EDUCATION AT LAST
In the spring of 1870 I went to work in a brickfield at Alby. Here I met
a woman who was to play a wonderful part in my future life. Her name was
Charlotte Corke, daughter of the late Mr. James Corke of that parish.
She herself had felt the pinch of poverty, being the youngest child of
nine.
We became engaged, and on June 21, 1872, we married at Alby Church. A
record of this event is still to be found in the church register.
At this time I was given a note of liberty by the Aylsham Primitive
Methodist Circuit Quarterly Meeting, permitting me to speak in their
chapels, and I was appointed to accompany two accredited lay-preachers
by the names of Edward Gladden and James Applegate. This continued for
two quarters, after which my name appeared on the plan of preachers. In
October of the same year I returned to my former employment,
agriculture, obtaining a situation with Mr. James Rice of Oulton. I
hired a cottage at Oulton, which is near Aylsham (Norfolk), where we
lived for the first seven years of our married life. I worked for Mr.
Rice for two years, when a dispute arose over the right to stop work for
breakfast, and I left and again returned to brickmaking, and went to
work at Blickling, about a mile and a half from my home, which distance
I walked morning and night. Mr. James Applegate was the contractor and
foreman on this yard, on which was manufactured all kinds of ware. My
foreman was quite a skilled tradesman and he took great interest in me
and set me to manufacture all kinds of ware, and he also taught me the
art of burning the ware. I stayed with him about five years, when, by
his assistance, I obtained a situation as brick-burner with a Mr. John
Cook of Thwaite Hall and, on October 11, 1879, I moved to Alby Hill into
one of my employer's cottages.
The September Quarterly Meeting of 1872 of the Aylsham Primitive
Methodist Circuit decided that my name should appear on the preachers'
plan as an "Exhorter," and I was planned to take my first service on the
third Sunday in October of that year.
Up to this time I could not read, I merely knew my letters, but I set
myself to work. My dear wife came to my rescue and undertook to teach me
to read. For the purposes of this first service she helped me to commit
three hymns to memory and also the first chapter of the Gospel according
to St. John. It was a big task, but she accomplished it, and this is how
it was done. When I returned home from work after tea she would get the
hymn-book, read the lines out, and I would repeat them after her. This
was repeated until I had committed the whole hymn to memory.
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. EDWARDS'S FIRST HOME AFTER MARRIAGE,
OULTON-NEXT-AYLSHAM, NORFOLK.]
My first three were good old Primitive Methodist hymns. The opening
verse of the first hymn I learned was:--
Hark, the Gospel news is sounding,
Christ has suffered on the tree.
Streams of mercy are abounding,
Grace for all is rich and free.
Now, poor sinner,
Look to Him who died for thee.
The second hymn was:--
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The third hymn was:--
Stop, poor sinner, stop and think
Before you further go.
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?
On the verge of ruin stop,
Now the friendly warning take,
Stay your footsteps or you'll drop
Into the burning lake.
The last hymn does not appear in the present-day Primitive Methodist
hymnal. Needless to say, I have long ceased to use the hymn. It was too
horrible for my humanitarian spirit. I might say that at my first
service I was not quite sure that I held the book the right way up, as I
was not quite certain of the figures. I had, however, committed the
hymns to memory correctly, and also the lesson, and I made no mistakes.
In those days we used to give out the hymns two lines at a time, as very
few people could read, and they could possibly remember the two lines.
There was no musical instrument in many of the small village chapels at
that time. My wife went with me to my first appointment and listened. My
first text was taken from the first chapter of John: "Behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world." I would not like to say the
sermon was a very intellectual one. It was, however, well thought out as
far as my limited knowledge would allow me to do so, and in preparing it
I had the assistance of my wife. We had spent nights in thinking it out,
and it certainly was orthodox in the extreme. I made rapid progress with
my education under the tutorship of my wife, who would sit up very late
at night to teach me. She would sit on one side of the fireplace and I
on the other. I would spell out the words and she would tell me their
pronunciation.
By the time the next plan came out I could just manage to read my lesson
and hymns, but not until I had gone through them many times with my
wife and had mistakes rectified.
One interesting little incident occurred about this time. I went to an
appointment one Sunday about eight miles from my home. A brother
lay-preacher was planned at the chapel in an adjoining village, hence we
travelled most of the way together. Coming home it was very dark, and we
had to travel some distance by a footpath across some meadows. We lost
ourselves! I told my companion to follow me, but it turned out that it
was a case of the blind leading the blind, for no sooner had I
instructed my companion than we both walked into a ditch up to our knees
in water, and had to walk the rest of the way home with wet feet! This
was not the day of bicycles nor yet horse-hire. The circuit to which I
was attached was very large, and for many years I walked sixteen miles
on the Sunday, conducted two services, and reached home at eleven
o'clock at night. Whatever may have been our weaknesses in those days,
it must be admitted we were enthusiastic and devoted to the cause we
advocated. No sacrifice was too great.
Having once learned to read, I became eager for knowledge. Until then I
possessed only a Bible and hymn-book and two spelling-books. But I had
no money to buy other books. My wife and I talked it over, and I decided
I would give up smoking and purchase books with the money saved. I was
then smoking 2 oz. of tobacco a week, which in those days cost 6d. This
did not seem much, but it was L1 6s. a year. It was a great sacrifice to
me to give up smoking, for I did enjoy my pipe. I had, however, a thirst
for knowledge, and no sacrifice was too great to satisfy my longing. My
first purchase was Johnson's Dictionary, two volumes of _The
Lay-preacher_, which contained outlines of sermons, Harvey's
_Meditations among the Tombs_ and _Contemplation of the Starry Heavens_,
a Bible dictionary, and a _History of Rome_. These I bought second-hand
from Mr. James Applegate, who was a great reader. The _Lay-preacher_ I
used extensively for some years, and it certainly did help me for the
first few years. I ultimately discarded the two volumes and relied upon
my own resources, and I should advise every young man with the advantage
of education, who is thinking of engaging in such great and good work,
never to use such books, for it is far better for him to think out
subjects for himself and store his mind well with knowledge.
The different Primitive Methodist services of my early days would be out
of date now, and the quaint sayings of those days, though effective
then, would cause some amount of amusement to our young educated folk of
to-day. One form of service was called a "love-feast," at which small
pieces of bread were taken round with water. The meeting was thrown open
for anyone to speak, and then the simple, faithful, uneducated, saintly
people, in relating what to them was Christian experience, would express
themselves in peculiar phrases. I call to mind the statement made by a
brother at one meeting who said he felt "like a fool in a fair." At the
same meeting another said he thanked God that although that was the
first time he had attempted to speak, he was getting used to it. Others
would relate what dreadful characters they had been and what religion
had done for them.
Although my preaching efforts did not give me entire satisfaction, still
I can look back with pleasure at some of the results of my labours.
Although uneducated and not well informed and although I used such
phrases and put the Gospel in such a way that I should not think for one
moment of doing to-day, still it had its effect. I can recall instances
of ten and twelve of my hearers at my Sunday services making a stand for
righteousness. Many of them in after years became stalwarts for truth.
They also soon began to be dissatisfied with the conditions under which
they worked and lived. Seeing no hope of any improvement they migrated
to the North of England, and found work in the coalfields, and never
returned to their native county. When in Newcastle last December I met
several of my old converts and friends.
With my study of theology, I soon began to realize that the social
conditions of the people were not as God intended they should be. The
gross injustices meted out to my parents and the terrible sufferings I
had undergone in my boyhood burnt themselves into my soul like a hot
iron.
Many a time did I vow I would do something to better the conditions of
my class.