A WINTER AFTERNOON IN BROMLEY.

H

OW quickly the days fly by! This is Wednesday already, and the afternoon for our Mothers' Meeting in Bromley. It is miserably cold and foggy out of doors, and very uninviting, but the poor dear women will assemble all the more numerously on this account, so we must not be daunted. A brisk walk of about a mile brings us to our destination, down in one of the poorest and most crowded parts of the great East of London. On the way we pass Harley Hall, in the schoolroom of which our factory girls' classes are held three nights in the week. These classes have been well attended lately, and some of the dear girls have been got away out of London altogether to a quiet home in the country, where they are being trained for domestic service.

Of all the unfavourable positions in which a young Christian girl could be placed, surely none could be worse than that of these poor factory hands! Some of our friends accustomed to the same class in Scotland or in Lancashire, still more those acquainted with "the young ladies of Lowell" (Massachusetts), have ideas of factory girls differing widely from our own! Whether the difference arise from the lower wages earned by the young women in these parts, or from the lower condition of society from which they come, or from the excessively unfavourable surroundings of this crowded neighbourhood, we will not say; but it is a fact that our factory girls down here, who number many many thousands, astonish our visitors by their words and ways, and require no small tact to manage. We love many of them dearly however, and have found a warm and glowing return of affection from them. But they are all busy with their daily toil at this hour; not till after six will they come thronging in to their evening class. For the present, it is not with the bright, boisterous, noisy, merry, mischievous young things we have to do; but with weary, careworn, anxious, and often sorely suffering mothers, to whom kindly sympathy of another kind is however equally welcome.

The fog seems to be thicker here in these dark little streets. How the gaslights in the public houses flare out! and what numbers of children. are swarming everywhere; even this weather cannot keep them at home. Poor little pets! Their only nursery, their best playground, is—the street!

Here is the chapel at last; we must go in by the schoolroom door. What a bright pleasant contrast the room is, with its warm fire and cheerful lights, to the dismal streets outside. No wonder the poor women like to come in for a little rest and change. There must be over sixty of

them here to-day.

Many of the houses they leave are sad enough. Often even in this wintry weather we find them with no fire, no food, and the husband ill or out of work, week after week. If this cold continues we must give them

a bun and a cup of tea next Wednesday. It is a real pleasure to do this, for they seem to enjoy it so much.

Our meeting here lasts for nearly two hours. Mutual greetings and friendly inquiries after "baby" come first; and then when the money has been taken in, and the work given out, we read aloud some short temperance story, or one of Power's capital tracts. But the best part of the meeting comes when the reading is over and the work folded up, for then we join in singing some bright hymn, the Bible is brought out, and a passage read from its familiar page. And while they listen to the old old story, which always seems to come as though it were new, and as wo tell them about that home where there is neither sin nor sorrow, how many sad and weary faces seem to brighten, though some eyes fill with tears. After the meeting is closed with a few words of prayer, we can go in amongst the women and talk to them while they linger, and find out much about their hearts and homes and circumstances. They always seem so glad of a sympathetic listener, and any little counsel or cheer. Many many sad cases of distress we meet in this way, and it is our joy to be able to help not a few. But best of all we are sure that, in this as well as in our similar meetings elsewhere, there are those whose hearts have been brightened in the midst of their sorrow and care by acquaintance with the love and sympathy of the best of friends. Few, even in this suffering world, more need the comfort of a "very present help in trouble," a sympathising high priest who has grace to help in time of need, than the poor mothers of East London. M. G. G.

LIFE IN BURMAH.

UR FRIEND MR. HENRY SOLTAU visited Cliff College last month, and gave the students a most interesting sketch of life and work at BHAMO. He has been residing since 1873 at this town, which is in the part of Burmah still under native rule, and governed at present by the wretched drunken and murderous tyrant, Theebau. Here he has been sowing in tears the good seed of the kingdom, and the reaping in joy has not yet been given. This is the less discouraging however, because Bhamo is a frontier town, and its population therefore is of the most mixed and changeful character. Sometimes 400 or 500 muledrivers from the mountains, or from China, enter the city in one day and leave it the next. Chinese merchants are incessantly passing through the town, as well as companies of the aborigines, Shans, and Miau-tse, from the mountains between Burmah and China, in charge of caravans. Multitudes are thus reached by the missionary, though only in passing. A hold has been gained on the people's affection and confidence; every house in Bhamo has been visited, and when Mr. Soltau left for his journey to England, many lamented his departure even with tears. Here, as elsewhere, the medical branch of the mission has proved invaluable as a first attraction to the people, saving years of weary waiting till languages had been learned. The language of helpless suffering and of practical human sympathy makes the whole world kin. Mr. Soltau's hospital, dispensary, and consulting room in one, consisted of the space beneath his house, which rests on a wooden scaffolding, this openwork foundation being screened in as a shelter for his patients. Many a poor opium eater has asked if he might come in there to die.

