multitude which no man could number." Ye who labour for God, be not discouraged, though the gathering be small. One soul is of priceless worth in itself; and in God's plan one soul may win many. Listen, and I will tell you how the Lord wrought through me.

In early youth my lot was cast in a wild mountainous district, where, in our seclusion, the noise and whirl of the busy world without only sounded like the booming of the fretting waves of the great sea. Much of the land was unreclaimed, so that agricultural interests were not extended; and any other business carried on was of the simplest and most primitive description, without the benefit of modern discovery and invention. Above all, I never witnessed such spiritual dearth; indeed, I have often looked back upon it with an enlightened mind, and travelled mentally through different creeds and classes, to see if there was one whom I could number among the people of God, but without success. Unless, indeed, it was our vicar's wife, a gentle but strangely reserved woman, with a singularly pleasant voice and smile. I sometimes think she was one of the Lord's hidden ones, but lacked moral courage, and did not seek spiritual grace to manifest it in so uncongenial an atmosphere. Her temptations to worldly pleasure were few; her worldly cares many and engrossing. If her children learned aught from her, it was only to be expected from a mother and the wife of a clergyman. Nothing more than the merest empty compliance and outward morality resulted therefrom. Yet who am I that judge another? I lay my hand upon my mouth when I remember the Lord's reproof to Elijah, "Yet I have left Me seven thousand which have not bowed unto Baal." The prophet saw not one.

In this unfavourable position I was awakened to a tremendous sense of responsibility and concern for my immortal soul, and thus: The windows of our house looked out upon a small and sheltered bay, where many craft rode at anchor, yet subject to occasional squalls from the high hills by which it was surrounded. It was a dull, heavy

day, the air was still, but it was an ominous stillness, not a pleasant calm, and the sun was obscured. It was the Lord's day morning. I called it not so then, for I only knew it by the name which we retain in the nineteenth century as a relic of heathenism. As I was prepared to go forth to morning service, but found it rather early, I stood idly at one of the windows waiting for the rest of the party, and watching a small boat with light sail which was slowly entering the bay. Slowly she skirted the opposite shore like a duck upon the water, intending to round, and listlessly I gazed. Just then an ominous sigh passed over the calm surface, and it seemed ruffled into petty resentment by the very power it owned, and curled itself into broken ripples. Another and another followed; I even heard its breath around the old house like the wail of coming woe. Then there swept down from the hills one of those sudden gusts which, like all unlookedfor troubles, from their taking us unawares, are doubly difficult to meet. I looked for the boat; an experienced seaman might have found the position trying and dangerous, but, girl as I was, a long residence at the seaside had taught me there was no experienced hand keeping the strain on that sail. I was right; it filled to bursting : quietly she heeled over-filled, and in one minute two dark figures were in the water at the farthest point from which relief could come. They were young men who held a farm on the coast a short way outside the entrance to the bay, and had been coming in to attend church. I stood rooted to the spot; I marked the boat in which my brother and one of our men put off to the rescue from our little pier. I saw other boats from different directions; but I saw, too, that one of the swimmers was either getting frightened or exhausted; there was a needless splashing, and no cool manly effort to keep himself afloat. There was a distance now between the two, and he whose head more than once went underneath water was the nearest to the boats. Oh, was help in vain? Wildly I gazed, clutching the window-frame in terrible earnestness, unheeding those who had gathered round me. They were

nearer nearer now-but a few oars distant; and then the head which had tried to upbear itself so long sank again, never more to rise in life.

Never more, did I say? Yes, the sea will give up its dead. Not as then, but living forms will soar from these dark waters even as the tenant of an earthly tomb starts into life.

One was saved-one gone. The body was not recovered for nine days after. It was borne past me shrouded from view, but I knew a young form lay hidden beneath that white cloth, and a young heart with its fresh hopes had ceased to beat. I was face to face with death-I, Alice Weston, who never had a serious thought in all my life before. At once

I heard as the echo of a mighty voice, "Prepare to meet thy God!"

It sounded in my ears, it sounded in my heart; it brought with it the conviction that I was not so prepared, nay, rather, that I was wholly unprepared.

