Conspicuous from the Castle Hill, in fact from almost any elevated position in the town, it cannot fail to attract the stranger's attention, as much from the beauty of its situation as from the imposing nature of its architectural structure. Truly palatial in its appearance, it eclipses ancient Holyrood altogether as a residence for royalty.

Its founder, James Donaldson, was a printer and newspaper proprietor, who died in 1830. The building, which cost £25,000, was nine years in the course of erection, from designs by Mr. Playfair, the well-known Edinburgh architect. It has now been opened rather more than eight years for the education and maintenance of boys and girls from all parts of the kingdom, about 60 of them being deaf and dumb. For these a special system of instruction is provided. It is built to accommodate 300 children, but as £8,000 per annum of the funds is vested in annuities of from £300 to £400, settled upon relatives of the founder, the number of inmates is not yet complete, although gradually increasing as the annuities fall in. If I remember rightly, there are now 100 boys and 70 girls, besides the deaf and dumb.

Furnished with an order from a competent authority (who must either be a trustee of the charity, or a relative of the founder), I accompanied some friends to the building, which is indeed well worthy of a visit, as our guide-book informed us. A respectable official, a lodge-keeper at the entrance gate, having duly examined our passport, permitted us to proceed up the broad gravel walk and on to the terrace in front of the building; another liveried servant met us in the doorway and conducted us into the hall, in the centre of which, on a table, is a handsome model of the original plan of the building, which proved too expensive to be carried out, although not altogether lost sight of in the present quadrangular structure, with its turreted towers, in the Elizabethan style of architecture.

Under the escort of this most efficient and communicative guide we made the tour of the building, after first visiting the committee or founder's room, in which all business connected with the charity is transacted. The walls are adorned with portraits of the worthy founder, his parents, the architect, and the late medical attendant of the hospital. The expression of the mouth in the portrait of Mrs. Donaldson is so peculiar that it attracts the attention of all visitors; the corners are drawn down in a curve on either side-a peculiarity less conspicuous, but also noticeable, in the more mirthful physiognomy of her son.

From the founder's room we went to the large and airy dining-rooms, which the girls and boys had but recently vacated, and thence to the kitchens, where a blazing fire and huge coppers, still containing a small remainder of soup, gave us a little idea of the amount of cooking which had been going on: we also inspected a monster copper, originally intended for the wholesale manufacture of tea; but milk is now substituted for that beverage, perhaps out of consideration for the nerves of the junior branches of the establishment, some of whom are admitted at the age of six-they all leave at fifteen. Having examined all the culinary arrangements, and heard the proportions of soup, meat, and rice-pudding allowed for the nourishment of the various inmates of the hospital, we entered the extensive clothes-washing department, just then in full activity.

Here the newest inventions (of American origin, I believe), for washing the greatest number of things in the smallest possible time, were being most successfully employed. Towels at the rate of 300 in ten minutes, and other articles with proportionate expedition, underwent a thorough cleansing before being finished off in the drying-room, which we next entered. Not less interesting and efficient were the contrivances there in operation. In one part of the room was a row of hot-presses, which, upon being pulled

out from the wall, and pushed backwards and forwards at pleasure upon miniature tram-roads in front of them, exhibited an interior of heated rollers, on which the linen dried almost instantaneously; the pipes for this branch of the business were also connected with a stove at the further end of the room, on which irons innumerable stood hot and ready for immediate use.

The greatest neatness and cleanliness were everywhere observable, and as there are but nineteen servants in the whole establishment, much of the scrubbing and dusting is accomplished by the children themselves. Whoever were the cleaners, the apartments and extensive corridors on every basement were in a condition highly creditable to their exertions, for there was not a speck of dirt "visible to the naked eye;" all the more surprising, when it is remembered that our visit was not upon a "show-day," or under circumstances which necessitate an "extra polish for the benefit of strangers, the building being open at any time for the inspection of visitors with the requisite order.

The chapel is a very beautiful part of the edifice, furnished with a goodly array of open benches, wood painted and varnished, to look like oak, in keeping with the roof. Not being devoted to Episcopalian service, it is unconsecrated, and is used occasionally for the distribution of prizes and other purposes. The stained glass window at the further end is divided into fifteen compartments; those in the centre containing personifications of the Christian graces, Temperance, Faith, &c.; Moses, David, and other Scripture characters being represented on either side. Stained glass windows along the walls of the chapel shed a pleasant, subdued light over the interior. Over the entrance is a memorial tablet to John Irving, erected by the trustees of the charity, with which he was also officially connected. The girls' lavatory was the room we first entered on the upper floor; it was fitted up with the same completeness which had characterised the other departments. Hot and cold water is laid on; the tap for the former being carefully concealed, however (as our conductor informed us), as the little ones are apt to play tricks, and might do some mischief, if they knew where to find the boiling water. The basins, all fixtures, are arranged in a half oval, and provided with perforations near the edge, so that the water should not overflow, in event of the tap being let to run, as it very often is unintentionally by the deaf mutes. In the boys' room both shower and swimming baths were provided. In fact, everything that can contribute to cleanliness and comfort seems to have been procured.

