n me!
I'm slippin', Lord, I'm slippin' and I'm
clingin' hard to Thee!"

[66] But the roughs they kept on chaffin' and
the uproar it was such
That the preacher in the pulpit might be
talkin' double Dutch,

Till a workin' man he shouted out, a-
jumpin' to his feet,
"Give us a lead, your reverence, and heave
'em in the street."

Then Bendy said, "Good Lord, since
first I left my sinful ways,
Thou knowest that to Thee alone I've
given up my days,

But now, dear Lord"—and here he laid his
Bible on the shelf—
"I'll take, with your permission, just five
minutes for myself."

[67] He vaulted from the pulpit like a tiger
from a den,
They say it was a lovely sight to see him
floor his men;

Right and left, and left and right, straight
and true and hard,
Till the Ebenezer Chapel looked more like
a knacker's yard.

Platt was standin' on his back and lookup
at his toes,
Solly Jones of Perry Bar was feelin' for
his nose,

Connor of the Bull Ring had all that he
could do
Rakin' for his ivories that lay about the
pew.

[68] Jack Ball the fightin' gunsmith was in a
peaceful sleep,
Joe Murphy lay across him, all tied up
in a heap,

Five of them was twisted in a tangle on
the floor,
And Iky Moss, the bettin' boss, had
sprinted for the door.

Five repentant fightin' men, sitting in a
row,
Listenin' to words of grace from Mister
Bendigo,

Listenin' to his reverence all as good
as gold,
Pretty little baa-lambs, gathered to the
fold.

[69] So that's the way that Bendy ran his
mission in the slum,
And preached the Holy Gospel to the
fightin' men of Brum,

"The Lord," said he, "has given me His
message from on high,
And if you interrupt Him, I will know
the reason why."

But to think of all your schooling clean
wasted, thrown away,
Darned if I can make out what you're
learnin' all the day,

Grubbin' up old fairy-tales, fillin' up with
cram,
And didn't know of Bendigo, the pride
of Nottingham.

[71]

II. PHILOSO