24

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS AND MORE.

expressions contained in her poetry. I feel a desire to make a new melody for some verses, but it must come to me.-Yours faithfully, November 29th, 1881.

"CHARLES ROBERTSON."

"GLENSIDE HOUSE, HOLYWOOD, November 28th, 1881. "MY DEAR MR. MATTHEWS,-It was with profound sorrow my wife and I received your letter, &c., yesterday, containing the sad tidings of your dear wife's death. From what you told us of her condition, we were prepared for the worst ; but having heard nothing whatever since you were with us, we were greatly shocked by the news. Allow me to tender you our united Christian sympathy under your sad and heavy bereavement. It is a melancholy satisfaction that you were returned from your Irish tour, and at home when the last scene came. We have read your deeply interesting and truly inspiring account of the life and labours, the faith, and peace, and patience of her whose loss you will sorely feel. "While it is a happy thing to be able to write in such a strain of those who are called home, yet we cannot shut our eyes, or close our hearts to the fact, that the same genuine qualities which endeared while living, only add to the pain of separation. It is scarcely necessary to remind you of the source of comfort in this your hour of darkness and bereavement. Prayerfully we commend you and your dear little ones to the loving care of a common Friend and Saviour; who in all our affliction is afflicted, and who even in the darkest and most mysterious providences with His children, Doeth all things well.'

"With regard to your intended Memorial in memory of the dear departed, we hope before you close your list of subscriptions to do a little.

66 My wife would not have asked for so many circulars, were it not that she finds the bulk of those on whom she calls in gross ignorance about the Society, and she is determined to do what she can to strengthen your hands in this neighbourhood. "In looking over your Irish report, I do not think that Belfast does its part in helping you. There surely should be more realized in it than in Dublin. Our little Charlie had to get your kisses, with which he was much pleased. My wife would have done something for your Bazaar, were it not that she is and has been very busy for another.

"In truest Christian sympathy, commending you and yours to the God of all sympathy, believe us, yours sincerely,

Holywood, Belfast.

"MATILDA AND HENRY HALLIDAY.”

We fear that in the bustle of leaving, many kind letters are not acknowledged in the following list. If so, our friends must excuse, for we were much cheered at the time by every one which came.

Letters of sympathy and condolence have been received from Lady Brassey, Captain Davies (Mayor of Swansea), Thomas Baldwin, Esq. (Sailors' Home, London), A. Lloyd Fox, Esq. (Falmouth), Rev. W. Cuff, Rev. J. B. Paton, M.A. (Nottingham), Robert L. Hamilton, Esq., J.P. (Belfast), Mr. W. Johnston (Nottingham), Rev. Dr. Clemance, Mrs. Sansum (Birmingham), Mrs. Mary Norman (Buckhurst Hill), Rev. G. W. Smith (Stepney), Rev. Geo. Williams (Hackney), Rev. J. W. Atkinson (London), Mr. Henry Robinson (Antwerp), Miss Black (Dover), Mr. James Hitchens (Hamburg), Alexander Scrutton, Esq. (London), Mr. Geo. Kohler (Antwerp), J. W. Janson, Esq. (Croydon), Mr. Potter (Battle), W. R. Buck, Esq. (London), Miss Margetson (Leamington), Miss Annie Farmer (Worcester), the Rev. J. Hirst Hollowell (London), Captain and Mrs. Scriven (Shaftesbury), Mrs. Whincup (Hamburg), Miss Williams (Worcester), Miss North (Northfleet). Mr. Humphrey (London), J. Logan, Esq. (Troon), Rev.

THE LATE PRESIDENT GARFIELD.

25

Arthur Potts (Antwerp), S. Lowener, Esq. (Copenhagen), S. Linder, Esq. (London), Miss Pattisson (Maida Hill), Mr. Samuel Robinson (Hamburg), Rev. C. H. H. Wright (Belfast), Mrs. Brunton (Leeds), Mrs. Lucas (Hackney), Miss S. A. Briscoe (Brighton), Mrs. W. Cremer (Sittingbourne), Mr. Chapman (Gravesend), Mr. J. J. Shrubsole (Peckham), Miss Voysey (West Brighton), Mr. John Ham (Antwerp), Mrs. Davis (Amhurst Road), Mrs. E. Collins (King Edward's Road), Mr. George W. Matthews (Sittingbourne), Mrs. Dycer and Mr. Henry Matthews (West Cowes), Mr. Samuel Lonsdale (Shadwell), Mr. James Tucker (Dover), Captain Custard (London), Mrs. James W. Smith (Cawley Road), Mr. Tierney (Dublin), Mr. Gilpin (Belfast), Rev. Donald Miller (Genoa), Mr. W. Lyons (Belfast), Mr. Frank B. Chadwick (Cardiff), Mr. Stephen Burrows (Naples), Rev. H. Gayat (Rochfort), Mr. C. E. Faithful (Nice), Rev. C. H. Spurgeon (Mentone).

