The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-02 00:00:00

A WORKING CIIIIIICIT.

A very striking instance of what may be effected
by the voluntary principle when it is efficiently car-
ried out was given -a day or two since at Canonbury.
The church and congregation of Hare-court Chapel
held their annual meeting, when the reports
were read. During 1868 more than £4,300 was
raised for religious and benevolent objects,
another £l,OOO being raised by pew rents for the
payment of the minister. Out of these funds five
branch churches, three rooms for religious services,
and several others for mission-rooms were supported.
Besides these, there are maintained three day schools,
five Sunday or ragged schools, and several
evening schools, a home for little boys, and a
children's nursery. There are four penny
banks with 1,465 depositors; five mothers' meet-
ings with 559 members ; coal clubs, temperance
societies, Band of llope, &c. During the year 7,124
children's dinners had been given, and 400 families
received a Christmas meal. The church which
carries on all this work is not a large one, not seating
m ere than 1,5C0 persons. There are three paid ministers,
"ix lay evangelists, seven monitors for the schools, and
300 assistants among the congregation. The trea-
surer of the societies said they had no collectors for
any of their societies. When they had collectors
they were always in debt'; now he was always able to
report a balance in hand. During the year more
than £2,800 had come in without the aid of a single
collector, a sufficient proof of what might be done by
voluntary effort.

THE RAGGED SCHOOLS.
Criticism has been pretty freely exercised .of lae
on the ragged schools, and Lord Shaftesbury 'sinsti-
tutions, especially the Shoe-Black Brigade, have
come in for rough handling. But their aim has
always been admitted to be good. The noble earl
writes to the Times paying " a tribute of praise" to
those who have worked with him. Ile points out
that all the machinery adopted by the Lord Chan-
cellor's 'Westminster Poor Relief Association has
for twenty years been in use in connection with the
ragged schools. " Mothers' meetings and house
visitaticr s have been considered inseparable
adjuncts t 3 the general system. Thrift and
domestic economy have always been inculcated,
and with such effect, even among the poorest,
that in one year the collected deposits of
an aggregate of 00 Ragged Schools amounted to no
less than £2,000. The shoeblacks are an offshoot of
the Ragged Schools; in the year of the cotton famine
the boys of their own accord called a meeting and
agreed to contribute Is. in the pound of their deposits
in the bank. One boy alone brought les. as his
share of the subscription. Others, moreover, have
sent out their relatives in emigration at their own
expense, rejoicing that they could do it without any
external aid."

ErsAkine PRACTICALN ele, a
SwEenll3-7-Ln. clergyman
The Rev
and writer, has been preaching to 11 arblishioners at
Exning,-, near Newmarket, a thoroughly
sermon. Speaking of the typhoid fever which practical.
which has
for some time been raging in his parish,
he (lid not
talk the usual cant about a " visitation," nor tell
the people that they were being punish cl
the sin of
Sabbath - breaking or for or
not
observing the saints' days. He said that
" the need of the parish is that of additional cottages
for the poor. . . . The remedy for many ills
lies with ourselves, and it is useless to attempt to
eradicate disease from this fever-stricken pari •
sh
unless you set to work and provide at once
further and better and ampler ne:ommodation for
the labouring pcor. A crowded cottage fosters
fever. No surer recipe for typhus exists than
six or eight human beings occupying the
same sleeping-room. As for schools, they are a
mockery and a farce while parents, adult sons, and
adult daughters are all huddled together in ono
sleeping-room. . . . Possibly these remarks will
be unwillingly listened to. Possibly they will be
deerned intensely disagreeable. rut yeti must allow
the cicrgynan—hardly an unmoved spectator of
r. L•:.;; eccurs in his pc.r:sli—to form his own opinions
and. to ventilate

T tE RErr.Essrox OF cnnln.

annual mectinc; of the Korth Staffords7dre
Dischlrged Prisoners' Aid ;'"ocicty was held a day or
two since, under the presidency of the Earl of
frarrowby. his lordship said he did not think
there was any thoroughly satisfactory answer
to the question " What are we to do with our
convicts ?' Crime must be punished, and yet by
the punishment a gulf was placed between
the Prisoner and a return to -honest emnloymmits