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LIFE AND LABOUR
OF THE
PEOPLE IN LONDON
LIFE AND LABOUR
OF THE
PEOPLE IN LONDON
BY
CHARLES BOOTH
ASSISTED BY
JESSE ARGYLE, ERNEST AVES, GEO. E. ARKELL ARTHUR L. BAXTER, GEORGE H. DUCKWORTH
Third Series: Religious Influences
LONDON NORTH OF THE THAMES:
THE INNER RING
5Lont(on
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. 1902
( o &C CELS'-
G. Norman & Son, Printers, Floral Street, London
Table of Contents
Pages
CHAPTER I. WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S-
IN-THE-EAST ( with Sketch Map ) . 3-66
|
(I) |
Changes ... ... ... |
• 1 • |
• • • |
Page |
3 |
|
(2) |
Spitalfields ... |
• • • |
• • • |
» t |
12 |
|
(3) |
Whitechapel ... |
... |
• • • |
1 > |
24 |
|
(4) |
St. George’s-in-the-East, Wapping and Shad- |
||||
|
WELL. •• • ... ••• |
• • • |
• • 4 |
f 9 |
30 |
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|
(5) |
The Roman Catholics |
• • • |
44# |
) I |
38 |
|
(0 |
Charitable Agencies... |
... |
1 t |
42 |
|
|
(7) |
Other Methods |
• » • |
• • 4 |
f f |
50 |
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(8) |
Local Government |
4 • • |
... |
t } |
58 |
|
(9) |
Summary |
• • • |
• # * |
1 1 |
64 |
CHAPTER II. BETHNAL GREEN, HAGGERSTON
AND PART OF S HOREDITCH (with Sketch Map) 67-103
(1) The Boundary Street Area... ... ... Page 67
(2) Other Parts of Bethnal Green ... . 76
(3) Oxford House... ... ... ... ... ,, 86
(4) Religious Work in Haggerston and Part
of Shoreditch ... ... ... ... ,, 89
(5) Standard of Life in Bethnal Green ... ,, 96
(6) Public Buildings and Local Administration
in Bethnal Green... ... ... ... ,, 100
Coloured, Map , with Notes and List of Places of Worship, for Chapters I and II
1 04- 1 10
CHAPTER III. HOXTON, ST. LUKE’S AND
CLERKENWELL (with Sketch Map) ... ... m-168
(1) Hoxton .. ... ... ... ... ... Page m
(2) St. Luke’s ... ... ... ... ... ,, 130
(3) Clerkenwell ... ... ... ... ... ,, 140
(4) Local Administration ... ... ... ,, 155
Coloured Map, with Notes and List of Places of Worship
VI
CONTENTS
Pages
CHAPTER IV. WEST CENTRAL LONDON {with
Sketch Map ) ... ... ... ... ... 169-208
(1) West of Gray’s Inn Road ... ... ... Page 169
(2) South of Oxford Street and Holborn, East
of Regent Street... ... ... ... ,, 177
(3) Russell Square to Langham Place ... ,, 196
(4) Local Government ... ... ... . 200
Coloured Map, with Notes and List of Places of Worship
CHAPTER V. ILLUSTRATIONS
• • •
• « #
209-246
TO THE READER
During the rather long period necessarily occupied in completing this work, various changes have taken place. Wherever possible, the more important of these have been indicated, but otherwise the facts have not been corrected to date of publication.
LONDON NORTH OF THE THAMES:
THE INNER RING
Date of the Inquiry in this District : 1898
11
I
CHAPTER I
WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S-IN-
THE-EAST
§ 1
CHANGES
I have now reached the point at which my study of London began fifteen years ago, and in this final review am able to note the changes that have taken place under my own observation, as well as those of earlier date recorded by some who have devoted themselves to religious, philanthropic or educational work in this district for twenty, thirty, forty or even, in one or two instances, for fifty years.