Yet I, too, must die; when and how I knew not. It might be soon, and even if years elapsed there was a great life-work to do. I thought not of a great work done, of death and judgment past. Then fear and trembling seized me, and my sins were brought to remembrance. I was selfcondemned.

Months passed, and still no ray of light shone in upon my darkened soul. My parents thought the nervous system had received a severe shock; and on this surmise our vicar, Mr. Hamilton, was consulted. Perhaps he saw deeper than they did; I cannot say but he did not question their discrimination, and only advised change of scene as the best means of diverting my thoughts and ministering to "a mind diseased." I doubt whether he had ever dealt with an awakened soul before. But ah, God in His But ah, God in His mercy had good things in store for him.

He was about to sit in the Master's school, and, having felt his own deficiency, to be taught, through a sense of need, and recognition of the only channel through which it could be met, how to gather in the golden grain in a coming harvest.

I was still in this state of despondency, which now told visibly on my health, and only resulted in languor and physical depression, when Mr. Hamilton, having occasion to visit a large town some forty miles distant, proposed that his daughters and I should accompany him. Reluctantly I yielded to what was almost a command on my father's part, and consented to join the party, on the condition that I should not (at least for the present) be placed under the care of a medical adviser. Again I cannot forbear remarking how important consequences hang by the merest thread, which the wayward will of man apparently might snap, upon some trivial event. Yet infinite wisdom influences, and infinite wisdom disposes.

Leaving the sterility and wild rugged beauty of our northern home, our way led through rich fields where, to use the language of the country," the corn was brairding finely," and smiling villages bathed in the glory of the early summer. We travelled by easy stages in an open carriage, changing horses at the different stations; and, in spite of myself, there was a pleasant influence in the fresh air, change of scene, and bright sunlight with its gentle decline, which began to tell upon me. For some distance our road lay close beside a lovely lake, from whose mossy banks, where the grass grew tall and rank, trees of various kinds drooped gracefully forward, dipping their leafy boughs into the cool water, and flinging dark shadows upon its clear bosom. "Like life," Mr. Hamilton said; "the sunshine and the shade." But to me life did not resemble that broad pathway of light, only mere patches amidst, and finally lost in the surrounding gloom. Ah, but a better light than I had ever dreamed of was coming now to me! More than once we stopped to gather the wild flowers, which grew here in abundance, or watch the light boats as they glided up and down, now mooring beside little leafy islets, mere wooded clumps, from which the ring of young joyous voices faintly and pleasantly reached our ears; and once the rise and fall of distant music echoed with a plaintive melody which was almost too much

for my unstrung nerves. Whenever I hear this earth called fair, or look forward to the time when the curse shall be removed, there rises before me the remembrance of that scene, which has never been surpassed for me in its quiet loveliness, and which ever from that moment represented to my mind all that is beautiful in nature.

Down a steep descent we passed a little village nestling among tall trees, the freshly whitewashed cottages of which, with their climbing roses and patches of garden in front, were highly indicative of cleanliness and repose. All owing, our coachman told us, to the care of two very good ladies who lived in the neighbourhood. Work here: work for God. And these people, what were they about? Following out some fancied Utopian scheme; seeking to stem back the tide of evil and woe with the puny fingers of a child; trusting in a fallacy; chasing a phantom called happiness. So I reasoned, in ignorance of soul, imagining myself wise. On, past the ruins of an old castle festooned with ivy, a broken bridge and moss-grown abbey. Past lonely roads and dilapidated cabins, telling of other wrecks than those which mere time had caused; sad records of a country's trial, famine, pestilence, and a mighty exodus. Then into the quaint old town, with its novelty of crowd and change; its busy streets, where a few stray musicians were performing, and gay shop-windows. It is all like a dream to me now, that long, long drive.

But if all this seems shadowy, what follows is indelibly stamped on my memory as a great and blessed reality. It was the second evening of our stay in this new scene, and we had left our hotel to stroll through the streets into one of the quiet walks which branched off in several directions. I can tell all about this. Mr. Hamilton, who walked beside me, while 1 leaned on his daughter Elinor, directed my attention to a large and handsome Roman Catholic chapel on our left, and listlessly I looked up at it. The ascent was by high steps, and through the open gate a few people were quietly entering; but it was not this arrested my attention.