136 AX AMERICAN FARMER IX EXGLAXD. 



call fine music : doubtless it is the best and truest that can effect 

 this. I had been wandering in a deep, sad day-dream, far away, 

 beyond the ocean beyond the earth . . . dark lost to remem- 

 brance when I was of a sudden brought back and awakened 

 again, in the dun old cathedral, with such emotion, as if from 

 eternity and infinity, I was remanded to mysterious identity and 

 sense of time, that I choked and throbbed ; and then, as the 

 richest, deepest melody I must ever have heard passed away, 

 softly swelling through the vaulted ceiling, caught up tenderly 

 by mild echoes in the nave, and again and again faintly returning 

 from its deepest distances, I kneeled and bowed my head with 

 the worshipers around me, acknowledging in all my heart the 

 beauty and sublimity of the place and the services. 



The sermon was from an elderly man, with a voice slightly 

 broken, and an impressive manner, whom we were afterwards 

 told was Canon Slade, a somewhat distinguished divine. It was 

 one of the best, plain, practical, Christ-like discourses I ever 

 heard from a pulpit. It was delivered with emphasis and anima- 

 tion, in a natural, sometimes almost conversational tone, directly 

 to individuals, high and low, then and there present, and of 

 course was listened to with respectful attention. The main drift 

 of it was to enforce the idea, that a knowledge of the truth of 

 God was never to be arrived at by mere learning and dry study ; 

 that these were sometimes rather encumbrances ; that love was 

 of more value than learning. He had been describing the Phari- 

 sees of old, and concluded by saying, that the Pharisees, satisfied 

 with their own notions, and scorning new light, were not scarce 

 in our day. " There are some of them in our Church of England : 

 would that there were fewer ; that there were less parade and 

 more reality of heavenly knowledge." He made but little use 

 of his notes, and pronounced an extemporaneous prayer at the 

 conclusion with extreme solemnity. 



