Berry engaged in medical work, and two others employed as teachers in a school, was suggested. At first he showed no great interest in the scheme, but afterwards, becoming enthusiastic over it, he said that, instead of continuing his journey to Kioto, he would at once return to Okayama, and prepare the way for Mr. Atkinson and Dr. Berry, if they would delay their coming for a few days. Thus the old red boots, though they interrupted the business of their owner, sent him back to a work without which we would, perhaps, have been unable to gain a foothold in the city."

A WINGED seed.

"We sometimes meet with the results of work done in other stations. An interesting instance of this it may not be amiss to mention. Five years ago when Dr. Berry was in Kobe, a teacher of Chinese in Nishi-no-miya came for medical treatment. Some books which were given to him interested him so much that he came again to Kobe, this time to make inquiries about Christianity. He asked that some Bible mottoes might be given him to hang upon the walls of his room. Accordingly several short passages of Scripture were written in Japanese, and taking these he returned home. Nothing more was heard of him until one day he came into the house at Okayama. He said that he was growing old, and his health had failed so that he had given up

teaching, and was now living in a little village a few miles distant. He had continued to study the Bible, and had even tried to preach its truths; but the people had only laughed at him, while the priests had violently opposed him, so that the old man, having no one to sympathize with him, had become somewhat discouraged. Still he continued to study by himself. He had an old Testament in Chinese, and at one time he thought of translating this into Japanese, but finding the task too difficult he had given it up. When he heard that we had commenced work in Okayama, he came there to see us and to ask some questions about what he had read. He afterwards made a second visit, and is now planning to spend some time in Okayama studying the Bible, so that he may be better prepared to speak to the people of his own and other villages.

"The word of truth is like a winged seed. We look for it in the place where it was sown, but it is no longer there, and we think it has perished. Some day in a far-off place we find a plant springing up, and flowering, and bearing fruit. Then are we encouraged, as we hope that other seeds of which we never find any trace have yet somewhere been nourished by God's sunlight and rain, so that they, too, have had their part in making the earth to be the green and fruitful garden of the Lord."

EVENTS have proved the Zulus to be quite as formidable a military power as they have ever had credit for. The belief is all but universal in South Africa, and I share in it, to the full, that the English had either to break up the military rule of the Zulu nation, or eventually, and at no distant day, to evacuate not only Natal, but the whole of South Africa. And while I would not advocate the policy of planting the Gos

pel at the point of the bayonet, I fully believe that the supremacy of English rule is necessary to the speedy and healthful development of Christian Missions in this half of "The Dark Continent." It is hardly possible for one not living in Natal to realize, I had almost said even to credit, how intense was the excitement which prevailed throughout the colony from the 22d of January to the 1st of April, ¿. e., during the interval

from the Isandhlwana disaster, to the arrival of the reënforcement consisting of 9,000 British soldiers and 2,000 cavalry and artillery horses. A wide-spread panic took possession of the colony, and many left their homes for places of greater safety. Messrs. Bridgman and Robbins sent their families into Durban, where they remained many weeks. Mr. Tyler and family were living just outside of Durban for four or five months. Mr. Rood and family, including Miss Hance, were also away several weeks. The rest of our mission circle remained quietly at their homes, and the three boarding schools of the mission went on as usual, somewhat diminished, however, in numbers. -William Ireland, Adams, South Africa.

That there is a spiritual power going forth from these little circles in Prague and vicinity, in Stupitz and Sebrin, and in the various other places where the saving power of the gospel has been felt, cannot be denied. Proofs of this in the Roman Catholic church are seen in an increased activity, in a more evangelical style of preaching, especially in some of the Prague churches, and in a closer watchfulness over individual members lest they fall away. In the Protestant church, the same thing manifests itself in an increased interest in church discipline, in the discussion of more important and more vital questions, and in the marked growth among the laity of a spirit of inquiry as to the real meaning of the "new birth" and of the "hidden life." We have reason to be thankful that God has seen fit to allow our work to have any share in bringing about results so desirable as these.

Mr. Novotry was last week fined five florins for holding a forbidden meeting, though the meeting which he was charged with holding, as he, explained clearly to the official, was made up of persons who came to call, staying a short time and then going away. At the time the policemen called, about ten were present. Mr. Novotry has appealed against this sentence. - E. A. Adams, Prague, Austria.

- In our mission work there seems to be a quiet advance amid the many distracting influences of various kinds. Last Saturday a young man from Djumaa was examined and approved for admission to the church. He has for over four years seemed a decided follower. About that time he was imprisoned for a month on a false charge, to make him leave Protestantism, but while in prison for the first time, he found in his Bible that persecutions for Christ's sake were a part of the promises made to the followers of Jesus, and was strengthened. He has never wavered. Though quiet he is outspoken. He is one of those quiet leavening influences among this people, which give us so much encouragement to hope for their future.

