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Meps, pistes, cherts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hend corner, left to right end top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diegrems illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimis ii des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmi d partir de I'angle supirieur gauche, de gauche it droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 s 6 Ul o X I/) Ui v> a: o X Clmlbc^leErsm^wetica: OBSERVATIONS ON THE COUNTRY, THE I'EorLK, IKHTITLTIONH AND KELIGION; SVirU SOTKiiS OK SLAVEllY AiNUTHE LATE WAU ; ASU F..CTS AND INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF ..T TTvv Avn TABOR IN ILLINOIS, WITH NOXEa OF (!i.r ubtl tbtougb tl^t ynitei, .States unb (Canatia. THE REV JAMES SHAW, t'UUV.' H. AMERICA. LONDON: „.MlLiON.APAMS.AN.)CO.,V^rKnN0^1^UROW, DUBLIN : GEOUGE UEUni^UT. 117. GRAETUN ^lUl^ET. CHICAGO: rOE AND UIICIICUCK, CO. WASHINGTON STREET. 1807. DCr.LlN : liEOiM.K 111 .:AhY, nUNTKR, 20, LOWKll ORMON-n QUAY. ii r ! t a tc. ' The leading facts of this book were delivered by the author, in a lecture in various parts of Ireland, in the winter and spring of 18()G-'7. They are now presented in a more enlarged form, at the request of several friends. The " Twelve Years" mentioned on the title page cover the most exciting period of American history. The narrative attempts In-iefly to describe one of the greatest conflicts of ancient or modern times, and the rise and progress of that great pohtical power that ruKuiripnlnl/niir )»inioiis ^Imrs, carried to a successful issue a war of miparalleled magnitude, and saved the nation from slavery and ruin. It was the privilege of the writer to reside where that power origin- ated— to observe its rise, and mark its mission. With several of the leading actors in that great national drama he was acquainted. Of them, and the cause in which they struggled and triumphed, be has recorded his honest sentinunits. Durin<' those " Twelve Years," he has crossed the Atlantic ocean four times travelled thii'ty-five thousand VI. pheface. miles ; passed up by tho Hudson, nnd down hv tlio Niagara and St. Lawrence ; round tlic sliorcs of the great lakes. ;ind alon^' tlie banks of the ^'reat rivers, Missouri and Mississippi, and crossed its smaller rivers, the Ohi(^ Wabash, and Illinois : preached in tlie larrogress iind prosperity of the churches, Methodism, revivals. Ac. he has endeavoured to give an impartial statement, luised on the last United States' census, and the latest statistical returns. Life and labors in Illinois, and travels through the United States and Canada, are described as he has seen and felt. Owing to prior and pressing engagements, in con- nexion with missionary and other labors, the writer could not bestow as much care and attention on the style and composition as he could wish to have done, yet if the work had not been written then, it could not have been written at all. The type is new, and the printing, by Mr. Healv, well executed. PREFACE. VI 1. A m.'ip of tlio railronds and f^rcat lakes is given to illustratr tlio volniiic. and an engraving to present Niagara. As. tlie Britisli finiind and tlio American li<'>l liy 5, will (^^vo the amount in dollars, thus, I'tiO x "> 100 dollars; and any given sum of dollars, ilirithd by 5, give the amount in pounds sterling, thus, 100 dollars t 5 €20, as there are about 5 dollars in a pound sterling. Such as the ^vork is, it is now committed to a gracious Providence, and commended to a candid public. JAMES SHAW. Lit AN, DrpMN, .huir 1, 1807. i €mk\\iB. CHAPTER L THE VOYAGE OVER. Departure from Ireland— Giant'sCauseway— Isle of Man —Arrival in Liverpool— The " Isaac Webb," Captain, Crew, and Fellow-rasscngers— Alarm of Fire—Storm at Sea— Prayer— Controversy with Infidels— Safe Ar- rival in New York . Pagp 1—15 CHAPTER II. WESTWARD TRAVEL. Manhattan Island -New York City: Streets, Parks, Churclies, Hotels, Population— City Fires- Rcnpwcd Prosperity— New York and Erie Railroad— Scenery and Towns along the road— Chicago— Rapid Rise and Commercial Growth— Bloomington . IG— .3a CHAPTER III. TIIK COUNTRY AND ITS RESOURCES. Discovery and Settlement— Physical Aspects and Terri- torial Extent— The Climate and its Variations—The Gulf-Current and its Effects- The Minerals and the Motals—Coal, Iron, Golt*, Silver, Petroleum . . 34- -44 X. CONTKNTS. CllArTKll IV. THE FAUNx\ AND THE FLOKA, ZOOLOGY AND OUNITHOLOGY. Trees— Variety— Finm— Species— Luciilioii —\j — 102 CHAPTER Ylli. THE LATE WAR AND ITS LESSONS. Slavery, the Upas Tree of the South— The Slave Ship and May-Flower — The Cherokee Indians and Battle of Chickamauga — The Slave and Prison Pens of the South — The Fugitive Slave Law and its Victims- Margaret Gardener — Slavery and the Sins of the Nation — Origin, Progress, Close, and Results of the Contlict . . . . c . 103—125 CHAPTER IX. OLD AND NEW AMERICA. The Nation's Second Birth — Political and Social Changes — Emigration — Agricultural and Natural Productions — The National Finances — An;*!rican Navy — Sanitary and Christian Commissions— Prosperity : Commi rcial, Literary and Religious — The Pi ice of the Slaveholders' Eebollion ... . . 12G-142 Xll. (ON TENTS. CHAPTER X. THE AMERICAN CHURCHES. Colonial and Revolutionary Periods— Separation of the Church and State— The Voluntary Principle— Tho Evangelical Churches : Episcopalian, Congreg-ational, Baptist, Presl)ytcrinn, and IMctliodist— The Church and her Institutions: Temperance, Bible, Missionary, and Sunday School Societies, CoHoges— Press -Unity —Respect— Loyalty— The Non-Evangelical: Roman- catholic, Unitarian, Universalist— Types and Shades of Unbelief : Mormonisn^ and Spiritism CHAPTER XI. AMERICAN REVIVALS. The Need and the Prevalence of Revivals ol" Religion —The Great Awakening and Revival of 1857-58— The Public Prayer-Meetings— Reports of Meetings and Conversions from the Cities, Towns, States— The Con- nexion of the American Revivals with those of Great Britain, Ireland, and Fiji— Its Relation to the late Civil War and Emancipation of the Slaves— The Blessed Effects on the Home Churches, and the state of the Nation ...... CHAPTi:i] xu. I'ago 143-170 171- 184 THE RANDOLPH GROVE CIRCUIT. Entering th( Illinois Conference- -Randolph's Grove— M. Randolpli, one of the old Settlers— Lyttlesvillc— Conversions— Loiig and Short Point Groves : Religions Prosperity— Waupella ; Mysteriou =; AlUictions—Kunk's Grove— Senator Funk and Family -Spring's School- lumso-Lost in the woods: Conversions— Union Church —Blessed Revival— Bethel Church, Continued Revival —Blooming Grove— The First Missionary and First Converts— Twin Grove Great Revival— Leyroy Camp erecting 185-21.'] I I ON'l'KNTS. CUAPTEE XiLl. BLOOMINGTON WEST CHARGE. Trij. to Turis Conference— Method of Conducting Church Courts in America : Methodist Episcopal and rrotcstant Episcopal Churches— Cityof Bloomington : Population, Churches, &c.— The West Cliargc Methodist Churcli— Revivals : in the East Charge Church, Bethel, Decatur —General Conlercnec at Indiauopolis— First Session of the Central Illinois Conference at L'eoria—IUinois Conference at Quincy— Sickness and Recovery— Ap- pointment to Pctersburgh Station Kill. Page I'll— L'3l' CHArTLil XiV. PETERSBUROn SrATlON. i'etershurgh— President Lincoln and the Widow's Sou — The Churches: Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist— Dr. Carlwright— Conversions— A Tlirce Montlis' Trip to the Old World and back— Journey Eastward— Return Voyage- Safe Arrival— Financial Crisis and Indian Rebellion- Visit tc Scotland, Clydo. Greenock, (iUis- j:ow, Edinburgh -Third Atlantic Voya.ue— Niagara Falls— Safe Arrival in Bloouiiugtun— Reappointed to Petersburgli— Second Year's Labors— Close . . 2o3— liGl CHAPTEK XY. OLDTOWN CIRCUIT. The Grove— Oldtown Chapel— Diamond Grove— P>enja- rainvillc and the New Church-Bethel Baptist Church —Union Church and Tfeligious Declensions— The Caneridge Revival and Cumberland Presbyterians— A remarkable Dream and its I-.'ifilmcnt— The Springs School-house and Great Revival . • • 262—281 XIV. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XYI. DECATUR CIIICUIT. Danville Conference — Decatur Town— Dr. Stamper — Abraham Lincoln and his nomination to the Presidency — LongCrcek — Sul])hurSpring8 — Conversions — Mount Gilead — Brown's Church — Steven's Creek — Harris- town — Nianiic — Conversion of Mr. B. — Controversy with Canipbcllites — Camp Meeting — Tlie Close of La- bors on the Circuit — Results .... rage ;b2— 3UL' CHArTEil XVIi. CLINTON STATION. The Conference at Jacksonsville— Clinton Town, and Station — Revival and Conversions — The Civil War — Visit to the Mississippi, St. Louis and Missouri — Do- mestic Sorrow and Bereavement — Death and Funerals of Soldiers --Hcmarkuble Conversion and Recovery — The Orphan Girl, and Tck'i^raph Operator . . 303- .T>: CHAPTER XYIII. RUSIIVILLE STATION. Rushvillc Station: Churches; Members — Trip to Canada, East andWcst— Monlroul City : Churches, Institutions, Population, Denominations, Statistics— Return — Sur- prise Parties — Donations — Social Circles and Church Parlors — Travels through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, by tiic Fort Wayne and Pennsylvania Central Railroads — Philadcli)hia : General Conference — Across the AUcglianics— Pittsburgh— Uushville — The Midnight Sacrament . . . 328—307 -■■■ — ■■« T y , ^r'."'.. '/"•■J^ L "'"'"'' SVirnml f S . I "' '/.:. ^> H LM t h- H r.ifii HA » ):-n-^~ '^ii :>■ 'ftiiriiu-it^ i A^'ti'i.rA,, ..iiv'*'' . . - "".yT'"'''" A» "'« »^' A N S AS ( y "'•■''^-v, /7.vv; ',7,(r//i 1 '■•A ^ «iuii.,i((/j^ Ml Vrrunn^'^ «/( fjvK -'iv-.-y,, /r..„„„t I- ^ir/ I . .."'■'•'•'.A ■*—'"' L-. — / .»/..//,!„, •"2'iO v '■. '^"r-lly f.- , ^^''' ''"''■ I '■"" l!■■■/""•', /rt'K/ 1 /*"-"'P''';?# I." HMOMVIUI S . -v;^ 'f ii.ifitc ly^>fiii\ll, ;l, />t"i^ r s>.n..; ^^^'^vp- 7jri \ H •/ ■>'af"" 1 W ■ sL /Li , Seymurr / \ „-, [ w .„.-.J^ -^^" f .a,,^^^,,,h^ /^i....,/;;^ ,) U,JX'\. . Ur.iftnf/riA h / O/ie/tni.% >>\i .llUiliil X. T-^ry^, ,'U K ■^■'•""'4 V * /(li illillviim.t / Sf. Hv«l rt: *htnfttt\n 1 I .•/iim/liiv/Vl . \V. \ J? \ \ 'tjfvn -f'^rr ,i,„; V "■4""' '^ c ~'--~l1''^ Till "'""""n't „ ,. *'"' * Mri il»*.( villi ' V-.'- ,/, Vl ll'.M'*»/."r9p.. '* f \ , \ \. CM.- I/I..-V. )/tfOtl< ICii'ii''"" '•.r.,„.i,..u r irl{v i f:,iixt, ■^' ^. W-\y////^r —I OI'TIIK H- 1 A [, '/j 1,-'^ ll KVi'V.'A.'il*--'^' i ( .U>- \pr^) ^ ■:^ '^"^ '^ !<,lyr.Sli Well -< — lu m;;!v\\v\v ru!i nl' Kd MsnJei.noi.Lakp S-UIiitlle St. ChioajSu 7V/A- SI I OH r I IS v .V (jncHKST liorri-: ni'rnvKK.y riih: i:.Lsr x- wi:sr. ^ \V*,) winds were fierce, vessel rolling; many of the passengers were sick and confined to their rooms and berths. No sound of the church going bell was heard, no assembling of the large congregation to worship ; still a few met for the pui-pose of singing and prayer. Shoals of porpoises went past, sui'e indications of approaching storm, say If < 6 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. the sailors, we shall see. Everything looked gloomy without, antl dreary above and around. The clouds pasaed across the sky with great rapidity. The sun was veiled in mist, and covered with darkness. The sea assumed different colors, indicating an approaching change of temperature, a different latitude, or a greater depth. Often it is the faithful reflector of the sky above, as well as monitor of approaching storm. If the atmos- phere is clear and calm, the ocean is tranquil and peac ^il. Does the sun shine forth in refulgent radiance, the sea expands her broad and placid bosom, and reflects it back. If the sky is dark, grey, azure, or emerald, the sea beneath faithfully reflects those colors back. If the storms rise, and tempests sweep across the troubled sky, the sea lifts up her angry voice, as if to scowl de- fiance. Her waves leap, or rush or roll in foaming fury, tossing the largest vessels like playthings in her giant arms. Every pin or beam creaks, or cringes, as if the whole were going to a thousand pieces. STORM AT SEA. All this we soon realized on the following Tuesday and Friday, more fully than Ave had before. A heavy gale rose to a fearful storm on the last of these days. At first the vessel pitched, then rolled, and cringed, and jarred, as if every plank were loosening, and going to let us to the bottom. The winds sobbed and moaned through the shrouds, then shrieked like the cry of a lost ("omou. The sea rose in foaming surges, and the angry Wiwes beat against the sides like battering rams, or rolled iu fiuy over her bulwarks. The vessel plunged THE VOYAGE OVER. her prow into the breast of the wave ; then passing through it, rose on the foaming crest, and shook the spray from her dripping shrouds, Hke a lien shaldng the dew off his mane when rising from iiis lair. As the storm began to subside, the vessel changed from pitching to rolling; now laying her masts, and dipping her shrouds into the waves on this side, again on that; while "within the uproar and noise of broken trunks, boxes, barrels, pots and pans of the passengers dashing from side to side, created a Pandemonium. Loud above these, arose the cries of the steerage passengers, among whom we recognized Irish voices, praying, ^^Hohj Mart/, mother of God, j^ran for us now in the hour of our aeath.'* In connexion with this petition, which was often repeated, others were addressed to Michael the Archangel, to the angel Gabriel, to the apostles, and martyrs, &c. The lamps were extinguished, the darkness was gi-eat, and the terror greater. The wi'iter drew near the entrance of the steerage, and at the top of his voice shouted, "Pray to Chriwt, jirai/ to Chrht ; call on the name of the Lord Jesus. He is able to save you. He calmed the storm on the sea of Galilee ; he walked its waves, and saved Peter, and cheered the disciples. He is God, the Almighty God. He is man, and nearer to you than saint or angel. He can calm this storm, and I believe he will save and bring us all safe through." Tlie terrified cry went down, earnest prayers to Christ went up, and shortly after the storm subsided; confidence was restored, and joy and hope took the place of sadness and despair. Next day several of those people came to me, and with tears in the eyes of some, thanked me for the words of £ >1»»- If e T\VELVE YEARS FN' AirERICA. comfort and counsel I gave tliem. They remarked, that they never felt such terror before, or were so cheered by words of consolation ; that when they, began to pray to Christ, as I directed them, they immediately lost their fears, and felt convinced he would save them. As most of the Sabbaths were stormy, we had few regular Sabbath services on board. The Rev. Mr. Campbell, a lineal descendant of Boston, the author of the •' Fourfold State of Man," was returning from Scotland to Newburyport, America, where he was stationed as pastor of a congregational chm-ch, preached for us occasionally, assisted by the writer in the closing services. But frequently prayer meetings were held by some En- glish Methodists, which were well attended, and at wliich much good was done. Li these the writer also took part. In connexion with these, there was a good deal of religious conversation on experimental religion, which was edifying to many, as crowds di'ew near to listen. On Saturdays, the Jews held their Sabbath services, at which many attended through curiosity. These services led to frequent conversations between Jews and the writer on the signs of the true Messiah, and the delusive hope of another to come, while Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all the promises and the prophecies, and claimed to be the " Light of the Gentile world, and the glory of his people Israel." Controversies with Roman Catholics were also frequent, and carried on between the writer and them in a friendlv manner. Thus the in\ocation of saints and angels, the worship of images and relics ; the infallibility of the Popes and traditions of the church ; the sacrifice of the mass, and THE VOYAGE OVER. 9 the doctrine of Purgatory. Confession to a priest and absolution by him were also examined, and controverted in a kind and Christian spirit ; while repentance towards God, and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, were urged upon the hearers, and the indispensable necessity of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Clu-ist, and the regeneration of our natures by the Holy Spirit as a pre- paration for death and the heavenly world, were pre- sented as the way, the truth, and the life. But all this was almost forgotten in the exciting controversy on injidelitii, into which the writer was drawn a few days later, and in wliich he found his Eoman Catholic fellow passengers some of liis truest fiiends and firmest aids. CONTROVERSY WITH DEISTS AND ATHEISTS. Among the passengers were several Scotchmen, who learned the ^vl•iter was a minister. Although some of them were Deists and some Atheists, they generally united to have some questions on the supposed contradic- tions in the gospel narratives, and the difficulties of Christianity. One was selected as a leader for the rest to present the questions : lie was a Dcht ; another to assist when the first should become entaiigled: he was an Atheist. These discussions drew crowds of passengers around us, who listened A\itli the deepest attention, and pro- found respect. The Deistical controversialist wished to know why I believed in the supposed facts and doctrines of Christianity. I remarked that, I had examined them all, and that I was a firm believer in them ; I presumed so had the passengers around me, to which they all 10 TWEL^'E YEARS IN AMERICA. assented. Now then, as we are all satisfied with the Christian Eeligion, we want to know why you are not ? I want your reasons, sir, why you do not believe in Christianity ? He demiu'red to these questions. I appealed to the passengers, they coincided. I pressed for his reasons, he refused. In order to draw him out, I told him what I believed, and then asked \a.m. to tell us what he believed, he refused. Failing to take him with a broadside, I tried to unmask him by ques- tions in detail. I remarked, " You have invited me to controversy with you, to which I consented ; but before I engage in it with you, I must know what you believe. I have told you what I believe, and now if you refuse to toll, we must conclude you are either ashamed or afraid of your principles." •' Sir, do you believe in the existence of a God?" He said, "I do." "Do you beheve in the Bible as a divine revelation?" "I do not." <' Do you believe that Christ is God and man, and died for our sins according to the Scriptures ?" " I do not." ♦< Do you I lieve in the immortality of the soul, and the existence oi a future stat^; ?" 'ado." , "Do you believe in future punishment, and man's accountability to God ?" He said, "I do." "Friends," said I to those around, "this man is not an Atheist, for he believes in the existence of God; but he is a D'^ht, for he denies the divine authenticity of the e' THE VOYAGE OVER. 11 Scriptures, ajid the divinity and sacrifice of Christ." I asked, was not that correct — he admitted. I then pressed on his negations of Christianity, and their resiiltn. I questioned — he attempted to answer ; but faihng, became confounded before the people, who laughed at his calamity. At this time the second leader came to liis aid, and requested him to ask me a ques- tion, I objected to his interference; he continued. I appealed to the friends around ; they sustained me. Still he pressed the question with great ardour. Seeing this, I dropped the first, and took hold of the second, and said — *' Sir, you appear to be a brave man, I presume you are not ashamed to tell us what you believe." He said, ''Not at all." '* Do you believe in the existence of a God ?" He answered, ** No." *' Do you believe in the resurrection of the body, the immortahty of the soul, future pimishment, and a future state?" He answered, " I do not believe t}iem." ** Can you tell me, then, who made the heavens above us, and that sea around tins .ship, or did they make themselves, or did this ship make itself ?" '* In reference to the first" (said he) **I cannot tell; the last, I sup- pose that men made it." He rejoined, ** You say you believe in a God; pray, have you seen him." I said, *' Although I have not seen him, I believe there is a God." He laughed me to scorn. I continued, *' Sir, have you ever seen New York ? He said ''Never." "Do you believe there is such a 12 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ■ place? lie hesitated. I piv ssed the question; he said he did, for he was going there. This di-ew the laugh on him. I thought I would ajjpeal to him as a father, "ffeuppose," said I, **you have a lovely daughter, whom you love as youi-self, and she dies, you lay her cold corpse in the silent grave, tell me, do you believe you shall never see that form again — never hear that gentle voice again — never see that spuit more ?" He Eaid, '* Never." "Do you believe her spirit is for ever quenched, never to exist again ?" He said, " I do." Several of the passengers exclaimed, " How awful!" I added, '* That is a cruel creed that gathers round your dark spirit, and consigns yom' child to annihilation! He answered, " You may think so." ** Then," said I, " I suppose you Jiiuk a horse, or a monkey has as much soul as man has." He answered, *^ Full as much.'' Then, said I, I do not wish to converse with you again. At a subsequent discussion, on the following day. he again came to aid the other infidel, who was again en- tangled. The day was fine ; almost all the passengers w^ere on deck walking ; but the discussion drew them all around where we were debating, even the officers and captain drew near to listen. My Roman Catholic friends stood by me, as did the Protestants of all denominations. The Atheist, seeing his friend the Deist in straits, came again to his relief, with questions for me. I thought I would try to silence him before the people. Looking THE VOYAGE 0\'ER, 18 him in the face, and pointing my hand towards him, I said, '• Did you not say yesterday there was no God !" He felt ashamed to answer. I repeated the question. He answered, " I did." Oh ! Oh ! ejaculated several in the crowd ; others drew near to listen. — Said I, *' Did you not say that, if your child died, her spirit was for ever extinguished and anniliilated ?"— He said, " I did." The people gathered nearer; ladies stood on seats to see him. I continued, ''Did you not say that man had no soul, or that a horse or a monkey had as much soul as man had?" He was silent. I appealed to some of the bystanders who had heard him, they said, "he did." I repeated the question ; all eyes turned on him. He answered, " I did.'' *' Then," said I, *' go talk to your brethren the horses and monkeys, and do not come to reason with us." Bursts of laughter fell on the poor mtin's ears ; his cheeks blushed, his head sunk down, and he slunk away from the laughing crowd, and I got rid of my controversial friend for that time. Subse- quently, he came near losing his life, by falling out of a little boat on the day of landing. He was gi*eatly frightened ; and I advised him to repent of his infidelity, and he promised me he would try to do better. The other came to me aside, confessed that he was wretched and miserable, that the views he had entertained were not satisfactory to his mind. He was brought up a Presby- terian in Aberdeen, but had heard Barker, the infidel, and was drawn aside after him. I urged him to give his heart to God, and seek for the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ. Several other incidents of 'TT Hilt .1 U TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. pleasure and profit took place, which relieved the tedious- ness of the voyage, but are not worth introducing here. Having crossed the Newfoundland banks, we were in the gulf stream. One night, while conversing with the above deistical friend, on the foolishness of his infidelity, we saw the phosphorescent light covering the wave in the wake of the vessel. We inferred an approaching storm. Nor were we much disappointed ; the barometer suddenly fell. The captain called all hands on deck, the sails were taken in, and the light boats were examined. Scarcely was all this work completed when the storm commenced, and rose almost to a hurricane. Tliis far exceeded in severity any that we had met before, and lasted all that night, the next day, and part of the succeeding night, never shall I forget the weariness of that second night. Through mercy we were spared. Monday turned a fine day, and we made rapid sailing. Tuesday the pilot came on board, and brought us the sad news of the wreck of the ** Aictic" steamer, wliich had passed us on the second Sabbath. Never shall I forget the appearance of the vessel while she was passing us by — it was the last sight of her we saw ; for shortly after, in a fog, on the banks of Newfoundland, she was struck by a French vessel about noon, and sank in four hours after, with above three hundi'ed passengers, most of whom might have been saved, but the officers and sailors took the life-boats with them, and left the people to perish ! One poor fellow, a Scotchman, was faithful, and stood by his signal gun, firhig it off for aid, until he went down with the vessel, to rise no more. In the evening, the heights of New Jersey appeared in sight, well wooded from base THE VOYAGE OVER. 15 to summit. Tlie sun went down in a blaze of glory, and we anchored for the night beside a light ship at Sandy Hook, waiting for the morning light to sail in. The night was exceedingly fine. The moon shone brightly. I could not sleep with the joyful expectation of landing in the morning. I walked the deck, lifting my heart to God, in grateful prayer, for all his mercies. One thing I thought strange — the crowing of the distant cocks, on the Jersey shore, at two in the morning. It appeared as if the whole shore was vocal "svith the voice of crowing birds. The day dawned, the sky was clear, the morning bright and deUghtful ; the air felt different from the air we left behind us. A steam tug drew us in, and at noon we were alongside of the wharf in the city of New York. All was bustle and hurry. Passengers parted to meet no more on earth. As we stepped on shore it was just six weeks since we left the old world, and landed in the new. A friend and I drove to a private hotel in Franklin Square, and there we rested for the night, grateful for the mercies that crowned us, and brought us thus upon our way. i] I, CHAPTER II. WESTWARD TRAVEL. MANHATTAN ISLAND — NEW YORK CITY — STREETS PARKS — CHURCHES — HOTELS — POPULATION — CITY FIRES — RE- NEWED PROSPERITY — NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD — SCENERY AND TOWNS ALONG THE ROAD CHICAGO — RAPID RISE AND COMMERCIAL GROWTH — BLOOMINGTON. Manhattan Island lies at the mouth of New York har- bour, in the shape of a tongue, on which New York, the largest city of the new world, stands. On opposite shores, on either side, are Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Jersey City. The island is thirteen and a half miles long, and about two and a half broad, with an area of twenty-two square miles. It was bought of the Indians tw'O hundi'ed and fifty years ago, for about four pounds, and the first settlement made upon it was by the Dutch in 1615. It was called by them "New Amsterdam," and the surrounding country *' New Netherlands." They held it for about fifty years, when the English took possession of it, and called it New York, after the Duke of York, who was subsequently James II. Wlien the English took it from the Dutch, there was a population of 8,000 ; when the former suiTendered it to the Americans, there was only a population of 28,G14. In a century under British rule it did not in- crease 21,000. In ninety years since then, it has gone up to about 1,000,000, and with its surrounding WESTWARD TRAVEL. 17 suburbs above alhulod to, includes nt present one million and a half of souls. At the next census of 1870, it will be little less than 2,000,000. At the be^nnning of the next century it will be little less than London. In 1050 it will ])C tlie largest city in the world, according to its present rate of increase. In 1854, wlien the writer entered it, its population was about 000.000. In 18(50, twelve years later, it had nearly doubled that, being about 1,200,000. From either shore of ^lanhattan, of the Hudson on one side, and the East river on the other, the island rises to a crest in the centre, along which Broadway runs for above two miles, then bends westwards, and stretches for miles along the length of the island, The lower end of the island is covered mth compact stores and shops, for above four miles. Beyond this the mer- chants have their residences. At Houston-street, about two miles from the battery, commences a uniform plan of streets and avenues. Above this a little way, fourteen parallel avenues, each 100 feet wide, divide the island from river to river ; these are crossed at right angles by 156 streets, averaging eighty feet wide. A forest of masts, with their numerous ships line the shores, and almost hide the water from the eye. The squares and parks are neither large nor numerous, but are beauti- fully ornamented. BoivVnuj ijrten, City, and Central Parks are the most important. The latter park occupies about the centre of the island, is two and a half miles long, by half wide, and contains 843 acres. It is beautifully laid out in every variety and form of nature : trees, shrubs, 1 4fl TWELVE VE.VBS IN AMERICA. and flowers of every climate adorn it. Forests and groves, and hills, vales, streams, and lakes beautify it. In the centre of the park is a large pond, fed by tho Croton water, a beautiful lake in summer ; it is a frozen pond in winter, over which thousands skate for pleasure. Beside it there is a parade ground, of about fifty acres, for the evolutions of the military ; and botanical gardens laid out with a great variety of costly plants. Castle fittrdcn, at the southern extremity of the island, once a fortification, is now the great point of debarkation set apart for the reception of the thousands of emigrants who daily land from the old world. Here care is taken of them, and information afforded to those who are going to different points of their destination through the vast countrv. The city is well supplied with costly and numerous churches. Of these the Episcopalians own about sixty; the Methodists about sixty-four; the Baptists and Pres- byterians, including the Dutch reformed, about forty each. In all there are above 300 churches in the city, some of which are costly structures, as Trinity and St. George's Episcopal, and Trinity and St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal. The hotels are numerc^is, and some very large, as the Afton Home, Eceret, and Fifth-avenue hotel. The latter covers an acre of ground, is faced with white marble, stretches two hundred feet on Broadway, and two hun- dred and five on another street. It is six stories high, exclusive of basement. It contains 500 rooms for guests ; 125 parlours with suites of rooms. The guests can ascend in a steam-car from the first to the sixth floor, and des- WESTWARD TR.WEL. 10 cend in the same manner without going by the stairs. The building with its furniture cost .l"20(),000. Tlie Si. XichoIdH and the Mdiopnlhan are still more costly and ex- tensive Rtructures; the former covering nearly two acres of ground, and seating 1,000 guests. Tat/lnr'.s Snhntn, on r.vondway and Franklin-street, is one of the most magni- liecut restaurants ; its floor covered witli nmrl)]e tilec, its cealing hung with vast candalahra, its sides adorned with costly mirrors, and its windows hung with gorgeous tapestry, its area interspersed with sparkling fountains, and pieces of sculpture among the dining tables. Among the publishing houses and literary institutions, we noticed Appleton's, in Broadway, and Harper's, in Franklin-square. The last is the largest publishing house in the world. The enterprising publishers are tlie sons of an Irishman. Mr. James Haiiicr took the writer through parts of the vast building, and showed him some of the works they published, piled in vast quantities, waiting to be sent off to different parts of the country. The building is of iron fionv, ind rises jh-c stories, extending 120 feet in front, and to the rere 170, and covers with all its connections about half an acre. All the work of printing, engraving, and binding is done on the premises. Above 300 persons are employed daily, and 2,000,000 of books and magazines are made and sold annually. =■= Of the monthly magazine alone 110,000 copies sell monthly; and from the commencement in 1850, twenty millions and a quarter have been sold, * See Harper*s Monthly Magazine for December 1865, page 2. L^i.m < j!Sf mm mu 20 TWELVE YEAKS IN AMERICA. wliich, say the editors, would weigh 5,000 tons> hiiild a solid wall ten feet high, two feet thick, and two and a half miles long ; or a solid x^yramid 100 feet square at the base, and seventy-five feet high. The separate sheets would carpet 16,000 acres of ground, and 31,000 acres of printing, as printed on both sides. THE BIBLE HOUSE, Of the American Bible Society demands a passing notice. The society was formed in 1816, the eloquent Siimmerficld took an active part in its organization. Tlio Bible House occupies nearly an acre of ground ; its form is nearly triangular, and cost £60,000. Nearly six hundred persons are employed in the buildings. Since the formation of the society in 1816, its receipts have been above £1,000,000 sterling, and its distribu- tions of Bibles and Testaments, in foreign and domestic languages, al)ove 9,000,000 copies^ so widely have the leaves of the Tree of Life been scattered over the American continent, and in different parts of the world. A large portion of the city of New York was burned in 1835. The flames swept over, it is said, thirty acres of the most densly populated part of the city ; destroyed above 650 buildings, find property to the amount of £3,500,000. From tlie ashes of this great conflagration, the city rose phoDuix like to greater prosperity than ever before. NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD Having traversed a large portion of the city, and seen the principal buildings, I hastened to the foot of Duanc-street, crossed the river in a ferry-boat to Jersey '4 4 ■\VKSTW\RI) TRAVEL. 