In Darkest England and the Way Out Part 25

This will present the following special advantages, which I am quite certain will be duly appreciated by the very poorest of the London population: --

An estate of some three hundred acres would be purchased on which buildings would be erected, calculated to meet the wants of this cla.s.s of excursionists.

Refreshments would be provided at rates very similar to those charged at our London Food Depots. There would, of course, be greater facilities in the way of rooms and accommodation generally.

Lodgings for invalids, children, and those requiring to make a short stay in the place would be supplied at the lowest prices. Beds for single men and single women could be charged at the low rate of sixpence a night, and children in proportion, while accommodation of a suitable character, on very moderate terms, could be arranged for married people.

No public-houses would be allowed within the precincts of the settlement.

A park, playground, music, boats, covered conveniences for bathing, without the expense of hiring a machine, and other arrangements for the comfort and enjoyment of the people would be provided.

The estate would form one of the Colonies of the general enterprise, and on it would be grown fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other produce for the use of the visitors, and sold at the lowest remunerative rates.

One of the first provisions for the comfort of the excursionists would be the erection of a large hall, affording ample shelter in case of unfavourable weather, and in this and other parts of the place there would be the fullest opportunity for ministers of all denominations to hold religious services in connection with any excursionists they might bring with them.

There would be shops for tradesmen, houses for residets, a museum with a panorama and stuffed whale; boats would be let out at moderate prices, and a steamer to carry people so many miles out to sea, and so many miles back for a penny, with a possible bout of sickness, for which no extra charge would be made.

In fact the railway fares and refreshment arrangements would be on such a scale, that a husband and wife could have a 70-mile ride through the green fields, the new-mown hay, the waving grain or fruit laden orchards; could wander for hours on the seash.o.r.e, have comforting and nourishing refreshment, and be landed back at home sober, cheered and invigorated for the small sum of 3s. A couple of children under 12 might be added at 1s. 6d.--nay, a whole family, husband, wife and four children, supposing one is in arms, could have a day at the seaside, without obligation or charity, for 5s.

The gaunt, hungry inhabitants of the Slums would save up their halfpence, and come by thousands; clergymen would find it possible to bring half the poor and needy occupants of their parishes; schools, mothers' meetings, and philanthropic societies of all descriptions would come down wholesale; in short, what Brighton is to the West End and middle cla.s.ses, this place would be to the East End poor, nay, to the poor of the Metropolis generally, a Whitechapel-by-the-Sea.

Now this ought to be done apart from my Scheme altogether. The rich corporations which have the charge of the affairs of this great City, and the millionaires, who would never have ama.s.sed their fortunes but by the a.s.sistance of the ma.s.ses, ought to say it shall be done.

Suppose the Railway Companies refused to lend the great highways of which they have become the monopolists for such an undertaking without a subvention, then the necessary subvention should be forthcoming.

If it could be made possible for the joyless toilers to come out of the sweater's den, or the stifling factory; if the seamstress could leave her needle, and the mother get away from the weary round of babydom and household drudgery for a day now and then, to the cooling, invigorating, heart-stirring influences of the sea, it should be done, even if it did cost a few paltry thousands. Let the men and women who spend a little fortune every year in Continental tours, Alpine climbings, yacht excursions, and many another form of luxurious wanderings, come forward and say that it shall be possible for these crowds of their less fortunate brethren to have the opportunity of spending one day at least in the year by the sea.

CHAPTER VII.

CAN IT BE DONE, AND HOW?

SECTION 1.--THE CREDENTIALS OF THE SALVATION ARMY.

Can this great work be done? I believe it can. And I believe that it can be done by the Salvation Army, because it has ready to hand an organisation of men and women, numerous enough and zealous enough to grapple with the enormous undertaking. The work may prove beyond our powers. But this is not so manifest as to preclude us from wishing to make the attempt. That in itself is a qualification which is shared by no other organisation--at present. If we can do it we have the field entirely to ourselves. The wealthy churches show no inclination to compete for the onerous privilege of making the experiment in this definite and practical form. Whether we have the power or not, we have, at least, the will, the ambition to do this great thing for the sake of our brethren, and therein lies our first credential for being entrusted with the enterprise.

The second credential is the fact that, while using all material means, our reliance is on the co-working power of G.o.d. We keep our powder dry, but we trust in Jehovah. We go not forth in our own strength to this battle, our dependence is upon Him who can influence the heart of man. There is no doubt that the most satisfactory method of raising a man must be to effect such a change in his views and feelings that he shall voluntarily abandon his evil ways, give himself to industry and goodness in the midst of the very temptations and companionships that before led him astray, and live a Christian life, an example in himself of what can be done by the power of G.o.d in the very face of the most impossible circ.u.mstances.

