ic to Chinamen.

'Our evening worship consisted in first singing a hymn, Mr. Gilmour
leading. Then Mr. Gilmour offered up a short prayer; after which we
read a chapter either in the Old or New Testament, reading verse
about. Each man had a copy of the Scriptures. Then Mr. Gilmour
gave a little address on the chapter; after which we had another
prayer--one of the Christians being asked this time. Then another
hymn and the benediction.

'Usually one or more of the Christians would remain chatting with
Mr. Gilmour. As soon as they had gone we had a cup of cocoa
together. Then Mr. Gilmour and I used to have evening prayers
together. He used to read a chapter from a little book by Mr.
Moule, and then we both prayed.

'After this we used to sit chatting together until bedtime, and so
ended a day.'

In August 1890 Dr. Smith lost his wife, who as Miss Philip had become
known and beloved by a large number of friends of the London Missionary
Society, both in Great Britain and Australia. He had also become so ill
that the ensuing weakness, together with the great shock of his wife's
sudden loss, compelled him, early in 1891, to return to England on a
visit. Before doing so he was able to take Mr. Parker, the young and
active colleague appointed to assist Mr. Gilmour, out to Mongolia,
reaching Ta Ss[)u] Kou on December 5. Greatly encouraged by the arrival
of his young helper, Mr. Gilmour was grievously disappointed by the
enforced return of Dr. Smith, and the indefinite postponement of the
hospital scheme that was so near to his heart, and upon which he always
asserted, in his judgment, the ultimate success of the mission depended.
But discipline of this kind only drove him back more entirely upon God.
In a letter to Mr. Owen, dated December 29, 1890, he writes:--

About myself I have lots to be thankful for. I am mostly in the
light, sometimes very sweetly. Sometimes, though, it is cold and
dark; but I just hold on, and it is all right. Romans viii. I find
good reading in dull spiritual weather, and the Psalms too are
useful. When I feel I cannot make headway in devotion, I open at
the Psalms and push out in my canoe, and let myself be carried
along in the stream of devotion which flows through the whole book.
The current always sets towards God, and in most places is strong
and deep. These old men--eh, man! they