THE LATE CAPTAIN SIR WILLIAM PEEL, K.C.B. wards. Invariably the portions of Scripture which he read or quoted during the conversation haunted me through the night. When I was lying in my hammock in the starboard cabin, they came to my mind, and when I got up in the morning I found that I could not repeat my customary prayers to the Virgin and the saints; the texts which Captain Peel had read rose to my thoughts and hindered my prayers, which distressed me greatly. Oh! how sweetly and fervently he prayed every day, morning and evening, in our cabin; and invariably he ended his prayers thus: "O Lord Jesu Christ, may the reading of Thy holy Word, and our conversations, be for Thine own glory and the glory of Thy holy name, and for our eternal good. Amen." The following used to be his favourite texts: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." "By grace are ye saved through faith." 23 apologise for his apparent discourtesy for leaving me in the cabin so abruptly. I was overwhelmed with amazement at his kind thoughtfulness, and said to myself, "What wonderful presence of mind and unbounded bravery! yet at the same time he is as gentle as a little child." I asked the Captain how he knew that a man was overboard? He replied, smiling, that his ear was quite accustomed to the sound, and then he narrated to me several incidents of his experience whilst on the West Indies and Pacific stations. I was also very much struck with his courteous address to the officers and crew; and what made more impression upon my mind was his daily visiting the ship's hospital, speaking to the sick as they lay in their hammocks with great kindness and affection of Jesus their Redeemer, and their own immortal souls, reading to them portions of the Bible and praying with them. On one occasion I was standing with him beside a poor dying sailor in the ship's hospital, when the sufferer turned to his Captain with brightened eyes and a very happy countenance, and said (as nearly as I can remember the words), "I thank you very much, sir, for having directed my poor guilty soul to Jesus the Saviour. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with I feel very happy, as I am going to Jesus." The Christ in God.” “Christ is all, and in all.” "There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." "The Holy Scriptures, which are able to make (men) wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." His Christian and gentlemanly demeanour struck me very much, together with his constant kindness and courtesy to the officers and crew. And whenever I dined with the officers in their gunroom (once a week), I always heard the officers speak of their captain with such deep respect and affection, that they often said they would even die for him. I was on On one occasion whilst we were off Cephalonia it was very hot, and there was a dead calm; some of the sailors were working on the yards, whilst the Captain and I were reading in the cabin; all the windows were open astern, and suddenly we heard a great splash. In an instant I saw the Captain jump out of the window into the sea. alarmed, not knowing what was the matter, and rang for the sentry who guards the door of the Captain's cabin. I told him to call the officers, and whilst speaking heard more plunges. I ran deck, and found several of the officers and crew had jumped into the sea after the Captain. Life-preservers and boats were immediately lowered; the whole occupied very few minutes, and there was no noise nor confusion. I was so terrified that for a while I lost my power of speech, and stood aghast on deck, not knowing what to think. A strange idea crossed my mind that they were suddenly possessed, and I thought of the miracle of the swine, and the unclean spirits hurling them into the sea. Soon I was reassured by the 2nd lieutenant telling me that a sailor working on the main-yard had fallen into the sea from sunstroke. The poor fellow did not rise again, but the frigate and her boats remained near the spot for several hours after the occurrence without avail. The first thing Captain Peel did afterwards when he came on board was to shake hands with me, and poor sailor died a day or two afterwards. I was also interested to find Captain Peel conducting Divine service on Sunday mornings (there was no chaplain on board the "Diamond"), and in the evenings he had a Bible-class for all the midshipmen in his cabin. All these things, coupled with his holy and consistent Christian life, his great biblical knowledge and his forcible arguments, stirred my innermost soul, and I said to myself that there must be a reality here, and that Protestants were not what I had been taught. The respect and esteem from all on board for their Captain were very apparent, and I must say that during the nine months I was Captain Peel's guest, on board his frigate, I scarcely saw any disorder or drunkenness, although we touched at several ports in the Ionian Islands and the Adriatic Sea. The only case of drunkenness that I remember was the source of so much regret to the offender, that I do not think he was likely again to yield to the temptation. I had no doubt in my mind that the poor fellow was enticed to drink more than he ought; it was the evening of a state ball which was given by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, at the palace at Corfu, a few days before we left for the Crimea. To it all the notability of Corfu were invited, and many of the native heads of the island appeared in their costumes. When I left the palace, about an hour before the Captain, and came to the landing-place, where the Captain's gig was waiting for us, I