monster who had the cruelty to attack and kill poor little Fluffy like this.

We were all very much grieved at his death, and Cecil was especially so, because he was his rabbit, and also because, if he had not forgotten to fasten the door of the hutch that evening, he might never have met with this terrible end. Fluffy could not, of course, be stuffed like poor Jack; but Cecil took off his skin before he buried him, and papa told him what to do to preserve it; and for a long time, Cecil used to carry Fluffy's dear little skin about with him wherever he went, and I believe he took it to bed with him at night. He also had some of Fluffy's hair put into a little locket, which he wore fastened by a bit of string to his button-hole.

Some time after Fluffy's death, Cecil wished very much to have some more rabbits; so he saved up his pocket-money until he had enough to buy a pair of young ones. Unfortunately, however, one of them died the very night after they came, and the next morning the other died also. The gardener said that it was from the cold, and that they were too young to come away from their mother. Cecil was so sorry, because he had been saving up all his pocket-money to buy these little rabbits, and it would be a long time before he would have enough to get any more. When he came home from school, however, that day, mamma sent him out into the yard to fetch something; and what was his surprise, to see two little white noses peeping out between the bars of the rabbit hutch! Cecil could hardly believe his eyes at first; but when he went to look, he found two large rabbits in the hutch. They were such beauties; one was sandy and white, and the other gray. Cecil guessed directly that mamma knew something about them, because she had smiled when she sent him out into the yard; so he went to ask her, and he found that, when she had heard that the two little rabbits which Cecil had bought were dead, she asked James, the gardener, if he knew where she could get two more, and James happened to have heard

Ragged School Reminiscences.

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of a man who had some to sell; so mamma sent him to buy them at once, and had them put into the hutch before Cecil came home from school.

These rabbits we have now. We call them Sandy and Gray; and when mamma was in Reading, she bought two little bells to hang round their necks. We tied them on with a piece of blue ribbon, which looked so pretty; but the naughty bunnies bit the ribbon through directly, so now they wear the bells fastened to little red leather collars.

We are very fond of these rabbits, and we often take them out in the garden, and let them run about upon the lawn, and they look so nice upon the green grass. But we have not forgotten our first rabbit, poor Fluffy! and his sad end; and I hope we shall always remember to be careful with these, in feeding them and keeping the door of the hutch shut, for no one can tell what terrible things may happen from one act of forgetfulness or carelessness.

RAGGED SCHOOL REMINISCENCES.

CONCLUDING PAPER.

AVING already told you of Mothers' Meetings, of the Shoeblack Brigade, the Clothing Fund, and the Penny Banks, all of which are now in full operation, there is little left but to tell of some other schemes which have been tried, but have not succeeded as well. I cannot say why, for their objects seem excellent: it must be from there being no one to devote the large amount of time required for managing these undertakings, and also very often from want of funds.

A plan was tried at the West End of London to send out little girls with pails and brushes, early in the morning, to clean door-steps. These were called Steppers,

and they liked the employment; but somehow it has been discontinued, I believe, on account of the expense. I am sorry for it, as there is always more difficulty in getting girls employed than boys. There are many boys, from almost every school, who go before breakfast to gentlemen's houses to clean knives and boots, getting so much a-week, and their breakfast: you may be sure they like that work.

In many schools the boys are taught to make and mend their own clothes: you would be surprised to see how well they sew, and how generally fond they are of being in what is called the boys' patching class.

The last great effort was getting up what was called the Rag Brigade-how my young readers will laugh at the name! but I can assure them that the youths of that corps were not to be laughed at. You must not think that they go about in rags; they were well dressed, wearing a scarlet uniform similar to that of a portion of the Shoeblack Brigade. These boys were to call upon families and take away rags, paper, bottles, broken glass -almost anything, in fact, that was generally thrown into the fire or dust-hole. Twelve big boys from one or two schools in the East End of London were selected, and put in uniform, and six nice covered trucks, painted scarlet, with 'Rag Brigade' in large letters on them, and numbered, were provided. These were each to be drawn by two boys. Then a yard in the city was taken, and a superintendent chosen,-one in whom perfect confidence could be placed, and who could write and keep accounts. The choice fell on a young man who had been entirely educated at the school I work at now, and to which I have belonged so many years. He was one of those superior people you occasionally meet with in humble life,—one of nature's gentlemen. Many offered themselves for the office, but no one more suitable could have been selected. There was also an assistant, an elderly person. A regular tariff was made out of what was to be paid for rags, torn-up letters, old newspapers,

medicine bottles, old umbrellas, etc. ; in fact, for almost anything that fills a house with refuse.

At last everything was prepared, and the boys in their scarlet tunics, with shoes well polished with blacking, and faces well polished with soap, set out in full procession from their yard in the city, headed by their superintendent, to pay their first visit to our noble Earl, at his mansion in Grosvenor Square. They had more than two miles to go through the most crowded parts of London, and much interest they excited, and proud boys they

were.

I had a letter from one of them, giving an account of their reception in Grosvenor Square; how Lord and Lady Shaftesbury came, and expressed admiration of the trucks, and rewarded the boys with something very acceptable in the way of food; after which they paraded round the square. The letter concluded, ' a more noble procession never passed our noble Earl's door.'

This brigade was succeeding well, and meeting with great encouragement. I don't say it was self-supporting; but still, with the aid of subscriptions, they managed to get on, under the superintendence of two gentlemen who devoted an immense amount of time and trouble in looking over the manager's accounts, collecting money, and, in fact, keeping the wheels in motion. One day, however, they got notice to quit their yard, where all the articles daily gathered were taken to, sorted, and then sold to those people who make use of the various things collected. It being wanted for some city improvements, they had to leave at a very short notice; and such is the crowded state of the city, that not another place could be got to carry on operations in. For the present, therefore, the Rag Brigade is in abeyance; but so soon as a suitable place can be found, it will be started afresh.

Two years since there was a very nice exhibition in the Agricultural Hall, Islington,-one of the largest buildings in England. This was to show the work of the various Homes and Reformatories in all Europe, and even

from Cairo ; for Miss Whately's Mothers' Class, connected with the Ragged School in that place, sent some very nice articles. I cannot enter into a description of that charming exhibition, which was opened by the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 'our noble Earl,' and many other great and good men. The Prince spent much time looking at the various stalls, and making many purchases, one a reading table for the Princess, sent from a Reformatory not far from Edinburgh ; but when he came to the place set aside for the Rag Brigade, and saw the boys cutting up white and coloured rags, selecting postage stamps from torn letters, sorting bottles of one size, and saw every conceivable thing generally thought use less, he stopped to inquire what it could possibly mean, and was more amused at the Rag Brigade turning a penny out of such apparently useless materials, than at anything else he saw at the exhibition, which certainly was a charming one. The work sent from the German Reformatories was the most beautiful of any. Ladies took charge of the foreign stalls, while our own Reformatories and Ragged Schools sent their own masters and mistresses with a certain number of boys and girls, who carried on their different occupations, so that there was carpentering, lace-making, shoemaking, and tailoring, and all kinds of needlework; but what amused the prince most was a miniature laundry.

I hope my readers have been pleased with these reminiscences. If it has afforded pleasure in reading them, it has also given me much in recalling many of these scenes. I hope that, when my young friends are old enough, they too will become Ragged School workers. They will never regret the hours thus spent, and they will have a rich reward; for in becoming a help to those who have so little to make them happy, they will be following in the footsteps of the blessed Redeemer, who was ever the Friend of the poor and needy.

G. J.