IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

M/n

SSib.

.^^.

l/.

.<9

i/.

1.0

i!l !.l

l^|2^ 12.5

|50 ■^■" !■£

•« 13* 111112.2

IL25 i u

— 6"

1.6

Photographic

^Sciences

Corporation

33 WIST MAIN STRUT

WIUTIR, N.Y. 1 tSSO

(716) ■72-4S03

/\ «■

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas

r^\

1981

Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques

T
t(

The Institute has utten^pted to obtain the best
original copy available for filming. Features oi this
copy which may be bibliographicatiy unfque,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may signlflsantiy change
the usual method of filming, are checiced below.

Coloured covers/
Couvertura de couleur

I I Covers damaged/

Couverture endommagde

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e

Cover title .nissing/

Le titre de couverture manque

Coloured maps/

Cartes giographiques en couleur

Coloured tr.k (i.e. other than blue or blacl<)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)

I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/

Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Relii avec d>utres d cumentc

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along iniarior margin/

La raliure serr^e pout causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge intirieuro

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut qu3 certainas pages blanches ajouties
lors dune rcntauration apparaissent dans le textiv,
mals, lorsque tela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6tA filmies.

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplAmnntaires;

L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a dt6 possible de se procurer. Las details
de cet exemp!alre qui sont peut-Atre uniques du
point de vue bibliographlque, qui peuvent modifier
une image reprodulte, ou qui peuvent exJger une
modification dans la m6thode normale de fllmage
sont indiquds ci-dessous.

□ Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur

□ Pages damaged/
Pages endommag^es

n Pages restored and/or laminated/
Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul6es

I 1 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/

Pages d6coior4es, tacheties ou piqu6es

Pages detached/
Pages d6tachies

Showthrough/
Transparence

Quality of prir

Qualiti i^rigale de I'impresslon

Includes supplementary materii
Comprend du materiel supplimentaire

Only edition available/
Seule Edition disponible

rn Pages detached/

I I Showthrough/

rn Quality of print varies/

I j Includes supplementary material/

I I Only edition available/

P
o

C
b
tl

si
o
fi
si
o

T
si

dl
ei
b(
ri<
re
m

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
sllips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possibEe image/
Les pages totalement oii partiellernent
obscurcies par un feulllet d'errata, une pelure,
etc., ont M filmAes A nouveau de fapon A
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

This item Is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est filmA au taux de reduction indiquik ci-dessous.

10X 14X 18X 22X

28X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

tails

)difier

une

nage

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

Library of the Public
Archives of Canada

The images appeasing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
ifilming contract specifications.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — ^»> (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "SND "),
whichever applies.

L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la
gAniSrositi de:

La bibliothdque des Archives
publiques du Canada

Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nottetd de l'exemplaire filmd, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
fiimage.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprim6e sont filmds en commenpcmt
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmds en comntenpant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
ia dernidre pag? qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la
dernlAre imaqe de cheque microfiche, selon le
casr le symbole — «» signifie "A SUiVRE ", le
symbols V signifie "FIN".

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one expo ure are filmed
beginning in the uppnir left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following dfagrems illustrate the
method:

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
film^s d des taux de reduction diff6rants.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul cllchi. il est film6 A partir
de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche it droite,
et de haut en has, en prenant le nombre
d'in-iages ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthode.

rata

teiure.

32X

1 1

Personal Reminiscences

LYMAN BEECHER,

RET. JAMES 0. WHITE, M.A.,

iUTUOB 01" "RILIOION AS IT SHOULD BE."'

NEW YORK:

FUNK & WAGNALLS,

10 & 12 Dry Sthrkt.
1883.

IT;^

INDEX.

Prefatory, 3.

Hanover St. Church, 3,

First Glimpse of Lyman Beecher,4.

Boston in 1825, 5.

Revival Fruits, 6.

Church Extension, 7.

Young Men's Associations, 8.

Boston Common, 8.

A Move Uptown, 9.

A Call to the West, 10.

Apostolic Eloquenoo, 11.

Dr. Beecher's Struggles, 11.

Beecher's Oil Jug, 12.

A Fight with Lotteries, 13.

A Fast-Day Discourse, 15.

An Escape from the Pulpit, 15.

Passion for Work, 17.

Pulpit Explosions, 17.

Street Scenes, 18.

The Woodsawyer, 19.

Absent-mindedness, 20,

Love of Fun, 21.

The Lost Hnnk-Notes, 21.

Dr. Lyman Beecher in the West, 24.

A New Recruit, 24.

A Sudden Change, 35.

The Professors at Lane, 26.
A Theological WildernesE, 28.
Seminary Life, 29.
Dr. Beecher as a Pastor, 29.
The Class of "43, 31.
Idiosyncrasies of Dr. Beecher, 81.
The Lost Horse, 33.
The Missing Money, 33.
The Repeated Lecture, 34.
Caught in a Snare, 35.
The Dutchman's Chase, 35.
Vehement Declamation, 86.
A Missionary Speecli, 37.
Care for Students. 38.
! The Violin, 39.
Beecher's Handkerchiefs, 39.
His Spectacles, 40.
Qoodnaturedness, 41.
In Search of a Wife, 41.
Upset in the Dark, 43.
An Alleged Heretic, 48.
A Royal Preacber, 44.
A Conservative Reformer, 44.
Many-sided, 46.
In Private Life, 46.
His Closing Days, 46.

. \\

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES

LYMAN BEECHEE.

PART FIRST.

PREFATORY.

These personal reminiscences of Lyman Beecher,D.D.,
refer, first to his life in Boston, Mass., from 1825 to
1832, and, secondly, to his residence at Lane Seminary,
Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1840 to 1850. The author was a
convert under Dr. Beecher's preaching in Boston, and is
an Alumnus of Lane Theological Seminary. So far as he
knows, these incidents are not to be found in any publica-
tion of the present day. They were presented in an ad-
dress before the '' Cincinnati Club" of the Alumni and
Faculty of Lane, at the Seminary, March 1880.

They are now written out for publication by the author,
and completed on his seventy-sixth birthday, October
12th, 1882.

HANOVER STREET CHURCH.

My first acquaintance with Lyman Beecher was in the
year 1825, in Boston. A new and spacious church edifice
of stone had been erected on Hanover Street. In the base-

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

ment story were the headquarters of the American Board
and of the American Tract Society. I was then a clerk
in a dry goods store near by, and also resided jn that
part of the city. A church had been organized in 1822,
with but thirty-seven members, and had not at this time
a settled pastor.

I was a meml>er of the society when Dr. Beecher was
first invited to preach to this church for two Sabbaths,
as a candidate for our pulpit. He was then settled in
Litchfield, Conn., but looking for some opening where he
could better provide for his family^ for he was in strait-
ened financial circumstances. Well known as he was as a
preacher of pre-eminent ability, his salary of eight hun-
dred dollars was insufficient for the support of his family.
His only other pastoral change at East Hampton, L. I.,
had been made for the same reason. Dr. Beecher accept-
ed the invitation of the Hanover Street Church and society
for two Sabbaths, and improved the occasion to make a
visit to Portland, Me., with his second wife, who was a
Miss Porter, formerly of that city. The arrangement
was made for them to come in their own conveyance by
land, and for him to preach in Boston one Sabbath, both
going and coming on their Journey.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF LYMAN BEECHER.

My first glimpse of the noted preacher, whose fame
had reached our ears, was had one autumnal Sabbath
morning as he rode up to the door of our new and ele-
gant church, with his wife, in a poor country chaise
covered with white cotton cloth. The horse and the
minister were both alike very unattractive as well as the
chaise.

We lads were watc^hing for his coming in front of the
church, where also stood the Committee of Reception
prepared to extend their welcome and to introduce him
to the people and the pulpit. I can now vividly remem-
ber my own feelings at tlie time, and the looks of those

LYMAX BEECHER.

in waiting, which seemed to say : " Well, we are sold
this time!" We took our places in church with
an unmistakable air of grim disappointment. Dr.
Beecher opened the exercises and went into his work
with a will and with such an unceremonious freedom
that our Boston sense of propriety stood abashed!
Soon, however, the fire began to burn, the truth began to
pinch, and the audience began to rally from their de-
spondent wonderment, and to look around as if saying,
"What's the matter?" We all saw then and there
that the new candidate for Boston honors was master
of the situation. The old horse and chaise were forgot-
ten, and the three sermons of that day were the topic
of conversation for the week, and prepared the way for
the second Sabbath on his return from Portland. The
same cut-and thrust style of preaching was repeated,
which, v.hile it shocked all our notions of pulpit etiquette,
made it a foregone conclusion that this was the roan for
the new enterprise. It must be remembered that he had
now reached the so-called dead line of fifty.

BOSTON IX 1825,

The orthodox Congregational churches of Boston at
this time were Just entering a new era of spiritual life,
and in their devotion and enthusiasm, great anxiety was
manifest in regard to the new minister for the new
Hanover Street Church.

From the very beginning of Lyman Beecher's labors in
Boston a most remarkable revival of religion commenced
in this church, which continued almost without interrup-
tion for four years, and until the church building was
burned down in 18B0. This house was the headquarters
of a new phase of a living and aggressive orthodoxy and
also of missionary and tnict operations. When it caught
fire, publi<! sentiment showed itself by a marked indiffer-
ence among the fi remen t o subdue the flames. The
destruction was complete.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

The characteristics of this revival under Mr. Beecher's
preaching are worthy of note. We had the ordinary
preaching services of the Sabbath, morning, afternoon,
and evening ; the weekly lecture on Tuesday evening,
regular Friday evening prayer-meeting, regular inquiry
meeting, and special meetings for prayer. There was no
outside aid of an evangelist or layman, but an ine ased
and more earnest effort on the part of the membership in
closest sympathy with theu* pastor. He often said,
'' Brethren, it is my business to draw the bow, yours to
see where the arrow strikes and to bring in the wounded. ' '
In addition to the services I have mentioned, we had two
regular sessions of Sunday-school each Sabbath, which
the pastor seldom attended.

