arles Wesley went to Newcastle, and
after a time, Mr. Wesley himself paid a second visit.

It was a plan of the Methodists always to go to the poorest and most
uncared-for people. These they generally found among the colliers.
Wherever there were coal mines, the district round them was sure to be
the abode of dirt, ignorance, and sin. You remember what a dreadful
place Kingswood was when the Methodists first went? Because they found
Newcastle just as bad, they called it "The Kingswood of the North."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXIII.

A magic mirror.--And the picture it shows
us.--Billy and Polly again.--Hurrah for
Newcastle!--John and Charles Wesley put their
heads together.--The result.--Strict
Rules.--Circuits in Methodism.

HAVE you ever heard of the Magic Mirror? It is a mirror I would like to
have. You just think of something you would very much like to see;
something either in the past, the present, or the future, peep into the
mirror and there it is.

Let us imagine that we have this mirror, and that we want to look at a
particular part of Newcastle in the year 1742.

What do we see?

A big unfinished building with all the walls standing, but no roof, no
doors, and no windows. It is a cold winter's day; but in spite of the
biting wind and the frosty air there are hundreds of people crowding
inside and outside the walls. Right in the middle stands the gentleman
with the long hair and the beautiful face.

It is Mr. Wesley opening the first meeting-house in Newcastle. Oh, how
hard those poor colliers and their wives, yes, and the children too,
worked to get money to build their chapel. On this opening day they were
so proud and happy they could not keep still. They kept shouting
"Hallelujah!" all the time Mr. Wesley was preaching. Three or four times
he had to stop in the middle of his sermon on purpose to let them praise
God.

Bob, and Billy, and Polly were at that opening; they loved Mr. Wesley,
and always tried to get as near to him as they could. They were not
ragged now, for their fathers and mothers were converted, and their
money was no longer spent in drink. The children, too, had learnt to
love Jesus, and were trying to be like Him, and no cursing or swearing
was ever heard.

Scores of men and women in Newcastle that day, thanked God they had got
out of bed that Sunday morning in May, and heard Mr. Wesley sing at