w its occupants.

"During the last ten years some fifteen of our girls, and nearly as many
boys, married--mostly, I ought to say, intermarried--and as the greater
portion of them have children, say from four to eight years of age, in
our school, I visit also occasionally among them, the new generation.
And how different in their habits of cleanliness! Floors, walls,
ceiling, windows, everything faultlessly clean, their persons neat, so
that their rooms are really an oasis in that desert called
tenement-houses; and the cordial civility they extend to me carries
still farther the comparison by making me realize in their apartments,
after a visiting tour at the Five Points, all the satisfaction the
traveler derives by the fertile spot after a fatiguing journey across
the burning sand.

"I will omit many sad scenes witnessed at the death-bed of several of
our pupils, it being my aim to dwell only on such facts as may convey an
idea of the nature of the difficulties we had to overcome. But the
monotonous scenes of suffering under its various forms are, however,
succeeded now and then by others peculiarly exciting.

"Often, of my own choice, but sometimes entreated by the pupils'
parents, I paid visits to billiard-rooms. Those are placed in the
back-room of groceries, of which there are three in that neighborhood,
and have, therefore, communication with the yard. Whenever I deemed it
necessary to go on such errands, I had to organize previously an
expedition of ten or twelve of our oldest scholars, who, in accordance
with my instructions, would at a signal prevent all means of egress from
windows and doors. I would then go in from the front, and a wild rush
for the rear would ensue; but, finding themselves surrounded, all the
boys I was looking for, had no other choice but to follow us to school,
escorted as deserters. Now, it is more than probable that ninety-nine
out of one hundred of billiard-keepers in New York would not allow such
proceedings against their interests, for our _descents_ did not
particularly improve their profits. Still, those Italian grocers not
only countenanced and aided my endeavors, but gave me also all the
information I previously demanded. Little by little, by repeated
expeditions and an occasional _peeping_ in these places before going to
school, I succeeded in nearly breaking up their vicious habits in this
respect, and it is only a rare occurrence that one of our boys on
Saturday nights will g