to deal with two daily periods requiring different treatment, viz., the hours of employment, and the hours of rest and leisure. The first is chiefly a layman's question, the second concerns us all.

Employers must be made to understand their grave responsibilities with regard to the moral and sanitary condition of their employés, whether men or women, boys or girls; and more especially where these classes are thrown together.

This is too large a subject to discuss now, and will come before Congress in many of our debates. To deal with it superficially would be worse than useless, but I would just call your attention to one or two points worthy of remark. Firstly, the lack of consideration for the lives of domestic servants, their accommodation, their outings, their association during our absence from home. Secondly, the foul talk in factories and workshops, and the need of more careful supervision. Thirdly, the personal relations between employers and those under their care.

As to the hours of leisure, the chief necessity for young men, especially in large towns, is to provide them with homes. This is a difficult matter, and one which has not received the attention it deserves.

Time fails me to enter into details, but I believe that much might be done for young men in this matter if their elders gave it more consideration. We must provide something in the way of Residential Clubs. Homes, not asylums, where good board and lodging, companionship and recreation may be found. There must be no undue restraint, but as much liberty as is consistent with order and respectability. The management must be as much as possible in the hands of those who use the institutions. They must become, as far as possible, self-supporting, and not unduly dependent upon charity. Religion must not be thrust upon, or made distasteful to the unwilling; but its influence must be felt, and its privileges available. They must be made the centres of every suitable enjoyment, and physical and moral improvement.

I would particularly invite you to inspect thoroughly the Soldiers' Institute, or one of the Sailors' Homes in this town, as examples of what can be done for the welfare of a class in this matter.

Next, I would ask you to consider what can be done to carry on the more directly religious influence through the years that follow Sunday School and Confirmation. We want more Guilds for young men. I speak with many years' experience of a guild in this town, and must, therefore, crave your indulgence if brevity compel me to offer you certain conclusions for which time fails me to argue.

The secret of success in a Guild is personal influence and intimacy between the wardens and the youths. Guilds should, when possible, be managed by laymen rather than by clergy, though without the goodwill and support of the clergy they cannot succeed. Religious influence and training rather than teaching should be their aim. The teaching of the Church should be applied rather than repeated. Rules should be few and simple, but well kept. Brotherhood and mutual encouragement are essential. The Guild should carry young men through from Baptism and Confirmation to Communion and Christian fellowship. Members must not be lost sight of, but commended to fellowship elsewhere when they leave the locality, and always welcomed back on their return. Guilds should provide the secular advantages of the club or institute as far as possible. Deprivation of privileges should be sufficient discipline; esprit de corps does the rest.

One word to our fellow churchwomen before I close. The work for young men concerns you in no small degree. To the devotion of good women we owe very much that has been done for them already, and to their self-sacrifice we men are indebted for an awakening to our duty to our younger brothers. The names of such ladies as

Miss Robinson, Miss Weston, Miss Hopkins, and others, stir thousands of young hearts to gratitude and enthusiasm to-day. You cannot all do what they are doing, but you all have your share in this work for your sons and brothers. Your influence is greater and purer than ours. Look to it. The society of modest women is the greatest safeguard to the virtue of our sex, and true love one of its brightest influences. "I know of no more subtle master under Heaven Than is the maiden passion for a maid,

What is true in this limited sense, is true of all affections that bind us together as God's children, and lead us nearer to the divine Love of God.

The future of our Church and nation depends in no small degree upon the efforts which we may make to win our younger brothers to Christ, and to influence their lives for good. Posterity will justly blame our neglect if we suffer corruption to spread, as it has threatened to do, unchecked in our midst; or it will bless the day when zeal and unselfish devotion rescued it from degradation, and restored to our dear land its heritage of godliness and grace.

(b) WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATIONS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

The Hon. J. G. ADDERLEY.

IN approaching so vast a subject as the "Working Men's Associations of Town and Country," I am conscious of a great dearth of experience such as should justify me in addressing you. I know that my experience, such as it is, extends to one part of the subject only, viz :-" Town Associations," and to one part of one town only, viz:-" East London," and to one kind of association, viz :— "Working Men's Clubs." Still, I consider that the "Clubs of East London " form so very important a part of the subject that I hope I may be pardoned if I confine myself entirely to them.

