One defect in the backwoods life troubled the conscience of the old shepherd, and that was the practical disregard for religious observances.  He was not satisfied with occasional services and, when harvesting was over, made a house-to-house visit to see if sufficient money could be got to mend the situation.  Nobody said him nay yet none gave him the encouragement he had hoped.  In the Old Land the only free contributions they had made for religious purposes was the penny dropped on the plate on Sunday, so the appeal to make a sacrifice to secure stated ordinances, was to them a novelty.  An Englishman asked, ’When had the King become unable to pay the parson?’ His visits also made him aware that there were many children unbaptised and that not one of those who told him they were church members had received the communion since they had left the Old Country.  His resolution was taken—­he would go to Toronto and seek out a minister, he did not care of what denomination, to spend a week or more in this new but fast-growing cluster of settlements.  Though they did not say so to him, the settlers thought his errand a crazy one.  As chance would have it, he did happen on a man as zealous for the cause as himself and with no pressing engagement for the time being.  On his arriving he started with the shepherd on a round of visits, exhorting and baptizing, and announcing he would celebrate the Lord’s supper, the last Sunday before his return to Toronto.  So many promised to come that it was seen the school-house could not hold them.  The minister fell in with the suggestion that the meeting be held out-of-doors and there were men found who agreed to make ready.  It was now October, and the trees, as if conscious of their departure for their long sleep, arrayed themselves in glorious apparel to welcome the rest that awaited them.  The spot selected for the meeting was the wide ravine hollowed out by the creek that flowed sluggishly at the bottom.  On the flat that edged the east side of the creek planks were laid on trestles to form the table, while the people were expected to sit under the trees on the sloping bank that rose from it.  From an early hour the people began coming.  Word had spread far beyond the houses visited, and there were a few who had walked ten miles and over.  The solemnity of the occasion was heightened by the weather.  Not a breath stirred the air and the yellow or scarlet leaves that flecked the glassy surface of the creek had fluttered downward because their time for parting with the branches had come.  A bluish haze tempered the rays of the sun, which was mounting a cloudless sky.  When the minister rose to begin, he faced a motley crowd, for while all had done their best to be clean and neat, with rare exceptions, all were in their every day dress, worn and patched, for to get clothes is one of the difficulties of the new-come settlers.  There were few aged, for the young and active lead the way into the bush.  There were women with babes in their arms, and there