Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/226

 boatmen and their families on the canals, the distribution among them of healthy literature, and the support of the work carried on at the Boatmen's Hall, Worcester Wharf, where the Superintendent (Rev. R. W. Cusworth) may be found. The subscriptions in 1882 amounted to £416.

Church Pastoral Aid Society.—The name tells what subscriptions are required for, and the Rev. J. G Dixon, Rector of St. George's, will be glad to receive them. The grants of the Parent Society to Birmingham in 1882 amounted to £3,560, while the local subscriptions were only £1,520.

Clergymen's Widows.— The Society for Necessitous Clergy within the Archdeaconry of Coventry, whose office is at 10, Cherry Street, has an income from subsriptions, &c., of about £320 per year, which is mainly devoted to grants to widows and orphans of clergymen, with occasional donations to disabled wearers of the cloth.

Deritend Visiting and Parochial Society, established in 1856. Meeting at the Mission Hall, Heathmill Lane, where Sunday Schools, Bible classes, Mothers' Meetings, &c., are conducted. The income for 1883 was £185 7s. 4d., and the expenditure £216 16s. 7d., leaving a balarce to be raised.

District Nursing Society, 56, Newhall Street, has for its object the nursing of sick poor at their own homes in cases of necessity. In 1883 the number of cases attended by the Society's nurses was 312, requiring 8,344 visits.

Domestic Missions, of one kind and another, are conected with all the principal places of worship, and it would be a difficult task to enumerate them. One of the earliest is the Hurst Street Unitarian, dating from 1839.

Flower Mission.—At No. 3, Great Charles Street, ladies attend every Friday to receive donation of flowers, &c., for distribution in the wards of the Hospitals, suitable texts and passages of Scripture accompanying the gifts to the patients.

Girls' Friendly Society.—The local Branch, of which there are several sub (or parochial) branches, has on its books near upon 1,400 names of young women in service, &c., whose welfare and interests are looked after by a number of clergymen and ladies in connection with the Church of England.

Humane Society.— A Branch on the plan of the London Society was established here in 1790, but it was found best to incorporate it with the General Hospital in 1803.

India.—A Branch of the Christian Vernacular Education Society for India was formed here in 1874. There are several branches in this town and neighbourhood of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society for making known the Gospel to the women of India, and about £600 per year is gathered here.

Iron, Hardware, and Metal Trades' Pension Society was commenced in this town in 1842. Its head offices are now in London; the local collector being Mr. A. Forrest, 32, Union Street.

Jews and Gentiles.—There are local Auxiliary Branches here of the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, and the British Society for Propagating the Gospel among Jews, the amounts subscribed to each in 1882 being £72, £223, and £29 respectively.

Kindness to Animals.—Mainly by the influence and efforts of Miss Julia Goddard, in 1875, a plan was started of giving prizes among the scholars and pupil teachers of the Board Schools for the best written papers tending to promote kindness to animals. As many as 3,000 pupils and 60 teachers send papers in every year, and the distribution of 500 prizes is annually looked forward to with interest. Among the prizes are several silver medals—one (the champion) being given in memory of Mr. Charles Darwin, another in memory of Mr. E. F. Flower, a third (given by Mr. J. H. Chamberlain) in memory of Mr. George Dawson, and a fourth given by the Mayor.