General Burton,
Mr. Colson. General, this is one of my young men, of whom I told you."
Whereupon the famous general, hero of many battles, held out his honored
hand, and took Dirk's in a cordial grasp. I don't suppose I could
explain to you what an effect this action had on a boy like Dirk.
There is this comfort: you may be a student of human nature, and
therefore may understand it all without explanation.
This is only one of many so-called trifles which occurred during the
weeks, to make their indelible impress on the characters of the boys.
Of course, the Monday Evenings prospered. Reading-lessons and
writing-lessons, and, as time passed, lessons of all sorts made good
progress.
Neatly-blackened boots, carefully-arranged hair, and fresh collars
became the rule instead of the exception.
Other avenues for improvement opened. It became noised abroad in
Christian circles that great transformations were being worked among a
certain set of hard young fellows who had hitherto been best known to
the police. Mr. Roberts was interviewed by one and another, and one
outgrowth of the talks was that tickets for a course of expensive and
valuable and attractive lectures on popular subjects were placed in
large numbers in Mr.
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