Mrs. Bayly

“ If such is the case, whence is the strength for labour to come? The workman’s livelihood depends upon his ability to work. He may not leave off to rest because he is tired. This is a sad subject, and it reveals to us the great source of intemperance. Is it any wonder that, if a man has a few pence in his pocket, he cannot pass the doors of a public-house without feeling a strong temptation to go in and purchase what, though imparting no strength, enables him to forget for a time the miseries of his existence? ”

“ This, too, is our hope, when the thought depresses us, that these small means can never affect such masses of evil. Each rescued soul becomes a light set upon a hill that cannot be hid, and many will make use of this light to guide themselves out of darkness.
Let those who are actively and successfully engaged in their own peculiar duties, spare a little time to assist their less gifted or less fortunate neighbours. Let those who are weary of doing nothing, assist those who are weak and weary with doing too much. ”

“ If we poor men do make the mistake of judging the rich too harshly, I am sure the rich don’t forget to ‘pay us back in our own coin.’”
“I am afraid there is much truth in what you say. This want of consideration for one another is a general evil that pervades all society and is at the present time causing a great deal of unhappiness in this country. ”

“ They go errands sometimes for people, and have drink offered to them, but they will never touch it. I do pray every day that they may never know what it is to suffer and sin as we have done.”
And so the poor mother, with the full consciousness before her of the cause of her own blighted life, looks at her children, and with uplifted hands and streaming eyes prays—as none but the wife of a drunkard ever prays—“Deliver them, oh, deliver them from evil!” ”

“ And when the trouble came—when the little household, once so peaceful, was distracted by the contention of the brothers—when the uncongenial daughters-in-law, who were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca, were introduced into the family—when her mistress discovered too late, that whatever is purchased at the expense of truth, brings only sorrow—and when at last she had to witness the distress of her mistress in parting with her favourite son,—through all this, how often must the kind assistance and sympathy of this faithful servant have been sought! ”

“ If there is any remedy for so great an evil, if any solution of so difficult a problem is possible—here, almost more than on any other subject, is there room for the whole energy of the philanthropist—here is one of the most direct roads that can offer, to the elevation of those who greatly need raising, and to the amelioration of our whole social system. ”

“ When a poor mother tells us how much misery the bad behaviour of her children is causing her, we must not say (though it might be true) , “Ah! that is just the natural consequence of all your bad management; if you had only done what I advised, it would not have happened.” It must be— (and what mother cannot truthfully say so?) —“Ah! I can feel for you; for my children trouble me a good deal sometimes, and occasion me much anxiety. I don’t know what I should do, if I could not bring them to God in prayer, and hope in His mercy for them.” ”

“ Your making your own conduct depend so much upon what other people do, is like the folly of a man who would shut the shutters of his room, excluding all daylight, and then complain that the dim, flickering, uncertain light of the rushlight he had substituted, was insufficient to enable him to do his work properly. ”

“ You know, ma’am, when we working-men look at all these fine houses and gardens about, and see all the fine furniture that goes into them, we know that it is all done by our labour, and that the great people couldn’t do without us, any more than we could do without them. ”

“ But it must never be forgotten that, every individual is a centre of influence. It is a proverb that “one sickly sheep infects the flock,” but happily this law of infection is not always on the side of evil; and, I believe, the force of example is stronger in the class to which I am now referring, than amongst the reading and thinking people in a higher grade of society. ”

“ Whether it be that a woman who has given way to intemperance feels so utterly degraded and out of place, as to be hopeless of ever righting herself again, and that she consequently proceeds desperately from bad to worse, I cannot tell; but certainly the effects of this vice upon herself, her husband, and her family, are terrible in the extreme. No tongue can express what the child of the drunken mother suffers. ”

“ This subject is worth every attention, even with those who take no higher ground than what will pay. How many of the victims of unhealthy houses are now crowding into our hospitals, asylums, and workhouses, a burden to their country, living upon its wealth, instead of adding to it by their activity and skill! Sin and sorrow, in this world, are inseparable. Neglect and bad management have made the very class intended by a wise and kind Creator as the spring of the country’s greatest wealth, to become a source of great trouble and expense. ”

“ I have the pleasure of meeting some of your wives every week, and then we talk a great deal about the best means of making your homes comfortable; but the wife cannot do it all alone: it is her place to learn to lay out the money to the best possible advantage,—it is yours to obtain it; and it is when both husband and wife act wisely and well, that the family is usually prosperous and happy. ”

