a dark night in October, nearly seventy years since, the Exeter mail drew up at Winterslow Hut, one of the wildest and bleakest spots in Wiltshire, and not far distant from Salisbury Plain, when a lioness suddenly emerged from the darkness and sprang upon the off-leader's back. Great was the uproar which immediately arose. The solitary valley re-echoed with the cries of the affrighted passengers, some of whom fled precipitately and took shelter in the inn, where they locked themselves up in a bedroom. A diversion in the horse's favour was effected by a large mastiff, which attacked the lioness, and soon paid with his life the penalty for interfering. Leaving the horse, the lioness turned upon the dog, and, after a short pursuit, tore him in pieces. At last the keeper of the savage animal, which had escaped from a caravan bound for Salisbury Fair, arrived upon the scene of action, and with great difficulty drove her into an outhouse. The off-leader recovered from his wounds, and worked for many subsequent years between Winterslow and Devizes.

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"We used in those days to have day-coaching and night-coaching," says Mr. Stanley Harris, "no less than winter-coaching and summer-coaching, and, of course, were obliged to accommodate ourselves to the occasion."

A glance at the amateur coaches of to-day, although extremely gratifying to the connoisseur's eye as regards the beauty of the harness, the elegance of the drags, and the symmetry and harmony of the well-matched horses, will reveal to those who, as boys, went to school upon the top of a stage or mail coach, that pleasure, not business, is now-a-days the object aimed at. Who that was ever exposed to a snowstorm as an outside passenger for a couple of days and nights will desire a renewal in winter of what it is the fashion ignorantly to call "the good old times "?

On the evening of Christmas Day, 1836, for instance, a tremendous fall of snow com

menced over the whole of England and Scotland. It was such a storm as that which, beginning in London on "White-Tuesday," the 18th of January, 1881, continued during the whole of the next day with unabated severity, and left the metropolis isolated and cut off from the provinces on the morning of January 20th. In 1836 the snowstorm was general all over the island, having begun in Scotland about the 20th of December, and reached the South of England on the night of Christmas Day.

"Never before," says a contemporary newspaper, "was the London mail stopped upon every road for a whole night, and unable to get to the General Post Office. None of the regular coaches due on Monday from every part of the country had arrived, as was their custom, during the night." Fourteen mail-coaches were abandoned upon various roads. The mail from London to Brighton reached Crawley, but was obliged to return, while the Dover mail could get no farther than Gravesend. The Brighton up mail, starting on Sunday evening, was upset in a snow-drift, and when the guard, who had gone in search of assistance, returned, he could find no sign of vehicle, coachman, or passengers. At last the castaways were discovered, but it was impossible to move the coach. The passengers and coachman got with extreme difficulty to Clayton, seven miles from Brighton, on foot, while the guard, with the mailbags slung across his back, set off on horseback for London, but did not get there until Tuesday night late.

Fifty hours between Brighton and London! The misery involved in these words, and the concomitant exposure to weather, hunger, and extremity of cold, can scarcely be realized by first-class passengers, in the afternoon Brighton express, who grumble beyond measure if even an hour and a half is spent by them in passing from London Bridge to Preston Station, where tickets are collected before the "Queen of Watering Places" invites them to her re-invigorating breezes and spacious esplanades.

RETEO.

CXXI. NOVEMBER. ES, the Winter may be said now to have fairly set in. The harvest is past, the summer is ended; they were but the pioneers of Winter. And if the Winter time be barren and bare, and "the fields yield no meat," it is but to set the season forth, by contrast and in preparation, as the natural harbinger of the next-following Spring-Hope rising up, Phoenix-like, out of the ashes of the past.

This is the month in which the skylark sings its cheeriest and its best; and, in its cage, it serves somewhat to illustrate the poetry of Home. The Rev. J. G. Wood tells the story of an English emigrant, who, among his other chattels, carried his skylark in its cage with him to a distant settlement on the American continent. Crowds of English settlers used to gather round this man's hut to hear the song of the "rising of the lark." It brought back the memory of the old times in their native land, enlivening the dull November days. One of the most prosperous settlers offered most of his farming equipage-his horse and cart and other things-in exchange for the bird, but the owner refused to part with his now doubly valued treasure.

"Bird of the wilderness,
Blithesome and cumberless,
Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness,

Blest in thy dwelling-place

Oh to abide in the desert with thee!" November, in its negative phase, as the month of fogs and dreariness, has been well illustrated by Hood's comic representation of its gloom, and some of its physical and social consequences. He says of it:

"No sun-no moon!

No morn-no noon

JAMES THOMSON.

