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BV 2945 .P3 C539 1878 
 Clayton, Louisa. 
 The story of mission work 
 amonq the French in 
 
MISSION WORK AMONG THE FRENCH. 
 
^*^ IVie jJrqfits, if any, resulting from the sale of this book loili 
 he given to Miss de Broen, to be applied by her as she may think 
 best, for the benefit of the Belleville Mission. 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OP 
 
 MISSION WORK AMONG THE FRENCH 
 
 IN 
 
 BELLEVILLE, PARIS. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT I SAW AND HEARD 
 
 DURING A THREE WEEKS' VISIT TO 
 
 MISS DE BROEN IN 1877. 
 
 BY/' 
 
 LOUISA^LAYTON. 
 
 WITH PREFACE BY THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 18 7 8. 
 
EDINBURGH : 
 PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG AND SON. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WAITING TIME 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WORK BEGUX 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A LABOUR OF LOVE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WILLIXG LEARNERS . 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STEP BY STEP .... 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOME LIFE .... 
 
 13 
 
 21 
 
 29 
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BELLEVILLE IN 1877 . . . • ^7 
 
 57 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD .... 67 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LITTLE ONES ...... 85 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TWOFOLD HEALING 95 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHANGED ONES 109 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUTCASTS GATHERED IN 125 
 
 CHAPTER Xril. 
 "IT IS FOR god" 135 
 
.RlC. r. 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 jHE pages, following this Preface, contain a 
 naiTative as interesting and instructive, as 
 any yet given to the world in tliis age of 
 various and multitudinous composition. And as history 
 has often been said to be philosophy teaching by 
 examples ; so here a great part of the problem of 
 *' Woman's Mission " is shewn by the life and actions 
 of Miss de Broen. 
 
 All the women in England may learn from these 
 singular details (what some of them have, long ago, 
 learned among their own people) how great is the 
 power of the female sex over the mightiest and fiercest 
 of the human race. " A soft answer turneth away 
 wrath ; " and so, with these outcasts, manifest affection 
 and a gentle manner abate, nay, conciliate, opposition. 
 A woman, ay, even a young woman, earnest, decided, 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 persevering, ricli in piety and common sense, with the 
 love of Christ in her heart, and with a burning desire 
 to impart it to others, becomes all but irresistible. I 
 speak from my own experience, and from that of others 
 more widely extended than my own, that to penetrate 
 the depths of ionorance and misery, to break down the 
 barriers, and prepare the way for better things, they 
 surpass (I say it with every feeling of respect) all the 
 ordained and unordained preachers put together, 
 whether in town or country ; and, surely, this assertion 
 has seldom received a better proof than in the history 
 of Miss de Broen's aggressive movements on rage, ignor- 
 ance, suffering, and despair, among the Communists of 
 Paris. 
 
 While those furious masses were still hot with the 
 excitement of their own unheard-of outrages, and the 
 tremendous, though perhaps inevitable severity, with 
 which they were put down; while they were in the 
 midst of vengeance, blasphemy, orphanage, widowhood, 
 and ghastly privations, this young lady, unguided, 
 unprotected, and alone, began her marvellous and Chris- 
 tian career. 
 
 Miss Clayton's narrative, clear, minute, concise, and 
 deeply touching, will set its "rise and progi-ess" before 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 the reader, who will rejoice that we have, amongst us, a 
 lady so qualified to achieve these works ; and another 
 so willing and able to record them. 
 
 We may observe, with admiration and gratitude, 
 how a superintending Providence selects his agents for 
 especial mercies. What so unlikely as that the heart of 
 a young and foreign lady should be stirred to contem- 
 plate the execution of such an enterprise 1 and what 
 more unlikely than that she should succeed in if? 
 nevertheless, these unlikely things have come to pass ; 
 and the very boldness and novelty of the attempt were, 
 in themselves, arguments with the objects of her care. 
 
 It may be asked, as it has been asked on other 
 occasions, "Why render assistance to such guilty 
 people 1" The question is not fairly put. Were they yet 
 in arms, spreading fixe and slaughter in all directions, 
 defying the law, outraging every defence of property 
 and life, breathing nothing but vengeance, rage, and 
 blasphemy, the refusal to aid would be necessary and 
 just. But they are cast down, humbled, writhing under 
 tremendous losses, by the sword or transportation, of 
 husbands, fathers, brothers ; they are in deep poverty, 
 without hope, barely able to subsist for the day, and 
 wholly unable to calculate for the morrow; Miss de 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 Broen has seized the hour of affliction. She went 
 thereto open a "place for repentance." She found 
 it, by God's grace — and it is our part to aid her^^in the 
 rescue of so many thousands, who may yet be brought 
 back to maintain the peace, and promote the service, of 
 the common country. 
 
 We may hear, too, as I have often heard, " Why so 
 urgent and liberal to other lands, when there is so 
 much required in your own?" First, it may be replied 
 that England, if she do her duty, has enough and to 
 spare for both ; but secondly, let it never be forgotten 
 that England has a deep, a vital, and, as it were, a 
 personal interest in the real, not the blustering, honour 
 of France, — in her tranquility, her industry, her wealth, 
 and the moral character of her people. The poor of 
 London will gain not a little when the poor of Paris 
 shall have become industrious and contented, obedient 
 to the laws, to morality, and religion. 
 
 "We must speak with great forbearance of the fearful 
 retribution that was poured out on the Communists. 
 The authorities knew, better than we can know, their 
 dangers and their duties. But we may venture to 
 express an earnest prayer, that after a victory so com- 
 plete, and punishments so teriible, the moment of an 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 amnesty may be near at hand. Thousands of aflfec- 
 tionate hearts may be restored to each other ; and past 
 revolutions may be forgotten in social peace and public 
 prosperity. 
 
 To this blessed aid nothing v/ill more conduce than 
 the exertions of Miss de Broen, who will thus prove to 
 the ruling powers in Paris, that they may safely obey 
 the dictates of their own generous feelings, and, in 
 extending mercy to the vanquished, add greatly to the 
 wealth, the honour, and security of the Republic. 
 
 December 1877. 
 
CHAPTEK I. 
 ^ht Matting ®inu. 
 
O for a vision and a voice to lead me, 
 To shew me plainly where my work should lie ! 
 
 Look where I may, fresh hindrances impede me, 
 Vain and unanswered seems my earnest cry. 
 
 Hush, unbelieving one ! But for thy blindness, 
 
 But for thine own irajiatience and self-will, 
 Thou wouldest see thy Master's loving-kindness, 
 
 Wlio by those "hindrances" is leading still. 
 
 He who of old through Phrygia and Galatia, 
 Led the Apostle Paul, and blessed him there. 
 
 If He forbid to " preach the "Word in Asia," 
 Must have prepared for thee a work elsewhere. 
 
 Wait on the Lord ! In His Right Hand be hidden, 
 
 And go not forth in haste to strive alone. 
 Shun like a sin the tempting work "forbidden," 
 
 God's love for souls be sure exceeds thine own. 
 
 The Master cares ! Why feel or seem so lonely ? 
 
 Nothing can interrupt real work for God ; 
 Work may be changed ; it cannot cease, if only 
 
 We are resolved to cleave unto the Lord. 
 
 None are good works for thee but works appointed. 
 Ask to be filled with knowledge of His Will, 
 
 Cost what it may ! Why live a life disjointed ? 
 One work throughout ! God's pleasure to fulfil ! 
 
 But if indeed some special work awaits thee. 
 Canst thou afford this waiting time to lose ? 
 
 By each successive task God educates thee ; 
 What if the iron be too blunt to use ? 
 
 — From " Heart to Heart. 
 
HEOLOGIGa 
 
 ^- 
 
 " Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in Him, and He 
 shall bring it to pass." — PsA. xxxvii. 5. 
 
 fEEE la Chaise is one of the "lions" of 
 Paris ; no visitor to the French capital 
 who is making the round of the sights 
 should miss seeing it. It is the resting- 
 place of the most illustrious men that France has 
 produced during the last two centuries. Its name 
 takes us back to the reign of Louis XIV ; for the 
 site being the gift of his confessor, Pere la Chaise, 
 the cemetery was called after him, thus perpetuat- 
 ing his name to all posterity. Numbers of visitors 
 pass through its gates every day, some being 
 attracted either by interest or curiosity, but not a 
 few are drawn thither by affection for some dear 
 one whom they have loved and lost. 
 
 , Perhaps no visit to the grand old cemetery has 
 ever been productive of such great results as that of 
 a lady whose name will occupy a prominent place 
 
4 THE WAITING TIME. 
 
 in this narrative. It was just after the memorable 
 siege of Paris in the year 1871, that Miss de Broen 
 paid a visit to Pere la Chaise with some friends. 
 They little knew what a sad spectacle they would 
 witness. Only the night before, above five 
 hundred Communists had been shot there, and 
 the long ditch into which they fell one after the 
 other was their common grave. The dead were 
 buried, and out of sight ; their last struggle was 
 over, — but the living ? 
 
 A crowd of women and children surrounded 
 the spot ; some had brought a little black cross, 
 bearing the name of the lost husband or father or 
 son ; some, wreaths of immortelles, as tokens of 
 their loving remembrance. A few were silent in 
 their deep grief, but the most uttered cries of rage 
 and revenge. 
 
 One poor woman was so wild in her sorrow, that 
 Miss de Broen ventured to speak a few words of 
 sympathy to her, adding tenderly, "It is very sad 
 for you to lose what you have loved." " Ah ! " but 
 said the women, " you do not know what it is ; Z 
 have lost all.'' "You have not lost the love of 
 God," she replied. These simple words seemed to 
 soothe the poor bleeding heart, and thus en- 
 couraged. Miss de Broen spoke to several others, 
 telling them that " Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners," and pointing them to Him 
 
THE WAITING TIME. 5 
 
 as the only Comforter. She also gave them some 
 portions of Scripture, which were gladly accepted. 
 
 But her interest in these poor outcasts did not 
 end here. On returning to the hotel, she informed 
 
 Mrs A , with whom she was travelling, that 
 
 God had put it into her heart to remain at Paris, 
 and to devote her time to these miserable people, for 
 she felt that though guilty, they were not too bad 
 for the love of Christ to reach them. Her proposal 
 was received with surprise, and many obstacles 
 were brought forward, the chief one being the 
 want of money to begin such a work. Besides, 
 the Quartier where the Communists lived was not 
 considered safe. Even soldiers dared not enter 
 its haunts, excepting in large companies, and for 
 a lady to attempt to go and work there, was 
 pronounced quite out of the question. 
 
 But that sight in Pere la Chaise could not be 
 soon forgotten, and Miss de Broen left the room 
 with tears in her eyes, saying, " If God has put 
 that thought into my heart. He will send the 
 money." 
 
 The money was sent, and in the most singular 
 way. Very soon after this two gentlemen came 
 to Paris to dispose of some money remaining over 
 from the funds provided by the Society of Friends 
 for the victims of the war. The outbreak of the 
 Commune had put everything into confusion, and 
 
6 THE WAITING TIME. 
 
 as the money had heen given solely for the relief 
 
 of Paris, they came to consult with Mrs A as 
 
 to how to dispose of it. Miss de Broen's wish was 
 mentioned, the money was granted, and the work 
 was begun. 
 
 But in order to enter fully into her joy at having 
 this desire accomplished, we must look back a 
 little at her previous history, and thus we shall 
 see that this resolution was not the impulse of a 
 moment, but was the result of much prayer, and 
 of a deep and earnest desire of long standing. It 
 was remarkable that until now every other scheme 
 should have been frustrated. 
 
 For example, there appeared to be an opening 
 for Miss de Broen to work in France when she was 
 invited by the black physician, Dr Davis, to go 
 and help in a soup kitchen and clothing depot 
 established near Sedan, for the relief of hundreds 
 of families whose homes were burnt down by the 
 terrible war of 1870. It was settled that she 
 should join a married lady who was also to help 
 in the work. Travelling being still attended with 
 difficulties, Dr Davis went on before to make 
 arrangements, and promised to telegraph to them. 
 The telegram was sent, but it was to tell them not 
 to start, as Dr Davis had smallpox, and all who 
 came from pure air were more liable to the infec- 
 tion. Not long after, tidings reached them of the 
 
THE WAITING TIME. 7 
 
 death of Dr Davis, and thus the whole scheme 
 was abandoned. 
 
 Although this door had been closed, Miss de 
 Broen's desire to work among the French was as 
 strong as ever, but God's time had not yet come ; 
 it may be, the instrument was not yet " meet for 
 the Master's use." Meanwhile she continued in 
 the Mildmay mission under Mrs Pennefather. 
 
 During this waiting time she was learning 
 many valuable lessons for her future sphere, 
 lessons which can only be learnt in the school 
 of experience. 
 
 For instance, do we not all need to find out that 
 work for God is not so much to do great things, as 
 to have our eyes on Him continually to watch for 
 His guidance, and then to follow it ? The sweet 
 psalmist of Israel expresses it thus: "Behold, as 
 the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their 
 masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the 
 hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the 
 Lord our God." It was the custom in the East 
 for the master or mistress to indicate their wishes 
 by the motion of the hand. 
 
 In returning home one afternoon by the Metro- 
 politan Eailway, Miss de Broen, in her hurry 
 to catch the train, jumped into a third class 
 carriage by mistake. Her first impulse was 
 to change, but remembering she had prayed to 
 
8 THE WAITING TIME. 
 
 be guided in the smallest matters, she remained 
 where she was. Looking up, she saw a lady in 
 the seat opposite, evidently a foreigner. She was 
 very pale and sad, so Miss de Broen said to her 
 kindly, "Are you ill ?" She seemed surprised at 
 such a question being addressed to her by a 
 stranger, but was re-assured by Miss de Broen's 
 simple explanation that it was God who put it into 
 her heart to speak to her. 
 
 Then a sad tale of suffering and want was 
 poured into the ear of the sympathising stranger. 
 She was an Italian, and had held a good position, 
 but had been brought low through the intemper- 
 ance of her son. She went out to do needlework, 
 but that was not sufficient to support her. For 
 the last three days she had had nothing but bread 
 to eat, and now she was in debt both to the baker 
 and landlady. 
 
 Miss de Broen was glad to have it in her power, 
 through a kind gift received that very morning 
 from a friend, to relieve her immediate distress, 
 and called to see her the next day. The poor lady 
 was then quite overcome with gratitude, and said, 
 " You have been like an angel of the Lord to me, if 
 He had not sent you, I really think I should have 
 committed suicide. I have been often tempted to 
 do it, but something kept me. I have known the 
 truth once." In spite of her own deep need, she 
 
THE WAITING TIME. 9 
 
 had taken in a poor little French boy, a refugee, 
 friendless and alone. 
 
 Miss de Broen was so thankful to be enabled to 
 minister to this stranger in a strange land. Is it 
 not one of the cases of which the Lord Jesus will 
 say hereafter, '' Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of 
 the least of these, ye did it unto me "? 
 
 The desire to devote herself to the work of God 
 in France was still uiD^Dermost in Miss de Broen's 
 mind. One morning she received a letter from a 
 friend, who said, " Perhaps God has some work for 
 you among the French in London." With that 
 letter in her pocket, she went to Tottenham, to try 
 and obtain admission for a consumptive man in 
 the hospital there. 
 
 Her fellow-passengers in the omnibus were a 
 French lady and her child, who could only speak 
 very little English. Miss de Broen kindly inter- 
 preted for her, and spoke a word of sympathy, 
 reminding her of the love of God. She burst into 
 tears, and said, " God has sent you to me. My 
 husband does not even know where I am, and I 
 have no more money left, for when I left Paris 
 during the siege we thought it would all be over in 
 three weeks." Miss de Broen visited her after- 
 wards, provided her with necessaries, and they 
 contrived through the help of a friend to com- 
 municate by the balloon-post with her husband, 
 
10 THE WAITING TIME. 
 
 and ere long received both letters and money from 
 him. When visiting her, Miss de Broen often 
 met other French refugees, and God's Word was 
 blessed to them also. 
 
 It was at this time that she became acquainted 
 
 with Mrs A , a member of the Society of 
 
 Friends, who helped her to give temporal relief to 
 the French refugees. When the siege of Paris 
 was over, she was invited by Mrs A to accom- 
 pany her and some other friends on a missionary 
 tour in the French provinces. 
 
 This was just after the outbreak of the Commune 
 in June 1870, consequently when the travellers 
 arrived in Paris there was no conveyance of any 
 kind to take them from the station to the hotel. 
 At last, after waiting some time, a grocer's cart 
 appeared, but it was driven by a woman. We will 
 not attempt to describe the state of Paris at this 
 period ; indeed words fail to picture it. Public 
 buildings in ruins, private houses riddled with 
 holes, doors and windows broken, nothing but 
 desolation and misery. Indignation with the 
 Communists for this wilful destruction was the 
 prevailing feeling, but Miss de Broen's heart was 
 filled with pity for them. " Ever since my child- 
 hood," she says, " I have always felt a special love 
 for the worst." 
 
 So strongly did she feel in this matter, that she 
 
THE WAITING TIME. 11 
 
 united in prayer with one of her fellow-travellers to 
 ask God to open a way for them to begin mission 
 work at Paris. This was just before their eventful 
 visit to Pere la Chaise, and the way in which their 
 prayer was heard, and the needful funds supplied, 
 has already been related in these pages. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 ^ht Mark %tsnn. 
 
II est monte comnie un vil rejeton, 
 
 Et cependant 1' Eternel est son nom ! 
 
 Faible et petit, meprise, miserable, 
 
 Le Fils de rhomme aux hommes fut semblable. 
 
 CEuvre de Christ ! oeuvre d'amour ! 
 
 Ah ! qu'avons-nous fait en retour? 
 
 II s'est charge de toutes nos langueura ; 
 II a porte nos peines, nos douleurs. 
 Prendre la vie ou la rendre a son Pere, 
 Tout fut pour lui sacrifice et misere. 
 (Euvre de Christ ! ceuvre d'amour ! 
 Ah ! qu'avons-nous fait en retour ? 
 
 C'est sur la croix qu'il a tout accompli, 
 Pas un iota n'est tombe dans I'oubli. 
 Sur lui la mort remporta la victoire ; 
 Mais, 6 Jesus ! mourir devint ta gloire 
 (Euvre de Christ ! oeuvre d'amour ! 
 Ah ! qu'avons-nous fait en retour ? 
 
*'Be strong all ye people of the Ian J, saith tlie Lord, and 
 work : for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. My Spirit 
 remaineth among you : fear ye not. " — Haggai ii. 4, 5. 
 
