THE SOUTH CHURCH. 17."> 



acted most delightfully upon those who thus bccunic silent partners 

 with us in the glorious work of Home jVIissions, binding tlieir hearts to 

 the same cause. 



It is around this dear church, after all, tliat our most sacred memo- 

 ries dwell, and within whose walls our choicest hours were spent. As 

 oft as the familiar Sabbath bell called us hither, we loved to come. 

 The hush and calm of the holy day was upon us as we entered these 

 courts, and as the anthem, "Lo, God is here," was rendered by tl»e 

 choir, accompanied by the rich, solemn tones of the organ, which 

 seemed almost to utter the very words, we knew or felt w^e were in 

 the presence of the King, and all bowed in praise and adoration and 

 worship. Here we brought our empty hearts to be filled. Here we 

 laid our burdens down and bore a song away. Here we listened for 

 God's voice to us through the utterances of the pastor, and voiced our 

 vow^s and petitions and praises back to our Father in heaven througli 

 his lips. Here we sat in the hallowed communion seasons at the table of 

 our Lord, one with Him in love and faith, and renewedly pledged to 

 Him our loyalty and trust. And here too, we had the joy of wel- 

 coming to the fold hundreds who rose to confess Jesus as their Lord 

 and Saviour, some of whom now walk in white amid the redeemed 

 throng in heaven. Who does not recall with sincere gratitude and 

 praise special seasons of this kind, when they felt they were indeed 

 sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and were ready to exclaim 

 with the disciple of old, " Lord, it is good for us to be here." 



The Sunday-school, as I remember it, could hardly be called the nur- 

 sery of the church, if that term suggests an assembly of babes alone. 

 The infant class, to be sure, so long under the happy leadership of 

 Mrs. Frederick North, was an institution almost by itself, so far as lov- 

 ing care and devotion in that mother-heart could make it. She drew 

 in the children from many homes less favored than her own, and by her 

 sweet and graceful presence won every child to herself and to her 

 Saviour, who said, " Let the little ones come unto Me." But the older 

 classes included a large number of youth as well as those of riper 

 years, who had learned long ago to love their bibles, and count the 

 hours sweet that were spent in studying its blessed truths. 



I have still among my treasures an album containing the photo- 

 graphs, twelve in number, of the young ladies of ray own class. 

 Some are not, for God has taken them. Many of them are teachers 

 themselves now, and mothers — I am not sure but some are grand- 

 mothers, so rapid is the flight of time, aud so surely are we all moving 

 on. I shall never cease to love those young ladies, thougli gray hairs 

 may crown their heads, and never forget the sessions we were together 

 in profitable bible study. 



The Young Ladies' Missionary Circle that for a time met in our par- 



