A Strangely Sad Record.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2916, 5 June 1888, Page 3

A Strangely Sad Record.

i was present writes a contributor to the Pall Mall Gazette, at a curious function the other night in a certain Bombre little street 111 Whitechapel. It was a friendly meeting for the benefit of a member of a most useful body of genfct^en—namely, newspaper runners. The gentleman in question had just lost his brother, and his friends were called together to subscribe towards the funeral expenses, A shower of shillings and sixpences SDon filled the plate, the tedium of tho evening was relieved by harmony of a pleasant description, and the gentleman's brother thus secured a respectable resting place. This blending of the festive and the dolorus may seem to savour of irreverence, but anything is thought better than a pauper's grave. This, it seems, is to be the fate of Theodore Hook's eldest daughter, an inquest on whose body was reported recently. This unfortunate lady had \>m\ in a little room (also occupied by aßnd hearted friend and an imbecile relative), and earned a precarious livelihood by teaching in private schools in Brixton. The poor creature was brought home in a dying state. She had no relations, and will have to be buried by Hie parish unless some philanthropist, comes forward A üßjer case has not been reported even in tiregrim and pathetic records of the London Coroner. Yet if everyone who has laughed at Theodore Hook's jokes only contributed a penny towards his daughter's funeral expenses, the ceremony would be as imposing as a monarch's obsequies.