The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

M. Victor Hugo's Bounty.

(From the Star of Guernsey.)
M. Victor Hugo, on Thursday last made, at his
residence, Hauteville House, his Christmas distri-
bution of clothing to the poor children of all coun-
tries and religious denominations, whom he weekly
receives at his house to dinner—about 40 in num-
ber. The interesting ceremony took place in the
presence of a large concourse of ladies and gentle-
men, amongst whom were many members of the
first families of the island.

The children, having partaken of an abundant

luncheon, were conducted into one of the drawing-
rooms, where, on a table, was spread out a liberal
supply of useful clothing for children of both sexes.
The distribution of these articles having been com-
pleted, M. Victor Hugo addressed the crowded
assemblage to the following effect

" Ladies and Gentlemen, —You are aware of the
object of this little meeting. It is what, for want of a
better term, I call the festival of poor little children.
I desire to speak of it in the humblest terms, and
with this feeling I would borrow the simplicity of
ono of these little ones who now hear me. To do
good to poor children, as far as lam able, is the
object that 1 have now in view, Believe me, there is
no merit in the act, and what I say I sincerely mean.
There is no merit in doing for the poor what we can,
for what we can do it is a duty to do. Do you know
anything more sad than the sufferings of children ?
When we suffer--we who are men—we suffer justly,
we endure nothing but what we deserve ; but chil-
dren are innocent ; and suffering innocence, is it not
the saddest thing in nature? Here Providence en-
trusts us with a portion of its own functions. God
says to man—l confide to thee the child. And he
does not confide to us our own children alone—for
it is simply natural that we should have care for
them—and the brute obeys this law of
nature better sometimes than man himself.
God entrusts us with all the child
that suffer. To be the father, the
mother of
poor children—this is our highest mission. To
have towards them the parental feeling is to have a
fraternal feeling towards humanity."
M. Victor Hugo expressed a hope that the de-
plorable term " ragged " would soon disappear
from the beautiful and noble English language, and
also that there would be no longer a ragged class.
He then dwelt on the fact that cholera had not
attacked one of the children thus fed in London.
Nothing, he thought, could speak more forcibly in
favour of the institution, and he left the result to
the consideration of those who now beard him, con-
cluding in the following terms :—" Here, ladies and
gentlemen, here is my excuse for describing to you
what takes place here. This is what justifies the
publicity given to the dinner. It is that from
this humble origin there arises a considerable amelio-
ration in the condition of suffering innocence. To
relieve children—to train them into men—such is
our duty. I will add but one word more. There
are two ways of building churches. They may be
built of stones—they may be built of flesh and bone.
The poor whom you have succoured are a church
that you have built from whence prayer and grati-
tude ascend to God."

At the conclusion of this address, the children,
followed by the spectators, adjourned to another
drawing-room, where they found a splendid Christ-
mas tree covered with toys, which were distributed
among the happy objects of M. Victor itugo's
bounty.

In an adjoining room a handsome collation was
provided for the visitors, who departed highly de-
lighted with their visit to Ilauteville House, and
with the courteous reception they had_met with.