begging-letter writers--to
all the people who run on the track of wealth. The great saloon, which
reached from the front, right across the mansion to the windows that
overlooked the park, was filled fairly; and Ferrier was not a little
perturbed by the sight of his audience.

Mr. Cassall soon ended all suspense by coming to the point in his quick
fashion. (He would not have succeeded as a parliamenteer, for he had a
most uncultivated habit of never using forty words where five would
serve.) "Sir John, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen,--I have lately
returned from a voyage in the North Sea among the Fishing Fleets. That
was perhaps a foolish trip for an old man to make, in a world of
rheumatics and doctors' fees; but I'm very glad I made it. Most people
are very ready to point out the faults of others: I have to point out
my own. I learned that I had been unwittingly neglecting a duty, and now
I blame myself for remissness. It's very pleasant to blame yourself,
because it gives you such a superior sense of humility, and I am
enjoying the luxury to the full. I saw a great deal of beautiful and
promising work going on, and I saw ever so much pain, and squalor, and
unnecessary unhappiness. I needn't tell you that I've made up my mind to
assault that pain and squalor and unhappiness, and try to drive them out
of the field; I needn't tell you, because the newspapers have done that
for me. They always know my business as well as I know it myself. Now it
struck me that many men are as ignorant as I was. I know that some
people continually go about imagining evil; but there are others who are
constantly seeking for chances of doing good, and they jump at their
chance the moment they clap eye on it. That is why I arranged this
meeting. I cannot describe things, nor put out anything very
lucidly--except a balance-sheet; but I have a young friend here, who
has been at sea all winter in those ugly gales that made us so
uncomfortable on shore, and he will tell us something. Then we have also
Mr. Fullerton, who has been working and speechifying to some purpose for
years. While I was pur-blind, this gentleman was clear-sighted; and, if
you could go where I have been, and see the missionary work that I have
seen, you would never speak ill of a missionary again. I do not believe
ill of men. Some one among our statesmen summed up his ideas of life by
saying, 'Men are very good fellows, but rather vain.' I should say, 'Men
are mixtures; bu