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THE

RAGGED SCHOOL UNION

Magazine.

JANUARY, 1854.

Papers, Original and Selected.

THE WORK AND ITS WORKERS,

THE New Year has come. We hail its advent with hope and gladness. In a cheerful spirit we gird up our loins for fresh toils, gathering from the memories of the past renewed courage to press onward. We begin our labours for 1854 with a paper specially devoted to the "WORK AND ITS WORKERS." It will, we trust, furnish topics for consideration, which, under the Divine blessing, may suggest much that is valuable as to future and accelerated progress. We invite attention, then, first, to a brief review of the work itself; and, secondly, to the agents by whom it is maintained and advanced. It will be found that both subjects embrace a wider range than might previously have been supposed.

Prominent and pre-eminent, in connection with "THE WORK," are our Day, Evening, and Sunday Ragged Schools. These are provided for the instruction of infants, juveniles, and adults, all having homes (in general wretched ones,) but otherwise of a class so destitute and outcast, that ordinary Day and Sunday Schools have never sunk a shaft into that "lower depth" where they are imbedded, and out of which the Ragged School specially attempts to raise them. As we have hinted already, and as will speedily appear, these schools do not constitute the sole feature of our work, but they form the vis vitæ, and the primary source whence other ameliorating influences derive both their existence and their moral power. The progress in this our own department of labour has been such, as to call for the most hearty thanksgiving; whether we contemplate the number of paid and voluntary teachers engaged, the number of children and adults in attendance, or the pecuniary aid supplied by the Christian public. This progress has been carefully noted in the successive Annual Reports of the Union, and the following statistics will convey a vivid and correct view of its extent and importance.

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In the Report furnished at the Annual Meeting in May, 1850, we read

"The following table will show the rapid increase of the Society from 1845 to 1850:

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In the following year the increase reported was not proportionately so great as in former years. "The Committee did not anticipate that it would, for they expected, that as the various low districts became supplied with schools, as Christian visitation proceeded, and as the City Missionary and the Scripture Reader laboured to raise the masses to a better condition, the necessity for the Ragged School would not be so great." It is, however, highly gratifying, to find the latest official intelligence as to the extent of the ground occupied by our special work as under :

In Day Schools

In Week Evening ditto

In Sabbath Schools

In Industrial Classes

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"The number of paid teachers is 221; of voluntary teachers, 1,787. The number of schools is now 116, and 13 new schools have been opened." This last-mentioned fact reminds us, that there is " yet much land to be possessed." The opening of every fresh school is, as it were, a solemn rebuke to the indolence of the past, which would not, or a painful memorial of the inability which could not overtake existing necessities. The work of "excavation" is not completed either in the Metropolis, or in the great cities and towns of the United Kingdom. In London itself, there are many districts where one Ragged School exercises an important influence, where there is ample room for two, amid a teeming and ever-multiplying population. Besides this, there are localities over which still broods "a darkness which might be felt." Into these the torch of Christian truth must be borne, nay, be permanently kindled there, before our "work" shall have realized its ideal, or our responsibilities shall have ceased. And then, as to the provinces, while we know that much has been done, and more is being done, yet our friends and fellow-labourers there will join with us in lamenting, that the work and its agencies need to be multiplied an hundred-fold. We fear that it would be easy to point out large towns, with a population verging upon from seventy thousand to one hundred thousand, which have not one Ragged School, properly so called, in existence. To the extent of this evil we invite the attention of philanthropic individuals, and we shall gladly publish any statistics furnished us, in the

hope that fresh ground may be speedily broken, and the work become as universal in its diffusion as its urgency demands. And even in towns where Ragged Schools as such, worthy of the name, are in existence, it would be very desirable to know how far their energies are cramped, and their usefulness impeded, either by a lack of sufficient support in the way of funds and voluntary teaching, or from the want of those auxiliary operations, which, though not originally contemplated by our Union, have proved so extremely valuable.

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We observe further, that Refuges are closely associated with the work."

