, 1877-02-25
FIDDLER JOSS.
AN ENGLISH EVANGELIST.

From the london Telegraph, Jan. 80
Come und hear Fiddler Joss on Sunday
night, Jan. IS, at the Mission Chapel, Little
Wild street, DTury Lane" Such was the inyt
tatlon printed on handbills that were offered
pretty freely to the wayfarcrs in the purlicus ot
the Parish of St. Giles toward the close OF the
afternoon mentioned, when the church bells
we're ringing out their summons to prayer on
the cold 1uoon1it air, and dro7es Of little chill
dren were seeking to warm their blood, chasing
each othc I in play in the courts and alleys OF
one Of the poorest and most populous districts
Of the metropolis. The ne!ghborhood of Little
Wild street is not one Of the incest or most rep
utable; the tallyman is power there, the DO
lccman terror, and the saullv-paintcd, gilt
teriug corner pub ~ an Institution. Drunken
ness and poverty are rile, for your poor devotee
Of the bottle will strip of his waistcoat or sell
his shoes for another drink. The owner Of
the dolly-shoD drives roaring trade; the clothes
thaL are taken out of pawn on Saturday very
often arc pie in again on the Monday morning
Curses arc more common there than canticleS,
rookeries than homes; and that notorious es-
tablishmcat, the Thieves Kitchen, is not en-
tirely unknown to the dcnfZen6 Of the locality.
This, one would say, is the very spot for mis-
sion chapel; but the man who Wended his way
to Little Wild street In answer to the Invitation
in the handbill would have been most agrecably
disappointed when he entered the precincts Of
the house OF worship presided over US pastor by
Mr.. George Hattou-thut where "Fiddler JOSH
vas to hold forth. The chapel dates its founda-
tion from the beginning OF the seventeenth cen
tury. Some three years ago it underwent pro-
cess OF renovation, and now 1t is a spacious and
comfortable structure, If plain, with accommo-
dation for 500 persons. There are two galleries
running round the building, with q circular
space at the end of the lower one, in which the
preacher takes his stand, and underneath these
arc rows Of peW's as in an ordinary church. This
mission-chapel is clean, neatly painted, well lit
and we'll ventilated Surprise tho first. The
congregation and the place was crammed
with humble folk with hard hands and faces
bronzed from exposure-was singularly we'll
dressed. Surprise the second. There were Ia
borcrs therc,-the thick-set fellows one meets
on working days in smocks and corduroy trou6~
crs with astrap round the knee,-but their
costume was correct broadcloth. There we're
shoe-bIacks, hotcl-waiters, packers, costcrmon-
gers, all very spruce, attentive, and well-be
haved, and with them, in many cases, we're
wives and daughters, some OF whom we're very
great in gloves, ribbons, and snowy cuffs aud
collars The secret Of their weli-to~do appear
anres, as explained bY one Of the workers in the
mission. lay in the fact that they had left of
the evil, thriftless courses Of old, had become
regular members of the congregation, taken the
pledge, aud felt a decent pride in themselves.
The money that formerly went to the gin-palacc
was now carefully invested in the Post-Oflce
Savings-Bauk, in preparation for a rainy DAY.
These people, By the force OF their e1ampn, had
induced many others to become chapcFgoers.
Some passages in the life-history OF many pres
victed SO many times; that man had, no
later than. Thursday last. after wandering the
streets peuniless and hungry, attempted suicide;
= third, aged and respectable e-loo1iug, had been
drunk for SIX weeks, and during that time his
farorite daughter, sweet girl Of q, had died;
but Il these stories were whispered it was on