 T is not a matter of wonder that Miss de 
 Broen's proposition to work at Belleville 
 should not have been approved by her 
 friends at that time. It is true that as 
 regards situation, it is all that can be desired. It 
 is the highest and most healthy part of Paris, and 
 lovely too, as the name implies, — Belle- ville. What 
 can sound more attractive ? But in spite of its 
 pretty and musical name, Belleville is associated 
 with all that is bad in the mind of the French. 
 It is the capital of the Commune, and the word 
 "Commune" is odious; and as to the "Com- 
 munists," men speak of them with bated breath. 
 
 When the Commune was put down, every man 
 connected with it shared one or other of the 
 threefold fate ; they were either shot, or trans- 
 ported for life, or had to fly the country. Those 
 
16 THE WORK BEGUN. 
 
 five hundred shot down and buried like felons in 
 Pere la Chaise were only a small proportion, and 
 yet think of those five hundred widows, and of 
 the hundreds of children thus left unsupported! 
 That was only one scene among many others 
 quite as fearful. At last the streets literally 
 streamed with human blood, and in one place in 
 Belleville the pavement was taken up, and a hole 
 made to receive the dead bodies ! 
 
 The worst was, that in many cases the innocent 
 shared the same fate with the guilty. Thousands 
 of women were thus deprived of their husbands or 
 sons, and were unable to obtain any work. Even 
 the priests and sisters of mercy shunned them in 
 their rounds of charity. No one cared for them ; 
 they dared not say who they were, — like rats they 
 might die in their holes. But 07ie loving heart 
 yearned over them in their misery, and stretched 
 out a helping hand. 
 
 A novel sight was witnessed now in the streets 
 of Belleville. A lady was seen passing to and 
 fro speaking to the poor women, and telling them 
 that she knew of their distress, and that if they 
 would come to a room lent to her in La Villette 
 they would receive fivepence for three hours of 
 needlework ; at the same time adding that her 
 chief object was to tell them about the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
THE WORK BEGUN. 17 
 
 Such a kind invitation sounded strangely in 
 their ears ; the greater number wondered what it 
 could really mean, and the first time only three 
 made their appearance. Eight came the next 
 time, and then the numbers steadily increased. 
 Miss de Broen was now at work in France. God 
 had " granted the desire of her heart." 
 
 The ignorance of the poor women whom she 
 had thus gathered round her was surprising. 
 One day when she asked the question, "Who 
 wrote the Bible ? " a woman looked up, and 
 nodded, and then said readily, as if a very bright 
 idea had struck her, " C'est vous Mademoiselle " 
 ("You did. Ma'am"). 
 
 At first these poor creatures were rough and 
 sullen; can one wonder that they should have 
 been embittered in spirit ? Many had seen their 
 little ones pine in the cold and hunger of the 
 siege ; others had lost all, — husbands, sons, and 
 brothers in the war, and in those last awful days 
 of the Commune. 
 
 All had known the patient agony of lengthened 
 starvation, buoyed by false hopes and cruel 
 treachery, and then some had taken the power 
 into their own hands. Goaded on by pangs of 
 hunger, or by feelings of patriotism (as they 
 supposed), they unsexed themselves for a time ; 
 
18 THE WORK BEGUN. 
 
 concealing weapons under their clothing, they 
 attacked the soldiers unawares ; some are said to 
 have poured pitchers of petroleum down the cellar- 
 grids of private houses in Paris, — but enough ; 
 let those horrible facts be buried in oblivion, only 
 let us learn from them what evil lies hidden in 
 your heart and mine; let it be a never-to-be- 
 forgotten picture of what man is when left to 
 himself. And mark, not the poor ignorant savage, 
 but the civilised educated man of the nineteenth 
 century ! 
 
 Look once again at the group of women 
 gathered at the sewing-class. Only a few months 
 have passed, but what a change ! There is no 
 sullenness and no fierceness now, but an earnest, 
 nay, even a softened expression. Love has won 
 their hearts, and, best of all, the marks of a real 
 change, through the inward working of the Holy 
 Spirit, are seen in some of them. 
 
 We will mention one of these cases here, as it 
 was a matter for thankfulness. A poor woman 
 living in a small room behind a rag-shop, sent to 
 ask Miss de Broen to visit her. She was very ill, 
 in rapid consumption, brought on by a shock. 
 Before she could receive any warning, her husband 
 had been carried home terribly mutilated by a 
 shell ; both arms and legs had been shot off. He 
 died very shortly afterwards. 
 
THE WORK BEGUN. 19 
 
 Miss de Broen went to see her frequently, and 
 gave her a Testament. She read it carefully, and, 
 through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, she 
 learned that "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's 
 Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 
 
 One day she seemed low and depressed, and 
 fearing lest the enemy of souls might be trying to 
 take away her peace, Miss de Broen asked her 
 what was the matter, and if Satan were troubling 
 her. *' No, it is not that," she replied ; " but I 
 feel so weak, I cannot shew my joy ; but I know 
 that Jesus loves me very much.'* 
 
 The mission, at first only a tiny plant, soon 
 began to grow up, and to put forth branches. 
 
 The women who came to the sewing-classes 
 began to tell at home what they heard there; 
 then their husbands thought how they would like 
 to hear it too. Finding that many of them reallj^ 
 longed for gospel teaching. Miss de Broen arranged 
 an evening meeting for them in a room lent at 
 La Villette. Christian gentlemen conducted it, 
 coming from Paris in order to take it. The room 
 being near a thoroughfare was soon filled, for 
 passers-by came in also, until about two hundred 
 and fifty were assembled, many of whom were 
 obliged to stand. Upon one occasion, a visitor 
 was so struck with the earnest look of the men 
 and women gathered there, that he said after- 
 
20 THE WORK BEGUN. 
 
 wards, '' I never witnessed a more interesting 
 sight than that meeting, for the people come solely 
 for the sake of hearing the gospel." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 3l labour of lofae. 
 
Du rocher de Jacob toute Tceuvre 6st parfaite 
 Ce que sa bouche a dit sa main I'accomplira, 
 
 Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 Car il est notre Dieu notre haute retraite. 
 
 C'est pour I'eternite que le Seigneur nous aime 
 Sa grace en notre cceur jamais ne cessera, 
 
 Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 Car il est notre espoir, notre bonheur supreme. 
 
 De tons nos ennemis il sait quel est le nombre 
 Son bras combat pour nous et nous delivrera, 
 
 Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 Les mechants devant lui s'enfuiront comme une ombre. 
 
 Notre sepultre aussi connaitra sa victoire 
 Sa voix au dernier jour nous ressuscitera, 
 
 Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 Pour nous ses rachetes, la mort se change en gloire. 
 
 Louons done I'Eternel, notre Dieu notre Pere ! 
 Le Seigneur est pour nous : centre nous qui sera ? 
 
 Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 Triomphons en Jesus, et vivons pour lui plaire ! 
 
*' She stretclietli out Iier hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth 
 forth her hands to the needy. " — Peov. xxxi. 20. 
 
 ISS de Broen lived with Madame Dugand, 
 the wife of a French pasteur at Paris, 
 during the greater part of the first 
 year of her mission-work at Belleville. 
 Every morning, even in the depth of winter when 
 the snow was on the ground, she went by omnibus 
 to Belleville, a distance of three miles from the 
 Champs Elys^es. 
 
 Taking some cold luncheon with her, she 
 remained there the whole day ; and even when 
 she returned in the evening, her labours were not 
 ended, for she would bring back a bundle of wood 
 to prepare for the sewing-class. When telling 
 me of her efforts at that time, Madame Dugand 
 added, " Elle travaillait avec I'^nergie de dix 
 hommes et elle a du supporter toutes sortes de 
 persecutions." (" She worked with the energy of 
 
24 A LABOUR OF LOVE. 
 
 ten men, and had to bear all kinds of perse- 
 cution.") 
 
 " The sorrow and suffering I witnessed during 
 the first year of my work at Belleville," says Miss 
 de Broen, " are beyond all description." Some- 
 times I found even aged people lying on the 
 floor, the bedstead and other furniture having 
 been taken and broken up for firewood during the 
 siege. 
 
 Noticing that whenever a soldier came in sight, 
 the women turned away, Miss de Broen asked 
 one of them why they did so. " Je ne puis pas 
 voir un soldat, cela me navre le coeur," was her 
 answer. (" I cannot bear to see a soldier ; it cuts 
 me to the heart.") 
 
 On one occasion Miss de Broen gave a warm 
 red flannel petticoat to a poor woman who had 
 been very ill in consequence of the shock she 
 received during the horrors of the siege. One 
 very cold day when Miss de Broen went in to see 
 her, she found that her gift had been put away, 
 so she asked why she did not wear it. After 
 some hesitation she said, " Ah, Mademoiselle, if 
 you could only give me one of another colour ; 
 you know it is red. I have seen so much human 
 blood in the streets, I cannot bear the sight of 
 red." 
 
 A poor widow was telling me only the other day 
 
A LABOUR OF LOVE. 25 
 
 what a joy it was to her and many others when 
 Miss de Broen came. To use her own words, 
 " C'etait comme un ange que Dieu nous envoyait. 
 J'en revais." {" It was as if God had sent an 
 angel to help us. I dreamed about her.") Then 
 she went on to describe her distress during the 
 siege, and how hard it was for her, who had always 
 earned her living, to find starvation staring her 
 in the face. 
 
 " During four days I had no food at all, then 
 I began to burn some of my furniture, and even 
 then I was not warm, for you see it was only a 
 piece of the table or the leg of a chair. I have 
 many privations still, but there are hundreds as 
 badly off as I am. There is no trade now, and 
 sometimes when the grand shops find out that 
 we live at Belleville, they decline to give us 
 work. 
 
 " I shall never forget the first time Miss de Broen 
 came to see me, five years ago, in my little room. 
 She prayed with me ; I had never heard any 
 prayer like it before. ' C'etait comme une con- 
 versation que Ton avait avec Dieu ' (' It was like 
 holding a conversation with God'). It touched 
 me so much, I could not help crying ; and yet it 
 comforted me. Before, I repeated a certain num- 
 ber of prayers every day as a duty; but now I 
 have learnt to speak to God as my Father. 
 
26 A LABOUR OF LOVE. 
 
 What is the use," she added, " of praying to saints, 
 when we can go straight to God ? " 
 
 In fact, prayer is now to her "the outlet of 
 sorrow and the inlet of comfort." She delights 
 in her New Testament, having never had one 
 before. She said, " We enjoy the mission services, 
 because the gospel is so clearly explained, and 
 the hymns are in French, and not in Latin, as 
 in the Eoman Catholic Church." 
 
 But to return to our story. During the first 
 year Miss de Broen was labouring early and late, 
 and yet so many begged her to visit them, that it 
 was impossible for her to do it all single-handed ; 
 and often her heart was overwhelmed at the 
 amount of distress which came daily before her. 
 Then she learned to live moment by moment, 
 simply trusting God, and not looking forward to 
 the cares of the morrow, nor even of the next 
 hour. 
 
 Yet among so many, her work seemed like a 
 drop in the ocean ; and when she looked at the 
 multitude around, " who were weary, and lay 
 down, and were like sheep having no shepherd," 
 she longed "for more labourers," and prayed that 
 the Lord would soon send them. 
 
 Just at this time she was present at a service 
 held by the Eev. Baron Hart in his chapel in 
 Rue Eoyale. After the service, he read a letter 
 
A LABOUR OF LOVE. 27 
 
 which he had received from an English Inde- 
 pendent minister, who was wishing to preach the 
 gospel among the Paris workmen, but so many 
 difficulties had been put in his way, he began to 
 think that it could not be the Lord's will that he 
 should do it. He therefore asked God's children 
 to pray that the way might be made plain in this 
 matter. 
 
 No one in that little company could have listened 
 to that letter with deeper interest than Miss de 
 Broen, for she hailed it as an answer to her prayer 
 for " more labourers." She therefore wrote with- 
 out delay to Mr M'All, for that was the name of 
 the minister, and begged him to come, saying, 
 "that she thought the difficulties were only a 
 device of Satan to hinder the work, and being 
 assured in her own mind that God was about to 
 answer her prayer, not for her sake, but that His 
 name may be glorified," she added, " only come, 
 and the Lord will bless you." 
 
 A few weeks after this. Miss de Broen was 
 requested by Mr and Mrs M'All to engage apart- 
 ments for them, and she says, "I shall never 
 forget my joy in welcoming these new workers to 
 Paris, as I longed that other parts of this great 
 city, equally in the dark, might hear the good 
 news which it was such a joy to me to tell in 
 Belleville and La Villette." 
 
28 A LABOUR OF LOVE. 
 
 Being already established in the work herself, 
 Miss de Broen was able to make known Mr 
 M'All's mission services among the poor. 
 
 Since then these mission services have increased 
 and extended, and have been much blessed to the 
 masses ; but they are not in any way connected 
 with Miss de Broeu's agency for the poor at 
 Belleville. 
 
CHAPTEB IV. 
 Milling %taxntx^. 
 
Je vevix t'aimer toi mon Dieu toi mon Pere 
 
 Mon Redempteur mon Roi 
 Je veux t'aimer car la vie est amere 
 
 Pour ton enfant sans toi. 
 
 Je veux t'aimer source de toute grace 
 
 Auteur de mon salut ! 
 Je veux t'aimer ! Tourne vers moi ta face, 
 
 Conduis moi vers le but, 
 
 Je veux t'aimer ! Jamais celui qui t'aime 
 
 Seul ne se trouvera 
 Je veux t'aimer ! C'est de ton amour nieme 
 
 Source de toute paix ! 
 
 Je veux t'aimer refuge de mon ame ! 
 
 Pendant les jours mauvais 
 Je veux t'aimer ! C'est toi que je reclame 
 
 Source de toute paix ! 
 
 Je veux t'aimer ! C'est le voeu de ma vie 
 
 Le besoin de mon coeur 
 Mais, pour t'aimer, que jamais je n'oublie 
 
 Le sang du Redempteur ! 
 
"Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after 
 many days." — Ecclesiastes xi. 1. 
 
 jUT to return to our story of the first 
 year's work at Belleville. Besides the 
 gospel meetings in La Villette and 
 sewing-classes already mentioned, there 
 were night schools ; and this is the origin of them. 
 Many were imprisoned at the time of the Com- 
 mune who were liberated after a few weeks, no 
 charge being found against them ; but though not 
 guilty, their character was lost. One man told 
 Miss de Broen after he came home, what a trial it 
 was to him to be obliged to depend on the jailor 
 both to read and write all his letters, even those 
 to his wife. 
 
 Miss de Broen says that this occurrence made 
 her thank God for the first time that she could 
 read and write, and she at once offered to teach 
 any who liked to come to the night school. She 
 
32 WILLING LEARNERS. 
 
 says it was a most interesting sight to see fathers 
 and sons sitting side by side spelling out words, 
 or patiently learning to write. 
 
 One woman who was above sixty, was a model 
 of perseverance. When she first came to the 
 night school she could scarcely make her letters, 
 but a few weeks after, she presented Miss de 
 Broen with a packet of papers written by herself. 
 She had torn off blank half sheets from old letters, 
 had copied everything she could find, the result 
 was that the whole formed an amusing variety of 
 recipes for cooking, scraps from the newspapers, 
 intermixed with extracts from the Bible. "When 
 Miss de Broen expressed surprise that she had 
 been able to do so much, she said with a smile, 
 '' Ah ! since I have heard about the good things 
 from you, I no longer go to my neighbours to 
 gossip, neither do I wish that they should come to 
 me, so I lock my door when my work is done ; 
 thus I have learned to read and write." 
 
 But all are not such apt scholars, for there ih 
 one man who has attended the night school for 
 nearly five years who cannot yet read or write, 
 though a pair of boots have been promised to 
 him as a reward as soon as he has mastered the 
 art. Does not this shew that the Frenchman who 
 is generally so volatile may, if well led, exercise 
 a great deal of perseverance ? 
 
WILLING LEARNERS. 33 
 
 Miss de Broen often sent tracts to the men in 
 prison through their wives, and when they were 
 released, some of them called to thank her. One 
 who came to express his gratitude, said, " I gave 
 up religion altogether when I was eighteen ; I was 
 disgusted with the questions asked at confession, 
 and then I became an infidel, but my wife has told 
 me what she has heard at your meetings, and now 
 that I see that your faith prompts you to comfort 
 our wives and children, I will believe in it. Very 
 often when I was in prison, I felt distressed at the 
 thought that my wife and children were starving, 
 and then something seemed to comfort me. I 
 think this must have been because you prayed 
 for me." 
 
 From that time he began to attend the 
 evangelistic meetings which were then held in 
 La Villette, and were addressed by different 
 speakers who came from Paris at Miss de Broen's 
 request. God's word has been blessed not only 
 to him, but also to his wife ; both are consistent 
 Christians. He told me himself that they never 
 go to bed without reading a portion of Scrii^ture 
 and having prayer with the children. If very 
 tired after the day's work, they only read one or 
 two verses ; each child says its prayer to him 
 separately. They all come to the services and to 
 
34 WILLING LEARNERS. 
 
 the Sunday school. May not many who have 
 enjoyed rehgious privileges from their childhood 
 take a lesson from them, and follow their example 
 in having family worship ? 
 
 Some soldiers attended the services, and it was 
 proposed to have a meeting for them specially, 
 and this was done, hut only for a time, owing to 
 the strictness of the military regulations. We 
 have reason to hope that the good seed took root 
 in some hearts ; at least an earnest desire to 
 know more was awakened, as the following letter 
 signed by two soldiers of the line will testify : — 
 
 " Mademoiselle, — Excusez je vous prie la liberty que 
 deux, soldats prennent en vous addressant ces quelques 
 lignes c'est non seulement par respect mais aussi par 
 devoir car depuis que nous frequentons vos petites 
 reunions nous avons pu, grace a Dieu, ouviir les yeux a 
 la lumiere. C'est vi^ai Mademoiselle n'ayant ete 6lev4t 
 dans aucun sentiment religieux nous n'avons pu nous 
 rendre compte de ce qu'^tait la bonte de Jesus mais 
 aujourd'liui Christ a eu pitie de nous, c'est pourquoi 
 Mademoiselle nous venons implorer votre secours afin 
 de pourvoir nous instruu-e sur la Bible et pouvoir 
 embrasser la vraie religion. Croyez bien Mademoiselle 
 que si nous nous permettons cette petite liberte c'est 
 que nous avons foi dans votre zele et dans votre grand e 
 bonte a nous enseigner ces belles v^rites qui nous ont 
 6t6 si longtemps cacliees. Nous avons I'esp^rance 
 
WILLING LEARNERS. 35 
 
 Mademoiselle que vous voudrez bien nous accorder la 
 Bible dans un plus grand format afin que nous puissions 
 prendre connaissance de ces belles Veritas contenues 
 dans I'Evangile." 
 
