even when refuges as such are not provided, industrial training, both for boys and girls, is held to be so important, that no effort should be spared to establish it universally. În the west of Ireland, in one district alone, with which we are acquainted, wages to the amount of £20,000 per annum are earned by young women, chiefly the children of Roman Catholic parents, who have acquired the most exquisite skill in sewed muslin and ornamental needlework. Seven years ago, these children were in the most abject misery; many of them had never seen a thimble or a needle; their spiritual ignorance also was extreme. These have been Ragged School children indeed, and now enlightened in the knowledge which is Divine, the support of their parents, and a blessing to their country, they testify to the value of industrial training, united as it ought ever to be in all schools, with a Scriptural education. We believe that, as to ways and means, as well as an outlet for the produce of labour among ourselves, it will be found by all our friends, that "where there is a will there is a way." Even at the risk of increased expenditure, without present remunerative returns, we earnestly counsel a general extension of Industrial Classes for both sexes. The boys of the Shoe-black Society are now among the first of those sights" of London which arrest the stranger. The moral worth of these fine boys, whose ruddy faces correspond so well with the livery which they wear, and whose integrity and industry have been so fully tested, is best appreciated by those gentlemen who superintend their operations with such benevolent energy. They are now regarded almost as necessary to the comfort of a large class of pedestrians, as is evident from the extended patronage bestowed on them. Although their number is not very great, yet we always find one of them at the right place, whether we wander westward, or passing through Temple-bar pay a visit to the dominions of the Lord Mayor and "the City." As we write for the information of many who have not seen the last Report, we submit the following extract from it, feeling that it will best speak for itself. It will be seen that the Society is more than self supporting: "The Shoe-black Society continues to prosper. The average of boys employed for the year ending Lady Day, 1853, is thirty-seven; the amount earned by cleaning 182,537 pairs of boots and shoes, or, 3,510 weekly, £760 11s. 5d.; of this sum £450 was paid directly to the boys for food, etc., £160 towards expenses of depot, superintendent, etc., and £150 to the boys' credit in the Savings-bank. The average earnings of each lad per week have been 7s. 11d.; of this, he has had 4s. 8d. to himself at once, 1s. 8d. for expenses, and 1s. 7d. to his Savings-bank. The sum at the end of the year to the credit of the lads is £81. Eighteen have gone abroad, the greater number paying for a portion of their outfit out of their own savings: twenty-nine of the Schools have recommended boys to this Society." We might add to the notices of "work" already given, the systematic effort now being made by the opening of a place for reference and registry, and other means to provide situations for children. On this subject the testimony of the last Annual Report of the Union demands attention -: "Children placed in situations is one important auxiliary to Ragged School work. The great object of the Union is thus to train children to provide for themselves; to lessen vice and pauperism, idleness and crime; to increase honest industry, self-dependence, and virtue. "The number of children who have emigrated, as already mentioned, is one result of this grand object. The number of children put into situations at home, to get an honest livelihood, is another. By a return received from 44 of the Schools, no less than 555 boys and 466 girls have been placed in situations during the past year." Having thus noticed at some length the principal departments of the work itself, we cannot conclude without referring very briefly to the Agents by whom it is effected. Perhaps we should, in the opinion of some of our readers, have classed the Magazines, large and small, among specimens of "work" done, rather than place them among the “workers.” Remembering, however, that they are not strictly speaking an ultimate end, but rather that they are published and circulated for the express purpose of advancing the work, and securing the end, and coupling with these the fact that the editors and writers for these periodicals are as truly agents as those who deliberate in council or those who teach, we feel that we are justified in numbering ourselves among the "workers." We bring, we trust, one and all, (for, gentle reader, we are quite a band!) warm hearts to the work, and we desire to co-operate to the utmost with all our fellowlabourers, whose zeal and devotedness it is our delight to dwell upon. And when we speak of "fellow-labourers," at once start up before our mind's eye, the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Committees, and a host of trusty and tried officers, Treasurers, Secretaries, Superintendents, and Teachers. The unanimous co-operation, as well as the steady and persevering earnestness of all these co-workers, is essential to success. These can only be secured by a large measure of Divine grace, brought down into the individual soul of each worker, by fervent and believing prayer. Experience tells us, when our idea of what is best is opposed by one as conscientious and earnest as ourselves, that it is not easy to excrcise forbearance or to "let brotherly love continue." And when again the work of Committees is left to a few of its recognised members, there is the utmost danger either of the work being imperfectly performed, or else that the burden (not shared, as it ought to be), may become too heavy for the willing-hearted to bear. The Christian rule in securing concord is that laid down by the Apostle, "Let each esteem other better than themselves." And the grand motives to diligence on the part of those who have enlisted themselves to a special service, is that which a new year's advent and an old year's retrospect bring solemnly to our