many flaws still to be remedied, many breaks still to be filled up.
It might, perhaps, have been better to delay writing about it till
the working was made more complete, had it not been that the plan has
been successful so far, and that it promises to be increasingly so.
Besides, this seems the time when an account of a practical scheme for
using individual work in conjunction with that of committees may be of
real value. The need of some such scheme is felt with regard to the
Poor Law. The Poor Law authorities have lately called the attention
of Boards of Guardians to the success of the Elberfield system, which
depends on the careful and systematic inquiries of a large number of
volunteer visitors. The Macclesfield Board of Guardians has already
invited volunteers to aid it under the name of Assistant Guardians.
The same want is felt with regard to charity. On all sides we hear of
people willing to give their time if only they could be sure of doing
good. They are dissatisfied, they say, with district visiting, which
creates so much discontent and poverty, and does so little lasting
good; they want to know of some way in which their efforts may fit in
with more organized work.
In the district in which the following plan has been tried the poorer
inhabitants have for years been accustomed to make their applications
for relief daily, between nine and ten o'clock, at a house situated in
the center of the parish. The mode of administering relief has been
changed, but the house is still used for the reception of applications.
The names are taken down, and one of the blank forms used by the
Charity Organization Society[6] is filled up with the account given
by the applicant of himself and his circumstances. The form will then
contain a statement of the names and ages, occupation, and earnings of
every member of the applicant's family, his present and his previous
address, the parish relief he receives (if any), the name of the
club or benefit society to which he belongs (if there be such), the
particular help he asks for, and the ground of the application. The
form is immediately forwarded to the Charity Organization Society,
who thoroughly investigate the information it contains by means of a
paid officer. It is returned with its statements either verified or
contradicted, and now shows, in addition to what it contained before,
the report of the relieving officer, that of the minister of any
denomination with which the applicant is connected, and his character
as given by his previous landlord and other references. On the day when
the application is first made, and the Charity Organization Society
apprised of it, a post-card or other message is sent to the visitor
of the street or court where the applicant resides. This informs
her of the application, and also that she is expected to send in on
the ensuing Friday any information regarding the case which she may
already have, or may learn from a visit paid during the week. She at
the same time gives her advice as to the best way of dealing with the
application. The Relief Committee (of the constitution of which we
will speak presently) meets every Friday evening. They have before
them not only the valuable information of the Charity Organization
Society, gathered, sifted, and examined by their paid officer and
representative Committee, but also the detailed account of a volunteer,
who brings to bear on the case a fresher and more personal sympathy
than a paid agent ordinarily possesses, who has much more patience to
listen to, and probably more patience to elicit the little facts on
which so much may depend. Any one will appreciate the value of this
who has had experience of the difficulty of obtaining the evidence of
uneducated people, women more especially; they are nervously confused,
they cannot understand what are the real points of the case, nor state
them clearly; often the most important fact of all comes out apparently
quite by accident in the middle of a long sentence after the terror
of being questioned has worn off. Thus the reports sent in, even by
young or inexperienced visitors, bring forward facts which might never
have come to the knowledge of the committee, while the reports of more
practiced visitors are of still greater value, and not unfrequently
suggest far more efficient ways of helping poor families than could
have been otherwise devised.
The applicant himself comes before the committee. He can thus explain
his prospects, clear up any apparent discrepancy of statement, talk
over any new plan proposed by visitor or committee, and receive,
without delay, the answer to his application.
Whatever grant is sanctioned, however, or whatever plan of action is
suggested, the visitor is entrusted with the management of it, so that
where money is given it reaches those helped through a kind friend;
and where some plan is recommended, it is tried under the friendly and
watchful eyes of one who, owing to the advantages of education, should
be wiser in many ways than the applicant. Her power, at any rate, is of
a different kind, and may fill in his deficiencies.
The province of the Charity Organization Society is that of
investigation only;[7] while the province of the Relief Committee,
before whom all the collected information is placed, and before
whom the applicant appears, is that of final decision or relief. It
dispenses the funds of the district, receiving money from people
of all denominations, and administering help to all denominations
without distinction. It is composed of two clergymen, one doctor, one
schoolmaster, three tradesmen. In order to secure the attendance of
men occupied during the day, this committee meets in the evening. One
lady, the referee of the Charity Organization, always attends as a
medium of communication between the visitors, committee, and Charity
Organization Society. Any visitors can attend who wish, but in general
they find it more convenient to report by letter. Unless the referee
has much time, one paid worker is needed to carry out the work well.
