Boys' Homes.

BOYS' HOMES .

'TuIE following graphic account , from Night and Day , edited by Dr . Barnardo , whose - * - benevolent laboms are weE-known , well deserves perusal : — In the early days of the Boys' Home I had many difficulties Avith first admissions coming from the adjacent neighbourhood of Ratcliff : for the most part Roman Catholics , and of Irish extraction . Little hoys frequently came , having the barest vestiges of clothing that can Avell be imagined . Professing to be parentless and upon the streets ,

the ingenuity Avith which they pan led my questions made it difficult , Avith our smaE staff of helpers and Emited experience , to discover traces of their Avhereabouts , and they certainly looked bad enough to be street boys . In a feAV instances these AA'ere received after some little inquiry , and appeared to be duly grateful for the kindness shown them . Three or four months' feeding and kind care Avorked wonders in their appearance ; but , alas ! I Avas often bitterl y disappointed , from the fact that shortly after receiving a brand neAV suit of uniform , Avith corresponding good boots , the " destitute Avaif" mysteriously disappeared , as did also the brand neAV uniform and the boots .

GeneraUy this elopement could be connected with the appearance of some disreputable-looking man or woman AA'ho had been observed prowling about the CauseAvay , ancl it not unfreqnently transpired that a relative Avho had lain perdue until the boy had been fully rigged out , suddenly turned up , and of course by preconcerted action assisted in the lad's exodus .

This occurred several times , to my great annoyance and the injury of the Home . At length I Avas determined to put a stop to it , and resolved that the very next runaAvay shoidd be closely foEoAved up . Shortly after arriving at this resolution , I received a poor lad whose clothing consisted of the merest oddments , curiously hung together . I had him photographed as he came in , and possess the " shadoAv " now . Suspecting from Avhat I heard that an elopement would take placeI kept a sharp look-outbut boy

, , my Avas too clever , ancl baffled me in the long run . After five months' residence in the Home , during Avhich time E . L Avas caref idly Avatched , and ahvays clad in comparatively poor clothing , one day in my absence the Father of the Home incautiousl y alloAved him to put on a completely UBAV suit of uniform , and sent him on an errand from which , of course , he did not return .

That night , at halt-past ten , I received word from the Boys' Home that E . L had disappeared , ancl no traces of him were to be found . " But , " added my informant , " a Avoman , suspected to be his mother , was seen proAvling about the Causeway in the afternoon . " I started off in search of my boy . Having reached the Home , and gathered up the threads of the only clue I possessed , I traveEed in the direction of Wapping . From information received , I Avent to the police-station , King David ' s aud

Lane , got the assistance of two constables , and began Avith them a systematic search of several courts and narrow streets adjacent to Brunswick Street , the far-famed " Tiger Bay . " We must , hoAvever , have gone home , after a fruitless search of more than a dozen Avretched houses , if a Avoman , half intoxicated , standing in the narrow doorway of a dilap idated lodging-bouse , had not said , " I'E show you where he is , guvnor , for tup-!

pence " There Avas no room for hesitation . I agreed , and Avith a horrible leer she beckoned us into another court not far from Avhere we AA'ere . then standing . It was a dreadful , cut-throat-looking place . I shuddered as I entered . One of the houses in this court shoAved a light from the second-floor window , and pointing to it ,, the woman assured us the boy Ave sought Avas there , as she had seen a lad haE-clothed enter the nouse an hour ago . The constables informed me that that house , and most of the other dAvellings in 2 l ""