The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-27 00:00:00

TRAFFIC IN CHILDREN.

It may be feared that the practice of parents selling
their children to wandering musicians, which certain
continental Governments are now taking steps to check,
may be introduced into this country. On Friday, the
Board of Guardians in Wolverhampton had before them
a case which it may be well hoped is without precedent
here, notwithstanding that the business air which per-
vades the whole transaction would point to an opposite
conclusion. Some days before, a girl of 8 years, who
had learnt to play a mouth instrument, and was travelling
with a musician, who is supposed to be a Swede named
France Wolff, appealed for protection to two gentlemen,
residents of Wolverhampton, who were passing along the
Bilston-road (a highway on the fringe of the town), just
as she had been beaten by Wolff. The gentlemen at once
took the child to the Union. There it transpired that her
home was Exeter, that she was the daughter of a widow,
who had been prevailed upon by Wolff to let him have the
child at even as early an age as four years, since which
time she had not seen her mother, nor had Wolff gone back
to Exeter during any part of that time. They travelled
from town to town, and Wolff had a house at Kate's-hill,
Dudley, but he was seldom there. She alone was now
travelling with him. At one time he had as many as four
girls wandering with him. The clerk to the guardians
communicated with Exeter, and on Friday a letter was
read to the board, which the child's mother had written.
The poor woman wrote by the name of Mary Harris, said
that she was a widow and in service, and expressed herself
as" truly thankful thatshe had heard of her child at last."
She had placed the case in the hands of the Exeter police,
but had not had any tidings for two years. At that time
Wolff sent her a document to sign, "promising to give her
£26 for the child, but she refused till she knew if it was
well treated.° Wolff, however, neither took the child
to her, nor would he pay her railway fare to them, either
of which she expressed her wish for him to do. She
begged the guardians to allow her daughter to remain in
the workhouse "till she could raise money enough to get
her restored to her." In proof that Wolff had "no right
to the child," she enclosed the document he had wished
her to sign. Here it is :—"I, Mary Harris (widow) do
hereby agree to give my only daughter, Mary Ann
Harris, to France Wolff, to take her as his own child,
and to learn his profession, from January the Ist, 1867,
until January the Ist, 1877, after which time my child
shall have her free will to say or leave_ the said France
Wolff ; and in case of no fresh agreement on both
parties, France Wolff will be compelled to give my
daughter, Mary Ann Harris, necessary and respectable
clothing, and £26 English money, which the said France
Wolff will have to pay her for her own benefit. Witness
—signed by my own hand—signed this Ist day of January,
1867. France Wolff, professor, of music, singing, and
dancing," It is easy to understand how destitute mothers
may be imposed upon by such sham " agreements," and
children thereby become hopeless outcasts. Of course, in
this case, the child remains for a time in the care of the
Wolverhampton guardians.

A BROAD CHURCH CLERGYMAN UPON

MR. BOYD.

