It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say of the hundreds of thousands who
compose the class referred to, that very few attend any place of
worship. It is a very tame thing to say, and a very little thing
compared with what must follow, but it is needful to a proper statement
of our case. Before going to the lower depths, where our investigations
were principally carried on, we find in the neighbourhood of Old Ford,
in 147 consecutive houses, inhabited for the most part by the
respectable working class, 212 families, 118 of which never, under any
circumstances, attend a place of worship. Out of 2290 persons living in
consecutive houses at Bow-Common, only 88 adults and 47 children ever
attend, and as 64 of these are connected with one Mission Hall, only 24
out of the entire number worship elsewhere. One street off Leicester
Square contains 246 families, and only 12 of these are ever represented
at the house of God. In another street in Pentonville, out of 100
families only 12 persons attend any sanctuary, whilst the number of
attendants in one district of St. George's-in-the-East is 39 persons
out of 4235. Often the numbers given of those who do attend include such
as only go once or twice a year, at some charity distribution, so that
our figures are more favourable than the actual facts. Constantly we
come across persons who have never been to church or chapel for 20
years, 28 years, more than 30 years; and some persons as old as 64 never
remember having been in a place of worship at all. Indeed, with the
exception of a very small proportion, the idea of going has never dawned
upon these people. And who can wonder? Think of