“O wretched yet inevitable spite Of our short span! and we must yield our breath, And wrap us in the lazy coil of death; So much remaining of unproved delight!” There are many indications in the present day that the fields are “white unto harvest.” Several things, that were looked upon some years ago as experiments, have been so eminently successful, that no unprejudiced mind can doubt that they are the means which God has blessed, and by which He intends to accomplish a great work of reformation in this country. It was a glorious sight at St Martin’s Hall, on the 2d of March, when 567 young persons came forward to claim the prize for having remained a twelvemonth in a situation; and, were it not for the strictness of the rules, excluding all apprentices, requiring a written character from a master or mistress, it was stated that as many as 1500 would have been present. All these had been rescued from well-nigh certain destruction by the Ragged School, and had there received the education which qualified them to take these situations. There must have been joy in the presence of the angels of God that night, as they witnessed these rescued ones sitting together, and listening eagerly to words by which their souls might live; and which, if the prayers of many there were answered, would prepare them to receive an incorruptible prize, that can never fade away. Whilst these facts convey resistless evidence to the mind, that these poor outcasts _can_ be lifted out of their wretchedness and be saved, the conviction deepens, that God will hold us responsible to do this work; and, in all the labour ever required of our hands, it has never been so necessary that whosoever would engage in it must be taught of the Lord. We have to pray not only that the Lord of the harvest would send more labourers into the harvest, but also that He would endow them with just the spirit and power necessary for this particular work. In noticing the physical wants and requirements of this country, nothing strikes us more forcibly than the certainty with which the demand creates the supply. No matter how intricate and complicated the required machinery may be, heads are always to be found clever enough to invent, and hands skilful enough to work it. In fact, the degree of perfection attained in this way is enough to make us “proud of the age we live in.” If machinery and steam-power had been the agency required to purify such places as St Giles’s and Bethnal Green, the work would have been done long ago. These wretched localities have not remained so long “like blots in this fair world,” without being thought of and cared for. Many politicians and scientific men have asked earnestly, “What can be done?” and have turned away hopelessly, feeling that the mighty intellect which could subdue air, earth, and sea, had now met with something beyond its power; and still the question remained unanswered, “What can be done?”