21 City, bought a ticket, and took my seat in the rail car- riage on the New York and Erie Eaih'oad, which otrctt'hed four hundred and sixtv miles from New York, on tlie Hudson to Dunkirk on Lake Erie. In 1832 a company was formed to build this road, but it was not completed until May, 1851 ; it cost above £'0,000,000; earned for that year above JL'1,000,000 ; expended above the half of that, or fifty-one sixteenths of the earnings. Its bonds have been well known in the market, and have gone up and down with the fluctuations of the times. At that time the company had 183 engines on the road, and employed 4,000 men, beside 682 employed in the workshops along the road. The road is laid with broad guage, the rails being six feet apart, thus affording broad cars, large scats, and more room to the pas- sengers. The American rail car, or .carriage, is entirely different from the European, except those in Switzerland. It is a long and wide saloon, with an aisle in the centre, and a row of double velvet cushioned seats on either side. The backs of the seats are easily reversed, so that a family of four persons can sit two on either seat, facing each other. Each carriage is furnished with water-closet rooms, stoves for warming, and water for drinking, and veuiilators for pure air. A train consists of tlircr, or Uii, less or more of these carriages, between which a plat- ''•'! .1 is raised fur conductor, brakesmen, or passengers to pass from one carriage to another. The best car- riage is reserved for ladies and tiieir male relatives. The last carriage becomes a sleeping one vi night, fitted up into different apartments, and separate berths with a r nHMBMn mmm |i> ' I I ihiit 22 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. servant to attend, tlie additional expense for the niglit being from two to three shilHngs. Here the sleeper may recline at full length in curtained ease, and sleep until morning, while the train travels some tv;o hun- dred miles or more. To those that travel long routes, sleeping carriages are quite a luxury. The New York and Erie Railroad has been for several years the principal road between the east and the west, over wliicli tlie merchandise of New York went to the cities and new states of the w^est; and a vast amoui?t of "western produce and stock was brought by it to the city, and was thence shipped to Europe. But lately several roads have been built to compete with it the trade and tra\el of the west ; such as the ''New York Central," ''Pennsylvania Central," the *' Hudson River Railroad," and the "Grand Trunk Railroad in Canada,'' running for a long distance by the sides of the lakes, and the Saint Lawrence. On arriving at New York we observed the earth, air, and sky looked different. The sun was more bright, the sky more clear, and the air more warm than in Ireland at the same time of year. The earth looked dry, as if there had been no rain for months ; the grass was withered, and the trees still clad with foliage, but the leaves were sere, or tinged with golden hues, as only American leaves arc tinged by an early frost. It was evening when we left the station at Jersev City, and could only observe the Jersey flats, over which we passed, and the City of Newark, with its church spires in the distance. As the road loives the Jersey flats, it '.iters some of WESTWAIJD TRAVEL. 23 tlie most picturesque scenery in York State, and tlie borders of Pennsylvania. At iS nferins, thirty-two miles west of Now York, the road enters a region of romantic scenery. It stands at the foot of a lofty hill, and opens the entrance to the Ramapo Valley, made interesting by the events of the Revolutionary War. Three miles further on, is Sloatuhunj, the scene of a cotton twine factory, which supplies New York with 5000 lbs. of twino weekly. At Turncn and Mnnroc, two important villages, forty- seven and forty-nine and a half miles from New York, are centres of dairy business and milk trade. Along the platforms are piles of milk cans, waiting for daily transportation to the city. Three miles further is O.vfonl, the centre of a rich, rolling country, celebrated for milk, cheese, and the fossil remains of the huge Mastodon. Fifty-five miles from New Y'ork is Chester, a beautiful village, with clean streets, neat dwellings, and beautiful i,'ractical and benificent purposes, in the stores, hotels, and public buildings in Fredonia. It is quite probable that ere long, 'natural gas,' as it is commonly called, will be brought into more general use." Since the above was written the author's words have been re- markably fulfilled. Hundreds of wells have been opened. Millions of barrels of petroleum have been drawn from the earth, and sold for millions of dollars. It has been brought into such ^'■ijeneml me' as to light the homes of millions. The above writer conthmes : "Be it for ever remem- bered, that in the year 1854, a traveller left the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, at the harbour of New York, and sat down in the cars of the Erie railroad. But for tlie grandeur of the scenery, tlie stern mountains, the dashing torrents, the deei) strong rivers, that kept his attention constantly occupied, we could imagine 'lim sleeping quietly, and utterly forgetful of the power that was carrying him swiftly toward the Pacific, until at Dunkirk, he saw the Avaters of Lake Erie," To the above I can subscri1)e, as I travelled over this road in the above year, and many a time since. At Duitkirk we took the train on the Lake Shore vond for Erie, Cleveland and Toledo, and skirted the Lake for fifty miles until we came to Erie, which is a beauti- ful town in Pennsylvania, on the edge of the Lake ; it is also a port of entry for the Lake vessels. It has a population of about 10,000. - ' 28 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. r\l Still continuing in our westward route we came to C/rirlaufl, one of the largest cities on the Lake Shore. On a large i)lain, 100 feet above the level of the lake, the city stands. The streets cross each other at right angles, and are from 80 to 120 feet in breadth. Many of them are shaded with beautiful trees, and adorned with splendid residences. Here several rail- roads meet, and numerous steamers call. Churches, colleges, schools, and factories make it an important place. It had, in 1860, 43,550 of a population. Pork- packing, ship-building, and the smelting of iron ore are extensively earned on. S(ni(Jit.sl,!/ ( it}/, on Sandusky Bay, lies on the road Avestward in Ohio. The bay is about twenty miles long by six wide, and is a beautiful sheet of water three miles from Lake Erie. It is an important railroad centre, and has a population of 12,000. It was night when we reached Toledo, a large town on the edge of tlie Lake. Here several canals and railroads meet. Steamboat and railroad bells kept up a constant ring- ing, and passengers hastened from one train to another to change cars for different destinations. The city had, in 18C0, a population of 13,784. At daylight we were on tlic ]Michigan Southern Eailroad to Cliicago. All the morning we skirted the shore of Lake Michigan, having left Lake Eric behind. The forenoon was very warm, although the 21 st October. Here, on our left, I first saw the Prairiin ; they stretched away in the distance as vast natural meadows, with long coarse grass some- what bronzed by late frosts. The soil, as w'e passed through railroad cuttings, looked deep, dark, and rich. ^ WESTWARD TRAVEL. 29 Some hardy autumn flowers still waved iu bloom, liavmg escaped the frost, others lay dark and withered. Away in the distance stretched groves of timber, follow- ing some meandering stream to the lake. The Prairies (if the west are worth travelling thousands of miles to see, for these are destined to be the homes of millions. The farm-houses along the way were generally in the edge of groves, built of wood, and painted white, looked exceedingly neat and beautiful. The houses in the towns along the different roads were separated from each other, and surrounded with small gardens, and the streets planted with shade trees along the side- walks, gave a kind of oriental and tropical appearance to the country. The towns thus built cover an extensive area of ground. CHICAGO. Early in the forenoon we arrived in Chicago, the garden city of the west, and commercial metropolis of Illinois. It stands at the head of Lake Michigan, ^t the mouth of the Chicago river. It was the site oi Fort Dearborn in 1831. In 1812 it was the scene of a terrible massacre by the Indians of the white inhab- itants. In 1829 it was laid out in town lots. In 1840 its population was about 4,000; ife 1850, 29,963; in 1854, when I passed through, it was 60,000; in 1860, 109,420; at present, 1867, its population is above 200,000. No city in the United States, or the world, lias risen so fast, or increased so rapidly. From the mouth of the St. Joseph Eiver in Michigan, to Mil- waukie in Wisconsin, a distance of 250 miles around 80 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. the lake shore, it is the only port of entiy. It is also the commercial ctiitre of a temtory of thousands of square miles of the ricliest farming lands in the world. Here about twelve railroads meet or terminate. Here hundreds of vessels load or unload tlieir cargoes, and several lines of steamers start, or arrive in connexion with lake navigation. Ships loaded with grain leave for the lakes, the St. Lawrence, the Atlantic Ocean, and the European markets. Her manufacturing interests are great. Iron foundries, machine sliops, mills and factories for the manufacture of flour, paper, and agri- cultural implements are numerous. It is the greatest grain mart in the world. In 1862, of wheat alone there was shipped from Chicago 22,902,705 bushels. Large grain elevators built on the bank of the river, or on the shore of the lake on one side, and on the other join the railroad depots, receive the grain from the freight cars, and at the same time pom* it into the ships on the lake. The Illinois Central Railroad grain warehouses can discharge twelve cars loaded with grain, and load two vessels at once, at the rate of 24,000 bushels per hour. In ten hours, with the pre- sent convenience, half a million of bushels can be thus handled. The city is regularly built of streets crossing each other at right angles, some of which are wide and nicely shaded. Lake-street has a magnificent row of buildings on each side, of from five to six stories ; the fronts built some of marble, many of iron, and some of brick. The residences on Lake Shore-avenue are of palatial size and grandeur, facing the beautiful expanse of the lake. WESTWARD TRAVEL. 31 The churches are numerous, and some of very fine style aiul structure. The hotels are some of the largest on the Continent. Great changes have taken place in Chicago since I first entered it. Then the streets were low and muddy, the sidewalks boarded and slippy ; now tlie streets are raised, and the sidewalks flagged. By the use of the screw whole houses and entire blocks of houses have been raised. It does not matter whether tlie buildings are brick, or wood, or stone. In the spring of 18G0, a block of thirteen houses, extending 320 feet, some four and five stories, weight 35,000 tons was lifted four feet elyht inrJu's high by 6,000 screws and 600 men in five days, without disturbing a brick, a stone, or a beam in the building, cracking the plaster, removing the furniture, or the residents within, who carried on their business all the time. The Methodist book-room and publishing house in Wasliington- street and adjacent church on Clark- street are important centres. In their neighbourhood is Crosby's Opera House, the New Merchant's Hall, and tlie Court House, all imposing buildings. Griggs and Co.'s Publishing and Book and Stationers' House in Lake-street, claims to be one of the largest book-rooms in the world, being 175 feet in depth by 50 feet in front, and filled from basement to the top stories with hovks of all classes of literature. Chicago at present is so much altered in appearance from what it was twelve years ago, that one cannot recognize some of the streets or many of the buildings. The day was intensely close, as if a thunder-storm was coming. As I could not leave by the noon train, !' k i : I ! ' ii il;,':ij{ 32 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. I was compelled to wait for the ten d clock train at night, at which time the rain began to pour. Finding that tlie Chicago and St. Louis Railroad was the most direct to Bloomington, Illinois, I paid my fare, and took my seat in the train on that road. As the most of the railroads in America are of single track, and the train from St. Louis not arriving according to time, we were com- pelled to wait the remainder of the night near Joliet, when the train arrived about dawn, and we went on our route. As the shades of night vanished, and the rains ceased, we could get a better view of the country. The Pniirie — a French word for natural meadows — was about all the eye could see. In places along the track of the railroad we saw the dark rich soil, avera^ii ^ about three feet deep. The face of the country the same aspect as we beheld the morning before m ^Michigan. But now Joliet draws near to view, and the scenery around it appears different : river and stream, hill, dale, stone and timber, make it look more like a European town. It derived its name from the celebrated Frenchman, who was one of the great discoverers of Illinois. It has a large population, and numerous and extensive buildings, a brisk trade, and the location of the state penitentiary. - . A few miles farther on we came to Pontiac, called after an Indian chief. This town is situated by the south side of a large prairie, and the noi-th of a beauti- ful grove. LcxuujtoHf a few miles further still, is a town of above 2,000 population, also north of a gi-ove, and south of a prairie. Fifteen miles farther brings us to the junction of the Illinois Central Railroad, where WKflTWARD Tn\\T.I,. 33 it crossed the Chicago and St." Louis-road. Then, no liouse stood near it, but prairie extended on every side ; now, a town and popuhition of more than a tfnniftrnid gather round the intersection of the two roads, and the whole country is fenced into farms, dotted with groves of maple and oak, planted ^vith orchards, having com- fortable farm-houses and beautiful residences. Two miles brought us further on to BloontiiKjton, the capital of Central Illinois, and one of the most beautiful towns in the United States. Although at this time it looked far from beautiful. The trees were stripped of their foliage, and the streets were filled with mud after the great rain of the preceding night, but possessing the singular property of diying up almost as fast under the warm sun of a succeeding day. • ' : While passing from the station in the omnibus through town, the writer accidentally heard of his father's recent d«ath, and burial on that day. No language can express the depth of sorrow he felt at this sad news, especially when in a few moments after, he knelt in prayer with a widowed mother and a weeping family, and called upon their ** Father in Heaven.'' Long had the earthly father wished to see his son, brt he died on the day the son landed in New York, and was buried about two hours before he arrived in Bloomington. But r'i.\* sorrow was not without hope, as his end was more than peaceful — it was triumphant. He was greatly respected by the leading citizens. His remains lie in the cemetei-y between the gi-aves of three little grandchildi-en who sleep with him, waiting the "Resun-ection unto Life." r •i 3 CHAPTER III. THE COUNTRY AND ITS RESOUECES. DISCOVERY AND SETTLEArENT PHYSICAL ASPECTS AND TERRI- TORIAL EXTENT THE CLIMATE AND ITS VARIATIONS THE GULF-CURRENT AND ITS EFFECTS THE MINERALS AND THE METALS COAL, IRON, GOLD, SILVER, PETROLEUM. DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. About twelve centuries ago, Virgillins, an Irish mis- sionary bishop in Germany, was imprisoned by the jiope, for advancing the idea that the earth was a sphere instead of a plain, and that the inha])itants of Europe Jiad their antipodes on the other side of the globe. For centuries the idea was almost forgotten with the bishop, but reappeared in the person of a young Genoese, who lived on the shores of the Medi- terranean. He rightly inferred that another country lay beyond the *'(lnrk nuhunvn sea' that rolled west of the pillars of Hercules — those gates of Africa and Europe that shut in the old world, and shut out the new. Through years of anxious waiting, and a series oi difficulties, he led the way, until his feet stood on the evev-gi'een shore of a West India Isle, when he e>- claimedvith exuberant delight, ^^(iliirin in cvrclsls Dei:" (rlori/ to (rod in ih<' hii/hcst. He called the island ''San i-4 1 THK rorXTRY AX1> ITS RESOX ! Ffl. 85 BCES. AND TERRI- TIONS THE ,LS AND THE UM. Irish mifl- iiecl by the ;arth was o Habitants of Iside of the t forgotten erson of a. If the Medi- country lay [west of tlie jid Europe t the new. la series of ,00(1 on the hen he e>- .vcrtsift T)<'l ■' iland "'^'''" Sah-nih))','" made a great disco very, found a new world, and changed the liighway of commerce from the Arabian .Desert, and the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlantic Ocean and the American continent. A shorter way to India was not discovered, but a larger and a richer continent was added by Columbus to those already known. The discovery of America, the invention of printinp:. and the great Reformation, were events tliat followed each other in rapid succession — creatinji; a new era of maritime discovery, scientific knowledge, and religious life. The night of the dark ages was far spent, and iho. da^Mi of civilization was begun; the day of freedom and of hgbt was at hand, and the shades of ignorance and of error were fading fast away. The nations that embraced tlie new light and heavenly life rose to tlie zenith, of power and position in tlie earth, while tltose that clung to their ancient errors and former darkness, sank into obscurity and wretchedness, as secondary or triljiitary powers. England, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, part of the States of Germany, Switzerland and Holland, rose in the scale of nations, while France. Spain, Portugal and Austria descended below it. Yet the new world, with its virgin soil an 1 prim.in al forests, was destined to be the city of -cfuge, the I'fnne of freedom, and the Bethel of religion, where the oppressed of all lands, the teachers of science, literature and religion, miglit find fi secure htil*itation and congenial home. The spirit of freedom and religion, too much fettered and crushed in Europe, fled to the new world to win iier greatest iri\in!phs, to phxnt sublimer principles, and u\ i Tn 'h * 06 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. build up an empire for humanity and God, where tho teachings of the Ten CommandmentH, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sermon on tlie Mount, might he more fully realized in the Fatherhoixl of God, and the Fnothcihodd of Man. " Westward moved the star of Empire." PHYSICAL ASPECTS AND TERRITORIAL EXTENT. The American Continent is emphatically a land "over- shadowing with wings,' stretching through almost all degrees of latitude, and all zones of climate, from the Arctic regions to the Antarctic circle : nearly as large as Asia, larger than Africa, and more than four times as large as Europe. It stands as a great hreakwater of divine decree and formation hetween the Atlantic and Paci.^c Oceans, as if God said to each, "Hitherto slialt thou come but no further." With Europe on the east, aucl Asia on the west, and Africa on the south-east, it may become the commercial depot and telegraphic centre of the world. Of this vast continent more than half is owned by Protestant England and Protestant America. Years ago, popes' bulls gave it to Ferdinand and Isabella of Bpain, the kings of Portugal, and the kings of France ; but Providence has decreed it otherwise, and it has passed out of their hands to those against whom the pontifical anathemas were directed. At the close of the American war of independence the territory of the United States was about 800,000 square miles ; now it is four times as large as it was tlien, l)eing 8,250,000 square miles. Then, Florida. ii'-X... THE COUXTRY AND ITS RESOURCES. 37 ^heve tlio I's Prayer, nore fully irotherhood ENT. and"0Yer- almost all ), from the as large as 111- times as sakwater of Atlantic and lerto slialt )n the east, uth-east, it telegraphic more than Protestant Ferdinand •tugal, and decreed it ids to those directed, dependence lit 800,000 ; as it was 11, Florida. Texas, New Mexico, California, and the adjacent terri- tories belonged to Spain ; and Louisiana and most of the Mississippi Valley to France. Now, the tenitory extends from Maine to Florida on the Atlantic coast, and from British Columbia to Lower California on the Pacific, having the gi'eat Lakes for tlie northern boundiiiy, and the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico for the southern. It is about as large as all Europe, and an humlrcd times larger than Ireland. "The whole area of the republic, including lakes and rivers, the commissioner sets at 3,250,000 square miles; the population in 1865 at 35,500,000. The pubhc lands comprise the vast quantity of 1,465,408,000 acres, the aggregate surveyed being 474,160,551 acres. From this immense property there were divided freely among all comers in the year ending with June last, or conferred o:i railroads, schools or colleges, the vast amount of 4,500,000 acres." ''affairs of the ixtkrior. "The report of the secretary of the Interior exhibits the condition of those branches of the public service Avliich are committed to his supervision. During the lust fiscal year, 4,629,812 acres of public land Avere dis- l(/,," and could not find its meaning in any commentator; but the earth was tapped, and oil gushed out from its dark subterranean abodes to light the houses of millions. The *'y// of the rode" of Moses and David, four thousand years ago, has become in classic English of the nineteenth century, petroleum. The coal fields of Pennsylvania and Illinois are the largest in the world ; the mines of California and Nevada the richest; the iron, lead, and copper of Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan the most abundant ; and the oil wells of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Canada, the most pro- ductive. The origin of working the coal mines in America is but of recent date, and the progress of development comparatively slow; as timber was so abmidant, coal was scarcely needed. In 1775 the first coal was mined in Pennsylvania; in 1860 there were 14,833,992 tons raised for home consumption. The coal fields of America arc computed to be thirty- six times the size of Great Britam and Ireland, and three -fourths the area of the coal pro- ducing countries of t)ie world. The annual product of the varied branches of iron man- ufactm'es in the United States yields about i' 50, 000, 000, and £1,000,000 revenue to the government. It is com- puted that there is iron enough in Missouri to furnish 1,000,000 tons annually for the next 200 years. The lead minco of Illinois, Missouri, [Michigan, and Iowa employ i I 42 TWELVK YEARS IN AMERICA. 10,000 men, and yield an aunual average of 15,000 tons, valued at £500,000. The yield of i/uld in the United States, from its first discovery to the present, has been about 11,000,000,000 dollars, or above i£2, 000, 000,000, of which Cjilifornia alone has yielded about the niiw-teutli.s. The intrinsic value of which exceeds the debt of the United States by several times. J\'tioU'i(ni is said to have been known and used by the inhabitants of Sicily, and Zante in Greece; by, the Persians, on the shores of the Caspian Sea ; by the Burmese, in Lidia ; and the colonists of Trinidad, in the West Indias. It was long known to the Indians of North America, who often reserved their "oil welln'' when selling out their lands to the United States Government. Its discovery and use in America, at the commencement of the war was providential, as it afforded light for the homes of the North when the camphene was cut off from the South ; and an immense revenue to the United States, when its finances needed such aid. " The public lauds contain large quantities of coal, destined to be of no small importance in the future settlement of the country. There is gold also in un- known quantity. ' The precious metals,' says the com- missioner, 'are deposited in three broad belts, stretching across the United States, one known as the 'Appala- chian Gold Field,' traversing the older States of the Union in a line parallel with the Atlantic coast, and ap- pearing in Virginia and North Carolina ; the otlier as the 'Rocky Mountain Gold Fields,' traversing all the more recently organized territories ; and the third as tho ' Serra N>'vada Gold Field,' extending through the country bordering on the Pacific. Iron, the most useful of all metals, is at the same time the most generally distributed through the public land, states, and terri- THE COUNTRY AND ITri RKSOURCEb. 48 tories, while there is copper iu immense quantities in the vicinity of the hikes east of the Mississippi, existing likewise in greater or lesser degree in the region ex- tending from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, while lead, tin, and zinc are fomid in several of the States and territories. The precious metals exist chieliy in Cali- fornia, in Nevada, in north-eastern and south-westeru Oregon, in Washington Territory, in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Southern Utah, New Mexico, and Ai'izona, scattered over an estimated area of 1,000,000 S({uare miles, siJid now yielding an annual product in gold and silver, according to the best attainable estimates, of over 100,000,000 dollars ; California alone having produced in the precious metals since 1818 over 1,000,000,000 dollars, while the developing mines of Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona are making a large annual addition to the American yield of gold and silver. Petroleum also exist in quantities in the public land west of the liocky Mountains. One of the most remarkal^le springs men- tioned is situated under the ocean, some three miles from the shore, opposite San Luis Obispo, and nortli of Point Conception, which, in calm weather, l^; said to cover the surface of the sea with oil for twenty miles ; and another curious featm'e is found about six miles from Los Angelos, in the plain known as T.ir Lake, from 50 to 100 feet in diameter, which is tilled with oil tar, used by the inhabitants for roofing houses and other purposes.'''" The exports of petroleum from the United States during the four years of its history are as follows : — Year. Gallon.?. 1802, 10,887.701 1803, 28,250,721 1864, 31,702,972 1865, 42,273,508.1 * From Commissi )ner Wilson's Report to Congress in 1866. t Resources and Prospects of America, also OtHcial Report. f — jm i s i i : 44 TWKLVK YEARS IN AMERICA. TliiH, however, is small, compared to the vast quantity used for home consumption. It was estimated that the entire yield of oil for the Pennsylvania district for 18G5 amounted to 4,000,000 barrels. The sudden lise of towns and cities around the oil wells in Pennsylvania is truly amazing, and the accounts of oil speculation, and the rise and fall of oil speculators form one of the most romantic histories of modern times. I ::| ' i i': n.-, t LAtf i'"" III si , 1 ■• I - ' ■ . . --■''•','. 1 ' •- /;0'f . ( , I ' i~ .1 CHAPTER IV. THE FAUNA AND THE FLORA, ZOOLOGY, AND ORNITHOLOGY. TREES VARIETY FORM SPECIES LOCATION USE — MEDICINAL PLANTS AND HERBS THE PRAIRIE FLORA INSECTS ANIMALS SNAKE CHARMING — BIRDS. THE FAUNA AND THE FLORA. The silence and solitude of American forests, the variety of the trees, and extent of the groven have been often referred to. Forests cover both sides of the Alleghany Mountains, and fill the greater portion of the Mississippi Valley, except a few prairies of the western States, and the plains oast of the Rocky Mountains. America con- tains not only the largest rivers, lakes, and mountains, but also the largest trees. "Big tree grove," in the Sierra Mountains, California, is the wonder of all travellers who have seen it. It occupies a level plateau of about 50 acres, 4,500 feet above the sea, and con- tains some ninety-four trees of the red cedar species. One that h^A fallen measured 450 feet in length, 110 in circumference, and 88 in diameter. Another stands near it, stili growing among otliers around it ; it measures 327 feel in height, and 91 in circumference. It is sup- I ;jl! i i.- 1^ 46 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. posed they are from three to five thousand years old. Pities of nearly all descriptions; and red nnd white rnhir I have seen on both sides of the lakes and St. Lawrence, in the woods of Canada, and on the hills of Missouri. Arbor vit(P, and spruces of various kinds grow luxuriantly, nnd are prized as ornamental evergreens. Oaks, black, red, and ivhite, are numerous in the western States, and lire oak on the Atlantic coast. Black walnut, (Jiu/lnns II ir/ra J -pekRii nut, and shell bark hickory fCanjn nlbn i are valuable for their mml and fndt. Maples, nhite, red, and hhtck, are numerous in the Mississippi Valley. The red and black maples grow in wet ground and along the banks of rivers. I have known some of them, in a maple grove, in Illinois, to have growai from the seed, from Mai/ to Xor ember, three feet, and three feet four inches in height. But of all these the most beautiful and useful tree is the sugar maple (Acer ftaccharinwn J growing to the height of eighty feet, and the diameter of three to four feet ; it is valued for shade and beauty, and its timber for almost every useful pun^ose, and for fuel. It is the most beautiful tree in the American forest, or around an American home. It is a beautiful sight in Illinois, Pennsylvania, York State, and Canada, to see in the spring of the year, after a night of frost, the owner of a maple orchard tap 4he trees, extract the juice in large troughs, which catch the flowing sap, which is carried by the children in pails to the large boiler on the fire in the grove, and reduced to molasses, or to sugar. An idea of the vast quantity of maple sugar made in America, may be obtained from the fact that, in the western counties THE FAUNA AND THE FLORA. 47 of Pennsylvania tim willioni* and a hftlf' i>ni(iitls are annually made. There are five species of tish, and two of elm. The latter grows very fast and larpje ; the red or slippery rhii I VhnmfuJtui y is good for tlie construction of liouses, and its hark is exceedingly useful for various diseases. Mulberry i Mnrun Ruh'ia y is a large tree in the west, and its fruit exceedingly fine. The wild cherry is good for household furniture and its J'nnt and Jxnk are used for bitters instead of ijiiininc. PdjKuv and Vemmon are esteemed by many for their fruit. Chesnut on the Atlantic coast, and hazel all over the west, are abundant. Beech, lurch, Mid limlcn, or hass wninf, are very numerous, (Cfftalpa Conlifolia / is beautiful in blossom and leaf, a'' 1 so is the locust. But perhaps the most useful of all the trees is the nsHf;e ornnije, fMnchira auremtiaca ), a small thorny tree, which grows in Arkansas and Texas, with thorns larger than the hawthorn, and a fruit or seed like an orange. It is now extensively cultivated in Illinois, for seed and fence. It stands the summer heats and winter frosts well, and may live, after repeated cuttings and prunings, for centuries. When I went to America, twelve years ago, I found a prejudice against it; but from what I knew of the tree, I advised farmers everywhere to plant it. Now the effort to obtain the yomig plants for hedge fence is remarkable. Every farmer wants to plant it. The time is not far distant when this plant will be worth miUiom to the western States alone, and supersede every- where the costly rail fence made of wood. When the vast prairies of Illinois shall be brought imder cultiva- ; I i ^ i| 48 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. tion, and farms and fields hedged witli this plant, it shall be as one vast garden. One other tree, the cral) or wild (ipple, I mention for its hloo))!, hctnittj, nnd/ratfrtDice in May, and its fruit in winter. For miles its delicious odonr scents the summer air and leafy grove. Wild piinna, grapes, and strawbciTies are numerous, and many of the grapes valuable &9 fruit. '' With all this boundless wealth of land, one economic evil begins to loom up to the future before the farmers. The trees are being used up, tlie demand is rapidly on the increase, and the supply is diminishmg ; and the settlements are approaching the treeless regions of the plains. The commissioner recommends urgent steps to check this increasing evil. Trees, it is believed, of some sort can grow anywhere in the United States where man will settle. It is urged, accordingly, on all western farmers to begin the planting of vvoods, as has already been so successfully done in Ohio ; and the Bureau recommends the amending of the Homestead Law so as to compel every settler on treeless localities to plant trees, and to require United States surveyors to plant seeds of trees in the wastes where they are sur- veying. It is also suggested that Indian agencies and military posts should be required to enclose small spaces for groves. These recommendations appear to be judi- cious and practicable.'"'' Thus, from the siiores of the Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic sea board to far beyond the Mississippi, extejided one vast series of fort'sts, excepting the intervening prairies of Illinois and Iowa, with 140 different species of trees and plants. This whole region, of once unbroken forest, may be di- * Commissioner Wilson's Report to Congress in 186fi, il ,11 THE FAUNA AND THE FLORA. •iO vided into three divisions : the//;',s/ extoridino' from CO® to 44*=*, the second from 44^ to 05'-', tbo fliird from 35'^ to 27'^, in Florida and along tlie gulf coast, wlievy the ti'opicnl takes the place of the temperate. Tliese af^ain might be subdivided \>y the Allegiiany Ridge, on either side of whicli the same trees arc not fouud, as tlie clies- nut, the liolly f IL'x npurn ) and the mountain laurel, do not grow in the western Btnfces in tlie Great Valley. .*. MEDICINAL HERBS AND PLANTS Are very numerous, and highly useful. Tlie roots of the Saasdfra^'i are dug, boikd, and made into tea, and drunk for the cleansing of tnp blood, in February and March. It makes a sweet and pleasant tea, especially for those that are used to it. The blood root, i miujuln- arlu canadensis ) is an emetic and purgative; dogwood ( Comies Florida j a substitude for Peruvivm bark ; Fevenvort, an emetic ; tulip tree, Anierican ^enna, is cathartic; Geranium. Maculatnm^ is an astringent; Lobelia iiijiata, commonly called Indian tobacco, is one of the most powerful emetics, and very exter.aively used, although a severe medicine ; Ipecacuanha, .sweet lern, as a tonic; Mil/ Apple is cathartic ; snake root, is extensively used, and so the sweet jlatnj ; pink root i Spi(jel.ia i is a good vermifuge ; wild ginger and senaca root are extensively used; bone-set l Kupatorium perfoUatnm j is a very popular, though severe medicine; blackberry i Hnbus villosusj has become one of the most powerful astringents and useful medicines in the country for bowel diseases, especially for children in the summer and autumn iut'uths. Ginseng ( Fana.v quinijucfolium j is largely us((l , 1) iMi ■li 50 TWELVE YE.IRS IN AMERICA. and much of it exported to China; !