CHAPTER XXIV.
REFORM AMONG THE ROWDIES—FREE READING-ROOMS.
They Require Peculiar Management to be Successful—The Eleventh-ward
Reading-room—Its Failure—A Reformed Pugilist—"Awful Gardner"-His
Career—The Death of His Son—His Reform—His Words to His Old
Associates—The Effect of Christianity—The Drunkard's Club in the
Fourth Ward—Mr. Beecher's Address—Gardner's Speech—His Influence over
the Rowdies—His Theory of Reform—Great Numbers Rescued from
Drunkenness—Failure of his Health—Genuineness of his Reform—Mr.
Macy's Reading-room—The First-ward Room—Mr. J. Couper Lord—Mr.
Hawley's Exertions—The Free Reading-room a Recognized Means of Moral
Improvement………………………………………….pp. 286-297