and he admitted to me 
 that, before the trial, he had endeavoured to 
 
1849-74.] CLEVER EOEGEEIES. 77 
 
 discover the authors of the fraud. I offered to 
 purchase such specimens as he could get, and 
 upon the strength of this he renewed his in- 
 quiries, and became acquainted with the shore- 
 raker who gave evidence at the trial. 
 
 "From him I learned that this man and his 
 companion were discontented at not receiving 
 after the trial a certain sum of money to 
 which they believed themselves to be entitled. 
 Enlisting himself in their interests, my in- 
 formant undertook to sell for them, and they 
 readily supplied his demands. On one occasion 
 it was arranged that he should visit them for 
 this purpose, and both the men were then found 
 employed in preparing some moulds, which were 
 immediately broken up to avoid exposure. Having 
 ascertained the fact, my informant pushed his 
 inquiries, and at length became fully informed 
 of their whole proceedings. I have thus obtained 
 not only moulds but tools, respecting the use of 
 which there can be no doubt, because my in- 
 formant has seen the moulds made and the 
 objects cast and produced from them. 
 
 " Rude as these objects are, and incongruous as' 
 the various designs may appear, they exhibit a 
 wonderful amount of skill, which is fully evidenced 
 
78 MISUSED TALENT. [ch. v. 
 
 by the success of the wide-spread deception which 
 has been practised. That an illiterate mud-raker 
 should possess such power of design and manipu- 
 lation as these objects illustrate, leads one to wish 
 that such remarkable talent had had a worthier 
 sphere for its development. 
 
 "The designer of these articles and of thou- 
 sands more, has had no instruction. He has made 
 his own tools, and, without help, prepared his own 
 moulds. That there have been patterns and 
 sketches given to him is not denied; but the 
 manufacture has been carried on throughout the 
 whole time by these two men, and that after their 
 periods of daily work. The objects are made of 
 lead mixed with pewter, and, having been exposed 
 to the action of a powerful acid, they have been 
 freely daubed with river mud. 
 
 " It is to be feared that these men have been 
 doing what multitudes of fabricators of a higher 
 class are daily guilty of; and the greatest service 
 which can be rendered by the Society of Anti- 
 quaries will be to expose frauds which bring 
 reproach upon the honourable pursuits of the 
 genuine antiquary." 
 
 It has already been mentioned that the ardour 
 of a collector led Charles Eeed to accumulate 
 
1849-74.] THE OLD ADAM. 79 
 
 curiosities of every description. In his study 
 might be seen a Roman urn, a Tudor curfew, a 
 chained missal, Claverhouse's Dagger of Mercy, 
 John Knox's chair, and Cromwell's camp-kettle — 
 the last a treasure obtained from Mrs. EusseU, of 
 Cheshunt, the daughter of the last of the male 
 line of the Protector. He had a pious horror of 
 the cleaner ; and his family will not readily forget 
 the paroxysm into which he was thrown by a 
 domestic, who had scrubbed up a worm-eaten 
 carving of our first parents under the apple-tree. 
 In this case he preferred the old Adam ; its dust 
 was sacred. 
 
 His collection of keys was large and well- 
 arranged. In an address for Sunday Schools en- 
 titled The Teacher's Keys, occurs a passage which 
 reveals the true spirit of the amateur : — 
 
 " I have at this moment spread out before me 
 a large collection of keys, all answering to locks 
 which have long since crumbled away under the 
 influence of rust and canker. These keys are of 
 all sorts and conditions — Roman, British, mediaeval, 
 modern — most of them rescued from the bed of 
 the Thames ; some discovered hidden away behind 
 the tapestries and wainscoting of ancient hostel- 
 ries ; some, long lost, but now restored, from the 
 
80 KEYS. [CH. V. 
 
 draw-wells, cisterns, and chimney comers of old 
 London's dismantled houses. They lie just as 
 they were found— no rude hand of polisher, no 
 reviving file has touched them — some thickly 
 coated with rusty earth, some highly patinated 
 hy the river's mud ; some of such fine-tempered 
 metal as to defy the fretting tooth of time ; some 
 large — the keys of warder or of verger; others 
 minute, hung on the chatelains of high-born 
 dames — or the keys of casket or rare tea-caddy 
 of centuries bygone ; some with wards and some 
 without ; some with chased bows and fluted stems, 
 and some severely plain and simply useful ; some 
 with barrels used as pistols; some with wire- 
 worked points interlaced, and set upon the most 
 delicate pivots ; some in the shape of star, cross, 
 or monogram; some emblazoned with coats of 
 arms and crests ; some of iron, steel, brass, and 
 even of bone ; — there they lie, the types of an 
 endless variety of instruments contrived by the 
 Bramahs and Chubbs of former times. The 
 hands which framed them have lost their cunning, 
 but the handicraft remains to attest the skill with 
 which every key was made to fit — and to open, if 
 rightly used — its own proper lock." 
 
 He began to collect autographs as a boy, and 
 
1849-74.] AUTOGRAPHS. 81 
 
 to the end of life was continually adding to his 
 stock. He did not confine himself to any par- 
 ticular line ; all was welcome, whether it were a 
 letter of Grisi's lamenting that she had no dress 
 in which to appear in the Sonnamhula, or one of 
 Jeremy, Bentham's introducing "Horatio Nelson, 
 a young lad," to the master of the Seahorse. At 
 the same time his interest in everything connected 
 with rehgious liberty, missionary enterprise, and 
 education, gave him a bias in those directions. He 
 procured, a nearly complete set of franks of the 
 first Reformed Parliament, and illustrated the his- 
 tory of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts 
 by letters and portraits of those who had taken a 
 prominent part in that struggle. At public sales 
 he rarely employed middlemen, but acted on his 
 own judgment; and, though often compelled to 
 take a shovelful of sand in order to secure a few 
 grains of gold, he was what is called a lucky 
 buyer. In later life he received many presents, 
 and after his death his desk at the School Board 
 was found full of letters from eminent men, put 
 aside to be incorporated in his collection. 
 
 Nothing pleased him better than to settle down 
 for an evening at home, with a pile of autographs 
 before him, quietly indexing his treasures while 
 he listened to reading aloud; on such occasions 
 
 G 
 
82 COMPLETING A TALE. [CH. v. 
 
 the appearance of supper was the invariable 
 signal for a groan of suffering. He began to 
 mate a revised catalogue the winter before his 
 death, but it was broken off while he was some- 
 where among the " secondary divines." Most of 
 his literary and poUtical autographs were con- 
 tinually doing service at soirees of mechanics' 
 institutes or young men's societies. For some 
 years the choicest were on view at the Crystal 
 Palace; fortunately they were removed, in order 
 to be replaced by a fresh set, a few days before 
 the part of the building where they had hung 
 was burnt down. 
 
 Although Charles Reed's Hfe was too busy to 
 permit of much in the way of diary or letters, 
 his pen moved easily and well. When his firm 
 took up the British Banner, on the retirement of 
 Dr. Campbell, he fulfilled for some weeks the 
 duties of editor, and on other occasions he showed 
 equal readiness in despatching hterary work. 
 Once he was concerned in the publication of a 
 magazine, for which a talented lady had under- 
 taken to write a serial story. When several 
 chapters had appeared, to the dismay of the pro- 
 prietors she declined to proceed. They felt it 
 impossible to meet her demands, and yet were 
 plainly at her mercy. To their inexpressible 
 
1849-74.] "TWENTY-EIGHT." 83 
 
 relief, Charles Keed said he would complete the 
 tale; ajid this he did with such spiiit and skill 
 that only those behind the scenes had any idea 
 that a new hand was engaged in developing 
 the plot. 
 
 It was his habit, when he had received hos- 
 pitality, to send his acknowledgments in a set of 
 humorous verses, for which he claimed no merit 
 save that they might give pleasure for the 
 moment. Thus, after attending his brother 
 Andrew's wedding at Edinburgh, he wrote to 
 his host, the Rev. G. D. Cullen: — 
 
 " Swift speed the wheels, fast flies the train ; 
 
 Eesigned unto our fate, 
 A last and lingering look we give 
 Towards Royal Terrace, where do live 
 
 Our friends, at Twenty-eight. 
 
 " How sad the parting there this mom 
 
 My pencil won't relate ; 
 How deep the woe, how keen the grief. 
 And how in tears we found relief 
 
 On leaving Twenty-eight. 
 
 " Our nephew on his circnit went, 
 But begged of us to state, 
 That through his northern legal round 
 He bears about a sense profound 
 Of aU the worth that late he found 
 At number Twenty-eight. 
 
 G 2 
 
S4 PENCILLINGS. [ch. y. 
 
 " And hurrying to our ' eii-cmt home,' 
 In railway Mte-d tSte-, 
 AVe fail for words whei'ewith to tell 
 One half the praise of those who dwell 
 At number Twenty-eight. . . . 
 
 " So now, dear friends, we'll strive to leain 
 Humbly to imitate 
 The virtues rare which we have seen 
 Illustrated, while we have been 
 Your guests at Twenty-eight." 
 
 Or the following, which is headed " Pencillings 
 by theWa,v," December 10, 1859, and is addressed 
 to " Arthur Morley of Sneinton, Esquire " : — 
 
 " My very deal- friend, 
 I really must say 
 A few words of kindness 
 
 On going away : 
 The words which you would not 
 
 Allow me to utter 
 When parting to-day — 
 
 Your usual way ! 
 
 " Though you shrink from receiving 
 
 The tlianks whioli are due, 
 
 These are none the less hearty. 
 
 Thus offered to you ; 
 Though miles are between us, 
 
 I still must retain 
 The last words, at pai'ting, 
 Of meeting again — 
 
 Yes, ' meeting again ' ! 
 
 " That old home of yours 
 Is a dear place to me ; 
 I love its quaint gables, 
 I love its roof-tree ; 
 
l!:49-T4.] OLD FBIEKDS. S5 
 
 Each loom has its i«coni 
 
 Of jileasnie or pain ; 
 A i«corl of partiujTS 
 
 And meetings agiun — 
 
 Yes, pleasttie and pain ! 
 
 •• I stv there the traces 
 
 Pleserred with such caw. 
 The nndisturhed places 
 
 Of loTed ones, once fheie : 
 The filial devotion 
 
 I honoor and share. 
 That gn»>ls the old dwelling 
 And leaves things as they were — 
 Ah yes, • as they weie ' ! 
 
 '• S<ane red-letter days. 
 
 Springing np to my view, 
 Bemind me of Mends 
 
 IVsar, MthM and trae, 
 ■Whvxso ejsouple, now followed, 
 
 ^And long let it be) 
 Gives welcome to others 
 And kjttdness to me — 
 
 Yes, kindness to me." 
 
 While he could but seldom find leisiirx? for 
 chatty correspoaadence, he made time to \rrito to 
 old friends, and espeoiaUy to those \rhose path 
 was lonely and whom h^ wonis might cheer. 
 " I like," he s;\\"? to one, " to answer such letter? 
 ;vs yours at once, lest they should get no reply at 
 all; and that would be a sad thing, stving how 
 nuv old trieuds aie, and how much I hke to make 
 of them," The Mlowinsr letter he sent to Mrs. 
 
86 A2JTICIPATI0NS. [CH. v. 
 
 Rawson of Clifton, on hearing of her rapidly 
 increasing iUness: — 
 
 "Oke Place, Hastings, Dec. 6, 1876. 
 
 "The sight of your hand-writing again has 
 gladdened my heart. You must be better to 
 write as you do ; but I plainly see that earthly 
 ties are unbracing, and that you are already 
 pluming the pinion for a higher flight. I give 
 you joy, my dear friend, that you wait with 
 eagerness to hear the Master's call ; this truly is 
 heaven on earth, and you are one of those who 
 walk with God on earth.. We have had some 
 sweet communion together, and in the regions of 
 light I hope to find my place among those who 
 gather round the river and renew the intercourse 
 of kindred spirits. I may never have the oppor- 
 tunity of telling you (for it seems improbable that 
 you will be allowed to see any but the members 
 of your family again), but I should like you to 
 know what good your character as an example, 
 and your friendship as an incentive, have done to 
 me. From the first year of my solitary life in 
 Leeds, when you took an interest in my concerns, 
 as no other then did, I can trace it ; and ever 
 since I have been conscious of your sympathy 
 and prayers. 
 
1849-74.] TO AN UNDERGEADUATE. 87 
 
 " My present public work satisfies me far more 
 than legislative duty did. I am not a keen party 
 man, and I hate its spirit. The recent election wiU 
 cause the curse of party strife to cease from our 
 Education work, and of this I am devoutly glad. 
 
 "You refer to Christmas; may it be a hal- 
 lowed time to you ! Our circle is enlarging ; but, 
 when we meet we embrace within it many absent 
 ones, and this year you will not be forgotten. 
 How glad I am that some of my children know 
 you! 
 
 " May the New Year open with a token for 
 good for you, dear friend, and in anticipation I 
 wish you a happy time. 
 
 " With kindest regards to Mr. K., 
 " I am, dearest friend, 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " Charles Reed." 
 
 His children, when at school and college, never 
 failed to receive from him words of sympathy and 
 guidance. " A word," he writes to one, " before 
 your examination. Your best is all we want ; 
 and let the issue be what it may, we are satisfied." 
 To the same a week or two later : — " I can only teU 
 you how fuU of gladness we are, and how grateful 
 to the Giver of all good for the help you have 
 
88 LETTER TO A SON. [ch. y. 
 
 received. In life, as ia death, our real strength is 
 found ia the sense of dependence on TTim who 
 shapes all our ends. God bless you in the enjoy- 
 ment of this new trust, and help you in the use 
 of this new influence ! We shall hear with plea- 
 sure any of the small talk connected with the 
 decision, the places of the men, &c." 
 
 When one of his sons was leaving coEege 
 and going through the ordeal of preaching "on 
 probation," he received from his father the follow- 
 ing note, written from the House of Commons : — 
 
 " I do not like your entering on the engagements 
 of Sunday without a word of sympathy. You 
 have much of my thought and many prayers, but 
 our personal intercourse is necessarily much re- 
 stricted. Stm it has been a great source of 
 pleasure to us that so much of your life has been 
 passed at home ; and now that you are looking to 
 a sphere of future work, we value the more what 
 we are likely soon to lose. I trust your educa- 
 tion has been of so sound and generous a nature 
 as to give you advantages wherever you may 
 settle. Do not hurry into a settlement against 
 any impression that it is not in all respects the 
 call of duty and of God; but if it should seem 
 to be the place suited to you and you to it, be 
 
1849-74.] LITERARY WORK. 89 
 
 sure that it will meet the cordial approval of those 
 most concerned in your welfare." 
 
 Such literary work as Charles Reed could ac- 
 complish had to be done in time snatched from 
 business. In 1861 he assisted the late Mr. H. T. 
 Riley in preparing for the press a translation of 
 the Liber Albus, that mine of civic lore of the 
 fifteenth century. In 1863 he was associated 
 with his brother Andrew in writing the life of 
 their father, Dr. Reed ; and in the following year, 
 when Deputy Governor of the Irish Society, he 
 compiled a narrative of its connexion with the 
 province of Ulster. His published addresses and 
 reports on education and kindred topics are too 
 numerous to mention. 
 
 Year after year such holiday as he could take 
 was spent with his family at Broadstairs, where 
 they occupied a house, which was founded indeed 
 on the sand, but built against the rock, and 
 charmingly near to the sea. A good swimmer 
 himself, he was not content till his children, girls 
 as well as boys, could swim also ; and to this 
 end he bought an open boat with a sail, which 
 was in constant use throughout the summer days. 
 With the concurrence of her who was always his 
 adviser, he allowed the young people a long tether. 
 
90 BROADSTAIRS. [cH. v. 
 
 willing to endure anxiety rather than deny them 
 that freedom which he deemed essential to the 
 development of self-reliance. It was one of 
 his favourite doctrines that the young should see 
 something of the world; hence, as his children 
 lived generally at home, they were encouraged in 
 their holidays to get as much change as possible. 
 After a while Alpine climbing and canoe-cruises 
 on the Rhine and Danube took the place of the 
 EngUsh sea-side ; nor did even the sad accident 
 which befell his youngest son lead him to feel 
 that this poUcy had been mistaken. 
 
 At Broadstairs he was a great favourite with 
 the sailors, and always welcome on board their 
 luggers. An incident occurred in 1860 which for 
 a time raised him in their eyes to the position of 
 a hero. A large ship had gone ashore on a pro- 
 jecting tongue of sunken rock off Kingsgate. The 
 Broadstairs men went off to her assistance; and 
 out of their claim arose a lawsuit, the costs of 
 which fell upon some ten of their number. When 
 Charles Reed arrived at the place, he heard the 
 doleful story of the arrest of these men, and their 
 separation from their families, just at the time 
 when the season for earning a livelihood was 
 beginning. He generously took up their cause 
 and addressed a letter to the Times, which within 
 
1849-74.] SWITZERLAND. 91 
 
 a few days brought in more than the sum re- 
 quired. The debt was paid, and one Saturday he 
 had the pleasure of going to Maidstone Gaol and 
 bringing back the men in triumph to their homes. 
 The balance of the fund was appHed to the giving 
 annually of prizes for bravery in saving hfe ; and 
 he paid occasional visits to Broadstairs for the 
 next twenty years for the purpose of awarding 
 these prizes. 
 
 He did not see Switzerland till he was fifty; 
 but when he had once been there he was always 
 wishing to go again, so keen was his appreciation 
 of its beauties. The following is a letter from the 
 Riffel, addressed to his youngest son, a boy of 
 eleven : — 
 
 "Dearest Kenneth, 
 
 " It seems high time you should have a letter, 
 upon the principle of fairness, the girls having 
 received letters recently from mamma. It is 
 intensely cold here, and we can scarcely put on 
 wraps enough : the hail is falling, and we can 
 see nothing but clouds and snow. Yesterday was 
 a perfect contrast. The fields of ice and snow 
 were resplendent under the sun, and as we looked 
 along the shining way leading up to the very 
 heavens, the heights above us looked like the 
 
92 CHANGES OF RESIDENCE. [ch. v, 
 
 battlements of the celestial city, whence the 
 shining ones look upon the earth beneath. Some 
 day you, dear boy, will mount these snowy passes ; 
 may the same intense delight and the same 
 thoughts of the land of light and glory fill your 
 breast ! I wish that aU my children may see 
 these glorious scenes, which animate the spirit 
 and purify the heart more than most earthly 
 visions of delight." . . . 
 
 During his residence in St. Thomas's Square, 
 Hackney, the number of his children increased 
 to eight ; and — much to the benefit of his 
 own family — ^he provided a home at different 
 times for his nephews, Thomas Blackburn Baines 
 and Edward Manwaring Baines, while the one was 
 practising at the bar, and the other was studying 
 at University College. In 1864 he removed to a 
 house in Upper Homerton, which he called Earls- 
 mead, after a small estate in Surrey which had 
 belonged to his father; and seven years later he 
 gave the same name to a larger house, with about 
 three acres of garden and orchard, which he 
 purchased at Page Green, Tottenham. 
 
 It would be unbecoming to speak of the home 
 life save as its tone was due to his presence and 
 influence. One who had frequent opportunity for 
 
1849-74.] THE HOME LIFE. 93 
 
 observing says, " Those who were even occasionally 
 admitted to Sir Charles' home could not fail 
 to be struck by the perfect understanding that 
 existed amongst all its members, and which 
 evidently sprang out of the perfect understanding 
 and mutual trust of its heads. When all had 
 joined to greet the father on his return after a 
 season of separation, it was not long before he 
 would dismiss them with a playful ' Now I want 
 to talk to mother,' and draw her aside for a stroll 
 in the garden after the old lover-fashion. To the 
 end of life his manner towards his wife lost none 
 of its watchful consideration and chivalry ; and 
 he often warned his sons never to let the 
 familiarity of daily intercourse make them forget 
 what was due to their sisters." 
 
 The Christmas of 1874 was the last of which 
 he could say "All are with us;" before the 
 season had returned, the breaking-up of the 
 home circle had begun. That December he paid 
 a flying visit to his brother Andrew, who was 
 wintering at Lausanne. On his way back he 
 jotted down a few verses, sketching with great 
 fehcity the characteristics of each member of 
 the family. One or two of these, as they 
 refer to children no longer living, may be 
 
94 " MEMOEIES." [oh. v. 
 
 given in illustration of the tenderness of his 
 
 home affections. He called them "Memories, 
 
 written on my Bradshaw on the last night of 
 the year " : — 
 
 " The sister, born 
 For us to mourn : 
 Her heaven-lit eye. 
 Her parting sigh: 
 That wintry day. 
 That one brief ray, 
 The agony 
 Of leaving thee. 
 
 Our Edith. 
 
 " Steadfast, serene, 
 A little queen, 
 Trustful and meek, 
 Nor prone to speak ; 
 Avoiding praise, 
 Yielding always ; 
 Patient to bear 
 Pain — and to share — 
 
 Our Constance. 
 
 " How glad the morn 
 When he was born, 
 Our youngest one, 
 Our little son. 
 Yes, room for thee 
 'Neath the roof-tree. 
 Our crowning joy, 
 Our darling boy. 
 
 Our Kenneth." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CITIZEN OF LONDON. 
 
 ' ' A life in civic action warm, 
 
 A soul on highest mission sent." 
 
 A JOURNEY grows tedious to the man who 
 keeps his eyes fixed upon the ground ; and, in like 
 manner, life in a great city is apt to be a prosaic 
 experience to those who have no ambition beyond 
 that of mingling with the crowd, buying, selling, 
 and getting gain. For Charles Reed, however, 
 London life was redeemed from monotony by 
 the wide horizon over which his eye travelled. 
 His antiquarian studies enabled him to connect 
 his daily haunts with memorable incidents in the 
 annals of the city, while his high sense of 
 patriotism made him earnestly anticipate what 
 London might become, when her citizens were 
 all educated and all upright. One of his earliest 
 lectures was on the London of a hundred years 
 
96 OLD LONDON. [CH. vi. 
 
 ago ; and above that point he loved to mount the 
 stream of history, surrounding himself with relics 
 of the city as Pepys and Stow had described it, 
 and reconstructing it as it appeared in the pages 
 of the Liber Alius. The same feeling led him to 
 resent the disparaging remarks sometimes made 
 about the Corporation, by persons who knew 
 nothing of its ancient services in the cause of 
 liberty, and of such civic leaders as William 
 Walworth and Kichard Whittington. Hence, 
 when he joined the Common Council in 1855 
 as a representative of the ward of Farringdon 
 Within, he resolved to do all he could to uphold 
 the honour and the best traditions of the City 
 of London. 
 
 His first opportunity was afforded by the Public 
 Libraries' Act of that year. Under its provisions 
 a town council was empowered to summon a 
 meeting of burgesses, who might resolve by a 
 majority of two-thirds to levy a rate for the 
 establishment of a library. This course it was 
 proposed to adopt in London ; a meeting was 
 called at the Mansion House under the presidency 
 of Sir Francis Moon, and the promoters were 
 sanguine of success. But strong opposition was 
 manifested, and after a stormy discussion the 
 previous question was carried. 
 
1855-74.] A FREE LIBRARY. 97 
 
 Undeterred by this defeat, Charles Reed wrote 
 a pamphlet, entitled, WTiy not ? A Plea for a 
 Free Fuhlic Library and Mitseum in the City 
 of London, established without Taxation. It had 
 been urged against the scheme that libraries and 
 literary institutions abounded already, and some 
 had failed; that the loss of books, and damage 
 done to them, would be enormous; that there 
 were not residents enough in the City to want 
 a library ; and so forth. To all these objections 
 the author supplied answers founded on evidence 
 which any one might verify for himself If, for 
 example, it were true that some institutions of 
 the kind were languishing, was not this because 
 they had been established for the benefit of a 
 particular class, and were not free to the people ? 
 While to argue that working men were indisposed 
 to read was to disregard the testimony of the 
 second-hand booksellers, who declared that me- 
 chanics were "capital customers, and not so 
 screwy as the gentlemen." He continued, " It 
 is not to be supposed that the chief requirement 
 is the power of reading in a library; what is 
 wanted is to get the means of reading out of a 
 library. We want to help a man to carry his 
 knowledge to his fireside. For those who have 
 no domestic hearths, the free library will be a 
 
 H 
 
THE PLEA [CH, VI. 
 
 resort for their hours of leisure, while for those 
 who have, home is the place to which the volumes 
 wiU be taken." 
 
 In answer to the question how the thing was 
 to be accomplished, he referred to the doles of 
 money made every winter in the City, and sug- 
 gested that there was a far better way of 
 befriending the poor : — 
 
 " There are thousands who crave something 
 better than bodily food, and to whom the gift of 
 mental aliment would be a priceless boon. In 
 America men give what they term ' start help ' to 
 great undertakings. If your Lordship were dis- 
 posed to take the initiative, the citizens would 
 foUow your example. At the instigation of the 
 Mayor of Manchester, twenty-six merchants sub- 
 scribed as many hundreds of pounds, and estab- 
 lished their free library without taxation. And 
 I believe the twenty thousand subscribers among 
 the working classes of the North would find an 
 honest-hearted rivalry in the operatives of all 
 classes in this our metropolis." 
 
 Then follows a word as to the museum: — 
 
 " The British Museum is so fuU that the diffi- 
 culty is to get the trustees, not to purchase, but 
 
1855-74.] AT LAST SUCCESSFUL. 99 
 
 literally to accept, contributions. The collection, 
 fine and extensive as it is, is far away from the 
 centre of the City, and practically useful only to 
 the population west of Temple Bar. The proposed 
 museum, embracing objects of interest in art and 
 nature, ancient and modern, would be a place of 
 great resort, and would become the depository of 
 those remarkable specimens of Roman and British 
 work, which enrich every part of the City, and 
 are turned up every day by the spade of the ex- 
 cavator. ... I have no wish to see the education 
 of the people taken into the hands of Govern- 
 ment ; but I do desire to see the ' mighty folks 
 of labour' lift themselves up to exercise, with a 
 manly spirit of self-reliance, the powers of mind 
 with which they are endowed." 
 
 This plea was not successful at the time. Six 
 years passed before another pubhc meeting was 
 called to consider the propriety of adopting the 
 Public Libraries' Act ; and it was not till 1869 
 that a committee was appointed by the Corpora- 
 tion to erect a library and museum worthy of its 
 resources and responsibilities. Then the long- 
 desired work was taken up in earnest. The new 
 Guildhall Library was opened in 1873 ; and the 
 extent to which its advantages have been 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THE CITY OF LOXDOX SCHOOL. [cH. vi. 
 
 appreciated is the best reply to all the old objec- 
 tions. In 1875 there were 192,000 readers, while 
 in 1SS2 the number had risen to 343,000, giving 
 a daily average of 1,210 readers. Charles Reed 
 sat on the Library Committee for twentT-four 
 years, rendering good ser^-ice by his extensive 
 knowledge of books. 
 
