with a banjo; of course all the boys and girls turned out to listen, and I amongst the rest. 'Well, that banjo fairly turned my head, and I thought if I could but get one and learn to play it, I should soon make my fortune. 'But how was I to get it? I couldn't buy one, for money was as scarce with me then as it is now, and that's saying a good deal. 'I thought and thought it over, and one day I hit upon a plan. I told you some of the wires of that piano were loose; so one day when father was out I just took out three or four of them, and I got some of father's screws, and then I screwed them wires on a cupboard door. 'Mother, she says, "Why, boy, whatever are you after?" and when father came in, he says, "Who's been meddling with my screws?" I says, "Here they are father." He laughed to be sure, and says, "Who's going to mend the holes in my cupboard door? Don't go breaking any more of them wires after your music;" but neither father nor mother were angry; indeed, I rather think they were just a bit proud of me and my doings. 'I tried to tune them wires; but there, I couldn't make much of 'em. At last the banjo man came round again, and I got to talk to him, and had a look at his banjo, and then I thought I would try what I could do again. 'All this time, I can tell you I didn't settle much to my carpentering, for I was always thinking of the music. Was father angry? Well, he didn't say much. There were ten of us, and us elder ones did pretty much as we liked. No, I'm not the eldest; I've a brother older than me; he's a soldier-he's been in India; he's in Ireland now. 'Well, I got a bit of wood, and I made a long handle. Then I couldn't think what to do for the drum part. There was a bandbox-maker lived in the Gardens, and I got a bit of wrack-board from her. A friend had given me a bit of vellum, but I found the board wouldn't do, for I could not fasten the vellum to it. At last I chanced upon the frame of a sieve, and then I got on first-rate. How proud I was when I finished my banjo! The next thing was to tune it. I didn't know how to do it; but I determined I'd try it. I expect I drove mother and father pretty well crazy with la-di-dum-da, la-di-dum-da; but I got some sort of tune into it. I well remember the first time I played "Old Jim Crow;" it was very popular then, though maybe you won't remember it. Then I learnt "Poor Mary Ann," and after that I got on very fast. 'The first time I played before folks, as you may say, was some place in the Whitechapel Road; but the first real concert I played at was at Chatham. 'Well, ma'am, I don't think there is a large town in England that I have not been in. One of the longest journeys that ever I took was from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Southampton. How did I get my engagements ? Why, through an agent. There was one in London I stuck by for many years. 'On one of my journeys I went to Ipswich, and there I used to go home with a friend, and have a pipe and a glass; and somehow I took to his sister, and, after I had been to Ipswich a few times, we married, and I brought her back to London with me. We took a little house in Willow Gardens, and a rare pretty home we had. Look outside the window, ma'am; there's a bit of a branch off a tree we had in our garden. I've had it all these years. We had one child, but it didn't live long. 'We lived very comfortably together, my wife and I. I never was a drinking chap, but kept steady and tried to save my money. I was away from home a good deal, for my business was nearly always in the provinces. Didn't my wife ever go with me? Yes, she did sometimes; but you know folks are more particular in country towns than they are in London, and 'twas so late sometimes before we got to a place that it was hard work to get respectable lodgings. People would say, "This is a queer time to be looking for lodgings. No, I don't know you, and I don't know the woman. We can't take you in here." So you see I left my wife at home mostly. (To be continued.) What Others are Doing. Under this heading we desire to introduce our readers to a variety of charitable and religious work which is being carried on for GOD in different parts of the world. It will be distinctly a record of work -charitable, philanthropic, and missionary—and we wish it to be understood that we by no means commit ourselves to any approval of the religious views and opinions held by those who do such work. In this particular, great scope will be allowed, and we trust that our readers will understand and appreciate our motives. We shall gladly welcome interesting accounts written by those engaged themselves in charitable and missionary work. Mere begging appeals are not admissible. No. I. MISSION WORK IN THE PARISH OF S. SAVIOUR'S, LEEDS. O many Churchmen the name of S. Saviour's, Leeds, is as a household word. Some who read these pages may even have had the privilege of attending the opening services of the stately and beautiful church, built long years ago in the very midst of the poverty and dinginess of a great manufacturing town; or, at least, they may have read and profited by the striking and touching sermons preached on that occasion, and since published. They may have heard, too, of the munificent but unknown founder, and of the pathetic appeal printed up upon its walls begging for 'one prayer for the sinner that built it.' Since those early days, this favoured parish has