Henry S. Simmonds

“ The scene is grand, and might supply a study for such painters as West, Stothard, Conway and Northcote. In the back ground is a depth of gloom, sombrous and murky which is relieved at intervals by the fierce glare of thirty fires. At as many anvils strong, athletic, Titan-like figures, with uplifted arm and heavy stroke scatter "as from smitten steel," sparks like brilliant stars, in all directions. ”

“ Oliver Goldsmith in his life of Lord Bolingbroke says: "In whatever light we view his character, we shall find him an object rather more proper for our wonder than our imitation; more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining our admiration without our love. ”

“ When the preacher treated the second portion of his theme, the intensely practical nature of his mind was clearly shewn in the way in which while asserting God's truth to be the instrument of the sanctification, he appealed to all present in a most solemn manner to put the important question—"Were they sanctified?" "If you are not you will never tread the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, but while your friends are passing in you will be shut out." ”

“ He was one of those clever unscrupulous men, unhappily too common, who forget that God has something to do with the government of this world as well as themselves, and who in spite of their ability, can never see that swift destruction treads like Nemesis on the heels of those who dare to trifle with the interests and destinies of a great people. ”

“ Here were formerly orchard-grounds—many [Pg 7] a goodly tree bearing fruit and pleasant to the eye has been felled. "Woodman spare that tree!" though spoken by feminine lips would have no force of appeal in this fast age of iron railways and steam locomotives, when Railway Companies scruple not by virtue of Acts of Parliament to pull down by hundreds the dwellings of the poor, it is not to be supposed for an instant that a few fruit trees however delicious their produce or delightful their shadow should prove a peculiar obstacle in the way of this March of Civilization! ”

“ Lavender Hill seems to have been long noted for its nursery gardens. Situated on the Hill was Lavender Villa—at the foot of Lavender Hill was a brook. Now Lavender Hill has the appearance of a busy town. Splendid shops, handsomely decorated and well stocked line both sides of the main thoroughfare, and rows of respectable houses and semi-detached villas forming roads and streets have sprung up in all directions. The same may be said of a great portion of Battersea Rise extending to Bolingbroke Grove. ”

“ If a parent is unable, from poverty, to pay the School fee of his child, he may apply either to the Guardians of the Poor for the Parish where he lives, or to the School Board. The Guardians, if satisfied of the poverty of the parent, must pay the school fee, not exceeding 3d. a week, of the child, in any Public Elementary School which the parent may select. If the parent select a Board School, the School Board, on his application, may, if they think fit, remit the school fee. The payment or remission of the school fee will not subject the parent to any disability. ”

“ His late Majesty, the Prince of Wales, with other members of the Royal Family, the nobility, clergy and gentry, and many of the most influential members of the craft, gave the project their warmest support, and by their united efforts established this Institution, which has preserved numbers of children from the dangers and misfortunes to which females are peculiarly exposed, trained them up in the knowledge and love of virtue and habits of industry, and cultivated the practice of such social, moral and religious duties as might best conduce to their welfare and eternal happiness. ”

“ Sir Richard Phillips, who had an opportunity of inspecting Brunel's machinery at Battersea, eulogizes his fame and speaks of his merits and scientific genius thus:—"A few yards from the toll-gate of the Bridge on the western side of the road stand the workshops of that eminent, modest, and persevering mechanic Mr. Brunel, a gentleman of the rarest genius who has effected as much for the mechanic arts as any man of his time. ”

“ As an illustration of the extent of Orlando Jones & Co.'s operations it may be added that the box making department is a little factory in itself, and the machinery employed for the various purposes of sawing, dusting, cleaning, lighting, pumping, stirring, and grinding is driven by steam engines. It will be obvious that the manufacture of rice starch on a large scale requires no little capital and skill, and takes high rank among those industrial enterprises which are so peculiarly the characteristic and the glory of our age and country. ”

“ On the site where stood York House, Tudor Lodge, and Sherwood House, stands a great hive of industry known as Belmont Works or Price's Patent Candle Factory. Price's Patent Candle Company (as a private firm) was among the earliest to apply in commercial enterprise the discoveries of Chevreul, and has continued to hold the first place among candle manufacturers in Great Britain; and notwithstanding the manufacture of gas, the importation of American oils and the many competitors for supplying light-giving material this Company makes its way by dexterity between them. ”

“ The Company's mains extend about 170 miles, and at any point they supply gas with the same abundance and precision as at Nine Elms. At one time, the Works of the London Gas-Light Company at Vauxhall were considered the most powerful and complete in the world, and even now, in this age of rivalry and sharp competition, under the judicious management of their Board of Directors and their skilled Engineer, Robert Morton, Esq., the London Gas-Light Company maintain an honourable position among other gas-light companies, and are worthy the name they bear. ”

“ The name on the one stone might be little known beyond his own neighbourhood or the name of the other beyond the city of London, but they were known to their heavenly Master whom they served faithfully, and in His book are the names of both written. The memory of the young man whose name was on the one stone would linger long among those whom he loved and the poor and the sick to whom he had endeared himself and for whom he faithfully laboured, but for the speaker his thoughts and friendship were with the old man whose name was on the other stone. ”

