The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-25 00:00:00

SOME OF .1111 S. GLADSTONE'S PATIENTS.

Mrs. Gladstone's Convalescent Home at Wood-
ford was opened for thirty beds, and even in
the short time it has been at work it has done an
immense amount of good. Good food, good nurs-
ing, and pure air, work wonders with those the
root of whose malady has been want and impure
conditions of living. One woman went out in a week;
two little children, who were carried in on Saturday
night unable to walk through weakness, were play-
ing about on Thursday when we went down, as
bright and lively as if nothing had been the matter
with them. The whole family,to which these belong,
save one out of work, had been down in a fever ;
father a consumptive shoemaker, mother, and six
children. The fever had been brought into the fa•
Daily through one of the children playing in an in-
fected house. One of the children is in Victoria
Park Hospital, four are at Clapton, and the fifth
will come there when the boils, with which he is at
present afflicted, are a little healed. This family is
fearfully poor, but has struggled hard to keep re-
spectable and off the parish. They hare always
contrived, they say, with a flush of honest pride to
have one meal a day ; and if they have no food
in the morning, they have worked for it and
earned it by night. None of the children can
read or write ; they all " help father" so soon as
their little hands can sew or punch ; and they are
made practical, poor little souls ! rather than lite-
rate. One patient, a law stationer, was quite a
smart-looking young man, though absolutely penni-
less and friendless. When he first came in, he was
the only male patient, and as all the men are in one
house by themselves, and the women in the other by
themselves, he was moped and low-spirited. So they
sent for a companion for him, and got a painter,
crippled with gouty rheumatism, with small can-
non-balls on his finger joints which he rapped as
unconcernedly as if they had been made of iron ; a
douce fatherly man, who bad been nine times in
St. George's Hospital, and who took his troubles
with almost Mohammedan resignation. Patients,
however, are received from their own homes as well
as from hospitals ; and admission is absolutely free,
both to the sender and the patient.—Dickens's " All
he Year Round."

The rumour that the Duke of Cambridge had
resigned the post of Commander-in-Chief, and would be
succeeded by Lord Strathnairn, has not the remotest
foundation in fact. _ .

A Cabinet Council was held to-day at the resi-
dence of tho First Lord of the Treasury in Downing-
street, and the Prime Minister will give the first Minis-
terial dinner of the season to-night.
QUEEN'S CONCERT ROOMS, HANOVER-SQUARE.—
T his evening (Tuesday) Mrs. Lafontaine Erskine will give
an entertainment hero of more than ordinary interest. It
will consist of readings from the best authors, and a
musical performance of a very interesting and singular
nature. Report speaks highly of the talents of Mrs.
Erskine as a " Reader." The instrumentalists are Sig-
norina Vittorina de Bono, Signor Luigi de Bono, and
Miss Julia Lafontaine.
The Great Western of Canada Railway traffic
return for the week ending the 21st inst. shows a
decrease of £1,692 compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year.
Captain Pullen, R.N., having served his full
time, Captain Conolly, R.N., has succeeded to the
command of her Majesty's ship Penelope, at Ilar-