The whole district has been affected by the increase of the Jewish population. It has been like the slow rising of a flood. Street after street is occupied. Family follows family. No Gentile could live in the same house with these poor foreign Jews, and even as neighbours they are unpleasant ; and, since people of this race, though sometimes quarrelsome amongst themselves, are extremely gregarious and sociable, each small street or group of houses invaded tends to become entirely Jewish. Houses are bought or rented, however dilapidated they may be, or with however short a lease to run. The previous tenants are ejected, nominally for repairs, and their place is
4
WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
taken by the new owners or their new tenants, the houses being let and sublet and packed full of poor Jews. The crowding that results is very great, and the dirt reported as indescribable. House and land values rise, however. Rents are punctually paid by the tenants in chief, and are without doubt no less punctually collected from their sub-tenants.
Jewish influence is everywhere discernible. Chapels are superseded by synagogues, parish churches are left stranded ; Jewish children are being largely enrolled even in the Church schools, and an increasing number of the Board schools are being obliged to adopt Jewish holidays. The Jews have their local representatives in Parliament and on the Borough Council ; the self- managed working men’s clubs are in their hands ; at one time they nearly monopolised the People’s Palace ; and in Spitalfields they have taken possession of a benevolent society, a special object of which, earlier in the century, was to give help to the descendants of Protestant Huguenots !
In addition to the coming of the Jews there have been changes due to structural and industrial causes. Partly for business and partly for sanitary reasons, great clearances have been made, and those who formerly occupied the demolished houses have moved out North or East. We have found traces of them in many of the poor patches of the Outer ring. The proximity of the City has led to the absorption of large portions of the district for warehouses, and as regards water-side employment, the docks and the ships, the men and their work have to a great extent moved further down the river ; and such employment as remains has become more regular in character. Nor are these readjustments yet completed. Business premises continue to extend, the Jewish population to increase, and the field for casual dock labour to be more and more restricted. All this we see in
CHANGES
7
operation ; and all these changes, while entirely due to other causes, have greatly affected the religious and philanthropic work of which this district is the held, so that the development of each organization is to some extent a record of the changes themselves. It is more difficult to measure the effects produced on the panorama of East-End life by religion and philanthropy than it is to trace on these the influence of changed and changing conditions.
But although the spread of the Jews has been rapid, it would be far from the whole truth merely to say that they have ousted the original inhabitants, for as we see many of these were disturbed by other causes. Nor when the Jews have ousted others does the community necessarily suffer ; on the contrary, it is sometimes recognised that they have acted as c moral scavengers ’ ; for it is undoubtedly true that the Jews c improve the character of the worst streets when they get in/ They have already taken one end of Great Pearl Street and c it is probably the Jews alone who will turn out the prostitutes from the end that is still bad/
The religious life of the Jews has been described in a previous volume.* It is a family religion, a matter of birth and heritage, even more than of belief. Its activities are evidenced in the numerous synagogues, which in this district make of Saturday a second Sunday, by the great Jewish Free School, and by the careful organization of their charities. It is not too much to say that no one born a Jew is untouched by the influence of his religion. The poor, ignorant, half-civilized foreign Jew forms no part of c heathen * London, and indeed he observes the ritual and respects the traditions of his faith more scrupulously than do his English born and better educated brethren.
With regard to the present relations between our religion and theirs, it must be admitted that all attempts * Vol. III. of First Series, or Vol. I. of the original edition.
8
WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
at conversion to Christianity are a failure. Immense sums are spent with practically no result. The money subscribed is and must be entrusted to the discretion of the missioner, for the Jewish convert, ostracised by his own people and not very warmly welcomed by ours, necessarily requires financial assistance. It is not quite fair to brand this as bribery. The money or assistance received may not be the attraction. There may probably be some genuine conversions. It would indeed be strange if there were not ; strange, if among the Jews alone there were none found who, over¬ powered by the sense of sin, find a haven in the Pauline Christian theory of salvation ; none among the race which gave it birth, whose souls respond to the spiritual experiences on which that theory rests.
In the effort to win the Jews, one of their own race who has become convinced of the doctrine of Salvation through Christ is the best agent. He can base his appeal on their own scriptures and seek to show that the Messiah the Jews still look for has indeed come. As a result of such ministrations a congregation of baptized Jews has been formed here. It is said to be the only one in Europe, and its success is a measure of the general failure.
