"

has earned by knitting up scraps of wool into a counterpane. A whole sovereign' is (as she justly remarks) 'a large sum to be gained by remnants !'

A cheque came for 187. 1s., part of the harvest offertory at Esher. This is, indeed, a welcome and unexpected help.

A large parcel of men's garments arrived, and we were desired to send round our Orphanage van for a quantity of clothing that had belonged to a lady-lately dead.

A visitor who was being shown over the Home remarked upon the intelligent countenances of our children. She said she was quite sure from their expression that every faculty they possessed was being cultivated. As she was questioning a little girl upon her work and general manner of life, she was amused to hear the child say with much earnestness-'If you please, ma'am, this is not a low Orphanage !'

October 28.-A little girl sends 35. 10d. in farthings, which she has collected for the Children's Gift; and 27. 4s. 4d. comes from some 'Poor Mothers at Clerkenwell.' 'I should be so much obliged,' says the sender, 'if you would write them a line, as they are naturally very eager to hear what the Sisters say to their exertions.' What the Editor of Our Work says-is, that the 'Poor Mothers' have set a wonderful example of industry and unselfishness, and he hopes that their kind thought for the orphan may bring a double blessing, both upon themselves and their children.

Another ten guineas came towards the swimming-bath. Also 15%, which the donor. desires us to lay out as we like; adding that, if she has any preference, it is that 5. may be given to the Docks Mission, and 10l. to the salt-bath at Broadstairs.

'A trifle towards postage' we very gladly received. Our friends would hardly credit how much money goes in this way.

Four shillings have come from Edward for his namesake Teddy.

We had to-day a kind offer from a visitor of a new engraving of Dore's picture of "Christ entering Jerusalem.' It is too large

for her present house, and, if we can find anyone to give 67. or even 57. 10s. for it, we are welcome to have the sum for our Building Fund. It is perfectly new, not having yet been taken out of the case. We hope we may find a purchaser.;

November 4.-50l. has come across the water from the kind friend at B- who has so often helped us. 'I am very glad,' he says, 'to find that you have been able to start the new work at the Orphanage, and am thankful that I can send you another small contribution. I think there is very little likelihood of walls, started by workers like you, being stopped before completion.'

At Rotherhithe.-We found a poor woman to-day very ill with rheumatic fever. She had been laid up for seven weeks, and everything had got behindhand. She had quite lost the use of her hands. Her husband is a stoker, and she was in great distress that she could not keep his clothes in order.

The day before, her little girl had been washing his shirt, and when drying it the sleeve had caught fire and been entirely burnt. I can't mend it, Sister, and the child has been trying, but she has made it worse, and he has so few, and wants so many.'

Her gratitude knew no bounds when the shirt came back to her ready for use.

We called last Sunday on the B.'s, a family of five children. The mother died a few months ago, and they have no one to look after them but their father, who is at work, early and late, as an engineer's labourer. The eldest is a girl of twelve, and the youngest a baby of two. They have just recovered from the measles, and look very pale and thin.

When we came in, the children were all watching 'father'-a weary, careworn-looking man-getting the Sunday dinner ready. It consisted of boiled cabbages and dry bread.

Mrs. R.'s baby was born to-day. Her husband died seven months ago, and all she has to live on is 6s. a week allowed her by the parish. Out of this she has to support six children and pay the rent! She lets the room upstairs to a family poorer than herself, and gets on as best she can, but tells us she

dreads the winter. The children are delicate, and now she has not the strength that she once had to work for them.

Sent for to see a poor woman, the wife of a barber. Her husband is getting up the business for his employer in this trade, and has to work hard to keep his place. About a fortnight ago he broke a blood-vessel, and although able to be at work again has by no means regained his strength. The wife was very ill with bronchitis, and her little girl of twelve had all the work to do, her father's shop to clean, his dinner to cook, a baby brother and sister to look after! She said, 'Sister, I don't know how to make a poultice, and mother is dying, I think.' The mother was very ill, but when we had put her to bed, applied the poultice, and given the crying children their tea, she revived a little, and, with many thanks and tears, begged we would look after the children should anything happen to her. Emily, our little friend, is her child by her first husband, and her stepfather is very hard upon her, expecting her to do work which is too much for her little thin hands and weak frame. Poor child it would be indeed a dismal prospect for her should her mother be taken away!