 His connexion with the Committee of the City 
 of London School extended over a period nearly 
 as long, and shows in another form his desire to 
 lay hold of the educational side of civic hfe. 
 Li maintaining this public school at a high level, 
 he felt that the Corporation was discharging 
 one of its chief duties, and he was always an 
 advocate of HberaJity in its management. For 
 the late head-master, Dr. Mortimer, he entertained 
 the highest regard, and he felt it an advantage 
 to be able to place his sons, one after 
 another, under his care. The school attracted 
 him the more because it realised, better than 
 any similar institution he knew, his conception 
 of religious eqxiality. The sons of Churchmen 
 and Dissenters were treated with absolute im- 
 partiality ; the religious teaching was earnest and 
 thorough, yet so interesting did the doctor make 
 it, and so free from all narrowness, that Jewish 
 and Roman Catholic boys scarcely ever claimed 
 
1555-r4.] THE GEESHA^iI LECTFKES. 101 
 
 liberty to be absent. With Dr. Abbott, the 
 present head-master, and Ms able assistants, he 
 stood on equally ojrdiaL terms ; wlule he followed 
 tbe course of old boys at the Universities 
 ^^ith pride, and Avas particularly glad to see any 
 of them appointed masters in the school in which 
 they had been trained. TTis last service was that 
 of '■ urging tie Corporation to grant the new site 
 on the Thames Embankment. In him." writes 
 Dr. Abbott, ■ the school lost one of its best 
 friends." 
 
 It was his interest in sons of Nonconformists 
 who had gone up from tlie City School to Oxford 
 and Caanbridsre, that led him in 1S(J6 to move a 
 resolution in the Common Council in favour of 
 the abolition of University Tests — a resolution 
 which was carried unanimously. Some years 
 later be took an active part in putting the 
 Gresbam Lectures on a more popular and useful 
 footing. The Latin lectures delivered under this 
 Trust had ceased to be of the least service, unless 
 to tbe lecturer himself, who might hope to be 
 spared his dreary task for lack of audience, and to 
 tbe malicious schoolboys who arranged to attend 
 at the given hour in just sufficient number to 
 defeat bis innocent design. It was high time this 
 farce should end, and that whatever iastruction 
 
102 CLYDE AND OUTEAM. [CH. vi. 
 
 there was to be given should be imparted in the 
 mother tongue. 
 
 Believing the recognition of public service to 
 be a legitimate and important part of civic duty, 
 Charles Reed on four occasions moved the con- 
 ferring of the Freedom of the City upon men of 
 high chaxacter and achievements. In the case of 
 Lord Clyde and Sir James Outram, he prefaced 
 his motion by a biographical sketch, in which he 
 singled out for praise not their most showy deeds, 
 but those that revealed the noblest qualities. Thus 
 he reminded the Court of the rare self-sacrifice 
 of Outram, when he had been nominated to the 
 command in India, in giving up that command to 
 Havelock imtil Lucknow should be reached, and 
 volunteering meanwhile to serve under his friend. 
 
 From his speech of 1860 in honour of Sir 
 Leopold McCliatock, an extract may be per- 
 mitted. After tracing the history of earlier 
 polar expeditions and reminding the City of its 
 grant in aid of the search after Ross, he dwelt on 
 the heroism of Lady Franklin : — 
 
 " Hope died out in the hearts of all save one, 
 for ia hers it could not expire. That which 
 was declined by the nation, this feeble but self- 
 reliant woman undertook. She resolved to 
 
1865-74.] MoCLINTOCK. 108 
 
 sacrifice all for one last effort. She had im- 
 poverished her means by three expeditions; for 
 the fourth she sold all she had. She purchased 
 a ship, she drew with her own hand her chart 
 and instructions, and she committed the enter- 
 prise to Captain McClintock." 
 
 And this was how he filled his " post of honour," 
 in his little vessel of 170 tons : — 
 
 "The Fox left in July, 1857. In Melville Bay 
 she was hopelessly beset and frozen in the pack. 
 Between November and February, in the midst of 
 floes and threatening icebergs, they drift down 
 Baffin's Bay, 1,194 geographical miles in 416 days, 
 never setting foot on land from August to April. 
 In the midst of all this their thoughts, brave hearts, 
 were not for themselves, but for 'poor Lady 
 FrankUn, and how disappointed she would be.' 
 The winter over, and once more afloat, they 
 push northward till, baffled again, McClintock 
 retraces his way and, following Lady Frankhn's 
 directions, makes for Bellot's Straits, where 
 they held their position till they were ice- 
 bound for a second winter. Without sun 
 to cheer, deserted by the very animals of the 
 Arctic seas — the birds and the bears travelling 
 
104 THE SEARCH [oh. vi. 
 
 together southward — shut up in a box, covered 
 in with drifted snow, these twenty-five human 
 beings endured the dreadful monotony of dailj' 
 hfe with nothing but the sighing and groaning 
 of the churning ice, which rolls ever from 
 the pole to the equator. Emerging from this! 
 second winter, and the perils of the breaking 
 up of the pack, McClintock says, 'After yester- 
 day's experience, I can understand how a man's 
 hair has turned gray in one night. Had self- 
 rehance been my only support and hope, it is not 
 impossible that mine might have illustrated the 
 fact.' On the 9th of November, 1858, while we were 
 discharging the ancient rites of hospitahty in this 
 City, that little company were committing to an 
 icy grave the body of a comrade, where no kindred 
 could follow, and no hand of friend could plant 
 the memorial flower. 
 
 The sun of 1859 brought light and hope. 
 Captain McChntock put his sleigh in motion, 
 and traversed the ice to the Magnetic Pole. 
 He found the first token of the lost expedition 
 in a naval button upon the dress of an Esqui- 
 maux, and following up this clue, three parties 
 were formed to cover the unexplored region 
 before them. With true naval . generosity 
 McClintock, resigning to Lieutenant Hobson the 
 
1855-74.] FOR FRANKLIN. 105 
 
 most hopeful track, reserved to himself the most 
 intricate and difficult one, while Allen Young 
 took charge of the third. The result is known to 
 us aU. What a melancholy record is that which 
 has been brought to light ! How little is known 
 after all, and yet what a tale those few lines 
 reveal ! They show that, after two winters of 
 hope deferred, the noble-hearted Franklin died — 
 by no hand of man — from no want of food, but 
 amongst his followers, and by them was buried. 
 Yes ; the dead buried the dead ! He had touched 
 lat. 77 N. He had, in fact, discovered the North- 
 West passage. The record teUs of the abandon- 
 ment of the ships in 1848, and of the reduction 
 of the crew by death to a hundred and five 
 men. 
 
 Divesting themselves of all they held dear, short 
 of Hfe, they started on April 27th, 1848, dragging 
 the boat of the Erebus, intended for the Fish 
 River, for sixty-five miles, and then deserting it 
 with two comrades, whose strength was exhausted, 
 but whose courage could not die. On and beyond, 
 we have the traces in relics undisturbed; at 
 seventy miles one ' dropped as he walked,' and he 
 was lying as he fell. Along the shore of King 
 William's Land the track is followed; as far as 
 Montreal Island — 150 miles — were thirty corpses; 
 
106 THE FOX. [CH. vi. 
 
 one, an officer, had been found by Anderson. 
 God only knows where the rest may be ! Noble 
 fellows ! they had traversed the frozen sea ; they 
 had reached America to starve in a sterile land. 
 They had searched for the North-West passage, 
 and they found it. They came, they saw, they 
 conquered, and they died. Had McClintock 
 brought Franklin home, what honours would have 
 awaited him — had he rescued but one to tell the 
 tale, what renown would have been his ! Is he 
 to be the less honoured, now that he has not 
 achieved an impossibility ? He has refused com- 
 pensation, he has declined to accept the Fox as a 
 gift. No doubt he will receive his portion of the 
 reward offered ' to any person or persons who, by 
 virtue of their efforts, should ascertain the fate of 
 Sir John Franklin.' Be this as it may, I ask this 
 Court to confer upon him an honour which no 
 money can purchase or represent, and enrol his 
 name with men whose names this country will 
 not willingly let die. 
 
 " My Lord Mayor — The men who formed this 
 expedition deserve individual and special recogni- 
 tion. The labours of Lieutenant Hobson were 
 second only to those of his chief. Of Captain 
 Allen Young, I will only say that he gave up a 
 lucrative command in the merchant marine, and 
 
1855-74.] GEOEGE PEABODY. 107 
 
 became the sailing master of the Fox, not only- 
 giving his services, but throwing into the general 
 funds £500 as his free contribution. 
 
 " They went forth on a noble errand, they risked 
 their aU — some perished nobly in the discharge 
 of duty, and all were prepared for the sacrifice. 
 It was for a woman — that was sufficient cause; 
 it was for their country — that was sufficient 
 glory." 
 
 Charles Reed owed his introduction to George 
 Peabody to circumstances mentioned in a previous 
 chapter ; but it appears, from an article which he 
 wrote in his family magazine, that he had heard 
 of his name a good many years before : — 
 
 " I was one of the sub-commissioners of the 
 Exhibition of 1851, when the American depart- 
 ment came under my notice, and I was told of 
 the man who had saved his country from disgrace 
 by sec\iring at the last moment, through his own 
 effort and at his own cost, an adequate representa- 
 tion of its manufacturing industry. I honoured 
 him, though aU I knew was that he was a Mr. 
 Peabody ; and a curious name I thought it. 
 
 " Time passed on. In 1862 London was startled 
 by the news that an American merchant had given 
 
108 CHARACTER [oh. ti. 
 
 150,000Z. for the benefit of the poor of London. I 
 at once made up my mind to ask the Corporation 
 to recognise this noble act by the vote of the 
 Freedom of the City — a vote seldom given to any 
 but soldiers and statesmen. After a time I 
 entered notice of motion ; -whereupon two alder- 
 men called upon me to urge its withdrawal; 
 they knew Mr. Peabody's position, they said, 
 and felt sure the report was incorrect ; while 
 if it were true, it was probably a proposal, not to 
 pay down the money but to deposit securities, 
 which of course might mean nothing. After 
 making inquiries, I was assured of the hona fides 
 of the gift, and, though knowing nothing of the 
 career of the donor, moved and carried my 
 resolution." 
 
 It should always be remembered that the 
 amount of this gift was less remarkable than 
 the spirit that prompted it. The American 
 merchant, unlike many who hasten home with 
 aU they have earned abroad, desired to acknow- 
 ledge his obhgations to the City in which he had 
 made his money, and where hospitality had been 
 shown him ; and he resolved to appropriate to its 
 service a part of his fortune. This he did at a 
 time when there was much friction between 
 
1855-74.] OF HIS GIFT. 109 
 
 England and America, and with the expressed 
 hope that his act might help to promote a more 
 friendly feeling. His own humble origin he made 
 no attempt to conceal ; on the contrary, he let it 
 be known that he had begun life as junior clerk 
 in a grocery store, and avowed " for the encourage- 
 ment of the youth of this great city and country, 
 that there were few persons among them whose 
 opportunities were not better than his own had 
 been at their age." Best of all, he insisted, in 
 the management of his fund, on a rigid exclusion 
 of sectarian influences, declaring that his wishes 
 would be violated if any deserving person were 
 deprived of benefit by reason of religious or 
 pohtical bias. 
 
 All these were points on which the mover 
 of the resolution dwelt: the sequel he thus 
 describes :— 
 
 " My speech was fully reported, and was seen 
 by the subject of the eulogy. The next day 
 a gentleman sought me out in Ivy Lane, who 
 said he had been sent by Mr. Peabody to dis- 
 cover who Mr. Charles Reed was, and was sur- 
 prised to find me a different person from Charles 
 Reade the novelist. He expressed the pleasure 
 Mr. Pea.body felt that such an honour should 
 
110 HIS LATER LIFE. [oh. vi. 
 
 spontaneously have been done him, and his as- 
 tonishment that a stranger should have learnt 
 so much of his early life. Two days afterwards 
 a portly, silver-haired gentleman entered my room, 
 announcing himself as Mr. Peabody. He took a 
 chair, talked of many subjects, but not of himself, 
 and asked me to call on him. When I paid the 
 call, I found him in lodgings, where he lived very 
 simply and kept no carriage. He discussed with 
 me his intention of making further donations to 
 the London poor, and sought m^ advice on several 
 points. After this we frequently met. I wrote 
 for him many public letters and some speeches; 
 and as I recognised his simplicity and real good-. 
 ness, I became assured that his was a pure and 
 rare benevolence." 
 
 In 1865, after adding to his gift, Mr. Peabody 
 paid a visit to the United States, carrying with 
 him a miniature portrait of the Queen, which she 
 had sent him, together with an autograph letter 
 of thanks for his act of " more than princely muni- 
 ficence." On his return in the following year, he 
 saw more of Charles Reed than before, and was 
 strongly attracted by the family life to which he 
 was introduced in his friend's home. One 
 morning, while he was staying there, the youngest 
 
1855-74.] BUNHILL FIELDS. Ill 
 
 boy brought a large Bible to his father for family 
 worship. Mr. Peabody said, " Ah ! my boy, you 
 now carry the Bible, but the time is comiug 
 when the Bible must carry you." 
 
 He requested Mr. Keed in 1869 to act as one 
 of his British executors, under the will he was 
 then making, and announced his intention of 
 suggesting to the trustees of his fund the addition 
 of his name as that of one "well-known to him 
 for his high and most honourable character." ' 
 Two months later he died; and his body, after 
 temporary interment in Westminster Abbey, was 
 conveyed to America on board a man-of-war, 
 with every token of English gratitude and 
 respect. One could only wish that these sen- 
 timents were better expressed in the statue 
 erected to his honour at the Royal Exchange, 
 where it goes unfortunately to swell the dusky 
 gallery of benefactors whom a London atmosphere 
 delights to dishonour. 
 
 The part taken by Charles Reed in the preser- 
 vation of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground was due 
 
 ^ The Peabody gift was increased by this will to a total of 
 half-a-million sterling ; and, at the end of 1882, after the pro- 
 Tiding of a large number of dwellings for the poor, the 
 result of the administration of the fund was that, so far from 
 the capital being wasted, it had been increased to 800,000?. 
 
112 THE OLD BONE-HILL. [ch. vi- 
 
 alike to antiquarian and religious motives. -I-t 
 appearing in 1865 that this "Campo Santo of 
 the Dissenters," as Southey called it, was likely 
 to pass into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners, an application was made to them for a 
 pledge that it should be held sacred for ever ; but, 
 as no disposition was shown on their part to concur 
 in any arrangement for the preservation of the 
 spot, Charles Reed moved a resolution in the 
 Common Council expressive of regret. In so 
 doing, he traced back the history of Bone-hill in 
 the Fields to the days when it belonged to the 
 Prebend de Halliwell et Fensbury, and was taken 
 by the City at a yearly rental of twenty shillings. 
 At the time of the Great Plague it became, 
 according to Defoe, the receptacle for thousands 
 of bodies that could not be received into the 
 city churchyards; and shortly afterwards "many 
 of the ministers ejected in 1662, who were refused 
 burial in the churchyards, were laid at rest here 
 by their pious followers." 
 
 " Now the question was this — was this ground 
 to pass away from those who had buried sacred 
 treasures there upon the faith of the pubHc 
 pledges of the Prebend of the City, and 
 had done so even up to the year 1842 ? 
 
1855-74.] ACT FOE ITS PRESERVATION. 113 
 
 It could not be said that it was a Non- 
 conformist question, for, though John Bunyan, 
 John Owen, Isaac Watts, Dr. Lardner, and 
 the Wesley family were buried there, they 
 belonged not to any sect but to the world — the 
 same world that claimed a property in the re- 
 mains of Defoe, Fleetwood, Blake and Ritson. 
 It was a question happily removed far from the 
 heat and dust of party strife ; it was a piece of 
 ground hallowed by the most sacred of all memo- 
 ries, consecrated by the truest of all consecrations ; 
 and the reply of that Court to the memoriahsts 
 must be as clear as the EngUsh language could 
 make it." 
 
 The Court unanimously agreed to accept the 
 care of the ground on behalf of the pubHc, and 
 appointed a committee, with the mover of the 
 resolution as chairman, to pursue the inquiry. 
 Negotiations with the Ecclesiastical Commission 
 being stiU in vain, the Dissenting Deputies joined 
 the Corporation in obtaining a short Act of 
 Parliament to secure the ground to its original 
 use. Charles Eeed was again made chairman of 
 the committee charged with the execution of this 
 Act; and at the conclusion of its labours, in 
 October 1869, when the ground was formally 
 
114 THE REOPENING. [ch. vi. 
 
 reopened, this was the account he was able to 
 render : — 
 
 " In the midst of the fen beyond the city wall, 
 a tumulus or mound marked traditionally the site 
 of Saxon burial. Be this as it may, this spot has 
 been so used from time immemorial, and in 
 1549 more than a thousand cartloads of human 
 remains were removed from the charnel-house 
 of St. Paul's Cathedral and deposited here. From 
 that period there were burials around the bone- 
 hill, which soon acquired the name of Bunhill in 
 the Fields, where the archers and bowmen of the 
 City converted the profitless waste around into 
 a place for pastime and military training. In the 
 days of the first Stuart, and during the Common- 
 wealth, burial in this ground was much sought 
 after by families that could claim no right of 
 interment in the City churches ; and this fact led 
 the Corporation of London, in 1665, to inclose this 
 hitherto unprotected spot for the use mainly of 
 the Nonconformists. From 1665 to 1832, when 
 the ground was closed, 123,000 bodies are regis- 
 tered as buried here, and though only 5,000 vaults 
 are now discoverable, it is found that vaults are 
 lying buried at depths varying from six to twelve 
 feet beneath the surface In the presence 
 
1855-74.] A WORK OF REVERENCE. 116 
 
 of representatives of families whose dead were 
 buried here, and of the delegates of churches and 
 societies, whose pastors and founders rest in this 
 ground, I desire to say that, in aU the reparations 
 and alterations carried on within this inclosure, 
 not a fragment of stone has been taken away, nor 
 has any portion of soil been removed. Tombs 
 have been raised from beneath the ground, stones 
 have been set straight, illegible inscriptions have 
 been deciphered and recut, hundreds of decayed 
 tombs have been restored, paths have been laid, 
 and avenues planted ; and in all, the sacred rights 
 of sepulture have been scrupulously respected." 
 
 His own share in this work of reverence was 
 by no means light. " For two years," he wrote 
 to a friend, " I have personally superintended the 
 restoration, week by week ; " and, appended to his 
 copy of the pamphlet he drew up, entitled Old 
 Bunhill Fields Restored, is a manuscript note 
 which describes the pains he took with regard to 
 a single grave — that of Fleetwood, Cromwell's 
 son-in-law : — 
 
 " During the repairs of the ground I discovered 
 this grave, by the use of a borer, and came upon 
 a ledger stone six feet below the surface. My 
 
 I 2 
 
116 AMONG THE TOMBS. [ch. "pi- 
 
 secretary and I found the entrance to the vault, 
 and had it opened. Recollecting what Mr. Charles 
 Knight had told me, on the authority of some 
 'private diary' in his possession, I searched for 
 the body of Oliver Cromwell, and in a canvas 
 cloth I saw the bones of a man, but no skuU. 
 This was lower than the remains of Fleetwood's 
 own coffin, of which a portion of the purple velvet, 
 with gilt-headed nails remained, and I am of 
 opinion that the ' common talk of the people 
 that Cromwell's trunk was bought of the official 
 persons at Tibume and buried in Fleet- 
 wood's tomb in Bunhole Field,' is not without 
 foundation. 
 
 "Another circumstance needs recording. We 
 found the side of the tomb where the entablature 
 had been, broken up and defaced, so that no 
 inscription could be seen ; and I have no doubt 
 that, when the enlightened Charles ordered the 
 bones of Elizabeth, the mother of the Protector, 
 to be ' dug up ' at Westminster, and thrown 
 into a pit in the churchyard of St. Margaret's,' 
 an attack was made upon other tombs of persons 
 eminent iu Church and State. 
 
 " It is known that on the 12th and 13th Sep- 
 tember, 1661, this brutal work commenced in 
 London, and in addition to Elizabeth Cromwell, 
 
1855-74.] IRELAND. 117 
 
 and Elizabeth Claypole her daughter, the bodies 
 of Robert Blake the Admiral, John Pym the 
 commoner, Thomas May the historian. Dr. Twisse 
 the prolocutor, Edward Popham, Colonel Meldrum, 
 Colonel Boscawen, with Stephen Marshall and 
 William Strong (divines), suffered this indignity. 
 
 " Yet I have seen my friends George Peabody, 
 a Congregational dissenter, and David Living- 
 stone, a Nonconformist missionary, buried by the 
 side of kings in Westminster Abbey. (C. R., 
 June 20, 1877.)" 
 
 His connexion with Ireland, which oecame very 
 close and tender, originated in the visits he paid 
 on behalf of the Corporation to the Ulster estates 
 of the Irish Society. When he first went across, 
 an embittered state of feeling existed on the part 
 of the citizens of Derry, chiefly on the subject of 
 leases; and, to make matters worse, certain ap- 
 peals for grants in aid of local improvements had 
 been refused. It was on the occasion of a banquet 
 in the Derry Court House that the attack upon the 
 Society was opened by one of its principal critics ; 
 and Mr. Deputy Eeed, who was unknown to most 
 of those present, had the unenviable task assigned 
 to him of replying. However, so effectively did 
 he speak, and in so conciliatory a spirit, that the 
 
118 THE IRISH SOCIETY. [ch. vi- 
 
 opposition was silenced, and the heart of the 
 Maiden City fairly won. Next summer (1864) 
 her new friend returned, much to her satisfaction, 
 as Deputy-governor of the Society. An accident 
 that befell some workmen engaged in Derry gave 
 to him and his colleagues the opportuiiity of 
 rendering help, and thereby cementing the bond 
 of good wiU. The Derry Corporation voted him 
 thanks ; and his public addresses at Coleraine and 
 elsewhere strengthened the favourable impres- 
 sion. The autumn of that year was spent by him 
 in compiling a brief history of the Irish Society, 
 which was shortly afterwards published by order 
 of the Court. 
 
 These services were commemorated by a 
 banquet in London at which a testimonial was 
 presented, together with an address in which his 
 colleagues testified to the good he had been able 
 to accomplish. "His attention to the business 
 of the Society has been unremitting, whilst his 
 kindness and courtesy have rendered the inter- 
 course of the members of the Court a pleasure ; 
 and during the last visitation to Ireland, to his 
 tact and good temper, accompanied by the firm- 
 ness he displayed at each meeting, is attributed 
 the improved state of feeling now happily existing 
 in that country towards the Society." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PARLIAMENT. 
 
 ' ' Let no desire of ease, 
 No lack of courage, faith or love, delay 
 Mine own steps on that high, thonght-paven way 
 In which my soul her clear commission sees ; 
 Yet with an equal joy let me behold 
 Thy chariot o'er that way by others rolled ! " 
 
 When, in the session of 1867, the Tower 
 Hamlets were divided, and their northern part 
 formed into a distinct constituency returning two 
 members, Charles Reed was at once designated by 
 his friends as a candidate for the new borough of 
 Hackney. A requisition signed by twelve hundred 
 of his neighbours decided him to stand, and in 
 July he issued his address. " I have sprung 
 from the people; my life has been spent among 
 them; my sympathies are with them, and my 
 highest ambition is to serve them." Sixteen 
 months of hard work ensued, during which 
 
120 A LIBEEAL BOROUGH. [ch. vii. 
 
 the whole borough, -with its twenty or thirty- 
 square miles of houses and its forty thousand 
 voters, was thoroughly canvassed. The result 
 was seen at the General Election of 1868, the 
 last under the old system of voting, when he was 
 returned, together with Mr. John Holms, who 
 stiU occupies his seat to the credit and great 
 advantage of his constituents. The figures were 
 remarkable. Although the Liberal strength was 
 divided among five candidates, yet the sohtary 
 Conservative polled only 2,633 votes, while Mr. 
 Holms received 12,343, and Mr. Eeed 14,785. 
 
 The cause for congratulation, however, lay not 
 so much in the size of the majority as in the 
 means by which it had been secured. This may 
 be seen from the following letter, which was 
 published at the time : — 
 
 "As one of seven gentlemen who have had 
 the general direction of the contest on behalf 
 of Mr. Charles Reed, let me say that, from first 
 to last, it has been conducted by the entirely 
 voluntary efforts of his supporters; no paid 
 canvassers have been engaged, but in their 
 place we have had a volunteer army of some 
 three hundred electors of all classes, who have 
 for three months past been actively engaged in 
 
1868-81.] A PURE ELECTION. 121 
 
 canvassing the whole borough, and to such good 
 purpose that hardly a single house has been 
 unvisited We are proud of having re- 
 turned so good a Liberal as Mr. Reed, but even 
 more proud of having done so without the inter- 
 vention of electioneering agents, and in the face 
 of a very large expenditure on the part of some 
 of the other candidates." 
 
 The victory was largely due to the enthusiasm 
 with which Charles Reed's cause was taken up 
 by the Sunday School teachers. His brother, the 
 Rev. Andrew Reed, tells that a year or two after 
 this he was taking tea with him in the House of 
 Commons, when some member, who was opposed 
 to his views on the Sabbath and on religious 
 education, jocosely exclaimed, " We shall beat you. 
 Reed ; we have the support of the trades' unions 
 and the working men." "I don't believe it," 
 replied the other; "you may have aU you say, 
 but I have a force on my side that is more than 
 a match for them." " Pray what is that ? " "I 
 have with me the myriads of Sunday School 
 teachers throughout the land." 
 
 A proposal was made to repay to Charles Reed 
 his expenses, amounting to about 1,400^. ; but on 
 hearing of it, he wrote to Mr. Samuel Morley, 
 
122 THE NEW MEMBER. [cH. Tii. 
 
 who had agreed to act as treasurer, as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " Admitting as I do that constituencies and not 
 candidates should charge themselves with the 
 ordinary expenses of elections, and appreciating 
 most highly the generous motives of my friends, 
 I cannot he unmindful that the stress of this 
 effort would fall upon those who, through a 
 protracted struggle, have rendered such marked 
 service to our good cause, and have saved me 
 many hundreds of pounds by voluntary and self- 
 sacrificing exertions, not to be purchased by 
 money. Ever grateful as I must be to my 
 Council and to the local committees who con- 
 ducted my canvass, I hope they will allow me 
 the satisfaction of feeling that their contribution 
 has already been made, and that I am completely 
 rewarded by the result of their united exertions." 
 
 In entering Parhament Charles Reed did not 
 stand on the footing of many new members, to 
 whom the life of the House of Commons is un- 
 familiar. For years his brother-in-law, the Right 
 Hon. Matthew Talbot Baines, who was successively 
 President of the Poor Law Board and Chancellor 
 of the Duchy of Lancaster, had been a constant 
 
1868-81.] SESSION OF 1869. 123 
 
 visitor at his Hackney home ; and, after his 
 death, he had been on the closest terms of inti- 
 macy with his wife's second brother, Edward, who 
 for many years was njember for Leeds. Thus 
 he was ready at once to begin work ; and an 
 early occasion was given him of moving in a 
 matter, with the bearings of which he was per- 
 sonally acquainted. 
 