The dormitories, all precisely alike, contain twelve little beds, with the night attire and comb-bag of each occupant neatly arranged at the head. Four small looking-glasses are allowed in every room. The entire building is lighted with gas, and so effectually warmed by it that the numerous fireplaces along the corridors have never yet been required.

Besides the numerous dormitories on the second story, there is another floor above, appropriated to invalids; but apparently little used, as, notwithstanding the number of young children collected together under one roof, there have been but three deaths within the last five years, at least such was the statement at the time of our visit, a few months back.

There is a kitchen to the invalid department, a consulting room for surgeons, provided with a medicine chest of anything but homoeopathic proportions, and a nurse's room, out of which, on either side, is a door opening into two sick wards, each containing four beds; the flooring of the entire suite as white as any we had yet seen.

Once more downstairs, we were shown the teachers' private room, and the girls' play-room, a nice sized, octogon apartment, provided with an ample supply of pegs for the bonnets and satchels, which hung all round the wainscoating.

We asked our pleasant showman whether the recipients of the charity were limited to any district or particular part of the country!

"Not in any way," he replied; "it is open to the children of the poor in all parts of the kingdom."

And what are the qualifications entitling to admission; for whom is it provided?"

"For the poor and the worthy !" was the emphatic rejoinder.

"Is any interest needed?" To this query a negative answer was at first returned; but upon the remark that a little interest might not be altogether without use,

"Well, ye're all that the surer !" was the quaint reply. "All are not orphans; but the greater number are the children of indigent widows."

We saw a few of them about in the course of our tour of inspection, but not being furnished with a special order to any higher authority, our liveried attendant could not admit us to the school-rooms, in which classes were going on; of course it would be too great an interruption to the daily business if visitors could at any time obtain admission during lessons. On a former occasion I had witnessed the system pursued with the deaf-mutes, and, although most interesting, it had left a painful impression upon me, so that I was not altogether sorry we were obliged to pass their schoolroom without entering.

Attempts are made to teach these poor children to articulate, in order that they may understand what others are saying by watching the movements of their lips and throat; and the distressing tones in which some gave utterance to the words "how do you do" haunt me to this day, although years have elapsed since that first visit to Donaldson's Hospital. Whilst speaking, the teacher places his pupil's fingers upon his throat, that he may feel the working of the muscles before endeavouring to produce the same effect upon his own. When the teacher is satisfied, patting his pupil's head is the usual sign of approbation, not unvalued, judging from the light kindled in the eyes of some of the afflicted ones, as the friendly hand rested upon them.

The children are occasionally taken into the town for a treat; and we read a few letters descriptive of what had been seen and done on those holidays, addressed to the "hearing-boys and girls," as their more fortunate companions are styled, which proved, notwithstanding their sad privation, they are not altogether without powers of enjoyment, or capabilities of usefulness. But it is time to draw this second visit to the Hospital to a close, although it was with no small reluctance that we at length bade adieu to the civil functionary, who is neither permitted to receive any gratuity nor apparently expectant of one. He spoke as if he were himself interested in the information he imparted, and pleased to find interested listeners. There had been numerous visitors recently he told us, Edinburgh being just then full of strangers, but the Edinburgh people themselves rarely look into it, although, doubtless, proud enough of calling the beautful building and its liberal founder their own. Once more in the bright warm sunlight, we wended our way slowly through the outer gates and back to "Auld Reekie," reflecting upon the benefits that one man had had it in his power to confer upon thousands of his fellow-creatures.

"How many will have cause to remember that man with gratitude !” exclaimed one of our party.

"Yes, indeed," we replied unanimously.

And how few will do it!" was the unsatisfactory addition. Alas, it is but too true that ingratitude is frequently the reward of philanthropy; but it is not for us to abstain from doing good lest evil should come of it. What if some of the many, who are clothed, and fed, and cared for, in

that noble institution, should leave it with but little acknowledgment of the benefits derived from it, nay, should even abuse those benefits in latelife by a misapplication of the faculties there called forth and nurtured,— shall we therefore say that such charitable endowments are useless, or worse than useless? Shall there not be a few who, like the Samaritan of old, acknowledging the good gifts conferred upon them, shall rise up and bless the giver, and go forth amongst their fellow-men living proofs that the work of the philanthropist is not all in vain. And even were it otherwise, granted that unthankfulness is more general than a due appreciation of the efforts made to benefit others, are the children of Him who causeth His sun to shine alike on the just and unjust, the grateful and the thankless, striving to follow that One Supreme example, are they to withhold their hand from well-doing, because men show no more gratitude to them than to their Maker? Nay, rather as we turn away from the contemplation of the good designed, or accomplished by those who have gone before us, let us each bear in mind that to each and all of us, according to the measure given us, the Christ-like command has gone forth, "Go and do thou likewise." Y. S. N.

RECENT LEGISLATION AFFECTING

ODD-FELLOWSHIP.

BY CHARLES HARDWICK, P.G.M.

