the little fellows replied, 'No, mamma; it is not Thursday.' Surely God must intend to grant a mercy when He stirs up so many to pray for it, and that, too, persons having no connection with the object, except by zeal or charity. I am going, in a day or two, to concert with Pallotta the best means of propagating this devotion, both in communities and among the people. I perfectly approve of enlarging your original plan so as to embrace all that are in error. I am in favour of giving expansion to charities in any way, and _Catholicising_ our feelings as much as our faith. We are too insular in England in religion as in social ideas. This was one of my reasons for wishing to have the _oeuvre_ unconnected with domestic purposes, which would, however, be benefited by the greater energy which the spirit of charity would receive by being extended. I am endeavouring to excite in the students as much as I can the missionary spirit; all the meditations are directed to this. By the missionary spirit I do not mean merely a parochial, but an apostolic spirit, where each one, besides his own especial flock, takes an interest in, and exerts himself for the benefit of the entire country, according to the gifts he has received. Remember me in your prayers, and believe me your sincere and affectionate friend, "N. Wiseman." {258} CHAPTER IX. His Last Days In West Bromwich. The account given of Father Spencer's zealous labours for the conversion of England would be incomplete if something were not added to show how he succeeded in bringing persons into the Church in the locality of which he had the spiritual charge. There is no record of the number he received, and only from stray notes, from various sources, can some instances of his way of working be given. He was not a great preacher, as all knew; but there was a peculiar spirit in what he said which seemed to impress his discourse upon the hearer as if it came not from himself. This want of human eloquence was a drawback to him inasmuch as it was not likely to bring crowds to hear him. An anecdote or two will illustrate this. Once he was asked to preach in Manchester, and many Catholics who heard of it went, of course, to hear the convert who was talked and written about so much. Among the rest, one young man who had beforehand built castles in his own mind about the glowing eloquence he should hear. To his disappointment, the preacher was cold, dry, and tame. He was not too pleased, but some way or another every word took effect upon him, and he could not quit thinking of the sermon, and the peculiar way in which many things were said. The end of it was, that he became, some time after, a Passionist, and was one of those in whom Father Ignatius found great consolation, on account of the zeal he showed and continues still to show, in the pursuit of the darling objects of Father Ignatius's life. A lady was more pointed in her remarks.