fire-escape outside, which is on the New York Hotel plan. But we have here in the building itself a well-trained Fire Brigade, so that we are well provided against panic or accident. And the discipline is perfect; each boy would know what to do in a minute in case of alarm."

"And what led you to this work?" I asked, as the philanthropist led the way into a large and airy playground immediately beneath the Tilbury and Southend Railway.

Many years ago," said he, "as far back, indeed, as 1866, a little ragged boy who attended a ragged Sunday-school which I used to conduct when I was starting in life as a doctor, lingered behind the other children whilst I shut up the room. I told him to go; he hesitated, and at last told me he had no home to go to. I was horror-struck. The boy's story opened up to me a state of things which I did not believe existed on earth. He was sheltered at once, and at once I began my work. That young streetarab rescued on that night has been succeeded by at least 23,000 other homeless and destitute children, and that single room in Stepney in which he slept that night has now grown to upwards of fifty distinct Institutions. And it has all been done by faith. On an average we take in nine children a day. Now, if you will follow me we will go into some of their work

shop, in which most of the boys were cripples, "for," said my host, "there is no physical disqualification for my Homes. And indeed it is a curious thing how the cripples are in some instances the happiest boys here. The other boys are wonderfully tender and loving towards them, the cripples associate with them exactly as do all the rest, and that gay young fellow without arms whom you see crossing the yard at this minute, is actually the best athlete we have in the Homes. Did you notice that little fellow," said the good man. as we entered the carpenters' shop in which they were busy making boxes, washingstands, ctc., "what a bright, happy little fellow he looked? I have a very touching memory of him. I was standing at my front door one bitter day in winter when a little ragged chap came up to me and asked me for an order of admission. To test him I pretended to be rather rough with him. 'How do I know, I said, 'if what you tell me is true? Have you any friends to speak for you?' 'Friends!' he shouted. 'No; I ain't got no friends; but if these 'ere rags,' and he waved his arm about as he spoke, 'won't speak for me, nothing else will.'

"There, that was the most beautiful compliment ever paid to my work, and it was that dear little fellow over there, all over smiles, who paid it. And it was perfectly genuinc, too!"

We stood a moment, Dr. Barnardo and I, in the printing office of the establishment.

"Here," said he, "are printed the histories of each child that comes into the building, and sadder stories have never been written on this earth."

In the hospital I sat talking to a little girl over whose cot was inscribed the legend, "In memory of Mary B. Miller"; a bright little maiden this, fast getting well, wrapped up in her dollies, and with a charming smile for everyone who spoke to her, and especially for the good Doctor, with whom she appeared to be on the easiest and pleasantest of terms. The "Gordon" Memorial Room was nearly empty.

We have such good health here," explained my guide, that I am glad to say these rooms are often quite empty. But you must come up to the convalescent room and to the roof, which is so constructed that they can go and sit out with perfect safety in the open air."

To the roof accordingly we mounted, to be greeted with shouts of merriment from a number of little boys who were fast recovering their health, and with a smile of broad and placid contentment from a big, handsome negro lad, who told me he hailed from New York. A beautiful and a striking view was that which met my eye from the top of this lofty house in East London. Sunshine everywhere, the masts of tall ships standing in the docks, far away a silvery gleam of water told us of the Thames flowing this summer day towards the great green Mother.

DR. T. J. BARNARDO.

(From a Photograph by Herbert E. Simpson, Toronto.)

And from below came the hushed roar and turmoil of those weary, awful streets, from which the young ones standing round me had been so recently

snatched away. Never before had I so thoroughly realised the beauty of the work in which this devoted follower of his great Master is so earnestly and vigorously engaged.

"We have a little fellow named Sydney Lawrence under our charge," said Dr. Barnardo, "in whom you ought to be specially interested; he is one of the waifs supported by THE QUIVER Waifs Fund. He is on one of our training farms, and I daresay he will go out to Canada one of these days."

"Do you consider that the present condition of street children is improved from what it used to be when you first started this work, Dr. Barnardo?" said I.