In the district just described the former almoner is employed, who
has great knowledge of the people. She attends the committee, and her
information is found to be most valuable. It is a great advantage to
have some one always on the spot. She receives applications, and at
once sends notice of them to the visitors and Charity Organization
Society. She communicates to the visitors the decision of the
committee, pays them money which is voted for applicants living in
their districts, and keeps the accounts. In cases of emergency she
visits, but her main object ought always to be to bring the visitors in
well to their work.
Such is an outline of the plan adopted as regards its main features.
Dry and formal as it may appear in print, I think that any one who
reflects will see how the most intimate, loving, friendly way of
reaching the poor through the efforts of kind visitors (each of whom
visits chiefly amongst those she knows best) has been secured, whilst
any danger of confusion has been avoided, and the chance of overlapping
has been reduced to a minimum.
A few specimens of the kind of cases which may come before the Parish
Committee, and of the mode in which they would be dealt with, are here
subjoined.
An old woman enters the room. She gives an anxious, nervous glance at
the members of the committee who are sitting round the table. She is
asked to take a seat and to answer the questions, which are as kindly
put to her as possible. Soon, however, she becomes hopelessly confused,
and in her long, rambling tale contradicts herself over and over again.
It seems to be impossible to discover any reason for her actions--why
she lives in so dear a room, why she persistently hides some facts. But
reference is made to a note sent by the lady-visitor to the committee.
She, in a quiet, friendly talk has found out all the old woman's tale.
The committee are thus able to understand why she clings to the room
she has lived in for so long, though the rent is high; why she works to
keep a lodger, when she might live as cheaply alone; why she refuses
to tell the names of those who help her. All is cleared up; and since
her relations seem to be doing their duty, and the parish making the
largest allowance which the guardians think it right to give outside
the workhouse, a pension of two shillings a week is granted her for
three months. The visitor will pay this pension, and in her weekly
visit the friendship will grow. She, unconsciously, perhaps, will
supervise the home, and at the end of three months, when the old woman
will appear again to have her pension renewed, she will be able to tell
of a life which has become quieter and happier.
Or perhaps a younger woman applies. She will tell how illness and
misfortune have reduced herself and her husband to poverty. He has
at length gone into the workhouse infirmary, where, possibly, he may
linger on for months or years, and she has come to ask for help for
herself. The committee see that the only result of a gift would be to
destroy her power of self-help and tempt her to lean on the uncertain
aid of others, while if they helped her adequately the tax on their own
funds would be large, and she would be kept in idleness and prevented
from fitting herself for future work. She pleads for a little temporary
employment, but they tell her that as she has no children to need her
care, she had better at once take a place as domestic servant. She
says she is not strong enough for hard work. They elicit, however,
that she is a good needlewoman, and therefore advise her to seek a
place as young lady's maid, or wardrobe-keeper in a school. Her reply
is, "Thank you, but I'd rather muddle on." The committee is no doubt
right: its decision will help her to face her future, and to see that
it is best now, while she is not old, to find an occupation by which
she can permanently support herself. Yet she cannot see it at present
in this light, it comes to her too suddenly. In spite of the gentle
considerateness of the members of the committee, it must be hard for
her to face her fate, receive as it were the verdict, "No more home,"
from a company of people she never saw before. The decision must seem
stern. But that night a letter will be dispatched to the lady who has
charge of the district where she lives, telling her the committee's
decision; the visitor will gently talk to her, advise her, perhaps
find a situation for her; when she has resolved to take one, the
visitor will herself write to the committee asking for a grant for an
advertisement, or for clothes.
Others apply to whom the committee recommend a course which seems hard.
A little sick child must be sent away into the country. The father of
a family must go to a Convalescent Hospital. The large and expensive
room must be given up by the old couple whose wages are falling lower
and lower. The kitchen, the dampness of which is sapping the children's
strength, must be left; the idle son must be made to work. The advice
of the committee is generally refused, but they need not despair.
They know that in a day or two the visitor will call--she will tell
the mother how kind are those who care for sick children, and will
gradually persuade her to send her little one out of the hot, close air
which is killing it. She will tell the man how much better it would
be to get thoroughly strong than to work on in his weak state; she
will stir him up by thoughts of the bright grounds which surround the
Convalescent Hospital: and soon she will come to the committee for the
offered letter. Going day by day she will break down the apathy and
carelessness which has allowed a high rent or an unhealthy situation
so long to cripple the strength of the family. She will tell of better
and cheaper rooms, she will appeal to both love and prudence, and by
kind words to-day and by stern refusals to-morrow give help till they
so far help themselves as to move. She will go to visit those who are
bitterly resenting the decision of the committee not to help so long
as the strong son remains idle or children are kept away from school.
