PIONEERS AND VICTIMS
The year 1872 will throughout history be considered the most interesting
period from the standpoint of the agricultural labourers of England.
There had been some improvement in the condition of the labourers of
England through the increase of the purchasing power of their wages,
largely due to the abolition of the wicked Corn Laws and the adoption of
Free Trade. Moreover, agriculture was never more prosperous than it was
from 1849 to 1872. But, despite the increase in the purchasing power of
the labourers' wage, the condition of the workers had not improved at
the same rate as agriculture had improved. The working hours were as
long as they had been for the preceding hundred years, the labourers
were no more free to bargain with their employers than their fathers had
been for fifty years before, and there was much discontent. In fact, the
whole countryside was seething with discontent and we were much nearer a
serious upheaval than many people thought. The farmers were arrogant and
oppressive, and the gulf between the farmer and the labourer was greater
than ever before. The labourer had acquired a little knowledge and the
town workers were uprising. Many of the sons of the labourers who had
left agriculture since 1864, being disgusted with the low wages of the
labourer, had sent glowing accounts over to their friends, and a great
migration had again set in until very few young men were left in the
villages.
Early in the year 1872 a few labourers met in the village inn at
Barford, in Warwickshire, and decided to make an effort to form a Union.
But they were without a leader, and it was in search of such a person
that they turned their attention to Mr. Joseph Arch, who was a Primitive
Methodist lay-preacher. They waited upon him at his residence and
informed him that they wanted to form a Union for the agricultural
labourers and asked him if he would lead them. Mr. Arch hesitated for a
time, as his clear vision could discern that it would cause a tremendous
upheaval and he was not sure of his class. After due thought, and
through the persuasive powers of Mrs. Arch, he ultimately consented.
Accordingly it was arranged that a meeting should be held under what is
now known as the Welbourne Tree.
This meeting was attended by at least two thousand agricultural
labourers from all parts of the country, and it was there decided to
form a Union. The news of the meeting spread rapidly throughout the
country. All the newspapers gave it prominence with such headlines as
"The Uprising of the Agricultural Labourer." Numerous meetings were held
in various parts of the country, and in the second week in May a meeting
was held on the children's playground at Alby where I was at work. This
was a month before my marriage. I attended the meeting. It was addressed
by a local preacher, who was an agricultural labourer, named Josiah
Mills, and by Mr. Burton from Cromer. I also spoke, although, as stated
before, I could not read. Still, I related my experience of how I was
obliged to go to work at the age of six.
A branch of the Union was formed and I became a member. But, as Mr. Arch
had foreseen, trouble soon arose, for this new movement met with the
most bitter opposition.
Labourers were discharged by the hundred. It was evident that the
farmers were bent on crushing the movement in its infancy. Many
labourers who lived in their employers' cottages were victimized and
turned out into the road. One case which personally came to my notice
was that of a poor man and his wife and family who were turned out on to
the road with all their furniture and a friendly publican took them in.
Scores of farmers locked their men out because they would not give up
their Union cards.
This threw Mr. Arch on to his beam ends, as he and his men had no
previous knowledge of Trade Unionism. Happily for him and the movement
generally a leading Trade Unionist by the name of Mr. Henry Taylor paid
Arch a visit and offered him all the help possible. This brought help
from other Trade Unionists.
In Norfolk we were specially favoured, as the proprietors of the
_Norfolk News_ and the _Norwich Mercury_ (the latter one of the
country's earliest newspapers) opened the columns of the _Eastern Weekly
Press_ and the _Peoples' Weekly Journal_ respectively to Labour news.
Thus the news of the Union spread rapidly and the story was told of the
uprising of the agricultural labourer. Hundreds of meetings were held in
Norfolk as well as in other counties, branches of the Union were formed
everywhere, and within six months 150,000 labourers had joined some
Union. It must be remarked that in the first six months the branches
formed were all independent Unions.
