furnished, and provided with a piano and harmonium; next to this is a dining-room; and beyond, a bright-looking kitchen. Upstairs we found the matron's room, the committee-room, a capital bath-room, and various bedrooms, each of the latter being provided with four or five iron bedsteads and other furniture. Everything looked perfectly clean and tidy, and as cheerful as the dull light of a grey, cheerless day would allow. as There is nothing very wonderful in this to describe, it is true; no marvellous triumph of taste, or luxury, or ingenuity. It is just a plain, fairly comfortable dwelling-house, with sufficient space, but certainly not a foot to spare. But to appreciate these arrangements at their true value, we must remember what kind of lodgings the young girls for whom these rooms are especially provided would be likely to have if they were not in such a home as this. The girls for whom this accommodation is intended belong to the class known day workers." They are engaged in the various manufactures and trades carried on in the metropolis, and their number is estimated at no less than 40,000 at the lowest. The majority are under twenty years of age, and a considerable proportion of them have come up from the country to earn their living in London. They are employed in various departments of the stationery business, in machine-work, in the preparation of "fancy goods," and of clothing of different kinds. A great deal of their work cannot be regarded as skilled labour, and even in the case of work in which, as the uninitiated at least would suppose, a considerable amount of deftness and skill is required, the pay is miserably small. We do not say that it is in no case as much as the manufacturer could afford to give; but we do say, from direct personal knowledge, that "competition" presses upon vast numbers of women and girls, engaged in manufacturing processes, with a weight and cruelty which those who eagerly look out for "cheap" articles, for ornament or use, often little suspect. Certainly the great majority of the working girls of London earn a mere pittance. Probably from six to nine shillings a week may be set down as the ordinary amount earned by such work, a sum which is liable, however, to many fluctuations and deductions from various causes. No doubt it is quite possible for a girl to live even in London on an amount like this, especially when she is one of a family two or three other members of which may be earning their own means of livelihood. But multitudes of these girls have no such home. As we have said, numbers of them have come up from the country for employment, and are alone in London; and numbers besides are thrown, from the unfortunate circumstances of their birth, upon their own resources, and have to shift for themselves as best they can. Yet others have nothing but the worst examples and influences surrounding them in what it would be a misuse of language to call their homes, and it would be a mercy to them to afford them shelter and comparative security elsewhere. Huddled and herded together, sometimes a whole family, or even two families, having only a single sleeping-room, what can be looked for among the young girls of such households but the untimely destruction of all delicacy, modesty, and purity? God sometimes gives us, it is true, sweet fragrance and beautiful flowers in unlikely places, but the law is that we must reap as we sow; and if we house our people like cattle or flocks of sheep, we can scarcely look for a type of life higher than we find in the brute. God knows, we sometimes seem to find a type even much lower. A very considerable proportion of the girls to whom we refer have, however, even in this poor sense of the word, no home whatever, and they have recourse to cheap lodging-houses. Here also, the laws of health and often of decency are to a frightful extent disregarded, the companionships formed are often of the most mischievous kind, and in not a few cases there is practically no supervision. The cost of this accommodation, bad as it is, swallows up a large share of the meagre resources of the lodger. Then, there is the necessity for daily food; and this is as a rule poor in quality, insufficient in quantity, and partaken of with great irregularity. Finally, there remains the question of dress—a terrible trouble, depend upon it, to many a young girl earning six shillings a week, and having to provide everything for herself out of that amount. The streets are thronged with well-dressed women, the shops are gay with manifold attractions in the way of dresses, ribbons, or ornaments; and who can wonder that an ignorant young girl, with a not unnatural vanity, should covet these fine things, and should spend all that can be spared of her earnings on a little tawdry finery, and so have nothing left for such clothing as is needful for health and warmth ? for health and warmth? And in how many instances does the "want of pence," together with the influence of evil companionships, beset a poor girl with sore and black temptations, and at length lead altogether astray! It is for girls in some such position as that observed; but we trust, and we doubt not, that in the administration of these Homes for Working Girls a spirit of forbearance and consideration will prevail. It would be a mistake. to frighten away the very girls who most need the help of such institutions by making them too formal, and by hampering necessary regulations with too many restrictions. The effect of too many "thou shalt nots" is only irritating and repelling, and thus the end of the prohibition is defeated. A word to the wise on this point, however, is sufficient; and we only need further recall the teaching of the Great Master who recognised the proverb "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” thus slightly sketched that these homes for There are doubts, hesitations, objections, and, above all, there is an apathy on the part of the general public to work of this kind which we should be thankful indeed if any arguments that we could urge might tend In order to win the sympathies ard who has wrecked his constitution and wasted his substance; a victim of misfortune who has been brought face to face with starvation; a woman who has reached the last stage of misery, and who is ready to fling herself "Anywhere, anywhere, Out of the world!" of many kind, good people, it seems almost to be necessary to make out a desperate case of guilt, necessity, or distress. A criminal who No experienced person would suppose that has made himself an outcast, and who is a work of this kind would prove all plain sail-stained by many flagrant misdeeds; a drunking. Mr. Shrimpton has his difficulties with the public; the matron has her difficulties with the inmates. The task is one which requires, in dealing with the girls themselves, no ordinary degree of tact, delicacy, and truly philanthropic feeling. The London working girl is not very attractive, and not very manageable in every instance. In truth, to speak bluntly, she is not seldom ignorant, vain, impatient of restraint, and often extremely silly, and so is very trying to the love and patience of those who seek her benefit. Of course we are referring to the girls as a class, and are not for the moment taking note of the qualification which this description might strictly require. As a matter of fact, those who try to help working girls must be prepared to meet with the faults and defects we have named. And what else can be expected from those who have so often had no training, and no advantages of the kind which enable girls to rise above such a level? These girls, or 'young ladies," as they call each other, are very touchy, and very ready to rebel against rule and order, and until they can be taught better we can scarcely wonder that not a few of them prefer their unfettered "freedom," with its discomforts and drawbacks, to the yoke of well-ordered habits. The rules of the Alexandra House are admirable, as it seems to us, in their scope, and excellent in their purpose; and rules must no doubt be such cases as these are regarded as proper E. L. W. A SUMMER DAY. OH, beautiful, bountiful, day full of glee! Everywhere, everything, living and free! Sunbeams, exultant, with zephyrs at play, Swallows and butterflies, skimming the hay. Harebells and foxgloves, mosses and ferns, Daisies and buttercups dance to the burns. 'Suckles and roses and lilies and May Scatter their perfumes and strew the bright way. Clouds hold regatta, all sail to the breeze; The prize they contend for—that you they may please. And songbirds by river, in sky, and in tree, With humming delight, from their home in the earth The forest her banners, to honour the day, The poplar lends staffs, and the ivy lends hand, And brambles, they follow, the crowd at their heels, The copses, the meadows, the vale, and the hill To shoutings and music all move on their march, Processions of nature, from sea, land, and sky, These beautiful gifts, how countless! how free! B. HARRISON. |