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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd14861 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50973 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50973) diff --git a/old/50973-0.txt b/old/50973-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a18f88f..0000000 --- a/old/50973-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10807 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, "About My Father's Business", by Thomas Archer - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: "About My Father's Business" - Work Amidst the Sick, the Sad, and the Sorrowing - - -Author: Thomas Archer - - - -Release Date: January 20, 2016 [eBook #50973] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS"*** - - -E-text prepared by Richard Hulse, Chris Pinfield, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries -(https://archive.org/details/americana) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive/American Libraries. See - https://archive.org/details/aboutmyfathersbu1876arch - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals. - - - - - -"ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS." - - -(The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.) - - -"ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" - -Work Amidst the Sick, the Sad, and the Sorrowing - -by - -THOMAS ARCHER - -Author of -"Strange Work," "A Fool's Paradise," "The Terrible Sights of London," -"The Pauper, The Thief, and the Convict," etc., etc. - - - - - - - -Henry S. King & Co. -1876 - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY 1 - - WITH THE CHILDREN OF THE STRANGER 9 - - WITH THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN 18 - - WITH THE STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND 34 - - WITH THOSE WHO ARE LEFT DESOLATE 44 - - WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS 53 - - WITH THEM WHO WERE READY TO PERISH 62 - - CASTING BREAD UPON THE WATERS 74 - - WITH THE FEEBLE AND FAINT-HEARTED 84 - - WITH THE LITTLE ONES 100 - - IN THE KINGDOM 112 - - WITH LOST LAMBS 125 - - WITH THE SICK 135 - - BLESSING THE LITTLE CHILDREN 144 - - WITH THEM THAT FAINT BY THE WAY 157 - - IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH 165 - - WITH THE HALT AND THE LAME 178 - - WITH THEM WHO HAVE NOT WHERE TO LAY THEIR HEADS 190 - - TAKING IN STRANGERS 200 - - FEEDING THE MULTITUDE 209 - - GIVING REST TO THE WEARY 220 - - WITH THE POOR AND NEEDY 227 - - GIVING THE FEEBLE STRENGTH 248 - - HEALING THE SICK 261 - - WITH THE PRISONER 273 - - - - -"ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS." - - - - -_THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY._ - - -Would it not be useful to ask ourselves the question whether we are -forgetting the true meaning of "charity" in the constant endeavour to -take advantage of organized benevolent institutions, about the actual -working of which we concern ourselves very little? As the years go on, -and what we call civilisation advances, are we or are we not losing -sight of "our neighbour" in a long vista of vicarious benefactions, -bestowed through the medium of a subscription list, or casual -contributions at an "anniversary festival?" - -At the speeches that are made on such occasions, when the banquet is -over, and the reading of the amounts subscribed is accompanied by the -cracking of nuts and a crescendo or decrescendo of applause, in -proportion to the liberality of the donors, we are so frequently -reminded of "the good Samaritan," that we begin to feel that we may -claim some kind of relationship to him; and may shake our heads with -solemn sorrow at the inexcusable conduct of the priest and the Levite. -It would be worth while, however, to ask ourselves whether we quite come -up to the mark of him who, finding the man wounded and helpless by the -wayside, dismounted that he might convey the sufferer to the nearest -inn; poured out oil for his wounds and wine for his cheer; left him with -money in hand for the supply of his immediate needs; and did not -scruple--with a robust and secure honesty--even to get into debt on his -behalf: since the crown of good-will would be the coming again to learn -of the patient's welfare. The debt was a pledge of the intention. - -That was the Lord Christ's way of looking at charitable responsibility, -and at benevolent effort; and even granting that He illustrated the -answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" by an extreme case of -sudden distress, the longer we look at the peculiar needs of the man who -was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, the more perhaps we shall be -convinced that there are greater, far greater evils, and more terrible -accidents, than to fall among thieves, who temporarily rob, strip, and -disable their victim. - -The present fashion of dealing with such an unfortunate traveller would -very much depend on which particular class of philanthropists the modern -Samaritan who found him by the road-side happened to belong to. - -Of course, it would be a scandal to our Christianity to follow either -priest or Levite, although our cowardly sympathies might lie between the -two; so, in order to make all safe, we hit on a compromise, and, -according to our circumstances, try to find a medium line of conduct -between Samaritan and Levite, or Samaritan and priest. We are ashamed to -pass on without doing something, and so we call at the inn on our way, -and leave the twopence there, in case anybody else should think fit to -bring on the man who is lying, stunned and bleeding, in the roadway. Or -else, having contrived to rouse the poor fellow to a little effort, we -borrow an ass and take him back with us, to find some organised -institution for the relief of those who fall among thieves, where the -wine and oil are contracted for out of the funds. And there we leave -him, without remembering anything whatever about the twopenny -contribution which would represent our own share in the benefaction. - -It is an awful thought, and one which it may be hoped will soon become -intolerable, that, with the mechanical perfection of means for relieving -the necessities of those who are afflicted, there seems to grow upon us -a deadly indifference to the very deepest need of all--that personal, -human sympathy, without which all our boast of benevolence is but as the -sounding of brass and the tinkling of a cymbal. Can it be possible that -we are approaching a condition when, refusing to have the poor and the -afflicted, the widow and the orphan always with us, we shut them away -out of our sight, leaving the whole duty of visiting them, of clothing -them, of giving them meat and drink, to be done by an official -committee; a charitable board, distributing doles, exactly calculated, -on a carefully devised scale, and divided to the ounce or the inch, in -supposed proportion to the individual need of each recipient? Will there -ever come a time when we shall persuade ourselves that we fulfil the law -of Christ by paying so much in the pound for a charity rate, and leaving -all the actual "relief" to be effected by an official department, or a -series of official committees? - -The present aspect of charitable administration would be truly appalling -if this were likely to be the result, for there are far too many -evidences of that deadly indifference which will get rid of all real -personal responsibility by paying a subscription, and will pay -handsomely, too, at the same time smiling grimly, and half satirically, -at the recollection that there are a number of people who always have on -hand "cases," of whom they are anxious to rid themselves by placing them -in any institution that will receive them without payment. - -Let it not be imagined that these latter words of mine are intended to -apply to those workers among the poor, who, with small means of their -own, cannot do much more than speak words of advice and comfort, and -give their earnest help to better the condition of sordid homes and of -neglected children. There are scores of true, tender-hearted women who, -spending much time amongst the sick and the afflicted, feel their hearts -sink within them as they see how much more might be done, if they had -but the wherewithal to appease the actual physical needs of those to -whom they try to come spiritually near. - -If but the miracle so easy to others were first performed, and the five -thousand fed, then indeed might follow that still greater miracle, the -earnest listening of the once turbulent multitude to the words of the -Bread of Life. - -But there are those who pursue what they regard as "charitable work" as -an excitement--an amusement--just as children are sometimes set to play -with Scripture conversation cards, and puzzles out of the Old Testament, -with a kind of feeling that the employment comes nearly to a religious -exercise. There is as much danger of these persons missing the true work -of charity as there would be in the employment of paid officials--indeed, -the latter would have one advantage; they would be less likely to be -imposed upon by those who to obtain some special advantage would cringe -and flatter. - -The first great difficulty in visiting and temporarily relieving the -lower class of destitute poor, is to disabuse their minds of an -inveterate notion that the benevolent visitor and distributor is paid by -some occult society, of which the recipients of bounty know nothing, and -for which they care very little. Unfortunately, the sharp determined -amateur visitor, who "does a district" as other people with leisure do a -flower show or a morning concert----but, alas! these very words of mine -show how common is that lack of true charity of which I designed to -speak. Who am I that I should sum up the disposition and the heart of my -brother or my sister? Only I would say that this suspicion on the part -of the ignorant poor, which is so often complained of--the notion that -their interviewers are paid for the work of charity--can only yield to -the conviction that the work itself is undertaken with warm living human -sympathy. Before the true relief shall come to any man, it must come by -faith. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and _in_ -righteousness also. - -The two tendencies that are driving us away from charity to a kind of -selfish economy, are the habit of "relieving our overcharged -susceptibilities by secreting a guinea," and thinking we have thereby -fulfilled the claims of religion and humanity, and the practice of going -about seeking where we may find candidates for other people's guineas, -and so becoming a kind of charitable detectives, with an eye to -reputation and advancement in the force. - -We are forgetting that heartfelt sympathy, that clasp of the hand and -beam of the eye which will make even a cup of cold water a benefaction, -if we have no more to give, or if the need goes no further than a -refreshing draught, that shall be turned from water into wine by the -power of loving fellowship. Or we may be saying, "Be ye clothed, and be -ye fed," trusting to some other hand to do the necessary work, without -having ourselves first wrought for the means of taking our part in it, -either by a deep personal interest in the relieving institution or in -the destitute recipient. - -"Yet one thing thou lackest,"--even though out of thy great possessions -a large proportion is given to the poor; "follow thou me." "Go about -doing good," do not think to have fulfilled the law without love--that -which you call charity; the mere _giving_--is but to offer a stone when -bread is required of you, unless it be done with love in your -heart--personal, human, and therefore Divine love. "If ye have not been -faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which -is your own?" Use the benefits of institutions--even though you use them -only for others--as you would use your own property. Recommend only -cases that are known to you to be worthy and necessitous, and, should -the institution depend on voluntary support, let a contribution -accompany your "case," if you can any way afford it, as an act of -justice as well as of mercy. - -Don't join in the traffic in votes, and never go begging for "proxies," -in order to have an exchangeable stock on hand, that you may secure a -candidate for any particular institution. This kind of gambling is a -cancer that is eating the heart out of genuine, pure, charitable effort, -and is making way for the cold impersonal system of distribution, which -is now being advocated by those who would make the relief of human -wretchedness and distress a mechanical organisation without the soul of -love. At the same time, let us not forget that no charitable effort -which would be efficacious in affording relief to the widely-spread -distress by which we are surrounded, could be even so much as attempted -without associations established for the express purpose of relieving -particular forms of suffering. This, indeed, is the glory of our -country, that humanity is so strong among us as to lead us not only to -combine, but to emulate. The absolute concentration and centralization -of charitable effort would be a calamity. The breaking up of the best of -our institutions, which have grown from small beginnings in almsgiving -into wide and influential centres of benevolent effort, would be -destruction. - -If anything that may be written hereafter concerning some representative -(large and small, but still truly representative) efforts to do the work -that Christianity demands as its first evidence of reality, should lead -to a deeper and wider personal interest in their behalf, it will be -matter for rejoicing. The larger the number of people who ask what is -being done, the greater will be the desire to continue the good work, or -to declare it. The attention that might in this way be directed to the -mode of affording relief would exercise so keen an influence in the -reformation of abuses, and the adoption of improvements, that all our -charities would soon become truly "public." With the more earnest -conviction of the duty of personal inquiry, and real sympathetic -interest in the individual well-being of our poorer brother or sister, -would come the satisfaction that we belonged to an association, or to a -chain of associations, which will afford to him or to her the very -relief which otherwise we should despair of securing. - -I purpose in another chapter to ask you to read the story of an -institution that was in its day wonderfully illustrative, and even now -serves to take us back for two centuries of history. Only yesterday I -was speaking to some of its inmates. One of them had nearly completed -her own century of life, most of them had seen far more than the -threescore years and ten which we call old age; but they come of a -wonderful race, the men of fire and steel; the women of silent -suffering--the old Huguenots of France. - - - - -_WITH THE CHILDREN OF THE STRANGER._ - - -A hundred and eighty-seven years ago a French army invaded England and -effected a landing at various places on the coast. Smaller divisions of -that army had previously obtained a footing in some of the chief towns -of Great Britain; and for about fifty years afterwards other contingents -arrived at intervals to find the compatriots settled among the people, -who had easily yielded to their address and courage, and by that time -were apparently contented to regard them as being permanently -established in the districts of which they had taken possession. The -strange part of the story is, that for a large part of this time England -was successfully engaged in war with the country of the invaders, and -not only with that country, but with a discarded prince of its own, who, -having received assistance from France, strove to regain the throne -which he had abdicated by raising civil war in Ireland. Then was to be -seen a marvellous thing. A detachment of the French army of occupation -in England went with King William to the Boyne, and when the mercenaries -who were at the back of James in his miserable enterprise came forth to -fight, they beheld the swords of their countrymen flash in their faces, -and heard a well-known terrible cry, as a band of veteran warriors cut -through their ranks, fighting as they had been taught to fight in the -Cevennes and amidst the valleys and passes of Languedoc. For the army -that invaded England in 1686, and for four or five years afterwards, was -the army of the French Huguenots, against whom the dragoons of Louis -XIV. and the emissaries of Pope and priests had been let loose after the -revocation of the Edict of Nantes. - -Four hundred thousand French Protestants had left their country during -the twenty years previous to the revocation of that pact, which had been -renewed after the siege of Rochelle, and though the attempt to escape -from the country was made punishable by the confiscation of property and -perpetual imprisonment in the galleys, six hundred thousand persons -contrived to get out of France, and found asylums in Flanders, -Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and England, after the persecutions were -resumed. - -Comparatively few of the men who came in the second emigration had -fought for the religion that they professed. They had learned to endure -all things, and with undaunted courage many of them had suffered the -loss of their worldly goods, the burning of their houses, hunger, -poverty, and the imprisonment of their wives and daughters in distant -fortresses, because they would not forswear their faith. Hundreds of -their companions were at the galleys, hundreds more had been tortured, -mutilated, burned, broken on the wheel. Women as well as men endured -almost in silence the fierce brutalities of a debased soldiery, directed -by priests and fanatics, who had, as it were, made themselves drunk with -blood, and seemed to revel in cruelty. With a resolution that nothing -seemed able to abate, pastors like Claude Brousson went from district to -district, living they knew not how, half famished, in perpetual danger, -and with little expectation of ultimately escaping the stake or the -rack. Nay, they refused to leave the country, while in the woods and -wildernesses of the Gard great congregations of their brethren awaited -their coming, that they might hold services in caves and "in the -desert," as they called that wild country of the Cevennes and of Lozére. -These men were non-resistants. They met with unflinching courage, but -without arms. Those of them who remained in France stayed to see the -persecutions redoubled in the attempt to exterminate the reformed faith. -They were the truest vindicators of the religion that they professed. Up -to the time of the siege of Rochelle, and afterwards, Protestantism was -represented by a defensive sword, but these men discarded the weapons of -carnal warfare. Only some years later, when the persecutors (rioting in -the very insanity of wrath because their declaration that Protestantism -was abolished was falsified by constant revivals of the old Huguenot -worship) directed utter extermination of the Vaudois, did the grandeur -of the non-resisting principle give way before the desperation of men -who came to the conclusion that, if they were to die, they might as well -die fighting. - -It must be remembered that some of them knew well how to fight. Some of -their leaders--men of peace as they were, and men of an iron -determination, which was shown in the obstinacy with which they refused -to take up the sword--had come of stern warriors and were -_Frenchmen_--Norman Frenchmen--Protestant Norman Frenchmen. A rare -combination that;--cold hard steel and fire. - -But it was not till some time afterwards that these men became the -leaders of the peasantry, the chestnut-fed mountaineers who came down -from their miserable huts and joined what had then become an organised -army of insurrection. Before this time arrived a strange aberration -seemed to move the people. The old simple non-resisting pastors had been -done to death by torture and execution, and the people met, it is true, -but often met amid the ruin of their homes, or in desert places, and as -sheep having no shepherd. Then a wild hysterical frenzy appeared among -them. Men, women, and even children claimed to be inspired, and at -length fanaticism leaped into retaliation. On a Sunday in July, 1702, a -wild mystic preacher, named Séguier went down with a band of about fifty -armed men to release the prisoners. They were confined in dungeons -beneath the house of one Chayla, a priest, who directed the -prosecutions, and invented the tortures which he caused to be inflicted -for the conversion of heretics. The Protestants broke open his door, -forced the prison, and ultimately set fire to the house, in attempting -to escape from which Chayla was recognised and killed. This was the -beginning of a series of retaliations by the tormented people, the -success of which changed the whole attitude of the Protestants of the -district. They had formerly endured in silence; now they were desperate -enough for insurrection. And the insurrection followed. Séguier was -captured, maimed, and burnt alive; but others took his place. The war of -the "Camisards" had commenced. Then it was that the leaders of the -Protestant army in the Cevennes arose;--Roland and Cavalier, and the men -who for a long time waged successful warfare against the royal forces, -till defeat came accompanied by a new _régime_. - -The rumbling of the revolutionary earthquake was already shaking the -throne and the persecuting church. Voltaire, educated by the Jesuits, -and hating religion, was helping to deliver the martyrs of the -Protestant faith even before he began to "philosophise." - -The struggle of the Camisards can only be said to have ceased when the -persecutions were nearly at an end, and France itself was tottering. But -what of that great Huguenot contingent which had invaded Britain, and -was growing in number year by year as the _émigrés_, leaving houses and -land, shops, warehouses, and factories, fled across the frontier, or got -down to the shore, and came over the sea in fishing-boats and other -small craft, in which they took passage under various disguises, or were -stowed away in the holds, or packed along with bales of merchandise, to -escape the vigilance of the emissaries who were set to watch for -escaping Protestants? It is a little significant that of these -non-combatant Protestants eleven regiments of soldiers were formed in -the English army; but the truth is that of the vast number of _émigrés_ -who left France, some 30,000 were trained soldiers and sailors, and -doubtless a proportion of these came to England, though probably fewer -than those of their number who served in the Low Countries. At any rate, -in 1687, two years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there -arrived in England 15,500 refugees, some of whom brought with them very -considerable property, and most of them were men of education, or -skilled in the knowledge of the arts, or of those manufactures and -handicrafts which are the true wealth of a nation. At Norwich and -Canterbury they quickly formed communities which became prosperous, and -helped the prosperity of the districts, where they set up looms, and -dyeworks, and other additions to the local industries. In London they -formed two or three remarkable colonies, so that when Chamberlain wrote -his "Survey of London," there were about twenty French Protestant -churches, the greater number of which stood in Shoreditch, Hoxton, and -Spitalfields--in fact, above 13,000 emigrants had settled in or near the -metropolis. The one French Protestant church founded by Edward VI. was, -of course, inadequate to receive them, and their immediate necessities -were so great that a collection was made for their relief, and a sum of -60,000_l._ was by this means obtained in order to alleviate their -distress. - -Among these _émigrés_ were many noblemen and gentlemen of distinction, -who, with their wives, were reduced to extreme poverty by the -confiscation of their property. These had learned no trade, but with -characteristic courage many of them set themselves to acquire the -knowledge of some craft by which they might earn their bread, while some -of their number learned of their wives to make pillow-lace, and so -continued to support themselves in decent comfort. - -To those who knew the "old French folk," as they came to be called in -after years, when the later emigration had again increased the number of -the weavers' colony in Spitalfields, nothing was more remarkable than -the cheerfulness, one might almost say the gaiety, that distinguished -them. Reading the account given by French writers of the old Huguenots -in France, one might be disposed to regard them as stern and sour -sectaries, but that would be a very erroneous opinion. Perhaps the -sudden freedom to which they came, the rest of soul, and the opportunity -to endeavour to serve God with a quiet mind raised them to a tranquil -happiness which revived the national characteristic of light-heartedness; -but however it may have been, the real genuine old French weaver of -Spitalfields and Bethnal Green was a very courteous, merry, simple, -child-like gentleman. The houses in which these people lived, some of -which are still to be seen with their high-pitched roofs and long leaden -casements, were very different to the barely-furnished, squalid places -in which their descendants of to-day are to be found; and, indeed, the -Spitalfields weaver even of seventy years ago was usually a well-to-do -person; while in the old time he could take "Saint Monday" every week, -wear silver crown-pieces for buttons on his holiday coat, and put on -silk stockings on state occasions. This was in the days when French was -still spoken in many of the little parlours of houses that stood within -gardens gay with sweet-scented blooms of sweet-william, ten-weeks-stock, -and clove-pink. When there was still an embowered greenness in -"Bednall," and Hare Street Fields were within a stone's throw of -"Sinjun"--St. John, or rather St. Jean Street,--or of the little chapel -of "_La Patente_," in Brown's Lane, Spitalfields. Even in later times -than that, however, I can remember being set up to a table, and shown -how to draw on a slate, by an old gentleman with a face streaked like a -ruddy dried pippin. I was just old enough to make out that the tea-table -talk was in a strange tongue; but I can remember that there were -evidences of the refinements that the old refugees had brought with them -across the sea. Not only in their neat but spruce attire, in their -polite grace to women, in their easy, good-humoured play and prattle to -little children, in their cultivation of flowers, their liking for -birds, and their taste for music, but in a score of trifling objects -about their tidy rooms, where the click of the shuttle was heard from -morning to night, these old French folk vindicated their birth and -breeding. By tea-services of rare old china, rolls of real "point" lace, -a paste buckle, an antique ring, a fat, curiously-engraved watch, a few -gem-like buttons, delicately-coloured porcelain and chimney ornaments; -by books and manuscript music, or by flute and fiddle deftly handled in -the playing of some old French tune, these people expressed their -distinction without being aware of it. It has not even yet died out. -Unfortunately, many of their descendants--representatives of a miserably -paid, and now nearly superseded industry--have deteriorated by the -influences of continued poverty; and even so long ago as the evil -war-time of Napoleon I., many of the old families anglicised their names -in deference to British hatred of the French, but there are still a -large number of people in the eastern districts of London whose names, -faces, and figures alike proclaim their origin. - -But we must go back once more to the time when the great collection was -made. It is at least gratifying to know that the £60,000 soon increased -to £200,000, and was afterwards called the "Royal Bounty," though -Royalty had nothing to do with it during that reign. In 1686-7 about -6000 persons were relieved from this fund, and in 1688 27,000 applicants -received assistance, while others had employment found for them, or were -relieved by more wealthy _émigrés_ who had retained or recovered some -part of their possessions. But there were still aged and sick people, -little children, widows, orphans, broken men, homeless women, and lonely -creatures who had become almost imbecile or insane through the cruelties -and privations that they had suffered. For these a refuge was necessary, -and at length--but not till 1708--an institution was founded in St. -Luke's, under the name of the French Hospital, but better known to the -"old folks" as the "Providence." - -Of what it was and is I design to tell in another chapter. - - - - -_WITH THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN._ - - -That great invading French army of nobles, gentry, artists, traders, -handicraftsmen, of which some account has already been given, was added -to from time to time, even as lately as the Revolution, and the -restoration of the dynasty after the downfall of Napoleon, when a -strange reaction against the Protestants was commenced, partly as a -pretence for concealing political animosity. The department of the Gard -was once more the scene of horrible atrocities, against which Lord -Brougham invoked the aid of the English Parliament, and obtained the -help of Austrian bayonets to protect the people, who were being -murdered, tortured, or outraged, in defiance of feeble local -authorities. But by this time there was a new generation of the first -great Anglo-French colony in London. Spitalfields had grown to the -dimensions of a township. Bethnal had begun to lose its greenness. There -was, as there still is, a remarkable settlement about Soho. "Petty -France" was as well known as the exhibition of needlework in Leicester -Square, or Mrs. Salmon's wax figures in Fleet Street. - -Those poor refugees who fled to escape from the horrors of Sainte -Guillotine, or the ruthless cruelties at Nismes, came to brethren many -of whom had never seen the glowing valleys and golden fields of -Languedoc, whence their forefathers escaped only with life and hands to -work. They had preserved their national characteristics; they attended -churches and chapels where the pastors still spoke their native tongue, -and where they had established schools for their children; but they had -settled down to a quiet, though a busy life, in the heart of the great -workshop of the world, and only a few of them--principally the gentry, -some of whom had regained a portion of their property--felt frequent or -urgent impulses to return. More than a hundred and twenty years had -elapsed since the "Royal Bounty" had been expended in the relief of the -27,000 _émigrés_ who yet were without any permanent refuge for the -destitute, the sick, the aged, and the insane among their number. This -was in 1688, and it was not till nearly twenty-eight years afterwards -that any regular institution was organized. The earlier refugees had -become aged or had died, after having obtained such temporary help as -could be afforded by subscriptions or the large benefactions of their -more wealthy fellow-countrymen. Still, the later emigrations increased -the number of applicants for permanent relief. At last, in 1718, a great -concourse of French refugees assembled in a chapel which formed a -special portion of a building only just completed, but which had already -received the dignity of forming the subject of a Royal charter granted -by His Majesty King George I. to his "right trusty and right -well-beloved" cousin, Henry de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, Earl of -Galloway, and a number of trusty and well-beloved gentlemen, all -naturalized refugees, who made the first governor and directors of the -"Hospital for Poor French Protestants and their descendants residing in -Great Britain;" otherwise known as the French Hospital, but soon to be -spoken of with simple pathetic brevity as "La Providence." - -The idea of founding such a charity was due to a distinguished refugee -in Holland--no less a personage than M. de Gastigny, Master of the -Hounds to Prince William of Orange; a ruddy, jovial-looking gentleman -withal, whose portrait, should you go to see it, will set you wondering -whether he could ever have been classed among the "sour sectaries" to -whom it was the fashion to attribute a disregard of social pleasures. A -bequest of a thousand pounds sterling from the bluff keeper of the -kennels was to be divided into equal sums--£500 for the building, and -the interest of the remaining £500 to be spent on its maintenance. - -Not a very adequate provision, truly, for any such purpose; but -sufficiently suggestive to set the more prosperous members of the great -Anglo-French colony to increase the amount. The astute Master of the -Hounds must surely have foreseen this result when he left this legacy to -the management of the trustees of the already existing relief fund, -still miscalled "the Royal Bounty." They exhibited that prudence in -money matters which is a French characteristic, and let the thousand -pounds accumulate for eight years, after which a general subscription -was invited from successful merchants and traders, while with a just -appreciation of the benefits which had been conferred by these good -citizens on the land of their adoption, some wealthy Englishmen added -their contributions to the general fund. - -Thus it came about, that a piece of land was purchased in the Golden -Acre--a queer old half-countrified precinct of St. Giles, -Cripplegate--that a building was erected for the reception of eighty -poor persons, that a charter was granted, and that the new charitable -association was consecrated in the new chapel by Philippe Menard, the -minister of the French Church of St. James's and secretary of the -enterprise. - -This was, indeed, something worth working for. The aged or afflicted -poor among the refugees were no longer mere mendicants living on -precarious alms. Out of their abundance the more prosperous gave -cheerfully. In 1736 another adjoining site was purchased, and another -side of the great open quadrangle of garden ground was built upon, so -that by 1760 the "Providence" numbered 230 inmates. This, however, was -its culminating point of usefulness. Religious persecution had -diminished, and at length may be said to have ceased altogether. Even as -early as 1720 only 5000 persons required relief from the "Bounty," so -that eventually the trustees were enabled to devote part of it to the -assistance of those who fled from the Revolution--many of whom were the -descendants of those who had been the persecutors of the Protestants. -The great industrial colony, prudent, temperate, and industrious, had -almost grown beyond its earlier needs--and all that it required was that -some adequate provision should be made for infirm or aged men and women, -who being widowed or unmarried, and without means of support, required a -refuge in which they might peacefully end their days. The same causes -which had diminished the number of applicants had also reduced the -amount of current subscriptions, so that some portion of the building -was removed, as being no longer necessary, and in order to secure a -sufficient endowment an Act of Parliament was obtained, empowering the -directors to let their land on building leases. By that time the -neighbourhood was known not as "the Golden Acre," but as St. Luke's, and -on the ground once purchased by the Marquis de Ruvigny and his trusty -and well-beloved companions, grew Radnor Street, Galway Street, Gastigny -Place, and part of Bath Street, while the number of inmates was reduced -to sixty--that is to say, about twenty men and forty women, all of whom -were to be above sixty years of age, of French extraction, and -professing the Protestant religion. It was a queer old range of -building, that retreat; pleasant enough, perhaps, when as a rather blank -series of red brick houses, it looked across its own formal walled -garden to the pleasant fields and open country, but strangely silent, -and with a crumbling, dreary look about it, when the lunatic asylum of -St. Luke's dominated all the surrounding tenements of a crowded, sordid -neighbourhood. Only the initiated could easily find the little low black -door that opened in the bare wall, and led to the large irregular space, -which was laid out in weedy beds and stony borders, distinguished by an -air of decay rather than of production--especially where in certain dank -corners a tangle of sapless stalks and tendrils indicated some faintly -hopeful attempt to rear an arbour, in which persons of robust -imagination might fancy they were sheltered from impending blacks that -issued from the manufactory chimneys close by. The visitor to this -out-of-the-way corner of the great city, seeing the old people walking -up and down the paved causeway in front of the row of crooked-paned -lower windows, or airing themselves at the doorsteps, might be excused -for the fancy that they had the imaginative faculty of children; and -were expected to "make believe" a good deal before they could quite -reconcile themselves to the notion that this dingy area of quadrilateral -plots and paths, in which the wet stood in small puddles, was ever a -"pleasaunce" gay with garden blooms, and smelling of knotted marjoram -and fragrant thyme. Yet there were still evidences of the invincible -cheerfulness of the old French nature, among the old creatures with -faces streaked like winter apples, and hands which, even though they -trembled, were swift of gesture and of emphasis. - -There were old fellows there who had still about them indications of -true comeliness and grace that distinguished them from all vulgar -surroundings;--ancient gentlemen, who would go out on wet days to sweep -away any rainpools that might lie before the doors of the old ladies, -and so besmirch an otherwise immaculate shoe. It should be remembered, -too, that there was no livery there. Those who had some one to help them -to the garb of gentility wore what pleased them; those who were -dependent on the charity for clothing, were neither bound in one -pattern, nor condemned to the uniform of poverty. Neat or lively cotton -prints, or warm stuff gowns, with proper hose and caps and kerchiefs, -for the women; plain Oxford mixture, black, steel grey, or brown, for -the men, and each one measured for his suit. Those who entered there -were not the recipients of a dole grudgingly conceded. It was no -poorhouse, but the "Providence." Only eleven years ago there were some -evidences of the old meaning of the place in the remnants of the antique -furniture which adorned the queer rooms. They were not wards or -dormitories, but veritable bedrooms; and each one had its own -peculiarities, even in the bedsteads with spindle posts and dimity -hangings, the boxes and cupboards, and special chairs which -distinguished it from the rest. Some of these things had evidently been -heirlooms either of the institution or of the individual; and, indeed, -the preservation of individuality was a cheerful feature of the place, -despite its dim and somewhat dreary surroundings. - -The Board Room was, in its way, one of the most extraordinary apartments -in London: with its tables supported by a tangled puzzle of legs, its -high-backed, polished chairs with leather seats, worn till they reminded -one of the cover of an antique ledger bound in unfinished calf; its -wonderful old black-framed prints representing the meetings of the -Huguenots in the Clerk's field in the times when men and women carried -their lives in their hands, and dragoons rode congregations down and -slashed them with sabres as they fell. Its dimly-seen portraits of the -noble, broad-browed, dark-eyed Ruvigny (the first governor), who refused -to go back to France even at the invitation of the King; of the gentle -Pastor Menard, with high, capacious forehead, and calm, strong mien; of -hale, shrewd, ruddy Gastigny; and of some men of later date, with -Frenchman written in every line of their finely-marked faces. - -The little room set apart as a chapel--a barely-furnished place enough, -with desk and raised platform and plain seats--was venerable because of -all the meaning that lay in its studied absence of all ornament, and -because of the significance it must once have had to the sad-eyed men -who crowded into it, some of them thinking, perhaps, how it had come -about that they could stand there in peace and without a hand upon the -hilt of a sword. - -There were, even at that later time, old men and women in the dim old -building who could repeat family legends of the emigration--for they -lived to a great age, these French folk, many of them being still alert -of eye and ear, and foot, even though they had heard the click of the -shuttle and the rattle of the loom eighty years before. - -Some of them have survived the old place itself; for while they are in a -new home, the ancient building has changed, if even it be not altogether -dismantled. The leases paid good interest, and eight years ago a new -French hospital arose--away from the dingy old precinct of the Golden -Acre. - -To see this later "Providence" aright, you must come through the very -heart of that neighbourhood which was once the great Silk Colony, thread -the bye-ways of Poverty Market, note the tall silent houses where the -looms no longer rattle, nor the sharp whirr of the shuttle stirs -cage-birds to sing; pass across the debatable land lying on the edge of -Shoreditch, where human beings live in sties built in the backyards of -other houses, in streets that are still with the blank silence of misery -and want. You should walk amidst pigeon and dog fanciers; call in at -certain dingy, slipshod taverns, where at night a slouching company will -meet to hear bullfinches pipe for wagers, and where starving men and -women stand and drink away the pence that are all too few to buy food -for the starving brood at home, and so are flung upon the sloppy counter -in exchange for the drugged drink that feels like food and fire in one. -Through Bethnal Green, with its "townships" and its "Follies," extending -in sordid rows of tenements built to one dreary pattern. Over districts -which, only a few years ago, were fields and open spaces, leading to -farm lands and hedgerows, and so away to the great expanse of marsh land -where the dappled kine wade knee-deep in the lush pastures, and the -stunted pollards stand like patient fishermen upon the river's brink. - -Yes, the present "French Hospital"--New Providence--was built ten years -ago in the border-land beyond the Weavers' Garden, that great garden and -pleasure-ground known as Victoria Park. It is the only garden left to -the descendants of those old craftsmen who once dwelt in houses every -one of which had its gay plot of flowers, its rustic arbour, or its -quaint device of grotto-work, built up of oddly-shaped stones and -pearl-edged oyster-shells. Do you think there is now no remnant of the -old French folk left? Come for a stroll among the grand beds and -plantations of this East-end playground, and you shall see. On holidays -and alas! on those days when (to use the expressive term handed down -from prosperous times) the weaver is "at play"--that is to say, waiting -for woof and weft, and so wiling away the sad and often hunger-bringing -hours--you will see him, with his keen well-cut face, his dark -appreciative eye, his long delicate hands, his well-brushed, threadbare -coat and hat; and the mark of race is plainly to be noted in his -intensity of look and his subdued patient bearing. He comes of a stock -which had it not been of the hardiest and the most temperate and -enduring in the world, would have disappeared a century ago. On Sunday -mornings, when the bells are sounding round about him, he is to be met -with lingering (with who shall say what inner sense of worship) by the -strange shrubs and flowering plants, or standing with a pathetic look of -momentary satisfaction on his lean, mobile face, to mark the rare glow -and gush of colour made by the blooms in a "ribbon" device of flowers on -a sunny border by a dark background of cedar. But come and see what his -forefathers might have called, in their Scripture phraseology, "the -remnant of the children of Israel;" the old inmates of that French -Hospital founded so long ago when De Ruvigny was the "beloved cousin" of -George I., and Philippe Menard preached at St. James's; when the Duchess -de la Force brought donation after donation to the work, and Philippe -Hervart, Baron d'Huningue gave £4,000, all in one splendid contribution, -to the building fund. Could they have seen (who knows that they have -not?) this great French château rising beyond the park palings in a -neighbourhood fast filling with houses, but still open to the air that -blows from the Weavers' Garden and from the great expanse of land -leading towards the forest, they would have recognised the familiar -style of those grand mansions which in France succeeded the castles of -the feudal nobility when Henry Quatre was king. The high-pointed roof -with its irregularly picturesque lines, the quaint towers and spires, -the slate blue and purple, and rosy tints of colour in slope and wall -and gable; the various combinations of form and hue changing with every -point of view, make this modern copy of the old French château a -wonderful feature in any landscape, and the unaccustomed visitor seeing -it as it stands there in its own ornamental ground, surrounded by a -quaint wall decorated in coloured bands, wonders what can be the meaning -of a building so full of suggestion; while if he be of an imaginative -turn, he may fall into a daydream when he peers through the gate that -stands by the porter's lodge. - -But let us pass through this gate, and so up to the entrance-hall, and -we shall seem to leave behind us not only the Weavers' Garden, but most -things English. The hall itself, paved with encaustic tile, leads to a -flight of broad, shallow steps, beneath an arched ceiling of variegated -brick and two screen arches. These steps conduct us at once to a central -corridor, extending for the entire length of the building, and rising to -the greatest height of the open roof of timber with its lofty skylights. -In front of us is a double stone staircase, one branch being for the old -ladies, the other for the men; and immediately at the foot of the former -division is the entrance to the refectory, a large handsome dining-hall, -where, at two long tables, this wonderful company assemble, only the -very infirm having their meals carried to the upper ward, where they are -waited on by paid attendants. Separate staircases are provided for the -servants of the establishment, whose rooms are in the tower above the -main wards--or rather, let us say, principal apartments, for they are -not so much wards as a series of twenty-two large bedrooms, linen-rooms, -and two bath-rooms. The steward of the hospital, a venerable gentleman -with the courteous air and speech of some seneschal of olden time, has -also his own apartments, reached by a third stair, his sitting-room and -office occupying a space close to the entrance. On the right of the main -staircase and at the end of the corridor is the ladies' sitting-room, a -fine high-windowed light and lofty place, admirably warmed, as indeed -all the building is, and so furnished that at each large square table -four old ladies can sit and have not only ample space for books or -needlework, but on her right hand each can open a special separate -table-drawer with lock and key, wherein to keep such waifs and -strays--shreds, patches, skeins, and unconsidered trifles--as children -and old women like to accumulate. There is another day-room beside this, -and a similar, though not quite so large an apartment is provided for -the men, both rooms being furnished with sundry books and a few sober -periodicals of the day. - -It must not be forgotten though that many of the old gentlemen have -grown accustomed to the use of tobacco, and here in the basement is a -smoking-room, quite out of the way of the ordinary sitting and -dining-rooms, and not far from the laundry and drying-rooms, which form -an important part of the establishment. - -But, hush! there is a hymn sounding yonder in the refectory; a hymn sung -by voices, many of which are yet fresh and clear, though the singers -number more than eighty years of life, and of life that has often been -hard and full of heaviness. - -It is the grace before meat, and the hot joints, with the fresh -vegetables from their own garden, have just come up from the big kitchen -by means of a lift to the serving-room. - -There are no servants to wait at table, and the family dinner-party is a -private one, inasmuch as it is the custom here for the most active of -the inmates to agree among themselves who shall be butler, or -_beaufetière_, for each day during the week. So the dinner-time goes -pleasantly and quickly, the meat, the vegetables, and the capital -household beer, of which each man has a pint twice a day, and each woman -half a pint, being the only articles that require serving. - -The good old-fashioned family custom of everybody having his or her own -teapot is observed here. A great gas-boiler stands on one side the -refectory, and a row of convenient lockers on the other; and each inmate -has tea and coffee from the stores, while bread and butter are also -served out for consumption according to each individual fancy, and not -in rations at each meal time. Thus those old ladies and gentlemen who -have spending money, or friends to bring them some of the little -luxuries that they so keenly appreciate, can add a relish to their -breakfast or to the evening beer. - -We will not go in while they are at dinner, for there are those here yet -who "might have been gentlefolk" but for the mutability of mortal -affairs. Stay! here come the old ladies, with old-fashioned curtseys, -which are more than half a bow, and not a mere vulgar "bob." There is no -mistaking some of their faces. You may see their like in French -pictures, or in old French towns still. Some of them with eyes from -which the fire had not yet died out; with deftly-moving fingers; with a -quick, springy step; with an inherited remnant of the French _moue_ and -shrug, as they answer a gentle jest about their age and comeliness. - -"Eighty-four; and I don't know how it is, but I don't seem to see so -well in the dark as I used. When I went out to see my brother-in-law, I -was quite glad he came part of the way home with me." - -"Turned eighty, but I can't get upstairs as I used to do." - -"You speak French, madame?" - -"Pas beaucoup, monsieur;" this from one of the only two actual French -women now in the establishment, the rest being lineal descendants only. -The oldest, who is now going quietly and with a very pretty dignity out -of the refectory, is ninety-four, and can not only hear a low-toned -inquiry, but answers it in a soft, pleasant voice. She bears the weight -of years bravely, but the burden has perhaps been heavy; and she speaks -in a mournful tone, as one looking forward to a mansion among the -many--to a house not made with hands, may sometimes speak when even the -grasshopper becomes a burden. - -As to a young person of sixty-five or thereabout, nobody regards her as -having any real business to mention such a trifling experience of life; -while of the men--most of whom seemed to have filed off for their pipe -or newspaper--one remains finishing his dinner, for he has been on duty -for the day, and is now winding up with a snack of bread-and-butter and -the remainder of his mug of porter--a stoutly-built, hale, -stalwart-looking gentleman who, sitting there without his coat, which -hangs on the back of a chair, might pass for a retired master mariner, -or a representative of some position requiring no little energy and -endurance. I fancy, for the moment that he must be an official appointed -to serve or carve and employed on the establishment. - -"Eighty-four," and one of the old weaving colony of Bethnal Green. - -There can be no mistake about it. Every inmate provides certificates and -registers enough to make the claim undoubted; and as to the right by -descent, half the people here carry it in their faces, and to the -initiated, are as surely French, as they are undoubtedly weavers. - -The morning here begins with family prayers, which the steward reads -from a desk in the refectory, and so the day closes also. The Sunday -services are in the chapel, and such a chapel! To those who remember the -dim, barely-furnished room in the old building at St. Luke's, this gem -of architectural taste and simple beauty at the end of the main corridor -comes with no little surprise. Its beautiful carved stone corbels, -mosaic floor, and charming ornamentation; its broad gallery entered -immediately from the upper floor, so that the feeble and infirm may go -to worship directly from their sleeping-rooms; its glow of subdued -colour and sobered light from windows of stained glass; its simple -decorations, and its spotless purity, are no less remarkable than the -plainness which characterises the general effect. It is to be noticed, -too, that there is no "altar," but "a table;" that neither at the back -of the communion nor on the carving of the lectern, nor even in the -windows, is there to be seen a cross. Where the Maltese cross would -occur amidst the arabesques of the stained glass, we see the -fleur-de-lis. French Protestantism, has perhaps, not yet lost its -intense significance, at all events here, in this chapel where the -service of the Church of England is observed, and an ordained clergyman -ministers to the family of the children's children of the ancient -persecuted people of Languedoc, the symbol under which the Protestants -were burned and tortured and exiled has no place. This is probably in -accordance with the traditions left by De Ruvigny, by Gastigny, by -Menard, and by their successors, whose portraits still hang in the fine -board-room of the new "Providence." - -Of course, no contributions or subscriptions are now asked for to -support this old French charity. With it are associated one or two gifts -of money, such as that of Stephen Mounier for apprenticing two boys; and -the bequest of Madame Esther Coqueau for giving ten shillings monthly to -ten poor widows or maidens; but the directors do not seek for external -aid. To the charity when it was first chartered was added a portion of -the accumulations of the benefactions of the French Church at Norwich, -and it may here be mentioned that at Norwich, where a contingent of the -army of refugees had settled, the Society of Universal Goodwill was also -established by Dr. John Murray, a good physician, who strove to extend -to a large organisation a plan for relieving distressed foreigners. This -was but ninety years ago, and it was less successful than its promoter -desired, so that part of the funds accumulated were judiciously handed -to another admirable society in London, of which I shall have something -to say, "The Society of the Friends of Foreigners in Distress." - - - - -_WITH THE STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND._ - - -Do we ever try to realise the full meaning of the declaration that they -who are afar off shall be made near by the blood of Christ? Surely it -does not stop at the nearness to God by redemption, for the only true -redemption is Christ-likeness, and nearness to God assumes nearness to -each other in the exercise of that loving-kindness which is the very -mark and evidence of our calling. - -It would be well if we sometimes ceased to separate by our vague -imaginations "the next world," or "the other world," from the present -world, which is, perhaps in a very real sense, if we could only read the -words spiritually, "the world to come" also;--as it is obvious that the -world means the people around us--ourselves, those who are near and -those who seem to be afar off; and no world to come that could dispense -with our identity would be of any particular significance to us as human -beings. - -Let us then, for the present purpose, try to see how effectually -Christ-likeness should bring near to us those who are afar off, by -taking us near to them; how He who came not to destroy but to fulfil, -looks to us to entertain strangers; and to "be careful" in the -performance of that duty, as to Him who will say either, "I was a -stranger, and ye took me in," or the reverse. - -At the beginning of the present century, with the exception of the -French Protestant organisation, there existed in London no established -association for the relief of destitute foreigners who, having sought a -refuge here, or being, as it were, thrown upon our shores, were left in -distress, hunger, or sickness,--unheeded, only obtaining such temporary -casual relief as a few charitable persons might afford, if by any chance -their necessities were made known to them. At that time the foreign -Protestant clergy, to whom alone many of these destitute men and women -could apply for relief, were themselves mostly the poor pastors of -congregations consisting either of refugees or of artisans and persons -earning their livelihood by precarious labour connected with the lighter -ornamental manufactures. The means at their disposal for charitable -purposes outside their own churches were consequently very small, and -they were unable to render any really effectual assistance, even if they -could have undertaken, what would at that time have been the difficult -task of verifying the needs for which relief was claimed. - -Some attempt had already been made by Dr. John Murray, a good physician -of Norwich, to extend to London the benefits of his "Society of -Universal Goodwill;" but the scheme had been only partially successful. -To him, however, the credit is due of having striven to give definite -shape to an association which was afterwards to take up the good work of -caring for strangers. The foreign Protestant clergy settled in London -met to consider how they might best organise a regular plan for -relieving the wants of those who had so often to apply to them in vain; -and having settled the preliminaries, which were heartily approved by -several foreign merchants, and others, who were willing to assist in any -scheme that would include inquiry into the circumstances of those who -sought assistance, called a public meeting in order to found a regular -institution. This was on the 3rd of July, 1806, and the result of the -appeal was the formation of the society of "The Friends of Foreigners in -Distress." By the following April, a committee had been formed and the -Charity was in working order, nor were funds long wanting with which to -commence the work in earnest. The cases requiring relief were so -numerous, however, and the demands on the society's resources were so -constant, that though some large donations were afterwards obtained from -senates, corporations, wealthy merchants, ambassadors, noblemen, and -Royal benefactors, a considerable subscription list became necessary in -order to enable the society to grant even partial relief to cases, the -urgent claims of which were established by careful inquiry. - -There is a wonderful suggestiveness in the list of "Royal Benefactors -(deceased)," headed by his late Majesty King William IV., and her late -Majesty the Queen Dowager Adelaide. More than one of the Royal donors -themselves died in exile; and several of those who shared their -misfortunes, and were their faithful followers, have shared the small -benefits which the Society had to bestow. "His late Majesty King Charles -X. of France" contributed £300; "His late Majesty Louis Philippe," 100 -guineas; the unfortunate Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, £25; and his -late Imperial Majesty Napoleon III., £50: while their Magnificencies the -Senates of the Free German Towns, as well as the humbler companies of -London's citizens, appear to have given liberally. Notwithstanding all -this, however, the Society has not been able to retain funded property -to any considerable amount, and it is to the annual subscription -list--to which our Queen contributes £100, the Emperor of Germany £100, -and the Emperor of Austria £100--that the charity must look for support. - -Unhappily there are evidences that these annual subscriptions are fewer -than they should be. There seems still to be some reluctance on the part -of the general public steadily to support an effort which has a very -distinct and pressing claim upon Englishmen, who pride themselves, -justly enough, upon the free asylum which this country affords to -foreigners, and who appear ready to give largely in the way of -occasional aid. The disparity between the number of handsome donations -and of very moderate annual subscriptions is a painful feature of the -Society's report, and even public appeals have hitherto been followed -rather by increased applications from persons recommending cases for -relief, _without accompanying the recommendation with a subscription_, -than by any decided augmentation of the funds. The Friends of Foreigners -in Distress are principally to be found amongst prosperous foreigners in -London, and doubtless this is no less than just; but until larger aid is -given by the English public, we have no particular reason to include -this association in any boastful estimate of British charity. - -That the committee does its work carefully, and that cases of distress -are relieved only after due inquiry, and with no such careless hand as -would encourage idle dependence or promote pauperism, is evident enough -to anybody who will take the trouble to inquire into the method of -assistance. Let us go and see. - -Perhaps not one Londoner in a thousand could tell you offhand where to -find Finsbury Chambers. It is probably less known even than Prudent -Passage, or what was once Alderman's Walk; and may be said to be less -attractive than either, for it is a dingy, frowsy, little out-of-the-way -corner in that undecided and rather dreary thoroughfare--London Wall. It -is, in fact, a space without any outlet, and looks as though it ought to -have been a builder's yard, but that the builder took to erecting houses -on it as a speculation which never answered, even though they were let -out as "chambers;" that is to say, as blank rooms and sets of offices, -the supposed occupiers whereof committed themselves to obscurity by -causing their names to be painted on the doorposts, and leaving them -there to fade till time and dirt shall wholly obliterate them. - -And yet it is in one of these lower rooms, occupying the ground floor of -No. 10, that a good work is going on; for here, in an office almost -representatively bare and dingy even in that place, the Society of -Friends of Foreigners in Distress holds its weekly meetings of -directors, and the secretary, Mr. William Charles Laurie, or his -assistant, Mr. C. P. Smith, gives daily attendance (Saturdays excepted), -between eleven and one o'clock. Assuredly, the funds of the charity are -not expended in luxurious appointments for its headquarters. Even a -German commission agent just commencing business could scarcely have a -more simply-furnished apartment. The objects which first strike the -visitor's attention are a row of japanned tin candlesticks, meant for -the use of the board at any of their Wednesday meetings which may be -prolonged till after dusk. The furniture, if it was ever new, must have -been purchased with a regard for economy in the very early history of -the society. The work is evidently so organised as to require no long -daily attendance. The place is furnished only according to the temporary -necessities of business quickly dispatched. Neither in official -salaries, nor in expensive official belongings, are the funds of the -institution wasted. - -The system is, in fact, simple enough, and is conducted on the -principles laid down by the first meetings of the committee above -seventy years ago, with one important exception. Formerly, applicants -for relief must have been for some time resident in England; but changes -in transit, and the more rapid intercommunication of nations, have made -it necessary that some ready aid should be granted to those who find -themselves cast upon the terrible London wilderness without a friend to -help them, ignorant to whom to apply for help, and little able even to -make known their sufferings. - -Every Wednesday, then, the directors meet for receiving applications for -relief, and reports of cases that have been investigated by the Visiting -Committee. - -The plan adopted is to issue to the governors of the charity a number of -small tickets, each of which, when signed and bearing the name of the -applicant for relief, entitles the latter to apply to the weekly -committee for an investigation of his case. Every subscriber of a guinea -is regarded as a governor for a year, and there are, of course, life -governors also. Both these are entitled to recommend cases either for -what may be termed casual relief, or for election as pensioners to -receive weekly assistance (of from 2_s._ to 5_s._, and in cases of -extreme old age or great infirmity, 7_s._ 6_d._ a week), sick -allowances, or passage money to enable applicants to return to their own -country. - -It may easily be believed how a small weekly contribution will often -save a destitute man or woman, or a poor family, from that utter -destitution which would result from the inability to pay rent even for a -single room; while in cases of sickness, the regular allowance even of a -very trifling sum will enable many a poor sufferer to tide over a period -of pain and weakness, during which earnings, already small, are either -reduced or cease altogether. - -In cases of urgent necessity four superintendents are appointed from the -board of directors, with the power to grant immediate relief; and of -course many applicants receive temporary assistance from the governor -who recommends them, until their case is investigated by the committee, -and they are on the list of the worthy and indefatigable "visitor." - -After the expulsion of the Germans from Paris during the late war, that -little dingy quadrangle in London Wall was filled with a strange crowd -of lost and helpless foreigners, whose condition would admit of only a -temporary inquiry, and indeed needed little investigation, since want -and misery were written legibly enough in their faces. For a large -number of these, passage money had to be paid, and the relief was -continued till the press of refugees from France abated. There was a -special subscription for the relief of these poor creatures, raised -chiefly among German merchants living in London, and even now the -Society has to extend a helping hand to some who still remain. - -Any one wandering by accident into Finsbury Buildings on a Wednesday -forenoon, would wonder what so many subdued and rather anxious-looking -men were waiting about for in such an out-of-the-way locality--some of -them leaning against the wall inside, others sitting in the bare room, -just within the barer passage. Every one of these has had his -circumstances carefully inquired into, and is in attendance to receive -what may be called temporary relief. During the official year of my -latest visit 150 homeward passages had been paid, and in the two years -from 1871 to 1873 the number of persons who received relief was 21,333, -who with their wives and families represented a considerable community -of poverty. During the year 1,983 grants were made of sums varying from -less than 10_s._ to 1,324 persons, 10_s._ to 431, 15_s._ to 47, £1 to -135, and so on to £5, which was allowed in a few instances, while sick -allowances were granted in 292 cases. One important and suggestive -feature of this excellent Society is that it numbers among its members -not only subscribers to other charitable institutions, but members of -the medical and legal professions, who frequently render their aid to -applicants free of expense, in order either to relieve them from -suffering, or to protect them from the errors or impositions to which -their ignorance and helplessness might expose them. - -There is no restriction either as regards creed or nationality, and -though each case is matter for inquiry, the only persons disqualified -for receiving relief are those who are detected as impostors--persons -who are deemed to have sufficient support from any other source, those -who cannot give a good reason for having come to this country, and proof -of their having striven to obtain work and to labour for a maintenance, -those who are proved to have been guilty of fraud or immoral practices, -and beggars, or drunken, dissolute persons. - -As regards the numbers of persons who have received relief since the -institution was founded, there is the tremendous total of 21,645 -applicants on behalf of 129,299 individuals. What an army it represents! -Of these Germany (which till recently included Austria, Hungary, and -Bohemia) represents 71,913; Sweden and Norway, 9,422; Holland, 8,878; -France, 7,339; Russia, 7,006; Italy, 5,415; Belgium, 4,578; Denmark, -4,215; the West Indies, 1,716; Switzerland, 1,685; and so on in a -diminishing proportion till we come to "Central Africa!"--a very recent -case, no doubt. - -Can any one question the good that has been effected by an institution -so careful not only to relieve with rigid economy, but also to do its -work on so truly voluntary a principle? If the temporary and -comparatively casual aid afforded to poor and destitute strangers works -so beneficially, however, the pensions, to which only very extreme cases -are elected, are even still more in the nature of help given to those -who are ready to perish, Here are some specimen cases: - -A watchmaker of Frankfort, seventy-four years old, and nearly seventy -years in this country, disabled by paralysis, with a wife, who is a -waistcoat maker, unable to compete with the sewing-machine; one son, -twenty years old, who, having some small situation, lives with them, -pays the rent, and "does what he can;" a boy of fourteen who works as an -errand boy. - -An Italian looking-glass maker, seventy-three years old, and fifty-three -years in this country. Has lately lived by making light frames, but -health and strength fail, and he is suffering from asthma. His wife, an -Englishwoman, and aged sixty-six, works as a charwoman. He has two sons, -each married and with large families, so that they can do nothing for -him. - -A French widow, sixty-seven years old, and thirty-two years in this -country, and paralysed for the last thirteen years. Her only daughter -who is in delicate health, earns her "living" by needlework, but can -only gain enough for her own maintenance. - -These are only three of the first cases in the official report of -pensioners, and they are not selected because of their peculiarly -distressing character. When it is remembered that this society has not, -in a general way, sufficient means to grant more than _two shillings a -week_ in the way of relief, and when we take the trouble to observe that -in the majority of cases where a pension is granted the recipients have -been so long resident here that they may be said to have lost their -nationality in ours, will it be too much to ask of England--alike the -asylum for the persecuted and the teacher of liberty and of -charity--that the "Friends of Foreigners in Distress" shall be regarded -as the friends of all of us alike in the name of Him of whom it was -said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" - -But I have not quite done with the pensioners. I must ask the reader to -go with me to Lower Norwood, where amidst a strange solitude, that is -almost desolation, we will visit three ladies of the _ancien régime_, -one of whom, at least, began life nearly ninety years ago as a fitting -playmate for the daughter of a king. - - - - -_WITH THOSE WHO ARE LEFT DESOLATE._ - - -There is something about the aspect of Nature as seen from the railway -station at Lower Norwood on a damp and misty day which, if not -depressing, can scarcely be regarded as conducive to unusual hilarity. I -speak guardedly because of my respect for the district, and lest I -should in any way be suspected of depreciating any particular locality -as an eligible place of residence. In the latter regard I may mention -that the immediate neighbourhood of Lower Norwood Station is not at -present converted into a small township by the erection of long rows of -tenements on freehold or long leasehold plots. My remarks apply only to -the general outlook from the road, amidst an atmosphere threatening -drizzle, and beneath a sky betokening rain. As far as houses are -concerned, there seemed to me, on the occasion of my last visit, far -more probability of pulling down than of building. In fact, I went for -the purpose of inspecting a whole series of very remarkable tenements -which I had heard were soon either to disappear from the oozy-looking -green quadrangle of which they formed three sides, or were to be -converted to another purpose than that of the dwelling-places of a few -elderly ladies who occupied one dreary side, whence they could look at -the desolation of the closed houses on the other.[1] - -It will not be without regret that I shall hear of this intention being -carried out, for the houses are devoted to the sheltering of alms-folk; -and the alms-folk are the elder pensioners of that admirable -association, the Society of the Friends of Foreigners in Distress, -which, for above ninety years, has been doing its useful work among -those who, but for its prompt and judicious aid, would feel that they -were "alone in a strange land." - -As a part of its original provision for the relief of some of the -applicants who, after long residence in this country, had fallen into a -distressed condition at an age when they were unable any longer to -maintain themselves by their own exertions, the society instituted the -almshouses at Lower Norwood. There is now an impression among the -directors of the charity that their intentions may be carried out in -future by some better method than placing a number of aged and -frequently infirm persons in a comparatively remote group of dwellings, -where they are peculiarly lonely, and lack frequent personal attention -and general sympathy. There can be no doubt that almshouses have -frequently been associated a little too closely with that monastic or -conventual practice with which they mostly originated, and that the -retirement, almost amounting to seclusion, into which the inmates of -such places are removed, may be very far from affording to the aged the -kind of asylum which they most desire. Alas, in many instances, to be -placed in an almshouse is to be put out of the way,--to be conveniently -disposed of; with the inference that every possible provision has been -made for comfortable maintenance. Thus, susceptibilities are quieted. -The aged pensioners are supposed to be periodically visited; their wants -attended to by somebody or other who "sees that they are all right," and -the whole matter is conveniently forgotten, except when a casual -traveller passes a quaint, ancient, mouldy-looking, but still -picturesque block of buildings, and inquires to what charity they -belong; not without a kind of uneasy fancy that there is a custom in -this country of burying certain old people before their time--shutting -them out of the light and warmth of every-day companionship; or, to -change the metaphor, making organised charity a kind of Hooghly, on the -tide of which the aged, who are supposed to be nearing the end of their -mortal life, are floated into oblivion until the memory of them is -revived by death. - -It is no part of my intention to represent that the almshouses at Lower -Norwood bore such a significance, but the conditions to which I have -referred appear to be so inevitable where places like these are -concerned, that I cannot question the good sense of the directors of the -Charity in determining to supersede them, and to carry on the work by -annual or monthly pensions only. On behalf of the few remaining inmates -of these queer, half-deserted, and failing tenements, it was desirable -that the proposition should be acted on at once, and a more comfortable -provision be made, at least, for those who wait on, with constantly -deferred hope, doubly heart-sickening when so little time is to be -counted on, in which something will be done before the houses -themselves, crumbling to decay, become but a type of their own forlorn -old age. - -It is with some such thoughts as these that I stand at the entrance to -the green, with last year's weedy aftermath still dank and tangled with -wind and rain. The queer little one-storied dark-red houses of the -quadrangle bear a melancholy resemblance to a set of dilapidated and -discarded toys, the box for which has been lost. They are built, too, on -a kind of foreign-toy pattern, with queer outside staircases, leading to -street-doors under a portico, which is the only entrance to the upper -storey, the lower doors in the quadrangle communicating only with the -ground-floor. The crunch of my footsteps along the moist path, gives no -echo; the place seems to be too dull and lifeless even for that kind of -response. The left wing and far the greater portion of the centre block -are still with the silence of desertion. Peering through the dim leaden -casements, I see only small, bare, empty rooms. There is a sense of -mildew and of damp plaster peeling from the walls,--of leaky -water-pipes, and a humid chill, which no glowing hearth nor bright July -weather could utterly subdue. Such is the feeling with which the whole -place strikes me on this leaden wintry day, when the vapour from the -engine on the railway trails slowly upward to meet the ragged edge of -the dun cloud that streams slowly downward; when a big, black dog -crouches on the threshold of the village chandler's shop, to get out of -the drizzle; and the butcher, who has sold out, closes his half-hatch, -with the certainty that he may take his afternoon nap by the fire, -undisturbed by customers. - -Even when I pause before one of the little narrow portals to which I -have been directed, there are few more signs of life, except that at the -same moment I hear other footsteps behind me, and a baker stop to -deliver a loaf. This is promising, as far as it goes, and enables me to -present myself unostentatiously, under cover of the baker's basket, to a -lady who opens the door. Unless I am greatly mistaken, that lady has a -French face, and as it is a French lady for whom I am to inquire, I -begin to think I have come to the end of my quest. It is evident, -however, from the surprised questioning look which greets my appearance, -that visits from strangers are not of very frequent occurrence there. I -can trace in the rather shrinking recognition accorded to my request to -see the lady to whom I bring an introduction, the sensitiveness that -belongs to that kind of poverty which has learned to endure in seclusion -reverses that would be less bearable if they were exposed to a too -obtrusive expression of sympathy. It is a positive relief to be left -alone for a minute, standing in that narrow lobby, looking into a room -which has the appearance of a disused scullery, while my errand is made -known in another room on the right, to which I am presently bidden. It -is a poor little place enough; poor, and little, and dim, even for an -almshouse, and scarcely suggestive of comfort though a bright fire is -burning in a grate, which somewhat resembles a reduced kitchen-range, -and though the table which stands beneath the casement bears some -preparations for the evening meal, and the cheap luxury of a cut orange -on a plate. The walls are dim, the ceiling cracked and discoloured by -the evident overflow of water in the room overhead; the furniture -consists of a kind of couch which may do duty for a bed by night, and of -two or three Windsor chairs, one of which has already been placed for -me. It is a poor place enough; and yet the lady to whom I am at once -introduced is ready to do its honours with a grace and dignity that well -become her appearance and her name. Madame Gracieuse B----, for more -than forty years resident in England, and speaking English with a purity -of accent that is only rivalled by the more perfect music of the French -in which she addresses me, has passed the threescore years and ten which -are counted as old age. Yet seeing her sweet, calm face; her smooth, -broad, intelligent brow; the mild, penetrating scrutiny of her gentle -eyes; the soft hair put back under the quaint French cap, shaped like a -hood; those years remain uncounted; until, with a pleasant smile, only -just too placid for vivacity, she tells how she came to this country in -1830, after the ruin of the fortunes of her house by the revolution -which dethroned Charles X., and made her a governess in England, where -so many of the old nobility sought a refuge and a home. - -But before this is said, she has presented me to a third lady--to whom, -indeed, my original introduction extended--already long past the limit -of that short period which we call long life; for she is more than -eighty years old, and by reason of the infirmity which has lately come -upon her, does not rise to receive me, but remains seated in the couch -by the fire. It is a very limited space in which to be ceremonious; but -were this lady sitting in one of a suite of grand rooms in some -aristocratic mansion, with all the surroundings to which her birth, her -high connections, and the recollection of her own personal -accomplishments entitle her, she might not lack the homage which too -often only simulates respect. - -It is possible that she may long ago have learned to assess it at its -true value, for she has seen it at a court where it could not save a -king from banishment; and if we may judge from a face with strong -determined lineaments, a brow of concentrated power, and eyes the light -of which even the recent paralysis of age has not extinguished, she has -been one who could undergo exile, poverty, and even the sadder calamity -of being forgotten, with a wonderful endurance. - -Yes, Madame la Comtesse Maria de Comoléra, friend and fellow-student of -that Madame Adelaide whose name has become historical, when your father -was Monsieur l'Intendant of the Duc d'Orléans, and when you lived within -the atmosphere of the French court, spending quiet days at the easel in -your painting-room, or preparing the delicate _pâte_ of Sèvres -porcelain, on which to paint the roses and lilies that you loved, the -grim visions of exile and poverty may never have troubled you. When the -house of Bourbon crumbled, and you escaped from the ruin it had made, -you had still your art left to solace, if not to gladden you; and for a -time at least you lived by it, and took a new rank by the work that you -could do. There were flowers in England, and your hands could still -place their glowing hues on canvas. Witness those pictures of yours that -now hang on the walls of the gallery of the Crystal Palace, or adorn -some private collections. Witness, too, the recognition of some of our -own painters when Sir Charles Eastlake was president of the Royal -Academy, and when you found a friendly patron in Queen Adelaide of -gentle memory. Alas, the hand has lost its cunning; and if its work is -not altogether forgotten, those who look upon it are unaware that you -are living here in this poor room--pensioner of a charity which, were it -but supported as it might be, could better lighten your declining years. -Yet I will not call you desolate, madame. Two faithful friends are with -you yet. The sunset of your calm life, whereof the noon was broken by so -terrible a storm, is dim enough; but it goes not down in complete -darkness. Gentle and admiring regard survives even in this dull place; -and with it the love that can bring tears to eyes not over ready to weep -on account of selfish sorrows, and can move ready hands to tend you now -that your own grow heavy and feeble.[2] - -As I become more accustomed to the subdued light of the room, I note -that amidst the confusion of some old pieces of furniture or lumber -there are pictures, unframed and dim, leaning against the walls. One of -them--a large painting of some rare plant, formerly a curiosity in the -Botanical Gardens at Regent's Park, while the rest are groups of flowers -and fruit. Just opposite me, on the high mantel-piece, the canvas broken -here and there near the edges, obscured by the dust and smoke that have -dulled their surface, are two oil-paintings which I venture to take down -for a nearer inspection. Surely they must have been finished when madame -was yet in the prime of her art. Exquisite in drawing, delicate in -colour, and with a subtle touch that gives to each petal the fresh -crumple that bespeaks it newly-blown, and to fruit the dewy down that -would make even a _gourmet_ linger ere he pressed the juice. It is -almost pain to think that they are left here uncared for; and yet, who -knows what influence their presence above that dingy shelf may have upon -the wandering thoughts and waning dreams of her who painted them when -every new effort of her skill was a keen delight? - -Nay, even as I hold them to the light, and in a pause of our chat -(wherein Madame la Comtesse speaks slowly and with some difficulty) say -some half-involuntary words of appreciation, she has risen, and stands -upright by the fire with an earnest look in her face and a sudden -gesture of awakened interest. The artistic instinct is there still, -after more than eighty years of life, and the appreciation of the work -animates her yet. Not with a mere vulgar love of praise (for Madame is -still la Comtesse Comoléra even though she spends her days in an -almshouse), but with a recognition that I have distinguished the best of -the work that is left to her to show. I shall not readily forget the -sudden look of almost eager interest, the effort to speak generous words -of thanks, as I bow over her hand to say farewell, and feel that I have -been as privileged a visitor as though madame had received me in a -gilded _salon_, at the door of which a powdered lacquey stood to -"welcome the coming--speed the parting guest." - -And so with some pleasant leave-takings, and not without permission to -see them again, I leave these ladies--the fitting representatives of an -old nobility and an old _régime_--to the solitude to which they have -retired from a world too ready to forget. - -If by any means for the solitude could be substituted a pleasant -retirement, and for the sense of desolation and poverty a modest -provision that would yet include some grace and lightness to light their -declining days, it would be but little after all. - -[1] Since this was written the Almshouses have been closed, and their -two or three remaining inmates "lodged out." - -[2] Since these lines were written, Madame Comoléra has gone to her rest. - - - - -_WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS._ - - -It is possible that those portions of the sacred history which have -reference to the association of our Lord Jesus Christ with ships, and -the wonderful portions of the great narrative where the Divine Voice -seems, as it were, to come from the sea, may have a special attraction -for us who live in an island and claim a kind of maritime dominion. - -Surely the words "Lord, save me, or I perish," and the instant response -of the outstretched hand of the Saviour of men, must have been read with -an awful joy by many a God-fearing sailor on the homeward voyage. "It is -I, be not afraid," must have come with an intensity of meaning to many a -heart which has known the peril of the storm, wherein the voice of man -to man has been almost inaudible. - -There is something very solemn in the prayers we send up for those at -sea. Most of us feel a heart-throb when we lie awake listening to the -mighty murmurs of the wind, and waiting for the shrill shriek with which -each long terrible blast gathers up its forces--a throb which comes of -the sudden thought of lonely ships far out upon the ocean, where men are -wrestling with the elements, and looking with clenched lips and -straining eyes for the lingering dawn. - -Yet, with all this, it is a national reproach to us that until a -comparatively recent date we have done little or nothing for our -sailors--little for those who have been ready to maintain the old -supremacy of our fleet--almost nothing for that greater navy of the -mercantile marine to which we are indebted for half the necessaries and -for nearly all the luxuries which we enjoy. - -A national reproach, because not only have charitable provisions for -destitute, sick, infirm, or disabled sailors been neglected, but -subscriptions demanded by the State from seamen of the merchant service -were never properly applied to relieve the distress of those for whom -they were professedly received. Considerably over a million of money has -been contributed by merchant seamen, by deductions of sixpences from -their monthly pay for the maintenance of Greenwich Hospital, and in -addition to this there have been accumulated in the hands of the -Government the examination fees of masters and mates passing the Board -of Trade examination, and the penny fees paid by common seamen on -shipment and unshipment, while the unclaimed wages and effects of seamen -dying abroad are calculated at about £8000 a year. - -Now there can be no doubt that Greenwich Hospital was originally -intended to include merchant seamen in its provisions, for the preamble -to the original scheme of William III. recites, "Whereas the King's most -excellent Majesty being anxiously desirous to promote the Trade, -Navigation, and Naval strength of this Kingdom, and to invite greater -numbers of his subjects to betake themselves to the sea, hath determined -to erect a hospital," &c. For this purpose sixpence per man per month -was to be paid out of the wages of all mariners to the support of the -Hospital, and every seaman was to be registered. Why? That the charity -might be "for the relief, benefit, or advantage of such the said -registered Marines, or Seamen, Watermen, Fishermen, Lightermen, -Bargemen, Keelmen, or Seafaring Men, who by age, wounds, or other -accidents shall be disabled for future service at sea, and shall not be -in a condition to maintain themselves comfortably; and the children of -such disabled seamen; and the widows and children of such of them as -shall happen to be slain, killed, or drowned in sea service, so far -forth as the Hospital shall be capable to receive them, and the revenue -thereof will extend." - -So far as words went, therefore--and subsequent Acts of Parliament -confirmed them--Greenwich Hospital was open to all registered seamen. -The fact has always been, however, that it was barely able to meet the -claims made by the disabled and infirm sailors of the Navy alone, and -therefore the mercantile marine was practically excluded, while the -payments were still demanded. - -Now let us see what past Governments did for the relief of those old, -infirm, or disabled men who having "seen wonders on the great deep," -came home and sought help. - -A charitable trust, called the "Merchant Seamen's Fund," had been -established by merchants and shipowners of the City of London, who gave -large sums to it, in order to try to make up for the injustice by which -these sailors were virtually excluded from Greenwich Hospital, to which -the men of the mercantile marine still had to pay sixpence a month. By a -remarkably knowing piece of legislation, an Act was passed (the 20th of -George II.) which incorporated the Merchant Seamen's Fund, appointed -president and governors, and gave authority to purchase land for -building a hospital, to help pay for which another sixpence a month was -claimed from the pay of merchant seamen and masters of merchant vessels. - -Not till the year 1834, by an Act passed in the reign of William IV., -were the merchant sailors relieved from compulsory payment to Greenwich. -They had contributed to the hospital for 138 years without having -derived any direct benefit from it; and though they were not unwilling -to subscribe for their brethren in the Royal Navy, the injustice which -demanded their contributions, though their own fund was inadequate to -pay for the promised building for which it was intended, became too -glaring to be continued. It was therefore determined that a grant of -£20,000 should be made to Greenwich Hospital out of the Consolidated -Fund, and that the merchant sailors should go on paying their shilling a -month for their own benefit (masters paying two shillings), and that a -provision for widows and children should be included in the charity, the -benefits of which were to be extended to Scotland and Ireland. - -The hospital never was built. The Board of Trade taking the management -of the contributions, appointed trustees, who were altogether -incompetent, and did their duty in a perfunctory or careless manner. In -1850, only £20,000 was distributed among old, infirm, and disabled -seamen, while £41,000 was bestowed on widows and children; the -allowances varying at different ports from £1 to £7, each place having -its own local government. Of course a collapse came. The fund was -bankrupt; and in the following year an Act was passed for winding it -up--for, says the Board of Trade Report, "the Government has had no -control over the matter. The London Corporation and the trustees of -outports could not by any management have prevented the insolvency of -the fund, as long as they were guided by the principles which the -several Acts of Parliament laid down ... the whole system was vicious." - -By the winding-up Act of 1851 compulsory contributions ceased; but those -who chose to continue to subscribe voluntarily might do so. It is hardly -to be wondered at that the merchant seamen lost confidence in the -paternal protection of the Board of Trade. A few thousand pounds were -left from the compulsory contributions, and when this came to be -inquired for, nobody knew anything about it. It had somehow slipped out -of the estimates, and nobody could tell what had become of it. - -That is what past governments have done for poor mercantile Jack. - -What has the great British public done for him? Not so very much after -all. The truth is, that the sailor, who has always been spoken of as "so -dreadfully improvident," has been practically regarded as being most -self-helpful. All the time that we have been shaking our solemn heads, -and lifting up our hands at the improvidence, the folly, and the -extravagance of these frequently underpaid and sometimes overworked men, -we have made even the help that we were willing to extend to them in -their deeper necessities partially dependent on their own constant and -regular subscription to the same end. - -Poor improvident Jack!--poor thoughtless, incorrigible fellow!--it was -necessary for the Government of his country to look after him, in order -to protect him against his own want of forethought, and the result has -been to run the ship into shoal water, and go hopelessly to wreck -without so much as salvage money. - -Jack ashore! Don't we all still look at the sailor in the light of the -evil war-times, when the king's men were said to draw pocketsful of -prize-money and to spend it in low debauchery or wild wanton folly? Even -now we repeat the stories of frying watches along with beefsteaks and -onions, or eating bank-note sandwiches. Nay, to this day in the -fo'c's'le of merchant vessels some of the melancholy old songs in which -sailors are wont to satirise themselves are occasionally sung, telling -how - - "When his money is all spent, - And there's nothing to be borrowed and nothing to be lent, - In comes the landlord with a frown, - Saying, 'Jack! get up, and let _John_ sit down, - For you are _outward_ bound.'" - -There's a world of meaning in that grim suggestive summary; but, thank -God! it has less meaning now than it once had. Until quite lately, -sailors of merchant ships could be kept for days waiting to be paid, -and, sickened with lingering for long weary hours about the office of -the broker or agent who withheld their money, fell into the hands of the -harpies who were, and still are constantly on the look-out to plunder -them. Men with all the pure natural longing for home and reunion with -those near and dear to them, were compelled to loiter about the foul -neighbourhood of the dock where their ship discharged its cargo, lodging -in some low haunt with evil company, and liable to every temptation that -is rife in such places, till too often so large a portion of their -hardly-earned wages had been forestalled, that in a dreary and desperate -madness of dissipation they were tempted to fling away the small balance -remaining to them, and to awake to reason only when, naked and nearly -destitute, they were compelled to go to sea again, with a slender stock -of clothes, and a week's board and lodging paid for with advance notes. - -From long confinement and monotony on shipboard, the sailor even now -comes to a sense of temporary freedom, giddy with the unaccustomed sense -of solid ground and the wild toss and uproar of the ocean of life in a -great city. What are still the influences which in many seaports await -him directly his foot touches the shore, and sometimes even before he -has come over the vessel's side? With a boy's recklessness, a man's -passions, and the unwonted excitement of possessing money and boundless -opportunities for spending it, a shoal of landsharks are lying ready to -batten on him. The tout, the crimp, and all the wretches, male and -female, who look upon him as their prey, will never leave him from the -time when they watch him roll wonderingly on to the landing-stage, till -that desperate minute when he flings his last handful of small change -across the tavern counter, and calls for its worth in drink, since -"money is no use at sea." - -This was far more frequently the termination of mercantile Jack's spell -ashore, before the new regulations as to prompt payment of seamen's -wages came into force. At that time you had only to take a morning walk -across Tower Hill, where the bluff lay figure at the outfitter's door -stands for Jack in full feather, and thence to America Square, or the -neighbourhood of the Minories and Rosemary Lane, to see dozens of poor -fellows lounging listlessly about the doors of pay-agents, waiting day -after day at the street-corners, with an occasional visit to the -public-house, and the perpetual consumption of "hard" tobacco. It was -easy afterwards to follow Jack to Ratcliffe, Rotherhithe, Shadwell, and -the neighbourhood, where his "friends" lay in wait for him to spend the -evening; in the tap-rooms of waterside taverns, where he sat hopelessly -drinking and smoking during a hot summer's afternoon; to frowsy, -low-browed shops of cheap clothiers, to hot, stifling dancing-rooms, to -skittle-alleys behind gin-shop bars, where a sudden brawl would call out -knives, and the use of a "slung-shot" as a weapon would make a case of -manslaughter for the coroner; to very minor theatres, where he could see -absurd caricatures of himself in the stage sailors, dancing hornpipes -unknown at sea; to the dreadful dens of Bluegate Fields and Tiger -Bay--to any or all of these places you might have followed Jack; and may -even yet follow his fellows who have not yet been redeemed from the evil -ways of those bad times, when there were no homes for sailors amidst the -bewildering vice and misery of maritime London, and other seaport towns -of this great mercantile island. - -It so happened that I made my first intimate acquaintance with the one -real, publicly representative "Sailors' Home" in Well Street, near the -London Docks, after having seen Jack under several of the terrible -conditions just referred to, so that, with this painful knowledge of him -and his ways, it was with a kind of delighted surprise that I suddenly -walked into the great entrance-hall of the institution, where he and his -fellows were sitting on the benches by the wall with the serious, -contemplative, almost solemn air which is (in my experience) the common -expression of sailors ashore, and during ordinary leisure hours. There -they were, a good ship's crew of them altogether, sitting, as I have -already said, in true sailor fashion--stooping forward, wrists on knees, -lolling on sea-chests and clothes-bags, taking short fore-and-aft walks -of six steps and a turn in company with some old messmate, smoking, -growling, chatting, and generally enjoying their liberty; not without an -eye, now and then, to the smart officer who had come in to see whether -he could pick up a brisk hand or two for the mail service. - -This was some five or six years ago, and it is a happy result of the -plan on which the Home was first established (which was intended -ultimately to make the institution self-supporting, if the cost of -building were defrayed) that the whole scheme has been so enlarged since -that time, that anybody who would see what our mercantile seamen are -like, may now go and see them, in a largely increasing community, in -this great institution. So many come and go and reappear at intervals -represented by the length of their voyages, that 10,120 officers and men -had partaken of its inestimable benefits during the year from the first -of May, 1872, to the end of April, 1873. - -But the institution itself was founded in earnest faith, and built with -the labour that is consecrated by prayer. Both to the Home and to its -companion institution, the Refuge for Destitute Seamen--we will pay a -visit on our next meeting. - - - - -_WITH THEM WHO WERE READY TO PERISH._ - - -On the 28th of February, 1828, a very terrible calamity happened in the -place known as Wellclose Square, Whitechapel. A new theatre called the -Brunswick, had been erected there on the site of a former building, -known as the Old Royalty. It had been completed in seven months, and -three days afterwards, during a rehearsal, the whole structure gave way -and fell with a crash, burying ten persons amidst the ruins, and -fearfully injuring several others. Such a catastrophe was very awful, -and the people of the neighbourhood looked with an almost solemn -curiosity at the wreck of an edifice in which they themselves might have -met with death suddenly. - -Very soon, however, they began to regard the heap of ruins with -surprise, for early one morning there appeared two officers of the Royal -Navy, surrounded by a gang of labourers with picks and shovels, and -before these men (some of whom were Irish Roman Catholic) began to work -they listened attentively while one of the officers offered up an -earnest prayer to God for a blessing on the results of the labour they -were about to undertake. Morning after morning their labour was thus -sanctified, and evening after evening it was celebrated by the voice of -thanksgiving, till at length the ground was cleared, and on the 10th of -June, 1830, the first stone of a new building was laid. The building was -to be a Home for Sailors, and as a necessary adjunct to the Home, it was -intended to establish a Destitute Sailors' Asylum. - -The two naval officers were Captain (now Admiral) George C. Gambier, and -Captain Robert James Elliot, now gone to his rest, who with Lieutenant -Robert Justice afterwards Captain, and now with his old comrade, in the -heavenly haven, had been seeking how to ameliorate the condition of -seamen, numbers of whom were to be seen homeless, miserable, and -frequently half naked and destitute, in that foul and wretched -neighbourhood about the Docks and beyond Tower Hill. - -The task was a difficult one, and might have daunted less brave and -hopeful men, for it was intended to demolish the piratical haunts where -the enemies of the sailor lay in wait for his destruction; where crimps -and thieves and the keepers of infamous dens held their besotted victims -in bondage, while they battened on the wages that had been earned during -months of privation and arduous toil. - -It was necessary, therefore, first to provide a decent and comfortable -lodging-house for the reception of sailors coming into port,--a place -where they might safely deposit their clothes and their wages, and where -they could "look out for another ship" without the evil intervention of -crimps or pretended agents. It was a part of the intended plan also to -establish a savings bank, for securing any portion of their wages which -they chose to lay by, or for safely transmitting such sums as they might -wish to send to their relations. In short, the design was to provide a -home for the homeless, and hold out helping hands to those who were -ready to perish. - -Those ruins of the theatre stood on the very spot for such an -establishment, and the two captains, Gambier and Elliott, began by -buying the ground and the wreck that stood upon it, not by asking for -public subscriptions, but mostly with their own money, to which was -added a few contributions from any of their friends who desired to join -in the good work. - -It is impossible to use more earnest or touching words than those in -which the late Rear-Admiral Sir W. E. Parry spoke of the labours of his -friend and fellow-supporter of the Sailors' Home, in an address to -British seamen at Southampton, in 1853. "And now," he said, "let me just -add that, from the first moment in which Captain Elliot stood among the -ruins of the Brunswick Theatre, till it pleased God to deprive him of -bodily and mental energy, did that self-denying Christian man devote all -his powers, his talents, his influence, and his money, to this his -darling object of protecting and providing for the comfort of sailors. -Connected with a noble family, and entitled by birth, education, and -station, to all the advantages which the most exalted society could give -hm, he willingly relinquished all, took up his abode in a humble -lodging, surrounded by gin-shops, near the 'Home:' denied himself most -of the comforts, it may almost be said some of the necessaries of life, -in order the more effectually to carry out his benevolent design; and -for eighteen years of self-denial and devotion, made it the business of -his life to superintend this institution." - -For the noble officer lived to see the building for which he had wrought -and prayed, complete and successful. In 1835 300 sailors could be -received and welcomed there. The piratical lairs began to empty of some -of those who had been shown a way of escape, and the good work went on. -In the adjoining Seamen's Church the congregation was largely augmented -by the boarders from the Sailors' Home, while the Honorary Chaplain and -the Missionary attached officially to the institution, became not only -parson and preacher, but friendly adviser and instructor, ready to -speak, to hear, and to forbear. The addition of a book depository, where -various useful publications may be purchased, and Bibles are sold at the -lowest possible prices, and in various languages, was a valuable -auxiliary to moral and religious instruction, and at once increased the -home-like influences of the place. - -The institution having gone on thus prosperously, under the direction of -a goodly number of officers and gentlemen, added to its possessions by -acquiring other plots of freehold ground, extending backward to Dock -Street; and in 1863 Lord Palmerston laid the stone of an entirely new -block of building, which was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales in 1865, -since which time 502 boarders can be received, each being provided with -his separate cabin. - -Since the opening of the institution in 1835 it has received 246,855 -seamen of various countries and from all parts of the world. Of these -72,234 have been old or returned boarders, and most of them have -conducted their money transactions through the "Home," and have made -good use of the savings-bank. - -There are 270 inmates under that protecting roof as I step into the -large entrance hall in Well Street to-day; and the two hundred and -seventy-first has just gone to look after his kit and sea-chests, which -have been carefully conveyed from the Docks by one of the carmen -belonging to the institution, who has "The Sailors' Home, Well Street," -worked in red worsted on his shirt, and painted on the side of the van -from which he has just alighted. - -It is evident that our friend No. 271 has been here before, for he knows -exactly where to present himself in order to deposit some of his more -portable property with the cashier or the superintendent. He scarcely -looks like a man who will want an advance of money, for he is a smart, -alert, bright-eyed fellow, with a quiet air of self-respect about him -which seems to indicate an account in the savings-bank; but should he be -"hard-up," he can ask for and receive a loan not exceeding twenty -shillings directly his chest is deposited in his cabin. Just now the -chest itself, together with its superincumbent bundle, stands against -the wall along with some other incoming or outgoing boxes, more than one -of which are associated with brand new cages for parrots, and some -odd-shaped cases evidently containing sextants or other nautical -instruments. There is a whole ship's crew, and a smart one too, in the -hall to-day; while a small contingent occupies the clothing department, -where one or two shrewd North-countrymen are being fitted each with a -"new rig," knowing well enough that they will be better served there -than at any of the cheap outfitters (or the dear ones either) in the -neighbourhood. Fine blue broadcloth, pilots, tweeds, rough weather, and -petershams are here to choose from "to measure," as well as a wonderful -collection of hats, caps, underclothing, hosiery, neckties, boots, and -shoes so unlike the clumsy specimens that swing along with the tin pots -and oilskins in some of the little low-browed shops about the district, -that I at once discover the reason for the smartness and general -neatly-fitted look of most of the men and lads now pacing up and down, -talking and smoking. It is quiet talk for the most part, even when half -a dozen of the inmates adjourn to the refreshment-room, where they can -obtain a glass of good sound beer (though there is a much more general -appreciation of coffee) and sit down comfortably at a table like that at -which two serious mates are already discussing some knotty point, which -will probably last till tea-time. - -Tea-time? There is the half-past five o'clock signal gong going now, and -light swift steps are to be heard running up the stairs into the large -dining-hall, where the two hundred and seventy-one, or as many of them -as are at home, sit down like fellows who know their business and mean -to do it. It is a pleasant business enough, and one soon despatched; for -there are so many big teapots, that each table is amply provided by the -alert attendants, who dispense bread-and-butter, watercresses, salads, -and savoury bloaters and slices of ham and tongue, the latter having -been already served by a carver who is equal to the occasion. It is -astonishing how quickly the meal is over when its substantial quality is -taken into account; but there is no lack of waiters, the number of -attendants in the building being sixty-five, some of whom, of course, -belong to the dormitories and to other departments. - -The meals here are, of course, served with the utmost regularity, and -without limit to quantity. Breakfast, with cold meat, fish, bacon, and -general "relishes," at eight in the morning; dinner at one: consisting -of soup, roast and boiled meats, ample supplies of vegetables, -occasional fish, stupendous fruit-pies and puddings, and a good -allowance of beer. After tea comes a substantial snack for supper, at -nine o'clock, and the doors of the institution are kept open to -half-past eleven at night; those who wish to remain out later being -required to obtain a pass from the superintendent. - -Of course it is requested that the boarders come in to meals as -punctually as possible; but those who cannot conveniently be present at -the regular time, can have any meal supplied to them on application. -Indeed, two or three belated ones are arriving now, as we go to the end -of the long and lofty refectory to look at the crest of the late Admiral -Sir William Bowles, K.C.B., which, supported by flags, is painted upon -the wall, as a memorial of a gallant officer and a good friend to this -institution and to all sailors. - -Leaving the dining-hall, we notice a smaller room, set apart for masters -and mates who may desire to have their meals served here; and on the -same extensive storey is a large and comfortable reading-room well -supplied with periodicals, and containing a capital library consisting -of entertaining and instructive books. - -The board-room is close by, and is of the size and shape to make an -excellent mission-room, where week-night services and meetings of a -religious character are held, and well attended by men who, having seen -the wonders of the Lord upon the great deep, join in His reasonable -service when they are at home and at rest. This vast floor also contains -two dormitories: but most of the sleeping cabins are in the second and -third floors. - -There are few sights in London more remarkable than these berths, which -are, in fact, separate cabins, each closed by its own door, and -containing bed, wash-stand, chair, looking-glass, towels, and ample -space for the seachest and personal belongings of the occupant. The -cabins extend round a large area rising to a great height, and -surrounded above by a light gallery reached by an outer staircase, round -which are another series of berths exactly resembling the lower ones; so -that there are, in fact, double, and in one or two dormitories treble -tiers of cabins, and the upper ones may be entered without disturbing -the inmates of those below. One of the three-decker areas is of vast -size, and, standing in the upper gallery and looking upward to the lofty -roof, and then downward to the clear, wide, open space between the lower -rooms, the visitor is struck by the admirable provision both for light -and ventilation; the former being secured at night by means of properly -distributed gas jets, which are of course under the care of the night -attendants, who are on watch in each dormitory, and may be summoned at -once in case of illness or accident. - -Not only is there provision against fire by a length of fire-hose -attached to hydrants on each storey, but the water supply to lavatories -and for other purposes is secured by a cistern holding 4,000 gallons at -the top of the building; so that there is complete circulation -throughout the various parts of the building. - -It is time that we paid a visit to the basement of this great -institution, however; for, in more senses than one, it may be said to be -at the foundation of the arrangements. Yes, even with respect to the -amusements provided for the inmates--for while chess, draughts and -backgammon are to be found in the library and reading-room, and -billiards and bagatelle hold their own on the great landings of the -first storey, we have down here a skittle-alley of a character so -remarkable, that some of us who have read Washington Irving think of the -reverberations of the giants' pastime in the mountains, while we wonder -where sailors can first have acquired a taste for this particular -amusement. It is a good and healthy one, however, and is wisely -provided, since it adds one more efficient inducement to the men to take -their pleasure among their true friends instead of seeking it amidst the -evil influences of a filthy tavern, or in the garish heat of some vile -Ratcliff Highway bowling-alley, where men are maddened with drugged -drink, and greeted with foul imprecations by the harpies who seek to rob -and cheat them. - -There is much to see in this basement, and to begin with here is No. two -hundred and seventy-one sending his chest up by the great luggage-lift -to the second floor, where he will find it presently in his cabin. We -cannot stay to speak to him, however, for we are on the very verge of -the kitchen, to which we are, as it were, led by the nose; for wafted -thence comes an appetising perfume of new bread just taken from one of -the great ovens devoted to the daily baking. There are lingering odours -also of today's dinner, though the meat ovens and the great boilers and -hot plates are clean and ready for the morrow. The pantry door, too, is -open, and there are toothsome varieties of "plain-eating" therein, while -the storerooms savour of mingled comforts, to which the gales of Araby -the blest offer no parallel, and the butcher's shop has a calm and -concentrated sense of meatiness which is suggestive to a robust appetite -not already satiated with a chunk from one of a whole squadron of soft, -new currant-cakes. After a peep at the large and busy laundry with its -peculiar moist atmosphere, the coal and beer cellars, the pumping -machinery and boiler-room may be passed by, and little curiosity is -excited by this long and convenient apartment where hot and cold baths -are prepared to order at a merely nominal charge. There is a door close -by, however, where we stop instinctively, for there is a cheerful light -inside, and a sound of easy and yet interrupted conversation which can -belong to only one department of society. There can be no mistake about -it--a veritable barber's shop, and a gentleman with a preternaturally -clean chin complacently surveying himself in a looking-glass of limited -dimensions, while another waits to be operated upon by the skilled -practitioner who carries in his face the suggestion of a whole ropery of -"tough yarns," and was--or am I mistaken--tonsor to the _Victory_ or to -some ship of war equally famous when the British seaman shaved close and -often, and pigtails had hardly gone out of fashion. There is no time for -testing the great artist's skill this evening, though I could almost -sacrifice a well-grown beard to hear some rare old fo'c's'le story. But -no story could be more wonderful than the plain truth that for all the -generous provision in this excellent institution the rescued sailor -brought within its wholesome influence pays but fifteen shillings a -week. Yes, men and apprentices, fifteen shillings; and officers, -eighteen and sixpence. - -The evening lowers over the outer world of Mint Street and Leman Street, -and the great blank void of the Tower ditch is full of shadow. Standing -again in the large entrance hall, which reminds one more of shipboard, -now that the lights are dotted about it, leaving it still a little dim, -I hear the trickling of a drinking-fountain, and associated with its -fresh plash hear as pleasant a story as any yarn that ever the barber -himself could have spun for my delight. - -The fountain, which is of polished Aberdeen granite, was opened last -November in proper style, a platform being erected, and the chair being -taken by the Secretary to the "Metropolitan Drinking Fountains -Association," supported by several ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Lee made an -appropriate speech, and called attention to the gift, and pointed to the -inscription; and it was quite an emphatic little observance for the -inmates who had gathered in the hall on the occasion. And well it might -be, for the fountain bears this modest inscription:--"The gift of -William McNeil, Seaman, in appreciation of the great benefits he has -derived on the various occasions during which he has made the -Institution his _Home_, for upwards of 25 years." - -I think very little more need be said for the Sailors' Home than is -indicated by this plain, earnest testimony to its worth. Yet it is -necessary to say one more word. This Sailors' Home is in a way -self-supporting, and at present seeks only the kindly interest of the -public in case it should ever need another response to an appeal for -extending its sphere of usefulness. Not a farthing of profit is -permitted to any individual engaged in it, and even fees to servants are -prohibited, though the crimps and touts outside endeavour to bribe them -sometimes, to induce sailors to go to the common lodging-houses, where -land-rats seek their prey. All the profits, if there are any at all, are -placed to a reserve fund for repairs, improvements, or extensions. At -any rate, no public appeals are being made just now. - -But there is another institution next door--another branch of the stem -which has grown so sturdily from the seed planted by the good -captain--the Destitute Sailors' Asylum. That is a place full of -interest, though there is nothing to see there. Nothing but a clean -yard, with means for washing and cleansing, and a purifying oven for -removing possible infection from clothes, and a great bare room, just -comfortably warmed in winter, and hung with rows of hammocks, like the -'tween-decks of a ship. - -That is all; but in those hammocks, sometimes, poor starved and -destitute sailors go to sleep, after they have been fed with soup and -warmed and comforted; and in the morning, when they turn out, they are -fed again with cocoa and bread, and if they are naked they are clothed. -There are not very many applicants, for, strange as it may appear, since -sailors' homes have come in fashion there are but few destitute seamen; -but there _need be no unrelieved destitute sailors at all in London_, -for anybody can send such a one to the Asylum in Well Street, London -Docks, and he will be admitted. Here then, is an institution that may -claim support. - - - - -_CASTING BREAD UPON THE WATERS._ - - -One of the old Saxon commentators on the Holy Scriptures, in referring -to the passage, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall be found -after many days," ventures to suggest as a meaning--"Give succour to -poor and afflicted seamen." Whatever may be the conclusions of critical -Biblical expositors, there can be no doubt that the pious annotator was -right in a true--that is, in a spiritual interpretation of the text. - -Should it be necessary to appeal twice to the English nation--which has, -as it were a savour of sea-salt in its very blood--to hold out a helping -hand for those who, having struggled to keep our dominion by carrying -the flag of British commerce all round the world, are themselves flung -ashore, weak, old, and helpless, dependent on the goodwill of their -countrymen to take them into some quiet harbour, where they may, as it -were be laid up in ordinary and undergo some sort of repairs, even -though they should never again be able to go a voyage? It is with -feelings of something like regret that an average Englishman sees the -old hull of a sea-going boat lie neglected and uncared for on the beach. -Not without a pang can we witness the breaking-up of some stout old ship -no longer seaworthy. Yet, unhappily, we have hitherto given scant -attention to the needs of those old and infirm seamen, who having for -many years contributed out of their wages to the funds of the Naval -Hospital at Greenwich, and having been again mulcted of some -subscriptions which were to have been specially devoted to found an -asylum for themselves, are left with little to look forward to but the -workhouse ward when, crippled, sick, or feeble with age, they could no -longer tread the deck or crack a biscuit. - -It is true that