Acknowledgements<br >my Lane on page 180 are reproduced by<br >Northern Songs， assigned to Catherine<br >1967.<br >(esterday on page 181 are reproduced by<br >Iorthern Songs， ~ 1965.<br >Foreword<br >Manchester turned itself into the first industrial city in the world.<br >As a result， it created the first industrial slum in the world -<br >Ancoats. The aim was to pack as many workers as possible into<br >the most meagre dwellings on the smallest amount of ground，<br >surrounded by palatial mills and tall chimneys. Cotton machin-<br >ery was expensive， people were cheap.<br > Adding to the overcrowding of these two-up two-down hovels<br >came streams of immigrants from Ireland and Italy.<br > When the depression came， these human beings were unwan-<br >ted; they had no value. In order to survive or keep out of the<br >workhouse， many were forced into crime， often violent crime，<br >and a popular saying at the time was - If the world needs an<br >enema， they ll do it in Ancoats. <br > These unwanted people were only concerned with getting<br >food， clothes and the rent money; education for their children<br >was the last thing they cared about. What s the good of learning<br >him to read and write? He ll still end up in Strangeways with the<br >others， mothers sometimes told the school board inspectors.<br > On to this scene， in the late 1920s， came a brand new teacher，<br >fresh from college and wet behind the ears.<br ><br >