WOMEN'S MISSION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4322, 22 June 1871, Page 3

WOMEN'S MISSION.

" Gotl might have made the earth brin^ ferth enough for great and small, The oak-tree and the cedar-treo, without ft flower at all "

TO THE EDITOR. Sfr, — Is an ornamental park included in Dr. Stratford's " eesthe tic considerations" lor are wg so sordid, so possessed of the greed of gain, that we long to turn every inch of this beautiful world into gold, and leavo no room for flowers? Can we not afford a goodly slice of the Albert Barracks Reserve as a thank-offering for the untold wealth poured into our laps ? Think of the [human cattle huddled together in our alleys — not worthy the name of streets ! Oh woo them out of their dene, into heaven's own sunlight. The improved health and morals of the people WQukkperhaps pay a better percentage than building allotments. Even our gold may prove too costly ! We hear that " ladies are at the present time arranging plans Vow to reach and reclaim their fallen sisters." Sir, I ask with solemn earnestness, is there a woman among us fit for the work? I fear not. It is of no use going down with lofty, patronising airs, but half concealed under a oloak of mock humanity. Good men have an infinitely greater tenderness for the fallen than the majority of women. We cannot reach the masses because the "leaven" of love is almost everywhere wanting ; the guilty and wretched know instinctively whether you offer thorn the dull leaden coin of dry, hard, duty — pharisaic " husks" — or the pure grain of sisterly compassion. I have listened to a woman preaching to women of their duties and of the awful wickedness of the world, with a rasping, whining voice, and such a grizzle of a face ! for all her chance of reaching their hearts she might as well have shouted to them from the top of Mount Eden. I have gone among the poor in true orthodox fashion— God forgive me ! Now that I see there was not one single spark of love in it all, I tremble and hesitate to do anything. If there is one woman' ready to go down to the depths with the fallen in, tender pity and loving sympathy, with warrii, strong, succouring hands, to help them up, let her go, and God bless her. The erring ones may be lying athwart the path — nearer the feet of our divine Redeemer than we are; and if as I fear we shall present them to Him in precisely the same spirit that prompted those of old to drag the guilty before Him, we had better, far better, leave it alone. Love — subtle agent that it is — needs no publishing ;it has a thousand voices. Speech is may-be its coarsest, grossest medium, Love, pure love, where it exists is aa pervading, as unconscious as the rose aid Tiolefc, delicate and modest as the lily of the valley. Sir, I would not for a moment seek to deter right 1 effort, but I think we should gain immensely by sitting down i»i lowly earnestness to become acquainted with ourselves. What thou haat dq'o by suffering taught, presume thou not to teach.— l am, &c,