there are now hospitals or sick-asylums in connection -with some of the sailors' homes at our seaports, and to the general -hospitals any sailor can be admitted if he should be able to procure a -letter from a governor. The 'tween-decks of the _Dreadnought_ no longer -form the sole hospital for invalided merchant seamen in the Port of -London; but even reckoning all that has been done for sailors, and fresh -from a visit to that great building where three hundred hale and hearty -seamen of the great mercantile navy find a home, we are left to wonder -that so little has been accomplished for those old tars who, having -lived for threescore years or more, going to and fro upon the great -deep, can find no certain anchorage, except within the walls of some -union where they may at last succeed in claiming a settlement. Surely -there is no figure which occupies a more prominent place in English -history than that of the sailor--not the man-o'-war's man only--but the -merchant seaman, the descendant of those followers of the great old -navigators who were called "merchant adventurers," and who practically -founded for Great Britain new empires beyond the sea. In the poetry, the -songs, the literature, the political records, the social chronicles, the -domestic narratives of England, the sailor holds a place, and even at -our holiday seasons, when our children cluster on the shingly shore or -the far-stretching brown sands of the coast, we find still that we -belong to a nation of which the sailor long stood as the chosen -representative. Nay, in the midst of the life of a great city we cannot -fail to be reminded of the daring and the enterprise which has helped to -make London what it is. - -The poet, who, standing on the bridge at midnight, and listening to the -chime of the hour, found his imagination occupied with serious images -and his memory with solemn recollections, would have been no less moved -to profound contemplation had he been a temporary occupant of one of the -great structures that span the silent highway of the Thames. There is -something in the flow of a broad and rapid stream which has a peculiar -association with thoughts of the struggle and toil of human life, and as -we look on the ever-moving tide, we ask ourselves what have we done for -the brave old toil-worn men who have seen the wonders of the great deep -for so many years, and have brought so much to us that we can scarcely -speak of food or drink without some reminder of their toilsome lives and -long voyages? Well, a little has been done,--very little when we reflect -how much yet remains to be accomplished; and yet much, regarded as a -fair opportunity for doing a great deal more. I have already recounted -some part of the sad story of what a provident Government did when it -thought to undertake the affairs of poor improvident Jack. How it -collected his money, and neglected to give him the benefit of the -enforced subscription; how it administered and laid claim to his poor -little effects and arrears of pay, if he died abroad and nobody came -forward to establish a right to them; how it demanded additional -contributions from his monthly wages, in order to show him how to -establish a relief fund; and how somehow the scheme went "by the board" -(of Trade), and the balance of the money was lost in the gulf of the -estimates. - -As long ago as 1860 it became clear to a number of leading merchants, -shipowners, and officers of the mercantile marine that nothing was to be -looked for from the State when the subject of making an effort to -provide for aged and infirm sailors was again urgently brought forward; -but it was determined to make a definite movement, and "The Shipwrecked -Mariners' Society," which had then 40,000 officers and seamen among its -subscribers, was appealed to as a body having the power to form the -required association. - -It was not till 1867, however, that the actual work of providing an -asylum for old sailors was commenced. The society had then put down the -sum of £5,000 as a good beginning, a committee had been appointed, of -which the late honoured Paymaster Francis Lean was the indefatigable -honorary secretary, and Captain Thomas Tribe the secretary, whilst the -list of patrons, presidents, vice-presidents, and supporters included -many eminent noblemen and gentlemen who took a true interest in the -undertaking. - -Several public meetings were held, and "a Pension and Widows' Fund" was -first established. Then the committee began to look about them for a -suitable house in which to begin their real business, and had their -attention directed to a large building at that time for sale, situated -on the breezy height above Erith, and formerly well known as the -residence of Sir Culling Eardley, who had named it Belvidere. The -property, including twenty-three acres of surrounding land, cost -£12,148, and £5,000 having already been subscribed, the balance of -£7,148 was borrowed at five per cent. interest. Not till the 5th of May, -1866, however, was the institution inaugurated and handed over to a -committee of management. - -It is admirably suggestive of its present occupation, this fine roomy -old mansion, standing on the sheltered side, but near the top, of the -lofty eminence, whence such a magnificent view may be obtained, not only -of the surrounding country, but of the mighty river where it widens and -rushes towards the sea. Here on the broad sloping green, where the tall -flagstaff with its rigging supports the Union Jack, the old fellows -stroll in the sun or look out with a knowing weather-eye towards the -shipping going down stream, or sit to smoke and gossip on the bench -beneath their spreading tree opposite the great cedar, while the cow of -the institution chews the cud with a serious look, as though it had -someway caught the thoughtful expression that characterises "turning a -quid." A hundred infirm sailors, each of whom is more than sixty years -old, are serenely at their moorings in that spacious square-built house, -where the long wards are divided into cabins, each with its neat -furniture, and many of them ornamented with the curious knick-knacks, -and strange waifs and strays of former voyages which sailors like to -have about them. There is of course a sick-ward, where those who are -permanently disabled, or are suffering from illness, receive medical -attention and a special diet; but the majority of the inmates are -comparatively hearty still, though they are disabled, and can no longer -"hand reef and steer." - -There are a hundred inmates in this admirable asylum, and ninety -pensioners who are with their friends at the various outports of the -kingdom, each receiving a pension of £1 a month, called the "Mariners' -National Pension Fund," the working management of which, with the -"Widows' Annuity Fund," is made over to the "Shipwrecked Mariners' -Society." - -A hundred and ninety worn-out and disabled seamen now provided for or -assisted, and a total of above 300 relieved since the opening of the -institution. A good and noble work truly. But can it be called by so -great a name as _National_, when we know how large a number of old -sailors are yet homeless, and that at the last election there were 153 -candidates who could not be assisted because of the want of funds to -relieve their distress? Looking at the number of men (2,000 to 5,000) -lost at sea or by shipwreck every year, and at the inquiry which has -been made, through the efforts of Mr. Plimsoll and others, with respect -to the conditions under which the service of the mercantile marine of -this country is carried on, is it not a reproach to us that during the -nineteen years since this institution was founded, so little has been -done? Year by year it has been hoped that the Board of Trade would -relinquish its claim to take possession of the effects of sailors dying -abroad, and would transfer the £1,200 a year represented by this -property to the funds of the society, but hitherto the committee have -waited in vain. The donations from all sources are comparatively few; -and though the annual subscriptions are numerous, they are rapidly -absorbed. - -Many masters, mates, seamen, engineers and firemen pay to this -institution a subscription of five shillings a year, for which they have -a vote at each annual election; or any such subscriber may leave his -votes to accumulate for his own benefit when he shall have reached the -age of sixty years, and becomes a candidate for admission. - -One-fifth of the candidates admitted are nominated by the committee on -the ground of their necessities or special claims to the benefit of the -charity, while general subscribers or donors have privileges of election -according to the amount contributed. Perhaps one of the most touching -records of the subscription list is, that not only did the cadets of the -mercantile training-ship _Worcester_ contribute something like £100 in -one official year, but that the little fellows on board the union -training-ship _Goliath_ lying off Grays, have joined their officers and -their commander, Captain Bourchier, to send offerings to the aid of the -ancient mariners, of whom they are the very latest representatives. On -many a good ship these small collections are made for the same object, -and at the Sailors' Home in Well Street there is a box for stray -contributions; but much more has yet to be done. Perhaps it is far to go -to see this great house on the hill, but most of us have caught a -glimpse of its tall towers and its flagstaff in our excursions down the -silent highway of London's river, and it might be well to think how -little effort is required to give to each cabin its inmate, and to fill -the dining-room with tables, each with its "mess" of six or eight old -salts, who are ready to greet you heartily if you pay them a visit, and -to salute you with a grave seamanlike respect. Would you like to know -how this rare old crew lives in the big house under the lee of the -wind-blown hill? To begin with, the men who are not invalids turn out at -eight in winter and half-past seven in summer, and after making beds and -having a good wash, go down to prayers and breakfast at nine or -half-past eight, breakfast consisting of coffee or cocoa and -bread-and-butter. - -At ten o'clock the ward-men, who are appointed in rotation, go to clean -wards and make all tidy, each inmate being, however, responsible for the -neatness of his own cabin, in which nobody is allowed to drive nails in -bulkheads or walls, and no cutting or carving of woodwork is permitted. -The men not for the time employed in tidying up or airing bedding, &c., -can, if they choose, go into the industrial ward, where they can work at -several occupations for their own profit, as they are only charged for -cost of materials. Dinner is served in the several messes by the -appointed messmen at one o'clock, and consists on Sundays of roast beef, -vegetables, and plum-pudding, and on week-days of roast or boiled meat, -soup, vegetables, with one day a week salt fish, onions, potatoes, and -plain suet-pudding, and in summer an occasional salad. A pint of beer is -allowed for each man. The afternoon may be devoted either to work, or to -recreation in the reading and smoking rooms, or in the grounds. Tea and -bread-and-butter are served at half-past five in summer and at six in -winter, and there is often a supper of bread-and-cheese and watercresses -or radishes. The evening is devoted to recreation, and at half-past nine -in winter, and ten in summer, after prayers, lights are put out, and -every one retires for the night. - -None of the inmates are expected to work in the industrial wards, and of -course there are various servants and attendants, all of whom are chosen -by preference from the families of sailors, or have themselves been at -sea. The whole place is kept so orderly, and everything is so -ship-shape, that there is neither waste nor confusion, and yet every man -there is at liberty to go in and out when he pleases, on condition of -being in at meal-times, and at the time for evening prayers, any one -desiring to remain away being required to ask permission of the manager. -It must be mentioned, too, that there is an allowance of ninepence a -week spending money for each inmate. - -The men are comfortably clothed, in a decent sailorly fashion, and many -of the old fellows have still the bright, alert, active look that -belongs to the "smart hands," among whom some of them were reckoned -nearly half a century ago. The most ancient of these mariners at the -time of my first visit was ninety-two years old, and it so happened that -I saw him on his birthday. He came up the broad flight of stairs to -speak to me, with a foot that had not lost all its lightness, while the -eye that was left to him (he had lost one by accident twenty years -before) was as bright and open as a sailor's should be. This is a long -time ago, and William Coverdale (that was his name) has probably gone to -his rest. Significantly enough, at the time of my latest visit, the -oldest representative of the last muster-roll was James Nelson, a master -mariner of Downpatrick, eighty-five years of age; while bo's'n Blanchard -is eighty-one; able seaman John Hall, eighty; William Terry (A. B.), -eighty-two, and masters, mates, quartermasters, cooks, and stewards, -ranged over seventy. With many of them this is the incurable disability -that keeps them ashore; the sort of complaint which is common to sailors -and landsmen alike if they live long enough--that of old age. It will -come one day, let us hope, to the young Prince, whom we may regard as -the Royal representative of the English liking for the sea. For the -asylum for old and infirm sailors at Greenhithe has not been called -Belvidere for some years now. Prince Alfred went to look at it one day, -and asked leave to become its patron, since which it has been called -"The Royal Alfred Aged Merchant Seamen's Institution"--rather a long -name, but then it ought to mean so much. - - - - -_WITH THE FEEBLE AND FAINT-HEARTED._ - - -Is there any condition wherein we feel greater need of human help and -true loving sympathy than in the slow, feeble creeping from sickness to -complete convalescence, when the pulse of life beats low, and the -failing foot yet lacks power to step across that dim barrier between -health and sickness--not far from the valley of the shadow of death? - -In the bright, glowing summer-tide, when the sun warms bloodless -creatures into renewed life, our English sea-coast abounds with -visitors, among whom near and dear friends, parents, children, slowly -and painfully winning their way back to health and strength are the -objects of peculiar care. In all our large towns people who have money -to spend are, at least, beginning to make up their minds where they -shall take their autumn holiday;--in many quiet health-resorts wealthy -invalids, and some who are not wealthy, have already passed the early -spring and summer;--at a score of pleasant watering-places, where the -cool sparkling waves break upon the "ribbed sea-sand," troops of -children are already browning in the sun, scores of hearts feel a throb -of grateful joy as the glow of health begins to touch cheeks lately -pale, and dull eyes brighten under the clear blue sky. - -Thousands upon thousands are then on their way to that great restorer, -the sea, if it be only for a few hours by excursion train. England might -seem to have gathered all its children at its borders, and very soon we -hear how empty London is, while a new excuse for a holiday will be that -there is "nothing doing" and "nobody is in town." And yet throughout the -busy streets a throng continues to hurry onward in restless activity. -Only well-accustomed observers could see any considerable difference in -the great thoroughfares of London. Shops and factories look busy enough, -and if nothing is doing, there is a mighty pretence of work, while the -nobodies are a formidable portion of the population when regarded in the -aggregate. - -Early in August the census of our large towns still further diminishes. -Prosperous tradesmen, noting the decrease of customers, begin to prepare -to take part in the general exodus. "Gentlefolks" have concluded -bargains for furnished houses on the coast and put their dining and -drawing-rooms into brown holland. In West-End streets and squares the -front blinds are drawn, and all inquiries are answered from the areas, -where charwomen supplement the duties of servants on board wages. -"London is empty," the newspapers say, and in every large town in the -kingdom the great outgoing leaves whole districts comparatively -untenanted. Yet what a vast population remains; what a great army of -toiling men and women who go about their daily work, and keep up the -unceasing buzz of the industrial hive. What troops of children, who, -except for Sunday-school treats, would scarcely spend a day amidst green -fields, or learn how to make a daisy-chain, or hear the soft summer wind -rustling the leaves of overhanging trees. - -It would perhaps astonish us if we could have set down for us in plain -figures how many men and women in England have never seen the sea; how -many people have never spent a week away from home, or had a real long -holiday in all their lives. It may be happy for them if they are not -compelled by sudden sickness or accident, to fall out of the ranks, and -to leave the plough sticking in the furrow. It is not all for pleasure -and careless enjoyment that the thousands of our wealthy brethren and -sisters go to the terraced houses, or handsomely appointed mansions, -which await them all round the English shore. Into how many eyes tears -must need spring, when the prayers for all who are in sorrow, need, or -adversity are read in seaside churches on a summer's Sunday. By what -sick-beds, and couches set at windows whence wistful eyes may look out -upon the changeful glory of wood and sea and sky, anxious hearts are -throbbing. What silent tears and low murmuring cries on behalf of dear -ones on whose pale cheeks the July roses never more may bloom, mark the -watches of the silent night, when the waves sob wakefully upon the -beach. What thrills of hope and joy contend with obtrusive fears as, the -golden spears of dawn break through the impenetrable slate-blue sky, and -a touch of strength and healing is seen to have left its mark upon a -brow on which the morning kiss is pressed with a keen throb that is -itself almost a pang. - -The first faltering footsteps back to life after a long illness or a -severe shock, how they need careful guidance. Let the stronger arm, the -helping hand, the encouraging eye be ready, or they may fail before the -goal of safety be reached. - -"All that is now wanted is strength, careful nursing, plenty of -nourishment, pure air--the seaside if possible, and perhaps the south -coast would be best." Welcome tidings, even though they herald slow -recovery, inch by inch and day by day, while watchful patience measures -out the time by meat and drink, and the money that will buy the means of -comfort or of pleasure, becomes but golden sand running through the -hour-glass, which marks each happy change. - -Yes; but what of the poor and feeble, the faint-hearted who, having -neither oil nor wine, nor the twopence wherewith to pay for lodging at -the inn, must need lie there by the way-side, if no hand is stretched -out to help them? - -While at those famous health-resorts, the names of which are to be read -at every railway station, and in the advertisement sheets of every -newspaper, hundreds and thousands are coming back from weakness to -strength, there are hundreds and thousands still who are discharged from -our great metropolitan hospitals, to creep to rooms in dim, close courts -and alleys, where all the tending care that can be given them must be -snatched from the hours of labour necessary to buy medicine and food. -How many a poor sorrowing soul has said with a sigh, "Oh! if I could -only send you to the sea-side. The doctors all say fresh air's the great -thing; but what's the use? they say the same of pure milk and meat and -wine." - -It may be the father who has met with an accident, and cannot get over -the shock of a surgical operation--or rheumatic fever may have left -mother, son, or daughter in that terrible condition of utter -prostration, when it seems as though we were in momentary danger of -floating away into a fainting unconsciousness, which not being oblivion, -engages us in a struggle beyond our waking powers. - -Alas! in the great summer excursion to the coast these poor fainting -brethren and sisters are too seldom remembered. Here and there a -building is pointed out as an infirmary, a sea-side hospital, or even as -a retreat for convalescents, but the latter institutions are so few, and -the best of them are so inadequately supported, that they have never yet -been able to prove by startling figures the great benefits which they -confer upon those who are received within their walls. - -One of the oldest of these truly beneficent Institutions, "The Sea-side -Convalescent Hospital at Seaford," has just completed a new, plain, but -commodious building, not far from the still plainer House which has for -many years been the Home of its grateful patients. So let us pay a visit -to the old place just before its inmates are transferred to more ample -quarters, to provide for which new subscriptions are needed, and fresh -efforts are being made. The visit will show us how, in an unpretentious -way, and without costly appliances, such a charitable effort may be -worthily maintained. - -Curiously enough, Seaford itself is an illustration of declension from -strength to weakness, and of the early stages of recovery; for though it -is one of the famous Cinque Ports, it has for nearly 200 years been an -unnoted retreat. - -But it is still a place of old, odd customs, such as the election of the -chief of the municipality at an assembly of freemen at a certain -gate-post in the town, to which they are marshalled by an officer -bearing a mace surmounted with the arms of Queen Elizabeth. It is -famous, too, for Roman and other antiquities, and its queer little -church dedicated to St. Leonard, has some rare specimens of quaint -carving and a peal of bells which are peculiarly musical, while the -sounding of the complines on a still summer's night is good to hear. In -fact, for a mere cluster of houses forming an unpretentious and secluded -town, almost without shops to attract attention, with scarcely the -suspicion of a high street, and destitute of a grand hotel, Seaford is -remarkably interesting for its legendary lore, as a good many people -know, who have discovered its greatest attraction, and take lodgings at -the dull little place, where even the martello tower is deserted. The -chief recommendation of the place, however, is its healthfulness, and -the grand air which blows off the sea to the broad stretch of shingly -beach, and the range of cliff and down-land which stretches as far as -Beachy Head, and rises just outside the town into one or two bluffs, -about which the sea-gulls whirl and scream, as the evening sun dips into -the sparkling blue of the water. It is just at the foot of the boldest -of these ascents that we see an old-fashioned mansion, once known as -Corsica Hall, but now more distinctly associated with the name of the -Convalescent Hospital, of which it has long been the temporary home, the -London offices of the charity being at No. 8, Charing Cross, London. - -The institution, which was founded in 1860, has for its president the -Archbishop of Canterbury, and for its patronesses the Duchess of -Cambridge and the Duchess of Teck, and it has done its quiet work -efficiently and well, under difficulties which must have required -staunch interest on the part of its committee. - -It is difficult at first to understand that the big many-roomed house -just by the spur of the cliff, and peeping out to see over the shingle -ridge, is in any sense a hospital; but here is a convalescent who will -give us a very fair idea of the work that is being done; a tall fellow -who is but just recovering from acute rheumatism, and is now able to go -about slowly but with a cheery, hopeful look in his face. Presently, as -one comes near the front door, a lad, who having come from a hospital -where he has been attended for fractured ancle, has been sent here to -recover strength, is hobbling across a poultry-yard, where a grand -company of black Spanish, Polish, Cochin China, and other fowls are -assembled to be fed, and beneath a pent-house roof in this same yard, on -a bench, which would be well replaced by a more comfortable garden-seat -if the funds would allow, there is a sheltered and comfortable corner -for the afternoon indulgence of a whiff of tobacco. Twenty-five men and -twenty-four women are all the inmates, besides attendants, for whom -space can be found; and an inspection of the airy and scrupulously clean -dormitories, or rather bedrooms, on each side of the building, will show -that all the accommodation has been made available. It must be -remembered, however, that as the period of each inmate's stay is but a -month of twenty-eight days, fresh cases are constantly admitted during -all the summer months; so that though as late as at the end of March -only fourteen men and six women were distributed in the wards, the -average number admitted during the last official year has been 511 (an -increase of twenty-four over the year before), while the total number of -cases received since the opening of the institution amounts to nearly -5,000. - -There are evidences that in this old house, with its long passages, and -little supplementary stairs leading to the bedrooms, economy has been -studied, and yet all that can be done to adapt the place to its purpose -has been effected. The sense of fresh air and cleanliness is the first -noticeable characteristic. There are no slovenly corners; in -sitting-rooms, corridors, or dormitories, whether the latter be little -rooms with only two or three beds, or either of the large apartments, -with their wide bay-windows looking forth upon the sea. Plainly and even -sparely furnished, they have an appearance of homelike comfort, and it -is pleasant to note that in the larger bright cheerful room devoted to -women patients there are evidences of feminine taste and womanly -belongings, even to the egg-cups holding little posies of wild flowers -and common garden blooms that deck the broad mantelshelf in front of the -toilet glasses. The same home-like influences are to be observed in -other departments, and though this old country house--of which the -institution holds only a short term as tenants--is not altogether suited -for the purpose to which it has been applied, the arrangements are not -without a certain pleasant departure from the too formal and mechanical -routine which is observed in some establishments to have a peculiarly -depressing influence on the sick. - -The kitchen is like that of some good-sized farm-house, with brick -floor, an ample "dresser," and a big range, flanked with its pair of -ovens, and just now redolent of the steam of juicy South-down mutton and -fresh vegetables about to be served for the patients' dinners. - -It is a property of the Seaford air to make even persons with delicate -appetites ready for three plain meals a day, with a meat supper to -follow, and the convalescents are no exception to the rule. Tea and -bread-and-butter for breakfast, bread-and-cheese and ale for the men, -and cake and ale for the women as a snack in the way of lunch, good -roast meat and vegetables for dinner, with occasional pies or puddings, -with another half-pint of ale; tea as usual; and a supper consisting of -a slice of meat, bread, and another draught of beer--this is the most -ordinary diet; but in many cases milk is substituted for ale, and there -is also a morning draught of milk, or rum-and-milk, a lunch or supper of -farinaceous food, and wine or special diet, according to the orders of -the house surgeon, who visits the patients daily, or as often as may be -required. Following the odour of the roast mutton, we see the male -patients preparing to sit down to dinner in a good-sized room, where, to -judge from the pleased and grateful faces of men and lads, they are -quite ready to do justice to the repast. Barely furnished, and with -table appointments of the plainest kind, the dining-room is not -indicative of luxury; but the sauce of hunger is not wanting, and as we -bow our leave-taking, there are signs that the money spent at this -Seaford Hospital is well represented by the wholesome but expensive -medicine of pure food and drink in ample quantities, prescribed under -conditions which build up the strength, and restore life to the -enfeebled frames of those to whom a month of such living must be an era -in their history. - -The women's dining-room is, I am glad to see, more ornamental than that -of the men. The walls are bright with gay paper, containing large and -brilliantly coloured scenery, while the wide windows look seaward, and -fill the large room with cheerful light. - -This is all the more essential as there is no other sitting-room for the -female patients, and the more convenient furniture, especially a low -wooden couch covered with a mattress, is adapted to the needs of those -who require indoor recreation as well as frequent rest. The men have a -separate sitting-room in the basement, not a very cheerful apartment, -but one which in the warm summer-time is cool, and adapted for the -after-dinner doze, or for reading a book when the weather is not quite -favourable for sitting out of doors. - -There is, by the bye, a very decided need of entertaining and pleasant -books for the patients' library at Seaford, the few which are on the two -or three shelves being mostly old, and of a particularly dreary pattern. -It is obvious that, in an institution where, in order to meet the -constant needs of those who seek its aid, every shilling must be -carefully expended, only a small sum can be devoted to literature; but -it may only have to be made known that the convalescents really need a -few cheerful volumes to help them along the road from sickness to -health, and out of the abundance of some teeming library the goodwill -offering may be made. - -It is time that we--that is to say, the kindly and judicious secretary, -Mr. Horace Green, the examining physician, Dr. Lomas, and the present -writer--should yield to the influences of the grand appetising climate -of this airy nook of the English coast, and after a short turn into the -poultry-yard, a glance at the deliberate cow, and a passing greeting to -the great black cat with collar and bell and a mew that is almost a deep -bass roar, and to the most exacting, ugly, and voracious pet dog it was -ever my lot to encounter--we accept the invitation to test the quality -of the Southdown mutton and other Seaford fare, with a following of that -delicately boiled rice and jam to which the healthy palate returns with -childlike appreciation. - -On hospitable thoughts intent, the bright and active lady who is -superintendent matron of the hospital, has for the time adopted us into -her hungry family, and with the knowledge of the effects of the breeze -blowing over that high bluff, and curling the waves along the shingle -ridge, has set out a repast in her own pleasant parlour, where she does -the honours of the institution with a simple cheerful grace that speaks -favourably for the administration which she represents. But I should now -be writing in the past tense, for the larger building is completed. The -inmates will have a better appointed home. - -In order to maintain the objects of the charity, and to ensure the -comfort of those for whom its provisions are intended, some -well-considered regulations have to be adopted and enforced; and the -most discouraging circumstances with which the committee and their -officers have to contend, are those which arise from the negligence of -subscribers nominating patients, or from the demands made on the charity -by those who constantly expect more benefits from the institution than -their contributions would represent even if they were paid three times -over. - -It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that people, anxious to secure for -their protégés the advantages of such means of recovery as are -represented by a temporary hospital where there has only been one death -in five years, should readily contribute their guinea for the sake of -gaining the privilege, even though they may add to that small -subscription the five shillings a week which is the sum required with -each patient. What has to be complained of, however, is that constant -attempts are made to introduce cases which are so far from being -convalescent, that they are still suffering from disease, and require -constant medical or surgical treatment. In order to do this, nominations -are frequently obtained from country subscribers, and it has required -the constant vigilance of the examining physician and the committee to -avoid the distressing necessity of obtaining for such patients admission -to other hospitals, or sending them back to their own homes, not only -without having received benefit from the institution, but perhaps -injured by the journey to and fro when they were in a weak and suffering -condition. - -It should be remembered that the Seaford Hospital is not for the sick, -but for persons recovering from sickness,--those for whom the best -medicines are regular and ample meals, grand bracing air, sea-baths, -long hours of quiet and restorative sleep, and that general direction of -their daily progress towards complete recovery, which will often make -them strong and set them up completely, even in the twenty-eight days of -their sea-side sojourn. - -To send patients who require the medical care and attendance which can -only be provided in a hospital for the special disorders from which they -suffer, or who are afflicted with incurable diseases, is unjust, both to -the poor creatures themselves and to the charity which cannot receive -them. - -For consumptive patients, except in the early or threatening stage of -phthisis, Seaford is unsuitable, but a month at the hospital for -patients of consumptive tendency has been known to produce remarkably -beneficial results. It is in cases of recovery after rheumatism and -rheumatic fever, or when strength is required after painful or -exhausting surgical operations, in nervous depression, debility, -pleurisy, and recovery from accidents, that the fine air is found to be -wonderfully invigorating; for Seaford is high and dry, the subsoil being -sand resting on chalk, so that there is little surface evaporation, -while the shelter afforded by Beachy Head screens this little bay of the -coast from the east wind. - -It is not to be wondered at that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the -Bishop of London, and the late Bishop of Winchester should have joined -many of the London clergy, and more than eighty of the most eminent -physicians and surgeons connected with metropolitan hospitals, to -recommend this charity as one especially deserving of public support. -Those who are ever so superficially acquainted with the homes and -difficulties of the poorer classes in London know that the period of -debility after sickness, when the general hospital has discharged the -patient, or when the parish doctor has taken his leave, is a terrible -time. Too weak to work, without means to buy even common nourishment at -the crisis when plentiful food is requisite, and stimulated to try to -labour when the heart has only just strength to beat, men and women are -ready to faint and to perish unless helping hands be held out to them. -Try to imagine some poor cabman or omnibus-driver, lying weak and -helpless after coming from a hospital; think of the domestic servant, -whose small savings have all been spent in the endeavour to get well -enough to take another place; of the poor little wistful, eager-eyed -errand-boy, scantily fed, and with shaking limbs, that will not carry -him fast enough about the streets. Try to realise what a boon it must be -to a letter-carrier, slowly recovering from the illness by which he has -been smitten down, or to the London waiter, worn and debilitated by long -hours of wearying attendance to his duties, to have a month of rest and, -re-invigoration at a place like this. In the table of inmates during the -last few years are to be found a host of domestic servants, mechanics -and apprentices, warehousemen and labourers, 36 housewives (there is -much significance in that word, if we think of the poor wife or mother -to be restored to her husband and children), 46 needlewomen, 19 clerks, -15 teachers (mark that) 41 school-children, 9 nurses, 1 policeman, 3 -seamen and watermen, 1 letter-carrier, 4 errand-boys, 7 Scripture-readers, -and others of various occupations. - -It is no wonder, I say, that the general hospitals should regard this -Convalescent Home at Seaford as a boon; but, unfortunately for the -charity, the appreciation which it receives from some of those wealthy -and magnificently-endowed institutions operates as a very serious drain -on its own limited resources, which are only supplied by voluntary -subscriptions, contributions, and legacies. Every subscriber of a guinea -annually, and every donor of ten guineas in one sum, has the privilege -of recommending one patient yearly, with an additional recommendation -for every additional subscription of one guinea, or donation of ten -guineas. The payment of five shillings a week by each patient admitted -is also required by the guarantee of a householder written on the -nomination paper, and the travelling expenses of the patient must also -be paid, the Brighton Railway Company most benevolently conveying -patients to the hospital by their quick morning train, in second-class -carriages at third-class fare. - -Now it is quite obvious that the five shillings a week, though it -removes the institution from the position of an absolute charity, goes -but a very short distance in providing for the needs of the inmates, and -when the guinea contribution is added to it, there is still a very wide -margin to fill before much good can be effected. Let us see, then, what -is the effect of every subscription of a guinea representing a claim, as -in the case of the patients sent from the general hospitals. - -The cost of those admirable medicines, food and drink, wine, milk, and -sea-baths, together with the expenses of administration, and the rental -will represent at least £4 8s. per head for each patient, and as Guy's, -Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's, and the London Hospitals, each subscribing -their ten guineas annually, demand their ten nominations in exchange, -the account stands thus:-- - -For each case, five shillings per week for four weeks, and one guinea -subscription = £2 1_s._, which, deducted from the actual cost (£4 -8_s._), leaves £2 7_s._ to be paid out of the funds of the Seaford -Institution, which, on ten patients a year, represents £23 10_s._ as the -annual contribution of this poor little charity to each of the four -great charitable foundations of the metropolis. - -But there is now an opportunity for acknowledging this obligation, and -for recognizing the useful career of this really admirable institution. -The lease of the present house has already expired, and the committee -have been obliged to give up possession. It is therefore necessary to -support the new hospital for those who need the aid that such a charity -alone can give, and the building has already been erected, only a few -yards further in the shelter of the bluff, where it has provided another -home. With a commendable anxiety to keep strictly within their probable -means, the committee have decided not to imitate a too frequent mode of -proceeding, by which a large and splendid edifice would saddle their -undertaking with a heavy debt, and perhaps cripple resources needed for -carrying on their actual work; but they have obtained from Mr. Grüning, -the architect, a plain building which will provide for their needs for -some time to come, and may be hereafter increased in accommodation by -additions that will improve, rather than detract from, its completeness. -A great establishment, with a hundred beds, laundries, drying-houses, -and hot and cold sea-baths on the premises, would cost £13,000; and as -the actually available funds in hand for building purposes were not more -than £5,000, with another probable £1,000 added by special donations -expected during the year, the committee, however reluctantly, folded up -the original plan, and estimated the cost of a plain unpretentious -building, calculated at first to receive thirty-three male and -thirty-three female patients, but capable of additions which will raise -its usefulness and completeness to the higher demand, whenever there are -funds sufficient to pay for them. The expenditure for the new hospital -was about £7000, and, should the anticipated donations be increased -fourfold, there will be no difficulty in crowning the work, by such -provisions as will include the full number of a hundred faint and -failing men and women within the retreat where they find rest and -healing. - - - - -_WITH THE LITTLE ONES._ - - -Yes, and amidst the mystery of suffering and pain,--the beginning of -that discipline which commences very early, and continues, for many of -us, during a whole lifetime, at such intervals as may be necessary for -the consummation which we can only faintly discern when we begin to see -that which is invisible to the eyes of flesh and of human understanding, -and is revealed only to the higher reason--the essential perception -which is called faith. - -I want you to come with me to that eastern district of the great city -which has for so long a time been associated with accounts of distress, -of precarious earnings, homes without food or fire, scanty clothing, -dilapidated houses, dire poverty and the diseases that come of cold and -starvation. The place that I shall take you to is quite close to the -Stepney Station of the North London Railway. The district is known as -Ratcliff; the streets down which we shall pass are strangely destitute -of any but small shops, where a front "parlour" window contains small -stocks of chandlery or of general cheap odds and ends. The doorways of -the houses are mostly open, and are occupied by women and children, of -so poor and neglected an appearance, that we need no longer wonder at -the constant demands made upon the institution which we are about to -visit. Just here the neighbourhood seems to have come to a dreary -termination at the brink of the river, and to be only kept from slipping -into the dark current by two or three big sheds and wharves, belonging -to mast, rope, and block-makers, or others connected with that shipping -interest the yards of which are, many of them, deserted, no longer -resounding to the noise of hammers. The black spars and yards of vessels -alongside seem almost to project into the roadway as we turn the corner -and stand in front of a building, scarcely to be distinguished from its -neighbours, except for the plain inscription on its front, "East London -Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women," and for a rather more -recent appearance of having had the woodwork painted. But for this there -would be little more to attract attention than might be seen in any of -the sail-makers' dwellings, stores, and lofts in the district; and, in -fact, the place itself is--or rather was--a sail-maker's warehouse, with -trap-doors in the rough and foot-worn floors, steep and narrow stairs, -bulks and baulks of timber here and there in the heavy ceilings and -awkward corners, not easily turned to account in any other business. -Some of these inconveniences have been remedied, and the trap-doors as -well as the awkwardest of the corners and the bulks have been either -removed or adapted to present purposes, for the business is to provide a -home and careful nursing for sick children, and the long rooms of the -upper storeys are turned into wards, wherein stand rows of Lilliputian -iron bedsteads, or tiny cribs, where forty boys and girls, some of them -not only babes but sucklings, form the present contingent of the hundred -and sixty little ones who have been treated during the year. Not a very -desirable-looking residence you will say, but there are a good many -inmates after all; and the scrupulous cleanliness of the place, as seen -from the very passage, is an earnest of that plan of making the best of -things which has always been characteristic of this hospital at Ratcliff -Cross. Some eight or nine grownup folks, and from thirty to forty -children, make a bright, cheerful home (apart from the suffering and -death which are inseparable from such a place) in that old sail-maker's -warehouse, if brightness and cheerfulness are the accompaniments of good -and loving work, as I thoroughly believe they are. - -It was during the terrible visitation of cholera, nearly twelve years -ago, that this work of mercy was initiated, and the manner of its -foundation has about it something so pathetic that it is fitting the -story should be known, especially as the earnest, hopeful effort with -which the enterprise began seems to have characterised it to the present -day. Among the medical men who went about in the neighbourhood of Poplar -and Ratcliff during the epidemic, was Mr. Heckford, a young surgeon, -who, having recently come from India, was attached to the London -Hospital, and who took a constant and active part in the professional -duties he had undertaken. In that arduous work, he, as well as others, -received valuable and indeed untiring aid from the ready skill and -thoughtful care of a few ladies, who, having qualified themselves as -nurses, devoted themselves to the labour of love amongst the poor. To -one of this charitable sisterhood, who had been his frequent helper in -the time of difficulty and danger, the young surgeon became attracted by -the force of a sympathy that continued after the plague was stayed in -the district to which they had given so much care, and when they had -time to think of themselves and of each other. They went away together a -quietly married couple; both having one special aim and object in -relation to the beneficent career upon which they had entered in -company. Knowing from hardly-earned experience the dire need of the -district, they at once began to consider what they could do to alleviate -the sufferings of the women and children, so many of whom were sick and -languishing, in hunger and pain, amidst conditions which forbade their -recovery. If only they could make a beginning, and do something towards -arresting the ravages of those diseases that wait on famine and lurk in -foul and fœtid alleys;--if they could establish a dispensary where -women--mothers too poor to pay a doctor--could have medicine and careful -encouragement; if they could find a place where, beginning with a small -family of say half a dozen, they might take a tiny group of infants to -their home, and so set up a centre of beneficent action, a protest -against the neglect, the indifference, and the preventable misery for -which that whole neighbourhood had so long had an evil distinction. - -The question was, how to make a beginning: but the young doctor and his -wife had been so accustomed to the work of taking help to the very doors -of those who needed it, that all they wanted was to find a place in the -midst of that down-east district where they could themselves live and -work. Out of their own means they bought the only available premises for -their purpose--a rough, dilapidated, but substantial, and above all, a -ventilable sail-loft with its adjacent house and store-rooms, and there -they quietly established themselves as residents, with ten little beds, -holding ten poor little patients supported by themselves, in the hope -that voluntary aid from some of the benevolent persons who knew what was -the sore need of the neighbourhood would enable them in time to add -twenty or thirty more, when the big upper storeys should be cleansed and -mended and made into wards. That hope was not long in being realised, -and on the 28th of January, 1868, after a determined effort to maintain -the institution and to devote themselves to its service, a regular -committee was formed and commenced its undertakings, the founders still -remaining and working with unselfish zeal. From twenty to thirty little -ones were received from out that teeming district, where a large -hospital with ten times the number of beds would not be adequate to the -needs of the infant population, the mothers of which have to work to -earn the scanty wages which in many cases alone keep them from absolute -starvation. The struggle to maintain the wards in the old sail-lofts was -all the harder, from the knowledge that in at least half the number of -cases where admission was necessarily refused, from want of space and -want of funds, the little applicants were sent away to die, or to become -helpless invalids or confirmed cripples, not less from the effects of -destitution--the want of food and clothing--than from the nature of the -diseases from which they were suffering. - -The young doctor and his wife dwelt there, and with cultivated tastes -and accomplishments submitted to all the inconveniences of a small room -or two, from which they were almost ousted by the increasing need for -space. With a bright and cheerful alacrity they adapted those very -tastes and accomplishments to supplement professional skill and tender -assiduous care: the lady--herself in such delicate health that her -husband feared for her life, and friends anxiously advised her to seek -rest and change--used books and music to cheer the noble work, and -always had a picture on her easel, with which to hide the awkward bulges -and projections, or to decorate the bare walls and brighten them with -light and colour. - -It was at Christmas-tide seven years ago that I first visited the -hospital, and there were then very pleasant evidences of the season to -be discovered in all kinds of festive ornament in the long wards, and -especially in the smaller rooms, where this loving woman had attracted -other loving women around her, as nurses to the suffering little ones; -and was there and then engaged in the superintendence of a glorious -Christmas-tree. But the time came when the hoped-for support having -arrived, Mr. and Mrs. Heckford felt that they could leave the family of -forty children to the care of those who had taken up the work with -heartfelt sympathy. They had laboured worthily and well, but, alas!--the -reward came late--late at least for him, who had been anxious to take -his wife away to some warmer climate, in an endeavour to restore the -strength that had been spent in the long effort to rear a permanent -refuge for sick children in that dense neighbourhood. It was he who -stood nearest to shadow-land,--he who was soonest to enter into the -light and the rest that lay beyond. Mr. Heckford died, I believe, at -Margate, after a short period of leisure and travel, which his wife -shared with him. His picture, presented by her to the charity which they -both founded, is to be seen in the boys' ward. Another portrait of -him--a portrait in words written by the late Mr. Charles Dickens, who -visited and pathetically described the children and their hospital in -December, 1868, conveys the real likeness of the man. - -"An affecting play was acted in Paris years ago, called the Children's -Doctor. As I parted from my Children's Doctor now in question, I saw in -his easy black necktie, in his loose-buttoned black frock-coat, in his -pensive face, in the flow of his dark hair, in his eyelashes, in the -very turn of his moustache, the exact realisation of the Paris artist's -ideal as it was presented on the stage. But no romancer that I know of -has had the boldness to prefigure the life and home of this young -husband and wife, in the Children's Hospital in the East of London." - -What the hospital was then, it has remained--but with such improvements -as increased funds and a more complete organisation have effected. It is -still the ark of refuge for those little ones who, smitten with sudden -disease, or slowly fading before the baleful breath of famine or of -fever, or ebbing slowly away from life by the fatal influences that sap -the constitutions of the young in such neighbourhoods, are taken in that -they may be brought back to life, or at worst may be lovingly tended, -that the last messenger may be made to bear a smile. - -But the hope for the future of this most admirable institution has grown -to fill a larger space. It is indeed essential to any really permanent -effort in such a district that it should be increased, and the founders -looked forward with earnest anticipations of the time when, gathering -help from without, they could enter upon a larger building, which will -soon be completed, and will be more adequate to the needs of such a -teeming population. The area embracing Poplar, Mile End, Whitechapel, -St. George's, Limehouse, Ratcliff, Shadwell, and Wapping numbers some -400,000 inhabitants, and strangely enough--as it will seem to those who -have not yet learnt the true characteristics of the really deserving -poor--many of the distressed people about that quarter will conceal -their poverty, and strive as long as they are able--so that when at last -they go to ask for aid the case may be almost hopeless, and the delay in -obtaining admission may be fatal. There are already so many more -applicants than can be received that it may be imagined what must be the -vast amount of alleviable suffering awaiting the opportunity of wider -means and a larger building. It would be easy to shock the reader by -detailing many of the more distressing diseases from which the poor -little patients suffer, but on visiting the wards you are less shocked -than saddened, while the evident rest and care which are helping to -restore and to sooth the sufferers ease you of the greater pain by the -hope that they inspire. - -It is Sunday noon as we stand here in the dull street where, but for the -sudden opening of a frowsy tavern and the appearance of two or three -thirsty but civil customers, who are not only ready but eager to show -you the way to the "Childun's 'orsepital," there would be little to -distinguish it from a thoroughfare of tenantless houses. Ratcliff is at -its dinner at present, but we shall as we go back see the male residents -leaning against the doorposts smoking, and the women and children -sitting at the doors as at a private box at the theatre, discussing the -sordid events of the streets and the small chronicles of their poor -daily lives. - -But we must leave the cleanly-scrubbed waiting-room and its adjoining -large cupboard which does duty as dispenser's room. It is dinnertime -here too, or rather it has been, and there are evidences of some very -jolly feasting, considering that, after all, the banqueters are mostly -in bed and on sick diet, which in many cases means milk, meat, eggs, and -as much nourishment as they can safely take. Indeed, food is medicine to -those who are turning the corner towards convalescence--food and air--of -which latter commodity there is a very excellent supply considering the -kind of neighbourhood we are in. Here and there we see a little wan, -pinched, wasted face lying on the pillow; a listless, transparent hand -upon the counterpane--which are sad tokens that the tiny sufferers are -nearing the eternal fold beyond the shadowy threshold where all is dark -to us, who note how every breath bespeaks a feebler hold on the world of -which they have learnt so little in their tiny lives. There are others -who are sitting up with picture-books, or waiting to have their -abscesses dressed, and arms bandaged, or eyes laved with cooling lotion. -Hip-disease and diseases of the joints are evidence of the causes that -bring so many of the little patients here, and there are severe cases of -consumption and of affections of the lungs and of the glands; but as the -little fellow wakes up from a short nap, or catches the eye of the "lady -nurse"--a lively and thoroughly practical Irishwoman, who evidently -knows how to manage, and has come here, after special training, for the -love of doing good--they show a beaming recognition which is very -pleasant to witness. With all the nurses it is the same. - -They are young women who, receiving small pay, have come to devote -themselves to the work for Christ's sake and the Gospel's--that is to -say, for the love of humanity and of the good tidings of great joy that -announce the love of Him who gave Himself for us. - -In the girls' ward there is the same freshness and cleanliness of the -place and all its belongings, the same wonderful patience and courageous -endurance on the part of the baby inmates, which has been my wonder ever -since we went in. Here is a mite of a girl sitting up in bed, holding a -moist pad to her eye, her poor little head being all bandaged. She never -utters a sound, but the little round face is set with a determined -endurance. "What is she sitting up for?" She is "waiting to see muvver." -Another little creature, who is suffering from abscesses in the neck, -submits to have the painful place poulticed only on the condition that -she shall decide, by keeping her hand upon the warm linseed-meal, when -it is cool enough to put on. These are scarcely pleasant details, and -there are sights here which are very, very sad, and make us shrink--but -I honestly declare that they are redeemed from being repulsive because -of the evidence of love that is to be witnessed,--the awakening of the -tender sympathies and sweet responses of the childlike heart. But for -its being Sunday--which involves another reason to be mentioned -presently--the beds would be strewed with toys and picture-books, while -a rocking-horse, which is a part of the hospital property, and a fit -kind of steed to draw the "hospital-carriage," which is represented by a -perambulator--would probably be saddled and taken out of the stable on -the landing. On the topmost storey we come to the real infants, the -little babies, one of whom is even now in the midst of his dinner, which -he takes from a feeding-bottle, by the aid of an india-rubber tube -conveniently traversing his pillow. - -Everywhere there are evidences of the care with which the work is -carried on, and as we descend to the waiting-room again we have fresh -proofs of the benefits that are being effected in the great district, by -the provision made for the little creatures, many of whom would -otherwise be left to linger in pain and want. For the waiting-room is -filled--filled with mothers and elder sisters and little brothers, -tearfully eager and anxious for the weekly visit to the fifty children -upstairs. Here is the secret of the brave little patient faces in the -beds and cots above. - -It is infinitely touching to think how the prospect of "seeing muvver" -sustains that chubby little sufferer,--how the expected visit nerves the -stronger ones to endurance, and sends a fresh throb of life through -those who are still too weak to do more than faintly smile, and hold out -a thin pale hand. - -If Mr. Ashby Warner, the Secretary at this Hospital for Sick Children at -Ratcliff Cross, could but send some responsive thrill into the hearts of -those who, having no children of their own, yet love Christ's little -ones all over the world,--or could bring home to the fond fathers and -mothers of strong and chubby babes the conviction that to help in this -good work is a fitting recognition of their own mercies; nay, if even to -sorrowing souls who have been bereaved of their dear ones, and who yet -believe that their angels and the angels of these children also, do -constantly behold the face of the Father which is in heaven, there would -come a keen recognition of the blessedness of doing something for the -little ones, as unto Him who declares them to be of His kingdom--there -would soon be no lack of funds to finish building that great new -hospital at Shadwell, which is to take within its walls and great airy -wards so many more little patients, to help and comfort by advice and -medicine so many more suffering mothers and sisters than could be -received in the old sail-loft and its lower warehouse at Ratcliff Cross. -For the hope of the founders and their successors has at last being -realised--a larger building than they had at first dared to expect is to -be erected on ground which has been purchased, still within the district -where the need is greatest--and when the time comes that the last touch -of carpenter and mason shall have been given to the new home, and the -picture of Mr. Heckford shall be hung upon another wall, there may well -be a holiday "down east"--as a day of thanksgiving and of gratitude, to -those who may yet help in the work by giving of their abundance. - - - - -_IN THE KINGDOM._ - - -"Of such are the kingdom of heaven;" and "whosoever doeth it unto the -least of these little ones, doeth it unto Me." Surely there is no need -to comment again on these sayings of Him who, in His infinite -childlikeness, knew what must be the characteristics of His subjects, -and declared plainly that whosoever should enter into the kingdom must -become as a little child. One thing is certain, that those who are -within that kingdom, or expect to qualify themselves for it, must learn -something of the Divine sympathy with which Christ took the babes in his -arms and blessed them. Thank God that there is so much of it in this -great suffering city, and that on every hand we see efforts made for the -rescue, the relief, and the nurture of sick and destitute children. -Would that these efforts could relieve us from the terrible sights that -should make us shudder as we pass through its tumultuous streets, and -witness the suffering, the depravity, and the want, that comes of -neglecting the cry of the little ones, and of those who would bring them -to be healed and sanctified. - -Only just now I asked you to go with me to Ratcliff to see the forty -tiny beds ranged in the rooms of that old sail-maker's warehouse which -has been converted into a Hospital for Sick Children. There is something -about this neighbourhood of Eastern London that keeps us lingering there -yet; something that may well remind us of that star which shone above -the manger at Bethlehem where the Babe lay. The glory of the heavenly -light has led wise men and women to see how, in reverence for the -childlikeness, they may work for the coming of the kingdom, and those -who enter upon this labour of love, begin--without observation--to find -what that kingdom really is, and to realise more of its meaning in their -own hearts. - -To the cradle in a manger the wise men of old went to offer gifts. To a -cradle I would ask you to go with me to-day; to a whole homeful of -cribs; which is known by a word that means crib and manger and cradle -all in one--"The Crèche." - -There is something, as it seems to me, appropriate in this French word -to the broad thoroughfare (so like one of the outer boulevards of Paris) -out of which we turn when we have walked a score or two of yards from -the Stepney Station, or where some other visitors alight from the big -yellow tramway car running from Aldgate to Stepney Causeway. The -Causeway itself is a clean, quiet street, and is so well known that the -first passer-by can point it out to you, while, if the inhabitants of -the district can't quite master the _crunch_ of the French word, they -know well enough what you mean when you ask for the "babies' home," or -for "Mrs. Hilton's nursery." The home itself is but a baby institution, -for it is only five years old, but it might be a very Methuselah if it -were to be judged by the tender, loving care it has developed, and the -good it has effected, not only on behalf of the forty sucklings who are -lying in their neat little wire cots upstairs, like so many human -fledglings in patent safety cages, and for the forty who are sprawling -and toddling about in the lower nursery, or for the contingent who are -singing a mighty chorus of open vowels on the ground-floor; but also in -the hopeful aid and tender sympathy it has conveyed to the toiling -mothers who leave their little ones here each morning when they go out -to earn their daily bread, and fetch them again at night, knowing that -they are fresh and clean, and have been duly nursed and fed, and put to -sleep, and had their share of petting and of play. - -The sound of the forty singing like one is not perceptible as we -approach the house, which, with its large high windows open to the soft, -warm air, lies very still and quiet. The wire-blinds to the windows near -the street bear the name of the institution, and over the doorway is -inscribed the fact that the Princess Christian has become the patroness -of this charity, which appeals to all young mothers, and to every woman -who acknowledges the true womanly love for children. Each day, from -twelve to four o'clock, visitors are welcomed, except on Saturdays, when -the closing hour is two o'clock, as, even in some of the factories down -east, the half-holiday is observed, and poor women working at -bottle-warehouses and other places have the happiness of taking home -their little ones, and keeping them to themselves till the following -Monday morning. Do you feel inclined to question whether these poor, -toil-worn women appreciate this privilege? Are you ready to indulge in a -cynical fear that they would rather forego the claim that they are -expected to assert? Believe me you are wrong. One of the most hopeful -and encouraging results of the tender care bestowed upon these babes of -poverty is that of sustaining maternal love, and beautifying even the -few hours of rest and family reunion in the squalid rooms where the -child is taken with a sense of hope and pride to lighten the burden of -the day. Early each morning the little creatures are brought, often in -scanty clothing, sometimes shoeless, mostly with a ready appetite for -breakfast. Then the business of matron and nurses begins. But, come, let -us go in with the children, and see the very first of it, as women, -poorly clad, coarse of feature, and with the lines of care, and too -frequently with the marks of dissipation and of blows upon their faces, -come in one by one and leave their little living bundles, not without a -certain wistful, softened expression and an occasional lingering loving -look. - -The house--stay, there are actually three houses, knocked into one so as -to secure a suite of rooms on each floor--is as clean as the proverbial -new pin; and as we ascend the short flights of stairs, there is a sense -of lightness and airiness which is quite remarkable in such a place, and -is by some strange freak of fancy associated with the notion of a big, -pleasant aviary--a notion which is strengthened by our coming suddenly -into the nursery on the first-floor, and noting as the most prominent -object of ornament a large cage containing some sleek and silken doves, -placed on a stand very little above the head of the tiniest toddler -there. - -There is enough work for the matron, her assistant, and the four or five -young nurses who receive these welcome little guests each morning. The -rows of large metal basins on the low stands are ready, and the -morning's ablutions are about to commence, so we will return presently, -as people not very likely to be useful in the midst of so intricate an -operation as the skilful washing and dressing of half a hundred babies. - -There is plenty to see in the neighbourhood out of doors, but we need -not wander far to find something interesting, for on the ground-floor of -these three houses which form the Crèche--the babies' home--provision -has also been made for babies' fathers, in the shape of "a British -Workman," or working-man's reading, coffee, and bagatelle room, with a -library of readable books, and liberty to smoke a comfortable pipe. - -Of the servants' home, which is another branch of this cluster of -charitable institutions, we have no time to speak now, for our visit is -intended for the Crèche, and we are already summoned to the upper rooms -by the sound of infant voices. Doubt not that you will be welcomed on -the very threshold, for here comes an accredited representative of the -institution, just able to creep on all fours to the guarded door, thence -to be caught up by the gentle-faced young nurse, who at once consigns -the excursionist to a kind of square den or pound, formed of stout bars, -and with the space of floor which it encloses covered by a firm -mattress. There, in complete safety, and with two or three good -serviceable and amiably-battered toys, the young athletes who are -beginning to practise the difficult feat of walking with something to -hold by, are out of harm's way, and may crawl or totter with impunity. -They have had their breakfast of bread and milk, and are evidently -beginning the day, some of them with a refreshing snooze in the little -cribs which stand in a row against a wall, bright, as all the walls are, -with coloured pictures, while in spaces, or on low tables here and -there, bright-hued flowers and fresh green plants are arranged, so that -the room, necessarily bare and unencumbered with much furniture, is so -pleasantly light and gay, that we are again reminded of a great -bird-cage. Out here in a little ante-room is a connected row of low, -wooden arm-chairs, made for the people of Lilliput, and each furnished -with a little tray or table, and, drumming expectantly and with a -visible interest in the proceeding, sit a line of little creatures, -amidst whom a nurse distributes her attentions, by feeding them -carefully with a spoon, just as so many young blackbirds might be fed. -Already some of the little nurslings are sitting up in their cribs, -quietly nodding their round little heads over some cherished specimen of -doll or wooden horse. One wee mite of a girl, quite unable to speak, -except inarticulately, holds up the figure of a wooden lady of fashion, -with a wistful entreaty which we fail to understand, till the quick-eyed -lady who accompanies us spies a slip of white tape in the tiny hand, and -at once divines that it is to be bound about the fashionable waist, as -an appropriate scarf, and at once performs this finishing stroke of the -toilet, to the immeasurable satisfaction of everybody concerned. This is -in the upper room, the real baby nursery, where the age of some of the -inmates is numbered by weeks only, and there is in each swinging cot a -sweet, sleepy sense of enjoyment of the bottle which forms the necessary -appliance of luncheon-time. - -At the heads of several of these cots are inscribed the names of -charitable donors, happy parents, bereaved mothers, sympathetic women -with babies of their own, either on earth or in heaven, who desire to -show gratitude, faith, remembrance, by this token of their love for the -childlikeness of those they love and cherish in their deepest memories, -their most ardent hopes. In more than one of the little beds there are -signs of the poverty or the sickliness in which the children were born, -and the effects of which this home, with its freshness and light and -food, is intended to remedy. No cases of actual disease are here, -however, since a small infirmary for children suffering from more -serious ailments has been added to the institution, and the Sick -Children's Hospital is but three street lengths distant. - -The first most remarkable experience which meets the visitor -unaccustomed to observe closely, is the freshness and beauty of the -children in this place. Squalid misery, dirt, neglect, starvation, so -disguise and debase even the children in such neighbourhoods, that -squeamish sentimentality turns away at the first glance, and is apt to -conclude that there are essential differences between the infancy of -Tyburnia or Mayfair and the babyhood of Ratcliff and Shadwell. Yet I -venture to assert that if Mr. Millais or some other great painter were -to select his subjects for a picture from these rooms of the old house -in Stepney Causeway, he would leave the galleries of Burlington House -echoing with "little dears," and "what a lovely child!" and popular -prejudice would conclude that from birth the little rosebud mouths were -duly fitted with silver spoons instead of being scant even of the -bluntest of wooden ladles. - -At this Crèche at Stepney Causeway the reasons of the true childlike -freshness, alacrity, and even the engaging impetuosity and loving -confidence which characterise these little ones, is not far to seek. As -you came up you noticed row after row of blue check bags, hanging in a -current of fresh air on the wall of the staircase. - -Those bags contain the clothes in which these children are brought to -the Home in the morning. They are changed with the morning's ablutions, -and clean garments substituted for them until the mothers come in the -evening to fetch away their bairnies, and by that time they have been -aired and sweetened. It is noticeable that this has the effect in many -instances of inducing the women to make praiseworthy efforts to improve -the appearance of the children, and, indeed, the whole tendency of the -treatment of the little ones is to develop the tenderness and love which -lie deep down in the hearts of the mothers. Even the endearing nicknames -almost instinctively bestowed upon the tiny darlings have a share in -promoting this feeling, and the pretty rosy plump little creatures, or -the quaint expressive bright-eyed babies, who are called "Rosie," -"Katie," "Pet," "Little Old Lady," and so on, all have a kind of happy -individuality of their own in the regards of the dear lady who founded -and still directs the institution, and in those of the nurses who tend -them. Sometimes the names arise from some little incident occurring when -the children are first brought there, as well as from the engaging looks -and manners of the little ones themselves. "The King," is a really fine -baby-boy, the recognised monarch of the upper nursery, but his sway is -strictly constitutional; while a pretty little wistful, plump lassie, is -good-humouredly known as "Water Cresses," and has no reason to be -ashamed of the name, for it designates the business by which a -hard-working mother and elder sister earn the daily bread for the -family. - -Did I say that the charge for each child is twopence daily? Nominally it -is so; and let those who desire to know something of the real annals of -the poor remember that even this small sum--which of course cannot -adequately represent anything like the cost--is not easily subtracted -from the scanty earnings of poor women engaged in slopwork, or selling -dried fish, plants, crockery, and small wares in the streets, or going -out to work in warehouses, rope-walks, match-making, box-making, and -other poor employments, where the daily wages will not reach to -shillings, and sometimes are represented only in the pence column. Let -it be remembered, too, that the husbands of these women (those who are -not prematurely widows, or whose husbands have not deserted them) are -employed as dock labourers, and are often under the terrible curse of -drink, or are in prison, while the women struggle on to support the -little ones, who but for this institution, would perhaps be -left--hungry, naked, and sickly--to the care of children only two or -three years older than themselves; or would be locked in wretched rooms -without food or fire till the mother could toil homeward, with the -temptation of a score of gin-shops in the way. - -Each of the bright intelligent little faces now before us has its -history, and a very suggestive and pathetic history too. - -Look at this little creature, whose pet name of Fairy bespeaks the -loving care which her destitute babyhood calls forth; she is only ten -months old, and her mother is but nineteen, the widow of a sailor lost -at sea two months before the baby was born. - -Katie, of the adult age of five years, is the child of a man who works -on barges. Rosie, one of the first inmates, has a drunken dock-labourer -for a father, and her mother is dead. Dicky represents the children -whose father, going out to sea in search of better fortune for wife and -children, is no more heard of, and is supposed to be dead. "The King" is -fatherless, and his mother works in a bottle-warehouse. The pathetic -stories of these children is told by Mrs. Hilton herself, in the little -simple reports of this most admirable charity. They are so touching, -that I cannot hope to reproduce them in any language so likely to go -straight to the heart as that in which you may read them for yourself if -you will either visit the Crèche, or send ever so small a donation, and -ask for a copy of the modest brown-covered little chronicle of these -baby-lives. Standing here in the two nurseries, where the dolls and -Noah's arks, the pictures and the doves, nay, even the baby-jumpers -suspended from the ceilings, are but accessories to the clasp of loving -arms and the softly-spoken words of tender womanly kindness, I wonder -why all one side of Stepney Causeway has not been demanded by a -discriminating public for the extension of such an institution. -Loitering in the lower room, where one little bright face is lifted up -to mine, as the tiny hands pluck at my coat-skirt, and another chubby -fist is busy with my walking-stick, I begin to think of the workhouse -ward, where mothers are separated from their children night and day; of -a prison, where I have seen a troop of little boys, and a flogging-room -provided by a beneficent Government for the recognition by the State of -children who had qualified themselves for notice by the commission of -what the law called crime. - -A pleasant odour of minced beef, gravy, and vegetables, known as "Irish -stew," begins to steal upon the air. The wooden benches in one of the -rooms are suddenly turned back, and like a conjuring trick, convert -themselves into tiny arm-chairs, with convenient trays in front for -plates and spoons. The little voices--forty like one--strike up a fresh -chant, and a whisper of rice-pudding is heard. So we go out, wondering -still, and with a wish that from every nursery where children lisp -"grace before meat," some gracious message could be brought to aid and -strengthen those who believe with me that the most profitable investment -of political economy, the most certain effort of philanthropy, is to -begin with the men and women of the future, and so abate the fearful -threatenings of coming pauperism, and the still more terrible menace of -a permanent "criminal class." - -The policy of the authorities, says Mrs. Hilton, in her interesting -narrative of the Crèche, in stopping outdoor relief to poor widows with -children is causing much sorrow. The 2_s._ 6_d._ or 3_s._ received from -the parish secured their rent, and they managed, with shirt-making or -trouser-finishing, to earn a bare subsistence; but now the battle for a -mere existence is terrible. Doubtless, the children would be better -cared for in the House, but mothers cannot be persuaded to give them up. -One such case has just passed under my notice; but the woman shall speak -for herself. "'Oh, Mrs. Hilton, they have taken off my relief!--I, with -four little ones who cannot even put on their shoes and stockings. They -offer me the House; but I never can give up my children. Look at baby; -he is ten months old; his father died of small-pox six months before he -was born; he was only ill five days.' I told her I was afraid she would -not be able to earn enough to keep them all. 'Well,' she said, 'I must -try--I will never go into the House.'" - -"But these women have very little feeling for their children, they are -so low and brutalised." Are they? Let those who think so visit this -Cradle Home, and witness the bearing of the mothers who come to take -their little ones home, or to nurse the sucklings at intervals snatched -from work. Let them hear what such poor women will do for children _not_ -their own, even to the extent (as recently took place, in one instance, -at least) of sharing with their less necessitous babes the natural -sustenance that the mother cannot always give. - -Sixty-five children received daily and a hundred or more on the books, -with space needed for many more than can be admitted; children who, some -of them infants as they are, have learned to lisp profane oaths and -babble in foul language, and to give way to furious outbursts of -passion, the result of neglect and evil example, and the life of the -street and the gutter. It is but a short time, however, before this -strange dreadful phase of the distorted child mind disappears, and the -pet name is bestowed along with the gentle kindness that obliterates the -evil mimicry of sin. The baby taken home from this purer atmosphere of -love becomes a messenger of grace to many a poor household, as the short -annals of the Crèche will tell; and even the pet names themselves are -adopted by the mothers in speaking of and to their own children. One -short story from the first report sent out by Mrs. Hilton, and we will -go our way with a hope that some words of ours may win a fresh interest -for these little ones. - -"A precious babe died, and the mother, too poor to bury it, sent for a -parish coffin. The child was very dear to us, and we had named her our -nursery Queen which had degenerated into 'Queenie.' It was a sore trial -to us to see the golden curls mingled with sawdust, which is all that -was placed in the coffin; and yet we could not spend public funds on the -funeral, and feared to do it privately. In a few hours a mother came and -said, 'Come and look at your Queenie now.' We went and saw that loving -hands had softened all the harsh outlines. A little bed and pillow had -been provided, a frill placed round the edge, and some children had lain -fresh-gathered flowers on the darling's breast. The cost had been -9½_d._, paid for by those mothers, and although so freely and lovingly -given, it was the price of more than a meal each." - -If every mother in London with a well-stocked larder would give the -price of a meal for the sake of a living child--but, there! my duty is -not to beg, but to describe. - - - - -_WITH LOST LAMBS._ - - -Only quite lately I had to write about the old French colony in -Spitalfields, and of the changes that have come over entire -neighbourhoods which were once associated with what is now a failing -industry, or rather with one which, so far as London is concerned, has -nearly died out altogether. - -Not that the public has ceased to hear sundry reports of those quarters -of the metropolis of which the name of Bethnal Green is an indication as -suggesting dire poverty, neglected dwellings, poorly-paid callings, and -constant distress. Some few years ago it became quite a fashion for -newspaper special reporters (following in the wake of one or two writers -who had begun to tell the world something of the truth of what they knew -of these sad regions) to make sudden amateur excursions beyond -Shoreditch, for the purpose of picking up material for "lurid" articles -about foul tenements, fever, hunger, want, and crime. Bethnal Green -became quite a by-word, even at the West End, and certain spasmodic -efforts in the direction of charitable relief were made by well-meaning -people, so that for a time there was danger of a new kind of -demoralisation of the "low neighbourhood," and the price of lodgings, -even in the wretched tenements of its notorious streets, were expected -to rise in proportion to the demand made by emigrants from other less -favoured localities, to which the special correspondent had not at that -time penetrated. One good work was effected by the attention of sanitary -authorities being called to the fever dens during a time of terrible -epidemic, and a certain provision of medical aid, together with -purification of drains, whitewashing of rooms, and clearing of sties and -dustheaps, was the result. This was but temporary, however; and those -who best know the neighbourhood lying between Shoreditch and Bethnal -Green, and disclaimed by the local authorities of both because of its -misery and dilapidation, are also aware that in various parts of the -whole great district from the Hackney Road to Bishopsgate, and so -embracing Spitalfields and part of Whitechapel, far away to Mile End and -"Twig Folly," there can be discovered more of want, hunger, and disease -than could exist in any free city under heaven, if men were not such -hypocrites as to defy and disregard the laws which yet they claim to -have a hand in framing, and a power to enforce. - -Only those who are personally acquainted with such a district can -conceive what is the condition of the children of its streets, and yet -every ordinary wayfarer of the London thoroughfares may note to what a -life some of them are committed. About the outskirts of the markets, -round the entrances to railway stations, cowering in the shadows of dark -arches, or scrambling and begging by the doors of gin-shops and taverns, -the boys--and what is even worse, the girls--are to be seen daily and -nightly, uncared for, till they have learnt how to claim the attention -of a paternal government by an offence against the law. When once the -child, who is a mere unnoted fraction of the population, has so far -matriculated in crime as to warrant the interposition of the police, he -or she becomes an integer of sufficient importance to be dealt with by a -magistrate. Let an infancy of neglect and starvation lead to the -reckless pilfering of a scrap of food from a counter, or the abstraction -of something eatable or saleable from a market-cart or a porter's sack, -and the little unclassified wretch is added as another unit to a body -recognised, and in some sense cared for, by the State. As a member of -the great "criminal class," the juvenile thief becomes of immediate -importance. Even though the few juvenile criminal reformatories be full, -the gaol doors are open, and the teachings of evil companionship are -consummated by the prison brand. The individual war against society -gains strength and purpose, for society itself has acknowledged and -resented it. The child has entered on a career, and unless some extra -legal interposition shall succeed in changing the course of the juvenile -offender by assuming a better guardianship, the boy may become an -habitual thief, a full-fledged London ruffian; the girl----? - -It was with a deep sense of the terrible significance of this question, -that a small party of earnest gentlemen met, twenty-seven years ago, in -that foul neighbourhood to which I have referred, to consider what -should be done to rescue the deserted and destitute girls, some of whom -had already been induced to attend a ragged school, which was held in a -dilapidated building that had once been a stable. - -These thoughtful workers included among them two men of practical -experience; one of them, Mr. H. R. Williams, the treasurer of the -present institution, the other the Rev. William Tyler, whose bright -genial presence has long been a power among the poor of that district, -where even the little ragged children of the streets follow him, and -lisp out his name as the faithful shepherd, who both gives and labours -in one of the truest "cures of souls" to be found in all great London. -To them soon came the present honorary secretary, Mr. J. H. Lloyd, a -gentleman already familiar with teaching the poor in a neighbouring -district no less wretched and neglected. They were the right men for the -business in hand, and therefore they began by moving sluggish boards and -commissions to put in force the sanitary laws--and, in spite of the -opposition of landlords with vested interests in vile tenements let out -to whole families of lodgers from garret to basement, and of the -malignant opposition of owners of hovels where every abomination was -rife, and pigs littered in the yards, while costermongers shared the -cellars with their donkeys--insisted on the surrounding streets being -paved and drained, and some of the houses being whitewashed and made -weatherproof. - -Nothing less could have been done, for the terrible cholera epidemic was -already raging in that tangle of courts and alleys. Application was at -once made for a share from the Mansion House Relief Fund, and the -committee had to use every available shilling in order to supply food -and medicine, blankets and clothing, to the wretched families; to visit -whom, a regular relief corps was organised, carrying on its beneficent -and self-denying work, until the plague began to be stayed. Then with -scarcely any money, but with unabated hope and fervid faith, this little -company of men and women began to consider what they should do to found -a Refuge for the children (many of them orphans, and quite friendless) -who were everywhere to be seen wandering about, or alone and utterly -destitute in the bare rooms that had been their homes. There were -already certain institutions to which boys could be sent, for then, as -now, the provision for boys was far greater than for girls. This is one -of the strange, almost inexplicable conditions of charitable effort, and -at that time it was so obvious which was the greater need, that the -committee at once determined to commence a building on a waste piece of -land which had been purchased close by, and to devote it to the -reception of thirty destitute girls, who should be snatched from deadly -contamination, and from the association of thieves and depraved -companions. - -Surely, if slowly, the work went on, the plan of the building being so -prepared that it could be extended as the means of meeting the growing -need increased. Almost every brick was laid with thoughtful care, and -when subscriptions came slowly in, the funds were furnished among the -committee themselves rather than the sound of plane and hammer should -cease; till at last, when the King Edward Ragged School and Girl's -Refuge was completed, a large edifice of three spacious storeys had -superseded the old ruinous stable amidst its fœtid yards and sheds, -and, what was more, the building was paid for, and a family of children -had been gathered within its sheltering walls. At the time of my first -visit to the institution no more than twenty had been taken into this -Refuge; but every foot of the building was utilised until the money -should be forthcoming to add to the dormitories, and enable the -committee to fulfil the purpose that it had in view. - -In the large square-paved playground forty happy little members of the -infant-school were marching to the slow music of a nursery song; and the -numbers on the books were 196, in addition to 304 girls who came daily -to be instructed in the great school-room, where they were taught to -read, and write, and sew. A hundred and twenty boys were also being -taught in the Ragged Church opposite, while seventy children over -fifteen years of age attended evening classes, forty-two young men and -women were in the Bible class, and a penny bank, a library of books, and -a benevolent fund for the relief of poor children in the neighbourhood, -were branches of the parent institution. - -This, however, was seven years ago, and since that time so greatly has -the work flourished, that the Ragged and Infant Schools have premises of -their own on the other side of the way; and the great building having -been completed by the addition of an entire wing, its original purpose -is accomplished, and it is "The Girl's Refuge," of the King Edward -Certified Industrial and Ragged Schools, Albert Street, Spitalfields. - -It is to the receipt of munificent anonymous donations that the -committee owe the completion of the building, and in order to extend the -usefulness of their Refuge they have certified it under the provisions -of the Industrial Schools Act of 1866. That this was in accordance with -their ruling principle of making the most of every advantage at their -command may be shown by the fact that when the School Board, almost -appalled at the need for making immediate use of any existing -organization, began to send cases to existing "Homes," only eight of -these institutions could receive the children, and in these eight no -more than forty-four vacancies existed for Protestant girls. The -consequence of opening the King Edward Refuge under the Act was that it -received nearly all the cases of the year, and that in the twelve months -it was certified ninety new inmates after found an asylum within its -walls. - -If you were to go there with me to-day, you would not wonder that the -supporters of this institution were anxious to erect another building in -some part of London, where another hundred lambs straying in this great -wilderness could be taken to the fold. Passing through the neat -dormitories, with their rows of clean white beds; peeping into the big -toy cupboard, where the kindly treasurer has recently placed a whole -family of eighty dolls, and other attractive inventions to induce -children to play, some of whom have never known before what play really -meant; looking at the lavatory with its long rows of basins let into -slate slabs, and each with its towel and clean bag for brush and comb; -noting the quiet "Infirmary," with its two or three beds so seldom -needed, and remarking that from topmost floor to the great laundry with -its troughs and tubs, a constant supply of hot water provides alike for -warmth and cleanliness, I begin to wonder what must be the first -sensations of a poor little dazed homeless wanderer on being admitted, -washed, fed, and neatly clothed. Why, the two kitchens--that one with -the big range, where most of the cooking is done, and the other cosy -farmhouse-looking nook, with its air of comfort--must be a revelation to -all the senses at once. Then there are the highly-coloured prints on the -walls, the singing of the grace before meat; the regular and wholesome -food; the discipline (one little rebel is already in bed, whither she -has been sent for misconduct, and an elder girl demurely brings up her -slice of bread and mug of milk and water on a plate); the provision for -recreation; the occasional visits of parents (many of them unworthy of -the name) at stated seasons; the outings to the park, the Bethnal Green -Museum, and other places; the Christmas treat; the summer presents of -great baskets of fruit; the rewards and prizes; the daily instruction in -such domestic work as fits them for becoming useful household servants. -What a wonderful change must all these things present to the children of -the streets, whose short lives have often been less cared for than those -of the beasts that perish! Everywhere there are marks of order, from the -neat wire baskets at the foot of each bed in which the girls place their -folded clothes before retiring to rest, to the wardrobe closets and the -great trays of stale bread and butter just ready for tea. Everywhere -there are evidences of care and loving kindness, from the invalid -wheel-chair--the gift of the treasurer to the infirmary--to the splendid -quality of the "long kidney" potatoes in the bucket, where they are -awaiting the arrival of to-morrow's roast mutton, three days being meat -dinner days, while one is a bread and cheese, and two are farinaceous -pudding days. - -As we sit here and sip our tea--for I am invited to tea with the -committee--and are waited on by three neat and pretty modest little -women--one of them, a girl of eight, so full of child-like grace and -simplicity, that there would be some danger of her being spoiled if she -were not quite used to a little petting--who can help looking at the -inmates now assembling quite quietly at the other end of the room, and -thinking that in some of those faces "their angels," long invisible -because of neglect and wrong, are once more looking through, calm, -happy, and with a hope that maketh not ashamed. Do you see that still -rather sullen-looking girl of thirteen. She came here an incorrigible -young thief--her father, a tanner's labourer, and out at work from five -in the morning--her mother bedridden--her home was the streets--her -companions a gang of juvenile thieves such as haunt Bermondsey, and make -an offshoot of the population of a place till recently called "Little -Hell." - -That girl, aged ten, was sent out to beg and to sing songs, and was an -adept in the art of pretending to have lost money. There is the daughter -of a crossing-sweeper, who cut his throat, and yonder a child of nine, -driven from home, and charged with stealing, as her sister also is, in -another Refuge; and close by are two girls, also sisters, who were found -fatherless and destitute, wandering about famishing and homeless, except -for a wretched room, with nothing in it but two heaps of foul straw. I -need not multiply cases: and but for the known power of love and true -human interest, in which the very Divine love is incarnated, you would -wonder where some of these children obtained their quiet docile manner, -their fearless but modest demeanour, their bright, quiet, sweet faces. - -One case only let me mention, and we will go quietly away, to think of -what may be done in such a place by the discipline of this love and true -Christian interest. Do you see that emaciated little creature--the pale, -pinched shadow of a child sitting at a table, where some of her -companions tend her very gently? She is the daughter of a woman who is -an incorrigible beggar. She has never known a home, and for four out of -her eight years of life has been dragged about the street an infant -mendicant; has slept in common lodging-houses; and in her awful -experience could have told of thieves' kitchens, of low taverns, and of -the customs of those vile haunts where she had learnt the language of -obscenity and depravity. But that has become a hideous, almost forgotten -dream, and she is about to awaken to a reality in a world to which the -present tenderness with which she is cared for is but the lowest -threshold. It is only a question of a month or two perhaps. One more -bright sunny holiday with her schoolmates in the pleasant garden of the -treasurer, at Highgate--whither they all go for a whole happy day in the -summer--and she will be in the very land of light before the next -haytime comes round. She wants for nothing--wine and fruit and delicate -fare are sent for her by kind sympathetic hands; but she is wearing -away, not with pain, but with the exhaustion of vital power, through the -privations of the streets. From the Refuge she will go home--a lost lamb -found, and carried to the eternal fold. - -But another building has been found; a large, old-fashioned mansion in -St. Andrew's Road, close to the Canal Bridge at Cambridge Heath, and -there the more advanced inmates of this original home in Spitalfields -are to be drafted into classes whence they will go to take a worthy part -in the work of the world, so soon as the necessary subscriptions enable -the committee to increase the number of lambs rescued from the wolves of -famine and of crime. - - - - -_WITH THE SICK._ - - -The memory of the pleasant summer holiday remains with many of us when -we have come back again to the duties of the work-a-day world, and it -will be good for us all if the gentle thoughts which that time of -enjoyment brought with it remain in our hearts, to brighten our daily -lives by the influences that suggest a merciful and forbearing temper. - -It is perhaps remarkable that few of the charitable institutions at -places to which holiday-makers resort are to any commensurate extent -benefited by the contributions of those visitors who, while they are -engaged in pursuing their own pleasures, seldom give themselves time to -think that as they have freely received so they should freely give. -Considering that while we are engaged in the absorbing business of -money-making, or in the exacting engagements of our daily calling, we -can afford little time for the investigation of those claims which are -made upon us to help the poor and the needy, it might not altogether -detract from the higher enjoyment of a period of leisure if we devoted a -few spare hours to inquiring what is being effected for the relief of -suffering in any place wherein we take up our temporary abode. - -With some such reflection as this I stand to-day on the spot which to -ordinary Londoners is most thoroughly representative of the summer -"outing," without which no true Cockney can feel that he is content--a -spot, too, which has become, for a large number of English men and -women, and notably for a whole host of English children, the synonym for -renewed health and strength--the head of Margate jetty. - -It is a strange contrast, this moving crowd of people, with their bright -dresses and gay ribbons fluttering in the breeze; the smiling faces of -girls and women amidst a toss and tangle of sea-blown tresses; the green -sparkle of the sea beneath the shining sky; the voices of sailors, the -shrill laughter of boys and girls coming from the sands below; the gleam -of white sails; the flitting wings of fisher-birds; the gay tumult of -the High Street; the traffic of hucksters of shells and toys--a strange -contrast to the scene which may be witnessed in and around that large -building which we passed only yesterday as the Margate boat stood off -from Birchington, and passengers began to collect coats and bags and -umbrellas as they saw friends awaiting them on the landing-stage of this -very jetty. - -It seems a week ago; and just as these few hours seem to have separated -us far from yesterday's work, and the routine of daily life, does the -short distance along the High Street and past the railway station seem -to separate us by an indefinite distance from the sickness and pain that -is yet in reality so near. Even as we think of it in this way, the -division is less marked, the contrast not so strange, for in that -building Faith, Hope, and Charity find expression, and bring a cheerful -radiance to those who need the care of skilful hands and the sympathy of -loving hearts. - -The name of the place is known all over England, for within its walls -are assembled patients who are brought from the great towns of different -shires, as well as from mighty London itself, that they may be healed of -that dread malady, the most potent cure for which is to take them from -the close and impure atmosphere of their crowded homes, and exchange the -stifled breath of courts and alleys for the boundless æther of the sea. - -For the building, to visit which I am here to-day, is the "Royal -Sea-Bathing Infirmary, or National Hospital for the Scrofulous Poor, -near Margate," and there are at this moment 220 men, women, and children -within its sheltering wards. Stay--let me be accurate. I said within its -wards; but here, as I pass the gates and the unpretentious house of the -resident surgeon to the broad sea front of the building, I note that -under the protecting screen of the wall that bounds the wide space of -grass-plot and gravel-paths a row of beds are placed, and in each of -them a patient lies basking in the warm sunlit air; while a little band -of convalescents saunter gently, some of them with the aid of crutch or -stick, with the enjoyment of a sense of returning strength. If I mistake -not, there are two or three "Bath chairs" crunching the gravel paths a -little further on, and down below upon the space marked out and -separated from the outer world upon the beach, the two bathing-machines -of the establishment are occupied by those for whom convalescence is -growing into health.[3] - -The full meaning of such a change can only be realised by those who know -how terrible a disease scrofula becomes, not only in the deadly -insidious form of consumption, but in the various deformities and -distortions of the limbs of which it is the cause; and in those cases -where, to the pain and depression of the disorder itself is added some -terrible affection of the skin, which the sensitive patient knows can -scarcely fail to be repulsive to those who witness it, unless, indeed -they have learnt to regard it only as a reason for deeper compassion and -for more earnest consolation. - -Almost every form of the disorder is to be seen out here in the wide -northern area of this inclusive building, which has long ago been bought -and paid for, along with the three acres of freehold ground on which it -stands. - -Of the deep sympathy with which it has been supported by those who early -learned to take an interest in its beneficent work, the fountain which -has been erected in the centre of the green to the memory of the late -Rev. John Hodgson, one of its trustees, is a mute witness. Mr. Hodgson -laboured earnestly to secure those casual interests which might be -obtained from the vast number of persons who visit Margate every year. -In order to make the most of small regular contributions, he appealed -for "five shillings a year," and since his death in 1870 this fund has -increased, so that in one year nearly 6,000 subscribers had contributed -£1,405 7_s._ 4_d._ Never was holiday charity more appropriately applied, -as anybody who will visit the institution itself may witness in those -long wards beyond the open passage, to which the card of Dr. Rowe, one -of the three visiting surgeons, has directed me. - -Since the first establishment of the institution, seventy-seven years -ago, when sixteen cases were treated as a beginning, above 29,000 -patients, from London and all parts of the country, have received -relief; and to-day the number in the institution (taking no account of a -contingent of "out-patients") includes 42 men, 50 women, and 120 -children, none of whom are local cases, but all from other parts of -England, whence they come frequently from a long distance. - -In each of the six wards, of which four are on the ground floor, there -is a head-nurse and an assistant, with six helpers for the children's, -and four for the adult department, beside the night nurses, who sit up -in case of any emergency. There is accommodation for 250 sufferers and -for the 40 nurses, attendants, and domestics required for the service of -the hospital; so the 220 patients there now, represent the approaching -period when a new wing will have to be added, even if only the urgent -cases are to be admitted. - -The year's list of occupants of the 250 beds shows a total of 721 -patients, of whom 614 had been discharged in January, 399 being either -cured or very greatly benefited, 171 decidedly benefited, and only 44 -obviously uncured; a very large amount of actual gain to humanity, when -we reflect on the conditions of the disease to remedy which the -institution is devoted. - -If out of 721 cases 399 are either cured or have received such marked -benefit as to render their ultimate cure highly probable, it is an -achievement worthy of the earnest work of which it is the result, a -contribution to beneficent efforts well worth the £7,966 which has -necessarily been expended in the provision, not only of the appliances -which give comfort and rest, but of the generous food and drink which, -with the glorious air from the sea, is the medicine necessary to build -up the feeble frames and renew the impoverished blood of those to whom -meal-times come to be welcome events in the day, instead of merely -languid observances. - -Down in the kitchen, with its great cooking range and its capacious -boilers, there are evidences of that "full diet" which is characteristic -of the place; and it is difficult to decide which are the most -suggestive, the long row of covered japanned jugs which hang -conveniently to the dresser-shelf, and are used for the conveyance of -"gravy," or the mighty milk-cans standing in a corner, ready to be taken -away when the evening supply comes in from the Kentish dairies. Half a -pound of cooked meat for dinner is the daily allowance for each man and -for every boy over fourteen years of age, while women and girls receive -six ounces, and children four ounces. Breakfast consists of coffee and -bread-and-butter, varied in the afternoon by tea, and supper of bread -and cheese for adults, and bread and butter for children. Roast and -boiled meat is served on alternate days, with accompanying vegetables, -and there are three "pudding days" for those who can manage this -addition to the fare; while every man and woman may have a pint of -porter, and each child a pint of table ale, at the discretion of the -doctors. This, of course, represents the ordinary diet, in which -specific differences are made for special cases where other or daintier -food is required. Perhaps I should have said that this is the scale -adopted in the refectory, a large airy room, to the long table in which -the patients who are able to "get about" are now advancing with a -cheerful premonition of dinner. There is no space to spare, and there -are at present no funds to spend in additional building, so that this -great airy refectory is used as chapel and assembly room. The Bread of -Life, as well as the temporal bread, is distributed here; and those who -would object to the necessity may either contribute to build another -room, or may come and learn how every meal in such a place, and for such -a cause as this, should become a sacrament. Many varieties of the forms -taken by scrofulous disease may be seen here; and yet the hopeful looks, -the cheerful influence of the bright summer weather, the green glimpses -of the sea through doors and windows, and the fresh bracing air, impart -to these sufferers an expressive lively briskness, which somehow removes -the more painful impressions with which we might expect to witness such -an assembly. - -It is so perhaps in a still greater measure in these large airy wards, -where children sit or lie upon the beds, some of them wholly or -partially dressed, where the disease has produced only deformities under -surgical treatment, or such forms of skin disease as affect the face. Of -the latter there are some very severe and obstinate cases, and from -these the unaccustomed visitor can scarcely help turning away, but often -only to _re_-turn, and mark how cheerfully and with what a vivid -alacrity the little patients move and play, and look with eager interest -on all that is going on. For here--in the boys' ward--there is no -repression of youthful spirits, so that they be kept within the bounds -of moderate decorum, nor do the patients themselves seem to feel that -they are objects of melancholy commiseration. To speak plainly, even the -worst cases are not reminded that there are people who may be revolted -at their affliction. Indeed I, who am tolerably accustomed to many -experiences that might be strange to others, am rather taken aback by -one little "case," whose face and limbs, though apparently healed, have -been so deeply seamed and grooved by the disorder, which must have -claimed him from babyhood, that he has evidently learned to regard -himself as an important surgical specimen, and, on my approach to his -bed, begins with deliberate satisfaction to divest himself of his -stockings, in order to exhibit his legs. Hip and spinal disease are -among the most frequent and often the most fatal forms of scrofula. One -boy, with delicate and regular features, his fragile hand only just able -to clasp in the fingers the small present I am permitted to offer him, -shows the shadow of death upon his face. In his case the disorder has -shown itself to be beyond medical, as it has already been beyond -surgical aid, and his short hurried breathing denotes that before the -summer days have been shortened by the autumn nights, and the leaves are -lying brown and sere, he will be in a better and a surer home, and -healed for evermore. - -It will be a peaceful end, no doubt, and he will yet have strength -enough to be taken home to die, where other than strangers' hands will -minister to him at the last, but not more tenderly, it may be, than -those that smooth his pillow to-day. - -As we leave the boys' wards--clean, and bright, and fresh as they -are--we encounter a cosy little party of juvenile convalescents, who are -comfortably seated on the door-mat, engaged in a stupendous game of -draughts. - -There is more of beauty than deformity, more of life than of death, more -perhaps of living eager interest than of sadness and sorrow to be seen -here, after all; and this is particularly remarkable in the -large-windowed spacious ward where the girls can look fairly out upon -the gleaming sea. Properly enough, the room occupied by these young -ladies has been made more ornamental than that of the boys. The walls -are gay with coloured prints, and there are flowers, and a remarkably -cheerful three-sided stove, which gives the place an air of comfort, -though, of course, it has now no fire in it. Then some of the girls -(with those thoughtful delicate faces and large wistful inquiring eyes -which are so often to be observed among lame people) are engaged in -fancy needlework as they lie dressed upon the beds to which they are at -present mostly confined, because of deformities of the feet or legs -requiring surgical treatment. There is a library (which needs -replenishing), from which patients are allowed to take books; and those -children who are able to leave the wards, and are not suffering from -illness, are taught daily by a schoolmaster and a schoolmistress, while -a visiting chaplain is of course attached to the hospital. - -[3] This was written in the latter part of July, 1874. - - - - -_BLESSING THE LITTLE CHILDREN._ - - -I cannot yet leave that sea-coast where so great a multitude go to find -rest and healing. The Divine Narrative may well appeal to us in relation -to such a locality, for it was by the sea-shore that the Gospel came to -those who went out to seek Jesus of Nazareth; it was there that the poor -people heard Him gladly; there that the sick who were brought to Him -were made whole: there that He fed the great company who lacked bread. - -All the deeds of humanity were recognised by Him who called himself the -"Son of Man." The blessing of little children is one of those needs of -true human life which the Lord recognised gladly. He recognises it -still; and His solemn mingling of warning and of promise with regard to -its observance, has an intensity that may well appeal to us all, now -that, after eighteen centuries of comparative neglect and indifference, -we are discerning that the only hope of social redemption is to be found -in that care for children which shall forbid their being left either -morally or physically destitute. - -There is a house, standing high above the sea, in that great breezy -suburb of Margate, known as Cliftonville--to which I want you to pay a -visit when the bright, cheerful, airy wards, the light, spacious -dining-room, and comfortable, home-like enlivening influences of the -place will entitle it to be regarded as the fitting consummation of two -other admirable institutions for the nurture and maintenance of orphan -and fatherless children. - -The modest little building referred to is named "The Convalescent and -Sea-side Home for Orphans," Harold Road, Margate. The parent -institutions are "The Orphan Working School," at Haverstock Hill, and -that most attractive series of pretty cottages on the brow of the hill -at Hornsey Rise, which have been more than once spoken of as "Lilliput -Village," but the style and title of which is "The Alexandra Orphanage -for Infants"--a name, the distinguishing feature of which is that it is -immediately associated with its first patroness, the Princess of Wales. - -Of the Home at Margate I need not now speak particularly, except to note -that it is for the reception of the little convalescents, -who--suffering, as many of them do, from constitutional and hereditary -weakness, which is yet not actual sickness, and recovering, as many of -them are, from the feeble condition which has been to some extent -remedied by the careful nurture, good food, and healthy regimen, of the -large institutions near London--are not fit patients either for their -own or any other infirmary wards, and yet require to be restored to -greater strength before they can join the main body of their young -companions in the school or the playground. - -Enough that it is picturesque and substantially pretty, as becomes a -place which is to become the home of thirty children, taken from among -nearly six hundred, the parents of nearly half of whom have died of -consumption, and so left to their offspring that tendency to a feeble -constitution which can be best remedied by the grand medicine of -sea-air, wholesome nutritious food, and a judicious alternation of -healthful exercise and rest. - -It is to Mr. Joseph Soul--the late indefatigable secretary of the -Working School, with which he has been connected for nearly forty years, -and the honorary secretary of the Alexandra Orphanage, of which he may -be regarded as the virtual founder--that the proposal to establish this -Convalescent Home was due, and its affairs are administered at the -office of the two charities, at 63, Cheapside. - -But it is necessary to tell as briefly as possible the story of the -oldest of the two institutions of which this building is to be an -accessory--not only the oldest of these two, but probably _the oldest_ -voluntarily supported orphan asylum in London, since it dates from 116 -years ago, when George II. was King, when Louis XV. was scandalising -Europe and preparing the Revolution, when Wesleyan Methodism was -commencing a vast religious revival, when Doctor Johnson had but just -finished writing his dictionary, and when William Hogarth was painting -those wonderful pictures which are still the most instructive records of -society and fashion as seen in the year 1758. - -It was in that year, on the 10th of May, that fourteen periwigged and -powdered gentlemen met at the George Inn, in Ironmonger Lane, in order -to discuss how they might best found an asylum for forty orphan -children--that is to say, for twenty boys and twenty girls. - -They soon came to a solemn decision that there was a "sufficient -subscription for carrying the scheme into execution," and a record to -that effect was soberly entered in the very first clean page of the -first minute-book of the Charity, with the additional memoranda that a -committee was chosen, and a treasurer appointed to collect and take care -of the money necessary to support the undertaking. - -The early minute-books of this charity, by the way, are models of -serious penmanship. Grave achievements of caligraphy, with engrossed -headings, elaborate flourishes, and stiff formal hedge-rows of legal -verbiage, suggestive of the fact that the secretaries were either -attorneys or scriveners, and regarded the entries in a minute-book or -the opening of a new account as very weighty and important events not to -be lightly passed over. In this they were probably right: and, at all -events, just so much of the old methodical exactitude has come down to -the present day in the history of the institution, that the published -accounts of the Orphan Working School have been referred to by the -_Times_ as models of condensation with a clearness of detail, which may -be regarded as the best indication of a well-ordered and economical -administration. - -It might not be too much to say that the old principle of carrying a -scheme into execution only when there are sufficient subscriptions still -characterises the operations of the institution. At all events, Mr. Soul -had secured enough money for the completion of the new building at -Margate before the actual work commenced, and his experience told him -that funds would be forthcoming to maintain it. - -The founders of the original Orphan Working School, however, laid their -wigs together to obtain a house ready built, and at last found one -adapted to the purpose, in what was then the suburban district known as -Hogsden--since gentilised into Hoxton. Like all really good work, the -enterprise began to grow--there were so many orphans, and this was still -the only general asylum maintained by subscriptions--so that, as funds -came in, two other adjoining houses were rented, and in seventeen years -the number of inmates had increased from forty to 165. - -Reading the formal and yet most interesting records of this parent -institution for the care of the orphan and the fatherless, I fall into a -kind of wonder at the enormous change in the method of "nurture and -admonition," of teaching and training, which has taken place in the past -eighty years. Even in this house at Hoxton, whereof the founders appear -to have been kindly old gentlemen, the discipline was enormously -suggestive of that stern restriction and unsympathetic treatment which -was thought necessary for the due correction of the "Old Adam" in the -young heart. We know how great an outcry has quite lately been made at -the discovery of the remains of that mode of chastisement which seems to -have been abandoned almost everywhere, except by a special revival in -gaols, and at two or three of the public schools to which the sons of -gentlemen are consigned for their education. - -The discipline at the Orphanage at Hogsden was cold and repellent -enough, perhaps--had very little about it to encourage the affections, -or to appeal to the loving confidence of a child--but it was less -barbarous than the code which at that time found its maxim in the -saying, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Only very flagrant -disobedience, persistent lying and swearing, were punished with public -whipping. But even in the case of ordinary falsehood, a child was placed -with his face to the wall at meal-time, with a paper pinned to his back -with the word "Lyar" written on it, till he was sufficiently penitent to -say, in the presence of all the rest of the children, "I have sinned in -telling a lie. I will take more care. I hope God will forgive me." - -The name, "Working School," was then interpreted so strictly, that there -was comparatively little margin for education. Arithmetic appears to -have been regarded with peculiar jealousy by the founders of this -institution, who, being perhaps bankers, accountants, and capitalists, -looked upon such instruction as calculated to give the poor little boys -and girls notions beyond their station. - -For ten years the teaching of figures was altogether ignored; and it was -only when some of the children, having heard that there was a science -called "summing" known to the outer world, begged to be taught, that a -solemn meeting of the Governors was called to consider the question, -when it was conceded, after great deliberation, and no little opposition -from the anti-educational part of the Committee, that arithmetic should -be permitted to be taught, as far as addition. - -Thus, to their few and rigidly ordered recreations, their hours of -manual labour in making nets, list-carpets, slippers, and other cheap -commodities, to their instruction in plain reading, and to their times -for partaking of plain and even coarse food, served in not too tempting -a way, was added the art of writing, and of the first two rules of -arithmetic. - -This was the condition of the orphans in 1775; but still the charity -grew--grew out of house-room; and as the funds grew also, it was -determined that it should have a building of its own, on a plot of -ground in the City Road, where, improvements having set in, the grand -old charity moved with the march of modern improvement. Life became less -hard, and instruction more extended. The influences of modern thought -and education had superseded the old severity, and new Governors -succeeded the bewigged and powdered founders, who had, after all, so -well ordered their work, that it increased with the growth of -intelligence. - -During the seventy-two years from 1775 to 1847, the institution had -received 1,124 orphans; and again the dimensions of the house were -unequal to the demands of the inmates; while the house itself, and the -ground on which it stood, had become so valuable, that it was determined -to buy a plot of land at Haverstock Hill, and there to found a truly -representative Home for 240 orphan boys and girls--a number which has -now increased (as the building itself has been extended) till 400 -orphans are taught, fed, and clothed in one of the most truly -representative charities in all great London. - -The obvious distress and suffering of those who are destitute, and whose -claims are constantly before us, may lead us to forget the frequent -needs of a large number of people who represent uncomplaining poverty. -There is a tendency to identify general appeals to benevolence with -efforts for the relief of that extreme necessity which demands immediate -and almost undiscriminating aid, and requires the prompt distribution of -alms or the provision of a meal, warmth, and shelter. Doubtless, the -actually homeless and destitute claim our first attention--especially in -the case of deserted and neglected children--and I have tried to show -what is being done for those little ones, whose presence in the streets -of this great wilderness of brick and stone should of itself be an -appeal strong enough to move the heart of humanity in their behalf. - -There is, however, another class of poverty, which makes no sign, and -bears distress dumbly. There is a need, which, without being that of -actual destitution, requires a constant struggle to prevent its -representing the want of nearly all the luxuries, and some of those -things which most of us regard as the necessaries of life. - -We find this among that large section of the middle class represented by -persons holding inferior clerkships, small official appointments, and -situations where the salaries are only sufficient to yield a bare -subsistence, and there is little or no probability of their improvement, -because, among the number of candidates who are eager to fill such -positions, there exists a degree of distress not easily estimated, even -by the appearance of those who are the sufferers. Of course, relief -cannot reach such people through the poor-law, or by any direct -legislation. They are far above the reach of almsgiving, or even of -societies for distributing bread and coals. They have a just pride in -maintaining a position of independence; and though they may sometimes -look with a feeling too near to envy at the more prosperous mechanic or -the skilled artisan, who can earn "good wages," dress in fustian or -corduroy, send his children to the Board School, and regulate working -hours and weekly pay by the rules of a Trade Union, they mostly keep -bravely on, hoping that as the children grow up, they may get the boys -"into something," and find some friend to help them to place the girls -in situations where they may partly earn their own living. - -With rent and taxes often absorbing a fourth part of his entire income, -with market cliques combining against him to keep up the prices of food, -with dear bread, dear potatoes, boots and shoes always wearing out, and -respectability demanding cloth clothes, even though they be made of -"shoddy," how is the clerk, the employé, the small tradesman, the -struggling professional man, to follow the prudent counsel which -wealthier people are always ready to bestow upon him--and "lay by for a -rainy day?" Rainy day! why his social climate may be said to represent a -continual downpour, so far as the necessity for pecuniary provision. He -lives (so to speak) with an umbrella always up, and it is only a poor -shift of a gingham after all. The half-crown which is in his pocket -to-night is already bespoken for to-morrow's dinner. As he listens to -the account of the week's marketing, and knows that his wife and -children have been living for three days out of seven upon little better -than bread and dripping, he feels like an ogre as he thinks of the -sevenpenny plate of meat that he consumed at one o'clock, because it was -only "a makeshift" at home. - -How is he to pay even the smallest premium to insure his life, when he -is obliged to meet ordinary emergencies by a visit to the pawnbroker -after dark? - -Insure his life! Ah, the time may come when the hand of the bread-winner -is still, when the little money left in the house is scarcely sufficient -to pay for the "respectable funeral" which is the last effort of genteel -poverty, when the red-eyed widow gathers her fatherless children about -her, and wonders amidst her stupor of grief what is to become of the -younger ones who yet so need her care that she will not be able to go -forth to seek the means of living. To what evil influences may they be -exposed while she is absent striving to earn their daily food?