At Tower Hill.-Nov. 11.-Our customers, the starving unemployed, pronounce their soup to be far superior to any elsewhere, even that sold at S. Katharine's Restaurant itself!

One of the men, on being served with a pennyworth of soup, returned it, saying, 'I think you have made a mistake, ma'am, I only asked for a pennyworth.' . . . 'Oh! is that a pennyworth? Well, there! I'll have a ha'porth, and pay a penny for it, for you do serve us well here, and no mistake!'

...

The men are particularly anxious that the health of the Sisters should not suffer, and, on a wet day, bring dry boards for them to stand on, themselves putting up the covering, and inquiring from time to time if the wind 'cuts too cold.' We have had to send double the quantity of food during the last few weeks, the demand having increased greatly.

On the Dock.-November 14.-The cold weather has greatly increased the number of

our customers at the Docks. Yesterday we disposed of six hundred and sixty-two penny and halfpenny dinners! As the winter advances this demand is certain to increase, and another boiler will be required in the kitchen for making extra soup. Will any kind benefactor give the 12. 125. that will put up another sixty-gallon double boiler in our kitchen at the Docks?

At Poplar.-On calling to take 'T.,' a little girl, to a Convalescent Home, the following composed the group who received us : a father dying of consumption, a paralysed grandfather, an idiot aunt who was with difficulty restrained from attacking us, and a mother waiting for admission to a hospital! The only one of the family in tolerable health was the grandmother, who was very old.

Our Truckmen at the Docks. One of these officers of ours who wheels in the food, and who was formerly a dock labourer, has for the last three days purchased soup and pudding for one of the unemployed, a miserable, half-starved looking man, whose pale face had especially struck the Sister. The man when he bought the dinner to-day observed, 'I can't bear to see a fellow-creature go hungry, for I have known well what it feels like. He did me a good turn when he had money, and now he's nearly starving.'

Another truckman has at his own request been regularly attending a Bible-class at Dock Street for two months. A few weeks ago he brought his little girl to church and had her baptised, and has persuaded his wife to attend classes in preparation for confirmation. To-day he asked if he might bring his friend with him next time, adding 'he belongs to the Church, but he has not been confirmed nor ever been taught anything. His wife died last week reproaching him for being such a bad husband, and he is determined now to turn over a new leaf if anyone will help him to do it.'

On the Dock.-'I can scarcely bear,' remarked one of our helpers, 'to cut up the pudding before the bell has been rung' (which is the signal for commencing business)-one can see how hungry the men

are, and how difficult it is for them to restrain themselves from snatching the food up and going off with it.'

One man was asked what he would have. 'Oh! anything, anything!' he exclaimed, ( as long as it is something to eat!'

Fabe

Extension of the Orphanage of Mercy.

'They helped every one his neighbour, and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering; and he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved.'

HIS beautiful picture of brotherly love and mutual help, drawn by the Prophet Isaiah, is familiar to all. But it is brought home to us with especial force

at the present time, when, day by day, we experience the friendly and hearty co-operation of those who desire to assist us in providing increased accommodation for homeless and friendless children.

Mutual love-the bearing of each other's burdens-is the great law of the Christian religion; just as the motto 'Every one for himself' embodied the principle of Paganism.

That Christians fail sadly to come up to the standard of self-denial and good works, set before them by their Divine Founder, is only too patent. Still, thanks be to GOD, who stirs up the hearts of His faithful people, many are ever to be found who love to help in deeds of mercy.

So it has come to pass that as weeks have glided on into months, since we, in faith and hope, laid the foundations of the new Wing of our Orphanage, we have received the most cheering assurances that many hearts have beat with warm sympathy towards the work.