minds, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.' Oh! that our solemn responsibilities might now be realized more deeply than ever they have been before! Oh, that "sinful self" might never be permitted to intrude itself into our sayings, doings, and plans, and that a fresh baptism of Divine energy, light, love, and strength, might be vouchsafed us! It is indeed a glorious testimony, (as drawn from the last Report of the Union,) that the number of Voluntary Teachers in May last amounted to 1,787. We have no reason to suppose that their ranks are diminished. On the Sabbath, and occasionally on week evenings, "they continue to devote themselves to the self-denying and laborious work of teaching the ragged and destitute, the careless and the depraved." But will any of this devoted band, or shall we ourselves, refuse to join in the tribute which the parent Committee have also given to the Paid Teachers, " by whose zeal, energy, and discretion, it is that this Society mainly can continue to prosper ?" God forbid! that towards even one right-hearted paid teacher, an unkind look should be directed, an imperious bearing assumed, or a word rashly, rudely, contemptuously spoken by any one! They are paid, not the value of their work, (for that is priceless!) but that they may without embarrassment go on with the work, to which God himself hath called them. Let us abound in love toward them, and in sympathy with them under their multiplied trials. And side by side let all the "workers" toil on, until each has fulfilled his and her mission, and shall depart at the bidding of that Great Master, who shall say to each at the time appointed, “BUT GO THOU THY WAY TILL THE END BE, FOR THOU SHALT REST AND STAND IN THY LOT AT THE END OF THE DAYS." We now dismiss this important theme," THE WORK and ITS WORKERS,' but not without entreating all the children of God who read these pages, to unite with us in special supplication for the Ragged School cause, so that a great blessing may come down on our Schools and all their auxiliary agencies, during the present year. The Spirit of God in his own word himself supplies us with a prayer, suitable, emphatic, and earnest. Let us now offer it in faith:- "LET THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD OUR GOD BE UPON US: AND ESTABLISH THOU THE WORK OF OUR HANDS UPON US, YEA, THE WORK OF OUR HANDS ESTABLISH THOU IT,” Psalm xc. 17. " THE FLEET DITCH RAGGED SCHOOL. 66 under heaven." "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose To expect unchanging happiness in a changing world is only to insure disappointment. History and experience prove the sentiment, whether considered in relation to men, kingdoms, or neighbourhoods. The wheel of time, in its almost imperceptible, but irresistible turnings, has been working out mighty and important changes, since it was Divinely declared, 'the evening and the morning were the first day." Men and nations have sprung into being, and some by a special Providence have reached the gilded zenith of glory; but their " season has passed away, and the decay and utter ruin into which they have alike sunken proclaim in sonorous tones, "Time is the consumer of all things." These facts are legibly written in the cases of the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Nineveh, and Jerusalem, once the depôts of wealth and the seats of power; but now, the aid of science and art is needful to mark the spot on which they formerly stood. The things that hath been, it is that which shall be." It is therefore rational to anticipate that like events are happening to ourselves, and the objects by which we are surrounded. And things familiar to the fathers, shall be strange to the children. 66 We have no necessity to travel to the East for illustrations of the mighty changes wrought by old father Time-we have them at our very doors. Fields in which our forefathers loved to seek recreation and fresh air, have long since been broken up, and are now thickly studded with houses and crowded with inhabitants. It was once the delight of the country esquire, the city merchant, and the London artizan, to ramble in the cornfields of the manor of Barnsbury, upon which a considerable part of Islington is built, and also the meadow land on the south intersected by the "river of wells,' now known only as the fleet-ditch, a pleasant stream, which had its origin in the springs of Hampstead, and rolled along its winding path to the Thames, watering the stately trees upon its banks, which adorned the magnificent mansion of the Bishop of Ely. Shakspeare refers to this mansion, with its pleasure-ground, in his "Richard III.," in which drama the Duke of Gloucester, at the council in the Tower, thus addresses the good Bishop: "My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there; In the year 1531, King Henry, with his Queen Catherine of Arragon, and the foreign ambassadors, attended a splendid banquet given by the Sergeantsat-law at the Ely House. Who that now visits the locality of Field Lane and Saffron Hill, could possibly be induced to believe that such a change could have taken place! and it is very improbable that the good Bishop ever contemplated that the memory of his terrestial paradise would live in the crumbling streets of a rookery, and be preserved in the graphic description as given by the pen of the Rev. T. Beamish, who writes: "The imagination paints its infancy in glowing colours-the lordly Bishop -some mitred abbot with his stately palace-his garden, through which the impetuous river rushed in its course to the Thames, a pleasant place for eye to look upon, with its tiers of terraces and goodly trees, its aviaries, its fountains, its sculptures of fantastic and grotesque forms, its oratories shaded from observation by hanging groves; and then the long retinue, the train of attendants, the pomp, the state, the portly form, which seemed to mock the accents of humility which the lips repeated. The scene changes, and there is the Lord Hatton, Elizabeth's Chancellor, with his train of menials, and the ensigns of a judge's state, in days when the younger sons of decayed families were glad to discharge a menial office about the person of one whom the Queen honoured; the open fields, ringing