THE HOME LIFE OF WALES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 10, 28 August 1911, Page 6

THE HOME LIFE OF WALES.

o— The Investiture of the Kings sou at (.ni iiarvou as Urine-- of Wales has directed much attention to \V ales and its people. Mr Frank Elias has a very informative article about tbe Welsh people in “T.P.’s Magazine.” He says:— “The student of Welsh life and character who encounters almost any village in North- Wales, will be able to acquire a full knowledge of his subject without travelling a mile farther. For Welsh life has a certain quality of uniformity which is not found in the other constituent peoples of the Empire.

No Upper Middle Class. “Practically there is no upper middle class in Wales. A few rich middleclass Welsh families there are, but these, even if they keep up a Welsh home, usually draw their wealth and spend it beyond the Welsh border. If, however, the visitor wishes to know who controls public opinion, who sits on the District and County Councils, or even who represents the Division in the House of Commons, he had much better regard the names painted over the shop fronts than try to discover the identity of the occupants of the lavish red brick villa which looks down into the village from its place on tho hillside. The owner of the villa, as likely as not, will ho found to be an Englishman—a retired Manchester cotton-spinner or a shipowner from Liverpool. If tire ini ai:er wishes to discuss higher education or tho involved subject of Crown Lands, he is advised to approach the drapery counter of the diminutive ‘London House.’ From the lips of the youthful draper ho will hoar, as well as anywhere, tho authentic accents of young Wales. And the opinions which these men express are not the easy deliverances of uninstructed intelligence. Their views are deliberate and, often enough, are inspired by direct contact with the

..iinds/cf their Parliamentary leaders. Not long ago I talked with such a rr.au, whose ideas worn based upon the substance of the many conversations he lias enjoyed with one of the most famous of Cabinet Ministers. The intimacy Between Cfass^s. It is probably true that no conscious instinct for the democratic is responsible for tins inter-relationship between employer and employed. But the staple of their conversation is a silver thread which leads ns at once to the desired explanation. These men and women of the lower middle and employed classes are brought thus closely together at the bidding of no social economy, however national or e>,alien its source. The cause of their oneness, of that uniformity which makes one home Hire another and this village like the next, is symbolised in an unshapely, barn-like little building in the main street.

“The centre of the Welshman’s life is the chapel. On it his hopes are set, and in its light every facet of bis character illuminates itself. He spends his leisure in its service, and even his relaxations are taken within its walls . The characteristic entertainment of the Welshman is the annual chapel “Tea Party and Grand concert.’ The ‘grandeur’ of the concert is taken for granted. The table spread before the purchaser of the tea-party ticket is not, perhaps, one to charm an eclectic taste. Bread and butter and bun loaf arc the chief, dishes. But there is abundance, there is an effervescing spirit of friendliness, and— though dear to the passionate musician in every AVolshman—there is- the prospect of the concert.

The Influence cf tbo Chapel. “But the significance of the chapel to the heart of the Welsh villager rests upon surer foundations than the social: Wales is a deeply religious nation, and the history of Wales is a religious history. Through the character of the Welshman there runs a strong strain of poetry and mysticism ; he feels, with a’ special urgency, the- appeal of the unseen. From libs childhood he has breathed in the religious fervour of his fathers. The magnificent services of the Welsh Sunday School to the national life have never been properly acknowledged. Nearly all the achievements of the Principality have had their foundation in this school.

Ths Minister. “No form is more characteristically Welsh than that of the minister. He is plainly a son of-the people. Indeed, every man who lias moved the mind of Wales during the past two hundred years was born poor. Moreover, with

the exception of Air Lloyd-ttern gc, nearly every Welshman who wi-ilds an iitlinonce over bis people has ivmained poor. Any obscure Englishman of modest prosperity gning daily to tiie city and living in a LUU house,

could have bought up most of the gioat Welshmen of the past. They had always to keep their wants humble. From inspiring then people they Jiad to face an empty larger. Um poor, those men wore not despised. 'Jiiciis wore the names their country celebrated. And so it is to-day.

The Welshman’s Lcve of Books.

“They have small means to buy hooks—these men—yet nearly every one of them has his library—a library which includes much of the best ol English literature. 3 bat this is so becomes obvious when, as they oltcu do in tlicir journeys, they preach in the Saxon tongue.

“But not only are those men readers; they arc writers and they are poets. Indeed, the greater number of the national bards are ministers of religion. “The Welsh minister is not, however ,wholly a self-trained man. He >s his denominational college and his National University. But, more than this, many Welsh preachers are Oxford men. No Nonconformist ministry, probably, has a larger number of its younger men holding Oxford degrees. Jesus College is the recognised home of Welsh culture, and it was among a notable set of Oxford men of tire la to eighties that the Young Wales Movement, of which i Tom Ellis was leader; had its rise.

“Lastly, the Welsh ministry is a ministry of great preachers. It inherets great traditions. It remomhers Howell Harris, Daniel Howlands, John Elias, Williams of Wern, Christmas Evans. Jr knows that the first business of the preacher is to preach. And so it expresses itself, not only in the pulpit in the voice of the ‘hwyl,’ but at the vast preaching meetings which are still held, as they were held in Rowland’s day, with every circumstance of fervour and over periods of many hours.

The National Hero.

“The influence which Mr Lloyd George wields in Wales is not, perhaps fully understood. It is tine that ho attracts tile admiration and enthusiasm which are the duo of tlie national leader. So, however, did Gladstone in England and Parnell in Ireland. Between the popular attitude towards these twain and that to-

wards Mr Lloyd George there is this difference, that Gladstone and Parnell, loved though they were by the common people, were regarded not only with affection, but with a certain element of awe. They were felt to stand upon another plane than that of their followers. There is very little of this feeling among the men who follow Lloyd George. “Mr Lloyd George has an enormous moral and political influence in Wales. But he exercises, in a curious degree, an influence of quite another kind. Not only is he moulding Welsh opinion: lie is even affecting Welsh psychology. The minor note in Welsh character has been observed. But the emergence of a Welshman, in every sense typical of his countrymen, upon the platform of world-history, has quickened the Welsh pulse, and widened tha Welsh outlook.”