--the -temptations of the streets for the boys: the certainty that the elder -girls must either starve at home to mind the little ones, or must become -drudges before they have learnt more than the mere rudiments of what -they should be taught. It is then she feels that dread of degradation, -which is amongst the sharpest pangs of the poverty which would fain hide -itself from the world. - -It may be that the children are left a parentless little flock, huddling -together in the first dread and sorrow of the presence of death, and the -sense of utter bereavement, and awaiting the intervention of those who -are sent by the Father of the fatherless. Then, indeed, prompt and -certain help is needed--help efficient and permanent--and such aid can -seldom be secured except by organised institutions. - -But let us see to what that Orphan Working School, established in 1758, -has developed in 1874. We have but to take a short journey to the foot -of Haverstock Hill, and there, in that pleasant locality named Maitland -Park, part of which is the property of the Institution, we shall see the -successor of the old house in Hogsden Fields, while its plain but large -and lofty committee room is the modern representative of the parlour of -the George Inn, Ironmonger Lane, where plans were first laid for the -maintenance of forty orphan children. - -This wide and lofty building, with its handsome front entrance and its -less imposing side gate in the wing, is the home for nearly three -hundred boys, and nearly two hundred girls, when its funds are -sufficient to keep each of the long rows of neat beds in the great airy -wards appropriated to a little sleeper. - -I mention the dormitories first, because both on the girls' and on the -boys' side of the building these are illustrative of the complete -orderliness and excellent management of the Institution--illustrative of -what should always be the first consideration, namely, to bring comfort -to the child's nature, to join to necessary discipline a sense of real -freedom and happy youthful confidence without dread of repression and -the constant looking for of punishment. - -As to the appliances that belong to the building, they are such as might -almost raise a doubt in some prejudiced minds whether we are not doing -too much for children in the present day, and thinking too constantly of -their comfort. But, alas! it needs many compensations to make up for the -loss of parents; and in any such an Institution where, 400 children form -the great family, the arrangements must be on a large scale, so that it -is only a matter of experienced forethought to combine a generous -liberality with the truest economy. Thus, there are baths, and long -well-ordered lavatories, to each wing, even to a large plunge bath for -each side; and there is a great laundry, where the girls are taught to -wash, clear-starch, and iron, not in the regular patent steam-heated -troughs only, but in genuine homely tubs. There is a great handsome -dining-hall, with a painted ceiling, wherein the vast troop of quiet, -orderly, and happy-faced children sit down to well-cooked wholesome -meals of meat and pudding. There are two great school-rooms, one divided -into class-rooms for the girls, and another wherein the boys assemble to -be taught, not in the narrow spirit of the first directors of the old -building in the City Road, but with a full appreciation of the duty of -giving these young minds and hearts full opportunity to expand. Next to -the admirable evidences of _family_ comfort, and bright _domestic_ -influences, which pervade this place, we may regard the efficient -education of the children as the truest sign of its liberal and -enlightened management. Not only the three R's to the extent of -practised elocution, caligraphy worthy of the old minute books of the -first scrivening secretaries, and the lower mathematics,--but history, -geography, the elements of physical science, French, drawing, and vocal -music, are among the subjects thoroughly studied. It only needs a -perusal of the reports of the educational inspectors and examiners to -see that the work of this great hive goes on healthily. The boys have -already achieved a great position in taking Government prizes for -drawing at South Kensington; and the girls are celebrated for their -beautiful needlework. There is but little time to walk through all the -departments of this great home--the kitchens with their spacious -larders, and store-rooms, and mighty cooking apparatus; the great airy -playgrounds; the large and handsome room used as a chapel (for those who -do not go out to evening service), and containing its convenient reading -desk, and sweet-toned organ. Let us not forget, however, that many of -the things which add so vastly to the beauty and completeness of the -building and its various departments are themselves gifts from loving -and appreciative supporters of the Institution. - -But we are due at that Lilliput village on the brow of Hornsey -Rise--that series of cottage homes, where, on each lower and upper -storey, with their exquisitely clean nursery cots and cradles, and their -tiny furniture, a neat nurse is to be seen like a fairy godmother, with -a family of chubby babies, or a more advanced charge of infants able to -run like squirrels round the covered playground or to spend the -regulation hours in that great glorious school-room, where learning is -turned into recreation, and lessons are made vocal, gymnastic, -zoological, picturesque, or even fictional, as the times and -circumstances may dictate. "The Alexandra Orphanage for Infants" has -become so well-known amidst the numerous institutions which have been -established for the care of the orphans and the fatherless, that one -might think it would be full of eager admirers who on visiting days go -to see the two or three hundred. Why are not all the cottages full, and -each little toy bedstead complete with its rosy, tiny sleeper, who, from -earliest infancy to the maturer age of eight years form the assembly for -which Mr. Soul set himself to provide by public appeal? - -These, then, are the two institutions to which that modest little -convalescent home in Harold Street, Margate, is a worthy appanage, and -they may well find support among those whose maxim it is to do with all -their might what their hands find wants doing. - - - - -_WITH THEM THAT FAINT BY THE WAY._ - - -There are perhaps few conditions demanding greater sympathy and more -ready aid than that of poor women who, from temporary sickness or the -weariness that comes of hope deferred, are unable to follow the -employments, often precarious and yielding a bare subsistence, by which -they strive to be independent of charitable aid. It is only those who -know to what extremities of need they will submit for shame of making -their poverty known, and what mental suffering they will endure as they -find their scanty savings dwindling day by day, and their few household -goods, or even their clothing, and the little family mementoes, which -they can only part with as a last resource, going piece by piece, who -can fully realise all that is meant by the genteel phrase, "very reduced -circumstances," as applied to women of refined feelings, and frequently -of gentle nurture, who find themselves without the means of obtaining -necessary food and medical care when health and strength give way, and -they can no longer work at those few callings by which they can earn -enough to enable them to avoid a dreaded "application to friends." - -Quite lately, the subject of some kind of provision for poor governesses -who are sick, or have to subsist during long holidays on the small -balance of their quarterly wages, has occupied public attention, and it -would be well indeed if means could be found for giving the healthy -temporary employment, and the weakly a quiet home where their strength -might be restored without the sacrifice of independence. - -There are others, however, for which such help is equally needed--the -dressmaker, or the shop-woman, on whom long hours of tedious and often -of exhausting toil in an unhealthy atmosphere, has begun to tell too -severely; the servant of good character and respectable habits, who is -not so ill as to be admitted to a hospital, and yet is breaking down in -strength, and regards with dread the necessity for going into some -obscure lodging, where her surplusage of wages will barely pay for rent -and food during two or three weeks enforced idleness; the girl who has -learnt some ill-paid business, which affords her no more than a mere -contribution to the family funds, and leaves no margin for extra food or -medicine, or the fresh air that is as important as either. - -Any careful observer standing at the door of a general hospital, and -watching the throng of out-patients waiting wearily to see the doctor, -will be able to distinguish a score of cases for which a temporary rest -with wholesome food and the sympathy and loving-kindness that refresh -the soul would bring true healing. - -No large establishment in the nature of a hospital or a refuge affords -the kind of help for such distress as theirs. They cannot be dealt with -as occupants of wards; for they have either recovered from the actual -crisis of some serious disorder, or are pining in a depressed condition -to which no definite name can be given to classify it for admission to -any public establishment for the cure of disease. To many of them the -idea of entering a large charitable refuge--and I know of none in London -adapted to such needs as theirs--would be repulsive, as suggesting that -horror with which persons even of a lower grade regard the union -workhouse; what they need is a temporary home, and if ever the time -should come when a well-supported scheme for such a provision should be -adopted, it will have to take the form of what is now known as the -"cottage system." Indeed, in hospitals, as well as in other large -charitable institutions, the defects of the old plan of maintaining a -great number of adult persons in one vast building have been recognised. -The immense ward with its long rows of beds, the divided and necessarily -confusing duties of attendants, the ill-served meals at a great -dinner-table where there is no possibility of escaping from a too rigid -routine, the depressing, not to say degrading, influence, resulting from -the loss of individuality, would make any vast institution for -convalescents or invalids far less effectual in its operation. I make -this reference only with regard to the probable inauguration of homes -for invalid women in or near London, and because I have just visited -one, which, although it is not on the cottage system, but is established -in a rare old mansion of the period of Queen Anne, has yet the happy -characteristic of being a family whose scanty means is largely increased -by loving gifts, instead of an institution every corner of which bears a -reminder that it is "supported by charity." - -In the pleasant airy High Street of Stoke Newington, and within a -stone's throw of the famous Cedar Walk of Abney Park--that locality made -famous by the prolonged visit of Dr. Watts, who went to spend a week -with Sir Thomas Abney, and remained for the rest of his long blameless -life the honoured guest of the family--is the house I speak of, "The -Invalid Asylum for Respectable Females in London and its Vicinity," -superintended by a ladies' committee, and with weekly visitors, and a -matron to carry on the practical work of the executive. - -There is nothing remarkably picturesque, nothing very striking about -this home for thirty respectable invalid women employed in dependent -situations, to whom it affords a temporary asylum, widely differing from -the crowded receptacles for the sick in the metropolis. One of its -peculiarities is, that the purity of the family circle is maintained, by -the fact that no patient is admitted without a certificate of conduct -signed by two housekeepers or by an employer, while her case is also -recommended by an annual subscriber or life governor; and there is a -sense of repose and quiet confidence about the inmates which is -particularly suggestive of the care taken to recognise their individual -claims, and the interest which is manifested in them during the time of -their sojourn. - -This very quietude and sense of rest, and gradual renewal of health and -strength in a serene retreat is, in fact, the feature which attracts my -attention. It is not too much to say that I am ready to attribute much -of such influences to the fact that the institution was originally -established by ladies representing the unobtrusive beneficent work of -the "Society of Friends," and that the order and peace which is its -delightful characteristic, may in a great measure be traced to that -foundation. At any rate, these qualifications so identify it that I feel -justified in regarding it to some extent as a worthy example of the -method to be adopted in any institution, which, without being altogether -a free "charity," takes only such a small sum from the patient or her -friends as suffices to keep away the degrading feeling of pauperism, or -of utter dependence on the bounty of strangers. It is true that the -principal life-governorships include the privilege of sending entirely -gratuitous patients, but in ordinary cases the annual subscriber of a -guinea recommends the case, and when the patient is admitted, the sum of -twenty shillings is received for the month's medical attendance, -lodging, and full board, "including tea and sugar," for a time not -exeeding one month, after which, should the case require a longer stay, -the ticket must be renewed by the same or another subscriber, on the -further payment of twenty shillings. If the patient be in the employment -of the subscriber, the payment of this sum will suffice, without the -renewal ticket, an arrangement which should commend the institution to -every benevolent employer of female labour. - -It need hardly be said that no cases of infectious disease are admitted, -and that every applicant is examined by the medical attendant. No -patient is admitted who is not above ten years of age; and neither -"private cookery," nor the introduction of spirituous liquors by -visitors, is permitted, any more than gratuities to servants of the -Institution. - -It may be remarked that though a large number of cases are received -during each year, the very fact of contributions being made by the -patients themselves, who are thus relieved from the sense of utter -dependence, appears to have prevented the Institution from receiving as -large a degree of public support as it might command if it were an -ordinary charity. This is to be lamented, for the Institution is, after -all, less a hospital than a temporary home, and it appeals on behalf of -a peculiar form of distress, the claims of which are of a specific and -none the less of a very urgent character. But in order to realise the -kind of work that is most needed, and is here being accomplished, let us -pay a visit to the house itself. We have been hitherto standing on the -broad flight of steps inside the tall iron gates, and have hesitated to -sully their hearthstone purity, for it is Saturday, and we may well have -an inconvenient sense that the short hand of the clock is already close -to the dinner-time of the institution. - -With a long experience of paying unexpected visits, I am prepared to -encounter remonstrance, even though it only take the form of a critical -glance at my boots as a means of possible maculation of the -newly-cleaned hall and passages. Conscious of having judiciously -employed a member of the shoe-black brigade, I can endure this scrutiny, -and, with a few words of explanation, am conducted, by the matron -herself, over the grand old house, whose broad staircase and elaborately -carved balusters of black oak at once attest not only its antiquity but -also its aristocracy. I have already said that there is nothing here on -which to found a "picturesque description," and yet the air of repose, -the sense of almost spotless cleanliness, the freshness of the large -lofty rooms containing from three to five or six comfortable beds with -their snowy counterpanes, the general order and pleasant seclusion, are -remarkably suggestive of the intention of the place. Two of the -patients, to whom I make my respects, are not yet sufficiently recovered -to join the daily dinner-party in the neat dining-room. One of them, an -elderly lady, who has only just been brought here, is slowly recovering -from very severe illness, and cannot even sit up in the bed, whence she -regards me with an expression which seems to intimate that she has -reached a haven of rest. Her companion, a young woman--also in bed in -the same room--is sitting very upright, cheerfully engaged in some -problem of needlework, and responds with a hopeful smile to the -declaration of the matron, that they "mean to make a woman of her if she -is good." - -Close to this room is the neat lavatory with its bath, supplied with hot -and cold water, and on the landing I note another bath, on wheels, for -use in any part of the house where it may be required. All the -accessories are home-like; and in the invalid sitting-room, on an upper -storey, where two convalescents, not yet able to get downstairs, greet -me from a pair of easy chairs, there is the same pervading influence -which distinguishes the house from those large institutions where -everything is characterised by a depressing mechanical dead level. The -library--a pleasant cheerful room--is in course of refurnishing; and I -am glad to learn that our best known periodicals find a place there, -while the stock of books, either gifts or loans, are likely soon to be -replenished, a matter wherein extra aid would be appreciated, and could -readily be afforded by those who have volumes to spare. - -Already the cloth is laid in the dining-room, and dinner itself consists -of hot meat with the usual accessories every day, except on Sundays, -when there is a cold dinner, while, of course, the invalids who are -ordered medical diet have fish, custards, or other delicate fare -specially provided. Each patient has a pint of ale or beer daily, and -wine as a remedial stimulant, according to the doctor's orders. - -There is just time before dinner is served to walk through the room into -the grand old garden which extends from a pleasant sheltered lawn and -flower-garden, with a glorious fig-tree in full leaf and fruit against -the sunny wall, to a great kitchen-garden and orchard, with a wealth of -fruit and vegetables (and notably a venerable and prolific mulberry -tree), and extending in a pleasant vista of autumn leaves. On the other -side of the high wall is the Cedar Walk already mentioned; and the whole -place is so still and balmy on this autumnal day, that we may go away -with a very distinct appreciation of the rest and peace which, with -regular nutritious food, rest, and medicine, may bring restoration to -the physical health, just as the hopeful ministrations of good and pious -women who visit the home daily may bring a sense of peace and comfort to -many a weary spirit and burdened heart. - - - - -"_IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH._" - - -There are some of whom we might be ready to say, they dwell in that -valley;--that the shadow of death lies darkling before them, constantly -enwrapping them,--enshrouding them in gloom. We are accustomed to think -so of persons suffering from what we call incurable diseases, some of -which are painful, occasionally agonising, others susceptible of relief -from the suffering that attends them. - -We are so apt to forget that we are every one of us incurable. Though we -may not at present be aware of the disease that will bear us farther and -farther into that valley, where the wings of the great angel, so seeming -dark as to overshadow all things, may yet be revealed to us as glowing -with the brightness of the light which our unaccustomed eyes cannot -behold, we are none the less certain to succumb to it. It may be that -some of us will live to be conscious of no other than the most fatal of -all diseases--because no mortal cure has been or ever will be found for -it--incurable old age. There have been those who lived long enough to -look calmly at the slowly lengthening shadow in the valley, and almost -to wonder if Death had forgotten and were departing from them, leaving -only the black trail behind; but the time at last came, perhaps when -they had learnt to see more than shadow, to catch the glint of the -heavenly glory beyond. - -It is a happy thought that many poor afflicted children of God have seen -this too, and continue to see it daily, although, like St. Paul, they -also die daily. It is comforting to believe that many who know what -their disease is--who are pronounced to be "hopelessly incurable" in a -rather different sense to that in which we may all be declared to be -hopelessly incurable also--do not dwell perpetually in the Valley of the -Shadow. Christ has come to them and taken them out of it, that even in -this life, where He is they may be also, secure in the love of the -Father, having already, if one may so speak, overcome death through Him -who is the Resurrection and the Life. The great, the essential -difference between these sufferers and the rest of mankind is that they -are almost always conscious of the disease which is incurable because of -its accompanying pain, and that they are disqualified for many of the -ordinary uses, and also most of the ordinary enjoyments of life. Perhaps -the chief poignant sense of their condition is that they are no longer -capable of fulfilling the ordinary duties of life either. They must be -dependent always; and to many souls the suspicion that they may live -only to be a burden on others, to take instead of giving, to lean upon -instead of supporting, is itself almost intolerable, until they learn to -look higher, and acknowledge that not only all the things of the world, -but we ourselves, they and theirs, belong to God, and that life and -death, height and depth, principalities and powers, are but His -creatures, incapable of separating us from His love. The same -reflection, coupled with that of our own incurability and our own -constant liability to be stricken down with hopeless and painful malady, -should surely lead us to recognise the duty of helping some among the -thousands who have not only lost health, but with it the means of -maintaining life, and, more sadly still, the hope of restoration to -former strength, or even temporary recovery. - -I have already spoken of the work done by convalescent homes and -hospitals; but there are those who, being sick unto death, yet do not -soon die--those who must be discharged from hospitals uncured, in order -to make room for the curable, and who, unable to work, unaccustomed to -beg, and almost ready to meet death itself rather than sink into sordid -abject pauperism, know not whither to turn in their dire necessity. It -was to aid these that an appeal was written twenty years ago, asking for -funds to establish an institution for the reception of those suffering -from hopeless disease. It is to see what has been the result of that -appeal that I visit the Royal Hospital for Incurables at Putney Heath -to-day. - -It was in 1854 that Doctor Andrew Reed--to whose indicating hand we are -indebted for the installation of many of our noblest charities--made an -urgent appeal on behalf of those who, being discharged as incurable from -various hospitals, were left helpless, and often destitute, since, -amidst all the institutions which beneficence had founded, there was -none to which they could prefer a claim. - -Let us see what has been done in twenty years to alleviate what might -seem to be almost hopeless suffering. - -Let us, coming face to face with the mystery of pain, and looking as it -were from afar on that dark shadow which yet always lies so near to -every one of us, note how in the heart of the mystery there is hidden a -joyful hope for humanity, how in the very shadow of death there is a -light that never yet has shone on land or sea. - -It is a still autumnal day, and, as we turn up the wooded lane on the -left of the hill leading from the Putney Railway Station to Wimbledon, a -tender gleam in the grey clouds betokens coming rainfall. A light, -hanging drift descends upon the distant hills, and breaks into pale -vaporous shapes amidst the wooded slopes and valleys. The yellow leaves -that strew the ground lie motionless, as though they waited for their -late companions to fall gently from the branches overhead and join their -silent company. - -Coming into a broader roadway, and passing through the gate of a lodge, -we come almost suddenly upon a glorious sloping lawn, adorned with -goodly trees, worthy of the great building--meant for a ducal residence, -and now put to nobler uses--which, for all its stately look, has about -it a home-likeness that is full of promise. Even the matchless landscape -lying around it--the expanse of wood and dale, the soft slopes of Surrey -hills, the deep-embowered glades where the bronze-and-gold of moving -tree-tops takes a changeful sheen from slowly-drifting clouds, or -reflects strange gleams of colour from the glistening silver of the -rain--will not hold us from the nearer glow of windows bright with -flowers, which give a festal look to the place, although it is so quiet -that we stand and imagine for a moment what it is that we have come to -see. For this great mansion, with its long rows of windows and -wide-spreading wings, is the home of a hundred and fifty-four men and -women, some of whom have been suddenly stricken down, others having -slowly fallen day by day into a condition of incurable disease, and, in -many cases, also into a condition of utter bodily helplessness. They, -and the attendants whose constant kindly services are essential for -their relief, constitute the family of what is known, plainly enough, as -"The Royal Hospital for Incurables." There are no distinctions among its -members, though in their previous lives they have belonged to various -grades--no distinctions, at least, except those which arise from -personal qualifications. - -The claim for election to the benefits of the charity is the necessity -which is implied in the name of the institution itself: and once within -its sheltering walls the patients, whose failing eyes brighten, and -whose wan cheeks flush with every loving mention of it as their home, -are all alike sharers in its benefits. - -Not only the 154 at present within its walls, however, but 327 of those -who, having family and friends with whom to dwell, receive pensions of -£20 a year each, and so cease to be a heavy burden to others. - -Do you think at first sight, and from the external appearance of the -building, that charity here has gone beyond precedent in providing such -a place--a palatial pile standing amidst scenery that one might well -come far to see? Remember what is the need of those who have to be -lifted out of the dark, hopeless depths of what is almost despair; of -those who, finding themselves banished from hospital wards, unable to -earn their bread, feeling themselves a burden upon those for whom they -would almost consent to die rather than live upon their poverty; of -those who, in the midst of hourly pain, have the mental anguish of -knowing that the long calendar of darkening days may find them utterly -dependent on the toil of others most dear to them, and whose few -expedients can bring little ease, and will not serve to hide the -ever-present sense of disappointment and distress. - -Think how much wealth is wasted daily in the world, and what a small -part of it suffices to lighten by every available means the burden of -such lives as these; the sorrow of those who, in the dreadful -deprivation of what to us seems almost all that makes life dear, have no -resource between that provided for them in such a place as this and the -infirmary-ward of a workhouse, amidst sordid surroundings and the hard, -mechanical, unfeeling officialism which in such cases is little more -than organised neglect. - -There are people who would reduce all charitable institutions--yes, even -such as this, of which living personal interest and the care that comes -of more than merely casual benevolence are the very foundation and -corner-stone--to a dead level of official rule, in which benevolence -should be represented by a mechanical department, and the sentiment of -charity by a self-elected board of control, dealing with public -subscriptions as though they were a poor-rate, and recognising neither -individual interest nor the right of contributors to give it expression. -Such a system would lack the very qualification most needed here, and to -be found only in that voluntary personal interest that brings to the -recipients of bounty more than the mere bounty itself, the heart-throb -of sympathy, the feeling that the gift means more than the cold official -recognition of a national duty, that it is the expression of -loving-kindness ever active and living; and so making for the helpless, -the destitute, and the dying, not a mere asylum, but a home. - -The entrance into the hall of a cheerful, genial gentleman, with a -kindly, brisk manner, and a reassuring expression of deliberation and -repose in his observant face and easy bearing, rouses us from melancholy -fancies, and with a few words of courteous welcome we are at once -conducted to the door that is to open to us the first scene in this -wonderful visit. - -A spacious assembly room--let us call it by the good old name of -"parlour," for there is much quietly animated talk going on--talk, and -needlework of all kinds, from the knitting of a warm woollen shawl to -the manipulation of delicate lace, and the deft handling of implements -for making those exquisite tortures of society known as antimacassars. -With ever so wide an experience of halls, salons, suites, or -drawing-rooms, the visitor can see nothing resembling this wonderful -parlour elsewhere. A room of noble proportions, one end of which is -occupied by an organ; the great windows reaching almost from floor to -ceiling, and overlooking a broad expanse of lawn, with a glorious view -of hill and woodland beyond; on the tables flowers, books, ornaments; in -every kind of couch and chair--many of which are comfortable beds on -wheels and springs--a company of women, with bright, cheerful, -intelligent faces, full of a recent interest, and, even in cases where -some paroxysm of pain is passing, with a certain serene satisfaction -which it is infinitely good to see. - -There has been a morning service, conducted by a visiting clergyman, and -there is a general expression of approval which, if the reverend -gentleman himself were present to witness it, would surely prove highly -gratifying. The congregation has settled down to easy talk, and has -resumed its occupation of plain and fancy needlework. Here is an old -lady whose silver hair adds to her natural grace and dignity, who is -busy with wool-knitting, and at the same time engages in a -discriminating criticism of the address to one of the many visitors who -sit and spend an hour of their afternoon in agreeable chat. There is a -pretty but rather sad-eyed _mignon_ lady, whose excellently-fitting silk -dress, delicate hands, and general "niceness" of appearance, quite -prepare us to see the beautiful examples of all kinds of fancy work of -which she never seems to tire. Every year, in June, they hold a grand -bazaar at the hospital, so that those who are skilful and capable are -able to earn enough money to clothe themselves as they please--everything -except clothing being found by the charity, except to two or three -inmates who are able to pay for their own maintenance. Now we hear the -low tones of cheerful talk, the pleasant ripple of laughter--note the -brightening glance, the quick smile, the feeble but earnest finger-clasp -which greets the cheerful salutation of the house governor, Mr. -Darbyshire, or the presence of his wife, the lady matron of this great -happy family of incurables, we begin to wonder at our gloomy estimate of -the place before this visit. - -Nor is the revelation of cheerfulness, of light in shadow, less -remarkable in the dormitories themselves. But then what rooms they are! -Each bed is, as it were, set in an alcove of its own snow-white -hangings, relieved by bits of colour which would delight an artist's -eye--pieces of embroidery, framed illuminated texts, bright flecks of -Berlin woolwork, or glistening designs in beads, or deep glowing -knick-knacks wrought in silk and lace. Each little bedside table, though -it may hold medicine and diet--drink and requisites for the sick--is -decked with flowers and little framed pictures, gaily-bound books, and -bright-hued toys and trifles, that make it look like a miniature stand -at a fancy fair. In some cases the sense of combined purity and glow of -colour is so great, that it is difficult to realise that we are in one -or other of a series of sick-rooms. Everything is so spotless, so -exquisitely clean and orderly, that nothing less than perfect nursing -could explain it--for be it remembered that the place is open to -visitors every day--and amidst some of the most terrible afflictions -from which humanity can suffer there is nothing revolting. Expressions -of pain and of utter prostration and weakness there are, of course; but -even these are only alternative with the general placid contentment and -thankfulness that is the prevailing characteristic. - -Even in two severe cases of cancer the terrible effects of the malady -are less notable, because of the surrounding conditions. A sprightly and -engaging girl, with features and social life alike marred and -obliterated by this dreadful malady, is surely one of the saddest of all -the sad sights in such an institution; but here the brightness and -genial influence of the place, and of those who are its ministrants, -have had their effect, and even the half-obliterated features gain a -grateful, loving, cheerful expression; the poor eyes beam with pleasure -as the governor starts some reminiscence of that pleasant summer -water-party of his, in which one of the two sufferers had to be carried -to the boat in his arms, and both of them, deeply veiled, were rowed by -those same guarding arms for a glorious voyage on the river, where the -summer's sunshine and gladness stole into the hearts of the sufferers, -and left a halo of remembrance that is not perhaps so very far from the -anticipations of that stream which maketh glad the children of God. - -Here are rooms wherein only two or three beds are placed, while few of -them contain more than six, but all of them are bright, airy, lofty, -full of space, and with the same sense of purity. And from every window -some fresh and lovely view of the surrounding landscape, with all its -changeful aspects, may be seen--the beds being so placed that every -patient has her own special expanse of territory to solace her waking -hours, even though she be unable to go down to the assembly-room. Here, -in a room particularly bright and cheerful, lies a young woman with a -wealth of dark hair on the pillow where her intelligent face beams with -a certain courage, although her body and limbs have been for years -immovable--only one arm, for an inch or two, and three fingers of the -right hand, can be stirred--and yet, as we stand and talk with her, some -small simple jest about her own condition causes her to laugh till the -bed shakes. She has learnt to write by holding a pencil in her mouth, -and inscribes neat and legible letters on paper placed on a rest just in -front of her face. She is not only cheerful, but actually hopeful, -though she has been for years in this condition; and her relations, -great and small, visit her, to find her always heartily determined to -look on the bright side. At the foot of her bed, near the window, is a -swing looking-glass on a pedestal, and in this she sees reflected the -distant prospect of autumn wood and field, extending miles away. Judging -from her nobly equable and smiling face, she must be the life of the -room of which she has been so long an occupant. In another apartment a -poor schoolmistress suffering from hemorrhage of the lungs lies reading -for many hours a day, her face bearing a painful expression, her manner -eager, her constant craving to work on, by the study of books concerning -the problems of this earthly life and the sciences that strive to -demonstrate them and yet only bring us to the barrier of the eternal -world. She yearns for one more day amidst her classes, and for the -opportunity of testing the results of sick-bed thoughts on a method of -education which should adapt itself to the individual temperament and -mental peculiarity of each child. Amidst a troubled tide of thoughts -that are perhaps sometimes too much for the weary brain, she may learn -to recognise the rest that comes after hearing the Divine voice say, -"Peace! be still;" and so a great spiritual calm may fall upon her, and -give her rest. - -Yet another visit, and we find a girl who, from an accidental fall, is -as immovable as a statue, her dark questioning eyes and mobile face -alone excepted. Yet she is sometimes lifted into a wheel-chair that -stands stabled by her bedside, and joins the company in the great -parlour downstairs. There is another little parlour, with quite a select -coterie, under the presidency of an elderly gentlewoman, who is busily -knitting at a table, while her friends recline at the windows, on their -special couches; and in several of the dormitories patients are sitting -up, reading, working, or looking at the fitful aspect of earth and sky -on this October afternoon. Sufferers from heart-disease, with that -anxious contracted expression so indicative of their malady, are -numerous; but the larger number of the patients seem to suffer from -rheumatism, or paralysis--among them one lady, with silvered hair, and -yet with bright expressive eyes, and still bonny face, who was once a -well-known singer in London. She is unable to rise from couch or bed, -but the readiness of repartee, the bright inquiring look, the quick -appreciation and retort, remain, as do a certain swift expressive action -of head and hands, which is marvellously suggestive of dramatic gesture; -for, happily, her hands and arms are still capable of movement, and she -has several periodicals on the coverlet--among them the latest monthly -part of a magazine, in one of the stories in which she is evidently -interested. She, with two or three others, are inmates of the hospital -at their own charges. - -We have but little time to devote to the men's side of this great -institution; but its dormitories and furniture, its large day-room, -where daughters sit talking in low voice to fathers, sisters to -brothers, wives to husbands--its pleasant out-door contingent, who have -just returned from slowly perambulating the grounds in wheel-chairs, or -sit basking outside in the latest gleam of sunshine--its club in the -rustic hut especially appointed for this purpose--all might bear -comment. Here is a sturdy youth, who, falling from a tree, and alighting -on his heels, incurably injured his spine, and now lies all day, mostly -out of doors, and without a coat, frequently engaged in knitting. There -is a poor gentleman, who has for sixteen years been almost immovable, -from rheumatism, even his jaw being so fixed that he takes food through -an aperture in the teeth. He has been through two or three hospitals, -and under the care of the most eminent surgeons, and has come here now -as to an ark of refuge, where he can read and talk, and be wheeled about -the neighbourhood on occasional visits. Only one case of all those that -we witness is startling in its melancholy sense of terrible loss and -incurability; that rigid, grimly-set face, in the ward where the corner -bed in which the grizzled head lies is the only one occupied this -afternoon. The body belonging to that face is almost immovable--the ears -are deaf, the tongue is mute, the eyes are nearly sealed--not by sudden -calamity, but by gradual yielding to decay or disease. He has been an -inmate several years, and is the one case here before which we may -almost quail in our solemn sense of affliction; and yet, to the touch of -certain loving hands that dead face kindles; that mind, seemingly locked -in stupor, wakes to life; that intelligence, encased in a casket -iron-bound and motionless, can understand the signs that are made upon -his own hands or forehead, and interpret them so as to give some kind of -grateful answer. It needs the touch of the lady nurse to bring out this -strange music from an instrument so unstrung; but that it should be done -at all is an evidence of the hold that loving sympathy and some subtle -influence almost beyond mere bodily capacity of expression has taken in -these dear souls of the sick and the afflicted. That is where the shadow -lifts, even in the darkness of the valley; that is how the Spirit of -Christ may abound; and the soul, in recognizing the work of the -disciple, may recognise the Lord therein, and remember the Living -Word--"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will -fear no evil, for Thou art with me." - - - - -"_WITH THE HALT AND THE LAME._" - - -I suppose there are few people in England, who are at all accustomed to -keep Christmas amidst a loving family circle, who have not during the -sacred festivities of the season, and all the household sentiments with -which they are inseparably associated, made some reference to the -"Christmas Carol," that famous story of the great novelist whose -presence in the spirit of his books has brightened so many a Christmas -hearth, and moved so many gentle hearts to kindly thoughts and words of -loving cheer. - -Amongst all the well-known characters to which Mr. Dickens introduced -thousands of readers--characters who, to many of us, became realities, -and were spoken of as though they were living and among our ordinary -acquaintances--there have been none, except perhaps little Nell, who -have evoked more sympathetic recognition than Tiny Tim, the poor -crippled child of Bob Cratchit--the child, the sound of whose little -crutch upon the stair was listened for with loving expectation--the -shadow of whose vacant chair in the "Vision of Christmas," gave to the -humbled usurer as keen a pang as any sight that he saw afterwards in -that strange dream of what might come to pass. So completely do we share -the anxiety of Scrooge in this respect, that we can all remember giving -a sigh of relief when, at the end of the story, we learn that the poor -crippled boy remains to bless the fireside where even his afflictions -were felt to be a hallowing influence to soften animosities, and to draw -close the bonds of family love. - -"Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself" (says Bob Cratchit), -"and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming -home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a -cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas-day -who made lame beggars walk and blind men see." - -If I needed an excuse for so long an allusion to that pathetic story, -which has stirred so many hearts throughout England, I might find it in -the passage I have just quoted; but I seek none. I refer to the -"Christmas Carol," because in it the figure of the crippled boy, -occupying so small a space, yet is such a living, touching influence as -to be one of the household fancies that associate themselves with our -thoughts of Christmas-tide in poor homes; because there are so many -little crutches the sounds of which are heard--though fewer than there -used to be before _orthopædic_ surgery became a special branch of study, -and hospitals were founded for its practice; because, though Tiny Tim -may represent so many crippled children who are the helpless members of -poor families, where they are tended with as kindly care as working -fathers and mothers can find time for--there are hundreds of other -deformed or maimed lads whose lot is made the harder because of the want -of sympathy and ready aid that would lift them out of utter -helplessness, or give them such light labour to perform as would -diminish their sense of dependence. Finally, because I desire you to -bear me company to one place in London where this last need is -recognised, and where forty crippled boys, suffering from various -incurable deformities, which yet have left them the use of their hands, -are not only taught a trade, but are encouraged, fed, and nurtured for -the three years during which they are inmates of the home--"The National -Industrial Home for Crippled Boys." - -Alighting from the railway carriage which conveys us from Mansion House -Station to the pleasant old High Street of Kensington, we are close to -the place that we have come to see, for the building itself--a quaint -old house, with a central doorway between two projecting deep -bay-windowed fronts, and built of the reddest of red brick--stands at -the end of Wright's Lane, looking us full in the face as we approach it -to read the style and title plainly painted across its upper storey. - -The house has good reason for looking the world thus bluffly in the -face, for it is an independent building, bought and paid for: -hearth-stone, roof tree, and chimney, freehold, and without debt or -mortgage. Till this was done, all thought of considerable extension was -put aside. The question was how to provide, out of voluntary -subscriptions and contributions, for the fifty inmates who could be -admitted within those sheltering walls. It must be premised, however, -that ten pounds a year has to be paid for each boy who is accepted, -during the three years that he remains there, to be taught in the -evening school and in the workshop, not only how to read and write and -cipher, but to become a good workman at tailoring, carpentering, or -die-engraving and colour-stamping. - -These are at present the only three trades taught in this truly -industrial home, but they appear to be very admirably suited to the -cases of those who are deformed or crippled in various ways; and they -are taught well, as an inspection of the work accomplished will prove. -For the workshops are real workshops, where the boys do not play at -work, but are taught their trades in a way that will enable them when -they leave the institution to gain a decent livelihood, or even, if they -can save a little money, to go into business for themselves. - -This has been lately done, in fact, by two youths, who, having -thoroughly learnt the relief-stamping process, have contrived to buy a -press and the materials for their trade, and are now in partnership in a -country town, and earning a respectable maintenance. Of sixteen lads who -left during the year, twelve were doing well as journeymen at the -industries they had learnt; one had set up in business for himself (the -relief-stamping gives the greatest facility for this); and two had -returned to their friends because of ill health, while one had not -reported himself But during the same period forty of the former inmates -had been to visit the old home, and gave a very encouraging account of -themselves. Let us add, in a whisper, that amongst these visitors were a -"team" of old boys who had come to accept the challenge of a "team" of -the new boys, to play a match at cricket. Yes, and that these teams of -cripples have, over and over again, carried off their bats against -opponents who, if they expected an easy victory, found themselves to -have been most amazingly mistaken. I don't think this is mentioned in -the Report, but it is well to know it, because it serves to prove how -truly beneficent a work is being done here, in removing boys from a too -often almost "hopeless" condition to one of useful, intelligent, skilled -labour, and to healthy self-forgetfulness and association in the -ordinary duties and recreations of their fellows. It must be remembered -that every boy there is, in a certain sense, incurable. After having -been nominated by the person willing to contribute the annual payment of -£10, the medical officers of the institution (or if in the country, some -qualified practitioner) examine the candidate, who must be above twelve -and less than eighteen years of age, and neither blind, deaf and dumb, -nor without the use of his hands. The name of the candidate is then -added to the list of those waiting for admission--of whom there are now, -unfortunately, above seventy--and when there is a vacancy, and funds are -sufficient to maintain the full number of inmates, these candidates are -taken in succession, without voting, by order of the Committee of -Management, of whom the President is the Earl of Shaftesbury, and the -Honorary Secretary Mr. S. H. Bibby, of Green Street, Grosvenor Square. -There is also an efficient Ladies' Committee for the household -management and for advising as to the education of the boys, the visits -of the friends of the inmates, and the domestic affairs of the Home -generally. There are some severe cases of deformity here--club-foot, -spinal curvature, and various distortions of the legs--and in many cases -instruments are worn, but the Institution does not profess to provide -these. Frequently they are procured by special contributions, and among -the latest gifts of this kind is a serviceable wooden leg or two, which -have had the happy effect of relieving their recipients from the -necessity of using crutches; but it is distinctly insisted on that the -Home is not a hospital, and is only curative in the sense of improving -the condition of those who, having been pronounced incurable, are yet -capable of greatly increased activity and strength by means of -nourishing and regular food, interesting occupation, and healthy -exercise with companions who themselves are to be numbered among the -halt and the lame, and yet are, in a very certain sense, made to walk -and to leap and to praise God. For see, at the very moment that I am -speaking, a little figure darts out of the passage yonder and scampers -across the large open green space at the back of the house on his way to -the new range of workshops that are now nearly completed, and are also -paid for. Is it possible to apply the term cripple to such an elf, who -is out of reach before one can ask his name? Yes; that very elf-like -look is the result of a deformity which stops growth, though it leaves -the limbs as active as you see them. But come up-stairs to the first of -the present workshops, and you may note among the colour-stampers, -sitting on their high stools before the dies and presses, cases of more -decided deformity or of crippling by accident. These boys follow an -artistic, pretty business, and visitors may do worse than give a small -or a large order for notepaper and envelopes, stamped with crest, motto, -or quaint design. So well is the work executed, that the Home has orders -constantly in hand for the trade, and some of the dies are really -beautiful examples of engraving. I think that in this long pleasant -upper room, with its high bench running along the window, fitted with -the presses and implements for the work, there are more severe cases of -deformity than will be seen in either in the tailors' department on the -same floor, or the carpenters' shop below. One reflects on the numerous -accidents to which the children of the poor are liable, such as falls -down flights of stairs; to the inhuman neglect of old women who are paid -as "minders" by mothers compelled to go out to work in neighbourhoods -where no infant crèche, no babies' cradle home, has yet been -established, or in country towns where such institutions have scarcely -been heard of. One remembers with pity the scores of poor little -creatures who have to nurse and tend children almost as big as -themselves, so that they and their charges too often become deformed -together, the nurse with lateral curvature of the spine and the baby -with vertical curvature or with deformities of the feet or legs. One -thinks, in short, of the many perils to healthy life and well-formed -limb that beset the children of the poor, and then coming back to the -figures of this _National_ Home, which yet, with careful management and -due economy, can only receive forty or fifty crippled boys--wonders how -long it is to be before the ruddy old house in Wright's Lane will expand -its broad bosom and stretch out long arms on either side to embrace -three-score more lads, taken from present neglect and want and probable -ill-usage, to be fed and taught and nurtured for three years, during -which the whole future will be changed for them, and their lives -redeemed from the degradation that had threatened them just as their -bodies expand with renewed health and strange developments of -unsuspected strength, and their souls are lighted with hope and the -sympathy of loving words and hearty manly encouragement. - -A beginning has been made already; for that munificent anonymous -benefactor, whose thousand-pound cheques have helped so many of our -deserving charities, showed his usual nice discrimination by taking a -walk in the direction of Wright's Lane. The result of this has been the -erection of those long workshops which extend across one side of the -wide green area, with its ornamental trees, at the back of the -building--an area which is a good part of the acre on which the property -stands, and forms a capital recreation-ground, without quite leaving out -of sight the pleasant kitchen-garden beyond, or the little building in -the further corner, which is intended as a cottage infirmary in cases of -sickness. There are the workshops, quite ready for another contingent of -lads, such as are now busily at work in the tailoring department, where -they are sitting on the board in the proper tailor-fashion, sewing away -at one or other of the many private orders for gentlemen's clothes, or -"juvenile suits," which are the better appreciated because they _are_ -hand-sewn, instead of being made with that machine, at the end of the -room, to learn the working of which is, however, a necessary part of the -modern tailor's trade. Quite ready, also, for our friends the -relief-stampers, and for an additional crew of young carpenters to join -those who are now busy below amidst a fine odour of fresh deal and the -cheery sound of hammer, chisel, and plane. One of our young friends of -the wooden legs--a strapping fellow of seventeen--is just deftly -finishing off a very attractive chest of drawers, which will only need -to be taken to the painting and varnishing rooms that form a part of the -new building to be a very capital example of the workmanship of the -establishment. For it cannot be too strongly insisted on that the -customers of the Industrial Cripples get value for their money, whether -it be in ornamental stationery, in plain furniture, packing cases, -boxes, and general carpentry, or in "superfine suits" to order, or "own -materials made up and repairs neatly executed." It is no sham industrial -school, but a real practical working establishment, and when the new -buildings are quite completed, and the dwelling-house has that other -wing added to it, in order to provide proper dormitories and a -school-room, dining-room, and lavatory, at all in proportion to the -number of boys who are waiting anxiously for admission---- - -Ah! but the question is, When shall this be? Not till another £5,000 is -added to the funds, I am told--about as much money as is sometimes spent -in some public display which lasts three or four hours, and going to -look at which probably half a dozen men, women, or children are lamed -and crippled in the crowd. Judging from the present arrangements, with -very little room to spare, and a not very conveniently-adaptable space, -the money would be carefully spent; for there is no tendency to undue -luxury, and the present household staff would still be sufficient for -providing meals and looking after the family needs of these robust and -independent young cripples. That it would be a work all the more -beneficial, because of this very independence with which it is -associated, it needs few arguments to prove; but, should reasons be -asked for, let us take three cases for which the benefits of the Home -are earnestly sought, and they will speak in suggestive accents of the -need of that extension for which an appeal is being made. I need not -tell you the names either of those who nominate the cases or the boys -themselves; but be assured that the former would be sufficient guarantee -of the need which it is sought to relieve:-- - - No. 1.--"The father is paralysed, and can do no work. The mother is not - a very satisfactory person. Family consist of-- - - 1. The eldest, a boy of twenty, who does odd jobs. - - 2. The cripple. - - 3. Boy, works, and gets 5s. - - 4. Boy, sells lights in the City. - - There are four little girls at home besides. The cripple is in a very - wretched state from want of food, but he has the use of his hands." - - No. 2 (EDINBURGH).--"Was never at school more than a year in his life, - and never attended regularly two months together. He can neither read - nor write, and has been neglected and often half-starved by his - dissipated parents. His mother pawns everything she can get to buy - drink, and the boy has little benefit from the wages he makes, which - are about 5s. per week. Their house is miserably dirty, Mrs. ---- (the - mother) being always drunk or incapable on the Saturday and Sunday. The - boy works at Mr. B----'s Pottery, P----. He is honest and industrious. - He is more miserable at home of late since he is left alone with his - mother. It would be a great advantage to the boy if he could be - admitted to the Industrial Home at Kensington, where he would be well - trained, and where he would be quite beyond his mother's reach." - - No. 3 (recommended by a Clergyman).--"Has been very regular at our - school, and has been attentive and got on very well. His mother, a - widow, lives with her sons, all of whom she has brought up well. She is - an industrious, honest woman, and receives no help from the Board of - Guardians excepting an allowance made for the maintenance of the - cripple, and which, in case of his being accepted at the Home, they - have promised to continue to pay for his maintenance. I may add that - the Board, when he was called before them the other day, gave great - praise to his mother for the cleanliness and respectability of his - appearance." - -Poor, depressed, starved, neglected, hopeless crippled boys, how long -will it be before they come here for shelter, for hope, and renewal of -life? I should ask the question--though the answer could only be a -guess--but I am suddenly diverted by the tremendous ringing of a -hand-bell, on which one vigorous young cripple is ringing a peal, which -is almost loud enough to announce to all Kensington that it is -"tea-time." The sound has the effect of bringing all the forty from -their work--a contingent of young carpenters staying behind for a little -while to dispose of some waste shavings which have been swept out of -some corner where they may have been in the way. Then they come trooping -into the big room, where they present so strange a variety of height and -appearance, and also so remarkable a diversity of twist and lameness and -distortion, that we are impressed at once with the melancholy fact that -every boy there is in reality a cripple, and yet with the cheering -reflection, inspired by some of the lively smiling faces, that there are -vast mitigations of such afflictions--mitigations that come so near to -cures as to make our neglect of them a very serious evil, when the means -lie near at hand. - -In this big room, which is neither dining-room, nor kitchen, nor -refectory, but a homely combination of all three, there is no ornament, -no sign of luxury, or of unnecessary expenditure-plain deal forms or -stools at plain deal tables, on which are arranged a regiment of -full-sized mugs of good sound tea, and plates, each containing a -substantial half-pound slice of bread from a homely two-pound loaf, -spread with butter or dripping. For breakfast the same quantity is -provided, with the substitution of coffee for tea; and dinner consists -of a half-pound of roast or boiled meat, with plenty of vegetables, and -dumplings, pies, or puddings; while bread and cheese, or bread and -butter, is served for supper. For it must be remembered that these are -working lads, and that they require to be substantially, and, from the -nature of their bodily affliction, even generously fed, so that these -supplies of pure plain diet are not by any means excessive; and they are -such as one very ordinary kitchen can supply--a kitchen, by the bye, -which will probably be superseded by a more convenient one when the new -wing shall be finished. Yet there is something in these unadorned, bare, -almost too plainly appointed places, which brings with it a reassuring -conviction that the institution has never been pampered. The -dining-room, which has to do duty for a school-room also--the play-room, -which is a rather dim kind of retreat on this November evening--and the -plain, rather bare, but still clean and airy dormitories (especially -those in the big bay-windowed front rooms of the old red brick house), -are evidences that the place does not belie its name; that it is really -a home, but essentially an industrial home, where work goes on as part -of each day's blessing, and the title to play freely and with a light -heart is thereby ensured. - - - - -_WITH THEM WHO HAVE NOT WHERE TO LAY THEIR HEADS._ - - -There is a degree of poverty which, while it is not absolute pauperism, -often has deeper needs than those which are alleviated by parochial -relief--a destitution which is none the less bitter because those who -suffer it cannot stoop to actual mendicancy, and shrink from the -degradation of the casual ward and its contaminating influences. - -Those of us who at this season of the year are surrounded with comforts, -and can meet together to enjoy them, should feel that there is no sadder -phase of the life of this great city than that to which our attention is -called by the statistics of those same casual wards, and the -accompanying certainty that every night there are men, women, and -children, who, amidst surrounding luxury and splendour, have not where -to lay their heads, and for whom the repellent door of the nearest union -workhouse is closed, even if they could summon such courage as comes of -desperation, and dared to enter. - -Happily, the numbers of those who seek what is called casual relief have -diminished in proportion to the general abatement of pauperism; and it -is perhaps encouraging to know that the applicants for nightly shelter -at Refuges for the homeless and destitute are fewer than they were three -or four years ago. This is a fact which should be made public, because -some of these Refuges have been accused of offering inducements to -casual paupers to seek food and shelter provided by charitable -subscriptions, instead of betaking themselves to the night-wards -provided for them at metropolitan workhouses. The complaint was made on -altogether insufficient grounds, at a time when, during a hard winter, -and with a fearful amount of distress among the poorest class of the -community, the workhouse night-wards themselves were frequently -inadequate to the demands made upon them; while, apart from the persons -who were known as casual paupers, there were hundreds of unfortunates -suffering from temporary starvation and the want of a place in which to -find a night's lodging, who yet were altogether removed from what is -known as pauperism, and dreaded the abject hopelessness which they -associated with "the Union." - -It should not be forgotten, either, that the task which is, and was -then, imposed upon the pauper on the morning following his night's -lodging and its previous dole of gruel and bread, renders it almost -impossible for the recipient to obtain work. Before his job of -stone-breaking or oakum-picking is accomplished, the hour for commencing -ordinary labour outside the workhouse walls has passed, and his hope of -resuming independent employment, and the wages that will provide food -and lodging for the next four-and-twenty hours, has passed also. This -alone is always sufficient to make a very marked distinction between the -regular casual pauper and the temporarily unfortunate man or woman who, -having failed to get work, and seeking only the aid that may give rest -and strength for a renewed effort, might look in vain for succour but -for the existence of places like that admirable Institution to which I -wish to take you to-night. - -The shameful spectacle of groups, and, in many instances, of crowds, of -houseless, starving, and half-naked creatures huddled about the doors of -casual wards, to which they had been refused admission in direct -defiance of legislation, led to the establishment of Night Refuges. -There was then no time to dispute. While boards and committees were -squabbling and vilifying each other, the poor were perishing. But even -now that a better system prevails, and pauperism has so considerably -diminished, there is much necessity for the continuance of these -institutions and their adaptation to the relief of that kind of distress -which is all the more poignant because it is at present only temporary, -but would receive the brand and stamp of permanence if it could find no -other mitigation than that secured by an appeal to workhouse officials, -the shelter of the casual shed, the union dole, and the daily task -required in return. - -At the time that Night Refuges were first founded, in consequence of the -failure of the Houseless Poor Act, there were one or two institutions -which went on the plan of offering no inducement whatever to those who -sought shelter within their walls. The provisions were barer, the beds -harder, the reception little less cold and unsympathetic than they would -receive at any metropolitan union. - -Those of my readers who remember the Refuge for the Houseless Poor which -once stood in Playhouse Yard, close to that foul tangle of courts that -still exists between Barbican and St. Luke's, and is known as "The -Chequers," will understand me when I say that there were no alluring -inducements for the houseless and the destitute to seek its aid. - -I have seldom seen a more painfully suggestive crowd than that which -waited outside the blank door of that hideous building on a cold drizzly -evening when I paid the place a visit, only a short time before it was -finally closed. I cannot deny, however, that the applicants for -admission consisted of those persons for whom the institution seemed to -be especially designed. The very lowest class of poverty, the -representatives of sheer destitution, made up the 350 men and the 150 -women who were to occupy the bare wooden bunks in the two departments of -the building that night, and to accept, as a stay against starvation, -the half-pound of dry bread and the drink of water. What I would call -emphatic attention to, is the fact that this place was filled nightly at -that time, because the inmates could leave early in the morning to seek -a day's work, and so rise out of that depth of destitution which was -represented by the nightly return to the casual ward. But let us -remember that, though this Institution could scarcely be characterised -by the warm name of "charity," it received all applicants who were not -suffering from infectious diseases, and therefore its policy was -deterrent. In order to separate itself from the idle casual, it made its -provisions little short of penal, and, indeed, very far short of those -common comforts that are to be found in prison. - -But the Refuge in Newport Market was one of those which had been founded -on a different principle. It was never intended as a supplement to the -casual ward, or as having any relation to poor-law relief; though, -during the terrible distress that overtook the houseless in that severe -winter when our poor-law arrangements broke down utterly, it was -impossible for any place founded in the name of Christian love and -charity to be very particular in excluding famishing and frozen men and -women on the suspicion that they had already somehow obtained parochial -relief the night before. - -This "Refuge" was originally established by the influence and the -personal exertions of Mrs. Gladstone, and a few ladies and gentlemen -who, knowing of the extreme distress that prevailed in all that -poverty-stricken neighbourhood about Seven Dials, around the -alien-haunted district of Soho, and in the purlieux of Drury Lane, and -the courts of Long Acre, set about providing some remedy for the misery -that homeless, destitute men, women, and children had to suffer during -the bitter nights of winter. First, a regular mission was established in -an ordinary room, and, after a time, space was secured to make a -Refuge--first for six, then for ten, and afterwards for twenty of the -most destitute cases which came under the notice of the mission-woman. -This went on till the funds were sufficient to warrant a very earnest -desire to obtain larger premises, and at last to make a bid for that -queer ramshackle old slaughter-house, which was the rather too indicative -feature of the locality. The landlords of this place were fully alive to -the value of any property rising in proportion to the anxiety of somebody -to become its tenant, and they demanded a high rent accordingly. Still, -the work had to be done, and the slaughter-house--cleansed, repaired, -whitewashed, and divided into several queer, irregular-shaped wards and -rooms, which were reached by strange flights of steps and zig-zag -entries--was opened with cheerful confidence and hope, under the earnest -superintendence of the Rev. J. Williams, who was at that time incumbent -of the parish of St. Mary, Soho. It was at that period that I first made -acquaintance with the Institution, and with the quiet, undemonstrative -work of charity which was carried on there, and is continued to this -day, though it is less arduous now that the neighbourhood itself has -felt the influence of such an organization--not so much in the -diminution of actual poverty, as in the humanising and constantly -suggestive presence of men and women who have brought a gospel to those -who were hopeless, and seemed to have none to care for them. - -The need to receive numbers every night to the utmost limits of the -Institution has passed now, except occasionally during very severe -weather; and though the cases admitted are still those where deep, and -sometimes apparently almost fatal, misfortune is the claim, there is no -longer the urgency which forbade a too discriminating selection, and the -regular casual stands no chance under the quick and experienced eye of -the superintendent, Mr. Ramsden, whose military tone and manner are, by -the way, modulated so as to carry the sense of detection to the -pretender, and to support and give courage to the weak and -faint-hearted. - -The same complete, quiet method of receiving applicants who await -admission enables me to repeat the impression which I received during -the time that the demands upon the night Refuge were more urgent. The -experienced visitor who stands at the gate of this rehabilitated -building that was once the old slaughter-house, and who watches the -people go in one by one, and listens to their low-voiced pleas for food -and shelter, cannot mistake them for casual ward cases. Just as, in some -other Institutions, the pain of the spectacle is the degraded poverty of -those who seek aid, the most affecting element here is utter -destitution, without that _accustomed_ debasement which would find a -fitting resource at the workhouse door, leading to the night shed. - -These are broken-down men and women; old men beaten in the battle of -life, and full of present sorrow; young men who have fought and failed, -or who have eaten of the husks, and seek occasion to rise to a better -mind; middle-aged men not altogether crushed or hopeless, but in sore -want, and needing the sound of a kindly voice, the touch of a friendly -hand; women who have lost youth and worldly hope together--women who, -more weak than wicked, and without resource, need some stay alike for -fainting bodies and for wandering souls; women worn and hungry, because -of the lack even of ill-paid work, and asking for rest and food till -they can seek employment: some who will go forth in the morning and set -out afresh; others who, if they can secure two or three nights' lodging, -with a mouthful of food and drink morning and evening, have a good hope -of doing better in the future. - -To those who know how the demand for certain kinds of labour varies, and -frequently slackens towards the winter months, when need is sorest, this -latter most merciful provision comes with a sense of truest charity. -Tickets of admission are issued to friends and visitors of the -Institution (and any one may be a visitor who chooses to ring at the -bell of the old slaughter-house), entitling the holder to admission -after the regular evening hour of half-past five to six, so that in -bestowing one of these the judicious subscriber (not necessarily, but -surely from sympathy a subscriber) can be a true benefactor. For these -tickets will admit the really deserving nightly for a week, with supper -of bread and coffee or cocoa, or occasional savoury soup, and breakfast -of bread and coffee. And even this time is occasionally extended, if -there be a reasonable prospect of obtaining work. Not only -ticket-holders, but every applicant, may have the same privilege, if it -can be shown that he or she is really likely to obtain employment. But -there is more than this. There are men here--truest of gentlemen, beyond -that social stamp of rank which rightfully belongs to them--who, with a -real, manly instinct, know how to take poverty by the hand without -offensive patronage or untimely preaching. There are ladies who, in -their true womanhood, can see the contrition in faces bowed down--the -shame that is caused, not by evil doings, but by the feeling of dismay -which comes of having to ask for charity--can sympathise with broken -fortunes, with gentle nurture--cast upon a hard, relentless world, with -that poverty which is "above the common." - -More still. Among the supporters and the constant visitors are those who -can use special influence for cases that need it most, and obtain for -them admission to hospitals and other asylums, or introduce to -situations those who by sudden calamity have been deprived of the means -of living. - -Yes, even in their deepest need, poor, wandering, homeless women may -come here and find help, for in that large, lofty, yet warm and -well-lighted room, the women's dormitory--one side of which is composed -of a series of niches where the comfortable beds are placed--there are -to be seen a row of doors, which seem to belong to a series of cabins, -as, indeed, they do. Each door opens into a small bed-room--small, but -with room for a chair, a tiny table, and the neat bed. They are the -lodgings set apart for women, who, in the midst of their poverty and -destitution, are looking forward fearfully to the time when children -will be born to them, and so to a period of weakness, and of the sad -mingling of maternal pity and desponding sorrow. Let me say, in one line -from the Report, that last year eight young women were received into the -Refuge some time before their confinement, were passed on to Queen -Charlotte's Hospital, and were helped until such time as they were able -to help themselves. - -I think the knowledge of this is so cheerful an instance of the value of -this most representative Refuge, that even the sight of the bright, -warm, glowing kitchen, with its great boiler of hot coffee, and its -noble kettle of soup occupying the jolly range, scarcely imparts an -extra beam to the picture; while the long rows of white mugs, the -pleasant, clean, fragrant loaves, the big milk-cans, the courteous -_chef_, who has a true and pardonable pride in his surroundings--no, not -even the cosy, rug-covered berths and bunks in the dormitories, nor the -quaint little corner-room to which I have to climb a crooked staircase -to shake hands with the sister who is in charge, nor the equally quaint -and cornery, not to say inconvenient, sitting-room of Mr. and Mrs. -Ramsden, who have left their tea unfinished to do the honours of the -Institution--can suggest to me a better word to say than that which is -suggested by the picture of the poor wandering, weary, fainting women, -who, almost in despair, not only for a real, but for an expected life, -come here to find rest and peace. - -Stay; one word more. Who are the class of people for whom the Refuge -doors are ordinarily open? Let us see what were the most numerous cases -among the inmates who during the year received 6,669 nights' lodgings -and 16,889 suppers and breakfasts. Among the men "labourers," of course, -are most numerous; then discharged soldiers--poor fellows who have -perhaps foolishly snatched at liberty when offered, and foregone the -advantages of re-engagement and a pension; next in numerical order come -_clerks_--a very painfully suggestive fact, especially when read by the -light of the advertisement-columns of our newspapers, and the sad story -of genteel poverty in that great suburban ring which encircles the -wealthiest city in the world. Of house-painters there were 24; of -servants, 21; of tailors, 13; of seamen, 8; and other callings were -represented in remarkable variety, including 1 actor, 6 cooks, 1 -schoolmaster, 2 surveyors, and 1 tutor. Among the women, 199 -servants--show sadly enough the truth of the old adage, "Service is no -inheritance;" while in numerical succession there were, 55 charwomen, 41 -laundresses, 37 needlewomen, 31 tailoresses, 27 dressmakers, 26 -machinists (alas! how many women still utterly depend on "the needle" -for a subsistence!), 24 cooks, 20 ironers, 16 field-labourers. There -were 4 governesses, 1 actress, 1 mission-woman, and 1 staymaker, the -rest being variously described. - -From among these, 94 men and 193 women obtained employment, 77 women -having been sent to Penitentiaries and Homes, while 18 were supported in -the Refuge or elsewhere by needlework, 13 were sent to their friends, 60 -obtained permanent work, and 14 girls of good character were sent to -Servants' Homes. - -But I have left out one thing now. Among this great representative -company of refugees were 60 children, of whom 37 were sent to nurse or -to school, while those who were old enough---- Well, just listen to that -burst of military music in a distant upper-room of the old -slaughter-house. I must tell you something about the Newport Market boys -in another chapter. - - - - -_TAKING IN STRANGERS._ - - -Yes; listen to that startling clangour of military music coming from an -upper room. We are standing, you know, in the cheerful kitchen of that -Refuge for the Homeless in the renovated old slaughter-house in Newport -Market, and I want you to come with me to see the boys' school, which -occupies a very considerable portion of that weatherproof but ramshackle -building. - -Only those who are acquainted with the poverty and the crime of this -great metropolis can estimate the deep and urgent need that still exists -for refuges in which homeless, destitute, and neglected children can be -received for shelter, food, and clothing. Only the practical student of -the effect of our present administration of the Education Act can -calculate how vast a necessity is likely to exist for the reception and -instruction of the children of the poorest, even when all the machinery -of the present School Board is put in motion for vindicating the -compulsory clause. - -Let that clause be interpreted in the most liberal manner--which would -be in effect to provide State education without cost to the parents--and -the Act will still leave untouched a vast number of children for whom -nothing can be done until their physical necessities are provided -for--children who are perishing with cold, starving for want of food. A -visit to some of the big buildings recently erected by the London School -Board will reveal the fact that there are many such children now in -attendance; neglected, barefoot, half-clothed, hungry, and with that -wistful eager look, sometimes followed by a kind of stupefaction, which -may be observed in the poor little outcasts of the streets. There is no -reasonable hope of doing much with these little creatures till the -"soup-kitchen" and the "free breakfast" are among the appliances of -education, where the necessity is most pressing, and the children perish -for lack of bread as well as for lack of knowledge. - -As it is--I need not refer again to the escape which is always open from -the streets to the prison. The few Government industrial-schools to -which magistrates occasionally consign young culprits brought before -them are intended only for those who come within the cognisance of the -law. - -The operations of these reformatory-schools are successful so far as -they go. They represent seventy-five per cent. of successful reformatory -training as applied to juvenile transgressors committed by magistrates -to their supervision. - -Perhaps, when we are fully impressed with the meaning of the statistics -which are published each year in the Report of the Inspectors of -Certified Schools in Great Britain, we shall begin to consider how it -will be possible to regard destitute children in relation to the -guardianship of the state _before_ they qualify themselves for -Government interposition by the expedient of committing what the law -calls a crime. - -The last Report states distinctly that the sooner criminal children are -taken in hand, the more complete is their reformation. There are fewer -"criminals" of less than ten years of age than there are hardened -offenders of from twelve to sixteen. This is, so far, satisfactory; but -when we consider that (including Roman Catholic establishments) there -are but fifty-three reformatories in England, and twelve in Scotland -(thirty-seven of those in England and eight in Scotland being for boys, -and sixteen in England and four in Scotland for girls), and that in -1873, when the Report was issued, the sum-total of children in all these -institutions was but 5,622, of whom one-fourth were in the Roman -Catholic schools--we cease to wonder at the vast number of homeless, -neglected, and destitute children in London alone--a number which, -notwithstanding the efforts of philanthropy and the activity of School -Board beadles, exceeds the total of all the inmates of the State -reformatories throughout the kingdom. - -This refuge at Newport Market had included destitute and starving boys -among those who were brought to its shelter from the cruel streets, the -dark arches of railways and of bridges, and the miserable corners where -the houseless huddle together at night, long before its supporters could -make provision for maintaining any of the poor little fellows in an -industrial-school. But the work grew, and the means were found, first -for retaining some of the juvenile lodgers who came only for a night's -food, and warmth, and shelter, and afterwards for receiving them as -inmates. - -Some of these are sent to the Refuge by persons who are furnished with -printed forms of application, or by mothers who can afford evident -testimony that they can scarcely live on the few shillings they are able -to earn by casual work as charwomen, or by the no less casual -employments where the wages are totally inadequate to support a family; -while a few lads have themselves applied for admission because they were -orphans, or utterly destitute and abandoned by those on whom they might -be supposed to have a claim. - -A portion of the old building, which has been adapted to the purpose, -and has been added as the need for increased space became pressing, is -now devoted to the dormitories, play-room, and school-room of some fifty -to sixty of this contingent of the great army of friendless children; -and at the time of the last Report fourteen had but just left to be -enlisted in military bands; two had become military tailors; situations -had been found for others; while one had been regularly apprenticed to a -tailor in London. - -There are frequently several boys ready for such apprenticeship, for -tailoring is the only regular trade taught, the time of the lads being -occupied in learning to read, write, and cipher, to acquire the outlines -of history and geography, and to take a place in the military band which -is at this moment making the cranky old building resound with its -performance on clarinets, hautboys, cornets, "deep bassoons," and all -kinds of wind instruments, under the direction of an able bandmaster, -who keeps the music up to the mark with a spirit which bespeaks -confidence in the intelligence of his pupils. - -This confidence is not misplaced, for during the past year eleven -youthful recruits have been drafted from among these boys into the bands -of various regiments, while there are above ninety applications still on -the books for more musicians who have chosen this branch of the military -service. It is a matter of choice, of course; and there are some who -prefer to become sailors, or to go into situations and learn the trade -of tailoring, that their instructors may be able to recommend them to -respectable masters as apprentices. - -But let us walk through the kitchen, and ascend the short zig-zag stairs -which lead us by a passage to the school-room, where most of the boys -are at work with their slates. Very few of the little fellows are more -than thirteen years old, and some of them have been but a short time at -school; but even those who came here totally uninstructed have made -admirable progress, and some of the writing-books containing lessons -from dictation are well worth looking at for their clean and excellent -penmanship and fair spelling; while in arithmetic the boys who have been -longest under tuition have advanced as far as "practice." There is -nothing superfluous in school-room, work-room, or play-room--indeed, one -might almost say that they are unfurnished, except for desks and forms -and plain deal tables. The play-room is a lower portion of the old -slaughter-house, with a high ceiling, to a beam in which is fixed a pair -of ropes terminating in two large wooden rings by which the youthful -gymnasts swing and perform all kinds of evolutions, while a set of -parallel bars are among the few accessories. - -It is evident that nothing is spent in mere ornament, and that the -expenditure is carefully considered, though recreation, and healthy -recreation too, is a part of the daily duty, which is regulated in a -fashion befitting the rather military associations of the place. Even -now, as the cheery superintendent, Mr. Ramsden, who was lately -quartermaster-sergeant of the 16th Regiment, calls "Attention!" every -boy is quickly on his feet and ready to greet us; and what is more, the -boys seem to like this kind of discipline, for it is kind in its prompt -demand for obedience, and the regularity and order includes a kind of -self-reliance, which is a very essential part of education for lads who -must necessarily be taught what they have to learn in a comparatively -short time, and are then sent out where order and promptitude are of the -utmost service to them. Economy is studied, but the recollection of the -cheery kitchen suggests that there is no griping hard endeavour to -curtail the rations necessary to support health and strength. In fact, -the boys are sufficiently fed, warmly clothed, and are encouraged both -to work and play heartily. Breakfast consists of bread and coffee; -dinner of meat and vegetables three days in the week, fish on one day -(Wednesday), pudding on Monday, soup on Friday, meat and cheese on -Saturday; tea or coffee with bread and dripping, while on Sundays butter -is an additional luxury both at breakfast and tea; and on Thursdays and -Sundays tea is substituted for coffee at the evening meal. All the boys -are decently and warmly clothed, and though only some of their number -"take to music" as a profession, and choose to go into the military -bands, they all receive instruction. They are taught to keep their own -bunks and dormitories neat, and, in fact, do their own household work; -while, morning and afternoon, personal trimness is promoted by the -military "inspection" which is part of the discipline. There is half an -hour's play after breakfast, another quarter of hour before dinner, -three-quarters of an hour for "washing and play" after dinner, a quarter -of an hour before tea, and from an hour and a half to two hours for -boot-cleaning and play before bed-time, besides out-door exercise daily, -except in wet weather, when drill and gymnastics take its place. They -also go to Primrose Hill on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, there to -run in the fresh air and disport themselves in cricket, or such games as -they can find the toys for, by the kindness of the committee or generous -visitors. Even with these recreations, however, they find time to go -through a very respectable amount of work in the fourteen hours between -rising and bed-time; and the letters received from lads who have left -the school are an evidence that they remember with pleasure and with -gratitude the Refuge that became a home, and to which they attribute -their ability to take a place which would have been denied to them -without the aid which grew out of pity for their neglected childhood. - -Here is a short epistle from one of the juvenile band, at Shorncliffe -Camp, written a year or two ago:-- - - "I now take the pleasure of writing these few lines and I hope all the - boys are all well, and all in the school and please Mr. Ramsden will - you send me the parcel up that I took into the school it was laying in - the bookcase in the school-room and I hope that all the boys are all - getting on with their instruments and the snips with their work and I - should like you to read it to the boys and I wish that you would let - ---- answer it and I am getting on with my instrument very well, and I - will be able to come and see you on Cristamas season." - -This is a characteristic schoolboy letter, which shows how much boys are -alike in all grades. The following is another letter from Shorncliffe:-- - - "Dear Sir, - - "I received your kind and welcome letter along with mothers, and I - wrote back to tell you we have all been enlisted and sworn in, and we - expect to get our clothes next week and we all feel it our duty to - express our deeply felt gratitude to you Mr. Dust and the Committee, - and we are all very happy at present please give our respects to Mrs. - Ramsden Sister Zillah Mr. McDerby Mr. Mason Mr. Goodwin Miss Cheesman - and please remember us to all the boys. Leary is on sick furlough since - the 15th of Decr. and has not returned yet and Brenan, Lloyd Graham - McCarthy Henderson and all the others are very jolly at present and - been out all the afternoon amongst the snow. So I conclude with kind - thanks to one and all and believe me to be Dear Sir - - "Your late pupil ---- - - "Band ---- Regt." - -The following will show how the memory of the old slaughter-house and -the school in Newport Market remains after the boys have left and have -entered on a career. It is addressed from Warley Barracks:-- - - "Dear Sir - - "I now take the opportunity of writing to you hoping you and all the - rest of the school and the sister also. It is a long time since I left - the school now and I dont suppose you would know me if I was to come - and see you I was apprenticed out off the school along of J---- R---- - to Mr W---- in 1869 I think it was as a Tailor. I should like you to - write and tell me if you know what rigment J---- H---- belong to his - school number was 34 and mine was 35 me and him was great friends when - we were in the school and I should like to know very much were he is. - When I left the School Mr. L---- was Supperintendant and I dont suppose - I should know you sir if I was to see you I shall try to come down and - see the School if I can on Christmas for I shall be on pass to London - for seven days and I should like to know where J---- H---- is so as I - should be able to see him. I have a few more words to say that is the - school was the making of me and I am very thankful to the school for it - so with kind love to you all - - "I remain your humble servant, - "Band ---- Regiment, - "Warley Barracks, Essex. - - "J---- H---- number was 34 and mine was 35. - - "Excuse me addressing this Letter to you as I dont know anything about - you sir." - -There is something pleasant indeed in letters like these; and I for one -am not surprised that the boys should go to their musical practice with -a will. - -They are just preparing to play something for our especial delight now, -and so burst out, in a grand triumphant blast, with "Let the Hills -Resound," after which we will take our leave, and, we hope, not without -melody in our hearts. Just one word as we go through this kitchen again. -Two West End clubs supply the Newport Market Refuge with the remnants of -their well-stocked larders. Did it ever occur to you how many hungry -children and poor men and women could be fed on the actual waste that -goes on in hotels, clubs, inns, dining-rooms, and large and ordinary -households every day? M. Alexis Soyer used to say that he could feed ten -thousand people with the food that was wasted in London every day; and I -am inclined to think he was not far wrong. At all events, an enormous -salvage of humanity might be effected if only the one meal daily which -might be made of "refuse" pieces of meat and bread, bones, cuttings of -vegetables, cold potatoes, and general pieces--was secured to the -thousands to whom "enough" would often indeed be "as good as a feast." -To people who know how much that is really good for food--not the -plate-scrapings and leavings, but sound and useful reversions of meat -and bread and vegetables, bones, and unsightly corners of joints--is -either suffered to spoil or is thrown at once into the waste-tub, both -in hotels and private houses, the additional knowledge that there are -hungry children in every district in London to whom a bowl of nourishing -soup or a plate of minced meat and vegetables would be a boon, may -easily be a pain, because of the inability to suggest how to organise -the means of utilising what one is tempted to call undeserved plenty. - - - - -_FEEDING THE MULTITUDE._ - - -I suppose there are people still to be found who have but a vague notion -of what it is to be really hungry. They may be conscious of possessing a -good appetite now and then, and having the means of obtaining food, and -to a certain extent of choosing what they will eat, regard being rather -"sharp set" as a luxury which gives additional zest to a dinner, -enabling them to take off the edge of their craving with a plate of warm -soup, and to consider what they would like "to follow." - -Of course we most of us read in the papers of the distress of the poor -during the winter, of the number of children for whom appeals are made -that they may have a meal of meat and vegetables once or twice a week, -of the aggregate of casual paupers during a given period, and of cases -where "death accelerated by want and exposure" is the verdict of a -coroner's jury; but we do not very easily realise what it is to be -famished; have perhaps never experienced that stage beyond -hunger--beyond even the faintness and giddiness that makes us doubt -whether we could swallow anything solid, and would cause us to turn -hopelessly from dry bread. There is no need here to detail the -sufferings that come of starvation. They are dreadful enough; but if our -charity needs the stimulus of such descriptions we are in a bad way, and -are ourselves in danger of perishing for want of moral sustenance. - -Those who need assurance of the hunger of hundreds of their poor -neighbours need not go very far to obtain it. A quarter of an hour at -the window of any common cook-shop in a "low neighbourhood," at about -seven o'clock in the evening, when the steam of unctuous puddings is -blurring the glass, and the odour of leg-of-beef soup and pease-pudding -comes in gusts to the chilly street, should suffice. There is pretty -sure to be a group of poor little eager-eyed pinch-nosed boys and girls -peering wistfully in to watch the fortunate possessor of two-pence who -comes out with something smoking hot on a cabbage-leaf, and begins to -bite at it furtively before he crosses the threshold. - -Of course, according to modern social political economy, it would be -encouraging mendicity, and sapping the foundations of an independent -character, to distribute sixpenny pieces amongst the juvenile committee -of taste who are muttering what they would buy if only somebody could be -found to advance "a copper." But it is to be hoped or feared (which?) -that a good many people yet live who would instinctively feel in their -pockets for a stray coin to expend on a warm greasy slab of baked or -boiled, or on half a dozen squares of that peculiarly dense pie-crust -which is sold in ha'porths. This is a vulgar detail; but somehow poverty -and hunger _are_ vulgar, and we should find it difficult to get away -from them if we tried ever so hard. Even School Boards, peeping out upon -the children perishing for lack of knowledge, find themselves in a -difficulty, because there is no provision under the compulsory or any -other clause for the children who are also perishing for lack of food. -The Board beadle does not at present go about with soup-tickets in his -pockets; and for the poor shivering shoeless urchins who are mustered in -the big brick-built room where they assemble according to law there is -no free breakfast-class. - -It must one day become a question how they are to learn till they are -filled. Grown people find it hard enough to fix their attention on the -best advice or the most saving doctrine while they suffer involuntary -hunger. The multitude must mostly be fed before they are taught. Even -disciples have had a revelation of the Bread of Life in the breaking of -bread that perishes. Do we still need a miracle to teach us that? - -Happily, efforts are made to give meat to the hungry. During the winter -weather food is distributed in various ways amidst some of those -poverty-stricken neighbourhoods to which I am obliged to take you during -our excursions; but the demand far exceeds the supply, and people suffer -hunger at all seasons, though most of all in the time of bleak winds and -searching cold. - -I want you to come to-day to a kitchen which is open all the year -round--the only kitchen of the kind in London which does not close its -doors even when the spring-tide brings buds of promise on the shrubs in -Leicester Square, and the London sparrow comes out from roofs and eaves, -and preens his dingy plumage in the summer sun, as though Great Windmill -Street had something in common with its name, and sweet country odours -came from the region of the Haymarket. - -For, you know, we are still in the district of Soho. I have but just now -brought you out of Newport Market, and now we are in a very curious part -of this vast strange city. The streets are dim and dingy, but not so -squalid as you might have imagined. They are still and silent, too, as -of a neighbourhood that has seen better days, and even in its poverty -has a sense of gentility which is neither boisterous nor obtrusive. - -You will remember that I referred to this neighbourhood of Soho when I -spoke of those old French refugees who came and made industrial colonies -in London after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This is the only -really foreign quarter of London which has lasted until to-day; but that -is to be accounted for by the fact that it became representative of no -particular industry, and that, probably from the fact of many of the -patrons of literature and art having then town houses about Leicester -and Soho Squares, the more artistic refugees took up their abode in the -adjacent streets. - -From the time when William Hogarth painted his picture of the Calais -Gate till only a short time ago, when refugees fled from besieged Paris -to find some poor and wretched lodging in the purlieus of Cranbourne -Street, where they might live in peace and hear their native tongue, -this has been the resort of poor foreigners in London. It almost reminds -one of some of the smaller streets of a continental city; and as we look -at the queer shabby restaurants, and the shops with strange names -painted above them in long yellow letters, we almost expect to find the -pavement change to cobble-stones, and to see some queer wooden sign -dangle overhead, so like is the place to the small _bourgeois_ quarter -that in our earlier days lay behind the Madeleine and the Porte St. -Denis. - -For here is an actual _crêmerie_--a queer compound of cook-shop and -milkseller's--with a couple of bright dairy cans outside the door, and a -long loaf or two amidst the cups and plates and sausages in the dingy -window. Over the way you see "_Blanchisseuse_" in large letters; and -next door is a _laiterie_, which differs from a _crêmerie_ as a _café_ -alone differs from a _café restaurant_ with its "_commerce de vins_" -painted in big capitals in front of a long row of sour-looking bottles -and a green calico curtain. It is a quaint jumble, all the way to Dean -Street, and till we reach the edge of the Haymarket--a jumble of Brown -and Lebrun, of Jones and Jean, of Robin (_fils_) and Robinson; but for -all the little musty-smelling _cafés_, the blank bare-windowed -_restaurants_, the _crêmeries_, and the _boulangeries_, there is nothing -of a well fed look about the district, especially just at this corner, -leading as it seems to a stable-yard or the entrance to a range of -packers' warehouses. There is one open front here--is it a farrier's or -a blacksmith's shop?--where they appear to be doing a stroke of -business, however, for there is a clinking, and a fire, and a steam; but -the steam has a fragrant odour of vegetables--of celery and turnips, of -haricots and gravy--the clink is that of basins and spoons getting -ready, and the fire is that of the boiler which simmers two mighty -cauldrons. - -Step to the front, and you will see in big white letters right across -the house, "Mont St. Bernard Hospice." You may well rub your eyes, for -you are in the heart of London, and stand in Ham Yard, Leicester Square, -before the soup-kitchen that is open all the year. - -There is something very appetising in the steam that arises from both -these huge cauldrons, one of which is the stock-pot, containing bones, -remnants of joints (_not_ plate-clearings), and reversions of cold meat, -&c., from two West End clubs. To this are added vegetables--celery, -haricot beans, or barley--making it a fresh palatable stock, not -remarkable for meatiness, but still excellent in flavour, as you may -find for yourself if you join me in a luncheon here. But the real -strengthening gravy has yet to be added, and the cauldron on the left -hand is full of it--real, genuine gravy soup, made from raw meat and -bones purchased for this purpose. As soon as this has simmered till it -is thoroughly ready, the contents of the two cauldrons are mixed, and -the result is a delicious stew, which is ready to be turned out into -these yellow pint basins, for the hungry applicants, who will sit down -at one of these two deal tables, each of which has its rough clean form, -or to be dispensed to those who bring jugs, bowls, cans, saucepans, -kettles, pipkins--any and almost every receptacle in which they can -carry it steaming away to their families. - -Let us stand here and see them come in. Here is a poor famishing fellow, -who looks with eager eyes at the savoury mess. He has evidently seen -better days. There is an unmistakable air of education about him, and as -he sits down with his basin and spoon, and the handful of broken bread, -which is added to the soup from one of a series of clean sacks emptied -for the purpose, the superintendent, Mr. Stevens, scans him with a quick -eye, and will probably speak to him before he leaves. There is a -foreigner--an Italian, by the look of his oval olive face--who takes his -place very quietly, and as quietly begins to eat; and yonder a -famished-looking, rough fellow, who has already devoured the basinful -with his eyes, and is evidently in sore need. Men, women, and children, -or, at all events, boys and girls, come and present their tickets, and -receive this immediate relief, against which surely not the most -rigorous opponent to mendicancy can protest. The cadger and the -professional beggar do not go to the soup-kitchen where nothing is -charged, for they do not need food, and will only see a ticket where it -is likely to be accompanied by the penny which will buy a quart. Be sure -that there are few cases here which are not so necessitous that they are -not far from starvation; and many of them represent actually desperate -want. - -The tickets for obtaining this prompt relief--often only just in time to -save some poor creature from utter destitution and crime, and as often -administered when a family is without food, and yet clings to the hope -of finding work to prevent that separation which they must submit to by -becoming paupers--are placed in the hands of clergymen, doctors, -district visitors, Bible-women, and those who know the poor, and can -feel for them when in hard times they pawn furniture, tools, and -clothes, and suffer the extremity of want, before they will apply for -parochial relief, and have offered to them the alternative of "going -into the house." - -The annals of the poor, from which extracts occasionally appear in the -newspapers in the accounts of coroners' inquests, prove to what dreadful -sufferings many decent but destitute people will submit rather than -become recognised paupers; and no system of charitable relief outside -the workhouse walls will be effectual or useful which does not recognise -and respect this feeling. Who would let the possible accident of some -unworthy person getting a gratuitous pint of soup stand in the way of a -work such as we see going on here, where one year's beneficent action -includes above ten thousand persons relieved?