cles thus
made are disposed of for the benefit of the institution, which provides a
home for sixty children. Very great was the need of such a place in the
valleys, and deeply encouraging have been the fruits of this work of faith
and labour of love. Not to extend my little book too far beyond its
original design, viz., that of a "handy-book on the valleys brought down to
date," I can only add that it seems to me that the chief wants of the
church in her own valleys are--first, a better sustenance for her pastors;
the very circumstance that those pastors are now expected to take their
places side by side with the foremost men of other churches in the
Continent of Europe for the defence and spread of God's truth justifies
this plea, if it were otherwise weak, which it is not.

Secondly, help in the restoration of her ancient sanctuaries, and one or
two additional ones. One thing that struck me as a painful void was, the
absence of any public monument of the past events of the wonderful history
of the Vaudois. It is true, in one sense, that the whole place is a museum
of relics; that every rock has some thrilling tale, every mountain slope
and hill-side graven upon it the memory of saints and martyrs. Yet I
confess that those who do remember what has passed, and that those who wish
that generations yet to come may know the history of these valleys, may
well desire that some external tokens stood out to impress the passer-by
with suitable emotion. I had this feeling most strongly as I reached the
Shiloh of the valleys--the Pra del Tor.

Our route lay through the luxuriant and lovely Val Angrogna, which now
rejoiced in the fascinating charms of springtide. Everywhere the eye rested
on scenes of softness and beauty, the turf not unlike that which gives such
a charm to an English landscape, while the undulating slopes were covered
with an unutterable profusion of flowers. As we advanced higher up the
valley we were strongly reminded of the words of a French writer:
"Sometimes in leaving a gorge our attention was absorbed by a beautiful
meadow. A strange intermixture of wild and cultivated nature met our eye
everywhere, betraying the hand of man where one would have thought it
impossible for him to penetrate. By the side of a cavern we find houses;
branches of the vine where we only looked for brambles; vineyards in desert
places, and fields amidst the overhanging rocks." All this is true beyond
exaggeration, especially after