 Translation. 
 "Pray excuse the liberty wliicli two poor soldiers 
 take in sending you these few lines. We do it not only 
 out of gratitude, but as a duty; for since we have 
 attended your little meetings, our eyes have been opened, 
 by God's grace, to see the light. It is, alas ! true. 
 Mademoiselle, that not having been brought up with 
 any religious impressions, we have never really thought 
 about the love of Jesus, but now Christ has had mercy 
 upon us, this is why we beg your assistance in order 
 that we may receive Bible teaching, and be enabled to 
 embrace the true religion. Best assured, Mademoiselle, 
 that we only allow ourselves to take this liberty because 
 we have confidence in your great kindness, and in your 
 willingness to teach us those grand truths which have 
 been so long hidden from us. We hope you will kindly 
 supply us with a larger edition of the Bible, so that we 
 may learn more about the precious truths contained in 
 the gospel." 
 
 Other interesting details might be given of the 
 work when the mission was as yet quite in its 
 infancy, but we will pass on. At the end of the 
 first year a fresh anxiety arose for the devoted 
 labourer, the funds supplied by the Society of 
 
36 WILLING LEARNERS. 
 
 Friends had come to an end, and having under- 
 taken to support a mission at Boulogne sur Seine, 
 they could not give further help at Paris. What 
 was to be done? Miss de Broen felt constrained 
 to carry on the work, and the need of money was 
 laid before the Lord in prayer. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
Seigneur Jesus ! du haut de ta demeure, 
 De tes enfans vols les efforts nouveaux : 
 En mille lieux vois-les a la meme heure 
 Te priant tous de benir leurs travaux. 
 
 Elle jaunit la campagne du monde ; 
 Mais ce beau champ manque de moissonneurs 
 Sur ta bonte tout notre espoir se fonde : 
 Seconde, 6 Dieu ! seconde nos labeurs. 
 
 Oui, de toi seul nous attendons la vie ; 
 Point de succes sans ton puissant secours, 
 Fais done briller, selon ta propheiie, 
 Sur ta Sion 1' eclat des derniers jours ! 
 
 Saints messagers ! qui portez la lumiere, 
 En tons climats proclamez le Sauveur ; 
 II faut planter sa celeste banniere, 
 Get etendard de paix et de bonheur. 
 
 Dites aux morts : Kevenez a la vie ! 
 Aux criminels annoncez le pardon ; 
 Aux rachetes ouvrez la bergerie ; 
 Eassemblez-les dans la sainte Sion. 
 
"He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." — 
 PSA. xl. 2. 
 
 'HE answer came, but in a most unex- 
 pected way. A friend, in writing to 
 Miss de Broen from England, men- 
 tioned that she had received a letter 
 from a gentleman (then in America), in which he 
 spoke of his visit to her mission at Belleville ; and 
 she added, " His impression having been that 
 you need more money to carry it on, I am willing 
 to give some help." 
 
 Encouraged by this promise, as well as by 
 the advice of some well-known and experienced 
 Christians in London, Miss de Broen went forward 
 step by step, always desiring that it might be a 
 work of faith. During the waiting time, of which 
 we spoke at the beginning of this book, she had 
 learnt some lessons which helped to strengthen 
 her faith. One thing which the Lord shewed her 
 
40 STEP BY STEP. 
 
 at that time was, that He sometimes uses us as 
 instruments in order to respond to the faith of 
 others whom we have never seen. 
 
 One day, when passing along a small street in 
 St Giles, Miss de Broen saw a little child crying 
 bitterly. She went up to it, and said kindly, 
 ''Are you cold?" "No." ''Are you hungry?" 
 "Yes." She looked about for a baker's shop, but 
 there was not one near. Just then a man passed 
 carrying a loaf. She went up to him, and said, 
 "Will you give me part of that loaf?" The man 
 looked distressed. "I will pay you for it," she 
 added quickly, and put double its worth into the 
 man's hand. "Ah, ma'am," he said, "you don't 
 know what you are doing. I have seven children 
 at home, and a sick wife, but she is a godly 
 woman. The little ones were crying for bread, 
 and I could stand it no longer, so I determined to 
 get it somehow (meaning to steal it). My wife 
 begged me not to do it, then I got work enough to 
 buy one loaf, and now you have given me money 
 for two !" 
 
 Miss de Broen said, " I could only feel that 
 God had put it into my heart to comfort the cry- 
 ing child, and was in this way answering the 
 prayer of the needy woman, by making it the 
 means of the man being able to get more bread." 
 
 But to return to our story. Miss de Broen 
 
STEP BY STEP. 41 
 
 found that the work was increasing so rapidly, 
 that she determined to live in Belleville in order 
 not to have to go to and fro from Paris ; so she 
 took a house, and invited ladies to come over from 
 England and help her. From that time she has 
 had a little hand of voluntary workers always 
 with her, who devote their time and strength to 
 the work. It is like one happy family, for they 
 are all partakers of the same faith and hope, and 
 all delight in working for their Saviour. 
 
 Are there not often one or two in a large family 
 who, having already given their hearts to the 
 Lord, might he spared for the work ? Could not 
 some devote three months at least during the 
 winter, if they could not remain longer? None 
 need plead lack of gifts, there is work for all. In 
 a mission Hke this, all can do something. If they 
 are not the head, they may be the mouth, and if 
 they are not the mouth, yet they may be the hand 
 or the foot. In the winter especially, when the 
 sewing-classes are being carried on, there is work 
 enough for willing hands, in the way of cutting 
 out or preparing the needlework for the three 
 hundred women who attend every week. Then 
 there is the lending library, with its eight hundred 
 volumes to be covered, and labelled, and mended, 
 and kept in order. Then there are the night 
 schools, with about sixty men and boys, and eighty 
 
42 STEP BY STEP. 
 
 girls. Besides reading and writing, they also 
 learn English, which they are anxious to know, 
 in order that they may take better situations. No 
 special gifts are required for this branch of the 
 work, and yet it is one way of influencing them 
 for good. 
 
 Then for those who delight in visiting the poor, 
 in Bible-classes, or in telling again and again the- 
 old, old story, there is ample scope. The fields 
 are white already to harvest ; there are open doors 
 on every side, not only willing, but eager listeners ; 
 it is almost as if every one who has once heard the 
 gospel at the meeting were saying, " Come and 
 teach me ; it is all new to me, I have never heard 
 it before." Every visit, every class, every meet- 
 ing has its special interest ; indeed, in all its 
 branches the whole work is deeply interesting. 
 
 Sometimes parents are unwilling to give up 
 their daughters, even for a short period. One 
 gentleman was constrained to let his daughter go 
 to Miss de Broen, from being struck by the verse 
 on the leaflet about the mission, entitled, '* The 
 Gospel in Paris " — 
 
 " I gave My life for thee, 
 
 My precious blood I shed, 
 That thou might'st ransomed be, 
 And quickened from the dead ; 
 I gave my life for thee, 
 What hast thou given for Me?" 
 
STEP BY STEP. 43 
 
 After reading these lines, tears came into his eyes, 
 and he said, " This is what Jesus has done for 
 me, and I have refused to give up my child to 
 work for Him ; she shall go." Even after she had 
 begun the work, her relatives remonstrated, say- 
 ing, "When she is disappointed in love, or when 
 she is left a widow, and has no children, then let 
 her come ! " How ready we are to offer to the 
 Lord our worn-out services, or the fag-end of our 
 life, when the world ceases to attract ! Some of 
 the poor j)eople are impressed with the sight of 
 many of the workers being thus willing to devote 
 their best days to doing good to others. Let 
 us not offer to the Lord that which costs us 
 nothing. 
 
 About two years after the work in Belleville 
 was first begun by Miss de Broen, she engaged 
 an evangelist to come and take the Gospel ad- 
 dresses, and to labour among the people, and 
 he has been there ever since. He was a colpor- 
 teur at Paris, and had been most successful in 
 gathering the workmen together at their dinner- 
 hour, and speaking to them. He is much respected 
 and deeply beloved by all who know him at Belle- 
 ville. His visits are appreciated, and yet he never 
 gives relief of any kind ; this is his rule, and he 
 keeps to it. He is certainly the right man in the 
 right place, and God has prepared him for it in 
 
44 STEP BY STEP. 
 
 a variety of ways. He is a native of Brussels, 
 and the early part of his life was spent there. 
 He was a devout Eoman Catholic, and used some- 
 times to go on a pilgrimage of fifty miles barefoot. 
 As a youth, he had to suffer many privations. On 
 one occasion he relates that, having had no work, 
 he gladly picked up a potato which had been 
 thrown to the pigs, and ate it. Then he was 
 drawn to serve as a soldier in the Crimean war. A 
 sermon preached by a French pasteur at Brussels 
 was the first thing which impressed him, so he 
 began to read the Bible, and was so anxious to know 
 the truth, that he studied it night and day for ten 
 years ; at the same time, he says, that it was his 
 earnest prayer, that he might not become a Protes- 
 tant. At last clear conviction of the errors of 
 the Eoman Catholic church forced him to leave 
 it, and about twenty years ago he became a 
 Protestant. 
 
 He is thus able to deal with the people in all 
 their difficulties, and when needful, to enter into 
 controversy with them. Having lived at Paris 
 for the last thirty years, he has seen three revolu- 
 tions, and thoroughly understands the character 
 of the people. 
 
 His addresses are very striking ; he has great 
 confidence in the power of God's Word, and does 
 not like a string of narratives. His illustrations 
 
STEP BY STEP. 45 
 
 are all drawn from everyday life, and are thus 
 readily understood by the people. 
 
 He conducts two meetings on Sunday, one on 
 Monday evening, and another on Thursday even- 
 ing. There is generally an attendance of about 
 three hundred men and women. He often speaks 
 to the patients when assembled in the waiting-room 
 at the dispensary. He sometimes says to them, 
 *' I do not forget that I have to do here with poor 
 sick people," and then after reading a portion of 
 Scripture, he talks to them so tenderly, and yet so 
 faithfully, that often many are in tears. He can 
 sympathise with the sick and suffering, for when 
 young he had bad health, and was twelve times in 
 the hospital. 
 
 I remarked to him one day that he must have a 
 great deal to do, "Yes," he replied, "I am like 
 some one who is in haste, for the time is short." 
 Then he went on to say, " We must work simply 
 as in God's sight, never forgetting that He can do 
 it all without us, and yet on the other hand feeling 
 it an honour to be 'fellow-workers with Him.' 
 How little we understand of the way in which 
 God works in the soul." 
 
 He is advanced in years, and one can only pray 
 that he may still be spared for some time to carry 
 on the work in which God has already blessed him 
 so abundantly, and for which he is so well adapted. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 %ilUbHh in 1877. 
 
Sur la croix quel amour ! O'divines pensees ! 
 La justice et la paix se sont entre-baisees ; 
 La justice outragee et qui devait punir, 
 Et cette paix du ciel la soif du repentir. 
 
 Quand je vois mon peclie, je suis rempli de crainte, 
 Et rien dans I'univers ne repond a ma plainte ; 
 Mais sur la croix j'entends proclamer, chagne jour, 
 A tout peclie pardon, a toute crainte amour. 
 
 Oui toujours je t'oflfense et toujours tu pardonnes, 
 Ni le mal que je fais, ni les biens que tu donnes, 
 Ne se pourraient compter ; et tu changes Seigneur, 
 Ma supreme misere en supreme bonheur. 
 
" Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, 
 upon them that hope in His mercy ; to deliver their soul from 
 death, and to keep them alive in famine." — Psa. xxxiii. 18, 19. 
 
 jHINKING that it may interest my readers, 
 I will try and describe what came under 
 my notice respecting the mode of life 
 and condition of the people among 
 whom Miss de Broen is working. During this 
 month of September in which I am writing, the 
 poverty and destitution all round us are simply 
 appalling. This may be traced to two causes — 
 
 1. The unsettled state of the present govern- 
 ment. 
 
 2. The great reduction in exportation, owing to 
 the depression in trade in foreign countries, in 
 Russia and America more especially. 
 
 Ever since the Coup d'etat on the 16th of May 
 last and the subsequent dissolution of the Chamber, 
 the government has been so unsettled that the 
 
50 BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 
 
 large warehouses, not wishing for an accumulation 
 of goods in case of disturbance, have not laid in 
 their usual stock during the summer season, and 
 thus a number of workpeople have been thrown 
 out of employment, and those who are retained 
 only receive half their usual wages, but are glad 
 to remain even on these conditions, rather than 
 be without work like so many others. 
 
 The effects of this stagnation in the larger 
 branches of trade are felt in the smaller ones also, 
 and react specially on Belleville, this being the 
 quartier of Paris where the workpeople of the 
 great city are congregated. The population of 
 Belleville, numbering some fifty thousand, is 
 composed almost entirely of petty tradesmen, and 
 of artisans employed either by the day or engaged 
 in a variety of small trades at home. 
 
 Among those I visited were makers of feathers 
 and feather trimming, artificial flowers, buttons, 
 fringes, combs, brushes, and various ohjeU cle luxe. 
 
 Numbers of these articles are made for expor- 
 tation, but this being also at a low ebb (as I 
 mentioned above), there is no demand for them 
 at present. 
 
 Even when it can be had, the payment given for 
 needlework is not a living. One franc (tenpence) 
 per day is all that can be earned by an active 
 woman, whose husband is either dead or in prison 
 
BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 51 
 
 as a Communist, and who has probably little 
 children depending on her ; and this in the face 
 of higher prices than the poor of London have to 
 contend with, both as to food and rent, in conse- 
 quence of the heavy taxation since the war. 
 
 The 14th of October, the day fixed for the elec- 
 tions, is looked forward to most eagerly by the 
 people, and we trust that work will no longer be 
 so scarce after that ; but even then the struggle 
 will not be over. For the last seven years the 
 poor of Paris have been more or less under the 
 crushing hand of poverty ; in fact, ever since 
 Miss de Broen began to work among them, she 
 has found numbers of families in want and 
 distress. 
 
 It must be clearly understood that this dire 
 poverty is not the result of either drunkenness or 
 idleness, as is, alas ! the general rule in our 
 populous towns in England. Drinking is not the 
 curse of the people, as it is with us ; cases of intoxi- 
 cation in Paris are the exception, though since the 
 siege they have been on the increase, many having 
 thus vainly tried to forget their misery. Thus 
 the French workman has a clear head and sharp 
 wits, his beverage, which is generally the light 
 red wine of the country, having none of the stupe- 
 fying, degrading effects of malt liquor when taken 
 in any quantity. 
 
52 BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 
 
 Then as to the other cause of poverty, — unwil- 
 lingness to work, — this is not one of their faults. 
 As a people, they are naturally industrious ; most 
 of the women have learnt some small trade while 
 young, and are thus able to do something towards 
 the support of the family. 
 
 It is sad to see numbers who are unwilling to eat 
 the bread of idleness, forced to do so through lack 
 of employment. Many walk about for hours vainly 
 seeking for work, which they are ready to do, but 
 which is not to be found. Only those who go in 
 and out among them can have any idea of the 
 distress. Many of the more respectable ones 
 conceal it as long as possible, and even when they 
 speak of it they often add, " But we do not wish it 
 known." Meanwhile the mission-workers notice 
 that one piece of furniture after another is disap- 
 pearing, then the little home begins to look bare, 
 and very soon another is sought where the rent is 
 lower, because there is only one room, and even 
 that is out of repair. Then one article of clothing 
 after another follows the furniture to the Mont 
 de Piete (pawnbrokers),* and the worst is, that 
 
 * Some of my readers may not be acquainted with the origin 
 of the institution of the Mont de Pletd, so I give the following 
 quotation from an account of Bernardino of Sienna, who lived 
 in the beginning of the fifteenth century : — " One of the 
 attributes with which he is represented, is the Monte di Pieta, 
 a little green hill composed of three mounds, and on the top 
 
BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 53 
 
 hundreds of families being reduced to these 
 extremities, the pawnshop is now so overstocked, 
 that in many cases fresh appHcations, if they be 
 not very advantageous ones, are refused; and 
 thus, when this last resource fails, they are well- 
 nigh driven to despair ! 
 
 Many of the people are literally starving. So 
 fearful is the distress, that several have been 
 on the very verge of self-destruction. Indeed, 
 only a week ago, a man living within a few doors 
 of the Dispensary was in such great want, that he 
 could bear it no longer, so he put an end to his 
 existence by suffocating himself with the fumes of 
 charcoal, and was found dead in his room. Two 
 days after this another man, only in the next 
 street, committed suicide for the same reason. It 
 is scarcely needful to add, that had we only known 
 of these cases in time, every effort would have been 
 made on their behalf, though the lady visitors are 
 already quite overwhelmed with the distress which 
 
 either a cross or a standard on which is the figure of the Saviour, 
 usually called in Italy a Piet^. He is said to have been the 
 founder of the institution still called in France Mont de Pi^t^, 
 originally for the purpose of lending to the very poor small sums 
 on trifling pledges, what we should now call a Loan Society, and 
 which in their commencement were purely disinterested and bene- 
 ficial. In every city which he visited as a preacher he founded 
 a Monte di Pieta, and before his death these institutions had 
 spread aU over Italy and through a great part of France." 
 
54 BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 
 
 they have witnessed daily during the past year, 
 and which it is impossible to relieve by private 
 means. 
 
 The question will be raised at once, "Why do 
 they not go into the Union ? " There is no 
 institution in Paris answering to our workhouse, 
 and there are no poor-rates. The parish relief 
 which in our country is dispensed impartially to 
 all who need it, is chiefly in the hands of the 
 Sisters of Mercy, who give or withhold it as it 
 pleases them. In fact, ever since the sad days of 
 the Commune, the poor of Belleville have seen 
 very little either of the sisters or the priests, 
 being looked upon as unworthy of their succour 
 and pity. 
 
 It is a case of " give a dog a bad name, and 
 hang him," for politically the conduct of these 
 people during the last six years has been all that 
 could be desired. 
 
 The police, who regard the mission merely from 
 a social point of view, frequently say to the 
 workers, " You are helping us : you are moral- 
 izing the people : there is improvement already : 
 it is a good work." 
 
 Paris has its charitable organisations, but they 
 can scarcely meet such a need as the present 
 one. There are almshouses for the aged, but the 
 applicants on the books waiting for admission are 
 
BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 55 
 
 SO numerous, that many have but little hope of 
 success. In some cases they wait two years, that 
 is, if they do not die in the meantime. 
 
 Of late years the number of suicides in Paris 
 has increased to an appalling extent. In 1873 it 
 is computed that jive thousand committed suicide, 
 while in 1822 there were tivo hundred. One man 
 told the evangelist that his wife and children 
 were starving, because he had no work, and that 
 he was on the point of committing suicide, *' but," 
 he added, " I happened to open the Bible, my eye 
 fell on that passage which tells of judgment to 
 come, and I dared not rush unprepared into the 
 presence of the Judge." 
 