experienced many changes, many vicissitudes. A hard hand-to-hand battle has been fought there against sin and unbelief, and ofttimes it has seemed as though the good cause were to have the worst of it. The cholera, when it visited Leeds, left a terrible history behind it in this particular parish, and sadder events still-on which we need not now dwell-have, from time to time, recalled S. Saviour's to the memory of the sons and daughters of the Church, and appealed silently for the help of their sympathy and their prayers. About eighteen months ago the present Vicar, the Rev. John Wylde, appalled by the wickedness and ignorance of many in his immense parish, and feeling deeply the need of devoted women to labour among them, applied to the Sisters of Charity, S. Raphael's, Bristol, for Sisters. The Superior was able to accede to his request, and, in November 1880, a small detachment from the Mother-house took up their abode in the parish. The Vicar was able to provide them with a house, but for all other expenses they depend mainly on the alms of the faithful. The population of S. Saviour's-nearly 10,000-consists chiefly of working people, and there are few persons in the whole district who possess a larger or more certain income than that derived from weekly wages or the profits of a small shop. The men work, for the most part, either in the coal-pits or the great steam forges and mechanics' work-shops hard by. The girls and younger married women work in the cloth or flax mills. The evils which invariably prevail where women engage in labour which takes them from their homes during the greater part of the day abound here, but they are so well known that I need not now allude to them more fully. The Sisters are at present mainly employed in tending the sick, and in teaching. They hold evening classes for girls and women, which are well attended; a Bible-class for men, mothers' meetings, &c. Still there are many branches of parish work which they would gladly start if only funds were forthcoming. I will mention a few of these, in the hope of interesting my readers and awaking their sympathy. (1) A crêche, or day-nursery, for infants whose mothers work in the mills. One of the first things which strikes a stranger visiting the parish is the number of poor little children with bowed legs, and other deformitiesa sure indication of neglect in infancy—and one has only to work a very short time at S. Saviour's to become terribly familiar with many sad details in the lives of these little ones. (2) A Home for mill-girls is also a great want. Numbers of the girls who earn their living in this manner live at a great distance from the mills, and either bring some food with them for the mid-day meal, which they eat amidst great discomfort, or have to hurry back home during the short dinner-hour. The proposed Home would furnish a shelter where they could take breakfast and dinner comfortably-their own food being prepared for them at a moderate charge. Here, too, lodgings could be provided for such girls as have no parents or proper home of their own. (3) Funds are also much needed for the relief of the sick poor. Yorkshire people are proverbially independent-spirited, and so long as they are in work and in health they neither ask for alms nor would accept them. But in a large district such as this there are always many distressing cases of sickness, often accompanied by deep poverty, owing to its being the bread-winner of the family that is laid low. And, lastly, help is wanted for the support of the Sisters' Mission-house. The Vicar is anxious to secure the services of another Sister for his poor and sick, and the community of S. Raphael would do their best to spare one for this great work if the expenses of her maintenance could be guaranteed. These would only amount to 30%. per annum, and confidently do I hope that some benevolent persons may come forward and promise this small sum, for which another servant of the poor will be enabled to live and labour among the ignorant and the miserable of Leeds. Our manufacturing centres have surely great and special claims upon the whole of England. Will not some of those who read this little sketch send some help to S. Saviour's, Leeds? Contributions may be sent either to the No. II. A MISSION TO MEN AND BOYS. HE Church of England, at the one concerns the past, the other the future. The one declares plainly the mighty revival of her ecclesiastical vigour, and still more of the personal piety which the presence of the Holy Ghost within her enables her to develop in the hearts and lives of so many thousands of her children. The other is ever holding up to view the sad disparity between those who call themselves by her name and the multitudes of men, women, and children who live on, and are being trained up, in listless indifference to her voice, risking their hopes of entering the golden gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, whilst they suffer the precious time on earth to slip by unredeemed. In a word, the one is her portrait in relation to her privileges and her acknowledged children, the other shows her in relation to the great nation in the midst of which she has been planted as the Saviour's ambassador and representative. It is according as men look on the one or the other picture, that they form their opinion both of her present and her future position. When we look back to the deadness