Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/359

 THE REV. HARRY WILSON, M.A. 311

to keep the church open for private prayer all day long. But, oh ! the Sunday services ! Let me try to describe them. There were four-and- twenty boys in the choir, voices utterly untrained, and boys as undisciplined as their voices. And the music ! Well, Jackson s Te Deum was the favourite piece of music, and I do not think even Jackson himself would have thought much of his Te Deum if he had heard our boys sing it ! Then there were three men who came sometimes or did not, as the case may be. There was seldom more than one there at a time. I was full of hope in those days, and thought that a few years hard work would easily fill the church, but I did not know how tough a job I had got. At the end of six months the prospect was far from hopeful. There used to be a general East London Mission in the autumn, and we began to work for it in earnest. After the Mission the number of our communi cants rose considerably, and from that time have continued to do so, till now the church is crowded. Our difficulty now is to find seats for our congre gation. It was slow work at first. In East London, as you perhaps know, there is a terrible indifference and sin all round, and to become religious involves, in most cases, the giving up of all old friends and making a new and most difficult start in life. To go to church is the outward expression of this religion, so that it means a great deal. Curiously enough there are two

�� �