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OVER THE WATER.

BY EVELYN R. GARRATT.
CHAPTER XII.-GOOD NEWS.

HEN Sasie and Leith met the following day both their faces
showed signs of a sleepless night; they stood looking into
each others eyes without a word, and each saw at a glance

that the other had come to no definite conclusion.

It is hard enough sometimes to decide even an unimportant question, but when it is a matter which may alter the whole current of a life it becomes doubly so.

How could they part?

That was the question written on both their faces, and something there reminded each that "this world is not for aye." That their life was " but as a tale that is told," as a "flower of the field," perishable-uncertain.

The tempter was busy with Leith Lancaster for the next few moments. Meanwhile Sasie, who stood looking up at him, remembered his words, "Would you marry a coward?" If Leith was in the army, she reasoned with herself, and his Queen and country called for his services, would she wish him, for love of her, to keep at home instead of facing the foe? Nay, would she not rather buckle on his armour and urge him forward, remembering how great and grand a thing it is for a man to fight for his country, and to die for it if need be? If she had to choose, would she not far rather be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward ?

Thus reasoned Sasie with herself. And as she remembered that Leith

was in God's army, and that to remain in England instead of obeying the call to go across the water would be quite as cowardly an act as the other, she made up her mind.

"Leith," she said quietly, "Mr. North would ask, 'Wil you give unto the Lord of that which doth cost you nothing?" "What shall we answer, Sasie ? →

A pause, and then the answer came in clear, brave tones-

"We will give unto the Lord that which costs us most-we will give Him each other, Leith."

Mr. North had been disappointed to hear that his missionary-box when opened contained only thirty shillings; he had hoped for far greater things, and felt discouraged.

"I've done so little, Lord, and I meant to do so much," he murmured again and again.

He little knew or expected what he had been the means of doing, and when it was told him the joy was almost too much.

One afternoon to his surprise three visitors were announced, Mrs. Lancaster, her son, and Sasie, all old friends of his, for Mrs. Lancaster had often been to see him when Leith was in London. He was not, however, accustomed to receive more than one at a time, and had not seen Leith and Sasie together since their engagement.

"We've come to tell you some news," said Leith, "for we feel that you of all people ought to know first."

"God bless you both, God bless you," said the old man, holding out his hands to them. "I know all about it--why my little bit of sunshine' came round last week to tell me—and may God bless you, my children." "Oh, but we have some more news for you," said Sasie, "news that will make you very, very glad.”

A strange eager light flashed across Mr. North's face. "Over the water?" he asked excitedly, looking at Leith.

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'Yes, I am going out as a missionary."

They were almost sorry that they had told him the news so suddenly, for he literally trembled with excitement.

"I owe a great deal to you," said Leith; "for you were the first who taught me to care for the heathen, or led me to think of a missionary's life, and now I feel that God has called me."

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And you, my dear?" looking questioningly at Sasie.

"Father has promised to let me join Leith in five years from the time he starts, if I still love him." Sasie looked up at Leith with a laugh that was very nearly a sob.

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace," murmured Mr. North; "for what wait I for?" A look of peace and rest stole over his face as if a burden had just rolled off his mind.

Looking from him to her two children Mrs. Lancaster thought of Mrs. Venning's words

"A deaf, childish old man-what can he do in this great battle of life?" And as if in answer to the question came into her mind the words— "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are."

Leith and Sasie were living witnesses of the old man's work in Inglesby.

They went away after a few minutes, leaving Mrs. Lancaster for a little while longer with Mr. North.

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'Mr. North," she said, after a slight pause, "I fancy you know something of what I am going through. It is sometimes hard to say, 'Thy will be done.'

Mrs. Lancaster, who was far more accustomed to receive confidences than to make them, to sympathise with others than to ask for sympathy, was surprised to find how easily she was able to talk to Mr. North, and it was a relief to her.

Mr. North looked keenly at her, and his sympathy being fully aroused he was able to express himself and collect his thoughts more easily than usual. Madam,” he said, "there was a time I felt like you, and refused to give God my best. I had a child once--just such another as my little Sunshine'-and when she grew up the wish to work among the heathen became strong in her; but I would not let her go. Though she was not my only child she was the one I loved best, and I would have spared all rather than her. Year after year passed, and-ah! my memory fails me. But one day a rich man came into our village and stole my pretty bird away. I can see her now, standing in the churchyard with her golden hair, on her wedding morning. Now, I thought to myself, my little girl will never be longing and pining to go over the sea; but I made a mistake, she went over the water after all,-but it was the river of death that she crossed. All the rest is a blank. I know nothing more, except that she was laid in the grave, in the little churchyard where the primroses and violets grew. I think I nearly died of a broken heart, and I felt the souls of those heathen laid to my charge. It was years before I could believe that God had forgiven me; I had robbed Him of His due, and would not give God my best."

