of crime. The gaol-mark branding them as
dangerous, men buttoned up their pockets
when they pleaded for a second trial of their
honesty, and left them helpless. Then, Thomas
Wright resolved, in his own honest heart, that
he would visit in the prisons and become a
friend to those who had no helper.

The chaplain of the New Bailey, Mr. Bagshawe,
recognised in the beginning the true
practical benevolence of the simple-minded
visitor. On his second visit a convict was
pointed out, on whom Mr. Wright might test
his power. It was certain power. From the
vantage-ground of a comparative equality of
station, he pleaded with his fellow workman
for the wisdom of a virtuous and honest life.
Heaven does, and Earth should, wipe out of
account repented evil. Words warm from
the heart, backed with a deep and contagious
sense in the hearer of the high-minded virtue
shown by his companion, were not uttered,
like lip-sympathy, in vain. Then Thomas
Wright engaged to help his friend, to get
employment for him; and, if necessary, to be
surety with his own goods for his honourable
conduct. He fulfilled his pledge; and that
man has been, ever since, a prosperous
labourer, and an upright member of society.

So the work began. So earnest, so humble;
yet, like other earnest, humble efforts, with a
blessing of prosperity upon it. In this way,
during the last fourteen years, by this one
man, working in the leisure of a twelve-hours'
daily toil, hundreds have been restored to
peace. He has sent husbands repentant to
their wives; he has restored fathers to the
fatherless. Without incurring debt, supporting
a large family on little gains, he has
contrived to spare out of his little: contenting
himself with a bare subsistence, that he might
have clothes to give and bits of money, where
they were required to reinstate an outcast in
society.

Mr. Wright is a dissenter—free, of course,
from bigotry; for bigotry can never co-exist
with charity so genuine. Although a dissenter
working spiritually in the prison, he never
comes into jarring contact with the chaplain.
He makes a point of kindling in his outcast
friends a religious feeling; but that is not
sectarian; he speaks only the largest
sentiments of Christianity, and asks only that
they attend, once every week, a place of
worship, leaving them to choose what church
or chapel it may be. And, in the chapel he
himself attends, wherever his eye turns, he
can see decent families who stand by his
means there; men whom he has rescued from
the vilest courses, kneeling modestly beside
their children and their wives. Are not
these families, substantial prayers?

Very humbly all this has been done. In
behalf of each outcast in turn, Mr. Wright
has pleaded with his own employer, or with
others, in a plain, manly way. Many now
work under himself, in his own place of
occupation; his word and guarantee having been
sufficient recommendation. Elsewhere, he has,
when rebuffed, persevered from place to place,
offering and laying down his own earnings as
guarantee; clothing and assisting the
repentant unemployed convict out of his own
means, as far as possible; speaking words, or
writing letters, with a patient zeal, to reconcile
to him his honest relatives, or to restore
lost friends. Bare sustenance for his own
body by day, that he might screw out of
himself little funds in aid of his good deeds
—and four hours' sleep at night, after his
hard work, that he might screw out of his
bed more time for his devoted labour—these
tell their tale upon the body of the man, who
still works daily twelve hours for his family,
and six or eight hours for his race. He is
now sixty-three years old, and working
forward on his course, worn, but unwearied.

No plaudits have been in his ear, and he
has sought none. Of his labour, the success
was the reward. Some ladies joined; and
working quietly, as he does, in an
undercurrent of society. After a while, he had from
them the aid of a small charitable fund, to
draw upon occasionally, in the interest of the
poor friends for whom he struggled. Prison
Inspectors found him out, and praised him in
reports. At first there were a few words,
and a note told of " this benevolent individual.
His simple, unostentatious, but earnest
and successful, labours on behalf of discharged
prisoners are above all praise." After a few
years, the reports grew in their enthusiasm,
and strung together illustrations of the work
that has been done so quietly. Let us quote
from this source one or two examples:-

"Five years ago I was," owns a certain
G. J. " in the New Bailey, convicted of felony,
and sentenced to four months' imprisonment.
When I was discharged from prison, I could
get no employment. I went to my old
employer, to ask him to take me again. He said,
I need not apply to him, for if he could get
me transported he would; so I could get no
work until I met with Mr. Wright, who got
me employed in a place, where I remained
some time, and have been in employment ever
since. I am now engaged as a screw cutter—
a business I was obliged to learn—and am.
earning nineteen shillings and twopence a
week. I have a wife and four children, and
but for Mr Wright, I should have been a
lost man."

Others tell how they were saved by the
timely supplies of Mr. Wright's money, which
"kept their heads above water " till they
obtained the trust of an employer. Another,
after telling his career, adds: " I am now,
consequently, in very comfortable circumstances;
I am more comfortable now than ever I was
in my life; I wish every poor man was as
comfortable as I am. I am free from tippling,
and cursing, and swearing; have peace of
mind, and no quarrelling at home as there
used to be. I dare say I was as wicked a
man as any in Manchester. I thought if I