His love for the Church Missionary Society made him ready to go anywhere in its service, and in 1862 Mr. Hoare visited Cork for this purpose; some mistakes appear to have been made about dates by local friends, and accordingly there were one or two days in which there was no work for him to do. This, which would have been a natural source of vexation at all times, was at this juncture particularly hard to bear. Mrs. Hoare’s serious condition had just been discovered. It was therefore with considerable unwillingness that he had consented to leave her at all; but when, through the mistakes alluded to in the early part of the following letter, some days had to be spent in doing nothing, it is easy to imagine how his spirit chafed at what appeared to be a needless absence from home. Yet this had its compensation, as it gave him more of the company of his host, a venerable saint of God. Not only so, but Mr. Hoare used to tell of the remarkable way in which his aged hostess comforted him concerning the great trouble which was just beginning to overshadow his life. Making him sit beside her on the sofa, she persuaded him to open all his anxiety and grief to her; and then, in a motherly way, gave him such loving advice and deep consolation that he was enabled to look forward more calmly to the sorrow, and returned home strengthened in faith to meet the trials which were thickening around him. “CORK, _May_ 26_th_, 1862. “ . . . However, I am repaid by the affection of the dear old Dean {137} and Mrs. Newman, with whom I am staying. I have greatly enjoyed my visit, and she has been most loving and sympathising. Indeed she has done me real good, and given me valuable help by the way. It is a pleasant and profitable thing to be with those whose race is nearly run, and to hear their views of life, when they look back on it from the borders of eternity. She seems to take a different view of it to what I do, who am in the midst of all the cares of my pilgrimage. “I thought of you and home all day yesterday with much affection, though without much time for especial prayer, for I was about all day, having preached twice, and been two hours in the afternoon to hear Mr. Denham Smith. I must tell you all about it when I get home; but it is a curious thing that I heard him tell precisely the same stories about conversion that Miss Saunders mentioned. There was something very pleasing about it all, and parts of it were very powerful. But I confess I did not see wherein lay the secret of that remarkable success which God seems to have bestowed on him. Perhaps he is more in prayer than we are. But let us be thankful for what God has done, and take courage.