Page:Australian views of England.djvu/81

  day I was asked for alms in one of these squares by a poor little weeping girl," said he; "I had a profound conviction that no gift from me could benefit her, but I nevertheless gave her some loose pence. After walking a short distance, I turned to see what she did with herself, when I saw another bigger girl taking the pence from her, and beating her to make her cry for more. It is of no use—it is worse: it is supporting their tyrants to give to these children."

But there is another kind of poor in London, the honest and striving, who, do what they will, through a hundred different causes, cannot earn sufficient bread. These, the deserving children of want and sorrow, have found a noble benefactor in George Peabody. This great-hearted American merchant is a native of Massachusets [sic]. After a long career of commercial success, the last twenty-five years in London, he has amassed a large fortune. Years ago his benevolent spirit found a worthy sphere of exercise in founding two public institutions with free libraries attached to them, for the improvement of the poorer classes in American cities where in early life he had resided. Within the last few days Mr. Peabody