ringing of a bell gave notice that there was to be a gathering at the schoolroom. How different the scene and the reception that awaited me from that which the first messenger of mercy to that wild and beautiful spot had met with! I could linger over the little parsonage and its inmates, and the church and its surroundings; but the evening was not to be spent either at the parsonage or in church, and I must ask you to follow me to the schoolhouse.

Some persons, I think, would have imagined that in quitting the mainland we were bidding good-bye to civilization and safety. It might have been so in former years, and I suspect that those who set out in those days to place the "Banner of the Truth" on the shores of that wild coast were regarded as undertaking a hopeless task. But here, as elsewhere," the parched ground" has "become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water." Ima

gine, then, the schoolroom in this wild region, lit up brightly, and its walls adorned with evergreens, and telling forth the hearty welcome the dear people were prepared to give to the friend from England. Over the large mass was worked in letters of ivy, with branches of heath, "Welcome." At the side was displayed the name of the visitor, with sprigs of heath most skilfully interwoven with the evergreens, and at the further end the well-known Irish welcome, "Cead Mile Failthe." And then, the desks and floors!--they were filled as closely as the creatures could pack with boys and girls, and men and women. To steer one's way amongst them was not very easy, and then to hear the clapping and the welcome would have made tender, I think, the heart of the hardest man that ever threw discredit upon this mission-work to the Roman Catholics, and upon the power of God's blessed Word.

But here was I, an Englishman, among an Irish-speaking population, and I could only listen in silence to the address given in their own tongue by dear Mr. Conerney. was a hymn in Irish.

Two

Then there Something in its metre, and a word recurring in the last line of each verse made me think it was 66 The Lord will provide," and I found it was so. words in the prayer that followed were all that I could understand, "go bragh," and finding that I had rightly interpreted them to mean "for ever," they served as a useful little text for the words I was asked to say to them. You can guess the substance of what was said when I tell you it centred in the "for evermore" of Psalm xvi, 11, and the "for ever " of Thess. iv. 17. But the evening in that happy schoolroom, and the pleasure of being together there couldn't be for ever, and in a few minutes all were hard at work upon the loaves of bread and

mugs of tea, which seemed amply to satisfy the wants of this dear primitive and happy community. There is a tale belonging to these tin mugs, which you must get Mr. Cory to tell you another time, and through you it might find its way usefully into the homes where "Erin's Hope" is admitted. Happily for me, the remaining work of the evening was mostly carried on in English. It almost made me ashamed to think that those people should understand my English and that I should not understand their Irish. I am afraid I shouldn't prove so ready a scholar as those children have proved. Before we separated they all sang very heartily the hymn which is such a favourite in the Mission districts, "There is no name," &c. When our feast was over we did not forget the kind friends at Clifton, to whom we owed our happy evening; and I am sure that there are hearts in Moyrus who will not fail to "desire

mercies of the God of heaven" for them and for all who are endeavouring to make known that Name which is above every name, throughout the towns and villages of Ireland.

Next morning I found myself again crossing Roundstone Bay, with the bright flag, "The Flower of Moyrus," hoisted. Beside me in the boat were some who, through God's blessing on this work, have learned to know the Lord Jesus as their only Saviour, and to rejoice in Him; some who are permitted in the schools and cabins of Moyrus to make known His Name; and some for whom I pray that before long they may be found quitting every false hope, and fleeing for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them, that hope which alone is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast.

On reaching Dublin, at the end of the week, I found awaiting me a letter from Moyrus, with an enclosure which speaks for itself, and