THE CHURCH AND THE WORKING MAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 82

THE CHURCH AND THE WORKING MAN.

THE STORY OF A FAMOUS ENGLISH BROTHERHOOD. (Eastbrook, Bradford.) Some time ago there arose considerable discussion over tlve question of working men's apathy to religion, and it was in a great measure left to the city of Bradford (England) % to lead off and show ~that working men* were not irreligious, that theiT standing- aloof from Church worship did not 6how antagonism to religion, and that the real fault lay with the churches themselves more often than not. In many instances it has been found that men lutve been kept outside by the class distinction, which has been so unhappily prevalent in some of the English places of worship so mucfc so that the working man has never felt welcome. The system of pew rents, the careful upholstering of the pews of the elect, and 1 the general lack of brotherlinese, all tended towards this indifference, and to grapple with the matter with any prospect of eucoeee it was felt V it these drawbacks at least should be overcome, l^iis, ' then, was the difficulty at Bradford/ when it wafi decided to pull , down the famous old Eaetbrook Chapel and rebuild a modern hall for mission purposes, this difficulty was borne in , mind, with the result tihat pews with their rents and cushions were abolished . It was thus determined thai, every man •should be made to feel on an equality and at home in the new hall, which was opened on March 21, 1904, at a cost of £27,000. The hall is a beautiful one, eight-sided, fitted out in a very elaborate manner, tip-up chairs with .framework beneath for hate and umbrellas. It is beautifully decorated, lias a splendid system of mechanical heating and ventilation, and its organ (now over 40 years old) is one of the finest- in England, being worth from £5000 to £6000. The Eastbrook Brotherhood began its wonderful work on October 2, 1904, and from its very commencement was a complete sucoese. -Crowds of -working meal commenced to gather at its meetings, and have continued to do so ever since. The obiect of the organisation was to bring within the sound of tihe Gospel the great mass, of artisan life, and 'special care was taken that every man who might cross the portals should be made to feel welcome. "VY hen the founder of the movement (Rev. H. M. Nield) commenced this work, many^ heads were shaken and many prophecies of failure made. One thousand members were mentioned ac the aim of tihe workers for their first year's work. The thousand was reached in four months. The second thousand was passed at the end of nine months, and at the close of the 12 months' work the total number of members on the roll was 2634. In two years and a-half over 5000 men were enrolled, whilst there remained on the roll at the end of that time no less than 3725 members, the deficit being accounted fox by the removal from the city, and to other brotherhoods, and in scores of instances to othei form of Christian effort. — rThe Scene on Sundays. — The scene on a Sunday, with or without the. aid.;- of tjhe^photocrapher'g assistance, ie indeed difficult to describe wifcb justice. Every vine oftbt vMfors was , deeply- impreasedi not. only with the view insidle of the- -^ea of > faces, ■•but pscrijcularly. the^ scene At'-4he.^olose, or at ih^\ "lojsiiig,"" as the Yorlahajejnan* would have it, -when the outrush reminds orae of the crowds which turn out from any football enclosure on "lime" being blown, wihen there has been -a, good gate. Out of the eight doorways the men pour. ' The hall is beared in four minutes, and every sta?eet .around- the hall seems to, present the appearance- of lanes of black cloth, and . there are many ■wiho simply go to see the men come out. Some idea, wall i« gained from the scenes in our photograph, those in wlhich the men are seen in the hall, the pictures being taken on a. summer afternoon ; the other, taken the same day, ■ representing the "loisimg." As' early as 2 o'clock (an hour before the time for starting) a crowd of mem may be seen waiting at tne large doors for admittance —men who have their favourite seats and men who axe anxious to get near the speaker. For many a month during the writer's work there it was necessary to be there at 2.30 to. get a seat at all, and for 12 months he was privileged to see a full bouse every tune, with never an empty seat. The steady stream of mien flows on, eager, anxious, and more than willing to enter Ah© house of God, till one wonders who it was that asked the question : "la the working man irreligious?" Should a man enter without his E.B. badge he is seized upon with a. view to membership, and many a man ha*' been helped by that very seizure. The registrars are kept busy, for every member's attendance is marked, it boinjc done very simply. As each man joins he i« given a card with his membership nnimlier, and this number he repeats to th» registrar at the tabla, bearing his correwpondmg dumber, so that the number in crossed off the registrar's list, thus enabling the registration secretary to mark the huge roll. As many as 110 men have joined in a single afternoon, and during tlno first two years and a-half there never was a blank day va this respect, the lowest number of new members in a single day being 13. Once inside, the scene is remarkable. A sea of faces i^reets one on every. eide, and what an enthusiastic gathering it represents. Three ; o'clock brh>g3 the speaker, the chairman, and other officials to the rostrum amid an outburst of hand-cLipping. How eager t-o. get on with the meetinig the men seem to be, and as each item is got through a jrileU'Oe, lemarkabl© for so great a crowd, pervades the building. The excitement of the gathering does not oease with the call of 4 o'clock. Then men seem foil of it all the week. The de-i-rj-ia the. Sunday meeting are the chief