One poor

A terrible picture our friend gave us of the bloodthirsty ferocity and the wanton destruction of human life in Burmah, where the present king on his accession slaughtered all his near kindred to the number of two hundred. He had his victims imprisoned in buildings surrounded by a high wall till they were nearly starved, and then brought out in detachments to be killed. Death is inflicted by beating the spine, especially the nape of the neck, as Buddhists object to shedding blood. For theft, or suspected theft, the penalty is death by crucifixion. For very trifling offences flogging of the most barbarous kind is inflicted. fellow, thus lacerated, was carried to the mission house to be nursed through two days of terrible suffering till he died, after trying as best he could to express his wondering gratitude at the missionary's kindness! Terrible also was it to hear of the tyranny uuder which the prince of darkness holds these poor Burmese Buddhists, whose only hope beyond this life's miseries is "nirvana," or a sort of eternal and absolute repose. Mr. Soltau returned home through China, and by way of Japan, San Francisco, and the United States; he travelled a thousand miles through

Western China, after leaving his own station, without meeting a single Christian or any moral and spiritual light amid the gloom.

Chun-king, the China Inland Mission station in Si-chuen, was the first mission station he reached after travelling through the great and populous province of Si-chuen with its twenty-one millions.

Mr. Soltau's closing words of warning and counsel referred to two special difficulties of very opposite nature encountered in such a life as his in Bhamo: the utter want of privacy, and the total lack of communion with fellow Christians. "It may be amusing at first," he said, "to have the people in and out of your house all day, listening with untiring interest to the harmonium, inspecting your clock, your clothes, your very bedroom; but as time goes on, their insatiable curiosity and unblushing intrusiveness wear one's spirit, and much grace is needed lest we should dishonour our God by impatience or ill temper. On the other hand we long more and more, as time passes on, for the refreshment of Christian fellowship and other means of grace. Only when cut off from these do we realize how dependent on them we have been. Let me advise you all, brethren, to cultivate now the habit of communion with the Lord, so as to be accustomed to feel all my fresh springs are in Thee.'"

We thought, as he spoke, of One who in all points tempted like as we are, knew both these trials well: the besetting multitude, when He would fain have rested awhile; and the utter loneliness of spirit in spite of company and companionship, together with the feeling that even when most lonely He was not alone, for the Father was with Him. His missionary servants in their loneliness are granted not only the honour of following in His steps, and tasting the fellowship of His sufferings, but the comfort of knowing that there is always at hand One who can perfectly sympathise as well as effectually uphold.

We rejoice to know that in returning to his post this part of Mr. Soltau's trials will be lightened, as he will take back with him, if the Lord permit, as wife, companion, and helpmeet, a lady who has already had success in home mission work. He hopes to build a hospital at Bhamo, so as to extend the benefits of the Medical Mission.

I

MUCH LAND TO BE POSSESSED.

N these days when we hear so much about missions to the heathen, when great societies hold their crowded meetings at Exeter Hall, and count their men by hundreds and their funds by hundreds of thousands, there may be many among us who fancy that the Christian church is already preaching the gospel in all the world for a

MAY, 1883.]

Unattacked citadels of darkness in Central Asia. 35

witness unto all nations. Nothing, alas! could be farther from the truth. We have but to look at maps of Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia, and ascertain how little the light of God's truth has penetrated into these great continents, to see that many and earnest as are the missionary efforts now being made, we are still only on the borders of the kingdom of darkness in these continents, where our work of evangelization is but a seaboard fringe to the immense domain of heathendom.

We have had a letter lately from MR. PARKER, of the China Inland Mission, which reminds us painfully of this fact as regards the Asiatic continent. He is in Kansuh, north-west China, from which province a line might be drawn north-west, and south-west, right to the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains, 3000 miles, without a single missionary station!

We can well understand therefore, and sympathise with, the earnest pleading on behalf of this vast "region beyond," contained in Mr. Parker's letter. We give it in full, hoping and praying that it may prove a message from God, to some of our dear readers. Mr. Parker had previously urged on our attention the needs of Mongolia and Thibet, and were we not so heavily pledged to Central AFRICA, we should ere this have attempted something for Central ASIA. Mr. Parker writes as follows:

MY DEAR MR. AND MRS. Guinness:

Some months after God laid on my heart all the western dependencies of China I came across the following words of dear Major Malan, uttered at the Mildmay Conference, 1878:

"I feel that if we Christians believe the Lord's words, that this gospel must be preached as a witness unto all nations, and then shall come the end, the wisdom of the church is to concentrate all its efforts on The unattacked citadels of darkness in Central Asia and Central Africa. We can give our sympathy and help at home, but oh, do we want the blessed King to come? Do we want to see Him? Yes, dear friends, I believe all that is written in the prophets, and I believe in the coming of the Lord, and I am looking for Him; and that is the reason why my soul is in Central Asia and Africa. I believe that if there is one thing keeping Him back, it is the backwardness of the church to go and preach His name there."

I pray that though that faithful servant of God has fallen asleep, unceasing prayer and effort may go on until Central Asia is evangelized.

Major Malan little dreamed doubtless that there was a cart road from the capital of Kansuh to the base of the Bolor Tag mountains, or that the evangelization of Turkestan could be so easily and inexpensively carried on. Although we had a right to go before, and I have received a passport for Tartary, I have not been able as yet to get beyond this great province, because I am the only missionary here.

A few days ago I received Mr. Taylor's consent to make a first journey, and directly after proclamations were posted up in this city announcing that the roads both north and south of the Tien (celestial) mountains were open to Russian trade. Russian merchants will enter Chinese territory at Cashgar, proceeding eastward by their