mouth. She makes some general remarks, and specifies a number of individual cases. She remarks,"I always find the worst of convicts thoughtful before their departure, and softened. The most inaccessible minds then become accessible. Such was the case with those who departed to-day; and, as usual, this fresh state of feeling, which was produced and prevailed before they left the prison walls, was at an end when they appeared in the street. It was then subverted by the herd around them, exciting them to laugh and shout. These were their former companions, the thieves of the place, whose influence was as a repetition of the death-blow; whilst that evil-the mad, joyous feeling which they excited in the convicts, reflected back on them-removed all terror which the example ought to have produced; so that, instead of being by the sight deterred from crime, a different effect may be expected."

She relates at length the conduct of several criminals. When she argued with them patiently and firmly, some of them were convinced and confessed their faults; one was very obdurate, but at length he yielded.

'February II. This day I afforded F. J. the opportunity he desired of some private conversation with me, by asking him to take my Bible up to the gate. He said he should be sorry to bring up his children with such views as he had expressed; that he had reflected, and felt that he had been wrong; he expected to be ridiculed by the other prisoners, but was determined to adopt a new line of conduct altogether. There were deep feeling, thoughtfulnesss, and strong earnestness of manner. He spoke highly of his wife,

I then asked, 'Do you love your wife?' 'Oh, yes; and my wife loves me.' 'And do you love your children?' 'Oh, yes; I love my children.' 'And were I or any other to say, "I hate your wife, I hate your children," would you like it?' 'No; I should not.' 'And yet you spoke against my God; and of this holy book you said, "It is all a pack of nonsense, I do not believe one word of it." F. J. acknowledged the application with much emotion. He said he had been accustomed to sit from Sunday morning till Saturday night in a public-house, but would attend a place of worship in future, which his wife had formerly advised in vain. He acknowledged that I was justified in leaving him after his having spoken of the Bible and of God as he did.

"After the date, February II, he seemed a new character, no longer close or sly on the one hand, nor presuming on the other; but simple, honest, and open. The poor fellow has obtained no work, his children are ill, and his excellent wife, whilst rejoicing at the change in her husband, is cast down by extreme poverty. I gave them an order for some flour."

And who was this Prison Visitor? Not a person in circumstances like those of Howard or Neild; not a lady of the upper class, like Mrs. Fry, but a poor sempstress, who earned a few shillings a week, and that for a while "was all her living"; and she would trudge on foot in bad weather from the village of Caistor to the further end of Yarmouth to keep her appointments at the gaol. A relative died, and left her between two and three hundred pounds, and that was really all she had to depend upon when her dressmaking failed; how could that succeed amidst her

charitable vocations? Friends helped her; but she was so delicately conscientious, so afraid of being paid for her well-doing, that it was difficult to persuade her to accept what was offered. The corporation proposed to allow a salary for her gaol work; from that she shrunk, and they found it difficult to induce her acceptance of a miserable pittance of twelve pounds a year. One of the magistrates told her, "The business is out of your hands; if we permit you to visit the prison, you must submit on our terms." 1

"In the full occupation of dress-making," she writes, "I had care with it and anxiety for the future; but as that disappeared care fled also. God, who had called me into the vineyard, had said, 'Whatsoever is right I will give you.' I had learned from the Scriptures of truth that I should be supported. God was my Master, and would not forsake His servant. He was my Father, and could not forget His child. I knew also that sometimes it seemed good in His sight to try the faith and patience of His people, by bestowing upon them very limited means of support, as in the case of Naomi and Ruth, of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah; and my mind, in the contemplation of such trials, seemed exalted by more than human energy, for I had counted the cost, and my mind was made up. If, whilst imparting truth to others, I became exposed to temporal want, the privation, so momentary to an individual, would not admit of comparison with following the Lord, in thus

1 The Memoir of Sarah Martin. I am entirely indebted to this admirable book for the account I give of this excellent

woman.

administering to others. Supported with these views, I advanced, still meeting increased disclosures of the Divine goodness."

"Noble woman!" says the Edinburgh reviewer. "A faith so firm and disinterested might have removed mountains; a self-sacrifice founded upon such principles is amongst the most heroic of human achievements." Strictly speaking, in later life, she had no income but the interest on her relative's legacy. She lived by faith; and friends ministered to her necessities bountifully. The friendly hamper never failed, the grocer's supply reached her week by week. They were her cruse of oil, her barrel of meal.

In her last days she was greatly afflicted. She suffered much, "but in patience possessed her soul." Twenty minutes before her death, on being told her end was near, she clapped her hands, exclaiming,— "Thank God; thank God." "She slept in Jesus, October 15, 1843, aged 52 years. As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.'" This is the inscription on her tombstone. A stained glass window in the grand old church of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, commemorates. her virtues. Good Dr. Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, sent his contribution to it with the words, "Could I canonize Sarah Martin, I would do so."