paper also makes a
quiet allusion to offertory business, the defraying of expenses, and
the augmentation of the curate's salary. The chairs are planted down
the church in two rows, and they look very singular. The organ at
the south east corner is a pretty little instrument. A reading desk
on the opposite side, standing upon a small platform, suffices for
the pulpit. Behind there is a strip of strong blue-painted canvas
bearing a text in gilt letters referring to the Sacrament. Above
there is a three-light stained glass window. At the western end,
just under the doorway, a marble tablet is fixed; and upon it is an
allusion to the virtues of the late J. Bairstow, Esq., and to the
gentlemen who erected the building. The average congregation
consists of about 200 middle and working class people. The services
are generally conducted by the Rev. J. D. Harrison, curate of Christ
Church--a young gentleman who works with considerable vigour, and
never sneezes at the offertory contributions, however small they may
be. Mr. Harding, of this town, designed the building, which is a
homely, kindly-looking little affair--a bashful, tiny, domesticated
creature, a nursling amid the matured and ancient, a baby among the
Titans, which may some day reach whiskerdom and manhood.

ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

"And now, finally, brethren." To the "beginning of the end" have we
got. The journey has been long and tortuous. When we have proceeded
forty inches further we shall stop. Not with the "last rose of
summer," nor with the "last of all the Romans," nor with the "last
syllable of recorded time," nor with the "last words of Marmion"--
the Mohicans are barred out--have we to deal, but with the last
place of worship, fairly coming within the category of "Our Churches
and Chapels." St. Mary's Church is situated in a huge, rudely-spun
district, known by the name of "New Preston." That district used to
be one of the wildest in this locality; "schimelendamowitchwagon"
was not known in it; not much of that excellent article is yet known
in it; and tons of good seed, saying nothing of manure, will have to
be planted in its hard ground before it either blossoms like the
rose or pays its debts. This district was originally brought into
active existence by John Horrocks, Esq., the founder of the Preston
cotton trade. Prior to his time there were a few people in it who
believed that 10s. a week was a good wage, and that Nixon's Book of
Prophecies wa