UC-NRLF 
 
THE WORKERS 
 and EDUCATION 
 
 A RECORD OF SOME PRESENT DAY 
 EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 By 
 
 FREDERICK JOHN GILLMAN. 
 
 With contributions by 
 
 ARNOLD S. ROWNTREE, M.P., 
 
 and 
 WM. CHARLES BRAITHWAITE, LLB. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. 
 RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION - ARNOLD S. ROWNTREE, M.P. . . 5-8 
 
 CHAPTER I. - THE SETTLEMENTS 9-33 
 
 CHAPTER II. - THE GUEST HOUSES 34-42 
 
 CHAPTER III. - LECTURE SCHOOLS AND STUDY CIRCLES 43 -49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. - A RURAL EXPERIMENT . . . . 50-54 
 
 CONCLUSION WM. CHAS. BRAITHWAITE, LL.B. . . 55-59 
 
 APPENDICES 60-66 
 
 )NOLOCY 68 
 
Introduction. 
 
 BY ARNOLD S. ROWNTREE, M.P. 
 
 THE epoch-making events through which we are passing 
 will leave an indelible mark upon every phase of national 
 life. The country's destiny is being made anew, and, despite 
 some disquieting symptoms, a great opportunity has arisen 
 for the re-construction of human society, and the re-establish- 
 ment of human relationships upon saner and more enduring 
 foundations. 
 
 This opportunity constitutes a challenge which none of us 
 will desire to evade. It is a call to a new seriousness and a 
 fresh consecration of life. It is encouraging, as we face the 
 future, to notice in these sad months the wide recognition of 
 the solidarity of the nation. The old divisions are now seen 
 to have been unworthy of us, and, as never before, it is recognised 
 that we are all members of one body. 
 
 The time has surely come when every effort should be 
 made to put an end to our industrial and religious strife. 
 The gulf between employers and employees widens. Is it not 
 now imperative that master and man should learn to under- 
 stand each other and side by side should seek for the common 
 good ? In our religious life, creeds and questions of church 
 government surely should not be allowed to hide the essential 
 unity which binds together in a common purpose all who are 
 striving to re-establish society upon a Christian basis. 
 
 Life is so terribly complex that one might be tempted 
 to despair but for the fact that a widespread desire for a mutual 
 understanding is stirring in the minds of men. Those who have 
 
 ved the privilege of a good education must recognise that 
 in the face of this desire their responsibility is very great and 
 
constitutes a call to a high form of national service, opening 
 up great possibilities for the future. With a new recognition 
 of our obligations to each other, we shall now 
 
 " be more emboldened to appeal to men and women brought 
 up in comfort to share in the lives of those who sit their 
 life long through in the damp and dismal trenches which 
 men call home. We shall be more ready to ask men and 
 women who have spent long years in the factory and 
 at the bench to come together in pursuit of the true and 
 the beautiful, and we shall have more faith to ask alike 
 those who are far removed from poverty and those 
 who live upon its brink, to join with us in building up 
 the city that is to be.* 
 
 The problems of the immediate future cannot be solved 
 by goodwill alone. They will demand patient and scientific 
 investigation ; and men of all classes and of all points of view 
 will need to bring their knowledge and foresight into the common 
 stock if right solutions are to be found. Above all there is need 
 for patient toleration, informed knowledge and a quickened 
 sense of justice. 
 
 If educational facilities to meet these grave issues are 
 placed within the reach of the people, experience shows that 
 they will not fail to respond. In spite of the cramping and 
 deadening interests which surround them, there is in the hearts 
 of the working folk an inextinguishable longing for the things 
 of the mind and spirit. 
 
 Greater equality of intellectual opportunity is needed. 
 Most of our Universities are closed to all but the privileged few. 
 Our Empire is powerful in territory, in arms and in wealth, 
 but as " The Times " recently said : 
 
 1 ' other things underlie these, and the best things we 
 have may not endure unless they rest upon a national 
 education wisely conceived ; above all, one which helps 
 to form strong men and women." 
 
 *J. St. G. Heath (Warden of Toynbee Hall). 
 
Without the enlightenment which education can bring, men 
 are swayed to and fro, and the nation as well as the individual 
 suffers in consequence. 
 
 Strangely enough the State hitherto has only concerned 
 itself with the education of the child. Adult education has 
 been left to voluntary effort, and the pioneer work of such 
 men as Kingsley, Maurice and Toynbee, and later of Dr. Paton 
 and Albert Mansbridge yet needs to be followed up. 
 
 To-day there are a number of voluntary agencies engaged 
 ., but they are very few compared with the need. 
 One thinks of the Working Men's College, of Toynbee Hall 
 and a few University Settlements, of Ruskin College and 
 the educational work of the Trades Unions and the 
 Co-operative Societies, of the National Union of Women 
 Workers, the Workers' Educational Association, and the Adult 
 Schools. Most of these organizations have educational and 
 spiritual ideals largely in common ; they realize that the need 
 is not merely the imparting of facts, but an all-round enrichment 
 of life. As Professor Sadler says : 
 
 4 The right kind of education consists in a broadening 
 of the outlook upon life, in a finer sense of responsibility, 
 in a keener sympathy with the minds of others, in a 
 readiness to sacrifice selfish interests to the public service, 
 and in deepened insight into duty." 
 The study of economics and history especially should 
 be fruitful in showing how social life can be brought into closer 
 harmony with the ideals of human brotherhood. 
 
 And lastly, experience has clearly shown the value of 
 comradeship in the pursuit of knowledge and truth. Men 
 and women who may be opposed in politics, in social 
 and industrial interests and in religious observances, have 
 along this road formed many valued friendships, rubbed away 
 many awkward corners, and entered into a real and abiding 
 communion of spirit. 
 
8 
 
 The experiments which F. J. Gillman describes in the 
 following pages have been undertaken under the strong con- 
 viction that national necessity calls for some such efforts. It 
 will be seen that whilst they differ in scope and value they 
 have a common spirit and aim. The small group who have 
 been chiefly responsible for their initiation believe that in the 
 coming era of reconstruction the need for this type of education 
 will increasingly be recognized. 
 
 In the churches of our land there is a feeling of disappoint- 
 ment and bewilderment ; disappointment because of a declining 
 membership and the widening gulf which separates the mass 
 of the people from institutional religion ; and bewilderment 
 because the remedy so urgently called for is so difficult to find. 
 Many in the churches are feeling that it would be helpful if 
 the teaching were more definitely instructional, if opportunities 
 of discussion were more freely encouraged, and if a wide circle 
 of church workers were more completely equipped for service, 
 and were given fuller opportunities of leading and helping 
 others. 
 
 The time seems ripe for some such courageous experiments. 
 The general level of intelligence in the country is much higher 
 than it was a generation ago. The Adult Schools, which began 
 their educational programme with elementary lessons in reading 
 and writing, have endeavoured to work out new methods to 
 meet the widening demands amongst their own members, and . 
 it is hoped that the experiments here described, which have 
 sprung from that body and from members of the Society of 
 Friends, will prove suggestive in stimulating others, whether 
 individuals or churches, to consider the urgent need of further 
 experiments along somewhat similar lines, and directed towards 
 similar ends. 
 
A Record of Experiments. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Settlements. 
 
 HPHE educational experiments which are to be described 
 ^ in this chapter have largely been inspired by the members 
 of the Society of Friends and by the highly suggestive 
 development of the Workers' Educational Association, with 
 its scheme of Tutorial Classes, which has recently been recorded 
 in Albert Mansbridge's indispensable treatise.* 
 
 As far back as 1895, at a Conference of the Society 
 of Friends, held at Manchester, the question of " the more 
 effective presentation of spiritual truth " within the Society 
 was under discussion. In a paper read at the Conference, 
 the writer referred to the great need for some educational 
 aid and stimulus for young men and women members 
 after they had left school and home, and had entered 
 upon an industrial career. He spoke of the success which 
 was then attending the Adult Schools, which were furnishing 
 the Society at that time with a fine outlet for active 
 
 lectual and social service, and he pleaded for fuller 
 opportunities for training, both for teaching and for social 
 service in general, for those members who felt the call to devote 
 the best powers of heart and mind to such work. 
 
 " In what way," he enquired, " could a rightly gifted man 
 do a greater service to the Society than by gathering round 
 him, in some fitting centre, ardent young spirits, full of love to 
 
 " University Tutorial Classes/' by Albert Mansbridge ; Longmans. 
 Green & Co., price 2/6. 
 
10 
 
 God and man, and through personal association and the influence 
 of spirit upon spirit, and wise guidance and instruction, fitting 
 them, so far as human agency is concerned, for service ? " 
 
 In conformity with this ideal, and to meet the ever increasing 
 needs outlined, a number of " Summer Schools " were organized, 
 commencing in the year 1897, in various parts of the country. 
 
 A Summer School usually lasted for a fortnight or a month. 
 The students lived together, or were " billetted " out in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of their meeting-place, and they 
 pursued, in an atmosphere of fellowship, a consecutive course 
 of studies. Such a method is necessarily incomplete, but 
 experience has proved its value, particularly in stimulating a 
 desire on the part of many of the students for a more extended 
 and thorough education. 
 
 WOODBROOKE. 
 
 To carry the ideal to its logical conclusion it was made 
 possible by the generosity of a Friend to establish, in 1902, a 
 permanent residential Settlement at Woodbrooke a charmingly- 
 situated mansion about four miles from Birmingham, J. Rendel 
 Harris, D. Litt., being the director of its studies. 
 
 Woodbrooke is in reality a simple form of University, 
 offering the advantages of University life with " an atmosphere " 
 of indefinable value added, which quickens an intenser life and 
 furnishes a worthy equipment such as may well be expected 
 to enable its students in after life to influence a wide circle of 
 people in the interests of a true social order.* 
 
 But it was obvious to many of those who were watching 
 these experiments that if the educational needs of the democracy 
 
 *In the immediate vicinity of Woodbrooke and Fircroft there is 
 a network of educational institutions, including Kingsmead, for the 
 training of foreign and home mission workers ; West-hill, for Sunday 
 school teachers ; Carey Hall, for women missionaries ; and The Beeches, 
 a Rest Home for Salvation Army officers. These receive educational 
 help from the Woodbrooke staff. All of them are largely indebted for 
 their establishment to the generosity of the members of the Cadbury 
 family. 
 
II 
 
 were at all adequately to be met, the effort would have to be 
 wider than any one denomination could attempt, and in par- 
 ticular would have directly to reach the workers themselves. 
 
 The Adult Schools were increasingly feeling the need for 
 a succession of well-equipped teachers and leaders. The subject 
 came up for discussion at the Leeds meetings of the National 
 Adult School Council, in 1904. The movement was at that 
 time abounding with energy and enthusiasm, but a more difficult 
 period, clearly foreseen by many, was immediately ahead of 
 it, which would call for clear intellectual guidance and con- 
 structive thought in face of the serious issues, social, political 
 and religious, which confronted the democracy, and which 
 would inevitably come up for discussion in the Schools from 
 week to we< 
 
 In view of this situation, and profiting by the fruitful 
 experiences of the Society, the aid of the Adult Schools was 
 called in and the area of experiment was accordingly widened. 
 
 FIRCROFT. 
 
 First came Fircroft. Fircroft was founded in January, 
 1909, as a residential college for working men who might desire 
 an opportunity of devoting themselves for a short time to 
 
 nized study. The house nearly adjoins Woodbrooke, and 
 is surrounded by three acres of beautiful garden. It com- 
 prised a library and classroom, a gymnasium with baths, and 
 a workshop. It accommodated about twenty students, who 
 lived and studied together under the direction of the Warden 
 (Tom Bryan, M.A.) and a resident staff of three teachers, all 
 of whom wore graduates of British Universities. The subjects 
 of study included Mathematics, English Grammar and Literature, 
 Botany and Biology, Industrial and Political History, Economics, 
 Civics and Bible study. The institution was unsectarian, and 
 there was the greatest freedom in the religious discussions and 
 life. The students (of whom about two hundred in the aggregate 
 have been in residence) were urged to stay for a year of three 
 
12 
 
 terms, and about half of them were able to do so. Some of 
 them returned to their own trades, and others entered upon 
 various kinds of public and social work. Almost without 
 exception the students showed a really remarkable development 
 of all-round capacity ; not only were several promoted by 
 their employers to more responsible positions, but many began 
 at once to take an active part in social service. Thus two 
 brothers, who were fruit growers, formed a Co-operative Agri- 
 cultural Society among the neighbouring small-holders ; another 
 man became Secretary of a branch of an Unskilled Labourers' 
 Trade Union, and was able to improve the position of a badly- 
 paid set of men ; another became Secretary to a group of 
 village Adult Schools ; another became clerk to his " Monthly 
 Meeting," and so on. The fees were 10 per student per term, 
 and were chiefly met by bursaries. 
 
