s WOMAN'S MISSION $riii0h Commission, Chiracs (Exhibition, 1893. WOMAN'S MISSION v^ A SERIES OF CONGRESS PAPERS ON THE BY EMINENT WRITERS. ARRANGED AND EDITED, WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES, BY THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. " So womanlie^ so benigne, and so meeke." CHAUCER. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY LIMITED. TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS CHRISTIAN OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, MADAM, The Report of Philanthropic Work, pro- moted or originated by Englishwomen, which it was the desire of your Royal Highness that I should prepare, is now completed. The difficulty of even an approximately just record of this work will be by no one better understood than by yourself, familiar as your Royal Highness is, not only with its more salient evidences, but with those undercurrents, which, whether through giving or receiving, sweeten and refresh the daily life of nearly every Englishwoman. In reflecting over the methods within my reach in order to carry into effect your behest, two only seemed to offer any feasible means of obtaining reliable in- formation upon a subject embracing, necessarily, besides home organizations, all those missionary, religious, or social efforts undertaken, often under difficult surroundings, by Englishwomen for the benefit of distant and alien races, or on behalf of their own kith and kin settled in foreign countries. ( vi ) One method was to collect all the regular pub- lished reports of Societies, Institutions, etc., and to collate these into a summary, together with any printed matter relating to charitable effort which I could obtain from other sources. This plan, though affording the advantages of statistical form and economic detail, appeared to lack that vitalizing touch which is given by individuality, and which is essential to a full understanding of personal work. It also had, in addition, the disadvantage of excluding all record of the gentle homely lives which are so constantly found actively employed in charity through- out this country, and whose quiet work diffuses sun- shine in many an unknown circle. The second method was the one I adopted, namely, to seek for information direct from individuals from the heads of all religious communities, the presidents or active promoters of philanthropic or social organizations, both large and small, and from women engaged, either singly or in combination with others, in charitable work and ask from them (a re- quest most willingly and kindly responded to) a per- sonally written report of women's work within their cognizance. This latter plan secured many of the advantages of the former; for, of course, it did not preclude statistics or economic details, whilst it gained the charm of personal narrative to which I have alluded. It also gave an opportunity of obtaining illustrations of the work in which many were engaged, ( vii ) which will somewhat relieve the monotony of mere paper records. A list of these will accompany the Report, and they will be exhibited in the space assigned me in the Women's Building at Chicago. I am desirous here to record my indebtedness to the small Committee of Ladies who have been work- ing with me in the general organization requisite to set on foot all these inquiries. Possessed of an intimate knowledge of philanthropic work, and freely giving a large amount of time and labour, they have rendered me invaluable assistance in the production of this Report, which I hope will in some measure carry out your Royal Highness's wishes. It only remains for me to thank your Royal Highness in the name of the women-workers of Great Britain (who will perhaps in this respect permit me to represent them) for having taken the lead in bringing the matters herein contained to the know- ledge of their kinsfolk across the seas on the great occasion of the Chicago Exhibition, which, I trust, among many other noble results, will join not only two, but all nations of the world in a common bond of sympathy with Women's Philanthropic Work. I remain, with the greatest respect, Madam, Your Royal Highness's most dutiful and obedient servant, BURDJETT-COUTTS. PREFACE. SINCE the first inauguration of International Exhibitions in 1851 by the Queen and Prince Consort, in London, none will rank among the nations of the world as more remarkable than that which is to be opened in Chicago this year, and which will give to 1893 a significant and unique place in the history of the material and social progress of the world. The former the material has been perhaps the main feature in previous Exhibitions. The latter the social which might almost, in the far-reaching scope here given to it, be called the moral part of the Exhibition, receives at Chicago a prominent and peculiar consideration. Moreover, under this second head, the department of Women's Work takes its place for the first time, and both on that account, and by reason of the special regard given to Philanthropy, much of the deeper and more lasting interest excited by this great Exhibition, will, I think, gather round the Section for which this Report has been prepared. It is fitting that the close of the nineteenth century should focus and illustrate in a definite form the share which women have taken in its development, of which, in my humble judgment, the truest and noblest, because the most natural, part, is to be found in philanthropic work. The scheme of this Section has been so generally made known, that it is only necessary formally to record in the case of Great Britain, that, having been invited by the Royal Commission to act on its Ladies' Committee, I was further requested by her Royal Highness the Princess b x Preface. Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, President of the Committee, to make a Report of Philanthropic Work promoted or originated by Englishwomen. It appears to me, however, due to the readers of the Report that they should receive a short explanation of the method pursued for obtaining accurate information, as well as of the sources from which it was derived. The Report consists of two portions, the one this volume printed and published for general circulation, the other a series of type-written reports, bound up in five volumes, which will remain in the Section for reference and perusal. Briefly, it may be stated that these latter volumes form the basis of the Report, as they contain the whole body of in- formation in the form in which it has been derived directly from authoritative sources. The printed volume embodies and deals with the information thus obtained in a series of papers intended for the Congress, which have been written by ladies whose ability and experience have enabled them not only to deal with the many important questions under notice, but to supplement the material contained in the typed reports with additional information derived from personal knowledge. To obtain the typed reports, a letter, a copy of which will be found at the end of this volume, was addressed not only to the heads of all Religious Communions, and of all the principal Philanthropic, Social, and Charitable Institu- tions, but also to those who were known to be working either in smaller bodies, or even single-handed, for kindred objects. It was requested that information of women's work should be supplied, and that it should be given not by means of printed reports, but in written papers personally signed. This request was most kindly responded to, and the information thus procured will be found in the typed volumes. In this connection I desire to express my deep sense of obligation to those who have supplied this valuable material. My acknowledgments are especially due to the Bishops and other heads of religious bodies. With respect to these and to many other contributors, it is not difficult for me to thank them for their ready response to my request ; but it is not so easy justly to measure the sacrifice of time taken Preface. xi from busy lives, and the labour required to supply the details, which have made it possible for me to draw together the varied but harmonious chords of energy, and to combine the distinct but confluent channels of benefit, so as to tell some- thing of the story of Women's Work in England. These reports, broadly speaking, have been received from the following sources : (I.) Reports of the Churches of England, Ireland, and Scotland ; the Moravian Church ; the Presbyterian Church of Scotland ; the Roman Catholic Church ; Congregational organizations ; Report of the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Communion ; the Society of Friends : these are the reports of the largest English philanthropic associations, whose branches are scattered throughout the world. (II.) Reports from charitable or social bodies whose work is to be found in London or the great towns. (III.) Individual efforts for philanthropic objects. This section will be found to embrace many notable examples of individual energy, thoughtfulness, and kindness. Having obtained this large body of information in the manner described, the somewhat difficult question arose how best to present it to the public in a form in which its salient features could be most easily grasped, and its matter systematically grouped, while, at the same time, its wide scope should be brought under general observation. It was open to me either to edit and publish the original matter as it stood, or to redistribute and then summarize it, on some approved plan of analysis and classification. The first method would, I fear, have left the public somewhat be- wildered by a mass of undigested matter ; to the latter, which promised some advantages, there lay the serious objection, that much of the directness, freshness, and originality to which I have already referred, would have been converted more or less into the dry husks and formality of an official report. I have, therefore, rejected both of these methods ; but, in order that the readers of this book should have some idea of the extent and variety of the material afforded by the typed reports, I have added, in the form of an Appendix, a brief summary of the series, together with some observa- tions of my own suggested by their perusal. xii Preface. It appeared to me that in the process of classification into subjects, the original contributions should be touched by not only qualified and experienced, but sympathetic hands. The typed reports were therefore arranged in groups, and, with few exceptions, each of these was submitted to some lady possessing special knowledge of the particular subject, and personal experience of the work falling under it, who would be able to extract the virtue, and as far as possible embody the information, contained in the reports, in the form of a paper written on a subject long thought over and studied by the writer. To these ladies, the authoresses of the Congress Papers, I offer my warmest acknowledgments for the great service they have rendered to their country, whose philanthropic work will be under review at Chicago ; to the cause of philanthropy, which owes so much to the aid of the publicist ; and lastly, if I may mention it, to myself, of whose responsi- bility in this important work they have thus generously undertaken so large a share. The Sections had necessarily to be large, and the classi- fication elastic ; for the subjects, in spite of the endeavour to give a solidarity to each, necessarily overlap one another, as, indeed, most of the associations, societies, and charities, do in actual life, while each retains its definite character. Whatever cross divisions may be apparent in the work- ing of the units of a group, or of the groups in relation to one another, there is one feature which cannot but be recognized the unity of feeling and of purpose which per- vades all these philanthropic efforts, directed to the amelio- ration, in the highest sense of the word, of the lives of our fellow-beings. Union in effecting the purpose may or may not be found ; but unity and piety of purpose pervade the whole. And if an exact incidence of benefit from philan- thropic effort cannot be arrived at in the treatment of phases of need, still less is it possible to classify it by periods or ages of life. It is a law of nature. As the trees and flowers grow imperceptibly, so in human life infancy gently unfolds child- hood, and the child blossoms into the girl, and girlhood passes into responsible womanhood. Sharp distinctions between good and evil may be more or less essential in practice ; each Preface. xiii association for the welfare of these different periods may have its own rules and management But in a comprehensive view all down the lines mapped out for philanthropic effort, from the cradle to the grave, this overlapping of periods and these irregular edges projecting into one another's territory are lost to sight, or at least become insignificant in view of the common philanthropic purpose which pervades the whole. Collectively, as I have said, these may in their treatment overlap, but therein they bear all the truer likeness to the work they describe. The reports furnished from England and Scotland, and most conspicuously from Ireland, which deal with endeavours to improve the condition and cheer the toils of daily life, are rendered more interesting by the fact that they are illustrated by a collection of samples of the objects made, and the work done, which will be found in the Section of the Woman's Building allotted to this subject, where a special catalogue of the Section can be obtained. These material objects albeit of trifling value tell many a story, in lan- guage more eloquent than words, of how single individuals, setting to work with heart and mind, and pursuing the effort with courage and tact, can conquer the obstacles presented by an isolated and resourceless district, by an ignorant and untrained population, by an apathy and idleness arising mainly from the want of hopeful inspiration and skilled guidance. They are so many proofs, these little pieces of handiwork, of the industry and cleverness which lie buried in the poorest classes, and the effective materialization of which is one of the best and most reproductive objects to which philanthropic effort can be applied. For the work required in the production does not end with the object produced ; and the reward is not to be measured by the little wage given in return, in itself often an appreciable help to the scanty resources of a struggling family. It carries on into the future ; it implies that the hand which hitherto was idle has been trained to execute, and the eye to select and discriminate. The mind as well as the body has learnt the habit of work, the whole morale of the individual is braced and trained. And it should be remembered that these simple industrial productions shown in this Section, apart from, or xiv Preface. rather coincident with, the material benefit, have done much to create that spirit of confidence, self-reliance, and inde- pendence, without which no community can legitimately take its place amongst a free people. In reviewing the wide array of benevolent enterprise pre- sented by the reports, it is impossible not to be deeply impressed by the vast number and variety of the under- takings described. They seem to reach into the farthest limits, and to effect a just incidence of philanthropy over all the area of human need. So great have been the changes in the conditions of the life and work of the people of England during the last seventy years, that the new forms and channels through which ameliorating efforts reach them would almost seem to justify the common impression that care for the poor and suffering springs from new impulses of the present century. But that idea cannot be held with justice to those who have gone before us, or without forget- ting that the same kindly feelings that work to such noble effect in the Englishwoman of to-day animated the English- women of yesterday. It is certain that they did. The only difference is that duty and kindliness had then to work under very different conditions, in very different circum- stances, from those that prevail now ; and those circum- stances and conditions being bygone and forgotten, the good that was done in them is in danger of being forgotten too. Some of the more important labours of philanthropy would have been impossible at any point of time other than that at which they were accomplished that is to say, in compara- tively recent years ; but even of these it may be said, in most cases, that they are but the continuation and development, under altered and more effective conditions, of a benevolence that deserves to be called historical. To obtain a complete view of the matter, many things have to be considered ; but none, I think, with more attention than the greater domesticity of country life when rural Eng- land was a larger and more influential England than it has since become in comparison with the towns. Within a com- paratively recent period,. London was not invariably the main, nor is it now the only governing, centre of opinion and social Preface. xv life. The country life and thought was still a great factor in all that concerned the nation. Since the end of the Great War, and up to about sixty years ago, country life in England had changed but little ; and it is easy to trace the origin of many a great work of charity in the ordinary domestic habi- tudes of the manor house, or in those of the more " stately homes of England," to use the words of a gifted woman and popular writer now no more amongst us. In their own way, and according to the conditions and demands of the time, these houses fulfilled many of the charitable duties which are as often as not called Missions in our own day. Standing in the midst of properties which in pre-railway times were more often like distinct little settlements, moved by a con- scious sense of responsibility, influencing in turn their villages and groups of farms, they formed centres of thought and consideration for all within a certain area about them ; dis- pensing the kindnesses that are now recognized under the broad word Philanthropy. The ladies who presided over these homes lived under the influence of traditional duties, which they accepted as part of their inheritance, but which were essentially the same as those now undertaken by their descendants in a much wider field and affecting far greater numbers of their fellow-creatures. It will illustrate my meaning to take the bringing up and training of young girls, which is as important to the social welfare of the nation as anything that can be named. The manor-house, the " great house,'* or whatever it should be called, was in effect a training school for young servants. Taken from the village or the farmstead, they were variously employed in the kitchen, the laundry, and the dairy ; they were instructed in needlework as well as practised in all manner of domestic duties ; and this training, carried on under many obvious advantages, was either superintended by the mistress or by an experienced housekeeper, who answered to the Matron in our present institutions, without being at all behind her in efficiency and character. Here, too, many a growing lad found instructive employment under the gardeners, or in the carpenter's shop or the smithy belonging to the house. The children of dependents and poor neighbours were taught respect for religion, attended xvi Preface. the same church, participated in the same rites, and shared the simple piety of those over them ; finally resting in the old churchyard, where their progenitors, rich and poor, had been laid before them. Social and domestic habits, and even manners a small but not unimportant matter were not neglected. The kitchens of such houses were no inapt representatives of our soup kitchens, or the free dinners and breakfasts, and the dinners for sick persons, which now supplement those institutions. In severe winters, or when times were hard, the manor-house kitchen was a sure refuge from distress. Of course there were exceptionally bad times then as now to increase the number of the unemployed ; on those occasions pains were taken to find " odd jobs " about the estate, and works were begun which there was no crying need for. And what was true of the greater houses was true in all these particulars of the better sort of farmsteads ; of course with a difference, but more a difference of the means of living on a helpful domestic system than of disposition or habit. In the well-to-do farmhouse it was as easy to learn " the art of making home happy " as in any of the institutions for which there is now so much need in our crowded towns with their factory life and education. What we now know as Women's Technical Arts such as needle- work, cookery, dairy-management, cheese-making, did more than enter into the education of the poorer girls of that day ; they formed it. Subjects of instruction were familiar which are now so little considered that some of our most anxious inquirers fear they may die out altogether ; a prospect which cannot be separated from the question of women's wages and the comfort of poor homes. Nor was the stir of excitement wanting to country life. The amusements were eagerly taken up, and both shared and promoted by gentlefolk. Sixty years ago, when public questions of enormous interest were engrossing men's minds, there was certainly no lack of political animation in the provinces, where discussion was often carried on during the summer and winter months upon subjects that afterwards came into prominence in London. The old-fashioned libraries which were always to be found in the greater country houses quietly fostered tastes and opinions in the minds of boy and girl readers, and were Preface. xvii thus silently moulding the opinions and history of the future. The country bookseller was a much more important person, and far more bookish, than his successor ; and the history of Norwich illustrates the way in which provincial centres of independent taste and intellectual activity could exist, and did exist, to make their influence felt far beyond the radius of a country town. The education of women, in the scholastic meaning of the phrase, was perhaps inferior to that which the present generation enjoys, but in the wider sense of education it may be doubtful whether it was so. And certainly it is a mistake to suppose that the better- educated women were less instructed than their brothers. Besides, whether for men or women, good education is not all scholastic ; and more was learnt in the old country homes of England than most remember, or than many seem willing to believe. From such a home came " the Lady with the Lamp," the name by which Miss Nightingale was known to our soldiers in the Crimea ; and by her, as well as by other women who have stepped from a like seclusion with a similar devotedness, the lamp has been held by no unsteady hands. To this hour, and all over the country, there are a thousand little centres of benevolence which find no record here, nor indeed anywhere else, if not in the book of the Recording Angel. The fortunes of the squirearchy have fallen very much, but the mansion and the manor-house have not given up the old kindly duties, while in every town, and in every parish of the greater towns, you may find little coteries of good women who work together for the poor and helpless about them without a thought of dignifying their quiet labours by carrying them on under the name of Society or Associa- tion. And in the earlier days of which I have been speaking there was no such scope, no such freedom for the working of great benevolent associations as there is to-day. The survey of charitable effort which this report supplies carries us back over a period of sixty years. Great and swift have been the changes since 1830, and these, so far as they affect our subject, where they have enlarged the need of philanthropic activity, have at the same time extended its means and multiplied its channels of operation. Especially have these changes worked in the direction of giving a collective form xviii Preface. to efforts which were formerly left to individuals. Till the mutual intolerance of religious feeling began to soften, and the barriers of religious disability broke down (and we must go back just beyond the Thirties for these beginnings), united action amongst the members of different religious communities for a common good was hardly known except as the outcome of personal friendship or political sympathy. Intercommunication beyond a limited area was comparatively difficult, tedious, and costly ; for the railway system had yet to cover the land, while the postal service was still such that members of Parliament could raise smiles or tears by giving or refusing one of their twelve coveted franks. Even in the cities the means of communication were very poor and very dear. There were no cabs, no shilling fares (I believe) by the dismal old hackney coaches, no omnibus had yet been seen in the streets, and the tramway was undreamt of. The stir in favour of organized popular education, as of other organized endeavours for the welfare of the poorer classes of the people, was at its beginning, with all that was to flow from it ; and the Poor-law of Elizabeth, with its many abuses, remained unamended. It was in 1834 that, after long and strenuous discussion, the new Act for the Relief of the Poor was substituted for what must be regarded as the first legislative establishment of the right of helpless poverty (it had been acknowledged in the reign of Henry VIII.) to State Aid. At that time the discussion of the Corn Laws and the question of their abolition had yet to throw light on the rising growth of the towns and their increasing population and influence as compared with those of the rural districts. But here again we come in view of the agencies that have so entirely changed the conditions of social life in England within the last sixty years changes, as I have already said, which have made organized philanthropic effort on a broad scale comparatively easy, where before it was very difficult and not so much required. The invention of steam machinery filled many a little town with factories, soon making of them crowded cities, and cities where home life was sacrificed to the factory by the common employment of husband, wife, and child at the machine, and also by the multiplication of close and crowded tenements. In like Preface. xix manner, small seaports became great commercial cities, while great commercial cities took in still denser populations. It is in crowds like these that humanity, sympathy, fellowship, and that most excellent thing, decent pride, are most likely to be lost, and that some of the most unhappy weaknesses of our nature are encouraged to run riot. It is not in my mind to underrate the enormous blessings of the growth of trade consequent on the discovery of the uses of steam ; and how large a share of those blessings fall to the poor is shown by one fact alone, which is not much considered, namely, that an immense middle class, vast in number and extremely well-to-do, has arisen out of the ranks of the artisan and manufacturing class since Watt's tea-kettle filled his head with dreams. But if good came in the mass, so did its attendant evil. There was the overcrowding ; there was the feverishness of factory work in close rooms ; there was the temptation to spirit-drinking as a goad to exhausted energy ; there was the dissociation of labour from nature, and from common human sympathies except such as could be found by each in the narrow circle in which he and his fellow- workers moved ; and, not to speak of other evils that breed in crowded ports and reeking towns, there was the destruction of homely life and of the stamina of the race by the absorption of whole families into the mill men, women, and children, the "hands" of the factory. Individual influence, working locally, was quite incompetent to remedy such evils as these, except as it succeeded in amassing powerful machinery of its own. It was in this way that Lord Shaftesbury worked when he brought together such a body of facts, and enlisted so strong a force of sympathy both in "all the Churches " and in popular opinion, as not only insured the passing of the Factory Bill, but awakened a sentiment against the labour of women and young children in factory employ- ments that has never flagged since. That, however, is but one illustration of the growing need for organized philan- thropic effort. The changed conditions of social life, the actual creation of new classes some struggling upward, others plunging down brought out the need in a hundred shapes ; while the same changed conditions strongly favoured such organization in many ways. Every form of communi- xx Preface. cation was quickened, including the communication of know- ledge, of discovery, of sympathy ; and the whole result has been the establishment of countless beneficent associations of which the following pages speak in general and illustrate in detail. These few words of introduction will not be misappre- hended. Their intention is to remind the reader that there are links of continuity between past and present here as else- where. The good work that women now do in association was done of old from many little trivial centres of family life, in the quiet, unimposing way which those times permitted, and which satisfied them. Though rarely exhibited in united action, piety and charity, now combined in the beautiful word " Philanthropy," have run through the national life in golden threads from long-past centuries to our own day ; and women have always had a full, perhaps an unrecognized, share in maintaining and continuing works of mercy. To women the country owes many of its educational foundations. Hospitals and almshouses have been generously endowed by them. The records of old doles, orphan charities, and other pious bene- factions carry their names, connecting the feeling of protection for the young and comfort for the old which is the spring of so much benevolent action in our time. Two of the most beneficent Acts of Parliament are specially associated with the names of sovereigns who were women Elizabeth's Law for the Poor, and Queen Anne's Bounty. Both Acts bear the impress of having received the personal and particular attention of these queens, and both have exercised a strong influence on subsequent legislation, and on the mind of the country. Any record of the women of the Victorian Era would be wanting if the name of the Queen were omitted from its pages. Her Majesty stands foremost in its history as sovereign, and also as representative philanthropist. During the long years of her reign every effort for good and Christian work has obtained the Queen's personal attention and sanc- tion, and when, on the completion of her Jubilee, the women of the United Kingdom of every class, from the pauper in the workhouse to the highest in the land, poured out their tribute, this event was chronicled and embodied in an Preface. xxi enduring material form by the foundation of the Institute for Nurses which her Majesty organized, and to which she devoted the thousands which her countrywomen and subjects had offered. I venture to hope that, however inadequate to the importance of the subject these opening remarks may seem to be, this volume of Papers, together with the concluding analysis and notes of the original reports on which they are based, will not be unwelcome in the country for which it is written. My personal feeling and knowledge have led me to believe that the past and present work of Englishwomen would have for the American people an attraction exceeding any felt by other nations, however interested these may be in a common charity. In an unusual degree the blood of many races runs in our veins ; but we are bound together in the one historic record of the English-speaking peoples. One language unites us ; one Bible, one literature. The poetry and prose of past centuries, and the first achievements of Englishmen in the dim twilight of scientific discovery, are a common heritage of both nations. In the past fifty years the genius of both, sometimes divided, sometimes intermingled, has" kept the light burning. To the sacred lamp of literature American authors have added a peculiar radiance of their own, and the field of discovery and invention has been illuminated by the splendid achievements of American research. And as in these two great branches of progress we are at once co- inheritors and fellow-workers, so the philanthropic work of Englishwomen, commingled by practice and example with the work of American women, must, I feel, have an absorbing interest for those who, like ourselves, have drawn their national being from the Anglo-Saxon race. BURDETT-COUTTS. LONDON, March, 1893. CONTENTS. PAGE LETTER TO H.R.H. PRINCESS CHRISTIAN OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN ... v PREFACE. By the BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS ... ... ix "THE WORK OF WOMAN'S HAND." A Poem. By Mrs. ALEXANDER ... ... ... ... ... ... i WOMEN'S WORK FOR CHILDREN. By HESBA STRETTON 4 FOR THE LITTLE ONES "FOOD, FUN, AND FRESH AIR." By Mrs. MOLESWORTH ... ... 13 WOMEN'S WORK FOR THE WELFARE OF GIRLS. By Miss E. SELLERS ... ... ... ... ... 35 CLUBS FOR WORKING GIRLS. By Hon. MAUDE STANLEY 49 CLUBS FOR BOYS AND YOUNG MEN. By Miss VIOLET BROOKE-HUNT... ... ... ... ... ... 56 THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MOTHERS. By Mrs. SUMNER ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 WORKING GUILDS AND WORK SOCIETIES. By Mrs. G. A. SALA ... ... ... ... ... ... 72 WOMAN'S WORK IN THE RAGGED SCHOOLS. By the COUNTESS COMPTON ... ... ... ... ... 79 EMIGRATION. By Hon. Mrs. STUART WORTLEY ... ... 87 HOW AND WHY THE NAVVY MISSION SOCIETY WAS FORMED. By Mrs. CHARLES GARNETT ... ... 93 "MY WORK AMONG NAVVIES AT BECKENHAM." By Miss MARSH ... ... ... ... ... ... 106 WOMEN'S WORK IN CONNECTION WITH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. By Mrs. BOYD CARPENTER ... in ON THE ASSOCIATED WORK OF WOMEN IN RE. LIGION AND PHILANTHROPY. By Miss EMILY JANES 131 xxiv Contents. FACE RESCUE WORK BY WOMEN AMONG WOMEN. By Miss MARY H. STEER ... ... ... ... ... 149 WORK AMONG SOLDIERS. By Miss ANNE BEALE ... 160 WORK AMONG SAILORS. By Miss AGNES E. WESTON ... 167 " FRIEDENHEIM "HOME OF PEACE FOR THE DYING. By the Authoress of " The Schonberg-Cotta Family " ... 178 SICK- NURSING AND HEALTH- NURSING. By Miss FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ... ... ... ... 184 PHILANTHROPIC ASPECTS OF NURSING. By LADY VICTORIA LAMBTON and Mrs. MALLESON ... ... 206 ON NURSING. By the HON. Mrs. STUART WORTLEY ... 216 THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK. By H.R.H. PRINCESS CHRISTIAN OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN ... 224 ON PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF WOMEN IN IRELAND. By Mrs. GILBERT (Rosa Mulholland) ... ... ... 228 THE WORK OF WOMEN AS GUARDIANS OF THE POOR. By Miss E. S. LIDGETT ... ... ... 248 THE HISTORY OF WORKHOUSE REFORM. By Miss LOUISA TWINING ... ... ... ... ... 265 THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WORKERS. By Miss HUBBARD ... ... ... ... ... ... 273 WOMAN THE MISSIONARY OF INDUSTRY. By the BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS ... ... ... ... 284 SERVING ONE ANOTHER. By Miss PETRIE, B.A. ... 300 GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE. By Miss FANNY L. CALDER ... ... 317 MISS ORMEROD'S WORK IN AGRICULTURAL ENTO- MOLOGY. By the BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS ... 323 WOMAN'S WORK FOR ANIMALS. By the Hon. Mrs. MuiR MACKENZIE ... ... ... ... ... ... 329 PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF WOMEN IN BRITISH COLONIES AND THE EAST. By Mrs. CASHEL HOEY 334 STATISTICS OF WOMEN'S WORK. By Miss LOUISA M. HUBBARD ... ... ... ... ... ... 361 COPY OF CIRCULAR LETTER 367 APPENDIX ... ... ... ... ... - 6g INDEX 463 WOMAN'S MISSION "THE WORK OF WOMAN'S HAND." BY MRS. ALEXANDER. As waves that smile at morn are weak To show wild ocean tempest stirred, So, feebly does expression speak, So far the theme transcends the word. For words from depths of fancy brought Faint echoes are, though sweet or strong, And he who singeth all his thought Will never rouse the world with song. Theme beyond thought ! in mystery steeped, The living Love that walked of yore, Where Hermon stood, and Jordan leaped Against his vine-empurpled shore ; That thrilled a slumbering world, and broke The chain that fettered woman's life, And to a nobler purpose woke Her, toy of ease, or cause of strife. The beauty and the strength He gave, The love refined that shed the nard, The courage that could watch His grave Regardless of the Roman guard. Woman's Mission. And still she holds her precious gifts, Hath smiles to cheer, and charm to win, The heart that feels, the hand that lifts, The foot that seeks the haunts of sin. Not alms profuse at random thrown, Not class 'gainst class her lip would teach But brave self-help, sweet mercy shown, And free dependence each on each ; And honest toil that need supplies, God's first best gift to man's right hand, When forfeit of his Paradise He wandered forth to till the land. Now to that World's Show o'er the sea She saith, " O man, I send my share The needle's delicate tracery, The fresh design, the fabric fair. " I bring my best of hand, and loom, From teeming cities thronged of men, From Highland hills enwrapt in gloom, From English glade and Irish glen." Load the good ship, and speed her well, Beyond old England's furthest rock, And those grey cliffs that sentinel lerne 'gainst the billow's shock ! Across the wide uncultured plain, The brown Atlantic lone, and vast, That swells, and sinks, and swells again And whitens as she hurries past. Our sisters hear, and answering pour Their part ; from spice-embalmed isle, Canadian coast, and Indian shore, And where Australian pastures smile. The Work of Woman s Hand." So bring them forth, and proudly lay In that fair place, a whole world's mart, Where flow'rs shall bloom, and waters play, And powers inventive blend with art. Till our great kindred race abroad And wandering men from many a land Shall see them lie 'mid gem and gaud, And praise the work of woman's hand. THE PALACE, LONDONDERRY, 1893. Woman 's Mission. WOMEN'S WORK FOR CHILDREN. BY Miss HESBA STRETTON. " Flowers of Thy Heart, O God, are they." THAT women should work for children is as natural as that the sun should shine or the rain fall. The human race, in its teeming millions, falls generally into two divisions : men on the one hand, women and children on the other. Where women have their rights, childhood is happy. In every clime, from the ice-bound shores of the Arctic Ocean to the parched deserts of the Equator, the child is seen beside the woman, clinging to her as his natural guardian. She is at once his protector and nurse, and his willing slave. Even when the burden becomes a heavy one, the child is borne in the arms and cherished in the bosom of the woman. He withdraws himself from her only when he enters the incipient stages of manhood ; and the heart of the woman aches as the child is lost to her. In all religions which have attained any wide sphere of influence, the idea of the Mother and Child has been presented as a divine one. This idea almost dominates the Christian religion. In many lands the symbol of the Mother and Child is the most common of all sacred symbols. The memory of the infant Christ has sanctified childhood for ever. Henceforth, in all Christian countries, no child can be born without a share in the inheritance of the common childhood of our Lord. Therefore, that women should work for children is as natural as that the sun should shine on the evil and on the good. But for the last half-century there have been more Women s Work for Children. combined and systematic efforts to promote the welfare of the children of the poor than were ever made before. In the early part of the nineteenth century many of these little ones were subjected to untold misery and degradation. They were set to work in mines, on pit-banks, in factories, in fields ; through snow and frost and scorching noontide heat ; in foul atmosphere, in darkness ; under the rule of brutal task- masters. They had long days of labour and short nights of rest ; they were always hungry and thirsty, and all but naked ; they lived in terror and ignorance, and were set to revolting and dangerous tasks. Their childhood was made a hell to them, from which they could only escape if they were strong enough to grow up to manhood. I can remember, when a young child, seeing a boy as small as myself descend from our kitchen chimney, covered with soot, and with his elbows and knees bleeding a terrific sight which I never forgot. A friend of mine, whose memory goes still further back, tells me he recollects the time when the children of farm labourers in the West of England were taken from their mother by the parish authorities at the age of eight years, and put up to a kind of auction, where the bidder who would take them with the lowest gratuity could have them bound to him as apprentices for a certain number of years. The suspense of the mothers until they knew into whose hands their little child would fall, and their anguish if he fell into bad ones, were indescribable. It is not my purpose to name all the women who have distinguished themselves by their care of children. That would be impossible. But we cannot pass over the work of Hannah More and her sisters. At the beginning of this century these unmarried women, five in number, had nearly one thousand children in their schools in the scattered Mendip villages. This gave an impetus to the education of the poor, the force of which has never been lost. We must also remember Elizabeth Barrett Browning's " Cry of the Children," which rang throughout England and found an echo in every true woman's heart, strengthening mightily the hands of those who were seeking to do away with child- labour in our factories. The consciences of many women were then awakened and have never slumbered again. Day Woman s Mission. by day their eyes are growing keener to discern any evil threatening childhood, and their ears are more open to the least sob coming through childish lips. The actual work done by English women for the children of the poor is extremely varied, and is often so unobtrusively carried on that it cannot be tabulated. We can speak only of the larger institutions, which send out annual reports ; but for every one of these there are a number of small and private charities, with similar objects in view, which are known only to the few friends and subscribers who contribute to their support. Homes containing ten or twelve little ones only, are scattered throughout the land, maintained and superintended by ladies, who devote a large portion of their leisure to them. Here and there a school of wealthy girls supports such a home out of their pocket-money, and they are entrusted with some part of the education of their young charges. Small hospitals and convalescent homes are carried on in the same way. Ladies receive sick children into their own homes, or place them in some cottage near at hand where they are under their special personal supervision. These small unambitious places are often the most useful, as they create a close and intimate knowledge of each other between the giver and the recipient of the charity, which large institutions cannot give. Reports of some of these small homes may be found amongst the papers forwarded to Chicago, which can be read by those interested in this subject. The absolute helplessness of a baby makes, perhaps, the most touching appeal that reaches a woman's heart. We look at it, " an infant, with no language but a cry," so utterly cast upon another's care ; and a tenderness, with " thoughts too deep for tears," springs up in the innermost recesses of the spirit. Most of us see in that frail form the shrine of an immortal soul which our Lord has ransomed. All of us see the germ of a life which may prove a great blessing or an equal curse to the human race. Woman's work begins with the child in its cradle. The creche, so called to remind us of the manger in which lay the Babe of Bethlehem, is open to meet the needs of the babies of poverty-stricken women who are the bread-winners of their families. How long these Women s Work for Children. creches have been established in Paris and Brussels, under the care of Roman Catholic sisterhoods, I cannot tell. But in the summer of 1870, Mrs. Hilton, a member of the Society of Friends, visited a creche in Brussels. She had been working in the East End of London for some years, and the sad condition of little children had become an almost insupportable burden to her. In 1871 she opened the first creche established in England, in the very depths of the submerged population of the East End, where the babies were cradled in filth and fed on food which was poison to them. They had idle mothers, drunken mothers, widowed mothers who were compelled to lock them up all day, without food or fire, whilst they were earning their bread and a roof to shelter them. To rescue even a few of these little ones was doing what Christ would have His followers do. Mrs. Hilton's Creche has now been at work for twenty-two years, saving unnumbered little lives ; and every large town has followed her example, and started day-nurseries and public cradles of its own. Mrs. Hilton's interesting report contains many valuable hints as to the management of these institutions. The upper story of Mrs. Hilton's Creche forms a little hospital, where sick or dying children, whose mothers still wish to nurse them by night, are taken care of by day. The subject of Hospitals will be more fully dealt with in another Section ; but when writing on Woman's Work for Children it is impossible to pass on without some slight mention of the numerous Hospitals for Children which have been founded during the last fifty years. No form of charity is more popular in England. There are twenty public Hospitals for Children in London ; and unnumbered private ones there, and in the country, where a few sick children are admitted, who can be attended to by one trained nurse, helped by the women of the household. The Homes for Orphans and Fatherless Children are exceedingly numerous. We do not speak of such gigantic institutions as Dr. Barnardo's and Dr. Stephenson's, which were not founded by women, but which are, of course, largely dependent upon women for their successful manage- ment. In the List of London Charities there are no fewer 8 Woman's Mission. than 124 Training Homes and Orphanages; and these do not include private ones supported at the cost of charitable persons, who do not ask for help from the public. Of these homes we can mention only two or three. The Home of Industry was founded by Miss Macpherson, in the East End of London, about twenty-two years ago. A large warehouse in Commercial Street, which had been used as a cholera hospital, was taken and fitted up as a very plain and homely shelter for utterly destitute or orphan children. Other children were admitted during the day, and employed in matchbox making ; an industry which is now discontinued. The difficulty of finding suitable employment, especially for the boys, led Miss Macpherson to begin her plan of emigration. She has now two homes in England and two in Canada ; and the number of children she has transplanted from evil and wretched surroundings in London to the more promising and healthy life in the Dominion of Canada, amounts to 5730. Another interesting work is that of the Brixton Orphan- age for Fatherless Girls. It was founded in 1876 by Mrs. Annie Montague, who, with a small fund of ;ioo, took a house and admitted into it four orphans. By prudent, yet speedy, degrees the scheme prospered, until in 1886, ten years after its commencement, three hundred fatherless girls were being fed, clothed, and taught without payment of any kind. The control and management of all the internal arrangements are in the hands of Mrs. Montague alone. The whole of the Orphanage property is vested in trustees. Crippled children have evoked great sympathy. The Cripples Nursery for Boys and Girls was opened about thirty years ago by Lady Caroline Turner ; a Home for Crippled and Afflicted Orphan Children was founded in 1877 by Mrs. Ginever. At the seaside, in almost every favourite health- resort, crooked and deformed little ones, and children limping about on crutches, are to be met with, drinking in such health as their poor little frames can receive from the sea-breezes. In these homes are to be found all the alleviations and appliances which ingenious loving-kindness and practical surgical science can devise. There are also Homes and Schools for Blind Children ; Women's Work for Children. one founded by Miss Rye, and another by Miss Newbury. But the Deaf and Dumb seem somehow to have escaped the meshes of our net. The Princess Mary Village Homes for little girls was founded in 1870 by Mrs. Meredith, to take care of and rescue the young daughters of prisoners with whom she was brought into contact by her Prison Mission. There are about two hundred children in these homes, which are conducted on the family system ; ten girls being placed in one cottage, under the care of a motherly matron. The Boarding-Out of Workhouse Children is almost wholly in the hands of women ; and its success or failure in any one place will be due to the committee of ladies, who undertake to superintend the children committed to their care. The number of boarded-out children, either orphan or deserted, is increasing yearly ; finding work in many villages for both the hands and hearts of the women. In the majority of cases the result is very satisfactory. The children lose, or rather do not acquire, the pauper taint. Instead of looking on the crowded workhouse school as the home of their childhood, to which it is only too natural to return, they have wholesome memories of their foster-parents, and the cottage life, simple and homely and human, where their early impressions were formed. There is perhaps no work done for the poor by Englishwomen more valuable than the careful supervision of boarded-out children. The Orphan Association, founded in memory of Mrs. Nassau Senior, is conducted on the boarding-out system. She was the first female Inspector of Workhouses appointed by the English Government, and did incalculable service to her country by calling attention to the miserable condition of children in workhouse schools. The Orphan Association boards out its little charges in families of the same position in life as that of their deceased parents. Of late years one of the most popular forms of charity has been the Children's Country Holiday. Fifty or sixty miles round London the smaller railway stations are familiar with the sight of bands of children, coming and going every fort- night or so, to have a holiday amongst the green fields and fresh air of the country. They come pallid and unhealthy- jo Woman 's Mission. looking from their homes in the slums and alleys of London, and they return with something like the rosy and merry faces of childhood. How or where the idea first started is a doubtful question ; but no sooner had it been started than it was eagerly seized upon, and carried into execution. But time would fail to tell of the shoe clubs ; the clothing clubs ; the penny and halfpenny dinners ; the tea-meetings ; the happy evenings ; the magic-lanterns ; the summer treats ; the numerous and ingenious forms in which women's charity is constantly and unobtrusively pouring itself out in behalf of the children of the poor. Almost the latest development of this charity has been the organizing of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This society has been, and is, the work of men and women, loyally combining to achieve one end. It is said to have had its origin in the heart of a dying woman in a miserable tenement-house in New York. She sent a message to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, that she could not die in peace for the cries of a child who was being cruelly used. Societies were quickly formed in the United States. Mr. Agnew of Liverpool brought the scheme home with him from a visit to America, and soon established a Shelter in Liverpool, which I visited a few weeks after it was opened. I had long been cognizant of the terrible deeds of cruelty done to poor children, espe- cially for the purpose of begging. In the early summer of 1884 Mr. Agnew came to London, and conferred with me on the founding of a society there. The Bishop of Bedford, Dr. Billing, then the rector of a large parish in the East End, introduced me and my cause to a small committee of ladies, meeting at the house of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. They eagerly adopted the scheme, and from that interview our success was uninterrupted. The great philanthropist, Lord Shaftesbury, gladly accepted the position of President. Cardinal Manning, another great philanthropist, thoroughly acquainted with the tragedies of the lowest depths of London life, joined the movement heartily. Men and women of all religious sects and all political opinions made the children's cause a common ground of union. Benjamin Waugh, the author of " The Gaol Cradle Women s Work for Children. 1 1 Who rocks it?" a man who had devoted himself to the welfare of street children, gave himself heart and soul to the work. It was discovered that unmentionable atrocities were perpetrated in what was considered sacred by Englishmen the home. The laws of our country would not allow evi- dence to be taken of what was going on in the privacy of home. It was also discovered that children were less pro- tected in England than in most other civilized countries. In 1889 a bill was passed through Parliament which has been rightly termed the Children's Charter. Aid committees have been formed in most of the large towns throughout the king- dom ; and in every centre the consciences of men and women have been stirred in behalf of the sufferings of oppressed children. There is no need here to speak of the method and organization of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. We owe the idea of it to the United States, who owe to us the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. May God help us to help each other in all such works of fellowship with Him ! The last year or two there has been raised an outcry of " What have the Churches been doing for the poor ? " This is what the Churches have been doing through women for children. It may be safely assumed that most of the women who have given themselves to good works have been actuated by religious motives. Many of them have deliberately and consciously sought to tread in the footsteps of their Lord. Those who raise the sneering cry know little of the condition of life in large towns fifty years ago. Under the cry of the drunkard, the loafer, the unemployed, there could be heard the still more bitter and heart-rending wail of children, for whom few men cared. They lived the life of beasts, without the beasts' immunity from mental griefs. Their young hearts looked forward with terror to to-morrow, and looked back with trembling on the sufferings of yesterday. At least the children have been lifted up out of the worst slime of the pit. There is scarcely a want that has not had some pro- vision made for its removal. And this has been done mainly by the women of the Churches ; not one Church more than another. The true woman's heart knows nothing of sect when a child is put into her arms. 12 Woman 's Mission. What the nation will be thirty years hence depends chiefly on what the children of the present decade are. The world makes its progress on the little feet of childhood. That the work of women for children should ever cease is impossible ; but it is more than work for children, it is work for the fatherland, for humanity, for God. FOR THE LITTLE ONES " FOOD, FUN, AND FRESH AIR." BY MRS. MOLESWORTH. THE saying that to all questions there are more than one side more than one point of view from which they can be considered is of course a truism. And in nothing is it more realized than in dealing with any of our great social evils. In approaching such from one side alone the difficulties and objections are sure to obtrude themselves ; the tares grow apace with the wheat, the apparently inevitable mischief often threatens to overshadow the good we hope to do. All benevolent enterprise, all schemes for social improvement bristle with probable, and far more than probable, dangers and harmful results. Yet that this is so is no reason for letting, not " well," but " ill " alone, for sitting with our hands before us and consoling ourselves when certain sad facts of suffering and misery are forced upon us with the undoubtedly true, but often sorely misinterpreted and misapplied, dicta that " the innocent must suffer for the guilty ; " that " the poor must be always with us." The hearts of even the most rigid theorists are often better than their creeds ; the instincts and intuitions of human nature are often truer than we know. Let it be proclaimed on the house-tops that want and degradation are the lawful results of thriftlessness and intemperance, that wherever there is abnormal suffering it has been somebody's fault, that till starvation stares them in the face in the shape of their half- naked and half-dying children, vicious and improvident parents will never take heed to their ways let all this be 14 Woman's Mission. proclaimed and reproclaimed, as indeed it is and should be, still we we women above all cannot let "the little ones" suffer without some effort for their relief. At the sight of their piteous case all the more piteous that they themselves are often so unconscious of its being so, accepting with the strange touching resignation of childhood, their woes as a " must be " because they are at the sight, all theories are thrown to the winds, " philosophy " melts into tears, tears of honest indignation as well as pity, which, thank God, bear fruit in earnest and hearty action. And surely this is as it should be ? Is it not often well to work at and from both ends ? Let us punish with the sternest severity not only tangible cruelty on the part of the parents and guardians of our poor children, but the neglect or indifference almost as fearful in their consequences ; let us instruct and enlighten by every means in our power the dense and stupid ignorance of their elders, which is often the cause of childish misery ; let us get at the parents when- ever and as much as we can, pointing out and emphasizing in every conceivable way the results of their misdoing, awakening by all possible appeal the spark of conscious responsibility for the beings they have brought into existence, more often dormant than utterly extinguished by their own dull lives and constant struggle let us do all these things and more. And let us say by way of parenthesis while doing them, let us not fall into the mistake of imagining that all or most children, even in poverty-stricken homes, are uncared for, or that all parents among the poor stand in need of reform. That would be a tremendous error. But, I repeat, while doing all this, the other side remains while punishing, instructing, awakening the grown men and women, the children stand by with their little white faces, the children who are growing up to be in their turn, and all too soon, parents themselves. The innocent, as we may hope they mostly are, must suffer for the guilty, it is true; but woe to him by whom cometh the offence of not doing all that can be done for them while they are innocent, impres- sionable, malleable, grateful ; so touchingly patient, so even more touchingly merry; in a word, take them in the mass so open to good and healthful influences. For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air." 15 What can we do for them ? What are we women of England doing for these little ones of ours, doubly ours surely as Christians, for are they not in a very special sense His who set a child in the midst of His hearers, as in much, a type of what they should be themselves ? It was indeed He who said the poor should be always with us, and He encouraged no short-sighted pity for their condition as poor. Rather, on the contrary, did He over and over again hold up the case of the poor and lowly as far less to be dreaded than that of the rich and great, with the insidious temptations inseparable from wealth and grandeur. But there is, it seems to me, a natural, a so-to-speak reasonable poverty to which we must believe He referred He, Himself the poor Carpenter of Nazareth as part of the Divine order for humanity ; and there are monstrous developments of this which we cannot but call evil and abnormal. Here in this huge and in some ways awful London, as in other great cities in lesser degree throughout our whole empire, things have got all wrong : the rich are too few, the poor too terribly many. What the future of it all will be, how, as is still prophesied by the hopeful, the blundering old world will, somehow or other, to some extent right itself again, is hidden from us in mysterious and sometimes it seems appalling darkness. There are many prophets of evil, but there are also wise and far-seeing among us who allow no cause for despair. And as in time of war special and often splendid qualities are called forth by the very greatness of the emergency, may we not take it as one of the hopeful signs of the times that all thoughtful men and women are daily awaking more and more to the vastness of the " wrongs " among us, to the necessity of well-considered and steady effort towards their right-setting ? And much is being done. Of the greater and one might say national work for the children of our poor it is not within my province to speak. The wisest and keenest minds are grappling with this realizing that even were we regardless of the welfare of the young for their own sake they are the men and women of the near future. All we can do for the bud will amply repay us in the flower. The higher the level to which we can raise our boys and girls the better for our country and 1 6 Woman's Mission. for the world ; the healthier we can make them, morally and physically, the more ground for hope. But besides the great concerns of schools, hospitals, reformatories, and refuges for the absolutely destitute our poor waifs and strays other, more modest and less known work is being done ; and about this it is my pleasant task to write something, though but very superficially. For a great part of this work has been inaugurated and is carried out by the women of Great Britain, and it is work which is capable of almost endless increase and improvement ; work which, as I shall endeavour to explain in fuller detail, may be taken part in and helped on in some way by almost every well-to-do family among us, necessitating in many cases small outlay and small responsibility ; good work, which is perhaps best done by private enterprise alone, unburdened by committees, reports, and the cumbrous though unavoidable machinery accompanying the organization and direction of great institutions. It may be well to separate my subject into three divisions. In a certain sense it may all be classed as "supplementary work," for it does not deal with the absolutely destitute and starving, nor with the entirely neglected and uncared for. And as in childhood, even more than in maturer life, human beings are more conscious of their existence as bodies with souls than as " souls with bodies " the ideal state to which a great thinker would fain have us attain let us begin with the efforts now making, and that have for many years been successfully carried on, to supplement the scanty and insufficient nourishment which is all that scores and hundreds of poor though not homeless children have to look to as their daily bread, before we pass to the second and perhaps more interesting part of my story ; the endeavours in various directions to bring some brightness into the lives of the young of our poorer classes, to teach them to be happy in simple and legitimate ways, to implant in them some taste for, some idea of pure and refined pleasures. For the very suggestion of such bears fruit : to know that these sources of happiness do exist, does good. To parody the old quotation which would not be so hackneyed if it were not so true, if it be " better to have loved and lost than never For the Little Ones " Food, Fun, and Fresh Air" 17 to have loved at all," surely to have spent some merry evenings in innocent amusement, to have seen the green fields and the primroses but once in a child life, is better than to have no conception of any play but coarse romping in the streets, no notion of any landscape but that of the man-made town ! And if innocent and lawful recreations are not provided, their place is sure to be usurped by evil ones : it is in the empty, unstocked garden that the poisonous weeds flourish. Men and women, boys and girls still more, struggle sorely to be happy ; something to admire, to interest, to attract, the young must have, and the half-unconscious yearning for this lasts long. The love of beauty, even though distorted so as to be scarcely recognizable, dies very hard in even the most degraded. I am wandering from our hungry children, but we must keep them waiting a moment longer while I make one other preliminary remark which seems to me of great importance. It is this I believe that one of the most distinctly happy effects of the kind of benevolent effort which we are considering is that it brings home so plainly to the children the fact that among their superiors in the social scale, above all among " ladies," there are those that do care for them. The drawing closer together of the classes, the inspiring the poor with confidence in the sympathy of the rich, are among the greatest goods that can be done to both. And towards children it comes so easily to be friendly and affectionate. Shyness and scores of " big people " are consumed with shyness when they come in contact with any class but their own melts before their hearty simplicity, their absence of self-consciousness. A rather grimy little mouth held up to "kiss the lady" may not be precisely tempting, but it is irresistible ; Tommy's " My eye, ain't it jolly ? " if not exactly a graceful and elegant acknowledgment of his slice of Christmas pudding, comes from his heart and goes to yours. And when two hearts meet is not half or all the battle won ? And Tommy and even the smutty baby don't always forget. Some seed takes root in childish memories and grows there and bears fruit, and if the first tender sprout be cared for and watered and encouraged, who can say to what c 1 8 Woman s Mission. grandeur and beauty it may not attain, nor how many happy "birds of Heaven" may "find lodging under its shadow " ? " Hungry " is scarcely the word by which to describe the poor, insufficiently nourished mites in whose behalf the first good work I have to notice was inaugurated. There is something hearty and healthy in the expression, which makes us think of rosy cheeks and bright eyes round the breakfast- table or of merry little feet trotting home to the pleasant nursery tea. The children of the poor of the very poor are seldom " hungry " in this cheery way. " Half-starved " better describes their chronic condition. One of the saddest things at a poor children's treat in a large town especially is that so many among them eat so little. They are so accustomed, so inured to not having enough, that when a plentiful meal is put before them they cannot readily do justice to it ; in many cases they are always passively enduring the first stages of the suffering of which the acute form is starvation. It was in the year 1863 that a short article in Punch, headed "Dinners for Poor Children Wanted," drew the attention of some benevolent women, already much interested in Ragged School and other similar work, to the miserably ill-fed condition of many of the little pupils at the schools in New Tothill Street, Westminster. The teachers of these schools, and those of others as well, were aware of the sad state of matters, often finding it impossible to make any way with their poor scholars, whose minds could scarcely be expected to take in instruction when their bodies were almost starving. And efforts had been made by the teachers from time to time to procure a little food for the children to supplement the miserable fare which was all they could get at their own homes. But to be effectual, such assistance requires to be organized and systematic. Thanks to the leaders in this movement the late Baroness Mayer de Rothschild and her sister the year 1864 saw established a sensible and practical scheme for providing one good dinner a fortnight to fifty of the most needy among the children at these schools. One good meal in a fortnight ! It does not sound very For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air." 19 much to us, who are in distress and anxiety if our children pass half a day with less than their usual nourishment. But practically it has been found to mean a good deal. For the poor little people's improved condition and appearance soon rewarded their benefactors, and led to other kindly persons interesting themselves in this simple and sensible charity ; which thus rapidly extended and grew. By the end of 1865 it was found that over three thousand dinners had been given at these same New Tothill Street Schools. Then followed a successful appeal in the Times, and a large meeting at the house of the late Lord Mount Temple, resulting in the formal inauguration under the presidency of the father of so many philanthropic schemes, the late well-known Lord Shaffcesbury, of "The Destitute Children's Dinner Society." And under this name the society still exists, though so immensely enlarged that it is difficult to recognize as the same which sprang from the modest beginning of twenty-five weekly dinners in one school, a good work which in 1891 provided no less than 290,476 dinners in fifty-five dining-rooms in various parts of London. The causes of the success of this good work initiated, as I have said, by two or three women at their own cost are not far to seek. It was sorely needed, and it has been carried out on sensible and practical lines. The rules are few and simple ; care being taken that the great danger always to be apprehended in charitable schemes, that of pauperizing those whom it was meant to benefit, is guarded against as thoroughly as possible, by strict inquiry into the real need of the children admitted to the dinners, and by charging a small sum, at first a penny, now only a halfpenny, for the plateful of good honest " Irish stew," composed of beef or mutton, potatoes, barley or rice, and onions, accompanied by a substantial slice of bread. The cooking, laying of the table, washing up, etc., are done by a few of the elder school-girls in turn, under proper superintendence ; thus benefiting the young cooks as well as those for whom they work. Clean hands and faces, orderly manners at table, are insisted upon ; grace is sung by the children before and after the meal, thus utilizing the charity as a moral influence for good as well as a material benefit Some idea of its present extent may be 2O Woman s Mission. better arrived at, by mentioning the figures to which the children's halfpence now amount. In 1890 the sum thus paid in fifty-nine dining-rooms came to 606 i8s. 7^.; 1891 to ^588 i6s. $\d. ; these being met respectively by grants from the society of 1377 and 1274. On the death of Lord Shaftesbury the presidency of the work reverted to woman's hands, those of Lady Burdett- Coutts ; one of its warmest and most liberal supporters. And this parent society has now to boast of several others, in some cases off-shoots from itself, in some, independent imita- tors working on similar lines, both in London and in various other places throughout the country, notably in the large provincial towns where the same sad shadows of want and need dog the footsteps of great material enterprise. Of these perhaps the first to be noticed are the dining- rooms for children in connection with the Board Schools, which are organized on much the same lines as the " Destitute Children's dinners " which we have been considering in some detail. And though these Board School free dinners were not originated, as were their precursors, by women, it is in- variably the lady members of the Board, and other women helpers, who chiefly manage and carry them on. The Mildmay Institutions also provide dinners for boys and girls during the winter, in connection with the parent society, to the extent of sixty or seventy a day. Then there are the free or rather penny dinners during the winter months, in connection with various Jewish schools at Stepney, Sandys Row, etc. These are, I think, without exception, dependent upon and under the charge of ladies. Mrs. Adler, the President of this work at Sandys Row, was one of the first to take up the idea. At the present moment under her management, 1400 dinners of Irish stew or sub- stantial soup, with a good slice of bread and jam to finish up are provided weekly. And there are private enterprises of the same kind, which it is often difficult to discover in their modest retirement, such as the " Dinner-Table for Children and Invalids," founded and carried on by Lady Thompson and her daughter at 60, Paddington Street, where hungry little people may dine twice a week for the sum of one penny, and some for nothing at all, according to their For the Little Ones "'Food, Fun, and Fresk Air." 2 1 need; care being taken to ensure the real eligibility of the guests. And these hospitable schemes are not limited to dinners. The list of free or cheap breakfasts for the children of the poor is long and satisfactory. And surely if a dinnerless child is a melancholy idea, that of a boy or girl who has had no breakfast, especially on a cold or damp winter morning, is still worse ! How can they do their lessons under such conditions ? how can they keep their tempers ? how can they resist the temptation, should it offer, of stealing a penny roll ? But as a workman was heard to say the other day in reference to a mission-room where these breakfasts for chil- dren are provided, there are " those as thinks for 'em. 'Tis nice to see 'em go in blue and come out rosy." I have in my thoughts just such a room but a few streets off, where year after year, thanks to the energy of one kind-hearted woman, during the winter months one hundred morning meals are daily provided for needy boys and girls ; breakfasts of cocoa and bread, and porridge and milk on alternate days, the utmost care being taken that no abuse or misuse is made of this charity of course a most necessary and a perfectly pos- sible precaution. No child is allowed to have more than two breakfasts a week, and no child receives a ticket except from the heads of the schools it attends or from the clergy of the parish, who are intimately acquainted with the actual circum- stances of all their poor. The Church Extension Association has of late years done much in the way of providing children's dinners and break- fasts those at several places being under the management of the Kilburn Sisters. The number of halfpenny dinners given by this association in 1892 amounted to 53,700, and breakfasts on a corresponding scale. A very attractive charity has also been carried on by this same society for upwards of twenty years in the shape of Sunday breakfasts, or, to use the quaint name the children themselves have adopted, " Bun Schools." For the fare, in honour of the day which should be the happiest of the seven, is somewhat choicer than that of the week-day breakfasts. It consists of a mug of tea and a currant roll. These Sunday breakfasts, superintended by women volunteers, were inaugurated in behalf of real gutter- 22 Womaii 's Mission. children, and in many instances proved to be the thin end of the wedge for better things. To bring some sunshine into the lives of the children of our poor, to teach them " how to play " innocently and healthily, is, on broad lines, the object of the second section of the work of women among the little ones which I have to describe, and which I have roughly classed as " Fun." The very idea of such a thing for those who are in many cases in actual need of food and clothing is in itself a novel and modern one, which found no place in charitable schemes not so very many years ago. Let us hope that this special extension of our thought and sympathy is one of the un- doubtedly good signs of the times ; that the wish to give to poor children some share in the heritage of joy and merri- ment which we should think it so hard, so very hard for our own boys and girls to be deprived of, testifies to an ever- increasing spirit of true humanity, of realizing the great fact of our brother- and sisterhood. And in this department we find that it is again women who have been the leaders and the pioneers. Occasional treats for children school feasts in the country, Christmas parties in the towns have for long been recognized insti- tutions, arranged and managed by each parish for itself ; by the leading women of each parish in most cases. But the idea of a, so to say, all-the-year-round scheme of recreation and amusement, a regular system of pleasure and fun as a part of every-day life for the poor, as it has always been for the rich, is a delightful novelty. The most important of these societies, the Children's Happy Evenings Association, though not the first in order of time, as the Ragged Schools had already started " recreative evenings " for their members begun but three years ago at one school in Lambeth, now numbers twenty-seven branches in widely-separated poor parts of London. At these centres, once a week or once a fortnight, thousands of children meet for healthy and hearty amusement. Lady Jeune and the Misses Heather-Bigg were the initiators of this movement, one surely of the very best ever thought of, for the human- izing, refining, and brightening these dull little lives. And the considerate care and practical good sense with which the For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air" 23 scheme has been carried out by these its first promoters, and other wise and kindly-hearted women, true lovers of children, among whom Mrs. Moberley Bell must be mentioned as one of the most devoted workers, are shown by the tangible results. Every year sees new branches started under the supervision of the original society, or similar associations are formed on the same lines, though managed independently. As a rule, the children meet in the largest room of the schools, where, in the earlier hours, books and lessons are the order of the day. And now the walls re-echo to very different sounds from those they are accustomed to. A piano, very possibly no longer in its first youth, poor thing ! but none the worse for that if it means that it has been the gift of a well-wisher, and has not to be paid for, responds to the willing fingers of some girl looking nearly as merry as the little folk who dance to her inspiriting tunes ; or a game of " musical chairs " leaves them all breathless with running and laughter, though they soon find their voices again when they sit down on the floor for a rest, and sing with might and main some favourite chorus. In another part of the room skipping-rope competitions are going on trials of skill in which the boys as well as their sisters do not disdain to take part. Quieter tastes, too, are by no means left unprovided for. Several branches have their own special features, suggested no doubt by the par- ticular proficiency or capacities of the directors of the recrea- tions. For instance, at one school in Marylebone the children have become quite adroit at getting up little scenic effects tableaux vivants and so on with the aid of the very simplest materials ; in another they have learnt to use their toy paint-boxes with great success ; in a third their neat- handedness and inventiveness have been exercised in the manufacture of toy tables and chairs of cork and wood, helped by pins and shreds of wool ; the filling of scrap-books with old Christmas cards is another very favourite amuse- ment ; and at all " happy evenings " you are sure to find a room devoted to reading or telling stories. Here you may see the narrator surrounded by a circle of eager and intent little ones, transported for the time to those blissful regions of fairyland whose doors should surely never be closed to any 24 Womaris Mission. child, rich or poor ; nay, rather should they not open the more widely to those whose real lives are so denuded of sweetness and beauty ? The " happy evening " ends all too soon ; the last of the programme being, like the first, a lively march to some stirring tune, and the children flock off their " good-nights " interrupted by many a " mayn't I come next time ? " to dream, let us hope, of fun and frolic and fairyland, or, better still, however vaguely, of some far-off world where there are no rough words, no tears, no headaches where the secret of all the happiness is love. Now and then, at Christmas time or on some special occasion, there comes a grand "field-day." A tea-party is given with unlimited cake and buns, or a Punch and Judy show is provided by some kind friend. Magic-lantern enter- tainments are of course popular, and conjuring wonders, and Negro minstrels are not unknown ; and what perhaps gives most pleasure of anything, the children are sometimes them- selves the entertainers, on more than one occasion having been allowed to invite their parents to witness some special performance which they had been helped to get up. The effect of these " happy evenings " reaches far. From one centre, in a peculiarly neglected and somewhat outlying part of North- West London, established not long ago, I hear that the drawing together in heart and sympathy of the children and their grown-up playfellows-for-the-time has been already productive of most satisfactory results. The little people are now more than manageable ; they are developing courtesy, good manners, and consideration for others to a degree that is more than praiseworthy when one remembers the terrible roughness and almost savagery of their daily lives. For in this district the circumstances of the homes are particularly miserable, the mothers being as a rule the ab- sentees for twelve, sixteen, or even eighteen hours of the twenty-four working at the great steam-laundries which here abound, till late, terribly late at night ; so that even more than in other poor neighbourhoods the streets have been literally the children's only play-room, the word " home " a mockery. In such a case, one could indeed find it in For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air'' 25 one's heart to wish that the "happy evenings" were a daily institution. This good work can with comparatively small effort be enormously increased, as may be practically shown to any one interested in the details of the organization. The cost above all where the schoolrooms are lent is extremely small;] from 12 to 15 a year, roughly speaking a half- penny a child per evening covering, the outlay required for the average attendance about one hundred and fifty, weekly or fortnightly. The volunteers to play with and superintend the children need only promise two hours weekly or fort- nightly no very heavy burden surely. But nothing, good work of no kind excepted, is perfect. There are always possible objections ; there are, even more certainly, the objectors, and one often hears these "happy evenings" decried as having a bad influence on the boys and girls for whose benefit they exist, in "destroying their love for home," and " keeping them out in the streets too late." To such I would reply that no doubt modifications of the general scheme may sometimes be advisable, and should be left to the good sense of the managers. Each individual district presents its own individual features. In such a neighbourhood as the one I have alluded to, every possible objection of the kind falls to the ground. When every evening is spent in the streets, surely one a week is all too little for the children to be under loving supervision though not that of their parents ; when homes are no homes, owing to the mother's often unavoidable absence, surely there can be no interference with their sacredness. In other places one invitation a fortnight may perhaps be as much as is necessary or advisable ; but it is difficult to believe that in any case this moderate amount of "innocent dissipation," certainly not more than the wisest mothers in our class would allow for their little ones, can be in any sense noxious. Still there are those to whose judgment one would defer, who object to evening treats, and in these cases there is the alternative of a different hour. The workers at the Women's University Settlement in Southwark, for instance, have found that it better suited the conditions of the poor children of that part of the world to have their weekly fun in the morn- 26 Woman's Mission. ing. And every Saturday, therefore, sees merry little people assembled for games, and music, and story-telling in the various schoolrooms lent for the purpose, with again the happiest results. And these ladies, headed by their energetic leader, Miss Sewell, undertake another kindly and pleasant task in the same direction. On holiday afternoons small parties of six to ten schoolgirls are escorted by them to the different exhibi- tions of pictures and other desirable resorts among them the Zoological Gardens to the great delight of the children ; who, with the very rarest exceptions, conduct themselves with the utmost propriety and docility. This same centre of philanthropic enterprise for women is full of resources at holiday times for adding to the safe and wholesome enjoyment of the surrounding poor children. It would be difficult to name a "treat" that they have not planned or any new ideas for brightening these little lives which they are not eager to try. It may not be out of place here to speak of a society whose very name is full of charming suggestion the Santa Claus Society. The Santa Glaus Home, I must explain a sort of supplementary convalescent hospital for children, specially organized to meet special needs is a separate work which grew out of the original idea, and does not fall within the limits of this paper. It is the original society, whose sweet and tender object is almost told by its name, of which I would speak. This name Claus or Klaus is, as almost everybody knows, the familiar northern abbreviation of that of the child-loving saint, Nicholas of Myra, who more than fifteen hundred years ago, in the far-off East, devoted himself to the service of the little ones ; the good bishop whose modesty was so great that he hid his kind deeds by every possible device. And there is a pleasing irony of fate in the fact that this very name of his which he strove to conceal, should still, after all these centuries, be a household word throughout Europe, while yet the legend of his shrinking humility lingers in the fascinating mystery surrounding the ever invisible nursery benefactor. The object of this kindly little society was to provide toys, of which dolls are the most conspicuous feature, to the little sufferers in our children's wards and children's hospitals. For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air" 27 It was started in 1885 by the Misses Charles on very simple and almost private lines. Since then it has grown so much that every year an exhibition of the dolls takes place, at which prizes are given for the best dressed, and at the same time a sale is held for the benefit of the society. The pleasure the gifts bestow is reward indeed to the givers. Many of the children can at first scarcely realize that Santa Claus has sent them something. For " at home we didn't have no Christ- mas," says one little patient ; and " he never brought us nothing before," says another in delighted astonishment Think of a child that has never had a toy ! Did you ever hear the true story of a, I think, chronic little sufferer, whose only playthings were the spots of damp on the wall at the side of her bed, to which she gave names and imaginary qualities ? Or another equally true story, which came within my knowledge the other day. A teacher at a Sunday school was endeavouring to give her little pupils some notion of the real meaning of giving that whatever it may be, our offer- ing to God should be of our best, of what we most prize. And in one baby heart her words found response. The little creature confided to her teacher on the next occasion her offering : it was a little carefully tied-up packet containing a few grains of rice, her most prized, perhaps her only treasure ! There are many other associations already in existence whose general objects are those which we have been dis- cussing ; the bringing some sunshine into childish lives, the teaching these poor little boys and girls how to play. We find these societies scattered throughout the provinces ; we hear of the movement spreading in the country, where in winter especially cottage evenings are often very dull and dreary. And everywhere we find that women, even if not, as in many cases they are, the actual originators of the " happy evenings," or children's treats of every kind, are yet invariably the great workers in these directions. It seems to be essen- tially a woman's work, this beautifying of young lives, this embroidery, as it were, on the substantial charities already existing. It is not confined to Church workers, though I think I may say that in no parish is the idea now ignored by the clergy and their helpers. We find it in full swing 28 Woman s Mission. among the Wesleyan women workers of the community ; it is excellently carried out by the ladies forming the com- mittees of the Jewish schools at Stepney, Bayswater and else- where. The poor German children who abound in some parts of London are not forgotten by the rich women of their nation resident here, especially at Christmas time, when much is done by the lady members of the German Lutheran com- munity to make the little people happy. It is coming it has come indeed to be strongly realized that human buds and blossoms need sunshine for their full and normal growth and development just as certainly as do those of the vegetable world sunshine moral and spiritual for our boys and girls we must have if the great battle of good over evil, of love over hatred is ever to be won. And sunshine in the literal sense too, our poor children need ; the want of it is told all too pitifully by their pallid and prematurely careworn faces. Sunshine, it is true, we cannot ensure very much of in this uncertain climate of ours, even for our own little people ; it is one of the things that in England money cannot buy. But some chance of enjoying it when it does come, and at any rate a certainty of fresh air a sight of fields and trees, of the " real country " as one hears it sometimes pathetically described wanderings in green lanes and scrambles in quest of wild flowers, or a breath of the sea, an enraptured vision of the dancing waves, races on the " lovely smooth sands," and the inexhaustible delights of wooden spades and tin buckets all these boons we can give some measure of to the poor boys and girls of our great towns. And perhaps no charitable work is so popular, so sure to evoke sympathy and ready co-operation as this. Since the idea of it first struck some thoughtful and wise as well as kind-hearted women but a few years ago, the work has spread and increased at a really astonishing rate ; and as time goes on and the lessons of practical experience are profited by, there is every reason to believe that the effort will prosper more and more, while the few flaws, the inevitable mistakes attending a first start in any new direction gradually drop off and disappear. The success and present working of the Country Holiday Schemes, and Fresh Air Missions, in a general way, may be For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air." 29 shown by a few particulars from the reports of some of the principal centres. And though these cannot all be said to have been inaugurated by women, still it is undoubtedly the case that from women came the first suggestion of the thing, and that women are the main workers and managers of the whole. But above and beyond the satisfactory results thus borne witness to, there is, one is glad to know, an immense deal of good work in this special way of which no printed reports are published, no committee meetings held : quiet, unobtrusive, sensible endeavour to do what can be done privately, but not on that account the less thoroughly, to give, if but in each case to a very few of the pale-faced little dwellers in the towns, some share in the delights and benefits of a week or a fortnight or, better still, three weeks in the country. It is a kind of good work which it is very easy to do well in this modest way. It is indeed a question whether private enterprise in this direction is not the best of all. If families with sufficiently commodious country houses take even two poor children at a time for a fortnight, during four or five months of the fine season, twenty little people are thus benefited, without the housekeeping books showing any difference to speak of for the appetites of these town chil- dren as a rule are small ; and as for the third-class railway fares, in what better direction could one spend a certain pro- portion of the money which surely can never be conscientiously looked upon as all ours ? And in this way one gets to know the children individually ; other good influences besides those of " the sunshine and the flowers " are brought directly and indirectly to bear upon them ; year after year in some cases, they come to look forward to the fortnight under the roof of their more prosperous friends as the bright spot in their lives. They learn to believe in the love and sympathy they are actually conscious of. In many instances the experiment has been tried, and with such success that it will be repeated. In many happy country homes the arrival of " the poor children from London " or elsewhere is coming to be looked for as cheer- fully as that of the swallows. For there are not many families who cannot do something in this direction. If not able to house them under their own 3O Woman s Mission. roof, there is pretty sure to be a "somewhere" near at hand, where for a small payment the little town mice can be made welcome, and share in the kindly care of the cottage mother. This boarding-out in cottage homes is found to be the best and most practical mode of organizing the country visits on a large scale. The most important of our "Fresh Air for Poor Children " societies namely, the Children's Holiday Fund, works entirely on this system, and on the whole it answers admirably. Though started only eight years ago, it now numbers eight hundred country centres, at which, every summer, arrangements are made for receiving children. In 1891, 25,613 small townsfolk were sent off for a fortnight's " fresh air," the expenditure of the society for that year being ;i 6,037, exclusive of payments from the parents, amount- ing to about a third of that sum. For one of the best features of the association is that the fathers and mothers of the children who benefit by it are expected to pay according to their means. This society is not essentially a " women's work," but a very great part of the supervision and detail is managed by women. And some branch societies, working in connection with it and assisted by its grants, consist exclusively of women. Of these I may instance the Women's University Settle- ment, in Southwark, where a large amount of country holiday work is done every year. The past year saw seven hundred children sent off for their annual holiday under the auspices of this society, and great credit is due to the women workers of the settlement for the thoroughness with which this department of their manifold charities is managed. The circumstances of the children selected, their real need of assistance, the proportion which the parents can pay, the children's physical state, as free from infectious diseases or other objectionable conditions all these difficult points are gone into with the most painstaking exactitude ; while on the other side the cottage homes are carefully chosen, the " country correspondents," or lady visitors who undertake the supervision of the little guests, so as to guard against such evils as overcrowding, insufficient feeding, etc., are well instructed as to what is their necessary part of the work, so For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air." 31 that the whole machinery may act as harmoniously as possible, and any hitch or source of danger be quickly detected and set right The North St. Pancras Children's Holiday Fund is another smaller society of the same kind which since its founding in August, 1 886, has done good and efficient work under its president, Lady Lamington, and the acting committee, composed chiefly of women. Its first year saw sixty children sent for a week to the seaside ; six years later the number sent, and that for a fortnight each, had mounted up to 360. The details of this society are on much the same lines as I have described ; every precaution against mistakes being taken, nothing being thought too trifling to consider where the children's welfare is in any way concerned. The Children's Fresh Air Mission, another society on similar lines, is more specially intended to benefit boys and girls belonging to the districts of Holborn, Clerkenwell, and St. Luke's. The management of this is greatly in the hands of women, and the same system of part payment by the parents, where such is possible, is adopted. Then there are ten small Holiday Homes in direct connection with the Ragged School Union, where again we find women to the front. And this society has also a fund for sending children for one day to the country ; excellent so far as it goes certainly " better than nothing." There is a small but admirably managed Seaside Home where twelve little girls at a time may spend a happy three weeks or month at Littlehampton. This is an entirely private charity belonging to the Sisterhood at St Peter's, Kilburn. Another home where (as well as their mothers) girls and little boys are received for a small payment, has been in existence for some years at Petersfield, Hants. This also is a thoroughly private charity, belonging to the Hon. Mrs. Bonham Carter. It is known as the " Street Cottage Home." Among Lady Ashburton's Homes of Rest at Addiscombe is one for children boys and girls alternately where for a fortnight at a time they may enjoy and benefit by the country air. Then there is the Cottage Home at Totteridge, Hertford- Woman s Mission. shire, where any poor London child in want of " country air and nourishing food," if passed as in no need of quarantine, is considered eligible for admission in its turn. This home is altogether a " women's work," as is another on very similar lines near Twyford, Berkshire, which is known by the pretty and attractive name of " The Buttercups," under the manage- ment of its foundress Miss Whitaker. Another home in the same neighbourhood, superintended by two sisters, the Misses Beale, is perhaps rather more of a convalescent than a holiday home. But in many cases no very hard and fast line is drawn between convalescence and need of country air, though it makes the selection of holiday homes for notice somewhat perplexing. As is the case in the other charities we have been con- sidering, we find in these country holiday schemes, Jewish ladies very much to the fore. They are both most liberal with their time, trouble, and money for work of general benefit, and most conscientious in providing for the little ones of their own community. Four hundred and fifty Jewish children are sent yearly to the holiday homes they have established at Neasden, Waltham Abbey, etc., and in many country houses belonging to wealthy Jewish families the children of their poorer brethren are received regularly every summer. Another centre of this special good work that of the Children's Holiday Fund for Marylebone has only been brought to my notice since writing the foregoing pages. This society founded in 1883 by the Misses Brooke, daughters of Mr. Stopford Brooke, and managed, I believe, entirely by themselves and their girl friends though not one of the largest, is yet now a very important one, as can be seen by the increase of its figures both as to income and as to the number of little people benefited. The first year saw 187 children despatched to the country; in 1891 these figures had increased to 1298, while the income for this same year amounted to 105 2. The working of this society is excellent ; everything is gone into with the most scrupulous care, and it is found possible to extend the holiday time for each child to three instead of the ordinary two weeks, at no greater cost than in other cases is expended on the shorter For the Little Ones "Food, Fun, and Fresh Air'' 33 period. " Rocks ahead," in the shape of the charity being dis- . honestly taken advantage of by those who do not need it ; of untrustworthy " foster parents " as they may be called for the time, or unmanageable naughtiness, or other distinct disqualifi- cations on the part of the young guests, seem to have been avoided by this bright little society with marvellous dexterity ; thanks in this case most certainly to "good management," rather than " good luck " ! I should attribute this marked success in very great measure to the strong personal element in the organization ; an element of which the advantage is so realized by the ladies who manage it, that in 1891, feeling that the growth of the society was tending to the loss or lessening of this personal feeling, that it was becoming too much "a matter of business," to use their secretary's own words, and that the original close acquaintance with their little protigh and their families could not be maintained as it had been, " decentralization," to use a very big word, was unselfishly decided upon. The central society was reduced by the formation of a dozen or more smaller ones, whiclv though supported to a certain extent by the parent one, are yet responsible for their own work, subject only to a few broad regulations. This is the real spirit in which such work should be con- ducted ; not that of self-aggrandizement or love of power, but of honest readiness to consider first of all the good of those to be benefited. And one of the side issues, the delightful flowers to be culled from this eminently pretty and most lovable charity, is the bringing together the workers and the worked for. Long before the holiday season begins these young ladies are going in and out among the homes of their "holiday children," or looking up new ones hearing in the former case all that has happened since last year, or bringing smiles to the little white faces to whom as yet such things are but words, by the promise for them too of " meadows filled with happy flowers," or " woods where the wild birds sing." "The starting day," writes Miss Honor Brooke, " is great fun for parents, children, and workers ; we fly from station- to station, sometimes ourselves accompanying large batches to their destination" and no praise can be too high for D 34 Woman 's Mission. " the loving attention given to their guests by the " (carefully chosen) "country fathers and mothers," nor to the clergymen and ladies of the various villages where they are sent, for their thorough superintendence." Yes the fresh-air-for-the-little-ones movement is a de- lightful charity, one whose beautiful results are not far to seek. Well may " The all-beholding sun Laugh with joy to see the sight," as * f Sunken eyes with darkness dun Fill and shine with jollity," when the little town sparrows learn to " Hail with all the birds the morn, Race and laugh the live-long day ; And at even, tired with mirth, Rest, and sleeping, dream of play." There is much to cheer and encourage in even this frag- mentary and superficial review of these three departments of charitable work among children, which we have been considering. For the few I have named give but a feeble idea of the many others on more or less the same lines which exist throughout the whole country, and of which those in or near the metropolis may be taken as typical. It is cheering to see how much has been done ; it is encouraging and in- spiriting to feel how much more may be done especially in the directions of brightening our poor children's lives by happy evenings at home and happy days in the country. Modestly and unobtrusively, at comparatively small cost and in many cases by private effort alone, this kindly work can be successfully carried on. There are few, if any, of our upper or middle-class families who cannot do something' in this direction. It is above all and essentially a work for women ; a beautiful work ; one of those of which the good results are not far to seek. It is no case of waiting till "after many days ; " for surely in the merry voices, the brightening eyes and rosier cheeks of the children, the loving hearts who care for them find an ample and sure reward. 35 WOMEN'S WORK FOR THE WELFARE OF GIRLS. BY Miss EDITH SELLERS. IN mediaeval days, many cunningly devised arrangements were in force for reclaiming the lost, and bringing back into the narrow path those who had strayed. In modern times, however, it is held to be safer, wiser, more humane, to guide than to rescue. Latter-day philanthrophy is essentially pre- ventive in character. The problem it sets itself to solve is, how are the young to be kept from falling ? When once they are down, trying to raise them is heart-breaking work at best. Thus the warding-off of evil is the chief aim of our most important benevolent undertakings, especially of those organized for securing the welfare of young girls. It is difficult to realize the full extent of the work which is now being done in the United Kingdom to keep girls out of harm's way. Institutions for their benefit may be counted by the hundreds ; time and money alike are devoted to their service without stint. There is not a town, hardly a village, but women are on the watch there to shield from danger the unstable, and make rough places smooth for the weak. All ranks and all creeds are at one in striving to lighten the burdens of our girl-toilers, and bring into their lives bright- ness and hope. Amongst the numberless societies for helping and pro- tecting girls, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants holds a prominent position. The circum- stances under which it was founded give a special interest to this society. Some twenty years ago, our London Poor-Law guardians were brought face to face with an unpleasant fact. 36 Woman s Mission. The majority of the girls for whose training they were re- sponsible turned out worse than the veriest little street wanderers ; and " she who is born in a workhouse always returns there to die," had become quite a proverb. Some- thing must be done, it was felt, to put an end to this state of things; and, as the guardians did not know what, they appealed to Mrs. Nassau Senior for advice. " It is mothering the girls want," she told them emphatically. Now " mother- ing " is a work they could hardly undertake they were all men in those days ; they therefore commissioned Mrs. Senior to do it for them. Up to this time " workhouse " girls had been sent out into the world at fourteen years of age, and then left to sink or float as best they could. Mrs. Senior speedily put an end to this arrangement. Having secured the co-operation of a number of ladies, she organized the Metro- politan Association for Befriending Young Servants, every member of which undertakes to act as friend, adviser, mother in fact, to girls trained in workhouses. During the last twenty years the association has extended its operations in the most marvellous fashion ; and it now acts as general protector to all the servants in London between the ages of thirteen and twenty. It consists of a central committee, thirty-two dis- trict committees, and visitors ; in all some eleven hundred ladies. The central committee has under its surveillance thirty-two free registries, seven training homes, a conva- lescent home, and thirteen servants' lodging-homes. It is responsible to the guardians for the management of the institution, and has full control of its expenditure. Its modus agendi is very simple. When a girl leaves the workhouse for service, she is placed by the guardians under the care of the central committee, which undertakes to watch over her and report to them at intervals as to what she is doing. The central committee passes her on to the committee for the district in which she lives ; and this committee, in its turn, hands her over to a lady-visitor, who is specially told off to take care of her. The office of a visitor is no sinecure ; the success of the whole scheme depends, in a great measure, on her kindliness and tact. As soon as she receives a girl's address, she must pay her mistress a visit ; and if she finds the situation un- Women's Work for the Welfare of Girls. 37 suitable for her charge, she must report the fact to the com- mittee, which will, if necessary, receive the girl into one of its lodging-homes until another place can be found for her. It often happens that these fourteen-year-old servants cannot do their work, through sheer ignorance. In a workhouse there is little opportunity of seeing how things should be done ; and children brought up in batches are always lacking in initiative. In such cases, it is the duty of their visitor to arrange for them to be sent to a training-home, where they clean, wash, cook, etc., under the direction of a skilful house- wife, who fits them, so far as in them lies, to be efficient ser- vants. If one of her charges be ill, the visitor must see that she is properly taken care of. No matter how often a girl may lose her place, a fresh one must be found for her ; for a visitor may not pick and choose amongst her prottgfas, but must do her best for good and bad alike. It stands on record that one girl, in one year, was provided with seventeen situations. She has since developed into quite a useful member of society. In addition to these her definite duties, a visitor has others of a more delicate nature. It must not be forgotten that she has no legal right to interfere with the movements of these young women, and that many of them keenly resent any- thing that savours of dictation. Her only chance of in- fluencing them, therefore, lies in convincing them that she regards them as friends ; and does for them what she does through personal affection. This is often no easy task, and it speaks volumes in praise of the association that its mem- bers should so rarely fail in winning the confidence of those whom they strive to help. Many ladies introduce a little variety into the lives of their protegees by arranging for them, when they have a holiday, some expedition ; or by taking them to a place of amusement. They invite them to tea from time to time, lend them books, and find for them some girls' club where they can pass their " evenings out." These are trifles, of course, but trifles which go far towards winning girls' love. Some visitors make a point of going with their charges when on shopping bent. The uninitiated can form no idea of the value of the service they thus render. The souls of servant-maids hanker sorely after feathers and flowers; 38 Woman s Mission. and their love of gorgeous colouring is quite Oriental. If no judicious friend be at hand when they buy their clothes, they are sure to let their fancy run riot ; and, at one fell swoop, waste their money and bring down on their heads the wrath of their mistresses. A visitor, though, if she be equal to her work, can easily make them see the wisdom of choosing gowns of some more sober hue than Rob Roy tartan. The most difficult, however, of all the duties that fall to her lot is that of dealing with the " followers " of her charges. Never do girls stand more in need of " mothering " than when their thoughts begin to turn to love. Then a little friendly interest, the expression of a wish to see the chosen one, a few cautiously worded inquiries as to his character and means, may make all the difference in life to a young woman's future. The association is managed in the most businesslike fashion ; and rigid economy is practised in every department. In 1891, its working expenses amounted to ,-7484 is. id. ; and the number of girls whom it befriended to 13,398. Already it has wrought a wonderful change amongst servants of the poorer class. When, in 1873, the guardians appealed to Mrs. Senior for help, not 16 per cent, of workhouse girls could be reported later in life as doing well. At the present time, 90 per cent, of them turn out satisfactorily. And of the 10 per cent who prove failures, the majority are feeble- minded, a class most difficult to deal with. The Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants is now trying an experiment for their benefit. It has just opened a home where girls deficient in intellect, will, whilst learning to earn their own livelihood, be carefully guarded from the dangers to which they are exposed elsewhere. The association restricts its operations to London ; but throughout England and Scot- land there are societies working on the same lines, notably in Bristol, a city always honourably distinguished in good deeds. The work of the Young Women's Christian Association lies amongst a class of girls who, though socially better placed than servants, often stand as sorely in need of a helping hand. Year by year hundreds of girls drift up to London to serve in shops, or engage in some kind of business. As often as Women s Work for the Welfare of Girls. 39 not they have no friends in town, no place to go to, when their work is done, but their one poor little room, a most com- fortless and expensive refuge. The late Lady Kinnaird was so touched by the loneliness and the joylessness of the lives many of these girls lead, that in 1856 she opened a home for them near Fitzroy Square. The inmates lived together as one family, and infinite trouble was taken to make the place as bright and cheerful as possible. The first home proved such a decided success that others were started. Lady Kin- naird's institution gradually developed until, under the name of the Young Women's Christian Association, it has become quite a power in the land. It is now well to the fore in every department of work for girls. It has established branches in all quarters of the globe, in Russia, in Hungary, in Japan ; and it stands in close relations with the sister-society in America. Thus no matter where one of its 100,000 mem- bers may go, she is sure of a welcome ; friends have been secured for her in advance. The London branch of this society has now some 17,000 members on its roll. It owns 142 institutions of one sort or another, including nineteen lodging-homes for girls. No country member accepts a situation in London until its cha- racter has been inquired into by the society. If it prove satisfactory, the girl is put in communication with a district secretary, who meets her at the station when she arrives, installs her in lodgings, and generally looks after her. All the members are invited to pass their leisure time at one of the society's institutes, where, in a comfortable pretty room, they may read, write, or chat with others of their kind. If their tastes incline toward self-improvement, there are classes of all sorts, at nominal fees, which they may join. Arith- metic, book-keeping, type-writing, drawing, singing, and dressmaking, are amongst the subjects taught ; and attached to some institutes are gymnasia. Lectures and concerts, too, are given there from time to time. The society is essentially religious in tone, and makes great efforts to bring its mem- bers together on Sundays for instruction and social teas. If a girl be ill, she is nursed in one of the society's homes ; if she need rest, a holiday is arranged for her. When she wishes to change her situation, there is a special secretary to give 4O Woman s Mission. her advice, and an agency to put her in the way of finding work. If she have a fancy for roving, cither the continental or the colonial department takes charge of her; and if she have, as sometimes happens, a vocation for missionary work, she is sent to the society's Training Home. And for all that is done for her, she contributes one shilling a year towards the expenses of the society. Little wonder the London branch finds difficulty in making both ends meet ; the marvel is that in so many districts the work should be self-supporting. In connection with this association, the Travellers' Aid Society is doing a peculiarly useful work in a very unobtru- sive fashion. There is a certain class of girls who lose their heads the moment they enter a railway station. One of them was found the other day standing by a train, without the most remotest idea as to where she wished to go. Directions and advice are wasted upon them ; the only thing to be done is to put them and their luggage into a carriage, and then, when they arrive at their destination, take them out again. This is what the Travellers' Aid Society undertakes to do. It will, if asked, meet any girl who is travelling alone, and see her safe on her way. It has also agents near all the chief railway stations, to whom belated travellers, providing they be girls, may apply for a night's lodging. The Girls' Friendly Society is rather a guild of mutual aid than a charitable institution in the ordinary meaning of the term. Its motto is "Bear ye one another's burdens;" and the lesson it seeks to impress on its members is, that they should be as ready to give help as to receive it. The society was founded in 1875, by Mrs. Townsend, for the purpose of uniting in one great fellowship women and girls of all ranks. The associates are as a rule ladies of culture : the members are of all sorts, from trained teachers to work- house helps ; for the only condition the society imposes on those who join it, is that they shall be of good character, and be striving to do their work in life honestly. Each associate undertakes to help a certain number of members by all the means in her power, but especially by treating them as personal friends. The members in their turn arc bound to Women s Work for the Welfare of Girls. 