We are told that the poor foreign Jews, ignorant as they are of religious history, are surprised to find that our Bible contains their scriptures and to learn that their God is ours also. But they are well read in their own sacred books ; exclusive and narrow in the application of the teaching found therein ; and scrupulous in their obedience to the letter of the law. Defrauded of their great inheritance, sad loyalists of religion, they still feel themselves to be members of the chosen aristocracy of God.
The attitude of the clergy on this question varies. Some frankly abandon all idea of conversion or inter¬ ference. Let a Jew, they say, remain under the
CHANGES
9
influence of his own religion, and try to be a good Jew. Others fling themselves upon this task, feeling perhaps that their whole religious position is involved in the triumph of the Gospel and in the gathering in of the lost sheep of the House of Israel. To this end money is freely subscribed. Others, again (including, perhaps, most of the East-End clergy), are half-hearted. While not willing to lower their flag, they recognise that no good comes of any of the attempts made. They see that the missions for the conversion of the Jews are apt to breed a contemptible and hypocritical spirit, and that at best, with very few exceptions, they succeed in obtaining as genuine converts only very poor specimens of humanity. They will heartily pray for the conversion of the Jews, but prefer to leave the accomplishment in God’s hands.
Moreover, the stronger their own belief, and the firmer their conviction of the universal application of the doctrine they preach and of its paramount claim as the only way of salvation, the more clearly must they realize the need of overcoming the absolute indifference to this truth of the great mass of a nominally Christian population before they can rely on it with any comfort in approaching the Jews. Elsewhere it may be different, but here in London the unconverted and unconvinced condition of our own people cannot be denied or ignored, and a Christian who attempts to evangelize the Jews finds his own position seriously undermined.
The richer Jews are expected to look after their own poor, and to a great extent they do so, cases demanding relief being usually referred to the great organized charity which goes by the name of the Jewish Board of Guardians. But poor Jews are ready to take advan¬ tage of any available source of relief, and in sickness are finding their way in increasing numbers to the Whitechapel Infirmary, to which, of course, they con-
10 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
tribute as ratepayers, and to the London Hospital, to which wealthy Jews doubtless subscribe.
The assistance of their own Board of Guardians often take the form of loans granted free of interest. Com¬ plaint is made that such loans are unfair to other traders ; but that money can be thus lent without much loss shows that this form of charity does not seriously demoralize ; and it would be well if no worse charge could be made against the economic effect of much Christian benevolence.
The Jews are not one body. They are divided by ritual ; by their stricter or their laxer interpretation of the Law ; and by nationality. Besides those who have become English, there are Dutch, German, Polish and Russian Jev/s. Among all these the environment of English custom and administration makes itself felt ; most strongly among the more scattered Germans, most weakly here in the heart of the Ghetto, but slowly and gradually even among the most exclusive and backward. They all seem to prosper and, as they gradually become Anglicised, the standard of life among them rises, especially if or perhaps as the pro¬ portion of new comers becomes smaller. It is a disputed point whether the concentration or dispersion of this population is best for us or for them. Among the leaders of the Jews there are on this question two parties : the one side feeling strongly that where the Jev/s are collected in one district the Sabbath is more likely to be kept, and that in general there is more scope for the religious and other organizations which tend to preserve the integrity of the race, while the other welcomes the wider influences of English life which are weakened by concentration. That the policy of dispersion is best from the point of view of the English nation I cannot doubt. We need not fear to admit the Jews, so long as they do not come too fast or concentrate too solidly for assimilation. Except
CHANGES
ii
temporarily they do not increase the pressure of poverty, however poor they may be when they come, nor do they permanently lower the standard of life, however limited their first demands may be. But at the same time it cannot be denied that they seriously aggravate the difficulties of administration, especially as regards the evils of overcrowding.
