not a little gratified, to see the following notice of their young soldier by the special correspondent of the Times, under date, Varna, August 26:— "Our officers and men are beginning to make more or less progress in the language, and the intelligent sergeants that we have can make themselves pretty intelligible to the natives; indeed, a private, named O'Flaherty, of the 7th regiment, has made such good use of his time since he has been here, that he understands both Greek and Turkish, and was passed the other day as third-class interpreter-Sir George Brown having sent out his interpreter at the man's request to examine him, when he was found perfectly competent for the post." His next letter was written on board the Emperor steamship, Varna, Sept. 2, 1854: "We are aboard this ship, and about to go to Sebastopol. We expect a large army to oppose our landing. I have now to inform you that I am appointed interpreter to the general. I was severely examined by a first-class interpreter, who said I had a pretty fair know. ledge of the Turkish language. I think, however, that I shall be discontinued in consequence of the present movement, for we want as many fighting soldiers as we can find. Up to this time my leisure hours, though short, were divided into three parts; first, translating several passages of my Bible into Turkish; then telling that over and over again to the people; and, lastly, acquiring other useful knowledge." "The manners and customs of the Turks are strange and ridiculous. They do not use either knives, forks, chairs, or tables; they sit like tailors on mats and cushions, and eat garlic to excess. No stranger is admitted to a Turk's house. If they see a strange man coming, they will run into their cabins, and close the door, or cover their faces with their ghost-like shrouds. Curiosity sometimes got the better of them, and they often invited me into their houses to tell them of the beauty of England and the English, which I did. I also spoke to them about England's religion; and about several of their abominations-of their false prophet and his doctrines-of the truth of Christianity, and of Jesus Christ being the only Saviour. The women even took off their veils to speak and listen to me, which, I assure you, is a great honour to a Christian. . . This may be the last letter that I may ever write you. We are now about to fight at last. I conclude by requesting you to remember me at the throne of grace, and may the Lord prosper thee and thine." At Balaklava he writes, September 29, 1854 : "How exceedingly rejoiced was I to hear from you! Every word of your letter was as the trumpet's sound to me, striking and musical. I was not going to write till the town and fort of Sebastopol were taken; but I cannot delay, although I am scarcely able to hold my pen, much less to put my mind on paper. On the 16th September we landed in the Crimea, about thirty miles from Sebastopol, on a sandy beach, about ten perches in width; the place is between a salt lake and the Black Sea We remained there till the 19th 1 was busily engaged as interpreter, going about the country looking for carts, arabas, cattle of every description, and all sorts of grain The place was altogether destitute of water, with the exception of one well, which was brackish, and about two miles distant. We expected opposition to our landing, but there was none. The country is popu lated for the most part with Tartars, ancient Turkish tribes, who can speak the Turkish language These people are very kind to us; they are adverse to the Russian yoke; they do not like the French, nor Turks, but they would embrace our English laws and obey them, and none other. After landing, we had a severe rainy night, but afterwards it turned out fine." His plans for the future are thus described: "I am now getting a little refreshed. The last two nights are the only nights I lay on any sort of bed since I left England I am really worn out, and my health is on the decline; for though I am interpreter, yet I have a good deal of work to do, riding about to this place and that, besides taking charge of the baggage. I am advised to join my regiment, which I think I will do. If it is my lot to fall, I will fall; or die, I will die; if not, I will come home, and may the Lord protect and spare me to live a useful life! This is what I am longing for. I am almost master of Turkish. Greek and Russian I am learning. I saw my name in the Times newspaper as interpreter this morning If I had time, I would learn French and German, as you suggest, but both interpreters and soldiers are indeed busily employed You have not the least idea of war It is a horrid thing." And again:- "If I am spared to return again safe, I will be able to buy my own discharge; and, God willing, I will come either to Turkey or Russia, to do good to the followers of the false prophet. I think that the fruitful seed of the Word of Life and Truth has already taken root in the stony hearts of some Turks I think I handled the plough of salvation and dug up their hearts; and now I only wish that the rain and dew from heaven would descend and water it, and that missionaries from our Presbyterian Church may be sent here also May the Lord enlighten the eyes that for centuries have been blinded with falsehood; and may I live to see and hear that Constantinople, the great storehouse of Turkish delusion, has been cleansed and whitewashed with the white-lime of the Gospel, in order that the old stench of Mohammed's doctrine may be entirely annihilated! This is what I want. I would then be satisfied. If I am spared to go home, and have as much money as will buy my discharge, I will go myself to Constantinople, (if not sent there,) and lay down the way of salvation, and the knowledge of Him in whose hands are the heavens and the earth, and who has brought about this war for the better, and not for the worse, and who governs alike the Turk and the Christian." The last letter that has reached this country from Corporal O'Flaherty-for that is now the military rank of our young friend-is written after the commencement of the siege of Sebastopol. He says: "When I go into the field to perform my devotional services, and when I sing my favourite psalm, my thoughts speed back to you; for it was you that taught me both the psalm and the tune. May the Lord prosper you and yours!