4 1 act as friends to each other. This idea of universal friend- liness underlies the whole work of the society. It is the lever by which it is sought at once to raise the moral standard of girls and young women, and shield them from harm. The organization of the Girls' Friendly Society is some- thing of which women may well be proud ; it is necessarily so complex, and yet it works so smoothly. England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Colonies, America, and North Central Europe, have each a separate autonomous society, the only connecting link amongst them being the Central Council in London. They all, however, obey the same laws, strive for the same objects, and each grants the members of its sister societies the same privileges as its own enjoy. The English society stands in close relations to the Established Church, of which it is a powerful auxiliary. It has now 1126 branches, each of which includes at least one parish. The secretaries of all the branches in a diocese form a diocesan council ; the presidents of the diocesan councils, together with the colonial and foreign presidents, the heads of depart- ments, and ten elected members, form the Central Council. This Council is responsible for the management of the society. The work is divided into ten departments, each with its own honorary officials. The first department devotes itself to promoting the interests of the better educated of the members, such as teachers. The second takes charge of those who work in factories ; the third, of those who are servants ; the fourth, of those who have been brought up in workhouses. Then there is a department which manages the free registries the society has established in all parts of the kingdom ; another which looks after the lodges, recreation -rooms, and lodging-homes ; another, again, which gives aid to those who wish to emigrate. The eighth is responsible for the schools and homes in which the members may receive industrial training ; the ninth undertakes to provide, by means of circu- lating libraries and magazines, all classes with cheap and wholesome literature. The department, however, which takes charge of the members when they are ill, is the one doing, perhaps, the best work of all. It has established, throughout the country, homes in which the weary and weak are nursed 42 Woman s Mission. back to cheerfulness and health. Last year 3853 members received help, of one sort or another, through this de- partment. The society is practically self-supporting, each member contributing one shilling a year, and each associate two and sixpence, towards its working expenses. In 1891, the expenditure of the central office amounted to 3454 Ss. $d. In Scotland the society is making very rapid progress, and is striking out new lines of work for itself, especially with regard to the temperance movement. In Ireland, too, it is doing good and much-needed work. In England, Ireland, and Scotland together the society has now on its rolls 165,908 members, 33,657 associates, and 38,492 candidates. Thus it has succeeded in bringing into friendly intercourse, for mutual aid and sympathy, some 238,057 women and girls. The Ladies' Association for the Care of Friendless Girls differs from the two societies with which we have last dealt in that, whilst they insist upon unblemished reputation as a sine qud non of membership, it devotes itself with special zeal to helping those upon whom the world is somewhat inclined to look askance. It owes its origin to a sort of crusade on behalf of the young which Miss Ellice Hopkins carried on for some years. She travelled about from town to town trying to arouse active sympathy for girls. The direct outcome of her appeals was that, in many towns, ladies banded them- selves together to take care of the friendless. There are now one hundred and twenty of these associations, all perfectly autonomous, all working out their salvation in their own way. The advantage of this arrangement is that an association can adapt itself to the special needs of its own district. Thus some devote themselves to temperance work ; others to educational ; others, again, to warding off starvation from their charges. They all unite, however, in trying to remove girls from dangerous surroundings, and putting them in the way of earning an honest livelihood. The members regularly visit workshops, lodging-houses of the worst kind, police- courts, all the places in fact where there is a chance of coming across young lives in danger of shipwreck. These ladies have proved themselves doughty champions, and have waged Women's Work for the Welfare of Girls. 43 ruthless warfare against unjust employers and drunken vicious parents. Many are the girls they have rescued from "sweating dens ;" many, too, from home surroundings just as degrading. They have industrial schools and refuges in which they place their protigtes until some of the taint of evil example can be eradicated. Here they are carefully trained and then provided with employment. There are to-day in our Colonies numbers of young women leading happy useful lives, who owe their rescue from the very Slough of Despond to the efforts of the Ladies' Association. In addition to these four great societies, every religious community has its own organizations for helping girls. The Church of England has sixteen sisterhoods, all of which, with the deaconesses at their head, devote themselves more or less to this work. The Roman Catholics are particularly rich in homes and refuges. The Presbyterians have formed Bands of Promise, Guilds, and Clubs, that they may the more effectually watch over their girls ; and the Wesleyan Metho- dists have established for theirs the Order of the Sisters of the People. These Sisters try to bring good influences to bear on the young women who live in the East End. They invite them to spend their evenings in the home ; and, by kindly hospitality and friendliness, strive to awaken amongst them a sense of decency and order. They teach them how to make and mend clothes, try to find employment for them, and admit those who are quite destitute into their refuge. Convinced that a woman's true vocation is that of a wife, the Sisters are now devising means for bringing their prot/gtes, under proper chaperonage, into friendly intercourse with suitable partis. Mrs. Bramwell Booth and Miss Meredith Browne are doing most valuable work, on similar lines, amongst factory girls. The Jews, too, show peculiar tender- ness and wisdom in the way they take care of the young. An English Jewess, until she is eighteen years old, is more or less under the surveillance of a committee of ladies, to whom she may apply at any time for advice or help. This committee feeds the hungry, clothes the needy, and sees that all who are willing to work are put in the way of employ- ment. The Jewish working guilds are a most useful insti- 44 Woman s Mission. tution, and in the training-rooms in connection with them, girls have every opportunity of learning a lucrative calling. There are free evening classes, too, in which cooking, dress- making, singing, and, strange to say, elocution are taught. The Ladies' Committee manages two Homes for young Jewesses, and several Convalescent Homes. Every Sunday evening large tea-parties are given, in which ladies from the West End play the hostess to working girls down East. Concerts and other amusements are provided for them ; and, from time to time, Lady Rothschild invites them to a ball. Most of the Missions, as the St. George's Yard and the Latymer Road, have branches, managed by ladies, for helping girls ; others again, as the Theatrical and the Flower Girls' Missions, are chiefly for their benefit. The Flower Girls' Mission was started by a Clerkenwell workman named Groom, who, when little more than a boy, began to act as the special evangelist of the flower-sellers. Every morning by daybreak he was in the flower-market, advising and exhorting these girls, and acting as peace-maker among them. He opened a room for them to rest in when their work was done ; and persuaded ladies to help him to teach them, in the evening, to read, write, and sew, and generally civilize them. The life these girls lead is one of great hardship. They must tramp about in the street the whole day long, haunted, too, as often as not, by the knowledge that their chance of supper and a bed at night depends on their selling their flowers. At the best of times, even when trade is brisk, they are at the mercy of the veriest chance : a high wind, a sharp frost, or sudden heat, may any day destroy their whole stock-in-trade, and thus bring them face to face with starvation. In the hope of rendering the existence of the younger among them less precarious, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, in 1879, founded her Flower Girls' Brigade. She enrolled the flower-sellers, between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, in a regular com- pany, and placed them under the special protection of the police. She arranged that, instead of wandering about the streets with their wares, they should have fixed stations where they could display them for sale without fear of molestation. Then, to give stability to their trade, the Baroness tried to induce ladies to purchase flowers of them on fixed days. Women s Work for the Welfare of Girls. 45 This attempt to place their industry on a regular footing led to some curious experiences ; for the girls, although scrupu- lously honest as a rule, have a business code of their own. No arguments could convince them that their merchandise, when once sold, was no longer theirs, but the purchaser's. Thus, if one of them whilst en route to deliver flowers selected by some lady, with great care perhaps, had the chance of selling them at a higher price, she promptly did so, return- ing in triumph to head-quarters to claim praise for her 'cute- ness. It was no unusual thing for customers, who had ordered table decorations for some special occasion, to receive at the last moment, instead of their roses and lilies, a message to the effect that they couldn't have any flowers that night, but should have some real beauties the next morning ! That ladies should prefer having flowers one day rather than another, was quite incomprehensible to these naive little traders. The Brigade proved an inestimable benefit to those for whom it was instituted ; still, it soon became apparent that flower-selling, particularly during the winter, was too un- certain a calling to be quite suitable for young girls. The Baroness Burdett-Coutts, therefore, for the sake of providing her brigade with regular employment, started an artificial flower factory. Here, under careful training, many of the girls have developed quite a genius for their craft. Having passed all their days amongst natural flowers, they seem to know by instinct what to strive for in making artificial ones. They literally delight in their work, and lavish care and attention on the delicate trifles they manufacture. As all the girls, no matter how incapable, receive regular wages, the factory has been a somewhat costly experiment ; but it has proved a great success. The flowers made there are sent to all parts of the world ; some have even made their way to the World's Fair at Chicago. Attached to the factory is a home, where these little work-people are taught to clean, cook, and generally play the housewife. Such of them as show more taste for this work than for flower-making, are trained as servants, and provided with situations. Some eight hundred girls have already passed through the factory, and of these 95 per cent, are "doing well," i.e. are respectable women, earning an honest livelihood, and making the world 46 Woman s Mission. the brighter and the better for their presence. The Brigade, the Flower Girls' Guild, and the Mission are now all united ; and the whole work is carried on under the superintendence of Mr. Groom. The flower-sellers, as other impecunious traders, derive no small benefit from the Emily Loan Fund, instituted by the late Lord Shaftesbury in memory of his wife. In winter, when flowers are scarce, the managers of the fund lend out to these girls potato-ovens, coffee-stalls, wheelbarrows, etc., together with some little stock-in-trade. The borrowers pay a weekly sum for the use of these things, which, in time, become their own property. Money too, from five shillings to twenty shillings, is advanced to those who, by some unexpected turn in Fortune's wheel, find themselves destitute. Trifling in amount as these loans are, they set on her feet many a poor girl, who is down, perhaps, through no fault of her own. Penniless, she can only drift to the workhouse or the river : with twenty shillings in hand, she is a capitalist, endless pos- sibilities lying before her. These loans are regarded by lenders and borrowers alike as debts of honour, and are almost invariably repaid most punctiliously. The very roughest of our floating population would hoot the man or woman who ventured to defraud the Emily Loan Fund. The Homes for Working Girls, which are now to be found in all our great industrial centres, are most valuable insti- tutions. The inmates are provided with food and lodging at cost price, and a resident lady superintendent tries to make their lives pleasant. Then there are the Brabazon Homes of Rest for shop-girls, three hundred training homes for servants, and colonies of cottage homes, in all of which good work for girls is being done. A special interest is attached to St. Chad's Home, at Leeds, owing to the class of girls received there. They are the very waifs and strays of society, the deformed, the rough, the utterly forsaken, yet the great majority of them in the end turn out well. They are put through a regular course of training, and then, those who are suitable are sent to the colonies, whilst the rest remain at St. Chad's and work in the knitting factory. Benevolence, in its zeal for the welfare of girls, assumes Women's Work for the Welfare of Girls. 47 divers forms. The National Housewifery Association, and the Guild of Aid to Home Duties, make great efforts to train them to be good housewives ; and an interesting experiment for the same purpose is being tried at Richmond. The most successful Housewifery School in the kingdom, however, is that established by Mrs. Elder at Govan. There some hundreds of girls, who during the day work in factories, are in the evening fitted for their future duties as mothers of families. They are taught the simple laws of hygiene, and are shown how to clean, wash, make clothes, and, above all, cook. Every Saturday evening, numbers of girls and women take the materials for their Sunday dinners to the school, and cook them under the supervision of a skilful teacher. All the things made are of the most inexpensive kind, depending for their value on careful seasoning and handling; for the object of the school is to teach how to provide palatable nutritious food at the least possible cost. What Mrs. Elder is doing for cookery, Lady Brooke does for needlework. In her village schools girls are trained to be the veriest Penelopes. As for the educational advantages within the reach of working girls, of these there is now neither end nor limit. A special society directs their technical training; whilst at women's colleges, mechanics' institutes, Polytechnics, continuation classes, extension lectures, and evening clubs, they are taught whatever they wish to learn, and practically for nothing. There are agencies at work to awake them to the importance of physical culture, and pro- vide them with gymnasia and swimming baths. Some devoted ladies correspond with girls ; others, in the hope of raising their taste, conduct them by twos and threes to picture- galleries and museums. Then the Society for the Protection of Women and Children guards them from injustice; whilst the Vigilance Society is always on the alert to bring down vengeance on those who do them harm. In spite, however, of all that is done, some girls "go wrong;" for human nature is the same in all ranks, and maids have just as keen a love of pleasure and fine clothes as their mistresses. To one a paltry little brooch proves an irresistible temptation ; to another, the chance of excitement ; whilst numbers fall through sheer ignorance of the realities 48 Woman s Mission. of life. No work that women do is better worth doing than that of rescuing those who are at " the parting of the ways," or have taken perhaps a step to the left. First offenders, as they are called, stand terribly in need of womanly sympathy, womanly help. In England alone there are more than a hundred homes in which girls, convicted of a first offence, are given the chance of redeeming their characters. The best known of these is that established by Miss Neave, Elizabeth Fry's devoted fellow-worker. In the Trewint and the Princess Louise Industrial Homes, and many of the industrial schools, girls are taken charge of, whom, though criminal, magistrates are loth to send to prison. Miss Steer, too, has, in connection with her Bridge of Hope, homes for girls who are exposed to special danger owing to their surroundings. She has a most hopeful tale to tell of the way her protegees, when once removed from evil influences, turn instinctively to good. An admirable arrangement which has been in force for some years in Birmingham, is gradually being adopted in many of our large towns. A number of ladies appointed by the magistrates visit the prisons in turn every morning, and have private interviews with the women and girls who are to appear before the Bench. These ladies hear the prisoners' own account of the affair that has brought them into trouble ; accompany them into court ; urge in their favour any circonstances attenuantes which may exist; and, in the case of first offenders, often induce the magistrates to hand the girls over to their keeping rather than send them to prison. When this is done, they place their charges in training homes, where they are carefully prepared for a fresh start in life. In every part of the world much noble work of true benevolence is being done by women for the sake of their younger and poorer sisters ; but the need is great, and much still remains to be accomplished. There must be no resting on oars, in England or elsewhere, until life has been made for working girls as keenly interesting and as secure as pleasant, perhaps, it can never be as it now is for the daughters of the richer members of our community. How far we are to-day from this millenium, few realize but those whose work lies amongst the poor. ( 49 ) CLUBS FOR WORKING GIRLS. BY THE HON. MAUDE STANLEY. THE establishment of Clubs for Working Girls is compara- tively a new idea, but it has been found so successful that the growth of these institutions in England has been quite enormous, and many thousands of girls are now brought under the influence of the various organizations that are established for Clubs and Evening Homes. They are not all worked in the same way, and the different societies have mostly endeavoured to reach different classes of working people. We may reckon that there are eight organizations at work for this purpose 1. The clubs for working girls which are carried on with rules more or less similar to those of clubs for working men. These are open every evening, and have regular paid or unpaid officials connected with them. 2. There are what are called Evening Homes for Girls. These are chiefly to be found in Nottingham, and have no regular superintendent; but ladies arrange to take charge of them on different evenings in the week. 3. The lodges of the Girls' Friendly Society, an im- mense organization all over England, have been established in almost all large towns. These are open mostly every evening for the benefit of the girls who belong to the Girls' Friendly Society. 4. The Young Women's Help Society, a very large organization which mainly benefits factory hands. 5. The Young Women's Christian Association, which has branches not only in England but all over the world. 6. The Recreative Evenings Association, founded for E 50 Woman's Mission. neighbourhoods where club-buildings cannot be had, and where the Board Schools are made use of. 7. There is the Factory Helpers' Union, which endeavours to reach quite the lowest of factory workers. It is computed that this union has in London about four thousand girls under its supervision. 8. Lastly, there are the numerous Parochial or Congre- gational Guilds of Girls, whose meetings may be but once or twice a week. These meetings bring the members of the church or chapel under the direct influence of ladies. Most of the clubs are worked by a paid superintendent, who is always present at the meetings, and is assisted by a committee of working girls. How a club is worked may be shown by explaining the organization of the Soho Club for Working Girls, which was the first established in England ; in 1880. Here there is a council of ladies and gentlemen, who meet from time to time to decide on matters respecting the management of the club, and to arrange for the girls' country holidays and country excursions, as well as for classes, teachers, and recreations. It is the duty of the superintendent to be present every evening to receive the fees of the members, and to take down the names of those attend- ing the class. On going into the club the members write their names in a book, from which the superintendent is able to know who has been present on any occasion, and how many attendances each has made. This record of attendance is much valued by the members, who like it to be known when they have been present in the club. The girls' committee is elected annually in December by ballot voting of all the members. Their duty is to see that the class-rooms are ready, and that the teachers are attended to ; and they also manage the refreshment bar, keeping an account of receipts and expenditure. They have monthly soirees to which mem- bers are allowed to bring their friends, and the committee have to provide refreshments and arrange for singing and dancing during the evening. They are also expected to receive and welcome new members, or ladies who may visit the club. The present superintendent became a member of the club when it was started thirteen years ago. She and the committee work well together, consulting upon any suggested Clubs for Working Girls. 5 1 change that may be beneficial to the members. One of the yearly Christmas parties for the new and younger members is managed entirely by this committee, which is composed chiefly of the older members, to whom the young ones naturally look up. Wherever a girls' committee has been formed in a club it has always been found to work bene- ficially. The ladies of the council, in turn, take charge of the club for one month, looking through the books, visiting the homes of new members, and arranging for the soirees and musical evenings of their month of office. Classes are held in almost all the clubs, and by their good organization and the attendance of members the success of the club is best shown. The members soon weary of amuse- ments only ; it is the classes which give interest and life to the club. The favourite is the singing class. At this there is generally a large attendance ; and the interest of the members is stimulated by a competition amongst the choirs of the London Girls' Club Union, held once a year at the Inner Temple Hall, when a cantata is sung by all the choirs, each also singing a competitive piece. At the close of the competition the choirs are ranked according to their merit, and the first on the list receives a challenge picture which is held for one year. Another class much liked is that for musical drill. This has a very beneficial effect upon the rougher girls, as it teaches them punctuality, discipline, and order. In this also there is an annual competition, and a challenge shield is given to the successful club. . Dressmaking, plain needlework, cutting-out, art needle- work, are all much cared for. Specimens of some art needle- work done in the Soho Club have, by the kindness of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, been sent to Chicago. Of these a banner has been embroidered by a girl who works at Cross and Black well's factory, and who never used her needle after she left school until she joined the class. This piece of work will show the proficiency which may be reached by factory hands under good instructors. Almost all the teachers of the classes are voluntary. Many of them may be trained teachers, but they give their spare time in this way to help the poorer girls. Cooking is a very favourite class, and much 52 Woman 's Mission. valued by those who are thinking of making a home for themselves. Evening schools are established in many clubs, but the necessity for them has diminished since Board schools have had the power of compelling attendance ; and the girls have mostly reached the higher standards before joining the clubs. The more advanced classes are not much cared for, unless the teacher be one who will make a study so interesting that it cannot fail to attract. In the Soho Club we have had classes in English literature, English history, and the story of Greek heroines ; they have been very much appreciated, and have greatly promoted the culture of working girls, while adding to their interest in and enjoyment of life. The amusements of the clubs differ according to the ideas of the different managers. In some cases dancing is not allowed, and the recreation will consist of games and singing. In the Soho Club dancing has always been considered very beneficial to the members, and Friday evening is devoted to that amusement. Concerts and little dramatic performances are often arranged, and we hear of bazaars and sales being got up by the members themselves. To a great extent, how- ever, the recreative enjoyment simply consists in the meeting of friends in a well-lighted room, where rest can be had amidst pleasant surroundings after the long hours of work. Different games are always going on, bagatelle, reversi, draughts, halma, and "happy families." Their country excursions, or country holidays, are the club girls' greatest pleasure. The trips to the country are chiefly on the Bank holidays, at Easter, Whitsuntide, and in August, when almost all clubs arrange to take their girls out and give them a pleasant and wholesome day away from the smoke and noise of the town. Better still is it when the girls can have their one, two, or three weeks' holiday in the autumn. Some few clubs have homes to which they send their girls ; but generally the girls are distributed in parties of two or three in different parts of England it may be in homes of rest arranged for this purpose, or in cottages and farmhouses where the inmates are willing to receive lodgers at that time. Many of our girls in Soho can recall enchanting visits to the friends of the club some as far away as the mountains in Clubs for Working Girls. 53 Cumberland. These visits to country houses, so happy while they lasted, have had a very beneficial influence in our club. On two occasions, sixteen of our members, with one of the ladies, have been invited to spend three days in a country house ; at other times some have gone with a lady for three days or a week to the seaside, and their enjoyment of the freedom and the beauty of Nature is delightful to witness. There are many work-girls who get no holiday in the year except the Bank holidays ; for them, visits are arranged from the Saturday afternoon to the Monday evening. Some ladies invite a few girls for a Saturday afternoon tea-party, which is a great enjoyment, and a great rest, to our often over- worked dressmakers and milliners in the height of the season. In most clubs it has not been found easy to amalgamate the great variety of classes into which working people are divided ; and therefore different organizations have been formed to reach the dressmaker, the shop-assistant, and the factory hand. But the difficulty can be surmounted. In the Soho Club, which numbers about two hundred members, their occupations are extremely varied. The two exhibits sent to Chicago will show that side by side are sitting in the art needlework class, the factory hand and the clerk who, with the education and birth of a lady, has, through adverse circumstances, been glad to make her home amongst working girls. No difficulty has ever arisen on this score in the Soho Club. There has been a friendliness of feeling, a linking together by the love of the club, which have brought the members into cordial relations both in class- work and in their recreation. The finance of our different clubs is often a matter of difficulty, for none of the clubs can be called self-supporting. In some clubs the members pay no fees whatever ; some pay a penny a week ; and others two shillings a quarter, with a shilling entrance fee. Rents are very high in London ; and the number of members is never sufficient to meet the various expenses of rent, light, heating, and superintendence. We never aim at having very large clubs ; for in Polytechnics, where six or seven hundred young women and girls are con- gregated together, a great deal of that personal influence which arises from the acquaintance of ladies w ith individua 54 Woman s Mission. girls must be lost. We are willing that girls should pass from the clubs to the Polytechnics, where they would get a higher education ; but we do not find them willing to change when they become attached to their club, however great may be the advantages offered to them in another institution. We have said that many thousands of girls belong to these various clubs, and we may add that many hundreds of ladies are engaged in carrying them on. Like the members of the clubs, the ladies are from all classes of society from those who have to earn their daily bread to those in the highest ranks of life. All are equally beloved by the girls, if they have in themselves that sympathy and heartiness which attracts one person to another. There is not much difficulty now in getting help for these clubs, for most girls in England, when they begin to take a serious view of life, consider that they have some duty to perform to others who are less fortunately placed. This feeling is encouraged in club members by getting them to take an interest in those who are poorer than themselves. In many clubs one evening in the week is set apart for working for some philanthropic object for an orphanage, for mission work, and so forth. In some clubs religious influences are brought more strongly to bear upon members than in others. The evenings begin and end with prayer, and there are Bible classes and special religious teaching. In other clubs the religious teaching has to be less doctrinal and more indirect ; the members of them including Roman Catholics, Nonconformists, Church of England girls, and sometimes Jewesses ; but the religion which underlies the life of many of the workers in the clubs is appreciated by the members, becomes part of their lives, and helps them to be an example to others. Some of the Soho girls helped to start a club in Spitalfields for the very lowest class girls whose homes are in the lodging- houses of Whitechapel. Others have visited the poor and worked for them ; and in one case we know of, some young women who took out the poorer girls on a Sunday, went in their everyday clothes, so as not to make too great a contrast between their dress and the dress of those they were looking after. Clubs for Working Girls. . 55 The clubs are not only of educational advantage in cultivating the intellects of the girls, and in giving them technical training, but we find great improvement in their manners, in the higher aims their lives are directed to, and in the contentment they acquire. In a great many clubs a Snowdrop Band has been started by way of bringing before its members the beauty of purity of life, of which the snowdrop is an emblem. In one case, in a Manchester club, the girls in the Snowdrop Band promised never to attend the dramatic performances held in the tents and booths about the town, which were generally most prejudicial to morals. These Snowdrop Bands are mostly formed amongst the lower classes of girls. In the better and longer established clubs the morality of the members is such that those who know their lives, and the dangers that beset young women of their class in crowded towns, can but admire and respect it. Work amongst girls who are living on their daily wage has been growing rapidly, and we expect another ten years will see it established as a necessary obligation that every large town and district, if not every parish, shall have its club for girls as well as institutions for boys and men. 56 Woman's Mission. CLUBS FOR YOUNG MEN.* BY Miss VIOLET BROOKE-HUNT. THE question of how to manage successfully a Young Men's Club is perhaps one of the most difficult that presents itself to philanthropic workers. No one living in a town, be it great or small, can be blind to the great need and enormous importance of these institutions, and yet how seldom do we find one that really answers, and makes its influence a living power. In many cases the club fails for lack of funds, or of suitable workers ; in other cases it degenerates into a clique, or boys of fifteen and sixteen are admitted, and drive out the older members ; but, generally speaking, I believe the reason of failure is that we have not taken pains to grasp the real needs of our young working men. We have too often thought it enough to provide them with a room, games and books, and then have been surprised to find that when the first novelty had worn off they rather slipped through our fingers and drifted away. Some years' experience has convinced me that a club, which would really fulfil its mission, must be to our young working men, what a public school or college is to boys of another class, something which inspires them with pride and affection, which teaches them to sink the individual in the community, and gives them an esprit de corps, that foundation of so many manly and gentlemanly qualities. * Miss Florence Nightingale, in "forwarding me this paper, which I asked her kindly to obtain, writes: "Miss Brooke-Hunt has been singularly successful in her most difficult work. By her own personal influence (she is only twenty-three now) she has for several years kept these young men together and out of mischief till far in their twenties, and often after they have married, bringing back the black sheep even when they have been expelled from her club by their own fellows, whom she wisely institutes as officers." BURDETT-COUTTS. Clubs for Young Men. 57 Think of the lot of a young working man ! Fancy a boy of twenty, with high spirits and love of fun, going through the dull routine of ten hours' work a day. He comes home at six, " cleans," and has his tea ; but his presence is not wanted in the house ; the children have to be put to bed, mother wants to tidy up, and father likes his pipe in peace, so off he goes " up street." We know what that means ; people soon get tired of walking up and down the street, and can we be surprised that when it is wet or cold, for instance, the boys throng into the brightly-lighted public-houses, or into the music halls, with their endless variety of attractions ? Youth craves for some sort of excitement, and takes whatever it can get, regardless of the consequences. And thus young men slip into loose habits and bad ways, and no one lays a restraining hand on their shoulder ; for it is a sad fact, that, even among the most respectable working people, the parents seem unable or unwilling to control the boys. "If we said anything to Bill, Miss, he'd take and go into lodgings, and we can't afford to lose his money," is a remark I often hear. Therefore "Bill" is left to himself, and the parents think themselves lucky, if after a few years he ends in nothing worse than a miserable and imprudent marriage. In the great majority of cases " Bill " does not want to go to the bad, and would not if some one could step in and put a higher interest and a nobler object in his way. To do this is the true mission of a Young Men's Club. It is to supply some hints as to how women can help in this work that I have been asked to write this paper, and as facts are more useful than theories, I purpose giving an account of an institution with which I have been connected for some years. I began in a very small way, with about half a dozen young men, varying in age from eighteen to twenty-four, who used to come to our house once a week for a night school. As winter approached we decided to start a football club in connection with the class, and this increased our members to twenty. We then gave ourselves the name of " The Gordon Club," as the fame of the hero of Khartoum was fresh in all our memories. For club colours we adopted the military scarlet mixed with black; and our members' cards were headed with the motto, " Look up, lift up." When the 5 8 Woman s Mission. football season came to an end, we took up cricket with great enthusiasm. About this time I proposed starting a Bible class on Sunday afternoons, open to all members, though compulsory for none. The project was not very warmly taken up, but a few boys promised to attend regularly, and these brought so much influence to bear on the others, that the class gradually grew in size and importance, till at the present time it holds the most prominent position in the club, and in the hearts also of all the members, for when " old boys " come from a distance, they always try to arrange that their holiday shall embrace a Sunday, " So that we can have one afternoon in the old way, Miss." I cannot lay too much stress on the fact that attendance at the Bible class is quite voluntary, and that the members get no special advantages in the shape of marks, prizes, or treats. Every member in the club is treated alike, whether he attend class regularly or not. At the same time, we bring individual influence to bear on each member, to induce him to come for his own sake, because it will help him in his struggle to make his life higher and nobler. This is the feeling among the class. " It keeps me straight," a young fellow, who is set in the midst of many and great dangers, told me recently ; " I couldn't come down on a Sunday and sit in the midst of you all, if I wasn't trying to go right." The plan of our class is as follows : Members drop in between 3 and 3.15, which time we spend in general conversation. I read them a story from 3. 1 5 to 3.30 ; not weak trash, but something really good, or some- times even a novel with a strong pure tone. At 3.30 I say the Collect, and give out the part of the Bible from which the lesson is taken, the verses being read together by the whole class. I feel the lesson is of the greatest importance, as with many of the boys it is the only time they are brought face to face with the great realities of life. Young working men have terrible temptations, and neither doctrines nor platitudes will send them out armed for the fight. The Bible lesson, therefore, if it is to help them, must touch their everyday working life. Our Bible lesson usually lasts till nearly 4.30, and we conclude the class with a Collect and one or two hymns. Clubs for Young Men. 59 In giving this description of the Bible class, as it is now, I have rather diverged from the history of the club. I must therefore return to the second winter of our existence, which found us hard at work with a singing class and a debating society. The latter is certainly an educational power, but the management requires some tact, or ill feeling would be quickly roused,and debates would be finished out "with fists" a few days later. We excluded politics, and discussed such subjects as " Gambling," " Military Conscription," " The In- fluence of Penny Dreadfuls," and so on. Our football club, too, soon earned a great reputation thanks partly to our captain, a young working man who possessed great control over his team, and to whose tact and loyalty I owe a great deal. For the next year or two our club grew steadily. To the athletic branch we added a rowing club ; and as our only meeting-place was, and is still, my own sitting-room, I found it necessary to have some sort of class every night, so that each boy might have a chance. There may be advan- tages in a big hall or club-room where large numbers can assemble, but I will always look on the small classes which the size of our room necessitated as the very foundation of the club's success. A small class can be made friendly and conversational ; each individual boy can be known, his in- terest can be roused, and a personal friendship can be formed with him ; his shyness wears off, and if he get into trouble or difficulty he will naturally come and talk the matter over ; whereas in a big class discipline and formality become more necessary, and there is a wider gulf between teacher and pupil. I feel sure that no club can really succeed unless there is the tie of personal affection between the members and whoever is responsible for them, for it is this tie alone that can give to a club that feeling of loyalty, esprit de corps, and true co-operation, which practically means life in a corporate body. The power of this personal tie was very strongly illustrated the following year, when I was laid aside for ten months by a severe illness, and unable to do anything for the club, except see the boys separately now and then. Although they refused to have a substitute, and all the classes were therefore stopped, they kept the club together 60 Woman's Mission. among themselves, and when I was once more able to be among them, we took up the threads exactly where we had left off. Only those long months of illness did make a difference ; for, as Kingsley truly says, " There is a latent chivalry, doubt it not, in the heart of each untutored being, only waiting for something to develop it into fulness." I wish I could find words to describe the gentleness and tenderness, the thought and consideration, "the reverence of strength for weakness," shown by those big, manly fellows. It quite altered the state of things in the club. Up till then I had taken care of the boys ; from henceforth they have taken entire charge of each other, and of me ! This has resulted in an organization so useful and so effective that I will describe it in detail. Six of the members who had been in the club for some years were promoted to the dignity of "officers," and were put in charge of a "company," varying in number from ten to fourteen. Each officer has an order book, which is brought to me every Saturday night, and returned to him on Sunday, filled up with all the notices for the week, and it is his duty to see that these are made known to every man in his com- pany. He has also to report illness, collect subscriptions, ascertain the wishes of his company on matters concerning the club, and, in the words of his commission, "by his example and influence maintain a high standard and good name among those for whom he is responsible." The officers remain for a few minutes each Sunday, to talk over club affairs, and we have meetings also at frequent intervals, as there is always much important business to settle. The admission of new members is left entirely in their hands, as a candidate has to be proposed and seconded by an officer, and two adverse votes, which are not given by ballot, blackball him. I find the officers very fair in this respect, their great idea being to exclude from the club any one who does not mean to put his whole interest into it. We certainly are jealous; it has to be "all in all, or not at all" with members of our club. " We'll have no half and halfers, Miss," they say. At the same time they equally object to "toffs," that is to say, young men who give themselves airs, dress up on Sunday, and are too grand to notice a mate in the streets. Clubs for Young Men. 6 1 We resolutely keep the club for bond fide young working men, who want to look after themselves, and spend their spare time in something better than loafing. In the officers' hands is also the power of punishing, suspending, or ex- pelling a member, though I am thankful to say it is a power they seldom need to exercise. Of course, where a boy's influence is really bad, he must go for the sake of the others, and in the one or two instances where this has been neces- sary, I have tried to get the expelled members to make a fresh start in a fresh place. For such as these I believe the army is salvation, with its rigorous discipline, and the advan- tages it offers to young men who keep steady. It sometimes answers well to suspend a boy for a short time, and then put him on probation, but it must be done carefully, and so as not to rob him of his self-respect, or make him defiant. I always urge that "Earthly power is likest God's When mercy seasons justice," and the officers generally are willing to make allowances and forgive. Whatever their verdict may be, I always convey it to the boy in question, and such occasions give one a splendid opportunity of lending a helping hand. Such is the work of the officers, though I feel that I have not done justice to the tact and good feeling which they show, to the real interest they take in their "companies," and to the manner in which they realize their responsibilities. The little touch of rivalry between the companies is very healthy ; it prevents interest from flagging, develops a strong feeling of esprit de corps, and makes the officers feel that the reputation of the club lies in their hands. A general meeting is held every year, at which the officers are elected formally, though the real choice of them lies in my hands. As the club is non-parochial and quite private, we have no public subscriptions ; every member pays three shillings a year, and this goes towards the expenses of the cricket and football field. We have a Christy Minstrel troupe, which is a great amusement all through the winter, and it is also very profitable, as the members give concerts in the town and neighbouring villages, and we generally manage to clear a few pounds for club expenses. The wood-carving 62 Woman s Mission. bids fair to become a great financial success. We do chip carving, which has the advantage of being easy, interesting, and cheap, and since the club took first prize at a large Arts and Crafts Exhibition we have had plenty of orders for work. Two of our officers, who are clever carvers, have undertaken to teach other classes ; one goes every week to a village near, and the other purposes trying what he can do with a gang of boys who live in the worst part of the town. This may be the beginning of a missionary work, and of a new phase in the history of the club. It speaks well for the boys that though they spend many of their spare hours in carving, they will not take any of the money, but hand all proceeds over to the club fund without reserve. This club fund, as well as a smaller fund of pennies collected on Sunday, they leave to me to spend exactly as I like, and are quite indignant if I want to show them a balance-sheet or account-book. As we have no rent to pay for a room, and as there are no expenses connected with refreshments or any such extras, the club does not cost very much, and I think from .30 to .40 covers everything, and includes such items as sending delicate boys to convalescent homes, or helping those who may be out of work over a bad time. We keep up a library, and generally manage to have a day's outing in the summer. The athletic clubs involve a good deal of trouble and expense, but in their way they are a most important part of the work. Young men must have some outlet for their spirits, and what is safer than cricket, football, or a row on the river? I am thankful now that as a child I was well drilled in every form of sport in which boys delight. Then I was apt to grumble at the tyranny of being made to field, bowl, or keep wicket through a hot afternoon, while my brother and his friends had their innings, or at having to stand shivering near the goal while they had all the excite- ment of working the football up and down the field ; but now I feel grateful to my oppressors! Being able to score for the boys at cricket, and keep the bowling analysis cor- rectly, to criticize the "passing," "wheeling," or "tackling" after a football match, and to find fault with the " feathering " and " form " of the crew, this has been one of the strongest links between us, while I feel sure that the influence of a Clubs for Young Men. 63 lady on their games makes them play in as gentlemanly and honourable a manner as any Eton or Harrow team. Recrea- tion is a most important factor in the lives of our young men, and, therefore, though we must never raise it above its true value, we must, as Dean Church has argued, " carry into their hard lives something of what gladdens ours, something of that keen and high enjoyment, that discipline, refinement, and elevation of spirit, which is given to many of us in such overflowing measure." This then is a very brief account of what can be done with a number of young men, without great expense, and with no club house except a lady's sitting-room. I feel that it is essentially a lady's work. Only a woman can have the softening and refining influence on boys who have to struggle through the battle of life with terrible odds against them ; only a woman's voice can call out their chivalry ; only a woman's tact can restrain the passionate nature, encourage the wavering, guide the enthusiastic, raise the fallen ; only a woman can give them the strong, full sympathy for which human nature instinctively yearns. I can hardly sum up the qualifications for undertaking such work, for I believe it lies within the power of any woman who longs " to find her far heaven in near humanity," who feels that the "way to God is by the road of man ; " but to any who are about to undertake anything similar, I may offer a few words of advice. First, put your whole heart into your work. No club or class can answer which is just taken up as a fad and then dropped. It involves real work ; the sympathy and interest must not flag. Your earnestness will be reflected on the boys ; if they see your whole time and trouble is given up to them, they will not grudge you theirs in return ; in fact, they will un- consciously catch something of your enthusiasm, and, as we know, enthusiasm is one of the strongest motive powers. Secondly, I urge, trust the boys. It is very seldom you will find such trust misplaced. Let your boys see you expect something good of them, and they will not fail you ; show them that you believe them capable of heroism, and it will put them on their mettle. Try to know each boy individually, and so give each one exactly the help he wants. One cannot take too much trouble to grasp each boy's separate character : 64 Woman's Mission. boys cannot be managed or influenced in a lump, any more than a number of people with different complaints can be cured by the same medicine. You cannot know a boy by just seeing him in class ; you must know his home, his cir- cumstances, his work, his friends, and his hobby ; you must see how he faces trouble, how he bears success, what his influence is, or where is the point through which he can best he influenced, for only thus can you really help him. And above all, if the boys leave the town, do not lose sight ot them. Lastly, do not get discouraged when things seem to go badly, as they often do. It is a great mistake to worry too much over trifles, or even over what seem at the time much more than trifles. It is wonderful to see how things are worked out " If only we bate not a jot of heart or hope, But steer right onward ! " My first experience of a boys' class was not a pleasant one, for on my going into a schoolroom in the worst part of the town, to see if I could do anything with a gang who were the terror of the place, they put out all the lights, and began singing, " Where is the ghost of John James Christopher Benjamin Binns?" However, they were really sorry afterwards, were persuaded to light the gas, and informed me, "They wouldn't have done it if they had known I was such a young lady, and that if I'd stick to them, they would behave like regular gentlemen " a promise they faithfully kept. I only say this to show that no state of things is really hopeless. As we gain experience we learn to look beyond the present, to realize that the best results are often the most gradual, and above all that " we do not move by ourselves, but are pushed by an Unseen Hand " that God leads men through strange ways and circumstances up to Himself. 65 THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MOTHERS. BY MRS. SUMNER. MAY I be allowed to express the value and importance we attach to this great opportunity of bringing forward and pleading for the work of the Mothers' Union before the Chicago Congress ? At the outset I will try to explain the reasons that led us to start such an organization. We live in a Christian country, we call ourselves Christians, and yet we are standing face to face with a state of rebellion and disobedience to our Master's commands, which baffles and confounds us. The rivers of immorality, intemperance, irreligion, and infidelity, are streaming over Christian lands, destroying thousands and thousands of fair young, lives, which, but for them, might be noble and beautiful. Immo- rality has increased tenfold in late years. Intemperance, which follows the other sin like a shadow, is troubling us on all sides, and bringing ruin into hearts and lives in spite of the vigorous efforts made to check it. Irreligion is gradually permeating the masses, and the religious observance of Sunday is becoming obliterated. It is the fashion of the day to sneer in a lofty manner at the old ways, and to cry up two panaceas for all the ills of life secular culture, and recrea- tion both most excellent as far as they go, but they will never touch the inner life which Christ searches and touches. In spite of all these evils, there never was a time when such religious enthusiasm prevailed, such zealous fighting for God and the right. Church people and other religionists are working hard. Men and women of all shades of opinion are spending their lives in doing good. Schools, societies, guilds, institutions abound. But still the tide of sin and misery rolls F 66 Womaris Mission. on. Where is the remedy ? How can we cut at the root of these Upas trees of evil ? We answer confidently, through the homes, the parents, and, above all, the mothers. There has been a tendency in all reformatory efforts to ignore the parents and the divine institution of home life. Most of the remedial efforts take children away from home and parents. Educationalists and philanthropists have prac- tically been saying to the poorer parents, " These are your children, it is true, but you are too ignorant, or too busy, or too wicked, to train them yourselves. We will do it for you ; " and in this way God's method of training His human crea- tures has been interfered with. Children train parents as much as parents train children. It is a double influence ; one acts on the other. It has come to pass that the poorer parents have in many cases lost all sense of responsibility, and shifted their duties on to the ministers of religion, schoolmasters, philanthropic people, and institutions. They say, " If we feed and clothe our children, and give them a home to live in, it is all that can be expected of us." Rich parents are also too often acting in exactly the same manner. They are busy with their interests and amusements, and the exigencies of society, and hand over to nurses and governesses, or to tutors and schools, the entire moral and religious training of their children. There is a memorable saying of Mirabeau " The education of a child should begin twenty-five years before his birth, in the education of the parents." We are not only confronted by neglect and irresponsibility in parents, but by the strange indifference with which little children are committed to the care and training, and even religious teaching, of incompetent nurses and governesses. No wonder that astonishment is expressed so often at the ignorance of the Bible and the truths of Christian faith in boys and girls of the upper classes, while children of poor parents are not unfrequently turned out of Board schools with little or no definite knowledge of God's laws, or how to keep them. The result of this neglect in all classes is disastrous. Education the forming of habits of mind and conduct which is the work of the home, is con- fused with instruction, or storing the mind with facts ; head teaching with heart teaching. It is a cruel wrong to equip The Responsibilities of Mothers. 67 a child with intellectual culture, and leave him ignorant of the means of self-conquest. We have to lay solemnly to heart that the work of greatest importance to society is the training of children in Christian principles, and that the character of a child is formed during the first ten years of life in great measure by the influence of the home, and, above all, by the mother. It is a divine thing, this amazing power of a mother over her children. She stamps herself on them at an age when their minds are daily receiving indelible impressions, when the imitative faculty is at its highest development. " What is learnt in the cradle is carried to the grave." This is proved by history, biography, and our own universal observation. " Most good men have had good mothers." We read in Ezekiel xvi., " As is the mother, so is her daughter." Napo- leon said one day to Madame de Campan, " The old systems of education are worth nothing ; what is wanting in order that the youth of France be well educated ? " " Mothers," replied Madame de Campan. The reply struck the Emperor, and he said, " Be it your care to train up mothers who shall know how to educate their children." This remark touches the very object of the Mothers' Union. It contains the secret of a mighty reformation. If the supply of ignoble and ruined lives is to be stopped, it must be done by the careful training of children from the cradle. The germs of the passions they will have to contend with are in them already. Habits of obedience and self- control, therefore, must be formed gently and lovingly in early life. It has been wisely said, " If you are not master of a child by the time he is three years old, he will be your master." Young children must not be treated merely as pets, or else as troublesome encumbrances. The soul of a child must be trained to govern the body. " Take heed lest ye despise one of these little ones." Chivalry is innate in a boy, as modesty is in a girl. These instincts must be fostered and cultivated. The boy's first ideal woman is his mother, and, unless she fail to win his love and respect, he has a chivalrous devotion to her which will colour his whole life. Do not some of us know the truth of this from happy ex- perience ? If mothers will but seize the power God gives 68 Woman s Mission. them, and guard the first springs of thought ; if they will give their children definite religious instruction by word and example, and rule them wisely, lovingly, methodically, and firmly in habits of obedience, self-control, purity, and truth, boys would less often develop into uncontrolled, lawless, unchivalrous men, and selfish husbands ; and girls would not grow into frivolous, vain, self-asserting, fast women. Homes would be happier ; the world would be raised, reformed, ennobled. It was with these thoughts working in our minds that we started the "Mothers' Union" in the year 1876 in the Win- chester Diocese. The objects of the society are 1. To uphold the sanctity of marriage (as the foundation of home-life). 2. To awaken in mothers a sense of their great responsi- bility as mothers in the training of their boys and girls (the future fathers and mothers). 3. To organize in every place a band of mothers who will unite in prayer, and seek by their own example to lead their families in purity and holiness of life. The principles upon which we build our work are these : That the prosperity of a nation depends upon the family life of the homes. That family life is the greatest institution in the world for the formation of character, and that out of it the nation grows. That religion is the indispensable foun- dation of family life. That parents are responsible for the character and morals of their children. That character is formed during the first ten years of life by the example and habits of the home. That example is stronger than precept, and parents, therefore, must be themselves what they wish their children to be. That the history of the world proves the divine power given by God to parents, and to mothers especially, because children are placed from infancy in a more intimate and closer relationship with the mother than with the father during the time when character is formed. That the training of children is a profession, and must be learnt like any other profession. The Mothers' Union includes all classes of mothers, from the highest to the humblest, whether educated or uneducated, rich or poor, inasmuch as the duties of mothers are the same The Responsibilities of Mothers. 69 to a certain extent in every rank. We feel strongly that if mothers in the upper classes will lead the way by joining this movement, we may be able to win all sorts and con- ditions of mothers to see their responsibility. We need leaders ; and women in the highest ranks are taking their places in the van of the society. Over three thousand of these have thrown in their lot with us in the Winchester Diocese, and many have joined in other dioceses. We believe, from our wonderful success, and from the sympathy we have received, that there are few mothers in any position of life who are unwilling to join this movement. Union is strength ; united prayer is boundless strength. The Mothers' Union is above all things a union for prayer. It is the fashion of the day to combine for the carrying out of any great object, political, educational, or social. May we not, as mothers, combine and unite together, for the good of our homes and for the glory of God, to try to put a stop to the moral plague which abounds, and to undermine the kingdom of evil by laying, as far as we can, the foundation of strong principle and good habits in the hearts and lives of our children ? A card of membership is given to each mother who joins the society. On these cards are printed the prayer to be said (if possible) daily, and the rules of the Mothers' Union, which are to try to bring up the children in habits of obedience, truth, purity, and self-control ; to watch over their conversa- tion, companionship, and amusements ; to be careful as to the literature placed in their hands, the books and newspapers they read ; to inculcate temperance. We have a separate card for mothers of the higher classes. It is exactly on the same lines as the card for the poorer ones, but worded so as to meet their special responsibilities, and vice versa. On our cards we place the two Sacraments, not as part of the rules (there is no Sacramental test), but as the pillars of our work, and we have found them to be so. The one, the initial Sacrament of our faith ; the other, the strengthening ordinance of our spiritual life. They are placed before the eyes of the mothers to awaken attention and make them realize the sacredness of child-life, the consecration of body and soul in Holy Baptism, and the duty of teaching a child that his body 7o Woman's Mission. is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Every member is asked to take in one of the two periodicals of the society. The Mothers' Union Journal, which has a sale of 37,000 copies a quarter, costs fourpence a year ; and Mothers in Council, edited by Miss Yonge, which is intended for the upper classes, is issued at sixpence a quarter. The society is worked by diocesan organizing committees, and a central fund for the circulation of information and the printing of the annual report. The payment of a diocesan secretary and other working expenses are met by the subscriptions of a shilling a year from members of the upper classes and associates, and occasional donations. The poorer members are not asked for any subscription. The Mothers' Union has spread with great rapidity ; twenty-eight English and three Welsh dioceses are working it in one way or other. In the Winchester Diocese there are 14,554 members and associates of all classes. It has been planted in Scotland, Ireland, India, Gibraltar, and in Tasmania, New Zealand, and other English colonies. We are receiving letters from many parts of the world and from all classes, testifying to the need of the Mothers' Union, the good work being done, and of lives and homes made better and happier. We should esteem it an honour if any of our American sisters would write to us and unite with us in this work. Their co-operation would be invaluable in spreading the society, and we should appreciate their sympathy and help most deeply. Is it too much to hope that some enthusiasm fo'r the Mothers' Union may be aroused, and that it may be recognized as one means of purifying the very source of a nation's life ? God has honoured mothers by entrusting to them the little infants from the moment of their entering on immortal life. God has given them the first word with the children. The nations of the future are now lying in their arms, and a wealth of love, tender and self-denying, but too often unthinking and irresponsible, is hovering over each unconscious infant. Can we not lay hands on this reserve force of love, and power, and influence, and win it for God ? Can we not try to persuade mothers of all classes to join us in this great home crusade, and stir them up to recognize the greatness of their The Responsibilities of Mothers. 71 mission, the sacredness of child-life, the force of their own example, the terrible consequences of failure in their duty, the blessedness of success in the pure and blameless lives of noble sons and virtuous daughters, and the glorious reunion before the throne of God ? "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me." THE CLOSE, WINCHESTER. 7 - Woman! s Mission. WORKING GUILDS AND WORK SOCIETIES. BY MRS. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. THE majority of nineteenth-century Englishwomen are industrious, resourceful, unaffected, sensible, amusing, amiable ; they are good-looking, and charming companions ; but I do think that sometimes, when we are engrossed in our manifold public and semi-public occupations, which modern civilization almost demands, we are too apt to regard ourselves as wholly superior to the women of other ages ; and if not in words, certainly in thought, look upon the ladies, say, of the days of chivalry, as so many puppets throned by the fantastic spirit of the age as a mark for skill or bravery, and with no more claims to our respect than the silken banner of the joust where they adjudged the prizes to the victorious knights of old. We are all too ready to forget that the very banner for the joust was always worked by female fingers, and that many of the luxurious trappings of chivalry were the outcome of long hours of secluded leisure and female industry and ingenuity. Then ought not the delightful old tapestries which adorn the walls of the most ancient of our " stately homes of England" to remind us that ladies of the past, although they were not prominent in public affairs, did not waste their time, and that they were not by any means the nonentities we sometimes imagine them to have been ? As early as the eleventh century the women of England were so renowned for embroidery that it was called " English work," just as in ancient times it was " Phrygian work ; " and surely we have all read of Mathildis, an Englishwoman, distinguished for her skill for dyeing purple, and adorning robes with gold, gems, paintings, and flowers. So, you see, we are not so very Working Guilds and Work Societies. 73 much more advanced in 1893, at least as regards needlework and artistic designs, than were the ladies of the eleventh century. In the following century, the reputation for needlework was well maintained, but the names of those skilled with the needle which come down to us from that epoch invariably belong to the aristocratic class. For instance, Christina Princess of Margate, who lived towards the end of the twelfth century, was so skilled in art needlework that a pair of sandals which she embroidered were declared to be perfect " wonders." The " wonders " were presented by the Abbot of St. Albans to the Pope of the day. In the fourteenth century we cannot by any stretch of imagination regard the women as puppets. The time is a most interesting one, and women stand out prominently as being the means of establishing industry upon the ruins of feudalism. Extravagance had beggared the knights ; pro- perty had changed hands ; skilled artificers were now in the ascendant ; and, oddly enough, the largest proportion of skilled workers happened to be women. Male artificers were tied down to the following of one profession only ; but the same law gave liberty to women to practise a variety of trades. Nor were they backward in availing themselves of the privileges denied to the men ; and an energetic female, with the butterfly propensities peculiar to her sex, and from sheer love of variety, could roam over every trade and remunerative occupation until she lighted upon one to her liking. The records of those days tell us of female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinners, embroiderers, and others employed in various works of linen, wool, and silk. But the female artificer in those days was distinguished from the men by the suffix " ster ; " thus a brewster, webster, and backster meant a woman who could brew, weave, and bake. In the fifteenth century we hear of female manufacturers in weaving, carding, spinning, and other branches of industry which are mentioned in a public document. But in 1457 the silk-women of London brought disaster on themselves by not keeping quiet. They memorialized the Legislature in no measured terms on the injury they sustained from the free importation of foreign goods of the kind by which they earned their 74 Woman 's Mission. livelihood. Meetings were held ; fiery speeches were delivered ; indignant appeals were made ; resolutions were passed amid laughter, defiance, and applause ; but in the end the agitation was successful so far. Parliament exerted itself and gave them what they wanted ; but their womanly voices had been heard, and these sounds were evidently not pleasing to masculine ears ; for there came a time (about 1464, I think) when it was determined by the powers that were that women should resume their dependent position, and by degrees they were surely, although imperceptibly, elbowed out of their employments by the sterner sex. The men, apparently, in carrying on those trades which for nearly a century had been pursued by women, had no objection to the feminine appella- tions, and in their turn became known as brewsters, backsters, websters, and so on. Only one of these names they left, namely, spinster ; and that appellation all unmarried ladies retain to this day, whether they follow the occupation of spinning or not. But to pass on to Ladies' Guilds. The first I can hear of is a Literary Guild, started about the year 1851, which flourished for a short time only. Then arose an association called the Ladies' Guild, which women who craved for remunerative employment could become members of by join- ing a school for instruction in decorative art, paying the small sum of two and sixpence per week ; the school having its habitat somewhere near Fitzroy Square, London. This decorative art turned out to be some peculiar form of painting on glass. I believe I am right in saying that this second of Ladies' Guilds also came to grief before very long. Parents were still unwilling that their daughters should follow any but a few accustomed employments. From that time to the present all kinds of Ladies' Guilds have sprung up. Some have flourished like the proverbial bay-tree, others have perished. However, it is not of the Employment Bureau Guilds I wish to speak, but of certain Ladies' Needlework Guilds in England, organized and carried on in the sacred cause of charity ; and a few details con- cerning these admirable charities will assure you that the ladies of England are no less handy and ready with their needles than they were hundreds of years ago. All that Working Guilds and Work Societies. 75 appertains to needlework does not result in glitter, show, and frivolity. These charitable guilds stand in the by-paths where the needle is not wielded for fashion alone, but humbly, quietly, and dexterously, by busy and energetic women, for the good of others less fortunately placed in the world. The Needlework Guild that Lady Wolverton originated provides comfortable clothing for orphan children. This guild is an illustration of " Little by little the acorn grew ; " but, for that matter, the same may be said of all Ladies' Working Guilds, since they all sprang from very small beginnings, and grew to flourishing estate without ostentation. They are the outcome of individual or combined efforts on the part of numbers of kind-hearted and compassionate ladies, whose attention is not centred exclusively on them- selves, their pleasures and amusements, but who have thoughts to spare for unfortunate fellow-creatures lost in the depths of poverty. It was because Lady Wolverton would not believe in the word " impossible," as applied to any good work, that her guild came into existence. Ten years ago she was suddenly asked to make a certain number of jerseys (for some poor little orphans) in an incredibly short space of time ; a task "which, even working day and night, ten ringers could not accomplish." The sympathetic answer to the request was, " All right," and all right it turned out to be. Lady Wolver- ton called together all her friends who had spare time on their hands, and enlisted them in the good service. From that incident the Needlework Guild sprung, which now flourishes under the general presidency of her Royal Highness the Duchess of Teck, who is keenly interested in the work. Its magnitude will at once be seen when we gather that from three branches of the guild alone, London, Surrey, and Middlesex, over 70,000 articles of clothing were contributed this last year. But by far the largest and most influential of the guilds is that of which the Duchess of Teck is president. It includes all Middlesex ; but London and Middlesex being too large to embrace in one scheme, the Duchess divided her guild into two. North Middlesex and part of Surrey is under the general presidency of her Royal Highness the Duchess of 76 Woman's Mission. Albany, under whom the Baroness Burdett-Coutts acts as president of the North London Association. The Duchess of Teck received last year, and sent out in November, over 30,000 parcels of clothing ; and from the North London Branch of the Duchess of Albany's Guild over 1000 packages were received and sent out. In the Middlesex Needlework Guild there are Ladies' Working Parties of the Ragged School Union, of which the Baroness Burdett-Coutts is president, and truly wonderful is the quantity of work turned out by the members of this union. And as I write the name of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, I cannot help thinking that here is one noted Englishwoman who is a Guild in herself : so varied, so systematic, so thorough, and so numerous have been her charities. The Berkshire and Buckingham Needlework Guild was established early in the year 1890 by her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice (Princess Henry of Battenberg), for supply- ing warm and useful clothing to poor parishes and institutions in the above-named counties. The Princess has many willing workers enlisted under her banner, and so indefatigable have they been that the number of articles sent in each year has been nearly double that of the preceding year. To this guild the president of each centre contributes a small annual sum of three shillings, and each vice-president two and sixpence ; but " associates " only contribute their work. The Princess Beatrice is president also of the Isle of Wight Needlework Guild, which was started in the autumn of 1889. A guild which does not ask for any contributions in money is Lady Melville's North St. Pancras Working Guild. Originated by herself, its operation is confined to a comparatively small locality ; but acquaintance with its working assures us that though the association is less imposing than many others, it yet covers a large area of usefulness. Another very useful although comparatively small asso- ciation is the Diocese of Ripon Ladies' Needlework Guild, founded in connection with the Clothing Guild for Poor Clergy by Mrs. Boyd Carpenter, who felt that although cast-off outer garments might still be acceptable to the over-pressed wives of the clergy, the same could hardly be said of underclothing. Therefore she invited her friends to become members of this Working Guilds and Work Societies. 77 Needlework Guild, in order to supply new underclothing for distribution among the clergy of the diocese. The Guernsey Society for Supplying Needlework to the Respectable Poor was started seven years ago. The poor receive parcels of unmade work, and on presenting the gar- ments finished receive payment for them, the object of the society being to supply women of good character with needle- work in their homes during the winter months. The Alford Needlework Association in Buckingham Palace Road, founded by the late Lady Marian Alford in 1884, and now under the direction of the Earl Brownlow, had two objects in view at its foundation, objects which have never been lost sight of. Lady Alford and the ladies associated with her proposed to make needlework a recog- nized trade, and to enlarge the circle of trained needlewomen so as to enable them to get a higher rate of wages. The second object was to divide these trained needlewomen into classes. The workrooms are divided out into three depart- ments. The first is occupied by sailors' and soldiers' widows and daughters, who work chiefly at army and navy clothing ; the second is occupied by workwomen of a higher standard, who undertake the making of trousseaux, Indian outfits, and work of a similar nature ; while in the third department ladies in reduced circumstances toil at any kind of plain or artistic needlework with which they are familiar. Attached to this institution is a registry office which, for a small fee, supplies dressmakers and needlewomen by the day. The latest of all these institutions is the Theatrical Ladies' Guild. It seems that the idea of this guild was thrown into shape by three or four compassionate and warm- hearted members of the dramatic profession, moved by a knowledge of the destitution in which some poor members find themselves when they are about to become mothers. A scheme was thereupon set afloat by Mrs. C. L. Carson, with the design of getting together such articles of clothing as are needed at such times ; and parcels of these (with bed- linen) are despatched whenever they are wanted. Upon the return of this first parcel, another is sent as a gift : this parcel consists of a complete set of short-clothes for the baby. The appeal for help to start the guild was speedily 7 8 Woman's Mission. responded to, and it is now in a very thriving condition and doing a most useful work. Before closing this little paper I feel that I ought to make some allusion to bazaars, which have earned from time to time large sums of money for good causes. These bazaars could not have been carried out had not an infinite amount of thought and personal labour been bestowed on them by a great number of energetic and charitably minded ladies ; who, though they may have only formed themselves into Guilds for the nonce, have laboured quite as faithfully and benevolently as the members of more lasting Working Ladies' guilds. The first bazaar of any note was held long ago at York ; and, if I mistake not, the ladies who took part in it were rather bitterly reproached for turning themselves into temporary shopkeepers, even for sweet charity's sake, and met with a good deal of opposition. A little time after, there was a Dickens Bazaar in London, at which all the fair stall-holders dressed as some Dickens' character ; and from that time to this bazaars have always held their own. And then we should be " real ungrateful," as Americans would say, if, while speaking of Ladies' Guilds, we neglected to draw public attention to the ready help accorded to many a benevolent undertaking by the artistes singers, actresses, reciters, of all nationalities who foregather in London. They are ever willing to give their services at concerts, organized now for one charity and now for another ; and they are as untiring in their endeavours to please on these occasions as though a handsome cheque awaited them at the end of the performance. ( 79 ) WOMAN'S WORK IN THE RAGGED SCHOOLS. BY THE COUNTESS COMPTON. " Life hath no dim and lowly spot That doth not in her sunshine share." LOWELL. "THERE is no new thing under the sun," and certainly woman's work on behalf of the poor and suffering is no new thing. From the earliest ages, so far as human history goes, woman, under the most adverse circumstances, has ever been associated with deeds of charity and kindness. As Dryden sings of one " Such multitudes she fed, she clothed, she nurst, That she herself might fear her wanting first. Of her five talents, other five she made." Hence, in the modern 'revival of benevolence and philanthropic activity, woman has borne her full share. Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale were but pioneers, in whose footsteps have gladly trod thousands whose names, unknown to public fame, have yet been a very perfume amongst the afflicted and forsaken. Wherever sorrow, suffering, or sickness is found, there runs the golden thread of woman's ministry and sympathy. As in savage Dahomey the Amazons lead the fiercest charges and are in the forefront of the onslaught, so, in the nobler warfare against ignorance and vice, misery and want, women have ever been found in the leading ranks, willing to spend and be spent, and hoping against hope when the stronger sex have felt inclined to give up in despair of doing any good. In the mighty movements of the present century they have taken their full part, doing the real, quiet, steady So Woman s Mission. work, sacrificing themselves freely on behalf of the poor and the perishing. If this be true in general, it has been peculiarly so in the great Ragged School movement, for ever associated with the name of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Half a century ago, a few earnest men bestirred themselves in regard to the neglected children of the poor ; and, as the earliest reports 'show, these pioneers found their most loyal and trusted helpers in the women who gave time and talents, strength and devotion, to the furtherance of the cause. To those who have familiarized themselves in any degree with the early history of Ragged Schools, this simple state- ment of fact means much. Ragged School teaching in those days was no light task. Nor is it so now ; but then it demanded an heroic : endurance and courage. The lawless, untamed children who came to the schools first opened had never known what it was to obey. Discipline, cleanliness, order, were all alike foreign to their ideas. They thronged into the new schools with the purpose of having a bit of fun by upsetting everything. They blew out the candles, flung over the forms, let birds and mice loose in the room in order to create an uproar among the scholars and shake the nerves of the teachers. These and a hundred similar tricks devised by the ingenuity of these street Arabs had to be endured, and as often as possible ignored, by the devoted few who " blazed the way " into the primeval forests of ignorance and neglect. Nor was this all. No Ragged School building then existed, and these early efforts had to be made in stables, cellars, attics, and all kinds of close hot rooms, which, when crowded by unwashed children, would often become so fetid and unwholesome that fainting was no uncommon occurrence. Many of the teachers who encountered these early trials were women women of delicate frames but heroic spirit, the martyrs of the early days of the movement. Woman's work in the Ragged Schools has embraced many departments. Her gentle forbearance, tireless patience, consuming zeal, keen perception, ready adaptability, quick thought, and willing self-sacrifice for the sake of others, have pervaded the whole enterprise, bringing the cause trium- phantly through its darkest hours. Woman s Work in tlte Ragged Schools. 81 While, however, woman's influence has moulded in some degree the whole movement, there have been departments which she has made specially her own. In giving some outline of these it is not possible to enter on minute details or mention names. Their many names are enrolled on high, their work abides, and its blessed results are known of all who have benefited by or shared in their service. The departments of Ragged School labour which woman has made her own have been teaching, mothers' meetings, visitation of the sick and the poor, and clothing the naked ; as well as such later developments as holiday homes, and the work among home cripples. In reviewing these, we begin with teaching, the first step in the work. If the boys in early days were rough and lawless, the girls were no less so. With them men could do nothing ; but, as the well-thumbed reports of pioneer days attest, women's patience gradually tamed the girls, to many of whom love and gentleness came almost as a revelation. But ere their hearts were reached much had to be borne by the teachers who yearned over them and shed many a tear on their behalf. The girls' classes have always been under the care of ladies, and these come from all ranks of society. In one school, East End way, may be found, almost any evening, teachers from both ends of the social scale working side by side, and equally prompt in drying the eyes of some unhappy child or giving it a much-needed wash. This unity of purpose between varied social grades has long been characteristic of the Ragged School enterprise. As these little girls grow up, the ladies seek to hold and win them by forming girls' clubs and friendly societies, and in a hundred ways trying to retain their confidence, and help them in the trials peculiar to their hard lives. They have formed successfully, not only Bible classes, but also sewing, dressmaking, woolwork, and similar useful classes, teaching them how to wield deftly woman's weapon, the needle. Cooking classes also flourish in many of the schools. And, as intemperance is the ruin of tens of thousands, temperance work has ever been kept well to the front by the women workers of the Ragged Schools. Nor has their teaching- sphere included girls only. Long ago brave, resolute women G 82 Woman s Mission. volunteered to try the effect of woman's influence on rough lads who had defied a male teacher's authority. In many such cases the only course had seemed to be expulsion from the school for the sake of other scholars, when some pitying lady teacher offered to give them one more chance. We have before us, as we write, the record of such noble undertakings ; and in each one of them the gentle love of her who thus, in weakness and trembling, faced the roughs, has been crowned with fullest success. Only the other night we heard a father, the superintendent of a successful school, tell how when the rough lads broke all bounds, he asked his own daughter to try them. She con- senting, he wisely appointed two of the wildest spirits as her bodyguard. Put on their honour, they well fulfilled their charge ; and although she taught that class for years she never met with a single insult conquering by love and patience. Many of these very lads are now prosperous Christian men and earnest teachers. Their own statement is that under God they owe everything to the girl who undertook to " try the roughs," rather than that they should be expelled and left to drift to ruin. The story of Ragged Schools contains many such episodes of womanly courage and womanly magnetism. But even rougher and more reckless than these lads were many of the factory girls engaged in cocoa, cigar, fancy box, button, and similar manufactories ; not to mention the rougher classes of labour, dust sorting, jute and rope factories. These seemed hopelessly defiant. Every attempt to reach and interest them appeared doomed to failure. Taken separately they might be managed, but in groups they but dared one another to play the wildest pranks. We have seen them turn out the gas, upset the forms, and reduce the whole place to utter chaos, until the weary teacher had to beat a hasty and sorrowful retreat. Yet even here, woman's ingenuity, patience, and gentleness have won their way. Those who would not be taught better things proved willing to learn how to mend their clothes, make a tidy apron, or trim a hat ; and at the end of an hour's practical help of this kind would listen to a few loving words. So were they won, so are they being won day by day in our factory girls' clubs Woman s Work in the Ragged Schools. 83 and institutes. It is a work which has taxed woman's best and rarest gift, and yet after all has yielded grand results. The ladies who have endured the most are now the readiest to declare the work is worth doing and the factory girls worth winning. Then also Mothers' Meetings, so closely associated with Ragged Schools, have been peculiarly women's work. Mrs. Bayly, who led the way in founding these useful helps for mothers, wrote last winter a paper for a Ragged School Workers' Conference, in which she dwelt on the value of Mothers' Meetings in creating a new atmosphere in poor homes, and inspiring thousands of women with new ideas as to home life and the training of children. We need not do more than name these Mothers' Meetings, for they are thoroughly appreciated by all interested in home mission work. Then there are creches for the infants of poor mothers compelled to work for the support of the family. Necessity knows no law, and mother had perforce either to lock baby in a room all day alone, or leave it in the care of some child but little older ; unless she handed it over to the care of some woman who made a few pence by minding half a dozen babies, or rather letting them mind themselves. Years ago Mrs. Hilton led the way in opening a day nursery for such infants. Now in many of the Ragged Schools there are airy, healthy, well-managed creches, superintended by ladies. As with mothers' meetings, day nurseries have been peculiarly women's work, and under women's direction and care. Turning to another department, the records of the Ragged School movement show that women have been invaluable as visitors. They have followed their scholars home, sought to help the poor mothers in a thousand ways, introducing white- wash, soap and water, and the beauties of tidy cleanliness ; besides bringing the higher and sweeter message of the Gospel. In times of sickness the teachers have been sure to find their way to the poor home. No pains have been spared to lighten, alleviate, and cheer the homes of sorrow. We know of one who for twenty-five years has been daily visiting in one poor district. She knows every room and family therein, and is looked up to as friend, counsellor, and guide 84 Woman's Mission. in sickness or distress, yet like others we have spoken of she is a voluntary worker. In the cholera visitation of 1866, the self-sacrifice and devotion of the lady teachers in many of our poor districts was simply marvellous. For weeks the dead and dying were all around them ; yet they flinched not, visiting constantly, rendering every possible service to the stricken, weeping with the bereaved, contriving for the widows and orphans, and labouring with a quiet heroism beyond all praise. This service in distress, in sickness, in home trouble of every kind, has been specially undertaken by women in the Ragged School Missions of later times ; and although many devoted men have shared in this service, yet our theme is woman's work, and no account thereof would be complete without this mention of woman's ministry in the homes of the poor. There are also the clothing operations, which are due to the sympathy and keen eyes of the lady teachers, who, seeing how the children many of them shivered in their thin rags, set their wits to work to make and mend for those in need. The earliest efforts were simply the result of the interchange of confidences between the lady teachers, as to the pitiable condition of some of their children. Old frocks and other things were repaired and altered to fit special cases. The need was whispered abroad, other ladies helped or sent gifts of second-hand clothing and boots. These came through the Ragged School Union, and the work grew as the state of things among the children of the poor became more widely known. Then in later years ladies' working parties, needlework guilds, Guilds of the Good Samaritan, and so on, were organized by energetic helpers. In due course a Ladies' Auxiliary to the Ragged School Union was formed, under the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, one of the most large-hearted of our philanthropists, and a life-long generous and consistent friend of Ragged Schools. We may perhaps mention a few of the ladies' working parties which, on behalf of ragged children, are in beneficial action. There are the London Needlework Guild, under the leadership of the Hon. Mrs. Halford ; the Tulse Hill Ladies' Woman's Work in the Ragged Schools. 85 Working Party ; the Chiswick Dorcas Society ; the Guild of the Good Samaritan, and similar working parties at Sidcup, Highbury, Highgate, Finchley, Hampstead, Harrow, Bromley, Ealing, Hemel Hempstead, Godalming, Melksham, Swansea, and elsewhere. H.R.H. the Princess Louise, and H.R.H. the Princess Mary, and many other ladies have co-operated by sending gifts of warm clothing. One friend, with her house- hold, makes up complete outfits for boys, even to shirts, stockings, and boots. We only mention these as illustrative of what ladies are doing for the ragged and shoeless children in London alone. These working parties assume many forms. There are " Busy Bee " parties, and Bible-class sewing parties. Visiting a mission only the other day, we found the members of a Young Women's Bible-class hard at work stitching garments for poor girls. Then there are household parties ; mistresses interesting their maids, often with the best results. It is wonderful how many useful articles come to us from domestic servants. Then come the Holiday Homes, of which the Ragged School Union has now ten, and in which ladies have largely co-operated. Indeed, a very fine home, Arthur's Home, at Bognor, only lately opened, was a lady's noble gift to the Ragged School Union a mother's memorial to her son, who loved poor children. At Addiscombe, near Croydon, Louisa, Lady Ashburton has built three holiday homes for adults, children, and infants with their mothers. In these homes, of course, women find their sphere as matrons and helpers. In the whole Holiday Home movement women aid in the heartiest way ; and in truth, going back to origins, the move- ment itself, which this year gave to over five thousand weary sickly children a fortnight's holiday in the country or by the seaside, sprang from a woman's loving thought in inviting a few poor children to stay some days in her cottage in the country. So in this, as in many another departure in service, woman led the way. Coming now to another new development, we find in this case that a man, not a woman, was the pioneer ; but, once suggested, women have been its best helpers. This is the Home Cripples' Branch, started by an American, who dis- 86 Woman's Mission. covered hundreds of maimed, crippled, helpless little prisoners in .out-of-the-way slums, unable to move out of doors, un- taught, uncared for in every way, and dragging out their sad lives in lonely misery. He is now helped in this work by a blind lady visitor, who has learned to find her way to the rooms where the little cripples lie, bringing them words of cheer, and changing from one to another toys, picture books, and the like, to while away the weary hours. There are also two certificated kindergarten ladies, teaching those capable of tuition to read and sing ; thus affording them some pleasure and occupation in life ; and a widow is doing good service as a sort of mothers' assistant and nurse. So in this new effort on behalf of a peculiarly pitiful class, women are doing work which they alone can do. It will be borne in mind that in mentioning these few illustrative instances, we are referring to a work embracing, in London alone, two hundred Ragged School Missions, with between four and five thousand voluntary teachers, more than half of whom are women. In this movement, which has progressed for nearly half a century, women have taken their part ; some for short periods, it is true, others for many years. Apart from the vast host of ladies who have helped by generous gifts, by zealous collections, and by concerts, either to delight poor children or to raise funds for their benefit, in London alone, twenty to thirty thousand women have directly laboured in Ragged School work. Thus it is evident that the undoubted success attained amongst poor and neglected children is largely owing to the beneficial influence of woman's hands, woman's head, and woman's heart. EMIGRATION. BY THE HON. MRS. STUART WORTLEY. EMIGRATION is a subject which has always attracted the attention of the thoughtful, but it is far from being thoroughly mastered. Its value as a relief to over-population in Europe is undoubted, but much uncertainty still prevails as to the right methods of conducting it. The uncertainty arises principally from the want of reciprocity, and the value of such an opportunity as the present one of bringing before thoughtful people on both sides of the water the importance of a more extended study of the subject, cannot be over- estimated. Roughly speaking, Emigration may be regarded in two aspects. There have always been the emigrants who go of their own free will, inspired by their own energy, who have founded communities, nay, even established empires ; and these have been and may still, at the present time, be regarded as the salt of the earth. But deeply as the world's history is indebted to such pioneers, they are too limited in number to affect the question much, as it stands at present. When- ever the pioneers thus indicated discover the treasures of God's earth in different places there arises a vehement outcry for human labour to utilize these gifts. And it is just then that intelligent intervention in the form of well-regulated emigration is invaluable. The regulation of the supply of labour, everywhere occupies the thoughts of statesmen and philanthropists ; in fact, it may be called the burning question of the hour. Emigration must always affect it powerfully, and this resource will never give 88 Woman 's Mission. all the relief and comfort that lies within its capacity until a far wider and more detailed knowledge of its better systems has been obtained. It is with emigration as it concerns labour that we now have to do, and our business is to show what has been attempted and is being done for it by women. They have not failed in former years to bear their part. Much was done by Mrs. Chisholm forty years ago for the better regulation of female emigration to Australia ; and Lady Herbert of Lea, Lady Kinnaird, and other workers, co- operated with the effort made to emigrate working women by means of Mr. Sidney Herbert's Emigration Fund. The society called the British Ladies' Emigration Associa- tion did admirable work for many years in selecting matrons for the protected parties going to Australia and other British colonies. These matrons collected a mass of information which has since been turned to good account. The Women's Emigration, the Church Emigration, and other societies have worked on the same lines. They have gradually proved to us that the transmission of emigrants is a matter requiring the utmost thought and preparation ; and, above all, they have done good work in exploding the pernicious theory that it is right to send away a thoughtless insubordinate youth, or a giddy ill-conducted girl, as a remedy for what can be better corrected and restrained at home. But the association which gives the most accurate and careful attention to the whole of its methods is the United British Women's Emigration Association. From other papers the Congress will no doubt learn the value of the special protection and care secured to large bodies of working girls in England by means of the societies known as the Girls' Friendly, the Young Women's Christian, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, and the Women's Help Society. Taken in the aggregate, these bodies represent nearly 300,000 persons ; and in referring to the subject before us it is important to notice that the officers of all those societies emigrate their members through the organization of the United British Women's Association. Success cannot be attained here except by the reciprocity already recom- mended, which means the acquisition of full knowledge as Emigration. 89 to the needs of localities, rates of wages, circumstances of journey, as well as conscientious co-operation by persons who will make themselves responsible for the reception of travellers on arrival. All these are needed for the satisfactory distribution of emigrants, and in the case of women going alone additional protection has to be secured. In late years the emigration to Canada has been greatly facilitated by the improvements introduced at the suggestion of Emigration Societies by the three great shipping lines. They have been gradually induced by the workers who approach them with large parties, to give separate quarters for men and women, to place the unmarried women in separate compartments under their accredited matrons, arranging the married women also by themselves with their young children. And the care for these travellers continues till they reach the other side of the great continent, for they are handed on to the very ultimate point of destination. It is a pleasure to be able to show that the intervention of women has procured these improvements, that the care for persons of all sorts who wish to improve their condition may be supplied, and security and a new career offered to many deserving persons through the intelligent efforts of women. But obtaining introductions and providing travelling comfort are not enough, and the educational side of the subject has not been neglected. A Colonial Training School for young servants and poor ladies is at work at Leaton in Shropshire, where the training is most complete. All kinds of household work are well taught, including milking, dairy work, laundry, and kitchen details ; and the girls trained are sent out under the care of the United British Women's Association. And indeed this and some kindred institutions may be regarded as supplying the best means of relief for over-population. It is to Miss Rye that England was first indebted for the effort to relieve her of orphan pauper children, whom she has for many years been systematically transferring to the happy homesteads of Canada. There they are incorporated in the family life of the parents, and become thorough Canadian citizens. By this effort Miss Rye has provided for more than 9O Woman's Mission. four thousand children, of whom she has the most satisfactory accounts. They are removed from the taint of pauperism, from a joyless unloved childhood, to full parental care and a life of respectable labour. The best feature of her work is its educational side. The children are all passed through the training-house at Niagara, and full supervision is continued over all child ren after they are placed out, so that their condition can always be ascer- tained if necessary. In this admirable work Miss Rye is aided by Miss Macpherson, and rivalled, perhaps, by Mrs. Bilbrough Wallace's excellent training-school at Belleville, Ontario. All kinds of children have here been imported and distributed, either to adopting parents, or put to well-organized employment ; the children being supervised systematically by Mrs. Wallace's own inspector. There can be no doubt that the emigration of orphan children is the best possible means of relieving them in the calamity of their bereavement, as well as for reducing the burdens of overcrowded England. But it must be assisted by hearty effort on the other side of the water. It is greatly to be desired that training estab- lishments of this description could be multiplied in the English colonies, and indeed in all countries ; as the kinds of work, and the moulding of domestic habits, would then be in accordance with the needs of the places where they are put. English workers would welcome applications from localities or individuals, and a frank interchange of communi- cation as to what is desired and expected on both sides. If this were more frequent, emigration would be very much pro- moted ; for the first requisite is a sound understanding of this kind. One would fain hear of journeys undertaken with such a view, so that workers on both sides should have a direct acquaintance with each other, partaking together in the vivid human interests involved in their labours. When we think of all that is implied in the great problem of how to adjust the distribution of the human race, women may well be proud that they have shown themselves com- petent to help forward such work. At this moment the United British Women is the sole association that has received administrative sanction from the Dominion Govern- ment For three years it has also been employed to select Emigration. 9 1 the whole of the female emigrants to whom the Government of Western Australia grants free passages. By means of its loan fund the money for transmission is advanced to numbers who would but too probably sink in the struggle at home, and whose presence elsewhere becomes a blessing to the community. Is it too much to hope that by the intelligent co-operation of women, a system of organized transmission may be brought to bear upon all the English-speaking communities throughout the world ? 92 Woman's Mission. HOW AND WHY THE NAVVY MISSION SOCIETY WAS FORMED. BY MRS. CHARLES GARNETT. THE navvies form in England, Scotland, and Wales a nomadic class of 100,000 men, besides women and children. Even now they are still outside the parochial, educational, sanitary, and drink laws. They move about from one public work to another, a distinct class or tribe, separated by habit and circumstance from their fellow-countrymen, unthought of and uncared for save by our poor little mission. So navvies live and die ; and yet it is to their toil we owe our docks, canals, reservoirs, sewerage works, and railways. Our needs are supplied by them with loss of life and limb. Every mile of our enjoyable journey by rail has cost a navvy a limb, and each tunnel has involved a loss of from one to twenty lives. Arthington Tunnel on the way to Harrogate cost thirty-six. It was in 1870 that the Leeds Corporation commenced the construction of three immense reservoirs, in the upper reaches of Wharfedale, to dam up a mountain river and then convey its pure waters to Leeds, seventeen miles away. The lowest of these reservoirs was made at Lindly Wood, a tree- covered vale in the heart of the hills, four miles from Otley and eight from Harrogate. Within a month the ground was cleared and three long rows of brick huts erected, also stables, a food shop, and a " shant " to sell beer ; but neither church nor school for these people was ever considered necessary in those days. Thank God ! there is not a settle- ment of any size without them now. The Navvy Mission Society. 93 A clergyman, the Rev. Lewis Moule Evans, curate of Otley, and the following year rector of Leathley (a village three miles down the valley), went amongst this new and strange population, and his heart burned within him. He found that though they had been navvies all their lives, and so had dwelt for a time in every part of our land, " no man had cared for them" either body or soul. Ordinary Bible truths were unknown to them, and Sunday was called " hair- cutting and dog-washing day." A very small proportion of the men and women could read and write, and the children were growing up entirely untaught. There was an excellent manager at Lindly Wood who suppressed fighting, and would not allow drink to be sold illegally in the huts. This was not (and is not) the case on other works. In those days the usual after-dinner programme on Sunday was a fight, and often the " backers " would begin a quarrel on their own account, until sometimes twenty or thirty couples were fighting, even at times to the death. The huts were generally built of sods, and the floor was the bare ground. Marriage was the exception amongst the hut- keepers, and indeed navvies lived, and would live now were it not for the Navvy Mission Society, as a heathen class in our own Christian land. On the other hand, they were brave, independent, enduring, generous, clean, and noble in many of their unwritten laws, or " ways of the line " as they were called ; for while they would kill a policeman who ventured down a line to arrest a mate, they would give their last shilling as a "tramping bob" to a comrade in distress, and no navvy was ever buried as a pauper, nor did orphan children find a home in the workhouse. The squire, Mr. Fawkes, built Mr. Evans a little wooden church ; and a brick room, used as a hospital during an out- break of smallpox, by the kindness of the manager, was turned into a day school for the children ; and a reading- room and night school for the men was established. Mr. Evans engaged an able schoolmistress. Mr. Fawkes gave 20 a year towards her salary, and Mr. Evans, though a poor man, bore all the other mission expenses himself. A post- office clerk and three working youths from Otley were his assistants in the Sunday school. After two services in his 94 Woman 's Mission. own church Mr. Evans walked three miles up to Lindly and gave one there in the evening. It was a Sunday evening in the late autumn of 1871 when I first saw a navvy settlement. I was staying with a lady in the neighbourhood and walked over. It was dark in the valley, and as I walked along the bank of the river I suddenly slipped, and the next moment expected to find myself whirled downwards on the waters. Happily, a bush saved me, and I walked on more carefully towards the twinkling lights in the distance. As I made my way between the two rows of huts to the wooden church, half hidden in the wood beyond, a strange scene presented itself. The doors of many of these cottages stood open, and bands of fire and lamp light fell across the dark road-space between the rows of huts. In the clean living-rooms numbers of fine big men were seated, most of them smoking ; they wore white clothes, and one of their number would be slowly reading the newspaper to his mates. The tea-things were on the tables, and the noise of sputtering ham from frying-pans, and the smell of cooking were on the air. Here and there through the darkness figures were making their way up the ascent to the little church. Within that square room was assembled the strangest congregation I had ever seen. "Drivers" in red or purple plush waistcoats adorned with large pearl buttons, "piece-men" or "stout uns" in white knee cords and blue woollen stockings, " gangers " in brown velveteen coats, and young fellows, with the invariable bright red cotton neckerchief, twirling fur caps awkwardly in their hands, were sitting on one side of the building ; on the other were the women, mostly stout, capable persons, gay in plaided shawls, and bonnets bright with artificial flowers. They kept a severe eye upon the children, who, as the schoolmistress said, "behaved like pictures." The three or four teachers clustered round a single candle (for we had not yet bought lamps) and " led " the singing. To this congregation a refined and delicate clergyman in a white surplice was ministering in a quiet voice, but very earnestly. When the service had ended, we all went out under the shadowing boughs and saw the overarching sky bespangled with stars. The rushing of the river came softly The Navvy Mission Society. 95 to us, the silent protecting hills stood dumb about us, and I felt in a new world. Afterwards this became a familiar scene, but that first impression was never lost. The following year, 1872, I was again in the neighbour- hood, and the post-office clerk, now regular superintendent (and a very good one) of this first navvy Sunday school, asked me to help him to teach. He gave me a fearful class, the first one of boys. What awful, mischievous, wild, original, lovable boys they were ! At the end of three weeks, when I was returning home, my visit at Lindly Wood having ended, the teachers begged me to return each Saturday and stay until the Monday ; and, to my gratification, so did my evil boys. Mr. Evans's permission was heartily given. I had caught "the Navvy fever" (it has victimized me ever since, and there seems no chance of cure this side the grave, and one hopes not beyond) and was therefore quite willing. The prospect opened a vista of new interests in a lonely life. But two difficulties arose forthwith ; my relatives were shocked and indignant. Many bitter things were said both then and for years afterwards. It was "a most improper proceeding." I was "too young," "wished to be singular," "would do no good," and, lastly, " the navvies were not fit for any lady with right feeling to go amongst." I answered that I would do my best for one year, and the result would show if I ought to go on or not. The other difficulty was that I had nowhere to stay. God opened a way, when an old relative thought he had completely blocked it. The manager fitted up a cup- board, in which some dry clothes were stored, with a mattress and blankets, and for four years I slept in the schoolroom (that is, when the rabbits who lived below the floor thought fit to let me) ; and those were four of the happiest years of my life. We were treading on unknown ground in mission-work, but, though doubtless many mistakes were made, we were "all of one heart," and liked and trusted each other thoroughly ; and God was with us and poured out His blessing. We saw the whole settlement change. Every child on the ground, and from twenty to thirty men, were in our Sunday school ; numbers of men learnt to read and write in Mr. Evans's night school ; over ninety per cent, of the children passed the g6 Woman s Mission. Government day-school inspection. Fights were unknown, and drinking dwindled down until a drunken man was seldom seen. Certainly, after two years I gave up my boys' class in despair ; but two of the boys afterwards died with their hands in mine, and went home " in sure and certain hope." Another is an excellent clergyman, a fourth a valued navvies' mis- sionary ; and the others are decent and (one hopes) Christian men. We had one great drawback : we noticed that men who left us and went to seek other work, when they returned always gave one answer to our eager inquiries, " Have you been to church to school ? What have you been doing ? " "There's nothing of no sort for us chaps, nowhere." We found they went away from us to be "pariahs." As a class they were dreaded and individually they were scorned. If navvies came into a district the clergy spoke of them as " an invasion," and thanked God when they were gone. Good Christians described them as " a moral pest." Farmers re- fused to give them a night's shelter even in a barn, or let them filthy stables at rack-rents (and still do). Cottagers took them in as lodgers (and do so still) and crammed twelve men into a room barely large enough for five. Shop- keepers charged (and charge to this day) thievish prices if they saw a navvy enter their doors : for one ounce of arrowroot for a sick man I have paid sixpence, when a whole pound cost the seller only tenpence. Milk would be saved to fatten pigs and calves and refused at any price to a navvy-child at death's door with fever. Some contractors treated their men as "raw material," working them overtime in summer, and discharging them when winter stopped work ; and such is too often the case now, so that thousands of men are drifting about in want and misery every winter. If they go to the workhouse they are inadequately fed, and are often vexatiously detained to pick oakum. The consequence is that they will rather endure extreme want than enter the workhouse doors. But although things are bad for our men to-day, twenty years ago they were far worse. No man's wages in England are now paid in food-tickets on a contractor's shop. Sod huts, which were the usual ones then, are now no longer to be found. Clergy The Navvy Mission Society. 97 and employers act for the most part very differently now, and no great engineer would say, as one said to me fourteen years ago, "Night-schools and reading-rooms are a mistake ; let them remain ignorant." " But they leave work at six, how are they to spend their evenings ? " " Let them go to bed ! " I could not help inquiring, " Would you like to go to bed at six o'clock ? " The great man said with a cold stare, " That's quite different." As every man's hand was against them, the hands of navvies were against " natives," as they called outsiders ; and the work done amongst them for the love of Christ was a wonder to them. The tale of Lindly Wood began to be told on other works and was disbelieved. "You tell us that" said a man working on the very next Leeds reservoir, " and you think we'll believe it ? I've been a navvy all my life, and no parson ever came among us, and no teachers, and no ladies ; it's a lie." On another occasion some men were at dinner in a hut when one of their fellows called out, " Come and look ! here are two converted navvies from Lindly Wood ! " The men sprang up and rushed to the door. One of them told me this six months ago, and added, " I didn't know what one looked like then, but, thank God ! I know what it is to be one now." So it grew into us on every side that these men and women ought to be followed. Mr. Evans, and we teachers, wrote a number of inquiries and addressed them to the managers of all the works we could hear of from men on tramp. To direct these was indeed guesswork, the men pronounced the names so queerly ; besides which, as navvies have a kind of language of their own, and usually themselves go by nicknames, as " Curly," " Punch," " Glen," " York," " Nottingham," so they give the works catch-names "The Long Drag," "Junction," "Slaughter House," etc. But we did our best and found out seventy- two. In our inquiries we asked, " How many men have you ? How many huts, etc. ? Does any clergyman or other minister visit ? Have you a service, Sunday or day school ? " and so on. " No," was the reply to every question at all the seventy- two places save one Blackamore, near Halifax, where the vicar, the Rev. C. Green, was, it appeared, working. H 98 Woman's Mission. We knew that special short efforts had been made in former years by Dr. Fremantle (Bucks), Miss Fox (Devon), Miss Marsh (Beckenham) ; but when these favoured works closed, the navvies were not followed, and were soon again swallowed up in the prevailing darkness. The outlook was very hopeless. Mr. Evans was in a consumption from over- work, damp, and, above all, a loss which had saddened his life, and Lindly Wood was ending. Before it finally closed the men in my class asked that some little brotherhood might be established, which in the neglect and darkness into which they were again returning might hold us together. They drew up three promises, binding themselves to a Christian life. This is the Christian Excavators' Union. It began with twenty-five navvy members and eight others. We now number over six hundred. England is divided into four districts. Ladies are the head secretaries. Our duty is to visit the stations from time to time, and encourage the members under the persecution they have to endure, seek again those led astray, comfort and help those who are in trouble, and give addresses in the mission-rooms, explaining the object of the Christian Excavators' Union, and urging whole-hearted devotion to Christ. This Union has become the heart of the mission ; from it the life blood flows, and the prayers of the Union have been the cause of the wonderful success God has given us. One night in the late autumn of 1876, the water rushed suddenly into the great Lindly Reservoir. The huts were submerged, the settlement ended, and our own navvy families were scattered to all corners of the land. Mr. Evans was ordered abroad, and this navvy-work seemed to have ended as all previous efforts had done, and hopelessness of any better future for them settled down upon our hearts. But God saw otherwise. That winter a request came to me from the navvies themselves to go to the next Leeds reservoir at Swinstey, and the manager backed it by offering me a disused schoolroom, with a little hut room to sleep in. I was told it was three or four miles from the nearest station, but found it more than six ; and a fearful walk it was, up and down hills, over the Yorkshire moors, with snow- drifts sometimes eight feet deep, and curled over like waves The Navvy Mission Society. 