Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-10-02
THE FATHER OF NOB0DY's OHIL'
DREN.

dismissed his scholars, a lad fingered after
the rest had left; and, on being ordered
also to leave. the boy earnestly pleaded;
"Please, sir, do let me stop. / won't 40
no harm" On being further questioned,
he replied: GAIN got no mother, amt got
no father. no friends. Don't live no
where" As this lad cast his eager gaze
on the fire. he was picture of want and
woe. He had neither shirt, shoes, nor
stockings. Small, sharp eyes, restless and
bright as a rats, cleaned out OF the care
worn features of an old man, which sur
mounted the spare, stunted frame OF
child of ten. The teacher had no falth IN
the boys story. With all his experience
in his school and knowledge of the squalor
and filth of Stepney, he had never heard
of the Bedouin tribe of the "don't-live-no-
where's" who, cold, hungry, and exposed,
nestle in the hidingplace OF the Lohuoh
slums. To test the truth OF the BOY
story, he offered him bride OF conee ana
a light by the fire if he would show him
, where these "don't -live-nowheres Sleep
So they sailed forth in quest OF the sleep
ing quarters of these waits OF the great
Christian city of London. Here is the
scene which met their eyes, as described Oy
Mr.. Stead in his article in the August Re
view OF 1eNleWS, W We "AS
for the materials of this paper:-
There. exposed upon the dome-shaped
roof. with their hands upon the higher
part and their feet somewhat in the gutter,
but in a great variety of pastures, some
coiled up, as one may have seen dogs be-
fore fire, some huddled two or three to-
gether, others more apart lay eleven boys
out Oh the open roof. No covering of any
kind was upon them. The rags that most
of them wore were mere apologies Tor
clothes, apparently quite as bad as, II not
even worse than Jim's. One big fellow
who Law there seemed TO be about Is years
old but the ages of the remainder varied,
| should say from nine to fourteen. Just
then the moon shone clearly out. l have
already said i. was a bitterly cold, dry
night: and, as the pale light of the moon
fell upon the upturned faces of these poor
boys, and as l, standing there, realized Tor
one awful moment the terrible fact that
they were all absolutely homeless and des-
titute, and were perhaps but samples OF
numbers of others, it seemed as though the
hand of God himself had suddenly pulled
aside the curtain which concealed from my
view the miseries of forlorn child-life upon
the streets of London. 4 was fairly
dazed at the thought of it, and only found
Leist-Rhen nom .lp/ trying to solve it,
and thought must do just the one duty
that lay manifestly at my door,-save the
one poor lad, whatever might come of 1t.
This scene haunted him. So the teacher
silently and before God vowed to give him
self henceforth, while life lasted, to save
the Arabs of the street.
Who were these two?
The one was a young man, who in the
e, hana a 4 hriC
tian convert, and had resolved to give him.
self to the Chinese mission. AS help in
his work, in addition to his theological
training, he entered as a student at the
London hospital. He had only begun his
studies when the cholera broke out, and he
offered his services as a house-to-house
visitor among the poor. Amid his studies
and visiting, he gave two nights in week
and the whole of Sunday to a ragged school
in the heart of squalid Stepney. This
Young man was Thomas John Bernardo.
His companion on that nights quest was
James Jervis, called by his mates on the
street "Jim." He never knew his father,
or where he was born. His mother was a
Roman Catholic, who died in workhouse
infirmary; and he was thrown upon the
world at five From this time we have
from Jim his biography, as given to an in
terviewer:-
81 got along O. lot of boys, in down
Mapping way; an there wor an ole lady
lived there as wunst knowed mother, an
she let me lie in shed at the back. An
while l wor there, | got on very well.
She wor VERY kind, an give me nice bits
of broken wittals. After that l did odd
Jobs with lghterman, to help him aboard
a barge. He treated me very bad
knocked me about frightful. He used to
trash me for nothin; an l didn't some
times have anything to eat, an sometimes
he'd go away for days an leave me alone
with the boat"
"Why did you not run away, then, and
leave him?" ! asked.
$50 would, sir; but Dick-that's his
name, they called him 'Swearin' Dick
one day, after he t'rashed me awful, swore,
if ever ruined away, he'd catch me an
take my life; an he'd got dog aboard us
he made smell me, an he telled me, if
tried to leave the barge, the dog 'ud be
onter me. An, sir, he were such big,
fierce un! Sometimes, when Dick were
drunk, he'd put the dog on me, out of
fun as he called it. An look ERE, sir,
that's what he did wunst." And the poor
little fellow pulled aside some of his rags,
and showed me the SCARED marks, as teeth,
right down his leg.
He finally ran away. He picked up a
little schooling at the Whitechapel "work-
u.s." and, when asked about Jesus, with a
"timorous glance at the darker corners
where the shadows fell, then sinking his
voice into whisper, added, Hes the pope
of Rome
What came from that nights trip OF
Jim and the teacher? From that hour the
resolve went up to God that the Chinese
must look TO others for help, as he must
work for the heather in the heart of Chris
tendon. But, alone and at the time little
known, what could he do? He fell bach
on his faith in God, and with quick eye
sought his opportunity. 1t soon came.
The work and the man at once JOINED
hands. A small Home for Nobody's Chill
dren was established 1t began with 2,
homeless boys. The spirit and the organic
ing power of the man found scope. Hi
was a marvel of success. He has now 500C
boys and girls, and up to this time 30,00C
of the "don't-live-nowheres" have beer
housed and saved. We have not the spac,
to follow in detail the various homes ant
agencies which have risen from the bant
Of DIR. Bernardo. Those who desire Il
know the story of the wide and far-reach
p ingresults viii find them in Mr.. Stead
article. sit makes the heart ache" h
says, 'to remember merely the names O
Al gok hox