found on the esplanade one of the frigate's crew incapable of taking care of himself, and without the Captain's orders I directed the coxswain to take the poor fellow to the frigate. Whilst the gig was away on this errand the Captain came, and asked why the gig was not in readiness. I told him what had taken place. He turned round with his usual affability, and smiling, said to me, "My dear friend, in our navy we do not send drunken sailors in the Captain's gig;" and on the return of the gig he kindly, but firmly, told the coxswain that he must not do it again. Soon after, Captain Peel received orders to start William Peel, and his great Teacher and Master, the for the Black Sea, to join the Mediterranean fleet; | and I accompanied him as 1st Class interpreter to the British Army, attached to Lord Raglan's staff. I have only to add that the change in the conWhen in camp we saw much of each other; he vert's sentiments naturally revolutionized his whole coming to my tent, and I going to his tent. On one life. He became a banished man for ever from his occasion, when I was with him in the naval battery native home, and land, and Church. His father No. 2, which he commanded, a shot from a Russian made one vigorous effort to obtain possession of him, round tower came through the port-hole and struck in order that he might try what persecution would the rock behind; a piece of the stone splintered, and do to shake his steadfastness. He made a demand struck Peel's face, wounding him slightly. On upon Sir William Peel, by letter, for the body of his another occasion I was with him in the battery, with son. The letter was put into the convert's hands. other officers of the army and navy, when a shell With calmness he said, not apparently unready to fell in the midst of us in the battery. Every one submit to the ordeal which his father intended, “ I was alarmed, but Captain Peel, with wonderful have given my soul to my Saviour-I am ready to presence of mind, at the risk of his own life, in an give my body at any moment." "No," said Captain instant laid hold of the shell before it burst, and Peel; "as long as I can protect you, I shall protect threw it out of the gun-hole, and the shell burst you. I shall not give you up.' And he wrote at immediately it touched the ground. Of course poor once to the convert's father, saying that " his son Peel's hands were dreadfully burnt, but we were all was under his protection, and that he should consaved. It was very providential, and also a most tinue to have all the protection which his safety daring act of bravery on the part of Captain Peel. required." To those who inquire where the convert For this act he got the Victoria Cross.* is now, and what he is doing, the only reply which can be given here is, that he is labouring as an esteemed clergyman of the Church of England, under Episcopal sanction, in the cause of Oriental Christians. During the whole time Peel was in camp we continued our Bible-reading, sometimes in the night, sometimes in the evening, and sometimes during the day, either in my tent or in his, always commencing and ending with prayer. Oh! how sweetly he used to pray. These prayers and Bible-readings almost decided me to embrace the Reformed faith; but when I was wounded in the battle of Inkermann, then the beautiful texts on which the Captain used to lay especial stress came vividly to my mind, that "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin:" then I decided to follow the Lord, and made a vow that if I should be spared I would devote my life to the service of my Lord and Master, my Redeemer Jesus Christ. The last time I saw him at Spithead, before he started with his ship the "Shannon" for China, Captain Peel kneeled down with me, and to his prayer added these words: "Grant, O Lord, that this, my young friend, may be brought to the full knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus!" For sixteen years I have worked as an ordained minister of God's Word, and if I have been in any way useful, under God-to Captain Peel be the praise! One more incident and I have done. When I decided upon entering the ministry, and was commencing my college course, I wrote to Captain Peel to tell him; but the letter was returned, with the fatal words outside, "He is dead!" He fell a victim to small-pox in India; but his work on earth was done, and he was called home to wear the crown of glory, and rejoice for ever with the Lord. Such is the narrative. In communicating it, the writer says, "My own part in this history is a very humble one. The glory of it is entirely due to Sir *While conversing not long since with the gallant Admiral who was Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty when Captain Peel obtained his nomination, the Admiral said that when Sir Robert Peel, his father, went down to the Admiralty to ask for a nomination for his son as a midshipman, he made the observation respecting him, not without marked emotion and pride, that "Whatever his son might be called upon or required to do in the service of his country, he would do it thoroughly and fearlessly." The observation produced an enduring impression upon the mind of the Private Secretary, and he remarked that The events recorded in this narrative fully bear out the assertion of Captain Peel's father." *** THE snow. SNOW. HERE is not in nature anything at once more delicate and more beautiful than a flake of One of the most common and most appropriate emblems of purity, the standard of the most perfect whiteness, snow plays also an important part in the economy of the earth. These tender snowflakes, which under the microscope reveal