 That number, five thousand, is most startling ; 
 but let us remember their condition, "without 
 God, and having no hope," added to this the 
 misery of seeing their wives and children starving, 
 and having no work, their own life has become a 
 burden to them. 
 
 The question comes home. Would not many of 
 these five thousand have recoiled with horror at 
 the thought of such a deed, if they had known 
 what the Bible says of "the life of the world to 
 come" ? The light of God's AVord having always 
 been withheld from them, many of them thought 
 no doubt that " the future could not be ivorse than 
 the present." 
 
d6 BELLEVILLE IN 1877. 
 
 In England we too often see that poverty and 
 wastefulness go hand in hand, but the French 
 housewife is a good manager, as we shall see in 
 the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
A WIFE'S PRAYER FOR HER HUSBAND. 
 
 Lord, he is weak, and cannot stand alone ; 
 I dread his falling 'neath a world's cold frown : 
 O hold him in Thy hand, Thou Mighty One. 
 Hold Thou him up ! 
 
 Help him to work right gladly as to Thee, 
 And make him always good and kind to me, 
 And in his face may I Thy image see 
 
 Reflected bright ! 
 
 Thou knowest all the toil he daily bears, 
 Thou knowest all his worries, griefs, and cares, 
 And Satan's arts to catch him, and his snares ; 
 Hold Thou him up ! 
 
 Lest any hurt him, keep him night and day ; 
 Lead him in Thine own paths ; be Thou his stay. 
 And ever guide him, lest he go astray ; 
 
 Hold Thou him up ! 
 
 And may I, Lord, his help-meet ever be, 
 A faithful wife while here Thou sparest me ; 
 Until Thou callest us to dwell with Thee, 
 Lord, hold us up ! 
 
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. " — 
 
 ECCLESIASTES ix. 10. 
 
 jOWEVEE poor, the French mother of a 
 family looks far more respectable than 
 the English one in exactly the same 
 circumstances, ay, and even with less 
 to spend on her attire. Let us look at her as she 
 goes out with a basket upon her arm either to the 
 shop or market. Her dress, which is of some dark 
 stout material, is made with a full plain skirt, and 
 a loose jacket ; perhaps she may wear a blue striped 
 apron, which she will not fail to put on if her dress 
 be shabby in front. A hole is never allowed, but 
 she will patch and mend till the very last. The 
 petticoat is also tidy, though in some cases it has 
 become literally a coat of many colours, being 
 patched with a variety of pieces. What is her head 
 gear ? Not a small pretence of a bonnet, with soiled 
 ribbon and flowers, but a snow-white muslin cap, 
 
60 HOME-LIFE. 
 
 with strings tied either behind or under the chin ; 
 and oh ! how becoming it is ! In the winter (and 
 in Paris the cold is severe), she wears a merino 
 hood, which looks so comfortable, and it is no 
 doubt a preventive against neuralgia and many 
 other aches. But we must inspect her from head 
 to foot. As she trips along, we notice her stout 
 leather boots, and if we catch sight of her stock- 
 ings (which we may easily do, as the dress is not 
 allowed to sweep the streets), we shall see that 
 they are knitted by her own fingers. What 
 French hands have done, English hands may 
 still do. 
 
 Having drawn a picture of the French mother 
 among the working-classes, let us look at the 
 young woman as she goes either to church on 
 Sunday or to her place of business. Her dress, 
 which is made without trimming of any sort, fits 
 her beautifully; she wears neither hat nor bonnet, 
 but her hair is so neatly arranged that no other 
 ornament is needed. 
 
 The children, too, look tidy, for a checked blue 
 pinafore, with sleeves fastened at the wrist, covers 
 the dress entirely, and is easily washed. Then 
 instead of a straw hat, which is so soon in pieces, 
 they wear nothing on the head, excepting in the 
 winter, and then they appear in a hood. 
 
 The French mother understands so well the 
 
HOME -LIFE. 61 
 
 maxim, '' What can't be done by pushing or striv- 
 ing, may oft be done by a little contriving." 
 
 For instance, we know one woman who is very 
 poor, and has only one set of miderclothing. How 
 does she manage? Well, she rises very early, 
 before anyone is astir, and washes, and dries, and 
 irons, and makes as good an appearance as if she 
 had a stock of clothes. We must admit that the 
 supply of water at Paris is much more plentiful 
 than in London, and even in the poorest quarters 
 there are public baths at a low price. 
 
 In visiting the poor at Belleville, I was surprised 
 never to find them in the midst of washing, or to 
 see clothes hanging out to dry. 
 
 When I went to see a Lavoir, or public wash- 
 house, then the mystery was divulged. The 
 unpleasant process of washing is not accom- 
 plished here by magic any more than in England ! 
 No, — there were the tubs and the soap-suds, and 
 about a hundred women rubbing and beating 
 and rinsing. The charge per hour is one half- 
 penny, and two-pence for six hours, and they pay 
 a halfpenny for every tub of hot water ; there is a 
 drying place also. This is a great saving of labour 
 and of firing, and is a special boon, when, as is 
 often the case, one room is the abode of a whole 
 family. 
 
 The French cookery is proverbial, and even the 
 
62 HOME-LIFE. 
 
 very poor seem to understand the art. About two 
 hundred years ago, when the Huguenots (French 
 Protestants) were compelled to take refuge in 
 England on account of religious persecutions, 
 they gave us one good hint at least on the sub- 
 ject. Until then ox tails had been thrown aside 
 as useless, but they made them into excellent 
 soup. The poor in Paris can seldom afford meat, 
 but when able, they buy odd pieces, which they 
 dress so daintily as to make quite a savoury dish. 
 Their staple dish consists of soup made from 
 bones, with plenty of vegetables in it ; and if they 
 cannot get bones, they substitute pieces of bread 
 soaked in hot water, with fat or grease. They use 
 haricot beans very plentifully, and cook them in 
 a variety of ways ; they are most nourishing. In 
 the summer, they make a small fire of wood and 
 charcoal on a tripod, which is put out when the 
 cooking is done. It is a popular idea that the 
 French are not good mothers, but the workers 
 here, who have every opportunity of seeing the 
 state of things, tell me that this is quite a mis- 
 take. With rare exceptions, the children are well 
 cared for and kindly treated, and in time of want 
 the parents often deprive themselves of food, in 
 order to give it to them. 
 
 During the last few months of extreme poverty 
 the medical missionary has sometimes refrained 
 
HOME -LIFE. 63 
 
 from giving tonics to the poor people, because 
 they only create an appetite. One woman, whose 
 husband is transported, being asked how she was, 
 said, '' I am better, but so hungry ; I feel as if I 
 could eat anything, but I must keep the bread for 
 the children." 
 
 The sewing-classes instituted by Miss de Broen, 
 when she began the mission in the autumn of 
 1871, have been carried on ever since, and there 
 are some who tell us, with evident satisfaction, 
 that they have attended from the first. In 1873 
 the numbers had increased so much that many 
 had to be sent away, the room where they 
 assembled being too small to accommodate all. 
 
 One cold wintry day when the snow was on the 
 ground, those standing outside were squeezed in 
 somehow or another, till a hundred and forty-five 
 were assembled. Then the lady presiding over 
 the meeting was so touched by the half-starved, 
 pinched look of the poor women, that she con- 
 trived to give them each some coffee and bread 
 before they dispersed. This was quite a surprise, 
 and when told to put away the sewing half-an- 
 hour before the time, they were puzzled to know 
 the reason. It came out afterwards that some 
 thought they were all to be searched for a reel of 
 cotton which had been missing on the previous 
 occasion ! 
 
64 HOME-LIFE 
 
 The sewing-classes are now held in the Iron 
 Eoom on Tuesdays and Fridays from one o'clock 
 till four P.M. The object is to give employment to 
 the aged and to those in real need. Material is 
 provided, and fivepence is paid to each for the 
 three hours' work. 
 
 Many poor widows are almost entirely sup- 
 ported by this means. One of them was found 
 with Hterally nothing in her room, not a chair nor 
 a table, and with only a sack to he on, borrowed 
 from a neighbour. Another, who was starving, 
 was saved from death by being told of this class, 
 and of course obtained special rehef. Many wait 
 an hour at the door before it is opened. The five- 
 pence is given in tickets for meat or bread. Many 
 ask for the latter, because they have no fire to 
 cook the meat. 
 
 During the first hour the Bible is read and 
 explained, with hymns and prayer. As there are 
 about two hundred women each time, the expense 
 is very great, being an outlay of about ^30 per 
 month. This is considered the most desirable 
 way of dispensing the charity of the mission. It 
 would be a great help if friends would buy the 
 clothing thus made, and either give it for the 
 poor at Belleville, or distribute it among their 
 own people. 
 
 The sewing-class is only open during the winter 
 
HOME-LIFE. b.) 
 
 months, but there is a mothers' meeting the rest 
 of the year. On Wednesday evening Miss de 
 Broen has a Bible-class for men and women ; and 
 many are so anxious to know the Bible, that they 
 are ready both to ask and answer questions, 
 which is the best way of learning. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 mjt meets of (Bo&'s moti. 
 
"ABSOLVO TE."* 
 
 Jesus said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace. 
 Luke vii. 50. 
 
 One Priest alone can pardon sin, 
 
 Or bid me " Go in peace," 
 Or breathe that word, " Absolvo te," 
 
 And make these heart-throbs cease. 
 My soul has heard His priestly voice, 
 It said, '* I bore thy sins : Rejoice." 
 
 He shewed the spear-mark in His side, 
 
 The nail-prints on His palm : 
 Said, " Look on Me, the Crucified. 
 
 Why tremble thus ? Be calm ! 
 All power is mine ; I set thee free, 
 Be not afraid ;" Absolvo te." 
 
 In chains of sin once tied and bound, 
 
 I walk in life and light ; 
 Each spot I tread is hallow'd ground. 
 
 Whilst Him I keep in sight 
 Who died a victim on the tree, 
 Tliat He might say " Absolvo te." 
 
 A girded Levite here below, 
 
 I willing service bring. 
 And fain would tell to all I know 
 
 Of Christ the Priestly King ; 
 Would win all hearts from sin to flee, 
 And hear Him say "Absolvo te." 
 
 " A little while," and He shall come 
 
 Forth from the inner shrine. 
 To call His pardoned brethren home ; 
 
 O bliss supreme, divine ! 
 When every blood-bought child shall see 
 The Priest who said " Absolvo te." 
 
 * " Absolvo te " (I absolve thee) are the words used by the Roman Catholic 
 priest when he assumes the divine prerogative of forgiving sin. 
 
" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the 
 testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple : the 
 statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the com- 
 mandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes,"— Psa. 
 xix. 7, 8. 
 
 T is difficult for those who have had the 
 Bible in their homes all their lives to 
 enter into the feelings of those who 
 possess it for the first time, or to realise 
 what it is to them when they first hear it read 
 and explained. Some describe the effect of God's 
 Word taking hold of them as if their whole being 
 had been stirred mightily, to others it comes like 
 a light streaming into their dark hearts, or like 
 good tidings of great joy. Some, like the blind 
 man, can only say, " One thing I know, that 
 whereas I was blind, now I see." There is such 
 reality in all whose hearts are awakened, or whose 
 interest is stirred. They can only tell what they 
 feel in their own simple way. They know none 
 of the set phrases of religion which have, alas ! 
 
70 THE EFFECTS OF GOd's WORD. 
 
 become such current coin in England as almost to 
 have lost their true ring. They often express it 
 thus : " Je suis change, tout est change, ma vie est 
 chang^e." (''I am changed, all is changed, my 
 life is changed.") And it is a fact, for with them 
 faith and works go hand in hand — 
 
 " So let our lips and lives express 
 The holy Gospel we profess." 
 
 They really love the Bible ; the truth is to them 
 like a treasure-trove. One woman said to me, 
 "I never go to bed without reading God's Word, 
 and I always put it under my pillow; I like to 
 have it close, it gives me such peace and comfort." 
 Many others do the same. Then they not only 
 read it themselves, but they teach it to their 
 children ; family prayer becomes a regular prac- 
 tice in the home. They do not keep the good 
 news to themselves, but they speak of it to the 
 neighbours, and entreat them to attend the meet- 
 ing. Their desire seems to be that others should 
 share their happiness. 
 
 A poor woman who came to the dispensary 
 expressed a great longing to have a Testament, 
 but had not enough money to pay for one ; how- 
 ever, she brought what she had, and the remainder 
 was made up by the gift of another poor woman 
 who, having bought a Testament for herself, left 
 fivepence, saying, '' Let it help some one else to 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 71 
 
 get one." It is touching how they try to help one 
 another in distress, giving out of their poverty. 
 
 Again and again when the question is asked, 
 "What impressed you at the meeting?" the 
 answer is, " C'^tait la Parole de Dieu." (" It was 
 God's Word.") They listen to it as a message 
 from God himself to their souls. 
 
 One dear woman collects all the children living 
 near, and brings them in a band of eight or ten 
 to the Sunday-school, hearing them their verses 
 on the way. To her great delight a class has now 
 been given to her there. ''I should like to be 
 helping forward God's work every day," she said 
 to me. She is one who has already received the 
 Lord's Supper, and several are asking to do so. 
 
 The demand for Bibles is so great that it would 
 be impossible to give them, so the people buy them 
 at a reduced price ; but some being too poor even 
 to do this, about two dozen New Testaments have 
 been put into the lending library, and they are 
 always out. They do not read it as a duty, but 
 they value it as the Word of God, "which is able 
 to make them wise unto salvation." They do not 
 keep it as a book for Sunday only, but often have 
 it at hand when they are working. One woman 
 declined a tract offered by the lady visitor, saying, 
 " I do not need a tract now, for I have a Bible." 
 
 In order to help the young men who are mem- 
 
72 THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 
 
 bers of the Bible-class held every Saturday 
 evening, reference Bibles have been lent to 
 them, and they take pleasure in using them and 
 comparing passages. 
 
 We must not forget that for the people here to 
 come forward as Evangeliques (lit. Gospellers), as 
 they call themselves, is no light matter. Even 
 those who are simply readers of the Bible have 
 to count the cost. Their path is by no means 
 smooth or easy, but often beset with difficulties 
 and even with persecution. It is no small 
 sacrifice even in a temporal point of view, for 
 they probably lose any gifts dispensed by the 
 Sisters of Charity, and are despised by their 
 neighbours. 
 
 One woman being told that if she went to hear 
 the gospel any more, she would receive no more 
 relief, replied, " Cela m'est egal, j' aime mieux 
 venir pour I'Evangile que de recevoir leurs dons." 
 (" I do not mind ; the gospel is dearer to me than 
 their gifts.") 
 
 The aim of the mission is primarily to lead the 
 people to Christ by teaching them that He is the 
 only Saviour and the only Mediator. The work 
 is purely evangelistic. As soon as the light of 
 the gospel shines into a soul, the result is, that 
 of their own accord they leave the old form of 
 religion for the reality found in the simple gospel. 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 73 
 
 Being convinced of the error, they rejoice in the 
 truth, and are thankful to receive bread for their 
 souls instead of poison. 
 
 In many cases, especially during this time of 
 poverty, we can truly say that " they have 
 received the Word in much affliction, with joy of 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 ''Ah!" said one who had often been in want 
 of food, and sometimes even in danger of starva- 
 tion, "it is so different to bear hunger with 
 Christ, and to bear hunger without Christ." 
 
 At the close of one of the meetings a woman 
 stayed behind. She was evidently under deep 
 impressions, and asked earnestly, "What must 
 I do to be saved ? " It was the first time she 
 had heard the gospel, and of her own accord 
 she knelt down and cried for mercy. Three or 
 four weeks after this she found mercy, and 
 became a true Christian. Some time afterwards 
 one of the w^orkers, not knowing her history, 
 asked her after one of the meetings if she had 
 understood w^hat had been said about the gospel. 
 " Ah ! " she replied, " I see you don't know that I 
 found my fortune here /" and yet she a very poor 
 woman, and often in want of food. 
 
 But it is not all equally encouraging. The 
 evangelist told me that in one of his visits he 
 went to see a cabinetmaker, and after some con- 
 
74 THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD.. 
 
 versation, the wife having said that she was a 
 Protestant, he asked if they had a Bible. " Oh 
 yes," was her reply. ''But where is it?" he 
 inquired. " Somewhere up there," said the man, 
 pointing to a pile of furniture. After some search 
 the Bible was found, and was lifted down, wrapped 
 in a calico covering. The scissors were then 
 brought into use, for the fact was, the cover was 
 sewn up ! This being undone, the wife pro- 
 duced a beautiful Bible, with marked satisfaction. 
 "But," said the evangelist, "this book is of no 
 use to you unless you read it;" and then he 
 began to speak to them, solemnly about God. 
 Whereupon the woman, laying her hand on her 
 husband's shoulder, said, " Mon bon dieu, c'est 
 lui." (" My husband is my god.") 
 
 " If that is the case," said the evangelist, " your 
 god will be taken from you, for it is a god of flesh." 
 
 After saying a few solemn words, he left. Less 
 than a month afterwards, when passing the house, 
 he saw the woman, and was going in, when she 
 burst out furiously, " Go away, you have been the 
 cause of my loss." Then he learned the solemn 
 fact, that since his last visit her husband had been 
 taken from her, having died after a short illness. 
 
 The Iron Building was opened in June 1876, 
 amidst great rejoicing, and the full meetings and 
 large classes gathered there from that time prove 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 75 
 
 how greatly it was needed. Should my readers 
 ask whether this be still the case, I would refer 
 them to the summary of the mission work given at 
 the end of this book, and they will see that week- 
 days as well as Sunday it is fully utilised. In 
 fact, the whole mission work is carried on there, 
 with the exception of the medical mission, and 
 meetings in connection with a low district, to be 
 mentioned presently. 
 
 The money spent upon it was certainly well 
 invested, and is bringing in high interest, as 
 regards benefit bestowed on the poor. In fact, the 
 whole mission is carried on with a minimum of 
 expenditure, and a maximum of good done. In 
 many cases, alas ! we see just the reverse. 
 
 The cost of the Iron Building, not including the 
 price of the land, was i6700, to which must be 
 added £55, the charge for the duty on iron entering 
 France. 
 
 This sum was collected from poor as well as 
 rich, and was the result of much real generosity 
 and self-denial. How glad those kind helpers 
 would be if they could look in some afternoon or 
 evening, and see the well-lighted and comfortable 
 room filled with the poor, listening attentively to 
 the gospel, or singing some of the beautiful hymns. 
 
