A SUMMARY OF BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, AND REPORTS.

Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society. January, 1861.

THE leading paper of this number is on "Destitute Incurables in Workhouses," by Miss Elliott and Miss Cobbe, and was read at the Social Science Meeting at Glasgow, September, 1860. The plan proposed for the alleviation of such cases is

1. That in every workhouse persons suffering from acute and distressing diseases, such as dropsy, consumption, or cancer, shall be placed in wards specially allotted to them, to be called the wards for male and female incurables.

2. That in these particular wards private charity be permitted to introduce whatever may tend to alleviate the sufferings of the inmates.

A fund has been opened for the assistance of visitors in Unions. where this plan may be adopted, and the local subscriptions may prove inadequate. To this Central Fund for Destitute Incurables one gentleman has offered £100, and others have promised further contributions.

The Workhouse Orphan. By the Author of "A Plea for the Helpless." Hatchard and Co., Piccadilly.

THE author of this little book makes an eloquent and touching appeal for these unfortunate children, which no one can read without a pang. How is it that foreign missions get so large a share of the public's sympathy and means, while we have at our very doors outcasts and heathens of our own making, for whose souls at the great Day of Judgment we shall surely be held more accountable than for the souls of Hottentots and Kaffirs? It is for the girls of this class Miss Twining is now opening an Industrial Home, at 22, New Ormond Street, which will, we hope, meet with the support it deserves. We are glad to see, by the pamphlet under consideration, that at Brockham, near Betchworth, there is an Industrial Training School, for workhouse girls, already in operation.

Christopher Cable, the Co-operator.

Price 3d. Pitman, Paternoster Row.

THIS is one of those useful little books which at once advocate a system and illustrate a fact by means of a story. Co-operation is, as the title indicates, the system here advocated, and its beneficial results are shown in the successful working of a co-operative store, or equitable shop, conducted by Christopher Cable and his wife, under the superintendence of a benevolent lady. Much good may be effected in our country towns and villages by ladies devoting their leisure time to the instruction of the labouring classes in the

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benefits of co-operation, and by personally superintending the formation and carrying out of equitable shops. "Christopher Cable" will be found a great help.

Life Story. A Prize Biography. Tweedie, Strand.

ONE of several biographical sketches written in competition for a prize offered for the best "Lives of Working Men, written by themselves," by the proprietors of the Commonwealth, in 1856. It is the history of a poor weaver boy, self-taught under circumstances which would have daunted any one less persevering and determined. It is a striking lesson of what a man may accomplish who resolves to progress spite of all difficulties, and who, however thrown by fortune, returns again and again to the contest.

Calebs in Search of a Cook. Blackwood, Paternoster Row. "CELEBS in search o Creature Comforts" would have been a more appropriate title for this pleasant little work, which discourses upon the ways and means of rational and social enjoyment practicable by persons of moderate incomes. Colebs' own bachelor arrangements, both in town and country, are of the most comfortable description, and, withal, sanitary in the highest degree. Club dinners among neighbors in the country, is a suggestion worth attention, and the bills of fare for fifty-three of these dinners, with recipes for the cook, cannot fail to be of general service.

The Underground Railroad. By the Rev. W. M. Mitchell. Tweedie, Strand. A RECORD of slavery and its horrors, by a free man of color, born and reared in North Carolina, and who in early life himself shared in the oppression of his race as overseer. Mr. Mitchell afterwards became a missionary to the escaped fugitives in Toronto, Canada West. An eloquent and energetic pleader for the restoration of his oppressed race, Mr. Mitchell's volume is sure of a hearty welcome from numbers.

Hymns and Pictures: British Animals. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

WELCOME and instructive presents for the young. The cards of animals are beautifully printed and colored, and the letterpress on the back gives all the necessary information as to the habits of the different animals.

Our Exemplars, Poor and Rich. Edited by Matthew Davenport Hill, Recorder of Birmingham. With a Preface by Lord Brougham. Cassell and Co.