 A decision had recently been given by the 
 House of Lords, to the effect that all schools 
 not held in or under a church or chapel were 
 liable to pay poor rates. Charles Keed had 
 interested, himself in 1868 in collecting statistics 
 as to the burdensome character of this tax, and 
 in the following January an association was 
 formed for securing the exemption of Sunday 
 and Ragged Schools. He introduced a Bill 
 on the subject, and made his maiden speech 
 in its support. It is worthy of notice that, in 
 his opening words, he strikes the key-note of his 
 subsequent career. " It is a source of satisfaction 
 to feel that no question is more interesting to 
 Parliament than that of education, and the solu- 
 tion of the great problem how best to promote 
 primary instruction and the elevation of the 
 humblest classes." 
 
 He proceeded to sketch the growth of Sunday 
 
124 RATING OF SUNDAY [oh. vii. 
 
 Schools, and claimed liberty, after himself takiag 
 part in their work for nearly forty years, to protest 
 against the infliction of a burden they were iU 
 able to bear : — 
 
 " Now I ask the House to look at the anomaly 
 of our present position. Beneath a chapel, a 
 school is free, whether used as a day or Sunday 
 School. Held in a vestry, a school is exempt, 
 but in a separate building, ten feet from the 
 place of worship, it is to be rated. See how 
 that works. For half a century our Sunday 
 schools have been held in church pews, vestries, 
 outhouses ; I myself have visited one in a belfry in 
 a church-tower. The places have been ill-adapted, 
 crowded, the air impure, and the light deficient. 
 During the last twenty years the laws of health 
 have been consulted, large sums have been ex- 
 pended to secure proper buildings — airy and light, 
 and free from the depressing gloom by which 
 many of our schools are pervaded ; light and pure 
 air are essential to successful teaching. Now 
 what wiU happen ? The iU-conditioned schools 
 go free, the improved schools are rated ; that is, 
 you place a tax upon improvements, and drive 
 back the progress of the century. Then, Sir, it 
 is unfair to the teachers, because, when their 
 
1868-81.] AND RAGGED SCHOOLS. 125 
 
 labour is gratuitous, the main cost of the man- 
 agement of these schools falls upon them. There 
 is no income ; there are no school pence ; they 
 have no endowment, and do not want any. Long 
 since the payment of a shilling a day ceased, and 
 the fifty-two shillings a year of Robert Raikes' 
 time multiplied by 400,000 teachers is the sum 
 which forms the contribution of these voluntary 
 teachers to the education, in the highest sense, of 
 our humblest and destitute classes. But what 
 are we in danger of doing ? These teachers 
 tax themselves, and you tax them for doing 
 so. Was there ever so unwise and impoHtic 
 a proceeding ? " 
 
 The objection of cost he answered from a 
 case within his own knowledge. 
 
 "A London boy at the age of twelve was 
 already an old criminal. He had been in prison 
 six times before he was eight, and twelve times 
 before he was thirteen. One Sunday morning, 
 released from confinement, he was going, accord- 
 ing to his own confession, 'to his work again,' 
 when a touch on the shoulder arrested him. It 
 was not the hand of the poUceman this time, but 
 the hand of a Ragged School teacher ; and he was 
 
126 " HOW DEA"W THE LINE ? '■ [oh. vir. 
 
 moved, by the ' strange ' kindness of the invita- 
 tation, to enter for the first time a Night School. 
 He was put upon a good course ; enabled to earn 
 his living ; in time he saved money ; and in three 
 years he had settled himself in his own house, 
 and, true to the nature of the British workman, 
 he had taken home to him from the workhouse 
 his father and mother, who were unproductive 
 paupers. Is this nothing ? It may be a re- 
 markable case, but it shows the tendency of such 
 institutions to reduce our national burdens already, 
 and proves their advantage to the State." 
 
 But where was the line to be drawn ? If 
 Sunday and Ragged Schools were to be exempted 
 on the ground that they were a national benefit, 
 the same plea might be advanced on behalf of a 
 hundred other institutions; while any private 
 citizen, who was not troubled with modesty, might 
 base a similar claim on the value of his services 
 to the State. To this the mover replied : — 
 
 " The Eight Honourable gentleman says he can- 
 not draw the Hue. He said so in a debate upon 
 the Hospital Rating Exemption BiU. I answer 
 him, the line is drawn already, and I ask him not 
 to stretch it too tightly. Places of worship are 
 
1868-81.] " TAX THE LIFE-BOAT 1 " 127 
 
 exempt, Government buildings are free, and 
 University buildings proper are not liable to rate. 
 Wbat I say is this, — If the Universities of Oxford 
 and Cambridge, devoted to the religious training 
 of the youth of the wealthy classes, are to be free, 
 the university of labour, the schools of the poor 
 where gratuitous religious instruction is given, 
 ought not to be burdened with an oppressive tax. 
 " The parents pay rates, the teachers pay theirs ; 
 there is no beneficial occupation, and these rooms, 
 from the use of which no penny of profit is sought 
 to be derived, ought not to be assessed. . . , Tax 
 the light-house, the life-boat, the fire-escape if 
 you wiU, but let Bible instruction escape your 
 grasp. These schools are not the property of sects 
 for sectarian teaching. I know them through the 
 length and breadth of the land; they are used 
 simply for instruction in Scripture truth and 
 the practice of Christian virtue." 
 
 The Bill was opposed by the front benches on 
 both sides of the House as an indirect form of 
 endowment ; but the feeling in its favour was so 
 strong that, at the risk of establishing a dangerous 
 precedent, the second reading was carried by 228 
 votes to 71. In Committee Mr. Gladstone an- 
 nounced that, after so unmistakable an expression 
 
128 THE BILL PASSED. [ch. vii. 
 
 of the mind of the House, he would not offer any 
 further opposition ; and at a later sitting he 
 acknowledged, with characteristic frankness, that 
 " the principle of the Bill had not been given up ; 
 on the contrary, the honourable member for 
 Hackney had achieved a victory over the Govern- 
 ment, which had yielded its opposition." 
 
 In the Lords an unexpectedly easy passage 
 awaited the BiU. The Eaxl of Shaftesbury took 
 charge of it ; an amendment in the name of Lord 
 Beauchamp fell through, and before the end of 
 July the Royal assent was given. The battle was 
 won, it must be admitted, ^by generous instincts 
 as against the sterner rules of poUtical economy ; 
 but it did credit to the enterprise and skill of a 
 private member that he was able to carry such a 
 measure in the face of powerful opposition. In 
 one respect the opposition left its mark. The 
 wording of the BiU was made permissive, so 
 that some rating authorities have been able to 
 refuse to avail themselves of its provisions. 
 
 The Session of 1870 found Charles Reed fully 
 engaged in following the course of the Elementary 
 Education BiU through the House of Commons ; 
 but this subject it wiU be better to reserve for 
 the next chapter. 
 
1868-81.] THE POST OFFICE. 129 
 
 In the course of the same yeax he moved a 
 resolution in reference to Sunday labour in the 
 Post Office. This was not a new question with 
 him, but one in which he had interested himself 
 as far back as 1849. The terms of his present 
 motion were these : — 
 
 "That the employment by the State of up- 
 wards of twenty thousand persons in the de- 
 partment of the Post Office on the Sabbath 
 day is not justified by any public necessity ; and 
 that it is desirable that the exemption from 
 Sunday labour enjoyed by the letter carriers 
 of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, and a 
 hundred and fourteen other post towns, should be 
 extended to all letter carriers and rural messen- 
 gers throughout the United Kingdom." 
 
 Here again, perhaps, may be recognised the 
 philanthropist rather than the pohtician — the 
 warm heart of one who would make the pubhc 
 convenience bend to the comfort of pubhc 
 servants, and their unabridged possession of 
 rehgious privilege. 
 
 The proposal was met by practical difficulties 
 of which sufficient account had not been taken ; 
 but none the less was the excellence of the mover's 
 
 K 
 
130 INCREASE OF WORK. [ch. vii. 
 
 object acknowledged. He wished others to enjoy 
 what he so highly prized. To quote words spoken 
 over his grave :— 
 
 "He felt the blessing which a Christian man 
 of business and pubhc life finds in turning the 
 key upon the world for twenty-four hours, and 
 feeUng that, after all, he is but a pilgrim and 
 a stranger, whose home is in the heavenly city. 
 Therefore it was that he was so anxiously con- 
 cerned to preserve for the workers of our great 
 nation not the restrictions, but the freedom, of the 
 day of rest, and to guard against aU those weU- 
 meant, but as he believed mistaken, efforts which, 
 by breaking down the ramparts of protection in 
 one direction in order to give instruction and 
 amusement, would open the way for the full 
 incoming of the tide of worldly work." 
 
 During the next three years, though daily 
 occupied with the work of the London School 
 Board, Charles Reed continued to give diligent 
 attendance in the House of Commons. But he 
 soon felt that it was undesirable, even if it were 
 possible, for him to speak on other than educa- 
 tional subjects; and by degrees he was led to 
 reahse the necessity for releasing himself from 
 Parhamentaiy duties. 
 
1868-81 ] THE DISSOLUTION OF 1874. 131 
 
 At last, on the retirement of Lord Lawrence 
 and his own appointment to succeed him, he re- 
 solved to retire " at any rate for a time." But 
 before he could announce this decision to his 
 constituents, there came like a thunder-clap the 
 dissolution of 'January, 1874. He immediately 
 drew up his farewell address to his Hackney 
 constituents, but on reflexion felt that he had 
 no option but to withhold it. " This news," he 
 wrote, " came so suddenly as to compel me to 
 reconsider my decision ; and on learning that 
 the writ was returnable in ten days, I felt I 
 could not honourably throw the Liberal party 
 in the borough into confusion by declining to 
 stand, when there was no time to secure another 
 candidate." There was moreover the probability 
 that, if the two old members stood together, 
 their return would be unopposed ; and he 
 shrank from provoking a contest by precipitate 
 retirement. 
 
 This hope proved vain. At the last hour — the 
 very night before the nomination — the Conserva- 
 tives put up Lieutenant Gill ^ — a young officer who 
 
 ^ A mournful interest attaches to the name of this gallant 
 officer, since, in August 1882, he was sharer with Professor 
 Palmer and Lieutenant Charrington in the mission to the Arab 
 tribes east of Suez, which led to ihe tragic fate of the whole 
 party. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 FIASCO AT HACKNEY. [ch. vii. 
 
 made up in high spirit what he lacked in political 
 experience. The days that followed were spent 
 in the usual ferment that precedes an election, 
 Charles Keed's friends working particularly hard, 
 with the determination of restoring to him the 
 position at the poU which had been denied him 
 at the recent School Board election. The huge 
 borough was thoroughly aroused, and the result 
 awaited with the utmost confidence. 
 
 What then were the disappointment and 
 indignation caused by the utter breakdown of the 
 polling arrangements ! At first it was impossible 
 to tell the extent of the disaster ; those engaged 
 in the election knew only that at several of the 
 stations no ballot boxes had arrived, and that 
 crowds of artisans, who had stayed from their 
 work in order to vote, had been turned away. By 
 ten o'clock the candidates were in conference with 
 the returning officer, a gentleman of the highest 
 standing, who was much distressed at the non- 
 execution of his orders, and said that the 
 only thing to be done was to adjourn the poll to 
 the following day. 
 
 This, it was afterwards ascertained, he had no 
 power to do ; the votes must be counted in the 
 ordinary way and the result declared, it being 
 left to the unsuccessful candidate to dispute the 
 
1868-81.] RESOLUTION TO EETIEE. 133 
 
 validity of the election. But, unfortunately for 
 the Liberals, this discovery was not made early 
 enough in the day to save them from recom- 
 mending their friends to reserve their energies 
 for the morrow ; whereas the Conservatives, better 
 advised, were busy polling every available vote. 
 The consequence was that the figures announced 
 next day were no index whatever of the position 
 of parties in the borough. The old members were 
 returned indeed, but not in the style of 1868. 
 [Holms, 6,968; Reed, 6,898; Gill, 6,310.] 
 
 There being little doubt that a petition would 
 be lodged, Charles Eeed felt that now was the 
 time for carrying out his original intention, 
 though it went sorely against the grain to retire 
 upon such an unsatisfactory verdict. Accordingly 
 he wrote to the Chairman of his Executive Com- 
 mittee as follows : — 
 
 " The experience of the last three years has 
 taught me that I can hardly hope to bear 
 much longer the double strain of public work, 
 involving continuous night attendance at the 
 House of Commons, in addition to my daily 
 duties at the School Board. Were I now to 
 proceed to an election, and should these mis- 
 givings be realised, I might be the means of 
 
134 MR. TAWCETT INTRODUCED. [ch. vii. 
 
 bringing about a fresh contest at the close of 
 the Session. 
 
 "I am thus called upon to relinquish one of 
 the two positions in which I have the honour of 
 representing you ; and believing I can be more 
 directly useful in advancing the work of educa- 
 tion by devoting to it my undivided energies, 
 I cannot hesitate to give up for it my seat in 
 Parliament. .... 
 
 "By this early intimation you will, I trust, 
 have ample opportunity to prepare for any con- 
 tingency, and I hope you may experience no 
 difficulty in securing a candidate whose tried 
 ability wiU give you some guarantee of faithful 
 service, and who by an established character 
 may lend some political force to the borough. 
 A constituency so thoroughly Liberal as to give 
 me in 1868 a majority of more than twelve 
 thousand votes over my Conservative opponent, 
 is secure of victory, if not unduly confident of 
 success. Your future member, whoever he may 
 be, will find in my friend and colleague, Mr. 
 Holms, an associate well worthy of his confidence 
 and esteem." 
 
 Though speaking of the " future member, who- 
 ever he may be," Charles Keed had his eye 
 
1868-81.] PRESENTATION. 135 
 
 already directed to one who seemed admirably 
 fitted for the post. In Professor Fawcett, who 
 had just lost his seat for Brighton, he thought 
 he saw a candidate who would be sure to enlist 
 the support of the Liberal party in Hackney. 
 The idea was warmly taken up by his friends; 
 Mr. Fawcett was induced to stand, and in a few 
 weeks he had become the colleague of Mr. 
 Holms. The help he received from his pre- 
 decessor was cordially acknowledged. "I shall 
 never forget that I owe my introduction to 
 Hackney to his kind initiative ; and my first 
 success in the election of 1874, when I was a 
 stranger to the borough, was to a very large 
 extent due to his warm and generous support 
 of my candidature." 
 
 A movement among the leading Liberals of 
 the borough, to defray Sir Charles' expenses 
 incurred in the late abortive election, was delayed 
 in consequence of the illness and death of the 
 chairman of his committee ; but in the spring of 
 1876, when he was about to visit Philadelphia, 
 the presentation was made. The balance was 
 expended on a full-length portrait, which now 
 hangs in the Hackney Town Hall as a memorial 
 of the first representative of the borough in 
 Parhament. 
 
136 AGAIN IN PARLIAMENT. [CH. vii. 
 
 In 1879, when another general election was 
 felt to he approaching, Sir Charles was urged 
 in many quarters to offer himself as a candidate. 
 A paper found in his desk shows that, within a 
 few weeks, he declined offers from four con- 
 stituencies, and that he was sounded by repre- 
 sentatives from six more. The last chapter will 
 tell how he re-entered Parliament a few months 
 before his death as member for the Cornish 
 borough of St. Ives. It may, however, be men- 
 tioned here, that in the several divisions of 1880 
 and 1881 upon the question of Mr. Bradlaugh's 
 'admission to the House of Commons, he did not 
 vote with his party. Having always opposed 
 religious tests, he was not likely to overlook the 
 folly of instituting an inquisition into the theo- 
 logical opinions of any duly elected member. 
 Yet so profoundly convinced was he of the de- 
 basing and subversive tendency of Mr. Brad- 
 laugh's teaching, that, seeing the latter had put 
 himself flagrantly in the wrong, he was no more 
 prepared to help him out of his difiiculty than 
 he would have been, had the member for 
 Northampton avowed himself an enemy of the 
 Queen. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE feCHOOL BOARD FOR 
 LONDON. 
 
 " The good begun by thee shall onward flow 
 In many a 'branehmg stream, and wider grow ; 
 The seed that in these few and fleeting hours 
 Thy hands unspaiing and unwearied sow, 
 Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers. 
 And yield thee fruit divine, in heaven's immortal bowers." 
 
 " The Parliament," said Hooker, " is a court 
 not so merely temporal as if it might meddle 
 with nothing but only leather and wood." Few 
 would care to dispute this judicious view of 
 the negative functions of the legislature ; but 
 probably as few would be found to agree on the 
 precise point to which its positive duty extended. 
 This might be illustrated from the very diverse 
 opinions which have been held by different 
 persons, and even by the same persons at different 
 times, as to the proper attitude of the State 
 towards popular education. The old Voluntaries, 
 
138 THE BRITISH AND [ch. viii. 
 
 for example, long denied the right of Government 
 to interfere at aU. with so sacred a matter ; yet 
 in process of time they came round, almost to a 
 man, to look with favour upon the establishment 
 of a national system. Charles Reed was one of 
 those who underwent this change. By birth, by 
 early training, and by personal conviction he was 
 a Voluntary of the Voluntaries ; yet in 1870 no 
 member of the House of Commons was prepared 
 to give a heartier greeting to Mr. Forster's bill. 
 Whence, we are compelled to ask, this altered 
 position ? And further, how came it that he, 
 together with a few prominent Nonconformists, 
 remained loyal to the Government and its 
 proposals, at a time when most of those with 
 whom he had been wont to act were filled with 
 mistrust and alarm ? 
 
 The first of these questions cannot be answered 
 without a glance at the landmarks of Enghsh 
 primary education. When the century opened, 
 Andrew BeU had just introduced from Madras 
 his successful monitorial system. The inexpensive 
 character of this system commended it to Joseph 
 Lankester, who had long felt that the great 
 barrier to the spread of education was its costli- 
 ness ; and out of his enthusiastic labours sprang 
 
1870-73.] NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 139 
 
 the British and Foreign School Society, founded 
 in 1808. In the constitution of this Society it 
 was provided that the Bible should be read in 
 school and simple explanations be given by the 
 teacher, but that no denominational formularies 
 should be aUowed. 
 
 The success of this movement stirred the 
 Church party to action. The old doctrine that 
 it was wrong to educate the children of the poor 
 retired from view abashed ; but it was felt that, 
 if they were to be taught, the religious instruction 
 must not be left so "perilously vague," but be 
 strengthened by a backbone of distinctive Church 
 teaching. With this object, avowed in its very 
 title, the National Society was established in 
 1811; and from that time it was made plain 
 that two influential parties existed in the country, 
 both agreed that no education deserved the name 
 unless it were "religious," but differing funda- 
 mentally in the sense they attached to that 
 elastic term. 
 
 One of the first convictions to settle upon the 
 Reformed Parhament of 1832 was that private 
 enterprise could never overtake the requirements 
 of the nation without assistance; and in 1833 
 building grants began to be given to the amount 
 of 20,000Z. a year, divided equally between the 
 
140 POSITION OF THE VOLUNTARIES, [ch. yiii. 
 
 British and National Societies. When, six years 
 later, the Committee of Council was appointed 
 and offers of aid for school maintenance were 
 made, these offers found the Nonconformists 
 already divided. Some objected altogether to 
 the proposed subsidy, on the ground that it 
 would check the freedom they enjoyed in their 
 schools and unduly augment the power of the 
 Established Church ; while others were persuaded 
 that the State must supplement voluntary agency 
 in some way, and that its aid might be accepted 
 in so far as secular instruction in the schools 
 was concerned. 
 
 These parties were for a time re-united in 
 the vehement resistance evoked by Sir James 
 Graham's Bill of 1843, and to a less degree in 
 the opposition offered to the Minutes of 1846. 
 But when these crises were past, the fissure again 
 opened, and the sections led respectively by Mr. 
 Edward Baines, junior (now Sir Edward Baines), 
 and Dr. Eobert Vaughan, the editor of the British 
 Quarterly, engaged one another valorously in the 
 lists, while a thoroughgoing advocate of state- 
 education like Dr. Hook came in for blows from 
 both sides. Still the inability of the Voluntaries 
 to meet the growing demand for education became 
 so obvious that at last they were forced to yield. 
 
1870-78.] THE BILL OF 1870. 141 
 
 "It is clear," said Mr. Baines in 1867, "that if 
 the body of the people demand the application of 
 public money and authority to the providing of 
 schools, it would be vain either to resist the 
 demand, or to compete with schools which are 
 supported by the whole national resources and 
 by popular favour." Yet, while acknowledging 
 their defeat, the Voluntaries had the satisfaction 
 of feeling that their work, if inadequate, 
 was sterling so far as it went, and that their 
 long and disinterested contention had secured 
 that, in any Government measure, the principle 
 of unsectarian religious instruction would be 
 respected. 
 
 When Mr. Forster and his colleagues were 
 prepai'ing their Bill, they had two courses before 
 them, either to establish a system that would 
 supersede the Voluntary schools, or one which 
 would live beside them in healthy rivalry. There 
 were counsellors who strongly urged the former 
 course ; the Voluntary schools had as a whole 
 failed, and the sooner they gave place to some- 
 thing else the better. The case against them 
 was made strong by the vast number of children 
 remaining untaught, by the poor results of the 
 secular instruction, and by the intensely sectarian 
 
142 OBJECTIONS TO THE BILL. [ch. viii. 
 
 character of many of the National schools. But 
 the case failed through the very strength with 
 which it was presented ; for if these schools had 
 so misconducted themselves, not only did they 
 deserve no fresh aid out of the rates, but they 
 deserved to lose the Government grant they now 
 received ; and for the infliction of such a pun- 
 ishment as that, the nation was not prepared. 
 
 Still it was not surprising that those who took 
 so decided a view of the shortcomings of the 
 denominational schools should energetically pro- 
 test against the arrangements in their favour 
 contained in the Bill. The examination grant 
 was to be enhanced, several months were to be 
 allowed for claiming building grants, and boards 
 were to be empowered to pay the fees of their 
 indigent scholars. This opened a truly ominous 
 prospect; for what was to hinder a thoroughly 
 sectarian school from being maintained wholly at 
 the public cost ; and might not school boEirds turn 
 out to be simply an organization for imposing 
 church rates in a new form ? 
 
 Those who were swayed by these considerations 
 felt that there was but one way out of the 
 difficulty, and Mr. Henry Richard announced 
 that way in his motion of June 19, 1870 : " That 
 in any national system the religious instruction 
 
1870-73.] REASONS FOR SUPPORTING IT. 143 
 
 should be supplied by voluntary effort, and not 
 out of public funds." As it was, Government 
 inspection of religious teaching was to cease, and 
 this teaching was required to be given during the 
 first hour of the day. Carry this separation, it 
 was urged, one step further ; prohibit the teaching 
 of the Bible altogether by the teacher, who in 
 part at any rate is paid by the State, and let the 
 zeal of the churches be aroused to do the work 
 that properly belongs to them. May they not 
 realise their responsibility more strongly, when the 
 whole religious instruction of the young is thrown 
 upon them, than they do now, when they are 
 apt to be satisfied with the slender amount of 
 instruction given in the day school ? 
 
 This reasoning was ably sustained ; but Charles 
 Reed was among those who failed to be convinced 
 by it. He was too sensible of the good done by 
 the Voluntary schools in the past, and of which, 
 with proper safeguards, they were capable in the 
 future, to wish to see them hampered, and still 
 less overpowered. Not that he did not sympa- 
 thize to a certain extent with their opponents. 
 In his speech of June 23 he cited a gross 
 case of clerical intolerance in connexion with 
 a school in Sussex, and said : " It was such 
 acts as these that led many Dissenters to say, 
 
Hi THE SECFLAK PROPOSAL [CH. Tin. 
 
 rather than run the risk of the licence to read the 
 Bible being made the vehicle for the dergv 
 forcing their views upon the children, they would 
 unite with the League in demanding that no 
 reference to religion should be permitted. It 
 was only because he thought he saw in the BiU 
 a provision against those abuses that he did not 
 vote with his hon. friend (Mr. Eichard), but on 
 the contrary gave a frank support to the Govern- 
 ment." Indeed, he himself proposed that in 
 rate-aided schools, not only shotdd no cat«chism 
 be used, but that " no teaching having reference 
 to the doctrinal peculiarities of any religious 
 denomination should be permitted." 
 
 But farther than this he was not prepared to 
 go. The secular proposal seemed to hiin to break 
 down on every side. Look at it from the side 
 of the CTiu?-cAi.s. Were they likely to be able 
 to organize a plan, not for the ocmsio/ial, but for 
 the daily, religious instruction of the children? 
 and if they succeeded, was the teaching to be of 
 that "colourless" kind on which all might be 
 agreed, or must the youthful Wesleyans, Church- 
 men, and Unitarians, be drafted off into little 
 denominational groups ? Or consider it from the 
 side of the childrai. He could not persuade 
 himself that the plan would be effectual "If 
 
1870-73.] PUT TO THE TEST. 145 
 
 the attendance is to be obligatory, the children 
 will feel the subject of religion distasteful [it 
 being imposed as an extra task], while if the 
 attendance be optional, as soon as the voluntary- 
 religious teachers walk in at one door, the 
 liberated children will march out at the other." 
 As to the teachers, it might be said that their 
 conscience need not be offended when a lesson 
 in needlework or arithmetic was given without 
 reference to religion; but to his mind it made 
 a vital difference that the secularists proposed to 
 forbid any such reference on the part of the 
 teachers, and to forbid it to teachers who, if they 
 were of the right stamp, would never be able to 
 feel that their duty to the children was covered 
 or exhausted by secular instruction. "No high- 
 minded teacher would consent to be prohibited 
 from referring to God's authority as above his 
 own." While, once more, the parent must not 
 be forgotten. It was often suggested in a dis- 
 dainful tone that the parent's scruples were a myth, 
 since in reality he did not care whether his child 
 was taught the Bible or not ; and that, if he did 
 care, there could be no objection to his child 
 receiving any kind or amount of religious instruc- 
 tion, provided other people were not expected to 
 pay for it. Charles Keed, on the contrary, had a 
 
 L 
 
146 HEART AND HEAD. [oh. viii. 
 
 strong sympathy with the parent. He believed — 
 and the general result of school board elections 
 has confirmed the belief — that the working classes 
 did desire the retention of the Bible in the 
 schools, and that they would regard the injustice 
 complained of as reduced to the vanishing point, 
 if proper safeguards were taken against sectarian 
 teaching. Was not the " injustice " indeed of a 
 kind which the secularists themselves could not 
 remove, unless they could secure teachers so loftily 
 superior to rehgious partialities as to influence 
 their pupUs in favour of no opinion or denomi- 
 nation whatever ? 
 