 A letter from one of the students, written in the trenches, 
 gives a little glimpse of the influence of Fircroft upon these 
 " ardent young spirits " who entered its joyful fellowship. 
 " I still have my Plato," he writes, " and many pleasant hours 
 have I had with Socrates. I try to remember the teaching 
 that was so beautiful and to keep constantly before my eyes 
 the great ideal that seemed so near." 
 
 Fircroft was formed largely on the model of flie Danish 
 High Schools, which, it will be remembered, owed their origin 
 to private initiative and benevolence, but which now receive 
 State recognition and support and the fact that about sixteen 
 per cent, of the agricultural population passes through them 
 eloquently testifies to their great influence on the life of that 
 nation. As in Denmark, the aim at Fircroft was not merely 
 to impart information, but to develop the capacity to appreciate 
 what is valuable in life, to stimulate the imagination and to 
 strengthen character. 
 
 The continuance of the war and the introduction of con- 
 scription have made it impossible to continue the normal 
 
13 
 
 activities of Fircroft for the present, and its future may be 
 modified so as to secure its co-operation in a contemplated 
 double scheme for a Woodbrooke Settlement in one of the 
 poorer districts of Birmingham, and an Agricultural Colony 
 where students may combine the pursuit of learning with 
 e work on the land. 
 
 THE NON-RESIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 The number of people able to give up business for a sufficient 
 
 length of time to enter into residence, even for a term, at 
 
 \Voodbrooke and Fircroft, will always be very small. 
 
 The experiments now to be described have been inaugurated 
 with the object of extending the advantages of college life 
 as far as seems practicable to the general community of thought- 
 ful men and women, who, desiring intellectual equipment, 
 and wishing to be of service to their fellows, can only spare 
 a few hours a week, usually in the evening, for study. 
 
 Five non-residential Settlements have been founded as 
 follows : 
 
 Swarthmore, Leeds . . . . 1909 
 
 St. Mary's, York 1909 
 
 The Homestead, Wakefield . . 1913 
 
 The Settlement, Lemington . . 1913 
 
 Beechcroft, Birkenhead . . . . 1914 
 
 The aims which are pursued in common at these five centres 
 
 have perhaps already been sufficiently explained. The courses 
 
 of study are chiefly planned to meet the more thoughtful type 
 
 of working folk, but " grading " has recently been attempted 
 
 so as more fully to meet the needs of would-be students in 
 
 varying stages of development. 
 
 The cost of maintaining these non-residential Settlements 
 varies greatly, and is, of course, correspondingly higher where 
 the great advantage of the services of a whole-time resident 
 Warden has been possible. The income is generally mainly 
 
received from a number of private subscribers ; Government 
 grants are earned towards the cost of the Tutorial and a few 
 other classes ; and some Adult Schools send subscriptions. 
 The students' fees are usually fixed at about 1/6 for a course 
 of twelve lectures, or 3/6 for the whole series for a term of three 
 months. If the fees were fixed at higher rates some promising 
 students would be shut out. 
 
 The curriculum in every instance is catholic in its scope, 
 but is always arranged with a view to the special needs of men 
 and women who live in contact with life's hard realities, and 
 who may reasonably be expected, as a result of their studies, 
 to reflect in their normal everyday work and surroundings the 
 spirit of enlightenment and enlargement of outlook into which 
 they have been brought. 
 
 The social position of the students varies greatly. Many 
 are not attached to any religious denomination, and such are 
 specially welcomed, particularly those who are seeking actively 
 to help in movements for the betterment of industrial and 
 social conditions. In so far as Church members have been 
 reached, an enrichment of the local Church life and activities 
 has undoubtedly resulted. 
 
 In every instance the life of the Settlements is permeated 
 with a broad religious spirit. It has to be admitted that the 
 creation of a University atmosphere is not easy of attainment, 
 but it is by no means absent. The Wardens are men of con- 
 siderable attainments and pronounced personality, and the 
 group method of study and the social amenities of the Common- 
 room help to fulfil Mazzini's idea of education through fellowship. 
 
 It only need be added that the experimental stage has 
 not yet been passed, but that as far as it has gone there is every 
 reason to believe that the non-residential Settlements have 
 contributed to the quickening of the moral sensibility of the 
 community, and have stimulated hundreds of people "to rise in 
 daily practice to the love of virtue and duty. ' ' In the educational 
 
15 
 
 developments of the twentieth century we are convinced 
 that they will be recognized as among the " Look-out posts " 
 of the future, from which glimpses were caught of the time 
 when educational enlightenment and opportunity, instead of 
 being the privilege of the few, should in widest commonality 
 become available to the whole people. 
 
 At all fully to meet the needs of the future, we need to 
 create a whole series of educational centres, presided over by 
 men and women of scholarly attainments and sympathetic 
 spirit, where, in a homely atmosphere, the mind and heart 
 can alike be trained and enlarged, where difficulties can be 
 discussed and solved, and where active workers can be guided 
 and methods of social service thought out and perhaps ex- 
 perimentally undertaken. Such centres are equally called for 
 in our large industrial centres and in our agricultural districts. 
 
 (As will be seen, the experiments under review have actually 
 been undertaken both in urban and in rural areas.) 
 
 liould be stated that in the following descriptions some 
 repetition has been inevitable, in view of the fact that the aims 
 of the various centres are so largely identical. But it seems 
 best to give a separate account of each place. 
 
 SWARTHMORE, LEEDS. 
 
 Swarthmore is a non-residential Settlement for religious 
 and social study. It is non-residential in the sense that none 
 of the students resides on the premises ; but it is a recognized 
 hostel affiliated with Leeds University, and four or five Univer- 
 sity students have lived there and taken a useful part in the 
 work. The Warden (G. K. Hibbert, M.A., B.D.) and his wife 
 live in an adjoining house. Maurice L. Rowntree, M.A., is 
 the Assistant Warden. 
 
 The Settlement is under the control of a Council of Friends 
 in Leeds and the neighbourhood. Friends' Meetings in the 
 surrounding towns, such as Bradford, Shipley and Harrogate, 
 
16 
 
 appoint representatives. The membership of the Council is, 
 however, not confined to Friends. The local Sunday School 
 Union is represented (the Settlement is the headquarters of 
 the Leeds Primary Department), and before the war depleted 
 the Leeds University staff two or three of the Professors were 
 also members. There is a decided and very helpful " Friendly " 
 atmosphere about the place, but it must not be supposed that 
 the wider public is neglected. People come to Swarthmore 
 from many churches including the Anglican and the Wesleyan 
 and quite a considerable proportion of the students are Adult 
 School members, whilst some are unattached to any religious 
 organization. 
 
 Geographically, Swarthmore is admirably situated for 
 reaching the people of Leeds and the outlying suburbs. It 
 rejoices in a garden, and looks out on a leafy open space and 
 a big stretch of sky, yet it is within sight of the Town Hall 
 and only a few minutes' walk from the centre of the city and 
 the station termini and main tram routes. 
 
 The aim of the work is stated to be to equip men and 
 women for religious and social work, to create and cement 
 friendships, and to guide and inspire active workers. The 
 " home " element has always been strongly encouraged. 
 There is coffee in the Common-room, and before the students 
 separate they join together in family prayer, and there are 
 walks, and talks over the tea table on Saturday afternoons. 
 The Warden is always accessible and companionable a " guide, 
 philosopher and friend " to the many who look to him for 
 friendly help and guidance. The need for trained Adult School 
 leaders, and for a more effective Quaker ministry in the local 
 Meetings, is always kept in mind ; but, in addition to this, 
 workers, including a number of local preachers, come to the 
 classes, as already stated, from many churches ; and a class 
 for Sunday School teachers (dealing with Child Psychology 
 and the Art of Teaching, as well as Biblical subjects) is usually 
 included in the curriculum. The lectures on religious and 
 
I? 
 
 biblical subjects, for which the Warden is chiefly responsible, 
 have always been a strong feature. They are scholarly and 
 constructive, and (as is to be expected), wherever they start, 
 they lead the students on to the vital problem of the implications 
 of the Christian ethic in its relation to the life of the twentieth 
 century. This, of course, involves the study of the whole range 
 of social problems. Thus in recent terms the subjects have 
 included Political Economy and Industrial History, ard such 
 specific questions as Child Life and Labour, Health in the Home, 
 and Social Condi tior > in the United States. Literature, Bio- 
 graphy and Nature Study also find a regular place in the pro- 
 gram 
 
 On Saturdays in summer time there is a walk, and in the 
 winter a fireside talk on "The Event of the Week." The 
 walks are sometimes field rambles for nature study, and some- 
 times literary pilgrimages to such destinations as the Bronte 
 or the " Windyridge " country. 
 
 On Sunday evenings a most suggestive experiment towards 
 a new type of devotional meeting is being worked out. After 
 careful experimenting, and one or two failures, a meeting com- 
 bining the distinctive features of a Lecture School and a Quaker 
 Meeting has been evolved. The Warden at present is giving 
 a series of addresses at these meetings (which are held on the 
 first Sunday of each month, at 6-30) on the clauses of the Apostles 
 Creed. A discussion follows the address, and is usually partici- 
 pated in by ten or twelve people. The spirit of the discussion 
 is not disputatious, but devotional. To quote the words of 
 the Warden, " Swarthmore stands for a ruthless and relentless 
 " search for truth. There has been bred a feeling of confidence 
 " among those who attend. They can freely speak their minds, 
 11 and state difficulties which in other surroundings they dare 
 " not express/' 
 
 - not surprising to learn that the opportunity presented 
 at these Sunday evening meetings to ask questions and to 
 
i8 
 
 search for truth in this free and yet reverent spirit attracts 
 many thoughtful Church-workers, as well as others who "go 
 nowhere/' but who are anxiously desiring a reasonable basis 
 for religious belief. One cannot help wondering why the 
 Churches do not attempt to mould some of their services along 
 such helpful lines. 
 
 The economic and allied studies include a Tutorial class 
 under the auspices of the University of Oxford Tutorial Class 
 Committee. This class has just concluded a four years' course 
 on "Industrial History" (conducted by Henry Clay, M.A.), 
 and a remarkable tribute has been paid to its work by the 
 Oxford Committee, whose Secretary writes : " The class has 
 been from all points of view one of the most satisfactory of 
 the Oxford classes, and the Committee believe a piece of really 
 good educational work has been accomplished in it." 
 
 In this connection it may be stated that the Warden is 
 so impressed with the cumulative value of a long course of 
 study, that he is endeavouring to apply the Tutorial Class 
 method of a three years' course to most of the subjects on the 
 curriculum. Occasional and less advanced students will, how- 
 ever, not be neglected. There will be concurrent shorter courses 
 for them, and the summer term studies will always be self- 
 contained and of a somewhat lighter character. 
 
 During the last two or three seasons Swarthmore has been 
 extending its activities throughout the city of Leeds and the 
 surrounding thickly-populated towns of the West Riding. 
 
 The Warden or some other member of the Council visits 
 most of the Leeds Adult Schools, and at many of them " Swarth- 
 more Sundays " are annually held, at which the advantages 
 of the Settlement are explained. 
 
 There is a carefully compiled list of " Swarthmore Ex- 
 tension Lecturers," who conduct courses of study in the out- 
 lying towns. Each class so established is asked to guarantee 
 twelve students and to send a record of attendances to the 
 
19 
 
 Warden, along with a fee of 1/6 per member per term of three 
 months. This work has been exceedingly valuable. It has 
 extended the influence of the Settlement to Bradford, Sheffield, 
 Halifax, Wakefield, Pontefract and several other industrial 
 centres. 
 
 Occasionally a group of students from these outlying 
 places will spend a week-end together at Swarthmore for study 
 and fellowship on the lines outlined below in the description 
 of the work at York. 
 
 The attendances at Swarthmore itself average about two 
 hundred, and at the Extension Classes about one hundred 
 weekly. 
 
 The value of the work thus outlined is of a kind difficult 
 to tabulate, but there is no doubt that many men and women 
 have found in it an inspirational centre for study, service and 
 worship. Among several letters which the Warden has received 
 from students, one recent one says : 
 
 " I cannot tell you the great debt I owe Swarthmore, 
 the wonderful lessons I have learnt there, how to express 
 myself, how to make use of the powers I was almost 
 unaware were there. In looking inward I find that many 
 things I have learnt are not in the Syllabus. There is no 
 student who attends Swarthmore but will be doing his little 
 
 whether he knows it or not, very often not perhaps on 
 the lines marked out, but in the workshop, in the home life, 
 and in everyday conversation there is that bit of leaven 
 that will help to make our city sweeter and purer during 
 these troublous times." 
 
