About the year 1845, a 'Ragged School,' as it was called, was started in a very poor quarter of London, but so turbulent and noisy were the boys that at last the teachers found themselves obliged to engage the services of a policeman to keep order.

This policeman was himself a 'bit of a scholar,' and had also a love of boys, and he suggested that if he took a class in the school it might be the best way of maintaining order amongst the unruly crew.

The experiment was tried, and proved a great success. The worst and noisiest boys were drafted into the policeman's class, and he somehow tamed them all. More than that, his class was so popular that all the boys wanted to belong to it, and they gave their constable the title of 'King of the Peelers.'

'Peelers,' a name which has been nearly ousted by our slang word 'Bobby.' was derived from Sir Robert Peel, who instituted the police. 'Bobby,' of course, comes from Peel's Christian name.

X.