I L L I N O I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2012. COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2012 I/ rieY , r, I i "' a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which By govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected CocoA, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately flavoured beverage which may save us tr-any heavy doctors' bills. 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POWER, M.A., Author of "The Oiled Feather," etc. PUBLISIHED UNDER TIIE DIRECTION OF THIE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON : SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; CHRISTIAN 97, WESTBOURNR GROVE, BRIGHTON: NEW YORK; KNOWLEDGE, 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.; V. 135, NORTH STREET. E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO, HE'S OVERHEAD. CHAPTER I. T PERKIN HE REV. PETER was walking one autumn morning along the street of the village of Westcote. He was looking downcast and sad; and he seldom raised his eyes, even when returning the salute of his parishioners, who wished him " good day," and touched their hats in token of kindly respect. It is true Mr. Perkin returned their salute; but he did not look up. He had walked the whole length of the village, nearly a mile, taking it all in all, without raising his eyes from the ground; and people wondered what the matter could be; for this was very unlike their minister's usual way. Here and there, through the parish, did the worthy man go that day, but always with his head down; and now it was afternoon, and he was returning home, still looking on the ground. Old Molly Maguire, the washerwoman, who never could bear to see anyone in distress, came plump on the minister as he was passing by her door; and she saw that he was very unlike himself. Molly owed Mr. Perkin a good deal; for he had been the means of leading her to her Saviour; and of helping her to her present situation with Mrs. Wilkins, the washerwoman, when her husband died; moreover, he had always stood her friend, so it is no wonder she didn't like to see him looking sad. " Maybe he's lost something," said Molly, and four eyes is better than two. I'll just ask him what it is." " 'Tis a fine day, yer rivirince, for the season of the year," said Molly, shuffling up to the minister. " Fine day," echoed Mr. Perkin, without looking up. " And 'tis something ye've lost, yer rivirince," said the old woman, " that ye'r looking for along the ground. If ye'll only tell me what it is, I'll go down on my knees, and walk the parish through, with my two eyes within an inch of the ground, to look for it for ye;" and Molly looked inquiringly at the minister. " No, Molly; I've lost nothing -at least," said the minister, as though a thought had come into HE'S OVERHEAD. his head, " nothing that you can find;" and he hastened on, for fear of being questioned any more. "'Tis some ill luck he's met with," said the old Irishwoman, "but, maybe, 'twill blow over before night;" and she gave the minister a collection of her choicest blessings to dispel the ill luck, and help him on his way. " Have I lost anything ? " said Mr. Perkin to himself. " Old Molly's question has another answer besides what I gave her. Yes; I've lost something-a great deal. I've lost heart, the worst loss a minister could have; heart, and faith, and peace of mind, and patience; and I wish I could find them again." Thus speaking to himself, the minister walked on; but evidently not finding what he wanted on the ground, for his countenance grew more and more sad. Old Molly Maguire had done Mr. Perkin some good; she had started a question in his mind which must be answered. Unknown to herself, she had put him upon the right track; and whereas, before he met her, he had been thinking of the various troubles with which he was surrounded; now he was led to think of himself, and see whether some of the trouble did not come from within. Thus musing, Mr. Perkin moved along, when his reverie was broken in upon by the jingling of tin cans; and in a moment the minister found himself face to face with Will Martin, the milkman. If anyone had cause to feel sad just now, Will Martin was the man; at any rate, he had as much reason as the minister to be cast down. If Will were following the minister's example, he must have gone his rounds that day with his eyes down upon the ground, probably passing by half the places at which he should have stopped; and, it may be, tumbling on his nose, and spilling his milk, from not looking before him. Old Will had lost one of his best cows-that was enough to make many a man look down; and his brother had just died; and the widow and four children were cast on him; and there's no man, with a nice little family of his own to bring up, who would Still, Will call that a trifle. Martin was walking along, looking straight before him; with now and again a glance upward, instead of downward. "Good afternoon, sir," said the milkman. "Ah!" answered Mr. Perkin, looking up; for the milkman's voice had just given him a friendly little shake; and, as it "Good were, woke him up. afternoon, Martin." And being full of sympathy, the worthy minister, who had heard of the HE'S OVERHEAD. loss of the cow, began to condole with the milkman thereon. " Ah !" said Mr. Perkin, "and she was your best cow. Yes, yes, and gave the richest milk ! )Dear dear! how often the best ! go ! 'Tis a heavy loss! 'tis enough to make a struggling man, like you, not look up again for a long time." do to put them out in the world." "Dear! dear ! " said Mr. Perkin; "a widow and four children ! Eh ! that's worse than half-adozen cows, Martin. 'Tis sad, very sad; dear ! dear ! 'tis enough to keep you from ever looking up again." " Ah ! my dear minister, excuse me," said the old man, who had ~-// " There's something worse than the loss of the cow," said the milkman. "I've lost a brother; and he's left a wife, and four children; and there's not a shilling in the world for them. I have them coming to me next week; and I must see what I can ----- =___-- 1 let down his cans, and was now serving a small child with milk; "excuse me if I say it, that shouldn't; but these are the very things that make me look up, for ' HE'S OVEREAD; ' " and, so saying, the milkman put up his arm, and pointed to the sky. HE'S OVERHEAD. " HE'S OVERHEAD," he repeated again, in a solemn voice, mingled with cheerfulness; and, after a few moments' more conversation, touching his hat to the minister, the milkman proceeded on his rounds. It may be that the Rev. Mr. Perkin would have said something more to his parishioner, if he had the opportunity; but the milkman had already passed on some distance, so he did not turn and go after him. But though the milkman had gone, the words which he had spoken remained. "i e's overhead," repeated the minister to himself; " HE: who is Ile? why, only 'THE ONE,' to be sure. Well, Martin must know a great deal of God, when he speaks of Him as 'HE.' One would think that the Lord was so continually in his mind that, no one else could be meant by 'HE,' and 'IIIM;' and I believe it; the old man walks with God always." "He's overhead. Well," continued Mr. Perkin, musing as he walked, " overhead is a curious expression, too; but I don't think 'tis a bad one. No," continued he, after another moment, talking further to himself; " overhead is a good word ; and it isn't a bit too familiar. It seems very real-home-like; as though God had always something to do with one, and weren't away, up in the heavens, ever so far off. Ah! now I see why Martin talked of looking up. He was feeling he had someone to look to; One who was above his troubles ; able to manage the whole of themthe widow, and