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to, Mr. S. Grainger, P.G. proposed the "Manchester Unity," and hoped its prosperity might long continue-it stands out as a bold fact, showing what the Anglo-Saxon race can do, and it is the strongest testimony, that the majority of male adults in the British Nation are of provident habits. Mr. H. Buck, in responding to the toast "The Board of Directors," proposed by P.P.G.M. Collins, referred to the onerous duties which the directors were called upon to perform, that of hearing appeals from the different lodges not being the least. As a proof of the good understanding which existed among the 280,000 members of the society, the directors had, during the past year, only had one hundred appeals before them. The associations for friendly help in time of need had been very unjustly maligned, but since the plan of registering them had become general they had come to be better understood and better respected. Many other toasts and sentiments, together with some excellent music by the Working Man's Band, enlivened the evening's proceedings.

WOLVERHAMPTON. The twenty-first anniversary of the Royal Pride Lodge was celebrated on the evening of Tuesday, November 2, at the Pea cock Inn, Town Hall, when upwards of 100 members and friends sat down to an excellent dinner. After the usual loyal, complimentary and patriotic toasts, Mr. J. Jones, C.S. of the district, stated that the district numbered 1,047 members, and produced annually the handsome sum of £1,600, whilst the sum disbursed in funeral expenses amounted to £200 a-year. They subscribed sixteen guineas per annum to the South Staffordshire Hospital, and had contributed about £850 to that institution since the commencement of their subscriptions. They were also steadily progressing in numbers, and during the last two months, in three lodges alone, seven new members had been initiated. If they took the average of Friendly Societies, it would be found that this district stood above that average. Mr. Tidd Pratt had stated that there were 2,000,000 members of enrolled Friendly Societies, possessing a capital of £9,000,000, or about £4 per head. The Wolverhampton district possessed a capital of £6,000, or about £6 per head. The district was in an equally favourable position with respect to the health and age of the members, and arrangements were being made for the opening of two new lodges; one at Bilston and the other at the Whitmore Reans. Mr. J. Paulton, P.G., in the absence of the secretary, gave a very favourable account of the financial and numerical condition of the lodge, which contains 114 members, and possessed funds to the amount of £500. After several excellent speeches by Mr. Collins, P.P.G.M., Mr. Councillor Peplow, Mr. C. Walker, Mr. Bold, P.G.M., and others, the evening's proceedings were concluded by some capital singing by Messrs. Hemming, Lewis, Faulkner, Hampton, Bold, Jones, and Matthews; and recitations by the Chairman and Mr. Jones. Messrs. W. and E Gomersal of the theatre (who presented a donation of £1 to the Widow and Orphan Fund) also sang several very amusing songs.

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On the 27th of October, after a short illness, at his residence in Egremont Place, Brother Hezekiah Brooks, photographist, aged 27. The deceased, who was much respected, held the office of guardian previous to his being taken ill. He was initiated in the Victoria Lodge, No. 2085, in the Brighton district, on the 26th of October, 1857. The funeral took place on Saturday, the 30th of October. He was buried at Bersted, near Bognor. Had he died two days earlier, his widow and two children would not have been entitled to the benefits of the Brighton District Widow and Orphan Fund£14, and £1 10s. for each child.

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To say of any man that he has been the architect of his own fortunethat he was born in humble life, and that he has raised himself by his own exertions to a place of honour in the world-that, in his own peculiar sphere of action, he has left his mark upon the time-that he has been useful in his generation, and worthily fulfilled the duties and responsibilities of the station to which he has been called, is to bestow the highest praise which words are capable of conveying. All this may be said, and said truly, of the reverend gentleman whose portrait we now present to our readers.

Thomas Price is now in his 37th year, having been born on the 11th of April, 1822, in the parish of Llanhamlach, in the county of Brecon, South Wales. At the time of his birth, his father was farm bailiff to William Williams, Esq., in whose service he remained for upwards of fifty years. The education the father was enabled to bestow on his son was of a very slight description, and all that the youthful Thomas acquired was a knowledge of his own language-Welsh. At an early age the youth entered the service of a family named Clifton, in which he remained three years. But even at that period the character of the man was shadowed forth. In about three years he had saved enough money to apprentice himself to a Mr. Watkins, a plumber, painter, and glazier in his native town, and during his apprenticeship began that useful career in which he has since been distinguished, by taking upon himself the duties of a Sunday school teacher in a church belonging to the Welsh Baptists. When he had completed the term of his apprenticeship he received a gratifying proof of his

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employer's esteem in the gift of five pounds-no slight mark of satisfaction, considering the relative positions of master and apprentice. With this sum of money the youth, then barely twenty-one, determined to begin the world. The Principality was not at that time wide enough for his ambition, so he determined to seek his fortune in the metropolis, his centre of the world. After providing himself with a necessary outfit, the youth set out on foot from the romantic vallies of his fatherland, and after a tedious journey of a hundred and fifty miles, arrived in London, footsore and weary, with only a few shillings remaining of his master's gift—a position sufficiently serious to damp the ardour of older and bolder hearts than his. But the man who before he was fourteen had exhibited such rare self-denial as to save instead of to spend, and to begin his own way in the world unaided, was not the man to quail before difficulties-for had he not determined to conquer fortune and attain a name that should be known among men? He was fortunate in at once finding employment in London as a house painter. But not content to remain a "mere painter," he devoted his icisure hours to the acquisition of the arts of graining, gilding, marbling, and lettering. And now began his first real yearnings after knowledge. He joined a mechanics' institution, and studied hard in the classes for drawing, writing, elocution, grammar, and history, in all of which he distinguished himself, and thus laid the foundation of that useful sphere in which he has since become so eminent in the Principality. While in London he joined the Welsh Baptists' church, in Moorfields, and was soon known as one of their most faithful Sunday school teachers. Here, among his own countrymen in the metropolis, he began his career as a preacher of the gospel. He was highly successful, and, at the earnest solicitation of the congregation, he relinquished his trade and entered the Baptist College at Pontypool, for the purpose of studying theology, preparatory to his formal entry into the Christain ministry.

Having completed his college course, he accepted the pastorate of the Baptist church at Aberdare, at the close of the year 1845, being then only in his twenty-sixth year.

Mr. Price was initiated a member of our Order in the Temple of Love Lodge, Merthyr District, on the 25th of July, 1846. He soon became interested in the welfare of the Order, filled all the inferior offices in his lodge, and passed the chairs with credit to himself and his lodge, frequently attending quarterly meetings, and doing all in his power for the benefit of his district and the Unity at large.

In 1855, 1856, and 1857, he attended the Durham, Norwich, and Swansea A.M.C.s, and was at each meeting appointed one of the sub-committee to examine the proceedings of the G.M. and Board of Directors, and at the last was elected as Chairman. At the Durham A.M.C. he made application to the "New Districts' Committee" to allow the Aberdare lodges to leave the Merthyr and form the Aberdare District, promising that the number of members should be doubled in five years. His request was granted,

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