"And now let us see what was the progress and success of this experiment. It seemed a risk to trust the raw materials of industry-- wool, flax, hemp, etc.--to the hands of common beggars; to render debauched and depraved class orderly and useful, was an arduous enterprise. Of course the greater number made bad work at the beginning. For months they cost more than they came to. They spoiled more horns than they made spoons. Employed first in the coarser and ruder manufactures, they were advanced as they improved, and were for some time paid more than they earned--paid to encourage good will, effort, and perseverance. These were worth any sum. The poor people saw that they were treated with more than justice--with kindness. It was very evident that it was all for their good. At first there was confusion, but no insubordination. They were awkward, but not insensible to kindness. The aged, the weak, and the children were put to the easiest tasks. The younger children were paid simply to look on until they begged to join in the work, which seemed to them like play. Everything around them was made clean, quiet, orderly, and pleasant. Living at their own homes, they came at a fixed hour in the morning. They had at noon a hot, nourishing dinner of soup and bread. Provisions were either contributed or bought wholesale, and the economies of cookery were carried to the last point of perfection. Count Rumford had so planned the cooking apparatus that three women cooked a dinner for one thousand persons at a cost though wood was used, of 4 1/2d. for fuel; and the entire cost of the dinner for 1,200 was only #1 7s 6 1/2d., or about one-third of a penny for each person! Perfect order was kept --at work, at meals, and everywhere. As soon as a company took its place at table, the food having been previously served, all repeated a short prayer. 'Perhaps,' says Count Rumford, 'I ought to ask pardon for mentioning so old-fashioned a custom, but I own I am old-fashioned enough myself to like such things.' "These poor people were generously paid for their labour, but something more than cash payment was necessary. There was needed the feeling of emulation, the desire to excel, the sense of honour, the love of glory. Not only pay, but rewards, prizes, distinctions, were given to the more deserving. Peculiar care was taken with the children. They were first paid simply for being present, idle lookers-on, until they begged with tears to be allowed to work. 'How sweet those tears were to me,' says Count Rumford, 'can easily be imagined.' Certain hours were spent by them in a school, for which teachers were provided.