the orphans, and the cow, and all." The Rev. Peter Perkin was not above learning a lesson from anyone. He seldom had a chance of hearing a sermon from another minister; but now, it was plain old Martin had preached him an excellent one; and all in two words-" He's overhead." Now, Mr. Perkin had often spoken to his people about putting in practice what they heard, and not letting sermons in at one ear, and out at the other ; accordingly, like an honest man, he determined to practice what he preached. He turned his steps homeward, for the day was now getting far advanced; and when he got into his study, he seated himself in his arm-chair. There, in quiet, the minister began to think over his various troubles, with reference to old Martin's words. Ministers often divide their sermons into one, two, three; and very generally this is a very orderly way of proceeding. Perhaps, from the force of habit, Mr. Perkin did so now, in the sermon which he was about to preach to himself upon old Martin's text. " ' He's overhead I' aye, that has something to say (1) to my own house, (2) to my parish, and (3) to my soul." And, indeed, it had to do with lIE'S OVERHEAD. his home; for the minister's wife was lying grievously ill; and his servants, for want of a mistress's eye, were going all wrong. Down, very low indeed, had good Mr. Perkin's heart sank, when he thought of his much-loved wife; and that, perhaps, she was on the way to removal from him-she, who had been the faithful companion of all his labours-the light and heat of his fireside; its home's sunshine, its music, its joy. "I'm wrong," said the minister, as he looked into the fire; " wrong, wrong entirely. I've been looking only at one; and that, the sick one hera below; she has been filling all my thoughts. Old Martin has reminded me that there is some one else; ah, ' Ie's overhead.' " That " HE " had a world of life in it for the heart-bowed man; and down he threw himself upon his knees, and looked upward with an earnest gaze, as though he would pierce into the very heaven itself. The stars had now all come out -millions of them-some twink ling, some glittering- all glorious ; and away went the minister's spirit up among these stars, aye, above them all; he never knew, when he thought of that night, where it went; only, it seemed to be into heaven itself. And all the while, the minister did not lose sight of his own humble roof; oh, no! it was the wants of home which made him thus go forth from himself at that time; and home and heaven seemed joined together; and he realized what indeed he knew before, but had lost the feeling of-for knowing and feeling are two different things-that, God was the God of his home; and that wife, and servants, and all may be committed to Him. And so the parish troubles, and his own soul's troubles also, were talked about; and how long the earnest man might have stayed upon his knees we cannot tell, had he not been interrupted by the noise of quarrelling close by ; and immediately after, by rather a quick, sharp rap at his door. The uncongenial sounds arose from a difference of opinion between the housemaid and the cook; the former declaring that she believed the latter to be the greatest liar in the world; and the latter retorting the accusation on the other; the whole matter ending by the two starting, as if by one consent, for the study door; knocking there with very unfeminine violence; and as soon as their master had opened it enough to let them put in their noses, giving him notice to leave, for neither could live with the other. This interruption, which would have been unseasonable at any time, was especially so just now; and the minister was altogether unprepared to meet it in the HE'S OVERHEAD. Old Martin's ordinary way. words, and the ideas connected with them, were uppermost in his mind; and, almost unconsciously, they came out in the Steadily emergency. present Mr. Perkin looked at the two angry women, and lifting his arm and pointing upward as old Martin had done in the afternoon, he slowly uttered the two words, "' le's overhead." The minister said that little word " HE" in a strange way; there was something awful; something " other-world like " about it; which the two women felt so much that they said, " Beg pardon, sir, we didn't know you were engaged," and then beat a retreat as quickly as they could. Fear-common fear, or common joy-will draw people together in a most unexpected way; and Mary the housemaid, and Ann the cook, were thus in some degree brought near each other on their return to the kitchen. A new thought, in which they were both concerned, had been started; and it behoved them to know something about it; even if they couldn't come to the bottom of it. After a few moments had passed, and they had time to smooth their ruffled feathers a bit, Ann said to Mary, " Did you ever see master look like that before ?" " And did you ever hear him say a thing like that before ?" interrupted Mary. " What was it? 'He's overhead,' that was it; and he did say it strange enough. Dear me; I shouldn't like him to talk like that always, should you, Mary ?" " It was strange--awful like," said the cook; " but what did he mean exactly ?" Now, Ann had a very shrewd suspicion of what her master had meant; but with that strange feeling which there is in human nature of desiring to have our fears confirmed by another, she put this question to the housemaid. " Ann," saidher fellow-servant, looking steadily at her, "you know well enough; I know it by what I felt inside; and I think by your look you know it the same way; the master meant that God is over people's heads listening to what they are saying, andwatching whatthey are doing, and that it is an awful thing. And it struck through me like a shot, that it did. If master had said much, or scolded me, aye, or even reasoned with me, I was in that rage that I should not have minded it a scrap; but I'm as cool now as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown on me." " I won't deny it," said Ann. "I thought the same; and I don't want to feel again such a shot as seemed to pass through me too, when master said what he did," replied the housemaid. "Even if we can't agree, we needn't fight." HE'S OVERHEAD. This was the first happy outward effect of old Martin's short sermon; and it wasn't long before it came to the minister's ears. The two servants felt that, they had made a most unseemly and unwarrantable intrusion upon their master; and they could expect nothing less than that, peace; and, as peace seemed now re-established, and the servants were sorry, he did not enter further upon the subject, except to ask them why they had retreated so suddenly from the room, and how their quarrel had been so suddenly made up. Each servant looked at the other some notice should be taken of it. They thought that, there was nothing like having the first say themselves; so, after prayers in the evening, the two lingered behind, and asked pardon; and hoped that master wouldn't take any more notice of it. The minister was very glad of to speak, until, the silence becoming awkward, the cook, as the eldest, at last opened her mouth. " Well, sir, you see," and here the cook stopped short ; but the minister, evidently not seeing anything; and further, her fellowservant extemporising her fore- HE'S OVERHEAD. finger into a spur, and poking her in the ribs with it, as a hint to proceed, the cook made another effort, and this time with success. "You see, sir, when you opened the door, you looked so 'other-world like,' that Mary and I were frightened; we thought," said Ann, " you must have been saying your prayers; and we were ashamed at having disturbed you." " I was at prayer," said the minister solemnly, " not