the result of that visit an Association was formed which still flourishes vigorously. He also became the Secretary of the Leeds Literary Society, and joint editor of a local magazine. Here, too, he found his future wife, the youngest daughter of Mr. Baines, M.P. for Leeds, who still lives to mourn his loss.

Having decided not to prosecute the calling to which he had been apprenticed, in July 1842 Mr. Reed began business in London as a printer, under the firm of Tyler and Reed, and having at the end of seven years effected a change of partnership, he continued in the printing. business till 1861, when he exchanged it for that of a typefounder, which he prosecuted till the time of his death.

Like most men at the commencement of their businesslife, Mr. Reed was not without his struggles and anxieties; still he always gave a large amount of time and thought to Christian work. He generally spent the Sunday afternoons in visiting Sunday-schools and addressing the children, for which he had a peculiar aptitude. Nor was he long in London before he was asked to join the Committee of the Sunday School Union, and this brought him into contact with Sunday-schools all over the country. "There are

probably few of the larger towns in England," says his biographer, "that do not preserve some recollection of a visit from Charles Reed on Sunday-school business, when the London deputation pleasantly disappointed his audiences by turning out to be more sprightly and much less wooden than deputations are commonly supposed to be. His pocket-books abound with sketches of such visits, though, as might be expected, they show rather what capital people he met on his travels than what he himself contributed to the entertainment in the way of geniality and practical sense."

In the year 1851 he gained the first prize offered by the Sunday School Union for an essay, entitled, "The Infant Class in the Sunday School," an essay which there is good reason to believe gave a powerful impulse to infant class

teaching in Sunday-schools. In 1858 he read a paper before the Union on "The Census and Sunday Schools," in which he strongly urged the establishment of separate services for very young scholars, and also a higher order of instruction for those above fourteen years of age. In 1853, 1859, and 1860, he also addressed the Congregational Union of England and Wales on various aspects of the Sundayschool question. "His home," says his biographer, "was always open to foreigners connected with Sunday-schools abroad, and his short holidays at Easter and Whitsuntide were still placed at the disposal of the Union Committee for the visitation of provincial schools." In the year before his death he took a deep and active interest in the celebration of the Centenary of Sunday-schools, and the position he held as chairman and treasurer of the Sunday School Union threw upon him a leading part in the movement. He was one of the principal speakers in a meeting which was held at Gloucester on the subject; also in an International Conference which was held in London, and to which delegates were invited from all parts of the world; and in a vast open-air meeting which was held in Victoria Park. Besides all this, though he had but recently recovered from an illness which had required that he should winter abroad, he visited some of the chief provincial towns in England in connection with the same celebration. There can be no doubt that these vigorous and self-denying efforts contributed very largely to the success of the movement.

Yet whilst he laboured thus energetically on behalf of Sunday-schools, he gave himself with no less ardour to other forms of Christian work. For twenty years he sat on the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and he rendered valuable help in the same way to the Religious Tract Society. Even when in Parliament he would spend the Monday night in town in order that he might be present at the breakfast of the Committee of the latter institution at 8 o'clock on the following morning. As a member of that Committee he strongly advocated the

starting by the Society of weekly papers for boys and girls, the success of which has been so remarkable.

It was greatly through his energetic and persevering efforts that the Public Libraries Act was ultimately adopted by the Corporation of London, of which he was a member, and as the result the Guildhall Library and Museum were opened for free and general use. For many years, through his extensive knowledge of books, he rendered good service as a member of the Library Committee.

In the year 1867 Mr. Reed was elected one of the first members for the new parliamentary borough of Hackney, and he was elected a second time in 1874, but through an informality in conducting this second election it was invalid, and he decided not to contest it again. In the year 1880, however, he was returned for the borough of St. Ives, and he continued to be its representative till the time of his death. As a Member of Parliament he took a great interest in all public questions, but he devoted himself with special earnestness to the promotion of measures calculated to advance the education of the people. He endeavoured, though it is to be regretted unsuccessfully, to secure the exemption of all persons employed by the Post Office from Sunday labour; but he succeeded, against the Government, in carrying a resolution exempting Sunday Schools from rating. By-and-bye, indeed, he found it undesirable for him to speak on almost any other than educational and kindred subjects, and to these he chiefly devoted himself.

