THE REV. WILSON CARLILE 185
gressing with it. You see we were the pioneers in the matter of the social side, commencing long before the Salvation Army. They have since made huge shelters and workshops, but I am sure they cannot recreate character by the massing of bad people together. In the Church Army Homes we don t allow more than twenty-five men together, and sometimes find that number too large. Yes, our experimental Labour Home for criminals, tramps and inebriates (a home, distinct from a mere shelter) was in successful working order in January 1890. We had already planned setting up under our central control similar Labour Homes in the chief centres of England. We had also been trying other social experiments of a similar kind Women s Rescue Work, Slum Work by our Mission Nurses, Samaritan Clothing Depots for the Poor, etc. In the Labour Home good food, baths, clothes-cleaners, comfortable housing, with very clean sleeping accommodation, are provided in return for nine hours work. The system is that of piecework, and enables each man, in addition to the above, to earn at least twopence per day for pocket money, and more is banked for clothes. By means of our O Clo for the poor we are enabled to pro vide for a few shillings a second-hand outfit for any of our men. We keep the men not less than two months in the home long enough to constitute a fair moral training against the habits of idleness and drink. Family prayers and evening service,
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