During the summer Arch, with the help of Mr. Taylor, drew up a list of
rules and called a conference of the branches formed in the Warwick
district, at which it was decided to form a National Union, its central
office to be at Leamington. Mr. Arch was elected President and was sent
on a mission throughout the country to explain the rules. Arch soon
gathered around him a number of persons who were prominent in the
political world, including the late Sir Charles Dilke, Howard Evans,
John Bright, George Mitchell, and a host of others. Among those in
Norfolk who rallied to Arch were the late Mr. Z. Walker, who remained a
faithful follower to the end, the late Mr. Lane of Swaffham, the late
Mr. Colman, the late Mr. George Rix, and Mr. George Pilgrim. But all the
branches did not join with Mr. Arch. Kent and Sussex formed a Union of
their own, which became very strong in those two counties. Lincolnshire
also formed a Union and it became known as the "Lincolnshire Amalgamated
Labour League." A Mr. Banks became its General Secretary. This Union
gained considerable support in Norfolk and had several strong branches
in the county, and among its warm supporters were the late Mr. James
Applegate of Aylsham, the late Mr. James Ling of Cromer and Mr. James
Dennis of Hempton.
All these Unions grew in strength, but unfortunately a spirit of rivalry
grew up between them and much mischief was done.
My first acquaintance with Arch was at Aylsham in September 1872, when
he came over to explain the code of rules drawn up by the Warwickshire
Committee and to invite the branch there to join the Union. The meeting
was held in Aylsham Town Hall, which was packed. All in the audience
were, however, not in sympathy with the movement. There were several
farmers present.
One farmer asked Arch if his mother knew he was out?
Quick as lightning came the retort: "Yes," replied Arch, "and she sent
me out to buy a fool. Are you for sale?"
That was just such an answer as the farmer who asked the foolish
question deserved. He had, however, no further opportunity of asking
questions, for he was soon roughly handled and was promptly thrown out
of the hall.
There were many strikes and lock-outs during the first nine months of
this uprising of the labourers. The greatest opposition was raised by
the farmers.
I was involved in a strike in the first year of the Union's existence.
Although only just twenty-two years of age and recently married and
unable to read, I became greatly interested in the movement and never
lost a chance of attending a Union meeting.
The first general demand we made for an increase in wages took place in
March 1873. We asked that wages should be increased from 11s. to 13s. a
week, so far as Norfolk was concerned, and this demand was granted. It
had never reached that figure before. This gave a great stimulus to the
movement generally. The Aylsham branch of which I was a member decided
not to join Arch's Union, but joined the Lincolnshire Amalgamated
League, which governed on the principle of each district holding its own
funds and paying a quarterly levy to the central fund, on the same
principle which obtained with the Oddfellows and Foresters Friendly
Societies. The next great struggle was in the spring of 1874, when a
demand was made for another 2s. increase and time off for breakfast. Up
to that time we were not allowed to stop for breakfast, and we had no
food from tea-time the previous day until dinner-time the next day. Many
farmers allowed the concession but others would not. The man I worked
for at Oulton, Mr. James Rice, was one of the latter, although a member
and a deacon of the Congregational Church in that village. We adopted
all kinds of methods to snatch time to eat our piece of bread. Scores of
times I have held the plough with one hand and eaten the bread with the
other. Others, when a number were working together, would set one to
watch to see if the boss came while they ate their bread.
This demand was hotly contested and I became involved and struck work.
Fortunately for me I had another trade at my back, namely brickmaking.
There was a great call for brickmakers at this time and I obtained work
at once with James Applegate at Blickling, himself a leader of the
Amalgamated Labour League, so I had not to call on the funds of the
Union at all and I did not go back to farm work for several years.
During these two years I had made rapid progress with my education, and
I was so far advanced that I could begin to read a newspaper. I had,
however, not been in ignorance of happenings in the world around me, for
my wife had always read to me the weekly papers. The first newspapers I
read were the _Eastern Weekly Press_ and the _People's Weekly Journal_,
the two local papers. I had, however, not spoken at a Labour meeting
since the first meeting was held two years before, but I had been on the
preachers' plan for two years and had begun to have a little confidence
in myself. I at once begun to speak at local labour meetings.
The strike going on at this time was successful, and the village
labourer in Norfolk for the first time in his history received his 2s.
6d. per day and the right to stop for breakfast.
But the great struggle began as soon as this was settled. The farmers of
Suffolk at once locked their men out, not on the question of wages, but
because the men would not give up their Union cards. Some four thousand
men were locked out and thrown on to the funds of the various Unions.
