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Ladies' Associations indispensable in reference to Servants.

their own sex; and that in order to excite that general interest which was the immediate object of this inquiry, the formation of Ladies' Associations in Southwark was indispensable. A proposition to this effect having met the unanimous approbation of the Committee, measures were devised for carrying it into effect; and, before the close of the year, six associations were established, in connexion with those previously existing in the respective parishes; and means were adopted for the formation of similar institutions in the remaining districts. One of the immediate results of these proceedings, satisfactorily demonstrated the correctness of the view already taken, by exhibiting more than one hundred and fifty female servants as subscribers to one of these associations within six weeks after its establishment.

13. Those considerations which arise out of our daily habits, and are connected with our immediate interests, are frequently the last to force themselves on our attention;-that which may be always done, seems to carry our apology for leaving it undone; and " a more convenient season" will ever be anticipated, for the discharge of an obligation which we feel no inclination to meet. Except on these grounds, it is impossible to account for that apathy and supineness with which almost every measure suggested for the improvement of female servants has been received, while the complaints of their misconduct are proverbially incessant. Under this view of the subject, it becomes an important object of inquiry, whether we are not ourselves accessary to those faults which we so loudly condemn; and whether we may not at least diminish an acknowledged and extensive evil, if we cannot altogether prevent its existence. As professing Christians, we acknowledge one fixed and unalterable standard of morals and of duty, for every rank and denomination,-" Knowing that whatsoever good things any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the LORD, whether he be bond or free:" but if we neglect to impress on the minds of our domestics a due sense of the authority and purity of this standard, an habitual reverence of its injunctions, and a settled conviction of their responsibility to HIM who framed it, we shall assuredly be disappointed in our expectations of that faithful obedience to an earthly master, which is withheld from the KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS. In the discharge of this duty, our own temporal interests and comfort are deeply involved: we do not hesitate to entrust our lives and property, the health, safety, and morals of our children, to our domestic servants; but we are too often indifferent to the momentous inquiry

Ladies' Associations indispensable in reference to Servants.

whether the character we have received with them, and that which they acquire in our service, be established on the only foundation which insures its stability, and justifies our confidence. There is yet another point of view in which it may not be unprofitable to consider this important subject. To those who have perused some recent and valuable works on criminal jurisprudence, and especially to those benevolent individuals who have been made the honoured instruments of changing the moral aspect of our principal prisons, it will be a familiar observation, that a love of dress is one of the first temptations which assails the female sex; and that, in numerous instances, the gratification of this vanity has been the primary step in a career of guilt and misery. There are but few female servants, in respectable families, whose wages are not more than adequate to their necessary expenses, and to that moderate provision for the future which should always be encouraged and assisted; but it is a notorious fact, that the surplus is too generally appropriated to the indulgence of this prevalent passion; and the consequences are lamentably evident to every reflecting mind.

From these considerations, and many others which will readily suggest themselves on a calm review of the subject, it is obviously our duty and our interest to countenance and support such measures as have a tendency to elevate the moral character of female servants, while they promote those habits of conscientious fidelity, industry, and sobriety, by which domestic peace and good order are secured and maintained. Nor is it possible to conceive a more effectual and less objectionable mode of accomplishing this object, than that of exciting among them an interest in the great design of the Bible Society,-first, by supplying themselves, and then by contributing their limited aid to supply the whole human race.

These observations cannot be more appropriately concluded, than by the following extract from the Annual Report of the St. Saviour's and St. Thomas's Assoiciation, Southwark:

"Within the district were three poor orphan children, without a father, without support, and without a Bible. Their situation attracted the attention of a female servant. She could not supply their other necessities-she could not give them food and raiment for their bodies; but she gave what she could give-the Word of GOD! She subscribed for them to the Association, and presented each child with a Bible! As long as the Bible Association of St. Saviour's and St. Thomas's exists, shall this that she hath done be told for a memorial of her !”

14. Returning from this digression, which will find an

Establishment and organization of the Reading Association.—Abingdon, &c.

apology in the importance of its subject-the next Female Association to be noticed is that of READING.

It will be recollected, that it was in this town the first regular Auxiliary Society was established; and seven years having elapsed since that memorable event, it might have been rationally presumed that the primary object of local supply had been fully accomplished. Some casual inquiry, however, induced a doubt as to the correctness of this conclusion: and an appeal having been made to the Ladies, it was promptly recognised; and the Association was instituted on the 4th of April 1816, with a degree of unanimity and zeal rarely equalled and never surpassed. The town, containing a population of about 12,000, was divided into 54 districts, which were regularly and systematically visited every week, by one hundred and nine ladies; the results of whose exertions during the first four weeks, as reported at the Committeemeeting held on the 14th of May, exhibited a list of 1790 contributors, of whom 863 were subscribers for Bibles and Testaments, and an aggregate collection of 1037. 16s. At the termination of the first year, 1056 copies of the holy scriptures had been distributed by sale; and 6431. 12s. 3d. had been paid into the hands of the Treasurer, of which 70%. was unanimously voted, as a primary remittance for the general object of the Parent Institution.

