THE WORKING MAN'S EXHIBITION.
T" "North London Working Classes' Industrial Exhibition," which was opened on Monday at the Islington Agri-
cultural Hall, is an interesting corollary to the great Inter- national Show of 1862. It was objected at the time that the latter was not so much a show of skilled labour as of capital commanding skilled labour, and this impression seems to have taken root in the minds of many of the working classes. Several attempts have been made since the year 1862 to get up a "real working-man's exhi- bition " in London, and the first practical result of this movement was a little bazaar of odds and ends at the Lambeth Baths some six months ago. This proved a success in a small way, and encou- raged a number of working-men in Clerkenwell to try a similar show on a somewhat larger scale. Meetings "at the Lamb and Flag Ragged Schools" and similar humble places of discussion brought adhesions from many other quarters, and the upshot was a general agreement among a few dozen workmen, chiefly joiners and printers, to hold a large "Industrial Exhibition" at the Agricultural Hall. Before fully embarking in the scheme they applied, with characteristic caution, to a number of political and philanthropic celebrities to become guarantors of the expenses to be incurred, and the promise of some 3501. having been obtained in this way the enterprise got fairly launched. But at this stage of the proceedings the most curious point of the projected exhi- bition began to develop itself. The workmen of Clerkenwell, Islington, and the neighbouring districts being appealed to for con- tributions showed great alacrity in forwarding the produce of their skill, but not of what may be called the skill of their legitimate industry. Few, if any, workers sent the produce of their own trade. That he should be able to construct the delicate pa sii of a chronometer seems nothing extraordinary to the watchmaker, but he takes immense pride in painting a bit of canvass, or carving an old piece of wood in his leisure hours. Accordingly, called upon to contribute to the new exhibition, the working-man came forward with the oddest jumble of amateur labour—labour not unfrequently of much intrinsic merit, yet chiefly distinguished as being the produce of spare hours and irregular exertion. It is this which is the most remarkable fact in connection with the singular show at the Agricultural Hall.
The hall, an immense place, a sort of cross between a chapel and a railway station, is well adapted for the display. When we enter, a little after seven in the evening, it is filled by a dense crowd of probably not less than ten thousand people, each of whom has paid his twopence for admission. Nearly all of them, are apparently working-men with their families, though there is a thin sprinkling of other curious visitors, among them two Parsecs and a very fat little Chinaman. The hall is pretty much in the same state in which it has been left by recent cattle, pig, horse, dog, and donkey shows, except that a few screens and banners have been put up, with the orthodox mottoes, "Be earnest," "Work and wait," and similar vague scraps of exhortation. At the first superficial glance the show does not seem to differ much from the display of ordinary bazaars, and it is only on closer ex- amination that we discover its real character. To fill the super- fluous room within the large hall, which otherwise would have looked bare, the organizers of the exhibition have had recourse to loans from tradesmen, private individuals, and that large store- house of oddities the Kensington Museum, and the contributions thus received, as may be imagined, look far more brilliant than the real stock of the show. The latter, too, is not always dis- played in the most advantageous manner, owing no doubt to the very limited command of time and means of the hard-wbrldng and unpaid committee. However, a little examination puts us at once on the track of the real labouring men and their labours. Here is a bootmaker who exhibits the model of a country house, such a one probably as is the goal of his ambition, and next to it are specimens of ornamental books by a carpenter, with crayon drawings by a " hide-splitter," whatever that business may be. The artistis hide-splitter in a notice states with evident pride that the crayons he uses are "home made." A little farther on an operative chemist exhibits a "pedigree of the descendants of Wil- liam of Wykeham, together with a pedigree of her Majesty," while a druggist's assistant shows a well-made model of Shakes- peare's house. Some very clever wood carvings and cork models are shown by a hairdresser, and the Great Eastern and other famous vessels are imitated in beadwork by a shoemaker. A young woman who gives her profession as "tooth-brush drawer"—we have not the faintest notion what it means—presents a good col- lection of botanical specimens, while a journeyman bookbinder furnishes a model of a large vessel, with note, "Took two years to 'build in leisure time." The "to build" is quite as good as the
model. When whittling away in the long winter evenings, after supper, with a jug of ale at his side, and his wife looking on in mute admiration, the man evidently was a builder in his own mind, and not a mere bookbinder. Model-making altogether seems to find much favour among the working-classes, "Susan Gregory, domestic servant," exhibits a "cardboard model of Camberwell Green Congregational Church," and a letter-carrier gives a "model of the Prince of Wales's Marriage," with farm, village, and railway in the background. Another still more ambi- tious letter-carrier presents to the public gaze the manuscript of "five farces written at different times, and played at the Soho, Sadler's Wells, and Grecian Theatres." The phrase "different
times" is rather obscure ; one would not suppose even a letter-
carrier to write five farces at one and the same time. But there is more authorship than this at the exhibition. A glass painter shows his manuscripts of" The Parish Brat, and Minor Poems ;" a printer gives "Literary Recreations, containing original poems, prose- writings, and music," and the members of the Barbican Mutual Improvement Society contribute a whole box full of poems, essays, tales, and histories. All the specimens seem fairly done, though to judge by cursory examination there is a certain amount of affectation in the style of most of the writers.
