The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-06 00:00:00

FOOD FOR THE► SICK POOL

Some eighteen months ago a description of the
dinner table for the sick poor at Wobern-buildings
appeared in this journal. Since that time the
good effected by this charity hoe increased so enor-
mously that a brief account of it piugreas will not
be emisideted out of place. It is now nearly lye
years since Mr. Hicks, a barrister, residing in the
neighbourhood, established the kitchen and diniar
room, and during the first twelve months 3,Z1
applicants were relieved. During the first nits
months of this, the fifth year of its existence, the
numbers have increased to 10,613, allot wham have
had nourishing meals during that period of con-
valescence when food is more than medicine, and
all of whom would have languished and starved
but for the existence of this charity.

The mode of administration and relief is excellent
in its economical simplicity. Subscribers share the
responsibility of bestowing help with the manners
of the charil, or rather take all responsibility upon
themselves, while the latter, on their part, under-
take to supply wholesome food, well cooked, at a
fraction under ita cost. No collector is employed to
t 'ut for donations, and one matron and one servant
comprise the household staff. The sole object is
to strengthen the very poor after severe illness, or
when the constitution has suffered from a long
period of low living. Joints of the best quality
are cooked and apportioned out to all applicants
presenting tickets, and these tickets may be pur-
chased in little booksat the rate of forty for a guinea.
A ticket entitles the poor man, or woman, or child
receiving it toil meal ; and for further convenience
the tickets are divided into three kinds, one of
which gives the bearer the right to take the dinner
to his or her home, the other to eat it on the pre-
mises, while the third secures wine or other stimu-
lants. Thus, it is left to the discretion of
the subscriber to say whether the patient's friends
are to be trusted, or whether the patient is likely
to give the food intended for his or her own
nourishment to others. The managers of the
dinner table wisely limit their functions to supply-
ing a wholesome article for an incredibly small
sum, and all other responsibility rests with those
giving the tickets away. That this division of
labour answers its purpose admirably is vouched
for by the clergy of the district and of adjadent dis-
tricts, as well as by the hospitals and dispensaries
of the pariah, who avail themselves of its benefits for
their deserving poor, and who bear willing testimony
to its advantages. But any one interested in the
question has but to walk up the flagged passage at
the back of St. Pancras Church, on any Monday or
Thursday, from noon to one p.m., throughout the
year, to satisfy himself of its great practical
usefulness. These are the "sick children's dinner
days," and the wan, worn faces, and stinted, im-
poverished frames of the poor little boys and girls
to be seen there, tell a more eloquent and touching
story than we can hope to do. Ina single week (of
two days) as many as 114 children have dined here,
and 66 have eat down to table at one time. All
helped must be between the ages of four and
twelve; must be labouring under some illness
which is not infectious, or must be the poor little
wretches of whom doctors say " they must have
plenty of good nourishing food—they don't want
medicine—and if they don't have it they will die."

All conversant with the trialsand sufferings of the
very poor know that when dismissed from the
hospital, or smitten with one of tho many minor
maladies which spring from physical weakness, it
is the impossibility of procuring strengthening
food which sends many a breadwinner into the
workhouse, breaking up his little home, and throw-
ing his family on the rates. It is as a matter of
sound economy therefore, no less than on grounds
of kindness and humanity, that the poor invalid's
dinner table rests its claim to support. When we
called attention to it last, we stated that for every
sixpence given the person subscribing might count
upon seven pennyworth of food being given ; that
all expenses of rent and management were paid by
a small fee taken from those assisted, and that the
good effected by the charity was not limited either
by religious distinction or parish boundary, but
was open to all cases properly recommended. We
have but to repeat these commendations now.
Since its commencement similar charities have
been established at Kensington, Poplar, and St.
Msrylebone, as well as at Dublin, Bristol, and
Cheltenham, all of which have framed their rules
and management on the model of the Woburn-
buildings one, and are effecting similar good.
When we visited the latter last year the prospect of
a small annual loss was accepted cheerfully as
inevitable, and statistics and statements were given
us which showed with exactitude what the probable
discrepancy between disbursements and receipts
would be. But while these calculations have been
verified in detail, the rapid increase in the numbers
relieved makes the aggregate loss greater than was
anticipated, and after giving substantial aid in the
fouryears and three-quarters of its e xistence to 28,500
adults, and 11,100 children, 0r39,600 in all,the dinner
table finds itself one hundred pounds in anew.
No direct plea is advanced upon any class of the
community, but existing as it does in the very
'centre of a wealthy, as well as a poverty-stricken
neighbourhood, it is hoped that the squares
may lend a helping hand to the alleys
and the courts, and that a sixth year of life
may commence next October untrammelled by
debt. The sum is comparatively small, the
good wrought enormous, and it is certain
that if the benevolent could but see the practical
working of this the simplest and least ostentatious
charity in the world, its petty debt would be wiped
off forthwith. No salaries are paid to clerks or secre-
taries, Mr. Ricks, its founder, taking all the
drudgery of book keeping and letter writing
upon himself as a pure labour of love ; and the
whole paraphernalia of professional philanthrophy
is eschewed. The plain truth is that the charity
would be self supporting but for the rise in the
price of provisions and an unwillingness to snake
a proportionate increase in the charge for tickets.
One hundred pounds is not much, but it re-
presents four thousand of these dinners, and is cal-
culated to diminish the scope of the charity to
precisely that extent. For besides those supplied
to subscribers, tickets are given gratuitously
to the neighbouring hospitals and dispensa-
ries, to scripture readers, district visitors, and
deaconesses to distribute as they think best. The
cost of these is met by donations front the chari-
table, and the benevolent public may bestow
their money here with the certainty of careful
stewardship and practised adwieistration. For
every pound subscribed, forty hot and nourishing
meat are given to the sick and suffering, sad

[TWOPENCE

these providing the funds may either have books
of ticketa,and send poor people of their own choosing,
or they may leave the matter in the hands of the
management, with the certainty of their trust
being faithfully discharged. The pressing want of
the moment, however, is the hundred pounds
already mentioned, and it is but reasonable to hops
that when the gap this modest little institution
fills is understood its usefulness will not readily
be let die.