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YOUNG MBN’S AND YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 767
members, distributed all over the world and united in a World’s Alliance
with its headquarters in Geneva. A visit made by the Secretary-General of
the Alliance led to the foundation, in 1884, of the Young Men’s Christian
Association in Stockholm. The World’s Conference, held there in 1888,
evoked great interest in different parts of the country and helped to call
into life such associations in a number of cities.
At present the Swedish Alliance of Y. M. C. A.s, founded the same year,
includes 129 associations with 11 463 members. They belong to all classes of
society, and the personal intercours between members is not without significance
for levelling down social distinctions. 14 associations have their own buildings
with a total value of 2 520 535 kronor, 12 have 17 fully or partly paid
secretaries, whose salaries reach a total of 30 900 kronor. 16 associations publish
Monthly Bulletins with a total circulation of 15 700 copies, to which should
be added the "Förbundstidningen", the organ of the Swedish Alliance, with
a circulation of 4 500. The Alliance, as well as several associations, have
published literature on the work. The various branches of work are classified
as physical, intellectual, social and religious. The first group, comprises
gymnastics and sport. The gymnastic team of the Stockholm Y. M. C. A. in
particular has achieved great renown; it has been repeatedly asked by the authorities
to represent Swedish gymnastics at international congresses for physical
education. With regard to singing, the Y. M. C. A. has also made its mark. The
intellectual work includes popular lectures, debates, courses of study, and libraries.
Under the social department in the special sense should be included summer
homes, generally rented, but in some cases belonging to the associations, soldiers’
homes, provident societies, social study circles, temperance circles, and work for
raising the moral standard among young men. The religious work includes
open-air meetings, Gospel meetings for young men, Bible study of various kinds,
missionary study, and so called craft meetings. An important element is the
work among boys aged 12—17. The number of members in boys’ branches is
3 479, which number includes 2 000 boy scouts of the Y. M. C. A. Boy Scout
League. For these, as well as for members of the main associations, summer
camps, summer tours, and study courses are arranged.
The Young Women’s Christian Association. The Y. W. C. A.
(the English initials corresponding to K. F. U. K.) works among young
women, as the name implies. It is mainly religious, but also includes a
number of social functions. The religious and practical sides are closely
allied, and both serve the same purpose, — Christianity embodied in deed
and in truth.
To specify some departments where the work is more directly social,
attention should be directed to the various kinds of homes organized by the society.
In Stockholm and Gothenburg many boarding-out homes are to be found; some
for industrial working girls exclusively, and some for these as well as other
young women. These homes are much in request, both for their cheapness,
and the homelike feeling and comfort that stamps them. Many of them supply
cheap dinners to a number of self-supporting women. In many places evening
courses in cooking, sewing, singing exercises, and gymnastics are arranged.
An increasing number of pupils is yearly instructed at the school for
housekeepers and domestic servants at the branch of the Y. W. C. A. in the south
of Stockholm.
The summer-homes are of another kind. They are on the east and west coasts,
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