The church was very small at first, but every member
was a prayerful v/orker, and they carried their pastor as
really as he carried them. Their co-operation was perfect.

REVIVAL B'RUITS.

I united witli the (;hurch by profession of faith Septem-
ber 1826, during the first year of Dr. Beecher's labors,
together with a company of about sixty. At the previous
communion there were about seventy-five received. These
new recruits were mainly young men and maidens, the
majority being young men. They were a superior class,
and they all entered at once with enthusiasm upon the
work of the church. So far as my knowledge goes, they
never turned back or became idlers in the vineyard.
There were fifteen present at the pastor's first inquiry
meeting. He was unwilling to call siicli a meeting with-
out assurance of there being at least fifteen who would
attend. At the second meeting the number was twenty,
at the third thirty-five, and at the fourth three hundred I
Beacon Laml)ert thought that the people had mistaken
the notice for a. preaching service. But the pastor was
enthusiastic and replied, " No they haven't, it's the finger
of Clod I" And so it was found to be.

(■

LYMAN BEECITER.

Soon after this, in the second year of his ministry, two
new churches, colonies from Hanover Street, organized
Salem Church at the North End, on Salem Street, and
Pine Street Church at the South End of Boston. This
movement marked a new era of great interest in the
orthodox movement in Boston. Dr. Beecher was
aroused to an unusual degree of spiritual power. He
appeared as one of the old Puritan fathers risen from the
dead. His residence was on Copp's Hill, No. 18 Sheafe
Street, and near by his house reposed the dust of " The
Mathers.^' Oftentimes as he came to the weekly prayer-
meeting and lecture there was in him a mighty uplifting
of passionate emotion, both in his prayers and sermons, a
tender but grand upheaval and on-moving power which
was like the rolling of a tidal wave on the beach of the
sea. Sometimes in his prayers I have heard him say,
" Come, Lord Jesus ! her(3 are the bones of the fathers,
here the crown was torn from thy brow, here behold thy
scattered flock upon the mountains ! Come, O good
Shepherd, gather them to thy fold, for they stumble in
the darkness of en-or !"

CIIUECJI EXTENSIOX.

One of the fundamental ideas of Lyman P.eecher for
extending the kingdom of Christ, was that of church colo-
nization. He would often compare an overgrown church
to a large hive of bees, that consumed all the honey,
leaving none for a new colony. " So then, swarm early
and qften^^'' he woidd say, " and thus keep the old bees
a-working !"

I well remember the original meeting which had refer-
ence to the question of fornung a new church from the
new Hanover Street (me. The pastor was all ablaze. A
vote was about to be taken on the question. Mounting
a chair he cried out in clarion tones, " I move we organize
TWO, one for the North End and one for the South End I"
The motion was seconded and carried with enthusiasm.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

and $30,000 were subscribed on the spot with which to
commence.

YOUNG men's associations.

It was this year, 1827, that the first " Young Men's
Christian Association' ' was formed in the Hanover Street
Church. The next year one was organized in Salem
Church, one of the new colonies from Hanover Street.
Being one of the ninety-six original members, drafted
from the Hanover Street association, I joined that in Salem
Church. These asi sociations in each church were a gi'eat
power, and in their combined efforts were not equalled
by any organization of the kind from tha^j day to the
present. Our meetings were never open to any but the
working members. Our councils and our efforts were
known only to ourselves ; but we worked for the public
good, and through all public channels. There was in
Lyman Beecher the most enthusiastic sympathy with
young men in all their efforts for personal or public im-
provement. In our meetings he was always an inspiring
power, " Young gentlemen," he would say, " anything
can be done that ought to be done." One incident only
would I note as the result of our efforts.

BOSTON COMMON.

Booths and tables for the sale of intoxicating drinks
and small wares were allowed from time immemorial on
Boston Common. On all public days old Boston Com-
mon was as free as Faneuil Hall to the first comer. It
was the public playground long before the " Boston
boys" of the Revolution used it for sliding down hill on
their sleds. Wheii the English troops interfered with
this boyish sport, young America remonstrated with
emphasis against this invasion of immemorial rights. This
almost defiant protest prevailed, and led the commander
to report to the English Government that it would be a
difficult matter to subdue such a people, for the very

LYMAN BEECHER.

boys breathed in the air of freedom and stood up ooldly
for their rights !

This preiimptive right of the people to the old Com-
mon for any purpose which they might choose had thus
far been unquestioned till we of the Y. M. C. A., under
Dr. Beecher as our captain, assaulted the stronghold of
intemperance in these liquor booths. It was a mighty
struggle — first, with the municipal authorities ; second,
with the judiciary ; and lastly, with public sentiment.
But we won the victory almost in the dark, for no one
knew from whence came the power that triumphed.
Those ancient privileges of liquor-selling and of riotous
revelry on- Boston Common on public days,, have never
been restored in the least degree to this day.

This was one of the grand results of the preaching of
those everlastingly famous " six sermons on intem-
.»ERANCE," by Lyman Beecher, which I heard him deliver
in the Hanover Street Church. A greater, grander, more
difficult, or more useful victory for ihe goor' of the Com-
monwealth of America or the Commonwealth of Israel
hr.3, perhaps, never been effected than was seen in this
utter overthrow of liquor-selling booths on Boston Com-
mon a half century ago.

A MOVE UPTOWN.

After the burning of the stone church on Hanover
Street in 1830, Dr. Beecher came with many of his people
to worship temporarily in our new Salem Church, at that
time without a pastor. His first sermon was from the
text, Isaiah 64 : 11 : " Our holy and our beautiful house,
where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire ; and
all our pleasant things are laid waste." It was the cul-
minating hour of Dr. Beecher's greatness in Boston. The
sennon was great and tender, sublimely heroic and
sublimely submissive, to the highest point of human con-
ception !

A new house of worship was erected on Bowdoin Street

^mi

•

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

for the Hanover Street Church. It was move " uptown,"
in 'I more aristocratic neighborhood, but, alas ! the spell
was broken ! The hero of a thousand battlefields never
recovered his mighty power or felt at home as before.

A CALL TO THE WEST.

It was under these circumstances, that the call from
Lane Seminary reached him, accompanied by the offer of
Arthur Tappan, of New York City, of $20,000 to the insti-
tution on condition of Dr. Beecher's acceptance. The
question for him to decide was one of deep and far-reach-
ing interest both to himself and the churches of New
England. His heart had always been wann for the West.
His well-known "Plea for the West " is sufTicient evi-
dence of this. The great battle of Grog and Magog was to
be fought in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. He longed
to have a perso""l part in it. But it was a fearful thing
to pull up a N England oak by the roots at a ripened
age and transplant it to the soil of the West. The point
that seemed at last to turn the scales was the munificent
offer of Mr, Tappan. Dr. Beecher said at last, ' ' I shall
never bring so much again/' and accepted. The Bo&ton
churches yielded with great reluctance. It was a sacri-
fice of no ordinary character. And to myself a,s well as
others, it appeared to be the great mistake of his life ; for
he was not a systematic or careful theologian, nor was he
a disciplinarian, but a prea(;her, preeminently ; and was
never at his best, even in the pulpit, after leaving Boston.
Still, I gladly recognizt- his great and good work for the
Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, while its pas-
tor, in connection with the Seminary. It is cldmed by
many that he rescued that church and made it what it is
to day, a power in this city. Beside this, the spirit of
devoted enthusiasm with which he inspired the students
of Lane, and which lingers with us to this day was of
i^riceless value.

LYMAN BEECHER.

APOSTOLIC ELOQUENCE.

For learned dulness he had no compassion. Tinsel
and glitter, moonshine and icicles he abhorred ! He
would say to us, " Better animated noise than lukewarm
knowledge ! Tear passion to tatters, rather than carry a
dull piety and a graveyard S(jlemnity ! Theological stu-
dents need a mustard plaster all over the body to wake
them up, and to stimulate them to intense animation !
We need true apostolic eloquence, or we shall have the
theatrical, artiticial declamation, the flash and start and
stare eloquence !"

It was in the '^ast valleys of the West that Dr. Beecher
confidently expected the last great conflict would be
fought. He never presented a grander militant figure
than when he stood sounding an alarm all along the line
and calling for troops for the West. " Young men fou
THE West !" was a more stirring battle-cry by Lyman
Beecher when in Boston than was ever Horace Greeley's
favorite exhortation f"om New York.

I)U. BEEClIEll S STllUGGLES.

The four years' v/ork in Boston by Mr. Beecher from
1826 to 18:30, gave new and permanent life to questions of
reform, and also to new institutions, by the unparalleled
quickening of the public puke, and the rallying of young
men to the conflict, whose love for the cau.e knew no
danger, and who shrank from iiO service or sacrifice.

It was ono intense, protracted struggle. Sometimes the
great preacher was down in the dr pest, darkest valley
of humiliation and despondency. Physical causes lielped
to depress. Dyspepsia was a constant attendant, and he
found it a desperate foe. Sometimes he would turn down
a chair upon tlie floor before a l)risk fire, and lying with
his head upon it, toiust liis feet. Then rolling over upon
the floor with constant groaninga, he would say, " Well,
I'm done for. It's all over with me now ! I shall no

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

more see good I It is hard to see such an open door and
not be able to enter !"

