An example of the symbolic grain of rnus-tard seed which grows into a mighty tree is to be found in the story of the beginning of the work done by a great society for "navvies," a class of men hitherto outside the pale of Christian benevolent effort. On a certain Sunday evening in the late autumn of 1871 a young lady, scarcely out of her teens, made a discovery. She was then living a few miles from Lindley Wood, a tree-covered vale in the heart of the hills, four miles from Otley and eight miles from Harrogate, where, at that time, the Leeds Corporation had commenced the construction of an immense reservoir.

A Young Girl's Ideals

Hundreds of navvies were engaged on the work, and, thanks to the combined efforts of the Rev. Lewis Moule Evans, rector of Leathley, the excellent manager of the reservoir works, and the local squire, a Mr. Fawkes, these navvies had been provided with clean huts to live in, a little wooden church, a schoolroom for the children, and a reading-room and night-school for the men.

The young lady in question, who afterwards became Mrs. Charles Garnett, was asked to visit the settlement. It was the only one of its kind in those days, and she learned with dismay that there were something like 100,000 navvies leading a nomadic existence throughout the country, and regarded as a heathen class in our own Christian land.

Good Christians regarded them as a moral pest, not fit for decent people to associate with. Farmers refused to give them a night's shelter even in a barn, or let them filthy stables at rack rents. Cottagers took them as lodgers, and crammed twelve men into a room barely large enough for the accommodatiou of five. They stood outside the parochial system. The local schools found it impossible to take in the children, while the parish clergyman, already fully occupied by his own people, and unused to navvies, found himself unable to deal with the situation.

And what fearful strangers they were ! Not one in six could read. They were always drinking and fighting. Sunday, the one rest day, was known among them as " hair-cutting and dog-washing day," and ended, as a rule, with a fight.

Uphill Work

What could a woman do in the face of such circumstances ? It seemed almost hopeless to face this problem of bettering the conditions of the navvy's life. "You cannot go among such people," her friends said when she announced her intention of working for them ; while her parents set their faces very strongly against the idea. ' Let me work among them for twelve months," their daughter replied, " and if at the end of that time I have not made any progress, I will give it up."

And thus it came about that Mrs. Charles Garnett began by taking a class of navvies' boys in the Sunday-school at Lindley Wood. "They were very bad boys," she says, "but I like bad boys. And some of them turned out splendidly. One of them, I remember, became a clergyman, another a missionary, and another a sergeant in the Army. I found that the men and women were quite willing to listen to the Gospel, and eager to attend the little wooden church.

"The great drawback to the work, however, was the fact that we could not follow these men when they migrated to other work ; and, of course, through the influence of their mates, they quickly went back to the old ways - at least, in many cases.

" Sometimes I would meet some of the navvies a few months later, and to my question, ' Do you go to church or Bible-class ? ' the invariable answer was ' No.' ' You see, m'm,' they would say, 'there is nothing of this sort for us chaps elsewhere.' " Thus Mrs. Garnett came to the conclusion that it was no good teaching the men and then letting them vanish. She therefore decided to make a little investigation, and made out a list of works. She then wrote to the manager in each case, making such inquiries as, " How many men have you ? How many huts, etc. ? Have you a service, Sunday-school or day-school ? " And so on. In all, seventy-two managers were written to and " No " was the reply to every question in the seventy-two cases, save one. The outlook seemed hopeless. Mrs. Garnett had no money, and it was with the greatest difficulty that she could get anyone interested in the work.

The Christian's Excavators' Union

However, a little assistance was forthcoming, and Mrs. Garnett hit on the admirable idea of forming what is known as the Christian Excavators' Union. The words of the card of brotherhood ran as follows :

"I,-------, desire, by God's help, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and lead others to do so. To this end I promise to abstain from Drunkenness, Swearing, and Ungodly Living. I promise never to neglect praying each Morning and Night. I promise to keep the Lord's Day holy, and, when possible, attend a Place of Public Worship.

"(Signed) ------------" In the presence of -------------"

The union began with twenty-five navvy members and eight others. It now numbers over six hundred, the country being divided into districts, of which ladies are the head secretaries. These secretaries take upon themselves the duty of visiting the various working stations from time to time, and encouraging the members under the persecution they have to endure, helping those who are in trouble, explaining the objects of the Christian Excavators' Union, and urging whole-hearted devotion to Christ.

"We Are But Little Children Weak."

This wonderful presentment of the naivete and charm of childhood is one of the finest examples of the work of Mrs. Seymour Lucas, who contributes to " Every Woman's Encyclopaedia " an interesting article on the painting of children, a subject which she has made her own From the painting by Marie Seymour Lucas By permission of the Berlin Photographic Co.