SIR TITUS SALT.

HERE have been those who have not scrupled to assert that large fortunes, and vast commercial

interests, must of necessity have had some portion of falsehood or want of rectitude in their upbuilding; that an honest and at the same time a greatly successful business man, they are inclined to think, is rather an exceptional growth of this age and country. The man who claims our attention now, who had much to do in developing the commercial importance of the Midland Counties of England, and of the country itself, was both honest and God-fearing, and his life is another added to those perennial biographies whose lessons will be drawn upon by all right thinking men for all time to The greatness of Sir Titus Salt was of a kind which would make him popular and useful anywhere; the poet, the author, and the preacher may appeal to a select few, but a man who appeals to the practical instincts of a practical people, as Sir Titus Salt has done, is sure to meet with almost universal understanding and approval.

come.

The grandfather of Titus Salt bore the same name, and carried on an iron-founding business at Sheffield. He does not seem to have been particularly successful, as, when the

business was handed over to his son Daniel Salt, he in turn carried it on but for a few years. This Daniel Salt was married on 5th July 1802, to Grace Smithies, of the Old Manor House, Morley. Her father had been a drysalter, and for a short period her young husband carried on this business. In personal appearance he has been described as a plain, blunt, Yorkshire man, with a strong muscular figure, and an impediment in his speech. In business he was noted for energy and industry. His wife was of a delicate constitution, of a retiring disposition, and with sweet manners. She belonged to a dissenting church, and was an earnest Christian woman.

Titus Salt, the first son of a large family, was born at the Old Manor House, Morley, Yorkshire, on the 20th September 1803. The village of his nativity, situated about four miles from Leeds, is said to have numbered but 2100 inhabitants at the time of his birth, although it has since grown until it numbers about 13,000. The people of the place had something of the old Puritan spirit about them, observing the Sabbath very strictly, keeping up the good habit of family worship, and were almost without exception Dissenters. Young Titus inherited his father's strong constitution, and in the words of one of his playmates, 'he was a bright boy for his years, full of fun when with those whom he knew well, but shy with strangers.' His first school was a dame school, where he learned to read; and in his ninth year, he attended a school at Batley in the neighbourhood. Batley was fully six miles from Morley, which was a very considerable walk for such a young lad. He carried his own dinner, consisting of oatcake and milk. This milk he was obliged to supply himself with before he left home, by milking the cow in the dark mornings.

Like many other great men, he was mostly indebted to his

mother for the higher elements of his home education; she instilled into his young mind a respect for religion, for the Sabbath, for the church, and for the Christian ministry, which remained with him through life. She taught him to pray and to read his Bible morning and evening. The following inscription was written on a Bible presented to him at this time. This same inscription he re-wrote on the Bibles which he presented to his own children :

'TO TITUS SALT.

'May this blest volume ever lie

Close to thy heart and near thine eye;

Till life's last hour thy soul engage,

And be thy chosen heritage.'

In the year 1813, when in his tenth year, his father removed from Morley, and entered upon the work of a farm at Crofton, three miles from Wakefield. A young ladies' boarding-school kept there was presided over by Miss Mangall, the authoress of Mangall's Questions. At this time he attended a day school connected with Salem Chapel, Wakefield, kept by the Rev. B. Rayson. A letter from one of his schoolfellows contains the following sketch of his appearance at this time:-'Mr. Rayson gave up the school at Christmas 1815, from which time it was conducted by Mr. Enoch Harrison, who had for several years been Mr. Rayson's principal assistant, and with whom young Salt remained some time. His father's residence being upwards of three miles from school, Titus generally rode on a donkey, which was left until the afternoon at "The Nag's Head,” a small inn near to the school, bringing with him in a little basket his dinner. In person he was tall and proportionately stout, and of somewhat heavy appearance. His dress was usually that of a country farmer's son,-viz. a

cloth or fustian coat, corduroy breeches, with long gaiters, or, as they were generally called, "spats," or leggings, buttoned up the side, with strong boots laced in front. He was generally of a thoughtful, studious turn of mind, rarely mixing with his schoolfellows in their sports and play, and rather looked upon by them as the quiet, dull boy of the school. His words were generally so few that I cannot call to mind any particular thing that he either said or did. The school was a mixed school for both sexes, the boys occupying the ground floor and the girls the room above, and it was considered the best private day school in the town.' At this school he remained four years, and was well grounded in history, geography, and drawing. Mr. Harrison said of him, that 'he was never a bright pupil. He was very steady, very attentive, especially to any particular study into which he put his heart. Drawing was his chief delight. He was a fine, pure boy, stout and tall for his age, with a remarkably intelligent eye. So much did his eye impress me, that I have often, when alone, drawn it from memory, simply for my own gratification. I have sketches of him somewhere among my papers, with crimped frill round his neck, just as he appeared then; but though naturally very quiet, he was sometimes given to random tricks.'

His father did not succeed in the farm, but continued to lose money; when the lease expired, he removed to Bradford, when young Salt was in his nineteenth year. Bradford was just at that time entering on the career of remarkable prosperity for which it has since been so highly distinguished. The population of the town at that time was about 10,000; it has increased since to upwards of 170,000. His father, Daniel Salt, here began the business of a woolstapler, and in order that Titus might gain some knowledge of the same business, he

was sent to the manufactory of Messrs. Rouse & Co., where he acquired a knowledge of wool-sorting and the other processes preparatory to weaving. Two brothers in the employment of this firm, named John and James Hammond, were of great service to him in teaching him the art of sorting wool.

His biographer, the Rev. R. Balgarnie, has thus described Titus Salt's daily work in the factory :-'He is a tall young man, with a "brat," or loose blouse, worn over his clothes to keep them clean; the fleece of wool is unrolled and spread out on the board. Being impregnated with natural grease, it holds entangled in its fibre a variety of substances with which the sheep while living had come into contact; these must be carefully removed. All the wool of the fleece is not of the same quality, but varies in length, fineness, and softness of fibre. It is the business of the sorter to separate these different qualities, and to put each into a basket. It is evident such occupation requires long and careful education, both of the eye and the hand. Had Titus Salt confined his attention exclusively to this one department of the business, and then at once joined his father, he might, perhaps, have been a successful woolstapler, but not a manufacturer; but, as we have said, he resolved to know every process, from the fleece to the fabric, and into each he put his heart. The next process was washing with alkali, or soap and water, and his knowledge of this served him in after years when his first experiments in alpaca began, and which he performed with his own hands. The next process was combing. It is necessary in the production of yarn that all the fibres should be drawn out and laid down smooth and distinct, and that all extraneous matters should be extracted. When Titus Salt was with the Rouses, this operation was done by hand; now, the combing machine,