At times it did seem to others as well as himself that
he would really die. But as soon as the disease yielded,
he was up and at work again with all his mind and
might.

Shovelling sand back and forth from one side of his
cellar to the other, and sawing wood, formed Ms constant
exercise. His violin and his children were never- failing
sources of amusement. His peculiarities were marked,
and most noticeable in his preaching, his prayers, and in
the inquiry-meeting. His prayers were original, compre-
hensive, sho.'t and sharply defined. In the inquiry-
meeting he was always at home, and on the alert.

He always seemed filled with fresh unction from on
high,, and was eminently judicious and successful. The
intense emotion with which he entered upon his minis-
terial services, whether of prayer or preaching, seemed fit-
ly pictured in the magnificent incoming of the ocean surge
on the beach.

beeciier's oil jug.

To show the wid'^-spread and abiding power of his in-
fluence after he had left Boston, I give a single incident :
Four or five years after he had removed to Ohio and seven
years after his great " Stone Fort," the church on
Hanover Street, was burned, I occupied a store on the old
site. I employed two Irishmen to dig a cellar at the rear
end of my store. They cut a trap door througli the floor,
down which they worked in a dim twilight. I was
standing one day on the floor of the store watching them
work.

One of the Irishmen was picking at one of the stones of
the old ch zrch building, which had been left with other
rubbish from the fire to fill up the rear of the former base-
ment and cellar. After picking ot it for some time, the
other Irishman said, " Mike, what have you got there ?"

LYMAN BEECHER.

The man replied, " An' faith, I don't know, unless it be
Beecher's He jug r'' The point to this reply lies here.
Our pastor's temperance practice was always ridiculed by
the liquor men in order to break the force of his preaching.
One of the current storit^s was that a grocery porter, in
taking to Dr. Beecher's house some oil in a jug, thought
he " smelt a rat," and taking out the stopper found that
the jug was filled with Ncao England rum ! Now these
Irishmen knew that they were on the site where stood
the church seven years before, and about under the place
where the high pulpit was from which stairs led down
into the basement. So, while no word had been said to
suggest the aubject, when the Irishman found the round
stone in the dimly -lighted hole, his reply to his comrade
showed that Mr. Beecher and his temperance preaching
were memories running in his mind, though the bold

reformer had been in Ohio for
lieve it is Beecher's ile jug !"

years. " Faith, an' I be-

A FIGHT WITH LOTTERIES.

The circumstances of his ministry in Boston were in-
tensely exciting. The great Unitarian controversy was
in progress. The subjects of temperance, slavery, infi-
delity, Romanism and lotteries were hotly discussed. It
was Lyman Beecher who stamped indelibly the brand
of infamy on lotteries as well as inteniperancse. I saw
and heard him do it, and remember it as though but yes-
terday.

Tlie Legislature of Massachusetts was in session. A
bill was before it in behalf of Bunker Hill Monument,
which then stood a monument of reproa(!h to New Eng-
land enterprise ; for it was but half finished, and had re-
mained thus for many years. It seemed that tlie only
way to secure funds for its completion was by a State
lottery. The final vote on i,he bill was to be taken on
Monday. Burii)'; the previous week Dr. Beecher pre-
pared a special seiiuon in opposition, and had a personal

••■

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

invitation given to the members of the general court to
attend its delivery on Sunday evening. All the body
pews of the church were reserved for them. There were
galleries on three sides.

The house was filled to its utmost capacity. The atten-
tion given was most absorbing. The discourse was
intensely dramatic and personal. The public and private
effects of lottery gambling were portrayed with simplicity
and honesty of description, but with startling and terrific
coloring. Youth, morals, business interests, social order,
widowed mothers and orphaned children, the wreck of
homes and character, the blight, the ruin, the remorse of
conscience and the woes of the lost in hell through the
direct or indirect influence of lotteries, were worked up
with marvellous vividness and power from the first stroke
of the master s pencil to the close. There was an intensity
of momentum that was almost painful till the matchless
climax came. Then the passionate preacher stopped as
suddenly as did the wliite horse and his rider in the
apocalyptic vision. His spectacles were taken off. His
manner became subdued and solemn. Leaning ovor the
pulpit, with his right hand and index finger thrown
sharply forward, with a fiery penetration of eye, and a
marvellous inflection of voice, with a most adroit
assumption of the pf 4onal chai-acter and feelings of the
petitioners themselvej, as if tliey themselves stood before
the court, willing to assume the undertaking, he exclaim-
ed : " Gentlemen and honorable members of the General
Court of Massachusetts assembled, all these things will
we do for you if you will vote for our hill to-morrow !
and toe willfiriisJi Bunker Uill Monument into the bar-
gain! Will you do it? Will you no it ?"

He stood waiting as if in anxious silence for an answer.
And there seemed to go up a long-drawn, silent vote of
relief. "No more lotteries !" It must have been
registered in heaven. It was, at least, reiterated and con-
firmed in the Legislative Hall at the State House the next

LYMAN BEECHEK.

day, and entered upon the public records, never more to
be called in question.

A FAST-DAY DISCOURSE.

The personal characteristics of Dr. Beecher, both in his
private relations and in his public work, were many and
original. They were, of course, interesting and instruc-
tive. He was a bundle of eccentricities, but of them he
seemed entirely unconscious. The good pastor was once
preaching on the subject of Atheism and Deism on a Fast
day. He was sarcastic, humorous and witty in his de-
scriptions of a supposed fortuitous concourse of atoms in
their wanderings and assimilations until this beautiful
earth was the result, and then the more wonderful and
beautiful man was built up and finished off with heart and
lungs, and eyes and ears, together with a marvellous
thinking machine on top, and all covered with a most
delicate and wonderful membraneous tissue. And ull
this by chance ! The audience saw the absurdity of the
assumptions of unbelief so ludicrously sketched in detail
by the preacher and were wrought up to an uncontrol -
lable spirit of laughter all over the house. Suddenly Dr.
Beecher stopped, stood silent, took off his spectacles,
twirled them with his fingers a moment, and then with
most provoking seriousness said, " Well, Fm glad Fast
day comes once a year, and I mean to improve it !"

Some time after this it was suggested to him by some
of his official board that it was unwise to give so promi-
nent attention to a mere handful of obscure and uninfiu-
ential objectors to Cliristianity, when he replied with in-
imitable naivete^ " I tell you, my friend, that a small
drove qf hogs will root up a great field of corn /"

AN ESCAPE FKOM THE PULPIT.

At another time, during a (bourse of Sunday evening
lectures on Mormt lism, his morning and afternoon ser-
mons h."ving got complete possession of his mind, he

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

found it necessary to break the connection by some des-
jtorate effort. So lie gave out a long hymn for the choir to
sing, took his hat and slipped down tht inside pulpit
stairs into the vestry and out on to the street quite unob-
served by the congregation, except those in the gallery.
A friend of mine met him headed for Boston Common,
half a mile away and on the full run ! It was then a time
of great excitement among the Roman Catholics, who were
violently against him, and my friend assumed that he was
running away from a mob at the church. He therefore
raised an alarm and ran down t(» Hanover Street. There
he found the congregation all quiet, but waiting for the
preacher. When the choir had sung the long liynm no
preacher's head appeared above the high pulpit. As Dr.
Beecher sometimes was so lost in improving and altering
his sermon while the choir was singing, it was thought
that he might now be thus employed. So one of the
deacons went up the pulpit stairs, as often before, to re-
mind him to go on with the services. But he found that
the pulpit was vacant.

The deacon signified to the organist, Lowell Mason, to
play a voluntary until they could find the preacher. I
well remember the runaway's return. He came up the
same private stairway to the pulpit. He now was him-
self. He had broken the connection with his previous
discourses that day and at once took up an entirely new
subject, and in a new train of thought, with all the fiery
earnestness of old John Knox.

There was the most remarkable vitality, energy, and
passion in his sx^eech both in the pulpit and on the plat-
form, and yet it was wholly free from the least taint of
sensational clap-trap from any mannerisms. The West
never knew Lyman Beecher in the fulness of his pulpit
power. I am persuaded that in his new relations here in
Cincinnati he was not entirely at home. Like a mighty
locomotive engine, he had leaped his track in coming
West.

LYMAN BEECHER.

PASSION FOR WORK.

His passion for work, especiaUy for preaching, was
boundless and tireless. He often remarked, "I wish
there were two Sundays in a week." The pulpit was his
grand arena of conflict. " Mr. Organist," he would say,
" when you see me enter the church door, lire up ! fire
up! I don't want to march up the broad aisle to the
slow and solemn measures of a funeral dirge."
^ To us, the students in Lane Seminary, he would say,
'' I'd rather you would tear your subject all to tatters
than to reel it off so mechanically." He had no patience
with lukewarmness. It was as repugnant to him as to
our Saviour.

PULPIT EXPLOSIONS.

Dr. Beecher used to pin together the leaves of his ser-
mon. In his Boston pulpit he would sometimes knock
his manuscript to pieces by some sudden, impassioned
gesture. The leaves would fly down among the people
m every direction, like snowflakes in a wintry tempest.
Then the deacons would have to gather up the leaves and
carry them to him in the pulpit.

Once I saw him strike a prism-pendant which hung
around the pulpit light, and send it whizzing half way
across the church. At another time with a side blow he
struck the globe tliat shaded the gaslight. Fortunately
It was not broken. At once he adfusted it as best he
could without the least pause in the rapid run of his
thoughts and utterance. The gas was something new in
those days. The people were afraid of it, and anticipated
danger at the slightest disaster.

