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Swarms of strange, shy, sad-looking singers and instrumental performers, in the work-worn clothing of factory operatives, went about the busy city, pleading for help in touching wails of simple song ― like so many wild birds driven by hard weather to the haunts of man…

Anybody accustomed to wander among the moorlands of the country will remember how common it is to hear the people practising sacred music in their lonely cottages. It is not uncommon to meet working men wandering over the wild hills, “where whin and heather grow,” with their musical instruments, to take part in some village oratorio many miles away.

Quoted from Home-life of the Lancashire factory folk during the Cotton Famine, Edwin Waugh

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