Nature of Settlement Activties.— The work at a centre is laid out into six classes: (1) care of infants; (2) courses for children from six to 14 years of age; (3) course for boys and girls between 14 and 18 years; (4) a course for women of more than 18 years; (5) a course for men of 18 years and upward; and (6) general courses of an advanced nature. In connection with talks to mothers, ocular demonstrations of the best care of infants and young children are given. Children fit for kindergarten work receive the benefit of aesthetic culture through colored paper work, music, songs, parties, games, plays, etc. The older children of from six to 14, through physical culture classes, are given opportunities for im proving their general health; they are formed into clubs for the purpose of developing administrative ideals, and encouraging self help. Their work consists of drawing, sewing, mending, wood-carving, cooking, nature study, musical classes, chorus work, including enter tainments, art exhibits, summer outings, picnics, winter socials and receptions. A late develop ment is the teaching of dancing, which is found to be a most admirable means for the development of grace of body and the power of acting in concert. Those of 18 years and upward follow a scheme which includes the preservation of health, study and training along technical lines, forms of instruction in classes, lectures, concerts, and various aids to culture, sociability and political breadth of mind. The idea running current through all these courses, designed as they are to meet the requirements of the child, the youth and the adult, is that of inculcating the value of physical health, wage earning and other concomitants of economic welfare, general instruction, an insight into the meaning of aesthetic culture, the value of functions which increase sociability, the advan tages of clubs and discussions for the purpose of gaining political and other co-operation, and other means of creating a sense of "community interest' and good citizenship.
Social Service to the Immigrant — While in the older nations the class among which these 'activities are exercised is made up of natives, the °submerged tenth" of London, for instance; in America, it is the new-corner, the first generation of the immigrant horde and its children, that dall for the labor of the social service workers, and the work required is the adjustment of the lives of these people to their new environment, and especially in giving to the older ones a sense of nationality and citizen ship and a knowledge of the power this gives them. When they fully realize that they can, if they will, choose representatives to properly present their needs, an immense gain is made, and the feeling of class against class, and a belief in dominance of wealth in the govern ment, ideas only too prevalent and not wholly without foundation, will be in a fair way of disappearing. To awaken within the immigrant a consciousness of his power is a moral, as well as an economic necessity, for social de moralization disappears before healthy mental activity.
The religious question is delicate only when misunderstandings arise ; if the expressed object of a centre is to impart religious or ethical principles, a frank acknowledgment is proper. Some settlements operate along definite de nominational lines, so that no misapprehension arise even when proselyting results. Ambiguity in this respect is an injury to the cause.
Administration of Settlements.—A head worker is the chief of a staff of assistants which are divided into two classes; the first and most important class are the resident workers. The second class are non-resident workers. The head-worker's duty is that of giving intelligent advice to his assistants, when they are in doubt as to what course to pursue. The workers in all cases are allowed con siderable latitude as to ways and means of obtaining practical results, but no effort must be spared to avoid friction and to produce an ab solute harmony in all parts of the work.
For the proper administration of activities centred in a settlement, money must be forth coming; though the city itself is the direct bene factor, it is never the main contributor. The
workers must be sufficiently well paid to enable them to live decently while devoting their time to the work. To the non-resident workers no remuneration is given. It is then a necessary part of the work to secure money when there is not a regular income provided by endow ment or contributions. As far as possible the idea of self-support is advanced in all phases of settlement work. The head-worker and his assistants plan along economic as well as cultural lines. A head-worker of strong per sonality and broad mentality with experience and judgment is necessary as supervisor and manager. Diplomacy is a great requisite, particularly in the encouragement of those willing to sacrifice time and labor for humanity's sake, as resident or non-resident workers.
Development of the Settlement Idea.— From Toynbee Hall in 1885 the settlement idea spread out through the larger centres of population in England until to-day there are about 50 such in the country. In America the Neighborhood Guild of New York was followed soon after by the Settlement" and in 1889 Chicago saw the establishment of Hull House, the greatest American settlement. In America there are at present over 100 settle ments doing excellent work in the congested areas of the large cities. The University Populaire and the CEuvre de Popincourt in Paris are similar in their educational work to the university settlements. The Ouis Huis of Amsterdam, Holland, is also similar. There is a missionary settlement in Bombay, the ((House of Neighborly Love" in Kioto, Japan, and Kingsley Hall and a French missionary settle ment in Tokio. The movement has spread to Australia, the Toynbee Guild at Sydney being founded by an Oxford man. In America and to a greater extent elsewhere social settlement work can ever be but a palliative in that the fundamental causes of poverty, low wages, etc., are left untouched by the movement. Young college men and women of humanitarian views spend a few years in the work after graduation but leave it for a real career just when their experience would render them valuable aides in the work. By some it is used as a means to acquire the necessary experience in order to qualify for a position in the cor rectional or charitable administration of the State. The recent campaign for Americaniza tion in the United States takes up the work of the social settlement as far as regards the preparation of the foreigner within our shores for citizenship. Even here the motive has not been entirely altruistic nor patriotic but rather the effect of conservatives to stave off the in troduction of governmental principles which to them seem subversive of the present order. A campaign to teach common honesty and fair dealing in the affairs of life especially among our men of wealth is more needed in America to-day than any campaign against radical move ments, which can never gain a real foothold in our democratic system.
Jane,