 It holds 400 in all, and is separated into girls' 
 school, infant school, and meeting-room, by divi- 
 
76 THE EFFECTS OF GOd's WORD. 
 
 sions which are easily folded back when the whole 
 space is required. The many visitors who have 
 seen it have but one opinion as to its excellent 
 arrangement and workmanship. It was con- 
 structed by Messrs Croggan & Co., of London, and 
 they sent over their own men to erect it. In fact, 
 the French workmen would have been fairly 
 puzzled had they been called in, for it is the only 
 iron building at Paris, excepting one at Passy, 
 which was also sent over from England ; and the 
 good people there fearing that it would tumble 
 down, have added large props outside ! Thus the 
 iron room at Belleville has been quite an object of 
 curiosity and interest to the people of Paris. 
 
 Amidst much steady improvem.ent and progress 
 in the work, those engaged in it are often saddened 
 when they see many still living without faith in 
 Christ, although they have heard the gospel for 
 several years. 
 
 Still, when one looks back upon what the 
 people were only six years ago. Miss de Broen 
 may certainly thank God and take courage. There 
 has been more self-restraint and social order. In 
 an address given three years ago, the President of 
 the Social Science Congress spoke of Communism 
 as one of the great facts of the age which ought to he 
 studied, but he did not indicate any cure for that 
 social disease. Perhaps the little band of workers 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 77 
 
 at Belleville who are quietly devoting their lives 
 to the mission, have, after all, solved the problem 
 which puzzled the great statesmen, not how to 
 stamp out Communism by main force, but how to 
 lead its agents away from a life of crime and 
 revolt, to something higher and nobler, by giving 
 them that Book which not only teaches self- 
 restraint, but also shews where and how the 
 needed grace may be obtained. 
 
 It may be asked. Why should not the French 
 Protestants carry on the mission among their own 
 people ? 
 
 We must acknowledge, alas ! that this is a time 
 when the cause of vital godliness is low in France. 
 Where once forty per cent, of the population were 
 counted on as Protestants, now there are barely 
 two per cent., and even in this small remnant 
 there are divisions. 
 
 It seems, therefore, as though help must come 
 from without. The following letter from a well- 
 known Frenchman shews how acceptable that 
 help has been : — 
 
 " Je m'estime heureux de joindre mon temoignage a 
 tons ceux qui ont deja recommande I'oeiivre de Miss de 
 Broen, et de payer, comme Frangais, ma dette de 
 gratitude a la Chretienne devou^e qui a ose, au lendemain 
 nieme de nos desastres, sur un terrain deux fois ravage 
 par la guerre et par la Commune, entrependre cette 
 
78 THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 
 
 cBuvre que Dieu a benie. Veuille le Seigneur conserver 
 
 a cette cliere sceur la force dont elle a besoin pour con- 
 
 tinuer cette ceuvre laborieuse, et puissent les Chretiens 
 
 de France, en voyant tout ce que nos cliers f reres Anglais 
 
 ont fait et font tous les jours pour repandre I'Evangile 
 
 dans notre j)ays, se sentir 6mus k jalousie, et contribuer 
 
 a leur tour aux charges d'une entreprise dont tous les 
 
 frais sont pour I'Angleterre et dont tous les fruits sont , 
 
 pour nous. 
 
 EOSSEEUW ST HILAIEE, 
 
 Be VInstitut de France.'''' 
 
 Translation. 
 
 " I am glad to join ray testimony to that of all who 
 have already recommended Miss de Broen's work, and, 
 as a Frenchman, to pay my debt of gratitude to the 
 devoted Christian who, on the very morrow of our 
 disasters, and upon a soil twice ravaged by war and by 
 the Commune, dared to undertake this work which God 
 has blessed. May the Lord preserve the strength 
 required by this dear sister to continue this arduous 
 labour, and may the Christians of France, seeing all that 
 our dear English brothers have done and are doing daily 
 to spread the Gospel in our country, be moved to 
 jealousy, and contribute in their turn to the expense of 
 an enterprise whose every cost is borne by England and 
 every fruit is reaped by us." 
 
 The last few years many of the French, and 
 those in large towns more especially, having lost 
 faith in " the religion of the priests," as they call 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD S WORD. 
 
 79 
 
 it, have become either lihrepenseiirs (free-thinkers), 
 or totally indifferent. For example, this is the 
 case as regards more than half of those whom the 
 workers come in contact with at the dispensary. 
 They say, " How can we believe in what the 
 priests teach. When they do not believe it them- 
 selves?" or, "The questions asked at confession 
 are disgusting." 
 
 The two points on which the priests insist, are 
 the confession and the sacrifice of the mass, 
 because it is in them they assert their priestly 
 power. 
 
 It is to be regretted that confession is compulsory 
 before the rite of marriage can be performed by 
 the church. As there are many men and women 
 who do not choose to confess, they can, by paying 
 30 francs (24s.), obtain a paper signed by the 
 priest stating that they have confessed ! 
 
 There is one other alternative; if they are willing 
 to be married at the Chapelle des Indigenes, the 
 above paper is supplied for one franc and-a-half, 
 but to pursue this course is in fact to declare 
 themselves paupers. As many shrink from this, 
 and yet cannot afford thirty francs, numberless 
 cases of immorality are the result. 
 
 Can we wonder that many should turn away 
 from such a system, in which, for the sake of money, 
 their so-called religions leaders openly lend their 
 
80 THE EFFECTS OF GOD'S WORD. 
 
 hand to a written lie, for it is very evident that 
 the paper thus signed by them is nothing else ? 
 
 Miss de Broen is thankful that many, through 
 hearing Gospel truths, have come forward to be 
 married. A poor woman, now dying, has begged 
 that the rite may be performed in her room, as 
 she cannot be happy until she has been married. 
 
 It is a current saying in France, *'Nous avons 
 une religion dans iaquelle Ton pent tout acheter." 
 ("We have a religion in which everything can be 
 had for the buying.") Many go so far as to say, 
 '' C'est une religion d'un Dieu qui s' achete." {" It 
 is a religion about a God who can be bought.") 
 Is it surprising that they should add almost with 
 bitterness, " It is a religion for the rich, and not 
 for the poor," for Jthey know full well that absolu- 
 tion, indulgences, masses for the dead, may all be 
 had by payment. 
 
 A poor little orphan boy, a member of the night 
 school, went one day to the priest to ask that some 
 prayers might be said for his poor mother, who 
 had recently died. 
 
 " The charge is ten francs," said the priest ; 
 *' have you the money ? " 
 
 " No," replied the boy, " but I will earn it, and 
 pay you later : do say the prayers ;" adding, with 
 tears in his eyes, " It was mother's last wish." 
 
 *'Ah!" said the priest, " that won't do. I have 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 81 
 
 been taken in so before, and I won't be taken in 
 again." 
 
 Before closing this chapter, we must mention the 
 gift which has been presented to every concierge 
 in Paris. Every house, however grand it may be, 
 is let out either in apartments or in flats ; that is, 
 one family occupies a suite of rooms on a floor. 
 Close to the front door there is a small room 
 where the concierge, or porter, is to be found, 
 whose business it is to inform visitors on which 
 floor the family lives, or to receive messages and 
 parcels for them. This system extends to every 
 house, even to those tenanted by the poorest 
 families, only in some cases the concierge has 
 charge not of one house, but of a whole court. 
 These concierges are expected to be always at 
 their post, and have therefore very few oppor- 
 tunities of attending divine service. 
 
 No special effort had been made hitherto for 
 their spiritual well-being, until last summer, when 
 a Parisian lady offered to give a New Testament to 
 every concierge in Paris ; and the Toulouse Society 
 made her a grant which enabled her to buy them 
 at half price. Thus for the sum of £1000 she 
 procured 50,000 copies in large type and neatly 
 bound, and presented them to the concierges in 
 memory of her brother, 
 
 F 
 
82 THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 
 
 On the fly-leaf of each co^dj there was the 
 following inscription : — " Get exemplaire vous est 
 offert en don par une dame de Paris en memoire 
 de son frere avec le vif souhait que vous recon- 
 naissiez, comme elle, dans ce livre pr^cieux, le 
 seul vrai guide de ce qu'il faut croire et faire pour 
 etre disciples du Christ et avoir part a son oeuvre 
 de salut dans cette vie et dans I'autre." ("This 
 copy of the New Testament is offered to you by a 
 lady of Paris as a gift in memory of her brother, 
 with the earnest wish that in this precious book 
 you may find, as she has done, the only true guide 
 to what we must believe and do in order to be 
 Christ's followers, and to be made partakers of 
 His work of salvation, both in this life and in that 
 which is to come.") 
 
 By this means there will be a copy of God's 
 Word in every house in the great city. There is 
 an old saying, ''Paris is France," and if the 
 Gospel gets something like a foothold there, it is 
 impossible to estimate the blessings which may be 
 in store for that unhappy country. 
 
 With very few exceptions, the gift has been 
 received with gratitude. Miss de Broen's lady 
 workers undertook to distribute five hundred 
 copies. In some cases the concierges exjDressed 
 surprise at such a free gift being presented to 
 them by a lady whom they had never seen. 
 
THE EFFECTS OF GOD's WORD. 83 
 
 One asked, " Is it Madame Thiers ?" 
 
 Another said, "Are you quite sure that it is for 
 me ; you know I live at No. 16, perhaps there is 
 some mistake ?" 
 
 One who was out when the lady left it, could not 
 believe that it really was for her until she had 
 asked the concierge next door, and finding that she 
 had one, she believed that it was for her, and 
 accepted it. 
 
 Does not this afford a simple illustration of the 
 manner in which so many regard God's gift of 
 salvation ? How few receive it in all simplicity as 
 a free gift to the needy sinner ! How few recognise 
 that they are sinners^ and therefore the very char- 
 acters who have a right to claim it ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
NUL N'EST TROP PETIT. 
 
 Nul enfant est trop petit 
 
 Pour la route etroite, 
 Quand le Seigneur 1' y conduit, 
 
 Marchant a sa droite 
 Meme le plus jeune coeur 
 Pent etre un temple au Seigneur 
 
 Ce sont aussi les petits 
 
 Que Jesus con vie, 
 Et dont les noms sont inscrits 
 
 Au livre de vie. 
 Dans les parvis etemels, 
 Dieu regoit ceux qui sont tels. 
 
 Puis dans les concerts des cieux 
 
 Les voix enfantines, 
 Uniront leurs sons joyeux 
 
 Aux hymnes divines : 
 Petits et grands, d' un seul coeur 
 Loueront alors le Seigneur. 
 
"Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to 
 come unto me ; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." — Matt. 
 xix. 14. 
 
 [MIDST all her efforts for fathers and 
 mothers, Miss de Broen does not forget 
 the little ones. Almost from the begin- 
 ning of the mission the children were 
 gathered together on Smiday. 
 
 Later on, two of the lady workers noticed a 
 number of children running about wild in a waste 
 piece of land in the back part of Belleville, where 
 there was an encampment of huts. Gathering 
 these little city arabs round them, they began an 
 out-door school, consisting of two classes, the girls 
 in the one and the boys in the other. After a 
 time, when the cold weather came on, the little 
 school adjourned to the room where the sewing 
 classes and night schools were held. Now, there 
 is a well organised Sunday school of about one 
 hundred and fifty children, held in the iron 
 
88 THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 building. Each child present receives a text- 
 card, and when they have four, they are entitled 
 to a picture tract, such as the Ami de la Maison 
 (the French form of the British Workman), or 
 Le Rayon du Soleil* 
 
 Miss de Broen superintends the school, and one 
 or two in each class are called upon to repeat the 
 verses of Scripture which they have learnt, and 
 questions are asked. In the adjoining room there 
 is a Bible-class for women, and they come into the 
 school for the closing hymn and prayer, and stand 
 up and repeat the texts which they have learnt. 
 This is a most interesting sight, and when one 
 remembers that the Bible is quite a new book to 
 many of them, it is delightful to think that they 
 are storing their minds with the words of Scripture. 
 They seem to value " the pure milk of the word " 
 all the more, because, until now what they have 
 heard has been adulterated with man's additions. 
 
 Another interesting feature in the Sunday 
 school is, that among the teachers there are 
 three working men and one poor woman, who, 
 having themselves received the truth through the 
 mission, have thus offered to help. 
 
 * These excellent papers are warmly recommended by Miss 
 de Broen. They are compiled by Miss Blundell, who would be 
 thankful if people in England would take them in for their 
 families, as this would enable her to increase their free circula- 
 tion among the French poor. 
 
THE LITTLE ONES. 89 
 
 The first who came forward in this way was a 
 man who had heen attending the services regularly 
 for more than a year. Noticing that he had a 
 Bible, one of the ladies asked him how he came 
 to possess it. " Oh ! " he replied, "I bought it from 
 a colporteur some time ago, because I thought the 
 poor fellow looked as if he needed a franc. The 
 first time I came to the meeting, finding that the 
 book is used here, I hunted it out, and have read 
 a good deal of it." 
 
 About two months ago he asked to be allowed 
 to say a few words at the evening meeting, and 
 the following is the simple testimony which he 
 then gave to about two hundred men and women 
 in his own rank of life : — 
 
 " I have been coming to these meetings for a 
 long time, as several of you know, and have listened 
 to the addresses, as many of you do, without 
 applying the teaching to myself, without realizing 
 that I was the sinner to whom God sent the 
 message of salvation. But one day I asked my- 
 self the question ' What must I do to be saved?' 
 and then I found that I must simply take Christ as 
 my Saviour, and since then I have received pardon 
 and joy and peace." 
 
 This man is in a good situation now, and his 
 employer places entire confidence in him ; he is a 
 consistent Christian in every way, and has family 
 
90 THE LITTLE ONES. \ 
 
 prayer in his home night and morning. He 
 teaches regularly in the night school, which is no 
 small act of self-denial, after his day's work. His 
 wife has also received the truth, and only a short 
 time ago she said, '' Je suis bien heureuse depuis 
 que le Christ est venu chez nous." (" I have been 
 so happy ever since Christ came to our home.") 
 
 Another of the volunteer Sunday-school teachers 
 is a young man, and is one of the cases in which 
 the night school has been a means of good. 
 
 It is always closed with singing and prayer, and 
 a verse of Scripture is taught in every class ; 
 many of the young people are thus drawn to 
 attend the services. 
 
 But to return to the Sunday school. One of 
 the scholars, a boy of fourteen, has been persecuted 
 where he worked because he came to the services. 
 One day v/hen he was taunted about his mother's 
 poverty, he replied, " My mother is poor in the 
 things of this world, but rich in the grace of 
 God." The mother is a widow, and this is her 
 only son. They have been in the deepest poverty, 
 during which she had a severe illness ; it was then 
 that she first learned to know Jesus as her Saviour ; 
 and she still speaks with gratitude of the frequent 
 and kind visits of the lady workers. She is trustful 
 and patient now, but before, as she says, " I was 
 very rebellious." 
 
THE LITTLE ONES. 91 
 
 Sunday at Paris is the chief day for buying and 
 selling, and unless they are holiday-making, the 
 people work as usual. This poor widow said, " I 
 used to work all Sunday before I was converted, 
 and one evening I would not go with my boy to 
 the service, on account of the work." Then he 
 said, " Mother, don't you remember that God 
 created the world in six days, and rested on the 
 seventh?" I replied, " Don't worry me." '^ Well, 
 I finished the work, but received no more either on 
 Monday or Tuesday." Then my boy said, '* There, 
 mother, it is all because you worked on Sunday." 
 
 This poor woman is very needy, and was obliged 
 to go without food for three days in order to pay 
 her rent. "When I feel weak and weary," she 
 said one day, "then I take my Bible and read a 
 little, and that comforts me." 
 
 In the summer of 1876 a day school for girls 
 was opened in the Iron Building, and the number 
 on the books at present is about one hundred. 
 The parents of these children had for some time 
 expressed a wish that they could receive Protes- 
 tant instruction. The schoolmistress is certifi- 
 cated, and an earnest Christian. At first the 
 children were so wild, her task was by no means 
 an easy one, but she has them in good order now, 
 and I was pleased with the answers they gave in 
 Scripture and other subjects. 
 
92 THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 Some were so ignorant when they first came 
 that they hardly knew the name of God, others 
 had heen taught the Eomish catechism, hut they 
 repeated it like parrots, without understanding 
 the meaning. 
 
 The Koman Catholics omit the second com- 
 mandment, so in order to make up the right 
 number, the tenth commandment is divided into 
 two. Now and then the children express sur- 
 prise when they notice the difference, and then 
 the schoolmistress says, '' That is what man 
 teaches, but this is what God says." 
 
 It is at present uphill work for her, hut she has 
 a few encouragements. There was one little girl 
 who always looked so dull, that the mistress feared 
 she had learnt nothing. The child was absent 
 through illness, and when she went to see her, the 
 mother said, " She is always repeating the verses 
 and hymns she learns at school, she is so good 
 and so easy to nurse." 
 
 The school is free, as no payment is received in 
 France in national schools. A school for infants 
 is to be opened next month in the Iron Building, 
 a wooden partition separating it from the girls' 
 school. 
 
 Another effort made for the young is the train- 
 ing of girls for service, as Miss de Broen hopes by 
 this means to keep them from the bad influence 
 
THE LITTLE ONES. 93 
 
 of the workshops, and to supply the demand for 
 French nursery-maids in England. 
 
 There are twelve under training at present ; the 
 greater number of them live at home, and go 
 during the day to the house of the sewing-mistress, 
 who teaches them plain work and the elements of 
 dressmaking. They also receive instruction in 
 the Bible, and in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
 They take it in turns to learn household work 
 under Miss de Broen's servants in the morning. 
 One of them is an orphan, and entirely under Miss 
 de Broen's care, and is saving up her money to 
 buy a wreath of immortelles for her mother's grave. 
 
 Little Berthe's life has been a very sad one. 
 Her mother being a widow, and too ill to work, 
 the child was sent out to lead an old blind man 
 about the streets, and was thus often in low cafes 
 and bad company. 
 
 One cold wintry day the poor woman came to 
 the dispensary, and the doctor saw at a glance 
 that she was in the last stage of consumption. 
 When the lady visitors went to see her in her 
 home, they found her in a very small room, with- 
 out fire or candle, and when she could bear the 
 cold no longer, she used to crawl across the street 
 to warm herself by a neighbour's fire; she said 
 she was willing to die if only some one would care 
 for her child. 
 
94 THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 The lady visited her frequently, telling her the 
 simple gospel message ; she also gave her a New 
 Testament, which she read eagerly. One day the 
 poor woman said, " Oh, that I had only known 
 it before; I hope to be able to read it through 
 before I die." At last she became so weak and 
 helpless that she was sent to the Protestant 
 Deaconess' Hospital, where she died shortly, but 
 rejoicing in the Lord. Her little orphan girl and 
 the evangelist followed her to the grave, and then 
 Berthe was taken into Miss de Broen's home. 
 