saying my prayers, Ann, but at prayer." "'And you looked ' other-world like,' ' repeated the cook, " and Mary and I felt scared; you looked so solemn." " And was that why you made up your quarrel ?" "Well, not quite," said the cook; " 'twas the words you spoke. '" " He's overhead," repeated the minister. " That was it; and they went like a shot through Mary and me." "We thought, sir," said the housemaid, in answer to an appealing look from the cook to help her through, "that you meant that God had been looking down at us quarrelling, and been listening to us. You said ' Ie,' and it seemed as if were so close; and it was very awful like; and we've made up the quarrel; and we hope you'll think no more about it, and not mention it to mistress." "Very well," said Mr. Per- Hie kin, "there is an end of it; but remember, Ann, and you too, Mary, that there is never an end to the other matter: morning, noon, and night, He's overhead." "Surely," said the minister, "while I am calling, He is often answering; and indeed, we are answered in strange ways; perhaps we should see how strange, if only our eyes were opened to the things of the other life. There's power in those words of old Martin's, and I'll use them, and try and live in the strength of them, in all the troubles about me now; aye, morning, noon, and night, ' He's overhead.' " And great comfort did this thought give the worthy minister, as he knelt that night by the bedside of his wife, and took her thin hand in his, that they might join together in their evening prayer. A strange vigour seemed to have entered the minister's mind, since he heard the milkman's words; and now, as a little while ago in his study, he felt that he could get into closer communion with God than he had ever done before. The doctors had told him that they thought badly of his wife, and his own eyes could not but certify that she was very ill indeed; but there had come a spring of power into his soul, which emboldened him in thought, and prayer. HE'S OVERHEAD. The evening prayer was ended; still the minister did not rise from his knees. He continued to hold the thin, transparent hand of his wife in his; but he did not speak. She listened, and heard him breathing; but he did not stir. The minister's wife would have been alarmed, had her husband continued much longer so still; but she was soon reassured. She felt a slight pressure of his hand on hers, and in a moment afterwards her hand was laid in one of her husband's ; and she felt the other smoothing it down again. It was strange, very strange, but the invalid did not stir; she did not know what might be passing in his mind; it might be that there was much which it was not meet that she should interrupt. So she lay still, and turned her mind heavenward; so that if he were praying, it might be in harmony with his. At last, the minister rose from his knees, and, contrary to his wont, said nothing of the affairs of the day, either within his .house, or outside it; but his wife felt that there was something more than common in his mind, as he kissed her, and said, "Mary, let us rest in peace; He's overhead." And the thought seemed a beautiful one to the wasted invalid; it, as it were, brought God very near; it made HIim a friend; and whenever the sick woman lay awake, she folded those thin hands together, and her eyes looked up, and her lips moved, though no sound was heard; for she felt that her Father was looking down at her. He was, as it were, in her home; and a thousand night fears were dispelled, and the wakinghour seemed short instead of long ; and though she had no explanation of those homely words, still she seemed not only to know, but also to feel about them ; and that was a sweet night to the invalid in the parsonage of Westcote; and not only to her, but to the parson himself. For be it known, that, that very night, great faith had entered into the minister's heart; and in that time of stillness, when he held motionless his wife's hand, his spirit had again been realizing the nearness and the friendliness of the One who was above. And when he stroked those thin fingers, and slowly passed his hands over them, had he not been talking to that One, and telling how thin those hands were; and how empty those blue veins, which could be felt under the white skin. It was in a very simple kind of way that the Rev. Mr. Perkin had been talking, or praying-he was just showing the thin hand to the One, who he knew was looking down at him; and as he passed his own hand over it, he had been asking HE'S OVERHEAD. that fresh life might come into it. He had been saying that the One who had made that frame (so precious to him), knew all about it-the secret of those veins; the mysterious inlets for healing; the no less mysterious outlets for disease; never had the One who could do all he wanted, seemed so near; and he could show HIim, as well as tell Him all his grief. And it seemed to Mr. Perkin that, he had never before been able to do this so well. It was all as plain as possible; there was the One to whom he wanted to speak, looking, listening, feeling; there was the One he was speaking about brought before Him, just as the sick used to be brought out before the Lord in olden time; there was a great reality about the matter, which wrought accordingly upon the Not that all minister's heart. had not been very real before, but now it seemed substantial; he had a kind of certainty that, that thin hand which he had pointed out, and shown, and talked of, had been looked at and thought about ; yes, and he knew not why, but he believed that he should be answered in respect of it. And he lay down to sleep that night-a sleep of hope and peace, and refreshment, wherein the spirit was strengthened, as well as the flesh; so that when the morning came, and with it the new day's toil and work, the minister of Westcote rose from his bed a strong man; and one of well-braced nerves, wherewith to meet whatever might come upon him from the world, the flesh, and the devil; whatever might betide in the parish abroad, or his own house at home. CHAPTER II. " To-DAY," said Mr. Perkin, as he sat at breakfast with his parish note-book open before him, ' I will go to my work in. the remembrance of what old Martin said. Already have I had immense peace from it, and seen wonderful results. It settled that quarrel between my servants; it has given me such a night's rest, as I have not had for a weary while ; and I feel a new budding of hope about my wife, as though no law has gone forth that she must die. What is good for my house is good for my parish too; at any rate, I'll work with this idea to-day; it seems a good tool put ready to my hand." And so the minister betos. himself to his breakfast, like a man who had plenty of hard work before him during the day; and who must needs treat his body honestly, and give it twenty shillings to the pound, if it was to be worked for several hours. For be assured, good reader, that it is a great mistake for a minister to starve himself, as though he would be accounted holy for being HE'S OVERHEAD. lean, and making people think that they could count his ribs, were it not that they were covered with his frock-coat. Neither must a minister starve himself, nor may his parishioners starve him, as in some unreasonable and miserably cross-grained instances they do; telling him to "be warmed, and fed," when they give him neither fuel nor food ; and bidding him in Egyptian fashion, to make bricks, though they will not give him straw. The body must be cared for with all becoming liberality, else it will go out on strike, and prove very hard to be won back to work; and make the one that starved it, eat much humble pie, before it will serve him faithfully again. For, be