Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean
The children walking two & two in red & blue & green
Grey headed beadles walked before with wands as white as snow
Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow
O what a multitude they seemed these flowers of London town
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own
The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among
Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor
They are described as raising their hands to heaven  in prayer, ostensibly in thanks for the ‘benevolence’ of the charitable organisations that house them. This is ambiguous; they were more likely to be pleading to God for kinder treatment. 

Holy Thursday Songs of Innocence