Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/275

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THE REV. E. DE M. RUDOLF
235
through this parish with two London clergy a few days ago, and pointed out to them “E. G.” as a Londoner, which description made them both laugh. There is not a child in my infant school who looks more like a picture of a country child in a Christmas number of an illustrated paper. My experience of these children is that in about a year or so they can hardly be distinguished from the country children round them, except, perhaps, by their quicker answers at catechising. Certainly no one would recognise little “J. H.,” who came to us, aged four, a mass of dirt and bruises (the latter being, he informed us, the result of punches), in the lively, happy little rustic who keeps the whole house alive, singing like a bird from morning's dawn till night.’

“They are two typical cases, but here are a couple more rather different in character:—

“Another lady writes:—‘E. A. came to me in 1885, seven months old, a starved, crippled child; had evidently been kept very cold, and in a sitting posture. The legs were contracted so that the feet touched the body, but they could be stretched straight when held by the feet; but upon letting the feet free they sprang up to the body. I adopted the flannel clothing system, and that, together with good food and gentle rubbing, rendered her in a few months a straight, healthy child.’

“‘F. C. R.’ writes:—‘Another came to me in 1885, aged eight months, he was so terribly diseased that the doctors gave up all hopes of his recovery. He was sent to St George's Hospital, and was returned to me at the end of three months, a mere skeleton, and too weak to notice anyone. After careful nursing, however, he gradually gained strength and flesh, and is at the present time a robust, healthy boy, trots to school morning and afternoon, and is much liked by his teachers and schoolfellows.’

“You see in connection with our boarding-out system the physical advantages to neglected children are prominent. Yes, we have extended the system beyond Great Britain. In Ireland it was tried, in