Who could grow weary or hopeless over any undertaking, however vast, which all classes of the community, high and low, rich and poor, seemed equally willing to take part in?

So, week by week, we add up our receipts, and pay our workmen, and, like Joshua of old, thank GOD and take courage.

Still it must be confessed that we have now no funds in hand. We have spent the money so gladly contributed by the Sisters themselves, and must look to the public to cement and complete the work so happily inaugurated.

It is not much that we ask for: Five thousand pounds wherewith to build a lasting shelter for 100 destitute children.

Think of one hundred little ones rescued from a life of loneliness, suffering, and sin, placed in a happy Christian home, under motherly influence and care, and brought up to serve GOD and to live useful lives!

We now keep a list of the hapless children, on whose behalf application is made to us— children who have neither money nor friends, and whose best hope of happiness, as regards this world, rests upon their admission to the Orphanage of Mercy.

We have promised to receive these little children as soon as we have a roof to cover them-receive them without payment or promise of money, trusting to the Father of the fatherless to supply their daily bread.

How long will these desolate ones have to It wait? Ah! that does not rest with us. rests with those whom GOD destines to help this good work-to whom He is perhaps even now saying: 'Take these children for Me, and I will give thee thy wages.'

Meanwhile, to what evil influences may they not be exposed, left in a world of want and temptation, with no parental care to protect them, for

They have no tender mother

In the world so waste and wide, And they have no earthly father For their weakness to provide.

And, having been thus early deprived of a child's natural and best protectors, is it not the duty and privilege of Christian charity to step in, and save them from the surroundings of sin and crime?

Sad it is to think how soon the young learn, in the terrible streets of our great cities,

to lie, and steal, and take words of licentiousness and blasphemy upon their lips.

A well-known author of the present day, having occasion to visit a dying person in the parish of St. George's-in-the-East, was stopped by a policeman, who said it was not fit for her to walk alone, and conducted her to the house where her business lay. She writes :

'What a walk it was! I have been in many known haunts of misery-the Canongate of Edinburgh, the Cowcaddens of Glasgow, the Seven Dials in London—but never did I see such a region as that we now passed through. The mere atmosphere physically was almost unbreathable ! Men worse than the brutes, women without a bit of womanhood left, children-ah! that is the deepest horror of it all. To this day I can scarcely look at my own child's sweet rosy face, without thinking in an agony of pity of those wretched East-end children, with their old, wicked, battered expression. So small they were too; such stunted, shrunken limbs peered from out their miserable rags, and almost every one was maimed, or crippled, or hopelessly diseased. Who could wonder, since among the women (what fiends to bear the holy name of mother!) we scarcely saw one that was not "drunk and disorderly." However, we passed on unmolested; though the children followed, staring at the basket I carried, as if they had never seen a bunch of flowers or a rosy apple in all their lives.

Is this an overwrought picture, an exaggerated statement? Earnestly do we ask any who might think so to go to Shadwell, or Wapping, or Ratcliff Highway, or the Commercial Road, and judge for themselves. They would see what would appal them.

It is from such scenes of vice and misery we wish to rescue the children we plead for.

The donations we have already received towards this Building, although given so willingly, and made sweeter still by many a welcome word of sympathy, have been for the most part small in amount, and wholly inadequate to the need; and, unless more is placed in our hands during the months of December and January, it will be necessary

to reduce the expenses by dismissing most of the workmen.

This will, of course, mean delay in opening our doors to the fatherless and motherless children who are now waiting outside them. We fervently hope that we may be spared this alternative.

Oh, at the Blessed Christmas-tide, when the wondrous love of the Saviour of the World, in taking our nature upon Him, is brought home to every Christian heart, is it too much to hope that it may occur to some to show their gratitude by making liberal sacrifices to aid in the rescue of the lambs of CHRIST'S flock?

Donations of any amount (large or small) most thankfully received and acknowledged by the Secretaries of the Society-Miss A. M. THOMAS, or Miss H. WETHERELL, 27 Kilburn Park Road, N.W.

What Others are Doing.