99 at the top against the walls ; but fortunately the roads were always passable. Four hundred men and many women and children were living there in huts. The old teachers could not walk up from Otley, and we were too poor to hire a conveyance. I therefore wrote to five navvies who had become changed men at Lindly, and asked them to get work at Swinstey ; they did so, and thus our Sunday school was manned with teachers, and very good ones too. Dark- ness had rested for four years on Swinstey, and it had been the regular Sunday custom to have a fight in the afternoon. Of course I dare not, in any case, stop a fight, but never had any need to try : there never was another while I was there. The men were too true gentlemen to frighten a lady who had come among them for their own and the children's sake. On the second Sunday our school numbered all the children in the settlement, and I had twenty-two men in the Bible-class ; and these numbers kept up until the very end. The last sight I had of my schoolroom, which had been filled with happy faces the day before, was on a Monday morning when the roof was being stripped off. When next I was there the site was below the waters of the lake that navvy hands had made. During this time we had been doing what we could to rouse public attention, but we had neither money nor influence, nor even strength. In 1877 Mr. Evans, who during his suffering time in Italy had written two admirable articles called " Navvies and their Needs," had them pub- lished, by the kindness of the late Mr. Fetter, in the " Quiver ; " and Messrs. Isbister were good enough to print a little tale of mine, founded much more on fact than fancy, called " Little Rainbow." These raised some interest, and then two kind friends who saw the trouble I was in gave us 1$ to print and post circulars. We got the names of clergymen of all parties to guarantee the usefulness of such a mission. Our aim was to establish, not a mere personal work which would only live with us, but one which should be on a firm basis, and live after we were gone ; and we hoped that all parties in our Church would be content to meet in an effort, which, while a Church one, was purely missionary. Four thousand circulars were printed, and with these we teachers ioo Woman s Mission. wrote four thousand letters. Mr. Evans, dying as he was of consumption, wrote half of this number. I posted the whole in theEuston Road Office, October, 1877, and well remember walking away and saying, " If it is Thy will, prosper this ! and if not, let it fail : we have done all we can." God did not let the effort fail. In response 480 came in. The Navvy Mission was established in November, 1877, and for a year its founder worked it as honorary secretary, visiting the works and appointing seven missionaries. On November 30, 1878, he was seized with inflammation, and on December n, heard the Master say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Since then the Navvy Mission has struggled on ; secretaries have come and gone ; our president, Bishop Bickersteth, died ; of the original committee only our devoted leader, the Dean of Ripon (Dr. Fremantle), is left. But through all God has blessed us and supplied our needs, and therefore, with one of the smallest incomes of any religious society, we have, socially, morally, and spiritually, been able to do four times the usual amount of work. We spend nothing on offices, clerks, advertising, etc. Every penny given goes to the work. Every large settlement in England, Scotland, and Wales, has its mission and reading-room and schools, its temperance societies, and often much-needed ambulance classes. The men pass the " first aid " examinations remarkably well. Contractors, engineers, gentry, and clergy, are very generally interested, and many give excellent help. The old scenes of brutality are very nearly things of the past. Marriage is regarded, and the moral tone of the men is quite different. It is true that the contractors still do not put up adequate accommodation for their men, and that overcrowding outside the works is too common ; also that, in spite of precautions, drink is sold illegally in the huts. It is also true that were the mission to collapse, the whole class would drop down again ; but still that navvy spoke truly who said, " The Navvy Mission has changed all our works. It has raised our whole class. How? Why, it has taught people to respect us, and it has taught us to respect ourselves." One power to this end has been the Quarterly Letter to Navvies, of which I am editor. The men eagerly welcome The Navvy Mission Society. 101 it everywhere, both at home and abroad, though it always is very plain in its condemnation of evil. Last year 72 i^s. <\d. was sent by navvies in pence, contributed out of their small wages as a free gift towards the expense of printing it. Of this 11 was sent from the dock works at Buenos Ayres. The advance of the society, so quietly made, is shown by this table : In 1887 it had In 1891 it bad- One Hon. Clerical Secretary (the Two Clerical Secretaries. founder). Seven Stations. 39 Stations. Seven Missionaries. 39 Missionaries. 20,000 Quarterly Letters were dis- 121,943 Quarterly Letters. tributed. Given in pence towards the cost by Navvies, voluntarily, ^72 14^. id. 35 Members of Christian Excavators' 658 Members C.E.U. Union. One District Hon. Secretary. Eight District Hon. Secretaries C.E.U. Four Christmas Trees or Treats. 29 Christmas Treats. No Libraries. 38 Libraries. No Temperance Pledges. u>893 Pledges. No Rooms of its own. Five Rooms of its own. No Missions. Four Special Missions. No Nurse or Hospital. One Nurse and one Hospital. No Insurance of Missionaries. Insurance of Missionaries and Mission- No Missionaries' Pension Fund. aries' Pension Fund just begun. Our annual income from general sources is now about 2300, assisted by as much more raised locally. On this we support two secretaries, who are, in fact, clerical missionaries as well as organizers, a trained nurse, and thirty-nine mis- sionaries. We have thirty-six circulating libraries, and supply books, etc., to forty stations. More with our present income it is impossible to do, and yet we ought to more than double our efforts. We require particularly gifted missionaries. They must be strong in body, mind, and faith ; such men are difficult to find. When we have found and trained them, other societies and private clergymen frequently draw them away from us. For though their lives are hard, constantly walking, and often wet through, employed every day till late at night out of doors and in the night schools, we can only pay them small wages, and can offer them no future pension, though it is impossible for them to save. The whole success of our IO2 Woman's Mission. work (under God) depends on these men's devotion, and yet, when worn out, they have only the workhouse before them. Is it right after thirty years of such noble service they should lie down to die on a pauper's bed ? Five thousand pounds invested would yield an interest sufficient for a modest Pension Fund. In 1878 I received a letter from Mrs. Hunter, of Hun- stanton on the Clyde, stating that a large number of navvies were in her neighbourhood, constructing the Fairlie and West Kilbride line ; and that she felt so grieved to see them standing about in the rain when stopped from work that she would like my opinion how best to help them. Her difficulty was that they were of three nationalities, and three faiths. The four hundred men were made up of Irishmen, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, Scotch Lowlanders, and there were Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Free Churchmen. The outcome was that she erected a beautiful shelter or reading-room, but would lend it to none of the different sects for Sunday services. On the Sabbath it was kept open, and supplied with Gaelic and English Bibles and tracts instead of the everyday newspapers. It became a great success, and at the end of the year Mrs. Hunter built another room alongside the shelter, and in this were held Protestant services, Bible-classes, and an adult night- school, which were well attended. Her charming manner and warm unselfish sympathy touched the men's hearts, and she did immense good. A post-office savings bank was opened, and through her personal influence over 400 was invested in fifteen months. When we in England tried to do the same at four of our works the next year, the post-office official sent up on pay-days could .not get any deposits, and after four months we had to give up the attempt. The State was an idea, Mrs. Hunter a reality to the navvies : they trusted the one and not the other ! Mrs. Hunter also changed the whole aspect of the Greenock Docks (then in course of construction) by a very simple but wise move. The only decent men I saw there were two English gangers. The rank and file of the work- men we should not have deemed worthy of the name of navvies, though they claimed it. They were dirty, ragged, The Navvy Mission Society. 103 wretched creatures, who existed on potatoes, slept in boats and doorways, and spent every penny they could get on whisky, of which there were three kinds " Over-the-wall," " Fighting-stuff," and " Sudden death." The last was " over- proof" spirits of wine flavoured like whisky. Mrs. Hunter erected a hut and let it to a provision caterer rent free. Basins of porridge at a halfpenny each were supplied at five o'clock in the morning ; bit by bit the cheap menu was enlarged, hot meals three times a day were served, and beat the whisky and potatoes. A free reading-room was opened, and the reward of two months' attendance was a linen jacket. The second visit I made there taught me what one woman can do who puts her head as well as her heart into God's work. For more than three years Mrs. Hunter worked at the Fairlie line, and also endeavoured to establish a Navvy Mission for Scotland. There the difficulty was not, as it is with us, money, for the Church of Scotland has a Home Mission Fund sufficient to meet all such needs ; but to get any help from this fund the local clergy in their Presbytery have to agree and send a petition for help to the General Assembly. The local Presbytery can send back the petition of any single clergyman for reconsideration or alteration ; the General Assembly can do the same to the local Presby- tery. The consequence is, a petition for aid may be one or half a dozen years under consideration before any definite action is taken ! In fact, for four years this was the case at Fairlie ; and during the whole time the navvies were there Mrs. Hunter had to find the funds for her temporal and spiritual mission work. She sent printed appeals on behalf of the navvies to every minister attending the General Assembly, and to the nobleman, a personal friend of her own, who was the Convener, but with no result. Then I saw, for her, every leading minister in Glasgow and Edinburgh. All were most delightfully kind and willing to help, but all equally rigid to " gang no gait but their ain," and at their own pace, too ! In vain we urged that while they were considering, the navvies were living heathen lives of neglect and sin, and that promptitude was the soul of success, or the opportunity would be past. Mrs. Hunter, worn out by domestic trouble and broken IO4 Womaris Mission. in health, was obliged to give up the attempt, and our English Navvy Mission had to send a missionary to the Edinburgh Waterworks. This was done at the request of Miss Campbell, sister of Sir Archibald Campbell of Succoth. It was at a very small drawing-room meeting in 1883, which he was kind enough to attend because I was his mother's guest, that Sir Archibald became interested in the work. He shortly afterwards wrote to our committee offering to try to get an undenominational Navvy Mission started for Scotland. We thankfully endowed the new work with all our Scotch subscriptions, and most ably the Scotch Navvy Mission is working. It has five missionaries under an able superintending missionary, and thus assists in other mission work on twelve public works in Scotland. With the slow strong enthusiasm of its nationality, the Scotch Navvy Mission is quietly pushing forward and holding every inch it gains. Mrs. Hunter has passed to her rest. How earnestly would I entreat any ladies, English, foreign, or American, to follow her example, and show practical sympathy to those who need it so much. Wherever navvies are at work ladies are needed. It doubles a missionary's usefulness where he has the assistance of a lady in the Sunday and night schools, mothers' meetings, boys', girls', adult, and ambulance classes, and to play and sing, to visit the homes, etc., on the works during the breakfast or the dinner hour. In the mission- room or the huts the lady will meet with a hearty welcome, and each of us who is engaged in this work finds it most interesting. Renewed lives, brightened homes, sad hearts cheered, men, women, and children saved here and hereafter, are the rewards we reap. Nowhere are ladies needed more, for nowhere have women more need of help. Our navvy women wander from place to place and have no claims even on the parish workhouse for mainte- nance when left widows, or if deserted by bad husbands. I shall never forget one such case, where a young married woman was twice purposely deserted to drive her into sin ; and finally she died from want rather than enter the life of shame her husband had tried to force her into, that he might be free. The thin piteous face of that young woman rises before me as she showed me a hard cold note the man had The Navvy Mission Society. 105 written her, informing her he was coming back as the event turned out, to strip her of her last sixpence. She pointed with a smile of triumph to the signature, " Your affectionate Husband." " See there ! " she said, with pathetic trust. Yes, ladies are indeed needed to bring sympathy to sad hearts and hope to fainting ones. After the English, the navvies of the world are Italians and Scandinavians. Italians do most of the foreign works. The number of lives the Mont Cenis and St. Gothard Tunnels cost can never be told. During a visit in 1892 to Rome I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Grey, of the Scotch Church. In vain I had tried to interest English ladies in Rome, and others, in the Italian navvies. Dr. Grey came forward, and as head of the Scotch Bible Society's Auxiliary there, he sent among them this summer two colporteurs, who have sold many Italian Bibles and have preached the Gospel to their fellow navvy countrymen on both sides of the Alps ; and this, we trust, is the commencement of an Italian Navvy Mission. The tales we hear of their present condition are terrible. A mission to them is second only in importance to our own, as English gangers and engine-drivers are the leaders on foreign works, while the rank and file of the navvies are largely composed of Italians, and in America of Norwegians. io6 Woman's Mission, MY WORK AMONG NAVVIES AT BECKENHAM. BY Miss MARSH. EARLY in 1853, large numbers of "navvies" were gathered from all parts of the kingdom to work on the grounds of the Crystal Palace, which had just been erected at Syden- ham. The men were lodged in every available room in the neighbourhood, and over two hundred were crowded into the cottages at Beckenham. This inroad of strangers was justly dreaded by the steady parishioners, for these men with truth called themselves " a rough lot," and a navvy was looked upon as an Ishmaelite, "his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him." Beckenham Rectory was then my happy home, and whilst visiting in the parish we soon heard of the new arrivals, and on Sunday, March I3th, I first set out to seek them. It was in the evening that I went to a cottage where three or four navvies were lodged, and asked for one of the family, by way of an easy introduc- tion to the strangers. I asked if they had been at church ; but not one had thought of it. A few more visits to the cottages where the navvies lodged, brought many volunteers for the Bible classes which I began for them. Testaments in purple binding, small enough for the waistcoat pocket, were offered to all, and were eagerly accepted and much prized, though now and then the expressions of pleasure were somewhat quaint, such as, " Now, ain't it a rare beauty ! I'll cover it with a slice off my best red choker." Before long many of the men were willing to attend the evening service in the schoolroom, and when, on leaving home My Work among Navvies at Beckenham. 107 for a short time, I wrote to several of them to come to the Sunday services in church, upwards of thirty responded to the appeal on the next Sunday morning, filling the middle aisle, in their clean stiff white " slops." On the following Thursday evening a missionary meeting was held in the schoolroom, there being more than forty present. A few days later, I met John H , with a noisy party of young men. On the next Thursday evening, when I spoke to him, whilst the schoolroom bell was ringing for the lecture, he looked much ashamed, and said in a low tone, " You ain't agoing to ask me to come to the lecture after the way you heard me shouting the other evening ? I had been to the public." " I was sure of it. But still I want you to- come this evening." " No, never again." " Why not ? " " Because it don't do to live two lives." " I know it, John ; and that's the reason I want you to come to-night, and to begin all over again." " I'll come, then. And I'll bring six ! " True to his word, he came marshalling six comrades with a leader's pride. From that time he regularly attended the services and readings. Soon we planned a tea-party for our new friends whose wandering life cut them off from innocent enjoyments. The schoolroom was decorated with flowers, and " button-holes " of geranium and jessamine, tied with blue ribbon, were laid upon the plates. The guests arrived, each one looking as clean as a baby on its christening day, with their white " slops " newly washed, and their hands and faces scrubbed till they shone again. There was no confusion or loud talking, and not a word was spoken that we could have wished unsaid, while the frank and hearty enjoyment was delightful to see. Throughout the rest of the year the navvies' attendance at church was excellent, and the cottages where Bible readings were held were thronged. Five of the navvies were pre- sented for Confirmation to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who specially remarked afterwards on their devout demeanour as they knelt together to receive the rite. On the last day of 1853 the sergeant at the police-station at Beckenham called to return thanks for the interest that had been taken in the men. He said that his duty had never been so easy before in Beckenham, for the example of io8 Woman s Mission. the navvies had restrained the wilder young men of the place. Scarcely had the last of the Crystal Palace workmen left Beckenham, when a new interest sprang up in the gathering of the Army Works Corps, which from first to last numbered nearly four thousand men, to be employed in manual work in the Crimea. The office where they were engaged was in the Crystal Palace grounds, and from July to December, 1855, large numbers of men were constantly waiting there. The first detachment consisted of railway navvies, whose muscle and sinew constituted their recommendation, and whose working power therefore stood for their morals. Though they were described as " the roughest lot that ever came to Beckenham," we found them no less responsive to kindly sympathy than our first friends had been. It was not long before they came to church, and flocked to the cottage readings. After one of these meetings, a man said to me, " I wish the whole lot could hear these things. We're all together outside the Crystal Palace at seven of a morning ; and the paymaster says we're the finest lot he ever saw, and the wildest just like four hundred roaring lions." The hint was taken, and the next morning we drove to the ground, where we found about fifty men assembled. We sent the carriage away for a time, and occupied ourselves at first in distributing little books and cards of prayers. Con- versation easily followed ; and by the time the remainder of the four hundred began to make their appearance, the first fifty had become our firm friends. Not one uncivil word was said ; not one hand unwillingly received the prayers. As the men gathered round in increasing numbers, I was struck with the earnestness of their countenances. And here, I may add, that in all my acquaintance with working men, never have they let me hear a single oath, or one expression which could in the remotest degree shock or pain me. After this we drove each morning to meet the men when they mustered for their roll-call. On the 1 8th of June a report reached us that the men were to embark the next day. We drove to the Crystal Palace grounds by eight in the morning to take leave of My Work among Navvies at Beckenham. 109 them, and to give Testaments, etc., to all who had not yet received them. They were all grave and grateful ; and many expressed thankfulness to God for having led them to this neighbourhood. I had offered to take charge of any portion of their large wages which they chose to empower me to receive for them during their engagement in the Crimea, to deposit the money in the savings bank, in the form of a friendly club, and to keep a private account for each man. A large number of men gladly accepted this proposition, and we received on an average about 500 a month. An account was kept for each man, and the money was either placed in the savings bank, or sent to his family. Many of the men requested us to forward to needy relatives a portion of the money thus saved, which varied from ten shillings to a pound weekly. Strangers, as the majority of those who daily arrived to swell the ranks necessarily were to us, and the rest only friends of a few weeks' standing, I thought it but right to give a stamped receipt to each man for the money-order which had been drawn out in my name, and carried these receipts to the Crystal Palace grounds on the afternoon of the 1 8th. It must have been a noble trustfulness in those manly natures which made them by common consent fling back the receipts into the carriage with something like a shout of disdain at the supposition that they could possibly require such a pledge of honesty from a friend and a lady. On the back of those money-orders we wrote their " wills," the disposition of the property thus entrusted to us, in case they should not be spared to return. This afforded us an opportunity of quiet conversation and prayer with each man, as they visited the rectory at all hours on their pecuniary matters. At length the order of embarkation came, and on June 27th we went to bid them farewell at Greenhithe. On the 8th of May, 1856, the Cleopatra anchored off Ports- mouth, and six hundred men of the Army Works Corps, with exuberant joy, stood again on English ground. From that time until the last detachment landed from the Crimea, we kept open house for their visits. They came, usually in com- panies of from three to a dozen in number. It was pleasant to hear their short, strong statements of not having forgotten us in the Crimea. " Once we heard as you was dead, and 1 1 o Woman s Mission. nigh two thousand of us ran together and prayed God it wasn't true ! " And again : " Whenever any more corned over, we said first thing, ' Been to Beckenham, mates ? How was they ? ' ' One instance may serve as a type. Henry B told us of the death of his mate, William Hawkesworth. " He never was the same man after he came to Beckenham lawn for the breakfast and prayer ; never swore, took to his Bible, and seemed quiet and happy. We used to sing our hymns together. He never fell off out of that way, but went straight -on, till the day he was blowed up by gunpowder and I believe he went straight up to heaven." Henry was gravely glad to see the large sum of money to which his savings had amounted, and then inquired, " Pray, ma'am, what do I owe you ? " " Nothing." " Oh yes, ma'am, if you please. I should like to pay something handsome for the trouble. It's but fair." " Not fair to us," I replied. " It would spoil our pleasure in having done it for friendship." "Well, anyhow, you'll put something to getting Bibles for them that has none." If any hearts have been warmed towards their working brothers whilst listening to these brief records, let not the generous fire die out with the close of this paper. Meet them with sympathy ; try to secure to them their Sabbaths ; hold forth to them the Word of Life. God forbid that you should shut up in your own hearts the message of life and peace, .instead of giving it to every one within reach. 1 1 1 WOMEN'S WORK IN CONNECTION WITH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. BY MRS. BOYD CARPENTER. IN speaking of the religious and philanthropic work done by women in England it is extremely difficult, nay impossible, to speak exclusively of what would be recognized as clearly and distinctly Church Work, because the Church of England is wise enough to shelter under her aegis all the good that is being done by her children, even when working. in conjunction with other religious bodies ; and to limit our survey to what is carried on solely on Church lines, would be to give but a very imperfect representation of what that great body of English men and women, who form the Church, are doing in her service. It must, then, be understood that the work dealt with is work done by members of the Church of England rather than work necessarily for the Church itself. It may be religious as well as philanthropic, but much which is purely philanthropic in character nevertheless owes its inspiration and success to Church members, and as such may be claimed as the fruit of Church life amongst us. 'It is not suggested that all philanthropic work must be Church work, nor indeed distinctly religious work, i.e. not linked on to any special form of religion ; but at the same time it is well to recognize that where philanthropic work of any kind can be affiliated to existing organizations, it is a distinct and positive source of strength to both. The religious body gains the opportunity of commending its principles by showing that its sympathies and aims are wide enough to embrace the H2 Woman's Mission. bodies as well as the souls of men ; and the philanthropic work gains by the help afforded by an organization already complete and already at work. And this gain is not a slight one. In these days, when kindly hearts are so readily stirred and eager hands so swiftly held out to help, it becomes a danger lest, in the multiplicity of agencies for good, the good itself may slip out of sight, or be so overlaid with the red-tape of committees and officialism, that its infant life is smothered and its power of growth destroyed. Viewed in this broader light, the work of English Church- women is almost limitless ; for as each need arises the Church sets herself to minister to it, her perfect organization enabling her to do this more thoroughly, and with less expenditure of energy and material, than would be the case with a smaller body. An idea of the magnitude of women's work may be con- veyed in various ways : it may be conveyed by statistics of the number of workers, or of the members enrolled by them in the different agencies for good, or of the large area over which their work is spread, or it may be conveyed by noting how their work touches every department of life. Statistics are often misleading, difficult to obtain, generally dry, and not always easy to grasp ; they would, moreover, convey but a very imperfect idea of what is being achieved by women in England, since much, indeed most of their work, is quiet unrecorded work, known only to those amongst whom they live. This is specially true of religious work, most of which is parochial, and not known beyond the limits of the parish ; so that the extent and completeness of women's philanthropic and religious work will best be realized if we look at it from the standpoint of the nation's needs, and mark how in every instance where a need has been felt, woman has stepped forward to supply it. Philanthropic and religious work can scarcely, then, be divided ; for wherever social evils or suffer- ings exist, religion finds her part also, not only as an inspiring motive, but, in the case of the Church of England, as a means of organization in accepting and affiliating women's work. It becomes, therefore, necessary to understand a little of the Church's organization before we can realize the amount Work in connection with the Church. 113 and value of women's work done in connection with her. For completeness of organization there is no body which can equal the Church of England. From end to end the land is covered by her protecting hand ; not a corner of it, not a field but is assigned to the charge of one of her sons and servants. The largest divisions are those of the dioceses, some thirty-four in number. These are subdivided into arch- deaconries, two or more in each, and these again into more numerous and smaller divisions, known as rural deaneries. Lastly, the rural deaneries are cut up into parishes. In charge of every parish is the vicar, with one or more clergy under him, and numbers of lay workers, volunteers willing to devote themselves and their leisure to work in God's vine- yard ; and it is of these that this paper would specially speak, for our sex may well be proud and thankful to recognize how large a proportion of these lay workers are found among the women of England. It must not be concluded that men do not take their share too ; they do, but of them it is not our province now to speak. Neither is it to be expected that they could devote so much time to these objects as can women, who are without their special responsibilities as bread-winners. Women have always been recognized as good workers ; they are patient, thorough, and persistent, and consequently seldom fail to make a success of what they undertake. At the same time, it must be recognized that their incorporation as workers into the Church system gives them strength just where they most need it. It has been said that women cannot organize ; there are instances to the contrary, but, without unduly depreciating the sex, it may be frankly ad- mitted that their education and training has not hitherto been such as to fit them specially for concerted action. Con- sequently, the fact that women's work is so largely accepted and organized by the Church of England is to them a clear source of strength, and to the Church itself it is a gain ; for without their aid she could not undertake one-half the work she now achieves, nor further the many philanthropic, social, and educational causes, which claim her sympathy and support. Before indicating the many channels through which such help is afforded by women, it will be well to show more particularly the way in which the Church's organization, I H4 Woman s Mission. already slightly sketched, may assist in the furtherance of this work. It has been said that every inch of English soil is under the Church's care. Now, one great danger exists in all philanthropic work ; the danger of overlapping, the danger of having two agencies doing the work of one. This is obviated by the parochial system ; for the clergyman in charge of the parish should know, and mostly does know, what work requires to be done and who is doing it, and has the opportunity of guiding or repressing the introduction of new agencies. It often happens that the needs of a particular parish are too small, or the possibility of support too limited, to make it wise to start a particular society or good work in it, but the neighbouring country town, maybe, has a branch which will serve throughout the rural deanery. All that is then needed is for the clergyman in each parish to appoint one parishioner as secretary for that particular class of work ; her duty being to watch for cases which can be benefited by it, and, in return, to gather up funds for its support. One central committee can thus carry on all the work for the ten or twelve parishes forming the rural deanery, with an agent known as parochial secretary in each parish. Surely this is wiser than several struggling societies throughout the dis- trict; each with its committee and secretary wasting time and energy in meetings where there is not work enough to justify their existence ? There is also another gain. Certain societies may be looked upon as almost rivals of one another, so slight are their differences. Each has been started from the best of motives, and each has some special feature to commend it ; but in the eyes of those we seek to benefit, or from whom we expect support, the chief impression is one of rivalry. This is not good. For the sake of harmony and peace, it is better to sink one's own individual predilections in the thought of the work to be done, even if it is not done in our own particular way ; and towards this, loyalty to our Church and its officers is a constraining motive. The clergyman of the parish is consulted as to the societies which shall take root in his ground, he is usually a member of the com- Work in connection with the Church. 115 mittee, and it is known that the work has his sanction and support. The slightest experience of the difficulties resultant from a contrary state of affairs would be quite sufficient to impress upon any one the advantages of having a united feeling as to the work to be undertaken. A union of forces means strength, while division too often results in failure. And this need not be thought an intolerant position for the Church to assume, for the support given to one society docs not necessarily mean antagonism to the other. Far from it. The Church's attitude is always liberal, and both claimants can have, her sanction, though one may be worked as a central branch, receiving support from neighbouring districts ; whilst the other, as has been pointed out, may be only represented in that particular parish by a parochial secretary, who gathers up the gleanings to pass them on to a branch elsewhere. In this way the whole ground is covered, now by one society, and now by another ; whilst even those who cannot throw themselves into the movement which is strongest in their own special parish, are by this method of organization given the opportunity of helping where they more entirely sympathize, and so are incorporated in the work of the rural deanery. Take as illustrations the great missionary societies, the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. These are to be found in every diocese in the kingdom, but one parish sup- ports the Church Missionary Society, and another the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ; and yet no one is coerced, for, in the Church Missionary Society parish for example, those who prefer the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel have the opportunity of supporting it through the parochial secretary, who forwards their contributions of money or work to the ruri-decanal secretary, by whom it is added to that received from the other more distinctly S.P.G. parishes in the rural deanery over which she presides, and passed on to the central office of the society. Other religious bodies organize in other ways by means of associa- tions, committees, and so forth, and great and valuable work is done by them ; but inasmuch as their organization is not territorial, there is not the same security that the whole 1 1 6 Womaris Mission. ground will be covered, and so far as they are independent in character there is not quite the same guarantee of harmony in the work or in the objects aimed at, though it must be admitted frankly that no system is perfect unless the instruments are also perfect. In endeavouring, then, to picture the religious and philan- thropic work done by women, it will be best to mention first that which is common to most dioceses. This can only be done somewhat generally, as the work repeats itself again and again in each new field, and an ampler description would be but wearisome. It will perhaps give vividness if we select a definite area, and picture what is being done in some one parish which may be taken as typical of others, since the bulk of women's work is probably humble, unrecorded work of this nature. It is impossible completely to separate them, and it must not be concluded that what is spoken of as parochial does not extend beyond ; where there is life there is growth, and what has taken root in one spot will be grafted on else- where, and ultimately grow and cover the land. Dealing, then, with work which is carried out on the lines of Church organization as already described, we must first mention the women's branches of the large societies for Foreign and Home Missions, all of which aim at being represented in every parish in the kingdom. The Church Missionary Society has no fewer than eight hundred and fifty associations worked by women, who yearly raise the large sum of .31,000 for carrying on the work abroad. Similarly, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel is ^enabled by the help of women in England to educate upwards of five thousand of their less fortunate sisters in foreign parts ; whilst at home the women's branches of the two societies which support additional clergy for evangelization in the denser and more difficult parishes of our own land, are doing equally good work. There is hardly a diocese without a ladies' branch of the Additional Curates, or the Church Pastoral Aid, Societies ; and soon, it is hoped, they will be represented everywhere. The main object for which these societies enlist the help of women is to gain funds, obtain volunteers for carrying on their work, and to stimulate and spread an interest in it. This is the case also with the Work in connection with the Church. 1 1 7 Church of England " Waifs and Strays Society " the workers of which are similarly organized on the lines of the parish and rural deanery. Women not only work for this society as collectors, they enter into its actual management in the care of the homes in which the reclaimed waifs and strays are sheltered, educated, and trained to earn their livelihood. Thousands of children who would otherwise be on the streets, or drift into crime, are thus rescued, boarded out in cottages, emigrated, or gathered into homes, and there taught household work, knitting, printing, and so forth ; and thus fitted to become self-supporting citizens. Three other agencies must be mentioned here as specially availing themselves of the help of Church organization in their endeavour to spread throughout the land. The Women's Help Society, the Mothers' Union, and the Girls' Friendly Society, all aim at having workers in each parish ; these associated again in groups under what are known as branch secretaries ; lastly, under diocesan presidents and vice-presidents. The workers in all three must be members of the Church of England, though this stipulation does not extend to those enrolled. The two first-named must be under the direction and sanction of the parochial clergy ; the constitution of the Girls' Friendly Society does not convey a like obligation. The object of all three is a similar one, to bring about a better and purer life ; but they seek it in slightly different ways. The special point to commend in the Women's Help Society is, that it is a dis- tinctly parochial agency, and seeks to band the women of the parish, young and old, married and single, in one common endeavour after a higher life, one society embracing all. The Mothers' Union seeks to enlist those who have the care of children in a determination to shelter them from evil of all sorts, and lead and guide them into right ways. This can be incorporated and worked as a branch of the Women's Help Society. The Girls' Friendly Society works solely amongst the young and unmarried, and has one clearly defined object, the maintenance of purity. It is perhaps the most conspicuous illustration of women's work among us, as it was originated by a lady, is entirely managed and worked by women for the help of their own sex, and has branches in quite half the parishes of England, besides spreading to the Continent and our colonies. JiS Woman's Mission. Other agencies which are more than parochial, because needing more general support than could be given by any one parish, such as penitentiaries, refuges, sisterhoods, and deaconesses' institutions, are to be found in the majority of English dioceses ; no less than thirty having one or more penitentiaries, and twenty-three supporting houses of refuge. In all these the workers are women, who devote themselves to the rescue of their fallen sisters by seeking them out in their own homes, in hospitals, in workhouses, in police courts, and in the public streets. The Church Penitentiary Associa- tion devotes itself chiefly to the maintenance of houses of mercy and refuges ; the Church Mission to the Fallen is, as its name implies, engaged in combating vice in its strong- holds, in holding mission services, and in direct mission work. The Female Mission to the Fallen combines both, and supports mission houses as well as working among the fallen. It is difficult to arrive at any estimate of the good work done by their means. Some idea may be gathered, however, from the fact that the penitentiaries and refuges alone contain accommodation for upwards of seven thousand women, and that there are worked in connection with them other agencies, such as convalescent homes, training homes, inebriate homes, and so forth, to which special cases are drafted for special assistance. Forming a link between the general diocesan work and the more distinctly parochial, come the sisterhoods and deaconesses' institutions, the object of both being to train for, and employ in, parish and mission work women who can devote their lives to such a purpose. The comprehensive term " Home Mission Work " best describes the direction of their efforts ; but it must be understood in its very widest sense, as it includes visiting the poor, nursing the sick, establishing dispensaries, convalescent homes, cottage hos- pitals, homes of rest, schools, orphanages, industrial homes, nurseries, penitentiaries, refuges, night shelters, laundries, workrooms, class work, cheap dinners and teas in time of distress, besides mission work and ordinary parochial work. The sisterhoods and deaconesses' institutions are mostly diocesan in their character of training institutions ; but they are parochial in their application, the workers when trained Work in connection with the Church. 119 undertaking the charge of certain parishes in which to visit and carry on their works of mercy. The deaconesses, after a careful training in the diocesan institution, are set apart for their work by the Bishop of the diocese from whom they hold a licence ; they are to work under the control and sanction of the clergy. The sisterhoods are more independent in their character, not confining themselves to any particular diocese, nor always feeling it necessary to seek the Bishop's sanction before invading one. Attached similarly to a particular diocese, but not limit- ing its benefits thereto, are the various institutions for the care of the sick and suffering. Twenty-one dioceses are provided with nursing institutions with a permanent staff of nurses, numbering jointly between eight hundred and one thousand. These go freely among the sick poor, giving them the benefit of their skill, and, when not needed thus, may be obtained by the rich on payment of the usual fees. Cottage hospitals are equally numerous, and so are con- valescent homes, and although in some cases the committee of management maybe a mixed committee, and the secretary a gentleman, they may fairly come within the scope of our consideration, since all the actual work of nursing and so forth is carried on by women. It would not be correct to claim a monopoly of such work on behalf of the Church, and the extreme impossibility of separating what is Church work and what is not Church work under this head, puts definite statistics out of the question. Nursing is essentially a woman's work. From the highest to the lowest it has been recognized as such, our Queen and Royal Princesses setting the women of England a noble example in the interest they have taken in this provision for the relief of suffering. The Princess Christian is president of the Rural Nursing Associa- tion, a scheme for supplying the rural parts of England with nurses, by the establishment of local centres in the small towns where a few may reside, and from which railway communication is sufficiently easy to enable them to cover a large area of neighbouring villages. In epidemics one centre can lend nurses to another, and thus a smaller number is needed to cover the ground. In certain cases their services are free, but a moderate scale of payments has been I2O Woman s Mission. arranged for such as can afford it, farmers and tradesmen, so that the local centres may be to a degree self-supporting. But let us turn to the more frequent aspect of Church work as seen in the life and working of a parish. Where shall we look for an example ? The centre of English life and civilization, London, that great capital in which poverty and wealth, fashion and philan- thropy alike congregate, first rises to our minds as likely to supply the most varied material combined with the greatest vigour and the most complete organization. But on reflection, it will be admitted that London is too big, that its very size prevents coherence of work, and that its conditions of life are not sufficiently varied to give a fair illustration of what is being done over the whole of England. " Not sufficiently varied ? " it may be asked, ' when star- vation jostles wealth, when ignorance and crime live side by side with cultivated intellects, when every shade of religious opinion and every form of religious worship finds a home there ! Not sufficiently varied ? What could be more so?" Yes, too varied in one way and yet not suffi- ciently varied in another ; for it must not be forgotten that though the tendency of English life undoubtedly is to be- come less and less agricultural, and to congregate more and more in towns, there yet remains a large rural population, quite distinct from anything London can show, and living under totally different conditions. Besides these, there are the sailors and seamen, the fishers on our coasts, and a large nomadic population, consisting of canal boatmen and bargees, whose lives are spent in passing from place to place ; and in addition a larger number still, a whole army of men, known as navvies, who have no fixed habitation, but move from spot to spot, settling for a time only where work requires to be done. Though samples of these may be found in London, and now and again in other great towns, they are not characteristic of town but of country life ; and therefore a picture which should combine all the features of women's work in the Old Country must be one which is rural as well as urban in its area. Its very greatness makes London ex- ceptional, and deprives it of the honour of being completely typical of English life. Work in connection with the Church. 121 For a fair combination of town and country life we must go to the north. Nowhere else do we find the two so adequately represented. In the south of England, 'London, like a huge magnet, attracts trade to itself. In the north, the presence of coal-fields and iron ensure the permanence of certain industries, and supply favourable conditions for the prosecution of others, which therefore are established and carried on near these sources of their motive power. Added to this, some of the wildest regions of country life, some of the remotest spots, where the whistle of the railway and the whirr of the telegraph-wire is never heard, are to be found in the northern counties of England ; so that we have here a population composed both of mechanics and agriculturists, of mill-hands and of children of the soil, among whom are interspersed those classes common to all parts, whose business it is to supply the necessaries of life to their toiling brothers and sisters, and who are best described as the trading class ; whilst scattered about the lovely dales and broadening valleys of the North are noble country seats, or humbler shooting boxes, in which, for a portion of the year at least, are to be found the wealthy and the aristocratic. Here are needs and here are resources, amongst which Englishwomen work ; how can they make one minister to the other ? Let us imagine a representative parish with its church and one or more clergy as the case may be, and a popu- lation of some ten or fifteen thousand, with an almost equal acreage bordering on a country town, nay, including part of it, thick with mills and factories. This is not an uncommon state of things ; there are many such, probably districts which were originally large moors, with here and there a gamekeeper's house, a farm, and now and again the shooting box or country mansion, but upon which a huge town has grown up, attracted by some favourable conditions of its minerals, soil, or water. The Church sends her servant, but what can he do among so many over so wide an area ? He must neglect the work, or he must seek help ; and it is amongst the women of his flock that he will chiefly find it. Except in the actual ministry of the sanctuary there is hardly a department in which women cannot take their part. His first effort will be to know his people, to which end 122 Woman s Mission. he will map out the whole of his parish into districts, and to each will assign a lady as district visitor ; her office entitling her to call at every house, to ascertain the circumstances and need of every parishioner, and to deal with them to the best of her power, either by reporting them to the clergy, or to the particular society or agency for good which devotes itself to such needs. But her work does not stop here. She will use her influence to persuade the parents to come to church, to send their children to school ; she will explain to them the meaning of Baptism, and as often as not will stand sponsor for the little ones. She will notice their material needs, and encourage wise thrift by the establish- ment of blanket, coal, and maternity clubs, the principle of which is to add a bonus when the parents' pence have reached a certain amount, and so enable them in time of need to command a sum sufficient to be of real service for the supply of their wants. And she will also notice their moral needs. There is hardly a parish in which a mothers' meeting is not held, pre- sided over by a lady who reads some helpful book, whilst the women sew garments, which they can afterwards buy for the cost of the material. In this way an influence is gained, and the opportunity secured of talking over many home diffi- culties, of learning from the experience of others, and of hearing words of wise counsel and help from the lady who conducts the meeting. The care of children and of the home forms a natural topic upon which to dwell, and in connection with these mothers' meetings there is usually established a branch of the Mothers' Union, a society whose object is to band the women of England together in a united effort to raise the tone of the home, and to fulfil more conscientiously the duties of motherhood in the training of their children. A truly woman's work, originated by a woman and carried on amongst women by women, which, though humble and unostentatious in its character, is perhaps one of the most valuable agencies for good in our land, since it seeks to cleanse the fountain at its spring rather than stem the torrent of evil when it has grown to full flood. If we may believe the cynical saying that " Woman sits at the fount of life and Work in connection with the Church. 123 poisons all its springs," we shall readily see what a power for good rests with the mothers of England in a persistent united effort to train their children in the way of righteousness. This thought of the home life leads naturally to the school life of the children, and here again we find the women of England working in concert with the Church. The parochial machinery would not be complete without the Sunday school, where the children are gathered week by week, to be instructed by lady volunteers, and then marshalled to service in the church itself. Not only are they there kept profitably employed throughout the holy day, but they learn lessons which influence their whole lives. The testimony of prison chaplains, and those who work amongst the fallen and degraded, is most striking as to the great value and lasting nature of this very unobtrusive part of women's work. But sickness may enter the home, and here again woman finds her mission. The district visitor first learns the trouble, she carries the news to the clergyman, and obtains such relief as the Church can afford, either by gifts of money, coal, beef- tea, blankets, or the assistance of a trained nurse, belonging either to the parish or the Rural Nursing Association. It is increasingly general for each parish, or for a combination of small neighbouring parishes, to support a district nurse, and these devoted women well deserve a notice here. Many of them fulfil the double office of Bible woman or Evangelist, and nurse (the Church Army trains and supplies such), and it has been found that women can often obtain an entry and an influence where the clergyman fails. The fact that some earn their living in such work need not rob them of their due meed of honour, for " the labourer is worthy of his hire." Besides these more constant forms of parochial work, there comes now and again a need of money for some special object, the church fabric, the schools, a new mission-room, for the relief of the poor in very severe winters, for our soldiers in time of war ; and it is through women the help will be obtained. Thousands of penny and even halfpenny dinners are prepared every winter for the relief of starving children, whilst hundreds of flannel garments were made by ladies for the use of our soldiers in the late war in the Soudan. Women are excellent and most successful beggars, 124 Woman s Mission. and such ways of raising money as sales of work, bazaars, etc., naturally belong to their department of life. As money- raisers there is scarcely a branch of Church work from which they are excluded ; whilst who shall tell of the thousands of private benevolences carried on by Church- women ? One will at her own cost support a convalescent home for a parish in which she is interested ; another will erect and endow almshouses ; another make substantial dona- tions towards the parochial charitable funds, or continue small yearly pensions to special cases. All these, and such as these, must remain for ever unchronicled, and unestimatcd, amongst the work of English Churchwomen. In the decoration of our churches at special seasons, Easter, Harvest, and Christmas, they also take a large and active part ; whilst the permanent adornment of churches with costly and beautiful embroideries becomes not only a pleasure but a work of philanthropy, when, as is most often the case, it is supplied from sisterhoods and penitentiaries where it pro- vides a livelihood for the women who, through sin and misfor- tune, have dropped out of the highway of life. In some cases repositories for the sale of painting and needlework have been opened for the express purpose of enabling gentle- women, and the wives and daughters of poor clergy, thus to add to their slender means. In many rural districts the training of the choir, and the playing of the organ, is under- taken by a lady or the village schoolmistress. But in the parish we have supposed, there are large factories and mills in which whole families find work, even the children earning something as soon as the School Board allows them to become "half-timers," so that here at least the pinch of poverty is not felt. Is there work for women here? Yes, much for those whose eyes are opened to see the need ; not in the way of pecuniary relief, but of social improvement, intellectual and moral training, and spiritual influence. The dinner-hour can be used for reading to the mill-hands, and influence can be brought to bear upon the mill-owner to provide (where this is not already done) an airy, wholesome, room in which the dinners can be enjoyed. In cases where women can only earn very low wages for piece-work, the Work in connection with the Church. 125 Church has not thought it outside her province to provide for them a common work-room, to organize them, and in the person of some lady worker undertake on their behalf large Government contracts for work at a better price than they could command individually. By moving thus amongst them, many can be induced to join the Women's Help, or the Girls' Friendly, Society, and an evening club with its recreation-room and classes can be started. Since Miss Maude Stanley so successfully organized a girls' club for the shop-girls of London, the value of such clubs has been recog- nized, and they are multiplying rapidly. They are often the only way in which an influence can be gained over young girls, who, alas ! are sadly too independent. The moment they get to the mill and find they can earn enough for their own support, they fling off all restraint ; and it is not an uncom- mon thing to find that a girl has left her home and taken lodgings for herself, because of some trifling discomfort, or because her parent has presumed to find fault with her. One trembles to think of her future with only the streets, or cheap places of entertainment, for her means of recreation after work is over. The club provides a shelter, a meeting-ground for friends, and by means of classes and the intercourse of ladies, who freely spend their evenings among the girls, an ideal of a higher life. That this is no baseless dream is evidenced by the change that comes over the club members. The growth of their own self-respect is proved by their changed demeanour, by their more tidy attire ; and if one should relapse into lower ways, her consciousness that she has sunk below what she might have been, is shown by her voluntary withdrawal from club membership. Here again is a large field of women's work of which no record exists, and of which no statistics are possible. But a mother is in trouble about her daughter ; she has fallen among bad companions, and it seems desirable to remove her from her present surroundings. The girl has a wish to go abroad, but she has no means of obtaining a livelihood. The mother talks it over with the district visitor, who tells her friends of the case, and by interesting the squire and the richer parishioners obtains from them the funds to send the girl to a training home for a while, where 126 Woman's Mission. she will be fitted for domestic service. When ready for her journey, she is protected on the way through the agency of women. The Travellers' Aid Society will send a lady to meet her as she steps from the train, will conduct her to a shelter for the night ; the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Church Emigration Society will assist her with her passage and provide a matron to care for her and others on the voyage ; or if she be a member of the Girls' Friendly Society, she will derive like benefits from its protecting care. Even after arrival in the new land she is not cast adrift, but is watched over until suitably placed, and even then is kept in touch with the old home by means of the post. The Girls' Letter Guild is doing a good work in this way. Ladies joining the Guild undertake to write to one or more girls at home or abroad once a month. This gives them the sense that they are not unfriended in the world, and a word may often thus be spoken in season. It has been found that they greatly value these letters, and willingly confide their troubles and difficulties to " their ladies," who acquire thus a valuable influence for good over those whom perhaps they have never seen. This is a work which can be carried on by women whose health precludes them from undertaking any more active service for their Church. But the more rural parts of the parish must not be neg- lected. There we find the small farmers' and the game- keepers' cottages scattered over the moors. What can be done for them ? Clubs and classes are of little use, for they could not attend them ; the distances would be too great. Personal interest and frequent visits are necessary to obtain an influence. Then the women may be induced to join one of those societies for maintaining a higher ideal of life which have been already mentioned, membership in which gives a reason for gathering them together for an occasional tea, or periodical work meeting, at which some lady from another parish will come and give them an address upon the obliga- tions which rest upon them in the care of their own children and of the inmates of their household. The maintenance of a higher standard of purity is a direction in which work in the rural districts is sorely needed. A curious system still exists in the north of England of hiring farm servants by the year. Work in connection with the Church. 127 The "hirings" occur in May or November, when lads and lasses flock to the neighbouring market town, and stand in the market-place much like cattle, waiting to be hired. The farmers come round and pick out one and another, paying them there and then a portion of their year's wages as a sort of retaining fee. The occasion is made a general holiday, a fair or show not infrequently visiting the town at the "hirings," and two or three days are spent in enjoyment by these young people before entering their new service. It is easy to see into what temptations they are thus thrown. By the efforts of earnest Churchwomen, rooms are now provided in which the girls may wait, and every persuasion is being used to destroy the prejudice of farmers and their wives in favour of the older method of selection. A mission-woman, who attends fairs to draw the attention of local authorities to any dis- graceful exhibitions and to prevent the sale of degrading literature, has done much to purify these gatherings. Similar special work, in which women have their share, is undertaken by the Church in the south of England among the hop- pickers and harvesters ; while the valuable work done by Miss Daniell and Miss Robinson among the soldiers, and by Miss Weston among the sailors, must not be forgotten. In both, the post affords a valuable ally, the circulation of the monthly letters among the sailors amounting to about 500,000 ; whilst Bible classes, temperance and social meetings, homes of rest, industrial work-rooms, and free registry offices for the wives and widows, flourish and abound. Women also take their part in the special missions to the Jews, of whom many are to be found at the centres of industrial and com- mercial life. We have seen how English Churchwomen may minister in the parish, in the schools, among the homes of the poor, in the care of the churches, to the workers in mills and factories, and to the farming class ; but what about the rich ? Is there any opening for them here ? Any work for them to do ? Yes, much. There are as kindly hearts amongst the rich as may be found in other ranks ; but the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, enter into their hearts and make them unfruitful. " Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart." How true it is ! 128 Woman s Mission. Any influence, therefore, that can bring the rich more into touch with the poor, and with their dependents, is most valuable, and this is done by women in thousands of ways. Nothing so awakens the heart as doing a kindness, and the fact of living among the people brings many an opportunity before the rich and leisured class. It is comparatively easy to give of their wealth, and without them few of the orphanages, refuges, convalescent homes, hospitals, and so forth, could be supported ; but more valuable by far is their own individual work. The Church seeks to obtain such. The sense of parochial life is very strong, and tends to foster a sort of proprietary right in the necessitous of the parish ; and when invited to give help, the claim is readily recognized and admitted. The work may not be so constant, so regular, or so devoted, as that of those who can say, " This one thing I do," but it is not to be despised on that account. A casual visit to a country house might leave the impression that the lives of the rich and of the poor are very clearly separated ; a longer sojourn, and a more intimate acquaintance, would reveal unexpected self-sacrifice and quiet devotion to the good of others. To undertake a district, the conduct of a mothers' meeting, or any work which necessitates a constant attendance, is not easy for those whose lives are not tied to one spot ; but there are other ways of helping. The Letter Guild has been already spoken of, and is much appreciated by the lonely lives of those in domestic service and in shops. It is valued also as a means of caring for the insane after they have been discharged from asylums, for even these poor afflicted ones are not forgotten by a Church who, like her Lord, seeks to be ever doing good. The sick and suffering also are thus cheered by a society calling themselves " Watchers and Workers," and which is said to find its parallel on the other side of the Atlantic in the " Shut-ups." Like the pen, the needle may be plied in any spot. Needlework guilds are popular and useful among the leisured class. By their means enormous numbers of plain garments are contributed for distribution amongst poor parishes, hospitals, industrial homes, etc., whilst such a gift to the poor over-pressed parson is indeed a god-send. Much Christian kindness is often shown by the rich towards the clergy a class frequently Work in connection with the Church. 129 needing as much as, but more difficult to help than, the poor. If offered sympathetically and privately, they will gladly accept clothing which the exigencies of fashion cause the wealthy to discard, whilst still too good for the maid or the valet. They may also be helped by the establishment of a Diocesan Holiday Fund, of a home of rest by the sea, of a pension fund for the time when sickness or old age shall lay them on one side, and of schools where their children can be educated on lower terms ; or more simply and more easily the rich can confer upon them an enormous boon by giving them the privilege of spending a fortnight at their country houses, whilst they themselves flock up to London for the season. In many large houses a practice is made of entertaining an overworked nurse, or district visitor, until her strength is recruited, and in some the lodge is utilized permanently for such a worthy purpose. Many homes are also partly sup- ported by the gifts of the rich in which governesses and ladies earning their own living can reside at a low cost. But in educational efforts, perhaps, the rich and cultured class find more natural scope. An association peculiar to the north of England, called the Ladies' Council of Education, gives a wonderful picture of the multifarious ways in which educated women can work for and assist their less favoured sisters. Affiliated with them, and akin to them, is what is known as the Northern Union of Domestic Economy, mentioned here because the Church does not disdain to look upon such homely subjects as cookery, laundry, and dairy classes, as worthy her support. The Parents' National Educa- tional Union also owes its origin to the North. Its effort is to bring before parents of all classes the most rational methods of training and rearing children under four heads, the physical, the mental, the moral, and the religious aspects of life. It was originated by a lady, and though not limited to women or to Church members, it is worked by both. Time fails to tell of all the branches of Church work in which the women of England are associated. We have tried to touch upon a few, and lightly sketch some of the work which is being done in every parish of England ; but how shall we estimate its magnitude ? Of quiet home work such K 130 Woman s Mission. as this it is impossible to give statistics, since no general records of what is done are obtainable. Some slight idea may be gathered when we realize that in almost every parish of England and there are between fourteen and fifteen thousand parishes there are to be found ladies, or paid agents, or both, engaged in one or other of the good works we have touched upon. A noble army, if we allow only the moderate estimate of one or two to every parish ; too low an average, doubtless, when we remember that many town parishes number some thirty or more as workers. From whatever point we look at the work from the aspect of the ground covered, or that of the numerous and varied agencies employed, or that of the number of workers, or of the character of the help given, or if we seek to estimate the results achieved we must be struck by its breadth and comprehensiveness ; embracing as it does every rank and class, seeking to gather and utilize from each that special form of help which the circumstances of life best fit each to give, and applying them to every form of need, physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. Truly, woman may be a ministering angel in the world when following the steps of Him who " went about doing good." ON THE ASSOCIATED WORK OF WOMEN IN RELIGION AND PHILANTHROPY. BY Miss EMILY JANES. Hon. Org. Sec. National Union of Women Workers. " The Unity which we now demand, whether in theory or life, is no longer the pseudo-unity of external arrangement, as in a machine, but the inward unity of a living whole." " Science and the Faith," by Aubrey Moore. Introduction, p. xxix. AMONG the most striking phenomena of the nineteenth century, the social historian will, surely number the universal recourse to machinery. Not only is there a revival of primitive usages and of the methods of the mediaeval Church, but Societies, "Armies," Leagues, Unions, Committees, and " movements " innumerable testify to a keen sense of dis-, content with existing conditions of life and thought. The effect to the unprejudiced observer is somewhat^ bewildering. We ask ourselves whether the result may not be to increase our unrealities and divisions; whether the sense of individual responsibility is not lessened by these opportunities for the charity which can be exercised by deputy and by the drawing of cheques ; whether we may not be raising a new tyranny in which the voices of the more thoughtful will be drowned by the clamour of the fanatical and half-instructed ; whether any number of guilds, with cards and rules, will draw rich and poor together, or give the inspiration to a higher life, which is needed by rich and poor alike. These more or less artificial combinations, do they testify to an underlying reality ? May we throw our- selves into this tendency of our age, and trust that we are following the guidance of One " who is not far from any one 132 Woman s Mission. of us," but is evolving a better order out of this seeming confusion ? We stand between the past and the future. If we would work well in the present, our theories must have a scientific basis of carefully considered facts. Then, having well thought out our generalizations, we should be prepared to give a reason for our choice of methods, and have courage and patience in the inevitable slowness of sound progress, as " The old order changeth, yielding place to new." " Facts," says Emerson, " are the angels of the Lord " angels for guidance, angels also of warning. Let us, then, endeavour to learn something of the ways in which English- women are working in associated effort to bring religious principle, womanly pity, and the higher culture, to bear upon the perplexing problems of latter-day civilization, in order that we may judge to some extent how far they are success- ful in dealing with poverty and vice, how far they are raising public opinion on crucial questions, how far they are spread- ing " sweetness and light " among an ignorant and Philistine population. It would be impossible, in the compass of one brief paper, to attempt the barest enumeration of the many bodies of associated women workers in Great Britain and her colonies. An approximately accurate list is given in the pages of " The Englishwoman's Year Book." It is enough for us to say that the religious and philanthropic work of Englishwomen covers every department of human life, every phase of human need. English women workers come from every rank and class from our own Royal Princesses, from women of high degree, from graduates of our ancient universities, down to the toil-worn factory-girl who rises at five in the morning that she may do her house-work and sewing, and be free to spend her evenings in unpaid labour for her poorer sisters. Every Church, every congregation, has its band of workers, Anglican and Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Con- gregationalist, Wesleyan, Salvationist a mighty army of untold number, " the great reserve force of humanity," whose desire and aim is to help on all that makes for righteousness. Surely this is a great fact. Surely the statesman, the On Associated Work. 133 philanthropist, the reformer, the theologian, will find here a matter of deep concern, and see to it that this incalculable force has its due place in the thickening struggle for human betterment. Let us give precedence to the oldest organized bodies of women workers among us. Let us think for a moment of the memories clustering round the names of St. Theresa, of St. Catharine of Siena, of religious orders like that of St. Vincent de Paul. They are among us now, these Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Charity, Nuns of the Good Shepherd, Faithful Companions of Jesus, and members of other religious orders, some three thousand in number in England and Scotland, who, with unswerving fidelity to their traditions, teach the poor, the orphan, the blind, and the deaf and dumb, and tend the sick, the convalescent, and the insane. If, as one shrewd observer calculates, but one in ten of the members of a sister- hood is competent to do more than carry out directions given by the organizing head, the remaining nine-tenths being unfit even for so much as that without incessant supervision and advice, one can but admire the more the results gained by continuity and rule. The educational standard of the Loretto Nuns is of the highest ; the care of the aged poor by " The Little Sisters " worthy of all praise ; and the industrial and reformatory schools managed by other sister- hoods satisfy even our Government inspectors, men who know nor fear nor favour. It is evident that each sisterhood must have a due proportion of women with force of character, mental power, and capacity for rule ; that, in community life, the average woman can be trained to much usefulness ; and that, far from offering a dreary uniformity of experience, it affords scope for great diversity of operations and for the development of individual gifts. But these sisterhoods are more or less exotic among us. The Church of England, instead of applying correction and direction, suppressed the religious orders at the Reformation. " No fact in modern history is more deeply to be deplored," says Mr. Lecky,* who is not to be suspected of any ecclesias- tical bias. The woman of Puritan times was often heroic, like Lady Rachel Russell or Mrs. Hutchinson ; or saintly, like * Lecky's " History of European Morals," vol. ii. p. 370. 134 Woman s Mission. Margaret Godolphin or Margaret Baxter. A parson's wife, as portrayed by George Herbert, might dress the sores and wounds of the poor folk of her husband's parish ; a bishop's wife, like Elizabeth Burnet, might establish charity-schools and spend four-fifths of her income on the poor ; and a knot of good women, "the Protestant Nuns "of Little Gidding, might lead a retired and consecrated life ; later on, in the eighteenth century, a Susannah Wesley might show how the duty of a housewife and a mother was compatible with a larger care for the men and women about her ; but the con- ception of religion and duty for two centuries was mainly that of home and neighbourhood, with little outlook beyond. Education was limited, locomotion difficult, but the towns were smaller, and there was less separation of class from class, though social grades were very distinctly marked. It needed the shock of the Evangelical revival to draw women from their sheltered homes to teach in Sunday schools, like Hannah More and Mrs. Trimmer ; to visit prisons, like Sarah Martin and Elizabeth Fry ; to become collectors for the support of foreign missions, and of the Bible Society ; to become " class-leaders " in the meetings of the Methodists, and tract-distributors on behalf of both Church and Chapel. It was the closer knowledge thus gained of the home life of the poor which led to the establishment of Dorcas-meetings to sew garments for the destitute, and of sick-visiting societies to give them beef-tea and spiritual consolation. The conversion of the individual was the main point in the minds of the followers of Whitefield and Wesley ; of Newton, Cecil, and "the Clapham sect." Women like Lady Huntingdon were as "mothers in Israel;" the stir of a deepened life touched the great English middle and working classes ; and zeal for the conversion of souls was mingled with compassion for the misery of the prisoner and captive, and for the lot of the negro in our West Indian possessions. The outlook had widened. Yet another stream of tendency may be traced to the later revival associated with the names of Dr. Pusey and of Keble, of Dr. Neale and Isaac Williams. Men's minds turned back to " the ages of faith." Poetry, art, fiction, a quickened admiration for the architecture of the Middle Ages, all tended On Associated Work. 135 to increase the strong desire felt for " the religious life," not only in daily services and frequent communions, but in the entire dedication of body, soul, and spirit, to the service of God, in contemplation and active duty. Many thought their ideal incompatible with ordinary life. No "brotherhood " has as yet been successfully formed, but the sisterhoods of the Anglican Church are a very important factor in its economy. They are now twenty-nine in number, each mother-house being the head-quarters of a numerous band of workers. They have sought their model in various quarters, and their rules are diverse. In some instances the sisters are individually blessed and received into the order by the Bishop of the diocese ; others are more conventual and self-contained. Besides the home mission work in the streets and lanes of our cities, in orphanages, schools, hospitals, penitentiaries, in rescue work and in nursing, four sisterhoods work in India, three in the United States, and one at Cape Town. Clewer alone has two hundred sisters, and has helped to establish an independent sisterhood in New York ; while the great community of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, has founded a "coloured" sisterhood in Baltimore, U.S. ; and the sisters of Bethany, a mission to the Nestorian Christians in Persia. Thus they stretch out hands of love to East and West, content to serve in lowliest ways as handmaids of the Church and of humanity. The order established at Kilburn in the north of London, and known as " The Sisters of the Church," owes its place in popular affection very largely to the fact that it systematically takes the public behind the scenes, as month by month it tells what it is doing in a little paper entitled Our Work. Wonderful work it is, and wonderfully is the interest felt in it sustained. The sisters are full of resource, ready to sell old clothes and old books, or to trudge through miry streets to sell penny portions of soup and halfpenny slices of pudding to the unfortunate men who stand in hundreds round the docks and wharves by the Thames, while waiting, too often in vain, for employment. You may see them again at Broadstairs, the breezy little place on the Kentish coast with its quaint pier, dear to Charles Dickens and to us for his sake. There they are with their three hundred sickly 136 Woman s Jl fission. little ones, many of them cripples with a strong likeness to "Tiny Tim," who drink in lessons of love and goodness, as well as pure air, in the bright Convalescent Home with its wide verandah which stands on the top of the chalk cliffs. Again you may find them in London slums teaching poor women to help themselves by giving them work to do, and fair pay for doing it. Under the burning sky of Madras they teach "our poor relations," the Eurasians. At home their orphans, drawn from the very lowest and poorest class, are "mothered" until they are twenty-one, and after that are sent out well taught and trained to earn their living as servants, as elementary school teachers, or as assistant- matrons in the sixty houses belonging to the sisterhood. It needs much money to support their five orphanages, thirteen day schools, three convalescent homes, and eleven other branches of educational work, and there is no endowment. The sisters give of their private means to the last penny, and they are helped by the faithful. The work never slackens, is always growing, and never has to stop for lack of funds. Who can say that the age of faith is past? Some thirty years since a quiet movement was set going in the Anglican Church with the object of reviving the primitive order of deaconesses as a definite part of its system ; and at the present time there are eight bodies of Church deaconesses, working under the direction of their bishops in the dioceses of Ely, London, Rochester, Chester, Salisbury, and Winchester. Probationers, who must be educated women of undoubted character, receive thorough training in practical details, and due religious instruction, for at least two years. Then, if approved, they are set apart by the Bishop, to work in a parish whether in town or country, and are henceforth responsible solely to him and to their parish priest. They are thus a recognized " order " in the sacred ministry, with work as varied as the needs of the parish to which they go. The deaconess is very often a hospital-trained nurse, but she is also trained for " the cure of souls," and is very valuable as the recognized guide and leader of the voluntary helpers in woman's work in a parish. In the north of England, among the mining villages in the diocese of Durham, Canon Body's mission-ladies live, two On Associated Work. 137 and two, among the people, in places where there is frequently no resident lady. The training they receive is very similar to that of the deaconesses, and they carry on the same kind of work, but without " ordination " or recognized status. When in receipt of a salary, it is usually from one-third to one-half of that ordinarily received by the assistant clergy, and is only sufficient for bare maintenance in humble lodgings. The order of St. Vincent de Paul still does true deaconess work in the Church of Rome. " They consist," says its Con- stitution, " of girls and of widows unencumbered with children, destined to seek out the poor in the alleys and streets of cities ; they have for monastery the houses of the sick ; for cell, a hired room ; for their chapel, the parish church ; for their cloister, the streets of the town or the wards of the hospital ; for their enclosure, obedience ; for grating, the fear of God ; for veil, holy modesty." There is room for the deaconess, the counterpart of the " sister of charity " in the Church of England, ample room for the ministry of women, as Church officials who will work loyally with those in authority. At present there is a great need of women as heads of training institutions to meet the demand of our English bishops for those who will begin this work for them. Undoubtedly our Anglican sisterhoods at first copied very much from Roman models, and were somewhat regardless of whether the rules and customs they adopted were archaic, or were modern innovations. Broadly speaking, the earlier orders in the mediaeval Church were formed on the model of the family, with deference and obedience due to the head, but with much regard to individuality. The model of the " counter- Reformation " was rather that of a regiment, in which each member is under strict discipline. Our Anglican sisterhoods have each their own " rule," conforming, more or less, to these varying types. This the world recognizes, so far as it knows anything of systems which do not thrust them- selves upon its observation. But what is not recognized is that some of the most intensely Protestant forms of community- life owe much in their inception to the Roman religious orders, even if they do not trace descent from them. Thus the Moravian sisters are lineally descended from the Franciscan o 8 Woman s Mission. Tertiaries of the Fourteenth Century, and Pastor Fliedner borrowed freely from them, from the B6guines, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in founding Kaiserwerth (in 1822), which now has its roll of eight thousand Protestant deaconesses working over the whole continent of Europe. No name on that roll is so dear to English-speaking folk as that of Florence Nightingale. " The Lady with the Lamp " at Scutari has never ceased to bring wise counsels to bear upon the reforms of our nursing system from her chamber of sickness. Our trained nurses, some twenty thousand in number, owe much to the stimulus of her example, and to her constant care for the work in which she first disciplined herself at Kaiserwerth. Kaiserwerth has one small branch in England, the un- denominational " Deaconess " Home at Tottenham, but we find in Mrs. Meredith's work for discharged prisoners and the children of female convicts, and in the great centre known as "Mildmay," the most striking proofs that association for work commends itself to those of strictly Evangelical and Protestant views. Mrs. Meredith was the first to advocate cottage homes for children in preference to huge barrack-like institutions ; while to recount the work done at Mildmay would be simply to re-catalogue much which is common to that done by others on more strictly Church lines. The workers deaconesses, as they are termed live in a mother- house, and mission out from thence in eight of the poorest and lowest districts in London. Mrs. Pennefather, its moving spirit, who has just been laid to her rest (in January, 1893), thought this relief necessary for the health, both physical and mental, of those who had been on duty for hours among the sights and sounds and smells of such a neighbourhood as that in Bethnal Green. " Five thousand seven hundred people," says the Standard, " live in this area of fifteen acres. The death-rate is forty in the thousand ; infant mortality, two hundred and fifty-two per thousand. There are seven hundred and thirty houses in the place, of which seven hundred and fifty-two rooms are let out as single tenements, nineteen of these rooms containing five or more inhabitants in each." Happily it has been condemned as unfit for habi- tation, and will soon cease to exist. A large proportion of On Associated Work. 139 the 29,000 which is yearly expended on the good work of Mildmay is supplied by the earnings of its nurses, the gifts of its workers, and the sale of the very beautiful illuminations which are executed by two of their number as a labour of love. Women like Mrs. Meredith and Mrs. Pennefather typify the Church of England side of the Evangelical revival of the last century, which has never ceased to be largely and ably represented among us. The spirit and the teaching are the same, although the scope of their efforts has been greatly enlarged, and the breath of the " Zeit Geist " has passed over them. Turning to the present-day representatives of the great Methodist body, we watch with interest a development, with variations, of the " sisterhood " idea, which is gaining ground in the West London Mission under the direction of Mrs. Hugh Price Hughes. No adhesion is required to any standard of doctrine ; any sister is free to work out her own ideas, provided only that she succeeds ; and though a becoming uniform is worn, it is only worn when on duty. The sisters do not quit the world, but are encouraged to take an active interest in social questions, including municipal, school board, and Parliamentary elections, helping to canvass for what they consider "the right side." They speak at outdoor meetings, go in and out of the public-houses, visit room by room in and about the Seven Dials, and are a cheery, active set of good women, friendly helpers of the people of a democratic sort, and, true to Methodist traditions, they tell the "old, old story " unweariedly, feeling that " the soul of all improve- ment is the improvement of the soul." The Methodist sister is the Anglican district visitor, with a difference. She chooses her own work, and, if her home be outside the metropolitan area, may live at a pleasantly arranged house which is a centre for the work of the mission. As she takes no vows, and owes no one allegiance or obedience, it is apparent that she is not a " sister " in any ecclesiastical sense. The Baptists, the Primitive Methodists, and the Con- gregationalists are feeling their way to a "forward" move- ment of a somewhat similar kind. This will afford a valuable 140 Woman s Mission. outlet for some of the daughters of prosperous Nonconformist families, and give orthodox Dissent a more real touch with the everyday life and difficulties of the people. The greater number of the women whose work has been cursorily treated thus far, are members of the upper and middle classes, women of education and refinement, and ac- customed to comfort, if not to luxury. Very many are giving not only personal and gratuitous service, but large gifts of money, which have enabled their communities to build hospitals, convalescent homes, schools, orphanages, etc., with little or no help from the outside public. But the world has a use, too, for the women of lower rank and less cultivation, imbued with the same earnest desire to do good as their sisters of another class, whose work as Parochial Mission- women, Church Army nurses, Bible-women, and parish helpers, is of immense value. They live as the poor among the poor. They know their ways of life, their habits of thought ; they can feel with them as well as for them ; they can detect imposture ; they can use great plainness of speech ; they can be a most valuable link between the ladies who supervise them and the people to whom they go. The gulf more difficult to bridge than any other is that between the artisan and small shopkeeper and the unskilled labourer. Mission-women, drawn chiefly from the ranks of the former, need the delicacy and tact of the superintending lady, when they are sent to deal with the latter. Given common sense and earnest purpose on the part of both lady and mission- helper, the combination is almost perfect, and the results of their joint work of the most satisfactory kind. Of course, the very existence of professional or of paid workers opens the door to a very real danger, if it tempt us to regard "the service of humanity" as something with which the woman living the ordinary life of home, as daughter, sister, wife, and mother, has nothing to do beyond bidding it "God-speed," and giving it an occasional donation. "The Society of Friends" has always borne its testimony to the claim of women to an equal share with men in an unpaid ministry, which must be exercised by those who are led to it by "the inner light," in their everyday walk. Its women have for generations fulfilled every duty to home and family, On Associated Work. 141 while they have also spoken at meetings, and practised habits of business which make them excellent members of com- mittees. They show us how women may take part in affairs, and yet remain among the quietest and most womanly of their sex. Unpretending as they are, there is no body, numerically so small, with a tithe of its weight. Twenty years ago "the Friends" were diminishing in number. There has been no leakage since in their admirable "First Day" and other schools ; the cultivated young people from refined Quaker homes have found that they, too, had a mission to the less favoured classes. It needs a distinct effort to recall the fact that Quakerism had a stormy youth, and that on both sides of the Atlantic it long suffered unmerited persecution. We wonder what will be the future of " the Salvation Army," which bears so many points of resemblance to it. The Salvation Army professedly deals with the seamy side of things "in a re- making of men which can only be done by hand." What does it not owe to Catharine Booth, "the Army Mother," "a born prophetess if ever there were one in the world," whose splendid enthusiasm and intense power led hundreds of other women to give up worldly prospects, "to endure hardness," to put themselves on a level with the lowest, "if by any means they might save some ! " " Where do we find the women for such work ? " asks one of its leaders. " Not usually among those fished up them- selves out of the deep sea of sin. Nor usually among those too daintily born and bred." A dressmaker, a cook, a lady's- rnaid, a type-writer, such are the women who are ready to give up good situations, with good salaries, and the prospect of making some small provision for old age, in order that they may enlist in the "Slum Brigade," and take up their "post" in crowded courts and by-streets in the midst of " the submerged." " When the poor souls they work among are ' saved,' " says Mrs. Bramwell Booth, "they find themselves welcomed with joy into a great family which gives friends to the lonely and friendless. In its work for other lost ones she may join, and in turn its leaders will watch over her ; living or dying they will count her one of themselves." 142 Woman s Mission. Surely this is no new teaching. Had it been so far for- gotten that we needed the rise of the Salvation Army to remind us of our membership in the "one body" to sin- stricken and suffering humanity? Did we need to be taught that there are higher ideals than mere ease, comfort, respect- ability, a family pew, and the world's praise or even than "the higher culture"? This question of the proletariat is forced upon us whether we will or no. Such people as these cannot be raised en masse ; it must be done individually. We shall be wise if we can bring in recruits from any and every grade, and give to them also a share in the world's making. Across the Tweed, women's work is differentiated by the fact that the form of Church government is Presbyterian, and that organization is mainly on Congregational lines, not only among members of the Established Church, but also of the Free Church, the United Presbyterians, and the Episcopa- lians and other Nonconforming bodies. Several societies which in England are worked solely by members of the Anglican Church are undenominational in Scotland. Such are the Scotch Girls' Friendly Society, the Mothers' Union, and the " Onward and Upward Association," which is known in England as " The Women's Help Society." In Scotland, as in England, the Young Women's Christian Association bands together young women of every class on a religious basis, and numbers thousands of adherents. Perhaps the most picturesque bit of good work with which we are ac- quainted is that of the deaconesses of the Church of Scot- land, who follow the herring along its northern coast in order to bind up the cut hands, brighten the scanty leisure, and exercise a wise and loving influence over the migratory, bonnetless lassies who crowd into the little fishing-villages during the herring season. In Scotland, as in England, the number of ladies working in connection with the Girls' Friendly Society, the Mothers' Union, the Women's Help Society, in Ladies' Associations for the care of Girls, and in countless lesser guilds and societies, among the manifold duties and distractions of ordinary life, is very great. Some can give but fragments of time, others make it practically a life-work. It is a rare thing, among a large circle of our On Associated Work. 143 best and most cultivated women, to come across one who is not doing something' for women and children, for lads or for men. It is not only women of English, Welsh, and Scotch nationality of whom this can be said. " The stranger within our gates " must not be forgotten. German Lutherans, French Protestants, English Jewesses, are alike organized for self- sacrificing effort. Jewish charity is Talmudic rather than Mosaic, and does not begin until the tithe has been duly paid into the treasury of God. With the constant pressure from Eastern Europe due to Russian persecution, the wealthier among them have large demands made upon their generosity ; but the immigrant, penniless and ignorant of the English language though he may be, is never long either penniless or ignorant. The admirable system of relief of the Jewish Board of Guardians helps to set him on his feet, and mother-wit, and habits of thrift pushed to the point of penuriousness, do the rest. With wonderful tenacity and industry, the Jew is constantly better- ing his position. With great mental ability he is constantly finding his way into the front rank of commerce. Made a compact body by tradition and by centuries of persecution, the Jews have been trained to give largely, and seem equal to all demands made upon them by their poorer brethren. The work of the Jewish ladies runs parallel with our own as regards methods. The sabbath schools, the mission services, the girls' clubs, the elementary and high schools for girls, the children's happy holidays the invalid kitchen, the needlework guild, the personal service guild, the pre- ventive and rescue work, are all conceived and carried on with sympathetic insight, and much common sense and ability. One very characteristic feature is the Jewish Ladies' Loan Society, which has worked well for the last forty-six years, and has met with marked success. It assists the deserving poor with loans of money without interest or other charge. The sums vary from ten shillings to ten pounds, and are repaid by weekly instalments of one-twentieth until the debt is liqui- dated. Two ladies in rotation from the committee visit the applicants, and if they think them fit persons give them letters of recommendation to the secretary (a paid officer), which 144 Woman s Mission. are exchanged by him for the sum of money lent. No new loan is granted while a previous loan is in course of repay- ment, nor is any person entitled to a loan who may be indebted for an advance of money to any other society. During 1892, 359 loans were granted, the loans amounting to 2032 icxr., the repayment being ,1908. These loans have frequently been the means of keeping a home together, or of giving a hawker or small tradesman a fresh start in life, or of tiding over a time of exceptional sickness and distress. The society also affords the lady visitors a reasonable ground for visiting the poor and ascertaining their condition. The good offices of these Jewish ladies, our fellow-citizens, are by no means confined to their co-religionists, but are very largely extended also to the Christians among whom their lot is cast, and many of them gladly co-operate in efforts for the spread of education, wholesome recreation, and temperance with Christian workers. What shall we say, then, of the work so barely outlined, of which the half is not told ? It is evident that no section of the community has a monopoly of good intentions, of earnest aspirations, of self-sacrificing zeal. It is evident that we must allow for varying idiosyncrasies, for the different ways of looking at things due to heredity, to environment, to early education and the discipline of life. We cannot, if we would, suppress or repress these varying activities and methods. We must make large allowance for what may seem to us crude, imperfect, over-zealous, or done in ignorance of higher truth. Human beings are not like bits of a Water- bury watch which can be fitted into their place by exactest mechanism. Sometimes they only find their true place after much weary effort. In these days of many organizations, no one need stand all the day idle because others will not welcome their co-operation. It is also tolerably clear that the majority of English- women work best in combination, and that the stricter the rule the more it attracts. Anglican sisterhoods have grown much faster than the freer order of deaconesses ; the Salva- tion Army never lacks recruits, while it is often difficult to find a parish mission-helper or institution matron. The societies which are tied with the greatest amount of red tape On Associated Work. 145 increase most rapidly. Women grumble, but join, and develop esprit de corps. It is also evident that the world has need of the ministra- tions of women. As long as it lasts, children must be taught, sick people nursed, the poor visited and relieved, dull lives made bright, the better life made possible, and this comes strictly within their province. " But what plan gives the best results ? " it is asked. " Is there not a great waste of hard cash, some six millions of pounds sterling spent annually in charity in London alone, and a never-ceasing cry of ' Give, give ' ? To whom shall we give, and through whom, and how ; and when all is done Cut bono ? " What can we say ? This that it is time to consider our ways ; that we do not need more money, but rather how to apply it ; that in giving money we must give ourselves with it; that we must better the dwellings of the people, and teach them honest work for which we will give a fair wage, rather than the dole of money, food, or clothing, which degrades the recipient, unless it be given as from friend to friend ; that the giver must educate herself to see things in dry light, study the working of the laws affecting the poor, and understand exactly what agencies are already at work for their benefit, before she attempts to start others. There is a deplorable amount of " overlapping " in some quarters. In short, a woman worker, whether paid agent or volunteer, will be wise if she train in some definite and specialized way ; if the latter, after she has spent some probationary years, as a rule, at least five, in reading, and in the study of human kind as near as possible to her own home, and while still an inmate of it. She will be wise if she does this unobtrusively ; in the mean time not neglecting general mental cultivation, nor that of any talent she may possess. Nor should she neglect the amenities of her own social circle. It is not only in benighted villages and in the slums of cities that " sweetness and light " are needed. The worker should try to study causes before she attempts to deal with effects. She must " fence the precipice at the top before she provides an ambulance at the bottom." She must inspire reverence for womanhood and shield the unpro- tected before she tries to rescue the fallen. If the worker be reasonable, cultivated, earnest, with some experience of life, L 146 Woman 's Mission. some breadth of thought, some range of reading, some know- ledge of society, her influence will be far wider and deeper than if she rushes without consideration into practical work, and is overwhelmed by its demands upon her time and energies before her nature has had its fair chance of develop- ment. At present, although we number our " workers " by thousands, the really first-rate woman is not easily found when some position of trust and responsibility has to be filled. Waiting-time is not necessarily lost time. If the cultivated worker be wise, she will, after she has herself undergone definite training in the second stage of her probation, give of what she has received, and accept all the help from others which she can win them to give her in return. " Generals do not carry their own despatches ;" there is abun- dant readiness to be useful, and it is no credit to trained workers that they should so often break down from over- pressure. If we can lead, well and good ; but " the battle is won by the rank and file, and these are not raw recruits, but trained soldiers." It is interesting to notice how, gradually but very surely, these views are winning their way, and a certain change is coming over the direction taken by some of our most thought- ful women when planning their future work. There is a lessened desire to enter sisterhoods or to devote themselves to the work of organized societies, because in everyday life there are now such varied opportunities given them for better- ing the tone of society, and for improving the condition of the poor. Women have followed the lead of Miss Octavia Hill as rent-collectors ; they join local committees of the Charity Organization Society, they look after boarded-out children, they start girls' clubs, they become Poor-law guardians. Hardly a girl leaves some of our women's colleges e.g. Cheltenham and Westfield without interesting herself in some aspect of philanthropy. There are settlements of women-students under able guidance in Southwark, at May- field House, Bethnal Green, and at Victoria Park. We hardly know a more hopeful sign of the times than this, of higher education regarded as a means to greater usefulness, rather than for the delectation of the individual, by girls whose modesty and teachableness is beyond all praise. On Associated Work. 147 What shall we say, then, in conclusion ? Would not our best workers be the first to cry, " Not as if we had already attained, or were already perfect " ? We acknowledge our faults, our want of cohesion, our over-great absorption in our favourite schemes, our tendency to get into a groove, our in- sularity, our almost superstitious belief in the virtues of an office, a staff of clerks, and an annual report But we humbly dare to hope that though we may never again present to the world " the pseudo-unity of external arrangement," yet that we may increasingly realize "the inward unity of a living whole." For do we not walk by faith, though sometimes we walk in darkness and see no light ? Is it not by faith in human goodness, faith in human possibilities, faith in God, that we spend our strength and do not count it wasted, attack age-long evils, and know that we are on the winning side ? On both sides of the Atlantic we have our muster-roll of " heroines of faith," and all unnoted they are by our side to-day the Nineteenth Century saints sisters, deaconesses, " Friends," Salvationists, wives, mothers, daughters ; in city, town, hamlet, and lonely farm ; in fashionable dress and homely garb ; set in high places, or far removed from the world's praise or blame ; whose hearts thrill as they think of its many needs, and are gladdened as their eyes are opened to see what an exceeding great company is doing battle for the right. Nor do we despair of a closer approximation on the part of women engaged in various ways in these ventures of faith. In some of our large cities, in Liverpool, Birmingham, Shef- field, Glasgow, Aberdeen, a Union of Women Workers has established itself which brings them together periodically for mutual consultation. In Liverpool, for example, these quarterly meetings are attended by ladies on some forty to fifty committees, and their deliberations have already affected public opinion to a marked extent. The way has been smoothed for the appointment of women Poor-law guardians, the excessive hours of work exacted from female pupil- teachers have been lessened, the younger ladies have been impressed with the importance of whole-heartedness in work, the public has learned a new respect for the capacity of women. The union affords an education to its members, 148 Woman's Mission. exacts no new work, no new subscription ; it does not in any way interfere with their perfect independence, and welcomes all engaged or interested in women's work without distinction of class or of creed. Each local union is asked to furnish the Central Council with full information as to the work done within its area. Its president joins this council, which is organized on the same broad plan, and has an inquiry office and bureau in Lower Belgrave Street, London, which under- takes to focus and redistribute all information which may tend to promote the physical, mental, moral, and religious welfare of women. We hope that branches of the National Union of Women Workers may be quickly formed in India and the British colonies, and that we may be able to get into touch with similar bodies of workers in every land, so that we may know at once where to turn for information, advice, and help, especially when the welfare of women and children is con- cerned. We very earnestly beg for the co-operation of our sister workers in America, and trust that this unique oppor- tunity for the interchange of experience afforded by the Philanthropic Congress, held during the great World's Fair at Chicago, may lead to lasting and far-reaching results. ( 149 ) RESCUE WORK BY WOMEN AMONG WOMEN. BY Miss MARY H. STEER. IT is not possible to overrate the value of woman's work and influence in this branch of philanthropic and Christian usefulness. There is no work among our fallen sisters that more needs the services of their own sex than that of helping them to rise once more, and from the depths of their degradation to attain the level of an honest and useful life. I will endeavour to give a short sketch of the general system of rescue work as carried on in London particularly ; and by this I mean woman's rescue work among women, as distinct from penitentiary and preventive work. Our object is the rescue of women, girls, and children from an immoral and degrading life, and often it is possible to restore those of the better class to their families and friends. Among the many societies and associations which have for their aim the rescue of young women, perhaps it may be well to give as an example the methods of work employed by the Female Mission to the Fallen, whose chief office is at the Reformatory and Refuge Union, Charing Cross. This is the central place of reference and advice for rescue workers, whether they are working in connection with the Union or not. Outdoor rescue work is the largest and most varied of all woman's work among the fallen, and includes visitation of the streets, etc., attendance at the police courts, visitation of the prisons, visitation of lodging-houses, visitation of work- houses, visitation of hospitals. At the office in Charing Cross are kept the registers of 150 Woman 's Mission. many thousand cases that have been dealt with from time to time. Here also is prepared quarterly a list of women who gain entrance into homes for the purpose of doing mischief; professing penitence, they seek to draw away those who are really penitent. The managers of homes throughout the kingdom receive periodically such particulars as may be helpful to them in recognizing these mischief-makers when they apply, so that should they be admitted they may be treated with that caution and firmness which are most likely to conduce to their reformation, and thus prevent their evil influence ruining the other inmates. Information about the homes and about the work is collected and tabulated and made available for any one carrying on missionary efforts among the fallen. Quite recently a detailed list of all the Homes and Refuges for the Fallen in the United Kingdom has been published, showing the address of each home, the class received, the terms of admission, the number of inmates, the name and address of the honorary secretary and of the superintendent or matron, etc. By this mission London has been divided into seven districts for the purpose of periodical visitation by the missionaries of the Female Mission to the Fallen. To each of these districts there is appointed at least one missionary, and in some a mission-house has also been established. Quoting from their report, it may be well to note that rescue work is of such a varied character that it is difficult to convey any adequate idea of it as a whole ; but four general aspects of it may be taken in connection with this mission : the office work, the outdoor work, the mission- house work, and the work done by the training-homes. An active branch of outdoor work is visitation of the streets. It is held that every fallen woman in London should know of a friend to whom to turn for help when desirous to lead a better life. One of the methods is to distribute tracts by the missionaries of various societies and homes nightly in the streets and parks ; and at the end of each tract is written the name and address of the friend who will welcome a visit from any wandering sister, and will gladly help her to for- sake her evil life. In many cases cards are given, simply Rescue Work by Women among Women. 151 bearing the name and address of the mission or of the helper, accompanied with a few kind and friendly words. Any one accustomed to go into the streets for this purpose is, in course of time, able to detect any new faces that she meets with ; these are the most hopeful. In the War Cry, the organ of the Salvation Army, the following paragraph is inserted : " To THE DISTRESSED. Any poor girl in need of a friend may write to Mrs. Bramwell Booth, 259, Mare Street, Hackney, London, who will try and help or give advice where possible. The Salvation Army also invites parents, relations, and friends in any part of the world interested in any woman or girl who is known or feared to be living in immorality, or is in danger of coming under the control of immoral persons, to write, stating full particulars, with names, dates, and addresses of all concerned, and, if possible, a photograph of the person in whom the interest is taken. All letters, whether from these persons or from such women or girls themselves, will be regarded as strictly confidential. They may be written in any language, and should be addressed to Mrs. Bramwell Booth, 259, Mare Street, Hackney, London." This paragraph is also repeated in the paper in the French and German languages. The rescuing medium of the Salvation Army has now become so well known that for the last two years they have stopped systematic outdoor rescue work ; i.e. going out to seek rescue cases pure and simple, as so many of these cases come into their hands that their receiving-houses are already overcrowded ; but their agencies visit houses in systematic rescue work in the provinces, where the local cases are fewer to deal with. In its laundry and factory-visiting, the Army has to deal with mixed cases of rescue and preventive work ; and in their slum work the officers come across rescue cases, but do not now seek them out as a speciality. With the visitation of the common lodging-houses of London is, perhaps, connected the most difficult part of rescue work. In distributing tracts nightly, the missionary seeks every opportunity of conversing with some of the women, and, if possible, of obtaining an address where they can be seen in the daytime. They do not readily give an address, and when they do, it is too often a false one, or one at which no access is to be gained to the poor woman by any one suspected of having really good intentions towards her. Some of the missionaries gain access to the common lodging- houses, where there are always women of the class we are 152 Woman s Mission. seeking to save. Much tact has to be exercised in the use of this privilege. If the missionary has some flowers to dis- tribute, she can more readily gain a hearing, and so simple a ruse may well be regarded as justifiable in facilitating the efforts of the seeker after these lost ones. The system used is to catch the women about ten in the morning, before they are up, or from five to seven in the evening, when they are dressing to go out. The workers go into the houses with flowers or pictures, and if the worker gets a chance, she will persuade a girl to come outside and have a talk, as there are always old women watching over the younger ones to prevent their being taken away from them, and it is these old crones who are the dangerous enemies of the workers. A missionary told me just lately that she has succeeded in speaking to some of these girls who are living in what are called " the doubles," i.e. those lodging-houses intended for the use of couples, the keepers of which make no inquiries, and it is needless to say that the marriage bond rarely links the men and women who frequent them. The missionary has pleaded with a girl three months without effect, and at last she has come to say they are willing to be married. The missionary has frequently bought the penny or two- penny wedding-ring and lent the woman clothes for the ceremony. The most hopeful class in rescue work are the women with illegitimate children ; but there is always great difficulty in providing for a woman who has her child to maintain, as so few missions provide a shelter for women with their babies, and this is a great want in the work. A home for this class of women and their infants will be found among the branches of our own mission. Another form of outside work is among those who are placed in the hospitals many of these women coming to the various homes in a very feeble and diseased state of health. This is carried on very largely in almost all the Lock Wards of our hospitals and infirmaries ; it is so much easier to get hold of these poor girls during the time of their illness and weakness, as they are then so much more amenable to kind- ness, and a very large proportion of cases in our homes come Resciie Work by Women among Women. 153 to us through influence gained over them during sickness by lady visitors. We may perhaps mention that a small hospital has been opened by the National Vigilance Associa- tion especially for these cases, the committee and the entire staff doctors as well as nurses being ladies. In order that the general working system of a rescue mission may be clearly understood, I have been asked to write, as concisely as I can, a short sketch showing how this mission began and how it has attained its present scope and influence, to make clear our aims and purposes, and to show something of the practical working of our system at the Bridge of Hope, Ratcliff Highway, London. Our work is Christian, but undenominational. It is purely a mission from women to women, girls, and children, and was from the first only for those of the very lowest social scale. These, at the time this work began, were precisely the least aided and the most difficult to help. I am glad to say that our endeavours have been so encouraged and sustained that, beginning with six young women of the locality in which our home is situated, we are enabled to count by hundreds those who now pass yearly through our hands. For the beginning of this work I must go back thirteen years. It was in 1879 that I went to the Ratcliff High- way, which was then one of the worst parts of all the East End of London, and one which was at that time but little known except to police and the resident clergy or City missionaries. I wished to live among these people, to help them where they stood ; feeling that to attain any lasting practical good we must get a fuller comprehension of the social atmosphere of their own individual lives, so as better to judge of their weaknesses, temptations, and sins from their own standpoint, and amid the pressure of their own daily surroundings ; realizing that this method alone would enable one to judge more wisely what help to give, when to give it, and under what circumstances to make exceptions to usual rules. Without this merging of our own lives into theirs, and a serious and practical study of the world in which these poor degraded ones live, we shall never make the headway we desire in saving what are called the " lapsed classes." The lower classes cannot gain much help from those of a 154 Woman's Mission. higher social level, unless fundamental knowledge of their wants and capabilities is first gained by those who would work for the benefit and advantage of those they seek to help. This is why casual visiting among the poor is so often of such little avail in spite of well-meant efforts. The first simple step I took to get hold of the women I wanted was to go out into the Highway and the bad neigh- bourhood around and ask some of the girls to come and have tea with me. Objections would be raised, " We've got our knitting to do," etc. ; but I used to say, " Well, bring your knitting with you," and so by degrees I prevailed and they would come a little afraid of being preached at, and a little anxious to know what I was going to do. After tea we would talk on all manner of subjects, and I would do my best to amuse and interest my audience bringing in gradually a few words of advice and simple friendliness, letting them feel that a friend, who would be a friend in need, was living in their midst, whose only desire was to help them in their weary lives, and to aid them to mount to something higher. A little prayer, a little reading were got in by degrees, and so with patience and constant gentle pushing this difficult pioneer work, which is always the hardest, progressed. By degrees a few workers joined me, and our little band grew. My hands were strengthened by co-operation, and the poor people for whom we were striving day by day became slowly accustomed and attached to us. I took a little house in Prince's Square, just out of the High- way, large enough to receive six young women, and from that time to this I am thankful to say we have never been in debt, though we have been, and are often, in sore straits to carry on our labour of love. The mission is entirely supported by voluntary contributions ; and when at times we have been forced to make an occasional appeal, the response has been generous and hearty, as I am sure it would be in any country ; for a national heart is always a charitable one. In 1884 we were able to take three houses in Betts Street, and turn them into a Refuge, from which our present large mission building has grown. One of these was an old public- house, the Sugar Loaf, of far and ill-famed notoriety, and the Rescue Work by Women among Women. 