Social Surroundings of Horton and District prior to the Establishment of the Great Horton Industrial Self-Help Society. It might appear to the  reader that a reference to this period is foreign to our purpose, and not consonant with our object, viz., the History of the Cop-operative Society. A  cursory glance at the social condition of the people, with a reference to their early struggles to improve their lot, may, however, lead us to see more clearly the reason for combining to establish amongst themselves this form of self-help. Mr. Wm. Cudworth in his “Rambles Round Horton,” refers to the”goodl old times” in his description of the district, the people, and their surroundings. Referring to the period anterior to the establishment of co-operation in Great Horton, we are told that in the various struggles of the present century - 1800 to 1900 - Hortonians have generally been to the fore, and many a veteran has suffered imprisonment for his zeal in political warfare. At this time the processes of farming and of manufacturing went hand-in-hand. These manufacturers generallv farmed their own small estates, and occupied themselves and their families alternatelv with the mixed labour of tilling their limited acres, and in combing, spinning, carding. and weaving. In a large measure these old-time “manufactures” spent a life of happiness, and ended their days in honourab!e ease. But as time went on and the process of manufacture extended to the employed class,. the conditions of life were not so pleasant as to the “master men”. Old Hortonians tell of a time when wool was brought about once a month from Leeds and other places to Horton, Clayton, Allerton, and other villages in Bradford Dale, to be carded combed. and spun, the day of arrival being held in festive  celebrations, as on these occasions a drop of “short”‘ generally found its way into the villages. In summer time the women took out their spinning wheels to the village green and upon the hillsides, which were then waste lands abounding with yellow turze and purple heather, interspersed with large boulders. When the women had got a pound of wool from a neighborouring  farmer,  it was spun into “cops” then reeled into hanks, and carried back to “t’maister”, who gave it out in the hank to the handloom weaver, who in turn had to spin it on to bobbins before weaving. A girl of 14 or 15 years would spin about ten hanks a day, which would amount to less than sixpence. Nearly every farmer had a comb-pot and employed a comber or two; if he was the possessor of a “pot o’ four “ and a pair of  looms, he was in a large way of business. The class of goods made were called “calimancoes”, and were from 16 inches to 19 inches broad, the weaver throwing the shuttle with one hand, catching it with the other, and throwing it back again.