Arch and others visited the large centres of industry and over L20,000
was collected for the funds. Religious services were held on the Sundays
and spiritual addresses given. I at once threw myself into this kind of
work, although only a young man of twenty-four years of age, and in the
village in which I then lived, Oulton, I preached my first Labour
sermons. My soul burned with indignation at the gross cruelty inflicted
on my parents and the hardships I had undergone, and I became determined
to fulfil the vow I had made when quite a lad, namely, to do all I could
to alter the conditions under which the labourers lived. I was,
however, most anxious to ensure myself that I was doing the right thing
from a religious point of view, and again by the assistance of my dear
wife I searched the Scriptures and soon was able to satisfy myself I was
doing the right thing. Then, as now, to me the Labour movement was a
most sacred thing and, try how one may, one cannot divorce Labour from
religion.
I found work when the strike took place with Mr. James Applegate, who
was many years my senior and himself a leader in the Labour League and
an advanced politician, although he possessed no vote. He had posted
himself up in Radical politics, for in those days we only knew two
political parties. Anyway, I had a real political schoolmaster, and my
first political lessons were of the Liberal school of thought. I set
myself to work hard in the study of political questions and got
possessed of every scrap of political information. My means would not
allow me to purchase literature, but I soon became a most ardent
Liberal.
Soon after the great struggle of 1874 the labourers began to lose
interest in the various Unions. Many of the young men again left the
villages and either migrated to the North of England or emigrated to
America. I still kept up my political studies and at the same time, by
the assistance of Mr. Applegate, I became skilled in the work in which I
was then engaged. I kept with Mr. Applegate for five years.
It was in 1880 that my father died.
In October 1879 I obtained a situation with the late Mr. John Cook of
Thwaite Hall as brickmaker and burner, and moved into part of an old
farmhouse at Alby Hill. One of the conditions of employment was that I
should take the work by contract; that I should raise the earth, make
the bricks and burn them at 10s. per thousand, the employer finding all
tools and coal for burning. Further, whilst I was not so engaged he was
to find me work as a farm labourer. I also undertook to do my harvest on
the farm. On leaving Oulton I was out of the reach of the Union to which
I then belonged.
I then joined Arch's Union and became an active member. I got along very
well with my employer for some few years, but in 1885 an agitation arose
for the granting of the franchise to the agricultural labourers and all
rural workers. I at once threw myself into the movement and spoke at
many meetings. I had become fairly well educated by this time by hard
study. I was, however, laying up in store for myself some serious
trouble, for my employer was a bigoted Tory.
The franchise was introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone,
who was then Prime Minister, and was met with bitter opposition by the
Conservatives. As stated previously, a great campaign was commenced in
which I took a leading part, this greatly enraging the local Tories.
After my speech at a meeting one night in March 1895 my employer came to
me at my work and in a most autocratic manner said he had been informed
that I had been speaking at some Liberal meetings and demanded to know
if this was true? I at once replied that it was true. His reply to that
was that if I wished to remain a man of his I should have to give that
kind of thing up, for he would not have any man of his attending such
meetings, setting class against class. The fighting spirit that I
inherited from my mother at once rose and I replied in dignified
language that much as I respected him as an employer, I respected my
liberty a great deal more and could not on any condition comply with his
request. Further, I considered so long as I did my work satisfactorily
and did not neglect it in any way and led an honest and straightforward
life, neither he nor anyone else had any right to dictate how I spent my
evenings. I should therefore claim my liberty as a citizen. He had no
arguments to use against this, but said I would have to leave. It was
then that my spirit of independence was put to the test. I was not long
in deciding, and I told him at once I should take his notice, for my
whole soul revolted against such tyranny. This seemed to stagger him,
for it was the first time his authority had been challenged in such a
way. As soon as he had time to recover himself, he asked when I wished
the notice to expire. I told him not until I had finished my contract,
for I had already raised sufficient earth to make 100,000 bricks and I
should complete that before I left. He insisted that he would force me
to leave at once. I told him to try and put the threat into execution
and I would sue him for breach of contract. Again he was completely
taken back and asked me if I meant it? I told him I did and defied him
to break the contract. He at once saw he was in the wrong and said:
"Very well, finish your contract." I replied that I intended to and then
he could carry out his threat. Being thwarted in this direction he
thought he would hit me in another way.
My wife's mother was a widow and was living with me. The Guardians
allowed her 2s. 6d. per week. My employer was a member of that Board,
which at once took 6d. a week off her relief. My victimization was made
known throughout the country. I at once informed the leaders of the
Union, and also the Liberal Party, and this act of political tyranny was
denounced on every Liberal and Labour platform. Coming at a time when
the labourers were about to be enfranchised it caused quite a stir in
the country.