 There are indeed many instances where the whole person- 
 ality has been markedly developed, accompanied by a changed 
 outlook on life ; and the local Churches have been enriched as 
 their workers have discovered in themselves new gifts of leader- 
 ship and of teaching. 
 
 BEECHCROFT, BIRKENHEAD. 
 
 Birkenhead, like any other industrial town, keeps pushing 
 'ows of mean streets farther and farther afield, swallowing 
 
20 
 
 up meadow and woodland as it grows, though it is more fortunate 
 than most such districts in its possession of a splendid belt 
 of parks. At Beechcroft Settlement a little oasis of " gentility " 
 maintains a precarious foothold amid the devouring flood of 
 bricks and mortar. In Holly Bank Road the birds still sing, 
 and the pleasant villas stand amid beautiful old-world gardens 
 on the wooded hillside. Across the road and all around are 
 the regulation mean streets, and the clamour of the great neigh- 
 bouring shipyards disturbs the air. 
 
 Beechcroft is the first house in this oasis of peace. It is 
 a somewhat imposing-looking villa, standing high on a rising 
 lawn, and quite secluded in the summer time in its belt of trees. 
 One could scarcely choose a more suitable spot for an educational 
 experiment such as is being worked out with astonishing vigour 
 under the guidance of Horace Fleming and his wife. The 
 house is a large one. On the ground floor there are two rooms 
 each capable of seating eighty people, a small room suitable 
 for a library and a charming circular hall. The upper floors 
 are at present occupied by the Warden and his family, who, 
 however, keep very much of an open house for all comers, their 
 private sitting-room being in frequent use for Classes and Com- 
 mittee Meetings. 
 
 The Settlement was opened in 1914, a few weeks after 
 the outbreak of the war. Had the war been foreseen it is 
 probable that the experiment would not have been launched, 
 but the remarkable success which has been achieved has more 
 than justified the decision to go forward. 
 
 The aim of the Settlement is something more than merely 
 the provision of an educational centre for the local Adult Schools 
 and Workers' Educational Association. 
 
 It is intended further to link up and develop and deepen 
 every local organization which is in any way engaged in Adult 
 education, and to create a fellowship of all who are anxious 
 for the betterment of society. Special efforts have in particular 
 
21 
 
 been made to enlist the co-operation of the local Trades Unions 
 and with marked success. 
 
 It is a fact suggestive of many things that whilst there 
 are approximately 200,000 Trade Unionists in the area covered 
 by Liverpool University, the joint Education Committee set 
 op by the University and the Workers 1 Educational Association 
 has only been able to organize nineteen classes among them, 
 with a membership of about two hundred. That is to say, 
 that only one member in a thousand has been reached. The 
 need, therefore, is pressing if the intellectual and moral claims 
 of the immediate future of this great industrial district are at 
 all adequately to be met. 
 
 There can be no question that Beechcroft is rendering a 
 great service to the workers of Birkenhead. The District 
 Trades Council meets there monthly to listen to such authorities 
 as J. A. Hobson, A. E. Zimmern, G. D. H. Cole and Arthur 
 Greenwood, and to discuss with them over the tea-table many 
 vital industrial problems. During the term which has just 
 closed, such topics as " The Future of Trades Unionism/' 
 " Labour and the War " and " An Englishman's Liberties " 
 have been dealt with. Nor is that all. The Warden has been 
 conducting a course of studies for the members of the National 
 Union of Railwaymen on " The Industrial Revolution," and 
 the Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen have been studying 
 " The Rise of the British Empire/' 
 
 These lectures are officially administered, and the necessary 
 notices sent out, not by the Warden, but by the Trades Unions 
 themselves ; the part of the Settlement is to obtain the lecturers 
 and provide hospitality. The attendance varies from twenty 
 to forty. The meetings are held on Sundays, at 3 and 6 o'clock, 
 with tea and a sing-song in the interval. With so much over- 
 time on the railways, Sunday is the only possible day of meeting, 
 and even a casual sight of a class at work calls to mind the 
 old proverb " The better the day, the better the deed " ; for 
 
22 
 
 it would be a great mistake to suppose that the time is occupied 
 in discussing the minutiae of Trade Union activities, or the 
 utilitarian or political issues of industrialism. Rather is one 
 introduced into the realms of idealism. 
 
 On a recent Sunday afternoon, when, for the first time, 
 the National Union of Railwaymen and the Enginemen com- 
 bined for a joint lecture school, it was wonderful to see the 
 keenness and enjoyment with which such deep subjects were 
 faced as the transcendent need in this country of men of richness 
 of heart and mind, the replacement of social fear by " a com- 
 munity of friends," the surrendering of self to the common 
 weal, and central problem of all the mastery of the soul. 
 No words spoken on that memorable occasion were more sym- 
 pathetically applauded than the statement that as soon as 
 ever the war is over we must cultivate friendship with Germany, 
 excepting perhaps such pithy maxims by the lecturers as that 
 " One just man in a Trade Union is of value beyond calcu- 
 lation," or that " Every Trade Union Meeting should be a 
 sacrament, a communion of earnest souls seeking to express 
 the highest within them." 
 
 It was a revelation, too, to hear the fine deep-throated 
 voices of these hardy fellows as round the fireside they sang 
 together the inspiring words of Mrs. Gilman's " Song to 
 Labour " : 
 
 The whole world lies in your right-hand, 
 Your strong right-hand, 
 Your skilled right-hand : 
 You hold the whole world in your hand : 
 See to it what you do ! 
 
 It should be added that the interest of the Trades and 
 Labour Council was first secured through the friendly and 
 diplomatic approaches of the Warden, who made a tour of 
 the Unions and explained the aims of the Settlement. 
 
 Among other organizations which make use of Beechcroft 
 are the Workers' Educational Association and the Adult School 
 
23 
 
 Union. One course of lectures on " Europe from 1815 to 
 1915 " is at present being run under the joint auspices of the 
 Liverpool University Extension Board, the Workers' Educational 
 Association and the Council for the Study of International 
 Relations an admirable illustration of the value of co-operation 
 in educational effort. 
 
 Some conception of the really astonishing range of activities 
 at Beechcroft is revealed by a simple record of the first winter's 
 work, when 271 meetings of various kinds were held, with a 
 tntal attendance of 5,756. 
 
 The curriculum* includes such diverse subjects as 
 Elizabethan Literature, Local Government, Philosophy, Botany, 
 Hygiene, Industrial History and International Relations. No 
 less than fifteen classes for women are held. A play-nursery 
 has been furnished, so that the mothers may attend their classes 
 with undisturbed minds, while volunteer helpers take care of 
 
 f children. 
 
 A further interesting feature is a " Christian Political 
 FeUowsl an attempt to bring together members of the 
 Anglican and Free Churches for periodical friendly conference, 
 and particularly to discuss the social implications of the Christian 
 
 The place owes its inception to the inspiration of Fircroft. 
 has hopes that in the future he may be able to 
 secure some official support from Liverpool University, which, 
 except for its own Settlement in Liverpool, scarcely at present 
 comes into definite contact with the workers. This vast in- 
 dustrial area would derive enormous benefit if a number of 
 centres such as Beechcroft could be established amongst the 
 homes of the people. It is, however, doubtful whether, even 
 if the University could be persuaded to go some way towards 
 such a desirable goal, sufficient elasticity and freedom to experi- 
 ment would be allowed under official auspices ; and it seems 
 
 *Scc Appendix I. 
 
24 
 
 certain that such institutions as Beechcroft, to be successful, 
 must study variety of method, and that every opportunity 
 must be given to the Wardens to work along their own lines, and 
 especially to endeavour to permeate the work with a broad 
 religious spirit. 
 
 ST. MARY'S, YORK. 
 
 It is not the name of a church, but of a street which stands 
 near the walls of the great Benedictine Abbey, dedicated to 
 the mother of our Lord. Every inch of ground hereabouts 
 has its history, to which in recent years the Settlement is adding 
 an interesting chapter. 
 
 The Settlement was opened within a week or two of Swarth- 
 more, after the pattern of which it is fashioned. It is, however, 
 not so intimately connected with Friends, and is under private 
 management. Richard Westrope is the Warden, and his 
 assistant is Wilfrid Crosland, who lives on the premises, and 
 whose private room is a social rendezvous for many young 
 fellows who make the Settlement their intellectual and social 
 home. 
 
 The syllabus at St. Mary's has always been catholic in 
 its scope. The Warden has desired from the outset to set a 
 high standard in the quality of the teaching, and many well 
 known names are included in the list of visiting lecturers. 
 
 The plan at first was to have three main courses each 
 week, with smaller study groups on the intervening evenings. 
 The type of student specially desired was the more thoughtful 
 working man and woman troubled by a whole range of problems, 
 and perhaps somewhat embittered in facing them. Not only 
 was it hoped to offer intellectual help, but at the same time, 
 following Mazzini's method, to " connect all our education 
 with our social life, with our fellowship as human beings." 
 The note of comradeship has always been strong at St. Mary's. 
 There is an abandon, a freedom from restraint, and a spirit 
 
25 
 
 of esprit-de-corps there which has greatly helped the seeker 
 after knowledge and truth, and which has had the additional 
 great value of attracting many young men and women into 
 the homely fellowship of the place results which no doubt 
 reflect the presiding genius of the Warden and his colleague. 
 
 The course of studies is very similar to that pursued at 
 the other Settlements under review. There is usually one 
 definite religious course, with others on Economics or 
 Literature. Frequently a course is arranged on a given subject 
 or book, such as Wm. Chas. Braithwaite's " Foundations of 
 National Greatness," a different lecturer attending each week. 
 ;ing has always been a feature, and there is plenty of 
 fun <ind merry fellowship in the Common-room after the lectures. 
 
 There is a good library, mainly concerned with theology 
 and sociology, the nucleus of which was got together by means 
 of a generous gift of 100 from the late Henry Tennant. 
 
 The Workers' Educational Association makes its local 
 headquarters at St. Mary's, and a Tutorial Class, at first under 
 Arthur Greenwood, M.A., and latterly under Prof. Grant, has 
 just concluded its fourth year. 
 
 The number of students attending the classes at St. Mary's 
 
 :ig the past six years has averaged one hundred and ninety 
 per week. 
 
 Four or five young men have gone on from St. Mary's 
 to Fircroft for a term of residence there, and one of them is now 
 Warden of the University Settlement at Glasgow. 
 
 e the outbreak of the war, some valuable extension 
 work has been undertaken in the suburbs of York. A Women's 
 Class on European History, in the spring of 1915, attracted 
 about forty students, a dozen of whom agreed at the close of 
 the course to get their friends and neighbours together in little 
 groups in private houses to pursue the study of war problems. 
 One working woman said : " I had often wished I could do 
 something to help the neighbours in my street, but I never 
 
26 
 
 had a chance before." Her kitchen was crowded at each 
 meeting through the winter, people often sitting on the floor ; 
 and her husband presided at the gatherings, which were felt 
 to be of great value. This was only one of a dozen similar 
 groups attended fortnightly by about two hundred people. 
 The subjects taken included France, Russia, Italy, the Balkans, 
 Modern Egypt, and the Growth of Modern Germany. A number 
 of leaders supplied from St. Mary's (some being more advanced 
 students there) conducted the studies, and it was a common 
 experience for an animated but very friendly discussion to 
 continue well into the second, and occasionally even into the 
 third hour. 
 
 The influence of St. Mary's has spread much farther afield 
 than the walls of the old city. During each summer it has 
 been customary to welcome groups of Adult School members 
 from the West Riding towns for week-end visits of an educa- 
 tional character. The house is well situated for such a purpose. 
 There are five bedrooms, very simply furnished, capable of 
 accommodating eighteen visitors ; and there is a large kitchen 
 where meals are taken. A charge of 4/- per person is made, 
 covering board and residence from Saturday's tea to Sunday's 
 tea. Under the guidance of the inspiring table-talk of the 
 Warden these groups meet on the lawn or in the Common-room, 
 discussing at first their Adult School concerns, but passing on 
 to dreams of a new England, with all its people waiting to be 
 gathered into a life of fellowship and service. 
 
 An Adult School teacher, who, on more than one occasion, 
 has been present with a group of men from his own and other 
 classes, says : 
 
 " We realized during our visits a fellowship and stirring 
 of spirit which exceeded anything experienced anywhere else. 
 We talked and thought of nothing but pure and high and 
 lovely things. I feel it to be quite inadequate to express 
 the impressions made upon me, which have been about the 
 most uplifting experiences I have gone through." 
 
