office the State Children’s Department fills is that of advice gratis.  One of the most striking chapters in Gen. Booth’s “Darkest England” dealt with the helplessness of the poor and the ignorant in the face of difficulties, of injustice, and of extortion.  When I was in Chicago in 1893 I saw that the first university settlement, that of Hull House, presided over by Miss Jane Addams (St. Jane some of her friends call her) was the centre to is which the poor American, German, Italian, or other alien went for advice as well as practical help.  A word in season was often of more value than dollars.  To be told what to do or what not to do at a crisis when decision is so important may be salvation for the pocket or for the character.

CHAPTER XII.

PREACHING, FRIENDS, AND WRITING.

My life now became more interesting and varied.  A wider field for my journalistic capabilities was open to me, and I also took part in the growth of education, both spiritual and secular.  The main promoters of the ambitious literary periodical The Melbourne Review, to which I became a contributor, were Mr. Henry Gyles Turner (the banker), Mr. Alexander Sutherland, M.A. (author of “The History of Australia” and several other books), and A. Patchett Martin (the litterateur).  It lived for nine years, and produced a good deal of creditable writing, but it never was able to pay its contributors, because it never attained such a circulation as would attract advertisements.  The reviews and magazines of the present day depend on advertisements.  They cheapen the price so as to gain a circulation, which advertisers cater for.  I think my second article was on the death of Sir Richard Hanson (one of the original South Australian Literary Society, which met in London before South Australia existed).  At the time of his death he was Chief Justice.  He was the author of two books of Biblical criticism—­ “The Jesus of History” and “Paul and the Primitive Church”—­and I undertook to deal with his life and work.  About that time there was one of those periodic outbursts of Imperialism in the Australian colonies—­not popular or general, but among politicians—­on the question of how the colonies could obtain practical recognition in the Legislature of the United Kingdom.  Each of the colonies felt that Downing street inadequately represented its claims and its aspirations, and there were several articles in “The Melbourne Review” suggesting that these colonies should be allowed to send members to the House of Commons.  This, I felt, would be inadmissible; for, unless we were prepared to bear our share of the burdens, we had no right to sit in the taxing Assembly of the United Kingdom.  The only House in which the colonies, small or great, could be represented was the House of Lords; and it appeared to me that, with a reformed House of Lords, this would be quite practicable.  An article in Fraser’s Magazine, “Why not the Lords,