We were interrupted in our conversation by the sudden entrance of the eldest boy, a lad about five years of age, who exclaimed, "I have said my hymn! and,"----before he saw me. "Come," said the mother, "go and speak to the gentleman." "Yes," added the father, "and say your hymn to him." The boy approached with a modest blush, and immediately repeated the following verses, with ease and propriety:-- "I thank the goodness and the grace, Which on my birth have smil'd, And made me, in these Christian days, A happy English child. "I was not born, as thousands are, Where God was never known, And taught to pray a useless pray'r To blocks of wood and stone. "I was not born a little slave, To labour in the sun, And wish I were but in the grave, And all my labour done. "I was not born without a home, Or in some broken shed, A gipsy baby, taught to roam And steal my daily bread. "My God, I thank thee, who hast plann'd A better lot for me; And placed me in this happy land, Where I may hear of thee." He repeated also the third chapter of the Gospel according to John, without making any mistake. "And where does your boy go to school?" "He goes," said Josiah, "to Mrs. Stevens's Sabbath-school; and, for the last six months, he has been twice in the week up to Squire Roscoe's; and Miss Roscoe has been so kind as to teach him." "There was a time," I remarked, "when the rich were either too proud, or too much devoted to the pleasures of the world, to attend to the improvement of the lower classes; but now they discover a disposition to favour almost every institution which pure benevolence establishes." "Yes, Sir," said Josiah, "some do; but not all. We have a few in the parish who are very angry with Mrs. Stevens for setting up her Sabbath-school; and they have tried to put it down; but, thank God, they have not been able to do it. We have but little light; and why should they try to put it out? I went the other day up to Cleveland Hall, and Sir Harry Wilmot, who was a great enemy to Mrs. Stevens's Sabbath-school, was pleased to say that my Charles was a very sharp and well-behaved lad, and did us credit. 'Yes, Sir,' I replied, 'and we may thank Mrs. Stevens for that; for if she had not opened her Sunday-school, our boy would be as rude and as ignorant as other boys.' 'What!' said Sir Harry, 'does your boy go to her school?' 'Yes, Sir.' He was silent some time, and walked backwards and forwards his room, and then went to his bureau, and took out a pound, and said, 'Make my compliments to Mrs. Stevens, and give her this towards the support of her school; and tell her that as long as I see such fruits of her labour, I will encourage them.'"