IX.

THEN AND NOW.


Great indeed are the changes that have taken place in Birmingham during
the past forty or fifty years. I do not speak merely in regard to the
growth, appearance, and the commercial progress of the town and city,
but in respect to the life and habits of the people--especially the
better class of the inhabitants.

Half a century ago many of the well-to-do prosperous manufacturers were
practical men--men who had worked at the bench and the lathe, and, from
being workmen, had become masters. There were not so many manufactories
then as now, and the leading manufacturers found themselves in the happy
position of men who were "getting on" and becoming rich. Men as a rule
are, perhaps, more happy when they find they are making money than when
they have made it, and have nothing to do but to spend it, or to puzzle
their brains as to how they shall do so. "Oh! Jem," piteously said a man
I knew, to his nephew, "what am I to do with that ten thousand pounds
a-lying at the bank?"

When "getting on," men go to their various businesses day after day and
find orders rolling in and goods going out, and themselves prospering
and becoming better and better off, they are disposed to be contented,
well pleased with their neighbours, and well satisfied with themselves.
So with these old Birmingham manufacturers. They were well content,
genial, and hospitable. They did not give themselves any fine airs or
pretensions; indeed, they were often proud of their success and