A temporary stay at Brighton suggested the formation of the District
Visiting Society. This aimed, not at indiscriminate alms-giving, but at
"the encouragement of industry and frugality among the poor by visits at
their own habitations; the relief of real distress, whether arising from
sickness or other causes, and the prevention of mendicity and
imposture." Visitors were appointed, who went from house to house among
the poor, encouraging habits of thrift and cleanliness; whilst a savings
bank received deposits, and trained these same poor to save for the
inevitable "rainy day."

Probably one of the most extensive works of benevolence and good-will
carried on to success by Mrs. Fry, next to her prison labors, was the
establishment of libraries for the men of the Coast Guard Service. This
arose from a circumstance which occurred during the sojourn at Brighton,
for the benefit of her somewhat shattered health, in 1824.

During her residence there she was subject to distressing attacks of
faintness in the night and early morning. Again and again, it was
necessary to immediately throw open her chamber window for the admission
of the fresh air; and always upon such occasions the figure of a
solitary coast-guardsman was to be seen pacing the beach, on the
look-out for smugglers. Such a post, and such a service, presenting as
it did a life of hardship and danger, inevitably attracted her
sympathetic attention; and she began to take an almost unconscious
interest in the affairs of this man. Shortly after, when driving out,
she stopped the carriage and spoke to one of the men at the station. He
replied civilly, that the members of the Preventive Service were not
allowed to hold any conversation with strangers, and requested to be
excused from saying any more. Mrs. Fry, feeling somewhat fearful that
her kindness might bring him into difficulty with his superiors, gave
the man her card, and desired him to tell the man in command of the
station that she had spoken to him with the sole object of inquiring
after the welfare of the men and their families. A few days afterwards,
the lieutenant who commanded at that post waited upon Mrs. Fry, and,
contrary to her fears, welcomed her inquiries as auguries of good. He
confessed to her that the officers, men, women, and children, all
suffered much from loneliness, privation, semi-banishment--for the
stations were mostly placed in dreary and inaccessible
places--unpopularity with the sur