But still the help given was but small; several committees were appointed by the Council of State, but few decisions were reached; the measures of relief only concerned London and not the whole of the country, and even in London comparatively little was accomplished. In spite of the new orphanage at the Wardrobe few children were educated there, probably because no money could be got. The hymn sung by the children implores Parliament to redress the matter: "Grave Senators that sit on high Let not poor English Children die And droop on Dunghils with lamenting notes; An Act for Poor's Relief they say Is coming forth; why's this delay? O let not Dutch, Danes, Devils stop those Votes[662]." [662] Poor Outcast Children's Song and Cry. _King's Pamphlets_, 669, f. 16-93. The work of the Corporation of the Poor continued, but it never seems to have been great or to have grappled seriously even with the London poor. In the rest of the country there was probably the same disorganisation, and less attempt to remedy matters. At Great Yarmouth the burgesses apparently thought that the spoils of Norwich Cathedral might be used for the purpose: they petitioned Parliament to "be pleased to grant vs such a part of the lead and other vseful materialls of that vast and altogether vseles Cathedrall in Norwich towardes building of a works house to employ our almost sterued poore and repairing our peeres etc.[663]" [663] _Hist. Man. Com. Rep._, IX. App. p. 320. Part of the proceeds of Lichfield Cathedral seem actually to have been granted to the poor of Stafford, though the poor had not received any benefit from the grant because the money had remained in private hands. We are told that the House of Correction at Stafford was much defaced, though it had formerly been used as a place "to set the poor on work." _Cal. of State Papers._ Feb. 17, 1654. Here we can see the process of disorganisation. The place had been used for the unemployed, but fell into decay during the war; attempts were made to restore it under the Commonwealth, but so far they were not successful. [Sidenote: 3. Reasons why disorganisation especially affected the provision of work for the unemployed.] There were many reasons why this disorganisation should especially affect the plans for the employment of the able-bodied poor. Even if efforts for this purpose had been much needed after the outbreak of the Civil War it is probable that they would have been less enforced than other parts of the system of poor relief. We see from the justices' reports that schemes of this kind were not usually undertaken, except under pressure from the justices. The privation of the helpless old and young appealed far more to the sympathy of overseers and ratepayers than the needs of the able-bodied poor. Besides it was far easier to grant pensions than to superintend work and supply materials.