e Methodists had never heard of Grumble Corner,--they
only knew Thanksgiving Street; and so, instead of murmuring and
complaining, one night, when the floor seemed harder than ever, Mr.
Wesley called out: "Let us cheer up, Brother Nelson, for the skin is
only off one side yet."

Another time, when no one had asked them to dinner or tea, and they were
riding through a country lane, feeling very hungry, Mr. Wesley stopped
his horse to gather some blackberries, saying to his friend: "Brother
Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty of blackberries,
for this is the best country I ever saw for getting an appetite, but the
worst for getting food."

On the whole, however, the Cornish people were not unkind to Mr. Wesley.
At St. Ives they once gave him a very noisy welcome, shouting, "Hurrah!
hurrah!" and then going under his bedroom window and singing:

"John Wesley is come to town,
To try if he can pull the churches down."

All this happened during his first visit to Cornwall; and only once
during the three weeks he was there did he get really abused, and that
was at St. Ives, when the mob burst into his room, and a rough, cruel
man struck him on the head.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXX.

A fight with the sea.--Poor Peter!--A sail in a
fisherman's boat.--The song that the waves
accompanied.--A climb on Land's End.--Manchester
disgraces itself.--Hull still worse.--Matt. v.
39.--A brave servant girl.--John Wesley declines
to hide.

I TOLD you in the last chapter what a wonderful traveller Mr. Wesley
was; he could walk twenty-four miles a day easily, in either hot or cold
weather, and his adventures on the roads would almost fill a book.

On one of his later visits to Cornwall, he had a terrible fight with the
sea; this time he was riding in a coach. He had promised to preach in
St. Ives at a certain time, and the only way to get there was by
crossing the sands when the tide was out. His own driver being a
stranger in the country, he engaged a man named Peter Martin to drive
him. When they reached the sea-shore they found, to their dismay, that
the tide was coming in, and the sands they had to cross were already
partly covered with water. Peter, the old coachman, stopped the horses,
and told Mr. Wesley that it was not safe to go. Then an old sea-captain
tried to prevent them, begging them to go