I was offered by the Liberals an organizing and lecturing position, but
this I declined, as, having insisted upon finishing my contract, I did
not intend giving the Tories an opportunity to say I had broken it.
Further, I had no wish to give up manual labour, nor had I confidence in
myself that I could do the work. I felt I was not sufficiently educated
or well informed to do that kind of work; thus I kept at my
brickmaking. Into this I put more energy than I think I had ever done
before. It was a fine season and I was able to turn out a better class
of brick than in previous seasons. At the same time I attended as many
political meetings in the evenings as I could and I also read every bit
of literature I could get hold of.
During the summer the Franchise Bill, coupled with a Redistribution
Bill, was passed, and for the first time in English history the
agricultural labourers were enfranchised. Norfolk was mapped out into
six single-member rural constituencies. Where I lived became known as
North Norfolk. It became evident that there would be a General Election
in November, and that by the time I had finished my contract the
election would be near. This the leading Tories appeared to advise my
employer would put him into a very awkward position, for he had not only
given me notice to leave my employment, but also my house on October
11th. Hence he came to me in July and said he wished to withdraw both
notices and wished all misunderstanding to cease. After consultation
with some of my friends I accepted the offer. I was, however, never
satisfied, although the offer to withdraw the notices was genuine as the
following correspondence will show.
In July I received the following letter from the late Mr. Charles Louis
Buxton, who was the then leader of the Liberal Party in North Norfolk:--
BOLWICK HALL, AYLSHAM,
_July 20, 1885_.
DEAR MR. EDWARDS,
I was delighted to hear yesterday that your employer had withdrawn
his notice for you to leave your work and house, and hope
everything will go on smoothly and that you will be quite happy and
that we shall have no more of this kind of victimization,
Yours truly,
C. L. BUXTON.
I replied as follows:--
CHARLES LOUIS BUXTON, ESQ., J.P.
BOLWICK HALL, AYLSHAM.
DEAR SIR,
I thank you for yours of the 20th _re_ my employment. I must
confess I do not derive the same satisfaction from the withdrawal
of the notice as you appear to do. Although it was withdrawn
unconditionally, each of us to be free to go our own way, I feel
convinced when the election is over he will find some excuse to get
rid of me.
Nevertheless, I will stand by my principles, come what may.
Yours sincerely,
GEORGE EDWARDS.
I finished my season's work fairly early, and I think I earned more
money than I had ever done before. Having finished my season's work, I
returned to my farm work as before.
In October the election started in all earnestness. For three weeks I
addressed six meetings a week. This I might say was all voluntary work,
as I kept at my daily employment all the time, being determined not to
absent myself from work one hour.
Mr. Herbert Cozens-Hardy, who afterwards became Lord Cozens-Hardy,
Master of the Rolls, and whose son and heir was in after years by a
strange coincidence to be my opponent in my first bid for parliamentary
honours, was chosen Liberal candidate for North Norfolk. Mr. Joseph Arch
was selected Liberal and Labour candidate for North-West Norfolk, Mr.
Robert Gurdon was chosen Liberal candidate for Mid-Norfolk, Sir William
Brampton Gurdon for South-West Norfolk, and a Mr. Falk for East Norfolk.
After a most hotly contested election, Mr. Cozens-Hardy beat his
opponent, Sir Samuel Hoare, by over 1,700 majority. Mr. Arch and Mr.
Robert Gurdon were also elected by good majorities, whilst Sir Brampton
Gurdon and Mr. Falk were defeated.
The election being over, things quieted down and, so far as I was
concerned, nothing untoward happened. My employer and myself appeared to
be on very good terms. Early in the new year, 1886, when I asked him for
my orders as usual, he informed me that he should not make any bricks
that year, as there were a good many standing on the ground and there
was not much sale for them. As a matter of fact there were not many
bricks on the ground, not so many by 20,000 as there were the year
before when he gave me the order to make 100,000 and, further, when
there was a prospect of a greater sale than in the previous year. A few
weeks later I received notice to leave the farm work, and on April 6th I
was served with another six months' notice to leave my cottage. Thus the
fear I had expressed to Mr. Buxton nine months before became true, and
proved that he only withdrew the previous notice to save himself from
the law against intimidation.