"And your other children?"

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They all died; two were carried off by fever, and one was drowned on his third voyage to China." Then, after a slight pause, he added, "It seems to me, somehow, as if God had sent my little bit of sunshine' to me in the place of Gracie; and I have been praying for long that she might be led over the water, though He knows how much I shall miss her. He has granted my prayer about her. Madam, be sure of it, that God's way is always the happiest. You will lose, instead of gaiuing, if you try to keep your son. Besides, will you offer unto the Lord your God of that which doth cost you nothing?"

Sasie grew in soul during the next five years, and when they came to an end she felt that it had been good for her to have had that quiet training time.

How different now were her feelings, as she looked forward to work in India, from what they had been at the beginning of those five years! Then Leith was everything—the work, save that she was to share it with him, nothing. Now, she felt that even if there were no Leith in the question, the work was there for her, and she looked forward with eagerness to beginning it.

It was sad work leaving home, and saying good-bye to little Inglesby, which looked particularly sweet in the bright October sunshine, as she leant against the stile leading into the churchyard, taking her last look at the old familiar scene. Standing there, the remembrance of her first meeting with Mr. North came vividly before her, and she could almost fancy she heard his trembling words

"Shall I offer unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing?"

Sasie crossed the stile, and made her way to the spot where she had first

seen him. There was no bent old man with silvery hair sitting on the tombstone, but by its side was a newly-made grave. It was a simple grass mound; no stone had been erected to tell who lay beneath; but those who loved him needed no reminder of where the old man lay, and his grave was bright with flowers.

He had died on a bright summer morning, when the sun was shining in all its glory, and the birds' voices were sounding a joyful thanksgiving to their Creator. He passed peacefully away in his sleep, with a smile of satisfaction on his face. When Mrs. Caston came down from the chamber of death that morning her face bore traces of tears.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am," she said to Mrs. Venning, who was waiting in the shop. "I'm afraid I've kept you waiting, but the poor old gentleman has just gone from us."

"Has he really died? I had no idea he was so ill. Well, it's the happiest thing that could have happened to such a lonely old man, and it is not as if he had left any one behind to grieve over his loss."

Mrs. Caston shook her head sorrowfully. "That he is happier in Heaven, ma'am, I have no doubt, and if any one was prepared to go there he was; but as to leaving no one behind to grieve for him, I can't say much about that. My husband and I feel, ma'am, that we've been entertaining an angel unawares, and though I grumbled a bit about the extra work at first, and went so far as to say I could not stand it much longer, I've learnt better long ago. I've never had a ledger whom I shall miss so much, and I verily believe that God has blessed this house ever since he came into it, that I do."

"Will you really miss him so much ?" said Mrs. Venning; "I had fancied that being so helpless

"Yes, ma'am, and so he was very helpless, but never a grumble came from his lips, and he wasn't one of those fidgetty ones who always want to be attended to. He would sit quite patient and quiet by the hour together, and I used to hear him praying just beautiful-speaking to the Lord as if He were close beside him, and so I believe He was. And," she added, brushing away her tears as her eyes fell on the missionary-box on the counter, "that box shall stand there so long as I live, and I don't say so only because it would please Mr. North, but because it will please the Lord."

Did Mrs. Venning remember her talk with Mrs. Lancaster seven years ago about the new lodger at Mrs. Caston's?

I think so, for her face wore something of the same sad expression as she left the shop that Mrs. Lancaster had seen upon it at the time of Ella's accident, when she had confessed to another mistake, another sin. As she wended her way home the following words came to her mind:"But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary."

THE END.

Missionary Sermons in Advent.

To the Editor.

ONE OF OUR HELPERS. HAVE just returned from D-, where I addressed a meeting last night. The Vicar's daughter called for me in the afternoon, and we drove to the pretty vicarage, but stopped on our way, at one of the smallest houses I have ever seen, to pick up a very tiny widow woman, who just matched her house. She used to be the toll-keeper, and the house was the toll-house; but the gate has been removed for many years, though its keeper is permitted to occupy her old home.

The old lady came out at the sound of wheels, and greeted my companion cordially.

"I shall soon be ready," she said, and began to bustle about. The window shutter had to be secured, the cat conducted to some outside haunt, and made snug for the night, and the door locked. Then she came to the carriage, and got in with some difliculty, grasping her faithful umbrella, her clean white handkerchief, and her well-worn black thread gloves. She was a very neat little old woman, dressed in old, but spotless, black and white. I learnt from others that she has been the chief friend of the C.M.S. in her neighbourhood for many years. She goes round the parish and collects the small subscriptions and donations that so many are willing to give if some one will only take the trouble to call for them. I learnt also that she had a very high character for personal holiness. One friend spoke of her as a saint."