 Twice a-week a dinner, consisting of a bowl of 
 soup and bread, is given to about forty destitute 
 children. This is a great boon, as we can see by 
 one glance at the poor little pinched faces. Some 
 have become so accustomed to a short allowance 
 that, when they first come, they are quite satisfied 
 after taking only part of the soup, but very soon 
 the appetite returns, and the little starving one 
 begins to improve in looks. Before the meal they 
 each repeat the following grace : — '' P^re celeste, 
 bdnis notre repas, et fais nous tous devenir tes 
 enfants, pour Tamour de Jdsus Christ. Amen." 
 ("Heavenly Father, bless this meal, and grant 
 that we may all become Thy children, through 
 the love of Jesus Christ. Amen.") After the 
 meal they sing a hymn, and repeat texts. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
THE PHYSICIAN'S HYMN. 
 
 Physician, friend of human kind, 
 Whose pitying love is pleased to find 
 
 A cure for every ill ; 
 By Thee raised up, by Thee bestowed 
 To do my Mlow-creatures good, 
 
 I come to serve Thy will. 
 
 The friendly properties that flow 
 'Through nature's various works, I know 
 
 The fountain whence they came, 
 And every plant, and every flower 
 Medicinal, derives its power 
 
 From Jesu's balmy name. 
 
 Confiding in that name alone, 
 Jesus I in Thy name go on 
 
 To tend Thy sick and poor ; 
 Dispenser of Thy medicines I, 
 But Thou the blessing must supply — 
 
 But Thou must give the cure. 
 
 Aflflicted by Thy gracious hand. 
 They now may justly all demand 
 
 My instrumental care ; 
 Thy patients. Lord, shall still be mine, 
 And to my weak attempts, I join 
 
 My strong effectual prayer. 
 
 Oh ! while Thou giv'st their bodies ease, 
 Convince them of their worst disease, 
 
 The sickness of the mind ; 
 And let them groan by sin opprest, 
 Till coming unto Thee for rest, 
 
 Kest to their souls they find. 
 
' * The people followed Him : and He received them, and spake 
 unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had 
 need of healing."— Luke xi. 11. 
 
 [HE most prominent feature in the work 
 at Belleville is the medical mission. It 
 is the only one in this great city of 
 Paris ; so now, as in olden times, many 
 of the sick and suffering "come from afar." If 
 you look into No. 12 Kue Piat any week-day 
 morning, excepting Wednesday or Saturday, you 
 will find a group of men, women, and children, 
 gathered together at ten o'clock to hear a simple 
 gospel address, and to join in singing hymns. It 
 is the old, old story — man's ruin and God's redemp- 
 tion — told again and again in all simplicity and 
 earnestness. Do they listen ? Yes ; and many of 
 them lean forward with mouth and eyes open, and 
 literally drink in the word. Tears will often flow ; 
 it is a new story to many, for it is the first time 
 
 G 
 
98 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 they have heard the gospel message. Having 
 heard it once, many long to hear it again, and are 
 thus drawn to the mission services. 
 
 The average attendance of patients at the dis- 
 pensary during the last six months has heen ahout 
 three hundred and fifty every week. The waiting- 
 room will only hold one hundred and thirty, and 
 sometimes on Monday (when the numbers are 
 higher than on any other day), it is literally full 
 to overfloiving, for some, alas ! have to be sent 
 away for want of space. 
 
 After the short service, each one goes by turn 
 into the consulting-room, receiving advice and 
 medicine gratis. The woman who gives the en- 
 trance-ticket also dispenses the medicine, assisted 
 by one of the lady workers. While the patients 
 are waiting their turn to see the doctor, two or 
 three of the ladies go about among them, speaking 
 to them individually and distributing tracts. The 
 names and addresses are all taken down, and the 
 people are visited as much as possible in their 
 own homes. 
 
 On one occasion a lady w^as reading the parable 
 of the Prodigal Son to a patient who had come for 
 the first time. When she came to the verse, *' I 
 will arise and go to my father," the poor woman, 
 laying her hand on the lady's arm, and looking 
 up into her face, said eagerly, '* But perhaps the 
 
TWOFOLD HEALING. 99 
 
 father will not receive him?" "Wait, and we 
 will see," was the answer. She listened with the 
 deepest interest, and tears began to flow when she 
 heard the end of that beautiful parable which 
 has brought conviction and peace to so many 
 wanderers. 
 
 Since the siege, consumption has been greatly 
 on the increase, from want of nourishment and 
 stamina ; paralysis and ulcers are also more 
 frequent. 
 
 Many cases of spiritual blessing, as well as of 
 bodily cure, might be recorded, but one or two 
 will suffice. 
 
 An old man came to be treated for two burrowing 
 ulcers in the arm ; he acknowledged that he had 
 never cared for religion, and had been most 
 ungodly. After hearing the address at the dis- 
 pensary, his interest was so -much stirred that he 
 began to attend the mission services in the iron 
 building. He bought a New Testament, and soon 
 afterwards his eyes were opened by the Holy 
 Spirit, and he received the truth. There was 
 striking evidence of a complete change in him ; 
 indeed, as he himself said, " Je suis tout change," 
 and laying his hand on his Testament he would 
 add, " This is all my comfort now." 
 
 He suffered acutely, and his wife being obliged 
 to go out to work, he was often alone the whole 
 
100 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 day, and '' yet I never feel lonely," ]ie used to say ; 
 " Jesus is with me, and when I cannot sleep at 
 night, then I read His word." He was truly 
 taught of God, and his rapid growth in new life 
 was surprising. On the days when the medical 
 mission is not open, the lady who helps in the 
 dispensary used to go to his house and dress his 
 arm. She told me it was quite a refreshment to 
 her to visit him, for he had really learnt to know 
 Jesus in all his fulness, his love, and blood, and 
 justifying righteousness, so they communed with 
 each other about the things of God. He was 
 pressed to confess to the priest, but he firmly 
 refused, because, as he said, " It is God, and not 
 man, who can forgive sin." The lady visited him 
 during five months, and then he died of bronchitis 
 and dropsy. He was in great suffering towards 
 the end, but always rejoicing, longing to be with 
 the Saviour, whom he had learnt to love and trust. 
 
 A young couple were noticed constantly at the 
 meetings in the Iron Eoom ; the man always 
 leading the wife, for she was blind. They were in 
 great poverty, as he had been thrown out of work 
 through the employer becoming bankrupt. The 
 poor woman has lately been at the dispensary, 
 and the doctor hopes that sight may be restored 
 to the left eye. 
 
 One of the ladies spoke to her about blind 
 
TWOFOLD HEALING. 101 
 
 Bartimeus, and what faith he had in Jesus. " If 
 it be the Lord's will," said the poor woman, " I 
 shall get my sight, but if not, the light which has 
 shone into my soul is far better than the light 
 around." Her husband joined the men's Bible 
 class. It is held every Sunday afternoon, and is 
 conducted by the evangelist. The Epistle to the 
 Hebrews is the portion which they are considering 
 at present. The chapter is studied at home, and 
 then read verse by verse in the class ; after this 
 the men ask for an explanation of any verse or 
 passage which they have marked because they did 
 not understand it. By this means they learn to 
 think for themselves, and gain an intimate know- 
 ledge of the Bible. 
 
 The Belleville medical mission was set on foot 
 in order to meet a pressing need. There was a 
 great increase of illness among the poor, con- 
 sequent on the siege, and Miss de Broen felt 
 anxious to do something, if possible, to relieve the 
 numerous cases which were daily coming under 
 her notice. In the year 1873, when staying at 
 Edinburgh, she spoke of it to some friends ; and 
 then one of them suggested a medical mission as 
 the best and most effectual means of relieving the 
 sick and suffering. He also gave her an intro- 
 duction to some of the members of the medical 
 missionary society there, and they kindly guar- 
 
102 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 anteed the salary of the medical missionary for 
 two years, in order to give it a start. Thus 
 Scotland had the privilege of doing for Paris 
 what she has done for London and other towns, 
 • — sowing the medical mission seed, which, taking 
 root, springs up and hears fruit abundantly. 
 
 After the first two years, the salary of the 
 medical missionary, as well as the other expenses 
 of the dispensary, fell upon Miss de Broen. These 
 are now considerable, the medicine alone for such 
 a large number of patients being a heavy item. 
 
 The present medical missionary, Dr Burroughs, 
 is much liked by the people, and many speak 
 gratefully of his skill and kindness ; some bring 
 him little presents as a token of their gratitude. 
 They value real sympathy and consideration, and 
 like to feel that they are neither despised nor 
 forgotten. We cannot fully estimate the value of 
 the many opportunities thus given to the Christian 
 doctor of leading the suffering one, through the 
 needs of the body, to think of the deeper needs of 
 the soul. This is the principle of medical missions, 
 and it is a divine principle ; for it was the one 
 adopted by our Lord himself during His earthly 
 ministry. He was the Healer and the Teacher, 
 and was ever recognised as such ; for great multi- 
 tudes came together to hear and to be healed by 
 Him of their infirmities. His followers have not 
 
TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 103 
 
 only His example in thus combining tlie preaching 
 and the healing, but also His express command, 
 " Heal the sick, and say unto them, ' The king- 
 dom of God is come nigh unto you.'" 
 
 Eighteen hundred years have passed away since 
 that command was first spoken, but it is still 
 found that practical sympathy with human suffer- 
 ing is the key to unlock hearts otherwise closed 
 to the truth ; for however insensible man may be 
 as regards the needs of the soul, he is never 
 insensible as regards those of the body. We find 
 in the medical mission a special mission for a 
 special want, its object being twofold. First, 
 to win souls to Christ ; secondly, to relieve the sick 
 and the suffering. 
 
 Should not a work so much like the Master's 
 be dear to all God's children ? 
 
 In many cases distress of mind is the cause of 
 illness, so that one of the means of relieving the 
 body is to seek to comfort the burdened one by 
 telling of Him who says, "Come unto Me all ye 
 that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest." 
 
 " Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin ? 
 The blood of Jesus whispers peace within." 
 
 Again, to lead the patients to the Good Physician 
 of souls is to go to the root of the matter, for if 
 they had the fear of God before their eyes, there 
 
104 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 would not be half the amount of sin, and therefore 
 not half the amount of sickness. 
 
 The medical mission is not a new plan or a 
 modern idea ; it is the very oldest of all the many- 
 means which have been tried to reach the sinful 
 and the ignorant. It is remarkable that it is only 
 within the last half century that the old method 
 has been revived, and during this time it has been 
 crowned with success both at home and abroad. 
 Perhaps no evangelistic agency has met with such 
 hearty and universal sympathy, for those who do 
 not value it as a means of winning souls, fully 
 appreciate the benefit conferred in a temporal 
 point of view. 
 
 We all know what sickness means ; we all find 
 it very hard to bear. If this be the case with those 
 who have soft beds and easy-chairs, and luxuries 
 innumerable, what must it be with those who 
 are flesh and blood like ourselves, and yet have to 
 go through it all without any comforts — comforts, 
 did I say ? ay, often without the common neces- 
 saries of life. 
 
 The heart of the world will break, if no voice 
 can tell of relief ; the sadness of the world will be 
 unbearable, if no voice soothes its pain ; the 
 slumber of the world will be deadly, if no voice 
 speaks to awaken it. The medical mission is one 
 of the many voices now telling of health and 
 
TWOFOLD HEALING. 105 
 
 salvation, and in its double ministry of love it 
 seeks to confer on the poor the twofold blessing 
 of bodily and spiritual healing. A French writer 
 has given a true picture of it in the following 
 lines : — 
 
 " Partout portant un peu de baume k la souffirance, 
 Aux corps quelque r^m^de, aux ames I'esp^rance, 
 Un secret au malade, au partant un adieu, 
 Un sourire k chacun, a tous un mot de Dieu." 
 
 Before leaving the Belleville medical mission, 
 my readers may like to hear of one more case in 
 which the twofold healing has been conferred. 
 
 About three months ago a most miserable- 
 looking man presented himself at the dispensary. 
 He had been very ill for some time, and the parish 
 doctors had given him a certificate stating that 
 they could do nothing more for him, his case being 
 incurable. Having a wife and three young chil- 
 dren, this was bad news for him. He heard of 
 the medical mission, and thought he would try it, 
 and through God's blessing, the remedies relieved 
 him so effectually that he was soon able to resume 
 work, and he now says with gratitude, "Monsieur 
 le medecin m'a rendu la vie." (" The doctor has 
 saved my life.") He is employed in a printer's 
 shop, and is a very intelligent man. When he 
 came to the meetings in the Iron Koom, he was 
 specially struck with the portions read out of 
 
106 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 God's word. He asked for a Bible, and to use his 
 own words, " I was six weeks groping after the 
 truth before I believed ; now it is a firm convic- 
 tion in my heart ; no arguments would alter my 
 opinion." 
 
 One verse which arrested him forcibly was, 
 "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no 
 God." Then he said to himself, " Moi, je suis 
 bien plus fou que ce fou la, car je sais qu 'il y a 
 un Dieu et pourtant je ne le sers point." ('' I am 
 much more of a fool than that fool, for I know 
 there is a God, and yet I am not serving Him.") 
 He is a diligent student of God's word, and some- 
 times reads a verse twenty times in order to grasp 
 its full meaning ; and whenever the lady visitor 
 calls, he asks the explanation of some passage 
 which he cannot understand. One day when I 
 called, I found him making a collection out of a 
 library book of all the texts quoted in it, thus 
 shewing his tenacity for God's word. 
 
 In speaking of his former life, he said, " I was 
 brought up as a Eoman Catholic, but when I saw 
 what the priests were, I left off going to mass, 
 and became quite indifferent. It was, however, 
 only three years ago that I gave up their religion 
 altogether. We were living in the country then, 
 and I was very ill, and the doctors gave no hope 
 of my recovery. One day the priest came in and 
 
TWOFOLD HEALING. 107 
 
 said, ' I know you have no liking for religion, 
 but if you will allow me, I will come and visit you 
 as a friend.' He sat down and talked, and when 
 he left, put some money on the table. Two hours 
 after the Sceurs^de Gharite arrived, bringing gifts. 
 For about six weeks the priest came every day, 
 never made the slightest allusion to religion, but 
 always left me money. The sisters visited me con- 
 stantly, but never spoke of it either ; they kept 
 on showering down meat and bread and other 
 things, until we had far more than we required. 
 At last one day I was much worse, then the priest 
 said, 'You must confess to me.' ' No,' I replied, ' I 
 have been quite willing to see you as a friend, but 
 I will not confess.' From that time we saw him no 
 more : the priest, the sisters, the gifts, all disap- 
 peared. Then we saw clearly that all this had been 
 done as a bribe, and we were quite disgusted when 
 we found out that their object had only been to buy 
 us over. It was evident that the priest did not really 
 believe in his religion, otherwise, how could he 
 have paid forty visits to a sick man, and despaired 
 of by the doctors, as I then was, without making a 
 single allusion to religion ? When he did ask me 
 to confess, I knew very well that he did it as a 
 duty to satisfy his conscience. After that," con- 
 tinued the man, " my wife and I both gave up 
 the Roman Catholic faith, and were entirely with- 
 
108 TWOFOLD HEALING. 
 
 out religion until we found the truth in God's 
 Word." Their neighbours remark how happy 
 they look now, and how changed they are. 
 
 This man has a great desire to tell others about 
 the " good news," and in compliance with his 
 special request, a small class in the Sunday school 
 had been given him to teach. 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
Je suis scelle pour la gloire 
 J'avance vers mon pays, 
 
 Ecoutez tous mon histoire 
 Et I'amour de Jesus Christ. 
 
 J'etais mort dans ma misere, 
 Sans Dieu, sans espoir, sans foi 
 
 Un jour j'appris, 6 mystere, 
 Que Jesus est mort pour moi. 
 
 Son amour que rien n'arrete 
 Brisa mon coeur endurci ; 
 
 Maintenant ce coeur souhaite 
 D'en guider d'autres vers lui. 
 
 J'ai passe par mainte epreuve 
 Depuis que je sius a Lui 
 
 Mais en tout j'ai vu la preuve 
 De son amour infini. 
 
 Maintenant Sauveur fidele, 
 Kemplis moi de ton amour ; 
 
 Qu' anime d'un nouveau zele, 
 Je te suive chaque jour. 
 
" He hath put a new song in my moutli. even praise unto our 
 God : many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord." 
 — PsA. xl. 3. 
 
 jNE day I went to see a very poor home, 
 but a very happy one, a true picture of 
 poverty and cheerfulness. The poor 
 man is in deep decline, and receives 
 medicine at the dispensary. He said to me, *' I 
 think it has done me some good, but now I have 
 peace in my soul that seems to soothe the body 
 and relieve the suffering. My wife heard of the 
 service in the Iron Eoom last year, and went one 
 Sunday afternoon; she came home so delighted 
 that she persuaded me to go that very evening, 
 and ever since Christmas day we have really 
 believed in Jesus." 
 
 The " good seed " had found its way into differ- 
 ent soils ; in one case it was indifference, and in 
 the other, ignorance. The man had been brought 
 up in the Eoman Catholic religion, but, as he 
 
112 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 liimself told me, " I did not believe in the teach- 
 ing of the priests ; how could I, when so many of 
 them do not believe in it themselves ? They 
 preach about the Virgin Mary and about the 
 saints, but not about Christ. When I saw that 
 their religion was so much in superstitions and in 
 miracles which are all false, then I gave it up 
 altogether, and became totally indifferent. Before 
 we came to the mission and read God's word, we 
 were living like the beasts which perish. " 
 
 His wife was sunk in ignorance and darkness. 
 Having lost her parents in early childhood, she 
 had been tossed about in the wide world like a 
 waif on the ocean. Since she was seven, she had 
 had no one to care for her or to give her religious 
 teaching. She had only been to church twice in 
 her life, once to make her first communion, and 
 once when she was married. This ^' making their 
 first communion," as they call it, is considered 
 almost indispensable for their prospects in life. 
 It is generally brought forward as a sine qua non, 
 in order to their being received into apprentice- 
 ship. 
 
 God's grace has wrought a marked change in 
 this poor woman ; her character being naturally 
 impulsive, and her temper violent and unre- 
 strained, she has had a great deal to overcome. 
 "Before I was converted," she said, ''I used to 
 
CHANGED ONES. 113 
 
 rush all over the town for work ; if I found it, it 
 was well, but if not, then I blasphemed ! Noiv, 
 whatever happens, I ask God to keep me calm, and 
 when I look to Him, it is restfulness and peace. 
 He gives me grace to resist when the evil is very 
 strong." 
 
