jam.

It is a very good thing to think they are all being well taught and
looked after and helped to turn into honest men and women, but it is
very sad to think there are so many boys and girls whose parents don't
want them, and will willingly give them away; and we can't help feeling
that it can never be quite a happy place, for every child must feel that
it is only one in a crowd of others, and that no one loves it
especially.

In old times it was the fashion for good men and women to found schools
for children where all the children had to wear a particular sort of
dress, and some of these were called Blue-coat Schools, and some
Green-coat, and some Gray-coat; but they are very different now, and the
children don't wear the dress they used to. There is one very big
school, which went from London into the country, called the Blue-coat
School; this is just like any other school where big boys go, except
that the boys never wear hats, and have bright yellow stockings and a
long sort of skirt on to their coats, which must be very awkward for
them when they want to play cricket or football. What do you think they
do with it then? They just tuck the long skirt into their belts, and
run about like that, and very funny it looks. They will find this dress
even more awkward in the country than it was in London. The beautiful
school buildings that were begun by King Edward VI., who was a clever
and learned boy himself, and always tried to help other boys to learn,
are now pulled down. This is a great pity, and it will be a greater pity
still if the curious old dress is done away with and the boys dress just
like all other boys. It must be very odd never to wear a hat, whether it
rains or whether the sun shines; but I suppose the boys get used to
that, and would feel uncomfortable in a hat. This school is called
Christ's Hospital as well as the Blue-coat School, so, you see, here is
another instance of the word 'hospital' being used to mean a school or
home.

In old days the Blue-coat boys used to have a very hard time; their food
was bad, and they did not get enough of it, and they ate it off wooden
platters. There is a story told that the boys had a custom of never
eating the fat of a particular sort of meat; they called it 'gags,' and
though they might be very hungry they would never touch this fat. But
one day they saw a boy go and gather up all the 'gags' that his
companions had left, and take them away in his handkerchi