--a large number of whom -are temporarily taken into the Hospice, as we shall see presently, while -a great contingent is represented by the family tickets, which enable -poor working men and women from various districts in London to carry -away a gallon of strong nourishing soup, and an apronful of bread to -their hungry little ones. You see that great heap of pieces of fine -bread--slices, hunches, remnants of big loaves, dry toast, French bread, -brown bread, and rolls--all placed in a clean wooden bin, they also come -from the two great West End clubs before mentioned, and are so -appreciated by the applicants for relief (they being usually good judges -of quality) that you may note a look of disappointment if the stock of -club bread has been exhausted, and a portion of one of the common loaves -bought for the purpose is substituted. The small broken bread in those -clean sacks is club bread also--the crumbs from rich men's tables, but -clean, and thoroughly good, fit for immediate addition to the soup, -which a hungry company of diners consume in a painfully short space of -time. - -They are not inhabitants of this district, either; comparatively few -come from the immediate neighbourhood, though, of course, some poor -families of the adjacent streets and alleys, and occasionally foreign -workmen--many of them adepts in artistic employments, who are in the -land of the stranger and in want--come here and have not only the help -of a meal, but the kind inquiry, the further aid that will sustain hope, -and enable them to look for work, and find the means of living. -Londoners from Kentish Town, Lambeth, Shoreditch, and Chelsea--poor -hungry men and women from all parts of the great city--find their way -here to obtain a dinner; and it is extremely unlikely that they would -leave even the least profitable employment and walk so far for the sake -of a basin of soup. Food alone is offered, not money, and there is -little probability of imposition when there is so little to be gained by -the attempt. But while the great cauldrons are being emptied, let us -hear what they do at this "Mont St. Bernard Hospice" at the Christmas -season. - -Here is a list of good things that were sent at Christmas-tide for a -special purpose:--A noble earl sent a sheep, if not more than one, and -other generous givers in kind--many of them manufacturers of or dealers -in the articles they contributed--forwarded loaves, biscuits, hams, -rice, flour, currants, raisins, ale, porter, cocoa, peas, and other -comfortable meats and drinks, so that there was a glorious distribution -to the poor on Christmas Eve, when 936 families were provided with a -Christmas dinner, consisting of 4 lbs. of beef, 3 lbs. of pudding, -bread, tea, and sugar, together with such other seasonable and most -acceptable gifts as were apportioned to them in accordance with the -number of their children and the quantity of miscellaneous eatables and -drinkables available for the purpose. - -But we have not quite done with it yet, for it is a hospice in fact, as -well as in name. Just as in the Newport Market Refuge, the houseless and -destitute are received with little question--the homeless and friendless -are here taken in after little inquiry, even the subscriber's ticket for -admission being occasionally dispensed with, when Mr. Stevens, the -superintendent, sees an obviously worthy case among the applicants who -come to ask for a meal. It must be remembered, however, that an -experienced eye can detect the casual very readily, and that Mr. -Stevens, who served with his friend Mr. Ramsden, of Newport Market, when -they were both in the army, is as smart a detective as that shrewd and -compassionate officer. It is so much the better for those who are really -deserving--so much the better even for those who, being ashamed to dig, -are not ashamed to beg--the ne'er-do-weels who, even in the degradation -of poverty brought about by idleness and dissipation, come down to -solicit food and shelter, and find both, together with ready help, if -they will mend their ways. There are some such, but not many: more often -a man of education, broken by misfortune, and perhaps by the loss of a -situation through failure or accident beyond his control, finds himself -starving and desolate. Such men have come here, and found, first, food, -then a lavatory, then a bed in a good-sized room, where only seven or -eight persons are received to sleep, then a confidential talk, advice, -the introduction to people willing and able to help them among the -committee and subscribers of the Institution. - -It may be a French tutor destitute in London, but with his character and -ability beyond doubt; it may be, it _has_ been, a young foreign artist; -a skilled labourer from the country, who has come to London to find work -and finds want instead; a poor school-teacher who, having lost an -appointment, and being unable to work at any other calling, is in -despair, and knows not where to turn; an honest fellow, ready and -willing to turn his hand to anything, but finding nothing to which he -can turn his hand without an introduction. Such are the cases which are -received at this hospice in Ham Yard, where they are permitted to remain -for a day or two, or even for a week or two, till they find work, or -till somebody can make inquiries about them and help them to what they -seek. - -About seven men and eight women can be received within the walls, but -there are seldom the full number there, because it is necessary to -discriminate carefully. The object is to relieve immediate and painful -distress, and to give that timely aid which averts starvation by the -gift of food, and prevents the degradation of pauperism by means of -advice, assistance, and just so much support as will give the stricken -and friendless men or women time to recover from the first stupor of -hopelessness or the dread of perishing, and at the same time afford the -opportunity of proving that they are ready and willing to begin anew, -with the consciousness that they have not been left desolate. - - - - -_GIVING REST TO THE WEARY._ - - -We have not yet done with this wonderful district of Soho. It is one of -those attractive quarters of London, which is interesting alike for its -historical associations and for memorable houses that were once -inhabited by famous men. In essays, letters, fiction--all through that -period which has been called the Augustan age of English literature--we -find allusions to it; and after that time it continued to be the -favourite resort of artists, men of letters, wealthy merchants, and not -a few statesmen and eminent politicians. In Leicester Square, Hogarth -laughed, moralised, and painted. The house of Sir Joshua Reynolds stands -yet in that now renovated space, and a well-known artist has a studio -there to-day. But the tide of fashion has receded since powdered wigs -and sedan chairs disappeared. The tall stately houses are many of them -dismantled, or are converted into manufactories and workshops. The great -iron extinguishers which still adorn the iron railings by the doorsteps -have nearly rusted away. It must be a century since the flambeaux -carried by running footmen were last thrust into them, when great -rumbling, creaking coaches drew up and landed visitors before the -dimly-lighted portals. Silence and decay are the characteristics of many -a once goodly mansion; and the houses themselves are not unfrequently -associated with the relief of that poverty which is everywhere so -apparent as to appeal to almost every form of charity. Before one such -house we are standing now, its quietly opening door revealing a broad -lofty hall, from which a great staircase, with heavy baluster of black -oak and panelled walls leads to the spacious rooms above. This mansion -is historical, too, in its way, for we are at the corner of Soho Square, -in Greek Street, and are about to enter what was once the London -residence of the famous Alderman Beckford, and his equally famous -son--the man who inherited the mysterious and gorgeously furnished -palace at Fonthill, the author of "Vathek," the half-recluse who bought -Gibbon's extensive library at Lausanne, that he might have "something to -amuse him when he went that way," and afterwards went that way, read -himself nearly blind, and then made a friend a present of all the books, -sold Fonthill, went abroad, and set about building another mysterious -castle in a strange land. - -In that big committee-room on the first floor, which we shall visit -presently, there was to be seen, four or five years ago, a stupendous -chimney-piece of oak, elaborately carved, and said to have been a -masterpiece of Grinling Gibbons. It was taken down and sold for a -handsome sum of money, to augment the funds of the Institution which now -occupies the old mansion, for the door at which we enter receives other -guests than those who once thronged it--suffering, depressed, -poverty-stricken, weary men and women, who come here to seek the rest -that is offered to them in the quiet rooms--the restoration of meat and -drink and refreshing sleep, the comfort of hopeful words and friendly -aid. It is named "The House of Charity," and the work that its -supporters have set themselves to do is carried on so silently--I had -almost said so secretly--that the stillness you observe within the -building, as we stand here waiting for the lady who superintends the -household, is suggestive alike of the repose which is essential to the -place, and of a severe earnestness not very easy to define. - -Members of the same committee, whose earnest hearty work is apparent at -Newport Market and at the Soup Kitchen in Ham Yard, are helping this -House of Charity, which has the Archbishop of Canterbury for its patron -and the Bishop of London for its visitor. - -Here, in the two large sitting-rooms opening from the hall, we may see -part of what is being done, in giving rest to the weary and upholding -them who are ready to faint. One is for men, the other for women, who -have been received as inmates, for periods extending from a fortnight to -a longer time, according to the necessities of each case, and the -probability of obtaining suitable employment. Of course the aid is -intended to be only temporary--though in some peculiar cases it is -continued till the applicant recovers from weakness following either -uninfectious illness or want. There can be, of course, no actual -sick-nursing here; but in a warm and comfortable upper room, near the -dormitory, which we shall see presently--a room which is the day-nursery -of a few children who are also admitted--I have seen young women, one -who was suffering from a consumptive cough, another an out-patient at an -hospital for disease of the hip, and wearing an instrument till she -could be admitted as a regular case. They were both sitting cosily at -their tea, and were employed at needlework, as most of the women are who -find here a temporary home. For it is one of the beneficent results of -an influential committee, that a number of cases are sent to hospitals -or to convalescent homes, and so are restored; but till this can be done -they are fed and tended--fed with food more delicate than that of the -ordinary meal--and are allowed to rest in peace and to regain strength. - -But we are still in the men's sitting-room, where several poor fellows -are looking at the lists of advertisements in the newspapers for some -announcement of a vacant situation. A supply of books is also provided -both for men and women, and the latter are just now engaged in mending -or making their clothes. - -Between thirty and forty inmates can be received at one time, and those -who are in search of employment, or who require to go out during the -day, may leave the house after breakfast, and return either to dinner or -to tea. There are, indeed, few restrictions when once preliminary -inquiries and the recommendation of a member of the committee result in -the admission of an applicant; and it is easy to see how deeply and -thankfully many of these poor depressed men and women, beaten in the -battle of life, with little hope of regaining a foothold, weak, -dispirited, destitute, and with no strength left to struggle under the -burden that weighs them down, find help and healing, food and sleep, -advice, and very often a recommendation which places them once more in a -position of comfort and independence. A large proportion of those who -are admitted are provided with situations either permanently or for a -period long enough to enable them to turn round the difficult corner -from poverty and dependence to useful and appropriate employment. Some -are sent to Homes, hospitals, or orphanages, and many return to their -own homes. From those homes they have wandered, hoping to find the world -easier than it has proved to be, and in going back to them they have -fallen by the wayside. - -There are sometimes remarkable varieties here--emigrants waiting for -ships to sail that will bear them to another land; men of education, -such as tutors, engineers, engravers, and professional men, who have -been unsuccessful, or have lost their position, often through no -immediate fault of their own. Of course, the large class of genteel -poverty is largely represented in the five or six hundred cases which -make the average number of yearly inmates. Clerks, shopmen, and -travellers are about as numerous as servants, porters, and pages. Poor -women, many of whom are ladies by birth or previous position and -education, find the House of Charity a refuge indeed, and feel that the -person who has charge of the household arrangements, as well as those -who have charge of the inmates, the accounts and correspondence, may be -appealed to with an assurance of true sympathy. Here, beside the two -sitting-rooms, is a large room which we will call the refectory; it is -plainly furnished, with separate tables for men and women, and the -quantity and description of the food supplied is such as would be -provided in a respectable and well-ordered family--tea or coffee and -plenty of good bread-and-butter morning and evening, meat, bread and -vegetables, for dinner, and a supper of bread and cheese. There are no -"rations," nor any special limit as to quantity, and if one could forget -the distress which brings them hither, the family might be regarded as -belonging to some comfortable business establishment, with good plain -meals and club-room on each side the dining-hall for meeting in after -working hours. - -Let us go upstairs, and look at the dormitories, which occupy -respectively the right and left side of the building, and we shall see -that they are so arranged as to secure that privacy, the want of which -would be most repulsive to persons of superior condition. Each long and -lofty room is divided into a series of enclosures or cabins by -substantial partitions about eight feet high, and in each of these -separate rooms--all of which are lighted by several windows or by -gas-branches in the main apartment--there is a neat comfortable bed and -bedstead, with space for a box, a seat, and a small table or shelf. - -A resident chaplain or warden conducts morning and evening prayer in the -chapel, which is built on part of the open area at the back of the -building; and I would have you consider, not only that to many of these -weary souls this sacred spot may come to be associated with that outcome -to renewed life for which their presence in the Institution gives them -reason to hope, but that it is most desirable for the invalids, who -frequently form so large a portion of the congregation, to be able to -attend worship without practically leaving the house. - -Not only because of the sick and the physically feeble, however, does -the House of Charity represent a work that needs vast extension. - -The case-book would reveal a series of stories none the less affecting -because they are entered plainly, briefly, and without waste of words. -They need few touches of art to make them painfully interesting. They -tell of ladies, wives of professional men, brought to widowhood and -sudden poverty; of men of education cast adrift through failure or false -friendship, and not knowing where to seek bread; of children left -destitute or deserted under peculiar circumstances; of women removed -from persecution, and girls from the tainted atmosphere of vice; of -weary wanderers who, in despair of finding such a shelter, and dreading -the common lodging-house, have spent nights in the parks; of foreigners -stranded on the shore of a strange city; of ministers of the gospel -brought low; of friendless servant-girls, ill-treated, defrauded of -their wages, or discharged almost penniless, and cast loose amidst the -whirlpool of London streets. - -But, as I have already intimated, it is not alone for its temporary aid -in affording a home that the House of Charity is distinguished; it -affords a good hope also, by seeking to obtain situations, for cases -where peculiar circumstances make such a search difficult--for bereaved -and impoverished ladies, and for educated men, as well as for domestic -servants and ordinary employés. Its supporters give their special aid to -the work, and, as they number amongst them many ladies and gentlemen of -considerable social influence, employment is frequently found for those -whose misfortunes would otherwise be almost irretrievable. - - - - -_WITH THE POOR AND NEEDY._ - - -"All hope abandon, ye who enter here," would, as we might fancy, be an -appropriate inscription for many a wretched court and alley in the -greatest and most opulent city in the world--a city distinguished for -its claims to be regarded as the centre of civilisation; as the exemplar -of benevolence, and of active Christianity. It is one of the marvellous -results of the vast extent of this metropolis of England that there are -whole districts of foul dwellings crowded with a poverty-stricken -population, which yet are almost ignored, so far as public recognition -of their existence is concerned. Legislation itself does not reach them, -in the sense of compelling the strict observance of Acts of Parliament -framed and presumably enforced for the purpose of maintaining sanitary -conditions; philanthropy almost stands appalled at the difficulty of -dealing with a chronic necessity so widely spread, a misery and -ignorance so deep and apparently impregnable; sentimentalism sighs and -turns away with a shiver, or is touched to the extent of relieving its -overcharged susceptibilities by the comfortable expedient of the -smallest subscription to some association in the neighbourhood. True, -active, practical religion alone, of all the agencies that have operated -in these places, gains ground inch by inch, and at last exercises a -definite and beneficial influence, by taking hold of the hearts and -consciences of the people themselves, and working from within the area -of vice and misery, till the law of love, beginning to operate where the -law of force had no influence, a change, gradual but sure, here a little -and there a little, is effected. - -We are continually hearing of the "dwellings of the poor;" and can -scarcely take up a newspaper without noting the phrase, "one of the -worst neighbourhoods in London," connected with some report of crime, -outrage, or suffering; yet how few of us are really familiar with the -actual abodes of the more degraded and miserable of our fellow-citizens! -how quickly, how gladly, we dismiss from our memory the account of an -inquest where the evidence of the cause of death of some unfortunate -man, woman, or child, without a natural share of light, air, food, and -water, reveals hideous details of want and wretchedness, which we might -witness only a few streets off, and yet are unconscious of their -nearness to us in mere physical yards and furlongs, because they are so -far from us spiritually, in our lack of sympathy and compassion. - -Even at the time that these lines are being written I have before me a -report of an examination by the coroner into the circumstances attending -the death of a woman seventy years of age, who obtained a miserable and -precarious living by stay-making, and who was found dead in the back -kitchen of a house. Her death was alleged to have been brought about by -the unhealthiness of the house in which she lived, although the landlord -was a medical officer of health for one of the metropolitan districts. - -In this case the alleged landlord, who was actually a medical officer of -health, answered the charge made against him by the statement that he -had only just come into possession of the property, and had at once set -about putting it in repair. It is to be hoped that this was the case, -and, indeed, the evidence of the sanitary inspector went to show that it -was so; but the question remains: How is it that dwellings are permitted -to be thus overcrowded, and to become actual centres of pestilence in -the midst of entire neighbourhoods, where, for one foul tenement to have -an infamous reputation amidst such general filth and dilapidation, it -must indeed be, as one member of the jury said this place was, "so bad, -that no gentleman would keep his dog there?" - -Keep his dog indeed! Why I know whole rows and congeries of intersecting -courts and alleys where a country squire would no more think of -kennelling his hounds than he would dream of stabling his horses! There -has during the past few years been a tolerably determined stand made -against the introduction of pigsties into the back-yards of some of the -hovels about Mile End and Bethnal Green; and though cow-sheds are not -altogether abolished everywhere in close and overbuilt localities, there -are some precautions taken to diminish the sale of infected milk by an -inspection of the laystalls, and the enforcement of lime-whiting and -ventilation in the sheds. Costermongers' donkeys are the only animals -besides dogs and cats which are commonly to be found in London slums -now, and as these can be stowed in any shanty just outside the back -door, or can be littered down in a spare corner of a cellar, they -remain, in costermongering districts, without much opposition on the -part of the local authorities. For, after all, what can these -authorities do? Under the 35th section of the Sanitary Act, power was -given to them to register all houses let out by non-resident landlords, -who were under a penalty of forty shillings for not keeping their houses -in repair, well supplied with water, drainage clear, &c. To those who -have an intimate acquaintance with the density of population in whole -acreages of London slums, there is something almost ludicrous in these -words, especially when they are read in the light of the fact that the -landlords of such places are frequently parochial magnates or officials -who know how to make things pleasant with subordinate sanitary -inspectors. - -What may be the ultimate result of an Act of Parliament "for improving -the dwellings of the poor" it is not at present easy to say; but -assuredly any plan which commences by a general and imperfectly -discriminative destruction of existing houses, hovels though they may -be, will only have the effect of crowding more closely the already -fœtid and swarming tenements where, for half-a crown a week, eight or -ten people eat, live, and sleep in a single apartment. It was only the -other day, in a district of which I shall presently speak more -definitely, that a "mission woman" was called in to the aid of a family, -consisting of a man, his wife, his wife's brother--who was there as a -lodger--and five or six children, all of whom occupied one room, where -the poor woman had just given birth to an infant. The place was almost -destitute of furniture; beds of straw and shavings, coverlets of old -coats and such ragged clothing as could be spared; little fire and -little food. Such destitution demanded that the "maternity box," or a -suddenly-extemporised bag of baby-clothing and blankets, should be -fetched at once; and though the mission there is a poor one, with -terrible needs to mitigate, a constant demand for personal work and -noble self-sacrifice, such cases are every-day events, such demands -always to be answered by some kind of helpful sympathy, even though the -amount of relief afforded is necessarily small and temporary in -character. - -Not in one quarter of London alone, but dotted here and there throughout -its vastly-extending length and breadth--from St. Pancras, and further -away northward, to Bethnal Green and all that great series of -poverty-stricken townships and colonies of casual labour, on the east; -from the terrible purlieux of Southwark, the districts where long rows -of silent houses, in interminable streets, chill the unaccustomed -wayfarer with vague apprehensions, where "Little Hell" and the knots and -tangles of that "Thief-London" which has found a deplorable Alsatia in -the purlieux of the Borough and of Bermondsey; and so round the -metropolitan circle, westward to the neighbourhood of aristocratic -mansions and quiet suburban retreats, where the garotter skulks and the -burglar finds refuge; further towards the centre of the town, in -Westminster, not a stone's-throw from the great legislative assembly, -which, while it debates in St. Stephen's on sanitation and the -improvement of dwellings, scarcely remembers all that may be seen in St. -Peter's, about Pye Street, and remembers Seven Dials and St Giles's only -as traditional places, where "modern improvements" have made a clean -sweep, just as the Holborn Viaduct and the metropolitan Railway swept -away Field Lane, and the new meat market at Smithfield put an end for -ever to the horrible selvage of Cloth Fair--and only left the legends of -Jonathan Wild's rookery and the "blood-bowl house." - -But the very mention of these places brings the reflection that not in -outlying districts, but in the very heart of London, in the core of the -great city itself, the canker of misery, poverty, and vice is festering -still. What is the use of eviction, when the law punishes houselessness, -and the _Poor_ Law cannot meet any sudden demand, nor maintain any -continuous claim on the part of the houseless? Summarily to thrust a -score or so of wretched families into the streets is to make them either -criminals or paupers. They must find some place of shelter; and if they -are to live _by_ their labour, they must live _near_ their labour, the -wages of which are, at best, only just sufficient to procure for them -necessary food and covering for their bodies. - -In the neighbourhood to which I have already referred, four thousand -evictions have taken place, or, at any rate, the population has -diminished from 22,000 to 18,000, because of a small section of a large -puzzle map of courts and alleys having been taken down in order to build -great blocks of warehouses. The consequence is, that in the remaining -tangle of slums the people herd closer, and that a large number of poor -lodgers have gone to crowd other tenements not far distant, and which -were already peopled beyond legal measure. - -For this acreage of vice and wretchedness of which I speak is close to -the great city thoroughfares--almost within sound of Bow Bells. It is -about a quarter of a mile in extent each way, lying between the -Charterhouse and St. Luke's, close to the new meat market at Smithfield -on one side, and Finsbury Square on the other. One entrance to it is -directly through Golden Lane, Barbican; the other close to Bunhill -Fields burial ground, along a passage which bears the significant name -of "Chequer Alley." It is a maze of intersecting and interlocking -courts, streets, and alleys, some of them without any thoroughfare, some -reached by ascending or descending steps, many of them mere tanks, the -walls of which are represented by hovels inhabited by costermongers, -French-polishers, dock-labourers, chair-makers, workers at all kinds of -underpaid labour and poor handicrafts. Many of the women go out to work -at factories, or at charing, and the children are--or at least -were--left to the evil influences of the streets, till another and a -more powerful influence began to operate, slowly, but with the impetus -of faith and love, to touch even this neglected and miserable quarter of -London with "the light that lighteth every man." - -In this square quarter of a mile--which, starting from the edge of -Aldersgate, stretches to the further main thoroughfare abutting on the -pleasant border of the City Road, and includes the northern end of -Whitecross Street--there are eighty public-houses and beer-shops! - -I tell you this much, as we stand here at the entrance of Golden Lane, -but I have no intention just now to take you on a casual visit either to -the dens of wretchedness and infamy, or to the homes where poverty -abides. I must try to let you see what has been done, and is still -doing, to bring to both that Gospel which is alone efficient to change -the conditions, by changing the hearts and motives of men. I may well -avoid any description of the places which lie on either hand, for, in -fact, there is nothing picturesque in such misery, nothing specially -sensational in such crime. It is all of a sordid miserable sort; all on -a dreary dead-level of wretchedness and poverty, full of poor shifts and -expedients, or of mean brutality and indifference. There is no -show-place to which you could be taken, as it is said curious gentlemen -were at one time conducted to the dens of the mendicants, thieves, and -highwaymen of old London. Even in the tramps' kitchen the orgies, if -there are any, are of so low a kind that they would be depressing in -their monotonous degradation. - -Let us go farther, and enter this strange wilderness by its fitting -passage of Chequer Alley, so that we may, as it were, see the beginning -of the work that has been going on with more or less power for more than -thirty years. - -I think I have some acquaintance with what are the worst neighbourhoods -of London. I have made many a journey down East; have studied some of -the strange varieties of life on the shore amidst the water-side -population; have lived amidst the slums of Spitalfields, and passed -nights "Whitechapel way;" but never in any unbroken area of such extent -have I seen so much that is suggestive of utter poverty, so much -privation of the ordinary means of health and decency, as on a journey -about this district which I long ago named "The Chequers." Each court -and blind alley has the same characteristics--the same look of utter -poverty, the same want of air and light, the same blank aspect of dingy -wall and sunken doorsteps, the same square areas surrounded by hovels -with clothes'-lines stretched from house to house, almost unstirred by -any breeze that blows, shut in as they are in close caverns, only to be -entered by narrow passages between blank walls. It is the extent of this -one solid district, almost in the very centre of City life, that is so -bewildering, and wherein lies its terrible distraction. - -The labour of reformation has begun, but the labourers are few. For more -than thirty years some efforts have been going on to redeem this -neglected and unnoticed neighbourhood, which lies so near to, and yet so -far from London's heart. - -Let it be noted that this moral effort had gone on for nearly -twenty-nine years before any very definite attempt was made to improve -the physical condition of the place. - -In 1841 a tract distributor, Miss Macarthy, began an organised endeavour -to teach the depraved inhabitants of Chequer Alley. In 1869, a sanitary -surveyor, reporting on _one_ of the courts of this foul district, -recommended that the premises there should be demolished under the -"Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act," because the floors and -ceilings were considerably out of level, some of the walls saturated -with filth and water, the others broken and falling down, doors, -window-sashes and frames rotten, stairs dilapidated and dangerous, roof -leaky and admitting the rain, no provisions for decency, and a foul and -failing water supply. - -The "pulling-down" remedy, without any simultaneous building up, has -been extended since then in a locality where a model lodging-house, -which has been erected, has stood for years almost unoccupied, because -like all model lodging-houses in such neighbourhoods, neither the -provisions nor the rentals are adapted to meet the wants and the means -of the poorest, of whom, as I have already said, a whole family cannot -afford to pay more than the rental for a single room, or two rooms at -the utmost. - -But we are wandering away from the work that we came to see. Look at -that wistful young native, standing there quite close to the mouth of -Chequer Alley. Ask him what is that sound of children's voices from a -casually-opened doorway, and he will tell you "It's our school; yer kin -go in, sir, if yer like--anybody kin." As the name of the institution is -"Hope Schools for All," his invitation is doubtless authorised, and we -may well feel that we have made a mistake in thinking of the Italian -poet's hopeless line, for out of the doorway there comes a sound of -singing, and inside the doorway is a room containing fifty or sixty -"infants," seated on low forms, and many of them such bright, rosy--yes, -rosy--clean--yes, comparatively, if not superlatively clean--little -creatures, that hope itself springs to fresh life in their presence. It -is thirty-four years since Miss Macarthy, with an earnest desire to -initiate some work of charity and mercy, resolved to become a -distributor of tracts, and the district she chose was this same foul -tangle to which I have asked you to accompany me. Bad as the whole -neighbourhood is now, it was worse then. It was never what is called a -thief-quarter, but many juvenile thieves haunted it; and the men were as -ruffianly and abusive, the women as violent and evil-tongued as any who -could be found in all London. Instead of being paved, and partially and -insufficiently drained, it was a fœtid swamp, with here and there a -pool where ducks swam, while the foul odours of the place were -suffocating. No constable dare enter far into the maze without a -companion. But the tract distributor ventured. In the midst of an -epidemic of typhus, or what is known as "poverty" fever, she went about -among the people, and strove to fix their attention on the message that -she carried. The religious services commenced in a rat-catcher's "front -parlour," and at first the congregation broke into the hymns with scraps -and choruses of songs. The crowd which collected outside not only -interrupted the proceedings, but threatened those who conducted them -with personal violence, and even assaulted them, and heaped insult upon -them; but the lady who had put her hand to the plough would not turn -back. In the midst of her patient and difficult work she herself was -stricken down with fever. She had visited and tended those who were -suffering. When the question was asked what had become of her, the -barbarous people learnt that she was like to die. Perhaps this touched -the hearts of some of them, for she had begun to live down the brutal -opposition of those who could not believe in unselfish endeavours to -benefit them. She recovered, however; and supported by others, who gave -both money and personal effort, the beneficent work went on. - -In this large room where the children are singing we have an example of -what has been effected. Some of the little creatures are pale, and have -that wistful look that goes to the heart; but there are few of them that -have not clean faces, and who do not show in the scanty little dresses -some attempt at decent preparation for meeting "the guv'ness." - -There is a school for elder children also; and in the ramshackle old -house where the classes are held there are appliances which mark the -wide application of the beneficent effort that has grown slowly but -surely, not only in scope, but in its quiet influence upon the people -amidst whom it was inaugurated. Yonder, in a kind of covered yard, is a -huge copper, the honoured source of those "penny dinners," and those -quarts and gallons of soup which have been such a boon to the -neighbourhood, where food is scarce, and dear. Then there was the -Christmas dinner, at which some hundreds of little guests were supplied -with roast meat and pudding, evidences of how much may be effected -within a very small space. Indeed, this Hope School, with its two or -three rooms, is at work day and night; for not only are the children -taught--children not eligible for those Board schools which, unless the -board itself mitigates its technical demands, will shut up this and -similar institutions before any provision is made for transferring the -children to the care of a Government department--but there are "mothers' -meetings," sewing classes, where poor women can obtain materials at cost -price, and be taught to make them into articles of clothing. There are -also adult classes, and Sunday evening services for those who would -never appear at church or chapel but for such an easy transition from -their poor homes to the plain neighbourly congregation assembled there. -There are evenings, too, when lectures, dissolving views, social teas, -and pleasant friendly meetings bring the people together with humanising -influences. It becomes a very serious question for the London School -Board to consider whether, by demanding that ragged schools such as this -shall be closed if they do not show a certain technical standard of -teaching, the means of partially feeding and clothing, which are in such -cases inseparable from instructing, shall be destroyed. - -But here is a youthful guide--a shambling, shock-headed lad, with only -three-quarters of a pair of shoes, and without a cap, who is to be our -guide to another great work, on the Golden Lane side of this great -zigzag, to the "Costermongers' Mission," in fact. You may follow him -with confidence, for he is a Hope School-boy--and that means something, -even in Chequer Alley. - -Still threading our way through those dim alleys, where each one looks -like a _cul-de-sac_, but yet may be the devious entrance to another more -foul and forbidding, we leave the "Hope-for-All" Mission Room resounding -with infant voices, all murmuring the simple lessons of the day. That -room is seldom empty, because of the evening school where a large class -of older pupils are taught, reading, writing, and arithmetic; the adult -class, and the "mothers' meeting," to which poor women are invited that -they may be assisted to make garments for themselves and their children -from materials furnished for them at a cheap rate in such quantities as -their poor savings can purchase. The visiting "Bible woman" is the chief -agent in these works of mercy, since she brings parents and children to -the school, and reports cases of severe distress to be relieved when -there are funds for the purpose. Not only by teaching and sewing, -however, are the hopeful influences of the place supported, for, as I -have said already, in this big room the people of the district are -invited to assemble to listen to lectures, readings, and music, to see -dissolving views; and in the summer, when fields are in their beauty and -the hedge-rows are full of glory, there is an excursion into the country -for the poor, little, pallid children, while, strangest sight of all, a -real "flower show" is, or was, held in Chequer Alley. One could almost -pity the flowers, if we had any pity to spare from the stunted buds and -blossoms of humanity who grow pale and sicken and so often die in this -foul neighbourhood. - -But we have strange sights yet to see, so let us continue our excursion -in and out, and round and round, not without some feeling of giddiness -and sickness of heart, through the "Pigeons"--a tavern, the passage of -which is itself a connecting link between two suspicious-looking -courts--round by beershops all blank and beetling, and silent; past -low-browed doorways and dim-curtained windows of tramps' kitchens, and -the abodes of more poverty, misery, and it may be crime, than you will -find within a similar space in any neighbourhood in London, or out of -it, except perhaps in about five streets "down East," or in certain dens -of Liverpool and Manchester. - -One moment. You see where a great sudden gap appears to have been made -on one side of Golden Lane. That gap represents houses pulled down to -erect great blocks of building for warehouses or factories, and it also -represents the space in which above 4,000 people lived when the -population of this square quarter of mile of poverty and dirt was 22,000 -souls. This will give you some idea of the consequences of making what -are called "clean sweeps," by demolishing whole neighbourhoods before -other dwellings are provided for the evicted tenants. One result of this -method of improving the dwellings of the poor is that the people crowd -closer, either in their own or in some adjacent neighbourhood, where -rents are low and landlords are not particular how many inmates lodge in -a single room. Remember that whole families can only earn just enough to -keep them from starving, and cannot afford to pay more than half-a-crown -or three-and-sixpence a week for rent. They must live near their work, -or they lose time, and time means pence, and pence represent the -difference between eating and fasting. - -"The model lodging-house!" See, there is one, and it is nearly empty. -How should it be otherwise? The proprietors of such places, whether they -be philanthropists or speculators--and they are not likely to be the -latter--can never see a return of any profitable percentage on their -outlay while they enforce necessary sanitary laws. The top-rooms are -half-a-crown a week each, and the lower "sets" range from about six -shillings for two to eight-and-sixpence for three rooms. The consequence -is that the few tenants in this particular building are frequently -changing their quarters. Some of them try it, and fall into arrear, and -are ejected, or want to introduce whole families into a single room, as -they do in these surrounding courts and alleys, and this, of course, is -not permitted. Imagine one vast building crowded at the same rate as -some of these two-storeyed houses are! Ask the missionary, whose duty -takes her up scores of creaking staircases, to places where eight or ten -human beings eat, drink, sleep, and even work, in one small room--where -father, mother, children, and sometimes also a brother or sister-in-law, -herd together, that they may live on the common earnings; places where -children are born, and men, women, and children die; and the new-born -babe must be clothed by the aid of the "maternity box," and the dead -must be buried by the help of money advanced to pay for the plainest -decent funeral. - -I do not propose to take you to any of these sights. You could do little -good unless you became familiar with them, and entered into the work of -visitation. Even in the published reports of the organisation to which -we are now going, the "cases" are not dwelt upon, only one or two are -given from the experiences of the missionary, and she speaks of them -simply as examples of the kind of destitution which characterises a -district where deplorable poverty is the result sometimes of drink, or -what, for want of a word applicable to the saving of pence, is termed -improvidence; but frequently also, because of sickness, and the want -even of poorly-paid employment. "In such cases," says the report, -"almost everything is parted with to procure food and shelter _outside_ -the workhouse." - -One of the two "ordinary" cases referred to was that of a poor woman who -was "found lying on a sack of shavings on the floor, with an infant two -days old; also a child lying dead from fever, and two other children -crying for food. None had more than a solitary garment on. The smell of -the room was such that the missionary was quite overcome until she had -opened the window. Clean linen was obtained, and their temporal and -spiritual wants at once looked after." This was in the Report of above a -year ago; but cases only just less distressing occur daily still. This -foul and neglected district, which lies like an ulcer upon the great -opulent city, the centre of civilization and benevolence, seems to be as -far from us as though it were a part of some savage or semi-heathen land -under British influence. Indeed, in the latter case, there would be a -probability of more earnest effort on behalf of the benighted people, on -whose behalf meetings would perhaps be held, and a committee of inquiry -and distribution appointed. Still, let us be thankful that something is -done. Twenty-nine poor mothers have had the benefit of the maternity -fund and clothing, the Report tells us. "They are very grateful for this -assistance in their terrible need. Frequently the distress is so great -that two changes of clothing are given to mother and babe, or they would -be almost entirely denuded when the time arrived for returning the -boxes. Our lady subscribers at a distance may be glad to know that -blankets, sheets, flannel petticoats, warm shawls, and babies' clothing -will always be acceptable." Thus writes Mrs. Orsman on the subject, for -the mission is known as the Golden Lane Mission, and more popularly as -"Mr. Orsman's Mission to the Costermongers." Perhaps these words -scarcely denote the scope of the work; but costermongers must be taken -as a representative term in a district where, in an area of a square -quarter of a mile, there are, or recently were, eighty public-houses and -beershops, and a dense mass of inhabitants, including street-traders or -hucksters, labourers, charwomen, road-sweepers, drovers, French -polishers, artificial flower-makers, toy-makers, with what is now a -compact and really representative body of costermongers, working -earnestly enough to keep to the right way, and, as they always did, -forming a somewhat distinctive part of the population. - -Sixteen years ago, Mr. Orsman began the work of endeavouring to carry -the gospel to the rough-and-ready savages of this benighted field for -missionary enterprise. He held an official appointment, and this was his -business "after office hours." About the results of his own labour he -and his Reports are modestly reticent, but at all events it began to -bear fruit. Others joined in it; a regular mission was established, and, -with vigorous growth, shot out several branches, so wisely uniting what -may be called the secular or temporal with the spiritual and religious -interest, that the Bread of Life was not altogether separated from that -need for the bread which perishes. These branches are full of sap -to-day, and one of them is also full of promising buds and blossoms, if -we are to judge of the rows of ragged--but not unhappy--urchins who fill -this large room or hall of the Mission-house. - -It is only the first-floor of two ordinary houses knocked into one, but -a great work is going on. The parochial school was once held here, and -now the room is full of children who might still be untaught but for the -effort which made the Ragged School a first consideration in an -endeavour to redeem the whole social life of the district. Wisely -enough, the School Board accepted the aid which this free day-school for -ragged and nearly destitute children affords to a class which the -Education Act has not yet taught us how to teach. - -In four years, out of ninety-five boys and girls who entered situations -from this school, only one was dismissed for dishonesty, and it was -afterwards found that he was the dupe of the foreman of the place at -which he worked. - -Well may Mr. Harwood, the school superintendent, be glad in the labour -that he has learnt to love in spite of all the sordid surroundings. -There is life in the midst of these dim courts--a ragged-school and a -church, which is poor, but not, strictly speaking, ragged. In fact, "the -patching class" for ragged boys, which meets on Thursdays, from five to -seven in the afternoon, remedies even the tattered garments of the poor -little fellows, who, having only one suit, must take off their -habiliments in order to mend them. Occasional gifts of second-hand -clothes are amongst the most useful stock of the schoolmaster, as -anybody may believe who sees the long rows of children, many of them, -like our juvenile guide, with two odd boots, which are mere flaps of -leather, and attire which it would be exaggeration to call a jacket and -trousers. - -The school-room is also the church and the lecture-hall. It will hold -300 people; and the Sunday-evening congregation fills it thoroughly, -while, on week-nights, special services, and frequently lectures, -entertainments, and attractive social gatherings bring the costers and -their friends in great force. - -The chief of the costermongers is the Earl of Shaftesbury; and here, -standing as it were at livery in a quiet corner of a shanty close to the -coal-shed, is the earl's barrow, emblazoned with his crest. This -remarkable vehicle, and a donkey complimentarily named the "Earl," which -took a prize at a Golden Lane donkey show, designate his lordship as -president of the "Barrow Club," a flourishing institution, intended to -supersede the usurious barrow-lenders, who once let out these necessary -adjuncts to the costermongering business at a tremendous hire. Now the -proprietors of the barrows, going on the hire and ultimate -purchase-system, are prospering greatly. There are free evening classes, -mothers' meetings, a free lending library, a free singing class, a penny -savings bank, dinners to destitute children, numbering more than 10,000 -a year, a soup-kitchen, tea-meetings, and other agencies, all of which -are kept going morning, noon, and night, within the narrow limits of -these two houses made into one. It is here, too, that the annual meeting -is held, an account of which every year filters through the newspapers -to the outer world--"The Costermongers' Annual Tea-Party." The records -of this united and earnest assembly have been so recently given to the -public, that I need not repeat them to you as we stand here in the lower -rooms, whence the big cakes, the basins of tea, the huge sandwiches of -bread and beef, were conveyed to the 200 guests. But as we depart, after -shaking Mr. Harwood by the hand, let me remind you that it has been by -the hearty, human, living influence of religion that these results have -been effected. The stones of scientific or secular controversy have not -been offered instead of food spiritual and temporal. The mission-hall -has been made the centre; and from it has spread various healing, -purifying, ameliorating influences. From this we may well take a lesson -for the benefit of another organised effort which appeals to us for -help--that of the London City Mission. This institution is trying to -effect for various districts and several classes of the poor and -ignorant in and about London that introduction of religious teaching -which Mr. Orsman began with amongst the costermongers and others in the -benighted locality where now a clear light has begun to shine. - -At a recent meeting of the promoters of the City Mission work, held at -the Mansion House, it was stated that the 427 missionaries then employed -by the society were chosen without distinction, except that of fitness -for the office, from Churchmen, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, -Wesleyans, and Baptists, while the examining and appointing committee -were composed of thirteen clergymen of the Established Church and -thirteen Dissenting ministers. - -Anybody who is accustomed to visit the worst neighbourhoods of London -will know that these missionaries go where the regular clergy cannot -easily penetrate, and where even the parish doctor seldom lingers. Every -missionary visits once a month about 500 families, or 2,000 persons. -They read the Scriptures, exhort their listeners, hold prayer and Bible -meetings, distribute copies of the Scriptures, see that children go to -school, address the poor in rooms when they cannot persuade them to go -to church, visit and pray with the dying, lend books, hold open-air -services, endeavour to reclaim drunkards (1,546 were so restored during -the last year), admonish and frequently reclaim the vicious, raise the -fallen, and place them in asylums or induce them to return to their -homes, and work constantly for the great harvest of God to which they -are appointed. - -Then there are special missionaries appointed to visit bakers, cabmen, -drovers, omnibus men, soldiers, sailors, and foreigners of various -countries. They also go to tanneries, the docks, workhouses, hospitals, -and other places; and there is a vast harvest yet, without a sickle to -reap even a single sheaf. When will the time come, that, to the means -for carrying the sustaining comfort of the Word to men's souls, will be -added some means of helping them to realise it by such temporal aid as -will raise them from the want which paralyses and the degradation which -benumbs? - - - - -_GIVING THE FEEBLE STRENGTH._ - - -I have had occasion lately to take you with me to some of the worst -"parts of London." The phrase has become so common, that there is some -difficulty in deciding what it means; and we are obliged to come to the -conclusion, that in every quarter of this great metropolis, large and -lofty buildings, splendid mansions, gorgeous shops, and even stately -palaces, are but symbols of the partial and imperfect development of -true national greatness, and can scarcely be regarded as complete -evidences of genuine civilisation, if by that word we are to mean more -than was expressed by it in heathen times, and amidst pagan people. -Perhaps there is no more terrible reflection, amidst all the pomp and -magnificence, the vast commercial enterprise and constantly accumulating -wealth of this mighty city, than that here we may also find the extremes -of want and misery, of vice and poverty, of ignorance and suffering. -Side by side with all that makes material greatness--riches, learning, -luxury, extravagance--are examples of the deepest necessity and -degradation. "The rich and the poor" do indeed "meet together" in a very -sad sense. It would be well if the former would complete the text for -themselves, and take its meaning deep into their hearts. - -There is reason for devout thankfulness, however, that here and there -amidst the abodes of rich and poor alike, some building with special -characteristics may be seen; that not only the church but the charity -which represents practical religion does make vigorous protest against -the merely selfish heaping-up of riches without regard to the cry of the -poor. There are few neighbourhoods in which a Refuge for the homeless, a -soup-kitchen, a ragged-school, a "servants home," an orphanage, a -hospital or some asylum for the sick and suffering, does not relieve -that sense of neglect and indifference which is the first painful -impression of the thoughtful visitor to those "worst quarters," which -yet lie close behind the grand thoroughfares and splendid edifices that -distinguish aristocratic and commercial London. - -I have said enough for the present about those poverty-haunted districts -of Shoreditch, Spitalfields, and Bethnal Green, to warrant me in taking -you through them without further comment than suffices to call your -attention to the poorly-paid industries, the want and suffering, and the -too frequent neglect of the means of health and cleanliness which -unhappily distinguish them and the surrounding neighbourhoods lying -eastward. The weaver's colony can now scarcely be said to survive the -changes wrought by the removal of an entire industry from Spitalfields -to provincial manufactories, and the vast importations of foreign silks, -and yet there is in this part of London a great population of workers at -callings which are scarcely better paid than silk weaving had come to -be, previous to its comparative disappearance. - -Marvellous changes have been effected in the way of buildings and -improvements during the last thirty years, but much of the poverty and -sickness that belonged to these neighbourhoods remain. The looms may be -silent in the upper workshops with their wide leaden casements, but the -labour by which the people live seldom brings higher wages than suffice -for mere subsistence. The great building in which treasures of art and -science are collected is suggestive of some kind of recognition of the -need of the inhabitants for rational recreation and instruction, and -what is perhaps more to the purpose, it is also a recognition of their -desire for both; but it cannot be denied that the recognition has come -late, and has not been completely accompanied by those provisions for -personal comfort, health, and decency, which a stringent application of -existing laws might long ago have ensured in neighbourhoods that for -years were suffered to remain centres of pestilence. - -The greatest change ever effected in this quarter of London was that -which followed the formation of Victoria Park. That magnificent area, -with its lakes and islands, its glorious flower-beds and plantations, -its cricket-ground and great expanse of open field, made Bethnal Green -famous. There had always been a fine stretch of open country beyond what -was known as "the Green," on which the building of the Museum now -stands. A roadway between banks and hedges skirting wide fields led to -the open space where a queer old mansion could be seen amidst a few tall -trees, while beyond this again, across the canal bridge, were certain -country hostelries, one of them with what was, in that day, a famous -"tea-garden;" and, farther on, a few farms and some large old-fashioned -private residences stood amidst meadows, gardens, and cattle pastures, -on either side of the winding road leading away to the Hackney Marshes -and the low-lying fields beyond the old village of Homerton. It was on a -large portion of this rural area that Victoria Park was founded. Tavern -and farmhouse disappeared; the canal bridge was made ornamental; and -just beyond the queer old mansion that stood by the roadway, the great -stone and iron gates of "the people's pleasure-ground" were erected. - -Now, the mansion, to which I have already twice referred, was in fact -one of the few romantic buildings of the district, for it was what -remained of the house of the persecuting Bishop Bonner, and the four -most prominent of the tall trees--those having an oblong or pit -excavation of the soil at the foot of each--were traditionally the -landmarks of the martyrdom of four sisters who were there burnt at the -stake and buried in graves indicated by the hollows in the ground, which -popular superstition had declared could never be filled up. - -That they have been filled up long ago, and that on the site of the -ancient house itself another great building has been erected, you may -see to-day as we stand at the end of the long road leading to the -entrance of "the people's park." - -The abode of cruelty and bigotry has been replaced by one of the most -truly representative of all our benevolent institutions. The graves of -the martyred sisters might well take a new meaning if the spot could now -be discovered in the broad and beautifully planted garden, where feeble -men and women sun themselves into returning life and strength amidst the -gentle summer air blowing straight across from the broad woods of Epping -and Hainault miles away. - -The people's playground is fitly consummated by the people's hospital. -That the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, Victoria -Park, might well be called "the people's," is shown, not because it is -supported by state aid or by charitable endowment, on the contrary, it -depends entirely on those voluntary contributions and subscriptions -which have hitherto enabled it successfully to carry on a noble work, -but yet have only just sufficed to supply its needs, "from hand to -mouth." Yet it is essentially devoted to patients who belong to the -working population. Like the park itself it attracts crowds of visitors, -not only from the City, from Bethnal Green, Mile End, Poplar, Islington, -Camden Town, and other parts of London, but even from distant places -whence excursionists come to see and to enjoy it. This hospital receives -patients from every part of London, and even from distant country -places. There were seven inmates from York last year, as well as some -from Somerset, Hereford, Derby, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Norfolk, -Suffolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, Wiltshire, and other counties; so that -in fact the districts of Bethnal Green, Spitalfields, and Shoreditch, -represented only a very small proportion of the 781 in-patients and the -13,937 out-patients, who were admitted to medical treatment during the -twelve months. More than this, however, amongst the contributions which -are made for the support of this hospital, there must be reckoned those -collected by working men of the district in their clubs and -associations, in token of the appreciation of benefits bestowed by such -an institution to failing men and women, wives and shopmates and -relatives, who being threatened or actually stricken down with one of -those diseases which sap the life and leave the body prostrate, require -prompt skill and medical aid, even if they are not in absolute need of -nourishing food and alleviating rest. - -Standing here, in front of this broad noble building, with its many -windows, its picturesque front of red brick and white stone, its central -tower, its sheltered garden-walks, and pleasant lawn, we may well feel -glad to hear that the work done within its wards is known and -recognised. What a work it is can only be estimated by those who -remember how fell is the disease from which so many of the patients -suffer, and how great a thing it has been, even where cures could not be -effected, usefully to prolong the lives of hundreds of those who must -have died but for timely aid. Nay, even at the least, the alleviation of -suffering to those on whom death had already laid his hand has been no -small thing; and when we know that of 240,000 out-patients who have -received advice and medicines, and 10,400 in-patients whose cases have -warranted their admission to the wards, a large number of actual cures -have been effected since the establishment of this hospital, we are -entitled to regard the institution as one of the most useful that we -have ever visited together. - -Let us enter, not by the handsome broad portico in the centre of the -building, but at the out-patients' door, in order that we may see the -two waiting-rooms, where men and women bring their letters of admission, -or attend to see one of the three consulting physicians. Of these three -gentlemen the senior is Dr. Peacock, of whom it may be said that he is -the organiser of the hospital, the efficiency of which is mainly due to -his direction. This is no small praise, I am aware, but there are so -many evidences of thorough unity and completeness in all the details of -management that, considering how great a variety of cases are included -under "diseases of the chest," from the slow insidious but fatal ravages -of consumption to the sudden pang and deadly spasm of heart disease, and -the various affections of throat and lungs, it may easily be seen how -much depends upon the adoption of a system initiated by long study and -experience. The perfect arrangements which distinguish this hospital are -doubtless rendered easier by ample space and admirable appliances. -Plenty of room and plenty of air (air, however, which has been warmed to -one even temperature before it enters the wards and corridors where the -patients eat and drink, sleep and walk) are the first characteristics of -the place, while a certain chaste simplicity of ornament, and yet an -avoidance of mere utilitarian bareness, is to be observed in all that -portion of the structure where decoration may naturally be expected. - -The board-room, the secretary's room, and the various apartments devoted -to the resident officers on the ground-floor, are plain enough, however, -though they are of good size and proportions, the only really ornamental -article of furniture in the board-room being a handsome semi-grand -piano, the gift of one of the committee. This is a real boon to such of -the patients as can come to practise choral singing, as well as to those -who can listen delightedly to the amateur concerts that are periodically -performed, either in the hospital itself or in one of the wards. For -they have cheerful entertainments in this resort of the feeble, where, -to tell the truth, food is often the best physic, and sympathy and -encouragement the most potent alleviations. - -As to the actual physic--the employment of medicines--it is only in some -of the large endowed hospitals that we can see such a dispensary as this -spacious room, with its surrounding rows of bottles and drawers, its two -open windows, one communicating with the men's and the other with the -women's waiting room, its slabs, and scales and measures, on a central -counter, where 380 prescriptions will have to be made up to-day before -the alert and intelligent gentleman and his assistants who have the -control of this department, will be able to replace the current stock -out of the medical stores. - -These small cisterns, each with its tap, occupying so prominent a place -on the counter, represent the staple medicine of the establishment, pure -cod-liver oil, of which 1,200 gallons are used every year, and they are -constantly replenished from three large cylinders, or vats, containing -800 gallons, which occupy a room of their own adjoining the dispensary -and the compounding room, the latter being the place where drugs are -prepared, and the great art of pill-making is practised on a remarkable -scale. - -Continuing our walk round the hospital, we come to the consulting-rooms, -where the physicians attend daily at two o'clock, each to see his own -patients, and the reception-room, where an officer takes the letters of -introduction, and exchanges them for attendance cards. This is the door -of the museum; and though we shall be admitted, if you choose to -accompany me, it is, like other surgical museums, of professional more -than general interest, and not a public portion of the hospital. Turning -into the great main corridor, with its peculiar honeycombed red-brick -ceiling and pleasant sense of light and air, we will ascend the broad -staircase to the wards, those of the women being on the first floor, -while the men occupy a precisely similar ward on the second. These wards -consist of a series of rooms of from two to six, eight, and twelve beds -each, so as to afford opportunity for the proper classification of the -cases. A day-room is also provided for each set of wards, so that those -patients who are well enough to leave their beds may take their meals -there, or may read, play at chess, draughts, or bagatelle, or occupy -themselves with needlework. These wards and their day-rooms all open -into a light cheerful corridor, with large windows, where the inmates -may walk and talk, or read and rest, sitting or reclining upon the -couches and settees that are placed at intervals along the wall. All -through these rooms and corridors the air is kept at a medium -temperature of from fifty-five to sixty degrees, by means of hot-air or -hot-water apparatus, the latter being in use as well as the former. You -noticed, as we stood in the grounds, a large square structure of a -monumental character;--that was in fact the chamber through the sides of -which draughts of air are carried to channels beneath the building, -there they are drawn around a furnace, to be heated, and to escape -through pipes that are grouped about the entire building. In order to -ensure the necessary comfort of patients requiring a higher temperature, -each ward is provided with an open fire-place. - -It is now just dinner-time. The ample rations of meat and vegetables, -fish and milk, and the various "special diets," are coming up on the -lift from the kitchens, and in the women's day-room a very comfortable -party is just sitting down to the mid-day meal. Here, as elsewhere, -greater patience and more genuine cheerfulness are to be observed among -the women, than is as a rule displayed by the men, and there are not -wanting signs of pleasant progress towards recovery, of grateful -appreciation of the benefits received, and of a hopeful trusting spirit, -which goes far to aid the doctor and the nurse. There are, of course, -some sad sights. Looking into the wards, we may see more than one woman -for whom only a few hours of this mortal life remain; more than one -child whose emaciated form and face looks as though death itself could -bring no great change. Yet it must be remembered that cases likely soon -to terminate fatally are not admitted. The severity of the diseases and -their frequently fatal character under any condition will account for -the large proportion of sickness unto death which finds here alleviation -but not absolute cure; though, of course, the sufferers from heart -disease, who are on the whole the most cheerful, as well as those whose -affections of the lungs can be sensibly arrested, if not altogether -healed, are frequently restored to many years of useful work in the -world. On this second storey, in the men's ward, there are some very -serious cases, and some sights that have a heartache in them; yet they -are full of significance, for many of them include the spectacle of -God's sweet gift of trust and patience--the mighty courage of a quiet -mind. Yonder is a courageous fellow, who, suffering from a terrible -aneurism, had to cease his daily labour, and now lies on his back, -hopeful of cure, with a set still face and a determined yet wistful look -at the resident medical officer, or the nurse who adjusts the -india-rubber ice-bag on his chest. Here, near the door, is that which -should make us bow our heads low before the greatest mystery of mortal -life. Not the mystery of death, but the mystery of meeting death and -awaiting it. A brave, patient, noble man is sitting up in that bed, his -high forehead, fair falling hair, long tawny beard, and steady placid -eye, reminding one of some picture of Norseman or Viking. Lean and gaunt -enough in frame, his long thin hand is little but skin and bone, but it -is clasped gently by the sorrowing wife, who sits beside him, and -glances at us through tearful eyes as we enter. One can almost believe -that the sick man who is going on the great journey whither he cannot -yet take the wife who loves him, has been speaking of it calmly, there -is such an inscrutable look of absolute repose in that face. He is a -Dane, and the doctor tells us has borne his illness and great pain with -a quiet courage that has challenged the admiration of those about him--a -courage born of simple faith, let us believe, a calm resting on an -eternal foundation of peace. Here, in the corridor, is a party, some of -its members still very weak and languid, who, having just dined, are -about to take the afternoon lounge, with book or newspaper, and, leaving -them, we will conclude our visit by descending to the basement, whence -the chief medicine comes in the shape of wholesome nourishing food, of -meat and fish, of pure farina, of wine, and milk, and fresh eggs, of -clean pure linen, and even of ice, for ice is a large ingredient here, -and several tons are consumed every year. The domestic staff have their -apartments in this basement portion of the building, another division of -which is occupied by the kitchens and storerooms, while lifts for coal -and daily meals and every other requisite, ascend to the upper wards, -and shoots or wells from the upper floors convey linen and bedding that -require washing, as well as the dust and refuse of the wards, to special -receptacles. - -The kitchen itself is a sight worth seeing with its wide open range, -where prime joints are roasting, or have been roasted, and are now being -cut into great platefuls for the ordinary full-diet patients. In the -great boilers and ovens, vegetables and boiled meats, farinaceous -puddings, rice, tapioca, fish, and a dozen other articles of pure diet -are being prepared, while a reservoir of strong beef-tea represents the -nourishment of those feeble ones to whom liquid, representing either -meat or milk, is all that can be permitted. We have little time to -remain in the separate rooms, which are cool tile-lined larders, where -bread and milk and meat are kept, but among the records of donations and -contributions to the hospital it is very pleasant to read of the -multifarious gifts of food and other comforts sent from time to time by -benevolent friends. They consist of baskets of game, fruits, rice, tea, -flour, books, warm clothing for poor patients leaving the hospital, -prints, pictures, fern-cases, all kinds of useful articles, showing how -thoughtful the donors are, of what will be a solace and a comfort to the -patients, while not the least practically valuable remittances are -bundles of old linen. Still more touching, however, are the records of -gifts brought by patients themselves, or by their friends. - -"I was a patient here four years ago," says a man who has made his way -to the secretary's room, "and I made up my mind that if ever I could -scrape a guinea together I should bring it, and now I have, and here it -is, if you'll be so good as to take it, for I want to show I'm truly -grateful." - -"If you'll please accept it from us; my husband and I have put by -fifteen shillings, and want to give it to the hospital for your kindness -to our son, who was here before he died." - -These are the chronicles that show this to be a people's hospital -indeed, and that should open the hearts of those who can take pounds -instead of shillings. In such cases the secretary has ventured to remind -the grateful donors that they may be unable to afford to leave their -savings, but the evident pain, even of the hint of refusal, was reason -for accepting the poor offering. Poor, did I say? nay, rich--rich in all -that can really give value to such gifts, the wealth of the heart that -must be satisfied by giving. - -There is one more adjunct to this great human conservatory which we must -see before we leave. Down four shallow stone steps from the corridor, -and along a cheerful quiet sub-corridor, is the chapel. A very beautiful -building, with no stained glass or sumptuous detail of ornament, and yet -so admirable in its simple architectural decoration and perfect -proportions, that it is an example of what such a place should be. It is -capable of seating three or four hundred persons, and visitors are -freely admitted to the Sunday services when there is room, though of -course seats are reserved for the patients, who have "elbows" provided -in their pews, that they may be able to lean without undue fatigue. The -chapel itself was a gift of a beneficent friend, and was presented -anonymously. One day an architect waited on the committee, and simply -said that if they would permit a chapel to be erected on a vacant space -in their grounds, close to the main building, he had plans for such a -structure with him, and the whole cost would be defrayed by a client of -his, who, however, would not make known his name. The gift was accepted, -and the benevolent contract nobly fulfilled. I should be glad to hear -that some other charitable donor had sent in like manner an offer of -funds to fill those two great vacant wards which, waiting for patients, -are among the saddest sights in this hospital. - - - - -_HEALING THE SICK._ - - -Amidst the numerous great charities which distinguish this vast -metropolis, hospitals must always hold a prominent if not preeminent -place. Helpless infancy, the weakness and infirmity of old age, and -prostration by sudden accident, or the ravages of disease, are the -conditions that necessarily appeal to humanity. The latter especially is -so probable an occurrence to any of us, that we are at once impressed by -the necessity for providing some means for its alleviation. Helpless -childhood has passed, old age may seem to be in too dim a future to -challenge our immediate attention; but sickness, sudden disaster, who -shall be able to guard against these, in a world where the strongest are -often smitten down in the full tide of apparent health; where, in the -streets alone, fatal accidents are reckoned monthly as a special item in -Registrars' returns, and injuries amount annually to hundreds? - -The great endowed hospitals, therefore, those magnificent monuments of -charity which have distinguished London for so many years, and the value -of which in extending the science of medicine can scarcely be overrated, -are regarded by us all with veneration. At the same time we ought to -feel a certain thrill of pleasure, a satisfaction not far removed from -keen emotion, when we see inscribed on the front of some building, large -or small, where the work of healing is being carried on, the words, -"Supported by Voluntary Contributions." One other condition, too, seems -necessary to the complete recognition of such a charity as having -attained to the full measure of a truly beneficent work--admission to it -should be free: free not only from any demand for money payments, but -untrammelled by the necessity for seeking, often with much suffering and -delay, a governor's order or letter, by which alone a patient can be -received in many of our otherwise admirable and useful institutions for -the sick. It should be remembered that immediate aid is of the utmost -importance in the effort to heal the sick, and that delays, proverbially -dangerous, are in such cases cruel, often fatal, always damaging to the -sense of true beneficence, of the extension of help because of the -_need_ rather than for the sake of any particular influence. It would -seem that we have no right to hesitate, or to insist on the observance -of certain forms, before succouring the grievously sick and wounded, any -more than we have to withhold food from the starving till ceremonial -inquiries are answered, and certificates of character obtained. There -are cases of poverty, and even of suffering, where inquiry before -ultimate and continued relief may be useful, and personal influence may -be necessary, but extreme hunger and nakedness, cold and houselessness, -sudden injury or maiming, the pain of disease, the deep and touching -need of the sick and helpless, are not such. Prompt and effectual -measures for relief, and, if necessary, admission to the place where -that relief can alone be afforded, will be the only means of completely -meeting these wants. Free hospitals, freer even than workhouses, are -what we need, and I am about to visit one of them to-day which rejoices -in its name, "The Royal Free Hospital," now in its forty-seventh year of -useful and, I am glad to say, of vigorous life. - -To anyone acquainted with that strange neighbourhood which is -represented by Gray's Inn Lane and all the queer jumble of courts and -alleys that seem to shrink behind the shelter of the broad thoroughfare -of Holborn, there is something consistent in the establishment of such a -noble charity as this hospital in Gray's Inn Road. Its very position -seems to indicate the nature and extent of its duties. Near the homes of -poverty, the streets where people live who cannot go far to seek aid in -their extremest need, it receives those who, breaking down through -sudden disease, or requiring medical and surgical skill to relieve the -pain and weakness of recurrent malady, have no resource but this to -enable them to fulfil their one great desire "to get back to work." The -causes of much of the sickness which sends patients thither may be -preventable: they may be found in foul dwellings, impure water, -insufficient clothing, want of proper food, alternate hunger and -intemperance; but whatever may be its occasion, a remedy must be found -for it. Till all that is preventable _is_ prevented, the consequences -will have to be mitigated, the fatal results averted where it is -possible; and when boards of health and sanitary measures have done, -there will still be sick men to heal, failing children to strengthen, -weak and wasting women to restore. - -It is well, then, that this Institution should stand as a landmark of -that free charity which takes help where it is needed most; and this -qualification is the more obvious when we turn from the sick wards to -the accident wards, and remember that three great railway termini are -close at hand, and others not far off; that all round that teeming -neighbourhood men, women, and even children, are working at poor -handicrafts, which render them liable to frequent injuries, and that in -the crowded streets themselves--from the great busy thoroughfare of -Holborn, to the bustle and confusion of the approaches to the stations -at King's Cross--there is constant peril to life and limb. - -There is something so remarkable in the external appearance of the -building, such a military look about its bold front, such a suggestion -of a cavalry yard about the broad open area behind this tall wooden -entrance gate, that you begin to wonder how such a style of architecture -should have been adopted for a hospital. The truth is that like -many--nay, like most of our noblest work--this great provision for -healing the sick began by not waiting for full-blown opportunities. The -need was there, and the means that came to hand were used to meet it. -This building was originally the barracks of that loyal and efficient -regiment, the "Light Horse Volunteers," and so excellently had those -gallant defenders of king and constitution provided for their own -comfort and security, that when in 1842 the premises were vacant, and -the lease for sale, the governors of the Royal Free Hospital became the -purchasers, the long rooms were easily turned into ample, cheerful, and -well-ventilated wards, and the various outbuildings and offices were -quickly adapted to the reception of patients. - -But the hospital had at that date been working quietly and effectually -for above fourteen years. Fourteen years before its inauguration in -Gray's Inn Road, this "free" hospital, which was not then "royal," had -been commenced in Greville Street, Hatton Garden, and the immediate -incident which led to its foundation is so suggestive, so inseparable -from the recollection of the want which it was designed to alleviate, -and from its own generous recognition of the unfailing freedom of true -charity, that it might well be the subject of a memorial picture. Alas! -it would be a tragic reminder of those days before any provision was -made for extending medical aid to sufferers who had no credentials save -humanity and their own deep necessity. It would be a grim reminder to -us, also, that some of our great charities established for the relief of -the sick are still trammelled with those restrictions which demand -recommendations, to obtain which the applicant is often condemned to -delay and disappointment. It would show us that our hospitals are not -yet free. - -Those of my readers who can remember the entrance to the broad highway -of Holborn nearly fifty years ago--stay, that is going back beyond -probable acknowledgment,--let me say those of us who knew Smithfield -when it was a cattle market, who had heard of "Cow Cross," and been told -of the terrible purlieux of Field Lane; who had occasionally caught a -glimpse of that foul wilderness of courts that clustered about the Fleet -Ditch; had read of Mr. Fagin, when "Oliver Twist" was first appearing in -chapters, and had dim recollections of nursery tales about Bartlemy fair -and "hanging morning" at the Old Bailey; those of us who remember the -cries of drovers, and the lowing and bleating of herds and flocks in the -streets on Sunday nights; the terrible descent of Snow Hill; the -confusion and dismay of passengers and vehicles on the steep incline of -Holborn Hill; the reek of all that maze of houses and hovels that lay in -the valley; those of us, in short, who can carry our memories back for a -few years beyond the time when the new cattle market was built at -Islington, the pens and lairs of Smithfield demolished, the whole -Holborn valley dismantled, only a remnant, a mere corner, of Field Lane -being left standing after the great viaduct was built--can imagine what -the church of St. Andrew was like when, with its dark and dreary -churchyard, it stood on the slope of Holborn Hill, instead of being as -it now is in a kind of subway. That churchyard, with its iron gate, was -reached by stone steps, which were receptacles for winter rain and -summer dust, the straw from waggons, the shreds and sweepings from -adjacent shops, the dirt and refuse of the streets. - -On those steps a young girl was seen lying one night, in the winter of -1827--lying helpless, lonely, perishing of disease and famine. - -The clocks of St. Andrew, St. Sepulchre, St. Paul, had clanged and -boomed amidst the hurry and the turmoil of the throng of passengers; had -clanged and boomed till their notes might be heard above the subsiding -roar of vehicles, and the shuffling of feet, till silence crept over the -great city, and more distant chimes struck through the murky air, -tolling midnight. Still that figure lay upon the cruel stones, under the -rusty gate of the churchyard, as though, unfriended and unpitied by the -world, she waited for admission to the only place in which she might -make a claim in death, if not in life. - -Not more than eighteen years old, she had wandered wearily from some -distant place where fatal instalments of the wages of sin had done their -work. She had come to London unknown, unnoted, to die. That she had come -from afar is but a surmise; she may have been a dweller in this great -city, lost amidst the stony desert of its streets, friendless with the -friendlessness of the outcast or the wretched, to whom the acquaintances -of to-day have little care or opportunity to become the solacers of -to-morrow; she may have crept to that dark corner by the churchyard -gate, amongst the rack and refuse of the street, as a place in which -she, the unconsidered waste and refuse of our boasted civilisation, -could most fitly huddle from the cold. She was not left actually to die -there, but two days afterwards she passed out of the world where she had -been unrecognised. Not without result, however. - -Among those who had witnessed the distressing occurrence was a surgeon, -Mr. William Marsden, who for some time before had repeatedly seen cause -to lament, that with all our endowed hospitals, our great medical -schools, and the advance of scientific knowledge, the sick poor could -only obtain relief by means of letters of recommendation and other -delay, until the appointed days for admission. The sight that he had -witnessed awoke him to fresh energy. He determined to establish a -medical charity, where destitution or great poverty and disease should -be the only necessary credentials for obtaining free and _immediate_ -relief. His honest benevolent purpose did not cool; in February in the -following year (1828), the house in Greville Street was open as a free -hospital, and it was taken under the royal patronage of George IV., the -Duke of Gloucester becoming its president. - -King William IV. succeeded George IV. as the patron of this free -hospital, and one of the earliest manifestations of the interest of our -Queen in public charitable institutions was the expressed desire of her -Majesty to maintain the support which it had hitherto received, and to -confer upon it the name of the _Royal_ Free Hospital. - -It need scarcely be said that the late Duke of Sussex took a very strong -interest in this charity, and at his death it was determined to erect a -new wing, to be called "the Sussex" wing. This work was completed in -1856; and in 1863, by the aid of a zealous and indefatigable chairman of -the committee, above £5,000 was raised by special appeal for the -purposes of buying the freehold of the entire building, so that it is -now, in every sense, a free hospital, with a noble history of suffering -relieved, of the sick healed, the deserted reclaimed, the sinful -succoured, and those that were ready to perish snatched from the jaws of -death. - -Since the foundation of the modest house in Hatton Garden in 1828 above -a million and a half of poor sick and destitute patients have obtained -relief, and the average of poor patients received within its wards is -now 1,500 annually, while 45,000 out-patients resort thither from all -parts of London. The relief thus afforded costs some £8,000 a year, and -this large sum has to be provided by appeals to the public for those -contributions by which alone the continued effort can be sustained. - -Standing here within the "Moore" ward, so called after the energetic -chairman before referred to, I cannot think of any appeal that should be -more successful in securing public sympathy than these two -statements--First, that many of the inmates have been immediately -received on their own application; and secondly, that, bearing in mind -the sad story which is, as it were, the story of the foundation of the -hospital, this ward is occupied by women. Many of them are persons of -education and refinement, who yet would have no asylum if they had not -been received within these sheltering walls, others may be poor, -ignorant, and perhaps even degraded, but divine charity is large enough -to recognise in these the very need which such an effort is intended to -alleviate. Here at least is a peaceful retreat, where in quiet -reflection, in grateful recognition of mercies yet within reach, in the -sound of pitying voices, and the touch of sympathetic hands, the weary -may find rest, the throes of pain may be assuaged. - -Here are the two fundamental rules of the hospital, and they form what -one might call a double-barrelled appeal not to be easily turned aside:-- - - IN-DOOR PATIENTS. - - Foreigners, strangers, and others, in sickness or disease, having - neither friends nor homes, are admitted to the Wards of this Hospital - on their own application, so far as the means of the charity will - permit. - - OUT-DOOR PATIENTS. - - All sick and diseased persons, having no other means of obtaining - relief, may attend at this Hospital every day at Two o'clock, when they - will receive Medical and Surgical Advice and Medicine free. - -Even while I read the latter announcement the out-patients are -assembling in the waiting-room, on the right of the quadrangle; the -dispenser, in his repository of drugs, surrounded by bottles, jars, -drawers, and all the appliances for making up medicines, has set his -assistants to work, and is himself ready to begin the afternoon's duty; -the consulting-physician of the day has just taken his seat in one plain -barely-furnished apartment, the consulting-surgeon in another, while the -resident house-surgeon has completed his first inspection of -in-patients, and is ready with particulars of new cases. - -These rooms, where patients assemble, and doctors consult, are on the -right of the pleasant quadrangle, with its large centre oval garden -plot, containing a double ring of trees; and here also is the reception -room for "accidents" and urgent cases--a very suggestive room, with -styptics, immediate remedies, and prompt appliances ready to hand, but -like all the rest of the official portion of the building, very plain -and practical, with evidence of there being little time to regard mere -ease or ornament, and of a disregard of anything which is not associated -with the work that has to be done. It is the same with other apartments, -where it is obvious that no unnecessary expenditure is incurred for mere -official show. - -The business of the place is to heal by means of food, of rest, and of -medicine, and there, on the left of the quadrangle, a flight of steps -leads downwards to a wide area, where, in the kitchens, the domestic -servants are busy clearing up, after serving the eighty-eight rations -which have been issued for dinner--rations of fish, flesh, and fowl, or -those "special diets" which are taken under medical direction. There is -something about this kitchen, the store-rooms, and offices, with the -steps leading thereto, and the cat sitting blinking in the sun, which -irresistibly reminds me of the heights of Dover and some portion of the -barrack building there; the old military look of the place clings to -this Gray's Inn Road establishment still, and the visitor misses the -wonderful appliances and mechanical adaptations of some more modern -institutions, not even lifts to convey the dinners to the wards being -possible in such an edifice. - -There is some compensating comfort in noting, however, that the nursing -staff is so organised as to secure personal attention to the patients, -and that the arrangements are touchingly homely, not only in regard to -the simple furniture, the few pictures and engravings, and the little -collection of books that are to be found in the wards, but also in the -matter of sympathetic, motherly, and sisterly help, which is less -ceremonious, but not less truly loving, than is to be found in some -places of higher pretensions. - -Here, on the ground floor, the twenty-two beds of the men's severe -accident ward are always full, and some of the cases are pitiable, -including maiming by machinery, railway accidents, or injury in the -streets. The "Marsden Ward," adjoining is devoted to injuries of a less -serious kind, so that there many of the patients can help themselves. In -the women's accident ward there are three or four children, one of whom, -a pretty chubby-faced little girl of five years old, has not yet got -over her astonishment at having been run over by a cab the day before -yesterday, picked up and brought into this great room where most of the -people are in bed, only to hear that she is more frightened than hurt, -and is to go home tomorrow. There are some other little creatures, -however, suffering from very awkward accidents, and they seem to be -petted and made much of, just as they are in the women's sick ward -above, where a delicate-faced intelligent girl, herself improving -greatly under prompt treatment for an early stage of phthisis, is -delighted to have a little companion to tea with her at her bed-side, -the child being allowed to sit up in a chair, and the pair of invalids -being evidently on delightfully friendly terms. There is a lower ward, -with half a dozen little beds devoted solely to children, who are, I -think, all suffering from some form of disease of the joints. Alas! this -class of disease comes of foul dwellings, of impure or stinted food, of -want of fresh air and water; and it brings a pang to one's heart to note -the smiling little faces, the bright beaming eyes, the pretty engaging -grateful ways of some of these little ones, and yet to know how long a -time it must be before the results of the evil conditions of their lives -will be remedied at the present rate of procedure; how difficult a -problem it is to provide decent dwellings for the poor, in a city where -neighbourhoods such as that which we have just traversed have grown like -fungi, and cannot be uprooted without pain and loss which social -reformers shrink from inflicting. Thinking of this, and of all that I -have seen in this Royal Free Hospital, I am glad to carry away from it -the picture of this child's ward and its two young nurses, though I -could wish that the walls of that and all the other wards were a little -brighter with more pictures, that a fresh supply of books might soon be -sent to replenish the library, and that the flowers, that are so eagerly -accepted to deck the tables of those poor sick rooms, and carry thither -a sense of freshness, colour, and beauty, may come from the gardens and -greenhouses of those who can spare of their abundance. To keep the -eighty-eight beds full requires constant dependence on public -contributions, and yet when we think of the work that is going on here, -not the eighty-eight only, but the whole number of 102 should be ready -for applicants, who would, even then, be far too numerous to be received -at once in a hospital which, with a royal freedom of well-doing, sets an -example that might be hopefully followed by other and wealthier -charities for healing the sick. - - - - -_WITH THE PRISONER._ - - -What is the first greeting which a convict receives when he or she is -discharged from prison? - -Imagine, if you can, the shivering, shrinking, bewildered feeling of the -man or woman who, after, undergoing a term of penal servitude, some of -it passed in hours of solitary confinement, has all this great city -suddenly opened again, with its wilderness of streets, its crowd of -unfamiliar faces, its tremendous temptations, its few resources for the -friendless and the suspected, its great broad thoroughfares, where on -every side may be seen evidences of wealth and plenty; where the tavern -and the gin-shop offer a temporary solace to the wretched; and where, -also, in every neighbourhood, there are evil slums in which vice finds -companionship, and the career of dishonesty and crime can be resumed -without difficulty or delay. - -Those who have stood outside the walls of Clerkenwell or Coldbath Fields -prison, and have watched the opening of the gates whence prisoners -emerge into a freedom which is almost paralysing in its first effects, -will tell you how the appearance of these poor wretches is greeted in -low muttered tones by silent slouching men and women who await their -coming. How, after very few words of encouragement and welcome, they are -taken off to some adjacent public-house, there to celebrate their -liberation; and how, almost before a word is spoken, the male prisoner -is provided with a ready-lighted pipe from the mouth of one of his -former companions, in order that he may revive his sense of freedom by -the long-unaccustomed indulgence in tobacco. - -I should be very sorry to cavil at these marks of sympathy. They are -eminently human. They do not always mean direct temptation--that is to -say, they are not necessarily intended to induce the recipient to resume -the evil course which has led to a long and severe punishment. That the -result should be a gradual, if not an immediate, weakening of that -remorse which is too frequently sorrow for having incurred the penalty -rather than repentance of the sin that led to it, is obvious enough; but -what else is to be expected? Not many men or women come out of gaol with -a very robust morality. Without entering into the question how far our -present system of prison discipline and management is calculated to -influence the moral nature of culprits who are under punishments for -various crimes, scarcely ever classified, and never regarded in relation -to the particular circumstances under which they are committed or the -character and disposition, the social status, or the mental and moral -condition of the offender, it may be broadly and barely stated that our -penal legislation is not effectual in promoting the reclamation of the -criminal. - -Even if some determination to begin life anew, to avoid associations -that have led to infamy and disgrace to accept any labour anywhere in -order to obtain an honest subsistence, has been working in the mind of a -convict during the period of imprisonment, and under the advice and -remonstrance of the chaplain and the governor, what is to sustain such -half-formed resolutions? Supposing even that the discharged prisoner has -been so amenable to the regulations of the gaol that he or she has had -placed to the credit account that weekly "good-conduct money," which, -when the term of punishment has ended, amounts to a sum sufficient to -provide for immediate necessities, where is employment to be looked for? -In what quarter is the owner of a few shillings--which may have to last -a week or more--to seek a lodging and a meal, and that companionship -which must be one of the keenest longings of the newly-released and yet -solitary and half-dazed creature, who is ready to receive with grateful -avidity any friendly greeting that promises relief from the long -monotony of the gaol? - -Surely, then, there can be few conditions which appeal more forcibly to -Christian beneficence than that of the captive who is released after -having undergone a sentence of penal servitude, part of which has been -passed in solitary confinement. Whatever may have been the impressions -made upon the mind during the period of punishment, and the influence -exercised by instruction or exhortation, the very fact of regaining -liberty, the excitement of freedom, and the uncertainty of the first -steps a man or woman is to take outside the prison walls, will always -involve a danger, before which a very large proportion of released -convicts will succumb. - -What, then, is being done in order to extend a helping hand to these, -who are among the most destitute and unfortunate; who, even if they have -relatives, may be ashamed to seek their aid, or are doubtful of the -reception that awaits them, while the only companionship which they can -claim at once, and without question, is that which will surround them -with almost irresistible incentives to a lawless life? - -In the very centre of this vast metropolis, at the point where its great -highways converge, and yet in a modest quiet house standing a little -back from the roar and turmoil of the main street, we shall find what we -seek. Here, on the doorpost of No. 39, Charing Cross, is the name of -"The Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society," and in two or three offices on -the first floor--one of which is, in fact, a reception-room for the -discharged prisoners themselves--the work for which there is such a -constant and pressing need is steadily carried on, under the direction -of a very distinguished committee, of whom the treasurer is the Hon. -Arthur Kinnaird, and the first honorary secretary, Mr. W. Bayne Ranken, -who is assisted by Mr. S. Whitbread and Mr. L. T. Cave. In looking at -the names of the gentlemen who are concerned in this admirable effort, -you will have noticed that some of them are also associated with other -charitable organisations which we have visited together, and notably -with those of that Soho district where we last joined in the musical -diversions of the Newport Market Refuge. As we enter this front office -at Charing Cross, we have a pleasant reminder of that occasion, for we -are welcomed by the indefatigable performer on the cornet, who, when we -last met him, was making "the hills resound" in the upper room of the -old slaughter-house, and carrying all his juvenile military band with -him in one resonant outburst of harmony that awoke the echoes as far as -Seven Dials. To-day he is carrying out his ordinary secretarial and -managerial duties, as officially representing the Society, about which -he can give us some information worth hearing. - -But there are other visitors for whom preparation has already been made -in the next room--men dressed decently, and yet having a certain -furtive, unaccustomed bearing, as though they were not at the moment -quite used to their clothes or to public observation. Some of them are -not without a truculent half-defiant expression lurking beneath their -subdued demeanour; others have an open, keen outlook; and a few others, -again, both in the shape of their head and the peculiar shifty -expression of eye and mouth, and one might also say of hand, would at -once be characterised by the experienced observer of London life as men -who had "been in trouble" more than once. On the table of the front -office the object which has at once attracted our attention is a -perfectly new carpenter's basket containing a decent set of tools, and -the man for whom it is intended will be here for it by-and-by to take it -away, just as the shoemaker who has just gone out has carried with him -"a kit," with which, in addition to a little stock of money, he is about -to begin the world afresh, under the auspices of his friends, one of -whom--either a member of the committee, or the secretary, or one of the -visiting agents--will keep him in view, and give him an occasional -encouraging call while he remains in the metropolitan district. If a -situation should be found for him in the provinces, either the clergyman -of the district, or some other friend of the Society, is informed of his -previous history, and has a sincere interest in his well-doing. In no -case have the London police anything whatever to do with watching or -inspecting discharged prisoners under the care of the Society; and, on -the other hand, it is a standing rule that where situations are found -for these men and women, the employers are informed of their previous -history, though any recommendation of the Society may be regarded as a -strong inference that their _protégé_ is trying to redeem lost -character. - -It must be remembered that a report of each of those who are under the -care of the Society is made at the office once a month, either by the -man or woman in person, or by one of the visiting agents or -correspondents of the committee of management; and that, though the -police are forbidden to interfere with them, except on strong suspicion -that they are about to commit a crime, the most accurate and careful -record of their mode of life and conduct is kept at the offices of the -Society. Should they fail to observe the regulations which the Society -demands, they are liable to police surveillance instead of friendly, -encouraging, and confidential visitation; and it needs scarcely be said -that this liability is often of itself sufficient to make them desire to -retain the aid and protection which has been extended to them. - -From a long and tolerably intimate observation of the lower strata of -the London population, and of the results of various methods adopted to -check the progress of crime, I am convinced that what is called police -surveillance, as it is conducted in this country, is altogether -mischievous in relation to any probable reformation of the offender. -Even if it be denied (as it has been) that it is a practice of -police-constables to give to persons employing a discharged prisoner, -information conveyed in such a way as to lead to the loss of employment -and despair of obtaining an honest living, it is quite certain that the -constant dread of being branded as a returned felon, and the hopeless -dogged temper which such a condition produces, must be enormous -obstacles to true reclamation. The man who could really surmount them -must, whatever may have been his casual crime, be possessed of a hardy -and indomitable desire for virtue which should challenge our profound -respect. - -But, apart from what may be called legitimate surveillance of convicts -by the police, it is unfortunately notorious that members of "the -force," who occupy positions as detectives, or "active and intelligent -officers," employ agents of their own to bring them information, and -that these agents, being men of bad character--frequently thieves--are -interested for their own safety's sake in providing "charges," or -"putting up cases," by conveying information of suspected persons. This -is according to the old evil traditions that have descended to -constables from the time of Jonathan Wild, and probably earlier; but it -is obvious that where such nefarious tools are employed for obtaining -evidence which will suffice to sustain a charge and convict a prisoner, -there is constant danger to those who, having been once sentenced for -crime, are not only peculiarly liable to be drawn into fresh offences, -but are, from their position, easily made the victims of cunningly-laid -traps for their re-arrest, on a suspicion that is readily endorsed, -because of their previous conviction and the knowledge of all their -antecedents. - -It is the removal of discharged prisoners from this probability, and -from the kind of interposition that forbids their return to the paths of -honesty, and so actually produces "a criminal class," that is, in my -opinion, the best distinction of a Society like this. - -Some of the volumes of interesting records which are preserved here -would probably doubtless confirm this view. Let us refer to one only, -where a nobleman residing in London had engaged a butler who went to him -with a very excellent character, and in whom he had the greatest -confidence. Happening to have occasion to employ a detective constable -on some business, his lordship was dismayed at receiving from that -astute officer the intelligence that his trusted servant had once been -sentenced to five years' penal servitude for some dishonest act, but had -been liberated on a ticket-of-leave. Puzzled how to proceed, the -nobleman had the good sense to apply for advice to this Society, where -it was discovered that the representation of the detective was true -enough, and that the man had been recommended to a situation by the -Society itself, an intimation of his antecedents being given to the -employer. In that situation he had remained for several months, without -the least fault being brought against him, and he then applied for and -obtained the vacant and more lucrative appointment in the family of his -lordship, who, though he acknowledged he should not have engaged him had -he known of his previous fault and its punishment, kept his secret, and -retained him in his service, where he remained at the time of the last -report, respected by the household, and faithfully fulfilling his -duties. - -Probably this was one of those cases where, yielding to sudden -temptation, a man incurs for a single crime punishment that awakens -moral resolution; and it must be remembered that there are many convicts -who, while in prison they are practically undistinguished from the -habitual or the repeated criminal, or from the convict of brutalised, -undeveloped, or feeble moral nature, are in danger of being utterly -ruined because of a single and perhaps altogether unpremeditated -offence, of which they may bitterly repent. The feeling of shame, of -humiliation, of doubt as to any but a cold and deterrent reception by -former friends, the dread of scorn, derision, or abhorrence, may lead -such men or women to abandon as hopeless any expectation of resuming -their former avocations, or even of once more attaining a respectable -position. To such as these the Society offers such aid as may keep them -from the despondency that destroys; and in every case, even in that of -the wretch who has been convicted again and again, it holds out some -hope of reformation. That there is some such hope may be learned from -the fact, that even thieves--"habitual criminals"--do not, as a rule, -bring their own children up to dishonesty, and are often careful to -conceal from them the means by which they live. The ranks of crime are -not so largely augmented from the children of dishonest parents (though, -of course, evil example bears its dreadful results) as from the -neglected children of our great towns. - -But let us see what are the means adopted by the Society for helping -discharged prisoners. Of course the procedure must begin with the -prisoners themselves, in so far that they must express their willingness -to accept the aid offered to them, and make known their decision to the -governor of the prison where they are confined, and where the rules and -provisions of the Society are displayed and explained. - -This refers to the convict prisons, since only these are eligible, the -prisoners from county gaols being assisted by other organisations; -therefore, discharged convicts from Millbank, Pentonville, Portland, -Portsmouth, Chatham, Parkhurst, Dartmoor, Woking, and Brixton, are able -to seek help; and it is gratifying to know that, according to the prison -returns, of 1,579 male prisoners discharged from these places in one -year, 796 sought aid from this and local provincial societies having the -same object, the number of applicants to the London Society being 524, -or nearly two-thirds of the whole. - -On any convict, male or female, accepting the offer of the Society, and -making that decision known to the governor of the prison, the latter -forwards to this office at Charing Cross a printed document, or -recommendation, stating full particulars of the prisoner's age, date of -conviction, number of previous convictions (if any), degree of -education, religion, former trade or employment, ability to perform -labour, and general character while in prison, together with the amount -of good-conduct money which is to be allowed for work performed during -the period of incarceration. This good-conduct money may amount to a -maximum sum of £3, and the Society takes charge of it for the benefit of -the prisoner, disbursing it only as it may be required, and -supplementing it, when necessary, by a further grant of money, or even -by advances or loans as may be deemed desirable in certain cases. - -These reports from the prison governor reach the office about six weeks -before the discharge of the convicts named in them, and following them -come other papers, each of which contains a graphic personal description -of the prisoner referred to, and a fairly-executed photograph, which is -usually not without certain striking characteristics, though you will be -surprised to find how often you fail to discover the lineaments which -you have associated in fancy with lawlessness and crime. At the time of -their discharge, the men and women are conducted hither by a -plainly-clothed messenger from the prison, appointed for the purpose, -and take their places in yonder back room, where they are immediately -identified by means of the descriptions and photographs, and are then -questioned as to their capabilities and the particular employment in -which they desire to engage. It is manifestly impossible that the -Society can provide them with employment in the particular trades which -they may previously have followed, since there may be no openings in -those industries, or they may be such as would be obviously unsuitable -for persons who are still on probation. - -Should the prisoner have friends or relatives able and willing to -receive or assist him, they are communicated with, but should he be -entirely dependent on personal exertion, the agent or secretary at once -procures for him a decent outfit of clothes, and a lodging as far as -possible from the scene of his former companions. A small sum of money -is advanced for immediate subsistence, and he usually has employment -provided for him, either in a situation, at manual labour, or by being -set up in a small way at shoemaking, tailoring, or carpentering, either -as journeyman, or, where possible, on his own account. - -From six to twenty prisoners at a time are discharged from one or other -of the convict establishments and brought to the Society's offices, and -of the younger men a considerable proportion are assisted to go to sea, -others--but, alas! too few--to emigrate, while a number obtain work as -builders and contractors' labourers; and others again resume former -occupations, as potmen, waiters, or employés in various situations, -where the masters are always (if they take them on the recommendation of -the Society) fully apprised of their position. A good many are set up -again as costermongers, and in that case the agent of the Society -quietly accompanies them to market, and advances the money for their -first purchases; others go into the country and obtain work, and not a -few of the better-educated or more skilled soon obtain engagements of -various kinds, by personal application, and without reference to the -Society, though they continue to report themselves, and to be kept in -view by the agents, and, being separated from evil companionship, and -feeling that they are not altogether friendless, retrieve their position -and regain an honourable reputation. - -Of 514 men and women who were received by the Society during the year, -180 obtained employment in London and are doing well; 156 were sent to -places beyond the metropolitan district, and were placed under the -supervision of the local police; 32 were sent to relatives and friends -abroad; 57 obtained berths on board ship; 50 had failed to report and -notify their change of address as required by Act of Parliament; 23 had -been re-convicted; 6 were not satisfactorily reported on; one had died; -and 9, who had been recently discharged at the end of the year, were -waiting for employment at the time of the Report. To read the Report -Book, recording the visits of the agents or secretary to men employed in -various avocations, and to their friends or relatives, is very -encouraging, for it shows that of a large proportion, say seventy per -cent., there is a good hope of reclamation by their long continuance in -industrious efforts to retain their situations and to work honestly in -various callings; while the reports of country cases by clergymen in the -provinces is equally satisfactory, especially as they frequently record -the return of the former convict to his family and friends, amidst whom -he earns an honourable subsistence. - -The female convicts, who are also received at the office, are, if they -cannot be sent to relatives and friends, mostly taken to a Refuge, which -has been established by the Society at Streatham, where they find a home -until situations can be obtained for them; and it is to the credit of -some earnest ladies who are willing to engage these discharged prisoners -as domestic servants that the result is often most favourable. A very -large proportion of the women return to friends, however. Of 53 who left -the Refuge at Streatham last year, 30 were received by friends, 18 -obtained situations, 3 returned to Millbank Penitentiary, 1 emigrated, -and 1 died, 25 remaining at the Refuge at the time of the report. - -In the case of these discharged female prisoners, as well as for the -sake of those men who would eagerly seize an opportunity of beginning -life anew in a new country, it would be most desirable if greater -facilities existed for promoting and assisting the emigration of such as -gave satisfactory evidence of reformation of character. The Society -finds its own funds, supported by contributions from the public, barely -sufficient to maintain, and insufficient largely to extend its useful -work. One of the committee, a resident in Canada, has rendered -invaluable assistance to emigrants recommended to his notice by the -Society. The governor of Dartmoor Prison in his Report, says:-- - -"I cannot too strongly again express my conviction that an emigration -scheme connected with the Aid Societies would be an invaluable aid to -the restoration of many casual criminals to a position of respectability -and honesty. It would be especially appreciated by those (unfortunately -a too numerous class) who had incurred the shorter sentences of penal -servitude as punishments for breaches of trust of various kinds. These -men are often cast off by their respectable friends, and, from the -shortness of their sentences, are unable to earn the additional -gratuity. With no lasting means of subsistence, and an overstocked -market for their labour, it is not to be wondered at if such men -speedily add a second conviction to their criminal career." Let us trust -that practical steps will be taken to remove this difficulty. - - -THE END. - - -BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. - - - - - _January, 1876._ - - AN ALPHABETICAL LIST - OF - HENRY S. KING & CO.'S - PUBLICATIONS. - - _65 Cornhill, and 12 Paternoster Row, London, January, 1876._ - - A LIST OF - HENRY S. KING & CO.'S - PUBLICATIONS. - - -ABBEY (Henry). - - +BALLADS OF GOOD DEEDS, AND OTHER VERSES.+ Fcap. 8vo. Cloth gilt. 5_s._ - -ADAMS (A. L.), M.A. - - +FIELD AND FOREST RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST IN NEW BRUNSWICK.+ With - Notes and Observations on the Natural History of Eastern Canada. 8vo., - cloth. Illustrated. 14_s._ - -ADAMS (F. O.), H.B.M.'s Secretary of Embassy at Paris, formerly H.B.M.'s -Chargé d'Affaires, and Secretary of Legation at Yedo. - - +THE HISTORY OF JAPAN.+ From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. - New Edition, revised. Demy 8vo. In 2 vols. With Maps and Plans. 21_s._ - each. - -ADAMS (W. 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- font-family: serif; - font-size: 110%; - line-height: 100%; } - hr.full { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, "About My Father's Business", by Thomas Archer</h1> -<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States -and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: "About My Father's Business"</p> -<p> Work Amidst the Sick, the Sad, and the Sorrowing</p> -<p>Author: Thomas Archer</p> -<p>Release Date: January 20, 2016 [eBook #50973]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS"***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="center">E-text prepared by Richard Hulse, Chris Pinfield,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive/American Libraries<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org/details/americana">https://archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive/American Libraries. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/aboutmyfathersbu1876arch"> - https://archive.org/details/aboutmyfathersbu1876arch</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="frontm"> - -<p class="large">"<i>About my Father's Business.</i>"</p> - -<p class="small">(<i>The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.</i>)</p> - -<h1>"<i>About my Father's Business</i>"</h1> - -<p><i>WORK AMIDST THE SICK, THE SAD,<br /> AND THE SORROWING</i></p> - - <p><span class="x-small">BY</span><br /> - THOMAS ARCHER</p> - - <p>AUTHOR OF<br /> - - <span class="small">"STRANGE WORK," "A FOOL'S PARADISE," "THE TERRIBLE SIGHTS OF LONDON,"<br /> - "THE PAUPER, THE THIEF, AND THE CONVICT," ETC., ETC.</span></p> -<p> </p> - - <p><span class="smcap large">Henry S. King & Co.</span><br /> - <span class="small">1876</span></p> - -</div> - -<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table id="toc" summary="ToC"> - -<tr><td></td><td class="pagno">PAGE</td></tr> - -<tr><td>THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE CHILDREN OF THE STRANGER</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THOSE WHO ARE LEFT DESOLATE</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THEM WHO WERE READY TO PERISH</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>CASTING BREAD UPON THE WATERS</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE FEEBLE AND FAINT-HEARTED</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE LITTLE ONES</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>IN THE KINGDOM</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH LOST LAMBS</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE SICK</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>BLESSING THE LITTLE CHILDREN</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THEM THAT FAINT BY THE WAY</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE HALT AND THE LAME</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THEM WHO HAVE NOT WHERE TO LAY THEIR HEADS</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>TAKING IN STRANGERS</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>FEEDING THE MULTITUDE</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>GIVING REST TO THE WEARY</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE POOR AND NEEDY</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>GIVING THE FEEBLE STRENGTH</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>HEALING THE SICK</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>WITH THE PRISONER</td><td class="pagno"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> - -</table> - -<hr /> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">{1}</a></div> - -<p class="center large">"ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS."</p> - -<h2><i>THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_W.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Would</span> -it not be useful to ask ourselves the -question whether we are forgetting the true -meaning of "charity" in the constant endeavour -to take advantage of organized benevolent -institutions, about the actual working of which we -concern ourselves very little? As the years go on, and -what we call civilisation advances, are we or are we not -losing sight of "our neighbour" in a long vista of vicarious -benefactions, bestowed through the medium of a subscription -list, or casual contributions at an "anniversary -festival?"</p> - -<p>At the speeches that are made on such occasions, -when the banquet is over, and the reading of the -amounts subscribed is accompanied by the cracking of -nuts and a crescendo or decrescendo of applause, in proportion -to the liberality of the donors, we are so frequently -reminded of "the good Samaritan," that we begin to feel -that we may claim some kind of relationship to him; and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">{2}</a></span> -may shake our heads with solemn sorrow at the inexcusable -conduct of the priest and the Levite. It would -be worth while, however, to ask ourselves whether we -quite come up to the mark of him who, finding the man -wounded and helpless by the wayside, dismounted that -he might convey the sufferer to the nearest inn; poured -out oil for his wounds and wine for his cheer; left him -with money in hand for the supply of his immediate -needs; and did not scruple—with a robust and secure -honesty—even to get into debt on his behalf: since the -crown of good-will would be the coming again to learn -of the patient's welfare. The debt was a pledge of the -intention.</p> - -<p>That was the Lord Christ's way of looking at charitable -responsibility, and at benevolent effort; and even -granting that He illustrated the answer to the question, -"Who is my neighbour?" by an extreme case of sudden -distress, the longer we look at the peculiar needs of the -man who was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, the -more perhaps we shall be convinced that there are greater, -far greater evils, and more terrible accidents, than to fall -among thieves, who temporarily rob, strip, and disable -their victim.</p> - -<p>The present fashion of dealing with such an unfortunate -traveller would very much depend on which particular -class of philanthropists the modern Samaritan -who found him by the road-side happened to belong to.</p> - -<p>Of course, it would be a scandal to our Christianity -to follow either priest or Levite, although our cowardly -sympathies might lie between the two; so, in order to -make all safe, we hit on a compromise, and, according -to our circumstances, try to find a medium line of conduct -between Samaritan and Levite, or Samaritan and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">{3}</a></span> -priest. We are ashamed to pass on without doing something, -and so we call at the inn on our way, and leave -the twopence there, in case anybody else should think -fit to bring on the man who is lying, stunned and bleeding, -in the roadway. Or else, having contrived to rouse -the poor fellow to a little effort, we borrow an ass and -take him back with us, to find some organised institution -for the relief of those who fall among thieves, where the -wine and oil are contracted for out of the funds. And -there we leave him, without remembering anything -whatever about the twopenny contribution which would -represent our own share in the benefaction.</p> - -<p>It is an awful thought, and one which it may be hoped -will soon become intolerable, that, with the mechanical -perfection of means for relieving the necessities of those -who are afflicted, there seems to grow upon us a deadly -indifference to the very deepest need of all—that personal, -human sympathy, without which all our boast -of benevolence is but as the sounding of brass and the -tinkling of a cymbal. Can it be possible that we are -approaching a condition when, refusing to have the poor -and the afflicted, the widow and the orphan always with -us, we shut them away out of our sight, leaving the whole -duty of visiting them, of clothing them, of giving them -meat and drink, to be done by an official committee; a -charitable board, distributing doles, exactly calculated, -on a carefully devised scale, and divided to the ounce or -the inch, in supposed proportion to the individual need -of each recipient? Will there ever come a time when -we shall persuade ourselves that we fulfil the law of -Christ by paying so much in the pound for a charity -rate, and leaving all the actual "relief" to be effected by -an official department, or a series of official committees?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">{4}</a></span> -The present aspect of charitable administration would -be truly appalling if this were likely to be the result, for -there are far too many evidences of that deadly indifference -which will get rid of all real personal responsibility -by paying a subscription, and will pay handsomely, too, -at the same time smiling grimly, and half satirically, at -the recollection that there are a number of people who -always have on hand "cases," of whom they are anxious -to rid themselves by placing them in any institution that -will receive them without payment.</p> - -<p>Let it not be imagined that these latter words of mine -are intended to apply to those workers among the poor, -who, with small means of their own, cannot do much -more than speak words of advice and comfort, and give -their earnest help to better the condition of sordid homes -and of neglected children. There are scores of true, -tender-hearted women who, spending much time amongst -the sick and the afflicted, feel their hearts sink within -them as they see how much more might be done, if they -had but the wherewithal to appease the actual physical -needs of those to whom they try to come spiritually -near.</p> - -<p>If but the miracle so easy to others were first performed, -and the five thousand fed, then indeed might -follow that still greater miracle, the earnest listening of -the once turbulent multitude to the words of the Bread -of Life.</p> - -<p>But there are those who pursue what they regard as -"charitable work" as an excitement—an amusement—just -as children are sometimes set to play with Scripture -conversation cards, and puzzles out of the Old Testament, -with a kind of feeling that the employment comes -nearly to a religious exercise. There is as much danger -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">{5}</a></span> -of these persons missing the true work of charity as there -would be in the employment of paid officials—indeed, -the latter would have one advantage; they would be -less likely to be imposed upon by those who to obtain -some special advantage would cringe and flatter.</p> - -<p>The first great difficulty in visiting and temporarily -relieving the lower class of destitute poor, is to disabuse -their minds of an inveterate notion that the -benevolent visitor and distributor is paid by some -occult society, of which the recipients of bounty know -nothing, and for which they care very little. Unfortunately, -the sharp determined amateur visitor, who -"does a district" as other people with leisure do a flower -show or a morning concert—but, alas! these very -words of mine show how common is that lack of true -charity of which I designed to speak. Who am I that -I should sum up the disposition and the heart of my -brother or my sister? Only I would say that this suspicion -on the part of the ignorant poor, which is so often -complained of—the notion that their interviewers are -paid for the work of charity—can only yield to the conviction -that the work itself is undertaken with warm -living human sympathy. Before the true relief shall -come to any man, it must come by faith. "With the -heart man believeth unto righteousness," and <i>in</i> righteousness -also.</p> - -<p>The two tendencies that are driving us away from -charity to a kind of selfish economy, are the habit of -"relieving our overcharged susceptibilities by secreting -a guinea," and thinking we have thereby fulfilled the -claims of religion and humanity, and the practice of -going about seeking where we may find candidates for -other people's guineas, and so becoming a kind of charitable -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">{6}</a></span> -detectives, with an eye to reputation and advancement -in the force.</p> - -<p>We are forgetting that heartfelt sympathy, that clasp -of the hand and beam of the eye which will make even -a cup of cold water a benefaction, if we have no more -to give, or if the need goes no further than a refreshing -draught, that shall be turned from water into wine by -the power of loving fellowship. Or we may be saying, -"Be ye clothed, and be ye fed," trusting to some other -hand to do the necessary work, without having ourselves -first wrought for the means of taking our part in it, -either by a deep personal interest in the relieving institution -or in the destitute recipient.</p> - -<p>"Yet one thing thou lackest,"—even though out of -thy great possessions a large proportion is given to the -poor; "follow thou me." "Go about doing good," do not -think to have fulfilled the law without love—that which -you call charity; the mere <i>giving</i>—is but to offer a stone -when bread is required of you, unless it be done with -love in your heart—personal, human, and therefore -Divine love. "If ye have not been faithful in that -which is another man's, who shall give you that which -is your own?" Use the benefits of institutions—even -though you use them only for others—as you would -use your own property. Recommend only cases that -are known to you to be worthy and necessitous, and, -should the institution depend on voluntary support, -let a contribution accompany your "case," if you can -any way afford it, as an act of justice as well as of -mercy.</p> - -<p>Don't join in the traffic in votes, and never go begging -for "proxies," in order to have an exchangeable stock -on hand, that you may secure a candidate for any particular -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">{7}</a></span> -institution. This kind of gambling is a cancer -that is eating the heart out of genuine, pure, charitable -effort, and is making way for the cold impersonal system -of distribution, which is now being advocated by those -who would make the relief of human wretchedness and -distress a mechanical organisation without the soul of -love. At the same time, let us not forget that no charitable -effort which would be efficacious in affording relief -to the widely-spread distress by which we are surrounded, -could be even so much as attempted without -associations established for the express purpose of relieving -particular forms of suffering. This, indeed, is -the glory of our country, that humanity is so strong -among us as to lead us not only to combine, but to emulate. -The absolute concentration and centralization of -charitable effort would be a calamity. The breaking up -of the best of our institutions, which have grown from -small beginnings in almsgiving into wide and influential -centres of benevolent effort, would be destruction.