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after his father's spelling, and as undoubtedly was the family spelling. As I write this, I recall that the noble wife of a coequally noble recently departed prelate-Francis Thomas McDougall, Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak-was Hariette Bunyon, second daughter of Robert John Bunyon, both of whose consecrated lives have been finely written by Charles John Bunyon (Longmans, 1889).

The X placed against the several entries no doubt was intended to mark off the successive places as "licensed." The Day alone will declare of how many souls these lowly "barns" and the like, were the birth-places spiritually. We need to humbly remember the supreme words of Isaiah lxvi. 1, 2-not the House, but the worshipper.

ALEXANDER B. GROSART, D.D., LL.D.

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[THE FOLLOWING ARE SELECTIONS FROM THE PRIZE COMPETITION OF DECEMBER.]

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ALL

LL ready for night duty-helmet brushed, buttons bright, belt polished, but he cannot go without a good-night kiss to the bonnie bairns.

So the "gude wife" brings the light and both look fondly in pride and thankfulness on the rosy cheeks and closed eye-lids, the curly locks and little dimpled hands straying about on the bedclothes.

"God bless them!" and off he goes, out into the cold dark night, with a true loving heart beating beneath his uniform.

Presently coming across a lonely ragged little one wandering, lost in the deserted streets-left homeless and helpless through "father," and, alas! perhaps "mother," having spent their last for drink-the constable's heart burns as he thinks of the comfort and peace in his home which his own little ones enjoy, and he speaks a gentle word to the frightened child, and breathes a prayer that God may stay the plague of intemperance.

Shielded and kept through the long night hours,

he returns home to the hearty welcome, the warm breakfast, and the children's merry prattle.

But change the scene. A few years later, one morning the house, is darkened. The children grown older now, but yet too young to comprehend their loss, wonder why mother weeps with the baby in her arms, and why father lies so still -asleep in a slumber that knows no earthly waking.

It may have been the burglar's hand, or a runaway horse, or a sudden chill in a frosty winter's night that acted as the Pilgrim's arrow (in Bunyan's dream) to call him home.

But whatever was the messenger, the home is left desolate, the bread-winner is gone, and who shall now care for the little ones?

*

It is with thoughts of this kind in our mind and memory that we ask our readers to accompany us to the Provincial Police Orphanage at Gatton Point, Redhill. This, as its name indicates, is a home for the benefit of the orphan children of the

police of all the provincial forces (county, city and borough) in England and Wales.

Perhaps few of our readers have more than a vague idea of the size and importance to the general well-being of our great Peace Army, the police forces of the United Kingdom. Some may, perchance, be surprised to hear that there are no less than 252 separate police forces in Great Britain and Ireland, with a total "strength" (to use a technical term) of 61,320. The numbers are, roughly speaking, distributed as follows. The Metropolitan force (including Middlesex, and parts of Surrey, Kent, and Herts, and H.M. dockyards, Government works, etc.) has a strength of 15,213. The City of London has 928, the docks and markets, 343; Scotland, 5043; Ireland, 14,461; and the counties, cities, and boroughs, of England and Wales (outside London) give occupation to the remaining 25,332.

For many years there has existed near Twickenham a well-known and excellent Orphanage for the benefit of the Metropolitan and City police forces; but until the Christian Police Association took up the cause of the provincial police orphans, no institution of the kind was to be found for those outside the Metropolitan area. In 1889, through its instrumentality, a small Orphan Home was established at Manchester for the benefit of the Manchester and Salford police forces only, and in 1890 a little Home for children was opened at Hove, Brighton, simultaneously with the Police Convalescent Home, which has since proved such a benefit to thousands of sick and injured policemen. The first means for this joint undertaking were supplied by a generous friend, who privately furnished sufficient to pay the rent and taxes for three years. Before the end of that time the little orphanage had developed into a separate institution requiring an establishment of its own.