15. The unprecedented success of the Reading Ladies' Association, and of several similar establishments formed about the same period in the neighbouring villages, in connexion with the Henley Auxiliary Society, induced the Committee of the latter institution to include in the Appendix to their Annual Report for 1816, a detailed statement of the Southwark system, as applicable to Female Associations. This publication being extensively circulated, produced a considerable effect. At ABINGDON, SOUTHAMPTON, BRISTOL, BRIGHTON, LEWES, WEYMOUTH, POOLE, BRIDPORT, SHERBORNE, and many places of minor importance, Ladies' Associations were speedily organized; and it was evident that a disposition in their favour was rapidly spreading throughout the kingdom. In the course of these operations, the author had found occasion to revise the Rules and By-laws originally framed at Godalming; experience and more close observation having suggested various improvements in the plan, calculated to facilitate and simplify the proceedings. In October 1817, the entire code of Regulations was submitted to the Committee of the Parent Society; and after a full and minute examination into the tendency of each particular part, and such few

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Revision of Rules by the Parent Committee.-Effects.

alterations as appeared necessary to render the design more clear and explicit, it received the unanimous approval of the General Committee on the 17th of November; and a Resolution was adopted, that copies should be immediately printed and circulated in the name and under the sanction of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This decision was officially announced by the following communication, prefixed to the "Monthly Extracts of Correspondence, No. 4."

66 Society's House, Earl Street, Blackfriars, Nov. 17, 1817. "The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society avail themselves of their monthly communication, to make known the result of their recent inquiries and proceedings, in reference to certain points materially connected with the interests of the institution.

"The first subject of their investigation was, the most proper mode of turning to advantageous account the zeal so generally and laudably manifested by the Female sex in favour of the society's object, both in its Domestic and Foreign Department. The course which that zeal had spontaneously taken in the establishment of 'Ladies' Bible Associations,' left nothing for the Committee to do, but to recommend the best means which their experience could furnish, for giving to Female agency, in this way of employing it, a prudent and useful direction. With this view, the Committee examined the Regulations in most general use: and they now present them in a revised form, in the hope that they may be found serviceable in modelling that class of Associations, which, if regularly constituted, and discreetly conducted, is likely to become an instrument of extensive and permanent good."

The consequence of these judicious and well-timed proceedings, and of this explicit approval on the part of those to whom the superintendence of the system is so beneficially entrusted, were speedily manifested. Before the close of that year, no fewer than twenty-eight Female Associations were established and organized in the counties of Buckingham, Oxford, Northampton, and Lancaster; and the following year was characterized by the formation of more than seventy similar institutions.

16. Such were the origin and progress of that system, which will be developed in Section III.: but it is first necessary to consider the nature and constitution of Ladies' BRANCH Societies, to which some slight allusion has been already made. These institutions are of a more recent origin, and were not contemplated when the plan of Female Associations was first devised; but they claim priority of place, on the grounds of their importance, and on those of clear and lucid arrangement. They will therefore form the subject of the next section.

• See Section III. of this Chapter.

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Origin of Ladies' Branch Societies.

It would indeed be unjust, in a section which professes to trace the history of Female exertion in the best of causes, to omit a distinct allusion to a Lady, whose ardent zeal and perseverance justify the application of the inspired languageMany daughters have done virtuously; but thou excellest them all." Those readers who are familiar with the Annual Reports of the Parent Society, will recognise, in this allusion, a correspondent at a principal naval station," who has, during the last eleven years, been the honoured instrument of distributing more than twenty-nine thousand copies of the holy scriptures, in ten different languages, among a description of persons to which few could find access, except those who are animated, like her, with a fervent desire to promote the glory of God in the salvation of her fellow-creatures.

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1

SECTION IL

ON LADIES' BRANCH SOCIETIES.

1. In unfolding the practical constitution of the auxiliary system, we are perpetually reminded of the insufficiency of every human invention, for the accomplishment of even the best and purest ends. The works of the Divine Architect alone bear the stamp of wisdom and perfection; and the highest attainment of sublunary intelligence can only be a progressive approach towards that excellence which it can never reach. It has been already observed, that every successive improvement of this system has been the result of accidental circumstances; and the division of it which now claims our attention, exhibits a striking illustration of this remark.

On the 25th of March, 1817, a society was established in LIVERPOOL, under the designation of the " Liverpool Ladies' Auxiliary Bible Society;" conducted by a treasurer, two secretaries, and a committee of twenty-four other ladies; and under the patronage of the Countess of Derby, Lady Stanley, and other elevated characters in the neighbourhood. A judicious Address was adopted and circulated, wherein the "great deficiency of Bibles still existing among the poorer classes in the town and vicinity," and the importance of "the general objects of the Parent Institution," were strongly urged, as the grounds of appeal to the public sympathy and benevolence. About sixty ladies, having subsequently offered their services as collectors, were appointed to extensive districts, under the direction of the respective members of the Committee, to

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