CHAPTER II.

JOHN POUNDS, THE COBBLER.

"They cannot recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."-LUKE xiv. 14.

It was long before the wreck on our sea-shores was valued. Ancient poets called the algae useless. Cast up by the tide, it was allowed to become corrupt and offensive, fit only for manure. But the progress of science made it useful. Iodine, one of the most important chemical elements, can be obtained from kelp, the refuse of the sea. The process is expensive, but it has not been grudged by those who know the worth of the excellent substance that it yields. Recent, also, has been the discovery that the weeds of society can be turned to good account. Banishment and imprisonment were formerly their general goal. Few cared for them,few hoped for their reformation,-fewer still tried to benefit them. A new era in benevolence has now, however, arrived. Ornaments and useful members may be gained to society from the wreck of human life in our large towns. The process of reformation is not so expensive as that of transportation, but the effect is an unspeakable gain. The cost of a prisoner is in Scotland about £16 per annum, and in England about £24, exclusive of the buildings in which they are incarcerated. In ragged schools the cost per annum is about £5 for each boy. In the one case we spend between £15 and £30 annually to punish the criminal, but it only requires £5 to prevent a youth becoming a criminal. In the latter case, too, the boy or girl goes forth to the world with a trade, education, and a character,-elements of the greatest moment to his future welfare.

Our knowledge of this possible and practical transformation is recent, but he who imparted it deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance. Like many great reformers in this country, he was not found among the learned or the noble. Like Arkwright and Smeaton, Brindley and Stephenson, who revolutionized the mechanical power of this empire and the world, the author of ragged schools was one of the humblest working men.

Among those who served their generation, and stimulated others to labours of philanthropy, JOHN POUNDS stands conspicuous. He was a native of Portsmouth, and was born on 17th June, 1766. Till disabled, he laboured as a shipwright; but afterwards pursued a more sedentary occupation,-that of mending shoes. He was fond of birds, and his workshop was always lively with their carols. Intrusted with the upbringing of a nephew, who was rendered more interesting by reason of decrepitude, Pounds grew more human in his affection, and turned his attention to the training of his charge. It was solitary for his pupil to learn alone, so his guardian sought another scholar, who might encourage his nephew and be also instructed. The plan succeeded; and as John's work of teaching prospered, he became enthusiastic in it. Though a room of small dimensions circumscribed him, yet it was soon crowded with scholars; and though his shop and school were both in one apartment, he pursued his twofold labour faithfully and happily.

His stock of

He had small means, yet he did not weary. class-books was composed of old handbills and fragments of volumes. But they sufficed for teaching his pupils the art of reading, and hundreds owed all their education and information to the labours of the humble cobbler with the tattered volumes.

He sought out the worst boys that Portsmouth could afford;

and by the aid of the allurements which he contrived, endeavoured to win them to his reformatory. The power of a hot potato was his best argument. "He knew," says one,

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the love of the Irish for this vegetable, and many a ragged urchin did he gain to his humble school by holding under the boy's nose a hot potato." He was frequently seen chasing the wildest youths along the quays of Portsmouth, and returning with them as captives to his benevolence. He preferred "the little blackguards," that he might do good unto those in greatest danger, and confer a benefit on society by removing its most frequent criminals.

He trained his pupils, watching the disposition and abilities of each, and endeavouring to break them into order, obedience, and diligence. And many whom he found in the way of evil, went from the tenement of John Pounds to fill a respectable place in society. It is said that he rescued from misery and saved to society no fewer than five hundred of these children.

He had one talent, and he employed it well. He was the founder of ragged schools; and by his humble and philanthropic labours, gave an example and encouragement to others to reclaim "the children of the perishing and dangerous classes," as Miss Carpenter appropriately calls them. The one pound has indeed gained ten pounds, and in the great number of excellent and self-denying individuals who have established ragged schools throughout the land, we see the fruit of an honest cobbler's labours.

The example has been nobly followed. There are now upwards of a hundred ragged schools in London, and almost every town of the kingdom has its reformatory school. Sheriff Watson, of Aberdeen, was an early follower of Pounds. Lord Shaftesbury, Dr. Guthrie, Miss Carpenter, and others, have also lent their influence and aid to the

necessitous work. The need is great. "The Arabs of the street" were reckoned at two millions and a half in England in 1853. Many of these are very young in crime. The calendar of London showed lately in course of five years, no fewer than thirty-two reputed thieves of seven years of age, and eighty-seven of eight years. In the reform school list, a child of eight is reported as having been fifteen times in the hands of the police.

What is to be done to arrest so great an evil? Schools, and not prisons, are the places for them. Training, not punishment, is required by them. Wherever tried in the right spirit, it has succeeded. Juvenile delinquency is almost suppressed in Aberdeen. At Mettrai, in France, an institution was established, which prospered so well that many similar schools have been erected. At the Rauhe Haus, near Hamburg, and at Dusselthal, there has been remarkable success. The establishment at the Five Points, New York, and the benevolent labours of Mr. Pease, are well known. In Great Britain the ragged school system bids fair to supersede juvenile delinquency. Reformatories are now promoted by Act of Parliament, and are producing blessed fruit.

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How is this reformation-work to be done? Miss Carpenter, in her valuable work on Reformatory Schools, says :→ "First, and above all, there must be in the minds of those who plan, and those who carry out the work, a strong faith in the immortality of the human soul, the universal and parental government of God, and the equal value in his sight of each one of these poor perishing young creatures with the most exalted of our race." It must be done religiously and evangelically. This is the best training and reforming influence. "The only successful steps taken in this enterprise have hitherto been the inspiration of a very positive religious faith," is the testimony of a writer in a late

number of the North American Review. Religion only can reach the root of the evil, and it only can cure the sad dis

ease.

Who are to do this work? Believing men of every rank may do it. The peer and the cobbler have engaged in it. John Pounds had to make his living at a trade to which he was not brought up, yet amidst his struggle for life did he find opportunities for usefulness. Restrained, by his room of eighteen feet by six, from great things, he did what he could. Without sympathy or aid, he did it alone. There is room in this work, reader, for you. Ragged schools are yet too few for those who need them. Were you to attempt to teach and reform one, how blessed a work for the world! Were you to imitate the shoe-mender of Portsmouth, you might save many a youth from crime, and, by God's blessing, many a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.

Independently of the Portsmouth example, an eminent councillor of the embassy at Weimar made a similar and successful attempt. Falk was a native of West Prussia, but resided many years at Weimar. He was a lyric poet, a satirist, and an accomplished litterateur. Pitying the youths who were the remains of the battles of Jena, Lutzen, and Leipzic, he gathered them together, taught and trained them to useful trades. In 1820 he had three hundred dependent on his own means, which were, however, aided by some liberal friends. He built a house by the labours of his scholars, many of whom were by that time journeymen and apprentices. His scheme was thought an eccentricity of benevolence; but when the upright and skilful tradesmen and useful citizens were sent forth, all were persuaded of its value. If the reader, in his sphere, can aid a similar transformation, he will not live in vain.