Sad, indeed, were some of the cases brought before the committee. Here is a boy whose father had been called away through injuries received on duty; here are two little brothers left fatherless suddenly one bitterly cold Christmas Eve, the mother in her lonely cottage with eight children under thirteen years of age and a little infant born three weeks after the father had been laid to rest in the village churchyard. Here are two other little brothers whose widowed mother had worked for them till health and strength completely failed, and she was found lying in one room with the last remains of her furniture

penniless and dying of consumption. Glad indeed she was to see her little sons well housed and clothed before she "fell asleep in Christ." A

sergeant dying from the effects of injuries received on duty, commended his little son and daughter to the Hon. Secretary, begging that they might be kept together and brought up in a Christian home. Some of the latest arrivals are two little ones of six and eight years of age, whose father, after twenty-two years' good service in the Force, was attacked one Saturday night by a crowd of roughs determined on the rescue of a prisoner, and so terribly kicked by them, within. sight of his own home, that he was at last brought in to lie for a week in agony and then die. Many of the children are both fatherless and motherless. Among those received last year were three from one family whose parents died within a few weeks of each other.

In nearly all these cases the police forces have given donations to help with the first expenses of the children, and it is pleasant to see the interest taken by the men in the children of their late comrades. Many are the little gifts gladly sent by members of the Forces, showing their kind remembrance of the children. A bag of potatoes or a parcel of cabbage plants from a policeman's garden; a shilling "to buy something for the youngest child"; some pinafores for the little girls or knitted stockings for the boys; or, as in one instance, a gift which brought tears to the eyes of the receiver-a complete little sailor suit, neatly folded by the mother whose boy had been transplanted to the "sunny shore, over there."

(It may be mentioned here that all the boys wear sailor uniform. This custom was first started by the gift of a young lady with six little brothers, whose Indian luggage had gone astray, and when recovered, after eighteen months' wandering, it was found that the twelve sailor suits were all

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POLICE ORPHANAGE AT REDHILL.

outgrown, and they were thankfully received at the orphanage as God's "answer" in a time of special need.)

Application on behalf of children is made through the recommendation of the chief constable of the Force to which the father belonged, the cases being considered-each on its own merits-by the committee, without canvassing or voting. They are admitted between the ages of five and twelve years, boys leaving at fourteen and the girls at fifteen, when they will be placed in service or apprenticed to some trade.

To return to our history: circumstances having necessitated the removal of the Orphanage from the house at Brighton, it found a temporary home in a farmhouse at Sutton. Here the same generous friend came to the help of the orphans, and bought the freehold of the house near Redhill, to which we now wish to introduce our readers.

66

Situated on the brow of a hill between Redhill and Merstham, and close to the fine old manorial park of Gatton, with a good-sized garden, and room to expand," with the fresh country air all around, the shady trees, and the songs of the birds, this home is indeed a gift from God. Entering the front door, we find on the right the dining-room, and beyond it the girls' play and work-room, and staircase to their dormitories; and on the left the sitting-room, which is dining, drawing, and writing-room for the lady in charge, and where the children come for their "goodnight " talk and their Sunday singing. This opens into a pretty conservatory, and beyond this is the boys' spacious play and drill-room. At the back, looking out on the garden is the matron's sitting-room, and above are the two floors of dormitories each little bed with its white or red quilt, and its text above the head. The garden affords a good training-ground for the boys, who take an interest in the growth of the vegetables and fruit for use or sale, as well as in their own little patches. The children have a busy and happy life-happy because busy. They attend the good school of the parish, marching to and fro quite in "policemen style, and all, both boys and girls, receive excellent instruction in housework from the matron and her husband (an ex-policeman). All take their turns in laying the table, sweeping and scrubbing, etc., thus learning habits of cleanliness and selfdependence. As they leave school, each boy receives a training in gardening, and each girl in cooking, laundry, housework, and needlework. The farmyard, with its chickens, ducks, and pigeons, also supplies a means of training for future life.

It is a pleasant sight to see the large family assembled morning and evening for prayers. Right heartily do they sing their hymns, and they answer the Bible questions in a way that assures you that for the most part they not only understand their Scripture-lessons, but enjoy them.

We heartily invite friends of the police and children to visit us here, and see for themselves the home which God, in His love and pity for the fatherless, has provided for these little ones

On any day but Sunday visitors are welcomed, and any information will be gladly given, or gifts received, by the Hon. Sec., Miss C. Gurney, either at the Orphanage, Gatton Point, Redhill,

or at the London Office, 1A Adelphi Terrace, Strand.

The provision for the Orphanage is entirely a matter of faith, as there is no endowment. The promoters trust our Heavenly Father to supply their needs from day to day, and both they and the children bring their wants, small and great, in prayer before His throne, and never fail to get the answer from Him who has taught us to say, "My God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. iv. 19).

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