rdon met
him at the gate, a mass of rags, in a deplorable condition, and
covered with vermin. Gordon could not turn him away, neither could he
admit him into his house, where there were several boys being brought
up for a respectable existence. After a moment's hesitation, he led
him in silence to the stable, where, after giving him some bread and a
mug of milk, he told him to sleep on a heap of clean straw, and that
he would come for him at six in the morning. At that hour Gordon
appeared with a piece of soap, some towels, and a fresh suit of
clothes, and, ordering the boy to strip, gave him a thorough washing
with his own hands from head to foot at the horse-trough. It is to be
regretted that there is no record of the after-fate of this young
prodigal, although it would be pleasant to think that he was the
unknown man who called at Sir Henry Gordon's house in 1885, after the
news of Gordon's death, and wished to contribute L25 towards a
memorial, because he was one of the youths saved by General Gordon, to
whom all his success and prosperity in life were due.

But it must not be supposed that Gordon's acts of benevolence were
restricted to boys. He was not less solicitous of the welfare of the
sick and the aged. His garden was a rather pretty and shaded one. He
had a certain number of keys made for the entrance, and distributed
them among deserving persons, chiefly elderly. They were allowed to
walk about, in the evening especially, and see the flowers,
vegetables, and fruit which Gordon's gardener carefully cultivated.
Gordon himself declared that he derived no special pleasure from the
sight of flowers, for the simple reason that he preferred to look at
the human face; and the same reason is the only one I can find he ever
gave for his somewhat remarkable reticence about dogs and other
domestic animals. It was said of him that he always had handy "a bit
o' baccy for the old men, and a screw o' tea for the old women." He
would hurry off at a moment's notice to attend to a dying person or to
read the Bible by a sick-bed. In the hospital or the workhouse he was
as well known as the visiting chaplain, and often he was requested by
the parish clergyman to take his place in visiting the sick. His
special invention for the benefit of his large number of clients was
a system of pensions, which varied from a shilling to as much as a
pound a week. Many of these payments he continued long after he left
Gravesend, and a few we