 " The fact," he said, " was this, that a new 
 party had appeared in the country advocating a 
 system void of religion, and they dignified it by 
 the name of education. If he knew the meaning 
 of words, this was a misappHcation of terms. 
 Children were compound beings, gifted with a 
 moral as well as an intellectual nature, and if 
 we desired to reclaim and to rescue, we must 
 deal with the heart as well as the head. . . . The 
 neglected children were most in need of the 
 kindly influences by which conscience was touched, 
 virtue implanted, and character moulded and 
 fashioned; and the power of the teacher rested 
 
:5:<>-:s.] THE TWO PAETIES. U7 
 
 raaiolj in such forces as had their ultimate appeal 
 in God's Holv Woid. The secular system separated 
 knowledge firom wisdom ; but " the fear of the 
 Lord w;is the beginning of ■wiisdom." "' 
 
 The support •which, for the above reasons, he 
 gave to Mr. Forsters Bill, cost him not a little pain 
 in the temporary Yrithdrawal of symptthy on the 
 part of many of his old associates and friends. 
 Looking back upon the controversy after the lapse 
 of a decade, one may di;a>em a lack of imderstanding 
 on both sides:. The party to ■which Charles Beed 
 belonged did not always sr.lficiently bear in mind 
 that most of those who were for shutting the 
 Bible out of the school were prompted solely by 
 reverence for that Book, and reluctance to see it 
 Tcujght by unsympathetic teachers, and at the 
 expense of ohjeotiiig ratepayers. On the other 
 hand, his pu-ty certainly did not deserve to 
 be charged with unfuthfulness to the great 
 principles of religious Kberty; while experience 
 has shown that the attempt to sever the religicus 
 from the secular in elementary schools is not 
 likety to be sucxvssful. It has been made in 
 Birmingham with all the adv;uitage of real and 
 perseverance on the part of those who volunteered 
 to act as religions teachers to the board soholais; 
 
148 BIRMINGHAM. [oh. viii. 
 
 but after nine years' trial it was found to be ne- 
 cessary to readmit the proscribed Book. Fearful, 
 however, of allowing the teacher any liberty of 
 explanation, the Birmingham Board has not 
 followed the example of London, but enacted that 
 the Bible, alone of all books used in the school, is 
 to be read without note or comment. One is not 
 surprised to learn that this regulation has not 
 been popular with the teachers. " Some," writes 
 a weU-informed resident, "have accepted posts 
 without knowing that their hands were thus 
 tied, and have expressed dissatisfaction when 
 they found it out. The present system especially 
 is felt by almost all to be an educational 
 absurdity." ^ 
 
 It is well known that the Metropolis was 
 omitted from the original draft of the Elementary 
 
 1 The following are the first and second regulations made by- 
 the Birmiagham School Board on December i, 1880, and now 
 in force : — 
 
 " (1.) The Bible shall be read daUy, without note or com- 
 ment, by the head teacher ; or, in the absence of the head 
 teacher, by the teacher in charge of the school. 
 
 " (2.) The portion to be read shall be suitable to the capacity 
 of the children, and shall be selected by the head teacher, who 
 shall, at the close of each reading, make a record of the portion 
 read in a book to be provided for the purpose. " 
 
 Compare this with the London rule (p. 152). 
 
1870-73.] LONDON. 149 
 
 Education Bill because of its size and of the 
 peculiar difficulties, especially in regard to com- 
 pulsion, whicli it was expected to present. When, 
 however, it came to be included, the Government 
 determined to lose no time in grappling with 
 those difficulties. Without leaving it to the 
 choice of the ratepayers, Parliament enacted 
 that a School Board should forthwith be 
 elected. 
 
 This decision opened to Charles Eeed a 
 prospect of work that he loved, and for which his 
 previous life had given exceptional training. He 
 offered himself as a candidate for the division of 
 Hackney and was returned at the head of the 
 poU, some four thousand votes above the second 
 on the list. Within a few days of the election he 
 received a requisition asking him, on the ground 
 of his long connexion with London schools, to 
 allow himself to be nominated for the Chair- 
 manship of the Board. To this he assented, it 
 being thought at the time that a member of the 
 House of Commons would be preferred for the 
 post. As soon, however, as it was known that 
 Lord Lawrence would be willing to accept the 
 Chair were it offered to him, there was a strong 
 desire to secure the advantage of his leadership. 
 He was accordingly appointed by a considerable 
 
150 PRELIMINAKY STEPS. [ch. viii. 
 
 majority, Charles Reed, who came next, being 
 unanimously chosen Vice-Chairman. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this volume to dwell 
 on the history of the Board further than may 
 be necessary in order to show the part borne 
 by Charles Reed in helping to determine its 
 character. The stages of that great work are 
 marked in official documents ; while for a more 
 extended and critical survey the time has perhaps 
 not yet arrived. " No one," he said, " presumes 
 to judge of a building while the scaffolding stiU 
 stands, and for our part we are content to leave 
 it to the generation now under instruction to 
 deliver its verdict upon the efforts which have 
 cost us years of unremitting toil." 
 
 It was natural that men impressed with the 
 magnitude of the task before them should pre- 
 face action by careful survey and inquiry. Their 
 first step was to make an educational census. 
 At the end of 1871, when this was completed, 
 London was found to contain 575,000 children 
 of school age and of the class requiring to be 
 dealt with by the Board. The amount of Volun- 
 tary provision was taken at 351,000, but some of 
 this was found to be only semi-efficient, and in 
 the end about 89,000 places had to be left out of 
 
1870-73.] STRENGTH OF THE BOARD. 151 
 
 the calculation. As this reduced the available 
 existing accommodation to 262,000, it was clearly 
 I moderate estimate that led the Board in the first 
 instance to apply to the Education Department 
 :br leave to build schools for 100,000 children. 
 
 But, while this deliberation did not satisfy those 
 who were burning to do great things, a vigour 
 was displayed in other directions as little to the 
 mind of those who wished the Board to do 
 nothing. "It was open to us to avoid oi? to 
 delay action, but we resolved on an instant 
 assault upon the common foe." This was effected 
 by putting into force the compulsory powers con- 
 ferred by the Act. There was no reason why the 
 Voluntary schools should not be filled up while 
 the Board schools were building. Bye-laws were 
 therefore framed, requiring the attendance of 
 every child at some efficient school chosen by the 
 parent, and a committee was appointed to carry 
 them out in districts where the accommodation 
 was adequate. 
 
 It was an immense advantage that the personnel 
 of the first Board was so strong. Questions of 
 principle had to be discussed, and lines of policy 
 adopted, which required breadth and clearness of 
 view, sympathy, courage, and (above all) ex- 
 perience. These qualities belonged to a large 
 
152 THE RELIGIOUS TEACHING. [cH. vrn. 
 
 proportion of the members ; indeed of hardly one 
 could it be said that he was not deeply and in- 
 teUigently interested in the work. The genera]| 
 course of instruction was drafted by a committee 
 of which Professor Huxley was chairman ; and it 
 was determined to give the children not as httle, 
 but as much, as the Code sanctioned, so that such 
 compensation as was possible might be made to 
 those who were placed by poverty under great 
 natural disadvantages. 
 
 The " rehgious difficulty " was dealt with before 
 the Board had been in existence three months. 
 After some consultation out of doors, and con- 
 versation rather than debate in the council-room 
 of the Guildhall, the following resolution was 
 passed, with only three dissentients, viz. "that 
 in the schools provided by the Board, the Bible 
 shall be read, and there shall be given such ex- 
 planations and such instructions therefrom in the 
 principles of morality and religion as are suited to 
 the capacity of children ; provided always that in 
 such explanations and instruction the provisions 
 of the Act in Sections VII. and XIV. be strictly 
 observed, and that no attempt be made in any 
 such schools to attach children to any particular 
 denomination." The exact form of words is 
 
1870-78.] THE LONDON KtJLE. 153 
 
 understood to have been suggested by Mr. W. H. 
 Smith and the Eev. Dr. Angus, while Viscount 
 Sandon, Mr. Samuel Morley, and the Vice-Chairman 
 were prominent in its support. The compromise, 
 as it was called, was based on the old formula of 
 the British schools, and commended itself so 
 generally through the country that it was quickly 
 adopted by most of the provincial Boards ; and so 
 satisfactory is its operation thought to have been 
 that in some influential quarters the religious 
 difficulty is regarded as finally disposed of. 
 
 Not that all share this opinion or join the 
 chorus of congratulation. There are those who 
 " prefer to remain silent," and who consider that, 
 if there be no religious difficulty left, this is only 
 because there is no religion in the Board Schools. 
 The children may be taught "to distinguish between 
 the Sea of GalUee and the Mediterranean ; " those 
 in the upper standards may even " learn enough 
 about the stories contained in Holy Scripture 
 to pass a satisfactory examination ; " while " the 
 oral teaching — so far as it does not consist of 
 geographical and historical illustration — is in 
 all probability mainly ethical,, with some general 
 appeals to the authority and love of God, and 
 to future rewards and punishments." ^ 
 Nineteenth Century, January, 1883, p. 65 ; March, 1883, p. 485. 
 
154 "WORKING OF THE RULE. [ch. tiii. 
 
 Some will be disposed to think that, even on this 
 showing, the " unsectarian rehgion " of the Board 
 Schools is not valueless. But there is evidence 
 that it goes much further than is here repre- 
 sented. What the intention of the London Board 
 was is explained by Sir Charles in his address on 
 education delivered before the Social Science 
 Congress at Brighton in 1875, and what the actual 
 working has been may be gathered from the 
 reports of the Board inspectors. "I am con- 
 vinced," says Mr. Noble in his report for 1876, 
 " that as a body our teachers are faithful men and 
 women, imbued with a high sense of the import- 
 ance of the relation in which they stand to their 
 children ; and while anxious on the one hand to 
 avoid giving a denominational character to their 
 Scripture teaching, they earnestly inculcate those 
 great truths, as essential to the moral and religious 
 well-being of the children." "Almost without 
 exception," says another inspector in 1881, "the 
 teachers give to it [the Bible instruction] all that 
 care and attention which the importance of the 
 subject demands." 
 
 The share taken by Charles Eeed in the early 
 work of the Board was considerable. During the 
 first winter he undertook an immense amount of 
 
1870-73.] THE VICE-CHAIRMAN. 155 
 
 labour in getting things into shape, originating 
 the committees, and assigning them their limits ; 
 and when temporary offices were taken for the 
 Board in New Bridge Street, he had to make 
 most of the arrangements. Besides his duties as 
 yice-Chairman- of the Board, and ex officio mem- 
 ber of aU committees, he acted during the first 
 three years as Chairman of the Works Committee, 
 which had to superintend the erection of all new 
 schools. One who was associated with him from 
 the outset, wrote, after his death : — " I cannot say 
 that, on his appointment to the Chairmanship, 
 he gave more time and labour to the work of the 
 Board than before ; for from beginning to end he 
 gave as much time and labour as any man could 
 possibly give, who still had other and important 
 public duties. Nor was his attention confined 
 to the meetings at the head office ; a very con- 
 siderable portion of every working day was set 
 apart for the business of the Divisional Committees, 
 and the management and visitation of schools." 
 
 On the first assembling of the Board a proposal 
 was made that its meetings should be opened 
 with prayer. This not proving acceptable to all 
 the members, those chiefly interested met to 
 consider what course to take, and it was resolved. 
 
156 PRAYER. [oh. Tin. 
 
 on the motion of Lord Sandon, to present a 
 requisition to the Chairman for a room for the 
 purpose. " An excellent proposal," says Mr. Mac- 
 gregor, " to which we got thirty-eight signatures, 
 including that of Professor Huxley." This little 
 gathering, held before each meeting of the Board, 
 was kept up from that time, the Vice-Chairman 
 being among the most regular attendants. He 
 used often to refer to it at home as a refresh- 
 ment amid the heavy responsibilities and details 
 of the work, and as a pleasant indication of 
 the spirit in which the duties of the Board 
 were approached by many of its members. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL BOARD, 1873-6. 
 
 " Fame with men, 
 Being but ampler means to serve mankind, 
 Should have small rest or pleasure in herself, 
 But work as vassal to the larger love 
 That dwarfs the petty love of one to one.'' 
 
 The three years of Charles Reed's life covered 
 by the last chapter were followed by a short 
 holiday in America, through which it may be 
 weU to trace his steps, before continuing the 
 narrative of his London work. In paying this 
 visit, he gratified a long-cherished desire to in- 
 spect the school system of the United States, 
 and to go over ground which his father had 
 traversed in the year 1834, when sent by the 
 Congregational Union of England and Wales to 
 the sister churches beyond the sea. 
 
 He sailed at the beginning of August, with his 
 
158 THE COMPANY. [oh. ix. 
 
 friend Mr. Carvell Williams. The rougli passage 
 suited one who was always a good sailor; he 
 was in high spirits ; and while the sufferers below 
 were many, " Reed was on deck the whole day, 
 enjoying everything — meals, wind, company, all." 
 The " company " included some highly cultivated 
 Americans who were interested in all he had to 
 tell them about his home and work, not forgetting 
 the borough he represented. " You must promise 
 me," he said on parting, " that you will never hear 
 a thing called hackneyed without thinking of me." 
 The company also included one American who was 
 not cultivated, save in the sense that he was 
 sought out for the amusement he afforded to his 
 fellow-passengers. 
 
 " Last night was wet, and Mr. offered us an 
 
 instructive lecture. It was a bold proposal ; but 
 the author took for granted our entire satisfac- 
 tion. A deputation came to me to say that, as it 
 was a political lecture, it was desired that I should 
 preside. Knowing my man, and that he had 
 himself sent these people to ensnare me, I de- 
 clined. It was well I did, else the first thing I 
 should have seen in the papers would probably 
 
 have been this : — ' Mr. ex-senator arrived 
 
 on board the Oceanic on Monday last. He formed 
 
1873-76.] A LECTURE. 159 
 
 one of a distinguished party of American voyagers, 
 and was honoured hy a request to deliver a state- 
 ment of his views upon the Southern Eebellion 
 and things in general. A member of the British 
 
 legislature was gratified by presiding ' The 
 
 address was an attack on party spirit ; and though 
 most of us were convulsed with laughter, the 
 lecturer had the full conviction that he was- 
 warmly applauded. A vote of thanks was passed, 
 which he acknowledged, and only when a young 
 New Jersey man moved that the lecturer do lie 
 on the table, did the latter discover that the rule 
 of order was not paramount. Notwithstanding 
 this, he observed to me that he thought the elder 
 portion of his audience had been edified ; and 
 that, as he heard of my interest in education, 
 he would give me his views on that question, 
 which was undoubtedly the taproot of England's 
 weakness and decay." 
 
 During the evenings, Charles Beed interested 
 the company in the autographs with which 
 his portmanteau was, as usual, liberally furnished ; 
 and on Sunday he joined Mr. WiUiams in 
 getting up services for the steerage passengers.. 
 More fun was extracted from the lecturer, when 
 an " original song " which he produced was found 
 
160 LTJCEETIA MOTT. [CH. ix. 
 
 to be borrowed almost line for line from Hood. 
 This interesting person turned out to be a pros- 
 perous undertaker, wbo had recently purchased a 
 good-sized forest for the purposes of his trade, 
 and was expecting a brisk season. 
 
 On landing in New York, Charles Reed escaped 
 the interviewers, who desired a summary of the 
 opinions of " Mr. Peabod/s British executor," and 
 spent a few days at Long Branch. At Philadelphia 
 he rejoined his travelling companion, and they 
 went over some large institutions. Then followed 
 a ■' charming visit " to Lucretia Mott : — 
 
 " She is eighty-one years of age, and used to 
 be the best speaker the Friends had. She talked 
 so pleasantly of Brougham, Macaulay, Claxkson, 
 Wilberforce, and others, including O'ConneU, who 
 defended the claim of the American lady delegates 
 to speak in the London Conference of 1842 — a 
 circumstance that WiUiams and I well recollect. 
 She knew the name of Edward Baines, and talked 
 much of George Thompson. Singular that 
 she should have with her the very men who 
 entered public life by working for, and winning, 
 Thompson's election ! " 
 
 To the relics shown at the State House, Charles 
 
1873-76.] MOUNT VEKNON. 161 
 
 Eeed added an autograph letter of William Penn 
 the elder, which he had taken out for the pur- 
 pose. After a hurried visit to the scenes of 
 George Peabody's early hfe at Baltimore, the 
 travellers proceeded to Washington and made the 
 usual pilgrimage to Mount Vernon. As Dr. 
 Andrew Eeed had published a remonstrance on 
 the neglected state into which the great General's 
 tomb had been allowed to fall, it was a satisfac- 
 tion to his son to find that the remains had 
 been removed to an inclosure, unpretending 
 indeed, but well cared for, and impressive from 
 its very simphcity. 
 
 From Hai-per's Ferry they made their way to 
 Cincinnati and Louisville, and from the natural 
 wonders of the Kentucky Caves to the artificial 
 wonders of Chicago. Having incautiously ex- 
 pressed a wish to see some Sunday Schools, they 
 were taken by a zealous church-officer on a round 
 of several hours, finishing with the coloured 
 school : — 
 
 "I had never before seen a great company 
 of black faces; and the faces being those of 
 children, I was much moved. The singing was 
 like that of the Jubilee Singers, but of course 
 less refined. Then came an ominous announce- 
 
 M 
 
162 CHICAGO. [OH. ix. 
 
 ment that the brothers from the old country 
 (England, not Africa) would speak. We obeyed ; 
 then a black man rose and said, ' Elder, I ask to 
 move thanks to brothers Eeed and WiUiams ' ; 
 another rose and said, ' I second ' ; the elder said, 
 'Motion proposed and seconded ; who approve, stand 
 to their feet.' In an instant all rose. I responded, 
 saying that, as they had thanked us for coming, 
 we felt incUned to come again, and if they would 
 invite us to the concert the next night (advertised 
 on the wall), we should like to come. This took 
 uncommonly, and we are in for it." 
 
 Accordingly the following evening they sallied 
 forth to find Quinn's Chapel. 
 
 " ' I ought to teU you,' said a gentleman of whom 
 we inquired the way, ' that it must be in the 
 lowest part of Chicago, aU among the blacks and 
 the worst characters.' I suggested that there 
 were good people even among the blacks ; but 
 we went with the impression that the district was 
 like Shadwell or Ratcliff Highway. At length we 
 found it, twenty minutes after time. The first 
 piece was being sung, and a tolerable afifair it was. 
 But the place was fitted up in great style, by the 
 aid of scissors, paste, pink calico, and yellow paper. 
 
1873-76.] A BLACK CONCEET. 163 
 
 In front of the organ was a platform, and on this 
 were ranged some fifty darkies of both sexes, and 
 all ages. The dresses of the men were black, with 
 light ties and white gloves ; the costumes of the 
 ladies, indescribable — white mushn, blue, green, 
 yellow, and such sashes ! Fans hanging at the 
 girdle, bouquets, lace handkerchiefs, and boots of 
 every imaginable colour. The singing was poor, 
 the playing passionless, the pieces too ambitious. 
 . . . Then came the supper, prepared in a building 
 some distance off. ' We must go,' said my com- 
 panion. So we went; but for a crush it beat 
 anything I had ever seen ; and the people, so civil 
 and d^Ughted, were yet so hot and demonstrative 
 that we could endure it no longer, especially when 
 we found- that supper would not be over till 
 nearly midnight, and that then there was to 
 be a meeting ! " 
 
 Dr. Reed's printed description of Niagara relieved 
 his son from the necessity of communicating to 
 his family his own impressions of the scene ; but 
 the fact that his companion and he permitted 
 themselves to be photographed on the bank, with 
 the waters meekly foaming in the background, 
 would seem to show that they were not duly awed 
 by the spectacle. On reaching Boston, Charles 
 
 M 2 
 
164 KEW YOEK. [CH. ix. 
 
 Reed visited the Peabody Institute, and made the 
 acquaintance of several members of the Peabody 
 family. After spending some very pleasant days 
 with the Longfellows at Cambridge, he returned to 
 New York for the international conference of the 
 EvangeUcal Alhance. He was not alone in his 
 surprise at the enthusiasm called forth by these 
 meetings. 
 
 " The interest has been so Well kept up for 
 a week, that the New York press is astonished, 
 and the Roman CathoUc papers are aroused 
 to bitterness. I never saw anything like it ; the 
 impression can never be effaced. On the Sunday 
 night I spoke at the Academy of Music to five 
 thousand of the best people in the city ; and again 
 at Brooklyn I was to speak, but ten o'clock came 
 and I left. I heard afterwards that I was called 
 on at a quarter before eleven, when three thousand 
 people were stiU remaining." 
 
 Some American friends who heard his speech 
 that evening describe it as impassioned and most 
 teUing : " He was a great favourite with our 
 audiences ; he had none of the angularity that 
 marks some of our speakers, but a perfectly easy 
 address which took the hearer captive." One 
 
1873-76.] A MISCALCULATION. 165 
 
 who saw Mm often on his journey observed that 
 he brimmed over with fun, but was soon run down 
 and depressed about his health. This was due 
 partly to the trying heat of the season, and partly 
 to the vexatious miscarriage of most of his letters 
 from home. Still, he was greatly benefited by 
 the change; and when at the end of October 
 he was again in London, he apphed himself with 
 vigour to preparing for the approaching School 
 Board election. 
 
 His preparation, however, proved inadequate. 
 He fell into the error of supposing that the 
 electors of a great constituency could be as well 
 acquainted with his past labours on the Board as 
 was the inner circle of his friends ; and hence he 
 contented himself with a very imperfect canvass 
 and organization. Nor did he duly reflect that the 
 contest was likely to be decided on religious rather 
 than on educational ground, and that the Board 
 " compromise " did not satisfy either of the 
 extreme parties. When the day of poU arrived, 
 he all but lost his seat. Three denominational 
 candidates were at the top ; then came the 
 representative of the advanced party, while he 
 had to accept the small mercies of last place. 
 
 The even balance of parties on the new Board 
 
166 HONOURS. [cH. ix. 
 
 made the choice of a successor to Lord Lawrence 
 a matter of keen speculation. The names of Mr. 
 W. H. Smith and Lord Napier and Ettrick were 
 suggested ; but after a preliminary meeting it was 
 determined not to offer any opposition to the elec- 
 tion of one, "who had for three years devoted 
 himelf heart and soul to the business with such 
 zeal, energy, tact, and common sense as to win 
 the regard of every member of the old Board." 
 The post remained, as it still continues to be, 
 purely honorary. 
 
 A few weeks after this appointment, Charles 
 Eeed received through Mr. Gladstone an offer of 
 knighthood, "in acknowledgment not only of 
 your general character and position, but especially 
 of your services on and to the London School 
 Board." In intimating to his colleagues his 
 acceptance of this distinction, he represented it as 
 a compliment paid not so much to himself as to 
 the Board, which, he said, was " deserving of any 
 honour that could be conferred upon it." 
 
 It was significant of the new element intro- 
 duced into the Board, that the next entry on the 
 minutes, after the record of the knighthood, is one 
 of a motion challenging the statistics on which 
 sites had been selected and schools erected, and 
 
1873-76.] ANNUAL STATEMENTS. 167 
 
 demanding a committee to examine into injury 
 alleged to have been suffered by Voluntary schools. 
 This motion was proposed by Canon Gregory, who, 
 with Dr. Irons and Canon Cromwell, led an 
 influential party returned mainly with a view to 
 guarding the interests of existing schools. The 
 debates that ensued were well sustained, and not 
 infrequently were decided only by the casting vote 
 of the Chairman. He himself, interpreting his 
 duty to be that of moderating the deliberations of 
 his colleagues and facilitating administrative work, 
 spoke but rarely at the ordinary meetings. But 
 while there is little in the minutes to show his 
 opinion beyond the record of his votes, ample 
 material exists in the statements which he made 
 from the Chair after each summer recess. The 
 Board and the public ahke appreciated a periodical 
 review, which possessed the boldness and freshness 
 of individual authorship; and the practice is 
 maintained by the present Chairman. 
 
 The first of Sir Charles' statements was made 
 in 1874, the last in 1880 ; during this period he 
 devoted no small part of his vacations to arranging 
 the voluminous reports and tables furnished from 
 the ofiices of the Board. When that for 1880 had 
 to be written, he remarked to one of his sons : — " I 
 think this will be my last ; I should hke to make 
 
168 A^ESTRY CRITICISM. [CH. ix. 
 
 it as strong as I can, and then perhaps publish the 
 series." It is doubtful whether he would have 
 wished to do this, when he came to consider the 
 fragmentary, and to some extent the ephemeral, 
 nature of such productions ; but the reader may 
 feel interested to find in the appendix to this 
 volume his last statement, which sums up the 
 first decade of the Board's work. 
 
 Many of the objections which he had to combat 
 on these occasions are heard no longer, and it 
 would be a waste of time to blow upon dead fires. 
 " If I refer to opposition encountered by the Board, 
 it is not to express surprise or annoyance, yet 
 neither is it to offer apology " ; and he proceeded 
 — this was in 1875— to answer the Vestries that 
 had memorialised the Board on the subject of the 
 rate, and had favoured it at the same time with 
 their advice on teachers' salaries, the proper 
 standard of instruction, and the impropriety of 
 interfering with parents. After dealing patiently 
 with these critics, the Chairman turned to his col- 
 leagues and said : — 
 
 " Standing on the threshold of a year in 
 which our work is not likely to be less arduous 
 than in any of its predecessors, nothing but a 
 high and disinterested motive can sustain the 
 
1873-76.] THE CHAIRMAN'S REPLY. 169 
 
 members of this Board. Such a motive is, 
 however, suppKed by their common and earnest 
 desire to train the youth of London, by a sound 
 education, to habits of frugality, industry, and 
 virtue. Looked at even from a pecuniary point of 
 view, it is of incalculable benefit to the community 
 that these features should be developed in the 
 young ; but those who are, like ourselves, practi- 
 cally acquainted with the homes of many of our 
 children — if homes they may be called — and have 
 contrasted the demoralising effects of such an 
 atmosphere with the cleanliness, bright companion- 
 ships, and happy influences of our schools, are 
 able to work on with a firm conviction that such 
 processes must tend to lift the children up to 
 stronger manhood and purer womanhood. To 
 hesitate in our work would be fatal to its success. 
 Each year has brought us great results ; and if we 
 are faithful and unswerving, we shall yet accom- 
 plish our cherished purpose ; only let this, which 
 is my final word, be also our motto for the future 
 — Nothing less than thorough vnll do it." 
 
 This motto agreed with Sir Charles's words on 
 being elected to the Chair : " I trust," he said, 
 " the Board wiU remember that the only work we 
 have to consider is how best to provide a good 
 
170 THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. [CH. ix. 
 
 and sound education for the poor children of the 
 metropolis." To do the best — this was his con- 
 stant aim. He was for getting the best teachers, 
 cost what it might, because he was convinced that 
 the very large departments contained in the Board 
 Schools — schools numbering from seven to seven- 
 teen hundred children — could never be properly 
 controlled by second-rate teachers, and that it was 
 sheer foUy, considering the expense and difficulty 
 of compelling the children to attend, not to make 
 the best use of their time when there. 
 
 For the same reason he always advocated the 
 most liberal interpretation of the Code. The idea 
 of limiting instruction to the elementary subjects — 
 which by the way he never would call the three 
 R's — appeared to him suicidal. If the State gave 
 any education at aU, the truest economy was to 
 make it as good and attractive as possible. Boys 
 and girls, it must be remembered, are sure to 
 forget much after they leave school. If, then, 
 they are to retain a sufficent equipment for the 
 wants of Hfe, they must be generously stored in 
 early days. For a lad to become what is known 
 as a reader, that is, for him to become fond of 
 reading, so as to turn to books in his leisure 
 hours, it is not enough to teach him to spell, and 
 tramp mechanically through a page of print ; he 
 
1873-76.] SCEIPTUEE PRIZES. 171 
 
 must be made to read with ease, and you must 
 give him some conception of the treasure-house 
 to which reading suppUes the key. If he be 
 lifted only high enough to peep over the edge of 
 the goodly plain, he wiU not be able to range over 
 it as he might, if made to stand freely upon its 
 surface and with a good steed at command. In 
 the former case he will deserve Mr. Ruskin's pity 
 for the hapless school-child who is shut out from 
 dreamland and poetry, and who " spends his years 
 as a tale that is not told." 
 
