opinion seems to be decidedly in favour of the
club. They say it does not draw their husbands
from home; it only takes them from the public-
house, and sends them home in better temper,
and with more money in their pockets. The
members of friendly societies and the like who
hold their committee-meetings at taverns, are
almost compelled to drink, for "the good of the
house." At the club they are under no such
obligation, and the saving of money alone is an
advantage not to be disregarded.

The largest of the London clubs, and perhaps
the most interesting, on account of the various
schemes engrafted on it, is the one established
in Duck-lane, Westminster. The neighbourhood
is one of the poorest and most squalid in the
metropolis, though not far from the new line of
splendid houses, Victoria-street. All who have
penetrated the slums that congregate about the
Abbey know the ugly sights and sounds, and
the unsavoury exhalations, of that wilderness of
poverty and vice—the rotten old houses, the
muddy ways, the scowling population of
brutalised men and shrewish women, lounging at
the doors and windows, or wrangling on the
pavement. It is a great place for costermongers,
who are not generally the most civilised of men;
and has acquired a disgraceful notoriety as the
haunt of those wretched women who are the
cause of so much evil to our household troops.
Of course, there is also a good deal of honest
poverty and hard, ill-requited labour in the
district; and, in every respect, it is one which
peculiarly demands the attention of the
philanthropist. Miss Adeline Cooper—a lady who
estimates as the highest privilege of her wealth
the means of doing good—opened a club in the
heart of this neighbourhood in the month of
December, 1860, the expenses of which were
mainly borne by herself. She believed that
there was no better way of elevating the lives
of the surrounding population than by meeting
them in a thoroughly friendly, unassuming
spirit, endeavouring to answer their wants in a
manner which they could understand and
appreciate, and winning their confidence by the
absence of any wish to dictate. She even hoped
that a class avowedly irreligious might be
brought over to some form of faith, if it were
presented to them in a way which they could
accept or decline without the least prejudice to
the other advantages which they derive from
the institution. In many respects, she has
been singularly successful. A year after the
opening it was found necessary to enlarge the
building, and last autumn it was almost
entirely reconstructed, with a view to considerable
additions. It is now a good sized hall, with
rooms above and below, some of them of ample
space, and all most efficiently ventilated. Its
members have the benefit of a library (consisting
of about three hundred volumes), a lavatory, a
common-room, a class-room for education, a
room for lectures, and other apartments for
business or pleasure. As a rule, the club is
only open at night, the members being at their
work during the day. The subscription is a
halfpenny a week, and there is no extra charge
for the educational classes, as at most other
clubs. The resident, manager of the club is the
only one connected with it who receives pay,
and the refreshments, which are confined to
biscuits and coffee, with ginger-beer in the summer,
are supplied at cost price. More than six
hundred members are now upon the books; but, as
there are no subscriptions of greater permanency
than a week, and as many of the people come
some weeks, and not others, the number is
practically very much less—in fact, not half—
and the receipts are proportionately reduced.
This limitation of the subscriptions has been
found necessary, owing to the frequent
migrations of the men. The plan originally was to
demand arrears when a member returned after
an absence; but the men could not see why
they should pay when they had not been there.
It was then arranged that, if a member had been
away more than a month, he should be looked
on as a new comer; but this induced some to
stop away that time, so as not to pay the
arrears, while those who did pay thought it
hard that they should be the worse off for their
greater conscientiousness. The weekly payment
was then determined on; for, says Miss Cooper,
in a letter to the present writer, "I wanted the
men much more than the halfpence." Some of
the poorest, however, are remarkably generous.
One who has moved to another part of London,
and cannot use the club, calls regularly in the
course of the week, and renews his ticket, so
that he may still be a member. Of course,
with so low a subscription, the club is not very
select; but it is not desired that it should be.
On the contrary, it is the wish of Miss Cooper,
and of all who have interested themselves in the
establishment of the house, that an appeal
should more especially be made to the very
poorest and roughest of the surrounding
community. No inquiries are made as to the
antecedents of any man who comes with his
halfpenny, asking to be admitted to the benefits
of the institution. It is known that many of
the members have been hard drinkers, and that
some of them still are; but all that is
demanded is, that they conduct themselves with
decorum while they are in the building. The
eleventh rule provides "that no person in a
state of intoxication be permitted to remain;"
but we believe the practice is not to disturb
a man who has taken too much, if he keeps
quiet, and is in no way offensive to good order.
The object is to reform such persons by purely
moral influences, and it is wisely hoped that the
example of men possessing more self-respect
may lead the offender into better ways. This
confidence has been seldom abused. During
the whole time the club has been open, it has
very rarely been found necessary to eject any
one by force; and the ill-doers have generally
been very young men, with an obstinate habit
of using bad language. Some of these, moreover,
have afterwards come back and apologised.
The management of the club is in the
hands of a committee of the men themselves,