The

"Yes," he slowly replied; "there is a great change in London, though not in many of the great provincial cities. Liverpool, for instance, is in a terrible condition, but in London it is greatly altered. popular feeling is against rags and destitution. At the same time I think the street-boy of to-day possesses exactly the same kind of characteristics that he always possessed. It is very remarkable to anyone who has studied the subject as I have to note the manner in which juvenile crime has decreased of late years; this, I fancy, is owing in a great measure to the advance of education. It is rare nowadays to find a child who can't read. Thirty years ago, of course, it was the exception to find one who could."

"You send a great many to Canada, do you not? "Oh, yes. Last year alone I sent out upwards of 730 trained children to the Colonies, the largest number ever sent out in a single year. It brought up the total of our young emigrants to 5,737. When it is remembered that in Canada three Institutions are kept up, in which is resident a staff of experienced workers, who maintain constant supervision over our children, visiting them, writing to them, advising them, acting in sickness and in health as their friends and guides, the detailed perfection to which the organisation of that particular branch alone has been brought will be understood."

"And do the Colonies approve of your thus sending to them so many poor and destitute children?"

"Well,” replied my host, "under my system they can hardly object. Emigration can only be carried on under the most stringent conditions. The history of emigration, as a rule, is strewn with failures arising from some radical defect in method or principle. We work on certain definite and well-thought-out lines of action. We send out only the flower of our flock those who physically, spiritually, and mentally are in good health; only those boys who have been trained in our own workshops, or girls who have had most careful instruction in domestic service. Then the children, as I told you, are most carefully supervised, and should any prove to be total failures they are returned to England at our expense. things are at present, we give the Colonies what they most want- honest, industrious, piously trained youths, who, by God's blessing, will grow into successful citizens in the near future."

As

“And admission to the Homes is absolutely free and unrestricted?"

"Absolutely," replied the Doctor, with a smile. "The golden key opens no doors here, I can assure you. On the contrary, it acts as a bar. Not even physical disability prevents a child from being taken in. We have at least 500 incurables within our walls. But, of course, with such facilities for admission, the greatest care has to be exercised that no improper advantage is taken of the Institutions. Inquiry is as stringent and thorough as we can make it. If an application is received from within the metropolitan area, it is personally investigated at first hand by a skilled staff of Children's Beadles.' If a country application comes within the radius of the new Provincial Branches, of which we have seven, which we call 'Ever-Open Doors,' it is investigated by our local agent on the same lines as here in London." "And as regards the religious training of these waifs and strays, Dr. Barnardo? for I cannot help seeing that there are a good many evidences of religious feeling throughout the building."

"Well," replied the Doctor, "the Homes took their rise in a Sunday ragged-school. They are, as they always have been, Christian Institutions, their work being the practical outcome of the Gospel Spirit. But they stand absolutely outside the camps of mere sects or denominations. They are, of course, Protestant, and so Evangelical Christians of any party may and do join hands in our work. Whilst with us the children are not brought up exclusively in one denomination. One-half of all those in residence are under systematic instruction by Evangelical clergymen of the Church of England, attending the services of the church regularly and belonging to its Sundayschools; about an equal number are brought up under earnest-minded Nonconformist ministers, and finally, when the children leave the Homes, they go out to employers who are professedly Christians, but irrespective of the Church or denomination to which such employers belong."

"You have special Homes for girls at Ilford, have you not?"

"Yes; indeed, a regular village. That village home of mine is an attempt to substitute the natural conditions of a cottage Home for the cold mercies, and often fatal advantages, of the workhouse, and to imitate the rescue of waif and destitute girls on broader lines of human and Christian charity. It arose out of a deep conviction that the 'Barrack system,' as it is called, of rearing young girls was altogether wrong. I became personally convinced that if young girls are to be brought up in a manner which will insure the highest results in life I must follow the Divine, which is, after all, the natural order. and let them live in small family groups. Why should not these poor little waif girls know the beauty of family life? And so we have built a large number of cottages, each of which contains mother's sitting-room, a sitting- and play-room for the girls, a large dining-room for the family meals, and a kitchen, scullery, pantry, and store-room. Upstairs there are several bedrooms, each containing from four to six single beds. The daily life of the village is as homelike as I know how to make it. Each group of girls is ruled over by a mother,'

