Pounds taught his pupils many other things besides "the three R's." Many of the boys received instruction in the useful arts of shoe-mending and tailoring, so that when they grew up they found their little knowledge of great practical utility. He even went so far as to teach the lads and lasses how to cook their plain food, and make the best of everything. In fact, nothing that children required to make them happy and comfortable, and to fit them for the duties of after-years, did the good cobbler overlook or neglect. He made their playthings--bats, balls, crossbows, shuttlecocks, kites, what-not; went out with them on holiday and festive gatherings; got them gifts of tea and cake, and had them assembled in a neighboring schoolroom for public examination; saw that they were included at the public dinners, such as the celebration of Her Majesty's coronation in 1837; and from year to year had the satisfaction of seeing them grow up and take honorable and useful positions in society. _This_, in fact, was his reward--all he looked for, all he ever had, except the approval of Him who said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." It was no uncommon thing during the last years of John Pounds' life for some fine, manly fellow, soldier or sailor on furlough, or workman passing through the town, to turn in at the old room, where the good cobbler was still going on with his good work, in order to shake hands with him, and thank him, while the big tears stood in the eyes of both master and pupil, as the latter spoke of his rescue from starvation, poverty, or crime, and of the fair start in life which he had received at the hands of the worthy cobbler. And to this day there are men and women by the score, in respectable and comfortable positions, who can tell the same tale. "During the seven years I have been minister here," writes the pastor of the chapel in the graveyard of which John Pounds was buried, "I have seen paying a pilgrimage to his tomb a number of those who were taught by him, and who, passing through the town, or coming for a short time to Portsmouth (as they belonged to the army or navy), thus showed their grateful feeling toward their venerated teacher and friend. They have told me in touching language, and almost sobbing the while, of the debt of gratitude they owed him."