LECTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 834, 5 January 1883, Page 2

LECTURE.

A deeply interesting lecture was delivered by the Rev. T. B. Stephenson, LL. D. , at the Town Hall last evening, entitled, “The history of a box of fusees, with notes on child life in London.” The Rev. Mr Nixon having opened the meeting with prayer, the Rev. Mr Beattie was voted to the chair, and briefly introduced Dr Stephenson. The chairman alluded to the great pleasure it gave him to preside over such a respectableandience, and a meeting that had been convened for such a good cause. He regretted that, although in London frequently when at Home, he had never been able to visit the excellent institution which Dr Stephenson had founded for the poor “ waifs and strays ’’ of children in that great metropolis. He had seen a somewhat similar institution in Ed nburgh> and he could assure his hearers that there could be no better object in a Christian life than to devote it towards helping to rescue the thousands of children from the haunts of misery and vice, and providing for them in their young days a home and the means of getting an honest Christian living as they grew to manhood. Dr Stephenson, who possesses an excellent voice, and delivers his lectures with precision and great pathos, alluded first of all to the city of Washington, which used’to be ironically cdjed “ the city of magnificent distances,” owing to its vast streets which were not built upon, and that of London, which has a population of nearly four millions gathered within its area,, and where no space is left long unoccupied. London was, indeed, a city of terrible contrasts, the most splendid and yet the most squalid place in the world. Within its walls there were scores of the wealthiest families, and yet it encloses hundreds of thousands of persons whose whole life is a desperate struggle to find food. No one but a Londoner gains more than some slight glimpses of the melancholy aspect of London life. It was impossible for a mere sight-seer to form any adequate idea of its condition in this respect. The man who stands at the entrance to the Stock Exchange, or at the great doors of Westminster Hall, or leans over the rails at Rotten Row, may think that London is a splendid city, and life in it a splendid pastime. If he wanders through the western squares where every house is a palace, and sees the gorgeous footmen all “ purple and fine linen,” or takes a peep at the library of the British Museum, or watches the crowds that crush into St Paul’s to hear a fashionable preacher, or into the huge Tabernacle across the water, London seems to him the most stately, the most learned, and moat devout city in the world. This is only the bright side of London life. Tomakemore than a fancy sketch, the picture contains, a>as! those dark shades which complete the portrait, in the shape of courts in which virtue is a scoff and decency impossible. And this within the shadow almost of Westminister Abbey ! You have the Duke here with his LI ,000 a-day and a hundred thousand people, who when they wake to-morrow know not where their breakfast is to come from. Great religious societies are daily sending out streams of holy influence to

every part of the globe, and yet you will find heathenism as dark as ever danced a corroboree in this great city ot London. [The rev. lecturer then sung “London Bridge ” with much expression, and was loudly applauded. He also played the accompaniment on the piano.] On resuming, Dr Stephenson gave several illustrations of the sorrowful aide of London life. He was convinced that until such scenes were looked at and pondered over, no one can understand the scramble for a

living that is going on there. He would take his hearers to the London dock gates to hear what, was going on at the principal entrance at 7-30 in the morning. Here were arranged masses of men of all ranks,

looks, and natures. Everyone of these persons requites a loaf of bread, and is willing to work for it. Character or recommendation not being required, every one has a chance of getting work, but many struggle to get it but cannot. The most callous must be saddened with a sight like this. Thousands of men are then struggling and scuffling to get a day’s work, made fiercer by the knowledge that hundreds must be left to idle out the day in want. To look into the faces of such a hungry crowd is a sight never to be forgotten. No less than 20,000 men are dependent upon dock labor for their daily bread, and think of the women and children whom they represent ! The lecturer tjien recounted a visit be made to a maker of fusee boxes. Ho described njost minutely the manner in which these match boxes are made in the East End of London- The interior of the miserable room in a dingy street, the piles of match boxes, stacked on the bed, the chair, and the floor, and last’y, the poor girl, on whose labor the three occupants of that room depended for food, was a aid picture indeed. Four gross of these boxes were made in a day of sixteen hou a’ duration, and the price obtained for them 2id per gross, the maker finding both the string and paste as well. Here in New Zealand eight hours’ work was thought enough for a strong man ; just think of sixteen hours’ a day for a woman, and 4s 6d per week as the result! Thinking upon the poor girl’s unselfish and illrequited labor, he could not help saying to himself, “ Here is another of our ‘ Martyrs by th,e pang without the palm.’ ” Look once more to a picture of sorrow, yet not wholly so. In a smajl room, scantily furnished, yet such as to declare its owner no sloven, lies a dying woman on her bed, not 35 years old yet, her hair streaked with grey, and a forehead with seams that 60 years should not have graven there. Her husband died five years ago, and she is left with five children to get a living as best she might

