Anna carried her off to her mother's, where for a fortnight Isabel lay dangerously ill with inflammation of the lungs, Mrs. Bently nursing her with motherly care and devotion.

Anna spent every spare hour with her, and Mr. Ramsay called more frequently than could be expected to inquire after her, and leave little offerings of fruit and flowers.

At the Recreation Room the excitement concerning the piano sunk into utter insignificance beside Isabel Lacy's illness; and many of the girls found their way to Vine Cottage, only to long to call again and make friends with gentle, sad-faced Mrs. Bently, Anna's mother, and hear pretty, bright, little Edna sing.

At the end of a fortnight Isabel was able to sit up, and the doctor declared that he thought all danger past; but she was weak as a, little child, and so pale and thin that it made Mrs. Bently cry to look at her.

'She must be nursed up for another week and then go to the seaside. Good food, careful nursing, and fresh air, will do the rest for her!' and Isabel sighed as she thought how impossible it was for her to get to the seaside, owing to the numerous expenses connected with her illness. Mrs. Bently urged her to go, and offered to advance the money, but Isabel refused firmly.

'You would do as much for Anna,' she said, but all in vain. Isabel never went in debt in her life, and declared she could not begin, it would spoil all her pleasure.

But that very afternoon Miss Howard called, and on hearing what was said by the doctor she declared Isabel must go to the Home of Rest at St. M'It's only just open, and there's not one of my Members I can recommend more heartily,' she said. "The cost is trifling compared to going into lodgings, and you will be so much safer and better cared for, besides having cheerful companions belonging to your own Society. So no more excuses, Isabel; you must go.'

When Anna arrived on Saturday afternoon she was told the news, and expressed her joy in no measured terms.

'Do you remember, dear, when we were at Chalfont's and you felt so ill, often wishing you knew about those Homes of Rest? Now to think that you are actually going, and that dear mother is here in London, and Edna a student at Trinity College! It all seems like a beautiful dream.'

'A very real dream, dear, and it's all owing to you,' Isabel said, kissing her friend affectionately. 'If it were not for you I fear I should never have taken an active interest in the G. F. S.; from the moment I mentioned it to you, you never gave me any peace. Some of these days you must be taking a rest,

'Indeed, I hope it will be long before I want it;

I feel quite well and strong, thank God: between the Recreation Room and Brown and Bolton's I have no time to be ill. And now to tell you a little piece of news of my own, Belle; Miss Mason is gone and I'm to have her place. And, mother dear, that's not only a step up in my employers' estimation, but it's ten pounds a-year extra to my salary. Surely I have been a very fortunate girl!'

Mrs. Bently stroked Anna's hair tenderly. She thought the good fortune was well merited and well bestowed, and Edna danced a sort of war-dance round the room.

'I shouldn't be surprised if Anna had a shop of her own one day, and was rolling in riches,' she cried; only I hope I shall make the little mother's fortune first, and then she can repay dear old Anna for all she has done for us!'

At that moment Mr. Ramsay called to see how Miss Lacy was, and Mrs. Bently asked him to join them at their frugal tea, an invitation he accepted with alacrity.

'By the way, I have a strange piece of news for you, girls,' he said, suddenly. You remember Mr. Chalfont; well, he's married again, to a French milliner from Regent Street, and Miss Clara no longer has it all her own way in Islington.'

'Poor girl, I'm sorry for her,' Anna said, gently. But Isabel held her tongue; she had not yet arrived at being able to entirely forgive her old enemy.

F you had seen how very white, with fear of being left quite behind, A. B. (not a G. F. S. Member) looked, as she got on board the Mexican, on the 29th of May, at Southampton, I think it would be a lesson to Friendly Girls' never to be late for a train for the rest of their lives. The second bell for visitors to go ashore had rung, and her name been marked off, before she got on board. There was not time to ask how it happened, only just time to say good-bye, when the third bell rang violently, and the G. F. S. Associates, who had come from many different parts to see the first party start for Natal, had to run along the gangway quite quickly, or they would have been carried off to Plymouth. Indeed, I think some of us would not have been at all sorry if that little adventure had happened. The accommodation provided for the party was so very good that I am almost afraid to describe it, for we can hardly expect that the Union Line Company will have so much room another time that they can provide such first-rate quarters. The Directors were so very kind as to spare no trouble to carry out the plan for separate compartments; they actually gave our girls second-class quarters instead of steerage, and a great many comforts more than they had promised, or we could expect from them.

