136 THE heart's-ease. 



between the donor, and the gleeful recipients of 

 those gifis. Gravity was, of course, out of the 

 question. I should pity the person who tried to 

 look solemn among our dear Irish children, when 

 the work of the school is over. Neither fluttering 

 rags, ill-suited to repel the season's cold, nor 

 naked feet, cut and bruised by the filthy pavement 

 of St. Giles, nor famished forms that bespoke the 

 weekly fast, could counterbalance the mirthful as- 

 pect wherewith they approached the pile of cake, 

 and the delighted grin of each farewell obeisance. 

 My poor dear Irish children ! Why do so few 

 among the wealthy ones of London take thought 

 for that swarming hive of ever active beings, who, 

 by a little devotion of time, a little sacrifice of the 

 unrighteous mammon, might be trained to industry, 

 and piety, and peace ! Alas ! even of those who 

 partook of D.'s parting feast, are not there now 

 many to be found in the dens of profligacy, or the 

 dungeons of detected crime ? It is the shame, 

 and will prove the curse of Christian England, 

 that the very heart and centre of her gorgeous 

 metropolis should form a throne on which Satan 

 is permitted to hold an almost unquestioned reign 

 over her empire. Many a missionary is girding 

 himself to the work of the Lord in foreign lands : 

 but few are the missionaries who will step fifty 

 yards out of their daily patli, to carry the light of 