^t)'amo)ium, in the gimsin weed, is a powerful narcotic. It grows exten- sively along the sides of tlie roads, and in waste places about old buildings. All of the above, mth many others, I have seen in the woods and prairies of Illinois and the West. THE FLORA In the woods and on the prairies is very extensive. Many of the flowers, as hot-house plants of Europe, I have met in wild profusion in America. The roses are really magnificent ; hut while in general more beautiful looking, and of greater luxuriance, they have not as sweet a fragrance nor as delicate hues as in Europe, the sun being often too hot, and the climate too dry. Several flower seeds I brought to the West, grew much larger there than in Ireland. Ten years ago I introduced the Byfinnija, or resuiTection plant. It now grows to magnificent proportions, and is gi*eatly admired at tlie horticultural fairs. In the summer months a vast profusion of wild flowers adorn the prairies of Illinois and of the West. These can be easily seen from the carriage window of the train, on which you are going at the rate of thirty miles an liour, and as far as the eye can reach. But to admire the flowers, the florist must walk these natural meadows, or drive through them with horse and buggy to see them. A vivid sketcher has thus described them. !l 1 p; i: 1 kiPJ J "I stand in an open plain. I turn my face to tlic north, to the south, to the east, and to the west, and on THE FAUNA AND THE FLORA. 51 , in the 3 exten- e xjlaces • others, anil tlie xtensive. Europe, I roses are beautiful e not as Europe, e too dry. bew much iitroducecl grows to ed at the ild flowers These the train, miles an to adnnre natural ind hugsy bed them. face to the |st, and on all sides behold the blue circle of the heavens girdling me around. Nor rock, nor tree, breaks the ring of the horizon. "Wliat covers the broad expanse between ? Wood — water — grass ? No ; flowers ! As far as my eye can range, it rests only on flowers ; on beautiful flowers ! I am looking as on a tinted map, an enamelled picture, l^nlliant with every hue of the prism. Yonder is golden yellow, where the helianthus turns her dial like face to the sun ; yonder scarlet, where the malva erects its red banner. Here is a parterre of the purple monarda ; there the euporbia sheds its silver leaf; yonder the orange predominates in the showy flowers of the nxch'ina ; and beyond, the eye roams over the pink blossoms of the clcome. The breeze stirs them. Millions of corallas are waving their gaudy standards ; the tall stalks of the helianthus bend and ris'^ in long undulations, like billows on a golden sea. They are at rest again. The air is filled with odours, sweet as the perfumes of Araby or Ind. M^aiads of insects flap their gay wings ; flowers of themselves. The bee birds skeir around, glancing like stray sunbeams, or poised on whirring wings, drink fi'om the nectared cups ; and the wild bee, with laden limbs, cling among the honeyed pistil-^, or leaves, for his far hive with a song of joy. Who planted these flowers ? Who hath woven them into these pictured parterres ? — Nature. It is lier richest mantle; richer in its hues than the scarfs of cashmere. This is the * Weed-prairie.' It is misnamed— It is tlio garden of God !'' ZOOLOGY AND OnNITHOLOOY. Insect, aitiiiinl, and onutftuhjtilcKl life in America is curious and histructive. A brief passing notice will suftico here. Of insects, naturalists reckon above six thousand species in the United States, of which one third are considered voracious, the rest harmless. Before the discovery of America theii' reign of powtM* ! f] I H'l ; j^ [;, 1 i ^"iii ' 1 ^■ 1, hjiIb iji;:||i TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. during the summer months in the primeval forests ami large prairies was undisturbed. Since then myriads have perished, whole species have disappeared, and some new ones have been introduced from Europe and Asia by the importation of grain. The common house- fly is numerous from July to October in the houses, and may be of more use than harm. In the forests, swamps, and river-towns swarms of mosquitoes annoy considerably. Locusts are sometimes heard in trees with their buzzing song, but it is only occasionally they are so numerous as to do harm. Crickets, grass- hoppers and cock rati dies are numerous, and often an- noying. I'rogs are sure to introduce summer with a chorus of song, and the crickets as certain to close it with another. The former are heard in every prairie pond, the latter in every patch of weeds or shred of grass along the roads. One species sings all night in July and August : the song is pleasant though monoto- nous. This insect takes its common name from the notes of its song, which it repeats shrill, loud, and sharp, Koti/-(li(l, from night to morning. Grasshoppers are generally troublesome, sometimes especially so, as tliey devour fields of grain and grass. Last summer, tlie western ]/apers described the grasshoppers in Kansns so numerous as to cover miles of the railroad track, and in one or two instances to have lain so deep as to stop the locomotive and train. The hiaek ant will average an inch in length, and is a very strong insect, and troublesome when sugars and fruit-preserves are about the house. In Central and South America they are sometimes formidable, wlien they set out on a ZOOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 53 migratory tour of a mile iu length, and about ton feet in breadth, led by foragers and leaders who act as scouts to this army of terror. Woe to the insect or animal that crosses their path in theii* journey, whether bee or buifaloe, rattlesnake or boa-constrictor. In a moment the animal is covered with myriads of ants, and in an hour picked to the bones. When apprized of their advance, the people open their doors and windows and retreat to the woods, and let these scavengers enter in, which soon clear the premises of toads, frogs, mice, oentepedes, snakes, and every noi- some thing, and foul film of corrupt matter, and then leave for some other destination. The inmates may return, and find theii* habitations cleansed of every noxious thing. Butterflies are of every size, form, and color. Bees are one of the most important insects in the south west, and honey one of the great luxuries. In former times the early settlers obtained a great deal of honey from the wild honey bee. At present the bee culture and honey trade are very extensive. One gentleman, near where I lived last September, expected to realize £110 from his honey for that season alone. The (tiwi/ inn-in, and a variety of other insects arc terribly destructive of vegetation. Whole fields of wheat, mcadovr, maize, or oats, 1 have seen swept by them in a short time; hence, on their appearance on the blades of grass or stalks of maize, the farmers look to tlicir crops with anxiety for their safety. p^ *•! ni 1^^'ELVE YEARS IX AMERICA. AMJIALS. Tlio bl'irl; hcttr of Wiiicoiisiii and Canada, and tlic grisly l.)car of the Rocky Mountains, arc becoming more scarce, while the buffalo roams over the plains. There arc also the Rocky ^Mountain sJurj), (jofit, and el/.-y all diiferent from other species. The moose deer of the Hudson's Bay territory I have seen stand lunc feet high. The common deer were numerous in the western States, and arc still found in Illinois on the prairies in summer, and in the woods in winter. The prairie ivolf and nirooii are still numerous ; the fox and hare are scarce, but rabbits are everywhere. The brown rat has driven away the old black rat, and now occupies the place. These animals sometimes increase so fast in Illinois as to become a great nuisance : the soil is so easy to burrow in, and the corn so plenty for food, that the farmers have had to poison them in stables, houses, and fields. Whole fields of corn have been eaten up by them, by pulling up the young plant and eating the Beed at the root. In 1856 hundreds of acres of maize were thus destroyed by them in Illinois. Minks and jiolccats frequent the barns at niglit to get at the fowl. Both are valuable for their skins, but the polecat is avoided on account of its fetid odour. The dog that attacks it is seized with vomiting, and gives up the fight. The person that pursues it, if leeward of the animal, is soon made to retreat, and seized with sick- ness of the stomach, gives up the chase. A friend of mine pursued one of these animals one evening on the prairie under circumstances like the above ; the result was, he had to bury his clothes before he could ZOOLOGY AND OKNITUOLOOV. 55 lie grisly 2 scarce, arc also clilTereiit Iiidson's ;li. The I States, airies in liric iroJf bare are II rat has Lipies the lO fast in soil is SO 'oocl, that , houses, en up by ating the of maize ///(/.« and the fowl. polecat is [log that s up the rd of the with siclv- friend of ng on the tlie result he could come near society. Squirrels, hloclc and ml, are very numerous, l>oanding through the woods everywhere, climbing the trees, and sitting on a branch chatterhig and cracking nuts. They are very much adm.u-ed as delicious food by the people. I have seen finakca of nearly all kinds, from the small to the large rattlesnake of thirteen rattles, indicating as many years of age ; the inocaaain sitting on logs in the water, and the broad-headed viper crawling along the road, and the blue racer bounding through the prairie with the speed of a horse; and the hall miaJie, formidable in size, though not in poison. Returning from visiting a family on a prairie near Bloommgton, Illinois, I saw the house-dog running a circle, and barking furiously around one spot. Drawing nearer, I heard the hiss of the snake, and soon saw a large one coiled up with his head elevated, hissing and snapping at the dog, which was trying to kill it. As we drew near, the dog became more bold and the reptile more frightened, and was about to retreat, when the dog leaped in and caught it by the back of the neck, and kept biting and shaking il for some time until the snake died. We measured it : it was nearly six feet long. Dogs appear to have in- stinctive dread of snakes, and are very cautious in fighting them ; hence, whenever a dog seizes a snake, he bites and shakes the reptile to keep it from biting him. SNAKE CHARMING. Not long after, while visithig some friends near Bath, on the Illinois river, I went out one morning to pull *lt 5(1 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. wild straw iHiTiefi, which grew in abundance in a held near the liouse. While stooped I heard noise among the liazel-bnish in the front of me. I went over to sec what it was, and beheld a large rabbit with bloody ears as if fighting. While pondering what it meant, the rabbit solved my wonder by jmnping on a hu'ge snake tliat lay coiled l^etween the rabbit and me. Now, thought I, 1 will see sunkr chdvuilmj, of which I have read much in books. I fixed my eyes on the objects l)efore me with intense interest, to wait the result of this snake-charming process. I did not w'ait long until I was more confounded than enlightened, for I soon saw the rabbit was the antagonist, and the snake the defendant. With wonderful agility the rabbit leaped on the head of the snake, tried to tear him with its hinder feet, and then jump off and retreat, only again to return and repeat the same operations with intervals of moments between. Nor was the reptile idle : for, as the rabbit was again advancing to attack the snake, the latter cunningly changed his position, and advanced to meet the rabbit from under cover, and before the latter was aware, he was bit by the snake on the ear or the breast until it bled profusely. Understanding now the whole case clearlv, I called on the friends within to come out and see the snake -fight. Soon a group of the descendants of Eve gathered romid, and the snake, as if conscious of the old enmity between the (ivulna honto and his species, prepared to leave, while the rabbit became bolder by our presence, and drew nearer as we advanced, as if appealing to us with his bleeding breast and cars. The appeal was not in vain, for all oiu* I ZOOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 57 sympathies were enlisted ou its side, and I prepared to be the defender of his cause. I looked around for as long a stick as I could get, for a son of St. Patrick pre- fers fighting a snake at more than arms length, and vnih as long a pole as he can strike with. On finding a stick, and liftmg it to strike, I found his snakeship was gone. As I was advancmg on one side of a tree in piu'suit, I suddenly saw the snake coming round the other side to attack me ; the creature's eyes faii'ly flashed with rage. I di'ew back, raised the pole, and brought it down on him, almost burying liim in the soft gromid with the first stroke, another and another fol- lowed, until the reptile lay dead on the ground. We then measui'ed him; he was about six feet in length, and proportionately large. In looking round we found the rabbit's nest of young ones, with one of them dragged out by the snake, and dead: this was the cause of the combat. My serious conviction is, that one half of the stories of snake charnung are mistala's, and simply occur under similar circumstances. The above will serve as a key to solve many of them. ORNITHOLOGY. Charles Bonaparte, and Audiljon have given much attention to the ornithology of America. The latter has spent years of patient toil in studying the habits of American birds, and has profusely illustrated his subject by one of the most valuable and costly works on American ornithology. The buhl ewjle is the standard bird of America, and appears on the standard colors and the stamped coins of gold and silver, as a national 13 '■ III I fii^ 68 T\NELVK YUARH IN AMERICA. bird. One of these I have seen borne by a Wisconsin regiment through the campaigns in the late ci\'il war, in and out of battle. The American turkey, wild in its native state in the woods, is one of the finest looking birds I ever saw. It is considerably larger than the domestic, and both arc larger than the European. The latter was introduced from Mexico. I have seen this bird, in its native state in the woods, stand nearly four feet high, with a golden hue on its neck like a pea- cock. Birds of prey are numerous. There is a great variety of owls, hawks, bats, and buzzards, which live on prey, or decomposed flesh. Himdreds of the turkey buzzard (a large bird) scent carrion for miles in the dis- tance. In mid-air they hover in circling flight, and then pounce down on the carcass. Cram-fi are of lim kinds, the common, which in America is scarce, and the Sandhill crane, a very large bird, standhig above four feet high, and nearly six across the wings. Swans, black and white, are occasionally seen ; geese, brants, ducks, wigeon, tail, are all very numerous, especially the three first ; grouse, partridge, quail, and pheasants arc abundant, especially the grouse and quail ; the former is commonly called prairie chicken, and is of a lighter color and larger size than the European grouse. The male bird wears a tuft of feathers each side of his neck ; these cover a naked skin, which in the courting season becomes inflated like the ears of a rabbit, or the wings of a cupid. At that time tliey also make a peculiar noise like the beat of a drum, which may be heard for miles, on a May morning, in Illionis. It is . the love-coo of the bird. Turtle doves arc very numerous ■aiJu., ZOOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 51) .sconbin war, in lI in its looking lian the iropcan. x\e seen il nearly X a pea- j a great licli live le turkey L the dis- and then (0 kinds, and the )ovc four brants, specially leasants ail ; the is of a 1 grouse, de of his courting it, or the make a may be IS. It is .umcrous in the summer in the northern States ; in winter they emigrate to the south. They are iilmost tame, and frequent th<^ roads and woods. Quails arc caught hy thousands in the winter, during snow storms. The wild pigeon is also very numerous ; sometimes, and in some places, their flight has darkened the ir, and thousands of them have been caught and cooked for food. All kinds of domestic water fowl are hifcrior to those of Europe, while the domestic land fowl are superior in flesh and food. Aroimd a farm house, roosting on the trees, are often found from three to five hundred hens, and baskets of their eggs are gathered in the stables every spring morning. American birds, although beauti- ful in plumage, are inferior in song to the European ; yet the large robin, the oriole and the trush n. ckiug bird, cheer the spring mornings with their song ; and the irliipiH'nvcU, the summer night. A large variety of hum- ming birds are also to be seen. . 1--J. -u. .: (> CHAPTER V. THE SOUTH AND WEST, THE FUTUBE FIELD OF EMIGRATION. THE SOUTHERN STATES UNDEVELOPED — SLAVERY HINDERED — CONTRAST BETAVEEN NORTH AND SOUTH — AREA — SOIL — CLIMATE — POPULATION — RESOURCES UNIMPROVED LANDS THE AVAR OPENED THE COUNTRY TO SETTLEMENT TEXAS — NEW MEXICO ARIZONA THE WEST MISSOURI IOWA WISCONSIN MINNESOTA DACOTAH WYOMING AND MOUTANA KANSAS AND NEBRASICV COLORADA UTAH NEVADA — IDAHOE — WASHINGTON TERRITORY — OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. THE SOUTH AND SOUTH-WEST. The South and Southern States have never Leen de- veloped. The foiu' milHons of slaves that toiled in her fields only raised cotton, sugar and tobacco. The eight millions of whites did nothing. There were iio manu- factures worth naming. Almost every manufactured thing was imported: corn was brought from Illinois, wheat from Ohio, and manufactured articles came from Old or New England. The slave States of the South possessed an area nearly as large as the North, had a finer climate, richer soil, and older settlement ; yet, in the race of progress, they came far behind those of the North. I I -a*i4«.. THE SOUTH AMD WEST. 61 Lands on oitlier side of the dividinj? line, between slavery and freedom, wero greatly different in value. For instance, those north of the Potomac and Ohio ii.< the free States were thri>e the price of those south in the land of bondage. Thousands even fled from tlio thraldom of the South to the free North, while the wave of European population passed by the South and filled up the North, turnhig its waste places into fruitful fields. The white population of the South was almost stationary, while the increase belonged principally to the slaves, who were bred for the purposes of merchan- dize. From 1850 to 18C0 the gain of the population of the South was as 27*83 per cent., while that of the North during the same period was as 41*24 per cent. : nearly double. In 1790 Virginia had double the population of New \ork. In 1880 the population of New York was more than double that of Virginia, while the value of church property in New York, in 1860, was ten tipies more than that of Virginia in the same year. But this con- trast will appear more striking still, if Ave extend the comparison to slave and free States. In 1700 the area of the slave and fi'ee States were nearly etjual, so were then* populations; but in 1860 the population of the fi'ee States was more than double that of the slave States. In 1860 the value of farm land in the free and slave states was as 8 to 1; of produce, nearly 3 to 1; of copies of the press issued, as 6 to 1. Portion of the wliite population unable to read, in the North, in 1860, 8*21 ; in the South, 17-08. - < it T^VEL^'E YEARS IN AMERICA. Such a state of things could not always exist. If the disparity between South and North was so great in tlie above particulars at tlie commencement of the war, the difference was still greater in morals ; but a veil must be drawn over these for the present. The besom of destruction 'las passed over Virginia, the mother of slavery, and the States that shared with her in that sin, have suffered with her in her afflictions. It was impossible to rid the nation of this incubus, and those southern States of this moral leprosy, without the scourge of war ! It was God's amputating knife to cut out the citnoey :hat v/as destroying the life of the nation. The operation, thovigl* severe, has been effected. The wound is still bleeding, through the protracted struggle between the President and Congress, which must in- evitably result in the colored population obtaining their nijhtfi as well as freedom ; until then the land shall have no peace, for millions of her children have not their rig]its secured. When that is uone, the land shall have rest through all her borders. Then, when the soutliern people practically obey the Ten Command- ments and the teachings of the Lord's Prayer, they shall prosper. When the principles of the Sermon on the Mount are carried out toward the colored race, when the Soutli shall treat those, who were lately her slaves with legal and political right, when she shall repent of her sin, and open her heart and her country to freedom, and defend the Union man, tlien shall capital flow in, and the hardy sons of the North enter, and in connexion with their brethren of the South, develop its immense vesources, and future generations ^Wa<<3^_ THE SOUTH AXn WE8T, 63 will Mess God that the curse of slavery has been romoveil. With a finer climatf ^nd a richer soil than the North, the South will open to the rush of emigration, her natural resources shall he developed, her commercial relations shall he extended, and Piichmond and Charles- ton may yet vie with New York and Boston. Noue worked in her States but the slaves; i' .-se simply raised three articles, rugar, cotton, tobacco. If tlic slaves raised in 1800, 5,000,000 bales of cotton, in IHTO tliey may raise more than double that, when paid for tlieir labour. If the landed property and inodnrta of the South were equal to the North, the South and its products would i)C worth 5,859,246,010 dollars, equal to .€1,172,000,000 more than it is, such is the difference slavery has made between North and South." To show^ the vast capabilities and further prospects of the South, the following facln are presented. With an area of 01,852 square miles, Acren. Virginia has uu.'.uproved lands Tennessee, ,, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, » » M >« «» M M Total in the South, 19,079,215 13.873,828 12,71M,821 7,590,393 2.2()(),015 18,587,782 lI,r,91,05H 6,591,408 10,778,929 17,245,085 11.028,859 182.441,998 * Such is the estimate given by Governor Walker, himself a southern man. I ',}. ;!!: !1. ft 64 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. What a vast opening is here for future miUions to till and develop the resources of this great country. If, in connexion with the agricultural development of so vast a coimtry, there be counted commercial and manu- facturing interests, scientific and literary institutions, and the increase of churches, what a grand future is vet before the South! " With the destruction of the monoply of slave labour, free labour will hasten from all parts of the civilized world, to assist in developing various and immeasuraUe resources which have hitherto lain dormant. The eight or nine States nearest the Gulf of Mexico have a soil of exuberant fertility, a climate friendly to long life, and can sustain a denser population than is found as yet in any part of our country ; and the future influx of population to them will be mainly from the North, or from the most culti- vated nations of Europe. From the sufferings that have attended them in our late struggle, let us look away to the future, which is sure to be laden for them with greater prosperity than has ever before been known. The removal of the monopoly of slave labour is a pledge that those regions will be peopled by a Muinerous and enterprising population, which will vie with any in the Union in compactness, inventive genius, wealth and industry." — (Presidential Measayej. TEXAS. Beyond the Mississippi, and west of Louisiana, lies the extensive State of Texas, spreading along the Gulf coast, and separated from Mexico by the Rio Grwryrlo. This vast territory lovcra an area of 287,88^ -»^tiaw III TItE SOUTH AM> WEST, 65 ^ to till If, in so vast mami- tntions, Lture is I of the Bn from •eloping liitherto L'est the tility, a % denser b of our to them st culti- igs that us look den for )re been labour 'I by a will vie genius, in a, lies llu; Gulf Irarn'^o. 'maw miles, having a mild and delicious climate, remarkubly jiealthy, especially in the western parts of the State. Its seasons are marked by w^et and dry periods, the first lasting from December to March, and the second from IVfarch to Deceml)er. During the heat of summer, cooling breezes blow from the south almost without interruption. In winter, ice is seldom seen except in the northern part of the State. From the Gulf Coast there is a gi'adual rise toward the mountainous regions of the west, where the rivers rise and flow down to- ward the coast. Three regions mark the surface of this vast State. The first extends along the coast, and inwards from 50 to 100 nwles. The aspect is low and level, but free from lagoo*>' <>*• swamps. Broad woodlands fringe the rivers, between which there are extensive and rich pastures. Th<^ second region is the largest of the tJbree, extending inland from 150 to 200 miles, and is a I'ich undulating!: prairie, interspersed with beautiful graves that look like islands in the sea of prairie around. Here temperate and tropical plants may grow in luxufl'ia^nce, and vast herds of buffalo, deer and iiorses I'OBM o-ver the plains. The third region is that of the mountaiiOfOus country called the "Sierra Mad re.'' Minerals and metaAs aibound in yet 1*11 aown quantities, because not much devA'loped. The popula/tion of TexRs ui I8O0 #as G01,08t). A country /our timetif ,ii.s lar^^ as Oreat Britain, and so 1^1 in soil and >^i4vik¥k>M> ai cJioiKr? will yet sustain millions J" a ^to^lMitm ^oratXimcB two harvests may be ^Mlier*^. *s U-/^ fifM ^ veap**^ '\u May and the 60 TWELVE YEARS IN AMEUICA. RGConcl ill September. During the late civil war most of the cattle that fed the Confederate army were brouglit from the plains of Texas. When the Mississippi was opened, and Texas taken by the Union army, that source of supply was cut off, and tlie confederacy did not long survive it. Ii is great for the i)i'odnction of eattlo, corn and cotton. ■ii -1 NEW MEXICO. To the west of Texas lies Nm' Mi':vi5, to July, 1800, above 30,000,000 dollars in gold. To the west of Missouri and Iowa lie the two States of Juomis and Xl'b^•^^^sk'a, both remarkably identified with % THE SOUTH AND WEST, 69 'icli and for sale of IMis- isissippi, I climate ■odnctive tlie east State of H, with a jer, with yet open nsin, and State of [, a Fran- lie falls of pleasant of hills, ner many I, most of cks, and 000, and hich are Ihe Rocky linnifi, and Lve miles, Kble kind. 1st July, in gold. [states of fied with the political history of the country. The climate vi' Kansas is most dolij-litful : her sunnners warm, vet liealthy, and lier wuiters mild and brief. Nebraska is much colder than Kansas. Ijines of railroad are stretching through each, on their route to the Uocky ]\Iountains and Pacifii; coast. The one possesses 7<),00() square miles, and the other 80,000. Here may thou- sands of emigrants find homes for themselves and their children at very cheap rates. Cnlonidi) lies on the v;est of Kansas, and extends to the mountains, with an urea of 101,500 square miles, and a population of 00.000. Having a climate exceeding fine, and a soil richer in minerals than (/niiii. it has yielded, from the gold discovery in 1859 to 18G5, 05,000,000 dollars in gold — tlie last year yielding 18,000,(H)0 dollars of that. Between the llocky Mountahis on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west lies the I'l'ih TcrrilDnj, with an area of 100.382 square miles, the seat of Mormonism, with a population of 9B,000. The soil of this territory is irrigated by the streams that flow from the mountain snows, that melt in summer and fertilize the fields, causing them to yield largely in grass, grain and produce. Xir((>ir niilli'in ((ni' n mi II ion of men, 258,000. It was here that Abraham Lincoln arose, the emancipator of 4,000,000 slaves, and the deliverer of his country, and for which he lost his life. Here arose Grant, who led the Union army to victory and conquest. "facb: of the country. " The profile of the country, adjacent to the Illinois central railroad, does not pxcsent one uniform dead level, but a succession of gentle undulations and de- pressions which have been not inaptly compared to the swells of the ocean. The culminating »>oints, whi'.'h are in the north-western part of the State, attain an elevation of about 800 feet above the Ohio river at Cairo, and about 400 feet above the level of Lake an. The valleys arc valleys of denudation, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A ^ i-,^ :/. 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ 112 tu |2£ |25 1^ 12.2 1.4 1.6 V] /x '^^ > x*v^ c? / Photographic Sdences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. l4SaO (716) 873-4503 # n ri>^ ^\ ..' »* V"^^ c^ ^v^\ ^^^. .veic burncil Irairic- |s ever faiued and their origin is no more of a mysteiy than tliat of tlie steppes of northern Asia, tlie Pampas of Brazil, or the Lhinos of Vcneziiella. In many phice^, the soil must he enriched with different soils, or mixed with organic ma tter ; but Nature has providedf.il these in Illinois as mnnl, rhni, and Unit'. The proi)ortion of clay varies from 18 to 04 per cent. ; of sand, from 25 to 75 per f ent. ; and of lime, from 1-3 to 8*8 per cent. ; but what is most note-worthy with regard to them, is the remarkably fine state of Subdivision in the particles. The soil, when dried and crushed, crumbles hito an almost impalpable powder, and hence is in the best condition to afford nutriment to plants. '• Most soils, too, require the addition of organized matter, or manures, to preserve their fertility. In England, and in the Atlantic Stn^^es, this amnial iip- plication of manures often costs more per acre than the fee of the Illinois lands. The mechanical analysis of these soils shows that there is present from 5 to 10 percent, of organic matter, while the chemical analysis indicates from .18 to .83 per cent, of nitrogen. It would take a half century of cropping to exhaust this accumu- lation of organic matter. '' Mr. Jamks Caiiu), M. P., the Times Commissioner of Agriculture, and the highest agricultural authority in England, in the fall of 1858, passed over the lands adjacent to the Illinois central railroad, and after speaking of the hiexhaustible fertility of the soil, he proceeds to add : " 'Its chemical composition has been ascertained for mu by Professor Voelcker, consulting chemist to the lioyal Agricultural Society of ICngland, to whom I sent liMir samples of prairie soil for analysis, brought by mo IVom tlitforent and distant points of the lands belonging to the Illinois central railway company. They bear out completely the high character for fertility which IMnctice and experience had already proved thebc soils to possess. The most noticeable feature in the analysis, as it appears to me, is the very large quantity of nitro- gen which each of these soils coutain», nearly twice as 70 TWELVE VEAUS IN AMEHICA. much as the most fertile soils of Britain. In each case, t.iking the soil at an average depth of ten inches, an acre of these prairies will contain upwards of three tons of nitrogen, and as a heavy crop of wheat with its straw contains about fifty-two pounds of nitrogen, there is thus a natural store of ammonia in this soil sufticient for more than a hmidi'cd wheat crops. In Dr. Voelcker's words, 'it is the large amount of nitrogen, and the beau- tiful state of division, tliat impii.rt a peculiar character to these soils, and distinguish them so favorably.' They are soils upon which flax, I imagme, could be grown in perfection, supposing the climate to be otherwise favorable. / haw never hrffur (imili/ml snlls ivhir.'i vmi- taincd .so iiinrft nitroffcn, iittr ilo I thiti unif nmnl of' noHs riclirr in nitrmien tlitiii lltcxc.' " '• MINl'-UAL RKHOUIICES. "Althougli tlio greater portion of the country con- tiguous to the Illinois central railroad, consists of rich undulating prairie, yet at various points the streams have cut through tlie superficial deposits, and laid bare the subjacent rocks, revealing and rendering accessible those materials, so useful to our comforts and con- veniences. •' The Illinois central raikoad passes over all of those systems of vock, which are included between the Lower Silurian and the Up^jer Carboniferous. For more than two-thirds of the distance, the underlying rocks consist of shales, sandstones and limestones, belonging to the coal-measures. Whether thev constitute an unbroken assemblage of strata, dipping towards a com- mon centre, or, like the Appalachian coal-tield, are arranged in a series of corrugations, is a problem yet to be solved. **C()id. — This important combustible will be found so widely distributed througiiout the prairie region of Illinois, that the absence of densely wooded tracts will subject the settler to no serious inconvenience. The Illinois central railroad company, with an ample sup- ply of wood at their command, at a cost not c.\cceding ILLINOIS, THF. ftARDKN STATE. 77 2*50 dollars per cord, are substituting, as a matter of economy and convenience, coal-burning, in place of wood-burning, locomotives on their road, and other raiJiOad companies are following their example." There are three points from which the settlers can for all time derive their supplies of fossil fuel at a small expense. At Dufpmin, on Mie Illinois central railroad, seventy-six miles from Cairo, there is a seam of coal seven foet deep, worked by a shaft seventy feet deep. This is excellent coal, free from sulphur. At Ihinrilh', in the east part of the State, there is a seam six feet deep, worked by a drift. More than the half of this is fixed carbon. At Lasalle, about the middle of the State, there are three seams of about four feet each. At the mouth of the pit it sells for about five shillings, or one dollar per ton ; but anywhere on the railroads at about four dollars, or sixteen shillings per ton. These are the principal mines at present worked ; but the largest coal-fields in the world are in this State, which cover more than the two-thirds of it. There are few counties in which I have travelled that I have not seen it croppmg out of the sides of the hills. ♦'These deposits have been slightly explored, but there is little doubt that here is stored an inexliaustible supply of very rich ores, and under circumstances which admit of their being profitably wrought. These deposits belong to the sub-carboniferous series. ** lA!atl Ores. — Galena has long been known as the seat of the richest lead-bearing region in the United States. The Galena limestone, or lead-bearing rock, occupies a considerable area in northern llUnois and Iowa, and southern Wisconsin. Its position is between the Hudson river group and the Trenton 78 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. limestone, and the lead deposits are restricted witliin that range. The present product of the mineH is from 12,000 to 15,000 tons per annum, valued at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 dollars. PASTtJRAOE AND STOCK. There are three ^ones or belts of soil and climate different from each other in productions and aspects, as well as soil and temperature. These are northern, ecntrnl and muthern UlinoU. The ,///«/ is adapted to re(H'tnhh>n, butter and cheese; the second to Indian com and stock : and the third to timber, fruit, flowers, and wheat. (I The prairies are well fitted for stock-raising in two essential particulars ; the cheapness with which Indian corn can be grown, and the almost unlimited amount of natural pasturage. Jacob Strahn, who came to this country twenty-five years ago, a poor man, when in the full tide of enterprize, has been known to turn off 10,000 head of cattle a year. There are other graziers who range from 1,000 up to 6,000. One individual sends cattle to the eastern market to the value of 500,000 dollars per annum. Many of the Kentucky and Ohio farmers are securing stock-farms on the company's lands. One gentleman from the latter State has a tract of 22,000 acres which he is rapidly con- verting into a stock-farm, and another tract still larger, which he proposes to treat in the same way. In the vicinity of Bloomington there are two stock- growers, brothers, who came to this State more than thirty years ago." They had nothing to rely upon but their strong hands and their far-seeing sagacity. One of them now owns 7,000 acres of land, 2,700 of which is in a high state of cultivatiou ; and the yearly pro- SiQce dead, IIXINOia, THK iiARDEN STATK. 