A HOUSE OF RETREAT.
[TO THE EDITOZ Or THE " SPECTATOR".1 Sue—Some years ago (I think in 1908) you drew attention in your columns to a remarkable article in the Hibbert Journal by the late Father Plater, S.J., on the " Retreat Houses in Belgium and France." Your notice of the article did much to, further the cause of retreats in England, and brought the subject to the attention of many men who perhaps seldom see. what are usually called " Church papers." I venture, therefore, on behalf of the committee of this House of Retreat, to ask you. to insert this present letter, in case some of your readers may care to know what is being done-in the way of providing oppor- tunities of religious quiet for laymen to whom perhaps the ordinary retreat house may not appeal. For it is certain that it is-not only " working men," or men engaged in trade or commerce, who need such homes of quiet. Men who belong to what, in common parlance, is called the "educated class or the " leisured " class need them no less. Many such men have been trying to piece things together, and to get life on to sound and considered lines after the ohaos of the last few years, and
have found it far from easy. And it is difficult to find a place which proiides the right atmosphere and surroundings for -quiet-thought. This house, within easy distance of London, with a good train service, in very attractive country, and with a chapel in a large, old-fashioned garden, is admirably suited not only for formal retreats but for visits also. Visitors are welcome at any time, when no retreat is actually being held, and are free to make as much, or as little, use as they like of the ordinary services in the chapel. If any of your readers care to write for fuller information as to either retreats or visits, I hope they will do so. An illustrated bckiklet (A 'House of Quiet), giving a deecription of the house and its purpose, could be sent to anyone who asked for it. It costs 4d.—I am,
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