155 two adjoining houses were both of bad repute. These also comprised a spacious room in the rear that had been a dancing-saloon, and this has been transformed into our bright little mission hall. Betts Street, when we first began, contained thirty-five houses of the worst possible repute, and it was certainly not a safe thoroughfare long after three o'clock in the afternoon. Before that hour its inhabitants were for the greater part asleep. The work is now divided into three distinct branches : ist. The Night Shelter, or the work among destitute women ; 2nd. Rescue Work among fallen women carried on in the Refuge ; and 3rd. The Preventive Work among little girls who have been born among the very worst surroundings. The number of women and girls who have passed through the " Bridge of Hope " is as follows : Rescue cases. Preventive Total. cases. 1880-1 no 37 147 1881-2 131 26 157 1882-3 I 8 3 59 242 1883-4 221 85 306 1884-5 2 73 93 366 1885-6 274 125 399 1886-7 287 135 422 1887-8 204 93 297 1888-9 265 122 387 1889-90 222 l82 404 1890-1 254 176 430 IN THE NIGHT SHELTER. Night's lodgings. 1885-6 1738 1886-7 1007 1887-8 1027 1888-9 6072 1889-90 5855 1890-1 5201 It may be said that our numbers do not seem larger in proportion now ; let it be remembered, therefore, that now we keep and train and educate, where at first we passed on elsewhere. The cases that only stay a few nights are now included in the Night Shelter list. Perhaps some idea of the mission house as a building 156 Woman's Mission. would be of practical use. One division is the Night Shelter ; the larger portion forms the Refuge for Women and a Home for the workers, with the laundry whic^i occupies the whole of the highest floor of the building. We have also our industrial branches in the Home of Needle-work and Dress- making, and the Knitting Department, where machine knitting is carried on as a trade. Last year we earned just 600. The whole was erected and furnished at the total cost of $479 i8s. lod. The preventive work is carried on in cottage homes situated at a distance from the refuge. Besides this there is a small Servants' Lodge for girls out of place who have passed through the Home, and there is also a Home for Mothers and their poor little babies. There is room for nine girls in the Servants' Lodge, and in the other house there is room for seven mothers and their infants. The contributions of two ladies more than cover the rent and taxes of the Mothers' Cottage, and to the kindness of two other friends we are indebted for the money which covers the rent and taxes of the Servants' Lodge. Both these houses are at Walthamstow. In speaking of the work we must begin first with the Night Shelter. In the " Bridge of Hope " Night Shelter we have accommodation for eighteen ; and it is as much as we can efficiently do to help this steady influx of eighteen human souls coming freshly every day, and always needing advice, help, and sympathy. Sickness, loss of work, and winter weather bring to destitution a large number of women who drift into the shelter, not knowing where to turn. They come at all hours, and are given a bed free of charge, sleep safely and soundly until the next morning, when we hear their story, take pains to verify it, and then give what help seems urgent or necessary for the case. It is pitiful to think what a little practical help will some- times suffice to give fresh impetus and courage to a human life. Sometimes it is a poor sewing-girl who has lost her all, and has not even the necessary implements to carry on her trade, though she is willing to work honestly and hard for the terribly low wages which suffice for livelihood. Here, a pair of scissors and a thimble give heart and hope to the poor despairing worker, and off she goes, cheered by kindly Rescue Work by Women among Women. 157 words and friendly wishes, hugging her treasure and quite ready to begin again that hard struggle for life. Then again, having made a fresh beginning, many of our poor women bring their wages for us to take care of until a little sum is gained with which they can make a really good and more practical start. Here is a very fair example of the work we are always doing. A poor woman and her little daughter of thirteen came to the shelter about two years ago. The woman was a good hand at her trade, gentlemen's tie-making, but had been very ill, and obliged at last to seek refuge in the work- house infirmary. When she got better she heard of our shelter, and, taking her discharge with her little girl, came to our door. After due investigation, we offered to receive the girl into one of our homes, and give the mother free lodgings until she could get back her work. She obtained work, but not one penny did she spend without consulting her kind friend the Night Shelter superintendent. She bought boots and calico, and made herself some underlinen, and then bought tidy clothes until her wardrobe was replenished and she got back her old feelings of self-respect. Then one by one articles of furniture were bought for a little room until the " home " was gathered again. Soon after we sent her back her little girl, whom she taught her own trade. Since then she has prospered greatly in her business, and has now six employees working under her. So many touching memories crowd upon us that we could write a book of thrilling incidents stranger than fiction ; but we have learned to measure something of the temptations from which these poor women fled, and to know how, in the fierce struggle of this great teeming city of ours, many aspira- tions after something better, a higher life, fall withered and crushed. Many who come to us, without a helping hand would have no resource but the workhouse or a life of sin. I am certain that no one among us would ever have courage to cast the " first stone " if we could know the awful straits which bring so many of our sisters into sin. A lady once said to me, " Call them knocked-doivn women if you will, but not fallen." I wish more in her position had as clear an understanding of facts, and more hands would be stretched 158 Woman's Mission. out to help us in practical ways with individual cases as she has done. Many of the cases which come to the Night Shelter are poor women who probably never were first-class " hands ; " and generally some weakness or defect keeps them from earning first-class wages, and yet so many are honest and willing to work. Dealing with these it is which is our hardest and most heart-breaking work. I never know how we are able to help these poor creatures, and we can never speak of it in a wholesale way ; yet one after another gets a hand up, a door opens, a place is found, hope returns, and from among these desolate ones a rich harvest is gathered in. It is help- ing those willing to help themselves which is the point and ambition of our work ; and there are so sadly many of them, here and everywhere, who are only too willing to work and start afresh, but who do not know how to set about it, and here it is that our experience and power of influence come in. Many children runaways or brought to us by the police or some kindly person come to us through the Night Shelter doors. Besides the casual help we thus render, there are many who, homeless, tradeless, and often friendless, are willing to enter the Refuge and go through the routine and training of our Home. We find out for which branch of work they have the most aptitude or inclination kitchen, laundry, needle-room or knitting-room, or again housework ; and so they start and work steadily on until they are able to go out into the world once more. In the Home and Refuge the work is entirely among the so-called fallen. I can scarcely say fallen women, because the larger number are in their teens, many only fourteen and fifteen years of age. Many people talk as if these women were never really reformed. From my experience I can speak in a very different strain. I can recall the faces of large numbers who, coming into this house from the very depths of sin, are now leading honest, useful, nay, in many instances, I may say noble and heroic lives. As I have said, apart from the mother-home, we have five children's homes, which are entirely for work among children. The first Bridge House is our Receiving Home, and is situated in London ; the second is at Redhill, and the Rescue Work by Women among Women. 159 third at Highgate. One for delicate children, situated on the banks of the Thames near Southend, is considerably helped by the young ladies in the Rev. F. B. Meyer's con- gregation, who meet every week to work, and sell their needlework, for the benefit of the children. One of the children's homes at Ticehurst, called the Haven, was given and furnished for us by a kind friend of the work ; and, as the cottage is situated on her own estate, she is enabled to gratify her warm interest in it by helping personally in the superintendence. We never keep a bed empty in these preventive homes. A young girl, however naughty she may be, is not turned back if it is possible to take her in, and especially if she comes from the dangers of a poor over- crowded East End home. The daily papers are perhaps the best witnesses of the need there is for saving the young. There is scarcely a case made public, but we could produce a parallel. We must not, dare not, sit down in supine idleness, because there seems no sufficient answer to the cry of what can be done to save the thousands of children ! The only comfort is to do what we can. The " mothering " of these young lives is a sweet relief from the darkest side of rescue work. It is delightful to visit the homes where they are being trained, and where they are beginning to develop into bright intelligent girls. By far the larger number of girls in service from these homes are doing wonderfully well, and the many grateful letters we receive show that our care has not been lavished in vain. It is no uncommon thing to have a visit from one of our children of years ago, but now in service, with her young man ; and many are the wedding presents we have given. Our aim in all is to follow Christ and to work for His poor and His little ones in the spirit of love and sacrifice, as He may teach and lead us. Our hope is, that any success we may have had may be an encouragement to others to work among those apparently most hopeless ones, whose homes may lie near to their own doors, whether among the overcrowded cities in our own beloved England, or in the younger, freer, less thickly populated Western cities, where perhaps such work may not be less needed. 160 Woman's Mission. WORK AMONG SOLDIERS. BY Miss ANNE BEALE. THE benefits accruing to the soldier from Institutes are now so well understood, that they multiply, and will, we hope, in course of time, be found wheresoever barracks exist. The Soldiers' Institutes at Aldershot and Portsmouth are, perhaps, the most generally known, but there are numerous others deserving attention and admiration. These have been, for the most part, founded by women. Miss Sarah Robinson began her work among soldiers after a dangerous illness. She resolved to devote herself to the service of her heavenly Father, should it be His good pleasure to restore her to health. She recovered sufficiently to commence the labours which have resulted in the Ports- mouth Soldiers' Institute. Like all great works, it had a small beginning. At first Miss Robinson carried coffee to her soldiers in a caravan, and ministered to their spiritual wants by such means as were within her reach ; now her resources are truly manifold. But, as she began in bodily weakness, so she has continued, " glorifying God " through much suffering and much opposition. Like Miss Florence Nightingale, her heart was in her work, and her " strength was perfected in weakness." Miss Nightingale once wrote as follows : May I from my sick-bed cry for help from England for her soldiers and their Institute at Portsmouth, the great port for embarking and disembarking. If we knew how troops, immediately on landing, are beset with invitations to bad of all kinds, we should hasten to supply them with invitations to, and means for, good of all kinds. If we realized what were the only places open to our men out of barracks, places not of recreation but of drink and of vice, to the intense misery and degradation of men, women and children ... if you knew these things as I do, you would forgive me for asking you, if my poor name may still be that of the soldiers' ever-faithful servant, to support Miss Robinson's work in making men of them at Portsmouth, the place of all others of temptation to be brutes. Work among Soldiers. 161 This appeal has been to a great extent answered. Since the Institute was opened in 1874, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, their wives and children, have been benefited. It is only necessary to inspect the Institute, and see the vast machinery at work for the bodily and spiritual good of the soldier, to understand at a glance what " The Soldiers' Friend " has done for him. The announcement on its thres- hold declares the huge establishment free to all soldiers and sailors, and proclaims that refreshments, amusements, secular and religious instruction, lodgings for friends everything, in short, excepting intoxicating drinks can be found within, either free, or at a moderate charge. The refreshment bar is self-supporting. The Institute contains a large dining-room, coffee-room, general reception-room, billiard-rooms, reading- room, Bible-class room, and endless sleeping apartments. There is besides an immense lecture hall for general meetings, surrounded by lofty and spacious galleries ; it seats about a thousand people. What is there not ? Even a bowling-green and skittle-alley. This large Institute is in the town of Portsmouth, but an important branch of the work is carried on in the dockyard. Much hardship was experienced formerly by women and children on landing from the troop-ships, as well as by the soldiers themselves. They had sometimes to wait for hours without food or shelter, and great was the joy when Miss Robinson gained permission (in 1876) to send coffee, buns, and biscuits from the Institute to the jetty. Both officers and men appreciated this, boon ; and in 1877 it was further enhanced by the erection of a little coffee-stall on the troop-ship jetty, provided with boilers and other necessary appliances. By this means much labour was spared to the workers, and much benefit bestowed on the weary and often heart-sick crew of the troop-ships. Waiting-rooms have also been built on the jetty, so that at the present time the soldier and his family are more hospitably received on their return to their native country than in the past. This is proved in more ways than one. A large room has been opened in the town, whither the soldiers' and sailors' wives come for needlework. This has grown into an institu- tion, and the work is sold to ladies for the benefit of the M 1 62 Woman's Mission. workers. Orders are also received and well executed, and the number of articles made annually averages four thousand. To quote from Miss Robinson's report, " In the cases of women 'married without leave,' this employment and other kindly help given to them, are frequently all that stands between them and starvation, or degradation." Added to this excellent effort, there are sewing classes, mothers' meet- ings, Bands of Hope, and " homes " for orphan girls. Miss Robinson seeks to fit out the latter for service, or to place them in permanent homes or schools ; and surely England owes her, and the other ladies who work on similar lines, a debt of gratitude for thus consecrating their lives to the good of those who fight for her homes and hearths. That the soldiers themselves, their wives, and children, are grate- ful, is proved daily, almost hourly, by written and spoken words eloquent with unstudied thankfulness. Of the home attached to the Institute, Miss Robinson herself says The uncertainty as to each day's requirements adds greatly to the difficulties of Institute "housekeeping." For instance, one day all our beds may be empty, and the next all filled and extra ones needed. One day a message came from the Quartermaster-General's office to ask how many women and children we could accommodate, as a shipful was expected. We replied that we could take in one hundred and forty ; but, after all, only one woman came. The next week, without any notice whatever, sixty persons were sent to us to be kept for three days. One day a sergeant drove up from the dockyard to say, ' ' Look sharp, sixteen families are on their way to you ; " but generally our first intimation is from the people themselves pouring into the house. The troop-ship work is perhaps the distinguishing feature of this Institute. Ladies visit every vessel that embarks or disembarks at Portsmouth, and one lady makes it her special care to see to the sick on board, and give them warm clothing and little dainties. Others go through the quarters of the women and children, which are close and crowded, with beds on shelves one above another, and scarcely space to pass between. The kindness of friends, here, there, and everywhere, enables the ladies to distribute hundreds of wraps sorely needed by the poor families who arrive, perhaps, from the tropics, and have to proceed, by train or otherwise, to colder climes. " The Little Friends of Soldiers and Sailors," or " Miss Robinson's own," aid in this good work. They send Work among Soldiers. 163 garments and presents for the children, and collect, on an average, 1 50 annually for the three institutes. This juvenile society was formed August I, 1884, to commemorate Miss Robinson's fiftieth birthday. Nearly ten years have elapsed since then, and we have now, alas ! to chronicle the fact that Miss Robinson resigns the actual superintendence of the Institute into the hands of another : Mr. Gelson Gregson. She will still reside within its walls and identify herself with it ; but her failing health forbids continuance of the immense labour she has gone through in past years. It is not easy to realize what this has been. There is at Portsmouth the Soldiers' Institute, with every accommodation for soldiers and sailors and their wives ; Mission Hall and Soup Kitchen ; two coffee sheds on the jetty ; the Sailors' Welcome at Portsea ; the Welcome Mission at Landport ; and last, but not least, the Sailors' and Soldiers' Institute at Alexandria. This last is situated on the Boulevard Ramleh, and was begun and completed in six months. Miss Robinson says that her first idea was to erect a temporary building ; and accordingly, she purchased the iron Oratory at Brompton (which happened to be then for sale), and it was put up under the direction of her Portsmouth manager, Mr. Tufnell, himself once a soldier. This was succeeded by the present handsome stone building. Here the same rules and regulations obtain as at Portsmouth, and the same advantages are afforded. There are the refreshment-bar, the large reading-room, Bible- class room, lecture hall, club-room for officers and English residents, bedrooms for officers, sleeping cabins, etc. Certainly good works make "the whole world kin," and for this and innumerable other "good works" we are indebted to women. Lord Wolseley gave them a meed of praise at an Institute meeting in Ireland, when he delivered an address in behalf of the work of Miss Sands among the soldiers. He said, "We thank God for the earnest band of voluntary lady- workers He has sent to help us. They visit systematically in barracks .and hospitals, welcome the men who come to the homes, and hold nightly meetings for those who wish to attend." This quotation introduces us to other homes and institutes in the sister country. They have been established in Co. 164 Womaris Mission. Cork, and not only in Cork itself, but in Queenstown, Ballin- collig, Dublin, Dundalk, and Belfast. Miss Sands has devoted herself with untiring energy and zeal thus to aid the soldier. The Cork institution has been working between fifteen and sixteen years, and provides, as do the other homes, the accommodation, recreation, and instruction, afforded by all similar institutions. Indeed most, if not all, Soldiers' Insti- tutes are formed and kept alive on similar principles. The opinion of Lord Wolseley must have weight, and he speaks truly with authority of the benefits derived by the soldier from the philanthropic efforts of the women of this remarkable age. A few more quotations from his speech may be serviceable. It was not until the ladies of Great Britain and Ireland, with great devotion, came forward that the soldiers' clubs or homes became the useful and well- organized institutions they are at present. Those who knew the soldier knew that what he required was a " home " with sympathetic care and consideration. What did home mean ? Home to the citizen of Cork was the same as home to the soldier. The soldier's recollection was associated with his mother and sisters and numbers of acquaintances, and when away from them he felt the great want of sympathy a lady could alone give him. It is because of that sympathy given in the homes that they are as popular with some of the men as the mess-house with the officer ; and he finds every convenience that the best club-house supplies. He can write letters to his people at home in comfort and peace ; he can enjoy himself, and not only have his mind filled with good literature and his body with good provisions, but he meets with companions who will talk to him on an equality, and in a way it would be impossible for an officer, no matter how much sympathy he may feel for the men, to do. The presence of the ladies is the great charm of these institutions, for the men find in them sympathy, an anxiety to help them, and loving care. Four ladies reside in the Cork, Dublin, and Belfast homes, and two ladies in each of the smaller homes. In closing we cannot help thanking God for the way He has blest all our homes through the past year, and especially for spiritual blessing amongst the men. It would be impossible to particularize all the institutes that have arisen since the first attempt was made to teach our soldiers the blessings of religion. This philanthropic and highly spiritual effort originated at Aldershot, some thirty years ago. Mrs. Daniell, the widow of an officer, preceded Miss Robinson, and should, perhaps, have had the first place in this paper ; suffice it to say that her soul was stirred by the lack of religion and morality in the army at that time, and she resolved to dedicate the remaining years of her life to the endeavour to provide the soldier with the Christian's armour, to enable him to fight against worse foes than he Work among Soldiers. 165 could meet with even on the battle-field. She knew that when off duty his only recreation was to be found in the public-house, the low music-hall, the dancing-saloon, or in worse places still, which are sure to crop up wherever bar- racks are placed. She would give him the choice of some- thing better ; and the result has been that a machinery for good is now in full force at Aldershot, similar to that already working at Portsmouth. The intentions and prayers of this Christian lady are expressed in a letter she wrote to the late Rev. Mr. Pennefather, of Mildmay. Both are now " reaping the reward of their labours," together with Mrs. Pennefather, so lately taken from us ; and it is well to know how deeply they all felt the need of employing every art and artifice in the arduous conflict with evil. The following is an extract from the letter in question : " If I know anything of my own heart, I am ready to say to every call of the Master, ' Here am I, send me ! ' But then we must not mistake the voice of partial friends for the Master's call ; and what I want you and other friends to pray for is, not that I may be permitted to commence this work, but rather that I may be kept from taking any steps in the matter unless He has chosen me for this honour. So much has been written of Aldershot, that it is unnecessary for me to enter into the loathsome details of the unblushing vice that tracks the everyday path of the poor soldier. A Christian officer who has been there for two years told a friend last month that nothing that was ever said of the abounding wickedness could go beyond the reality. Something therefore ought to be done over and above what may yet have been attempted. If the time to favour Aider- shot be come, some loving hands will be stretched out to help forward the mission, some loving voice will bid me God- speed. Do not forget to ask special prayer : ' All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive.' I shall long to hear what you think on the subject, and to have your advice as to the propriety of undertaking the work." Thus began Mrs. Daniell's mission to the camp and town of Aldershot. She laboured in it about ten years ; and after her much lamented death, in 1871, her daughter, Miss G. F. S. Daniell, carried it on. This " worthy daugh ter of a worthy 1 66 Woman s Mission. mother " labours still in the fields thus prepared. Aided by other devoted women, she, as a soldier's daughter, lives for the soldier. There can be no better ending for this paper than an extract from her own reports, which shows what the mission is to-day : The work at Aldershot grew and prospered. For some years it stood alone, but in the course of time the parent stem shot forth goodly branches, and it is carried on to-day in six garrisons, in addition to the old "home " at Aldershot Chatham, Colchester, Manchester, London, Plymouth, and Windsor. The buildings are vested in the hands of trustees, men of mark either in the service or in the philanthropic world, but are placed under the control of no particular eccle- siastical body. In an army composed of men of all religious denominations, Church distinctions must be unknown in any work which is to be free and open to all. No man, be he Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Baptist, or Romanist, must run the chance of hearing anything said against the Church of his choice. And therefore from the very first, and throughout the whole course of the work, this neutral independent ground has been most jealously guarded. Of course no secret has ever been made of the fact that those who are freely giving their life and means to carry on the work in Mrs. Daniell's Homes do not look upon the men as mere " children to be amused," but as undying souls, capable of rising to the height of fellowship with God. Beyond and above all is the personal work of the ladies living in the homes. During the evening, the time at which the soldier is out of barracks and a free man, one of them is always on duty in a small library near the entrance hall. Here new-comers are welcomed, temperance pledges taken, lending-library books exchanged ; and here, perhaps, as much as or more than in any other part of the premises, the work of the mission has been accomplished. All the branches already mentioned in Miss Robinson's work are in active operation here. These are the results of Mrs. Daniell's prayers and labours. She and her daughter have been the pioneers in this noble work, and we cannot err in saying that what they and their followers have accomplished has borne fruit even unto " the ends of the earth." 167 WORK AMONG SAILORS. BY Miss AGNES E. WESTON. I HAVE been requested by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts to write a paper, giving an account of my personal work in the Royal Navy of Great Britain, and among sailors every- where. I have much pleasure in responding to the request of one whose active and incessant philanthropy is of world- wide repute. I also append some notes to this paper, as to Sailors' Rests and Homes in various parts of the world. Although I have been working for the good of sailors for twenty-five years, the last twenty have been by far the most active and fruitful. About twenty-five years ago, a little seed was sown, which, under God, was to grow into a great tree. A Christian soldier asked me to write to a seaman, a godly man, then serving as sick-berth steward on board H.M.S. Crocodile. " He would like a letter from a Christian lady," wrote the soldier, "because he misses his mother's letters so much. She used to write to him, but she is dead and gone." To replace that mother was no easy task, and yet it was a plain duty to write to the man. I did so, and he has often since remarked what a help that simple letter was to him ; how he took it into a dark corner of the ship, and, when he had read it, how he knelt down and thanked God that He had given him a Christian friend to take his mother's place. That sick-berth steward was well known in Portsmouth. He is now in New York, where, having passed through the medical schools, he has graduated, taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and is now practising and working for God in the Medical Mission of that city. " Never shall I forget," said he, in writing to me, " the dear old 1 68 Woman's Mission. Crocodile days, and never do I cease to thank God that I was your first blue-jacket friend." Thus the key-note of the work was struck : personal in- terest in the brave men of the sea men who of all others know how to appreciate true friendship, and men of all others who are most frequently led down to destruction by friendship of a wrong kind. This work began to grow. It had the principle of life in it which only God could give ; and its aim was, and has been, by every holy, Christ-like, and home influence, to draw our naval men from pleasures that debase and ruin them to a sober and godly life. My first naval friend, now Dr. George Dowkontt, sent me the names of Christian men on board other of her Majesty's ships, who had no one to write to them, and would be so glad to hear from some friend who would give them good counsel ; here was a quiet way of ministering, but a useful one. Jack is not overdone by letters : he values them, he reads and re- reads them, and stows them away in cap or ditty box for future reference, and oftentimes they become the touch of Christian love that leads him to forsake the evil and to choose the good. Twenty years ago, I found letter-writing an important part of the work, and I find it so still. About ten thousand letters, all purely personal, were written last year, in reply to as many written by officers and men in our fleet all over the world. To supplement, but not to super- sede this letter-writing, I issue two monthly letters ; one to the men, the other to the boys of our Service. These letters have been circulated afloat for about twenty years. When first issued, a few hundred copies sufficed ; but the demand for them has grown so steadily that last year 529,682 were circulated. These little messengers have gone through every ship in her Majesty's Service, from the grim battle-ship to the little torpedo-boat. They also go to the merchant seamen, fishermen, lifeboat men ; and last, but not least, they find a welcome under the Stars and Stripes, having been circulated for many years in the United States Navy. The demand came in this way. One of the American warships was lying in Japanese waters, some years ago, alongside a British ship ; the monthly letters were passed on board, and the American seamen wrote to me again and Work among Sailors. 169 again, asking me to bring out an edition expressly for them- selves. This I did ; and now each American warship receives its consignment every month, and hearty letters of thanks are returned. At the commencement of my personal work in the Navy, I was asked by the National Temperance League of London to superintend the " Royal Naval Temperance Society." Drink has ever been Jack's greatest enemy, and I was eager to fight such a foe. Single-handed, I could have done nothing ; but by organization and the help of the splendid committees on board our ships, the temperance work in the Navy has made a great and abiding success. Mr. W. S. Caine, M.P., when Junior Lord of the Admiralty, calculated that it saved the country a million sterling a year. H.M. Consul at Yokohama stated that while in old days numbers of seamen were committed for drunkenness, yet, although three thousand men were ashore on a recent visit of the British squadron, only three were brought before him. The Royal Naval Temper- ance Society has so extended its operations that at the present date it is working on board every ship in our national Service. In some ships we have solitary workers, but on board most of them organized committees of seamen and marines are earnestly working to save their shipmates from the professional and moral ruin that drink brings. We calculate roughly taking our Navy, Coastguard Service, and Boys' Training Ships together that about one in every six is a total abstainer. A very great help to this temperance work is a monthly illustrated paper called Ashore and Afloat, edited by my friend and co-trustee, Miss Wintz. It is bright, readable, and chatty, and is heartily appreciated by sailors and fishermen everywhere. During the past year 380,670 copies have been sent to seafaring men. The Missions to Seamen Society, the Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, and the British and Foreign Sailors' Society receive large grants. I would gladly send this paper with the Monthly Letter to the American Navy, where I know it would be heartily welcomed, and would be of much benefit, but I am deterred by the expense. Work afloat is calculated to do much good, and I feel very thankful that, by the kindness of the Admiralty and of commanding officers, I havefsuch liberal access to our war- 170 Woman s Mission. ships, training-ships, Royal Marine Barracks, Royal Naval Hospitals, etc. Temperance meetings in these ships are a novel sight, and the, hearty greeting that I receive is most gratifying. The boatswain's mate pipes the notice of the meeting on the lower deck : " Miss Weston's come aboard and she's going to spin yer a yarn on the torpedo flat." That is sufficient to ensure a crowd of some hundreds. Earnest attention is given, many temperance pledges are signed, and old friends are met The length of service in our Navy is a great help to consecutive work. Ten years is the enlistment term, and ten years more for a pension. Thus there are men in our Navy now whom I knew as boys twenty years ago. When I first paid a visit to Plymouth, one of our great naval arsenals, the sailor-boys claimed my interest and attention. " Somebody's boys " they certainly were, from all parts of the country ; some two thousand let loose on shore twice a week, without any home to go to. They were fine young fellows, anxious to be thorough sailors, but undoubtedly going on a lee shore ! I visited their ships and addressed them there ; but I felt that something must be done on shore for these boys, and that a teetotal home, which in those days twenty years ago had never been tried for Jack, must be attempted. Single-handed, I might never have ventured it, or if I had, might not have succeeded ; but God, in His good Providence, gave me a friend and helper in Miss Wintz, herself belonging to a naval family, who became my " chum," as we call it in the Navy, and has been so ever since. We determined to do something in Plymouth close to her Majesty's Dockyard, and in 1876 started a Sailors' Rest, the first of its name and kind. Many prophecies were uttered " that the place would be shut up in six months," and it was said that to provide Jack with such drinks as tea and coffee was a " crank," which could only exist in the brain of one or two misguided women. However, the answer has been emphatically given by the men themselves, after sixteen years' trial. The number sleep- ing on our premises last year, at the Plymouth Sailors' Rest, was 72,822, and at Portsmouth 42,875, making a total of 115,637 seamen, comfortably sheltered; besides the many who in times of pressure lie about on couches, tables, the floors, anywhere. The money taken over our counters during Work among Sailors. 171 the past year amounted to 11,578 los. id.; and after pay- ment of all expenses, provision for wear and tear, etc., a balance of 1672 is. $d. remained. This money has been placed in the " Refreshment Reserve Fund," for use in temperance and philanthropic work among sailors ; and shows plainly that Sailors' Rests, without the drink, may be made to answer well. " Overcrowded in every way," is the answer, after sixteen years' work, to the gloomy prognostica- tions of those who declared the idea to be Utopian. Some broad regulations have contributed much to our success. " No blue-jacket or marine ever to be turned from the door, even if ' three sheets in the wind.' " " No compulsion of any kind to be used to draw men into meetings and classes; the men to feel as free as in their own homes." " Men to pay a fair price for food, beds, and baths, but to be able to use the Sailors' Rest in every other way, without payment." What is the result? Many a man once a drunkard, now thanks God for the rule that admitted a man in drink. " I'd spent every farthing at the Napier Inn," said a man, " and was roaring drunk ; they kicked me out into the gutter, and I lay there until the people from the Sailors' Rest came out, and carried me in, publicans' leavings as I was, and through that I turned to a new life ; and says I, God bless 'em." When the Sailors' Rest was first opened, naturally, as now, the publicans looked upon us with no little disfavour ; for was not their trade in danger? It was a fair fight, and no favour ; beer versus coffee. Generally, we are compelled to admit, the brewer's dray carries all before it ; and in Plymouth the odds were heavy: nine drink-shops against one coffee-house. The publicans loudly proclaimed the Sailors' Rest " a disgraceful innovation, a place that ought to be crushed by all right-thinking men." " If there is any one on earth that I hate, it is that Miss Weston of yours," said one of these worthy Bonifaces to my manager; "she brings a blight upon all honest trade." This was sad, but yet encouraging. The seamen crowded the Sailors' Rest, and we did all we could to make them happy ; and as to the publicans, we advised them to change their trade to a better one, and insured our plate-glass windows, which they had 172 Woman's Mission. threatened to break. A pretty constant changing of land- lords, in the six public-houses opposite to us, showed that custom was running down ; and the result of the battle was that the public-houses were given up. Pulled down, they disappeared bodily improved off the ground. Time went on, and we held our own ; enlarging the Sailors' Rest, building a high block of dormitories, and then a hall on a large scale. Still we were crowded out ; and the earnest petition of the men was, " Shake out a reef, do shake out a reef." It was plain to Miss Wintz and myself that go forward we must. If we remained in such an uncomfortable crowded state, we should go back. After much consideration and earnest prayer we resolved to lessen the men's temptations, by trying to get two out of the three public-houses still left between ourselves and the Dockyard gates, the Royal Naval Rendez- vous and the Napier Inn. It seemed a great enterprise, almost an impossibility. The sum of money needed was large. Just at the critical moment a gentleman well known in the Navy, Mr. Robert Whitehead, inventor of the celebrated Whitehead torpedoes, sent a torpedo against the public-houses in the shape of a cheque for ^1000 ; others followed, and the two grog-shops finally capitulated. Active negotiations were now carried on with the owners of the corner public-house, the Dock Gates Inn, so that the whole block might be captured. About that time I happened to be visiting the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth. A seaman was lying in his bed, in the last stage of consumption ; he had served on board one of the turret-ships and had been a picture of health and strength. With his skeleton finger he beckoned me to his bedside, and between his gasps he whispered into my ear, " Have you got the Dock Gates Inn ? " " Not yet," I said, " but I believe we shall ; we are praying for it." " And so am I," he said earnestly, laying his bony hand on my arm. " I am praying to God day and night on my bed to give you that place ; there I learned to drink, and the drink has brought me here." Poor fellow ! like a sinking boat he was going down. Whether he was resting for salvation on Christ was not very clear, but his one earthly desire was that the public-house that had worked his ruin might be done away with. Thank God, this is now accomplished. The large sum Work among Sailors. 173 needed for the purchase of these public-houses and their sites was raised ; and when the last barrel of beer was rolled out and the houses were closed and the key laid upon my table, we all rejoiced that the temptations adjoining the gates of H.M. Dockyard had been destroyed. Although there were more public-houses further up the street, the first doors open to receive our man-o'-war's-men as they left the Govern- ment premises would now be those of the " public-house with- out the drink." Step by step, the work went on, until a noble pile of buildings adjoining the old Sailors' Rest was raised on the site of the taverns, and was and is crowded with the happy faces of our blue-jackets. This building, with its sister building at Portsmouth, is a focus of work for God in the Navy. Bright meetings, Gospel, temperance, and social classes, naval clubs and benefit societies, and much else make Jack's home bright and happy. A staff of devoted workers, ladies and others, assist Miss Wintz and myself. We are not in debt, and we make the places more than self- supporting. The buildings are vested in trustees for continuity of work, and well they may be ; as the sum of something like ;i 50,000 has been spent upon them. They are the head-quarters of the " Royal Naval Temperance Society," and the " Royal Naval Christian Union." Nor are the wives and little ones, Jack's best bower anchors, forgotten. Large meetings of sailors' wives and sailors' children are held regularly, winter clubs, savings bank, etc. I roughly estimate the attendance during the year at our meetings at 150,000 seamen, their wives and children, naval pensioners, and others, and 50,000 at our Saturday night temperance entertainments. My system in the business of the place is to throw the coffee-bar open to any one, and yet to keep the Institute strictly to seamen and marines, and this plan has worked well. Seamen are able to bring wives and friends in, the public have the advantage of a coffee-house, and when our fleets are absent at sea we are enabled to do sufficient business to keep the places going, with something over. I should like to see Sailors' Rests, on broad principles, started all over the world ; bright and cheery ; the Bible in, the drink out. Plenty of colour and looking-glass (we have yet to learn that bright colours cost more than dull ones), bright 174 Woman 's Mission. smiles also, and a hearty welcome whether Jack is drunk or sober, are indispensable for success ; and meetings, etc., should be constantly going on, that he can attend or not as he likes. These things draw him from public-houses and places of bad resort, and give him the advantages of a happy home. A good situation is all-important ; a commanding building is also a great attraction. If possible, some one should be at the head whom Jack knows, and on whom he can bestow that best of titles, "Mother." A committee is good, but I hope that I shall not be accused of egotism when I say a person is better. True, all this involves the leaving of our homes, the giving up of much personal comfort ; but the sacrifice is to God, and we get His blessing and the love and esteem of the brave men that throng the place. Our Royal Family have shown great interest and appreciation, and have personally been most kind ; the Admirals, Captains, and Chaplains of the British Navy have left nothing undone that could lessen my labours ; and I am sure that wherever these homes were placed, all the good and the true-hearted would rally round them. Our seamen do so much for us, we surely owe them gratitude. Our merchant sailors bring us all that we need for daily life ; our naval seamen protect our commerce, act as police all over the world, guard our hearths and homes, and are ready at any time to sacrifice their lives for their country, as has been shown again and again. If the gold, silver, and bronze medals of the Royal Humane Society are given away, they are generally presented to seamen. Are the slaves set free, under a burning African sun? It is to the blue-jackets that they owe their liberty. Bishop Crowther, of Sierra Leone, told with tears in his eyes how he owed his life, his all, to the seamen. They captured the slaver in which, as a child, he was bound hand and foot, and set himself and his mother free, loading them with kindness. "Never, never," said he, "shall I forget the ships or the blue-jackets, God bless them." As a living proof that the work has taken deep hold on the Navy, there is the fact that every year a fleet has been mobilized I have been able to band together temperance and Christian men in each ship to carry out work for God. Every national navy, and I would say also every merchant navy, should have some Work among Sailors. 175 organization on board each ship able to foster this life of godliness. " Without men of a high moral stamp," said the late Chief Constructor of Portsmouth Dockyard, " our modern intricate ships can never be manoeuvred." True, moral men we must have, and Christian men are best of all. May this be realized internationally, and may the motto of every navy be, "Defence, not Defiance." I wish that I could give a better account than will be possible, of other work in the same direction ; but I have gathered some information as to the working of Sailors' Rests in England and other places. The Missions to Seamen Society has done and is doing excellent work, prin- cipally in the Merchant Service. They have thirty-five Seamen's Institutes, in thirty-one seaports ; sixteen mission- rooms in fifteen seaports ; and fourteen churches in fourteen seaports. The idea is to provide companionship, recreation, instruction, and worship. The larger ports are better provided than the smaller ones ; the best buildings being at Cardiff, Bristol, Sunderland, South Shields, Newport (Mon.), Liver- pool, Maryport, and Southampton. They are open without payment to seamen of all nations and creeds. The society aims at providing on the ground floor a large, well-lighted hall, supplied with newspapers, books, harmless games, writ- ing materials, etc. Lectures and entertainments are given in this room, and there is also an officers' room. A gymna- sium, with classrooms for instruction in navigation, Bible classes, etc., are a part of the scheme. The church, on the top floor, is used for mission services on week-days and Sundays, including the administration of the Lord's Supper. There is no sleeping accommodation for seamen in these institutes. That the institutes are valued is shown by the numbers frequenting them, and by the pledges against drink. It is estimated that, in the course of the year, at several of the institutes, from two to three thousand different sailors attend week-day services. " The dual insti- tute, half church and half institute, is," says Commander Dawson, "a great success. It is greatly valued by sailors as a place of refuge. We are supplementing the mission- rooms by these new buildings, in which the place of worship 176 Woman's Mission. is under the same roof as the place of recreation, the latter being the feeder of the former." The British and Foreign Seamen's Society is another of the great agencies brought to bear on seamen all over the world. It has its head-quarters in Shadwell, the East of London, its boats on the Thames, and its institutes, including Lady Ashburton's Sailors' Rest, at the Docks. Its agencies are found all over the world, as well as round the coasts of the United Kingdom. The British and Foreign Seamen's Society believes that it has a mission to sailors, large as the manifold nature of man, and wide as the sea. This society is the oldest of our sailors' societies. Its flag is borne by 249 shipmasters and fifty-four helpers on all seas. It has active relationship with eighty-three ports. In these ports are seventy-two institutes, Bethels, rests, reading-rooms, or homes, and three floating Bethels. By the munificence of Louisa, Lady Ashburton, a fine pile of buildings for the benefit of seamen has been built at the Victoria and Albert Docks, and another at the Millwall Docks, on the river Thames. These are both worked by agents of the society. The work of this society is so extensive that it is impossible to chronicle it here. The Wesleyan Army and Navy Committee have done much for the good of seamen of the Royal Navy. They have Homes at Chatham, Devonport, Pembroke, Malta, Bombay, Simon's Town, and Sydney, N.S.W. The Homes are open to all denominations, but are especially intended as a rendezvous for Wesleyans in the service. The Rev. J. Laverack, writing from Malta, says, "The Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Floriana, Malta, was established in 1871, and has remained open without charge to soldiers and sailors. Such has been its prosperity that enlargement after enlarge- ment has been necessary, and for some years it has supported itself by the profits on the business. It contains refreshment,, reading, writing, and recreation rooms, lecture-room, prayer- room, beds, baths, etc. Religious and temperance meetings are held regularly. The home is under the direction of the officiating Wesleyan chaplain. In Madeira, at Funchal, an undenominational Sailors' Rest is carried on by Mr. W. G. Smart ; it was opened in Work among Sailors. 177 1882, and three thousand men entered the Rest in one year. Mr. Smart visits all ships, English and American, and does good work. In Yokohama, Japan, the Rev. W. and Mrs. Austen have an excellent home for seamen, which is fre- quented by large numbers. Our British seamen speak warmly of the kindness and friendliness shown to them by Mr. and Mrs. Austen, who have been the means of saving numbers from destruction, moral and spiritual. The Rev. J. Shearston, of Sydney, N.S.W., has built and opened a splendid home for seamen, which is thoroughly appreciated by the men on that distant station. I might mention many others, but the limit of this paper warns me to draw to a close, or in nautical language to " pipe down." Sailors' Homes founded on broad lines, undenominational, catholic, bright, teetotal, with (if possible) a personal and motherly element pervading them, where Jack can feel free and happy, where he may smoke his pipe, play his games, read his paper, yarn with his shipmates where, if necessary, his money can be taken care of as well as himself, and where he can be won to temperance and godliness these are in- deed needed at every port all over the civilized world ; so that Jack may find friends as well as foes wherever he lands, and may be indeed the brave, true, God-fearing man that can guard his country or extend her commerce. N 178 Woman's Mission. "FRIEDENHEIM" HOME OF PEACE FOR THE DYING. BY MRS. CHARLES, Atithoress of" The Schonberg-Cotta Family" THE object of this Home is to minister to those for whose restoration to health human aid can do no more, to alleviate the last sufferings of hopeless disease, and to raise the hearts of the sufferers to the immortal hopes which Christianity reveals beyond death. Hospitals must keep to their great purpose of fighting, and if possible conquering, disease. When all hope of success in this great battle is gone, the place of the patient who can- not be restored to health, has to be yielded to another of the great multitude of sick folk always in need of healing, who may be healed. And the hopeless dying sufferer has to be sent back, in many cases, to a home where skilled nursing is impossible and suitable diet unattainable ; has to be trans- ferred from a place where every possible remedy and allevia- tion that medical science and trained nursing can invent and apply, are given with unstinted generosity, to be a burden, and often a source of infection, in the impoverished home where none of these comforts can be had, though the loving hearts there would, and do give their life-blood in wearing toil and privation to procure them. The only alternative is the workhouse infirmary, which, greatly as the management and nursing are improved, is by the mere necessity of its being open to the lowest, a hard last refuge for those who have been brought up respectably, and have resolutely struggled to keep up the comfort and sacredness of a home. " Friedenheim " Home of Peace for the Dying. 1 79 It is at this point of hopeless need that the door of this Home is opened to the sufferer. It is essentially woman's work, and seven years ago this particular kind of misery was pressed on the heart of Miss Davidson, the foundress of " Friedenheim." She started with her own funds, and opened a small house where five men and five women could be received. To this work she devoted herself entirely, herself and all she had in her power ; and with the help of friends carried it on for six years. One hundred and seventy patients were welcomed there, and of these eighty-three died in the Home, full of thankfulness for the efficient and loving care which had brightened and sustained the last hours of feeble- ness and pain. Through Miss Davidson's efforts the demand for the extension of such a work became evident to many medical men and others, who had long felt the need, and now saw it practically met. With the help of friends, Miss Davidson has purchased the lease (for fifty years) of a most suitable house in Upper Avenue Road, close to Swiss Cottage Station, in the northern outskirts of London, in which she can now receive forty patients. The house is large and airy, with lofty, sunny rooms, wide hall and staircases ; and a lift has been supplied. There is a separate wing for the staff of trained lady nurses and probationers. The large garden ensures fresh air and quiet. The men are on the first floor, the women on the next, both floors having balconies to the south ; and there is a third floor especially intended for those who have known better days, and who will be thankful to contribute according to their means. The new Home was opened on November 7, 1892, by the Duchess of Teck. It is called "Friedenheim" (Home of Peace), and those who have seen it recognize the appropriateness of the name, and what the peace is to the poor dying sufferers, of knowing they have found a haven from which they will be tossed out no more. The Home has been found especially welcome in cases of consumption which ordinary hospitals do not receive, and which even hospitals expressly intended for them, by the very nature and aim of a hospital as a place of cure, cannot retain when cure is impossible. Friedenheim is entirely supported by voluntary subscriptions. Two similar 180 Woman 1 s Mission. homes have been lately begun, suggested by it ; one in Holland, and another in London.* A brief account of a visit paid to the Home may give a clearer idea than general statements can of what it is effecting. The first characteristic that impresses you is that it is a home, and not a mere institution for temporary assistance. The fact of its having been a real home, dear to a family, tends to produce the impression. Not mere necessaries, but comfort and beauty, have been thought of in the making of it. The former owner, in giving it up for a quarter of the sum it had cost him, said he liked to think how pleased his wife would have been to know that the sunny rooms which had been so pleasant to her in her long last illness would be a comfort to others. One sees this home-like character in every arrangement ; in the neat and pretty little trays and services for the meals in bed, in the wards, kitchens, and pantries. The furniture has not been bought in quantities monotonously alike. It is a collection of gifts. One kind old gentleman, a widower, not caring to keep up his house alone, and choosing to end his days in lodgings, sent all his furniture, four van-loads, to Friedenheim ; and others have supplemented the generous gift with various things pleasant to the eye, and good for use. There are pictures in the hall, in the sitting-room of the staff-nurses, good carpets, hand- some tables and chairs, bookcases, inlaid cabinets, and in the wards comfortable easy-chairs, invalid couches, and screens. One lady in her last illness left to the Home all the appliances, bed-table, bed-rest, and other things, which had been a relief to her. There is no dull uniformity in the invalid dress, or bed-coverings, or anything. On the walls are illuminated texts, on the chimney-pieces are pictures, and photographs of those after whom some of the wards are named. Over one fireplace is the portrait of the young Duke of Clarence presented by the Princess May ; over another, in the Frederica Ward, the lovely bright face of Frederica Dunbar, the " friend " to whom the Duchess of Teck alluded * There is also a hospice for the dying in Dublin, of which a touching account is given by Mrs. Gilbert at the close of her Paper " On the Philanthropic Work of Women in Ireland." B.-C. " Friedenheim " Home of Peace for the Dying. 1 8 1 so tenderly in her speech on the opening day. The three paying wards were named after the Princess Christian and her daughters, when she visited Friedenheim privately, entering into every detail with comprehending sympathy and interest. But the real pathetic reason for this look of home in the place is from its essential nature. Those who enter there are not passing through, after a brief stay of a few weeks. They have the inexpressible sense of repose given by the knowledge that they need never go away. The weary search for fresh "letters," the fear of wearing out their welcome, or overtaxing the resources of relations or friends, are gone for ever. They are welcome here as long as they can stay, as long as they have anything to do with our poor earthly needs. They are no burden to any one. The Home is their own meant for them, made for them. The longer the feeble failing strength can be upheld, the better the devoted nurses will be pleased. Every alleviation of suffer- ing is a victory of love and patience. The skill of the trained nursing is not wasted because it is preparing for the rest and service of the Home above, instead of a return to the toil and struggle here. The ceaseless services endear patients and nurses to each other. They do not wish to part : the poor sufferers will be missed when the last tender ministry has been rendered. And need I say how the atmosphere of peace and tender- ness opens the hearts of the sufferers to comprehend the love which inspires it, to anticipate the perfect peace of the place in the Father's House that love is preparing ? Christianity, in all the unfathomable depths of its love and peace, steals softly into hearts so surrounded with its loveliest fruits. They breathe-in new faith in goodness, in happiness, in Christ the Redeemer and Healer, in the Father who "even as a father pities his children," pities each of them. The doubt of Divine goodness, the struggle with the Divine will, melt imperceptibly away. Trust, submission, acquiescence, thankfulness, peace, hope, joy, flow softly into heart after heart : those who are with them see it in the change in the worn and furrowed faces of those, for instance, who are there at this moment. In one corner of the men's ward lies a postman, one of 182 Woman s Mission. those who serve us so faithfully through cold and heat, night and day. His last journey in our service is done ; no need to struggle through another day's round. He is not too ill to find refreshment in being moved by day to an invalid couch, and there it is for him by the cosy fireside. In another corner is one whose life has been a waste of many opportunities faithfully watched over and helped by a good brother, and never despaired of through all the turns upward and falls downward ; now at last gently won back by repentance, and faith in Him Who seeks until He finds. Those in this Home would never be content unless the reproach rest on it, " This Man receiveth sinners," unless it could give restoration to the lives that have failed, as well as completion to those who have conquered. In one of the women's wards is a touching group of six. One is a servant, who said with beaming face and trembling voice, " Every comfort that heart could wish ; " having minis- tered to others, she is now tenderly ministered to herself. Another is a sick nurse, receiving what she has given to many. Her eyes are weak, and there are plans for shading them from the light. In one corner is a crippled girl of seventeen ; for six years she was well cared for in a Home for Crippled Children, where it is not possible, with justice to the other inmates, to give the care needed for the last difficult days. Another, with the delicate beauty of consumption, is propped up on her pillows, happy in being able to help for a little while by sewing at a nurse's apron. She is an orphan without any relations. She worked to the last moment in a laundry ; and when her strength failed, friends had cared for her to the extent of their power. In another ward is a young married woman who had no friends to nurse her, and whose husband had to be out all day to earn the daily bread. When she first came the bitterness of death was not on her, and there was revolt against the loss of all that was dear to her in life. But all that gently melted into trust and peace. She had a quiet nook to herself screened off, where her husband could be with her alone whenever he came. It is, indeed, no mere work of benevolence, granting what cannot in justice be refused. It is love, giving as much as it can ceaselessly on the watch, with tender inventiveness, to " Friedenheim " Home of Peace for the Dying. 183 relieve each individual pang and uneasiness. Suffering only quickens its tenderness ; sin calls out the deepest yearnings of its compassion. The Christian religion has remedies not only for those weary with the sorrows of life, but for those wounded or crippled by its sins. It meets them not only with the angels' hymn of good will to men, but with the redeeming agony, the " Father, forgive them," of the Cross. The love with which they have been loved is, indeed, love stronger than death love which abolishes death, living through death and beyond it, in the life beyond it for ever ; and, therefore, love which inspires and enables those loving Christian women to make a home for the dying. 184 Woman's Mission. 'SICK-NURSING AND HEALTH-NURSING. BY FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. I. A NEW art and a new science has been created since and within the last forty years. And with it a new profession so they say ; we say, calling. One would think this had been created or discovered for some new want or local want. Not so. The want is nearly as old as the world, nearly as large as the world, as pressing as life or death. It is that of sickness. And the art is that of nursing the sick. Please m ark nursing the sick ; not nursing sickness. We will call the art nursing proper. This is generally practised by women under scientific heads physicians and surgeons. This is one of the distinctions between nursing proper and medicine, though a very famous and successful physician did say, when asked how he treated pneumonia : " I do not treat pneumonia, I treat the person who has pneumonia." This is the reason why nursing proper can only be taught by the patient's bed- side, and in the sick-room or ward. Neither can it be taught by lectures or by books, though these are valuable accessories, if used as such ; otherwise what is in the book stays in the book. II. But since God did not mean mothers to be always accompanied by doctors, there is a want older still and larger still. And a new science has also been created to meet it, but not the accompanying art, as far as households are concerned, families, schools, workshops ; though it is an art which con- cerns every family in the world, which can only be taught from the home in the home. This is the art of health, which every mother, girl, mistress, teacher, child's nurse, every woman ought practically to learn. Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 185 But she is supposed to know it all by instinct, like a bird. Call it health-nursing or general nursing what you please. Upon womankind the national health, as far as the household goes, depends. She must recognize the laws of life, the laws of health, as the nurse proper must recognize the laws of sickness, the causes of sickness, the symptoms of the disease, or the symptoms, it may be, not of the disease, but of the nursing, bad or good. It is the want of the art of health, then, of the cultivation of health, which has only lately been discovered ; and great organizations have been made to meet it, and a whole litera- ture created. We have medical officers of health ; immense sanitary works. We have not nurses, " missioners " of health-at-home. How to bring these great medical officers to bear on the families, the homes and households, and habits of the people, rich as well as poor, has not been discovered, although family comes before Acts of Parliament. One would think " family " had no health to look after. And woman, the great mistress of family life, by whom everybody is born, has not been practically instructed at all. Everything has come before health. We are not to look after health, but after sickness. Well, we are to be convinced of error before we are convinced of right ; the discovery of sin comes before the discovery of righteousness, we are told on the highest authority. Though everybody must be born, there is probably no knowledge more neglected than this, nor more important for the great mass of women, viz. how to feed, wash, and clothe the baby, and how to secure the utmost cleanliness for mother and infant. Midwives certainly neither practise nor teach it. And I have even been informed that many lady doctors consider that they have " nothing to do with the baby," and that they should "lose caste with the men doctors" if they attempted it. One would have thought that the " ladies " " lost caste " with themselves for not doing it, and that it was the veiy reason why we wished for the " lady doctors," for them to assume these cares which touch the very health of everybody from the beginning. But I have known the most admirable exceptions to this most cruel rule. 1 86 Woman s Mission. I know of no systematic teaching, for the ordinary midwife or the ordinary mother, how to keep' the baby in health, certainly the most important function to make a healthy nation. The human baby is not an invalid ; but it is the most tender form of animal life. This is only one, but a supremely important instance of the want of health-nursing. III. As the discovery of error comes before that of right, both in order and in fact, we will take first: (a) Sickness, nursing the sick ; training needful ; () Health, nursing the well at home ; practical teaching needful. We will then refer to (IV.) some dangers to which nurses are subject ; (V.) the benefit of combination ; and (VI.) our hopes for the future. What is sickness ? Sickness or disease is Nature's way of getting rid of the effects of conditions which have interfered with health. It is Nature's attempt to cure. We have to help her. Diseases are, practically speaking, adjectives, not noun substantives. What is health ? Health is not only to be well, but to be able to use well every power we have. What is nursing ? Both kinds of nursing are to put us in the best possible conditions for Nature to restore or to preserve health to prevent or to cure disease or injury. Upon nursing proper, under scientific heads, physicians or surgeons, must depend partly, perhaps mainly, whether Nature succeeds or fails in her attempts to cure by sickness. Nursing proper is therefore to help the patient suffering from disease to live just as health-nursing is to keep or put the constitution of the healthy child or human being in such a state as to have no disease. What is training? Training is to teach the nurse to help the patient to live. Nursing the sick is an art, and an art requiring an organized, practical, and scientific training ; for nursing is the skilled servant of medicine, surgery, and hygiene. A good nurse of twenty years ago had not to do the twentieth part of what she is required by her physician or surgeon to do now ; and so, after the year's training, she must be still training under instruction in her first and even second year's hospital service. The physician prescribes for supplying the vital force, but the nurse supplies it. Training Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 187 is to teach the nurse how God makes health, and how He makes disease. Training is to teach a nurse to know her business, that is, to observe exactly, to understand, to know exactly, to do, to tell exactly, in such stupendous issues as life and death, health and disease. Training has to make her, not servile, but loyal to medical orders and authorities. True loyalty to orders cannot be without the independent sense or energy of responsibility, which alone secures real trustworthiness. Training is to teach the nurse how to handle the agencies within our control which restore health and life, in strict, intelligent obedience to the physician's or surgeon's power and knowledge ; how to keep the health mechanism prescribed to her in gear. Training must show her how the effects on life of nursing may be calculated with nice precision, such care or carelessness, such a sick-rate, such a duration of case, such a death-rate. What is discipline? Discipline is the essence of moral training. The best lady-trainer of probationer nurses I know says, " It is education, instruction, training all that, in fact, goes to the full development of our faculties, moral, physical, and spiritual, not only for this life, but looking on this life as the training-ground for the future and higher life. Then discipline embraces order, method ; and as we gain some knowledge of the laws of Nature (' God's laws '), we not only see order, method, a place for everything, each its own work, but we find no waste of material or force or space ; we find, too, no hurry, and we learn to have patience with our circum- stances and ourselves ; and so, as we go on learning, we become more disciplined, more content to work where we are placed, more anxious to fill our appointed work than to see the result thereof. And so God, no doubt, gives us the required patience and steadfastness to continue in our ' blessed drudgery/ which is the discipline He sees best for most of us." What makes a good training-school for nurses ? The most favourable conditions for the administration of the hospital are : First. A good lay administration with a chief executive officer, a civilian (be he called treasurer or permanent chair- man of committee), with power delegated to him by the committee, who gives his time. This is the main thing. 1 88 W&mcwis Mission. With a consulting committee, meeting regularly, of business men, taking the opinions of the medical officers. The medical officers on the committee must be only consulting medical officers, not executive. If the latter, they have often to judge in their own case, which is fatal. Doctors are not necessarily administrators (the executive), any more than the executive are necessarily doctors. Vest the charge of financial matters and general supervision, and the whole administration of the hospital or infirmary, in the board or committee acting through the permanent chairman or other officer who is re- sponsible to that board or committee. Secondly. A strong body of medical officers, visiting and resident, and a medical school. Thirdly. The government of hospitals in the point of view of the real responsibility for the conduct and discipline of the nurses being thrown upon the matron (superintendent of nurses), who is herself a trained nurse, and the real head of all the female staff of the hospital. Vest the whole respon- sibility for nursing, internal management, for discipline and training of nurses in this one female head of the nursing staff, whatever called. She should be herself responsible directly to the constituted hospital authorities, and all her nurses and servants should, in the performance of their duties, be respon- sible, in matters of conduct and discipline, to her only. No good ever comes of the constituted authorities placing them- selves in the office which they have sanctioned her occupying. No good ever comes of any one interfering between the head of the nursing establishment and her nurses. It is fatal to discipline. Without such discipline the main object of the whole hospital organization, viz. to carry out effectively the orders of the physicians and surgeons with regard to the treatment of the patients, will not be attained. Having then, as a basis, a well-organized hospital, we re- quire, as further conditions: (l) a special organization for tJie purpose of training, that is, where systematic technical training is given in the wards to the probationers ; where it is the business of the ward " sisters " to train them, to keep records of their progress, to take " stock " of them ; where the pro- bationers are not set down in the wards to " pick up " as they can. (2) A good " home " for the probationers in the Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 189 hospital, where they learn moral discipline for technical training is only half the battle, perhaps less than half where the probationers are steadily "mothered" by a "home" sister (class mistress). (3) Staff of training school, (a) A trained matron over all, who is not only a housekeeper, but distinctly the head and superintendent of the nursing, (b} A " home " sister (assistant superintendent) making the " home " a real home to the probationers, giving them classes, disciplining their life, (c) Ward Sisters (head nurses of wards) who have been trained in the school to a certain degree permanent, that is, not constantly changing. For they are the key to the whole situation, matron influencing through them nurses (day and night), probationers, ward-maids, patients. For, after all, the hospital is for the good of the patients, not for the good of the nurses. And the patients are not there to teach probationers upon. Rather, probationers had better not be there at all, unless they understand that they are there for the patients, and not for themselves. There should be an entente cordiale between matron, assistant matrons, "home" sister, and whatever other female head there is, with frequent informal meetings, ex- changing information, or there can be no unity in training. Nursing proper means, besides giving the medicines and stimulants prescribed, or the surgical appliances, the proper use of fresh air (ventilation), light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper choosing and giving of diet, all at the least expense of vital power to the sick. And so health-at-home nursing means exactly the same proper use of the same natural elements, with as much life-giving power as possible to the healthy. We have awakened, though still far from the mark, to the need of training or teaching for nursing proper. But while a large part of so-called civilization has been advancing in direct opposition to the laws of health, we uncivilized persons, the women, in whose hands rests the health of babies, household health, still persevere in thinking health something that grows of itself (as Topsy said, "God made me so long, and I grow'd the rest myself"), while we don't take the same care of human health as we do of that of our igo Woman s Mission. plants, which, we know very well, perish in the rooms, dark and close, to which we too often confine human beings, especially in their sleeping-roorns and workshops. The life-duration of babies is the most " delicate test " of health conditions. What is the proportion of the whole population of cities or country which dies before it is five years old? We have tons of printed knowledge on the subject of hygiene and sanitation. The causes of enormous child mortality are perfectly well known ; they are chiefly want of cleanliness, want of fresh air, careless dieting and clothing, want of white-washing, dirty feather-beds and bedding in one word, want of household care of health. The remedies are just as well known ; but how much of this know- ledge has been brought into the homes and households and habits of the people, poor or even rich ? Infection, germs, and the like are now held responsible as carriers of disease. " Mystic rites/' such as disinfection and antiseptics, take the place of sanitary measures and hygiene. The true criterion of ventilation, for instance, is to step out of the bedroom or sick-room in the morning into the open air. If on returning to it you feel the least sensation of closeness, the ventilation has not been enough, and that room has been unfit for either sick or well to sleep in. Here is the natural test provided for the evil. The laws of God the laws of life are always conditional, always inexorable. But neither mothers, nor schoolmistresses, nor nurses of children are practically taught how to work within those laws, which God has assigned to the relations of our bodies with the world in which He has put them. In other words, we do not study, we do not practise the laws which make these bodies, into which He has put our minds, healthy or unhealthy organs of those minds ; we do not practise how to give our children healthy existences. It would be utterly unfair to lay all the fault upon us women, none upon the buildings, drains, water-supply. There are millions of cottages, more of town dwellings, even of the rich, where it is utterly impossible to have fresh air. As for the workshops, workpeople should remember that health is their only capital, and they should come to an understanding among themselves not only to have the means, Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 191 but to use the means to secure pure air in their places of work, which is one of the prime agents of health. This would be worth a " Trades Union," almost worth a strike. And the crowded National or Board School in it how many children's epidemics have their origin ! And the great school dormitories ! Scarlet fever and measles would be no more ascribed to " current contagion," or to " something being much about this year," but to its right cause ; nor would "plague and pestilence" be said to be "in God's hands," when, so far as we know, He has put them into our own. The chief "epidemic" that reigns this year is "folly." You must form public opinion. The generality of officials will only do what you make them. You, the public, must make them do what you want. But while public opinion, or the voice of the people, is somewhat awake to the building and drainage question, it is not at all awake to teaching mothers and girls practical hygiene. Where, then, is the remedy for this ignorance ? Health in the home can only be learnt from the home and in the home. Some eminent medical officers, referring to ambulance lectures, nursing lectures, the fashionable hygienic lectures of the day, have expressed the opinion that we do no more than play with our subject when we "sprinkle" lectures over the community, as that kind of teaching is not instruction, and can never be education ; that as medicine and surgery can, like nursing, only be properly .taught and properly learnt in the sick-room and by the patient's side, so sanitation can only be properly taught and properly learned in the home and house. Some attempts have been made practically to realize this, to which subsequent reference will be made. Wise men tell us that it is expecting too much to suppose that we shall do any real good by giving a course of lectures on selected subjects in medicine, anatomy, physiology, and other such cognate subjects, all " watered down " to suit the public palate, which is really the sort of thing one tries to do in that kind of lectures. It is surely not enough to say, "The people are much interested in the lecture." The point is, Did they practise the lecture in their own homes afterwards ? did they really apply- 192 Women's Mission. themselves to household health and the means of improving it ? Is anything better worth practising for mothers than the health of their families ? The work we are speaking of has nothing to do with nursing disease, but with maintaining health by removing the things which disturb it, which have been summed up in the population in general as "dirt, drink, diet, damp, draughts, drains." But in fact the people do not believe in sanitation as affecting health, as preventing disease. They think it is a "fad" of the doctors and rich people. They believe in catching cold and in infection, catching complaints from each other, but not from foul earth, bad air, or impure water. May not some remedy be found for these evils by direct- ing the attention of the public to the training of health- nurses, as has already been done with regard to the training of sick-nurses ? The scheme before referred to for health-at-home nursing has arisen in connection with the newly-constituted adminis- tration of counties in England, by which the local authority of the county (County Council) has been invested by Act of Parliament with extended sources of income applicable to the teaching of nursing and sanitary knowledge, in addition to the powers which they already possessed for sanitary inspection and the prevention of infectious diseases. This scheme is framed for rural districts, but the general principles are also applicable to urban populations, though, where great numbers are massed together, a fresh set of difficulties must be met, and different treatment be necessary. The scheme contemplates the training of ladies, so-called health missioners, so as to qualify them to give instruction to village mothers in: (i) The sanitary condition of the person, clothes and bedding, and house. (2) The manage- ment of health of adults, women before and after confine- ments, infants and children. The teaching by the health missioners would be given by lectures in the villages, followed by personal instruction by way of conversation with the mothers in their own homes, and would be directed to : (i) The condition of the homes themselves in a sanitary point of view ; (2) the essential principles of keeping the body in Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 193 health, with reference to the skin, the circulation, and the digestion ; and (3) instruction as to what to do in cases of emergency or accident before the doctor comes, and with reference to the management of infants and children. In the addendum to this paper will be found a scheme for training health-at-home missioners, a syllabus of lectures given by the medical officer to the health missioners, and a syllabus of health lectures given by the health missioners to village mothers. IV. Dangers. After only a generation of nursing arise the dangers : ( i ) Fashion on the one side, and its conse- quent want of earnestness. (2) Mere money-getting on the other. Woman does not live by wages alone. (3) Making nursing a profession, and not a calling. What is it to feel a calling for anything ? Is it not to do our work in it to satisfy the high idea of what is the right, the best, and not because we shall be found out if we don't do it ? This is the " enthusiasm " which every one, from a shoemaker to a sculptor, must have in order to follow his " calling " properly. Now, the nurse has to do not with shoes or with marble, but with living human beings. How, then, to keep up the high tone of a calling, to " make your calling and election sure " ? By fostering that bond of sympathy (esprit de corps] which community of aims and of action in good work induces. A common nursing home in the hospital for hospital nurses and for probationer nurses ; a common home for private nurses during intervals of engagements, whether attached to a hospital, or separate ; a home for district nurses (wherever possible), where four or five can live together ; all homes under loving, trained, moral, and religious, as well as technical, superintendence, such as to keep up the tone of the inmates with constant supply of all material wants and constant sympathy. Man cannot live by bread alone, still less woman. Wages is not the only question, but high home-helps. The want of these is more especially felt among private nurses. The development in recent years of trained private nursing, z>. of nursing one sick or injured person at a time at home, is astonishing. But not less astonishing the want of knowledge of what training is, and, indeed, of what O 194 Woman's Mission. woman is. The danger is that the private nurse may become an irresponsible nomad. She has no home. There can be no esprit de corps if the " corps " is an indistinguishable mass of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women unknown to her, except, perhaps, by a name in a register. All community of feeling and higher tone absents itself. And too often the only aim left is to force up wages. Absence of the nursing home is almost fatal to keeping up to the mark. Night nurses even in hospitals, and even district nurses (another branch of trained nursing of the sick poor without alms- giving, which has developed recently),* and, above all, private nurses, deteriorate if they have no esprit de corps, no com- mon home under wise and loving supervision for intervals between engagements. What they can get in holidays, in comforts, in money, these good women say themselves, is an increasing danger to many. In private nursing the nurse is sometimes spoilt, sometimes " put upon," sometimes both. In the last few years, private trained nursing, district trained nursing, have, as has been said, gained immeasurably in importance, and with it how to train, how to govern (in the sense of keeping up to the highest attainable in tone and character, as well as in technical training), must gain also immeasurably in importance, must constitute almost a new starting-point. Nursing may cease to be a calling in any better sense than millinery is. To have a life of freedom, with an interesting employment, for a few years to do as little as you can and amuse yourself as much as you can, is possibly a danger pressing on. (4) There is another danger, perhaps the greatest of all. It is also a danger which grows day by day. It is this : as literary education and colleges for women to teach literary work start and multiply and improve, some, even of the very best women, believe that everything can be taught by book and lecture, and tested by examination that memory is the great step to excellence. Can you teach horticulture or agriculture by books, e.g. describing the different manures, artificial and natural, and their purposes ? The being able to know every clod, and adapt the appropriate manure to it, is the real thing. Could * See Addendum. Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 195 you teach painting by giving, e.g., Fuseli's " Lectures " ? Fuseli himself said, when asked how he mixed his colours, " With brains, sir " that is, practice guided by brains. But you have another, a quite other sort of a thing to do with nursing ; for you have to do with living bodies and living minds, and feelings of both body and mind. It is said that you give examinations and certificates to plumbers, engineers, etc. But it is impossible to compare nurses with plumbers, or carpenters, or engineers, or even with gardeners. The main, the tremendous difference is that nurses have to do with these living bodies and no less living minds ; for the life is not vegetable life, nor mere animal life, but it is human life with living, that is, conscious forces, not electric or gravitation forces, but human forces. If you examine at all, you must examine all day long, current examination, current supervision, as to what the nurse is doing with this double, this damaged life entrusted to her. The physician or surgeon gives his orders, generally his conditional orders, perhaps once or twice a day, perhaps not even that. The nurse has to carry them out, with intelligence of conditions, every minute of the twenty-four hours. The nurse must have method, self-sacrifice, watchful activity, love of the work, devotion to duty (that is, the service of the good), the courage, the coolness of the soldier, the tenderness of the mother, the absence of the prig (that is, never thinking that she has attained perfection or that there is nothing better). She must have a threefold interest in her work an intellectual interest in the case, a (much higher) hearty interest in the patient, a technical (practical) interest in the patient's care and cure. She must not look upon patients as made for nurses, but upon nurses as made for patients. There may also now I only say may with all this depend- ence on literary lore in nurse-training, be a real danger of being satisfied with diagnosis, or with looking too much at the pathology of the case, without cultivating the resource or intelligence for the thousand and one means of mitigation, even where there is no cure. And never, never let the nurse forget that she must look for the fault of the nursing, as much as for the fault of the disease, in the symptoms of the patient. 196 Woman s Mission. (5) Forty or fifty years ago a hospital was looked upon as a box to hold patients in. The first question never was, Will the hospital do them no harm ? Enormous strides have had to be made to build and arrange hospitals so as to do the patients no sanitary or insanitary harm. Now there is danger of a hospital being looked upon as a box to train nurses in. Enormous strides must be made not to do them harm, to give them something that can really be called an " all-round " training. Can it be possible that a testimonial or certificate of three years' so-called training or service from a hospital any hospital with a certain number of beds can be accepted as sufficient to certify a nurse for a place in a public register ? As well might we not take a certificate from any garden of a certain number of acres, that plants are certified valuable if they have been three years in the garden. (6) Another danger that is, stereotyping, not progress- ing. " No system can endure that does not march." Are we walking to the future or to the past ? Are we progressing or are we stereotyping ? We remember that we have scarcely crossed the threshold of uncivilized civilization in nursing : there is still so much to do. Don't let us stereo- type mediocrity. To sum up the dangers : i. On one side, fashion, and want of earnestness not making it a life, but a mere interest consequent on this. ii. On the other side, mere money-getting ; yet man does not live by bread alone, still less woman. iii. Making it a profession, and not a calling. Not making your " calling and election sure ; " wanting, especially with private nurses, the community of feeling of a common nursing home,* pressing towards the "mark of your high calling," keeping up the moral tone. iv. Above all, danger of making it book-learning and lectures not an apprenticeship, a workshop practice. v. Thinking that any hospital with a certain number of beds may be a box to train nurses in, regardless of the * In the United States it is probable that private nurses are of higher edu- cation than in England. On the other hand, they have the doubtful dignity of graduates. Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 197 conditions essential to a sound hospital organization, especially the responsibility of the female head for the conduct and discipline of the nurses. vi. Imminent danger of stereotyping instead of progress- ing. " No system can endure that does not march." Objects of registration not capable of being gained by a public register. Who is to guarantee our guarantors ? Who is to make the inquiries ? You might as well register mothers as nurses. A good nurse must be a good woman. V. The health of the unity is the health of the com- munity. Unless you have the health of the unity there is no community health. Competition, or each man for himself, and the devil against us all, may be necessary, we are told, but it is the enemy of health. Combination is the antidote combined interests, recreation, combination to secure the best air, the best food, and all that makes life useful, healthy, and happy. There is no such thing as independence. As far as we are successful, our success lies in combination. The Chicago Exhibition is a great combination from all parts of the world to prove the dependence of man on man. What a lesson in combination the United States have taught to the whole world, and are teaching ! In all departments of life there is no apprenticeship except in the workshop. No theories, no book-learning can ever dispense with this or be useful for anything, except as a stepping-stone. And rather more, than for anything else, is this true for health. Book-learning is useful only to render the practical health of the health workshop intelligent, so that every stroke of work done there should be felt to be an illustration of what has been learnt elsewhere a driving home, by an experience not to be forgotten, what has been gained by knowledge too easily forgotten. Look for the ideal, but put it into the actual. " Not by vague exhortations, but by striving to turn beliefs into energies that would work in all the details " of health. The superstitions of centuries, the bad habits of generations, cannot be cured by lecture, book, or examination. VI. May our hopes be that, as every year the technical qualifications constituting a skilful and observing nurse meet 198 Woman's Mission. with more demands on her from the physicians and surgeons, progress may be made year by year, and that, not only in technical things, but in the qualifications which constitute a good and trustworthy woman, without which she cannot be a good nurse. Examination papers, examinations, public registration, graduation, form little or no test of these quali- fications. The least educated governess, who may not be a good nurse at all, may, and probably will, come off best in examination papers ; while the best nurse may come off worst. May we hope that the nurse may understand more and more of the moral and material government of the world by the Supreme Moral Governor, higher, better, holier than her " own acts," that government which enwraps her round, and by which her own acts must be led, with which her'own acts must agree in their due proportion, in order that this, the highest hope of all, may be hers ; raising her above, i.e. putting beneath her, dangers, fashions, mere money- getting, solitary money-getting, but availing herself of the high helps that may be given her by the sympathy and support of good " homes ; " raising her above intrusive per- sonal mortifications, pride in her own proficiency (she may have a just pride in her own doctors and training-school), sham, and clap-trap ; raising her to the highest " grade " of all to be a fellow-worker with the Supreme Good, with God ! That she may be a " graduate " in this, how high ! that she may be a "graduate " in words, not realities, how low ! We are only on the threshold of nursing. In the future, which I shall not see, for I am old, may a better way be opened ! May the methods by which every infant, every human being, will have the best chance of health the methods by which every sick person will have the best chance of recovery, be learned and practised ! Hospitals are only an intermediate stage of civilization, never intended, at all events, to take in the whole sick population. May we hope that the day will come when every mother will become a health-nurse, when every poor sick person will have the opportunity of a share in a district sick-nurse at home ! But it will not be out of a register ; the nurse will not be a stereotyped one. We find a trace of nursing here, Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 199 another there ; we find nothing like a nation, or race, or class who know how to provide the elementary conditions demanded for the recovery of their sick, whose mothers know how to bring up their infants for health. May we hope that, when we are all dead and gone, leaders will arise who have been personally experienced in the hard, practical work, the difficulties and the joys of organizing nursing reforms, and who will lead far beyond anything we have done ! May we hope that every nurse will be an atom in the hierarchy of the ministers of the Highest ! But then she must be in her place in the hierarchy, not alone, not an atom in the indistinguishable mass of the thousands of nurses. High hopes, which will not be deceived ! ADDENDUM. DISTRICT NURSING. It is necessary to say a word about district nursing, with its dangers like private nursing, and its danger of almsgiving. District nurses nurse the sick poor by visiting them in their own homes, not giving their whole time to one case, not residing in the house. They supply skilled nursing without almsgiving, which is incompatible with the duties of a skilled nurse, and which too often pauperizes the patient or the patient's family. They work under the doctor, who, however, rarely comes more than once a day, if so often. The district nurse must be clinical clerk, and keep notes for him, and dresser as well as nurse. She must, besides, nurse the room often in towns the family's only room that is, put it in good nursing order, as to ventilation, cleanliness, cheerfulness for recovery ; teach the family, the neighbour, or the eldest child to keep it so ; report sanitary defects to the proper authority. If the patient is the wage-earner, and the case is not essen- tially one for the hospital, she often thus prevents the whole family from being broken up, and saves them from the work- house. If essentially a case for the hospital, she promotes its going there. Though the district nurse gives nothing herself, she knows, or ought to know, all the local agencies by whom indispen- 2OO Woman's Mission. sable wants may be supplied, and who are able to exercise a proper discrimination as to the actual needs. Having few or no hospital appliances at her disposal, she must be ingenious in improvising them. She must, in fact, be even more accomplished and respon- sible than a nurse in a hospital. She may take, perhaps, eight cases a day, but must never mix up infectious or midwifery nursing with others. She must always have the supervision of a trained superior. She should, whenever possible, live in a nursing home with other district nurses, under a trained super- intendent, not in a lodging by herself, providing for herself, and so wasting her powers and deteriorating. This is, of course, difficult to manage in the country, and especially in a sparsely populated country, e.g. like Scotland. Still approxi- mations may be made ; e.g. periodical inspection may take the place of continuous supervision. She also should be a health missioner as well as a sick-nurse. HEALTH-NURSE TRAINING. The scheme for health-at-home training and teaching to health missioners may be summarized as follows : (1) A rural medical officer of health selected by the proper local authority for his fitness and experience. (2) Lectures to be given by the rural officer of health to ladies desirous of becoming health missioners, and others. This course, not less than fifteen lectures, to include elementary physiology ; that is, an explanation of the organs of the body, how each affects the health of the body, and how each can be kept in order, a summary, in fact, of the science of hygiene, framed to give the scientific basis on which popular familiar village teaching is to be founded. (3) Further instruction by the lecturer to those who wish to. qualify themselves as health missioners, both by oral instruction and papers. (4) Instruction by the medical officer to those who attend the classes, by taking them into the villages to visit the cottages, and showing them what to observe and how to visit. (5) Selection by the medical officer of a certain number of candidates as qualified to be examined for health Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 201 missioners. These qualifications are good character, good health, personal fitness for teaching, and tact in making herself acceptable to the village mothers. (6) Examination of the candidates by an independent examiner appointed by the local authority ; one who is familiar with the conditions of rural and village life, who then, in conjunction with the medical officer, recommends the candidates who have satisfied them both, to the local authority, and the latter appoints as many as are required. (/) The health missioners are appointed to districts con- sisting each of a number of small villages grouped with a larger one, or the market town. Over these there is a district committee, which is represented on the local authority. Each village has a local committee, represented on the district committee. The local committee makes arrangements for the lectures by the health missioner, and makes the necessary arrangements for receiving her. (8) The health missioner works under the supervision of the medical officer of health, who as often as possible intro- duces her to the village in the first instance, and he makes it his business to inquire into the practical results of her work. (9) The lectures are delivered in simple, homely language. The lecturer aims at making friends with the women, and, by afterwards visiting them at their own homes, endeavours practically to exemplify in their houses the teaching of the lectures. (10) After a health missioner has become settled in a district she will then be able to receive a probationer, who, while attending the medical officer's lectures and classes, will find time to accompany the health missioner in her round of visiting. SYLLABUS OF LECTURES TO HEALTH MISSIONERS. I. Sanitary condition of the (i) Person; (2) Clothes and Bedding; (3) House. II. Management of Health of (i) Adults; (2) Women before and after Confinements ; (3) Infants and Children. I. Sanitary condition of (i) Person. Care of the whole body; cleanliness of the skin ; hair and hair-brushes ; teeth and tooth-brushes ; simplest appliances sufficient 2O2 Woman s Mission. with knowledge ; large vessels and much water not indispensable for daily cleansing (though in some cases a bath and much scrubbing with soap are absolutely necessary) ; advantages of friction of the skin ; the body the main source of defilement of the air, and the most essential thing to keep clean. (2) Clothes and Bedding. Clothes to be warm, light, and loose, no pressure anywhere ; danger of wearing dirty clothes next the skin ; reabsorption of poison cast out by the body ; danger of wearing the same underclothing day and night ; importance of airing clothes and bedding ; hanging out non-washing clothes in sunshine ; infection stored up in old clothes and bedding ; danger of using damp sheets and damp underlinen ; bed reform ; feather-beds should be picked, and the tick washed every year. (3) House. How to choose a healthy dwelling aspect, situation, not to be in a hole ; fogs in valleys ; good foundations ; value of sunshine and wind ; look after water and air and all that poisons them ; you must swallow the air in your house; fresh air will do, even with poor food (well cooked), but the best food will not make up for the absence of fresh air. What sanitary authorities to appeal to in the country about drains, water, sewage, privies, etc. ; plumbing, traps, what shows a trap to be unsafe ; best disinfectants cleanliness, clean hands, fresh air. Ventilation in bedrooms ; poisonous air in close bedrooms at night ; bad smells as danger-signals ; danger of overcrowding sleeping-rooms ; danger of dust, dirt, and damp ; how to make the beds ; how to clean the floors, walls, bedroom crockery, kitchen pots and pans ; foul floors a source of danger ; bricks porous ; interstices between boards may become filled with decaying matter ; dangerous to sluice with much water, wipe with a damp cloth, and rub with a dry one ; clean wall papers, not put up over old dirty ones ; merits of whitewash ; effect of direct sunlight ; danger of uninhabited rooms ; the genteel parlour, chilling to the bone, kept for company ; danger of dirty milk pans and jugs, kitchen tables, chopping-blocks, etc. ; water hard and soft see that it is water, not water plus sewage ; that milk is milk not milk plus water plus sewage. II. Management of Health of (1) Adults. Diet ; influence of sex, age, climate, occupation, variety ; animal food, vegetable food ; milk, butter, cheese, eggs, etc. ; effects of insufficient food, of unwholesome food, food insufficiently cooked ; danger of diseased meat, of decaying fish, meat, fruit, and of unripe fruit and vegetables ; spread of disease through milk ; chills, constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion, ruptures, rheumatism, gathered fingers, etc. (2) Women before and after Confinements. Diet, fresh air, cheerful- ness ; danger of blood-poisoning by lying-in on dirty feather-beds. (3) Infants and Children. Nursing, weaning, hand- feeding; regular intervals between feeding ; flatulence, thrush, convulsions, bronchitis, croup ; simple hints to mothers about healthy conditions for children : cleanliness ; food ; what to give to prevent constipation or diarrhoea ; danger of giving children alcohol or narcotics ; danger of a heavy head- covering to a child while bones of skull still open ; deadliness of soothing syrups ; how to recognize the symptoms of coming illness in body and Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 203 mind fever, hip disease, curvature of the spine, indigestion, sleepless- ness, drowsiness, headache, peevishness, etc. What to do till the Doctor comes If clothes catch fire, or for burns, scalds, bites, cuts, stings, injuries to the head ; swallowing fruit-stones, pennies, pins, etc. After the Doctor has left How to take care of convalescents ; how to feed ; danger of chills ; overwork at school, etc. SYLLABUS OF HEALTH LECTURES, Given by the Health Missioners to Village Mothers. I. OUR HOMES. 1. The Bedroom. 2. The Kitchen and Parlour. 3. The Back Yard and Garden. II. OURSELVES. 4. The Skin, and how to keep the body clean Washing. 5. The Circulation, and how to keep the body warm Clothes. 6. The Digestion, and how to nourish the body Food. III. EXTRA LECTURES. 7. What to do till the Doctor comes, and after the Doctor has left. 8. Management of Infants and Children. LECTURE I. THE BEDROOM. (a) Introductory Busy life of cottage mothers ; why they should come to classes ; preventable illnesses ; the mothers should ask questions, and help the lecturers by relating their own experiences ; proposed plan of the lecturers. () Bedroom, What we want to get into a bedroom ; what we want to get out of a bedroom ; sunshine its effect on health ; fresh air difference between clean air and foul air ; an unaired bedroom is a box of bad air ; ventilation near the ceiling ; fireplace no chimney-boards. (c) Furniture of bedroom : the bed and bedding ; walls ; carpet ; airing of room during the day ; cleansing of bedroom crockery ; danger of unemptied slops ; how to get rid of dust washing of floors ; vermin ; damp ; lumber ; fresh air and sunshine in the bedroom by day promote sleep by night. LECTURE II. THE KITCHEN AND PARLOUR. Kitchen. Danger from refuse of food ; grease in all the rough parts of kitchen table and chopping-block crumbs and scraps in interstices of floor remains of sour milk in saucepans, jugs ; all refuse poisons the air, spoils fresh food, and attracts vermin, rats, beetles, etc. ; bricks porous ; dangerous to sluice with too much water ; water for cooking, whence obtained often water plus sewage ; milk easily injured often milk plus 204 Woman s Mission. water plus sewage ; how to clean kitchen table, crockery, pots and pans ; how to keep milk cool ; danger of dirty sink. Parlour. Danger of uninhabited rooms without sunlight and fresh air ; genteel parlour chilling to the bone ; clean papers not to be put over dirty ones ; tea-leaves for sweeping carpets. LECTURE III. THE BACK YARD AND GARDEN. Back Yard. Where are slops emptied ? slops to be poured slowly down a drain, not hastily thrown down to make a pool round the drain ; gratings of drain to be kept clean, and passage free ; soil round the house kept pure, that pure air may come in at the window ; danger of throwing bedroom slops out of window ; no puddles allowed to stand round walls ; privy refuse to be got into the soil as soon as possible ; danger of cesspools ; well and pump ; wells are upright drains, so soil round them should be pure ; bad smells danger-signals ; pigsties, moss-litter to absorb liquid manure, cheap and profitable ; danger from pools of liquid manure making the whole soil foul. LECTURE IV. THE SKIN, AND HOW TO KEEP THE BODY CLEAN. The Skin. Simple account of functions of skin : as a covering to the body ; beauty dependent on healthy state of skin ; use of the skin as throwing out waste matter ; dangers of a choked skin ; how and when to wash ; care of whole body ; teeth sad suffering by their neglect ; hair and hair-brushes ; large vessels and much water not indispensable for daily cleansing ; advantages of a bath ; friction of the skin ; not babies only, but men and women, require daily washing ; the body the source of defilement of the air. LECTURE V. THE CIRCULATION, AND HOW TO KEEP THE BODY WARM. Clothes. Simple account of how the heart and lungs act ; clothes to be warm and loose, no pressure ; test for tight-lacing, if measurement round the waist is more with the clothes off than when stays are worn ; danger of dirty clothes next the skin reabsorption of poison ; danger of wearing the same clothes day and night ; best materials for clothing ; why flannel is so valuable ; danger of sitting in wet clothes and boots ; too little air causes more chills than too much ; the body not easily chilled when warm and well clothed. LECTURE VI. THE DIGESTION, AND HOW TO NOURISH THE BODY. Food. Simple account of how food is digested and turned into blood Worse food (well cooked) and fresh air better than best food without fresh air ; diet, not medicine, ensures health ; uses of animal and of vegetable food ; danger of all ill-cooked and half-cooked food ; nourishing value of vegetables and whole-meal bread ; danger of too little food and too much at the wrong times ; dangers of uncooked meat, especially pork, diseased meat, decaying fish, unripe and overripe fruit, and stewed tea; vital importance of cooked fruit for children, stewed apples and pears, damsons, Sick-nursing and Health-nursing. 205 blackberries ; value of milk as food ; influence of diet upon constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion, convulsions in children ; small changes of diet promote appetite and health. LECTURE VII. WHAT TO DO TILL THE DOCTOR COMES, AND AFTER THE DOCTOR HAS LEFT. Small Treatment. Grave danger of being one's own doctor, of taking quack medicines, or a medicine which has cured some one else in quite a different case ; liquid food only to be given till the doctor comes ; danger-signals of illness, and how to recognize them ; hourly dangers of ruptures if not completely supported by trusses ; what to do if clothes catch fire ; and for burns, scalds, bites, cuts, stings, injuries to the head and to the eye, swallowing fruit-stones, pins, etc. ; simple rules to avoid infection. After the doctor has left How to take care of convalescents ; how to feed ; when to keep rooms dark, and when to admit plenty of light ; danger of chills. LECTURE VIII. MANAGEMENT OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN. Infants and Children. Nursing, weaning, hand-feeding, regular intervals between feeding; flatulence, thrush, convulsions, bronchitis, croup ; simple hints to mothers about healthy conditions for children : Baths ; diet ; how to prevent constipation and diarrhoea ; what to do in sudden attacks of convulsions and croup ; deadly danger of giving soothing syrups or alcohol ; headache often caused by bad eyesight ; symptoms of overwork at school headache, worry, talking in the sleep ; danger to babies and to little children of any violence, jerks, and sudden movements, loud voices, slaps, box on the ear ; good effects upon the health of gentleness, firmness, and cheerfulness ; no child can be well who is not bright and merry, and brought up in fresh air and sunshine, surrounded by love the sunshine of the soul. 2o6 Woman s Mission. PHILANTHROPIC ASPECTS OF NURSING. BY LADY VICTORIA LAMBTON AND MRS. FRANK MALLESON. THE instinct existing from all time in civilized humanity to help the helpless and relieve suffering has only led to the development of a scientific system of trained nursing in Eng- land in the last half-century. The pioneer in this movement was Miss Florence Nightin- gale, who, belonging to a wealthy and distinguished family, had so trained herself that she was ready, when the need came, to obey the invitation of the Secretary at War, and to take charge of the military hospitals in the Crimea. The state of things in nursing matters which existed before this modern crusade was begun, is sketched for us in Charles Dickens's masterly and too truthful pictures of Mrs. Gamp and her companions, and we may infer from these how great was the need of reform in the class of nurses, and in the spirit and practice of their work. But it was not till twenty years ago that James Hinton, the well-known aurist and writer, suggested that ladies should take up nursing as a profession. He set before them a noble ideal of what the work might become, urging them "to create a new art of nursing," and laying down a scheme of training which, to be perfect (for the few), " might absorb resources as large and take as long a time as the completest medical education." He believed that " with the observing and recording power at hand, in the form of a body of skilled ladies, new subjects and methods of observation could hardly fail to develop themselves," while the " mutual co-operation of the two sexes would build up Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing. 207 conjointly the one as physician, the other as nurse, but with no unequal share a worthy science of the healing art." Since these words were spoken, the profession has been largely recruited by ladies ; so much so, indeed, that some nursing institutions demand lady workers only, while the hospitals which have become training-schools for nurses have in many cases special arrangements for lady pupils. This training is taken up by women of almost every class as a means of livelihood ; it is also adopted by many who desire only to prepare themselves for philanthropic occupation. It would not, however, give a correct idea of the possi- bilities of philanthropic activity in the field of nursing, if we omitted to mention the considerable body of ladies, who, with- out being trained as nurses themselves, play an indispensable part in the furtherance of nursing work by others. Work of all kinds, to achieve the best success, must be pursued and loved for its own sake, and not merely as a means of gain ; but nursing from its very nature must be governed by philanthropy, or it will fail of its purpose. The sick-nurse is called upon for intellectual interest in her work. She should be capable of accurate and comprehensive obser- vation, of noting differences and changes of symptom in ill- ness, of reporting clearly the results of her watchfulness. She should feel that in fighting disease she is an ally of the vitality of her patient, and be able to seize every spark of life, to combat weakness and decay. But, important as this attitude is, it is insufficient ; qualities yet more difficult to call out are necessary to perfect nursing. A nurse must give not only self-denial and single-hearted devotion to her duty ; she must dedicate to it the whole energy of her character. The patient is not merely a " case " of disease ; he is a suffering member of the great human family. It is necessary that his nurse should care for his pain, and rejoice in his steps towards health ; he can only be restored to his place in the community by the revivifying effect of sympathy, and his welfare as an individual is the motive power of her labour. It is the special pride of nursing that its very exercise is nullified unless this finer motive power is called out. It is not surprising that a very large amount of nursing is 208 Woman's Mission. undertaken wholly with a benevolent object. But it must not be forgotten that many nurses, the spirit of whose work is essentially philanthropic, are prevented by the accident of their personal circumstances from working without payment. The present standard of efficiency in the profession enforces from three to five years' training, or if it be completed in a less time, which is possible, it must be paid for at a heavy cost, and during the eighteen months or two years, which is the least time in which it can be obtained, no salary can be earned. And when the training is completed, the nurse's life is a very arduous and responsible one, requiring good health and strong nerves, and the number of years during which a nurse is considered at her best, and is capable of obtaining first- rate employment, is sadly limited. Notwithstanding this, there is, besides the vast number of women who take up nursing as a profession, a steadily increasing body of ladies, who devote their lives to nursing the poor in all parts of England unpaid, without reckoning those who belong to various religious communities. Two or three years ago it was suggested by the Hon. Mrs. John Dundas, in a letter to the Times, that daughters of clergymen, country squires, and others living at home, would find their sphere of use- fulness much enlarged by spending a few years in be- coming thoroughly trained as nurses, and then devoting that efficiency to nursing the sick poor in their neighbourhood. The body of voluntary lady workers would thus be greatly increased. The large hospitals in our towns, and in the provinces, are, primarily, beneficent examples of philanthropic nursing. The poor patients who receive the services of the most eminent medical men and the most experienced nurses in these insti- tutions, are recipients of charity given in the past or present. But large and important as they are, they can only touch the special and most severe forms of suffering. They cannot deal with the majority of sick people among the poor. Of late years, therefore, in England, localities have set on foot humble imitations of these big hospitals, where a few beds can accom- modate patients who require special medical treatment and care. And as far as we can judge, these cottage hospitals, supported by local funds and subscriptions, form a valuable Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing. 209 link between the great hospitals and what is now largely known as district nursing. This form of philanthropic nursing was originated some thirty years ago by Mr. William Rathbone, of Liverpool, whose experience of serious illness in his own household led him to consider the suffering that must exist in the homes of the sick poor, destitute of those alleviations that wealth can supply. Out of this arose the idea of training nurses to visit the sick poor in their own homes, and this system of helping patients who from various reasons cannot be removed to hospitals, has extended to London and to many towns of Great Britain. The beneficent action of Queen Victoria in devoting the surplus of the fund subscribed by the women of England to commemorate her Jubilee, to this object, has enabled many of the various schemes of district nursing, both in towns and rural places, to be welded together into an organized whole. Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute has done incalculable good in fixing a high standard of efficiency for nurses of the sick poor, in widely extending the work, and, above all, in establish- ing the whole system of district nursing on a charitable basis. What the Queen's Institute is doing in towns, its rural branch (founded before its amalgamation with the Institute as the " Rural Nursing Association ") is doing in the country, where district nursing is rapidly spreading. For this work the nurses are further trained by the rural branch in mid- wifery as well as in general nursing, to supply a very serious need in isolated villages and districts far from medical aid ; and skilled attendance is now being gradually, but surely, extended to poor mothers who have been hitherto left to the evils of ignorant and untrained help. This brings us to the consideration of those philanthropic workers before mentioned, without whom schemes of district nursing would be an impossibility. There are, happily, many ladies who have been roused to activity by a knowledge of the sufferings in sickness of their poor neighbours. To these a large field of activity has been opened. During the last ten years the whole subject of nursing the poor has greatly won upon public attention ; so much so, indeed, that nursing has been taken up by all sorts and conditions of women as a P 2io Woman 's Mission. fashion, apart from their having any special aptitude or taste for the work. Such workers, having no foundation for their brief enthusiasm, must drop out of the ranks sooner or later ; but a lasting good result remains from the prominence given to the subject having opened the eyes of many persons to a very urgent need. Some of the needs of the poor have been recognized and provided for. They have clergymen to live among them, and the State provides them with free elemen- tary education, and ensures that they can obtain the attend- ance of the parish doctor when necessary. The need for trained nursing in sickness, however, for those who cannot avail themselves of the advantages offered by hospitals, is not supplied except through the private benevolence and energy of individual workers. No scheme of district nursing has yet been carried through, without the activity and devotion of some benevolent person or persons, and this field of philanthropy is open to all, even to those who, from their circumstances, are not able to give help in money. Interest has to be awakened in others, co-operation to be obtained, prejudices to be overcome, money to the extent of 70 to 80 per annum collected in a given district, opposition from many, and often unexpected quarters must be met, and last, but not least, an efficient nurse must be engaged. During the past few years the Rural District Branch, which has made the whole subject of nursing in country districts its especial study, has been ready with assistance of all sorts for these isolated workers, and can be appealed to for nurses trained for country work, for advice, and in some cases for monetary help. No one who has not carried through a scheme of this kind, especially in the country, where new ideas are slow to take root, can know of the disappointments, discouragements, and troubles to be undergone in many cases before success is reached. The project is not one that grows by itself; the poor do not themselves agitate for reform, and have to be educated to better things. They are often the least alive to their own needs, and their dogged submission, to what they consider inevitable ills, is sometimes not the least of the obstacles to be overcome. The amount of ignorance that prevails among them with regard to their own bodies and Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing. 2 1 1 all laws of hygiene and sanitation, can, perhaps, hardly be realized by the educated, unless they are in the habit of visiting them constantly, and really know them intimately. There is no lack of kindness and good-nature among them, but one has frequently to deplore the willingness of the neighbours to attend the sick, and to prescribe from their own limited experience, in cases where trained skill and sound knowledge are urgently required. More especially does this apply to confinements, where a neighbour with no knowledge or training will too frequently attend, with the audacity of ignorance, both natural and abnormal cases, and often sad, if not fatal, results to both mothers and infants ensue from this practice. Terrible is the suffering, and the lifelong injury, too often caused by these women ! As to ventilation, the villagers have no idea of it, and alternate between the close and stuffy bedroom, with a window never opened, and the chimney, if existing, carefully closed or boarded up, and the thorough draught of the passage between the back and front doors, which is the usual lounge of any invalid and the children. We can wonder little, then, at the mortality in villages after a mild epidemic of measles, when the children die in numbers from bronchitis and other chest affections. Besides this cause of mortality among children is another, viz. the spread of infectious disorders owing to the utter disregard of all precautions. The people appear to be fatalists on this subject, and regard the most ordinary prudence as flying in the face of Providence their argument being, " If you are to have it, you will have it," and they go about the surest way to take, and spread, whatever the infection may be. Sanitation is not even thought of. An open stagnant ditch, or drain, is considered quite a suitable playground for the children, and to throw all refuse just outside the door is still a common practice. The nasty compounds which are applied as poultices are some of them too bad to describe to ears polite, and must have a very pernicious effect, while even those of which the ingredients are suitable, are prepared and applied in a very different manner from what the doctor intended, or a nurse would make. 212 Woman 's Mission. How the village babies survive the very unwholesome food on which they are brought up, must ever remain a mystery to the mothers who carefully adapt their little ones' diet to their age and powers of digestion. Biscuit soaked in water is the most common of all, but cabbage and brown sugar, and fat bacon to suck, are given at the age of a few weeks only ; and at three or four months old, a little of any- thing the elders are having is thought in many families good for the baby ; wholesome food and regularity of meals are really not considered at all. ' The doctor's visit, when he is not sent for too late for any human aid to avail, is often of little use, from the misunder- standing of his directions, or inability to carry them out. There are still in many remote country villages old women skilled in the use of herbs. One such who has cer- tainly performed some remarkable cures, and who enjoys the implicit confidence of her neighbours, avers that her father could " cure all men and beasts," and that she inherits her skill and her books from him. This aged crone believes in the need of picking and collecting her herbs at particular times of the moon's phases, and considers each plant to be under the dominion of one of the planets. Truly a relic of heathen superstition ! To quote a few of her prescriptions and de- scriptions copied from labels she attached to the collection of herbs, which she exhibited at a cottage garden flower show about three years ago, will exemplify the state of credulity and ignorance of the herbalist and her patients, better per- haps than anything else : " Hemlock. Saturn claims dominion over this herb. Uses. Hemlock is very cold and very dangerous, especially to be taken inwardly ; it may safely be applied to inflam- mations, tumours, and swellings in any part of the body, as also to St. Anthony's fire (= erysipelas), a local name, and creeping ulcers, that arise of hot sharp humours by cooking and repelling the heat. "Balm. It is an herb of Jupiter and under Cancer. Uses. The leaves with a little nitre are good against the surfeit of mushrooms. It is also good for them that cannot fetch their breath. " Borage. It is an herb of Jupiter and under Leo. Uses. Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing. 2 1 3 The leaves, flowers, and seeds are all of them good to expel pensiveness and melancholy. It helpeth to clarify the blood and mitigate heat in fevers. " Elecampane, It is a plant under the dominion of Mercury. The roots chewed in the mouth fasteneth loose teeth and keepeth them from putrefaction. But wild tansy is even more remarkable. It is said to be under Venus, and the powder of the herb, boiled in vinegar with honey and alum, easeth the toothache, fasteneth loose teeth, helpeth the gums that are sore, and setteth the palate of the mouth when it is fallen down. " Wild Marjoram, This is also under the dominion of Mercury; the juice thereof being dropped into the ears helps deafness, pains, and noise in the ears. Pimpernel is a gallant and solar herb ; it helpeth the toothache, being dropped into the ears the contrary side of the pain. " Briony or Wild Vine. The root cleanseth the skin wonderfully from all black and blue spots, freckles, morphew, leprosy, foul scars, or other deformity whatsoever. " Spearmint is an herb of Venus, and is a safe medicine for the biting of a mad dog, being bruised with salt and laid thereon, and Wood Betony is commended against the stinging or biting of venomous serpents or mad dogs, being used inwardly, and applied outwardly to the place. "Balsam is under the dominion of Jupiter, and taken fasting in the morning is very good for pains in the head that are continual. It is also said to be an especial friend and help to evil, weak, and cold livers ; and, lastly, Garden Riie is an herb of the sun, and under Leo. The juice of it, mixed with fennel with a little honey, helpeth the dimness of the eyesight." Many similar remedies could be named from the old woman's collection, but these are sufficient for our purpose, to show that the establishment of trained and skilled nurses is greatly needed in country districts far away from the influences of modern knowledge and science. It would be well if landowners, and other benevolent persons who wish to take up this branch of philanthropy, and employ their energies in obtaining trained nursing for the poor, would recognize from the outset what all such 2 1 4 Woman s Mission. workers must see sooner or later that the scheme must be a charity. Many start with the conviction that it must be, if not a paying one, at least self-supporting, and though others have failed to make it so, they will succeed. Our hospitals exemplify the principle that the poor are utterly unable to pay for skilled attention in serious illness, and this holds good in district nursing both in towns and villages, more especially in the latter, where the ignorance of the simplest treatment of sickness, combined with the total absence of even the ordinary comforts and appliances, make even a slight ailment a burden that cannot be adequately borne without assistance. Again, some workers wish to make their philanthropy as cheap as they can by establishing, to work amongst the poor, ignorant and common women made doubly dangerous by a small amount of cheap and insufficient training. Such women naturally cost less than a trained nurse, but it is hardly necessary to point out that if by our philanthropy we wish to raise and improve the condition of the poor, to teach them by example to live healthy and more refined and orderly lives if we want to save life and lifelong delicacy and infirmity, no nurse is too good, too refined, and too high- minded for the work. Trained nurses cannot at once dispel the mists of ignorance, or the ingrained bad habits and the prejudice of long custom, but they may do much to lessen them, and mitigate the evils which follow in their train. The comfort from a trained nurse's visit is so great that it encourages people to follow her advice. The village district nurse must be a kind, gentle- mannered woman, endowed with great tact and patience to deal with her patients, and their friends, and, if she possesses these gifts, and is following the profession, not only as a means of livelihood, but with sincere love for her heavenly Master, and a desire to tread closely in His footsteps, she will win the confidence and affection of all with whom she comes in contact Munificent gifts have been made to hospitals ; cottage hospitals and infirmaries have been built and supported by voluntary contributions, but none of these supply the same need as trained sick nurses and certificated mid wives, living Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing. 215 among the country people, ready and willing and capable of attending them in all emergencies. The fees can never be sufficient for their support ; there must always be a nurse fund provided by those who have the means, and the will, to help the poor and the suffering ones around them ; and those who contribute to this fund may feel that they are obeying the injunction of our Lord, who said, "The poor ye have always with you, and whenever ye will ye can do them good," and are following, in the way most suited to the present age and the present needs, His example, Who went about doing good, and healing the sick. 216 Woman's Mission. ON NURSING. BY THE HON. MRS. STUART WORTLEY. To give a full statement of the entire range of this subject would far exceed the possibilities of such a paper as the present one ; but an attempt is here made to give a short survey of the rise and actual condition of Nursing as a pro- fession as it exists in England. It seems needless here to recapitulate what the world owes to the great pioneer of nursing, Miss Nightingale, who, long before the Crimean War gave her a European reputation, left the joys of home and the pleasures of the best society, which she was in a position to command and adorn, to undertake the care of a Home for Diseased Gentlewomen. It was her great spiritual and moral force that convinced the public that to leave helpless human beings in the hour of suffering to ignorant, untrained supervision was a disgrace to the intelligence of the nineteenth century. Simultaneously, the inimitable works of Dickens presented the reverse of the picture ; and, not without controversy and some misgiving in head-quarters, Mr. Sidney Herbert succeeded in despatching, for the first time in the world's history, a woman to take a definite place in the operations of an army in the field. How she sped is now a matter of universal knowledge, and nobly have her pupils and sisters in the military services followed her footsteps. On the return of Miss Nightingale after the war, the gratitude of the English nation took expression in a large contribution placed at her disposal. This was devoted by her to the foundation of the Nightingale Training Insti- tution for Nurses, in St. Thomas's Hospital, which, by intro- ducing the best kind of nursing into hospitals, established a right standard of practice, and led to the foundation of schools On Nursing. 217 of nursing in connection with almost all the large hospitals throughout the kingdom. The military and naval services have been the great nurseries and pioneers of good nursing, and in a return kindly supplied to me by the War Office I find a list of no less than thirty-four nurses, all decorated for good service, who have been employed in the recent wars in India, Egypt, Burmah, and elsewhere. Their distinction can only be equalled by their modesty, and I have not found it easy to obtain any details of the work done. But something is known of what Miss Florence Lees, now Mrs. Dacre Craven, underwent in 1870 in the Franco- German War, when the Empress Frederick and Princess Alice sent her to the front, and she spent eight weeks in the hospital for typhus cases before Metz. There, in the midst of the raging infection, she nursed a building containing eighty beds, which on her arrival was destitute of every special accommodation for patients. She found only the wards, the beds, and the same rough food supplied as would be served out to the same men in the field if in health. There were absolutely no cups or vessels for use of any description, but one pail. She had two other nurses with her, and they subse- quently had to be repeatedly relieved ; but this heroic woman went on with her life in her hand for the whole eight weeks, more than once in additional danger from the poor fellows when in violent delirium, who could only be restrained by the assistance of convalescent inmates, trained by her into hospital orderlies. Before Miss Nightingale's school had quite developed, an important move forward was made by religious sisterhoods ; and for a considerable time the best nursing work then to be had emanated from the St. John's House, Norfolk Street, Strand, followed closely by the All Saints' Sisterhood in Mar- garet Street, by the East Grinstead Sisters, and the Sisters of St. Peter. I might append here a long list of sisterhoods, most of which include some nursing of the poor among the different objects of their work. Their devoted spirit has been invalu- able in teaching the world how noble a thing good nursing is. Though all did not attain to the highest standard of professional training, the All Saints' and St. John's Sisterhoods are still among the heads of the profession and in the first 218 Woman s Mission. rank of those who give their services to the poor. These last- named bodies provided nurses for hospitals (King's College and Charing Cross), and also supplied nurses to private cases that could pay for them. But the first attempt to supply nurses to the poor was in Liverpool in 1859, where a be- ginning was made with one single nurse, whose energy and success rapidly led to the establishment of a nursing home, and a place for training nurses to visit the sick poor in their own homes, in Liverpool. During the great cholera epidemic of 1866 in London much admirable work was done by the sisters, and the highest testimony to their efficiency and devotion was given by Bishop (afterwards Archbishop) Tait, a.nd by Mrs. Glad- stone, who daily visited the London Hospital during the worst days of that awful scourge. It was that same visitation which led to the formation of the East London Nursing Society, the first of the London societies organized for the sole benefit of the poor. That society places a trained nurse in each parish, obtains her lodging from the local funds, and supplies fully trained nursing superintendence from matrons living in the imme- diate neighbourhood. There are twenty-nine nurses now established, one residing in each parish, under four matrons ; and they have an efficient plan for the supply of necessary diet and comforts for the patients. The value of these services in the deep poverty of the East End is incalculable. Development followed quickly in the form of a really grand scheme for training and giving the highest form of nursing to the poor, initiated by the Duke of Westminster, who in 1870 founded the Metropolitan and National Nursing Association, with a central training-home in Bloomsbury Square. It is composed almost entirely of ladies, who are trained by Mrs. Dacre Craven ; whose exploits have already been referred to. This institution is now divided into a great number of branches, and the central training-home in Bloomsbury continues to stand out as the highest for com- pleteness and efficiency. But among the efforts to comfort poor people few exceed in value the Association for Providing Trained Nurses to Workhouses, which followed closely after the kindred institutions for the poor in their own homes. On Nursing. 219 The establishment of schools for trained nurses in almost every large hospital is now an accomplished fact. The nurses to private cases who receive full payment greatly benefit the institutions to which they belong ; among the earliest was the Westminster training-school founded by the late Lady Augusta Stanley. Our space makes a mention of all impossible, but they are usually all on the same system, viz. to train nurses for private cases, reserving a few for the poor. The movement recently instituted by H.R.H. the Princess Christian, to consolidate the general nursing profession by giving a certificate under Royal Charter to all who have received three years' full training, is expected to assist the value of their work by consolidating their social status. But her Majesty Queen Victoria stands pre-eminent among the supporters of this great duty of providing nurses for the sick poor, and by her action has made this movement a national one. By her appointment the Duke of Westminster, Sir Rutherford Alcock, and Sir James Paget were made trustees ; and, from information obtained by them, it appears that beside the work done in London and Liverpool, there are district nursing organizations in Derby, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Worcester, Leeds, Oxford, Newcastle, Maidstone, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, and many other towns. These nursing organizations are exclusive of the institutions for providing nurses to the rich, and are far more effectual for the poor than those on the mixed system ; though it cannot be denied that the latter are very beneficial. In January, 1888, the trustees recommended that the bulk of the Jubilee Fund, amounting to ^70,000, should be applied for the training of nurses for the poor. Her Majesty finally approved a scheme for uniting this fund with the ancient charity of St. Katherine's Hospital, founded in 1 148 by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen, chartered in 1273 by Queen Eleanor, widow of Henry III., and again in 1351 by Queen Philippa, queen of Edward III., when the duty of visitation of the sick poor was expressly imposed. As soon as the necessary arrangements for the adjustment of its revenues are completed, this ancient foundation will have increased funds at its disposal. 22O Woman s Mission. The committee made it its first duty to develop training- schools in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin ; and in Edinburgh the energy of the late Lady Rosebery rapidly formed a centre, extending to Glasgow, Aberdeen, and other important places. In Dublin a commencement has been made ; and throughout England associations have come forward to accept the con- ditions of affiliation. A noble gift from Mr. Tate has greatly assisted the work, of which the reports, rules, and all details may be seen in the Nursing Section. But although the positions occupied by the above foundations are the first in importance, both by intrinsic merit and official sanction, full justice cannot be done to the interest felt in the subject of nursing, especially on behalf of the poor in Great Britain, without mentioning some very leading institutions which have made this work an integral portion of their plan. Among these, the institution founded by the late Mrs. Ranyard to send " Bible women " to the poor is doing good nursing work, and has nearly one hundred nurses employed in various poor parishes in London. The nursing branch is under the direction of Mrs. Selfe-Leonard, and the institution gives its nurses three months' hospital training. These nurses are selected with extreme care, and, though they could not be certificated as fully trained nurses, have done very valuable work. The institution known as the Mildmay Deaconesses also has a branch for nurses, and employs them in the homes of the poor. The Sisters of St. John the Divine, formerly a part of the Norfolk Street Institution, have now established themselves in Poplar, and give efficient help to the poor. It is difficult to decide whether maternity work should be classed as nursing, and therefore included among the under- takings described in this paper or classed among the strictly medical charities. If it is regarded as women's work for women, we may mark its progress with approbation. A very decided effort is now being made to provide well-trained midwives for the poor ; and though inadequate to the wants of the ever-growing population of London, there is a nucleus of excellent work in the East End Mothers' Home, which trains midwives ; and a very remarkable effort to promote good work of this kind should be noticed in the Maternity On Nursing. 221 Hospital at Clapham, in which there is a school for midwives, and the whole machinery of the medical and nursing staff is entirely composed of women. The institutions here indicated mostly concern London only, or have their centres there ; but there is a very active general movement to supply nurses throughout the country districts in England, which is taking form in various ways. The Cottage Nursing Association, of which the centre is in Gloucestershire, is fully described in this Section by a very able paper from the pen of Lady Victoria Lambton and Mrs. Malleson ; it gives the best nursing by fully trained nurses and midwives, and deserves the highest praise. The same or a kindred plan, also supplying highly trained nurses, is estab- lished at West Mailing, in Kent. All the institutions named previously as having centres in towns, of course also supply fully trained nurses. A very large number of single nurses, with different degrees of training, is employed by ladies ; one or perhaps two nurses being placed in a parish, though in some cases they come from the organization provided for cottage hospitals. But in the remote country districts those who wish thus to assist poor people find themselves much hindered by the unwillingness of the peasant poor to admit very highly trained nurses into their houses. Their remote- ness makes daily visits of a single hour or more (without residence) unattainable ; and they will not accept the services of any nursing attendant who does not undertake to assist, or even to fulfil, all the necessary household duties, and supply whatever is wanted for the general comfort of the family as well as care of the patient. Now it does seem an injustice to compel fully-trained nurses, who have sacrificed much time and money to the attainment of the delicacy of touch needed for the highest surgical work, to undergo the risk of spoiling their hands by housework. And it is very unusual that the severest surgical cases are ever attended at home. These (mostly accidents) are usually removed at once to the great hospitals in the nearest towns. I am far from intending to imply that fully-trained nurses are not always the most valuable ; but the difficulty above indicated is a very real one, and can only be met by supplying a nurse of less ambitious quality. Another difficulty arises from the fact 222 Woman s Mission. that a fully-trained nurse placed alone in a remote country parish often finds that there is not work enough to employ her time. These impediments have been best overcome by the Ockley system, suggested by Miss Broadwood, a lady residing near Horsham, in Surrey. The plan here is to employ well-selected women from the district, and give them three or four months' training at the hospital at Plaistow. They are distributed as asked for by the different parishes belonging to groups arranged in various neighbourhoods. By a very excellent adoption of the " benefit " principle, funds for these nurses are provided by a settled contribution from each parish calculated in proportion to the amount of its population. It is found that a subscription at the rate of twenty-five or twenty-seven shillings for every hundred persons annually will, if there is a large group of parishes, supply the wages of the nurses. The patients pay a weekly fee on a graduated scale according to their social position, viz. two shillings weekly for the poor of the neighbourhood ; five shillings for artisans and small farmers ; seven and sixpence for substantial tradesmen ; and one pound for the gentry and wealthy inhabitants. An annual subscription is expected, of the same amount as their weekly fee. Evidently the plan suited the wishes of the poor ; for it was rapidly adopted in twenty parishes round Horsham, and, with various modifica- tions, is being established in many other places, such as Battle, Rye, the neighbourhood of Grantham, etc. These nurses, though not fully trained, have learned the primitive principles of sanitation and the necessary obedience to doctors ; the medical men who have tried them (some very eminent ones) value them highly, and there can be no doubt that the future establishment of a complete network of fully- trained nursing is likely to be greatly forwarded by the growth of this humble but very useful beginning. As there has been some controversy on the point, it is right to add here that no want of devotion or sacrifice has been perceived on the part of the highly trained nurses who in many village-epidemics have occasionally been called in and done really heroic service. What is here stated is the result of experience ; and those who have followed the work of these simpler nurses are able to testify to their extreme value as an On Nursing. 223 educational influence on the poor whom they serve, and who at present would not admit any others to live in their cottages. It is impossible to close without lamenting the many omissions which, from lack of time and space, are no doubt perceptible in this brief survey. Nothing has been said of the many excellent colonial centres, and the faithful nursing- missionary work being done in the wild places of the earth by devoted women. Miss Marsden was the last before the public, a name of which every Englishwoman may be proud, for her perilous and heroic journey to succour the lepers in Eastern Siberia, an undertaking which is likely to prove of great benefit. 224 Woman s Mission. THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK. BY H.R.H. THE PRINCESS CHRISTIAN OF SCHLESWIG- HOLSTEIN. I HAVE been asked to write a short account of the work done by the Royal School of Art Needlework, in order that it may be included among the papers on philanthropic work in England, which are to be read at the Chicago Exhibition. I feel great diffidence in complying with this kind request, and beg for lenient criticism. The Royal School of Art Needlework sprang, so to speak, from nothing, and has now become one of the most important, if not the most important school of its kind. I would be bold enough to say that it is the only school of its kind in the kingdom. As I have said, it sprang from nothing. Some friends of mine, Lady Welby Gregory in particular, first suggested the idea, and spoke to me about it. I was at once greatly struck by and interested in the scheme, and asked her to let me help her in carrying it out. The idea was this : first of all to restore the nearly-lost art of ornamental needlework to its high place among decorative arts, and in the second place to provide suitable employment for gentlewomen who, through loss of fortune or other reverses, are obliged to earn their own livelihood. The school was founded in 1872, twenty-one years ago. A small room in a house in Sloane Street saw its beginning, and in 1875 it was removed to its present home in Exhibition Road, when my mother, the Queen, became its patron and conferred on it the prefix " Royal." In 1878, experience having shown that the objects for The Royal School of Art Needlework. 225 \vhich the school had been founded were appreciated by the public, it was determined to establish it on a more permanent basis. The school was accordingly incorporated under the Corporation Acts, and received the licence of the Board of Trade applicable to associations not constituted for purposes of profit, by the terms of which the income and property of the school, whencesoever derived, must be applied solely to the promotion of the object of the school. The management is vested in the president and com- mittees. The school has hitherto been entirely self-supporting, and has received no Government grant, and although the building which it occupies at present is the property of her Majesty's Commissioners of Science and Art, a rent of 236 per annum has throughout been paid. Since the date of its foundation in 1872, when I accepted the office of president, the school has carried on an important work in its own department of art, in which it has for many years been the acknowledged leader both in this country and abroad. Representatives of other countries have for a long time past been in the habit of applying to the school for particulars as to the work, the method of instruction, and the details of management. Besides the position which it occupies in other respects, this institution fills a most useful purpose in giving employment to a large number of educated women, whose circumstances and conditions of life render it peculiarly difficult for them to obtain a livelihood, and without which they would have nothing but the workhouse or star- vation staring them in the face. A special feature in the working of the school is that, unlike most other societies or institutions, it has enabled its members to earn a small but steady livelihood, the rule being to admit only so many as there is a reasonable prospect of employing regularly, and we always pay for their work once a week, quite irrespectively of the returns of the school. I need not remark here that it should be well understood that such a L rule must involve a considerable sacrifice at times when business is less active than usual. We have passed through many anxious weeks and months, for as the work done is such as must be classed under the denomination of Q 226 Woman s Mission. '' luxuries," the great depression, which has extended to all interests, has naturally affected us in no small degree. But the storm has been weathered, the school is going on its way surely and steadily, and the terrible thought of having to dismiss workers whose whole existence depended on their earnings at the school, no more torments those who have its welfare so much at heart. The workrooms are full, and orders are coming in. Branches and agencies, which have enabled the school to secure advantageous positions for some of its workers, have been formed from time to time in provincial towns and else- where. It must be borne in mind that the school has hitherto not been a teaching school, passing pupils on to other employ- ments. We have, however, taught a great number of persons. Those trained by the school, and who have become daily workers in it, are in number about three hundred and fifty, of whom from eighty to one hundred and fifty have been employed at the same time in the school itself. Of these some remain at this present moment who were in it when it was founded twenty-one years ago. Of these three hundred and fifty, fifty-one have, after qualifying them- selves, been passed on as teachers or workers to the colonies or elsewhere. Five proceeded directly from the school to be placed as heads of " Decorative Art " societies in America. Much more might have been done in this direction had the funds allowed, but the training of teachers is expensive, besides which, many of those who wish to fit themselves for such positions are deterred by their inability to give the necessary time for learning, and by circumstances which oblige them to earn their livelihood from day to day. The length of time required to train pupils so as to fit them to earn their own livelihood by needlework is eighteen months, allowing only the very shortest period of training. Three years are required for those who wish to obtain first-class certificates as teachers. The cost of training and teaching would be approximately from 16 to 20 a head for teachers, and half that sum for workers. That calculation is based on the assumption that two first-rate teachers are The Royal School of Art Needlework. 227 required for every fifty pupils, and it does not include the necessary proportion of outlay for rent, plant, etc. Private lessons in art needlework have also been exten- sively given outside the school, in London and upwards of thirty provincial towns, to both individuals and classes, upon a fixed scale of fees. The number of such lessons given during the last ten years exceeds 6000. Ever since the school has been formed, my Council, Executive Committee, and I myself have looked forward to the time when the school might adopt systematic teaching on a larger scale, but want of funds has delayed all extension in this direction. Now, however, after making application to her Majesty's Commissioners for Science and Art for a grant, a portion of the site on which the French Court of the Exhibition of 1862 stood, has been given over to the school at a rental of 200 per annum. On this site it is my intention to erect a permanent building as head-quarters of the school. I am collecting funds for this purpose, and also for the permanent endowment of the school ; the training of pupils, who would afterwards earn their own livelihood by their work ; and the training of teachers, who would in their turn be sent to different parts of the country to train others. I am also most anxious that scholarships should be given,, and for this purpose I consider that 50 a year is the lowest amount on which any girl can live in London while under- going her training, taking it for granted that she has no* other means. So much has been done in England for the encourage- ment of other branches of art that I feel sure it will only be necessary to draw due attention to the subject of art needlework to secure for it full acknowledgment on the part of those who have in other ways shown their practical interest in all that pertains to the higher culture and future well-being of the women of this country. 228 Woman s Mission. ON PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF WOMEN IN IRELAND. BY MRS. JOHN T. GILBERT (ROSA MULHOLLAND). FROM the earliest days of Christianity women in Ireland were engaged in philanthropic work. Tradition and the few records left of Saint Brigid show her occupying herself with the poor, teaching the young and nursing the sick, and the recollection of her beneficence still abides in the minds of the people. During the penal times the majority of the Irish had no legal existence, could hold no property by law, and therefore helpful work could not be publicly undertaken by them ; but among the powerful minority there arose in the last century three women whose philanthropy established institutions in Dublin for the general good, which still continue to render service. These were Griselda Steevens, who devoted her entire fortune and energies to the poor in the hospital still bearing her name ; Mary Mercer, who built Mercer's Hos- pital and bequeathed a fund in perpetuity for the education and maintenance of poor girls ; and Lady Arabella Denny, who made a special work of the visitation of poor-houses in the interests of little children, finally devoting herself to the endowment of a Magdalen Asylum. It was not until after the relaxation of the penal laws that Mary Aikenhead, the daughter of a Cork physician, founded the religious order of the Sisters of Charity, having no capital to start with, except a great heart and a bright and] strong intelligence. The story of the uphill labours of this wise and energetic woman would fill volumes. She Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 229 gathered around her women as ardent as herself, and insti- tuted a large and varied number of good works, which have been growing and extending ever since her day, for the suc- cour and elevation of her suffering countrymen and women. After her came Catherine Macaulay, who initiated the order of the Sisters of Mercy, vowed to similar noble enter- prises; and other religious orders have long since established themselves in the country for the service of the sick and poor, and the instruction of the ignorant and the young in their neighbourhood. At the present moment a large amount of philanthropic work of an industrial character, initiated and carried on by women of all denominations, is going forward in Ireland. Factories for weaving woollens and linens have been intro- duced into several convents, the most remarkable being the Providence Technical Woollen Manufactory at Foxford, founded and carried on by Mrs. Morrogh Bernard, of the Sisters of Charity, and her nuns. Of this important industry, and of the work carried on by Mrs. Rogers at Carrick and Carna, and by Miss Roberts among the Rosses, the wild headlands of Donegal, a very striking account is given by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts in her paper entitled " Woman, the Missionary of Industry." Several smaller undertakings in the weaving of wool have been set on foot in different parts of Ireland, the introduction of hand-looms in the houses of the peasants, and the sale of the cloth produced. One of these is the Baltony Frieze Industry, initiated by Mrs. Martin, who is an owner of property in a wild part of Donegal, where the tenants are poor and the land unremunerative and difficult of cultivation. There are now looms in five of the cottages, the wool of their own sheep is carded and spun in the family, and the tweed produced is sold by the agency of Mrs. Martin's friends. At Tramore a similar work is carried on by Miss H. Reeves and Miss Woodroffe, lady superintendent of the Industrial Schools, these ladies having introduced three woollen and three linen looms among the cottages, besides erecting looms in Industrial Schools. The Sisters of Mercy at Skibbereen have opened a 230 Woman's Mission. factory for weaving linen in their convent, assisted by Sir William Ewart of Belfast, who gave them useful practical advice, presented them with two looms, and opened a market for their productions. In 1891 they sent up forty- seven pupils who passed the examination by Government Inspectors in weaving, and forty-three other pupils were equally successful in 1892. The sisters have now twenty- three looms, nine wheels, and a warping mill at work, employ eighty-eight girls, and turn out sheeting, towelling, handker- chiefs, and dress lawns of finest quality. Seven religious communities have followed in the footsteps of the sisters at Skibbereen and have initiated small factories, the Sisters of Mercy at Queenstown having expended .400 on premises for linen-weaving. A much older industry in Ireland, and one most par- ticularly the work of women, is the manufacture of lace, which has been long established as employment for the poor, in religious houses, and in classes maintained by philanthropic ladies working individually or in groups in remote parts of the country. The Youghal lace, made by peasant women under the Presentation Nuns, deserves its high reputation. In the course of time fifty new stitches have been invented by the workers, in addition to those of the old Italian lace they first learned to make, and as they also produce their own designs, the Youghal lace may be almost said to be an original fabric. The lace-makers of Youghal have earned as much among them as from ;i6oo to ;i8oo per annum. Many of the original workers are now aged widows and continue to support themselves by their art. They have in their time supplied lace to two Popes, to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and to many other distinguished personages. A lace flounce valued at 70 per yard, and fans at 30 each, have been prepared at Youghal for exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair. The earnings of the workers vary from two shillings to ten shillings per week. Other lace-making convents are those of the Poor Clares, Kenmare, County Kerry, of Our Lady of Mercy, Holy Cross, Killarney, and of the Sisters of St. Louis, Carrickmacross. Handsome embroideries, known as Mountmellick work, are Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 231 made at the Presentation Convent, Mountmellick, Queen's County. In Limerick there is an interesting revival of an old art which had fallen into decay. About ten years ago Mrs. R. V. O'Brien, niece of the late Matthew Arnold, and adopted daughter of the late W. E. Forster, Chief Secretary for Ireland, undertook to restore this art ; and the work is now flourishing in a pleasant room in Bank Place, Limerick, where about twenty girls sing the Irish melodies over their dainty stitches, and make charming articles for ladies to wear, even of the latest fashion, including graceful fronts for tea-gowns, etc. Mrs. Hall Dare has maintained a lace class at New- townbarry, County Wexford, since the year 1868, learning to make Greek and Italian lace in London that she might teach twenty poor girls to earn their livelihood. After a great deal of pains, Mrs. Hall Dare succeeded in teaching the girls to make the lace. She provided the materials, paid the girls once a week for the work done, and took all risks. For a great many years she lost money, but the work is now self-supporting, and the workers can earn as much as ten shillings a week. She has, however, only a few workers at present, as she finds that the girls around her no longer submit to the tedium of learning to make lace. A similar class is to be found in Cappoquin, County Waterford, owing its existence to the benevolent exertions of Miss Keane. At Ballintra Miss Hamilton has given her protection to a number of poor women who had for years earned scanty wages by working exquisite embroideries in their homes, and under exceeding difficulties. Miss Hamilton has supplied them with new materials and designs, and raised the standard of their work, which has thus become more remunerative. Another branch of needlework is hand-sewing of fine under-garments, which gives employment to many girls under the care of the Sisters of Mercy and Charity in different localities. In some places the work is so exqui- sitely done that orders are received from the ladies of highest position, for trousseaux, etc. Among these high schools for 232 Woman s Mission. sewing are those of the Sisters of Mercy at Newry and the Sisters of Charity at Merrion, near Dublin. Dressmaking is taught and carried on at the Convent of the Sisters of Saint Louis, Carrickm across, where a skilled mistress instructs about eighty girls in cutting out and making up all kinds of dresses, shirts, petticoats, pinafores, aprons, etc. But it is not possible to enumerate here all the convents which are centres for industrial work of this kind. In Castle- finn an admirable hand-sewing industry has been carried on for years by the devoted exertions of Mrs. and the Misses Scott, who enable a large number of girls and women to earn a livelihood and live in contentment. Mrs. Bagwell and other ladies give a considerable share of their time to a sewing-class in Clonmel, where girls are taught to make and mend their own clothing. Mrs. Ponsonby, of Garry Hill, gives her care to a class, which has been very happy in results, for drawn linen work, work of silk on linen, and lace, etc. An industry of wool embroidery is fostered by Mrs. Vesey, of Bagnalstown. Lady Gregory, of Coole, County Galway, has by her exertions improved the red flannel made by the country people. At Ballyardle, County Down, Miss Stewart has changed the conditions of a whole district by teaching the poor women to knit and embroider for the market which she opens to them. Mrs. Sinclair sends particulars of her work among the cottage homes of Donegal which are exceedingly interesting. Hard and grim as are the conditions of life in that stern region, she has found means to soften the lot of the peasant by providing work, the making up of clothing, also wood- carving, for which the pupils have aptitude ; and she has even started a cottage hospital, where the sick are cared for and befriended. In speaking of their work Mrs. Sinclair says truly, " Irish girls seem particularly capable of appreciating skill when they see it ; and to show them excellence, I have found, is most successful in leading them on." She recom- mends a system of certificates, guarded against fraudulent use, for the benefit of girls who take the trouble to persevere : employers might be directed thus to safe workers, and might give them better wages. A knitting industry is centred in Valencia Island, under the Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 233 care of Miss E. Fitzgerald ; and here the workers do a special business in knitted jerseys, which are sent to the United States and Canada, the Falkland Islands, Austria, and France. Like others, the benevolent promoters of this industry had many obstacles to surmount in the beginning, but the only remaining difficulty is that of obtaining sufficient orders to keep willing hands employed. In passing on to mention other industries of this very interesting character, I may say that those I have named bear but a small proportion to the number of works in knitting and needlework of every kind for the relief of Irish poverty, carried on by women, both lay and of religious orders in this country. More novel and perhaps therefore more striking is the basket and wickerwork industry going forward under the direction of Miss Sturge, at Letterfrack, in Connemara. Finding the people half-starved, and idle for lack of employ- ment, Miss Sturge decided on settling among them for their benefit. Bringing with her a skilful French wicker- worker, she succeeded in getting a loan of the Court House of the district in which to begin her operations. She has now a large iron building, which is a technical school and factory, and beautiful delicate work is sent out by her pupils, who are able to make almost anything of wickerwork beds, chairs, tables, book-cases. The employment given, with its remuneration, has, needless to say, greatly improved the condition of the people. Another very useful enterprise is that under Miss Bourke, at Lisnagary, Limerick, where boys and men learn to carve in wood, and succeed so well that orders have been received for pieces of handsome carving from far across the world, and even from the President of the Royal Academy of London, Sir Frederick Leighton. Some of these carvings are wrought from the strange and beautiful designs in ancient Irish manuscripts. In a charming report Miss Bourke makes one feel how refining and elevating is the effect of this art on the youth of the neighbourhood, and in the homes at Lisnagry. To the Munster Dairy and Agricultural School have been added classes, the expense of which is defrayed by a number of ladies in committee, who have benevolently desired to 234 Womafis Mission. teach additional kinds of usefulness to the girls who come to the school to learn a thorough system of dairying. In these classes the girls are taught cooking, economical manage- ment of food, cooking for the sick, laundry work, and plain needlework. Before quitting the subject of small industries we must give honourable mention to those which enable ladies who have met with reverse of fortune to gain a little money in a quiet way by their own exertions. This is a noble work, for few suffer so much from poverty as the gentlewoman who, having been delicately nurtured, finds herself destitute of the means of living, and shrinks from calling attention to her unhappy state. Of these kindly undertakings is Mrs. Dalison's Guild for Impoverished Irish Gentlewomen. Finding a large number of ladies suffering in poverty from the failure of rents, Mrs. Dalison supplied them with designs and materials for sale- able work, and at a recent sale at Grosvenor House, London, exhibited some really beautiful things made by gentlewomen. Mrs. Dalison's invaluable work is steadily increasing in importance. Another enterprise of this excellent class is the Irish Ladies' Work Society, Kingstown, Dublin, which numbers one hundred members and is self-supporting. It has a stall at the annual sale at the Albert Hall, London, and receives orders from the depot in Devonshire Street The depot of this society is at 47, Georges Street, Kingstown. Under this head may also be described the Royal Irish Association for Promoting the Training and Employment of Women, which was established in 1883, to provide technical training for women, and suitable remunerative employment for those so trained. Work is undertaken in scrivenery, plan-tracing, type-writing, illuminating, wood-carving, and printing. Pupils who are learning in order to get their liveli- hood receive a month's instruction of two lessons a week for five shillings. Though doing a large amount of work, and assisting numbers, the society is not yet self-supporting, and depends on the subscriptions of members. The orphanages and training-schools for boys and girls maintained by the exertions of women are so numerous Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 235 throughout Ireland that, in speaking of them, one scarcely knows where to begin. This is a work to which the religious orders especially devote themselves, and it is impossible within the limits of this paper even to mention all. For instance, the poor schools of the Sisters of Mercy, Saint Marie of the Isles, Cork, accommodate one thousand children, and they have usually seventy children in their orphanage. This work is repeated again and again throughout the re- ligious houses of women. A remarkable training school is that of the Sisters of Charity at Stanhope Street, Dublin, which is devoted to the children of respectable parents, or orphans whose guardians wish to have them trained to industry. Having trained their girls, the sisters start them in life by procuring good situations for them as servants, teachers, nursery governesses. A large proportion are sent to noble families in France, as English-speaking maids. In the institution at present are one hundred and thirty children, no Government aid being given. A National School, attended by six hundred children, is in the grounds of the con- vent, and taught by the sisters, who also visit four parochial schools in the neighbourhood, and give instruction privately in the evenings to classes from without the walls. The sisters also visit the convict and county prison as well as two hospitals. An office for servants is attached to this institution. The training of the female blind is another work of the Sisters of Charity, carried on at Merrion, near Dublin. One hundred and sixty blind inmates, from mites of three years to grandmothers of eighty, receive the constant care of the sisters, and form a large and happy household. They are taught all that it is possible to teach the blind, and their tasks are so pleasantly mingled with recreation and amuse- ment that, having spent some time among them, one is inclined to wonder if blindness be a great affliction under such circumstances. There is an air of refinement and a gentle mirth about them all, especially remarkable in the little children. These small creatures receive the visitor with a tender confidence which shows how they are accustomed to caresses, and come waving their little arms towards one, with that peculiar and piteous movement of a sightless child, asking with their soft and musical voices for permission to 236 Woman's Mission. "see" the stranger. The music cultivated by the blind women and girls is delightful. Several harps and pianos stand at the end of a great hall, with the aid of which really fine musical entertainments are given. All who have voices sing over their knitting and sewing, others tell stories or recite poetry in the intervals of lively conversation. There remains on my memory one pathetic face, a blind face at the organ in the chapel. A girl was there, solitary, practising sacred music ; she could not see us come in, and thought herself alone. It was a grey face, with no beauty but the expression, which told how the soul in darkness was thrilled and comforted by the solemn strains evoked by her hands. Another sight to remember was that of three blind women walking quickly, arm in arm, with their heads bent down walking in the dark along a path in the light Their peculiar swift movement of three as one, gave them the look of being driven along by a wind. These sightless scholars are taught reading and writing in the Braille characters, history, grammar, geography, type-writing, needlework ; and music, vocal and of many instruments. Under the same roof the sisters have an industrial school, a training school for girls from sixteen to eighteen years old, a hand-sewing industry where exquisite underclothing for ladies is made up ; in all a family of four hundred souls. The Sisters of Charity also maintain, near Cork, a similar institution for the blind. Attached to the Cork Workhouse a training school was opened some eight years ago by a committee of ladies of all denominations, who united in an effort to rescue girls of sixteen from the evils threatening them on their removal from that part of the workhouse known as the schools. On being drafted into the body of the house, the girls met with bad companions, who enticed them out into the city to their ruin. At the best they were ignorant of everything useful, and totally unable to find employment. The ladies, having gained from the guardians an extension of time in school for the girls, instituted classes to instruct them in house- work, cookery, etc. A separate ward and a matron have been provided, and already over a hundred girls are enabled to earn livelihoods in situations outside the " house," instead of, at the best, remaining there a burthen on the ratepayers. Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 237 It is cheering to learn that some of the girls so assisted have now got money saved and in bank. Among orphanages the most original and extended is that of the Sisters of the Holy Faith, of Glasnevin, Dublin, whose system is founded on fosterage, and who place the children they undertake to provide for, not en masse in a great building or "home," but out in the open country in the cottages of the peasantry, one here and one there, all enjoying the individual love and care which are the in- heritance of poor children in Ireland possessed of father and mother, no matter how mean the dwelling or how frugal the living of the family. The sisters have the nurslings under their personal observation, visiting them frequently and unexpectedly, and thus assuring themselves of their condition and treatment. The children, with their foster-brothers and sisters, attend the nearest schools, and the foster-mother receives in addition to an annual stipend a reward of ten shillings when the child can say his prayers. A further prize is given when he is able to read. The plan works perfectly, the Irish peasant being particularly fitted for such a trust. It often occurs that the orphans, when grown up, are regarded by the foster father and mother as their own children ; in some cases remaining for the comfort and support of the old people when they have been deprived of sons and daughters by death or the exigencies of life. This orphanage has been designed for the poorest poor, and up to the present has rescued 2108 children from destitution. Of these, 1873 have been provided for; among whom 507 have been finally adopted by the foster parents, and have become members of respectable Irish peasant families. Two hundred and thirty-five boys and girls are at present in the orphanage. Connected with the orphanage are poor-schools, in Dublin, by means of which twenty thousand children, saved from poverty, ignorance, and the danger of vice, are now, to the extent of ninety per cent, respectable men and women earning independent livelihoods. The schools and orphanage were founded some years ago by the late Margaret Aylward. Orphanages carried on by women individually, include Mrs. Smyly's Birds' Nest, in connection with which are schools, and homes for boys and girls in Kingstown and Dublin ; and 238 Woman's Mission. the Sacred Heart Home for girls and boys at Drumcondra, Dublin, which is maintained by the exertions of ladies. The home for aged men and women, supported by the Little Sisters of the Poor in Dublin, must not be forgotten. These devoted sisters feed their household on the meat and bread which they beg from door to door, making tea from the tea-leaves saved for them in hotels and large houses. A visit to their kitchen will show what appetizing soups and mince can be made of materials thus obtained. Even bread is so neatly cut in small dice that it looks as if fresh from the baker's tray. Having thus with astonishing economy utilized, literally, the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table, the Little Sisters first serve the table of their poor clients, and afterwards, with what remains, set forth their own. Here, the old women can enjoy their cups of tea, and the old men their pipes comforts ignored by the workhouse system. Among other homes and asylums supported by women, is the Magdalen Asylum at High Park, near Dublin, where the Sisters of the Good Shepherd devote their lives to the care of poor fallen girls and women, instructing them, employ- ing them in laundry-work, and encouraging them to lead useful and virtuous lives in this industrial retreat. A similar asylum at Donnybrook, near Dublin, is supported by the Sisters of Charity. Another admirable work of this kind is the Londonderry and North West of Ireland Home for Women, under the protection of Mrs. Alexander, wife of the Bishop of Derry, where twenty-one poor fallen women and girls are sheltered and employed, and assisted to emigrate or obtain a means of livelihood. Mention should be made of the vast amount of good done in Ireland by women of all denominations, in the nursing and visitation of the sick and poor by means of societies and sodalities in connection with the various churches, assistance in clothing and money being given according to available resources. The Ladies' Sanitary Association in Dublin undertakes to interest poor women in keeping their homes clean and neat, and to help them in this difficult matter by procuring soap and other necessaries for them at a very low price. Miss Reeves, who has been for years active in this excellent work, has stated at a meeting of ladies that her Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 239 experience led her to wonder how the people can be so clean as they are, rather than to condemn them for indifference to cleanliness. Considering that soap costs money where children are hungry, and remembering the labour of carrying water in pailfuls to rooms in the top of wretched tenement houses, we must forbear from unkind criticism of the habits of the poor. The women who hang their clothes to dry on poles out of high windows, or lie down with their families to sleep at night in the steam of garments drying around them, have far more patience and resolution than we should have under the same circumstances. " I have known a poor woman," said Miss Reeves, "who would spend the hours allotted for sleep, furtively drying her washing of clothes in a yard where she was a trespasser, making use of lines which were occupied by the owner of the place from early morning until late into the night." The work of women in hospitals is too large a subject to be satisfactorily treated in a short paper. There are, how- ever, three hospitals in Dublin which owe their existence entirely to women, and are carried on by their exertions. One, known as the Mater Misericordiae, has been founded, and is managed, and tended by the Sisters of Mercy, who support it altogether by voluntary contributions. It is by far the largest general hospital in Dublin, containing 323 beds. In 1866 it was mentioned by Dr. Bristowe, in his report to Government on the hospitals of the United Kingdom, as "promising to be one of the finest hospitals in Europe." This promise has already been fulfilled. The hospital is of great size, and built on the corridor plan. The report of the Dublin Hospitals Commission of 1887 states: "As regards site, extent, and architectural design, it has no rival." During the cholera of 1886, the hospital was open for patients at all hours, and the Sisters of Mercy were the only nurses. During the two epidemics of small-pox, over 1200 cases were treated. In 1891, 3512 patients were admitted, and the mortality was very small. Extensive dispensaries in connection with the hospital are open every day, and a large training-school for nurses has recently been established. The sick poor are admitted without distinction of creed, and clergymen of all denominations have free access to their co-religionists. The 240 Woman s Mission. Sisters of Mercy take nothing whatever for their own main- tenance and services from the funds of the establishment, so that all contributions are applied entirely for the support of the patients. The addition of a special fever wing to the hospital is in contemplation. On the same plan, but of smaller proportions, is St. Vincent's Hospital in St. Stephen's Green, founded and tended by the Sisters of Charity. The Children's Hospital in Upper Temple Street, Dublin, is also in the care of the Sisters of Charity, but was instituted by the late Mrs. Ellen Woodlock. For some years Mrs. Woodlock carried it on with the assistance of a band of young ladies, who visited and assisted in nursing the children. A brigade of little boys and girls who saved their pocket- money for the charity, and interested themselves in the patients, formed a special feature of the work under her management. The hospital has cured and sent forth every year since its opening a large number of children who were carried in maimed and diseased, and many who lay in the little beds with crooked limbs and twisted feet are now strong men and women, taking an active part in the world. Mrs. Woodlock was a true philanthropist, and in the early days of our poor laws did a noble work in taking poor girls out of the union schools and placing them in positions to acquire independence. Together with Mrs. Sarah Atkinson, she with great difficulty effected an opening for lady visitors into the dismal interior of the South Dublin Union Work- house. Here they devoted their attention chiefly to a number of young women, who had been born in the house, and, in the absence of training and human sympathy, had grown up so wild and unruly that sometimes they could only be controlled by force and the punishment of solitary confinement. These apparently intractable young women were first softened by affectionate personal kindness and religious influence, and then placed by Mrs. Woodlock and Mrs. Atkinson in an industrial school and home which the ladies had established. There the girls eventually developed into clever and industrious persons, many of whom are now worthily filling posts of trust in different quarters of the globe. This was before the day of Government grants, Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 241 and after struggling for some years to maintain its position the good work was reluctantly relinquished for want of financial support. An admirable undertaking was initiated in 1892, in Londonderry, by Mrs. Ward Poole, representative of the British Women's Temperance Association. The ladies of this society interest themselves in the women of the working class, whom they influence to take and keep a pledge against inebriating drinks. Weekly or fortnightly meetings in cottages are held in different parts of the town. The society is happy in its choice of a secretary, Miss Thompson, who devotes herself to the work and has gained the sympathy of the people. This is an enterprise well suited to women of benevolence and refinement, who by personal sympathy may save their poor sisters from the sin and degradation of intemperance. Individual efforts have here and there been made with very fortunate results, and it is a pity that the work is not undertaken all over the country by women, single-handed, or in groups of even two and three. The village of Ardmore, County Waterford, has undergone a remarkable change through the efforts of Mrs. Barry, who a few years ago succeeded in enlisting the fishermen of the neighbourhood in a local temperance-league. Above the reefs of steep rock overhanging the green ocean, and forming a small creek where the boats go out and come in, stands the modest Temperance-hall, of cottage form, where the men read the newspapers and drink hot coffee in preference to, alcoholic stimulants. The story of Mrs. Barry's work is a very simple one. Inspired by the ideal beauty of the place^ and the interesting character of the people, she desired to do good, and began by getting possession of a large barn where she provided newspapers and a fire, and where she herself sat with the fishermen in the evenings, chatting with them over their affairs and the news of the day. The result is the extraordinary temperance of Ardmore. The good work known as the penny dinners is prosper- ing in Dublin and Cork, under the care of ladies of every denomination. Four establishments at work in Dublin, are gratefully frequented by the classes for which they were designed. The dining-rooms are situated in lanes, in popu- R 2 4 2 Woman s Mission. lous neighbourhoods, and are generally the back premises of a large house altered and fitted to their present require- ments. Each consists of a kitchen with bright kettles and caldrons, presided over by a man and his wife who live on the spot, and an eating-room with benches and tables, white walls decorated with pictures, and neatly sanded floor. The dinners are attended by the ladies as waitresses, and the food is varied according to the days of the week. Irish stew and bread, soups with meat and bread, bacon and cabbage and potatoes, fish and potatoes, pea-soup and bread, succeed each other in rotation. Coffee with bread and marmalade can be had for an extra halfpenny. The hours are from twelve till four o'clock, and persons wishing to take home the dinners can do so. The pennies paid for dinners cover the price of food, assisted by presents of provisions from well-wishers and the generosity of trades-people. A sum of .50 a year must be found by the promoters for rent, for the wages of man and wife who act as cooks, care- takers, and general working managers on the premises, for fuel, and other incidental expenses. In some places the dinners are given only during a certain season, because in summer there is a migration to country parts of the wander- ing poor hurdy-gurdy players, basket-hawkers, ballad-singers, whose avocations lead them away from the city, by green roads and dusty highways, in search of " fresh woods and pastures new " as the scenes of their labours. At Verschoyle Court, Dublin, the doors are never closed, winter or summer, and the attendance is steady by day and by month, though the place is very seldom overcrowded. " We have our regular customers," says the nice young woman who presides over the caldrons, as she takes up a ladleful of savoury stew. " That old gentleman," she adds, " is as regular as the clock." The old gentleman in question is a superannuated butler, who, having fallen upon old age and bad health, is glad to find here something resembling the comfortable meal to which he had been once accustomed. He looks pale and half-starved, for even a penny dinner a day is not sumptuous faring ; but his shabby black clothing and spotless neckcloth are as carefully put on as though he had prepared to serve behind his master's chair at a far different dinner-table than Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 243 this. At another table are two labourers of the order who stand all the day idle because no man has hired them, and, from their hungry and crestfallen air, one feels afraid that it would take much more than the proffered pennyworth of dinner to satisfy their patient unsatisfiedness. Near them is a group of newspaper-sellers and lads in search of work. At Gloucester Street the latter class is most largely represented ; and whereas there are shoes, however broken, at Verschoyle Court, there are few to be seen at Hill Street or Loftus Lane. At Kevin Street the premises and attendance are largest. The poor are perhaps at their poorest in Loftus Lane. Ex- cellent order is kept, however, and general good humour prevails, though too much hilarity is not encouraged by the managers. The little fish-selling girls and newspaper boys, well acquainted with each other out-of-doors, meet frequently at the penny-dinner table, and their experience of life, their knowledge of race-courses and all kind of open-air meetings, their good luck and bad luck, their amusements, pains, and inconveniences, are all poured out freely to the stranger who is sympathetic enough to replenish their empty coffee-cans without waiting to be invited. One bright lad of fifteen confides his anxiety to give up newspaper-selling and get regular work. " I could get work," he explains, " if I had any one to give me a character." He seems to think, poor boy, that one could give him a character as easily as a piece of bread and jam. The cry heard everywhere among these half-starved creatures is a cry for work ; and how, in this hard world, are they all to find an answer to it? Another very noble and interesting branch of women's philanthropic work, and one well represented in Ireland, is that which deals with the moral, social, and spiritual welfare of girls, and of young women who are already able to take a part in the world, and whose lives are brightened and fortunes influenced by the sisterly and motherly care and sympathy of women whom Providence has placed in a higher position. Of such is the Girls' Friendly Society, founded by the Dowager Countess of Meath, for "girls of all stations." The objects are "the spiritual, moral, and social elevation of women, by enrolling them together in a society which gives noble aims, and which excites and 244 Woman s Mission. satisfies their enthusiasm, and provides them with friends, who, in difficult and trying positions, may help them to stand firm and true to the baptismal promises made for them, to- be Christ's faithful soldiers and servants to their life's end." The intentions are : I. To bind together in one society ladies as associates, and girls and young women as members, for mutual help (religious and secular), for sympathy and prayer. 2. To encourage purity of life, dutifulness to parents, faithfulness to employers, temperance and thrift. 3. To pro- vide the privileges of the society for its members, wherever they may be, by giving them an introduction from one branch to another. The useful works of this society are : obtaining situa- tions for servants ; taking care of emigrants, a home being provided for the latter at Derry ; lodges and recreation-rooms where young women in business can live moderately and where evening classes are held ; and an attempt is made to provide wholesome literature. Of late a department for the deaf and dumb has been opened. The society numbers 9862 members, and, including candidates and helpers, reckons 14,613 souls who are working for the society in Ireland. Writing from the branch in Derry, Miss Alexander says, " The society does not go down into the deep tragedies of life, or rise to any heights of imagination and sentiment ; it is intended for the even and sometimes uninteresting high- road of the commonplace. As the member toils along every day she is provided with a friend to sustain her when she is weary, to encourage her when she stumbles, to help her to gather what flowers she may by the roadside, and to warn her not to stray to the right hand or to the left into pleasant fields or alluring shades." Very like the above society is the Young Women's Christian Association, in the diocese of Derry and Raphoe numbering five hundred and ten members. The sodalities of the "Children of Mary" attached to every church and convent of the religious orders in Ireland have in many particulars the same aims and objects as the societies just described. The members are assisted by each other, those of better station helping their lowlier sisters to lead lives higher and holier than ordinary, and all sharing, in prayers and pious practices prescribed by the rules. Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 245 Circulating libraries are attached to the meeting-places of these sodalities, and ladies strive to procure for the readers a supply of wholesome and pleasant as well as solid and edifying literature, which they may take to their homes, usually for the subscription of one halfpenny per week. Even apart from religious influences, there is no doubt such asso- ciations work incalculable good. Many young women, toiling from year to year in shops and warehouses, lead lives of piety and mental refinement, encouraged by intercourse with educated and high-minded ladies who are interested in their daily trials. On the other hand, the ladies often gain much by the example of patience and fortitude unconsciously put before them by these humbler sisters who look up to them. There is a class of good work by women which may be called pleasant help, not concerned with either industrial effort or the administration of actual charity, but which is a great sweetener of life to the struggling and labouring poor. Of this class is the Gardening Society of Culmore, started sixteen years ago by Mrs. Stack, wife of the then rector. The gardening is done in the cottages rather than outside, as, we are told, not more than one in three of the cottages possesses a garden, though the inmates all desire one. The cottagers are encouraged to neatness within their homes, and the culture of flowers, for which they receive prizes. A show held once a year, in July, is the occasion of much pleasure. The society gives prizes for flowers, neat houses, sewing, knit- ting, butter-making, all sorts of women's work ; while the boys compete in mat-weaving, basket-making, boat-modelling. Another pleasant help is the Girls' Evening Home, London- derry, where over a hundred girls, employed in factories or elsewhere, meet to spend their evenings in the company of one or more of the ladies interested in the work. With music, games, needlework, and instruction in reading and writing, if desired, the evenings are made delightful after the mono- tonous work of the day. A library and temperance society are attached to the association. There is an annual " tea," and occasional instructive and interesting " talks " are given by outside friends. Other such helps are the Turkish Bath and Home for patients of the poorer classes at St. Ann's Hill, County Cork, 246 Womaris Mission. and the Refreshment Rooms started at Athboy and Enfield by Mrs. Penrose and Miss Fowler, where on fair days they attend personally and serve out cold meat, tea, and coffee at eight- pence a head, or fourpence for a large sandwich, to farmers who have come a long distance before breakfast. This is an excellent idea, for under such circumstances it is very difficult for the farmers to get proper food, strong drink being usually the only substitute. In other parts of the County Meath, ladies are equally helpful. Mrs. Brownlow is interested in the stone-cutters in a quarry near her, and cultivates artistic ideas among them, by procuring patterns and designs for their work. Lady Adelaide Taylour has two classes for wood-carving, while Mrs. Roth well and other ladies manage a county store, where the poor may procure good provisions at a cheaper rate than in the shops. An industrial exhibition is to be held in Kells, in 1893, to encourage work, for amusement as well as profit, in the cottagers' winter evenings. In Cork, a flower-mission brightens the lot of the inmates of the hospitals and asylums, and a " creche " assists poor mothers who, being obliged to go out to work, are glad to pay a penny a day for the care of each child in their absence. In Cork, also, 1500 women of the League of the Cross are visited in the lanes each week, by sixty ladies, who take an interest in their welfare, and assist them to improve in the matter of order and cleanliness in their homes. In conclusion, I will say a few words of a charity origi- nated by a woman, and carried on in truly heroic spirit by the Sisters of Charity at Harold's Cross, Dublin. It is not a hospital, for no one comes here expecting to be cured, nor is it a home for incurables, as the patients do not look forward to spending years in the place. It is simply a " hospice," where those are received who have very soon to die, and who know not where to lay their weary heads. The low, red-tiled passages and corridors of the old house have suggestions under their broad-beamed roof, quite unlike Mr. Henley's abode of suffering " Cold, naked, clean, half-workhouse and half-jail." Philanthropic Work in Ireland. 247 Walking through the pleasantly coloured wards and rooms, one cannot but think that any creature might desire the boon of dying here ; but the Irish poor, whose spiritual yearnings are so intense, and who are in this place surrounded by religious consolations, find in it a foretaste of heaven. " I had been," says a visitor to the hospice, " for some minutes kneeling in the beautiful mortuary chapel, where fresh flowers are always blooming, before I perceived two figures extended on marble rests on either side of the altar, as the effigies lie that have lain so for centuries. Yet no sculpture ever possessed the beauty and sweetness of the figures I here saw : a man in the full maturity of youth, with dark hair and brown beard and handsome stately features ; a little girl, whose deep-fringed eyelids were closed over eyes that shone blue through the covering. Both had the same ineffable smile on their features, the look of having learned the secret of happiness, and of knowing themselves safe with God." A charity which concerns itself with the dying appeals almost more than any other to the naked human heart the heart of man stripped of all its conventional surroundings, and surprised behind all its barricades. Living poverty and suffering may be kept out of sight, but death comes to all, and no one can feel sure of what his circumstances and needs will be in his own supreme hour. Sympathy that springs from a touch of nature that makes the whole world kin is shown by the gifts that drop in to help this completely foundationless, and, in one sense, unprovided charity, which looks for its manna direct from the heavens. Bequests from those who, in the straits of their own soul's passage, re- member this pathetic labour of the Sisters of Charity, help occasionally, like the back-reaching of friendly hands ; and the poor themselves often contribute a mite to the work, feeling that should destitution overtake them in the end, they may yet hope to lie in the Nuns' Chapel before the earth receives them ; ere Nature begins to weave her veils of grass and dew over the weary heart's indisturbable slumber. 248 Woman's Mission. THE WORK OF WOMEN AS GUARDIANS OF THE POOR. BY Miss E. S. LIDGETT. IN writing of the work of women as Guardians of. the Poor, I have not tried to cover the whole ground of the poor law. I do not speak of large reforms now being generally dis- cussed, neither do I limit myself to the average working of the present law without the leaven of new ideas. But I propose to speak especially of those parts of poor law administration where the work of women as guardians has already made itself distinctly felt. Under some headings I tell of improvements that have passed beyond the stage of experiment, but have not yet come into common practice. Every year sees a wider adoption of improvements formerly considered beyond the scope of the poor law, and a generally awakened interest in these subjects will doubtless give many a wholesome spur to the movements of Boards of Guardians. If the whole story were told, it would be seen that quite a revolution has been effected in workhouse management since Miss Twining's first visit to a London workhouse in February, 1853, when her proposal to arrange systematic visiting by ladies was treated as a dangerous intrusion by Boards of Guardians and by the Central Poor-law Board alike. It is by a happy coincidence that just forty years after that first visit, a general order has been sent by the Local Government Board to all Boards of Guardians, authorizing them to appoint ladies, whether members of the Board of Guardians or not, whose duty it shall be to visit and examine the parts of the workhouse in which women or children are maintained, and to report any matters Women as Guardians of the Poor. 249 that may appear to them as requiring the attention of the guardians. During the forty years many Boards of Guardians have sanctioned visiting committees of ladies, although on many others the old official jealousy has continued to dis- courage and hinder their work. It will be found an advantage to have it placed on a firm and recognized footing everywhere, though it would be no less than a disaster if the good were to become the enemy of the best, and to hinder the election of women as guardians. That such an effect was contem- plated in the order, no one will believe who remembers the words lately spoken by the President of the Local Govern- ment Board, the Right Hon. H. H. Fowler, M.P., when he said that he considered the constitution of any Board of Guardians defective that did not contain at least one woman among its members. Another order has been received at the same time, "em- powering individual guardians to visit and examine any part of any workhouse of the union or parish of which he is a guardian.". This order could not be better explained than by quoting from an article by Miss Twining, written in June, 1888. "It has been a matter of astonishment to many to discover, when elected, that they are not free to enter the buildings at any time, under any circumstances. Where a good understanding exists between the officials and the guardians, to whom they look for direction, such permis- sion and freedom will no doubt always be granted ; but it is evident that precisely in those cases where inspection is most needed, there it would be resented, and probably refused, as we have known to be the case." This anomaly is now re- moved. Every true guardian, and every inmate will welcome the change, and no faithful officer will be afraid of daylight. The great drink question may appear to have been avoided. It really underlies the whole subject, causing directly and indirectly at least seventy-five per cent, of the pauperism of the country. To speak of it adequately would take a paper to itself. No guardian could reflect steadily on the increasing number of lunatics, imbeciles, idiots, epileptics, feeble-minded, of men and women incapable of continued exertion, not to mention the strong and hardworking whose wages are squandered as soon as earned no woman, at least, -5 Woman's Mission. could reckon up all that she knows as a guardian, and then write of it without exposing herself to the charge of in- temperate temperance. In the year 1832 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the working of the old poor law, and the con- dition of the people affected by it. The report of the Com- missioners, a work of deep interest, was published in 1834, and a great reform of the law was then made. It was worked at first experimentally, under the supervision of the Commis- sioners, who remained in office until 1847, when they collected in a general consolidated order the most important of the general regulations which they had issued. "The General Order of July 24th, 1847, which for the most part is still in force, embraces the whole field of the poor-law, and is, next to the Act of 1834, the foundation of the present system." * There is now one central authority, the Local Government Board, which is for some purposes supreme over Boards of Guardians all over the country. The Local Government Board's consent has to be obtained for the construction of new buildings, the appointment of officers, for alterations in salaries, and for alterations in diet There is a uniform system of accounts, which are audited by auditors from the Local Government Board. At first sight it would appear that, with so much interference by a central authority, there was little left for Boards of Guardians to do. As a matter of fact, the improvements of administration that follow on the election of an improved Board are so great that it might be supposed that a change had taken place in the law itself. The central control, while not strong enough to ensure good working, yet certainly prevents many abuses, and guarantees a certain average of fair administration. In the report of the Poor Law Commissioners for 1834, a long and dreary story of every vagary of waste and demorali- zation into which human stupidity could wander, there is one bright page, which records the labours of a voluntary com- mittee of ladies appointed by the Gravesend Board of Guar- dians to reform and superintend the management of their workhouse. The success of this piece of work did not suggest, * " English Poor-law System." Aschrott and Preston-Thomas. Women as Guardians of the Poor. 251 as it might, the desirability of electing women to the Board of Guardians. It was not until women had been elected on School Boards, in 1870, that any woman was nominated as guardian of the poor. The first was Miss Merington, elected for Kensington in 1875. The movement to promote the election of women has grown steadily from that time to this, and there are now one hundred and thirty-five, a mere handful compared with the number of men elected, but quite enough to show what may be expected. There are also five women on the Metropolitan Asylums Board, a Board com- posed for the most part of representative members elected from the Metropolitan Boards of Guardians. The work of guardians divides itself broadly into the administration of outdoor and indoor relief, including the care of the sick and aged and of children, and the treatment of the able-bodied, in the infirmary, the schools, and the workhouse belonging to the parish or union. It is the business of the relieving officer to satisfy himself first that an applicant for relief is in real need ; and if the need is urgent, he must give food immediately. He must also make sure that the applicant has a claim on the parish where he applies, and must find, if possible, the children, parents, or grandparents, who may be called upon for main- tenance. Similar inquiries must be made in the case of a deserted wife. Where such maintenance is wilfully refused or neglected, the guardians take legal proceedings to obtain it. In the mean time they charge themselves with the care of the destitute person. They may not, as a rule, give outdoor relief to able-bodied men or women. Relief given to them, except in special emergencies, is given in the workhouse. As to aged and infirm people, and the children of widows, considerable discretion is allowed whether to give weekly allowances or indoor relief in the workhouse, the infirmary, or the schools. The workhouse may be called the receiving house. There the inmates are classified and separated according to their sex, age, state of health, and, to a certain extent, according to character. It is the duty of the master or matron to find suitable employment for every one at all able to work. People of industrious habits, even bed-ridden women, gladly 252 Woman s Mission. perform their tasks, as they say "it helps to pass the time away." The idle and vicious are given the most laborious work, except when the medical officer certifies that they are unable to do it. In metropolitan parishes, lunatics, idiots, and most imbeciles, are sent away to asylums. In the country, harmless lunatics and idiots are still kept in the workhouse. The acute sick in large towns are generally sent to a separate infirmary, where they receive medical care and skilled nursing. Children are not permanently kept in the workhouses in London or in the great towns, but are detained only until they can be certified as thoroughly clean and in good health. Of course their parents, if they have any, may cease to be chargeable to the rates, and they will then remove the children. But those in the hands of the guardians will be sent away to separate schools the children of Protestants to the parish or district schools, and the children of Roman Catholics to schools managed under the educational autho- rities of their own church. In country parishes children are kept in the workhouse, but are generally sent to the nearest elementary school, like other children. Orphans and deserted children, over two years and under ten years of age, are by some guardians boarded out in the families of independent working people in the country, under the supervision of local boarding-out committees, and under the general control of the Local Government Board. From this short description of the classes of people dealt with by the guardians, it must be evident that there is plenty of scope for the special work of women. Before women were elected as guardians, many alleviations were brought within reach of the aged and infirm through the visits of ladies, who would lend them books, read to them or talk with them, and care for their comforts as far as they could while observing the discipline of the workhouse. This kind of visiting has been well described in a report by Mrs. Rose on " Lady Visitors to Workhouses," and it goes on to the present time. Other visitors turned their attention to the young women and girls in the workhouse, and by charitable effort encouraged and enabled those who were well disposed to start out again into the world, and to maintain themselves by honest work. In the course of their visiting they must often have wished Women as Guardians of the Poor. 253 for improved Boards of Guardians, and they greatly helped forward the movement for electing women when once it had begun. But one most important advance in workhouse man- agement was made ten years before the first woman was elected. For I must not fail to speak of the work of Agnes Jones, begun in 1865, as superintendent of the Brownlow Hill Workhouse Infirmary, Liverpool. Formerly the nursing there, as elsewhere, was done by pauper inmates. Mr. W. Rathbone proposed to substitute trained paid nurses for these worse than useless women, and undertook to bear all the expense connected with the experiment for three years, by which time he believed the success of the scheme would have recommended it to the Board of Guardians, and it would be adopted as the permanent system. Agnes Jones, a thoroughly trained and disciplined nurse, entered upon her duties in the spring of 1865. A party of twelve Nightingale nurses and seven probationers very soon joined her, and the work began in earnest of bringing order, light, and hope into that great house of misery, containing more than a thousand sick and infirm persons, beside the usual varieties of able-bodied inmates and children. At the end of two years the experiment was declared so completely successful that the Board of Guardians determined to adopt the system as a permanent one. Before the three years were ended, in February, 1868, Agnes Jones succumbed to an attack of fever, worn out by her long-continued anxious effort. To quote the words of Miss Florence Nightingale, " She lived the life and died the death of the saints and martyrs ; though the greatest sinner would not have been more surprised than she to have heard this said of herself. In less than three years she had reduced one of the most disorderly hospital populations in the world to something like Christian discipline, such as the police themselves wondered at. She had led, so as to be of one mind and heart with her, upwards of fifty nurses and proba- tioners ; of whom the faithful few she took with her of our trained nurses were but a seed. She had converted a vestry to the conviction of the economy as well as the humanity of nursing pauper sick by trained nurses, the first instance of the kind in England. But indeed the superstition seems now to 254 Woman s Mission. be exploding, that to neglect sick paupers is the way to keep down pauperism." The Brownlow Hill Infirmary is now a kind of training- school for nurses, who go from thence to nurse in many of the infirmaries of the north of England. Many more of our large parish infirmaries have of late years been brought up to the level of hospitals for all ordinary illness. In the mean time the Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Association has been quietly at work for the last thirteen years, training and sending out nurses of proved character to infirmaries all over the country. They supply the nursing staffs to two in- firmaries in London and to eight in various country unions. There are now 116 of their nurses at work in fifty-two workhouse infirmaries. These numbers certainly are small, and it is to be hoped that they may greatly increase; but wherever an organized society trains a band of good workers it also raises the standard of work all round them. In answer to an application, the Local Government Board stated not long ago that they were prepared to sanction without further inquiry the appointment of nurses recommended by the Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Asso- ciation. As to parish infirmaries generally, the Local Government Board Report for 1892 says, "We are glad to be able to state that the character of the arrangements for the nursing of the sick poor in workhouses continues to improve generally throughout the country, both as regards the number of nurses employed and their qualifications for the office. This is more especially the case in the metropolis and some of the provincial towns." In the year 1872 a most important step was taken by the Right Hon. J. Stansfeld, M.P., then President of the Local Government Board, when he requested the late Mrs. Nassau Senior to undertake the work in which she spent the remain- der of her active life, namely, to organize an inquiry as to the career of girls brought up in our metropolitan parish and district schools. The value set upon her labours during the year of her first appointment was such that she was per- manently appointed Inspector of Workhouses and District Schools. The inquiry was in fact greatly extended, and was Women as Guardians of the Poor. 255 conducted under her directions by ladies in many parts of the country with a view also of gaining evidence as to the boarding-out system. After completing and sifting evidence most laboriously obtained, it was found that fifty-three per cent, of the girls trained in our poor-law schools turned out badly, or were not satisfactorily accounted for ; that they frequently returned to the workhouse ; that they were dis- honest, dirty, sullen, and ignorant of the common things of life. The news was disappointing, almost insulting to those who had taken pride in the large and costly buildings where these children had grown up, where guardians had made visits of state, and had satisfied themselves that the children were well clothed and fed, and that they received schooling suitable to their class and station. It must still be remembered that these large district schools were a great advance on the old workhouse schools which they superseded. The next thing to do, the work Mrs. Senior had in hand when her health failed, was to form an association for be- friending these parish girls when they went into service. They had received official visits from the chaplain or the relieving officer while in their first place. Mrs. Nassau Senior proposed to substitute for the official visit a visit by a lady friend, a friend who would follow a girl up from one situation to another until she was twenty. The girls were not to go out as paupers or parish girls ; they were to be called young servants, and they were to be befriended, encouraged into self-respect, good temper, obedience and patience, into habits of cleanliness and thorough work, into thrift and independence. The Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Ser- vants was founded in 1875, the same year as the Girls' Friendly Society.* In addition to its other works, the Girls' Friendly Society cares for 3657 girls brought up in country workhouses. The Metropolitan Association confines itself generally to working on Mrs. Senior's lines among girls brought up in the London poor-law schools, and among those of the same class outside the schools whose parents cannot give them a fairly good start in service. The total number * Mrs. Nassau Senior joined with Mrs. Townshend in founding the Girls' Friendly Society. 256 Woman s Mission. on their books on December 31, 1892, was 8563, including 2593 brought up in the poor-law schools. It is easy to give figures ; it is impossible to give an idea in few words of the mothering care given to these poor, lonely children in many a crisis of their lives. They may look dull and uninteresting, but the great war between good and evil is as fiercely waged in them as in others. If the day is won, it is probably owing to some woman who, not merely as the member of an association, but as a mother or a sister, has wrestled for the life of the lonely, ungoverned, reckless girl, and has helped her to new patience and new hope. So much for the direct work of this association, the largest existing charitable society having direct relations with a department of state, and whose work comes into the annual report of the Local Government Board. Perhaps the chief indirect work has been through the Boards of Guardians. The lady guardians especially have laid to heart all the reports they have received from the Metropolitan Association. Our great schools could not be destroyed. Could they be brightened and made more human? Step by step we have moved on in improving our school-teaching, beginning with the kindergarten, in encouraging active games, in making all possible breaks in the monotonous round of a school life which is necessarily without breakings up and set holidays. We have also given special attention to the industrial training of girls for situations in very small houses, and we have shortened the time before sending them to service. At first sight it might seem better to keep our girls and boys until they were sixteen, as the law would allow. But it has been found better to send them out before they settle into habits of dependence, and to free them from the pressure of large numbers all round them, which has a stupefying effect if long continued. Applications are received for our girls from mistresses. After inquiries have been made as to the suitability of a situation, if the guardians are satisfied they inform the secretary of the Metropolitan Association when the girl is going, and she arranges for a lady to visit. The best mistress for one of these girls is a kind and motherly person who keeps an orderly home on a very small income, and who superintends or takes part in all the work of her Women as Guardians of the Poor. 257 house. For such places our girls go out much better prepared than formerly, having been taught the beginnings of cooking, washing, and housework, and having learnt also to take pride in their work. When they go out at about fourteen years of age there is still a margin of two years during which the guardians may, in case of failure, supplement their school training by training in some special Industrial Home. A visitor to one of our great schools ten or twelve years ago could not fail to be struck with the slouching, sullen look of the elder girls. That look has gone, and the children now will hold themselves straight and will look you in the face. The percentage of failures is now reckoned at 10 per cent. Women guardians are by no means indifferent to the training and the later career of boys brought up in their schools. A general brightening up has fallen to their lot also, with the natural results that they go into life active and independent, and that many are doing remarkably well. Mrs. Nassau Senior's unfavourable report on our schools gave an impetus to the movement for boarding-out orphan and deserted children in the families of working people. On January I, 1892, there were 1689 children under boarding- out committees outside of their own parish, and 3323 boarded out by guardians within the parish. By the boarding-out system followed by London Boards of Guardians, agreements are entered into with committees certified by the Local Government Board, composed of ladies and gentlemen, people of known standing in the country, who select homes for the children with respectable working people, arrange the payments for their board and lodging, and make visits of inspection every few weeks, but not so as to destroy the authority or responsibility of the foster-parents. In a well-chosen home a child sent in infancy grows up as one of the family, and when the time comes for facing the world, he or she goes out not as an orphan, but as the children of good working people go. They can still turn for kindness to, and they will still receive guidance from, those who have cared for them and guided them so far. The question may still be asked, What is the special effect of the presence of women on a Board of Guardians ? S 258 Woman s Mission. I think the key-note of their work is struck in the view they take of women of low character. It is an absolute article in their creed that every one they see is a human being, fallen, perhaps, out of all knowledge from what he or she was created to be, but still a human being, and as such never to be insulted or degraded. They will not tolerate the coarse joking sometimes heard at Boards where women appear only as paupers, and where none are present as guardians. They lean towards strictness in discipline, and look for all means by which the able-bodied women may be either goaded or encouraged into an active and honest life. Here I should tell of an arrangement for their good adopted in at least three London workhouses. It must be evident that the leisure time after working hours will be a time of moral danger or distress according to the character of the women, as it is generally given up to idleness, and often to corrupting conversation. In the workhouses of Whitechapel, St. Pancras, and Kensington, this leisure time is brought into better use by a Mental Instructress, who for two hours in the evening has control over the day-room where the able-bodied women are. She teaches them to work, not necessarily for the workhouse, if they like to learn. She will read to them or talk with them. They are not compelled to listen or to work, but they are not allowed to interrupt. The effect at length is to draw them into an interest in what is going on, and at least it must put a check on a great deal of evil. As I write, I see the face of a woman reckoned among the able-bodied, but blind ; blinded by her husband, since dead, in a fit of temper. The Mental Instructress brought her the chance, for which she had been longing, of some employment for her hands. She has learnt to knit and even to turn the heel of a stocking, and with every little advance her face has brightened up, and the old dulness has been cheered away. It is said that the tendency of men is to generalize and of women to individualize. And it is sometimes supposed that women as guardians will nurse the babies in the nursery, be the special friends of the old patients in the infirmary wards, and the rescuers of the young women in the work- house who have fallen out of their places. They may desire Women as Guardians of the Poor. 259 to do so, but where the numbers are very large it is impos- sible. Their first business is to see that the nurses and other officers are faithful and kind in their duty. They will not fail to bring in, or to uphold, voluntary workers, who will do more individual and friendly work than they can themselves. In many of our large workhouses there are Workhouse Girls' Aid Committees, who make it their business to search out every girl whom they can possibly help to make a better start, and in all their work they are greatly helped by the women guardians. They have to find many ways of help- ing, as differences of character are very great even here. Most of the young women seem careless and indifferent, and yet with higher influences and fresh hope they are often brought to amendment of life. About a year and a half ago, there came before a Board of Guardians a girl who belonged to a parish far away in the country, where for years she had been the slave of her father's vices. According to the strict letter of the law she ought to have been returned to her own parish. But this would have thrown her back inevitably into the old life. She was taken out by ladies and placed in a home where she quickly responded to every good influence, and where she spent what she called the happiest time of her life. In the course of a few months it became evident that she was hope- lessly consumptive, and she had to leave and to apply for admission into the parish infirmary. She was to be received in a few days, but while she was waiting, death came quite gently and set her free. This was certainly a case in which the individual interest of guardians co-operated with other workers, and wisely modified the regular course of the law. The more careful working of the poor law, and the closer observation of our workhouse inmates, have made us aware that considerable numbers, especially of the women, are feeble- minded ; not idiot or imbecile, but incapable of steadily con- trolling their actions. We are only at the beginning of a general movement, not a sensational one, but one which surely must not flag or die away, for the special care of women and girls of this class. The quickened pace of our industries, the higher standard of work, the greater demand on thought and energy, generally make it an imperative duty 260 Woman s Mission. to consider those who cannot keep pace with the rest, and even at the cost of special effort to protect and control those who, if left to themselves, will fall a prey to evil men or to their own lower inclinations. Several small homes have been started and are still in their infancy, to receive such girls and employ them according to their capacity. No account of ameliorations in workhouse life would be complete without a few words about the Brabazon Employ- ment Scheme. In a paper called the Idle Room, Miss Blanche Medhurst says "The more lady guardians are admitted to workhouse Boards, the more wide awake will the women of England become as regards the needs of infirmary paupers. These needs may briefly be summed up in the word ' Employment.' The doctors and nurses are usually kind and thoroughly attentive to the inmates, who are neither ill-fed nor ill-treated ; that is, they are not ill-treated in any sensational manner so as to rouse public indignation. But the negative ill-treatment consists in this, that nothing is done to provide the crippled limbs and feeble minds with such slight occupation as could give interest to the ragged remnant of their broken lives, and bring out that best part which is to be found for the seeking, even in the worst of humanity." Of such the foundress of the Brabazon Employment Scheme (now Countess of Meath) wrote in 1882 " Sad clusters of men and women may be seen, with hands lying idly before them, dreaming away precious weeks, months, years. Such an existence is not life. If it must be so designated, it is the life of the brute and not of the man. It is in the hope of coming to the aid of such persons that I would ask the permission of the Board of Guardians to give materials for providing some sort of light fancy-work for patients in infirmary wards who are at present wholly unemployed, or at most only partially employed. In no case would I wish to interfere with the labour of those who are already better engaged in doing the needful work of the institution. Netting, knitting, patchwork, wood-carving, is found to be the best kind of work for such light hand labour. Materials should be placed either in the hands of the nurses, or of sisters of the wards, whose duties are lightened when Women as Guardians of the Poor. 261 this is permitted. But no help in such experiments is so valuable as that of the lady visitors." As might easily be imagined, such a scheme appeared fanciful to many Boards of Guardians and officials. During ten years Lady Brabazon's offer was accepted in only seventeen workhouses, but during the present year the number has risen to thirty. From several London parishes, from Manchester, Bradford, Coventry, from Tunbridge and other country parishes, come expressions of appreciation of the scheme. The doctor of the Tunbridge Workhouse says, " It has given new life to the old people. I have not half so much trouble with them, mentally or bodily." Before leaving this subject, I will quote two stories which speak for themselves. " For many years I was often a visitor of the union, and many and many a conversation I have had with its inmates, and well I remember one man whom I saw there and talked with. The strong men were at work in the garden, and some but little weaker were otherwise employed ; but this man sat in the sunshine doing nothing, but thinking and thinking, and piling up thought on thought, till, as he said, he felt as if he could think no longer. There was nothing he could do to employ his mind. He could not read, and so he sat about and thought. He said, ' One day is as another. I get up, I eat, and it gets dark, and then I soon go to bed ; and, sir, what is the use of a life like this? I want to be doing something I can think about, for this doing of nothing is dreadful. I cannot bear it much longer ! ' I was away for some months. The next time I went the mistress told me of a sad ending of an out-wearied life of ' nothing to do.' " The man had committed suicide. The next is a happier story, of a wretched, crippled woman, "who had been forty times in prison, and whose savage, evil nature and violent temper were the horror of all who vainly attempted to refine or reform her. She was simply gradually humanized by the influences of the har- monium services, and by the wholesome distraction of the light employment she was induced to try. I cannot soon forget the ring of earnestness in her voice as she wished God might bless Lady Brabazon ' for her good thought for such as me.' " 262 Woman 's Mission. It will be clear that among women and children alone there is enough to occupy the mind and energy of any woman who serves as a guardian in a large parish or union, though she will certainly not confine her interest to them. But the first thing is to secure her election. It is very much to be regretted that in many parts of England general party politics are allowed to influence guardian elections, and rival lists of candidates are drawn up by the opposed political parties. But right-minded voters will ignore such considerations. They will consider first the welfare of the poor to be cared for. They will see that a Board without women will overlook many opportunities of good work. They will expect a woman-candidate to have given proof of her care for the poor in steady, quiet work for them ; and having found one whose work has commended itself to their judgment, they will exert themselves on her behalf until she is elected, and will renew their political activities at another and more suitable time. When elected, she will find much to learn. She will respect the great system of legal relief which she is to help to work out She will appreciate the practical common sense and business habits of some among her colleagues, and will keep an open mind to learn even from those whom she may think narrow, ignorant and self-seeking. She will not shirk duties connected with contracts or general business, though other duties may be more congenial to her. She will learn her work in patience, and in patience she will do it ; remem- bering that even the best ideas cannot be pushed by main force. They cannot be carried without the co-operation of her colleagues, who may suspect her for a time of being viewy and fanciful. " He that believeth shall not make haste." She believes, and watches and waits until her opportunity comes, and gradually she will neither know nor care much who brought in the best ideas, or who did the best work, she will so fully realize that her best work is not merely her individual work, but the work of the body of which she is a member, and that if she does her work well, the ideas of that body will become larger. There is no definite piece of work for which it is so much worth while to be a guardian as that of the election of officers. Women as Guardians of the Poor. 263 Opportunities are sure to come, when if possible the staff should be improved, or at least not suffered to fall back. There is no Board of Guardians that can secure good adminis- tration without good officers. The Board may pass resolu- tions, but the officers have to carry them out. It is therefore of the greatest importance to secure officers who will work faithfully ; and when appointed, they should be assured of just consideration and encouragement. The women officers of a Board at least will look for this from women guardians, and they will know that their work and their difficulties can best be understood by them. It generally happens that when women are on a Board of Guardians an interest in their work is awakened among all the more helpful kind of people in the neighbourhood, and a healthy public opinion is felt to be playing upon our institutions. During the last two or three years there have been louder and louder demands for a reform of the poor law, and it has been said that the reformed law of 1834 is now quite out of date. It might do more good if in every place the guardian elections were followed with closer interest, if in every place the ratepayers insisted upon an intelligent and large-minded interpretation of the law. At one time it was thought that inferior nursing was good enough for sick paupers, that inferior teaching was good enough for pauper children. It is now becoming increasingly recognized that cheap nursing and cheap teaching are not economical, that the most economical work is that which is best adapted to its purpose. It is for the ratepayers in every parish to decide whether they will keep to the old ideas of economy, or move forward to the new ; whether they will merely house, feed, and clothe, those dependent on them, or whether they will use every human means to restore the sick to health ; whether they will train the children in their care both in body and mind for an inde- pendent life, and whether they will take a just and considerate view of what is due to the aged and infirm. It is true that much larger sums are expended on our schools and on our infirmaries than formerly, but the administration of relief must be considered as a whole. A more efficient treatment can hardly be called extravagant when it is remembered that in 264 Woman s Mission. the year ending March 25, 1832, with a population of 14,000,000, poor-law relief in England and Wales amounted to ^"7,036,968 ; whereas in 1891, with a population of 28,762,287, it amounted to no more than 8,643,318. Too many voters have thought that the first object of a guardian was to save money. The first object of the law is to relieve destitution, and to do this in such a manner as not to spread and aggravate the evil ; for it must be remembered that the influence of a Board of Guardians extends far beyond its actual work. It is the law of the land that none shall be suffered to perish of hunger. It is but fair and just to honest men and women that life should be made irksome and painful to those who wilfully take advantage of that law. There must be severity towards such as these. But they are only one class. Among the many who come under the care of guardians are those who still have a good conscience, though they have lost all besides. They have done their day's work, have brought up children, have battled with the world, have endured hardness and want, and at last they must needs burden the parish and accept its support with as good a grace as they can. For the many kinds and characters to be dealt with, a true guardian of the poor must be ever wakeful to secure the chance of reinstatement wherever it can be given, but in any case to secure justice for every one. 265 THE HISTORY OF WORKHOUSE REFORM. BY Miss LOUISA TWINING. IT is not an easy task to write the history of a movement that has been carried on in various ways and with varying success during a period of forty years ; but as I am asked to give some account of what has been accomplished, I will endeavour to do so, believing that I am perhaps the only one remaining of the first small body of " reformers " in the cause of workhouse management. In 1850 a pamphlet on this subject was written by two ladies, Mrs. May and Mrs. Archer, and it was the first publication that turned my attention to it. The pamphlet was called "A Plan for rendering the Union Poorhouses National Houses of Mercy ; " and I may add that the same plea is now again being urged by the Countess of Meath and myself. But there was an even earlier effort than this, which must not be forgotten. One hundred years before, a now well- nigh forgotten philanthropist, Jonas Hanway, born in 1712, was led to consider the sad state of the infant parish poor. He even travelled through Europe (no easy matter in those days) to ascertain what was done in other countries, and on his return published the results of his investigations. The workhouse of St. Clement Danes in the Strand is particu- larly named in relation to this matter, and I may mention the coincidence that it was in this very Strand Union that my investigations and visits were first carried on. In 1761, Hanway, after ten years of toil and unceasing work, obtained an act for regulating the treatment of parish children. It forbade their being kept in the workhouses ; all were to 266 Woman s Mission. be sent into the country to be nursed till six years old ; and there is no doubt that thousands of lives were thus preserved. In 1855 a volume of "Practical Lectures to Ladies" was published, containing one by the Rev. J. S. Brewer on "Workhouse Visiting," which showed that con- sideration for the poor inmates was beginning to be felt. In 1853, through interest in a respectable old woman, whom I had long visited in her little room (which she was obliged to give up for the workhouse, her eyesight failing her for needlework), I was led to follow her into her dreaded re- treat ; and from that day, now forty years ago, my interest in and desire to help the inmates may be dated, and has never since ceased. Their utter loneliness, their prison-like separation from the outer world, was the first thing that struck me ; for I learnt that no one was allowed to enter, except the friends and relations on certain fixed days, and there were, of course, many poor lonely creatures who had neither relation nor friend. There were at least five hundred inmates in that one workhouse, of every class and description, and of all ages ; no separation of classes being then made. I obtained permission to visit when I liked, but my endeavours to extend this privilege to other ladies, when referred to the Board of Guardians, consisting of local tradesmen, were unsuccessful. The Central (then the Poor Law) Board having been consulted, it was decided that there could be no giving way to such an innovation as was proposed, which threatened to overthrow " the discipline of the workhouse " and perhaps create a revolution ! A subsequent application from myself was " reluctantly declined," as " forming an inconvenient pre- cedent ; " a phrase we are all familiar with, in connection with suggested reforms ! I may here quote from a little book of my "Recollections," published in 1880: "The plan was thus stopped for a time, but not relinquished ; and the individual visits were continued by which much knowledge was acquired of the internal arrangements of the workhouse, and of the many cruel and unknown miseries which were inflicted on the inmates. For what could the best of matrons effect for good or comfort, when she was the sole woman in authority over that vast household, with literally no helper or assistant but pauper women ? " The History of Workhouse Reform. 