ABSTRACT
A description and discussion of the work of the housemeeting follows not because it is the most important aspect of the work of the hostel, which is, rather, to be found in the next chapter than in this one, but because it is frequently referred to. It must be said, however, that although the staff did not give it first priority in this sense, the residents probably did, and it may well be the feature of the hostel’s life most obvious to the casual visitor. Certainly it seems unusual to the uninformed visitor if he has been indoctrinated with the ancient assumption that the young should always defer to their elders and that their elders should exercise unquestioned authority over them.
