no salary-no people of his charge who would lend him any aid, nor any prospect of building up a church, which could eventually erect him an edifice, and flock about him to give him their prayers and support.

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'Now," said M'Dowall, as he left the sanctuary, "I am ordained an evangelist over every sink of pollution in this city. There my energies must be directed, there my hopes must centre." What a prospect! He did not, however, complain. He had counted the cost, and knew that his pathway could not be strewed with roses. The ladies in Laight-street Church had pledged themselves to do something for his support, but on this he could not rely as any thing of a competency. He had learned, too, that the "poison of asps" might be under the tongue of him whose words were smoother than butter." But little did he forebode that in the work-shop of the maddening elements so many mighty thunderbolts were forging for his hapless head. Little did he think that the "tender and delicate woman" could have her "eye evil" towards the man who was giving his life to erect an impenetrable barrier around the purity of her sons and daughters.

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May 27th. He writes, the Lord has been good to me -he has fed me and given me friends. Bless the Lord, O my soul !

He now entered with avidity upon his work, and,

May 27th-Says, a gentleman sent me word that a girl in 39 Thomas-street wished to escape from that house and reform her life, and wished me to assist her. She was rescued and went to M'Dowall's house.

In June, Mr. Taylor's house being vacated where Mr. M'Dowall was keeping apartments, he took the whole house, and received such girls as wished to reform.

CHAPTER XXII.

Letter-Cholera-Devising ways to bring his cause before the public. Lectures-Discouragements-Efforts made-Wm. Goodell's appeal-Supplies sent in.

It was about the time of his ordination that he wrote to several ministers, giving the reasons for his entering into such a self-denying field, and a summary of his labors while in that field.

To the Rev. Cyrus Mason.

DEAR SIR,-At your request I write the following letter. It will perhaps be tedious in some of its details. This shall be avoided as much as possible:

I came from Princeton, N. J. to New-York, in September, 1830, by the advice of Mr. Rice, of the Pearl-street church, to spend six weeks in gratuitous missionary labors among the miserable poor of this city. On entering the city, I called on the Secretary of the American Tract Society, and being invited and urged by him to aid a few Sabbath school teachers in getting up a Sabbath school at the Five Points, I yielded to the request, and entered into that then notorious den of thieves, drunkards, profligates, and murderers, without any knowledge of its true state of morals.

Mr. Cunningham and a brother of mine daily went with me. Mr. Wheelwright, Mr. A. Smith, Mr. G. Butler, Mr. A. Tappan, Dr. Reese, and others, occasionally accompanied us.

We went from house to house, distributing Tracts, reading from the sacred Scriptures, and holding meetings for prayer and exhortation, and asking parents if they would come to the Sabbath school and bring their children.

Our labors usu

Some ladies also visited these houses. ally commenced at nine P. M. and ended at twelve; at two P. M. and ended at five P. M.; and at seven, and ended at 10 P. M.; making about nine hours' labor per day for each man. The results of our labor are evident. The Sabbath school was established, and soon after sent off a prosperous branch, which now rivals the parent school. Also two infant schools have been established, and a school was opened at the Female Penitentiary at Bellevue. Many of our religious meetings were very solemn, and followed by good consequences. The number of vile men resorting there rapidly diminished, and several abandoned females expressed a desire to reform, which it was impossible for them to do under existing circumstances.

They had no home but a precarious one-that which the continued commission of crime procured. They had no character, and could procure no service. They had no money but that which vice and theft had secured to them; and when they reformed, their means of living were gone. They were discountenanced, reviled, and shunned by the chaste. Their courage was gone, and they had no friend whose timely interposition could rescue them from ruin. The more we labored in the city, the more did cases of this description multiply around us, till at last my conscience would not allow me to visit those houses any more, because I felt I was saying, "be ye fed, be ye warmed," while I was giving them nothing to feed or to warm them. I ceased to labor, and called on Mr. Tappan and stated their case to him. He informed me that a little house had been hired by Mr. Pierson on Bowery-hill, for the reception of those persons who wished to do well, and that I ought to call on Mr. P. I called on him, and found that he had a matron and two girls, and was willing to admit more into the house.

This house had been hired the January preceding, and

was under the charge of Mrs. P. whose death nearly terminated its existence.

Many objections against this house and its internal discipline existed in the minds of the girls. They said that some wanted them to be immersed; some wanted them to be Methodists; that some wanted them to fast half of the time, &c. These objections were common in prison, in the hospital, in the alms-house, and in the city. However, I persuaded ten women to go there before the six weeks ended.

Near the close of the six weeks a society for the suppression of vice grew out of the efforts at the Five Points. I was appointed its agent, with a fixed salary of $500 per annum. My heart was averse to the work, and I unhe-· sitatingly declined the agency. Being urged to accept it, I replied that I would submit its decision to the professors at Princeton, and abide by the consequences. They unanimously decided it was my duty to accept it, until a substitute for me could be procured. I returned, and entered on my field of labor with renewed energy. Mr. Tappan now came forward and entered into the work with all his heart. So did some other gentlemen. More females now sought admission into the little house on Bowery-hill than it could admit. A second house was hired, and a probationary house was opened. I was appointed chaplain to the Asylum. Difficulties existed in the religious government of the concern; a spirit of proselyting, of inward light, of miracles, &c. These Mr. T. suppressed.

Mr. T. and the committee wished me to write their first annual Report, and append to it an appeal to the public for funds to erect a house. I declined, excusing myself, on the ground that it was the Secretary's duty to write the Report.

Mr. Tappan left the committee. I went to Princeton; met the Presbytery at Pound-Brook, and received my license to preach. When I received my license I returned

to the city. Dr. Alexander advised me not to have any thing more to do with the Society. Dr. Miller advised me to examine the matter after I returned, and to unite with the Society if discreet men were at its head. When I called on Mr. Tappan I understood that Dr. Reese had undertaken to write the Report and to address the public. I hesitated to have any thing more to do with the Society, but was prevailed on to unite with it, fearing, if I did not, my character would suffer, and the cause be finally abandoned.

There was a little hope, too, that the Society would rise to what it ought to be; and some said to me you can mould it into a good one. But I was not its sole counsellor, nor did the Society go upon any principles. Different denominations were united in the effort, but there were no principles of union agreed on-each managed as he thought best for the month he presided; hence the old sectarian spirit returned.

I left the Asylum in September, 1831, and went to writing, visiting the prisons and hospitals, preaching to the poor wanderers, and also attended medical lectures at the Barclay-street Medical College, to qualify myself to do more good to the wretched and abandoned members of society.

My heart is tied to this cause; I am willing to labor in it in that way in which good can be done; but I am now reduced to a strait: my last dollar is expended, and I am in debt; had I accepted the proffered salary, I should be out of debt. I could not, for the following reasons:

1st. I had at the beginning a strong aversion to the work, and did not design to continue in it; and on that account I thought that the Society would release me from it the sooner, by not accepting a salary. They knew that I was poor, and unable to live without aid.

2d. Mr. Tappan paid most of the expenses of the Society, and I felt that was too much for any one man to do;