27 
 
 Another member of the party, a compositor by trade, 
 recording his experience, says : 
 
 11 It was a time that I shall not in a hurry forget, and 
 it has led me to search into my own heart and life, and to 
 ask myself ' What am I doing to extend the kingdom of 
 God on earth ? Am I satisfied with educating myself in 
 
 material things of life, and leaving out the spiritual ? ' 
 The one cannot really and truly exist without the other. 
 The whole gathering has been a revelation to me." 
 
 The Yorkshire Adult School Union makes a contribution 
 to the cost of these week-end visits, which brings them within 
 the reach of almost all who may desire to participate in them. 
 
 It should perhaps be stated that the normal life of St. 
 Mary's has been considerably modified within recent months, 
 as the Common-room has been handed over to the Belgian 
 refugees in the city as their club room, and the Friends' Am- 
 bulance Unit have used the premises as a hostel and local 
 
 ;ng centre for their members. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT, LEMINGTON-ON-TYNE. 
 
 Lemington is an industrial village on the banks of the 
 Tyne, about four miles west of Newcastle. It numbers about 
 four thousand inhabitants. The principal industries are 
 engineering and mining, a large proportion of the men finding 
 employment at the great Armstrong works. 
 
 Lemington adjoins Walbottle, which in common indeed 
 with the whole district enjoys unenviable notoriety on 
 account of the overcrowded and unhealthy conditions under 
 which the people live. 
 
 The impression left on a visitor is not of squalor, but of 
 drab monotony. The people, though imprisoned in a mean 
 environment, possess the strong, hard-headed characteristics 
 for which Northumbria is famed. Here, if anywhere, is soil 
 
 i which to anticipate a fruitful harvest from a bold educa- 
 tional experiment. 
 
28 
 
 Dr. Andrew Messer and his wife, feeling a deep concern 
 to be of service to the community among whom their lot is 
 cast, at first adopted conventional methods of social service, 
 such as a programme of Saturday night popular entertainments. 
 The results were ephemeral, and it was realized that some 
 less spectacular line of approach was desirable. A careful 
 experiment along Adult School lines was consequently in- 
 augurated, based upon the belief that the people would worthily 
 respond if the very best could be placed before them. After 
 patient experiment, the " Settlement " was at last instituted, 
 to be a centre of educational and spiritual help to the village. 
 The building in which this experiment is being tried is pleasant 
 to look upon. It stands in a wide open space and along the 
 entire front there is a spacious raised stone pavement and 
 sloping beds of rose trees. Large windows open southward 
 from most of the rooms, to catch every beam of sunshine that 
 can struggle through the pall of smoke. There is a large hall 
 that will seat two hundred people, a parlour (in which the 
 Adult School meets) and a large and pleasant kitchen arranged 
 for cookery demonstrations. The following programme will 
 show the nature of the activities now centred in this building. 
 
 SUNDAYS - 9-30 Adult School for Men. 
 3-15 Junior School for Boys. 
 7-0 Devotional Meeting. 
 MONDAYS - 7-0 Adult School for Women. 
 TUESDAYS - 7-0 A course of lectures and discussions on 
 
 Greek Political Theories. 
 
 WEDNESDAYS 2-0 A School for Mothers and Babies' Welcome. 
 7-0 A course of lessons on Folk Dancing for 
 
 Women. 
 
 THURSDAYS 7-0 A course of Lectures on English Literature. 
 FRIDAYS - 7-30 Ambulance Instruction Class. 
 SATURDAYS Popular Evening Lectures, Concerts, Dram- 
 atic Recitals, etc. 
 
2 9 
 
 It will be seen that this programme incorporates the original 
 Saturday evening " Pop.," and adds to it a varied and extra- 
 ordinarily useful educational course. 
 
 Economic questions are not directly dealt with. It has 
 been felt that the workers of Lemington are only too familiar 
 from hard experience with such problems, and it would be 
 more helpful to them if their attention could be drawn away, 
 the hard day's work, to Art, Literature, Philosophy and 
 " whatsoever things are lovely and of good report." Probably, 
 however, in the near future some definite subject such as the 
 History of Trade Unionism will be added, as it is realized that 
 detailed guidance will be needed to face the industrial compli- 
 cations which the war will bequeath to the toilers. 
 
 Classes for boys and girls are also to be developed, and 
 some such subjects as the Elements of Art and Science (with 
 the aid of microscope and experiment) will be attempted. 
 
 The School for Mothers calls for special notice. An average 
 of twenty-six mothers, or expectant mothers, have recently 
 been in attendance each week. The babies are weighed, and 
 are then put to sleep (or such at least is the intention) in a 
 row of cribs improvised from banana crates. These crates, 
 with bedding all complete, have only cost a shilling each. The 
 mothers then set to work making garments, according to specially 
 designed patterns. While the sewing is proceeding, health- 
 talks are given by the Health Visitor for the district, or some 
 other competent person. Tea is provided at a charge of a 
 penny. Sometimes a demonstration is given in the preparation 
 of infants' food, and a special gas stove has been installed for 
 the purpose. An Infants' Welfare Exhibition is now in con- 
 templation, at which many of the methods which modern 
 research has proved to be so important to the physique of our 
 race will be visualized in popular fashion. The writer on a 
 recent visit learned two significant facts which show what 
 valuable results the class has already achieved. One was that 
 
30 
 
 the mothers who attend are in constant demand as advisers 
 to their neighbours ; and the other that the percentage of 
 breast-fed infants among them stands at eighty per cent. 
 
 The main purpose of the class is not to draw the women 
 into the Adult School, but to promote the welfare of the child- 
 life of the village community. The class, however, provides 
 a fine sphere of social service for the members of the Women's 
 School, who are able to make many friendships and perform 
 many little acts of kindly neighbourliness in the homes all 
 round them. 
 
 The meetings on Sunday morning and evening present 
 features of much interest. The Adult School consists of a 
 smallish group, say thirty, but every head counts for something. 
 Among the members are a considerable number of Trades Union 
 leaders, two or three School Teachers, two or three Analytical 
 Chemists, a County Councillor, a Magistrate, and Officers from 
 Rechabite, Sons of Temperance and other Lodges. They sit 
 round the fire in homely fashion, while " the Doctor/' with a 
 blackboard and chalk, unfolds the lesson. On a recent Sunday, 
 when the place of the Bible in the development of mankind 
 was under consideration, it was a revelation to hear these men 
 discussing the difference between the literature of the Hebrews 
 and the Greeks. But it is after the last hymn has been sung 
 and the formal meeting brought to a close that the most in- 
 teresting part of the proceedings begins. Pipes are then lit 
 and the group draws a little closer round the fire. Then, in 
 a delightfully informal fashion, friend converses with friend, 
 and in this refreshing flow of soul many deep problems are 
 debated in a spirit of noble seriousness, and always under " the 
 Doctor's " wise and genial guidance. In the evening, the 
 procedure is much the same, excepting that the lesson gives 
 place to a time of family worship, in which all are free to take 
 part. 
 
 One word must be added on the mundane subject of finance. 
 The whole of the work undertaken at Lemington, from the 
 
3* 
 
 lecturing to the caretaking, is voluntarily rendered. The cost 
 of maintaining the Settlement is thus kept within easily 
 manageable proportions. 
 
 Of course the experiment calls for exceptional powers of 
 leadership ; but it is worthy of any man's highest endeavour. 
 If there were fifty such institutions scattered along the banks 
 of that busy river, Tyneside would be a happier place than it 
 is to-day, and some of our ominous social problems would be 
 easier of solution. 
 
 THE HOMESTEAD, WAKEFIELD. 
 
 " The Homestead " does not claim to be " a Settlement/' 
 but rather a vigorous Adult School, strongly developed along 
 educational lines. 
 
 The School at first was carried on in a small room which 
 was only available on Sunday mornings. The members felt 
 crippled in their efforts : they were bigger than their room : 
 they wanted to expand. By a fine united effort they raised 
 200 or 300, and, with the help of a local building society, 
 built an unpretentious house, with the two top rooms made 
 into one. A surrounding plot of land measuring about 1,200 
 square yards was also bought. The men worked like Trojans 
 at the new building, digging out the foundations in their spare 
 time, and doing many another odd job to make their new home 
 comfortable. 
 
 The premises were opened in October, 1913. A few months 
 later war broke out, and many of the younger members enlisted. 
 This involved the abandonment of many projects, and a re- 
 arrangement of the programme to meet the altered circum- 
 stances. 
 
 There is a bracing atmosphere at The Homestead. Ten 
 years' hard Adult School work lies behind it. Those ten years 
 saw many very ordinary folk touched with a new enthusiasm 
 and purpose. Some were drifting aimlessly through life, and 
 almost unconsciously they have become useful men and women. 
 
32 
 
 The greater proportion belong to no religious denomination, 
 though some few are Church workers and local preachers. 
 
 The entire management of the place is in the hands of 
 a small council of its members, to whom the President, W. H. 
 Blackburn, describes himself as " Consulting Engineer." They 
 undertake every detail of the work (excepting some of the 
 lecturing), from the caretaking to the conduct of the Sunday 
 evening meeting for worship. They also send out a rota of 
 speakers and teachers to the local Brotherhoods, Debating 
 Societies, Adult School Lesson Preparation Classes and Study 
 Circles ; they have supplied Presidents for at least three local 
 Adult Schools, and a Sunday seldom passes but one or more 
 of them takes the Bible lesson or the " First half -hour " in 
 one of the Wakefield Adult Schools. 
 
 The " Consulting Engineer " keeps a friendly eye on the 
 few people who come merely to enjoy the fellowship of the 
 place, and is always trying to induce them to take their share 
 of active service. Truly The Homestead is a hive of busy workers. 
 
 There is a full programme of meetings during the week, 
 including a " Mothers' Club," which is attended by the City 
 Medical Officer and the Lady Health Visitor, who give lectures 
 and personal advice to the women. On Sundays, in addition 
 to the ordinary School meetings, special courses of lectures 
 are arranged. 
 
 Occasionally the week concludes with a Saturday evening 
 social gathering, of which the President writes : 
 
 " The Saturday evening ' confab ' is just the thing. No 
 arrangement of subject is made ; we just put our pipes on, 
 and our feet on the mantelpiece, and talk. We finish with a 
 family reading, quietly, that goes home every time. Its very 
 friendliness appeals to men, and its informality." 
 
 Some excellent, unconventional work is done for boys 
 and girls. The boys at their Sunday class whistle the chorus 
 to one of the hymns ! They are just now busily engaged in 
 
33 
 
 fixing up some weather-apparatus in the garden, from which 
 they intend to compile charts. They have their own Rambling 
 Club, Swimming Club, Savings Bank, and so on. 
 
 The girls (who are divided into junior and senior classes, 
 averaging from twenty to thirty each in attendance) wear 
 membership armlets and are proud of them. They voluntarily 
 keep the premises clean. 
 
 It will be gathered that an atmosphere of informality 
 and independence is maintained at The Homestead, such as is 
 likrly to attract the hard-headed workers of this rugged industrial 
 district. But, as in all the other Settlements here described, 
 there is an undercurrent of reverence, a feeling after reality, 
 a keen mental alertness, and a most refreshing warmth of fellow- 
 ship. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Guest Houses. 
 
 THOUGH less strenuous in their directly educational 
 activities than the Settlements, the various Guest Houses 
 which here come under review are carrying on work of real 
 recreative and educative value. 
 
 There is a vast field open to the educationalist in helping 
 people to spend their leisure time wisely and well, and to 
 appreciate more deeply the wonder and beauty of the natural 
 world. 
 
 The Guest Houses, which are intended to provide holidays 
 within the means of the wage-earners, have introduced many 
 to an entirely new world. Some of the visitors have seen a 
 bird's nest for the first time in their lives : others have been 
 introduced to the fascinating life of seashore, moor or mountain, 
 and have found a new and absorbing hobby : many have 
 learned to appreciate worthily the healing and refining influences 
 of nature ; whilst in the social life and the comradeship of the 
 daily ramble they have tasted to the full the joy of an inspiring 
 fellowship. 
 
 The Guest Houses are increasingly being used, especially 
 out of the holiday " season/' for specific educational purposes. 
 Week-end conferences of Adult scholars, interspersed with 
 lectures, are frequently held at all of them ; and they are also 
 used in a similar way by other groups, such as the Friends' 
 First Day School Association, the Workers' Educational Associ- 
 ation, the local School Teachers, Girls' Clubs, Esperantists, 
 as " Retreats," and so forth. At Scalby there is an annual Nature 
 Study School (attended largely by school teachers), at which 
 courses of lectures are given on such subjects as " The Natural 
 
35 
 
 History of a Moor," and " The Natural History of the Seashore." 
 An advanced class is also arranged on these occasions for those 
 wishing to obtain a deeper insight into some of the problems 
 of life and evolution. 
 
