The Express.
London, England, 1865-02-06 00:00:00

TEE E:

another. The Refuges are always crowded. At
Newport Market, not only are the hundroll
all filled, but " from fifty to eighty poor people.*
" have of late begged to be allowed to sleep on
"the bare floor." It is not from any luxury of
arrangement that the institution is thus in re-
quest. Asceticism itself could hardly demand less
than a board by way of mattress, and even those
wbo are lucky enough to obtain beds, find
them " merely strips of cocoa-nut mat-
" ting, 22 inches in width, stretched on
" iron rods. A woollen rug is the only
" covering issued, and 8 os. of broad and a cup of
" eoffee, night and morning, the only food. No
" inducement whatever is held out to any one to
" enter the Refuge who has the means of pro-
" 'Wing a lodging. On the contrary, the scale of
" relief is inferior to that in several of the °mud
" wards."

In the preference thus shown for the Refuge
over the workhouse, notwithstanding the careful
withholding, on the part of the former, of any
inducements to the vicious or the idle, Mr. GLAD-
mars sees a sufficient justification for its existence
as a permanent institution. He challenges sup-
port for such agencies on "the distinct and intel-
" liege ground that, while they aim at doing the
" setae work as the casual wards in workhouses,
" they can do it, and actually do it, better than
" those casual wards." Wherever any object can
be achieved more satisfactorily by private charity
than by public relief, that object comes at once
within the legitimate sphere of individual exertion.
There need be no scruple about lightening the
burdens of the ratepayers when the work which is
taken out of their bands can be done more tho-
roughly in another way. The aid which is given
at the workhouse differs from the aid which is
given at the Refuge, not in its own nature, but in
the spirit in which it is offered. It is impossible,
even at the best, that a purely business connexion
such as that between the pauper and the work-
hones officials can be characterised by any great
amount of kindliness, while at the same time as-
sistance " grudgingly and rudely given" can never
exercise that softening and humanising influence
on the minds of those who receive it, to aim at
which is within the legitimate previace of thoughtful
and discriminating charity. "It cannot be," says
Mr. GLancron 2, "but that those who come =steak
" themselves what is it that has moved those who
" give them this shelter and this food t what is it
" that has moved those who come here to render
" personal service in the management of this in-
" stitution T what is it that los moved clergymen,
" and sisters, and all those who actually them-
" salves take what is called the labouring oar f and
" the answer to that question can be but one." It
is a matter of no slight moment that that vagrant
and casual distress which is always tending to
settle down into hopeless pauperism should be kept
from doing so, if possible ; and there is no such
certain means of securing this important object as
the display, in addition to the grant of necessary
relief, of some sympathy with the past history, and
some interest in the future prospects of those who
apply for shelter.

gbe Court.