e threats.
With this case the hands of persecution began to hang down, for it was
evident that persecution _alone_ would neither improve these Gipsies nor
yet drive them out of the country. The tide of events now changed. Law,
rigid, stern justice alone could do no good with them, and consequently
handed them over to the minister of love and mercy. This step was a
bound to the opposite extreme, and as we go along we shall see that the
efforts put forth in this direction alone met with but little more
success than under the former treatment. Seven years after the foregoing
executions Grellmann's work upon the Gipsies appeared, which caused a
considerable commotion among the religious communities, following, as it
did, the universal feeling aroused in the welfare of the children of this
country by the establishment of Sunday-schools throughout the length and
breadth of the land to teach the children of the working-classes reading
and writing and the fundamental principles of Christianity. After
repeated efforts put forth by a number of Christian gentlemen, and the
interest caused by the publication of Grellmann's book, the work of
reforming the Gipsies by purely religious and philanthropic action began
to lag behind; the result was, as in the case of persecution, no good was
observable, and the Gipsies were allowed to go again on their way to
destruction. The next step was one in the right direction, viz., that of
trying to improve the Gipsies by the means of the schoolmaster; although
humble and feeble in its plan of operation, yet if we look to the agency
put forth and its results, the Sunday-school teacher must have felt
encouraged in his work as he plodded on Sunday after Sunday.

It may be said of Thomas Howard as it was said of the poor widow of old,
he "hath done more than them all." The following account of this
cheerful, encouraging, and interesting gathering is taken from Hoyland,
in which he says:--"The first account he received of any of them was from
Thomas Howard, proprietor of a glass and china shop, No. 50, Fetter Lane,
Fleet Street. This person, who preached among the Calvinists, said that
in the winter of 1811 he had assisted in the establishment of a
Sunday-school in Windwill Street, Acre Lane, near Clapham. It was under
the patronage of a single gentlewoman, of the name of Wilkinson, and
principally intended for the neglected and forlorn children of
brick-makers and the most abject poor." At t