it observed, that the body has its rights as well as its duties; and has in every muscle and nerve a whip, wherewith to chasten us, if we either burglariously, or by petty larceny, rob it of its due. It is not everyone that knows this; and some who do, have come to the knowledge hereof by bodily staggers and thumps, and pinches and twitches at their nerves, and pullings at their heartstrings, and divers strange experiences which they do not wish to see repeated, at any price. What we say is, befriend your body, if you wish your body to befriend you; neither give it too much to make it lazy, nor too little to make it weak; but for a day's work always give it a day's food; and for a day's food, always make it do a day's work; else, it may be, that through bodily incapacity, soul work may be left undone. How Mr. Perkin came by this knowledge, it is not necessary here to write; suffice it to say, he did not come by it all at once, but by experiences of various kinds, which, as a wise man, he did not allow to be thrown away. The first person upon the minister's list was a man named Crabb; who, some months before, had met with a serious accident. John Crabb had been a gardener, but his occupation in that line was now gone for ever. For the accident to which we refer, had deprived him of one of his legs and an arm, two very serious deficiencies to a man in his line of life. The train had knocked John down, as it ran into the neighbouring station; and as the fault did not lie altogether with the Company's servants, but in part with John Crabb himself, he could not get compensation. The Company presented John Crabb with a well-seasoned wooden leg, and with sundry good wishes for his future welfare, which, as railway companies go, was rather handsome on their part; at least, so they thought themselves. But John Crabb did not share their opinion. He thought they ought to provide for what was left of him; which perhaps, they lIE'S OVERHEAD. might have thought something more about, had not the remnant of our poor friend involved a wife and several children, each with the full compliment of legs and arms, to say nothing of their mouths, and so forth. Mr. Crabb was in a state of exasperation with the railway folk; but they had the law on their side; and as their lawyer told them Crabb had not a leg to stand on if he came into court, they did not care a pinch of snuff. The minister rather shrunk from an interview with Mr. Crabb; for he was sure that all he had to say would be met with a volley of abuse of the railway people; and he knew from experience, there was not much chance of his being able to get in a word about God. "Still," said Mr. Perkin to himself, "it is my duty to try; and try I will." And in this resolve the minister was confirmed by the sudden incoming to his mind of old Martin's words, "He's overhead." " Already," said he, "have I realized the power of these words; and if only I can get an opportunity, I will use them to-day. I don't see why they should not be as useful to another, as they have been to me; at any rate, I'll try." So, off Mr. Perkin set on his day's round: and it was not long before he came to John Crabb's door. Sure enough, he found things as he expected. Scarce had he put his hand on the latch, before he heard the sounds of quarrelling and discontent. A gruff " Come in," gave the minister admittance in answer to his knock; and soon he stood in the presence not only of Mr. Crabb, but of that individual's wife, and several small children. So much had the former gardener to say that, the minister had very little chance of getting in a word. It was plain that on the present occasion, at any rate, he would not have the opportunity of saying much. Then the thought flashed into his mind that, at least, he would be able to get in the words of which he had experienced the power himself. "Perhaps," said he, " if I do, they may effect wonders here, as well as in my house." And soon an opportunity came. John Crabb, after detailing his miseries, began to rail against the providence of God in allowing such things to come on him at all; and his wife chimed in with him. She took hold of his empty sleeve and held it up before the minister; while her husband, pointing to his wooden leg with his remaining hand, asked how his family who stood around him were to be fed ? "Where's God?" asked the maimed man with bitterness; "there isn't enough in the house to feed that cat that's smelling at my wooden leg-we can't cook that, eh ! " and he was going to HE'S OVERHEAD. say more in the same strain, but that he was cut short by the minister, who pointing heavenward, answered, " le's overhead !" There was deep truth and solemnity in the way Mr. Perkin uttered these words, for they were now indeed a living reality into the mind and heart of both Mr. and Mrs. Crabb. It is a mistake to cram people with too much breakfast, dinner, or supper; even though the intentions with which it is done are the very best; and the various meals include all the delicacies of the season. And this mistake holds to himself; and it was some time before any of the party stirred. As long as the minister's arm was uplifted, so long there seemed to be a spell upon the gardener and his wife; even the children were hushed and awed; and the way opened for the entrance of a new train of ideas good in all matters connected with the mind, as well as the body. The one has a digestion as well as the other; and it often needs but a little over-feeding to bring it into a dyspeptic condition; when it forthwith becomes cross, and intractable, and generally disagreeable in a variety of ways. HE'S OVERHEAD. Indeed, we go even farther man--a short, clean-cut, easily than this. We hold that the soul understood, practical idea; but an itself is liable to injury from over- idea with something really in it, pressure in the matter of quan- so that a man could chew the cud, tity; and that, the goodness of and keep getting something out the quality does not neutralise the of it for a long time. Old Will Martin had furnished evil. And these were the opinions of the Rev. Peter Perkin; more- him with what might be called over, he acted upon these opinions "a body of divinity," in a very neat and handy compass; and on the present occasion. It was coming towards the end here was a capital case for using of the minister's visit to John it. " How am I to live ?" asked Crabb, when he got an oppor- John Crabb. "And how am 1 tunity for the introduction of old to live? " asked Mrs. Crabb. Will Martin's wonder-working " And how are these little Crabbs words. The maimed gardener to live ? " said John Crabb's had occupied so much time in wooden leg. "Where are they railing vehemently against the to get victuals ?" said a ghostRailway Company that, it was like voice out of John Crabb's almost time for the minister to empty arm-sleeve-it was, no leave before he had an oppor- doubt, the ghost of his old arm tunity of saying anything. Not groaning somewhere in its former but that Mr. Perkin might have haunts. There was not a word of interrupted John frequently dur- hope, or trust, or belief that there ing his tirade, for the gardener was a God to help them: so 'twas had been saying many foolish a grand thing to bring at once things; but Mr. Perkin had a upon the scene the only One from rule which he found most useful whom there comes any real help; in life, and which he was now and this was done by Mr. Perkin acting upon. This rule was, quickly saying, "He's overhead!" The minister was speedily gone, always to let an angry man talk on without interruption. Angry and Mrs. Crabb was equally men have to be played just like quickly enjoying the pleasant large fish; they must be given sensation of