Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



451 



THE SOLUTION OF THE 

 SERVANT PROBLEM. 



Co-operative houses are the solution of Mr. 

 D. W. Brunt for the servant problem, and in 

 Woman at Home for October he describes 

 brightly the advantages of those at Letchworth. 

 The Letchworth scheme in its entirety em- 

 braces the erection in quadrangular form of 

 thirty-two houses built on each side of large 

 central administrative buildings, and forming 

 the quadrangle. The houses are of three types : 

 B consists of a sitting-room, 16 ft. by 12 ft. ; 

 a bedroom, 12 ft. by 10 ft. ; the bathroom, 

 pantrj', etc. C has the same sized sitting-room, 

 but two bedrooms, 13 ft. by 12 ft., with bath- 

 room and pantry. D's sitting-room is 19 ft. by 

 12 ft., and has three bedrooms. The adminis- 

 trative building has a large and beautifully 

 lighted dining-hall {33 ft. by 20 ft.), kitchen, 

 tea, reading and smoking rooms, a garage for 

 bicycles, etc., together with ample living and 

 sleeping accommodation for the manageress 

 and staff, and to this building each house has 

 access by means of a covered way. Here the 

 meals are prepared by a qualified cook and 

 assistants, and are served in the common rooms, 

 or, for a small extra charge, in the private 

 houses. Each house is effectively heated from 

 one central source, but fireplaces are provided 

 in all the rooms for %'entilation, or to enable 

 all who may wish to have open fires. . . . The 

 rents, considering all the conveniences and ser- 

 vices involved, are very reasonable; they include 

 rates, taxes, water, heating, maintenance of 

 garden, window cleaning, serv'iccs of mana- 

 geress and staff in the central buildings, with 

 use of the common rooms; and the tariff is 

 also fixed at very low rates. Telephones connect 

 each house with the administrative building. 

 Thus, whilst the principles of co-operation are 

 applied to the problems of housekeeping, the 

 fullest privacy of individual and home life is 

 assured. 



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THE GREYLADIES. 



irticle in the Treasury for September 

 nn.i Wordsworth, the Rev. C. S. Wood- 

 vcs an account of the college of women 



known as Greyladics. 



MISS Wordsworth's rule. 



s in 1803. we learn, that Dr. Voatman 

 he present Bishop of Worcester, then 

 Suffragan of Southwark, founded llje 

 in South London. Its aim was to pro- 

 body of ladies, living a common life. 



who should carry on diocesan work in the 

 parishes of South London. The site chosen 

 was Blackheath Hill, and work was begun 

 under the leadership of Miss Yeatman, sister 

 of the Bishop. In 1900 Miss Susanna Words- 

 worth became Head of the institution, and con- 

 tinued her rule till 191 1. The daughter, sister, 

 and niece of great bishops, Miss Wordsworth, 

 says the writer, performed a work not so well 

 known as theirs perhaps, but of scarcely less 

 value than theirs. At Lincoln she had been 

 engaged in innumerable good works, but up 

 to the time of the invitation of the Bishop of 

 Southwark to come to Blackheath and see the 

 work being done by the Greyladies, with a view 

 to undertaking the Headship of the college, 

 she knew nothing of the institution beyond its 

 name. 



INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY. 



No one could have been more peculiarly fitted 

 for the special task before her than Miss Words- 

 worth. Her duty was to discover and 

 develop to the full the personality of each Grey- 

 lady. Believing in the educational value of 

 responsibility, she made everyone feel the privi- 

 lege of undertaking some office in the house, 

 and she took care not to interfere when 

 once the office had been given. In 1905 Dart- 

 mouth House was purchased ; an additional 

 wing was added to it, and the college, whose 

 membership had grown so rapidly that six 

 houses were needed for its accommodation, 

 moved into the new premises. South London 

 (like many another diocese) needs neither bril- 

 liance of preaching nor wealth of organisation 

 so much as the quiet influence of personality, 

 writes Mr. Woodward, and herein lay the great 

 strength of Miss Wordsworth. " By the in- 

 spiration of her own personality, by the quiet 

 example of humility and self-denial, by her 

 steadfastness of purpose and absolute devotion 

 to duly, she stimulated and developed all that 

 was best in those over whom she ruled." Thus 

 from the college there went forth into the 

 various parishes " a quiet force of personal in- 

 fluence which has changed many lives and 

 homes." Miss Wordsworth died in January of 

 the present year. 



" The river was the principal ' street,' and 

 was always crowded with boats; on great 

 occasions sometimes ten thousand were seen 

 there together. The fare charged was sixpence 

 per mile for two oars." .So writes Mr. C. E. 

 .Stewart in the Nincfccnth Century of London 

 in 1651. Will the motor-boat help to give back 

 the Thames to Londoners? 



