[_George Newnes, Ltd._
]
As the famous chef, Brillat-Savarin, could create an exquisite soup out
of a kid glove and a pint of boiling water, so these tiny artisans
manage to manufacture butchers' shops, chests of drawers, tables, sofas,
Christmas crackers, and luxuriant flowers out of the meanest
ingredients. One of the favourite diversions of the smaller children is
cutting out and colouring fashion-plates, decapitating the heads and
fitting on instead portraits of their favourite "great ladies" of the
Happy Evenings Association which they have found in the newspapers.
These are afterwards stiffened with cardboard and made to stand up in a
group, which at a distance gives a very good idea of a swell reception
amongst the "hupper suckles"--if it did not more nearly suggest a
wax-work gathering at Madame Tussaud's. Two of these figures we
photographed for THE STRAND--Lady Northcote and Lady Margaret Rice--both
indefatigable workers of the Children's Happy Evenings Association.
[Illustration: LADY NORTHCOTE.
_As constructed by the children._]
And what--the reader may ask at this stage--what is the Happy Evenings
Association? Well, it is a body of kind-hearted ladies and
gentlemen--numbering some of the highest and noblest names that you will
find in "Burke" or "Debrett"--who take a pleasure in going down amongst
the slums of London and teaching the slum waifs how to play. For the
London guttersnipe doesn't know how to play. As a rule, he or she can
maunder about and fight and scream and exchange badinage and throw
stones in the gutter, but of true games the gamin is as ignorant as his
parents are of _entrées_ or Euclid. Before the association was started
in 1891 there was no one to teach them the mysteries of battledore and
shuttlecock, sack races, kiss-in-the-ring, picture-books, dolls, and
doll dressmaking. As their motto expressed it, the association, whose
first efforts began at the Waterloo Road Schools, was "to put a thought
beneath their rags to ennoble the heart's struggle."
[Illustration: LADY MARGARET RICE.
_As constructed by the children._]
[Illustration: THE PRINCESS OF WALES AND HER FAMILY--THE PRINCESS IS THE
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION.
_From a Photo. by Wilkinson & Co., Norwich. Published by the London
Stereoscopic Co._]
The gutters were full--the Board schools after school-hours were empty.
Why not get permission to use these empty Board schools for the little
ones to play in? And so in a modest fashion the first of the Happy
Evenings was carried out by Miss Heather Bigg at Waterloo Road Schools
in January, 1891. The association grew and workers came forward until
now it is one of the most influential, as it is the "smartest," charity
in London. It has for its president that mother of so many little
children--the Princess of Wales; its chief of council is the Countess of
Jersey, and among its helpers are the Marchioness of Zetland, Lady
Ludlow, Lady Cadogan, Lady Iddesleigh, Mrs. Bland-Sutton, etc. Moreover,
the children of the rich are brought to serve the children of the poor,
the example being set by children no less highly placed than the little
Princes and the little Princess at Marlborough House, whose dolls and
toys find their way into the Happy Evenings gatherings. When little
Prince Edward first heard of the Happy Evenings he turned to his Royal
mamma and said:--
[Illustration: MRS. BLAND-SUTTON--HON. SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION.
_From a Photo. by E. W. Evans._]
"Mayn't I give my helmet and breast-plate? It's such good fun to dress
up as a soldier. I'm sure those little boys would like it." And so a
little gamin was pointed out to us at a Happy Evening, prancing about in
the martial and metallic raiment which had lately enclosed the person of
another boy--the future King of England.
[Illustration: PRINCE EDWARD'S ARMOUR.
_From a Photo. by George Newnes, Ltd._]
Some wag has called these gatherings "Juvenile Parties for
Guttersnipes," and although the secretary naturally resents the terms of
such description, yet perhaps, on the whole, it gives a fair idea to the
average observer of what these gatherings really mean. "We do not,
however, aim at making our Happy Evenings a juvenile party. We try and
make the pastimes of the children approximate closely to those of a
well-ordered nursery or school-room, and the children are encouraged to
vary their amusements on their own initiative, and to choose by
preference those games which involve co-operation."
[Illustration: EAST-END CHILDREN IN LADY JERSEY'S CHILD-DRAMA "ST.
GEORGE."
_From a Photo. by W. S. Bradshaw & Sons._]
Occasionally the elder children get together and arrange
rough-and-ready presentments of historic incidents, such as the Battle
of Cressy, the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the Indian Mutiny,
Alfred and the Cakes, the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, etc. The
_Mayflower_, in this last tableau, was represented by a large newspaper
boat capable of holding the two feet of one child comfortably. The other
Pilgrim Fathers apparently preferred to wade.
The picture on page 22 shows a party of East London children in Lady
Jersey's play, "St. George of England," and in their brave costumes they
certainly compare very favourably with any equal body of children from
more fashionable regions.
[Illustration:
_From a Photo. by_]