And from the gutters there might spring another Robert Burns.”
But still he shook his portly head, and said, “Don’t make a fuss,
If such there be, depend on it they’ll get no help from us.
“’Tis not on vulgar little boys that we spend every year
Four hundred thousand pounds. You see that education’s dear,
And is not to be wasted upon every boy you meet
Sweeping crossings, selling matches, loafing, begging in the street.”
I said, “I thought the Act was passed that vulgar boys might share
Some little education, that they couldn’t get elsewhere
That schools might fill, and gaols, in time might really empty be.”