 On one occasion having noticed that she was 
 not in her usual place at the Bible class, her lady 
 visitor called the following morning to see her. 
 When she opened the door the poor woman 
 exclaimed, " God has sent you, for we all went to 
 bed without food last night." " Je ne pouvais 
 pas venir a la reunion car j'etais mechante, bien 
 mechante." (" I could not come to the meeting, for 
 I was naughty, very naughty.") " We had no food 
 all day, and in the evening I took my husband's 
 best coat to the pawnbroker, but as he would not 
 even give me three francs for it, I could not leave it. 
 I came home and told my husband ; he was quite 
 calm, but I was very rebellious, and I could not 
 pray, and that was why I did not go to the Bible 
 class." 
 
 The following letter written by this poor man to 
 one of the ladies during her absence from Belleville 
 will shew how God's Spirit has taught him '' the 
 truth as it is in Jesus " : — 
 
 "kl5 Avril 1877. 
 " Yous nous avez vus dans une grande detresse. 
 
 H 
 
114 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 Maintenant de jour en jour nous sommes plus heureux 
 car J^sus a eu pitie de nous. II nous a pardonn6 nos 
 peches. II est mort pour nous pour nous reclamer de 
 la mort 6ternelle. J'etais bien malade vous m' avez fait 
 voir le medecin de I'ame. J'etais dans la tristesse, II 
 m'a donn6 la joie. II m'a gueri beaucoup plus que le 
 medecin du corps quoique le medecin m'a fait du bien et 
 m'a mis en etat de travailler. 
 
 " Grace soit a notre Seigneur qui nous a sauves des 
 damnations eternelles car nous etions des grands 
 pecLeurs. Je suis votre conseil, je sonde les Ecritures 
 et je m'en trouve bien. Votre depart a laisse bien des 
 regrets. Cliaque fois que votre soeur nous visite nous 
 faisons la priere tous ensemble et nous lisons la Bible. 
 
 " Ma f emme vous remercie de tout son coeur de ce que 
 vous lui avez fait. Elle a acbete une Bible pour que 
 je lui lise les passages de I'Ancien Testament. Tous les 
 dimanches les lundis et les jeudis nous allons entendre 
 la Parole de Dieu a la reunion." 
 
 Translation. 
 " When you first saw us we were in great misery, but 
 now from day to day our happiness increases, for Jesus 
 has had mercy upon us. He has pardoned all our sins. 
 He died to save us from eternal death. I was very ill, 
 but you spoke to me of the Good Physician of the soul. 
 I was in sorrow, He gave me joy. He has healed me 
 more completely than the earthly physician ; although 
 the latter has done me much good, so that I am able to 
 work. 
 
CHANGED ONES 115 
 
 " The Lord be praised, who has saved us from eternal 
 damnation, for we were great sinners. I follow your 
 advice ; I search the Scriptures, and I find a blessing in 
 reading them. We all regret your departure. Every 
 time your sister comes to see us we all pray and read the 
 Bible together. 
 
 " My wife thanks you heartily for all you have done foi 
 her. She has bought a Bible, in order that I may read 
 some of the Old Testament to her. Every Sunday, 
 Monday, and Thursday, we go to the meeting to heai 
 the Word of God." 
 
 One evening, seeing him at the meeting, Miss 
 de Broen said to him, "You are so delicate, you 
 ought not to expose yourself to the night air. 
 You had better not attend these meetings." 
 "Oh," he replied, "it is like a ray of sunshine 
 to me to come here, and as there is no more hope 
 of my recovery, let me come. I do not fret over 
 my perishing body now, for I have all things in 
 Christ, and I shall soon be with Him for ever." 
 
 They have only one child, a delicate little boy 
 of seven. His age is a key to one cause of that 
 pale pinched face and dull exj)ression, " C'est un 
 enfant du siege." ("He was a baby at the time 
 of the siege.") Alas ! this is quite a current saying 
 now, for many little ones still bear the marks of 
 privation suffered then. There was no food suit- 
 able for children ; wine and coffee were the only 
 
116 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 articles not sold at famine prices. The bread, if 
 such it could be called, consisted of small black 
 rolls, which were often scarcely eatable, being 
 mixed with straw and other things. 
 
 One child died of fright ; the family had taken 
 refuge in the cellar during the bombardment. 
 One poor woman whom the ladies visit is quite 
 deaf, owing to the noise made by a shell which burst 
 in her house. If her mouth had not been closed 
 at the moment, the concussion on the drum of the 
 ear would not have been so violent. 
 
 One morning I noticed a bright little woman in 
 the waiting-room of the dispensary, and she told 
 me her history in her own simple way. No doubt 
 many have passed through similar difficulties. 
 
 '' I belonged to the Koman Catholic Church, and 
 attended regularly. I seemed to get no good from 
 the preaching ; it was like a flow of words, and 
 I forgot all that was said as soon as I left the 
 church. For a long time I had a great fear of 
 death. I was taught that when I confessed and 
 went to the communion, my sins were taken away, 
 so I used to think that if I could only die directly 
 after that, then all would be right. I thought if 
 I died sometime after, with sins unconfessed, I 
 should be lost. I used to be so perplexed and 
 troubled, I could not sleep. 
 
 '' About fifteen months ago my husband bought 
 
CHANGED ONES. 117 
 
 a Bible, and gave it to me, saying, ' There, you can 
 read for yourself, as you are so anxious to know 
 the truth.' I opened it in Leviticus, and read part 
 of a chapter about leprosy. I cannot understand 
 this, I thought to myself, so I put the book away. 
 
 " About six weeks afterwards, my husband heard 
 of the mission services, and so he said to me, ' You 
 had better go ; you may hear something good, the 
 priests only teach you lies, they twist and turn 
 the Scriptures to suit their own purposes.' So I 
 went. 
 
 " That evening the evangelist spoke on the text, 
 ' The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth 
 us from all sin.' I cannot tell you what I felt ; I 
 saw then what I had so long wished to know, how 
 it is that all sin can be taken away." 
 
 She is now an earnest Christian. She said to 
 me one day, " I want to know my Bible thoroughly, 
 so as to give a proof from it at once if any of my 
 neighbours ask me a question." 
 
 \Ye find an injunction on this subject in the 
 Epistle of St Peter : " Sanctify the Lord God in 
 your hearts ; and be ready always to give an 
 answer to every man that asketh you a reason of 
 the hope that is in you, wdth meekness and fear." 
 
 Her husband is still in a sceptical state of mind, 
 and this is a great trial, for he cannot bear to see 
 her praying. He works all day at home, cutting 
 
118 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 cameos ; and as they have only one room, she has 
 to watch her opportunities to kneel down. It is 
 remarkable that he should not only have given 
 her the Bible, but that he should have wished her 
 to attend the meetings. He has lately joined the 
 men's bible class, and we trust that her prayers 
 for his conversion will soon be answered. 
 
 One meets with a variety of characters in visit- 
 ing the poor of any great city like London or 
 Paris. 
 
 In a small attic room in a court behind a grand 
 street of shops, we found a poor man who is one 
 of the medical mission patients. 
 
 The story of his life is very interesting. He is 
 a Belgian, and when only a youth he joined the 
 order of the Monks de la Trappe, but did not take 
 the vows for life. One of the rules peculiar to this 
 order is absolute silence ; they are never allowed 
 to speak, excepting to the superior. They live on 
 vegetable food, and work in the fields. Our friend 
 belonged to the choir, so part of his duty was to 
 chant the mass every day; and so, as he says, 
 he knew all the hundred and fifty psalms by heart 
 in Latin without at all understanding them. 
 
 When he had been there five years, a scandal 
 arose in the monastery, and he and all the other 
 novices were sent away. He then went to a 
 monastery on the borders of Spain, where he 
 
CHANGED ONES. 119 
 
 intended taking the vows for life, but finding the 
 monks very different from the holy men which he 
 had imagined them to be, he gave it up altogether. 
 
 He afterwards found his way to Paris, where he 
 worked as a marble-cutter. After a long illness, 
 being unable to pay the doctor any more, he went 
 to the medical mission dispensary. 
 
 The first morning, while waiting his turn among 
 the patients, one of the lady-workers spoke to him. 
 He refused to listen, saying, " he did not believe 
 in God," but there was such a look of melancholy 
 and despair on his face as he said it, that she 
 continued speaking, and before she had finished, 
 he was listening attentively. 
 
 Soon afterwards she visited him in his home, 
 and spoke to him again about his soul. When 
 she offered him a Testament to read, he said, " I 
 would rather have a Bible ; I want to read the 
 psalms, to see what they are like in French. I 
 only understood a word or two here and there 
 when I learned them in Latin." Another time 
 when she was speaking of peace through the blood 
 of Christ, he said eagerly, " Oh, if only I had 
 it!" 
 
 Now he has found it ; he reads the Bible dili- 
 gently, and expresses a great wish to go to the 
 Lord's table. In speaking of this, he said, "I 
 find in God's word that Christ was once offered for 
 
120 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 sin, but the priests want us to believe that the 
 sacrifice is repeated at every celebration. I know 
 now," he continued, "why the priests keep the 
 Bible from us ; it is because they do not want us 
 to have our eyes opened, and to see for ourselves. 
 I have learnt that it is impossible to win heaven 
 by good works, but Jesus has bought it for us 
 with His blood. He has paid the debt. Why 
 should I go to the priest and confess, when I know 
 that I have Jesus always near me, and I can talk 
 to Him?" 
 
 His wife is still halting between two opinions. 
 She attends the meetings, and is anxious to 
 receive the truth. At the same time, she is so 
 fearful lest she should be lost if she forsakes the 
 Roman Catholic religion, that she does not know 
 what to do. 
 
 We wonder at this blind dependence in priests 
 and in fellow-sinners ; but is it not deeply rooted in 
 human nature ? Do we not all in some form or 
 another trust to a man-made mediator who can- 
 not save, until the truth sets us free ? 
 
 A few days ago a lady offered to take a poor 
 paralysed man for a drive. He has been a pri- 
 soner to his room for ten long years, and so she 
 thought it would divert his mind to see a little of 
 the outer world. He thanked her for this kind 
 offer, but said, " Please let my first drive be to the 
 
CHANGED ONES. 121 
 
 dispensary ; I want to tell the patients what God 
 has done for my soul." 
 
 His case is a most interesting one. He is only 
 forty-two, a fine-looking man, with well-built frame 
 and a most intelligent face, but he is as helpless 
 as a baby ; every part of his body, excepting his 
 head, having lost power and all sense of touch. 
 The doctor fears that he will lose his sight, which 
 will be a terrible affliction. His sufferings are so 
 intense that when the pain comes on, his screams 
 re-echo through the house. 
 
 His malady was brought on by exposure to cold 
 during the Crimean War. One night he and two 
 other soldiers were out in the trenches. It was a 
 terrible awakening for him, for he found the 
 covering frozen to the ground, and both his com- 
 panions frozen to death at his side. 
 
 Owing to heavy expenses during his long illness, 
 he is now reduced to great poverty. His wife, who 
 has hitherto earned enough to keep body and soul 
 together by polishing spectacle frames, is now laid 
 low by fever, and confined to her bed. It was a 
 pitiable sight indeed to see this worthy but help- 
 less couple. 
 
 It is only three months since they were first 
 visited by the mission workers. The poor man 
 was then in such great distress, that he had been 
 often on the point of committing suicide, the 
 
122 CHANGED ONES. 
 
 knowledge of a Supreme Being was the only thing 
 that kept him from doing it. He was an infidel, 
 and his wife very ignorant about religion. A 
 Testament was lent, and they read it diligently. 
 The Holy Spirit has wrought powerfully in them, 
 and they are both true believers. 
 
 One can certainly learn a lesson in seeing their 
 patience and cheerfulness amid the greatest pri- 
 vations, and these must be especially trying, from 
 the fact that they have known better days. 
 
 The man is intelligent and thoughtful, but he 
 has received the kingdom of God *' as a little 
 child." One day he said to his lady visitor, 
 "You know it is all new to me, you must teach 
 me as you would teach a little child. You have 
 known it all your life, but I am only just 
 beginning." 
 
 After he had been reading the New Testament 
 for some time, he said, "I see that this is a book 
 which we cannot understand unless it is spiritually 
 explained ; it needs to be explained to us by God 
 himself." A friend has given him a large Bible 
 which he is reading with deep interest; he and 
 his wife have prayer together every night. 
 
 Although he cannot move from his chair, he is 
 a missionary in his humble home, for he has been 
 cheering another poor man who is threatened 
 with the same complaint. In his own simple 
 
CHANGED ONES. 123 
 
 language be lias told him the way of salvation, 
 and it has been a blessing to him, for he, too, was 
 so unhappy that he nearly destroyed himself. Is 
 it not touching that these two afflicted ones should 
 thus encourage and comfort one another ? 
 
CHAPTEB XII. 
 Outcasts (Bail^txti Jn. 
 
" Call til em in ! "—the poor, tlie wretched, 
 
 Sin-stained wanderers from the fold ; 
 Peace and pardon freely offer, 
 
 Can you weigh their worth with gold ? 
 " Call them in ! "—the weak, the weary, 
 
 Laden with the doom of sin ; 
 Bid them come and rest in Jesus, 
 
 " He is waiting, call them in ! " 
 
 " Call them in ! " — the Jew, the Gentile, 
 
 Bid the stranger to the feast ; 
 " Call them in ! " — the rich, the noble. 
 
 From the highest to the least. 
 Forth the Father runs to meet them, 
 
 He hath all their sorrows seen ; 
 Kobe and ring and royal sandals 
 
 Wait the lost ones—" Call them in ! " 
 
 "Call them in ! " — the broken-hearted, 
 
 Cowering 'neath the brand of shame ; 
 Speak love's message, low and tender, 
 
 'Twas for sinners Jesus came. 
 See ! the shadows lengthen round us, 
 
 Soon the day-dawn will begin ; 
 Can you leave them lost and lonely ? 
 
 Christ is coming — " Call them in ! " 
 
 " Call them in ! " — the Master waiteth. 
 
 Save them from the snares of hell ; 
 Rest ye 'neath the blood-stained lintel. 
 
 Of the grace that seeks them, tell. 
 Hark ! upon the crowded highway. 
 
 And amid the city's din, 
 Sounds a child's voice, sweet and solemn, 
 
 " Oh, be sure and call them in ! " 
 
" Then the master of the house said to his servant, Go out 
 quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither 
 the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." — Luke 
 xiv. 21. 
 
 TANDING behind the grand streets with 
 their gay shops and large houses, there 
 are courts crowded with the i30or, and 
 being thus hidden away from the public 
 eye, their existence is almost entirely ignored, for 
 when they sally forth they manage, by keeping up 
 a respectable appearance, to conceal their daily 
 struggle with poverty. 
 
 But there is a deeper depth still, for Paris has its 
 Seven Dials as well as London, In one part of 
 Belleville we find low narrow dirty streets, and 
 alleys, and wretched abodes, in fact, a nest of the 
 worst characters ! It seems that when they were 
 ferreted out of their miserable huts in 1866 to 
 make room for the picturesque park of the Buttes- 
 Chaumont, they took refuge in the nearest streets, 
 
128 OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 
 
 SO that the neighbourhood did not get rid of these 
 dregs of society. 
 
 The Buttes-Chaumont were formerly vast plaster 
 quarries, but the Emperor Napoleon wishing to 
 give the people employment, transformed them 
 into a public park. It is beautifully laid out, and 
 covers an area of fifty-five acres. There is a lake 
 with an island in the middle, on which is a repre- 
 sentation of the celebrated Temple of the Sibyle at 
 Tivoli. Across one part of the lake there is an 
 elegant suspension bridge. Among other attrac- 
 tions we may mention a grotto ornamented with 
 stalactites. The park being on an elevation of 
 240 feet above Paris, commands a splendid view 
 of the whole of the city and its forts. 
 
 For some time past these wretched people have 
 found their way to the dispensary, and have thus 
 become known to, and been visited by, the mission 
 workers. 
 
 It was only a month ago that two or three of the 
 lady visitors resolved to make a special effort to 
 carry the gospel into this den of iniquity. 
 
 Accordingly, one Sunday afternoon they invited 
 a few of the people to come to one of the courts to 
 hear about God. After hymns had been sung and 
 the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah had been read, one 
 of the workers gave a short address on the words, 
 " He saved others. Himself He cannot save." 
 
OUTCASTS GATHERED IN, 129 
 
 It was a strange scene. At first only a few men 
 and women in tattered garments gathered round 
 them, then gradually one head after another was 
 poked out of the windows above. Very soon a 
 staircase outside one of the houses was filled, then a 
 small balcony crowded with hearers began to groan 
 under their weight, and certain ominous creaks 
 sounded by no means agreeably in the ears of the 
 speakers below, who were in momentary fear lest 
 the whole should come down with a crash. How- 
 ever the meeting passed off quietly, and without 
 any mishap. 
 
 Most of these people being in real want, a soup 
 kitchen was started in that district. The keeper 
 of a small wine shop kindly offered to lend his 
 shop for it. The beginning being thus made, Miss 
 de Broen now rents the shop, the proprietor having 
 removed to another street. 
 
 The soup kitchen is open twice a-week, — on 
 Wednesday and Saturday, — the people paying one 
 penny per quart. Before it is given, they assemble 
 in the shop to hear the Bible read and explained, 
 and to sing hymns. The numbers increase every 
 week, as it is becoming better known. 
 
 The little meeting begun in the court is now 
 held every Sunday afternoon in the wine shop. 
 It is indeed a rough set of men and women who 
 are thus gathered there. Many are in rags ; some 
 
130 OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 
 
 are so unkempt, that they look quite wild. There 
 are outsiders, too, who will not yet venture in, but 
 stand at the open door listening attentively. The 
 shop will only hold about forty, and seats are 
 scarce, so during the meeting no children are 
 admitted, but they are so eager to hear that they 
 stand patiently at the open door listening. Then 
 their turn comes, for, when the meeting is over, the 
 shop is rapidly transformed into a ragged school. 
 
 The children, numbering about fifty, are divided 
 into classes. I never had a more interesting set 
 of little girls to teach, nor more attentive scholars.* 
 A spectator would, no doubt, have smiled at our 
 arrangement. The other seats being all in requi- 
 sition, my class sat upon a table, and I was in 
 front of them behind the counter. Two or three 
 men came in with their bottles to buy wine, but 
 finding that a change had taken place, they beat 
 a hasty retreat. 
 
