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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 281
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.
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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 ¦* The Domestic Mission. 1. The B Mis...
3 ier into intimate acquaintance with , the subscribers , tlieir -wants , -and their distresses—a word in season can be dropped—ancl
many r 'the Domestic Mission / ' as it is called , springs out of the religious > -movement . The poor are induced to subscribe for clothes , for
beds , for the common necessaries of life , "which , are often wanting . The pence thus collected are handed over by each " Bible-woman "
_£ o her lady superintendent , to whom she reports the specialities of every ease . It needs but little reflection to perceive how benefit _^
may be dispensed now that a link has been effected . —A child is sick and requires better food—the raw material may be procured ,
but the slatternly wife knows not how to convert it into garments . The Bible may be purchasedbut cannot be read . A " mothers '
, meeting " is organized , and in a plain but -well-warmed r _^ om the ¦ women areinvited by the " Bible-woman " to meet her lady .
. These gatherings are conducted in the simplest possible manner , ——the Bible is lainedconversation followsand lessons
unconsciousliven exp in , branch of domestic , are -while thie y gevery economy ; surprised husband finds not only his home improvedbut many an .
, additional article of clothing for himself and children , of which he knew nothing . Imperceptibly an impression is made upon him , —
perhaps he goes one night to the " mission room" to see a magic lantern or to hear some familiar lecture , —and the seed sown
" groweth , he knoweth not how , " till it brings forth its fruit in the form of improved homes and honest well-disposed inmates . The
motto of the mission may well be " Helping the poor to help themselves . "
In the short space of four years no less than one hundred and ¦ sixty of these missions have been established , with their machinery
of Bible-women , lady superintendents , mothers' meetings , soup-¦ current kitchens history , and clo of thing the movement clubs . Those may who glean may much desire information to . learn from the
. the monthly journal ( " The Book and its Missions , " published by . Kent and Co ., price threepence ) edited by Mrs . B-enyard ,, to whose
• zeal and perseverance may greatly be ascribed the success of the movement .
Almost simultaneous with " Marian's" first attempt in St . Giles ' s , and the co-operation of Mrs . Renyard , a lady in another
district was attempting a no less important and difficult work . We allude to Mrs . Bayly and the Kensington . Potteries . It is not
paying her any compliment to say , that while perchance others may be equally earnest and useful , still no other writer pn similar
topics has at once taken so firm a grasp of her subject , or ; described in such simple language , yet with such graphic power , the
difficulties and successes which have attended her exertions . Pier geniusis considerable , and humor is not banished ; we all know how
• well-directed laughter without frivolity lightens and refreshes th _* e toils and anxieties of daily life . As a way to understanding how
Mrs . Bayly has gained so much influence over such discordant _^
vol . viii . x
Notices Of Books. 281
_NOTICES OF BOOKS . 281
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 281, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/65/
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