"And where shall we write to?" asked one of the costermongers.
"Address your letter to me at Grosvenor Square," replied Lord
Shaftesbury, "and it will probably reach me; but, if after my name you
put 'K.G. and Coster,' there will be no doubt that I shall get it!"
This conversation took place at the conclusion of a meeting which
had been held by the costermongers. They had met to talk about their
grievances, and Lord Shaftesbury had attended the gathering and
promised to help them, telling them to write to him if they required
further assistance.
The noble Knight of the Garter was not only interested in the
costermongers themselves, but in their animals too.
At one time the costers had used their donkeys and ponies shamefully,
had overworked and underfed them; but gradually they were made to see
how much better it was to treat their animals well. With a good Sunday
rest and proper treatment, the donkeys would go thirty miles a day
comfortably; without it, they could not do more than half.
So, as Lord Shaftesbury had been kind to the costers and taken such
interest in their pursuits, they invited him to a special meeting, at
which they presented him with a splendid donkey.
Over a thousand costers with their friends were there, when the
donkey, profusely decorated with ribbons, was led to the platform.
Lord Shaftesbury vacated the chair and made way for the new arrival;
and then, putting his arm round the animal's neck, returned thanks in
a short speech in which he said:--
"When I have passed away from this life I desire to have no more said
of me than that I have done my duty, as the poor donkey has done
his--with patience and unmurmuring resignation".
The donkey was then led down the steps of the platform, and Lord
Shaftesbury remarked, "I hope the reporters of the press will state
that, the donkey having vacated the chair, the place was taken by Lord
Shaftesbury".
Let us turn for a moment to the beginning of his life, and see how it
was that Lord Shaftesbury was induced to devote himself so heartily to
the good of the poor and oppressed.
Maria Mills, his old nurse, had not a little to do with this. She was
one of those simple-minded humble Christians who, all unknowingly,
plant in many minds the good seed which grows up and brings forth much
fruit.
[Illustration: Lord Shaftesbury inspecting the Costers' Donkeys.]
She was very fond of the little boy, and would tell him the "sweet
story of old" in so attractive a manner that a deep impression was
made upon his heart. The prayers she taught him in childhood he not
only used in his youth, but even in old age the words were often upon
his lips.
When he was a schoolboy at Harrow came the turning point in his life.
He saw four or five drunken men carrying a coffin containing the
remains of a companion; and such was their state of intoxication that
they dropped it, and then broke out into foul language.
The effect this had upon the youth was so great that he resolved to
devote his life to helping the poor and friendless.
There was plenty of work for him to do. Children in factories and
mines required to be protected from the cruelties to which they were
subjected; chimney sweeps needed to be guarded from the dangers
to which they were exposed; the hours of labour in factories were
excessive; thieves required to be shown a way of escape from their
wretched life; ragged schools and other institutions needed support.
These and numerous other matters kept Lord Shaftesbury hard at
work during the entire of his long life, and by his help many wise
alterations were made in the laws of the country.
"Do what is right and trust to Providence for the rest," was his
motto; and he stuck to it always.
Lord Shaftesbury brought before Parliament a scheme for assisting
young thieves to emigrate; and the grown-up burglars and vagabonds,
seeing how much in earnest he was, invited him to a meeting. To this
he went without a moment's hesitation.
The door was guarded by a detachment of thieves, who watched to see
that none but those of their class went in.
Lord Shaftesbury was in the chair, and the meeting commenced with
prayer. There were present over two hundred burglars and criminals of
the worst kind, besides a great number of other bad characters.
First of all the chairman gave an address; then some of the thieves
followed, telling quite plainly and simply how they spent their lives.
When Lord Shaftesbury urged them to give up their old lives of sin one
of them said, "We must steal or we shall die".
The city missionary, who was present, urged them to pray, as God could
help them.
"But," said one of the men, "my Lord and gentlemen of the jury (!),
prayer is very good, but it won't fill an empty stomach."
It was, indeed, a difficult problem how best to aid the poor fellows;
but Lord Shaftesbury solved it. As a result of the conference three
hundred thieves went abroad to Canada to begin life anew, or were put
into the way of earning an honest living.