 The working out of the rehgious teaching gave 
 Sir Charles great interest ; and as he paid frequent 
 visits to the schools of his Division in the morning, 
 when the Scripture lesson was being given, he 
 had constant opportunity of satisfying himself 
 that the instructions of the Board were observed. 
 He rejoiced in the incentive afforded to this part 
 of the daUy school work by the liberahty of Mr. 
 Francis Peek and the Committee of the Rehgious 
 Tract Society, of which he was a member. A 
 yearly fund of 500?. was thus provided for prizes 
 in Scripture knowledge ; and these were competed 
 for by an amazing number of children. Speaking 
 on this subject in 1878 he said : — 
 
 "As is well-known, Bible instruction with 
 
172 AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. [oh. ix. 
 
 simple religious exercises forms a part of the 
 daily programme in each school ; but as the 
 Government inspection does not extend to this 
 subject, our judgment of results has to be formed 
 upon our own annual examination. In distributing 
 the prizes this year at the Crystal Palace, I 
 took occasion to say — and the Vice-President of 
 the Privy Council subsequently quoted it in 
 Parliament as a remarkable fact — that the 
 number of children who voluntarily entered the 
 competition this year was 104,909, against 82,062 
 in 1877.' Besides these, 1,403 pupil teachers 
 submitted themselves to examination. While 
 many of the answers are reported to us as super- 
 ficial, some were extremely good. Thus, whereas 
 some even of the pupil teachers could find in 
 the parable of the Good Samaritan no further 
 lesson than that we should be " kind to people," a 
 boy in the sixth standard summed up the lessons 
 to be gathered in these words : " Those whom we 
 may count- as our enemies are often our best 
 friends. We should love our enemies. A good 
 action is its own reward. No doubt if a crowd 
 of people had been near, the priest or the Levite 
 would have given help, in order to have received 
 the praise of men." 
 
 ^ In 1882 the number of children who entered was 158,000. 
 
1873-76.] VISITS TO SCHOOLS. 173 
 
 Many of his visits to schools were for the purpose 
 of investigating complaints. He had very little 
 faith in correspondence as a means of clearing 
 away difficulties ; wherever possible, he preferred 
 to go himself without delay, and meet the teachers 
 or parents concerned. These visits gave him also 
 Opportunities of intercourse with the local mana- 
 gers, on whose willing co-operation he felt the 
 success of the Board School system in no small 
 degree depended. The teachers must need the 
 sympathy of ladies and gentlemen residing in the 
 neighbourhood of their schools ; while the Board 
 must equally need the advice of local committees 
 prepared to devote the necessary time to going 
 into the innumerable details of school manage- 
 ment. The difficult question, which cannot be 
 said yet to be solved, was how to give these 
 managers sufficient power to secure their con- 
 tinued interest in the schools, without the Board 
 divesting itself of responsibilities that properly 
 attached to it. 
 
 In the spring of 1876 Sir Charles was appointed 
 Judge for Great Britain in the section of Education 
 at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia. This 
 second visit to America involved his absence from 
 the chair of the Board for about ten weeks, and 
 
174 PHILADELPHIA. [cii. ix. 
 
 does not call for special remark. He was 
 ashamed, on reacliing Philadelphia, to find the 
 miserable show made by his own country. 
 " Beyond a set of valuable photographs of London 
 Board Schools, there was nothing more important 
 than writing-frames for the blind, Sunday-school 
 registers, a military model apparatus for illustrat- 
 ing drill movements, a few maps, and a solitary 
 example of caligraphy — which last did not arrive. 
 These were followed by twenty-five exhibits of 
 books and engravings, and by four claiming to 
 represent our ' institutions and organisations.' " 
 It was therefore the greater "mark of deference 
 and good will towards Great Britain" that her 
 delegate was chosen President of the Board of 
 Judges in Education. Switzerland, Sweden, and 
 Japan did well; but all were overshadowed 
 by the American display. " It- may give an 
 idea of the completeness of the preparations 
 made in this department, to say that every 
 State in the Union was authorised to appoint 
 a commission, a certain sum being voted for 
 the purpose of enabling it to send up a collec- 
 tive exhibit of statistics, literature, and students' 
 work actually done in school and shown in 
 bound volumes." Massachusetts alone filled eight 
 rooms, and there were two kindergartens and 
 
1873-76.] AMERICAN SCHOOLS. IT.'i 
 
 a model school in daily work in the Exhibition 
 grounds. 
 
 In his official report Sir Charles directed atten- 
 tion impartially to the defects and excellences 
 of the American system. 
 
 " The inferior limit of school age is six years, so 
 that the infant department, as we understand it in 
 this country, is unknown. Many object that the 
 cost would be too great, and that parents should 
 provide for their infant children at home — an argu- 
 ment which they are careful not to push too far." 
 Again — " Teaching is not recognised fully enough 
 as a distinct profession. It is regarded too much 
 as a stepping-stone to some better and more 
 settled position in life. There are more reasons 
 than one for this state of things. The appoint- 
 ment of teachers depends in too many cases, not 
 upon the jGitness of the candidates, but upon 
 personal or pohtical reasons ; while the low 
 salaries given to all, except the first rank of 
 masters, operate as a hindrance to the teaching 
 profession estabhshing itself as it ought to 
 do. Female teachers receive salaries so small, 
 especially in the rural districts, that it is 
 no wonder they should be easily induced to 
 better themselves by marriage ; and marriage is 
 
176 DEGEEZ. [ra. rs. 
 
 almost uiuTeisallj' a disqualification for ftuther 
 service." 
 
 But against these defects he was forward to 
 acknowledge the immense " advantage which 
 American schocils enjoy in the strong pubhc 
 opinion in fevotir of regular attendance and 
 Uheral support, while they are firee from the 
 many difficulties that arise out of the employ- 
 ment of pupil teachers, each school having its 
 full complement of adult teachers." 
 
 Shortly after his return from the TTnited States, 
 Sir Charles received the honorary d^ree of Doctor 
 of Laws from Yale University, and — ^what he 
 valued even more — the thanks of his colleagues 
 on the Board on the completion of three years of 
 his Chairmanship. " Tour whole time and strength 
 and thought have been devoted to the task, not in 
 the spirit of ' cold officiality ' sometimes imputed 
 to the School Board system, but in the spirit of 
 fidth and love and self-sacrifice.'' 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 CHAIRSIA5 OF THE BOABD, 3S76-51. 
 
 " When the inndd's up and eTny siraim abroad 
 Keep tiioD 3iT temper, mi-r not Kith each day ; 
 I>espatch neees^ties : life hath a load 
 Wliich most he carried on and safelr n»T. 
 Yet keep these cares trithoot thee ; let the h^trt 
 Be God's alcme, and choose the hetter part." 
 
 If the first School Board for London might 
 be called the Board of exploration, and the 
 second that of attempted denominational reac- 
 tion, the third, elected in 1S76, was the Board 
 of advance. Its character was determined by a 
 revulsion in public feeling, and by the efForte of 
 a committee formed to defend the hold ednca- 
 tionalpohey hitherto adopt«d. In his own Division 
 of Hackney, Sir Charles was resolved to avoid 
 repeating the mistake of IS 73 : and although he 
 coidd point to a record of more than 750 atten- 
 dances dming the past three years, he toiled as 
 
178 THE ELECTION OF 1876. [cH. x. 
 
 hard in addressing the electors as though he were 
 seeking their suffrages for the first time. His 
 friends responded to the appeal that met their 
 eyes on every hoarding to " rally round Reed," 
 and placed him at the head of the poU with 
 25,000 votes, his old colleague, Mr. Picton, coming 
 second with 20,000. It was a matter of 
 regret to the more intelligent of aU parties that 
 the Rev. John Oakley, of Hoxton, now Dean of 
 Carlisle, was unsuccessfuL During his candida- 
 ture he had earnestly sought to unite aU who 
 desired a rehgious education in the schools, 
 but in vain. This will explain the allusion in 
 the following letter, written by Tiitti to Lady 
 Reed at the time of her husband's death : — 
 
 " You may not dislike to know how deeply Sir 
 Charles impressed those with whom his religious 
 sympathy may not have been complete, on several 
 public occasions when we were thrown together. 
 In each of these he carried his friendliness to me 
 to the point of doing himself no good with some 
 of his keener supporters, and — if I may add it — 
 to the point of doing me equal damage with my 
 own less tolerant friends ! These School Board 
 battles gave me a close view of him. I have 
 seldom met a man whose sense of duty struck me 
 
1876-81.] THE THIRD BOARD. 179 
 
 more, or whose willingness to merge less in greater 
 principles, for the common good, was more free 
 from either weakness or self-seeking." 
 
 When the new Board assembled, the Chairman 
 was at once re-elected and work vigorously 
 resumed. Fresh schools were put in hand, as 
 the approval of the Department was received, 
 and enlargements made where required ; the 
 ShMftesbury training ship was fitted up, in order 
 to give more scope to the Board's efforts to 
 reclaim children of the wastrel class; and a 
 truant school was estabhshed, where the lesson 
 of obedience could be taught to unruly boys, 
 without the expense and many dangers incident 
 to sending them for years to a reformatory. 
 Besides this, a lengthy and animated corre- 
 spondence was carried on with the Depart- 
 ment, with a view to secure greater hberty in 
 the planning of schools, and to hghten the 
 burden of returns demanded from the head 
 teachers; a committee was appointed to inquire 
 into City endowments, which might fairly be 
 claimed for purposes of elementary education; 
 and the surplus energies of a part of the Board 
 even ran over upon the uncertain and marshy 
 field of "spelling reform." 
 
 N 2 
 
15* THE CHILDBiys FBIEirD. [«- x. 
 
 The pjrtimt given in die frontispiece represents 
 Sir Charies Beed at the time of life now reached. 
 What Ms figure lacked in height it gained in 
 erectnes and breadth of ctesr: his siep was 
 quick and verv decided, his ojunienaiaee remark- 
 ably open : there was in it much to rec^ 
 Spenser's description — 
 
 •' Contiiiiian «?inf<Bt in a fast, 
 
 A fnll annual: 3e given by iflokiSy^ 
 
 One or two poinis in the work of the Boaid, 
 in addition to those atready named, gieatty 
 interested him. Tfis sTmpathy with the Blind, 
 and with the Deaf and Dumb, led biin to offer 
 his services as chairman of a sab-c-jmniittee ap- 
 pcnnted to Fiperintend dieir ins^rririoiL Classes 
 for the latter were opened at selected centres; 
 bnt it was soon, focjid impoesible i-yr the children 
 to travel long 'iisTances to these centres, of which 
 there were onlv tjiree : and homes had to be 
 established near them. These h inies and classes 
 he oBen visited, either alone or accompanied by 
 frienis whom he sjoght to interest in the w<Ht. 
 The lady teacher at the Bethnal Green centre 
 savs that her children were inccnsolable wbai 
 they were told or his death, and continued long 
 
1876-81.] THE PRINCESS. 181 
 
 to speak of Tiim as the good ftiend who had 
 loved them. 
 
 Amongst those whose sympathy he sought to 
 enhst in the work of the Board was the Princess 
 Louise, to whom the following letter refers : — 
 
 " We have had a busy week, now over, and the 
 weather has been bright and cool. On Thursday 
 I had to receive the Princess at a school in 
 Stepney. After waiting an hour, a telegram came 
 to say she would arrive at two instead of twelve ; 
 so all the children (1,924) were sent off to dinner 
 and ordered to return at 1.45. I also went away 
 to Mr. Buxton's to lunch. Coming back at 1.30 
 I foimd a great crowd about the doors, and 
 children being poured in by anxious parents. 
 Then I discovered that the Princess, fearing lest 
 we might be put about, had come after aU at 
 one o'clock, and was actually at the schooL She 
 shook hands, and offered many apologies ; and 
 as aU ended well, we were content. 
 
 "We then went to Bethnal Green, driving 
 through Victoria Park. After inspecting the 
 WOmot Street School, I took leave, promising to 
 lead the way through Shoreditch. When we 
 were in the Bethnal Green Boad, I looked back, 
 and found that the party had stopped ; and 
 
1S2 HIGHER GRADE SCHOOLS. [oh. x. 
 
 going back, the equerry said their springs had 
 broken ! I at once placed our carriage at the 
 Princess's disposal. This she readily accepted, 
 and we transferred her and Lady Sophia 
 Macnamara, with Colonel Campbell, to our 
 landau " 
 
 Something has been said, in the third chapter, 
 about Charles Keed's early interest in the teaching 
 of infants. This made him extremely anxious 
 that the Board should adopt the best system in 
 its infant departments, and spare no pains to 
 secure for them competent teachers. On the 
 other hand, he was for giving every possible 
 advantage to advanced pupils. That they should 
 be detained in the ordinary schools, where re- 
 quisite attention could not be given them, he 
 regarded as a mistake ; and had he lived, there 
 can be no question that his sympathy would have 
 gone strongly with the movement for drafting 
 them into higher grade schools, where they could 
 be taught with greater economy and success. 
 
 A discussion on the vexed question of Free 
 Schools may be considered out of place in these 
 pages ; yet any sketch of Sir Charles' educational 
 work would be incomplete without some reference 
 to his mature opinion on the subject. He knew 
 
1876-81.] FREE SCHOOLS. 183 
 
 the extreme difficulty experienced by the Board 
 in collecting school pence, and in drawing the line 
 between children who could pay and children 
 whose fees must be remitted. To some of his 
 colleagues, the question was but one of degree. 
 Already the State bore by far the larger part of 
 the cost of educating all, and the entire cost of 
 educating many. No new principle would, to 
 their minds, be involved in its accepting the 
 whole burden of giving to aU the bare elements 
 of knowledge, it being left to parents to pay for 
 the higher branches; the cost would not be so 
 great as to present a serious obstacle; while the 
 parent, paying in the course of his life as much 
 in school rates as he had now to pay for a few 
 years in the way of school pence, would have 
 no cause to feel humiliated — less cause, in fact, 
 than under the eleemosynary system of the 
 Voluntary schools. 
 
 But Sir Charles had brought back from his 
 visits to America information drawn from " many 
 of the best teachers," that " the parents who pay 
 nothing care nothing;" and he feared the in- 
 jurious effect of this indifference upon schools at 
 home. " The payment of fees enlists the parents' 
 interest, it promotes regularity of attendance, the 
 parent who pays looking well after his purchase ; 
 
181 THE HEART OF THE QFESTIOlf. [ch. x. 
 
 while it cherishes the inestimable virtues of self- 
 respect and self-reliance." It may be doubted 
 whether experience has shown that these desirable 
 results always follow, as they ought to do ; but he 
 is on firmer ground, and touches the heart of the 
 question, when he adds, "It must not be con- 
 cealed from view that the abolition of fees would 
 surely result in tlie anniMlation of Voluntary 
 schools. Now it was the distinct determination of 
 the legislature that, in so far as these were efficient, 
 they should be utilised, and not destroyed." 
 
 Thus it appears that opinions about the 
 desirability of free education will be largely 
 influenced by the estimate formed of the de- 
 nominational schools. Those who regard them 
 as " founded and maintained for the purpose of 
 propagating the denominational creeds of the 
 Churches with which they are connected," — and 
 who object to those creeds, — will naturally be 
 found denying their claims on the pubUc purse 
 and desiring their extinction; but Charles Reed 
 was disposed to ascribe more disinterested motives, 
 and motives more distinctly educational, to their 
 managers ; and, while seeking firmly to check the 
 abuse of their power for sectarian ends, he was 
 for wishing them well in the great and good 
 work he believed them to be doing. 
 
1876-81.] A SCHOLAE'S THAiTKS. 185 
 
 But to return to the London Board and its 
 Chairman. Whatever promised well for the hap- 
 piness of the scholars had his thorough support. 
 Whether it was the promotion of health by drill, 
 swimming or the playground; whether it was 
 the establishment of lending libraries, or the 
 encouraging of the children to become depositors 
 in savings banks, he was always ready to lend 
 a helping hand. It may he mentioned, as an 
 indication of the spirit in which he laboured, 
 that late in life, and gainst the advice of many 
 of his Mends, he became a total abstainer, solely 
 that he might aid in promoting habits of tem- 
 perance among the thousands of teachers and 
 children whom, as Chainnan of the Board, he 
 might be in a position to influence. 
 
 To the children in many of the schools he was 
 as a personal Mend, and nothing gratified him 
 more than to receive the letters of simple thanks 
 that often reached him. Let one stand as a 
 specimen of many: — 
 
 "To SiE Chables Eeed. 
 "Deae Sib, 
 
 "Having been at the opening of that noble 
 school in Wolverly Street on Thursday evening, 
 
186 THE CAXTON CELEBRATION. [ch. x. 
 
 and heard the Letter of thanks read from Frank 
 
 F , it is my wish to be the first Girl to send 
 
 you a letter of thanks for what I am taught at 
 
 Claremont Street school. I most heartly thank 
 
 you for your kindness in giving your valueahle 
 
 services Concerning the poor Children of this 
 
 country, may the Lord shower down his blessings 
 
 down upon you and all belonging to you. I have 
 
 been at Claremont Street school nearly Two years 
 
 and during that time I have been to the crystal 
 
 palace to receive a prize for scripture knowledge 
 
 and a nice one it was too and I have received 
 
 a prize for regular attendance called the standard 
 
 bearer and I should not like to leave my school 
 
 because the teachers are so kind to us I don't 
 
 think I have anything more to say at the present 
 
 time. 
 
 " I remain, your respectfully, 
 
 "A SCHOLAB." 
 
 Leaving for a moment the subject of educa- 
 tion, we find Sir Charles engaged in 1877 in 
 organizing the Caxton Celebration. An old 
 printer himself, he was glad to see honour done 
 to his great feUow-craftsman, and the more so 
 since the profits of the Celebration were to go 
 towards augmenting a fund for the widows of 
 
1876-81.] PARIS. 187 
 
 those in the trade. He was Chairman of the 
 Caxton Committee, and contributed to the loan 
 exhibition a large number of old books and 
 autographs. Following up his recently formed 
 acquaintance with Longfellow, he wrote to re- 
 quest his co-operation. This was cordially given, 
 the poet replying that " The man who died in 
 the year this continent was discovered; who 
 printed Beyriard the Fox and the Golden Legend 
 and the Ganterlmry Tales; who gave the world 
 three books a year for twenty years in succession, 
 deserves the grateful memory of all makers and 
 readers of books." 
 
 In the following year Sir Charles was appointed 
 to act for Great Britain as Judge in education 
 at the Paris Exhibition. One of his letters home 
 will give an idea of the way in which his time 
 was employed. 
 
 "4th Flook, 
 
 " 72, AvENtJB DTJ EOI DE EOME. 
 
 "Dearest A , 
 
 " I have just an hour before going to the Prize 
 Distribution. The sky looks clear and I am aU 
 ready, so I devote a little time to you and to 
 dear M , for whom this note is also intended. 
 
 "I arrived on Saturday, but owing to some 
 
IJ? LEGIOX OF HOXOFR. [CH. x. 
 
 mistjite was taken to the ■wrong rooms and had 
 afterwards to be removed, much to the trouble 
 of my landlady. I spent all the morning at the 
 Exhibition, and at Mr. Owen's I saw the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales. In the evening I dined 
 with the representatives of the fourth estate at 
 the Continental, and spoke. Next morning I 
 went to the Salle Evangelique, which was quite 
 crowded, and in the afternoon the Prince sent 
 for me about a memorial to be presented on 
 Tuesday. 
 
 "I am in uniform to-day, and shall have to 
 take the Diploma of Honour awarded to the 
 School Board. Paris is very full, the charges 
 for carriages are exorbitant, and the horses 
 worse than ever. We, the presidents, were 
 to have been decorated to-dav with the Leeion 
 of Honour; but I hear oxir Government objects, 
 because no British subject may wear a foreign 
 order without the Queen's permission. 
 
 " [A day later.] Last night I went with Mrs. 
 
 E and Mr. and Mrs. C. C , in a hired 
 
 carriage, to the grand st^te reception at Ver- 
 sailles. Two hours going, one hour cfettinw in 
 two hours in the heat and crush, one hour 
 escaping and finding the carriage. Think of 
 that! I reached my lodgings at three, and I 
 
1876-81.] THE lOTJETH BOABD. 1S9 
 
 am at the Exhibition at nine, pressing on 
 business, so that I may leave to-morrow.'' 
 
 When the School Board election of 1879 came 
 round, he was physically unequal to the labours 
 of a contest He had recently lost his youngest 
 son under painfdl circumstances, to be referred 
 to in the next chapter; and a wet Sunday 
 spent in \isiting the ^lafic^iry, "to see how 
 the lads spend their Sundays," was the occasion 
 of his taMng a severe cold, which settled into a 
 heavy cough. His physician forbade his being 
 out after dark, and would not hear of his address- 
 ing public meetings; indeed, the winter months 
 must be spent abroad. He was, however, allowed 
 to remain in England tiU the election was over, 
 and for several weeks he stayed at Brighton, 
 coming up to town only for the meetings of the 
 Board 
 
 Thus he could bear no part in the &ay; 
 and the result was that the two experienced 
 candidates with whom he had united in Hackney 
 feuled to secure seats, while he was returned 
 second at the poIL Although the party of eco- 
 nomical reaction had obtained a footing on the 
 Board, no opposition was offered to his re-election 
 to the Chair ; and he was able to go with Lady 
 
190 OBSTKUCTION. [cH. x. 
 
 Eeed and his two daugMers to the South of 
 France, knowing that his place would be ably 
 filled by the Vice-Chairman, the Rev. John 
 Rodgers. 
 
 On his return in the spring, his health appeared 
 to be fuUy restored; and though now again a 
 member of the House of Commons, he applied 
 himself with zest to the work of the Board. He 
 soon found, however, that a spirit of unreasoning 
 obstruction had been introduced into its meetings 
 to which he was an entire stranger ; and though 
 "he did not allow himself to be put out by 
 disputes and delays," as one of his colleagues 
 testified, his satisfaction and peace of mind were 
 greatly marred. 
 
 After the summer recess, the difficulty thus 
 caused seemed to have become greater instead 
 of less ; and this, taken with the death of two 
 of his oldest friends on the Board, Mr. Rodgers 
 and Mr. Watson, cast a shadow over the new 
 session, which only grew darker as the months 
 went on. The debates were longer than ever, 
 and more acrimonious; meetings that usually 
 occupied three hours were extended to seven or 
 eight hours, and in one case bad to be adjourned 
 from late at night tiU the following morning. 
 It was, on a smaller scale, the same strife that 
 
1876-81.] PATIENCE TRIED. 191 
 
 was at the time attracting attention in Parlia- 
 ment. The writer well remembers witnessing 
 the suspension of the thirty-five Home Rulers 
 in the House of Commons one evening in 
 February, 1881, and then walking down the 
 Embankment to find the Board still engaged 
 in debate, and an inexpressibly sad and weary 
 look on the Chairman's face. 
 
 His Mends felt that he could not long go 
 on with harassing work like this, added to his 
 Parhamentary and other duties, though they 
 little suspected how few weeks would bring him 
 release. He would tell his family that people 
 must not talk any more about his being a good 
 Chairman, for he could not get his ruling obeyed 
 "even by the gentle sex." At the same time 
 he was careful to keep the controversies of the 
 Board room from interfering with the pleasant 
 relations that existed between him and his col- 
 leagues. "Ah weU," he would playfuUy say to 
 one who had been a thorn in his side, " we know 
 you're aU right here," pointing to his heart ; 
 "though up here," touching his forehead, "you 
 must admit you're not quite sound." 
 
 His last appearance at the Board was on the 
 10th of March; at the next two meetings Mr. 
 
192 THE EMPTY CHAIE. [oh. x. 
 
 Edward N. Buxton, the new Vice-Chairman, took 
 his place, and explained his absence as due to 
 an indisposition which it was thought a few days 
 would remove. None of the members was in 
 the least prepared for the news of his death, 
 which immediately followed. 
 
 At the first meeting after the funeral, many 
 generous references were made to the loss which 
 had been sustained, and which' at first seemed 
 irreparable. The Rev. J. Coxhead, a clerical 
 colleague, said : 
 
 "Sir Charles' strict impartiahty, readiness of 
 speech, and knowledge of the forms of debate, 
 his genial smile and kindly and gracious manner, 
 were sometimes found separately in favoured 
 individuals, but it was rare indeed to find 
 them all combined in one man." 
 
 Dr. Gladstone, speaking from long friendship, 
 said : 
 
 " We aU know how the religious instruction in 
 our schools had his hearty sympathy, for he once 
 said ' The Bible is a revered book in our schools ; 
 if it were not so, I should never have put my 
 hands to this work.' " 
 
1876-81.] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 193 
 
 Those who had opposed the general policy 
 of the Board, nevertheless "wished to express 
 their admiration for his energy and disinterested 
 labour, as well as for his fairness in presiding 
 over the meetings " ; and the Vice-Chairman, 
 who now worthily fills his place, said : 
 
 " I think he wiU leave behind him here 
 nothing but pleasant memories. His absolute 
 fairness in the Chair and his great acuteness need 
 no demonstration from me; and I beheve not 
 one of us, even of those who have been his 
 colleagues for ten years, can remember a single 
 occasion when there was even a hasty or harsh 
 word from him. I think he was the most 
 even-tempered man I knew, and most of us are 
 able to treasure up acts of kindness and courtesy 
 received from him." 
 
 As the result of a subscription among the 
 members of the Board and a few other friends, 
 a marble bust of the late Chairman has been 
 executed by Mr. Onslow Ford, and is placed in 
 a niche above the chair in the Board-room, the 
 companion niche being occupied by a bust of 
 his friend Mr. Rodgers. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BENT NOT BROKEN. 
 
 ' ' Yet I argue not 
 Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
 Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer 
 Right onward." 
 
 To account for the effect upon Sir Charles of 
 these multipUed pubhc duties, it is necessary 
 to lift the veil of his private Hfe, and advert to 
 troubles which had greatly impaired his strength. 
 
 The family circle remained unbroken until the 
 summer of 1875, when his second daughter, 
 Constance, succumbed, at the age of twenty, to 
 an illness of long duration, brought on originally 
 by an accident in the playground. A sound and 
 vigorous constitution, a mind unwilling to take 
 anything at second hand in its eager search after 
 truth, and a character of singular power and 
 sweetness, had given the prospect of long and 
 
1875-81.] CONSTANCE REED. 195 
 
 fruitful life, which was thus sadly blighted. The 
 father's love had entwined itself closely around 
 the sufferer; and when, as a last resource, the 
 physicians recommended a visit to Switzerland, 
 he arranged to accompany the party as soon as 
 the School Board adjourned for the recess. 
 
 The extreme heat of the journey across 
 France was unfavourable to the invalid ; but on 
 reaching Miirren she revived, and her father 
 wrote home, "we cannot say that we are en- 
 couraged, but we rest in hope." The greatest 
 kindness was shown by the visitors at the hotel, 
 and not least by the late Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury and Mrs. Tait. But the vitalising air of the 
 mountains could not refiU the wasted springs of 
 hfe and, though other places were tried, Constance 
 grew weaker and longed for home. By sheer force 
 of will and heroic endurance of pain, she accom- 
 plished the return journey, and reached Earls- 
 mead for the last brief scene. 
 