But herein lies the great difficulty again and again referred to, men have not that force of character which will constrain them to avail themselves of the methods of deliverance. Now our Scheme is based on the necessity of helping such.

Our third credential is the fact that we have already out of practically nothing achieved so great a measure of success that we think we may reasonably be entrusted with this further duty.

The ordinary operations of the Army have already effected most wonderful changes in the conditions of the poorest and worst.

Mult.i.tudes of slaves of vice in every form have been delivered not only from these habits, but from the dest.i.tution and misery which they even produce. Instances have been given. Any number more can be produced.

Our experience, which has been almost world-wide, has ever shown that not only does the criminal become honest, the drunkard sober, the harlot chaste, but that poverty of the most abject and helpless type vanishes away. Our fourth credential is that our Organisation alone of England's religious bodies is founded upon the principle of implicit obedience.

For Discipline I can answer. The Salvation Army, largely recruited from among the poorest of the poor, is often reproached by its enemies on account of the severity of its rule. It is the only religious body founded in our time that is based upon the principle of voluntary subjection to an absolute authority. No one is bound to remain in the Army a day longer than he pleases. While he remains there he is bound by the conditions of the Service. The first condition of that Service is implicit, unquestioning obedience. The Salvationist is taught to obey as is the soldier on the field of battle.

From the time when the Salvation Army began to acquire strength and to grow from the grain of mustard seed until now, when its branches overshadow the whole earth, we have been constantly warned against the evils which this autocratic system would entail. Especially were we told that in a democratic age the people would never stand the establishment of what was described as a spiritual despotism.

It was contrary to the spirit of the times, it would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the ma.s.ses to whom we appeal, and so forth and so forth.

But what has been the answer of accomplished facts to these predictions of theorists? Despite the alleged unpopularity of our discipline, perhaps because of the rigour of military authority upon which we have insisted, the Salvation Army has grown from year to year with a rapidity to which nothing in modern Christendom affords any parallel.

It is only twenty-five years since it was born. It is now the largest Home and Foreign Missionary Society in the Protestant world. We have nearly 10,000 officers under our orders, a number increasing every day, every one of whom has taken service on the express condition that he or she will obey without questioning or gainsaying the orders from Headquarters. Of these, 4,600 are in Great Britain. The greatest number outside these islands, in any one country, are in the American Republic, where we have 1,018 officers, and democratic Australia, where we have 800.

Nor is the submission to our discipline a mere paper loyalty.

These officers are in the field, constantly exposed to privation and ill-treatment of all kinds. A telegram from me will send any of them to the uttermost parts of the earth, will transfer them from the Slums of London to San Francisco, or despatch them to a.s.sist in opening missions in Holland, Zululand, Sweden, or South America. So far from resenting the exercise of authority, the Salvation Army rejoices to recognise it as one great secret of its success, a pillar of strength upon which all its soldiers can rely, a principle which stamps it as being different from all other religious organisations founded in our day.

With ten thousand officers, trained to obey, and trained equally to command, I do not feel that the organisation even of the disorganised, sweated, hopeless, drink-sodden denizens of darkest England is impossible. It is possible, because it has already been accomplished in the case of thousands who, before they were saved, were even such as those whose evil lot we are now attempting to deal with.

Our fifth credential is the extent and universality of the Army.

What a mighty agency for working out the Scheme is found in the Army in this respect! This will be apparent when we consider that it has already stretched itself through over thirty different Countries and Colonies, with a permanent location in something like 4,000 different places, that it has either soldiers or friends sufficiently in sympathy with it to render a.s.sistance in almost every considerable population in the civilised world, and in much of the uncivilised, that it has nearly 10,000 separated officers whose training, and leisure, and history qualify them to become its enthusiastic and earnest co-workers.

In fact, our whole people will hail it as the missing link in the great Scheme for the regeneration of mankind, enabling them to act out those impulses of their hearts which are ever prompting them to do good to the bodies as well as to the souls of men.

Take the meetings. With few exceptions, every one of these four thousand centres has a Hall in which, on every evening in the week and from early morning until nearly midnight on every Sabbath, services are being held; that nearly every service held indoors is preceded by one out of doors, the special purport of every one being the saving of these wretched crowds. Indeed, when this Scheme is perfected and fairly at work, every meeting and every procession will be looked upon as an advertis.e.m.e.nt of the earthly as well as the heavenly conditions of happiness. And every Barracks and Officer's quarters will become a centre where poor sinful suffering men and women may find sympathy, counsel, and practical a.s.sistance in every sorrow that can possibly come upon them, and every Officer throughout our ranks in every quarter of the globe will become a co-worker.

See how useful our people will be in the gathering in of this cla.s.s.

They are in touch with them. They live in the same street, work in the same shops and factories, and come in contact with them at every turn and corner of life. If they don't live amongst them, they formerly did.