A Broad Church clergyman has been writing about the
Twelve Days' Mission for the Daily New. Ho is evidently
much taken up by Mr. Body. He spent the last night of
the mission not at St. Alban's where the grand service
took place ; but hearing Mr. Body. " Perhaps (he says) no
stronger proof of the fascination exercised by mere fluency
of speech and earnestness of purpose could be adduced than
this man's power to bring me thither evening after
evening at the sacrifice of so much valuable time, and
amid influences not altogether congenial. If I, who
could sit there coldly criticising even his most
telling " hits," felt this fascination, what of the sensitive
females, and men more impressionable than myself, whom
I saw there, with the tears they tried to conceal actually
bursting through the hands with which they covered their
faces? I certainly never saw such a sight outside or inside
the walls of a church as I have seen at All Saints'. One
hour and a quarter before sermon-time there was
crowd in Margaret-street. At ten minutes past seven,
when the outer gates were opened, the rush resembled
a Jenny Lind night in olden time at the Opera.
The church was filled in a few minutes; for many
persons—members of the regular congregations we will
presume—were admitted through the clergy-house. Then
ensued a time of conversation ; not light, flippant talk—
I witnessed no one single instance of that—but, both
before the service and also between the sermon and Bible-
class, there was deep, earnest conversation of men on
religious topics. The sermon, to my thinking, was Mr.
Body's chef d'oeuvre. Its subject was Perseverance ;
its text the suggestive one, Let us run with patience
rice that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our ann. 1v was
not to be forgotten ; more quietly delivered. and truer to
its logicical divisions, than any that had preceded it. Its
subject was characteristically summarised by the preacher
as Christian Pluck.' The Bible-study that succeeded was
an eloquent picture of the condition of the Departed in
Paradise, and an appeal by that softest of all sanctions
to perseverance. When the mother was pointed
to the arms of her dead baby-boy beckoning
her forward, or the young man urged by the
love of a lost mother, one can well understand the
sensation (I wrote that word unadvisedly, and not
with its new meaning) produced. Looking round analy-
tically, I could not but confess I had seen as much feeling
evoked by a powerful drama. I have seen grey-headed
men weeping at Mrs. Mellon's impersonation of the mother
at the foot of the guillotine where her son is to be exe-
cuted, in Mr. Watts Phillips' Dead Heart' Will this prove
more lasting? I believe each does good; but one, we know,is
ephemeral. lam only echoing the preacher's own anxious
and often-expressed doubt. Will this `sensation' prove
more permanent? The experiment of this mission has
been cleverly elaborated and successfully worked out as
far as immediate result goes. I saw strict Roman Catho-
lics and ultra-Evangelicals, in whose nostrils All Saints
has been hitherto unsavoury, gathered in last
night's congregation. Will the cohesive power
last ? Whatever else be the upshot of all this, it
proves we have at least one Boanerges amongst us, the
Rev. Mr. Body," of ' Wolverhampton. I felt a little likc
Iscariot, I must confess, when, passing out by the side
door, I found Mr. Body, arrayed in priest's cloak, standing
there to shake hands with members of the congregation as
they passed. I thought I might get by unobserved; but
no, he insisted on a shake, and said, in a cheery tone,
Good bye; your face is very familiar to me
at this mission, though I don't know your name. Are
you working in London ? ' I did not tell him my name ;
I only told him half my work; and omitted to mention
that I was doing the mission for the Daily .21-cws. You
will recognise me now, Mr. Body ; but I believe you can
sympathise with, though you may not share, my views as
a Broad Churchman. I wonder whether, had you known
my mission, you would have felt as I did, that I was
grasping the hand of an honest man at all events."

There are at present 300 German newspapers or
periodicals of various kinds in the United States, exclusive
of journals, such as the Agriculturist, which, though ap-
pearing in English, publish an edition at the same time in
the German language.
WILKIE COLLINS AND THE DUTCH PUBLISHERS.
—Mr. Wilkie Collins publishes a rather curious correspon-
dence he has had with a firm of Dutch publishers. He
was startled one day recently by receiving a letter from
Messrs. Belinfante Brothers, of The Hague, addressing
him as " Madame," and requesting permission to reprint
his new story of "Man and Wife" in the "Stuivera
Magazyn," a copy of which they offered him "with
the greatest pleasure." Unfortunately they offered
nothing else, and this brought the indignant author
down upon them in great force. At the outset he ventures
to set them right "on a trifling matter of detail." " I
avow it with sincere regret, but the interests of truth are
sacred. The trumpet of Fame, gentleman, has played the
wrong tune in your ears. lam not the charming person
whom you suppose me to be. I wear trousers; I have a
vote for Parliament; I possess a beard; in two dreadful
words, I am—a Man. This little error set right, let us
return to business." He says outright—there is " a much
better way than giving me the magazine. It is quite a
new idea; you might give me some money." Forestalling
the possible objection that that the publisher's profits are
miserably small, he observes :—" Call the profits, if you
like, a shilling a week, and give me the indescribable satis-
faction of seeing for thirty or forty weeks to come, this
entry in my banker's book,—By Messrs. Belinfante Brothers,
Sense of Justice, 6d. My friend, Baron von Tauchnitz, of Lep
gig, reprints my books for continental circulation. n. He is not
obliged by law to pay me a farthing for doing so, but he
invariably does pay me, nevertheless. His own sense of
honour is law enough, in this' particular, for Baron von
Tauchnitz. Is their own sense of honour not law enough,
also, in this particular, for Messrs. Beliufanto Brothers ?"
Whereupon the Dutchmen thank M. Collins for setting
them right on the detail of gender, which has the advan-
tage of enabling them to " dispense with the laws of
gallantry and bo merely practical in our answer,"
Tauchnita, they observe, reprints Mr, Collins's books in
English, while they wish to do so in Dutoh " fora small
drole of readers." They will pay their translator for his
trouble (Mr. Collins asked this question), but we are left
to infer that they cannot afford to pay Mr. Collins in
addition, However, as the English author had fired a
shot at them on the question of "dignity,' they decline to
reprint his story without his. permission ; but they add,
" TOrs have the eft*, of leaving yolq book us-
transl,494 f st4pv 9 tdolt publiell6r, e; logs korilpulo , will
• ; • .• • •
. tokYtatit-; • nortiying