"Dormitories "-Dudley-street, before-mentioned; a second in Parker-street, and a third in Little Queen-street, Holborn.

In examining its details and gratefully watching the progress of a work like this, our conviction is that it is as yet in its infancy, and that we shall see greater things than those to which we have directed attention. Already the little one has become a strong one; the blade may be said to have grown into the ear; what the harvest will be when the full corn in the ear has ripened we cannot at present foresee. But we may prophecy that, if the work of these simple and godly women progresses as it has hitherto done, not only will the poor have the Gospel preached to them, but their social condition be so changed that they themselves will only remember it as a hideous dream which once darkened a part of their lives. We hear much just now of "Woman's Work ;" has not "L. N. R." unostentatiously but most eloquently shown women what this work is? It is the grand work of saving souls from death, and of hiding a multitude of sins; and the fields in which this work may be done are already white unto harvest.

No. II.-THE POWER OF SIMPLES.

Of late years we have heard nothing, perhaps, more frequently repeated than that London, with a population of about three millions, was most inadequately furnished with the means of religious instruction. We can no longer say "about." The great City numbers now more than two hundred thousand beyond the three millions, and ere long we shall have to speak of the spiritual wants of about four millions of people. Praiseworthy and successful as have been the efforts of Christians of all denominations to provide church accommodation, the question that suggests itself to many a pious, believing soul is, supposing the prophecy, "A nation shall be born in a day," should be verified in a most limited sense, and only a city wake up one morning to a life of truth, righteousness, and reverence, where could its inhabitants go to make confession and offer thanksgiving?" Certainly the great majority must remain "Outside the Church;" and, certainly, some of the best work we know of-work which will, eventually, bring glory to our nation and our God-is being done amongst those who never stood within a church door in their lives, and who need no other temple in which to worship than the homely Mission-room or Ragged-school.

So much has been done amongst the poor and outcast, by simple, unostentatious faith and kindness, that we are tempted constantly to ask in a spirit of restlessness, why is not more done, and why are not more people engaged in doing it? We think there is no

lack of Christian willinghood in the hearts of thousands in our churches who, nevertheless, stand all the day idle, because no one has hired them-in other words, because they do not know in what direction to put forth their energies. While there is nothing more solemn, at the same time there is nothing more indefinite than the appeal which goes forth from a thousand pulpits every Sunday, "Go work to-day in My vineyard." "Yes," responds the hearer; "that is easily said; you have your work and are happy and successful in it; it took you years of mental toil, and, perhaps, of still harder years of spiritual suffering to get ready for it; now, I have had my eyes opened to the solemnity of life, its awful duties and responsibilities, not more than a year or so; I, too, should like to work; but there is no track marked out for me as there is for you. I don't think I should succeed as a teacher in the Sunday-school, or as a tract distributor, or as a visitor of the sick.".

"Then, what can you do," is the reasonable question of the pastor?

"I don't know; but I should like to do something that I might feel to be, in my heart of hearts, my own work-of course, in humble dependence upon Him for whose sake it would be done."

"Well, in that case, you must at once take counsel with Him and with yourself, and find out what your work is, and the moment you have the faintest inkling of it, go and do it; because only by that means will you discover whether you have been deceived or not." That Christian work of the highest kind is one in which the humblest disciple of Christ may readily engage anyhow they please with no faint hopes of success, is evident from the beneficial results which have attended the quiet efforts of Bible-women, to whom we have the pleasure once more to refer; if we may be allowed a prefatory word, it shall be this: if these women, with the humblest surroundings, of little or no education, with no other gift than that which the Holy Ghost has bestowed upon them to feel a tender interest in the salvation of human souls, can do so much, why cannot more highly-cultured natures, with equally devout hearts, do something? How does the Bible-woman do her work? On the smallest expenditure of money; simply with a human heart within her yearning to be of some service to the desolate and guilty. Show her a colony of wild young outcasts, of intemperate, half-starved men and women, living in contempt of all laws of decency and order, and her field of work is immediately before her, and ere nightfall, perhaps, she is earnestly at work in some part of it. It is only inviting because it has been so long neglected, and because so much has to be done. She goes into a dungeon-like passage where boys are yelling and swearing, and making the dismal, nauseous court

more hideous still by their blasphemy. If she took out her Bible and began to read to them, they would only mock her; but when she begins to tell them how ragged they look, and to ask them whether they would not like to have better jackets on, they listen; there is something better than "book reading" in store for them they shrewdly see in a moment; and when they are told that they shall be taught how to mend their clothes, and have patches given to them for the purpose, they strike a bargain directly, promise to come to the room mentioned, and a faint ray of hope struggles into the darkness of their existence. Thus, by a method so simple that it is within the reach of hundreds in our churches who are sighing for work to do, a missionary enterprise of a most important character was started. Mrs. Ranyard appeals, and ought not to appeal in vain, for more working ladies to "lend a hand" to the practical raising of their degraded neighbours. All need not teach, all need not preach, all need not read; for instance, it is admitted that if poor people knew how to cook, how to make a little fire and a little food go a long way, there would be far less misery amongst them. "Would working men drink if they had better opportunities to eat, and provide eatables for their household? Many a poor mother has no facilities in her own one room for cooking food, and she turns into the gin-shop times out of number, as she would not, if she could, turn anywhere else to get a wholesome and savoury penny or twopenny dinner. Yet, by a little exertion and conference on the part of two or three ladies and gentlemen interested in any poor neighbourhood, this might be obtained, and be made self-paying. In Bristol, one of the Biblewomen has a sister, who is appointed to provide cheap dinners at 1d., 2d., 3d., and 4d., of soup, coffee, meat, vegetables, and puddings, from a mission-kitchen in her district. They are eagerly bought."

