Page:Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne.djvu/263

Rh speech on the topic. We have a saying amongst us: 'The man may spend and money lend, if his wife be ought,'—i.e. good wife;—'but he may work and try to save, but will have nought, if his wife be nought,'—i.e. bad or thriftless wife.

"Now, since you are intending to treat of the working man^s parliament and its duties, I will just throw out a few suggestions of what I consider should be the questions or measures that demand an early enquiry into and debate on. That guilds be established in every town, where masters and men may meet, so as to avoid the temptations of the public-house and drink. And then, let it be made law that every lad should serve an apprenticeship of not less than seven years to a trade or art, before he is allowed to be a member of such guild; also, that all wages be based on a rate of so much per hour, and not day, as at present; and let every man prove his workmanship before such a guild; and then allow to him such payment per hour as his craft merits. Let there be three grades, and then let there be trials of skill in workmanship every year; and then, if the workman of the third grade prove that he has made progress in his craft, reward him accordingly. Then, before a lad is put to any trade, why not see what he is naturally fitted for? Combe's book, entitled The Constitution