That the sailor-boys are in such demand for
merchant ships, that whereas, before they were
trained. 10/. premium used to be given with
each boy—too often to some greedy brute
of a drunken skipper, who disappeared before
the term of apprenticeship was out, if the ill-used
boy didn't—captains of the best character
now take these boys more than willingly, with
no premium at all? That they are also much
esteemed in the Royal Navy, which they prefer,
"because everything is so neat and clean and
orderly"? Or, is there any proof in Naval
captains writing, " Your little fellows are all that I
can desire"? Or, is there any proof in such
testimony as this: " The owner of a vessel
called at the school, and said that as his ship
was going down Channel on her last voyage,
with one of the boys from the school on board,
the pilot said, 'It would be as well if the royal
were lowered; I wish it were down.' Without
waiting for any orders, and unobserved by the
pilot, the lad, whom they had taken on board
from the school, instantly mounted the mast
and lowered the royal, and at the next glance
of the pilot to the masthead, he perceived that
the sail had been let down. He exclaimed,
' Who's done that job?' The owner, who was
on board, said, ' That was the little fellow whom
I put on board two days ago.' The pilot
immediately said, ' Why, where could he have been
brought up?' That boy had never seen the sea
or been on a real ship before"? Or, is there
any proof in these boys being in greater demand
for Regimental Bands than the Union can meet?
Or, in ninety-eight of them having gone into
Regimental Bands in three years? Or, in twelve
of them being in the band of one regiment? Or,
in the colonel of that regiment writing, "We
want six more boys; they are excellent lads"?
Or, in one of the boys having risen to be
band-corporal in the same regiment? Or, in
employers of all kinds chorusing, " Give us drilled
boys, for they are prompt, obedient, and punctual"?
Other proofs I have myself beheld with
these Uncommercial eyes, though I do not regard
myself as having a right to relate in what social
positions they have seen respected men and
women who were once pauper children of the
Stepney Union.

Into what admirable soldiers others of these
boys have the capabilities for being turned, I
need not point out. Many of them are always
ambitious of military service; and once upon a
time when an old boy came back to see the old
place, a cavalry soldier all complete, with his
spurs on, such a yearning broke out to get into
cavalry regiments and wear those sublime
appendages, that it was one of the greatest
excitements ever known in the school. The girls
make excellent domestic servants, and at
certain periods come back, a score or two at a time,
to see the old building, and to take tea with the
old teachers, and to hear the old band, and see
the old ship with her masts towering up above
the neighbouring roofs and chimneys. As to
the physical health of these schools, it is so
exceptionally remarkable (simply because the
sanitary regulations are as good as the other
educational arrangements), that when MR. TUFNELL,
the Inspector, first stated it in a report, he was
supposed, in spite of his high character, to have
been betrayed into some extraordinary mistake
or exaggeration. In the moral health of these
schools—where corporal punishment is unknown—
Truthfulness stands high. When the ship
was first erected, the boys were forbidden to go
aloft, until the nets, which are now always there,
were stretched as a precaution against accidents.
Certain boys, in their eagerness, disobeyed the
injunction, got out of window in the early
daylight, and climbed to the masthead. One boy
unfortunately fell, and was killed. There was
no clue to the others; but all the boys were
assembled, and the chairman of the Board
addressed them. "I promise nothing; you see
what a dreadful thing has happened; you know
what a grave offence it is that has led to such,
a consequence; I cannot say what will be done
with the offenders; but, boys, you have been
trained here, above all things, to respect the
truth. I want the Truth. Who are the delinquents?"
Instantly, the whole number of boys
concerned, separated from the rest and stood out.

Now, the head and heart of that gentleman (it
is needless to say, a good head and a good heart)
have been deeply interested in these schools for
many years, and are so still; and the establishment
is very fortunate in a most admirable master,
and moreover the schools of the Stepney Union
cannot have got to be what they are, without
the Stepney Board of Guardians having been
earnest and humane men, strongly imbued with
a sense of their responsibility. But what one
set of men can do in this wise, another set of
men can do; and this is a noble example to all
other Bodies and Unions, and a noble example
to the State. Followed, and enlarged upon by
its enforcement on bad parents, it would clear
London streets of the most terrible objects they
smite the sight with—myriads of little children
who awfully reverse Our Saviour's words, and
are not of the Kingdom of Heaven, but of the
Kingdom of Hell.

Clear the public streets of such shame, and
the public conscience of such reproach? Ah!
Almost prophetic, surely, the child's jingle:

When will that be,
Say the bells of Step-ney!

THE COMMENTARIES OF ABD-EL-
KADER.

A FRENCH soldier—General Daumas—who
has spent sixteen years in Algeria, and for two
years was a consul accredited to Abd-el-Kader,
has written a book, gathered from Arab
authorities, upon that sweet subject of feminine
song, " the Arab steed;" and, to the successive
chapters of the French general's book, comments
are added by the Emir Abd-el-Kader. It is the
Arab Steed, set as a duet for two male voices.
The curiously-amusing book is now translated
into English by Mr, James Hutton. Let us