The Crossley Orphan Home and School,

Halifax.

ONE of the grandest developments of the influence of religion on the dispensation of wealth in the present day, is the consecration of riches to the relief of the destitute, suffering and helpless. Not only by legacy, but yet more nobly still, by the provision made for the alleviation of distress in the sight and during the lifetime of the contributor. There are exceptions to every rule; some men desiring to leave a name to posterity have laid out their gains, made perhaps at the expense of misery, destitution, and crime, in the erection of some edifice as a condonement for their past avarice and greed. But those whom "God has prospered," and who feel that it is from Him they have received their bounty, in return, delight to see the widow's heart made glad and the orphan's to rejoice, by the erection of such an institution as the Crossley Orphan Home and School.

As the name suggests, this building has been erected and furnished by the three brothers, Messrs. John and Joseph and Sir Francis Crossley, Bart., at a cost of over £56,000, and has also been permanently endowed by them to the extent of £3,000 a year. Unlike some institutions we know, which depend solely upon faithful daily contributions for their support, the governors, desiring to place this upon a solid basis, removed from the caprice of fortune or trade, add the legacies and donations received to the general endowment fund, which now amounts to £76,425, and is invested in securities yielding annually £4,400, which may seem a large sum, yet it is only sufficient for the maintenance and education of two hundred and fifty boys and girls, whilst there is ample accommodation for four hundred, when the funds will allow.

Placed on an elevated site in Savile Park, a mile and a half from the town, it commands most interesting and delightful views of the surrounding country for miles. The alternating hills (or mountains) and valleys, moors and wooded slopes, near and in the distance, winding river, rugged rocks and quarries, render the prospect one of the most pleasing to be found in the whole district. The pure bracing mountain air blowing over the grassy stray (a quarter of a mile across) in front, acts as a tonic upon the appetites, nerves, and constitutions of the orphans. Many a sickly, puny child has, in a few weeks, been transformed into a lively, bouncing, spirited romp.

Many charities, through self-made or non-elected governors, in course of time become bye-words instead of blessings; their funds are used for purposes their founders never intended, the rich get the charity, and the poor and needy get no help or sympathy. This is guarded against here, the governors being elected by the various Congregational churches in Yorkshire, from Skipton in the north to Sheffield in the south, and also by the Corporation of Halifax, in addition to the three governors of the Crossley family.

Though preference is given to Yorkshire orphans, yet children have been received from twenty-nine other counties; and twenty-seven orphans have been admitted from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The total admitted since the opening in 1864 is 564, consisting of Episco

palians 217, Independents 166, Methodists 88, Baptists 68, other denominations 25. These children are the sons or daughters of ministers, missionaries, lawyers, doctors, manufacturers, sea captains, shopkeepers, farmers, tradesmen, and others, each admission having a distinct history of its own. Some parents having lived in opulence at the rate of two to three thousand a year, others dying after ministering in the last hours to persons stricken with fever. Many and truly painful are the narrations of these little histories; but imagination must be the pencil to sketch these harrowing scenes.

A number of children are admitted without payment; but the usual condition is that the friends of the child pay £10 per annum towards the cost of maintenance, which amounts to about £28. This may seem to some a slight hardship; but it must be borne in mind that the institution is not for the indigent poor, but "especially for the children of families whose temporal condition has been reduced;" and it seldom happens but that some friends or relatives are forthcoming to pay the contribution towards the cost, thereby clearing away the feeling of charity, and maintaining, to some extent at least, the spirit of self-help and independence.

Everything about the building is of noble proportions, and wellfinished. Whilst providing airy and well-lighted schools and corridors, spacious dining-hall and dormitories, play-rooms, gymnasium, and swimming-baths, every contrivance has been introduced in the domestic apartments for cooking; and a steam-engine supplies power for the washing, drying, and mangling in the busy wash-house. On attaining a certain age the girls take part in such departments of household service as are likely to prove useful to them in after life.

The education imparted is of the highest character, corresponding with the age of the children. Whilst thoroughly grounding them in plain English education, the higher branches of literature, mensuration, algebra, and Euclid are not overlooked. The various tests of competency are eagerly sought after in the public examinations in drawing and science; ten pupils were presented at the last Junior Cambridge Examination, when four passed with second class and three with third class honours.

Some institutions are of "little renown in their own country;" but with this it is not so. Halifax is proud of its Orphan Home, and the family who founded it. The nearer the approach to, and the more that is seen of, its workings, the greater the approval, as is evidenced by the donations from persons of all denominations around the neighbourhood, the noble sum of £29,000 having been left or contributed since the opening.

As a denomination, we have largely joined in the privileges conferred. The G. B. church at Halifax has had five of its orphans in the institution. Those who have taken interest in the place will know that the children of honoured parents who have served our denomination faithfully, and who have laid down their lives in our service, have been cared for. When we call to mind the honoured names of many of our leading ministers and others, and remember how they are associated with this institution, and see how their descendants have been helped to fill trustworthy positions, and fitted manfully to engage in the "battle of life," our hearts ought truly to rejoice and be glad, and our gifts to be free and large.

J. BINNS.

What we owe to Rome.

