Chapter 12: Ibecome aFirewood Merchant.
Chapter 12: I become a Firewood Merchant.
"Nay, best it is, indeed,
To spend ourselves upon the general good;
And, oft misunderstood,
To strive to lift the limbs, and knees that bleed;
This is the best, the fullest meed.
Let ignorance assail or hatred sneer;
Who loves his race, he shall not fear."
LEWIS MORRIS.
AND SO IT befell that I became a Firewood Merchant, and had faint hopes of making my fortune! I purchased two horses and three carts, which went out laden with firewood two or three times a day, in charge of my drivers, who usually disposed of their stock. And the Leicester folk awoke amusedly to see "F. B. MEYER, FIREWOOD MERCHANT," amongst the other businesses for which that famous town was noted.
At first the anxiety was very oppressive; and I sometimes wonder how I was able to bear the strain of it, combined with my work at the prison, which I never neglected, and my preaching, pastoral, and other ministerial duties. For at that time Melbourne Hall, with all its great operations, was in full work; and I had each Sunday night a crowded audience of about fifteen hundred people, of which thoughtful men formed a large proportion.
We had first to buy wood from Grimsby, which cost some £4 per fathom. And it was not always easy to keep up a supply with a comparatively limited capital. Then there was considerable anxiety with the tramps and others, who turned the crank of the circular saw. There was also the need to see after the bundles of wood, which were made up in the little sheds, in which each man sat at work by himself. Sometimes these bundles were too large, or too small; or too loosely tied; or the wood looked common and dirty, preventing our sales. In addition to all of which, the salesmen did not always do their work as well as they might. But all these things drove me very near God. It really seemed as though I were in partnership with Him, and were counting on Him at every step. I owed much also to my manager, who did his best to assist me, and has since taken on the business. It was a pleasure for me to arrange such terms as made it easy for him to do so.
But from time to time extraordinary difficulties arose. Here is a sample. I had always taken a leading part in the temperance and blue ribbon movements; and the committee, of which I was president, was constantly engaged in a crusade against public-houses in Leicester and the neighbourhood. On one occasion we promoted a deputation to ask the magistrates to reduce the number of grocers' licences.
It is not easy to gauge the amount of injury done through the sale on the part of grocers of wines and spirits. Many a woman first learns to drink by the temptation thus put into her way. And it is so easy for her to get drink without attracting the notice of her neighbours by going or sending to the public-house. Besides, in the weekly account, the liquor supplied to her can go down among the groceries; and many a working man has bitterly rued the day when the drink came into his home by way of the grocer's shop.
To reduce the number of these licences was our aim; and a map was prepared, dotted with round red spots, each of which indicated the presence of a liquor shop. On the morning when the deputation met at the Temperance Hall, with the view of proceeding to the magistrates, it was suddenly discovered that the prominent men who were to have headed the deputation had not come. A hurried consultation was held, and it was unanimously agreed that the office should be assigned to myself I was not altogether unaware what it would involve, but I dared not flinch. It has always been a habit with me not to put on others work which I would not do myself, and so I undertook the duty.
The court was crowded with the publicans and their friends-with young lawyers, who enjoyed the opportunity of baiting the saints; with policemen and officials. We made our statement, enforced the undesirableness of multiplying the objectionable licences, and did our best to impress the Bench, which gave us a friendly hearing. Indeed, in their private capacity, all the magistrates were friends of mine; though on such an occasion we preserved a decorous distance. So we withdrew.
But then the storm broke. In the evening, notices were sent out, and a meeting of the drink-sellers was held to discuss the situation, and especially my action. It was then unanimously agreed that as I had dared to interfere with their trade, they would "boycott" my firewood; and as my principal business was done among small grocers, this was a very serious matter. No grocer who had a licence was free to buy our wood. Every epithet was heaped on me. Every bar-parlour rung with execration. And I was dared to go down certain streets of Leicester, under pain of personal violence. I walked down those streets the next day or two after in the most leisurely way, knowing that those who brag most are cowards at heart.
Still it was sufficiently alarming. My chief means of carrying on the business lay in my ready-money returns from the shops. It was only thus that I could pay for my wood and keep my business going. And now suddenly the sales fell away to about one-third of their former amount; the carts came back, day after day, almost as they started in the morning; and the salesmen became very disheartened. Besides, how could I go on with my manufacturing, when my piles of unused bundles were accumulating so largely?
Friends heard of my perplexities, and generously helped me. I never shall forget the kindness of one or two; and I laid the matter before Him on whom I ever looked as the chief Partner in the firm. And after two or three weeks the tide began to turn. The sales went up. The carts came back from their rounds empty, and we were all more hopeful. On one of these evenings, as a driver came in with his cart, I asked him what had altered the attitude of our customers, and he replied, "Well, sir, you see, the people don't like you any better than they did; but they say the religious firewood is better weight than the other firewood, and so they are coming back to us." It is a good thing to put your religion into firewood. It pays!
The routine of the day was as follows:-The men were supposed to be up at six. An hour's work was done before breakfast. I managed to arrive at 7.45 for prayers. This was always a great occasion. Imagine a transformed stable, with tables running from end to end, except where broken by a great flat stove, in and on which several breakfasts were being cooked, the odour from them being extraordinarily fragrant. It was sometimes as much as I could do to stand my ground. Then the men came in, sometimes as many as thirty or thirty-five. We sang one of Sankey's hymns, more or less in tune, but always heartily. Next came the reading and exposition of some brief passage of Scripture, followed by prayer.
When prayer was over, any complaints were made or disputes adjudicated, the story of one of which I will here relate.
We had been much troubled with men breaking out again in drink, though one of the conditions of residence with us was that the pledge should be strictly kept. Here was a great problem. I could not turn the men out of my place without abandoning my efforts for their welfare; and if they left Providence House, there was nowhere for them to turn to. I could not punish them, of course; and yet it was essential to do something. So one morning I made the proposition that if a man broke out drinking he should leave the place, unless the rest of us were willing to raise ten shillings between us for the funds of the Prisoners' Aid Society. Of this sum the men were to contribute 2s. 6d., and I contributed 7s. 6d. In this way I hoped to bind them into a sort of Mutual Protection Society.
Shortly after this four men broke out drinking altogether; and after prayers they were sent outside while the rest of us consulted what to do. It was very interesting to watch the experiment, and to feel that for the first time some of the men were genuinely interested in each other's welfare, and stood in a strait between their own interests and the salvation of their brothers.
"Why should we fine ourselves for them?" said one.
"Well," said I, "on the same principle as led the
Almighty to give Christ to die."
"Let's pick out one of them," said another. No," said the rest; "all or none."
And at last, after a great deal of talk, they agreed to raise half-a-crown for each of the men, making ten shillings in all, and I found the remainder.
It was very touching. One man gave up the money he was saving for some boots; another what he had put aside for his dinner; and so on. Then the four men were admitted. We told them what we had done, and how we were willing to suffer in order to save them. It touched a new chord in their hearts, bound the whole of them together with a new tie, and helped to build up a strong breakwater of public sentiment against the drink, behind which the weaker could take shelter. Thus we tried to carry out the inspired injunction, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
Under the rough upper-crust of men of this class, there are noble and generous qualities, crushed by long years of lovelessness, passion, drink, and self-will, and waiting for the call of the Saviour. Beneath his touch, and the entrance of his life, they awake; and instead of being spasmodic and fitful, become the permanent principles and possessions of the soul.