Welsh Journals

1918-21 married labourers with families did less well than indoor servants; their wages, indeed, only just kept pace with the fast rise in the cost of living. Not surprisingly, bitterness was most keenly felt amongst this class and so it is likely that a disproportionate number of married men with families joined the farm labourers' unions. (Over half of the Llanilar branch in May 1918 were married men.). Second, and more seriously, I disagree with Mr. Pretty's view of the labourers by the 1880s as 'a class apart'. Certainly by then the old bonds between masters and men were weakening, but I doubt if we can talk of'estrangement between both groups based on a conflict of class interest'. And, although revolt came at the close of 1917, even now we must be wary of seeing too big a break-down in relations. There was, as Mr. Pretty rightly indicates, a lack of interest in unionism on the part of many farm labourers at the high-point of 1919-20. Partly, it is true, this reflected the long years of ingrained subservience and continuing dependence on the part of labourers, but it doubtless reflected, also, a real degree of social intimacy and absence of class distinction in Welsh rural areas outside the counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth, Anglesey and Denbigh where, in the summer of 1918, class distinction was admittedly pronounced. DAVID W. HOWELL Swansea DATHLWN GLOD. YSGOL GYMRAEG ABERYSTWYTH 1939-1989, Dafydd Ifans(goL), Aberystwyth, 1989, 72tt. £ 3.50. Fel un a fu wrth draed Gamaliel ei hun, sef Miss Norah Isaac, yn hanes yr Ysgol Gymraeg, cefais bleser a mwynhad wrth ddarllen y gyfrol Dathlwn Glod i gofnodi hanner can mlynedd o addysg gynradd Gymraeg yn Aberystwyth. Yn ystod y saithdegau cafwyd llif mawr o ddathliadau canmlwyddiant yn hanes Ysgolion Cynradd Ceredigion a phentwr go drwchus o lyfrynnau i'w cofnodi. Seisnig fu naws ac iaith llawer o'r ysgolion hynny am gyfnodau maith, ond wele awel ffres wrth gyhoeddi ym 1989 gyfrol yn dathlu pen-blwydd arbennig yn hanes addysg gynradd Gymraeg. Diolch i'r Gymdeithas Rhieni/Athrawon am ysgwyddo'r cyfrifoldeb o gyhoeddi'r gyfrol ac i Dafydd Ifans am ei golygu. Gwthiwyd y cwch ar ei daith ar 25 Medi, 1939 yn Swyddfa'r Urdd, Heol Llanbadarn, mewn ymateb i'r mewnlifiad o ifaciwis a ymsefydlodd yn Aberystwyth ar ddechrau'r Ail Ryfel Byd. Teimlodd criw bychan o rieni fod Cymreictod addysg eu plant mewn perygl. Uchelgais yr Ysgol, yn 61 Miss Isaac, oedd 'meithrin dinasyddiaeth bywyd Cristnogol a chariad at brydferthwch a hynny ar sail diwylliant Cymru'. Bu i'r Ysgol dri chartref, sef Swyddfa'r Urdd a Neuadd Wen (cartref Syr Ifan), Plas Lluest Gwilym ac Ysgol Ffordd Alecsandra. Diddorol oedd darllen bod Swyddfa'r Urdd wedi symud dros dro i 30, Ffordd y Môr er mwyn i'r Ysgol gael mwy o le! Bu i'r Ysgol chwe Phrifathro a theg eu rhestru, sef Miss Norah Isaac (1939-49); Mri. Hywel D. Roberts (1953-56); J. Hywel Jones (1956-66); Huw J. Evans (1966-73); T. L. Thomas (1973-82) a D. Eirian Evans (1982-). Ceir crynodeb byw o'u hargraffiadau gan bump ohonynt. Yn drist iawn bu farw Mr. Huw Evans yn frawychus o sydyn tra oedd wrth ei waith yn yr Ysgol. Yn yr oes dechnolegol hon lie mae gwasgu swits neu fotwm yn ail natur, diddorol darllen i'r set deledu gyntaf gyrraedd yr Ysgol yn Ebrill 1970 a'r Cyfrifiadur cyntaf ym 1983. Beth