The Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3610, 17 September 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1874

Two movements are now on foot, that, well carried out, will prove of great importance to those who choose to take advantage of them the Working Men’s Club and the Servants’ Horae. We consider the Sailors’ Home as un Jait accompli , and, therefore, it does not come within the class of things to come. We feel sorry that the Working Men’s Club is not more heartily entered upon by those who are chiefly interested in it. We cannot well understand why they stand aloof. Herbert Spencer’s theory is that every human being seeks to enjoy the highest degree of happiness of which his nature is capable. If this be true, it must follow that the majority of our race find their greatest happiness in isolation from those whose course of life runs parallel with their own. If this backwardness to associate for mutual benefit were through a preference for fireside enjoyments; if every working man were at the head of a family, and felt it his duty to stay at home with his wife and aid in the education of his children, there would be no room and no need for a Working Men’s Club. The necessity for it arises through so many of our artizans having no home they can call their own, and through having no family associations, or any means of spending an evening in inexpensive rational enjoyments after the day’s labor is ended. Most of them have to board at hotels or in houses where they do not enjoy the luxury of a private room. They cannot, with any chance of mutual pleasure, invite a friend, read a book, indulge in music, play a game at draughts or chess, or in any way, satisfactorily to themselves, pass an evening. The consequence is that the advantages of short hours of labor are lost, and thus the time that, well employed, would foster a taste for pure and soul-refining pleasures, hangs heavily, or is frittered away in such trifling amusements as are seen, laughed at, and forgotten. It is in the power of the workers to make a club what they themselves choose. A club is a truly English institution. It can scarcely exist where true liberty is not enjoyed. Dr Johnson defines it to be “ an assembly of good fellows meeting under certain conditions.” This is one of his whimsical explanations, not necessarily true; for the members need not be what he meant by the term “good fellows:” all that is requisite is that there should be a common object and a submission to certain rules. Thus a club may be established to secure political, literary, or social ; or it "may combine the three, and include amusement or other purposes best accomplished by association. There is so much to be done in a new country, there are so many objects common to all classes, and so many errors, social, commercial, and political to guard against, that we can conceive no institution so well calculated to lead to beneficial results as a well-conducted Working Men’s Club. Men are gbrought into such immediate contact with each other that the capabilities of everyone become known, and by associating together the true interests of all are discussed and comprehended. England owes much of its greatness the influence of clubs. In Shakspeare’s time they fostered letters ; in Charles the Second’s time they bolstered up the Monarchy; in Queen Anne's days they exercised strong political influence ; Peg W opfington presided over the Beefsteak Club, which induced so strong a general taste for that genuine English relish; and in modern days the Army, Navy, Wliigs, Tories, and Free Traders have strengthened each other and prosecuted their interests through associations termed clubs. These have been found to work well at Home, where facilities of ascertaining common opinions and instituting combined action are far greater than in the Colonies; and where consequently there is less need for bringing people together in numbers. Here men are gathered from all parts of the world. Meeting for the first time in a strange land, nobody knows his neighbor, or who to trust for advice. No doubt such a state of affairs tends to self-reliance, but not to enjoyment, nor to that social strength that combined action leads to. There are so many advantages to be derived from the establishment of a club, and

so few drawbacks, that we trust the apathy with which it is regarded will be replaced by the warm and hearty cooperation of all classes in establishing it.

The other movement we notice is a Servants’ Home. We have little doubt that this project will be carried ©ut, as those ladies who have begun the movement are well aware of its value, both to employers aud employed. We do not know which class will derive the greatest benefit. If the character of a servant is of importance to a mistress, the character of the mistress is equally interesting to the servant. There is in these Colonies an amazing amount of faith displayed in our dealings one with another, and it is creditable to human nature that it is, on the whole, so little abused. Without question the temptations to breaches of it are fewer than in old countries. The prosperity of the country and well-paid labor render, in classes mutually dependent, a correct appreciation of their relative rights and duties ; so that where they are fulfilled on one side, save in exceptional cases, they are usually reciprocated on the other. But after all there is a good deal of the experimental in domestic service which it would be very comforting to dispense with on both sides. Matrons would very willingly be spared the annoyance of making observations in order to estimate the character of the servants they have employed, and servants would be glad to know what sort of treatment they are likely to meet with prior to entering into an engagement. The advantage of a Servants’ Home is mutual, and, if well conducted, would tend much to increase comfort in families and households.