Robert McDonnell

“ If it be true, as Lecky somewhere says, that the Irishman who makes a friend of a fellow countryman of a different religion from his own is a benefactor to his country, then Lentaigne was one. He numbered among his friends many who, like myself, _though a different religion, accorded to him the most unbounded admiration for a large and catholic spirit of Christian charity which led him to devote his life to tho improvement and reform of the criminal classes. ”

“ Fur many years every female servant in his house was one who had been a convict. He made his own home a place to test the soundness of their reformation, and ultimately, if this was found satisfactory, he sought to have them absorbed again among the working population. ”

“ Sir John Lentaigne possessed one quality which peculiarly fitted him to undertake tho reformation of prisoners and convicts. Ho had perfect faith in human nature. Ho believed with intense earnestness that even in tho most degraded criminals there exists tho germ of good, tho seed which, by careful, tender culture, may be developed and ultimately boar good fruit. A loving faith pervaded his whole life, and was tho secret of his success. ”