finding half-a-crown plenty of line. To interrupt an in the palm of her so recently angry man, is only to add fuel to empty hand. How it came there, his flame. Let him put on his she could not have undertaken to own coal, and he'll soon burn swear; that is, if she were crossout. A man soon gets tired of examined by an able lawyer, as Mr. to whether she had actually seen being his own stoker. Perkin thought it was a grand Mr. Perkin put it in her palm. thing to leave one idea with a All she knew was that, as that HE'S OVERHIEAD. gentleman went out, she felt something making its way between her fingers; whatever it was, it kept pushing in, as if it were rather in a hurry: and on looking into her hand, when he had crossed the threshold, the half-crown was there. Our business in this world is very often to accept facts, rather than to speculate about them; and though Mrs. Crabb would not have expressed the idea in this way, she nevertheless acted frequently upon it, and she did not fail to do so now. She did not look upon that coin as an interloper, or one to be asked any rude questions; it was very welcome to her, from whatever quarter it had come; for there was that wooden leg to be provided for, and that empty sleeve, and the children; and no one knew what besides. John Crabb had not expected any dinner that day, for he knew there was no money in the house. There were, indeed, three parts of a loaf; but that he knew the children would soon eat up; and he could not bear to take a morsel out of their mouths. He had not told anyone of it, but he had received an invitation from himself to dine on a half-pipe of tobacco, to be smoked privately behind the water-butt in the back yard; but lo ! at the usual hour he found himself in the accustomed place, with all his children about him,' and some- thing on the taable ; of which it is enough simply to say that "it smelt good." For Mrs. Crabb was a woman of energy, and had fried sixpence out of that halfcrown by one o'clock, and served it up "wet," that is, with gravy; though of what kind we never too curiously inquired. We shall not enter into that dinner, further than to say it went off very well-it was a brilliant success, inasmuch as Different nothing was left. things in different people view lights, according as they affect their interests ; and, perhaps, Mrs. Crabb would have considered the affair more successful, if a little had been left for supper. The unreasonableness of Mr. Crabb must, however, on no account be passed by; especially as it was the means of helping to bring him to a better mind. Will it be believed that, after having had this good dinner, and while the taste of it was yet in his mouth; and the delicious smell was still lingering about the room, as though it were loth to go out of the window, and leave nothing behind but the memory of the past, John Crabb proceeded to keep his appointment with himself behind the water-butt in the back yard-there to dine a second time on that half-pipe of tobacco. He did this without a single thought of how greedy, and improvident he was; for, perhaps, to-morrow HIE'S OVERHEAD. there might not be any dinner in-doors; and he was cutting off all chance of there being any out of doors either. John helped himself to his pipe: stuck out his wooden leg into an easy position; and, by way of being sociable, soon entered into conversation with himself. Home matters were the most interesting; and as the present company could not think it too personal, the conversation naturally turned upon the circumstances of the Crabb family, and the events of the day. "That was a queer visit our minister paid to-day," said Mr. "I should say there Crabb. wasn't so queer a visit paid in this place, ever since it was a town. He lets me talk on, until I nearly ran myself out of breath; he says two words; he goes off; my wife finds half-a-crown in her hand; we've all had a grand fry for dinner; and who knows whether we shan't have something for supper too. "'Twas just as well Mr. Perkin said his little say, and took himself off when he did; for I must have soon run out; and I was beginning to feel ashamed of myself for having run on so long. I was in a rage-that I was ; and a man doesn't think how much he says, or what he says, when that's the case. But if I said much, he said little. What was it ?- ' IHe's overhead ' - words, one a big, and one a little one-and then he was off." IHere there was a pause in the conversation; and if the matter stopped here, it would have all ended in smoke. But after a few whiffs, new ideas appeared to come into John Crabb's head; and he became all at once very curious about those two words, which had been spoken by his visitor. " 'IIe's overhead '-well now, Mr. Perkin is a sensible man; and he must have had some meaning in what he said. He plainly meant it as an answer to my long-winded say, and all my complaints; and it must have something strong in it for that." " Overhead' "--and, musing on that word, John Crabb looked upward, following the curl of his tobacco, as it wreathed gracefully toward the blue sky-" 'Overhead !'why we have but the one story to our house, so he must have meant the sky; and that is overhead, sure enough." Now, seeing that John Crabb felt sure Mr. Perkin meant " the sky " by "'overhead," is it any wonder that the idea further entered his mind that, by the " He," the minister must have meant God ? Now, John did not want to follow out this idea; for his conscience told him that, he had been railing a great deal against God; and had been having very hard thoughts about Him; and to two have Him now brought so near, HE'S OVERHEAD. was not exactly what he wanted; but his mind would dwell upon the subject, so he had to follow it on. "It seems to me," said John, after a pause, "that this is a more serious matter than anyone would have thought could have come out of a couple of little words. Has God indeed been so near me all this time ? and has He been listening to everything I have been saying ?" " Yes," said some one or something, deep inside John Crabb's breast, " He has; and He heard you swearing this morning that there would not be a bit of victuals in the house at night; and that He wasn't a good God at all; and that you were the most miserable, ill-used man in the whole world, you didn't care who the other might be; and He just sent Mr. Perkin, His servant, to tell you 'He's overhead.' " "Aye, aye," said John Crabb, feeling anything but comfortable; " I have been saying a heap that I might as well have let alone." "Aye," said the voice inside, "much better let alone-much better-ten thousand times. You have had a good dinner to-day, John Crabb, and there are now two shillings in the house; whereas in the morning there wasn't a penny : and mind, John Crabb, you didn't earn themnor did you earn the dinnerand pray, whence did they come ?" The gardener did not want to answer that question; for he had instinctively certain thoughts on the subject, which made him feel rather foolish; but he couldn't get away; he was shut in by the water-butt and the wall; and his head would keep turned up to the blue sky, into which he had been looking for now some little time. Moreover, his leg (not the wooden one) had become stiff from being stretched out so long; so he could not make off, even if he had wished. Whose messenger was Mr. Perkin ? and whence came that half-crown ? and what were those words he uttered ? oh, yes! John knew it all. "'Tis as much as if I had been sent word," said the maimed man, "that God can feed me-that He had been listening to what I had been saying against Him; and that He was far better than I was, giving Him credit for. I would not trust Him for a dinner," said John, " and now I have a dinner, and