“Where in the world do all of these little wretches come from?” asked Mr. Dinneford.  “They are swarming our streets of late.  Yesterday I saw a child who could not be over two years of age tinkling her triangle, while an older boy and girl were playing on a harp and violin.  She seemed so cold and tired that it made me sad to look at her.  There is something wrong about this.”

“Something very wrong,” answered the missionary.  “Doubtless you think these children are brought here by their parents or near relatives.  No such thing.  Most of them are slaves.  I speak advisedly.  The slave-trade is not yet dead.  Its abolition on the coast of Africa did not abolish the cupidity that gave it birth.  And the ‘coolie’ trade, one of its new forms, is not confined to the East.”

“I am at a loss for your meaning,” said Mr. Dinneford.

“I am not surprised.  The new slave-trade, which has been carried on with a secresy that is only now beginning to attract attention, has its source of supply in Southern Italy, from which large numbers of children are drawn every year and brought to this country.

“The headquarters of this trade—­cruel enough in some of its features to bear comparison with the African slave-trade itself—­are in New York.  From this city agents are sent out to Southern Italy every year, where little intelligence and great poverty exist.  These agents tell grand stories of the brilliant prospects offered to the young in America.  Let me now read to you from the published testimony of one who has made a thorough investigation of this nefarious business, so that you may get a clear comprehension of its extent and iniquity.

“He says:  ’One of these agents will approach the father of a family, and after commenting upon the beauty of his children, will tell him that his boys “should be sent at once to America, where they must in time become rich.”  “There are no poor in America.”  “The children should go when young, so that they may grow up with the people and the better acquire the language.”  “None are too young or too old to go to America.”  The father, of course, has not the means to go himself or to send his children to this delightful country.  The agent then offers to take the children to America, and to pay forty or fifty dollars to the father upon his signing an indenture abandoning all claims upon them.  He often, also, promises to pay a hundred or more at the end of a year, but, of course, never does it.

“’After the agent has collected a sufficient number of children, they are all supplied with musical instruments, and the trip on foot through Switzerland and France begins.  They are generally shipped to Genoa, and often to Marseilles, and accomplish the remainder of the journey to Havre or Calais by easy stages from village to village.  Thus they become a paying investment from the beginning.  This journey occupies the greater portion of the summer months; and after a long trip in the steerage of a sailing-vessel, the unfortunate children land at Castle Garden.  As the parents never hear from them again, they do not know whether they are doing well or not.