The last twenty-five or thirty years have seen the rise of a number of great organizations aimed at the amelioration of the conditions of life in East London, and the moral and spiritual advancement of its people. So largely have these efforts been concentrated upon this particular district of London, that elsewhere it is often regarded as receiving more than its share. c We are just as poor ’ (we hear it said rather bitterly), c but our poverty excites no such interest. We are not the “ East End.” ’
The story is indeed a record of the extraordinary amount of assistance that may be obtained from outside sources for religious and philanthropic work due to a great arousing of the public conscience as regards the welfare of the poor, and also of the close association in the public mind of physical and spiritual destitution, poverty, ignorance and depravity, with the c East End.’
The East End has certainly no monopoly of need, and this fact is becoming more and more recognised ; but there has been no withdrawal of public support. Many are ready to give work, and money continues to be found in large amounts for very various objects. Whatever disappointment there may have been in the anticipated results it has not been enough to dash the ardent hopefulness by which these efforts have been sustained.
In describing these various efforts and in estimating the part played by them and by other social influences, for good or evil, it will be necessary to break up the
12 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
area into its component parts — Spitalfields, Whitechapel, St. George’s-in-the-East, and the river side — and to treat each one of them separately.
§ 2
SPITALFIELDS
The parishes connected v/ith Spitalfields are Christ Church, St. Mary, and St. Stephen, but with them it will be convenient to include All Saints’ and St. Olave’s, Mile End New Town, and the parts of St. Matthias’ and St. Matthew’s, Bethnal Green, which lie to the south of the Great Eastern Railway line.
In this area the inhabitants are mainly Jews, and in some of the parishes the proportion is said to reach seventy-five per cent, or more. It may be open to question whether all the existing parishes should be retained as separate ecclesiastical districts ; but however this may be it is clear that a parish cannot become thus largely Jewish without some effect on the position and work of the Church. One vicar says that his church must become a Jewish mission if the process of Judaising goes much further ; and another, who claims only ten per cent, of Christians out of a population of six thousand, has almost given up in despair. But on the whole the effect is much less than might have been supposed, for those who have left the neighbourhood were often hardly more interested in church services than those who have come. The Nonconformists have suffered far more in proportion than the Church, having quite lost their supporters, the small tradesmen. As chapels hardly any of their buildings survive, but a number of them have been acquired by the Jews and turned into synagogues. On Sunday morning the parish churches are practically empty. In the evening
SPITALFIELDS
13
they gather together more or less of a congregation consisting of middle-class people, some of whom come from a distance and maintain in this way an old connection, together with others of the same class from the neigh¬ bourhood, and a few poor women who make this return for the assistance they receive. The number of men of any description who attend the services is quite small. Almost every church has a little band of devoted adherents from the parish or immediate neighbourhood ; but the church-workers are drawn largely from outside. The life and work of each church is the life and work of the clergy and of a small body of attached people. The number of communicants is always large in proportion to the congregation.
It may be of interest if I describe in some detail the organization and action of one of these churches, and I have selected St. Mary’s, Spitalfields, for this purpose. In it the ritual is rather Low than High. Besides the vicar and one curate there is a paid Bible woman and a Church Army captain, who, with his wife, carries on the more militant part of the parish work. There is also an unpaid lady worker in charge of the girls’ club, and an honorary almoner. In addition there are four district visitors, eight members of a c mission choir,’ sixteen Sunday school teachers, and fifteen other voluntary workers, or a staff of fifty in all. The vicar reckons that his voluntary workers give him on the average two hours per week each. There are day schools, separately staffed, of which the class-rooms are used every week-day evening, as well as for the Sunday school. At the church, which accommodates 450, the first service on Sunday (Holy Communion) at 8 a.m. is very sparsely attended. The communicants’ roll contains 113 names. The morning service at 1 1 draws about fifty, and in the evening at half-past six, there may be as many as one hundred present, counting children in both cases, but excluding the clergy and
14 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
choir. Some of those who come in the morning probably come again in the evening ; nearly all are said to be parishioners. A week-day service is held on Wednesday attended by a few of the workers. An attempt to touch a larger circle is made by a mission service at 8.15 on Sunday evening for which some of those who have attended at 6.30 may stay, but which is specially aimed at a poorer class, the church being darkened and the service made interesting by the use of lantern slides. The audience is, however, still very small, not usually more than 130. With the same object, outside services are held by the mission choir, who strive in this way to throw their light upon the outer darkness, but, I gather, with very little effect.
