bring me any work; yet my faith staggered not through unbelief. At twelve o'clock a poor widow came, whose only income (save in exceptional cases) was two shillings and sixpence a week. She had brought me a hot dinner, and she said, "In the night I could not sleep when thinking about you. In the morning I was impressed to get some mutton and turnips, cook them, and bring them to you, together with the broth and a loaf of bread. I have only done what my Heavenly Father bade me do."

THE WIDOW REDUCED TO STARVATION.

One very hard winter I had a similar experience. I awoke in the morning with the conviction that I ought to go into Edgbaston Street, and take with me a flannel garment. "Mrs. S-" to whom I was impressed to go, I said to myself, "is a widow, but in good circumstances" (I had not heard of her misfortune to lose all she had); "besides, I have not one to spare." The impression came with greater power, "Take it, and you shall have another garment for yourself, and never want flannel as long as you live." The snow was deep upon the ground, and the distance considerable. I purposed to go the next day, but I had no rest in my spirit until I went.

without

I found, to my surprise, Mrs. S― gown or flannel, and herself and her children in a state of starvation. She was a Christian, and clung to that promise, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in Me." The tender, loving Father had

E

marked the trust of His child; and when He had tried her, He brought her forth out of the furnace as gold. He raised her up friends as soon as her extremity was known, and fulfilled His promise to the jot and to the tittle thereof. Two or three days had scarcely elapsed, when a lady, a comparative stranger, called me aside, and said, "The weather is so severe, it has occurred to me that this woollen garment would be of use to you. Will you please to accept of it?" Thus the Lord fulfilled to me His promise, and I may add that after this all my wants in this respect were supplied.

THE ENRAGED PARENTS.

A short time after, the Lord took to heaven the old lady who lodged with me, and I was again alone, when a young person, about eighteen years of age, was recommended to come and live with me. She had determined to leave home. Her parents were sad drunken people. I let her come. She then asked me if I would let her younger sister come also, as they both worked in the same factory, and when she could not take as much money as her parents expected, they beat and turned her into the street. For her dinner she had a bit of dry bread, whilst her parents spent her money in drink. Besides which, the weather was bitterly cold, and she had scarcely any clothing. The sister pleaded very hard for her to come, and I had not the heart to refuse her. When she came, I never saw a more deplorable object. I sat up that night, to make up some of my own clothes into garments for her to wear. In a week the

The

parents found out where the girls lived. mother came first, accusing me of enticing her daughters from their home. Home! their home had sometimes been in the streets. On one occasion a policeman took them to their parents and demanded a lodging for them.

"Your conduct," I said, "has driven them from home; I did not invite them to come, neither shall I tell them to go away." She was very abusive, and I ordered her to leave the house. "I shall stay," she said, "until my daughters come home from work." "Then you had better take a chair," I replied, pointing to one between the mangle and the open door. She did so; I went on with my work, and, as I turned the mangle, it gently turned her into the street, and I locked the door. She came again in the evening: her eldest daughter was not in; the younger one, as soon as she heard the knock at the door, crept under the table and was concealed by the cover; she was trembling with fear. After abusing me for some time, the mother left, but soon returned with her husband. I had locked the door, as I had no one in the house. He continued to knock and to use the most violent language; he walked up and down the street, and then the next street, shouting at the top of his voice whatever he thought might annoy and disgrace me. He then knocked again, and, as he was so enraged, I feared he would smash the windows, or break the door in, and kill me. Alone, yet not alone, for God was with me, and He had said, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." I went upstairs, and fell on my knees, when the Lord bade me fear no

evil. My anxieties were now gone, and on going downstairs I found that my persecutors were gone also.

In the morning I was sent for to the factory where the girls worked. The master said he must turn them away, as their father had been there, making a disturbance. I asked what would become of the girls; he replied, "If you will keep them from their parents, I will employ them as long as they stay with you; and if the father molests you, he must be put in prison." Their parents never came again; the girls remained with me, and I put them in the Wesleyan Sunday School. They were afraid the priest would come, but their fears were groundless. A few months after, I met the mother; she said she was very sorry I had been so ill-treated, but hoped I would forgive them, and returned me many thanks for what I was doing for her daughters. She gave me her address and asked me to call. I did so when the father was at home; we had no angry words. Before I left them, I said, "Shall we have a few words of prayer?" Though they were Catholics, they did not refuse. Thus the Lord made my enemies to be at peace with me.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CLASS LEADER.

"It is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power."-2 CHRON. xiv. II.

"The best reward for having wrought well already, is to have more to do; and he that has been faithful over a few things must find his account in being ruler over many things."

SEVERAL who were infirm from age and sickness, and who had recently found the Saviour, were desirous of becoming members, but could not go to Wesley Chapel, where the classes met, on account of the distance. I was impressed that there must be a class formed in Smith Street. I went accordingly to consult the minister, and said, if a leader could be sent, I would, with God's help, invite those whose hearts the Lord had touched to become members. No one can judge of my surprise, when the minister said, "You are to be the leader. You have been proposed and passed by the Church." I trembled at the thought of my inefficiency, and the great responsibility I should be under for the souls of others, and said, "I could not think of such a thing; I had no ability for the work; adding