第45章 TO THE RESCUE!--THE CITY COLONY.(5)

He is clever at his business,and has held good situations.Two years ago he came to London,fell into evil courses,and took to drink.

Lost situation after situation,and kept on drinking;lost everything,and came to the streets.He found out Westminster Shelter,and eventually got saved;his parents were communicated with,and help and clothes forthcoming;with Salvation came hope and energy;he got a situation at Lewisham (7d.per hour)at his trade.Four months standing,and is a promising Soldier as well as a respectable mechanic.

J.T.--Born in Ireland;well educated (commercially);clerk and accountant.Early in life joined the Queen's Army,and by good conduct worked his way up.Was orderly-room clerk and paymaster's assistant in his regiment.He led a steady life whilst in the service,and at the expiration of his term passed into the Reserve with a "very good"character.He was a long time unemployed,and this appears to have reduced him to despair,and so to drink.He sank to the lowest ebb,and came to Westminster in a deplorable condition;coatless,hatless,shirtless,dirty altogether,a fearful specimen of what a man of good parentage can be brought to.After being at Shelter some time,he got saved,was passed to Workshops,and gave great satisfaction.

At present he is doing clerical work and gives satisfaction as a workman:

A good influence in the place.

J.S.--Born in London,of decent parentage.From a child he exhibited thieving propensities;soon got into the hands of the police,and was in and out of gaol continually.He led the life of a confirmed tramp,and roved all over the United Kingdom.He has been in penal servitude three times,and his last term was for seven years,with police supervision.After his release he married a respectable girl,and tried to reform,but circumstances were against him;character he had none,a gaol career only to recommend him,and so he and his wife eventually drifted to destitution.They came to the Shelter,and asked advice;they were received,and he made application to the sitting Magistrate at Clerkenwell as to a situation,and what he ought to do.

The Magistrate helped him,and thanked the Salvation Army for its efforts in behalf of him and such as he,and asked us to look after the applicant.A little work was given him,and after a time a good situation procured.To-day they have a good time;he is steadily employed,and both are serving God,holding the respect and confidence of neighbours,etc.

E.G.--Came to England in the service of a family of position,and afterwards was butler and upper servant in several houses of the nobility.His health broke down,and for a long time he was altogether unfit for work.He had saved a considerable sum of money,but the cost of doctors and the necessaries of a sick man soon played havoc with his little store,and he became reduced to penury and absolute want.

For some time he was in the Workhouse,and,being discharged,he was advised to go to the Shelter.He was low in health as well as in circumstances,and broken in spirit,almost despairing.He was lovingly advised to cast his care upon God,and eventually he was converted.After some time work was obtained as porter in a City warehouse.Assiduity and faithfulness in a year raised him to the position of traveller.Today he prospers in body and soul,retaining the respect and confidence of all associated with him.

We might multiply these records,but those given show the kind of results attained.

There's no reason to think that influences which have been blessed of God to the salvation of these poor fellows will not be equally efficacious if applied on a wider scale and over a vaster area.

The thing to be noted in all these cases is that it was not the mere feeding which effected the result;it was the combination of the feeding with the personal labour for the individual soul.Still,if we had not fed them,we should never have come near enough to gain any hold upon their hearts.If we had merely fed them,they would have gone away next day to resume,with increased energy,the predatory and vagrant life which they had been leading.But when our feeding and Shelter Depots brought them to close quarters,our officers were literally able to put their arms round their necks and plead with them as brethren who had gone astray.We told them that their sins and sorrows had not shut them out from the love of the Everlasting Father,who had sent us to them to help them with all the power of our strong Organisation,of the Divine authority of which we never feel so sure as when it is going forth to seek and to save the lost.

SECTION 2.--WORK FOR THE OUT-OF-WORKS.--THE FACTORY.

The foregoing,it will be said,is all very well for your outcast when he has got fourpence in his pocket,but what if he has not got his fourpence?What if you are confronted with a crowd of hungry desperate wretches,without even a penny in their pouch,demanding food and shelter?This objection is natural enough,and has been duly considered from the first.

I propose to establish in connection with every Food and Shelter Depot a Workshop or Labour Yard,in which any person who comes destitute and starving will be supplied with sufficient work to enable him to earn the fourpence needed for his bed and board.This is a fundamental feature of the Scheme,and one which I think will commend it to all those who are anxious to benefit the poor by enabling them to help themselves without the demoralising intervention of charitable relief.

Let us take our stand for a moment at the door of one of our Shelters.