Under this heading we desire to introduce our readers to a variety of charitable and religious work which is being carried on for GOD in different parts of the world. It will be distinctly a record of work -charitable, philanthropic, and missionary-and we wish it to be understood that we by no means commit ourselves to any approval of the religious views and opinions held by those who do such work. In this particular, great scope will be allowed, and we trust that our readers will understand and appreciate our motives. We shall gladly welcome interesting accounts written by those engaged themselves in charitable and missionary work. Mere begging ap peals are not admissible.

THE HOME OF COMPASSION, OAKERY COTTAGE, BECKENHAM. ILVER and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee; in the name of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, rise up and walk.' How well these words describe the work of the foundress of this Cottage Home, for the worse than destitute children whom it shelters. Rescued from the wilderness by one who was poor in this world's goods, but rich in her boundless compassion and sympathy, these poor

outcasts are brought within the fold of the tender Shepherd, who would 'gather them into His arms and carry them in His bosom.'

She

It was during the London Mission of 1874 that Miss Annie Bagshawe first became interested in these unfortunate little ones, the offspring of poverty and vice. gathered them into this Home, the mothers in some cases paying what they were able towards their maintenance, though this could at no time be very much. Kind friends were forthcoming to help, and the foundress gave her little all.

Then came the illness and death of her brother, the Rev. F. L. Bagshawe, vicar of S. Barnabas, Pimlico, and, in nursing him, Miss Bagshawe's own health and strength, exhausted by her unceasing labours amongst the poor, became undermined. She was back again, however, with her little flock as soon as her duties by her brother's deathbed were ended, and, when holding a teadrinking for the children under the trees in the garden of Oakery Cottage, caught a cold which turned to pleurisy. This ended her mortal life, in June 1881, just six weeks after the death of her brother.

And what of the children now doubly orphaned?

Sister Clare, of East Grinstead, who had nursed them through scarlet fever the previous winter, was allowed by her Superior to remain in charge, and did her best. But, in the lack of all things, what could be accomplished?

By Miss Bagshawe's will, two annuities, one of 100l., the other 50%., were left to two protégées whom she had succoured, and who were dependent on her—a young woman and a girl of sixteen; these being paid, the Orphanage was residuary legatee. And all that remains is 200l., which the trustees will invest for the benefit of the Home until the money of the two young annuitants shall fall in. The work cannot cease; the Charity Commissioners require it to be continued because of the money which will eventually come to it; but how, meanwhile, is it to be kept up?

This was the problem which presented itself to us on the wet November afternoon when we paid our first visit to the Home of Compassion.

Sister Clare had been replaced by Sister Ellen, one of the most experienced of the East Grinstead Sisters, and who had been especially chosen by Dr. Neale to nurse him on his death-bed. Under her care the children have greatly improved in health and intelligence, while the whole house is a picture of neatness and cleanliness. But how were the twenty-one little ones, fourteen girls and seven boys, aged from four to twelve, to be fed, and warmed, and clothed?

For some few payments are made, more or less, according to the means of mother or friends; but for very few anything like the full amount, 137. a year, can be contributed. Some have no mother, no friends, except the Father of the fatherless and Friend of the friendless, who will surely reward a hundredfold this good work for His orphaned and destitute children. Little Tommy, aged five, for instance, can remember no other home but this; and no one now knows from whence he comes. Once he was feeble and bandy-legged, but is now a picture of health, with his chubby, rosy cheeks and intelligent, dark eyes.

'I cannot undertake the work if I do not feed the children properly,' Sister Ellen said to the parish priest and chaplain of the Home when she first entered on the post of superintendent, and to that end she undergoes any amount of hard work, so that nothing may have to be expended on hired labour. She cooks, irons, scrubs, and for her only helper has a young girl of seventeen, not looking more than fifteen, who, having failed in all her places, has been turned over to the Sister as a last resource. The children are of course taught industrial work, but are too little for their assistance to be of much value at present. A very delicate and rather deaf certificated schoolmistress, who came here for her health, teaches the younger children, and the elder boys go to school in the village.