Of earthly kings. A miserable cart Heaped up with human bodies; dragged along And onward urged by a wan, meagre wretch, Whither with oaths he drives his load of horror. 5. Would you look in? Grey hairs and golden tresses, Wan, shrivelled cheeks, that have not smiled for years, And many a rosy visage smiling still; Bodies in the noisome weeds of beggary wrapped, -Professor Wilson. The plague of 1665 carried off in six months a hundred thousand Londoners. The Mayor ordered that every house visited should be "marked with a Red Cross of a foot long, in the middle of the door, evident to be seen and with these usual printed words-that is to say-Lord have mercy upon us, to be set close over the same cross, there to continue until lawful opening of the same house." august, worthy of awe or honour. dog, to follow constantly. noisome, disgusting. A HERO IN WELL-DOING JOHN HOWARD. 1. John Howard was born in London in 1726. At an early age he travelled in France and acquired a thorough knowledge of the French language which was of the greatest service to him in after life. On the death of his wife in 1755 he set out for Lisbon in order to aid in alleviating the sufferings of the inhabitants caused by the earthquake which had recently laid the city in ruins. The vessel in which he sailed, however, was captured by the French. 2. The passengers and crew were carried into Brest, where they were treated with extreme cruelty. Many of the prisoners perished; as many as thirty-six, Howard tells us, were buried in one day. The sufferings he endured and was witness to during his captivity made a deep and lasting impression on his mind. When at last he was released the first use he made of his freedom was to bring the condition of the prisoners of war under the notice of the proper parties at home, and he did not rest until an exchange had taken place. 3. In 1773 Howard was elected sheriff of Bedford, the county in which the estate of Cardington which he had inherited from his father was situated. As soon as he entered upon office he began a searching inquiry into the treatment of prisoners in the gaols at the time. In Bedford he found that many abuses were in existence, and that as regards cleanliness, air, food, and water, the prisoners were the victims of the grossest neglect. 4. He extended his inquiries to other parts of England, then to Scotland and Ireland. The results were laid before parliament, and led to laws being passed which had the effect of greatly improving the condition of the prisons and their inmates. On the same benevolent mission, Howard visited and minutely inspected the gaols of all the capitals and principal cities in Europe. For twelve years the subject engrossed all his thoughts. He traversed every country on the Continent except Turkey. He travelled upwards of forty thousand miles, and spent on his own expenses or in relieving the sick and giving freedom to the captive more than £30,000. 5. Other men would have been satisfied with what they had effected, and would have given up their remaining years to rest. It was not so with Howard. On one of his earlier voyages along the coast of Italy he had learned, by bitter experience, to know the terrible significance that attached to the mere suspicion of connection with the Plague. He resolved, accordingly, before he regarded his work as done, to visit the places most infected with the dreadful scourge, hoping there to discover its causes and the most likely means of arresting its progress. 6. On this errand, not only did Howard visit the "Cities of the Plague," but that he might know the subject in its worst details, he executed a plan perhaps the boldest which ever entered into the mind of man for a purely philanthropic purpose. He deliberately went to Smyrna at a time when the plague was known to be raging in the city. He selected a vessel with a "foul bill" of health bound for Venice and took his passage in it. 7. The voyage lasted for sixty days, and when the vessel anchored in the roadsteads of Venice, Howard was not permitted to land but was kept in rigorous quarantine for forty days. Of his daily experience during this frightful time he has left a minute and interesting record. He was ranked in the worst class of the suspected, and himself suffered from fever. Altogether, his miseries, privations, and perils both during the voyage and during the period of his confinement were far beyond anything he had ever dreamed of. 8. Howard died in 1790 at Kherson of a malignant fever, caught from a young lady whom he was attending as physician. It was said of him, "he died a martyr, after living an apostle." Unconscious of the fame such heroism as his can bring, on his deathbed he said to one who was beside him, "Lay me quietly in the earth, place a sundial over my grave, and let me be forgotten." His memory shall never die. Questions on the lesson:- What was the first enterprise on which Howard set out? What prevented its accomplishment? How was he treated as a prisoner? What boon was he the means of conferring on the prisoners-of-war? When did he begin to take an interest in prisons? What different places did he visit? How far did he travel? How much did he expend? What was his last mission? Where and in what circumstances did he die? Brest, the chief naval station of France on the Atlantic. Kherson (Ker-son), a town in the south of Russia near the mouth WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE. 1. Have a tear for the wretched; a smile for the glad; applause, praise, approbation. | sod, turf, here the grave. |