of the Georgian epoch, and trace the wonderful way in which the well-nigh extinguished flame has little by little re-asserted itself, and see how, in spite of the furious opposition of ignorance and party feeling, she has made her way, and step by step vindicated her claim to spiritual independence, we feel ourselves roused to admiration and gratitude, and are prepared to prophesy yet greater victories, and to fancy perhaps that a golden age is before us, when her victory will be complete. But such dreams as these vanish only too rapidly when we approach her from the other point of view. There is the confederation of the various sects, agreed, if in nothing else, at least in their envy and dislike of the Church of GOD. There is the deadly hostility to all revealed religion and Divine laws, which in various ways is already at work amongst us, undermining the foundations of all order, and seeking to prepare the way for revolution. And, what is worse, there are literally thousands of working men in every one of the centres of activity and industry throughout the country,over whose hearts religion has absolutely no sway whatever, and who, in their unhappy ignorance and heathen condition, are ready enough to imbibe the poison of false statements with which the low-class press teems; and, lastly, there are whole generations of working lads springing up, with minds sufficiently educated to enable them to take an intelligent interest in the great principles which are everywhere felt to be in conflict, but who have been wrongly deprived of the steadying help which alone can be obtained from religious truth carefully instilled in early years. Only those who have worked in manufacturing or mining districts have the least notion of the listless indifference to all religion, as well as the bitter hostility to the Church, which rankles in the breasts of thousands of our fellow-countrymen. Nor am I writing at haphazard, but from my own knowledge and experience, gathered from six years of mission preaching in different parts of the country. Now, I ask, What is the Church doing for these men, and for the rising generations? That the parochial system does not reach them is clear from the very fact of their existing condition. An additional curate here or there is like a thimbleful of salt cast into the waters of the Thames. What the present state of England requires is a body of missionaries in every diocese, casting themselves amid this vast population, with special authority from the bishops to strike out new lines of work, distinct from, and yet supplementary to the parochial system. Such missionaries might be under the direct authority of the bishops in all things relating to their work, and every precaution might be taken to prevent their clashing with the pastoral work in each parish; but they should, within due limits, be left quite free to spread the knowledge of the Gospel, and exercise their apostolical office in whatever way circumstances might seem to require. The attention of the religious world is just now much centred on 'the Salvation Army.' Without entering into the question of the relations with the Church into which it may or may not be possible that this agency may be brought, or stopping to inquire into its nature and merits, I would wish here to point out that if only the way could be opened for missionary work of an equally free and fearless nature to be carried on by the Church, it would be the surest means of drawing into her communion those classes whose indifference and godlessness we all deplore. That there is a demand for such help on the part of many parish priests is certain; that there is a willingness on the part of some of the bishops to open the door for such work is also pretty well known. The chief desiderata are the men and the money. May GOD put it into the heart of fit persons to offer themselves for the one; and He will surely not fail to open the way for the work, and provide the means for their support. It was with some such object as this in view that S. Paul's House was built; and though as yet priest-inmates are wanting who should take up the direct mission-preaching, we hope that the following Report will show that other promising work is on foot : In presenting our Report and Balance-sheet for the year past, we venture to make a most earnest appeal for further help to enable us, before the end of another year, to pay off what remains of the debt on our building fund. It is with feelings of the deepest gratitude to GOD first, and then to all those who have been moved by Him to help us in our undertaking, that we note the fact, that whereas the total sum expended on this house, inclusive of architectural and legal fees and the barest necessaries in the way of furniture, has amounted to 4.942l. 75. 3d., the subscriptions and donations of well-wishers in different parts of England have enabled us to reduce the debt to 2,2177. 6s. 3d. Still it may be well supposed that this sum is a heavy burden on our young Society, and while it adds greatly to our anxieties, it necessarily cramps our energies, and prevents our concentrating our attention, as we should wish to do, on the development of the practical work that seems to be opening out before us. It may be asked, perhaps, what are the which we have in view? We reply : I. The formation of an Order of Mission Preachers, who, being free from the cares of ordinary parish work, would be ready, when invited, to assist the Parochial Clergy by conducting Missions and giving Courses of Sermons, and generally working as Preachers and Missionaries amongst those classes, especially, who as yet lie beyond the reach of the ordinary ministrations of the Church. 