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sands of men," said the late Dr. Chalmers, "breathe, move, and live, pass off the stage of life, and are heard of no more. None were blessed by them, none could point to them instrumentally as the means of their redemption; not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke, could be recalled, and so they perished: their light went out in darkness, and they were not remembered more than the insects of yesterday.

"Will you thus live and die, O man immortal? Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue. Write your name by kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands."

"Seek not in Mammon's worship, pleasure,
But find your richest, dearest treasure,
In Christ, his word, his work, not leisure :
The mind, not sense,

Is the sole scale by which to measure

Your opulence.

"This is the solace, this the science,
Life's purest, sweetest, best appliance,

That disappoints not man's reliance,

Whate'er his state;

But challenges, with calm defiance,
Time, fortune, fate."

CHAPTER VII.

THE CRIMINAL POPULATION,

(Concluded.)

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Conventional use of the term-Unhappy females-Caution to the young-A scene of woe-Typhus fever-Affecting delirium-Awful death-Physical sufferings-Royal Free Hospital-Awful death of a young profligate-Search for the fallen Pleasing result- Asylums · Death from a broken heart-Reclamation-Breaking up of a den of wickedness Pleasing changes - Dialogue between a housebreaker and a thief- Reclamation General details -Letter from the Governor of Coldbath Fields-Necessity for increased efforts-Foundation of Field Lane Ragged Schools and Dormitory by City Missionaries--Concluding observations.

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THIS term, criminal population, is, of course, used in the popular signification, as referring to those persons whose deeds expose them to the penal action of the law of the land. We may not forget that we are all criminal before God, by nature and by practice.

Unhappy women form a class of the criminal population. Such persons, amongst the lower orders especially, are usually thieves or the accomplices of thieves; and there can be no question, but that amongst the higher order of women of the town, frequenting the West End of London, robberies are far more frequent than is supposed by some persons. A feeling of shame in many cases prevents prosecution, and in a very large number of instances, whatever moral proof might exist, legal proof to convict the thief would not be obtainable.

My young readers, who would meditate correctly respecting impurity, must associate it in their minds with all that is deadly, hateful, and miserable.

My heart really sickens at the memory of the scenes I have witnessed :

"A part, how small, of the terraqueous globe

Is tenanted by man! the rest a waste

Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands;

Wild haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death.
Such is earth's melancholy map! But, far

More sad! this earth is a true map of man.

So bounded are its haughty lords' delights

To woe's wide empire; where deep troubles toss,
Loud sorrows howl, envenomed passions bite,

Ravenous calamities our vitals seize,

And threatening fate wide opens to devour."

YOUNG.

The following case is illustrative of the misery of sin in this class of the population :-

S

In one small room in Blay three of these wretched women, and the aged sinner under whose roof they resided. All three were confined to their beds with malignant typhus fever, and I was sent for to visit them. The person they lived with had formerly kept a rendezvous for young thieves and delinquents, both male and female, in Golden Lane, until the police, from the number of crimes associated with her den of evil resort, received, I believe, particular directions respecting her, and she was glad to leave the neighbourhood. She had pursued this mode of existence, I understood, for very many years.

One of the women found by me here had recently been discharged from prison, having been apprehended on suspicion of strangling a procuress whilst intoxicated, who was found dead with her in a cab. She was so drunk as to be able to give, or at all events did give, little account of herself or her dead companion.

The fever poison arising from these hapless women was so strong, that but for the fact of their being in a dangerous condition, I should not, perhaps, have felt justified in remaining with them an hour at a time, reading and praying. But the circumstances of the case, of at least one, were peculiarly affecting, and interested me much. She was an orphan, and when about ten years of age exhibited an extremely wild disposition.

Some pious persons, who were Primitive Methodists, met with her, and for a time she "did run well," but afterwards entered upon a course of vice and profligacy. She was but seventeen years of age when I found her in this miserable abode, and during the delirium of fever she would alternately sing hymns and utter pious expressions --the sunshine of her life was then passing before her; afterwards in her delirium came the storm of her life-abominable songs, wretched expressions, the thunder and lightning of wickedness, such as she had sung and uttered in her darkness.

The whole of these degraded women recovered, to break the fervent promises they made me during sickness. The old hag died miserably. She was a most blasphemous creature, protesting that she knew her duty, and was as good a Christian as I was, and that she gave the poor girls shelter, because they had nowhere to go. She was well known to have lived by inciting children to crime for many years.

During her dying illness-she was then eighty years of age-it was fearful to witness her movements; some woman appeared to be haunting her imagination; she would say, "Take her hand off my shoulder, loosen her gripe of me," and would move her head as if to struggle with some one. I said to the miserable beings present, "What does she mean?" One shook her head and said, "She's gone through much wickedness, and perhaps some of it's haunting her-it's something." This was an old acquaintance of her's, who appeared to me to know more than she chose to tell me. I mentioned the case to a pious person who had, in former years, some slight knowledge of one of these young women. Himself and wife visited the

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