s, which broke
up its gloom and we went with them to see Sloan's museum, a most
interesting collection. We all enjoyed its novelty as well as its
beauty.

She also records the pleasure with which she visited the National
Gallery, Madame Tussaud's Collection, the British Museum, Richmond, the
Kew Gardens, and Bunhill Fields Burying-Ground, and, in particular, the
grave of "Mr. John Bunyan."

Not long before leaving London she attended a Sunday evening service
for the people in Westminster Abbey, which interested her deeply. It
suggested--or rather was the original of--the scene in The Story Lizzie
Told:

When we first got into that grand place, I was scared, and thought they
would drive us poor folks out. But when I looked round, most everybody
was poor too. At last I saw some of them get down on their knees, and
some shut their eyes, and some took off their hats and held them over
their faces. Father couldn't, because he had me in his arms; and so I
took it off, and held it for him.

"What's it for?" says I.

"Hush," says father, "the parson's praying."

When I showed IT to God, the room seemed full of Him. But that's a small
room. The church is a million and a billion times as big, isn't it,
ma'am? But when the minister prayed, that big church seemed just as
full as it could hold. Then, all of a sudden, they burst out a-singing.
Father showed me the card with large letters on it, and says he, "Sing,
Lizzie, Sing!"

And so I did. It was the first time in my life. The hymn said,

Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,

and I whispered to father, "Is Jesus God?" "Yes, yes," said he, "Sing,
Lizzie, sing!"

After the praying and the singing, came the preaching, I heard every
word. It was a beautiful story. It told how sorry Jesus was for us when
we did wrong, bad things, and how glad He was when we were good and
happy. It said we must tell Him all our troubles and all our joys, and
feel sure that He knew just how to pity us, because He had been a poor
man three and thirty years, on purpose to see how it seemed.

The most stirring sight by far which she witnessed while in London, was
a review of 20,000 volunteers by the Queen in Hyde Park, on the 23d of
June. She waited for it several hours, standing much of the time upon a
camp-stool. As her Majesty appeared, accompanied by Prince Albert,
the curiosity of the immense crowd "rose to such a pitch that every
conceivable method was resorted to, to