</p> - -<p>If anything that may be written hereafter concerning -some representative (large and small, but still truly -representative) efforts to do the work that Christianity -demands as its first evidence of reality, should lead to a -deeper and wider personal interest in their behalf, it will -be matter for rejoicing. The larger the number of people -who ask what is being done, the greater will be the desire -to continue the good work, or to declare it. The attention -that might in this way be directed to the mode of -affording relief would exercise so keen an influence in -the reformation of abuses, and the adoption of improvements, -that all our charities would soon become truly -"public." With the more earnest conviction of the duty -of personal inquiry, and real sympathetic interest in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">{8}</a></span> -individual well-being of our poorer brother or sister, -would come the satisfaction that we belonged to an -association, or to a chain of associations, which will -afford to him or to her the very relief which otherwise -we should despair of securing.</p> - -<p>I purpose in another chapter to ask you to read the -story of an institution that was in its day wonderfully -illustrative, and even now serves to take us back for two -centuries of history. Only yesterday I was speaking to -some of its inmates. One of them had nearly completed -her own century of life, most of them had seen -far more than the threescore years and ten which we call -old age; but they come of a wonderful race, the men of -fire and steel; the women of silent suffering—the old -Huguenots of France.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">{9}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE CHILDREN OF THE STRANGER.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_A.jpg" width="100" height="99" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">A hundred</span> -and eighty-seven years ago a -French army invaded England and effected -a landing at various places on the coast. -Smaller divisions of that army had previously -obtained a footing in some of the chief towns of Great -Britain; and for about fifty years afterwards other contingents -arrived at intervals to find the compatriots -settled among the people, who had easily yielded to their -address and courage, and by that time were apparently -contented to regard them as being permanently established -in the districts of which they had taken possession. -The strange part of the story is, that for a large part of -this time England was successfully engaged in war with -the country of the invaders, and not only with that -country, but with a discarded prince of its own, who, -having received assistance from France, strove to regain -the throne which he had abdicated by raising civil war in -Ireland. Then was to be seen a marvellous thing. A -detachment of the French army of occupation in England -went with King William to the Boyne, and when the -mercenaries who were at the back of James in his miserable -enterprise came forth to fight, they beheld the -swords of their countrymen flash in their faces, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">{10}</a></span> -heard a well-known terrible cry, as a band of veteran -warriors cut through their ranks, fighting as they had -been taught to fight in the Cevennes and amidst the -valleys and passes of Languedoc. For the army that -invaded England in 1686, and for four or five years afterwards, -was the army of the French Huguenots, against -whom the dragoons of Louis XIV. and the emissaries of -Pope and priests had been let loose after the revocation -of the Edict of Nantes.</p> - -<p>Four hundred thousand French Protestants had left -their country during the twenty years previous to the -revocation of that pact, which had been renewed after the -siege of Rochelle, and though the attempt to escape from -the country was made punishable by the confiscation of -property and perpetual imprisonment in the galleys, six -hundred thousand persons contrived to get out of France, -and found asylums in Flanders, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, -and England, after the persecutions were resumed.</p> - -<p>Comparatively few of the men who came in the second -emigration had fought for the religion that they professed. -They had learned to endure all things, and -with undaunted courage many of them had suffered -the loss of their worldly goods, the burning of their -houses, hunger, poverty, and the imprisonment of their -wives and daughters in distant fortresses, because they -would not forswear their faith. Hundreds of their companions -were at the galleys, hundreds more had been -tortured, mutilated, burned, broken on the wheel. -Women as well as men endured almost in silence the -fierce brutalities of a debased soldiery, directed by -priests and fanatics, who had, as it were, made themselves -drunk with blood, and seemed to revel in cruelty. With -a resolution that nothing seemed able to abate, pastors -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">{11}</a></span> -like Claude Brousson went from district to district, living -they knew not how, half famished, in perpetual danger, -and with little expectation of ultimately escaping the -stake or the rack. Nay, they refused to leave the -country, while in the woods and wildernesses of the Gard -great congregations of their brethren awaited their -coming, that they might hold services in caves and "in -the desert," as they called that wild country of the -Cevennes and of Lozre. These men were non-resistants. -They met with unflinching courage, but without -arms. Those of them who remained in France stayed to -see the persecutions redoubled in the attempt to exterminate -the reformed faith. They were the truest vindicators -of the religion that they professed. Up to the -time of the siege of Rochelle, and afterwards, Protestantism -was represented by a defensive sword, but these -men discarded the weapons of carnal warfare. Only -some years later, when the persecutors (rioting in the -very insanity of wrath because their declaration that -Protestantism was abolished was falsified by constant -revivals of the old Huguenot worship) directed utter extermination -of the Vaudois, did the grandeur of the non-resisting -principle give way before the desperation of men -who came to the conclusion that, if they were to die, -they might as well die fighting.</p> - -<p>It must be remembered that some of them knew well -how to fight. Some of their leaders—men of peace as -they were, and men of an iron determination, which was -shown in the obstinacy with which they refused to take -up the sword—had come of stern warriors and were -<i>Frenchmen</i>—Norman Frenchmen—Protestant Norman -Frenchmen. A rare combination that;—cold hard steel -and fire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">{12}</a></span> -But it was not till some time afterwards that these men -became the leaders of the peasantry, the chestnut-fed -mountaineers who came down from their miserable huts -and joined what had then become an organised army -of insurrection. Before this time arrived a strange -aberration seemed to move the people. The old simple -non-resisting pastors had been done to death by torture -and execution, and the people met, it is true, but often -met amid the ruin of their homes, or in desert places, -and as sheep having no shepherd. Then a wild hysterical -frenzy appeared among them. Men, women, and -even children claimed to be inspired, and at length fanaticism -leaped into retaliation. On a Sunday in July, -1702, a wild mystic preacher, named Sguier went down -with a band of about fifty armed men to release the prisoners. -They were confined in dungeons beneath the -house of one Chayla, a priest, who directed the prosecutions, -and invented the tortures which he caused to be -inflicted for the conversion of heretics. The Protestants -broke open his door, forced the prison, and ultimately set -fire to the house, in attempting to escape from which -Chayla was recognised and killed. This was the beginning -of a series of retaliations by the tormented people, -the success of which changed the whole attitude of the -Protestants of the district. They had formerly endured -in silence; now they were desperate enough for insurrection. -And the insurrection followed. Sguier was -captured, maimed, and burnt alive; but others took his -place. The war of the "Camisards" had commenced. -Then it was that the leaders of the Protestant army in the -Cevennes arose;—Roland and Cavalier, and the men who -for a long time waged successful warfare against the royal -forces, till defeat came accompanied by a new <i>rgime</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">{13}</a></span> -The rumbling of the revolutionary earthquake was -already shaking the throne and the persecuting church. -Voltaire, educated by the Jesuits, and hating religion, -was helping to deliver the martyrs of the Protestant -faith even before he began to "philosophise."</p> - -<p>The struggle of the Camisards can only be said to have -ceased when the persecutions were nearly at an end, and -France itself was tottering. But what of that great -Huguenot contingent which had invaded Britain, and was -growing in number year by year as the <i>migrs</i>, leaving -houses and land, shops, warehouses, and factories, fled -across the frontier, or got down to the shore, and came -over the sea in fishing-boats and other small craft, in -which they took passage under various disguises, or were -stowed away in the holds, or packed along with bales of -merchandise, to escape the vigilance of the emissaries -who were set to watch for escaping Protestants? It is a -little significant that of these non-combatant Protestants -eleven regiments of soldiers were formed in the English -army; but the truth is that of the vast number of <i>migrs</i> -who left France, some 30,000 were trained soldiers -and sailors, and doubtless a proportion of these came to -England, though probably fewer than those of their number -who served in the Low Countries. At any rate, in -1687, two years after the revocation of the Edict of -Nantes, there arrived in England 15,500 refugees, some -of whom brought with them very considerable property, -and most of them were men of education, or skilled in -the knowledge of the arts, or of those manufactures and -handicrafts which are the true wealth of a nation. At -Norwich and Canterbury they quickly formed communities -which became prosperous, and helped the prosperity -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">{14}</a></span> -of the districts, where they set up looms, and dyeworks, -and other additions to the local industries. In London -they formed two or three remarkable colonies, so that -when Chamberlain wrote his "Survey of London," -there were about twenty French Protestant churches, the -greater number of which stood in Shoreditch, Hoxton, -and Spitalfields—in fact, above 13,000 emigrants had -settled in or near the metropolis. The one French Protestant -church founded by Edward VI. was, of course, -inadequate to receive them, and their immediate necessities -were so great that a collection was made for their -relief, and a sum of 60,000<i>l.</i> was by this means obtained -in order to alleviate their distress.</p> - -<p>Among these <i>migrs</i> were many noblemen and gentlemen -of distinction, who, with their wives, were reduced to -extreme poverty by the confiscation of their property. -These had learned no trade, but with characteristic -courage many of them set themselves to acquire the -knowledge of some craft by which they might earn -their bread, while some of their number learned of their -wives to make pillow-lace, and so continued to support -themselves in decent comfort.</p> - -<p>To those who knew the "old French folk," as they came -to be called in after years, when the later emigration had -again increased the number of the weavers' colony in -Spitalfields, nothing was more remarkable than the cheerfulness, -one might almost say the gaiety, that distinguished -them. Reading the account given by French writers of -the old Huguenots in France, one might be disposed to -regard them as stern and sour sectaries, but that would -be a very erroneous opinion. Perhaps the sudden -freedom to which they came, the rest of soul, and the -opportunity to endeavour to serve God with a quiet mind -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">{15}</a></span> -raised them to a tranquil happiness which revived the -national characteristic of light-heartedness; but however -it may have been, the real genuine old French -weaver of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green was a very -courteous, merry, simple, child-like gentleman. The -houses in which these people lived, some of which are -still to be seen with their high-pitched roofs and long -leaden casements, were very different to the barely-furnished, -squalid places in which their descendants of -to-day are to be found; and, indeed, the Spitalfields -weaver even of seventy years ago was usually a well-to-do -person; while in the old time he could take "Saint -Monday" every week, wear silver crown-pieces for buttons -on his holiday coat, and put on silk stockings on -state occasions. This was in the days when French was -still spoken in many of the little parlours of houses that -stood within gardens gay with sweet-scented blooms of -sweet-william, ten-weeks-stock, and clove-pink. When -there was still an embowered greenness in "Bednall," -and Hare Street Fields were within a stone's throw of -"Sinjun"—St. John, or rather St. Jean Street,—or of -the little chapel of "<i>La Patente</i>," in Brown's Lane, -Spitalfields. Even in later times than that, however, I -can remember being set up to a table, and shown how -to draw on a slate, by an old gentleman with a face -streaked like a ruddy dried pippin. I was just old -enough to make out that the tea-table talk was in a -strange tongue; but I can remember that there were -evidences of the refinements that the old refugees had -brought with them across the sea. Not only in their -neat but spruce attire, in their polite grace to women, in -their easy, good-humoured play and prattle to little -children, in their cultivation of flowers, their liking for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">{16}</a></span> -birds, and their taste for music, but in a score of trifling -objects about their tidy rooms, where the click of the -shuttle was heard from morning to night, these old -French folk vindicated their birth and breeding. By -tea-services of rare old china, rolls of real "point" lace, -a paste buckle, an antique ring, a fat, curiously-engraved -watch, a few gem-like buttons, delicately-coloured porcelain -and chimney ornaments; by books and manuscript -music, or by flute and fiddle deftly handled in the playing -of some old French tune, these people expressed -their distinction without being aware of it. It has not -even yet died out. Unfortunately, many of their descendants—representatives -of a miserably paid, and now -nearly superseded industry—have deteriorated by the -influences of continued poverty; and even so long ago -as the evil war-time of Napoleon I., many of the old -families anglicised their names in deference to British -hatred of the French, but there are still a large number -of people in the eastern districts of London whose names, -faces, and figures alike proclaim their origin.</p> - -<p>But we must go back once more to the time when the -great collection was made. It is at least gratifying to -know that the 60,000 soon increased to 200,000, and -was afterwards called the "Royal Bounty," though -Royalty had nothing to do with it during that reign. -In 1686-7 about 6000 persons were relieved from this -fund, and in 1688 27,000 applicants received assistance, -while others had employment found for them, or were -relieved by more wealthy <i>migrs</i> who had retained or -recovered some part of their possessions. But there -were still aged and sick people, little children, widows, -orphans, broken men, homeless women, and lonely -creatures who had become almost imbecile or insane -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">{17}</a></span> -through the cruelties and privations that they had suffered. -For these a refuge was necessary, and at length—but -not till 1708—an institution was founded in St. -Luke's, under the name of the French Hospital, but -better known to the "old folks" as the "Providence."</p> - -<p>Of what it was and is I design to tell in another -chapter.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">{18}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">That</span> -great invading French army of nobles, -gentry, artists, traders, handicraftsmen, of -which some account has already been given, -was added to from time to time, even as -lately as the Revolution, and the restoration of the -dynasty after the downfall of Napoleon, when a strange -reaction against the Protestants was commenced, partly -as a pretence for concealing political animosity. The -department of the Gard was once more the scene of horrible -atrocities, against which Lord Brougham invoked -the aid of the English Parliament, and obtained the help -of Austrian bayonets to protect the people, who were -being murdered, tortured, or outraged, in defiance of -feeble local authorities. But by this time there was a -new generation of the first great Anglo-French colony -in London. Spitalfields had grown to the dimensions -of a township. Bethnal had begun to lose its greenness. -There was, as there still is, a remarkable settlement -about Soho. "Petty France" was as well known as the -exhibition of needlework in Leicester Square, or Mrs. -Salmon's wax figures in Fleet Street.</p> - -<p>Those poor refugees who fled to escape from the horrors -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">{19}</a></span> -of Sainte Guillotine, or the ruthless cruelties at -Nismes, came to brethren many of whom had never -seen the glowing valleys and golden fields of Languedoc, -whence their forefathers escaped only with life and hands -to work. They had preserved their national characteristics; -they attended churches and chapels where the -pastors still spoke their native tongue, and where they -had established schools for their children; but they -had settled down to a quiet, though a busy life, in the -heart of the great workshop of the world, and only a -few of them—principally the gentry, some of whom had -regained a portion of their property—felt frequent or -urgent impulses to return. More than a hundred and -twenty years had elapsed since the "Royal Bounty" had -been expended in the relief of the 27,000 <i>migrs</i> who yet -were without any permanent refuge for the destitute, the -sick, the aged, and the insane among their number. -This was in 1688, and it was not till nearly twenty-eight -years afterwards that any regular institution was -organized. The earlier refugees had become aged or -had died, after having obtained such temporary help as -could be afforded by subscriptions or the large benefactions -of their more wealthy fellow-countrymen. Still, -the later emigrations increased the number of applicants -for permanent relief. At last, in 1718, a great concourse -of French refugees assembled in a chapel which formed -a special portion of a building only just completed, but -which had already received the dignity of forming the -subject of a Royal charter granted by His Majesty -King George I. to his "right trusty and right well-beloved" -cousin, Henry de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, -Earl of Galloway, and a number of trusty and well-beloved -gentlemen, all naturalized refugees, who made -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">{20}</a></span> -the first governor and directors of the "Hospital for -Poor French Protestants and their descendants residing -in Great Britain;" otherwise known as the French Hospital, -but soon to be spoken of with simple pathetic -brevity as "La Providence."</p> - -<p>The idea of founding such a charity was due to a distinguished -refugee in Holland—no less a personage than -M. de Gastigny, Master of the Hounds to Prince William -of Orange; a ruddy, jovial-looking gentleman -withal, whose portrait, should you go to see it, will set -you wondering whether he could ever have been classed -among the "sour sectaries" to whom it was the fashion -to attribute a disregard of social pleasures. A bequest -of a thousand pounds sterling from the bluff keeper of -the kennels was to be divided into equal sums—500 -for the building, and the interest of the remaining 500 -to be spent on its maintenance.</p> - -<p>Not a very adequate provision, truly, for any such -purpose; but sufficiently suggestive to set the more -prosperous members of the great Anglo-French colony -to increase the amount. The astute Master of the -Hounds must surely have foreseen this result when he -left this legacy to the management of the trustees of the -already existing relief fund, still miscalled "the Royal -Bounty." They exhibited that prudence in money -matters which is a French characteristic, and let the -thousand pounds accumulate for eight years, after which -a general subscription was invited from successful merchants -and traders, while with a just appreciation of the -benefits which had been conferred by these good citizens -on the land of their adoption, some wealthy Englishmen -added their contributions to the general fund.</p> - -<p>Thus it came about, that a piece of land was purchased -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">{21}</a></span> -in the Golden Acre—a queer old half-countrified -precinct of St. Giles, Cripplegate—that a building was -erected for the reception of eighty poor persons, that a -charter was granted, and that the new charitable association -was consecrated in the new chapel by Philippe -Menard, the minister of the French Church of St. -James's and secretary of the enterprise.</p> - -<p>This was, indeed, something worth working for. The -aged or afflicted poor among the refugees were no longer -mere mendicants living on precarious alms. Out of their -abundance the more prosperous gave cheerfully. In -1736 another adjoining site was purchased, and another -side of the great open quadrangle of garden ground was -built upon, so that by 1760 the "Providence" numbered -230 inmates. This, however, was its culminating point -of usefulness. Religious persecution had diminished, -and at length may be said to have ceased altogether. -Even as early as 1720 only 5000 persons required relief -from the "Bounty," so that eventually the trustees were -enabled to devote part of it to the assistance of those -who fled from the Revolution—many of whom were the -descendants of those who had been the persecutors of -the Protestants. The great industrial colony, prudent, -temperate, and industrious, had almost grown beyond its -earlier needs—and all that it required was that some -adequate provision should be made for infirm or aged -men and women, who being widowed or unmarried, and -without means of support, required a refuge in which -they might peacefully end their days. The same causes -which had diminished the number of applicants had also -reduced the amount of current subscriptions, so that -some portion of the building was removed, as being no -longer necessary, and in order to secure a sufficient endowment -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">{22}</a></span> -an Act of Parliament was obtained, empowering -the directors to let their land on building leases. By -that time the neighbourhood was known not as "the -Golden Acre," but as St. Luke's, and on the ground once -purchased by the Marquis de Ruvigny and his trusty and -well-beloved companions, grew Radnor Street, Galway -Street, Gastigny Place, and part of Bath Street, while -the number of inmates was reduced to sixty—that is to -say, about twenty men and forty women, all of whom -were to be above sixty years of age, of French extraction, -and professing the Protestant religion. It was a -queer old range of building, that retreat; pleasant -enough, perhaps, when as a rather blank series of red -brick houses, it looked across its own formal walled -garden to the pleasant fields and open country, but -strangely silent, and with a crumbling, dreary look about -it, when the lunatic asylum of St. Luke's dominated all -the surrounding tenements of a crowded, sordid neighbourhood. -Only the initiated could easily find the little -low black door that opened in the bare wall, and led to -the large irregular space, which was laid out in weedy -beds and stony borders, distinguished by an air of decay -rather than of production—especially where in certain -dank corners a tangle of sapless stalks and tendrils indicated -some faintly hopeful attempt to rear an arbour, in -which persons of robust imagination might fancy they -were sheltered from impending blacks that issued from -the manufactory chimneys close by. The visitor to this -out-of-the-way corner of the great city, seeing the old -people walking up and down the paved causeway in -front of the row of crooked-paned lower windows, or -airing themselves at the doorsteps, might be excused for -the fancy that they had the imaginative faculty of children; -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">{23}</a></span> -and were expected to "make believe" a good -deal before they could quite reconcile themselves to the -notion that this dingy area of quadrilateral plots and -paths, in which the wet stood in small puddles, was ever -a "pleasaunce" gay with garden blooms, and smelling of -knotted marjoram and fragrant thyme. Yet there were -still evidences of the invincible cheerfulness of the old -French nature, among the old creatures with faces -streaked like winter apples, and hands which, even -though they trembled, were swift of gesture and of emphasis.</p> - -<p>There were old fellows there who had still about them -indications of true comeliness and grace that distinguished -them from all vulgar surroundings;—ancient -gentlemen, who would go out on wet days to sweep -away any rainpools that might lie before the doors of -the old ladies, and so besmirch an otherwise immaculate -shoe. It should be remembered, too, that there was no -livery there. Those who had some one to help them to -the garb of gentility wore what pleased them; those -who were dependent on the charity for clothing, were -neither bound in one pattern, nor condemned to the uniform -of poverty. Neat or lively cotton prints, or warm -stuff gowns, with proper hose and caps and kerchiefs, for -the women; plain Oxford mixture, black, steel grey, or -brown, for the men, and each one measured for his suit. -Those who entered there were not the recipients of a -dole grudgingly conceded. It was no poorhouse, but the -"Providence." Only eleven years ago there were some -evidences of the old meaning of the place in the remnants -of the antique furniture which adorned the queer -rooms. They were not wards or dormitories, but veritable -bedrooms; and each one had its own peculiarities, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">{24}</a></span> -even in the bedsteads with spindle posts and dimity -hangings, the boxes and cupboards, and special chairs -which distinguished it from the rest. Some of these -things had evidently been heirlooms either of the institution -or of the individual; and, indeed, the preservation -of individuality was a cheerful feature of the place, -despite its dim and somewhat dreary surroundings.</p> - -<p>The Board Room was, in its way, one of the most extraordinary -apartments in London: with its tables supported -by a tangled puzzle of legs, its high-backed, -polished chairs with leather seats, worn till they reminded -one of the cover of an antique ledger bound in unfinished -calf; its wonderful old black-framed prints -representing the meetings of the Huguenots in the -Clerk's field in the times when men and women carried -their lives in their hands, and dragoons rode congregations -down and slashed them with sabres as they fell. -Its dimly-seen portraits of the noble, broad-browed, -dark-eyed Ruvigny (the first governor), who refused to -go back to France even at the invitation of the King; -of the gentle Pastor Menard, with high, capacious forehead, -and calm, strong mien; of hale, shrewd, ruddy -Gastigny; and of some men of later date, with Frenchman -written in every line of their finely-marked faces.</p> - -<p>The little room set apart as a chapel—a barely-furnished -place enough, with desk and raised platform -and plain seats—was venerable because of all the meaning -that lay in its studied absence of all ornament, and -because of the significance it must once have had to -the sad-eyed men who crowded into it, some of them -thinking, perhaps, how it had come about that they -could stand there in peace and without a hand upon the -hilt of a sword.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">{25}</a></span> -There were, even at that later time, old men and -women in the dim old building who could repeat family -legends of the emigration—for they lived to a great age, -these French folk, many of them being still alert of eye -and ear, and foot, even though they had heard the click -of the shuttle and the rattle of the loom eighty years -before.</p> - -<p>Some of them have survived the old place itself; for -while they are in a new home, the ancient building has -changed, if even it be not altogether dismantled. The -leases paid good interest, and eight years ago a new -French hospital arose—away from the dingy old precinct -of the Golden Acre.</p> - -<p>To see this later "Providence" aright, you must come -through the very heart of that neighbourhood which was -once the great Silk Colony, thread the bye-ways of -Poverty Market, note the tall silent houses where the -looms no longer rattle, nor the sharp whirr of the shuttle -stirs cage-birds to sing; pass across the debatable land -lying on the edge of Shoreditch, where human beings -live in sties built in the backyards of other houses, in -streets that are still with the blank silence of misery and -want. You should walk amidst pigeon and dog fanciers; -call in at certain dingy, slipshod taverns, where at night -a slouching company will meet to hear bullfinches pipe -for wagers, and where starving men and women stand -and drink away the pence that are all too few to buy -food for the starving brood at home, and so are flung -upon the sloppy counter in exchange for the drugged -drink that feels like food and fire in one. Through -Bethnal Green, with its "townships" and its "Follies," -extending in sordid rows of tenements built to one dreary -pattern. Over districts which, only a few years ago, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">{26}</a></span> -were fields and open spaces, leading to farm lands and -hedgerows, and so away to the great expanse of marsh -land where the dappled kine wade knee-deep in the lush -pastures, and the stunted pollards stand like patient -fishermen upon the river's brink.</p> - -<p>Yes, the present "French Hospital"—New -Providence—was built ten years ago in the border-land -beyond the Weavers' Garden, that great garden and -pleasure-ground known as Victoria Park. It is the only -garden left to the descendants of those old craftsmen -who once dwelt in houses every one of which had its gay -plot of flowers, its rustic arbour, or its quaint device of -grotto-work, built up of oddly-shaped stones and pearl-edged -oyster-shells. Do you think there is now no -remnant of the old French folk left? Come for a stroll -among the grand beds and plantations of this East-end -playground, and you shall see. On holidays and alas! -on those days when (to use the expressive term handed -down from prosperous times) the weaver is "at play"—that -is to say, waiting for woof and weft, and so wiling -away the sad and often hunger-bringing hours—you will -see him, with his keen well-cut face, his dark appreciative -eye, his long delicate hands, his well-brushed, threadbare -coat and hat; and the mark of race is plainly to be noted -in his intensity of look and his subdued patient bearing. -He comes of a stock which had it not been of the hardiest -and the most temperate and enduring in the world, would -have disappeared a century ago. On Sunday mornings, -when the bells are sounding round about him, he is to be -met with lingering (with who shall say what inner sense -of worship) by the strange shrubs and flowering plants, or -standing with a pathetic look of momentary satisfaction -on his lean, mobile face, to mark the rare glow and gush -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">{27}</a></span> -of colour made by the blooms in a "ribbon" device of -flowers on a sunny border by a dark background of -cedar. But come and see what his forefathers might -have called, in their Scripture phraseology, "the remnant -of the children of Israel;" the old inmates of that French -Hospital founded so long ago when De Ruvigny was the -"beloved cousin" of George I., and Philippe Menard -preached at St. James's; when the Duchess de la Force -brought donation after donation to the work, and Philippe -Hervart, Baron d'Huningue gave 4,000, all in one -splendid contribution, to the building fund. Could they -have seen (who knows that they have not?) this great -French chteau rising beyond the park palings in a -neighbourhood fast filling with houses, but still open to -the air that blows from the Weavers' Garden and from -the great expanse of land leading towards the forest, they -would have recognised the familiar style of those grand -mansions which in France succeeded the castles of the -feudal nobility when Henry Quatre was king. The high-pointed -roof with its irregularly picturesque lines, the -quaint towers and spires, the slate blue and purple, and -rosy tints of colour in slope and wall and gable; the -various combinations of form and hue changing with -every point of view, make this modern copy of the old -French chteau a wonderful feature in any landscape, -and the unaccustomed visitor seeing it as it stands there -in its own ornamental ground, surrounded by a quaint -wall decorated in coloured bands, wonders what can be -the meaning of a building so full of suggestion; while -if he be of an imaginative turn, he may fall into a daydream -when he peers through the gate that stands by the -porter's lodge.</p> - -<p>But let us pass through this gate, and so up to the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">{28}</a></span> -entrance-hall, and we shall seem to leave behind us not -only the Weavers' Garden, but most things English. -The hall itself, paved with encaustic tile, leads to a flight -of broad, shallow steps, beneath an arched ceiling of -variegated brick and two screen arches. These steps -conduct us at once to a central corridor, extending for the -entire length of the building, and rising to the greatest -height of the open roof of timber with its lofty skylights. -In front of us is a double stone staircase, one branch -being for the old ladies, the other for the men; and immediately -at the foot of the former division is the entrance -to the refectory, a large handsome dining-hall, where, at -two long tables, this wonderful company assemble, only -the very infirm having their meals carried to the upper -ward, where they are waited on by paid attendants. -Separate staircases are provided for the servants of the -establishment, whose rooms are in the tower above the -main wards—or rather, let us say, principal apartments, -for they are not so much wards as a series of twenty-two -large bedrooms, linen-rooms, and two bath-rooms. The -steward of the hospital, a venerable gentleman with the -courteous air and speech of some seneschal of olden -time, has also his own apartments, reached by a third -stair, his sitting-room and office occupying a space close -to the entrance. On the right of the main staircase and -at the end of the corridor is the ladies' sitting-room, a -fine high-windowed light and lofty place, admirably -warmed, as indeed all the building is, and so furnished -that at each large square table four old ladies can sit and -have not only ample space for books or needlework, but -on her right hand each can open a special separate table-drawer -with lock and key, wherein to keep such waifs -and strays—shreds, patches, skeins, and unconsidered -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">{29}</a></span> -trifles—as children and old women like to accumulate. -There is another day-room beside this, and a similar, -though not quite so large an apartment is provided for -the men, both rooms being furnished with sundry books -and a few sober periodicals of the day.</p> - -<p>It must not be forgotten though that many of the old -gentlemen have grown accustomed to the use of tobacco, -and here in the basement is a smoking-room, quite out -of the way of the ordinary sitting and dining-rooms, and -not far from the laundry and drying-rooms, which form -an important part of the establishment.</p> - -<p>But, hush! there is a hymn sounding yonder in the -refectory; a hymn sung by voices, many of which are yet -fresh and clear, though the singers number more than -eighty years of life, and of life that has often been hard -and full of heaviness.</p> - -<p>It is the grace before meat, and the hot joints, with the -fresh vegetables from their own garden, have just come -up from the big kitchen by means of a lift to the serving-room.</p> - -<p>There are no servants to wait at table, and the family -dinner-party is a private one, inasmuch as it is the custom -here for the most active of the inmates to agree among -themselves who shall be butler, or <i>beaufetire</i>, for each day -during the week. So the dinner-time goes pleasantly -and quickly, the meat, the vegetables, and the capital -household beer, of which each man has a pint twice a -day, and each woman half a pint, being the only articles -that require serving.</p> - -<p>The good old-fashioned family custom of everybody -having his or her own teapot is observed here. A great -gas-boiler stands on one side the refectory, and a row of -convenient lockers on the other; and each inmate has -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">{30}</a></span> -tea and coffee from the stores, while bread and butter are -also served out for consumption according to each individual -fancy, and not in rations at each meal time. Thus -those old ladies and gentlemen who have spending money, -or friends to bring them some of the little luxuries that -they so keenly appreciate, can add a relish to their breakfast -or to the evening beer.</p> - -<p>We will not go in while they are at dinner, for there -are those here yet who "might have been gentlefolk" -but for the mutability of mortal affairs. Stay! here -come the old ladies, with old-fashioned curtseys, which are -more than half a bow, and not a mere vulgar "bob." -There is no mistaking some of their faces. You may see -their like in French pictures, or in old French towns still. -Some of them with eyes from which the fire had not yet -died out; with deftly-moving fingers; with a quick, -springy step; with an inherited remnant of the French -<i>moue</i> and shrug, as they answer a gentle jest about their -age and comeliness.</p> - -<p>"Eighty-four; and I don't know how it is, but I don't -seem to see so well in the dark as I used. When I went -out to see my brother-in-law, I was quite glad he came -part of the way home with me."</p> - -<p>"Turned eighty, but I can't get upstairs as I used to -do."</p> - -<p>"You speak French, madame?"</p> - -<p>"Pas beaucoup, monsieur;" this from one of the only -two actual French women now in the establishment, the -rest being lineal descendants only. The oldest, who is -now going quietly and with a very pretty dignity out of -the refectory, is ninety-four, and can not only hear a -low-toned inquiry, but answers it in a soft, pleasant -voice. She bears the weight of years bravely, but the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">{31}</a></span> -burden has perhaps been heavy; and she speaks in a -mournful tone, as one looking forward to a mansion -among the many—to a house not made with hands, may -sometimes speak when even the grasshopper becomes a -burden.</p> - -<p>As to a young person of sixty-five or thereabout, nobody -regards her as having any real business to mention -such a trifling experience of life; while of the men—most -of whom seemed to have filed off for their pipe or -newspaper—one remains finishing his dinner, for he has -been on duty for the day, and is now winding up with a -snack of bread-and-butter and the remainder of his mug -of porter—a stoutly-built, hale, stalwart-looking gentleman -who, sitting there without his coat, which hangs on -the back of a chair, might pass for a retired master -mariner, or a representative of some position requiring -no little energy and endurance. I fancy, for the moment -that he must be an official appointed to serve or carve -and employed on the establishment.</p> - -<p>"Eighty-four," and one of the old weaving colony of -Bethnal Green.</p> - -<p>There can be no mistake about it. Every inmate provides -certificates and registers enough to make the claim -undoubted; and as to the right by descent, half the -people here carry it in their faces, and to the initiated, -are as surely French, as they are undoubtedly weavers.</p> - -<p>The morning here begins with family prayers, which -the steward reads from a desk in the refectory, and so -the day closes also. The Sunday services are in the -chapel, and such a chapel! To those who remember the -dim, barely-furnished room in the old building at St. -Luke's, this gem of architectural taste and simple beauty -at the end of the main corridor comes with no little surprise. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">{32}</a></span> -Its beautiful carved stone corbels, mosaic floor, -and charming ornamentation; its broad gallery entered -immediately from the upper floor, so that the feeble and -infirm may go to worship directly from their sleeping-rooms; -its glow of subdued colour and sobered light -from windows of stained glass; its simple decorations, -and its spotless purity, are no less remarkable than the -plainness which characterises the general effect. It is to -be noticed, too, that there is no "altar," but "a table;" -that neither at the back of the communion nor on the -carving of the lectern, nor even in the windows, is there -to be seen a cross. Where the Maltese cross would -occur amidst the arabesques of the stained glass, we see -the fleur-de-lis. French Protestantism, has perhaps, not -yet lost its intense significance, at all events here, in this -chapel where the service of the Church of England is observed, -and an ordained clergyman ministers to the family -of the children's children of the ancient persecuted people -of Languedoc, the symbol under which the Protestants -were burned and tortured and exiled has no place. This is -probably in accordance with the traditions left by De -Ruvigny, by Gastigny, by Menard, and by their successors, -whose portraits still hang in the fine board-room of -the new "Providence."</p> - -<p>Of course, no contributions or subscriptions are now -asked for to support this old French charity. With it -are associated one or two gifts of money, such as that of -Stephen Mounier for apprenticing two boys; and the bequest -of Madame Esther Coqueau for giving ten shillings -monthly to ten poor widows or maidens; but the directors -do not seek for external aid. To the charity when -it was first chartered was added a portion of the accumulations -of the benefactions of the French Church at -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">{33}</a></span> -Norwich, and it may here be mentioned that at Norwich, -where a contingent of the army of refugees had settled, -the Society of Universal Goodwill was also established -by Dr. John Murray, a good physician, who strove to -extend to a large organisation a plan for relieving distressed -foreigners. This was but ninety years ago, and -it was less successful than its promoter desired, so that -part of the funds accumulated were judiciously handed to -another admirable society in London, of which I shall -have something to say, "The Society of the Friends of -Foreigners in Distress."</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">{34}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_D.jpg" width="100" height="98" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Do</span> -we ever try to realise the full meaning of -the declaration that they who are afar off -shall be made near by the blood of Christ? -Surely it does not stop at the nearness to God -by redemption, for the only true redemption is Christ-likeness, -and nearness to God assumes nearness to each -other in the exercise of that loving-kindness which is the -very mark and evidence of our calling.</p> - -<p>It would be well if we sometimes ceased to separate -by our vague imaginations "the next world," or "the -other world," from the present world, which is, perhaps -in a very real sense, if we could only read the words -spiritually, "the world to come" also;—as it is obvious -that the world means the people around us—ourselves, -those who are near and those who seem to be afar off; -and no world to come that could dispense with our identity -would be of any particular significance to us as human -beings.</p> - -<p>Let us then, for the present purpose, try to see how -effectually Christ-likeness should bring near to us those -who are afar off, by taking us near to them; how He who -came not to destroy but to fulfil, looks to us to entertain -strangers; and to "be careful" in the performance of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">{35}</a></span> -that duty, as to Him who will say either, "I was a -stranger, and ye took me in," or the reverse.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of the present century, with the exception -of the French Protestant organisation, there -existed in London no established association for the -relief of destitute foreigners who, having sought a refuge -here, or being, as it were, thrown upon our shores, were -left in distress, hunger, or sickness,—unheeded, only -obtaining such temporary casual relief as a few charitable -persons might afford, if by any chance their necessities -were made known to them. At that time the foreign -Protestant clergy, to whom alone many of these destitute -men and women could apply for relief, were themselves -mostly the poor pastors of congregations consisting -either of refugees or of artisans and persons earning their -livelihood by precarious labour connected with the lighter -ornamental manufactures. The means at their disposal -for charitable purposes outside their own churches were -consequently very small, and they were unable to render -any really effectual assistance, even if they could have -undertaken, what would at that time have been the difficult -task of verifying the needs for which relief was -claimed.</p> - -<p>Some attempt had already been made by Dr. John -Murray, a good physician of Norwich, to extend to London -the benefits of his "Society of Universal Goodwill;" -but the scheme had been only partially successful. To -him, however, the credit is due of having striven to give -definite shape to an association which was afterwards to -take up the good work of caring for strangers. The -foreign Protestant clergy settled in London met to consider -how they might best organise a regular plan for -relieving the wants of those who had so often to apply to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">{36}</a></span> -them in vain; and having settled the preliminaries, which -were heartily approved by several foreign merchants, and -others, who were willing to assist in any scheme that -would include inquiry into the circumstances of those -who sought assistance, called a public meeting in order -to found a regular institution. This was on the 3rd of -July, 1806, and the result of the appeal was the formation -of the society of "The Friends of Foreigners in -Distress." By the following April, a committee had been -formed and the Charity was in working order, nor were -funds long wanting with which to commence the work in -earnest. The cases requiring relief were so numerous, -however, and the demands on the society's resources -were so constant, that though some large donations were -afterwards obtained from senates, corporations, wealthy -merchants, ambassadors, noblemen, and Royal benefactors, -a considerable subscription list became necessary -in order to enable the society to grant even partial relief -to cases, the urgent claims of which were established by -careful inquiry.</p> - -<p>There is a wonderful suggestiveness in the list of -"Royal Benefactors (deceased)," headed by his late -Majesty King William IV., and her late Majesty the -Queen Dowager Adelaide. More than one of the -Royal donors themselves died in exile; and several of -those who shared their misfortunes, and were their -faithful followers, have shared the small benefits which -the Society had to bestow. "His late Majesty King -Charles X. of France" contributed 300; "His late -Majesty Louis Philippe," 100 guineas; the unfortunate -Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 25; and his late -Imperial Majesty Napoleon III., 50: while their -Magnificencies the Senates of the Free German Towns, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">{37}</a></span> -as well as the humbler companies of London's citizens, -appear to have given liberally. Notwithstanding all this, -however, the Society has not been able to retain funded -property to any considerable amount, and it is to the -annual subscription list—to which our Queen contributes -100, the Emperor of Germany 100, and the Emperor -of Austria 100—that the charity must look for -support.</p> - -<p>Unhappily there are evidences that these annual subscriptions -are fewer than they should be. There seems -still to be some reluctance on the part of the general -public steadily to support an effort which has a very distinct -and pressing claim upon Englishmen, who pride -themselves, justly enough, upon the free asylum which -this country affords to foreigners, and who appear ready -to give largely in the way of occasional aid. The disparity -between the number of handsome donations and -of very moderate annual subscriptions is a painful feature -of the Society's report, and even public appeals have -hitherto been followed rather by increased applications -from persons recommending cases for relief, <i>without -accompanying the recommendation with a subscription</i>, than -by any decided augmentation of the funds. The Friends -of Foreigners in Distress are principally to be found -amongst prosperous foreigners in London, and doubtless -this is no less than just; but until larger aid is given by -the English public, we have no particular reason to -include this association in any boastful estimate of -British charity.</p> - -<p>That the committee does its work carefully, and that -cases of distress are relieved only after due inquiry, and -with no such careless hand as would encourage idle dependence -or promote pauperism, is evident enough to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">{38}</a></span> -anybody who will take the trouble to inquire into the -method of assistance. Let us go and see.</p> - -<p>Perhaps not one Londoner in a thousand could tell -you offhand where to find Finsbury Chambers. It is -probably less known even than Prudent Passage, or what -was once Alderman's Walk; and may be said to be less -attractive than either, for it is a dingy, frowsy, little out-of-the-way -corner in that undecided and rather dreary -thoroughfare—London Wall. It is, in fact, a space -without any outlet, and looks as though it ought to have -been a builder's yard, but that the builder took to erecting -houses on it as a speculation which never answered, -even though they were let out as "chambers;" that is to -say, as blank rooms and sets of offices, the supposed -occupiers whereof committed themselves to obscurity by -causing their names to be painted on the doorposts, and -leaving them there to fade till time and dirt shall wholly -obliterate them.</p> - -<p>And yet it is in one of these lower rooms, occupying -the ground floor of No. 10, that a good work is going on; -for here, in an office almost representatively bare and -dingy even in that place, the Society of Friends of -Foreigners in Distress holds its weekly meetings of -directors, and the secretary, Mr. William Charles Laurie, -or his assistant, Mr. C. P. Smith, gives daily attendance -(Saturdays excepted), between eleven and one o'clock. -Assuredly, the funds of the charity are not expended in -luxurious appointments for its headquarters. Even a -German commission agent just commencing business -could scarcely have a more simply-furnished apartment. -The objects which first strike the visitor's attention are a -row of japanned tin candlesticks, meant for the use of the -board at any of their Wednesday meetings which may -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">{39}</a></span> -be prolonged till after dusk. The furniture, if it was -ever new, must have been purchased with a regard for -economy in the very early history of the society. The -work is evidently so organised as to require no long -daily attendance. The place is furnished only according -to the temporary necessities of business quickly dispatched. -Neither in official salaries, nor in expensive -official belongings, are the funds of the institution -wasted.</p> - -<p>The system is, in fact, simple enough, and is conducted -on the principles laid down by the first meetings of the -committee above seventy years ago, with one important -exception. Formerly, applicants for relief must have -been for some time resident in England; but changes in -transit, and the more rapid intercommunication of nations, -have made it necessary that some ready aid should be -granted to those who find themselves cast upon the -terrible London wilderness without a friend to help them, -ignorant to whom to apply for help, and little able even -to make known their sufferings.</p> - -<p>Every Wednesday, then, the directors meet for receiving -applications for relief, and reports of cases that -have been investigated by the Visiting Committee.</p> - -<p>The plan adopted is to issue to the governors of the -charity a number of small tickets, each of which, when -signed and bearing the name of the applicant for relief, -entitles the latter to apply to the weekly committee for -an investigation of his case. Every subscriber of a -guinea is regarded as a governor for a year, and there -are, of course, life governors also. Both these are entitled -to recommend cases either for what may be termed -casual relief, or for election as pensioners to receive -weekly assistance (of from 2<i>s.</i> to 5<i>s.</i>, and in cases of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">{40}</a></span> -extreme old age or great infirmity, 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a week), -sick allowances, or passage money to enable applicants to -return to their own country.</p> - -<p>It may easily be believed how a small weekly contribution -will often save a destitute man or woman, -or a poor family, from that utter destitution which -would result from the inability to pay rent even for a -single room; while in cases of sickness, the regular -allowance even of a very trifling sum will enable many -a poor sufferer to tide over a period of pain and weakness, -during which earnings, already small, are either reduced -or cease altogether.</p> - -<p>In cases of urgent necessity four superintendents are -appointed from the board of directors, with the power -to grant immediate relief; and of course many applicants -receive temporary assistance from the governor who recommends -them, until their case is investigated by the -committee, and they are on the list of the worthy and -indefatigable "visitor."</p> - -<p>After the expulsion of the Germans from Paris during the -late war, that little dingy quadrangle in London Wall was -filled with a strange crowd of lost and helpless foreigners, -whose condition would admit of only a temporary inquiry, -and indeed needed little investigation, since want and -misery were written legibly enough in their faces. For -a large number of these, passage money had to be paid, -and the relief was continued till the press of refugees -from France abated. There was a special subscription -for the relief of these poor creatures, raised chiefly -among German merchants living in London, and even -now the Society has to extend a helping hand to some -who still remain.</p> - -<p>Any one wandering by accident into Finsbury Buildings -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">{41}</a></span> -on a Wednesday forenoon, would wonder what so many -subdued and rather anxious-looking men were waiting -about for in such an out-of-the-way locality—some of -them leaning against the wall inside, others sitting in the -bare room, just within the barer passage. Every one of -these has had his circumstances carefully inquired into, -and is in attendance to receive what may be called temporary -relief. During the official year of my latest visit 150 -homeward passages had been paid, and in the two years -from 1871 to 1873 the number of persons who received relief -was 21,333, who with their wives and families represented -a considerable community of poverty. During the year -1,983 grants were made of sums varying from less than -10<i>s.</i> to 1,324 persons, 10<i>s.</i> to 431, 15<i>s.</i> to 47, 1 to 135, -and so on to 5, which was allowed in a few instances, -while sick allowances were granted in 292 cases. One important -and suggestive feature of this excellent Society is -that it numbers among its members not only subscribers to -other charitable institutions, but members of the medical -and legal professions, who frequently render their aid -to applicants free of expense, in order either to relieve -them from suffering, or to protect them from the errors -or impositions to which their ignorance and helplessness -might expose them.</p> - -<p>There is no restriction either as regards creed or -nationality, and though each case is matter for inquiry, -the only persons disqualified for receiving relief are those -who are detected as impostors—persons who are deemed -to have sufficient support from any other source, those -who cannot give a good reason for having come to this -country, and proof of their having striven to obtain work -and to labour for a maintenance, those who are proved -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">{42}</a></span> -to have been guilty of fraud or immoral practices, and -beggars, or drunken, dissolute persons.</p> - -<p>As regards the numbers of persons who have received -relief since the institution was founded, there is the -tremendous total of 21,645 applicants on behalf of 129,299 -individuals. What an army it represents! Of these -Germany (which till recently included Austria, Hungary, -and Bohemia) represents 71,913; Sweden and Norway, -9,422; Holland, 8,878; France, 7,339; Russia, 7,006; -Italy, 5,415; Belgium, 4,578; Denmark, 4,215; the West -Indies, 1,716; Switzerland, 1,685; and so on in a -diminishing proportion till we come to "Central Africa!"—a -very recent case, no doubt.</p> - -<p>Can any one question the good that has been effected -by an institution so careful not only to relieve with rigid -economy, but also to do its work on so truly voluntary a -principle? If the temporary and comparatively casual -aid afforded to poor and destitute strangers works so -beneficially, however, the pensions, to which only very -extreme cases are elected, are even still more in the -nature of help given to those who are ready to perish, -Here are some specimen cases:</p> - -<p>A watchmaker of Frankfort, seventy-four years old, -and nearly seventy years in this country, disabled by -paralysis, with a wife, who is a waistcoat maker, unable -to compete with the sewing-machine; one son, twenty -years old, who, having some small situation, lives with -them, pays the rent, and "does what he can;" a boy of -fourteen who works as an errand boy.</p> - -<p>An Italian looking-glass maker, seventy-three years -old, and fifty-three years in this country. Has lately -lived by making light frames, but health and strength -fail, and he is suffering from asthma. His wife, an -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">{43}</a></span> -Englishwoman, and aged sixty-six, works as a charwoman. -He has two sons, each married and with large -families, so that they can do nothing for him.</p> - -<p>A French widow, sixty-seven years old, and thirty-two -years in this country, and paralysed for the last thirteen -years. Her only daughter who is in delicate health, earns -her "living" by needlework, but can only gain enough -for her own maintenance.</p> - -<p>These are only three of the first cases in the official -report of pensioners, and they are not selected because -of their peculiarly distressing character. When it is -remembered that this society has not, in a general -way, sufficient means to grant more than <i>two shillings -a week</i> in the way of relief, and when we take the -trouble to observe that in the majority of cases where -a pension is granted the recipients have been so long -resident here that they may be said to have lost their -nationality in ours, will it be too much to ask of England—alike -the asylum for the persecuted and the teacher of -liberty and of charity—that the "Friends of Foreigners in -Distress" shall be regarded as the friends of all of us -alike in the name of Him of whom it was said, "Can any -good thing come out of Nazareth?"</p> - -<p>But I have not quite done with the pensioners. I must -ask the reader to go with me to Lower Norwood, where -amidst a strange solitude, that is almost desolation, we -will visit three ladies of the <i>ancien rgime</i>, one of whom, -at least, began life nearly ninety years ago as a fitting -playmate for the daughter of a king.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">{44}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THOSE WHO ARE LEFT DESOLATE.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">There</span> -is something about the aspect of Nature -as seen from the railway station at Lower -Norwood on a damp and misty day which, if -not depressing, can scarcely be regarded as -conducive to unusual hilarity. I speak guardedly because -of my respect for the district, and lest I should in any -way be suspected of depreciating any particular locality -as an eligible place of residence. In the latter regard I -may mention that the immediate neighbourhood of Lower -Norwood Station is not at present converted into a small -township by the erection of long rows of tenements on -freehold or long leasehold plots. My remarks apply only -to the general outlook from the road, amidst an atmosphere -threatening drizzle, and beneath a sky betokening -rain. As far as houses are concerned, there seemed to -me, on the occasion of my last visit, far more probability -of pulling down than of building. In fact, I went for the -purpose of inspecting a whole series of very remarkable -tenements which I had heard were soon either to disappear -from the oozy-looking green quadrangle of which -they formed three sides, or were to be converted to another -purpose than that of the dwelling-places of a few elderly -ladies who occupied one dreary side, whence they could -look at the desolation of the closed houses on the other.<span -class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_1" id="Ref_1" href="#Foot_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">{45}</a></span> -It will not be without regret that I shall hear of this -intention being carried out, for the houses are devoted to -the sheltering of alms-folk; and the alms-folk are the -elder pensioners of that admirable association, the -Society of the Friends of Foreigners in Distress, which, -for above ninety years, has been doing its useful work -among those who, but for its prompt and judicious aid, -would feel that they were "alone in a strange land."</p> - -<p>As a part of its original provision for the relief of some -of the applicants who, after long residence in this -country, had fallen into a distressed condition at an age -when they were unable any longer to maintain themselves -by their own exertions, the society instituted the -almshouses at Lower Norwood. There is now an impression -among the directors of the charity that their -intentions may be carried out in future by some better -method than placing a number of aged and frequently -infirm persons in a comparatively remote group of dwellings, -where they are peculiarly lonely, and lack frequent -personal attention and general sympathy. There can be -no doubt that almshouses have frequently been associated -a little too closely with that monastic or conventual -practice with which they mostly originated, and -that the retirement, almost amounting to seclusion, into -which the inmates of such places are removed, may be -very far from affording to the aged the kind of asylum -which they most desire. Alas, in many instances, to be -placed in an almshouse is to be put out of the way,—to -be conveniently disposed of; with the inference that -every possible provision has been made for comfortable -maintenance. Thus, susceptibilities are quieted. The -aged pensioners are supposed to be periodically visited; -their wants attended to by somebody or other who "sees -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">{46}</a></span> -that they are all right," and the whole matter is conveniently -forgotten, except when a casual traveller passes a -quaint, ancient, mouldy-looking, but still picturesque -block of buildings, and inquires to what charity they belong; -not without a kind of uneasy fancy that there is a -custom in this country of burying certain old people -before their time—shutting them out of the light and -warmth of every-day companionship; or, to change the -metaphor, making organised charity a kind of Hooghly, -on the tide of which the aged, who are supposed to be -nearing the end of their mortal life, are floated into -oblivion until the memory of them is revived by death.</p> - -<p>It is no part of my intention to represent that the -almshouses at Lower Norwood bore such a significance, -but the conditions to which I have referred appear to be -so inevitable where places like these are concerned, that -I cannot question the good sense of the directors of -the Charity in determining to supersede them, and to -carry on the work by annual or monthly pensions -only. On behalf of the few remaining inmates of these -queer, half-deserted, and failing tenements, it was desirable -that the proposition should be acted on at once, -and a more comfortable provision be made, at least, -for those who wait on, with constantly deferred hope, -doubly heart-sickening when so little time is to be -counted on, in which something will be done before the -houses themselves, crumbling to decay, become but a type -of their own forlorn old age.</p> - -<p>It is with some such thoughts as these that I stand at -the entrance to the green, with last year's weedy aftermath -still dank and tangled with wind and rain. The -queer little one-storied dark-red houses of the quadrangle -bear a melancholy resemblance to a set of dilapidated -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">{47}</a></span> -and discarded toys, the box for which has been lost. -They are built, too, on a kind of foreign-toy pattern, with -queer outside staircases, leading to street-doors under a -portico, which is the only entrance to the upper storey, -the lower doors in the quadrangle communicating only -with the ground-floor. The crunch of my footsteps along -the moist path, gives no echo; the place seems to be too -dull and lifeless even for that kind of response. The left -wing and far the greater portion of the centre block are -still with the silence of desertion. Peering through the -dim leaden casements, I see only small, bare, empty -rooms. There is a sense of mildew and of damp plaster -peeling from the walls,—of leaky water-pipes, and a -humid chill, which no glowing hearth nor bright July -weather could utterly subdue. Such is the feeling with -which the whole place strikes me on this leaden wintry -day, when the vapour from the engine on the railway -trails slowly upward to meet the ragged edge of the dun -cloud that streams slowly downward; when a big, black -dog crouches on the threshold of the village chandler's -shop, to get out of the drizzle; and the butcher, who has -sold out, closes his half-hatch, with the certainty that he -may take his afternoon nap by the fire, undisturbed by -customers.</p> - -<p>Even when I pause before one of the little narrow -portals to which I have been directed, there are few more -signs of life, except that at the same moment I hear -other footsteps behind me, and a baker stop to deliver a -loaf. This is promising, as far as it goes, and enables me -to present myself unostentatiously, under cover of the -baker's basket, to a lady who opens the door. Unless I -am greatly mistaken, that lady has a French face, and as -it is a French lady for whom I am to inquire, I begin to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">{48}</a></span> -think I have come to the end of my quest. It is evident, -however, from the surprised questioning look which -greets my appearance, that visits from strangers are not -of very frequent occurrence there. I can trace in the -rather shrinking recognition accorded to my request to -see the lady to whom I bring an introduction, the sensitiveness -that belongs to that kind of poverty which has -learned to endure in seclusion reverses that would be -less bearable if they were exposed to a too obtrusive -expression of sympathy. It is a positive relief to be left -alone for a minute, standing in that narrow lobby, looking -into a room which has the appearance of a disused -scullery, while my errand is made known in another room -on the right, to which I am presently bidden. It is a -poor little place enough; poor, and little, and dim, even -for an almshouse, and scarcely suggestive of comfort -though a bright fire is burning in a grate, which somewhat -resembles a reduced kitchen-range, and though the -table which stands beneath the casement bears some preparations -for the evening meal, and the cheap luxury of -a cut orange on a plate. The walls are dim, the ceiling -cracked and discoloured by the evident overflow of water -in the room overhead; the furniture consists of a kind -of couch which may do duty for a bed by night, and of -two or three Windsor chairs, one of which has already -been placed for me. It is a poor place enough; and yet -the lady to whom I am at once introduced is ready to do -its honours with a grace and dignity that well become -her appearance and her name. Madame Gracieuse -B——, for more than forty years resident in England, -and speaking English with a purity of accent that is only -rivalled by the more perfect music of the French in which -she addresses me, has passed the threescore years and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">{49}</a></span> -ten which are counted as old age. Yet seeing her sweet, -calm face; her smooth, broad, intelligent brow; the mild, -penetrating scrutiny of her gentle eyes; the soft hair put -back under the quaint French cap, shaped like a hood; -those years remain uncounted; until, with a pleasant -smile, only just too placid for vivacity, she tells how she -came to this country in 1830, after the ruin of the fortunes -of her house by the revolution which dethroned Charles -X., and made her a governess in England, where so many -of the old nobility sought a refuge and a home.</p> - -<p>But before this is said, she has presented me to a third -lady—to whom, indeed, my original introduction extended—already -long past the limit of that short period -which we call long life; for she is more than eighty years -old, and by reason of the infirmity which has lately come -upon her, does not rise to receive me, but remains seated -in the couch by the fire. It is a very limited space in -which to be ceremonious; but were this lady sitting in -one of a suite of grand rooms in some aristocratic mansion, -with all the surroundings to which her birth, her -high connections, and the recollection of her own personal -accomplishments entitle her, she might not lack the -homage which too often only simulates respect.</p> - -<p>It is possible that she may long ago have learned to -assess it at its true value, for she has seen it at a court -where it could not save a king from banishment; and if -we may judge from a face with strong determined lineaments, -a brow of concentrated power, and eyes the light -of which even the recent paralysis of age has not extinguished, -she has been one who could undergo exile, -poverty, and even the sadder calamity of being forgotten, -with a wonderful endurance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">{50}</a></span> -Yes, Madame la Comtesse Maria de Comolra, friend -and fellow-student of that Madame Adelaide whose -name has become historical, when your father was -Monsieur l'Intendant of the Duc d'Orlans, and when you -lived within the atmosphere of the French court, spending -quiet days at the easel in your painting-room, or preparing -the delicate <i>pte</i> of Svres porcelain, on which to -paint the roses and lilies that you loved, the grim visions -of exile and poverty may never have troubled you. When -the house of Bourbon crumbled, and you escaped from -the ruin it had made, you had still your art left to solace, -if not to gladden you; and for a time at least you lived -by it, and took a new rank by the work that you could -do. There were flowers in England, and your hands -could still place their glowing hues on canvas. Witness -those pictures of yours that now hang on the walls of -the gallery of the Crystal Palace, or adorn some private -collections. Witness, too, the recognition of some of our -own painters when Sir Charles Eastlake was president of -the Royal Academy, and when you found a friendly -patron in Queen Adelaide of gentle memory. Alas, the -hand has lost its cunning; and if its work is not altogether -forgotten, those who look upon it are unaware -that you are living here in this poor room—pensioner of -a charity which, were it but supported as it might be, -could better lighten your declining years. Yet I will not -call you desolate, madame. Two faithful friends are with -you yet. The sunset of your calm life, whereof the -noon was broken by so terrible a storm, is dim enough; -but it goes not down in complete darkness. Gentle and -admiring regard survives even in this dull place; and with -it the love that can bring tears to eyes not over ready -to weep on account of selfish sorrows, and can move -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">{51}</a></span> -ready hands to tend you now that your own grow heavy -and feeble.<span -class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_2" id="Ref_2" href="#Foot_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<p>As I become more accustomed to the subdued light of -the room, I note that amidst the confusion of some old -pieces of furniture or lumber there are pictures, unframed -and dim, leaning against the walls. One of them—a -large painting of some rare plant, formerly a curiosity in -the Botanical Gardens at Regent's Park, while the rest -are groups of flowers and fruit. Just opposite me, on -the high mantel-piece, the canvas broken here and there -near the edges, obscured by the dust and smoke that -have dulled their surface, are two oil-paintings which I -venture to take down for a nearer inspection. Surely -they must have been finished when madame was yet in -the prime of her art. Exquisite in drawing, delicate in -colour, and with a subtle touch that gives to each petal -the fresh crumple that bespeaks it newly-blown, and to -fruit the dewy down that would make even a <i>gourmet</i> -linger ere he pressed the juice. It is almost pain to think -that they are left here uncared for; and yet, who knows -what influence their presence above that dingy shelf may -have upon the wandering thoughts and waning dreams -of her who painted them when every new effort of her -skill was a keen delight?</p> - -<p>Nay, even as I hold them to the light, and in a pause -of our chat (wherein Madame la Comtesse speaks slowly -and with some difficulty) say some half-involuntary words -of appreciation, she has risen, and stands upright by the fire -with an earnest look in her face and a sudden gesture of -awakened interest. The artistic instinct is there still, -after more than eighty years of life, and the appreciation -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">{52}</a></span> -of the work animates her yet. Not with a mere vulgar -love of praise (for Madame is still la Comtesse Comolra -even though she spends her days in an almshouse), but -with a recognition that I have distinguished the best -of the work that is left to her to show. I shall not -readily forget the sudden look of almost eager interest, -the effort to speak generous words of thanks, as I bow -over her hand to say farewell, and feel that I have been -as privileged a visitor as though madame had received -me in a gilded <i>salon</i>, at the door of which a powdered -lacquey stood to "welcome the coming—speed the parting -guest."</p> - -<p>And so with some pleasant leave-takings, and not -without permission to see them again, I leave these ladies—the -fitting representatives of an old nobility and an old -<i>rgime</i>—to the solitude to which they have retired from a -world too ready to forget.</p> - -<p>If by any means for the solitude could be substituted -a pleasant retirement, and for the sense of desolation -and poverty a modest provision that would yet include -some grace and lightness to light their declining days, it -would be but little after all.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_1" id="Foot_1" href="#Ref_1">[1]</a> -Since this was written the Almshouses have been closed, and -their two or three remaining inmates "lodged out."</p> - -<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_2" id="Foot_2" href="#Ref_2">[2]</a> -Since these lines were written, Madame Comolra has gone to her rest.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">{53}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">It</span> -is possible that those portions of the sacred -history which have reference to the association -of our Lord Jesus Christ with ships, and -the wonderful portions of the great narrative -where the Divine Voice seems, as it were, to come from -the sea, may have a special attraction for us who live in -an island and claim a kind of maritime dominion.</p> - -<p>Surely the words "Lord, save me, or I perish," and the -instant response of the outstretched hand of the Saviour -of men, must have been read with an awful joy by many -a God-fearing sailor on the homeward voyage. "It is I, -be not afraid," must have come with an intensity of meaning -to many a heart which has known the peril of the -storm, wherein the voice of man to man has been almost -inaudible.</p> - -<p>There is something very solemn in the prayers we send -up for those at sea. Most of us feel a heart-throb when -we lie awake listening to the mighty murmurs of the -wind, and waiting for the shrill shriek with which each -long terrible blast gathers up its forces—a throb which -comes of the sudden thought of lonely ships far out upon -the ocean, where men are wrestling with the elements, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">{54}</a></span> -and looking with clenched lips and straining eyes for the -lingering dawn.</p> - -<p>Yet, with all this, it is a national reproach to us that -until a comparatively recent date we have done little or -nothing for our sailors—little for those who have been -ready to maintain the old supremacy of our fleet—almost -nothing for that greater navy of the mercantile marine to -which we are indebted for half the necessaries and for -nearly all the luxuries which we enjoy.</p> - -<p>A national reproach, because not only have charitable -provisions for destitute, sick, infirm, or disabled sailors -been neglected, but subscriptions demanded by the State -from seamen of the merchant service were never properly -applied to relieve the distress of those for whom they -were professedly received. Considerably over a million -of money has been contributed by merchant seamen, by -deductions of sixpences from their monthly pay for the -maintenance of Greenwich Hospital, and in addition to -this there have been accumulated in the hands of the -Government the examination fees of masters and mates -passing the Board of Trade examination, and the penny -fees paid by common seamen on shipment and unshipment, -while the unclaimed wages and effects of seamen -dying abroad are calculated at about 8000 a year.</p> - -<p>Now there can be no doubt that Greenwich Hospital -was originally intended to include merchant seamen in -its provisions, for the preamble to the original scheme of -William III. recites, "Whereas the King's most excellent -Majesty being anxiously desirous to promote the Trade, -Navigation, and Naval strength of this Kingdom, and to -invite greater numbers of his subjects to betake themselves -to the sea, hath determined to erect a hospital," -&c. For this purpose sixpence per man per month was -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">{55}</a></span> -to be paid out of the wages of all mariners to the support -of the Hospital, and every seaman was to be registered. -Why? That the charity might be "for the relief, benefit, -or advantage of such the said registered Marines, or -Seamen, Watermen, Fishermen, Lightermen, Bargemen, -Keelmen, or Seafaring Men, who by age, wounds, or -other accidents shall be disabled for future service at -sea, and shall not be in a condition to maintain themselves -comfortably; and the children of such disabled -seamen; and the widows and children of such of them -as shall happen to be slain, killed, or drowned in sea service, -so far forth as the Hospital shall be capable to receive -them, and the revenue thereof will extend."</p> - -<p>So far as words went, therefore—and subsequent Acts -of Parliament confirmed them—Greenwich Hospital was -open to all registered seamen. The fact has always been, -however, that it was barely able to meet the claims made -by the disabled and infirm sailors of the Navy alone, and -therefore the mercantile marine was practically excluded, -while the payments were still demanded.</p> - -<p>Now let us see what past Governments did for the relief -of those old, infirm, or disabled men who having "seen -wonders on the great deep," came home and sought help.</p> - -<p>A charitable trust, called the "Merchant Seamen's -Fund," had been established by merchants and shipowners -of the City of London, who gave large sums to -it, in order to try to make up for the injustice by which -these sailors were virtually excluded from Greenwich -Hospital, to which the men of the mercantile marine still -had to pay sixpence a month. By a remarkably knowing -piece of legislation, an Act was passed (the 20th of -George II.) which incorporated the Merchant Seamen's -Fund, appointed president and governors, and gave authority -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">{56}</a></span> -to purchase land for building a hospital, to help -pay for which another sixpence a month was claimed -from the pay of merchant seamen and masters of merchant -vessels.</p> - -<p>Not till the year 1834, by an Act passed in the reign -of William IV., were the merchant sailors relieved from -compulsory payment to Greenwich. They had contributed -to the hospital for 138 years without having derived -any direct benefit from it; and though they were -not unwilling to subscribe for their brethren in the Royal -Navy, the injustice which demanded their contributions, -though their own fund was inadequate to pay for the -promised building for which it was intended, became too -glaring to be continued. It was therefore determined -that a grant of 20,000 should be made to Greenwich -Hospital out of the Consolidated Fund, and that the -merchant sailors should go on paying their shilling a -month for their own benefit (masters paying two shillings), -and that a provision for widows and children -should be included in the charity, the benefits of which -were to be extended to Scotland and Ireland.</p> - -<p>The hospital never was built. The Board of Trade -taking the management of the contributions, appointed -trustees, who were altogether incompetent, and did their -duty in a perfunctory or careless manner. In 1850, only -20,000 was distributed among old, infirm, and disabled -seamen, while 41,000 was bestowed on widows and children; -the allowances varying at different ports from 1 -to 7, each place having its own local government. Of -course a collapse came. The fund was bankrupt; and -in the following year an Act was passed for winding it -up—for, says the Board of Trade Report, "the Government -has had no control over the matter. The London -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">{57}</a></span> -Corporation and the trustees of outports could not by -any management have prevented the insolvency of the fund, -as long as they were guided by the principles which the -several Acts of Parliament laid down ... the whole -system was vicious."</p> - -<p>By the winding-up Act of 1851 compulsory contributions -ceased; but those who chose to continue to subscribe -voluntarily might do so. It is hardly to be wondered -at that the merchant seamen lost confidence in -the paternal protection of the Board of Trade. A few -thousand pounds were left from the compulsory contributions, -and when this came to be inquired for, nobody -knew anything about it. It had somehow slipped out -of the estimates, and nobody could tell what had become -of it.</p> - -<p>That is what past governments have done for poor -mercantile Jack.</p> - -<p>What has the great British public done for him? Not -so very much after all. The truth is, that the sailor, who -has always been spoken of as "so dreadfully improvident," -has been practically regarded as being most self-helpful. -All the time that we have been shaking our -solemn heads, and lifting up our hands at the improvidence, -the folly, and the extravagance of these frequently -underpaid and sometimes overworked men, we have -made even the help that we were willing to extend to -them in their deeper necessities partially dependent on -their own constant and regular subscription to the same -end.</p> - -<p>Poor improvident Jack!—poor thoughtless, incorrigible -fellow!—it was necessary for the Government of his country -to look after him, in order to protect him against his -own want of forethought, and the result has been to run -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">{58}</a></span> -the ship into shoal water, and go hopelessly to wreck -without so much as salvage money.</p> - -<p>Jack ashore! Don't we all still look at the sailor in the -light of the evil war-times, when the king's men were said -to draw pocketsful of prize-money and to spend it in low -debauchery or wild wanton folly? Even now we repeat -the stories of frying watches along with beefsteaks -and onions, or eating bank-note sandwiches. Nay, to -this day in the fo'c's'le of merchant vessels some of the -melancholy old songs in which sailors are wont to satirise -themselves are occasionally sung, telling how</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - -<div class="verse indent">"When his money is all spent,</div> -<div class="verse">And there's nothing to be borrowed and nothing to be lent,</div> -<div class="verse">In comes the landlord with a frown,</div> -<div class="verse">Saying, 'Jack! get up, and let <i>John</i> sit down,</div> -<div class="verse">For you are <i>outward</i> bound.'"</div> - -</div> -</div> - -<p class="nodent">There's a world of meaning in that grim suggestive summary; -but, thank God! it has less meaning now than it -once had. Until quite lately, sailors of merchant ships -could be kept for days waiting to be paid, and, sickened -with lingering for long weary hours about the office of -the broker or agent who withheld their money, fell into -the hands of the harpies who were, and still are constantly -on the look-out to plunder them. Men with all -the pure natural longing for home and reunion with those -near and dear to them, were compelled to loiter about -the foul neighbourhood of the dock where their ship discharged -its cargo, lodging in some low haunt with evil -company, and liable to every temptation that is rife in -such places, till too often so large a portion of their -hardly-earned wages had been forestalled, that in a -dreary and desperate madness of dissipation they were -tempted to fling away the small balance remaining to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">{59}</a></span> -them, and to awake to reason only when, naked and -nearly destitute, they were compelled to go to sea again, -with a slender stock of clothes, and a week's board and -lodging paid for with advance notes.</p> - -<p>From long confinement and monotony on shipboard, -the sailor even now comes to a sense of temporary freedom, -giddy with the unaccustomed sense of solid ground -and the wild toss and uproar of the ocean of life in a -great city. What are still the influences which in many -seaports await him directly his foot touches the shore, -and sometimes even before he has come over the vessel's -side? With a boy's recklessness, a man's passions, and -the unwonted excitement of possessing money and boundless -opportunities for spending it, a shoal of landsharks are -lying ready to batten on him. The tout, the crimp, and -all the wretches, male and female, who look upon him as -their prey, will never leave him from the time when they -watch him roll wonderingly on to the landing-stage, till -that desperate minute when he flings his last handful of -small change across the tavern counter, and calls for its -worth in drink, since "money is no use at sea."</p> - -<p>This was far more frequently the termination of mercantile -Jack's spell ashore, before the new regulations as -to prompt payment of seamen's wages came into force. -At that time you had only to take a morning walk across -Tower Hill, where the bluff lay figure at the outfitter's -door stands for Jack in full feather, and thence to America -Square, or the neighbourhood of the Minories and Rosemary -Lane, to see dozens of poor fellows lounging listlessly -about the doors of pay-agents, waiting day after -day at the street-corners, with an occasional visit to the -public-house, and the perpetual consumption of "hard" -tobacco. It was easy afterwards to follow Jack to Ratcliffe, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">{60}</a></span> -Rotherhithe, Shadwell, and the neighbourhood, -where his "friends" lay in wait for him to spend the evening; -in the tap-rooms of waterside taverns, where he sat -hopelessly drinking and smoking during a hot summer's -afternoon; to frowsy, low-browed shops of cheap -clothiers, to hot, stifling dancing-rooms, to skittle-alleys -behind gin-shop bars, where a sudden brawl would call -out knives, and the use of a "slung-shot" as a weapon -would make a case of manslaughter for the coroner; to -very minor theatres, where he could see absurd caricatures -of himself in the stage sailors, dancing hornpipes unknown -at sea; to the dreadful dens of Bluegate Fields and Tiger -Bay—to any or all of these places you might have followed -Jack; and may even yet follow his fellows who -have not yet been redeemed from the evil ways of those -bad times, when there were no homes for sailors amidst -the bewildering vice and misery of maritime London, and -other seaport towns of this great mercantile island.</p> - -<p>It so happened that I made my first intimate acquaintance -with the one real, publicly representative "Sailors' -Home" in Well Street, near the London Docks, after -having seen Jack under several of the terrible conditions -just referred to, so that, with this painful knowledge of -him and his ways, it was with a kind of delighted surprise -that I suddenly walked into the great entrance-hall -of the institution, where he and his fellows were sitting -on the benches by the wall with the serious, contemplative, -almost solemn air which is (in my experience) -the common expression of sailors ashore, and during -ordinary leisure hours. There they were, a good ship's -crew of them altogether, sitting, as I have already said, -in true sailor fashion—stooping forward, wrists on knees, -lolling on sea-chests and clothes-bags, taking short fore-and-aft -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">{61}</a></span> -walks of six steps and a turn in company with -some old messmate, smoking, growling, chatting, and -generally enjoying their liberty; not without an eye, now -and then, to the smart officer who had come in to see -whether he could pick up a brisk hand or two for the -mail service.</p> - -<p>This was some five or six years ago, and it is a happy -result of the plan on which the Home was first established -(which was intended ultimately to make the institution -self-supporting, if the cost of building were -defrayed) that the whole scheme has been so enlarged -since that time, that anybody who would see what our -mercantile seamen are like, may now go and see them, -in a largely increasing community, in this great institution. -So many come and go and reappear at intervals -represented by the length of their voyages, that -10,120 officers and men had partaken of its inestimable -benefits during the year from the first of May, 1872, to -the end of April, 1873.</p> - -<p>But the institution itself was founded in earnest faith, -and built with the labour that is consecrated by prayer. -Both to the Home and to its companion institution, -the Refuge for Destitute Seamen—we will pay a visit on -our next meeting.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">{62}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THEM WHO WERE READY TO PERISH.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_O.jpg" width="100" height="103" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">On</span> -the 28th of February, 1828, a very terrible -calamity happened in the place known as Wellclose -Square, Whitechapel. A new theatre -called the Brunswick, had been erected there -on the site of a former building, known as the Old Royalty. -It had been completed in seven months, and three days -afterwards, during a rehearsal, the whole structure gave -way and fell with a crash, burying ten persons amidst -the ruins, and fearfully injuring several others. Such a -catastrophe was very awful, and the people of the -neighbourhood looked with an almost solemn curiosity at -the wreck of an edifice in which they themselves might -have met with death suddenly.</p> - -<p>Very soon, however, they began to regard the heap of -ruins with surprise, for early one morning there appeared -two officers of the Royal Navy, surrounded by a gang of -labourers with picks and shovels, and before these men -(some of whom were Irish Roman Catholic) began to -work they listened attentively while one of the officers -offered up an earnest prayer to God for a blessing on the -results of the labour they were about to undertake. -Morning after morning their labour was thus sanctified, -and evening after evening it was celebrated by the voice -of thanksgiving, till at length the ground was cleared, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">{63}</a></span> -on the 10th of June, 1830, the first stone of a new building -was laid. The building was to be a Home for Sailors, -and as a necessary adjunct to the Home, it was intended -to establish a Destitute Sailors' Asylum.</p> - -<p>The two naval officers were Captain (now Admiral) -George C. Gambier, and Captain Robert James Elliot, -now gone to his rest, who with Lieutenant Robert Justice -afterwards Captain, and now with his old comrade, in the -heavenly haven, had been seeking how to ameliorate the -condition of seamen, numbers of whom were to be seen -homeless, miserable, and frequently half naked and destitute, -in that foul and wretched neighbourhood about -the Docks and beyond Tower Hill.</p> - -<p>The task was a difficult one, and might have daunted -less brave and hopeful men, for it was intended to demolish -the piratical haunts where the enemies of the sailor lay in -wait for his destruction; where crimps and thieves and -the keepers of infamous dens held their besotted victims -in bondage, while they battened on the wages that had been -earned during months of privation and arduous toil.</p> - -<p>It was necessary, therefore, first to provide a decent -and comfortable lodging-house for the reception of sailors -coming into port,—a place where they might safely deposit -their clothes and their wages, and where they could "look -out for another ship" without the evil intervention of crimps -or pretended agents. It was a part of the intended plan -also to establish a savings bank, for securing any portion -of their wages which they chose to lay by, or for safely -transmitting such sums as they might wish to send to their -relations. In short, the design was to provide a home -for the homeless, and hold out helping hands to those -who were ready to perish.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">{64}</a></span> -Those ruins of the theatre stood on the very spot for -such an establishment, and the two captains, Gambier and -Elliott, began by buying the ground and the wreck that -stood upon it, not by asking for public subscriptions, but -mostly with their own money, to which was added a few -contributions from any of their friends who desired to -join in the good work.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to use more earnest or touching words -than those in which the late Rear-Admiral Sir W. E. -Parry spoke of the labours of his friend and fellow-supporter -of the Sailors' Home, in an address to British -seamen at Southampton, in 1853. "And now," he said, -"let me just add that, from the first moment in which -Captain Elliot stood among the ruins of the Brunswick -Theatre, till it pleased God to deprive him of bodily and -mental energy, did that self-denying Christian man -devote all his powers, his talents, his influence, and his -money, to this his darling object of protecting and providing -for the comfort of sailors. Connected with a -noble family, and entitled by birth, education, and -station, to all the advantages which the most exalted -society could give hm, he willingly relinquished all, took -up his abode in a humble lodging, surrounded by gin-shops, -near the 'Home:' denied himself most of the -comforts, it may almost be said some of the necessaries -of life, in order the more effectually to carry out his -benevolent design; and for eighteen years of self-denial -and devotion, made it the business of his life to superintend -this institution."</p> - -<p>For the noble officer lived to see the building for which -he had wrought and prayed, complete and successful. In -1835 300 sailors could be received and welcomed there. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">{65}</a></span> -The piratical lairs began to empty of some of those who -had been shown a way of escape, and the good work -went on. In the adjoining Seamen's Church the congregation -was largely augmented by the boarders from -the Sailors' Home, while the Honorary Chaplain and the -Missionary attached officially to the institution, became -not only parson and preacher, but friendly adviser and -instructor, ready to speak, to hear, and to forbear. The -addition of a book depository, where various useful publications -may be purchased, and Bibles are sold at the -lowest possible prices, and in various languages, was a -valuable auxiliary to moral and religious instruction, and -at once increased the home-like influences of the place.</p> - -<p>The institution having gone on thus prosperously, -under the direction of a goodly number of officers and -gentlemen, added to its possessions by acquiring other -plots of freehold ground, extending backward to Dock -Street; and in 1863 Lord Palmerston laid the stone of -an entirely new block of building, which was inaugurated -by the Prince of Wales in 1865, since which time 502 -boarders can be received, each being provided with his -separate cabin.</p> - -<p>Since the opening of the institution in 1835 it has -received 246,855 seamen of various countries and from -all parts of the world. Of these 72,234 have been old or -returned boarders, and most of them have conducted their -money transactions through the "Home," and have -made good use of the savings-bank.</p> - -<p>There are 270 inmates under that protecting roof as I -step into the large entrance hall in Well Street to-day; -and the two hundred and seventy-first has just gone to -look after his kit and sea-chests, which have been carefully -conveyed from the Docks by one of the carmen -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">{66}</a></span> -belonging to the institution, who has "The Sailors' Home, -Well Street," worked in red worsted on his shirt, and -painted on the side of the van from which he has just -alighted.</p> - -<p>It is evident that our friend No. 271 has been here -before, for he knows exactly where to present himself in -order to deposit some of his more portable property with -the cashier or the superintendent. He scarcely looks -like a man who will want an advance of money, for he is -a smart, alert, bright-eyed fellow, with a quiet air of self-respect -about him which seems to indicate an account in -the savings-bank; but should he be "hard-up," he can -ask for and receive a loan not exceeding twenty shillings -directly his chest is deposited in his cabin. Just now the -chest itself, together with its superincumbent bundle, -stands against the wall along with some other incoming -or outgoing boxes, more than one of which are associated -with brand new cages for parrots, and some odd-shaped -cases evidently containing sextants or other nautical instruments. -There is a whole ship's crew, and a smart one -too, in the hall to-day; while a small contingent occupies -the clothing department, where one or two shrewd North-countrymen -are being fitted each with a "new rig," -knowing well enough that they will be better served there -than at any of the cheap outfitters (or the dear ones -either) in the neighbourhood. Fine blue broadcloth, -pilots, tweeds, rough weather, and petershams are here -to choose from "to measure," as well as a wonderful collection -of hats, caps, underclothing, hosiery, neckties, -boots, and shoes so unlike the clumsy specimens that -swing along with the tin pots and oilskins in some of -the little low-browed shops about the district, that I -at once discover the reason for the smartness and general -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">{67}</a></span> -neatly-fitted look of most of the men and lads now pacing -up and down, talking and smoking. It is quiet talk -for the most part, even when half a dozen of the inmates -adjourn to the refreshment-room, where they can obtain -a glass of good sound beer (though there is a much more -general appreciation of coffee) and sit down comfortably -at a table like that at which two serious mates are -already discussing some knotty point, which will probably -last till tea-time.</p> - -<p>Tea-time? There is the half-past five o'clock signal -gong going now, and light swift steps are to be heard -running up the stairs into the large dining-hall, where the -two hundred and seventy-one, or as many of them as are -at home, sit down like fellows who know their business -and mean to do it. It is a pleasant business enough, -and one soon despatched; for there are so many big teapots, -that each table is amply provided by the alert -attendants, who dispense bread-and-butter, watercresses, -salads, and savoury bloaters and slices of ham and tongue, -the latter having been already served by a carver who is -equal to the occasion. It is astonishing how quickly the -meal is over when its substantial quality is taken into -account; but there is no lack of waiters, the number of -attendants in the building being sixty-five, some of whom, -of course, belong to the dormitories and to other departments.</p> - -<p>The meals here are, of course, served with the utmost -regularity, and without limit to quantity. Breakfast, -with cold meat, fish, bacon, and general "relishes," at -eight in the morning; dinner at one: consisting of soup, -roast and boiled meats, ample supplies of vegetables, -occasional fish, stupendous fruit-pies and puddings, and -a good allowance of beer. After tea comes a substantial -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">{68}</a></span> -snack for supper, at nine o'clock, and the doors of the institution -are kept open to half-past eleven at night; those -who wish to remain out later being required to obtain a -pass from the superintendent.</p> - -<p>Of course it is requested that the boarders come -in to meals as punctually as possible; but those -who cannot conveniently be present at the regular -time, can have any meal supplied to them on application. -Indeed, two or three belated ones are arriving -now, as we go to the end of the long and lofty -refectory to look at the crest of the late Admiral Sir -William Bowles, K.C.B., which, supported by flags, is -painted upon the wall, as a memorial of a gallant officer -and a good friend to this institution and to all sailors.</p> - -<p>Leaving the dining-hall, we notice a smaller room, set -apart for masters and mates who may desire to have their -meals served here; and on the same extensive storey is -a large and comfortable reading-room well supplied with -periodicals, and containing a capital library consisting of -entertaining and instructive books.</p> - -<p>The board-room is close by, and is of the size -and shape to make an excellent mission-room, where -week-night services and meetings of a religious character -are held, and well attended by men who, having seen the -wonders of the Lord upon the great deep, join in His -reasonable service when they are at home and at rest. -This vast floor also contains two dormitories: but -most of the sleeping cabins are in the second and third -floors.</p> - -<p>There are few sights in London more remarkable than -these berths, which are, in fact, separate cabins, each -closed by its own door, and containing bed, wash-stand, -chair, looking-glass, towels, and ample space for the seachest -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">{69}</a></span> -and personal belongings of the occupant. The -cabins extend round a large area rising to a great height, -and surrounded above by a light gallery reached by an -outer staircase, round which are another series of berths -exactly resembling the lower ones; so that there are, in -fact, double, and in one or two dormitories treble tiers of -cabins, and the upper ones may be entered without disturbing -the inmates of those below. One of the three-decker -areas is of vast size, and, standing in the upper -gallery and looking upward to the lofty roof, and then -downward to the clear, wide, open space between the lower -rooms, the visitor is struck by the admirable provision -both for light and ventilation; the former being secured -at night by means of properly distributed gas jets, which -are of course under the care of the night attendants, who -are on watch in each dormitory, and may be summoned -at once in case of illness or accident.</p> - -<p>Not only is there provision against fire by a length of -fire-hose attached to hydrants on each storey, but the -water supply to lavatories and for other purposes is -secured by a cistern holding 4,000 gallons at the top of the -building; so that there is complete circulation throughout -the various parts of the building.</p> - -<p>It is time that we paid a visit to the basement of this -great institution, however; for, in more senses than one, -it may be said to be at the foundation of the arrangements. -Yes, even with respect to the amusements provided -for the inmates—for while chess, draughts and backgammon -are to be found in the library and reading-room, -and billiards and bagatelle hold their own on the great -landings of the first storey, we have down here a skittle-alley -of a character so remarkable, that some of us who -have read Washington Irving think of the reverberations of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">{70}</a></span> -the giants' pastime in the mountains, while we wonder -where sailors can first have acquired a taste for this particular -amusement. It is a good and healthy one, however, -and is wisely provided, since it adds one more -efficient inducement to the men to take their pleasure -among their true friends instead of seeking it amidst the -evil influences of a filthy tavern, or in the garish heat of -some vile Ratcliff Highway bowling-alley, where men are -maddened with drugged drink, and greeted with foul -imprecations by the harpies who seek to rob and cheat -them.</p> - -<p>There is much to see in this basement, and to begin -with here is No. two hundred and seventy-one sending his -chest up by the great luggage-lift to the second floor, -where he will find it presently in his cabin. We cannot -stay to speak to him, however, for we are on the very -verge of the kitchen, to which we are, as it were, led by -the nose; for wafted thence comes an appetising perfume -of new bread just taken from one of the great ovens devoted -to the daily baking. There are lingering odours also of today's -dinner, though the meat ovens and the great boilers -and hot plates are clean and ready for the morrow. The -pantry door, too, is open, and there are toothsome varieties -of "plain-eating" therein, while the storerooms savour of -mingled comforts, to which the gales of Araby the blest -offer no parallel, and the butcher's shop has a calm and -concentrated sense of meatiness which is suggestive to a -robust appetite not already satiated with a chunk from -one of a whole squadron of soft, new currant-cakes. After -a peep at the large and busy laundry with its peculiar -moist atmosphere, the coal and beer cellars, the pumping -machinery and boiler-room may be passed by, and little -curiosity is excited by this long and convenient apartment -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">{71}</a></span> -where hot and cold baths are prepared to order at -a merely nominal charge. There is a door close by, however, -where we stop instinctively, for there is a cheerful -light inside, and a sound of easy and yet interrupted conversation -which can belong to only one department of -society. There can be no mistake about it—a veritable -barber's shop, and a gentleman with a preternaturally -clean chin complacently surveying himself in a looking-glass -of limited dimensions, while another waits to be -operated upon by the skilled practitioner who carries in -his face the suggestion of a whole ropery of "tough yarns," -and was—or am I mistaken—tonsor to the <i>Victory</i> or to -some ship of war equally famous when the British seaman -shaved close and often, and pigtails had hardly gone out -of fashion. There is no time for testing the great artist's -skill this evening, though I could almost sacrifice a well-grown -beard to hear some rare old fo'c's'le story. But -no story could be more wonderful than the plain truth -that for all the generous provision in this excellent institution -the rescued sailor brought within its wholesome -influence pays but fifteen shillings a week. Yes, men and -apprentices, fifteen shillings; and officers, eighteen and -sixpence.</p> - -<p>The evening lowers over the outer world of Mint Street -and Leman Street, and the great blank void of the Tower -ditch is full of shadow. Standing again in the large entrance -hall, which reminds one more of shipboard, now -that the lights are dotted about it, leaving it still a little -dim, I hear the trickling of a drinking-fountain, and associated -with its fresh plash hear as pleasant a story as -any yarn that ever the barber himself could have spun -for my delight.</p> - -<p>The fountain, which is of polished Aberdeen granite, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">{72}</a></span> -was opened last November in proper style, a platform -being erected, and the chair being taken by the Secretary -to the "Metropolitan Drinking Fountains Association," -supported by several ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Lee -made an appropriate speech, and called attention to the -gift, and pointed to the inscription; and it was quite an -emphatic little observance for the inmates who had -gathered in the hall on the occasion. And well it might -be, for the fountain bears this modest inscription:—"The -gift of William McNeil, Seaman, in appreciation of the -great benefits he has derived on the various occasions -during which he has made the Institution his <i>Home</i>, for -upwards of 25 years."</p> - -<p>I think very little more need be said for the Sailors' -Home than is indicated by this plain, earnest testimony -to its worth. Yet it is necessary to say one more word. -This Sailors' Home is in a way self-supporting, and at -present seeks only the kindly interest of the public in case -it should ever need another response to an appeal for extending -its sphere of usefulness. Not a farthing of profit -is permitted to any individual engaged in it, and even -fees to servants are prohibited, though the crimps and touts -outside endeavour to bribe them sometimes, to induce -sailors to go to the common lodging-houses, where land-rats -seek their prey. All the profits, if there are any at all, -are placed to a reserve fund for repairs, improvements, or -extensions. At any rate, no public appeals are being made -just now.</p> - -<p>But there is another institution next door—another -branch of the stem which has grown so sturdily from the -seed planted by the good captain—the Destitute Sailors' -Asylum. That is a place full of interest, though there is -nothing to see there. Nothing but a clean yard, with -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">{73}</a></span> -means for washing and cleansing, and a purifying oven -for removing possible infection from clothes, and a great -bare room, just comfortably warmed in winter, and hung -with rows of hammocks, like the 'tween-decks of a ship.</p> - -<p>That is all; but in those hammocks, sometimes, poor -starved and destitute sailors go to sleep, after they have -been fed with soup and warmed and comforted; and in -the morning, when they turn out, they are fed again with -cocoa and bread, and if they are naked they are clothed. -There are not very many applicants, for, strange as it may -appear, since sailors' homes have come in fashion there -are but few destitute seamen; but there <i>need be no unrelieved -destitute sailors at all in London</i>, for anybody can -send such a one to the Asylum in Well Street, London -Docks, and he will be admitted. Here then, is an institution -that may claim support.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">{74}</a></div> - -<h2><i>CASTING BREAD UPON THE WATERS.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_O.jpg" width="100" height="103" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">One</span> -of the old Saxon commentators on the -Holy Scriptures, in referring to the passage, -"Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall -be found after many days," ventures to suggest -as a meaning—"Give succour to poor and afflicted -seamen." Whatever may be the conclusions of critical -Biblical expositors, there can be no doubt that the pious -annotator was right in a true—that is, in a spiritual interpretation -of the text.</p> - -<p>Should it be necessary to appeal twice to the English -nation—which has, as it were a savour of sea-salt in its -very blood—to hold out a helping hand for those who, -having struggled to keep our dominion by carrying the flag -of British commerce all round the world, are themselves -flung ashore, weak, old, and helpless, dependent on the -goodwill of their countrymen to take them into some -quiet harbour, where they may, as it were be laid up in -ordinary and undergo some sort of repairs, even though -they should never again be able to go a voyage? It is -with feelings of something like regret that an average -Englishman sees the old hull of a sea-going boat lie -neglected and uncared for on the beach. Not without a -pang can we witness the breaking-up of some stout old -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">{75}</a></span> -ship no longer seaworthy. Yet, unhappily, we have -hitherto given scant attention to the needs of those old -and infirm seamen, who having for many years contributed -out of their wages to the funds of the Naval -Hospital at Greenwich, and having been again mulcted -of some subscriptions which were to have been specially -devoted to found an asylum for themselves, are left with -little to look forward to but the workhouse ward when, -crippled, sick, or feeble with age, they could no longer -tread the deck or crack a biscuit.</p> - -<p>It is true that there are now hospitals or sick-asylums -in connection with some of the sailors' homes at our seaports, -and to the general hospitals any sailor can be -admitted if he should be able to procure a letter from -a governor. The 'tween-decks of the <i>Dreadnought</i> no -longer form the sole hospital for invalided merchant -seamen in the Port of London; but even reckoning all -that has been done for sailors, and fresh from a visit to -that great building where three hundred hale and hearty -seamen of the great mercantile navy find a home, we are -left to wonder that so little has been accomplished for -those old tars who, having lived for threescore years or -more, going to and fro upon the great deep, can find no -certain anchorage, except within the walls of some union -where they may at last succeed in claiming a settlement. -Surely there is no figure which occupies a more prominent -place in English history than that of the sailor—not -the man-o'-war's man only—but the merchant seaman, -the descendant of those followers of the great old -navigators who were called "merchant adventurers," and -who practically founded for Great Britain new empires -beyond the sea. In the poetry, the songs, the literature, -the political records, the social chronicles, the domestic -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">{76}</a></span> -narratives of England, the sailor holds a place, and even -at our holiday seasons, when our children cluster on the -shingly shore or the far-stretching brown sands of the -coast, we find still that we belong to a nation of which -the sailor long stood as the chosen representative. Nay, -in the midst of the life of a great city we cannot fail to -be reminded of the daring and the enterprise which has -helped to make London what it is.</p> - -<p>The poet, who, standing on the bridge at midnight, -and listening to the chime of the hour, found his imagination -occupied with serious images and his memory with -solemn recollections, would have been no less moved to -profound contemplation had he been a temporary occupant -of one of the great structures that span the silent -highway of the Thames. There is something in the -flow of a broad and rapid stream which has a peculiar -association with thoughts of the struggle and toil of -human life, and as we look on the ever-moving tide, we -ask ourselves what have we done for the brave old toil-worn -men who have seen the wonders of the great -deep for so many years, and have brought so much to -us that we can scarcely speak of food or drink without -some reminder of their toilsome lives and long voyages? -Well, a little has been done,—very little when we reflect -how much yet remains to be accomplished; and yet -much, regarded as a fair opportunity for doing a great -deal more. I have already recounted some part of the -sad story of what a provident Government did when it -thought to undertake the affairs of poor improvident -Jack. How it collected his money, and neglected to give -him the benefit of the enforced subscription; how it -administered and laid claim to his poor little effects and -arrears of pay, if he died abroad and nobody came forward -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">{77}</a></span> -to establish a right to them; how it demanded -additional contributions from his monthly wages, in order -to show him how to establish a relief fund; and how -somehow the scheme went "by the board" (of Trade), -and the balance of the money was lost in the gulf of the -estimates.</p> - -<p>As long ago as 1860 it became clear to a number of -leading merchants, shipowners, and officers of the mercantile -marine that nothing was to be looked for from -the State when the subject of making an effort to provide -for aged and infirm sailors was again urgently -brought forward; but it was determined to make a definite -movement, and "The Shipwrecked Mariners' -Society," which had then 40,000 officers and seamen -among its subscribers, was appealed to as a body having -the power to form the required association.</p> - -<p>It was not till 1867, however, that the actual work of -providing an asylum for old sailors was commenced. -The society had then put down the sum of 5,000 as a -good beginning, a committee had been appointed, of -which the late honoured Paymaster Francis Lean was -the indefatigable honorary secretary, and Captain Thomas -Tribe the secretary, whilst the list of patrons, presidents, -vice-presidents, and supporters included many eminent -noblemen and gentlemen who took a true interest in the -undertaking.</p> - -<p>Several public meetings were held, and "a Pension and -Widows' Fund" was first established. Then the committee -began to look about them for a suitable house in -which to begin their real business, and had their attention -directed to a large building at that time for sale, situated -on the breezy height above Erith, and formerly well -known as the residence of Sir Culling Eardley, who had -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">{78}</a></span> -named it Belvidere. The property, including twenty-three -acres of surrounding land, cost 12,148, and -5,000 having already been subscribed, the balance of -7,148 was borrowed at five per cent. interest. Not till -the 5th of May, 1866, however, was the institution inaugurated -and handed over to a committee of management.</p> - -<p>It is admirably suggestive of its present occupation, -this fine roomy old mansion, standing on the sheltered -side, but near the top, of the lofty eminence, whence -such a magnificent view may be obtained, not only of the -surrounding country, but of the mighty river where it -widens and rushes towards the sea. Here on the broad -sloping green, where the tall flagstaff with its rigging -supports the Union Jack, the old fellows stroll in the sun -or look out with a knowing weather-eye towards the -shipping going down stream, or sit to smoke and gossip -on the bench beneath their spreading tree opposite the -great cedar, while the cow of the institution chews the -cud with a serious look, as though it had someway -caught the thoughtful expression that characterises -"turning a quid." A hundred infirm sailors, each of -whom is more than sixty years old, are serenely at their -moorings in that spacious square-built house, where the -long wards are divided into cabins, each with its neat furniture, -and many of them ornamented with the curious -knick-knacks, and strange waifs and strays of former -voyages which sailors like to have about them. There is -of course a sick-ward, where those who are permanently -disabled, or are suffering from illness, receive medical -attention and a special diet; but the majority of the inmates -are comparatively hearty still, though they are -disabled, and can no longer "hand reef and steer."