lete reply, and would
denote a somewhat benighted idea of the productive resources of
Birmingham. Gun and pistol making form a very important industry in the
city, and one ward--St. Mary's--is the happy hunting ground of small
firearm makers. All the same, gunmaking is not the be-all and end-all
of our manufacturing activity, and is, indeed, only one of the many and
increasing trades that thrive and progress in the midland hardware
capital.

It is, indeed, a distinct advantage for Birmingham that it has many
different trades, and if some are depressed and slack others may be
active and prosperous. Hence, there is generally business doing
somewhere. It is the misfortune of some towns and districts to be
devoted entirely to one or two industries. For instance, take
Manchester. If the cotton trade becomes depressed or paralysed
Cottonopolis soon becomes a starved-out city. Then there are textile
towns, boot and shoe boroughs, pottery districts, &c., &c. Birmingham,
however, is pretty smart at taking up new ideas, and does not let new
manufacturing industries go begging for a home. A certain number of
trades languish and die out owing to change of fashion and to certain
articles becoming obsolete. Snuffers and powder flasks, for instance,
are not in large demand in the present day. A limited number are still
made for travellers and for remote countries that have not cartridges,
the electric light, or even incandescent gas, within their reach.

Brass and pearl button making used to be important industries, and tons
of such wares used to be made in Birmingham in the course of a month.
Comparatively few are made now. Yet we are not exactly "buttonless
black-guards," as Cobbett--at least, I think it was Cobbett--once
disrespectfully called the Quakers, and buttons of various kinds other
than pearl and brass are turned out in barrow loads. I remember some
years ago going over the button factory of Messrs. Dain, Watts, and
Manton, an old-established business now carried on by Mr. J.S. Manton,
and was then shown a curious composition or kind of paste that could be
made into buttons useful for all sorts of purposes. On my asking what
the "button dough" was made of, Mr. Manton, I remember, gave me the
comprehensive reply, "anything."

All sorts of stuff having any substance in it was indeed thrown into a
kind of mortar, ground up, mixed with something that gave the mass
cohesion and plasticity, then moulded into buttons as clay i