Volume 1

Life and labour of the people in London. 3d series, Religious influences / by Charles Booth ; assisted by Jesse Argyle, Ernest Aves, Geo. E. Arkell, Arthur L. Baxter, George H. Duckworth.

  • Charles Booth
Date:
1902-1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life and labour of the people in London. 3d series, Religious influences / by Charles Booth ; assisted by Jesse Argyle, Ernest Aves, Geo. E. Arkell, Arthur L. Baxter, George H. Duckworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    so well that the meeting ‘ looks like a garden of nodding flowers.’ They come prepared to give rather than get, and she mentioned the way they had subscribed for the distressed Armenians, for instance, as really splendid.] (7) The superintendent of one remarkable mission is a German, who keeps a shop and deals in all kinds of miscellaneous articles. He speaks English fluently. The mission-room is a large loft above some stables and is reached by a steep ladder-stair, and there is a smaller room below. When discovered [it lies perdu up an entry, between two shops, with no name affixed] the room was being prepared for harvest festival. Three or four working women were cutting bread and butter, making ready for tea, whilst two of the men were otherwise busied. The small platform was almost covered with a profusion of vegetables of all kinds, gigantic marrows, &c., and a loaf of bread fully six feet long. There are about one hundred members of this mission, which started four years ago with only five. They are organized after the manner of Plymouth Brethren, taking the Bible as their only authority for faith and practice. They are strict in their habits. Men must be non-smokers and teetotalers as well as Christians before they are admitted to fellowship. Practically all share in the work. The mission is supported by the members. They never ask outside and would not take from anybody who was not a Christian. They publish no printed statement, but have a large sheet, neatly written in columns, framed and hung up. This gives very exact particulars of the attendances and the amounts received and expended on various accounts for six months. The shop is run as part of the work. It hardly pays as a business, but affords opportunities. Those who come to sell or buy may remain to pray. (8) In another case both secretary and superintendent are working men, and the members of the mission are an earnest band of thirty or forty, all working men. They claim to make some converts every year, and hold that the poor will never be touched except by those of their own class, who naturally speak to them in language