supper and breakfast for to-morrow too." Then John began to think that none of his nei ghbours would have stood it, if he had said as much against them as he had against the One whom he had been railing at so long; and the thought entered John Crabb's mind, how wonderful it was that He hadn't done something to him. " He might have killed me," said John; " or smashed the other leg, and arm; or let me HE'S OVERHEAD. starve; and instead of that Ie has sent me dinner, and somehow or other provided for me ev/er since I lost my limbs. Eh ! He was nearer to me than I thought, and kinder too; and I'll give up that way of talking, for 'twill do me no good. Perhaps He'll do something more for me, if I III end, for it was plain there was nothing in the way of second course, or dessert; and partly, because an impudent sparrow, emboldened by the long quiet of John's skull, had with sparrowlike impudence, pitched thereon, and commenced what was evi. dently only the first of a series of 1 ask; I'll think about it-' He's overhead; ' 'He ' is very real, and overhead ' is very near; " and John saw that there was nothing between him and the bright blue sky. Partly because John Crabb's pipe was now out, and his dinner party had accordingly come to an most extraordinary and uncalledfor pecks; he rose anl took his leave of the water-butt, which he did by knocking out the ashes of his pipe on the edge thereof-a piece of familiarity very much out of place; seeing it was out of that butt the water was to come for tea. John Crabb had never been HE'S OVERHEAD. accustomed to stand much on ceremony either with persons or things; therefore, we must simply express our disapprobation of tobaccoed water for tea, and pass on. Crabb soon stumped across his back yard, and the first person he met was his young son Teddy ; and the first sounds he heard was Teddy's glorification of a herring which was to be for father's supper that night. But John Crabb did not enter into the boy's joy-" Dinner, and supper ! "-seeing he had said they were to have nothing that day! he felt as though Teddy were sent to reprove him again. John Crabb would have gladly dispensed with that herring, and it would have been a relief rather than otherwise to him---indeed a decided relief-if his wife set nothing before him that night, but a piece of dry bread. But the herring was irrepressible; it had evidently come into that house for the express purpose of keeping an appointment with a couple of large potatoes, and taking a turn or two with them upon the pan, over a certain fire, for which John Crabb declared that morning that he never could If that buy any more coals. herring and those potatoes had known each other all their lives, they could not have looked more comfortable together than they did that night, when they lay side by side upon a dish, set out for the supper of Mr. and -Mrs. Crabb. The young ones were all in bed; and husband and wife had now an opportunity of a little conversation; and they began to compare notes of the day's proceedings, as many husbands and wives do, who have a numerous offspring, and not many leisure moments for conversation during the day. During this conversation, John Crabb told his wife the main subject of his thoughts, when sitting near the water-butt ; and he was both surprised and pleased when he heard that her reflections during the day had not been so unlike his own. " We have been, wrong," said Mrs. Crabb. "'We have," said her husband, " our dinner and our supper tell us so; this herring tells us so; these potatoes tell us so; the dinner to-day said so; the minister to-day told us so ; something inside tells me so; but I can't make it out-'tis all turning on those words of the minister. I'll go and ask him all he meant by saying ' He's overhead.' " CHAPTER III. DARK and dismal were r. Perkin's thoughts as he turned down Slushwell Lane, a few days after his interview with John Crabb and his wife. His sad heart sank within him, as though he were going to see something awful. That morning a neighbour HE'S OVERHEAD. had. called on the minister, and told him that " Sim Hollands was holloring and shouting." " We're afraid," said the old woman, "to go in; for he's an awful man, and would as soon take our life as look at us; and we thought we had better come and tell you, for the We'd have children's sake. a'most thought he had murdered them by this, as he often said he would do; but that we heard them crying. They weren't crying as if he were beating them, but only as if they were hungry, and frightened, and brokenhearted like." "I'll go and see him," said Mr. Perkin. "Perhaps he'll murder you," said old Goody Green. " Ah, He's overhead," said the minister. " What's that you said ?" asked the old woman, putting her hand to her ear, " say that again ..- 'tis just like one of the sounds Sim Hollands is making." " He's overhead," repeated the minister. "That's it," said Goody. "He's shrieking, and holloring, and groaning that, in all sorts of I don't know what it ways. means, but 'tis something very dreadful to be sure, to make him hollor like that; " and the old woman hobbled off, satisfied that she at least had done her duty; and that, as the minister was a scholar, he must know all about it. "Ah, yes," said Mr. Perkin, as soon as the old woman had hobbled off, " I do indeed know all about it; so Sim Hollands is shouting out those tremendous words, ' He's overhead;' for tremendous they are, for weal or woe, for the comfort, or terror, of the heart. But I must go down at once ;" said he to himself; and forthwith he started for the drunkard's house. "It is only three days ago," thought the good man " that, I solemnly warned Sim Hollands of how things would be at the last, if he did not give up his evil ways, and seek the Lord; and turn to that blessed Saviour who died for him, and who would even now receive him, and by His Holy Spirit draw him, battered and drink-sodden though he be. Ah, 'twas enough to make any father's heart ache, to see him reeling down the street followed by his two half-starved children; it was enough to make a Christian's heart ache, to see one, for whom Christ died, making himself worse than a beast. 'Twas no good talking to him then," said the minister, reviewing all that had happened in his own mind, "but I went to him next day; and those words, those mighty words of power, ' He's overhead,' seemed to lay hold of him, even though he tossed them off with an oath; doubtless, the power of them is over him now." Yes i it was just as the minister had said; those words, " He's 22 HE'S OVERHEAD. overhead," had been dbing tre- out, now moaning, now whining, now laughing, now crying, now mendous work. "He's overhead," cried Sim whispering, now shouting, and Hollands, when the minister had the burden of it all was, " He's gone, " who cares? 