pass out of sight; as one dieth so dieth the other; if we look not beyond death man has no pre-eminence, unless it be in his capability of suffering. All, indeed, is emptiness; all are of the dust and all turn to dust again; all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Nothing in that case is better than for man to enjoy the present; but there may be higher enjoyments than slavery to amusement affords; let him rejoice in his own doings; let him live a life of philanthropy and be honoured by his fellows as a benefactor. And how does this end? Oppressions; the tears of the oppressed; power on the side of the oppressor; the absence of pity or of sympathy; if this be the highest life it is better to be dead; better still never to have lived.

The man whose energy awakes the envy of his fellows, the fool who sits down in contented ignorance and indolence, eating out his own heart, alike are dissatisfied. Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with labour that brings only vexation and disappointment.

But is there not something more satisfying if looking beyond self, man seeks for social happiness? The lonely one who, having neither child nor brother, yet labours on accumulating riches and not knowing who shall gather them, finds it indeed vanity; but if two walk together, so that if they fall one will help the other, in this fellowship, in this friendship man may find satisfaction? Yet, alas, no. I considered all the living which walk under the sun; unnumbered people have gone before and will come after us who have loved and lost; this kindly harmony is sweet while it continues, but it, too, has its end in death; and so this better view of life also concludes in emptiness and vexation of spirit.

The poet then turns to those who recognise and profess the worship of God, and exhorts to reverence, sobriety, and sincerity in words and deeds; reminding those in prosperity that it can never fill or satisfy; that labour has in itself a degree of satisfaction, because it gives exercise to the faculties, but attainment, never. Man finds a temporary satisfaction in working to an end, but because that end is in itself inadequate to his need, it leaves only a vacant craving for something more; something above and beyond.

(v. 18, 19, 20; vi.) Let him enjoy while he can and as he can; if it be a simple enjoyment in what God gives, this is in itself a good gift from God. But there is an evil and it is common with men; a man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof; there comes the saddest of all human conditions; when our very wishes give us not our. wish,' when the spirit becomes so dull and the feeling so dead that pleasure ceases to give pleasure, intellect to quicken intellect, affection to awake a corresponding emotion; to possess and to have lost the sense of possessing -this indeed is vanity and an evil disease.

RATCLIFF, EAST LONDON.

THE appeal for Ratcliff, East London, inserted by the kindness of the Editor, in the Monthly Packet' of September, 1888, met with such spontaneous response, that I have been asked to lay before readers a more recent account of the district, and the need of money to carry out other improvements which would be of further benefit to the population, and most especially to the children.

We are sure that many of our kind friends and supporters will be glad to learn that the Workers' Home,' and the Factory Girls' Club,' Nos. 5 and 6 London Street, continue to thrive. There are several ladies living at the Home, and these work in various ways among the people, assisted by others, who come from a distance The Club is open every evening and on Sunday afternoon. Slowly, steadily-not without many failures-we believe that good work has been done. Some girls have been drafted out of wretched homes. and started in service under more favourable conditions; others have found a haven of refuge in their club-room; and, in proportion as they become interested in the instruction and recreation provided there, they are drawn from the rough games and excitement of the streets, the drink and coarse entertainments in which many of their companions indulge. Off-shoot classes have also been carried on for younger girls, between the ages of twelve and sixteen; the last of these has recently been started in a small room belonging to the almshouses, kindly lent by the Coopers' Company. This room is situated at the far end of the parish, and the class held is intended to gather in girls who generally remain hanging about their own courts, and who do not come round to seek admittance at the London Street Club. A new set of girls has been reached, and it is obvious that a larger field of work is opening, and that many more girls ought to be brought under the influence of the workers.

The railway company are effecting some alterations in their line, and, owing to this, the tenure of the Mission Chapel under the railway-arch will, unfortunately, have to cease. This chapel was opened six years ago, under license of the Bishop of London, with a view of drawing very poor people, who never came to church, to the services held there. There are two rooms under the arch,' and, in those days, they were also used for mothers' meetings, childrens' classes, temperance lectures, and in many other ways. During the

