WHS

YOUTHFUL RESPONSIBILITY.

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son, who now entered upon the battle of life, the labours of which varied, it is true, in character as years brought him into different fields of labour, but were without intermission to its close. In this early begun and longsustained work may be traced the source of that sense of weariness so often alluded to in the letters of his later years, and the strain so long endured seems to have tended to bring sooner to its close a life which might, under less trying conditions, have continued in vigour till at least the threescore and ten.

Slow as Mr Smith had been to show confidence in his son's judgment in religious matters, this rearrangement of his business was not the first proof he had given of reliance on William's capacity and common-sense. Mr Smith had shortly before this acquired some property in Cornish mines, and in 1844, while the youth was still a private pupil with Mr Beal at Tavistock, he wrote to him as follows:-

Can you tell me the cause of the Herod's foot shares being £7 each? have you any knowledge what has been paid for the set, because 256 at £7 each is about £1790a goodly sum. Think about this, & let me know your opinion. I do not think anything is wrong, for otherwise Mr P. has my utmost confidence, but we are all apt to run too fast when we get excited. Coolly think over this matter, but do not think that I have any intention to

withhold entering into this matter, but I wish to draw your attention to a full consideration of the matter and also to mining in general. I suppose you will go to the Green Valley.

I do not see anything in your letter respecting the state the Miners are in-has any provision been made for the welfare of the nobler part? It will not do for me to attend a Place of Public Worship myself, & yet put men in such a situation that they have not the means of religious instruction, and I am sure you will see the inconsistency of subscribing to Missionary Societies, & at the same time being the cause of making my fellow-countrymen heathens. I hold my hand at the present till my mind is set at rest on this subject.

Do not think that I am in any way displeased respecting Herod's foot-far from it. I think as far as you have gone you have done perfectly correct, but the other part must not be neglected.

Nothing could illustrate more clearly than this passage the nature of the training which gave a lasting bent to the character of young Smith. His father, though a peculiarly shrewd man of business, with a quick eye to the main chance, and constantly on the look-out for good investments for his savings, was also scrupulously righteous, and conscientious as to the sources whence he should draw his profits.

It must not be supposed, however, that old Mr Smith was close-fisted or ungenerous. Persons still living testify to his liberality and considera

A GOOD CORRESPONDENT.

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tion for others. On one occasion, when extensive additions were being made to the offices in the Strand, and were on the point of completion, he happened to meet on a Saturday the contractor for the work, who wore an air of depression and anxiety. Smith asked him why he was so downcast. "Perhaps you would be downcast, Mr Smith," was the reply, "if you had come to Saturday night, and had no money to pay your men. The architect is out of London, and I can't get a certificate for my work." "Oh, is that all?" replied Smith; "come into my office and I'll write you a cheque for £1000." He did so, and the contractor, then in a comparatively small way of business, now a partner in one of the most powerful firms in England, still speaks gratefully of this mark of confidence.

Neither at this time nor at any later period of his life did young Smith possess the gift of poignant expression in his letters. He wrote fluently, indeed, and, making allowance for the greater brevity which multiplied posts have brought about in later times, his early letters are certainly of more liberal measure than most modern sons and brothers address to their parents and sisters. Full of common-sense, they are not always free from a tendency to commonplace, and the homely language is often an indifferent

vehicle for really dignified thought. It is not, for instance, every brother who, at the age of nineteen, takes the trouble to impart such true philosophy as is contained in the following sentence from a letter written by Smith in 1844 to his elder sister Augusta on her birthday :

Although in a very humble and apparently confined sphere of action, who can tell the effect which our influence or that of our conduct may have upon others, and its reaction throughout future ages?

Written by the heir to influence and possession, such words might have come to be remembered as pregnant with conscious meaning; penned as they were by the son of a London tradesman, to whom the University training which he had craved for had been refused, they signify a thoughtful sense of responsibility beyond what might have been reasonably expected.

In the previous year, 1843, William had already, on the invitation of Mr Reece of Furnival's Inn, accepted the office of one of the secretaries of the Great Queen Street Branch Missionary Society, an institution of which the importance was cer

1 In spite of the profusion of his correspondence at all times of his life, Smith possessed two virtues of a letter-writer-he wrote a distinct hand, almost ladylike in neatness, and he hardly ever, even at his busiest, used contractions.

THE QUESTION OF A PROFESSION.

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tainly not underrated by its members, for Mr Reece, in making his proposal to William, modestly describes it as "the noblest and most deeply interesting enterprise that either the Church or the World-in this or any former age-ever witnessed!"

There was a time when the opposition to his strong desire for ordination seemed about to be removed. His father, weary of incessant work, contemplated the sale of his business and retiring upon the substantial means which he had gained in trade.

I am most sincerely delighted [wrote Mrs Beal to her brother in 1844] at the encouraging prospect of affairs. You have now certainly far greater likelihood of realising your long-cherished hopes and wishes. All I can say is, may it please God to grant your desire, and that you may live to be the useful minister of a nice little parish of your own. I am very, very thankful dear Father has determined to relieve himself, but shall not be able fully to believe he will sell the business he has so long cherished, until I hear of some very decided move in that direction. . . . Some occupation that will be interesting and not burdensome must be provided. I am quite sure he cannot live inactive after the life of work and bustle he has passed.

Mrs Beal's incredulity was justified by the result. Mr Smith overcame his sense of weariness, pushed his business with redoubled energy,