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