They know where to find them; they are their old chums, pot-house companions, and pals in crime and mischief. This cla.s.s is the perpetual difficulty of a Salvationist's life. He feels that there is no help for them in the conditions in which they are at present found.

They are so hopelessly weak, and their temptations are so terribly strong, that they go down before them. The Salvationist feels this when he attacks them in the tap-rooms, in the low lodging houses, or in their own desolate homes. Hence, with many, the Crusader has lost all heart. He has tried them so often. But this Scheme of taking them right away from their old haunts and temptations will put new life into him and he will gather up the poor social wrecks wholesale, pa.s.s them along, and then go and hunt for more.

Then see how useful this army of Officers and Soldiers will be for the regeneration of this festering ma.s.s of vice and crime when it is, so to speak, in our possession. All the thousands of drunkards, and harlots, and blasphemers, and idlers have to be made over again, to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, that is--made good. What a host of moral workers will be required to accomplish such a gigantic transformation. In the Army we have a few thousands ready, anyway we have as many as can be used at the outset, and the Scheme itself will go on manufacturing more. Look at the qualifications of these warriors for the work!

They have been trained themselves, brought into line and are examples of the characters we want to produce.

They understand their pupils--having been dug out of the same pit.

Set a rogue to catch a rogue, they say, that is, we suppose, are formed rogue. Anyway, it is so with us. These rough-and-ready warriors will work shoulder to shoulder with them in the same manual employment.

They will engage in the task for love. This is a substantial part of their religion, the moving instinct of the new heavenly nature that has come upon them. They want to spend their lives in doing good.

Here will be an opportunity.

Then see how useful these Soldiers will be for distribution!

Every Salvation Officer and Soldier in every one of these 4,000 centres, scattered through these thirty odd countries and colonies, with all their correspondents and friends and comrades living elsewhere, will be ever on the watch-tower looking out for homes and employments where these rescued men and women can be fixed up to advantage, nursed into moral vigour, picked up again on stumbling, and watched over generally until able to travel the rough and slippery paths of life alone.

I am, therefore, not without warrant for my confidence in the possibility of doing great things, if the problem so long deemed hopeless be approached with intelligence and determination on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the evil with which we have to cope.

SECTION 2.--HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

A considerable amount of money will be required to fairly launch this Scheme, and some income may be necessary to sustain it for a season, but, once fairly afloat, we think there is good reason to believe that in all its branches it will be self-supporting, unless its area of operation is largely extended, on which we fully rely. Of course, the cost of the effort must depend very much upon its magnitude.

If anything is to be done commensurate with the extent of the evil, it will necessarily require a proportionate outlay. If it is only the drainage of a garden that is undertaken, a few pounds will meet the cost, but if it is a great dismal swamp of many miles in area, harbouring all manner of vermin, and breeding all kinds of deadly malaria, that has to be reclaimed and cultivated, a very different sum will not only be found necessary, but be deemed an economic investment.

Seeing that the country pays out something like Ten Millions per annum in Poor Law and Charitable Relief without securing any real abatement of the evil, I cannot doubt that the public will hasten to supply one-tenth of that sum. If you reckon that of the submerged tenth we have one million to deal with, this will only be one pound per head for each of those whom it is sought to benefit, or say ONE MILLION STERLING to give the present Scheme a fair chance of getting into practical operation.

According to the amount furnished, must necessarily be the extent of our operations. We have carefully calculated that with one hundred thousand pounds the scheme can be successfully set in motion, and that it can be kept going on an annual income of #30,000 which is about three and a-quarter per cent. on the balance of the million sterling, for which I ask as an earnest that the public intend to put its hand to this business with serious resolution; and our judgment is based, not on any mere imaginings, but upon the actual result of the experiments already made. Still it must be remembered that so vast and desirable an end cannot be even practically contemplated without a proportionate financial outlay. Supposing, however, by the subscription of this amount the undertaking is fairly set afloat. The question may be asked, "What further funds will be required for its efficient maintenance?" This question we proceed to answer. Let us look at the three Colonies apart, and then at some of the circ.u.mstances which apply to the whole. To begin with, there is

THE FINANCIAL ASPECT OF THE CITY COLONY.

Here there will be, of course, a considerable outlay required for the purchasing and fitting up of property, the acquisition of machinery, furniture, tools, and the necessary plant for carrying forward all these varied operations. These once acquired, no further outlay will be needed except for the necessary reparations.

The Homes for the Dest.i.tute will be nearly, if not quite, self-sustaining.

The Superior Homes for both Single and Married people will not only pay for themselves, but return some interest on the amount invested, which would be devoted to the futherance of other parts of the Scheme.

The Refuges for Fallen Girls would require considerable funds to keep them going. But the public has never been slow to practically express its sympathy with this cla.s.s of work.