The following notes respecting
local societies have been culled from blue books, annual reports, and
private special information, the latter being difficult to arrive at, in
consequence of that curious reticence observable in the character of
officials of all sorts, club stewards included.
_Artisans at Large_.--In March, 1868, the Birmingham artisans who
reported on the Paris Exhibition of 1867, formed themselves into a
society "to consider and discuss, from an artisan point of view, all
such subjects as specially affect the artisan class; to promote and seek
to obtain all such measures, legislative or otherwise, as shall appear
beneficial to that class; and to render to each other mutual assistance,
counsel, or encouragement." Very good, indeed! The benefits which have
arisen from the formation of this society are doubtless many, but as the
writer has never yet seen a report, he cannot record the value of the
mutual assistance rendered, or say what capital is left over of the
original, fund of counsel and encouragement.
_Barbers_.--A few knights of the razor in 1869 met together and formed a
"Philanthropic Society of Hairdressers," but though these gentlemen are
proverbial for their gossiping propensities, they tell no tales out of
school, and of their charity boast not.
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