k, "I want to make you a present of a boy."
Under good influences the lad grew up until he became a respectable
member of society. Years after, when he was earning good wages at sea,
and was about to be married, he fell from the topmast of his vessel,
and was conveyed to the Gravesend Infirmary with a fractured skull. In
his last moments, however, he did not forget his benefactor, and, in
trembling tones, asked his adopted mother to tell the Colonel how he
valued the truth contained in that beautiful hymn he had taught him,
"Jesus, Lover of my soul." The same writer mentions also the history of
a boy called Albert who, through Gordon's kindness, was apprenticed to
a tradesman at Gravesend. Subsequently the lad went into a business
house at Southampton, where he was placed in a department which he did
not understand. Fearing that his services would be dispensed with, he
communicated with his friends, and they, in turn, wrote to General
Gordon, who happened to be staying in Southampton at his sister's
house. Without loss of time the General called on "Little Albert," whom
he scarcely recognised in the youth of six feet two inches who
presented himself, and had a consultation with his employer. The result
was that the young man was retained in his situation, and placed in a
department with which he was well acquainted.

It is by no means uncommon to find that those who are eager about the
spread of spiritual truths among professing Christians, are also keenly
alive to the importance of mission work among non-Christian people.
Gordon was a remarkable instance of this happy combination. The chapter
that deals with his life in Palestine gives an insight into this part
of his character, but a few words will not be out of place here to show
his opinion on this subject in other countries. He had a very high
ideal of what a missionary should be, and a supreme contempt for bad
missionaries. He was on the whole fortunate in the class of men he came
across in Palestine, the Soudan, and South Africa. In the first of
these two places the missionaries belonged to the Church Missionary
Society, an organisation with which he was much in sympathy. But he
also met men of other societies, and his large-hearted sympathies went
out to them too. He was a great admirer of Livingstone, and spoke of
him with much respect and affection. The spirit of heroism which has
characterised so many of our missionaries attracted him greatly. "Do
not send lu