I obtained work for the season's brickmaking with Mr. Emery at Stibbard.
Strange to relate, before my notice expired to leave the cottage, my
landlord and late employer died. He had not been dead more than a month
before his brother, Mr. Herbert Cook, who was heir to the estate, called
at my house in my absence and informed my wife that he should carry out
his brother's notice. Now came the difficulty of getting another house,
and it looked for some time as if I should go homeless. I first hired a
cottage at Colby on the Gunton estate, but before I could move into it
it was let with the farm, and of course, being an agitator, I could not
have it. Thus within a few weeks of October 11th I had no prospect of a
home. It was then that a friend came along in the person of Mr. Horace
Car, who lived at Wickmere. He had hired a little farm in another
village and did not want his cottage at Wickmere and sub-let it to me.
The election of 1885 was doomed not to stand long. Mr. Gladstone
introduced his Irish Home Rule Bill, which caused a terrible split in
the ranks of the Liberal Party, and in July 1886 the Government was
defeated and a General Election took place. Mr. Cozens-Hardy again came
forward. This time his opponent was Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes, now Lord Ailwyn
of Honingham, a gentleman whom I hold in the highest esteem and who has
done me the honour of writing a foreword to this book. Mr. Arch was this
time fought by Lord Henry Bentinck, who defeated him by twenty votes. At
this election I was brought a great deal into Mr. Arch's company whilst
working in his division. I attended several of his meetings and spoke
for him. I remember being with him at one meeting during the election
when we spoke from a wagon standing close to a pond. During the
proceedings a young farmer rode into the company and endeavoured to
strike at Arch with his whip-stalk. No sooner did he do this than he was
unhorsed and ducked in the pond, greatly to his discomfort. This, I
should think, he never forgot.
Mr. Arch and I were destined in after years to work together in one
common cause, although, unfortunately, we were to belong to two
different Unions. Most of the meetings I attended in this election were
in my division and, smarting under the gross injustice that had been
meted out to me, I spoke out very strongly. My victimization had created
a bitter feeling in the division, and some very exciting scenes occurred
during the election. At one of these meetings, after being interrupted
by one or two of the most ignorant Tory farmers, I prophesied that after
the election the Tory political victimisers would be politically dead
and on their political tombstone would be written the following
epitaph:--
HERE LAY THE PARTY THAT NEVER DID ANY GOOD
AND, IF THEY HAD LIVED, THEY NEVER WOULD.
This naturally caused a great deal of laughter, but my enthusiasm for
the cause I then believed to be right had somewhat blinded me to the
fact that the wheels of human progress move very slowly and that my
whole life would have to be spent before Democracy would come into its
own. Let me remark that fate sometimes seems to be cruel. It was the son
of the very man on whose behalf I suffered so much and for whom I worked
so hard to secure his return at least in three elections who fought me
in after years in South Norfolk when I stood for Parliament the first
time! I thought at the time it was rather an ungracious act.
Well, this election went badly for the Liberals in the country and the
Tories were returned to power with a majority of 100.
Some hard times were in store for me. At the end of the season my work
at Stibbard also ended. I moved to Wickmere, but no one in the district
would employ me, although I was an efficient workman. I was a horrible
Radical, setting class against class! Strange to relate, in those days
the Liberals were looked upon as being out for destruction. To be a
Liberal was looked upon as belonging to a most discreditable party. They
were classed as infidels, wanting to pull down Church and State, and
disloyal to Queen and Country.
To-day the same things are said about the Labour Party. We of the Party
are called all kinds of names. But those who make the statements know
they are untrue.
I tried everywhere to get employment, but none could I find.
At last Mr. Ketton of Felbrigg Hall offered to find me work on his home
farm, but he had no cottage to offer me. Felbrigg was six miles from
Wickmere. I accepted the employment and for eighteen months or more I
walked night and morning this six miles, a journey of twelve miles every
day! Whilst living here my wife's mother died. I had kept her for
sixteen years, her only income being parish relief. In 1878 Mr. Ketton
found me a cottage at Aylmerton and I settled down comfortably once
again as a farm labourer.
