The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-05 00:00:00

POOR WILLIAM SMITH!

A correspondent writes
May I trouble you with a few details about the
family of St illiam Smith, the guard who was killed in the
Irish Stall accident? Seeing a letter from Dr. Andrewes
about Mr. Smith, I went to see her, and mine touching
grief I never witnessed. There she was, surrounded by her
children, eight in number, their ages nolgini from fifteen
years to twelve days old. She is quite towel I loon by
grief, together with great weakness of body. She kept on
telling me :Mout her husband, of Ms goodness, his kindness
his ceaseless thought for her; now for sixteen years lie had
never said one unkind word. Her one idea seemed ROI roW
for him, the unbearahle thought she would never see him
again ; all terror for herself awl her family being unprovided
for appeared quite comparative; that she was content to
leave, feeling God, who had sent the bitter trial, would
not allow them to Inc uncared for.
She kept on looking at his whistle and his bent buckle, all
blackened by the fire, the ;fly things left to her of lam who
lout gone out so well anti so strong so full of anxiety for her ;
weakness, and thinking of all he could bring her back from
his Journey on that Thmsday morning. The undoubted
sympathy of everyone she seemed to value much, and I feel
sure the public will be glad to do all they cim to help the
saddest case that eau Inc imagined.
Dr. Andrewes, No. 1, Oakley-square, London, has formed a
committee, and will thankfully receive contributions, and
see that they are properly applied for the use of the widow
and orphans.

HEARING MR. SPURGEON.
(From a correspondent of the Daily News.)
Although living within half-an-hour's rule of the
" Elephant and Castle," I i.ever until pest-tiny heard Mr.
Spurgeon. Disinclination to wan. ier, and a strung aversion
for the sensational, continued to overpower a natural
curiosity to hear one who is constantly pram& as the first
preacher of the day. So much is now written about sermons
that, although Mr Spurgeon's merits and ele:ects have often
been discus.ed before, I venture to submit sty impressions,
to be taken for whatever they limy be worth.
Arriving at the Tabernacle at lire minutes before the time
of service, I saw a croa d Of 500 waiting ricer the poll'co in
front of the principal hors. Having a ticket which gave me
admission at a side-door, I entered and f•ill111.1 the illllllOl9O
building so full that I think it WOUIII not have held another
illllllll,l people. Such a sight, I believe, can be witnessed
nowhere else than in England. I had heen in lily seat in
front of the plattorni about two minutes 0 . en Mr swage.
entered. The photographs of the shop windows had pre-
pared me to expect to area man of heavy, Tort to say coarse,
countenance, but the photographs do the original great in-
justice. Precisely at a quarter to elev., Mr. Spurgeon ad-
eanc,d to the railing of the platform, and said, in a clear
soft voice which tilled the building without effort, "Let us
worship God in prayer." Accustomed to the habit of
worship in the Church of England, it was with regret I found
that there was no provision for kneeling, and that that
appropriate attitude had not been renotineed because the
el mgregation preferred to stand. The sight of six thousand
people sitting during the worship of prayer is net pleasing
Mr. Spurgeon, howeser, stoisl. Ile does not pray Co well as
he preaches —his prayer was good so far as it went. It aria
very high and mystical, alsoundbig with figurative ex-
pressions from the Ileiirew poetry. But it was defective in
the element which we all prize no much in the Litany—a
tender, lowly, human sympathy. Mr. Spurgeon mice re
ferred to those present Ma" chosen people," and there was
too much of this exclusive feeling throughout the service.
the confession of sin struck me as meagre and general. In
one of the Tracts for the Timex it is stud that the prayers
ot the church of &gland are pitched in 10010 w and plaintive
a key, and it is hinted that this is a penal ju•'gment en that
church ; for the first of these opinions I think there Is some
foundation The prayers of the Tabernacle, on the other
hand, seemed to me o,er-confident.
The singing is accomplished without instrumental aid,
being conducted by a preeenter, who stands beside Mr.
of course under such disadvantages only slow
tunes can lie sung, but the voices were kept togiithur much
bettcr Qat usiglit. have Wad tapas:kid.