their myriad forms of wondrous loveliness, have within them the germ and the potentiality of some of the sternest and grandest of nature's workings. It is in the delicate snow-crystal that the glaciers of the great mountain ranges, the bergs of the Arctic and Antarctic seas, have their birth. Compacted, these crystals make the giant ice-chisels with which the hardest rocks are grooved, and planed, and pared, the noblest mountain peaks are sculptured, and the contours of hills and valleys traced. The whole of that mighty series of forces and operations which is classed under the general term "glacial" have their spring and source in the falling snow. But snow has humbler parts to play—if one phase of the operations of Providence in nature may be deemed humbler than another-and parts more directly important and useful to man. also adds its influence in favour of fertilizing the soil. Like rain and mists, it contains a considerable proportion of ammonia, which exists in a volatile state in the atmosphere, and which it conveys to the soil, afterwards preventing it from becoming volatile again as is the case after rain, especially after warm Tain."* The arrangements which science thus describes are used by the pious Hervey in one of his Meditations: "The snow, however it may carry the appearance of cold, affords a warm garment for the corn, secures it from the nipping frosts, and cherishes its infant growth. It will abide for a while, to exert a protecting care, and exercise a fostering influence; then touched by the sun, or thawed by a softening gale, the furry vesture melts into genial moisture, sinks deep into the soil, replenishing the globe with that vegetative life, which will open into the bloom of spring, and ripen into the fruits of autumn. Beautiful emblem this, and comfortable representation of the efficacy of the Divine word, both in the successful and advantageous issue of its operation : 'As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth, it shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."" Snow, as every one knows, is simply a form of water--more closely defined, a form of ice. Whenever the temperature of the atmosphere sinks below the freezing-point of water, the moisture aggregated into clouds freezes, and snow is the result. According to crystallographic law, water freezes in what is known as the hexagonal or rhombohedral system; and snow is composed of fine threads or filaments of ice, which unite at the governing angle of sixty degrees, and form an almost infinite variety of beautiful combinations. Over a thousand distinct sets of floral or stellar groupings, thus formed, have been observed and figured, and the store is far from being exhausted. Nor are these crystals wanting in other beauty than that of form. They glow individually with all the colours of the rainbow, or, in more scientific phrase, with all the hues of the prismatic spectrum; and the perfect whiteness which characterises snow in mass is due to the perfect proportion and combination of these tints in the separate crystals. It is true that, under certain conditions, snow, like the atmosphere, has a bluish tinge; true also that we occasionally hear of red snow; but this latter phenomenon is due to causes not inherent in the snow itself. Less generally known is the fact that snow at times is phosphorescent. We owe to Mr. Leslie Stephens one of the best descriptions of this singular appearance. When he witnessed it on the Alps the snow emitted a faint lambent glow; and at each step the plunging foot was surrounded by a nimbus. Snow is universal in its range. Wherever the temperature falls below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, there is the abode of snow. Hence in the tropics as well as in the frigid zone-at the equator as well as at the poles-wherever there is land of sufficient * Flammarion's "Atmosphere," edited by Glaisher. The snow crystals on the previous page are from a series observed by Mr. Glaisher. elevation to rise into a range of temperature permanently below the freezing-point, snow may be found. The snow-line marks the limit above which snow is perpetual. This line varies not only with the latitude, but with the season, and the aspect. Hence there is no absolutely fixed and certain boundary to the region of perpetual snow. In all parts of the world, however, there is an elevation beyond which the mountains are snow-capped, with a variable zone of winter snows immediately succeeding. Highest under the equator, where it may be put at 15,000 to 16,000 feet, the snow-line gradually descends through the temperate zones until it reaches the sea level in the polar arca, where snow and ice enjoy a continuous reign; and the lowlands are only in art snow-free even in the brief summer season. The snow which falls above the snow-line in our great mountain chains is yearly in excess of the current casual waste. Hence large masses of snow collect, gradually hardening into an icy consistency. The snow as it falls here has no coherence—mere "snow-dust;" but the heat of the sun causes a consolidation, which is carried further by the weight of each superincumbent layer pressing closer and closer those below. Then the snow masses move down the mountain-sides, rapidly in avalanches, slowly in glaciers, giving birth in temperate climes to rivers, breaking off into huge bergs as the frozen masses reach the polar seas. The snow of the frigid zone, like that of the mountain heights, is not the soft fleecy snow of the temperate lowlands. It is dry and hard, a granulated hail or ice-dust; which, driven by the wind, penetrates to the skin through all but the