Punch (29.1855)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

173

THE CHURCH IN DANGER. AGRICULTURAL SPENDTHRIFTS.

E really do apprehend some ^T ,s a great mistake to suppose that prodigals and spendthrifts are

danger to the Church, or, chiefly to be found amongst the youthful heirs to great estates. The

at least, to that portion of m0.st extravagant dog in existence is the Norfolk agricultural labourer,

it which is represented by This assertion we make on the authority of Mb. T. G. Tuck, a magis-

the affluent, from the fol- tra,e °f tDat county. At a meeting of the Blofield and Walsham

lowing advertisement:— Agricultural Association, Mr. Tuck is reported tohave stated certain

particulars concerning the Norfolk peasantry, which exhibit them as

nature as to enable him to pro- many juvenile inheritors of riches—the seeming immensity of their
Church1 rincMesaraVpeals"^ afflu<rnce. These ploughmen and carters are rolling in wealth, amount-
theUweaithy1friends of these prin- ^l]S ]n many instances to 10s. or 12s. a-week; thus overloaded with
cipies under circumstances of pe- abundance, they evince the common weakness of human nature so cir-
cular difficulty. The very nature cumstanced: and, as Mb. Tuck. says.— <

of his position has involved him

in a heavy outlay at first, and led "What was lightly acquired was little valued, and this was the case with the

him to incur a debt, for the pay- labourers. In the years of 1848 and 1849, when flour was extremely cheap, they did not

ment of which, he is threatened care how it was wasted, and he would give an instance of it. He once saw three chil-

with legal proceedings. His income dren of one family, in the middle of an afternoon, with a large piece of bread in their

is large, and in a few years he could pay off this debt by instalments, but he canuot hands, eating some of it, giving some of it to a dog, and throwing the greater part of

obtain the required time. The sum required is £2,000. He cannot offer what is called it on the road. He rode up to the coitage in which they lived, and asked their mother

legal security for the repayment of such a sum, but, if any person of wealth should be why she encouraged such waste in her family ? Her answer was, ' Sir, my husband

induced to advance it, he would undertake t > pay 5 per cent, interest, to repay the prin- would be extremely angry with me if I refused these children a piece of bread and

cip;il by instalments in five years, and to give insurances on his life as security in the cheese at any hour of the day.' "

evt-nt of his decease. He is'ready to admit of the fullest inquiry into the circum- .

stances by any person who proves that he siucerelv desires to meet the case, and is not 1 his wasteful woman had actually given her children more bread than

actuated by mere curiosity. Whoever does so will do good service to our Church in an they Could manage; to eat. Of COUrse she might easily have known

important field of usefulness. Address-. how ffiuch ,hpy absolate]y required< The test of their being really

We do not know what may be the advertiser's notion of " Sound , hungry would have been their crying bitterly. She ought not to have

Church Principles ; " and we are equally ignorant as to the principle | complied with their mere demand for bread. Had she not been utterly

—ei'her moral, social, or comme'cial—upon which a gentleman of
eminent position has run into debt to the tune of £2000, without the
means of payment. If he were a boy at the outset of life, we might
attribute his difficulties to inexperience on his own part, and roguery
on the part of others ; but with a " large income," and a " position of
eminence," the debts which would be pardonable in early life, cannot
be so indulgently treated. We admire the determined rebuff which the
advertiser is prepared to give to " mere curiosity," and his resolution
to treat only with one who "sincerely desires to meet the case," or, in
o'her words, is prepared to "dub up" a couple of thousand pounds
before asking any questions. It is rather difficult to conceive in what
way " our Church " is to profit by getting one of its " eminent" members
out of a pecuniary scrape; and, indeed, it would seem to us that, to
pay the debts of this rather improvident Churchman, would tend to
demoralise the Church, by giving encouragement to extravagance.
There is some ingenuity in holding out the double temptation of love
for the Church, and five per cent, interest, which the advertiser
"undertakes to pay," though he candidly admits that he "cannot offer
what is c-illed legal security."