</p> - -<p>There are a hundred inmates in this admirable asylum, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">{79}</a></span> -and ninety pensioners who are with their friends at the -various outports of the kingdom, each receiving a pension -of 1 a month, called the "Mariners' National -Pension Fund," the working management of which, with -the "Widows' Annuity Fund," is made over to the -"Shipwrecked Mariners' Society."</p> - -<p>A hundred and ninety worn-out and disabled seamen -now provided for or assisted, and a total of above 300 -relieved since the opening of the institution. A good and -noble work truly. But can it be called by so great a name -as <i>National</i>, when we know how large a number of old -sailors are yet homeless, and that at the last election -there were 153 candidates who could not be assisted because -of the want of funds to relieve their distress? -Looking at the number of men (2,000 to 5,000) lost at -sea or by shipwreck every year, and at the inquiry which -has been made, through the efforts of Mr. Plimsoll and -others, with respect to the conditions under which the -service of the mercantile marine of this country is carried -on, is it not a reproach to us that during the nineteen -years since this institution was founded, so little has been -done? Year by year it has been hoped that the Board -of Trade would relinquish its claim to take possession of -the effects of sailors dying abroad, and would transfer -the 1,200 a year represented by this property to the -funds of the society, but hitherto the committee have -waited in vain. The donations from all sources are comparatively -few; and though the annual subscriptions are -numerous, they are rapidly absorbed.</p> - -<p>Many masters, mates, seamen, engineers and firemen -pay to this institution a subscription of five shillings a -year, for which they have a vote at each annual election; -or any such subscriber may leave his votes to accumulate -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">{80}</a></span> -for his own benefit when he shall have reached the -age of sixty years, and becomes a candidate for admission.</p> - -<p>One-fifth of the candidates admitted are nominated by -the committee on the ground of their necessities or -special claims to the benefit of the charity, while general -subscribers or donors have privileges of election according -to the amount contributed. Perhaps one of the -most touching records of the subscription list is, that not -only did the cadets of the mercantile training-ship -<i>Worcester</i> contribute something like 100 in one official -year, but that the little fellows on board the union -training-ship <i>Goliath</i> lying off Grays, have joined their -officers and their commander, Captain Bourchier, to -send offerings to the aid of the ancient mariners, of -whom they are the very latest representatives. On many -a good ship these small collections are made for the -same object, and at the Sailors' Home in Well Street -there is a box for stray contributions; but much more -has yet to be done. Perhaps it is far to go to see this -great house on the hill, but most of us have caught a -glimpse of its tall towers and its flagstaff in our excursions -down the silent highway of London's river, and it -might be well to think how little effort is required to give -to each cabin its inmate, and to fill the dining-room with -tables, each with its "mess" of six or eight old salts, -who are ready to greet you heartily if you pay them a -visit, and to salute you with a grave seamanlike respect. -Would you like to know how this rare old crew lives in -the big house under the lee of the wind-blown hill? To -begin with, the men who are not invalids turn out at -eight in winter and half-past seven in summer, and after -making beds and having a good wash, go down to prayers -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">{81}</a></span> -and breakfast at nine or half-past eight, breakfast consisting -of coffee or cocoa and bread-and-butter.</p> - -<p>At ten o'clock the ward-men, who are appointed in rotation, -go to clean wards and make all tidy, each inmate -being, however, responsible for the neatness of his own -cabin, in which nobody is allowed to drive nails in bulkheads -or walls, and no cutting or carving of woodwork is -permitted. The men not for the time employed in tidying -up or airing bedding, &c., can, if they choose, go into -the industrial ward, where they can work at several occupations -for their own profit, as they are only charged -for cost of materials. Dinner is served in the several -messes by the appointed messmen at one o'clock, and -consists on Sundays of roast beef, vegetables, and plum-pudding, -and on week-days of roast or boiled meat, soup, -vegetables, with one day a week salt fish, onions, potatoes, -and plain suet-pudding, and in summer an occasional -salad. A pint of beer is allowed for each man. -The afternoon may be devoted either to work, or to recreation -in the reading and smoking rooms, or in the -grounds. Tea and bread-and-butter are served at half-past -five in summer and at six in winter, and there is -often a supper of bread-and-cheese and watercresses or -radishes. The evening is devoted to recreation, and at -half-past nine in winter, and ten in summer, after prayers, -lights are put out, and every one retires for the night.</p> - -<p>None of the inmates are expected to work in the industrial -wards, and of course there are various servants and -attendants, all of whom are chosen by preference from -the families of sailors, or have themselves been at sea. -The whole place is kept so orderly, and everything is so -ship-shape, that there is neither waste nor confusion, -and yet every man there is at liberty to go in and out -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">{82}</a></span> -when he pleases, on condition of being in at meal-times, -and at the time for evening prayers, any one desiring to -remain away being required to ask permission of the -manager. It must be mentioned, too, that there is an -allowance of ninepence a week spending money for each -inmate.</p> - -<p>The men are comfortably clothed, in a decent sailorly -fashion, and many of the old fellows have still the bright, -alert, active look that belongs to the "smart hands," -among whom some of them were reckoned nearly half -a century ago. The most ancient of these mariners -at the time of my first visit was ninety-two years old, -and it so happened that I saw him on his birthday. -He came up the broad flight of stairs to speak to me, -with a foot that had not lost all its lightness, while the -eye that was left to him (he had lost one by accident -twenty years before) was as bright and open as a sailor's -should be. This is a long time ago, and William Coverdale -(that was his name) has probably gone to his rest. -Significantly enough, at the time of my latest visit, -the oldest representative of the last muster-roll was -James Nelson, a master mariner of Downpatrick, eighty-five -years of age; while bo's'n Blanchard is eighty-one; -able seaman John Hall, eighty; William Terry -(A. B.), eighty-two, and masters, mates, quartermasters, -cooks, and stewards, ranged over seventy. With many -of them this is the incurable disability that keeps -them ashore; the sort of complaint which is common to -sailors and landsmen alike if they live long enough—that -of old age. It will come one day, let us hope, to the -young Prince, whom we may regard as the Royal representative -of the English liking for the sea. For the -asylum for old and infirm sailors at Greenhithe has not -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">{83}</a></span> -been called Belvidere for some years now. Prince Alfred -went to look at it one day, and asked leave to become its -patron, since which it has been called "The Royal Alfred -Aged Merchant Seamen's Institution"—rather a long -name, but then it ought to mean so much.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">{84}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE FEEBLE AND FAINT-HEARTED.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Is</span> -there any condition wherein we feel greater -need of human help and true loving sympathy -than in the slow, feeble creeping from -sickness to complete convalescence, when the -pulse of life beats low, and the failing foot yet lacks -power to step across that dim barrier between health and -sickness—not far from the valley of the shadow of death?</p> - -<p>In the bright, glowing summer-tide, when the sun -warms bloodless creatures into renewed life, our English -sea-coast abounds with visitors, among whom near and -dear friends, parents, children, slowly and painfully winning -their way back to health and strength are the objects -of peculiar care. In all our large towns people who -have money to spend are, at least, beginning to make up -their minds where they shall take their autumn holiday;—in -many quiet health-resorts wealthy invalids, and -some who are not wealthy, have already passed the early -spring and summer;—at a score of pleasant watering-places, -where the cool sparkling waves break upon the -"ribbed sea-sand," troops of children are already browning -in the sun, scores of hearts feel a throb of grateful -joy as the glow of health begins to touch cheeks lately -pale, and dull eyes brighten under the clear blue sky.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">{85}</a></span> -Thousands upon thousands are then on their way to -that great restorer, the sea, if it be only for a few -hours by excursion train. England might seem to have -gathered all its children at its borders, and very soon we -hear how empty London is, while a new excuse for a -holiday will be that there is "nothing doing" and "nobody -is in town." And yet throughout the busy streets -a throng continues to hurry onward in restless activity. -Only well-accustomed observers could see any considerable -difference in the great thoroughfares of London. -Shops and factories look busy enough, and if nothing is -doing, there is a mighty pretence of work, while the nobodies -are a formidable portion of the population when -regarded in the aggregate.</p> - -<p>Early in August the census of our large towns still -further diminishes. Prosperous tradesmen, noting the -decrease of customers, begin to prepare to take part in -the general exodus. "Gentlefolks" have concluded bargains -for furnished houses on the coast and put their -dining and drawing-rooms into brown holland. In West-End -streets and squares the front blinds are drawn, and -all inquiries are answered from the areas, where charwomen -supplement the duties of servants on board -wages. "London is empty," the newspapers say, and in -every large town in the kingdom the great outgoing -leaves whole districts comparatively untenanted. Yet -what a vast population remains; what a great army of toiling -men and women who go about their daily work, and -keep up the unceasing buzz of the industrial hive. What -troops of children, who, except for Sunday-school treats, -would scarcely spend a day amidst green fields, or learn -how to make a daisy-chain, or hear the soft summer wind -rustling the leaves of overhanging trees.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">{86}</a></span> -It would perhaps astonish us if we could have set -down for us in plain figures how many men and women in -England have never seen the sea; how many people -have never spent a week away from home, or had a real -long holiday in all their lives. It may be happy for them -if they are not compelled by sudden sickness or accident, -to fall out of the ranks, and to leave the plough sticking -in the furrow. It is not all for pleasure and careless enjoyment -that the thousands of our wealthy brethren and -sisters go to the terraced houses, or handsomely appointed -mansions, which await them all round the English -shore. Into how many eyes tears must need -spring, when the prayers for all who are in sorrow, need, -or adversity are read in seaside churches on a summer's -Sunday. By what sick-beds, and couches set at windows -whence wistful eyes may look out upon the changeful -glory of wood and sea and sky, anxious hearts are -throbbing. What silent tears and low murmuring cries -on behalf of dear ones on whose pale cheeks the July -roses never more may bloom, mark the watches of the -silent night, when the waves sob wakefully upon the -beach. What thrills of hope and joy contend with obtrusive -fears as, the golden spears of dawn break through -the impenetrable slate-blue sky, and a touch of strength -and healing is seen to have left its mark upon a brow on -which the morning kiss is pressed with a keen throb -that is itself almost a pang.</p> - -<p>The first faltering footsteps back to life after a long -illness or a severe shock, how they need careful guidance. -Let the stronger arm, the helping hand, the encouraging -eye be ready, or they may fail before the goal of safety -be reached.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">{87}</a></span> -"All that is now wanted is strength, careful nursing, -plenty of nourishment, pure air—the seaside if possible, -and perhaps the south coast would be best." Welcome -tidings, even though they herald slow recovery, inch by -inch and day by day, while watchful patience measures -out the time by meat and drink, and the money that will -buy the means of comfort or of pleasure, becomes but -golden sand running through the hour-glass, which marks -each happy change.</p> - -<p>Yes; but what of the poor and feeble, the faint-hearted -who, having neither oil nor wine, nor the twopence wherewith -to pay for lodging at the inn, must need lie there by -the way-side, if no hand is stretched out to help them?</p> - -<p>While at those famous health-resorts, the names of -which are to be read at every railway station, and in the -advertisement sheets of every newspaper, hundreds and -thousands are coming back from weakness to strength, -there are hundreds and thousands still who are discharged -from our great metropolitan hospitals, to creep to rooms -in dim, close courts and alleys, where all the tending -care that can be given them must be snatched from the -hours of labour necessary to buy medicine and food. -How many a poor sorrowing soul has said with a sigh, -"Oh! if I could only send you to the sea-side. The -doctors all say fresh air's the great thing; but what's -the use? they say the same of pure milk and meat and -wine."</p> - -<p>It may be the father who has met with an accident, -and cannot get over the shock of a surgical operation—or -rheumatic fever may have left mother, son, or -daughter in that terrible condition of utter prostration, -when it seems as though we were in momentary danger -of floating away into a fainting unconsciousness, which -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">{88}</a></span> -not being oblivion, engages us in a struggle beyond our -waking powers.</p> - -<p>Alas! in the great summer excursion to the coast -these poor fainting brethren and sisters are too seldom -remembered. Here and there a building is pointed out -as an infirmary, a sea-side hospital, or even as a retreat -for convalescents, but the latter institutions are so few, -and the best of them are so inadequately supported, that -they have never yet been able to prove by startling -figures the great benefits which they confer upon those -who are received within their walls.</p> - -<p>One of the oldest of these truly beneficent Institutions, -"The Sea-side Convalescent Hospital at Seaford," has -just completed a new, plain, but commodious building, -not far from the still plainer House which has for many -years been the Home of its grateful patients. So let us -pay a visit to the old place just before its inmates are -transferred to more ample quarters, to provide for which -new subscriptions are needed, and fresh efforts are being -made. The visit will show us how, in an unpretentious -way, and without costly appliances, such a charitable -effort may be worthily maintained.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, Seaford itself is an illustration of -declension from strength to weakness, and of the early -stages of recovery; for though it is one of the famous -Cinque Ports, it has for nearly 200 years been an unnoted -retreat.</p> - -<p>But it is still a place of old, odd customs, such as the -election of the chief of the municipality at an assembly -of freemen at a certain gate-post in the town, to which -they are marshalled by an officer bearing a mace surmounted -with the arms of Queen Elizabeth. It is famous, -too, for Roman and other antiquities, and its queer -little church dedicated to St. Leonard, has some rare specimens -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">{89}</a></span> -of quaint carving and a peal of bells which are peculiarly -musical, while the sounding of the complines on a -still summer's night is good to hear. In fact, for a mere -cluster of houses forming an unpretentious and secluded -town, almost without shops to attract attention, with -scarcely the suspicion of a high street, and destitute of a -grand hotel, Seaford is remarkably interesting for its -legendary lore, as a good many people know, who have -discovered its greatest attraction, and take lodgings at -the dull little place, where even the martello tower is deserted. -The chief recommendation of the place, however, -is its healthfulness, and the grand air which blows off the -sea to the broad stretch of shingly beach, and the range -of cliff and down-land which stretches as far as Beachy -Head, and rises just outside the town into one or two bluffs, -about which the sea-gulls whirl and scream, as the evening -sun dips into the sparkling blue of the water. It is -just at the foot of the boldest of these ascents that we see -an old-fashioned mansion, once known as Corsica Hall, -but now more distinctly associated with the name of the -Convalescent Hospital, of which it has long been the -temporary home, the London offices of the charity being -at No. 8, Charing Cross, London.</p> - -<p>The institution, which was founded in 1860, has for its -president the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for its -patronesses the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess -of Teck, and it has done its quiet work efficiently and well, -under difficulties which must have required staunch interest -on the part of its committee.</p> - -<p>It is difficult at first to understand that the big many-roomed -house just by the spur of the cliff, and peeping -out to see over the shingle ridge, is in any sense a hospital; -but here is a convalescent who will give us a very fair idea -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">{90}</a></span> -of the work that is being done; a tall fellow who is but -just recovering from acute rheumatism, and is now able -to go about slowly but with a cheery, hopeful look in his -face. Presently, as one comes near the front door, a lad, -who having come from a hospital where he has been -attended for fractured ancle, has been sent here to recover -strength, is hobbling across a poultry-yard, where -a grand company of black Spanish, Polish, Cochin China, -and other fowls are assembled to be fed, and beneath a -pent-house roof in this same yard, on a bench, which -would be well replaced by a more comfortable garden-seat -if the funds would allow, there is a sheltered and -comfortable corner for the afternoon indulgence of a whiff -of tobacco. Twenty-five men and twenty-four women -are all the inmates, besides attendants, for whom space -can be found; and an inspection of the airy and scrupulously -clean dormitories, or rather bedrooms, on each -side of the building, will show that all the accommodation -has been made available. It must be remembered, -however, that as the period of each inmate's stay is -but a month of twenty-eight days, fresh cases are constantly -admitted during all the summer months; so that -though as late as at the end of March only fourteen men -and six women were distributed in the wards, the average -number admitted during the last official year has been 511 -(an increase of twenty-four over the year before), while the -total number of cases received since the opening of the institution -amounts to nearly 5,000.</p> - -<p>There are evidences that in this old house, with its long -passages, and little supplementary stairs leading to the -bedrooms, economy has been studied, and yet all that -can be done to adapt the place to its purpose has been -effected. The sense of fresh air and cleanliness is the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">{91}</a></span> -first noticeable characteristic. There are no slovenly -corners; in sitting-rooms, corridors, or dormitories, -whether the latter be little rooms with only two or -three beds, or either of the large apartments, with -their wide bay-windows looking forth upon the sea. -Plainly and even sparely furnished, they have an appearance -of homelike comfort, and it is pleasant to -note that in the larger bright cheerful room devoted -to women patients there are evidences of feminine -taste and womanly belongings, even to the egg-cups -holding little posies of wild flowers and common garden -blooms that deck the broad mantelshelf in front of the -toilet glasses. The same home-like influences are to be -observed in other departments, and though this old country -house—of which the institution holds only a short -term as tenants—is not altogether suited for the purpose -to which it has been applied, the arrangements are not -without a certain pleasant departure from the too formal -and mechanical routine which is observed in some establishments -to have a peculiarly depressing influence on the -sick.</p> - -<p>The kitchen is like that of some good-sized farm-house, -with brick floor, an ample "dresser," and a big range, -flanked with its pair of ovens, and just now redolent of -the steam of juicy South-down mutton and fresh vegetables -about to be served for the patients' dinners.</p> - -<p>It is a property of the Seaford air to make even -persons with delicate appetites ready for three plain -meals a day, with a meat supper to follow, and the convalescents -are no exception to the rule. Tea and bread-and-butter -for breakfast, bread-and-cheese and ale for the -men, and cake and ale for the women as a snack in the -way of lunch, good roast meat and vegetables for dinner, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">{92}</a></span> -with occasional pies or puddings, with another half-pint -of ale; tea as usual; and a supper consisting of a slice -of meat, bread, and another draught of beer—this is the -most ordinary diet; but in many cases milk is substituted -for ale, and there is also a morning draught of milk, or -rum-and-milk, a lunch or supper of farinaceous food, -and wine or special diet, according to the orders of -the house surgeon, who visits the patients daily, or -as often as may be required. Following the odour of -the roast mutton, we see the male patients preparing -to sit down to dinner in a good-sized room, where, -to judge from the pleased and grateful faces of men and -lads, they are quite ready to do justice to the repast. -Barely furnished, and with table appointments of the -plainest kind, the dining-room is not indicative of luxury; -but the sauce of hunger is not wanting, and as we bow -our leave-taking, there are signs that the money spent at -this Seaford Hospital is well represented by the wholesome -but expensive medicine of pure food and drink in -ample quantities, prescribed under conditions which -build up the strength, and restore life to the enfeebled -frames of those to whom a month of such living must be -an era in their history.</p> - -<p>The women's dining-room is, I am glad to see, more -ornamental than that of the men. The walls are bright -with gay paper, containing large and brilliantly coloured -scenery, while the wide windows look seaward, and fill -the large room with cheerful light.</p> - -<p>This is all the more essential as there is no other -sitting-room for the female patients, and the more convenient -furniture, especially a low wooden couch covered -with a mattress, is adapted to the needs of those who -require indoor recreation as well as frequent rest. The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">{93}</a></span> -men have a separate sitting-room in the basement, not a -very cheerful apartment, but one which in the warm -summer-time is cool, and adapted for the after-dinner -doze, or for reading a book when the weather is not -quite favourable for sitting out of doors.</p> - -<p>There is, by the bye, a very decided need of entertaining -and pleasant books for the patients' library at Seaford, -the few which are on the two or three shelves being -mostly old, and of a particularly dreary pattern. It is -obvious that, in an institution where, in order to meet the -constant needs of those who seek its aid, every shilling -must be carefully expended, only a small sum can be -devoted to literature; but it may only have to be made -known that the convalescents really need a few cheerful -volumes to help them along the road from sickness to -health, and out of the abundance of some teeming -library the goodwill offering may be made.</p> - -<p>It is time that we—that is to say, the kindly and judicious -secretary, Mr. Horace Green, the examining physician, -Dr. Lomas, and the present writer—should yield to -the influences of the grand appetising climate of this airy -nook of the English coast, and after a short turn into the -poultry-yard, a glance at the deliberate cow, and a passing -greeting to the great black cat with collar and bell and -a mew that is almost a deep bass roar, and to the most -exacting, ugly, and voracious pet dog it was ever my lot -to encounter—we accept the invitation to test the quality -of the Southdown mutton and other Seaford fare, with a -following of that delicately boiled rice and jam to which -the healthy palate returns with childlike appreciation.</p> - -<p>On hospitable thoughts intent, the bright and active -lady who is superintendent matron of the hospital, has -for the time adopted us into her hungry family, and with -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">{94}</a></span> -the knowledge of the effects of the breeze blowing -over that high bluff, and curling the waves along the -shingle ridge, has set out a repast in her own pleasant -parlour, where she does the honours of the institution -with a simple cheerful grace that speaks favourably -for the administration which she represents. But I should -now be writing in the past tense, for the larger building -is completed. The inmates will have a better appointed -home.</p> - -<p>In order to maintain the objects of the charity, and to -ensure the comfort of those for whom its provisions are -intended, some well-considered regulations have to be -adopted and enforced; and the most discouraging circumstances -with which the committee and their officers -have to contend, are those which arise from the negligence -of subscribers nominating patients, or from the -demands made on the charity by those who constantly -expect more benefits from the institution than their contributions -would represent even if they were paid three -times over.</p> - -<p>It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that people, -anxious to secure for their protgs the advantages of such -means of recovery as are represented by a temporary -hospital where there has only been one death in five -years, should readily contribute their guinea for the sake -of gaining the privilege, even though they may add to -that small subscription the five shillings a week which is -the sum required with each patient. What has to be -complained of, however, is that constant attempts are -made to introduce cases which are so far from being convalescent, -that they are still suffering from disease, and -require constant medical or surgical treatment. In order -to do this, nominations are frequently obtained from -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">{95}</a></span> -country subscribers, and it has required the constant -vigilance of the examining physician and the committee -to avoid the distressing necessity of obtaining for such -patients admission to other hospitals, or sending them -back to their own homes, not only without having received -benefit from the institution, but perhaps injured -by the journey to and fro when they were in a weak and -suffering condition.</p> - -<p>It should be remembered that the Seaford Hospital is -not for the sick, but for persons recovering from sickness,—those -for whom the best medicines are regular and -ample meals, grand bracing air, sea-baths, long hours of -quiet and restorative sleep, and that general direction of -their daily progress towards complete recovery, which -will often make them strong and set them up completely, -even in the twenty-eight days of their sea-side sojourn.</p> - -<p>To send patients who require the medical care and -attendance which can only be provided in a hospital for -the special disorders from which they suffer, or who are -afflicted with incurable diseases, is unjust, both to the -poor creatures themselves and to the charity which cannot -receive them.</p> - -<p>For consumptive patients, except in the early or -threatening stage of phthisis, Seaford is unsuitable, but -a month at the hospital for patients of consumptive tendency -has been known to produce remarkably beneficial -results. It is in cases of recovery after rheumatism and -rheumatic fever, or when strength is required after painful -or exhausting surgical operations, in nervous depression, -debility, pleurisy, and recovery from accidents, that the -fine air is found to be wonderfully invigorating; for Seaford -is high and dry, the subsoil being sand resting on -chalk, so that there is little surface evaporation, while the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">{96}</a></span> -shelter afforded by Beachy Head screens this little bay -of the coast from the east wind.</p> - -<p>It is not to be wondered at that the Archbishop of -Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the late Bishop -of Winchester should have joined many of the London -clergy, and more than eighty of the most eminent physicians -and surgeons connected with metropolitan -hospitals, to recommend this charity as one especially -deserving of public support. Those who are ever so -superficially acquainted with the homes and difficulties of -the poorer classes in London know that the period of -debility after sickness, when the general hospital has discharged -the patient, or when the parish doctor has taken -his leave, is a terrible time. Too weak to work, without -means to buy even common nourishment at the crisis -when plentiful food is requisite, and stimulated to try to -labour when the heart has only just strength to beat, -men and women are ready to faint and to perish unless -helping hands be held out to them. Try to imagine -some poor cabman or omnibus-driver, lying weak and -helpless after coming from a hospital; think of the domestic -servant, whose small savings have all been spent in the -endeavour to get well enough to take another place; of -the poor little wistful, eager-eyed errand-boy, scantily -fed, and with shaking limbs, that will not carry him fast -enough about the streets. Try to realise what a boon it -must be to a letter-carrier, slowly recovering from the illness -by which he has been smitten down, or to the London -waiter, worn and debilitated by long hours of wearying -attendance to his duties, to have a month of rest and, -re-invigoration at a place like this. In the table of inmates -during the last few years are to be found a host -of domestic servants, mechanics and apprentices, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">{97}</a></span> -warehousemen and labourers, 36 housewives (there is -much significance in that word, if we think of the poor -wife or mother to be restored to her husband and children), -46 needlewomen, 19 clerks, 15 teachers (mark that) -41 school-children, 9 nurses, 1 policeman, 3 seamen and -watermen, 1 letter-carrier, 4 errand-boys, 7 Scripture-readers, -and others of various occupations.</p> - -<p>It is no wonder, I say, that the general hospitals -should regard this Convalescent Home at Seaford as a -boon; but, unfortunately for the charity, the appreciation -which it receives from some of those wealthy and magnificently-endowed -institutions operates as a very serious -drain on its own limited resources, which are only supplied -by voluntary subscriptions, contributions, and -legacies. Every subscriber of a guinea annually, and -every donor of ten guineas in one sum, has the privilege -of recommending one patient yearly, with an additional -recommendation for every additional subscription of -one guinea, or donation of ten guineas. The payment -of five shillings a week by each patient admitted is also -required by the guarantee of a householder written on -the nomination paper, and the travelling expenses of the -patient must also be paid, the Brighton Railway Company -most benevolently conveying patients to the hospital -by their quick morning train, in second-class carriages -at third-class fare.</p> - -<p>Now it is quite obvious that the five shillings a week, -though it removes the institution from the position of an -absolute charity, goes but a very short distance in providing -for the needs of the inmates, and when the guinea -contribution is added to it, there is still a very wide margin -to fill before much good can be effected. Let us see, then, -what is the effect of every subscription of a guinea representing -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">{98}</a></span> -a claim, as in the case of the patients sent -from the general hospitals.</p> - -<p>The cost of those admirable medicines, food and drink, -wine, milk, and sea-baths, together with the expenses -of administration, and the rental will represent at least -4 8s. per head for each patient, and as Guy's, Bartholomew's, -St. Thomas's, and the London Hospitals, -each subscribing their ten guineas annually, demand -their ten nominations in exchange, the account stands -thus:—</p> - -<p>For each case, five shillings per week for four weeks, -and one guinea subscription = 2 1<i>s.</i>, which, deducted -from the actual cost (4 8<i>s.</i>), leaves 2 7<i>s.</i> to be paid out -of the funds of the Seaford Institution, which, on ten -patients a year, represents 23 10<i>s.</i> as the annual contribution -of this poor little charity to each of the four great -charitable foundations of the metropolis.</p> - -<p>But there is now an opportunity for acknowledging -this obligation, and for recognizing the useful career -of this really admirable institution. The lease of the -present house has already expired, and the committee -have been obliged to give up possession. It is therefore -necessary to support the new hospital for those who -need the aid that such a charity alone can give, and the -building has already been erected, only a few yards -further in the shelter of the bluff, where it has provided -another home. With a commendable anxiety to -keep strictly within their probable means, the committee -have decided not to imitate a too frequent mode of proceeding, -by which a large and splendid edifice would -saddle their undertaking with a heavy debt, and perhaps -cripple resources needed for carrying on their actual -work; but they have obtained from Mr. Grning, the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">{99}</a></span> -architect, a plain building which will provide for their -needs for some time to come, and may be hereafter -increased in accommodation by additions that will -improve, rather than detract from, its completeness. A -great establishment, with a hundred beds, laundries, -drying-houses, and hot and cold sea-baths on the premises, -would cost 13,000; and as the actually available -funds in hand for building purposes were not more -than 5,000, with another probable 1,000 added by -special donations expected during the year, the committee, -however reluctantly, folded up the original -plan, and estimated the cost of a plain unpretentious -building, calculated at first to receive thirty-three male -and thirty-three female patients, but capable of additions -which will raise its usefulness and completeness to the -higher demand, whenever there are funds sufficient to -pay for them. The expenditure for the new hospital -was about 7000, and, should the anticipated donations -be increased fourfold, there will be no difficulty in -crowning the work, by such provisions as will include -the full number of a hundred faint and failing men -and women within the retreat where they find rest -and healing.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE LITTLE ONES.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_Y.jpg" width="100" height="104" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Yes,</span> -and amidst the mystery of suffering and -pain,—the beginning of that discipline which -commences very early, and continues, for -many of us, during a whole lifetime, at such -intervals as may be necessary for the consummation -which we can only faintly discern when we begin to see -that which is invisible to the eyes of flesh and of human -understanding, and is revealed only to the higher reason—the -essential perception which is called faith.</p> - -<p>I want you to come with me to that eastern district -of the great city which has for so long a time been -associated with accounts of distress, of precarious earnings, -homes without food or fire, scanty clothing, dilapidated -houses, dire poverty and the diseases that come of -cold and starvation. The place that I shall take you to -is quite close to the Stepney Station of the North -London Railway. The district is known as Ratcliff; -the streets down which we shall pass are strangely destitute -of any but small shops, where a front "parlour" -window contains small stocks of chandlery or of general -cheap odds and ends. The doorways of the houses are -mostly open, and are occupied by women and children, -of so poor and neglected an appearance, that we need -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">{101}</a></span> -no longer wonder at the constant demands made upon -the institution which we are about to visit. Just here -the neighbourhood seems to have come to a dreary termination -at the brink of the river, and to be only kept -from slipping into the dark current by two or three big -sheds and wharves, belonging to mast, rope, and block-makers, -or others connected with that shipping interest -the yards of which are, many of them, deserted, no -longer resounding to the noise of hammers. The black -spars and yards of vessels alongside seem almost to -project into the roadway as we turn the corner and -stand in front of a building, scarcely to be distinguished -from its neighbours, except for the plain inscription on -its front, "East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary -for Women," and for a rather more recent appearance -of having had the woodwork painted. But for -this there would be little more to attract attention than -might be seen in any of the sail-makers' dwellings, -stores, and lofts in the district; and, in fact, the place -itself is—or rather was—a sail-maker's warehouse, with -trap-doors in the rough and foot-worn floors, steep and -narrow stairs, bulks and baulks of timber here and there -in the heavy ceilings and awkward corners, not easily -turned to account in any other business. Some of these -inconveniences have been remedied, and the trap-doors -as well as the awkwardest of the corners and the bulks -have been either removed or adapted to present purposes, -for the business is to provide a home and careful -nursing for sick children, and the long rooms of the -upper storeys are turned into wards, wherein stand rows -of Lilliputian iron bedsteads, or tiny cribs, where forty -boys and girls, some of them not only babes but sucklings, -form the present contingent of the hundred and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">{102}</a></span> -sixty little ones who have been treated during the year. -Not a very desirable-looking residence you will say, but -there are a good many inmates after all; and the scrupulous -cleanliness of the place, as seen from the very -passage, is an earnest of that plan of making the best -of things which has always been characteristic of this -hospital at Ratcliff Cross. Some eight or nine grownup -folks, and from thirty to forty children, make a -bright, cheerful home (apart from the suffering and -death which are inseparable from such a place) in that -old sail-maker's warehouse, if brightness and cheerfulness -are the accompaniments of good and loving work, -as I thoroughly believe they are.</p> - -<p>It was during the terrible visitation of cholera, nearly -twelve years ago, that this work of mercy was initiated, -and the manner of its foundation has about it something -so pathetic that it is fitting the story should be known, -especially as the earnest, hopeful effort with which the -enterprise began seems to have characterised it to the -present day. Among the medical men who went about -in the neighbourhood of Poplar and Ratcliff during the -epidemic, was Mr. Heckford, a young surgeon, who, -having recently come from India, was attached to the -London Hospital, and who took a constant and active -part in the professional duties he had undertaken. In -that arduous work, he, as well as others, received valuable -and indeed untiring aid from the ready skill and -thoughtful care of a few ladies, who, having qualified -themselves as nurses, devoted themselves to the labour -of love amongst the poor. To one of this charitable -sisterhood, who had been his frequent helper in the time -of difficulty and danger, the young surgeon became -attracted by the force of a sympathy that continued -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">{103}</a></span> -after the plague was stayed in the district to which they -had given so much care, and when they had time to think -of themselves and of each other. They went away together -a quietly married couple; both having one special -aim and object in relation to the beneficent career upon -which they had entered in company. Knowing from -hardly-earned experience the dire need of the district, -they at once began to consider what they could -do to alleviate the sufferings of the women and children, -so many of whom were sick and languishing, in hunger -and pain, amidst conditions which forbade their recovery. -If only they could make a beginning, and do something -towards arresting the ravages of those diseases that wait -on famine and lurk in foul and fœtid alleys;—if they -could establish a dispensary where women—mothers too -poor to pay a doctor—could have medicine and careful -encouragement; if they could find a place where, beginning -with a small family of say half a dozen, they -might take a tiny group of infants to their home, and so -set up a centre of beneficent action, a protest against the -neglect, the indifference, and the preventable misery for -which that whole neighbourhood had so long had an -evil distinction.</p> - -<p>The question was, how to make a beginning: but the -young doctor and his wife had been so accustomed to -the work of taking help to the very doors of those who -needed it, that all they wanted was to find a place in the -midst of that down-east district where they could themselves -live and work. Out of their own means they -bought the only available premises for their purpose—a -rough, dilapidated, but substantial, and above all, a ventilable -sail-loft with its adjacent house and store-rooms, -and there they quietly established themselves as residents, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">{104}</a></span> -with ten little beds, holding ten poor little patients -supported by themselves, in the hope that voluntary -aid from some of the benevolent persons who knew what -was the sore need of the neighbourhood would enable -them in time to add twenty or thirty more, when the -big upper storeys should be cleansed and mended and -made into wards. That hope was not long in being -realised, and on the 28th of January, 1868, after a determined -effort to maintain the institution and to devote -themselves to its service, a regular committee was formed -and commenced its undertakings, the founders still -remaining and working with unselfish zeal. From -twenty to thirty little ones were received from out that -teeming district, where a large hospital with ten times -the number of beds would not be adequate to the needs -of the infant population, the mothers of which have to -work to earn the scanty wages which in many cases -alone keep them from absolute starvation. The struggle -to maintain the wards in the old sail-lofts was all the -harder, from the knowledge that in at least half the -number of cases where admission was necessarily refused, -from want of space and want of funds, the little applicants -were sent away to die, or to become helpless invalids -or confirmed cripples, not less from the effects of -destitution—the want of food and clothing—than from -the nature of the diseases from which they were suffering.</p> - -<p>The young doctor and his wife dwelt there, and -with cultivated tastes and accomplishments submitted to -all the inconveniences of a small room or two, from -which they were almost ousted by the increasing need -for space. With a bright and cheerful alacrity they -adapted those very tastes and accomplishments to supplement -professional skill and tender assiduous care: -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">{105}</a></span> -the lady—herself in such delicate health that her husband -feared for her life, and friends anxiously advised -her to seek rest and change—used books and music to -cheer the noble work, and always had a picture on her -easel, with which to hide the awkward bulges and projections, -or to decorate the bare walls and brighten them -with light and colour.</p> - -<p>It was at Christmas-tide seven years ago that I first -visited the hospital, and there were then very pleasant -evidences of the season to be discovered in all kinds of -festive ornament in the long wards, and especially in the -smaller rooms, where this loving woman had attracted -other loving women around her, as nurses to the suffering -little ones; and was there and then engaged in the -superintendence of a glorious Christmas-tree. But the -time came when the hoped-for support having arrived, -Mr. and Mrs. Heckford felt that they could leave the -family of forty children to the care of those who had -taken up the work with heartfelt sympathy. They had -laboured worthily and well, but, alas!—the reward came -late—late at least for him, who had been anxious to -take his wife away to some warmer climate, in an endeavour -to restore the strength that had been spent in the -long effort to rear a permanent refuge for sick children -in that dense neighbourhood. It was he who stood -nearest to shadow-land,—he who was soonest to enter -into the light and the rest that lay beyond. Mr. Heckford -died, I believe, at Margate, after a short period of -leisure and travel, which his wife shared with him. His -picture, presented by her to the charity which they both -founded, is to be seen in the boys' ward. Another portrait -of him—a portrait in words written by the late Mr. -Charles Dickens, who visited and pathetically described -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">{106}</a></span> -the children and their hospital in December, 1868, conveys -the real likeness of the man.</p> - -<p>"An affecting play was acted in Paris years ago, called -the Children's Doctor. As I parted from my Children's -Doctor now in question, I saw in his easy black necktie, -in his loose-buttoned black frock-coat, in his pensive face, -in the flow of his dark hair, in his eyelashes, in the very -turn of his moustache, the exact realisation of the Paris -artist's ideal as it was presented on the stage. But no -romancer that I know of has had the boldness to prefigure -the life and home of this young husband and -wife, in the Children's Hospital in the East of London."</p> - -<p>What the hospital was then, it has remained—but with -such improvements as increased funds and a more complete -organisation have effected. It is still the ark of -refuge for those little ones who, smitten with sudden disease, -or slowly fading before the baleful breath of famine -or of fever, or ebbing slowly away from life by the fatal -influences that sap the constitutions of the young in such -neighbourhoods, are taken in that they may be brought -back to life, or at worst may be lovingly tended, that the -last messenger may be made to bear a smile.</p> - -<p>But the hope for the future of this most admirable institution -has grown to fill a larger space. It is indeed -essential to any really permanent effort in such a district -that it should be increased, and the founders looked -forward with earnest anticipations of the time when, -gathering help from without, they could enter upon a -larger building, which will soon be completed, and will -be more adequate to the needs of such a teeming -population. The area embracing Poplar, Mile End, -Whitechapel, St. George's, Limehouse, Ratcliff, Shadwell, -and Wapping numbers some 400,000 inhabitants, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">{107}</a></span> -strangely enough—as it will seem to those who have not -yet learnt the true characteristics of the really deserving -poor—many of the distressed people about that quarter -will conceal their poverty, and strive as long as they are -able—so that when at last they go to ask for aid the case -may be almost hopeless, and the delay in obtaining admission -may be fatal. There are already so many more -applicants than can be received that it may be imagined -what must be the vast amount of alleviable suffering -awaiting the opportunity of wider means and a larger -building. It would be easy to shock the reader by detailing -many of the more distressing diseases from which the -poor little patients suffer, but on visiting the wards you -are less shocked than saddened, while the evident rest and -care which are helping to restore and to sooth the sufferers -ease you of the greater pain by the hope that they -inspire.</p> - -<p>It is Sunday noon as we stand here in the dull street -where, but for the sudden opening of a frowsy tavern and -the appearance of two or three thirsty but civil customers, -who are not only ready but eager to show you the way -to the "Childun's 'orsepital," there would be little to distinguish -it from a thoroughfare of tenantless houses. Ratcliff -is at its dinner at present, but we shall as we go back -see the male residents leaning against the doorposts -smoking, and the women and children sitting at the doors -as at a private box at the theatre, discussing the sordid -events of the streets and the small chronicles of their poor -daily lives.</p> - -<p>But we must leave the cleanly-scrubbed waiting-room -and its adjoining large cupboard which does duty as dispenser's -room. It is dinnertime here too, or rather it has -been, and there are evidences of some very jolly feasting, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">{108}</a></span> -considering that, after all, the banqueters are mostly in -bed and on sick diet, which in many cases means milk, -meat, eggs, and as much nourishment as they can safely -take. Indeed, food is medicine to those who are turning -the corner towards convalescence—food and air—of -which latter commodity there is a very excellent supply -considering the kind of neighbourhood we are in. Here -and there we see a little wan, pinched, wasted face lying -on the pillow; a listless, transparent hand upon the counterpane—which -are sad tokens that the tiny sufferers are -nearing the eternal fold beyond the shadowy threshold -where all is dark to us, who note how every breath bespeaks -a feebler hold on the world of which they have -learnt so little in their tiny lives. There are others who -are sitting up with picture-books, or waiting to have their -abscesses dressed, and arms bandaged, or eyes laved with -cooling lotion. Hip-disease and diseases of the joints are -evidence of the causes that bring so many of the little -patients here, and there are severe cases of consumption -and of affections of the lungs and of the glands; but as the -little fellow wakes up from a short nap, or catches the eye -of the "lady nurse"—a lively and thoroughly practical -Irishwoman, who evidently knows how to manage, and -has come here, after special training, for the love of doing -good—they show a beaming recognition which is very -pleasant to witness. With all the nurses it is the same.</p> - -<p>They are young women who, receiving small pay, have -come to devote themselves to the work for Christ's sake -and the Gospel's—that is to say, for the love of humanity -and of the good tidings of great joy that announce the -love of Him who gave Himself for us.</p> - -<p>In the girls' ward there is the same freshness and cleanliness -of the place and all its belongings, the same wonderful -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">{109}</a></span> -patience and courageous endurance on the part of the -baby inmates, which has been my wonder ever since we -went in. Here is a mite of a girl sitting up in bed, holding -a moist pad to her eye, her poor little head being all -bandaged. She never utters a sound, but the little round -face is set with a determined endurance. "What is she -sitting up for?" She is "waiting to see muvver." Another -little creature, who is suffering from abscesses in the neck, -submits to have the painful place poulticed only on the -condition that she shall decide, by keeping her hand -upon the warm linseed-meal, when it is cool enough to put -on. These are scarcely pleasant details, and there are -sights here which are very, very sad, and make us shrink—but -I honestly declare that they are redeemed from -being repulsive because of the evidence of love that is to -be witnessed,—the awakening of the tender sympathies -and sweet responses of the childlike heart. But for its -being Sunday—which involves another reason to be mentioned -presently—the beds would be strewed with toys -and picture-books, while a rocking-horse, which is a part -of the hospital property, and a fit kind of steed to draw -the "hospital-carriage," which is represented by a perambulator—would -probably be saddled and taken out of -the stable on the landing. On the topmost storey we -come to the real infants, the little babies, one of whom -is even now in the midst of his dinner, which he takes -from a feeding-bottle, by the aid of an india-rubber tube -conveniently traversing his pillow.</p> - -<p>Everywhere there are evidences of the care with which -the work is carried on, and as we descend to the waiting-room -again we have fresh proofs of the benefits that are -being effected in the great district, by the provision -made for the little creatures, many of whom would otherwise -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">{110}</a></span> -be left to linger in pain and want. For the waiting-room -is filled—filled with mothers and elder sisters and -little brothers, tearfully eager and anxious for the weekly -visit to the fifty children upstairs. Here is the secret of -the brave little patient faces in the beds and cots above.</p> - -<p>It is infinitely touching to think how the prospect of -"seeing muvver" sustains that chubby little sufferer,—how -the expected visit nerves the stronger ones to endurance, -and sends a fresh throb of life through those -who are still too weak to do more than faintly smile, and -hold out a thin pale hand.</p> - -<p>If Mr. Ashby Warner, the Secretary at this Hospital -for Sick Children at Ratcliff Cross, could but send some -responsive thrill into the hearts of those who, having no -children of their own, yet love Christ's little ones all over -the world,—or could bring home to the fond fathers and -mothers of strong and chubby babes the conviction that -to help in this good work is a fitting recognition of their -own mercies; nay, if even to sorrowing souls who have -been bereaved of their dear ones, and who yet believe -that their angels and the angels of these children also, do -constantly behold the face of the Father which is in -heaven, there would come a keen recognition of the -blessedness of doing something for the little ones, as -unto Him who declares them to be of His kingdom—there -would soon be no lack of funds to finish building -that great new hospital at Shadwell, which is to take -within its walls and great airy wards so many more little -patients, to help and comfort by advice and medicine so -many more suffering mothers and sisters than could be -received in the old sail-loft and its lower warehouse at -Ratcliff Cross. For the hope of the founders and their -successors has at last being realised—a larger building -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">{111}</a></span> -than they had at first dared to expect is to be erected -on ground which has been purchased, still within the -district where the need is greatest—and when the time -comes that the last touch of carpenter and mason shall -have been given to the new home, and the picture of -Mr. Heckford shall be hung upon another wall, there -may well be a holiday "down east"—as a day of thanksgiving -and of gratitude, to those who may yet help in -the work by giving of their abundance.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">{112}</a></div> - -<h2><i>IN THE KINGDOM.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_O.jpg" width="100" height="103" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Of</span> -such are the kingdom of heaven;" and "whosoever -doeth it unto the least of these little -ones, doeth it unto Me." Surely there is no -need to comment again on these sayings of -Him who, in His infinite childlikeness, knew what must -be the characteristics of His subjects, and declared -plainly that whosoever should enter into the kingdom -must become as a little child. One thing is certain, that -those who are within that kingdom, or expect to qualify -themselves for it, must learn something of the Divine -sympathy with which Christ took the babes in his arms -and blessed them. Thank God that there is so much of -it in this great suffering city, and that on every hand we -see efforts made for the rescue, the relief, and the nurture -of sick and destitute children. Would that these -efforts could relieve us from the terrible sights that should -make us shudder as we pass through its tumultuous -streets, and witness the suffering, the depravity, and the -want, that comes of neglecting the cry of the little ones, -and of those who would bring them to be healed and -sanctified.</p> - -<p>Only just now I asked you to go with me to -Ratcliff to see the forty tiny beds ranged in the rooms -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">{113}</a></span> -of that old sail-maker's warehouse which has been converted -into a Hospital for Sick Children. There is something -about this neighbourhood of Eastern London that -keeps us lingering there yet; something that may well -remind us of that star which shone above the manger -at Bethlehem where the Babe lay. The glory of the -heavenly light has led wise men and women to see how, -in reverence for the childlikeness, they may work for the -coming of the kingdom, and those who enter upon this -labour of love, begin—without observation—to find what -that kingdom really is, and to realise more of its meaning -in their own hearts.</p> - -<p>To the cradle in a manger the wise men of old went to -offer gifts. To a cradle I would ask you to go with me -to-day; to a whole homeful of cribs; which is known by -a word that means crib and manger and cradle all in -one—"The Crche."</p> - -<p>There is something, as it seems to me, appropriate in -this French word to the broad thoroughfare (so like one -of the outer boulevards of Paris) out of which we turn -when we have walked a score or two of yards from the -Stepney Station, or where some other visitors alight -from the big yellow tramway car running from Aldgate -to Stepney Causeway. The Causeway itself is a clean, -quiet street, and is so well known that the first passer-by -can point it out to you, while, if the inhabitants of the -district can't quite master the <i>crunch</i> of the French word, -they know well enough what you mean when you ask for -the "babies' home," or for "Mrs. Hilton's nursery." The -home itself is but a baby institution, for it is only five -years old, but it might be a very Methuselah if it were -to be judged by the tender, loving care it has developed, -and the good it has effected, not only on behalf of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">{114}</a></span> -forty sucklings who are lying in their neat little wire cots -upstairs, like so many human fledglings in patent safety -cages, and for the forty who are sprawling and toddling -about in the lower nursery, or for the contingent who are -singing a mighty chorus of open vowels on the ground-floor; -but also in the hopeful aid and tender sympathy -it has conveyed to the toiling mothers who leave their -little ones here each morning when they go out to earn -their daily bread, and fetch them again at night, knowing -that they are fresh and clean, and have been duly nursed -and fed, and put to sleep, and had their share of petting -and of play.</p> - -<p>The sound of the forty singing like one is not perceptible -as we approach the house, which, with its large high -windows open to the soft, warm air, lies very still and -quiet. The wire-blinds to the windows near the street -bear the name of the institution, and over the doorway -is inscribed the fact that the Princess Christian has become -the patroness of this charity, which appeals to all -young mothers, and to every woman who acknowledges -the true womanly love for children. Each day, from -twelve to four o'clock, visitors are welcomed, except on -Saturdays, when the closing hour is two o'clock, as, even -in some of the factories down east, the half-holiday is -observed, and poor women working at bottle-warehouses -and other places have the happiness of taking home their -little ones, and keeping them to themselves till the following -Monday morning. Do you feel inclined to question -whether these poor, toil-worn women appreciate this -privilege? Are you ready to indulge in a cynical fear -that they would rather forego the claim that they are -expected to assert? Believe me you are wrong. One of -the most hopeful and encouraging results of the tender -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">{115}</a></span> -care bestowed upon these babes of poverty is that of sustaining -maternal love, and beautifying even the few hours -of rest and family reunion in the squalid rooms where -the child is taken with a sense of hope and pride to -lighten the burden of the day. Early each morning the -little creatures are brought, often in scanty clothing, sometimes -shoeless, mostly with a ready appetite for breakfast. -Then the business of matron and nurses begins. -But, come, let us go in with the children, and see the -very first of it, as women, poorly clad, coarse of feature, -and with the lines of care, and too frequently with the -marks of dissipation and of blows upon their faces, come -in one by one and leave their little living bundles, not -without a certain wistful, softened expression and an -occasional lingering loving look.</p> - -<p>The house—stay, there are actually three houses, -knocked into one so as to secure a suite of rooms on -each floor—is as clean as the proverbial new pin; and -as we ascend the short flights of stairs, there is a sense -of lightness and airiness which is quite remarkable in -such a place, and is by some strange freak of fancy -associated with the notion of a big, pleasant aviary—a -notion which is strengthened by our coming suddenly into -the nursery on the first-floor, and noting as the most -prominent object of ornament a large cage containing -some sleek and silken doves, placed on a stand very little -above the head of the tiniest toddler there.</p> - -<p>There is enough work for the matron, her assistant, -and the four or five young nurses who receive these welcome -little guests each morning. The rows of large -metal basins on the low stands are ready, and the morning's -ablutions are about to commence, so we will return -presently, as people not very likely to be useful in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">{116}</a></span> -midst of so intricate an operation as the skilful washing -and dressing of half a hundred babies.</p> - -<p>There is plenty to see in the neighbourhood out of -doors, but we need not wander far to find something interesting, -for on the ground-floor of these three houses -which form the Crche—the babies' home—provision -has also been made for babies' fathers, in the shape of -"a British Workman," or working-man's reading, coffee, -and bagatelle room, with a library of readable books, and -liberty to smoke a comfortable pipe.</p> - -<p>Of the servants' home, which is another branch of this -cluster of charitable institutions, we have no time to -speak now, for our visit is intended for the Crche, and -we are already summoned to the upper rooms by the -sound of infant voices. Doubt not that you will be -welcomed on the very threshold, for here comes an -accredited representative of the institution, just able to -creep on all fours to the guarded door, thence to be -caught up by the gentle-faced young nurse, who at once -consigns the excursionist to a kind of square den or -pound, formed of stout bars, and with the space of floor -which it encloses covered by a firm mattress. There, in -complete safety, and with two or three good serviceable -and amiably-battered toys, the young athletes who are -beginning to practise the difficult feat of walking with -something to hold by, are out of harm's way, and may -crawl or totter with impunity. They have had their -breakfast of bread and milk, and are evidently beginning -the day, some of them with a refreshing snooze in the -little cribs which stand in a row against a wall, bright, -as all the walls are, with coloured pictures, while in spaces, -or on low tables here and there, bright-hued flowers and -fresh green plants are arranged, so that the room, necessarily -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">{117}</a></span> -bare and unencumbered with much furniture, is so -pleasantly light and gay, that we are again reminded of -a great bird-cage. Out here in a little ante-room is a -connected row of low, wooden arm-chairs, made for the -people of Lilliput, and each furnished with a little tray -or table, and, drumming expectantly and with a visible -interest in the proceeding, sit a line of little creatures, -amidst whom a nurse distributes her attentions, by feeding -them carefully with a spoon, just as so many young -blackbirds might be fed. Already some of the little -nurslings are sitting up in their cribs, quietly nodding -their round little heads over some cherished specimen of -doll or wooden horse. One wee mite of a girl, quite unable -to speak, except inarticulately, holds up the figure -of a wooden lady of fashion, with a wistful entreaty -which we fail to understand, till the quick-eyed lady who -accompanies us spies a slip of white tape in the tiny -hand, and at once divines that it is to be bound about -the fashionable waist, as an appropriate scarf, and at once -performs this finishing stroke of the toilet, to the immeasurable -satisfaction of everybody concerned. This -is in the upper room, the real baby nursery, where the -age of some of the inmates is numbered by weeks only, -and there is in each swinging cot a sweet, sleepy sense -of enjoyment of the bottle which forms the necessary -appliance of luncheon-time.</p> - -<p>At the heads of several of these cots are inscribed the -names of charitable donors, happy parents, bereaved -mothers, sympathetic women with babies of their own, -either on earth or in heaven, who desire to show gratitude, -faith, remembrance, by this token of their love for the -childlikeness of those they love and cherish in their -deepest memories, their most ardent hopes. In more -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">{118}</a></span> -than one of the little beds there are signs of the poverty -or the sickliness in which the children were born, and -the effects of which this home, with its freshness and -light and food, is intended to remedy. No cases of -actual disease are here, however, since a small infirmary -for children suffering from more serious ailments has -been added to the institution, and the Sick Children's -Hospital is but three street lengths distant.</p> - -<p>The first most remarkable experience which meets the -visitor unaccustomed to observe closely, is the freshness -and beauty of the children in this place. Squalid misery, -dirt, neglect, starvation, so disguise and debase even the -children in such neighbourhoods, that squeamish sentimentality -turns away at the first glance, and is apt to -conclude that there are essential differences between the -infancy of Tyburnia or Mayfair and the babyhood of -Ratcliff and Shadwell. Yet I venture to assert that if -Mr. Millais or some other great painter were to select his -subjects for a picture from these rooms of the old house -in Stepney Causeway, he would leave the galleries of -Burlington House echoing with "little dears," and "what -a lovely child!" and popular prejudice would conclude -that from birth the little rosebud mouths were duly -fitted with silver spoons instead of being scant even of -the bluntest of wooden ladles.</p> - -<p>At this Crche at Stepney Causeway the reasons of -the true childlike freshness, alacrity, and even the engaging -impetuosity and loving confidence which characterise -these little ones, is not far to seek. As you came -up you noticed row after row of blue check bags, hanging -in a current of fresh air on the wall of the staircase.</p> - -<p>Those bags contain the clothes in which these children -are brought to the Home in the morning. They are -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">{119}</a></span> -changed with the morning's ablutions, and clean garments -substituted for them until the mothers come in the evening -to fetch away their bairnies, and by that time they -have been aired and sweetened. It is noticeable that this -has the effect in many instances of inducing the women to -make praiseworthy efforts to improve the appearance of -the children, and, indeed, the whole tendency of the treatment -of the little ones is to develop the tenderness and love -which lie deep down in the hearts of the mothers. Even -the endearing nicknames almost instinctively bestowed -upon the tiny darlings have a share in promoting this feeling, -and the pretty rosy plump little creatures, or the quaint -expressive bright-eyed babies, who are called "Rosie," -"Katie," "Pet," "Little Old Lady," and so on, all have -a kind of happy individuality of their own in the regards -of the dear lady who founded and still directs the institution, -and in those of the nurses who tend them. Sometimes -the names arise from some little incident occurring -when the children are first brought there, as well as from -the engaging looks and manners of the little ones themselves. -"The King," is a really fine baby-boy, the recognised -monarch of the upper nursery, but his sway is -strictly constitutional; while a pretty little wistful, plump -lassie, is good-humouredly known as "Water Cresses," -and has no reason to be ashamed of the name, for it -designates the business by which a hard-working mother -and elder sister earn the daily bread for the family.</p> - -<p>Did I say that the charge for each child is twopence -daily? Nominally it is so; and let those who desire to -know something of the real annals of the poor remember -that even this small sum—which of course cannot adequately -represent anything like the cost—is not easily -subtracted from the scanty earnings of poor women engaged -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">{120}</a></span> -in slopwork, or selling dried fish, plants, crockery, -and small wares in the streets, or going out to work in -warehouses, rope-walks, match-making, box-making, and -other poor employments, where the daily wages will not -reach to shillings, and sometimes are represented only in -the pence column. Let it be remembered, too, that the -husbands of these women (those who are not prematurely -widows, or whose husbands have not deserted them) are -employed as dock labourers, and are often under the -terrible curse of drink, or are in prison, while the women -struggle on to support the little ones, who but for this -institution, would perhaps be left—hungry, naked, and -sickly—to the care of children only two or three years -older than themselves; or would be locked in wretched -rooms without food or fire till the mother could toil -homeward, with the temptation of a score of gin-shops -in the way.</p> - -<p>Each of the bright intelligent little faces now before -us has its history, and a very suggestive and pathetic -history too.</p> - -<p>Look at this little creature, whose pet name of Fairy -bespeaks the loving care which her destitute babyhood -calls forth; she is only ten months old, and her mother -is but nineteen, the widow of a sailor lost at sea two -months before the baby was born.</p> - -<p>Katie, of the adult age of five years, is the child of a -man who works on barges. Rosie, one of the first inmates, -has a drunken dock-labourer for a father, and her -mother is dead. Dicky represents the children whose -father, going out to sea in search of better fortune for -wife and children, is no more heard of, and is supposed -to be dead. "The King" is fatherless, and his mother -works in a bottle-warehouse. The pathetic stories of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">{121}</a></span> -these children is told by Mrs. Hilton herself, in the little -simple reports of this most admirable charity. They -are so touching, that I cannot hope to reproduce them -in any language so likely to go straight to the heart as -that in which you may read them for yourself if you will -either visit the Crche, or send ever so small a donation, -and ask for a copy of the modest brown-covered little -chronicle of these baby-lives. Standing here in the two -nurseries, where the dolls and Noah's arks, the pictures -and the doves, nay, even the baby-jumpers suspended -from the ceilings, are but accessories to the clasp of loving -arms and the softly-spoken words of tender womanly -kindness, I wonder why all one side of Stepney Causeway -has not been demanded by a discriminating public -for the extension of such an institution. Loitering in -the lower room, where one little bright face is lifted up -to mine, as the tiny hands pluck at my coat-skirt, and -another chubby fist is busy with my walking-stick, I -begin to think of the workhouse ward, where mothers -are separated from their children night and day; of a -prison, where I have seen a troop of little boys, and -a flogging-room provided by a beneficent Government -for the recognition by the State of children who had -qualified themselves for notice by the commission of -what the law called crime.</p> - -<p>A pleasant odour of minced beef, gravy, and vegetables, -known as "Irish stew," begins to steal upon the air. -The wooden benches in one of the rooms are suddenly -turned back, and like a conjuring trick, convert themselves -into tiny arm-chairs, with convenient trays in front -for plates and spoons. The little voices—forty like one—strike -up a fresh chant, and a whisper of rice-pudding -is heard. So we go out, wondering still, and with a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">{122}</a></span> -wish that from every nursery where children lisp "grace -before meat," some gracious message could be brought -to aid and strengthen those who believe with me that -the most profitable investment of political economy, the -most certain effort of philanthropy, is to begin with the -men and women of the future, and so abate the fearful -threatenings of coming pauperism, and the still more terrible -menace of a permanent "criminal class."</p> - -<p>The policy of the authorities, says Mrs. Hilton, in -her interesting narrative of the Crche, in stopping outdoor -relief to poor widows with children is causing much -sorrow. The 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> or 3<i>s.</i> received from the parish -secured their rent, and they managed, with shirt-making -or trouser-finishing, to earn a bare subsistence; but now -the battle for a mere existence is terrible. Doubtless, -the children would be better cared for in the House, but -mothers cannot be persuaded to give them up. One -such case has just passed under my notice; but the -woman shall speak for herself. "'Oh, Mrs. Hilton, they -have taken off my relief!—I, with four little ones who -cannot even put on their shoes and stockings. They -offer me the House; but I never can give up my children. -Look at baby; he is ten months old; his father died -of small-pox six months before he was born; he was -only ill five days.' I told her I was afraid she would -not be able to earn enough to keep them all. 'Well,' -she said, 'I must try—I will never go into the House.'"</p> - -<p>"But these women have very little feeling for their -children, they are so low and brutalised." Are they? -Let those who think so visit this Cradle Home, and -witness the bearing of the mothers who come to take -their little ones home, or to nurse the sucklings at intervals -snatched from work. Let them hear what such -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">{123}</a></span> -poor women will do for children <i>not</i> their own, even to -the extent (as recently took place, in one instance, at -least) of sharing with their less necessitous babes the -natural sustenance that the mother cannot always -give.</p> - -<p>Sixty-five children received daily and a hundred or -more on the books, with space needed for many more -than can be admitted; children who, some of them infants -as they are, have learned to lisp profane oaths and babble -in foul language, and to give way to furious outbursts of -passion, the result of neglect and evil example, and the -life of the street and the gutter. It is but a short time, -however, before this strange dreadful phase of the distorted -child mind disappears, and the pet name is bestowed -along with the gentle kindness that obliterates -the evil mimicry of sin. The baby taken home from -this purer atmosphere of love becomes a messenger of -grace to many a poor household, as the short annals of -the Crche will tell; and even the pet names themselves -are adopted by the mothers in speaking of and to their -own children. One short story from the first report sent -out by Mrs. Hilton, and we will go our way with a hope -that some words of ours may win a fresh interest for these -little ones.</p> - -<p>"A precious babe died, and the mother, too poor to -bury it, sent for a parish coffin. The child was very -dear to us, and we had named her our nursery Queen -which had degenerated into 'Queenie.' It was a sore -trial to us to see the golden curls mingled with sawdust, -which is all that was placed in the coffin; and yet we -could not spend public funds on the funeral, and feared -to do it privately. In a few hours a mother came and -said, 'Come and look at your Queenie now.' We went -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">{124}</a></span> -and saw that loving hands had softened all the harsh -outlines. A little bed and pillow had been provided, a -frill placed round the edge, and some children had lain -fresh-gathered flowers on the darling's breast. The cost -had been 9<i>d.</i>, paid for by those mothers, and although -so freely and lovingly given, it was the price of more than -a meal each."</p> - -<p>If every mother in London with a well-stocked larder -would give the price of a meal for the sake of a living -child—but, there! my duty is not to beg, but to describe.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">{125}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH LOST LAMBS.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_O.jpg" width="100" height="103" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Only</span> -quite lately I had to write about the old -French colony in Spitalfields, and of the -changes that have come over entire neighbourhoods -which were once associated with what -is now a failing industry, or rather with one which, so -far as London is concerned, has nearly died out altogether.</p> - -<p>Not that the public has ceased to hear sundry reports -of those quarters of the metropolis of which the name -of Bethnal Green is an indication as suggesting dire -poverty, neglected dwellings, poorly-paid callings, and -constant distress. Some few years ago it became quite -a fashion for newspaper special reporters (following in -the wake of one or two writers who had begun to tell -the world something of the truth of what they knew of -these sad regions) to make sudden amateur excursions -beyond Shoreditch, for the purpose of picking up -material for "lurid" articles about foul tenements, fever, -hunger, want, and crime. Bethnal Green became quite -a by-word, even at the West End, and certain spasmodic -efforts in the direction of charitable relief were made by -well-meaning people, so that for a time there was danger -of a new kind of demoralisation of the "low neighbourhood," -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">{126}</a></span> -and the price of lodgings, even in the wretched -tenements of its notorious streets, were expected to rise -in proportion to the demand made by emigrants from -other less favoured localities, to which the special correspondent -had not at that time penetrated. One good -work was effected by the attention of sanitary authorities -being called to the fever dens during a time of terrible -epidemic, and a certain provision of medical aid, -together with purification of drains, whitewashing of -rooms, and clearing of sties and dustheaps, was the -result. This was but temporary, however; and those who -best know the neighbourhood lying between Shoreditch -and Bethnal Green, and disclaimed by the local authorities -of both because of its misery and dilapidation, are -also aware that in various parts of the whole great -district from the Hackney Road to Bishopsgate, and -so embracing Spitalfields and part of Whitechapel, far -away to Mile End and "Twig Folly," there can be discovered -more of want, hunger, and disease than could -exist in any free city under heaven, if men were not such -hypocrites as to defy and disregard the laws which yet -they claim to have a hand in framing, and a power to -enforce.</p> - -<p>Only those who are personally acquainted with such -a district can conceive what is the condition of the -children of its streets, and yet every ordinary wayfarer -of the London thoroughfares may note to what a life -some of them are committed. About the outskirts of -the markets, round the entrances to railway stations, -cowering in the shadows of dark arches, or scrambling -and begging by the doors of gin-shops and taverns, the -boys—and what is even worse, the girls—are to be seen -daily and nightly, uncared for, till they have learnt how -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">{127}</a></span> -to claim the attention of a paternal government by an -offence against the law. When once the child, who is -a mere unnoted fraction of the population, has so far -matriculated in crime as to warrant the interposition of -the police, he or she becomes an integer of sufficient importance -to be dealt with by a magistrate. Let an infancy -of neglect and starvation lead to the reckless pilfering -of a scrap of food from a counter, or the abstraction -of something eatable or saleable from a market-cart -or a porter's sack, and the little unclassified wretch is -added as another unit to a body recognised, and in some -sense cared for, by the State. As a member of the great -"criminal class," the juvenile thief becomes of immediate -importance. Even though the few juvenile criminal reformatories -be full, the gaol doors are open, and the -teachings of evil companionship are consummated by -the prison brand. The individual war against society -gains strength and purpose, for society itself has acknowledged -and resented it. The child has entered on a -career, and unless some extra legal interposition shall -succeed in changing the course of the juvenile offender -by assuming a better guardianship, the boy may become -an habitual thief, a full-fledged London ruffian; the -girl—?</p> - -<p>It was with a deep sense of the terrible significance of -this question, that a small party of earnest gentlemen -met, twenty-seven years ago, in that foul neighbourhood -to which I have referred, to consider what should be -done to rescue the deserted and destitute girls, some of -whom had already been induced to attend a ragged -school, which was held in a dilapidated building that had -once been a stable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">{128}</a></span> -These thoughtful workers included among them two -men of practical experience; one of them, Mr. H. R. -Williams, the treasurer of the present institution, the -other the Rev. William Tyler, whose bright genial presence -has long been a power among the poor of that district, -where even the little ragged children of the streets -follow him, and lisp out his name as the faithful shepherd, -who both gives and labours in one of the truest "cures -of souls" to be found in all great London. To them -soon came the present honorary secretary, Mr. J. H. -Lloyd, a gentleman already familiar with teaching the -poor in a neighbouring district no less wretched and -neglected. They were the right men for the business in -hand, and therefore they began by moving sluggish boards -and commissions to put in force the sanitary laws—and, -in spite of the opposition of landlords with vested interests -in vile tenements let out to whole families of -lodgers from garret to basement, and of the malignant -opposition of owners of hovels where every abomination -was rife, and pigs littered in the yards, while costermongers -shared the cellars with their donkeys—insisted -on the surrounding streets being paved and drained, and -some of the houses being whitewashed and made weatherproof.</p> - -<p>Nothing less could have been done, for the terrible -cholera epidemic was already raging in that tangle of -courts and alleys. Application was at once made for a -share from the Mansion House Relief Fund, and the -committee had to use every available shilling in order to -supply food and medicine, blankets and clothing, to the -wretched families; to visit whom, a regular relief corps -was organised, carrying on its beneficent and self-denying -work, until the plague began to be stayed. Then -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">{129}</a></span> -with scarcely any money, but with unabated hope and -fervid faith, this little company of men and women began -to consider what they should do to found a Refuge for -the children (many of them orphans, and quite friendless) -who were everywhere to be seen wandering about, -or alone and utterly destitute in the bare rooms that had -been their homes. There were already certain institutions -to which boys could be sent, for then, as now, the -provision for boys was far greater than for girls. This is -one of the strange, almost inexplicable conditions of -charitable effort, and at that time it was so obvious -which was the greater need, that the committee at once -determined to commence a building on a waste piece of -land which had been purchased close by, and to devote -it to the reception of thirty destitute girls, who should -be snatched from deadly contamination, and from the -association of thieves and depraved companions.</p> - -<p>Surely, if slowly, the work went on, the plan of the -building being so prepared that it could be extended as -the means of meeting the growing need increased. Almost -every brick was laid with thoughtful care, and -when subscriptions came slowly in, the funds were furnished -among the committee themselves rather than the -sound of plane and hammer should cease; till at last, -when the King Edward Ragged School and Girl's -Refuge was completed, a large edifice of three spacious -storeys had superseded the old ruinous stable amidst -its fœtid yards and sheds, and, what was more, the -building was paid for, and a family of children had -been gathered within its sheltering walls. At the -time of my first visit to the institution no more than -twenty had been taken into this Refuge; but every -foot of the building was utilised until the money should -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">{130}</a></span> -be forthcoming to add to the dormitories, and enable the -committee to fulfil the purpose that it had in view.</p> - -<p>In the large square-paved playground forty happy -little members of the infant-school were marching to -the slow music of a nursery song; and the numbers on -the books were 196, in addition to 304 girls who came -daily to be instructed in the great school-room, where -they were taught to read, and write, and sew. A hundred -and twenty boys were also being taught in the -Ragged Church opposite, while seventy children over -fifteen years of age attended evening classes, forty-two -young men and women were in the Bible class, and a -penny bank, a library of books, and a benevolent fund -for the relief of poor children in the neighbourhood, were -branches of the parent institution.</p> - -<p>This, however, was seven years ago, and since that time -so greatly has the work flourished, that the Ragged and -Infant Schools have premises of their own on the other -side of the way; and the great building having been -completed by the addition of an entire wing, its original -purpose is accomplished, and it is "The Girl's Refuge," -of the King Edward Certified Industrial and Ragged -Schools, Albert Street, Spitalfields.</p> - -<p>It is to the receipt of munificent anonymous donations -that the committee owe the completion of the building, -and in order to extend the usefulness of their Refuge -they have certified it under the provisions of the Industrial -Schools Act of 1866. That this was in accordance -with their ruling principle of making the most of every -advantage at their command may be shown by the fact -that when the School Board, almost appalled at the need -for making immediate use of any existing organization, -began to send cases to existing "Homes," only eight of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">{131}</a></span> -these institutions could receive the children, and in these -eight no more than forty-four vacancies existed for Protestant -girls. The consequence of opening the King -Edward Refuge under the Act was that it received -nearly all the cases of the year, and that in the twelve -months it was certified ninety new inmates after found -an asylum within its walls.</p> - -<p>If you were to go there with me to-day, you would -not wonder that the supporters of this institution were -anxious to erect another building in some part of London, -where another hundred lambs straying in this great -wilderness could be taken to the fold. Passing through -the neat dormitories, with their rows of clean white beds; -peeping into the big toy cupboard, where the kindly -treasurer has recently placed a whole family of eighty -dolls, and other attractive inventions to induce children -to play, some of whom have never known before what -play really meant; looking at the lavatory with its long -rows of basins let into slate slabs, and each with its -towel and clean bag for brush and comb; noting the -quiet "Infirmary," with its two or three beds so seldom -needed, and remarking that from topmost floor to the -great laundry with its troughs and tubs, a constant -supply of hot water provides alike for warmth and -cleanliness, I begin to wonder what must be the first -sensations of a poor little dazed homeless wanderer on -being admitted, washed, fed, and neatly clothed. Why, -the two kitchens—that one with the big range, where -most of the cooking is done, and the other cosy farmhouse-looking -nook, with its air of comfort—must be a -revelation to all the senses at once. Then there are the -highly-coloured prints on the walls, the singing of the -grace before meat; the regular and wholesome food; -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">{132}</a></span> -the discipline (one little rebel is already in bed, whither -she has been sent for misconduct, and an elder girl demurely -brings up her slice of bread and mug of milk -and water on a plate); the provision for recreation; the -occasional visits of parents (many of them unworthy of -the name) at stated seasons; the outings to the park, -the Bethnal Green Museum, and other places; the -Christmas treat; the summer presents of great baskets -of fruit; the rewards and prizes; the daily instruction -in such domestic work as fits them for becoming -useful household servants. What a wonderful -change must all these things present to the children of -the streets, whose short lives have often been less cared -for than those of the beasts that perish! Everywhere -there are marks of order, from the neat wire baskets at -the foot of each bed in which the girls place their folded -clothes before retiring to rest, to the wardrobe closets -and the great trays of stale bread and butter just ready -for tea. Everywhere there are evidences of care and -loving kindness, from the invalid wheel-chair—the gift -of the treasurer to the infirmary—to the splendid quality -of the "long kidney" potatoes in the bucket, where they -are awaiting the arrival of to-morrow's roast mutton, -three days being meat dinner days, while one is a bread -and cheese, and two are farinaceous pudding days.</p> - -<p>As we sit here and sip our tea—for I am invited to -tea with the committee—and are waited on by three -neat and pretty modest little women—one of them, a -girl of eight, so full of child-like grace and simplicity, -that there would be some danger of her being spoiled -if she were not quite used to a little petting—who can -help looking at the inmates now assembling quite quietly -at the other end of the room, and thinking that in some -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">{133}</a></span> -of those faces "their angels," long invisible because of -neglect and wrong, are once more looking through, calm, -happy, and with a hope that maketh not ashamed. Do -you see that still rather sullen-looking girl of thirteen. -She came here an incorrigible young thief—her father, -a tanner's labourer, and out at work from five in the -morning—her mother bedridden—her home was the -streets—her companions a gang of juvenile thieves such -as haunt Bermondsey, and make an offshoot of the -population of a place till recently called "Little Hell."</p> - -<p>That girl, aged ten, was sent out to beg and to sing -songs, and was an adept in the art of pretending to -have lost money. There is the daughter of a crossing-sweeper, -who cut his throat, and yonder a child of nine, -driven from home, and charged with stealing, as her -sister also is, in another Refuge; and close by are two -girls, also sisters, who were found fatherless and destitute, -wandering about famishing and homeless, except for a -wretched room, with nothing in it but two heaps of foul -straw. I need not multiply cases: and but for the known -power of love and true human interest, in which the very -Divine love is incarnated, you would wonder where some -of these children obtained their quiet docile manner, -their fearless but modest demeanour, their bright, quiet, -sweet faces.</p> - -<p>One case only let me mention, and we will go quietly -away, to think of what may be done in such a place by -the discipline of this love and true Christian interest. Do -you see that emaciated little creature—the pale, pinched -shadow of a child sitting at a table, where some of her -companions tend her very gently? She is the daughter -of a woman who is an incorrigible beggar. She has never -known a home, and for four out of her eight years of life -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">{134}</a></span> -has been dragged about the street an infant mendicant; -has slept in common lodging-houses; and in her awful -experience could have told of thieves' kitchens, of low -taverns, and of the customs of those vile haunts where -she had learnt the language of obscenity and depravity. -But that has become a hideous, almost forgotten dream, -and she is about to awaken to a reality in a world to -which the present tenderness with which she is cared -for is but the lowest threshold. It is only a question of -a month or two perhaps. One more bright sunny holiday -with her schoolmates in the pleasant garden of the -treasurer, at Highgate—whither they all go for a whole -happy day in the summer—and she will be in the very -land of light before the next haytime comes round. She -wants for nothing—wine and fruit and delicate fare are -sent for her by kind sympathetic hands; but she is -wearing away, not with pain, but with the exhaustion of -vital power, through the privations of the streets. From -the Refuge she will go home—a lost lamb found, and -carried to the eternal fold.</p> - -<p>But another building has been found; a large, old-fashioned -mansion in St. Andrew's Road, close to the -Canal Bridge at Cambridge Heath, and there the more -advanced inmates of this original home in Spitalfields -are to be drafted into classes whence they will go to take -a worthy part in the work of the world, so soon as the -necessary subscriptions enable the committee to increase -the number of lambs rescued from the wolves of -famine and of crime.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">{135}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE SICK.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> -memory of the pleasant summer holiday -remains with many of us when we have come -back again to the duties of the work-a-day -world, and it will be good for us all if the -gentle thoughts which that time of enjoyment brought -with it remain in our hearts, to brighten our daily lives -by the influences that suggest a merciful and forbearing -temper.</p> - -<p>It is perhaps remarkable that few of the charitable institutions -at places to which holiday-makers resort are to any -commensurate extent benefited by the contributions of -those visitors who, while they are engaged in pursuing -their own pleasures, seldom give themselves time to think -that as they have freely received so they should freely -give. Considering that while we are engaged in the -absorbing business of money-making, or in the exacting -engagements of our daily calling, we can afford little -time for the investigation of those claims which are made -upon us to help the poor and the needy, it might not altogether -detract from the higher enjoyment of a period -of leisure if we devoted a few spare hours to inquiring -what is being effected for the relief of suffering in any -place wherein we take up our temporary abode.</p> - -<p>With some such reflection as this I stand to-day on -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">{136}</a></span> -the spot which to ordinary Londoners is most thoroughly -representative of the summer "outing," without which -no true Cockney can feel that he is content—a spot, too, -which has become, for a large number of English men -and women, and notably for a whole host of English -children, the synonym for renewed health and strength—the -head of Margate jetty.</p> - -<p>It is a strange contrast, this moving crowd of people, -with their bright dresses and gay ribbons fluttering in -the breeze; the smiling faces of girls and women amidst -a toss and tangle of sea-blown tresses; the green sparkle -of the sea beneath the shining sky; the voices of sailors, -the shrill laughter of boys and girls coming from the -sands below; the gleam of white sails; the flitting wings -of fisher-birds; the gay tumult of the High Street; -the traffic of hucksters of shells and toys—a strange -contrast to the scene which may be witnessed in and -around that large building which we passed only yesterday -as the Margate boat stood off from Birchington, and -passengers began to collect coats and bags and umbrellas -as they saw friends awaiting them on the landing-stage -of this very jetty.</p> - -<p>It seems a week ago; and just as these few hours -seem to have separated us far from yesterday's work, and -the routine of daily life, does the short distance along the -High Street and past the railway station seem to separate -us by an indefinite distance from the sickness and -pain that is yet in reality so near. Even as we think of -it in this way, the division is less marked, the contrast -not so strange, for in that building Faith, Hope, and -Charity find expression, and bring a cheerful radiance to -those who need the care of skilful hands and the sympathy -of loving hearts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">{137}</a></span> -The name of the place is known all over England, for -within its walls are assembled patients who are brought -from the great towns of different shires, as well as from -mighty London itself, that they may be healed of that -dread malady, the most potent cure for which is to take -them from the close and impure atmosphere of their -crowded homes, and exchange the stifled breath of -courts and alleys for the boundless ther of the sea.</p> - -<p>For the building, to visit which I am here to-day, is -the "Royal Sea-Bathing Infirmary, or National Hospital -for the Scrofulous Poor, near Margate," and there are at -this moment 220 men, women, and children within its -sheltering wards. Stay—let me be accurate. I said -within its wards; but here, as I pass the gates and the -unpretentious house of the resident surgeon to the broad -sea front of the building, I note that under the protecting -screen of the wall that bounds the wide space of grass-plot -and gravel-paths a row of beds are placed, and in -each of them a patient lies basking in the warm sunlit -air; while a little band of convalescents saunter gently, -some of them with the aid of crutch or stick, with the -enjoyment of a sense of returning strength. If I mistake -not, there are two or three "Bath chairs" crunching the -gravel paths a little further on, and down below upon -the space marked out and separated from the outer -world upon the beach, the two bathing-machines of the -establishment are occupied by those for whom convalescence -is growing into health.<span -class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_3" id="Ref_3" href="#Foot_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<p>The full meaning of such a change can only be -realised by those who know how terrible a disease -scrofula becomes, not only in the deadly insidious form -of consumption, but in the various deformities and distortions -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">{138}</a></span> -of the limbs of which it is the cause; and in -those cases where, to the pain and depression of the disorder -itself is added some terrible affection of the skin, -which the sensitive patient knows can scarcely fail to be -repulsive to those who witness it, unless, indeed they -have learnt to regard it only as a reason for deeper compassion -and for more earnest consolation.</p> - -<p>Almost every form of the disorder is to be seen out -here in the wide northern area of this inclusive building, -which has long ago been bought and paid for, along with -the three acres of freehold ground on which it stands.</p> - -<p>Of the deep sympathy with which it has been supported -by those who early learned to take an interest in -its beneficent work, the fountain which has been erected -in the centre of the green to the memory of the late Rev. -John Hodgson, one of its trustees, is a mute witness. Mr. -Hodgson laboured earnestly to secure those casual interests -which might be obtained from the vast number of -persons who visit Margate every year. In order to make -the most of small regular contributions, he appealed for -"five shillings a year," and since his death in 1870 this -fund has increased, so that in one year nearly 6,000 subscribers -had contributed 1,405 7<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> Never was holiday -charity more appropriately applied, as anybody who -will visit the institution itself may witness in those long -wards beyond the open passage, to which the card of Dr. -Rowe, one of the three visiting surgeons, has directed -me.</p> - -<p>Since the first establishment of the institution, seventy-seven -years ago, when sixteen cases were treated as a -beginning, above 29,000 patients, from London and all -parts of the country, have received relief; and to-day -the number in the institution (taking no account of a contingent -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">{139}</a></span> -of "out-patients") includes 42 men, 50 women, -and 120 children, none of whom are local cases, but all -from other parts of England, whence they come frequently -from a long distance.</p> - -<p>In each of the six wards, of which four are on the -ground floor, there is a head-nurse and an assistant, with -six helpers for the children's, and four for the adult department, -beside the night nurses, who sit up in case of -any emergency. There is accommodation for 250 sufferers -and for the 40 nurses, attendants, and domestics -required for the service of the hospital; so the 220 patients -there now, represent the approaching period when a new -wing will have to be added, even if only the urgent cases -are to be admitted.</p> - -<p>The year's list of occupants of the 250 beds shows a -total of 721 patients, of whom 614 had been discharged -in January, 399 being either cured or very greatly benefited, -171 decidedly benefited, and only 44 obviously -uncured; a very large amount of actual gain to humanity, -when we reflect on the conditions of the disease to -remedy which the institution is devoted.</p> - -<p>If out of 721 cases 399 are either cured or have -received such marked benefit as to render their ultimate -cure highly probable, it is an achievement worthy of the -earnest work of which it is the result, a contribution to -beneficent efforts well worth the 7,966 which has necessarily -been expended in the provision, not only of the -appliances which give comfort and rest, but of the generous -food and drink which, with the glorious air from the -sea, is the medicine necessary to build up the feeble -frames and renew the impoverished blood of those to -whom meal-times come to be welcome events in the day, -instead of merely languid observances.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">{140}</a></span> -Down in the kitchen, with its great cooking range and -its capacious boilers, there are evidences of that "full -diet" which is characteristic of the place; and it is difficult -to decide which are the most suggestive, the long -row of covered japanned jugs which hang conveniently to -the dresser-shelf, and are used for the conveyance of -"gravy," or the mighty milk-cans standing in a corner, -ready to be taken away when the evening supply comes -in from the Kentish dairies. Half a pound of cooked -meat for dinner is the daily allowance for each man and -for every boy over fourteen years of age, while women -and girls receive six ounces, and children four ounces. -Breakfast consists of coffee and bread-and-butter, varied -in the afternoon by tea, and supper of bread and cheese -for adults, and bread and butter for children. Roast -and boiled meat is served on alternate days, with accompanying -vegetables, and there are three "pudding days" -for those who can manage this addition to the fare; -while every man and woman may have a pint of porter, -and each child a pint of table ale, at the discretion of the -doctors. This, of course, represents the ordinary diet, -in which specific differences are made for special cases -where other or daintier food is required. Perhaps I -should have said that this is the scale adopted in the refectory, -a large airy room, to the long table in which the -patients who are able to "get about" are now advancing -with a cheerful premonition of dinner. There is no space -to spare, and there are at present no funds to spend in -additional building, so that this great airy refectory is -used as chapel and assembly room. The Bread of Life, -as well as the temporal bread, is distributed here; and -those who would object to the necessity may either contribute -to build another room, or may come and learn -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">{141}</a></span> -how every meal in such a place, and for such a cause as -this, should become a sacrament. Many varieties of the -forms taken by scrofulous disease may be seen here; -and yet the hopeful looks, the cheerful influence of the -bright summer weather, the green glimpses of the sea -through doors and windows, and the fresh bracing air, -impart to these sufferers an expressive lively briskness, -which somehow removes the more painful impressions -with which we might expect to witness such an assembly.</p> - -<p>It is so perhaps in a still greater measure in these -large airy wards, where children sit or lie upon the beds, -some of them wholly or partially dressed, where the -disease has produced only deformities under surgical -treatment, or such forms of skin disease as affect the face. -Of the latter there are some very severe and obstinate -cases, and from these the unaccustomed visitor can -scarcely help turning away, but often only to <i>re</i>-turn, and -mark how cheerfully and with what a vivid alacrity the -little patients move and play, and look with eager interest -on all that is going on. For here—in the boys' ward—there -is no repression of youthful spirits, so that they be -kept within the bounds of moderate decorum, nor do the -patients themselves seem to feel that they are objects of -melancholy commiseration. To speak plainly, even the -worst cases are not reminded that there are people who -may be revolted at their affliction. Indeed I, who am -tolerably accustomed to many experiences that might be -strange to others, am rather taken aback by one little -"case," whose face and limbs, though apparently healed, -have been so deeply seamed and grooved by the disorder, -which must have claimed him from babyhood, that he -has evidently learned to regard himself as an important -surgical specimen, and, on my approach to his bed, begins -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">{142}</a></span> -with deliberate satisfaction to divest himself of his stockings, -in order to exhibit his legs. Hip and spinal -disease are among the most frequent and often the most -fatal forms of scrofula. One boy, with delicate and regular -features, his fragile hand only just able to clasp in -the fingers the small present I am permitted to offer him, -shows the shadow of death upon his face. In his case -the disorder has shown itself to be beyond medical, as it -has already been beyond surgical aid, and his short -hurried breathing denotes that before the summer days -have been shortened by the autumn nights, and the -leaves are lying brown and sere, he will be in a better -and a surer home, and healed for evermore.</p> - -<p>It will be a peaceful end, no doubt, and he will yet -have strength enough to be taken home to die, where -other than strangers' hands will minister to him at the -last, but not more tenderly, it may be, than those that -smooth his pillow to-day.</p> - -<p>As we leave the boys' wards—clean, and bright, and -fresh as they are—we encounter a cosy little party of -juvenile convalescents, who are comfortably seated on -the door-mat, engaged in a stupendous game of draughts.</p> - -<p>There is more of beauty than deformity, more of life -than of death, more perhaps of living eager interest than -of sadness and sorrow to be seen here, after all; and this -is particularly remarkable in the large-windowed spacious -ward where the girls can look fairly out upon the gleaming -sea. Properly enough, the room occupied by these -young ladies has been made more ornamental than that -of the boys. The walls are gay with coloured prints, -and there are flowers, and a remarkably cheerful three-sided -stove, which gives the place an air of comfort, -though, of course, it has now no fire in it. Then some of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">{143}</a></span> -the girls (with those thoughtful delicate faces and large -wistful inquiring eyes which are so often to be observed -among lame people) are engaged in fancy needlework as -they lie dressed upon the beds to which they are at present -mostly confined, because of deformities of the feet -or legs requiring surgical treatment. There is a library -(which needs replenishing), from which patients are -allowed to take books; and those children who are able -to leave the wards, and are not suffering from illness, are -taught daily by a schoolmaster and a schoolmistress, -while a visiting chaplain is of course attached to the -hospital.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_3" id="Foot_3" href="#Ref_3">[3]</a> -This was written in the latter part of July, 1874.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">{144}</a></div> - -<h2><i>BLESSING THE LITTLE CHILDREN.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">I cannot</span> -yet leave that sea-coast where so -great a multitude go to find rest and healing. -The Divine Narrative may well appeal to us -in relation to such a locality, for it was by -the sea-shore that the Gospel came to those who went -out to seek Jesus of Nazareth; it was there that the poor -people heard Him gladly; there that the sick who were -brought to Him were made whole: there that He fed -the great company who lacked bread.</p> - -<p>All the deeds of humanity were recognised by Him -who called himself the "Son of Man." The blessing of -little children is one of those needs of true human life -which the Lord recognised gladly. He recognises it -still; and His solemn mingling of warning and of promise -with regard to its observance, has an intensity that -may well appeal to us all, now that, after eighteen centuries -of comparative neglect and indifference, we are -discerning that the only hope of social redemption is to -be found in that care for children which shall forbid their -being left either morally or physically destitute.</p> - -<p>There is a house, standing high above the sea, in that -great breezy suburb of Margate, known as Cliftonville—to -which I want you to pay a visit when the bright, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">{145}</a></span> -cheerful, airy wards, the light, spacious dining-room, and -comfortable, home-like enlivening influences of the place -will entitle it to be regarded as the fitting consummation -of two other admirable institutions for the nurture -and maintenance of orphan and fatherless children.</p> - -<p>The modest little building referred to is named "The -Convalescent and Sea-side Home for Orphans," Harold -Road, Margate. The parent institutions are "The -Orphan Working School," at Haverstock Hill, and that -most attractive series of pretty cottages on the brow of -the hill at Hornsey Rise, which have been more than -once spoken of as "Lilliput Village," but the style and -title of which is "The Alexandra Orphanage for -Infants"—a name, the distinguishing feature of which is -that it is immediately associated with its first patroness, -the Princess of Wales.</p> - -<p>Of the Home at Margate I need not now speak -particularly, except to note that it is for the reception -of the little convalescents, who—suffering, as many -of them do, from constitutional and hereditary weakness, -which is yet not actual sickness, and recovering, as many -of them are, from the feeble condition which has been to -some extent remedied by the careful nurture, good food, -and healthy regimen, of the large institutions near London—are -not fit patients either for their own or any other -infirmary wards, and yet require to be restored to -greater strength before they can join the main body of -their young companions in the school or the playground.</p> - -<p>Enough that it is picturesque and substantially pretty, -as becomes a place which is to become the home of thirty -children, taken from among nearly six hundred, the -parents of nearly half of whom have died of consumption, -and so left to their offspring that tendency to a feeble -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">{146}</a></span> -constitution which can be best remedied by the grand -medicine of sea-air, wholesome nutritious food, and a -judicious alternation of healthful exercise and rest.</p> - -<p>It is to Mr. Joseph Soul—the late indefatigable secretary -of the Working School, with which he has been connected -for nearly forty years, and the honorary secretary of the -Alexandra Orphanage, of which he may be regarded as -the virtual founder—that the proposal to establish this -Convalescent Home was due, and its affairs are administered -at the office of the two charities, at 63, Cheapside.</p> - -<p>But it is necessary to tell as briefly as possible the story -of the oldest of the two institutions of which this building -is to be an accessory—not only the oldest of these two, but -probably <i>the oldest</i> voluntarily supported orphan asylum -in London, since it dates from 116 years ago, when -George II. was King, when Louis XV. was scandalising -Europe and preparing the Revolution, when Wesleyan -Methodism was commencing a vast religious revival, -when Doctor Johnson had but just finished writing his -dictionary, and when William Hogarth was painting -those wonderful pictures which are still the most instructive -records of society and fashion as seen in the year -1758.</p> - -<p>It was in that year, on the 10th of May, that fourteen -periwigged and powdered gentlemen met at the George -Inn, in Ironmonger Lane, in order to discuss how they -might best found an asylum for forty orphan children—that -is to say, for twenty boys and twenty girls.</p> - -<p>They soon came to a solemn decision that there was a -"sufficient subscription for carrying the scheme into execution," -and a record to that effect was soberly entered -in the very first clean page of the first minute-book of the -Charity, with the additional memoranda that a committee -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">{147}</a></span> -was chosen, and a treasurer appointed to collect and take -care of the money necessary to support the undertaking.</p> - -<p>The early minute-books of this charity, by the way, -are models of serious penmanship. Grave achievements -of caligraphy, with engrossed headings, elaborate -flourishes, and stiff formal hedge-rows of legal verbiage, -suggestive of the fact that the secretaries were either -attorneys or scriveners, and regarded the entries in a -minute-book or the opening of a new account as very -weighty and important events not to be lightly passed -over. In this they were probably right: and, at all -events, just so much of the old methodical exactitude -has come down to the present day in the history of the -institution, that the published accounts of the Orphan -Working School have been referred to by the <i>Times</i> -as models of condensation with a clearness of detail, -which may be regarded as the best indication of a well-ordered -and economical administration.</p> - -<p>It might not be too much to say that the old principle -of carrying a scheme into execution only when there -are sufficient subscriptions still characterises the operations -of the institution. At all events, Mr. Soul had -secured enough money for the completion of the new -building at Margate before the actual work commenced, -and his experience told him that funds would be forthcoming -to maintain it.</p> - -<p>The founders of the original Orphan Working School, -however, laid their wigs together to obtain a house ready -built, and at last found one adapted to the purpose, in -what was then the suburban district known as Hogsden—since -gentilised into Hoxton. Like all really good -work, the enterprise began to grow—there were so many -orphans, and this was still the only general asylum maintained -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">{148}</a></span> -by subscriptions—so that, as funds came in, two -other adjoining houses were rented, and in seventeen -years the number of inmates had increased from forty to -165.</p> - -<p>Reading the formal and yet most interesting records -of this parent institution for the care of the -orphan and the fatherless, I fall into a kind of wonder at -the enormous change in the method of "nurture and admonition," -of teaching and training, which has taken -place in the past eighty years. Even in this house at -Hoxton, whereof the founders appear to have been kindly -old gentlemen, the discipline was enormously suggestive -of that stern restriction and unsympathetic treatment -which was thought necessary for the due correction of -the "Old Adam" in the young heart. We know how -great an outcry has quite lately been made at the discovery -of the remains of that mode of chastisement -which seems to have been abandoned almost everywhere, -except by a special revival in gaols, and at two or three -of the public schools to which the sons of gentlemen are -consigned for their education.</p> - -<p>The discipline at the Orphanage at Hogsden was cold -and repellent enough, perhaps—had very little about it -to encourage the affections, or to appeal to the loving -confidence of a child—but it was less barbarous than the -code which at that time found its maxim in the saying, -"Spare the rod, spoil the child." Only very flagrant -disobedience, persistent lying and swearing, were punished -with public whipping. But even in the case of ordinary -falsehood, a child was placed with his face to the wall at -meal-time, with a paper pinned to his back with the word -"Lyar" written on it, till he was sufficiently penitent to -say, in the presence of all the rest of the children, "I -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">{149}</a></span> -have sinned in telling a lie. I will take more care. I -hope God will forgive me."</p> - -<p>The name, "Working School," was then interpreted so -strictly, that there was comparatively little margin for -education. Arithmetic appears to have been regarded -with peculiar jealousy by the founders of this institution, -who, being perhaps bankers, accountants, and capitalists, -looked upon such instruction as calculated to give the -poor little boys and girls notions beyond their station.