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

A WORKING cuuncir.

A very striking instance of what may be effected
by the voluntary principle when it is efiiciently 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 1808 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 1,405 depositors; five mothers' meet-
ings with 559 members ; coal clubs, temperance
societies, Band of Hope, &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
morethan 1,500 persons. There are three paid ministers,
six 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 lie 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 late
on the ragged schools, and Lord Shaftesbury 's insti-
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. lie 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
visitations have been considered inseparable
adjuncts t) 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 GO 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 ls. 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."

La
SERMON.h
ANC
eT
eA,
well-known. clergyman
The Rev. ErsAkiPnße
and writer, has been preaching to
Exning, near Newmarket, a thoroupuhllsh.oners, at
sermon. Speaking of the typhoid fever which practical.
for some time been raging in his parish, hew ich has
did not
talk the usual cant about a "
visitation,"nor tell
the people that they were being punished for
the sin of SaLbath - breaking or for not
observing the saints' (Lys. 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 parish
unless you set to work and provide at once
further and better and ampler accommodation 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
morikery and a farce while parents, adult sons, and
adult daughters arc all huddled t)gether in one
sleeping-room. . . . Possibly tins.? remarks will
be nnwiili ugly listened to. Possibly they will be
deemed intensely disagreeable. Eut you must allow
the clergyman—hardly an unmoved spectator of
what occurs in his F.rish—to form his own opinions
and to ventilate them.'