A Tale of One City | Page 7

Birmingham has led to the formation of trading establishments and
Stores of the latest order of development. There are now large shops of
the "universal provider" type, where they sell everything from blacking
to port wine, and where you see silk mantles in one window and
sausages in another.
Some of us rather preferred the old order of things. We liked and still
like to go to shops kept by tradesmen who have been brought up to
certain lines of business, and who know from actual knowledge and
experience what they are buying and selling. But in these large new
shops and Stores people sell you almost everything without having any
special knowledge of anything. They recommend this, that, and the
other, but you have often good reason to know that it is not from any
experience of the commodities they offer, but only the tradesman's
instinct and desire to dispose of what he wants most to sell rather than
what his customers may most wish to buy.
Such is the new style of large shopkeeping, and it is not, of course,
peculiar to Birmingham. It must be owned, however, that it means
cheapness, and also that it has been largely developed by the new order
of things brought about by the recent street improvements in the city.

IV.
ECCE MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
Having said so much of what Mr. Chamberlain has done in, and for,
Birmingham, perhaps I may be permitted to say a few words, "mostly
all" my own, respecting a much biographed man. Although Mr.
Chamberlain is so prominently identified with Birmingham and
Birmingham with him, it is well known that he is not a native of the
place. He was born in London in 1836, and came to Birmingham in
1854. We took him in and he did for us. His father joined the
well-known firm of Nettlefold, the wood screw makers, and in the
course of time his eldest son, Joseph, succeeded him. Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain soon found his feet in trade, and by his business acumen,
his foresight, capacity, and shrewdness he advanced the business,
which had already been highly successful, to a rare pitch of prosperity.
At one time I saw and heard much of Mr. Chamberlain, especially in
the earlier part of his Birmingham public career. He was always what
he is now--a sharp, smart, and ready man. A man to inspire admiration
and confidence. There was always a promptness and "all thereness" in
his nature, with a decided touch of self-reliance, and I may even say
audacity. In fact, without intending any reflection upon him, I might
perhaps suggest that he could appropriately take as his motto "De
l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace." In proof of this I
may cite one or two incidents that came under my notice.
Some thirty years or more ago Mr. Chamberlain was a prominent
member of a local debating society. Now, this society used to have
every year two social gatherings, and it was observed that many
members who rarely or never came to the debates were not conspicuous
by their absence when the summer "outings" and other little feasts took
place. The committee thought it would be rather good sport to give
these knife and fork debaters a little mild and gentle rub. Consequently
they made them the subject of a toast at one of their social meetings,
held at the Lyttelton Arms, Hagley. A word was coined for the
occasion, and they were toasted as the "Artopsareocoluthic Members"
(signifying the lovers of the loaves and fishes), and to Mr. Chamberlain
was entrusted the task of proposing the toast.
In a smart and brilliant speech he poked rare fun at the dinner-debating
members who were so ready to participate in the festivities of the

society and so lax in attending the discussions. He not only did this
with delicious banter and pointed sarcasm; but, with an audacious
touch all his own, he coupled the toast with the name of one member
present. This brought the ruffled gentleman up on to his legs, and,
smarting under Mr. Chamberlain's ironical philippics, he tried to pay
back "our young friend" for what he considered his unwarrantable
impertinence.
But Mr. Chamberlain was not in the least disconcerted by the hotly
expressed resentment of the offended member. With his cigar in his
mouth and his eye-glass in his eye he smiled with amused complacency,
while his irate friend tried to pay him back, though hardly in his own
sharp, ringing coin.
The other incident to which I have referred took place when the
Birmingham Corporation Gas Bill was under consideration. A town's
meeting was held to discuss and decide whether the gas undertakings
should be purchased by the municipal authorities. As there was
considerable difference of opinion upon the