happened at the time to be chumming with the Rev. Mr. Stewart Dyer,
his wife and family, who was Junior Chaplain at the Cathedral, and he
returned one morning from early service and informed me that the Rev.
Mr. Atlay, Senior Chaplain, who subsequently became Archdeacon of
Calcutta, also a personal friend of mine, had, in consultation with
the Bishop, decided on starting a Mission in the poorer quarter of the
town, and had fixed on the district known as Baitakhana, of which
Scott's Lane formed the central portion, and had expressed a strong
desire that Mr. Parsons and myself should undertake the preliminary
work. I felt at first very diffident in the matter, as I had never had
any experience of this kind before, but they so earnestly pressed the
point upon me that I at last consented, and promised to do all in my
power to carry out their wishes. We commenced in the first instance by
making a house-to-house call upon all the people in the neighbourhood,
and on account of our business engagements in the daytime this had to
be done in the early morning.

[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston Hoffmann_. St. Paul's Cathedral.]

[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Interior of St. Paul's
Cathedral, showing eastern half]

As a rule, we started on our rounds somewhere about 7 A.M., and put in
about a couple of hours' work. In our perambulations, we met, of
course, all sorts and conditions of people, and one morning I
recollect we got the surprise of our lives. We came across a large,
wooden gateway, rather common in those days to a particular class of
house, and forthwith proceeded to try to arouse the inmates. We
knocked and waited for a long time and could get no answer, and were
on the point of going away, thinking the house was empty, when all at