they find good company, social fellowship, good-tempered banter and jesting-foul language is not a repellant and an easy goodnature which passes the pewter round from hand to hand and from mouth to mouth. To the workman who has been toiling under unfavourable conditions of close work-rooms or in the open air under rainy skies, and to him who has had no work, either because he has not cared to seek, or caring, has not succeeded, the public-house is an oasis in his desert life, a cheerful contrast to his daily toil or his miserable home. It is not only the liquor that draws him there, he likes the flow of conversation and of wit, such as it is; he hears the news and gossip of the day; there are his mates and "pals" to meet there, and often some knowing hand who passes as a hero or a wonder by dint of a loose tongue, a rollicking manner, and it may be a wide experience of rascaldom.

It is this side of the publichouse that is so attractive to those who are neither sots nor scamps, and the publicans and the brewers know this well. And

OLD TO

But temptations to temperance are not confined to the lower walks of life. There are counter attractions to the refreshment bars at railway-stations and in taverns, where young men all unwittingly learn to love alcoholic drinks. There are the Aerated Bread Company's attractive shops all over the Metropolis, which supply tea, coffee, and milk, and wholesome and enjoyable eatables at moderate prices. Their character is airiness, scrupulous cleanliness, good quality of foods and drinks, and attentive waiting by civil and not forward female assistants. And as a consequence these shops are well patronised, so much so that some of them directly they open have to be enlarged. They are to be found in streets where rents are very high, so that the prices charged, though moderate, are found to be highly remunerative. It is impossible to say what advantages these places of resort confer on those who have to put sons and daughters out to situations in warehouses and shops in the great city.

At the recent brewers' conference at Islington, it was stated by one speaker that the beer of the future is to be conversational beer, a lighter kind of liquor than the heavily drugged or concocted beer or porter; a drink we suppose that should promote conversation rather than sleep, and tend to quicken one's wits rather than to fuddle them.

There is a world of warning and of counsel in this idea of "conversational beer." When the weary labourer eats and drinks he likes the surroundings to be pleasant and the associations cheerful; and it is just in this direction that temperance advocates and caterers have been so blind and so impolitic. They have acted as if they had only to open a shop for the supply of non-alcoholic drinks and a virtuous, temperate, and self-restrained

public would rush in, grateful to be delivered. from the alternative of the public-house. What an indescribable place has been hitherto the ordinary coffee-shops in poor neighbourhoods!

Many well-meaning and even spirited attempts to supply the public with temperance drinks and with wholesome food at cheap rates, have proved financial failures. And why? Not because there was not a public ready to patronise them, but because the houses were not made bright, attractive, and cheerful; the food was unsavoury, the tea and coffee were neither hot nor cold, often nauseous.

This is the testimony of one who has worked among the poor for a quarter of a century, and it is also the experience of those engaged in the business and able to speak from an intimate knowledge.

At the third annual National Coffee Tavern Conference held in October of last year at the Kensington Town Hall, Mr. Smith, of Birmingham, read a paper entitled "A Review of the Coffee Tavern Movement," in which, speaking as a cyclist who had occasion to use a good many of the coffee taverns, he stated that, "The tea was often such only in name, the eatables required a big appetite to tackle, the service and appointments were not calculated to leave behind pleasant reminiscences, the whole presenting very often a painful contrast to the fare provided at the old roadside inns." The sum of the complaints was that greater cleanliness and cheerfulness, and fresher viands were required. He added that he excluded from the range of his remarks all the coffee taverns within the metropolitan area.

One of the most modern and most hopeful of modern movements is that which supplies temperance dinners and teas for work

girls in the city. As a rule coffee taverns do not supply dinners; pork-pies and sandwiches are on sale, but hot dinners are not undertaken, presumably because they are not so easily provided at a profit. These new establishments, however, set on foot by philanthropic ladies, but on a commercial basis, supply excellent dinners for girls and women. Let us enter one, at a time when it is most frequented. It is one o'clock and a stream of young girls employed at the City warehouses passes in at the door. They pay their money to a genial manager of their own sex or lady superintendent, as she is called, who gives in exchange metal tickets which are taken at the end of the room for the food they require. The articles and prices are, joints, per plate 3d.; meat pies and meat puddings 3d., soup 1d., vegetables Id., sweet puddings 1d., jam tart 1d., coffee d. and 1d., tea 1d., bread and butter d., tea cakes d., slice of cake 1d., and lemonade id. and 1d. The plate of meat looks good and is certainly ample; the coffee we can vouch for as excellent. The general appear ance is one of airiness and cleanliness, and the tables, filled with the customers evidently enjoying their meals, present a very pleasant sight. In the room below, the kitchen is a

model of cleanness, and the assistants serve the crowds of customers with alacrity and yet quietly. After dinner those who like retire to a large up-stairs room, where a short, bright, evangelistic service is held. From four hundred and fifty to five hundred and twenty young women patronise this establishment for dinner, and most of these when we were conversing with the lady superintendent purchased a fourpenny ticket. There are, we believe, three or four such houses, all for young women; but, so far as we know, there is no such provision for the other sex. Here is a field for philanthropic enterprise, to provide places of comfort and cleanliness where working lads or men can get a plate of good meat for threepence.

All that we have stated goes to assure temperance workers, that the supply of good refreshments, at clean and attractive establishments, is an important factor in the promotion of the cause they have at heart.

But the success and expansion of this movement will depend on the attractiveness of the establishments and on the quality of the refreshments supplied; and with care and attention there is no reason why, both for the middle and lower classes, this movement should not be yet further developed.

affording abundant accommodation both for its depository, and the work connected with the employment of about two hundred colporteurs. The opening of the new palace was signalized by a meeting of friends, and an address on the founder of the society.