The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Reference to the Efforts of the London City Mission, in a Pamphlet entitled " The Omnibus Men of London."
" With respect to these men, how little has been done for their improvement! The supports one solitary missionary 'to omnibus-stations and cab-stands;' but even this limited agency, in the summary of subscriptions on the cover of the 'Mission Magazine,' dwindles into a ' Mis- sionary to Cabmen;' thus leaving the vast numbers of men employed in connexion with the omnibuses of London almost uncared for. ... More might surely be done by a wealthy city ;-and shall it not be done?" [1] | |
It is added, with much truth, by the writer of the interest- ing pamphlet just quoted from:-" So vast is the work of this admirable Society [the ], that it can scarcely touch the case described in this paper. . . . The establishment even of a large corps of special missionaries to omnibus men, however valuable and desirable, would only achieve a certain reformation and improvement in individuals. The system would remain. Can nothing be attempted to reach and loosen the fetters of this ? The evil is, that though 'the omnibus men of London' are really and truly servants of the public, they are under the control of a few proprietors. These proprietors, however, derive their remuneration from the public; and is it quite impossible for the religious feeling of a large proportion of the customers to be brought syste- matically to bear upon the masters ? These points the writer throws out suggestively." t | |
Footnotes: [1] "The Omnibus Men of London; their Occupations, Lives, and Deaths," pp. 25, 6, 24, 14, 31. t Pp. 31-2. |