The Rev. Ambrose D. Spong, whose services she attended when at West Brighton, wrote:-"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.-With sincere sympathy."

Mrs. Rhind (London), sent a wreath with sweet flowers, "as a last token of affection."

"MON BIEN CHER MONSIEUR MATTHEWS,-Je viens de recevoir le Chart and Compass. J'ai le coeur gros de larmes. Mais dans ces larmes tout n'est pas

tristesse. Dieu Sera votre force. Votre tout dévoué, BRUSSELS, November 26th, 1881.

"J. MATHYSEN."

SINS PUT AWAY; OR, UNDER THE SEA. THE force of the old Hebrew expression, "Thou hast cast all our sins into the depth of the sea," was understood when the Atlantic cable was laid along the bottom of the ocean. Then it was discovered that the ocean is of immense depth; that the bottom is covered with a thick bed of finest sand (where the cable lies safely and softly, without fear of being cut or injured by rocky ground), and that the water, at that depth, is almost solid from the great pressure of the body of the ocean. This portion of compressed water is called the cushion of the sea, and, as it is in repose, there is no friction against the base of the earth, which would otherwise be torn to pieces, if the same agitation of the water prevailed below, as we see on the surface where the wind acts, and where tempests rage. One word more about this cushion of the sea. The density of the water renders it impossible for anything ever to rise again that may have sunk there by its own weight. Into these depths God has cast our sins! "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth."-From the "Christian Ambassador."

THE LATE PRESIDENT GARFIELD. NEWSPAPER reports state that "the following quaint lines" were placed upon the head of President Garfield's coffin, when the remains of that eminent Christian statesman were laid in their resting-place :—

"Life's race well run,

Life's work well done,
Life's crown well won,
Then comes rest."

It is a strange coincidence that similar lines conclude the stanzas of a hymn written by W. C. M., author of "The Gospel Compass," nearly two years ago, and circulated and sung by thousands in the east of London during the spring and summer of 1880. This is the last verse of the hymn referred to. Have they found their way to the United States? Probably they have.

"Soon shall the toiling cease-soon we shall rest;
Leaning in perfect peace-on Jesu's breast.

Soon shall life's race be run ;—

Soon our glad work be done;
Soon glory's crown be won!

Then we shall rest.

LAST OF THE EURYDICE, PORTSMOUTH.*
Like ships that sailed for sunny isles,

IN the summer of 1878 I was very ill, and we lay for many weeks in and about the Solent, unable to leave the vicinity of the shore and the doctor. There is good in everything, if one will only look for it, and during that weary time I learned to see how much of beauty there is in the well-known harbour of Portsmouth, and how much food, not so much for the imagination as for the memory, the mere sight of the ships bearing names so well known and celebrated in history and in the wars of old may afford. There they are, laid up in ordinary, ready to be fitted out when required, or to be used as hulks, or even doomed to be broken up. Many a pleasant little sail and row we had among them when I was well enough to make a move. It was just at the time when the disaster to the ill-fated "Eurydice" was still fresh in all minds, and day after day the steam launch passed us, towing the covered barge with its melancholy freight of bodies recovered from the wreck. A terrible task it must have been to make the sea give up her dead after so long an interval. At last one day the "Eurydice" herself was towed past us, and a few days afterwards we went to see her being broken up. The decision that *Kindly lent by Messrs. Longmans & Co., from Sunshine and Storm, by Lady Brassey.

no attempt should be made to restore her was surely wise, for no sailor could ever have set foot in her again without a feeling of horror. It was sunset when we beheld the sad spectacle. Men were using crowbars, hatchets, pickaxes, and instruments of every sort, to pull to pieces those unfortunate but still strong and sound timbers. It was not a scene to linger over, nor was it altogether a cheering one to those about to face the perils of the sea."

[We have given Lady Brassey's touching quotations because we thought that it was in harmony and sympathy with the destructive gales of October and November. We cannot continue the list, but only refer to a few facts. "Yesterday (says the Times of Nov. 30th) "several of the finest steamers afloat reached Plymouth in a disabled condition, having in some instances barely escaped foundering during the recent succession of gales."]