The coolness of the preacher on this occasion, and his
undisturbed interest in his discourse, actually convinced
one of his hearers that Dr. Beecher was a true and honest
man of God. From that time he became a regular
attendant, and at last a true and honest man of God him-
self.

•'*,

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

. STREET SCENES.

One Monday morning he took his market basket on his
arm and went to Faneuil Hall Market to get provisions
for dinner. He was followed and watched, as he often
was, by a young man who was the chorister of the Uni-
versalist Charch. The minister soon came to the fish
market. Here Dr. Beecher picked up a fine-looking fish
and asked the fisherman if it was fresh and sweet.
"Certainly," replied the man, "for I caught it myself
yesterday," which was the Sabbath. Dr. Beecher at once
dropped the fish, saying, "Then I don't want it," and
went on without another word. The young man who was
watching him was instantly convinced of the minister's
honesty and sincerity in practising the principles which
he preached, became a regular attendant and a true con-
vert, and for more than a quarter of a century was known
as Deacon Thomas Hollis, the druggist. He was a promi-
nent official in the Orthodox Church, and a valued di-
rector in the benevolent and charitable institutions of the
city until his death.

I have myself watched Dr. Beecher on the streets of
Boston while he was following, watching, stopping, and
listening to a sailor who was ' ' half seas over' ' with drink.
Never did a cat watch a mouse with more eager interest.
I have also watched nim as he plunged along the street
eating an orange as he would eat an apple, unpealed. He
did not seem to know what he was eating. It only
seemed good to eat it. He would bite from it full mouth-
fuls, rind and all, making the juice of the orange fly in
all directions over his coat, vest, and shirt-bosom.

His gait was always quick and nervous, his left arm
crooked at the elbow and swinging with a jerk. He never
seemed to know that any one saw him, or that anybody
was about who could see him. He was oblivious to all
appearances and to all persons when on the street.

The store in which I was employed was on his direct

LYMAN BEECIIER.

way to the post-office, the market, and his church. Thus
it was I saw him daily. Once he passed the store carry-
ing one end of a piece of timber on his shoulder, fearfully
crushing one side of his hat. At another time he might
be seen carrying one side of a heavy basket, to the utmost
dismay i id pain of the one who carried the opposite side,
for he seemed never to know when he was tired, or that
any one with him could be.

THE WOOD-SAWYER.

His wood-saw was a constant com.panion. When liis
own wood was sawed he would go out on the street for
work.* One day he took his saw, shouldered his buck,
and went out in search of a job. Soon he met with a man
at work on a large pile. " Halloo !" said the Doctor,
" you have a big job on hand, I guess I'll give you a
lift, as I have nothing else to do." And at it he went
with a will. His saw was always keen, and it was always
worked as if by steam power. " Why ! what a jolly saw
you have," said the wood-sawyer, " Yes," replied his
unknown helper, " I always keep my tools sharp for
quick work."

The conversation was soon turned to the one great topic
of the day, namely, the new preacher. " Have you ever
heard old Dr. Beecher preach V ' said the wood-sawyer.
" Oh, yes, frequently," rejilied the sti-anger, putting still
more vigor into his work. " Well, what do you think
of him ?" " Oh, I don't think so much of him as some
do," was the reply. The conversation at length came so
close home. Dr. Beecher stopped work and said, " I guess
I must be going." " But where did you get that saw ?"
inquired the old man ; " I wish I had one like it."
" Well, if you wish, I'll swap ^vith you." And so they
swapped saws, and the Doctor shouldering his buck start-

* Another version of this story, I learn, has been published, which is
adorned with adjuncts somewhat apocryphal.

;20

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

ed back on a trot through the alley behind his own house.
The old sawyer began to cogitate. A new idea loomed
up before him. He followed at a safe distance, noted the
back gate at which he entered, went round to the front
and noted the number, and soon learned that it was no
other than Dr. Beecher himself with whom he had been
sawliig and chatting. From that time that old wood-
sawyer was one of the pastor's attendants and adherents.
I knew him well, and have often seen him at church, sit-
ting in the front row of the gallery, on the right-hand side
near the pulpit.

ABSENT-MINDEDNESS.

y^ On one occasion, after an evening' s service at church, Dr.

( ^ Beecher, in his usual brown study, went into i;he wrong
house of the block in which was his own. Every house
in the block was of one and the same pattern. The house
which he mistook for his own was occupied by a well-
known hatter by the name of Rhoades, a Unitarian. The
Doctor put his hat on the stand in the hall, went into the
back parlor, where Mrs. Rhoades and the family were
gathered, drew a chair up to the fire, put his feet on the
mantel over the grate to warm, turned back his chair, and
/ leaned back his head simply thinking.
"^N^ In this attitude he noticed a French clock under glass
upon the mantel. " Wife," he exclaimed, " wherein the
world did you get that clocks" No answer. No one
(^ould answer, they were so full of merriment over the
good minister s absence of mind. " I say, wife, where
did you get that clock?" Mrs. Rhoades was a lady.
She put her hand gently upon his shoulder, and in her
sweetest tone said, " Dr. Beecher, you have made a mis-
take, and got into the wrong house." The surprised in-
truder cast a quick glance around upon the family circle,
sprung from his chah', and ^ith a bound was out of the
house, without a word of explanation or excuse.

LYMAN BEECHER.

LOVE OF FUN.

Dr. Beecher was fond of amusements and of real fun, as
well as of hard work and preaching. His violin was as
often beard as his saw, and heard not only in his study,
which was in the upper story of his house, but also in the
family circle and at family prayers.

At times, he was so absorbed in writing his sermon
when called to family worship, that he would call for his
violin, and with its lively notes break the connection and
free his thoughts for the service in hand.

There was a perennial fountain of boyish spirits in the
heart of Lyman Beecher. 1 once called at his house with
a young friend to see his children, soon after his arrival
in Boston. One of the daughters responded to the call.
After an introduction she said, " \Ve are having fun with
father in the dining-room. Come out and see us." So
we both went out to see the fun. And, sure enough,
ihere was Dr. Beecher on •' all fours," with two children
on his back playing "riding horse." He would run
horse fashion, trot, gallop, stop, run back, kick up, throw
the riders, and then run away, with all ^he children after
him screaming with delight.

THE LOST BANK-NOTES.

When Dr. Beecher moved his family from Litchfield to
Boston, he took a house with double parlors, dining-room
and kitchen on the first floor.* The parlors remained
unfurnished, and the ladies of his congregation waiting
some time for opportunity to call, learned from Mrs.
Beecher that they had neither suitable furniture nor
money with which to purchase. The ladies soon made up
a purse of one hundred dollars, and gave it to the pastor,
with the remark that it was expressly designed for fur-
nishing the parlors.

* This incident is very briefly alluded to in the "Autobiography," by
Charles Beecher. 2 vols., Harper Brothers, 1865, page 227.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

After proper waiting they called again, but no parlor
furniture appeared. Yet again, but the parlors still re-
mained unfurnished, Mrs. Beecher was kindly informed
that a sum of money had been given to her husband to pur-
chase furniture. She, however, had known nothing of the
matter. He was therefore called to an account. The for-
getful man was in a maze. He said that he rather
thought they had given him something, but could not
remember what he did with it. It must be in his pockets
somewhere, he thought. Having searched his vest
pockets, his pantaloons, and his coat, he found no money
anywhere. Thus Mrs. Beecher reported to the ladies,
under great mortification.

There was no way left but to collect another hundred
dollars, which in those days was quite a sum, and then,
as they had learned a new lesson, to purchase the furni-
ture themselves. They did so and saw it put in its proper
place with their own hands. This done, the next step was
an "investigation" for the missing money. Little by
little, they found, not the money, but where it went to.
Of course the minister had neither spent nor lost it, but
he had tucked the 'roll of bills hard down in his vest
pocket, and remembered no more about them. Now all
this happened at a time of great excitement about a six
days' line of stage coaches from Albany, N. Y., to the
West, in opposition to the old Sabbath-breaking line, in
which a Mr. Bissell had a great interest. Public meet-
ings were held, speeches made and collections taken in
aid of the new enterprise. Dr. Beecher was prompt and
prominent at these meetinp-s. As the contribution -box
came round on the platform* he felt for a dollar, almost
vnth the feeling of a man dead broke ! When lo ! his
fingers clutched the pressed roll of bank-bills in his vest
pocket, and without a single look or thought, put them
all in.

The persistent investigation of the ladies brought out
the fact that a wonderful contribution had beeu made by

LYMAN BEECHEU.

some rich unknown banker as was supposed. They little
dreamed that the money came thoughtlessly from the
pocket of -d poor, improvident parson. His wife there-
after was the keeper. of the treasury.

Such then, in his greatness and weakness, was Dr.
Lyman Beecher, and such was his work m Boston, be-
fore he ca.ne to Lane, a work and a man the like of
which had never been seen in those days.

■»sr

PABT SECOND.

DR. LYMAN BEECHER IN THE WEST.

(

It was in 1839 that I met Dr. Beecher for the first time
in the West. He was at a public hotel on the Ohio River,
near its junction with the Mississippi River. I was on a
collecting tour through the West connected with my own
mere utile business in Boston.