 Her father now spent his evenings at home, 
 reading aloud to her, and helping, by his cheerful 
 manner, to sustain the sinking hopes of the family. 
 The change came suddenly on the evening of 
 Wednesday, the 22nd of September. The mother 
 was the first to mark its approach; and her 
 
 2 
 
196 HER DEATH. [ch. xi. 
 
 apprehension spread from one to another as they 
 dropped in, according to wont, and found her 
 reading in a broken voice the descriptions from 
 the old Book of the home above and the city of 
 light. The conflict with pain lasted till the morn- 
 ing, when, as the grey hght crept in, the weary 
 heart ceased beating ; and the father solemnly 
 said to the watchers, " The spirit is returned to 
 Him who gave it. Thank God for such a life 
 and such a death." 
 
 It was characteristic that, on the day of his 
 daughter's funeral, he went to see over a house 
 about which one of his sons had to decide. 
 When his future daughter-in-law expressed her 
 surprise at his readiness to put aside his own grief 
 and enter into the hopes of others, he replied : 
 " When you know us better, you wiU learn that 
 all the interests of our children lie very near to 
 our hearts." Two of his sons were married in 
 the early summer of the following year, while he 
 was on his official visit to the Philadelphia 
 Exhibition, and a couple of years later two more 
 of " the boys " set up homes of their own ; but 
 as all four settled in the North of London, 
 and spent part of every Saturday at Earls- 
 mead, the old home circle was not contracted, 
 but enlarged. 
 
1875-81.] SATURDAY AT EAELSMEAD. 197 
 
 These family gatherings showed Sir Charles at 
 his brightest. Amid a party rarely numbering, 
 with visitors, fewer than eighteen he moved, the 
 centre of animation and mirth, as willing to make 
 up a set at bowls or tennis as he was to talk over 
 the troubles of a young feUow in business, and 
 give advice, which always turned out to be the 
 very thing to be done. In charades and all kinds 
 of " pencil games," where humour and ready in- 
 vention were required, he was unrivalled. The 
 Earlsmead Chronicle, which was " published " once 
 a quarter, rarely appeared without an article from 
 his pen ; for even in his busiest public life he had 
 no heart to refuse the appeals of the editor. An 
 invariable feature of these Saturday gatherings 
 was the singing of the hymn, "Safely through 
 another week," in which aU joined before rising 
 from the tea table. 
 
 But the sorrow of his life was before him. In 
 the summer of 1879, his youngest son Kenneth, 
 a lad of high and unusual endowments, and the 
 right hand of his parents, started from home 
 on a canoe trip in Ireland. His companion 
 was Mr. William J. Anderson of Holywood, near 
 Belfast, with whom he had made a successful 
 expedition the year before on Lough Neagh, the 
 
198 KENNETH EEED. [cH. xi. 
 
 Bann, and the English lakes. Both were strong 
 and practised swimmers, and expert in the 
 management of their boats, which were of the kind 
 known as " sea-going " craft. Their plan on this 
 occasion was to explore the whole course of the 
 Shannon and the Blackwater, together with the 
 connecting links of lake and sea. The season, 
 however, was unpropitious ; gales and floods pre- 
 vailed ; and when the young men had conveyed 
 their boats to Clones and embarked on the waters 
 of Upper Lough Erne, they were met by head 
 winds that made progress most laborious, while 
 in consequence of the overflow of the streams 
 they repeatedly lost their way. Three days 
 brought them to Enniskillen, whence Kenneth 
 Reed wrote : — 
 
 " Thousands of acres are under water. Though 
 we have the ordnance map, it is almost useless, 
 as there is water, water everywhere. We camped 
 the first night in an old ruined watch-tower, 
 just large enough to swing our hammocks in. 
 Away at nine the next morning, paddling in the 
 teeth of the wind, getting under the lee of some 
 of the numerous islands when possible, and stay- 
 ing to bale out after each reach of open water. 
 Awfully hard, slow, and dispiriting work." 
 
1875-81.] A FATAL MESSAGE. 199 
 
 This letter reached London on Monday the 7th 
 of July. The next day Sir Charles and Lady 
 Reed were present at the laying of the foundation 
 stone of the new wing of the Hospital for In- 
 curables at Putney, when a hurricane nearly blew 
 down a marquee on the lawn, and greatly alarmed 
 many of the guests. Little did the parents dream 
 that that wild blast had proved fatal to their boy 
 and his brave companion. 
 
 On Thursday morning a telegram was received 
 in. London from the police at Dowra : — 
 
 "Two gentlemen, supposed names Kenneth 
 Reed and Anderson, in boats Gertrude and 
 Maggie, started down Lake Allen, Tuesday. The 
 boats and sundries found on the lake shore 
 yesterday. Gentlemen supposed to be drowned." 
 
 This news reached Sir Charles in a peculiarly 
 distressing way. One of his sons, after searching 
 for him in vain in the City, left a written message 
 at the School Board offices. This letter was 
 carried by him, on his arrival, unopened into a 
 meeting of committee, the members of which had 
 meantime heard the intelligence. He was taken 
 aback at the looks of concern with which he was 
 met ; and on being pointed for explanation to the 
 letter in his band, the shock was overwhelming. 
 
200 A SAD EXPEDITION. [ch. xi. 
 
 He hurried home, saying, as he crossed its thres- 
 hold, " I had a presentiment of this ; " and months 
 afterwards he remarked, " When that news came, 
 I felt myself stabbed at the heart, and the pain 
 has never left me." 
 
 The stricken mother having already started for 
 Ireland with her son Andrew, he followed by the 
 night maU, overtaking them at Holyhead. " Ah ! 
 Maggie," he exclaimed, as he staggered into the 
 cabin of the steamer, " this is the darkest day we 
 have ever known." Hope, however, was not quite 
 gone. It had been thought at first that the boats 
 might have been blown ashore, while their 
 owners were encamped on some island. But 
 when it was learnt that the lake, which is about 
 as large as Windermere, contained scarcely any 
 islands, and that the hammocks and other gear 
 had been found on board, this feeble prop of 
 hope was struck away. 
 
 All this the travellers learnt before they 
 reached the neighbourhood of Lough 'AUen; and 
 on their arrival, the search parties had nothing 
 to tell. The Saturday was spent, as a day has 
 rarely to be spent by parents. No conveyance 
 was to be hired in the little town of Carrick-on- 
 Shannon ; but a magistrate of the place, Mr. Cecil 
 
1875-81.] SEARCH F&R THE BODIES. 201 
 
 Whyte, with the utmost kindness, offered them 
 the use of his carriage. In this they drove 
 round the lake, accompanied by their son and by 
 Mr. T. M. Greer, their future son-in-law, seeking 
 information, and posting up at intervals bills offer- 
 ing reward for the discovery of the bodies; 
 
 The succeeding days were passed, together 
 with Mr. Anderson who had been bereft by 
 this catastrophe of his only child, in fruitless 
 search, and in the painful effort to sift the 
 evidence which was only too freely volunteered 
 by the peasants. Amid many discrepancies, all 
 were agreed in describing the hurricane as one 
 that could not have been anticipated, and as 
 having lashed the lake to a fury no boat could 
 have survived. 
 
 Day after day was passed by Sir Charles in a 
 steam launch, scanning the surface of the water 
 for precious remains which, in the caseof Kenneth 
 Eeed, have never been recovered. It was before 
 this last poor hope was abandoned that the 
 following letter to his daughter was written : — 
 
 " IMPEEIAL Hotel, 
 
 " Enniskillen, July 15. 
 
 " My dearest Agnes, 
 
 " I have read your most affectionate letter. 
 Your tender heart, so truly devoted to our lost 
 
202 THE WICKED LAKE. [en. xi. 
 
 boy, is touched, as ours are, with deepest 
 grief. How changed our home will be, and 
 what a loss we shall always and increasingly 
 feel we have sustained ! The end was sudden, 
 but he was prepared, for I know he loved the 
 Saviour. 
 
 " Every one we see speaks so well of him and 
 of Willie ; and the people here, where they spent 
 their last Sunday, noted their quiet and reverent 
 demeanour. We have followed all their course, 
 and to-morrow I intend to take dearest mother 
 to Lisnaskea, where they had to pack up their 
 canoes and come on by train. This was a proof 
 that dear Kenneth remembered his promise to me 
 to avoid all risks, and we believe that on the fatal 
 day he did not think the danger was so great as 
 it was. 
 
 " The people call Allen ' a wicked lake.' Its 
 waters rise with the wind, and the waves swell 
 like a sea. Dear Andrew and Eliot stay by 
 the shore ; we have come to Enniskillen to get 
 accommodation, and wait for tidings. [For, despite 
 the extreme kindness of the clergyman and post- 
 master at Dowra, they could not remain there.] 
 I am sure it is best for dearest mother, though 
 she frets much to be back again on the painful 
 scene. A day or two more and our suspense will 
 
1875-81.] A BRAVE BEARING. 203 
 
 have an end. [It was expected the bodies 'would 
 float about the ninth day.] We shall telegraph to 
 you at once to get all ready for our sad return. 
 I "will give aU instructions at the cemetery 
 [Abney Park], and we shall have a private 
 funeral and lay our precious boy by the side of 
 his sainted sister. 
 
 "Dearest Agnes, let this great trial bring us 
 all nearer together, and let us ' follow on ' till 
 at length, one by one, we shaJl come to be for 
 ever with the Lord." 
 
 These arrangements were not needed ; the " sad 
 return" was unaccompanied. A fortnight later 
 the parents of Mr. Anderson had the melancholy 
 satisfaction of laying the remains of their lost son 
 in their family grave. 
 
 A friend who joined Sir Charles at Enniskillen 
 says he could not have thought it possible for a 
 parent to take the death of a son, to whom he was 
 closely attached, with such submission : " it was 
 simply wonderful; nothing could exceed my 
 admiration." An indication of his healthy and 
 generous spirit is given in the following letter, 
 which he addressed, a year later, to each of his 
 surviving children. 
 
204 CANNES. [cH. xi. 
 
 "House of Commons, 
 
 "Julys, 1880. 
 
 " Dear , 
 
 " This is a sad anniversary ; but I am anxious 
 to connect the memory of our dear lost boy with 
 bright recollections, and not with those of gloom. 
 
 " At this time of the year, and in memory of 
 him, I shall remit to each of his brothers and 
 sisters a sum of ten pounds, to be applied to 
 prolonging and making happier their summer 
 holiday. . . . 
 
 " I inclose the amount named for 1880, and am 
 " Your affectionate father, 
 
 "Charles Keed." 
 
 A few days spent at Evolena, in August 1879, 
 could do little towards repairing the effects of this 
 sorrowful time ; and he was little fit for the duty 
 of writing his annual statement of the work of the 
 School Board, and still less for the approaching 
 election, and the contest it was sure to involve. 
 
 In this election, as has already been stated, he 
 was unable to take any personal part ; and on its 
 conclusion he started, under medical orders, for 
 Cannes, accompanied by his wife and daughters. 
 
 Here he gained almost immediate benefit. 
 The season admitted of his living in the open 
 
1875-81.] ST. IVES. 205 
 
 air, and the hotel afforded congenial society, which 
 his sunny presence made still more agreeable. 
 An amusing testimony to this was given one day 
 by the proprietor, in answer to a demand made by 
 his guest for better rooms. He protested his 
 anxiety to oblige, and added : 
 
 "You do great good to my house — you take 
 such notice of those who are not of high family ; 
 it does so unite the house. I say you are hke a 
 bridge, bringing all the people together." " That 
 may be," replied Sir Charles, " but then you 
 must please remember that we are not a bridge 
 to be walked over and trodden on." The host's 
 eyes twinkled as he rejoined, "Yes, but ever 
 since you came you have made way for 
 everybody." 
 
 During this visit he was in coftespondence 
 about the borough of St. Ives, in Cornwall, for 
 which he had agreed to stand at the next 
 General Election. 
 
 " As to Parliament," he writes to a member of 
 his family, " you know why I gave it up. As I took 
 that step in 1874 to serve the cause of education, 
 so now my main desire in re-entering it is to 
 advance the cause for which outside the House 
 
206 COUNTRY CANVASSING. [ch. xi. 
 
 of Commons I have worked for six years, giving 
 exactly half my week days to the service, and I 
 might almost say my whole soul and spirit." His 
 friends had sought to dissuade him from this 
 purpose as involving far too severe a strain ; and 
 after the death of his son it was hoped that he 
 might see his way clear to relinquish the idea. 
 But he felt it at once difficult to withdraw from 
 his promise, and of importance that the School 
 Board should, like other puhlic bodies, be directly 
 represented in Parliament by its Chairman. 
 
 The news of the dissolution of March, 1880, 
 reached him in Rome. He instantly returned 
 with Lady Reed to London ; and within a couple 
 of hours of his arrival was off to Cornwall, that 
 he might be in time to have a meeting on the 
 Saturday with the fishermen. In Mr. Ross, the 
 Conservative candidate, he found a formidable 
 rival possessed of local influence ; while his own 
 connexion with the London School Board was 
 taken by many of the electors as quite enough 
 to render him responsible for the erection of a 
 new Board school in the town, which had caused 
 considerable offence. However, his health and 
 spirits were not to be easily depressed; the 
 canvassing expeditions through the outlying 
 
1875-81]. THE ELECTION. 207 
 
 townships gave him outdoor exercise that he 
 enjoyed ; and his energy and winning address 
 soon produced their effect. 
 
 " That I have worked hard there is no doubt, 
 and I am more surprised and thankful than 
 I can tell, because I doubted so greatly my 
 own strength. Cannes has certainly given me 
 resisting power ; yet I shall not presume. The 
 people here are sanguine, but I hold my peace." 
 
 A gentleman who had held office under a former 
 Government, and who was staying at the time in 
 the same hotel with Sir Charles, says, " It was 
 very pleasant, in the midst of the passions of the 
 hour, to witness the perfect way in which he 
 conducted his election, bringing to bear upon it 
 the principles of a Christian gentleman." 
 
 The poUing at St. Ives was probably affected 
 by the example of larger constituencies where 
 the elections were held first. By the time the 
 Cornish borough was called on to return its 
 member, the Liberal tide was flowing fast. Still 
 the contest was a close one ; and it was not till 
 after an exciting day, when ninety-two per cent, 
 of the available voters had been brought up, that 
 Sir Charles was found to have won, by 487 votes 
 
208 DOUBLE WORK. [CH. xi. 
 
 against 439 recorded in favour of Mr. Ross. The 
 latter paid a generous tribute of praise to the 
 victor, who in turn expressed a hope that they 
 might soon meet in Parliament. This was not 
 to be ; but barely a year passed, before Mr. 
 Ross was elected to the seat he then failed to 
 secure. 
 
 During the summer of that year Sir Charles 
 went with his wife to Ireland to see the new 
 home of their daughter Margaret, who had just 
 been married to Mr. Greer. Thence they pro- 
 ceeded to Lough Allen, to revisit the scene of 
 the accident, and to look at a memorial tablet 
 they had had placed in the little church at Dowra. 
 It was on this journey that the Statement of Ten 
 Years' Work of the London School Board, given 
 in the Appendix, was prepared. 
 
 The harassing nature of the work which awaited 
 him on his return to London has been sufficiently 
 referred to in the last chapter. Bereft of some 
 who had been brothers rather than colleagues, 
 and exposed to long sittings both in the House 
 of Commons and at the School Board, owing to 
 determined and vexatious obstruction, he was 
 unable to secure the needful amount of rest, 
 albeit he had taken rooms close to St. Stephen's 
 
1875-81.] LAST DAYS. 209 
 
 where he haxi the comfort of the company of 
 his wife and daughter. 
 
 They, however, were as far as any from ima- 
 gining how nearly his course of public service 
 was run. On Tuesday, the 8th March, 1881, he 
 attended, according to custom, the annual festival 
 of the Reedham Asylum, one of his father's insti- 
 tutions. Two days later he went into Warwick- 
 shire to help one of his friends on the School 
 Board who was standing for Parliament. Whether 
 he overstrained himself in addressing the crowded 
 meeting, or took a chill on leaving, is not known. 
 
 The Sunday following he attended divine 
 service at Clapton Park, where his relative, the 
 Rev. Eustace Conder, of Leeds, was preaching, 
 and set out to walk back to Tottenham, as was 
 his usual practice. Before he had gone half a 
 mile, he was seized with intense pain in the 
 chest, which obliged him to drive home and 
 send for Dr. May, his medical adviser. The 
 opinion given was of a nature to alarm the 
 family ; and he himself evidently felt the attack 
 to be serious, for it was found afterwards that 
 he had written some testamentary instructions 
 before sending for the doctor. 
 
 The next day he was better, and a consulta- 
 
 p 
 
210 LAST DAYS. [ch. xi. 
 
 tion with Dr. Andrew Clark tended to allay 
 fear, it being considered that the attack was 
 chiefly pleuritic, that it had been checked in 
 good time, and that the patient showed great 
 vital strength. 
 
 From that time his improvement was rapid, 
 and in a few days the pleurisy was declared to 
 be virtually at an end, though great care was 
 urged during the stage of convalescence. The 
 week that followed was not only peaceful but 
 bright. He evidently enjoyed the quiet home- 
 nursing of his wife and daughter, who rejoiced 
 to have him with them on almost any terms. 
 The invalid room was made cheerful by his 
 pleasant sallies of humour, and by his grateful 
 reception of all that was done for him. 
 
 His active mind soon began to enter into all 
 that was going on in political and social life, and 
 he dictated answers to a great number of letters^ 
 making plans and fixing dates with his usual 
 ■precision. Such was his faciUty in despatching 
 business, that not until this illness did even 
 his wife understand the endless claims made 
 upon his time, sympathy, and good offices, in 
 every department of friendship and public 
 interest. 
 
1S75-81.] THE SUMMONS. 211 
 
 On Wednesday, the 23rd March, he sat up for 
 several hours, chatting with his sister, Mrs. 
 Spalding, who had come from Hastings to see 
 him, and to whom he was tenderly attached. 
 So much better did he feel, that he took his 
 doctor playfully to task for not letting him go 
 to the House to join in a vote of confidence in 
 the Government. 
 
 The next day he was even stronger, and for some 
 time walked about his room. His elder brother 
 came to see him and stay the night. He much 
 enjoyed their intercourse, and begged him in the 
 evening to conduct family worship in his room. 
 The hundred and third Psalm was read, and the 
 whole tone was that of thankfulness for renewed 
 strength. 
 
 Yet that night the summons came. About 
 one o'clock the faintness which had introduced 
 his iUness returned, but this time without suf- 
 fering. His son Andrew, who happened to be 
 sleeping in the house, quickly brought Dr. May, 
 who, after examining his patient, expressed the 
 hope that he might overcome this attack as he 
 had former ones. Sir Charles held a few minutes' 
 conversation with his wife, dictating with perfect 
 clearness the conclusion of the instructions partly 
 
 p 2 
 
212 AT THE GRAVE. [oh. xi. 
 
 written by liimself. He then spoke of his entire 
 though humble trust in the Saviour, and his 
 readiness to lay down aU the interests and work 
 of life at his Master's call. When the doctor 
 kindly said he must not trouble himself with 
 worldly cares, he replied, " I have no worldly cares 
 at all." After an hour spent in fuU conscious- 
 ness, he fell into a quiet sleep. About half-past 
 four his wife was startled from her sofa by a 
 sudden cry of " Maggie, Maggie ! " and almost in 
 the utterance of the name that had been music 
 to him for more than forty years, and before any 
 one else could reach the room, a change came 
 over his face, and in less than five minutes he 
 had passed away. 
 
 The news of his death caused grief to many 
 beyond his immediate circle ; he had fallen at the 
 early age of sixty-one, when it was hoped he 
 might hold his place among the workers for 
 many a year. Arrangements were made for a 
 private funeral, such as it was known he would 
 have chosen; but the numerous expressions of 
 pubhc sympathy made it impossible fuUy to carry 
 out this intention. The Board schools through- 
 out London were closed for the day, the members 
 of the Board attended in a body, and deputations 
 
1875-81.] AT THE GRAVE. 213 
 
 were present from all, or nearly all, the societies 
 with which he had been connected. 
 
 Thus on Wednesday, the 30th Mai-ch, Abney 
 Chapel was filled with a gathering remarkable 
 for its varied and representative character. 
 Lord Sandon and Mr. W. H. Smith were there 
 — both members of the late Government, and 
 colleagues of Sir Charles on the first School 
 Board ; Mr. Mundella, the Vice-President of 
 the Council ; Mr. Holms and Professor Fawcett, 
 the members for Hackney; yvith. many others, 
 differing in political and reUgious creed, who 
 had been joined with him in the work of life, 
 and were now united in paying to his memory 
 their tribute of respect. 
 
 The se^^'ice, which was of the simplest, was 
 conducted by the Rev. Professor McAll, acting 
 pastor of Clapton Park Church (in the absence 
 of the Rev. S. Hebditch), and the Rev. Dr. 
 AUon, Chairman of the Congregational Union 
 of England and Wales ; the address, delivered 
 by the Rev. Eustace Conder, was admirable 
 alike for its delicate appreciation of character 
 and its freedom from excessive eulogy. 
 
 In the cemetery itself the concourse of people 
 was unexampled, and it was with difficulty the 
 
214 "THE SUNWARD SLOPES." [ch. xi. 
 
 procession could pass to the grave. Here the 
 concluding part of the service was wisely made 
 very brief by Dr. A lion and the Rev. Joshua 
 Harrison, the officiating ministers. Many •wreaths 
 were laid upon the coffin by relatives and friends, 
 and one had been sent from St. Ives ; but none 
 was more welcome and appropriate than that 
 which was brought from a neighbouring Board 
 school by some of the children he had loved 
 and served. 
 
 Here therefore — as one has written who knew 
 him well — 
 
 " In the thronged stillness of the burial-place 
 Fear to his dead we lay him, and the feet 
 Of myriad mourners silently retreat 
 
 From the last shroud of that beloved face ; 
 
 Poor hands and hard find costly flowers to grace 
 The grave of him whose toiling days were sweet 
 With kindly love, that crowned and made complete 
 
 The life -long labour for his land and race. 
 
 We do not praise him, for his deeds shall praise ; 
 Nor grieve we greatly, knowing that the King 
 Has called him unto higher ministering. 
 
 Among the souls that strive in unseen ways 
 To help the generations, as they climb 
 The sunward slopes and terraces of time," 
 
APPENDIX. 
 TEN YEARS' WORK 
 
 OP THE 
 
 LONDON SCHOOL BOAED. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SCHOOL BOAUD FOR LONDON. 
 
 Statement made by Sm Ohables Seed, M.P., Chairman, 
 on the reassembling of the Board, ZOth Septerriber, 1880. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
 No work can be fairly judged in its commence- 
 ment. Hence, to those who were eager ^„j ^^^^ „^ 
 for results in the very spring-time of ■Boar'''* History. 
 our operations, we said, "Wait until our work is 
 fairly established, and has had time to tell ; give us 
 ten years, and then we shall have made a mark on 
 the Metropolis and be able to render a good account 
 of what has been expended." The School Board for 
 London was constituted in the autumn of 1870, so 
 that the ten years have now elapsed ; and the com- 
 pletion of the decade — the first decade of its history 
 — affords a suitable opportunity, not only for a 
 review of the past year, but for a comparison 
 between the state of Elementary Education in the 
 
218 THE "WORK TO BE DONE. [app. 
 
 Metropolis now, and its condition at the time of the 
 passing of the Elementary Education Act. 
 
 The business of the Board is twofold. It has on 
 the one hand to discuss great questions 
 of principle and method, with a view to 
 attain more effectually the grand end it has set 
 before it ; while on the other it has to work the 
 existing machinery, supply lack of accommodation, 
 secure and keep up the attendance of children, 
 mainly of the roughest class, and provide for their 
 instruction. The former part — the theoretic — ^is of 
 great importance ; but the latter, which is the 
 practical part, is that in which, after all, the public 
 take keenest interest. They have a right to be 
 satisfied that we spare no pains to arrive at the best 
 way of doing the work ; but they would justly com- 
 plain if we were to arrest the teaching of the 
 children until our methods were perfect ; and they 
 are chiefly desirous to know the results actually 
 attained. It is for this purpose mainly that the 
 Board confides in the discretion of its Chairman to 
 present annually a brief statement of its work. 
 
 It is not for me to speak in praise of those results ; 
 Opinion of one of ^ut it is a Satisfaction to quote the 
 H.M. Inspectors, opinion of one of the most experienced 
 of Her Majesty's Inspectors who, in his report of 
 Schools examined by him in the Southwark district, 
 says : — " I would again express in general terms a 
 high appreciation of the Board's work, its vast 
 extent and rapid spread, its considerable success and 
 immense superiority to earlier efforts on behalf of 
 popular education." 
 
1870-80.] LONDON IN 1871. 219 
 
 That the work of the Board which I am about to 
 describe may be rightly appreciatedy it 
 
 , ,, , , . . » Bequwements of 
 
 IS necessary to recall the requirements of Metn^poutan 
 the Metropolitan area. The population of Biemmtwy'" 
 
 c j.-t ^ I i_ii 1 ±_ School class. 
 
 of the elementary school class, between 
 the ages of three and thirteen, is at present, according 
 to the basis adopted in the office of the Eegistrar- 
 General, 740,577, besides 65,640 children between the 
 ages of thirteen and fourteen, many of whom may be 
 compelled to attend school under Lord Sandon's Act 
 of 1876. The schedules sent in by the Visitors of the 
 Board last Easter, give the number as somewhat less. 
 Looking now to the Accommodation for scholars 
 of the elementary class, it is not possible 
 
 , J T , . , , . • , « School Accommo- 
 
 to take an earlier starting-point tor dation m isn 
 comparison than the close of the year 
 1871, when the Voluntary Schools had furnished 
 their returns, and our own work had just begun. There 
 was at that time accommodation in all for 262,259 
 children, or 39 '4 per cent, of the estimated population 
 of school age. At Midsummer last the Denomina- 
 tional Schools had provision for 269,469 children, or 
 8,000 more than in 1871, while we had provided for 
 225,236, giving a total accommodation for 494,705 
 out of a present child population of 740,577, or 66*8 
 per Cent. Thus we have now seats for two out of 
 every three children needing elementary education. 
 
 If we confine our view to the past year, it is seen 
 that the accommodation afEorded by the Denomina- 
 tional Schools has declined 2,884 places, while ours 
 has increased by 15,008. This latter increase has 
 involved the acceptance of tenders for 24 new 
 
220 THE NEW SCHOOLS. [app. 
 
 Schools, accommodating 21,751 cMldren. These 
 Schools are planned upon our usual scale, smaller 
 Schools being proportionately more expensive.* 
 
 The average cost per head on the tenders of 
 Average Co.t of ^^^^ twenty-fouT Schools kst built has 
 Board Schools, ijgen SI. 18s. 5d., which includes the 
 provision of teachers' rooms, school-keepers' houses, 
 boundary walls, and in several cases extra deep 
 foundations. The buildings, while free from display, 
 are designed to be durable, attractive, and well 
 equipped for their purpose. The Board has now 
 acquired by purchase freehold sites. 
 