 No more admirable centres for such gatherings could well 
 be conceived. In an environment so quiet and detached, and 
 amid restful natural scenery, mind and heart are in a mood 
 to respond to every uplifting and inspiring influence. 
 
 The Guest Houses are admirably suited for experimental 
 educational work during the winter months, and such work 
 might well lead to some propagandist educational movement 
 in the surrounding villages. 
 
 The aggregate number of visitors during the few years 
 the Guest Houses have been open amounts to several 
 thousands. 
 
 The cost of maintaining the permanent Guest Houses is, 
 of course, chiefly defrayed by the fees of the visitors. The 
 charges range in normal times from 2O/- to 28/- per week for 
 an adult, or 6/6 to 7/6 for a week-end (Saturday tea to Monday 
 breakfast)*. There are prefen-nti.il rates in most cases for 
 Adult School members. A little light work, such as bed-making 
 and boot-cleaning, is undertaken by the guests. 
 
 FRIEDENSTHAL, SCALBY, NEAR SCARBOROUGH. 
 
 Friedensthal comes first in point of time among the Adult 
 School Guest Houses, and has largely set the pattern for the 
 others. 
 
 It is one of the richest legacies left to us by the late John 
 Wilhelm Rowntree (1868-1905). While living at Scalby he 
 purchased a local estate of thirty acres, on which he desired 
 not only to build himself a house, but to carry out several social 
 experiments on which he had set his mind. 
 
 These rates are temporarily increased owing to the war. 
 
36 
 
 There was a pleasant villa on the estate, and this he adapted 
 for use as a Guest House. Close at hand just across the 
 front lawn he built a charming " Common-room." 
 
 The place was furnished and handed over to the manage- 
 ment of the Yorkshire Adult School Union. It was well named 
 " Friedensthal " " The Vale of Peace." 
 
 Some time later a large Pavilion was built in an adjoining 
 field. This was intended for conferences of social workers, 
 summer schools, and such purposes. It will seat two hundred 
 people. Above it there are dormitories for twenty guests. 
 
 In addition the founder built the hall of his own private 
 house so as to make it available for social gatherings which 
 he hoped to arrange for the visitors at Friedensthal and his 
 own family and private guests. 
 
 The gardens at Friedensthal are charmingly laid out, and 
 there is a view across the valley to the beautiful Raincliffe 
 Woods. The sea is about two miles away, and northward the 
 country rises steeply to the moors, which stretch away in 
 seemingly endless vistas of beauty. 
 
 The grounds of the Guest House contain a croquet lawn, 
 a bowling green, a tennis court, a cricket field, and a delightful 
 " Children's Garden." So attractive and restful is it all that 
 some visitors who come with the intention of spending most 
 of their time in Scarborough, which is three miles distant, are 
 said to end by never leaving the grounds. 
 
 Daily life in the Guest House is simple and homely. After 
 breakfast family reading is led by one of the guests. Walks 
 are the order of the day across the heathery moors or " down 
 by the silver sea," each guest being fortified with a lunch packet. 
 In the evening there are games and sing-songs, or occasional 
 talks, say, on the flora or the antiquities of the neighbourhood. 
 
 The influence of Friedensthal has extended throughout 
 the Adult Schools not only of Yorkshire, but of the whole country, 
 partly because so many happy associations of holiday life and 
 
37 
 
 fellowship cluster round it, and also because it has carried a 
 rich spiritual and educative influence into the various centres 
 from which its visitors and students have come. 
 
 The number of visitors for the past three years has been 
 768 in 1913, 698 in 1914, and 411 in 1915. The first figure must 
 be considered as the normal one, the war having greatly inter- 
 fered with Friedensthal in common with all holiday centres 
 on the north-east coast. 
 
 UFFCULME, BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 Uffculme is a fine mansion in a residential suburb of Bir- 
 mingham. It adjoins " Highbury," well-known as the residence 
 of the late Joseph Chamberlain. Barrow Cadbury and 
 his wifr. in 1907, decided to devote the house and grounds as 
 a memorial to his father's life and work. It had been his 
 father's residence. 
 
 Uffculme may be regarded both as an Adult School centre 
 and as a holiday home. The Hostel is placed at the disposal 
 of Adult Schools, and they arrange a list of studies appro- 
 priate to their particular needs, procure lecturers, teachers 
 and leaders, and the members spend the week-end or longer 
 period together in communal life and united study and con- 
 ference. In addition to the benefit received from the actual 
 classes or lectures, the times of social intercourse and happy 
 comradeship have their right part in this " education by fellow- 
 ship." Since the opening of the Hostel in 1908, over one hundred 
 and forty such gatherings have been held, attended by more 
 than 3,500 persons. 
 
 The setting aside of week-ends for such purposes has pre- 
 cluded an extended use of the Hostel as a holiday home, but 
 each year a goodly number of Adult School members have 
 availed themselves of the open periods and have spent very 
 happy holidays there. Although but three miles from the 
 heart of Birmingham, Uffculme is charmingly situated, and as 
 
38 
 
 the estate extends to over twenty-six acres there is no sense 
 of urban confinement. Altogether eight hundred holiday- 
 makers have so far stayed in the Hostel, which accommodates 
 thirty-five visitors at a time. 
 
 During the summer season the extensive grounds are 
 visited by Adult School parties, Mothers' Meetings and Children's 
 Sunday School picnics, and each day presents its animated 
 picture of men and women who have thrown off, for a brief 
 hour or two, the anxieties of life, or of children enjoying the 
 pleasure and charm and entertainment which Uffculme pro- 
 vides. The number of such visitors has now reached a total 
 of 202,500, comprised of 855 parties. 
 
 An area of land has been set aside for garden allotments 
 for Adult School members, and about forty men have found a 
 new interest in the cultivation of their own plots. Very success- 
 ful results have attended this scheme, and men who previously 
 had never handled a spade have developed into quite creditable 
 gardeners. 
 
 Upon the outbreak of war the normal work of the Hostel 
 fell into abeyance and has been, and still is, superseded by that 
 of the accommodation and care of Belgian refugees. But 
 during the earlier days of the war a very interesting " school " 
 was held, about four dozen boys and girls from the poorer 
 homes of Birmingham being boarded, clothed and educated 
 for a period of three months. This proved quite a successful 
 venture, and was greatly appreciated by the children.* 
 
 KEYS FARM, CLITHEROE. 
 
 The happy inspiration which led to the opening of Heys 
 Farm is traceable to a week-end conference of Lancashire Adult 
 School workers, at St. Mary's Settlement, York. So much 
 stimulus was received by those who attended that Conference, 
 
 *Since this account was written, Uffculme (house and grounds) 
 has been offered to the Corporation of Birmingham, and gratefully 
 accepted by them. 
 
39 
 
 that one member present determined to provide a centre nearer 
 the Lancashire towns, where the Adult School workers of that 
 great county could frequently meet for quiet retirement and 
 mutual help. He looked round for a small village cottage, 
 but the only suitable place which offered itself was Keys Farm. 
 No more delightful spot could be desired. The farm is a 
 charming old place, tucked away a quarter of a mile back from 
 the road, on the fell-side overlooking Pendle Hill, where George 
 Fox had his vision of " a great people to be gathered to the 
 truth." Close at hand are high fells and beautiful streams. 
 The house (which has once or twice been enlarged) contains 
 a large kitchen and parlour the latter an old cow-shed con- 
 verted into a delightful oak-beamed Common-room and up- 
 stairs three dormitories containing four, six and eight beds 
 respectively, and christened " The Jungle," " The Long Room " 
 and " The Backwoods," with two smaller rooms. Altogether, 
 with sleeping accommodation in neighbouring farm-houses, 
 ity-five or thirty persons can be housed. A resident couple 
 keep house and attend with cheerful diligence to the comfort 
 of the guests. There is a lawn for tennis or bowls, a cricket- 
 pitch and a large vegetable and flower garden. 
 
 Percy Davies and his wife, to whom the establishment 
 of the Guest House is chiefly due, live during the summer months 
 in an adjoining residence, and their constant presence among 
 the visitors is a source of inspiration and help. 
 
 The first purpose of the Guest House is to help the 
 Lancashire Adult Schools. 
 
 The ordinary Adult School " week-ends " are delightfully 
 
 mal ; sometimes there is a lecture, but oftener walks on 
 
 ide or by the stream, with friendly talks about one's 
 
 Adult School work, are the order of the day, with an evening 
 song, ending with family worship. On Sunday evenings 
 
 there is a meeting for worship in the Common-room. 
 
40 
 
 A comprehensive and interesting statement of the aims 
 of the Guest House which has just been issued states that it 
 stands for a spiritual attitude towards life ; it is a " church "* 
 of experimental religion, without creeds or ceremonies, where 
 search is made after a person relationship with the Divine 
 Spirit ; a home of deepening fellowship where men and women 
 lose their sense of isolation, and a school for the study of those 
 things which make life more abundant and more rich in service. 
 
 It may be added that when the farm was first opened 
 a number of the villagers attended a course of educational 
 classes, but it proved increasingly difficult to continue this 
 and at the same time to arrange a programme which would meet 
 the needs of the townsfolk. The problems of town and country 
 education seem to call for separate lines of approach. 
 
 OLD HALL, BARMING, NEAR MAIDSTONE. 
 
 This Guest House is pleasantly situated in the heart of 
 " The Garden of England." It is a picturesque old gabled 
 farmstead, richly coloured with age, and embowered in trees. 
 There is about an acre of garden. The surrounding country 
 is well wooded, and in early spring, when the plum and cherry 
 orchards are in bloom, the fields all round the house are fairy- 
 like in their beauty. 
 
 The Guest House owes its inception chiefly to Charles Pine. 
 The Kent Adult School members and other sympathisers helped 
 to raise nearly 400 to pay for the furniture and structural 
 alterations, and the Common-room was furnished by a local 
 friend as a memorial to his wife. Though the war has dislocated 
 the ordinary life of the place (a party of Belgian refugees were 
 entertained there for several months), it is anticipated that the 
 venture will be self -supporting in normal times. 
 
 Maidstone is only an hour's run from town, and the Old Hall 
 is becoming more and more a place of retreat for Londoners. 
 
 *The word " church " is, of course, not to be taken in the 
 ecclesiastical sense. There is no membership of any kind. 
 
41 
 
 Amid the pleasant Kentish orchards and in the fellowship of 
 the common life, one experiences with a thankful heart the 
 healing and cleansing influences of quietude, and gains " re- 
 cruited vigour for the task of living." 
 
 The Warden, in reviewing last year's work, sums up her 
 
 impressions by saying that the usefulness of the place keeps 
 
 widening as time goes on, both to the merry holiday-makers, 
 
 and to the weary folk who for a time take up their abode within 
 
 alls. 
 
 PENSCOT, WINSCOMBE. 
 
 Penscot is an old village inn, near Winscombe, in Somerset. 
 The house stands high up on the Mendip Hills, and is surrounded 
 on all sides by stretches of open moorland. The famous Cheddar 
 Gorge is about three miles distant, and the scenery all round 
 is varied and beautiful. 
 
 The house has two sitting-rooms, kitchens, and seven 
 bedrooms. About sixteen people can be accommodated. In 
 an adjoining field there is a Common-room, which has a good 
 verandah and commands a magnificent view out to sea. 
 
 h its furniture, and about two acres of land, the house 
 was given for the benefit of the Adult Schools by Mr. and Mrs . 
 Woolcot Thompson, of Sidcot. It is administered by a Trust 
 for the specified purposes of a Guest House or Hostel, for the 
 advancement of religion and education, as a centre for con- 
 ferences (chiefly in connection with the Bristol Adult Schools 
 and the Workers' Educational Association), and as a place 
 for rest and study. 
 
 The value of educational study at such a centre is felt to 
 be far greater than amid the noise and hurry of the neighbouring 
 great city of Bristol. An "atmosphere of expectation" 
 somehow gathers round the place, and the fact that the students 
 are living together prevents any sense of hurry and gives timr 
 for the interchange of thought and experience in an atmosphere 
 of fellowship of a particularly intense kind. 
 
42 
 
 The total number of visitors was over four hundred during 
 last year. The venture has so far paid its way, but only with 
 the help of a number of subscribers. 
 