70 ducts of his farm, in cattle and hogs, often reached 50,000 dollars. •• The other brother has 27,000 acres of land, 4,000 of which are in cultivation ; and his annual sales of pork and beef reach 65,000 dollars. *' The method of feeding is this. The cattle range over the prairie in the summer and fall. As the time approaches to fit them for market, they are fed in the open field from the standing shocks of corn. Prnirie- gi-ass wliich has been mown and stacked the previous fall is thrown out to them twice during each day." Sheep-raising has become an important business since the late civil war, both for wool-growing and mutton. The flocks may range over the prairie for eight months in the year under the charge of a shepherd, but in winter they require food and shelter. Illinois has be- come the fattening park of New York and the East. Of hogs, more than a million is annually slaughtered and packed for foreign market, besides the vast quantities consumed at home, or packed for foreign consumption in other places. AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURK, IMPLEMENTS, HUSBANDRY, AND PRODUCTS. Illinois is the paradise of fanners. There is no country where the soil is so rich, or more easily worked, or more productive. As the country is flat and the soil light and loose, horse-power and machinery are ex- tensivly used, and fanning is carried forward on a very extensive scale. Seated on his ithnujh, ftlonter, cidtlvator^ reapimj or momtuj machine, the farmer, as the true lord of tlie soil, with the horses before him and the hnes in *fl' r»i>ii m i M ■9 T\\TJ,VE YEARS IX AMERICA. his Imnd, ha ploughs six, plants twelve, sows twenty, cultivates ten, reaps sixteen, or mows twelve ana* per day, anil threshes 800 bushels, the product of fifteen or twenty acres in another day. Illinois is the greatest com and wheat State in America. Li 1860, the State produced 116,174,777 bushels of Indian com, and 23,887,023 bushels of wheat. In 1862, Chicago exported 22,902,765 bushels of wheat. In 1868, Chicago and Milwaukie exported 74,710,664 bushels of grain and .flour. Illinois com meal feeds thousands of the labouring poor in Europe, the com flour is used as a luxury on the tables of the rich in the same country. Yet only one-serenth of the State is under cultivation. If it feeds two milUom and a half at home, and two nnU'ums more abroad, when the other sLv-sevenths are brought into cultivation it will be able to feed twenty- FTVE millions of pfiople! Southern Illinois has some of the largest apple and peach orchards in any country, several of them num- bering hundreds of acres each, and strawberries are cultivated on an extensive scale for the St. Louis and Chicago markets, while apples and peaches are exported to the eastern markets to a large extent. As I was leaving, a few months ago, a gentleman from Mount Pulaski, central Illinois, sent me by express to Blooming- ton a box of apples, which I brought on my way to Montreal. On opening it we found but three, which filled the small box ; one of them measured nineteen inches in circumference, and weighed two pounds, and was of excellent flavor. The apples, by request, were placed in a shop window in Montreal, and drew crowds I twenty, acn'K per ifteen or test corn he State im, and exported ;ago and rain and i of the J used as ! country, iltivation. , and Uro jentlts are d TWENTY- apple and lem num- rries are lOius and exported IAs I was |m Mount Hooming- ly way to W, which nineteen ids, and lest, were jw crowds ILUNOIS. THE OARDEM STATK. fll aroiiud to look at them. To the writer's surprise, a few days after, he read among the items of news in the Montreal WitnesH and Toronto (ilnhc, .^ description of tlie size and weight of tlie ahove apples. The first wliite men that discovered Illinois were fi'om Montreal. It is 194 years ago since }f(iriinttit' and Joliet sailed up the St. Lawrence, passed through the lakes and down the Illinois, of whicli they took possession m the name of the king of France. FACILITIES FOB EMIGRATION AND FARMING. Wliile the writer would not urge any person to emi- grate, much less those that are well enough at home, he would state a few facts for the benefit of those who have considered it their providential mission to go there. In less than ttco weeks for J620, or £7 by first ehiHs or steerage passacfe, you can land in Chicago, Illinois, from Liverpool, Cork, or LondondeiTy, by any of the numerous lines of steamers going almost daily. The Illinois central railroad company is a very honorable company, they have above one million acres of hind still for sale at from £2 to £6 per acre pmchase money. Mr. Gaird, M.P. says : " A yoimg man cannot enter an arable farm in England of 300 acres without a capital of nearly L*2000. Half that nam in IllinoiH will make him owner of the samt' extent of land, fen 'd, plouffhed, and all under wheat/' He continues : *' Having, during last autumn, had an opportmiity of making a pretty careful inspection of a part of the valley of the Upper Mississippi, probably the most fertile com region in the world, I have collected for publication, in 11 "! R2 TWELVE YEARS IX AMERICA. the form of a series of letters, the notes made by me at the time. There may be other countries whicli prcHont equally good prospects to the agricultural emigrant. I venture to speak only of that which I have seen. This Kcems to me to offer the very ticlil which we want at present — a virgin soil of easy culture, with no forests to clear, of extraordinary natural fertility, in a country traversed by a most perfect system of railways, where no settler need be more than ten miles from a station, whose shore is washed by one of those great lakes through which an outlet is found to the Atlantic, and ■which possesses in the Mississippi itself a vast artery of commerce, navigable by steamers for thousands of miles. A great part of the country is miderlaid with coal, iron, and lime, thus aflfording a present supply of such minerals, and the prospect of a gi'eat increase of value should the people ever turn their attention to manu- factures. There is a complete organization of markets throughout the country; and, setting aside the export to England, there is a very large and increasing local demand for every article of agricultural produce. The price of laboiir is economized by the most extensive and profitable use of agricultural machinery, and by the comparatively small cost of maintaining horses and working cattle. The gi'azing of cattle and sheep is very profitable, and the production of merino wool, already l«tge, admits of vast increase. ** The fee simple of this land can be purchased at from 40«. to 50.s. and OO.s. [from 8 to 14 dollars] an acre. " As a mere investment, this land would pay well to purchase and hold for a few years, and the increasing supply of gold, of which America herself yields an annual crop of ten millions sterling, will every year contribute to the higher relative value of laud here and elsewhere. But the British emigrant, when he purchases this land, secures to himself not only the profits of farming it, but has also the growing increase in the value of the land itself, a right to which he can have no share at home. The country is now brought within a TLUNOW, THE OARDFN STATE. 88 fortuight'H journey of our sliores, and is actuftUy moro accessible from Great Britain than most parts of Ire- land were fifty years ago. '* There are two branches of liifi business to wliicli I would specially ask the attention of the Jiritisii onii/jjrant to Illinois, viz., stock farming, and the cultivation of Indian corn. Full details will be found on both subjects in those letters. A good stock of cattle or shcop can be bought by a comparatively snmll outlay of capitnl ; and, so long as the open prairie is thinly settled, gra^s for half the year may be had for nothing, and hay for the other half f(U' onlv the cost of saving it. In rcgurd to Indian corn, both climate an AMERICA. Four questions gather roimd the history of the American Iiuliaus. To what race do they belong ? whence came they? how did they reach America? and at what time? These are questions more easily asked than answered. There are few races in the world about whose origin and history less is known. Some naturalists have assigned them a distinct place or type among the races of the world. Some have allied them to the Tartar tribes of north western Asia, and have inferred that they crossed the north of Europe, passed over into Green- laud, and thence to the American continent. Some have allied them to the Japanese races, and have thought they crossed by the Aleutian Isles and Behrmg Straits to the Pacific coast, and poured down south (".nd west. This accords with their own tradition, which is. TWELY YEARS IN AMERICA. i:l!i|r that tliey thus came in successive waves of cmigi'ation, following each other at dififerent times. About A.D. 648, the Toltecas descended from the region of the llocky Mountains, and settled about Mexico, and called the country Anahuac. These flourished for four centimes, and were subdued by the Chichemecas, who arrived about a.d. 1170. These again were overthi'own by the Acalliauns about 1200. About the same time the Aztecs reached the Pacific coast at California, gradually pushing theii- way south and east, founded the city and the empire of the Montezumas in Mexico. The empire of the Incas in Peru arose under similar circumstances, and spread over Soutii America. The founders of this empire, called "the childi-en of the sun," transmitted to their descendantb, the reigning Incas, a civilization and a government more like that of the Chinese empire than any other semi-civilized nation. The Spainard discovered there gold, took possession of their comitry, amiihilated their nationality, and almost exterminated their race. " • - •: '• The ruins of the palaces of the Incas in Tlascala, of the Montezumas in Mexico, and the shrines and temples of their gods in the forests of Yucatan and central America, show what that civilization was, and that it belonged more to the arts of peace than those of war. Nought but the relics of these ancient races now remain, and these are melting fast away before the onward march of civilization over the contment. Nothing can save them from entire extinction but Christianity. To save the Indian from utter ruin, Las Casas intro- duced the African, and now the latter numbers by the AMERICAN LIFE AND CHARACTER. million more tliaii the Indian on the continent and West India Islands. He has borne his bondage with a patience, and his sufferings ^^'ith an endurance that the Indian could not exhibit, because of a prouder spirit, a weaker body, and more manly soul. Nearly ten millions of the African race surround the Mexican Gulf, people the West India Isles, and much of the empire of Brazil. These, when fully free, regenerated and civilized, may make a powerful empire around the Gulf of Mexico, having Cuba and San Lomingo as their central seat of power, and from which may j^et go out the Heralds of the Cross, and pioneers of civilization to Christianize and ci\dlize the continent of Africa. Italians and Spainards were the first of European nations to discover and settle America ; their descen- dants there are now the Creoles of the surrounding coast and islands. Greedy of the gold and silver of Peru and Mexico, they established a reign of despotism, beneath which the native races have almost melted away; and their own descendants unable to develop the resoui'ces of the country, have fallen into feebleness and effeminacy. The French settled on the shores of the great lakes, and the banks of the great rivers. The gates of the St. Lawrence and ^Mississippi they once held, but the keys have passed into the hands of the Anglo-Saxon. The names of the oldest and largest cities along tho banks of this vast water shed of 4000 miles in length, still attest their French origin, as Quebec and Montreal on the St. Lawrence, Detroit on the lakes, and St. Louis aud New Oiieaus ou the ^lississippi. The French 'If iHi1 til II ; 8b TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. arc not fitted for colonization and frontier life; they are too social, cling too much together, live in the same towns, cultivate tl'A same fields, and divide the same harvests. Not so the Anglo-Saxon, //w and indepciulcnt, Hi'ljlsh and sclf-ieliani ; he cannot live where these arc cramped ; he cannot exist where these are hindered. Sacrificing home, friends and all, he goes out to a sphere where these can be develoi^ed, to a field where they can be cultivated. As from the inner life the outer body comes, so his life and character are formed by the rehgion he pro- fesses. His providential mission is to lead the van of colonization, to be the pioneer of civilization and re- ligion, to plant colonies, to organize governments, and to fomid empires, and leave his religion, his language, and his laws, as monuments of his greatness and his work. Away out on the frontier of civilization, and the confines of barbarism he is fomid, whether in tiie Ai'ctic Regions, or Antarctic Circle; on the shores of Labrador, or the coasts of New Zealand, the south of Africa, or the plains of India, he is laying the fomidation of future nations, and building up society on a soUd basis of government and law, religion and justice, the fear of God, and the rights of man. His home is his palace, liis farm is his empire, and liis family his government, where he reigns supreme. Of such families great nations are made. Yet this character was not formed in an age, but has come down from the ages that preceded this. The braver \i of the Ancient Briton — the valom* of the Roman — the symmetry of the Saxon — ^the enduiance of tho Dauc— the chivaky of the Norman — and the spiiit AMERICAN LIFE AND CHARACTEll. 89 of the Reformation, have all bleuded together, and formed a miique character that has fixed the gaze of nations, occupied the thought of statesmen, and the pen of the historian. To all of the above may be added, in the American character, the vivacity of the French, Swiiss r,nd Italian, the sombre sadness of the Spaniard, the gi'avity of the German, and plodding labour of the Dutch and Scan- dinavian races ; the practical utiUty of the Anglo, the thrift of the Scotch, the wit and impulse of the Iiish, and the fossilized stoicism of the Chinese. These all enter into the wai'p and woof that weave the web of Anglo-American life-character. . America is a vast laboratory into which is thrown much of the mind and muscle of the Old World. Soon the material becomes melted, moulded, fused, and pre- pared for speedy use in the great republic. No country produces a change so radical, so rapid, or so great upon the foreign populations that land upon its shores. Thousands of those who were the scum of the Old World have come forth regenerated and reformed in the New. If the millions lauded on the shores of America were placed on the shores of any other comitry in the Old World, they would have overthrown its institutions, or dragged down its government with themselves ; but these have all been met and moulded by the poHtical and religious institutions of America. A few simple principles, moral and political, universally prevalent, produce these changes : the sovereignty of God ; the equality of man before law, human and divine ; his freedom and accountability, with the means of self- m TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. culture, self-reliance, and self-respect, lift liim from the low plain of humanity where he stood, to the lofty height of citizenshii), where he may stand in the future. That these institutions stood against the imported infi- delity and false religions of the Old World, and the immorality and war which slavery produced in the New, only show their great moral power over the national mind and heart. From the examination of the traits of national character, I pass to notice the elements of social life and progress. These have then* shady as well as sunny sides. I aim to iireseut a true picture of things a.s theij (irv. There are three Institutions of God : the Family, the Church, and the Nation or Government. Ai'ound these, those elements gather and cluster, bearing fruit, happy and joyfu.\ with here and there some ** soiu* grapes that set the children's teeth on edge." MARRIAGE AND Dn'ORCE. , ^, The Mamat/e Titstitution is honored and respected by all, and the attendants at its altar are numerous. The people generally enter into married life early, and few remain in single blessedness, at least in the West, as the cost of living and the means of family support arc abundant. But the facility with which divorce is granted, in some States at least, threatens to unbind the sacred bonds thrown around this first and most sacred institution of God, to sap its foundations, and confoimd the paternity of some of the rising generation. Too many have been the petitions for divorce diu-ing the last few years ; too AMERICAN LIFE ANI> CHARACTER. im from tlie lofty e future, rted infi- aud the the New, national national iocial life as sunny £js (11^ the If e Family, Around ring fruit, )m* grapes ^pected by »U8. The and few West, as Ipport arc ^, in some L-ed bonds litutiou of , paternity have been lears ; too trivial have been the reasons given, and too frequent have the requests been granted. Long and loud the church should soimd the note of alarm on this subject, deeply should legislators look into its workings : for if the foundations be destroyed what will the nation do ? One law, with closer bonds and stronger sanctions, should be for the whole nation — not separate laws for each State, The French custom of hotel-life has been too prevalent in America with persons of small means and small families. Of course tliis destroys much of the sacredness and power of family ties and government, and exposes the parties to temptations that some arc not able to bear. It is a cause of thankfulness that this evil is abating, and that now married ladies gene- rally prefer to go to their own housekeeping. TEMPERANCE VenUS INTEMPERANCE. There is no comitry where the sin of intemperance is so much abhorred, and where the victims of it are more pitied, or the vendors more detested. I know of no church but two where the manufactm-er or vendor of intoxicating diinks could hold a membership, and no respectable society where h*) would be tolerated; and no minis c. ^ who, if they drank strong drmk, could enter the pulpit- or get a congregation to listen to them. What then becomes of the wholesale slander of a late An-iter from England, who represented forty thousand women in New York — many of whom moved in fashionable life — addicted to this i^in ? The writer well knew he uttered what was not t'.ue when he wi'ote it, or was misinformed. The Americau people have w i f i TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. made great sacrifices — spent millions for the promotion of the temperance cause, and there is no comitry where it has acliieved greater triumphs. Almost eveiy sabbath school of every church has its temperance society, and the cluldren are plainly taught the evils of intem- perance, and few of them ever touch strong drink. RESPECT TO THE AGED AND AFFECTION FOR THE YOUNG. On the whole, there is t >o little respect paid to the aged, too little regard Tor their sayings, and too little reverence for their persons. This is a great evil, but is giving way to a better state of things. It probably arises out of the circumstances of a new comitry, and is generally connected with it, whether it be under a monarchial or republican form of government. But no people can excel them in aft'ectionate regard for their children, or tender solicitude on their behalf. Perhaps this is often earned on to an indulgent excess, that too generally results in an early precociousness that is often unbecommg. The bud that opens before its time, the flower that blooms before its season, how^ever beautiful and precious, is in danger of bein<^ blighted by an early fi-ost, or blasted by a piercing wind. , .. . , .,., SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. No effort has been spared by parents generally to give then* children a good education, and no means have been spai'ed by the States to educate the rising gene- ration. Beside a regular tax on property for the support of schools, millions of acres havt been devoted by State !ii! AMSniCAN LIFE AK1> CHABACTER. m legislatnres for the same object. A good edncation is at a premium in the States. Hhih nvhooh and snn'morieH are numerous and well supported, and the higher branches of education successfully taught to numerous students. 3tate universities receiving State or national support or endowment are few ; but gi*eat attention is given to normal colleges for the education of teachers, and State agi'icultural schools to disseminate proper ideas about agi'iculture. In the new States large quan- tities of land are devoted to these purposes. Hanani and Yale are the largest and the oldest universities. These have received from time to time large endow- ments and donations, and have sent out through the country some of the finest and most successful Echolars, who fill with honor many of the highest offices in the gift of the nation or the church. The most numerous and successful colleges are those which are under denominational support and control. Instead, however, of building up a few large institutions in the country, around which they might gather all their strength and aid, they have too generally divided their strength by patronizing too many weaker and rival institutions, which has tended to bring the whole mto discredit and some to utter ruin. This is the rock on which many spht, but there is now a tendency to avoid it, and the evil will soon be cured; so that generally these institutions are now largely attended and successfully carried on. They also show the won- derful effort that a 3 )ung and rising nation makes for the education of its people. In the common schools portions of Scripture are It Pi ll : 11 ,< I) : m it TWEL%'E TEARS IN AMERICA. generally read, the Lord's Prayer repeated, and some liynms sung by the teachers and children. THE PRESS AND ITS AGENCIES. I regi'et that I have not at hand the means of knowing to what extent this agency is used in America. Some of the city dailies and weeklies have circulations larger than all the papers published in some of the smaller kingdoms of Europe. Many of the dailies reach a cir- culation of nearly 100,000, and some of the weeklies 200,000, while some of the monthlies have gone up ft-om 200,000 to 500,000. Works on the war literature have sold from 200,000 to 800,000 volumes. So much for the secular press. The Methodist Episcopal Church in America publishes above a million copies of periodicals every month and week. If this has been so great for one tribe of God's Israel, what must the entire circulation of the religious press in books, papers, and periodicals be ?' With a reading population of 85,000,000 the circulation of books and periodicals, the power of the press must be enormous. The Sunday-school literature, even of volumes in libraries, and singing books amoujits to millions of volumes. Yet this is notliing to what it will be in fifty or a hundred years, when thousands now shall be millions then. NAMES, SECULAR AND SACRED. The political, literary, and religious tastes of the people are often manifested by the names they give to persons, places, and tilings. There are thousands of A>rERICAM LIFE AND CHARACTER. 96 Washingtons, Jeffersons, Jacksons, Franklins, and Lin- coins, &c., applied to persons and places. By the name of a son, you can easily discern what was the political creed of the father ; by the name of a place, what were the political views of the foimdera. Denominationrd iinttu's are about as numerous as poli- tical, or rather more so. Wesleya, Cokes, Clarks, Fletchers, and Asburys may be met by the thousand, and lead you at once to tliink to what church the parents belonged. Bishops, presiding elders, and popular preachers have the honor of having their names repeated as household words in numerous families. Wlienever we heard a Luther, a Calvin, a Knox, a Kidley or a Latimer, a Carey or a Hall, we always knew to what church the parents of these belonged. But the sacred is as remarkable as the secular. Passing through New England you would find Old England represented in the names of almost every town and village, field and farm. But going westward you find the names change, and for a moment you are ready to tliink that the promised land is on either shores of the Oliio and Mississippi. For here is Goshen, there is Shechem, and yonder is Egypt; wliile far out on the j>rairie is Mamre, and beyond is Shaaron, here are the vineyards of Engidi, and yonder lies the valley of Eshcol. Hermon, and Lebanon are applied to many a liill, while in the north lies Dan, and to the south Beersheba. Jerusalem and Jericho, Salem and Hebron, are well represented by many a to^vn and village. The Jordan is applied to this stream, and the Nile to that river. On one small circuit on which the writer do T^^TELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. |i' thivellecl, were Gilead Zion, Garmel, and Pi8ga]i. On Sunday morning he preached at Mount Gilead, in the evening at Mount Zion ; the next Sabbath at Mount Carmel in the morning, and Mount Pisgah in the evening. Names, commemorative of the great discoverers, ex- plorers and navigators, are numerous, such as the Hudson Bay, and the Hudson Kiver, and Davis' Straits, Columbus and Columbia, De Sota, Marquette and Joliet. Other places, as if considered deficient in the gi'ace of Christian holiness, have the want supplied by the application of nearly all the names of the saints in the Bomish calendar. Hence, San Juan, San Jose, San Jacinto, and San Maria, are names numerous, wherever Spanish and Mexican rule bora sway, especially on the Pacific coast and the south-westf rn States. The Greek Polls is attached to many a tow.i whose foimdere wished to make them cities ; hence, we have Tmllana- polln, Illlopolls, n,ndMhni(ii>olls, cities of Indiana, IlUnois, and Minnesota. The heathen gods and goddesses are commemorated, for although there be no Jupiters nor Junos, there ai*e ApoUos and Belvideres, Miner\'a8 and Astartes. And the god of war is still enthroned on some Mar's hill, and the Druids and nymphs have still their sequestered groves, sylvan scenes, in Pennsylvania and Transylvania. Geographical names of ancient Greece and Home are numerous ; there are Bellfontains and Castillian springs, Paiiiassis hills, and Mounts Ida, the passes of Thermopolie, and the pillars of Hercules. Almost every State has its Athens and Corinth — its m AMERICAN I-FFl': AND CHARACTER. 97 Borne and Naples, its Carthage and SjTacuse, and lately, some have Pompeii and Herciilaneum. The Greek philosophers and Eoman sages are not forgotten. Socrates and Pk to are still remembered, so are the twelve Cassars, and Cato and Cicero. It is said that the late Bishop Chase was asked to baptize the child of a well-known lawyer. When he came to that part of the ceremony where he asked the father to name the child, the father answered in so- norous sounds and solemn words, " Marcus Tullius Cicero." The bishop, presuming on the kindness of the father, and his own better judgment, said, " Tut I none of your heathen nonsense. ' Peter, I baptize thee, &c. :' " and the cliild received and retained the apostolic name of Peter, instead of the classic name of Cicero. No country can excel America for the universal respect paid to the female sex, and no man can excel the Yankee for marked attention to woman. There are four leading motives that move him to thrift, ingenuity and speculation — to get the means of living, to educate his children, to make his wife happy, and his home comfortable. For these objects he will toil or travel, invent or speculate, and in some way find the means of doing the above where others might fail. In the family, the social circle, the scene of public worshii) or of resoi-t, on the city side-walk, the street rail-car, or railroad-caiTiage, she meets with deference and respect. The choicest place or the best seat is freely tendered as her rujht. Wlierever the mfluence of Christianity is most felt and its power most realized, there woman is I I' I ,i! Oft TWKr.VK YKARR IK AMERICA. inoKt elevated, and her true primflpval dii^nity i( ^stori'd and sustained. And in proportion as woman is elevated in society, so much tlie more will she lift up the family — society — the nation. Standing as the guardian pngel of the fountain of life, having first access to the infant mind, and first control over the youthful heart, her mission is to guide that mind, direct that heart, and gently lead that will to holy and useful puri)ose8 — to active and earnest duties in the service of its country and its God. , The character and administration of law in America must necessarily affect the character and condition of the people. English law lies at the base of American law, English judges are quoted as authorities in her courts, and English practice as illustrations in her pleadings. The low making power, whether local or general, lies with the State legislatures and United States' Congress. The intei*pretei*s of the law are the judges of the supreme courts. The execution or admi- nistration of the law lies with the President and State and United States' officers of every grade and form. The local administration of the law is often very lax, because the officers are elected by the people 'nstead of being appointed by the government. Yet it might be argued that the people vho sit in judgment on criminal cases of life or death » ght also to be the best judges of the way their local fficers execute the law among them. And if they eh t the higher administrator to office, why not the sub«.xdinate or lower ? Before the rebellion broke out the administration of criminal law was fearfully defective. However clear the AMKBirAX I.IFK WP rHVRArTFn, on evidence of the trausgi'essoi'K guilt, or unimpeachahlc the testimony apainst liim, yet it was lianl to find him guilty through the subterfuge of lawyers or laxity of jurors. Since the above time, liowever, a change for the better in this respect has takon place. The teiliniis and fxpnisiiw litigation about the rights of property in courts of justice, so common in Great Britain, is scarcely known in America. In the former place thousands of the poor and many orphan heirs have had to sacrifice their little property and just claims, because of the enormous expense attending the ad- justment of the same, in favor peihaps of their more wealthy competitors. It is not so in America. The poverty of the aggrieved, or the orphanage of the heirs awakens a deeper sym- pathy, secures speedier decisions, and the expenses on the whole are scarcely a tnitli of what thev are in older countries and under other governments. The expense of the local execution of the law is comparatively small, as the officers and crime cases are few. while every citizen is supposed to assist the law-oflicer if called on and found necessary to help. The people are taught from their childhood to honor and obey the law, consequently it is not easy for the guilty to escape detection, as all feel interested in the support of that institution that throws its safeguards and bulwarks around them and their families. Nine-tenths of the riots and lawlessness of city mobs are connected with the foreign populations, and especially the turbulent sons of the Emerald Isle, who are hard to govern whether at home or abroad. I have heard many during the late war express their ^^^H ' 1 t ;^H i I'll '^^n ' *i li: 100 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. fears for the security of life and the welfare of society, when so vast an army should be disbanded and return to their former life in the country ; but to the astonish- ment of all, life has been perhaps more seciu'e, society preserved, churches sustained, law better executed and obeyed. By the force of law, by the ties of home, by the preaching of the Gospel, and the holy influence of American wives and mothers, two milUom and a half of soldiers have been transformed into quiet and peaceable citizens following the industrial pursuits of life. The social 1 3 and happiness of the American people is unparalleled. After a close scrutiny of individual, domestic, social, and jmblic life, after travelling through different States, and mixing with almost all classes of people, I am prepared to say there is no country whose resources are so vast — no people whose privileges are so great— no nation whose liberties are more secured. A country where there is, or need be, no poor ; where food, fruit, and fuel are abundant ; where the means of living, and the cost of life are so easily obtained ; where millions live in tlieii* own homestead with no landlord above them but the Lord of Heaven ; where the pride of caste is tlurown down, and the middle walls of hereditary partition are levelled to the ground ; where the highway to fortune, wealth, and office, in the gift of the nation, is open to all ; where the farmer, artisan, mechanic, the judge, juror, and millionaire stand before the law of God and man on an equality. A country where the feudal and artificial distinctions of society have been swept away, and in their stead a new order of society has risen up in the Providence of God, based on the AMERICAN LIFE AND CHARACTER. 101 Mosaic and Cliristian Institutions, as tanght in the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sermon on the Mount. How appropriate the hmguage of Moses to the IsraeHtes, " The Eternal God is thy refuge, and under- neath are the everlasting arms." , ,, , " Hapi^y art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency 1 and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee ; and thou shalt tread upon their high places." — Deut. xxxiii. 