There are many different kinds of East End Clubs. By far the larger number are great independent societies of artisans banded together, if not for a political purpose, at any rate, with strong political views, generally of an extreme Radical type. Their Club House consists of reading-rooms, card-rooms, a drinking bar, billiard-room, and music hall. They are open from 6 to 12.30 every evening of the week. On Sundays they open at 10 and close for three hours at 3 o'clock, opening again at 6, and closing between 12 and 1. At most of these clubs the card playing is for money, but not for large amounts, and only certain games are allowed at which gambling is not common. Anyone found playing high or even playing a game well known as likely to lead to gambling would be expelled. The entertainments are of various descriptions. In the larger clubs they are chiefly of the music hall type, consisting of dancing, comic songs, and ballads. Many clubs have an Amateur Dramatic Society among the members, who give performances periodically. The entertainments take place in some clubs two or three times a week, but the principal evenings are Saturday and Sunday. Political lectures are often given, especially on Sunday mornings. In most of these clubs there is a library, and the books are well read by a studious minority of the members. I may say in passing that there is a lower grade of club than this, where very much later hours are kept, more like some of the West End Clubs, in which drinking continues till 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, and gambling is freely

practised. Of the Church Clubs, by which I mean those started under the wing of the Church, there are so many different kinds that I cannot give any description which would include them all. But they all vary, I think, according to the amount of their dependence on the Church, or independence.

I do not pretend to be giving an exhaustive account of clubs, nor do I hope to suggest any remedies which are likely to be applicable everywhere, but I give just what from a little personal observation has struck me as the deficiency of the existing club system.

The East End Clubs appear to me (and probably most clubs in our large towns appear to those who know them) to be suffering from one or all of three great evils. 1. The sale of intoxicating liquors. 2. The want of a higher influence at work among the members. 3. The want of a religious tone.

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1. The question of drink in Working Men's Clubs has, I know, been discussed a hundred times, but it seems as far from solution as ever. Ought alcoholic drinks to be sold in clubs or not? About 25 years ago, when the club movement was in its infancy, such an idea as the sale of alcohol in a club was considered an absurdity. The whole raison d'être of a club would seem to be lost by such a custom. It is interesting to read the prospectus of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union issued in 1862, where the object of the Union is declared to be the establishment of Clubs and Institutes for working men, where they can meet for recreation and refreshment, free from intoxicating drinks. The prospectus then goes on to say that the Council are strongly of opinion that the introduction of intoxicating drinks would be dangerous to the interests of clubs, and earnestly recommend their exclusion.

The greatest advocate of drinking clubs must admit that it was not so from the beginning, and that clubs were intended to be a strong counteraction to the allurements of a public-house.

But how far have these ideas of the original promoters been realised? What do we find now in East London, and in most of our large towns? A myriad of clubs which are simply beershops unfettered by the laws of closing. They are public-houses in disguise. I feel convinced that no club can do its proper work as long as intoxicating drinks are allowed to be sold. People will say about this just as they do about the Sunday question, that if a West End gentleman is allowed his drink in his club, why not the East End? I do not think the cases are quite parallel. Refinement, culture, and recreation are the objects which an East Ender has in view in joining a club, while the West Ender has so many opportunities of finding these elsewhere, that he uses his club as a place of refreshment more than anything else. The East End Clubs should be designed to avoid spending an evening in a place surrounded with moral dangers. How can that be done where drink is freely sold?

2ndly. I find many of the Working Men's Clubs of East London devoid of any elevating influence. It is obvious that such an influence must be exerted by those who are higher than the rest in point of education. Consequently, as long as working men are left to themselves to manage their club, it will remain at the same dead level of dullness and educational apathy at which it began. The President of the Club Union told me the other day, that in his opinion no club is carrying out its proper work unless it partakes somewhat of the nature of an institute as well. In a word, a raising influence must be at work. This can be done in many ways by proper entertainments, by classes on all sorts of subjects, by lectures, not always political, by raising the tone of conversation, not only from bad to good, but from silly to sensible, by showing the men the difference between good and bad songs, by helping them in the choice of books, by giving them a new interest in reading their newspapers, by giving them good things, good music, good pictures, and the like.

But then arises the question, who is to do it? In Church clubs the clergy are supposed to, but as a rule their time is so much occupied in the evenings with other parochial work, that they cannot do very much. I believe that this is a work to which laymen must give themselves. And for the independent clubs, can churchmen do nothing? Are they to be left to grow up as they have been left for the last 25 years, entirely in the hands of the working men themselves, who, not through any fault of their own, are ignorant of almost all that makes life lovely and pleasant?

There are two ways in which this matter can be, and is being faced. One way is for gentlemen, by which I mean those of us to whom God has given leisure, wealth, and • education to use for His glory, to get themselves elected to these clubs, and by personal contact try and leaven the whole lump. This was the system adopted by the Bishop of Brisbane, when he was rector of St. John's, Red Lion Square, and it is now being tried with success by some University men that I know in London. But it is at best a slow and uncertain process, and will require a very much larger influx of willing lay workers than the Church seems at present likely to attract. The other way is for gentlemen to organise new clubs, and watch and guard their growth from the commencement, so as to ensure a good healthy tone about the members.