267 In the following year, 1854, another effort was made, and a personal interview was granted by the President and Secre- tary of the Poor Law Board, when a kind promise was given that, if the plan were carried on quietly, no objection would be made. So by degrees, some friends being enlisted in the work and others becoming interested in it, the visiting system gradually extended. There was one visitor for every ward for many years (until, indeed, the removal of the old workhouse) both on week-days and Sundays ; with tea-parties at Christ- mas, in which the whole staff of visitors, ladies and gentlemen, joined. In 1857 I was induced to send a letter to the Guardian, a weekly high-class Church newspaper, with some remarks and suggestions concerning " Homes for the Aged Poor ; " and this was the beginning of a long-continued correspond- ence. These letters were republished in 1857 as a pamphlet, called " Metropolitan Workhouses and their Inmates ; " one other having already appeared in 1855, with the title, "A Few Words about the Inmates of our Workhouses." In 1858 Mrs. G. W. Sheppard, of Frome, wrote a pamphlet, "Sunshine in the Workhouse," and in the following year, " Christmas Eve in a Workhouse ; " both of which helped to bring the forgotten inmates, who were indeed " out of mind " as well as " out of sight," to the notice of the outer world. In 1857 a young nobleman, Lord Raynham, was led to consider the subject, in consequence of the disclosures that had been made public. He brought forward a motion in the House of Commons, that a Select Committee should be appointed to inquire into the condition and administration of Metropolitan workhouses ; referring to the state of St. Pan- eras Workhouse (one of the largest in London), where an investigation had just been made, resulting in a verdict of " horrible " from one of the first of London physicians. But though the motion was well supported, after an "official" reply from the President of the Poor Law Board, it was lost. Four years after this apparent failure, the very Committee then asked for was appointed ; and exactly ten years later, in 1867, the result appeared in the Bill introduced by Mr. Gathorne Hardy (now Lord Cranbrook) and subsequently passed. By this grand effort the Metropolitan infirmaries 268 Woman 's Mission. for the sick were entirely separated from the workhouses, and placed under the management of other officers. In 1858 I wrote a long article in the Church of England Monthly Review on "Workhouses and Women's Work," afterwards published as a pamphlet, which was widely reviewed by the daily press. Other movements were going on. In 1855 the matter of training nurses was brought before the Epidemiolo- gical Society of London by an eminent physician, Dr. Edward Sieveking, who proposed that the able-bodied women in workhouses should be thus made useful; and in 1858 a cir- cular of the Poor Law Board sanctioned the plan, which, I may say here, was never found practicable, owing to the generally degraded character and antecedents of this class. In connection with this part of our subject, I may add the satisfactory information, that the idea thus started has taken, since 1879, a practical and entirely successful form in the formation of the "Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Associa- tion," which has now one hundred and thirty nurses at work throughout the country, many of them trained by the funds of the association ; the demand for the nurses being beyond the number that can be supplied. In 1857 a great step was made by a proposal to form a central society for the promotion of workhouse visiting. This suggestion was brought forward at the first meeting of the " Social Science Association," which met at Birmingham ; when I contributed a paper in the department of social economy on the " Condition of Workhouses " the first, I believe, that had ever come before the public. The plan was afterwards developed in London, under the presidency of the Hon. Wm. Cowper (afterwards Lord Mount-Temple), and a large and influential committee of men and women was formed, I being the honorary secretary. Its rules and objects were : I. The care of children, and their after-care as well (a plan now largely developed). 2. For the sick and afflicted. 3. For the ignorant and depraved, their instruction, and the en- couragement of useful occupation. Thus the seeds were sown for many subsequent developments ; one of which, in con- nection with the last-named object, is the " Brabazon " scheme for providing work and suitable occupation for both men and women who are unable to assist in the regular work for the The History of Workhouse Reform. 269 house. This scheme is now being increasingly adopted in many workhouses in London and the country, its origin being due to Lady Meath, who has the satisfaction of seeing her scheme now carried out in America as well as at home. In the year 1859 another departure was made by the publication of a periodical called the Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society, which at first appeared every two months, and then quarterly. Much useful information was thus distributed, and the plan was continued till 1865, when it was felt it had done its useful work of enlightenment, and it ceased. In this periodical may be found the suggestion of nearly every movement now being carried out. The first meeting of the society was held in 1859, "the first occasion on which the claims of workhouse inmates on the sympathy of the public have been advocated," as was said at the time. Two bishops and many influential clergymen and laymen spoke, to advocate the cause. A committee of visitors was formed for one of the City workhouses, under the auspices of the Lady Mayoress, and in 1 860 one was appointed also for St. Pancras Workhouse. In 1862 a Bill was carried through Parliament chiefly owing to the exertions of the Hon. Mrs. Way, who had already established a school for pauper girls in Surrey establishing the legality of payments by the guardians to homes certified by the Central Board. The rescue of children and girls from the contamination of pauper intercourse was the first object to engage the attention of visitors ; with the result that a home was opened in London for girls who returned to the workhouse after being sent to service. This was done in 1861, under an influential committee, of which the Baroness Burdett-Coutts was one, while she generously furnished the house and paid the rent during three years. The management devolved upon me, and for many years I lived almost entirely at the home, into which thirty girls could be taken. I may mention here that this home was carried on till 1878, when the house was taken for the remaining years of the lease by a committee of ladies who were beginning to carry out the plans of Mrs. Nassau Senior, appointed in 1875 as the first Woman Inspector under the Poor Law Board, for the schools. This was the starting-point of the 270 Woman's Mission. now widely extended Metropolitan Association for Befriend- ing Young Servants, numbering thousands, under the care of a large staff of visitors, and with homes also. Many hundreds of girls may be said to have been saved from ruin during the twenty years' work of this association. In 1860 a Commission was appointed to consider the state of education in England ; and as pauper schools were included, I was asked to give evidence about them. The two chief points I dwelt upon as evils were the want of industrial training for girls, and the herding of them together in masses. Both evils have been largely done away with since by means of boarding-out children (begun in 1870, and suggested in our Journal in 1864), and by cottage homes, started by voluntary effort, and certified by the Local Government Board. An association to promote this last plan was begun in 1891.* In 1860 attention was drawn to the condition of incurables in workhouses by Miss Frances Power Cobbe, who had visited the workhouse at Bristol and had become acquainted with the sadly defective care of them. She wrote a paper called " A Plea for Destitute Incurables," which was read at a Social Science Congress at Glasgow, and afterwards brought before the Central Board. A petition was framed, signed by ninety of the leading physicians and surgeons of the London hospitals, asking permission to give voluntary aid to such sufferers (of whom there were supposed to be 80,000 in the workhouses) by means of trained nurses ; comforts and appliances suitable to their sad condition being supplied from a central fund. Seven Boards of Guardians consented to try the plan, and it was carried on for two years ; but after that time objection was urged that it was illegal, and contrary to the intentions of the poor law. In 1865 a deputation of the Workhouse Visiting Society waited upon the President of the Poor Law Board (Mr. Villiers) with a statement and petition as to the general condition of the sick in workhouse infirmaries. Two meetings, attended by twenty-one members of Parliament and medical men, were held at Mrs. Gladstone's house to arrange this matter. This effort cannot be said to have been a failure, considering the great results that have followed from its endeavours and * At the present time Miss Mason is acting as Inspector, under the Local Government Board, of all children boarded-out. The History of Workhouse Reform. 271 example. The petition is remarkable for embodying all subsequent reforms, but it is too long to be given here. The admission of additional medical men and students into poor-law institutions was then urged, and is still earnestly desired. Of the gentlemen who formed that deputation only two are now living. Impressed by the needs of sick paupers, it was decided to take a house adjoining the Girls' Industrial Home for the reception of incurable women, chiefly, and in the first instance, from workhouses, their cost (as in the workhouse) being paid by the guardians, as in the case of the girls. This plan was successfully carried on for twenty-eight years, but owing to the improvements in the London infirmaries, their inmates ceased, after a time, to be received. An inquiry was also instituted as to the number of paid nurses employed in workhouses ; in most of which, it was found, there were only paupers to attend the sick. In 1861 another Parliamentary Commission was appointed, at which much valuable evidence was given. Other Com- mittees followed in 1888 and 1891. Among the earlier efforts must be named a letter to the Times, written by me in 1858 on Workhouse Nurses. Then followed in 1866 the " Lancet Commission," carried out by the editors of that paper, for an investigation into all matters connected with the sick in workhouses. It was well said that this and many other endeavours to expose very grave evils were but following up the efforts of private persons ; public opinion and the press supplying a force that compelled official action, "the foremost banners being borne by private individuals." In 1867 Mr. Villiers acknowledged to a deputation that "a case had been made out," and although he left office before a bill could be prepared, one was carried through by his successor, Mr. Gathorne Hardy. The separation of the various classes of workhouse inmates was one of the chief features of this bill ; and though it is not even now entirely carried out, children and the sick were removed from the " workhouse," so called, as well as lunatics, the imbecile, and all infectious cases. Of these latter classes the Metropolitan Asylums Board, a body formed from the guardians of the 272 Woman s Mission. various unions represented, has taken charge. Its labours are on a truly gigantic scale. The first grand reform in the management of the sick was begun at Liverpool, when, in 1865, Agnes Jones, a devoted lady and highly trained nurse, was appointed, in the enormous workhouse of 1200 inmates, as superintendent of the infirmary. A second such appointment was made at the Sick Asylum, Highgate, when Miss Hill, one of the Nightingale Nurses of St. Thomas' Hospital, went there in 1870. These were the first instances of educated and trained women taking such posts. During the last few years women acting as guardians of the poor have aided the work of reform in no small degree, and by an increase in their number, year by year, we look forward to still further progress in the right direction. The first of these ladies was elected in the parish of Kensington in the year 1875 ; and now about one hundred and thirty women are acting as guardians of the poor in England, Wales, and Scotland. I have now completed my sketch, but the full extent of all that has been accomplished can only be known to those who were eye-witnesses of a state of things now happily passed away. In conclusion, may I be allowed to point out the moral of this history, which may be commended to all who are engaged in any similar work and undertaking ? It is com- prised in three words Patience, Perseverance, and Faith. 273 THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WORKERS. BY MISS HUBBARD. i- To give a bird's-eye view of the philanthropic work now being done by the women of Great Britain is indeed difficult, not only on account of its amount and variety, but from the absence of any system or organization pervading it. Unlike the Frauen-Verein of the Continent, outlined some ten years ago by our own Royal Princesses, the Empress Frederick of Germany and the late Princess Alice of Hesse- Darmstadt (an outline since nobly filled in by thousands of German women), any organization that exists in England has followed upon work already done, rather than preceded work. It has been more of the nature of growth ; a sort of spontaneous generation rather than the completion of an arbitrary model. The first sign of a desire among women to appropriate the advantage of united action in works of beneficence was given by the Sisterhood Movement about 1850; when Miss Sellon, the Hon. Mrs. Monsell, and others sought to gather women into religious community life in the first instance for definite training, and afterwards for associated work among the poor. This example was followed in 1861 by the revival of the Primitive Order of Deaconesses by Deaconess Catharine Ferard, who had studied the subject at Kaiserwerth; and within the last few years similar efforts to secure trained and organized work in nursing, teaching, and the general amelioration of the poor, have been made by the " Sisters of the People," and by branches of other Nonconformist bodies. Of a less definitely religious but equally earnest type are the T 274 Womaais Mission. " Women's Settlements," which are colonies of educated women, principally students from colleges, who make their homes in crowded city-quarters to minister to the needs of the populace. The next sign that individual women were becoming alive to the heightened value which would accrue to their own work, by association with others, was the formation in 1866 of a society for the express purpose of affording a centre for the rapidly increasing number of institutions which were being started at the time. It took the somewhat ambitious title of " The National Central Office," and aimed at being "a focus to which all societies for the benefit of women and girls of good character in Great Britain and Ireland could be drawn and placed in union with each other." In 1869 it had affiliated about eighty institutions, and, curiously enough, that has remained about the yearly average ever since. Its pretensions to be both national and central were dropped a few years afterwards for the humbler title of the " Society for Promoting Female Welfare by the United Working of Institutions for the benefit of Women and Girls," and under this name it has done a very useful work ever since. It published in 1869 a tabular report of its affiliated institutions. That this society, valuable as has been its career, has not completely fulfilled its early promise, is probably caused by the fact that it required assurances from all affiliated institutions that they were conducted " strictly upon scriptural and Protestant principles," and partly also from the natural insularity of the British mind. The next examples of gradually aroused organizing power are to be found in the early history of the Girls' Friendly Society, the Women's Help Society, the Metropolitan Asso- ciation for Befriending Young Servants, the numerous Girls' Clubs with their centre in Soho, London, and all the com- plicated machinery and apparatus of candidates, members, associates, branches, presidents, lodges, homes of rest, lending libraries, coffee- taverns, penny banks, free registries, con- valescent and training homes, besides monthly and weekly magazines, and a whole flood of literature of all kinds, suited to almost every age and condition of womanhood and girl- hood. These societies number many thousands of English The Organization of Women Workers. 275 girls and women, not only in Great Britain and her colonies, but all over the Continent, in America, and, indeed, in all quarters of the globe. Untold is the good thus accom- plished ; but if the merits of a society are greater in propor- tion to the greater simplicity of machinery, the palm must be given to the Young Women's Christian Association, which, with little or no organization beyond the Prayer Union, out of which it originally started, also keeps an oversight of many thousands of young women in many different parts of the world. To it also belongs the honour of having worked out most efficiently one of the earliest forms of the " Travellers' Aid Society ; " a provision for the safety and protection of young Englishwomen travelling alone in their own country or abroad. Emigration naturally rises to one's mind in this connec- tion ; and it is significant of the zeal of the educated and leisured women of England that, even in this direction of much enterprise and difficulty, they have not been content with working in the channels created by men, but have elaborated an agency of their own for the protection and assistance of female emigrants. They may, indeed, be said to have taken the initiative in this direction ; as a society for providing matrons to female emigrant ships was founded in 1859, and only closed its career of usefulness in 1877, when Her Majesty's Government followed its lead, and, by supply- ing matrons as Government officials, paid the society that sincerest form of flattery known as imitation. The United British Women's Emigration Association, formed with the same object in view, viz. to provide for the safety and welfare of women and girl emigrants, has an " Emigrants' Rest " for women only, in Liverpool ; and by the activity and zeal of its vice-president, who herself travels and organizes on its behalf, the devotion of its honorary secretaries, and the excel- lence of its organization, has done more to settle the vexed question of female emigration than any other association. The word " united " is beginning to creep into the vocabu- lary of the English worker, and is a sign that more women, either as individuals or societies, are beginning to realize the fact that " union is strength." The motto has indeed been adopted by the most important thrift society at present 276 Woman's Mission. existing for women. The " United Sisters' Friendly Society," which, although it cannot claim to have been founded by women (that honour belonging to their good friend, the Rev. Frome Wilkinson), is yet almost exclusively managed by them. Neither in medicine, nursing, education, nor reformation and rescue work, do women owe their present position in any special way to organization. The pioneer medical women of twenty years ago got their diplomas in America and Paris, and there is no present bond of union among the hundred and forty registered medical women in England, beyond the medical diploma which they hold in common with men. Nurses are to all intents and purposes, a new creation ; and though the last few years have seen a wonderful rise in the estimation in which they are held by the public, and though the sum of ; 120,000 stands to the credit of their "Royal National Pension Fund," they do not seem to have availed themselves very eagerly of even the slight degree of free- masonry involved by becoming subscribers to it. Those nurses who are also midwives, on the other hand, have sown a seed which may in the future develop into a large and flourishing association. In the " Midwives' Institute and Trained Nurses' Club," at 12, Buckingham Street, Strand, to which all are eligible who have passed the examination of the Obstetrical Society of London, they possess both a centre and a registry, which will be of great service to them when the Bill for the Registration of Midwives, shortly to be presented to Parliament, shall have become law. But although the professional side of nursing has not been highly organized, several large and important societies exist for gratuitously nursing the sick poor of the land. The first organization of this kind was formed at Liverpool in 1859, and the system of district nursing then created has been adopted, with modifications suitable to the locality, in many great towns. The Central Home of the Metropolitan and National Nursing Association of London was opened in 1875, and the Royal Hospital of St. Katherine, founded as far back as 1148, was revived by its connection with the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute of the present reign. The members [of these, together with the members of the two The Organization of Women Workers. 277 large societies, the Rural Nursing Association, now merged into the Jubilee Institute, and the Cottage Nurses' Associa- tion, increase in numbers every year. The organizations founded by Englishwomen about the year 1870 for raising the standard of their education, such as the National Union for Improving the Education of Women, the Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education, and many other local societies founded for the same object, have more or less accomplished their purpose, and some have voluntarily dis- solved themselves. The Girls' Public Day School Company and the Church Schools' Company, although managed in conjunction with men, are practically the result of women's initiative ; while the Teachers' Guild, though admitting men as well as women, is really a women's society, the first scheme for its formation having appeared in that essentially women's magazine, Work and Leisure. The Association of Head-Mistresses and Assistant-Mistresses of Public Schools, the Governess Association in Ireland, and Association of University Teachers, are the only existing organizations confined to women teachers. Their addresses, as well as those of all other associations named in this article, will be found in the directory of the "Englishwomen's Year Book." In penitentiary and rescue work, the associations and larger institutions have all been organized and officered by men, although, in a few, women are members of the com- mittees of management. As a rule, the agents working directly with the outcast populations are females, but the secretaries are all men. The noble work of Miss Steer, Mrs. Wilkes, and other women are no exception ; as" even in the case of Miss Steer's numerous homes they are the result of individual and not associated effort. The Christian Women's Union, founded on their return from the States, by those indefatigable sisters, Mrs. Meredith and Miss Lloyd, also the foundresses of the Industrial Colony and Homes entitled the " Princess Mary's Homes" at Addle- stone, may, however, be reckoned one organized effort for Christian work and education ; and in the Social Purity Alliance, the Moral Reform Union, the Vigilance Association, and the numerous associations for social purposes, women are largely engaged either alone or in conjunction with men. 278 Woman's Mission. For the hundreds of Preventive and Rescue Homes, In- dustrial Schools, Convalescent Homes, and Homes of Rest, the women of England seem to be almost exclusively re- sponsible. Here and there men act as treasurers, visitors, or members of committee, and chaplains and medical officers are, of course, of the nobler sex ; but the whole army of "mothers," matrons, trainers, teachers, etc., are all women, and it may safely be predicted that these homes have received their first impulse from woman, and could not now be carried on without her. In social questions, and especially in dealing with that great and terrible evil, intemperance, women have been at work for at least thirty years in local guilds, bands, unions, and other efforts of all kinds and in all places, for the repres- sion of drunkenness and the inculcation of temperance and total abstinence. One of the largest organizations is the women's branch of the Church of England Temperance Society ; and there are other powerful agencies for good, especially the British Women's Temperance Association, the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union, etc. In charities pure and simple, women are working both as individuals and in association in very large numbers, while in organized and regulated charity, the "Working Ladies' Guild " for the relief of destitute gentlewomen, administered by "groups" of ladies in different localities, with H.R.H. the Princess Beatrice as their Patroness, and H.R.H. the Princess Frederica of Pawel-Rammagen as the head of one of the "groups," may well take the lead. The Ministering Chil- dren's League, founded by the Countess of Meath, has also a powerful and far-reaching organization. The two most striking examples of united work among Englishwomen, and those of most recent and speediest growth, are, however, the Mothers' Union Movement, and the Needlework Guilds founded by Lady Wolverton. The Mothers' Union is almost exclusively worked on Church lines, though mothers' meetings, out of which the Union more or less arose, are common to every religious body. There are diocesan unions in almost every diocese in England and Wales ; but Scotland is worked by districts, and some localities parochially. At Birmingham, for in- The Organization of Women Workers. 279 stance, returns are sent in parochially by branches in con- nection with Nonconformist congregations, equally with Church workers, to the diocesan centre, of which the wife of the Bishop is the President. In the direction of technical education and the classes for arts and handicrafts, which appear likely in future to form part of the educational system established by the law of the land, women have been not only pioneers but organ- izers. The Cookery School in Kensington, the Laundry Schools grafted upon cookery and other domestic arts in Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, the numerous local societies for the same purposes in the Midlands, now known as the "National Union for the Technical Education of Women in the Domestic Sciences," were all founded, drafted, and carried on to their present stage by women. In count- less other benevolent experiments for befriending the work- ing and artisan class, such as the society for bringing beauty into their homes, the Recreative Evening Association, the Happy Afternoons Society for teaching games to the Board School children, the numerous guilds for writing letters, supplying amusements to the friendless or the aged in workhouses, in ways too numerous to mention, English- women have been devoting their time, their means, yea, their very selves, to the ministry of others. By rent-collecting they have worked a reformation in the crowded rookeries of the poorer populations of our cities, and through the medium of the " College by Post " highly cultivated girls have initiated a system of intellectual tuition which is raising thousands of their less-favoured sisters to a standard of education which, unassisted, they could never have hoped to attain. That Englishwomen possess the faculty for organization is further shown by the extraordinary success of the Needle- work Guild, which, conducted on the simple plan of " circles " (one worker undertaking to find five others, each willing to supply two garments yearly), last year accumulated no less than 14,040 articles. The punctuality, precision, and method required to create and collect the gigantic heaps of carefully sorted garments which were on view last November in the palatial precincts of the new Imperial Institute, strikingly illustrated the business power of ladies, belonging in a 280 Woman's Mission. great measure to the " upper ten thousand " of Great Britain. The Parents' National Educational Union is, perhaps, the exception which proves the rule ; for the remarkable way in which parents of both sexes have been willing to listen to lectures on the subject of bringing up their children, and to appropriate the hints of Miss Charlotte Mason, the enthusiastic educationalist, whose name is probably not unknown in Chicago, would seem to falsify the statement that organization is unknown in Englishwomen's work. Perhaps only a spinster without a mother's natural prejudices and predilections in favour of her offspring and her educational methods, could possibly hold a position sufficiently independent to be listened to as she has been. In the Royal School of Art Needlework, which arose from the twofold desire of its distinguished foundress, Lady Welby, to revive a lost and beautiful art, while also minister- ing to the needs of reduced gentlewomen, and in many similar efforts both in London and the provinces, English- women have shown that they can organize and carry to successful issues enterprises combining sound commercial principles with the tenderest philanthropy. Classes for the instruction of village lads in wood-carving, beaten brass work, and other profitable and educational arts, have been started simultaneously by voluntary workers, of whom the majority are women, throughout the United Kingdom ; and they will be ready to avail themselves of State assistance when the County Councils and the Art and Education Departments of the Government have completed their schemes of aid. It will be obvious from what has been said so far that although the women workers of Great Britain, as a rule, work first and organize afterwards, they have largely availed them- selves of the organizations which in this old country of Eng- land lie ready to their hands. The Mothers' Union, the Girls' Friendly Society, and the Women's Help Society have fitted their machinery into the framework of the Established Church. The Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants avails itself of the organization of the Local Government Board ; and the associations for the care of girls associations scattered throughout the provinces are the The Organization of Women Workers. 281 counterparts of the M.A.B.Y.S., as the name of the last- mentioned society is abbreviated, plus committees of management. Workers in prisons and at prison gates place themselves at the disposal of the magistrates and the governors of the gaols. Women's work among soldiers builds homes close to the barracks, and Miss Weston is almost as well known by sailors in Her Majesty's men-of-war and the Merchant Service as their own log-book. The Workhouse Visiting and Infirmary Nursing Societies adopt the divisions of the Local Govern- ment Board, and carry on their work upon the lines and districts of the County Unions ; while the Women's Liberal Societies, the only ones conducted exclusively by women, also naturally work upon the Parliamentary divisions of the country. It might be thought that no chain could be light enough, and no centre comprehensive enough, to hold together even in the slightest of relations, so numerous, so heterogeneous so independent a mass of institutions as are maintained by the women of Great Britain for the benefit of their kind. There seems, however, a prospect that from the annual conferences of women workers which have arisen out of the local unions lately formed in so many districts, may sound forth the key-note that shall resolve these many changing chords into one harmonious anthem of " Peace upon earth, and good will to men." At Bristol, in November, 1892, all doubts as to the permanent success likely to attend these conferences were finally set at rest. The reports of the papers and speeches delivered at Barnsley, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol will satisfy any reader that the time is ripe for the foundation of "The National Union of Women Workers." This union now offers that focus at the centre, and that medium for communication and fellowship at the circumference, the need of which has been so greatly felt since the number both of workers and of institutions has so largely increased. In future, with its annual con- ferences, its Metropolitan Central Bureau, local unions, branch offices, and corresponding members scattered throughout Great Britain, the C.C.C. (as from the name of its executive, the Central Conference Council, it is familiarly called) will afford 282 Woman's Mission. the happiest and simplest organization for the encouragement and assistance of individual effort that can be imagined. This paper cannot be more fitly closed than by quoting the answer of its foundress and honorary organizing secretary, Miss Janes, in answer to the question, " What do you expect will be the immediate outcome of these conferences ? " and, I also may add, practically the whole question of united organized effort among the women of Great Britain and her colonies. She says, " Hearts have been quickened, prejudices removed, good methods described, a high standard fearlessly proclaimed and warmly assented to, vision widened, insight deepened. We have found how true a harmony may exist between those who differ, where there is a real desire to see truth and follow it ; we have learned how ' in quietness and in confidence ' our strength lies ; we have felt the influence of the spirit of wisdom and of love. We have met friends face to face, we have had our hearts stirred within us as they have reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and the judgment which will surely come if we omit to build the life of home, and country, on the only sure foundation. We have come a step nearer to our desired end the realization of our solidarity the greater economy of our forces through more united plans of action, the truer understanding of causes, and the better adjustment of means to ends." The choice of subjects discussed at these conferences will of itself be an indication of their practical nature, and of the earnest spirit in which their promoters applied themselves to their task. Some sixty-three papers have been read at the four con- ferences held in 1889 at Barnsley, in 1890 at Birmingham, in 1891 at Liverpool, and in 1892 at Bristol; and they were listened to with unflagging interest by many thousands of women, while perhaps some hundred women speakers took part in the after discussions. Verbatim reports of all the proceedings have been largely sold that of the Birmingham Conference being still in request, so that reprints have been required. This may be in part owing to the valuable appendix, which gives the titles, prices, and publishers of over seventy publications bearing on the subjects which had been under discussion. The Organization of Women Workers. 283 At the last three conferences an especial meeting has been devoted to subjects of interest and suitability to young girls ; and the number of the audiences at the " Young Ladies' Meetings " has only been limited by the size of the room 600 and 700 at Birmingham and Liverpool, and 1500 at Bristol. At Liverpool the novel feature of a " Working Women's Meeting" was introduced with great success. The hall, holding 1500 persons, was crowded to excess. Addresses were given by the wife of one of our most distinguished Bishops, the wife of an eminent Nonconformist, and other ladies representing widely different views ; but all united in uttering faithful and loving words of sympathy and counsel to their less favoured sisters. Between each address all united in singing hymns, and there were no signs of flagging interest. 284 Woman s Mission. WOMAN THE MISSIONARY OF INDUSTRY. BY THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. " IDLENESS alone is without hope ; " by useful labour the lives of the most wretched can be ennobled and rendered happy. This is the moral to be pointed by this paper on "Woman, the Missionary of Industry," and is amply con- firmed by the records of the work of Mrs. Morrogh Bernard, Mrs. Rogers, and Miss Roberts among the Irish peasants, of Mrs. Arthur Hanson among the Turkish refugees at Constantinople, and by many other deeply interesting reports * I have had the honour, as President of the Section of the Philanthropic Work of British Women, of sending to the Chicago Exhibition. Woman, both from nature and circum- stance, has been generally a silent worker for the benefit of her fellow-beings ; doing good by stealth ; making many a "nook of God's creation a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God," many " human hearts a little wiser, man- fuller, and happier ; " and, especially in our age, in the van among the captains of the world, battling with evil in all its multitudinous forms. But although in this great work, and this great conflict, women have borne their full share of the heat and burden of the day, their services until quite recently have received but scant recognition. Even now scarcely a * Many other records of the beneficent results of the work of individual women in aiding the poor to help themselves, are dealt with in the papers by Mrs. Gilbert and Miss Petrie ; and I would like to direct special attention to what is said respecting the work of Miss Maude among the labourers in Somersetshire, of the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Grisell Baillie Hamilton, and Miss Ferguson in isolated country districts in Scotland. Woman the Missionary of Industry. 285 tithe is known of what woman has done and is doing to bring brightness and hope into the dark lives of dumb millions of toilers. It will be accounted to the honour of the American people in the future that they were the first to give a national recognition to the moral and material effects of woman's work and influence for good in the world. For the first time in the records of National and International Exhibitions, an attempt has been made at Chicago to give, what I may term, a dramatic and impressive representation of what women have endeavoured to accomplish in every branch of philanthropy, literature, science, and art. " How far that little candle throws its beams " will be uppermost in the minds of visitors to the Women's Building ; though but a glimmer of the shining light of woman's philanthropic work is reflected there. Of the devotion and self-sacrifice of the women who are everywhere about us labouring with unfailing patience and faith to bring light into dark places, it is impossible to speak without emotion. Theirs, in truth, is no " May game, but a battle and stern pilgrimage ; " and only in the knowledge of the good they have wrought lies their reward. Through the efforts of Mrs. Bernard, Mrs. Rogers, Miss Roberts, and Mrs. Hanson, as well as of thousands of others, idleness has given place to industry, squalid poverty to prosperity, ignorance to enlightenment. And no feature of the single-handed work of women is more striking than the wisdom and discretion with which it is generally conducted. Inspired by a large- hearted benevolence, and warm sympathy with the poor and suffering, the majority of women workers in philanthropy have not allowed their feelings to obscure their judgment. They recognize that " The truly generous is the truly wise." To enable those who would otherwise be destitute to help themselves is more truly generous than to give alms. In the one case those in distress are made self-reliant, independent, and useful members of the community ; in the other degra- dation and demoralization are too often the result. The difficulty of adequately representing the philanthropic work of women in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 286 Woman s Mission. Ireland will be best appreciated by those most intimately ac- quainted with the subject, and it is with the object of bringing some of the difficulties home to the minds of others that I have undertaken in this paper to give a brief outline of what four women, whose names have hitherto been comparatively unknown, have been able to accomplish by their individual efforts. The story, which shall be told as far as possible in the words of the reports kindly sent to me in response to a special request, illustrates at once the vast importance of the philanthropic work quietly carried on by thousands of in- dividual ladies, of whose very existence the public has no idea, and the impossibility of obtaining even an approxi- mately accurate report of what British women are doing for the welfare of humanity. Not only is the record of the work of the four ladies I have already named, deeply interesting and instructive, but, owing to exigencies of time and space, it must be taken as representative of the noble results achieved by thousands of other silent workers. We all remember those gloomy days in the eighties when, by the failure of the potato harvest, thousands of Irish pea- sants were brought face to face with starvation. It was the Duchess of Marlborough, aided chiefly by women, who organized the relief fund for holding the famine at bay. In the still more gloomy days that followed, when men were forced to sit with folded hands whilst their wives and children were lacking bread, it was women who first brought help. In every part of Ireland there are traces of their work. Many a village in which a few years ago misery and want were chronic, is now the centre of a flourishing little industrial community. Such undertakings as those of Mrs. Bernard, Mrs. Rogers, and Miss Roberts have brought fresh life and hope to Ireland ; and what these ladies are doing at Foxford, at Carrick, and among the " Rosses," others are doing else- where, from Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway. Mrs. Morrogh Bernard has long done yeoman's service in the cause of philanthropy. For many years she was the Superior of a convent at Ballaghaderin ; and whilst there she took a warm interest in all movements for improving the condition of the peasants. The National Schools which, as Woman the Missionary of Industry. 287 Mother Superior, she had under her direction, were models of good management The girls she trained were as a rule bright and intelligent, and she fitted them so far as in them lay to do good work in the world. Unfortunately, for many a mile around Ballaghaderin, there were more hands to work than there was work for them to do ; more mouths to be fed than there was food wherewith to feed them ; for it is in the centre of one of the so-called congested districts, where a failure of the potato crop always means famine. The soil is so poor that it hardly defrays the cost of cultivation, and in those days there was no industrial employment of any kind in the neighbourhood. Thus, when their school-days were over, the peasant girls had to face a painful alternative. They either had to leave their friends and country, without having received the training necessary to render them suc- cessful emigrants, and to guard them against many privations and dangers, or they had to linger on at home in hope- less idleness, with semi-starvation for a companion. Mrs. Bernard was keenly alive to the suffering this state of things entailed on the poor among whom she lived. It was heart- breaking work for her to see the girls she had so carefully trained wasting their lives, a burden on those of whom they should have been the support. There was work enough in the world that wanted doing, she was sure, if only she could put them in the way of doing it. After much anxious thought, she resolved to try to organize a woollen mill, to provide not only profitable occupation for the women and girls in the neighbourhood, but also technical training for the children under her care. Whilst she was pondering on ways and means, it chanced that the bishop of the diocese paid her schools a visit As he was passing through the class-room, one of the children asked him to give " handsel," and " get the Reverend Mother a hand-loom." The child added that her mother had "a grand one at home." The bishop consented, and the loom, a veritable heirloom, full of years and moth-holes, was pur- chased for thirty shillings. The loom was harnessed at once, and the head weaver of the Manchester Technical School devoted his Christmas holidays to teaching the nuns and their pupils how it was to be served. It was soon evident, 288 Woman's Mission. however, that Mrs. Bernard could not put her scheme into execution at Ballaghaderin, and she felt that she would have to find some more suitable site for her mill. One day she was at Foxford, about twenty miles from Ballaghaderin ; and whilst standing on the bridge across the Moy, she noticed the tremendous force with which the torrent there comes rushing down the rock-side. Such a water power as this was the very thing she wanted ; and there and then she determined to buy a piece of land close to the stream for her mill. She resigned her post as Superior of the convent, and accompanied by a little band of Sisters of Charity, set out for Foxford, April 25, 1891. She was convinced that the wisest course would be to start a school for peasant children first, and then, when that was in working order, a mill. The plan was to begin with the infants in the junior school, and gradually educate them with a view of introducing them to mill life after they had acquired a knowledge of the woollen industry, in a sort of woollen kindergarten. When they had been fairly instructed in religious and secular matters, these children were to be sent to the technical mill as half-timers, at the usual standard ages, and continue to receive education and training until they could be sent out as finished mill-workers. Then they would take rank as skilled workwomen, and as such would have little difficulty in earning an honest livelihood. On the land Mrs. Bernard bought at Foxford there was an old corn store, which she speedily had transformed into a class-room, and in it, on August I, 1891, she opened her school with eighty-four pupils. So far her work had been comparatively easy. It was in the organization of the mill that the real difficulty lay. The woollen manufacture is a very complex business, one in which it is by no means easy, even for those specially trained for the work, to succeed. Neither Mrs. Bernard nor her companions had any technical knowledge : and we can hardly wonder, therefore, that the announcement of their project was greeted with prophecies of failure. The undertaking seemed hopeless ; but the nuns, true to their motto, Caritas Christi urget nos, never wavered in their faith that Providence would help them on their way. Mrs. Bernard and one of the Sisters set out in search of Woman the Missionary of Industry. 289 information. They visited mill after mill, bent upon learning every detail of the industry they wished to establish. " It was a curious sight to see veiled nuns studying the various machines used in the woollen trade, and taking copious notes of the many processes through which the wool passes before it becomes finished cloth." At best it was weary work for them, for the more they went into the details of the business the more perplexing did it become. Probably they never realized all the difficulties they would have to contend against until they went on this journey. Just when things were at the darkest, however, there came a gleam of light Nothing daunted by the discouragement she met with, though sorely troubled, Mrs. Bernard appealed for advice to Mr. J. C. Smith, the managing partner of a firm noted for the beautiful woollen fabrics it turns out. This gentleman was keenly interested by what she told him of her plans ; still, he had little faith in women as organizers, and strove earnestly to persuade her to try some other and less intricate method of doing good. But when he found that, in spite of his warnings, Mrs. Bernard persisted in her project, he drew up for her the plan of the technical mill as it now stands, and gave her the full benefit of his experience in arranging how the work was to be done. The months that followed were a great anxiety for Mrs. Bernard, for it was a serious undertaking this starting of a woollen mill in a wild district. In addition to all her other cares, she had financial difficulties to struggle against. She had but scant means at her disposal, building and machinery were a heavy expense, and she soon found herself compelled to borrow money. Even in those days, however, before it was properly started, she had the happiness of knowing that her scheme was proving a blessing to her poorer neighbours. Numbers of the peasants were kept busily employed all through the dreary winter the first time for many a long year. " Gradually the plans were carried out ; the mill-race was completed ; a powerful turbine water-motor of the latest modern construction was placed in position ; and in due time all the woollen machinery was ready. Mr. Burdett- Coutts, M.P., and Mr. Wrench as representative of the Con- gested Districts Board, were present when the first start was U 290 Woman s Mission. made. It fell to the lot of Mr. Burdett-Coutts to draw forth the beautiful soft fleece from the first bag ever opened at Foxford, and as a souvenir of this little ceremony he has since had some hand-looms set up in the mill for the Sisters." During the last two years the state of things at Foxford has been transformed. Since Mrs. Bernard began her work there, the place has quite lost the desolate look which used to distinguish it, and is now full of life and cheerful bustle. In addition to the mill she has built two large schools. In the upper school, more than a hundred girls are being care- fully trained to use not only their heads but their hands ; whilst in the infants' school, an equal number of children are being fitted for their future duties as half-timers at the mill. They all take delight in their work, and seem to feel real affection for the little balls of wool they are being taught to handle ; and when the time comes for these two hundred girls to leave school, each one of them will have, literally at her finger-ends, a profitable calling. Already some forty girls are at work in the mill, where they lead busy, useful lives, and earn enough to keep themselves, and often their parents, ioo, from want. Mrs. Rogers had done much good work in London before she began her Irish undertaking. For years she had been trying to render women financially independent by putting them in the way of earning their own livelihood. At the very time the potato famine was causing such terrible distress in Ireland, it chanced that a trading company which she had organized, received several large orders for knitted gloves. Here was work, paying work too, waiting to be done ; whilst in Ireland women were starving because they had no work to do. Mrs. Rogers felt it was an opportunity which must not be lost, of giving a helping hand to people destitute through no fault of their own. She resolved to go to the famine district, and try to organize the knitting industry there on a regular basis. On the 2/th of February, 1880, she set out for Donegal, taking with her a lady who was both a skilful knitter and an expert in technical teaching. Mrs. Rogers' first experiences were certainly not encouraging. When she arrived at Pettigo, sixteen miles from the town of Woman the Missionary of Industry. 291 Donegal, she found that the railway went no further. There was neither food nor lodging to be had in the village, and the only way to Donegal was by a bridle-path across mountains. To make matters worse, a violent snowstorm was raging. Even when she reached Donegal, her troubles were far from being at an end ; for obstacles of all kinds were thrown in her way by local tradesmen, who were afraid she would interfere with an embroidery industry for which they were the agents. At length, after a fortnight spent in a vain endeavour to find girls to undertake the knitting, Mrs. Rogers, almost in despair, appealed for counsel to the parish priest. He warmly approved of her scheme, but advised her, instead of staying in Donegal where the people were tolerably well off, to go to Carrick, some twenty-four miles farther in the country, where the peasants were on the very verge of starvation. In consequence of his report she decided to make Carrick her head-quarters. In those days Carrick was only a dismal, poverty-stricken little hamlet, with nothing but bog and hills for miles around. It stands just at the foot of the Sleive League Mountain, in the midst of the wildest and most picturesque scenery. To all intents and purposes it was then completely cut off from the outside world, for the nearest railway station was at Stranorlar, fully fifty miles away. At Carrick, Mrs. Rogers met with a cordial welcome from Father Kelly, who is at once the priest, lawyer, and lawgiver of the district. He had a heart-rending tale to tell of the distress amongst his parish- ioners. There was not a girl in the country side, he said, but would gladly do the knitting, and he undertook to have a goodly array of workers for her to choose from by the following Monday. From the altar on the Sunday he ex- plained to his hearers what Mrs. Rogers proposed doing for them, and implored them to make the most of the chance she was giving them. The news that there was work to be had, spread like wild- fire through the district ; and when, on the Monday morning, Mrs. Rogers arrived at the cottage she had hired, she found it in a state of siege. More than a thousand women were assembled, many of them wild with excitement wild, per- haps, with hunger too. The case was one of special difficulty, 292 Woman's Mission. for hardly one of these peasants could understand a word of English, and neither Mrs. Rogers nor her companion could speak Irish. Fortunately, just when the confusion was at its highest, and the crush was becoming dangerous, Father Kelly arrived, speedily cleared the women from the house, and mounted guard over them outside. The cottage con- tained four rooms, and into each one of them, when something like order was restored, twelve women were admitted, there to be initiated into the mysteries of knitting. It was soon clear that none of them had any idea even of putting stitches on the needles. The whole of the first day, therefore, was taken up teaching this very elementary process. So soon as one girl could cast the stitches, she was provided with needles and wool, and sent home to practise, whilst another took her place. But the work advanced very slowly, for all the in- struction had to be given through an interpreter ; and at nightfall, hundreds of women were still standing there in the cold, waiting for their first lesson. The Irish are, however, a good-natured, long-suffering race ; and not a word of complaint was heard. They trudged off to their cabins on the hills again, vowing they would be amongst the first at the cottage the next morning. Day after day the same scene was repeated. Crowds of women stood waiting from morning till night for this knitting, which was to keep the wolf from the door. Unluckily, their very eagerness for the work only increased the difficulty of showing them how to do it. They were so wild and boisterous in their ways, that the task of teaching them seemed hope- less. It is no easy thing to knit gloves ; in the special kind Mrs. Rogers required, wool of three different colours had to be used, and the shaping of the thumbs and fingers was quite an elaborate business. It was work, in fact, that needed some amount of technical skill ; and potato-hoeing was all these people had been accustomed to. At the end of a week of ceaseless toil, the wrist of one glove was all that had been achieved ! Little wonder both teachers and taught felt inclined to despair. The former could see nothing but difficulties before them, whilst the latter were weighed down by the thought that what they were trying to learn was unlearnable. During this depressing time, when her under- Woman the Missionary of Industry. 293 taking seemed doomed, Mrs. Rogers found an invaluable auxiliary in Father Kelly, who spent his days striving to keep the women to their work by " threats, bribes, and kindly words of encouragement" Sunday after Sunday an odd little scene was enacted in the Roman Catholic Church : the priest in full canonicals stood by the altar and solemnly announced a list of prizes to be competed for. Five shillings was promised to the woman who should first knit a creditable thumb ; two and sixpence for a well-shaped finger, and a whole sovereign for the first glove. Every sermon he preached, too, was an earnest exhortation to perseverance. Still it was three months before a single pair of gloves was made, and during that time Mrs. Rogers had spent ,100 on her undertaking. The first six months were certainly a terrible struggle, and then things began to look brighter ; some of the girls became wonderfully deft at the work, and, besides knitting gloves themselves, helped to teach their companions to knit them. Soon huge packets of goods were sent off to London, and in the course of a year ;iooo was paid to the women in wages. A thousand pounds is not a large sum, but at Carrick money went far, and to those among whom it was divided it made all the difference between starvation and comfort. For two years the women were kept busily employed knitting gloves ; then a change of fashion came ; knitted gloves were no longer in demand, and Mrs. Rogers had to find some other occupation for her protegees. In the course of a very few weeks she entirely reorganized their work, and put them in the way of making knitted underclothing for children. Carrick is now a very different place from what it was when Mrs. Rogers made her first visit there. It has developed into quite a thriving little town, with a singularly prosperous air about it. Well-built cottages have replaced many of the miserable huts which used to stand there, and even shops with plate-glass windows an unfailing sign of material progress have appeared of late. Though the people still retain all their simple primitive ways, few signs of real poverty are to be seen in the district. In 1888 Sir Henry Roscoe appealed to Mrs. Rogers to do for Connemara what she had already done for Carrick. 294 Woman's Mission. All around Carna there was terrible distress, and against it the late Father Flannery the famous " Father Tom " of Carna, whose name will live in the hearts of his grateful people for many a long day was fighting almost single- handed. After some hesitation Mrs. Rogers went to his assistance, and at Carna established, notwithstanding many difficulties and discouragements, a knitting industry for the benefit of the women, on the same lines as the one she had already organized at Carrick. Miss Dorothea Roberts, of Berry Hill, Mansfield, has founded a knitting industry which provides employment for some hundreds of poor women, in that wild north-west corner of Ireland, called locally " the Rosses." Ross, in the Irish language, means "headland." "Our Rosses," Miss Roberts writes, "stretch out into the Atlantic like the fingers of some giant hand. America, we say, is our ' next parish.' The great New World seems all the closer because there is not a family in our parish which has not some of its members living there, across the wild Atlantic billows. By that stern seaboard the harvest of the land is scanty, grown only on such washings of soil as can accumulate in cups between big, rolling, stony mountains. The harvest of the sea, rich as it is, remains ungathered for the most part, awaiting such generous help as that which has turned Baltimore, in the county of Cork, into a busy hive of industry. For half a century past the Rosses women have been excellent knitters. The late Lord George Hill, and Mr. Forster, his agent, greatly en- couraged this work by industrial shows and prize-giving in the neighbouring parish of Gweedore. "Ten years ago the excellent parish priest of the Rosses, Father B. Walker, received my first hanks of wool, which he promptly returned to me, in London, knitted into shapely stockings. The work begun by me in so small a way has grown and flourished by the kind help of sympathizers all over Great Britain. Our parish lies remote from the Donegal centres where agents give out yarns for Scottish and other hosiers. Those beneficent new railways, which I see opening up whole 'congested' districts elsewhere, can scarcely climb over our rugged mountains, or cross the long fiords which Woman the Missionary of Indus fry. 295 wind up amongst the cliffs of our western seaboard. The Parcel Post is our main dependence at present, both for delivery of yarns and export of goods. " The eager, barefooted, Irish-speaking women, who crowd in from remote islands to my agent when the news of the coming of a bale of wool has spread, are quick to seize new ideas, and very quick with their fingers, too." Miss Roberts has for ten years past been able to pay on an average 10 a month in wages ; and has recently executed an order for thirteen thousand pairs of army socks. The particularly fine work done by the knitters is purchased by persons all over England from Miss Roberts, who adds, " It has been touching to me to meet with such kind help from people of all ranks, creeds, and parties, for by their means alone I have been able to keep up this work the best help of our poor district." We must now shift the scene to a distant but not less interesting country, where Mrs. Arthur Hanson's work at Constantinople, for the Turkish refugees, must certainly be ranked among the most remarkable and successful efforts made by individual women of this century for the welfare of their fellow-beings. Here, again, the motto adopted is, " Not alms, but work ; " and seldom has the truly philanthropic desire of aiding those who would be otherwise absolutely destitute, to help themselves, been followed by greater good or more far-reaching results. No less than two thousand Turkish women and children are at the present time enabled to gain an honourable living, while, owing to the wise manage- ment of Mrs. Hanson, a fund is also maintained out of the earnings for the support of those stricken down by age or illness. The origin of this work is peculiar and historic. Fifteen years ago Turkey had been desolated by a terrible war. Before the Russian armies, advancing in a line which stretched from Varna to Sofia, the whole Turkish population of Bulgaria and Roumelia had fled from their homes in terrified haste, snatching up such scanty provisions and small household treasures as they could carry on their journey. Amidst scenes of indescribable misery and suffering, Mr. Burdett- 296 Woman s Mission. Coutts had carried on an extended system of temporary relief in his capacity as Special Commissioner of the Turkish Compassionate Fund, which was raised in England for the special relief of the refugees, as the Stafford House Fund was for the wounded soldiers. As long as the Russian armies kept to the north of the Balkans, the centres of distribution were mainly in the country. The defeat of the Turks at Orkhanie and the capture of the Schipka Pass, was the signal for a sauve qui pent through- out the fertile provinces to the south of the Balkan range. All the roads to Constantinople were crowded with long trains of refugees. A vast number died of starvation and the cold of a bitter winter ; but something like a quarter of a million reached Constantinople in a terrible condition of destitution, and were housed on the floors of the numerous mosques in Stamboul, at all times a teeming and overcrowded city. There they were fed by thousands every day by the Commissioner of the Fund. The Turkish officials were also most humane in their treatment of the hapless wretches, and the higher authorities did all in their power to provide for their wants by distributing food and raiment; and as Mr. Burdett-Coutts says, " His Majesty the Sultan throughout evinced the deepest commiseration for his unhappy people, and did all in his power to assist them." But little could be done by those who with one hand had to ward off the attack of the advancing Russians, while with the other they tried to help their victims to escape from them. Among the small possessions to which the women had clung to the last were the old embroideries of Turkey, many of which had been precious heirlooms in their families. Some of the women retained the rare art of making these embroideries. It occurred to Mrs. Arthur Hanson, one of the leading English ladies in Constantinople, that the art might be revived, the old beautiful colours reproduced, and a useful industry established among these unfortunate women, many of whom had been wealthy and comfortable. After the resources of the fund already named had been strained to their utmost in saving these refugees from starvation, a small balance still remained in hand. Upon this slender foundation, coupled with Mrs. Hanson's wonder- Woman the Missionary of Industry. 297 ful energy, the industry was at first built up ; employment was provided for the refugee women who were skilled workers ; instruction and a means of livelihood were afforded to the ignorant and young ; and the new supplies of' the beautiful Turkish embroideries found a ready market in the great cities of Western Europe. Portions of the money advanced for these purposes were repaid as the undertaking grew and prospered under the energetic and wise control of Mrs. Hanson ; and the fund still exists, and by supplying Mrs. Hanson with working capital has been a source of incalculable benefit to thousands of the most helpless victims of a terrible war. From the first Mrs. Hanson's work prospered. Its success is due to two causes : first, to the untiring energy, patience, great organizing, administering, business capacity, and artistic taste of Mrs. Hanson, who has devoted her life to the promotion of the moral and material welfare of the Turkish refugees ; and secondly, to the superb quality of the embroideries produced. In every department of art embroideries, the products of Mrs. Hanson's frames are unrivalled. The work, as visitors to the Chicago Exhibition may see for themselves, is the most beautiful of modern times. In the admirable report upon the industry which has been kindly supplied to me by Miss Constance Eaglestone, and from which I have already quoted, she says, "The charm of this Turkish embroidery consists in the originality as well as the beauty of the designs. Many of these have been handed down from generation to generation in the Turkish harems, and so jealously were they guarded as heirlooms, that had not the fortunes of war brought the princesses from palaces in the Balkans down to the level of the peasant women in huts at their gates, the secret of their creation would never have been divulged. Other patterns have been copied from designs of Eighth Century work collected by Mr. Wrench, British Vice-Consul at Constanti- nople ; some, again, are from scrolls and arabesques in early mosques of different parts of the Ottoman Empire, and among these may be specially mentioned those from the enamels of the historic Green Mosque of Broussa, to enter which, until a few decades ago, was death to any but a 298 Womaris Mission. Mussulman. Others are believed to be the exact counterpart of the embroideries alluded to in the Books of Moses as covering the robes which the priests wore during the services in the Temple, and must, therefore, have come into the hands of this race from another of far greater antiquity, while the possession of them by the Osmanli is easily explained by their triumphant progress through Western Asia before they established themselves on the Bosphorus in 1453. Nor has the attraction of modern art been wanting to bring this work still nearer to perfection. When the Parisian dealers saw how popular the Oriental embroidery was becoming through- out France, they made useful suggestions for the yet more artistic combination of the colours employed, and sent some of their own lovely textiles of silk and gauze to serve as a foundation, instead of the coarser fabrics which had hitherto been used." Another property of the embroideries is that they are as durable as they are beautiful. They never fade, and the gold used in them never tarnishes, not even when exposed to the damp of the English climate. " The Ottoman race itself," Miss Eaglestone adds, " has little or no inventive power. The refugee women could bring out their woven treasures which they had concealed about their persons when they fled from their Bulgarian homes, but they can do nothing but copy from the model set before them, while orders to make even the slightest alteration in it only bewilder them. When new ideas are to be intro- duced, Mrs. Hanson, or her helpers, must patiently guide the willing but errant ringers, stitch by stitch, through the frame that supports the dainty mesh, until the secret has been made the worker's own. Another difficulty is, that having once learnt a new stitch the women seem to lose all power of remembering an old one. ' It is gone, gone,' they repeat hopelessly, when the enigma that they could have solved with closed eyes a week before is laid before them ; thus it is a serious undertaking to lead a skilled worker away from the design which her lithe brown fingers have made popular at every Court of Europe." The work which this paper has described is essentially individual. In each case it has been by personal exertions, by personal thought and labour, that help and comfort have Woman the Missionary of Industry. 299 been brought to those in need and distress. There could be no more striking evidence of the far-reaching results being achieved through the wisely-directed efforts of individual women, than is furnished by the story I have briefly sketched of how these four notable industries were established in the face of overwhelming odds. It is a noble record of difficulties overcome, of circumstances conquered, of suffering relieved. Thousands of lives have been made happier, thousands of hearts have been cheered, and thousands of souls aroused to higher and nobler aspirations. Woman's Mission. SERVING ONE ANOTHER. BY Miss MARY L. G. PETRIE, B.A. LOND. John Stuart Mill Scholar in Philosophy^ University College, London ; Author of " Ctovs to Holy Writ." THE reports that it has been possible to collect for the Chicago Exhibition under the heading of " Philanthropic Education " seemed at first sight, when I was asked to make them the basis of a Congress Paper, as fortuitous a concourse of atoms as ever gravitated to a centre. Seeking for common charac- teristics, I observed first that all described schemes whereby in the battle of life the rich may help the poor. I use the old-fashioned expression deliberately, as more applicable to present conditions than the ancient phrase "gentle and simple," and truer to the facts of life than the arrogant modern division of mankind into " upper and lower classes." We speak here of rich and poor, not only in money and what money can buy, but in skill and knowledge, in leisure and friends, in mental and moral power. Secondly, I observed that the various devices described, by which the one may aid the other, are all of them new, and many of them very new. Our fathers lived happy and creditable lives before the mania for shaping and joining societies, associations, guilds, unions, and leagues for the amelioration of society, arose. Are they, therefore, mere fads and superfluities of an age of peace and luxury ? Nay. Three features in the life of to-day seem abundantly to justify their existence. First, the rising standard of comfort. As we move either geographically or chronologically from a lower to a higher civilization, we observe that a larger and larger number of Serving One Another. 301 men are dissatisfied with themselves and their surroundings. Indeed, the motive power of all civilization has been well defined as "progressive desire." A need felt for the first time is not, therefore, an unreal one, and to-day we need many things that our fathers neither had nor missed. Secondly, the increasing division of labour. Here we speak not of satisfying a new craving, but of replacing something of value that would otherwise be altogether lost. The application of machinery to almost every depart- ment of labour tends to divide it more and more, and con- sequently to reduce the labourer more and more to a machine. The artisan of the past, who brought the bit of work he had begun to the highest perfection that he knew, found an interest and an education in doing it, which his descendant does not find in the monotonous repetition of a single act. The agri- cultural labourer of the past, who depended on his own eye and hand for the unswerving furrow or the neatly felled sheaf, developed aptitudes which his successor who rides a machine is without. A multitude of unremembered artists made our ancient cathedrals glorious with lavish carving. Nowadays even our aesthetic needs are to a large extent gratified by wholly mechanical processes. It is good that the humblest cottages should be hung with chromo-lithographed copies of good pictures, but the production of these copies draws out no artistic faculties in their producers. Thanks, however, to the good artificial light which modern inventions supply, the ploughman or factory "hand " has an evening that his ances- tor had not, in which the day's dull toil may be supplemented by the carving class or instructive lecture, calling out powers that would otherwise remain undeveloped. Thirdly, the growing tendency towards separation of class from class. " Our greatest industrial danger," said the Bishop of Durham lately, "lies in the want of mutual confidence between employers and employed. Confidence is of slow growth. It comes most surely through equal intercourse." The descendant of the apprentice who lived under his master's roof, now receives his wages from an employer who does not know his name. In many of our great towns, rich and poor do not even meet on Sundays before their common Maker. The employers dwell in a handsome new suburb. 302 Woman s Mission. and swell the well-dressed congregation of a new church. The employed herd in the older part of the city, and form parishes where, as an East End London vicar lately expressed it, " every lady cleans her own doorstep." No wonder, there- fore, that in our days social questions are in the forefront, and "the human heart by which we live" demands new means of bringing together those who would otherwise be utterly separated in all relations outside of business, to their great mutual loss. We need (I again quote Dr. Westcott) " to hallow large means by the sense of large responsibility," " to provide that labour in every form may be made the discipline of noble character." Limits of space only permit me to illustrate, and not to enumerate, the various agencies at work in this direction. Dealing with them according to an ascending scale of human needs, let us take first those that aim at imparting skill, at making the hand cunning, as regards the food we eat, looking at efforts in an English city and an English rural district ; the clothing we wear, looking at an effort in the Scottish Highlands ; the appliances we use in our daily life, looking at London, a Scottish and an English village, and two English provincial towns. We then pass to schemes combining all three aims or two of them together, again drawing our illustrations from both Scotland and England. It is the public-house that fills the workhouse and the prison ; and the public-house is too often filled by the mismanaged home, the badly chosen and worse cooked meal. When, therefore, a girl acquires practical skill in cookery, she not only fits herself for the comfortable and well-paid calling of a first-class domestic servant instead of the comfortless and ill-paid calling of an unskilled factory hand, but she diminishes her risk of becoming the hapless wife of a drunkard. Board Schools had, however, been in existence more than ten years before the Government recognized that cookery should be regularly taught in them. Private enter- prise preceded Government action, in training teachers for this subject and in forming schools of cookery in London, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. To Miss Fanny Calder's initiative is owing the Liverpool Training School of Cookery and the Northern Union of Schools of Cookery, and Government Serving One Another. 303 recognition both of cookery and laundry-work is due to her vigorous and victorious struggle with the Education Department. Private enterprise must supplement Govern- ment action also, in continuing the training when school is over, or giving it then to those who have attended schools for which teachers of cookery could not be provided. Classes for cookery and domestic economy in Wiltshire and Dorsetshire were founded by Mrs. Bell in 1889. The Bishop of Salisbury suggested this scheme, which works through the organization of the Girls' Friendly Society. It began with a grant of 10, and gave during the next two years between fifty and sixty courses of lessons in cookery and laundry-work to girls fresh from school. Eventually it was affiliated to the Northern Union of Schools of Cookery. In days of old every woman, as the term "spinster" still indicates, "sought wool and flax and worked willingly with her hands," and no part of the world produced more characteristic and interesting fabrics than the Scottish Highlands. But when the machine-made goods of our great centres of industry were distributed by road, and especially by railroad, to the remotest corners of the kingdom, native homespun was in danger of being altogether discarded for cheaper but less durable and becoming raiment. The insight to recognize the value of these native industries, the sympathy to under- stand their usefulness and profitableness to the peasants, and the skill and patience to initiate and perpetuate a scheme for their resuscitation ere it was too late, were found in three successive Duchesses of Sutherland. Forty-four years ago, Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, the beautiful daughter of the Earl of Carlisle, and Queen Victoria's chosen friend, organized an Industrial Society at Golspie, a little town on the south-east coast of Sutherlandshire, close to her High- land home, Dunrobin Castle. Four hundred people attended its first exhibition in September, 1850, and prizes to the value of ;io were awarded to the fancy tartans, tweeds, plaids, blankets, and hose exhibited. For several years, a similar annual exhibition was held in a pavilion erected for the purpose, until it was no longer in the Duchess's power to give such active evidence of her regard for the welfare of the Highlands. But the Scottish wife of her eldest son who 304 Womatis Mission. was Countess of Cromartie in her own right became the patron of a second series of exhibitions, of which the first was held in August, 1886. The sales realized over 200, and 30 was given in prizes. The present Duke of Sutherland, then Marquis of Stafford, had recently married Lady Millicent St. Clair Erskine, daughter of the Earl of Rosslyn, and she, supported by many other ladies well-known in Scotland, and aided by Miss Joass, the indefatigable secretary of the High- land Home Industries, has from the first thrown her whole heart into this work. In 1887, the exhibition at Golspie repre- sented the whole of Sutherland, and men's carvings were added to women's spinnings, sales and prizes bringing the exhibitors over ^377. In 1888, it was transferred to the Town Hall of Inverness, and not only the number and variety, but the quality of the articles exhibited, indicated the progress made. The exhibitors gained about 400, and received orders enough to keep them busy throughout the following winter. Two months later, on November 25th, Anne, Duchess of Suther- land, to whose patriotic zeal and untiring effort this success was largely due, entered into rest. The 1889 Exhibition was held in the Earl of Dudley's London house, opened by Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, and presided over by the Countess of Rosebery. Over 600 was realized, the exhibits coming from many parts of Scotland, and equally successful sales were held at Inverness and London in 1890 and 1891. Out of this pioneer scheme in Sutherlandshire, other schemes have grown, such as those at Beaufort and Gairloch, and Lady Dunmore's work in Harris. The time- honoured distaff and spinning-wheel reject altogether the inferior materials which undiscriminating machines turn into shoddy, and amply vindicate both the artistic and the useful qualities of hand-work. That civilization means more, even for the poorest, than mere " creature comfort," was the thought that led a woman to organize, in 1885, the Home Arts and Industries Associa- tion. Its fourfold aim is to train eye and hand, and thus fit for many callings ; to fill the idle hours of working people happily ; to foster sympathetic intercourse between rich and poor ; and to revive good old handicrafts. Its classes, to the number of between four and five hundred, are held all Serving One Another. 305 over the country for lads and girls and men, chiefly by lady volunteers, and the London central office, which is managed by a female staff, supplies these classes with suitable designs, and organizes instruction for their teachers. Their pupils are drawn from the ranks of unskilled as well as of skilled labour, and are always forthcoming in large numbers. The street-Arab who came at first "just for a lark," comes again and yet again for the growing interest of the work, and it has its own quiet influence in civilizing him. Moreover, this unostentatious work must develop some of the latent artistic talent that here as elsewhere only waits to be called out, and do something to remove the reproach that in matters artistic we are an uneducated nation, a reproach justified not only by the vulgar delights of " the masses," but by the prevalent drawing-room " art criticism " of " the classes." A wood-carving class for working lads, in Ratcliff, one of the poorest parts of East London, was organized in 1884 by the Hon. Beatrice de Grey, and is now carried on by the Hon. Odeyne de Grey, her sister, and Miss Gertrude D. Pennant. The class meets for two hours one evening a week, from November or December till July every year. Four out of the six lads who originally formed it are now working in it as men. From eleven to seventeen men have availed themselves of a class which Lady Grisell Baillie Hamilton and her sister have, during three years, held in Scotland for two hours twice a week, throughout the four winter months. They pay a small fee to cover expense of warming and lighting the barn in which they meet, and gladly buy their own tools. The picture-frames, hanging cupboards, bookcases, etc., which they make they prefer to keep rather than to sell. Apart from the technical skill gained, they benefit by the awakening of interest and effort in connection with something quite outside the ordinary routine of their lives. In 1889 Miss A. E. Maude formed a class for the villagers of Drayton, Somerset, in order to provide them with profitable occupation when the weather forbids outdoor work. Observ- ing that most of the other Home Arts and Industries Classes chose wood-carving, she was enterprising enough to take up ironwork instead. The zest with which the men and boys, x 306 Woman s Mission. whom she teaches every Wednesday evening during the winter, handle the pliers, and labour at the forge and the anvil, and the ready sale found for the lamps, kettles, screens, brackets, and candlesticks produced have amply justified her choice. Gifts from the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the Somerset County Council, and the Ironmongers Company enabled them to furnish their workshop in the first instance, and it is now open every evening all the year round. Over 400 articles made by her pupils have been sold since the class was formed, and they have won the bronze medal of the Recreative Evening Schools Association, and the "Gold Star" of the Home Arts and Industries Exhibition in London. The Working Lads' Institute at Torquay, Devonshire, founded about 1886, offers to lads between twelve and eighteen years of age recreation and education, brightens their lives by human kindness, and brings them under moral and religious influence. Its bent iron and repousse classes are self-supporting. Their products are sold at industrial exhibitions and privately ; half the profits pay all expenses, the other half is a welcome addition to the lads' earnings, and Miss G. Phillpotts states that the classes also form a training school of good manners. In 1890 a class for brass repousse work was formed at Bournemouth by Miss Edith H. G. Wingfield Digby. A higher motive than either love of art or love of gain led eight men there, chiefly artisans, to give some ten hours a week to brass-work. Missionary zeal had been kindled at the Bible class they attended, and the proceeds of their work, whose high artistic merit may be judged from the specimens sent to Chicago, redeemed a little Chinese girl from slavery, and afterwards helped to pay for her maintenance and Christian education in the Jubilee School of the Church Missionary Society at Hong Kong. Certificates of merit have been awarded to three members of Miss Wingfield Digby's class by the Home Arts and Industries Association. We turn to three schemes which combine cookery with the work of the loom and the needle, and the carving-tool, hitherto dealt with separately, and four others nearly as comprehensive. Serving One Another. 307 That it was founded by the Princess of Wales is not our only reason for naming the Technical School at Sandringham first Her Royal Highness's desire to train the sons and daughters of the Sandringham labourers bore fruit some years before technical education had gained its present hold upon the public mind. The school began in an old schoolroom, with evening classes instructed by an artisan from a neighbouring town. The interest aroused was so great that the Princess determined to make the whole scheme larger and more lasting. She sent Fraulein Nodel, formerly German governess to the young Princesses, to study the subject in London and the great Continental centres of technical education, and then appointed her lady superintendent of the School. In the enlarged schoolroom men and lads meet to learn carpentry, joinery, wood-carving, brass and copper repousse, and bent iron work. Meanwhile, the girls of the village are taught cooking, sewing, dressmaking, the making of baby clothes, and general domestic management, from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The Norfolk County Council inspected and highly commended the school, but the Princess of Wales declined their offer to undertake its supervision and cost, preferring to maintain it at her own expense and keep it under her personal control. Her medical attendant, Dr. Manby, lately gave the elder girls a course of lectures for the St. John's Ambulance Association, and all who attended gained certificates. The school has gained many prizes at exhibitions held in London and different provincial centres, and the sale of the articles pro- duced increases steadily. In 1629, Baptist, Viscount Campden, bequeathed 200, and in 1643 his widow likewise bequeathed 200, "to be yearly employed for the good and benefit of the poor of Kensington for ever." Two acres abutting on the High Street of Netting Hill, London, are reputed to have been given for a similar purpose by Oliver Cromwell. The money was invested in land, and thanks to " unearned increment," this modest capital of .400 and two acres now yields an annual income of almost ^"4400. Of this sum, ^"1300 is annually expended in pensions to the aged and deserving, and nearly ,900 more goes to hospitals, provident clubs, and special ;o8 Woman 's Mission. relief of special cases of need. With this aid to the aged, sick, and distressed we are not here concerned. The remain- ing sum of about .1800 is laid out for the young of Ken- sington in apprenticeships, premiums, exhibitions, and scholar- ships for pupils of public elementary schools, and finally in providing the Campden Trust lectures and evening classes formed in 1888, whereby they may continue their education on leaving school. The classes during last session were attended by 196 boys, who learned carpentry, wood-carving, and mechanical drawing; and by 148 girls, who learned cookery, dressmaking, and drawing. Their success is, in no small degree, due to the untiring energy of the honorary secretary, Miss Catherine Hamilton. The voluntary help of other ladies and gentlemen has supplemented the instruction given by the various teachers, and the examiners' reports, and the large proportion of pupils who went up for examina- tion and obtained prizes and certificates, testify to the ex- cellence of the work done. Some of the best was sent to the exhibition of the Recreative Evening Schools Association. Out of ^484 spent on these classes, ,22 gs. was contributed by pupils' fees. The recent founding of the Kensington Polytechnic by the Marquis of Lome and others, promises to extend and develop the scheme still further, as this building has been assigned to the Campden Trustees, of whom the Vicar of Kensington is chairman. The Recreative Evening Schools Association, of which H.R.H. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, is an active President, is little more than seven years old. Its object is to provide further instruction and healthful occupation for girls and boys who have left our elementary day schools. Careful inquiry showed that not more than four per cent, of these continued their education in any systematic way ; while it was obvious that they were sent forth into the work of life unfitted for its duties, and exposed, at the most critical age, to the perils of the streets at all hours. The secret of the great success of the association lies in the fact that the even- ing classes have been made bright and attractive. Instead of the dreary book-lessons in the three R's and English, which were formerly almost the only attraction for evening scholars, they introduced lantern illustrations of geography and travel. Serving One Another. 309 history, and simple science. Among other subjects taught were book-keeping, shorthand, musical drill, gymnastics, clay modelling, metal-work, wood-carving, dress cutting, and cookery, for which no Government grants were then available. Ladies and gentlemen of culture and leisure were secured as voluntary teachers, and as managers of savings banks for the scholars, whom they also took for Saturday rambles and visits to public buildings and places of interest. The asso- ciation soon worked wonders. New pupils flocked into schools which had been almost empty. In London the centres aided increased from 29 in 1886 to 232 in 1892, while the estimated average attendances grew from 4350 in 1887 to 12,500 in 1892. Public opinion was gradually aroused, and by means of meetings and wide circulation of informa- tion, evening schools were at length established throughout the land. The principles and methods of the association won hearty approval wherever they became known, so that to-day the idea of the continuation school is a perfectly familiar one, at least in all large centres of population, and the average attendance throughout the country, which in 1885 was 24,233, had risen in 1892 to 65,000. Annual industrial exhibitions of the work of evening scholars in various places have emphasized the technical side of the enterprise during the last five years. Girls' evening homes and social institutes for working youths and men have also grown up, and we may hope that, eventually, in every town and village an evening school, recreative and practical, will be as much a matter of course as a day school. The Broomloan Halls Classes for Cookery and Sewing were founded at Govan, Glasgow, by Mrs. John Elder, in 1 885. They form a technical school for the wives and daughters of artisans, and are in the midst of a large ship-building popula- tion. All their incidental expenses are paid by the generous founder. The cookery demonstration class, attended by some two hundred women and girls, is the most popular. It is supplemented by the cookery practice class, at which their clever teacher, Miss Gordon, shows her pupils how to turn out the best possible Sunday dinner from the materials they bring on Saturday night. Eighty to a hundred women attend the Monday evening sewing and mending class ; 3io Woman s Mission. a large number also appreciate that the starching and ironing class will fit them for a useful calling ; and lastly, forty-two girls are carefully trained to be kitchenmaids, and never fail to find good places. During the summer months, housewives who choose to enter their names on a list, are visited by intelligent and specially trained women of their own class, and shown how to cook and clean and arrange their houses. This kind of help is most eagerly sought. The Little Servants' Home, in connection with Brownshill House School, Stroud, was founded by Miss Winscombe. This attempt to prepare young girls for domestic service by training them under upper servants, might be imitated in other large households, for every effort that tends to raise the status of domestic servants, and the standard of qualification for domestic service, is a real benefit to girls in humble homes. For the third time, a village in Scotland claims our atten- tion. The Misses Fergusson, with the occasional help of their own servants, have, since 1881, organized and carried on most successful evening classes for joinery, basket-work, fretwork, carving, and drawing, among the men ; and for knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc., among the women of West Linton, Peebleshire. Their last sale realized 105, all profit to the workers. In Cumberland, the loveliest district of England, under the fostering care of Mrs. Hardwicke Rawnsley, wife of the Vicar of Crosthwaite (that picturesque vale, or thwaite, where St. Kentigern reared the cross in the earliest age of England's religious history), has grown up, since 1883, the Keswick Industrial School of Art, and a Linen Industry, which has Mr. Ruskin's leave to bear his name. Both are endeavours to reduce to practice his characteristic teaching, that a love of the beautiful lies hidden in every human soul, and that things made by hand, and bearing the impress of human individuality, are incomparably more beautiful than those which can be turned out by machinery. There is some- thing quite mediaeval about the whole undertaking, so little trace can be found in it of the modern commercial spirit, and so lovingly do these northern peasants linger over the details of their work. From seventy to eighty men now belong to the carving and brass-work classes. The Linen Industry Serving One Another. 311 was started by Miss Twelves ; the spinning is all done with the old-fashioned wheels, and the weaving is all by hand. These earnest and artistic workers in the land of two Nine- teenth Century Laureates, lately had the satisfaction of doing honour to a third, by weaving a pall of wondrous beauty for Lord Tennyson's coffin. We turn now to schemes that aim at imparting knowledge, at informing the head, and according to our threefold being of body, soul, and spirit, take these as they successively deal with physical, mental, and moral welfare of mankind. Canon Kingsley, Bishop Wilberforce, and others have taught our generation the whole meaning of the old phrase, mens sana in corpore sano. Two societies, both dwelling in Berners Street, London, and both owing their existence to* the insight and energy of women, are waging successful war,, not with flourish of trumpets, but by quiet persistent work, against the arch-enemy ignorance, and teaching rich and poor that the essentials of wholesome life are pure water, nourishing food, daily bathing, and daily exercise ; that our homes must stand on high ground and dry soil, give abundant entrance to light and air, and be thoroughly cleansed, not only above, but below ground. The Ladies' Sanitary Association, founded in 1857, grew, so Lady Knightley of Fawsley tells us, out of a suggestion made by Dr. Roth, and has now about four hundred members. Countless lectures have been given through it to all sorts and conditions of women ; it has organized loan libraries of books on health, and distributed over a million and a half of tracts on hygiene for the people. Much of the technical teaching of which we have already spoken may be traced to its influence, as well as dinners for destitute children, nurseries for motherless babes, and many coal and clothing clubs and temperance associations. From its "park parties" have sprung the Children's Country Holidays scheme for city boys and girls, to whom an uncaged singing-bird, a growing wild-flower, an expanse of blue sky, a field of scented hay or waving corn, or the rippling of water or whispering of leaves in a wood, are things as new and wonderful as they are joy-inspiring. Its secretary is Miss Rose Adams. ,12 Woman 's Mission. The National Health Society, founded in 1873, began with a modest scheme of lectures by ladies at men's clubs and mothers' meetings. It now has three Princesses of Great Britain for Patronesses, the Duke of Westminster for President, and over four hundred and fifty members. Its aims are well summed up in its motto, " Prevention is better than cure." Free lectures are given throughout the country to the poor, subsidised now in many places by the County Councils ; while distinguished medical men and eminent lady nurses instruct drawing-room audiences, who need teaching, scarcely less, in the laws of health. A diploma of honour was awarded to its literature by the Council of the International Health Exhibition, and among the varied matters that claim its aid and interest are hygienic dress, smoke abatement, open spaces, and boarding-out of children. Its secretary is Miss Ray Lankester. The Ladies' Association for Useful Work at Birmingham, which was founded in 1874, is a local association, rather younger than these two national societies. It was originally as comprehensive as its title, but since Mason College was opened it no longer labours for higher education, but is chiefly active in giving eight or nine courses of lectures on hygiene to working women ; keeping up a recreation-room for business girls, and organizing country holidays for children. Its useful work is almost wholly carried on by voluntary helpers. Education, in the narrower popular sense, next concerns us. This is not the place for speaking generally of the system that has supplemented girls' schools by women's colleges, and thrown open to the women of this generation a wide culture that is making women's lives richer and happier than they ever were before. Some women, like some men, go to the University in order to take up teaching or another profession that their attainments will render honourable. But some women, like some men, seek a liberal education for its own sake, and for its usefulness to others, rather than its gainfulness to themselves. And a new need of the help that they can give has grown up with their new- power to give it. We will glance at two organizations, alike in having a large staff of efficient but entirely unpaid teachers, Sewing One AnotJier. 313 and a growing number of pupils who could not avail them- selves of professional tuition ; alike in knitting up innumerable friendships : unlike, in that the first has a local habitation wherein all its teaching is given orally ; while the second is carried on wholly by correspondence, and has no home besides the home of its founder and president. The College for Working Women, in Fitzroy Street, London, was founded in 1874, in memory of the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice, originator of Queen's College, Harley Street, the earliest of all the women's colleges which now play so large a part in our intellectual life. It seeks to provide women in business and in domestic service with three things teaching, amusement, and opportunity of friendly intercourse. When it began, three-fourths of the two hundred women on its books were learning to read, write, and spell in elementary classes. Now, thanks to the progress of popular education, there is but one elementary class with twenty pupils, though the members are between three and four hundred in number. The Council seek a teacher for any subject desired by not less than six students. Some subjects, such as French, attract from their usefulness for daily work ; others, as in the case of a girl who lately took up Greek, because of their remoteness from the daily toil. There is a Bible class on Sundays, and lectures on First Aid and Sick Nursing have been given in connection with St. John's Ambulance Association. The classes are supplemented by a library of some two thousand volumes, all gifts. Members who have worked for four terms in a class may use the college as a club only, and the social side of its work grows more important as time goes on. Take, for instance, the Holiday Guild inaugurated by Lady Strangford. The four Saturday evenings in the month are devoted to a dance ex- clusively for students, presided over by young ladies ; an ambulance practice ; a working-party for the Institution for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind ; a concert, or lecture, often given by some eminent person. About a quarter of the working expenses is met by students' fees, the rest by gifts from friends and from the City Companies. Miss Frances Martin is the Honorary Secretary. The College for Men and Women in Queen Square, London, founded in 1864, carries on a similar work. 314 Woman's Mission. The College by Post, founded in iSSi, sprang out of an effort which I made in my own early days at college, to help, by correspondence, other girls, whose opportunities were fewer than my own. University College, London ; West- field College, Hampstead ; Girton and Newnham Colleges, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret and Somerville Halls, Oxford ; the Ladies' College, Cheltenham, and kindred insti- tutions for higher education, have contributed to a staff on which between two and three hundred teachers have now been enrolled. From all parts of the United Kingdom, from the Continent and the Colonies, students, representing many different conditions of life and degrees of education, have joined to the number of between three and four thousand. Competition with professional teachers is carefully avoided, and no " coaching " for examinations, other than our own, is undertaken. Giving half an hour daily to Bible study in one of our seventy Scripture classes is the condition of receiving gratuitous instruction in other subjects. The scheme of historical Scripture study, which I have elaborated for our students, has now been published in a volume called "Clews to Holy Writ," which went into its third thousand within a few weeks of its publication. About twenty subjects are taught in our secular classes. The hygiene class, which is conducted by a medallist of the National Health Society, is one of the most popular of these. The wise and kindly influence of teacher upon taught, and the friendships, helpful to both, which grow up through their work together, are perhaps the most valuable and the least describable part of the scheme. Through the "writing mission," suggested by Lady Wright, some hundreds of our students are also in friendly correspondence with factory girls. So we pass from the intellectual to the moral sphere, and to organizations that aim at enabling people to be, rather than to know, taking first those that aim at fitting special classes for special duties. The Home and Colonial School Society, established in 1836, is for the Christian training of women teachers, and sends forth annually some seventy-five to elementary schools, and some fifty to family teaching and secondary schools. Little can be done by the best of schools for those whose Serving One Another. 3 1 5 home influences are adverse, and this was never truer than it is to-day, when the day-school system prevails widely for every class of the community. Hence the importance of insisting upon the sacred responsibilities of parents, often so lightly undertaken and so thoughtlessly delegated to others. At the request of some Bradford mothers, Miss Charlotte M. Mason, in 1888, drew up a scheme for assisting parents of all classes to study the laws of education as they bear upon the bodily development, moral training, intellectual work, and religious bringing up of children. The Bishop of Ripon's wife was the first President of the Parents' National Educa- tional Union, and the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen are the present Presidents. Among those who warmly took up the scheme were Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, the Bishop of London, Miss Beale, of Cheltenham College, Miss Clough, of Newnham College, and Miss Buss, of the North London Collegiate School. Its organ is the Parents' Review, an admirable monthly. The House of Education offers definite training to those who hope to become mothers or governesses. "I was deeply impressed," said Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, in November, 1892, "with the earnest and business-like way in which the students addressed them- selves to their work, and I do not doubt that they will devote themselves to the care of children with exceptional zeal and knowledge." Analogous to the above is the scheme newly shaped by Mrs. Walter Ward (nte Emily Lord) for definitely training women, of more education and refinement than the average domestic, to be nurses for children. The demand for such trained persons is likely for some time to exceed the supply. Each of the enterprises dealt with above is fresh proof of a growing sense that " life is an opportunity for service." The story of the varied labours of earnest women " all for love and nothing for reward " would be incomplete without any mention of ministry to spiritual needs. Other papers deal with this fully ; here we may barely allude to the great army of unpaid Sunday-school teachers, and to the Church of England Sunday-school Institute, and the Sunday-school Union, which aim at equipping women for their important work. 316 Woman s Mission. Thoughout we have to recognize a duty not only to the destitute and degraded, but to those who ask not alms but help of human fellowship, and appeal less to our pity than to our sympathy. It is through the co-operation, and not through the conflict of classes, that progress will be made, and the amount of this co-operation will depend upon the degree in which each class realizes what are its special responsibilities, and what are the true interests and the highest aims of the human race. " We must be here to work ; And men who work can only work for men, And, not to work in vain, must comprehend Humanity, and so work humanly, And raise men's bodies still by raising souls, As God did first." GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE. BY Miss FANNY L. CALDER. THE introduction into " elementary " and " continued " education in England of domestic science instruction, as a regular part of the curriculum, is a matter of somewhat recent recognition. But, when once accepted and adopted, the spread of the scheme has been most rapid, so that within the last twelve years the three most essential domestic arts, viz. cookery, laundry-work, and household sewing with home dress-cutting, have been fully organized on true educational lines, and are now regularly taught both in elementary schools and in technical education classes, with the methods and accuracy of other practical sciences. There was a universally felt want of some organized system of teaching the art of "making the home," an art which was literally dying out amongst the crowded popula- tion of the great cities and large towns, with the inevitable consequences of such ignorance, even degradation and intemperance. Moreover, with the loss of the art of "home-life" came the loss of wage-earning power, and while the number of unemployed women was daily increasing, a vast amount of remunerative employment in domestic matters was left undone from want of skill on the part of the would-be wage-earners. Schools of cookery arose in London, Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, giving instruction in that one essential subject to any one who would take the trouble to improve their knowledge, and providing at the same time 318 Woman s Mission. centres where teachers could be duly trained, and whence diplomas of efficiency were issued. Still there was great difficulty in persuading educationists that the duties of home- life could be systematized and organized as practical science ; and it was not until 1881, after six years of persistent effort, that cookery was accepted by the Education Department of Great Britain as a subject that could be taught in every day- school, with a Government grant for every girl who qualified for it under the required conditions. The educational plans needed to bring so practical a subject into harmony with the generally accepted lines of education, were developed under the Committee of the Liverpool School of Cookery and Technical College for Women, one of the schools in the large educational body now known as " The National Union for the Technical Education of Women in Domestic Sciences." This union was created for the purpose of providing training for teachers of cookery in the elementary schools, teachers well taught in "the reason why" of the subject, and well practised in the art of imparting the knowledge of thrift combined with comfort, as well as skill in practical work. After the first shudder, at the thought of " education " including domestic work, had subsided, common sense rapidly prevailed, and while seven thousand girls earned the Government grant for cookery in 1884, in 1890 it was paid for nearly seventy thousand, and cookery was fully acknow- ledged to be a branch of national education. Encouraged by this progress, the Committee of the Liverpool Technical College for Women conceived the idea of introducing laundry-work in the same way, and accord- ingly devoted much time and attention to the development of a system which would be equally acceptable to the Govern- ment as that of cookery. The whole union accepted this second scheme ; teachers were trained in the same way as for cookery, and it was recognized by the Education Department. Encouraged by a Government grant for every girl taught, laundry-work was quietly making its way into elementary schools, when the sudden call for technical education for those past school life arose in 1890. Technical education was wanted for the wives and daughters of the artisans, for the " makers of the home," as well as for the wage-earners. What Growth and Development of Domestic Science. 319 should it be ? Where could it be obtained ? Here the Schools of Cookery came forward, and presented to the Technical Education Committees, throughout the length and breadth of the land, schemes of practical education all ready to hand, in the most needed of domestic subjects cookery, laundry-work, and household sewing. Household sewing, i.e. home dress-cutting, mending, patching, and darning of garments in daily wear and tear, had also been popularized and methodized in the Liverpool Technical College, and been made as possible a subject of education as the renowned three R's. As to the methods of teaching, the great point was to teach " the reason why " of everything ; to get rid of tradition, chance, rule of thumb, and that general inaccuracy which has always been the bane of female work, but which now, happily, is gradually disappearing when scientific exactitude is found to be so forcible an element of success even in domestic matters. That scientific accuracy, and that knowledge of cause and effect which would create intelligent and interested workers, were equally needed in all the three branches of which this paper treats. The waste of food in the kitchen, the damage to garments in the laundry, the thriftlessness in the home wardrobe, were all the outcome of ignorance of the value of materials, of the uses of the forces of nature, of the power of order and exactness. Once bring simple explanation into connection with manual skill, and the whole face of daily work would be changed, and the idea of drudgery in work would disappear. Such has already been the effect of this new form of scientific training, and aided by a popular penny manual for each branch, the con- tinuity of the teaching has been secured, and the pupils supplied with efficient helps to memory. The systems of teaching cooking and laundry-work have grown out of purely English ideas, but the scheme of house- hold sewing is largely indebted to the admirable methods adopted in the Grand Duchy of Baden under the eye of H.R.H. the Grand Duchess, herself one of the leading educationists of Europe. To the excellent system there employed for teaching household sewing has been added in England a very simple and most satisfactory plan of teaching home dress-cutting, a popular system called the 320 Woman s Mission. " Grenfell," which combines a certain amount of scientific accuracy with that ease of acquirement, which was the one thing needed to make a system acceptable to every class of learner. In all these subjects, the use of the blackboard is the backbone of methodical instruction. This is the domestic science teaching which, so far, has been generally established in England ; but steps are being taken to go more into the minutiae of general housework, and under the joint committee of the London School Board, and the City and Guilds of London Institute, a centre has been formed, rooms fitted up, and a system of instruction organized, to enable the elder girls in elementary schools to have a course of practical lessons in all the details of house- cleaning, bed-making, etc. The course of twenty-two lessons has just been completed, and an examination held for the first time. Two hours were given in which to answer a paper of eighteen questions dealing with ventilation, drainage, thrift, method in house- work, exercise, and the principles of the various forms of cleaning required to keep a home in good order. After an interval, followed a practical examination, during which every branch of house-work was carried out by the girls, generally working in couples. The results were most satisfactory ; the girls, all either twelve or thirteen years of age, showed in their written papers a most intelligent acquaintance with the practical duties of a housewife, and in the practical work displayed a skill, neat- ness, and thoroughness, combined with evident pleasure in all they did, that augured well for the comfort of their homes in the future. This experiment having proved so successful, the scheme is now to be carried out in other places, and there is little doubt that before long it will develop all over the country, as another and very important branch of the technical education of girls in domestic science. Meantime public opinion has been thoroughly educated to appreciate the efforts of such a body of educationists as the " National Union," through whose labours mainly this work has been accomplished, and to regard the training- schools of cookery, and the technical colleges for women's Growth and Development of Domestic Science. 