When the preacher finished, the people stood as if spell-bound, then they all crowded and pressed round him, full of love and kindness towards the man who had brought them such good news. They nearly trampled him down in their eagerness to speak to him, and he had to slip round a back way in order to escape. When he got to the inn where he was staying, he found some of the people had got there before him; they had come to beg and pray him to stay among them. No, he could not. "Stay a few days," said one. No, he could not do that. "Just one day more," they begged. Poor Mr. Wesley was very loth to leave these eager hearers, but he had promised to be in Bristol on the Tuesday, and this was Sunday night, and it would take him all the time to get to his appointment, and he was a man that could not break his word. So he was sadly obliged to refuse. Before very long, however, Mr. Charles Wesley went to Newcastle, and after a time, Mr. Wesley himself paid a second visit. It was a plan of the Methodists always to go to the poorest and most uncared-for people. These they generally found among the colliers. Wherever there were coal mines, the district round them was sure to be the abode of dirt, ignorance, and sin. You remember what a dreadful place Kingswood was when the Methodists first went? Because they found Newcastle just as bad, they called it "The Kingswood of the North." [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIII. A magic mirror.--And the picture it shows us.--Billy and Polly again.--Hurrah for Newcastle!--John and Charles Wesley put their heads together.--The result.--Strict Rules.--Circuits in Methodism. HAVE you ever heard of the Magic Mirror? It is a mirror I would like to have. You just think of something you would very much like to see; something either in the past, the present, or the future, peep into the mirror and there it is. Let us imagine that we have this mirror, and that we want to look at a particular part of Newcastle in the year 1742. What do we see? A big unfinished building with all the walls standing, but no roof, no doors, and no windows. It is a cold winter's day; but in spite of the biting wind and the frosty air there are hundreds of people crowding inside and outside the walls. Right in the middle stands the gentleman with the long hair and the beautiful face. It is Mr. Wesley opening the first meeting-house in Newcastle. Oh, how hard those poor colliers and their wives, yes, and the children too, worked to get money to build their chapel. On this opening day they were so proud and happy they could not keep still. They kept shouting "Hallelujah!" all the time Mr. Wesley was preaching. Three or four times he had to stop in the middle of his sermon on purpose to let them praise God.