The organising of good Working Men's Clubs I believe to be the great work that the laymen of the Church of England ought to do. I see no reason why a hundred such clubs should not be started by Christian gentlemen in our large towns, where a high, manly, chivalrous tone should be fostered by personal contact. This is no more than Mr. Kingsley, or Mr. Morris, or Mr. Denison would have wished, what, in fact, they proposed, but which has never been carried out to any great extent.

That word "contact" is the key of the question. Men may theorise in the West End, they may read the Bitter Cry, and hold up their hands in horror at what they hear and read about the East, but if they want to do any good, they must come and know the poor as friends. They may talk about touching the masses, but how can they touch a mass if they never let it come within reach of their hands? I long for the day when a crowd of hard working, earnest Englishmen shall find their way into the back streets of our large towns, and hold out the right hand of fellowship to the working men.

There are plenty of people ready to come and teach them to be discontented, but why cannot a few be found to come and tell them that life has other joys to offer besides being a party politician. Where would any of the most educated of us be if we had not had the help of a higher influence, a mother, a father, or a friend? This is just the help which the poor East Londoners want.

And lastly, as to the directly religious influence in a Men's Club. This I believe to be the great deficiency of the existing system. Even in the best clubs, and those which owe their existence to the Church, I find that the clergy hope for very little beyond getting to know some of the men. The idea of making a club a great religious factor in a parish does not seem to be entertained. Yet I believe in not doing so they are losing one of the greatest means of making the men Christians.

Religion in Working Men's Clubs seems to be fought shy of by two classes of philanthropic workers. Istly, by those who appear to think that a working man is more likely to come to a knowledge of God by being taught science and history than by being taught the Gospel, and 2ndly, by those who think that there is a time for everything, and that a working man comes to his club to get recreation, not to be preached at. Now, I quite agree that it would be a mistake to try and force religion on to every member of a club, but what I contend is that religion should be there for those who want it.

Why should we be afraid of our religion? A great deal of harm is done by keeping it in the background. Working men before now have said that churchmen do not seem to think religion very important; because they talk so little about it. Why should not religion enter into the conversation of a Working Men's Club more than it does? The way I propose is: Istly, To keep up a strong Church connection, the clergy going to the club as often as they can possibly manage. What better opportunity can a clergyman have than this for showing the men that he is not only a man paid to preach on Sundays or soothe a death-bed. 2ndly, To establish a Guild or society on a distinctly religious basis in direct union with the club, composed of club members only. In connection with this, I would have Bible Classes for old and young members. There is a tendency to disbelieve in direct spiritual teaching as a means of making working men religious. We have all sorts of plans talked about for raising the masses without religion, and we are always blinded by being told that it all leads to religion, and is, therefore, truly religious. We are told that a mosaic or a picture will lead people to God quite as quickly as the Gospel, besides having the advantage of being a new method. I always think these extra-scriptural ways of preaching the Gospel are just as if the Apostles, when told by our Lord to let down the net to enclose the draught of fishes, had said "No, that's an old fashioned way, we prefer catching them with our hands." Have we any right to say that working men will not accept religion? So we must give them other ways of education which we think they will accept. It is true that they will not accept religion as a body very kindly, but then do they accept the other ways of education kindly? Is not a little force necessary in other cases? Look at the empty museums and libraries: look at Epping Forest, within easy reach of the East London poor, yet almost unknown to them, except as a place where good public-houses and donkey rides are to be got. I think they accept religion, considering what an effort it must be to them, as well as anything else. But there are many clergy who would give the world to have more time to attend to their Working Men's Clubs. They have been obliged, through stress of work, to leave the clubs to themselves, and the consequences have been disastrous. Two clubs I know, which were both started by clergymen, and were essentially Church institutions, are now rapidly degenerating into independent societies of the worst type. At one of them an element of Atheism is at work, while drinking and gambling go on till a late hour every night. It must be confessed, I think, that the majority of clubs at this present moment are not doing the work they might be doing for Christ's Church, and all for the want of help from Churchmen.

If the clergy have not the time, the laymen must give this help. I am not advocating too much interference on the part of gentlemen in the government of a club. Such a thing as a committee of gentlemen, who, if they liked, could outvote the men, would be disastrous; but at the same time I should like gentlemen to have a share in the government, and to be a distinct power. But it may be said that working men would resent this sort of thing. Not so if the gentlemen go the right way to work and make friends of them first before they do anything else. Friendship comes before advice or influence. We know in the ordinary course of our lives how much we resent advice given us by people we don't know. So much more in a club it is necessary that any one who wants to advise or influence the men must first of all be their friend. Let such gentlemen come to these clubs, laying aside all class distinctions and conventional prejudices, determined to show that gentlemen can be working men, and that working men can be gentlemen, and that both can be Christians. Briefly, then, I would suggest that churchmen should start and work clubs wherever they can, determined upon three things: the exclusion of alcoholic drinks;