"Outside the Church" there is a vast harvest to be reaped, and the cry of the Master of the vineyard ever is, "Wanted, more labourers." The harvest is to be found among two millions of people who keep no Sabbath, who never attend a place of worship, whose moral and religious education is below that of savages in heathen lands. They are to be found in poisonous courts and alleys, steeped in filth and degradation, ready for any and every crime. They are of both sexes and of all ages. At present their only church is the gin palace, their only litany blasphemy and ribaldry. At any hour of day or night an earnest Christian man or woman might go out, in sure and certain hope of doing something that would tend to lessen this amount of crime, vice, and misery. In days like ours, for any one to stand with folded hands, quietly look

ing upon heavy burdens without stirring a finger to remove them, is a sin against humanity and against God.

It is admitted by all who have had even a limited experience of work amongst the poor, that the power of a Christian lady in a neglected, poverty-stricken district is almost unlimited. She can touch sensibilities and sympathies with a tact and delicacy peculiarly her own. Where the most earnest of the other sex would blunder and offend, she can intuitively speak the right word and elicit the right feeling. This is a great talent of which to be possessed; whosoever has it may do in an hour among the poor what those possessing many other talents-superior, some would think, to the one of kindness-will accomplish only after repeated efforts, if at all. Simple Bible-women, by the simple law of kindness, have been successful where learning, and even wealth, have had to hang their heads. Wealth, though bestowed upon the poor with no niggardly hand, and with the best intentions, has only brought momentary relief; whereas Bible-women, by helping the poor to help themselves, have given them a habit of life which will prove a far better source of income to them than the most handsome donation several times repeated. We have gone through the story of their work with wonder and thankfulness, and it has left with us this one thought:-There is a noble work for every one to do who will do it in simplicity and love.

No. III.-IN PRISON.

Lord Lytton says that John Wilkes, although perhaps not one of the wisest of men on the face of earth, did really, on one occasion, say a wise thing. It was this:-" The very worst use you can put a man to is to hang him." There are many, now-a-days, who are disposed to say the same thing of imprisonment. To them it seems a waste of life, time, and money to keep up vast establishments, with governors, warders, and officials of every grade, with treadmill, cells, and workrooms. The country has to pay for all this; but does the country reap one penny benefit in return? The feeling of the present age towards criminals is so lenient, that even after a most atrocious crime has been committed, let but a few days elapse and there is more pity shown to the guilty party than to the memory of the man who has been ruthlessly murdered, or left maimed for life, or to the widows and orphans who have been bereft of their support. It scarcely enters within the scope of the present paper, but it shall nevertheless be set down, that this sentimentality is very gravely affecting our theology, and that much of the diffuse talk we hear about the eternity of future punishments can be fairly attributed to it.

Now, in our present social condition, we must have prisons; we must make it clear to the rogue, by bread and water, by meagre diet even on feast days and holidays, by dark cells, tread-wheel, and even corporal punishment, that he is not the same as an honest man. Emotions of pity may influence us as we see him undergoing his punishment; but at the State's peril should we forget the crime of which this punishment is the just reward. Of course, the thing to be desired is that the punishment should not be so much waste pain, producing nothing but gnashing of teeth on the part of him on whom it is inflicted; but a discipline, by means of which the most hopeless may obtain some footing in the world again, however weak and tottering that footing may be. That this is attempted in several of the metropolitan prisons we are in a position to state, having recently gone the round of them to make ourselves acquainted with their several systems. The most popular of these, and the one which is considered to have worked the best, is what is known as the "silent," or 66 separate" system. Prisoners are absolutely forbidden to hold the slightest communication with rach other-although there is little doubt that they sometimes contrive to evade the keen eye of the warder, and to exchange telegraphic looks with each other, which say a great deal in a single glance. They are keenly watched, indeed. In their cell they cannot feel themselves alone, for through a small eyehole in the door all their movements can at any moment be seen by the warders outside. In the grounds, when taking exercise, they must walk so many yards apart from each other, and any attempt to shorten the distance would be followed by punishment-short diet, or confinement for so many hours in a dark cell, into which a ray of light never penetrates. In chapel on Sunday the same rigid discipline is maintained. They must keep eyes on their Prayer-books and Bibles, and their voices shall never be heard except in the responses, chants, and hymns. At sermon time they must look straight into the chaplain's face. Warders are in every part of the building to see that these regulations are carried out to the letter. In the workrooms, where boots and shoes, clothes, mats, and other articles are being manufactured, the only sound heard is the throw of the shuttle, or the tat-tat of the hammer. Of course on the tread-wheel the prisoners are partitioned off from each other, so that communication is impossible; but in going to and from the wheel they are under the closest supervision. An attempt is made to teach them some honest trade, so that when their term of imprisonment is over they may, if they are so disposed, earn an honest living. An attemp is also made to communicate religious instruction, to quicken con

their