563 RELIQION If Miss Weston has worked nobly for the men of the British Navy, she has done in- calculable good among the wives of these men. When the ships have gone down, with almost every man on board, she has been the first to offer relief and sympathy to the agonised widows. The Naval Disaster Fund is especially for this sad purpose. At all times the women are welcomed to the Rests, special meetings being held for them every Monday afternoon. A sum of money collected at bazaars, and in other ways, is devoted entirely to the Victoria Jubilee Nurses, a band of trained nurses who are at all times available. The children, too, have been considered. The boys are asked to belong to the Naval Brigade, in which they are taught drill and sports, combined with Bible-classes and Band of Hope meetings. For the girls, there is a juvenile branch of the Royal Naval Temperance Society, with its gatherings, games, excursions, and other amusements. The Portsmouth Rest The Portsmouth Rest as it now stands is an immense block of buildings. Its latest addition is the site of a public-house — the French Maid — another of Miss Weston's captures. On this it is proposed to build 200 cabins. The building has already been begun. The restaurant is a large room, gay with mirrors and pictures, and fitted with a capacious counter and marble-topped tables. On Saturday evening the restaurant is open to the public, but on Sunday only blue- jackets are allowed. The week-end bill of fare is interesting : 1,700 sausages, 2,000 eggs, 3,000 rolls-and-butter, 80 gallons of tea, besides coffee and cocoa, two hundred- weight of bacon, five hundredweight of fish, and endless smaller goods, bread-and-butter, tarts, cakes, and so on. Next to the restaurant is the petty officers' coffee - room, with its separate staff of waiters. This is for the use of the petty officers and their friends. On the ground floor is the parcels office, where the men can leave bicycles or parcels for a small sum. Beyond are the reading and writing rooms, the last one being the largest, and possessing an electric piano. This room is generally used about twice a week for a snug " sing- song," the large hall being used for the big entertainments. A smaller hall is known as the " prayer-room," cis it is devoted to religious meetings. There are other rooms, too, which can be used for temperance and Christian Union gatherings. Above the club rooms are the dormitories, tier above tier, each little cabin partitioned off, many given in memory of some relative who has lost his life at sea. Each little cabin has its own curtained window, and pictures hang on the wall. A cabin costs 6d. a night, a bath 3d. Last year 144,579 beds were hired at Portsmouth, and 44,937 baths. The basement is taken up by kitchens, stores, and machinery rooms. A 125-horse- power engine works the dynamo which pro- duces all the electricity used in the building. Each bath, in its own little cubicle, is of white glazed earlhsnware, fitted with hot and cold water, drying radiators, cork mats, and all other conveniences. They pay for their own support once they are installed. All the food supply is made on the building, and is of good quality and cheap in price. Tea, coffee, cocoa, are id. a cup ; buttered roll, i^d. ; a large plate of cold meat, 4d. ; fish supper, 6d. ; tarts, cakes, etc., id. each. The restaurant receipts for last year at the three Rests amounted to ;^3o,223 14s. 2d. All the profits are used in various ways for the good of the men and their wives. The publication, " Ashore and Afloat," edited by Miss Wintz, is very popular, 567,360 copies having been issued last year, and Miss Weston still writes thousands of her monthly letters. Sketched barely in outline, this is the work nobly, generously done by Miss Weston and Miss Wintz. Occasionally, the huge task has become too great a strain, and a holiday has been imperative ; but for the most part, year in and out, these two women have stayed at their post, caring for the souls and the bodies of the men of the First Defence. Humble in its origin, the Royal Sailors' Rett at Devonport has grown into a palati