 In glancing round at the group of hearers at 
 one of the meetings, I was struck with the appear- 
 ance of one man especially ; he looked poor, and 
 yet he was tidy, his black cotton blouse covering 
 all defects. There was such a calm, earnest 
 expression on his face, and, as he sat there with 
 
 One answer was striking. When I asked, " Qu'est ce que 
 c'est qu'un p^cheur ? " {" What is a sinner ? ") one child looked 
 up, and said gravely, " C'est moi." (" It's me.'') 
 
OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 131 
 
 his eyes fixed on the speaker, he seemed to be drink- 
 ing in every word. When the children came in, a 
 class was given to him, and, gathering the little 
 ones round him, he was overheard teaching them 
 simply, but clearly, how Jesus died to save sinners. 
 
 During the week I went to see him ; his home 
 consists of one small back room behind one of the 
 streets in that bad district. Opening the door, I 
 found him seated on a low stool cobbling, with a 
 group of children round him. The Gospel of St 
 Luke lay open on the window-sill in front of him, 
 and he was teaching them to repeat the verses 
 about the Child Jesus being left behind at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The scene reminded me of another cobbler, 
 John Pounds, who first started ragged Sunday- 
 schools, and in the same way. This was not an 
 imitation, for our friend has never heard of him ; 
 it was only the outcome of an earnest wish that 
 those little ones should learn to know the precious 
 words of God's own book. 
 
 As I entered, the teaching was stopped, and two 
 of the children, — a boy of seven and a girl of five, — 
 were brought forward and introduced to me as his 
 own, then, pointing to a little urchin of ten, he 
 told me that he had rescued him from the streets, 
 and given him a shelter out of pity, and hoped to 
 teach him his trade. The rest were children 
 
132 OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 
 
 belonging to the neighbours. Truly, I thought, 
 here is one bright light in this dark spot. But 
 when I heard his history, my surprise was 
 increased. It was as follows : — 
 
 "I lost my wife nine months ago, and since 
 then I have been ill, and often unable to work. 
 At last we were so poor I did not know what to do, 
 and then I made up my mind to drown myself and 
 my two children. 
 
 "One Sunday evening about two months ago, 
 when the temptation was very strong, I was walk- 
 ing about near the Iron Eoom, and some one asked 
 me to go in. I said to myself, as there is nothing to 
 pay, I may as well go and hear. The evangelist was 
 preaching ; God's Word took hold of me. I cannot 
 tell you what an impression it made upon me. 
 
 ''When I went home I put the children to bed, 
 then I knelt down and prayed. I told God all. 
 1 asked Him to forgive all the sins I confessed to 
 Him, and all those I had forgotten. The next 
 morning I rose early and prayed again, and ever 
 since then I have been changed. It is the Holy 
 Spirit who has opened my eyes, and every time I 
 go to the meeting I ask Him to open my eyes, and 
 my ears too, so that God's Word may be a message 
 to my soul. Every day I ask that 1 may receive 
 a little more of the Holy Spirit. Now I want all 
 my neighbours to know the good news; how I 
 
OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 133 
 
 should like some day to go about and speak to 
 them. You see I am only thirty, I have a whole 
 lifetime before me." 
 
 One of his neighbours whom he has brought to the 
 meetings is a venerable looking old man with a white 
 beard, and his face beams with joy as he listens. 
 
 Although our friend the cobbler is still quite as 
 poor as hs was before, he and the children are 
 clean and tidy now.* 
 
 One day he said to me, "I am so thankful to 
 have got a little work. Many a time lately have 
 I gone to bed without food, but God is so good he 
 sends me help never too soon, never too late, but 
 always just at the right time." Then, he adds 
 brightly, " Even if I am hungry, I do not mind it 
 so much ; for now that I have the peace of God 
 in my soul, I seem to be able to do without other 
 things so much better. It is all so different." 
 
 In telling me about his early life, he said that 
 he had been brought up by his aunt, who was a 
 strict Eoman Catholic, but, he added, "I gave it 
 up, because I felt sure confession was not right ; 
 and then I had no religion at all till I found the 
 truth in God's Word." 
 
 * A Frencli pasteur used to say, " Aussitot que le cosur se 
 renouvelle le corps se nettoie." ("As soon as tlie heart is 
 changed, bodily cleanliness follows.") This is not always the 
 case, but it should be. 
 
134 ' OUTCASTS GATHERED IN. 
 
 " I have read the New Testament all through, 
 and now I have begun again, there is such fulness 
 in God's .Word." 
 
 Although he has only been converted two 
 months, he has already insight into many deep 
 truths through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 In speaking of the past, he said, " I was like a 
 sheep going astray, and the Good Shepherd was 
 seeking me ; He always seeks us before we seek 
 Him. But He did not find me, for I turned away 
 from Him, and only listened to Satan's voice." 
 
 When I first visited him, he had only the New 
 Testament, which had been lent to him, and he 
 told me how he longed for a Bible with references 
 to compare the passages. He asked one of the 
 lady workers for one, and was quite downcast 
 when he found he could not have it at present. 
 His delight was great when I took him a reference 
 Bible as a gift. 
 
 To shew his love for the Word of God, I must 
 mention that whenever he reads any tracts with 
 texts quoted in them, he carefully marks them all 
 in his Testament, "because then," as he said, 
 ''I can pass on the tracts to some one else." 
 
 He is a great help at the meetings, and is 
 always ready to do anything in God's work. 
 Would not many do well to follow the example of 
 this happy cobbler ? 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 *"M is for ^ni/' 
 
"YEA, LET HIM TAKE ALL." 
 2 Sam. xix. 20. 
 
 Take my life, and let it be 
 Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 
 
 Take my moments and my days. 
 Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 
 
 Take my hands, and let them move 
 At the impulse of Thy love. 
 
 Take my feet, and let them be 
 Swift and " beautiful " for Thee. 
 
 Take my voice, and let me sing: 
 AJwaj's, only, for my Kiue^. 
 
 Take my lips, and let them be 
 Filled with messages from Thee. 
 
 Take my silver and my gold, 
 Not a mite would I withhold. 
 
 Take my intellect, and use 
 Every power as Thou shalt choose. 
 
 Take my will, and make it Thine ; 
 It shall be no longer mine. 
 
 Take my heart, it is thine own ; 
 It shall be Thy royal throne. 
 
 Take my love, my Lord I pour 
 At Thy feet its treasure store. 
 
 Take myself, and I will be, 
 Ever, only, all for Thee. 
 
 F. R. Haverqal. 
 
"And the Loed spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the 
 chiklren of Israel, that they bring me an offering : of every man 
 that giveth it iv'dUngly with his heart ye shall take my offering." 
 — ExoD. XXV. 1, 2. 
 
 JELL, I suppose I must give something 
 to this mission. No -doubt Mrs So- 
 and-so lent me the book to read for 
 that purpose." 
 My dear imaginary friend, there is no must in 
 the matter ; indeed, it is possible that you ouglU 
 not to give ! If that was Mrs So-and-so's object 
 in lending you the book, allow me to say that it 
 was not my only object in writing it. Instead 
 of wishing that it may extract a shilling or a 
 sovereign from your purse, I have hoped that it 
 may go further, even to your heart, and that it 
 may awaken your dormant sympathy, or stimulate 
 your faith — ay, and it may be, stir you up to ask 
 God that His work at Belleville may prosper, and 
 that His name may be glorified. 
 
138 " IT IS FOR GOD." 
 
 At the same time, we tell you honestly that 
 help is needed to carry on the mission, for in 
 proportion as the work extends its demands are 
 increased. Still we would never forget that " the 
 silver and gold are the Lord's," and instead of 
 urging friends to help, we desire that He should 
 incline hearts to give, so that it may be " a willing 
 offering unto the Lord." 
 
 '' Every man, according as he purposeth in his 
 heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of 
 necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." Do 
 we not often give because we have been asked, 
 and do not like to refuse? Is not this ''giving 
 of necessity" ? We can hardly call it " a willing 
 offering unto the Lord." 
 
 Some who have more than enough to satisfy 
 their every desire, apologise for the smallness of 
 their gift, by calling it " their mite.'''' If they refer 
 to "the widow's mite," they overlook the fact 
 that what she gave was all her living I 
 
 Others when declining to give, plead that "they 
 have so many claims," &c. But if we looked at 
 the question of giving or withholding in the right 
 light, we should not need these and other excuses. 
 Are they not often dictated by a secret fear lest we 
 should be thought stingy ? Why need we render 
 an account to others in this matter, when in all 
 other details of our expenditure we are free agents ? 
 
''it is for god." 130 
 
 The fault lies in the fact, that we do not always 
 ask God's counsel as to whether we are to give 
 or not. If we made it a matter of prayer, we 
 should then have a definite purpose in giving or 
 withholding. It would not be the result of impulse 
 or of compliance with a custom, but following 
 God's direction. 
 
 We need not apologise for the smallness of the 
 amount to earthly friends, for God says, " If there 
 be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to 
 that a man hath, and not according to that he 
 hath not." And again, " He that giveth, let him 
 do it ivith simplicity,'' with a single eye to God's 
 glory, not calculating what others will think. 
 
 If we mentally inscribe the words, ''It is for 
 God," on every gift, would it not help us to give in 
 a right spirit ? It would make us realise the real 
 object in giving, and it would make us shrink 
 from offering Him a mere gift of necessity. 
 
 Let us see that there is order and method in 
 this matter of giving. Many have found it help- 
 ful to set apart a certain sum periodically to be 
 devoted to God's service ; it will vary according 
 as God prospers us, but we are His stewards, and 
 to Him we must all "give an account of our 
 stewardship." May it never be said of any of us, 
 " He hath laid up treasure for himself, and is not 
 rich toward God.'' 
 
140 ''it is for god." 
 
 Let the money not only be set apart with 
 prayer, but also dispensed with prayer, and then 
 these gifts will bring a double blessing, for they 
 will furnish us with errands to the throne of 
 grace. 
 
 Beside this stated sum, we may have other 
 opportunities of ''ministering of our substance." 
 Let us count it an honour and a privilege to be 
 permitted to help forward God's kingdom. 
 
 A young servant of my acquaintance, whose 
 wages are not high, sent half-a-sovereign, which 
 had been given her as a Christmas-box, to a 
 medical mission. It was a joy to her to have it 
 to give, and she gave the whole willingly. 
 
 How little we know here on earth of the real 
 value of things ! What are our most costly trea- 
 sures compared to the value of one soul ? 
 
 It is related of the Princess Eugenie of Sweden, 
 that she sold all her beautiful diamonds in order 
 to build a home for incurables. Two years ago a 
 poor woman who was there was dying. At first she 
 had been most inaccessible and ignorant, but since 
 then God's spirit had wrought a change in her. 
 
 One day when the Princess was standing by 
 her bedside, the dying woman said, the tears 
 running down her cheeks, " I thank God that the 
 blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all 
 sin, and that He has cleansed mine.'' They were the 
 
*'lT IS FOR GOD." 141 
 
 tears of a new-born soul stirred to its depths by 
 the first sight of Jesus. '' In those tears,'" said the 
 Princess, " I saw my diamonds again.'^ 
 
 It was said of a widow that though she was 
 poor, yet she had done more for her neighbours by 
 acts of thoughtful kindness than many who had 
 money at their command. Two of her maxims 
 were so excellent, that they are worth remem- 
 bering : — 
 
 "Never think anything worthless till it has 
 done all the good it can." 
 
 "Economy and self-denial are the two great 
 springs which feed the fountain of benevolence. 
 Practise them for Christ's sake, but talk very little 
 about them." 
 
 We could tell of several instances in which self- 
 denial has been called forth, even in children, to 
 help Miss de Broen's work. 
 
 A lady was teaching a class of rough lads in one 
 of our English seaports, and she told them about 
 the school at Belleville, and how she longed for 
 all the children there to hear the gospel, but that 
 money was needed to build the Iron Eoom. They 
 were only very poor lads, but still they wished to 
 help, and not long after they brought her a sum 
 of money in coppers which they had collected 
 among themselves. 
 
 One day Miss de Broen received £5 for her 
 
142 '' IT IS FOR GOD." 
 
 mission from ''three children." It was a large 
 sum for them to send, and it was the result of no 
 small self-denial. 
 
 For some months previously they had been 
 begging their parents to buy them a parrot. This 
 request was refused for a long time, because their 
 mother objected to the screaming noise which 
 parrots generally make. At last one morning 
 their mother saw an advertisement of a parrot 
 which was for sale, which could ''talk well, and 
 which did not scream — price £5." 
 
 The children were to go in the afternoon to see 
 the parrot, and their father promised to buy it for 
 them if it did not swear. While they went to see 
 the parrot, the parents attended a meeting in which 
 Miss de Broen gave an account of her mission. 
 
 In the evening the children gave in their report 
 of the parrot. " It was a beauty," they said, 
 " and did not scream nor swear." So they were 
 to have it. 
 
 Then the father told them of the sad tales they 
 had been hearing that afternoon about the poor 
 people at Belleville, and asked them if they would 
 rather give the £5 to the mission instead of buying 
 the parrot ? They all agreed at once that they 
 would like to do so ; but the parents told them 
 they had better think it over, and not decide till 
 the next day. 
 
"it is for god." 143 
 
 The result was, they willingly gave up the 
 parrot in order to help the poor. 
 
 Another gift much prized was one shilling 
 which was given to a little boy of six on his birth- 
 day, but which he sent to Miss de Broen for her 
 mission. 
 
 One little girl begged that she might have 
 money instead of dessert once a-week, in order to 
 help the mission. 
 
 "It is for God." Not money only, but money's 
 worth may also bear this inscription. It may be 
 the time and skill given freely by the Christian 
 doctor, or the goods sold at a reduced price by the 
 merchant, or the work of willing fingers who have 
 not the silver and the gold, but who wish to do 
 something ''for God." 
 
 How strikingly this is brought out in those early 
 days when the Israelites were in the wilderness ! 
 How readily they responded to the call, " Take ye 
 from among you an offering unto the Lord : who- 
 soever is of a willing mind, let him bring it." 
 
 "And they came, every one whose heart stirred 
 him up, and every one whom his spirit made 
 willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to 
 the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 and for all his service, and for the holy garments. 
 And they came, both men and women, as many 
 as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, 
 
144 " IT IS FOR GOD." 
 
 and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of 
 gold : and every man that offered, offered an offer- 
 ing of gold unto the Lord. 
 
 ''And all the women that were wise-hearted did 
 spin with their hands, and brought that which 
 they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of 
 scarlet, and of fine linen. 
 
 " The children of Israel brought a willing offering 
 unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose 
 hearts made them willing to bring " (Exod. xxxv.). 
 
 What made them willing to bring ? Was it not 
 that their hearts were filled with gratitude to God 
 for their great deliverance from Egyptian bondage ? 
 And ought not our hearts to thrill with love and 
 gratitude for that far greater deliverance which 
 the Son of God wrought for us, in redeeming us 
 with His precious blood from everlasting death? 
 And now from His throne on high, where He is 
 receiving gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious 
 also, is He not saying to each one of His chosen 
 people, 
 
 " Great gifts I brouglit to thee, 
 What hast thou brousht to Me ?" 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Medical Mission. 
 
 Consultations and medicine gratis. Open four 
 days a-week — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and 
 Friday — at the Dispensary, 12 Eue Piat. The 
 address to the patients begins at 10 a.m. Visitors 
 are invited to attend on these occasions. 
 
 Sewing Classes. 
 These give employment, with remuneration, to 
 the destitute, and are held at the Iron Hall, No. 32 
 (formerly 398) Kue Puebla, on Tuesday and Friday, 
 from 1 till 4 p.m. during the winter months. 
 Bible instruction is given for one hour. 
 
 Day Schools. 
 
 For girls and infants, under certificated mis- 
 tresses, in the Iron Hall. 
 
 Night Schools. 
 
 For adults, on Tuesday and Friday, at 8.30 p.m. 
 Attendance, 340 weekly. 
 
 K 
 
146 appendix. 
 
 Sunday Schools. 
 
 For children and adults, at the Iron Hall, at 
 5 P.M., and a Ragged School in Rue Pechevin, at 
 2.30 P.M., every Sunday afternoon. 
 
 Evangelistic Meetings. 
 Four times a-week in the Iron Hall. On Sunday 
 at 3.30 and 8.30 p.m. ; Monday and Thursday, 
 8 p.m. Attendance weekly, 900. Twice a-week in 
 Rue Pechevin, on Sunday and Wednesday. 
 
 Bible Classes. 
 
 For men and women, on Wednesday evening 
 and Sunday afternoon. For young men on Satur- 
 day evening at 8. 
 
 House-to-House Visitation. 
 
 At present 140 visits are paid per week to old 
 and new acquaintances. 
 
 A Lending Library 
 
 has been given by friends in Scotland, consisting 
 of about 800 volumes published by the Toulouse 
 Society. 
 
 Although such a variety of agencies are at work, 
 the annual expenditure of the mission is only about 
 i61400. This sum is needed for the salaries of 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 medical missionary, dispenser, evangelist, school 
 mistresses, concierge, and also to pay for medi- 
 cines, rent of dispensary and training home, 
 taxes, gas, payment of sewing classes, &c., &c. 
 
 It is supported entirely by voluntary contri- 
 butions, and Miss de Broen's household expendi- 
 ture is not in any way chargeable on the mission 
 fund. Further details may be seen in the Annual 
 Eeport, which may be obtained on application to 
 Miss de Broen, 16 Villas Ottoz, 21 Eue Piat, 
 Belleville, Paris. 
 
 Information respecting the Mission will also be 
 furnished by the Eev. Dr Forbes, 229 Faubourg 
 St Honor e; the Hon. Mrs Arthur Kinnaird, 2 
 Pall Mall; Mrs D. Maclagan, 9 Eoyal Circus, 
 Edinburgh; as well as by any on the list of 
 Eeferees to be found in the Eeport. 
 
 Bankers : Barclay, Bevan, & Co., 54 Lombard 
 Street, London. Monro & Co., 7 Eue Scribe, Paris. 
 
 Funds are greatly needed, and annual subscrip- 
 tions, however small, are most acceptable. An 
 audited statement of accounts appears in the 
 Annual Eeport. 
 
 Friends would feel increased interest in the 
 work if they could see the mission; and their 
 visits would encourage both the workers and the 
 people. Some omnibuses run direct from the 
 Eue du Louvre and from the Ternes, others are 
 
148 APPENDIX. 
 
 in correspondence from the chief parts of Paris, 
 either to Eue Puebla, or to Piue Belleville, both 
 only five minutes walk from Miss de Broen's 
 private residence. 
 
 The cab fare from any part of Paris to Belle- 
 ville is 1 franc 50 cents, for a one horse fiacre, 
 or 2 francs per hour. 
 
 L-. 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
 1 1012 01187 4296 
 

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