The Copybook
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Thomas Wright never earned more than a foreman’s wage, but he helped hundreds of prisoners back into society.
Thomas Wright (1789-1875) was an ordinary Manchester workman who dedicated his life to helping former prisoners back into society, all on his own time and using his own money. Yet he never earned much over £150 a year, roughly £15,000 today.
Charles Dickens rails at the way Parliament and do-gooders treat the public like an irresponsible child.
In 1855, a Bill to restrict Sunday trading provoked riots in Hyde Park; Charles Dickens hosted his own in ‘Household Words’. His objection was not to Sunday Observance, a venerable Christian custom which he actively encouraged, but to politicians and campaigners who treat the General Public like a helpless child.
The Dublin to Dun Laoghaire line opened in 1834, and proved a remarkable testimony to the speed of technological progress.
In 1825, the world’s first railway carrying fare-paying public passengers opened, triumphantly tackling the eight-mile stretch between Stockton and Darlington in three hours. Just nine years later, Ireland acquired its own first railway, from Dublin to Dun Laoghaire, and the six-mile journey was over in twenty minutes.
A Japanese swordsman confronts a Russian monk for... actually, he’s not really quite sure.
In 1859, Hakodate in Japan became one of the first Japanese cities to establish trade relations with foreign nations, with the opening of a Russian Consulate. Fear of Westernisation was high, and Russian missionary Fr Nicholas Kasatkin went there determined to ensure that Christianity would be as authentically Japanase as possible, but for one proud warrior that was not sufficient.
A young Indian student from Cambridge was selected for England’s cricket team after public pressure.
In 1934, India inaugurated the Ranji Trophy, a first-class cricket tournament in honour of K.S. Ranjitsinhji (1872-1933), an Indian prince of the British Raj who played cricket for several years at the very highest level for England, a country he loved dearly and which loved him in return.
One of England’s most precious artefacts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, was nearly lost at sea.
Just before the Danes sacked the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793, the monks smuggled out the body of St Cuthbert, carrying it on their shoulders all over Northumbria in the hope of finding a place free from violence. Eventually, their successors led by Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Eadred lost heart, and decided to take refuge in Ireland.