Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/108

96 Mr. Boake, was appointed to Cheddar, and began the custom of catechising the children in church, but he lived in Axbridge, so little was the need of residence understood.

A still more arduous undertaking lay before the undaunted Britomart and Belphœbe. Nailsea then lay in the midst of a thicket, and had a glass factory, as well as collieries which attracted many of the worst characters in the country; but, like the publicans and sinners of old, they proved the most amenable, and especially eager to secure a place for the schools. A Mr. and Mrs. Young were found for the school, and the experiences here were quite unlike those of the other places.

"The colliers are abundantly more human than the people of the glass houses. The work there is irregular, and the furnaces cannot be allowed to cool, so that the Sunday brings no rest. The wages high, the eating and drinking luxurious, the body scarcely covered, but fed with dainties of a shameful description. The high buildings of the glass houses ranged before the doors of these cottages—the great furnaces roaring—the swearing, eating, and drinking of these half-dressed, black-looking human beings, gave it a most infernal and horrible appearance. One, if not two joints of the finest meat were roasting in each of these little hot kitchens, pots of ale standing about, and plenty of early delicate vegetables.