“ The rice plant is described as a native of India from which country it has spread over a great part of the world especially in Asia where it forms the principal portion of the food of the inhabitants. A failure of the rice crop is most disastrous as has been experienced too painfully by the natives of India during the late famine in that region. "A rice field produces a much greater quantity of food than the most fertile corn fields. Two crops in the year, from thirty to sixty bushels each, are said to be the ordinary produce of an acre." ”

“ In 1875 no less than 321⁄2 millions of new lights were sold by the Candle Company. Geology informs us that in the age of the coal formation a great part of the earth's surface was covered by a dense and tangled vegetation composed mainly of flowerless plants growing with wonderful luxuriance in the warm damp atmosphere which must then have prevailed—the masses of vegetable matter—the decay of gigantic ferns sinking into the boggy soil formed peat which as ages rolled on became converted by heat and pressure into coal. ”

“ On payment of sixpence, children at half-price, persons might enter these orchards with full liberty to eat as much fruit as they liked on condition that they brought none away. The old Spring Well near Nine Elms Lane, Wandsworth Road, is within the recollection of many, who by descending some six or eight steps reached with their hands the iron ladle out of which they often drank cooling draughts of nature's sparkling aquatic refreshment. Ah, everything has a history and its lesson if we did but know. We all exert unconscious influence either for good or evil,—some secret action performed ”

“ The cabbage, carrots, and celery produced by the foreigners met with so ready a sale, and were so much in demand in London itself, that a body of gardeners shortly removed from Sandwich and settled at Wandsworth, Battersea, and Bermondsey, where many of the rich garden grounds first planted by the Flemings continue to be the most productive in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis. ”

“ O! believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as having died on the cross for your sins, and ask Him to make Himself known to you in your heart as your own Saviour, and then you also will walk this earth as a happy child of God, loving and serving Him by the power of His Spirit in you, till He shall take you home to Himself to the fulness of joy in His presence, and the pleasures at His right hand for evermore. ”

“ Certainly the present generation do not appear to have improved much more than their forefathers in this respect when there is so much nonsensical talk about communicating with the invisible world by means of "spirit rappings," "table turnings," etc. Surely the age when men shall give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons has come!
Battersea Fields, within the Manor along the Thames, were long notable as a marshy tract producing a great variety of indigenous plants ”

“ Since that time the Majestic Thames and its tributary streams have been so polluted with sewerage and other deleterious and poisonous matter as to induce some of the most scientific men of the age to consider not only the desirability but the necessity of obtaining for London a pure water supply. It is asserted as a fact that in England and Wales alone upwards of eight hundred persons die every month from typhoid fever ”

“ The wages of the men are from ten to twelve, of the women from five to seven shillings by the week. Most of the women travel on foot from Shropshire and North Wales in the spring, and as they live at a very cheap rate, many of them return to their own country richer than they left it. The soil of the ground occupied by the gardeners is sandy and requires a great deal of rain. The vegetables which they raise are in general very fine; their cabbages and asparagus particularly have acquired celebrity." The asparagus first grown in or near London was raised by the Battersea gardeners. ”

“ Against the wall of the engine house is one of Tangye's Special Pumps for raising water from the dock to supply the whole of the works with water for cooling purposes. Outside the engine house an apparatus called a jet exhauster has recently been erected composed of a series of vertical iron tubes, a steam boiler, a generator, and jet. A vacuum is created by a blast of steam, thereby compelling the gas to rapidly leave the retorts and at the same time the ammonia is supposed to be entirely removed by means of water which percolates through shavings with which the tubes or pipes are filled. ”

“ During the whole time of its continuance there was a great calm, for weeks together there was scarcely any wind so that it was with difficulty that the fires in the streets could be kept burning for want of a supply of air, and even the birds panted for breath. The plague as is generally agreed is never bred or propagated in Britain, but always imported from abroad, especially from the Levant, Lesser Asia, Egypt, etc. Sydenham, an old writer, has remarked that it rarely infects this country oftener than once in forty years—thank God we have happily been free from it for a much longer period. ”

“ It is the sleeping place, and "Christianity has turned the Sepulchre into a Cemetery assuring us, as it does, that those who die in Jesus, Sleep in Him, awaiting a future awakening, in augmented vigour, and with renovated powers. To the Christian, the grave should be associated with the idea of calm and undisturbed repose, after a life of honourable toil, with the hope of a glorious and blessed resurrection." The Greeks had their burial places at a distance from the towns. ”

“ The Sturgeon is more abundant in the Northern Coasts of Europe. It is also found in the more Southern parts. It was esteemed by the ancients as a very great luxury and it was held in high repute for the table by the Greeks and Romans and at their banquets it was introduced with particular ceremonies.
In England when caught in the Thames within the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London it is a Royal Fish reserved for the Sovereign. The flesh is white, delicate, firm and nutritious. It is used both fresh, generally stewed. The largest species of Sturgeon is the Bielaga, or Huso. ”