] theme for discussion during the week., i and ao a -wonderful missionary effort <is j carried on in the workshops and other ! place in the city. Even the discussion of the Saturday football match takce second place to that of the ever-populai Brotherhood "latest." ! NAMING THE WINNER. ' The first meeting was announced for October 2, "1904, and the Mayor of the city occupied the chair. At the close of tli-t* first month an opportunity came never Wbe forgotten. The subject for the afternoon in question was, "What'll win?" and Mr Nield had hoped to gain the ear . of the betting fraternity of the city, which lie did, and their eye, by the use of the Sporting Chronicle placards, on which the title was announced. On the Sunday afternoon there lay awaiting him in the vestry a post-oard, on which was written : "Re your address on 'What'll Win?' Hackler's Pride is good business for the \ Cambridgeshire." When this was read to ; the men in the meeting a great roar went . up, showing that betting men were there in great force. As a result of this adI dtess many a man gave up having his i "bit on," and come fine workers were . turned on to the more aggressive portion l" of the mission work. The sequel of the ; post-card incident was very amusing^ for "on , the following Wednesday Hackler's : Pride -won the Cambridgeshire, and the news went all through the Bradford work1 shops that, the parson at Eastbrook had lipped the winner. ; Men flocked to the j meetings from that day forth, and ( although at first/ merely out of curiosity, j many of them came to be staunch workers in the mission itself.' RETAINING THE MEN. Having got the crowd, an earnest effort was made to retain it. Every man was visited if the roll showed an absence of three consecutive Sundays, and the staff of 30 visitors were kept busy during j the week. Relief was affordey m scores j of instances, and the employment bureau was very successful. A year from the opening day the Men's 'institute was thrown open, and here the men spent much of their spare time in games or reading, or in enjoying an hour's music. Hew, too, - refreshments could be obtained, and this institute proved a boon to the unmarried men and the younger men away j from home. Other agencies at work included ambulance aaid life-saving classes, I swimming, football, cricket, cycling, holiday- rambling, and Christmas clubs, all being well patronised, self-supporting, and profit-bearing. The men contributed heartily, and when one week's collection topped that of a previous week there was an outburst of cheering. Several times £20 was topped, and the first time that this took place t&e collection was made up as follows:— 48C half -pennies, 3012 pennies, 224 threepenny pieces, 60 sixpences, 13 shillings, 1 half-sovereign, and 1 sovereign— a total of 3791 coins, and a collection jjthat weighed 671b. The first quarter's collections averaged £6 15s 4d, and that of the first year £10 8s 3d — a total of £20 13s 8d ; whilst the second year's total was over £600. THE MUSIC. To hear 2000 Yorkshire throats sing "Onward, Christian soldiers," is next to ear-splitting "for volume, and the grand organ is simply drowned. The hymns are changed weekly, being printed with the announcements wjeek py week, and 'a firstclass soloist .always' has come „ part in the programme, ,there L.being no difficulty .in. getting tne best talent from all parts of the country. . : . SOME OE-THE RESULTS. ... _ As might be expectedj ■ the church itself benefited largely by this great influx of manhood. Nearly 5000 pledges were taken during the first 18 months of the mission's work. Homes were found to be too small and too poor, and addresses had to be changed every week, sometimes by the dozen. It was a weeklyv occurrence to j have 8000 people gathered oa the mission premises on a Sunday, and the -effect of the Brotherhood- work on the Sunday School was remarkable. Many children were enabled to go to school after "Daddy" had joined the Brotherhood, because they now had clothes to go in. The Sunday School membership was almost doubled during the first year of the Brotherhood work, and a total of 459 scholars added to the roll. The good upon the city at large is incalculable, members of Parliament, magistrates, merchants, tradesmen, the stipendiary and the licensing beiich all adding their testimony as to the moral effect on the city life, in home and in business. During the first summer a well-known dyer invited the men and their women folk i* a cup of tea, little thinking wh«t it meant until he saw two special Iruiu loud* roll into Ilkley station. However, ample provision had been made. More tluui •!!• publican, hm Jiad tx-casion to ndc for reduction of aoseaunMit or h«s rofuwd to apply for renewal of license becauKO the motherhood had ruined their lrade and robbed them of th»ir customers. Tho lift) of tke workshop has been com-pl<-toly changed Jor good. ''Our boss can't muko out what's come over our dyelioiiEe," said a man one night in the class • meeting; "the chaps are so regular and steady now." The fact was that 20 of them had joined the E.B. An employer once said : "I've five of your E.B.s in my employ, and none of them need subbing now." At the Ilkley trip beforementipned tlie joy of having a trip into the country so overcame one woman that she cried out : "God blcss'the Brotheihood for all it has done/ for me. I 'have been married 27 years, and this is the first time I have ever been away with my husband" ; and the husband added, "Aye, lass ; but it shall not be the last." The Joyful News had for one of its weekly cartoons- an incident which took place in one of the Bradford Council school.*. One of the teachers had asked her -;lass on the last day of the month to write on their slates th» most wonderful thing I that had happened during th© month.

One little lass wrote: "My dadd-ie has joined Eastbrook, and has got converted, and we've got a new daddie" ; and so it goes on. Converted gamblers, converted drinkers, and sven among others a converted handcuff Jring, an ex-music hall artist, who all gave their testimony to the value of this fine work. Brighter homes, brighter children, brighter hopes were in evidence everywhere, for when the man in the home is won, that goes a great way to the winning of the entire family. The view of the ball will serve to some extent to show the beautiful workshop that they have, not only in Bradford, but in almost all the centres of industry throughout England.