“‘Well, Brother M‘Currey, what is the matter?’ “I told him; but there he was, the man to whom I had gone for advice, sitting with a bottle of gin on the table, and a jug of spring water. He filled up some and handed it to me. He said— “‘You see, Mr. M‘Currey, you take too much; take a little now and it will steady your nerves;’ for I was trembling like a leaf. “‘It is the accursed little, sir, that is the stumblingblock to me.’ “‘Never mind; you take a little of this, and don’t be tempted to take too much.’” We need not say that Mr. M‘Currey took some of what was offered him; but he was glad to leave his class-leader’s presence, and church, and neighbourhood, and he went to work at Chelsea. There he met with a teetotaller, who persuaded him to go to a temperance meeting. He did, and became a teetotaller. The struggle at first was long and severe. Times were bad, and he had to borrow tools to go to work with. He had also at that time (1837) much opposition to encounter from his fellow-workmen, who often injured his clothes and his tools, and were ready to do him all the harm they could. At length he borrowed a sovereign, and commenced selling coke in the streets till better days came round, and in a little while he commenced his career as a master-builder. It is thus he writes in his interesting autobiography:— “There is a very noble verse of my countryman, Robert Burns, which I have ever heard with admiration:— “‘To catch Dame Fortune’s golden smile, Assiduous wait upon her, And gather gear by every wile That’s justified by honour. Not for to hide it in a hedge, Not for a train attendant, But for the glorious privilege Of being independent.’ “That motive seems to me to be right for both worlds. Honest independence leads to true Christian manliness.” At that time Buckingham Palace was under repairs. M‘Currey writes—“I was one of those employed on this important structure. I very frequently used to be working for the Baroness Burdett Coutts, Lord Paget, and others in the same rank of life. When I was at work one Saturday, some one came in and said that her Majesty was expected home, and that the apartments which she occupied must be finished by a certain time that was named; and, in order to get them done by the appointed time, my employer, a Mr. Evans, said I must work all Sunday. I said— “‘I will not work at all on Sunday, though I am prepared to work till midnight every other day to get the work done, or I am willing to come at two o’clock in the morning on Monday, and work till it is finished.’ “He said, ‘You are not a loyal subject.’ “‘Yes, I am; and if anybody were to tell me the palace was on fire, and her Majesty inside, I would risk my life to save her; but I won’t risk my soul for the sake of working on Sundays.’