Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/231

MRS. GLADSTONE than was the case before the Act came into force. The Newport Market Refuge, as it was called, did admirable work. A Boys' Industrial School was also soon established there—for many of the casuals were friendless, little, half-starved, half-naked boys between the ages of five and twelve.

Mrs. Gladstone not only wrote appeals for funds and enlisted the sympathy of the Times, but regularly visited the Refuge and the School, and used to make excellent little speeches to the boys, full of kindness and admirable advice. In 1882 the old buildings were condemned, and after temporary housing in Long Acre, the Refuge and School went into a building of its own in what is now Greencoat Place, Westminster. The Refuge ceased to exist after 1905, but the Boys' School is still carried on as the Newport Market Army Training School, and does excellent work.

There were many other sides to Mrs. Gladstone's philanthropic work. She was a constant visitor to the London Hospital in Whitechapel, and when cholera broke out in 1866, instead of seeking to avoid infection and the distressing sights of a large hospital at the time of an epidemic, she only redoubled her zeal. She 195