REAL AND FRUITFUL WORK. (From the Daily News.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1350, 16 November 1860, Page 6

REAL AND FRUITFUL WORK. (From the Daily News.)

From an authorised statement which has been furnished to us we learn that twelve English midnight meetings have been held in London — namely, seven in Regent- street, one in Southwark, two in Euston-road, one at Islington, and one in Bishop3gate-street. besides two meetings for French women. They have been attended by two thousand persons, of whom about one hundred and eighty have been received from them into the " homes" which Christian charity has opened to them in various parts of London. So far as to the means employed : the results are next to be mentioned. Twenty-six young \\ omen have been restored to their friends, one of them having been sent to New York ; eighteen have been placed in service, four have married, two have emigrated, one is reconciled to her husband, one is employed ao a folder at a printer's, one has been established in business, and ninety-two are now in "homes." The average age of those who have been taken from the meetings into the homes is twenty-two, a fact we mention because it has been publicly but erroneously stated that only the old were willing to leave the streets and enter the house of refuge. >Some of the letters received from parents to whom their longlost prodigal children have been restored are very affecting. The following letter was written by a priest of the communibn of Rome on behalf of the mother of a young woman from Yorkshire, to Mr. Cooper, of the Societ}' for the Rescue of Young Women and Children : "Sir, — The poor lost child, M. A. M., has arrived safe home, to the great joy of her poor mother, -who has been praying for her return these last seven years. As you, sir, have taken such a charitable interest in rescuing her from destruction, and in obedience to her own anxious wishes, I beg to furnish you with the above information ; the poor creature, too, has commenced in earnest to piepare for her religious duties. "Wishing you, sir, God's blessing, for your charity towards this poor girl, I am, &c, — j, J. G." The mother of another girl, who is still in one of the institutions where her conduct has been satisfactory, writes to her daughter .—. — "My dear Child,— l felt melted into tears at the 1 receipt of your letter. Y->s, I forgive, fieely and gladly forgive you, if you are truly penitent, and turn from your wicked ways. I hope it is as you say : you know you have deceived us, therefore do not take it amiss my speaking in this way. We, that is, your father and f, think you write in a different spirit to whnt you did before. God is merciful, my dear girl ; but remember, He is just as well as merciful; your sins must be repented of, you must hate your lins, and turn from, and pray earnestly to our Saviour to help you to withstand aU temptations ; it is not so much now, that you will find a difficulty to keep the right path, where you have no temptations ; but when you get out into the world then will come the trial. I have been in great trouble about you — spent many sleepless nights. I have never gone to bed without praying to Almighty God to turn the heart of my poor child, who was wandering in the paths of wickedness, and always felt "that I should see you an altered girl ; and your father had the lame feeling We did not intend that any one heie should know your real character, not even your sister. I do not think it was at all suspected here by anyone but ourselves. Your father united in kind love to you, and^rfopes and trusts you -will persevere in the right way; and may God bless your endeavours is the Bm<^re rf s»|BlW)f>your affectionate father and mother." '^A, youhg-Sefe^wom».n, whose parents and friendi had mctyredign&j^trouble to find out her haunt, following h'dr trilc^froui house to house in London, have welcomed her home again. In the following letter she describe*, almost in the words of Burns, the deadening

effect on the natural feelings of the sin to which she had been addicted • — " You have no idea how itrange and conitrained I ftel after such a loose sort of life to settle down again to domestic service, although everything is made as pleasant as possible. It is much more diffioult now to settle than before. Ido not know what to think of myself ; there has such a change come over me that I am quite frightened at myself, my heart feels so cold and dead within me. I used to have a loving heart towards all my relations, my father and mother more especially, but now I feel that I don't care for any of them more than another ; I feel as if I was a living corpse. What am Itodo ?" We think that no one reading these letters— and the "Statement" already mentioned contains more— can doubt that the midnight meetings are doing a real and fruitful Christian work, one in which they deserve to be sustained by the benevolent spirit of the country. We are still unable to emancipate ourselves from the remains of the anxiety we expressed when these meetings were first heard of. We cannot help thinking that there are very few persons capable of conducting an enterprise of this character with permanent advantage to society. It is easy enough to copy the external machinery of this new class of effort, the public room, the late repast, the hymn, and the solemn address ; but the " wisdom of the serpent" is not joined with holy zeal and love in every good man's character. Courtesy *nd gre»t judgment must blend with faithfulness if any success is to be hoped for. The rarity of this combination, however, far from detracting from, enhances the value of proved agencies such as this we have been examining. We have here a, tree that is known by its fruits These meetings must be sustained by the active benevolence of the public. They require a large expenditure, each meeting involving an outlay of £100, chiefly arising from the necessity for making grants to the managers of the homes receiving females from the meetings, and defraying the expense* of others who are restored to society through friends or otherwise. We are suie that when the exigencies of the case become known the aid of the public will be both prompt and liberal.