THANKSGIVING IN ENGLAND FOR CANADIAN CROPS 



On Thursday last, writes a London correspondent, under date of Oct. 5, a church 

 service such as has never before been held in London was celebrated when the Lord 

 Mayor of London and the sheriffs paid a state visit to the old London church of 

 St. Andrew Undershaft to attend the annual harvest thanksgiving service of the Baltic 

 Exchange and the National Food Stuffs association. The service was noteworthy in 

 being one of thanksgiving for the bountiful Canadian harvest. The Bishop of Willesden, 

 whom you know better under the name of Bishop Perrin, former Bishop of British 

 Columbia, gave the address in this, his parish church in the heart of old London, and 

 to the assembled wheat kings of Britain, told a simple but eloquent record of the work 

 of the Canadian wheat growers on the prairies. He gave a word picture of the great 

 grain-raising areas of western Canada, told of the determination of Canadian farmers, 

 when the question of food supplies for the motherland became acute, to provide all 

 that was required, and their redemption of that promise in the production of a record 

 crop. Also he spoke of the prodigal abundance of gifts of all kinds from Canada to 

 Great Britain. 



Many Canadians were present, and after the service they were the guests of 

 Sir Charles Johnston, the lord mayor, who has extensive interests in western Canada. 

 The collection, by the way, was devoted to the work of the churches in Canada as a 

 thank-offering — another noteworthy feature. 



The church of St. Andrew Undershaft is neglected by the average visitor to 

 London, as are many of the old city churches, yet it has many points of interest, apart 

 from having a Canadian bishop as its incumbent. Its name means "under the May- 

 pole," as the Maypole which used to be erected there was higher than the church. 

 This Maypole was taken down, as a result of one of the earliest riots against German 

 encroachment on British traders. One May Day in the sixteenth century the appren- 

 tices of London assembled there to celebrate the national fete and combined to attack 

 the Germans, with result that many were wounded and some killed. Judgment took 

 form of the hanging of two London apprentices and the dismantling of the Maypole. 

 The church contains the tomb of Stow, the historian, who was the only beggar to hold 

 the royal license to beg, which entitled him to "seek alms of all my loving subjects 

 of London and Westminster." 



