what statesman or judge, what scientific or literary worker, what man of genius in business or the professions, has ever thrown more energy into his life-work or achieved more worthy results for all his toil than this humble shoemaker and village pastor from Northamptonshire, who first gave to the various races of Northern India the Bible in their own language? No one who is at all familiar with the work of the Christian Church in the present century, will need to be told that we are speaking of the famous pioneer missionary to Bengal, Dr. William Carey. And surely no list of illustrious shoemakers would be complete that did not include the name of this good man. His experience of the "gentle craft" was somewhat extensive. He was bound apprentice to the trade, and afterward worked as,a journeyman for more than twelve years. When he became known to the world, he was often spoken of as "the learned shoemaker." Indeed, he was not always honored with so respectful a title as this. More often than not he was alluded to as "the cobbler," and his own strict honesty and modesty of spirit led him to prefer the latter epithet. His humble origin and occupation were sometimes the occasion of an empty sneer on the part of men whose class feeling and religious prejudice prevented their appreciation of his splendid mental gifts and high purpose in life, and who consequently endeavored, but in vain, to bring his grand and Christ-like undertaking into contempt. That famous wit, the Rev. Sydney Smith, sometime prebendary of Bristol and canon of St. Paul's, tried to set the world laughing at the "consecrated cobbler." It was a sorry joke, and quite unworthy of a Christian minister, and must have been sorely repented of in after-years. One would have thought that Sydney Smith's undoubted piety, and natural kindliness of heart, let along his strong bias in favor of all that was liberal in religion and politics, would have saved him from such a cruel and flippant sneer. But wit is a brilliant and dangerous weapon, and few men know how to use it as much as Sydney Smith did without injury to their own reputation or the feelings of other people.