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I drove back with her this morning, and she told me much about herself. She is 76 years of age, and much regrets that her increasing feebleness prevents her from doing as much as she used to do for the cause she loves. She has lived in her tiny lonely house for 46 years; during 16 years a husband (as small as herself her friends tell me) shared her home, but for 30 years she has been a widow, with no living companion but her cat. She has never been to London, nor wandered far from home, but she has an intense interest in missionary work in the "uttermost parts of the earth "an interest which arises apparently from a real compassion for the poor heathen who "sit in darkness and the shadow of death," and a deep love for her Saviour, and a desire to obey His last command.

It is encouraging for the missionary to meet such friends among the And it should also be an poorest and humblest of Christ's flock. encouragement to those who desire to help the work at Home, to know that one so solitary, old, and poor, can do so much to help the glorious work of establishing Christ's kingdom in the world. L.

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E heard last month of the son of the blood-thirsty chieftain, Raparahau Katu, at the extreme south of the island, being seized with an earnest desire to learn to read the Book of God, of which he first heard casually from a cousin, and acquiring the power of doing so by six months steady toil with a teacher, shut up in a little islet once used as a prison.

The spiritual appetite thus once awakened, Katu and Why

De subjects; as suitable for a
EAR SIR,-Permit me to suggest to your clerical readers the following why longed for further teaching, and felt nothing would now

during the season of Advent:

(1) The Condition of the World without the Gospel.

(2) The Means used to propagate the Gospel.

(3) The Results achieved by preaching the Gospel.

(4) The Responsibility resting upon every individual Christian to assist in the spread of the Gospel.

We are now circulating these subjects among the members of our Suffolk Union in the hope that they may be used by the clergy, and tend to awaken among their people an increased interest in the subject of Foreign Missions. Peasenhall Vicarage, EDWARD D. STEAD, Nov. 10th, 1883. Hon. Sec. Suffolk C.M. Union.

A Dying Maori Clergyman.

WHEN the late Rev, Piripi Patiki, of New Zealand, was dying, his son in

the ministry, the Rev. Wiki Te Paa, proposed to telegraph to Archdeacon Clarke. "Why should you?" said the old man; "it is the Lord's work. He planted the seed, made the seed to grow, and then to bear fruit, and now that the fruit is ripe let Him gather it in His own way. Do not interrupt the elders in their work. And you, my son, God has planted you here: grow, work, bear much fruit, and when you are ripe He will gather you too. When I am gone, you can write to the elders and let them know."

satisfy them but hearing the Gospel "straight from a white

man's mouth." Raparahau strongly objected to their going, but they were not to be thwarted in their purpose; and paying their fare in pigs and potatoes, took their passage in an American ship, bound for the 500 miles' voyage to the Bay of Islands, starting courageously, though they left their wives weeping pitifully on the shore. Arriving in about a month, they were taken to our friend Mr. H. Williams, quaintly called "of the Four Eyes" by the natives, because he wore spectacles, and he asked the reason of their coming. "To get a missionary," replied Katu, "to teach my people." Alas! for the blow that awaited him in the reply: "But there is no one whom we can send." Most touchingly did they urge and repeat their entreaties that some one might be spared to return with them, but what could the missionary do but explain the simple impossibility, "There is no one who can go;" they talked together for many hours, but of course it was always with the same result. At

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last Mr. H. Williams sent them to his brother, under the guidance of a native lad, a distance of fifteen miles. The journey was nothing in itself, but this very district had been ravaged by Raparahau, and his son's life might have been sacrificed had he been recognised. They arrived in safety, only to meet with a renewed disappointment. The second Mr. Williams could do no more for them than the first. "Oh, dark, very dark, our hearts were," said Katu; we have left our homes, our wives, and our people; we have come this long way, but we do not hear good talk." The pocr

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fellows returned to wait for their ship, which was being painted, more sorrowful than before. But a fortnight later they heard

an exclamation, "The missionary's boat has come," and running out to see, with reviving hope, were told "They are calling for you." Katu continues : "Mr. Williams said, Friends, do not be angry with me any more; here is your missionary.' His name was the Rev. 0. Hadfield. He had heard us speak to Mr. Williams at Waimate, but he did not understand what we said. When we were gone he said to Mr. Williams,

What did those Maoris say?' Mr. Williams told him we wanted a missionary, and God put it into his heart to come with us. We said, 'We are very much obliged to you,' and we were very happy." It was true: the young missionary just arrived from England, and present at the interview, had been so touched by the pleadings of these poor thirsty souls that some one might be sent to show them the way to the Water of Life, that in spite of his ignorance of their language, and being entirely strange to the country, he had urged to be allowed to return with them to the South, and Mr. Williams of the Four Eyes, seeing in these coincidences the leadings of God's hand, decided to go also, and remain there with him until he was established. Thus the happy Katu returned with two missionaries instead of one, and right joyous was the reception they met with on arriving. The cry arose from many voices, "Wel

come, welcome, come hither-the Light is come, that all men may believe."

