Upon the evening of our visit, eight or ten men and women were present. One of these, a respectable tradesman, rejected a tract with the remark, "I don't want your religious nonsense, as I do the thing that's right between man and man; and if I didn't I would not be interfered with by other people in religious matters, as I know what is right, and could do it." "The clock there is going wrong," replied the visitor, looking towards that very ornamental object, "and because it's out of repair, it does not answer the purpose for which it was made, as it is hours too slow. Now the landlord will not attempt to repair it himself, neither will he give it to a grocer or a bricklayer for that purpose: he will no doubt send it to the man who made it,—to a clockmaker who understands its mechanism; he will clean and repair it, and then the hands will go right. Well, it's just so with us men: when we do wrong it proves that we are unclean inside, and out of repair, and it is no good trying to set ourselves right, for we can't do it; or to get other people to tinker at us, as they are sure to make us worse. Our proper course of action is to approach our Almighty Maker, with the prayer, 'Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.' When this is done, we go right, and glorify God in our bodies and our spirits, which are His." After a few words about the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, the speaker passed out, leaving the people with their eyes fixed upon the clock, and their thoughts upon the Saviour.
In the next compartment about sixteen working men had assembled, all of whom were sober. Several were annoyed, as one of them said, at "being tackled in such a place as that about religion." "Why, you are all in the building trade," exclaimed the intruder, "and if you listen to the words I repeat, and do them, you shall be likened to wise men who built a house upon a rock: 'And the rain descended, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.'" As the attention of the men was arrested by the parable, it was repeated to the end; and then, taking the Bible from his pocket, the reader observed, "These are not my words: they were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ." "I knows a lot of the Bible," said one of the men, "and He never talked like that." "I've heard it before," retorted a companion, "and it's there." "Yes: I am right," replied the man with the Book; and then, leaning his back against the bar, he read the parable through, in a clear, expressive tone. He then looked up, and said kindly, "You are not building on this rock; if you were you would be in the house of God, instead of this place."
"That's right!" exclaimed several, and three of them followed him into the street. "I'll go next Sunday," said a carpenter. "And so will I," answered his companion, a smith. "And I will meet you at this corner and go with you," said the reader. This arrangement was confirmed with hand-shaking; and the men went thoughtfully towards their homes, the Missionary entering the next compartment.
In this several groups of persons were standing together, those near the door being sweeps, who, in honour of the day, were partly washed. One of them, a young man, said that his mother was ill and wanted some one to pray with her. The visitor took down the address and promised to call. While doing so his attention was directed to several men of the "fancy," who were in loud conversation about the difficulties of their calling. They were attired in dirty fustians, with gaudy cotton handkerchiefs round their necks, and caps which made their foreheads appear "villanously low." One of them held a bull-dog by a chain, and several puppies were peeping out of the side pockets of his coat. He was evidently the important man of the group, as his companions were listening with respect to his grievances, which he expressed in the following way: "This 'ere draining of London will be the ruin of us, that it will. Why look 'ere: I've been all this blessed day a-trying to get six dozen of rats, and I has only got two dozen; and it's ruination the price of them is. I never grumbles at buying them at fourpence each when they are fat and lively like that, I doesn't, as it's a fair price; but it's enough to make a chap go rampstairing when he has to tip a bob each, or eleven shillings a dozen for them, as I did this afternoon; and it's this draining of London does it, as they be slushed away. And then last week I had a misfortune. I went out with my pal, as is ratcatcher to the Queen, for two days' catchin' about Windsor, and I left three dozen in the low pit. Well, when I comes back, my misses, as as bin queer, said, 'Oh dear me, I forgot to feed the rats!' So I went off, as I knowed how it 'ed be. When I looked in it a dozen had gone, and they was a-eating ever-so-many of one another; so I chucked in the stuff as had been mixed up for 'em, and there was an end of their barbarities, as rats are good-natured like when they has plenty of grub; but when the price is up it is, as I say, ruination."
"And so you have been all day trying to buy rats, have you? a pretty way to be sure for a man to spend his Sunday," observed the Missionary, as he turned towards the man, and caressed a pretty little spaniel whose head was resting upon the flap of his pocket.
"I has," was the sharp reply: "and I makes no profession of religion, so it's no harm; like them saints, one of which I knows as cheats you through thick and thin; so I does the correct thing, and snaps my finger, and says I, None of your religion for me."
"I see how it is," rejoined the visitor. "You have met with an imitation Christian, a counterfeit, as we call bad money, and for that reason you will not be a real Christian. Is that what you mean? If so, it is like saying, 'A man passed a bad shilling upon me, so I never mean to take a good one.'"
"That's a puzzler," replied the man, thoughtfully; "as I knows what good Christians are, as was my father and mother, as was Welsh, like me. They did the right thing by me; but I 'erd of people a-gettin' on in London, so I ran away from them, and begged and stumped it up here. And I got in with some young prigs in Whitechapel, and got took before the beak, as wasn't for much; and he didn't give a fellow a chance, but put on three months hard; and when I got out I couldn't get on, so I went out with a chap a-catchin' birds and rats, and married his daughter. And now I has a bird shop at Shoreditch, and a rat-pit, as was profitable afore this 'ere draining was inwented, as gents bring their dogs to be teached to kill rats first-rate, and sometimes they has a match on the quiet; and they are gents as does it and pays up, and says as I am the best rat-pit man they knows."
In reply to questions, the rat-pit man admitted that during the eighteen years he had been in London he had only once been into a church, and that was at his marriage. When reminded that he was the child of many prayers, and of parents passed into the heavens, he was softened, and said, "If I know'd somebody as is religious, I should be better; but I doesn't know a religious chap, that I doesn't."
"Give me your address," said the visitor, "and I will ask a Missionary gentleman who lives near, a friend of mine, to call upon you." This was done, and the parties left the bar together.