A MODEL HALL-KEEPER. 163 



altered for the better. But even all these precautions 

 failed to prevent an occasional accident, and always, at 

 the end of a tour, the best part of a day had to be spent 

 in careful examination of every part of the frame, and 

 in various little repairs rendered necessary by the 

 knocking about which it had undergone during its 

 travels. 



During the autumn followed lectures at the Sunday 

 School Union, and also at Brighton, the Royal Naval 

 School, New Cross, Norwood, Bedford, Streatham, 

 Peterborough, Newcastle, Morpeth, Banbury, Windsor, 

 Maidstone, Staleybridge, Saltaire, Huddersfield, and 

 Liverpool (at the " Young Men's Christian Associa- 

 tion"). This last institute comes in- for almost the 

 highest praise that my father ever bestowed upon any 

 of the halls in which he lectured. I find the following 

 notes in his diary : 



Capital hall at Y.M.C.A.; a good-natured hall-keeper, who waits 

 for orders. Carpeted floor, and pitch pine ; not object to screws. 



Then came the Christmas recess ; but on January 

 3rd the lectures began again with " Life under Water " 

 at Upper Norwood. At Sydenham, on the 8th and 

 15th, were given "Ant Life" and " Spider Life," for 

 the benefit of various parochial institutions. Then came 

 lectures at Caterham, Streatham (three delivered in 

 the drawing-room of a private house), Bomsey, Win- 

 chester, and the London Institution ; this last on a day 

 of deep snow, when a cab could hardly be procured for 

 love or money, and we were obliged to drive from the 

 L 2 