Of course, therefore, there will he nothing to depend upon but the
" Church principles " of the advertiser, and it is not likely that these
principles, judging from the mess their owner has got into, will provide
very efficiently for the payment of the promised interest. Had we the
pencil of the artist, we should like to draw the portrait of "the party "
by whom this advertisement is put forth, and the other "party" who
will possibly reply to it. We foresee a correspondence, in which the
advertiser will be requested to forward his acceptances for £2000, to
some gentleman of a Jewish name, but whose principles are sound
Church, who has a friend also a high Churchman, who, when quite
satisfied that Church interests will be served, will be ready to advance
the sum required. We can imagine a police case arising out of t he
business, when the gentleman of " eminent position " and " Church prin-
ciples" (represented chiefly by a white choker) will call upon that
eminent Churchman, Mr. Davis Laurence, to show cause why he does
not return certain acceptances which sound Churchman Number One
entrusted to sound Churchman Number Two, and on which the former
has not received a shilling. If the Church wishes to keep itself out of
danger, we recommend its keeping itsslf quite free from bill transactions,
even though they be of the tempting kind suggested in the above
advertisement.

America and Russia.

Certain American prints avow that America sympathises with
Russia. We cannot believe so vile a scandal upon the American
people. That certain dwellers in the States may sympathise with the
Muscovites, we can easily conceive. The owner of the slave wishes
well to the owner of the serf. In this way, and in this way only, the
knout has the sympathy of the cow-hide.

the end of the black sea.

The present naval operations in the Black Sea have, for their ulti-
mate objt-ct, the ident ification of those waters with the Pacific.

devoid of any feeling of frugality, she would have made them wait till
they screamed for it. All that Mr. Tuck could get from this dissolute
woman in answer to his remonstrances, was, that "it was very hard to
deny the poor children a piece of bread." An astounding reply, pro-
bably, to that gentleman who, doubtless, thought that nothing could be
more easy. Tvote, that this instance of profusion occurred to Mr. Tuck
not less frequently than once.
Mr. Tuck further averred that,—

"He knew a gentleman who frequently visited the cottages of the poor, and that
gentleman had told him that he went one Tuesday into a cottage, the occupier of which
had revived his wages on the previous Monday, and witnessed such extravagance as
he would not have allowed in his owu house. The following Friday he visited the
sime house again, and the people, were eating dry bread."

In eating dry bread, did Mr. Tuck mean to say that they were con-
tinuing the course of extravagance, on the Friday, which they had
commenced on the Tuesday? It would be natural to conclude that he
did, as he evidently considers dry bread a thing of which it is possible
for labourers to eat too much ; and probably, with wages of even 10*.
or 12s. a-week, they would not, ahhough they had just been paid, have
been so outrageously extravagant as to eat anything better.

To some people, the case last quoted may not seem so strong against
the luxurious Noriolk labourers as that of the children, but it is equally
<o; for eating too much bread is the worst way of wasting it. That
which is given to a dog, nourishes the dog; that which is thrown away
may feed the sparrows ; but that which is unnecessarily swallowed is
wholly useless. If digestible, it goes to form superfluous fat; if
indigestible, it is so much rubbish, which cannot be shot into any
more unfit receptacle than the stomach. This is said with all deferpnee
to Mr. Tuck, who, no doubt, thinks that children ought to tuck all
their bread in.

The INorfolk labourers, by their excessive consumption of bread,
inflict severe suffering on the class of which Mr. Tuck is a member.
According to this gentleman :—

" There was a great deal of suffering after the measure for the repeal of the Corn
Uaws was passed, and no one knew better than he did that the loss of property was
enormous; but he believed they were suffering still from the repeal of the Corn Laws,
and be would prove it. The repeal of those laws caused such extravagant and uneco-
nomical practices on the part of the labourers that years and years would elapse before
they returned to their former habits."

Mb. Tuck, then, related the above quoted anecdotes in proof of the
extravagant and uneconomical practices of the labourers.

Surely, every feeling heart will commiserate Mk. Tuck and his
order, on account of t he suffering and privation which must have been
entailed upon them, through the loss of Protection, by the labourers'
inordinate indulgence in bread. We dare say that many of them are
actually no longer able, by reason of the scarcity of flour which has
thence arisen, to afford their livery-servants hair powder.

A Hero Actor.

The conduct of Lord Eknest Yane in the Ladies' dressing-rooms
of the Windsor Theatre, proves to demonstration that that very fine
young English gentleman is able at the very shortest notice to act the
part of Caliban in his own Tempest,.