178 THE PURPLE CROCUS. 



a lillle rural lane, carrying in his blue handkerchief 

 son)c portion that had been given him from ihe 

 ]arder of a rich person; and kindly saluting him 

 by name, I a:sked, ' Are you traveUing the safe and 

 pleasant road, with the Lord Jesus Christ for 

 company V He looked at me, the tremor of his 

 frame increasing greatly from emotion, and quietly 

 answered, ' I ln)pe 1 am, lady, I hope 1 am : and 

 so are you ;' and then, after a short pause, he 

 rather abruptly resumed, ' I have been thinking 

 that we don't pray enough ; we should pray for all 

 — especially for the Lord's people. We should 

 pray particularly for those God loves — don't you 

 think so?' I readily assented, and he contiimed; 

 * And for the wicked : there would not he so much 

 wickedncvss in the world, if we piayed as v\c 

 ought. God hears prayer : he hears my pravers 

 • — and if T do not pray, I sin against him. But 

 parliculaily for the Lord's people — for praying 

 people,' — and with a respectful bow he went on, 

 evideiuly pursuing the same train of thought, 

 which hrid not been interrupted by my unexpected 

 address. 



After this, we never met without a cordial greet- 

 ing; and on one occasion I saw him, when return- 

 ing from a scene to me most precious. A poor 

 Romanist who had, under the power of the gospel, 

 declared in his own native Irish, renounced all iiis 

 fearful errors, and become a simple believer in 



