Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

RHYS LEWIS. 379
oftenest long ones, as to Trawsfynydd, Festiniog, Tanygrisiau,
Maentwrog, Ehydymain, Corris, Aberllyfni, Machynlleth, &c.
It was only once I ever preached at Llanfor, for which Edward
Rowland reproached me many times (peace to the memory of
the good old Christian !) the chief reason being that I could
not travel thither, and also because I did not like to see a dozen
students coming to Llanfor to meeting instead of attending
Sunday School at Bala. Each one of them had his own tape
measure. The fun they got on one occasion when a friend of
mine, preaching at Llanfor, spoke of Adam in his " uncircum-
cised condition !" He never heard the last of it, as long as he
remained at Bala. What did I know but that I might make a
similaily foolish slip, whicli next morning would be posted up
on every partition of the college. But I must not speak of the
old college's partitions — Mirahile Visu / 1 said that the journeys
were long. The distance took up the whole of Saturday morn-
ing to think about, and the journey itself the whole of the
afternoon to accomplish; the return occupied the whole of
Monday morning, and the pulling myself together after that
shaking from a ride on one of Mr. E. E's " old sixteens " the
whole of Monday afternoon. That made two days of my week,
without mentioning the Sabbath, on which the other boys who
were not hound to preach were at work with their books. Tliese
things, combined with a lack of natural talent, prevented me
from distinguishing myself in the examinations. On the other
hand, the trouble my brother Bob took to instruct me, my
own exertions and my resolve to attend the classes as regular-
ly as possible, kept me from the bottom of the form. I had the
consolation of not being an extreme man ; at no time was I at
either top or bottom, but somewhere about the centre. And
I flatter myself that I continue so, and that I still endeavour to
walk the middle path in judgment. But it is to this I have for
some time been gravitating : although I did not make my
*' mark " in college, I am certain that a mark was made on
me which can never be erased. I got the greatest good from
my stay there, learned hundreds and thousands of things I did
not know before, and of which I cannot now estimate the
value. A new world was opened to my mind, and although I
was not ;ig (jthers were, able to penetrate far into its mid-most