m at such a thing; and upon people
generally, as if we meant to imply that they needed it. Most certainly
they did.

I believe ordinary preachers in the churches of that neighbourhood did
not expect conversions; and most of the people were unconverted. I could
not help telling them so, which only roused their wrath so much the
more.

From this place I returned home; for my prolonged absence, I found, was
likely to bring me into trouble. Other clergymen might go away for
months, travelling or salmon fishing; but if I was absent for a few
weeks, I was supposed to be neglecting my parish. On my return, I had
much to tell, and did not expect to be invited out again in a hurry; for
very few clergymen would willingly desire to be drawn into such a
whirlwind of storm and trouble, as my visits usually involved.

CHAPTER 23

A Mission in Staffordshire, 1854.

THE work at Baldhu, which had been going on almost incessantly for three
years, was now beginning to flag; that is to say, there was not that
ardent and eager attendance at the services and meetings, to which we
had been accustomed in the revival time. We had had occasional lulls
like this before, but they did not last more than a few weeks; and then
the "swallows" returned, and the bright hot summer of work came again
with its loud songs and pleasant fruits. This dullness was continuing
longer than usual; the crowded congregations were falling off; strangers
did not come from a distance; the people at home were not so lively.
However, the classes were continued, as also the services at the church,
and the number of communicants did not decrease. Still any one could see
that the revival was over. It was rather discouraging to me, and a cause
of triumph to some outsiders; but we were occasionally cheered by work
amongst visitors, and with sick-bed cases.

The majority of the people were complacently waiting for another tide of
revival; this was their custom, but it sat very uneasily upon me. I did
not like it, nor agree to it; but at that time I knew not what else to
do, but wait as others did. I said that we looked like vessels which had
come so far up the river with the tide; and now that it had turned we
were stranded and fast in the mud. Sometimes I changed the figure to
one not so ignoble, and likened ourselves to the stately vessels
anchored in Falmouth harbour, which were there because the wind was
contrary. We were wind-bound too, and dependent on circumsta