services) I was struck by his deep reverence, and by the ease with which he seemed to catch the spiritual tone of the worship. Though he had no touch of Popery or Ritualism in him, I doubt whether any in that great congregation entered more deeply into the service than he did as he followed it carefully in a Latin missal. On the same day we attended an afternoon lovefeast at Irwell Street Chapel, where he had a thoroughly "good time" in listening to the simple and often exceedingly quaintly told experiences of the neighbouring Methodists.

'I also went with him to one or two mission-room appointments. He strove hard to adapt himself to his audience, certainly succeeded in being plain and interesting without talking twaddle or stringing together a number of disconnected anecdotes. But his slowness of speech and apparent difficulty in giving expression to his thoughts were a manifest hindrance to great success in this kind of evangelistic work, though his services were not unfruitful in the conversion of sinners.

'He liked to preach, and seemed eager to deliver his message with the eagerness of the man who has something to say that urgently needs saying, and for which the brief space of life was all too short to gain a hearing.

CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST YEAR OF PROBATION FOR THE MINISTRY.

A

RUNCORN AND ST. COLumb.

LFRED'S offer of ministerial service was unrestricted. He placed himself at the absolute disposal of the Church for any station at home or abroad. He was chosen for immediate employment at home.

By the especial wish of the President (Dr. Punshon), he was placed on 'the President's List of Reserve,' as in the President's judgment, and that of the Stationing Committee, no suitable appointment was open at the time. Alfred himself was passionately eager to begin the work of his life. He wrote to me begging me to do my utmost to procure him a circuit, however toilsome or remote. On my replying that the only place open was a proverbially laborious, uninviting, and unsought-for station, he rejoined, 'By all means let me go there. It will suit me very well.' I represented his wishes to the Conference, but they were kindly overruled. The delay was to him a real trial. I never saw him manifest such a keen sense of disappointment, although he was assured that the delay would be very brief. I could not but regard it, and represent it to him, as an instance of the Master's gentleness and considerate lenience, saying, 'Come into the desert and rest a while.' I knew the importance of a brief interval between his tutorial toils and the more exacting duties of the Methodist ministry. He was persuaded to accompany his father and mother to Old Hunstanton, where I took my fortnight's furlough for 1874. I was sure that 'the sweet, strong air of Norfolk' would be well calculated to brace up his

physical energies for a work on which his powers were soon to be concentrated.

At Hunstanton he indulged his exploratory propensities so as to mentally annex the whole area which lay within the range of his not contemptible pedestrian powers.

The following letters were written from Hunstanton.

To his younger sister :

'MY DEAR N.,-We've been doing nothing but "moon about" here. The seashore is, of course, our favourite resort, but occasionally we diverge into the country for variety's sake. This neighbourhood is very much like other agricultural parts, pleasant enough, but with no particularly striking features. Yesterday we visited and to-day revisited the prettiest place hereabouts. It goes by the name of the Downs, and has a better right to the name than Hackney Downs. It is real chalk and very pretty, being a hollow between two steep hills covered with short turf, and well wooded.

'Yesterday I had a walk by the shore to Thornham Creek. The sunset was one of the finest I have ever seen, and the shore solitary, which was much to my taste. Thornham is a good-sized place, and should be exalted in your eyes, because it is the only village in this part where there is a WesleyanMethodist chapel. There is a Primitive at Kingshead and another at Thornham, where the two almost identical-looking erections are obviously in each other's way.'

To his youngest sister :

'MY DEAR A.,-You will find it a profitable exercise in geography to look up Hunstanton on the atlas, and that will save me the trouble of describing its situation. The character of the shore is not marked on the map, so I will instruct you by saying that there is a cliff between the New and Old Towns, and then level sand and a line of sand hills, for about two miles up, to a creek. Said cliffs are mostly chalk above, but sandstone below, and the contrast of colour is very striking. I've found out from Kingsley's Madam How that this is the extreme point of the chalk range running right away from Devonshire; so we are at an interesting spot.'

Alfred and I had a delightful 'grind' together to the interesting Roman station Brancaster, and thence to Burnham Market and Burnham Thorpe, the birthplace of Nelson. We happily kept clear of all metaphysical or theological discussion. Alfred had not, however, long to wait. In the second week in September, on the very day of our return from Hunstanton, he received a letter from the President offering him an appointment to supply a vacancy at Runcorn caused by the failure of the Superintendent's health. There was something touching in his delight at the reception of this letter. He replied that (D.V.) he should be in Runcorn on the morrow.

Runcorn is a thriving, spirited port and manufacturing town of between fifteen and sixteen thousand inhabitants. It has many prosperous industries. It is situated at the head of the estuary of the Mersey, which, at high water, forms a fine lake-like expanse. Here the great inland water-ways-the Bridgwater and the Mersey and Irwell Canal-fall into the Mersey. In Runcorn Wesleyan Methodism has long held a very high and strong position.

At Runcorn Alfred spent the first seven months of his ministerial life. The position was not an easy one. The complete disablement of the Superintendent devolved the charge of the Circuit on his young colleague, the Rev. George Boggis, who had only been ordained four years. Thus the anxious charge of several important societies and congregations rested on two very young men. The pulpit demands were heavy, there being two large chapels (one very large) in the town, within a few minutes' walk of each other, so that no inconsiderable part of the congregation fluctuated between the two. The difficulties of the position were seriously increased by the fact that the leading Methodist layman, one of the most prominent men of the town, Mr. Thomas Hazlehurst, one of the noblest men in Methodism, was in a state of most distressing prostration, brought on by a terrible calamity, the sudden death of his eldest son, a youth of the highest promise, who was killed on the railway, without a moment's warning, as he was conduct

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE VISITATION.

165

ing a Sunday-school excursion. Alfred's letters happily throw a clear light upon the nature of the peculiar difficulties of the work in Runcorn at that time; and the gallant style in which Christ's young soldier buckled on his harness may be seen from his letters, from his earnest business-meaning style of preaching, and from his forthwith setting about systematic and all-including house-to-house visitation of the members of the Society, in order to which he laboriously drew up a Wesleyan Methodist Street-Directory, which now lies before me. His sermons were specially addressed to Christianly trained, chapelgoing, but undecided people. His first text was: 'By faith Moses when he was come to years,' etc.; another very early one was 'Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest'; another early one : 'How can ye believe which receive honour one of another?'

I subjoin extracts from his letters. The first illustrates his plodding attention to the minutest details of duty :

'GREENWAY ROAD, RUNCORN, September 21st, 1874.

'MY VERY DEAR MAMMA,--Saturday was so busy a day with me that there was no time for letter-writing. To-day is the Circuit Quarterly Meeting, so all Saturday was spent in trying to get in the arrears of the Superintendent's class money. During his illness affairs have got into confusion, so I had to visit every single member. The work was at last accomplished, but not till I had called in all parts of the town and been detained often a very long time. Then there was a meeting at night, and after that I had to prepare for Sunday. My work was at Frodsham, five miles off. The country is much prettier than I expected. It abounds in hills, and red rocks appear on every hand. The immediate neighbourhood of Frodsham is very striking. Two steep hills, about four hundred feet high, overhang the town, and from them a splendid view is to be had, down the Mersey and over into Wales. The Frodsham chapel is one of Mr. Hazlehurst's gifts, but, contrary to his custom, a Gothic structure. Still it is not only pretty, but as comfortable a place to speak in as I know. I stayed with Mr. Williams. I found he had two sons at Oxford, the younger at Brasenose. The elder has taken a first in