No dawn-no dusk-no proper time of day-
No sky- no earthly view-
No distance looking blue-

No road-no street-no t'other side the way-
No end to any row-

No indications where the crescents go-
No top to any steeple-

No recognitions of familiar people-
No courtesies for showing 'em-
No knowing 'em-

No travelling at all-no locomotion-
No inkling of the way-no notion-
'No go '-by land or ocean-

No mail-no post

No news from any coast

No park-no ring-no afternoon gentility-
No company-no nobility-

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease-
No comfortable feel in any member-
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees-
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds;-
November!"

CXXII. THE CHURCH CONGRESS. THE Reading Church Congress has been largely attended, and on the whole the papers and discussions have profitably ventilated some important topics. It is to be hoped, however, that future Church Congresses will, in one particular at least, mend their ways. The general admission that the arrangements this year have been very one-sided, will go far to secure greater care and consideration in the future. Some definite information ought to be given as to the formation of the committee of management, who, whether self-elected or not, appear to be accountable to no one. It has frequently been observed that not only have Evangelical readers been in the minority, but, that the subjects assigned to them have been so selected, that the avowal of Protestant principles could scarcely be introduced in any shape or form; whereas the Sacerdotalists have been favoured with topics thoroughly to their mind.

Canon Hoare is to be heartily thanked for secur

ing an assurance beforehand from Archdeacon Emery, the Congress secretary, that, in spite of the "great mistake made by the Subjects Committee at Reading," the Evangelicals would be fairly dealt with in the after discussions. This was, after all, a very partial remedy; but the remonstrance made will not fail to have its influence on the Church at large in its estimate of the present and succeeding Congresses.

Perhaps the most valuable and practical paper at the Reading Congress was that on Sunday Observance, by the Rev. Daniel Moore. Calmly judicious and ably comprehensive, the argument of this paper must commend itself to all who would be guided by the Word of God; whilst the practical application of the subject to "the present conditions of social life" was so thoroughly well put that we hope steps will be taken by the Lord's Day Observance Society to circulate it throughout the length and breadth of the land.

These, for example, are " golden words," which ought to be read and pondered by every working man in the kingdom

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:

Every step taken in the direction of Sunday desecration, for the purposes of voluntary pleasure, is a step in the same direction for purposes of compulsory work. Let the principle of a proper sanctity belonging to the day be once given up, and the institution be brought down to the level of a respectable Church usage, and an employer may consistently say to his working men, 'If your conscience is lax enough to take pleasure for your own sake on the Lord's Day, it surely cannot task it much to do a little work for mine.'

For a time, no doubt, this may be only an exceptional arrangement, and, as such, may be attended with increased remuneration. But political economy has its fixed laws. They bend not at the bidding of the humane and considerate man, any more than at that of the man of greed, and grind, and grasp. Let it once be proved that employers may get out of their workmen a whole, or even half a day's more labour than they used to do, and the exception will very soon become the rule. From motives of cupidity or competition, a corresponding reduction will gradually take place in the rate of wages, until the labouring man finds he receives no more for working SEVEN days than he formerly did for working six. On this point, the practical testimony of an employer of labour in the North will be allowed to have weight. If a manufacturer should run his work seven days, how could his neighbour hope to sell his goods at as low prices as if he ran only six days? Competition would draw in one after another, as with the suction of a mill stream. that any would be gainers by doing it-for capital would bring no more interest or profit than it does at present, but all who refused would be losers, and might even be ruined. The first beginners would use their advantages to lower the price of their goods, in order to attract more custom; but

Not

when all did the same, the price would be universally lowered, and none would be gainers.'-Letter of E. Baines, Esq., M.P., to Lord Shaftesbury."

CXXIII. PEDESTRIANISM.

MR. EDWARD PAYSON WESTON has announced his intention of walking 5,000 miles over the highroads of England and Wales between Guy Fawkes Day and the last day of next February. Sunday will, of course, be kept as a day of rest by the model pedestrian, and after each day's walk the intrepid athlete will give a public lecture on "Tea v. Beer." As all the world knows, Weston is a total abstainer, and although he is in his forty-fifth year, he has the fullest confidence in his ability to perform the Herculean task. Dr. Norman Kerr, the Hon. and Rev. Canon Leigh, Canon Ellison, Canon Duckworth, and several other well-known gentlemen have expressed a deep interest in the undertaking, which gives promise of being one of the most remarkable demonstrations ever made by a single individual as to the value of Total Abstinence in prolonged muscular exertion.-Hand and Heart.

CXXIV. COLOSSAL FLOUR MILL. THE greatest flour-mill in the world is at Minneapolis-the Pillsbury Mill, which was built at a cost of £180,000, and turns out 5,000 barrels of flour a day, shipping most of it direct to Europe. This mill is a marvel of the economical manufacture of flour. The railway cars come into the mill laden with wheat, are quickly emptied, and immediately packed with flour barrels and sacks for shipment. The grinding is done by the roller process, and machinery does everything from the first shovelling of the wheat out of the car, conducting it through all the parts of the manufacture, to the packing of the barrel or sack with the product. This mill stands in relation to the American flour trade as Niagara does to waterfalls. It was in Minneapolis not long ago that a flour-mill exploded and killed 18 men, and scientific investigation developed that there was an explosive force in the impalpable dust that flies about these mills as powerful as dyna mite.