Ir has been again and again asserted, by competent authority, that the due and equitable administration of any law is of more consequence to the public weal than the precise aim or purpose of the statute itself. This dictum, paradoxical though it may appear, nevertheless enshrines a germ of the most profound truth. The chief objection to the Income Tax Act is, not a depreciation of its principle with reference to the replenishment of the National Exchequer, but a well grounded suspicion that its practical administration is of an imperfect and partial character. So also of recent legislation affecting Odd-fellowship. There can be no reasonable doubt that the object of the legislature, in the recent Acts relating to Friendly Societies, was to encourage their growth, to grant them the fullest legal protection, and to leave the practical working in the hands of the members themselves; at least I have never found any insurmountable difficulty in my endeavours to convince the mass of the people that such in all probability is the fact. The Act of Parliament, 18 and 19 Vic., presents no bugbear in itself; the cry is, "we do not want and we will not have any registrar's law." The Directors of the Manchester Unity and other societies are being continually appealed to by the members of branches for advice on, and protection against, what they consider undue interference on the part of Mr. Tidd Pratt or his clerks. This interference has at length become so intolerable that a movement, originating in the metropolitan districts, and warmly responded to in various parts of the provinces, has been inaugurated, with the especial object of procuring the repeal of a neat little Act, conferring a nice little slice of authority and patronage upon the Registrar of Friendly Societies; which Act, by some means or other, contrived to slide so noiselessly through both Houses of Parliament that not a single footstep in its stealthy march reached the ears of the great bulk of those most interested until it was too late for combined action. This silent offspring of official legislation has been baptized, " An

Act to amend the Act of the eighteenth and nineteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter sixty-three, relating to Friendly Societies." The parentage of the little bantling may be guessed at, with tolerable certainty, after the perusal of the following clause :

"VIII. Instead of its being necessary to state in the Agreement for the Dissolution of a Friendly Society pursuant to the said recited Act the intended Appropriation or Division of the Funds or Property thereof, such Appropriation or Division may by such Agreement be referred to the Award of the Registrar of Friendly Societies, or to the Actuary to the Com. missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, or to an Actuary of some Life Assurance Company established in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, who shall have exercised the Profession of Actuary for at least Five Years, to be named in the said Agreement; and also, that on the Application in Writing of not less than One Fourth Part of the Members of any Friendly Society made to the Registrar or Actuary aforesaid, stating that the Funds of the said Society are insufficient to meet the Claims thereon with the Grounds thereof, it shall be lawful for the Registrar or Actuary aforesaid to investigate the same, and to determine whether the said Society should continue or be dissolved, and the Funds and Property divided; and if in his Opinion the said Society should be dissolved, then to make an Award to that Effect, and to award, without the Requirement of Section Thirteen of the said Act being complied with, in what way the Funds and Property should be appropriated and divided; and that the Award of the said Registrar or Actuary in either of the said Cases shall be final and conclusive on all the Members and other Persons interested in or having any Claim on the Funds of the said Society, without Appeal, and shall be enforced in the same Manner as by Section Forty-one of the said Act is provided for enforcing the Decision of Arbitrators; and that the Expenses incurred by the said Registrar, or the Charges of the said Actuary, shall be paid out of the Funds and Property of the said Society before any Appropriation or Division thereof shall be made."

Section 13th of the 18th and 19th Victoria provided that no society should be "dissolved or determined without obtaining the votes of FIVE-SIXTHS in value of the then existing members thereof, including the honorary members, if any, to be ascertained in manner hereinafter mentioned, nor without the consent of all persons, if any, then receiving or then entitled to receive any relief, annuity, or other benefit from the funds thereof." Here we have a most notable specimen of the indecent haste with which a certain class of would-be Friendly Society reformers occasionally perpetuate legislative summersaults. Yesterday they were horrified lest a bare majority of the members of a Friendly Society should from any cause resolve upon its dissolution; the peace of the realm would jeopardised if such a step should be taken without the consent of five-sixths. To-day they are delighted to have an opportunity of "winding up" the "sick man," with the consent of not even a majority, but in actual defiance of the judgment and wishes of three-fourths of the parties interested! The latter portion of the eighth clause furnishes no doubt the best key to the solution of this somewhat extraordinary feat in senatorial gymnastics.

Mr. Pratt appears to have learned that his recent legislative effort has not given much satisfaction to those he professed to serve. In a lecture recently delivered at Brighton he observed, "I beg to remind objectors that this clause is not so stringent as the law now in existence, by which any three members may apply to the Court of Chancery, under the Winding-up Act, and throw all its funds into that court."

If this be "good law"-if the "Winding-up Act" can over-ride the Friendly Societies' Act-of what earthly use is either the clause in the 18th and 19th Vic. or the eighth in the recent statute? In neither instance is the Winding-up Act referred to; but on the contrary, special means are provided for the dissolution of registered societies. But this dictum of the registrar is evidently "bad law," or why did he wilfully waste his time in the perpetration of the obnoxious piece of futile legisla tion referred to Mr. Pratt, however, honourably adds,-"If the law, as at present constituted, be found to work disadvantageously to Friendly Societies, let their members petition the House of Commons, with a view