THE WOMEN'S HELP SOCIETY: AN APPEAL.
[To THE ED/TOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Will you allow me, as you have done on several previous occasions, to plead the cause of the Women's Help Society in a very few words F-
The ebject of the Women's Help Society is to establish and maintain homes or clubs for the poorest classes of women and girls in all parishes where the clergyman so desires. Of these clubs there are one hundred and fifty, with a total membership of twelve thousand. In London alone there are thirty-two clubs, and the two points which I would emphasise as appealing to the more thoughtful among your, readers_ are :—(1) The class of women reached and helped, which is, I venture to say, lower per- haps than that of any other similar Society, for we are able to get at the very poorest and roughest element in the district. Our work, therefore, is in the truest and broadest sense missionary, both social and religious. (2) Continuity ; the work of the Society in its own district is continuous, month after month, year after year. It is, as it were, a great bucket ever being let down to the bottom of that dark well of poverty, ignorance, dirt, and degradation ; ever drawing to the surface its precious burden of struggling humanity ; handing individuals over, clothed and in their right minds, to the clergy who preside over the parish, there to join the ever-increasing number of wives and mothers whose lives are a living testimonial to the great work, both social and religious, which is the pride and glory of our age. Any contributions or letters of inquiry can be addressed to the secretary, Women's Help Society Office, Church House, Dean's Yard, S.W. I may add, perhaps, that the funds of the Society are lower and its friends fewer than in days gone by ; may I appeal, therefore, to your readers to help us with subscriptions and recruits, strengthened by the realisation that never before have we appealed to the Spectator in vain?
—I am, Sir, &c., BASIL LEvErr.
39 Wilton Crescent, S. W.
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