A VERY well-written collection of memoirs of men and women, some dead, some still living among us, but who have each in their measure,

by "an extraordinary use of their opportunities, benefited their fellow-creatures. This volume is pleasantly written, and deserves to be as we doubt not it will become very popular. It is remarkable for a very wide and generous sympathy with all who strive to serve God and man, whatever their class, their country or their creed.

The Star of Hope, and the Staff of Duty. Tales of Womanly Trials and Victories. James Hogg and Sons.

In spite of its title, three out of the four stories contained in this volume are very readable, and written in a sensible tone, and with a healthy purpose and feeling. We think we have met with them elsewhere, although they are now first collected.

The Heart and the Mind: True Words on Training and Teaching. By Mrs. Hugh A. Kennedy. Nisbet and Co.

SENSIBLE advice to mothers, put with simplicity and earnestness. It is a practical and useful little work.

Fairy Tales: Allegories in Verse for Young People. By E. A. Pym. Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

WE can hardly judge of the tales themselves; they are written in such doggrel rhyme that any merit they may have is fairly overpowered.

LXII.-OPEN COUNCIL.

(As these pages are intended for general discussion, the Editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions expressed.)

To the Editor of the English Woman's Journal.

DEAR MADAM,

As one of your correspondents to the "Open Council" department has sensibly alluded to the exclusion of women from church and chapel organs, where the duties are undertaken for a salary, I venture to solicit a space for the following brief statement of facts, which tend to prove that a quarterly salary of £5 is considered sufficient for a professional female organist, but not enough for a gentleman amateur, holding an excellent appointment in a public office. I will state the circumstance as concisely as some little explanation will permit.

A young woman of talent, who has produced some successful musical compositions, and has a reputation for ability and careful conduct, has recently been dismissed from her situation as organist, for having asked for increase of salary from £20 to £30 a year. The services, added to the practising of a choir and instructing the children in psalmody, necessitate 228

attendances in the year, and occupy a large portion of the organist's time; the pay is about 1s. 9d. for each attendance. This will not be deemed an extravagant remuneration for a well-trained musical professor of experience at a church, which is, in commercial phrase, "a paying concern," and where the incumbent's income is large; but £20 a year was of importance to this poor young woman-it was, at least, a moiety of her profits. Besides, she had experienced enough of the exclusion of women system, having, in reply to three applications, been informed that "ladies were not eligible," and this, too, from small district churches, where the appointments have been subsequently given to amateurs, who are city clerks. She was induced to make a respectful application to the incumbent and churchwardens for an additional £10 per annum. The result was a notice of dismissal, accompanied, however, by a flattering testimonial. The clever but poor female organist has been got rid of, and a gentleman amateur, likewise a city clerk, was appointed in her place, his friends being seat-renters in the church. I am informed that the amateur held the office for two weeks only, although the salary for him was £30 a year.

Twenty pounds a year, with the chance of a little teaching, in a neighborhood, not exactly poor, but far from wealthy, yields but a scanty income for the maintenance of a person expected to make a respectable appearance; and there is much praise due to this class of the underpaid, for reserve and delicacy in not wishing their trials and humiliations to be paraded before the public. In this rank stands the female organist in question, and for the sake of many others who are anxious to earn a decent maintenance, and to be selfsupporting, it is hoped the press will invite public opinion to assist, not prevent, them in pursuing an occupation for which they are so well adapted. I am, Madam, yours respectfully,

MADAM,

To the Editor of the English Woman's Journal.

H. A. Z.

I wish to call attention to a letter which appeared in the Times from the Rev. Walter Cocks, Honorary Secretary to the House of Charity, an account of which Institution appeared in your pages some months ago. He says, "I plead the cause of this charity with the more confidence, as it is, I believe, the only charity which seeks to aid respectable persons in distress." Indeed, it is singular, that while we have refuges, reformatories and penitentiaries for the fallen, no one seems to think of the many respectable persons, who are plunged into misfortune through no fault of their own, and with no one to aid or assist them. To all such, this house is a home and a harbor of refuge. Here, for instance, a servant girl, coming up to London to seek a situation, without any friends in London, finds an asylum from the many temptations of a city, and not only so, but most likely finds a situation through the medium of the House; here, also, the widow recently bereft of her husband, and having no means of support, finds a home for a time, and people willing and eager to start her afresh.