</p> - -<p>For ten years the teaching of figures was altogether -ignored; and it was only when some of the children, -having heard that there was a science called "summing" -known to the outer world, begged to be taught, that a -solemn meeting of the Governors was called to consider -the question, when it was conceded, after great deliberation, -and no little opposition from the anti-educational -part of the Committee, that arithmetic should be permitted -to be taught, as far as addition.</p> - -<p>Thus, to their few and rigidly ordered recreations, -their hours of manual labour in making nets, list-carpets, -slippers, and other cheap commodities, to their instruction -in plain reading, and to their times for partaking of plain -and even coarse food, served in not too tempting a way, -was added the art of writing, and of the first two rules of -arithmetic.</p> - -<p>This was the condition of the orphans in 1775; but still -the charity grew—grew out of house-room; and as the -funds grew also, it was determined that it should have a -building of its own, on a plot of ground in the City Road, -where, improvements having set in, the grand old charity -moved with the march of modern improvement. Life -became less hard, and instruction more extended. The -influences of modern thought and education had superseded -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">{150}</a></span> -the old severity, and new Governors succeeded -the bewigged and powdered founders, who had, after all, -so well ordered their work, that it increased with the -growth of intelligence.</p> - -<p>During the seventy-two years from 1775 to 1847, the -institution had received 1,124 orphans; and again the -dimensions of the house were unequal to the demands of -the inmates; while the house itself, and the ground on -which it stood, had become so valuable, that it was determined -to buy a plot of land at Haverstock Hill, and -there to found a truly representative Home for 240 orphan -boys and girls—a number which has now increased (as -the building itself has been extended) till 400 orphans are -taught, fed, and clothed in one of the most truly representative -charities in all great London.</p> - -<p>The obvious distress and suffering of those who are -destitute, and whose claims are constantly before us, may -lead us to forget the frequent needs of a large number of -people who represent uncomplaining poverty. There is -a tendency to identify general appeals to benevolence -with efforts for the relief of that extreme necessity which -demands immediate and almost undiscriminating aid, -and requires the prompt distribution of alms or the provision -of a meal, warmth, and shelter. Doubtless, the -actually homeless and destitute claim our first attention—especially -in the case of deserted and neglected children—and -I have tried to show what is being done for those -little ones, whose presence in the streets of this great -wilderness of brick and stone should of itself be an appeal -strong enough to move the heart of humanity in their -behalf.</p> - -<p>There is, however, another class of poverty, which -makes no sign, and bears distress dumbly. There is a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">{151}</a></span> -need, which, without being that of actual destitution, -requires a constant struggle to prevent its representing -the want of nearly all the luxuries, and some of those -things which most of us regard as the necessaries of -life.</p> - -<p>We find this among that large section of the middle -class represented by persons holding inferior clerkships, -small official appointments, and situations where the -salaries are only sufficient to yield a bare subsistence, -and there is little or no probability of their improvement, -because, among the number of candidates who are eager -to fill such positions, there exists a degree of distress not -easily estimated, even by the appearance of those who -are the sufferers. Of course, relief cannot reach such -people through the poor-law, or by any direct legislation. -They are far above the reach of almsgiving, or even of -societies for distributing bread and coals. They have a -just pride in maintaining a position of independence; and -though they may sometimes look with a feeling too near -to envy at the more prosperous mechanic or the skilled -artisan, who can earn "good wages," dress in fustian -or corduroy, send his children to the Board School, and -regulate working hours and weekly pay by the rules of a -Trade Union, they mostly keep bravely on, hoping that -as the children grow up, they may get the boys "into -something," and find some friend to help them to place -the girls in situations where they may partly earn their -own living.</p> - -<p>With rent and taxes often absorbing a fourth part of -his entire income, with market cliques combining against -him to keep up the prices of food, with dear bread, dear -potatoes, boots and shoes always wearing out, and respectability -demanding cloth clothes, even though they -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">{152}</a></span> -be made of "shoddy," how is the clerk, the employ, the -small tradesman, the struggling professional man, to follow -the prudent counsel which wealthier people are always -ready to bestow upon him—and "lay by for a rainy day?" -Rainy day! why his social climate may be said to represent -a continual downpour, so far as the necessity for -pecuniary provision. He lives (so to speak) with an -umbrella always up, and it is only a poor shift of a -gingham after all. The half-crown which is in his pocket -to-night is already bespoken for to-morrow's dinner. As -he listens to the account of the week's marketing, and -knows that his wife and children have been living for -three days out of seven upon little better than bread and -dripping, he feels like an ogre as he thinks of the sevenpenny -plate of meat that he consumed at one o'clock, -because it was only "a makeshift" at home.</p> - -<p>How is he to pay even the smallest premium to insure -his life, when he is obliged to meet ordinary emergencies -by a visit to the pawnbroker after dark?</p> - -<p>Insure his life! Ah, the time may come when the hand -of the bread-winner is still, when the little money left in -the house is scarcely sufficient to pay for the "respectable -funeral" which is the last effort of genteel poverty, when -the red-eyed widow gathers her fatherless children about -her, and wonders amidst her stupor of grief what is to -become of the younger ones who yet so need her care -that she will not be able to go forth to seek the means -of living. To what evil influences may they be exposed -while she is absent striving to earn their daily food?—the -temptations of the streets for the boys: the certainty -that the elder girls must either starve at home to mind -the little ones, or must become drudges before they have -learnt more than the mere rudiments of what they should -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">{153}</a></span> -be taught. It is then she feels that dread of degradation, -which is amongst the sharpest pangs of the poverty which -would fain hide itself from the world.</p> - -<p>It may be that the children are left a parentless little -flock, huddling together in the first dread and sorrow of -the presence of death, and the sense of utter bereavement, -and awaiting the intervention of those who are sent by -the Father of the fatherless. Then, indeed, prompt and -certain help is needed—help efficient and permanent—and -such aid can seldom be secured except by organised -institutions.</p> - -<p>But let us see to what that Orphan Working School, -established in 1758, has developed in 1874. We have -but to take a short journey to the foot of Haverstock -Hill, and there, in that pleasant locality named Maitland -Park, part of which is the property of the Institution, we -shall see the successor of the old house in Hogsden Fields, -while its plain but large and lofty committee room is the -modern representative of the parlour of the George Inn, -Ironmonger Lane, where plans were first laid for the -maintenance of forty orphan children.</p> - -<p>This wide and lofty building, with its handsome front -entrance and its less imposing side gate in the wing, is -the home for nearly three hundred boys, and nearly two -hundred girls, when its funds are sufficient to keep each -of the long rows of neat beds in the great airy wards -appropriated to a little sleeper.</p> - -<p>I mention the dormitories first, because both on the -girls' and on the boys' side of the building these are -illustrative of the complete orderliness and excellent -management of the Institution—illustrative of what -should always be the first consideration, namely, to -bring comfort to the child's nature, to join to necessary -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">{154}</a></span> -discipline a sense of real freedom and happy youthful -confidence without dread of repression and the constant -looking for of punishment.</p> - -<p>As to the appliances that belong to the building, they -are such as might almost raise a doubt in some prejudiced -minds whether we are not doing too much for children in the -present day, and thinking too constantly of their comfort. -But, alas! it needs many compensations to make up for -the loss of parents; and in any such an Institution where, -400 children form the great family, the arrangements -must be on a large scale, so that it is only a matter of -experienced forethought to combine a generous liberality -with the truest economy. Thus, there are baths, and -long well-ordered lavatories, to each wing, even to a -large plunge bath for each side; and there is a great -laundry, where the girls are taught to wash, clear-starch, -and iron, not in the regular patent steam-heated troughs -only, but in genuine homely tubs. There is a great -handsome dining-hall, with a painted ceiling, wherein the -vast troop of quiet, orderly, and happy-faced children -sit down to well-cooked wholesome meals of meat and -pudding. There are two great school-rooms, one divided -into class-rooms for the girls, and another wherein the -boys assemble to be taught, not in the narrow spirit of -the first directors of the old building in the City Road, -but with a full appreciation of the duty of giving these -young minds and hearts full opportunity to expand. -Next to the admirable evidences of <i>family</i> comfort, and -bright <i>domestic</i> influences, which pervade this place, we -may regard the efficient education of the children as the -truest sign of its liberal and enlightened management. -Not only the three R's to the extent of practised elocution, -caligraphy worthy of the old minute books of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">{155}</a></span> -first scrivening secretaries, and the lower mathematics,—but -history, geography, the elements of physical science, -French, drawing, and vocal music, are among the subjects -thoroughly studied. It only needs a perusal of the -reports of the educational inspectors and examiners to -see that the work of this great hive goes on healthily. -The boys have already achieved a great position in taking -Government prizes for drawing at South Kensington; -and the girls are celebrated for their beautiful needlework. -There is but little time to walk through all the -departments of this great home—the kitchens with their -spacious larders, and store-rooms, and mighty cooking -apparatus; the great airy playgrounds; the large and -handsome room used as a chapel (for those who do not -go out to evening service), and containing its convenient -reading desk, and sweet-toned organ. Let us not forget, -however, that many of the things which add so vastly to -the beauty and completeness of the building and its -various departments are themselves gifts from loving and -appreciative supporters of the Institution.</p> - -<p>But we are due at that Lilliput village on the brow of -Hornsey Rise—that series of cottage homes, where, on -each lower and upper storey, with their exquisitely clean -nursery cots and cradles, and their tiny furniture, a neat -nurse is to be seen like a fairy godmother, with a family -of chubby babies, or a more advanced charge of infants -able to run like squirrels round the covered playground -or to spend the regulation hours in that great glorious -school-room, where learning is turned into recreation, and -lessons are made vocal, gymnastic, zoological, picturesque, -or even fictional, as the times and circumstances may -dictate. "The Alexandra Orphanage for Infants" has -become so well-known amidst the numerous institutions -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">{156}</a></span> -which have been established for the care of the orphans -and the fatherless, that one might think it would be full -of eager admirers who on visiting days go to see the two -or three hundred. Why are not all the cottages full, and -each little toy bedstead complete with its rosy, tiny -sleeper, who, from earliest infancy to the maturer age of -eight years form the assembly for which Mr. Soul set -himself to provide by public appeal?</p> - -<p>These, then, are the two institutions to which that -modest little convalescent home in Harold Street, -Margate, is a worthy appanage, and they may well -find support among those whose maxim it is to do with -all their might what their hands find wants doing.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">{157}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THEM THAT FAINT BY THE WAY.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">There</span> -are perhaps few conditions demanding -greater sympathy and more ready aid than -that of poor women who, from temporary -sickness or the weariness that comes of hope -deferred, are unable to follow the employments, often -precarious and yielding a bare subsistence, by which -they strive to be independent of charitable aid. It is -only those who know to what extremities of need they -will submit for shame of making their poverty known, -and what mental suffering they will endure as they find -their scanty savings dwindling day by day, and their few -household goods, or even their clothing, and the little -family mementoes, which they can only part with as a -last resource, going piece by piece, who can fully -realise all that is meant by the genteel phrase, "very reduced -circumstances," as applied to women of refined -feelings, and frequently of gentle nurture, who find themselves -without the means of obtaining necessary food and -medical care when health and strength give way, and they -can no longer work at those few callings by which they -can earn enough to enable them to avoid a dreaded -"application to friends."</p> - -<p>Quite lately, the subject of some kind of provision for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">{158}</a></span> -poor governesses who are sick, or have to subsist during -long holidays on the small balance of their quarterly -wages, has occupied public attention, and it would be -well indeed if means could be found for giving the healthy -temporary employment, and the weakly a quiet home -where their strength might be restored without the sacrifice -of independence.</p> - -<p>There are others, however, for which such help is -equally needed—the dressmaker, or the shop-woman, on -whom long hours of tedious and often of exhausting toil -in an unhealthy atmosphere, has begun to tell too -severely; the servant of good character and respectable -habits, who is not so ill as to be admitted to a hospital, -and yet is breaking down in strength, and regards with -dread the necessity for going into some obscure lodging, -where her surplusage of wages will barely pay for rent -and food during two or three weeks enforced idleness; -the girl who has learnt some ill-paid business, which -affords her no more than a mere contribution to the -family funds, and leaves no margin for extra food or medicine, -or the fresh air that is as important as either.</p> - -<p>Any careful observer standing at the door of a general -hospital, and watching the throng of out-patients waiting -wearily to see the doctor, will be able to distinguish a -score of cases for which a temporary rest with wholesome -food and the sympathy and loving-kindness that refresh -the soul would bring true healing.</p> - -<p>No large establishment in the nature of a hospital or a -refuge affords the kind of help for such distress as theirs. -They cannot be dealt with as occupants of wards; for -they have either recovered from the actual crisis of some -serious disorder, or are pining in a depressed condition to -which no definite name can be given to classify it for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">{159}</a></span> -admission to any public establishment for the cure of -disease. To many of them the idea of entering a large -charitable refuge—and I know of none in London -adapted to such needs as theirs—would be repulsive, as -suggesting that horror with which persons even of a lower -grade regard the union workhouse; what they need is a -temporary home, and if ever the time should come when -a well-supported scheme for such a provision should be -adopted, it will have to take the form of what is now known -as the "cottage system." Indeed, in hospitals, as well -as in other large charitable institutions, the defects of the -old plan of maintaining a great number of adult persons -in one vast building have been recognised. The immense -ward with its long rows of beds, the divided and necessarily -confusing duties of attendants, the ill-served meals -at a great dinner-table where there is no possibility of -escaping from a too rigid routine, the depressing, not to -say degrading, influence, resulting from the loss of individuality, -would make any vast institution for convalescents -or invalids far less effectual in its operation. I -make this reference only with regard to the probable inauguration -of homes for invalid women in or near London, -and because I have just visited one, which, although -it is not on the cottage system, but is established in a -rare old mansion of the period of Queen Anne, has yet -the happy characteristic of being a family whose scanty -means is largely increased by loving gifts, instead of an -institution every corner of which bears a reminder that -it is "supported by charity."</p> - -<p>In the pleasant airy High Street of Stoke Newington, -and within a stone's throw of the famous Cedar Walk of -Abney Park—that locality made famous by the prolonged -visit of Dr. Watts, who went to spend a week with Sir -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">{160}</a></span> -Thomas Abney, and remained for the rest of his long -blameless life the honoured guest of the family—is the -house I speak of, "The Invalid Asylum for Respectable -Females in London and its Vicinity," superintended by -a ladies' committee, and with weekly visitors, and a -matron to carry on the practical work of the executive.</p> - -<p>There is nothing remarkably picturesque, nothing very -striking about this home for thirty respectable invalid -women employed in dependent situations, to whom it -affords a temporary asylum, widely differing from the -crowded receptacles for the sick in the metropolis. One -of its peculiarities is, that the purity of the family circle -is maintained, by the fact that no patient is admitted -without a certificate of conduct signed by two housekeepers -or by an employer, while her case is also recommended -by an annual subscriber or life governor; and -there is a sense of repose and quiet confidence about the -inmates which is particularly suggestive of the care taken -to recognise their individual claims, and the interest -which is manifested in them during the time of their -sojourn.</p> - -<p>This very quietude and sense of rest, and gradual -renewal of health and strength in a serene retreat is, in -fact, the feature which attracts my attention. It is not -too much to say that I am ready to attribute much of -such influences to the fact that the institution was originally -established by ladies representing the unobtrusive -beneficent work of the "Society of Friends," and that the -order and peace which is its delightful characteristic, -may in a great measure be traced to that foundation. At -any rate, these qualifications so identify it that I feel -justified in regarding it to some extent as a worthy -example of the method to be adopted in any institution, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">{161}</a></span> -which, without being altogether a free "charity," takes -only such a small sum from the patient or her friends -as suffices to keep away the degrading feeling of -pauperism, or of utter dependence on the bounty of -strangers. It is true that the principal life-governorships -include the privilege of sending entirely gratuitous -patients, but in ordinary cases the annual subscriber of a -guinea recommends the case, and when the patient is admitted, -the sum of twenty shillings is received for the -month's medical attendance, lodging, and full board, -"including tea and sugar," for a time not exeeding one -month, after which, should the case require a longer -stay, the ticket must be renewed by the same or another -subscriber, on the further payment of twenty shillings. -If the patient be in the employment of the subscriber, the -payment of this sum will suffice, without the renewal -ticket, an arrangement which should commend the institution -to every benevolent employer of female labour.</p> - -<p>It need hardly be said that no cases of infectious -disease are admitted, and that every applicant is examined -by the medical attendant. No patient is admitted who -is not above ten years of age; and neither "private -cookery," nor the introduction of spirituous liquors by -visitors, is permitted, any more than gratuities to servants -of the Institution.</p> - -<p>It may be remarked that though a large number of -cases are received during each year, the very fact of -contributions being made by the patients themselves, -who are thus relieved from the sense of utter dependence, -appears to have prevented the Institution from -receiving as large a degree of public support as it might -command if it were an ordinary charity. This is to -be lamented, for the Institution is, after all, less a hospital -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">{162}</a></span> -than a temporary home, and it appeals on behalf -of a peculiar form of distress, the claims of which -are of a specific and none the less of a very urgent -character. But in order to realise the kind of work that -is most needed, and is here being accomplished, let us -pay a visit to the house itself. We have been hitherto -standing on the broad flight of steps inside the tall iron -gates, and have hesitated to sully their hearthstone -purity, for it is Saturday, and we may well have an inconvenient -sense that the short hand of the clock is -already close to the dinner-time of the institution.</p> - -<p>With a long experience of paying unexpected visits, I -am prepared to encounter remonstrance, even though it -only take the form of a critical glance at my boots as a -means of possible maculation of the newly-cleaned hall -and passages. Conscious of having judiciously employed -a member of the shoe-black brigade, I can endure this -scrutiny, and, with a few words of explanation, am conducted, -by the matron herself, over the grand old house, -whose broad staircase and elaborately carved balusters of -black oak at once attest not only its antiquity but also -its aristocracy. I have already said that there is nothing -here on which to found a "picturesque description," and -yet the air of repose, the sense of almost spotless cleanliness, -the freshness of the large lofty rooms containing -from three to five or six comfortable beds with their -snowy counterpanes, the general order and pleasant seclusion, -are remarkably suggestive of the intention of the -place. Two of the patients, to whom I make my respects, -are not yet sufficiently recovered to join the daily -dinner-party in the neat dining-room. One of them, an -elderly lady, who has only just been brought here, is -slowly recovering from very severe illness, and cannot -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">{163}</a></span> -even sit up in the bed, whence she regards me with an -expression which seems to intimate that she has reached -a haven of rest. Her companion, a young woman—also -in bed in the same room—is sitting very upright, cheerfully -engaged in some problem of needlework, and -responds with a hopeful smile to the declaration of the -matron, that they "mean to make a woman of her if she -is good."</p> - -<p>Close to this room is the neat lavatory with its bath, -supplied with hot and cold water, and on the landing I -note another bath, on wheels, for use in any part of the -house where it may be required. All the accessories are -home-like; and in the invalid sitting-room, on an upper -storey, where two convalescents, not yet able to get downstairs, -greet me from a pair of easy chairs, there is the -same pervading influence which distinguishes the house -from those large institutions where everything is characterised -by a depressing mechanical dead level. The library—a -pleasant cheerful room—is in course of refurnishing; -and I am glad to learn that our best known -periodicals find a place there, while the stock of books, -either gifts or loans, are likely soon to be replenished, -a matter wherein extra aid would be appreciated, and -could readily be afforded by those who have volumes to -spare.</p> - -<p>Already the cloth is laid in the dining-room, and -dinner itself consists of hot meat with the usual accessories -every day, except on Sundays, when there is a cold -dinner, while, of course, the invalids who are ordered -medical diet have fish, custards, or other delicate fare -specially provided. Each patient has a pint of ale or -beer daily, and wine as a remedial stimulant, according -to the doctor's orders.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">{164}</a></span> -There is just time before dinner is served to walk -through the room into the grand old garden which -extends from a pleasant sheltered lawn and flower-garden, -with a glorious fig-tree in full leaf and fruit -against the sunny wall, to a great kitchen-garden and -orchard, with a wealth of fruit and vegetables (and notably -a venerable and prolific mulberry tree), and extending -in a pleasant vista of autumn leaves. On the other -side of the high wall is the Cedar Walk already mentioned; -and the whole place is so still and balmy on this -autumnal day, that we may go away with a very distinct -appreciation of the rest and peace which, with regular -nutritious food, rest, and medicine, may bring restoration -to the physical health, just as the hopeful ministrations -of good and pious women who visit the home daily may -bring a sense of peace and comfort to many a weary -spirit and burdened heart.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">{165}</a></div> - -<h2>"<i>IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH.</i>"</h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">There</span> -are some of whom we might be ready -to say, they dwell in that valley;—that the -shadow of death lies darkling before them, -constantly enwrapping them,—enshrouding -them in gloom. We are accustomed to think so of persons -suffering from what we call incurable diseases, some -of which are painful, occasionally agonising, others susceptible -of relief from the suffering that attends them.</p> - -<p>We are so apt to forget that we are every one of us -incurable. Though we may not at present be aware of -the disease that will bear us farther and farther into that -valley, where the wings of the great angel, so seeming -dark as to overshadow all things, may yet be revealed -to us as glowing with the brightness of the light -which our unaccustomed eyes cannot behold, we are -none the less certain to succumb to it. It may be that -some of us will live to be conscious of no other than the -most fatal of all diseases—because no mortal cure has -been or ever will be found for it—incurable old age. -There have been those who lived long enough to look -calmly at the slowly lengthening shadow in the valley, and -almost to wonder if Death had forgotten and were departing -from them, leaving only the black trail behind; but the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">{166}</a></span> -time at last came, perhaps when they had learnt to see -more than shadow, to catch the glint of the heavenly -glory beyond.</p> - -<p>It is a happy thought that many poor afflicted children -of God have seen this too, and continue to see it daily, -although, like St. Paul, they also die daily. It is comforting -to believe that many who know what their disease -is—who are pronounced to be "hopelessly incurable" -in a rather different sense to that in which we may -all be declared to be hopelessly incurable also—do not -dwell perpetually in the Valley of the Shadow. Christ -has come to them and taken them out of it, that even in -this life, where He is they may be also, secure in the love -of the Father, having already, if one may so speak, -overcome death through Him who is the Resurrection -and the Life. The great, the essential difference between -these sufferers and the rest of mankind is that they are -almost always conscious of the disease which is incurable -because of its accompanying pain, and that they are disqualified -for many of the ordinary uses, and also most of -the ordinary enjoyments of life. Perhaps the chief poignant -sense of their condition is that they are no longer -capable of fulfilling the ordinary duties of life either. -They must be dependent always; and to many souls the -suspicion that they may live only to be a burden on -others, to take instead of giving, to lean upon instead of -supporting, is itself almost intolerable, until they learn -to look higher, and acknowledge that not only all the -things of the world, but we ourselves, they and theirs, -belong to God, and that life and death, height and depth, -principalities and powers, are but His creatures, incapable -of separating us from His love. The same reflection, -coupled with that of our own incurability and our own -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">{167}</a></span> -constant liability to be stricken down with hopeless and -painful malady, should surely lead us to recognise the -duty of helping some among the thousands who have -not only lost health, but with it the means of maintaining -life, and, more sadly still, the hope of restoration to -former strength, or even temporary recovery.</p> - -<p>I have already spoken of the work done by convalescent -homes and hospitals; but there are those who, being sick -unto death, yet do not soon die—those who must be discharged -from hospitals uncured, in order to make room for -the curable, and who, unable to work, unaccustomed to beg, -and almost ready to meet death itself rather than sink -into sordid abject pauperism, know not whither to turn -in their dire necessity. It was to aid these that an appeal -was written twenty years ago, asking for funds to establish -an institution for the reception of those suffering -from hopeless disease. It is to see what has been the result -of that appeal that I visit the Royal Hospital for -Incurables at Putney Heath to-day.</p> - -<p>It was in 1854 that Doctor Andrew Reed—to whose -indicating hand we are indebted for the installation of -many of our noblest charities—made an urgent appeal on -behalf of those who, being discharged as incurable from -various hospitals, were left helpless, and often destitute, -since, amidst all the institutions which beneficence had -founded, there was none to which they could prefer a -claim.</p> - -<p>Let us see what has been done in twenty years to alleviate -what might seem to be almost hopeless suffering.</p> - -<p>Let us, coming face to face with the mystery of pain, -and looking as it were from afar on that dark shadow -which yet always lies so near to every one of us, note -how in the heart of the mystery there is hidden a joyful -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">{168}</a></span> -hope for humanity, how in the very shadow of death -there is a light that never yet has shone on land or sea.</p> - -<p>It is a still autumnal day, and, as we turn up the -wooded lane on the left of the hill leading from the Putney -Railway Station to Wimbledon, a tender gleam in -the grey clouds betokens coming rainfall. A light, -hanging drift descends upon the distant hills, and breaks -into pale vaporous shapes amidst the wooded slopes and -valleys. The yellow leaves that strew the ground lie -motionless, as though they waited for their late companions -to fall gently from the branches overhead and -join their silent company.</p> - -<p>Coming into a broader roadway, and passing through -the gate of a lodge, we come almost suddenly upon a -glorious sloping lawn, adorned with goodly trees, worthy -of the great building—meant for a ducal residence, and -now put to nobler uses—which, for all its stately look, -has about it a home-likeness that is full of promise. Even -the matchless landscape lying around it—the expanse of -wood and dale, the soft slopes of Surrey hills, the deep-embowered -glades where the bronze-and-gold of moving -tree-tops takes a changeful sheen from slowly-drifting -clouds, or reflects strange gleams of colour from the -glistening silver of the rain—will not hold us from the -nearer glow of windows bright with flowers, which give a -festal look to the place, although it is so quiet that we -stand and imagine for a moment what it is that we -have come to see. For this great mansion, with its long -rows of windows and wide-spreading wings, is the home -of a hundred and fifty-four men and women, some of -whom have been suddenly stricken down, others having -slowly fallen day by day into a condition of incurable -disease, and, in many cases, also into a condition of -utter bodily helplessness. They, and the attendants -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">{169}</a></span> -whose constant kindly services are essential for their -relief, constitute the family of what is known, plainly -enough, as "The Royal Hospital for Incurables." There -are no distinctions among its members, though in their -previous lives they have belonged to various grades—no -distinctions, at least, except those which arise from personal -qualifications.</p> - -<p>The claim for election to the benefits of the charity is -the necessity which is implied in the name of the institution -itself: and once within its sheltering walls the patients, -whose failing eyes brighten, and whose wan cheeks -flush with every loving mention of it as their home, are -all alike sharers in its benefits.</p> - -<p>Not only the 154 at present within its walls, however, -but 327 of those who, having family and friends with -whom to dwell, receive pensions of 20 a year each, and -so cease to be a heavy burden to others.</p> - -<p>Do you think at first sight, and from the external -appearance of the building, that charity here has gone -beyond precedent in providing such a place—a palatial -pile standing amidst scenery that one might well come -far to see? Remember what is the need of those who -have to be lifted out of the dark, hopeless depths of -what is almost despair; of those who, finding themselves -banished from hospital wards, unable to earn their bread, -feeling themselves a burden upon those for whom they -would almost consent to die rather than live upon their -poverty; of those who, in the midst of hourly pain, have -the mental anguish of knowing that the long calendar of -darkening days may find them utterly dependent on the -toil of others most dear to them, and whose few expedients -can bring little ease, and will not serve to hide -the ever-present sense of disappointment and distress.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">{170}</a></span> -Think how much wealth is wasted daily in the world, -and what a small part of it suffices to lighten by every -available means the burden of such lives as these; the -sorrow of those who, in the dreadful deprivation of what -to us seems almost all that makes life dear, have no -resource between that provided for them in such a place -as this and the infirmary-ward of a workhouse, amidst -sordid surroundings and the hard, mechanical, unfeeling -officialism which in such cases is little more than organised -neglect.</p> - -<p>There are people who would reduce all charitable institutions—yes, -even such as this, of which living personal -interest and the care that comes of more than -merely casual benevolence are the very foundation and -corner-stone—to a dead level of official rule, in which -benevolence should be represented by a mechanical department, -and the sentiment of charity by a self-elected -board of control, dealing with public subscriptions as -though they were a poor-rate, and recognising neither -individual interest nor the right of contributors to give it -expression. Such a system would lack the very qualification -most needed here, and to be found only in that -voluntary personal interest that brings to the recipients -of bounty more than the mere bounty itself, the heart-throb -of sympathy, the feeling that the gift means more -than the cold official recognition of a national duty, that -it is the expression of loving-kindness ever active and -living; and so making for the helpless, the destitute, and -the dying, not a mere asylum, but a home.</p> - -<p>The entrance into the hall of a cheerful, genial gentleman, -with a kindly, brisk manner, and a reassuring expression -of deliberation and repose in his observant face and easy -bearing, rouses us from melancholy fancies, and with a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">{171}</a></span> -few words of courteous welcome we are at once conducted -to the door that is to open to us the first scene in this -wonderful visit.</p> - -<p>A spacious assembly room—let us call it by the good -old name of "parlour," for there is much quietly animated -talk going on—talk, and needlework of all kinds, from -the knitting of a warm woollen shawl to the manipulation -of delicate lace, and the deft handling of implements -for making those exquisite tortures of society known as -antimacassars. With ever so wide an experience of -halls, salons, suites, or drawing-rooms, the visitor can see -nothing resembling this wonderful parlour elsewhere. A -room of noble proportions, one end of which is occupied -by an organ; the great windows reaching almost from -floor to ceiling, and overlooking a broad expanse of lawn, -with a glorious view of hill and woodland beyond; on the -tables flowers, books, ornaments; in every kind of couch -and chair—many of which are comfortable beds on wheels -and springs—a company of women, with bright, cheerful, -intelligent faces, full of a recent interest, and, even in -cases where some paroxysm of pain is passing, with a -certain serene satisfaction which it is infinitely good to see.</p> - -<p>There has been a morning service, conducted by a -visiting clergyman, and there is a general expression of -approval which, if the reverend gentleman himself were -present to witness it, would surely prove highly gratifying. -The congregation has settled down to easy talk, -and has resumed its occupation of plain and fancy needlework. -Here is an old lady whose silver hair adds to her -natural grace and dignity, who is busy with wool-knitting, -and at the same time engages in a discriminating -criticism of the address to one of the many visitors who -sit and spend an hour of their afternoon in agreeable chat. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">{172}</a></span> -There is a pretty but rather sad-eyed <i>mignon</i> lady, whose -excellently-fitting silk dress, delicate hands, and general -"niceness" of appearance, quite prepare us to see the -beautiful examples of all kinds of fancy work of which -she never seems to tire. Every year, in June, they hold -a grand bazaar at the hospital, so that those who are -skilful and capable are able to earn enough money to -clothe themselves as they please—everything except -clothing being found by the charity, except to two or -three inmates who are able to pay for their own maintenance. -Now we hear the low tones of cheerful talk, -the pleasant ripple of laughter—note the brightening -glance, the quick smile, the feeble but earnest finger-clasp -which greets the cheerful salutation of the house governor, -Mr. Darbyshire, or the presence of his wife, the lady -matron of this great happy family of incurables, we begin -to wonder at our gloomy estimate of the place before -this visit.</p> - -<p>Nor is the revelation of cheerfulness, of light in -shadow, less remarkable in the dormitories themselves. -But then what rooms they are! Each bed is, as it -were, set in an alcove of its own snow-white hangings, -relieved by bits of colour which would delight an -artist's eye—pieces of embroidery, framed illuminated -texts, bright flecks of Berlin woolwork, or glistening -designs in beads, or deep glowing knick-knacks wrought -in silk and lace. Each little bedside table, though it -may hold medicine and diet—drink and requisites for -the sick—is decked with flowers and little framed pictures, -gaily-bound books, and bright-hued toys and trifles, -that make it look like a miniature stand at a fancy fair. -In some cases the sense of combined purity and glow of -colour is so great, that it is difficult to realise that we -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">{173}</a></span> -are in one or other of a series of sick-rooms. Everything -is so spotless, so exquisitely clean and orderly, that -nothing less than perfect nursing could explain it—for be -it remembered that the place is open to visitors every -day—and amidst some of the most terrible afflictions -from which humanity can suffer there is nothing revolting. -Expressions of pain and of utter prostration and weakness -there are, of course; but even these are only alternative -with the general placid contentment and thankfulness -that is the prevailing characteristic.</p> - -<p>Even in two severe cases of cancer the terrible effects -of the malady are less notable, because of the surrounding -conditions. A sprightly and engaging girl, with -features and social life alike marred and obliterated by -this dreadful malady, is surely one of the saddest of all -the sad sights in such an institution; but here the brightness -and genial influence of the place, and of those who -are its ministrants, have had their effect, and even the -half-obliterated features gain a grateful, loving, cheerful -expression; the poor eyes beam with pleasure as the -governor starts some reminiscence of that pleasant summer -water-party of his, in which one of the two sufferers had -to be carried to the boat in his arms, and both of them, -deeply veiled, were rowed by those same guarding arms -for a glorious voyage on the river, where the summer's -sunshine and gladness stole into the hearts of the sufferers, -and left a halo of remembrance that is not perhaps so -very far from the anticipations of that stream which -maketh glad the children of God.</p> - -<p>Here are rooms wherein only two or three beds are -placed, while few of them contain more than six, but all -of them are bright, airy, lofty, full of space, and with the -same sense of purity. And from every window some -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">{174}</a></span> -fresh and lovely view of the surrounding landscape, with -all its changeful aspects, may be seen—the beds being -so placed that every patient has her own special expanse -of territory to solace her waking hours, even though she -be unable to go down to the assembly-room. Here, in a -room particularly bright and cheerful, lies a young woman -with a wealth of dark hair on the pillow where her intelligent -face beams with a certain courage, although her -body and limbs have been for years immovable—only -one arm, for an inch or two, and three fingers of the right -hand, can be stirred—and yet, as we stand and talk with -her, some small simple jest about her own condition causes -her to laugh till the bed shakes. She has learnt to write -by holding a pencil in her mouth, and inscribes neat and -legible letters on paper placed on a rest just in front of -her face. She is not only cheerful, but actually hopeful, -though she has been for years in this condition; and -her relations, great and small, visit her, to find her always -heartily determined to look on the bright side. At the -foot of her bed, near the window, is a swing looking-glass -on a pedestal, and in this she sees reflected the distant -prospect of autumn wood and field, extending miles -away. Judging from her nobly equable and smiling face, -she must be the life of the room of which she has been -so long an occupant. In another apartment a poor -schoolmistress suffering from hemorrhage of the lungs -lies reading for many hours a day, her face bearing a -painful expression, her manner eager, her constant craving -to work on, by the study of books concerning the problems -of this earthly life and the sciences that strive to demonstrate -them and yet only bring us to the barrier of the -eternal world. She yearns for one more day amidst her -classes, and for the opportunity of testing the results of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">{175}</a></span> -sick-bed thoughts on a method of education which should -adapt itself to the individual temperament and mental -peculiarity of each child. Amidst a troubled tide of -thoughts that are perhaps sometimes too much for the -weary brain, she may learn to recognise the rest that -comes after hearing the Divine voice say, "Peace! be -still;" and so a great spiritual calm may fall upon her, -and give her rest.</p> - -<p>Yet another visit, and we find a girl who, from an accidental -fall, is as immovable as a statue, her dark questioning -eyes and mobile face alone excepted. Yet she is -sometimes lifted into a wheel-chair that stands stabled -by her bedside, and joins the company in the great parlour -downstairs. There is another little parlour, with -quite a select coterie, under the presidency of an elderly -gentlewoman, who is busily knitting at a table, while her -friends recline at the windows, on their special couches; -and in several of the dormitories patients are sitting up, -reading, working, or looking at the fitful aspect of earth -and sky on this October afternoon. Sufferers from heart-disease, -with that anxious contracted expression so indicative -of their malady, are numerous; but the larger -number of the patients seem to suffer from rheumatism, -or paralysis—among them one lady, with silvered hair, -and yet with bright expressive eyes, and still bonny face, -who was once a well-known singer in London. She is -unable to rise from couch or bed, but the readiness of repartee, -the bright inquiring look, the quick appreciation and -retort, remain, as do a certain swift expressive action of -head and hands, which is marvellously suggestive of dramatic -gesture; for, happily, her hands and arms are still -capable of movement, and she has several periodicals on -the coverlet—among them the latest monthly part of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">{176}</a></span> -a magazine, in one of the stories in which she is evidently -interested. She, with two or three others, are inmates -of the hospital at their own charges.</p> - -<p>We have but little time to devote to the men's side -of this great institution; but its dormitories and furniture, -its large day-room, where daughters sit talking in -low voice to fathers, sisters to brothers, wives to husbands—its -pleasant out-door contingent, who have just returned -from slowly perambulating the grounds in wheel-chairs, -or sit basking outside in the latest gleam of sunshine—its -club in the rustic hut especially appointed for this -purpose—all might bear comment. Here is a sturdy -youth, who, falling from a tree, and alighting on his heels, -incurably injured his spine, and now lies all day, mostly -out of doors, and without a coat, frequently engaged in -knitting. There is a poor gentleman, who has for sixteen -years been almost immovable, from rheumatism, -even his jaw being so fixed that he takes food through an -aperture in the teeth. He has been through two or three -hospitals, and under the care of the most eminent surgeons, -and has come here now as to an ark of refuge, -where he can read and talk, and be wheeled about -the neighbourhood on occasional visits. Only one case -of all those that we witness is startling in its melancholy -sense of terrible loss and incurability; that rigid, grimly-set -face, in the ward where the corner bed in which the -grizzled head lies is the only one occupied this afternoon. -The body belonging to that face is almost immovable—the -ears are deaf, the tongue is mute, the eyes are nearly -sealed—not by sudden calamity, but by gradual yielding -to decay or disease. He has been an inmate several -years, and is the one case here before which we may -almost quail in our solemn sense of affliction; and yet, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">{177}</a></span> -to the touch of certain loving hands that dead -face kindles; that mind, seemingly locked in stupor, -wakes to life; that intelligence, encased in a casket iron-bound -and motionless, can understand the signs that are -made upon his own hands or forehead, and interpret them -so as to give some kind of grateful answer. It needs the -touch of the lady nurse to bring out this strange music -from an instrument so unstrung; but that it should be -done at all is an evidence of the hold that loving sympathy -and some subtle influence almost beyond mere -bodily capacity of expression has taken in these dear souls -of the sick and the afflicted. That is where the shadow -lifts, even in the darkness of the valley; that is how the -Spirit of Christ may abound; and the soul, in recognizing -the work of the disciple, may recognise the Lord therein, -and remember the Living Word—"Though I walk through -the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for -Thou art with me."</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">{178}</a></div> - -<h2>"<i>WITH THE HALT AND THE LAME.</i>"</h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">I suppose</span> -there are few people in England, -who are at all accustomed to keep Christmas -amidst a loving family circle, who have not -during the sacred festivities of the season, -and all the household sentiments with which they are inseparably -associated, made some reference to the "Christmas -Carol," that famous story of the great novelist whose -presence in the spirit of his books has brightened so many -a Christmas hearth, and moved so many gentle hearts to -kindly thoughts and words of loving cheer.</p> - -<p>Amongst all the well-known characters to which Mr. -Dickens introduced thousands of readers—characters -who, to many of us, became realities, and were spoken -of as though they were living and among our ordinary -acquaintances—there have been none, except perhaps -little Nell, who have evoked more sympathetic recognition -than Tiny Tim, the poor crippled child of Bob -Cratchit—the child, the sound of whose little crutch -upon the stair was listened for with loving expectation—the -shadow of whose vacant chair in the "Vision of -Christmas," gave to the humbled usurer as keen a pang -as any sight that he saw afterwards in that strange -dream of what might come to pass. So completely do -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">{179}</a></span> -we share the anxiety of Scrooge in this respect, that we -can all remember giving a sigh of relief when, at the end -of the story, we learn that the poor crippled boy remains -to bless the fireside where even his afflictions were felt -to be a hallowing influence to soften animosities, and to -draw close the bonds of family love.</p> - -<p>"Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself" -(says Bob Cratchit), "and thinks the strangest things -you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he -hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was -a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember -upon Christmas-day who made lame beggars walk and -blind men see."</p> - -<p>If I needed an excuse for so long an allusion to that -pathetic story, which has stirred so many hearts throughout -England, I might find it in the passage I have just -quoted; but I seek none. I refer to the "Christmas -Carol," because in it the figure of the crippled boy, occupying -so small a space, yet is such a living, touching -influence as to be one of the household fancies that associate -themselves with our thoughts of Christmas-tide in -poor homes; because there are so many little crutches -the sounds of which are heard—though fewer than there -used to be before <i>orthopdic</i> surgery became a special -branch of study, and hospitals were founded for its practice; -because, though Tiny Tim may represent so many -crippled children who are the helpless members of poor -families, where they are tended with as kindly care as -working fathers and mothers can find time for—there -are hundreds of other deformed or maimed lads whose -lot is made the harder because of the want of sympathy -and ready aid that would lift them out of utter helplessness, -or give them such light labour to perform as would -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">{180}</a></span> -diminish their sense of dependence. Finally, because I -desire you to bear me company to one place in London -where this last need is recognised, and where forty crippled -boys, suffering from various incurable deformities, -which yet have left them the use of their hands, are not -only taught a trade, but are encouraged, fed, and nurtured -for the three years during which they are inmates -of the home—"The National Industrial Home for Crippled -Boys."</p> - -<p>Alighting from the railway carriage which conveys us -from Mansion House Station to the pleasant old High -Street of Kensington, we are close to the place that we -have come to see, for the building itself—a quaint old -house, with a central doorway between two projecting -deep bay-windowed fronts, and built of the reddest of -red brick—stands at the end of Wright's Lane, looking -us full in the face as we approach it to read the style and -title plainly painted across its upper storey.</p> - -<p>The house has good reason for looking the world thus -bluffly in the face, for it is an independent building, -bought and paid for: hearth-stone, roof tree, and chimney, -freehold, and without debt or mortgage. Till this -was done, all thought of considerable extension was put -aside. The question was how to provide, out of voluntary -subscriptions and contributions, for the fifty inmates who -could be admitted within those sheltering walls. It must -be premised, however, that ten pounds a year has to be -paid for each boy who is accepted, during the three years -that he remains there, to be taught in the evening school -and in the workshop, not only how to read and write and -cipher, but to become a good workman at tailoring, carpentering, -or die-engraving and colour-stamping.</p> - -<p>These are at present the only three trades taught in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">{181}</a></span> -this truly industrial home, but they appear to be very -admirably suited to the cases of those who are deformed -or crippled in various ways; and they are taught well, as -an inspection of the work accomplished will prove. For -the workshops are real workshops, where the boys do not -play at work, but are taught their trades in a way that will -enable them when they leave the institution to gain a decent -livelihood, or even, if they can save a little money, -to go into business for themselves.</p> - -<p>This has been lately done, in fact, by two youths, who, -having thoroughly learnt the relief-stamping process, have -contrived to buy a press and the materials for their trade, -and are now in partnership in a country town, and earning -a respectable maintenance. Of sixteen lads who left -during the year, twelve were doing well as journeymen -at the industries they had learnt; one had set up in business -for himself (the relief-stamping gives the greatest -facility for this); and two had returned to their friends -because of ill health, while one had not reported himself -But during the same period forty of the former inmates -had been to visit the old home, and gave a very encouraging -account of themselves. Let us add, in a whisper, -that amongst these visitors were a "team" of old boys -who had come to accept the challenge of a "team" of -the new boys, to play a match at cricket. Yes, and that -these teams of cripples have, over and over again, carried -off their bats against opponents who, if they expected an -easy victory, found themselves to have been most amazingly -mistaken. I don't think this is mentioned in the -Report, but it is well to know it, because it serves to prove -how truly beneficent a work is being done here, in removing -boys from a too often almost "hopeless" condition -to one of useful, intelligent, skilled labour, and to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">{182}</a></span> -healthy self-forgetfulness and association in the ordinary -duties and recreations of their fellows. It must be remembered -that every boy there is, in a certain sense, incurable. -After having been nominated by the person -willing to contribute the annual payment of 10, the -medical officers of the institution (or if in the country, -some qualified practitioner) examine the candidate, who -must be above twelve and less than eighteen years of age, -and neither blind, deaf and dumb, nor without the use of -his hands. The name of the candidate is then added to -the list of those waiting for admission—of whom there -are now, unfortunately, above seventy—and when there -is a vacancy, and funds are sufficient to maintain the full -number of inmates, these candidates are taken in succession, -without voting, by order of the Committee of -Management, of whom the President is the Earl of -Shaftesbury, and the Honorary Secretary Mr. S. H. -Bibby, of Green Street, Grosvenor Square. There is -also an efficient Ladies' Committee for the household -management and for advising as to the education of the -boys, the visits of the friends of the inmates, and the -domestic affairs of the Home generally. There are some -severe cases of deformity here—club-foot, spinal curvature, -and various distortions of the legs—and in many -cases instruments are worn, but the Institution does not -profess to provide these. Frequently they are procured -by special contributions, and among the latest gifts of -this kind is a serviceable wooden leg or two, which have -had the happy effect of relieving their recipients from the -necessity of using crutches; but it is distinctly insisted -on that the Home is not a hospital, and is only curative -in the sense of improving the condition of those who, -having been pronounced incurable, are yet capable of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">{183}</a></span> -greatly increased activity and strength by means of -nourishing and regular food, interesting occupation, and -healthy exercise with companions who themselves are to -be numbered among the halt and the lame, and yet are, -in a very certain sense, made to walk and to leap and to -praise God. For see, at the very moment that I am -speaking, a little figure darts out of the passage yonder -and scampers across the large open green space at the -back of the house on his way to the new range of workshops -that are now nearly completed, and are also paid -for. Is it possible to apply the term cripple to such an -elf, who is out of reach before one can ask his name? -Yes; that very elf-like look is the result of a deformity -which stops growth, though it leaves the limbs as active as -you see them. But come up-stairs to the first of the -present workshops, and you may note among the colour-stampers, -sitting on their high stools before the dies and -presses, cases of more decided deformity or of crippling -by accident. These boys follow an artistic, pretty business, -and visitors may do worse than give a small or a -large order for notepaper and envelopes, stamped with -crest, motto, or quaint design. So well is the work executed, -that the Home has orders constantly in hand for -the trade, and some of the dies are really beautiful -examples of engraving. I think that in this long pleasant -upper room, with its high bench running along the window, -fitted with the presses and implements for the work, there -are more severe cases of deformity than will be seen -in either in the tailors' department on the same floor, -or the carpenters' shop below. One reflects on the -numerous accidents to which the children of the poor are -liable, such as falls down flights of stairs; to the inhuman -neglect of old women who are paid as "minders" -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">{184}</a></span> -by mothers compelled to go out to work in neighbourhoods -where no infant crche, no babies' cradle home, has -yet been established, or in country towns where such institutions -have scarcely been heard of. One remembers -with pity the scores of poor little creatures who have to -nurse and tend children almost as big as themselves, so -that they and their charges too often become deformed -together, the nurse with lateral curvature of the spine and -the baby with vertical curvature or with deformities of -the feet or legs. One thinks, in short, of the many perils -to healthy life and well-formed limb that beset the children -of the poor, and then coming back to the figures of -this <i>National</i> Home, which yet, with careful management -and due economy, can only receive forty or fifty -crippled boys—wonders how long it is to be before the -ruddy old house in Wright's Lane will expand its broad -bosom and stretch out long arms on either side to embrace -three-score more lads, taken from present neglect and -want and probable ill-usage, to be fed and taught and nurtured -for three years, during which the whole future will be -changed for them, and their lives redeemed from the degradation -that had threatened them just as their bodies -expand with renewed health and strange developments of -unsuspected strength, and their souls are lighted with hope -and the sympathy of loving words and hearty manly encouragement.</p> - -<p>A beginning has been made already; for that munificent -anonymous benefactor, whose thousand-pound cheques -have helped so many of our deserving charities, showed -his usual nice discrimination by taking a walk in the direction -of Wright's Lane. The result of this has been -the erection of those long workshops which extend across -one side of the wide green area, with its ornamental -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">{185}</a></span> -trees, at the back of the building—an area which is -a good part of the acre on which the property stands, -and forms a capital recreation-ground, without quite -leaving out of sight the pleasant kitchen-garden beyond, -or the little building in the further corner, which -is intended as a cottage infirmary in cases of sickness. -There are the workshops, quite ready for another contingent -of lads, such as are now busily at work in the -tailoring department, where they are sitting on the board -in the proper tailor-fashion, sewing away at one or other -of the many private orders for gentlemen's clothes, or -"juvenile suits," which are the better appreciated because -they <i>are</i> hand-sewn, instead of being made with that -machine, at the end of the room, to learn the working of -which is, however, a necessary part of the modern tailor's -trade. Quite ready, also, for our friends the relief-stampers, -and for an additional crew of young carpenters to join -those who are now busy below amidst a fine odour of -fresh deal and the cheery sound of hammer, chisel, and -plane. One of our young friends of the wooden legs—a -strapping fellow of seventeen—is just deftly finishing -off a very attractive chest of drawers, which will only -need to be taken to the painting and varnishing rooms -that form a part of the new building to be a very -capital example of the workmanship of the establishment. -For it cannot be too strongly insisted on that the -customers of the Industrial Cripples get value for their -money, whether it be in ornamental stationery, in plain -furniture, packing cases, boxes, and general carpentry, or -in "superfine suits" to order, or "own materials made up -and repairs neatly executed." It is no sham industrial -school, but a real practical working establishment, and -when the new buildings are quite completed, and the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">{186}</a></span> -dwelling-house has that other wing added to it, in order -to provide proper dormitories and a school-room, dining-room, -and lavatory, at all in proportion to the number -of boys who are waiting anxiously for admission—</p> - -<p>Ah! but the question is, When shall this be? Not -till another 5,000 is added to the funds, I am told—about -as much money as is sometimes spent in some -public display which lasts three or four hours, and going -to look at which probably half a dozen men, women, or -children are lamed and crippled in the crowd. Judging -from the present arrangements, with very little room to -spare, and a not very conveniently-adaptable space, the -money would be carefully spent; for there is no tendency -to undue luxury, and the present household staff would -still be sufficient for providing meals and looking after -the family needs of these robust and independent young -cripples. That it would be a work all the more beneficial, -because of this very independence with which it is -associated, it needs few arguments to prove; but, -should reasons be asked for, let us take three cases for -which the benefits of the Home are earnestly sought, -and they will speak in suggestive accents of the need of -that extension for which an appeal is being made. I -need not tell you the names either of those who nominate -the cases or the boys themselves; but be assured that -the former would be sufficient guarantee of the need which -it is sought to relieve:—</p> - -<div class="casenote"> - - <p>No. 1.—"The father is paralysed, and can do no work. The mother is not - a very satisfactory person. Family consist of—</p> - -<ol> - - <li>The eldest, a boy of twenty, who does odd jobs.</li> - - <li>The cripple.</li> - - <li>Boy, works, and gets 5s.,</li> - - <li>Boy, sells lights in the City.</li> - -</ol> - - <p class="nodent">There are four little girls at home besides. - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">{187}</a></span> - The cripple is in a very wretched state from want of food, but he has - the use of his hands."</p> - - <p>No. 2 (<span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>).—"Was never at school more than a year in - his life, and never attended regularly two months together. He can - neither read nor write, and has been neglected and often half-starved - by his dissipated parents. His mother pawns everything she can get to - buy drink, and the boy has little benefit from the wages he makes, - which are about 5s. per week. Their house is miserably dirty, Mrs. —— - (the mother) being always drunk or incapable on the Saturday and - Sunday. The boy works at Mr. B——'s Pottery, P——. He is honest and - industrious. He is more miserable at home of late since he is left - alone with his mother. It would be a great advantage to the boy if he - could be admitted to the Industrial Home at Kensington, where he would - be well trained, and where he would be quite beyond his mother's reach."</p> - - <p>No. 3 (recommended by a Clergyman).—"Has been very regular at our - school, and has been attentive and got on very well. His mother, a - widow, lives with her sons, all of whom she has brought up well. She is - an industrious, honest woman, and receives no help from the Board of - Guardians excepting an allowance made for the maintenance of the - cripple, and which, in case of his being accepted at the Home, they - have promised to continue to pay for his maintenance. I may add that - the Board, when he was called before them the other day, gave great - praise to his mother for the cleanliness and respectability of his - appearance."</p> - -</div> - -<p>Poor, depressed, starved, neglected, hopeless crippled -boys, how long will it be before they come here for -shelter, for hope, and renewal of life? I should ask the -question—though the answer could only be a guess—but -I am suddenly diverted by the tremendous ringing of a -hand-bell, on which one vigorous young cripple is ringing -a peal, which is almost loud enough to announce to all -Kensington that it is "tea-time." The sound has the -effect of bringing all the forty from their work—a contingent -of young carpenters staying behind for a little -while to dispose of some waste shavings which have been -swept out of some corner where they may have been in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">{188}</a></span> -the way. Then they come trooping into the big room, -where they present so strange a variety of height and -appearance, and also so remarkable a diversity of twist -and lameness and distortion, that we are impressed at -once with the melancholy fact that every boy there is in -reality a cripple, and yet with the cheering reflection, inspired -by some of the lively smiling faces, that there are -vast mitigations of such afflictions—mitigations that come -so near to cures as to make our neglect of them a very -serious evil, when the means lie near at hand.</p> - -<p>In this big room, which is neither dining-room, nor -kitchen, nor refectory, but a homely combination of all -three, there is no ornament, no sign of luxury, or of unnecessary -expenditure-plain deal forms or stools at -plain deal tables, on which are arranged a regiment of -full-sized mugs of good sound tea, and plates, each containing -a substantial half-pound slice of bread from a -homely two-pound loaf, spread with butter or dripping. -For breakfast the same quantity is provided, with the -substitution of coffee for tea; and dinner consists of a -half-pound of roast or boiled meat, with plenty of vegetables, -and dumplings, pies, or puddings; while bread -and cheese, or bread and butter, is served for supper. -For it must be remembered that these are working lads, -and that they require to be substantially, and, from the -nature of their bodily affliction, even generously fed, so -that these supplies of pure plain diet are not by any -means excessive; and they are such as one very ordinary -kitchen can supply—a kitchen, by the bye, which will -probably be superseded by a more convenient one when -the new wing shall be finished. Yet there is something in -these unadorned, bare, almost too plainly appointed -places, which brings with it a reassuring conviction that -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">{189}</a></span> -the institution has never been pampered. The dining-room, -which has to do duty for a school-room also—the -play-room, which is a rather dim kind of retreat on this -November evening—and the plain, rather bare, but still -clean and airy dormitories (especially those in the big bay-windowed -front rooms of the old red brick house), are -evidences that the place does not belie its name; that -it is really a home, but essentially an industrial home, -where work goes on as part of each day's blessing, and -the title to play freely and with a light heart is thereby -ensured.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">{190}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THEM WHO HAVE NOT WHERE TO LAY THEIR HEADS.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_T.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">There</span> -is a degree of poverty which, while it is -not absolute pauperism, often has deeper needs -than those which are alleviated by parochial -relief—a destitution which is none the less -bitter because those who suffer it cannot stoop to actual -mendicancy, and shrink from the degradation of the -casual ward and its contaminating influences.</p> - -<p>Those of us who at this season of the year are surrounded -with comforts, and can meet together to enjoy them, -should feel that there is no sadder phase of the life of -this great city than that to which our attention is called -by the statistics of those same casual wards, and the accompanying -certainty that every night there are men, -women, and children, who, amidst surrounding luxury -and splendour, have not where to lay their heads, and for -whom the repellent door of the nearest union workhouse -is closed, even if they could summon such courage as -comes of desperation, and dared to enter.</p> - -<p>Happily, the numbers of those who seek what is called -casual relief have diminished in proportion to the general -abatement of pauperism; and it is perhaps encouraging -to know that the applicants for nightly shelter at Refuges -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">{191}</a></span> -for the homeless and destitute are fewer than they were -three or four years ago. This is a fact which should be made -public, because some of these Refuges have been accused -of offering inducements to casual paupers to seek food -and shelter provided by charitable subscriptions, instead -of betaking themselves to the night-wards provided -for them at metropolitan workhouses. The complaint -was made on altogether insufficient grounds, at a time -when, during a hard winter, and with a fearful amount -of distress among the poorest class of the community, the -workhouse night-wards themselves were frequently inadequate -to the demands made upon them; while, apart -from the persons who were known as casual paupers, -there were hundreds of unfortunates suffering from -temporary starvation and the want of a place in which to -find a night's lodging, who yet were altogether removed -from what is known as pauperism, and dreaded the -abject hopelessness which they associated with "the -Union."</p> - -<p>It should not be forgotten, either, that the task which -is, and was then, imposed upon the pauper on the morning -following his night's lodging and its previous dole of -gruel and bread, renders it almost impossible for the -recipient to obtain work. Before his job of stone-breaking -or oakum-picking is accomplished, the hour for commencing -ordinary labour outside the workhouse walls has -passed, and his hope of resuming independent employment, -and the wages that will provide food and lodging -for the next four-and-twenty hours, has passed also. -This alone is always sufficient to make a very marked -distinction between the regular casual pauper and the -temporarily unfortunate man or woman who, having -failed to get work, and seeking only the aid that may -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">{192}</a></span> -give rest and strength for a renewed effort, might look -in vain for succour but for the existence of places like -that admirable Institution to which I wish to take you -to-night.</p> - -<p>The shameful spectacle of groups, and, in many -instances, of crowds, of houseless, starving, and half-naked -creatures huddled about the doors of casual wards, -to which they had been refused admission in direct -defiance of legislation, led to the establishment of Night -Refuges. There was then no time to dispute. While -boards and committees were squabbling and vilifying -each other, the poor were perishing. But even now that -a better system prevails, and pauperism has so considerably -diminished, there is much necessity for the continuance of -these institutions and their adaptation to the relief of that -kind of distress which is all the more poignant because -it is at present only temporary, but would receive the -brand and stamp of permanence if it could find no other -mitigation than that secured by an appeal to workhouse -officials, the shelter of the casual shed, the union dole, -and the daily task required in return.</p> - -<p>At the time that Night Refuges were first founded, in -consequence of the failure of the Houseless Poor Act, -there were one or two institutions which went on the plan -of offering no inducement whatever to those who sought -shelter within their walls. The provisions were barer, -the beds harder, the reception little less cold and unsympathetic -than they would receive at any metropolitan -union.</p> - -<p>Those of my readers who remember the Refuge for the -Houseless Poor which once stood in Playhouse Yard, -close to that foul tangle of courts that still exists -between Barbican and St. Luke's, and is known as "The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">{193}</a></span> -Chequers," will understand me when I say that there were -no alluring inducements for the houseless and the destitute -to seek its aid.</p> - -<p>I have seldom seen a more painfully suggestive crowd -than that which waited outside the blank door of that -hideous building on a cold drizzly evening when I paid the -place a visit, only a short time before it was finally closed. -I cannot deny, however, that the applicants for admission -consisted of those persons for whom the institution -seemed to be especially designed. The very lowest class -of poverty, the representatives of sheer destitution, made -up the 350 men and the 150 women who were to occupy -the bare wooden bunks in the two departments of the -building that night, and to accept, as a stay against -starvation, the half-pound of dry bread and the drink of -water. What I would call emphatic attention to, is the -fact that this place was filled nightly at that time, -because the inmates could leave early in the morning to -seek a day's work, and so rise out of that depth of destitution -which was represented by the nightly return to the -casual ward. But let us remember that, though this -Institution could scarcely be characterised by the warm -name of "charity," it received all applicants who were -not suffering from infectious diseases, and therefore its -policy was deterrent. In order to separate itself from -the idle casual, it made its provisions little short of penal, -and, indeed, very far short of those common comforts that -are to be found in prison.</p> - -<p>But the Refuge in Newport Market was one of those -which had been founded on a different principle. It was -never intended as a supplement to the casual ward, or as -having any relation to poor-law relief; though, during -the terrible distress that overtook the houseless in that -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">{194}</a></span> -severe winter when our poor-law arrangements broke -down utterly, it was impossible for any place founded in -the name of Christian love and charity to be very particular -in excluding famishing and frozen men and women -on the suspicion that they had already somehow obtained -parochial relief the night before.</p> - -<p>This "Refuge" was originally established by the influence -and the personal exertions of Mrs. Gladstone, and -a few ladies and gentlemen who, knowing of the extreme -distress that prevailed in all that poverty-stricken neighbourhood -about Seven Dials, around the alien-haunted -district of Soho, and in the purlieux of Drury Lane, and -the courts of Long Acre, set about providing some -remedy for the misery that homeless, destitute men, -women, and children had to suffer during the bitter -nights of winter. First, a regular mission was established -in an ordinary room, and, after a time, space was secured -to make a Refuge—first for six, then for ten, and afterwards -for twenty of the most destitute cases which came -under the notice of the mission-woman. This went on -till the funds were sufficient to warrant a very earnest -desire to obtain larger premises, and at last to make a -bid for that queer ramshackle old slaughter-house, which -was the rather too indicative feature of the locality. The -landlords of this place were fully alive to the value of -any property rising in proportion to the anxiety of somebody -to become its tenant, and they demanded a high -rent accordingly. Still, the work had to be done, and -the slaughter-house—cleansed, repaired, whitewashed, -and divided into several queer, irregular-shaped wards -and rooms, which were reached by strange flights of -steps and zig-zag entries—was opened with cheerful confidence -and hope, under the earnest superintendence of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">{195}</a></span> -the Rev. J. Williams, who was at that time incumbent of -the parish of St. Mary, Soho. It was at that period that -I first made acquaintance with the Institution, and with -the quiet, undemonstrative work of charity which was -carried on there, and is continued to this day, though it -is less arduous now that the neighbourhood itself has felt -the influence of such an organization—not so much in -the diminution of actual poverty, as in the humanising -and constantly suggestive presence of men and women -who have brought a gospel to those who were hopeless, -and seemed to have none to care for them.</p> - -<p>The need to receive numbers every night to the utmost -limits of the Institution has passed now, except occasionally -during very severe weather; and though the cases -admitted are still those where deep, and sometimes apparently -almost fatal, misfortune is the claim, there is no -longer the urgency which forbade a too discriminating -selection, and the regular casual stands no chance under -the quick and experienced eye of the superintendent, -Mr. Ramsden, whose military tone and manner are, -by the way, modulated so as to carry the sense of detection -to the pretender, and to support and give courage -to the weak and faint-hearted.</p> - -<p>The same complete, quiet method of receiving applicants -who await admission enables me to repeat the -impression which I received during the time that the -demands upon the night Refuge were more urgent. The -experienced visitor who stands at the gate of this rehabilitated -building that was once the old slaughter-house, and -who watches the people go in one by one, and listens to -their low-voiced pleas for food and shelter, cannot mistake -them for casual ward cases. Just as, in some other -Institutions, the pain of the spectacle is the degraded -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">{196}</a></span> -poverty of those who seek aid, the most affecting element -here is utter destitution, without that <i>accustomed</i> -debasement which would find a fitting resource at the -workhouse door, leading to the night shed.</p> - -<p>These are broken-down men and women; old men -beaten in the battle of life, and full of present sorrow; -young men who have fought and failed, or who have -eaten of the husks, and seek occasion to rise to a better -mind; middle-aged men not altogether crushed or hopeless, -but in sore want, and needing the sound of a kindly -voice, the touch of a friendly hand; women who have -lost youth and worldly hope together—women who, -more weak than wicked, and without resource, need some -stay alike for fainting bodies and for wandering souls; -women worn and hungry, because of the lack even of ill-paid -work, and asking for rest and food till they can seek -employment: some who will go forth in the morning and -set out afresh; others who, if they can secure two or -three nights' lodging, with a mouthful of food and drink -morning and evening, have a good hope of doing better -in the future.</p> - -<p>To those who know how the demand for certain kinds -of labour varies, and frequently slackens towards the -winter months, when need is sorest, this latter most merciful -provision comes with a sense of truest charity. -Tickets of admission are issued to friends and visitors of -the Institution (and any one may be a visitor who chooses -to ring at the bell of the old slaughter-house), entitling -the holder to admission after the regular evening hour of -half-past five to six, so that in bestowing one of these -the judicious subscriber (not necessarily, but surely from -sympathy a subscriber) can be a true benefactor. For -these tickets will admit the really deserving nightly for a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">{197}</a></span> -week, with supper of bread and coffee or cocoa, or occasional -savoury soup, and breakfast of bread and coffee. -And even this time is occasionally extended, if there be -a reasonable prospect of obtaining work. Not only -ticket-holders, but every applicant, may have the same -privilege, if it can be shown that he or she is really likely -to obtain employment. But there is more than this. -There are men here—truest of gentlemen, beyond that -social stamp of rank which rightfully belongs to them—who, -with a real, manly instinct, know how to take -poverty by the hand without offensive patronage or untimely -preaching. There are ladies who, in their true -womanhood, can see the contrition in faces bowed down—the -shame that is caused, not by evil doings, but by -the feeling of dismay which comes of having to ask for -charity—can sympathise with broken fortunes, with -gentle nurture—cast upon a hard, relentless world, with -that poverty which is "above the common."</p> - -<p>More still. Among the supporters and the constant -visitors are those who can use special influence for cases -that need it most, and obtain for them admission to -hospitals and other asylums, or introduce to situations -those who by sudden calamity have been deprived of the -means of living.</p> - -<p>Yes, even in their deepest need, poor, wandering, homeless -women may come here and find help, for in that -large, lofty, yet warm and well-lighted room, the women's -dormitory—one side of which is composed of a series of -niches where the comfortable beds are placed—there are -to be seen a row of doors, which seem to belong to a -series of cabins, as, indeed, they do. Each door opens -into a small bed-room—small, but with room for a chair, -a tiny table, and the neat bed. They are the lodgings -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">{198}</a></span> -set apart for women, who, in the midst of their poverty -and destitution, are looking forward fearfully to the time -when children will be born to them, and so to a period -of weakness, and of the sad mingling of maternal pity -and desponding sorrow. Let me say, in one line from the -Report, that last year eight young women were received -into the Refuge some time before their confinement, were -passed on to Queen Charlotte's Hospital, and were helped -until such time as they were able to help themselves.</p> - -<p>I think the knowledge of this is so cheerful an instance -of the value of this most representative Refuge, that even -the sight of the bright, warm, glowing kitchen, with its -great boiler of hot coffee, and its noble kettle of soup -occupying the jolly range, scarcely imparts an extra -beam to the picture; while the long rows of white mugs, -the pleasant, clean, fragrant loaves, the big milk-cans, -the courteous <i>chef</i>, who has a true and pardonable pride -in his surroundings—no, not even the cosy, rug-covered -berths and bunks in the dormitories, nor the quaint little -corner-room to which I have to climb a crooked staircase -to shake hands with the sister who is in charge, nor the -equally quaint and cornery, not to say inconvenient, -sitting-room of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsden, who have left their -tea unfinished to do the honours of the Institution—can -suggest to me a better word to say than that which is suggested -by the picture of the poor wandering, weary, fainting -women, who, almost in despair, not only for a real, but -for an expected life, come here to find rest and peace.</p> - -<p>Stay; one word more. Who are the class of people -for whom the Refuge doors are ordinarily open? Let -us see what were the most numerous cases among the inmates -who during the year received 6,669 nights' lodgings -and 16,889 suppers and breakfasts. Among the men -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">{199}</a></span> -"labourers," of course, are most numerous; then discharged -soldiers—poor fellows who have perhaps foolishly -snatched at liberty when offered, and foregone the -advantages of re-engagement and a pension; next in -numerical order come <i>clerks</i>—a very painfully suggestive -fact, especially when read by the light of the advertisement-columns -of our newspapers, and the sad story of -genteel poverty in that great suburban ring which encircles -the wealthiest city in the world. Of house-painters -there were 24; of servants, 21; of tailors, 13; of seamen, -8; and other callings were represented in remarkable -variety, including 1 actor, 6 cooks, 1 schoolmaster, 2 surveyors, -and 1 tutor. Among the women, 199 servants—show -sadly enough the truth of the old adage, "Service -is no inheritance;" while in numerical succession there -were, 55 charwomen, 41 laundresses, 37 needlewomen, -31 tailoresses, 27 dressmakers, 26 machinists (alas! how -many women still utterly depend on "the needle" for a -subsistence!), 24 cooks, 20 ironers, 16 field-labourers. -There were 4 governesses, 1 actress, 1 mission-woman, -and 1 staymaker, the rest being variously described.</p> - -<p>From among these, 94 men and 193 women obtained -employment, 77 women having been sent to Penitentiaries -and Homes, while 18 were supported in the -Refuge or elsewhere by needlework, 13 were sent to -their friends, 60 obtained permanent work, and 14 girls -of good character were sent to Servants' Homes.</p> - -<p>But I have left out one thing now. Among this great -representative company of refugees were 60 children, -of whom 37 were sent to nurse or to school, while those -who were old enough— Well, just listen to that -burst of military music in a distant upper-room of the -old slaughter-house. I must tell you something about -the Newport Market boys in another chapter.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">{200}</a></div> - -<h2><i>TAKING IN STRANGERS.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_Y.jpg" width="100" height="104" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Yes;</span> -listen to that startling clangour of military -music coming from an upper room. We are -standing, you know, in the cheerful kitchen -of that Refuge for the Homeless in the renovated -old slaughter-house in Newport Market, and I -want you to come with me to see the boys' school, which -occupies a very considerable portion of that weatherproof -but ramshackle building.</p> - -<p>Only those who are acquainted with the poverty and -the crime of this great metropolis can estimate the deep -and urgent need that still exists for refuges in which -homeless, destitute, and neglected children can be received -for shelter, food, and clothing. Only the practical -student of the effect of our present administration of the -Education Act can calculate how vast a necessity is likely -to exist for the reception and instruction of the children -of the poorest, even when all the machinery of the present -School Board is put in motion for vindicating the compulsory -clause.</p> - -<p>Let that clause be interpreted in the most liberal -manner—which would be in effect to provide State -education without cost to the parents—and the Act will -still leave untouched a vast number of children for whom -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">{201}</a></span> -nothing can be done until their physical necessities are -provided for—children who are perishing with cold, -starving for want of food. A visit to some of the big -buildings recently erected by the London School Board -will reveal the fact that there are many such children -now in attendance; neglected, barefoot, half-clothed, -hungry, and with that wistful eager look, sometimes -followed by a kind of stupefaction, which may be -observed in the poor little outcasts of the streets. There -is no reasonable hope of doing much with these little -creatures till the "soup-kitchen" and the "free breakfast" -are among the appliances of education, where the -necessity is most pressing, and the children perish for -lack of bread as well as for lack of knowledge.</p> - -<p>As it is—I need not refer again to the escape which is -always open from the streets to the prison. The few -Government industrial-schools to which magistrates -occasionally consign young culprits brought before them -are intended only for those who come within the cognisance -of the law.</p> - -<p>The operations of these reformatory-schools are successful -so far as they go. They represent seventy-five -per cent. of successful reformatory training as applied to -juvenile transgressors committed by magistrates to their -supervision.</p> - -<p>Perhaps, when we are fully impressed with the meaning -of the statistics which are published each year in -the Report of the Inspectors of Certified Schools in Great -Britain, we shall begin to consider how it will be possible -to regard destitute children in relation to the guardianship -of the state <i>before</i> they qualify themselves for -Government interposition by the expedient of committing -what the law calls a crime.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">{202}</a></span> -The last Report states distinctly that the sooner criminal -children are taken in hand, the more complete is their -reformation. There are fewer "criminals" of less -than ten years of age than there are hardened offenders -of from twelve to sixteen. This is, so far, satisfactory; -but when we consider that (including Roman Catholic -establishments) there are but fifty-three reformatories in -England, and twelve in Scotland (thirty-seven of those -in England and eight in Scotland being for boys, and -sixteen in England and four in Scotland for girls), and -that in 1873, when the Report was issued, the sum-total -of children in all these institutions was but 5,622, of -whom one-fourth were in the Roman Catholic schools—we -cease to wonder at the vast number of homeless, -neglected, and destitute children in London alone—a -number which, notwithstanding the efforts of philanthropy -and the activity of School Board beadles, exceeds the -total of all the inmates of the State reformatories -throughout the kingdom.</p> - -<p>This refuge at Newport Market had included destitute -and starving boys among those who were brought to its -shelter from the cruel streets, the dark arches of railways -and of bridges, and the miserable corners where the -houseless huddle together at night, long before its supporters -could make provision for maintaining any of the -poor little fellows in an industrial-school. But the work -grew, and the means were found, first for retaining some -of the juvenile lodgers who came only for a night's food, -and warmth, and shelter, and afterwards for receiving -them as inmates.</p> - -<p>Some of these are sent to the Refuge by persons who -are furnished with printed forms of application, or by -mothers who can afford evident testimony that they can -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">{203}</a></span> -scarcely live on the few shillings they are able to earn by -casual work as charwomen, or by the no less casual employments -where the wages are totally inadequate to -support a family; while a few lads have themselves -applied for admission because they were orphans, or -utterly destitute and abandoned by those on whom they -might be supposed to have a claim.</p> - -<p>A portion of the old building, which has been adapted to -the purpose, and has been added as the need for increased -space became pressing, is now devoted to the dormitories, -play-room, and school-room of some fifty to sixty of this -contingent of the great army of friendless children; and -at the time of the last Report fourteen had but just left -to be enlisted in military bands; two had become military -tailors; situations had been found for others; -while one had been regularly apprenticed to a tailor in -London.</p> - -<p>There are frequently several boys ready for such -apprenticeship, for tailoring is the only regular trade -taught, the time of the lads being occupied in learning to -read, write, and cipher, to acquire the outlines of history -and geography, and to take a place in the military -band which is at this moment making the cranky old -building resound with its performance on clarinets, hautboys, -cornets, "deep bassoons," and all kinds of -wind instruments, under the direction of an able bandmaster, -who keeps the music up to the mark with a -spirit which bespeaks confidence in the intelligence of -his pupils.</p> - -<p>This confidence is not misplaced, for during the past -year eleven youthful recruits have been drafted from -among these boys into the bands of various regiments, -while there are above ninety applications still on the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">{204}</a></span> -books for more musicians who have chosen this branch -of the military service. It is a matter of choice, of course; -and there are some who prefer to become sailors, or to go -into situations and learn the trade of tailoring, that their -instructors may be able to recommend them to respectable -masters as apprentices.</p> - -<p>But let us walk through the kitchen, and ascend the -short zig-zag stairs which lead us by a passage to the -school-room, where most of the boys are at work with -their slates. Very few of the little fellows are more than -thirteen years old, and some of them have been but a -short time at school; but even those who came here -totally uninstructed have made admirable progress, and -some of the writing-books containing lessons from dictation -are well worth looking at for their clean and excellent -penmanship and fair spelling; while in arithmetic -the boys who have been longest under tuition have -advanced as far as "practice." There is nothing superfluous -in school-room, work-room, or play-room—indeed, -one might almost say that they are unfurnished, except -for desks and forms and plain deal tables. The play-room -is a lower portion of the old slaughter-house, -with a high ceiling, to a beam in which is fixed a -pair of ropes terminating in two large wooden rings by -which the youthful gymnasts swing and perform all -kinds of evolutions, while a set of parallel bars are among -the few accessories.</p> - -<p>It is evident that nothing is spent in mere ornament, -and that the expenditure is carefully considered, though -recreation, and healthy recreation too, is a part of the -daily duty, which is regulated in a fashion befitting the -rather military associations of the place. Even now, as -the cheery superintendent, Mr. Ramsden, who was lately -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">{205}</a></span> -quartermaster-sergeant of the 16th Regiment, calls -"Attention!" every boy is quickly on his feet and ready -to greet us; and what is more, the boys seem to like -this kind of discipline, for it is kind in its prompt demand -for obedience, and the regularity and order includes a -kind of self-reliance, which is a very essential part of -education for lads who must necessarily be taught what -they have to learn in a comparatively short time, and are -then sent out where order and promptitude are of the -utmost service to them. Economy is studied, but the -recollection of the cheery kitchen suggests that there is -no griping hard endeavour to curtail the rations necessary -to support health and strength. In fact, the boys -are sufficiently fed, warmly clothed, and are encouraged -both to work and play heartily. Breakfast consists of -bread and coffee; dinner of meat and vegetables three -days in the week, fish on one day (Wednesday), pudding -on Monday, soup on Friday, meat and cheese on Saturday; -tea or coffee with bread and dripping, while on -Sundays butter is an additional luxury both at breakfast -and tea; and on Thursdays and Sundays tea is substituted -for coffee at the evening meal. All the boys are -decently and warmly clothed, and though only some of -their number "take to music" as a profession, and choose -to go into the military bands, they all receive instruction. -They are taught to keep their own bunks and dormitories -neat, and, in fact, do their own household work; -while, morning and afternoon, personal trimness is promoted -by the military "inspection" which is part of the -discipline. There is half an hour's play after breakfast, -another quarter of hour before dinner, three-quarters of -an hour for "washing and play" after dinner, a quarter -of an hour before tea, and from an hour and a half to two -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">{206}</a></span> -hours for boot-cleaning and play before bed-time, besides -out-door exercise daily, except in wet weather, when -drill and gymnastics take its place. They also go to -Primrose Hill on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, -there to run in the fresh air and disport themselves in -cricket, or such games as they can find the toys for, by -the kindness of the committee or generous visitors. Even -with these recreations, however, they find time to go -through a very respectable amount of work in the fourteen -hours between rising and bed-time; and the letters -received from lads who have left the school are an evidence -that they remember with pleasure and with gratitude -the Refuge that became a home, and to which they -attribute their ability to take a place which would have -been denied to them without the aid which grew out of -pity for their neglected childhood.</p> - -<p>Here is a short epistle from one of the juvenile band, -at Shorncliffe Camp, written a year or two ago:—</p> - - <p class="small">"I now take the pleasure of writing these few lines and I hope all the - boys are all well, and all in the school and please Mr. Ramsden will - you send me the parcel up that I took into the school it was laying in - the bookcase in the school-room and I hope that all the boys are all - getting on with their instruments and the snips with their work and I - should like you to read it to the boys and I wish that you would let - —— answer it and I am getting on with my instrument very well, and I - will be able to come and see you on Cristamas season."</p> - -<p>This is a characteristic schoolboy letter, which shows -how much boys are alike in all grades. The following is -another letter from Shorncliffe:—</p> - - <p class="small">"Dear Sir,</p> - - <p class="indent2 small">"I received your kind and welcome letter along with mothers, and I - wrote back to tell you we have all been enlisted and sworn in, and we - expect to get our clothes next week and we all feel it our duty to - express our deeply felt gratitude to you Mr. Dust and the Committee, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">{207}</a></span> - and we are all very happy at present please give our respects to Mrs. - Ramsden Sister Zillah Mr. McDerby Mr. Mason Mr. Goodwin Miss Cheesman - and please remember us to all the boys. Leary is on sick furlough since - the 15th of Decr. and has not returned yet and Brenan, Lloyd Graham - McCarthy Henderson and all the others are very jolly at present and - been out all the afternoon amongst the snow. So I conclude with kind - thanks to one and all and believe me to be Dear Sir</p> - - <div class="foot"> - - <div class="right3">"Your late pupil ——</div> - <div class="right1">"Band —— Regt."</div> - - </div> - -<p>The following will show how the memory of the old -slaughter-house and the school in Newport Market -remains after the boys have left and have entered on a -career. It is addressed from Warley Barracks:—</p> - - <p class="small">"Dear Sir</p> - - <p class="indent2 small">"I now take the opportunity of writing to you hoping you and all the - rest of the school and the sister also. It is a long time since I left - the school now and I dont suppose you would know me if I was to come - and see you I was apprenticed out off the school along of J—— R—— - to Mr W—— in 1869 I think it was as a Tailor. I should like you to - write and tell me if you know what rigment J—— H—— belong to his - school number was 34 and mine was 35 me and him was great friends when - we were in the school and I should like to know very much were he is. - When I left the School Mr. L—— was Supperintendant and I dont suppose - I should know you sir if I was to see you I shall try to come down and - see the School if I can on Christmas for I shall be on pass to London - for seven days and I should like to know where J—— H—— is so as I - should be able to see him. I have a few more words to say that is the - school was the making of me and I am very thankful to the school for it - so with kind love to you all</p> - - <div class="foot"> - - <div class="right5">"I remain your humble servant,</div> - <div class="right3">"Band —— Regiment,</div> - <div class="right1">"Warley Barracks, Essex.</div> - - </div> - - <p class="small">"J—— H—— number was 34 and mine was 35.</p> - - <p class="small">"Excuse me addressing this Letter to you as I dont know anything about - you sir."</p> - -<p>There is something pleasant indeed in letters like -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">{208}</a></span> -these; and I for one am not surprised that the boys -should go to their musical practice with a will.</p> - -<p>They are just preparing to play something for our -especial delight now, and so burst out, in a grand -triumphant blast, with "Let the Hills Resound," after -which we will take our leave, and, we hope, not without -melody in our hearts. Just one word as we go through -this kitchen again. Two West End clubs supply the -Newport Market Refuge with the remnants of their -well-stocked larders. Did it ever occur to you how -many hungry children and poor men and women could be -fed on the actual waste that goes on in hotels, clubs, inns, -dining-rooms, and large and ordinary households every -day? M. Alexis Soyer used to say that he could feed -ten thousand people with the food that was wasted in -London every day; and I am inclined to think he was -not far wrong. At all events, an enormous salvage of -humanity might be effected if only the one meal daily -which might be made of "refuse" pieces of meat and -bread, bones, cuttings of vegetables, cold potatoes, and -general pieces—was secured to the thousands to whom -"enough" would often indeed be "as good as a feast." -To people who know how much that is really good for -food—not the plate-scrapings and leavings, but sound -and useful reversions of meat and bread and vegetables, -bones, and unsightly corners of joints—is either suffered -to spoil or is thrown at once into the waste-tub, both in -hotels and private houses, the additional knowledge that -there are hungry children in every district in London to -whom a bowl of nourishing soup or a plate of minced -meat and vegetables would be a boon, may easily be -a pain, because of the inability to suggest how to -organise the means of utilising what one is tempted to -call undeserved plenty.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">{209}</a></div> - -<h2><i>FEEDING THE MULTITUDE.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">I suppose</span> -there are people still to be found -who have but a vague notion of what it is to -be really hungry. They may be conscious -of possessing a good appetite now and then, -and having the means of obtaining food, and to a certain -extent of choosing what they will eat, regard being rather -"sharp set" as a luxury which gives additional zest to a -dinner, enabling them to take off the edge of their craving -with a plate of warm soup, and to consider what they -would like "to follow."</p> - -<p>Of course we most of us read in the papers of the distress -of the poor during the winter, of the number of -children for whom appeals are made that they may have -a meal of meat and vegetables once or twice a week, of -the aggregate of casual paupers during a given period, -and of cases where "death accelerated by want and exposure" -is the verdict of a coroner's jury; but we do not -very easily realise what it is to be famished; have perhaps -never experienced that stage beyond hunger—beyond -even the faintness and giddiness that makes us doubt -whether we could swallow anything solid, and would -cause us to turn hopelessly from dry bread. There is no -need here to detail the sufferings that come of starvation. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">{210}</a></span> -They are dreadful enough; but if our charity needs the -stimulus of such descriptions we are in a bad way, and -are ourselves in danger of perishing for want of moral -sustenance.</p> - -<p>Those who need assurance of the hunger of hundreds -of their poor neighbours need not go very far to obtain -it. A quarter of an hour at the window of any common -cook-shop in a "low neighbourhood," at about seven -o'clock in the evening, when the steam of unctuous -puddings is blurring the glass, and the odour of leg-of-beef -soup and pease-pudding comes in gusts to the chilly -street, should suffice. There is pretty sure to be a group -of poor little eager-eyed pinch-nosed boys and girls -peering wistfully in to watch the fortunate possessor of -two-pence who comes out with something smoking hot -on a cabbage-leaf, and begins to bite at it furtively before -he crosses the threshold.</p> - -<p>Of course, according to modern social political economy, -it would be encouraging mendicity, and sapping the -foundations of an independent character, to distribute -sixpenny pieces amongst the juvenile committee of taste -who are muttering what they would buy if only somebody -could be found to advance "a copper." But it is to -be hoped or feared (which?) that a good many people -yet live who would instinctively feel in their pockets for -a stray coin to expend on a warm greasy slab of baked -or boiled, or on half a dozen squares of that peculiarly -dense pie-crust which is sold in ha'porths. This is a -vulgar detail; but somehow poverty and hunger <i>are</i> -vulgar, and we should find it difficult to get away from -them if we tried ever so hard. Even School Boards, -peeping out upon the children perishing for lack of knowledge, -find themselves in a difficulty, because there is no -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">{211}</a></span> -provision under the compulsory or any other clause for -the children who are also perishing for lack of food. The -Board beadle does not at present go about with soup-tickets -in his pockets; and for the poor shivering shoeless -urchins who are mustered in the big brick-built room -where they assemble according to law there is no free -breakfast-class.</p> - -<p>It must one day become a question how they are to -learn till they are filled. Grown people find it hard -enough to fix their attention on the best advice or the -most saving doctrine while they suffer involuntary hunger. -The multitude must mostly be fed before they are taught. -Even disciples have had a revelation of the Bread of Life -in the breaking of bread that perishes. Do we still need -a miracle to teach us that?</p> - -<p>Happily, efforts are made to give meat to the hungry. -During the winter weather food is distributed in various -ways amidst some of those poverty-stricken neighbourhoods -to which I am obliged to take you during our excursions; -but the demand far exceeds the supply, and -people suffer hunger at all seasons, though most of all in -the time of bleak winds and searching cold.</p> - -<p>I want you to come to-day to a kitchen which is open -all the year round—the only kitchen of the kind in London -which does not close its doors even when the spring-tide -brings buds of promise on the shrubs in Leicester -Square, and the London sparrow comes out from roofs -and eaves, and preens his dingy plumage in the summer -sun, as though Great Windmill Street had something in -common with its name, and sweet country odours came -from the region of the Haymarket.</p> - -<p>For, you know, we are still in the district of Soho. I -have but just now brought you out of Newport Market, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">{212}</a></span> -and now we are in a very curious part of this vast strange -city. The streets are dim and dingy, but not so squalid -as you might have imagined. They are still and silent, -too, as of a neighbourhood that has seen better days, and -even in its poverty has a sense of gentility which is -neither boisterous nor obtrusive.</p> - -<p>You will remember that I referred to this neighbourhood -of Soho when I spoke of those old French refugees -who came and made industrial colonies in London after -the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This is the only -really foreign quarter of London which has lasted until -to-day; but that is to be accounted for by the fact that -it became representative of no particular industry, and -that, probably from the fact of many of the patrons of -literature and art having then town houses about Leicester -and Soho Squares, the more artistic refugees took up -their abode in the adjacent streets.</p> - -<p>From the time when William Hogarth painted his picture -of the Calais Gate till only a short time ago, when -refugees fled from besieged Paris to find some poor and -wretched lodging in the purlieus of Cranbourne Street, -where they might live in peace and hear their native -tongue, this has been the resort of poor foreigners in -London. It almost reminds one of some of the smaller -streets of a continental city; and as we look at the queer -shabby restaurants, and the shops with strange names -painted above them in long yellow letters, we almost expect -to find the pavement change to cobble-stones, and -to see some queer wooden sign dangle overhead, so like -is the place to the small <i>bourgeois</i> quarter that in our -earlier days lay behind the Madeleine and the Porte St. -Denis.</p> - -<p>For here is an actual <i>crmerie</i>—a queer compound of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">{213}</a></span> -cook-shop and milkseller's—with a couple of bright dairy -cans outside the door, and a long loaf or two amidst the -cups and plates and sausages in the dingy window. -Over the way you see "<i>Blanchisseuse</i>" in large letters; -and next door is a <i>laiterie</i>, which differs from a <i>crmerie</i> -as a <i>caf</i> alone differs from a <i>caf restaurant</i> with its -"<i>commerce de vins</i>" painted in big capitals in front of a -long row of sour-looking bottles and a green calico curtain. -It is a quaint jumble, all the way to Dean Street, -and till we reach the edge of the Haymarket—a jumble -of Brown and Lebrun, of Jones and Jean, of Robin (<i>fils</i>) -and Robinson; but for all the little musty-smelling -<i>cafs</i>, the blank bare-windowed <i>restaurants</i>, the <i>crmeries</i>, -and the <i>boulangeries</i>, there is nothing of a well fed look -about the district, especially just at this corner, leading -as it seems to a stable-yard or the entrance to a range of -packers' warehouses. There is one open front here—is -it a farrier's or a blacksmith's shop?—where they appear -to be doing a stroke of business, however, for there is a -clinking, and a fire, and a steam; but the steam has a -fragrant odour of vegetables—of celery and turnips, of -haricots and gravy—the clink is that of basins and -spoons getting ready, and the fire is that of the boiler -which simmers two mighty cauldrons.</p> - -<p>Step to the front, and you will see in big white letters -right across the house, "Mont St. Bernard Hospice." -You may well rub your eyes, for you are in the heart of -London, and stand in Ham Yard, Leicester Square, before -the soup-kitchen that is open all the year.</p> - -<p>There is something very appetising in the steam that -arises from both these huge cauldrons, one of which is -the stock-pot, containing bones, remnants of joints (<i>not</i> -plate-clearings), and reversions of cold meat, &c., from -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">{214}</a></span> -two West End clubs. To this are added vegetables—celery, -haricot beans, or barley—making it a fresh palatable -stock, not remarkable for meatiness, but still excellent -in flavour, as you may find for yourself if you join -me in a luncheon here. But the real strengthening -gravy has yet to be added, and the cauldron on the left -hand is full of it—real, genuine gravy soup, made from -raw meat and bones purchased for this purpose. As -soon as this has simmered till it is thoroughly ready, the -contents of the two cauldrons are mixed, and the result -is a delicious stew, which is ready to be turned out into -these yellow pint basins, for the hungry applicants, who -will sit down at one of these two deal tables, each of -which has its rough clean form, or to be dispensed to -those who bring jugs, bowls, cans, saucepans, kettles, -pipkins—any and almost every receptacle in which they -can carry it steaming away to their families.</p> - -<p>Let us stand here and see them come in. Here is a -poor famishing fellow, who looks with eager eyes at the -savoury mess. He has evidently seen better days. -There is an unmistakable air of education about him, -and as he sits down with his basin and spoon, and the -handful of broken bread, which is added to the soup from -one of a series of clean sacks emptied for the purpose, -the superintendent, Mr. Stevens, scans him with a quick -eye, and will probably speak to him before he leaves. -There is a foreigner—an Italian, by the look of his oval -olive face—who takes his place very quietly, and as -quietly begins to eat; and yonder a famished-looking, -rough fellow, who has already devoured the basinful with -his eyes, and is evidently in sore need. Men, women, -and children, or, at all events, boys and girls, come and -present their tickets, and receive this immediate relief, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">{215}</a></span> -against which surely not the most rigorous opponent to -mendicancy can protest. The cadger and the professional -beggar do not go to the soup-kitchen where -nothing is charged, for they do not need food, and will -only see a ticket where it is likely to be accompanied by -the penny which will buy a quart. Be sure that there are -few cases here which are not so necessitous that they are -not far from starvation; and many of them represent -actually desperate want.</p> - -<p>The tickets for obtaining this prompt relief—often only -just in time to save some poor creature from utter destitution -and crime, and as often administered when a -family is without food, and yet clings to the hope of -finding work to prevent that separation which they must -submit to by becoming paupers—are placed in the hands -of clergymen, doctors, district visitors, Bible-women, and -those who know the poor, and can feel for them when in -hard times they pawn furniture, tools, and clothes, and -suffer the extremity of want, before they will apply for -parochial relief, and have offered to them the alternative -of "going into the house."</p> - -<p>The annals of the poor, from which extracts occasionally -appear in the newspapers in the accounts of coroners' -inquests, prove to what dreadful sufferings many decent -but destitute people will submit rather than become recognised -paupers; and no system of charitable relief outside -the workhouse walls will be effectual or useful which -does not recognise and respect this feeling. Who would -let the possible accident of some unworthy person getting -a gratuitous pint of soup stand in the way of a work -such as we see going on here, where one year's beneficent -action includes above ten thousand persons relieved?—a -large number of whom are temporarily taken into -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">{216}</a></span> -the Hospice, as we shall see presently, while a great contingent -is represented by the family tickets, which enable -poor working men and women from various districts in -London to carry away a gallon of strong nourishing soup, -and an apronful of bread to their hungry little ones. -You see that great heap of pieces of fine bread—slices, -hunches, remnants of big loaves, dry toast, French bread, -brown bread, and rolls—all placed in a clean wooden -bin, they also come from the two great West End clubs -before mentioned, and are so appreciated by the applicants -for relief (they being usually good judges of quality) -that you may note a look of disappointment if the stock -of club bread has been exhausted, and a portion of one -of the common loaves bought for the purpose is substituted. -The small broken bread in those clean sacks is -club bread also—the crumbs from rich men's tables, but -clean, and thoroughly good, fit for immediate addition to -the soup, which a hungry company of diners consume in -a painfully short space of time.</p> - -<p>They are not inhabitants of this district, either; comparatively -few come from the immediate neighbourhood, -though, of course, some poor families of the adjacent -streets and alleys, and occasionally foreign workmen—many -of them adepts in artistic employments, who are -in the land of the stranger and in want—come here and -have not only the help of a meal, but the kind inquiry, -the further aid that will sustain hope, and enable them to -look for work, and find the means of living. Londoners -from Kentish Town, Lambeth, Shoreditch, and Chelsea—poor -hungry men and women from all parts of the -great city—find their way here to obtain a dinner; and -it is extremely unlikely that they would leave even the -least profitable employment and walk so far for the sake -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">{217}</a></span> -of a basin of soup. Food alone is offered, not money, -and there is little probability of imposition when there is -so little to be gained by the attempt. But while the -great cauldrons are being emptied, let us hear what they -do at this "Mont St. Bernard Hospice" at the Christmas -season.</p> - -<p>Here is a list of good things that were sent at Christmas-tide -for a special purpose:—A noble earl sent a -sheep, if not more than one, and other generous givers in -kind—many of them manufacturers of or dealers in the -articles they contributed—forwarded loaves, biscuits, -hams, rice, flour, currants, raisins, ale, porter, cocoa, peas, -and other comfortable meats and drinks, so that there -was a glorious distribution to the poor on Christmas Eve, -when 936 families were provided with a Christmas dinner, -consisting of 4 lbs. of beef, 3 lbs. of pudding, bread, tea, -and sugar, together with such other seasonable and most -acceptable gifts as were apportioned to them in accordance -with the number of their children and the quantity of miscellaneous -eatables and drinkables available for the purpose.