down, and women screaming. One woman shouted out that the end of the world had come; it was the sound 'of the last trump,' and it was some time before she became calm. I never saw anything like it." Then he stopped for a moment, and in a more thoughtful tone of voice proceeded, "Do you know that catastrophe set me thinking a good deal. It struck me as very strange that we should build churches for the worship of God, and that God should so often destroy them by lightning. That morning the public-houses escaped hurt, but the church was wrecked by fire from heaven. It does seem strange to me." And he became so engrossed in his talk that he forgot all about the promised photograph, and we did not like to remind him. "Why do you think the church was struck?" he asked us as we parted. "Probably," we replied, "because it was not protected with a conductor, or if it were provided with one it was defective." "But that does not explain why Providence allowed it," he retorted; but we declined to be drawn into an argument. So we hastened back to our hotel, and, as we had planned a long day's journey, ordered the horses to be "put to" at once.
Our road out of Sleaford led us through a level pastoral land, pleasant enough to look upon, though there was nothing on the way of particular interest to engage our attention till we reached Heckington, a large village known locally, we were told, by the proud title of "the Queen of Villages." It certainly is a pretty place, and it possesses a truly magnificent church that seems, like so many others in Lincoln-