East London Mission of November, 1884, the procession, consisting of the clergy, choir and workers, assembled every evening in this chapel before starting round the district to gather a congregation for the service at the church, and much of the best work since developed in the parish was originated within those bare walls, whilst they groaned under the noise of the trains rolling overhead. Nearly all the people who used to worship in this rough little mission chapel have now become regular attendants at church, and it is easier, once the example has been set among the people themselves, to draw newcomers straight to church. The chapel of late has been chiefly used for the children's services, and also for a section of the Sundayschool; when it is closed, more than one hundred and twenty children will be turned adrift, and these cannot be accommodated in the regular Sunday-school attached to St. James's Church, as that already numbers about two hundred and fifty, and could not take in the newcomers. The Vicar is exceedingly anxious to enlarge the building before this contingency arrives, and to have space enough in St. James's School to be able to receive the children from the arch as soon as the railway company gives notice to quit. Various classes, and the sale of clothing, held week by week in the arch, will also be brought to a standstill, unless new quarters are forthcoming. St. James's School, since the Board-schools were erected, has been turned into a Parish-Room as well as a Sunday-school; it comes more and more into request as parochial work develops. Unfortunately, it only consists of one large room and a very small class-room. If the work already commenced is to be continued, it becomes necessary to enlarge the building by adding on another room. The dinners for Board-school children are both cooked and held here during the winter, and, at the time of the strike, children's breakfasts were also provided. A mothers' meeting, at which sixty and seventy women are generally present, is held every week. The musical drill for factory girls has to take place here, as their own club-rooms in London Street are too small for such exercises. The Guild for Religious Instruction of Children, the Bible Class for Adults, the Temperance Meetings, the Choral Class of the Temperance Society, the Band of Hope, the Savings' Bank, the Library for Children, the Building Society, the Good Templars' Lodge, likewise compete for an evening in the week. The Church of England Working Men's Society occupy the small rooms of the old London Street Mission-room, whilst the Lad's Institute and the Men's Club are in possession of splendid premises and a gymnasium of their own; but all occasional gatherings-such as parish teas, concerts, lectures, and entertainments have to be held in the old school of St. James's; and this, when once 'The Arch' is gone, will be in still greater request, and needed at all hours-both on week days and on Sundays. Ten years ago there were forty children and three teachers at St. James's. There are now in three separate schools, four hundred and fifty

children and forty teachers. Many of these teachers are lads from the Institute, and young women belonging to one or other of the classes. The parish is thus beginning to possess a strong band of local workers. These give the spare time they have at their disposal; and are doing much to help the more ignorant neighbours among whom their lot is cast. Of many of these, it might be thankfully recorded, that they have not been overcome by the evil which surrounds them; but that they are overcoming evil with good. As soon as the new room is built, it is proposed to make alterations in the school-ground and church-yard attached to St. James's, and to throw one into the other, including a slip of the small vicarage garden which has been generously given up, to the public good, thus a play-ground will be provided for children, and a kind of garden, in which grown-up persons could sit during the summer. This, it is needless to say, would be an inestimable boon to numbers; the sensational accounts of unhealthy houses, and fever-stricken courts, are familiar to every one; these are often exaggerated, and in consequence discarded. But it is difficult for those who have not lived in a dense labyrinth of narrow streets, deprived of open ground of any sort, to realise the difference that the lack of a quiet play-ground makes in the lives of children; or to understand how the perpetual excitement and restlessness of the streets tells upon the character whilst it is forming. The children play out of doors until ten, and even twelve, at night, surrounded by all that is bad, and, to say the least, unlovely; the good influence of the schools is baffled by the haphazard way in which they exist out of school. This deprives them of ballast when they grow up, and leads to a singular absence of the power of settling down' to anything in their after lives. The 'play-room' for children, supported by the kindness of Mr. Besant, was started to counteract this evil; it is open to little ones, every day after school hours, and it closes every evening, with a short and simple form of service; during the winter it is generally crowded, but in the summer, the children naturally prefer remaining without, in the streets. The girls, of twelve and fourteen, when they leave school, are even worse off than the children; they are frequently too small to go to work, they remain hanging about the courts, under pretext of minding the baby, thus, the two or three most impressionable years of their lives, are spent without aim or object, imbibing much that is evil, and forgetting most of that which they have learnt. These children read penny novelettes, and sensational papers, they haunt the doors of public-houses, and sharpen their intellects by picking up the latest street news; they are ready to describe the plays—' the blood and murder' of disreputable places of amusement. The Board-school mistresses, who are more aware than most, of the extent and effects of the evil, have devotedly given up their time, and held a needlework class one evening a week, during two winters, with the hopes of maintaining their influence VOL. 20.

40

PART 120.

over the girls as they leave school. They feel that, under existing circumstances, they have only been able to keep a hold of a small number. We trust that the day is drawing near when eveningclasses for dress-making, cooking, etc., etc., on lines somewhat similiar to those provided at the People's Palace, shall be attached to every Board-school, and the need of caring for children up to a more advanced age, shall become systematically recognised. Will you help in the meanwhile, reader, to better the condition of these children by enlarging St. James's School, and making a garden around its walls? All contributions should be sent to the Rev. R. K. Arbuthnot, or Mrs. Arbuthnot, St. James's Vicarage, Ratcliff, E. The estimate amounts to about £750, but towards this, a grant of £200 has been received from the Bishop of London's Fund, and £200 has been raised by voluntary subscriptions; £350 are still needed. The subscriptions already received have ranged from large to very small sums, and we trust that the readers of the Monthly Packet' who have already kindly associated themselves in helping on the work of the parish will not consider any subscription too small to send! We wish to remind them that Ratcliff is one of the very poorest districts in London; and that £400 has to be raised every year from without, by subscriptions, to carry on the ordinary parochial work which could not otherwise be continued. Much of this money has been collected in little sums, and we doubt whether those who send them realise how much good they have already done, or how their sympathy and practical support have strengthened the hands of those who labour on the spot. The kindness of many has been plenteous, and we trust that the 'cruse of oil' will not yet be stayed.

FLORENCE N. DODSON.