Our ramble for to day is ended, though at some future time we may wander along in search of the delicate foxgloves which grow in the hedges of the road to Reading, better known to us as Piccadilly, or take our walks abroad through some more of the interesting localities of Old Cockayne. The Broken Thread. The rosy dawn But all was dark, With a shadow of gloom Where summers' breath On the bare white walls Where never came Contracted walls, Such was the room Life sleeping with Death! Weary and wan On the night before, They had gone to rest When their work was o'er. Sinking to rest Their work was done, The rich brocade The worn-out slaves She was weak and ill For eighteen hours The Bridal dress, With her fingers sore She has worked, but shall never Work Bridal dress more! Her eyes no more Shall look on the light, For Death has crept in With the shades of Night. 'Tis Sunday morn, Are bright, but not For those weary eyes. They gaze in fear From each crowded bed, Her life has past Her work is done, And the hard-earned rest Is gained at last. Oh! Think of it, Ye in your youth and health, 'Mid the scenes of fashion And pomp of wealth ! Oh! Think of it, Oft as your bright eyes glance In the glittering whirl Of the mazy dance. Your costly robe, Perchance was worked And each long stitch Your hearts are light, Those dresses were made For one grand night, The Harpies who live By those hard-worked slaves, Whilst they grow rich Their ill-paid slaves Oh! High-born Beauties, Oh! Kindly hearts, Nor let the Rich Ride carelessly by, Whilst the seamstress is left In her garret to die! W. B. ABOUT FREE-SEATED CHURCHES, AND THE OFFERTORY. When old Bailey defined a pew as a partitioned seat in a Church," he quite forgot to add that it was adopted for the greater ease of those who sat in it, to enable them to break the commands to bow at the Name of JESUS and to stand at the Gloria Patri; as also to enable them to sleep when the discourse grew tedious, or even to pass their time during Service in other ways than saying their prayers. Such a definition passes the bounds of logic, I suppose; but nevertheless, pews were used for such things then, and they are used for such things now. The great objection to pews, however, is, that they occupy the contrary to Free Seats, in that they are let for a certain sum of money, or appropriated to certain people, who do or do not use them. God's Church should be a Free Church, every seat in it belonging as much to one worshipper as to another. Appropriated seats, be they pews or benches, engender pride in the occupants, and make a distinction between God's worshippers which is not, cannot be, right. Pews, too, make our limited Church room far more limited than it otherwise would be, and every one knows that we cannot afford that. The great plea for Free Seats, however, is that those who most strenuously oppose them have no one thing to urge in their favour beyond this, that they make the time of Service more comfortable, and raise them higher in the scale of church-goers than those who cannot afford to pay for them. Inability to procure a sitting or pay for one has doubtless increased the ranks of the Dissenters more than anything else, and they know it. Those, too, who cannot afford to pay for a seat, and many who will not pay from principle, will willingly give voluntary offerings. A penny at a time is not missed like a sovereign, and even if they give more than a sitting would cost at the year's end, it is not felt nearly so much, because it has been distributed over so much time. Neither can the Free Seat opponents urge antiquity in their favour, for but little more than two centuries have elapsed since we first hear of pews, or as they may rather be called, "Appropriated Seats." The Primitive Church, certainly, and that of the middle ages did not appoint a portion of their places of worship to any particular individual. We once heard a plan proposed that in new Churches the seats should all be appropriated, but a charge only of five shillings a sitting should be made, in order that the poor might afford to take them. Now this is against the wished-for object as much as if the seats were each charged fifty pounds. It prevents God's house being a free house to all; it prevents the peer saying his prayers next to the peasant; it still encourages pride and distinction in a place where they ought not to exist. The Church might be "the Church of the People," not the Church of the powerful and rich, if it were not that they who legislate are the very ones who desire appropriation, and depend upon it as one of the helps to keep them in their position. Many men would lose some of the support they already have if it were not for the squire's pew and the impropriator's chancel-seat. The building of new Churches in our thickly-populated and illprovided church-room suburbs does no good as far as the people are concerned. The largest subscribers get the best seats, (what do they call the best ?) and so on in proportion. The poor get the benches in the side aisles, or anything that can be pushed in to make one of the free seats by law established. To take an instance in point. A fast-increasing district has only its Parish Church and two small Chapels-of-Ease. A District Church is built, and one of the Chapels is suppressed. The largest subscribers get their choice of seats in the new Church, and so on in proportion. The free seats are far back at the west end, and a few chairs and benches where they may be best got in. From each holder of a seat in this Church there is exacted a further sum of five shillings to defray expenses; (to defray expenses? Where is the Offertory, the willing offerings of God's worshippers, to defray the expense of His Services ?) The present incumbent professes to be a good churchman; he had much to do with the building of the Church, but there was no voice raised for Freedom of Worship, for "the Church of the People." There are two classes whom it will take a very long time to persuade that a Free Church is a proper Church, and the worst of it is that they are seldom the rich, never hardly the poor. They are those who have pews allotted them, either by paying for them, or as householders in an endowed parish, and who never or very seldom come to Church. Ask them to give up their pews for the benefit of those who wish to come to Church and say their prayers, and what |