and structure although there is never a sense that the schools were harsh or austere. Guthrie was no great fan of corporal punishment and instead encouraged staff to win over children with kindness; "these Arabs of the city are wild as those of the desert, and must be broken into three habits, – those of discipline, learning and industry, not to speak of cleanliness. To accomplish this, our trust is in the almost omnipotent power of Christian kindness. Hard words and harder blows are thrown away here. With these alas they are too familiar at home, and have learned to be as indifferent to them as the smith's dog to the shower of sparks" Thomas Guthrie, Seed-Time and Harvest of Ragged Schools,. While Guthrie's management of the Ragged Schools was never sectarian or denominational he never compromised on Christian education. Perhaps one of his best quotes about the Ragged Schools sums up this view; "the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible; the Bible without note or comment – without the authoritative interpretation of priest or presbyter – as the foundation of all its religious teaching, and of its religious teaching to all". Guthrie himself saw the Ragged Schools as his most enduring legacy; "I never engaged in a cause, as a man and a Christian minister that I believe on my death-bed I will look back on with more pleasure or gratitude to God, than that he led me to work for Ragged Schools. I have the satisfaction, when I lay my head upon my pillow, of always finding one soft part of it: and that is, that God has made me an instrument in His hand of saving many a poor creature from a life of misery and crime” Thomas Guthrie and Sons, Autobiography and Memoirs (London, 1896, p 496). Guthrie’s legacy of Ragged Schools did more than almost any social philanthropist in history to change the nation of Scotland. Amongst Guthrie’s last words he was overheard to say “a brand plucked from the burning!” His legacy was that through his vision and love for his Saviour, the Ragged School movement was established which in turn plucked thousands of little brands from a life of poverty and crime, and brought them to know the ultimate friend of sinners. As well as Ragged Schools Guthrie was also well known for his work as a temperance campaigner, although