The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-23 00:00:00

TUE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENV:G, DECEMBER 23, 1859.

•
(I.ONSERVATIVE LAND SOCIETY.-
°'S J) ROMAN ROAD ESTATE, OLD FORD (No. 2). The
piece of land, bounded by the Tredegar, Cardigan, and Park
Roads, and opposite St. Stephen's Church, will be, on,Wed-
nesday, January 18, 1860, allotted. For particulars, apply to
the Secretary, 33, Njrfolk-street, Strand, W.C. Prospectuses,
explaining share, deposit, land, and borrowing departments,
tree of charge. Plans 6d., by post 7d. •

METROPOLITAN, COUNTIES, AND
GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.
27, Regent-street, Waterloo-place, London, S.W.
Life Assurance, Annuities, and 'Endowments. •
Loans on real and personal security.
F. FERGUSON CA3IROUX, Manager.

[IFE ASSURANCE. - ADVICE OFFICE,
No. 1, Finch-lane, Cornhill. LIFE POLICY HOLDERS
and you WHO 3IEAN TO INSURE YOUR LIVES, write to Messrs.
DAVIES and Co. for their prospectus. It' is to be had for
asking for. It will show you how to convert your present Policy
into a Jewel of INTRINSIC VALUE. How to make that
Policy, which now requires your constant care and watchful-
nesteto'saye it from extinction, an INALIENABLE PRO-
PERTY, available for present use as well as future com.olation.
To study that prospectus, and act as it directs. may be the
means, when you are dead, of saving those who are dearest
to you from insolvency and want. Proofs unfortunately are
not wanting that such things have come to pass through the
agency of a policy of assurance.

.
County. Head Office.
Aldborough .. York..
Amble Northumberland Acklington
Bishopstoko Hants Winchester
Bradfield .... Berks
Chaccwater .. Cornwall Truro
Cheddar Somerset Weston-super. Mare
Devoran Cornwall
Ham-street .. Kent Ashford
Hatfield York Rotherham
Holbrook .... Suffolk lpwich
Hove Sussex
Llanbrynmair Montgomery
Netherton.... Worcester
New Quay .. Cornwall Bodmin
Rudgwick.... Sussex
St. Fagans .. Glamorgan
Salcombe .... Devon
Silverdale .... Stafford Newcastle-undr-Lytle
Swineshead .. Lincoln
Torpoint .1%. Cornwall
5. The Money-Order Office at "Abbey Reline" (Car-
lisle), will in future be called "Abbey Town."

SCOTLAND.

6. A Money-Order Office will be opened at—
County. Head Office.
Aberchirder.. Banff Banff

7. The Money-Order Offices at Backhaven, Cullivoe,
Lochinyer, and St. Rellox (Glasgow), havo been discon-
tinued.
8. The Money• Order Office at " Bowmore" (Greenock)
will in future be called "Bridgend."

IRELAND.
9. Money• Order Offices will be opened at—
County. Head Office.
Bangor-Erris Mayo Balling
Crookhaven .. Cork
Dromoro .... TTrone Omagh
Dandrum .... Tipperary Cashel
Kiltormer.... Galway Ballinasloe
Sworn Kerry
By command of the Postmaster-General,
ROWLXND HILL, Secretary.
General Post-office, Dec. 21, 1859.

THE C031:11 ER CI 1. TRAVELLERS'

SCHOOLS.

