Transcribed from the 1895 Jarrold and Sons edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, UK, for kindly allowing their copy to be used for this transcription. “This is the condition of humanity; we are placed as it were in an intellectual twilight where we discover but few things clearly, and yet we see enough to tempt us with the hope of making better and more discoveries.”—BOLINGBROKE. Crying for the Light or Fifty Years Ago * * * * * J Ewing Ritchie Author of ‘East Anglia’ * * * * * Vol 1 * * * * * London: Jarrold and Sons Warwick Lane E.C. 1895 THIS STORY IS Dedicated to ONE OF MY OLDEST FRIENDS, BETTER KNOWN TO BETTER MEN AS THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JAMES STANSFELD, M.P. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER PAGE I. PARKER’S PIECE, SLOVILLE 1 II. THE ACTRESS AND THE WAIF 28 III. GOING UP TO TOWN 53 IV. A YOUNG PREACHER 76 V. AFTER THE SERVICE 91 VI. AT SLOVILLE AGAIN 112 VII. THE CHARTISTS 132 VIII. IN BOHEMIA 162 IX. THE OLD, OLD STORY 197 X. UNDER THE STARS 229 CHAPTER I. PARKER’S PIECE, SLOVILLE.