oy reached Wilmington in safety, where I found him a few hours
after he arrived. Poor boy! He bears about him, or, rather, _is,_ the
unmistakable evidence of the life he has led--covered with vermin,
almost a leper, ignorant in the extreme, and seeming wonder-struck
almost at the voice of kindness and sympathy, and bewildered with the
idea of possessing a wardrobe gotten for him.

"'So far as I can judge from so short an observation, I should think him
an amiable boy, grateful for kindness shown him, rather timid than
energetic, yet by no means deficient in intellectual capacity, and
altogether such a one as, by God's help, can be made something of. Such
as he is, or may turn out to be, I accept the trust conferred upon me,
not insensible of the responsibility I incur in thus becoming the
instructor and trainer of a being destined to an endless life, of which
that which he passes under my care, while but the beginning, may
determine all the rest.'

"In a letter six months later, he writes:--

"'It gives me much pleasure to be able to state that Johnny
S---continues to grow in favor with us all. Having been reclaimed from
his vagrant habits, which at first clung pretty close to him, he may now
be said to be a steady and industrious boy.

"'I have not had occasion, since he has been under my care, to reprove
him so often as once even, having found gentle and kindly admonition
quite sufficient to restrain him. He is affectionate in disposition,
very truthful, and remarkably free from the use of profane or rough
language. I find less occasion to look after him than is usual with
children of his age, in order to ascertain that the animals intrusted to
his care are well attended to, etc.

"' * * * Johnny is now a very good speller out of books, reads quite
fairly, and will make a superior penman--an apt scholar, and very fond
of his books. I have been his teacher thus far. He attends regularly a
Sabbath School, of which I have the superintendence, and the religious
services which follow,'"

The effort to place the city-children of the street in country families
revealed a spirit of humanity and kindness, throughout the rural
districts, which was truly delightful to see. People bore with these
children of poverty, sometimes, as they did not with their own. There
was--and not in one or two families alone--a sublime spirit of patience
exhibited toward these unfortunate little creatures, a bearing with
defects and inherite