not so much to
blame as is the system which filled his head with nonsense. These old
missionaries have done a lot of harm in giving the natives false
notions as to equality, and making them generally conceited."

Samuel had heard enough. He crept away as noiselessly as he came.

Next day the Rev. Robley Wilson preached one of his very best sermons.
His preaching was ex tempore, and full of vigour. He discoursed of
righteousness, of temperance, and of judgment to come on the
unrighteous and the intemperate. He waxed more and more didactic. He
called upon his hearers to thank the Lord that such men as he, the
Reverend Robley Wilson, had thought fit to devote their lives to the
service of the children of Ham, instead of shining in metropolitan
pulpits and pouring vials of saving grace over the heads of the elect
of the children of Shem. He dwelt on the inconveniences of mission life
in South Africa, and drew a moving picture of the contrast between
such, and existence in a civilised, European city--comforted by the
appliances of Science and cheered by the achievements of Art. He again
called upon the children of Ham to thank their common Maker for the
blessings bestowed on them by the children of Shem, and he wound up
with a prayer so audaciously comprehensive, that had all thereby asked
for been granted, the members of the congregation, and all their
friends and relations--to say nothing of the whole human race which was
included in a general clause--would have had nothing more to hope for,
and must have succumbed to sheer repletion. It was a rousing sermon,
but it contained not a single reference to the fundamental axiom.

Whilst the blessings conferred upon the natives by the Europeans were
being enumerated, Miss Blake (quite involuntarily) thought of the
canteens in the village close at hand, coming from which, drunken men
and women often staggered past; the mission, and during the fascinating
description of life in a European city, she could not help recalling
certain accounts she had recently read of the experiences of
venturesome persons who explored regions called slums, said to exist to
a considerable extent in most large British cities. But it was a
rousing sermon; and well delivered.

Samuel led the choir, and his voice had, if possible, a more exultant
and triumphant ring than usual.

At evening service, the old missionary preached--or rather read his
sermon. His was a much humbler effort than that of his