The twenty men were busy at breakfast, and there was a crowd waiting outside to see them off.
There were several members of the committee in the kitchen, and amongst them the Rev.Joseph V.Meaney, Catholic priest, went to and fro in cheerful chat.

After breakfast, each man received four pounds of bread and one pound of cheese for the day's consumption.

In addition to this, each man received one shilling; to which a certain active member of the committee added threepence in each case.
Another member of the committee then handed a letter to each of the only three or four out of the twenty who were able to write, desiring each man to write back to the committee,--not all at once, but on different days, after their arrival.

After this, he addressed them in the following words:--"Now, I hope that every man will conduct himself so as to be a credit to himself and an honour to Blackburn.

This work may not prove to be such as you will like, and you must not expect it to be so.