66

THE work we have undertaken in Rome-the building of a chapel and the maintenance of an evangelical mission-is but part payment of a long-standing debt. "Why?" says one. Because in the past Rome and Italy have been the means of conferring incalculable good upon us as a people. By the words I use I am reminded of the enrichment of our mother tongue by the Latin and the Italian-the ancient and modern languages of Rome. Our noble literature reminds us how much we owe to the orators and poets of old Rome, and to the writings and writers of modern Italy. Some of the earliest works extant in our language are translations from the classics, and not a few of them from the Latin. Some of the earliest poems were translations or adaptations of Italian works. The three great poets whose names stand highest in our literathre-Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton-were indebted to an unknown extent to Italian writers; whilst Addison and such men drank deeply at the fountain of Italian literature, and received much of their culture in the sunny halls and amidst the refinement and learning of the Italy of their day.

Again, the foundations of our civilisation were laid by the Romans, in the art, science, and social order which they brought with them to our barbarian forefathers. Our common law, too, is an out-growth of, and is based upon, Roman jurisprudence. Our architecture and our roads tell us that the Romans taught our forefathers to build, and construct roads; and that they have left us a legacy in some of the highways laid down by them, and possessed and used by us in our present-day locomotion. The genius of Rome and Italy, in connection with the genius of Greece, has been the instructress of England's long line of painters and sculptors; and the works of Italian artists are still the models for all who would reach fame in the field of the fine arts. Rome has thus sent us literature, laws, and art; but her chief glory lies in the fact that she sent the gospel to us. We, with the other nations of Europe, have not escaped the direful effects of Roman Catholicism; but it was from Rome in her Christian purity that we received the first rays of that light which has filled the land.

Tradition says that in the middle of the second century, a British king, Lucius, appealed to the bishop of Rome, Eleutherus, to send missionaries to Britain. The bishop did as he was desired, and very soon the king, his court, and subjects embraced Christianity, and the country became Christian. When the Anglo-Saxons came, conquered, and settled in the land, Christianity fell back before them, and was found only in Wales and along the Western coast. But in the sixth century, Pope Gregory I., seeing some of the fair-faced, flaxen-haired, Anglo-Saxon boys in the Roman Market for sale, was so struck with their beauty that he inquired from whence they came, and learning, bought them, had them educated, and sent them back to England under Augustine, to win their fellow-countrymen to Christian faith and allegiance to the Holy Church. From that time the gospel took firm hold of the English people; and though, in consequence of its Papal errors, the form in which it was presented entailed long and terrible conflicts

with Popery, yet we have retained our hold of Christian truth and civilisation, and to-day possess and enjoy our exalted position and privileges because, in God's providence, Rome sent Christianity to Britain.

But times have changed. Rome has become more and more enshrouded in ever-deepening gloom, and the gathering darkness of Papal error and superstition. And instead of being the centre of light and truth, as once, she has become the centre and capital of spiritual despotism and death. And strange as it seems in the light of the past history of this country, we who received the precious boon of New Testament truth from Rome, are called upon to send an unadulterated gospel to Rome, and to build a temple in the Eternal City, as a witness to the glorious truth that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." And since Rome and the Romans need it, we English men and women, we General Baptists, from the obligations laid upon us by the past, are bound to do what we can to send the pure truth of God to Rome. It is alike our duty and privilege.

Nor will it be less helpful to us in responding to the call which comes to us, to bear in mind the work which has been, or which is being done by the Baptists in Rome. Mr. and Mrs. Wall, the representatives of British Baptists, have for many years chivalrously and perseveringly laboured among the error-smitten citizens of the Papal city. For six years a Baptist church has existed, consisting of Roman Protestants, which now numbers one hundred and twenty members. Very eligible premises (a palace, in fact) were purchased, and let to the Baptist Missionary Society, by a devoted friend of missions, since deceased. These are used for preaching, holding meetings, printing, book-selling, and Mr. Wall's residence. With Mr. Wall is a noble band of efficient workers, consisting of six evangelists, all Italians. Mrs. Wall has been and is still doing a most laborious and self-denying work among the beggars of Rome. This enterprise has already borne rich fruit in the conversion and reformation of many of this degraded class of the community. One example of the kind of simple piety displayed by some of these converts may serve to show the kind of work done. "One of the most ragged and destitute, on being asked what he had in his pocket, took out a New Testament, and said, 'I take it with me wherever I and when I am hungry and weary, I sit down on a step and read a little of it, and it does me good." One of the most hopeful signs of this work is that when the beggars are converted, they soon feel their mendicancy is an intolerable burden, and they long for some nobler method of gaining a livelihood.

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The co-worker with Mr. Wall in whom we are most deeply interested is our honoured missionary, Signor Grassi. Of his history as a Protestant and Evangelist in Rome I need say nothing. It is known in all our churches. A word or two is needful, however, respecting his work, and the chapel which has been erected. His work consists of preaching, night and Sunday schools, all of which are attended with gratifying results. He has a most indefatigable helper in one who, like himself, is an ex-priest, and who for many years was a theological teacher in one of the Roman Catholic Colleges, and a Franciscan friar. Up to the present time the great need felt by the little band of workers has been suitable accommodation. This will be met, in the block of buildings soon to be