232 GEOEGB JOHN EOMANES I88I- 



sooner or later a sonnet sent to them on some special 

 occasion.. 



As the years went on he became more interested 

 in work amongst the poor, and longed to take up 

 some special line. For a while he set up a small 

 school in a slum near the Euston Eoad, in which he 

 tried to attract the very poorest boys who had 

 managed to elude the vigilance of the School Board. 

 His plan was to have only morning school, and to 

 give the children their dinner. The School Board 

 officer came to his aid, and the school was maintained 

 for one or two winters. 



He visited the school regularly, and on one 

 occasion, finding that a boy had been grossly rude to 

 the mistress, he gave the young scamp a sound 

 whipping. 



For other people's interests in the way of work he 

 had much sympathy ; he several times went down to 

 the Christ Church mission at Poplar when the Eev. 

 H. L. Paget was in charge, and he lectured at Toynbee 

 Hall and at the Oxford House. 



Of the work of the clergy as a whole Romanes 

 always spoke most warmly ; of the pecuHar dishke of 

 and suspicion of ' black coats,' so often attributed to 

 laymen in general and to scientific men in particular, 

 he had no trace, and as years went on he used to be 

 gently chaffed for his clerical tendencies and the way 

 in which he was consulted as to the bearings of 

 Science on Religion. 



Two new correspondents were now added to Mr. 

 Romanes' list. Professor Joseph Le Conte, of the 

 University of California, and the Rev. J. Gulick, who 

 was, and is still, an American missionary in Japan. 

 Of Mr. Gulick's scientific attainments, Mr. Romanes 

 entertained a very high opinion. Unfortunately, none 

 of the letters to Mr. Gulick have come to hand. 



Of Mr. Le Conte's book, ' Evolution and Religious 