 An interesting development of the activities of the place 
 was planned for the winter of 1914-15. It was proposed to 
 make Penscot a centre for an experimental " Winter School," 
 to which it was hoped that a group of agricultural workers 
 might come into residence for a term or two. The course of 
 study was to include English Literature, Political History, 
 Economic Theories, Science and Arithmetic. There were also 
 to be Nature Study rambles, Physical Exercises and Gardening. 
 Besides attending the classes, each student was to receive 
 private coaching. 
 
 Unfortunately the outbreak of the war rendered all these 
 plans abortive, but it is hoped to carry them out at some future, 
 happier time. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS HOLIDAY CENTRES. 
 
 In addition to these permanent Guest Houses, some 
 reference must be made to a few "occasional" Holiday 
 Homes, which are run during the summer season only, and 
 chiefly for the use of Adult School members. A list of them 
 is given in Appendix II. at the end of this volume. They are 
 all conducted on very simple lines, and do not involve much 
 expense. In common with the larger Guest Houses they pro- 
 vide an opportunity for people in varying " classes " of life 
 to meet together in helpful friendship, and amid restful natural 
 surroundings. Most of them are admirable " pitches " for 
 Lecture Schools and Week-end Conferences. 
 
 Mention should also be made of the Holiday Fellowship, 
 whose headquarters are at Con way. T. A. Leonard, who is 
 the Secretary of this organization, is desirous of introducing 
 into each of its centres some direct educational features, such 
 as evening conferences and lectures. Thus G. Currie Martin, 
 in the summer of 1915, spent a month at Con way, and delivered 
 a number of lectures and field-talks, to the very evident enjoy- 
 ment of the holiday-makers. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lecture Schools and Study Circles. 
 
 THE Week-end Lecture Schools, now so popular in many 
 directions, though of necessity only touching the fringe 
 of the problem of adult education, nevertheless fulfil 
 m important pioneer purpose. The conditions under which 
 most working men and women pass their lives make sustained 
 courses of study very difficult to them. All the more needful, 
 it that they should enjoy full opportunity during 
 their hardly-earned hours of leisure to make themselves 
 acquainted with the things of the mind and spirit. 
 
 The proceedings at a Lecture School generally include two 
 lectures on Saturday, and two on Sunday, concluding with 
 a devotional hour. Meals are taken in common by the students 
 and lecturers.* These conditions enable a husband and wife 
 to attend together, and the common meals provide a brief 
 opportunity for the cultivation of helpful friendships with 
 kindred spirits. When the school is held in a private garden 
 (and many are lent for the purpose), the peacefulness and 
 beauty of nature contribute to that detachment and serenity 
 of mind which so greatly assist the seeker after knowledge 
 and truth. 
 
 For the past three years, Professor G. Currie Martin, 
 M.A., B.D., has been devoting himself to this work. During 
 that time he has visited one hundred and twenty centres, and 
 delivered about seven hundred lectures. Wherever he has 
 been whether to an isolated village or a great city there 
 has been the same hunger and thirst after knowledge and 
 guidance on the part of the men and women who have 
 
 Sec Appendix III. for a specimen programme. 
 
44 
 
 come to hear him. His subjects have included " The Great 
 Thinkers of the World," " The Lessons of the great Religions, " 
 " The Inner Meaning of Internationalism," " Inspiration in 
 Men, Books and Movements," and several Religious and 
 Biblical courses. 
 
 Many other persons of scholarly attainments, including 
 Bruce Wallace, M.A., Wm. Blackshaw, M.A., B.D., Will Reason, 
 M.A., Meyrick Booth, B.Sc., Ph.D., E. H. C. Wethered, LL.B. 
 and the staff lecturers of the various Settlements, have under- 
 taken similar occasional work. It is probable that from 750 
 to i ,000 lectures are now delivered yearly to 'Adult School groups, 
 and everywhere the audiences are enthusiastic, often outdoing 
 the students of our public schools in their eagerness to learn. 
 
 The value of the Lecture Schools is by no means confined 
 to the brief period of study which they provide. They form 
 in very many instances a starting point for new lines of study 
 and an introduction into new realms of literature. This is 
 seen not only in the improvement in the ordinary discussions 
 and " First half -hours " in the Adult Schools, but in the growth 
 of Study groups and Reading circles. 
 
 But there is a further result which calls for special mention. 
 The Sunday evening devotional meetings with which a Lecture 
 School usually closes, are of an unique type. They are usually 
 held without pre-arrangement, unless it be that someone has 
 been invited to read or speak a few helpful words. Frequently 
 many take part, as in a family circle, and the visions and in- 
 spiration which the students have known as they have studied 
 and lived together for a brief day or two lead many to a deeper 
 consecration of life. It has often been remarked that these 
 meetings seem to recall the spontaneity and eagerness of the 
 gatherings of the early Christian Church. Men and women 
 have again and again testified that in them they have experienced 
 new visions of religious truth and duty and have made fresh 
 resolves for service. 
 
45 
 
 A development of the week-end Lecture School method is 
 seen in a growing demand for courses of week-night lectures, 
 extending over two or three months. This permits of more 
 continuous methods of study, and the cumulative educational 
 results are all the greater. 
 
 The visit of a lecturer is often followed, and sometimes 
 preceded, by the formation of a Study-circle at which the sub- 
 ject dealt with in the lectures is studied in fuller detail. 
 
 STUDY-CIRCLES. 
 
 The Study-circle has " caught on " rapidly within a 
 short space of time. Its method is very simple. Three or 
 four persons are sufficient to form a Circle, though the best work 
 
 obably done by a group of eight or ten. Each member, 
 wherever possible, is supplied with the printed outline of study, 
 so as to be prepared beforehand to ask questions or to contri- 
 bute his share to the conversation. Sometimes members write 
 papers by way of introduction to the evening's discussion. 
 Leadership can be undertaken by any educated and sympathetic 
 person, who must, of course, master the subject, but whose 
 main aim should be to draw others out, encouraging the shy 
 and restraining the voluble, maintaining throughout a free 
 and open-hearted spirit, and seeking always to stimulate thought 
 rather than to impose conclusions. 
 
 A few outline courses of study of which a specimen will 
 be found in an appendix at the end of this volume have already 
 been prepared, dealing with such subjects as the European 
 War, the Foundations of National Greatness, the Literature 
 of the Bible, and the Health of the State.* 
 
 If a whole series of carefully thought-out and directed 
 schemes of study, based on accurate knowledge, were available, 
 with suitable accompanying literature, they would meet a 
 great need ; for there can be no doubt that the Study-circle 
 method has come to stay, and is rich in potentialities. 
 
 See Appendix IV. 
 
4 6 
 
 Already, up and down the country, many little groups 
 of men and women are meeting, in private drawing-rooms and 
 kitchens, in railway mess-rooms and miners' lodges and on 
 Adult School premises, patiently threshing out week by week 
 many hard problems in a spirit of earnest enquiry. 
 
 Such a method is far more valuable than isolated intel- 
 lectual study or the correspondence class. It is the co-operative 
 principle applied to education. Experience has shown that 
 in the homely atmosphere of the fireside it is comparatively 
 easy to maintain a spirit of informality, and questions and 
 discussions are more readily evoked. 
 
 It seems very desirable in developing this work that 
 co-operation between the existing educational organizations 
 should be secured. At Bristol the Workers' Educational 
 Association and the Adult Schools have successfully combined 
 to prepare courses of lectures and to find circle leaders an 
 example which is being followed in other places. 
 
 There is, however, urgent need in almost every district 
 for competent Circle leaders. The people are very hungry, 
 but there are insufficient teachers. At Birkenhead, for instance, 
 the Warden of Beechcroft says he could at once start a dozen 
 more Circles if the necessary leadership were forthcoming. 
 Help is indeed needed in several directions. Some, who cannot 
 lead, can organize a Circle and secure members from among 
 their neighbours and acquaintances ; others can offer a suitable 
 room for the meetings. 
 
 The last named means of helping are open to almost every- 
 one who has a home. One has heard now and again of some 
 thoughtful person, who in building himself a home has planned 
 it so that at least one room can be constant!^ used for the good 
 of a wider circle than his family, and who has delighted to 
 welcome friends and neighbours who are seeking the " fellowship 
 of kindred souls." 
 
47 
 
 Enough has perhaps been said to demonstrate that the 
 Lecture School and the modest Study-circle, though both still 
 in their infancy, may be expected to become powerful factors 
 in^the future development of democratic educational efforts. 
 
 SUMMER SCHOOLS. 
 
 We have seen that the idea of the Summer School was 
 borrowed from the Society of Friends. Many are the organiz- 
 ations which have now discovered its value. 
 
 The Adult Schools were led to adopt the method largely 
 
 as the outcome of their own Week-end Lecture Schools. To 
 
 the work-a-day folk who make up the regular army of Adult 
 
 scholars, and who are quite unable to get away from the daily 
 
 us of business life to spend three or six months in a 
 
 residential college, the Week-end Schools have proved a 
 
 source of much inspiration, and naturally have provoked 
 
 a desire for opportunities for more continuous study. Hence 
 
 the proposal to hold a Summer School at Fircroft in the 
 
 summer of 1910 met with an eager response. This school 
 
 was confined to women, who perhaps thought that as 
 
 men were in the enjoyment of perpetual possession, their 
 
 turn had come to share some of the good things which 
 
 ioft had to offer. The following year a school for 
 
 both men and women was organized, about seventy persons 
 
 being enrolled, most of wiiom stayed for one week. In 1914 
 
 a more ambitious effort was made, the course of study being 
 
 lengthened to a month, and a rather wider circle of women 
 
 students being secured. For the first time on record the women 
 
 of the Adult Schools and Workers' Educational Association 
 
 were enabled to spend several weeks together in continuous 
 
 study. The curriculum was drawn up so that many sides of 
 
 Hf< were included, and each student was invited to concentrate 
 
 upon those subjects which (in consultation witli the Warden, 
 
 Miss L. Jowitt, of Bristol University Settlement) were felt 
 
 to be of the greatest personal interest and value. The charge 
 
4 8 
 
 was fixed at i per week, and some Adult Schools clubbed 
 together to send promising students who otherwise would have 
 been debarred from attending by even this modest expense. 
 
 There were forty-two students, every one of whom stayed 
 for at least a month. This is remarkable when one remembers 
 how difficult it is for women to leave home, or, if they are " em- 
 ployed," to leave their job for so long without risk of unem- 
 ployment. The party included women from Denmark, Iceland 
 and Germany. Many had come from heavy home tasks, or 
 from factory and workshop. One large firm sent six of their 
 work-girls and six others were nominated by the Workers* 
 Educational Association. The majority were young women 
 who had shown an aptitude for study. To see such a group 
 of working- women, sitting under the trees listening to the 
 reading of Whitman's " Pioneers," or to Tom Bryan's talks 
 on Mazzini, was an inspiring and touching sight. 
 
 " Only working- folk," it is true, but pioneers of England's 
 future, to whom is committed the moulding of the next gener- 
 ation. 
 
 " We to-day's procession leading, we the route for travel 
 clearing, 
 
 Pioneers ! O Pioneers ! " 
 
 The experiment proved so valuable that quite a number 
 of similar Summer Schools have since been held in various parts 
 of the country. They are of two orders : the larger ones, 
 with several resident lecturers ; and the smaller ones, with one 
 resident lecturer, aided by local helpers. Of the former type, 
 perhaps the most notable has been that held at Woodbrooke 
 in August, 1915, when the subject of study was " The Unity 
 of Western Civilisation." The arrangements for this School 
 were made largely by F. S. Marvin, M.A., under the joint auspices 
 of Woodbrooke and the National Adult School Council. One 
 hundred and twenty students were enrolled from all parts of 
 the country. The lecturers included F. S. Marvin himself, 
 
49 
 
 whose book on " The Living Past " is well known ; a number 
 of distinguished History Professors from the Universities, and 
 two or three well known economists.* 
 
 The smaller type of Summer School calls for special mention, 
 because it seems capable of almost indefinite extension. Such 
 admirable sites as Jordan's Hostel, Brickett Wood Pavilion 
 and the Friends' Holiday Cottage at Airton have been secured 
 for working out the idea on very simple and inexpensive lines. 
 If the test of the value of this class of work is its influence on 
 the heart and mind of the students, then the evidence is so 
 conclusive that one can only hope for a speedy development 
 of such work all over the country. The programme at these 
 smaller Schools is usually limited to a week. There is a resident 
 Warden or Host and Hostess, upon whom the whole tone and 
 spirit of the venture largely depend. A couple of lectures or 
 informal talks are given each day ; there is a good tramp before 
 dinmr, and the evening closes with a sing-song and family 
 worship. The cumulative influence of the common life, with 
 its open-hearted intercourse, its united study and prayer, its 
 loyal comradeship, and its i -c of thought and aspir- 
 
 ation as the conversation turns to common avenues of service, 
 is enriching and illuminating in a high degree. There is a saying 
 of Novalis that religion is a social force and can hardly support 
 itself without the mystical action of mind on mind. Many 
 have found such support in rich measure through the medium 
 of the Summer Schools. 
 
