On this page
-
Text (1)
-
150 THE PREVENTIVE BBISTOL MISSION.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
¦ I Hate Requested Permission To Bring B...
tradictory Committee evidence but I can has latel affirm y heen one thin given g on before my own the Parliamentary experience of ;
"England , and that is this—that one of the largest channels through which lives are drained down into the Dead Sea which lies
beneath young all our vaunted civilization is the Workhouse ! Such a plan , then , as that of Miss Stephen is doubly and trebly
needful for tliese girls , if for none others . With regard to them , howwill ever , devote it is possible some to of effect her hours much to of the the work same benefit without hy any any lad outlay y who of
money for agents or registration office . It , has also been tried in Bristol and with entire success . The lady desiring to work the plan
should obtain the addresses of girls ( from the master of the workhouse or otherwise ) immediately on their being sent to service .
She should then call on each mistress , express her interest in her little servant , and request permission for her to attend a Sunday
afternoon class for workhouse girls . The mistresses are always found to take such visits in good part when they are made with
proper courtesy , and are led by them to greater consideration for their servants . The worst of them can no longer treat the poor
child as a mere friendless workhouse drudge . She is found to be a human being for whose interests one of higher rank than
herself is watchful . Usually the mistresses have been willing to avail themselves of the Sunday school , which , of course , is an excellent
" basis of operations" for all sorts of good , religious and secular , for these irls . The main object is effected either way—the
children poor leara g to feel affection and reliance on a friend whose influence is wholly directed to keeping them in the path of dutyand
, whose hand they know will be stretched to help them in case of the dangers of destitution .
I have seldom seen so pretty a sight as that of the Sunday class of workhouse irlsheld in a certain dear old houseunder the
g , , shadow of a cathedral tower ; and I cannot but think that any one who had witnessed it would be tempted to undertake a similar task .
The girls came in by twos and threes into the little study , with salutations to their kind teachers , almost uncouth in their warmth ;
then turned to greet their companions , the only friends they possessed in the -wide world . Very plain were the poor
childrenstunted figures , and faces , in many instances , fearfully scarred by disease . Yet this Sunday parade was not wholly unsuccessful , for
the young faces were as bright as cleanliness and pleasure could make them , * and the clothes given them by the lady teachers were put on
to fullest credit . Business began by grand lodgments of penceb and ank even . Then , in some came marvellous chaning instances of books , of from sixpences the little —in library the savings -with '
many warm encomiums g on the latest perusal , , "Oh , such a , nice storyma ' am ! " Next came a display of copy-booksin which such
girls , as had had leisure had written either a copy or , a recollection _,
of the previous lesson . Afterwards there were repetitions of hymns
150 The Preventive Bbistol Mission.
150 THE PREVENTIVE _BBISTOL MISSION .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1861, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111861/page/6/
-