hey were too great. "Is that his decision?" asked Patrick. "It is,"
said the angel. "It may be his," said Patrick, "it is not mine; for my
decision is not to leave this cruachan until my demands are granted."

The angel departed. For forty days and forty nights Patrick fasted and
prayed amid sore temptations. The blessing must fall upon all his poor
people of Erin. As he prayed, he wept, and his cowl was drenched with
his tears.

At last the angel returned and proposed a compromise. The vast Atlantic
lay before them. Patrick might have as many souls as would cover its
expanse as far as his eyes could reach. But he was not satisfied with
that; his eyes, he said, could not reach very far over those heaving
waters; he must have, in addition, a multitude vast enough to cover the
land that lay between him and the sea. The angel yielded, and now bade
him leave the mountain. But Patrick would not. "I have been tormented,"
he said, "and I must be gratified; and unless my prayers are granted
I will not leave this cruachan while I live; and after my death there
shall be here a care-taker for me."

The angel departed. Patrick went to his offering.

At evening the angel returned. "How am I answered?" asked Patrick.
"Thus," said the angel: "all creatures, visible and invisible, including
the Twelve Apostles, have entreated for thee,--and they have obtained.
Strike thy bell and fall upon thy knees: for the blessing shall be on
all Erin, both living and dead." "A blessing on the bountiful King that
hath given," said Patrick; "now will I leave the cruachan."

It was on Holy Thursday that he came down from the mountain and returned
to his people.

III.

One afternoon at about this time you might have seen Mr. Cole,
the missionary of the Day-Star,--a small, lithe man, with a red
beard,--making his way up town. He walked rapidly, as he always did, for
he was a busy man.

He was an exceedingly busy man. During the past year, as was shown by
his printed report, he had made 2,014 calls, or five and one-half
calls a day; he had read the Scriptures in families 792 times; he had
distributed 931,456 pages of religious literature; he had conversed on
religious topics with 3,918 persons, or ten and seven-tenths persons per
day, Sabbaths included. It was perhaps because he was so busy that there
was complaint sometimes that he mixed matters and took things upon his
shoulders which belonged to others.

Mr. Cole's rapid pace soon bro