Round And About.

inventor of that peculiar method of purifying and hardening steel which has practically revolutionised the trade , is a Mason , as are all his sons . "Endcliffe" is a charming little stone-built house , three miles out of Sheffield , and contains a very good collection of pictures , among them some of the

finest specimens of Bro . T . B . Hardy , the water-colour artist , and formerly a Sheffield man . The motto of the house is " hospitality "—or if it is not it should be—which is certainly never found wanting among the northern hills . In the morning we walked into the town , and went over the

works , where Bro . William Allen , an Oxford University man , and a member of the Apollo Lodge , took great pains in initiating us into the mysteries of the " Siemen " process of steel manufacture . Of course , one could not miss the customary luncheon which the heads of the firm

and the departments partake of at the works ; and so through the still drizzling rain that same old rollicking cab dodges the innumerable " shafts " and belching chimney stacks , and smoky , prosperous , wealthy Sheffield knew

me no more . The following letter , addressed to me by Mr . Thomas Reynolds , is worthy of publication , if only to show with what zeal this gentleman has taken up the teachings of Edward

Bellamy : —¦ "LOOKING BACKWARD . " While being evidently thoroughly satisfied of the truthfulness and correct colouring of the two highly-graphic pictures , of Society as it is and as it might be , framed in Bellamy ' s glorious book , " Looking

Backward , " you are , as is nearly every other spectator , extremely doubtful as to the possibility of obliterating the awful reality of Society as it is and replacing it with the happy twentieth century conditions held up to our longing gaze in that delightful work of fiction ; at all events you do not expect so glorious a transformation under some hundred years or so : and , in accordance with the almost universal

opinion , the main causes for this depressing doubt are , first , that our degraded community is not fitted at present for social equality ; that it must be educated , up to such a system ; and , secondly , that , as the public never lias taken up vigorously and unanimously any public measure ever proposed , it necessarily follows that it will not be very ready to embrace the enormous and extraordinary scheme at which

Mr . Bellamy hints in " Looking Backward : " and which I boldly propose as a practical measure of social reform . Now , while I have at my command a perfect torrent of arguments to offer in support of the opposite view of these matters , my time and your patience will admit but of my directing your serious attention to the following .

With regard to the first objection , I should be quite content to leave a clear-headed man like yourself to the calm consideration of that portion of " Looking Backward" ( page 39 , Wame ' s edition ) , where Mr . West remarks , " Human nature itself must have changed

very much ; whereupon Dr . Leete replies , "Not at all ; but the conditions of human life have changed , and with them the motives of human action ; " but , in addition to this , I would direct your most serious consideration to good old Robert Owen's fine essay on the formation of character ; the reading of which , a most agreeable task , would occupy but some fifteen minutes or so . If these two do not

relieve your mind of this painful doubt , I much fear whether the numerous other arguments available will effect the desired cure . All experience ( which in such cases as this we generall y ignore ) teaches that change of conditions invariably alters results ; an apt illustration being observable in our School Board Acts . The object of these is to take out of the gutter the children of the poor and give

them a sound , intellectual , and moral training . And why ? Why in order to cause the future generations to be happier beings and better citizens . That this wise and benevolent intention is so frequently defeated is no argument against the principle ; the failure being invariably due to the demoralising effects of a competitive system , whereby the embryo vulgar pickpocket is simply transformed into the

refined forger or swindling bank director . AVith regard to the supposed difficulty of obtaining a general consensus of opinion relative to our novel proposition , let us suppose that , when walking down Fleet-street , you hail a well-dressed and appointed man who is proceeding on the opposite side of the road ; and , having gained his attention , you exhibit to him two penny pieces , informing him that you will present them to him if he will walk across the road to fetch them . Now I think the probabilities are in favour of his

declining your liberal offer . At all events he will not exhibit much alacrity in accepting it . But try him with a f 1 , 000 ( the transaction being , of course , understood to be bond fide ) , and observe the difference of the result ! Now if you will but reflect for a few moments you will discover that > compared with our present offer , we have , for hundreds of years , been

offering ( in the shape of Parliamentary measures proposed or carried ) twopences , sixpences , shillings and , perhaps sometimes , five shillings , to an impecunious public , all of which have been either declined or very apathetically accepted : whereas we now offer that said public , say , ten thousand pounds each , the bond fides of which offer alone remain to be provedand will it be argued that this latter offer will

, meet with the same chilling reception as have the former ? Yet this is what every man to whom I talk asserts ! In other words , every other measure ever proposed has offered to each individual of the large majority of the population a personal benefit ( usually distant and problematical ) which we might safely

designate by one shilling ; whereas the measure now offered may well be regarded as a thousand pounds , with certain and immediate possession ; wherefore its eager and general acceptance is certain , when its nature is clearly understood . No matter how patriotic a man may be , he invariably asks himself ( though , usually , very so / to voce ) " What shall / gain by this measure ? " And in strict accordance with the

nature of the reply is the support he gives the said measure . Selfishness , the most dreadful curse of this awfully cursed system of competition , and the blessing and surest safeguard of a twentieth century system , is , and ever will be , the motive power in every instance . But I am here broaching a new and most important subject , on which I have a deal to say ; sofearing your impatiencewill hasten to

, , conclude by assuring you that selfishness , the chief factor in human action , is entirely in our favour , and must sooner ( if our recognised authorities will but advocate the reading of " Looking Backward" ) or later ( a hundred years perhaps , if those authorities persist in condemning its principles ) secure our triumph .

I am not altogether certain that I know exactly what Mr . Reynolds means , but he always seems to be so earnest in his question of Social Reform , and so jubilant over one sinner that repenteth , that I have > K > doubt he will be able to bring me presently to his w ; i y of thinking . True ,

there was a time when I looked upon Bellamy ' s work with a certain amount of suspicion , but that suspicion has gradually vanished , and now I see in " Looking Backward " not only a "glorious book" as Mr . Reynolds calls it , but an entire new religion without a particle of fanaticism about

it . The question of Social Reform is a big one , and one not at all likely to move in my time . IV . it men , like Thomas Reynolds , who is so wedded to the niise that lie never leaves a public conveyance without exhorting everyone to read "Looking Backward , " must d < - some good for the cause , even if it be . only to make themselves poor over their own self-sacrifice .

To begin with , my experience ( the working-man is a sad one indeed ; but perhaps I iny make use of a paragraph I had written for—elsewh , which happens to be at hand in my portfolio . " W a worn-out bit of machinery the British workman i lie grumbles at

the laws which give him power keep his position in the great scramble for existcn md considers his employer the greatest enemy he L : <) t . He is never satisfied . He has no ambitions . The lever of the stomach sets the little worthless ma . in motion for a

few hours , and it stops of its own a when the clock reads at a certain figure in its circuit . content with the condition his own loose mind has br him to , he still howls for the law , to lead him further ; ie long paths of indolenceand compel the master him his day's

, w , wage " , to employ him but for eight -. ¦ ¦ . a stretch . It seems ungenerous to rail against tin . 1 dispositions of the ordinary working-man , but the n gets acquainted