74 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



That one thing was the land with the oppor- 

 tunity given to till it. 



Here, nearly all the cottagers, both men 

 and women, had been nailers — that is, engaged 

 in the making of hobnails — for generations 

 past, until the introduction of machinery in 

 the manufacture of hobnails threw a great 

 number out of work, and the little forges 

 stood idle. Things then became pretty bad. 

 Dire poverty drove many to poach and steal. 

 *' Twenty years ago," said the schoolmaster of 

 Catshill to me, as we were walking down a 

 little street swarming with laughing children, 

 clean and carefully dressed, " you would not 

 have dared to venture here as a stranger 

 without police protection." Men would then 

 tramp into Birmingham in search of work, 

 but in vain. The poor rates went up by 

 leaps and bounds, and in winter the squire 

 of the parish opened a soup-kitchen. Then 

 suddenly some one thought of the idea of 

 placing starving labourers on land starvhig for 

 want of labour. " Butfoi^ the land^' solemnly 

 said one of the men now working in the fields, 

 ^^vce should have starved'' 



The Worcestershire County Council were 

 the first to apply the powers provided by 



