comes from a school or college. Eton led the way in these, and was soon followed by Christ Church in 1881. These Missions are excellent things and do much to create an interest at the schools and colleges which often leads men to come and reside in the poor parts of London. Certainly as much good has been done in the schools and colleges themselves as in East London. Rusty old dons have learnt to believe that there are other things worth thinking about besides common room port; young men have been brought at once into contact with the seamy side of life. Idleness and selfishness have had imprinted on them a glaring stigma. Men do not think it sufficient to theorize but they must be up and doing. The use of the word "academic" as a sort of synonym for abstract and unpractical will soon be out of place. The general aim of settlements is to bring the two parties together, call them rich and poor, cultured and uncultured, advantaged and disadvantaged, or what you will. Personal contact is the keynote of the movement. People have begun to learn that mere "cheque charity" is not enough. It does not help the social problem much to sit in a drawing-room in Chelsea and to send a few pounds by post to a begging parson in Whitechapel without any intention of inquiring into its expenditure or showing any human interest in the lives of those

for whose benefit it is asked. There are still, I fear, many who send money in this careless way. Last year two newspapers published an exaggerated description of a "starvation case." A little baby had died not simply from want of food, but rather owing to the behaviour of its drinking and fighting parents. Without any inquiry money was sent to them from the West End at the very moment when crowds of honest, steady working men were in a wretched, underfed condition from want of work, a few yards from the baby's corpse. The parsons might have asked for money for these but would probably have received very little in comparison with what was freely sent to the undeserving. No money should ever be sent to East London without definite inquiry as to the sendee, his objects and his antecedents. On the other hand there is an increasingly large number of persons who understand that what East London wants is not so much people's money as their "selves," their personal friendship.

Toynbee Hall was the immediate product of the new philanthropy. It is

named after Arnold Toynbee, who had resided in Whitechapel but whose promising career was cut short by early death in 1883.

The primary object of the Hall is to provide education and recreation and to afford opportunities for a special study of the condition of the poor.

Critics have often said hard things about Toynbee Hall, because there is no definite preaching of Christianity in connection with it. But it must be borne in mind that this is not one of the avowed objects of the institution. It does not mention Christian teaching among its objects, though it trusts to infusing a certain religious feeling among its adherents, a feeling of "sonship," an enthusiasm for righteousness, and a love of God. One used also to hear complaints that the Hall devoted itself too much to the "well-to-do." It is true that the educational work, which forms a very important item in the Toynbee programme, is chiefly among a better class, but it is not true that the lower class is neglected. Charity Organisation, Sanitary Aid, School Management, and Children's

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Holiday Fund, are all works which bring the residents into contact with those in the lowest social scale. But Toynbee Hall has never been afraid to say that it aims at working

A TEE-TO-TUM IN SHOREDITCH.

which it is the object of the Institution to make and maintain. The Travellers' Club: Excursions have been made to Paris, Switzerland, Rome, Florence, and Venice. They are no mere excursions in the Cook and Gaze sense. The special object, for instance, of the Paris trip in 1892 was to study the French Revolution. Wadham House and Balliol House: These are residences for students and are really an earnest of good things to come in the shape of something like an East London University. The Picture Exhibition: This is well known as being one of the most hopeful educational works of the place. 73,271 persons visited it last year in nineteen days. But the record of institutions would not be taken by the Warden as the measure of the Hall's success.

"It

offers," he says, "lives and not schemes for the solution of the social problem, and the best workers are not those who start clubs and classes, but those who make friends with their neighbours."

But I must hasten on if I am to give in this short article any adequate picture of East End work. The Oxford House in Bethnal Green was started a few weeks after Toynbee Hall, in 1884, and professes to provide a centre for religious, social, and educational work among the poor of East London. It definitely puts the religion of the Church of England in the forefront of its programme. The Bishops of London and Bedford are its President and Visitor respectively. Speaking generally, the Oxford House gets at a somewhat different class to Toynbee Hall. Its work lies chiefly in men and boys' clubs, many of which it has started and brought to a state of wonderful per

fection. The University Club in Victoria Park Square is the best example of what Oxford House can do. There have been at one time over 1,000 members. Mr. Charles Booth, in his celebrated book, says: "No club in East London is more ambitious than the University Club nor any more strict in confining its membership to the working class. Helped at the start, it now pays its way, and this without the sale of beer." No one who studies working men's clubs can afford to omit a visit to the "University." It is really marvellous. It comprises, besides the club proper, a provident dispensary, a young men's institute, a mothers' club, a children's club, co-operative stores paying a good dividend and supplying goods to a thousand customers on a Saturday night, a library, a boot and shoe productive society, a cabinetmaker's productive society, a book shop, athletic, dramatic, debating, dancing societies, and a band. The Oxford House also has a boys' club called the Webbe Institute and a federation of sixty clubs in various parts of London. The Oxford Hall is also interesting building, where, amongst other things, lectures have been held with discussion on Sundays. The head of the house, Rev. A. F. W. Ingram, a charming and hard-working clergyman, is also to be found in fine weather preaching and arguing with secularists in Victoria Park. Possibly militant atheism is on the wane in East London. Certainly in some parts the atheist lecturers are seldom heard. Mr. Bradlaugh's death and Mrs. Besant's secession weakened the power of the propaganda. But it has by no means died out, as any visitor to the Park on a Sunday afternoon can find out. There is, too, a great deal of indifference to religion and a sort of tacit understanding that Christianity has gone by default. Such work as Mr. Ingram's is, therefore, most important from a Christian point of view. But there ought to be more men at the work. Ten or twenty of the best men in the Church should be hard at this every Sunday. An ignorant Christian or a hell-fire and brimstone preacher of course does more harm than good. At Oxford House, as at Toynbee Hall, the University men and the Eastenders meet together and build up friendships. On Whit Monday a return visit is generally paid by the club men to Oxford. At such times much is done to break down the prejudices and misunderstandings which

exist.

There is a good story told of an