Never was the country in a more disastrous and demor-
alized condition, financially, than at that period. Dr.
Beecher was then on a visit to his son, Edward, at Gales-
burg, Illinois. In those days we " Beecher boys" never
travelled on the Sabbath, not even on a river steamboat,
though we might be a thousand miles from home. Nor
did our teacher. We were on different boats, but left
them on Saturday evening at the same place. We spent
our first Sabbath together most unexpectedly, after a
separation of seven years. It was, indeed, a very unex-
pected but happy meeting, and we made the most of it.
After a rattling talk over Hanover Street and Boston
nffairs, my old pastor plunged into the discussion of
" Lane Seminary" \yith a will. The early pre fessors of
that institution were full of enthusiasm for their work.
They were always beating up recruits for Lane, ov forag-
ing the country for provisions for its students.

A NEW RECRUIT.

*' Now is the time for you to wheel into line," said Dr.
Beecher to m.e, with all bis characteristic energy and pas-
sion lor winning young men. " Now do what you ought

LYMAN BEECHER.

(

to have done long ago, enter the ministry and help ns
fight the battle here in the West."

" Why, sir, I may not have a dollar left when this fear-
ful commercial panic is over !*' " Don't c ire a copper,"
said he. " The Lord will provide." And he shouted,

" Jehovah Jireii !
" But I have an invalid

don't forget Abraham."

wife and a young child, and
they are travelling with me for their health." " That's
just the thing ! You won' t have to go back to Boston
for them. I see God's hand in it already. It's all provi-
dential, you now can go right into the work." " Yes,
my good pastor, but you forget that I am thirty-three
years old, the full life-time of the Saviour, I'm too old to
begin now." " Not a bit of it," he replied, " you have
already learned human natur'''' (as he always pronounced
the word) " and you know how to manage it, which the
other students have to learn after they leave the Seminary.
Why, you'll be ahead of them, you have been practising
ten or fifteen years. Now just come up to Lane for six
months, attend lectures, read up theology n little, and
you'll be all right ! Take a short cut, and we will see to
it that you have a place to work and enough to do. Make
a place for yourself. Will you come f "But, Doctor,
don't push so. You don't see how I am situated. There
is my business in Boston, all unsettled. I am expecting
to return at once, and — then — if—" '" No ifs about it,"
he exclaimed, " don't you go back ! There are Lambert &
Slade" (old merchants connected with his church), " dear
old friends, they will settle up your business for you.
Come, begin at once. Get Alexander's ' Evidences,' and
— and — read as you go around collecting, then recite tv)
Dr. Humphrey of Louisville when you arrive there to see
your family at lieadquarters, and then come to Lane and
top off."

A SUDDEN CITANOE.

It was done. There was an end of argument. His
well-known enthusiasm and t ngnetic influence over

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

young men prevailed. I know it will appear to others
Quixotic and ill-considered, but outsiders know nothing
of the importunity of that old professor of Lane. I felt
then and there in that strange place where we chanced to
meet at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivera,
as though God had sent his good evai ^el with a special
message to me. He came just where I could not consult
with flesh and blood. So I was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision, but followed Avithout questioning and
without delay.

Complying with the urgent advice of my spiritual father
and my former pastor, I procured books, read, studied,
aud recited to Dr. Humphrey of Louisville six months
with no small degree of interest. In the following March,
forty years ago, I found myself a student at Lane, on a
"shortcut!"

THE PROFESSORS AT LANE.

There was at that time only Beecher and Stowe for
instructors at Lane. At the opening of the succeeding
fall term Allen was added. More whole-hearted and
devoutly consecrated men it would be diflBcult to And.
After a six months' course with Dr. Humphrey and bix
months' " topping off" at Lane, I became convinced of
the necessity of a full course, and entered upon the regu-
lar cuniculum. I pursued uninterruptedly my studies
for the next three years. Nor did I return tc Boston for
seven years from the time I left it in 1838.

I have thus dwelt upon my own case in order to give a
single, practice,! example of Dr. Beecher' s influence over
young men. It was not Lane Seminary that drew me on,
but Dr. Beecher ; for all the radical tendencies and pref-
erences of my mind at that time would have led me to
Oberlin.

Dr. Beecher and his most efficient and practical wife at
on(!e secured for me the position of a city missionary at
large at Cincinnati, also the appointment of chaplain at
the count/ jail and at the Commercial Hospital. These I

(

LYMAN BEECHER.

believe were the first appointments of the kind in this
city. The position of missionary was given me by the
Ladies' City Missionary Society of the Second Presbyte-
rian Church, of whom Mrs. Beecher was the president. I
received my first commission to preach the Gospel from
that society, and also my first ministerial salary. It was
through Dr. Mussey, senior, that I received my appoint-
ment as chaplain to the jail and hospital.

I entered at once upon my work in Cincinnati and
preached in each institution every Sabbath. For two
years I continued my labors thus, without interruption ;
also as Bible distributor, employed by the American
Bible Society. At the end of that time I resigned these
appointments to take charge of the Tabernacle Presby-
terian Church, which I had meantime gathered and or-
ganized on Betts Street, Cincinnati ; Rev. Horace Bushnell
was appointed in mj^ place, which position he holds to
this day. It is a position for life with good support, to
the honor and praise of this same Ladies' City Missionary
of the Second Church. Nor should it iiere be overlooked
that Horace Bushnell was one of the first students and
one of the first teachers in the Idterary Department of
Lane from 1829 to 1832.

To show the sj mpathetic and co-operative spirit of
Lane in those early days, not only did Beecher, Stowe,
and Allen give me a helping hand in my pioneer labors
in the city, but their wives were also hearty coadjutors.
T shall never forget, too, the labor of seminary students
at the Tabernacle, for I greatly needed them and was
greatly cheered by their brotherly assistance, coming as
they did from Walnut Hills, more than two miles away,
and afoot. Nor can I fail to record such names as Albert
Bushnell, missionary at Sierra Leone ; Campbell, who also
died in Africa; Chandler, Mussey, Walton, Pyle, Hicks,
and others of sainted memories, true yoke-fellows, noble
men as were ever gathered within the walls of a theological
sominnry.

PERSONAL KEMINISCENCES OF

I have already referred to the change in ray plans, and
those of the Doctor at the close of my " short cut " tenn
of study. This "short cut" had brought me into a
theological wilderness, and I could not seo my way out.

A THEOLOGICAL WILPERNESS.

Dr. Beecher and myself now held another consultation.
" You're in for it," said he. " Well, I think I am, and I
can't see my way out," I replied. " All right. You have
got all you can do, and you are doing it. well. You have
a permanent situation and a fair support. / told you so !
Now just hold on contented. Let up a little in your hard
study, join the grand new class that' s coming in, and go
for a three years' course. We're going to have a glorious
time here the next three years. Come, join us. The
Lord will provide." It was done. 1 joined that noble
band of thirty-eight wuicli composed the class of '40-43.
And while 1 worked hard for my own support and my
invalid family, without one dollar from any board or in-
stitution, I studied hard 11 all departments with my class,
and with jirivate teachers in Greek, German, and musJc.
I did not lose more than three lessons in Hebrew in three
years. With all this I kept up city work and country
preaching, gave temperance and anti-slavery lectures,
labors at that time most intensely exciting, and 1 have
never regretted the three last years, especially the last
one, though they cost much travel of foot and no less
travail of soul.

For two and a half years I preached twice a week
without a license from Presbytery, but with its entire ap-
proval, footing it to the city nearly every dny in the
week. I was also busy planting, digging, and market*
ing a hundred bushels of potatoes. Removing my
lamily to the west end of Cincinnati, I rode on horseback
three miles to my daily recitations. The neW Tabernacle
church enterprise also was all this time on my hands.

J<;

LYMAX BEECHER.

SEMITfAEY LIFE.

At the opening of the term of 1840 we had three pro-
fessors, all from New England. All honor, most tender
and reverent, to their memory. They were poor, the in-
stitution was poor, and we were oil poor, but we were true
and loyal to the core. We were as Presbyterians, " true
blue, but not too blue,"

Beecher, Stowe, and Allen were each as unlike the
other as could well be imagined, yet- they were a threefold
cord that was never brol:en. Their personal peculiarities
were specially adapted to the worii of each. Allen, was
the most lovable, Beecher the most inspiring, and Stowe
was appreciated the more we knew him, especially the
third year.

Dr. Beecher was never weaned from New England and
Boston, although here he was on the great battle-field
which his younger days had pictured with heroic deliglit
as the X)lace of all others for a great cai)tain.

Sitting at my own fireside one day with a visitor from
Boston, who was a member of the Hanover Street Church,
Dr. Beecher came in. The conversation soon turned to
scenes of other days. " Well, Doctor," said the visitor,
" I suppose you often look back to the good times
when you were with us in Boston." " No, I don't," he
quickly replied, with that sharp, incisive tone which was
peculiar to him when touched in a sore or tender spot.
'''Twouldn't do! It would entirely unfit me for my
present duties, I have deferred all that until I get to
heaven, "here I shall meet my old comrades, and then
we will have a good time, sure."

DR. BEECHER AS A PASTOR.

His position as pastor of the Second Presbyterian
Church of this city was never of great inspimtion to him,
nor fully satisfactory. This probably arose, in part, from
the contrasting and divided relations which he sustained

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OP

,.._i|

to the cliurcli and the seminary. He could not v/ork
easily in double harness. It was with him as with Paul.
"This one t7dng I do." And then the habits, mannera,
and esprit de cceur of the church were so different from his
own temperament, and so different from his former pas-
toral relations, that it was but natural that he would feel
the contrast sharply. Beside, he sought radical changes
w^hich resulted in serious disappointment. His first
effort was to secure a change in the session by a flanking
movement of military device. But he was no tactician,
and he was a coward wlien he was called to a square,
stand-up fight with his friends. He was no match for
them in sharp i^ractice. He had six elders in his session
who can hardly be said to have entered with spirit into
his revival views and his impetuous plans of churcl^ work.
Dr. Beecher, therefore, secured the election of six addi-
tional elders, young men, full of youthful enterprise, but,
as he told me with an air of sadness and despair, " It was
no go ; I was worse off Mian before, for, like Pharaoh's
kine, the six lean ones swallowed up the six fat ones." In
Boston he did not have to carj-y the church, the church
carried him. He did not have to plan or manage for its
usefulness ; it rather preceded him, and j^repared the
way for the master-mover of the field to cut a clean swath
ol' giant width, swiftness and x>ower.

