in extremest poverty, the former
suffering from hunger even when sent to school--and they never stay with
us long. Let me give you an instance:--

"One morning a mother came and begged to have her children admitted.
She had just left the workhouse. Three children in rags, that did not
suffice to cover much less to protect them, stood by her side. She did
not know where they were to sleep that night, but hoped to obtain a
little charing and earn enough to obtain a lodging somewhere. She could
not take the children with her while seeking work--Would we take them
in? for, if not, they would have to be left in the streets, and as they
were very young they might lose themselves or be run over. We took them
in, fed, sympathised with, and taught them. In the afternoon the mother
returned weary, hungry, dejected. She had failed to obtain employment,
and took the children away to apply for admission to a casual ward."

"What is a casual ward, Mr Missionary?" asked Di.

"Seaward, my love,--his name is not Missionary," said Sir Richard.

"A casual ward," answered the visitor, "is an exceedingly plain room
with rows of very poor beds; mere wooden frames with canvas stretched on
them, in which any miserable beggars who choose to submit to the rules
may sleep for a night after eating a bit of bread and a basin of gruel--
for all which they pay nothing. It is a very poor and comfortless
place--at least you would think it so--and is meant to save poor people
from sleeping, perhaps dying, in the streets."

"Do some people sleep in the streets?" asked Di in great surprise.

"Yes, dear, I'm sorry to say that many do."

"D'you mean on the stones, in their night-dresses?" asked the child with
increasing surprise.

"Yes, love," said her father, "but in their ordinary clothes, not in
their night-dresses--they have no night-dresses."

Little Di had now reached a pitch of surprise which rendered her dumb,
so the missionary continued:

"Here is another case. A poor widow called once, and said she would be
so grateful if we would admit her little girl and boy into the schools.
She looked clean and tidy, and the children had not been neglected. She
could not afford to pay for them, as she had not a penny in the world,
and applied to us because we made no charge. The children were admitted
and supplied with a plain but nourishing meal, while their mother went
away to seek for work. We did not hear how she sped, but she had
pr