“We will begin with the smallest,” said a lady. “I will belong to the Needlework Guild, because there is nothing else I can do. There are poor women in the parish who are overworked with their large families, and who will feel it a very neighbourly thing if we send strong shirts for the boys and dresses for the girls. I will try and enlist others who, like myself, have been do-nothings; and we will utilise such odds and ends of materials as we can find in our own houses, or that may be given to us. If we have more than we need, we will send some to London. Many children would attend both the Sunday and day school more regularly but for the difficulty of dress. This is only a little thing; but it will be a relief to some of the mothers, which they will greatly appreciate.” “I ask to be put upon the committee of the Neighbours’ Union,” said another member of the conference—a man of fair means. “There are old persons and poor widows who have appealed to our Poor Law Guardians in vain. They, in order to keep down the rates, and to stamp out pauperism, refuse outdoor relief, and offer the hospitality of the union workhouse. But we can do better than that. Every parish is probably able to take care of its very poor, and also to become sufficiently acquainted with the people to know who could be wisely helped, and who ought not to be helped at all. Certainly we can undertake this. In twenty or thirty years’ time there may be some national system of insurance against sickness and old age; but we need not wait for that. The strong and the active will have to help the sick and the old. We have been doing it all along. Only now, let it be understood, that the Neighbours’ Union exists in obedience to the example of the Good Samaritan. It has been a disgrace to the church organisations of any place, where life has been rendered miserable, through poverty, to the sick and the old.” “I ask to be allowed to work at the other extreme of our social life,” said a young man, “and be on the Children’s Play Committee. We ought to have every child of the parish in one or other of our Sunday-schools. There are some who are not, but I think we shall find no difficulty in getting every child into our play-places. First of all, we must see that they have good times; and, secondly, we must, while giving them the utmost liberty, endeavour to influence them. And we must not rest until we get all our lads enrolled among the Boy Crusaders.”