The "Working Classes-Industrial Exhibition " is curious enough so far, but the most curious part of it is the artistic collection.
Very nearly one-half of all the objects exhibited are drawings, designs, paintings, and works of sculpture. Considering that England is always represented as a country where there is "no taste for art," this seems a very striking fact. Equally striking is it that the love of art shows itself in quarters where it might be least expected. Several pork-butchers exhibit oil paintings of con- siderable size, and bricklayers, carpenters, hatters, and shoemakers figure as contributors in the same way. There are more than a dozen pictures by butchers, and what is quite in keeping with the pervading spirit of the whole exhibition, none of them contain any pigs, sheep, or cattle. A quiet landscape with a pretty cottage and garden in front, and the gudewife looking out of the window, or an idyllic brook with swans and overhanging trees, seem among the subjects most attractive to artist-butchers. But other trades have other tastes. "J. Wright, dealworker," gives six paintings, among which are "The Christian Martyr," "An Old Ironside," and "Lord Strafford Going to Execution ;" and "W. Sewell, jun., tailor," treats like themes in "Old and Poor" and "Christ Bles- sing the Bread." The choice of these subjects by the latter amateur painters is as strikingly indicative of their trades as the idyllic pictures of the butchers. Then, again, "C. Busain, police-ser- geant, police-station, Hackney," exhibits water-colour drawings of " Evening," " Marshes, Cheshunt," and" Waiting Return of Fish- ing-boats ;" a currier presents oil paintings of "Going to School," "Too Hot," and "Cows in the Pool ;" and the same letter- carrier who has written five farces at different times found leisure to paint both in oil and water colours such calm things as baskets full of grapes and fruit. If it were pos- sible to theorize on the subject, one might say that the more restless a man's trade the more he admires quiet subjects, and vice versa. Here is another illustration :—" B. Giles, draper's assistant," has oil paintings of highly romantic scenery, including "Fort Neiderhass, near Passau," " Bellaggio," and "Lake of Como," and, on the other hand, "R. J. Sparrow, locksmith," gives life.size drawings of very calm and serene male and female heads ; and "M. Doyle, stamper in the Post-Office," exhibits shepherd boys and flower girls. Again, a stationer's ware- houseman presents "Ascents of Great St. Bernard," and similar subjects of a sensational nature, while "Henry Brown, fireman and porter," has expended his leisure in copying in oil the quietest of teetotal sketches from the British Workman and Band of Hope Review. Quite conspicuous in the list stands "J. Long, hair- dresser," with the label "self taught." He exhibits a colossal and quite ferocious bust of Lady Macbeth, with her hair not dressed. Here, as everywhere else, trade is completely annihilated by art.
A feature quite as notable as the pictures, busts, and drawings themselves is the interest shown in them by the multitude which nightly throngs the Agricultural Hall. The cases of rich jewellery, watches, stuffed animals, and other showy things lent by kindly traders and shopkeepers, appear to attract but very little attention, but the multitude swarms unceasingly around the contributions marked as "artistic objects." Some of the criticisms, loudly ex- pressed, are very striking, and show not a little judgment. The rules applied by the critics seem invariably of the most homely kind ; "that dog looks like a real dog," is the highest praise bestowed. Nothing can surpass the orderly behaviour of this great, boisterous, art-loving crowd. There is not a single policeman visible in the whole building, and many of the show-eases, with often valuable goods, appear entirely unprotected ; yet, as we were informed," not a pin has been missing since the place was opened." On the whole, the Working-man's Exhibition is one of the most interesting which has cropped up in this our age of shows.
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