</p> - -<p>But we have not quite done with it yet, for it is a hospice -in fact, as well as in name. Just as in the Newport -Market Refuge, the houseless and destitute are received -with little question—the homeless and friendless are -here taken in after little inquiry, even the subscriber's -ticket for admission being occasionally dispensed with, -when Mr. Stevens, the superintendent, sees an obviously -worthy case among the applicants who come to ask -for a meal. It must be remembered, however, that an -experienced eye can detect the casual very readily, -and that Mr. Stevens, who served with his friend Mr. -Ramsden, of Newport Market, when they were both in -the army, is as smart a detective as that shrewd and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">{218}</a></span> -compassionate officer. It is so much the better for those -who are really deserving—so much the better even for -those who, being ashamed to dig, are not ashamed to beg—the -ne'er-do-weels who, even in the degradation of -poverty brought about by idleness and dissipation, come -down to solicit food and shelter, and find both, together -with ready help, if they will mend their ways. There -are some such, but not many: more often a man of education, -broken by misfortune, and perhaps by the loss of -a situation through failure or accident beyond his control, -finds himself starving and desolate. Such men have -come here, and found, first, food, then a lavatory, then a -bed in a good-sized room, where only seven or eight persons -are received to sleep, then a confidential talk, advice, -the introduction to people willing and able to help them -among the committee and subscribers of the Institution.</p> - -<p>It may be a French tutor destitute in London, but -with his character and ability beyond doubt; it may be, -it <i>has</i> been, a young foreign artist; a skilled labourer -from the country, who has come to London to find work -and finds want instead; a poor school-teacher who, -having lost an appointment, and being unable to work -at any other calling, is in despair, and knows not where -to turn; an honest fellow, ready and willing to turn his -hand to anything, but finding nothing to which he can -turn his hand without an introduction. Such are the -cases which are received at this hospice in Ham Yard, -where they are permitted to remain for a day or two, or -even for a week or two, till they find work, or till somebody -can make inquiries about them and help them to -what they seek.</p> - -<p>About seven men and eight women can be received -within the walls, but there are seldom the full number -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">{219}</a></span> -there, because it is necessary to discriminate carefully. -The object is to relieve immediate and painful distress, -and to give that timely aid which averts starvation by -the gift of food, and prevents the degradation of pauperism -by means of advice, assistance, and just so much -support as will give the stricken and friendless men or -women time to recover from the first stupor of hopelessness -or the dread of perishing, and at the same time -afford the opportunity of proving that they are ready -and willing to begin anew, with the consciousness that -they have not been left desolate.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">{220}</a></div> - -<h2><i>GIVING REST TO THE WEARY.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_W.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">We</span> -have not yet done with this wonderful district -of Soho. It is one of those attractive -quarters of London, which is interesting -alike for its historical associations and for -memorable houses that were once inhabited by famous -men. In essays, letters, fiction—all through that period -which has been called the Augustan age of English -literature—we find allusions to it; and after that time -it continued to be the favourite resort of artists, men -of letters, wealthy merchants, and not a few statesmen -and eminent politicians. In Leicester Square, Hogarth -laughed, moralised, and painted. The house of -Sir Joshua Reynolds stands yet in that now renovated -space, and a well-known artist has a studio there to-day. -But the tide of fashion has receded since powdered wigs -and sedan chairs disappeared. The tall stately houses -are many of them dismantled, or are converted into -manufactories and workshops. The great iron extinguishers -which still adorn the iron railings by the doorsteps -have nearly rusted away. It must be a century -since the flambeaux carried by running footmen were -last thrust into them, when great rumbling, creaking -coaches drew up and landed visitors before the dimly-lighted -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">{221}</a></span> -portals. Silence and decay are the characteristics -of many a once goodly mansion; and the houses -themselves are not unfrequently associated with the relief -of that poverty which is everywhere so apparent as to -appeal to almost every form of charity. Before one such -house we are standing now, its quietly opening door revealing -a broad lofty hall, from which a great staircase, -with heavy baluster of black oak and panelled walls leads -to the spacious rooms above. This mansion is historical, -too, in its way, for we are at the corner of Soho Square, -in Greek Street, and are about to enter what was once the -London residence of the famous Alderman Beckford, and -his equally famous son—the man who inherited the mysterious -and gorgeously furnished palace at Fonthill, the -author of "Vathek," the half-recluse who bought Gibbon's -extensive library at Lausanne, that he might have -"something to amuse him when he went that way," and -afterwards went that way, read himself nearly blind, and -then made a friend a present of all the books, sold Fonthill, -went abroad, and set about building another mysterious -castle in a strange land.</p> - -<p>In that big committee-room on the first floor, which -we shall visit presently, there was to be seen, four or five -years ago, a stupendous chimney-piece of oak, elaborately -carved, and said to have been a masterpiece of -Grinling Gibbons. It was taken down and sold for a -handsome sum of money, to augment the funds of the -Institution which now occupies the old mansion, for the -door at which we enter receives other guests than those -who once thronged it—suffering, depressed, poverty-stricken, -weary men and women, who come here to seek -the rest that is offered to them in the quiet rooms—the -restoration of meat and drink and refreshing sleep, the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">{222}</a></span> -comfort of hopeful words and friendly aid. It is named -"The House of Charity," and the work that its supporters -have set themselves to do is carried on so -silently—I had almost said so secretly—that the stillness -you observe within the building, as we stand here -waiting for the lady who superintends the household, -is suggestive alike of the repose which is essential to -the place, and of a severe earnestness not very easy to -define.</p> - -<p>Members of the same committee, whose earnest hearty -work is apparent at Newport Market and at the Soup -Kitchen in Ham Yard, are helping this House of Charity, -which has the Archbishop of Canterbury for its patron -and the Bishop of London for its visitor.</p> - -<p>Here, in the two large sitting-rooms opening from the -hall, we may see part of what is being done, in giving -rest to the weary and upholding them who are ready to -faint. One is for men, the other for women, who have -been received as inmates, for periods extending from a -fortnight to a longer time, according to the necessities of -each case, and the probability of obtaining suitable employment. -Of course the aid is intended to be only -temporary—though in some peculiar cases it is continued -till the applicant recovers from weakness following either -uninfectious illness or want. There can be, of course, -no actual sick-nursing here; but in a warm and comfortable -upper room, near the dormitory, which we shall see -presently—a room which is the day-nursery of a few -children who are also admitted—I have seen young -women, one who was suffering from a consumptive -cough, another an out-patient at an hospital for disease -of the hip, and wearing an instrument till she could be -admitted as a regular case. They were both sitting -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">{223}</a></span> -cosily at their tea, and were employed at needlework, as -most of the women are who find here a temporary home. -For it is one of the beneficent results of an influential -committee, that a number of cases are sent to hospitals -or to convalescent homes, and so are restored; but till -this can be done they are fed and tended—fed with food -more delicate than that of the ordinary meal—and are -allowed to rest in peace and to regain strength.</p> - -<p>But we are still in the men's sitting-room, where -several poor fellows are looking at the lists of advertisements -in the newspapers for some announcement of -a vacant situation. A supply of books is also provided -both for men and women, and the latter are just now -engaged in mending or making their clothes.</p> - -<p>Between thirty and forty inmates can be received at -one time, and those who are in search of employment, or -who require to go out during the day, may leave the house -after breakfast, and return either to dinner or to tea. -There are, indeed, few restrictions when once preliminary -inquiries and the recommendation of a member of -the committee result in the admission of an applicant; -and it is easy to see how deeply and thankfully many of -these poor depressed men and women, beaten in the -battle of life, with little hope of regaining a foothold, -weak, dispirited, destitute, and with no strength left to -struggle under the burden that weighs them down, -find help and healing, food and sleep, advice, and very -often a recommendation which places them once more in -a position of comfort and independence. A large proportion -of those who are admitted are provided with situations -either permanently or for a period long enough to -enable them to turn round the difficult corner from -poverty and dependence to useful and appropriate -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">{224}</a></span> -employment. Some are sent to Homes, hospitals, or -orphanages, and many return to their own homes. From -those homes they have wandered, hoping to find the -world easier than it has proved to be, and in going back -to them they have fallen by the wayside.</p> - -<p>There are sometimes remarkable varieties here—emigrants -waiting for ships to sail that will bear them -to another land; men of education, such as tutors, -engineers, engravers, and professional men, who have -been unsuccessful, or have lost their position, often -through no immediate fault of their own. Of course, -the large class of genteel poverty is largely represented -in the five or six hundred cases which make the average -number of yearly inmates. Clerks, shopmen, and travellers -are about as numerous as servants, porters, and -pages. Poor women, many of whom are ladies by birth -or previous position and education, find the House of -Charity a refuge indeed, and feel that the person who -has charge of the household arrangements, as well as -those who have charge of the inmates, the accounts and -correspondence, may be appealed to with an assurance -of true sympathy. Here, beside the two sitting-rooms, -is a large room which we will call the refectory; it is -plainly furnished, with separate tables for men and -women, and the quantity and description of the food -supplied is such as would be provided in a respectable -and well-ordered family—tea or coffee and plenty of -good bread-and-butter morning and evening, meat, -bread and vegetables, for dinner, and a supper of -bread and cheese. There are no "rations," nor any -special limit as to quantity, and if one could forget the -distress which brings them hither, the family might be -regarded as belonging to some comfortable business -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">{225}</a></span> -establishment, with good plain meals and club-room on -each side the dining-hall for meeting in after working -hours.</p> - -<p>Let us go upstairs, and look at the dormitories, which -occupy respectively the right and left side of the building, -and we shall see that they are so arranged as to -secure that privacy, the want of which would be most -repulsive to persons of superior condition. Each long -and lofty room is divided into a series of enclosures or -cabins by substantial partitions about eight feet high, -and in each of these separate rooms—all of which are -lighted by several windows or by gas-branches in the -main apartment—there is a neat comfortable bed and -bedstead, with space for a box, a seat, and a small table -or shelf.</p> - -<p>A resident chaplain or warden conducts morning and -evening prayer in the chapel, which is built on part of -the open area at the back of the building; and I would -have you consider, not only that to many of these weary -souls this sacred spot may come to be associated with -that outcome to renewed life for which their presence -in the Institution gives them reason to hope, but that it -is most desirable for the invalids, who frequently form so -large a portion of the congregation, to be able to attend -worship without practically leaving the house.</p> - -<p>Not only because of the sick and the physically feeble, -however, does the House of Charity represent a work -that needs vast extension.</p> - -<p>The case-book would reveal a series of stories none -the less affecting because they are entered plainly, briefly, -and without waste of words. They need few touches of -art to make them painfully interesting. They tell of -ladies, wives of professional men, brought to widowhood -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">{226}</a></span> -and sudden poverty; of men of education cast adrift -through failure or false friendship, and not knowing -where to seek bread; of children left destitute or deserted -under peculiar circumstances; of women removed -from persecution, and girls from the tainted atmosphere -of vice; of weary wanderers who, in despair of finding -such a shelter, and dreading the common lodging-house, -have spent nights in the parks; of foreigners stranded -on the shore of a strange city; of ministers of the gospel -brought low; of friendless servant-girls, ill-treated, defrauded -of their wages, or discharged almost penniless, -and cast loose amidst the whirlpool of London streets.</p> - -<p>But, as I have already intimated, it is not alone for -its temporary aid in affording a home that the House of -Charity is distinguished; it affords a good hope also, by -seeking to obtain situations, for cases where peculiar circumstances -make such a search difficult—for bereaved -and impoverished ladies, and for educated men, as well -as for domestic servants and ordinary employs. Its -supporters give their special aid to the work, and, as -they number amongst them many ladies and gentlemen -of considerable social influence, employment is frequently -found for those whose misfortunes would otherwise be -almost irretrievable.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">{227}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE POOR AND NEEDY.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_A.jpg" width="100" height="99" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">All</span> -hope abandon, ye who enter here," would, -as we might fancy, be an appropriate inscription -for many a wretched court and -alley in the greatest and most opulent city -in the world—a city distinguished for its claims to be regarded -as the centre of civilisation; as the exemplar of -benevolence, and of active Christianity. It is one of the -marvellous results of the vast extent of this metropolis -of England that there are whole districts of foul dwellings -crowded with a poverty-stricken population, which yet -are almost ignored, so far as public recognition of their -existence is concerned. Legislation itself does not reach -them, in the sense of compelling the strict observance of -Acts of Parliament framed and presumably enforced for -the purpose of maintaining sanitary conditions; philanthropy -almost stands appalled at the difficulty of dealing -with a chronic necessity so widely spread, a misery and -ignorance so deep and apparently impregnable; sentimentalism -sighs and turns away with a shiver, or is -touched to the extent of relieving its overcharged susceptibilities -by the comfortable expedient of the smallest -subscription to some association in the neighbourhood. -True, active, practical religion alone, of all the agencies -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">{228}</a></span> -that have operated in these places, gains ground inch by -inch, and at last exercises a definite and beneficial influence, -by taking hold of the hearts and consciences of -the people themselves, and working from within the area -of vice and misery, till the law of love, beginning to operate -where the law of force had no influence, a change, -gradual but sure, here a little and there a little, is effected.</p> - -<p>We are continually hearing of the "dwellings of the -poor;" and can scarcely take up a newspaper without -noting the phrase, "one of the worst neighbourhoods in -London," connected with some report of crime, outrage, -or suffering; yet how few of us are really familiar with -the actual abodes of the more degraded and miserable -of our fellow-citizens! how quickly, how gladly, we dismiss -from our memory the account of an inquest where -the evidence of the cause of death of some unfortunate -man, woman, or child, without a natural share of light, -air, food, and water, reveals hideous details of want and -wretchedness, which we might witness only a few streets -off, and yet are unconscious of their nearness to us in -mere physical yards and furlongs, because they are so -far from us spiritually, in our lack of sympathy and compassion.</p> - -<p>Even at the time that these lines are being written I -have before me a report of an examination by the -coroner into the circumstances attending the death of a -woman seventy years of age, who obtained a miserable -and precarious living by stay-making, and who was found -dead in the back kitchen of a house. Her death was -alleged to have been brought about by the unhealthiness -of the house in which she lived, although the landlord -was a medical officer of health for one of the metropolitan -districts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">{229}</a></span> -In this case the alleged landlord, who was actually a -medical officer of health, answered the charge made -against him by the statement that he had only just come -into possession of the property, and had at once set -about putting it in repair. It is to be hoped that this -was the case, and, indeed, the evidence of the sanitary -inspector went to show that it was so; but the question -remains: How is it that dwellings are permitted to -be thus overcrowded, and to become actual centres of -pestilence in the midst of entire neighbourhoods, where, -for one foul tenement to have an infamous reputation -amidst such general filth and dilapidation, it must indeed -be, as one member of the jury said this place was, "so -bad, that no gentleman would keep his dog there?"</p> - -<p>Keep his dog indeed! Why I know whole rows and -congeries of intersecting courts and alleys where a country -squire would no more think of kennelling his hounds than -he would dream of stabling his horses! There has -during the past few years been a tolerably determined -stand made against the introduction of pigsties into the -back-yards of some of the hovels about Mile End and -Bethnal Green; and though cow-sheds are not altogether -abolished everywhere in close and overbuilt localities, -there are some precautions taken to diminish the sale of -infected milk by an inspection of the laystalls, and the -enforcement of lime-whiting and ventilation in the sheds. -Costermongers' donkeys are the only animals besides -dogs and cats which are commonly to be found in London -slums now, and as these can be stowed in any shanty -just outside the back door, or can be littered down in a -spare corner of a cellar, they remain, in costermongering -districts, without much opposition on the part of the -local authorities. For, after all, what can these authorities -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">{230}</a></span> -do? Under the 35th section of the Sanitary Act, -power was given to them to register all houses let out by -non-resident landlords, who were under a penalty of -forty shillings for not keeping their houses in repair, well -supplied with water, drainage clear, &c. To those who -have an intimate acquaintance with the density of -population in whole acreages of London slums, there is -something almost ludicrous in these words, especially -when they are read in the light of the fact that the landlords -of such places are frequently parochial magnates or -officials who know how to make things pleasant with -subordinate sanitary inspectors.</p> - -<p>What may be the ultimate result of an Act of Parliament -"for improving the dwellings of the poor" it is not -at present easy to say; but assuredly any plan which -commences by a general and imperfectly discriminative -destruction of existing houses, hovels though they may -be, will only have the effect of crowding more closely the -already fœtid and swarming tenements where, for half-a -crown a week, eight or ten people eat, live, and sleep in -a single apartment. It was only the other day, in a district -of which I shall presently speak more definitely, -that a "mission woman" was called in to the aid of a -family, consisting of a man, his wife, his wife's brother—who -was there as a lodger—and five or six children, all -of whom occupied one room, where the poor woman had -just given birth to an infant. The place was almost destitute -of furniture; beds of straw and shavings, coverlets -of old coats and such ragged clothing as could be spared; -little fire and little food. Such destitution demanded -that the "maternity box," or a suddenly-extemporised -bag of baby-clothing and blankets, should be fetched at -once; and though the mission there is a poor one, with -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">{231}</a></span> -terrible needs to mitigate, a constant demand for personal -work and noble self-sacrifice, such cases are every-day -events, such demands always to be answered by some kind -of helpful sympathy, even though the amount of relief -afforded is necessarily small and temporary in character.</p> - -<p>Not in one quarter of London alone, but dotted here and -there throughout its vastly-extending length and breadth—from -St. Pancras, and further away northward, to -Bethnal Green and all that great series of poverty-stricken -townships and colonies of casual labour, on the east; -from the terrible purlieux of Southwark, the districts -where long rows of silent houses, in interminable streets, -chill the unaccustomed wayfarer with vague apprehensions, -where "Little Hell" and the knots and tangles of that -"Thief-London" which has found a deplorable Alsatia -in the purlieux of the Borough and of Bermondsey; and -so round the metropolitan circle, westward to the neighbourhood -of aristocratic mansions and quiet suburban -retreats, where the garotter skulks and the burglar finds -refuge; further towards the centre of the town, in Westminster, -not a stone's-throw from the great legislative -assembly, which, while it debates in St. Stephen's on sanitation -and the improvement of dwellings, scarcely remembers -all that may be seen in St. Peter's, about Pye Street, and -remembers Seven Dials and St Giles's only as traditional -places, where "modern improvements" have made a -clean sweep, just as the Holborn Viaduct and the metropolitan -Railway swept away Field Lane, and the new -meat market at Smithfield put an end for ever to the -horrible selvage of Cloth Fair—and only left the legends -of Jonathan Wild's rookery and the "blood-bowl house."</p> - -<p>But the very mention of these places brings the reflection -that not in outlying districts, but in the very heart of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">{232}</a></span> -London, in the core of the great city itself, the canker of -misery, poverty, and vice is festering still. What is the -use of eviction, when the law punishes houselessness, and -the <i>Poor</i> Law cannot meet any sudden demand, nor -maintain any continuous claim on the part of the houseless? -Summarily to thrust a score or so of wretched -families into the streets is to make them either criminals -or paupers. They must find some place of shelter; and -if they are to live <i>by</i> their labour, they must live <i>near</i> -their labour, the wages of which are, at best, only just -sufficient to procure for them necessary food and covering -for their bodies.</p> - -<p>In the neighbourhood to which I have already referred, -four thousand evictions have taken place, or, at any rate, -the population has diminished from 22,000 to 18,000, because -of a small section of a large puzzle map of courts -and alleys having been taken down in order to build -great blocks of warehouses. The consequence is, that in -the remaining tangle of slums the people herd closer, and -that a large number of poor lodgers have gone to crowd -other tenements not far distant, and which were already -peopled beyond legal measure.</p> - -<p>For this acreage of vice and wretchedness of which I -speak is close to the great city thoroughfares—almost -within sound of Bow Bells. It is about a quarter of a -mile in extent each way, lying between the Charterhouse -and St. Luke's, close to the new meat market at -Smithfield on one side, and Finsbury Square on the -other. One entrance to it is directly through Golden -Lane, Barbican; the other close to Bunhill Fields burial -ground, along a passage which bears the significant name -of "Chequer Alley." It is a maze of intersecting and -interlocking courts, streets, and alleys, some of them -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">{233}</a></span> -without any thoroughfare, some reached by ascending or -descending steps, many of them mere tanks, the walls of -which are represented by hovels inhabited by costermongers, -French-polishers, dock-labourers, chair-makers, -workers at all kinds of underpaid labour and poor handicrafts. -Many of the women go out to work at factories, -or at charing, and the children are—or at least were—left -to the evil influences of the streets, till another and a -more powerful influence began to operate, slowly, but -with the impetus of faith and love, to touch even this -neglected and miserable quarter of London with "the -light that lighteth every man."</p> - -<p>In this square quarter of a mile—which, starting from -the edge of Aldersgate, stretches to the further main -thoroughfare abutting on the pleasant border of the City -Road, and includes the northern end of Whitecross -Street—there are eighty public-houses and beer-shops!</p> - -<p>I tell you this much, as we stand here at the entrance -of Golden Lane, but I have no intention just now to take -you on a casual visit either to the dens of wretchedness -and infamy, or to the homes where poverty abides. I -must try to let you see what has been done, and is still -doing, to bring to both that Gospel which is alone -efficient to change the conditions, by changing the hearts -and motives of men. I may well avoid any description -of the places which lie on either hand, for, in fact, there -is nothing picturesque in such misery, nothing specially -sensational in such crime. It is all of a sordid miserable -sort; all on a dreary dead-level of wretchedness and -poverty, full of poor shifts and expedients, or of mean -brutality and indifference. There is no show-place to -which you could be taken, as it is said curious gentlemen -were at one time conducted to the dens of the mendicants, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">{234}</a></span> -thieves, and highwaymen of old London. Even in -the tramps' kitchen the orgies, if there are any, are of so -low a kind that they would be depressing in their monotonous -degradation.</p> - -<p>Let us go farther, and enter this strange wilderness by -its fitting passage of Chequer Alley, so that we may, as it -were, see the beginning of the work that has been going -on with more or less power for more than thirty years.</p> - -<p>I think I have some acquaintance with what are the -worst neighbourhoods of London. I have made many a -journey down East; have studied some of the strange -varieties of life on the shore amidst the water-side population; -have lived amidst the slums of Spitalfields, and -passed nights "Whitechapel way;" but never in any unbroken -area of such extent have I seen so much that is -suggestive of utter poverty, so much privation of the -ordinary means of health and decency, as on a journey -about this district which I long ago named "The -Chequers." Each court and blind alley has the same -characteristics—the same look of utter poverty, the same -want of air and light, the same blank aspect of dingy -wall and sunken doorsteps, the same square areas surrounded -by hovels with clothes'-lines stretched from -house to house, almost unstirred by any breeze that -blows, shut in as they are in close caverns, only to be -entered by narrow passages between blank walls. It is -the extent of this one solid district, almost in the very -centre of City life, that is so bewildering, and wherein -lies its terrible distraction.</p> - -<p>The labour of reformation has begun, but the labourers -are few. For more than thirty years some efforts have -been going on to redeem this neglected and unnoticed -neighbourhood, which lies so near to, and yet so far -from London's heart.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">{235}</a></span> -Let it be noted that this moral effort had gone on for -nearly twenty-nine years before any very definite -attempt was made to improve the physical condition of -the place.</p> - -<p>In 1841 a tract distributor, Miss Macarthy, began an -organised endeavour to teach the depraved inhabitants of -Chequer Alley. In 1869, a sanitary surveyor, reporting -on <i>one</i> of the courts of this foul district, recommended -that the premises there should be demolished under the -"Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act," because the -floors and ceilings were considerably out of level, some of -the walls saturated with filth and water, the others broken -and falling down, doors, window-sashes and frames -rotten, stairs dilapidated and dangerous, roof leaky and -admitting the rain, no provisions for decency, and a foul -and failing water supply.</p> - -<p>The "pulling-down" remedy, without any simultaneous -building up, has been extended since then in a -locality where a model lodging-house, which has been -erected, has stood for years almost unoccupied, because -like all model lodging-houses in such neighbourhoods, -neither the provisions nor the rentals are adapted to -meet the wants and the means of the poorest, of whom, -as I have already said, a whole family cannot afford to -pay more than the rental for a single room, or two rooms -at the utmost.</p> - -<p>But we are wandering away from the work that we -came to see. Look at that wistful young native, standing -there quite close to the mouth of Chequer Alley. -Ask him what is that sound of children's voices from a -casually-opened doorway, and he will tell you "It's our -school; yer kin go in, sir, if yer like—anybody kin." As -the name of the institution is "Hope Schools for All," -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">{236}</a></span> -his invitation is doubtless authorised, and we may well -feel that we have made a mistake in thinking of the -Italian poet's hopeless line, for out of the doorway there -comes a sound of singing, and inside the doorway is a -room containing fifty or sixty "infants," seated on low -forms, and many of them such bright, rosy—yes, rosy—clean—yes, -comparatively, if not superlatively clean—little -creatures, that hope itself springs to fresh life in -their presence. It is thirty-four years since Miss -Macarthy, with an earnest desire to initiate some work of -charity and mercy, resolved to become a distributor of -tracts, and the district she chose was this same foul -tangle to which I have asked you to accompany me. -Bad as the whole neighbourhood is now, it was worse -then. It was never what is called a thief-quarter, but -many juvenile thieves haunted it; and the men were as -ruffianly and abusive, the women as violent and evil-tongued -as any who could be found in all London. -Instead of being paved, and partially and insufficiently -drained, it was a fœtid swamp, with here and there a -pool where ducks swam, while the foul odours of the -place were suffocating. No constable dare enter far into -the maze without a companion. But the tract distributor -ventured. In the midst of an epidemic of typhus, or -what is known as "poverty" fever, she went about -among the people, and strove to fix their attention on the -message that she carried. The religious services commenced -in a rat-catcher's "front parlour," and at first the -congregation broke into the hymns with scraps and -choruses of songs. The crowd which collected outside not -only interrupted the proceedings, but threatened those -who conducted them with personal violence, and even -assaulted them, and heaped insult upon them; but the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">{237}</a></span> -lady who had put her hand to the plough would not turn -back. In the midst of her patient and difficult work she -herself was stricken down with fever. She had visited -and tended those who were suffering. When the question -was asked what had become of her, the barbarous -people learnt that she was like to die. Perhaps this -touched the hearts of some of them, for she had begun -to live down the brutal opposition of those who could not -believe in unselfish endeavours to benefit them. She recovered, -however; and supported by others, who gave -both money and personal effort, the beneficent work -went on.</p> - -<p>In this large room where the children are singing we -have an example of what has been effected. Some of -the little creatures are pale, and have that wistful look -that goes to the heart; but there are few of them that -have not clean faces, and who do not show in the scanty -little dresses some attempt at decent preparation for -meeting "the guv'ness."</p> - -<p>There is a school for elder children also; and in the -ramshackle old house where the classes are held there -are appliances which mark the wide application of the -beneficent effort that has grown slowly but surely, not -only in scope, but in its quiet influence upon the people -amidst whom it was inaugurated. Yonder, in a kind of -covered yard, is a huge copper, the honoured source of -those "penny dinners," and those quarts and gallons of -soup which have been such a boon to the neighbourhood, -where food is scarce, and dear. Then there was the -Christmas dinner, at which some hundreds of little guests -were supplied with roast meat and pudding, evidences of -how much may be effected within a very small space. -Indeed, this Hope School, with its two or three rooms, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">{238}</a></span> -is at work day and night; for not only are the children -taught—children not eligible for those Board schools -which, unless the board itself mitigates its technical -demands, will shut up this and similar institutions before -any provision is made for transferring the children to the -care of a Government department—but there are -"mothers' meetings," sewing classes, where poor women -can obtain materials at cost price, and be taught to -make them into articles of clothing. There are also -adult classes, and Sunday evening services for those who -would never appear at church or chapel but for such an -easy transition from their poor homes to the plain neighbourly -congregation assembled there. There are evenings, -too, when lectures, dissolving views, social teas, and -pleasant friendly meetings bring the people together -with humanising influences. It becomes a very serious -question for the London School Board to consider whether, -by demanding that ragged schools such as this shall be -closed if they do not show a certain technical standard -of teaching, the means of partially feeding and clothing, -which are in such cases inseparable from instructing, shall -be destroyed.</p> - -<p>But here is a youthful guide—a shambling, shock-headed -lad, with only three-quarters of a pair of shoes, -and without a cap, who is to be our guide to another -great work, on the Golden Lane side of this great zigzag, -to the "Costermongers' Mission," in fact. You may -follow him with confidence, for he is a Hope School-boy—and -that means something, even in Chequer Alley.</p> - -<p>Still threading our way through those dim alleys, where -each one looks like a <i>cul-de-sac</i>, but yet may be the devious -entrance to another more foul and forbidding, we -leave the "Hope-for-All" Mission Room resounding with -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">{239}</a></span> -infant voices, all murmuring the simple lessons of the -day. That room is seldom empty, because of the evening -school where a large class of older pupils are taught, -reading, writing, and arithmetic; the adult class, and the -"mothers' meeting," to which poor women are invited that -they may be assisted to make garments for themselves -and their children from materials furnished for them at a -cheap rate in such quantities as their poor savings can -purchase. The visiting "Bible woman" is the chief agent -in these works of mercy, since she brings parents and -children to the school, and reports cases of severe distress -to be relieved when there are funds for the purpose. Not -only by teaching and sewing, however, are the hopeful influences -of the place supported, for, as I have said already, -in this big room the people of the district are invited -to assemble to listen to lectures, readings, and music, to -see dissolving views; and in the summer, when fields are -in their beauty and the hedge-rows are full of glory, there -is an excursion into the country for the poor, little, pallid -children, while, strangest sight of all, a real "flower -show" is, or was, held in Chequer Alley. One could -almost pity the flowers, if we had any pity to spare from -the stunted buds and blossoms of humanity who grow -pale and sicken and so often die in this foul neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>But we have strange sights yet to see, so let us continue -our excursion in and out, and round and round, not -without some feeling of giddiness and sickness of heart, -through the "Pigeons"—a tavern, the passage of which -is itself a connecting link between two suspicious-looking -courts—round by beershops all blank and beetling, and -silent; past low-browed doorways and dim-curtained -windows of tramps' kitchens, and the abodes of more -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">{240}</a></span> -poverty, misery, and it may be crime, than you will find -within a similar space in any neighbourhood in London, -or out of it, except perhaps in about five streets "down -East," or in certain dens of Liverpool and Manchester.</p> - -<p>One moment. You see where a great sudden gap -appears to have been made on one side of Golden Lane. -That gap represents houses pulled down to erect great -blocks of building for warehouses or factories, and it also -represents the space in which above 4,000 people lived -when the population of this square quarter of mile of -poverty and dirt was 22,000 souls. This will give you -some idea of the consequences of making what are called -"clean sweeps," by demolishing whole neighbourhoods -before other dwellings are provided for the evicted -tenants. One result of this method of improving the -dwellings of the poor is that the people crowd closer, -either in their own or in some adjacent neighbourhood, -where rents are low and landlords are not particular how -many inmates lodge in a single room. Remember that -whole families can only earn just enough to keep them -from starving, and cannot afford to pay more than half-a-crown -or three-and-sixpence a week for rent. They -must live near their work, or they lose time, and time -means pence, and pence represent the difference between -eating and fasting.</p> - -<p>"The model lodging-house!" See, there is one, and it -is nearly empty. How should it be otherwise? The -proprietors of such places, whether they be philanthropists -or speculators—and they are not likely to be -the latter—can never see a return of any profitable percentage -on their outlay while they enforce necessary -sanitary laws. The top-rooms are half-a-crown a week -each, and the lower "sets" range from about six shillings -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">{241}</a></span> -for two to eight-and-sixpence for three rooms. The consequence -is that the few tenants in this particular building -are frequently changing their quarters. Some of them -try it, and fall into arrear, and are ejected, or want to -introduce whole families into a single room, as they do -in these surrounding courts and alleys, and this, of -course, is not permitted. Imagine one vast building -crowded at the same rate as some of these two-storeyed -houses are! Ask the missionary, whose duty takes her -up scores of creaking staircases, to places where eight or -ten human beings eat, drink, sleep, and even work, in -one small room—where father, mother, children, and -sometimes also a brother or sister-in-law, herd together, -that they may live on the common earnings; places -where children are born, and men, women, and children -die; and the new-born babe must be clothed by the aid -of the "maternity box," and the dead must be buried by -the help of money advanced to pay for the plainest -decent funeral.</p> - -<p>I do not propose to take you to any of these sights. -You could do little good unless you became familiar with -them, and entered into the work of visitation. Even in the -published reports of the organisation to which we are -now going, the "cases" are not dwelt upon, only one or -two are given from the experiences of the missionary, -and she speaks of them simply as examples of the kind -of destitution which characterises a district where deplorable -poverty is the result sometimes of drink, or what, -for want of a word applicable to the saving of pence, is -termed improvidence; but frequently also, because of sickness, -and the want even of poorly-paid employment. "In -such cases," says the report, "almost everything is parted -with to procure food and shelter <i>outside</i> the workhouse."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">{242}</a></span> -One of the two "ordinary" cases referred to was that -of a poor woman who was "found lying on a sack of -shavings on the floor, with an infant two days old; also -a child lying dead from fever, and two other children -crying for food. None had more than a solitary garment -on. The smell of the room was such that the missionary -was quite overcome until she had opened the window. -Clean linen was obtained, and their temporal and spiritual -wants at once looked after." This was in the Report of -above a year ago; but cases only just less distressing -occur daily still. This foul and neglected district, which -lies like an ulcer upon the great opulent city, the -centre of civilization and benevolence, seems to be as far -from us as though it were a part of some savage or semi-heathen -land under British influence. Indeed, in the -latter case, there would be a probability of more earnest -effort on behalf of the benighted people, on whose behalf -meetings would perhaps be held, and a committee of -inquiry and distribution appointed. Still, let us be -thankful that something is done. Twenty-nine poor -mothers have had the benefit of the maternity fund and -clothing, the Report tells us. "They are very grateful -for this assistance in their terrible need. Frequently the -distress is so great that two changes of clothing are given -to mother and babe, or they would be almost entirely -denuded when the time arrived for returning the boxes. -Our lady subscribers at a distance may be glad to know -that blankets, sheets, flannel petticoats, warm shawls, and -babies' clothing will always be acceptable." Thus writes -Mrs. Orsman on the subject, for the mission is known as -the Golden Lane Mission, and more popularly as "Mr. -Orsman's Mission to the Costermongers." Perhaps these -words scarcely denote the scope of the work; but costermongers -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">{243}</a></span> -must be taken as a representative term in a -district where, in an area of a square quarter of a -mile, there are, or recently were, eighty public-houses -and beershops, and a dense mass of inhabitants, including -street-traders or hucksters, labourers, charwomen, road-sweepers, -drovers, French polishers, artificial flower-makers, -toy-makers, with what is now a compact and -really representative body of costermongers, working -earnestly enough to keep to the right way, and, as they -always did, forming a somewhat distinctive part of the -population.</p> - -<p>Sixteen years ago, Mr. Orsman began the work of -endeavouring to carry the gospel to the rough-and-ready -savages of this benighted field for missionary enterprise. -He held an official appointment, and this was his business -"after office hours." About the results of his own labour -he and his Reports are modestly reticent, but at all -events it began to bear fruit. Others joined in it; a -regular mission was established, and, with vigorous -growth, shot out several branches, so wisely uniting what -may be called the secular or temporal with the spiritual -and religious interest, that the Bread of Life was not -altogether separated from that need for the bread which -perishes. These branches are full of sap to-day, and one -of them is also full of promising buds and blossoms, if -we are to judge of the rows of ragged—but not unhappy—urchins -who fill this large room or hall of the Mission-house.</p> - -<p>It is only the first-floor of two ordinary houses knocked -into one, but a great work is going on. The parochial -school was once held here, and now the room is full of -children who might still be untaught but for the effort -which made the Ragged School a first consideration in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">{244}</a></span> -an endeavour to redeem the whole social life of the district. -Wisely enough, the School Board accepted the aid -which this free day-school for ragged and nearly destitute -children affords to a class which the Education Act -has not yet taught us how to teach.</p> - -<p>In four years, out of ninety-five boys and girls who -entered situations from this school, only one was dismissed -for dishonesty, and it was afterwards found that -he was the dupe of the foreman of the place at which he -worked.</p> - -<p>Well may Mr. Harwood, the school superintendent, -be glad in the labour that he has learnt to love in spite of -all the sordid surroundings. There is life in the midst -of these dim courts—a ragged-school and a church, -which is poor, but not, strictly speaking, ragged. In fact, -"the patching class" for ragged boys, which meets on -Thursdays, from five to seven in the afternoon, remedies -even the tattered garments of the poor little fellows, who, -having only one suit, must take off their habiliments in -order to mend them. Occasional gifts of second-hand -clothes are amongst the most useful stock of the schoolmaster, -as anybody may believe who sees the long rows -of children, many of them, like our juvenile guide, with -two odd boots, which are mere flaps of leather, and attire -which it would be exaggeration to call a jacket and -trousers.</p> - -<p>The school-room is also the church and the lecture-hall. -It will hold 300 people; and the Sunday-evening -congregation fills it thoroughly, while, on week-nights, -special services, and frequently lectures, entertainments, -and attractive social gatherings bring the costers and -their friends in great force.</p> - -<p>The chief of the costermongers is the Earl of Shaftesbury; -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">{245}</a></span> -and here, standing as it were at livery in a quiet -corner of a shanty close to the coal-shed, is the earl's -barrow, emblazoned with his crest. This remarkable vehicle, -and a donkey complimentarily named the "Earl," -which took a prize at a Golden Lane donkey show, designate -his lordship as president of the "Barrow Club," a -flourishing institution, intended to supersede the usurious -barrow-lenders, who once let out these necessary adjuncts -to the costermongering business at a tremendous hire. -Now the proprietors of the barrows, going on the hire -and ultimate purchase-system, are prospering greatly. -There are free evening classes, mothers' meetings, a free -lending library, a free singing class, a penny savings -bank, dinners to destitute children, numbering more than -10,000 a year, a soup-kitchen, tea-meetings, and other -agencies, all of which are kept going morning, noon, and -night, within the narrow limits of these two houses made -into one. It is here, too, that the annual meeting is held, -an account of which every year filters through the newspapers -to the outer world—"The Costermongers' Annual -Tea-Party." The records of this united and earnest -assembly have been so recently given to the public, that -I need not repeat them to you as we stand here in the -lower rooms, whence the big cakes, the basins of tea, the -huge sandwiches of bread and beef, were conveyed to -the 200 guests. But as we depart, after shaking Mr. -Harwood by the hand, let me remind you that it has -been by the hearty, human, living influence of religion -that these results have been effected. The stones of -scientific or secular controversy have not been offered -instead of food spiritual and temporal. The mission-hall -has been made the centre; and from it has spread -various healing, purifying, ameliorating influences. From -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">{246}</a></span> -this we may well take a lesson for the benefit of another -organised effort which appeals to us for help—that of -the London City Mission. This institution is trying to -effect for various districts and several classes of the poor -and ignorant in and about London that introduction of -religious teaching which Mr. Orsman began with amongst -the costermongers and others in the benighted locality -where now a clear light has begun to shine.</p> - -<p>At a recent meeting of the promoters of the City Mission -work, held at the Mansion House, it was stated that -the 427 missionaries then employed by the society were -chosen without distinction, except that of fitness for the -office, from Churchmen, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, -Wesleyans, and Baptists, while the examining and -appointing committee were composed of thirteen clergymen -of the Established Church and thirteen Dissenting -ministers.</p> - -<p>Anybody who is accustomed to visit the worst neighbourhoods -of London will know that these missionaries -go where the regular clergy cannot easily penetrate, and -where even the parish doctor seldom lingers. Every -missionary visits once a month about 500 families, or -2,000 persons. They read the Scriptures, exhort their -listeners, hold prayer and Bible meetings, distribute -copies of the Scriptures, see that children go to school, -address the poor in rooms when they cannot persuade -them to go to church, visit and pray with the dying, -lend books, hold open-air services, endeavour to reclaim -drunkards (1,546 were so restored during the last year), -admonish and frequently reclaim the vicious, raise the -fallen, and place them in asylums or induce them to -return to their homes, and work constantly for the great -harvest of God to which they are appointed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">{247}</a></span> -Then there are special missionaries appointed to visit -bakers, cabmen, drovers, omnibus men, soldiers, sailors, -and foreigners of various countries. They also go to -tanneries, the docks, workhouses, hospitals, and other -places; and there is a vast harvest yet, without a sickle -to reap even a single sheaf. When will the time come, -that, to the means for carrying the sustaining comfort of -the Word to men's souls, will be added some means of -helping them to realise it by such temporal aid as will -raise them from the want which paralyses and the degradation -which benumbs?</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">{248}</a></div> - -<h2><i>GIVING THE FEEBLE STRENGTH.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_I.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">I have</span> -had occasion lately to take you with -me to some of the worst "parts of London." -The phrase has become so common, that -there is some difficulty in deciding what it -means; and we are obliged to come to the conclusion, -that in every quarter of this great metropolis, large and -lofty buildings, splendid mansions, gorgeous shops, and -even stately palaces, are but symbols of the partial and -imperfect development of true national greatness, and -can scarcely be regarded as complete evidences of -genuine civilisation, if by that word we are to mean more -than was expressed by it in heathen times, and amidst -pagan people. Perhaps there is no more terrible reflection, -amidst all the pomp and magnificence, the vast -commercial enterprise and constantly accumulating -wealth of this mighty city, than that here we may also -find the extremes of want and misery, of vice and poverty, -of ignorance and suffering. Side by side with all that -makes material greatness—riches, learning, luxury, extravagance—are -examples of the deepest necessity and -degradation. "The rich and the poor" do indeed -"meet together" in a very sad sense. It would be well -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">{249}</a></span> -if the former would complete the text for themselves, -and take its meaning deep into their hearts.</p> - -<p>There is reason for devout thankfulness, however, that -here and there amidst the abodes of rich and poor alike, -some building with special characteristics may be seen; -that not only the church but the charity which represents -practical religion does make vigorous protest against the -merely selfish heaping-up of riches without regard to the -cry of the poor. There are few neighbourhoods in which a -Refuge for the homeless, a soup-kitchen, a ragged-school, -a "servants home," an orphanage, a hospital or some -asylum for the sick and suffering, does not relieve that -sense of neglect and indifference which is the first painful -impression of the thoughtful visitor to those "worst -quarters," which yet lie close behind the grand thoroughfares -and splendid edifices that distinguish aristocratic -and commercial London.</p> - -<p>I have said enough for the present about those poverty-haunted -districts of Shoreditch, Spitalfields, and Bethnal -Green, to warrant me in taking you through them -without further comment than suffices to call your attention -to the poorly-paid industries, the want and suffering, -and the too frequent neglect of the means of health and -cleanliness which unhappily distinguish them and the surrounding -neighbourhoods lying eastward. The weaver's -colony can now scarcely be said to survive the changes -wrought by the removal of an entire industry from Spitalfields -to provincial manufactories, and the vast importations -of foreign silks, and yet there is in this part of -London a great population of workers at callings which -are scarcely better paid than silk weaving had come to -be, previous to its comparative disappearance.</p> - -<p>Marvellous changes have been effected in the way of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">{250}</a></span> -buildings and improvements during the last thirty years, -but much of the poverty and sickness that belonged to -these neighbourhoods remain. The looms may be silent -in the upper workshops with their wide leaden casements, -but the labour by which the people live seldom brings -higher wages than suffice for mere subsistence. The -great building in which treasures of art and science are -collected is suggestive of some kind of recognition of the -need of the inhabitants for rational recreation and instruction, -and what is perhaps more to the purpose, it is -also a recognition of their desire for both; but it cannot -be denied that the recognition has come late, and has -not been completely accompanied by those provisions -for personal comfort, health, and decency, which a -stringent application of existing laws might long ago -have ensured in neighbourhoods that for years were -suffered to remain centres of pestilence.</p> - -<p>The greatest change ever effected in this quarter of -London was that which followed the formation of -Victoria Park. That magnificent area, with its lakes and -islands, its glorious flower-beds and plantations, its -cricket-ground and great expanse of open field, made -Bethnal Green famous. There had always been a fine -stretch of open country beyond what was known as "the -Green," on which the building of the Museum now -stands. A roadway between banks and hedges skirting -wide fields led to the open space where a queer old -mansion could be seen amidst a few tall trees, while -beyond this again, across the canal bridge, were certain -country hostelries, one of them with what was, in that -day, a famous "tea-garden;" and, farther on, a few -farms and some large old-fashioned private residences -stood amidst meadows, gardens, and cattle pastures, on -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">{251}</a></span> -either side of the winding road leading away to the -Hackney Marshes and the low-lying fields beyond the -old village of Homerton. It was on a large portion of -this rural area that Victoria Park was founded. Tavern -and farmhouse disappeared; the canal bridge was made -ornamental; and just beyond the queer old mansion that -stood by the roadway, the great stone and iron gates of -"the people's pleasure-ground" were erected.</p> - -<p>Now, the mansion, to which I have already twice -referred, was in fact one of the few romantic buildings -of the district, for it was what remained of the house of -the persecuting Bishop Bonner, and the four most prominent -of the tall trees—those having an oblong or pit -excavation of the soil at the foot of each—were traditionally -the landmarks of the martyrdom of four sisters -who were there burnt at the stake and buried in graves -indicated by the hollows in the ground, which popular -superstition had declared could never be filled up.</p> - -<p>That they have been filled up long ago, and that on -the site of the ancient house itself another great building -has been erected, you may see to-day as we stand at the -end of the long road leading to the entrance of "the -people's park."</p> - -<p>The abode of cruelty and bigotry has been replaced -by one of the most truly representative of all our benevolent -institutions. The graves of the martyred sisters -might well take a new meaning if the spot could now be -discovered in the broad and beautifully planted garden, -where feeble men and women sun themselves into returning -life and strength amidst the gentle summer air -blowing straight across from the broad woods of Epping -and Hainault miles away.</p> - -<p>The people's playground is fitly consummated by the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">{252}</a></span> -people's hospital. That the City of London Hospital for -Diseases of the Chest, Victoria Park, might well be called -"the people's," is shown, not because it is supported by -state aid or by charitable endowment, on the contrary, it -depends entirely on those voluntary contributions and -subscriptions which have hitherto enabled it successfully -to carry on a noble work, but yet have only just sufficed -to supply its needs, "from hand to mouth." Yet it is -essentially devoted to patients who belong to the working -population. Like the park itself it attracts crowds of -visitors, not only from the City, from Bethnal Green, -Mile End, Poplar, Islington, Camden Town, and other -parts of London, but even from distant places whence -excursionists come to see and to enjoy it. This hospital -receives patients from every part of London, and even -from distant country places. There were seven inmates -from York last year, as well as some from Somerset, -Hereford, Derby, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Norfolk, -Suffolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, Wiltshire, and other -counties; so that in fact the districts of Bethnal Green, -Spitalfields, and Shoreditch, represented only a very -small proportion of the 781 in-patients and the 13,937 -out-patients, who were admitted to medical treatment -during the twelve months. More than this, however, -amongst the contributions which are made for the -support of this hospital, there must be reckoned those -collected by working men of the district in their clubs -and associations, in token of the appreciation of benefits -bestowed by such an institution to failing men and -women, wives and shopmates and relatives, who being -threatened or actually stricken down with one of those -diseases which sap the life and leave the body prostrate, -require prompt skill and medical aid, even if they are -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">{253}</a></span> -not in absolute need of nourishing food and alleviating -rest.</p> - -<p>Standing here, in front of this broad noble building, with -its many windows, its picturesque front of red brick and -white stone, its central tower, its sheltered garden-walks, -and pleasant lawn, we may well feel glad to hear that -the work done within its wards is known and recognised. -What a work it is can only be estimated by those who -remember how fell is the disease from which so many of -the patients suffer, and how great a thing it has been, -even where cures could not be effected, usefully to prolong -the lives of hundreds of those who must have died -but for timely aid. Nay, even at the least, the alleviation -of suffering to those on whom death had already -laid his hand has been no small thing; and when we -know that of 240,000 out-patients who have received -advice and medicines, and 10,400 in-patients whose -cases have warranted their admission to the wards, a -large number of actual cures have been effected since the -establishment of this hospital, we are entitled to regard -the institution as one of the most useful that we have -ever visited together.</p> - -<p>Let us enter, not by the handsome broad portico in the -centre of the building, but at the out-patients' door, in -order that we may see the two waiting-rooms, where -men and women bring their letters of admission, or attend -to see one of the three consulting physicians. Of these -three gentlemen the senior is Dr. Peacock, of whom it -may be said that he is the organiser of the hospital, the -efficiency of which is mainly due to his direction. This -is no small praise, I am aware, but there are so many -evidences of thorough unity and completeness in all -the details of management that, considering how great -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">{254}</a></span> -a variety of cases are included under "diseases of the -chest," from the slow insidious but fatal ravages of consumption -to the sudden pang and deadly spasm of heart -disease, and the various affections of throat and lungs, -it may easily be seen how much depends upon the adoption -of a system initiated by long study and experience. -The perfect arrangements which distinguish this hospital -are doubtless rendered easier by ample space and admirable -appliances. Plenty of room and plenty of air (air, -however, which has been warmed to one even temperature -before it enters the wards and corridors where the -patients eat and drink, sleep and walk) are the first -characteristics of the place, while a certain chaste simplicity -of ornament, and yet an avoidance of mere utilitarian -bareness, is to be observed in all that portion of -the structure where decoration may naturally be expected.</p> - -<p>The board-room, the secretary's room, and the various -apartments devoted to the resident officers on the ground-floor, -are plain enough, however, though they are of good -size and proportions, the only really ornamental article -of furniture in the board-room being a handsome semi-grand -piano, the gift of one of the committee. This is a -real boon to such of the patients as can come to practise -choral singing, as well as to those who can listen delightedly -to the amateur concerts that are periodically performed, -either in the hospital itself or in one of the wards. -For they have cheerful entertainments in this resort of -the feeble, where, to tell the truth, food is often the best -physic, and sympathy and encouragement the most -potent alleviations.</p> - -<p>As to the actual physic—the employment of medicines—it -is only in some of the large endowed hospitals that -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">{255}</a></span> -we can see such a dispensary as this spacious room, -with its surrounding rows of bottles and drawers, its two -open windows, one communicating with the men's and -the other with the women's waiting room, its slabs, and -scales and measures, on a central counter, where 380 prescriptions -will have to be made up to-day before the alert -and intelligent gentleman and his assistants who have -the control of this department, will be able to replace the -current stock out of the medical stores.</p> - -<p>These small cisterns, each with its tap, occupying so -prominent a place on the counter, represent the staple -medicine of the establishment, pure cod-liver oil, of which -1,200 gallons are used every year, and they are constantly -replenished from three large cylinders, or vats, -containing 800 gallons, which occupy a room of their own -adjoining the dispensary and the compounding room, the -latter being the place where drugs are prepared, and the -great art of pill-making is practised on a remarkable -scale.</p> - -<p>Continuing our walk round the hospital, we come to -the consulting-rooms, where the physicians attend daily -at two o'clock, each to see his own patients, and the reception-room, -where an officer takes the letters of introduction, -and exchanges them for attendance cards. This -is the door of the museum; and though we shall be -admitted, if you choose to accompany me, it is, like other -surgical museums, of professional more than general interest, -and not a public portion of the hospital. Turning -into the great main corridor, with its peculiar honeycombed -red-brick ceiling and pleasant sense of light and -air, we will ascend the broad staircase to the wards, those -of the women being on the first floor, while the men -occupy a precisely similar ward on the second. These -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">{256}</a></span> -wards consist of a series of rooms of from two to six, -eight, and twelve beds each, so as to afford opportunity -for the proper classification of the cases. A day-room is -also provided for each set of wards, so that those patients -who are well enough to leave their beds may take their -meals there, or may read, play at chess, draughts, or -bagatelle, or occupy themselves with needlework. These -wards and their day-rooms all open into a light cheerful -corridor, with large windows, where the inmates may walk -and talk, or read and rest, sitting or reclining upon the -couches and settees that are placed at intervals along the -wall. All through these rooms and corridors the air is -kept at a medium temperature of from fifty-five to sixty -degrees, by means of hot-air or hot-water apparatus, -the latter being in use as well as the former. You -noticed, as we stood in the grounds, a large square structure -of a monumental character;—that was in fact the -chamber through the sides of which draughts of air are -carried to channels beneath the building, there they are -drawn around a furnace, to be heated, and to escape -through pipes that are grouped about the entire building. -In order to ensure the necessary comfort of patients -requiring a higher temperature, each ward is provided -with an open fire-place.</p> - -<p>It is now just dinner-time. The ample rations of meat -and vegetables, fish and milk, and the various "special -diets," are coming up on the lift from the kitchens, and in -the women's day-room a very comfortable party is just -sitting down to the mid-day meal. Here, as elsewhere, -greater patience and more genuine cheerfulness are to be -observed among the women, than is as a rule displayed -by the men, and there are not wanting signs of pleasant -progress towards recovery, of grateful appreciation of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">{257}</a></span> -benefits received, and of a hopeful trusting spirit, which -goes far to aid the doctor and the nurse. There are, of -course, some sad sights. Looking into the wards, we -may see more than one woman for whom only a few -hours of this mortal life remain; more than one child -whose emaciated form and face looks as though death -itself could bring no great change. Yet it must be remembered -that cases likely soon to terminate fatally are -not admitted. The severity of the diseases and their -frequently fatal character under any condition will -account for the large proportion of sickness unto death -which finds here alleviation but not absolute cure; -though, of course, the sufferers from heart disease, who -are on the whole the most cheerful, as well as those whose -affections of the lungs can be sensibly arrested, if not -altogether healed, are frequently restored to many years -of useful work in the world. On this second storey, in -the men's ward, there are some very serious cases, and -some sights that have a heartache in them; yet they are -full of significance, for many of them include the spectacle -of God's sweet gift of trust and patience—the -mighty courage of a quiet mind. Yonder is a courageous -fellow, who, suffering from a terrible aneurism, had to -cease his daily labour, and now lies on his back, hopeful -of cure, with a set still face and a determined yet wistful -look at the resident medical officer, or the nurse who -adjusts the india-rubber ice-bag on his chest. Here, -near the door, is that which should make us bow our -heads low before the greatest mystery of mortal life. -Not the mystery of death, but the mystery of meeting -death and awaiting it. A brave, patient, noble man is -sitting up in that bed, his high forehead, fair falling hair, -long tawny beard, and steady placid eye, reminding one -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">{258}</a></span> -of some picture of Norseman or Viking. Lean and -gaunt enough in frame, his long thin hand is little but -skin and bone, but it is clasped gently by the sorrowing -wife, who sits beside him, and glances at us through -tearful eyes as we enter. One can almost believe that -the sick man who is going on the great journey whither -he cannot yet take the wife who loves him, has been -speaking of it calmly, there is such an inscrutable look of -absolute repose in that face. He is a Dane, and the -doctor tells us has borne his illness and great pain -with a quiet courage that has challenged the admiration -of those about him—a courage born of simple -faith, let us believe, a calm resting on an eternal foundation -of peace. Here, in the corridor, is a party, some of -its members still very weak and languid, who, having just -dined, are about to take the afternoon lounge, with book -or newspaper, and, leaving them, we will conclude our -visit by descending to the basement, whence the chief -medicine comes in the shape of wholesome nourishing -food, of meat and fish, of pure farina, of wine, and milk, -and fresh eggs, of clean pure linen, and even of ice, for -ice is a large ingredient here, and several tons are consumed -every year. The domestic staff have their apartments -in this basement portion of the building, another -division of which is occupied by the kitchens and storerooms, -while lifts for coal and daily meals and every -other requisite, ascend to the upper wards, and shoots or -wells from the upper floors convey linen and bedding -that require washing, as well as the dust and refuse of -the wards, to special receptacles.</p> - -<p>The kitchen itself is a sight worth seeing with its wide -open range, where prime joints are roasting, or have been -roasted, and are now being cut into great platefuls for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">{259}</a></span> -the ordinary full-diet patients. In the great boilers and -ovens, vegetables and boiled meats, farinaceous puddings, -rice, tapioca, fish, and a dozen other articles of pure diet -are being prepared, while a reservoir of strong beef-tea -represents the nourishment of those feeble ones to whom -liquid, representing either meat or milk, is all that can be -permitted. We have little time to remain in the separate -rooms, which are cool tile-lined larders, where bread and -milk and meat are kept, but among the records of donations -and contributions to the hospital it is very pleasant -to read of the multifarious gifts of food and other comforts -sent from time to time by benevolent friends. -They consist of baskets of game, fruits, rice, tea, flour, -books, warm clothing for poor patients leaving the hospital, -prints, pictures, fern-cases, all kinds of useful articles, -showing how thoughtful the donors are, of what will be a -solace and a comfort to the patients, while not the least -practically valuable remittances are bundles of old linen. -Still more touching, however, are the records of gifts -brought by patients themselves, or by their friends.</p> - -<p>"I was a patient here four years ago," says a man who -has made his way to the secretary's room, "and I made -up my mind that if ever I could scrape a guinea together -I should bring it, and now I have, and here it is, if you'll -be so good as to take it, for I want to show I'm truly -grateful."</p> - -<p>"If you'll please accept it from us; my husband and -I have put by fifteen shillings, and want to give it to the -hospital for your kindness to our son, who was here -before he died."</p> - -<p>These are the chronicles that show this to be a people's -hospital indeed, and that should open the hearts of those -who can take pounds instead of shillings. In such cases -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">{260}</a></span> -the secretary has ventured to remind the grateful donors -that they may be unable to afford to leave their savings, -but the evident pain, even of the hint of refusal, was -reason for accepting the poor offering. Poor, did I say? -nay, rich—rich in all that can really give value to such -gifts, the wealth of the heart that must be satisfied by -giving.</p> - -<p>There is one more adjunct to this great human conservatory -which we must see before we leave. Down four -shallow stone steps from the corridor, and along a cheerful -quiet sub-corridor, is the chapel. A very beautiful -building, with no stained glass or sumptuous detail of -ornament, and yet so admirable in its simple architectural -decoration and perfect proportions, that it is an -example of what such a place should be. It is capable -of seating three or four hundred persons, and visitors are -freely admitted to the Sunday services when there is -room, though of course seats are reserved for the patients, -who have "elbows" provided in their pews, that they -may be able to lean without undue fatigue. The chapel -itself was a gift of a beneficent friend, and was presented -anonymously. One day an architect waited on the committee, -and simply said that if they would permit a -chapel to be erected on a vacant space in their grounds, -close to the main building, he had plans for such a structure -with him, and the whole cost would be defrayed by a -client of his, who, however, would not make known his -name. The gift was accepted, and the benevolent contract -nobly fulfilled. I should be glad to hear that some -other charitable donor had sent in like manner an offer -of funds to fill those two great vacant wards which, waiting -for patients, are among the saddest sights in this -hospital.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">{261}</a></div> - -<h2><i>HEALING THE SICK.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_A.jpg" width="100" height="99" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Amidst</span> -the numerous great charities which -distinguish this vast metropolis, hospitals -must always hold a prominent if not preeminent -place. Helpless infancy, the weakness -and infirmity of old age, and prostration by sudden -accident, or the ravages of disease, are the conditions -that necessarily appeal to humanity. The latter especially -is so probable an occurrence to any of us, that we -are at once impressed by the necessity for providing -some means for its alleviation. Helpless childhood has -passed, old age may seem to be in too dim a future to -challenge our immediate attention; but sickness, sudden -disaster, who shall be able to guard against these, in a -world where the strongest are often smitten down in the -full tide of apparent health; where, in the streets -alone, fatal accidents are reckoned monthly as a special -item in Registrars' returns, and injuries amount annually -to hundreds?</p> - -<p>The great endowed hospitals, therefore, those magnificent -monuments of charity which have distinguished -London for so many years, and the value of which in extending -the science of medicine can scarcely be overrated, -are regarded by us all with veneration. At the same -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">{262}</a></span> -time we ought to feel a certain thrill of pleasure, a -satisfaction not far removed from keen emotion, when we -see inscribed on the front of some building, large or -small, where the work of healing is being carried on, -the words, "Supported by Voluntary Contributions." -One other condition, too, seems necessary to the complete -recognition of such a charity as having attained to the -full measure of a truly beneficent work—admission to it -should be free: free not only from any demand for -money payments, but untrammelled by the necessity for -seeking, often with much suffering and delay, a governor's -order or letter, by which alone a patient can be received -in many of our otherwise admirable and useful institutions -for the sick. It should be remembered that immediate -aid is of the utmost importance in the effort to heal -the sick, and that delays, proverbially dangerous, are in -such cases cruel, often fatal, always damaging to the sense -of true beneficence, of the extension of help because of the -<i>need</i> rather than for the sake of any particular influence. -It would seem that we have no right to hesitate, or to -insist on the observance of certain forms, before succouring -the grievously sick and wounded, any more than we -have to withhold food from the starving till ceremonial -inquiries are answered, and certificates of character -obtained. There are cases of poverty, and even of -suffering, where inquiry before ultimate and continued -relief may be useful, and personal influence may be necessary, -but extreme hunger and nakedness, cold and -houselessness, sudden injury or maiming, the pain of -disease, the deep and touching need of the sick and -helpless, are not such. Prompt and effectual measures -for relief, and, if necessary, admission to the place -where that relief can alone be afforded, will be the only -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">{263}</a></span> -means of completely meeting these wants. Free hospitals, -freer even than workhouses, are what we need, and I am -about to visit one of them to-day which rejoices in its -name, "The Royal Free Hospital," now in its forty-seventh -year of useful and, I am glad to say, of vigorous -life.</p> - -<p>To anyone acquainted with that strange neighbourhood -which is represented by Gray's Inn Lane and all the -queer jumble of courts and alleys that seem to shrink -behind the shelter of the broad thoroughfare of Holborn, -there is something consistent in the establishment of -such a noble charity as this hospital in Gray's Inn Road. -Its very position seems to indicate the nature and extent -of its duties. Near the homes of poverty, the streets -where people live who cannot go far to seek aid in -their extremest need, it receives those who, breaking -down through sudden disease, or requiring medical and -surgical skill to relieve the pain and weakness of recurrent -malady, have no resource but this to enable them -to fulfil their one great desire "to get back to work." -The causes of much of the sickness which sends patients -thither may be preventable: they may be found in foul -dwellings, impure water, insufficient clothing, want of -proper food, alternate hunger and intemperance; but -whatever may be its occasion, a remedy must be found -for it. Till all that is preventable <i>is</i> prevented, the consequences -will have to be mitigated, the fatal results -averted where it is possible; and when boards of health -and sanitary measures have done, there will still be sick -men to heal, failing children to strengthen, weak and -wasting women to restore.</p> - -<p>It is well, then, that this Institution should stand as a -landmark of that free charity which takes help where it -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">{264}</a></span> -is needed most; and this qualification is the more obvious -when we turn from the sick wards to the accident -wards, and remember that three great railway termini -are close at hand, and others not far off; that all round -that teeming neighbourhood men, women, and even -children, are working at poor handicrafts, which render -them liable to frequent injuries, and that in the crowded -streets themselves—from the great busy thoroughfare -of Holborn, to the bustle and confusion of the approaches -to the stations at King's Cross—there is constant peril -to life and limb.</p> - -<p>There is something so remarkable in the external -appearance of the building, such a military look about -its bold front, such a suggestion of a cavalry yard about -the broad open area behind this tall wooden entrance -gate, that you begin to wonder how such a style of -architecture should have been adopted for a hospital. -The truth is that like many—nay, like most of our -noblest work—this great provision for healing the sick -began by not waiting for full-blown opportunities. The -need was there, and the means that came to hand were -used to meet it. This building was originally the barracks -of that loyal and efficient regiment, the "Light -Horse Volunteers," and so excellently had those gallant -defenders of king and constitution provided for their -own comfort and security, that when in 1842 the premises -were vacant, and the lease for sale, the governors of the -Royal Free Hospital became the purchasers, the long -rooms were easily turned into ample, cheerful, and well-ventilated -wards, and the various outbuildings and offices -were quickly adapted to the reception of patients.</p> - -<p>But the hospital had at that date been working quietly -and effectually for above fourteen years. Fourteen -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">{265}</a></span> -years before its inauguration in Gray's Inn Road, this -"free" hospital, which was not then "royal," had been -commenced in Greville Street, Hatton Garden, and the -immediate incident which led to its foundation is so -suggestive, so inseparable from the recollection of the -want which it was designed to alleviate, and from its -own generous recognition of the unfailing freedom of -true charity, that it might well be the subject of a memorial -picture. Alas! it would be a tragic reminder of -those days before any provision was made for extending -medical aid to sufferers who had no credentials save -humanity and their own deep necessity. It would be a -grim reminder to us, also, that some of our great charities -established for the relief of the sick are still trammelled -with those restrictions which demand recommendations, -to obtain which the applicant is often condemned -to delay and disappointment. It would show -us that our hospitals are not yet free.</p> - -<p>Those of my readers who can remember the entrance -to the broad highway of Holborn nearly fifty years ago—stay, -that is going back beyond probable acknowledgment,—let -me say those of us who knew Smithfield when -it was a cattle market, who had heard of "Cow Cross," -and been told of the terrible purlieux of Field Lane; -who had occasionally caught a glimpse of that foul -wilderness of courts that clustered about the Fleet Ditch; -had read of Mr. Fagin, when "Oliver Twist" was first -appearing in chapters, and had dim recollections of -nursery tales about Bartlemy fair and "hanging morning" -at the Old Bailey; those of us who remember the -cries of drovers, and the lowing and bleating of herds -and flocks in the streets on Sunday nights; the terrible -descent of Snow Hill; the confusion and dismay of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">{266}</a></span> -passengers and vehicles on the steep incline of Holborn -Hill; the reek of all that maze of houses and hovels -that lay in the valley; those of us, in short, who can -carry our memories back for a few years beyond the -time when the new cattle market was built at Islington, -the pens and lairs of Smithfield demolished, the whole -Holborn valley dismantled, only a remnant, a mere -corner, of Field Lane being left standing after the great -viaduct was built—can imagine what the church of St. -Andrew was like when, with its dark and dreary churchyard, -it stood on the slope of Holborn Hill, instead of -being as it now is in a kind of subway. That churchyard, -with its iron gate, was reached by stone steps, -which were receptacles for winter rain and summer dust, -the straw from waggons, the shreds and sweepings from -adjacent shops, the dirt and refuse of the streets.</p> - -<p>On those steps a young girl was seen lying one night, -in the winter of 1827—lying helpless, lonely, perishing -of disease and famine.</p> - -<p>The clocks of St. Andrew, St. Sepulchre, St. Paul, -had clanged and boomed amidst the hurry and the turmoil -of the throng of passengers; had clanged and -boomed till their notes might be heard above the subsiding -roar of vehicles, and the shuffling of feet, till -silence crept over the great city, and more distant chimes -struck through the murky air, tolling midnight. Still -that figure lay upon the cruel stones, under the rusty -gate of the churchyard, as though, unfriended and unpitied -by the world, she waited for admission to the only -place in which she might make a claim in death, if not -in life.</p> - -<p>Not more than eighteen years old, she had wandered -wearily from some distant place where fatal instalments -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">{267}</a></span> -of the wages of sin had done their work. She had come -to London unknown, unnoted, to die. That she had come -from afar is but a surmise; she may have been a dweller -in this great city, lost amidst the stony desert of its -streets, friendless with the friendlessness of the outcast -or the wretched, to whom the acquaintances of to-day -have little care or opportunity to become the solacers -of to-morrow; she may have crept to that dark corner -by the churchyard gate, amongst the rack and refuse of -the street, as a place in which she, the unconsidered -waste and refuse of our boasted civilisation, could most -fitly huddle from the cold. She was not left actually to -die there, but two days afterwards she passed out of the -world where she had been unrecognised. Not without -result, however.</p> - -<p>Among those who had witnessed the distressing occurrence -was a surgeon, Mr. William Marsden, who for -some time before had repeatedly seen cause to lament, -that with all our endowed hospitals, our great medical -schools, and the advance of scientific knowledge, the -sick poor could only obtain relief by means of letters of -recommendation and other delay, until the appointed -days for admission. The sight that he had witnessed -awoke him to fresh energy. He determined to establish -a medical charity, where destitution or great poverty -and disease should be the only necessary credentials for -obtaining free and <i>immediate</i> relief. His honest benevolent -purpose did not cool; in February in the following -year (1828), the house in Greville Street was open -as a free hospital, and it was taken under the royal -patronage of George IV., the Duke of Gloucester becoming -its president.</p> - -<p>King William IV. succeeded George IV. as the patron -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">{268}</a></span> -of this free hospital, and one of the earliest manifestations -of the interest of our Queen in public charitable -institutions was the expressed desire of her Majesty to -maintain the support which it had hitherto received, -and to confer upon it the name of the <i>Royal</i> Free Hospital.</p> - -<p>It need scarcely be said that the late Duke of Sussex -took a very strong interest in this charity, and at his -death it was determined to erect a new wing, to be -called "the Sussex" wing. This work was completed -in 1856; and in 1863, by the aid of a zealous and indefatigable -chairman of the committee, above 5,000 was -raised by special appeal for the purposes of buying the -freehold of the entire building, so that it is now, in every -sense, a free hospital, with a noble history of suffering -relieved, of the sick healed, the deserted reclaimed, the -sinful succoured, and those that were ready to perish -snatched from the jaws of death.</p> - -<p>Since the foundation of the modest house in Hatton -Garden in 1828 above a million and a half of poor sick -and destitute patients have obtained relief, and the -average of poor patients received within its wards is -now 1,500 annually, while 45,000 out-patients resort -thither from all parts of London. The relief thus -afforded costs some 8,000 a year, and this large sum -has to be provided by appeals to the public for those -contributions by which alone the continued effort can -be sustained.</p> - -<p>Standing here within the "Moore" ward, so called -after the energetic chairman before referred to, I cannot -think of any appeal that should be more successful in -securing public sympathy than these two statements—First, -that many of the inmates have been immediately -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">{269}</a></span> -received on their own application; and secondly, that, -bearing in mind the sad story which is, as it were, the -story of the foundation of the hospital, this ward is occupied -by women. Many of them are persons of education -and refinement, who yet would have no asylum if -they had not been received within these sheltering walls, -others may be poor, ignorant, and perhaps even degraded, -but divine charity is large enough to recognise in these -the very need which such an effort is intended to alleviate. -Here at least is a peaceful retreat, where in quiet -reflection, in grateful recognition of mercies yet within -reach, in the sound of pitying voices, and the touch of -sympathetic hands, the weary may find rest, the throes -of pain may be assuaged.</p> - -<p>Here are the two fundamental rules of the hospital, -and they form what one might call a double-barrelled -appeal not to be easily turned aside:—</p> - -<div class="casenote"> - - <p class="center">IN-DOOR PATIENTS.</p> - - <p>Foreigners, strangers, and others, in sickness or disease, having - neither friends nor homes, are admitted to the Wards of this Hospital - on their own application, so far as the means of the charity will - permit.</p> - - <p class="center">OUT-DOOR PATIENTS.</p> - - <p>All sick and diseased persons, having no other means of obtaining - relief, may attend at this Hospital every day at Two o'clock, when they - will receive Medical and Surgical Advice and Medicine free.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Even while I read the latter announcement the out-patients -are assembling in the waiting-room, on the -right of the quadrangle; the dispenser, in his repository -of drugs, surrounded by bottles, jars, drawers, and all -the appliances for making up medicines, has set his -assistants to work, and is himself ready to begin the -afternoon's duty; the consulting-physician of the day -has just taken his seat in one plain barely-furnished -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">{270}</a></span> -apartment, the consulting-surgeon in another, while the -resident house-surgeon has completed his first inspection -of in-patients, and is ready with particulars of new cases.</p> - -<p>These rooms, where patients assemble, and doctors -consult, are on the right of the pleasant quadrangle, with -its large centre oval garden plot, containing a double -ring of trees; and here also is the reception room for -"accidents" and urgent cases—a very suggestive room, -with styptics, immediate remedies, and prompt appliances -ready to hand, but like all the rest of the official portion -of the building, very plain and practical, with evidence -of there being little time to regard mere ease or ornament, -and of a disregard of anything which is not associated -with the work that has to be done. It is the -same with other apartments, where it is obvious that no -unnecessary expenditure is incurred for mere official show.</p> - -<p>The business of the place is to heal by means of food, -of rest, and of medicine, and there, on the left of the -quadrangle, a flight of steps leads downwards to a wide -area, where, in the kitchens, the domestic servants are -busy clearing up, after serving the eighty-eight rations -which have been issued for dinner—rations of fish, flesh, -and fowl, or those "special diets" which are taken under -medical direction. There is something about this kitchen, -the store-rooms, and offices, with the steps leading thereto, -and the cat sitting blinking in the sun, which irresistibly -reminds me of the heights of Dover and some portion of -the barrack building there; the old military look of the -place clings to this Gray's Inn Road establishment still, -and the visitor misses the wonderful appliances and -mechanical adaptations of some more modern institutions, -not even lifts to convey the dinners to the wards -being possible in such an edifice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">{271}</a></span> -There is some compensating comfort in noting, however, -that the nursing staff is so organised as to secure -personal attention to the patients, and that the arrangements -are touchingly homely, not only in regard to the -simple furniture, the few pictures and engravings, and -the little collection of books that are to be found in the -wards, but also in the matter of sympathetic, motherly, -and sisterly help, which is less ceremonious, but not less -truly loving, than is to be found in some places of higher -pretensions.</p> - -<p>Here, on the ground floor, the twenty-two beds of the -men's severe accident ward are always full, and some of -the cases are pitiable, including maiming by machinery, -railway accidents, or injury in the streets. The "Marsden -Ward," adjoining is devoted to injuries of a less serious -kind, so that there many of the patients can help themselves. -In the women's accident ward there are three or -four children, one of whom, a pretty chubby-faced little -girl of five years old, has not yet got over her astonishment -at having been run over by a cab the day before -yesterday, picked up and brought into this great room -where most of the people are in bed, only to hear that -she is more frightened than hurt, and is to go home tomorrow. -There are some other little creatures, however, -suffering from very awkward accidents, and they seem to -be petted and made much of, just as they are in the -women's sick ward above, where a delicate-faced intelligent -girl, herself improving greatly under prompt treatment -for an early stage of phthisis, is delighted to have a -little companion to tea with her at her bed-side, the -child being allowed to sit up in a chair, and the pair of -invalids being evidently on delightfully friendly terms. -There is a lower ward, with half a dozen little beds -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">{272}</a></span> -devoted solely to children, who are, I think, all suffering -from some form of disease of the joints. Alas! this -class of disease comes of foul dwellings, of impure or -stinted food, of want of fresh air and water; and it brings -a pang to one's heart to note the smiling little faces, the -bright beaming eyes, the pretty engaging grateful ways -of some of these little ones, and yet to know how long a -time it must be before the results of the evil conditions -of their lives will be remedied at the present rate of procedure; -how difficult a problem it is to provide decent -dwellings for the poor, in a city where neighbourhoods such -as that which we have just traversed have grown like -fungi, and cannot be uprooted without pain and loss which -social reformers shrink from inflicting. Thinking of this, -and of all that I have seen in this Royal Free Hospital, -I am glad to carry away from it the picture of this child's -ward and its two young nurses, though I could wish that -the walls of that and all the other wards were a little -brighter with more pictures, that a fresh supply of books -might soon be sent to replenish the library, and that the -flowers, that are so eagerly accepted to deck the tables -of those poor sick rooms, and carry thither a sense of -freshness, colour, and beauty, may come from the gardens -and greenhouses of those who can spare of their abundance. -To keep the eighty-eight beds full requires constant -dependence on public contributions, and yet when -we think of the work that is going on here, not the -eighty-eight only, but the whole number of 102 should -be ready for applicants, who would, even then, be far too -numerous to be received at once in a hospital which, -with a royal freedom of well-doing, sets an example that -might be hopefully followed by other and wealthier -charities for healing the sick.</p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">{273}</a></div> - -<h2><i>WITH THE PRISONER.</i></h2> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/drop_W.jpg" width="100" height="102" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">What</span> -is the first greeting which a convict receives -when he or she is discharged from -prison?</p> - -<p>Imagine, if you can, the shivering, shrinking, -bewildered feeling of the man or woman who, after, -undergoing a term of penal servitude, some of it passed in -hours of solitary confinement, has all this great city suddenly -opened again, with its wilderness of streets, its -crowd of unfamiliar faces, its tremendous temptations, its -few resources for the friendless and the suspected, its -great broad thoroughfares, where on every side may be -seen evidences of wealth and plenty; where the tavern -and the gin-shop offer a temporary solace to the wretched; -and where, also, in every neighbourhood, there are evil -slums in which vice finds companionship, and the career -of dishonesty and crime can be resumed without difficulty -or delay.</p> - -<p>Those who have stood outside the walls of Clerkenwell -or Coldbath Fields prison, and have watched the -opening of the gates whence prisoners emerge into a -freedom which is almost paralysing in its first effects, -will tell you how the appearance of these poor wretches -is greeted in low muttered tones by silent slouching men -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">{274}</a></span> -and women who await their coming. How, after very -few words of encouragement and welcome, they are taken -off to some adjacent public-house, there to celebrate -their liberation; and how, almost before a word is spoken, -the male prisoner is provided with a ready-lighted pipe -from the mouth of one of his former companions, in order -that he may revive his sense of freedom by the long-unaccustomed -indulgence in tobacco.</p> - -<p>I should be very sorry to cavil at these marks of -sympathy. They are eminently human. They do not -always mean direct temptation—that is to say, they -are not necessarily intended to induce the recipient to -resume the evil course which has led to a long and severe -punishment. That the result should be a gradual, if not -an immediate, weakening of that remorse which is too -frequently sorrow for having incurred the penalty rather -than repentance of the sin that led to it, is obvious -enough; but what else is to be expected? Not many -men or women come out of gaol with a very robust -morality. Without entering into the question how far -our present system of prison discipline and management -is calculated to influence the moral nature of culprits -who are under punishments for various crimes, scarcely -ever classified, and never regarded in relation to the -particular circumstances under which they are committed -or the character and disposition, the social status, or the -mental and moral condition of the offender, it may be -broadly and barely stated that our penal legislation is -not effectual in promoting the reclamation of the -criminal.</p> - -<p>Even if some determination to begin life anew, to -avoid associations that have led to infamy and disgrace -to accept any labour anywhere in order to obtain an -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">{275}</a></span> -honest subsistence, has been working in the mind of a -convict during the period of imprisonment, and under -the advice and remonstrance of the chaplain and the -governor, what is to sustain such half-formed resolutions? -Supposing even that the discharged prisoner has been so -amenable to the regulations of the gaol that he or she -has had placed to the credit account that weekly "good-conduct -money," which, when the term of punishment -has ended, amounts to a sum sufficient to provide for -immediate necessities, where is employment to be looked -for? In what quarter is the owner of a few shillings—which -may have to last a week or more—to seek a lodging -and a meal, and that companionship which must be -one of the keenest longings of the newly-released and -yet solitary and half-dazed creature, who is ready to receive -with grateful avidity any friendly greeting that -promises relief from the long monotony of the gaol?</p> - -<p>Surely, then, there can be few conditions which appeal -more forcibly to Christian beneficence than that of the -captive who is released after having undergone a sentence -of penal servitude, part of which has been passed in -solitary confinement. Whatever may have been the -impressions made upon the mind during the period of -punishment, and the influence exercised by instruction -or exhortation, the very fact of regaining liberty, the -excitement of freedom, and the uncertainty of the first -steps a man or woman is to take outside the prison walls, -will always involve a danger, before which a very large -proportion of released convicts will succumb.</p> - -<p>What, then, is being done in order to extend a helping -hand to these, who are among the most destitute -and unfortunate; who, even if they have relatives, may -be ashamed to seek their aid, or are doubtful of the reception -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">{276}</a></span> -that awaits them, while the only companionship -which they can claim at once, and without question, is -that which will surround them with almost irresistible incentives -to a lawless life?</p> - -<p>In the very centre of this vast metropolis, at the point -where its great highways converge, and yet in a modest -quiet house standing a little back from the roar and turmoil -of the main street, we shall find what we seek. -Here, on the doorpost of No. 39, Charing Cross, is the -name of "The Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society," and -in two or three offices on the first floor—one of which is, -in fact, a reception-room for the discharged prisoners -themselves—the work for which there is such a constant -and pressing need is steadily carried on, under the -direction of a very distinguished committee, of whom -the treasurer is the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, and the first -honorary secretary, Mr. W. Bayne Ranken, who is assisted -by Mr. S. Whitbread and Mr. L. T. Cave. In looking -at the names of the gentlemen who are concerned in -this admirable effort, you will have noticed that some of -them are also associated with other charitable organisations -which we have visited together, and notably with -those of that Soho district where we last joined in the -musical diversions of the Newport Market Refuge. As -we enter this front office at Charing Cross, we have a -pleasant reminder of that occasion, for we are welcomed -by the indefatigable performer on the cornet, who, when -we last met him, was making "the hills resound" in the -upper room of the old slaughter-house, and carrying all -his juvenile military band with him in one resonant outburst -of harmony that awoke the echoes as far as Seven -Dials. To-day he is carrying out his ordinary secretarial -and managerial duties, as officially representing the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">{277}</a></span> -Society, about which he can give us some information -worth hearing.</p> - -<p>But there are other visitors for whom preparation has -already been made in the next room—men dressed decently, -and yet having a certain furtive, unaccustomed -bearing, as though they were not at the moment quite -used to their clothes or to public observation. Some of -them are not without a truculent half-defiant expression -lurking beneath their subdued demeanour; others have -an open, keen outlook; and a few others, again, both in -the shape of their head and the peculiar shifty expression -of eye and mouth, and one might also say of hand, -would at once be characterised by the experienced observer -of London life as men who had "been in trouble" -more than once. On the table of the front office the -object which has at once attracted our attention is a perfectly -new carpenter's basket containing a decent set of -tools, and the man for whom it is intended will be here -for it by-and-by to take it away, just as the shoemaker -who has just gone out has carried with him "a kit," with -which, in addition to a little stock of money, he is about -to begin the world afresh, under the auspices of his friends, -one of whom—either a member of the committee, or the -secretary, or one of the visiting agents—will keep him -in view, and give him an occasional encouraging call -while he remains in the metropolitan district. If a situation -should be found for him in the provinces, either -the clergyman of the district, or some other friend of the -Society, is informed of his previous history, and has a -sincere interest in his well-doing. In no case have the -London police anything whatever to do with watching -or inspecting discharged prisoners under the care of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">{278}</a></span> -Society; and, on the other hand, it is a standing rule -that where situations are found for these men and women, -the employers are informed of their previous history, -though any recommendation of the Society may be regarded -as a strong inference that their <i>protg</i> is trying to -redeem lost character.</p> - -<p>It must be remembered that a report of each of those -who are under the care of the Society is made at the -office once a month, either by the man or woman in person, -or by one of the visiting agents or correspondents -of the committee of management; and that, though -the police are forbidden to interfere with them, except -on strong suspicion that they are about to commit a -crime, the most accurate and careful record of their mode -of life and conduct is kept at the offices of the Society. -Should they fail to observe the regulations which the -Society demands, they are liable to police surveillance -instead of friendly, encouraging, and confidential visitation; -and it needs scarcely be said that this liability is -often of itself sufficient to make them desire to retain -the aid and protection which has been extended to them.</p> - -<p>From a long and tolerably intimate observation of the -lower strata of the London population, and of the results -of various methods adopted to check the progress -of crime, I am convinced that what is called police surveillance, -as it is conducted in this country, is altogether -mischievous in relation to any probable reformation of -the offender. Even if it be denied (as it has been) that -it is a practice of police-constables to give to persons -employing a discharged prisoner, information conveyed -in such a way as to lead to the loss of employment and -despair of obtaining an honest living, it is quite certain -that the constant dread of being branded as a returned -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">{279}</a></span> -felon, and the hopeless dogged temper which such a condition -produces, must be enormous obstacles to true reclamation. -The man who could really surmount them -must, whatever may have been his casual crime, be possessed -of a hardy and indomitable desire for virtue -which should challenge our profound respect.</p> - -<p>But, apart from what may be called legitimate surveillance -of convicts by the police, it is unfortunately notorious -that members of "the force," who occupy positions -as detectives, or "active and intelligent officers," employ -agents of their own to bring them information, and that -these agents, being men of bad character—frequently -thieves—are interested for their own safety's sake in providing -"charges," or "putting up cases," by conveying -information of suspected persons. This is according to -the old evil traditions that have descended to constables -from the time of Jonathan Wild, and probably earlier; -but it is obvious that where such nefarious tools are employed -for obtaining evidence which will suffice to sustain -a charge and convict a prisoner, there is constant danger -to those who, having been once sentenced for crime, are -not only peculiarly liable to be drawn into fresh offences, -but are, from their position, easily made the victims of -cunningly-laid traps for their re-arrest, on a suspicion -that is readily endorsed, because of their previous conviction -and the knowledge of all their antecedents.</p> - -<p>It is the removal of discharged prisoners from this probability, -and from the kind of interposition that forbids -their return to the paths of honesty, and so actually produces -"a criminal class," that is, in my opinion, the best -distinction of a Society like this.</p> - -<p>Some of the volumes of interesting records which are -preserved here would probably doubtless confirm this -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">{280}</a></span> -view. Let us refer to one only, where a nobleman -residing in London had engaged a butler who went to -him with a very excellent character, and in whom he had -the greatest confidence. Happening to have occasion to -employ a detective constable on some business, his lordship -was dismayed at receiving from that astute officer -the intelligence that his trusted servant had once been -sentenced to five years' penal servitude for some dishonest -act, but had been liberated on a ticket-of-leave. -Puzzled how to proceed, the nobleman had the good -sense to apply for advice to this Society, where it was -discovered that the representation of the detective was -true enough, and that the man had been recommended -to a situation by the Society itself, an intimation of his -antecedents being given to the employer. In that situation -he had remained for several months, without the -least fault being brought against him, and he then -applied for and obtained the vacant and more lucrative -appointment in the family of his lordship, who, though he -acknowledged he should not have engaged him had he -known of his previous fault and its punishment, kept his -secret, and retained him in his service, where he remained -at the time of the last report, respected by the -household, and faithfully fulfilling his duties.</p> - -<p>Probably this was one of those cases where, yielding -to sudden temptation, a man incurs for a single crime -punishment that awakens moral resolution; and it must -be remembered that there are many convicts who, while -in prison they are practically undistinguished from the -habitual or the repeated criminal, or from the convict of -brutalised, undeveloped, or feeble moral nature, are in -danger of being utterly ruined because of a single and -perhaps altogether unpremeditated offence, of which -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">{281}</a></span> -they may bitterly repent. The feeling of shame, of -humiliation, of doubt as to any but a cold and deterrent -reception by former friends, the dread of scorn, derision, -or abhorrence, may lead such men or women to abandon -as hopeless any expectation of resuming their former -avocations, or even of once more attaining a respectable -position. To such as these the Society offers such aid -as may keep them from the despondency that destroys; -and in every case, even in that of the wretch who has -been convicted again and again, it holds out some -hope of reformation. That there is some such hope -may be learned from the fact, that even thieves—"habitual -criminals"—do not, as a rule, bring their own -children up to dishonesty, and are often careful to conceal -from them the means by which they live. The -ranks of crime are not so largely augmented from the -children of dishonest parents (though, of course, evil -example bears its dreadful results) as from the neglected -children of our great towns.</p> - -<p>But let us see what are the means adopted by the -Society for helping discharged prisoners. Of course the -procedure must begin with the prisoners themselves, in -so far that they must express their willingness to accept -the aid offered to them, and make known their decision -to the governor of the prison where they are confined, -and where the rules and provisions of the Society are -displayed and explained.</p> - -<p>This refers to the convict prisons, since only these are -eligible, the prisoners from county gaols being assisted -by other organisations; therefore, discharged convicts -from Millbank, Pentonville, Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham, -Parkhurst, Dartmoor, Woking, and Brixton, are -able to seek help; and it is gratifying to know that, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">{282}</a></span> -according to the prison returns, of 1,579 male prisoners -discharged from these places in one year, 796 sought aid -from this and local provincial societies having the same -object, the number of applicants to the London Society -being 524, or nearly two-thirds of the whole.</p> - -<p>On any convict, male or female, accepting the offer of -the Society, and making that decision known to the -governor of the prison, the latter forwards to this office -at Charing Cross a printed document, or recommendation, -stating full particulars of the prisoner's age, date of -conviction, number of previous convictions (if any), degree -of education, religion, former trade or employment, -ability to perform labour, and general character while in -prison, together with the amount of good-conduct money -which is to be allowed for work performed during the period -of incarceration. This good-conduct money may amount -to a maximum sum of 3, and the Society takes charge -of it for the benefit of the prisoner, disbursing it only as -it may be required, and supplementing it, when necessary, -by a further grant of money, or even by advances or -loans as may be deemed desirable in certain cases.</p> - -<p>These reports from the prison governor reach the office -about six weeks before the discharge of the convicts -named in them, and following them come other papers, -each of which contains a graphic personal description of -the prisoner referred to, and a fairly-executed photograph, -which is usually not without certain striking characteristics, -though you will be surprised to find how often you -fail to discover the lineaments which you have associated -in fancy with lawlessness and crime. At the time of -their discharge, the men and women are conducted hither -by a plainly-clothed messenger from the prison, appointed -for the purpose, and take their places in yonder back -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">{283}</a></span> -room, where they are immediately identified by means of -the descriptions and photographs, and are then questioned -as to their capabilities and the particular employment in -which they desire to engage. It is manifestly impossible -that the Society can provide them with employment in -the particular trades which they may previously have -followed, since there may be no openings in those industries, -or they may be such as would be obviously unsuitable -for persons who are still on probation.</p> - -<p>Should the prisoner have friends or relatives able and -willing to receive or assist him, they are communicated -with, but should he be entirely dependent on personal -exertion, the agent or secretary at once procures for him -a decent outfit of clothes, and a lodging as far as possible -from the scene of his former companions. A small sum -of money is advanced for immediate subsistence, and he -usually has employment provided for him, either in a -situation, at manual labour, or by being set up in a -small way at shoemaking, tailoring, or carpentering, either -as journeyman, or, where possible, on his own account.</p> - -<p>From six to twenty prisoners at a time are discharged -from one or other of the convict establishments and -brought to the Society's offices, and of the younger men -a considerable proportion are assisted to go to sea, others—but, -alas! too few—to emigrate, while a number obtain -work as builders and contractors' labourers; and others -again resume former occupations, as potmen, waiters, or -employs in various situations, where the masters are -always (if they take them on the recommendation of the -Society) fully apprised of their position. A good many -are set up again as costermongers, and in that case the -agent of the Society quietly accompanies them to market, -and advances the money for their first purchases; others -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">{284}</a></span> -go into the country and obtain work, and not a few of -the better-educated or more skilled soon obtain engagements -of various kinds, by personal application, and -without reference to the Society, though they continue to -report themselves, and to be kept in view by the agents, -and, being separated from evil companionship, and feeling -that they are not altogether friendless, retrieve their -position and regain an honourable reputation.</p> - -<p>Of 514 men and women who were received by the -Society during the year, 180 obtained employment in -London and are doing well; 156 were sent to places -beyond the metropolitan district, and were placed under -the supervision of the local police; 32 were sent to relatives -and friends abroad; 57 obtained berths on board ship; 50 -had failed to report and notify their change of address -as required by Act of Parliament; 23 had been re-convicted; -6 were not satisfactorily reported on; one had -died; and 9, who had been recently discharged at the -end of the year, were waiting for employment at the time -of the Report. To read the Report Book, recording the -visits of the agents or secretary to men employed in -various avocations, and to their friends or relatives, is -very encouraging, for it shows that of a large proportion, -say seventy per cent., there is a good hope of reclamation -by their long continuance in industrious efforts to -retain their situations and to work honestly in various -callings; while the reports of country cases by clergymen -in the provinces is equally satisfactory, especially as -they frequently record the return of the former convict -to his family and friends, amidst whom he earns an -honourable subsistence.</p> - -<p>The female convicts, who are also received at the office, -are, if they cannot be sent to relatives and friends, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">{285}</a></span> -mostly taken to a Refuge, which has been established by -the Society at Streatham, where they find a home until -situations can be obtained for them; and it is to the -credit of some earnest ladies who are willing to engage -these discharged prisoners as domestic servants that the -result is often most favourable. A very large proportion -of the women return to friends, however. Of 53 who -left the Refuge at Streatham last year, 30 were received -by friends, 18 obtained situations, 3 returned to Millbank -Penitentiary, 1 emigrated, and 1 died, 25 remaining at -the Refuge at the time of the report.</p> - -<p>In the case of these discharged female prisoners, as -well as for the sake of those men who would eagerly -seize an opportunity of beginning life anew in a new -country, it would be most desirable if greater facilities -existed for promoting and assisting the emigration of -such as gave satisfactory evidence of reformation of -character. The Society finds its own funds, supported -by contributions from the public, barely sufficient to -maintain, and insufficient largely to extend its useful -work. One of the committee, a resident in Canada, has -rendered invaluable assistance to emigrants recommended -to his notice by the Society. The governor of Dartmoor -Prison in his Report, says:—</p> - -<p>"I cannot too strongly again express my conviction -that an emigration scheme connected with the Aid -Societies would be an invaluable aid to the restoration of -many casual criminals to a position of respectability and -honesty. It would be especially appreciated by those -(unfortunately a too numerous class) who had incurred -the shorter sentences of penal servitude as punishments -for breaches of trust of various kinds. These men are -often cast off by their respectable friends, and, from the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">{286}</a></span> -shortness of their sentences, are unable to earn the additional -gratuity. With no lasting means of subsistence, -and an overstocked market for their labour, it is not to -be wondered at if such men speedily add a second -conviction to their criminal career." Let us trust that -practical steps will be taken to remove this difficulty.</p> - -<div class="frontm"> - -<p>THE END.</p> - -<p class="x-small">BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY.</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="foot"> - - <div class="right1"><i>January, 1876.</i></div> - -</div> - -<div class="frontm"> - - <p>AN ALPHABETICAL LIST<br /> - <span class="x-small">OF</span><br /> - HENRY S. KING & CO.'S<br /> - <span class="small">PUBLICATIONS.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="foot"> - - <div class="right1"><i>65 Cornhill, and 12 Paternoster Row, London,</i></div> - <div class="right3"><i>January, 1876.</i></div> - -</div> - -<div class="frontm"> - - <h2><span class="small">A LIST OF</span><br /> - HENRY S. KING & CO.'S<br /> - PUBLICATIONS.</h2> - -</div> - -<div class="booklist"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Abbey</span> (Henry).</p> - - <p class="bk"><b>BALLADS OF GOOD DEEDS, AND OTHER VERSES.</b> Fcap. 8vo. 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