Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/586

 RELIGION 562 When the Rest had been running a few years, Miss Weston paid a visit to the training-ship H.M.S. Britannia, off Dart- mouth. It was commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Fairfax, and two of the cadets were our present King and his brother, the Duke of Clarence. The two Princes had often heard of her from the boys on the ship, and they were glad to have the opportunity of meeting her and visiting the Rest. This early interest which our King then showed in Miss Weston's work has always been maintained. About this time Miss Weston developed the other side — the spiritual side — of her work by assisting Lieutenant Pater, R.N., in the creation of the Royal Naval Christian Union, and initiated the first organised temperance work in the Navy by founding the Royal Naval Temperance Society. This union now numbers 1,969 members, and the Temperance Society counts 20,000 officers and men in its ranks. Miss Weston's Enthusiasm When the position of the Rest was safely assured, Miss Weston visited all the large towns of England, stirring up interest in the British sailor and what she had been trying to do for him. While at York in 1878 she heard of the wreck of the training- ship H.M.S. Eurydice, a ship stationed off Portsmouth, on which were many boys she had known well. This showed the necessity of a Rest at the great seaport. Relief and assistance were badly needed there, and she resolved to build a Rest. An old music-hall in the most crowded part of the town seemed a likely place, and she rented it for a short time. Its tarnished glitter and decorations were re- stored, for she was competing with the public-houses and the real " halls." Here she held meetings and merry Saturday evening entertainments, which proved tre- mendously popular with the bluejackets. After a time the hall became too small for her needs, and more money was wanted. Bravely she set to work to collect it. Several large gifts made it possible to begin the building. By 1881 it was opened, though not completed. Meantime, a branch Rest had been opened at Keyham (a suburb of Devonport) outside the gates of the steam yard. At Devonport Miss Weston was much dis- tressed by three public-houses standing between the Rest and the dockyard gates. But this brave and devoted woman allowed nothing to be impossible, even when she found she could only close them by buying them lock, stock, and barrel. She talked constantly of this, and shortly afterwards received two gifts of ;^i,ooo each. This led to niany more subscriptions, and the daring ambition was realised. The public-houses were pulled down, and on their site was erected the present large block of handsome buildings. In time, too, the immense Rest at Portsmouth was finished. From the first days of her work. Miss Weston has always had the sympathy and help of influential men of the Navy, and since the year 1887 very many members of the Royal Family have inspected her Rests. While staying at Osborne in the Jubilee year, the Crown Princess of Germany, later the Empress, made her first visit to the Devonport Rest. She was so delighted with it that she gave a cabin for the sake of her son. Prince Henry of Prussia. In 1897, at the Sailors' Rest, Portsmouth, the Empress opened a new block of cabins named the " Diamond Jubilee Block," and in 1898 Prince Henry of Prussia visited the Rests. Our present Queen, when Duchess of York, spent an afternoon at the Portsmouth Rest, showing herself specially interested in the sailors' wives and their Needlework Guild. At the birth of the present Prince of Wales the guild worked and presented him with a robe. Our King has always kept in touch with the progress of the Rests. Not only does he remember his " old ship- mates," but he remembers their wives as well, sending an order to Portsmouth every year for a parcel of needlework. When Prince of Wales he became one of the patrons of the Royal Naval Temperance Society. King Edward, when Prince of Wales, visited the Devonport Rest, and later he and Queen Alexandra became patrons. Work Among Foreign Seamen Queen Victoria, in 1892, conferred the title of " Royal," saying it was " indeed Royal work." King Edward confirmed this title on his accession, and King George has con- tinued the distinction. In 1895 the Queen presented a cabin, and the next year Miss Weston was summoned to Windsor to meet her. She had quite a long audience with the Queen, who was very eager to know any fresh news of the work. On Miss Weston's departure, she expressed a wish to meet her at Osborne. Three years later. Miss Weston was invited to Osborne by Queen Alexandra, to see the small coffin in which lay the remains of a queen who had never forgotten the men who served her. A branch of Miss Weston's work which must receive the highest commendation is that among foreign seamen. When the American ships were lying side by side with the British ones at Yokohama, the journal " Ashore and Afloat " of the Sailors' Rests was passed on to the men of the American ships, with the result that the paper has become very popular in that service. Often have the Japanese sailors been welcomed at the Rests ; the Russians also have paid several visits, and men from the ships of almost all the other European navies have come into contact with Miss Weston. She now gratefully says that her work is becoming international. Not only Japan, but other countries have imitated England, and have built sailors' Rests, coming to Portsmouth for their model.