From Stagecoach to Factory to Country House

A Black Country Christmas, anthology by Alan Sutton Publishing

I found the first one of these Sutton Christmas anthologies (A Worcestershire Christmas, if you care) at a library book sale several years back. I think the coronavirus emergency made me a little crazy this year; every time I found a book from this series for less than five dollars with postage, I bought one and managed to accumulate ten (or is it eleven?). These contain short excerpts of Christmas/Christmastide passages from various British novels, memoirs, and poetry books, with the action taking place in the shire or historical era denoted in the title.

 

"The Black Country" is the British name for the old industrial areas and towns, where great smoke-belching factories or coal-dust clotted air from the mines gave the area its name. These volumes are hit-and-miss, but this one was an interesting read, with a balance between gritty stories of industrial workers like nail-factory employees and lighter fare, including an exceedingly funny piece from Jerome K. Jerome about a magazine editor who tries to talk a friend into a debate about abolishing Christmas, only to find the friend knows all the arguments, and another amusing tale from a district nurse who does a favor for an unpleasant client, only to get in difficulties. A mummer's play is presented, as is the Nativity story in verse, and "The Carol of the Fir Tree," a song peculiar to the Black Country. At Christmas a mother finds herself already pulled three ways at the time when her son insists she come with him to help him shop, a little girl rides miles on the train to spend a Christmas with her aunt that's very different from life on a narrowboat, a new custom introduced by an uncle brings some tears and great happiness to two small children, a young woman named Annie discovers standing in line at the post office isn't all bad, a young woman finds out a fusty businessman isn't as dour as she imagined, and there's even a positive story about a workhouse Christmas celebration.

Topping it off, right at the beginning is an account of a trip to Wolverhampton by Charles Dickens.

An interesting and varied collection here. Enjoy!