Yesterday evening a dinner was given at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, to the friends
and supporters of these schools, in aid of the funds
Of the institution—Mr. Charles Dickens in the chair.
Among The company present were Mr. Alderman
Mechi, Sheriffs Phillips and Gabriel, the Rev. M.
Bellew, Dr. Carter Murphy, 12th Regiment, Messrs.
Greatorex, G. Moore, W. Grahatti, De In Rues, For-
ister, &c. Upwards of 100 gentlemen sat down to
an excellent dinner, which was enlivened by the
musical abilitieS of Mr. G. L. Hatton and others.
The children, who presented a healthy and contented
appearance, were marched round the room, and after-
wards sang with taste and correctness one or two
part songs, to the apparent gratification of every
one present.
• The usual loyal and patriotic toasts having been

gitp n,
The CHAIRMAN again rose and proceeded to give
the toast of the evening, "Prosperity to the Com-
mercial Travellers' Schools." He was told (he said)
it was once said by a lady who kept a commercial
boarding-house in the neighbourhood of the Monu-
ment, named Mrs. Todgers—(loud laughter)—that
ago such strong passion existed in the human breast
as that of commercial ge ten for gravy. (Con-
tinued laughter.) He sale, in fact, that no animal
known to butchers or experienced housekeepers
would yield from any of its joints the amount of
gravy that was called for by the peculiarity of the
commercial palate. (Renewed ,laughter.) The
anxiety, the mental anxiety, that this most•esti-
mable lady had undergone from this single cause
was sufficient to undermine the strongest constitu-
tion. (Great laughter.) With this lady's experience
and responsibilities heavy on his soul, he was thrown
into a gloomy state 'of feeling when the duties and
responsibilities of this eventful day loomed and
darkened upon him. " He was disturbed by the
amount of oratorical gravy which he know would
be expected from the head of the table, and his
sorrows were aggravated by his own personal know-
ledge of the-inadequacy of the supply. It was very
small comfort to him to remember that the last time
he had the honour to fill that place the guests were
most kind and considerate. He could not banish
the shadow of Todgers, or get rid of the horrors of
that lady's gravy experiences. In short he was
dreadfully perplexed to know how he should
cut up on the present occasion. (Laughter.).
In this disturbed state of niind he made several
forlorn attempts to get materials for a speech.
He looked through the advertising pages of Brad-
shaw (loud laughter), and asked himself whether
anything could be done with those inviting adver-
tisements of hotels, in which was offered at fixed
charges bed, breakfast, and attendance, with the
additional advantages of a perfect solitude and an
Italian atmosphere. (Laughter.) .He asked himself
despondingly the question whether anything apro-
pos could be got out of the unfortunate porter who
sat up all night, and who never went to bed in the
day time? (Great laughter.) He then started off
by express train of remembrances to another and
much larger hotel at Leeds, where he happened to
be staying about seven weeks before, where the
chamber appurtenances belonged to a period far
anterior to the present, and where the night candles
Were nothing less than mutton truncheous of the
most exaggerated dimensions (roars of laughter),
and couldn't, by any possibility be blown out.
(Great laughter.) He saw in that hotel many
members of the present company next morning
brushing their hats in the hall, and then it occurred
to him whether anything could be done with com-
mercial travellers, and whether any analogy could
be drawn between men who diffused the luxuries
and necessaries of existence and such travellers as
Dr. Livingstone, for instance, who carried the
waters of life into df sert places ; or Capt. M'Clin-
tock and his companions who graved the records of
English modesty, gallantry, and perseverance on
the everlasting ice that surrounded the North Pole.
(Cheers.) He remembered that the best and greatest
of these travellers had been the gentlest and mildest
of men. He asked could he make any parallel between
his friend Mr. Layard, who had brought to light hid-
den memorials of a long extinct people, and Mr. G.
Moore, who sat beside him, who had so splendidly
developed the charitable capabilities of a great
trade. Not getting any assistance from these
sources, ho resolved, like the hero in the fairy tale,
to go out and seek his fortune. He resorted to a
certain friendly giant, a commercial
,giant, with
whom he travelled on until ho came to a fairy
castle, bright red on the outside, and looking quite
glorious in the cold sunlight of a wintry afternoon.
They were not received by the conventional ogre
with ono eye as large as six, but by a person in the
