ever and anon to bask in the genial ray, or to say a word of greeting to a neighbour. And then the change of dress! The grey cloaks, the stuff gowns, the pattens and umbrellas, were all discarded; and the bonnet, with its gay ribbons, or the smart chintz, or smarter shawl, which had been laid aside for many a day, were once more brought to light. In short, the road to church was all innocent cheerfulness and gaiety. Oh, what a happy, blessed sight is the crowd of simple villagers in some yet uncontaminated rural district,

"bending,

Through England's primrose meadow-paths, their way Towards spire and tower, midst shadowy elms ascending, Whence the sweet chimes proclaim the hallow'd day!"

They only who can appreciate the charms of a country life, who (to use the expression of one of our old divines, who was often called from his quiet village to more busy scenes) "love to be among the russet coats," who, as Christians, remembering that we are members one of another, would cherish and strengthen the bands which unite rich and poor,— they, in a word, who live among their own people, and do good among them, and take an interest in them and their feelings, these are the only persons who can join with any thing like Herbert's depth of feeling, when he apostrophised Sunday,

"O day most calm, most bright!

The fruit of this, the next world's bud;
Th' indorsement of supreme delight,

Writ by a Friend, and with his blood;

The couch of time; care's balm and bay:
The week were dark, but for thy light;
Thy torch doth shew the way."

It was with these lines in my thoughts that I entered my church; and great indeed was my satisfaction (and, I confess, great my surprise), when, on looking round, I saw Mark Fullerton seated in Mrs. Long's pew with Mildred Clifford. Even at a moment when I would fain have kept my mind exclusively to thoughts connected with the sacred duties in which I was about to be engaged, I could not help letting my attention wander to the circumstances of the persons before me. Was the reconciliation that had evidently taken place complete ? That there had been no sacrifice of principle on Mildred's part was evident. Was Mark's presence at church a proof of the influence that she was gaining over his mind? Time would shew. Meanwhile I could only breathe a hurried mental prayer, that such might be the case.

Upon leaving the church at the termination of the service, I found my two young friends waiting for me in the churchyard, and I fancied that I read hope and happiness in Mildred's expressive countenance. The usual greetings over, she proposed that I should return with them to Mrs. Long's.

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There will be plenty of time, you know, Mr. Warlingham," said she, smiling, "for you to eat your luncheon with us, even though there should be a sermon to be read over, and the school-children to

be catechised before evening service. say no; I will hear of no refusal."

You must not

I willingly consented; for it rejoiced my heart to see her looking like herself again; and I felt as if an opportunity might now be afforded me of doing good.

"Why, Mr. Warlingham," exclaimed Mark, as he turned towards me, after a few moments' pause, "I hardly knew Yateshull church again. To be sure, it is six or seven years since I was in it; but you have repaired and restored it, till it is hardly like the same place."

"Oh!" said I, laughing, you miss the redbrick chimney that ran along the buttress to the top of the tower, and you have found out that we have scraped off the whitewash in the interior. I assure you these alterations got me into no slight trouble. My friend Mrs. Oldham has never forgiven me. The Ichimney was built, and the whitewash was laid on, while her grandfather was churchwarden; and, in short, as she emphatically expresses it, she never could abide changes. So I am in great disgrace, I fear, in that quarter. Perhaps you are on the Oldham side of the question ?"

"No, indeed," answered Mark; "I think both the exterior and the interior of the building much improved."

"It is more decent than it was," said I; "but it is still very far from what God's house ought to be. However, I must be patient: the parish has done its part handsomely, and has agreed to the necessary

repairs with great cheerfulness and unanimity. We are not tormented here (I thank God for it!) by dishonest people, who resist Church-rates." The epithet escaped my lips unintentionally; but having said it, I could not retract.

"Dishonest!" exclaimed Mark, as the colour mounted in his cheeks; "why do you call them dishonest?"

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Because a man who takes a property with the understanding that it is liable to be rated, and then refuses to pay his rates, is just as much guilty of a breach of the eighth commandment as if he had committed any other act of fraud."

To judge from his countenance, this view of the case was not quite in accordance with Mark's adopted opinions: however, he made no direct reply, but only said, "The parish must have been put to a very heavy expense; has it not?"

I should say, I fear it has, if I did not feel that it was a very great honour and privilege to any person to be allowed to devote a portion of their substance so immediately to God's glory as in the repair of their parish-church. I am happy to say, however, that more than one of my good neighbours, in speaking on the subject to me, have said, that they are conscious how much they owe to their predecessors who built the church; and therefore they feel that the least they can do is to keep it in good repair for those who come after. Besides, they say, they have had no expenses connected with the church for thirty or

forty years; and consequently it is but reasonable to expect some outlay now. So, since they know that God loveth a cheerful giver, they have given neither grudgingly nor of necessity."

"It must be a great comfort," said Mildred, "to have such persons co-operating with you."

"It is indeed," I replied, "a subject of daily happiness and daily thanksgiving."

'Have you much more to do," she asked, "in the way of repairs?"

"Why," said I, "Yateshull church, like many other rural churches in this neighbourhood, was so fast falling into decay, that in another half-century it must have been utterly ruinous. However, I trust that in our case the evil has been taken in time, and that if the parish will go on for a year or two longer (for, on all accounts, it is desirable to do these things gradually) with the repairs of the fabric, it will be in a condition to stand for as many generations as it has stood already."

"But what do you intend to do about the ornamental parts," asked Mark; "the non-essentials; the restoration of what has been mutilated, as well as the repairs of what is dilapidated ?"

These

Oh," said I, "I do not ask the parish to find what may be called the luxuries of religion.' must be free-will offerings; these things must be left to individual piety. Get the fabric of a church into substantial repair; shew that you are ashamed to have God's house damp, and dirty, and desolate