Little wonder that Mr. Mackay should write:  “Our hearts are breaking”.  Yet what a triumph!  One of the executioners, struck by the extraordinary fortitude of the lads, and their evident faith in another life, came and asked that he might also be taught to pray.  This martyrdom did not daunt the other Christians.  Though Mwanga threatened to burn alive any who frequented the mission premises, or adopted the Christian faith, they continued to come; and the lads at the Court kept their teachers constantly informed of everything that was going on.  Indeed, when the king’s prime minister began to make investigation, he found the place so honey-combed by Christianity that he had to cease his inquisition, for fear of implicating chiefs, and upsetting society generally.

A BOY HERO.

THE STORY OF JOHN CLINTON.

  Lives of great men all remind us
  We should make our lives sublime,
  And departing leave behind us
  Footprints on the sands of time.

So sang Longfellow!  Yet how difficult is it for most men and women to make their lives sublime, and how much more difficult for a child of ten years!  Still it is possible.

John Clinton was born on the 17th January, 1884, at Greek Street, Soho.  His father is a respectable carman, who, a year after little Johnnie’s birth, moved to 4 Church Terrace, Waterloo Road, Lambeth.  When three years old he was sent to the parish schools of St. John’s, Waterloo Road (Miss Towers being the mistress).  While a scholar there he met with a severe accident on the 27th January, 1890.  Playing with other children in the Waterloo Road, a heavy iron gate fell on him and fractured his skull terribly.  He was taken to the St. Thomas’s Hospital, where he remained for thirteen weeks.  At first the doctors said he would not get over it, then that if he got over it he would be an idiot; but finally their surgical skill and careful nursing were rewarded, and he came out well in every respect, except for an awful scar along one side of his head.  In due time he moved into the Boys’ School at St. John’s, Waterloo Road (Mr. Davey, headmaster).  In July, 1893, a tiny child was playing in the middle of Stamford Street when a hansom cab came dashing along over the smooth wood paving.  Little John Clinton darted out and gave the child a violent push, at the risk of being run over himself, and got the little one to the side of the road in safety.  A big brother of the child, not understanding what had happened, gave John Clinton a blow on the nose for interfering with the child, whose life John Clinton had saved.  The blow was the cause of this act of bravery becoming known, and the big brother afterwards apologised for his hasty conduct.  How many accidents to children are caused by the lamentable absence of open spaces and playgrounds! 460 persons are yearly killed in the streets of London and over 2000 injured there, many of them being children playing in the only place they have to play in.