There are Bible-classes which those of the inner circle attend ; and there is a Communicants’ Guild, which assembles quarterly. The ladies meet to work together, making garments for the poor, or articles for a sale of work, or preparing for an annual flower show. They form, too, a district visiting society which controls the fund for the relief of the poor. The visitation of the parish is very thorough, as it well may be, for the Christian population is small and concentrated. Visiting is regarded as the most important part of the work. The primary object is to become acquainted with the people and in this the clergy claim success. The ulterior aim is to attract them so far as possible to the ministrations of the church ; but how little is achieved in this direction we have seen. No means are neg¬ lected. Relief is given as required, though controlled as far as may be by the honorary almoner. There are two mothers’ meetings, with a coal club open to the women who attend them, which gives a bonus of 2d on every hundredweight of coal bought, and a blanket society for lending blankets in winter. There is a club for men with sixty members, which meets at the schoolroom four times a week, games, &c., being provided : sub-
SPITALFIELDS
15
scription id per week. There is also a provident bank for parishioners and a Mutual Loan Society. All are efforts to reach and hold the people. The Sunday schools are small, but not small compared to the size ot the parish, and they are followed up by a lads’ institute with fifty members, in connection with which there are cricket and football clubs and a gymnasium ; a girls’ club also has recently been started, with forty members, in the management of which the students of the Young Women’s Christian Association’s Training Home will take part. Altogether the organization is excellent ; everything seems well done. For temperance work there are Bands of Hope and adult meetings ; and foreign missions are not forgotten, periodic gatherings being held to stir up interest in them and in the work among the Jews. For this last the engagement of a special missionary is looked forward to, and a special service in Hebrew or Yiddish has been already held.
It is hard, devoted work, successful in its way, without blowing of trumpets or inflated illusions, or sensational appeals made to the public ; but the work goes on and the parish is kept out of debt.
The central parish of Christ Church, with five or six times the population and a more powerful staff, has a more difficult, or, I might better say, more impossible task. For with fully as great a proportion of jews, there is also the lowest conceivable class of English. In addition to having c the largest and lowest common lodging-house population of any parish in England,’ it has c the largest free-shelter accommodation,’ as well as many c furnished rooms,’ whose occupants, male and female, touch quite the bottom level. Here and there may be found a few artizans, but of our own people, no one with a shred of decency will live in such company if he can possibly avoid doing so. Here the Jews, if they come, drive other and worse microbes out.
In addition to the rector and three curates, there
i6 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
are two City missionaries working in this parish ; and besides the church there are two or three mission halls. The work undertaken includes clubs for men and boys, and two large girls’ clubs. There is also a soup kitchen, and there are four mothers’ meetings. In none of these are any religious tests required. There is also a large day school and a Sunday school fitfully attended by children who are entirely their own masters. Again, it is extremely hard work. I do not think it can be called successful.
The congregations, morning and evening, are small, and even so, consist largely of unknown people, attracted by the situation of the church and the sound of its bells, or by the fame of its organ. The numbers are further made up by the inmates of some adjacent labour homes. There is a crowded service at one of the mission halls on Sunday afternoon, and it is significant of the class of people to be dealt with here, and the difficulties of the parochial task, that it should be described as the most interesting service that is held. It is for the destitute, and at its close each person receives a piece of bread and a cup of coffee. It may be that these people will not come on other terms ; c shall man serve God for naught ? ’ But it is a question whether the church can be justified in such action, helping, so far as it goes, absolutely without discrimination, to make mere existence, and often harmful existence, more possible. And as to religion, what good is likely to result ?
