"'The boy _is_ a fool—I thought he was,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat in a very decided tone. If one member of a class be blessed with an intuitive perception of others of the same race, the gentleman in the white waistcoat was unquestionably well qualified to pronounce an opinion on the matter. "'Hush!' said the gentleman who had spoken first. 'You know you've got no father or mother, and that you are brought up by the parish, don't you?' "'Yes, sir,' replied Oliver, weeping bitterly. "'What are you crying for?' inquired the gentleman in the white waistcoat; and to be sure it was very extraordinary. What _could_ he be crying for? "'I hope you say your prayers every night,' said another gentleman in a gruff voice, 'and pray for the people who feed you, and take care of you, like a Christian.' "'Yes, sir,' stammered the boy. The gentleman who spoke last was unconsciously right. It would have been _very_ like a Christian, and a marvellously good Christian, too, if Oliver had prayed for the people who fed and took care of _him_. But he hadn't, because nobody had taught him. "'Well you have come here to be educated, and taught a useful trade,' said the red-faced gentleman in the high chair. "'So you'll begin to pick oakum to-morrow morning at six o'clock,' added the surly one in the white waistcoat. "For the combination of both these blessings in the one simple process of picking oakum, Oliver bowed low by the direction of the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large ward, where, on a rough hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. What a noble illustration of the tender laws of this favoured country! they let the paupers go to sleep! "Poor Oliver! he little thought, as he lay sleeping in happy unconsciousness of all around him, that the board had that very day arrived at a decision which would exercise the most material influence over all his future fortunes. But they had. And this was it:—