She will speak gently and simply of the blessedness of duties; she will
tell of the kindness which has seen so far that it would make the idle
industrious, the careless careful, the ignorant wise. Perhaps she will
find and talk to the idler or the truants, and them she will induce
to go with some of their playmates to school, him she will stir up to
apply for the work of which the committee told him. Thus the visitor in
her visits will persuade and rouse the people to the action that the
committee saw to be good, but were powerless to enforce.
Then there are those who suffer poverty quietly and shrink from making
any appeal. These the visitor finds out and sends to the committee for
their advice and help. Spirited and hard-working women, high-class
working men whose illness has been so long that the club money has
ceased, will thus be brought to the notice of the committee, who will
go patiently into each case. The woman will probably be offered some
work; and though she has a hard life at home, children to care for, and
occasional mangling to do, she will make an effort to accept the offer;
some means of cure or some quiet work will be proposed to the sick man,
or it may be thought well to grant him a regular sum weekly for a time.
In all the cases the knowledge of the committee will be brought to bear
on the poverty of the striving family that the visitor has discovered.
The visitor, however, may not always appear to advocate assistance;
sometimes she comes to discourage it. People will apply whose tale
seems good. A man wants work; a girl wants clothes to go to a place. At
first it appears as if they would make good use of help. The visitor's
report soon gives another aspect to the case. She will tell how on
such a date the man had lost his work through drink, or how the help
so often received had been misused; it is clear to the committee now
that such a man can only learn by being left to himself, and though he
cringingly begs for work, it is refused. The visitor will also tell how
the girl has been frequently helped to clothes of which she had made
no good use, how situation after situation had been carelessly lost,
how weak parents and idle companions had always been ready to back her
up in bad ways. The committee are thus able to see that now she must
be taught to earn her clothes gradually. So only will she learn her
responsibilities and reap the natural reward of labor.
It will be seen from the foregoing illustrations that the endeavor of
the committee and of those at work under them is to give help that
shall be adequate, and as far as possible, permanently beneficial.
They feel themselves bound, even though the applicant be deserving,
to refuse aid which could be a mere temporary stop-gap and confer no
lasting benefit, and their aim is in every case to rouse the spirit of
independence and self-help.
It will also have been observed how very valuable an element in the
working of the scheme the visitor forms; that she is not only a
channel through which useful information reaches the committee, but
is, in almost every instance, their actual agent in carrying out the
plans of help adopted. I must, however, say something further as to
the importance of the appointment of some lady or gentleman acting
as _Referee_; that is, as a center for all the volunteers working as
visitors. For if volunteer work is to form a useful part of our scheme
of dealing with the people, we must accept those as workers whose work
is necessarily intermittent. This must be done in order that we may
secure a sufficient number of workers, and not waste, but gather in and
use all the overflowing sympathy which is such a blessing to giver and
receiver. With our volunteers, home claims must and should come first;
and it is precisely those whose claims are deepest, and whose family
life is the noblest, who have the most precious influence in the homes
of the poor. But if the work is to be valuable, we must find some way
to bind together broken scraps of time, and thus give it continuity in
spite of changes and breaks. One great means of doing this is to have a
living center. This should be secured in the referee.
The referee in the district here described was appointed in the first
instance by the District Committee of the Charity Organization Society;
she was subsequently asked to attend the Relief Committee, and has
since been recognized by the Guardians and the sub-committee of the
School Board as the representative of all the visitors throughout
the district: the guardians kindly send to her, after their weekly
meetings, notes of every decision arrived at as to applications for
relief; these are immediately passed on by her to the visitor of the
particular court where the applicant resides. The School Board has
withdrawn its paid agent and entrusted to her and the staff of visitors
working in concert with her the working of the compulsory clauses of
the Education Act. She thus acts as a connecting link between all the
various agencies at work in the parish.
It is evident that catastrophe would ensue if public bodies such as the
guardians or School Board attempted to deal directly with such a crude,
changeful, and untrained body as our volunteers necessarily form; but,
communicating with them through the referee, they can use their aid and
find it valuable.
The existence of a referee is a help to the visitors in various ways.
She receives applications from all volunteers, introduces them to the
clergy and others who need workers, or enrolls them as visitors under
the Charity Organization Society in unvisited courts, if such there be.
