THE EXAMPLE OF LORD SHA.FTESBURY. pro THE EDITOR Or THE
"SPECTAToR.")
SIR,—One of the amazing things about our Army and Navy is the excellent moral of the men. They have won golden opinions from officers and visitors who have seen them at their drudging and dangerous jobs. Their elmost overwhelm- ing response to the national call has been followed by splendid courage and capital esprit de corps. This applies to all ranks. Even the lowest grade of casual and ill-paid labour have supplied some of the best fighting and staying material. Scores of thousands of Industrial and Ragged School boys have enlisted and borne themselves as the brave men they are. Y.M_C.A. workers and chaplains alike testify to their readiness to respond to the high appeals of religion, and to do their bit in this great struggle for nobler reasons than those of mere passion and revenge.
I cannot help thinking that very much of this gratifying condition is due to the steady leavening influence of religious and social agencies during the past generation. More than to any other man, I should attribute the lion's share to the great Lord Shaftesbury, under whom I was proud to serve in the public cause during twenty years. He was almost the first to discover and appreciate the value of what in his day constituted the waste and wretched material of our human stock. In the face of scorn and opposition, he led in the straggle for the rights of the child and of the worker. His efforts in social legislation began the social movement of which the last decade has seen such tremendous developments. His philanthropic experiments have resulted in the establish- ment of powerful and still active organizations, of which the Society that bears his name and seeks to embody his spirit is one of the most characteristic.
I am led to emphasize this rich contribution to national character and service from the fact that it is now thirty years since Lord Shaftesbury's death. It seems fitting that, a generation having passed, public attention should be called to the life and work of the pioneer reformer. A wreath will be laid at the foot of his statue in Westminster Abbey on October 1st by representatives of this Society. I also invite ministers and teachers to call attention in their sermons and lessons on October 3rd to the example of this man whose faith and work add a rare enrichment to our history. The nation at this great crisis cannot afford to forget the memory and life lessons of one of the greatest " Victorians," or to overlook the truths as to child care, evangelical religion, and legislative righteousness, to which he bore such valiant witness during a long and stainless public career.—I am, Sir, &e., JOHN KIRK. Shaftesbury Society and Ragged School Union, 32 John Street, Theobald's Road, W.C.
[We are very glad to print Sir John Kirk's emphatic and well-founded testimony to the work and example of "the great Lord Shaftesbury." As a well-known social reformer and Churchman once remarked of him, " If there is a Seventh Heaven, Lord Shaftesbury is there."—En. Spectator.]
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