27, 29. " ' England, this country was once thine own, these childi'en were thine, thy blood flows in their veins, thy language is on their lips, thy laws guard their feet, thy rehgion lives in their hearts. Their history and their triumphs ought to reflect lustre upon thee, and thine upon them. And thou Columbia, eldest daughter of Albion, with whom thou art one in race ; one in blood, language, laws, and religion, be thou more united still in the bonds of amity and friendship, until Britain and America, in theii' march of triumph through the world, carry the tidings of Salvation, the star of hope, and the law of freedom to all nations ; until every sword is beat into a ploughshare, and every spear into a pru!iing hook, and the nations shall learn war no more. The following beautiful thoughts and touching appeal to America from one of England's most gifted sons, may close this chapter. "Our conquering hour was yours. You, too, were then English citizens. You welcomecl the urms of 102 TWKLVE YEARS IX AMERICA. Cromwell to Jamaica. Your hearts thrilled at the tidings of Blenheim and Ramillies, and exulted in the thunders of Chatham. You shared the laurels and the conquests of Wolfe. For you and with you we over- threw France and bpain upon this continent, and mr.de A.merica the land of the Anglo-Saxon race. A Scan- dinavian hero, as the Norse legend tells, waged a terri- l)le combat through a whole night with the dead body of his brother-in-arms, animated by a demon ; but witli the morning the demon fled. Do what we will now, we shall not cancel the tie of blood, nor prevent it from hereafter asserting its undying power. The Englishmen of this day will not prevent those who come after them from being proud of England's grandest achievement, the sum of all her noblest victories, the foundation of this the great Commonwealth of the New World. And you will not prevent the hearts of your children's children from turning to the birtliplace of their nation, the land of their history and of their early greatness, the land which holds the august monuments of your ancient race, the works of your illustrious fathers, and their graves.'"'' * Professor Goldwin Smith, in the Atlantic Monthly, u . -t^ .•• ■^..■4tr'- ■^■< CHAPTER YIII. THE LATE WAII AND ITS LESSONS. SLAVERY, THE UPAS TREE OF THE SOUTH THE SLAVE-SHIP AND MAY-FLOWER — THE CHEROKEE INDIANS AND BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA THE SLAVE AND PRISON PENS OF THE SOUTH — THE FUOITIVE SLAVE LAW AND ITS VICTIMS MARGARET GARDENER SLAVERY AND THE SINS OF THE NATION ORIGIN, PROGRESS, CLOSE, AND RESULTS OF THE CONFLICT. The description given in the lust cliapter of the Ameri- can people was intended to apply principally to the people of the Northern States as we found them. A very ditTerent state of society existed in the South. There was poison in the fountain, rottenness at the root, a cancer at the heart, and a worm in the bud of the nation's life that threatened to destroy its national existence. A worse than fabled Cpas arose, that over- sluidowed all the land with its baneful influence. It was slavery! The stars that rose above this **////<'>• lire'' were destined to fall, the sun that shone upon it was doomed to be obscured, and the moon to set in blood, while a long night of sorrow with worse than Egyptian darkness was to settle upon the nation, dmiii;< which the Lord was to bring forth /our >nillii)iis of liis ransomed ones from worse thau Eg}i>tiau bondage. lUl TWELVE YEAES IN AMERICA. THE SLAVE-SHIP AND MAY-FLOWER. About two hundred and fifty years ago, there was seen a Dutch slave-ship sailing along the west coast of Africa. Soon villages were seen on fire, and natives fleeing from the face of the man -stealer who had landed on their shores. Many of the young were caught, and dragged amid the shrieks of anguished parents and broken families to the slave-ship, and chained in the hold of the vessel. Strange and discordant sounds arose. There were the curses of the officers, the shouts of the crew, the threats of the slave-catcher, the moan- ing of the sea, the sobbing of the winds, and the cries of the natives on shore ; when there arose, above all, the wail of sorrow from the captives m the hold to the ears of Him who hears the faintest sigh of a broken heart. Jhtt the time of deliverance was not yet, and the year of Hi a redeemed had not come. With anchor weighed and sails unfurled, the slave-ship i)ut to sea, and sailed toward the New World, to plant slavery m the British colonies, and blast the produce and resources of her virgin soil, and spread a moral leprosy over the country. Was there no way by wlrch this might be prevented, or the leprosy removed ? As Dutchmen carried the plague from Africa to America, Dutchmen were to assist in its destruction : as Old England allowed its introduction to her colonies, the sons of New England were to utterly destroy it. ... Wliile the above was taking place, there might have been seen a few congregations ..nd families of the per- secuted "Pilgrim Fathers" assemble in a few places in England to worship in private, for they dare not do it THE LATE WAR AND ITS LESSONS. 105 in public. Some of them came to the painful resolve of leaving for ever the land of their forefathers, and go to the New World, where they might found a cluu'ch for their God and an empii*e for theii* childi'en. Some remained as salt to preserve Old England from cor- ruption, and some went to save New England from slavery. That \vas a touching scene, where the elders and their ' families fell on Paul's neck and kissed him at Miletus, on the shores of the Mediter- ranean, sorrowing most of all for the words that he spake, that they ''should see his face no more.'"'' This was also a weeping occasion, as the ** Pilgrim Fathers" and their Httle families parted on the shores of Old England, and stepped on board the '^May-JJoiirr'* to plant the Tree of Life in the virgin soil and verdant forests of New England. Soon both ships were seen sailing on the same sea, at the same time, and to the same continent. At length, both take divergent courses along the coast — one sails to Virginia in the South, and one to Massachusetts in the North : that, to plant slavery ; and this, freedom. On the 22nd of December, 1620, the slave-sliip landed at Jamesto\^^l, Virginia, and sold twenty slaves. On the same day, and at the same hour, the May-jiower lauded the " Pilgrim Fathers" on Plymouth Eock, who consecrated the continent to freedom and to God. The one ship brought the wliip, the chain, and bondage; the other the charter, the Bible, and the spirit of liberty. Yet from both came the principles and powers, the * Acts XX. 106 TWELVE YEARS IX AMERICA. olcmoiits and agencies!' that shook the nation, convulsed the contment, and led the nations to express their sympathy on the one side or the other, as they were free or hound themselves. The monster was slain, and J'our millions of bond-slaves were rescued from his grasp ; and the nation passed through a second re- generation to purge it from the evils of the past, and set it forth on a new mission of freedom and justice ! i. m < THE CHEROKEE INDIANS AND BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. On the confineb of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee lay a large and beautiful tract of country, 12,000 square miles and 8,000,000 acres, two-thii-ds oi which lay within the State of Georgia, and up and dow^u the Cliickamauga creek, where it empties into the Tennessee river at Chattanooga. This belonged to the Cherokee tribe of Indians, among whom the American Board of Missions had established several missions, and were fast Christianizing and civilizing the people. Mission churches and schools were built, and mis- sionaries preached, and hundi'eds of converts were gathered, and the wliole tribe was settled down under the process of civilization, when the Georgia people coveted their lands, divided their territory into farms among themselves, broke up the mission and impri- soned the missionaries, and appealed to the United States' government to assist them in the work of spoliation. Although the government had bomid itself by treaty stipulations with the Indians to secure to them their comitry, Jackson, who was then president, broke the covenant, and scut the late General Scott thj: latj: \rxR and its lessjons. 107 with the Uuited States' troops to drive the Indians from tlieir homestead, and place them beyond the Mississippi in a far distant comitry. His only excuse was — either the Indians must obey the laws of Georgia, or leave, although their stipulations guaranteed to them then* homes under the administration of their own laws. Om'-fourth of the tribe perished on its way to the new settlements. A few years passed away, and on the same territory hostile armies met, and C/iivht- iiiainid, Clidttanootja, ixuA *' 3/m/o// liuhje" became the scene and centre of bloody battles. The fields were stained mth the blood of white men. Thousands of the sons of Georgia fell in battle ! In 1838, the United States' troops and Georgia militia burned up the dwellings, and drove 1 1 ,000 Indians from theii' homes, and took pos- session of the land. Twenty-five j-ears after, Sherman drove the Georgians from the same places and destroyed many of their homes, and above 21,000 Union and rebel soldiers fell dead and dying on the battle-field of Chickamauga on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863. j,^ THE SLAVE AND PRISON PENS OF THE SOUTH. A few years ago a minister from Europe was on a visit to America. While passing through a city of a slave State on the border of freedom, he visited the general assemblv of a church then in session in the city, and was surprised to hear the cause of slavery advocated as a Divine institution by some of the leading ministers. In disgust he rose and left the chm'cli, and wandered along a street, until he came to where a large and gloomy building stood; with a crowd he passed m i I! ! iji '( II I : .■[ f:H 108 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. into a yard, and saw an auctioneer sell slaves to piir- cliasers. One stood on the block before him in sullen sadness and mute grief; others stood behind, weeping in an agony of distress. Some were torn from their families, husbands from their wives, and parents from their children. These were sold and gomg south, to the rice, sugar, and cotton x)lantations of Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The stranger retiied with sad feelings for the slave, and more sad for the nation guilty of such deeds of horror and inhumanity. He asked in the words of the Lord, through the prophet, *' Shall I not risit for these thint/s, naith the T^nrd!'' The stranger asked the name of the building, he was told it was a ** Slave iV»," where they sold slaves. Had he visited the South a few years later, he would have seen Libby prison (where thousands of free white men were imprisoned) look as bad as the ** Slave Pen,'' and the prisoners as wretched as the slaves ! Had he gone to Bellisle and to Andersonville, he would have found thirty-seven thousand nhlte men in prison there, of whom 13,000 died of starvation. Had he asked, by what name the prisons of the South were called, he would have received for an answer, ** Prison Pens.'' Were he to ask the cause of all this, the answer would come from the cries of the prisoners in the Prison Pens, the groans of the dying, and winds that blew over the battle fields of the South, saying — " Slavery ! " THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW AND ITS VICTIMS. Perhaps it was natural for Virginia, the mother of slavery, tlnough one of her leading sons, to originate THE LATE WAR AND 'TS LESSONS. 109 and bring through congress a law, by which the men of the North were compelled to aid and assist in the catching and returning of the fugitive slave back to his master and to bondage. However contrary to the word of God, and revolting to the nature of man, the bill became law on the 10th October, 1850, and then began the era of slave-hunting and catching in the northern States. Scarcely had the poor slave fled from his master through the night, with perhaps a bleeding back, when the bay of the blood-hound was heard on the fugitive's track early next morning. Or if he chanced to he in the swamp through the day, and escape through the woods at night, following the polar star to the land of freedom in the North, the United States' marshal was on his track ; and, if discovered, men in the free States were bound to assist in restoring the slave to his master. The history of slave-catching under the fugi- tive slave law was a mournful prelude to the ^^Rise and fall of the great Rebel lioji ;'' and the introduction to the em of hunting white captive prisoners in their escape to the North, from the Prison Pens of the South. Under the operation of this law some of the most aflfecting incidents occurred, and some amusing. In southern Illinois, a man was arrested as a slave, and brought to St. Louis to be sold, or returned to bondage ; when some of his friends found him in this state they interfered, and testified that the man was white and not Mulatto ; an American, and not an African ; as free, and not bound. He was liberated. The writer well remembers the excitement that arose on the following occurrence in the winter of 1866, f''i' 110 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. MARGARET GARDENER. On Sunday evening, January 27, 1856, two slaves Mith their wives and four children escaped from Boone county, Kentucky, drove sixteen miles to Covington, and crossed to Cincinnatti on the ice. They were missed before nightfall, and the master of five of them followed rapidly on horse back. After a few hours enquiry, he traced them to the house of a negro named Kite, and procuring the necessary warrants, with a marshal and assistance, proceeded thither on Monday. He summoned them to surrender. They refused; whereupon the officers broke in the door, and were assailed with clubs and pistols by the desperate fugitives. On the first survey of the premises they had captured, a horrible sight met the officer's eyes. In one comer of the room a child, nearly white, lay bleeding to death, her throat cut from ear to ear. A scream from an adjoining room drew their attention thither, when a glance revealed a negro woman holding a knife, dripping with blood, over the heads of two children, who were crouched upon the floor, uttering cries of pain and terror. Wresting the knife from her hand, they discovered that the children were cut across the head and shoulders, but, though bleeding freely, not dangerously wounded. The woman proclaimed herself the mother of the dead child, as also of these whom she desired also to kill, rather than see them return to slavery ! An inquest was held on the body of the dead child, over which the mother uttered cries of mourning, lamentation, and woe. The bodv of the child was THK LATE WAR AND ITS LESSONS. Ill buried, and tlie slaves were dragged back to bondage again ! Wliat became of them since, we have never heard. The woman's name was '' Manjaret Gardener.''' The author of the fugitive slave law, Senator Muson, is still a fugitive fr6m his country ! SLAVERY AND THE SINS OP THE NATION. Society in the South became corrupt, vice stalked abroad as in the days of Noah. The land was fast becoming a Sodom — Mulattos swarmed like locusts ; pride, luxury, and idleness were general; almost all the commands of the Decalogue were trampled under foot; freedom fled; tyranny and lust reigned; no man dared to speak his mind; there was no redress for the victims of tyranny and cruelty. The law was in the hands of the slave-holder ; he administered it to his own necessities, and suited its execution to his own caprices. The poor whites, who were not able to have slaves, were little above them in degradation and thraldom. The local legislatures were all in the hands of the slave master, as well as the land and capital. Soon the government of the United States was in his grasp too, and for nearly sixty years he held it. Patronage and power were prostituted to further the mterests of slavery. The foimtains of national life and prosperity were poisoned, and soon the morals and corruption of the South began to work I'L^ leaven in the North, especially in the large cities connected with southern trade. The ruffianism of Charleston was trans- ferred to Washington the capital, and the custom of the southern legislature was transferred to the national 112 TWELVE YEAB8 IN AMERICA. congress. Northern senators were smitten down by southern men, in the national capital, for uttering words of freedom. The press was also in danger. From the national congi'ess the corruption spread to the State legislatures in the North. A large political party in the North, calling itself the ** dnnocracij,'' was taken into southern pay, and voted for the South and slavery. Society caught the contagion ; profanity and licentiousness began to abound ; life a^d property were becoming less secure ; steam-boat and railway disasters were common ; the love of many waxed cold, and the love of money grew strong. Murder, arson, and crime passed through the land like giants of evil, or ante- diluvian monsters. It was hard to find a murderer guilty. In some places it was hard to find witnesses to testify, lawyers to plead, jurors to convict, or a judge to condemn ; and murderers were let loose in society, until summary justice overtook them by Lynch law, or divine judgment. From the cotton and sugar plantations of the South ; from the rice fields of Georgia and South Carolina ; from the slave pens of Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky ; from the tobacco fields of the border States, and corn fields of Texas, TeinL-ossee, and Ala- bama; from the plantations of Louis' ana and Missis- sippi ; from the murdered victims aitd crushed hearts of four millions in chains, there went up a cry of blood ! — blood ! Many a faithful Abraham prayed for this southern Sodom ; but like the first, there were not righteous men enough to sa^e it. God had tried every moral means upon it. Anti-slavenj societies were formed, but like another Pharaoh the slave owner replied to THK LATE WAR AND ITS LES80NS. llfl tlieir appeals by increasing the bondage of the sbive. ColoHixiition societies were formed to purchase the free- dom of tlie bond, and send tliem back to Africa to Christiani/c it; l)ut to this the shive owner answered l)y importing more slaves from Africa. The servants of God were sent with the Gospel of Christ, but sonic of them they banished, and some they hung and put to death ; some they silenced, and some they converted into slave propagandists, who preached the Divine insti- tution of slavery. If the Son of God himself had gone down to his southern vineyard, and preached among them his Sermon on the Mount, or his Sermon at Nazareth, they would have " crucified Him afresh, and put Him to open shame." It was impossible for society to continue much longer in the state it was in. There was but one remedy to heal the evils, and root out the leprosy, and save the nation. — It w^as war ! A fearful remedy — yet this only could extirpate slavery, root and branch, lift the fallen up, set the bond free, change the social aspects of society which slavery created, and regenerate the nation, and put it on a new basis of law, order, government, and freedom. This only could restore to the South the factory and capital, the churcli, the school, and the college, light, life, liberty, and Salvation. -••• • ' ■ ' *^ But how was this to be accomplished? The slave owner was not content with slavery where it was — he wished to bring it into the new temtories where it was not. He threatend to force it into the free States of the North from which it was driven. The government was ill his hands, the supreme court was at his back, when ;! t 1 ' 1 ''' ■i i 1 1 IH8K 1 i^^^H l||:l ' iii ''^ 1:1 : 1 '^ |l! 1 '' 11 L:' n 1 1 ''ii Hlffl Mm Mm \ lllL 114 TWEL^'E YEARS IN AMERICA. he attemptefl to force it into the new territories. Less tlmu the right to canry his slaves where lie pleased he would not have. Not getting that, he would hreak up the government. , * • » ■ RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. In the month of May, 185C, a few men met in the town of Bloomiugton, State of Illinois, while the writer was there as stationed minister in the second Methodist Church. They drew up resolutions, and formed a phm to resist the further encroachments of slavery. The party was denominated Republican, and soon rose to power in the country, and like the stone cut out with- out hands, smote the democracy at the hallot-box, and scattered its remains to the winds of heaven. The State that gave the party to the counti^ to save it, also gave the president to emancipate 4,000,000 of slaves, and the general to execute the orders and over- throw the rebellion. The republican pai*ty — President Lincoln, and General Grant — arose in Illinois, and from thence went forth with 258,000 men to save the nution. The year after tlie republican party arose a wonderful revival of religion took place, and spread through all the churches. One church alone received nearly 200,000 as an accession of members. The other churches must have received at least half a ui III inn. The river of life rolled on, bringing joy and gladness to every heart, and Salvation to many a soul. It is remarkable that this revival passed by almost every southern State, and rolled on its mission of mercy to Europe. From the THE LATE WAR AVD ITS LESSONS. 115 bosom of the church, and the strengtli of this great revival, a new power rose in antagonism to slavery, and ultimately overthrew it ! In the fearful conflict that ensued, the churches of the Nortli became the right liand of the government in carrying on the war and saving the nation. One church alone sent above 250,000 men into the Union army, of whom Mr. Lincoln said, " She sent more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospital, and more prayers to Heaven than any other. God bless the Methodist Church ; God bless all the churches ; and blessed be God who has given us the churches." RISE, PROGRESS, AND CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. When the South found that she was defeated in the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency, and that the administration was about to go out of her hands, she resolved to l)reak the LTnion, divide the country, and overthrow the government, and in its stead establish another in the South founded on slavery. Soon star after star fell from the naiiona'> flag, and State after State went out of the natioi.al Union. Arsenals and forts, stored with ammunition and guarded by men, were within her borders, belonging to the national go- vernment, to preserve its rights and secure its unity. These the South proceeded to take, and thus commenced tlie war I At half-past four on the morning of April 12, IKOI, Bp:atjreoard opened fire on Fort Sumter, one of the I'uited States' forts in Charleston harbour, South Ca- rolina. The next day it surrendered, and tlie garrison ui: , I 'II 116 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. f.:? M M \m left for New York. Long before they reached it, the telej]:raph bore the news to all parts of the Uiiitecl States. Great was the excitement, as men met their fellow-men in the streets of the northern cities and towns : they grasped each other's hands and pledged themselves to restore the fallen flag, retake the fort, and crush the rebellion in which Americans trampled on the flag that defended their fathers. That flag once waved over four milUouft of ftlaces in hoiuhh/e ; it was doomed to rise no more until baptized in blood and the slaves were free ! On the 14th, President Lincoln issued his pro- clamation for 75,000 volunteers-^it should have been 500,000. To this call volunteers from all parts of the North responded. In four days some regiments were formed, wheeled into line, and marched to the scene of conflict. Others rushed to the rescue by the different railroads. Washington was turned into a military camp, and the capital into a ban-acks. Volunteers and soldiers slept on the cushioned seats of senators and representatives. The shrill fife, t]ie beat of drum, the trump of war, and the sound of alarm called the nation to arms. Thousands rushed from the store, the shop, the mechanics' room, the merchants' office, the college hall, the farm-field, and the tender home. The South was not idle. She was better prepared. The means, the arms were in her hands ; her men were drilled ; her army readv at a moment's notice to march to the scene of strife. The government was in her hands : she robbecj its treasury, mint and arsenals of money, means and arms, while she left her perjured senato , THE LATE WAR AND ITS LESSONS. 117 and representatives iii Washington to tie the hands of congress until her plans and preparations were ready for secession. Immediately after Lincoln issued his proclamation, Davis issued his. The call was almost as quickly answered by as many or more men. There vviis a great uprising of the foes and friends of freedom. The United States' mints, forts and arsenals in the southern States were immediately seized and appro- priate! by the southern men, who turned the guns ' 'M),u " o defendants, or made the garrisons prisons, Hiid the Unitec"!. States' soldier* prisoners of war. South Carolina, the first in revolt, was soon followed by Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Other States quiciiiy followed. They founded a provisional government, with Davis for president, and " slavery for a corner-stone." But the foundation was on the sand, ^*aiul the rain descended, and the Jloods cdine, (Did the trind.s blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and (jreat -r.? ? thffaU of it;'' while the North, founded ouihe prin-; pics :>£ the "Pilgrim Fathers," who landed on Plymo ti iUuk, stood the storms of the conflict, because it was ' van-lvd on the rock of justice. On the 19th of April, 1775, the first blood was shed in the revolutionary war at the battle of Lexington. Eighty-six years after, on the anniversary of the same day, 19th April, 18G1, the first blood was shed in the slavehohV s' rebellion in tJie streets of Baltimore, where some fou ; -r five soldiers were slain by the pro-slavery mob— the v. i.iier:; being on their way to Washington to join the Union army. This increased the intensity of the excitement already up, and roused the North to 118 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ■. il more determined effort to crush the rebellion. In the maantime the South was making more united effort to resist the North and divide the Union. Had the southern ]:eoplc been allowed to give a legal vote on the subject, the majority of the people would have voted against secession, as some of the States did, which after were forced into the rebellion. But the leaders of the revolt took measures, raid adopted means by which the majority of the people v.ere ; ^' d into the position they occu- 13ied, and all who lifte p their voice against it were crushed by the threat of violence. The seat of the provisional government was fixed at Alabama ; but it was thought better to move it to Richmond, Virginia, in order to draw in that State, and throw the line of defence and seat of war along the border States and northern frontier, so that there might be left a wider base for defence in the South. This was wisdom in the South, and strategy according to the art of wpr : but it was justice by the Almighty that Virginia, the mother of slavery, should be the battle-field of the rebellion ; and Richmond, the great slave-mart, should be the Armageddon of the war. From Richmond, on the James's river, to the Rio Grande in the Gulf of Mexico, nearly the whole of the Atlantic coast was in their hands, and the Mississippi, from its mouth at New Orleans, to almost St. Louis in Missouri. Along the south side of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, across the Mississippi at Cairo to New Mexico, trending towards the Pacific coast, a line of fortifications extended de- fending the northern border of the southern confederacy. Within its bounds lay a country almost half the size of THE LATE WAR AND ITS LESSONS. 119 Europe. Along this line of battle gathered an army of about /our niiUionH men, the largest that was ever marshalled on the face of the eai'th. The conflict was one of the greatest ; the results — in the emancipation of 4,000,000 slaves, and the opening of the country to freedom, right, and God — are the most stupendous. That line had to be broken, those fortifications taken, the whole coast and its forts reoccupied, and the Mississippi opened, and ^^e entire country brought back to the Union, and the people to their allegiance by the power of the sword. Of old, Jehovali said to the Jewish nation, ** E»r millions slaves were emancipated ! 4,000,000 freemen fought around the bond, 1,000,000 perished in the contest ! and 3,000,000 returned home to the bosom of their families. '* The Lord reigneth, let the nations tremble." i iiT *^ •-n... f > t i .1 .. • r ,' It. CHAPTER IX. . OLD AND NEW AMERICA. THE NATIOn'h second BtRTH POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGES EMIORATION AGRICULTURAL AND )JATURAL PRODUCTIONS THE NATIONA/i FINANCES AMERICAN NAVY SANITARY AND CHRISTIAN COMMISSIONS PROSPERITY! COMMERCIAL, LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS THE PRICE OF THE SLAVE- HOLDERS* REBELLION. Nations are born amid scenes of sorrow and joy, and when fallen need re!ied by emigration. In the state of Illinois, whore the writer lived, houses could not be built fast enougli to accommodate the rush of emigration to the state. ' . - =' AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. As two nullions and a lialf of men were called from the cultivation of the soil, the production of crops, and the varied pursuits of mercantile life, it was tlionglit '> famine was inevitable , especially if the war continued for more than a year or two ; just ihon agricultural machines for ploughing, planting, reaping, and mowing wove so improved and multiplied, tliat one man could do more than the work of t-wo ])cforo the war com- menced. During that time a mombei' l>e]onging to the r-hnrch of which the writer wns pastor, obtained a il li, 1 130 twelvp: years in amehtca. liatent right for a plough of which he was the inventor. It was in successful operation when the writer left. Upon it sat the ploughman holding the reins of two horses, turning two sods at a time, and ploughing six acres per day. The crops raised during the war supplied the population at home, the soldiers in the field, and a large amount for foreign exportation. A short time before the war commenced the Chinese sugar cane was extensively introduced into the north- Wf item States, of which millions of barrels of molasses aad pounds of sugar were made ; so that when the war began, and the supply of sugar was cut off from the South, these States coul^not only supply their need, but export a large quantity of molasses. The same holds true in reference to light — almost every house in the North was lighted with camphene obtained irom the trees of the Carolinas ; but as this was cut oflf, the dis- covery of pctroJemu not only supplied the want, but left a vast quantity for exportation, from whicli a large revenue was smjplied. The South proclaimed slavery, the comer-stone of their confederacy, and cotton Idng, on which Europe and America were dependent ; but Lincoln's emancipa- tion proclamation knocked the foundation from the confederacy, and his kingship off the throne, and mml supplied the place of cotton. As the war advanced, the precious metals became scarce, and gold and silver almost disappeared ; just then California opened her capacious bosom and laid her golden treasures at the nation's feet, and Nevada laid bare her silver mines, extending hundreds of miles in length, and to depths OLD AND NEW AMERICA, 181 unknown ; Illinois and Missouri yielded lead and iron, and out of the hills of Michigan and Minnesota miners dug brass. The war debt swelled to enormous figures, but the precious metals alone discovered during that period W'jvid more than pay off the entire debt, beside sustain a circulating medium, and the foreign credit of the nation. Millions of the debt have been reduced already, and means are now a1)undant, and measures adopted to pay the whole off in twenty- five yearfi. Upon these facts, and the abiUty and willingness of the people to sustain the war and meet the expenses, the government issued homJft, and notes of currency, and appealed to the people to sustain them. Thousands replied by putting their earthly all, and some their half, into the national treasury; many a poor widow cast in her two mites, which went to save the nation ; while others did more, by giving up their sons to die for the nation's l\U\ ClieerfuUy the people not only submitted to taxation, but called on the government to tax them rather than see th^Bir government broken and their country divided. Thousands have wondered at the accumulation of so great a debt, and the rapidity with which it is being paid off. Financiers and politicians would do well to study the follo^dng facts and figures, quoted from the Treasurer's lifcport. It is unparalleled in the history of nations: (( THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY SATISFACTORY, " The report presents a much more satisfactory con- dition of our finances than one year ago the most sanguine could have anticipated. During the fiscal year ending the 30th June, 1866— the last year of tlic 182 TWELVE YEAItS IN AMERICA. W il war — the public debt was increased 941,902,587 dollars, and on the 81st of October, 1865, it amounted to 2,740,854,750 dollars. On the 81st day of October, 1866, it had been reduced to 2,551,310,006 dollars, the diminution, during a period of fourteen months, com- mencing September 1, 1865, and ending October 31, 1866, having been 206,379,565 dollars. In the last annual report on the state of the finances, it was esti- mated that during the last three quarters of the fiscal year endmg the 30th Jime last, the debt would be in- creased 112,194,947 dollars. During that period, how ever, it was reduced 81,196,387 dollars, the receipts of the year having been 89,905,905 dollars more, and the expenditm*es 200,529,235 dollars less than the estimates. Nothing could more clearly indicate than these state- ments the extent and availability of the national re- sources, and the rapidity and safety with which, under our form of government, great military and naval establishments can be disbanded, and expenses reduced from a war to a peace footing. During the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1866, the receipts were 568,032,620 dollars, and the expenditures 520,750,940 dollars, leaving an available surplus of 37,281,680 dollars. It is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending the 80th June, 1867, will be 475,061,386 dollars, and that the expenditure will reach the sum of 816,428,078 dollars, leaving in the treasury a sm*plus of 158,638,808 dollars. For the fiscal year ending June, 1868, it is estimated that the receipts will amount to 436,000,000 dollars, and that the expenditure will be 350,247,641 dollars, showing an excess of 85,752,359 dollars in favour of the government. These estimated receipts may be diminished by a reduction of excise and import duties ; but after all necessary reductions shall have been made, the revenue of the present and of fol- lowing years will be sufficient to cover all legitimate charges upon the treasury, and leave a largo annuiil surplus to be applied to the payment of the principal of the debt. There seems now to be no good reason why taxes may not be reduced as the country advances in \\'l OLD AND NEW AMERICA. 