LESSON XVII

INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE

A FEW hours' ride from the lake country, and all that is quiet and delightful in nature, brought the Cartmell party to Preston, a typical English cotton manufacturing place, somewhat like Manchester, only much smaller. They left the

train, and took lunch in the great hotel near the station, and then rode for two hours through the principal streets, and to Miller Park, a very beautiful recreation ground on the banks of the Ribble. Miss Gray and Florence greatly admired the design of the Town Hall. The other children

were much excited to see the many operatives come from the cotton-mills at noon, and hasten home for lunch. Some of them wore "sabots," or wooden shoes, which made much noise on the sidewalks. Mr. Cartmell remarked as they re

turned to the train,

"I never see the name of Preston without thinking of that great inventor of the spinning-jenny, Richard Arkwright, who was born here. His parents were too poor to educate him; but he died a knight, and worth over $2,000,000. also began the great temperance movement in England called the Teetotal Movement.'"

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Here

Thirty miles from Preston is the great city of Manchester, noted the world over for its cotton manufacturing. Starting out from the Queen's Hotel, near the centre of the town, the Cartmells drove through some of the most interesting streets, and by the most celebrated buildings. Their hotel stood on Piccadilly, one of the chief streets; and near by they passed the Royal Infirmary, adorned as usual with statues of great men, James Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine, being one of them.

They next saw the Exchange, a massive structure with a Corinthian portico.

"What is this building for, papa?"

"On cotton-market days, from one to two o'clock, it is crowded with buyers and sellers from all parts of Lancashire. It then presents a scene of great bustle and apparent confusion."

The streets in the older parts of the city, about the imposing Town Hall, were quite narrow, and contained many ordinary blocks. But in the suburbs many fine residences

were to be seen.

Miss Gray thought that the finest building in the city was the Assize Courts, because it was so large, and built of different kinds of stone, exhibiting many harmonious colors.

Mrs.

Cartmell greatly admired the slender, pointed tower, rising to a great height from the centre of the building. In riding about the city they frequently saw various canals, and the river Irwell, which is crossed by numerous bridges. Many huge and homely cotton-mills were seen, for this city is one of the largest cotton-making places in the world.

"Did you know," asked Mr. Cartmell, "that Manchester is the home of free trade? Bright and Cobden were great

leaders in this movement. The former was twice elected to Parliament from Manchester."

"Now, driver, take us to see the canal."

"What do you know about this canal, papa? Fred asked.

"I know, my son, that it is considered to be one of the biggest and most costly canal experiments ever made. It reaches 36 miles from this city to near Liverpool on the Mersey. It is 20 feet deep and 120 feet wide; so that ships

from America with cotton on board can pass through the canal, and carry their loads almost to the very doors of these great mills. Chicago's great drainage canal is, however, a greater enterprise. In one sense we can now call Manchester a seaport."

They saw the Manchester end of the great artificial river, and one of the five great locks needed in bringing ships up from Liverpool. These locks are huge stone structures. They saw a large cotton-laden vessel pass through the lock nearest Manchester.

"Here we are, children," said Mr. Cartmell, “at Liverpool."

"Where do you intend to stop, papa "" ? Florence asked, as the porter opened the side doors for them to get out.

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Up-stairs, my dear."

"Up-stairs! and we are in a railroad station! How absurd, papa!"

They all did so, and found themselves in the office of the Great Western Hotel, right over the station; and soon after, in their elegant suite of rooms, they found themselves able to look out upon the great central square of the city.

Mr. French, Miss Gray, and the children immediately went out to walk and to explore. The great building opposite their windows in the hotel they learned was St. George's Hall, looking like a Greek temple, with its massive colonnades of sixteen columns, and the many emblematic figures above. On the farther side of St. George's Square stood the imposing buildings called Brown's Free Library and Museum. While the buildings facing this square are very large and fine, they found, not far away, several very inferior structures covered with advertisements in large letters. These incongruities are frequent in foreign cities.

Mr. French next led them through a fine-looking and very