321 education in domestic science, as national institutions of only a degree less importance than those longer established colleges which deal exclusively with the training of the head apart from the aid of the hands. Through these two great systems of education, viz. elementary schools and technical educational classes, this instruction in the science of home-life has been brought within the reach of every woman and girl, from the university graduate to the poorest little drudge, and has been accepted with an eagerness that sufficiently guarantees its permanence as an essential factor in the development of national welfare. Though still young, it has fully justified its existence by rapid extension almost too rapid, indeed ; but as almost every year fresh organizations are developed, it only needs time to bring the whole scheme to a level of efficiency adequate to every possible requirement in the making of the home. The union of schools of cookery, hitherto known as the " Northern Union of Schools of Cookery," was founded in 1876, when the rise of various schools of cookery, chiefly in the North of England, made it inevitable that various systems of training, probably of different degrees of efficiency, would be started. It was, therefore, proposed that these schools should unite for the purpose of issuing diplomas and certifi- cates, and secure to the public an assurance that the teachers holding the diplomas of the Northern Union were thoroughly trained, and underwent examinations of a high standard both in theory and in practice. As at that time the chief schools, outside of London, lay in the North of England, and as Scotland also joined in the scheme, the name " Northern Union " was adopted. The first aim of these united schools was to train their teachers in the thrifty and economical methods specially suited to the circumstances of the working classes, while not forgetting the wants of the well-to-do. Next their attention was directed to the organization of cookery as an educational subject, and to the training of teachers in all the educational methods required for them to become teachers of cookery in the elementary schools. The same system of training, of examinations, and of fees for teachers, was adopted throughout the union, while the details were arranged by the committee of each school. The Y 322 Woman's Mission. council meetings of the union being held year by year as required, new developments were accepted as the public needs seemed to demand them, and when legislation became necessary the council as a large educational body appealed from time to time to the Education Department, and obtained the recognition needed to promote efficiency and progress in elementary school work. By degrees the work of the union widened, so as to embrace in its organization for the training of teachers, the three most needed of the domestic sciences, viz. cookery, laundry-work, and household sewing, with home dress-cutting. At the same time the area of its membership was extending all over England and Wales, and rendered the title "Northern" so misleading, that at the council meeting held in November, 1892, it was decided, with the consent of H.R.H. the Duchess of Albany, the Patroness, to change the name, and that from henceforth the union should be known as "The National Union for the Technical Education of Women in the Domestic Sciences." In the " Handicrafts " Section of the English Department at Chicago, there is an exhibit in three frames, of the methods of teaching these domestic sciences, explained by photographs, specimen work, books, plans, rhymes, etc. ; and in the library sent out from London is a copy of the first truly educational book on laundry-work, published in 1891.* * "Manual of Laundry- Work." Messrs. Longmans and Green, London. ( 323 ) MISS ORMEROD'S WORK IN AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY. BY THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. ALTHOUGH the protection of our crops from devastation is unlike the benevolent work recorded elsewhere in these pages, it is benevolent work of the highest moment. Its immediate consequence is to secure the fruits of labour and to enhance the production of food ; which is to cheapen it. Therefore this volume would be incomplete without some reference though it must needs be slight and insufficient to the enormously important labours of Miss Ormerod. This lady is brought more nearly within the scope of our purpose by the fact that she is the daughter of a mother who was remarkable for the success of her own philanthropic endeavours ; which took a shape common enough, though rarely pursued with Mrs. Ormerod's method, determination, and persistency. Possessed of strong good sense and sound accomplishments, she devoted them to the philanthropic purpose of grounding her children in knowledge and cha- racter. Besides her daughters, she had seven sons ; they all became private pupils of Dr. Arnold, or were under that famous tutor at Rugby ; and so well had their mother pre- pared them for school that Dr. Arnold felt himself con- strained to mark his sense of it by sending a special message of approval. It may be worth adding that while praising their scholastic training, he specially commended the sound religious knowledge with which the boys came to his care. Of course such a mother would be sure to bestow her wise and affectionate assiduities no less on her daughters than her sons ; and it is to her peculiar method of teaching, which 324 Woman's Mission. taught self-reliance in working and insured that whatever knowledge was acquired should be sound and fixed, so to speak, that Miss Ormerod traces the genesis of her important labours. Miss Ormerod's father, who is known to many as the historian of Cheshire, had a property in Gloucestershire Sedbury Park, opposite Chepstow, in Monmouthshire. His health failing in extreme old age, she assisted her sister, Georgina Ormerod, in managing the property ; and here again, perhaps, we may trace the results of the mother's training. The management of an agricultural property is not often undertaken by educated women, or not, at any rate, with the close personal superintendence that was bestowed in this case. When thus engaged, Miss Ormerod's attention was forcibly drawn to the waste that resulted from imperfect or neglected information, and more particularly to the ravage of crops by what was generally called " blight." " Blight " was in fact the devastation perpetrated by insect plagues of various kinds, by which now one crop and now another was destroyed over large breadths of country. What " blight " was did not, of course, remain a secret till Miss Ormerod's time. It may be gathered from publications devoted to agricultural pursuits that the matter was methodically studied in a previous generation, though not to much purpose. Dr. Fream, the learned editor of the Journal of the Royal Agri- cultural Society of England, can tell us that "ten or a dozen years ago the subject of agricultural entomology, as a serious and profitable study, was scarcely recognized in this country." "Blight" was contentedly adopted as the explanation of every variety of ravage ; and though the loss occasioned thereby was often great, and sometimes extremely grave, "little attempt was made to investigate the nature of this ' blight,' still less its cause." And something more than investigation was needed. Persistency in ascertaining what the blight was in its several forms, what the attack, what conditions favoured it, when and how it could best be met this (though it was no light undertaking) was not enough. An equal persistency in preaching what inquiry revealed was necessary if good were to be done on a considerable scale. Recorded in books of science, such knowledge has little Miss Ormerod' s Work. 325 practical value. In a very great measure the facts in this case had first to be ascertained almost from the beginning, one might say ; and when ascertained and verified by repeated observation, they had then to be urged on the attention of agriculturists in a precise yet attractive and popular way. Thus the coolness and patience of scientific inquiry had to be joined with an enthusiasm for doing good, as they were in Miss Ormerod, with the result that the cares of many a husbandman have been lightened, his fields rescued from waste, and his farm-animals spared much of the torment inflicted on them by venomous and exhausting pests of various kinds. Dr. Fream says and he has more acquaintance with Miss Ormerod's work than any one else, unless it be her sister, who has always been associated with it that a particular interest in insects began with her before it had any purpose. " One of her earliest recollections is that of being placed on a chair to watch some large water-grubs (probably the larvae of the carnivorous water-beetle, Dytiscus marginalis) in a glass ; when, to her amazement, one of the creatures which had got injured was devoured by its companions. This initial obser- vation whetted her appetite for farther knowledge of creatures which could do such dreadful things." Sedbury Park afforded ample scope for her studies as amateur observer till the later time when she took part in managing the farm and estate ; and then her observations became distinctly practical and purposeful. Beetles that devour each other had still a specu- lative interest, perhaps ; but beetles and other pests that devour the farmer's substance, making havoc of thousands of tons of food that would otherwise have been placed on the markets, were a much more cogent matter ; and Miss Ormerod went to work systematically to discover all that could be learnt of these plagues, with a view to their prevention or extermination. Her plan was the excellent, and in this case indispensable, one of multiplying observation to the utmost, and then comparing results under the light of a thorough knowledge of agriculture personally acquired at first hand. Whatever it may be now, " blight " was at that time an obscure subject, and one that could be generalized upon with dangerous ease. To arrive at sound information and 326 Woman s Mission. here it must be sound or nearly valueless it was necessary to bear in mind that appearances often deceive. One farm is not precisely as another ; conditions vary in different parts of a county, and even in different parts of a parish ; and Miss Ormerod took the whole island as her province. Great re- sources, however, awaited her in the desultory but accumu- lative observation of farmers and farm labourers all over England. Here was a store of knowledge in the shape of isolated facts (and not of much use in that condition), which became of the highest value when brought together for com- parison by a discriminating mind. Miss Ormerod's plan was to draw from this store of knowledge in all directions open to her. Beginning with the farm labourers of Sedbury, she sup- plemented and connected her own investigations by what others observed in their daily work in the fields ; obtaining from them reports of insect invasions, insect attacks, speci- mens of the tiny destructive creatures themselves, examples of the mischief they are capable of doing, with an account of whatever means had been found serviceable for prevention or remedy. It was not a neglected subject, though it was left to Miss Ormerod to deal with in a thorough and thoroughly successful spirit. About twenty-five years ago, as Dr. Fream informs us, the Royal Horticultural Society began to form a collection illustrative of insects useful or injurious to cultivators ; and it seems that Miss Ormerod's first contribution to the public good was furnishing this col- lection, year after year, with many specimens of insects in their different stages of life ; to which were added examples of the injury inflicted on timber, corn, roots, and other valuable products of the soil. It was after her father's death, we are told, that Miss Ormerod " conceived the idea of re- cording the results of sustained observations upon the ravages of insect pests on the farm and in the garden." In the early part of 1877 she issued a brief pamphlet entitled " Notes for Observations on Injurious Insects." The pamphlet was in fact a circular invitation to observe ; to gather facts metho- dically and report them ; and, judiciously distributed, the invitation brought to Miss Ormerod a variety of information which was published for use in the autumn of the same year. Thus was commenced a series of annual reports increasing Miss Ormerod's Work. 327 in value with the number of observers and the accumulation of ascertained facts which have been immeasurably service- able to agriculturists. It is impossible to say how much our farmers have profited by the diffusion of accurate knowledge, timely warning, and well-tested remedy against the insidious marauders that so often ruined their fields ; but we know that the amount of anxiety avoided and labour redeemed from cruel loss must have been very great indeed. And the work and its benefits still go on, enlarging from year to year. In 1881 turnip-fly made great havoc, and in the following year Miss Ormerod wrote a special report upon it. One consequence of this publication was the appointment of its author as Honorary Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; in which capacity she continued to issue special reports, founded on particular inquiry into the habits and depredations of wire-worm, hop- aphis, mustard-beetle, and other formidable pests ; one of which the Hessian Fly she was the first to identify and proclaim as an invader of English fields. This was in 1886. But Miss Ormerod's attention was not confined to the destruction of crops. Farm animals are sorely preyed upon by insects and other creatures more obscure ; and not only to the mere annoyance of the cattle attacked, but to their very grievous suffering. The warble-fly, for example, inflicts dreadful injuries, often ruining the poor beasts whom it infests ; which,, of course, is not only torment to them, but loss to their owners. This plague was under Miss Ormerod's investigation for several years ; at the end of which time she was able to publish every information about it. All is known that need be known about the warble-fly and how to deal with it. This is an example of her thorough methods of working ; methods demanding so much devotion that they can never be suspended or postponed. As Miss Ormerod marked out the business of her life, she had to be constant to it all day and every day ; to be always " on the spot " for reference and consultation, among other things. In a letter to a correspondent she writes, "I have only been away on what is called ' a holiday ' once (and that for three days) for more years than I can easily count." At length illness has obliged her to resign the office of Consulting Entomologist 328 Woman s Mission. to the Royal Agricultural Society. Her work is not over, though the time has come when it must be brought within endurable limits. But the time is not in view when the fruits of her labour will be exhausted. Speaking literally, they are a great and a lasting endowment ; and besides the direct benefits which Miss Ormerod has bestowed upon the nation, there is something which upon the whole may be greater still : the stimulus of her example as inquirer and investigator where ignorance is pain and loss. ( 3 2 9 ) WOMAN'S WORK FOR ANIMALS. BY THE HON. MRS. MUIR MACKENZIE. IN the early part of the present century a movement was begun in London for the protection of animals against cruel treatment At that time, either from ignorance, thoughtless- ness, heedlessness, or wanton brutality, animals were generally subjected to extreme ill-treatment, and even torture. In the best circles of society a few persons openly protested against this cruelty, but the majority regarded with scorn, and often with indignation, any appeal made to them on behalf of the brutes, and naturally the lower and lowest classes of the people totally ignored the rights of dumb animals. The protests of humane people were silenced by ridicule which came from the platform, the pulpit, and the senate, as well as from the galled pens of satirists. After several unsuccessful efforts, a bill to prevent the cruel and improper treatment of cattle was introduced into Parliament, in 1822, by Mr. Richard Martin, and passed into law. This measure, known as Martin's Act, though narrow and defective, was the first instance of legal protection being given to animals by the responsible Government of any nation. Though shortly afterwards amended and extended, it was allowed, partly by the covert opposition of magistrates , to become a dead letter. Reckless savage punishment, and pitiless disregard for the sufferings of animals, were witnessed daily on the highways and in the streets, to repress which the uncombined efforts of a few benevolent'individuals were power- less. It was resolved, therefore, to establish a society, which, by uniting the friends of animals, should be powerful enough to enforce the law passed for their protection. 33 Woman s Mission. In June, 1824, a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani mals was formed, among the members being Mr. Richard Martin, Sir Francis Burdett, Bart, Rev. Mr. Broom, Mr. VVil berforce, and Mr. and Mrs. S. Gurney. The main object was to enforce the new law, and special officers were ap- poi nted for that purpose. The first prosecution was insti- tuted by Mr. Martin himself, against a costermonger charged with cruelty to his donkey by working it while suffering from ol d-standing abscesses under the harness. The magistrate is said to have declared that he could not convict under the statute unless the ill-treated animal were produced in court, and the donkey was accordingly introduced. The owner was convicted and punished, the incident being com- memorated by an amusing drawing, and some doggerel verse beginning " If I had a donkey wot wouldn't go, D'ye think I'd wollop him ? No, no, no ! " After many years of successful work as a prosecuting body it was felt, in 1869, that the society had not fully carried out its mission as an educating agency, and an appeal was therefore made to the women of England to supplement its operations by organizing an education depart- ment. A letter was addressed to the Times by Miss (now the Baroness) Burdett-Coutts "to entreat public attention to a systematic training among all classes, both in principles of humanity towards animals, and in a knowledge of their proper treatment," and inviting people to consider whether " a systematic teaching of the absolute duty of man towards the lower animals should not enter into the practical educa- tion of all classes." In pursuance of this idea a meeting was held at her residence, Holly Lodge, Highgate, and was addressed by Mr. Angell, a distinguished advocate in America of the cause of the animals. An association was thereupon formed from members of the parent society, and named the Ladies' Humane Education Committee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The influence of this committee has been both wide and deep. It has circulated broadcast leaflets, tracts, and other literature, including the society's monthly publication, The Animal World, introducing these into schools and libraries, Woman's Work for Animals. 331 railway stations, hospitals and workhouses, and into hundreds of thousands of homes. It has made special efforts to reach butchers, drovers, carmen, grooms, coachmen, and farm servants. But its most important work has unquestionably been effected in our schools, where principles of mercy and kindness have been fostered by the encouragement of essay- writing on this subject, in which the committee has secured the cordial co-operation of the schoolmasters and school- mistresses. In 1892 Mr. Colam, the secretary of the society, was able to report that, for the competition of that year, no less than 69,183 essays had been sent in on the duty of kin dness to animals, from 901 schools, the number ten years previously having been only 11,684 essays from 319 schools. It will be noticed that while the number of competing schools has increased threefold, the number of essays has increased sixfold ; though even the latter figure does not represent the limit of this influence. For weeks the subject of the essay will probably have been the topic of conversa- tion in the family of each writer, silently influencing the rnin ds of the whole household. This important work, which has enlisted the active support of Her Majesty the Queen, and several members of the Royal Family, has been con- ducted entirely by women, and is now carried on by means of branch committees in all the large cities of the kingdom. The society, after grave deliberation, acquiesced in the pas sing of the Acts prohibiting vivisection, except when performed under inspection by a few operators provided with an official license. By these Acts an end was put to vivisection for purposes of demonstration, which, though probably illegal at Common Law, was openly practised, and thus an evil was minimized which could not be entirely abolished. e Another most useful work has been that instituted by Mrs. Smithies, a member of the Ladies' Committee, who organized young people and children into little societies known as Bands of Mercy, of which six hundred now exist The members declare they will be kind to animals, and will do all in their power to protect them from cruelty and to promote their humane treatment ; these duties forming the subjects of addresses and lectures at meetings of members, which are 33 2 Woman s Mission. held at regular intervals. This effort began with the forma- tion of a Band at Wood Green by Mrs. Smithies, with the assistance of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the Rev. W. M. (now Archdeacon) Sinclair, and Mr. Colam. The work proving successful, was, at the desire of Mrs. Smithies, transferred to the Ladies' Committee, which became the governing body of these little societies. A monthly illustrated journal, entitled The Band of Mercy, is published by the Committee. The movement has taken a very wide extension, and the Flegg Band of Mercy Union may be mentioned as an example of local effort. Flegg the word meaning level is a district in Norfolk, in the neighbourhood of the beautiful Broads. The work began with the formation by Miss Florence Lucas of a Band of Mercy in the village of Filby, of which her father was rector, in 1885. Similar bands being organized in the neighbourhood, they were formed into a union, which greatly reduces the bulk of correspondence with the London central office, while leaving each village perfect freedom in the management of its own affairs. The union is governed by a ladies' committee, on which each village affiliated to the union is represented. The success of Miss Lucas's effort at Filby may be gauged by the fact that the number of members has increased since 1885 from thirty to over one thousand. Several other unions have been formed in the district on this model, and a measure of further co-operation and centra- lization is now under consideration. The society has also organized a system of visiting mines and pits and examining horses and ponies engaged there. It has published illustrated almanacks containing useful reading on the proper treatment of animals, nearly one hundred thousand of which are circulated annually, and has also translated into Italian a practical manual called " The Horse Book," of which several thousand copies were printed at the expense of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The discussion of the claims of animals and the spread of the society's principles, as advocated in papers issued by the Ladies' Committee, have led to the formation of several kindred associations. Among these may be mentioned "The Home of Rest for Horses," founded by Miss Anna Lindo, with the object of providing rest for tired horses and a retreat Woman s Work for Animals. 333 for old favourites upon their becoming decrepit. It also provides horses to be used by cabmen, costermongers, and others, while their own animals are resting at the home. Another establishment, also formed by ladies, is the Animals' Institute, the president of which is Lady Frances Trevanion. Here sick animals are professionally treated, a nominal fee being charged to the general public, but not exacted from the poor. The Home for Lost and Starving Dogs in London was founded by Mrs. Tealby, and at first managed by women. All over the kingdom local societies are engaged in similar work of the highest value. Several societies have arisen whose object is the better protection of birds, and these, it may be said, have come into existence mainly by the opera- tions of the Ladies' Committee, whose leaflets, pamphlets, books, and journals have been circulated in great profusion. There can be no doubt, too, that by its influence on the public mind the work of this society has materially contributed to secure the legal protection of children against the cruelty of unnatural parents and others in authority. It will probably be suggested, and with much justification, that in a civilized community the protection of children should have preceded that of animals ; but it must be remembered that our com- plicated social system, and the peculiar character of the legal position of children, rendered this work one of special difficulty. Lastly, an impulse has been given to the preparation and publication of literature, designed to carry out the principles of the Ladies' Committee, by inducing competent women to write stories and poems in promotion of the general cause. It is needless to add that the circulation of popular literature of this nature is not only conducive to a healthy sentiment throughout the community, but tends greatly to the amelior- ation of the condition of animals. 334 Woman's Mission. PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF WOMEN IN BRITISH COLONIES AND THE EAST. BY MRS. CASHEL HOEY. THE Great Exhibition of 1851, an enterprise which will remain for ever memorable in the history of this century, as the first of what may be called the stock-takings of the world, has had many successors, and the recorded results of these furnish to the annals of our own time, and will furnish to the history of the future, valuable material for the archives of civilization. The " idea " of these successive epitomes of the products and the progress of the age, presenting impres- sive object-lessons in every country where they have existed, has grown with the growth of populations, commerce, and inter-communication, far beyond its first inception, but the purpose is still the same. That purpose is, in familiar words, to show us where we are. A great Exhibition gives us pause, and is equally welcome and instructive in all its aspects. The number and importance of those aspects in the case of the World's Fair at Chicago are greater than in any former instance, and will receive adequate and appreciative exposi- tion from thousands of pens. We shall be shown where we are in every branch of knowledge, in all kinds of achieve- ment, in all varieties of aspiration and effort, and to the statement of account of the latest of the great Exhibitions will " hang a tale," or total, on which the world may indeed look with pride, and which will act as an incentive to increased industry and ambition. One aspect only of this vast subject it is for us to present, and of that hardly more than a glimpse. Where shall the Work in British Colonies and the East. 335 World's Fair show us to be in the field of philanthropy ? What have we been doing for our fellows all over the globe ? What is the outcome of the " deep-veined humanity " which cannot be denied to this age of the toiling and suffering earth ? With questions so wide we do not cope, but only endeavour to give an outline answer to the narrower demand for a record of what is being done, in the cause of the love of the human race, by women in our own colonies and in the East. The record, imperfect as it is, for we have not been able to procure anything like full information, is eminently satis- factory and hope-inspiring. In the Australasian colonies remarkable organization and vigorous personal action cha- racterize the charitable institutions and societies. These are very numerous, and are worked in many instances by both men and women in co-operation, so that, while we cannot dwell upon these instances, because we are limited by the conditions of our subject, they must not be eliminated from our general view of the energetic action which prevails in the philanthropical department of colonial life. Nor can we pass to the consideration of the work that is exclusively women's, without comment upon the enviable superiority of colonial special legislation for the welfare of children over that of Great Britain or any European country. The reforms for which we are striving have been achieved by our Australasian colonies, and the 1890-91 reports of Mr. Brett, Inspector of Charitable Institutions in the Colony of Victoria, upon the work of private persons and of societies under the Neglected Children's Act, are documents of deep and affecting interest. They record results which testify to the wisdom and benefi- cence of the legislation on behalf of the children, with whom the work of rescue must begin. Nine organizations for the purposes of the Neglected Children's Act form the subject of these reports ; four of the institutions are managed entirely by ladies, and the general work " a task," Mr. Brett writes, " which is most hopeful, and opens up a new era for child- life " is done by representatives of " all the creeds." The provisions of this Act for the security and inspection of children committed under it to the care of private persons, are particularly admirable ; indeed, the whole of the Act is a 336 Woman *s Mission. model of all that is to be desired in legislation with this purpose. The latest report by Mr. Brett bears the following warm testimony to the worth of women's work : " The devotion and self-sacrificing efforts of women in the rescue of neglected children, and the value of the work done by them, cannot be overrated. Of all the philanthropic organi- zations which come under my observation, those established under the provisions of the 'Neglected Children's Act' are attended with the most beneficial results ; " and if " the Christianity and the civilization of a people may both be measured by its treatment of childhood " (Cardinal Man- ning), "the policy of the country in this direction may be accepted as an indication that we are not deficient in either the one or the other. I am of opinion that amongst the most practical and successful philanthropic efforts that have been, or are being made, by women, are the foregoing ; they look upon the problems of life from a different side from that of men, and bring fresh light to bear upon it ; they are dis- tinguished by a gift for detail and a power of individualiza- tion constantly required in the affairs of such work ; their familiarity with all that appertains to the needs of domestic life, combined with ready sympathy with suffering, makes their influence and co-operation invaluable in the cause of philanthropy." The Melbourne Ladies' Benevolent Society has the Countess of Hopetoun for its Patroness, and the following plain and practical works of mercy are its objects: "To relieve the wants of the poor, particularly females, by supplying them with clothes, food, and necessaries." Primary attention is paid to the sick, and to poor women in their confinement ; when children cannot be sent to school for want of means, the society assists them to the extent of its ability. Its work embraces the visitation and assistance of the poor in their own homes, without distinction of creed or country, within a widely-extended district. Relief is given chiefly in food, but also in rent, and assistance towards the purchase of various implements of work. An "Industrial Home" is in brisk working order under this society, " providing a temporary home for women, with such young children as may be dependent on them, during occasional Work in British Colonies and the East. 337 intervals of employment ; " and that institution is open to all, without distinction of country or creed. The Ladies' Benevolent Society receives liberal aid from the Government of Victoria. There are forty-two Ladies' Benevolent Societies throughout the colony, and from July ist, 1890, to June 3Oth, 1891, these distributed relief to 7853 individuals, at a cost of 13,679 us. 4^. The outlay for administration, etc., was ;i8ii 19^. 3d r . The latter figures speak well for the manage- ment of the societies. In every department of women's work in the colony of Victoria high excellence has been attained ; in none has its zeal and fidelity been more fruitful of good result and more worthy of warm recognition than in the " Reformatory Schools." The whole subject of the development and v/orking of the Preventive and Reformatory system of Victoria is of primary interest and importance, and we have the word of the Agent- General for the colony for the high place which women hold in the administration of that system. The means of dealing with girls of the reformatory class are threefold. There is a Government reformatory for Protestant girls at Coburg, near Melbourne ; a private reformatory for Roman Catholic girls, conducted by the Nuns of the Good Shepherd, at Oakleigh, ten miles from Melbourne ; and a private reformatory for Protestant girls at Brookside, 112 miles from the capital. The latter was established and is conducted by Mrs. Rowe, and has, together with the Good Shepherd Reformatory, State assistance and inspection. Mr. Brett's reports on all three institutions speak highly of the efficiency of the management, and hopefully of the results. The history of the Brookside Reformatory is singularly interesting, for the institution is not merely of the modified penal kind, with which we generally associate the term ; it comes in also under the heading of Industrial Schools, in which Victoria is very strong. In its report of 1872, the Royal Commission on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, while commending the work carried on by the ladies of the Roman Catholic Church, represented the extreme desirability of similar work as regards Protestant girls being in private rather than official hands, in consideration of the former system's Z 338 Womaris Mission. greater facilities for bringing religious influences to bear upon their reclamation and training. Similar representations, urged by the Secretary in the Departmental Report for Parliament for 1886, decided the foundress of the Brookside Reformatory to attempt the work. The school, which began with six inmates, had, in 1891, thirty-one in residence in two cottages, fourteen seniors being in one, with two ladies in charge, and seventeen juniors under the superintendence of two other ladies in the second. In addition to these, a considerable number of the girls who have gone through the school course are now placed at service in the farmhouses and families around, earning wages according to their abilities, being visited in their situations from time to time by Mrs. Rowe, her matrons, and the members of her Committee of Advice. Mrs. Rowe and the Nuns of the Good Shepherd have the same entire control and guardianship over their wards as that en- joyed by the superintendent of the Boys' Reformatory, a Government institution. At Geelong there is a Reformatory and an Industrial School under the charge of nuns, receiving Government assistance and inspection. These institutions, in their later development, are comparatively new and in the day of small things ; but they are of vast moment, and the women who are devoting themselves to this difficult work are doing the very best of patriotic service. The Ladies' Board- ing-Out Committees are admirably organized and efficient ; the success of the boarding-out system in Victoria is marked. Among the charitable institutions or societies other than those already mentioned, in the management of which women are immediately concerned, we find, in the metropolis, a Convalescent Home for Women, St. Vincent de Paul's Girls' Orphanage, the Abbotsford Refuge for Fallen Women, and an Infant Asylum. These, with the Provincial Orphanage for Girls (Geelong), make five important fields of philan- thropical action occupied by women. We now come to the charitable institutions, in the management of which women co-operate with men on the committee of management, and, as we learn from the reports of the Inspector, with the best results. Those in Melbourne are the Austin Hospital for Incurables, the Hospital for Sick Children, the Women's Hospital and Infirmary, the Convalescent Home for Men, Work in British Colonies and the East. 339 the Melbourne Orphan Asylum, the Collingwood Refuge, the Carlton Refuge, the South Yarra Home, the Salvation Army Rescue Home, the Elizabeth Fry's Retreat. The provincial institutions in the management of which men and women co-operate on the committee of management are the Con- sumptive Sanatorium at Echuca, the Ballarat Refuge, and the Geelong Refuge. The official reports on all these are interesting reading, and full of encouragement for the future of the colony, which is so solicitous for the young, the weak, the sick, the fallen, the poor, in short for all suffering humanity, and finds so many woman-hands, heads, and hearts, all fit and ready for the most onerous tasks. In this place we may note that Mr. Brett is careful to make special refer- ence to the important subject of the nursing of the sick, and the trained and competent staff" of female nurses who are taking up the work of nursing in the hospitals of Victoria. He says, " The number of women is 273 as compared with 45 men, and the testimony is all in favour of the special aptitude of women for such work, and the good they have done in raising the tone of our institutions." Special information concerning women's philanthropic work in New South Wales has reached us too late to enable us to give the particulars in so full detail as it deserves and as we desire, but even the list of the institutions worked by women is a noble record, and it is especially rich in provision for the relief of children. The Hospital for Sick Children is managed by a mixed board of men and women, but the latter are practically the directors of the institution. The hospital receives the sick children of the poor, irrespective of creed, and has a staff of trained nurses. The Asylum for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Children, which is also chiefly a woman's province, is of high excellence, and has been pronounced by experts to be equal in merit to the world-famous American institutions of its kind. The best modern teachers are provided for " the disinherited ones," whose course of instruc- tion, in addition to that of the ordinary schools, includes music, singing, and domestic duties. The Infants' Home, originally the Sydney Foundling Hospital, is entirely women's work in its origin. In 1873 ^ ve ladies determined that they 34O Woman s Mission. would do something to check the crime of infanticide, numerous cases having occurred in Sydney, and accordingly founded the asylum. Some years of struggle and difficulty ensued, but a more recent period has witnessed the prosperity of the Infants' Home, now assisted by the Government, and long since supported by the warm sympathy of the public. The great aim of the protectors of the poor little waifs who are thrown upon the charity of the institution, is to give them the elements of a home and family, and this is found to be most effectually done by what is now well known as the Cottage System. The boarding-out of destitute children in healthy country homes has proved a successful enterprise, and is entirely due to the exertions of a society of ladies which was formed in 1879. At that time the "barrack system " only prevailed. There were four refuges, viz. the Catholic and Protestant Asylum Schools, the Randwick Asylum, and the Sydney Benevolent Asylum. In 1881 the scheme had so far justified itself by results that it was placed under official control, and a statute was passed by the Legislature, entitled " The State Children's Relief Act," under which a Board was appointed to control the boarded- out children, and this Board included the ladies who had initiated the movement. At the end of the first official year there were fifty-nine children in homes, at the end of the tenth year the number stood at 2369 ; and boarding- out was then generally recognized as the national policy for dealing with children of the State. All the depen- dent children supported by the Government had been with- drawn from the Randwick Asylum, and the denominational orphanages had ceased to exist. Two of three ladies who inaugurated this great reform, and who were known in the colony as " the dauntless three," Mrs. Garran, Mrs. Jefferis, and Mrs. (now Lady) Windeyer, still continue their labours, and the Misses Garran have acted for years as Hon. Secre- taries. Lady visitors in the principal inland towns regularly visit the boarded-out children. The Sydney Benevolent Asylum has a lying-in branch which is entirely managed by women ; this is also a training establishment for midwives. There are fifteen benevolent societies, similarly constituted and managed, dispersed among Work in British Colonies and the East. 341 the principal districts of New South Wales. The Lisgar House School, supported by Mrs. Scott, an establishment at which poor children are boarded, lodged, and educated, has been in beneficent existence for many years. Coming to the hospitals' work, we find in our special report, as " one of the noblest monuments of women's work, the labours of thirty- five years among the sick and suffering of all creeds by the Sisters of Charity, who are the managers of St. Vincent's Hospital at Sydney." It was in 1855, upon his return from Europe, that Archbishop Folding brought with him a small band of Sisters of Charity, who were so impressed with the need for greater hospital accommodation in Sydney, that within a year after their arrival they began to collect for the establishment of a free hospital under their care. In 1857 a little unpretending house was opened, with eight beds. We have no space in which to tell its progressive history, but must mention that medical men volunteered their help ; the Government gave a grant of land for a new building in 1862 ; and in 1863 Archbishop Folding laid the foundation-stone of St. Vincent's Hospital on the site now covered with a hand- some pile of building. We must pass on to the record most nearly up to date. In 1886 Lord Carrington laid the founda- tion-stone of the second half of the building ; and last November (1892) Lord Jersey opened yet another wing. The number of in-patients during 1891 was 1354, of out- patients, 7044, so vast is the work that has grown out of such small beginnings. The management is exclusively in the hands of the Sisters of Charity, and twelve medical men give their sedulous services to this hospital. St Joseph's Hospital for Consumptives at Paramatta was founded in 1889, and is managed by the Sisters of Charity ; and there is also under their care in Sydney a Hospice for the dying. A Home for the Aged Poor is conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor on precisely the same lines as the well- known institution in London. Old and infirm persons of both sexes and all creeds are the inmates. A Children's Hospital at Petersham, a Magdalene Retreat, a Providence Home, two Orphanages, an Industrial School and Home, conducted on the Leichhardt system, at which young girls are taught trades by the Sisters, and an Industrial Orphan 34 2 Woman's Mission. Reformatory, are among the Roman Catholic institutions inaugurated, conducted, and managed by women. An interesting feature of women's work in New South Wales is the Female School of Industry, a Church of England institution, founded in 1826 by Lady Darling, the wife of the then Governor of the Colony. It is one of the earliest foundations, and was established for the maintenance and training in cooking and domestic duties of fifty female children of poor persons, This course of instruction includes reading, writing, the first four rules of arithmetic, plain needlework, knitting, and spinning. We have not exhausted the list of women's philanthropical work in the Colony of New South Wales by the foregoing examples, but we are unable to enter more fully into the deeply interesting and encouraging statement before us. At fifteen years of age the children are apprenticed to subscribers, who are members of the Protestant Church, the committee standing in loco parentis until the child reaches the age of eighteen. This institution is well worked, and highly esteemed in the colony, where it is the only one of its kind. The Young Women's Christian Association and the Working and Factory Girls' Club are admirable examples of women's work, and are growing rapidly. We have been favoured with several items of interesting information from the colony of Queensland, where women are working on so many lines that the space at our disposal does not enable us to do justice to the extent and multiplicity of their labours. Here again we find the Ladies' Benevolent Society in active work in the capital and elsewhere, admirably organized and generously supported. The rules of the North Brisbane Benevolent Society are very full and elaborate. The payment of a monthly subscription of one shilling entitles any lady to membership. Gentlemen are only per- mitted to subscribe. The objects of the society are almost identical in all the colonies, and the institution is evidently a favourite one in each of them. A special interest attaches to the Lady Musgrave Lodge and Training Institute for single girl immigrants and others, which was established in 1885, and whose full history to the Work in British Colonies and the East. 343 end of last year is available for our purpose. The establish- ment, on unsectarian principles, of a home for friendless and especially immigrant girls, where they find guardianship, protection, and friendship, with comfortable conditions and no rigid rules, except those dictated by common sense, was a boon of great magnitude, and the benevolent intention of the foundress, Lady Musgrave, who still continues to take an interest in the Lodge, has been warmly seconded. The Lady Musgrave Lodge has rapidly risen from modest beginnings to so flourishing a condition that a vast and handsome edifice (of which Lady Norman laid the first stone on the ist of August, 1891) has been erected to replace the first Lodge, become insufficient for the inmates. During the six years of its existence, the institution had grown with such rapidity that at the date of the report for 1892, hundreds of young women were finding help, shelter, and guidance every year. The Lodge is now a home and registry office for trained nurses, young women in business, and domestic servants. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the benefits which such an institution confers, not only upon the individuals of the immigrant class, in whose interest it was founded, but in relieving the anxiety and lessening the pain of those partings and disruptions of family life which are inevitable in the struggle for the means of bread-winning. During the year 1891, 1 133 women were received into the lodge, a large propor- tion of these being girls who had come to the colony entirely unprotected, and without any means of support in the event of their being dismissed from their employment. This excellent institution now receives State assistance, and is regarded with great favour by the Premier, Sir S. W. Griffith. With the occupation of the new building, the activity of the work has been extended by the appointment of corresponding members, with whom communication may be held concerning the welfare of young women as they move from place to place either from or to Brisbane. Ladies have been appointed to act as corresponding members in all the important towns of the colony, and thus the bond of humane interest and kindly superintendence is maintained between their first friends among strangers and the immigrant girls, and the 344 Woman s Mission. latter are not severed from the moral shelter of their first home in a strange land. In 1889, 2265 girls went to Queensland from England, and more than one-half of these landed in Brisbane. We learn from Miss Keith, the secretary, that prior to the estab- lishment of the Lady Musgrave Lodge attempts had been made to befriend the girl-immigrants, who were met on their arrival at the Immigration Depot, and put in communication with an association which was afterwards merged in the Girls' Protection Society. Experience, however, proved the impossibility of carrying out this work efficiently without a Home in which the large number of young women who applied for help and guidance might be cared for until suit- able situations could be found for them. To meet this necessity the Lady Musgrave Lodge was established, and its seven years' history proves that its promoters were not mis- taken in their idea of the requirements of the case. The advantages of the new Lodge include training-classes in the domestic arts, and courses of lessons in cookery, so that immigrant girls may not only be provided with situations, but qualified to fill them. Lectures on nursing by a qualified physician are provided for aspirants to that profession. The management is by a ladies' committee, and the secretary is a lady. The institution is an object of the deepest interest, actively displayed, to the ladies of Brisbane ; and we may judge of the economy with which it is ruled by the fact that the only paid officials in -the large establishment are the matron and two female servants. In the new Lodge there is ample accommodation for all possible requirements in con- nection with the work. Every boarder can now secure a separate bedroom, with the use of sitting-room, dining-room, lavatories, baths, and cool roomy balconies. When we add to these particulars the special advantages which have been secured to the immigrant candidates for admission to the Lady Musgrave Lodge, by arrangement with the large Steam Navigation Companies, we think it may fairly be claimed for the women's work of Queensland that it has created an insti- tution of exceptional value, and is maintaining its life and usefulness. We know from our own experience in England that Work in British Colonies and the East. 345 sympathy with, and help for, the suffering of young children are ready everywhere ; and we are therefore prepared to find the Hospital for Sick Children in Brisbane a favourite charitable institution. The story of its rise and progress is of unusual interest, for it had its origin in the merciful and energetic action of one lady. At an early period in the history of Queensland, the amount of sickness and the great mortality among children became apparent. "Free and assisted emigration," writes the author of the statement before us, " brought many immigrants to the colony. They ' took up ' land, built a bark or slab hut, and began clearing for cultivation ; a labour in which the mother as well as the children helped the father. In health all went well, but when sickness came there was no room for it. Much .suffering and, too frequently, death followed. This state of things came under the notice of a lady near such a neighbourhood about seven miles from Brisbane. It was asserted that a large number of children born in the district died under five years of age. Children under five are not admissible into the General Hospital, and when above that age were placed in the wards for adults an arrangement wholly unsuited to their tender years while in the little bush-home there were no means of meeting the needs of sickness." In 1876, it was resolved we may conclude by the observant lady, who remains anonymous to obtain a hospital for these little sufferers. For this end a few friends were gathered together, chiefly mothers with their young daughters, making an impromptu garden-party ; and their sympathy with the scheme was shown in such a hearty manner that then and there the work was begun, with such energy and enthusiasm that in the following year (1877) 1393 were placed in the bank. Twelve ladies then formed themselves into a provisional committee, stated their objects, opened a subscription-list for maintenance, etc., and obtained a copy of rules from the Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, the only one existing in Australia at that time. The committee sent to London for a qualified matron, two trained nurses, and medical appliances to the value of ^"50. They then rented as suitable a house as could be got, and soon all that was necessary to convert it into a hospital was done. A number of Brisbane merchants Woman s Mission. responded to their appeal by giving nearly all the requisite furniture, so that very little had to be taken out of their jealously-guarded funds. The "staff" arrived from London in February, 1878, and on the nth of March the Children's Hospital was opened, with twelve beds, to which three were immediately added, and arrangements were made for out- door patients. One important rule was made that, unless prevented by poverty, parents should pay for the maintenance of their children at the rate of from three and sixpence to ten shillings per week ; and so willingly has this rule been com- plied with that up to the present year the institution has been benefited to the amount of .3000. The children are admitted without reference to creed or country. The same year, the Government granted an excellent site of two acres, which was fenced in and cleared, and then the committee anxiously waited for the time to build. Soon after, the Queensland Government promised .1000 when they could show the same amount for building ; this they were able to do at once, and so the work went on and prospered. This institution, on which we have dwelt at perhaps unreasonable length, on account of the peculiar and touching interest which attaches to it, has been always well and wisely governed by earnest and warm-hearted gentlewomen, who have never spared them- selves on its behalf. It is entirely free of debt, has a Conva- lescent Home at the seaside, and is recognized as a blessing by the whole country. The Brisbane Female Refuge and Infants' Home is also the outcome of the Christian sympathy of one lady, Mrs. Drew, who in visiting the hospital, the gaol, and other places of suffering, had become impressed with the need of some home for young women who had forfeited their character and were anxious to reform. The foundress and private friends supported the refuge, which was the first of the kind in Queensland, for a year and a half, when the Government recognized its usefulness by granting a subsidy of 100, increased in 1878 to .200 a year. In addition a grant was made of land, on which the present building stands. The sole claim for admission is the distress of the applicants, and their willingness to conform to the rules of the place. During the twenty-one years of its existence Work in British Colonies and the East. 347 725 women and 736 children have passed through the refuge, which remains under the management of the lady super- intendent and foundress, Mrs. Drew, whose service is purely honorary. This lady is effectively aided in her task, and in the supervision of her former charges when they leave the refuge for various forms of employment, by the philanthropic women-workers of Brisbane. A remarkably interesting example of individual effort is furnished by a communication from Mr. James Donaldson, of Sandiford, Mackay, Queensland, addressed to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, and which we repeat here. "About two years ago," writes Mr. Donaldson, " Mrs. Donaldson started a small class for the Kanaka labourers on our small sugar plantation for the purpose of keeping them interested at night, and to prevent the drinking habits which were getting such a terrible hold on them. This work, which God has greatly blessed in her hands, was commenced in fear and trembling, as some of these men were big, stalwart, and very dangerous fellows to deal with, especially when under the influence of drink. The first step she took was to get them to take the blue-ribbon pledge, and then the instruction commenced with the ordinary school-primer, and slate- writing from a text, written upon a blackboard, which they could all copy ; and some of these men in about four months (hardly able to speak English at all except the broken pigeon-English) were able to spell out a lesson in the New Testament and write short texts very creditably. The class at first commenced with twelve, and then one and another asked to be allowed to bring their brothers and friends, until at last our small dining-room was filled to such an extent that it was almost unbearable, nearly one hundred getting into a room 18 feet by 20 feet I then put up a grass shed, and fitted it with rough tables and forms, and about two hundred can be accommodated in it. It is now getting too much filled, especially on Sundays, when some of the labourers from a great distance can attend. A large number of these boys have been baptized, and intend, when their present engagements are completed, to go home to their own islands, and teach their friends there the tidings of joy which have worked so great a change in their own 348 Woman's Mission. lives." Results which cannot be foreseen or limited may ensue from this one woman's work; and yet, according to her husband's farther account of her, Mrs. Donaldson is one of those who might well plead much serving in other ways to exonerate her from the obligations of philanthropy. " My wife," her husband writes, " has four children to attend to and her house work, which includes baking, etc. ; and she seldom has a spare minute from between 5 and 6 a.m. till 10 p.m., and this although she is a very rapid and methodical worker." The Lady Bowen Lying-in Hospital, which is subsidized by the Government, and is entirely under the management of ladies, was opened at the close of the year 1889, and is a most useful and flourishing institution. A special feature of its work is the training of pupil nurses to act as midwives in the outlying bush districts, where medical aid is not easily to be procured. It is hoped now that ten nurses may be trained annually. This addition to the work of the hospital is only two years old. The Industrial Home at Brisbane was a fore- runner of the Lady Musgrave Lodge. It has been in existence for ten years, and has a fair record of success in its work of mercy, conceived in the hearts, organized by the heads, and carried out by the hands of women. The Home for Governesses and Lady Workers in Bris- bane was established in 1883, by twelve ladies, under the presidency of the wife of Bishop Hale. Its object is to provide governesses and other ladies, who have to maintain themselves, with a comfortable home on very reasonable terms while they are seeking employment, or during vaca- tion. A few boarders who have daily engagements in the neighbourhood are also received. The home is managed by a committee of ten ladies, and is dependent upon voluntary subscriptions. The difficulty of great distances makes itself felt in the operations of the Girls' Friendly Society in Queensland, where it has been established for nine years, and is worked on precisely the same principles as the parent institution in England. The society is working fairly well, having six branches, but the members in the inland districts of the colony are so far apart that they cannot be got together for Work in British Colonies and the East. 349 classes of instruction and amusement. With this drawback it would seem that the objects of the society are for the most part gained. A Ladies' Auxiliary to the Young Men's Christian Association also exists in Brisbane. At Too- woomba the Ladies' Benevolent Society is very active and efficient ; the same is to be recorded of the Ladies' Benevolent Association at Ipswich, which was organized by a committee of women in 1877, and is now carried on by them. The distinct object of this institution is the relief of distress by house-to-house visitation. Such an enterprise needs, and finds, numerous and indefatigable workers. We have been unable to procure specific information respecting women's share in the philanthropic work of South Australia and Tasmania, but certain indications are obtainable through the " Year Book of the Church of England in the Diocese of Adelaide," one of the three bishoprics which the colonies owe to the liberality of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who endowed the bishoprics of Adelaide and Cape Town in perpetuity in 1847. For lack of data, we shall be obliged to limit our brief sketch of women's work in South Australia to those charitable and educational associations which are in connection with the Church of England ; entertaining no doubt that other religious denominations are doing their duty to their fellows, and affording succour to God's poor, in that colony as in all the others. In the first instance we find the Ladies' Diocesan Associa- tion, which was founded in 1880 for the purpose of providing regular visiting for the hospitals and charitable institutions of Adelaide. Lady Jervois was the first president of this society. There are now forty-four members, and the insti- tutions visited are the General and Children's Hospitals, the Destitute Asylum, the Gaol, and the House of Mercy at Walkerville. The first charitable institution on the list was in its initial stage only when the Year Book was published, for although a suitable house had been procured for St. Peter's Home, the work had not been organized. We may take it for granted that the purposes of the home, which include educational and rescue work and visiting of the sick, are now in course of fulfilment. The Orphan Home, which 350 Woman's Mission. is thirty-two years old (this speaks well for the early impulses of the new colony), receives and trains orphan girls, and is governed by a committee of ladies. At the date of the report the inmates numbered only twenty-nine ; but again we have to remember that the home is a Church of England institu- tion only, and the division of philanthropic work would be general among the denominations. The House of Mercy at Walkerville dates from 1881. This institution was founded in order to secure a retreat for young women who, having previously borne a good character, had strayed from the path of virtue, and to save them from further decline. A work of mercy indeed ! and carried out by the workers by paying the utmost attention to each individual case. The inmates are employed in laundry and general housework, and well cared for in every way. Each mother with her child is expected to remain for a year, when she can, if she pleases, leave her child in the House of Mercy by paying a small weekly contribution. Here is a field for the best work of the best women ; and they are busy in it. The committee is formed of ladies ; the chairman is a clergyman, the Ven. Archdeacon Dove. The Children's Home at Walkerville is of more recent establishment; it dates from 1887. This institution also is managed by a committee of ladies, and Archdeacon Dove is chairman. The objects of the home are to provide a dwell- ing for parentless children, where they can be fed, clothed, tended, educated, and have a foster-mother's care until they are of age to be placed in some useful walk of life, and to rescue children of vicious parents ; at the same time making careful provision against the encouragement of vice. A Convalescent Home and a Home for Incurables are included in the Year Book list, but it is not stated whether these institutions are for women. It may, however, be pre- sumed, as the secretary is a lady, that the latter is so limited. Then there are Cottage Homes, a Children's Hospital, a Girls' Reformatory, a Lunatic Asylum (at which a lady acts as organist), and the Destitute Asylum, where the chaplain is greatly assisted by a staff of regular lady visitors, and a voluntary choir of ladies. The Destitute Asylum is strictly unsectarian, but has a priest in charge of the members of the Work in British Colonies and the East. 351 Church of England. Numerous Sunday schools have their women teachers, and Bible classes, district visitors' associa- tions, working societies, and benevolent societies, presumably on the same system as those which are found so useful in the other Colonies, are in the list Clothing clubs, provident funds, and mothers' meetings have been established through- out the widely extended diocese of Adelaide, with communi- cants' guilds and classes, and societies specially devoted to Church needlework and decoration. The Society of St. Paul would seem to be particularly active in the latter services, for which St. Peter's Cathedral Guild is also established ; but the duties of the guild include the visiting of sick persons commended to the members by the bishop or his vicar. The foregoing is a bare recapitulation of the service of women in only one section of society in the colony of South Aus- tralia ; but it is a creditable record in itself, and it affords a standard whereby we may fairly estimate the energy, the good sense, and the good will with which women outside the sphere of action whose record is the only one we possess, are doing their share of the never-ending day's work in that distant land. In an examination of a great subject necessarily so cursory, we must be content with a superficial statement of the aspects and condition of women's work in India, where it is of vast importance, most difficult and onerous, and productive of consequences perhaps it is too early to call them by the larger name results well deserving of careful study from all points of view. India is especially the woman's field of missionary labour ; she only can gain access to the secluded class of the women of the country, and bring to them the knowledge which will in time prove itself to be power ; she only can realize the precept : " Get the hearts of the women, and you will get the heads of the men." The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society holds exceptional rank among the philanthropic enterprises which bear witness to the " goodwill towards men " that animates our age, and glows more or less brightly among all Christian nations, and it affords an honourable example of intelligent organization, steady purpose, and unfailing devotion. The 35 2 Woman's Mission. society, working in co-operation with the Church Missionary Society, has, in addition to its large number of mission stations in India, stations in Travancore and Cochin, in Ceylon, and in China. The methods of its work are Normal Schools, Zenana Visitation, Medical Missions, Hindu and Mohammedan Female Schools, and Bible Women's service. The twelfth annual report (1892) of the Zenana Society gives a satisfactory account of the progress of the educational work of the missions, and urges the necessity for many additions to the long list of women who are doing devoted service in this immensely important department of the gigantic task of philanthropy. The report makes a special appeal for volunteers for the China Mission, and states that the anti-foreign agitation has not affected the work in the Fuh-Kien Province. In connection with this subject a word must be said concerning the Chinese Bible Woman's Mission for Women and Children, a small society which is doing good work. The object of the mission is to teach Christianity, in the first place, to Chinese women whom the missionaries and catechists cannot reach, and to educate and bring up Chinese girls in its Christian boarding-schools. The report describes one of these boarding-schools at Ningpo, as follows : " We have now a native lady as matron in the school, and she is doing very well. Many of the girls come to us at five or six years old, not knowing anything. The course of instruction for them is much the same as in our infant school. They can as a rule read the Roman character almost fluently in three months, so as to be able to learn lessons themselves. Reading both Roman and Chinese characters, arithmetic, geography, singing, and Bible lessons, form their course of study. Needlework in all its branches (so that they may be able to clothe themselves), house-work, and cooking also take up much time ; so that when they marry (to which they all look forward instead of service) they are likely to make useful wives." One hundred and sixty English and foreign missionaries and teachers connected with the Ladies' Association are now at work in the eleven Zenana Missions in India, and in the twenty-two schools in Burmah, Japan, North China, Mada- gascar, and South Africa ; in these five thousand children Work in British Colonies and the East. 353 are under instruction. It is pleasant to learn that at home three hundred working parties contribute a large quantity of work and native clothing ; their co-operation enables the association to send out thirty-five valuable boxes to various missions in India and South Africa yearly. The schools maintained or assisted by the Ladies' Association comprise boarding-schools, training-schools, industrial schools, and day-schools. The training-up of native Christian teachers is a most important part of its work. The Society for Promoting Female Education in the East is the oldest Zenana Society in existence. It was formed fifty-eight years ago for the purpose of giving instruction to women in the Zenanas in India and in their own homes by visitation ; boarding, day, infant, and Sunday schools ; Bible and sewing classes ; the training of native women as mission- aries, district visitors, schoolmistresses, and Bible women ; mothers' meetings, the Children's Scripture Union, and the Young Women's Christian Association. Much honour is due to this, the pioneer society, to which its ten successors and colleagues are indebted for initiative in some of the worthiest and most arduous tasks that are imposed upon the women of this age. The National Association for supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India is so important an institution, and has marked so great a step in advance in the organization of philanthropic work, that we shall best fulfil the purpose of this paper by giving extracts from an account of it written by Miss Sutcliffe, with the approval of the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, by whom the society was founded. First as to the origin of the work. "In 1884, when the Countess of Dufferin was on the point of leaving for India with her husband, the newly-appointed Viceroy, her Majesty the Queen sent for her to Windsor and asked her if she would consider on her arrival in the East what could be done towards supplying the women of our Empire in that part of the world with medical aid. Lady Dufferin gave her best attention to the subject, and in August, 1885, six months after her arrival in India, she published a prospectus of the new society she wished to form." This was announced as " The National Association for supplying Female Medical Aid 2 A 354 Woman's Mission. to the Women of India." Its objects were " medical tuition, including the teaching and training in India of women as doctors, hospital assistants, nurses, and midwives ; medical relief, including the establishment, under female superin- tendence, of dispensaries and cottage hospitals for the treat- ment of women and children ; the opening of female wards under female superintendence in existing hospitals and dis- pensaries ; the provision of female medical officers and attendants for existing female wards ; the founding of hos- pitals for women, where special funds or endowments are forthcoming ; the supply of trained female nurses and mid- wives for women and children in hospitals and private houses." Certain other purposes were defined, but those enumerated are sufficient to show how wide was the scope, and how com- prehensive was the beneficence of the project which found immediate acceptance, and upon which the public are now in a position to pronounce, with the results of seven years' work before them. The story of the interest that was excited by the Queen's request to Lady Dufferin, and the practical manner of the Countess's response to it, the success which attended the project from the first, and the readiness with which it was welcomed and aided in England, is too well known to require capitulation. If the idea of teaching native women to be doctors and medical officers in all the grades of the profession, so that enlightened science should be applied to the needs of multitudes of women previously deprived of any such assistance, was startling, it was also fascinating, and such an extension of the philanthropic work which for many years had been carried on in our Indian Empire, was hailed with enthusiastic approval. " The Queen-Empress became the Patron of the society, and the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of the various Provinces were nominated Vice-Patrons ; while other sub- scribers, according to the amount of their subscriptions, were designated life councillors, life members, or ordinary members." Money was obtained with facility and speed, and " The Countess of Dufferin Fund " assumed such satisfactory proportions that the enterprise had not to suffer from the checks and difficulties with which most philanthropical under- Work in British Colonies and the East. 355 takings have to contend, their beginnings being usually on a small scale. It was arranged that " the general affairs of the association should be managed by a central committee, and branches were formed at Madras, Bombay, the Punjab, the North-Western Provinces, Burmah, the Central Provinces, Bengal, and Mysore. Each branch is, for all financial and executive purposes, entirely independent, and each one has its own fund, named, as is the central one, after the founder. With regard to medical tuition, it was at once determined to make use of existing institutions, and to give grants in aid to the medical schools all over the country rather than to establish a new female college ; at Calcutta, Lahore, Bombay, Agra, and Madras female medical education has been carried on with great success, native, Eurasian, and European pupils attending either in mixed or separate classes as may be arranged by the authorities of the schools." In 1891 there were 224 European and native ladies under medical instruction. Of these, seventy-three were training as assistant surgeons, eighty-eight as hospital assistants, and sixty-three as nurses and dhais. "With regard to medical relief, the operations of the fund have gradually extended throughout the whole continent of India. The report of 1891 states that upwards of 1,200,000 rupees had been spent on the erection of female hospitals and dispensaries ; that there are now forty-eight hospitals in connection with the fund, and that 466,000 women had been attended in them. Twelve lady doctors with English qualifications, thirty-two assistant surgeons, and twenty-nine female practi- tioners are now working under the National Association. Lady Dufferin considered the teaching of midwifery and the supply of trained dhais to be of urgent importance, and classes for the instruction of these women were established wherever possible. Trained nurses were also sent to various districts to work amongst the native women. This work has been specially successful in Burmah, where the women have proved most apt pupils." The royal and the maternal-hearted injunction laid by Queen Victoria upon the wife of the Viceroy of India, has, therefore, produced results whose sum will go on increasing with every year, and which will exercise influence in ways 356 Woman's Mission. that seem to have no direct connection with the objects of the association, but yet are subtly linked with them. These results are of women's making ; the action that produced them was a woman's, the impulse that originated them was a Queen's. It must, however, by no means be forgotten or overlooked that, long before this good work was inaugurated on the large scale which only the powerful support afforded to Lady DufFerin's comprehensive scheme could have rendered possible, the supply of medical aid and relief to women in India had been a prominent feature of some of the earlier societies. We find in an account of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, written by its secretary, Miss Gilmore, some very interesting facts connected with its earliest action in this direction. In 1852 the society opened its Normal School in Calcutta, and the success of the missionary ladies in getting access to zenanas and being permitted to teach the native ladies and their children led to the extension of their mission to several other cities in various parts of India, where the children from the zenanas were induced to attend their day-schools. "The missionary ladies soon realized the great need of medical relief for the secluded women whose husbands and fathers preferred to see them suffer and die rather than allow them to be seen by a male physician. No sooner was the medical profession thrown open to women than the society hastened to avail itself of the privilege ; and the very first student who entered the London School of Medicine for Women was the late lamented Dr. Fanny Butler. They had previously sent out four ladies carefully trained in nursing." The society has now built two hospitals one at Lucknow, the other at Benares ; it has five fully qualified medical ladies at work in these stations, and five more training at the London School of Medicine for Women. The society proposes to begin medical work among the women in Jaffna, in North Ceylon, where it is intended to build a Hospital for Women, for which the money is promised by friends in America. During the year 1891 the number of patients in the society's hospitals was 343 ; that of out- patients was 8179, while 382 were attended in their zenanas, and the attendances at the dispensaries amounted to 24,387. Work in British Colonies and the East. 357 It is most satisfactory to learn, as we do from Lady Duflferin, that no friction exists between the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, and the other Medical Missions. Taking the " great deal of humanity in human nature " into account, this affords a welcome proof of the sincerity and loftiness of the motives by which the philanthropic workers in our Indian Empire are inspired and sustained. Under the Methodist New Connexion Missionary Society, women, both English and Chinese, are doing good educational work in North China, where Mrs. Innocent is president of the Girls' School and the women's work at Shantung. This woman's work includes medical care and nursing, and the long list of native ladies enrolled among the voluntary workers gives a more vivid idea of the progress of this mission than the dry detail of figures. In his report Mr, Innocent states that " a system of musical notation for singing has been introduced. It is an adaptation of the 'Tonic Sol Fa 'to the Chinese, by which they learn to sing from the notes." This is a woman's work, and a class, conducted by its author, Mrs. Richardson, and consisting of all the students and pupils of the Girls' School, is held at the Training School. Native ladies are actively assisting in the missionary work in the villages which is carried on by the native agents. The Ladies' Association for the Promotion of Female Education among the Heathen is in the twenty-eighth year of its existence, and its report for 1891, in addition] to a goodly sum of work in all the branches of its enterprise in India, where its objects are practically identical with those of the Zenana Society, records the proceedings of the society's delegates in Japan, with the opening of a Girls' School at Kobe, the progress of the mission in North China this is slow at Peking the condition of the Girls' and Infant Schools in Madagascar, and the general work in South Africa. Although this report is not altogether satisfactory, the vast extension of the society's field of labour rendering its need of funds and workers more and more pressing, it is valuable as evidence of how, and where, all over the world women are working for the good of the human race, undeterred, undis- mayed, recruiting their ranks as death and removals cause 358 Woman s Mission. gaps in them ; women of various position and origin, of all creeds, of many nations, a great army, but ever needing accessions to its forces for the never-ending conflict with ignorance and want, abroad and at home. Turning from the Eastern land which is so important to England as her greatest Dependency and her most sacred charge in the sense of her non-insular Christian and philan- thropic obligations, to Palestine, which is, as our Lord's own country, the very fons et origo of both, we must glance at the work which women are doing there. From an early period of this century, French philanthropy was busy in the field. The Societe des Dames de Nazareth, founded by the cele- brated Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld-Dondeauville (the story of her life is one of the romances of the French Revolu- tion), whose Eastern head-quarters are in Nazareth, established schools for the native Christian girls, in connection with their convents at Beyrout, Nazareth, Schaff-Amar, and other places in Palestine. At Nazareth these ladies have for many years had an orphanage ; this, from very small beginnings, has become a large and important establishment, and is under the patronage and protection of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The workers in this field are recruited from France, where the Dames de Nazareth have several educational establish- ments, and they receive special medical training (though no qualified medical practitioners are among their number), which enables them to render valuable services to the native inhabitants of the remoter places in which their schools are situated. In Palestine, again, we find medical relief a promi- nent item in the philanthropic work of women. The Church of England Women's Missionary Association has been the first society to send out nurses into the villages and homes of Judaea and the Lebanon, where their two establishments are respectively situated. We are not in possession of the date at which this association extended its ministrations to Palestine; the home mission is thirty years old. The British Syrian Mission, founded by Mrs. Bowen-Thompson at Beyrout in 1860, has been unfortunate in the loss both of that lady and her successor and sister, Mrs. Mentor Mott, and is now managed from London by a committee, the majority of the members being ladies. The Syrian Mission Work in British Colonies and the East. 359 is active and useful ; its twenty schools one of these is a boarding-school and training institution for native female teachers have 2350 pupils; Mothers' Meetings, where needle- work is done, and also Female Medical Mission work form departments of it. It is interesting to learn that schools for the blind of both sexes have been opened in three stations, where the learners are instructed in reading Dr. Moon's raised type, and five blind men, who on account of their blind- ness are admitted even to Moslem harems, are now employed as Scripture readers. Palestine is one of the countries which benefits by the work of the Illuminated Text Mission, which was started as a mission, owing to the great demand for illumi- nated texts in Oriental languages, with the kind help of Sir William and Lady Muir, in 1884, but had been originated by Miss Flatten in 1881, and worked by her for three years, during which the illuminated texts were sent to the Ladies' Church of England Zenana Mission to be used for their various purposes. The texts are now sent to thirteen societies ; four of these are worked by lady missionaries only, and the others employ women as "well as men, so that mention of this work, which is carried on by volunteers (their present number is two hundred), does not outstep the prescribed bounds of our subject. Great and small, widely recognized or comparatively obscure, it is all women's work in the vast field of humanity. This brief record is only a sketch for a picture it would need a great artist to paint, only memoranda for a history it would need a master-hand to write. The Philanthropic Work of Women all the world over is one of the great facts of the age. It is helping to break down those barriers of race, colour, and creed, which are opposed to the progress of true civilization and the spirit of real religion ; it is fighting on the side of good in that great battle with the deadly foes of humanity whose bugles never ring truce ; it is bringing stores of healing and peace to the sickness and the sorrow pervading the earth, and great light into its dark places of cruelty, oppression, and suffering. The philanthropic work of women is lightening the load of poverty ; it is lessening the degradation of ignorance ; it is enhancing the value and 360 Woman's Mission. the sanctity of life ; it is vindicating the cause of Christianity by the deeds done in the spirit and by the sustainment of faith ; it is making the workers happy, and blessing those for whom they toil with body and mind ; it is elevating woman- hood, and making all countries, but especially ours, proud of their women ; more than all this, it is the rendering of " reasonable service " to Him Who has said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." STATISTICS OF WOMEN'S WORK. BY Miss LOUISA M. HUBBARD. IN response to a wish, expressed early in January, 1893, by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, to the effect that she desired to forward statistics of " Women's Work and its Influence over Numbers " to Chicago, I engaged Miss Blanche Johnston to conduct an inquiry, authorizing her to secure reliable clerical assistance. A circular was drawn up and forwarded to 1 164 institutions selected by Miss Janes and myself, as likely to afford the most comprehensive and satisfactory returns. The request being for the numbers respectively of paid and voluntary workers engaged in philanthropic undertakings in Great Britain, and approximately, for the numbers who had been benefited, together with some idea of the expenses which had been incurred these points were clearly stated in the circular. As might have been expected, however, they were by no means so clearly answered. 1. Upwards of seven hundred and ninety returned no answer. 2. Others merely forwarded a report from which it required much time and labour to extract information, which, in many cases, proved meagre and inadequate. 3. A great drawback was experienced from the insufficient or differing addresses given in the returns, even when these were filled up. On some the name of the institution was actually omitted, and only the address of the treasurer or secretary was given, while other circulars were sent back without any address or explanatory note whatsoever, the only clue being the postmark, which in localities where there were many institutions was little or no guide. 362 Woman s Mission. 4. About forty-two wrote notes declining to give statistics. In short, it has only been possible to deal with three hundred and ninety of these "returns ; and in order to judge of the size and importance of the institutions repre- sented by them, memoranda have been prepared and filed at the office of the C.C.C.,* from which the report emanates. From these tables the following summary has been made : TABLE I. The institutions applied to were classified under the following fourteen headings : Institutions applied to. Answers were received from I. For Children Q8 "?2 II. III. IV. V. VI. For Girls and Young Women Ladies' Associations for care of Friendless Girls... For Women (Rescue Work) Temperance Associations and Homes for Inebriates 102 130 200 12 IO 36 61 72 7 i VII. VIII. IX. X. XL XII. XIII. XIV. Benevolent Societies for Ladies, etc } Homes for Ladies, Governesses, etc > Societies for providing employment for Ladies ...j Hospitals, Convalescent and Nursing Homes Institutions for Blind, Deaf, etc Sisterhoods, Deaconesses, etc Missionary and other Societies ? Schools for Special Classes } 2O2 194 37 62 117 42 74 9 20 34 Tt_1 TABLE II. The proportions of answers received to the respective questions in the circular are as follows : Answers received from Giving total. Question I. II. A. B. A. B. Number of voluntary workers Number of paid workers Number benefited last year Number benefited since founda- 290 291 363 187 84,129 4,814 2,546,984 10,04.6.067 HI. A. B. Expense last year Expense since foundation 231 81 722,929 2,107,494 It will be seen, therefore, that the statistics presented * I.e. the London Office of the "Central Conference Council" of the " National Union of Workers." Statistics of W omens Work. 363 cover only about half of the area from which, if more satis- factorily answered, results might have been obtained ; and it may further be noticed that although so many of the societies sent in some sort of answer, yet the unevenness of these answers adds to the difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory result. For example, only 290 reported the number of their voluntary workers, and 291 (and these by no means the same institutions) the number of the paid workers employed by them ; while only 361 and 187 respectively attempted to cal- culate the number of persons benefited last year and pre- viously, and 231 and 81 also respectively estimated their expenses for the same period. Beyond these hindrances to a satisfactory report, the further facts should be taken into consideration : first, that it is an immemorial custom for women of wealth and leisure to devote a considerable portion of their time and substance to the benefit of their needier neighbours. Dating from feudal times, the ladies of the present century, whether wives or daughters of squire or parish priest, continue the rites of hospitality common to the castle and the hall of mediaeval ages. In fact, the families of almost all ministers of religion devote much of their time to philanthropic work, whether as honorary secretaries of societies, mothers' meetings, rescue and preventive societies, parish clubs, etc. ; besides many engaged in district visiting, the administration of relief, etc., etc. the number of these is unobtainable. Then in large diocesan and other societies, and even among institutions, the initia- tive has often also been taken by ladies who have not only devoted their lives and much of their property to philan- thropic work of the greatest value and importance, but many of their subordinates work in the same spirit of ungrudging charity. They either accept nominal payment as a matter of conscience, or, when not requiring it for their own main- tenance, return it into the exchequer of the charity for which they work. This is the case with many who are employed in the Charity Organization and University Settlements, and rent-collecting upon the system first adopted by Miss Octavia Hill. All of them, it is believed, are required to receive pay- ment ; but a large number not only give all their time, but 364 Woman's Mission. spend, on charitable purposes, very much more than the amount they receive, and are practically volunteers. Similar instances will be found in the large number of women con- nected with the metropolitan charities, and the mass of the workhouse visiting societies, the boarding-out associations, evening schools and classes, and the numerous societies which have arisen during the last few years for teaching the lads in country villages brasswork and carving, and the girls laundry-work and cooking ; thus laying the foundation upon which the Government is now building up its system of State-aided technical education. In fact, almost every society of any magnitude has a large proportion of voluntary workers, while many of the smaller ones are entirely officered by ladies, who, as superintendents, secretaries, or matrons, give their services, occasionally for lodging alone, or board and lodging, and in not a few instances actually pay largely for the privilege of thus devoting them- selves, and thus practically subsidize the society for which they work. It would appear, therefore, that it is impossible to supply any statistics, properly so called, of the philanthropic work carried on by Englishwomen ; but if we venture upon the opinion that possibly some twenty thousand women are main- taining themselves as paid officials in works of philanthropic usefulness in England, while at least twenty times that number, or about half a million, are occupied more or less continuously and semi-professionally in similar works, the calculation will not be far from the truth. Even in this estimate, however, no allowance has been made for the whole army of about twenty thousand nurses, the work of many of whom would seem to come more under the head of charity than of self-interest, so small are their earnings ; while by only very few of the sisterhoods has any notice of the circular been taken. The number of women in all these communities may be roughly taken as about a thou- sand ; but, as a whole, they can hardly be considered as unpaid workers, for although some may pay to their community a larger sum than represents their expenses, yet all receive (or it is claimed that they do receive) maintenance through life, and all expenses incurred in sickness, old age, or death. Statistics of Women's Work. 365 A further examination of the returns brings out some other points of interest, which, while showing their insufficiency as a guide to true statistics, will yet be of value in forming a correct judgment as to whether they are much above or below the mark. The enormous number of persons which are dealt with by the larger societies some of whom have many thousands of associates, these again influencing hundreds of other persons occasion much difficulty. Some evidently keep detailed accounts, and can enumerate the actual number of the quarts of soup, bunches of flowers, or halfpenny meals supplied annually ; while others, accomplishing perhaps a greater amount of work on a higher scale, cannot express themselves more definitely than by the words " many thousands," " many hundreds," " too many to tabulate ; " or use " groups," and not merely " individuals," as the unit in their calculations. Some indication of the more novel forms of philanthropic effort may also be of interest. Besides the ancient and universally recognized charities, in the form of feeding the hungry, nursing the sick, clothing and generally befriending the physically and spiritually destitute the benevolence of the Nineteenth Century includes the establishment of dis- pensaries, provident and friendly societies ; thousands of gratuitous visits to the sick in their own homes by medical men and nurses on the staff of charitable societies ; district visitors, rent-collectors, deaconesses, etc. ; the supply of surgical instruments, spectacles, etc., at reduced prices ; the boarding-out and supervision of orphans and of convalescents from lunatic asylums, the visiting of workhouses, police courts, railway stations, prisons ; the protection of the young while travelling, not only in Great Britain, but all over the world ; an enormous amount of gratuitous clerical work on the committee of the Charity Organization Society; the countless free registries, conducted on the purest philan- thropic principles in all our great cities; the affording of country air and seaside visits to thousands of the city poor ; a network of women's help throughout the two great services of the Army and Navy; and, to descend to details, the preparation and gift of scrap-books, flowers, sea-shells, work materials to the inmates of hospitals and workhouses ; while 366 Woman 's Mission. the very gutter children in London are taught games in the recreation evening and happy Saturday afternoon missions ; and musical drill and glees form part of the amusement of girls' clubs. To these few remarks which I consider necessary for a fair judgment of the results presented by this inquiry, I beg to add my thanks to Miss Younghusband, Miss Johnston, and the other ladies on the staff of the " Gentlewoman's Em- ployment Club " (of which Miss Younghusband is foundress and honorary manager), for their able assistance in a task which it would have been impossible for me to accomplish without their aid. ( 367 ) [Copy OF CIRCULAR LETTER.] i, Stratton Street, London, W. THE CHICAGO EXHIBITION, 1893. DEAR , The British Commissioners having done me the honour of appointing me the President of the British Philanthropic Section of the Woman's Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition, to be held next year at Chicago, I am desirous of obtaining particulars of all philanthropic work initiated or carried on by women. The particular object of my Section is to collect concise and well-written reports upon all philanthropic work in which women are immediately concerned, or which owes its genesis or its success to their co-operation. May I ask if you will kindly give me any information you can as to the work of women in connection with the Organization of which you are the head ? I shall also be very glad to receive your advice as to what are, in your opinion, the most practical and successful philanthropic efforts that have been, or are being, made by women. May I further count on your kindly co-operation later on, to aid me in obtaining the best information on these important subjects ? I am, dear , Yours faithfully, BURDETT-COUTTS. APPENDIX. NOTES ON REPORTS ON THE PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF WOMEN. BY THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. An asterisk {^prefixed to the title of an Institution indicates that it is in connection with the Society for Promoting Female Welfare. The name in italics, following the title, is that of the writer of the typed report containing the facts on -which my note is based. B.-C. CHILDHOOD. BRIXTON ORPHANAGE FOR GIRLS, Barrington Road, Brixton, London. By Mrs. Annie Montague, Foundress. With the modest capital of ;ioo, which was spent in furnishing a small house, this institu- tion opened its doors to four orphans on May ist, 18 76. It was a success from the first. A larger house was sooa afterwards bought, another was added to it, and still another ; a schoolroom and other new premises have since been built ; and over three hundred orphan girls are now being gratuitously fed, clothed, and educated. The whole of the building debt has been wiped out. The only paid work done outside the Home is the making of the uniform dresses worn by the girls. A Home for girls (domestic servants) changing situations has lately been opened at 51, Barrington Road. No better evidence of the value of the training the girls receive in the Home could be desired than the fa ct that several of them have become matrons of similar institutions. CHILDREN'S HAPPY EVENINGS ASSOCIATION. By Mrs. Moberly Bell. The work of this Association lies among the poorest children in London. Lady Jeune, the president, and the Misses Heather Bigg, the organizers, began three years ago, with one " happy evening " a week in a Lambeth school, and now the operations extend to twenty-seven schools in Central, East, West, North, and South London. " To show the children how to play" is, says Mrs. Bell, the main object of the Association. Music and dancing; skipping, lively games such as blind man's buff; games of skill, like chess, draughts, and dominoes ; fairy tales, and magic- lanterns, all have their turn. The work is carried on by a central council, with local committees in the various districts. The London School Board grants the use of its schools rent-free, and the Association pays the small incidental expenses, and supplies a piano and a parcel of 2 B 370 Appendix. games, dolls, pictures, beads, ropes, etc., for each locality. The attendance averages a hundred and fifty, two hundred, and in somecases three hundred children ; the expenses of working a school amount to from 12 to 14 a year. CHILDREN'S HAPPY EVENINGS ASSOCIATION, St. Clement's, Netting Hill, London. By the Lady Mary Glyn. Boys and girls of from eight to twelve years of age, who would otherwise be running wild at night in the streets, are furnished with a couple of hours' innocent recreation three or four nights a week, when, under the guidance of a dozen ladies or gentlemen, music and games are provided, while in a " Quiet Room " a lady recites some interesting story to those who do not care to actively amuse themselves. Two reports are given above of the work of this Association. It originated in the wish to give to the children of the poor some of the pleasures usually enjoyed by the well-to-do. The ladies who founded it conceived the happy idea that the schoolrooms wherein so many eager, restless little mortals pursue their studies by day might be made at even- time the scenes of innocent enjoyment, of pastimes calculated to promote habits of kindness and courtesy, as well as to improve, both in mind and body, the ill-fed scantily-clothed children from joyless, perhaps vicious, homes. The benevolent attempt has met with well-merited success. Lady Mary Carr Glyn seems to have been struck with the bright eager faces of the young merry-makers, and the perfect discipline and good- fellowship between them and those striving to entertain them. " In manner and voice," she remarks, "the children compared favourably with many brought up in better homes. I saw no romping or rough play. . . . I can hear the merry laughter of the children now as we held a skipping- rope ; it rang out again and again from all except the solemn earnest little skipper who was trying to beat the record. The dancing was enthusiastically begun, and the three rooms were all in light and motion." CONVALESCENT HOME FOR POOR CHILDREN, Westhill Road, St. Leonard's. By Mrs. A. Harrison. Started solely by Miss Giesler, in 1889, to give poor London children good food, sea air, and kindly attention when out of health, this Institution is now conferring its benefits on eight hundred children annually. It is carried on entirely by women. Habits of thrift and cleanliness are taught, which often lead to a desire for a better home life. Miss Harrison, who has been engaged in infirmaries at Marylebone and Whitechapel, and in workhouses, is herself a living example of the usefulness of women's work in England. * COTTAGE CONVALESCENT HOME FOR CHILDREN, 7, College Place, Brighton. By Miss E. S. Elliott. Here children under twelve years pay 6s. 6d., and over that age 8s. a week. " Family life" is the guiding principle of the internal economy. The Home was established in 1880, as a branch of the London and Brighton (Kemp Town) Invalid Home. THE CRECHE SYSTEM. By Marie Hilton. The first Creche in England was established thirty years ago, by Mrs. Hilton, at Ratcliffe, Appendix. 3 y i East London. It was and is a squalid and destitute district, one of the saddest features of which was the neglected condition of the children. Mothers, even the best, were lamentably ignorant ; and it was not un- common for children of the tenderest years to share the meal with their parents, " even to the extent of beer and shell-fish." But above all, children suffered from the necessity that the mothers should go out to work, leaving their infants at home locked up for hours in a room, without food or fire. A day nursery was accordingly founded on the principle of the Creche (Manger) at Brussels. Ten infants and fifteen young children were admitted the first week, many of them in a deplorable condition, one of them, four years old, " pouring forth such fearful oaths " that he had to be refused. The work rapidly increased, and at the end of a year the average attendance was sixty-five. A charge was made of a penny per day, and while this is thought by some to be too low a rate, it must be remembered that the wages earned by the mothers are extremely small, and that very often the women care little whether their children are at the Creche or in the streets. In the Babes' Room, at Mrs. Hilton's Creche, in Stepney Causeway, snowy nautilus cots are ranged along the walls. In the lower Day Nursery are assembled the elder children (three and four years old), rows of tiny armchairs being provided for them, as well as swings, toys, and pictures. A similar Home was founded some years ago on this model in Buffalo, U.S.A., and useful instructions, suggested by her own experience, are given by Mrs. Hilton to those who would carry the work elsewhere. She " looks forward confidently " to the time when no large town will be without its Creche, and sees " a glorious work for the mothers and daughters of this country in caring for the helpless and neglected children in our great cities ; for this is a work which cannot be left to boards and organizations." *THE CRIPPLES' NURSERY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, London and Margate. By Mrs. Kirk. This Institution was founded, in 1862, for children under twelve years of age. The paper states, " The experi- ence of upwards of thirty years has shown that many diseases of the limbs and spine may be cured if taken at an early age." Surgical and medical aid is given gratuitously. There are forty-six children who are educated in the Home. DESTITUTE CHILDREN'S DINNER SOCIETY. By the Ladyde Rothschild. The work of providing dinners for destitute school children was origi- nated, in 1863, by the late Baroness Mayer de Rothschild, and was an adaptation of a scheme set in operation in Guernsey, by Victor Hugo. The experiment was first tried in Westminster, and, proving successful, a public appeal for funds led to its extension in many other districts of London. One of the rules has always been that, in the dinner of each child, in addition to potatoes, rice, barley, or bread, there should be not less than \ Ib. of meat. The Earl of Shaftesbury was for many years president. There are now seventy dining-rooms, providing over three hundred thousand dinners annually. A trifling charge of a halfpenny or a penny is made, but is remitted in cases of absolute poverty. As yet the medical rule of this Society has not been sufficiently recognized elsewhere ; 372 Appendix. the necessary portion of meat meaning some increase of cost. But, how- ever desirable soup and other articles of food may be in addition or as makeshifts, a certain portion of meat is required for the proper growth of a child. Under the bad atmospheric conditions of many of the schools, and the great brain-pressure of the educational requirements of our time, this question becomes of increased and increasing importance. WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSION : DR. STEPHENSON'S CHILDREN'S HOMES. For nearly twenty years the actual work of training the chil- dren in these Institutions has been committed to women. For the most part they are women of good education, belonging to the middle classes of society. In some instances they are able to give their services gratuitously ; in no case does the allowance more than cover necessary expenses. These teachers form a sisterhood, known as " The Sisters of the Children." No vows are taken, but a regular probation is served. There are also, in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, several other Associations of women for work of a charitable and mis- sionary character. In some instances these sisterhoods are associated with a particular missionary enterprise, like the West Central Mission and the East End Mission. An order of Deaconesses has also been established, for undertaking philanthropic and spiritual work in every part of this country or abroad. These ladies are of good education, not under twenty-three years of age, and of high Christian character. They receive a course of training in medical nursing and in biblical teaching, and are known as the "Wesley Deaconesses." Altogether there are about 150 women belonging to these sisterhoods or orders. HEADINGLEY ORPHAN HOMES, Leeds. The entire management is in the hands of one lady. The late Mrs. Williamson, wife of the then Incumbent of Headingley, founded the Home, in 1860, with eight children, in a small rented house. There are now from eighty to ninety children in four houses three for girls, and one for boys. The girls are fitted for domestic service ; some of the boys have been sent to Canada under good care, and promise to do well. HOLY TRINITY SHELTER FOR STREET CHILDREN, Leeds. Such unconsidered trifles of humanity as the child-vendors of matches and newspapers are cared for by the managers of this shelter, who, in 1890, opened a shop to supply the little street-traders with their merchandise, providing at the same time a dining-room and shelter for their use. Overcrowding led to a migration to larger premises in Boar Lane and Briggate, where there is a shop, sleeping accommodation for twenty-five, and a dining-hall and play-room, in which about seventy children have dinner and tea every day. In addition to the payments made by the children, nearly ,300 per annum is spent in this work. The experience of the author of this paper tends to show that the demand which is often made for legislative interference in the direction of controlling, if not of suppressing entirely, the sale of articles in the street by girls of tender age, is a just one. " It has been found, practically," she says, " that selling in the streets by girls means almost without exception their ruin. Appendix. 373 . . . When once a girl is taken into the Shelter, she is never allowed to sell in the streets ; and it is certainly a good symptom that a very short stay in the Rescue destroys their power of selling, or, as they describe it, ' takes away the cheek.' As to the boys, if they are properly clothed and cared for, street labour is not more injurious than any other." Many of the lads, it seems, refuse to wear good clothes when provided with them. The reason is not far to seek rags and tatters conduce to a brisk trade by exciting public sympathy. HOME FOR FEMALE ORPHANS, Grove Road, St. John's Wood, London. This Home was established as far back as 1786. The girls are maintained, clothed, and educated. They are admitted between the ages of six and eleven, and at sixteen are provided with a good outfit and placed in service. The Home being well known as an excellent training- school, no difficulty is experienced in finding good situations for the girls, of whom about 870 are maintained at a cost of 21 per annum each. This is a home, not only in name, but in reality. Such is the strength of the home feeling implanted in the children that feeling which is at the root of the national welfare that at the annual gathering of old scholars, great-grandmothers are sometimes present with their descendants. * HOME FOR INVALID CHILDREN, 70, Montpelier Road, Brighton. The late Miss Elizabeth Ann Freeman arranged, in her own house and at her own expense, a nursery for the reception of four children, and in six years no fewer than 330 little sufferers were voluntarily cared for in the seaside home of this generous lady. Helped on by charitable friends, Miss Freeman greatly extended her good work, and in a report published in 1890 only two months before her death she was able to say that 2945 invalid children had found rest and restorative treatment in her Home. Free patients are no longer received ; a charge of Ss. per week being made for children under fourteen, and of io.y. for older children. The Home is constantly full ; but the subscriptions have shrunk very much since the death of Miss Freeman, who endowed it with ^2000. HOME FOR ORPHAN GIRLS, Babbicombe, Torquay. By the late Miss Erskine, Foundress. From a Home for two girls, in 1863, this Institution had, by 1875, grown large enough to accommodate fifty-two. In 1874 it was placed under Government inspection, being the first orphanage to take that important step. Of the 208 children who have passed through it, the majority have become domestic servants either in England or the colonies. Orphans are received free ; but 12 a year must be paid for children who have one parent. In 1892 there were fifty-two children in the Home. The yearly expenditure varies from ^650 to ^700; and it is often only after a severe struggle that the needful amount is raised by subscriptions, sales of work, and other means. A melancholy interest attaches to this report, Miss Erskine, the writer, having died since she sent it to me. Some brief particulars of the career of a few of the orphans are worthy of note. One, a little lame girl, became a^ most successful Board School mistress ; another, a work- 374 Appendix. house girl, went to service in 1870, and in two situations saved ^100 ; a third, found exposed in the snow in an eastern county, proceeded to service in South Africa on leaving the Home, married a prosperous farmer there. HOME OF INDUSTRY FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN, Bethnal Green, London. By Miss Macpherson, In a report of more than usual interest, Miss Macpherson traces the rise and progress of her important work among the East London poor. At the outset she confined her attentions to the wretched girls employed in making match-boxes. , For the utterly destitute a large warehouse in Commercial Street was rented as a Sheltering Home, while work at their trade was given to hundreds of others in their own rooms. The manufacture of match-boxes has since been given up, but a staff of Christian ladies still visit the various factories in which young women and girls work. A large hall has also been fitted, where, in the evening, they are taught reading, writing, sewing, dress- making, and cooking. There are, too, week-day Bible-classes and Sunday schools in connection with the work. Several members of Miss Mac- pherson's family joined her in the early days of the work, and then the brothers of the match-box girls shoe-blacks, hawkers, beggars, thieves were gathered in from the streets, taught and trained, and sent out to earn their living on farms in Canada. The first batch of one hundred was shipped in 18^0, and since then the old boys have shown their gratitude by contributing more than ^1000 to help on the movement. Altogether 5730 boys and girls have emigrated from this Bethnal Green Home, and many widowed mothers and other relatives have been sent out to join them. The scheme now embraces four freehold houses a Receiving Home, and a Training Home in England, a Distributing Home in Ontario, and a Farm Home in Manitoba. " The means for carrying on the work," says Miss Macpherson, "have come in answer to prayer. There is no adver- tising for money." As to the fate of her emigrants, Miss Macpherson writes, " About one thousand are married, several hundreds have become tradesmen, while the larger number are working with farmers or have farms of their own. The little ones, in very many cases, were adopted and reared as children of the family. In some cases the excellent system of Canadian education developed intellectual gifts, and our boys have become clergymen and ministers, missionaries, and lawyers." That Miss Mac- pherson has not spared herself in labouring for the welfare of her waifs and strays is evident from the fact that she has crossed the Atlantic no less than fifty times on their behalf. HOMES OF REST, Addiscombe. By Louisa, Lady Ashburton. There are now three " Homes of Rest" on Lady Ashburton's Addiscombe pro- pertyone for children, another for adults, and a third " Dove Cot " for mothers with babies. These come to them looking pale and weary, and return, after a fortnight's stay among the Surrey hills, strong and cheerful. Since the first of the Homes was opened, many such institutions have been established elsewhere. At Addiscombe there are three " Prophet's Cham- bers," used by over-tired missionaries and lady workers in London. There are also two iron buildings, in one of which prayers and evening lectures Appendix. 375 are held ; and in the other, servant-girls, employed during the day at the numerous little villas around, are lodged at night, and taught as much as possible. The report points with great force what wide and differing manners of working for one end are typed in the parables of the sower casting his seed, and that of the man who built his house on a rock. The one inculcates stability and full consideration of the end ; the other trusts to many influences and accepts uncertainty. Both aspects of work find union in the one object of leaving the world better and brighter than one found it the aim of this and other Homes of Rest. MISSION WORK, Albert Docks, London. By Louisa, Lady Ashburton. In addition to her work at Addiscombe, Lady Ashburton has established at the Albert Docks a Mission Home, in which there are beds for thirty or more seamen and others, and a hall which will hold six hundred for meetings. The staff includes a superintendent, a " mission lady," who is a good doctor, and a teacher who has charge of a Sunday school of about twelve hundred children. Besides the Home there are also eating- houses at the Albert and Central Docks, one of which was formerly a public-house. * INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR GIRLS, 125, Sloane Street, London. Founded in 1856, this is a Church of England Home, in which fifty girls are trained for domestic service at a cost of 15 a year each. At the age of sixteen situations are found for them. INVALID CHILDREN'S AID ASSOCIATION, Buckingham Street, London. By Miss A. F. Leather. The enormous amount of suffering, really pre- ventible, to be seen among children in large cities led to the formation of this Society, which endeavours to cure or alleviate their pain. A lady representative in each district of London has a general acquaintance with all invalid children in that district. As each case arises, she hands it over to the personal care of a volunteer visitor, who becomes the " friend " of the child, and carefully watches over it. Any suggestions made by her are passed, through the district "representative, to the central committee, which is intended to constitute a point of union and co-operation for charitable workers ; and, where advisable, the suggestion is adopted. Surgical appliances are supplied, special nurses are sent out, and minor comforts provided. Children are also sent by the Association to Con- valescent Homes. * KINDERGARTEN HOME FOR DESTITUTE AND DESERTED CHIL- DREN, Epsom. By Miss S. E. Macgrath. This work was originated by Miss D. Mittendorff, in 1868, and was then conducted at Kilburn, London. It was intended as a " Happy Home for Children." It always has been and is still carried on without debt. Children are received up to the age of eight years, and remain till they are sixteen or seventeen. The Home accommodates seventy-five children, who are generally trained for service. Several touching anecdotes are given, showing how difficulties have been overcome or averted. * MOUNT HERMON GIRLS' ORPHAN HOMES, Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, London. By Mrs. Parry. The late Miss Mary Ann Cole under- 376 Appendix. took, about twenty-seven years ago, to care for, train, and teach two orphan children. From this comparatively small beginning the Home has grown until it now holds over a hundred orphans, while 597 have passed through it. The girls are taught all kinds of housework, and placed in domestic service. Many are admitted free, but a small payment is made for others. The work is undenominational, and there is no voting. Since Miss Cole's death, in 1887, her cousin, Mrs. Parry, has managed the establishment. NORTH ST. PANCRAS CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY FUND. By the Lady Lamington. It was in August, 1886, that this organization began its work, and before the close of the summer sixty children had spent a week by the sea. In 1891, 360 children were afforded a fortnight's seaside holiday. The work is carried out by a committee composed chiefly of ladies. * ORPHAN TRAINING-HOME, Wolverhampton. By Mrs. Mander. This work was begun by a lady in 1862, as a Home for girls taken from the workhouse where the association of women and children was, she felt, " fatal to any advancement in purity and goodness." Her wish was that they should always regard this as a " home," and in after-years report their welfare. A lady on the committee erected the present build- ing at a cost of ,2000. * ORPHAN HOME, Austral Street, West Square, London, S.E. Over a thousand children have been admitted to this Home, although it started in 1867 with only ten children in a small partly furnished house. Now 220 orphans are tended in a building erected at a cost of ,21,500, while there is a branch for forty children at Gravesend, and another branch at Tunbridge Wells. " No voting, no begging, no debt," are the watch- words of the Institution. Each child costs 15 a year. If possible, they are taken for a fortnight to the seaside every year. * ST. AGATHA'S HOME, Bartlow, Cambridgeshire. By Louisa Stulfield. During the eight years of its existence, this Home has sheltered twenty-six children. Good accounts are received of the majority of those who have gone out to service. ST. ANDREW'S ORPHAN HOME. By Miss Maclnnes. This is a Home for girls rescued from the perils of street life, and was started on St. Andrew's Day, 1866. The children go to the parish schools, and remain there until they have passed the sixth standard. Then after a year or two spent in domestic training, they pass into service. They come " home " for holidays, for rest, for nursing in sickness, and in case of failure. In time some of them marry and settle down in homes of their own. After an experience of more than twenty-five years, those who embarked upon the experiment feel that their most sanguine expectations have been more than realized. Miss Maclnnes, Fern Lodge, Hampstead Heath, London, will gladly correspond with those who would like to undertake similar work. ST. CHAD'S CHILDREN'S HOME, Headingley, Leeds. One of the Church of England Central Society's Homes for Waifs and Strays. Appendix. 