In St. Olave’s, where a still larger proportion of the population is Jev/ish, a congregation of seven or eight persons in the morning and possibly fifty in the evening is all that the vicar ever expects to see. The service, however, is carefully given by a well-trained choir, and, though on a small scale, this church, too, has its Sunday school, mothers’ meeting, boys’ club and men’s club, with the usual accompaniments, treats,
SPITALFIELDS
17
teas, &c. ; and here, too, the people are visited and distress relieved. The funds come from the old City foundation of St. Olave, Hart Street.
The most characteristic mission work in this neigh¬ bourhood is that aimed directly at the inmates of common lodging-houses. For them free breakfasts of coffee and bread and butter are provided on Sunday morning by several organizations. Admission is by tickets distributed to c homeless, houseless persons/ over night ; or without ticket in the morning, to all who come till the room is full. Beyond a refusal in some cases to admit the same men many Sundays in succession, there is no attempt at selection. After breakfast a religious service is held for which the guests are expected to remain. The object is to bring the men under the influence of the Gospel, and within reach of friendly help. After the service a few will remain, and these are talked with, advised, and, it may be, helped. Some man, who has only recently fallen to the level of common lodging-house existence, may be picked out and given a chance to go back to a more respectable life ; but to take advantage of this opportunity involves considerable effort, and by those who have become accustomed to the degraded ease of lodging-house existence the effort is rarely made. Against any possible success in this direction must be set the responsibility already referred to, as incurred by those who facilitate the existence at large of the unfit, and those of this district who take advantage of the facilities thus offered are admittedly amongst the most unfit that the community can show.
Even more remarkable are the services given by the mission bands in the kitchens of the lodging-houses themselves. So complete is the organization of this system that there are, it is said, only three common lodging-houses in East London where no religious meetings are held, and in these, it is curious to note,
18 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
the mission service was discontinued because theolo¬ gical wrangling of too animated a character followed the introduction of some debateable doctrine. Those who frequent these places are by no means unintelligent, and are so mixed that c a good deal of discretion has to be shown, and an unsectarian and non-combative stand-point adopted by the speakers.’ And this among the people who are often referred to as having never heard of Christ !
The inaugurator of missions of this type, while grieved that c so little comes ’ of these services from a religious point of view, attaches great importance to their generally humanizing influence, and lays stress on the individual cases in which good results have been secured. He speaks of the lodging-house audiences as very attentive. I should rather say, so far as I have myself seen, that the services are accepted with good- humoured indifference, tempered by occasional dis¬ sentient grunts from those who listen at all. Cooking and eating proceed undisturbed ; men come and go ; the swing-door opens and shuts ; few, if any, join the mission band in singing the hymns, and to raise the voice in prayer must be even more difficult than at a service in the open streets. These efforts are not subject to the objections which apply to the free breakfast system : they do nothing to encourage a low form of life ; but their religious value must be sought for mainly in the exemplary devotion showm by those who, Sunday after Sunday, pursue this seemingly hopeless work for Christ’s sake.
There is one Congregationalist Church in Mile End New Town which has survived and, under a new minister, is becoming a fairly active centre of religious life ; but the local conditions fight so strongly against permanent resuscitation that there is even now talk of a removal to the suburbs. The congregation comes from some distance, but efforts are made by means of
SPITALFIELDS
i ^
special lectures to interest neighbouring non-church- - goers, and from these a few are drawn in.
Mile End New Town is also the scene of one of the great undenominational missions whose efforts and appeals to the public for support have done much ta give the East End its peculiar notoriety. It had its origin, as was the case with all its fellows, in a ragged school, at a time long before the Education Act*. With each ragged school a mission was incorporated^ and evangelical enthusiasm has carried the work; forward. These undertakings were pioneers in the field of public begging. They rested their case on a simple tale of ignorance and hunger among helpless children, of widespread misery and destitution, and of their relief. They used the language of the Bible as to the widow and the orphan ; the sick, the hungry and the naked were to be visited and relieved,, while to the poor the Gospel was to be preached. All this and more has been done.
What follows is a list of c some of the operations ’ carried on at the c King Edward Ragged School and Mission ’ : —
1. Sunday schools, with an average attendance of one-
thousand.