with doing plain sewing) and, like Hood's--* sempstress, :ehe t : “ Stitched, stitched, stitched, - ---- Sewing at once with a doable thread A shroud as well a shirt.” She, however, was a Christian, and did not fear death ; to her death was bat gain, it is but to dwell where “They lie within the light of God, as a child " ’ upon its mother’s breast. Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” The greatest anxiety to this poo • woman was what to do with her children. Before long she hears that the Children’s Home ... . is to receive them and care for them, and

in ai few minutes afterwards her life ia spanned, and her. soul is gone to God. (Amlause.) His (the lecturer’s) gym pathies, through seeing such scenes os the last, were long ago stirred on behalf of the London children, and for fourteen years he had labored amongst them. In other large towns, such as Manchester and Liverpool, the sorrows and sufferings of children were terrible. The work of homely care was a national one, and children from France and other countries were treated with equal consideration at the Home*;*' .(Applause.) The lecturer then described . the mode of selling matches, etc , adopted 1 by the London street arabs and “ mud- - larks,” the costermongers’ cas’ulty boys, , or “ nippers,”-and opinions ; of one of the better class of lads, taken from his own lips, were very amusing. He (the lecturer) r had known a boy only four years Old Who ‘ was compelled by his mother to sell “ Ights ”in the street. In most cases all the capital those boys possessed was one ... penny, with which they had to start trad-, ing every morning. (Laughter.) Sometimes they had to borrow from a capitalist who possessed twopence (great laughter) < to enable them to buy enough matches to sell for sixpence, which generally sufficed .. to pay for their scanty needs during the ; day. The lecturer then went on to des- . cribe London child life in its moat terrible aspect, giving most interesting accounts of various waifs that had been taken to the Children’s Home, showing their photo- r ] graphs when taken in fresh out of the | streets and dens of London, and again in later life, after leaving the Home. In thesephotos. thecontrastwas most marked, as may be supposed. In some cases the one-time inmates of the Home were now landowners in- Canada and Australia. Some had sent money to England to get their relatives out to live with them. [Dr Stephenson then sang, “ Pat and thA Parson,” which was received with loud applause and laughter.] The lecturer—then alluded to the much greater benefit "'i that the children derived from the homely j and family system adapted, to thai generally observed at the large Government institutions. He had found that the best system on the whole was tor have ; C only about twenty children in each house, under the care of one matron. The latter, he was glad to say, were of such a f -. class that nothing better could be desired.* It was the. home feeling that made the children improve rapidly, and it very"' ~ seldom occurred that any child attempted f < to run away from the Home. It was-*-the two elements, religion and home, that supplied the most important training f0r.,... children. ("Applause). The old Lanca- l :i; shire song, “ Come Whdam to thy Childer,” was then sung by the lecturer. The quaint dialect caused the song and. the manner in which it was rerideredto 1 be greatly enjoyed by the audience.' The! 3 , lecturer advised patents to teach the gr children some trade or other, sc that can always earn their own living. One of the greatest injuries which -can be inflicted by a father upon his son is to bring him up as a “ gentleman ’’ < ;(Ap-# 4 plause). There are five institutions of the kind established under the Children’s j Home system—i.e., the system initiated^ in London by himself. The establishment ’ in London contained 250 children in residence, and each place ia the child’s home,"" and not a prison. He would not detain them any longer, but before he concluded-i would give them a song which had been sat to music by the choirmaster of the London Children’s Home. The song, which was a most amusing one, and which ’ ’ contained a capital moral, was exceedingly lll well rendered. The rev. lecturer then asked this question—What will you do totw help this work ? He would perhaps havp never been here at all to ask that question if some few months ago he had not been nt * ordered to travel by his doctor to his health. So having to seek strength he had determined to come to New Zealand, and see what his countrymen were doing here. He could forget the children he had left and he determined to see what could be raised on their behalf whilst he was herp. A number of Australian gentlemen haye,| signified their intention of paying each for five years, that being the cost keep a child at the Home, and about v thirty children are thus provided 'fpr,n He held in his hand' a birthday book, in which he wanted to get 16,000 signatures.

It was very similar to the books which yonnw ladies always asked their friends to write' 1 * their names in, but was a little different

in this respect—that those who put theirnames down would be expected to con-'' tribute LI Is per annum towards the

Children’s Home. This would be by means of a collecting card, which J

would be sent to each subscriber every

year, and on its being filled up the was to be sent in to a gentleman of thistown, who had been asked to remit same to London. On December Ist in. each 1 ' year such a card would be sent to each o£. those who put their signature on hi« Birthday Book, and they would knodi what to do. (Applause.) He thanked

them for the very patient hearing given him. The rev. lecturer then sat down amidst hearty applause. The Rev. Mr Standage proposed ,a hearty vote* of thanks to Dr Stephenson for his very interesting lecture, which was seconded by Mr Hogg, and carried with acclamation. A collection was then made in aid 0$ the Children’s Home, and resulted in Ll 5 being collected in the hall, besides a number ef signatures being added to the Birthday Book. The proceedings closed with singing the “ National Anthem."