a

and the relations sought to be maintained between her and her charges are mainly those of loving obedience. Then there are my babies. Out of the Ilford Home grew the Babies' Castle at Hawkhurst, in Kent. A baby had been placed in every one of the Cottage Homes, but the babies at last came too thick and fast. What was I to do? At last came light! Mr. Theodore Moilliet, who owned property at Hawkhurst, offered me the Villa of Hillside and the accompanying land, and here in a very short time twentysix babies took possession of their new and comfortable quarters. But soon enough the space at Hawkhurst became too limited. I was forced to build upon the land so generously given to me, and in August, 1886, the Duchess of Teck opened Babies' Castle,' where we comfortably house up

wards of two hundred babies at once, and we are never empty, I can assure you. Poor little things! some of them have sad histories. The mother of one of them, a murderess and would-be suicide, walked into the sea at Sandgate with her two children. She and little Billy, now a big fat boy, were rescued, the other poor child was drowned. She is now in prison for life, and Billy is safe at the Home."

The boys were playing cricket as I passed through the playground, the armless cripple was delighting a group of eager spectators with some wonderful athletic performances; a group of sad-faced, weary, tattered little fellows sat on a bench within the great hall.

"There," said my host, "before night those little fellows will be inmates of the Home, and safe, I hope, for evermore."

"To save such a sinner as I am!" he said, "He shall never hear the end of it." Those words, so bad when used revengefully, as they often are by man to his fellow-man, are excellent when they are used by us to Christ. But, alas! how little do we live in their spirit. At first, after conversion, we think we can never be grateful enough-that we shall never tire of praising-that we can never have enough of close communion with Christ; but how soon our hearts grow cold, or, at any rate, how soon their fire dwindles down into mere warmth! In heaven, indeed, Jesus shall never hear the end of it; but let us in this respect begin heaven on earth in the church and in our hearts.

FOR PRIZES OR PRESENTS.

Boys and girls who are not pleased with the books issued for their reading this year must indeed be hard to satisfy; in quality the works are as high, in quantity they are as abundant, as in former years, while their scope is much wider. That veteran friend of boys, Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, is again to

books for prizes and presents, and when one thinks of books for girls what two names are more likely to be suggested than Agnes Giberne and Emma Marshall? To Miss Giberne we owe "The Andersons," and to Mrs. Marshall "The Close of St. Christopher's," both published by Messrs. Nisbet, and both equally well calculated to serve their purpose. The Christmas volume of Little Folks (Cassell) would make an admirable gift or reward for younger readers, for its varied contents would secure attention in any home circle.

CORPORAL CARPENTER. (From a Photograph by the Rev. E. L. Bera)

the fore, and in "The Walrus Hunters: a Romance of the Realms of Ice" (Nisbet), shows that his hand has lost none of its cunning with years, and that he can still give the boys of to-day a story as fully instinct with healthy incident and sustained interest as were its predecessors.-Dr. Gordon Stables is an old sailor, and quite at home in the telling of a seastory for boys that he calls "Just Like Jack," which is published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton; the tale is good in tone, and strong in incident.-Two other good stories for boys from the same firm are "Graeme and Cyril," by Mr. Barry Pain, and In the '15 a Tale of the First Jacobite Insurrection," by the Rev. H. C. Adams; the former is one of the best school-stories we have seen for a long time, and the latter a thoroughly good historical tale.-But the girls must have their turn in our survey of suitable new

"THE QUIVER" GOOD CONDUCT PRIZES. We give this month the portraits of the three winners of THE QUIVER Good Conduct Prizes for this year. Bertram Roberts and Jessie Gregory are both scholars at the Asylum for Fatherless Children, Reedham, and to them the prizes were presented on the occasion of the summer festival at the end of June. Corporal Alfred Carpenter is an inmate of the Gordon Boys' Home, and he received the prize at the annual inspection of the school. The prizes are awarded for "all-round" good conduct throughout the year, and our readers will be glad to hear that the prizes are much sought after and highly valued. We trust these children will have many imitators. Some day we hope to be able to present our readers with a list of past and present prize holders.