“ I wish they would come to me, instead of suffering as they do.’ Now, this is just how it stands between us and God. He wishes all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It is not the will of our Father, who is in heaven, that one should perish. He has provided, by the death of Christ, for the salvation of every one; and none that come unto Him will He cast out. But we must come. Just as certainly as those poor people would lose the benefit of my dinner if they did not come, so shall we lose the benefit of the great salvation provided, if we do not come. ”

“ To those who really love God, and are His children, it is a delightful thought that He controls everything. It is the happiest thing in the world to know, that a wisdom which cannot err, and a love which cannot fail, are conducting us through the journey of life, instead of our own erring judgment. ”

“ We hope, if spared to another winter, and if we are fortunate enough to obtain the requisite funds, that we shall be able to establish a paid missionary in the Potteries. Great as the improvement has been, much still remains to be effected. This poor place, that was left so many years literally wallowing in the mire, is still much behind-hand in cleanliness and home comfort. The keen eye, the ready hand, and the loving heart of some good Christian woman, who can devote the whole of her time to the work, is just what we want. ”

“ An old man, the fellow-lodger of the children, and kind-hearted, though an Atheist, had taught the elder to write a little, but bade her never read the Bible, since it was full of lies; and that she had only to look around her in St Giles’s, and she might see that there was no God. She had learned to read and knit from looking continually at the shop-windows. She married at eighteen years of age her present husband, and for the first time in her young memory knew the meaning of that blessed word, ‘home;’ although the home was but a room, changed from time to time in the same neighbourhood. ”

“ And I have thought of what you often have told us, too, ma’am, that if we will but make a beginning in what is right—even if we don’t see exactly how—that the way will open to us as we go along, and God will send the light as we want it. ”

“ Neither wages nor comfort, so long as the health is not endangered, should be the chief consideration in choosing a girl’s first place. She should go from you with the impression on her mind that the future of her life depends very much upon herself; that what makes people valued, is their being valuable; that wealth is not to be obtained by wishing for it, but by a long, determined course of patient continuance in well-doing, and a resolution not to be daunted by difficulties. ”

“ In noticing the physical wants and requirements of this country, nothing strikes us more forcibly than the certainty with which the demand creates the supply. No matter how intricate and complicated the required machinery may be, heads are always to be found clever enough to invent, and hands skilful enough to work it. In fact, the degree of perfection attained in this way is enough to make us “proud of the age we live in.” If machinery and steam-power had been the agency required to purify such places as St Giles’s and Bethnal Green, the work would have been done long ago. ”

“ The other children—who used to remind me of the plants which we shut up in our cellars in the winter, keeping them without nourishment or light, that they may not exhaust their powers in growing—were now gambolling about the shop, while the sun was shining on them so brightly that they had to shade their eyes with their hands as they looked up. ”

“ A cord strained too tightly, and too long, will snap at a touch that would otherwise have produced the sweetest music. The words of sympathy which meet the ear at these meetings refresh the wounded spirit. ”

“ But we must also consider the other side of the subject—the indifference of the working-classes themselves in obtaining assistance from their rulers. The fact is, they so seldom hear that any but purely political matters claim attention, that they can hardly realise the possibility of being helped by government out of any domestic difficulties. Nothing, however, can justify their foolish clamour for what, if obtained, could in no way benefit them. I have often told working-men that, so long as they continue to ask for stones when they want bread, they must expect only to get stones. ”

“ The preparation for life that boys likewise require can, to some considerable extent, be supplied from without; but to girls, whose education is valuable in proportion as it prepares them for domestic duties, nothing can ever compensate for the absence of home-training. The question then arises, considering that nineteen girls out of twenty do not receive a proper home-training, what is the best substitute for it? Until some remedy for so great an evil can be found, this misery and misfortune must continue. ”

“ There was dignity about them, arising from a feeling of conscious worth, and a sense that they were not simply asking for employment as a favour: they were prepared honourably and truthfully to give back in labour, the value of what they received in board and wages. The contract would be advantageous to both parties, proving that our wise and kind Father has allowed and designed all these distinctions for good; that, by mutual dependence, we may be led to cherish those feelings of respect and regard for each other which are the strongest cement of society. ”

