s coat worn by gentlemen in the early and middle years of last
century. All the same, he had some modern ideas, especially, as I have
said, in the matter of education. If it came to be totalled up how much
he spent on the education of the boys in his employ, the aggregate sum
would run to large figures.

Time, we know, smooths the surface or rounds off the corners of past
events that seemed rather arbitrary at the time of their occurrence.
But, after making allowance for all this, my experience of Mr.
Winfield's evening schools is occasionally wafted back to me with many
pleasant memories and associations. Compulsory education was the iron
hand that directed the young ideas how to shoot, though it was enveloped
in a soft velvet glove. Mr. Winfield did good far-reaching work by the
establishment and maintenance of his evening schools, and his
thoughtfulness and generosity in this direction should be counted unto
him for righteousness.

Why Cambridge Street Works, which once employed so many hands, should
have so completely collapsed is, as I have hinted, a bit of a mystery. I
can only guess, and as tracking conundrums is not my purpose in these
chapters, I will leave others to unravel the riddle if they can. It is,
however, a matter of local business history that some thirty years or
more ago the Cambridge Street concern shewed signs of tottering to its
fall, and when Mr. Atkins went into the business as a proprietor, he had
to make some sweeping reforms that naturally created some resentment and
criticism. Possibly the business was "eating its head off," and the
process of deglutition had to be rigorously curtailed. This having been
done, the business thrived and prospered once more, and continued to do
so for some years. I will not follow its fortunes to its ultimate fall.
It became a public company, and now it is no more.

Winfields' is not the only important local business that has gone under
during the past fifty years, yet it is satisfactory to find that many of
our old-established manufactories and businesses have survived, and
still exist in some form or other. Elkington's, Gillott's, and Hardman's
still flourish, and among the brassfounders Pemberton and Son's, Tonks
and Son's, Cartland's, and others, go on their way rejoicing, casting,
stamping, lacquering, and polishing, and pushing brassfoundry into more
ornamental and utilitarian use.

Some of our old-established merchants and factors are still with us. T