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At Waikanae, opposite Kapiti, about 1,200 were assembled to greet them. There was just time to hold service before the sunset, in the course of which two hymns were sung to original native tunes. Mata-hau had been labouring here, since his own heart had been changed, to bring others to the knowledge of the Truth, and many were in an inquiring state; they had even erected a neat church, lined with tall reeds, for their expected missionary. Within six months after his arrival, Mr. Hadfield had the joy of baptizing Katu, Why-why, Mata-hau, and some seventeen others. These three took the names respectively of Tamahana (or Thompson), Henera Matene (or Henry Martyn), and Joseph. "We were all very happy that day," wrote Katu; our hearts cried; we were very happy." Tamahana, as we must now call him, proved, as we might have expected, a most earnest worker amongst his countrymen. He and his friends I went with a number of New Testaments, lately come from England, to itinerate in Middle Island. It had been formerly desolated by Raparahau, and the old warrior's son ran no little danger in this enterprise, but this did not hold him back. When they pointed to the land his father had laid waste, he replied, "I have come to teach you the Word of God, that is my sword." He seemed never weary of labouring at his blessed work, and has been known to sit up teaching all night, after preaching seven times in the preceding day.

On his return he made new efforts to benefit his own people; and finding he needed more knowledge himself, went for a while to the college at Auckland. As he had difficulty in inducing his subjects to substitute decent houses for the savage "pah" in which they still lived, he set fire to it, and then, building himself

We have endeavoured thus, in the course of the year, to present to our readers a series of dissolving views from the Story of the first Missions to New Zealand, carried on under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. After the opening years, in which faith and hope were so sorely exercised, it is an unprecedented history of progress and triumph; some of its passages seem almost like a fulfilment of the promise, "A nation shall be born in a day." If spared to another year, we may be permitted to sketch some of the later trials and difficulties which more than once threatened to extinguish the sacred flames thus kindled by the work of the Spirit of God through the length and breadth of the land. For the present we will close with a parting glimpse of the honoured veteran who had been permitted to be the first to open the campaign, not far from the commencement of the century.

It was in 1837 that Mr. Marsden paid his seventh and last visit to New Zealand, accompanied by his daughter. In former years he had travelled hundreds of miles on foot, over mountains, and through bogs and forests. Now greatly enfeebled by age, he had to be carried in a litter, but everywhere his progress was like a triumphal procession. Some seventy of the natives marched beside him, a self-elected body-guard, and the many who came out at the various stations to do him honour formed quite an imposing spectacle.

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THE HOUSE BUILT FOR HIMSELF BY TAMAHANA TE RAPARAHAU.

a palace, which contained four rooms! he directed them in erecting their cottages, which each contained two rooms and a chimney. He also introduced cows amongst them, and though the natives were terribly alarmed at first at the sight of this formidable creature, they soon learned its value, and followed their chieftain's example by keeping some of their own. It is interesting to know that old Raparahau entered heartily into his son's improvements, and even attending school, learned his letters with the meekness of a child. He was never sufficiently advanced in knowledge of the truth to justify his baptism, but in his dying moments he could answer Tamahana's anxious question, "My father, who died to bear your sins?" with the blessed assurance, "Oh, my son, Christ died for me."

*The accompanying engraving is from a sketch of the very house, taken on the spot more than thirty years ago. The pictures on the two pages form an instructive contrast.

His natural strength indeed had abated, and his bodily eyes were dim, but his mind was still full of energy, and bis heart overflowing with love. His first act was one of mediation between two contending parties near Kaitaia, and afterwards he spent six months going from one settlement to another, "blessing and blessed" wherever he went. The nativesheathen and Christians alike -welcomed him with open arms; they would sit with their eyes riveted upon him; and when requested to withdraw, would reply, "We wish to have a very long and steadfast look at our old friend, for we shall never see him again." Before he left, Mr. Marsden went a cruise as far as Cook's Straits, returning to Sydney in August, and in May, 1838, he received the long expected call to "enter into the joy of his Lord." He had been speaking of the "precious hope he had in Christ," and the last words that fell from his dying lips were, "Precious, precious, precious!" It was at the age of seventythree he thus fell asleep in Jesus, having been forty-five years chaplain in New South Wales. In that colony also his work and influence for good had been most remarkable, but it was to the Great Britain of the Southern Seas that he had proved himself an apostle indeed. We may truly say of him there, that "his works do follow him." To him was given the rare privilege of benefiting, not individuals only, but whole races of his fellow-men. E. D.

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