It has seemed to me, that it would have been better both
for Dr. Beecher and the Second Cliurch had he never
assumed its pastorate. He could not be the preacher
here which he was in New England. In some way he was
shorn of his power. In some respects this failure was a
benefit, for it threw him back with all the more intensity
ui)on his work in connection with the seminary. This
personal opinion is freely expressed with the most kindly
and brotherly regards for the church as well as for the
pastor. In it I do not overlook the fact that Dr. Beecher
accomplished a great and good work for the Second
Church. The times were troublous and exciting. He

LYxMAN BEECHER.

carried his people through a perilous period of formality
and theological strife. By those to whom I bow with def-
erence, it is claimed that the Second Church owes its sal-
vation to Dr. Beecher. I rejoice to know that the church
holds his memory embalmed with most affectionate
regard.

THE CLASS OF '43.

The class of '40-' 43 was the largest which ever gradu-
ated at Lane ; and, if I may be pardoned, it was the best,
and in some respects the most remarkable. It was a unit,
a compact whole, intensely practical, revival and mission-
ary in its spirit. The Doctor used to aay of one class
which seceded before its graduation, that it aggregated
more talent and brains than could be found congregated
in any class of theologues in the land.

But the class of '43 had more practical good sense, and
a larwr heart for the kingdom of Christ. Its incoming
with the advent of Professor Allen gave a wonderful im-
pulse of inspiration, and of new hopes for the future of
the institution. Dr. Beecher had then somewhat recov-
ered from the influences ^unfortunately connected with
Lane in its earlier days, growing out of the slavery ques-
tion ; also from the divisions in the Presbyterian Church
and General Assembly, and from the effects of his own
trials for heresy in the church courts.

IDIOSYNCRASIES OF DR. BEECHER.

Personally, intellectually, and spiritually, Dr. Beecher
was sui generis. He scarcely weighed three pounds
when born, and was so feeble in vitality as to lead his
deceased mother's sister, vvho took charge of the family,
to say, "he is hardly worth trying to raise." All
thi^ugh his life his health was far from being robust or
resilient, for dyspepsia was his constant enemy. Yet he
battled manfully and persistently with his ailments and
endured hardships of self -discipline that he might have
strength for work. He seldom wore an overcoat or gloves

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

or carried an umbrella, except in extreme cases. It was
his love of work and play, intense and earnest, that saved
him. His large and most peculiar family, especially the
boys, gave him great aid and such as he needed.

I have already spoken of his absent-mindedness. This
showed itself in amusing ways. When on horseback his
mind was so absorbed in some object ahead, that it caused
an earnest, forward leaning of his body, as if intent on
reaching the end of his ride in advance of his horse.
When he reached the terminus, he would sometimes leavo
his horse to take care of itself as he leaped from the sad-
dle and pushed for the pulpit. Indeed, I have known
him to spring from the carriage when he had arrived at
the church door, leaving his wife as well as his horse
Avithout a thought. He would rush into the church, and
then, when near the pulpit, he would rush back again,
seeming to remember that he had forgotten something
and hastened to lind out what it was.

— I

THE LOST IIOKSK.

He once rode on horseback to New Carlisle, near
Springfield, Ohio, some seventy-five or eighty miles, to
attend a camp-meeting. Those were days of Presby-
terian camp-meetings. In riding into the grove he left
his horse in an out-of-the-way hollow. He fastened him
with the bridle to a low limb of a tree before dismount-
ing. He then pushed for headquarters, and went to work
without another thought of his horse until he was wanted
for a return home, some two days after.

No one knew how Dr. Beecher came, and no one had
cared for the poor horse. Another horse had to be pro-
vided. His own was finally found and kept till it recov-
ered strength from its two "fast days." It was not an
act of intentional cruelty to animals, but simply the result
of his habitual absent-mindedness. The good man was
never entirely safe without an attendant who knew him
well.

LYMAN BEECHER.

'I)

THE MISSING MONET.

A great convention of churches was once called to con-
fer on evangelical work for the West at the Second Church
of Cincinnati, of which he was then pastor. In this con-
vention he expected to take a prominent part. His good
wife felt that he must have a new suit of clothes, so she
went with him to Luken's on Main Street, near the present
Court House, and had him measured. The contract was lio
be filled the day before the convention. The price was
$25. On the day named Mrs. Beecher called for the new
suit. It was not ready, but would be ready the next
morning in season for the opening of ^he convention. As
the Doctor started for the city in the morning, his wife
gave him the money, with strict injunctions to call for his
clothes on his way down to meeting and pay for them
and put them on. He must " be "^are not to forget," as
those he had on were quite seedy, and he would not be
presentable on the platform in such a rusty attire.

It was an all- day meeting. Mrs. Beecher did not see
him again until night. When evening came, and he re-
turned, behold, he was still wearing his old clothes, for he
had forgotten all about the new ones. His wife gently
chided him for his remistmess and asked for the $25, saying,
"I'll go down early in the morning and ge. them, and see
that you have them on before you go to the convention.
Just give me the money." Money ! He knew nothing
about the money. Search was made all over and through
him wherever money could be hidden, but no money
could be found. " Now, husband," with no little tremor
of anxiety, '"'^ what Tiwae you done witlh that money f
It was a great sum in those days for a Lane Seminary
professor's wife to have. The Doctor was innocent as a
lamb. He had no recollection, he said, of having had any
money. And there they stood; both were alike con-
founded.

No new clothes and no money, what could be done ?

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

A great western convention of ministers and laymen in
session at his own church, and he in seedy i^rments !
Luken trusted them for the new suit, but the raoney was
gone. A long search and much inquiry brouglit to light
the fact that a collection had been taken in the conven-
tion, and Dr. Beecher finding something in his vest pocket
as the box passed him put it in without a moment's
thought of how much it was or how it came there ! It
had gone on its errand of love and mercy like tlie hundred
dollars to Bissell and his stages. It never mor(3 '"»turned.

THE REPEATED LECTURE.

On one occasion Dr. Beecher came into our class-room
with the same lecture which he had delivered the previ-
ous day. It was some time after he commenced its deliv-
ery before any of the class could muster courage to re-
mind him of his mistake. When he was at last spoken
to he stopped suddenly, took off his glasses, tv,rirled them
in his peculiar way, silently, and then, with a queer twin-
kle in his eye, said, " Yes, yes, I know it, but as you
paid such poor attention to it before, and as I thought it
was so good a lecture, I am in hopes it will do you good
to hear it over again." On he went with its delivery
with more than usual enthusiasm.

Among his best thoughts were those which (;ame on the
spur of the moment, in the heat of a free debate after
the lecture was finished. I think one of the highest
qualifications of Lyman Beeclier as a preaclier was his
matchless power in answering the objections of a supposed
opponent. The freedom he gave to the class to ask ques-
tions or to state objections, drew from him a marvellous
amount of information treasured in his heart and mind
from experience, observation, and study. The richest
mines of wisdom and of love were thus opened to us his
students and made applicable to many practical purposes.
As I have already said. Dr. Beecher had no dovetailed,
invulnerable system of theology, and the class would at

fl'

LYMAN 3EECHER.

i I \

imj

times drive him into a comer, and the end would some-
times be a harmless and ludicrous comedy.

CAUGHT m A SNAKE.

At the close of his usual lecture one day we " went into
him" with a will. Of course we were entirely respectful
and loving, if a little audacious. Leading questions and
well-put difficulties brought our teacher with unguarded
concessions iaio a snare. He soon became inextricably en-
tangled in a web of metaphysical subtleties. He was
adroitly and completely cornered. Standing at bay for a
moment or two in silence, as if cogitating an answer, every
one of the class on tip-toe with excitement to see which
way our good professor would jump, he suddenly ex-
claimed ;vith an air of ludicrous assurance, " Young gen-
tlemen, I too would ask you one question. What would
have become of Elijah if the Lord had happened to drop
him just before he'd got him safely into heaven ?"

The question had not the slightest connection with the
subject under discussion. But it was pr.t so suddenly
and put so sharply, that we in turn were for the moment
taken by surprise and utterly confounded. The peculiar
intonation of his voice and the appearance of reality in
his manner of putting the question to us actiiallv set us
a wondering what would become of Elijah if there had
been a slip ! We seemed to be in a kind of stupid horror
watrhmg the final catastrophe when the aged prophet
should reach the ground. Before a word could be said
the Doctor had snatched his hat and disappeared.