"A GRAVE disaster is reported from Jura in connection with the terrific gale of Tuesday. While the iron clipper ship "Culzean," 1,572 tons register, Captain Pirnie, was being towed through the Sound by the Clyde Shipping Company's tug "Conqueror ", Captain Morrison, the tow-rope broke, and the ship went ashore in Lagg Bay. All hands on board perished. On Monday morning, the weather being moderate. the tug and ship again proceeded, and everything went well till they got into the Sound of Jura, where the wind began to freshen. Captain Morrison eventually resolved to put about and take shelter. The tug got round, and the ship was almost round, when a fearful sea struck the steamer causing the tow-rope to break. The ship soon drifted from view in the darkness. The gale raged all night with fearful fury, and the crew of the tug were expecting every moment that their vessel would go down under them. At daylight only a small portion of the stern of the ship could be seen. She had drifted a considerable distance from where she parted from the steamer, and Captain Morrison is of opinion that an attempt had been made by those on board to bring her up with the anchors. When she left Dundee she had 18 persons on board." The Times might well say in its leading Article of the 19th November, 1881. "The question of our harbour accommodation is one which always interests a maritime people; but just now it is being brought into painful prominence. It is long since an autumn has been as unhappily distinguished as the present by storms and shipwrecks. The gale of the beginning of the present week was light in comparison with that of the 14th of October, but it was severe enough to cause many disasters and still further to increase the calamitous total of the shipping disasters of the year. Up to the end of last week, say the official statistics, the number of actual wrecks reported was 1,673, an increase of 263 as compared with the losses of the same part of last year. During the week fifty-three ships were totally lost, of which thirteen went down on the coasts of the United Kingdom, and eight were abandoned. Ninety-seven lives were lost, and about twenty thousand tons of coal, corn, and other property went to the bottom. Yet this was hardly an exceptional week, as our columns have too often shown. The same tale has to be told from time to time and the same dismal catalogue of losses to be repeated, as if to remind us that all our civilization and all our mechanical triumphs have left us powerless in the presence of the winds and waves. It is only too certain that the coming winter months will see no change in this respect. No one, then, can say that it is too soon to invite the serious attention of the authorities, imperial and local, and of the public generally, to the question whether something more cannot be done to lessen the danger of shipwreck round our own coasts. Our trade

is unceasing, and unceasing is the procession of ships that pass along our shores and the crowd of fishing crafts which, in winter as in summer, runs the hazards of our seas. It seems impossible for human efforts to prevent such disasters as that of the Solway, which we chronicled last week; but the common tragedies of the shore, the loss of the bread-winners of a village by a night's gale, the ruin of a trawling fleet, the foundering of colliers-these are calamities as serious in their kind and they are to a great extent preventable."

"THE OCTOBER GALES: ANSWERS TO PRAYER." DURING the month of October, 1881, several vessels arrived in Hamburg which had suffered much in the recent storms, some of them having been in great peril, and at times all hope that they could be saved was almost gone. "Then they cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard, and delivered them out of their distresses, so He bringeth them unto their desired heaven." (Psalm 107.) On visiting these vessels on their arrival we were heartily welcomed, it was evident the sailors had been in great trouble, and needed comfort and counsel. We have heard from not a few how they felt, and what they thought, when those cn deck were heard to exclaim, "My God," we are sinking. On one vessel while the sailors were crying unto the Lord, the vessel trembled, thus freeing herself, for she was under water. It was then, said an officer to the Missionary (after his safe arrival), I thought of you and the prayers offered for sailors at the Institute, and believe we were saved in answer to prayer. On another vessel, in which, happily, there are a few praying men, the sea did much damage, and, like the above vessel, was heavily laden with coals. At one time she laid like a log in the water, the great sea almost closing over her. Then the faith of the believer was tried, and earnest prayer was offered by the man at the wheel, while the billows went over his head, and the captain, who stood at his post on the bridge, who thought of his dear wife and children at home, and was desirous to live for them; there was a mental struggle at first, he could not give them up, but faith triumphed, and the "Father, not my will, but Thine be done," uttered, when there was a shaking of the ship felt, as if she was struggling to free herself. It was not the will of their Heavenly Father that they should perish, and so it came to pass they all escaped safe to land, and came to the Sailors' Institute, where a thanksgiving meeting was held, and it was touching to hear both officers and sailors tell of the hairbreadth escapes they had had from a watery grave, and how thankful they were to God for His delivering mercies, and how they had proved the faithfulness of God's promise, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." (Psalm 50.) They spoke of the prayers offered and the vows made, and decisions come to, and how their faith is strengthened in the promises, provision, and protection of God. Verily God has been speaking specially to sailors in the terrible storms of late, and we can bear testimony that His voice in many instances has been heard, making men trémble, causing solemn thoughts, and prompting the prayer," Lord, save us, we perish. (Matt. 8, 25 v.) The importance of having and sustaining Sailors' Missions in every large seaport, is apparent when we consider the temptations in every port to forgetfulness of God, and His goodness in saving them. When the sailor goes ashore he needs some friends to speak to, and some safe place to go to. In Hamburg every means is being used to induce the sailors to spend their evenIngs at the Sailors' Institute. A variety of meetings have been held, attended by large numbers of sailors, with encouraging results. Captain Howlett, of London, has given several magic lantern entertainments; Captain Kitwood, of Goole, two or three free teas; the officers, lead by Mr. W. Alexander, of Lynn, gave a tea, the men themselves assisting freely and joyously in helping to make the meetings a great success. The Bethel Meetings on Sundays and Thursdays, the Temper