First edition - 1896
The tale is a straightforward one, set in the South Wales village of Wengroes (White Cross), where the narrator, Ivor Meredith, has been appointed as schoolmaster. My work was the parent of my difficulty. The worthy villagers looked upon me as ranking next to old Mr. Jeffers, the Calvinistic Independent Minister of Wengroes Chapel - for was it not in the "vestry" of the little chapel that I daily met my scholars face to face?...there was the Rector of the parish, of course; but he didn't count. Whereas old Mr. Jeffers bowed reverently to the Rector every time they passed, the latter, like the priest of old, "passed by on the other side" with never a nod of recognition. Ivor lodges with Gomer and Gwenny Shinkin (Jenkins), who refuse to take money for the bed and board (Ivor sends payment "from a friend" regularly). Gomer works down the Pit, responsible for checking the safety of the props.
The village, and the novel, revolves around the Chapel - the stern doctrines of Calvinism impregnated every fibre of their being, and they really endeavoured to conduct themselves in strict accordance with their rigid creed... they not only believed in the merits of the blood of a personal Saviour, but also that there was a Judgement to come, in which they would have to give an account of the deeds done in the body. The cottage prayer meetings were an institution integral to Wales at the time, being held in even the poorest member's cottage. They were far from being merely Sunday-go-to-Meeting events; it requires grit to be a Calvinist Christian. As Alfred Thomas writes, the first necessity of a sincere people must always be a Religion. Sincerity breeds a desire for truth, and not only the Truth but the whole Truth. One is encouraged in this through the Sunday School, the great Training College of Wales; Ivor Meredith was the Secretary of the Wengroes Sunday School.
The chapters are quite short and they often concentrate on a particular villager - old Mari Walby, who is found dead by her family Bible, waiting for the Prayer Meeting to be held in her tumble-down cottage ; Griffy John, the trader, who is ruined due to the Repeal of the Corn Laws in January 1846, as a result of his buying up of a mass of English grain on behalf of his fellow villagers just prior to the flood of cheaper (and better) grain from the USA. Much later on, he gets his reward with a brand-new emporium built through an unknown well-wisher (Gomer Shinkin in fact); Lewis Hopkin, the 60-year-old reprobate who finds "religion" and becomes a model citizen. Above all, the story centres on Gomer Shinkin, who is left a considerable sum by an old school friend whom he saved from shipwreck when both had gone to sea as lads. The latter dies in Australia and leaves his wealth to Gomer, who spends it on rebuilding the Chapel and other good deeds. The novel ends with his death, during the very service which re-opened the building. As Alfred Thomas avers: Love is the currency which prompts the noble actions of the honest poor, and not gold.
Of course, there are elements of the Scottish kailyard stories here; there is even a kindly old doctor, Dr. Llywelyn, at hand. But the tales are rarely of the cloying kind and there are few 'purple patches'. Thomas has no time for the Chartists, commenting on the November 1839 March on Newport, that the leaders of the mob succeeded only in making both themselves and their cause ridiculous and contemptible. But he is not blind to the hard, cruel, selfish, and avaricious world beyond Wengroes. There was hard work, and plenty of it at Wengroes, but slavery did not exist there. It is only in the towns they manufacture slaves. All in all, the book seems a pretty accurate and empathetic tale.
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There has been a long gap between this blog and the one above - the longest in my short blogging career! The reason? A marvellous internet own-Library database has been set up for me by my son: https://www.libib.com/library/home . It allows you to enter up to 5,000 books - with an illustration of the front cover or, if too boring or dark, the title page. You put in title, author, publisher, date of publication, number of pages, type (e.g. Scottish Nineteenth Century; Poetry; Biography). Absolutely 'spot on' for my needs. Although I have just over 8,000 books, this includes paperbacks and pamphlets - most of which I don't want to record. It is unlikely that I will enter my 400+ Oxford World's Classics volumes or my John Buchan Collection either. As of today (26th July) I have just reached 565 books; slow going, but I want to do it properly and scanning takes time.
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As for the second Welsh book, a clue lies in the title - "Ideals" rather than "Idylls".
First edition - 1897
Once again, the story revolves round the chapel and the pit. There is also a Gomer - Gomer Williams, a young miner who desperately wants to train for the Non-conformist Ministry. His progress through the book is almost saint-like, on occasions too much so, when the purple passages overwhelm the 21st century reader and the heavenly trumpets sound at the end when Gomer became in the years that followed the acknowledged prince of the Welsh pulpit, shook the astonished land with his matchless eloquence, and kindled in the heart of the people loftiest inspirations and ideals that shall never die.
Twice, Gomer rescues colleagues in pit disasters; once he saves his arch enemy (who wanted the same girl), in a raging tempest on the brink of a cliff. The author argues, in his Preface, that it is the main purpose of the following pages to pourtray [sic] customs and traditions, struggles and aspirations, ideals and idylls, in a typical centre of Welsh village life. Well, it certainly beats Ambridge or Emmerdale! Garth-y-coed has "the king", John Tudor, who gives his life to save Gomer down the pit; Dai Hopkin the Bard; Raymond the Eccentric; Tom Jones the Atheist; the joint mine owners and their families - Mr Wynne, his evil son Ned; Mr Pennant and his unscrupulous and arch-snob wife, who refuses to sanction Gomer's relationship with her daughter Lucy. Then there is Gomer's widowed mother whose face was sweeter and whose heart was purer for the touch of early sorrow...deeply religious, but her religion was as natural as the song of the skylark; and his sister Annie, who adores him. The old Minister, Rev. Paul Hughes, guides Gomer through the 'valley of the shadow' successfully; Mr. Pennant comes to see Gomer as the ideal for his daughter and surreptitiously supports their love (and Gomer's fees to go to Brasdir Training College), but dies before the end of the tale.
Throughout the book there is this love story; in fact, two love stories. The first, that of childhood sweetheart Gwen Richards, brought up by her sorrowing father John, a prosperous tradesman, and living at Bryn Villa. Gomer never knows, until a dying confession by Gwen (in fact, she recovers and leaves the area with her father!) of her deep love for him. The successful love is that of Gomer and Lucy Pennant; a triumph of Dissent over the Establishment; of a miner from Garth-y-coed over the snobbery of some of the household at Plas Newydd. Gomer's I had rather remain in the coal-pit all the days of my life than be faithless to the truth and his powerful preaching wins him the heart and soul of Lucy: The splendid impressiveness and enthusiasm of a Welsh Non-conformist service came upon her with the accentuated force of virgin freshness. Its grand spontaneity, its sublimity of inspiration, its concentrated force of spiritual power, the resistless rush of its mighty enthusiasms, and the almost ecstatic intensity of its worship were to her like the unveiling of a new spiritual realm. Neither the sober culture of the Anglican church at Penyrafon nor Lucy could withstand it.
This is a powerful book, redolent of its time; the author absolutely gives his all to conveying his message. There is little humour - in the Chapter "A Ghost Mystery and its Solution" and a trifle at the Eisteddfod at Penyrafon at the end of the tale, where Gomer (of course) is Chaired as the Bard. The contemporary novels of Ian Maclaren and other Scots writers rarely hit the intensity of John Thomas. The Ideals are writ large, even Mrs Pennant's for her belief in class distinction. I am glad I read the book even if (perhaps, because?) its fervour seemed to record long-ago ideals and ways of life. Now the pits are gone and the chapels have been knocked down or converted into private homes or garages. Is life the better for this? I somehow doubt it.
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