So, also, discharged patients from hospitals obtain food and rest till their strength is restored; while out-patients, too ill to work, but not ill enough to be admitted into a hospital, and perhaps recommended good food and complete rest, (and complete rest to a working person means, be it remembered, simply starvation,) find here a home and all that is requisite, till they are once more strong enough to take their part in the great battle of life.

There are many other cases of a similar kind received into the House, the only passport necessary being distress and a good character.

During the year now closing, six hundred persons have been boarded and lodged, for periods ranging from two to six weeks, and the great majority have obtained situations.

Perhaps some of your readers will say, "Only six hundred! what is six hundred among the number of poor in London ?" To such my answer is, "Give us the means, and we will gladly extend our charity." During the last weeks we have been obliged, for want of room, to send away many applicants for relief; and if we had the means, an opportunity will soon be afforded of securing larger premises. The assertion of Mr. Cocks, that this House of Charity is the ONLY charity for respectable persons, is, I believe, almost, though not absolutely, correct, for the advertisement of another small Home of the same description for destitute girls, may be seen in the Times, which describes itself as equally in want of support, and overrun with applicants for assistance.

Now let me ask, what is to become of the girls whom these charities are unable to receive from want of funds? If they apply for admission to a workhouse, they will probably be refused, for frequent complaints in the magistrates' courts, show that it is quite customary to refuse admission, and that a shilling a week and a loaf of bread is the outdoors allowance given to those who are denied indoors relief, and with which they are expected to provide food and lodging. The Saturday Review observes on this subject, "There is a fine phrase which patriotic declaimers are fond of using, that in England every poor man has a right to live. The metropolitan vestries know better than that. Spite of the theoretical right to live, deaths from want are only too common. In the country the Poor-law is a tolerably efficient instrument of relief; in London, considered in comparison with the masses it has to deal with, it is almost a dead letter. The police courts are

constantly occupied with complaints, that the workhouses have shut their doors on starving men and women, who have been picked up in the streets by the police. The magistrates send stinging messages in the hope of goading the workhouse authorities to do their duty. But it requires something more than stinging words to bring such a phenomenon to pass. The boards of guardians or directors know that hard words break no bones, and that the more public the cases of misery are made, the better for the ratepayers. It is a great discovery to have found out, that simply by shutting out the poor into the street, they can induce charitable people at the West End to take the cost of poor relief upon themselves."

But unluckily for respectable persons, the charitable people at the West End have just at present no sympathy for them, it has all gone away to other objects. Let a girl once fall into vice, and instantly a hundred hands are stretched out to save her, and a dozen comfortable penitentiaries are opened to receive her, into which she is invited, exhorted, implored to enter. But had a home been opened to her a few days before, she would have required neither entreaties nor exhortations to enter, she would have been but too thankful to receive the necessaries of life under a warm roof. Then, however, they were denied her; the workhouse shut her out, the charitable houses were too full to receive her, she was a mere uninteresting destitute girl of good character, without a vestige of romance attached to her, and nobody cared what became of her. Now surely it is not right that a good character should prove an obstacle to receiving charitable relief. It cannot be right that people should be more willing to raise the fallen, than to help those to stand, who are in danger of falling.

I write this in hopes that some of your readers, who are perhaps doubting which to assist among the numerous charities now calling for aid, may be induced to decide in favor of the House of Charity, 9, Rose Street, Soho Square. I write, also, because I know that many charitable persons take your Journal, some of whom are not unlikely to become, hereafter, founders of Institutions themselves; and I would urge upon them that at present the most neglected classes are the respectable ones, and that, in London, at least, it is a mockery to talk of the workhouse as an unfailing place of refuge for destitute respectable girls. O. P. Q.

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