Review of Revitwi, l/SIOS. 



Character Sketches, 



151 



most conspicuous Labour member in the House of 

 Commons. His account of the influence which 

 books had upon his career and character is one of 

 the most interesting that has reached me : — 



I think, it would be most difiicult for any man to select 

 a book and sa.v. " That is the book that had most influence 

 on my lile," to the exclusion of all others. 



When I was first taught to road, the Bible was my chief 

 source of insiiiration. The strugeries of the shepherd com- 

 munities in tho Old Testament I have worked out in im- 

 agination on the hills of Hampshire when driving the 

 plough. " Pilgrim's Progress " comes next. I did not 

 for some time read the book; but we had a print por- 

 trait of Bunyan over the old cottage mantelpiece, and my 

 grandmother, who was a strict Baptist, every time I asked 

 about the picture would pass the evenings describing the 

 writer and his writings repeatedly. The first book that 

 struck my imagination was Scott's " Ivanhoe." which I 

 read when about twelve years of age. About this time I 

 devoured — not read, that's too tame an expression — " Robin- 

 son Crusoe," and that book gave me all my spirit of ad- 

 venture, which has made m© strike new ideas before the 

 old ones became antiquated, and landed me into many 

 troubles, trai'els, and difficulties, including my Soudan 

 campaign, which again made me anfi war and anti many 

 other things. 



Later I read Prince Kropotkin's ' Api>eal to the Yoting ' 

 and George's " Progress and Poverty," and, afi I was livinir 

 near, struck up in 1885 a close personal acquaintance with 



Burns and Mann at Battersea, and for good or my 



future was sealed. - JOHN WARD. 



C. \. BARN'ES, (Glasgow, Blackfriars). 



B. 1859, Scotland. Ed. af Elementary Schools. 

 Occ, Engineer. 



The " beginning of my fight," as you term it, was not 

 b.v books such as those which you probably have in your 

 mind. For some years, when a young man, I was busily 

 engaged in technical studies, and in the course of tiiat 

 time took a good many prizes aud certificates for know- 

 ledge in engineering, etc. After that, and when I had come 

 to the conclusion tliat the knowledge in question was of 

 littlo practical value to me, and that this was in part due 

 to the diffusion of technical knowledge, I began to take a 

 little part in public life, first of all through my Trade 

 ■Union and then through Liberal organisation. The book 

 wliich more than any other influenced me during this for- 

 mative period of m.y life was Henry George's "Progress 

 and Poverty, ' and after that the other books of George, 

 all of wViich I read, as well as a good deal there re- 

 ferred to. Burns's poetry and the various Utopias, mainly 

 that of Morris (" News from Nowhere "), also influenced me 

 much. I have been, and am still, a bit of a dreamer, and 

 this perhaps accounts for my taste. — Tours very truly, 



GEO. N. BABNES. 



R. BELL (Derby). 



B. 1859, Wales. Occ, Railway sers'ant. 



I desire to sa.v that in the days of my youth and in the 

 district in which I was brought up there were no libraries, 

 neither was there an,v opportunity of getting at books. 

 "Whilst I have been reading Ruskin and other kinds of 

 literature when I have been able to find time, the greatest 

 book from wliicli I have gained most is the book of ex- 

 perience.— Sincerely yours. EICHABD BELL. 



W. BRACE. 



B. 1865, Glamorgan. Ed., Board School. Oci-., 

 Coalminor. Rel.. Baptist. 



Professor Rogers' ' Six Centuries Work and Wages," my 

 first hook. Henry CJeorge's " Progress and Poverty." 

 "Social Prob.ems " ; John Raskin's "Unto This Last"; 

 Professor Marshall's " Economics of Industry " (not sure 

 this name); Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus." But by no means 

 least informing and influential upon my mind, the Bible. 

 Have always found the Bible immensely rich social teaching, 

 illus;raticn, imagery, apart from spiritual side altogether, 

 and a host of other hooks, such as Montaigne's Essays. If 

 desiring fuller information please drop me a note. I am 

 rushing this from hastv recollection.— Sincerely yours, 



W. BRACE. 



HENRY BRO.ADHURST (Leicester). 



B. 1840, Oxford. Occ, Stonemason. Rel., Wes- 

 ley an. 



I cannot name any particuhtr book from whicli I ob- 



Photograph hy'i 



Mr. J. Ward, M,P. 



[K. fl.' Mills. 



tained special help. " The Book of Books " has at all times, 

 in almost all circumstances, supplied guidance for the 

 presentation of one's ideas to an audience for dramatic, 

 poetic, ironical and heroic eff'ect. When I was a boy, the 

 Bible and " Pilgrim's Progress " were, as far as I remem- 

 ber, the only two books in our cottage. Since then my 

 life has been too full of work for much reading. All 

 life is a book if one have eyes and ears in street, 'bus, 

 railway carriage and railway platforms. The chapters are 

 many and ever varying. HENRY BEGADHUEST. 



J. R. CLYNES (Manchester, N.E.). 



B. 1869, Oldham. Ed., Day School. Occ, Cot- 

 ton-worker. 



Emerson's and Carlyle's books, Rnskin's works on social 

 subjects; the works of Dickens and Shakespeare; general 

 writings of modern Socialist authors and Cobbett's Gram- 

 mar.— Faithfully, J. R. CLYNES. 



W. CROOKS (Woolwich). 



B., 1852, London. Ed., partly in Workhouse and 

 partly in George Green's School. Occ, Cooper. 

 Rel., Congregationalist. 



In .^ddition to the Bible and New Testament, " The Vicar 

 of Wakefield" and Ruskin's "Unto This Last," and "Alton 

 Locke " I think now, but it is hard to say off-hand, as I 

 have read a few hundreds of books in my early youth, 

 and Shakespearian quotations by the yard aa a boy. 



Mr. Raymond Blathwayt interviewed Mr. 'W. 



Crooks at length in March on the subject of his 



reading. The interview appeared in the Morning 



Leader of March 7. I quote a couple of extracts : — 



Of course, as a young man I had very Uttle time and 

 opportunity for reading. But one of the great eventa of 

 my life was wlten I was lucky enough to pick up Homer's 

 " Iliad " for 2d. at an old bookstall. I took it home that 

 Saturday afternoon, and after my hot bath I lay down on 

 my bed instead of going 'round the corner "—I was al- 



