1842.] 



THE TURN-OUT. 



45 



money. A great deal goes to the public-houses, and the poor 

 wives and families are left to starve." 



At this time he had to fulfil an engagement to preach at 

 Buxton. He " did not like leaving home, just as the mob 

 were coming ; but as they say here, ' It was like to be done/ 

 there was no help for it." He had interesting conversation 

 on his journey with a Chat Moss farmer, who took the part 

 of the rioters. ("I certainly inherit a little of my father's 

 knack of meeting with nice people in travelling.") "Since 

 I began to preach, I never had a Sunday before, quite by 

 myself, with nothing to do but to preach. I thoroughly 

 enjoyed the excessive beauty and quiet, and lay down on my 

 mackintosh, and eat wild raspberries, and gathered flowers and 

 caracollas, and pulled up some parnassias by the root, to plant 

 in the garden." After evening service, "feeling rather anxious 

 about home, not knowing whether the mob would be quiet 

 or not, I determined to get back as soon as possible; and, 

 finding that there was no coach till half-past eight next morning, 

 I set off walking towards the beautiful sunset, over the noble 

 hills, till it got quite dark. On my way I picked up a Chartist, 

 and was glad to talk with him, and find out their views of 

 things. I slept at Didsbury, having walked eleven miles, 

 besides my day's sauntering [he had climbed the hills before 

 breakfast]. I got up at half-past four, and walked on, break- 

 fasting on bread and milk at a farmhouse, where the rioters 

 had been twice, eating up all their food and preventing them 

 from getting in their harvest. It is harder on farmers and 

 small shop-keepers than on any one else. I got to Stockport 

 in time for the eight o'clock train." On his return home, he 

 " was much delighted to find all quiet there, though they had 

 just had a mob of more than a thousand begging." In a 

 subsequent letter he speaks of the improvidence and wasteful 

 ways of the people, and the drunkenness that even then 

 prevailed ; but adds, " A great many of the really deserving 

 are very patient. About here, where they are as badly off as 

 anywhere, there has been no rioting and comparatively little 

 begging." At that time, many of the hand-loom weavers had 