The cabins were fitted for two berths only; pretty white toilet crockery was arranged on little stands, which turned into tables, and each cabin had a lamp strongly secured. Half the girls' cabins were on one side, under the Matron; the other half had the SubMatron to watch over them. In the centre of the quarters was the staircase (with a large skylight), and on either side the large tables, where they dined, and could sit with their books or work. Close by was the pantry, where all the things they would use on the voyage were kept. I hope they will leave them as bright and clean as they found them. In the corner was a hot plate for their dinners, and huge urns heated by steam for tea and coffee; bathroom and luggage-room were all contained within these quarters, so there would be no excuse for going elsewhere to open their boxes. So much kindness and consideration will not, I hope, spoil the girls for the roughness of life in the Colonies. Members of G. F. S. who have learned the real principles of our Society will see in this friendliness to them a kindly bearing of their burdens under the ordinary discomforts of a sea voyage, and a desire to soften the sadness which

leaving their old friends and country must always throw over them.

Their last night on shore was sweetened by pleasant companionship and surrounded with Friendly' associations, for several of the travellers slept at the Winchester Diocesan Lodge at Southampton. July is stated to be the best month in Natal. The Tartar, with the next protected party, leaves on July 31st.

I get so many inquiries about the Canada party that I take this opportunity of answering many queries in one letter. I do hope you are all recommending your friends to take Friendly Work; it can't have half the circulation it ought to have, or so many letters with 'G. F. S.' in the corner would not ask questions already answered.

I ought to tell you, that the party which left England on April 24th in the Sarmatian was the very first protected G. F. S. party for Canada which has ever left our shores. By that I mean that, for the first time, a separate compartment, approached by their own private staircase, was appropriated to the young women who went out under Mr. Bridger's care, that the Matron was selected and paid by the lady workers (no Matrons being provided by the Canadian Emigration Office), and that this Matron was commissioned to travel up to Toronto, and to deliver her charges herself to the persons to whom they were consigned.

I cannot possibly press too much upon Associates the importance of girls going with protected parties now that they are provided. It is far wiser for our young travellers to suffer a little inconvenience in waiting than for them to make the voyage by themselves.

The account brought by our Matron of the kindness, activity, and integrity of Miss Richardson, the female Superintendent of Immigrants, who has been asked by the Central Council at Toronto to receive our Members, and the facilities she possesses of com munication with the Dominion Immigration Agents, testifies to the excellence of arrangements for the reception of the travellers.

On the train journey to Toronto a fatherly man, who had been noticing our girls, came to the Matron and said he should like to take L. H., to adopt and bring up with his own children (she is one of the girls trained at Connaught House, the Diocesan Home at Winchester); he had been much struck with her kindly help to others, her unselfishness about the little difficulties amongst fellow-travellers, and her modest, quiet manner. The gentleman was, of course, referred

to the Ladies' Committee at Toronto, and being personally known to one of them, the proposed arrangements were carried out, much to the satisfaction of L. H., who writes in warm terms about her new home.

The following letter will show the sort of mistress and kind of situation which our girls meet with in the Canadian homes. It was arranged for the writer to take service in Quebec, as some very nice situations offered there, and she writes ::

'May 15, Quebec.

