LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
CHILDREN AND THEIR DINNERS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 Sia,—In reference to an article in your paper on the above sub- ject, may I ask if you will kindly allow me to describe a plan now being tested in a North London parish, where, by simple means, about one hundred poor children are provided daily with good and nutritious food ? Of course, this is but a minute fraction of the numbers you speak of in London alone who are insufficiently fed ; but the scheme, though not yet twelve months in action, is succeeding so well that there seems no reason why it should not spread, and be before long organised in every London district. It is for the relief of the hard. working and honest poor, who themselves pay a part of the expense out of their small earnings. It originated thus :- A " Sister" found that in one parish alone there were 120 children under twelve who had lost one parent, and were thus left untended during working hours. With great energy she applied herself to the work, and with some aid from the clergy of the parish, and the promise from friends of a few subscrip- tions, was able to open last December a Day Home for the children of widows or widowers whose needs were real and pressing. It is a cheerful house, plainly fitted and furnished, with comfortable rooms, well warmed and lighted, and made gay with pictures; there are toys, too, for the little ones. To it the parents bring the children on their way to work in the morning, often by five or six a.m., and leave them there until evening. During the days those old enough are sent to the Board or other schools, while the very tiny ones are kept warm, fed, and tended in the Home by the motherly woman in charge. At bed-time all are fetched or taken to their homes. This is the bill of fare for the day. Breakfast—Bread, with dripping or treacle, and cocoa, with milk. Dinner—Meat twice a week (roast beef and stewed mutton), lentil soup once, suet pudding once, and on other days milk pudding, such as rice or macaroni, and stewed fruit. Tea—Bread, with dripping or treacle.
It is not luxury, but it seems so to the poor little creatures, who, up to the day of admission, have, perhaps, scarcely seen a comfortably prepared meal. These " widows' children " of North-east London are, at the best of times, only half-fed. To quote from the last report of the Day Homes (by an eye- witness),—" Insufficient earnings, high rent, and in many cases large families, combine to make the mother's efforts produce a very bare subsistence for her little ones, who are left daily, week after week, from eight a.m. till nine p.m., with only dry bread and cold tea (without milk), by way of food." No wonder, as the report continues, " their stunted growth and feebleness of mind and body show how greatly they need nourishment." At the Day Home they have as much as they can eat at every meal, and often a good extra slice of bread and treacle to take home at night.
The delight and wonder of new-corners at such good fare, enjoyed in a warm, bright room, is very touching, while that the Home is duly valued by the poor is proved by the mothers' anxiety to get their children admitted. The report describes how, in a large neighbouring workshop, all the men gave three cheers for the Sister, the promoter of the scheme, on first hearing of it. The cost of the children's food is only 2s. per head for the whole six working days of the week, the Home not being open on Sundays. Towards this amount the parents pay from ls. to 2s. per week for each child, according to the number sent from one household.
Besides the good feeding, which is already telling, in the im- proved looks and strength of both boys and girls, there are other advantages in the Day Home,-1, general improvement in moral tone ; 2, protection from the bad influences of the streets ; 3, the sending of the children regularly to their schools. The Home is non-sectarian and broad in principle, and connected with no one religious body, but free to all who are in need of it, whether Roman Catholics, Wesleyans, or other kinds of Dissenters, as well as to those whose parents attend the parish church.
The Home first opened being full and in good working order by last spring, a second was organised in April, and the boys and girls divided. The second (or girls') house owns a small garden or court, serving as playground, an immense gain. In it is a single tree, a hawthorn, which bore a few flowers last May, to the delight of the children, who had never seen a country hedgerow in spring, nor flowers growing. Both Homes are in Hyde Row, Hoxton, at Nos. 35 and 47. They may be seen any day, the dinner and tea hours, one and five o'clock, being the best times.
If any of your readers should like to see for themselves how the experiment is working, they will be made very welcome there. The Homes are now in need of £70, to help them to clear their way to the end of this (the first) year.—I am, Sir, &c.,
27 St. Aubyle 8, Hove, Brighton. SUSANNA R. SOLLY.
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