Excerpt from Working Men's Social Clubs and Educational Institutes IN tracing the origin and nature of the recent movement On behalf Of Working Men's Clubs and Institutes, we must look back forty years to the agitation in favour Of Mechanics' Institutes, originated by that true friend Of the working classes, Dr. Birkbeck; and to which the illustrious man who has led the van in SO many great enterprises for the good Of humanity, Lord Brougham, gave such distinguished assist ance. That agitation was purely an educational effort, in tended originally to teach mechanics the correct knowledge and principles Of their own trades. Then came various nu connected intermittent attempts to provide what were called Reading-rooms for working men, in which the chief element was the supplying a place Where time might be innocently passed, but where neither education, social inter course, nor recreation was Offered, except SO far as reading a newspaper or book in the same room with other people might be supposed to afford all or either. Next came the formation of Mutual Improvement Societies, which met chiefly in school rooms, and aimed at Classes, Discussions, and especially at the preparation Of short papers on interesting and improving topics. There was Often a good deal of the sociable spirit in these little organizations, but they were seldom long-lived. The writer formed one on a more comprehensive plan in 1842 at Yeovil, Somersetshire, for the working men Of the town generally, which aimed to be a fellowship for mutual benefit in various ways, but chiefly educational, with very little Of the recreation element in it, and without any Of the Club features properly so called. It was well appreciated and very useful for a time, but after he left the town dishonest practices broke it up. In the same year, that excellent institution, the People's College at Sheffield, was established by a very earnest Band able friend of the people, the late Rev. R. L. Bayly, of that town, which has done great good there, and is still, we believe, as useful as ever. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.