LUKE-STREET GIRLS' HOME.

IN our last number we gave some account of the ragged little children attending the Infant-school; but we had no space to tell anything of the school for elder girls upstairs, and the floor still higher, which makes a home for some forty-three of the poor girls who need such a place of refuge. It is just as plain and simple as a Home can be, forty-three iron bedsteads, each with a straw bed, a flock pillow, a pair of sheets, a pair of blankets, and a quilt. A nightdress lying on it, and a bag on one corner containing brush and comb, a towel hanging near. The clothes are kept in a large press all together. The food provided for the girls is simple and wholesome, served up

with cleanliness and propriety, great attention being paid to a proper manner of eating. The girls rise early and do all the work of the house before school hours. After dinner they take a short quick walk, and then assemble in their cheerful room for needlework, darning, &c., the more backward girls receiving an extra lesson in reading, writing, or spelling. In this Home of course the niceties of service cannot be taught; but a good foundation is laid in habits of early rising, industry, and personal cleanliness. When the girls can pass an examination in reading, writing, Scripture, and needlework, they are sent on to the House of Refuge, where they are nicely trained for service, and taught to wash well.

It would be almost impossible to

as this.

calculate the value of such a Home Some little idea may be gained of it from accounts of different girls who have there found a refuge.

About a year ago a young girl of seventeen years of age, an orphan, earning a scanty livelihood by fieldwork on a farm in a distant part of the country, received a letter from her brother who had gone to sea. She was too ignorant to read the letter, but got it read for her. It said that the ship would be in Dublin in a few weeks, and remain one week. The girl was filled with a longing desire to see this brother, but her employer would not let her go till her time of service was up. Then she received 17. wages, with which she bought a dress, shawl, and bonnet, and set off for Dublin.

She had never been in a great city before, and was thoroughly bewildered by all the sights and sounds. She walked up and down the quays looking in vain for her brother's ship, and night overtook her in her fruitless search. A lady, walking in that part of the town on some errand of mercy, met her, and seeing her forlorn, weary look, spoke to her. She had nowhere to go, and no money to get a night's lodging. The lady took her to a friend of hers who promised to provide for her for one week. During this week he saw her frequently, and tried to teach her something of Christ, but she was so ignorant and so unused to any exercise of mind that she could take in but little. At the end of the week he got admission for her into the Luke-street Home.