ames, and his fear of those who have nothing harder to
hurl.

With a few other resolute spirits he set himself to work to organize
those joint-stock industries and business enterprises which have since
developed into the colossal co-operative stores of London and the
cotton mills of Oldham, representing many millions of capital, the
combined savings of thrifty artisans and other persons of small means.

In all this, Mr. Hughes's avowed object has been "to make England the
best place for workingmen to live in that the sun ever shone upon."
Whether that can be done or not in this age of the world is certainly
open to question, but it is equally certain that there can be no
possible harm in making the attempt. That the workingmen have
appreciated the effort is evident from the fact that they elected Mr.
Hughes to Parliament in 1865. It is said that ordinarily the expense
of getting into the House of Commons--an unpaid body--averages about
$75,000, which the candidate or his friends must be prepared to spend.
But in Lambeth, a district of London, inhabited almost wholly by poor
men, two hundred of Mr. Hughes's admirers came forward and worked
night and day without receiving a single shilling of any man's money,
solely with the determination of seeing their candidate succeed.

Since then, the writer of "Tom Brown's School Days" would certainly
have broken down from overwork if he had not been, as he says, an
"Angular Saxon" and a muscular Christian as well. During his nine
years' pull in the political harness he earned the double honor of
helping forward the cause of the people and at the same time he so won
the regard of the Crown that he received the appointment of Queen's
Counsel. While member of Parliament Mr. Hughes was likewise carrying
on a large and lucrative law practice, acting as president of the
Workingmen's College, which he was instrumental in founding; serving
as referee in disputes between manufacturers and their employees in
such a way as to get the respect and good-will of both; serving also
as director in co-operative banks, coal mines, cotton mills, machine
shops, grocery stores, land and building associations; besides being
chief manager of the Crystal Palace company, and colonel in a
volunteer rifle corps.

Yet well known as Mr. Hughes is for his manifold political and
philanthropic services, he is still better known by his books. Though
with him literature has been rather a recreation than a vocati