188 LESSONS FOR THE SABBATH AND THE SCHOOL.

In this number the Editor has given a portion of one of the prize essays, which he hopes every one who cares about China and our mission there, will not forget to read. It is a very valuable narrative, and must have cost the writer a great amount of research and labour. His name, with the remainder of the narrative, will appear in next number.

Now, when we are to try to do our part of the work, the Reporter begs to ask if you will have the kindness to do yours? You must read more, and pray more, and work more, and give more, Time is short; it flies like the lightning; you cannot stay it; you cannot keep it: all you can do is to use it or waste it.

Go, labour on, while it is day,

The world's dark night is hastening on ;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;
It is not thus that souls are won.

Men die in darkness at your side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,

The torch that lights time's thickest gloom.

LESSONS FOR THE SABBATH AND THE SCHOOL.

DATE.

SUBJECT.

TO LEARN.

Question.

TO READ.

the LXXXVI. Heb. xi. 22-34. Dan. vi. 1-28.

London: Robert Kingston Burt, Printer, Holborn Hill.

How changed! That large building is the Mosque of Omar, a Mohammedan temple. Solomon's Temple once stood there. How true that "Jerusalem is now trodden down of the Gentiles."

MANY a walk have I had in London-long walks and short ones; early walks and late ones; walks in the Eastend and West-end, in high places and low places, among all sorts of people, and on a great many sorts of errands. I have met with the wise and the foolish, the prudent and the perverse, the useless and the useful - all rushing on, apparently in the same direction, pursuing JANUARY, 1858.

B

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WALKS IN LONDON.

the same objects, but often reaching very different ends. It is because I have seen so much, that I want to write a few chapters for the benefit of those who have seen less. London is full of traps, and gins, and snares, and pitfalls, over which thousands have stumbled, and some have sunk down to rise no more. In my future "walks" shall try to point out some of these to you, and I hope to show you the necessity of walking wisely, and crying daily to the Lord, "Lead me in a plain path."

But, first of all, I am going to talk in this chapter and, perhaps, the next, about London generally, its people, its streets, houses, coaches, cabs, shops, ships, &c., and in doing so I must ask you at the outset to "rub up your arithmetic," for we shall often require to put down in figures hundreds and thousands and millions, before we have finished our story.

But how can I speak to you about the size and extent of this mighty city? I can tell you that there are more than two millions four hundred thousand persons in it. But what do you understand by that? Not much, I fear. Think a moment, and I will try to break up this immense number. It contains nearly as many people as there is in all the towns and cities and hamlets and villages of Scotland; it contains one-fourth more people than Pekin, the capital of China-two-thirds more than Paris-more than twice as many as Constantinople-four times as many as St. Petersburgh-five times as many as Vienna or New York-nearly seven times as many as Berlin, eight times as many as Amsterdam, and nine times as many as Rome. Suppose we Londoners were to be all gathered together, and drawn up in marching order, two and two-why, the length of the great army would be no less than six hundred and seventy miles; and if you were

WALKS IN LONDON.

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to stand at the corner of a road and allow us all to pass you, travelling at the rate of three miles an hour-and that is about as fast as we can walk in the streets-how long would you require to stand until you saw the last of us? One day, or two? Suppose you took your stand early on a Monday morning;-here we come, two and two, great and small, rich and poor, old and young; we keep at it day and night never ceasing, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, three days and three long nights, and all are not past yet; still we keep going on, on, on-and so you stand looking for nine days and nine nights, and it is not till daybreak on the tenth day that you see the last of our wondrous company. There are as many people added to London every year as would people a good-sized town about 40,000; and about 4,000 new houses are built yearly for their accommodation. About 170 people die every day, and there is a babe born every five minutes. What a number of houses it must require to lodge all these people! Yes, London has 10,500 distinct squares, circuses, crescents, terraces, villas, rows, buildings, places, lanes, courts, alleys, mews, yards, and rents. There are about 5,000 paved. streets in this great city, and if placed end to end they would exceed 2,000 miles in length. The cost of this paved roading was about £14,000,000—more money. than you could count in sovereigns in many, many years— and every year it costs about £1,800,000 to keep them in repair. If all the buildings of London were set in a row, they would reach across the whole of England and France, from York to the Pyrenees! At one time the only light the people had after dark was from oil lamps or dip candles, but now they have nearly 2,000 miles of gas pipes, which cost more than £4,000,000; and they

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WALKS IN LONDON.

pay about £500,000 for the supply of gas every year. But the people don't live on gas; they are eating and drinking every week and every day in all the year. What loads and loads they must consume! Yes, just read over the following list; the population consumes annually

From 70 to 75 millions of eggs are annually imported into London from France and other countries. About 13,000 cows are kept in the city and its neighbourhood for the supply of milk and cream. In addition to all this, London consumes 65,000 pipes of wine, 2,000,000 gallons of spirits, 43,200,000 gallons of porter and ale, and it burns 3,000,000 tons of coal.

But I must stop for the present. What a wonderful world in itself London is! In next chapter we shall speak of its churches, and chapels, and schools, &c., &c. Meanwhile remember that all the human beings, of whom we have been speaking, have immortal souls to be saved or lost. Let them have a place in your prayers before the throne of God.

"Happy is the man whom God correcteth."

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he that hearkeneth to counsel is wise."