[With respect to this chapter, Mr. Ludlow wrote supplying some particulars regarding the Christian Socialists, to which it is due to him that equal publicity be given. He states "that the first Council of Promoters included two members, neither of whom professed to be a Christian; that the first secretary of the Society for Promoting Working Men's Associations was not one, during the whole of his faithful service (he became one twenty years later), and that his successors were, at the time we took them on, one an Agnostic, the other a strong Congregationalist." This is the first time these facts have been made known. But none of the persons thus described had anything to do with the production of the Handbook referred to and discussed at the Leeds Congress of 1881. Quite apart from the theological tendencies of the "Christian Socialists," the Co-operative movement has been indebted to them for organisation and invaluable counsel, as I have never ceased to say. They were all for the participation of profits in workshops, which is the essential part of higher Co-operation. There was always light in their speeches, and it was the light of principle. In this respect Mr. Ludlow was the first, as he is the last to display it, as he alone survives that distinguished band. Of Mr. Edward Vansittart Neale I have unmeasured admiration and regard. To use the fine saying of Abd-el-Kader, "Benefits conferred are golden fetters which bind men of noble mind to the giver." This is the lasting sentiment of the most experienced Co-operators towards the Christian Socialists.] CHAPTER XXXII. STORY OF THE LAMBETH PALACE GROUNDS Seed sown upon the waters, we are told, may bring forth fruit after many days. This chapter tells the story of seed sown on very stony soil, which brought forth fruit twenty-five years later. In 1878, Mr. George Anderson, an eminent consulting gas engineer, in whom business had not abated human sympathy, passed every morning on his way to his chambers in Westminster, by the Lambeth Palace grounds. He was struck by the contrast of the spacious and idle acres adjoining the Palace and the narrow, dismal streets where poor children peered in corners and alleys. The sheep in the Palace grounds were fat and florid, and the children in the street were lean and pallid. The smoke from works around dyed dark the fleece of the sheep. Mr. Anderson thought how much happier a sight it would be to see the children take the place of the sheep, and asked me if something could not be done. The difficulty of rescuing or of alienating nine acres of land from the Church, so skilled in holding, did not seem a hopeful undertaking, while the resentment of good vicars and expectant curates might surely be counted upon. Nevertheless the attempt was worth making.