THE Dutchman's chase.
While at work in his garden with a hoe one day, in
company with a stolid Dutchman-who was a big boy of
all work in the family-the Doctor suddenly gave his hoe
a tremendous fling, and exclaimed, "Now Fve got it
I ve got It now, sure !" He started upon the run for the
house, with the alarmed Dutchman at his heels. The

PERSONAL RESrTINISCENCES OP

Doctor plunged for the end door next to the garden, which
opened into his study, but it was fastened inside. He
then sprang for the frf nt door. That also was fastened.
He turned and went through the l^ack porch and through
the front hall, with the " flying Dutchman" puflSng close
behind him. The delighted philo^^opher shouting his
" Eureka," entered his study by the ntudy door from the
hall, dropped down into that old, green chair which to
this day stands in an adjoining room, snatched up a quill
and began to scribble. The inquisitive Teuton stood
peering over his shoulder to see what curious or precious
thing it was which the Doctor was so overjoyed to find !
Se had found an idea^ and had hastened thus to put it
on paper before it should escape his treacherous memory.
While digging the earth with his hoe, a rift had opened
in the metaphysical 1 cloud which had enveloped him.
Suddenly a truth was revealed, which made him shout,
"I've got it, I've got it !" and gave speed to his steps as
he ran to make it fast on paper.

'^1^

VEHEMENT DECLAMATION.

The Doctor was always impatient of indifference or
tpmeness. in our speaking on exhibition or recitation
da /s. " Have something to say, and say it as though
you meant it ; I would rather have you tear your subject
all to pieces with passion than to treat it so gingeriy.
Fire up ! fire up ! until you get all ablaze !" He prac-
tised what he taught.

Once on a time when the subject of temperance was
" all ablaze" in this community, an anti-temperance
meeting was called at the old Court House, and the stu-
dents went down to see and hear. Dr. Beecher was there
to see also. He sat back in the audience watching the
proceedings with the eagerness of a hound waiting for its
prey.

One of the speakers cited Massachusetts as having re-
treated from its former position on the subject of temper-

^YMAX BEECHER.

L-

•e

le
bs

ance, and as having "let go" from some of its funda-
mental principles.

The old hero of the temperance battlefield could hold
in his war-horse no longer. Starting for the platform
almost upon the run, he turned not right or lef*^ ^o go up
the side steps, but putting his hands on the et^^- ^f the
platform he leaped upon it with the agility of an athlote,
and landed in the midst of a crowd of distillers, saloon-
keepers, and topers. Withoiit a word of apology he
shouted, " Old Massachusetts ' let go ! ' old Massachusetts
' let go ! ' I tell you she has only let go to spit on her
hands r And then he poured forth a tremendous tem-
pest of thunder and lightning, roaring, blazing, scorching,
^rackling and burning, hurling hot thunderbolts crash-
ing through and throiigh all the mighty breastworks
which the liquor army had thrown up for the defence of
their business.

We, the students, were greatly excited. We stamped
and clapped and cheered our valiant captain all the
while, as he was carrying the fort of the enemy in glori-
ous triumph. At the close of his speech the meeting
closed, and closed without a >vord in reply. Keply !
They might as well have replied to a tornado. And as we
returned we went ahoutiiig home with triumphant song,
" Glorious eld Lane on the Hill."

A MISSIONARY SPEECH.

Br. Beecher was one of the earliest, most faithful, en-
thusiastic, and unceasing friends of the A. B. C. F. Mis-
sions. I attended the annual meeting of the Board in the
old Broadway Tabernacle, I>iew York City, about the
year 1845. Dr. Beecher was present ; he always expected
to speak, I think, at its annual meetings, and the people
expected him no less.

He had corie from the *' Par West," as it was then
called. He was a little seedy outside, perhaps, but bright
as a new dollar within. For some reason, known only to

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

the managers of the meeting, he was pushed aside, and
another speaker substituted without consultation or
apology. The substitute in his opening began with an
expression of regret that, owing to the infirmities of age
or fatigue of ti-avel, the celebrated Dr. Beecher was ex-
cused, and he, the speaker, was called " most unexpect-
edly and regretfully" to take his place. Dr. Beecher
was on the platform, wholly ignorant of this change of
programme. He looked on with amazement, and then
sprang to his feet and cried out, " Mr. Moderator, Mr.
Moderator ! there is some mistake here. Infirmity !
Why, sir, I was never better in my life. I don' t under-
stand it, sir!"

There stood the substitute in silence, as though he had
been struck and paralyzed. The audience, too, were full
of anxious surprise. Before any one could recover from
the sudden interruption or liave courage to speak in ex-
planation. Dr. Beecher was oif at full speed. He electri-
fied the audience with u missionary speech such as had
seldom been heard even on such an occasion. It was
spontaneous, and simply grand and magnificent. It was
full of fire, impulse, and Beecherism. The unfortunate
substitute, meantime, had retired to a back seat, feeling
" regrets" for his own unfortunate venture quite as poig-
nant, evidently, as those which he had expressed for Dr.
Beecher' 3 supposed " infirmities" of age.

CARE FOR r^TUDENTS.

Our president and professor always manifested a royal
pride in the students of the seminary, and this without
partiality ; for his interest in our behalf was of the most
fatherly character. These traits were also characteristic
of the faculty and their wives. Poor students we were,
most of us, and tlie hard work which kept the board bill
of the " commons" table nt eijhty -seven and a half cents
per week, and good at that, was cheerfully shared by the
faculty. They went with the students into the surround-

LYMAN BEECHER.

ing country in a truck wagon, soliciting donations from
the farmers for the students' table. And even this small
sum for board was more than some of them could afford,
and therefore they boarded themselves at the cost of
forty-live or fifty cents i)er week, and earned the money
by sawing wood, keeping stable, and other chores for the
neighbors, rather than call on the Education Society.
This, to my personal knowledge, was true of the late Dr.
Albert Bushnell, the honored missionary of African mem- v
ory, my classmate and kinsman.

THE VIOLIN.

Dr. Beecher was as fond of innocent diversions as of
hard work and preaching. His violin was a source of
relief ancl recuperation to the very close of his life.

A gentleman, an entire stranger, called upon Dr«
Beecher in his last days, while residing in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
to make his acquaintance. Before leaving he ventured
to suggest to him that he had often neard of his skill in
the use of the violin, and asked him if he would be pleased
to give him a specimen of playing. The violin was sent
for, and the stranger was entertained by a stirring and
skilful ptrformance, which showed the ability of the aged
musician in the use oi his favorite instrument. At family
worship in the evening, when h:'.s inind was tired, jaded,
and uncontrollable from the mighty current of the day's
thoughts and labors, he would, after fruitless efforts at
proper concentration for worship, call for his violin.
And David, the sweet singer of Israel, never scattered the
evil spirits, or the blues that come from over-study, more
suroly than did Dr. Beecher.

HEECIIEU'S ITANDKEUCHIEF8.

Lyman Beecher was not spoiled in the making, either at
school or college. He was always himself, pure and sim-
ple, without feeling the restraint of company or etiquette
anywhere.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

Mrs. Beecher would sometimes provide her husband
with two handkerchiefs for his pocket. One was a red
bandana of large dimensions for the protection of his
neck and for ordinary service. The other was a white
cambric handkerchief intended for public duty. But he
never could remember to keep them in different pockets
or for different uses. So, in the heat and momentum of
his discourse, one would come out, ar i then the other ;
now the delicate white linen one, now the big red ban-
dana ! Then both would be lying on the pulpit cushion,
one on each side of his notes, or ViUd i *he lid of the Bible.
He brought out for use first the ori«j, and then the other.
He took the white, the red and blew, much to the discom-
fort of Mrs. Beecher and the amusement of his hearers.
This went on until, in the fervor of his emotions and the
pungency of his thoughts, both speaker and hearers were
carried above all surroundings, quite beyond the possi-
bility of any injurious distraction on account of any of
his oddities. These idiosyncrasies were harmless, his
whole bearing being so characteristic, natural, and earnest.

ins SPECTACLES.

Dr. Beecher was so forgetful, it was ner . iiry to have
him supplied with two or three pairs of s • n* J.es, or he
would find himself without any. On une < i'^' sion the
discussions of Presbytery were absorbingly aniii.a*;ed. In-
stead of twitching his steel-bowed glasses from his nose
and twirling them between his thumb and forefinger, as
was his wont, he threw them back upon his head and
quite too far over. Soon he wanted them and reached up
his hand to bring them down to their xiroper position.
Failing to reach them he supposed that lie had put them
in his pocket. So, he jerked out another pair and put
them in proper place. And there he stood, doubly pre-
pared for duty, with two pairs of spectacles on his head,
eyes in front, and eyes in the back of his head. One of
the members of Presbytery shouted, " Now, look out,

)

LYMAN BEECHER

)

brethren, for now Dr. Beecher is sharp hotJi ways for an
argument." ,

GOOD-NATUREDNESS.

Dr. Beecher never took notice of a joke, much less did
he ever show resentment. He used to say to the stu-
dents, " Never wash yourselves in a mud-puddle."

As for personal controversy, he had no taste for it what-
ever, although he had the reputation of a great polemic.
He said that he was cured of all love for contention and
strife many years before on this wise. Returning from a
V alk in tlo suburbs of the town with text-books under
his arm, he saw an animal creeping slowly across the road
just ahead of him. He thoughtlessly went for the ani-
mal, and let drive at him a whole body of divinity. In
reply to this volume, the skunk— for such it proved to be—
let fly at him a shower of that aroma which is his own
peculiar weapon of defence. It could hardly be regarded
" the odor of sanctity." Dr. Beecher remarked that he
got the worst of it in that controversy. It was an en-
counter which taught him a lesson for life.

Dr. Beecher had no personal animosities to sour him.
He nursed no ill-will toward any one, and carried no
burden of weapons for secret attack or for defence. He
always was in light marching order, and marched on the
double-quick ! He always cut corners and crossed lots,
sometimes very unwisely, in order to reach his antago-
nist, or his post of duty, most expeditiously. He never
wasted time, strength, or ammunition in beating around
the bush.

IN SEARCH OF A WIFE.