At this time agriculture was sorely depressed. The labourer's wage was
rapidly being reduced and reached the miserably low figure of 10s. per
week, and in some districts 9s. per week. The labourers had left their
Unions and were in a most helpless position. This was brought about by
many causes, one being the great falling out amongst the leaders. Arch
had the misfortune to fall out with all his best supporters. Mr. Henry
Taylor resigned his position as General Secretary. Mr. Howard Evans and
Mr. George Mitchell had left him. Mr. George Rix of Swanton Morley had
resigned, and he took with him a large district and formed a Union which
he called the Federal Union. In fact, in every county, with the
exception of Norfolk, the Unions became defunct. The Kent and Sussex
Union went smash, the Lincolnshire and Amalgamated Labour League became
defunct, and all that remained of Arch's Union were a few members
belonging to the sick benefit department, the funds of which were being
fast depleted.
Under these circumstances the political power placed in the hands of the
labourers but further enslaved them and made them easy victims for the
Tory party. Happily for me I had at last got under a Liberal employer,
who not only was favourable to the men, but showed his sympathy with
them by paying them 1s. per week above the rate paid by other employers,
and I was able to breathe freely without any fear of victimization. My
employer also assisted me by lending me books and papers on political
problems. He also put every kind of work on the farm in my way to enable
me to earn extra money. I at once settled down to study even more
closely than I had done before. Thirsting for knowledge, religious,
social and political, I set about adding to my library. I became a close
student of theology and took great interest in many of the theological
subjects which were disturbing the Christian world at that period, such
as the doctrine of eternal punishment, and I soon became what was known
then as a Liberal in theology. When I purchased a new book, I never read
any other until I had read it through and thought the matter out for
myself. I never accepted a thing as a fact just because someone else
said it was so. Included in the new works I bought at this time were
Canon Farrar's _Life of Christ_, the same author's _Eternal Hope_, Dr.
Dale's work on _Conditional Immortality_, Mr. Robertson's book entitled
_Eternal Punishment, not Eternal Torments_. I also read very closely Dr.
Parker's books. Taking the other side, I also became a regular reader of
the weekly periodical the _Christian Commonwealth_, which was published
about this time to counteract what they termed the heterodoxy of the
_Christian World_. Strange to say, this paper became a thousand times
more heterodox than the _Christian World_ ever could be, for it became a
strong advocate of the Rev. R. J. Campbell's New Theology.
My close study of these matters marked me out for trouble. In fact,
Job's description of man seemed to apply to me in every respect, for I
seemed to be born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. I was called up
before the Quarterly Meeting of my Church for what some of the elder
brethren termed heterodoxical preaching and I was regarded as almost an
infidel. Never, however, was a more false accusation made against
anyone, for my faith in the eternal Truths was never stronger. But I had
a strong supporter in my friend Mr. James Applegate, who himself was a
progressive in thought, and the matter blew over and I was left to go on
in my own way.
At this time there was a deal of discussion on the Single Tax Movement
as advocated by Henry George. I became interested in this and purchased
his books on social problems, _Protection or Free Trade_, _Progress and
Poverty_ and _The Condition of Labour_. These I closely read, sitting up
late at night. Many a time have I gone out at eleven o'clock at night
and wiped my eyes with the dew of the grass in an endeavour to keep
myself awake. I managed to get through all these books during the winter
and became a convert to the principles contained therein, and thus
became an advanced thinker on political and social questions. I think
Henry George's books did more to mould my thought on social questions
than those of any other writer. About this time I also purchased Adam
Smith's _Wealth of Nations_ and Thorold Roger's _Six Centuries of Work
and Labour_. These I soon mastered in all their details. I was thus
enabled to take a very broad view on all matters pertaining to Labour
and was able to see more clearly the cause of all the gross injustice
that was inflicted on my class. I became convinced that if there was a
revival in the Labour movement amongst the rural workers, the leaders
would have to lift the men's thoughts above the question of the mere
raising of wages and would have to take political action and seek to
remove the great hindrance to man's progress. I made one mistake. I
thought and was convinced that the Liberal Party would do these things,
and I was strengthened in my belief by a speech made by the late Mr.
Joseph Chamberlain about "ransoming the land back to the people." In my
political innocence I thought all politicians were sincere. I was,
however, to live to see my faith in some people shattered.
During this year I received again one or two offers to go on a lecturing
tour, all of which I declined. I was not, however, to remain in the
shade and inactive long. The men again began to be restless and were
anxious to have another try at organizing.