2. Free night schools for boys and girls employed
during the day.
3. Industrial classes for teaching girls needlework^
cutting-out, darning, &c. ; twenty-five per cent, of cost given to girls towards materials for their, own clothing made up by them at the schools,- and institute.
4. Carpentering, cabinet-making and fretwork, classes..
for lads ; lads afterwards apprenticed.
5. Cookery classes for girls and women (two).
6. Drawing classes for boys.
7. Class for teaching young girls dressmaking.
8. Band of Hope and singing classes.
11 2 *
2
20 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
9. Gymnasium, string and drum and fife bands, swimming and cricket clubs.
10. Young Girls’ Christian Association.
11. Working Lads’ Christian Association.
12. Thirty-six Bible-classes for boys and girls, young men and young women.
13. Bible-class for working men, forty in attendance.
14. Bible-class for women, eighty in attendance.
15. Mothers’ meetings : average attendance 450. 650
on the books.
1 6. Clothing and bedding* clubs.
17. Free circulating library for adults; upwards of
82,000 books and publications lent and given away during the year.
18. Free circulating library for boys and girls: two thousand volumes.
19. Christian instruction and society for the free circulation of elevating literature : between five and six hundred houses visited weekly.
20. Reading-rooms for very poor men of the neigh¬ bourhood.
21. Mission services and lectures for adults.
22. Children’s services, Sundays and Wednesdays.
23. Visitation to working men in the work shops and their homes by our own missionary.
24. A trained nurse to attend the sick poor in their own homes.
25. Visitation of the sick : upwards of forty thousand visits paid to the sick and to the homes of the poor during the year.
26. A benevolent society for helping the sick and aged poor.
27. Country homes for weak and convalescent children and adults : nearly six hundred sent away in the summer, for from one to four weeks.
28. A Maternal Society for the free loan and distribution of linen to poor married women
SPITALFIELDS
21
and their infants during the month of their confinement.
29. White-wash brushes and pails lent, and materials given to poor people to cleanse the walls and ceilings of their rooms.
30. Free hot nourishing dinners to poor children of struggling widows and others, three days a week during the winter months.
31. Day in the country : upwards of 2500 taken last year.
32. Annual Industrial Exhibition of carpentry, cabinet¬ making, models of machinery and buildings, boat¬ making, needlework, knitting, darning, trimming, &c., executed by the boys and girls of the Institution.
It is a wonderful list. The charities touch all the main troubles of life. In the educational classes all tastes are considered. A great point is made of training young people in frugality and thrift. Religious teaching, while not unduly insisted upon, clearly underlies the whole. Excepting independence almost every virtue is inculcated.
More than ^3000 a year is received from the public to be expended upon the work, and it is very evident that great pains have been taken to put forward what is done in the way thought most likely to please the subscribers. The long list of operations is not for self-glorification, but simply and solely to encourage the givers of money. That this list makes the most of everything is certain ; but a great deal is really done. The aim is c the improvement of the material and spiritual welfare of the poor ’ ; c the extension of God’s kingdom here on earth.’ It is c an endeavour to show Christianity as a practical religion ’ ; and if there is disappointment at the results produced in the extension of God’s kingdom, the workers can still trust that it will be c accepted by
22 WHITECHAPEL AND ST. GEORGE’S
the Master as work done for Him,’ and can rejoice over those few who are gathered in to join the band of labourers in the vineyard.’ Year by year for fifty years the appeals have been liberally responded to. The administration of vast sums has been secured. The Mission has enjoyed the patronage of Princes and Princesses. In the language of the report c God has abundantly blessed them.’
In this matter there are three parties concerned : those who give their money, those who carry on the work which the money enables them to do, and £ the poor ’ who are the recipients.
Once again we find that the result from the directly religious point of view is the gathering together of a small band of adherents and workers. The special interest in this case lies in the fact that they are drawn to a considerable extent from those among whom they work and never from a class much above. The head of this great organization was himself one of the original poor children taught at the school he mow superintends. A great effort is made to retain ;a hold on the growing boys and girls by classes and -clubs, and