A further account of the poor who were brought together in the
house of industry:--and of the interesting change which was
produced in their manners and dispositions.
Various proofs that the means used for making them industrious,
comfortable, and happy, were successful.

The awkwardness of these poor creatures, when they were first
taken from the streets as beggars, and put to work, may easily
conceived; but the facility with which they acquired address in
the various manufactures in which they were employed, was very
remarkable, and much exceeded my expectation. But what was quite
surprising, and at the same time interesting in the highest
degree, was the apparent and rapid change which was produced in
their manners,--in their general behaviour,--and even in the very
air of their countenances, upon being a little accustomed to
their new situations. The kind usage they met with, and the
comforts they enjoyed, seemed to have softened their hearts, and
awakened in them sentiments as new and surprising to themselves,
as they were interesting to those about them.

The melancholy gloom of misery, and air of uneasiness and
embarrassment, disappeared by little and little from their
countenances, and were succeeded by a timid dawn of cheerfulness,
rendered most exquisitely interesting by a certain mixture of
silent gratitude, which no language can describe.

In the infancy of this establishment, when these poor creatures
were first brought together, I used very frequently to visit
them,--to speak kindly to them,--and to encourage them;--and I
seldom passed through the halls where they were at work, without