Working Men's Sodal Clubs and Educational Institutes. By Henry Sally.
(Working Men's Club and Institute Office, 150 Strand.)—Tho writer of this book was for some time Secretary of the Union of which he is now the historian. We commend his book to all who are interested in the welfare of the working-classes. Clergymen, em- ployers of labour, country gentlemen might do much by means of these clubs to elevate the people with whom they come in contact. But all who would see the monopoly of the public-houses at an end, and the vice of drunkenness no longer prevalent, may find the simplest remedy described in Mr. Solly's pages. As the foundation of clubs in higher life has been accompanied by a complete change of manners, so the adoption of the same plan among workmen has proved most beneficial in its effects. Mr. Solly found that the substitution of the name " club " for the name " college " brought in many who would have been kept out of a professedly educational institute, and thus, though the first suggestion of the present scheme came from Mr. Maurice's labours, his plan was somewhat modified. In like manner, though it seems below the dignity of an Institution to allow beer and smoking, it was found that human weakness must so far be consulted. Men cannot be spiritualized at once : all improvement is a work of time. What has already been gained is that the public-houses are deserted for the clubs, that wives and families value the clubs most highly for their social influence, that the clubs have indirectly a religions influence, and that the general character of the working-men who frequent them is much improved. For details we must refer our readers to Mr. Solly's book, which, though wanting in arrangement and otherwise faulty, is saved by its practical merits.
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