One of the subjects which occupied a great deal of Lord Shaftesbury's
attention was the condition of the young in coal mines and factories.
At that date children began to work in mines at the age of four or
five, and large numbers of girls and boys were labouring in the pits
by the time they were eight. For twelve or fourteen hours a day these
poor little toilers had to sit in the mines, opening and shutting trap
doors as the coal was pushed along in barrows. All alone, with no one
to speak to, sitting in a damp, stifling atmosphere, the poor children
had to stay day after day; and if they went to sleep they got well
beaten. Rats and mice were their only companions, and Sunday was the
only day on which they were gladdened by the daylight.
It was a shocking state of existence, nor did it grow better as the
children got older.
Then they had to drag heavy loads along the floors of the mine. When
the passages were narrow the boys and girls had a girdle fastened
round their waists, a chain was fixed to this, and passed between
their legs and hooked to the carriage. Then, crawling on hands and
knees through the filth and mire, they pulled these trucks as cattle
would drag them, whilst their backs were bruised and wounded by
knocking against the low roof.
Girls and women were made to carry heavy weights of coal. Children
stood ankle deep in water, pumping hour after hour, and their work was
sometimes prolonged for thirty-six hours continuously; so that it
was no wonder the children died early, that they suffered much from
disease, and led cheerless, wretched lives.
Against such cruelties Lord Shaftesbury was constantly warring; and
his warfare was not in vain.
Quite as badly off were the little chimney sweeps. Boys were
kidnapped, and sold to cruel masters, who forced them to climb high
chimneys filled with soot and smoke. If they refused, a fire was
perhaps lighted below, and they would thus be forced to ascend. The
consequence was that many terrible accidents happened, resulting in
the deaths of these poor little fellows, whilst numbers died early
from disease.
Lord Shaftesbury roused the country to a sense of the wrong that was
being done to the chimney sweeps, and Bills were passed in Parliament
for their protection.
Not only children, but men and women also, needed to be defended from
wrong and overwork.
Lord Shaftesbury visited the factories to see how the labourers were
actually treated; and this is one of the things that came under his
notice.
A young woman whilst working in a mill at Stockport was caught by the
machinery and badly injured. When the accident happened she had not
completed her week's work, so eighteenpence was deducted from her
wages!
Horrified at such treatment Lord Shaftesbury brought an action against
the owners of the factory, and obtained £100 for the woman.
For shorter hours and better treatment of factory hands the earl
struggled in and out of Parliament; and, though the battle was long
and fierce, it ended in victory.
Such labour took up much time, and brought many expenses to the good
earl. It brought him, too, plenty of enemies; for most of his life was
devoted to striving to make the rich and selfish do justice to the
poor and downcast.
He not only gave his time, but his money too; and oftentimes, though
the eldest son of an earl, and later an earl himself, he hardly knew
where to turn for the means to keep his schemes going.
One day a lady called on him, and, telling a piteous tale of a Polish
refugee, asked him for help. Lord Shaftesbury had to confess he had no
money he could give; then he suddenly remembered he had five pounds in
the library: he fetched the bank note, which formed his nest egg, and
presented it to her.
One of Lord Shaftesbury's greatest works was the promotion of ragged
schools.
To these schools, established in the poorest neighbourhoods of the
metropolis, came the street arabs, the poor and abandoned, and
received kindness and teaching, which comforted and civilised them.
The outcasts who slept in doorways, under arches, and in all kinds of
horrible and unhealthy places, were the objects of this good man's
care; and ways were found of benefiting and starting afresh hundreds
of lads who would otherwise have become thieves or vagabonds in the
great city.
When he was over eighty years old he was still striving for the good
of others. So much was his heart in the work that he remarked on one
occasion: "When I feel age creeping on me, and know I must soon die--I
hope it is not wrong to say it--but I cannot bear to leave the world
with all the misery in it".
The dawn came for him in October, 1885, when in his eighty-fifth year
this veteran leader was called to his rest.
For convenience I have spoken of him throughout as Lord Shaftesbury;
but it may be well to mention that till he was fifty years old he was
known as Lord Ashley. Through the death of his father he became Earl
of Shaftesbury in 1851.