She has nothing to do with their work, so far as it is denominational,
but takes note of it so far as it deals with visible help. She
introduces temporary or permanent substitutes when visitors are absent
from town, or ill, or unable from any other cause to continue their
work; so that the threads of it are never broken. She is able to give,
in a much more detailed and personal way than any corporate body
could do, information as to sources of relief, societies available for
special cases, as to what visitors of other denominations are doing,
and what help the Poor Law will give. For example: "Can anything be
done about Mrs. H----?" a new visitor will ask; "her room is fearfully
dirty, and she is so infirm now that she cannot keep it clean. She
would be better off in the workhouse." "I will communicate with the
guardians, and no doubt the relieving officer will visit and report,"
the referee will answer. Or another volunteer will ask, "Can you tell
me exactly what the law is now as to compulsory attendance at school?
There are several bad cases of neglect in my court--what should I do
about them?" Or another: "No. 7 in ---- Street is in a most unhealthy
state; can nothing be done?" "Yes, certainly," the referee will say;
"if the drains are really, as you think, not trapped, the landlord
can be compelled to do it. Write to the Inspector of Nuisances, and
ask him to look into it. He is always most attentive to a request
of this kind." Sometimes the suggestion will come from the referee.
"Would you," she will say to some of the ladies, "make a list of the
unvaccinated children in your streets, and tell the mothers how and
when most easily to get the neglect remedied? They only want a little
spurring up." Such is the work the ladies find, and the kind of help
the referee can give.
Another most important means of securing unity of action is afforded
by the written records which the committee make it a point that the
visitors should keep--and should keep according to one fixed and
definite plan. Each court has its own separate district book; each
applicant has his separate page, where the detail regarding him and
his family can be found at once. The reports of the relieving officer,
of the clergyman, and of any references the applicant may have given,
are all found in a condensed form on this same page. An entry is made
of every kind of material help given, summed up in a money column
each month; and the visitor is also expected to record every month the
principal events which have happened in the family. One line only is
allowed for this. This rule is made because MS. records become useless
if they are voluminous; the chief events only are required and must be
carefully selected. The book is sent in once a month to the referee.
The privacy of the poor is not infringed by the use of these records,
since the books remain exclusively in the hands of the visitor and
referee, and it rests with the visitor to report to the committee only
that which she deems essential to the right decision of a case. And,
moreover, nothing of a private nature--nothing which could imply a
breach of confidence--ought ever to be entered in the books at all.
The advantages of thus keeping district books are very great. It is of
course not unusual for those who visit amongst the poor to keep written
records of one kind or another. But if they are kept in various forms
and the information is not tabulated so as to be readily comprehended
by fellow-workers, half their value is lost. To be available for
general use, it is all-important that the books throughout a parish
should be _uniform_, and the information contained in them _complete_
and _condensed_. They should be arranged so as to bring to a focus all
the information obtained through the Charity Organization Society. Now
it too often happens that they contain only notes of such facts as have
come under the visitor's personal observation, and are kept by each
visitor according to a different plan.
The work itself is an always growing one, as the system does not stop
at mere relief, but uses its machinery to carry out every plan of
helpfulness that can be devised. The visitors find that the work opens
out as they themselves increase in power. Then the question arises
how the pressing, useful things, which so urgently need doing, can
possibly be got through. "I see more to do in my district the longer
I work there," one lady said to the referee, not long ago; "the more
I learn, the more the work increases. I see numberless helpful things
I could do if only I had time. May I divide my district? I don't know
which part of it I can make up my mind to give up; there are people I
should grieve to lose sight of in every part of it, yet I cannot manage
all that I now see ought to be done." "Do not divide your district,"
the referee replied; "the Committees, Guardians, School Board, and
I myself cannot easily treat with still smaller divisions than that
into separate courts or streets. Let me introduce you to one of the
younger volunteers whom you may associate with you in the work. She is
too young to visit alone, or to judge what is wise in difficult cases,
but she will write your monthly reports, will be a friendly messenger
to pay pensions, will call to ask if children are at school, and
report to the School Board, will collect savings and keep accounts of
them, will write about admissions to Convalescent Homes or Industrial
Schools, will give notice of classes and entertainments, and register
the window plants before our flower shows. In short, she will form a
friendly link between you and the people, will save your time, and be
herself trained to take the lead hereafter. Mr. R., too, offered help
in the evening, if you want him to establish that Co-operative Store,
to keep some life in the Working Men's Club, or to collect savings in
the court on a Saturday night; and Mrs. S. offers help in money for
special cases of want which the committee can hardly take up, or for
some of our excursions to the country this summer. In fact, if you will
associate other workers with you, instead of still further subdividing
the district, it will be much the best."
And so the work grows, and the various help gets more and more woven
into one whole.