 Freehold Pro- . . , , i p i f -i 
 
 perty of Bate- givmg a total area or over 151 acres, 
 payers. henceforth the property of the rate- 
 
 payers of the Metropolis. In each case the Depart- 
 ment has sanctioned both the site selected and the 
 building proposed to be erected upon it. Wherever 
 it has been desired, our Schools have been opened 
 publicly, and it has been the practice on these 
 occasions to present a statement showing the need 
 for the School. The attendance of the parents at 
 these opening ceremonies has always been such as to 
 prove the great interest taken in our work ; and our 
 action has been justified by the readiness with which 
 the children have flocked in as soon as the doors 
 were opened, and the full attendance effected 
 without permanent injury to existing Schools in 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
 ' Of 216 new permanent Schools of tlie Board, 55 are planned 
 to accommodate under 750 children, 77 to hold under 1,000 
 children, 78 to hold under 1,500, and 6 to hold upwards of 
 1,500. 
 
1870-80.] 
 
 INCREASE OP SCHOLARS. 
 
 221 
 
 On the School Roll I need not dwell ; a glance at 
 the subjoined table will show that we have several 
 thousands bf children more upon our rolls than we 
 could accommodate, were all to attend at one time ; 
 whereas the Voluntary Schools have a roll con- 
 siderably below their accommodation. A surer test 
 of effective working is found in the average daily 
 attendance. This has risen in the Voluntary Schools 
 from 173,406 at the end of 1871 to 180,706 at Mid- 
 summer last, at which latter date our Schools 
 showed a daily average of 192,995 ; so that now, 
 with accommodation for 44,000 children fewer than 
 the Voluntary Schools, we have an attendance of 
 12,000 more. The last year has diminished their 
 attendance by 793, while ours has been augmented 
 by 19,192.1 
 
 ^ The above details may he more clearly shown in tabular 
 form, thus : — 
 
 Population of School age 
 
 Christ- 
 mas, 
 1871. 
 
 Christ- 
 mas, 
 
 1876. 
 
 Mid- 
 summer, 
 1879. 
 
 Mid. 
 
 summer, 
 
 1880. 
 
 664,723 
 
 709,715 
 
 733,446 
 
 740,577 
 
 Accommodation in Voluntary Soliools 
 
 „ Board Schools 
 
 Total 
 
 261,168 
 1,101 
 
 287,1 16 
 146,074 
 
 272,363 
 210,228 
 
 269,469 
 225,236 
 
 262,269 
 
 433,190 
 
 482,581 
 
 232,874 
 216,779 
 
 494,705 
 
 Average No. on Roll of Voluntary Schools ... 
 „ Board Schools 
 
 Total 
 
 221,401 
 1,117 
 
 259,436 
 146,031 
 
 231,678 
 238,660 
 
 222,518 
 
 405,467 
 
 448,653 
 
 470,238 
 
 Average attendance in Voluntary Schools ... 
 „ Board Schools 
 
 Total 
 
 173,406 
 895 
 
 199,606 
 114,380 
 
 181,499 
 173,803 
 
 356,302 
 
 180,706 
 192,996 
 
 174,301 
 
 313,985 
 
 373,701 
 
 This shows an increase for the SJ years of 88 '6 in Accommo- 
 dation, 121 '5 in the School Boll, and 114'3 in Attendance. 
 
222 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPULSION. [app. 
 
 This average daily attendance, in the efficient ele- 
 mentary schools of London, of 373,701 
 Attendance— children as compared with the 174,301 
 Hon. w. K ' at the end of 1871, has been attained 
 through the exercise of our compulsory 
 powers. So early as 1873 Mr. Forster, then Vice- 
 President of the Privy Council, bore this testi- 
 mony : — " We gave you a great work, and when we 
 gave you the power we did not think that you could 
 accomplish one part especially, I mean the work of 
 the compulsory powers. I thought Manchester and 
 Liverpool might, but it was a most unexpected satis- 
 faction to me when the London School Board did it, 
 and I think that much of the success which has 
 attended the putting that law in effect is due to the 
 wisdom and moderation with which you have put it 
 in force." [Times, 22nd Novemher, 1873.] And the 
 present Vice-President has recently said that it was 
 owing to the discretion with which the various 
 School Boards and local authorities had carried the 
 bye-laws into effect that "so large a measure of 
 success had been attained, because, had the system 
 been carried out rigidly and harshly, it must have 
 infallibly broken down." It is due to the Divisional 
 Committees of the Board to acknowledge the 
 patience and leniency which they have shown in the 
 application of these powers. Now that parents have 
 come to understand that their children must go to 
 school, and that public opinion supports the law, the 
 task of our visitors will be easier, and the cost may 
 in time be considerably reduced. :Our present staff 
 
1870-80.] HOW FAE OVERCOME. 223 
 
 consists of 223 visitors, Tinder 11 superintendents 
 and 20 assistants. In the half-year ended at Mid- 
 summer, the preliminary notice to parents was 
 issued in 36,852 cases, with the result of attendance 
 being given or improved in 26,193 cases. For the 
 same half-year summonses were taken out in the 
 case of 3,012 children : the order to attend school 
 being in all cases complied with, or a small fine 
 imposed. 
 
 There can be little doubt that it is owing in a 
 large degree to the success of compul- 
 
 . ° . " ^ New Act extend- 
 
 sion in London, that the Government '»>» Compulsory 
 
 Powers for 
 
 has felt encouraged to apply it to the England and 
 
 Wales, 
 
 whole population of England and Wales. 
 We shall be gainers by this extension. There are 
 numbers of idle children about the streets of the 
 Metropolis, who come in day by day from the outer 
 suburbs, where their parents have gone to live, so as 
 to be beyond the reach of a School Board ; and, in 
 the eyes of many, we get the discredit of having 
 failed to do our duty by these children. The new 
 Act will inclose these in parishes like Tottenham 
 which, with a School population of at least 5,000, has 
 only just elected a School Board, and Edmonton 
 which, with nearly as many, has a Board only now 
 forming. 
 
 Although the average daily attendance in our 
 Schools has greatly improved, being 
 
 ^ "^ 1 Ti Ir^provement m 
 
 74'9 on the average number on the roll Average Attends 
 at Midsummer 1875, and 80-8 at Mid- """*■ 
 summer in the current year, we do not profess to be 
 
224 
 
 NONE TO BE REFUSED. 
 
 [APP. 
 
 satisfied -with it; and it must be our constant 
 endeavour to raise the percentage."- 
 
 We are frequently asked how far we have "the 
 
 right class" of children, it being im- 
 Itse/'-'of plied that Board Schools were devised 
 Sird fetob. solely for what are commonly, and very 
 
 improperly, called gutter children. The 
 truth of the matter is that our Schools were intended 
 to supply a deficiency of accommodation, the parents 
 being left as sole judges of the Schools suitable for 
 their children. So long as there remains a notable 
 lack of secondary Schools, and parents find in the 
 Board Schools better teaching than they can secure 
 elsewhere, no one can dispute their right to apply 
 on behalf of their children for vacant seats in our 
 Schools. But while we cannot refuse the child of a 
 well-to-do tradesman, nor even of Her Majesty's In- 
 spector himself, if he seeks admission for it, it is 
 certain that we do secure the attendance of the very 
 poor. Let any one visit our Schools in the lower 
 neighbourhoods, and he can put this assertion to the 
 test. Mr. Stokes says of his district, " Some of the 
 
 ^ Table showing the improvement in the attendance of 
 children at Board Schools in March 1873-4 and March 1879- 
 80:— 
 
 
 Number on the 
 Roll. 
 
 Average 
 Attendance. 
 
 Percentage of 
 Absentees. 
 
 March, 1873 
 
 „ 1874 
 
 „ 1879 
 
 „ 1880 
 
 35,766 
 67,678 
 209,337 
 232,726 
 
 22,145 
 47,346 
 168,167 
 186,813 
 
 38-0 
 29-9 
 19-6 
 19 7 
 
1870-80.] REASON FOE LOW FEES. 225 
 
 Board Schools are attended by children as poor and 
 neglected as can anywhere be found ; while other 
 Board Schools, though less wretched, undertake their 
 full share of hard, rough work." The very children, 
 who were dirty and ill-conditioned, are now clean 
 and better dressed, the result not of improved means 
 on the part of the parents, but of a readiness to make 
 sacrifices for the sake of the young. There is a 
 general testimony that "the Schools have lifted up 
 the population." 
 
 To do our duty by such children, and yet consider- 
 ably to raise the fees is impossible. 
 There are, no doubt, many children 
 under our care whose parents could afford Ad., 6d., 
 or 9d. a-week ; and we would willingly charge it if 
 it were possible to have different rates of payment 
 in the same School, or to provide separate Schools 
 for the upper working class and the lower. But it 
 not being possible to introduce these social distinc- 
 tions, we are obliged to fix the fee in each School at 
 the average ability of the parents. As the Vice- 
 President of the Council said last month, "In London 
 and in large towns it was absolutely necessary that 
 there should be low-feed Schools, owing to the im- 
 possibility of making full inquiry into the circum- 
 stances of the parents of every child." As far back 
 as March, 1879, the Board requested the Divisional 
 Members in each division of the Metropolis to make 
 a report on this subject of fees. The returns have 
 been submitted to members of the present Board for 
 consideration, and a report may shortly be expected 
 
226 
 
 USPIJNCTUALITY. 
 
 [APP. 
 
 from the School Management Committee. At present 
 we have — 
 
 School places at 
 
 -Id. • id. 
 
 3d. 
 
 4A 
 
 6d. 
 
 
 49.2413 109,903 
 
 49.SS7 ! 10.;S4 1 3,sor 
 
 giving a total of 223,127, at an average fee of 
 2Ud. 
 
 At the present time the fees of 4,785 children (or 
 less than 2i per cent.) are being remitted by the 
 Board. This is exclusive of cases where they are 
 paid by the Guardians. As a matter of reward, 
 certain fees are paid by the Depsirtment for children 
 who earn Honour Certificates for proficiency and 
 regular attendance. Of these, the Schools of the 
 Board received 318 for the half-year ending 
 September, 1879, and 560 for that ended in 
 March last. 
 
 Even when allowing for the class of children with 
 Fumnuauty-a ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^ve to deal, punctuality is a 
 irfoirpoini. weak point in many of our Schools ; and 
 
 this is the more to be regretted as it interferes with 
 the Scripture Instruction which is everywhere given 
 at the beginning of the morning session. One of our 
 Inspectors reports that " in very many Schools not 
 half the children are present when the Bible Lesson 
 begins, in some not a fourth," and adds, "No feature 
 in our School work presents to my mind such an un- 
 satisfactory appearance as this unpunctuaJity." The 
 
1870-80.] THE BIBLE LESSON. 227 
 
 Board natiirally casts the responsibility upon the 
 Teachers ; but the task is a very difficult one for 
 them, unless they are supported by the hearty 
 co-operation of the parents. 
 
 Notwithstanding the admitted defect just referred 
 to, the interest taken by the large bulk 
 
 „ 1 •! 1 • n 1 .1 r* ■ , Examination in 
 
 01 our children in the daily scripture Scripture 
 Lesson is undiminished. The voluntary 
 Examination for the prizes given by Mr. Peek and 
 the Religious Tract Society attracted this year 
 127,501 children, as compared with 112,979 in 1879. 
 The Examiner says : — " As the above total nearly 
 corresponds to the ordinary daily attendance, and as 
 the attendance at this examination is perfectly 
 optional, we have a striking proof that, with scarcely 
 any exception, the parents of the children who attend 
 our Schools do not object to the religious instruction 
 which is there given, and I am convinced that a great 
 many of them highly value it." From the children 
 in Standards IV., V., and VI., who were examined, 
 the teachers selected about 6,000 to compete, in a 
 written examination, for prizes and certificates ; but 
 no fewer than 112 boys' departments, and 107 girls' 
 departments failed to gain a single prize, a failure 
 which can be attributed only to lack of earnestness 
 on the part of teachers. 
 
 In the three fundamental subjects our Schools 
 have done well ; for the year ended 
 March 25th last, their percentages of Fmdamentai 
 passes were about the same as in the 
 previous year, despite the raising of the Standard 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE REGISTRAR'S TESTIMONY. [app. 
 
 Examination, and considerably above those of ele- 
 mentary Schools generally, thus : — 
 
 Percentage of Passes in 
 
 Schools in 
 England and Wales. 
 
 London 
 Board Schools. 
 
 Reading 
 
 Writing 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 87-53 
 80 08 
 73-87 
 
 88-96 
 
 86-8 
 
 81-99 
 
 Taking our average of passes at 85 'TS, I find we 
 
 Average of ^^'^^ ^^^"^ ^^^ ^^^' Board Schools gene- 
 Passes. rally coming next -with 82-31, Roman 
 
 Catholic Schools 81-62, next British Schools 81-53, 
 "VVesleyan Schools 81-5, and National Schools 79 27. 
 The Eegistrar-General says : — " Looking at the 
 spread of Elementary Education as evidenced by the 
 constantly decreasing number of men and women 
 failing to write their names in the marriage register, 
 the country is to be congratulated on the success at- 
 tending its efforts in this direction, which doubtless . 
 will be shown in a more striking manner when the 
 children now receiving education at Board and other 
 Schools become men and women." i 
 
 That Education does not soar too high with us is, 
 
 however, shown by the fact that, taking 
 
 fot"ad^ce7for t^e 119 departments inspected in March, 
 
 IS!"'^ ^Pril and May last, 24-1 of the children 
 
 were in the first Standard, 2 6 '5 in the 
 
 second, and 22-4 in the third, the limit of which is to 
 
 1 During the years 1841-5 the percentage in London of men 
 -who signed the marriage register -with marks was 11-8, and of 
 -women, 24 ; for the five years 1874-8 the numbers -were 8 and 
 12 respectively. 
 
1870 80.] NO FEAR OF OVER-mSTRUCTING. 229 
 
 read a short paragraph, write a sentence from dicta- 
 tion, and do sums in long division and compound 
 addition. This leaves only 26'8 of the scholars for 
 the upper Standards, and justifies one of our In- 
 spectors in saying that " the charge of over-instruct- 
 ing is wholly groundless ; only 16'5 of the children 
 receive instruction in Specific Subjects, the remainder, 
 83 '5, being taught merely the 3 R's, and in the 
 case of those above Standard I. a few simple facts 
 relating to Geography and Grammar." 
 
 These Specifi.c Subjects come in when children have 
 reached the Eourth Standard ; but there 
 
 1 -J J. I, j-v, J. ii, • ^P^'^'fi" Subject 
 
 IS ample evidence to show that their 
 value depends on the way in which they are taught. 
 Literature, as it is called, is the favourite subject, 
 and one of great value as giving children a wider 
 command of language. But it may be taught as "a 
 purely mechanical exercise of memory which has no 
 educational value." The boy, says Mr. Stewart, who 
 defined the labouring swain as " the farm pig what 
 toils about," is no exception ; and the same barren 
 results appear in many of the answers on Domestic 
 Economy and Cookery. He sums up some strictures, 
 on the justice of which it is not for me to pass any 
 opinion, by saying, " I do not think that Schools are 
 now as successful as they once were in giving 
 children that real education which is never wholly 
 lost ; and if I may trust to the lessons, learned by my 
 own experience, their inferiority is due to (1) the 
 neglect of the art of teaching, (2) the conversion of 
 Standards of examination into Standards of organisa- 
 
230 A LESSON FROM THE ALPS. [app. 
 
 tion, and (3) tte ambitious multiplying of subjects 
 which, teachers put in their time-tables ; " and he 
 refers to the dread of low percentages of passes and 
 diminished grants as causes which keep many from 
 pursuing the more solid, if less showy, paths of work. 
 In cases, however, where the Reading is intelligent, 
 the inclusion of the Specific Subjects in the upper 
 Standards is of the greatest value, not only for the 
 information imparted, which bears upon the most 
 practical side of the children's future life, but for the 
 help and relish they lend to the fundamental subjects. 
 Lord Norton's motion for limiting the teaching in 
 Public Elementary Schools to the latter, would, if 
 adopted, defeat its own object by the monotony 
 introduced into the Schools of the people. The 
 exemption of Switzerland from rinderpest has been 
 ascribed on good authority to the rich variety of 
 food which the cattle find on the Alpine pastures ; 
 and the same holds good in education. Evidence was 
 given in a recent debate in Parliament that Ele- 
 mentary Science was a subject fuU of interest for 
 the young, while the Vice-President adduced in- 
 stances to prove that the introduction of Class 
 Subjects at once led to a brighter and more 
 successful teaching of the fundamental subjects. 
 The Cookery Scheme adopted by the Board is being 
 gradually brought into operation with 
 cooi^ry Classes. ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^.g^^i^s. The parents of the 
 
 girls greatly appreciate this branch of the work, and 
 the lessons given in the kitchens are in many cases 
 repeated in the home. 
 
1870-80.] THE BENEFIT OE DRILL. 231 
 
 We have recently memorialised the Department on 
 the subject of the increasing stringency 
 of the Needlework requirements of the 
 Code., Our Examiner visits nearly 140 departments 
 each quarter ; she reports that an undue fear of the 
 Government Inspector's visit causes a good deal of 
 hasty and uneven work, but that the general progress 
 is good, and presents a marked contrast with " the 
 dark ages of Needlework." 
 
 The report from Colonel Battersby, on the last 
 inspection of boys in Drill, should be 
 sufficient to meet the objections of those 
 who imagine we are training up a nation of young 
 warriors. The Code distinctly prescribes " military 
 drUl " ; but when it is understood that this means 
 chiefly extension motions and orderly marching, and 
 that the boys are not armed even with sticks, the 
 fear of a martial spirit being fostered may be dis- 
 missed. " I do not hesitate to say," says the Inspector, 
 " that the best drilled School will be the most easily 
 managed, and that more instruction will be imparted 
 in a given time, and with less expenditure of the 
 master's power, where he has been able to enforce a 
 prompt and accurate compliance with his orders on 
 the drill ground." Since December, 1878, special 
 efforts have been made to promote the physical 
 improvement of our girls, and the services of an 
 experienced Swedish Teacher have been engaged 
 for the purpose. 
 
 Swimming is a subject to the importance of which 
 the Members of the Board are fully alive, though it is 
 
232 SWIJTVIiyG. [APP. 
 
 beyond their province to make direct provision for 
 it at the cost of the ratepayers. "We 
 are, however, glad to observe that 
 about 2,000 children annnaUj have availed them- 
 selves of the facilities offered by the London Schools 
 Swimming Clab, to which many of ns individually 
 subscribe. " The Bath proprietors throughout London 
 have readily assisted the Club, and the First Com.- 
 missioner of TV"orks allows it to use the Victoria Park 
 swimming lake on Saturday mornings, when any one 
 who visits the lake will enjoy a novel and pleasing 
 sight not easily to be forgotten." In this depart- 
 ment, the late Miss Chessar greatly assisted us ; 
 and the loss of her encouragement will be keenly 
 felt. 
 
 The Singing Listruetor reports that his classes for 
 Pupil Teachers were joined last Septem- 
 ber by 1,720 : he has held also nine 
 classes for Head and Assistant Teachers, at which 
 300 have been in regular attendance. 
 
 The Kindergarten Instructor has continued to visit 
 Kimdcrgartai Certain Schools. For six years classes 
 i»trHetimi. jja^e ^jg^jj jjgij fjjj. ^jjg teachers of In- 
 
 fants, wh^e " any Teacher, who wishes to make these 
 exercises useful to her little scholars, is able to get 
 the information she wants." 
 
 It is largely due to this educational agency that 
 the Infant Schools of the Board have attained their 
 high superiority. The parents show great readiness 
 in sparing their little ones, and we have many excel- 
 lent teachers who devote themselves to making the 
 
lSrO-80.] BOOKS FOE THE HOME. 233 
 
 Schools as happy and attractive as possible. In 
 looking over the reports of our Inspectors, I have 
 been struck to find almost unbroken praise of the 
 Infant departments. Eeports like the following are 
 of constant occurrence : — " Mrs. T. conducts this 
 School with great kindness, earnestness and abUitv ; 
 the children are bright and cheerful, and have passed 
 a good examination." 
 
 The Library scheme of the Board, by which select 
 Libraries are established in connexion j.^, Litrar) 
 with every permanent School, has proved sckeae. 
 a complete success, the children highly appreciating 
 the privilege of borrowing books for perusal in their 
 homes, into which, very often, pui-e and wholesome 
 literature has never before found an entrance. The 
 Libraries being found too small, the Board has 
 enlarged them from £10 to £12 in value ; the books 
 are passed on every six months from School to 
 School, so as to supply a frequent change of reading. 
 
 The rewards we have it in our power to offer are 
 not numerous. At present about one in jtevardi and 
 four of our Scholars obtains a certificate SckoiwnAips. 
 or book for regular attendance ; and we have, through 
 the generosity of various London Companies and 
 individuals, a small number of Scholarships at our 
 disposal. During the current year we have received 
 two new Scholarships from Mrs. Charles Buxton and 
 Mr. Sydney C. Buxton, one from the Clothworkers' 
 Compeuay, five from the Drapers' Company, and one 
 from Mr. A. G. Crowder. These, with two other 
 Scholarships, which are renewals, have been taken 
 
234 CITY ENDOWMENTS. [app. 
 
 by eight boys, the sons respectively of a French- 
 polisher, a shoe manufacturer, a commercial traveller, 
 a schoolmaster, an engine-fitter, a manager and a 
 plumber ; and by three girls, daughters of a mariner, 
 a gilder, and a builder. The Head Master of the City 
 of London School, where several of our pupils are 
 holding their Scholarships, reports that they have 
 done extremely well, but that a little special tuition 
 is needed in order to bridge the interval between 
 the Board School and the middle-class public School. 
 It has long been our contention that large funds 
 Educational Originally intended for purposes of edu- 
 End^wmmts. cation were being diverted into other 
 channels ; and we cannot, therefore, but feel gratified 
 at the impression produced by the Board's report on 
 the City Parochial Charities of London. Since I 
 last addressed you, we have presented a petition to 
 Parliament, praying that, in the event of proposals 
 for a re-appropriation of City trusts being enter- 
 tained, it will make such enactment as may tend to 
 the advancement of education under our direction, 
 acting for the Metropolis. A petition from the 
 Board in reference to St. Katharine's Hospital has 
 also been laid before Parliament. It is the custom 
 of the Charity Commissioners to forward to us the 
 schemes drawn up by them for the future adminis- 
 tration of metropolitan endowments, and to invite us 
 to express our opinion, with the provision, in many 
 cases, that we shall nominate members of the go- 
 verning bodies. The latest instance of this is in 
 connexion with Christ's Hospital, which provides 
 
1870-80.] THE BLIND. 235 
 
 that the School Board for London shall appoint 
 four Governors. The scheme also contemplates the 
 establishment of sixty Scholarships, to be competed 
 for by children who have attended public Elementary 
 Schools in the Metropolis ;' and it is not too much 
 to expect that in other cases a like course may be 
 adopted. 
 
 The special departments of our work remain to bo 
 noticed. Our Half-time Schools are in gj,„(„, o^^^f 
 good order, the average attendance at Z'cS:^iavZL 
 that in Bethnal Green being 88-8 of the *"'""''"• 
 average number on the roll. At the other, situated 
 in the Tower Hamlets, it has been deemed advisable 
 to admit whole-time children as well as half-timers, 
 and the attendance has increased threefold. 
 
 Of the Blind nearly 100 are now under instruction, 
 brought by their parents into twenty- 
 five of our Schools. The Superintendent 
 believes that at least as many are not yet gathered 
 in, and he points out that there is a class of chil- 
 dren who are only partially blind, whose attendance is 
 
 ^ Article 102 of the Draft Scheme is as follows : — 
 "Sixty jjlaces shall be allotted to be competed for by boys 
 not being over 13 years of age at the time of competition, and 
 having been educated for at least three years immediately 
 preceding such competition in public Elementary Schools in 
 the Metropolis, as defined by the Elementary Education Act, 
 1870, or any statutory modification thereof in force for the 
 time being, and having passed the Sixth Standard of the 
 Code of Minutes of the Education Department in force for 
 the time being, and being recommended as fit Candidates 
 by the Managers of the Schools last attended by them 
 respectively." 
 
236 THE DEAF AND DUMB. [app. 
 
 extremely difficult to secure. " Season after season 
 the Visitors are met by the excuse that their eyes 
 are too bad just now, but that next quarter or next 
 year they may be sent. . . . Meanwhile the children 
 reach fourteen years of age, having lost advantages 
 which were specially needed by those who miss 
 much of the sympathy extended to the wholly 
 blind." 
 
 For the Deaf and Diunb we are still making expe- 
 riments in the oral and manual systems. 
 
 Deaf and Dumb. __ , ., , , , „ 
 
 Young children are placed at first m 
 the oral division, where they are taught to acquire 
 articulate sounds, and then to combine these into 
 syllables and words. But where lip-reading fails to 
 be an adequate means of communication, the manual 
 alphabet is resorted to. The attendance for the 
 quarter ended at Lady Day last was ninety-seven, out 
 of 162 on the books. The attendance at the centres 
 where instruction is given has been more than 
 doubled by the voluntary establishment of Homes 
 where the children who come from a distance can 
 reside during the week. 
 
 In carrying out the provisions of the Industrial 
 Industrial Schools Act, the Officers of the Board 
 
 sciwou. jjaj^ yp ^.Q Midsummer last, reported on 
 
 11,309 cases of destitute children not chargeable 
 with crime. Of these 6,001 have been withdrawn 
 from the streets, and distributed among fifty-two 
 Industrial Schools throughout the country, with 
 which the Board has temporary arrangements, or 
 sent to our own schools at Brentwood and Grays. 
 
1870-80.] TEAINIFG BOYS FOK SEA. 237 
 
 At Midsummer last we had 3,289 children of this 
 class Tinder our care. 
 
 The School at Brentwood is certified for 100 boys, 
 and is conducted on the half-time sys- 
 
 ... , , Board Industrial 
 
 tem, the boys receiving instruction and School, Brmt- 
 industrial training alternately. Her 
 Majesty's Assistant Inspector, on his last visit, 
 reported that the education was " very well attended 
 to," and that all the classes were " carefully in- 
 structed by competent and painstaking teachers." 
 
 Every effort is made, when the boys leave, to place 
 them in suitable employments. The Inspector says, 
 however, that the establishment in London of a 
 Boys' Working Home would greatly facilitate the 
 discharge of the boys, -and keep them xmder control 
 until they were ready to earn their own living. 
 
 The same half-time system is adopted on board the 
 Shaftesbury Training Ship, which is cer- 
 
 ■^ " ° ■ OCA 1 Board's Train- 
 
 tified at present to receive ooO boys ; ing-sMp, 
 
 . T 1 • " Shafteshvjry ." 
 
 these are selected alter medical exami- 
 nation. Those who leave for service at sea are pro- 
 vided with a suitable kit. The inspector, who last 
 July visited the ship and its tender the Swift re- 
 ports as follows : — " The boys look particularly 
 healthy and bright. The ship has .made excellent 
 progress in all respects. Her present condition of 
 fitness and efficiency places her in the front rank of 
 our training ships of this class and character." 
 
