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Yours very truly.

Not long since a nicely dressed young man seated himself next to me in a city passenger car, and entered into an intelligent conversation. He was one of those who had returned to live with his relatives, and who had borne one of the objectionable names mentioned in Chapter III. He informed me, among other things, with evident satisfaction, of the improvement in his writing, and the pleasure he took in striving to advance himself. Another lad named in Chapter III, who has likewise returned to his relatives, recently showed me a pair of spectacles, the first he had made for the manufacturer whose establishment he has entered. The workmanship was excellent, and evinced great mechanical skill.

A few of the boys have left the newspaper business, and entered stores and offices; others have become proprietors of "stands," which is regarded as a decided advance in the profession. Ellard was the first of our boys to reach this promotion, and his success in the business was perhaps not less owing to his being deformed, than to his civility to his customers. An incident which he related as having occurred the first day he opened his stand, greatly encouraged him. "I made up my mind to say "thank you" to everybody that bought of me, and they all looked surprised and pleased. One gentleman bought a penny "Ledger," and as I folded it up, and gave it to him, said, "Thank you, sir," and he soon came back, and bought twelve cents worth of papers."

There is a manifest improvement in the behaviour of the boys at the Home, and in the character of their conversation. I was struck with this upon entering the room one evening, as they were seated around the tea-table, looking bright and happy, and discussing with great interest that passage of Scripture, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." One asked my opinion of its meaning which was given after learning what they had to say on the subject. Some thought it shut out all rich men, because a camel could not get through the eye of a needle; others thought that rich men have so much to do, looking after their property, that it was difficult for them to give their attention to religion.

The softening influences of the Home -- I should rather say, of the gospel of Christ -- under whose benign teachings the inmates are daily brought, were in no case more distinctly marked than in John Ellard. It was evident that a change had come over his rough and stubborn nature, and that a gentleness which we were fain to ascribe to the strivings of the Holy Spirit, was manifesting itself in the heart of this poor boy. This change was noticed by several, who spoke of it as something remarkable. A short time since I was informed of the illness of a lad who had been a companion of some of the newsboys, and had occasionally sold papers, but who was not acknowledged as properly belonging to the profession. The Superintendent and I went immediately to see him, and offered to receive him into the Home, and do what we could for him; but the lady who had kindly taken him into her house, and nursed him with a mother's care, though a stranger to her, had made him too comfortable to wish to leave. He was the child of respectable parents, whose loss of property and subsequent death, left their children unprovided for; and this poor lad, thrown upon the world, rapidly sank into vice, which brought him to a premature grave.

At first he refused to see us, and declared that we should not speak to him upon the subject of religion; but I was informed that he was the child of a pious mother, who had often prayed with and for him; and I could not doubt that the promise, "ask, and ye SHALL receive," was now being fulfilled. For several weeks before his death he manifested an earnest desire for religious instruction, and for prayer; and often spoke touchingly of his requests to God "to take away his wicked heart, and give him a good heart."

Two of our boys were in the habit of visiting him, and I shall long remember with what feelings I listened to one of them reading the ninth Psalm to him. Verily "the Lord is a refuge in times of trouble," and "the needy shall not always be forgotten," nor "the expectation of the poor perish for ever."

The following letter is from one of these boys:

To Mr....

Dear Sir --

After leaving your house last evening, rejoicing over our good fortune of having an apple and an orange to eat, we hastened on our errand with the jelly to where poor P. . . . is living -- knocked at the door -- lady came -- told her Mr. . . . . sent this to the sick boy. She asked us if we would like to see him; we answered, "Yes, ma'am." She told us to sit in the parlour; she called him from below, and the three of us were left alone in the parlour. We conversed for a long time about old times; he said he was getting weaker every day, and wouldn't live long. He talked about Ellard, and was very anxious to know if he died religious. We told him yes, and told how he spent his last hours. He told us how he got acquainted with the lady he was living with, and how kind she was to him. After a long pause, for he was out of breath, H .... asked him if he ever prayed; he said he never did until Mr. . . . . came to see him; he said he couldn't get his mind steady on one thing: he thinks of the Saviour one moment, and of something else another ; and it troubles him greatly, for he wants to be saved. He said he tried to say a long prayer the other night, and he thought of the devil before he was done, instead of God; so he says a short one now, so he can't think of nothing but God. We told him all about his soul we could, to make him happy. We were about to retire, when he requested us to sing a hymn for him, which we were very glad to do, but we could not find any hymnbooks. There was a large Bible on the table, and some tracts. I would have read the Bible if I knew what chapter; so I read two tracts -- I don't think of their names; one was about faith in God. He said he would like to be listening to Mr. . . . . . all the time. The tracts gave him a great deal of pleasure, and we bade him goodnight, promising him to return in a few evenings, and went on our way home.