'They are very nice people-they belong to the Church of England, and the first Sunday in Quebec I took Holy Communion at 7 in the morning, which was a very refreshing time. Mrs. Scott, which is the name of the lady I am living with, took me, and introduced me to the clergyman-his name is Mr. Hamilton. He seems to be very kind and nice. I showed him the letters I had from England, and he seemed to be very pleased, and told me I ought to be very proud of them; which I told him I was. I must tell you what a delightful voyage I had. I did not feel one bit lonely; it was after we were parted, and had to go to different situations, that I felt it. When I went to church on

Sunday and heard the organ play, and saw the boys

come into church, it made me think about home, and I could not help fretting during service, till I began to think that it was not right of me to fret as long as it was my Heavenly Father's doing; which I feel convinced it is, for it is a help to me when I have any difficulties to go and tell Him, and it is wonderful how I get through them. I should like you very much to send me word how you would like the money paid; whether I shall keep it till I get the amount, or whether you would like it sent on every month. My wages are six dollars a-month, which is 30s. of our money, so you see it will not take me long to pay it back.'

Miss Cox, the Diocesan Secretary, writes on May 28th:'Toronto, Canada.

'I am happy to be able to give you a good report of all the G. F. S. girls who came to us; they are all in good places and promise to do well Some are very slow, but I hope this will wear off in time as they become accustomed to the work If the girls continue to behave as they are now doing, we can provide for any numbers of such, young, willing to work and learn, and a little trained; or experienced servants, good characters, accustomed to work, can be provided for in any number, but infirm, sickly, or otherwise afflicted ones, we do not know what to do with.'

If any G. F. S. Member is thinking of going to Tasmania there is an opening in the family of Bishop Sandford, who has already had two of our Members. He wants an experienced servant, and offers good wages. The vessel leaves in July.

Six dollars would be 25s., not 30s.-E. J.

The letters from Auckland, New Zealand, about the Rangitike party, tell us :

'E. S. is gone as children's-maid to Bishop Cowie. Mrs. Cowie is President of G. F. S. in that Diocese. She will find a comfortable home, and will, I trust, be a comfort to her mistress. E. C. is engaged as nurse to a very nice lady, one of the G. F. S. Associates, who lives quite near to Bishop's Court.'

Accounts of the Ionic party who went to Christ Church, New Zealand, speak of a recreation-room 'open every evening, which does very good work for girls employed in shops or large factories, different ladies attending each night.'

Free emigration to South Australia is reopened. The 'Servants' Home' there has been for twenty years in active operation under the Bishop and an influential committee of ladies.

The August protected G. F. S. party for Canada will leave Liverpool on the 16th in the Parisian. I am looking forward greatly to this ocean voyage with our girls, so that I may tell you from actual observation the sort of life it is, both afloat and ashore. I want as long a notice as possible of Members wishing to join it, as I shall hope that situations may be selected for the girls where I may have an opportunity of seeing them, in travelling along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Rocky Mountains. I must request that all Associates desiring to get advice for their Members about their Emigration will kindly communicate with me in July, so that matters may be completed for their transit before I leave England. Arrangements will be made for necessary emigration work to be done during my two months' absence, but August and September are trying months for the passage through the Red Sea, and it is far better to arrive in Southern latitudes in their winter and spring than when summer is approaching. For Canada, it is wisest for those going, not to put off their journey later than August, as the cold of winter is less felt if immigrants are acclimatised, by some months' previous residence in that country.

I hope our dear girls will rightly understand the care taken for them, and never spoil the loveliness of our great, motherly, sisterly Society, by thinking they are more worthy of thought than any other young women it is to preserve maidenhood in all its purity and beauty that so much thought is centred on protecting it in them, and in making young life happy and well developed, that it may grow up into perfect womanhood. Yours, E. JOYCE

St. John's Croft, Winchester.

M

Y DEAR FRIENDS,-In my last letter I spoke to you of the help you could give to the cause of our Society as Elder Sisters in your own homes, and as helping to watch over Candidates under the guidance of your Associates.

Now I want to point out to you a very practical way of carrying out our motto, which you may like to think over for yourselves.