After the death of his second wife at Lane Seminary,
he went to Nev^ England in search of another. Never
wfis Providence more manifest than in this important
matter. His attention was directed to a Mrs. Jackson, who
was keeping a kind of ministerial boardiiig-liouse in Bos-
ton, not a full square from where I was then boarding.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OP

> i9

She was formerly a member of Bowdoin Street Churcli
when Dr. Beecher w^s its pastor, and therefore not an
entire stranger to him.

To her house he soon made his way, and, as the story
goes in Boston, and I never heard it called in question,
asked of hei a private conference, in which he proposed
marriage with almost desperate earnestness, and with not
a little bluntness.

Mrs. Jackson was pre-eminently a practical business
woman, and no less a Christian lady. But now she was
taken by surprise, and could only reply, " Doctor, this
is wholly unexpected. I can give you no answer at pres-
ent. It is a very serious question. I will think of it,
and make it a subject of prayer, and—" " Yes, yes,
all right," said Doctor Beecher. " It ought to be made a
subject of prayer. Let us pray over it now !" So down
went the Doctor on his knees before the good Father in
Heaven, and pleaded his own cause as few could plead
in prayer ; and he pleaded not in vain !

A more efficient or more suitable wife for a helpmeet
than was Mrs. Jackson, no man ever needed or received.
She was to be the mother of a large family of most
peculiar and indejjendent boys and girls, or rather young
men and maidens.

But she was equal to the occasion. And not only
those children and their father, but Lane Seminary and
the Church of Christ, ought to give God thanks for his
special guidaxice in the time of Dr. Beecher' s great need.
She was a rare v.-^oman, an elect lady of God's choosing.

Dr. Beecher was no Pharisee, no pietist, no ascetic,
yet he was pre-eminently pious, prayerful, and submissive
to the providence of God. "He walked with God in a
peculiar spirit of tenderness, independence and power.
He rendered God service with a loyalty of devotion and
a royalty of munificent consecration almost without a
parallel ! It was with a single eye and a whole heart !

His public prayers were unapproachable in their direct

LYMAN BEECHER.

ness, terseness, comprehensiveness, importunity and as-
surance. There was never the slightest savor of cant or
insincerity in any of his devotions, public or private.
The following incident illustrates that fact.

UPSET IN THE DARK.

In coming up from the city one dark night, after even-
ing service, with Mr,« Beecher and Mrs. Stowe with him in
the carriage, he allowed his horse to go too near the edge
of a high embankment. Just at the foot of the hill, as we
then came out of Butcher's Valley at the right. The car-
riage was upset and rolled over and over with its precious
trio some fifteen feet to the foot of the bank.

On finding themselves but little hurt, the pious ladies
united at once in thanks to the Lord for their providen-
tial deliverance. .

It v/as too dark to see each other readily, or to deter-
mine where they were exactly, but the bewildered Doc-
tor found himse]* in a pitiful plight. Having shaken
himself from the dust and dirt in which he had rolled,
and taking cognizance of sundry bruises received, he
called out to his companions, whom he just then heard
giving thanks, saying tartly, *' Ladies, speak for your-
selves : for I find myself pretty badly damaged !"

Now, there was not the least irreverence or ingratitude
in this remark, but a natural outburst of sincerity, and
an exhibition of practical caution and independence in
ascertaining the full extent of personal injuries before
reporting the case to headquarters.

AN ALLEGED HERETIC.

Dr. Beecher had little love or respect for metaphysi-
cal subtleties, ecclesiastical formulas, or legal precedents.
His mind was intensely practical, catholic, and progres-
sive ; yet he could fight for the defence of the "faith
once delivered to the saints," with all the boldness and
persistency of tlie Apostle Paul.

f 1*!

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

In his trialr-. for heresy and disloyalty to the Presby-
terian standards before the ecclesiastical courts, Dr.
Joshua L. Wilson prosecutor, Dr. Beecher rested his case
mainly on this curt declaration: "I accept the Presby-
terian standards as containing the system of doctrines
revealed in the sacred Scriptures, as I understand those
standards of the Presbyterian Church ;" adding, " Don't
you, Dr. Wilson, and you brethren of the court 1"
The Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly sustained
him throughout. How could they do otherwise and be
true to themselves and the right of private Judgment ?

ir^p

t
III

A ROYAL PREACHER.

Dr. Beecher was no pessimist, but an optimist, good
and true. As a preacher we may say of him — as many
others have said — that he was a Royal Preacher. But
we prefer to say that he was pre-eminently honest, earnest
and direct. His practical preaching was doctrinal and
his doctrinal preaching was eminently practical. He was
not embarrassed and encumbered by any metaphysical,
theological, or philosophical niceties. P.e ha '. a rare
faculty of stating his points, putting hi? questions, and
answering objections. I have seen him as he stood on a
meat-block in the old Fifth-street market, precisely
where now stands the Tyler-Davidson Fountain, do this
work of a debater with the most admirable tact and pun-
gency. His lectures on atheism in the dim light and
sooty atmosphere of a Cincinnati iron foundry and
boiler manufactory were a remarkable exhibition of ^his
power of argumentative eloquence. Not even Moody at
his best could have better held, interested, or more per-
manently impressed such an audience as was then
gathered around him in that cave of the Vulcans.

A conservative reformer.

In his preaching, Dr. Beecher was a reformer only to
a limiied extent ; but in his heart he was abreast with the

LYMAN BEECHER. 45

foremost. This fact sometimes gave Mm tlie appeal ance
of great inconsistency. He was for "colonization'' on
the one hand, and for immediate abolition of slavery on
the other. He was liberal and progressive in practical
doctrine and duty, yet conservative in his standing fast
by the old paths and sound words.

He was naturally fearful of radical measures, and yet
he was at the head of his column, a plumed knight with
a Damascus blade, and who knew no fear amid the roar
and carnage of battle ! At the same time I have heard
men tell of his feelings of utter despondency when
voters in the parish were permitted by law to pay their
church tax to any other than the regular, orthodox town
meeting Parish Church. And when next he saw them
permitted by the Legislature to pay it to an out-of-town
church, and bring a. receipt from the proper officer, or
when finally permitted by law to go anywhere, or not go
to meeting at all or pay church tax, except by personal
choice, his heart utterly failed within him as he thought
the bottom of the religious tub had entirely fallen out !
All the while the Doctor was a leader in the Gospel team,
while he was trying to be a steady shaft-horse in the
hills. He never broke a hold-back strap, but was ever
ready to break a hame-string at a hard pull at any fme.

MANY-SIDED.

Dr. Beecher was a masterpiece of divers colors. He
was looked upon not only as eccentric but inconsistent by
those who did not know him. The red, white and blue
mingled in wonderful combination, but the true blue al- *
ways predominated. In fishing, he never missed a bite,
nor waited for a second one. In hunting, he never rested
his gun an a post or fence, but took his game always on
the wing. This was characteristic of him both m the
material and intellectual world. In his day he was as
popular as his son Henry Ward has since been, and he
drew as large ' audiences, even greater, comparing the

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF

i nf{

' J

H',

times in which they each have lived. Tlie father was
not as learned as is his son Edward, nor as poetical and
imaginative as his daughter Harriet, but I venture the
opinion that the father will be remembered when all his
children are forgotten.

IN PRIVATE LIFE.

Lyman Beecher had no ambitions, no jealousies, no
rivalries, no resentments Nor had he any tiaws, stains,
taints, nor serious inconsistencies of private or public
character to mend, defend, or conceal, during a long life
of the most intense and radical service in the Church of
Christ. He retired from the battle-field of life, on which
he had been a captain of renown for more than half a
century, with clean hands and a pure heart. He retired
manfully, and with cheerful acquiescence. He was con-
scious that his work was done — and well done. He
passed away to the better land, where, I doubt not, he
was welcomed with the joyous greeting, " Well done, good
and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord !"

Property he never had, never sought, and never could
keep, if he had it. Nor did he ever seek name, fame, or
leisure. I once heard him affirm that, after forty years
of intense and incessant labors in the ministry, he had
never, at any one time, laid up money enough to have
met his funeral expenses, had he died.

Less than one thousand dollars a year for his half-cen-
tury services in some of the most conspicuous stations,
would be a fair average of his yearly income, notwith-
standing the support and educntion of an unusually
large family of sons and daughters.

HIS CLOSING DAYS.

Dr. Beecher left Lane in 1851. He and Professor Stovra
had given eighteen years of hardest work in laying
foundation-stones. They had also imbued the people
with a new inspiration with which to build a glorious

LYMAN BEECHER.

;

superstructure of education and religion in the ereat

West ! ^

Dr. Beecher's work was done. He retired to dear old
Boston on a small annuity from his former parishioners
and friends, and then in 1856 to Brooklyn, where, Janu-
ary 10th, 1863, he closed his long career of eighty -eight
years in peace.

He was very dear to me. I loved him as my spiritual
father. He led me to the Saviour. He received me into
the Church and brought me into the ministry. He was
my theological instructor, encouraged and aided me in
my pastorate at Cincinnati, where we toiled side by side
for ten eventful years. I anticipate a meeting with him
ere many days, where our fellowship will be eternal.
The sunset soon will give the signal that releases me
from the harvest field.
As Horatius Bonar sayh

" From tins right hand its cunning is departing.
This wrinkled palm proclaims its work is done,
Death in these pulses daily groweth stronger, '

Life's ruby drops arc oozing one by one."

We shall not long be separated. I wait to greet him
in the Heavenly Home ! I wait in the patience of hope !
I wait in the love of that ministry which he inspired me
to undertake, in that love which knows no burden, and
in that hope which has no fear I