CXXV.

DURING the year ending Lady Day, 1882, £8,232,472 was spent in England, through the poor-rate, in relief of the poor. On the single day, January 1st, 1882, 803,381 persons were relieved; of these a great army of no less than 106,280 were able-bodied, i.e., in full possession of health and strength. It has been said that nearly one in ten of the popula tion are paupers some part of the year. This may be beyond the truth, but it will be no exaggeration to say that one person in every ten of the people of England receives the pauper's pay at some time or other during life.-Rev. E. Sturges.

CXXVI. "THE FIRESIDE NEWS."

The Fireside News promises to be a great success. There can be no doubt the Church of England has hitherto strangely neglected the Press as a mighty power in the nation, and it is satisfactory to find a change is at hand. The Editor says:

We are glad to state many of the Clergy are now actively at work for us. We believe the Clergy for the most part have been unconscious of the fact to which we have called attention, that Several Nonconformist newspapers could be named, each issuing about 200,000 copies weekly, a number far exceeding that of all our Church papers put together. One correspondent, in a large town, says his occupation takes him into the homes of most of the people, and whilst in the houses of Nonconformists he invariably finds a Nonconformist paper, he rarely, if ever, sees an Evangelical Church of England journal anywhere. Another correspondent, the vicar of a large parish, says he doubts whether more than half-a-dozen copies of such a paper are regularly taken amongst all his parishioners.

6

As an instance of what might easily be done in most parishes to alter this state of things, and make the Printing Press the Church's Lever,' another clergyman tells us that he mentioned the matter in his church. The result has been that on the following Monday morning a bookseller, a member of my congregation, called and offered to help in any way he could to introduce The Fireside News. He added that already a lady had been to him and ordered 100 copies.'

"If only 1,000 of the clergy would do as much as this, success is assured."

Another point which we have never noticed before, is thus referred to :

"We hope the friends of our great Religious Societies especially will bear in mind that such a paper as we intend to produce will be of the utmost service in arousing interest and securing contributions. It is well known that at present these Societies are supported comparatively by the fewtwenty or thirty annual subscribers in each parish. Considerable sums are spent in circulating Reports, etc., but these do not reach the uninterested: and public meetings often do not realize a balance after meeting the cost of bills, room, and necessary expenses. A paper entering even 100,000 homes and presenting the claims of these Societies to its readers, will undoubtedly represent a very important agency for promoting missionary effort. The cost of 100,000 short appeals, without reckoning the expense of distribution, could scarcely be less than £100. So that one such appeal in The Fireside News every week would really be equal in value to a yearly outlay of more than £5,000. We give these figures because we are sure very few have yet formed an adequate estimate of the marvellous influence for good which God's 'modern miracle,' the Press, might exercise in this way alone."

The new paper appears on Friday, November 2nd, and we understand the first issue will be an edition of no less than 200,000 copies. Those who wish to further this good work should order fifty copies and plant them in as many homes.

CXXVII. PETER'S PENCE.

THE bag that nets the proceeds of "Peter's Pence' received a welcome windfall in the bequest that came of the Count de Chambord's will, by which a sum of 400,000 francs (£16,000), was left to the Vatican Exchequer. When we consider the vast sums that are continually being poured into the Pontifical coffers, and not least from the bounty of the impoverished Irish peasantry, one can hardly credit the pious wailings that deplore the poverty of the Head of the Roman Church, and the difficulty of making both ends meet. "Peter's Pence would hardly fit in the fish's mouth to-day. There is this difference besides, that Peter paid the money, but the Pope receives it.

CXXVIII. LORD COLERIDGE IN AMERICA. LORD COLERIDGE could hardly expect to run the gauntlet of American habits and customs without having to undergo the operation of being "interviewed." That event duly happened, but the result, for some reason or other, proved a failure. The reporter of the New York World was unequal to the task of "drawing-out" the English Lord Chief Justice. The opportunity taken was on board a private yacht, and his lordship was represented as 'leaning over the rail," and from thence, as from the bench, addressing himself to the Court below. The reporter confesses himself disappointed with the man he came to see: "As his lordship was leaning over the rail," he says, "he presented little the appearance of the typical English judge." What a typical English judge ought to be or to look like when in America, and when "leaning over a rail," we are not told. But we are informed that Lord Coleridge is "six feet of height:" that he has a " slight stoop in the shoulders," that his face is “ruddy, pleasant, and clean shaven;" and that his "sixty years in passing over his head had touched it with grey."