You know, as well as I do, and better, how many helpless orphan children we always have amongst us, and how they are daily drifting into our Workhouses, or, what is far worse, into bad hands, from which it is most difficult to rescue them. I think if we all, and especially our Elder Members, did their part, we might save some of these children--the little orphan girls especially-and bring them up to better things. It may interest you, first, to read some extracts from a paper which was written some years ago on this subject:

'The spirit of the Girls' Friendly Society is especially that of a "mothering" Society. It endeavours to supply what is lacking of this element in the lives of so many of our Girls, while, at the same time, it goes on awakening more and more that true feeling of motherlove which lies deep down in every woman's heart, whether it has been called into exercise or not.

'One of the great dangers of our Society must always lie in its size, and in the fear (as I have before expressed it) it should ever become a monster machinery without a soul. Therefore, the more real, practical work it can set on foot, the more the creation of this machinery will be justified, and the less likely will it be to degenerate into an empty shell, a soulless mass of organization.

'I think if the G. F. S. did what it might do there should be a great decrease in the number of girl-orphans educating in our Workhouses, of whom it is computed that there are now about 16,000. “But," I fancy I hear some startled Associate or Branch Secretary exclaim, we have too much work already. Surely you would not have us, as Associates, undertake such a work as the charge of orphans?" And to this I would answer, "No, not as Associates, but as Associates and Members."

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'Of course, we could not hope to save any considerable number of these little orphan maids from the Workhouse all at once. Quietly, silently, and sensibly should this, like all other good work, begin; but once begun I think it would spread. It might not be possible to all Branches to do it, but I am sure that many large Branches, and sometimes a few small ones combining together, might undertake the care of one orphan between the ages of eight and twelve. The interest such a charge would ex

* From a Paper by Mrs. Townsend, read at the Branch Secretaries' Conference, June 22, 1881.

cite amongst our Girls would be great, and I will answer for it, mostly heartily given. . . . The whole thing being entirely voluntary, some contributing more and some less, according to their circumstances-those who have no money perhaps giving their time at a working-party, or enlisting the help and sympathy of outsiders, and all giving their prayers. The idea is not a new one, but is carried out constantly by those interested in foreign missions, a child being adopted in some far-off missionary station, and those who subscribe to support it in England taking the greatest interest in the accounts sent home of its welfare. Why should not the same principle be applied at home? There are little girls here at our very doors starving in a land of plenty, not for food, but for love and motherly care. Have they not a claim on the Girls' Friendly Society?'

Only the other day I saw to my joy that this idea had really taken shape, and was being carried out in the Diocese of St. Albans :

'It was proposed at the Diocesan Council, held April 20th, 1883, that the Members of the Diocese should be asked to contribute a small sum yearly, from 1d. to 6d. towards the support of an Orphan chosen out of the Diocese, who should be trained, clothed, and placed out in service. In furtherance of this object the President, hearing of great fishing disasters, during the storms of December, on the coasts of Essex, wrote to the Vicar of Brightlingsea, Essex, inquiring if there was any child eligible in his parish, and in January, 1884, a little girl was brought to Leavesden Green, Watford, and placed under the charge of a very respectable woman, until she should be old enough for admission to a training-school, and from thence be started in service. Her name is Edith Osborne, and her age eleven years. She is the daughter of a fisherman who was drowned, with many others, in the December gales of 1883. Her mother has six other children, of whom she is the second; she is a nice-looking and pleasant child, and will, we hope, repay the kindness of those who are contributing to her support, by proving a good G. F. S. Member and a useful servant. Any contributions received by Mrs. Castel Clay for this purpose will be acknowledged in Friendly Leaves.

'Mrs. Castel Clay begs to acknowledge the receipt of 125. from the Hertford Branch; 10s. Members in Business, Barking and Chigwell; 3s. Miss Loyd's Members; 17.75.6d. Members of Hedingham Branch; 17. 11s. 6d. Members of Rickmansworth Branch,'

With this extract I must conclude my letter, with the earnest hope that our Elder Members will consult with their Associates wherever they can upon the matter, and see what, in this way also, they can do for the Girls' Friendly Society.

Your friend, M. E. TOWNSEND.