 The Lectures have been published in volume-form by the 
 Oxford University Press : price 7/6 net. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A Rural Experiment. 
 
 IN 1911 a rural experiment of much significance and promise 
 was inaugurated by Theodore W. Grubb, M.A., in Wensley- 
 dale, Yorkshire. 
 
 Wensleydale, famous for its cheese, is a country of wide- 
 spreading pastures and grand but somewhat desolate hills. 
 Its largest towns are Leyburn, at the entrance to the dale, and 
 Hawes at its head, each with a population of less than two 
 thousand. In the intervening fifteen miles there are a few 
 tiny villages and a number of scattered and solitary farmsteads. 
 
 The people of the dale preserve characteristics of their 
 own. They are somewhat taciturn towards strangers, but 
 neighbourly among themselves. 
 
 Theodore Grubb is the son of a farmer and possesses a 
 practical knowledge of farming, which no doubt has consider- 
 ably helped him to win the confidence of the dalesmen. In 
 the autumn of 1911 he settled down in Wensleydale to carry 
 out his educational experiment among " the natives,'* as we 
 town-dwellers somewhat haughtily describe them. It seemed 
 to him pathetic that so much of the youth of such a district 
 should be driven into the towns or even across the sea to seek 
 a fuller life. So he took a couple of rooms in a cottage in the 
 heart of the dale, in the beautiful little village of Bainbridge, 
 with its two hundred souls, and began his appeal. 
 
 At first, he says, it looked rather like sweeping back the 
 Atlantic with a mop, but, on the other hand, he knew that 
 the country folk " lived nearer the roots of human nature than 
 the townsfolk, and an appeal can be made to something in 
 them that was before modern civilization, and will be after it." 
 
Here in his own words is the story of the commencement 
 of his work : 
 
 ' One grey day in August, IQII, I was pacing a 
 hillside, wondering how to set to work. I had fondly 
 imagined I might teach economics and industrial history, 
 as so many of my friends seemed to consider them the 
 chief end of man ; but suddenly there flashed into my 
 mind, ' One person I have to make good, myself. My 
 duty to my neighbour is more nearly expressed by say 
 that I have to make him happy, if I may.' So I collected 
 a village committee (who afterwards worked like heroes), 
 and made a bargain with the Trustees of the village 
 hall, by which we hired it at a little more than the cost 
 of heating, lighting and cleaning, for a series of twopenny 
 concerts and lectures." 
 
 It does not sound very original a regulation series of 
 concerts and lectures. But Theodore Grubb was merely cas 
 his net. The meetings gradually became more educational, 
 and many personal friendships gathered around them. Tin 
 concerts led to a choir, and to a revival of folk-dancing ; the 
 
 ires developed into a scheme for the study of ancient and 
 modem literature, and to a network of study-groups up and 
 down the dale. 
 
 Towards the end of the first winter some attempt was 
 ! to form educational classes, one being held at a farm- 
 house, an hour's walk from everywhere. The subjects taken 
 were Shakespeare, Chaucer, French and Arithmetic. 
 
 The Shakespeare class blossomed out with a performance 
 of " Twelfth Night/' in the village hall at Askrigg. The per- 
 formance was prefaced with a ten-minutes' talk on the play : 
 the costumes were made by the players themselves : " Shakes- 
 peare " was in considerable demand at the village shop, and 
 some four hundred people came to see the performances. Oth< i 
 plays followed a nt on. 
 
52 
 
 " You see that wagon-boy/' Theodore Grubb said one day 
 to the writer during a walk in the dale, " He's the finest ' Touch- 
 stone ' in England ! " After this one learned with equal 
 astonishment of tiny groups of working folk studying Irish 
 Poetry in far-off farm-kitchens, and of audiences of fifty or 
 sixty meeting together on dark winter evenings to listen to 
 talks on " The Trojan Women of Euripides." 
 
 Still further to ingratiate himself with the young folk 
 of the district, Theodore Grubb organized a village football 
 club and a series of co-operative mountain walks : and he soon 
 began to feel at home with a goodly number of dalesfolk. His 
 sitting-room became a centre to which a few young men came 
 for private tuition, and were guided in their reading and intro- 
 duced into a wider intellectual life. This individual intercourse 
 between the teacher and a few disciples soon began to break 
 down the wall of silence and taciturnity, and before long the 
 students at the study circles were asking questions or taking 
 part in the discussions. Some circles began and ended with 
 song, which is a certain creator of fellowship, and by sure degrees 
 the shyness and reserve were melted. Of all the books studied, 
 Boswell's " Life of Johnson," with its incomparable human 
 touch, helped in an especial degree to secure this happy end. 
 
 The programme for last season, when compared with the 
 first, shows both the deepening nature of the appeal, and the 
 widening response which has come from the surrounding villages. 
 Permanent organizations have been set on foot, including 
 two Literary Societies, an Adult School, a "Women's Hour" 
 and a Girls' Club, at six centres (Leyburn, Aysgarth, Hawes, 
 Preston, Appersett and West Witton) ; these are affiliated 
 with the Workers' Educational Association, and are the only 
 non-party and undenominational societies of an educational 
 character, except one, in the dale. 
 
 Six classes, recognized by the County Education Committee 
 have also been established, chiefly for the study of European 
 
53 
 
 History and Geography, the attendance at each averaging 
 seven persons. A number of lectures, song recitals and plays 
 have been arranged in several villages, and the attendance 
 
 ranged from ten to nearly two hundred. 
 
 The students are mostly young people between the ages 
 of seventeen and twenty-five. Some of these, stimulated by 
 their association with such a scheme of study and its leader, 
 have (with the aid of bursaries) gone to Fircroft for an extended 
 
 H of study, and others have obtained Agricultural Scholar - 
 
 - at Leeds University. One young girl, who was a pupil 
 teacher in the village school, was induced to go to Northallerton 
 for a proper training ; and a promising lad gained distinction 
 in History and Literature at the entrance examination to Leeds 
 Training College, and has since been elected President of the 
 College Union. 
 
 On two or three occasions a party of about a dozen have 
 "d the Summer School at Durham University, making a 
 stay of a week there, forming valuable friendships, not only 
 with the teachers, but with a number of Durham miners who 
 were students at the same time, and returning home with a 
 widened vision of life beyond the horizon of their own village. 
 
 But the best things of all are those which cannot so easily 
 be tabulated. Students thus developing in personality may 
 be expected to make their influence felt in the distr 
 
 indeed there has grown up in the dale a fairly definite 
 
 p or fellowship, of an entirely informal type, who are facing 
 
 together, not utilitarian developments in their agricultural 
 
 fortunes, but deep spiritual problems, and are, it is to be hoped, 
 
 ig the call to active service for the help of 
 
 those among whom their lot is cast. 
 
 So far the story is as straightforward as is it fascinating. 
 The future is perhaps not so clear. The success of such work 
 depends to an exceptional degree upon the personality of the 
 leader. It may be a long time before his students are ready 
 
54 
 
 to release him for service elsewhere, while themselves shouldering 
 the responsibility for maintaining the work in the dale ; and 
 it is one of the ironies of the situation that even when that time 
 arrives many of the students only too probably will want to 
 be off to seek their fortunes in the towns. 
 
 It was hoped at the outset of the venture that the 
 Workers' Educational Association, with the possible help of 
 the Yorkshire Adult Schools, would secure a cottage and try 
 the experiment of a rural college ; and this would still seem 
 to be the natural goal of such work. The local Educationalists 
 have all along taken a friendly interest in what has been done, 
 but it is doubtful whether the existing official machinery will 
 permit of any very effective help being given to such an effort. 
 One thing, however, seems certain : the Education Authorities, 
 in any support they may feel able to offer to such experiments, 
 must give a fairly free hand to those in charge of them. The 
 personal influence of the teacher is the chief factor of all : he 
 must reside among his students and win their confidence, and 
 then he must be left very much " to lead the people to heaven 
 in his own way." His methods cannot be standardized : any 
 organization that is necessary must be made his servant and 
 not his master. The educational and spiritual needs of our 
 rural districts are very varied, and a large measure of freedom 
 and elasticity is essential if they are at all adequately to be 
 met. But whatever the future may bring, Wensleydale has 
 without doubt a message for rural England full of significance 
 and hope. 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 Bv|WM. CHAS. BRAITH\VAITE,|B.A.,|LL.B. 
 
 THE reader of the foregoing will have seen that throughout 
 the experiments described the stress is laid on fellowship 
 and education. Many of us are feeling that a powerful 
 he solution of our social problems and to thu 
 development throughout the country of a richly-furnished lift 
 can be made along these lines, and calls for the service of a great 
 army of men and women of goodwill, who will give time and 
 money to prosecuting the high enterprise. The fellowship 
 we seek means a real sharing of our lives with others ; the- 
 education we desire includes ail that fosters the healthy growth 
 of personality. We are not thinking of formal, institutional 
 fellowships, which are already sufficiently in evidence, nor of 
 dry, dogmatic instruction, administered by superiors to infen 
 but of a vital education il < ornradeship, in which (here is open- 
 hearted intercourse about the things which help us to a larger 
 life. 
 
 The chasm between the educated and the uneducated is 
 probably the chief line of separation in English life to-day. 
 I think in practice that it is more important than differences 
 in means or in position. It is easy to get on with any man of 
 education and outlook similar to your own, because you have 
 numbers of points of contact with his mind ; but, with the best 
 
 n the world, it is difficult to have more than a perfunctory 
 community of life where there is no community of ideas. 
 Accordingly, we should discuss social problems in terms of 
 education-differences quite as much as in terms of class- 
 differences or wealth-differences ; and a broader and more 
 widely-flung method of education will be found to be one of 
 
56 
 
 the most potent aids to their solution. For example, education 
 at once re-acts on the standard of comfort ; and that again, 
 if it becomes the standard demanded by a body of workmen, 
 re-acts on wages. 
 
 The idea has prevailed that only a few persons deserve a 
 good education ; and there are, of course, very wide variations 
 in the response of the individual to educational stimulus. 
 Moreover, what is one man's meat may be another man's 
 poison. But intelligence, which is the raw material of learning, 
 is found abundantly in all classes and conditions, and it should 
 be a prime national object to see that everywhere it is given 
 its chance. 
 
 It is not easy to put into adequate words the type of catholic 
 educational fellowship that lies behind the various experiments 
 recorded in these pages. The unity of spirit is obvious. 
 But in what does this unity consist ? No doubt in the 
 common spirit and outlook of the men and women and of the 
 movements that have thrown themselves into this service. 
 If you know the ideals of the Society of Friends, the Adult 
 School Movement and the Workers* Educational Association, 
 you understand the essential point of view that is needed 
 for this work, nay, you will probably feel the call to share 
 in it yourself. Or you catch the necessary illumination 
 and inspiration from some one who is already busy in the service. 
 Or you sit as a learner yourself in some Summer School or 
 Week-end Lecture School, or Study Circle, and the meaning of this 
 new education of the democracy reveals itself to you. But it is 
 less easy to convey the knowledge through the medium of print. 
 
 Some things may, however, be said. In the first place 
 the education is given as one student or seeker helps another, 
 and not from any seat of authority. William White, the Apostle 
 of Adult Schools in the Midlands for fifty years, puts the point 
 
 clearly : 
 
 " I know nothing so leavening as these Adult Schools. 
 
 It is sure to bring up the lowly and to bring down the 
 
57 
 
 lofty. If a man has any nonsense in him, or any notion 
 of his own dignity, or that deference ought to be shewn 
 to his superior station and education, he has only to 
 sit down in a class of Adult Scholars for a year, and 
 he will learn a great many things about himself and his 
 surroundings that he never knew before. 
 
 Then, it will have been noticed by the careful reader that 
 the method of teaching used in the various experiments does 
 not aim at dogmatic instruction, but at inspiration and illumin- 
 ation. The leader tries to stir faculties to action, to wake 
 mind and soul into vision and discovery, bringing men to those 
 red-letter hours of experience when they become aware of a 
 new truth, in all the freshness and beauty which attends it 
 at its moment of revelation. To see nature for the first time 
 with the observing eye, to wake to the magic of poetry, to feel 
 the past living on in the present, these experiences, and others 
 that reach up to higher spiritual levels, open doors for mind 
 and soul into new worlds. They enlarge the man's personality 
 and give a permanent enrichment to his lit".-. 
 