'tis nothing overhead." "Hah! Hah! I see him ! to me ! He don't come down to trouble me! He don't take no oh, those fiery eyes! Halloa notice of me! and if He did, I there ! begone, will you?" shouted don't care, not I, my hearties !" the maddened man. " Do go!" said he in the next and at the mention of his "hearties," Sim betook himself breath, trying a coaxing tone of to where he was accustomed to voice, " Do go !" "Oh dear, He won't go; no, He meet his friends. That evening Sim entertained won't. He'll never go," said the the company with the minister's wretched man in a tone of desnew idea ; and though one or two pair. "Hah, hah, who cares !" felt a little sobered, when he re- cried he ; and in the same breath, tailed all the minister's conver- " oh ! yes, Icare-ah ! if I could sation, and muttered that they get up there, wouldn't I-What "shouldn't like HIM to be over- are you talking about ? asking head just then;" the rest put a about the children? eh? and hold face on it, and became as about what the minister said, is it ? Halloa there ! don't you be merry as ever. As to Sim Hollands, he took a saying 'My wife's in heaven, bottle home with him that night, and I'll never get there.' I don't not that it was his custom so to want to go; "-and, with his do; but in spite of himself he eyes fixed like two stones on the couldn't get rid of the idea of ceiling, the drunkard's spirit there being someone, and that a passed away. " Even so," said the minister, tremendous Someone, nearer to him than he wished; and the his knees almost knocking tobottle would drive off any trouble- gether at the sight he had just some thoughts. witnessed from the doorway; That was a frightful night for Seven so, too late has Simon Sim Hollands; it was his last one Hollands found out the truth, on earth. When Mr. Perkin ' He's overhead. ' " arrived at the unhappy man's But the minister could not door, he knew that he was in spend much time in merely thinkdelirium-tremens -the drunkard's ing. He induced Goody Green, madness. There lay the wretched for a consideration, to lay out the man on the floor, with both his body of the dead drunkard; and thin arms, and hands, stretched then proceeded to attend to the HE'S OVERHEAD. 23 children. He took the youngest on his knee, and the eldest stood beside him, while he spoke to them of their heavenly Father as being above them, looking down upon them, and willing and able to help them. "Father," was a name full of misery to the drunkard's children ; and it in no wise comforted them. them how that kind One would never be far away from them, but would always be just as it were " overhead." But this only made matters worse, for, was it not someone overhead that their father had been so terribly frightened at; and how did they know what He might do to them ! They had never been allowed to go to school (for Board Schools were not known then), or place of worship; and all that they knew of a " father " was, what they saw, now laid out on the bed on the floor. Then the minister explained to " Oh, lie's very kind," said the minister, "father didn't know Him; but you just say, 'Give us this day our daily bread. Never go away from us, our heavenly Father, but wherever we go, be always overhead;' " and the minister, having made IHE'S OVERHEAD. arrangements with Goody Green to see after the children, took his leave. Ten minutes' walk brought him to the house of Miss Bowles, a maiden lady, who owned the estate in which the village was; and who spent most of her time and money too in doing good. " You look weary and pale," said the kind old lady, as she sat in her arm-chair, where she was during most of the day a fixture. " Ah, well I may," said Mr. Perkin; and he rehearsed all he had heard Sim Hollands say, and told all he had seen. " Surely, my dear madam, 'tis a,terrible thing to have an angry God looking down upon our bed at death. Would that those who only think of Him as afar off, if even thus, remembered that, He will be terribly near at last." "And what about the children ?" asked Miss Bowles. " I told them," said Mr. Perkin, " that their true Father was overhead; and would not leave them, and I want you to befriend them in that Father's name." And so Miss Bowles did. In spite of sundry remonstrances from Mr. Plume, her butler -a legacy from her father; she would have the children brought next day to the Hall to be fed. It was not that the butler would not have them fed, but his propriety was shocked, at their not being clothed a little decently at first. Yes ! they, to their great astonishment, were fetched by the boy in buttons, who looked on, and said nothing while they ate ; but to say that that boy had not his own thoughts, would be entirely unworthy the belief of anyone who has seen a boy in buttons at all, and especially of one who ever had the privilege of conversing, and, so to speak, entering into the inner mind of a creature of that species. And the butler looked on, and thought it was perhaps better they should be fed at once; and the cook looked unutterable things of amiability, and as though she could have basted them with her best dripping by the hour together. Fed, and clothed, and taught by the lady of the manor, who did all good for God's sake; the orphans learned brightly, as their father had done woefully, that " He's overhead." .CHAPTER IV. THE minister, as soon as he left good Miss Bowles', went to the first person on his visiting list for the day. This was the widow Stubbs, who often did Mr. Perkin as much good as he did her; and sometimes more. There was a time when this was not the case: when Mr. Perkin had a struggle with his parishioner to get her to give up Sunday trading; and to come to HE'S OVERHEAD. the house of God; and, more than all, really to think of giving her heart to Him. Mr. Perkin had much business at Mrs. Stubbs' house to-day. For, in the first place, Rachel, her daughter, was dying; at least, a very few weeks must see her end. And then Joseph, her only son, pear-tree at the bottom of the garden. And if she used always to find it hard to get rid of a moderate crop, even with selling on Sunday; divers depressing thoughts were now intruding upon her mind, as to how this large crop could possibly be sold, seeing that the Sunday sales were had just gone to sea for the first time; and the mother's heart was full of all sorts of thoughts, and fears, about her darling boy. And this was the first summer since she had given up Sunday trading; and there was an unusual crop of apples on her six great trees-to say nothing of the load upon her gone for ever. Here was a fine morning's work cut out for the minister; but he found himself marvellously helped by Will Martin's two important words. "Well, Mrs. Stubbs, how is Rachel this morning ? " said the minister, as he took his seat in the little room behind the shop. HE'S OVERHEAD. "She lies just the same," answered the widow, " with her two hands folded together; she doesn't speak much, but by her looks I can see she's thinking a great deal. When she does speak, so far as I can make out, she's very happy; she won't let us turn her on her side, scarce at all; she says she likes always to be put, so as she can be looking up." "'Looking up,' is that what she says ? oh, that's a fine thing, Mrs. Stubbs; that's what I've turned to doing myself more and more; and I never do it but that it does me wondrous good." "'Tis hard to do it," said the widow, " with so many troubles pressing on us in the world-there's Rachel lying upstairs, and Joseph gone to sea, with no one knows what before him; and ""And what ? " asked Mr. Perkin. " Oh, I don't like to say it, " sir," answered the widow; 4I'm ashamed of the thought; but it will come; and the devil sometimes works it very hard; but I hope 'twill all turn out for the best."' " Is it any new trouble ?" " Well, if I must say it, 'tis about the apples. There's such a crop this year that I don't know how I shall ever get rid of them; as I've shut up the little shop on Sunday." "Well, now, this is strange," thought the minister. " Here is a good woman made miserable by the abundance of her crop. We make our blessings to be curses; we turn the largeness of God's goodness against Himself. In her small way she is something like the farmers who say, when they have a fine harvest, that ' the wheat is scarcely worth the reaping, the price is so low.' " "I know we must be looking up," said the widow; " but I don't see my way; I wish I could." "Yes, ' looking up,' " chimed in the minister; "'but I don't think, Mrs. Stubbs, you are getting higher than the top of the apple-tree-we ought to be looking up, and