o where the fire was located. He missed his
footing and came through the lath and plaster, but luckily did not
fall to the floor below, but, like Mahomet's coffin, hung suspended
by his arms until rescued from above. The congregation were soon
outside, and with willing help the fire was soon extinguished. The
church was built and opened in August, 1856, under the supervision of
Mr. William Leigh, who was in charge of Uplands Farm, Cadboro
Bay, and was in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr. Leigh
was a man of very good attainments, being a good musician and
contributing to the various entertainments of those days, when
regular entertainments by professionals were few and far between. He
subsequently was City Clerk, being the second to hold that position,
after Mr. Nathaniel M. Hicks, who was appointed clerk on the city
being incorporated. Mr. Hicks is buried in Quadra Street Cemetery,
and his headstone is in evidence to-day as a mute appeal to our city
fathers to put the place in order. I might say that Mr. Leigh was the
father of a numerous family, but I believe, with the exception of a
son, Ernest, who resides in San Francisco, and a granddaughter, Mrs.
George Simpson, who resides here, all have passed away.

Victoria District church was destroyed by fire in 1869, one evening
about 10 o'clock, the alarm being given by a Catholic priest on his
way home, who with Mr. James Kennedy (who lived with me), was passing
over the hill. Of the early pioneer clergy connected with the church,
Mr. Cridge, the incumbent, was first; then Bishop Hills; the Rev. R.
J. Dundas, afterward rector of St. John's; Rev. Alexander C. Garrett,
now Bishop of Dallas, Texas, and Rev. George Crickmer, who
subsequently was sent to Langley or Yale.

[Portrait: Bishop George Hills.]

The organ used up to 1861 or 1862 was situated in the gallery, and
had three barrels, each of ten tunes, so that thirty tunes was the
limit. Mr. Seeley, who owned the Australian House, which stood until
lately at the north end of the Causeway, was an attendant at the
church, and being an organ-builder undertook to improvise a keyboard
attachment for this barrel organ. This keyboard was used on Sunday
mornings and on special occasions by Mrs. Atwood (Mrs. T. Sidney
Wilson of St. Charles Street.) At evening services the music
was produced by the barrels, worked by a handle, and the writer on
these occasions was the "organist." An amusing incident occurred one
Sun