TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 141 



smoke, the great stacks of tower-like chimneys which everywhere meet the eye, 

 the general blackness of the surface, the rolling clouds of smoke which shroud all, 

 the glimmer of pools of water breaking through the dense masses of habitation 

 everywhere apparent, the tumultuous roar which comes surging upward, all im- 

 press the gazer deeply. Underneath that thick smoke-cloud and among those 

 leaping furnaces, toils and lives and dies as sturdy a population as any in Eng- 

 land. 



Of the moral, social, educational, and religious condition of this population, 

 the most contradictory accounts are given ; but it was not the purpose of this paper 

 to balance or contrast contradictory statements. The paper especially regards the 

 working classes, and was a review of the influences which have affected this district 

 in the past and still affect it — on the one hand to degrade, on the other to restore 

 and elevate. 



The first point noticeable is that of the circumstances of the growth of the popula- 

 tions of the towns of South Staffordshire. 



From this point of view much of the present misery and degradation is intel- 

 ligible. 



Most of the towns have a very old history; some are called old even before the 

 Norman era. They seem to have been generally agricultural. The population 

 was small. With the development of the mineral wealth came a great increase in 

 population, till from the quiet country -village you find yourself in the midst of the 

 noisy, dirty town of some 20,000 inhabitants. In 1727 Dr. Plot foimd twelve pits 

 open at Bilston ; now he would find some 300. Now with such a rapid increase, 

 and that just at the period of the Chinch's and the country's greatest apathy as to 

 the secular and religious education of the people, it seems manifest that the district 

 must have been utterly neglected, its opportunities of education wholly inadequate 

 to the requirements. Thus the vices which have made the Black Country so 

 notorious, were developed without check. 



The brutality and propensity to violence imputed to the people are regarded as 

 much exaggerated in the statements of casual observers. At the same time the 

 very nature of South Staffordshire work tends to foster a pride in physical strength, 

 and where ignorance and habits of intemperance prevail this will tend to brutality 

 and cruelty. 



The habits of drunkenness and extravagance which do so very much disgrace the 

 population, present us with a very important item in the social position. Here 

 also certain circumstances of the work and the position of the working man throw 

 a light on the evil and its remedy. There is a strong conviction amongst puddlers, 

 millmen, and men of that class, that they cannot do without much beer during 

 their " heats." The effect of this continual recurrence to beer during the interval of 

 work before a fierce fire is readily understood. The whole constitution becomes 

 sodden with drink. Then, the workman has no out-of-doors charm of scenery to 

 fall back upon when his day's toil is over. The exigencies of mining operations 

 and the acrid furnace-smoke have destroyed the green and pleasant face of nature. 

 There is but the public-house, or home, or some rough game. Add further that 

 the workman earns in many cases very high wages ; this to natures uncultivated, 

 only gives a scope to all propensities to excess. Habits of intemperance are only 

 too prevalent. Beer-houses are multiplied beyond all proportion. Men are paid in 

 public-houses. Funerals, accidents, are only occasions of indulgence. Some work- 

 men have part of their wages in an allowance of beer. 



It need hardly be said that licentiousness and immorality are fearfully prevalent, 

 these are usual concomitants of intemperance ; but it is notable how very much con- 

 cubinage is the custom, and how little regard is paid to the obligations of marriage. 



The propensity to gambling seems to have a strong hold on the population. 



The ignorance of the population, especially in its lower section, demands more 

 attention. 



Ignorance in South Staffordshire has been something appalling, and is still very 

 great. The last generation had but few facilities compared with the present ; the 

 children of most miners can now be educated where the habits of the parents do not 

 interfere, but persons above forty years of age are frequently incapable of reading. 

 The facilities of education have increased tenfold within a generation ; still, great 