closest vestments. It beats against the face until bewilderment becomes giddiness, and giddiness positive vertigo; and then, wanting strength or aid, the poor traveller-his vital powers wearied out-sinks through sleep into that insensibility which is the sure precursor of death. We are all familiar by experience with the fact that a fall of snow is far more serious in its obstructive results than a shower of rain. Rain flows off the land, except in seasons of flood, and in low-lying districts, with considerable rapidity. Snow collects hour by hour and day by day until it puts an almost impassable barrier to locomotion. Nor is the rapidity with which it gathers surprising when we bear in mind that from the looseness of its texture snow includes eight to ten times its bulk of air. An inch of rain is no uncommon daily rain-fall in this country, and an inch of rain will yield nine or ten inches of snow. On the wolds and fells, and among the mountains of the north, and on the high-lying downs and moors of the south, daily rain-falls in winter of two to three inches, and even more, are not at all unusual. These transmuted into snow would cover the landscape in a far-spreading pall two or three feet deep. And although while the snow continues to fall it is more and more compressed as it lies by its own weight, a persistence of snowy weather becomes a very serious matter. Nowhere do the snow-storms sweep with such resistless force, and nowhere are they fraught with such danger as on the high table-lands of Asia, among the Andes, on the Russian steppes, and over the wide plains of Siberia. A snow-storm on a mountain is terrible; but a snow-storm on these great plateaus is even more fatal in its consequences. THE INVALID'S PORTION, AND THOUGHTS FOR THE AFFLICTED. There is no shelter against its accumulated forces; 27 recorded that he was observed standing looking out at his study window one clear frosty winter's afternoon. The sun shone upon the snow, glittering white and fair. He was seen intently gazing earnestly and lovingly, and was heard to mutter to himself, "Whiter than snow, whiter than snow!" Wonderful indeed is the cleansing of that blood, which can make the blackest, guiltiest soul clean, yea, whiter than snow! wonderful the grace that can so deal with sin, as to cover it with a robe of spotless righteousness! The Invalid's Portion, and Thoughts for the Afflicted. The Onward Journey. "I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only."-Psa. lxxi. 16. the opening of a new year there is much to awaken thought; and whether the journey hitherto has been long or short, quiet or eventful, happy or unhappy, it is natural to pause at this milestone, and cast a look of anxious inquiry into the unknown future of our path. What will this new year bring? Will it give joy or sorrow? Will it fulfil or disappoint those hopes which lie nearest our hearts? Such questions are asked even by those upon whom has been laid the heavy hand of affliction. Will it prove the beginning of better times, or will it carry us speedily far beyond this region of earthly hopes and fears into that world unseen, where it is very certain that some of those who read these words will have entered before this year shall have finished its course? Life and its changes, time and its uncertainties, may soon have passed over for us into death and eternity. It has been thus with not a few whom we have known during the past year; it will be thus with others whom we now see and know, but whom we shall soon see and know no more on earth. These are solemn thoughts, and would be very saddening if we had no strength but our own to lean upon, no hopes but those of earth to cling to. But let us not think that we are obliged to wander on as children without a guide in this solemn journey of life set before us. Our Heavenly Father himself offers to lead us; He says to each," Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, my Father, Thou art the guide of my youth?"-not the guide of youth only, but of middle age and old age, and every age in which his blessed guidance is needed and sought and found. Assured of his good will towards us, proved and displayed in the unspeakable gift of his own dear Son for our salvation, let us each take up the Psalmist's words as our own, and say humbly and hopefully, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." No one can be weaker than I am in myself, but He is strong. No one can have less righteousness to stand upon as a plea, but I will make mention of his righteousness. Whatever has been my history hitherto, I desire to go on in future taking the Lord for my strength, my guide, my help, my refuge. It is impossible for things to go wrong with me if I am "found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ." There are very probably trials before me which I do not know-there is also help which I do not know, reserved for me as I go on "in the strength of the Lord God." Only let me be sure that He cares for me; without Him not a sparrow falls, far less a child of his love. I may expect too much from men, and may be wofully disappointed; I cannot expect too much from God; none were ever disappointed or put to shame who trusted in Him. It is much more likely that I expect too little from Him, and ask too little, and give thanks too seldom, and forget that his mercies are new every morning, and that He delights to give that which is good to all those who wait on Him. Let me then ask freely, and receive thankfully. I need not fear the changes of the unknown future, for Thou, O Lord, art with me, and "Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness." |