“The grief that aits beside the hearth, Life has no grief beside.” TOWARDS the close of 1853, I commenced a Mothers’ Society, and the following letter will be found to contain an account of its establishment and early progress. It is addressed to a dear friend, in answer to a letter of inquiries from her. As similar inquiries have frequently been made since, by persons interested in the same way, I think it best to give the letter entire:— 7 St James Square, _Dec._ 8, 1854. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,—I fear you must have thought me very dilatory in replying to your last kind letter, containing so many inquiries respecting the Mothers’ Society. In consequence of your asking for a _minute_ history of its rise and progress, and putting, besides, so many definite questions, I felt that the limit of a common letter would be quite insufficient, and I have therefore been compelled to wait for a day of more than ordinary leisure. As, I see, you request me to go back so far as to tell you what made me think such a thing desirable or possible, I must, indeed, lose no time in beginning. Although it must be more than ten years since I had the pleasure of working with you in the management of the Bath Female Friendly Society, I dare say you have not forgotten what queer characters we used sometimes to come in contact with. I remember a few desperate cases, where, when everything else had failed, we at last succeeded in making some impression through their children. One of the most remarkable instances of this kind I have related, just as it occurred, in a letter which I addressed to the society, when I was obliged to be absent a few weeks in the spring. {110} From that time, I have always been deeply impressed with the idea that, under judicious treatment, this softer and better portion of woman’s nature might be so taken advantage of as to lead to excellent moral results. But I never had any definite idea of reducing these thoughts to practice; and they would, in all probability, have remained quietly in my own mind if I had not come in contact with those whose juster views of the value and shortness of life had led them to _work_, as well as think, whilst it is day.