At the first election of the School Board for London Mr. Reed was returned at the head of the poll by a large majority for the division of Hackney. As soon as the Board met he was chosen its Vice-Chairman; and on the retirement of the Chairman, Lord Lawrence, he was appointed to the vacant post, and when, at the end of the first three years for which the Board had been elected, he was again returned, he was once more called to the Chair.

In 1873, a few weeks after Mr. Reed's second appointment to the Chairmanship, he received from Mr. Gladstone

an offer of knighthood, "in acknowledgment," Mr. Gladstone said, "not only of your general character and position, but especially of your services on and to the London School Board." He accepted the distinction gratefully, but he modestly spoke of it to his colleagues as "a compliment paid not so much to himself as to the Board, which," he added, "was deserving of any honour that could be conferred upon it."

In 1876, and again in 1879, he was re-elected a member of the School Board, and after both elections he was reappointed its Chairman.

Shortly after the formation of the Board a resolution was passed, providing that in all its schools the Bible should be read, and that such explanations and instructions should be given therefrom as were suited to the capacity of the children, care, however, being taken that no attempt should be made to attach the children to any particular denomination. Sir Charles took a deep interest in this matter. "We all know," says his friend Dr. Gladstone, an honoured member of the Board, "how the religious instruction in our schools had his hearty sympathy, for he once said, 'The Bible is a revered book in our schools; if it were not so I should never have put my hands to this work."" He paid frequent visits to the schools of his division at the time when the Scripture lessons were given. He also rejoiced greatly in the incentive afforded to that part of the schoolwork by the liberality of Mr. Peek, and that of the Committee of the Religious Tract Society, by which a yearly sum of £500 was provided for prizes in Scriptural knowledge. These prizes have been competed for by large numbers of children, and there can be no doubt whatever that they have given a very powerful impulse to the study of the Scriptures in the schools under the control of the Board.

At a period of life when he might reasonably have calculated on a prolonged term of earthly service, symptoms appeared which indicated only too plainly the necessity of

change and rest, and at the same time several things befell him which laid a very heavy strain on his feelings and energies. In the year 1875 his second daughter, a girl of unusual sweetness and promise, succumbed to a long illness brought on by an accident in the playground; and in the year 1879 he was called to endure even a sorer trial in the death of his youngest son Kenneth. Along with a friend the young man had gone on a canoe trip in Ireland, but the season was unfavourable, for high winds and heavy rains prevailed, and there were great floods. One morning a telegram reached London which conveyed the startling intelligence that two gentlemen, whose names were supposed to be Kenneth Reed and Anderson, had started down Lake Allen two days before, that the boats had been found on the shore of the lake, but that it was feared the gentlemen were drowned. Sir Charles and Lady Reed started without delay to the scene of the disaster, but it was only to find that the intelligence was too true. It added to their grief

that the body of their son was never found. They bowed with meek submission to the stroke, but in Sir Charles's enfeebled health it told upon him so heavily, that he was compelled to spend the winter abroad.

On his return in the spring of 1880 he found the work of the School Board very harassing, and at the same time there were some stormy scenes in Parliament which might well have tried the strength of a stronger man. Still he stood firmly at his post, and none of his friends had any idea that the end was so near.

On Tuesday the 8th of March he attended, according to his custom, the annual festival of the Reedham Asylum, and two days later he went into Warwickshire to help a friend who was standing for Parliament. On the following Sunday he took very ill. The unfavourable symptoms, however, passed away, and there seemed every likelihood that he would recover; but an hour after midnight, in the morning of the 25th of March, there was a serious relapse. seemed as though he had a presentiment that it was the

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