Chapter 13: Various Methods.
Chapter 13: Various Methods.
"In blessing we are blest,
In labour find our rest;
If we bend not to the world's work-heart,
and hand, and brain-
We have lived our life in vain."
C. SEYMOUR.
AMONGST OTHER INTERESTING results of my work at Prison Gate, there are two or three which require notice, in order to give a complete idea of the various agencies set on foot.
First of these was the Window-Cleaning Brigade. It was said, a little unfairly, that a man must get into prison before I would do anything to help him. Indeed rumour had it that some men actually committed some trifling offence, that through the prison cell they might come into my hands. This seemed to put a premium on crime; and I felt that I must discover some way by which respectable men, who were out of employment, might be enabled to help themselves.
After considerable cogitation, I bought a ladder or two, some pails, and leathers, and started one or two men on the job of window-cleaning. Cards, on which my name was printed, which guaranteed their respectability, were left from door to door, to be followed up a day or two after. My friends throughout the town were very kind; and I think that, in many cases, windows were burnished to an extent that was a little out of the ordinary. Thus encouraged, I felt emboldened to try a larger venture, more especially as my ladders were too short to reach upper windows; and, notwithstanding my guarantees of respectability, my friends did not see their way to admit my protégés within their houses. Besides which, inducements were held out to me that I could do the large factories of the town at so much a window, if only I had ladders long enough to reach them. The result was, that in a short time, at the cost (I almost shudder to say it) of some £20, I found myself possessed of two of the longest ladders in the town of Leicester. I think I can see them now, with my name printed down one side, "Rev. F. B. Meyer's Window-Cleaning Brigade." They were evidently so cumbersome, that when they were brought to the coffee-house one morning, I gave instructions for a special cart to be constructed to carry them; and the whole needed at least four men to push the cart to and fro, and to set the ladders up and move them.
Many hairs were turned gray on account of the initial anxieties in starting this new branch of my work, arising largely from the fact that my men did not seem to recognise the distinction between the wages I gave them, and the money that was paid for their work, some of which was due to me for my outlay. However, the result, as far as employing men who were out of work was concerned, amply justified my expenditure; and I had the satisfaction of employing men until they secured situations, which they had an opportunity of doing, by moving amongst the residents and manufacturers of the town. As I was constantly about the streets, I met different members of my brigade, with their ladders and pails; and I always think kindly of my people at Melbourne Hall, that they were not scandalized at the eminently practical side of their pastor's character.
On the same line, and to give employment to the same class, I started the Messenger Brigade, something after the fashion of the Commissionaire Corps. This was intended more especially to help old men who were no longer fit for laborious work. We began with four, in different parts of the town. They stood at certain spots, waiting to be sent on errands, to be called in to black boots, or do any odd jobs about the house. They wore a specially-made hat with my name in the front, and were paid so much per quarter of an hour, or per quarter of a mile, keeping all they earned. Had I remained in Leicester, I believe this might have been made a great success. Only one old man clings now to the spot where I located him, by Victoria Road Church, and I believe he still has one of these hats. He always comes to hear me preach on my occasional visits; and I am glad to think that I have done something to brighten his life. I have a sort of feeling that even in heaven he will tell me with a kind of simple pleasure, that he was one of my messengers. He has now a little hut, like a sentry-box, that screens him from the weather; and many people treat him kindly for my sake.
One more item, though I trust that my readers will not accuse me of garrulity or egotism. My one desire in giving these chapters from my life is to show what an ordinary man, apparently without special aptitude for this sort of work, was nevertheless able to effect. When I first took Providence House, it was my intention to make it serve a double purpose-for discharged prisoners on the one hand; and for homeless lads who had been in prison, or were in danger of going there, on the other. In the top floor of the manager's house were several beds, and these I filled with street boys who were in moral danger. Some of them I employed in the firewood factory, paying them wages of which they returned me something for their keep; for others we obtained situations among the manufacturers of the town.
