DR. BARNARDO

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 14 (Supplement)

DR. BARNARDO

FATHER OF THOUSANDS. “Homes" and “Dr. Barnardo” are inseparably connected in most people's minds, and justly so. Who else could claim to have given over 60,000 children, drawn from the most appalling of surroundings, a fresh start in life? It is small wonder, therefore, that Dr. J. Wesley Bready waxes eloquent in his biography—“ Dr. Barnardo: Physicion, Pioneer, Prophet” (Allen and Unwin). He tells with enthusiasm the story of the work which was begun in London in 1866, and which still continues. and a graphic insight is given into the work of caring for “the largest family in the world.” When Barnardo began his great work, “In the big cities there existed a clan of street unchins, living nowhere and sleeping anywhere; here today and gone to-morrow; a closed fraternity of the underworld who knew no grammar and spoke largely by signs; whose only school was the school of debauchery and Crime; who were ignorant of the meaning of morality, and never heard even the primary tenets of Christianity; who had no means of livelihood, and ‘picked up’ their living as best they could . . who felt, by an animal instinct, that society was at war against them, and knew well that they

were at war against society.” It was Barnardo, the brisk, dapper little man. with upturned moustache and pince-nez and an air of fussy authority, who was largely to change all this. To understand fully the story of Barnardo’s conversion, of his work in Ragged Schools, of his chance meeting with Jim Jarvis, who led him to a “lay” of homeless boys sleeping on a London roof on a winter night, which turned him into the children's champion, of the death of "Carrots,” which brought about the sign: No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission —an insights into the period of the Evangelical Revival is needed, and this Dr. Bready gives, for Barnardo was a product of that Revival. Barnardo had to fight against prejudice and Rumours were spread that he was “making a good thing out of the Homes,” and that the children were ill-treated and exploited. Parents who had turned their children on to the streets and would have sold them for a bottle or two of gin, seeing them sturdy, educated, and skilled in a trade, and desiring now to exploit their labour, joined in the chorus of abuse. An Arbitration Board triumphantly acquitted Barnardo, making only two material criticisms. The work was too entirely personal in its control. Barnardo w£s impatient of committee control, and his short cut to efficiency did lay him open to attack. The criticisms were justified, and the fact that more discreet methods were at once and cheerfully adopted shows the “bigness” of the man.

Apart from adulatory expressions concerning the great work and interesting anecdotes connected with the careers of old boys and gii’ls (no fewer than 11.000 of the former voluntarily responded to the call of Empire in the Great War), this book has great value in that it assesses the influences which went to the making of the time and, through that, of this remarkable man. The charity and broad humanity of Dr. Barnardo’s outlook should be an inspiration.

NOTES. The Oxford University Press has just issued a volume with the modest title of “Verses." and described as being the work of “Elizabeth Daryush.” Mrs Daryush is a daughter of Dr. Robert Bridges, the late Poet Laureate. She has lived for many years in Persia, and some time ago was married to a Persian gentleman. “The time is ripe,” says a leading London publisher to a contributor to “Passing Show," “for another ‘Robert Elsmere.’ It will sweep all before it. It will resemble in few respects the novel by v/hich Mrs Humphrey Ward made her name some 40 years ago, for it will deal with modern developments, including the attitude of the younger generation toward the Church, and the part that religion has played in the life of the people since the events of 19141918. It will treat likewise of spiritualism. This coming religious novel may be by one of other of our best known authors, but a greater likelihood is that it will be the work of a newcomer to the field of fiction. There will be a series of books of the kind." Mrs Williamson tells a pleasant story of George Meredith, at the time of the zenith of his fame. Meredijh resolutely refused to be interviewed, but he once unbent for a young Scot, to whom an editor had promised a position if he could induce the sphinx to talk. “Meredith realised instantly that the editor had sent the lad forth into the lion's jaws solely to get rid of him. And his strange, almost impish sense of humour piqued him to surprise that editor. He had the boy shown all over the cottage and into the sacred hut on the hill where for years he had written his books, and talked to the delighted, dazzled fellow for hours. I asked if I might make a short story of the incident, and Mr Meredith said yes; 60 I did, and called it "Sandy and the Genius.’ ”