room but two reading-rooms supported by their
weekly pence, not situated like the Mechanics'
Institution in the great central thoroughfare,
but each in its own humble quarter, among the
artisans who used it, and by whom exclusively
it was managed. In each case it was made a
fundamental rule that nobody should be on the
committee of management except mechanics
dependent upon receipt of weekly wages.
Dukes might subscribe if they chose, and
attend the reading-room if they chose, but they
must sit with the men in fustian, and acquire
no power whatever of taking the lead out of
their hands. It would not be permitted even
to a greengrocer to sit on the committee. The
subscription was the weekly penny, but the
member out of work from no fault of his own
would be for the time on the free list, and
entitled to the use of the room and the borrowing
of books gratuitously till he got wages again.
Little libraries of volumes that might be borrowed
and taken home were formed, grew in extent,
and are now furnishing, in Carlisle, thousands of
readings by the working man's fireside. The
idea took strong hold in the old city which
contained at last eight or ten such working men's
reading-rooms, two of them being large, and so
well and earnestly conducted that evening
schools for adults and for children had
spontaneously arisen in connexion with them.

The Carlisle working men easily obtained for
these proceedings the public applause of Lord
Brougham and others, out it is curious that to
this day they have not been imitated. We should
like very much to see this Carlisle example
followed. But the movement is one that can only
begin with working men, and can only be
sustained by them where the clergyman of the
parish, or some sensible and kindly man like Dr.
Elliott, is ready to give neighbourly help, by
the loan of a room, the gift perhaps of a few
books, or any small aid that may appear natural
and wholesome, without assuming on account of
friendly service any airs of patronage. What
is given—if anything be given—must be in the
form of a free present, justifying no more airs
and interferences on the part of the donor
than a Christmas hamper sent in common good
will to a friend. Between the upper, middle,
and working classes, there is close
interdependence. The working men do, in their
own way and according to their means, many
a good turn to their richer neighbours; and
in the social exchange of friendly offices there
is no reason on earth why a more or less
substantial present in aid of a good enterprise,
by men of little means, should not be made by
any one who can afford it, without the shadow
of an idea on his side that he thereby establishes
a right of meddling or dictation. The working
coat shall thus never be frowned out of the
company, and the member with the honest stains
of work yet on him shall not be ashamed to
look in on his way home to borrow a book for
his evening's household entertainment.

At Carlisle they have not only thus held
their ground in the right way; they have
advanced so famously that a couple of months' ago
one of the reading societies opened, still in its
own natural district, Caldew-gate, a building of
its own, for library and reading-room, in
connexion with a Temperance Hall, in which working
men can get a wholesome breakfast or tea at
no more than the home cost for materials and
cooking. It is now the main hive of these
honeybees, that know so well how to lay up provision
of the sweets of toil. It is a plain brick building,
of which the ground-floor supplies food to
the body, and the upper-floor food to the
mind. Below is a spacious hall, heated by a
large stove at one end, and having at the other
end fit apparatus for preparing the refreshments.
There are six tables in the room, covered with
white cloths, and meals may be had from eight
o'clock in the morning until ten at night; on
Saturdays till eleven. Tobacco, beer, wine and
spirits not being allowed on the premises. Good
tea, coffee, and cocoa are supplied for a penny a
cup; bread, cakes, and biscuits may be had from
a halfpenny-worth upwards; butter, cheese, pork
pies, and so forth, are supplied also at the same
natural prices. Overhead is a reading-room of
equal size, well warmed and lighted, and
supplied with seats and tables. It is pretty well
stocked with newspapers and periodicals, and a
smaller room adjoining it serves as the library.

The ground on which the building stands is
worth a hundred pounds, and that was given
by Messrs. Carr, the biscuit-bakers. There is also
a small building debt. But since this improvement
in the accommodation the number of subscribers
to the reading-room has increased by seventy-two
per cent. In the old room the weekly excess of
income over expenditure was ninepence only, in
the new room it is seven and threepence; so that
the little society is six and sixpence a week
richer for the change, barring its little debt,
which with the friendly help it is likely to get
from those who can afford to give, will soon be
paid. Of the energy, indeed, of this wise
thirteen-year-old action on their own behalf by
the working men of Carlisle a notion may be
given if we quote what Lord Brougham said
when presiding over the Lancashire Union of
Mechanics' Institutions. He said that, however
justly Manchester might boast of its liberal supply
of books and newspapers to the people, yet
before it could equal Carlisle in this respect it
would have to multiply its library and
newsroom accommodation fourteen times!

The wholesome action by and for the working
men of Carlisle does not stop here. We all know
how bad trade has been and is this winter in the
north of England. At the first warning of the
pinch there was established, in connexion with the
new Temperance Hall, a steam apparatus for soup
manufacture on the amplest scale; costing a
hundred pounds; but, once set up, it is permanent,
and it makes soup that really is palatable
and nourishing food, though it can be sold for a
penny a pint, and leave a trifling profit. This
soup the labourer's wife in hard times can buy
with no more sense of taking alms than she has
when she buys her bread; or it may be eaten