seeing something too -or I should say, 'Somebody.' You know God, and I believe you love Him too; and ' He's overhead.' We must get into the reality of God's looking at us, and ours; and of His thinking about us, and arranging things for us; and we must talk to Him, as to a friend, about them all. You have as good a right to talk to Him about your apples, as the greatest man in the world has to pray to Him about the most important affairs. You take my advice; when you look at the trees, look further-away -up above them, and see whether you won't get easier in your mind." "1Then there's Joseph," said the widow, wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron. " I HE'S OVERHEAD. don't know where he'll have to go before I see him again." "Well," said the minister, wherever Joseph goes, you know there's One above him; and when he's aloft at the mast's head, there's One that's above him still. Leave Joseph with God, and always comfort yourself with the thought that ' He's overhead.' You won't get giddy when you think of your boy's rocking about up there, when you remember there's One above him, and One caring for him. And I'll tell you another thing, Mrs. Stubbs; you won't think yourself half so far away from Joseph, when you know there's the one eye looking at you both at the very same moment; and the one ear listening to you; and the one hand to protect and provide for you. Even when families are scattered, they feel bound together in this way, where they all love, and trust the one God." And all this received a sweet confirmationfrom Rachel, to whom they now went. The dying girl had no need to be told by Mr. Perkin to look up; it was because she loved to do so, even with her bodily eyes, that she lay as she did. For, like the minister on that eventful evening when his faith received a large increase, and he seemed to pass away beyond the clouds and stars -away he knew not whither -Rachel could look up, and see 1" a face beaming on her with love; and she could have company when none were near. Rachel was not going to a. stranger; she looked so often and so long at the One she loved that, she seemed as though she should know Him quite well when she went to be with Him. " I know how you feel, Rachel, as if He weren't so very far away. Oh! I felt it wonderfully myself only a little time ago; I feel it even now, 'tis just as if lie's overhead." A smile passed over Rachel's lips; a light kindled in her eyes; and Mr. Perkin knew all about it; for looks stand with the dying in place of sounds, and they speak with utterances unknown to words. The widow Stubbs caught the look and smile, and new faith beamed into her heart; and when Mr. Perkin ended his visit, she threw herself down on her knees in the back parlour, and repeated over again the words which the minister had prayed upstairs with her child; and faith grew strong once more, and she determined to be at peace about Joseph, and the apples, and all her cares. "Why should I trouble," said she, " if He's overhead ? " Thus went the Rev. Mr. Perkin through his parish all that day, and many days afterward; living in the great power of the certainty that his God was immediately above him, and ever 28' HE'S OVERHEAD. pointing upward the eyes and thoughts of his parishioners. There were those who thought that their minister must have found out some new truth in his studies, and that he must be gifted with some fresh, and unusual power, from above. But it was not so. For many a long what you believe, and act upon, and bring into contact with things, persons, occasions, difficulties, temptations, hopes, and so forth, that will do you any good-truth, brought into contact with the daily needs and experiences of the body and the soul. year had the minister known what he was now teaching; but it was only recently he had entered deeply into its reality; for the knowledge of a truth is one thing, and the deep feeling of its reality is another. Remember that, good reader; it is not what truth ybu know, but Not long after the minister's visit to John Crabb, that individual strapped on his wooden leg, with the firm intention that it should be the means, or, at any rate, be a part of the means, of his working his way to Mr. Perkin's study. And at a wonderful pace did HE'S OVERHEAD- John go, when once he got under weigh. Bang he went through old Mrs. Podger's'geese, so intent on getting to the minister that he took no notice even of the head of the goose family, a whacking fine gander, which first hissed at his wooden leg, and finally made a tremendous dart at it, only to find it a very tough and untoothsome morsel indeed. John Crabb found the minister at home; and very conversational and sympathetic, as ministers generally are, and certainly always ought to be. John told the minister that he could not get rid of that saying of his a few days ago; and now he wanted to know all the real ins and outs of it: what was the overhead," meaning of and why should it trouble him so. too; and you, John, and your wife must talk to Him like a friend, and ask Him to help you in your distress. But let us always leave it to Him to do it in His own time and way. With much such talk did the Rev. Mr. Perkin comfort and instruct his parishioner, who stumped away home; his wooden leg conveying back a head, and heart too, with some new ideas. All that Mr. Perkin had told John Crabb, John, like a good husband, told his wife; and they now both agreed to bear in mind the minister's words; and act out the remembrance of them in daily life. And though they had a hard struggle in many ways, still, somehow they got on, and had many very comfortable dinners; and they supped on a herring also, now and again. Then Mr. Perkin explained that those words were doubleedged; that when realized, they had power to comfort, with a great comforting ; or to render miserable, with a great misery. Once let us feel that God is just above us, and if we want help, we know that He is there to give it; if we want comfort, we know He is there to speak it; if we are lonely, there He is'to cheer us. He sees as it were from a height; all things 'fall under the range of His eye; so He knows all about our affairs. He is looking through the roofs of our houses, and right into our hearts It was about three months after Mr. Perkin's visit to John Crabb, that the Chairman of the Westcote Railway came to the village to see about a new bridge, concerning which there was some ie dispute at the Board. with him his little brought daughter, who was delighted at getting a country jaunt. Mr. Piston, the Chairman, determined to look at the place himself, so he made his way there, with no one but his little daughter. " Oh, look, papa," said the child, "here's a funny man coming; he has but one leg and "He's HE'S OVERIIHEAD. one arm; and he has two children with him. How does that poor man earn money for his children, with only one leg and one arm ? Ask him when he comes up." "Oh, nonsense, child, why should I interfere with the man; but I'll ask him something else, and perhaps we may find out." John Crabb's answer would have been a cursing of the Board generally, and the Chairman, and Secretary, in particular ; but now, he civilly pointed out all the dangers of the crossing, and showed how they could be obviated. All that was wanted was a new path, a gate, and a I-- The man with the one arm and leg was, as no doubt our readers surmise, none other than John Crabb. He soon came up to Mr. Piston, who asked him if the place was as dangerous as the representation made to the Board would lead them to suppose. Now, three months before, signal ; and "If these had been here a few months ago, I should have two arms, and two legs, now instead of one.?' "Oh," said Mr. Piston,