“ And now that the foe is bearing down with such a threatening aspect upon the interests of our Master’s kingdom, is it still to be said—“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light?” Is it too much to expect that we should work for Him, who died for us? ”

“ I am now, of course, speaking of those below the class from which we usually obtain our domestic servants; and amongst this class, more unfit than any other for life’s solemn duties, the earliest marriages are contracted, apparently without any idea that at least as much preparation is needed as is deemed necessary for breaking stones on the road.
If a lady feels herself unequal to the management of her family, she can call in the aid of nurses, governesses, and schools; and thus her defects may in some measure be made up by assistance from without. ”

“ I know that some of you have to experience great suffering; that the toil of your lives is excessive. I know of nothing that can tend so much to reconcile you to all this, as to remember that, whatever your lot may be, it is of God’s appointment ”

“ No one has so much cause to love the Saviour as mothers of little children. Ages before our children were born, their safety was provided for by the death of Christ. When you go home, I should like you to take your Bible, and read the account of our Saviour’s crucifixion; and as you are reading, just think—‘Now all this suffering was to save my baby, amongst many others.’ God has told us that He is satisfied with the price Christ has paid for sin ”

“ Some of you think, I dare say, that rich people should help you, by giving you more of their money; and so they should, perhaps, in times of sickness and calamity: but I have watched these things now for many years, and I have not observed that those do best who have most given to them; but the prosperous people are generally those who resolutely set about to help themselves. ”

“ I find that, when they can be induced to make the effort, their experience helps them to arrive at conclusions of far more value than any mere theoretical suggestions; and I have often the pleasure of seeing the ideas which I may have thrown out serve them as a kind of scaffolding, useful only as enabling them to erect a building more adapted to their own mode of life and circumstances. ”

“ It must be evident to all, that it is not possible for any mother to spend every hour of her life at home. When, unfortunately, she is obliged to assist in the maintenance of the family, many hours of absence have to be provided for; and it is not more difficult to arrange for her absence at the Mothers’ Meeting than anywhere else. Children, from the age of one to seven, are generally in bed before seven o’clock; older children are not so likely to get into mischief; and the baby, if necessary, can be brought with the mother. ”

“ Compared with this, the points on which we differ are few and unimportant, affecting principally what we may call our outside life—belonging to the “wood, hay, stubble” that attaches to the present imperfect state of things, and, if not at last burnt with fire, will, at least, be lost sight of, when, instead of seeing through a glass darkly, the mind grasps the astonishing and overwhelming meaning of being saved to the uttermost. ”

“ I have thought much and often, during my long illness, how entirely we are dependent upon God for every power we possess, both of mind and body. We can work only by His permission. In a moment, if He sees fit, He can withdraw from us all our powers ”

“ It may not be given to us, who sow the seed, to gather in the harvest. But if our faith is strong, we shall believe that hereafter it will be our great reward to join the glad song of the heavenly reapers, as they lay the bounteous sheaves at the feet of the Lord of the harvest.
Lastly, there is one thing that is in the power of all of us. However difficult it is to do our Father’s will on earth as it is done in heaven, we can at least pray that His kingdom will speedily come; each may pray for those who are in “trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.” ”

“ How shall I dare to stand before God’s judgment throne, to give an account of the deeds done in the body?” It is this awakening of conscience that alone enables a poor mother to see her true position, and gives her the courage and resolution to do her best for her husband and children, in the face of difficulties of which the rich have scarcely any idea. Where conscience has slumbered long, or, as in most cases, has never been aroused, the progress will often be slow ”

“ The early sufferings, privations, and exposure which attend the infancy and childhood of the drunkard’s offspring, almost preclude the possibility of the first; and the poor mind has, if anything, a still worse chance. Then, with this enfeebled body and mind, the child grows up to take his place in society, unable to contend with physical labour, tortured with the constant cravings for stimulants which he has inherited, and is an easy prey to the numberless temptations which beset his path. ”

“ But if you could see the great pleasure which my children derive from hearing about the society, and working with me, you would be the first to beg me to continue it for their sakes. On the morning succeeding a meeting, they come round me with numerous inquiries after some mother or baby, whom they have learned to know through hearing me speak of them. They have, of their own accord, set apart one day in the week for working for the little children of those mothers who are very poor ”