2. The Education of Boys, especially those of the middle and lower classes. 3. By the use of every legitimate means to extend the knowledge of GOD, and the influence of Religion throughout the country. MISSION PREACHING. That there is much to be done in the Home Mission Field no one can doubt. England has, so far as the masses of her town population are concerned, lapsed into a state of self-seeking indifference to Religion, which amounts practically to a return to Heathenism. The energy of certain Religionists, as yet unhappily external to the Church, and without the help of her Sacraments, is nevertheless showing her where her exertions are specially needed, and how much yet remains to be done, if she is to vindicate her claim to being indeed the true Mother Church of England's people. We desire, if GOD will, to prepare ourselves for such work as this, so as to become in time a body of Missionaries within the Church, duly qualified for this sort of guerilla warfare with sin. This, however, is a matter of the future rather than the present. But should this paper fall into the hands of any Clergyman who feels a desire to see such a work set on foot, we would earnestly entreat him to consider with himself whether it be not the voice of GOD suggesting to him the work that lies before him, and would beg him to make himself more acquainted with our Society. Till others come forward to unite in such an undertaking, we must be content to wait. Most earnestly, however, do we entreat your prayers on behalf of the attainment of this object. WORKING-BOYS' HOME. In the early part of last year, a footing had been gained among some of the street-lads of Kilburn by means of night classes held during the winter months; and the knowledge of the houseless and abandoned condition of some of these boys, not more than thirteen or fourteen years old, led to the determination to try the experiment of opening a Working-Boys' Home. A small house was accordingly taken in a neighbouring street, in May 1881, and six boys were admitted. In September the numbers were increased to fourteen, and by the end of January 1882 the house was as full as it would hold, twenty boys having been admitted. Since then we have managed to make room for one more-a very pressing case of a boy, who for a slight offence had got into the hands of the police; and if we had refused him, would have been sentenced to a Reformatory for four years. The number of applications for admission from other boys has been considerable, and we are already considering what steps can be taken before next winter towards largely increasing our accommodation. The boys were employed at first as shoe-blacks; but a wood-chopping shed was erected last November in the back-yard, and a brisk trade in firewood has been carried on through the winter months, which has given employment to ten boys and has contributed also towards their maintenance. Several of the boys are employed for two or three hours a day in some of the houses of the gentry in the neighbourhood, cleaning knives and boots, and doing odd jobs. We have also begun to teach them shoemaking with the help of a master, who is a thorough proficient in his craft, and we hope in time to teach other trades also. The change which has come over the boys since they entered the Home is truly remarkable, and full of cheering promise for the future; while their willingness to yield themselves to the necessary discipline is the best proof that they have no doubt that their lot in life is really improved. MIDDLE-CLASS DAY SCHOOL. This was another of the proposals which, in last year's report, fell under the head of Our Future Work.' We made a beginning last September; and though we have as yet only ten scholars, we look forward to a steady increase as the school becomes better known. THE PROVIDENT SOCIETY still continues to show a steady growth in its num bers. It is a branch of the Church of England Temperance Sick and Burial Society, and consists of about forty members. The female portion, which is under the supervision of some ladies in the neighbourhood, is doing much good in inducing servant girls to lay up some part of their earnings as a provision against 'a rainy day,' which, as a rule, this class of society are not very forward in doing. GUEST HOUse. Guests are received into the house en pension, either as permanent residents or for shorter periods. The object aimed at is to leave them the fullest liberty, while just so much regularity is secured as is necessary for the common welfare. It should, therefore, be clearly understood that, though living under the same roof, they are on a totally different footing from the Brothers themselves. We should also be glad if it were more widely known that clergy and laymen coming to London for a few days may find shelter with us, should they prefer such accommodation to that of an hotel. Terms may be had on application to the Superior. It is to help us in carrying out our general objects that we now most earnestly entreat your aid. Once free from the immediate pressure of debt we should be able to go forward with redoubled energy; |