The examination of the Female Boarding School passed off well, July 2d and 3d, six graduating, of whom two were refugees from Macedonia this year, another from Romelia last year, two were in relief work in Djumaa. They have passed a fuller course for life's work than that in our programme, and their varied experiences will make them more useful. All are members of the church. One has been an agressive Bible woman while here, and teaching a school in Yamboul, to which place she returns.James T. Clarke, Samokov, Bulgaria.

people in the worst counties have lived since the beginning of April on wild seeds and imported grain, to buy which they sold whatever they had, even their working oxen. The rats that have proved such a plague are field rats that may always be found in considerable numbers, but have been allowed this year to multiply astonishingly. At least several thousand square miles of crops were eaten or destroyed by them, and we know not yet now far their devastation extended. — S. B. Fairbanks, Ahmednuggur, India.

give us grace to properly use whatever of it may flow into our mission. I am making some progress in the study of the language. In this study there are, it is said, three stages the first when one expects to get the language in a few weeks; second, when he thinks he will never get it; third, when it pleasantly, and rather suddenly, dawns upon him that he has it. Well! I am, as I hope, near the close of the second stage, and that has not been so dark to me as it may have been to some. — J. P. Jones, Dindigul, India.

The commencement exercises of the Jaffna College passed off very pleasantly. Seven young men graduated, all Christians. Two of them stood very high in their studies. We hope for great things from these young men. Their influence as Christian students among their fellow students was good, and we hope that their influence among their countrymen will be even greater and better. Two of these young men have already been appointed as teachers in the High School; the others have not yet commenced any course of study or work. A large number of educated Tamils were present at the closing exercises, and seemed to be very much interested. Many made speeches in praise of what they had seen and heard. R. C. Hastings, Batticotta, Ceylon.

BISHOP TYRRELL AND HIS PRINCELY

GIFT.

REFERENCE has already been made in these columns to the gift to his diocese of $1,250,000 by the Bishop of Newcastle, Australia. The following account of the donor we find in The Mission Field, which copies it from The New Zealand Church News:

"Dr. William Tyrrell was born in 1807, and graduated B. A. in 1831, and M. A. in 1834. He was ordained in 1834, and after a very useful ministerial career in England was nominated first Bishop of Newcastle, on the division of the diocese of Australia, in 1847. He was consecrated in Westminster Abbey in that

year, and immediately thereafter proceeded to the scene of his labors, from which he never once ceased till the day of his death, having never returned to his native country. Bishop Tyrrell was a man of great physical power, and as a walker or rider was never surpassed, seldom equaled. He often, in the early days of his episcopate, rode eighty or ninety miles a day. No distance was too great for him, if he could serve or extend his Master's kingdom by undertaking the ourney. As an administrator he was a wise and judicious man; he had an indomitable will, and never failed to persevere in any course which in his judgment was right. Though

Dr. Tyrrell was most exacting, and perhaps made too little allowance for those of his clergy who had not the physical or mental vigor with which he was himself blessed, all concur that he was a devoted, earnest bishop, and found in him the true, sympathizing Christian friend. As a preacher he was gifted with remarkable powers. His manner was always nervous at first, but gradually, as with heart and soul he unfolded the rich Gospel truths from the little Bible he invariably held in his hand while preaching, he would hold enormous congregations spell-bound. His language was eloquent in its purity and simplicity, but his chief power lay in his thorough earnestness, and his truly consistent Christian walk. Dr. Tyrrell was a good High Churchman of the old school, and discountenanced ritualistic tendencies in his clergy. He strove to keep ever before his own mind and theirs the thought of the real solid work to be done, and of him it may truly be said, as of his Divine Master, that he 'went about doing good.' He visited every part of his great diocese continually; he only once left Australia, and that was for a visit to the Melanesian Islands in company with Bishop Selwyn in 1851. Writing to the S. P. G., on the 18th January, 1877, he said: On the 31st of the present month I shall complete my seventieth year, and am now in the thirtieth year of my episcopate, having been consecrated on St. Peter's Day, 1847; and, as I have never yet rested from my episcopal duties, I hope not to be compelled to do so until I am summoned by my blessed Saviour.' Since this period the Bishop's health has been failing, and in May last he was unable to be present at the meeting of his Synod, when his commissary announced that, in addition to the careful husbanding of the various grants and subscriptions entrusted to him, the Bishop had presented to the diocese the whole of his own large fortune, augmented by his self-denying prudence throughout his long life, and that it was now endowed by him with a sum of £250,000!"

ARRIVALS.

REV. G. F. HERRICK and wife, Miss C. H. Hamlin, and Miss L. B. Chamberlin, arrived at Constantinople, August 22.

DEPARTURES.

MISS CHARLOTTE E. ELY and Miss Mary A. C. Ely sailed from New York, August 23, on their return to the Eastern Turkey Mission. Rev. L. H. Adams and wife sailed from New York

August 30, returning to the Central Turkey Mission. They were accompanied by Miss Grace Bingham, of Wellsville, N. Y., who joins the same mission, and will be located at Aintab.

Rev. W. H. Belden and wife sailed from New York, September 6, to join the European Turkey mission. Mr. Belden leaves the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in Scranton, Pa., and from his former connection with the press, it is expected that he will be specially serviceable in the preparation of a Christian literature for Bulgaria.

Rev. Robert Chambers and wife, of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, and Rev. Wm. N. Chambers, a recent graduate of Union Theological Seminary, sailed from New York, September 20, to join the Eastern Turkey Mission.