 In the third place, Mazzini's ideal of education by associ- 
 ation is kept well in mind. There is the life-giving contact 
 of mind with mind and heart with heart during the time given 
 to common walks or meals or worship, as well as in the free 
 discussion that follows the lecture. You get accordingly some- 
 thing of the University atmosphere, in which the student finds 
 himself living the student-life with others, learning from them 
 and with them, and drinking at the fount of truth among beloved 
 companions. 
 
 When we consider what even a taste of education of this 
 kind means to a man or woman, lifting life up and crowding 
 it with new possibilities, we cannot help feeling that many of 
 these experiments should be pushed with missionary enthusiasm 
 and devotion in town and countryside throughout the land. 
 We are well aware that the number of keen men and women 
 
58 
 
 is relatively small those I mean who are fulfilling in England 
 that prayer which Rabindranath Tagore has uttered for the 
 millions of India : 
 
 Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, 
 
 Where knowledge is free, 
 
 Where words come out from the depth of truth, 
 
 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards per- 
 fection, 
 
 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into 
 the dreary desert sand of dead habit, 
 
 Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever- 
 widening thought and action 
 
 Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country 
 awake. 
 
 We know that stunting conditions partly disable many from 
 following the quest, and that what we may call by contrast 
 satiating conditions have dulled the zest of many others. But 
 the fuller life lies before the nation as a land to be possessed, 
 and we have proved in thousands of cases, as other kindred 
 movements in the country have done, that it may be entered 
 upon with rich results by multitudes of quite ordinary people, 
 if only they can be helped through fellowship to the moment 
 of discovery. A new evangelism by such agencies as Lecture 
 Schools and Week-end fellowships is needed, followed up among 
 those who have caught the light by the more continuous work 
 of Study-circles and Settlements, all these taking diverse shapes 
 according to the circumstances of the locality and the person- 
 alities of those who are sharing in the movement as leaders or 
 students. While these simple agencies may seem to some so 
 severely handicapped by limitations of time and inadequacy 
 of equipment as to be almost valueless and we are very con- 
 scious of these limitations the quality of their intellectual 
 and spiritual atmosphere may be as keen as that of the best 
 University ; and they do succeed in giving men and women 
 
59 
 
 a sure entrance into the fellowship of soul and mind of which 
 we have been speaking. It is this fellowship for which men 
 are hungering to-day : if it can be given, a real unity of life 
 will be found springing up and overcoming the differences of 
 class and sect and condition that menace us to-day, a unity 
 not of any material uniformity but of a common spirit of life 
 animating all. 
 
 Is there not a call here for the personal service of many 
 who should be sharing and at the same time renewing their 
 own spiritual and intellectual gains in fellowship with others ? 
 Is there not also a call to those who have material resources 
 to open houses and purses to the claims of this larger comrade- 
 ship ? The times are urgent : the international and social 
 problems before England and Europe are great and insistent : 
 is there not to our hands both the opportunity and the means 
 of helping democracy to rise to the height of the demands that 
 it must face ? 
 
 By fellowship with others in the education of mind and 
 soul and in a common dedication to the highest, we may each 
 one do our part to help our desolated humanity to press forward 
 again with surer steps towards the City of God. We may 
 each one do our part in the high task ; for with us, as with every 
 fellowship of true disciples, will be our Master Himself, the 
 Unfailing Comrade. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 Beechcroft Settlement Syllabus. 
 
 January April, 1916. 
 
 SUNDAYS. 
 
 Workers' Educational Association Class for Associated 
 Society of Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen, on " The 
 Rise of the British Empire.'' 
 
 A course of Lectures for the National Union of Railway- 
 men, on " The Industrial Revolution," and another on " Political 
 Developments in Europe in the igth Century." 
 
 Occasional Lecture Schools for the Adult Schools, the 
 Trades Council, etc. 
 
 MONDAYS. 
 
 Tutoral Class for Women, on " Elizabethan Literature." 
 Men's Discussion Class (various subjects). 
 
 WEDNESDAYS. 
 
 A course of Lectures on " Europe, 1815-1915." 
 Women's Study Circles on 
 
 (a) " Some aspects of Women's Work." 
 
 (b) " Our organs in Sickness and Health." 
 THURSDAYS. 
 
 A course of Lectures on "Local Government." 
 Elementary French Class. 
 Women's Study Circles on 
 
 (a) "The Life-story of Industry from the Women's 
 Standpoint." 
 
 (b) Vegetarian Cookery Demonstrations. 
 
 (c) Ambulance Demonstrations. 
 
 (d) A course of Lectures on ''Literature." 
 
6i 
 
 FRIDAYS. 
 
 Adult School Preparation Class. 
 
 A course of Lectures on Philosophy. 
 
 A Botany Class. 
 
 SATURDAYS. 
 
 Workers' Educational Association Popular Lectures. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 Miscellaneous Holiday Homes. 
 
 I. " JORDANS," NEAR BEACONSFIELD, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 
 
 This Hostel is situated in Buckinghamshire, amongst 
 beautiful scenery and amidst fascinating historical associations. 
 It is under the management of a Committee of Friends. 
 Conferences, Lecture Schools, " Quiet Week-ends/' etc., are 
 frequently held. The terms are from 2i/- per week. 
 
 The fare from town is only 2/- return. 
 
 2. AIRTON, YORKSHIRE. 
 
 This is principally run as a holiday centre for the benefit 
 of Yorkshire Friends and Adult Scholars. It can accommodate 
 twelve persons. A Summer School for women is organized 
 every year. The students stay for a week, and there is *a 
 different hostess (usually a well-known Adult School teacher 
 or Friend) each week. The " lectures " are very informal 
 affairs, but of real educative and inspirational value. The 
 charge is only i6/- per week. 
 
 3. ALLENDALE, NORTHUMBERLAND, 
 
 and 
 4. BARNARD CASTLE, DURHAM. 
 
 These two centres serve the Adult Schools of Durham 
 and Tyneside. A small charge of 2/- or 37- per person per 
 week is made, and the visitors cater for themselves, and bring 
 their own linen. 
 
 5. DRONFIELD-WOODHOUSE, DERBYSHIRE. 
 
 This is a bungalow. It was formerly an isolation hospital* 
 and was purchased very cheaply, furnished simply for holiday 
 purposes, and set down on the hill-top, 800 feet above the sea, 
 amid lovely scenery. It is only five miles from Sheffield, and 
 
63 
 
 is under the management of the Sheffield Adult School Union, 
 It accommodates twelve in the bungalow and a further eight 
 in tents. Frequent lectures and week-end conferences are 
 arranged. Terms are about I5/- a week. 
 
 6. Low TOP FARM, CHESHIRE. 
 
 This is a small house, four miles from Stockport, on the 
 
 edge of the Peak district. There is house accommodation for 
 
 four people, but a tent is also available. The charges before 
 
 the war were as low as is/- per week. The Holt Town Adult 
 
 ool, Manchester, inaugurated this centre. 
 
 7. ST. OSWALD'S CAMP, RUBERY, WORCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 - is a summer centre under the control of the Mid- 
 Worcestershire Adult Schools. There is a Dutch barn and 
 some tents for thirty men folk. A few women can also be 
 accommodated in a neighbouring cottage. There is a large 
 field for games. The place is 720 feet above sea-level, llu- 
 terms in normal times are 2/6 per day per person. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 Programme of a Week-end Lecture 
 School. 
 
 LECTURER : G. CURRIE MARTIN, M.A., B.D. 
 
 Saturday 3-30 Welcome to students by an appointed host and 
 
 hostess. 
 
 4-0 Lecture, " How God Speaks in History/' 
 5-15 Tea and Social Intercourse and Singing. 
 6-30 Lecture, " How God Speaks in Literature." 
 8-0 Light refreshments. 
 Family worship. r 
 Sunday - 3-0 Welcome to students 
 
 3-15 Lecture, " How God Speaks in Religion." 
 4-30 Tea and Social Intercourse. 
 5-30 Lecture, " How God Speaks in Jesus." 
 7-0 Devotional Meeting. 
 
 Questions and discussions at each lecture. Tickets for 
 the course, including meals, i/- or 1/6. 
 
 Sometimes instead of four lectures in the course, there is 
 a course of three, and one on some other subject by a second 
 lecturer. 
 
APPENDIX IV. 
 
 Outline Scheme for a Study Circle on 
 "The Health of the State." 
 
 (Arranged by Geo. Pcvcrett.) 
 
 Text Book : " The Health of the State/ 1 by Sir G. Newman, M.D. 
 
 First Meeting - A PRELIMINARY SURVEY. The purpose of 
 our Study Disease in past ages Develop- 
 ment of Local Government Changes in 
 Social Conditions. 
 
 Second Meeting - THE MACHINERY OF PUBLIC HEALTH. The 
 Agencies of Government Sanitary Author- 
 itiesPublic Health Officers Voluntary 
 Agencies. 
 
 Third Meeting - FOOD AND ITS VALUE. The Uses of Food 
 Where Food Comes From Adulteration- 
 Control Water Supply. 
 
 Fourth Meeting THE MILK SUPPLY. Its Importance What 
 Milk is Milk-borne Disease Control of Milk 
 Supply Pasteurisation. 
 
 Fifth Meeting - FRESH AIR. What is Air ? Air and the 
 Human Body Ventilation Air in the Home 
 and Workplaces. 
 
 Sixth Meeting - INFECTIOUS DISEASES. Microbes Heredity 
 and Environment Signs and Symptoms of 
 Disease Means of Prevention. 
 
 Seventh Meeting " THE WHITE MAN'S PLAGUE." What is 
 Tuberculosis ? How it is Spread ? Is it 
 Curable ? Main Lines of Reform. 
 
66 
 
 Eighth Meeting - INFANT MORTALITY. The Rate of Mortality 
 The First Weeks of Life Ante-Natal and 
 and Post-Natal Influences Methods of 
 Reform. 
 
 Ninth Meeting - THE HYGIENE OF CHILDHOOD. Home In- 
 fluences School Influences Employment. 
 
 Tenth Meeting - THE CHARTER OF THE FACTORY WORKER. 
 Beginning of the Factory System The 
 Position to-day The Factory and Workshop 
 Acts Women under the Factory Acts 
 How the Individual may Help. 
 
 Eleventh Meeting OVERCROWDING AND DOMESTIC SANITATION. 
 What is Overcrowding ? Some of its Results 
 Causes Remedies. 
 
 Twelfth Meeting THE PHYSICAL EFFICIENCY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 The issues at Stake What is being done ? 
 What is Lacking ? The Individual's Responsi- 
 bility Hope for the Future. 
 
Addresses of Various Organisations, etc. 
 
 The National Adult School Union, 
 i, Central Buildings, 
 
 Tothill Street, 
 
 Westminster, S.W. 
 
 The Workers' Educational Association, 
 14, Red Lion Square, 
 
 Holborn, 
 
 London, W.C. 
 The Warden, 
 
 11 Woodbrooke," 
 
 Selly Oak, 
 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Either of the writers of this booklet will be glad as far 
 as possible to answer enquiries or to send fuller information 
 respecting the matters dealt with in it. Their addresses are 
 
 Arnold S. Rowntree, M.P., Chalfonts, York. 
 
 Wm. Chas. Braithwaite, LL.B., Castle House, Banbury. 
 
 F. J. Gillman, 16, Feversham Crescent, York. 
 
(, 
 
 Chronology. 
 
 1895. Friends' Conference at Manchester. 
 
 1897. Friends' Summer School at Scarborough. 
 
 1899. National Council of Adult Schools formed. 
 
 1903. Woodbrooke opened as a permanent Friends' Settlement, 
 
 ,, Workers' Educational Association inaugurated at Oxford. 
 
 1905. " Friedensthal," Scalby, Guest House opened. 
 
 1906. First Adult School Week-end Lecture School (at York). 
 
 1907. First University Tutorial Classes formed (at Rochdale 
 and Longton). 
 
 1908. " Uffculme," Birmingham, Guest House opened. 
 
 1909. Fircroft opened. 
 
 " Swarthmore," Leeds, opened. 
 " St. Mary's," York, opened. 
 
 1910. First Adult School Summer School (for women) at 
 Fircroft. 
 
 1911. Keys Farm, Clitheroe, Guest House, opened* 
 
 Theodore Grubb began an educational experiment in 
 Wensleydale. 
 
 1912. G. Currie Martin appointed whole-time Lecturer for 
 Adult Schools. 
 
 1913. Old Hall, Banning, Guest House opened. 
 
 " Penscot," Winscombe, Guest House opened. 
 
 Wakefield Settlement opened. 
 
 Lemington Settlement opened. 
 
 1914. " Beechcroft," Birkenhead, Settlement opened. 
 
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