isit to Birmingham, and spent a week at the sittings of
the British Association. By subscribing a guinea I was made an
Associate, and some of the sessions were very interesting, but much too
deep for me. I sat out a lecture on the Higher Mathematics, by
Professor Henry Smith, to whom Professor Pearson gave me an
introduction, in hopes that I might visit Oxford; but he was going
abroad, and I could not go to Oxford if I knew nobody--especially
alone. I went, however, to Carr's Lane Chapel, where a humble friend
had begged me to go, because there she had been converted, and there
the Rev. R. W. Dale happened to preach on "Where prayer was wont to be
made." He said that consecration was not due to a Bishop or to any
ecclesiastical ceremony, but to the devout prayers and praise of the
faithful souls within it--that thousands over Scotland and England, and
others in America, Australia, and New Zealand, look back to words which
they had heard and praises and prayers in which they had joined as the
holiest times in their lives. I thought of my good Mrs. Ludlow, and
thanked God for her. When Mr. Cowan took me to the church in Essex
place where he and his friend Wren used to hear Mr. W. J. Fox, M.P. for
Oldham, preach, a stranger, a young American, was there. I found out
afterwards he was Moncure Conway, and he gave us a most striking
discourse. There was going on in Birmingham at this time a controversy
between the old Unitarians and the new. In the Church of the Messiah
the old ministers gave a series of sermons on the absolute truth of the
New Testament miracles. The Old Testament he was quite willing to give
up, but he pinned his faith on those wrought by Christ and His
apostles. Some of the congregation told me they had never thought of
doubting them before, but the more Mr. B. defended them as the bulwarks
of Christianity, the more they felt that our religion rested on other
foundations. I saw a good deal of the industrial life of Birmingham,
and had a sight of the Black Country by day and by night. Joseph
Chamberlain was then a young man; I believe he was a Sunday school
teacher. The Unitarian Sunday Schools taught writing and arithmetic as
well as reading. In the terrible lack of national day schools many of
the poor had no teaching at all but what was given on Sundays, and no
time on other days of the week to learn anything. I could not help
contrasting the provision made by the parish schools of Scotland out of
the begg