We had some strange and surprising experiences amongst the lads; for instance, one afternoon the whole of them slipped out of the place," to walk to London," to improve their position, evidently under the notion that its streets were paved with gold! We, however, not knowing where they had gone, were filled with dismay. But it so happened that one of our wood-carts coming in from the country happened to meet them walking bravely along the London Road, and brought us word; so my manager started in pursuit. We had this hold upon them, that the clothes they wore were our property. It was understood between them and us that they were a loan, and that they were free to leave us at any moment on returning to us our belongings. This enabled us to arrest the runaways and to bring them back.
I was very much encouraged with the work we were able to do amongst these boys. No other field of my work yielded such harvests. I could see the improvement working in them from week to week; and in many cases we received excellent reports from their employers. To find further work for them we started cane-chair making, and produced chairs which are still to be seen in various parts of Leicester; but each chair could tell a story. All I need say here is that, if any of my friends should be thinking of teaching boys to make cane chairs, they should write to me for further particulars; as I would earnestly warn them against the attempt.
By far the best plan is to procure situations for the lads in the factories within easy reach of their Home; and this was the plan ultimately resorted to by us. This branch of the work was removed from Providence House, and a Boys' Home was opened in a neighbouring street. I rented a suitable house, placed there my true and trusty friends, Mr. Burnham and his wife, guaranteed the rent, and started the little family. The lads were expected to bring us the whole of their wages. We deducted eight shillings for their keep, gave them sixpence for pocket-money, and put the remainder on one side for clothes or other necessaries. This system, with the help of a few outside subscriptions, secures the maintenance of the two good souls that nobly fulfil the office of parents to those who perhaps have never known father or mother.
This Boys' Home still flourishes, and is the means of starting many a young lad on the upward path. After spending three or four years in the Home, the lads are able to take lodgings for themselves; and it is a great pleasure, from time to time, to hear tidings of their welfare.
One is a young Christian soldier, who reports himself when returning on furlough. Another is a most devoted Christian artisan. Others from time to time write to say that they are doing well, either in England or abroad. I subjoin extracts from two letters received comparatively lately. One writes:-
"I write to you these few lines, hoping that they will reach you and find you quite well. I was glad to see you here in Leicester, and to shake your hand. I did not know what to say to you then; but if the people who gathered around you were not there, I should have liked to say a few more words with you. When we come to look back on the past, when you did come down to Providence House and talked to us all, there is one thing I do remember of your kindness to me, and trying to lead me to God; that was when you took me by myself and prayed for me, and forgave the wrong that I did. I am sure if I had not come to your Home I should have gone down into deeper sin. But God was with me, though I did not know it then. But I know it now, and it is only by my prayer that I have had blessing from Him. I do thank God now in my heart for his kindness in preserving me from evil, and in giving me good things. I must tell you that I have been home and seen my friends. They were all very pleased to see me indeed; and I told them a good bit of my past life, especially my mother."
Another, a young man, now doing well in the United States, writes:-
"I do thank you, sir, for helping me to come to this country; it has been my salvation; the seed you sowed in my heart at Leicester was not lost, but has sprung up, after lying dormant so long."
Many who desire to help friendless lads might work on these lines, which appear to me to do the maximum amount of good for the minimum expenditure of money and thought; the only necessity is to be prepared to supplement the income of the Home with a few outside subscriptions, in case slackness of work or other causes produce a slight annual deficit.
I have not made very prominent the earnest religious influence which we always sought to bring to bear upon the various characters whom these methods brought within our reach. Ours was no mere humanitarianism. The efforts we made for the material well-being of these men were subordinate to the constant desire to promote their total abstinence, and, above all, their devotion to Christ. Sometimes I had straight talks with them, often I think they felt that I was expecting them to live pure, sober, God-fearing lives; and one by one several gave evidence that they were passing into the Kingdom. That is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; afterwards that which is spiritual.