SPARE MINUTES.

AN

Annual for all Readers.

EDITED BY GERALD SLAde.

VOLUME II.

LONDON:

HATCHARDS, 187 PICCADILLY,

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

SPARE

66

MINUTES.

ONLY THE PRAYERS

OR, CHURCH GOING AND THE BLESSINGS ATTENDING IT.

Ir was an autumn evening. and across the fresh sweet air came the sound of a bell ringing from the square tower of Elton Church. Elton was a small village in the South of England, and in its midst stood the old church, with its grey stone walls, curious tower, and ancient stained glass windows. The villagers. were fond of their church, and felt a real pride in it when strangers came and spent hours looking at all the quaint gurgoyles and the carvings round the pillars and above the arches. They all thought that there certainly might be fine cathedrals in England, and they had heard that there were larger parish churches than that of Elton, but still there was none, they firmly believed, that could be compared with their own church.

But fond as they were of their church, justly proud as they might be of its age and architectural interest, still they rarely went into it excepting on Sundays and the greater festivals. Evening after evening that clear-toned bell sounded, calling the people to come and spend a short time in God's House, and few, [No. 13.]