"If you want to know more about them than I can tell you, sir," said one poor woman to whom Nansie had been kind, "go to Dr. Perriera."
Receiving Dr. Perriera's address, Mr. Manners wended thither, and found the worthy doctor, who was now a man well advanced in years, in his shop. With Dr. Perriera he had a long and pregnant interview. In confidence he told the doctor who he was, and Dr. Perriera's heart glowed at the better prospect which seemed to present itself to friends whom he honored. Forces which had long lain dormant in Mr. Manners came into play; always a good judge of character, he recognized that he was conversing with a man of sterling worth and honor.
"I have been informed," he said, "that you are a doctor of great skill. You would have succeeded in more flourishing neighborhoods than this."
"I preferred to stay here," said Dr. Perriera. "Elsewhere I should not have found the happiness I have enjoyed among these poor people."
"But you would have been rich."
"It would have marred my life," was the simple rejoinder. "You and I are on equal ground, about the same age, I judge. We have not many years to live. Of what use presently will much money be to you and me? Men and women grow into false ideas; most of those who become rich become slaves. Gold is their master--a frightful tyrant, destructive, as it is chiefly used, of all the teachings of Christianity. But, then, Christians are scarce."
Mr. Manners hinted at his unformed schemes, and Dr. Perriera was greatly interested.
"What the poor and wretched want," he said, "is light, first for the body, afterwards for the soul. Not the light of gin-shops, which are poisonously planted by the wealthy at every convenient corner. Sweep away the rookeries; purify the gutters; commence at the right end. There are darksome spaces round about, in which only vice and crime can grow; and they are allowed to remain, defiling and polluting body and soul. There is a false, convenient theory, that you cannot make people moral by act of Parliament. My dear sir, you can. Cleanliness is next to godliness; that is a wiser saying; and governments would be better employed in enforcing this than in ninety-nine out of every hundred of the acts they waste their time in discussing."
"What do you mean," asked Mr. Manners, "by your remark, commence at the right end?"
"Commence with the children," replied Dr. Perriera, "not neglecting meanwhile those who are grown up. These children presently will become fathers and mothers, and their early teaching bears fruit. It is impossible to train anew firmly rooted trees, but they can be gently and wisely treated. With saplings it is different."