-I am, Rev. Sir, your affectionate son in Christ, "PHILIP O'FLAHERTY, Interpreter and Corporal." Such a narrative as this beautifully illustrates what the fruits are of teaching the Bible, when it is taught by the Spirit of God. May many such tokens of the divine blessing be gathered from every Protestant missionary school in Ireland, and Ireland will become the strongest arm of the United Kingdom, whether in peace or war ! CHRIST THE BELIEVER'S ALL. LAMB of God! we fall before Thee, All things else are dung and dross. Jesus gives us true repentance Jesus gives us pure affections, When we live on Jesus' merit, Hear the whole conclusion of it: God, or King, or Priest, or Prophet, OUR WOUNDED SOLDIERS. DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-We are glad to know that our proposal for your collecting a little to aid in sending books to the wounded soldiers in the hospitals in the East, has been everywhere well received. In not a few instances, prompt measures were at once taken to start the collection in Sabbath schools; and with the greatest interest and zeal our young friends have engaged in the good work. By intimating it from their pulpits, ministers have given their Sabbath scholars good help by recommending their collection to the aid and encouragement of the people. And we have heard of the late National Fast-day having been seized as the appropriate occasion for making a collection at the church-doors for this useful and interesting object. In one Sabbath school, we are pleased to hear, our proposal had been anticipated, and carried out with great spirit. It will interest you to give you a sentence from the letter we received about it, and may prove a stimulus to you to follow the good example. Our friend in Glasgow, who writes on the 13th March, says :— "About six weeks ago a similar proposal was made to the children attending St. Matthew's Sabbath school, and they, in one evening, collected £2, 28., which being handed to our minister, he applied to the Religious Tract Society, who generously granted five pounds' worth of books for the two guineas. These, along with a few books sent by members of the congregation, were forwarded to Mr. Ferguson, missionary from the Church of Scotland to the wounded at Scutari." The Rev. Mr. Drennan, one of the chaplains engaged in visiting the hospital there, writes thus : "For a beginner, it is really mournful work this. To walk through miles of sick and wounded-when I say miles, I speak not in figure, but in sober earnest-to see here the sunken features of the last stages of dysentery, and there the vacant stare and restless movements of delirium-to hear, on the one side, that hard dry cough of a galloping VOL. IV. No. IV. APRIL 1855, consumption which makes you shudder, and on the other, the smothered groan which tells of wounds that would make your flesh creep to look upon even for a moment-to be for hours amongst this; and then, when you speak to these poor fellows, to hear the feeble faltering tones of apparently decrepit old age from those who, but a short time before, might well have been taken as models of manly strength and vigour, it is very sad. Often has my heart sunk within me, and I have had to go and seek relief in the open fields, amongst other and far different scenes. Already, however, do I begin to get accustomed to this, as one must do if he is ever to be of any service here; and I can now go about any work with some considerable amount of comfort. And really when one gets over the first shock, which every one must experience whose feelings are in the least degree sensitive, at moving about in the midst of so much suffering, there is very much to cheer one on here in the work to which we have been called. It is, indeed, truly encouraging to receive the hearty welcome which Í everywhere meet with from our poor suffering countrymen. And when I speak to them of home, and friends, and their past lives, and seek from that to lead them on to thoughts of their higher relationships, and of the better life which is through Christ Jesus, the earnestness with which they enter, in very many cases, into these things, and the gratitude which they express, and their strong desire for a speedy renewal of our intercourse, make my work, in spite of many drawbacks, very hopeful. God grant that it may prosper in reality, as well as in seeming. Talking of the welcome which I receive, I was very much affected by what one poor fellow told me to-day. He said, that on my visiting two men in his ward three or four days ago, he was very hopeful that I would come and speak to him too; but I went away taking no notice of him. At this he was grievously disappointed, for he knew of no way of communicating with me, till he thought, that if he wore his Highland cap it might attract my notice on my repeating my visit. And so he lay there, poor fellow, for days, with his cap on, watching eagerly for my coming, and hoping that his plan would succeed. This incident, you will say, is amongst the smallest; but yet it struck me somehow very much," |