183 population and wealth, and yet the debt be cxtmguibhcd witliiu the next quarter of a century." In iSGl the American government could scarcely be said to have a respectable navy, as the nation was at peace with itself and all the world. The few ships that were, were sent to cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Soon the distant fleet came home, and iron clads were formed, and the navy increased to one of the most formidable in the world. After reducing the fleet, selling oft' iron clads, and other vessels, it occupies the following posi- tion at present : THE AMERICAN NAVY. The following is a concise account of the distribution of the American navy : — " The destination and strength of the several squaft- rons are matters of much interest. The European squadron, commanded by Admiral Goldsborough, con- sists of ten ships, carrying one hundred guns, and cruises along the west coast of Europe and Africa, as far south as St. Paul de Loando, taking in the Medi- terranean and Baltic Seas, and visiting from time to time, witli one or more vessels, such ports as those of Tripoli, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, reminding those semi-barbarous nations that the great republic keeps lier starry flag afloat upon all the waters of the globe, tlie emblem and tlie safeguard of progress and freedom. Tlic Asiatic squadron patrols the east coast of Africa and Asia. It consists of eight ships, carrying seventy- eight guns, and is commanded by Rear Admiral Bell. Within its jurisdiction come the newly opened ports of China and Japan, into which our advanced civilization is gradually creeping. The North Atlantic squadron, 134 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. IH;, ! under tlie care of Rear Admiral Palmer, has charge of the West Indian Islands, where American interests are closely involved. It contains fifteen ships, with one hundred and thirty-five guns. The South Atlantic squadron sweeps the eastern coast of South America and aroimd the Cape to the eastern coast of Africa, meeting the patrol of the European squadron at St. Paul de Loando. This is commanded by Admiral Godon, r.nd consists of eight vessels and seventy-five guns. In the North Pacific, Rear Admiral Thatcher has ten vessels, carrying one hundred and twenty- two guns, but for the past year their movements were con- fined to visiting the Sandwich Islands and various ports in Central America and Acapulco, running up occasion- ally to Puget's Sound to looit after our interests in that quarter, conveying Queen Emma to Honolulu and making surveys of that portion of the Pacific Ocean. The coast line from Panama to Cape Horn and reachmg as far in the Antarctic direction as the British colony of Australia, is known as the South Pacific squadron, com- posed of seven vessels, carrying seventy-one guns, recently placed under command of Rear Admiral Pahl- gren. The Gulf squadron, which Commodore Winslow commands, has supervision, as its name suggests, of the Gulf of Mexico, and consists of ten vessels, with seventy-four guns. All the squadron together, it must be admitted, put a very eflectual •' girdle round about the earth" and represent the American nation most respectably on the sea." . As hundreds of thousands of men were suddenly called to the field of battle, many wondered where will the clothing come from. But soon was heard in every home, hall, shop, and store throughout the land the clank of the sewing machine, and in a short time 2,500,000 men wore clad, ready for the battle. The sewing macliine is an American invention. ' • To induce soldiers to enlist and provide for thou* OLD AND NEW AMERICA. 135 families while at the war, the govcruineut offered large bounties to them ; individuals, and municipal corporations voluntary gave £50,000,000 sterling. Extra clothing and food were needed for the sick hi hospitals : the sanitary commission was formed, and the people responded to the amount of ^E 5, 2 50, 000. As the conflict increased, the wounded and the sick became so numerous there were not chaplains enough in the army, or nurses in the hospitals to attend them. The thought oppressed the heart of a pious merchant in Pliiladelphia. Mr. Stuart, an Irishman by birth or descent, knelt in his office in prayer to God, and a new plan opened out before him. It was proposed to the churches to send some of their ministers and laymen down as chaplains in the field; and nurses in the hospitals, for six or eight weeks at a time, with- out remuneration or reward, but such as God would give in present peace and everlasting glory, at that day when He would say before an assembled imiverse, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto Me." The idea at once became popular. Many wondered they had not seen it before in that light, but the pro- vision came as the nation needed it in its emergency. The people responded to it in £1,000,000; and an army of ministers and laymen hastened to the battle- field and hospital, many of whom fell in sicbaess while trying to save others. In a town where fon.- or more churches were, one minister went at a time, and another relieved him as he returned. Thus Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist ministers, relieved each 180 TWELVE YEARS IX AMEIUCA. other in the held, and minibtered to each other's congre- gations when one of the pastors or more were absent. Tims was formed the Christian Commission. In ad- dition to the above vohmtary societies, the ^^FrirditKOi's Aid Socicli/,^' and the ^^ Amerk-an Union Conuni-ssion," were formed, the one to provide food, raiment and schools for the slaves who were suddenly made free by the government ; the oilier to relieve poor white Union families who lost all in the war. These societies re- ceived large and liberal aid to assist them, the former from friends in Great Britain and Ii-eland. •"•;'. prosperity: commercial, literary, and religious. Of tho internal commerce, a writer has beautifully said: •' " •- r , , - ^ ;< "It is astonishmg to observe the vast quantities of produce in course of transit throughout the country. Huge steamboats on the Mississippi and Alabama are loaded to the water's edge with bales of cotton ; those on the Ohio are burdened with barrels of pork and thousands of hams ; "propellers" on the lakes are filled with the finest wheat from Wisconsin and Michigan ; canal- boats in New York and Pennsylvania are deeply laden with flour ; railroad waggons arc filled with mer- chandize, and locomotives struggle in the western wilds to drag trains richly freighted with the production of every country under the sun. The United States re- minded mc sometimes of a great ant-hill, where every member of the community h, either busy carrying a burden along a beaten pathway, or hastening away in search of new stores to increase the national prosperity. "'■= * Mr. Baxter, in Sir Morctou Pcto's liesources and Prospects of America. OLD AND NKW AMKRICA. 187 'J True as was the above of the whole country before the war, it was doubly true of the North clurmg that period. Such commercial prosperity no country over witnessed during a state of civil war. If it were Egypt in the South during that time, the North was literally a land of Goshen. The difference between the Jews and Egyptians in the times of the Exodus could scarcely have been greater than that of the South and North dm'ing the war! Some towns nearly doubled their populations, and all the cities increased theirs. Houses could scarcely hold the inhabitants, and the sight and soimd of workmen building houses were everywhere to be seen and heard. Property rose in value, and produce nearly doubled its former prices, and the crops were abundant. Although a million of men were called away from the production of food, yet a greater area of land was cultivated, and larger crops obtained than before the war, on account of the increase of emigi'ation and the improvement in agricultural machines. Old debts were paid off, and few new ones were contracted. The old State banks, which were a curse rather than a blessing to the coimtry, were swept away, and in their place arose a new kind, based on large property and govern- ment stocks, which proved to be the kind just needed. In the year 1860 the tonnage of the United States was 5,353,868 tons. Her import and export trade ranks next to England in value, that being ^500,000,000. In 1861 the exports and imports of America were £152,600,000 sterling; in 1862 it nearly doubled that. For the next three years of the war the exports far exceeded the imports, the people denying themselves 1 f \ '. t" i lit- 1 II 1 ii ii if 1 III jfj 188 TWELVE YEAKS IN AMERICA. the luxuries which formerly they prized, so that they might be enabled to pay off theii* war-debt. In 1802 the exports of agricultural products alone amounted to £25,000,000 sterling. When the war commenced many feared the destruction of railroads in the North, and the interruption of trade and travel from rebel raids ; but these were few and far between. The inwease of travel became so great that companies could scarcely furnish carriages to convey passengers and the numerous troops hastening to the field of conflict in the South. Whole families, even of the poorest of the people travelled extensively ; in fact the Americans are a travelling people, few Uving where they were born ; and the most travel in search of better locations, so that railroads and steamboats are often crowded, and the vast prairies often dotted by the wliite tents and moving waggons of thousands of emigrants, going farther west with their numerous herds, in search of richer lands, larger farms, and better homes. As the European emigrants reach the shores of the Atlantic with small trunks and a little money, the American emigrant moves farther west with his vast herds and heavier pockets to settle the new country, and lay the foundation of chui'ches, schools and colleges, in new territories and States, that shall throw their Christian- izing and civihzmg influence over the whole country, and mould the foreign emigrant and make him a faitliful and industrious citizen. In the year 1861 the number of miles of i*ailroad in America were 81,108, ^nd the property invested in them, £235,000,000 sterling. Since then the number OLD AND NEW AMERICA. ISO of miles have greatly increased, and the amount of property vastly augmented; for, during the war, the old lines were extended and new ones projected. From St. Louis at the south end of Illinois, and Chicago at the north, with 800 miles between, lines of railroad run westward, converging in one centre near the Bocky Mountains. Already the lines have reached Fort Kearney ; soon they shall meet in Salt Lake, Utah, and develop the vast resources of the country on either side. On the California side of the mountains there are 3,000 Chinese working on the roads. In the summer of 1868 it is expected both roads shall meet, and form a connexion between east and west in Utah territory. Along this line of travel and track of com- merce thousands shall move, and towns and cities shall rise, and schools, colleges, and churches shall be built, and the wilderness shall become as Eden, and the desert as the garden of the Lord. The locomotive, with its train of cars, shall traverse the vast plains, where the Indian and bufifalo roam, sweep round the curves of the Rocky Mountains, ascend the crest of the Sierra Nevada, or dash through its timnelled sides, and hasten to the golden gates of San Francisco on the Pacific coast. Tli<> Pacific railroad stretching thus, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, nearly 4,000 miles, shall bind the east and west together, and open up the country to settlement and the development of its re- sources. Thus the general prosperity of the North became unparalleled, no pooi* suffered, for there was enough and to spare. Enough to feed the home popula- tions^ to send food to the starving in the South, and 140 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. !;'! l'« ;|i , ^ export u vast quantity abroad. That this in'osperity was not fictitious, uor based on inflated currency, is evident from the fact, that two years have passed since the close of the war, and still the prosperity continues. Many feared that if the war should cease suddenly (which it did) thousands would be broken up by the sudden change of circumstances ; but instead of this, few became bankrupt, and the prosperity continued, as the people prepared to meet it. Although thousands of the young men left the halls of colleges for the seat of war, the schools were filled with childi'en taught by lady teachers, and the colleges with students who had taken the place of those who left. Twice yoimg men left the Illinois Wesleyau University, Bloomington, for the scene of battle ; but their places were filled by others who were coming in ; and to-day it is more prosperous than ever, as a letter from the President informs me. All literary and collegiate in- stitutions flourished, and tlie debts thej'^ had contracted paid off. Books were written, and read by thousands more than thev had ever been before. Those written on the war attamed enormous circulation, some reaching 200,000 copies of one work. Annuals became quarterlies, and these were changed into monthhes, the monthly became a weekly, and the weeklies were turned into dailies, of eveuy/y.s/, aecund, and third editions of 200,000 copies daily, as the war despatches came m. The chm'ch charities and missionary societies shared in the general prosperity. As many ministers left as chaplains for the army, smaller congregations were united together, so as to be able to sustain a regular ii i .ii OLD AND NEW AMERICA, 141 liared eft as were egulai' mlniBtiy, but this was soon abandoned, as the popula- tion continued to increase. Through the war, and at its close, no congregation was left without a minister on that account, and their salaries were l-rgely in- creased instead of diminished, and so continues still. Of course, it was very different in the South, where their churches and colleges were turned into hospitals, their congregations broken up, and their missionary societie ■ bankrupt. In the Nort^: the religious life sus- tained the people ; thousands flocked to the church of God, and prayer was made almost continually for those in the field of battle. Old churches were repaired, new ones were built, and contributions to the Home and Foreign Missions quadrupled what they had been before. The Methodist Episcopal Church at uu close of the uT^, in the year 1866, received to her Home and Foreign Missions one million doUars, £200,000, the largest amount ever raised by any denomination for such a purpose. At the same period, 1866, was the year of her centennial existence in America, besides building new churches, sustaining the old, and supporting her ministi*y and institutions, she laid as a thank- offering on the altar of God, for charitable, literary, and religious purposes, ^i'c miUions doUars, or £1,000,000 sterling. The war is over, and the slaves emancipated ; the country is saved; 4,000,000 soldiers have returned to the sanctities of home, and the peaceful pursuits of life. The nation, having passed through a second birth, or regeneration, is now again launched forth among the nations on a new career of prosperity. But let it never ilL^'l 142 twel-nt: years in America. be forgotten that the slave holders' rebellion cost the nation more than a miUion lives, and eight thousand millions dollars, or nearly £2,000,000,000. • - * - t - V ■, ^ . • , ' , t '■ ; :> I ^:,'■•"•' H ' ".7 '■".' "'' ;i' t.,: ■„?■ , ;[-| f-r-* , 'I ■ ' - r-r- ■ ^. •'-,•'3 ' > ■■ ' I- i ■ - - A t i i ■' ■ -r ; v»,^ ■ JA" '■ -^•*T **;' / ^*\t{' ^^^-J it-. ~ T, f CHAPTER X. THE AMEIUCAN CHURCHES. COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIODS — SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH AND STATE THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE — -THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES: EPISCOPALIAN, CONaREGATIONAI^ BAPTIST, PRESBYTERIAN, AND METHODIST THE CHUttCil AND HER institutions: TEMPERANCE, BI.iLE, MISSIONARY, AND SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETIES, COLLEGES — PRESS UNITY — RESPECT LOYALTY THE NON-EVANGELICAL: ROMAN- CATHOLIC, UNITARIAN, UNIVERSALIST TYPES AND SHADES OF unbelief: MORMONISM and SPIRITISM. , ' The founders and the fathers of the American churches were religious men. The fire of God burned in their souls, and the peace of God reigned in theix hearts : men who sacrificed all that was dear in the Old World to found the kingdom of God in the New. They were tried men — whose faith and principles were severely tested, and who stood the fiery ordeal to which they were subjected ; men of the zeal of Baxter, the faith c5 Owen, tlie genius of Milton, the patriotism of Hampden, and the bravery of Cromwell. Such men were the chosen instruments in the hands of God to found the churches in New England. The other colonists had the same principles and privileges. The Dutch and Swedes founded churches in New York and Deleware, rm Hi! i 1 * ''* '11 144 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. the Quakers in Pennsylvania, the Huguenots in the CaroUnas, the EpiscopaUans in Virginia, and the Pres- byterians and Methodists in the middle States. The charters which they obtained from the home government breathed forth the same spirit, and were founded on the same broad principles of religious and political liberty. They formed the basis on which the government of the United States was afterwards founded, the superstructure on which the churches rested. ** The (fhwy of God and the advancement of the Christian faith,'' were the objects stated in their covenant engagements with one another. They were faithful to the trust reposed in them ; posterity enjoy the exalted privileges flowing therefi-om. During the century and a half of colonial connexion, they were like oases in the desert, gardens in the wilderness around, and light- houses along the Atlantic coast, to guide the feet of the " Pilgrim Fathers," and their numerous children in the way of life and liberty. Prior to the revolution the light began to grow dim, the fine gold to become dross ; the form of Christianity remained, but the spirit had well nigh departed. The Wesleys landed in Georgia as missionaries, and kindled a fire that never went out. Whitefield followed, and passed along the whole coast like a blazing comet, kindling a fire and a fervor wherever he went. New light shone upon the churches, new life was breathed into the fossilized forms, and new zeal was enkindled in their souls. Edwards was blessed in his labors at Northampton ; the Tennants, at New Jersey ; the Moravians, in Penn- sylvania; Bratnerd, in Delowarc; and Eliot, among the Ir*^*.'*,!^, THE AMERICAN CIIT^RCHES. 145 Indians. The Coiigi'egational Churches fixed their stakes in New England ; the Episcopalians their tent in Virginia ; the Presbyterians found a congenial home in the middle States ; the Baptists passed from the limited dimen^'ons of Rhode Island to the sunny slopes and flowing streams of the southern States ; and the Methodists went everywhere preaching the word. The colonial churches were thus revived, and prepared to stand the stonn that was about to beat upon them ; they survived the shock — not one of them foundered — but remained to live and flourish. The Revohitlonanj War originated in the foolish attempt, on the part of the home government, to lay upon the colonists burdens they were not able to bear ; and when they resisted, their charter rights were taken away, to recover which the colonists took up arms against the mother country. It is not necessary here to repeat what all who have read history know, — that after ('ii iivhicipU', bywhieli all the churclios are sustained, originated lirst in the inadequate support given by the home government to the colonial churches ; and secondly, by the earnestness and energy of the colonists themselves to supply the want thus left vacant. If a new church was necessary to build, or an old one to repair, instead of waiting on some government official, who magnified his office by repulsive manners or tedious delays, the colonists put their hands in their own pockets, and said to each other, *' Come, and let us build the house of the Lord." In making the effort, they succeeded beyond their expectations, and soon found it was **more blessed to give than to receive." In this way the separation of the cluu'ch and state was eftected, and in this manner the voluntary principle arose, and with it rose the condition of the churches ; upon it all the American chuiches rest for support. The aggregate of that support in general, as well as the detail in particular, claims a passing notice. The amount of money spent in l}ie support of the most costly State Church Establishment in the world is perhaps that of Great Britain ; ytt it does not excel the support given on the voluntary principle to the churches m America. 7»'^ . " ; >< The amount paid the clergy of the Established Church in Great Britain and Wales by the State is iJ 1,292,885, I^^^^bH ' 1 IHi ■ 11 II III in 148 TWELVE YEAES IN AMERICA. What the value of the church property is, and what the amount paid to the ministers of dissenting churches, I cannot say. The vohmtary principle in America, in less than a century, has accomplished a great work. Value of Church Property in America - £50,000,000 Average and total annual support (£150.) i'7, 500,000 Number of Churches >> Ministers, active, superanuatc and licentiate Church accommodation sittings 50,000 i 60,000 25,000,000 The above are approximate figures, based on the census of 18G0, and making allowance for the increased growth since then ; yet the figures may be considered under rather than over what they really are at present. The parsonage and collegiate property belonging to the various churches I am unable to give, but it is very large, as nearly all the colleges, seminaries and universities are endowed and supported by the churches and not by the State. . , ..... THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES. The Protestant Episcopal Church was the first planted in America, and was for a time established by law, and nurtured and cherished by the home government. It received a precedence and support no other church did, yet its numbers increased but slowly until the revolution. During that time it was almost prostrated ; but in 1786, when it was oi-ganized, it rose again, and has since gone on flourishing, if not so rapidly as >!*._ TUli AMERICAN CHURCHES. U\) othei'8, yet making considerable progress iu the larger cities of the east. If the country had been left to its spiritual direction exclusively, it would have been a Sodom ere this : for a person may travel in some parts of the west fi^ty or an hundred miles without meeting with one of its churches, and visit hundreds of to\Mis without finding one of its rectors. Yet we rejoice to say that tliis branch of the Church of Christ is becoming more useful, and extending her borders more widely. It is said that some four or Jive of her bishops arc ritualistic, and several of the clergy, while the body of the people are sound in the faith, and some of the bishops and a large number of the clergy are devoted and laborious in their Master's service. Eitualism is not suited to the American taste. There are 33 dioceses, 43 bishops, 2,110 parishes, 2,073 clergy, 135,765 com- municants or church members, and 118,069 Sabbath school childi'en and young people in connexion with the Sabbath school and Bible classes. TheContjrqiatiouaJ Church, or Church of the ''Pilgrim Fathers, '" next to the Protestant Episcopal, is the oldest i)i the colonies. It is almost exclusively limited to the New England States, havhig never had an entrance to the South, on account of its hostility to slavery. In 1801, I went to hear the Rev. Henry Ward Beeciier preach to a congregation in Philadelphia ; it was about to organize into a second Congregational Church: he had come to assist it. It was the second in Philadelphia, a city of more than half a million population, where were already 58 Episcopal, 62 Presbyterian, 18 Baptist, and 61 Mcthodibt cJvuchc::;. (I m M ''S i-;. 150 TWELVE \'E.\RS IN AMERICA. Ill the west aiifl north-west the Congregational churches are spreading and progressing; still, perhaps, this church has had the least increase of any other in the United States, which may be partly owing to her inmt of connexional unity in church government, which unity is a tower of strength to the other churches, as the Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist. Although comparatively limited to New England and a few of the western States, her religious freedom and principles of political liberty have swept over the whole country, and have moulded its institutions, and guided tlie thought and course of the nation in some of its most difficult periods. It also si^vStaiiis one of the most suc- cessful foreign missionary societies in the world, and has planted the gospel in Asiatic Turkey, Persia, Greece, and the Sandwich Islands. Churches, 2,500; ministers, 2,480 ; church membership, 257,634 ; Sabbath school children, 206,441. ' ' ' ■'- - The Ihiptht Churches form a large ecclesiastical family, and, next to the Congregational, are the oldest. Tliey are also the second largest denomination in America. Like the Congregational cliurches, their form of church government is independent, each con- gregation being a church court in itself, and having no h'lial iiiiiti/ with any other congregation of the same body, consequently it suffers largely in having no central government to unite the efforts, or direct the energies of the whole. The only central idea of doctrinal unity among them being immersion as an exclusive form of baptism, there being a great variety of doctrines, usages, and opinions among them. Thib THE AMEUICAN ClIOKCHES. 151 (lenoininatiou has spread extensively all over the United States, and has numerous churches, and many able ministers as preachers, writers and pastors. A large membership of generally devoted persons and zealous Christians are attached to it. There are 51)0 associations, 12,18G churches, 8,640 muiisters and licentiates, and UOl.O'iO church members. To tliese may be added half a million more of other minor Baptists, and about 5,000 churches, and as many ministers. The Preshijtcnan Churches in America were founded by Irishmen. They may be divided into old and new school : United Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, and to which may be added the Dutch Reformed and German lieformed. The Presbyterian Churches have spread extensively over the southern, middle and western States, and have exerted a gracious moral influence over the minds of the people. They also sustain extensive foreign missions. Many of their ministers are eloquent and able expositors of the Word of Clod, and their members liberal and devoted in the cause of Christ. They are certainly more pious than the same churches in the old country, except it be the Free Church of Scotland, whom they most resemble in spuit and worship. The Ciunherlaiuh, although Pres- byterians in their form of church government, are more methodistic in their spirit and manner of worship. The old and new school Presbyterian have 5,029 churches, 4,122 ministers, 417,020 church members ; the other smaller branches would increase the entire membership to 550,000, the churches to 0,000, and the ministers to about 5,500. 152 TWELVE VKARS IN AMEKICA. The Method is t Cliurcli in America, like tlie Presby- terian, was founded by Irishmen. Philip Embury, Robert bxRAWBRiDGE and Robert King laid the fomidation. It has spread over all the country, and has become by far the largest and wealthiest of the American churches, although one of the youngest of the whole. In the proper place we devote a chapter to this subject, and merely give the statistics here. The Methodist Episcopal Church and its cognate branches in the United States number about 1 ■4,000 ministers, 2,000,000 members, 8,000,000 hearers (including members), 2,000,000 Sab- bath school children. Church, parsonage, press, and collegiate property, i'lO, 000,000 sterling. She has une-third oi the church sittings and une-fourth of the church membership in the United States. Li 186G, the centenary year of her existence, she raised for her home and foreign missions, i*200,000. As a cen- tenary thank-offering for collegiate and charitable purposes, i'l, 000,000. . i . The ratio of increase of the above churches for the half of this century, from 1800 to 1850, based upon the national census, has been as follows: ' , ^ : Congregational Church, as - 2?. to 1 Baptist Churches ,, - 5i „ Protestant Episcopal ,, - „ Presbyterian Chm'ches ,, - 8i „ Methodist Episcopal ,, ■ m „ There are some minor denominations in the United States, who are not counted under the abo\ e heads, that i'Uiu AiMi::iUCAN CliUKCUbb. loa mij,'lit claim a passing notice, sueli as the Lutheran, Moravian, Frieuds, and others, whose spirit, zeal, and liibour to extend the Kedt'iuer's Kingdom have been crowned with great succebS. It is a beautiful sight to see each tribe of God's Israel taking up its line of march towards the heavenly Canaan. As it was with the Israelites of old, as they marched through the wilderness with the cloudy pillar before them, four of the twelve tribes became standard bearers for the rest ; so it might be said the Methodist, i3aptist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian are the standard-bearers of the sacra- mental hosts of God's elect, as they travel toward the promised land. THE CHURCHES AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS. The various Temperance Societies in America derive tjieir life and support from their connexion with the churches. Many of the Sabbath schools are Temperance Societies, and often hold their week meetings in the church on turn. The Auierk'un Bible Socidy was organized in 1810, and has been a blessmg to thousands since then. It lias its branches and auxiliary societies in all the States and territories, and agents are numerous and active in raising contributions and scattering the Scriptures like leaves of the Tree of Life all over the land, and through the missionaries on the foreign stations, and among foreign nations. There is scarcely a hotel, ship or steamboat that is not supplied with the Word of Life, and scarcely an American home without a large family Bible laid upon the stand for daily use in domestic 154 XWELVK YEARS IN AMERICA. ^^ worship. The traiishitioiis of the American Bible Society arc numerous and valuable, not only for her own poly- glot emigrants, but also for transmission abroad. The contributions to the society are lifted annually in all the churches, and the anniversaries are held in some large central church where all can meet, or in alternate succession among the ditforent churches in the smaller towns. The MisniiHuir;/ Sorietii's of the various churches have been numerous, successful, and well sustained. Those of the American board belonging to the New School Presbyterian and Congregational churches have been some of the most prosperous and successful in the world. The missions of the other Presbyterian bodies, and the Protestant Episcopal have beon extensive, while those of the Methodists have been especially so. The Baptists also have extensive missions, begun by the immortal Judson and his immortal wives. After de- voting large sums to the support of the home missions in the west, among the new settlers and foreign emi- grants, the American churches have planted missions among nearly all the aboriginal tribes in the bounds of the United States ; also in Central and South America, West Africa, and British India and Birmah, in China and Japan, the Sandwich Islands, Western Asia, and Eastern Europe, One of the American churches at the close of its first century, in 1866, raised for the mission work £200,000, which was the largest ever raised before by any section of the Church of Christ. If its mission fund was such last year, what will it be in another centiu'y to come. The American chui'ches are destined UIK AMi;i{ltAN CHUKCliKS. 15'') to be tlie uiibsioii eliurchcs ui' the world. Their niis- sioiiaries even now trfi verse tlic Hliores of the Atlantic juitl Pai'itic, east and west of their own continent ; tlie l)anks of the St. liawrcnce, the Missouri. MisHit>si})j>i, tlie Amazon, Laplatt and Parana, the prairies of the west, the Llanos of the South, tlie slopes of the Andes, tiie Cordilleras, and llocky Mountains. Their voice is heard telling the story of the cross, with their brethren from Great Britain, on the shores of the (ranj,'es and the Hoogly, in the plains of Ilindoostan, and on the sides of the Hymalaya Mouiitains, Beautiful are their feet, as they carry the tidings of Salvation round the coasts of the Bosphorous, the Caspian, and Black Sea, the steppes of Northern Asia, and the mountains of Armenia, along the Syrian coast, and the dewy sides of Hermon, and the cedar slopes of Lebanon, the Isles of Greece, and the German fatherland. The Sandwich and Japanese Islands have opened their coral gates to bid the messengers of Salvation enter. The doors of the Celestial Empire have l)eeu 0[)Liicd wide for their admission, while Egypt and Ethiopia have stretched out their hands to bid them welcome in the name of the Lord. The Sabbath sclwobs in America embra '^e about 5,000,000 pupils ; they are in active and efficient organization. Each church has its own school, and each county a convention of the Sabbath schools of all. Each State a convention of all the delegates of these, and then there is a United States' Convention of the whole, which meets in Washington, or some central place in the Union. The Sunday school State Convculions are 'Ill if;. 