 The object of our Truant School, as is well known, 
 is the exercise for a brief space of wise and firm rule 
 over stubborn boys, "the irrepressible bad boys," 
 
238 JUTES'ILE CRIME. [app- 
 
 lately referred to in the Times, who have success- 
 £oord-,m.Mt Mly defied the authority of parents 
 School. and friends by habitually absenting 
 
 themselves from School. Tip to Midsummer last, 213 
 refractory lads had been received with the consent 
 of their parents. As a rule, upon promise of obe- 
 dience, thev are licensed out after an average absence 
 from home of twelve weeks. It is most satisfactory 
 to note that these boys, after going out, have made 
 eighty-two school attendances out of 100, proving that 
 the timely intervention of the Board has secured 
 the object contemplated. 
 
 The Prison Returns continue to show that juvenile 
 crime is being diminished, scarcelv any 
 
 JureniU Crime. , . . i i. i -, , 
 
 convictions bemg reported of children 
 under thirteen years of age. "When this fact is set 
 against the statistics recently published of crime in 
 the Metropolis fifteen years ago, it affords proof that 
 the action of the Board has largely contributed to 
 check juvenile delinquency. At the same time the 
 reformatory returns show that the ranks of juvenile 
 depredators are continually reinforced by importa- 
 tions of bad boys, who drift into the Metropolis from 
 the lowest agricultural class ; and their tendency 
 is to " accumulate in masses." 
 
 To turn now to the subjects affecting principle and 
 Prineiph and method, which have been prominent in 
 utthod-code. o^j. debates during the past year, I may 
 notice first the C!ode by which our work is regulated. 
 It is known that there have been two Codes pre- 
 sented to Parliament this year, which may be called 
 
1870-80.] THE SUPPLY OF TEACHKES. 289 
 
 the Richmond and Spencer Codes respectively. The 
 former contained some changes of so grave a nature 
 that the Board drew up a memorial, showing the 
 evils that, in its opinion, would arise if they were 
 carried into eSect. In consequence of this and other 
 representations, they were dropped by the Govern- 
 ment, which came into power in the spring, on the 
 ground that time was required for considering the 
 whole question, 
 
 Immediately on the accession of the present 
 Government, we renewed our request 
 that the system called Centre Teaching 
 might be sanctioned. The object of this plan is to 
 give pupil teachers, grouped in districts, the advan- 
 tage of united instruction from skilled teachers, not of 
 their own, but of any school. The readiness of their 
 Lordships to admit the practical value of this system 
 demands our acknowledgment. They have met our 
 representations by making such an alteration in the 
 second Schedule of the New Code as will allow us to 
 make arrangements for this most desirable end. 
 
 This improvement is the more important, since 
 many of our pupil teachers are unable to jya(„j„p cou 
 gain admission to the existing ovei> ''^'"^ 
 crowded Training Colleges, and it may not be gene- 
 rally known that we have no such institution of our 
 own ; hence we are mainly dependent for our supply 
 of teachers upon Colleges under denominational con- 
 trol. What becomes of these Pupil Teachers ? They 
 must either abandon the teaching profession, or be 
 appointed by the Board as Assistant Teachers without 
 
240 
 
 COST OF THE "WORK. 
 
 [APPi 
 
 going to College at all. " The loss of a College 
 training," says one of our Inspectors, " is an irrepa- 
 rable loss ; I trust that the number of these appoint- 
 ments of Ex-Pupil Teachers will be kept as low as 
 possible, for it would be a calamity to have our 
 Schools taught by a body of poorly educated 
 Teachers." 
 
 Bxpenduureon The expenditure of the Board on 
 ™t°°anSX School management is shown in the 
 tenance. accompanying table : — 
 
 
 ^2 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 it 
 || 
 
 I- 
 
 1 
 
 
 5a 
 
 .S-9 
 
 § 
 02 
 
 Gross Cost per child \ 
 for the Half-year 1 
 ended Lady-day, | 
 1880 :— .' 
 
 £ s. d. 
 12 3 
 
 s. d. 
 
 1 7 
 
 ». d. 
 1 10 
 
 8, d 
 1 6 
 
 d. 
 11 
 
 d. 
 11 
 
 d. 
 
 Y 
 
 The gross cost per child for the half year was thus 
 11. 9s. 7d. ; but during the same period the average 
 income per child from fees, grant, &c., was 11«. 5d., 
 so that the nett cost was 18s. 2d. This shows a de- 
 crease for the half-year on every item, making a total 
 reduction of Is. 5d. for every child. From the 
 table on the following page it is clear 
 that the payment to Teachers is the 
 principal item of the expense of maintenance. Our 
 Stafi is at present as follows : — 
 
 Payment of 
 Teachers. 
 
1870-80.] THE TEACHING PKOFESSION. 
 
 241 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 Average 
 Kxed 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Average 
 Share of 
 Grant. 
 
 Average 
 Total. 
 
 Head Masters 
 
 Head Mistresses 
 
 Assistant Masters ... 
 Assistant Mistresses ... 
 
 274 
 
 SOU 
 
 897 
 
 1,458 
 
 £ : d. 
 
 162 16 11 
 
 107 6 10 
 
 87 9 4 
 
 69 6 
 
 £ .. d. 
 78 15 2 
 64 7 6 
 23 15 8 
 20 15 < 
 
 £ >. d. 
 241 12 1 
 161 14 4 
 111 5 
 
 89 16 1 
 
 Total 
 
 3,129 
 
 at an average of £121 11 8 
 
 The Board has under its consideration a proposal 
 for paying its Teachers less by the results of exami- 
 nation, so as to secure greater thoroughness, and to 
 remove the temptation of working feverishly for 
 immediate results. The only point as yet decided 
 is that the basis of calculation shall be accommoda- 
 tion as against attendance. A comparison has been 
 made between the cost of School maintenance in 
 London, and some large provincial towns, and a 
 special Committee of the Board has been appointed 
 to investigate this subject. The answers to its in- 
 quiries are now being tabulated, and we may expect 
 from it an early report, which will, we trust, show 
 some feasible way of limiting the expenditure without 
 starving the Schools. 
 
 Another Committee, which was charged with the 
 duty of reporting to us upon the normal j^^„^, g^^ „^ 
 StafE of Teachers for each School, has TeM^>- 
 made its report, which is now in the hands of the 
 Divisional Members. 
 
 An important question has been raised during the 
 year as to the mode of selection of our Head Teachers, 
 
 E 
 
242 VOLL'NTARY MANAGERS [app. 
 
 whose capacity and influence for good greatly vary. 
 _ , ,. , " Your Committee," writes one of our In- 
 
 aeuctton of 
 
 Head Teaehers. gpectors, " will be aware that the disci- 
 pline in some of the Schools in the very worst sections 
 of Finsbury and ilarylebone is simply perfect ; and 
 there seems no reason why it shoidd not be equally 
 perfect in all Schools save, of course, the excellent 
 reason that the supply of thoroughly efficient Teachers 
 falls short of the demand." 
 
 At present the nomination of Teachers comes 
 from the Local Managers; and the suggestion 
 is that this system is defective, ilr. Stokes, in 
 his general Report for the present year, expresses 
 an opinion worthy of consideration. " The manage- 
 ment of London Board Schools has always been, 
 perhaps, our greatest difficulty. It is plain that a 
 central board of fifty Members, however.-jrell quali- 
 fied they may be to frame a CJode of Kules, cannot 
 attend to their administration in numerous Schools 
 scattered over the wide area of the Metropolitan 
 boroughs. Hence, in order to obtain the requisite 
 oversight, residents in each vicinity are associated 
 with one or more Members of the Board in forming 
 a local Committee of Management, whose chief duty 
 is to nominate Teachers for appointment by the 
 Board. 
 
 " I am unable to report, from personal observa- 
 tion in Board Schools, that the management so 
 provided is efficient. . . For, whether from paucity 
 of persons willing to serve upon local Committees 
 or from other-j causes, it happens that a School 
 
1870-80.] FOR BOARD SCHOOLS. 243 
 
 Committee manages, not one School, but a group 
 of Schools. The wisdom of this arrangement may- 
 be doubted. Its effect certainly is to lessen the 
 probability of getting the service efficiently per- 
 formed, to increase the risk of a denominational 
 complexion in the School Committee and of 
 Teachers' nominations made on other than purely 
 educational grounds. Second only in importance to 
 the original selection of conscientious and capable 
 Teachers, is the means of the speedy removal of 
 Teachers who, after appointment, prove themselves 
 undeserving of such a character. I do not know that 
 any system is in operation to secure this end.'' 
 
 The Board is not responsible for any expression 
 of opinion on this subject, but it has been con- 
 sidered well to order a Report upon it ; and that 
 Report, which is decidedly adverse to any radical 
 change in the present system of Local Managers, 
 stands for early discussion. 
 
 Our borrowing powers are still before the Courts of 
 Law. In the steps already taken, the boards Borrou,. 
 Board has acted with the concurrence of '"" ^""'e^*- 
 the Education Department and the Local Government 
 Board ; and it now remains to decide whether the 
 appeal shall be carried to the House of Lords. 
 
 The changes upon the Board have been many, no 
 fewer than 125 members having taken a 
 
 . Losi&t by Death. 
 
 share in its work during the past ten 
 
 years. At the triennial election held last November 
 
 there were returned twenty-three new members ; of 
 
244 CHANGES IN THE RANKS. [app. 
 
 the original Board only twelve are members of the 
 existing Board. The last to be removed was our 
 valued colleague, Mr. James "Watson, who in the 
 year 1871 succeeded Lord Sandon as Chairman of 
 the Statistical Committee, and took throughout the 
 deepest interest in the development of our work. 
 Still more lately a true friend of the Board has 
 been taken away in the person of Miss Chessar, 
 whose active and intelligent services on the Second 
 Board many of us gratefully remember. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbott, Rev. Dr., 101 
 
 Abeel, Kev. D., 11 
 
 America, first visit to, 1873, 157 ; 
 
 second visit to, 1876, 173 
 American schools, report on, 175 
 Armdet, the, 11 
 Anderson, William J., 197 
 Angus, Eev. Dr., 153 
 Antiquaries, Society of, 75 
 
 B 
 
 Baines, Bdwaed (father-in-law 
 of Charles Eeed), 17, 20 
 
 Baines, Et. Hon. Matthew Talbot, 
 122 
 
 Baines, Sir Edward, 123; views 
 on education, 140 
 
 Birmingham School Board, 147 
 
 Blind, instruction of the, 180, 235 
 
 Bradlaugh controversy, the, 136 
 
 Brighton, address on education 
 before Social Science Congress 
 at, 154 
 
 BHtish Banner^ the, 82 
 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 the, 66 
 
 British and Foreign School So- 
 ciety, the ; its establishment, 
 139 ; adoption of its principle 
 by London School Board, 153 
 
 Broadstairs, 89 
 Bunhill Fields, 111 
 Buxton, Mr. Edward N., 192 
 
 Cannes, 204 
 
 Caxton Celebration, the, 186 
 
 Cheshunt, 4 
 
 City of London School, 22, 100 
 
 Clapton Park Church, 26, 209 
 
 Clyde, Lord, 102 
 
 Compulsion in schools applied in 
 London, 151 ; marked success 
 of, 222 
 
 Conder, Rev. Eustace E., 209, 
 213 ; words at funeral, 130 
 
 Congregational Board of Educa- 
 tion, the, 60 
 
 Congregational Union, addresses 
 on Sunday Schools before the 
 41 
 
 Coxhead, Eev. J., 192 
 
 Curwen, Eev. J., 34 
 
 D 
 
 Daties, Eev. J., 25 
 
 Deaf and dumb, instruction of 
 
 the, 180, 236 
 JHamonds in the Dust, 43 
 Dissenting Deputies, the, 63, 113 
 
248 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 E 
 
 Earlsmead Chronicle, the, 197 
 East London Dissenters, the, 60 
 Education, Elementary. Bell's 
 monitorial system, 138 ; Joseph 
 Lankester, ih. ; establishment of 
 British and National School 
 Societies, 139 ; services ren- 
 dered to, by Sunday Schools, 
 31 ; "Voluntary system proved 
 inadequate, 139 ; Building 
 grants, 1833, ib. ; Committee of 
 Council appointed 1839, 140; 
 Sir James Graham's Bill de- 
 feated, 1843, ib. ; Mr. Forster's 
 Bill of 1870, 141 ; Case against 
 the Voluntary Schools, ib. ; 
 Provisions in their favour 
 contained in the Bill, 142 ; 
 Nonconformist Protests, ib, ; 
 Seasons in its support, 143; 
 Proposals of the League tried, 
 144 ; Settlement of the " Eeli- 
 gious Difficulty" in London, 
 152 ; the Birmingham experi- 
 ments, 147 ; Success of Com- 
 pulsion, 222; Discussion on 
 Higher Grade Schools, 182 ; on 
 Free Schools, ib.; General in- 
 dications of progress, 221, 228 
 Ely, Eev. John, 16 
 Evangelical Alliance at New York, 
 the, 164 
 
 Faotoeies Education Bill, the, 
 1843, 59, 140 
 
 Fawcett, Professor H., 135 
 
 Fees in Board Schools, 225 
 
 Fleetvpood's Grave, 115 
 
 Forster, Et. Hon. W. E., his Bill 
 of 1870, 141 ; testimony to suc- 
 cess of compulsion, 222 
 
 Franklin, the search for, 102 
 
 Free Schools, 182 
 
 G 
 
 Gill, Lieutenant, candidate for 
 
 Hackney, 131 
 Gladstone, Et. Hon. "W. E., on 
 
 Bill for Exemption of Sunday 
 
 and Eagged Schools from 
 
 Eating, 127 
 Gladstone, Dr. J. H., 192 
 Greer, Mr. T. M. (son-in-law of 
 
 Charles Eeed), 201 
 Greer, Mrs. T. M. (nee Margaret 
 
 B. Eeed, fourth daughter), 
 
 208 
 Gresham Lectures, 101 
 Guildhall Library, the, 99 
 
 HxcKNEY, residence of Dr. Eeed 
 in, -5; Charles Eeed at school 
 in, ib. ; his home at St. Thomas's 
 Square, 21, 92 
 
 Hackney, Borough of, consti- 
 tuted, 119; election of 1868, 
 120 ; election of February, 1874, 
 a fiasco, 131 ; election of April, 
 1874, 135 
 
 Hackney, Division of. School 
 Board election of 1870, 149 ; of 
 1873, 165; of 1876, 178; of 
 1879, 189 
 
 Hebditoh, Eev. S., 26 
 
 Holmes, Jasper (grandfather of 
 Charles Eeed), 7 
 
 Holmes, Jasper (uncle of Charles 
 Eeed), ih. 
 
 Hohns, John, MP., 120, 133 
 
 Homerton, Upper, Home at, 92 
 
 Huxley, Professor, 152, 156 
 
 iNDuSTEiiL Schools Under the 
 London Board, 179, 236 
 
 Infants, the teaching of, in the 
 Sunday School, 37; in London 
 Board Schools, 182, 232 
 
INDEX. 
 
 249 
 
 Infaia Class in the Sunday School, 
 
 the, 37 
 Irish Church, the, 64 
 Irish Society, the, 117 ; Narrative 
 
 of the, 89 
 
 KlRKSTALL, 15 
 
 Knighthood, 166 
 
 and Dumb, 180 ; Infant Depart- 
 ments, 182, 232. Fourth Board, 
 1879-82 :— Obstruction on, 190; 
 Death of Vice-Chairman, ib. ; 
 and of Chairman, 192 
 
 London School Board, Ten Years' 
 Work of t/ie, 211 
 
 Londonderry, 117 
 
 Longfellow, H. W., 164, 187 
 
 Louise, Princess, 181 
 
 Lawkenoe, Lord, 149, 1 66 
 
 Leeds, early life at, 15 
 
 Leeds Bepository, the, 16 
 
 Liher Albus, 89, 96 
 
 Libraries in Board Schools, 185, 
 233 
 
 Library, Plea for a Free, in 
 London, 97 
 
 London, in olden days, 95, 112 
 
 London, Corporation of, Charles 
 Heed joins, 96; new Library, 
 99; City School, 100; resolu- 
 tion against University Tests, 
 101 ; Gresham Lectures, ib. ; 
 votes conferring Freedom of 
 the City, 102; steps for pre- 
 serving Bunhill Fields, 111 ; 
 Irish Society, 117 
 
 London School Board constituted, 
 148. First Board, 1870-3:— 
 Chairman and Tice-Chairman, 
 149 ; Preliminary Census, 150 ; 
 First Steps, 151; Settlement 
 of "Eeligious Difficulty," 152 ; 
 Board Prayer Meeting, 155. 
 Second Board, 1873-6:— Ee- 
 tirement of Lord Lawrence, 
 166; Charles Heed elected 
 Chairman, ib. ; Attempted De- 
 nominational Keaction, 167 ; 
 Vestry Criticisms, 168; the 
 Scriptture Instruction, 171 ; the 
 system of Managers, 173, 242. 
 Third Board, 1876-9 :— Indus- 
 trial Schools, 179, 236; City 
 Endowments, ib, 234 ; the Deaf 
 
 K 
 
 MoCmntock, Sir Leopold, 102 
 Miller, Eev. Ebenezer, 9 
 Minutes of Council, 1846, 60 
 Morley, Samuel, M.P., 60, 121, 
 
 153 
 Mortimer, Eev. Dr., lOO 
 Mott, Lucretia, 160 
 
 N 
 
 Nasmtth, David, 16 
 National Society, the, 139 
 Newell, Miss, 4 
 Nonconformist Blector, the, 62 
 NoUs and Queries, 74 
 
 Oaklet, Eev. J. (now Deau of 
 
 Carlisle), 178 
 Old Bunhill Fields Restm-ed, 115 
 Old Gravel-Pit Church, 25 
 Outram, Sir James, 102 
 
 Pardon, Mr. B., 23 
 Paris Exhibition of 1878, 187 
 Peabody, George, in 1851, 107 ; at 
 the Mansion House, 69 ; his gift, 
 107 ; Freedom of City conferred 
 on, 108 ; Charles Eeed's friend- 
 ship with, 110 ; Visit to Ame- 
 rica and Death, ib. ; Scenes of 
 his Life in America, 161, 164 
 
 S 
 
250 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876, 
 
 173 
 Picton, Mr. .J. A., 178 
 Pilgrims' Signs, 75 
 Post-Office, Sunday Labour in the, 
 
 129 
 Public Libraries' Act of 1855, 96 
 Pye-Smith, Dr. J.,25 
 
 E 
 
 Eaiiles, Eobeet, 49, 125 
 
 Bating of Sunday and Eagged 
 Schools, 123 
 
 Eawson, Miss H. M., 13 
 
 Eawson, Mrs., Letter to, 86 
 
 Eeed, Andrew (grandfather of 
 Charles), 1 
 
 Eeed, Mary Ann (grandmother of 
 Charles), ib. 
 
 Eeed, Dr. Andrew (father of 
 Charles), his education, 2 ; early 
 Sunday School work, ib., 32; 
 at College, 3 ; marriage, ib. ; 
 founds London Orphan Asy- 
 lum, 5 ; home at Cheshunt, 4 ; 
 at Hackney, 5; visit to Ame- 
 rica, 12, 157, 161 ; inspires re- 
 verence in his son, 69 
 
 Eeed, Eliza (mother of Charles), 
 3, 7, 69 
 
 Eeed, Martha (aunt of Charles), 4 
 
 Eeed, Eev. Andrew (brother of 
 Charles), birth, 3 ; boyhood, 7; 
 ordination, 13 ; marriage, 83 ; 
 joint author with Charles of 
 Life of Dr. Reed, 89 ; their last 
 meeting, 211 
 
 Eeed, Charles, birth, 1819, 3; 
 childhood, 4 ; at school in Hack- 
 ney, 5 ; introduced to Sunday 
 School, 32: at school in York- 
 shire, 9 ; Eeligious Decision, 11 ; 
 at University College, London, 
 14 ; apprenticed in Leeds, 15 ; 
 Secretary of Leeds Sunday 
 School Union, 33 ; engaged to 
 Margaret Baines, 17 ; becomes 
 printer in London, 19 ; opposi- 
 tion to Factories Education 
 
 Bill, 1843, 59; Secretary of 
 Bast London Eeligious Liberty 
 Society, 60 ; Congregational 
 Board of Education, ib.; mar- 
 riage and first home, 20 ; joins 
 Committee of Sunday School 
 Union, 34; opposes Minutes of 
 Council, 1846, 60 ; Secretary of 
 George Thompson's Committee, 
 61 ; issues the Nonconformist 
 Elector, 62 ; member of Dissent- 
 ing Deputies, 63 ; removes to 
 Hackney, 1848, 21 ; death of .1 
 daughter, 22 ; elected Fellow of 
 Society of Antiquaries, 1849, 
 75 ; joins Mr. Pardon in busi- 
 ness, 23 ; Essay on Infant Class 
 in Sunday School, 1851, 37 ; 
 joins Common Council, 1855, 
 96 ; Plea for Free Library, 97 ; 
 joins Guildhall Library Com- 
 mittee, 100; joins Committee 
 of City of Loudon School, ib. ; 
 moves Freedom of City for 
 Lord Clyde, Sir J. Outram, and 
 Sir L. McClintock, 102; be- 
 comes a Typefounder, 1861, 
 24 ; exposes forged " Pilgrims' 
 Signs," 75 ; introdnction to 
 George Peabody, 1862, 107 {see 
 also 69) ; joins Committees of 
 Bible and Tract Societies, 66 ; 
 joint author of Life of Dr. 
 Reed, 1863, 89; first visit 
 to Corporation Estates in 
 Ulster, 117 ; Deputy-Gover- 
 nor of Irish Society, 1864, 
 118 ; carries Eesolution in 
 favour of preserving Bun- 
 hUl Fields, 1865, 111; super- 
 intends the work, 113 ; carries 
 Eesolution against University 
 Tests, 101 (see also 65) ; elected 
 First Member of Parliament 
 for Hackney, 1868, 120 ; Chair- 
 man of Dissenting Deputies, 
 63 ; carries Bill for Exemption 
 of Sunday and Eagged Schools 
 from Eating, 1869, 123 ; an ex- 
 ecutor of George Peaboily, 111; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 251 
 
 moves Resolution on Sunday 
 Labour in tile Post-Office, 129 ; 
 takes part in Debates on Ele- 
 mentary Education Bill, 1870, 
 143 ; elected Member and Vice- 
 Chairman of London School 
 Board, 149; share in early 
 work of the Board, 154 ; first 
 visit to America, 1873, 157 ; 
 elected Chairman of London 
 School Board, 166 ; Knighted, 
 ii. ; re-elected M.P. for Hack- 
 ney, 131; carries out intention 
 to retire, 133; the Gresham 
 Lectures, 101 ; Death of his 
 daughter Constance, 1875, 194 ; 
 President of Education Section 
 at Social Science Congress, 154 ; 
 Presentation of Portrait, 1876, 
 135 ; second visit to America 
 (Philadelphia Exhibition), 173 ; 
 Degree of LL.D., 176 ; Chair- 
 man of Caxton Celebration 
 Committee, 1877, 186; Judge 
 on Education at Paris Exhi- 
 bition, 1878, 187 ; Legion of 
 Honour, 188 ; contemplates re- 
 entering Parliament, 1879, 136 ; 
 Death of his youngest son, 
 Kenneth, 197 ; spends winter 
 at Cannes, 189, 20*; elected 
 M.P. for St. Ives, Cornwall, 
 1880, 207 ; Chairman of Sunday 
 School Union, and Labours in 
 connexion with Centenary of 
 Sunday Schools, 49 ; last visit 
 to Ireland, 208; Statement of 
 Ten Years' Work of the London 
 School Board, 167, 217; Ob- 
 struction in Parliament and on 
 the Board, 190, 208; Last Ill- 
 ness and Death, 1881, 191, 209 ; 
 Funeral, 213 
 
 Reed, Lady {Tiee Margaret Baines), 
 engagement, 17 ; marriage, 20 ; 
 education of children, 22, 89 ; 
 at Lough Allen, 200 ; the closing 
 scene, 210 
 
 Reed, Edith, eldest daughter of 
 Charles, ^2, 94 
 
 Reed, Andrew, second son, 200, 
 
 211 
 Reed, Agnes, second daughter, 
 
 letter to, 201 
 Reed, Eliot, fourth son, 202 
 Reed, Constance, third daughter, 
 
 illness and death, 194. {See 
 
 also 94) 
 Reed, Kenneth, letter to, 91, 94 ; 
 
 fatal accident to, 197 
 Religious Tract Society, the, 66, 
 
 171, 227. 
 Richard, Henry, M.P., 142, 144 
 Rodgers, Rev. John, 190 
 Rogers, Rev. J. Guinness, 10 
 Ross, Mr. C. C, 206 
 
 S 
 
 Sandon, Viscount, 153, 156, 219 
 Shaftesbury, the Earl of, 128 
 Shaftesbury Training Ship, the, 
 
 179, 237 
 Silcoates, 9 
 
 Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 153, 166 
 Spalding, Mrs. T. (nee Elizabeth 
 Reed), sister of Charles Reed, 
 12, 32, 211 
 Spence, Rev. Dr., 26 
 St. Ives, 136, 205 
 Sunday Labour in Post-Office, 
 
 129 
 Sunday Schools, established by 
 Raikes, 1780, 49, 125; cessa- 
 tion of payment to teachers, 
 41 ; National Indebtedness to, 
 30 ; how affected by spread of 
 education, 42 ; the Census and, 
 40; Morning School, 33; In- 
 fant Class in, 37 ; Bill for Ex- 
 empting from Rates, 123 ; 
 Teachers a political force, 121 ; 
 the Centenary, 1880, 49 
 Sunday Schools in America, 161 
 Sunday School Union, the, scope 
 of its work, 34; Visitation of 
 country schools, 35 ; Prize Essay 
 on Infant Classes, 37 ; organizes 
 international Celebration of 
 Centenary, 49 
 
252 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tait, Archbishop, 55, 195 
 Teacher, profession of, 170, 241 ; 
 
 Charles Reed's opiniou as to 
 
 pupil teachers, 39, 176, 239 
 Teachers' Kei/s, the, 43, 79 
 Temperance, service in the cause 
 
 of, 185 
 Thompson, George, 61, 160 
 Tottenham, home at, 92 
 Tower Hamlets, election of, 1847, 
 
 61 ; separated from Hackney, 
 
 119 
 Tyler, Mr. W., 19, 23 
 
 U 
 
 Vactghan, Eev. Dr. Egbert, 140 
 Voluntaries, their services to 
 cause of education, 139 ; gra- 
 dual change of attitude, 140 
 Voluntary Schools of London in 
 1871, 150 ; in 1880. 221 ; exis- 
 tence menaced by Free School.i 
 184 
 
 W 
 
 Watson, Mr. James, 190 
 Why Nat ? 97 
 
 Williams, Mr. J. C, 60, 158 
 Wycliife Chapel, Kevival at, 12 ; 
 the Communion, 24 
 
 Univeesitt College, London, 14 
 University Tests, Abolition of, 65, 
 101 
 
 Yale University, 176 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: R. 0LA.Y, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PBINTERS.