with a
strong bass voice. In a corner near there was a roseate-featured,
elderly man, who enjoyed the service at intervals and slept out what
he could not fathom. Close to him was a youth who did the very same
thing; and in front there were three females who followed the like
example. The service was plain, simple, sincere, and quite
Methodistical; it was earnestly participated in by a numerous
congregation; the responses were quiet and somewhat internal; an
easy respectable seriousness prevailed; nothing approaching either
cant or wild-fire was manifested. Working-class people preponderated
in the place, as they always do; the singing was clear, and plain,
odd lines coming in for a share of melodious quavering; and the
sermon was well got-up and eloquent. The Rev. C. F. Hame, who has
recently come to Preston in the place of the Rev. W. H. Tindall
(Lune-street Circuit), was the preacher on this occasion. He is a
little gentleman, with considerable penetration and power; has a
good theological faculty; is cool, genial, and lucid in language;
and, although he can shout a little when very warm, he never loses
either the thread of his argument or his personal equilibrium. There
are 120 members at this place of worship; the average attendance at
the different services is 250; and the number is gradually
increasing.
Regular ministers and local preachers fill the pulpit in turns;
there being, as a rule, one of the former at either the morning or
evening service every Sunday. Sometimes both kinds may be present
and ready for action at the same moment; but they never quarrel as
to which shall preach--never get "up a tree," figuratively speaking,
and everything is arranged quietly. The school, wherein the services
we have referred to are held, has been one of the most useful in
Preston; more scholars have probably passed through it than through
any other similar place in the town; old scholars--men and women
now--who received their religious education here, are in all parts,
and there is not a quarter of the globe where some may not be found
who have a pleasant recollection of the school. Its average day
attendance is 240; its average Sunday morning attendance 275; whilst
on a Sunday afternoon the regular number is 425. The school, which
is conveniently arranged and well fit up with every sort of ordinary
educational contrivance, is in a satisfactory state, and, in
conjunction with the "chapel," which it makes provision for,
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