It may interest you to know that your mother's influence and example had no inconsiderable share in the formation and development of your father's religious convictions. For some years they were both regular attendants at Carr's Lane Independent Chapel, under the pastorate of the Rev. John Angell James, one of the most learned and eloquent preachers of his day. At that time it was your father's custom (and probably your mother's also) every Sunday afternoon to walk to Yardley, a village distant some four miles, teach the children, and exchange tracts with the parents on his way home. The years 1837 and 1838 were perhaps the most trying of your father's life. With too much self-respect to join the ranks of the journeymen of his trade, he rented premises in Bradford-street, and commenced business on his own account; but although his samples of turner}' would bear favourable comparison with the best, yet lack of capital and the pressure of competition forced him to retire and look to other lands in the hope of finding fuller scope for the exercise of his talents, far away from the depressing surroundings of his everyday life.
In remembrance of many pleasant hours, and in appreciation of your father's early friendship.
