19 
HUMOUR AND PATHOS OF LANCASHIRE 
LIFE. 
By GEORGE NUTT ALL. January 19 th, 1909. 
Mr. Nuttall, at the outset, said that as Lancashire folks we 
ought to try and cultivate respect for our native county, 
as Southerners often regarded our manner and speech inferior 
in quality to their more polished style. Doubtless the brusque 
and uncouth exterior was sometimes undesirable, yet after 
all, in the main, the Lancashire man was “ a gradely fellow, 
and jannock.” In quoting from the works of Harland and 
Wilkinson, proof was adduced that substantial contributions 
to the traditionary lore had been made by the settlement 
in these Northern parts of the various Teutonic, Saxon, and 
Scandinavian races and tribes. Every county had its records 
in story-legend and ballad, and by these means were kept 
alive many interesting, quaint, and racy features of its humble 
life. Falling into a reminiscent mood, Mr. Nuttall recalled 
the names of men formerly well known in the Burnley district 
— Henry Houlding, C. Slater, Harry Nutter, T. B. Spencer, 
Mr. Sutherland, and James McKay — whose efforts to encourage 
the youth of the past generations have been a lasting blessing 
to the town and neighbourhood, especially in the organisa- 
tion of elocution classes, where the sketches of Edwin Waugh, 
Ben Brierley, Oliver Ormerod and Samuel Laycock were 
given with such acceptance in what was termed “ The Penny 
Readings.” Thus was encouraged a taste and desire for 
more substantial literature. In referring to John Collier 
(Tim Bobbin), the lecturer asked for the opinion of the 
members of the Club as to whether the distorted face painted 
on a certain popular hostelry in Burnley was to be taken 
as in any sense a portrait of this memorable writer of “ Tummas 
and Meary ?” Or was this a caricature, and the result of a 
common misconception as to the personality of a humorist ? 
The correct idea of a humorist is certainly not that he is a 
buffoon with cap and bells, or a grinning clown. As in this 
case, the true humorist is a person of deep, sensitive feeling. 
Tom Hood himself protested that men would so completely 