377 Many of the children are sent abroad under proper care, others are taught a trade or trained for domestic service, and those who are lame, weak, or deformed earn a living in the Home by knitting stockings by hand- machines. Twenty-three of these machines are used, and as many as ninety pairs of socks and stockings have been made in a single day, the greatest number made in a week being four hundred. From thirty to forty girls are engaged in this work ; in 1890 the sale of their produce realized ^1075, and in 1891 1166. Many distressing details of the miserable life from which these girls were rescued are given in the report, with a pleasing companion picture of the useful, contented lives they lead in the Home. ST. JOHN'S HOME, Brighton. By Miss Borradaile, Foundress. Founded in 1875, the Home was at first intended only for convalescent children, but afterwards crippled or delicate children who require years of nursing were admitted. The housework is done by girls, who are trained for domestic service, a lady being at the head of each department. The Home accommodates between fifty and sixty children, as well as fifteen serving-girls and eight lady workers. ST. JUDE'S HOME, Chelsea. This Home was instituted in 1862, and its object is to take in homeless girls from the age of six, and train them for domestic service. The foundress of the Home was Mrs. Farrer, and until her decease she was its mainstay. On her death, Mrs. Agnew undertook the supervision of the Home. Most of the children received are orphans. At the age of sixteen they are placed out in suitable situations. They are not lost sight of, however, and every two years there is a gathering of " old scholars." ST. MONICA'S HOME HOSPITAL, Brondesbury Park, London, N.W. By Miss Marshall, Children suffering from diseases requiring surgical treatment for a longer time than they would be allowed to stay in general hospitals are received here, kept as long as treatment will benefit them, and educated as much as possible. Several have been enabled to earn a living. There are now forty children in the Home, which was founded with eight, in 1874, by Miss Marshall and Miss C. Stewart Forster. Six or seven beds are free, but in the majority of cases $s. 6d. per week is charged. A bed costs ;i2 a-year. Mrs. Hodgson Burnett has endowed one in memory of her son. A larger subscription list is much needed. The nurses, who receive two years' training, usually contribute i is. a week. A weekly service is held by a clergyman in a small chapel in the house, which has been beautified by the gifts of many friends. SANTA CLAUS SOCIETY AND HOME, Highgate. By Miss Charles. This Society, in 1885, began sending toys at the Christmas season to the children in hospitals, the gifts being distributed by members. Afterwards similar gifts were provided for adults, and then, as it was felt " it was a pity that Santa Claus should sleep all the summer," a plan was devised for providing patients with letters of admission to convalescent homes. Eventually the Society started such a Home of its own at Highgate, for t he benefit of little children suffering from spinal and hip diseases, for Appendix. whom other homes were rarely available ; and most touching and pathetic are the stories told of the sayings and doings of the little inmates. " The children nearly all love to imagine and talk of the wonders and mysteries of the life to come, and the strange thing is they always picture themselves ' waiting in heaven for mother.' They take it quite for granted that they will die first. . . . They delight to talk of Santa Claus. The cots nearest the fireplace are greatly valued, as being nearest when he will come down the chimney." WALTHAMSTOW HOME FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN, Walthamstow. By Miss E. F. Howard. Mrs. Parsons began this work twenty-five years ago, in her own home, but two years back it was placed under the management of a ladies' committee, with Mrs. Parsons as superintendent. Supported by voluntary contributions, it does a quiet but useful work in receiving little girls from homes of poverty and misery, and preparing them to maintain themselves as domestic servants. Only in a few special cases are the children admitted entirely free. There are generally over thirty inmates. GIRLHOOD. SOCIAL AND PROTECTIVE WORK, AND PROVIDING EMPLOYMENT. ART STUDENTS' HOME, Brunswick Square, London. By Lady White Cooper. Lady Eastlake, when in Rome with her distinguished husband, then President of the Royal Academy, had observed with pain the circum- stances in which the students there were almost forced to live. This turned her attention, as it had done that of Miss Louisa Twining, to a consideration of the fact that, while young people, and especially girls, were drawn to London by the great advantages offered there by the State and other educational bodies, no provision was made for their residence or for their protection. The Royal Academy of Music did something in this direction for its students ; but with that exception there was no such accommodation till this Home was started in 1879, when I purchased the house in Brunswick Square, and furnished it for the purpose. The Home is managed by a committee of ladies. Fifteen students were at first received, and were enabled to live surrounded by something re- sembling the comforts of home and family life, and with the aid and counsel of an experienced lady-resident. It was enlarged the following year. The students pay for the accommodation provided, for it is in- tended to be nothing more than the name implies, viz. a Home for those who must live out of a parent's care. It is not a school, and those who are its inmates are in many ways their own mistresses, with occupa- tions and friends of their own, and generally it might be said always too earnest and thorough in their work to be easily turned aside to waste their time. Besides the establishment of many similar but larger insti- tutions, one good and unexpected result has been that a system of suitable lodging-homes has sprung up around this Institution, to which its principal has been able to recommend parents to send their girls. This suggests Appendix. 379 a congenial sphere of occupation, and one capable of promoting much invaluable work of a quiet kind, for delicate women. To many an active mind the employment with an object and interest would be a boon ; while such a woman's influence on those of the age of these students would be invaluable. CLIFDEN HOUSE HOME, INSTITUTE, AND RESTAURANT, Bow, Lon- don, E. By the Viscountess Clifden. A lodging has here been provided by Viscountess Clifden for about twelve factory-girls, and is especially intended for those employed in the match works of Messrs. Bryant and May. A restaurant, club-room, and class-rooms are also attached to the Home, which is connected with the Young Women's Christian Associ- ation. Last year 25,000 dinners, 8000 teas, and 1500 Saturday break- fasts were served. At the evening classes 5400 attendances were registered. Bible-classes and prayer-meetings, temperance, singing, musical drill and drawing classes are held, and a penny bank has been established. It would be impossible to overrate the benefit of such an effort on behalf of young girls situated as these were, living togeth er as they must in factories, and bound in one narrow round of thought and employment. It is essential to the true development of young life that they should acquire larger ideas and higher principles of conduct which the sympathy and experience of those directing this work can give them, but which rarely exist in their own immediate circle. * COLONIAL TRAINING-HOME FOR GIRLS, Leaton, Wellington, Salop. By Miss M. E. Eyton. The Homa trains girls as domestic servants, previous to their emigrating to the colonies, for which life special instruction is necessary. Washing and ironing, dairy-work, the care of poultry, cooking, sewing, and dressm iking, are taught. Many children from workhouses are adopted by Canadian foster-parents, and are being sent out by the United British Women's Emigration Associ- ation, with which body this Training-Home is connected. Paying pupils are also taken. * CRIPPLES' HOME AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, Maryle- bone Road, London. By C. M. Wellesley. The Cripples' Home was founded in 1851, for crippled and industrial girls over twelve years of age. The crippled girls are taught to make straw hats, bonnets, baskets, and to do embroidery, plain needlework, and dressmaking. After three years the cripples and the industrial girls the latter are taught housework are generally placed out. In the Home and School there are 113 inmates, and "it is estimated," says this paper, "that there are 150,000 poor cripples unprovided for in Great Britain." DARLINGTON GIRLS' CLUB, Darlington. By Mrs. Fothergill. This report mentions several useful works carried on by women at Darlington. The Girls' Club is open several nights a week, and young ladies attend in turn to entertain the mill-girls, and teach them needlework, singing, cooking, and other things. The Darlington Ladies' Temperance Associ- ation is forty years old. There is an Orphan Home at Cockerton, near Darlington, which was originated and supported by Mrs. Henry Pease ; 380 Appendix. a Training-Home in Darlington, managed by Mrs. J. B. Hodgkin ; and a large Convalescent Home at Saltburn, maintained by ladies of the Pease family. Miss Fothergill, who commenced her charitable work in Darlington twenty years ago, among other things carries on a mission among the Zulu Kaffirs, which is known as the Rock Fountain Mission. * FACTORY HELPERS' UNION, i6a, Old Cavendish Street, London, W. By the Lady Kinnaird. Established in 1886, under the auspices of the Y.W.C.A., to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of factory and working girls. The eight departments into which the work is divided are: (i) weekly visits by ladies to factories and laundries; (2) eight evening homes and institutes, in one of which there is a restaurant ; (3) a total abstainers' union ; (4) a flower mission ; (5) an odd-minute society, for making clothes ; (6) a letter mission, for keeping up a cor- respondence with the girls ; (7) a convalescent, sick aid, and holiday department ; (8) a department for receiving and distributing cast-off garments. There are sixty-one of these missions in London, and seven- teen in the provinces, under the same central committee. THE FLOWER-GIRLS' MISSION. By Lady Henderson. This is specially a work for women by women. It was, however, started in 1886, by Mr. Groom, who organized some classes for the benefit of flower- sellers. A few ladies taught the girls reading and sewing in a room near Covent Garden, and in time a free evening school and a penny bank were started. In 1879 I organized the Flower Girls' Brigade for flower-sellers between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, and arranged that they should have special stations where they could safely carry on their trade. An artificial flower-factory was also opened, and in a shelter close by the girls are taught sewing, cooking, etc. A few years ago a Flower-Girl Guild was started, under the patronage of the Princess of Wales, for honest and sober girls. Rooms are provided for rest and refreshment, and evening classes and entertainments given. By means of the " Emily Loan Fund," instituted in memory of Emily, Countess of Shaftesbury, loans of potato- ovens, coffee-stands, etc., are made to the women in winter. CLUBS FOR WORKING GIRLS. By the Hon. Maude Stanley. This lady furnished me with an excellent report, the points of which have been embodied in the Congress paper she has written for this volume. THE GIRLS' FRIENDLY SOCIETY. By Mrs. Toivnsend.lhis is a most interesting and comprehensive report, and in a short note of this kind an outline of the important work this Society has done and is doing must necessarily be meagre. Its objects are : (i) "To band together in one Society ladies as associates, and girls and young women as members, for mutual help (religious and secular), for sympathy, and prayer ; (2) to encourage purity of life, dutifulness to parents, faithfulness to employers, temperance and thrift ; (3) to provide the privileges of the Society for its members wherever they may be, by giving them an introduction from one branch to another." The central rules require that associates should belong to the Church of England, and members (who are not so restricted) Appendix. 381 must bear a good character. The Society was started in 1875. By a plan set on foot in 1882, the various societies in Great Britain, America, and the Colonies were federated, and are practically governed by the same rules. In 1891 there were 1126 branches, 29,362 associates, 137,350 members, and 35,342 candidates. The Society supports a monthly journal and two magazines, and useful literature is distributed through all the branches. The work of the sick members' department is specially interesting. The Society releases friendless children from the grasp of pauperism three thousand candidates having been taken from work- houses and orphanages. The emigration department is one which touches and reaches beyond the national life ; and by bringing the different ranks and grades into touch with one another, it also helps to raise the standard of womanhood. In fact, the many useful agencies at work in connection with this valuable Society are such as to entitle it to a foremost place among the institutions that are directed by women for the benefit of their own sex. Like the Y.W. C.A., this Society befriends the young women when they first go into the world to fight their way. One of its most interesting features is that some member of the Society undertakes the care of a young girl who is willing to become a member of the Association and conform to its rules. Although it must have far exceeded what its founders would have considered the limit of possibilities, yet it was conceived on a large scale, and it was intended to embrace and cover a large area. This intention is rather strikingly illustrated by the rule providing for the admission of very young children with their parents' consent on the roll of the Society. They are immediately placed under the care of some one who may in a sense be called their foster-mother, and the influence for good upon both charges and guardians can scarcely be over-estimated. EXPERIENCE OF A G.F.S. LADY VISITING KING'S COLLEGE AND OTHER HOSPITALS. Mrs. Milman writes of pleasant coincidences within her own experience, which have opened the way for talks about home, opportunities of showing appreciation of past kindness, and of peeping behind the scenes at unobtrusive goodness. It is indeed gratifying to find those who have been inmates of hospitals, and those who have had relatives in hospitals, remembering other patients and forwarding them flowers or money for flowers, and visiting them. Lady visitors, too, on their side, frequently follow up discharged cases, and Mrs. Milman recalls cases of this kind in which the lady visitors have indeed filled the part of the good Samaritan. GIRLS' LETTER GUILD, Leeds. By Miss Porter. The original Girls' Letter Guild was begun by Miss Kenward, at Birmingham, in November, 1889 ; it has now a membership of two thousand. The Leeds centre, started by Miss Porter, in 1889, numbers eight hundred girls. A third centre was established in Washington, U.S.A., in 1892, by Miss F. Wadleigh. The object of the Guild is to bring cultured Christian ladies into correspondence with factory and mill girls. Each lady writes to one or more girls once a month, on such interesting and practical subjects as dress, health, and amusement. The girls value the letters 382 Appendix. highly, and seldom fail to answer them. A Home of Rest, at Woolacombe Bay, Devon, has been given to the Guild by Miss Rosalie Chichester. Some of the older girls become associates or helpers. " Ladies of all Christian denominations," says the report, " are welcomed as correspondents." * GORDON HALL AND MILDMAY BOARDING-HOUSE, Liverpool. By Mrs. Stephen Menzies. Connected with the Y.W.C.A., this Institution was founded, in 1883, at a cost of ^9000. The boarding-house consists of eighty rooms, which are let to women engaged in business. The charge for bedrooms is from 4^. to 6.y. per week ; and for meals from 5^. to gjMrs.J. Herbert Tritton. The work of the Y.W.C.A. has already been fully explained elsewhere. This division undertakes the care of young women from all the countries, and speaking all the languages, of Europe, who flock to England, knowing nothing of the dangers which will surround them. What these dangers are may be seen from the letters of mothers in distant lands, -imploring the Association to find daughters who have not sought its aid. Many, however, now write before coming to England, making inquiries or asking advice. A similar work is, of course, needed for English girls going to any foreign country. WESTBOURNE EVENING HOME, 70, Westbourne Grove, London, W. In October, 1887, this Home was thrown open for the first time to the hard-working shop-girls in and around Westbourne Grove. There are 162 members, who for a yearly subscription of 4^. have the use of a library, writing-room, reading-room, and are entertained by lectures and concerts. Valuable points about this Home are its proximity to several large business houses, and the fact that it is open on Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and Bank Holidays, when many of the members, having no homes in London, would otherwise be thrown on their own resources for companionship and occupation. Appendix. 389 RESCUE WORK. LADY VISITORS' WORK IN BIRMINGHAM POLICE-COURTS. By Mrs. Bishop. There is an Association of ladies in Birmingham, formed for the purpose of visiting police-courts, to aid the young and unfortunate. As a rule, the visitors do not deal with felony cases. This paper does not state when the Association was formed, but it is believed that police-court visiting by ladies is peculiar to Birmingham. Very often a girl, if dis- charged on a first offence, is handed over to the care of the lady visitors. Men especially connected with the temperance movement attend the courts ; and the practice might more often be adopted elsewhere. This effort to reach a class who are necessarily unbefriended in court, and who could sometimes be preserved from a further downfall, deserves the fullest consideration ; and it may be hoped that more may see their way to good work in this direction, and in such others as prison and work- house visiting, and poor-law work. THE ROYAL FEMALE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY. Founded in 1822, by Miss Caroline Neave, at that time engaged in prison visiting with Mrs. Fry, the Home receives (i) girls who have been convicted and imprisoned for a first offence ; (2) those discharged from service for dis- honesty, but not prosecuted ; (3) girls unmanageable but not criminal. They are trained for domestic service, their friends paying 4^. weekly. Penitentiary and inebriate cases are excluded. During the seventy years it has existed, 1945 have been admitted. Perhaps the strongest evidence of the soundness of the principles on which this Society conducts its work is the fact that it lives side by side with many others which have sprung into existence since the foundress formed her beneficent plan, and that, though seventy years have passed, it is still doing good, true work, giving hope and much encouragement to those who need the helping hand and the word in due season. ST. MARY'S TRAINING-HOME, Netting Hill, London. By Miss Alice Jameson. Ten years ago the Notting Dale Ladies' Association opened this little Home to train for service girls who, from character or circum- stance, were in moral danger. Of the first two hundred girls who passed out only six are known to have taken to evil courses a fact which speaks volumes for the thoroughness with which the Home does its work. After a lapse of six years, seventy or eighty girls were still in communication with the lady-superintendent. WOMEN. IMPROVING OR AMELIORATING THEIR CONDITION. * AMBERLEY CONVALESCENT HOME, Stroud, Gloucestershire. By Mrs. Blackwell. This Home, in a small village on the Cotswold Hills, was opened in 1872, and the bracing air is found to be a great restorative. Five women are received every month free of expense ; the cost to the Home being about i each. Local cases only are admitted during the 39O Appendix. winter. The Home is specially appreciated by the patients for its home- like, unconventional character, and the matron takes a personal interest in her charges. *THE CAMBRIAN CENTRAL OFFICE. This Office was started in connection with the S.P.F.W., as a means by which Welsh workers might dispose of their work. The secretary, Miss Tacher, has also provided employment (needlework) at Llandudno for a number of women during the winter months ; most of the articles made being sold at the London central office. CHURCH OF ENGLAND WOMEN'S HELP SOCIETY. By Mrs. Papillon. This Society was formed in 1879, an d is working in twenty-seven dioceses in England and Scotland. Its object is to help women, married or single, to lead Christian lives ; being banded together, with practical rules of conduct for mutual help and strength. Bible and secular classes, mothers' meetings, lending libraries, penny banks, sick clubs, etc., are often set on foot as helps to the members to live up to their rules of life, and an important part of the work in towns consists of the establishment of evening clubs, lodging-houses, etc., for women employed in ware- houses and factories. The first branch was formed at Colchester, and solved for the clergy the problem of how to reach and benefit factory workers. The East London Branch has had a very great influence for good, and the ladies living at the branch in one of the worst districts in South London are gradually raising around them a higher standard of conduct, based on Christian principles. The success of the work is proved by the crowded congregation of working women and girls which assembles in St. Paul's Cathedral on the occasion of the anniversary sermon. * CLEVEDON CONVALESCENT HOME. This pleasant seaside Home provides change and rest for the weary coming from any part of the country. Eighteen women and children, and ten men and boys are admitted. No nurses are required, and the Home is managed by a lady- superintendent. *THE EIGEN SEASIDE HOME OF REST. By Mrs. Goode. This Home was opened in 1887, and receives convalescent patients, widows, and members of the Y.W.C.A., requiring change and rest. In addition to members and associates of the Y.W.C.A., the Home has received missionary workers, governesses, widows, nurses, servants, and girls engaged in business. Some have been enabled to remain in the Home by means of help from the Special Fund. * THE EPSOM TOWN MISSION-ROOM WORK SOCIETY. By Miss Alexander. This Society was founded twenty years ago by Miss Alex- ander, with a view to helping respectable poor women belonging to her mothers' meeting. This is done by giving them needlework, to be done in their own homes during the winter months. Miss Alexander receives valuable assistance in effecting the sale of her work from the S.P.F.W. *HOME FOR CONSUMPTIVE FEMALES, Gloucester Place, London. This Home was originally started in the Marylebone Road, where Appendix. 391 Mrs. H. M. J. Bird and the Hon. Olivia C. Kinnaird visited and assisted a few poor consumptive women, who were housed in some two or three rooms lent rent-free for the purpose. Many demands for admission induced them to take a house in Gloucester Place, which was fitted as a hospital for about twenty patients, under the care of a committee. Before long the hospital was greatly enlarged. Its special feature is the per- manence of the home it offers to patients. Small payments by patients also figure among the receipts. * LONDON AND BRIGHTON FEMALE CONVALESCENT HOME, Brighton. By Alice Marshman. The important and useful work carried on in connection with this Home is evidenced by the average number of invalids received yearly (two thousand). It was originally established at Dover, in 1870. It consists of three wings one for reduced gentlewomen and governesses ; one for needlewomen and young women in business ; and one for working men's wives and children. Of the invalids annually received, about ninety-five per cent, are restored to health, and the death- rate does not exceed two in a thousand. There is a free fund for relieving orphan and destitute cases, and in cases of real need the " Dorcas Wardrobe " lends its friendly aid. *PORTMAN CHAPEL WORK SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY. This Society was founded in 1856, as an industrial aid to the poor of the district. This is done by affording a little home work to mothers, and the work is conducted, as far as possible, on a self-supporting basis. The Society is conducted by a committee of twelve ladies, and the deserving poor are relieved without being pauperized. PRINCESS FREDERICKS HOME FOR MOTHERS AND INFANTS. By the Dowager Lady Gifford. The first Institution of this kind was founded by H.R.H. Princess Frederica, in 1881. It has accommodation for nine poor married women who require change and rest after childbirth. They are allowed to stay three weeks, free of all cost. Several similar institu- tions have since been opened in England, and a large hospital on the same plan has been started in Vienna. Annual subscriptions and dona- tions furnish the necessary funds. This excellent Home is a visible proof of the kindly forethought of one who has a royal heart as well as a royal name ; a touching reminder of a great sorrow which befell a young Guernsey. This Home was started entirely by Miss Thurstan, in 1890. Having a small estate on her hands, comprising a granite-quarry and a house with coach-house and stables, she went with her mother to live there, determining to make the house a Home for young men and boys who were homeless. The inmates bring their earnings to Miss Thurstan, each one having an account-book, in which he is credited with his earnings on the estate, and debited with 9-y. per week for board and lodging and the cost of his clothes. When they leave, any balance to their credit is given them. In time Miss Thurstan hopes to make the Home pay its own expenses, although hitherto it has resulted in a heavy deficiency. The above reports from Guernsey are kindly furnished by Miss Audrey Bulwer. NORTH ST. PANCRAS WORKING GUILD. By Viscountess Melville. This paper is sent by Viscountess Melville, who started, in 1889, a Work Guild for the poor of North St. Pancras. Nine vice-presidents were obtained, each of whom undertook to get ten associates, who agreed to contribute each two articles of clothing yearly. All the articles are sent, about the middle of October, to the secretary, who has them on view for two days. The distribution is made early in November, bundles containing from twenty, thirty, or forty articles being sent to the clergy and lay helpers, to distribute to the most needy. In 1889 only 284 articles were received, but these increased to 406 in 1890, and 494 in 1891. New garments only are taken, and latterly there has been a great improvement in their quality, cotton having given way to flannel and woollen articles. THE THEATRICAL LADIES' GUILD. By Miss Fanny Brough. This Guild was founded, in November, 1891, at the residence of Mrs. Keeley, the veteran actress, with a view to relieving destitute members of the pro- fession about to become mothers. Miss Fanny Brough was elected president. Sewing meetings are held weekly both in London and in the provinces. Mr. Henry Irving is a patron of, and a liberal subscriber to, the Guild, which now numbers over three hundred members. One of the best needlewomen in the Guild is Mrs. Brough, who has attained the great age of ninety. BLIND, DEAF AND DUMB, AND CARE OF THE HELPLESS. BRISTOL AND CLIFTON ASSOCIATION FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF BLIND WOMEN AND GIRLS. By Mrs. Perry. The acute distress which prevailed about twenty-four years ago among blind women in the neigh- 426 Appendix. bourhood induced a number of Bristol ladies to open a training-school and factory, where both women and girls are taught to sew, knit, make baskets, and dress dolls. In due time they are employed by the Associa- tion, which provides them with work and pays them wages. Not content with this, it takes a friendly interest in their welfare, seeks to brighten their lives in many ways, and gives them the chance of cultivating any special talent they may possess. Last year nearly 600 worth of goods were sold, and it is hoped that the Institution may become self-supporting. Three teachers are employed to visit the blind in their own homes and teach them to read and write. Those employed at the factory, says the report, " all derive intense pleasure from their work, and are very proud of earning their own livelihood. Leading, as they do, active, useful lives, they have no time for those fits of depression which so often render the fate of the blind who have no occupation so terribly pathetic." * CHELTENHAM AND GLOUCESTERSHIRE HOME-TEACHING AND INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, Cheltenham. The Home was established in 1858. It teaches the blind to read, and gives religious instruction and training in remunerative trades. Instruction in knitting, sewing, etc., is given to women in their own homes by voluntary lady-teachers. The women earn from gd. to 4*. a week. The Society offers also the great advantages of a loan library. * HOME FOR BLIND CHILDREN, Kilbum. By Miss E. F. Newbery. This Home was founded in 1869, though not in its present location, by Miss E. P. Breay, and was the first to admit very young children, who are thus saved from bad influences and receive an early training. Most of the pupils are passed on to larger institutions, and many are now earning an honest livelihood for themselves. Occasionally, a child is incapable of learning much, but even such a one benefits by the training of the Home. * INDIGENT BLIND VISITING SOCIETY, Red Lion Square, London. The object of this Society is to improve the condition of the blind, by providing for them Scripture-readers, guides to take them to places of worship, instruction in various branches of education, and occasionally temporal relief. The attendance at the educational classes is very large, especially in the poorer districts of London. Much good is also done by the Society's visitors. It is said that, owing to the influence and opera- tions of the Society, begging by the blind has become very uncommon in the East End. Mrs. T. R. Armitage employs about seventy blind women connected with the Society in knitting, netting, crochet, and other work. "Massage "has also become an occupation for the blind. About nine hundred persons are regularly visited, and nearly ,4000 was given in relief last year. A Samaritan Fund helps blind workers over temporary difficulties. LADIES' SAMARITAN SOCIETY, IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL FOR THE PARALYZED AND EPILEPTIC, Queen Square, Blooms- bury. By Mrs. Pearman. This Society was formed by the late Miss Johanna Chandler, who had a short time previously (about 1860) founded the hospital. It supplies relief to patients in the form of food, clothing, Appendix. 427 and money ; it helps the families when the breadwinner is in the hospital, and also gives assistance towards the purchase of surgical instruments. Railway fares are sometimes paid, and employment provided. Generally speaking, an effort is made to ascertain the needs of the inmates of the hospital, and to endeavour to meet them. The committee has in con- templation the establishment of an Industrial Home for Epileptics. The first aim of Miss Chandler, the foundress, was to establish a Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic, and to provide the required treatment ordered by the physician. Then, like a true Samaritan, she picked up the poor traveller, and helped him to an inn to support his wants. No Society was better named " the Samaritan," and its special devotion to the needs of a most helpless, if not hopeless, class must render this report one of peculiar interest, especially, perhaps, to the medical philanthropist. Miss ELIZABETH GILBERT'S WORK AMONG THE BLIND. Miss Gilbert was the blind daughter of the late Bishop of Chichester, and devoted her life to the task of raising her fellow-sufferers from a condition of idleness and despondency. This was the first effort of the kind. In May, 1854, she rented a cellar in New Turnstile, Holborn, and there provided employment for some blind workers who already knew a trade, to whom she supplied the necessary material at wholesale price. After a few months the number of workers was doubled, and pupils received. " Brush-drawing " proved a very successful occupation. The work was for some years conducted, with the assistance of a skilful manager and a foreman, both blind, by Miss Gilbert herself. But, with the increasing importance of the work, Miss Gilbert thought it necessary to form a committee and appeal to the public for support. As "the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind," the work underwent larger and wider developments of course, requiring larger and better premises than the poor little cellar in which it originated. Miss Gilbert then found herself referred to as an authority by all desirous of benefiting the same class. Soon after this, alas ! the spinal complaint, from which she also suffered, rendered her unable to continue to take such an active share in the work ; yet, though forced to lie helplessly by, her voice, on behalf of her blind friends, rose like a fountain night and day. She died on the 7th February, 1885. The work has so prospered that to-day over sixty blind men and women are employed in the workshops of the Association, others working in their own homes, receiving annually nearly ^1800 in wages. A sum of about ^400 is also paid every year in gifts and pensions. TRAINING COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS OF THE DEAF, Castle Bar Hill, Ealing. By Mrs. Kinsey. By the pure oral method of teaching the deaf known as the German system a child that has never heard a sound may be taught to see sounds, and to speak intelligibly. In brief, this system, instead of compelling the majority who can hear to learn the language of the minority who cannot, teaches the minority to communicate with the majority in their way, thus practically doing away with the terms "mutism" and "deaf-dumbness." In the College at Ealing, hearing people are prepared as teachers of the pure oral method. 428 Appendix. Sixty-five teachers have been certified in fourteen years and a half. They are employed in families, schools, and public institutions. A sound thorough English education is all that is exacted from students who wish to enter the College. When trained teachers have imparted a sufficient amount of language (spoken and written) to the child, its education can be carried on in any branch by teachers who have no technical knowledge whatever. Mrs. Kinsey enthusiastically describes " the all-absorbing interest of watching a little child whose wistful eyes and speechless' tongue, pathetically appealing to our tenderest sympathy and compassion, so sadly suggest the blighting of what, perhaps, promised to be a brilliant and successful life ; of watching the fettered little tongue acquiring, day by day with greater ease, the power of human speech, the wistful eyes gradually changing into bright, eager windows, reflecting the awakening intelligence of the hitherto slumbering brain. . . . We feel, indeed," she adds, " that our work is not in vain, when the little child can tell us, in spoken words, its thoughts and impressions of events that happened in its life when it was ' not dead, but living voiceless.' " NURSING. HOME NURSING WORK AMONG THE SICK POOR. By the Hon. Mrs. Stuart Wortley. In this paper Mrs. Stuart Wortley traces the early efforts in this direction, leading up to the establishment, in 1868, by the Duke of Westminster, of the Metropolitan and National Associa- tion, with an admirable organization for the training of nurses, as welt as the actual work of nursing. That Association employs only educated ladies ; but other bodies, including the East London Society, adhered to the plan which had already been found successful, and retained well- trained women of the ordinary nursing class. But Mrs. Stuart Wortley rightly remarks that "neither class nor training can impart the special gift of insight which is the crowning perfection of a fine nurse. . . . Wherever this exists, it will always supersede all other advantages." At my request, Mrs. Stuart Wortley refers specially in this paper to other societies whose records are given, such as the Girls' Friendly, the Young Women's Help Societies, the Young Women's Christian Association, and the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants. Her testimony to their value is inestimable ; for she was known as a worker before these societies were founded, and has lived to see the dawn of better things, the results of her own work. She had ever beside her one who shared her feelings and sympathized with her aims, and whose high position in the City of London, of which he was Recorder, holding besides other offices of State, gave him special oppor- tunities of becoming acquainted with all the great movements of the day, and of fostering, with many others who have gone to rest from their labours, those works of Christian philanthropy which distinguish the Victorian era, not merely in feeling for the poor, suffering, and helpless, as in determination to fight the evil which existed, and to bring light and hope into the dark places. Appendix. 429 * THE MARY WARDELL CONVALESCENT HOME FOR SCARLET FEVER, Stanmore, Middlesex. By Miss Mary Wardell. The Home is specially intended for a class of convalescents who are inevitably excluded from all existing institutions of the kind. It was established in 1879, with the active support of Sir Risdon Bennett, President of the College of Physicians, and Dr. A. P. Stewart. Mrs. Wardell was urged by these gentlemen not to restrict the advantages of the Home to the working classes only, but to extend them to all ranks, by providing a means for any patient to obtain change of air, and removal from the confinement of the sick-room at an earlier stage of recovery than is generally possible. The suggestion was adopted. Upwards of thirteen hundred patients were admitted during the past six years, the age of the sufferers ranging upwards from three weeks. The Home, among its many other great benefits, has afforded an invaluable security against the spread of infectious disease. THE NURSES CONNECTED WITH THE BIBLE- WOMEN'S MISSION. By Mrs. Selfe Leonard. These nurses work in conjunction with the Bible- women, and form the largest body of nurses in the metropolis. Although each nurse resides in her own district, her work is directed from the central offices, where one room is set apart for the reception of stores of medical comforts, clothing, et cetera. All services are rendered gratuitously, and only to the poor ; the nurse never being allowed to receive any remuneration in money or kind from her patients. The cost of maintaining a nurse is ^60 a year. This includes salary, uniform, and medical comforts for her patients. One special feature distinguishes the work of the Mission some of its nurses are told off to nurse only the maternity patients, who are attended by the students of large hospitals. All the worst cases of the external departments of St. Bartholomew's and of St. Thomas's Hospitals are thus cared for. NURSES' HOME at Fakenham, Norfolk. By Miss S. Hamond. This Home, originated in 1873, is a ver y humble scheme. At first there was only one nurse ; there are now fifty-six. Its chief work is the home- nursing of the sick poor. Nurses attend the very poorest gratuitously. Women, too, are attended in their confinements, the nurses filling the place of the " house-mother " in her time of weakness by attending to every matter of housework in addition to the task of nursing. The staff includes certificated monthly, surgical, mental, fever, and general trained nurses. Besides these there are probationers who are trained, and, when competent, enrolled in the staff of nurses. It is a condition in this Home that every nurse shall be a total abstainer. The super- intendent is Miss S. Hamond, Fakenham, Norfolk. RICHMOND HOME, Worthing. By Mrs. St. A.Horton, Hon. Matron. This is a convalescent Home, offering medical treatment, and was opened in May, 1891, for patients able to afford a small weekly payment. It is carried on entirely by voluntary workers ; and one of its objects is to give to the lonely, the sad, and the suffering that personal interest and watchful sympathy which so frequently prove the best of medicines. A certain number of free patients are received. 43 Appendix. THE RURAL DISTRICT BRANCH OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE INSTITUTE FOR NURSES. By Mrs. Malleson.Tzn. years ago Mrs. Malleson had her attention drawn to the subject of scientific nursing and midwifery in country districts, and in 1889-90 the Rural Nursing Associ- ation was formed. The Association at once aroused an interest in its objects, and sent trained nurses to work. It now has seventy-five districts, and trains from twelve to twenty nurses annually ; and it has received the recognition and generous support of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute. This training is considered the most important part of the duty of the Association, as the country nurse has so often to act in emergencies upon her own judgment, and often with very little super- vision. The preparation consists of one year in a general hospital, three to six months in midwifery training, and a certain amount of special training. This takes from eighteen to twenty-one months, and costs from ^50 to ;6o each nurse. The nurses are periodically inspected by the lady-inspector of the Jubilee Institute ; and, when the work of one is found to be up to the necessary standard, her name is submitted to the Queen for approval, and the nurse is enrolled as a "Queen's Nurse," wearing a distinctive badge. The total expense to a district of a trained nurse is about ,60 to 80 a year, part of which can be met by small fees and thank-offerings. Her helpfulness is greatly extended if a little donkey-trap is provided for her. WORK AMONG BRITISH SOLDIERS. * ALDERSHOT SOLDIER'S WIFE AID SOCIETY. By Mrs. Holmes White. This Society was founded, in 1863, by the late Miss Daniell, in connection with the Mission Hall and Soldiers' Home at Aldershot. It gives employment to soldiers' wives off the strength of their husbands' regiments. Miss DANIELL'S WORK IN THE BRITISH ARMY. By Miss G. F. S. Daniell. This work was started by Mrs. Daniell, in 1862, at Aldershot ; and since her death, in 1871, it has been carried on by her daughter. The conditions of life in' the British Army of to-day differ widely from those existing thirty years ago. In those days the soldier had but a limited choice of occupations ; he could sit in the canteen and drink, or go outside the barracks and find himself surrounded by powerful temp- tations. Public-houses, low music-halls, cheap theatres, etc., were the only resorts open to him. Philanthropy had done nothing for him. Now there is scarcely a garrison town in Britain where some provision is not made for his rational recreation, and mental, moral, and religious advancement, by benevolent persons. Although there still lingers in some quarters a belief in the peculiar wickedness of all who wear the red coat, yet the prejudice against the army, on account of its low state of morals, may be said to have almost died out. In 1862 public attention was drawn to the shocking moral condition of the camp at Aldershot and its surroundings ; and it was here that Miss Daniell ventured to begin her great work. Mission premises were opened in 1863, com- prising several capacious rooms, in which the soldiers meet for recreation, Appendix. 431 amusement, intellectual improvement, and religious services. In the course of the following years, : Homes were opened at Chatham, Col- chester, Manchester, London, Plymouth, and Windsor. The money for their maintenance has all been collected by Miss Daniell and her helpers. The buildings are vested in the hands of trustees, and the entire work, in its religious aspects, is thoroughly undenominational. There are two or more ladies resident in each Home ; and many other ladies assist in various ways. The wives and children of soldiers are also cared for, and much misery and evil thereby prevented. * SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' AID ASSOCIATION: PORTSMOUTH SOLDIERS' INSTITUTE. By Mrs. Holmes White. In 1876 Miss Robinson, the foundress of this Institute, began a special work, in which not only soldiers and sailors, but also their wives and families, were included. She writes that "this year is chiefly memorable as being the commencement of a new branch of troopship work." She may well say it was " memorable." Greater suffering can scarcely be imagined than that encountered by soldiers and their wives, who, on landing at Portsmouth, often had to wait without food or shelter for many hours. Women might be seen sitting on cold stones in the dockyard, with babies, bundles, and bird-cages, waiting orders to move on. One little child is reported to have died ; but the wonder is there were not more. Leave was obtained, through Miss Robinson's exertions, for coffee to be supplied from the Institute, and, however early the troops might be disembarked, a cart was sent down with a large supply of hot coffee, buns, and biscuits, which were appreciated by the officers no less than by the men. A coffee-shed was put up in 1877, and soon proved a great comfort to thousands. Waiting-rooms were afterwards provided by the Government. To poor women, often with young families, any assistance by which they are enabled to earn an honest penny is a great boon, and this has been secured for them by Miss Robinson. She began in 1878 providing them, through the Institute, with needlework, which, while good wages were paid to the women, was sold at moderate prices to ladies. To women married without leave, and not on the books, this employment and a little other aid is frequently all that stands between them and starvation. At least it enables women, often returning from the tropics, to provide them- selves with clothing suited to the damp climate of England ; and it must be a comfort to the men, on leaving their country, to reflect that, in case of mischance to themselves, their wives and families, on landing again at Portsmouth, will find shelter and kindly help from the ladies who are conducting this excellent and national work. Orphans are maintained in Homes, girls fitted out for service, the sick relieved, and other work carried on, besides that with which the Association is mainly concerned. SOLDIERS' HOMES IN IRELAND. Not only in Cork, but also in Queenstown, Ballincollig, Dublin, Dundalk, and Belfast, are there Homes for soldiers ; but the Cork Institution is the parent Home. It has been at work for about fifteen years, and offers opportunities for social inter- course and self-improvement amongst the soldiers, as well as keeping 43 2 Appendix. them from the public-house. Miss Sandes has devoted herself to the work with great earnestness. As a rule, four ladies reside in the Cork, Dublin, and Belfast Homes, and two ladies in each of the smaller ones. They visit the barracks and hospitals, invite the men to the Homes, and hold nightly meetings. Some of the Homes extend their privileges to sailors and policemen. WORK AMONG BRITISH SAILORS. WORK IN THE ROYAL NAVY. By Miss Agnes E. Weston. This is a comprehensive and interesting account of the work carried on by the above lady in connection with the Royal Navy, from 1873 to 1893, with brief appended notes on the working of the Sailors' Homes, etc., in various parts of the world. Like many other valuable philanthropic agencies, this great and good work arose out of what, at first sight, may appear to be a very trifling incident. It is told by the writer of the paper Miss Weston herself in the following words : " About twenty-five years ago a Christian soldier asked me to write to a seaman, a godly man, then serving as sick-berth steward on board H.M.S. Crocodile. ' He would like a letter from a Christian lady,' wrote the soldier, ' because he misses his mother's letters so much. She used to write to him, but she is dead and gone.' To replace that mother was no easy task, and yet it was a plain duty to write to the man." This is the key-note to the whole of Miss Weston's work personal interest and friendship for the brave men of the sea. Since that time letter- writing has so increased, that in 1892, ten thousand letters, purely personal, were written in reply to ten thousand written by officers and men of the fleet all over the world. Supplementary to these, two monthly letters are issued one to the men, and the other to the boys of the service. 529,682 were circulated in 1892, with a special edition for American seamen. The Royal Naval Temperance Society is working now in connection with every ship of our national service, and Miss Weston fully acknowledges the valuable help rendered by the splendid committees on board ship. " We calculate roughly," says Miss Weston, " taking our Navy, coast-guard service, and boys' training- ships together, that about one in every six is a total abstainer." A great help in this temperance work is a monthly illustrated paper, Ashore and Afloat, 380,670 copies of which were sent to seafaring men in 1892. The other branches of the work include a Sailors' Rest at Plymouth, started in 1886; the number accommodated for sleeping purposes in 1892 was 72,882. There is also, at Portsmouth, a Sailors' Rest, where 42,875 received night- shelter in 1892. These Rests are self-supporting, and have had a severe effect upon public-houses in their proximity, many of which have been closed. The Sailors' Homes are founded on broad and unde- nominational lines. The Missions to Seamen Society has thirty-five Seamen's Institutes in thirty-one, seaports, sixteen missions in fifteen seaports, and fourteen churches in fourteen seaports. The British and Foreign Seamen's Society has agencies all over the world. At home they include the five buildings erected by the munificence of Louisa, Lady Ashburton. The Society's flag is carried by 249 shipmasters, and the Society has active relations with eighty-three ports. Other Rests exist Appendix. 433 in other parts of the world. Miss Weston has written a most interesting and valuable Congress paper for this volume. TECHNICAL AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL WORK. BIRMINGHAM LADIES' ASSOCIATION FOR USEFUL WORK. Started about 1873, f r tne consolidation of two or three branches of educational work, which had been managed for some time by a large committee of ladies, its general object is to assist any work especially intended to benefit women and girls. It has the management of the Cambridge Higher Local Examinations for Women, and the Cambridge and Oxford Local Examinations for Girls, and organizes lectures to working women on all subjects connected with sanitary matters. There is a recreation-room on the premises of the Association for shop-girls who do not live in the houses where they are employed. There is also a country holiday department, for sending children into the country. With the exception of a paid secretary, the work is done by voluntary helpers. BRASS- WORK CLASS, Bournemouth. By Miss WingfiddDigby. This Class is attended chiefly by artisans and labouring men. During the winter of 1890-91 and the spring of 1892 some of the members devoted as many as eight or ten hours a week to the work, and by selling it helped to redeem, through the C.M.S. School at Hong-Kong, a little Chinese child who had been sold by her mother to pay the debts con- tracted during her husband's last illness. *BROWNSHILL COURT, Stroud. By Miss Winscombe. This is a school for daughters of gentlemen, and differs little from other private schools, except in the scholarships that are offered, and in the examina- tions being under the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Board. A special feature is a " Little Servants' Home," where young servants, above twelve, are placed under efficient upper servants, and, after a fit period of training, placed in situations. NOTES ON A WOOD-CARVING CLASS. By Lady Grisell Baillie- Hamilton. An account is here given of the work of two sisters, which is one of great value to those whose inclination, time, and circumstances induce them to give an individual aid, rather than a combined one, to those around them. In undertaking this work for the benefit of a village, these ladies say they derived much assistance from Miss Rowe's book, which is used at the South Kensington School of Carving. The story is delightful for the good will and energy shown by these ladies in carry- ing out their object, and the striking moral contained in the last words of Lady GriselPs report, so that hope need not die even when all efforts seem to fail. Once a good work is undertaken, who can say when it fails, though our personal anticipations are not realized ? That is a lesson learnt in the record of this Carving-Class, and while it gives an addi- tional interest to the report, it is calculated to cheer many other workers. CARVING- CLASS, Rat cliff, London. By the Hon. Odeyne de Grey This Class was started, under the Home Aid and Industries Association, 2 F 434 Appendix. in 1884, in a working lads' institute in Ratcliff, a very poor part of London. Its object was to give boys in various positions an occupation for their spare time after working hours, and some appreciation of the art and beauty of design. The Institute has now a working men's club, but the Carving-Class still exists. THE COLLEGE FOR WORKING WOMEN, Fitzroy Street, London. By Miss Frances Martin. The scheme of which this College was the outcome was originated, in 1848, by the Rev. F. D. Maurice, and it was in his memory that the College was established, in 1 874, by a few of his friends and pupils, who desired to perpetuate his work. The College aims, by systematic teaching given in evening classes, to supply to women occupied during the day a higher education than is generally within their reach, and to promote mutual help and fellowship between teachers and students. All the teachers are unpaid. Students pay y. a year for membership, is. $d. a term ("there are four terms in the session) for all English classes, and 2s. 6d. each term for French, German, Latin, and drawing. They have the free use of a lending library of over two thousand volumes, and of a well-supplied, comfortably furnished reading- room. The social work is chiefly carried on upon Saturday evenings, when free lectures, entertainments, and concerts are given, preceded by a tea. " Many lifelong friendships have been formed on these evenings. In 1883 a large hall was built at the rear of the house in Fitzroy Street. The total expenses are only a little over ^400 a year, half of which sum goes in rent, rates, and taxes. Nineteen years ago the majority of the members had received little or no education, but Board Schools have changed all that. The members are now drawn from the same classes as in 1874, but there is need for only one elementary class, which is attended by about twenty pupils." Most of the students come with the view of improving their education in order to gain a higher position in their business or profession. Due provision is made for these, but at the same time classes are kept going in general culture for those who love learning for its own sake, or who see in it a means of helping others. Within the last ten or twelve years a holiday guild, a sick benefit club, and a penny bank have sprung up in connection with the College, which also has its Dorcas club and its ambulance classes. On the first Saturday of the month there is a dance, open to members only, in the Maurice Hall. Every fourth Saturday an entertainment, concert, or lecture is given. In the summer many garden-parties are given to the members by kindly friends in the suburbs. " I think," says Miss Martin, " one of the great lessons this work has taught to all who take part in it is that it is not only the fallen, the degraded, the destitute, who have claims upon us ; that quite as urgent and imperative are the demands of the great army of virtuous workers." DRAYTON (SOMERSET) BEATEN IRONWORK CLASS. By Miss A. E. Maude, Foundress. Miss Maude, finding that the boys and young men of the village, when prevented from going to work in the fields by inclement weather and other causes, usually wasted their time, determined to provide a little profitable occupation for them. Having taken lessons in Appendix. 435 ironwork, she opened this class in 1889. Her efforts were soon appreciated by about twelve boys and young men. Medals and certificates have been obtained at various exhibitions for specimens of artistic ironwork produced by the class, whilst the monthly earnings have been an encouraging proof to the members of the wisdom of utilizing spare hours. Miss Maude wrote to me for advice as to tools, about which I know nothing, though, through the kindness of Mr. Millis, of the Borough Road Polytechnic, I was able to recommend the best to employ. She selected the course of instruction to be adopted with great care, avoiding the popular pursuit of wood-carving, because it would probably soon be over- done. Also notable in her account is the attention drawn to the fact that, if a thing is to be taught, it must be adapted to the capacity of the learner, and that the qualities required for executing the work should be carefully fostered. The reference to the necessity of a teacher educating the mind as well as instructing the hand, is worthy of note by all who undertake to teach. Another useful lesson is to be obtained from Miss Maude's experience of the healthy and happy results of a work cheerfully as well as earnestly undertaken. It is a charming piece of life at which we get a peep through her description, and I cannot but fancy all who read it must feel the better for it, and invigorated by the reflection of the spirit of the writer. Something of this feeling pervades all the single-handed work of which I have been enabled to obtain so many records, and there is not one, as far as I can recall, in which disappointment at results (which must sometimes occur) chills the energy of the attempt. The good is so evident, and the disappointments themselves never seem hopeless. The hand does not easily forget its cunning ; the mind once taught to think may temporarily be clouded, but the lesson remains and comes back after a time. A healthy impulse once given is a strong preventive to the sickliness of error, and, if it is diverted occasionally through evil surround- ings, a rebound towards old good habits is not uncommon. The details of the beaten ironwork scheme, how begun, how it throve and is now progressing, should be read in no words but those of the foundress of the Somersetshire village industry. HIGHLAND HOME INDUSTRIES, Sutherland. By the influence of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, an industrial society was established in Sutherland, in 1849, blankets, stockings, socks, tartans, druggets, plain cloth, flannels, serges, being made and exhibited ; but after the death of the duchess it almost disappeared. In 1886, however, the " Sutherland home industries " were revived by the Marchioness of Stafford and a committee of ladies. Some interesting particulars as to the peculiar method of making cloth in the Highlands are embodied in this report. The wool, after being roughly sorted or stapled according to quality and length of fibre, is cleansed from grease in a hot liquid. It is dried, shaken up, and still further sorted, and then it is carded or combed with a pair of implements like hair-brushes set with metal teeth. Spun into thread by distaff and spindle, it is next dipped into an ammoniacal liquid, which removes the last traces of grease, and so prepares it for receiving and retaining the dye. The dyeing material being generally measured by the handful, it is difficult to obtain a uniform tint. It is hoped, however, 43 6 Appendix. that ere long the School Board will remedy this defect by appointing a skilled female to give technical instruction. Mineral dyes have almost driven out those of vegetable origin. The dyed thread is woven into a web either in the cottage hand-loom or in a small cloth-mill driven by water-power. Felting, or thickening or " wauking," as it is called in the north is the next process. As the wauking-mill is apt to turn out a hard, stiff, and heavy fabric, the process of stamping the wet web with the feet is still adhered to in some parts. The girls who do this work sit in two rows facing each other, and as the web is passed round each stamps on it in turn, and so it is made soft, supple, and dense enough to be wind and water proof. Wood-carving is one of the home industries which has been revived. The visit of a South Kensington teacher to the south-eastern district has produced excellent results. One lad is now employed at a first-class workshop at Inverness ; another can sell his carvings as fast as he can do them ; while of a third the teacher said that at the London School of Art he would very soon be on the teaching staff. * HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. Established in 1836, for the improvement and extension of education on Christian principles, this Society sustains a Home and Colonial Training College for School- mistresses, which is largely self-supporting, and sends out annually about seventy-five trained and certificated women-teachers for elementary schools. Ladies are also trained for family teaching and for secondary schools, kindergarten teaching forming part of the training in this depart- ment. There is also a high school containing a hundred and fifty girls ; three elementary schools with five hundred scholars ; and a depository for the publication and sale of school-books. THE KESWICK INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OF ART AND THE RUSKIN LINEN FACTORY. By Miss E. Sellers. This paper describes an effort made to provide employment in the Lake district during the winter months. At the same time, the promoters desired to cultivate among the people that love of the beautiful which lies hidden in every human soul ; to develop whatever artistic taste or talent they might possess ; and to introduce variety into their lives by giving them new interests. A lady began the work by giving lessons in wood-carving, and others afterwards taught brass repousst work to thirty men and boys. Nothing was allowed to be sold until it had been tested in every possible way, and any attempt at " scamping " was ruthlessly suppressed. The pupils, who worked care- fully and well, were, before long, paid 6d.a.n hour, which now enables several of them to earn as much as i is. a week. The system of management is eminently democratic, all authority with regard to business affairs being vested in a committee, of which the majority of the workers are members. The success of this enterprise led to the establishment, for women, of the Ruskin Linen Factory. These are successful efforts to reduce to practice Mr. Ruskin's teaching. The workers are actuated by the spirit of the members of some ancient guild, " and certainly no guildsman ever lingered more lovingly over the details of his work," says Miss Sellers, " or strove more jealously to render it a thing of sterling merit and true beauty than do these northern peasants." The paper is of great interest, and describes, Appendix. 437 most sympathetically, a work which has found an appropriate home in the country of Wordsworth and the Lake poets. LADIES' SANITARY ASSOCIATION. By the Lady Knightly, of Fawsley. Established, in 1857, by ladies who were impressed with the ignorance of the most elementary laws of health which at that time prevailed. For the purpose of removing this ignorance, the members (i) write and distri- bute simple tracts, chiefly for the poor, on sanitary and domestic subjects ; (2) aid in establishing loan libraries of popular books on subjects relating to health and social well-being ; (3) arrange for the delivery of practical lectures on health, sanitary improvements, and domestic economy ; and (4) form branch associations for carrying on practical sanitary work. Since the foundation of the Association, no less than 1,686,809 tracts have been circulated. In many ways, too numerous to mention, the Society has endeavoured, with great success, to break down barriers of prejudice and ignorance, and to diffuse the knowledge of what to do, and the means of doing it. Medical men of the first rank, as well as experts in sanitation, have co-operated with the committee in furthering the objects in view. There are about four hundred members. MRS. JOHN ELDER'S WORK AT GOVAN. By Miss Edith Sellers. Commenced about nine years ago, in the midst of a large shipbuilding population, the work consists in technical training for the wives and daughters of artisans. Admission to the school is free, the foundress herself paying all expenses. The work is divided into six departments cookery demonstration classes, cookery practice classes, sewing-classes, ironing- classes, the preparing of girls for domestic service, and what is termed house-visiting. About two hundred women and girls are now attending the cookery demonstration class, which is one of the most popular. THE NATIONAL HEALTH SOCIETY. By Miss Ray Lankester. This Society was founded by ladies, over twenty years ago, for promoting and extending useful and practical education in regard to the general laws of health and sanitation. No doubt much of the discomfort of homes, especially among the poorer classes, is due to ignorance and thoughtless and thriftless habits. The Society has published many useful leaflets and pamphlets. Lectures are delivered in all parts of England, and ladies are able to qualify for the Society's certificate. Lectures, specially intended for the poor, are also delivered. THE PARENTS' NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL UNION. By Emeline Petrie SteinthaL Started in Bradford (Yorks.), in 1888, by Miss Charlotte M. Mason, for promoting the study of the laws of education as they bear upon the bodily development, the moral training, the intellectual work, and the religious bringing-up of children. After a successful commence- ment, the scheme was widened, and particulars were circulated throughout the country. Meetings are held and addresses given on the subjects indicated. The " Parents' Review School " has been established, con- taining, at the end of the first year, 165 pupils. There is also a "House of Education." Mrs. Boyd Carpenter, wife of the Bishop of Ripon, is president. 43 8 Appendix. PILLOW-LACE INDUSTRY IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, BUCKINGHAM- SHIRE, AND BEDFORDSHIRE. By Mrs. Roberts. An Association for the encouragement of this industry was formed in 1891, and has already effected a revival of the demand for this article. Lace-making, it is thought, will afford a means by which the wife may easily supplement the family income. Pillow-lace can be made to a great variety of patterns, and is an illustration of the fact that, notwithstanding the beauty and ingenuity of machinery, the iron hand lacks the adaptability in this respect of the human hand. LACE SCHOOL, at Cranfield, Buckinghamshire. By Mrs. Chettle. The preceding note makes any detailed account of the origin of this enterprise unnecessary. Mrs. Chettle, years ago, bought the lace made by old workers, who could not wait for payment till professional buyers came round. The work, however, was very poor, and she always lost money by it. She then established a school for girls of fourteen years and upwards, in aid of which she receives a trifling grant from the County Council. The children, Mrs. Chettle says, are delighted with the work. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES'S TECHNICAL SCHOOL, at Sandringham. The Princess of Wales appears to have been one of the first to form a due estimate of the importance of technical education. It is now some years since the elementary classes at Sandringham were formed for the purpose of giving the sons and daughters of the labourers on the property information on many points which would be useful to them in life. At first these classes were held in the evening only, in an old schoolroom, the instruction being imparted by an artisan from a neighbouring town. But so great an interest did the classes create among the villagers, that the Princess determined to enlarge their scope, and generally to place them upon a more extensive and permanent footing. The Princess selected the lady who had acted as German governess to her daughters as her superintendent, under her Royal Highness's personal supervision. In order to qualify her, Fraulein Nodel was sent for instruction to London, and to the chief centres of teaching on the Continent. The classes comprise leather-embossing, metal-working, and wood-carving; the two latter specially useful to the lads. Practical and household subjects are not forgotten, such as sewing, cooking, dressmaking, and home management. The classes are held on four days of the week only, to enable the girls to devote Monday and Saturday to home occupations a regulation marked by great wisdom and kindness. The School has been under the inspection of the County Council of Norfolk, who expressed great satisfaction at its efficiency and at the high standard maintained ; indeed, so satisfied were they, that they were prepared to take the School under their own management, and to bear the cost of it. A very distinctive feature was a series of lectures, in connection with the St. John's Ambulance Association, given by Dr. Manby to the elder girls, when all the pupils obtained certificates at the examination at the close of the course. The Princess of Wales and her daughters were Appendix. 439 amongst the competitors. The Princess's connection with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem has always led her to take a practical interest in its ambulance corps. * SOUTH GROVE HOME SCHOOL, Tunbridge Wells. By the Hon. Louisa Canning. This School, established in 1887, is more particularly for the daughters of clergymen and naval, military, and professional men of limited means. The education includes religious instruction, English, music, French, German, shorthand, book-keeping, and needlework. A parent or friend can nominate a girl for one year by paying 22. TORQUAY WORKING BOYS' INSTITUTE. By Mtss Phillpotts. This Institution is a notable instance of the value and far-reaching influence of one single effort in enlisting sympathy, and in finally establishing its results on a permanent basis. It was commenced some years ago, in one of the most beautiful spots in the West of England, the population of which is yearly increasing. It has linked to an object of enduring influence a name connected with many lands as an historical remembrance of the last fifty years, when Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, played his active part in public life. INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, West Linton, N.B. EyMz'ss Fergusson. These annual Exhibitions were started in 1880, and are managed by Miss Fergusson and her sisters. The villagers make and exhibit baskets, fishing-rods, beehives, violins, carving and fretwork, walking- sticks, quilts, rugs, knitting, embroidery, etc. The exhibits are on sale on the Exhibition Day, and last year realized ^105. Besides providing pleasant employment during many a dull winter, the money thus earned by the people affords the means of obtaining many small advantages in a distant and somewhat secluded spot Miss Fergusson, who is a daughter of the eminent surgeon, Sir William Fergusson, settled after her father's death in her present home, and this now prosperous Association is only one among other kindly and good works done by her in the neighbour- hood. YORKSHIRE LADIES' COUNCIL OF EDUCATION, AND ITS BRANCHES. By Mrs. Boyd Carpenter. In 1886 this work was begun by a committee, formed at Leeds, which undertook to superintend for three years the Cambridge Local Examinations for Girls, under the direction of the West Riding Board of Education. At the same time it organized evening classes and elementary examinations for working girls and young women. Many of these members, in conjunction with other persons, formed in 1869 a Ladies' Educational Association for the promotion, on an independent basis, of the higher education of women. They took over the charge of the Cambridge Local Examination, and arranged lectures for ladies, given by well-known University authorities, and, at the instance of Miss Lucy Wilson, invited certain gentlemen to form a University Extension Committee. This, Mrs. Boyd Carpenter adds, was the germ from which has sprung the widespread system of University Extension. In 1870 the West Riding Board became the Yorkshire Board of Education, and enlarged its ladies' committee into a honorary ladies' 44 Appendix. council, with the general object of promoting means for the extension of the education of women and girls of all classes throughout the county of Yorkshire. Special objects were placed under the care of separate bodies. A health committee imparted information concerning the laws of health to women and girls employed in mills. The University Local Examination committee encouraged girls to present themselves at these examinations. An endowments committee sought aid from existing endowments and bequests. There was also a students' library com- mittee, and a local standing committee. The work was further extended by means of branches at York, Wakefield, Bradford, Halifax, Sheffield, and Mirfield. But when the honorary council began, in 1875, to work independently of the Yorkshire Board of Education, it assumed the title of " The Ladies' Council of Education." In conjunction with the Leeds Ladies' Educational Association, it established a High School for Girls at Leeds, and assisted in founding a chair of Literature at the Yorkshire College. The council is also much interested in the teaching of cookery, and in industrial art classes. THE RECREATIVE EVENING SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION. H.R.H. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, is the president of this useful Association, which was founded at a Mansion House meeting, in 1886. Its object is to promote the continuous and healthful education of boys and girls after they leave the elementary day schools. The paper states that, on careful inquiry, it was found not more than four per cent, of these scholars continued their education in any systematic way after leaving the day schools. The twenty-nine centres aided by the Association in London, in 1886, had increased, by 1892, to 232. In the evening or continuation schools the Association introduced lantern illustrations of geography and travel, history and simple science ; musical drill and gymnastics ; clay-modelling, metal-work, and wood-carving ; dress- cutting, cookery, etc. In many ways the Association has brought its influence to bear upon local associations and institutions, and upon the Government itself. It promotes industrial exhibitions, and seeks to make the establishment of a recreative and practical evening school as much a matter of course as a day school. Its work extends to girls' evening homes, and social institutes for working youths and men. WORK OF WOMEN IN IRELAND. THE GIRLS' FRIENDLY SOCIETY IN IRELAND. By Miss M. H. Hyndman. This Society was established in Ireland, in 1877, and runs on lines similar to those of the English Society. Girls of good character only are eligible for membership. Despite the special difficulties in a thinly populated country, the Society has been very successful, and has on its rolls a total of 14,613 members, candidates, associates, and helpers. It interests itself not only in spiritual work at home, but also in foreign missionary effort. Married or unmarried women, ineligible for member- ship, become "friendly helpers," and young ladies with time on their hands afford useful help as "girl workers." The scope of the Society's work is further indicated by the existence of a sick and convalescent Appendix. 441 fund, an emigration department, an emigrants' home at Derry, and a servants' registry office. Subscriptions payable by members vary from 6d. to 4-y. yearly. * THE IRISH LADIES' WORK SOCIETY. By Miss Hamilton and Miss Banks. This Society was established, in 1874, to enable ladies of small means to help themselves ; it is doing a good though unobtrusive work, and is self-supporting. It has a depot in London. IRISH PEASANT WOMEN'S WORK. By Mrs. Rogers. Unable to obtain, in England, labour for knitting gloves of intricate patterns, Mrs. Rogers visited Co. Donegal during the partial famine of 1880. Having obtained an introduction to the parish priest of Carrick, the latter entered warmly into her scheme for teaching the knitting required to the women of the locality ; and, the day after he had addressed his congregation from the altar on the subject, a thousand girls and women crowded and surrounded the house secured for giving instruction. But after some days' instruction, the crowd was reduced. Incentives to patience and perseverance were offered in the shape of money rewards, and announced by the warm-hearted priest in his " instruction " after Mass. A variety of difficulties had to be overcome, but one by one they were surmounted, and, in the year following the first six or nine months, Mrs. Rogers paid away over ^1000 in wages. Since then, at the request of the late Father Flannety (Father Tom of Carna) and Sir Henry Roscoe, a similar industry has been established by Mrs. Rogers at Carna, Connemara. There is not now so much demand as formerly for knitted gloves, but Mrs. Rogers is still able to furnish a large amount of work for Irishwomen in these districts, and to add to their slender means of subsistence. * IRISH VILLAGE INDUSTRIES. By Mrs. Rogers. This paper recapitulates the better known efforts of this character, and the writer points out that they are really works of charity, inasmuch as the managing ladies give their time and trouble, and pay the workers regularly when the work is finished, taking upon themselves the risk of selling it or not. Special reference is made to the work of Mrs. Bagwell, Miss Sturge, Mrs. Ponsonby of Garry Hill, Mrs. Hall Dare of Newtonbarry, and others. LACE-MAKING. By B. Lindsey. The revival of the lace-making industry in Ireland is here traced, and the record is most interesting. The ladies who have striven to effect this revival have promoted a truly philanthropic work. * LADIES' IRISH ASSOCIATION, Dublin. By Elizabeth Henrietta Purcell. This Association, founded in 1821, provides Scripture-readers and teachers, maintains and assists schools, and gives relief and clothing, not only to the poor, but to distressed ladies and clergymen. THE ROYAL IRISH ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN, Dublin. By Miss Alice Croker. This Association was formed, in 1883, for the purpose of providing technical training for women, and so enable them to undertake remunerative employment, which the Association endeavours to secure for them. Her Majesty the Queen became its patroness in 1888, and the classes include 44 2 Appendix. instruction in scrivenery, plain tracing, wood-carving, illuminating,, typewriting, shorthand, etc. It may be mentioned that the carved oak chest containing the Irishwomen's jubilee offering to her Majesty, and the carved casket containing the Bible presented by the women of Great Britain and Ireland to H.R.H. Princess Louise of Wales, on the occasion of her marriage, were made by pupils of this Association. THE BALLINTRA (DONEGAL) HAND- EMBROIDERY INDUSTRY. By Dora Hamilton. This district has long been an important centre of the hand-embroidery industry, in which the children are trained and become skilled hands from a very early age. Materials are supplied by the " sprigging " agents of Belfast firms, who ultimately purchase the work. Mrs. Hamilton introduced new methods and designs, by which she raised the prices paid to the people. But improved machinery and hostile tariffs have recently done serious injury to the trade. THE BALLYARDLE COTTAGE INDUSTRIES. By Miss Stewart. This lady began the encouragement of cottage industries in Ireland twenty-five years ago, with a view of assisting those to whom life was one long struggle to keep the wolf from the door. The women suffered more than the men, but the enforced idleness had a most demoralizing effect on all. She began by teaching the women the simpler kinds of needle- work, proceeding to fine knitting and embroidery, in which they soon became quite skilful. The enterprise is placed on a business-like footing, and Ballyardle is rapidly developing into a prosperous, little industrial centre. This, perhaps, is one of the most remarkable instances of how much one willing and ready, and knowing what to do, can do for others whose hands are listlessly folded before them for want of energy and training. BALTONY FRIEZE INDUSTRY, Co. Donegal. By Miss E. Alexander. Mrs. Martin, who organized this enterprise, is a property owner in the wildest part of Donegal. Five of her tenants now have looms, and some get their wool from their own sheep. An excellent frieze, twenty-nine inches wide, strong, serviceable, and well woven, is made by them and sold at from 2s. 9 373 , Homes for Working, 46 , Industrial Home for, 375 Industrial School, Fakenham, Norfolk, 383 , Kidbrook Preventive Home for, Blackheath, London, 383 , Ladies' Association for the Care of Friendless, 42, 383 Letter Guild, 126, 128 , Leeds, 381 Metropolitan Association for Be- friending Young Servants, 384 Royal Female Philanthropic Society, 389 St. Mary's Training Home, Netting Hill, London, 389 , Social and protective work for, 378-389 Girls, Soho Club for Working, 50 Training Home, Cork Workhouse, 443 Travellers' Aid Society, 385 Westbourne Evening Home, 388 Glendenning, R. P., Report of, on the Ladies' Benevolent Society, Too- woomba, Queensland, 459 Glyn, Lady Mary, Report of, on the Children's Happy Evenings Asso- ciation, 370 Godolphin, Margaret, 134 Good Samaritan Convent, Sydney, Sisterhood of the, 455 Good Shepherd, Nuns and Children of the, 417 Goode, Mrs., Report of, on the Eigen Seaside Home of Rest, 390 Gordon Hall and Mild may Boarding- House, Liverpool, 382 Gough, Miss A., Report of, on the Employment Agency Department of the Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation, 387 Greathed, Mrs., and the Ladies' Home, St. John's Wood, 397 Great Northern Central Hospital, London (Ladies' Association), 403 Grey, Hon. Odeyne de, Report of, on a carving-class, Ratcliff, London, 433 Grimwood, Miss, Report of, on the Halstead Industrial School, 382 Guardians of the poor, Women as, 248-264 Guernsey Nursing Corps, 424 Ragged School, 425 Society for Supplying Needlework to the Respectable Poor, 77, 424 Guild, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Needlework, 76, 424 , Clothing, for Poor Clergy in the Diocese of Ripon, 76, 396 for Impoverished Irish Gentle- women, Mrs. Dalison's, 234, 398 , Girls' Letter, 126, 128 , , Leeds, 381 , Holiday, 313 , Isle of Wight Needlework, 76 , Ladies', 74 , Ladies' Needlework, Ripon, 76, 423 , Lady Wolverton's Needlework, 423 472 Index. Guild, Literary, 74 , London Needlework, 84 , Needlework, 75, 279 , North St. Pancras Working, 76, 425 of the Good Samaritan, 85 , Teachers', 277 , Theatrical Ladies', 77, 425 , Working Ladies', 278, 399 Guilds, Jewish Working, 43 , Ladies', 74 , Ladies' Needlework, 74, 128 , Working, 72-78 , Working, and Work Societies, 423-425 Halford, Hon. Mrs., 84 Halloran, Mona O., Report of, on Convalescent Hospital, South Aus- tralia, 461 Halstead Industrial School, 382 Hamilton, Dora, Report of, on the Ballintra Hand - Embroidery In- dustry, 442 , Lady Grisell Bail lie, and her wood-carving class in Scotland, 305 , Miss, and Banks, Miss, Report of, on the Irish Ladies' Work Society, 440 Hamond, Miss S., Report of, on the Girls' Industrial School, Fakenham, Norfolk, 383 , Report of, on the Nurses' Home at Fakenham, Norfolk, 429 Hanson, Mrs. Arthur, and her work among the Turkish Refugees, 295, 460 Hanway, Jonas, 265 Happy Home Thank-Offering Band, 382 Harkness, Mrs., Report of, on the Ladies* Association of the Great Northern Central Hospital, 403 Harrison, Mrs. A., Report of, on the Convalescent Home for Poor Chil- dren, Westhill Road, St. Leonard's, 370 Harrow and Pinner, Benefactresses of, 422 Harvey, Mrs. Anna M., Report of, on the Women's Christian Temperance Union, Leeds, 396 Headingly Orphan Homes, Leeds, 372 Health Lectures, Syllabus of, 203 Missioners, 192, 200 , Syllabus of lectures to, 2OI Nursing, Florence Nightingale on, 184-205 , What it is, 186 Help Society, Men and Women's, 407 Hemlock, 212 Henderson, Lady, Report of, on the Flower-Girls' Mission, 380 Henry, Princess, of Battenberg, 76 Herbert, Lady, of Lea, 88 Heronniere Home for Men and Boys, Guernsey, 425 Hessian Fly, 327 Highland Home Industries, 304, 435 Hilton, Mrs., 83 , and her Creche, 7 , Report of, on the Creche system, 370 Hime, Rebecca, Report of, on the Londonderry District Nursing Society, 448 Hinton, James, on nursing, 206 " Hirings," 127 Hoare, Mrs. Charles, Report of, on the Ladies' Work Society, 397 Hoey, Mrs. Cashel, on philanthropic work of women in British Colonies and the East, 334-360 Holiday Homes at Addiscombe, 85 of the Ragged School Union, 85 Holyhead Institute and Training Home, Tan Altron, Holyhead, 382 Holy Trinity Shelter for Street Children, Leeds, 372 Home and Colonial School Society, 314, 436 Arts and Industries Association, 304 Cripples' Branch, 85 for Blind Children, Kilburn, 426 for Consumptive Females, Glou- cester Place, London, 390 for Female Orphans, Grove Road, St. John's Wood, 373 for Girls, Ripon, 382 for Governesses and Lady Work- ers, Brisbane, 458 for Invalid Children, Brighton, 373 Index. 473 Home for Mothers and Infants, Princess Frederica's, 391 for Orphan Girls, Babbicombe, Torquay, 373 Mission work, 118, 399-419 in Scotland, 404 of Industry, 8 for Destitute Children, Bethnal Green, London, 374 of Peace for the Dying. See " Friedenheim " of Rest for the Aged Poor, Porto- bello, 420 of Rest, Winterslow House, Wey- mouth, 397 Homes and Refuges for the Fallen, 150 for the Aged Poor, 420 for Working Girls, 46 of Rest, Addiscombe, 374 Hope, E. M., Report of, on the Churchwomen's Association of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 401 Hopkins, Miss Ellice, and Friendless Girls, 42 Horses, Home of Rest for, 332, 419 Horton, Mrs. St. A., Report of, on Richmond Home, Worthing, 429 Hospice of the Sisters of Charity, Harold's Cross, Dublin, 246 Hospital for Sick Children, Brisbane, 458 , Great Northern Central, London, 403 , St. Monica's Home, Brondesbury Park, London, 377 Hospitals, Administration of, 187 at Benares and Lucknow, 356 , Children's, Dublin, 240 , Cottage, 119 for Children, 7 , Mater Misericordias, Dublin, 239 , Mrs. Milman on visiting, 381 , St. Vincent's, Dublin, 240 Housing of the working classes, 421 Howard, Miss E. F., Report of, on the Walthamstow Home for Destitute Children, 378 Hubbard, Miss, Report of, on the National Union of Women Workers, 400 , Miss Louisa M., on statistics of women's work, 361-366 Hubbard, Mrs., on the organization of women workers, 273-283 Hughes, Mrs. Hugh Price, 139 Hume, A. K., Report of, on the Home for Governesses and Lady Workers, Brisbane, 458 Hunter, Mrs., and the navvies, IO2 Hutchinson, Mrs. 133 Hyndman, Miss M. H., Report of, on the Girls' Friendly Society in Ire- land, 440 Illuminated Text Mission, 359, 451 Immorality in Christian lands, 65 Incurables, St. Marylebone Home for, 392 India, Colonies, and Abroad, work of women in, 451-462 , Ladies' Association for the Pro- motion of Female Education in, and other Heathen Countries, 357, 452 , National Association for supply- ing Female Medical Aid to the Women of, 353, 453 , Zenana Bible and Medical Mis- sion in, 356 Indigent Blind Visiting Society, Red Lion Square, 426 Industrial Exhibition, West Linton, 439 Home, Brisbane, 458 for Girls, Sloane Street, London, 375 School, Drogheda, 444 Society at Golspie, 303 Infants' Home, Sydney, 339, 456 Infidelity in Christian lands, 65 Intemperance in Christian lands, 65 Invalid Children's Aid Association, Buckingham Street, London, 375 Ipswich, Queensland, Ladies' Benevo- lent Association, 458 Ireland, Girls' Friendly Society in, 440 , Lace-making in, 441 , Philanthropic work of women in, 228-247 , Work of women in, 440-451 Irish Association for Promoting the Training and Employment of Women, Royal, 441 Ladies' Work Society, Kingstown, 234, 441 Peasant women's work, 441 474 Index. Irish village industries, 441 Ironmongers Company, Gifts to the ironwork class at Drayton, Somer- set, 306 Ironwork Class, Drayton (Somerset), Beaten, 434 Irreligion in Christian lands, 65 Italy, Waldensian Church Missions in, 454 Jameson, Miss Alice, Report of, on St. Mary's Training Home, Netting Hill, London, 389 Janes, Miss Emily, on the associated work of women in religion and philanthropy, 131-148 , Report of, on Ladies' Associations for the Care of Girls, 383 Jazdowska, Miss M. M., Report of, on the Ladies' Work Society, Sloane Street, London, 397 Jewish care of children, 43 Charity, 143 Ladies' Loan Society, 143 schools and penny dinners, 20 working guilds, 43 Jews, Philanthropic work among the, 404 Jones, Agnes, Florence Nightingale on, 253 , superintendent of the Brownlow Hill Workhouse Infirmary, Liver- pool, 253, 272 Jones, Mrs. E. Cadman, Report of, on Miss Sheppard's Annuitants' Homes, 398 Journal of the Workhouse Visiting So- ciety, 269 Kaiserwerth, 138 Keane, Miss, Report of, on lace-making at Cappoquin, 451 Keith, Agnes, Report of, on the Lady Musgrove Lodge, Brisbane, 459 Kensington Polytechnic, 308 Kenward, Miss, and the Girls' Letter Guild, Birmingham, 381 Keswick Industrial School of Art and the Ruskin Linen Factory, 310, 436 Kidbrook Preventive Home for Girls, Blackheath, London, 383 Kindergarten Home for Destitute and Deserted Children, Epsom, 375 King, Miss Gertrude J., Report of, on the Society for Promoting the Em- ployment of Women, 392 Kingsbury, Lizzie, Report of, on the Industrial Home, Brisbane, 458 Kinnaird, Hon. Emily, Report of, on the Young Women's Christian As- sociation, 386 , Lady, 39, 88 , Report of, on the Factory Helpers' Union, 380 Kinsey, Mrs., Report of, on the Train- ing College for Teachers of the Deaf, Baling, 427 Kirk, Mrs., Report of, on the Cripples' Nursery for Boys and Girls, 371 , Mrs. John, Report of, on Women's Work in the Ragged School Union, 414 Knightly, Lady, ofTFawsley, Report of, on the Ladies' Sanitary Associ- ation, 436 Knitting Industry, Valencia Island, 232, 451 Industry at Carna, Connemara, 294 at Carrick, 293 in " the Rosses," 294 " Knutsford, Lady, Report of, on the Society for Promoting the Return of Women as Poor-Law Guardians, 422 Labour, increasing division of, 301 Lace-making at Cappoquin, Co. Water- ford, 231, 451 at Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, 231, 450 at the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy, Holy Cross, Killarney, 230 at the Convent of Poor Clares, Kenmare, 230 at the Convent of the Sisters of St. Louis, Carrickmacross, 230 in Ireland, 441 in Limerick, 231 at the Presentation Convent, Youghal, 451 School and Lace Industry at the Convent of the Poor Clares, Ken- mare, Co. Kerry, 446 School at Cranneld, Bucks, 438 School, Limerick, 447 Index. 475 Lace-making, Youghal, 230 , Pillow, Industry in Northampton- shire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedford- shire, 438 Ladies' Association for the Care of Friendless Girls, 42, 383 Association for the Promotion of Female Education among the Hea- then, 357 Association for Useful Work, Birmingham, 312 Benevolent Association, Ipswich, Queensland, 458 Benevolent Society, 407 , Toowoomba, Queensland, 459 Clergy Homes for, Paddington, 396 Council of Education, 129 Self-Help Institute Fund, 396 Guild, 74 Guilds, 74 Guild, Theatrical, 77 Help for Poor, 396-399 Home, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, 397 Home of Rest, Winterslow House, Weymouth, 397 Humane Education Committee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 330 Irish Association, Dublin, 441 Luther Memorial Hall, Ledbury Road, London, 397 , Miss Sheppard's Annuitants' Homes, 398 , Mrs. Dalison's Guild for Im- poverished Irish, 398 Needlework Guilds, 74, 128 Needlework Guild, Diocese of Ripon, 76, 424 Royal Homes for, London, 398 Samaritan Society, in connection with the National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic, 426 Sanitary Association, 311, 437 1 Dublin, 238 Work Society, 397 , Sloane Street, London, 397 Working Guild, 399 Lambton, Lady Victoria, on Philan- thropic Aspects of Nursing, 206-215 Lamington, Lady, Report of, on the North St. Pancras Children's Holi- day Fund, 376 Lancet Commission on sick in work- houses, 278 Landport, Welcome Mission at, 163 Lankester, Miss Ray, Report of, on the National Health Society, 437 Laundry work, 318 Leather, Miss A. F., Report of, on the Invalid Children's Aid Association, Buckingham Street, London, 375 Leaton, Colonial Training School at, 89 Lees, Miss Florence. See Craven, Mrs. Dacre Leonard, Mrs. Selfe, Report of, on the Bible-Women's Mission, 400 Report of, on the Nurses con- nected with the Bible-Women's Mission, 428 Libraries, old-fashioned, xvi. Lidgett, Miss E. S., on Women as Guardians of the Poor, 248-264 Limerick Lace School, 447 Lindley Wood, Wharfedale, navvies at, 92 Lindsey, B., Report of, on lace- making, 441 Linen Industry at Keswick, 310 weaving at Skibbereen, 229 Lisnagary, Co. Limerick, wood-carv- ing at, 233, 447 Literary Guild, 74 Little Gidding, the " Protestant Nuns " of, 134 Sisters of the Poor, Portobello Road, London, 418 Liverpool Technical College, 318 Lloyd, Miss, 277 Report of, on the Church of England Women's Missionary As- sociation, 454 Local Government Board, 250 Lodging-house Work in London, 406 London and Brighton Convalescent Home, Brighton, 391 Needlework Guild, 84 Pupil Teachers' Association : Girls' Division, 384 , the centre of English life and civilization, 120 Wesleyan Methodist Mission, 406 476 Index. Londonderry and North- West of Ireland Home for Women, 238, 448 District Nursing Society, 448 , Temperance movement in, 241, 449 Loretta Nuns, 133 Lucas, Miss, Report of, on the Flegg Band of Mercy Union, 435 Lupton, Miss Mary G., Report of, on the Gentlewomen's Self-Help Insti- tute Fund, 396 Luther Memorial Hall, Ledbury Road, London, 397 Lyall, Miss, Report of, on the Clergy Ladies' Homes, Paddington, 396 Macaulay, Catherine, 229 McConnell, Mrs. D. C., Report of, on the Hospital for Sick Children, Bris- bane, 458 McDonnell, Miss, Report of, on penny dinners in Dublin, 445 Macgrath, Miss S. E., Report of, on the Kindergarten Home for Desti- tute and Deserted Children, Epsom, 375 Machinery, Effects of application of, 301 Maclnnes, Miss, Report of, on St. Andrew's Orphan Home, 376 Mackenzie, Hon. Mrs. Muir, on Women's Work for Animals, 329- 333 Macpherson, Miss, 90 , and emigration, 8 , Report of, on the Home of In- dustry for Destitute Children, Bethnal Green, London, 374 , Report of, on Work among Poor Widows in East London, 393 Madeira, Sailors' Rest at, 176 Magdalen Asylum at High Park, near Dublin, 238 Malleson, Mrs. Frank, on Philanthropic Aspects of Nursing, 206-215 , Report of, on the Rural District Branch of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, 429 Malta, Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, I 7 6 Mander, Mrs., Report of, on the Orphan Training Home, Wolver- hampton, 376 Manor-house and charity, xv. , a training-school for young servants, xv. Marjoram, Wild, 213 Marsden, Miss Kate, 223 Marsh, Miss, and the navvies at Beckenham, 98, 106-110 , Report on her work among the navvies at Beckenham, 409 Marshall, Miss, Report of, on St. Monica's Home Hospital, Brondes- bury Park, London, 377 Marshman, Alice, Report of, on the London and Brighton Female Con- valescent Home, Brighton, 391 Martin, Miss Frances, Report of, on the College for Working Women, Fitzroy Street, London, 433 , Sarah, 134 Martineau, Dr. James, letter from, 418 Martin's Act, 329 Mary Wardell Convalescent Home for Scarlet Fever, Stanmore, Middlesex, 429 Mason, Miss Charlotte, 280 Maternity Hospital, Clapham, 221 Mathildis, 72 Maude, Miss A. E., and her ironwork class at Dray ton, Somerset, 305 , Report of, on the Drayton (Somerset) Beaten ironwork class, 434 Meath, Countess of, on the Brabazon Employment Scheme, 260 Meath, Co., Women's Work in, 449 Meinertshagen, Alice L. M., Report of, on the Royal Homes for Ladies, London, 398 Melbourne, Charitable Institutions in, 338 , Ladies' Benevolent Society, 336 Melville, Lady, and the North St. Pancras Working Guild, 76 , Report of, on the North St. Pancras Working Guild, 425 Menzies, Mrs. Stephen, Report of, on the Gordon Hall and Mildmay Boarding-House, Liverpool, 382 Mercer, Mary, 228 Meredith, Mrs., 138, 139, 277 , Report of Institutions conducted by, 394 Index. 477 Merington, Miss, first woman guardian of the poor, 251 Metropolitan and National Nursing Association, 218 Association for Befriending Young Servants, 35, 88, 255, 270, 274, 384 Tabernacle; Women's Work, 407 Middleton Industrial School, Co. Armagh, 449 Midwives' Institute and Trained Nurses' Club, 276 Mildmay, 138 deaconesses, 220 institutions, 408 and dinners for children, 20 Milman, Mrs., on visiting hospitals, 381 Ministering Children's League, 278 Minna, Sister, Report of, on the Mission to the fisher-folk, 402 Mirabeau, Memorable saying of, 66 Mission Homes and Ragged School, Dublin, 445 ladies, Canon Body's, 136 to the fisher-folk, 402 Mission-women, parochial, 140 Mission Work, Albert Docks, London, 375 Missions to Seamen Society, 175 Molesworth, Mrs., on " Food, Fun, and Fresh Air " for the little ones, 13-34 Montagu, Lady, of Beaulieu, Report of, on the Parochial Mission Women's Association, 411 Montague, Mrs. Annie, and the Brix- ton Orphanage for Fatherless Girls, 8 , Report of, on the Brixton Orphanage for Girls, 369 Moravian Church, Woman's Work in the British Province of the, 409 sisters, 137 More, Hannah, 134 , and her work in the Mendip villages, 5 Mothers' Home, East End, 22O " Mothers in Council," 70 , influence of, 67 meetings and ragged schools, 83 , responsibilities of, 65-71 Union, 65, 67, 70, 117, 122, 278, 409 Mothers' Union, objects of, 68 Union Journal, 70 Union, Scotland, 142 Mount Hermon Girls' Orphan Homes, Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, Lon- don, 375 Mountmellick embroidery, 230, 449 Moyes, Mrs. T. F., Report of, on Lodging-House Work in London, 406 Mulholland, Rosa, See Gilbert, Mrs. John T. Munster Dairy and Agricultural School, 233. 449 Napoleon on education, 67 National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, 353, 453 Central Office. See Society for Promoting Female Welfare Health Society, 312, 437 Union for Improving the Edu- cation of Women, 277 for the Technical Education of Women in Domestic Sciences, 318 of Women Workers, 148, 400 Vigilance Association, 153 Navvies at Beckenham, 106-1 10 at Lindley Wood, Wharfedale, 92 at Swinstey, 99 work among the, at Beckenham, 409 Navvy Mission Society, 92-105, 410 Navy, work in the Royal, 432 Nazareth, French philanthropy at, 358 Needlework Association, Alford, 77 at the Soho Club, 51 , Guernsey Society for Supplying, to the Respectable Poor, 77, 424 Guild, 75, 279 Guild, Berkshire and Bucking- hamshire, 76, 424 Guild, diocese of Ripon, Ladies', 76, 424 Guild, Isle of Wight, 76 Guilds, Ladies', 74, 128 Guild, Lady Wolverton's, 424 Guild, London, 84 , Royal School of Art, 224-227, 280 478 Index. Newberry, Miss E. F., Report of, on the Home for Blind Children, Kil- burn, 426 New South Wales, Evidences of Women's Work in, 457 , Female School of Industry, 342 , Philanthropy in, 339 , Queen's Jubilee Fund, 456 , St. Joseph's Hospital for Con- sumptives, Paramatta, 456 , The Sacred Heart Hospice for the Dying, Darlinghurst, 456 New Zealand, Homes for Fallen Girls and Women, 461 , Philanthropic societies in, 461 Niagara, training-house at, 90 Nicholas, St., of Myra, 26 Nightingale, Florence, 79, 138, 1 60, 206, 216 , on Sick-nursing and Health- nursing, 184-205 , "The Lady with the Lamp," xvii. Training Institute for Nurses, 216 Ningpo, Boarding-school at, 352 Norfolk, County of, Old Doles and Charities in the, 421 Northamptonshire, Pillow-lace industry in, 437 Northern Union of Domestic Economy, 129 of Schools of Cookery, 321 North St. Pancras Children's Holiday Fund, 31 Norwich, xvii. Nurses, 364 , Association for Providing Trained, to Workhouses, 218 , Charles Dickens on, 206 connected with the Bible- Women's Mission, 429 , Discipline in training, 187 Home at Fakenham, Norfolk, 429 , Requisites of a good training- school for, 187 , Rural District Branch of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for, 430 . , training of, 186, 200 , Westminster Training-School for, 219 Nursing, 216-223, 276, 428-430 , an art, 186 Association, Cottage, 221 Nursing Association, Metropolitan and National, 218 Corps, Guernsey, 424 district, 199, 209 , Home Nursing Work among the Sick Poor, 428 institutions, 119 , James Hinton on, 206 , Londonderry District Society, 448 , Ockley System for, 222 , Philanthropic aspects of, 206-215 , Society, East London, 218 the sick, 184-205 , What it is, 186 O'Beirne, Sister, Report of, on Train- ing-Schools of the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy, St. Patrick's, Sligo, 451 O'Connell, Eliza E., Report of, on the Girls' Friendly Society in Queens- land, 458 , Report of on the Lady Bowen Lying-in Hospital, Brisbane, 459 One Tun Schools, Westminster Build- ings, London, 410 Onward and Upward Association, Scotland, 142 Ormerod, Miss, and her "Notes for Observations on Injurious Insects," 326 , and her Work in Agricultural Entomology, 323-328 Orphan Association, The, 9 Orphanage, Mrs. Smyly's Birds' Nest, 237 of the Sacred Heart Home, Drumcondra, Dublin, 238 of the Sisters of the Holy Faith, Glasnevin, Dublin, 237 Orphans, Brixton Orphanage for Girls, 370 Home, Austral Street, West Square, London, 376 , Home for Female, Grove Road, St. John's Wood, 573 , Home for Girls, Babbicombe, Torquay, 373 , Homes at Headingly, Leeds, 372 , Mount Hermon Girls' Homes, Kilburn, London, 375 , St. Andrew's Home, 376 Index. 479 Orphan Training Home, Wolverhamp- ton, 376 Our Lady of Charity, Refuges for Women of the Order of, 418 Our Lady of Mercy, Convent of, Holy Cross, Killarney, 446 , Convent of, St. Marie's of the Isle, Cork, 444 , Convent of, St. Patrick's, Sligo, 451 , Sisters of Charity of, 418 " Our Work," 135 Palestine, French Philanthropy in, 358 , Philanthropic work in, 358 Papillon, Mrs., Report of, on the Church of England Women's Help Society, 390 Parents' National Educational Union, 129, 280, 315, 437 Parochial Mission Women's Association, Buckingham Street, Strand, 411 Parry, Mrs., Report of, on the Mount Hermon Girls' Orphan Homes, Kil- burn, London, 375 Peace Cottage, Heronsgate, Herts, 388 Pearman, Mrs., Report of, on the Ladies' Samaritan Society, in connection with the National Hospital for the Para- lyzed and Epileptic, 426 Pearson, Mrs. Adam, Report of, on the Home of Rest for the Aged Poor, Portobello, 420 Pease, Mrs. Henry, and the Orphan Home at Cockerton, near Darling- ton, 379 Pennefather, Mrs., 138, 139 , Report of, on the Mildmay Institutions, 408 Penny dinners, Cork, 241, 443 , in Dublin, 241, 445 Perry, Mrs., Report of, on the Bristol and Clifton Association for the Employment of Blind Women and Girls, 425 Petrie, Miss Mary L. G., on serving one another, 300-316 Philanthropic work carried on by ladies, 412 work in the British Colonies and the East, 334-360 Philanthropy, Associated work of women in, 131-148 Phillpotts, Miss, Report of, on the Torquay Working Boys' Institute, 439 Pinner. See Harrow. Flatten, Mrs., Report of, on the Illumi- nated Text Mission, 451 Plymouth Sailors' Rest, 170 Police Courts Birmingham, Lady- visitor's work in, 389 Polytechnics, 53 Ponsonby, Mrs., Report of, on the Garry Hill Cottage Industry, 446 Poole, Mrs. Ward, and the temperance movement in Londonderry, 241 Poor Law Guardians, Society for Promoting the Return of Women as, 422 Poor Sisters of Nazareth, 418 Porter, Miss, Report of, on Girls' Letter Guild, 381 Portman Chapel Work Society for the Encouragement of Industry, 391 Portsea, Sailors' Welcome at, 163 Portsmouth Soldiers' Institute, 160, 430 Powles, C. T. Report of, on Philan- thropic Societies in New Zealand, 461 Presbyterian Female Effort Associa- tion, 412 Princess, Christina, of Margate, 73 Princess Frederica's Home for Mothers and Infants, 391 Princess of Wales's Technical School, at Sandringham, 307, 438 Prisons, Lady-visitors in, 405 Providence Technical Woollen Manu- factory, Fox ford, 229 Purcell, Elizabeth H., Report of, on the Ladies' Irish Association, 441 Quakerism, 140 Queen, The, ix. xx. Queen Anne's Bounty, xx. Queen Elizabeth's Law for the Poor, xx: Queen's Jubilee Fund, New South Wales, 456 Queen's Jubilee Institute, 209 Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, Rural District Branch of, 430 Queensland Girls' Friendly Society,, 348, 458 , Ladies' Benevolent Society, 342 Ragged School, Guernsey, 425 Union, 84 480 Index. Ragged School, Women's work in, 414 Schools, and mothers' meetings, 83 , Teaching in, 81 , Temperance work in, 8l , Woman's work in, 79-86 Ranyard, Mrs., 220 Ratcliff Highway, London, 153 Rathbone, Mr. William, and philan- thropic nursing, 209 Rawnsley, Mrs. Hardwicke, 310 Recreative Evenings Association, 50, 279 Evening Schools Association, 308, 440 Reeves, Miss H. H., Report of, on the cottage hand-loom industry, Cork, 443 Reformatory and Refuge Union, Char- ing Cross, 149 Religion, Associated work of women in, 131-148 Repousse-work classes at Torquay and Bournemouth, 306 Rescue work among women, 149-159 Richardson, Mrs., Report of, on the St. John's Wood Institute, Y.W.C.A., 388 Richmond Home, Worthing, 429 Ripon, Diocese of, Ladies' Needle- work Guild, 76 Roberts, Miss Dorothea, and her knit- ting industry in " the Rosses," 294 , Report of her work among the " Rosses," 450 , Mrs., Report of, on the Pillow- lace Industry in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire, 437 Robinson, Miss, and her work among soldiers, 160 Rogers, Mrs., and her work among the Irish peasants, 290 , and her work at Carna, Con- nemara, 293 , Report of, on Irish peasant women's work, 441 , Report of, on Irish village in- dustries, 441 Roman Catholic Church, Charity in connection with the, 417 " Rosses," the, and its knitting in- dustry, 294 "Rosses," Miss Roberts's work among the, 450 Rosslyn Weary Toilers' Rest, Brent- wood, Essex, 391 Rothschild, Lady de, Report of, on the Destitute Children's Dinner Society, 371 Rowcliffe, Miss Louie, Report of, on the Cabmen's Shelter, London Road Station, Manchester, 419 Royal Female Philanthropic Society, 389 Homes for Ladies, London, 398 Irish Association for Promoting the Training and Employment of Women, 234 Naval Christian Union, 173 Naval Temperance Society, 169, 173 School of Art Needlework, 224- 227, 280 Rural Nursing Association, 119, 123, 209 Ruskin Linen Factory, 436 Russell, Lady Rachel, 133 , Sister Mary E., Report of, on the Sewing School, Convent of Mercy, Newry, 450 Rye, Miss, and emigration, 89 Sacred Heart Hospice for the Dying, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, 456 Sailors, work among, 166-177, 43 2 St. Agatha's Home, Bartlow, Cam- bridgeshire, 376 St. Andrew's Orphan Home, 376 St. Catharine of Sienna, 133 St. Chad's Children's Home, Heading- ley, Leeds, 46, 376 St. John's Home, Brighton, 377 St. John's Home of Rest for Working Women, East Molesey, 392 St. John's House, Norfolk Street, Strand, 217 St. John's Wood Institute of the Y.W.C.A., 388 St. Joseph's Hospital for Consumptives, Paramatta, N.S.W., 456 St. Joseph's Orphanage, Dundalk, 445 St. Jude's Home, Chelsea, 377 St. Katherine, Royal Hospital of, 276 St. Marylebone Home for Incurables, 392 Index. 481 St. Mary's Training Home, Netting Hill, London, 389 St. Monica's Home Hospital, Brondes- bury Park, London, 377 St. Pancras, North, Children's Holiday Fund, 376 , , Working Guild, 425 St. Theresa, 133 St. Thomas's Diocesan Home, Basing- stoke, 395 Si. Vincent de Paul, Order of, 133, 137 St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, 457 Sala, Mrs. George Augustus, on Working Guilds and Work Societies, 72-80 Salvation Army, 141 , Laundry and factory visiting, 151 , Rescuing medium of, 151 Sandringham, Princess of Wales's Technical School at, 307, 438 Sands, Miss, and her work among the soldiers, 163 Sanitation among villagers, 211 Santa Claus Society and Home, High- gate, 26, 377 School, Halstead Industrial, 382 , Housewifery, at Govan, 47 of Industry, Female, New South Wales, 342 of the Sisters of Mercy, St. Marie of the Isles, Cork, 235 , Training, Cork Workhouse, 236 , Training, of the Sisters of Charity, Stanhope Street, Dublin, 235 Schools, Teaching in Ragged, 8 1 , Temperance work in Ragged, 81 , Woman's work in Ragged, 79- 86 Scotch Navvy Mission, 104 Scott, Miss R., Report of, on the Hand- sewing Industry, in Castlefinn, Co. Donegal, 442 Seamen's Institutes, 175 Sellers, Miss Edith, Report of, on Mrs. John Elder's work at Govan, 437 , Report of, on the Keswick In- dustrial School of Art, and the Ruskin Linen Factory, 436 , Report of, on Women's Work for the Welfare of Girls, 35-48 Senior, Mrs. Nassau, 9, 36 , Inspector of Workhouses and District Schools, 254, 269 Servant-Girls' Home, Derby Lodge, Dalston Lane, London, 385 Servants' Home, Little, Stroud, 310 , Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young, 35, 255, 270, 274. 384 Training Institution for, Clapham, Surrey, 385 Sewell, Miss, Report of, on the Women's University Settlement, Southwark, 413 Sewing, Broomloan Classes for, at Govan, Glasgow, 309 , Hand-, Industry, in Castlefinn, Co. Donegal, 231, 232, 442 School, Convent of Mercy, Newry, Co. Down, 450 Shaftesbury, Earl of, xix., 415 , and the Ragged School move- ment, 80 Shantung, China, Women's work in, 357 Sheppard's, Miss, Annuitants' Homes, 398 Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, Woman's work in connection with the, 417 " Shut-ups," The, 128 Sickness, What it is, 186 Sick-Nursing, Florence Nightingale on, 184-205 Sick-women, London, in 1457, 73 Sieveking, Dr. Edward, on training nurses, 268 Simpson, Miss E. D., Report of, on the Ladies' Home, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, 397 Sinclair, Mrs., and her work in Donegal, 232 , Report of, on Work among the Peasants in Donegal, /\/\/\ Sisterhood at Broadstairs, 135 Sisterhoods, 118, 135, 137, 144, 217, 273 Sisters of Charity, Ireland, 228 of Our Lady of Mercy, 418 of St. Paul, Selly Park, Birmingham, 418 of St. Vincent de Paul, in Great Britain and Ireland, 418 , Sydney, 341 2 I 482 Index. Sisters of the Church, Kilburn, 135 of Mercy, 418 , Ireland, 229 of the Most Holy Cross and Passion, Schools, etc., in charge of the, 418 of Notre Dame in England, Edu- cational work carried on by the, 418 of St. Louis, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, 442 of St. Peter, 217 of the People, 43, 273, 407 Smith, Miss L., Report of, on the Evangelical Girls' School, Figueras, Spain, 460 Smith-Heriz, Miss F., Report of, on theY.W.C.A. branch at Worthing, 388 Smyly, Miss, Report of, on the Dublin Mission Homes and Ragged School, 445 , Report of, on the Birds' Nest, Kingston, Dublin, 446 Societe des Dames de Nazareth, 358 Society for Poor Ministers, 407 for Promoting Female Education in the East, 353 for Promoting Female Welfare, 274, 392 for Promoting Female Welfare in the East, 452 for Promoting the Employment of Women, Berners Street, London, 392 for Promoting the Return of Women as Poor- Law Guardians, 422 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 330 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 10 for the Propagation of the Gospel, "5 of Friends, 140, 402 Societies, Work, 72-80 Soho Club for Working Girls, 50 Soldiers' Institutes, 160 , Portsmouth, Institute, 431 , Work among, 160-166, 430 Somerset County Council, Gifts to the Iron-work Class at Drayton, Somerset, by the, 306 South Grove Home School, Tunbridge Wells, 439 Spearmint, 213 Stanley, Hon. Maude, on Clubs for Working Girls, 49-55 , and the shop-girls of London, 125 , Report of, on Clubs for Work- ing Girls, 380 , Lady Augusta, 219 Statistics of Women's Work, 361-366 Steam machinery, invention of, xviii. Steer, Miss Mary H., 277 , on Rescue Work by Women among Women, 149-159 , Report of, on the Bridge of Hope : a Mission for Women, Rat- cliff Highway, 393 Steevens, Griselda, 228 Steinthal, Emeline Petrie, Report of, on the Parents' National Educational Union, 437 Stephens, T. N., Report of, on Board- ing-out State Children, South Australia, 462 Stephenson, Dr., and his Children's Homes, 372 Stewart, Miss, Report of, on the Ballyardle Cottage Industries, 442 Storrar, Mrs. Helen Y., Report of, on the Kidbrook Preventive Home for Girls, 383 Stretton, Mrs. Hesba, on Women's Work for Children, 4-12 Stulfield, Louisa, Report of, on St. Agatha's Home, Bartlow, Cam- bridgeshire, 376 Sturge, Miss, at Letterfrack, in Connemara, 233 Sumner, Mrs., on the Responsibilities of Mothers, 65-71 , Report of, on the Mothers' Union, 409 Sutcliffe, Miss C., Report of, on the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, 453 Swinstey, Navvies at, 99 Sydney, New South Wales, Benevolent Asylum, 340 , Boarding-out System in, 455 Infants' Home, 339, 456 , Philanthropic Institutions in, 456 Index. 483 Sydney, St. Catherine's, Waverley, 456 , St. Vincent's Hospital, 457 , Sisterhood of the Good Samaritan Convent, 455 , Sisters of Charity in, 341 , Women's Philanthropic Work in, 457 Syrian Mission, 358 Taylour, I^dy Adelaide, Report of, on Women's Work in Co. Meath, 449 Teachers' Guild, 277 Technical and other Educational Work, 433-440 Education, 318 School, at Sandringham, 307, 438 Teck, Duchess of, and the Needlework Guild, 75 Temperance Home, British Women's, 394 , West Holme, Hounslow, 395 movement, in Ardmore, Co. Waterford, 241 , in Londonderry, 241, 449 work in Ragged Schools, 81 Tertiary Franciscan Houses, 418 Theatrical Ladies' Guild, 77, 425 Toowomba, Queensland, Ladies' Be- nevolent Society, 459 Torlesse, Frances H., Report of, on Homes for Fallen Girls and Women, New Zealand, 461 Torquay, Devonshire, Working Lads' Institute, 306, 439 Tottenham, Deaconess Home at, 138 Townsend, Miss, Report of, on the Pupil Teachers' Association ; Girls' Division, 384 Townsend, Mrs., Report of, on the Girls' Friendly Society, 380 Toys for children in hospitals, 27 Training College for Teachers of the Deaf, Ealing, 427 Institution for Servants, Clapham, Surrey, 385 Travellers' Aid Society, Old Cavendish Street, London, 40, 126, 275, 385 Trimmer, Mrs., 134 Tritton, Mrs. J. Herbert, Report of, on the Continental Division of the Young Women's Christian Associa- tion, 388 Tulse Hill Ladies' Working Party, 84 Turkish Bath and Home for Patients of the Poorer Classes, 450 Refugees, Mrs.! Arthur Hanson's work among the, 460 Twining, Miss, and her first visit to a London Workhouse, 248 , , on the History of Work- house Reform, 265-272 Underwood, Miss C., Report of, on St. Marylebone Home for Incur- ables, 392 Unitarianism and philanthropic work, 418 United British Women's Emigration Association, 88, 275 Sisters' Friendly Society, 276 Valencia Island Knitting Industry, 451 Ventilation among villagers, 211 Vernon, Miss, Report of, on the Lady Artists' and Students' Club, Paris, 455 Victoria, Preventive and Reformatory system of, 337 , Women's philanthropic work in, 460 Village Homes, Princess Mary, 9 Wallace, Mrs., Bilbrough, 90 Walter^W. D., Report of, on the work of the sisters of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 412 Walthainstow Home for Destitute Children, 378 Wantage, Lady, Report of, on the Servant Girls' Home, Derby Lodge, Dalston Lane, London, 385 Warble Fly, 327 " Watchers and Workers," 128 Waugh, Benjamin, II Weaving Industry ; The Sisters of Mercy of the Convent, at Skibbereen, 45 Webb, Miss, Report of, on the Society for Promoting Female Welfare in the East, 452 Webster, 73 4 8 4 Index. Wellesley, C. M., Report of, on the Cripples' Home and Industrial School for Girls, Marylebone Road, London, 379 Wesley, Susannah, 134 Wesleyan Army and Navy Committee, 176 Methodist Church, Work of the sisters, 412 Mission, Dr. Stephenson's Children's Homes, 372 Westbourne Evening Home, 388 West London Mission, 139 Westminster, Charities founded by women in, 422 Training-School for Nurses, 219 Weston, Miss Agnes E., On Work among Sailors, 167-177 , Report of, on Work in the Royal Navy, 431 West Riding Industrial Home for Women, Wakefield, Yorkshire, 396 White, Miss Ellen E., Report of, on Miss de Broen's Mission in Belleville, Paris, 455 , Mrs. Holmes, Report of, on the Aldershot Soldier's Wife Aid Society, 430 , , Report of, on the Ports- mouth Soldiers' Institute, 430 , , Report of, on the Society for Promoting Female Welfare, 392 Wickerwork at Letterfrack, in Connemara, 233 Widows, Work among Poor, in East London, 393 Wight, Isle of, Needlework Guild, 76 Wilkes, Mrs., 277 Winscombe, Miss, Report of, on Brownshill Court, Stroud, 433 Wintz, Miss, 170 Wolseley, Lord, on women's work among the soldiers, 163, 1641 Wolverton's, Lady, Needlework Guild, 75 423 Woman the Missionary of Industry, 284-299 Women, Amberley Convalescent Home for, 389 , Bridge of Hope : a Mission for, Ratcliff Highway, London, 393 British Temperance Home for, Sydenham, 394 Women, Christian Temperance Union, Leeds, 396 Church of England Help Society, 390 , Eigen Seaside Home of Rest for, 390 , Elizabeth Fry Refuge, Hackney, London, 394 Emigration Society, 88 Help Society, 88, 117, 274 , Church of England, 390 , Home for Consumptive, 390 , Institutions for Improving the Condition of, 389-393 , London and Brighton Female Convalescent Home, Brighton, 391 , Notes on Reports on the Philan- thropic Work of, 369-462 , Princess Frederica's Home for Mothers and Infants, 391 , Rescue and Reformative Work for, 393-396 , St. John's Home of Rest for Working, 392 , St. Marylebone Home for Incur- ables, 392 , St. Thomas's Diocesan Home, Basingstoke, 395 ' Society for Promoting Female Welfare, 274, 392 , Society for Promoting the Employment of, 392 Temperance Home, West Holme, Hounslow, 395 University Settlement, South- wark, 25, 30, 413 , West Riding Industrial Home for, Wakefield, 396 Wood-carving at Lisnagary, Co. Lime- rick, 233, 447 class, Notes on a, 433 in Scotland, 305 for working lads in Ratcliff, 35 433 classes at Keswick, 310 for Young Men's Clubs, 62 Woodcock, Mrs. E. , Report of, on the Chinese Bible-Women's Mission for Women and Children, 452 Woodhouse, Mrs., Report of, on the One Tun Schools, Westminster Buildings, London, 410 Index. 485 Woodlock, Mrs. Ellen, and the Children's Hospital, Dublin, 240 Woollen Manufactory, Providence Technical, Foxfoid, Co. Mayo, 445 Workhouse Children, Boarding-out of, 9 Girls' Aid Committees, 259 Infirmary Nursing Association, 254 Reform, History of, 265-272 Visiting Society, Journal of the, 269 Workhouses, Lancet Commission on sick in, 271 Working Classes, Amelioration of the Condition of the, 420-422 Guilds, 72-80 Ladies' Guild, 278, 399 Guild, North St. Pancras, 76 Work Societies, 72-80 Wortley, Hon. Mrs. Stuart, on Emigra- tion, 87-91 , on Nursing, 216-223 , Report of, on Home Nursing Work among the Sick Poor, 428 York, Bazaar at, 78 Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Educa- tion, 277, 439 Young Men, Clubs for, 56-64 Women's Christian Association, 38, 49, 88, 275 : Belgravian In- stitute, 387 (British), 386 : Continental Di- vision, 388 : Employment Agency Department, 387 and Institute Rooms, Bournemouth, 388 : London Divi- sion, 387 : St. John's Wood Institute, 388 : Worthing Branch, 388 Help Society, 49 Zenana Bible and Medical Mission in India, 356, 453 Missionary Society, 452 , Church of England, 351 THE END. LONDON I PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. H-V University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 1991