that evening. The chaplain was at the cemetery and the grave prepared, but no funeral party appeared. He waited for more than an hour, and then returned to his house with many misgivings. He took the earliest opportunity of paying Mrs. Robins a visit when his suspicions were confirmed. He discovered that there had been no death in the family, and little Fred was playing in the road with some native children, with whom he seemed to be on excellent terms. When reproached and further-more threatened with the police, she shed copious tears and said that she must live. She considered poverty and an idle husband sufficient excuse for her conduct, and she seemed surprised that the chaplain did not regard her action in the same light.
The charity was intended primarily for the poor of Trichinopoly, but there were many applications from outside. A widow on the west coast hearing of the institution raised sufficient money to carry herself and her children by rail as far as Beypore. From Beypore she walked, arriving one afternoon travel-stained and weary, the veriest tramp in appearance that ever trod the high-ways. A loaf of bread and some tea were the first consideration; then followed her story, a sad one of course, justifying the reception of the children into the orphanage. The following day she departed . The little ones were quite happy, but for some days they put by part of their food for the absent mother. The kind-hearted matron smiled as she bade them take it to the kitchen to be kept hot.
The choir of St. John's Church was furnished with choristers from the orphanage. No amount of training could eliminate the metallic sound from the boys voices, but they learned to render the music of the simple services correctly, if not as musically as might be desired. Their conduct was orderly, and only once did the lads put the chaplain into any difficulty.
