CHAPTER IV. THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE "WELLESLEY." "There may be profit in these acts, but still CRABBE. "Here on our native soil we breathe once more. My country! and 'tis joy enough and pride WORDSWORTH. "In the elder days of Art, LONGFELLOW. S Mr. Hall had had the most to do with the starting of the institution, so he was the moving spirit in the management of the Wellesley in the future; and the attention to detail shown in the advocacy of the measures in which he took an interest, was displayed still more fully in all the arrangements connected with the ship. Special regard was paid to all that was likely to conduce to the health and comfort, happiness and success of the boys, their physical, mental, social and moral training being carefully looked after, in accordance with the highest purposes of the institution. At the annual meeting in 1872, the chairman, Mr. Hugh Taylor, echoing the regrets of the committee, had again to complain of the falling off in the number of the boys in the ship due to the action of the Newcastle Bench of Magistrates. The report said "during eighteen months, ending June 30th, 1871, only five boys were sent to the Wellesley from Newcastle, and in the year ending June 30th, 1871, only one!" And yet as Mr. Taylor said, "The money was chiefly raised in Newcastle; the Wellesley was got through the influence of Newcastle, where almost every merchant, every man of business, and every shopkeeper was anxious for the establishment of an institution in which they might do good to the poor children who were found destitute in the streets of the town. The institution was worked successfully for some time, and the committee had hoped to work it still more successfully but, after a time, they began to find an undercurrent against them from the Bench in Newcastle. In the Eastern boroughs, however, everything had been pleasant and agreeable. There were only one hundred and seventy boys in a place where there was room for three hundred, and hence the funds of the institution were not in so good an order as they might be." The people were evidently in advance of their rulers. Her Majesty's representatives on the bench in the metropolis of the North were as slow to carry out a beneficent movement, as Mr. Hall had found Her Majesty's Government in the great metropolis in other equally as much needed, and as much desired reforms by the people, who had to pay and had most interest in the movements. Mr. Hall indignantly said at this meeting, "It appeared to him that the institution must either be held in small esteem, or else that the town of Newcastle enjoyed the happy immunity of having no uncared-for children to provide for. If there were any persons present who entertained such a belief, they had only to look round the lower part of Newcastle, or get out at the Manors Station to find groups of boys, in rags and tatters, who, from morning until night, were begging coppers. If the fault lay with the committee, let them resign and give place to another board; or if the institution were not worthy of encouragement, let it by all means be abolished; but if it were one capable of doing good, let it be supported. They had, indeed, to use a nautical phrase, been driven 'to box the compass,' and had, with great reluctance, been compelled to receive. boys from a distance when Newcastle was literally swarming with them. He felt sure that the observation of Mr. MacGregor of Rob Roy notoriety, was quite correct when he said that the mischief done to society, and the injury inflicted upon poor boys by being thus neglected was much greater than was supposed; and the same gentleman further said-and they must all agree with him that if one-tenth of the money now spent in detecting crime were expended in taking boys off the streets and educating them, the community would be immensely benefited by the change." The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the catholic bishop of the district, in moving one of the resolutions, said what struck him above all was the cordial feeling . which seemed to exist between Captain Pocock, the officer, and the boys. It appeared to him that the ship was not only a harbour of refuge for the boys, but a sort of home where they could enjoy home comforts. It was one of the strongest elements in the education of youth to endeavour to foster a feeling of home and its charms. The kind feeling that existed between the officers and the boys was illustrated by the fact that many of the old boys still visited the ship. Captain Pocock worked most harmoniously with the committee, and most successfully. He was not above taking a suggestion from others, and would honestly try it. He was open to conviction, free from fads, but firm in purpose; and after he had "proved all things, held fast to that which was good," on the recommendation of the Apostle, and with his faith and firmness, as well as with his willingness to try and prove a thing. The committee had got the ship, the money, and the men necessary to work out one of the great social problems of the day, but they could not get the boys—in numbers equal to the power of dealing with them—and the trouble lay with the "powers that be," who would not put the law into operation. Mr. Henry Taylor— a great social reformer at the time-said the power given to magistrates, to town councils, and the like seemed to have been entirely transferred to school boards, and "if the school board would take his humble advice and instruct their beadle to take up every boy who was not at school morning and afternoon, he was sure that if the magistrates refused to commit them to the ship, they would very soon be called upon for an explanation by the Home Office." The Newcastle magistrates still stubbornly declined to take the initiative, for at the annual meeting of 1873, the committee had to report that "during the year a hundred and twenty-six boys had been received on board, of which number sixty-seven had been received from London, fourteen from South Shields, fourteen from Sunderland, eleven from North Shields, four from Gateshead, four from Durham, four from Stockton, two from Newcastle, two from West Hartlepool, two from Nottingham, one from Morpeth, and one from Jarrow. Since the commencement of the institution four hundred and twenty-two boys have been received, and at present the number on board is two hundred and forty. Of the one hundred and eighty-two discharged one hundred and eight had been sent to sea, thirty-two provided with situations on shore, forty-two had been discharged by order of the Secretary of State on the application of friends and for other causes. Of the one hundred and forty employed at sea and on shore, one hundred and twenty-four were believed to be doing well, seven doubtful, five had been lost sight of, and four had died. Of the number received one hundred and ninety-three could neither read nor write." A return was given of the boys discharged, the reason why, and their subsequent character, so far as could be ascertained. An important document it was. It showed the beneficial result of the institution in so short a time. The record was not always good, but the worst was better than the best would have been if the boys had been left on the streets. It was a good character for the institution. It gave extracts from letters that had been received from the employers of the youths, and the chief complaints were that the apprentices had absconded and become "A.B.'s" (able seamen) in other ships, or that they had left the places in which they had been to the regret of the employer-sometimes master |