9 150 TWKLNJ:; YEARS IN AJJERICA. lueetings of great interest aud profit, at which the best modes of Sabbath teaching are examined and discussed. In the comity conventions, the delegates of the schools of the different clmrches meet for consultation and prayer. At the close of one of these conventions, which is generally iield in the summer, the children of each Sabbath school marciies in procession, with their own teachers at their side, under banners, to some neighbouring grove, where food is provided and eaten, and then speeches are mude by ministers and superin- tendents, and songs J^ung, and harmoniums played ; sometimes one Sabbath scliool sings at a time, and sometimes the whole together. Beside these, there are monthly concerts, at which the schools of the different churches meet in some central church for singing and addresses. (Jlassicid SeniuKiries, Collctjes, and Uiiicerfiitict! are nearly all supported by the churches, instead of by tbf state. Pleasant and healtiiy is the rivalry on this subject, and wonderful arc the re'udts. The college property, uni- versity en.lowment, aud efficient teaching, with the aimy of students who attend, is really marvellous. Ti'ue it is, the course of study i>, not so tedious or so thorough as in the old country, but is more extensive and practical. The amomit of money spent by the diilerent churches in their different literary institutions is really marvel- lous. J)r. Elliott, an Irishman, the author of "lioman Catholicism Delineated," was the first to mtroduce young ladies' colleges to counteract the nuns' schools cstablitihed by the CathoUcs. The Methodist Church •■■ii^.. THK AMKRICAN CHUT^CHES. 157 lulopted the pin n; all the other churchca followed the example in swift succession ; o that now young ladies' colleges, in which are tauglit all the higher branches of education, are crowded with lady students of from 300 to 400 in each college, — gi'eat has been the success. \Vhile the president, and, perhaps, one jirofessor are gentlemen, all the rest of the teachers are indies, who have graduated at otiier colleges. The secular jnrsn cannot be said to be unfriendly to the churches, but often aid and assist them by the influence it wields in commerce and politics, for the entire community feel the necessity of sustaining schools fuid churches for the welfare of the people and the prospfcrity of the nation. Hence, ministers generally re«'ive the papers of the secular press either free, or at half-price. The reliijiom presft, however, is thu right arm of the church. The weekly, monthly and quarterly publica- tions amount to mill ions, so do the books and periodicttlH of the Sabbath school, i.ath church has its own publi- cation society, wiiicl^ caterw mental and moral food for the youth of its Sabbatli srthools and congregations. The iiiiiti/ of the c/iiircheH is not so much seen m out- ward uniformity and external worshij), as in tlie oupnenn of the doctrines they preach, tlie spirit tliiy manifest, and the intercourse they have with each otiier. Tlie fall of man, an atonement for all, the operation of the Spirit, and the need of a cliange of iieart, with the profession of religion, are held forth in nearly all the churches. At public services and revival meetings, the ministers of the ditfereiit churches often assist each m ■*sl ill Ul: hi 1 1 i : ! d ■ 1 1- Hit ^'^..^ 15Q T>VT.LVE YEARS IN AMKRIOA. otlier, while frequent interchange of pulpits on Sabl)aih (lays take place among the ministers of all. The respect paid to ministers of religion is general, and better evidenced by many tokens of regard, rather than obse- quious bows, or flippant language. The nation feels the need of ministers and clnu'ches, and are not slow to manifest their appreciation by liberal donations. In fact, men of the world know that the presence of schools, churches, and ministers are essentials to tli^ prosperity of the community, and the value of property. For property is often valued not only for the commercial, but also the literary and religious facilities around it. Tiiko the Bible, the school, and the church away from the American nation, and tlie government would go to pieces, and the country to ruin. Never could the Ame- rican government have been sustained hi its late conflict were it not for the aid given by the churches in the prayers ofl'ercd, the services they rendered, and the men they sent hito the held of conflict to save their country. Into this struggle one church sent a (jnarter of n nullinti men. The government was sustained, the country saved, the churches prospered, and sla\ery destroyed. *' God bless all the churches, and blessed be (Jod wlio has given us the churches," said the late President Lincoln. the non-kvan(iklicai, churt hes. The lUimtni iUithulir Clnur/i in A-merica .stands at the head of all the un-evangelical churches, as the oldest and the largest. Her increase latterly in the United States is almost exclusively confined to the CatlK- THE AMEiaCVM CHUBCHES. 150 oinii,'ration from ihc old countries, Ireland i'lirnishing about the largest contingency. Scarcely any native Americans belong to that church, and her converts from Protestantism have been still less. In the large cities and railroad and river towns she builds large churches, erects nunneries and monkeries, and schools attached, by which she tries to give her own children and others a liiglier and a lower education. In the smaller towns and country places, there are scarcely any Komanists to be found, and there they have lost iiiillioits of their people. Tlie \((lioiuil Juti'lUfieucer gives the following statistics: Archbishops, 7; bishops, 35; priests, 2,215 ; chtii iios and cliapels, 3,884 ; schools and academies, 1,404, pupils, 3<:).000 ; convents and monasteries, 302; ori)han asylums, >^. with 0,000 children. The Catholic population may be set down, in round numbers, at 3,000,000 ; yet the haiJ'f of these could not obtain church accomniodation from th^ juimber of churches they liave built. Thei-e is no doubt at all but they have lost eiioimously i-w tlie United States. 13ishop ENciiiAND, in n letter to Konoie, said that 50,000 were lost in his diocese alone. Priest Mullen, writing from New Orleans, to tlie f/txh Tablet, Dublin, in April, 1852, states that, after examining the statistics of Catholic emigi-ation to Amerioa, ti'om didferent countries, that at tluit time they had lost of tneir populatiot \nierica, 1.980,000. Since tlw^n, tdiey must have .v -r nearly iinotk niimUr lont to that church of her p<^^j>lc, up to the pre.^*'* tjttt<\ is -d/M 3,000,000. There arc very few of tlie ^ii'Amdt *h^ thir* x*^^i*''*'«'t:on of Catliolic eim^'ai>t>' wW ibtmam < f » »noc iO # witli that Ml I. ^ .- jj IfiO TWELVE YEARS IN \MEBtC\. church at all. On a small circuit the writer travolled in Illinois, he found ahout fifteen famiUes of Irish Catholic origin, who liad become devoted Methodists. The same will apply to the rnimher that join Baptist and Presbyterian dmrclies. In travelling' extensively through the country, I have met hundreds of families wlio had thus left Eomanism for Methodism. A few facts have produced these results : 1. — There is a moral and political atmosphere thrown around tJie Csitholic mind tluit is doiitli tu his system. The freedom of thouglit ; tlie equality of man before law, human and divine ; the riglit of private judgment ; and accountability to God, meets him everywhere. To an American mind, no tlioiight is more revolting or absurd than that •• the priest caji forgive sins." Often, when prt ssed witli this question, the tongue lias denied what the conscience was trained to believv^ and 3*atrick has often found himself in a dilemma l.>et\veeii the two. The whole geiiius and spirit of the political system is opposed to I'opery. 2. — A few years ago, the hierarchy with the priests endeavoured to obtain the public school funds, and appropriate them to the support of Koman Catholic schools, over which the priests had exclusive control. Tliis led to a severe conflict, in which the priests and their adherents were defeated, several Catholic rioters being shot down in tlie streets. 3. — Another conflict arose in the cluu'ch itself be- tween the people and the bishops, in which the latter endeavoured to obtain the control of all the church a/id rcclesinsticnl propeHy. by deeding the property to THE AMERICAN CHURCHES. 101 themselves. The people objected, nncl laws were passetl by the scA'eral legislatures roquh'ing the deeds of eccle- siastical property to be vested in laymen for the benefit of the clmrchea. 4. — The part the clergy took some years ago, in con- trolling and directing the votes of their people, led to the formation of the ''American Party, " which was extremely hostile to popery; so that at the time I buided in America, popery was everywhere the object of hatred and contempt. 5. — The rioting propensities of this part of the popu- lation is remarkable— there being few riots committed in tlie United States in wliich they are not implicated — even in connexion with the most solemn events. Scarcely can they attend a funeral of theii" own peo])lo without either racing, drinking, or figliting coming home. The American people cannot understand the mixing things sacred and tender with the profane and ravage. Yet, popery in America is of a much milder form and more enlightened type than in Europe. Al- though popery has lost in America,/'////*/ as ;//////// people as she has now attending her mass-houses, yet the greatest danger to the American people will come from this source, and the next great conflict there will be with this political system. The I'liilaritnis arose in America in the New England Slates, at a time when the church of the "Pilgrim Fathers" was cold and dead, having little of rellj^ious lite or fervor. The leaven spread secretly among ministers and congregations, and was not fully known until the heart-searching preadiing and revivals of NJ^Sq 102 TWELVE Y::ARa IN AMEltlC'A. J'li>\vARr)s and Wiiitefield oxposed it to view. As tlie number of those who were awakened and converted in thcEO revivals l)ecame more numerous and decided in religion, so the rest who remained indifferent to eitlier their own conversion or that of otliers, came out as Unitarians. The inlidel Hume said, "If Christianity be true, it is tremendously true." Tlie Unitarians con- sequently rejected the full of man, the Divinity and Atonement of C!n-ist, tlie Divinity and Personality of the Holy Spirit, and the need of a chan<:]fe of heart as a preparation for heaven. Errors, so pleasing to corru])t human nature, and flattering to the pride of man, soon gathered round them the careless and indifferent in religion, the j>rid<' and woaltli of the State, those wJio trusted in their own works instead of the sacrifice of Cln'ist. In Boston, nearly every Congregational churcli became Unitarian, and tln-oughout New England a large proportion of tlie congregations and ministers also. It is, liowever, principally limited to tl.ie New EnLiland States, the rest of the nation being too intel- hgent and sensible to receive its fallacies and vagaries. At present it is dying of consum]»cion, and Episcopalians and Catholics are Iniying up its churches, and absorbing its congregations. The hearts of the young long for the Living Water and the Bread of Life, instead of the dry crusts of Unitarian sophistries. About the same tinu\ and in the same place, arose / 'niirrsolis)ii : the one from the Pelagian corruption that ensued irom the spiritual death that pervaded the New EugUnd churclies, the other from tiie hyper -Calvauisiu pivuched ill those times. While Unitarianism ascended THE AMERICAN CHURCHES. 103 to tlie upper strata of society, flatteriiii^ its pride aiul pomp, Uiiiversalism descended to the lower strata, and ministered to the vices and tlie follies of the vulgar and the low; consequently, around this system gather all who entertain a hope of heaven, yet live in sin. ^Vllercvcr you find a village or community whoso morals are low, you may always trace their connexion with this l)ligli(ing system; and wlierevcr you find a man of loose or low morals he is sure to he one of this persuasion. Still I have found some persons among this people wlioso life and practice were hotter than their creed. While stationed in Petershurg, Illinois, a few years ago. as I was dressing one morning in my room, ahout the dawn of day, I heard a knock at my study-door, and went to see. A young lad said, " Sir, come do\^^l, my father is dying, he Avants you to pray with him.' I asked, who is your father ? Having in- formed mo : I rememhered Mr. C was a Universalist of loud profession. I went with the lad to his father's house : the candles were still lit, and the grey dawn was beamhig through the windows. The rooms wero crowded with Universalists and sympathising friends ; eight children were about to bo left fatherless, the weeping wife sat by the bed-side, and in the bed lay the man wasted by disease, and terror-stricken l)y unpardoned sin and a future judgment. Stretching out his hand to me, he said lie was glad to see mv ; he had felt wretched and miserable on account of his sins, and eouhl find no x':>Uef in the errors he embraced. He felt he must die, and he was unprepared for death. All this was said in the presence of his Universalist friends. •'II 1()4 TWELVE YEARS IN V3IRR1CA. I saw he w.is awakened, and was ready to come to Christ. I tried to direct him to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. He burst into tears. AVe knelt in prayer, and he called on the Name of the Lord. Next day I visited him again : he was not far from the Kingdom. I left him calling on the Name of the Lord. I was scarcely returned to my home when his sons came after me. I went in. The room was crowded with weeping friends wliom I had left a few moments before. I drew near the dying man, his face was lit up with a heavenly light, and his soul was happy in the Lord : he had just obtained mercy, and was warning his friends and urging them to come to Christ. He died a few days after, rejoicing in the Lord. Swendenborgians, Tunkers, Shakers, Winebrenarians, Christians, and Campbellites form the completion of the minor unevangelical sects, most of whom are im- mersionists in their views of baptism. The largest of these sects is the last mentioned. Tliev are the followers of the late Alexander Campbell, an Ii'ishman by birth, a Pre3byterian minister in his younger days, a Baptist after, and lastly, the founder of a sect who are numerous in the west. Mr. Campbell was a fine scholar, an eloquent controversialist, and a voluminous writer. He died a year ago. His followers first assumed the name of Reformers, then Disciples, now Christians, and by others are known as Campbellites. Mr. Campbell and his followers made an earnest attack on tlie leading doctrines and institutions of the churches, and in their stead offered to the people SnJ ration ihroiKjh immprnion. He ridiculed the necossitv of a cliango of hrnrt. or the THK AMKRICAN <.'HURCHES. lOo [irofessiou of the forgiveueas of sins in any other way than by baptism. So easy a form of rcHgiou soon took liold of the intlitferent and the irj-ehgious : tlie system became popular, and thousands left the Baptist churcl), and some the Presbyterian and others to join it, so that the denomination is made up of nearly all kinds of Unitarian, Universalist, and the apostates from ISIIH: other churches — the only bond of unity among them being bojtlismj'oi- the retimaion oj' .sins. This denomination is feeling the outside pressure of the evangelical churches around them, and, as a consequence, they are becoming more evangelical themselves. They are at present in a transition state, and probably will, ere long, merge into the Baptist church from whence they came, or, being evangelized in spirit and doctrine, become useful in society, otherwise they are destined to i: elt away. Wlienever the piety and zeal of evangelical churches become low and lukewarm, then the /^//evangelical pros- per; and as soon as the orthodox arc revived and nourish, the others die and perish. TYPES AND SHADES OF UNBELIEF. At the time of the American Revolution, the country was inundated with French infidelity ; as the French Kevolution acted on the American. Many feared for tlic Ark of God in ihose days, but there were always luitiiful men who stood by it, so that it never passed into the hands -of tlie Philistines. From the Declaration of Independence and formation of the Union to the prcsient time, there has been large importations of !()(> TWE1.VJ-: YKAIJS IN AMERICA. Gcrmiiii riitioiiali'sm with every wfivc of omigratioi tliat rolled from the fatherland. Ill the spring and suinmcr months of the year, as the sun shines warm, and the dew falls gently, and tlio rains descend freely, and the breezes blow, tJie earth brings forth weeds as well as fruits, tares as well as wheat, thorns as well as flowers, and fungi as ^vcll as tlio useful vegetation. These must be separated the one from the other ; the precious from the vile ; then the vineyard of the Lord shall be filled with fruitful vines, and the churclies with trees of righteousness. From these, several importations of French and Ger- man infidelity arose different circles and societies of Atheists, Deists, Socialists, and Fourrierists, &c., who formed separate settlements and societies, and distinct organizations, which lived and flourished for a short time, until the stench of their corruption became so unbearable to the senses of refined society, and their immorality so dangerous to community, that in many instances the people broke them up, in others they died out from innate depravity, and the exhaustion of the means squandered by the leaders. From the newness of the country, the liberality of the institutions, and the freedom of the government, Ame- rica formed an attractive field for the varied forms of infidelity, and the spurious systems of false Christianity. ]Jut the country that was so well adapted to their hitro- duction and trial, was also the means of their exposure and ovcrtlirow. For the people liaving 'once examined their cliaracter and tendency, abaiuloned tliein !•> foreigners, or to their own destruction. Some of theau III Till, AMKllUAN CllUllCIIliS, 107 societies and sects, tliou9:li hearing the name of Christian, are in rcahty (niii-Cltristiidi unci anti-religious. THE MORMONS Claim an mitsidc and iiisuU- rii'ir. Fliii^tanl and [nirtial writers, such as IU^rton and otliorH, wliu have been the outside only ol' Mornioiiism, who have hecn feasted and Haltered hy YouNct, the high [uiest of Mormonism, who have sat at his lahle, and saw a few of his smiling wives and children, have written glov/ing descriptions of the city of the saints, its spacious streets, flowing streams, sparkling fountains, cultivated gardens, religi- ous assemblies, and peaceable citizens. They saw not that the /u'((rl.s and Iioiiufi of these so-called saints who were whited scpulcln-es, which outwardly ax)peared fair to men, but within were full of all miclcdiiiicsa ! Occasionally there escapes from this den of lions, some faithful Daniel to tell the tale of his suilerings and woe; not unfre(|uently many a modest \'f(shti escapes from the harems of these bcasiial lords, to describe the domestic circle of !Mormon life in Utah, wdicrc crying children, scoldhig wives, j sirring husbands, crushed hopes, and broken hearts, make the leading elements of the iinier circle. The inner life of Mormon families is Avritten in hisi, drcril, hl<\, and iinndcr, and shall never 1)0 known until the last day rcNoal it. Originating in York State, it grew for a while in Nauvoo, Illinois, on the baidcs of the Mississippi, until the people could not bear its corruptions ; they shot the founder, oMrrii, burned his temple, and drove the saints out of tlic Ciarden State to Missouri. Not at home there, luulcv I^Bt ■ 'Hi ' HI' ^^ ■Bit Ir IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^1^ 1^ I.I 11.25 1^ U- m.r. 22 2.0 m 1.4 mil 1.6 VI m, ^^ / V' y /A Photographic Sciences Corporation S a>^ iV ^v 'C^ rv 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. M5S0 (716) 872-4503 ^ r i i lOH TWELVE YEARS IN AMKUICA. the lciiclor«liip oi* Drkjiiam Young, they moved to Utali, and settled between the mountums on the shores of tlic Suit Lake, as if conscious of the need of tliat mineral to save them from putrefaction ; or unconsciously ful- filling the prophecy of Ezekiel who said, '* that the mii-y and marshy places should be given to salt." — Ezekiel xlvii. 11. The Mormon church and settlements arc now ex- clusively dependent upon foreign emigrations and foreign converts. Their missionaries are out in all parts of Europe, even in Asia and Africa, disseminating their views and gathering their converts from all parts — scarcely can they find one now among the American people at home. This nest of hornets, this Augean stable will shortly I'e disturbed, and cleansed of its fouhiess. Numeroi s settlements of Christians are en- circling the city of the saints, and the railroad and tele- graph will expose its weakness, and, ere long, after a short, sharp contest, the Mormon settlements shall bo filled with Gentile converts, and the Mormon church ahall be either purged of its sins or overthrown, and the pollutions of polygamy shall give place to the sanctities of Christian married life. SPIRITISM, Or as i* is misnamed Spiritualism, is a far more corrupt system than Mormonism, more secretly carried on in domestic life and social circles, and more widely ex- tended in its ramifications through society, and far more dangerous, as it threatens to sap the foundations of society itself, and overthrow the most sacred and THE AMERICAN CHURCHES. 101) solemn institutions of tlie huul. There is no (lt)ul)t Imt ancient sorcery and modern Spiritualism are the .same, and tiiat the anathemas of heaven levelled aj^a'nst it in iiucient tnncs, helong to modern Spiritism, .l-'rom this source the ancient Jewish churcli met with much trouble. It early tried to ally itself to Christianity, even hi the days of Christ and his apostles ; it obtained a foothold in the churches of Per;j;amos and Thyatira ; it re-appeared in the dark ages, and in the early history of New England. The great Teacher said, " Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." "Neither come they to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved." The agents of thi^ 'bulest of all systems of error can perform only in the night, or in the (lark. The ti>m-hinl lliiill iilln llicil sirifl , iiiilir liniiniir hi liol thou II nihil In l/irir nsHniihlii,' Huiulrcds of those who liavc uttciuled the Spirit Circle are now mcntiiUy wrecked, aiul coiiliiiod within stutc asvhims, while the moral wrecks that lie on the outakirts of society might bu reckoned bv the thoiisand ! HI li ■«! I ^ CHAPTER XI. AMEIUCAN liEVlV AL8. rill': NKKU AND THE I'UKVALENCE OF REVIVALS OF KELIGION — THE GREAT AWAKENING AND REVIVAL OF 18^)7-8 THE PUBLIC PRAVER-MEETIN(JS REPORTS OF MEETINGS AND CONVEUSIONS FROM THE CITIES, TOWNS, STATES THE CONNEXION OF THE AMERICAN REVIVALS WITH THOSE OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, AND FIJI — ITS RKi^ATION TO THE LATE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES — THE BLESSED EFFECTS ON THE HOME CHURCHES, AND THE STATE OF THE NATION. No church can live without revivals. Thev aie as necessary to its existence aiul prosperity as the April (iliower to the autumn vintage, the warmth of sprhig to the golden fruits of harvest. There may be churches without life, lamps without light, trees without foliage or fi'uit, and fields without vintage or grain, but they arc only like the fossils of the Miocene ages, the statues of the gods, the relics of Pompeii, and the vintage of the Campaigna around the city of the Cicsars. Showers of blessings, streams of refreshing, and wells of Salvation, have over characterized the progress of the Cliurch of God in this world. The prophet, in his enraptured vision, saw the living streams flow from the llireshliold of the temple and the south side of the altar, 172 TWKLVi: YEARS IN AMF.niCA. I fit :, i '■* i i » I' until they reached the Jinkles, the knees, the luhis ; waters too deep to be passed over. — E/ekicl xlvii, 1,12. No doubt tlie successive measurements and depths indicated successive eras of revival in the Churcli of Clod, and tlie ultimate triumphs of His cause in the world. The apostle, in his apocalyptic visions, saw the IJiver of Life gushing out from the Throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing through the midst of the Paradise above; while on eitlur hank grew tlu- Tree of Life, whose fruit and leaves were for the healing and sus- tenance of the nations. The church has ever had seasons of revival, and showers of blessing. What were the days of the apostles, but "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord"?*" — Acts iii. 19. The Pentecostal efi'usion of the Spirit was the sprhig time of the church — the harvest is to follow. These were the limes whicli prophets sang, and patriarchs longed to see. Tlie lleformation era was a great season of revival, and time of refreshing from God. The church of the Pilgrim Fathers and the churches of the other colonies have been founded in revivals, and have continued to live only through the same reviving influences from on high. From the declaration of independence, and formation of the United States' government to the present tnne, the cluu'ches have been blessed with many and great revivals. It is not the object of the writer to narrate these, but to give a brief sketch of that great awakening of 1857-8, which preceded the late civil war, and pre- pared the country and the churches for the approachmg conflict. :ii ?: AMKRICAN RKVIVAL!*. 178 THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1857-8. In the ftutumn of 1857, God laid His hand on tlie commercial relations of the country, whicli became suddenly deranged. He overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of tlie stock-sellers. Thousands who had been rich, suddenly became poor ; many who were in affluent circumstances were left penniless. The gay trappings of fashion were laid aside for the robes of mourning. The mind of the nation was absorbed in dollars, dimes, and cents ; it suddenly found it was grasping only a shadow. There was an empty void that nothing earthly could fill. Merchants and their clerks turned from the shrines of mammon to the altar of God. The churches were opened for daily prayer, the stores and shops for prayer- meetings ; merchants who lost all their earthly goods, began to seek the pearl of great price. Those who lost their earthly estates and became bankrupt, were made rich in faith, and heirs of the inheritance of the sauits in light ; men who could only talk of mammon and the world before, now talked of Jesus and the revival. Great was the change — great were the results. On the 14th October, 1857, the financial disorder which had prevailed with increasing severity for many weeks, reached its crisis in an overwhelming panic that prostrated the whole monetary system of the country. Virtually in one hour, the struggle was over. While tlie conflict for lite was yet intense, an humble individual, unheard of in Wall-street, had been prompted to do something for the relief of the distressed merchants of the city. He was a doAvn town missionary, one of 174 TWKM'K YKVRS IX AMKRICA. ■ftl ;!r !.■ the fecblo few whom Diviue mcrcv, kiiitler to us than ourselves, had spared to this church-deserted quarter of the city. This missionary, sustained by the Eeformed Protestant Dutch Church in William- street, to explore the surrounding field, visit the sick and the poor, and bring in the inhabitant i and strangers to the house of God. According to the statement published, while walking down town one day, conceived the thought that an hour of prayer could be profitably employed by tlie business men ; confining no one to the whole hour, but coming in and going out at their convenience. He mentioned the idea to one or two persons, but no one thought much of it ; yet he resolved to carry it out. The hour appointed came ; three persons met in a little room on the tliird floor, in the Consistory building in the rear ol the church, and prayer was there offered. Mr. Lampheer, the missionary, presided, and one clergy- man was present. The next meeting was composed of six persons ; the next, of twenty persons ; the next meeting was held in the middle room on the second floor, and now on every Wednesday noon, the business men's prayer-meeting attracted increasing numbers. Its striking fitness and increasing usefulness were noticed in the newspapers, secular and religious, and the suggestion was earnestly made, that it should be opened every day mstead of weekly. This was promptly done, and the meeting room overflowed and filled a second, and eventually a third room in the same building, making three crowded prayer -meetings, one above another in animated prt)gi'ess at one and the same hour. The seats were all filled, and the passages and entrances AMliKlCAN RKVIVALS. 175 becfan to be choked with numbers, rendering it scarcely possible to pass in or out. The hundreds who daily vent away disappointed of admission, created a visible demand for more room, and the John-street Methodist church and lecture room were both opened for daily noon prayer-meetings, by a committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and were crowded at once with attendants. Meetings were multiplied in other parts of the city, and the example spread to Philadelphia, to Boston, and to other cities, until there was ;"^carccly a town of im- portance in the United States, save a few in the south, in which the business men's daily prayer-meeting was not a nourishing institution, and a leading agency in the unpre- cedented awakening of public interest in religion, which now cast all the other wonders of the age into the shade. To trace the origin, or rather the original agencies, of this Divine work is a deeper task than we here propose. We should be led more immediately to con- sider the re\ival conventions and synodical visitations of chm'ches, the Sabbath school conventions, and sys- tematic visitation of parishes, which have been held in various parts of the country for some two years before. We should then find that only a few of the more recent and general symptoms of the Di\'ine movement in the heart of the church had been touched ; and the linked suc- cession of events would lead us farther and farther back, from one past revival to another, and from one instru- mentality to another, until we had lost sight of the present state of things from which we stai-ted, among the endless ramificatioue of its complex origin. I III 170 T^^KLVK YK.VIW IN AMKHI^/. The Xuo}t(hn/ rn(i/n'-nu'itimjs. — First in order, wo have taken the noonday prayer-meetings, not deciding the degree of priority to which this movement is entitled among the instruments of the present state of thhigs, hut regarding them simply as the first and most remark- able public demonstration of the national awakening. The remaining pages will be mainly a compilation of records and reports, in the language of others. Systematic visitation, on the part of the ministers and churches in New York, with greater effort and activity in the Sunday schools, were found efficient means for promoting the revival. The visitation first commenced among the poor, until it reached the rich, the number of whom who attended no place of worship was found enormous. Several Sunday schools originated city missions, and these became, in a short time, self supporting churches. Thfi Pvtnier ^Fcctliiff in John -street Methn. , i 1 m ! 1 i 1 i 1 I (juence of their zeal in the work, they were cftlled by the X^rofane, "The flying aii-illery of heaven." Ja\jnex Hall, Philadelphia, was opened to noon-day prayer-meetings, which, prjbably, were the largest prayer-meetings ever held on the American continent — thousands attending. At one of these meetings a re- quest was made, that persons desirous of prayer should rise and raise their hands. A hard-featured man, loni^ an infidel and an enemy to all good, arose with botli hands above his head, and tears streaming down his cheeks ! At Newark, morning as well as noon prayer-meetings were established. These meetings were attended to overflowing. Thirty pastors and preachers in the city reported about 3,000 conversions. hi Patternon, Xew Jemey ; in Via ni field and Hohohru, union prayer-meetings were thronged with anxious in- quirers, and so in Jersey city. . In Albany, two union prayer-meetings were held daily, beside special services m nearly all the churches. At half-past eight o'clock every morning the Court of Ap- peals rooms were thrown open for the members of the legislature, and all who could attend them. At Troy, the prayer-meetings were well attended, and hundreds were brought under the power of the gospel, among whom were many noted for wickedness before. At Hudson, all the churches united in holding a union prayer-meeting, which became the means of good to many. At Pouyhkeepaie, the union prayer- meetings were held AMERICAN REVIVALS, 179 at four o'clock, p.m. Above 800 persons professed con- version, and united with the several churches. At IWI:dill, five o'clock prayer-meetincf was com- menced in the Methodist chiu'ch, which was lari^'cly attended. The work of revival commenced in the Sabbath school of the above church, and spread through to\vn to the other churches. Conversions about 850. At Utirti, the churches united and held daily union prayer-meetinqs. The noon and afternoon meetii^-jtj l»ccame so thronged that some of the largest cliurclicM were thrown open to morning meetings, which vcro also crowded. At Schencrta.ii/, .wo daily prayer-m-^etings wore lu'^d, and in tl" evening every church-bell sounded for prayer. A large numl>or were converted to God, and such u time of gracious visitation the oldest inhabitants had never seen. ... '• • ■ •' . In Ihi/alof, the revival influence was greatly increased in the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and German ciiurches. Himdreds were brought to the knowledge of the truth. ' ' ' '" • '- ' ' ' ^' "•• • ' At Genera, a revival of great stillness, depth and solemnity was prevalent at the Presbyterian clmrcli, under Dr. Winslow, which was extending to the other churches. At Pittshimj, the daily prayer-meetings were thronged, and crowds surrounded the altars for prayer in the different churches. In Clevelaml, daily morning prayer-meetings were held in nearly all the churches, which were largely attenvled. One church held five daily meetings, commencing at 180 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. i! I . T :;» ' g ;« lii six in the morning and closing at niue at night. About 1,000 persons professed religion and united with tiic different churches. In Cincinnattl and LulianopoUs, the daily prayer- meetings were introduced with similar results. In Chicoffo, more than 2,000 business men met at the daily prayer-meetings, and the churches received showers of spiritual blessing. Many merchants from other places coming on business to the city almost forgot their temporal for their eternal interests. At Detroit, nearly all the churches were quickened, and received large accessions of converts. At Louisville, Keuturkji, more than 1,000 attended the daily prayer-meeting. At St. Louis, Mo., all the churches were crowded, and many conversions took place. From Wnshinld out his farm, and re- moved to Kansas, 500 miles farther west, to escape the bustle of the road ; but since then, the railroad has reached him in Kansas, and gone 500 miles farther toward the Rocky Mountains, on its way to the Pacific. A year later, he returned to receive the last payment for his land. He sailed down the Missouri from Kansas to St. Louis, where he ventm*ed on the train for Bloomington, near his former home. On amving at Bloomington, the shouting of carriage and omnibus drivers was so great, the moving to and fro of so many people so exciting, and the din and bustle of moving trains, railroad bells ringing, and steam whistles blowing, that he became nervous, and hesitated to step on the platform, lest the train should move from under him. While he hesitated, the bells rang, the whistle blew, and the train started and brought liim to Chicago, 130 miles farther. There he got out, and returned the next day to Bloomington, and ventured out, being assisted by the conductor. The grove contained three preaching appointments — two in school houses, at either end, one in a church, in the village already referred to. Around each of these appointments, a class and congregation gathered to worsliip. In the old frame church, the writer preached and held watch night services, on the last night of that year (being Sunday). Congregation was very large ; the services were deeply solemn, and continued there and in the neighbourhood during part of the week. At 'I 190 TWELS'B YEAES IN AMERICA. ^' 3 m 51 -i^ ^.'f ^.1 i t^iv \ M ''.