90 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS
The Old Gentlemen on the Wheelbarrow
I OFTEN wonder if all the people In this country realise the changes
that are coming over the Industrial system In England.
It happens that I have seen a great deal of this evolution talcing
place before my own eyes. I worked for many years in an Industrial
business and had under me what was then considered a large number
of men.
It was a place where I had known from childhood every man on
the ground, where I was able to talk to men, not only about troubles
in the works, but troubles at home, where strikes and lock-outs were
unknown, and where the fathers and grandfathers of the men had
worked and their sons went automatically Into the business. It was
also a place where nobody ever got the sack, and where we had a
natural sympathy for those who were less concerned In efficiency than
this generation is. There were a large number of old gentlemen who
used to spend the day sitting on the handle of a wheelbarrow and
smoking their pipes,
Oddly enough, It was not an inefficient community. It was the
last survivor of that type of works, and ultimately was swallowed up
in one of those great combinations to which the Industries of the
country are tending. Stanley Baldwin
England Given Away
AT first the Island had no other inhabitants but the Britons, from
whom it derived its name. When they had made themselves
masters of the greatest part of the Island It happened that the nation
of the Picts, putting to sea In a few long ships, were driven by the
winds on the northern coasts of Ireland, where, finding the nation
of the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among them.
The Scots answered that the island could not contain them both;
but " we can give you good advice (said they) what to do. There is
another island not far from ours, which we often see at a distance
when the days are clear. If you will go thither you will obtain
settlements; or, if they should oppose you, you shall have our
assistance."
The Picts accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit
the northern parts.
Now the Picts had no wives, and asked them of the Scots, who
would not grant them upon any other terms than that, when any
difficulty should arise, they should choose a Mng from the female
royal race rather tlian from the male, which custom has been observed
to this day.
In process of time Britain received a third nation, the Scots, who,
migrating from Ireland, secured to themselves those settlements among
tjhe Picts which they still possess. Bede*9 History of England