to the cry of hounds, or the shouts of the gay train pursuing the sport of hawking in the very neighbourhood of Ely House. Now squalid misery and crowded courts, the black Fleet Ditch, and the mouldering rookery, supply the place once tenanted by forms the painter would love to depict, and by scenes which call up the merry days of good Queen Bess." "The modern condition of Saffron Hill entitles it to a high rank among THE BOOKERIES OF LONDON. Such colonies there are, we need not repeat, in most parishes; St. Giles's does not stand alone, and Saffron Hill has a strong claim to the second place." Centuries have rolled away since it was visited by royalty, but we rejoice to know that it has not escaped the ever wakeful and watchful eye of the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, and that he has put it into the hearts of his servants to care for this depraved pauper colony. The humble, but faithful Christian visitor and Ragged School Teacher, hazarded the dangers and encountered the difficulties which in the first instance met them at every step. They felt it to be their duty to do the utmost to ameliorate the condition of the adult portion of the population, but their chief hope of permanent usefulness was with the infant and juvenile class. Small rooms in Field Lane and Turk's Head Yard were opened, and the opportunities of instruction were afforded to old and young. Most of our readers are aware of the extensive operations carried on in the Field Lane School, and it is hopeful and grati fying to know that there many festivals have been held-not banquets of wine, but meetings for conference and prayer, in which Peers of the realm have mingled with all classes, all having but one grand object in view, namely, the restoration of this sunken and debased locality, to that physical, moral, and religious state, which will secure an exchange of misery for happiness. It is, however, very probable that to most frequenters of that excellent school, it is unknown that within a little more than two hundred yards from its site, in a very retired spot, on a portion of the Fleet Ditch, up one pair of stairs, the school, commenced in "Turk's Head Yard," is still held. Its operations are confined to the day, but it is the means of a vast amount of good. It is conducted by a most indefatigable teacher, whose self-denying labours have been continued from its commencement. The children regard her not merely as the schoolmistress, but one of their best earthly friends, and seem to be most ardently attached to her. From 80 to 110 are gathered daily here, from the contaminating vices of the streets and homes in which they live, and brought under the counteracting influences of moral and religious training. The pallid countenances of most, present certain indications of the close and unhealthy condition of their homes, and of the short allowance of food supplied them. The half-starved, ill-clad, and sickly appearance of many of the poor little creatures, as they come shivering into the school on a winter's morning, cannot fail to excite sympathy in any beholder. There are no funds to provide food for these little hungry ones, but as a saucepan of rice or broth is occasionally to be seen simmering on the fire, the teacher, in reply to questions put, has reluctantly admitted that out of her scanty pittance she had furnished these provisions, to distribute among those children, who either from neglect or inability of parents were in great need. We are aware, the propriety of giving food under such circumstances may be questioned on many grounds. In some cases it may be a good, while in others an evil; but in the case of mere helpless infants the query vanishes, and we cannot but sympathise with a teacher, who, apart from motives of humanity, has to contend with the difficulty of engaging the mind of the child, while it is suffering from the pinch of hunger and cold. The children gathered here belong to persons of uncertain occupationtrampers, beggars, street-singers, dog's-meat men, crossing sweepers, pie-men, muffin-sellers, dealers in lucifer matches, water-cresses, fruits, and sweetmeats, cabmen, dustmen, orangemen, and sellers of images. Some of the parents are known to have been in good circumstances, but by intemperance and dissipation have become reduced to their present wretched condition. The children of such, having been used to comforts, are the less able to rough it, and are objects of extreme pity. Some are fatherless, some motherless, some have lost both parents, and some few have been deserted. Few have ever been to any other school, and their attainments in secular education and scriptural knowledge are very gratifying. Many that were first admitted, have partaken more or less of the benefits of the institution, and have long since been carried away by the migratory stream which is constantly removing the inhabitants; and it is fondly hoped they are spreading the salutary influence of the benefits conferred, wherever their lot may now be cast. Others are now battling with the world, and striving to enjoy the luxury of honesty, and creditably earning their bread. The gratitude of some is frequently expressed and manifested, by communications with the teacher, who can give the names of some dozen who received their entire education in this school, are now servants in respectable families, and express themselves indebted to this school for their present happy and useful position in society. This school was one of the sixteen found to be in operation in London when the Ragged School Union was formed, and with the others, taken under its wing; but it is a matter of regret that little other support than that furnished by the Union has been afforded. Believing that the facts of the case have only to be made known, and the means for its better sustenance and extension will be forthcoming, we leave the matter in the hands of our benevolent readers, to whom a season" for the exercise of liberality, and a "purpose" for doing good, are now presented. 66 [Contributions in behalf of the Fleet Ditch School will be most gratefully received by F. Cuthbertson, Esq., 123, Aldersgate Street, or by Mr. J. G. Gent, 1, Exeter Hall.-Ed.] |