In a recent article we have treated of these at length, and therefore it will not be necessary to dwell upon them now. They are intended to supply food, clothing, lodging, education, (based on the Holy Scriptures,) together with industrial training, for homeless and friendless children of both sexes. Of the results achieved, we have seen enough to satisfy us from personal examination, that if these Refuges be vigorously maintained, and largely increased, the first sheaves already gathered will, in due time, be followed by a full harvest. That children, who, but for shelter like this, would undoubtedly have swelled the numbers of juvenile criminals, already so large as to perplex our magistrates and our statesmen-that such children have been saved from ruin, and are now being sent forth into the world with fair characters, educated minds and consciences, and with industrial knowledge sufficient to open their way to comfort and independence, is one great and undeniable fact. And that even in cases where once, twice, or thrice, the neglected boy has been drawn by temptation to the commission of petty larceny, and has been as frequently within the walls of a prison,-there, also, the power of Christian truth and love has not only arrested the progress of moral leprosy, but brought that youth "to wash and be clean," in the fountain divinely provided, and always open to the vilest; nay, that in very many cases, apparently desperate, the conscience has been made tender, and the heart soft, and thus the hands that stole, have been taught to "steal no more,' "but rather to "labour." These are facts, which give cause for even loftier exultation! But are those Refuges already in operation as thoroughly appreciated and supported as they ought to be? And are not the instances very rare, (forming rather the exception than the rule,) in which wealthy Christians have opened and sustained such refuges at their sole cost, or have consecrated to this new, necessary, and most hopeful field for permanent usefulness, their almost exclusive energies? We fear that an answer in the negative must be returned to both questions, and we again invoke special attention to this part of our "work," which cannot be inefficiently discharged, much less totally neglected, without guilt before God.

Emigration to the Colonies has also been identified with our work, to an extent greater than at one time we could have anticipated. At an expense of about £8,000 for food, outfit, passages, and gratuities, nearly 400 emigrants have gone forth under the auspices of the Union. From the majority of these emigrants the most satisfactory accounts have been received as to their material well-being, as well as their thankful appreciation of those providential acts by which their path has been opened up. The emigration movement has indeed been checked, (as far as the efforts of

the Union are concerned,) by the increased expense which it is necessary to incur, since the discovery of the gold-fields of Australia. In truth, that remarkable event has been attended with so many perils to those whose habits of virtue are little more than nascent, and whose principles, newly-formed, require rather to be tenderly sheltered than to be needlessly exposed to the rude blast of temptation, that the Committee of the Union has been obliged to direct special attention to the question, whether Australia should any longer be regarded as a proper field for Ragged School Emigration. We intend, in a future number, to discuss the subject in all its bearings, in connexion with a valuable Report drawn up by a Sub-Committee, after long and anxious inquiry. Meantime we may remark, that there is no intention of abandoning the system of emigration, from which such marked and satisfactory results have already been obtained. The demand for labour at home is much greater, both in towns and rural districts, than when the movement first commenced. Yet there will, even in the busiest and most prosperous times, be found a surplus juvenile population, who have no definite field of labour before them in this country; and when youths or girls of this class are judiciously drafted from our schools, and sent forth under proper guardianship to British Colonies, where society is not in that abnormal condition now presented in South Australia, we feel that not only will great benefit accrue to these emigrants, but that we shall also bestow, in the spirit of a wise and well-directed philanthropy, a real boon on our colonial fellow-subjects themselves.

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In the last Annual Report it was stated, that "the number of Mothers' Meetings are on the increase." This is an auxiliary agency, which has been brought into operation in connection with 24 of the schools. These meetings have been attended by about 770 poor mothers. They are conducted by Christian ladies, who gather this hitherto neglected and most interesting class around them at stated intervals, directing and assisting them in making and mending their clothes, and seizing on the opportunities thus furnished, of reading to them the Holy Scriptures, and of enforcing on their hearts and consciences the great lessons of Christian truth and piety. So blessed

have been the fruits of these labours of love as to induce us to recommend that every school should institute, if possible, a Mothers' Meeting. Let the trial be made, before it is pronounced impossible. There are Christian matrons everywhere, who love and care for the children, and by a little more sacrifice of time, they can bring to bear on mothers, an influence which will lighten their other labours, and accelerate the consummation to which their thoughts and aims are unceasingly directed.

Industrial Classes were not primarily associated with Ragged Schools, but they are now recognised as important helps to the successful accomplishment of their design. These are intended for the elder scholars. To employ competent teachers for such classes, larger funds are needed than are possessed by most schools. Great difficulties have also been experienced from irregular attendance, as well as in obtaining a ready market for articles produced, or such remuneration as would warrant the expense incurred in providing both food and lodging. In the notice given by us of a recent visit to one of our suburban Refuges, we dwelt strongly on the industrial features of the establishment; and

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