dreds of thousands of men, women and children: and therefore we may consider the plan of the Sewing-schools one of the very best which has been carried out in any degree. More of them are wanted; and there is an earnest cry for the extension of such as exist. To these Sewing-rooms we must look for the possibility of carrying out Lord Palmerston’s recommendation that the present dreary opportunity should be used for keeping the children and lads at school. If the Guardians were to agree to-morrow to pay the school pence of every boy and girl, a very large proportion would be prevented from attending by the state of their clothing. The Sewing-rooms might remedy this, if they were kept properly supplied with material. Stout dark flannel makes good blouses for boys: remnants of print and stuff and linseys make frocks and petticoats for girls. Remnants of almost any fabric will make bonnets, and also pinafores. The same dark flannel, in squares, bound with worsted binding, makes little shawls for children. While making these articles, and women’s gowns and other garments, the factory girls are learning what has been hitherto deficient in their training; they become more fit for domestic life; they are in a safe place, free at once from the temptations and the ennui of idleness; and they obtain clothing for themselves and their young sisters at the very cheapest rate. I am told that it is a heart-moving spectacle to see the struggle for admission to these rooms. The poor girls are almost frantic to get in. Will not the women of England help their sisters in this matter? The way is easy, if only they are disposed. It rests with them to open these Sewing-rooms to as many as desire a seat there.
There have been letters in the newspapers about this which make the matter very clear. The main want is of material. One letter tells how much sound and seemly material for women’s and children’s dress has been bought for 5l.; and the suggestion is made that the housewives of England who understand their business should go shopping, with such money as they can spare and raise, on behalf of these Sewing-schools. Remnants, soiled goods (of a washing quality), old-fashioned or faded articles, in short, unsaleable goods of substantial quality, may be had exceedingly cheap wherever there are clothing-shops: and almost every article may come into use for somebody, between the cradle and the grave. As the letter points out, everything should be sent prepared for the needle,—the raw calico washed soft, the dresses cut out,—in breadths at least, if not in shape,—the children’s frocks and boys’ blouses; everything complete, to the supply of strings, buttons, and hooks and eyes; and each kind made into a separate parcel, duly ticketed.
Now, if one hundred housewives, out of all the towns and villages in England, were to spend 5l. per month in this way while the distress lasts, the 500l. per month so laid out would clothe the greater number of the needy people, without any hurt to anybody; for, however good-natured the shopkeepers may be (and they are good-natured, as a class), we must remember that it is an advantage to them to clear off their stocks in this way. Is it not reasonable to believe that so many as this of our countrywomen will go to their own tradesmen, at their own time, and lay out their money according to their own judgment, in quiet and independence?
To me it seems that this suggestion embraces exactly those homely housewives who dislike committees, and subscriptions, and publicity, and disputes. They can get the money from friends of their own sort, when they have not enough of their own: they will cut out their purchases at home, and send them off to some Relief Committee in Lancashire, paying the carriage, and feeling conscious that there is not an inch of rubbish in the package,—nor anything about it which can damp the pleasure of the poor young women in setting to work upon their gowns, or their fathers’ shirts, or their mothers’ caps, or the children’s pinafores. I understand, in fact, that the proposal has been already widely adopted. Moreover, it has caused an appeal to be made in several newspapers to drapers, all over the kingdom, to look out their unsaleable goods, and remnants, and whatever they please to give, towards the support of the Sewing-schools. No doubt this appeal will be kindly met; and it is a way in which a most substantial and extensive good may be done, at the smallest sacrifice on any hand.
This demonstration has been very properly followed by a petition on behalf of the men. First, the object was to clothe the young women who were going to service, while teaching the arts of the needle to those who remained. Then, the case of the children came up, when Lord Palmerston advised that they should be kept at school, and it was found that the Guardians had power to pay for the schooling of children whose parents were receiving relief. Thence it naturally followed that the claim of the men should be advocated. The letter of “A London Lad” in the “Times,” called upon all good citizens to give their cast-off garments,—the tourists and sportsmen their shooting-coats and plaids, and all their shabby waistcoats, pantaloons, caps and hats, and old boots. We ought to note that there is particular urgency about shoes and clogs, for old and young. May not help be found in Northampton and Norwich, the centres of the shoe-manufacture? Is it not the fact that there are unsaleable shoes and boots, as well as gowns and shawls? and will not ladies in those towns go and see what can be done? The children’s schooling, and perhaps their parents’ power of earning wages, depends on their being shod.
The letter of “A London Lad” wrought well. There was a deluge of letters poured in at the address he gave, very properly requesting means of information as to his being a real and respectable person. This being cleared up, the next incident was the Lord Mayor’s proposal to his Relief Committee, that a depôt for such gifts should be provided, as an appeal on behalf of 3,000,000 of persons would cause a mountain of clothing to be accumulated as fast as it could come in. We must all hope that his expectation is being fast fulfilled. This is one direction in which gentlemen may act while the ladies are doing the shopping. The main objection will probably be that such clothes are the perquisites of