It was a very moving sight, about three hundred people, some of them degraded in vice, packed close together, joining in the familiar hymns, and listening with attention to the speaker. Canon Hoare often said that, intensely as he delighted in the opportunity, it was at times more than he could bear to realise the depth of sin in which many lived who were gathered together at these services—the responsibility of the preacher seemed on such an occasion to be so enormous. Except as occasional workers, he never would allow the regular church-goers to attend the Mission Room services. “This service is not for you,” he used to say; “it is a stepping-stone to the church.” And such it was. The process of transformation used to be watched with interest in those cases where some poor degraded creature, either there or at the Temperance meetings, was led to “take the first turn to the right, and then go straight on,” as Bishop Wilberforce once tersely put it. Soon the ragged clothing improved, the whole appearance altered; after a while it might be said of such that, clothed and in their right mind, they sat at the feet of Jesus; and then by degrees moving on to the church, they might be seen at the Lord’s Table, or sitting in the adult Confirmation Class in preparation for that sacred privilege. There were low slums in that parish, but, as Canon Hoare used often to say, “The Church of England can and does reach the lowest of the low, and can bring the Gospel to bear upon the vilest, _without the aid of a fiddle or a flag_!” One practical difficulty met him at first in the Parish (or Mission) Room services. Many a poor tramp, weary and footsore, used to say when asked to come in: “I have eaten nothing since the morning. Can you give me food? I want that more than the service.” When these answers were reported to him Mr. Hoare used to say, “And if I were in their place I should make the same reply.” It then became a matter of consideration what could be done to remove this difficulty, and yet not give anything like a bribe to induce people to come to these services for a paltry motive. After a great deal of thought and consultation with the workers, it was determined to give a slice of bread and cheese to any poor hungry ones who were not residents, but passing through the place, and in the cold weather a mug of coffee was added. This plan worked admirably; only a few asked for the food, but those received it, and what had been a very real hindrance at the first was satisfactorily removed.