likeness of man, with two bright oyes, and under
whose guidance they inspected the live stock and
eatables of the castle, mainly consisting of milk and
pork. A broad flight of stone stops led to a noble
interior, consisting of cheerful and lofty halls, with
lavatories, dormitories, and a spacions banquetting-
room. He found an admirable dietary table, and
felt that, if it were his good fortune to reside there,
he should be perpetually making pleasant excur-
sions—meanderinF amongst beef, plum pudding,
boiled mutton, with cold meat as an exceptional
mortification. (Laughter.) He found therein 100
male and 50 female young giants, receiving besides
their creature comforts an excellent education, and
saw from the examination papers that an attention
was paid to the actual business of life which was
sometimes neglected in colleges of greater fame and
more ancient foundation. The young giants were
healthy, cheerful, and rational, and were under a
system of moral restraint which was far better
than that application of physical force which always
crushed a timid nature and never bent a stubborn
one. (Loud cheers.) lie met these young giants
returning from a walk, lie spoke to them, and was
much pleased with their free and. fearless mode of
answering, and the pleasant way of looking those
who were placed in authority over them fair and
full in the face. (Loud cheers.) These young
world, for which they were wonderfully well pre-
tgliiaenytswewreerelsb, owaii;deend,filloedygNevde
pared. He made two extraordinary discoveries—
,reansdenetdouucatteindtountthiel
first, that this magic castle had cost £20,000, and
that the money had all been paid by voluntary
subscriptions ; and, secondly, that he had not sought
his fortune in vain, for in this castle he discovered
the materials for his speech. (Loud cheers.) Now
this fairy castle was their own home, and was known
to them all as the Commercial Travellers' Schools.
More solid in brick and stone than the fanciful
creation of the fairy tale, the commercial travellers
in endowing that school were raised in their own
opinion. and in the estimation of their fellow men.
(Hear, hear.) To this castle all who heard him
could acquire right and title by the payment of a
single guinea in each year ; and it would.be amply
endowed if every gentleman " on the road " would
give half a crown on an appointed day in every
year. (Hear, hear.) He wished to God that the
members of his own order would follow the
example of the commercial travellers, and, being
united, do an equal amount of good. Mr. Dickens,
in conclusion, reminded the company that they
could not fait to recognise among the children as
they passed the likenesses of many " old familiar
faces."• He hoped it would bo an isolated case
when a commercial traveller did not belong to
this society, and help these poor children as if they
were his own. With a warm compliment to the
board of management and the head master, lie gave
them " Prosperity to the Commercial Travellers
Schools."
The toast having been acknowledged with enthu-
siasm, the children were introduced, and were much
admired for their healthy and respectable appear-
ande. They sang with much taste and precision
several part songs.
The Rev. Mr. BELLEW, in a humorous speech, re-
plete with quotations from the, Pickwick literature,
proposed the health of the chairman.
Mr. DICKENS briefly rotured thanks, and gave
the health of Mr. Geo. Moore, to whom this insti-
tution was more indebted than to any other human
being. (Loud cheers.) He proposed his health
also because Mr. Moore was the benevolent com-
mercial giant who had accompanied him in his visit
to the fairy castle. He (Mr. Dickens) would not
be the Jack to kill such a giant.
Mr. G. MOORE, after expressing his thanks for
the honour conferred upon him, proceeded to
lay the following accoust of the schools before the
company :—The schools had been established 14
years, and in that time had prevented many of the
children of their friends from now being the in-
mates of workhouses and reformatories. The funded
property of the society amounted to £12,000. Their
income last year was £4,'764, and their expenditure
nearly £5,000 a year, leaving a small deficit, to
liquidate which they looked confidently to sub-
scriptions. lie regretted that the support given
to these schools by the commercial travellers was
unworthy of the profession, and showed that,
although the building would accommodate 120
children, the present funds were inadequate to
support that number. The education given from
first to last was well worth £3OO, and he
wished to impress on them the benefits conferred
by the society, in order that they might comb for-

ward and support it as it deserved. The amount
of subsciiptions announced during the evening was
upwards of £l,OOO. Mr. Harker was the toast-
master on the occasion.