1Fifty-six years ago there was born in Huntingdon a child destined to fulfil a certain mission in life. She was the daughter of Robert Edis, Esq., of that town, and sister of A. W. Edis, now a celebrated London physician. This brother was her great example; as a child she ruled her life by his: hence her endeavour, at the early age of nine years, to be useful in the world.

2She visited the cottages of the poor people, threading needles for the aged, talking freely to them of Jesus, and His work on earth, until she became an expected and welcome visitor.

3This went on for some years, and at last it became a custom for her to hold a Sunday afternoon meeting in one of the cottages. The men, hearing their wives speak of the young girl's sweet words, felt tempted to go and listen also, and so, Sunday after Sunday, men, women, and children flocked to the house of their neighbour, just in their simple clothing, with neither hats nor bonnets, to hear the message Miss Edis seemed chosen to deliver.

4At last the cottage was found too small to hold all that came to hear; so a local body of Congregationalists, recognising the good work she was doing, allowed her the use of a large schoolroom. But even this was soon very much overcrowded, and the young girl, in her enthusiasm, decided to take a Public Hall.

5Her family, while rejoicing in her usefulness, feared the strain upon her health, and urged the girl not to undertake so great a responsibility. The bishop of the diocese interfered; but neither the pleadings of her friends nor the veto of the bishop had any weight with her.

6Miss Edis told the bishop that if her meetings disturbed, as he said, the ordinary routine of Church work, she would sever her connection with the Church; but give up her work she could not, for she felt called upon by God to preach His Gospel to the people.

7The bishop was so impressed by the evident conviction and earnestness of the girl-evangelist, that he withdrew his opposition and asked God's blessing upon her endeavours.

8In time she became the wife of the Reverend G. S. Reaney, of Wycliffe Chapel, Warrington, but this made no difference in her work. She soon made her influence felt among the rough iron-workers of that town, not by going among them with an assumption of piety, but by talking to them in the easy, friendly manner which had won a hearing for her for so many years in her native town. She took an interest in their work, in their homes, in their families; and they learned to regard her as a real friend, to whose words it was a pleasure to listen.

9One day she stopped a working-man and asked him to come to her meeting, when he surprised her by saying, "How much is there to pay?"

10"Oh, nothing to pay!" she replied.

11"Well, then, ma'am," replied the man, "if I were you I'd have a box at the door, for we working-men don't want our religion cheaper than we get our bread."

12The suggestion was acted upon during the remainder of her stay in Warrington, where, for four years, she preached in the Public Hall every Sunday afternoon to crowded audiences.

13On leaving the north, Mr. and Mrs. Reaney worked for six years in Reading, always with the same success; afterwards taking up duties at Stepney, in the east end of London. During their stay in this, the most thickly populated district of that part of the city, Mrs. Reaney's efforts among the people met with very gratifying results. She visited them in their homes, and, by her simple eloquence, drew them in large numbers to her services.

14Her power over the roughest of the men was indeed wonderful; they seemed almost bound to yield to the charm of her voice and manner. They found in her a woman who was more friend than preacher—one who, by her great tact, drew them as willing listeners, to hear words at which they hitherto had but only scoffed and jeered. She taught them while but seeming to chat with them, and her words lingered with them, until they positively looked forward with pleasure to hearing her.

15The box, suggested by the Lancashire man, was placed at the door of the hall, and in time produced a goodly sum of money. This Mrs. Reaney took care of, for she had a scheme in her mind which she hoped some day to carry out. Her constant intercourse with the people in their homes enabled her to understand their sufferings, and her warm heart longed to help them to see a little of the brighter side of life.

16To them the year brought no change; week in and week out, it was nothing but work, when work was to be had, and suffering when it was scarce. Fathers and mothers struggled bravely on, in spite of ill-health and unwholesome surroundings, to rear their young and often sickly children, with never a sight of a green field or a breath of the free wind of the ocean.

17Hard-working people were often turned out of their little homes, because, for a time, no money was forthcoming for the rent, while those with children found the greatest difficulty in procuring even temporary shelter till better times came again.

18To remedy all this was Mrs. Reaney's one desire. With the money she had in hand, she therefore established a Convalescent Home at Folkestone, for the benefit of the poor of London; and a Rescue Home, in which families might take refuge in times of trouble, until some permanent relief could be afforded them, or they were themselves able to see a way out of their difficulties.

19Her great aim in establishing these places was to make them homes in the truest sense: places where they would be sure of sympathy, comfort, and the tenderest care.

20In 1888 Mrs. Reaney relinquished the management of the Home at Folkestone and set about founding a similar one at Blackpool, for the working people of Warrington and the north generally. A small sum is paid by most of those who take advantage of these places; but any working people can be received absolutely free, if they have no means wherewith to pay.

21The Home at Folkestone alone was the means of restoring eighteen hundred persons to health and strength, in the short space of four and a half years, and the people have the gratification of knowing that these places were erected out of their own contributions.

22To one working, as did Mrs. Reaney, amongst the very poor of large cities, the evils of drink were abundantly obvious. To see an evil and not to remedy it was against her creed, so that Mrs. Reaney has ever been a steadfast worker in the cause of temperance.

23On taking up residence in Greenwich, she leased for a period of three years a temperance coffeehouse, with hall for various meetings, and laundry in which from twenty to thirty women were employed, hoping thereby to do much good among the large population of her husband's parish.

24Unhappily her expectations were not fulfilled, for having discovered some gross irregularities in the management, she was glad to give it up on the expiry of her lease. The experiment was not without value, however, for Mrs. Reaney learned much in many ways during the three years that was of profit to her in her future work.

25Happy home-life has ever had great attractions for this good woman, and, in her journeyings in and around London, she was much struck with the fact that the men who pass their lives in driving and conducting tramcars and omnibuses in that and other large towns, could not possibly know anything of these joys. They rise and leave home before their families are up, and often do not return until after they are in bed again.

26Now Mrs. Reaney, having given the matter due consideration, could not see that such a state of things was necessary. Why these men should be obliged to work all the hours of the day except those spent in recruiting their energies for further toil, she failed to understand. There was no justice in such an arrangement, and she worked with might and main to make their employers see this.

27At last, not seeing any other way out of the difficulty, she took shares in one or two metropolitan companies, so that she might personally urge the directors to make some alteration.

28She wrote an article, to which was given the title of "Slave-driving by Public Companies," and sent it to the Contemporary Review. She tried to talk a Member of Parliament into bringing the question before the House of Commons. Lord Rosebery took up the cause, but all to no purpose; from fifteen to eighteen hours' work a day was still exacted from the long-suffering men.

29One day, however, Mrs. Reaney resolved to make herself heard at a meeting of directors; so she persevered in spite of unmanly efforts to drown her voice. Finding that she was not to be put down, one of them remarked, "Hear her out, gentlemen; it is the shortest way to the end!" But, alas! all her energy enlisted but the sympathy of six of the seventy members present.

30Mrs. Reaney had, however, succeeded in making the men's grievance public. The subject was taken up and discussed in several large towns both at home and in Australia, and she had the happiness of seeing her labours crowned by some measure of success.

31Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Reaney has devoted herself to her Sunday afternoon meetings, and other services during the week nights, as well as to temperance work and missions.

32Her pen is never idle, for the joy of service —as she herself so happily phrases it, however that service is required—still inspires her. She writes, "My ideals grow higher as I live longer, and my belief in privilege and possibility associated with a life surrender to God;" and her most earnest desire throughout her life has been to fully realise and testify to the truth of the text: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."