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ot impossible。 I have repeatedly found in my experience that many a man and many a woman would only be too glad to have a friendly hint as to where they might prosecute their attentions or from which they might receive proposals。 In connection with such an agency； if it were establishedfor I am mot engaging to undertake this task I am only throwing out a possible suggestion as to the development in the direction of meeting a much needed want； there might be added training homes for matrimony。 My heart bleeds for many a young couple whom I see launching out into the sea of matrimony with no housewifery experience。 The young girls who leave our public elementary schools and go out into factories have never been trained to home duties； and yet； when taken to wife； are unreasonably expected to fill worthily the difficult positions of the head of a household and the mother of a family。 A month spent before marriage in a training home of housewifery would conduce much more to the happiness of the married life than the honeymoon which immediately follows it。
Especially is this the case with those who marry to go abroad and settle in a distant country。 I often marvel when I think of the utter helplessness of the modern woman； compared with the handiness of her grandmother。 How many of our girls can even bake a loaf？ The baker has killed out one of our fundamental domestic arts。 But if you are in the Backwoods or in the Prairie or in the Bush； no baker's cart comes round every morning with the new…made bread； and I have often thought with sorrow of the kind of stuff which this poor wife must serve up to her hungry husband。 As it is with baking； so it is with washing； with milking； with spinning； with all the arts and sciences of the household； which were formerly taught； as a matter of course； to all the daughters who were born in the world。 Talk about woman's rights； one of the first of woman's rights is to be trained to her trade； to be queen of her household； and mother of her children。
Speaking of colonists leads me to the suggestion whether something could not be done to supply； on a well…organised system； the thousands of bachelor miners or the vast host of unmarried males who are struggling with the wilderness on the outskirts of civilisation； with capable wives from the overplus of marriageable females who abound in our great towns。 Woman supplied in adequate quantities is the great moraliser of Society； but woman doled out as she is in the Far West and the Australian bush； in the proportion of one woman to about a dozen men； is a fertile source of vice and crime。 Here again we must get back to nature； whose fundamental laws our social arrangements have rudely set on one side with consequences which as usual she does not fail to exact with remorseless severity。 There have always been born into the world and continue to be born boys and girls in fairly equal proportions； but with colonising and soldiering our men go away； leaving behind them a continually growing surplus of marriageable but unmarried spinsters； who cannot spin； and who are utterly unable to find themselves husbands。 This is a wide field on the discussion of which I must not enter。 I merely indicate it as one of those departments in which an intelligent philanthropy might find a great sphere for its endeavours； but it would be better not to touch it at all than to deal with it with light…hearted precipitancy and without due consideration of all the difficulties and dangers connected therewith。 Obstacles； however； exist to be overcome and converted into victories。 There is even a certain fascination about the difficult and dangerous； which appeals very strongly to all who know that it is the apparently insolvable difficulty which contains within its bosom the key to the problem which you are seeking to solve。
SECTION 8。WHITECHAPEL…BY…THE…SEA。
In considering the various means by which some substantial improvement can be made in the condition of the toiling masses； recreation cannot be omitted。 I have repeatedly had forced upon me the desirability of making it possible for them to spend a few hours occasionally by the seaside； or even at times three or four days。 Notwithstanding the cheapened rates and frequent excursions； there are multitudes of the poor who； year in and out； never get beyond the crowded city； with the exception of dragging themselves and their children now and then to the parks on holidays or hot summer evenings。 The majority； especially the inhabitants of the East of London； never get away from the sunless alleys and grimy streets in which they exist from year to year。 It is true that a few here and there of the adult population； and a good many of the children； have a sort of annual charity excursion to Epping Forest； Hampton Court； or perhaps to the sea。 But it is only the minority。 The vast number； while possessed of a passionate love of the sea； which only those who have mixed with them can conceive； pass their whole lives without having once looked over its blue waters； or watched its waves breaking at their feet。
Now I am not so foolish as to dream that it is possible to make any such change in Society as will enable the poor man to take his wife and children for a fortnight's sojourn； during the oppressive summer days； to brace them up for their winter's task； although this might be as desirable in their case as in that of their more highly favoured fellow…creatures。 But I would make it possible for every man； woman and child； to get； now and then； a day's refreshing change by a visit to that never…failing source of interest。 In the carrying out of this plan； we are met at the onset with a difficulty of some little magnitude； and that is the necessity of a vastly reduced charge in the cost of the journey。 To do anything effective we must be able to get a man from Whitechapel or Stratford to the sea…side and back for a shilling。
Unfortunately； London is sixty miles from the sea。 Suppose we take it at seventy miles。 This would involve a journey of one hundred and forty miles for the small sum of 1s。 Can this be done？ I think it can； and done to pay the railway companies； otherwise there is no ground to hope for this part of my Scheme ever being realised。 But I think that this great boon can be granted to the poor people without the dividends being sensibly affected。 I am told that the cost of haulage for an ordinary passenger train； carrying from five hundred to a thousand persons； is 2s。 7d。 per mile； a railway company could take six hundred passengers seventy miles there； and bring them seventy miles back； at a cost of #18 1s。 8d。 Six hundred passengers at a shilling is #30； so that there would be a clear profit to the company of nearly #12 on the haulage； towards the payment of interest on the capital； wear and tear of line； &c。 But I reckon； at a very moderate computation； that two hundred thousand persons would travel to and fro every season。 An addition of #10；000 to the exchequer of a railway company is not to be despised and this would be a mere bagatelle to the indirect profits which would follow the establishment of a settlement which must in due course necessarily become very speed