The reporter had but little encouragement from his lordship in the series of questions proposed. In fact, after a rather desultory fencing with several uninteresting inquiries, as soon as the queries came to touch on the political aspect of things at home, the Lord Chief Justice very cleverly put his foot down, and replied, in general :-"I am a very bad hand at answering questions, for I am so thoroughly used to cross-examining on my own account that my remarks are usually, indeed, with an interrogation." Let us hope that Lord Coleridge has taught a wholesome and seasonable lesson to his "interviewer," on the subject of" interviewing" strangers generally on their visits to the other side of the Atlantic.-Wayfarer in the " Church Standard."

CXXIX. THE BISHOPS AND TOBACCO. J. G. M., writing to the Church Standard (now The Fireside News) says:

"Some little time ago I wrote to thirty-two archbishops and bishops and asked them these three questions:

'Do you smoke?

'Did you ever smoke?

'Have you any opinion as to the evil effects of smoking-physically, mentally, and spiritually? ' "I received eighteen replies.

"There were eighteen noes to the first question. This of itself is very significant. It speaks volumes. I only wish the fourteen others had replied to this one question, for I feel sure that if the Episcopal bench are not to a man non-smokers the majority of non-smokers would at least be very large.

"To the second question the replies were varied, such as many years ago,' etc., but here the majority were 'never.'

"To the third question some replied they had not given it their attention;' some 'for medical men to settle;' some bad in excess,' etc.

"But one whose words should be written in letters of electric light, as a beacon in the darkness of a so-called civilised and enlightened age, says, 'I think from long observation of its effects that it is injurious in all three respects.""

As a medical pendant to this voice of the

bishops, if not of 'the Church,' the following letter, written by Dr. Drysdale, Senior Physician to the Metropolitan Free Hospital, ought to be well weighed by those who use tobacco. Dr. Drysdale says:

"I do not for a moment wish to compare the harm done by smoking with the horrors caused by the use of alcohol. No physician attached to hospitals can have failed to remark that, perhaps next to pulmonary consumption, the diseases caused by chronic drunkenness are the most prevalent source of death among our poorer classes. But I can testify, from long observation, that the chronic use of tobacco in any form is a very prevalent cause of debility and manifold diseases.

"Take, first of all, the sense of sight. One of our most celebrated London ophthalmic surgeons tells me that he is continually consulted by young gentlemen for weakness of vision caused by smoking; and I myself have in many cases seen the prolonged use of tobacco, especially when it is chewed, cause total loss of sight. Then take the circulatory system, and we find smokers subject to palpitation of the heart, and far less able to bear up against extremes of cold and heat than they were before making use of tobacco.

"The teeth are often, very often, rendered black and unseemly by the use of cigars and pipes; and

the mouth of the chewer is a filthy object, in many cases, to contemplate with the eye of a lover of human health and beauty. The use of tobacco is apt to cause relaxation of the muscles of the back of the mouth, and dusky discolouration of the fauces, with hoarseness, from congestion of the vocal chords. The overwhelming majority of cases of cancer of the lip are found in men who smoke, and cancer of the tongue has often been said to be caused by the irritation of the fumes of the pipe or cigar.

"Great smokers lose, to a great extent, their vivacity, i.e. they are less vital than they used to be, and less easily moved by slight stimuli, which might prove pleasurable to non-smokers. They are notoriously dyspeptic. I need hardly refer, indeed, to such a well-known fact. They are subject to constipation and malaise; and when deprived of their stimulus are more miserable perhaps than even drinkers. I cannot see why men smoke when women do not. We should, I am sure, object strongly to our women destroying the pearly whiteness of their teeth or losing their vivacity and impressionability by the use of any such poison as nicotine, even in small doses. Hence I must take the liberty to protest against a custom which has been inveighed against by Brodie, Copland, Critchett, Guerin, Mantegazza, Cacopardo, and numer. ous heads of my profession in all countries."

CXXX. THE WELSH QUARRYMAN. "'Tis not in mortals to command success," is a line which is often on the lips of public speakers; every now and then, however, some rough diamond steps to the front, of whom it can only be said, he has indeed deserved success. For example, among the students of Durham University who recently received their M.A. degrees, was a young man whose career shows what excellent rough material may be found in Wales for a system of higher education to work upon. Five years ago a young Bethsaida quarryman, who could scarcely speak English and knew little even of the rudiments of learning, gave up working at the quarry in order to study for the ministry. With the help of a brother and sister he qualified himself in six months to enter Clynog Grammar School, where he stayed twelve months, and then succeeded in passing the entrance examination at St. Bees College. After being at college two years he returned to Clynog, and continued his studies there for a few months. At Christmas, 1881, he was ordained deacon by the Archbishop of York, and was appointed to a curacy, and last Christmas he took priest's orders. Five short years have suf ficed to transform an unlettered Welsh quarryman into a Clergyman of the Church of England and a University Graduate.