■'' i I s 'i- ■■ ■• ■ • i '- tc ' il 1 f ^ ! i ■■If ■ ; I ! If i :'-t ;\ 111 \ 4' [ '"' '' i :!. "i % ^ 1 these meetings, some came forward to seek, and found relif^ion. The shower of blessing that thus fell at Christmas and new year was as an earnest of a much larger, that came at the following Easter, when, in connexion with the labours of two Baptist ministers, a blessed revival followed the united labors. On Easter eve, the writer preached to a crowded congregation ; at the close of the meeting, several persons were converted, and united with the Methodist church, and some with the Baptist. In all, there were a1)0ve thirty persons professed religion, more than half of whom cast in their lot with the Methodists. At the close of the meeting, one of the Baptist ministers, while administerhig the rite of baptism to his converts, in the water, took a chill, which turned to fever, and resulted in his death ! Wlien dying, I visited him ; he told me the above facts. He felt convinced he was going to die, but was not afraid ; he was ready, and rejoiced in anticipation. His soul appeared very happy while I prayed with and commended him to God. Shortly after, he went tri- umphant home. In and around the grove, where the old church and two school houses stood, are now four new churches, each of which would hold more than attended the first three. From one Sabbath day to another all of these churches are crowded with attentive hearers. , LONG AND SHORT POINT Occupied the two extreme ends of a grove that stretched in crescent form, about six miles to the south and south- west of the above gi'ove referred to. At Short Point, THE RANDOLPH OROVE CIRCUIT. 101 the meetings were held in a school house. Here some young men gave their hearts to God, and offered their lives to their country's service during the war ; they returned home with tho honorahle scars of battle. At L()n(f Point was a large society, full of zeal and energy in the cause of God. The class meetings, where old and yoimg met and spoke, were Bethels, marked by the Divine presence and power. At almost every meeting good was done, and the work of grace begun in the hearts of the young people, began to take deeper root, and bring forth fruit to the glory of God. At the close of the conference year, in September, a camp meeting was held in the grove, at which many attended, but there were no conversions. The preaching was long, dry, cold, and argumentative, which chilled instead of quickened the revival feelings of the members. As the camp was breaking up, some of the leading members besought me to remain with them, and transfer the meeting to a school house in the grove ; to this I consented, by getting my superintendent to fill my other appointments. At night we met in the old log school house, and while I was preaching, the power of God came down, and several rushed forward to the altar of prayer. Weeping parents knelt beside their sobbing children, and prayed for them with yearning love and tender pity. In a short time some seven or eight were made happy in the Saviour's love, most of whom con- tinue in his service to this day. This was the beginning of a glorious work, that still lives on in that neighbour- hood. In the grove, where the old school house stood, is now a large and comfortable church, where the word 192 TWELVE YEAR8 IN AMERICA. is preacliecl, and a large conj^rcgation asscmbleH to worship, and the grove still echoes to the voice of praiso ascending to the skv. ^m WAUPELLA Lay a few miles further sonth of this : a small town, suddenly created on the Illinois central railroad, whore the railroad company have a machine shop, hotel, and some of their largest buildings. A local preacher of tlie name of Borders had preceded me a few meetings ; ho was the first preacher there. A few years since, after bringing up a large, respectable, and religious family, he died in peaceful triumph, and went to Christ in Paradise. A young son, in his nineteenth year, preceded his father to the heavenly world. I was with him when he was passing away, and preached liis funeral sermon to a large congi-egaticn. The surviving children are following in their father's footsteps. May they meet him in heaven. As there was no church in the place, a kind-hearted Universalist, whose wife was a Methodist, opened his house for the preaching of the word. Here we often had some blessed meetings, and seasons of refreshing from on high. The pious woman, in whose house ^ e met, has since died and gone to heaven. She w an humble, faithful woman. Her sorrows have be i turned into joy. Her eldest son sought the Lord, nd found salvation ; went to the field of battle, retume safe, and is now at home. Not far from this lived a family of the name of Hammond, the subjects of a succession of mysterious and afflictive providences. I knew them well — the THE HASnOLPH OROVE CmCXTlT. 108 father was an exhorter in the Methodist church, a man of fine mind and devoted piety ; the mother was also ; deeply devoted woman, so were nearly all their family tlien grown. The eldest son, a fine young man, perished in his country's conflict. The eldest daughter was married to a class loader — he was k^Jed by a stroke of lightning. The second daughter married — her husband was lost. The third daughter married — her husband was killed on the railroad, while attending to the train in the above town. The father was returning one cold night from the meeting in the above place, where he laboured hard for the conversion of souls during the evening; he fell, fainte*', and died in his daughter's aiTns in a moment, on their way home, as they sat in tlie waggon ; so that he that laboured to bring souls to Christ a few hours before, was with his Lord and Master before the sun rose. The wife was left a widow, with three widowed daughters, and three younger children, and two grandchildren. ** Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name." "Leave thy fatherless children unto me." ■ • '' " God moves In a mysterious way His wonders to perform.** Li Waupella, a good society and a large congregation have been gathered, and a neat new church has been built. The chimes of its bell fling their echoes on the passing breeze, as it sweeps the surrounding prairie, and calls the people to worship, and the childi'en to Sabbath school. N jll WWr 'W i i 'an! % i If 1D4 TXNTELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. FUNK S GROVE Lay a few miloH north-west of this. It was the possesflion and the home of the late senator, Isaac Funk ; now of his chilclren and heirs. About forty years ago, Isaac Funk and liis ))rothcr Jksse left tlieir home in Ohio and moved out to Illinois. Tlicy wore poor young men, hut honest and industrious. They married, united with the church, purchased small portions of land around them at 1.25 dollar per acre, traded in stock, added farm to farm, became rich. Isaac sold above £' 10, ()()() worth of siock in Chicago the winter after I ariived at his house. When ho died, two years ago, he was pos- sessed of above 80,000 acres of some of the richest lands in Ilhnois. and his brother had about I.'), 000, half of thatnumbei-. Both were stewards and trustees in the Methodist church when I went there. Their homes were tlio stopping-places of the preacherw on the circuit and district. At camp-meetings they took a leading part, not so much in the devotional exercises as in the physical. If there happened to be uny rowdy fellows of the baser sort that attempted to disturb the meeting, they were sure to feel the muscular grasp of these pow- erful men, and sue for i>eace and promise amendment. Their tables spread at these prima>val feasts were co- vered with the richest meats and the finest viands, open to all who might come and partake. Mrs. Isaac Funk was a noble and devoted woman, one of the best of wives, and the most atfectionate of mothers. Few per- sons could be kinder to those who ministered at the altar and visited h<>r house. She would remind you of the portrait of the true woman given iu l*roverl)s. xxxi. THE RANDOLPH GROVE CIRCUIT. 195 It seemed as if her life was a copy of that picture. Early in tlie spring of IHfii, while nttending his duties as senator in Springfield, the State capital, he was taken yick, reached Blooraington on his way home, became worse, and died of malignant erysipelas, at the residence of his son. On hearing of his sickness his wife hastened in to attend her husband, but oecoming deeply affected at his approaching end, she, too, took sick and died on the same day ! Two weeks after, his brother Jessk also took sick and died of the same disea.:o. Botl: have left large families to mourn the loss of their departed re- latives, and to inherit the riches which they gathered. FiDik's iimvr was often made to resound with the voice of prayer and the song of praise. Often ut camp- meetings have we heard tiiosc men bemoan their sins, and pour out their hearts in prayer to God, ami call upon Him for mercy for themselves and others Some of the largest trees of oak, asli, walnut, and hickory, wo have seen in this grove. So dense was tlie overshadowing foliage of the .;ees in summer that the sun's light and heat were shut out from the ground be- neath. Sometimes the silence and soliUide of the forest were broken by the echoes of the woodman's axe, the scream of the woodpecker, or the shrill sound of the rail-car whistle, or tlie call of the herdsman bringing home his flock. Farms are cultivating and houses building around the grove, which give more signs of life and comfort, while within, where the old sohool-house and the grave-yard stood, and the sleepers slept in the leafy grove, is now building a beautiful house of worship by the childi-eu of 190 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ^t!!.! tlie late senator Funk, and the members and friends of the church around. spring's school-house Stood in the south-west end of Oldtown Timber, a grove about eight miles south-east from Bloomington. It was the scene of an old camp-meeting, the grounds of which stretched along the heights of the Kickapoo creek, and by the side of springs which fed this stream. Here gathered the tribes of the Methodist Israel from far and near to worship in this forest sanctuary. Here many a soul was converted to God, many a straying one was reclaimed, and many a believer w^as made to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The preacher's stand, the congregation's seats and wooden tents still stood as mementos of the times when churches and school- houses were scarce, and the people gathered for a week or two in the fall of the year to worship God in the leafy grove. Old members often referred, in their re- ligious experience, to those scenes of grace and times of refreshing from on high. The school-house was also old ; yet here the teacher met the children daily, and the Sabbath school met every Sunday morning, while tlie house was generally occupied in the afternoon by the preaching of the Word of Life. LOST IN the wood. For this appointment, the writer left one Saturday afternoon the city of Bloomington. The sun was high, but as he rode on, it began to descend, as he thought, more rapidly than in Ireland : a latitude several degrees THE RANT/ULPH GROVE CIRCUIT. 1U7 farther north. Nor was he much mistaken ; for scarcely had the sun gone down, when the night fell suddenly about him, but the darkness was again lit uj) by the rising moon. At this time I reached the edge of the grove, and had to go near three miles farther before I could reach my destined place. As I had never been this way before I was constrained to inquire the way ; but instead of going the right way I wandered into the ^vrong, and followed it far into the woods and into the uight. The road led me on to a beautiful hill in the grove, and then divided into divergent roads for different directions. Here I halted, not knowing whither to go or what to do. To lie out in the wood all night did not appear at all desirable. I lifted up my heart to God and prayed for direction. I then arose and listened if, perhaps, I could hear some human sound or voice. as I could see neither face nor form. Scarcely was I a moment listening, when I heard the sound of a wood- man's axe, and marked the direction from whence it came. Grateful to God for this mercy, I rode on in that direction, and soon came out on the edge of the grove by the side of the right road, where a log-houso stood, and a man outside of it chopping wood. I asked was this the way to Squire Price's ? He said it was. After he described the way I thanked him, and rode on. He called me back, saying, "I suppose you are the preacher? ' I said, '* Yes." " I have thought as you never came this way before, you would find it hard to get the way ; and although I am a very bad man, if you would stay with us to-night, we will go with you to meeting to-morrow." I thanked him, and said I would U 198 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. accept his kind offer. Calling out to his son at the distant stable, he said, "■ Here, John Wesley, take the preacher's horse." John Wesley, a fine boy of fourteen years, came and took the horse. I remarked, '* It appears that although you may be a bad man, as you sa3% there are still some traces of goodness about you." "Oh, yes," said he, "though I am not what I ought to be, I like good people," He brought me into the house, introduced me to his m£e and family, who wel- comed me as a messenger of mercy. The table was spread with the supper viands, of which we eat heartily : for, in America, the food of the poorest is both rich, varied, and abundant of meats, bread and fruit. The poorest log-houses are neatly eiirpeted, and the build- ings comfortable. After supper, before the cliildren retired, the Bible was taken down, and the dust wiped off it, for it had not been used, perhaps, for months, or even years. Out of this I read, and then went to prayer, after singing a verse or two. While at prayer, 1 was led to refer to the time when we first believed — when the candle of the Lord shone upon us. Just then, I heard the sobbing cry of the man behind me. When done, he ro o with the tears streaming from Iiiy eyes, and rushed oiit of the houso. Like another Peter. he went out to weep bitterly ; nor did he return until the most of the family had retired to rest. When he came in his eyes were red with weeping. He then di'ew near mo and said, " It was the Lord that led you here to-niglit. I am," said he, again wee^nng, "au old backslider. I know what religion is : for I have felt its power and tasted its blessings. My father and mother THE RAXDOLVH GROVE CIRCUIT. 100 lived and died members of the Methodist church. They died ill the triumphs of faith. I sought reUgion and foimd it. I left OJiio some time ago for Iowa, and reached this far in my journey. Here we thought we would remain for a while, and I neglected handing in my letter to the church, or to unite with it. I then neglected meeting, prayer, and fell into sin, and have kept irreligious company, and now I am one of the worst men in this place. But my desire is to return unto the Lord that He may have mercy upon me. And now I believe that God sent you this way to-night that I might be recovered. It is as if an angel had visited me, when, in your prayer, you referred to the time when the candle of the Lord shone on me. The Spirit of God again returned to my soul, and I felt as if my heart would break." ' During this recital the man wept and sobbed alter- nately. I could not but see the hand of God in it. I tried to direct him to the Lord, against whom he had sinned so grievously, and again we knelt in prayer before God, when he aj)peared to have obtained relief from his burden and pardon for his sin. Early next morning, December Slst, we went to the school-house ; the congregation gathered ; I preached. After preaching a large number remained for class- nieeting. The above man referred to, with his wife, remained, and told how he had wandered from God, and in what a providential manner he was brought back, and now he wished to return and live to God. Bubsequently, some of his family professed religion, and shortly after they removed to Iowa, farther west. 4 Pit H Si •MI I ^ 200 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. There were several devoted members belonging to this society and congregation. On Sunday, the 18th of the following March, wc commenced a protracted meeting here, and continued it for several days. The weather was cokl, but tlic congregations were large, and the peoi^le listened with deep attention. On the nights of Tuesday and Wed- nesday several persons came forward seeking and found Salvation. On Thursday night, about nine o'clock, an overwhelming power came down on the meeting. In a few moments seven or eight persons were converted ; the old people wept for joy, and the yomig people shouted aloud the praises of the Lord ; mourners were comforted ; sinners were smitten ; all were deeply im- pressed. It was with difficulty we could break up the meeting at eleven o'clock. Next night was also a scene of great power : several were blessed ! but one remained unconvei'ted. He besought me to continue the meeting. I told him we could not, that we should have to close it that night. He caught me in his arms and cried, "What must I do to be saved?" I directed him to Christ. The meeting broke up. He did not continue seeking, and remained unsaved for four years longer, until I returned to the same place, when he found Salvation. His name shall come up again. The effects of this blessed revival lasted a long time. My colleague, Mr. Barthelow, laboured in it with zeal and energy. On one of the nights of the meeting, an unconverted but friendly man asked me to go home with him. I declined ; but he pressed : I consented. As we rode through the timber he said to me, *'I shot a large THE RANDOLPU GROVE CIRCUIT. 201 deer to-day, and I want you to come and partake of it.' I said I was glad to taste veniboii ; it was a favourite meat with me. We reached the house. The winds were blowing and the snow falling. As we en- tered a large log-fire blazed away in the open chimney. The childi'en lay between two beds, in Dutch style, like turtles, with their heads sticking out. I never saw it before on this fashion. A large deer, skinned and cleaned, lay several hundred pounds weight upon a low, long table, waiting to be cut up in the morning. I need hardly say that the venison was excellent. In the early times the old settlers in Illinois lived princi- pally on venison ; for deer were then numerous, and wild honey abundant. At present herds of deer arc scarce, but in the winter they frequent the woods, and in summer they may be caught on the prairies. UNION CHURCH Was a church about three miles farther east in the grove, built by the Cumberland Presbyterians and the Metho- dists. Each denomination had preaching in it once in two weeks, which gave preacliing every Sabbath to the people. On Saturday, January 13, 1855, the Methodist quarterly meeting was held at this chiu-ch ; the vn'iiei' preached at night, and the Eev. George Fairbanks, P.E., preached in the morning, I again at night. Congrega- tions were very large, and the people serious. The night following the Rev. Mr. Barthelow preached an impressive sermon, and I followed in exhortation, during which several came forward to seek religion, and many were blessed, while old members rejoiced in HI 202 T^VEL^'E YEARS IN AMKRICA. Ji 1 ::3-; t! the Lord ; many of these forward were their children, not a few of whom were Presbyterians. The next evening I preached, and invited persons forward to seek the Lord ; the altar was crowded with mourners ; the great power of God came down ; a loud shout of glory went up ; sinners began calling on the name of the Lord ; mourners were passmg from death unto life ; great grace rested on many. During the next two nights Mr. Bakthelow conducted the meeting; I was absent, but the Lord was there to wound and to heal. On Friday I returned, took charge of the meeting ; tlu'ough the day prayer- meetings were held. At night I preached, invited forward, many others came, and several found peace in believing that night. The fol- lowing day and night the work continued on, several of the Presbyterians assisted ; many of their young people were converted. At the close of the meeting this night, some had to be taken away in deep distress ; their cries echoed through the surroimding woods going home; many found it hard to leave, for the power of the Lord was present to heal. That night came on a fierce snow storm. The next day the snow fell fierce and fast^ and the winds whistled tlu'ough the smTOunding grove — many cattle perished. At night the storm ceased, and the snow was about sixteen inches on tliG level, and very deep in di'ifts. It was the greatest snow storm that had been for twenty years before. Our meeting was necessarily closed, as the people could not get out. Large congregations and very blessed meetings con- tinued to be held in this place during the remainder of the year, and the yoimg converts generally continued to THE RANDOLPH GROVE CIRCUIT. 208 walk ill the light of God's couiitenance. Four j'oars later the writer returned, but the exdtimi stoi-ij of ihtit timr he leaves to auother chapter, being its most appro- priate place. BETHEL Was the name given to a place where a Baptist church stood, some four miles further east in the same grove. The church was newly built, and its owners somewhat indebted to the Methodists for assisting them in building it, hence, they willingly gave it to them to hold occa- sional meetings. It was arranged for me to hold a protracted meeting there, the week following my labours at *• Union church." A yoimg man came with me to show me the way, and break the snow-di-ift if necessary ; on om* way we met a waggon — a man and his family in a drift, so deep the liorses could not di'aw them out ; we assisted, and they finally succeeded in getting out on theii" way. I went to the house of Mr. James White, one of the stewards of the circuit: we went to the church but no one came, the snow was so deep, and as yet the roads and lanes tlu'ough the drifts unbroken. At this time there were not more than some seven or eight members in the neighbom'hood, consequently the prospect of revival was very slim, and the labourers to assist very few ; but God could raise out of these stones children unto Abraham. For several nights we con- tinued meetings here, but the weather became so cold we adjourned for a while. Shortly after we resumed it again, when a young woman, whom I married a short time before, came forward to seek religion ; her husband fil; 204 TWELVE YEAR8 IN AMEHICA. also appeared much affected. Two young men came iogethcr and knelt down bide by bide, some whispered to me that they were not sincere, but mockers. 1 stooped and saw their faces, but no sign of penitence on them, spoke to them, but there was no emotion or feeling in their voice, but a waggish smile upon their faces. I felt awful. I had never met the like before. I called on the congregation to unite with me in prayer. I prayed that God might smite some of these young men with the mark of his displeasure as a warning to others lest they also should come to mock, but spare the guilty, so as to lead him to repentance. "When prayer was over the young men arose and retired ; one of them was smitten while I was praying over liim. That night he appeared on the verge of death, several went in different dii'ections for physicians : none could be obtained until morning. At that time he began to get some relief, and finally recovered. Shortly after he became a sincere penitent, sought and found mercy, and is now a member of the church he thus maligned, and the mercy he thus mocked. The fact of his being thus afflicted, created at the time a wide spread reverence for the cause and the services of God, and was the beginning of a gracious work. A few nights after, a leading merchant in the community became deeply penitent, united with the church, and the same night received Salvation. He is now a talented local preacher, and successful physician in Bloomington. When made a partaker of divine grace, he became active and zealous in the cause of God. Congregations increased, sinners were saved, and in the place where I found but some THE RANDULPll OROMS CIRCUIT. 205 ling to i spare When d; one r liim. several e could (gan to iter lie |cy, and d, and ag tlms erenco •a3 the iter, a deeply |e niglit •eaclier, tu made zealous sinners Lit BOXttC four or five members, I left above sixty at the end of the year. Classes were formed, leaders appointed, and the work of God greatly prospered. I baptized a large number of children in this Baptist church, at which services Baptists as well as Methodists devoutly worshipped. The gi-acious presence of God was manifest : many tears were sliod, and the power of the Lord was present to heal. At the close of the conference year, in September, we had an excellent missionary meeting — the church could not contain the people ; we adjourned to the grove, and there I preached a missionary sermon, and invited all wlio felt it their duty to give, to come forward and lay tlieir offering on the table before which I stood, under tlie shade of a tree. Several advanced and laid down tljeir offerings until they amounted to a sum four times larger than I at first expected. It was hard to part from such a people as this. Four years later I returned, and nearly all of those who professed religion in the above meetings remained faithful, but there was an un- pleasant feeling arose between the churches on politics, —to this I will refer again. BLOOMING GROVE Adjoins the city of Bloomington, lying south of it. It well sustains the name it bears, being beautiful for situation, and blooming with the beauties of varied vegetation in the summer months. On*^ of the first white settlers in the country was a family of the name of Hendrix, who pitched their tent in this Grove about fifty years ago. Varied tribes of Indians dwelt then in the land. From these wandering sons of the forest, f*1* II* w 20rt TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. Rev. Jesse Walker, the Methodist misHionarv, learned tlie fact, and set out on his lenp;thened journey to reach them. The snow covered the ground, the weather was cold, hut the missionary travelled on imtil late one evening he reached the grove : saw the smoke of the lone white house ascend ahove the trees ; he rodo up. Those within heard a faint call outside. On going out, Mr. Hendrix saw the missionarv, invited him in, hut he was not ahle to alight from his horse, heiug frozen almost to death. He was carried in, laid hy the side of the warm log-fire until he revived. The result was, the missionary hrought Salvation to that house, for they had entertained an angel unawares. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix were converted, and united with the Methodist church. The hushand lived and died in the faitli and hope of the Gospel. The wife was alive when the writer reached America. From her lips he had the above story in the same house, and by the same fireside. Since then she also has gone to her reward above. Jesse Walker was the first missionarv, Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix the first Methodists, and their home the first preaching place in central IDIpois. In those days no other denomination followed the white settlers as the Methodist itinerants did. Th ; result is, Methodism possesses half the professing membership of the churches in the west. East and west of this grove were two school-houses, at which preaching appointments were held, and to which the people gathered. At the Brick school-house in the east, we held a protracted meeting in the winter, at which some good was done and some souls were THE RANDOLPH OROVE CIRCUIT. 207 arned reacli 21 waK be one of tlio (do up. ig out, in, but frozen lie siilo lit was, L18C, for nd Mrs. ethodiHt dith and le wTiter Le above ireside. above, md Mrs. the first days no s as tlie (thodism churches l)leR.sed. At Henshaw's school-house, west of the (rrove, we held extra meetinpfs, winter and summer, at wliich several conversions took place, and some that Clime to scoff remained to pray. Congregations in- creased ; a class was formed, over whom I placed a leader, who was instrumental in doing mucli good. In tlio summer the cholera was severe : many fell in town and country. While visiting the sick, praying with the (lying, and l)urying the dead, .John Adams was faithful. He caught the disease, fell before it, l)ut died in the triumph of faith. I liastened to visit his family : I knelt beside a cholera child in the cradle, and with the weeping wife and widowed mother. Never shall I for- get that hour. The power of God came down. The bereaved family were comforted ; the fatherless child recovered ; and the mother, who up to that time had opposed her husband, was a stranger to religion, now melted into contrition, gave lier heart to God, and her hand to the minister. I received her into the church ; and when I had last seen her, she and her mother-in- law and little family were regular in their attendance on the house of God. Bptween this Grove and *' Funk's Grove" a prairie of some miles extended. Over it I rode from one appointment to another. About midway between, a new and solitary house stood. Wliere that house then stood, a town and railway station now stand. It is the beautiful little to)\ii of Shirley, with one of the most picturesque and beautiful landscape views spread out before it. 208 TWELVE YEARS IX AMERICA, I ( TWIN GROVE. About two miles west of Bloomington stood two groves but a short distance apart. To these was given the appellative of " Ticin Grove." A society of some four or five members were here gathered, and a cong:-e- gation from time to time assembled to worship in a school-house in the edge of the grove. The steward's name was Gillespie, the son of an Irishman who was a Catholic- Hnndreds of thouaamh of such persons may be found in the United States, whose parents or grand- parents were Catholics ; while the children or grand- children are devoted Methodists, pious Presbyterians, or Baptists. The church of Rome in the United States lives mostly by the emigration from Catholic Europe, there being few of American birth who belong to that church. Father Gillespie, as he was generally called, had a large family of interesting children, while himself was of Irish descent, his wife was of Dutch connexion Their house was the home of the Methodist minister. Anthony Hazebaker was the class-leader, a man of faith, energy, and power in prayer, a sweet singer, and a good exhorter. A few Dutch families from Pennsyl- vania also moved into the neighbourhood, purchased land and settled there. The parents were religious people, and their children brought up under religious training. On Sunday, the 10th of June, Brother B\rthelow, my colleague, held a meeting in the grove : a very larf^e congregation attended, and a gracious influence rested on the people, some of whom washed to have a pro tracted meeting. He announced for me ';o preach the THK hanpoj.ph grovk circuit. 209 tvro riven some :ng:-e- in a 10 was IS may grand- grancV ierians, I States Surope, to that r calletl, liimself mexion inistcr. man of er, anil eiinsyl- LU'cliased eligioi^s eligious ^THELOW. jry lavQ;c ;e restcil [e a pi'O" leacli the next evening and continue the meeting. At the above meeting a young minister the name of Leard, a member of one of the Ohio conferences, preached — a descendant of one of the Leards of Drumsna in Ireland — to whom reference is made in the beautiful volume of the Rev. William Crook, on "Ireland and the Centenary of Ame- rican Methodism." On Monday evening I went to the school-house in the grove, the congregation was large, and while preaching an extraordinary power came down on the people. The weather was waim, the season was busy ; some thought the people could not attend. I announced for meeting the next night. Through the following day I visited and prayed with several families. At night the congregation was so large that we could scarcely find room to stand. While visiting in tlie fore- noon I went into a house by mistake, which I thought was one of our own people. An old and a young woman sat quilting as I entered. Finding I was not asked to sit down — which is remarkable in America — I took a chair and sat do^^ii. I asked several ques- tions ; I was answered in moLysynables. I asked, "shall we have prayer ?" They sf.id, "you can pray as much as you like." I wished for -,>, Bible to read, they not rising to get one, I rose and obtained one, and read ; tliey continued quilting. I knelt down to pray, and they quilted or I rose and left, having never met with the like before or since. They wore Cinnphellites, >i sect of people to whom I shall refer again. A young man, a member of this family was paying his addresses to a young woman, the daughter of one of our most devoted women. The above family were afraid if 'ilm young o 210 TWELVE YKARS IN AMERICA. Ill ■*;»■ woman got converted they should lose her ; to prevent this they brought her off from the meeting to distant dancing parties, but Catherine was not happy at the dance. Her mother was praying for her at home. Under these circumstances the writer gave her up, but her mother would not. I had no faith for her con- version, her mother had. At night I announced for a prayer-meeting at ten o'clock the next morning, and invited all who longed for Salvation to come. Early in the morning I heard old Mrs. Gillespie praying in her room up stairs, that God would at this time convert her family. The tones of her voice trembled with emotion ; when I heard that prayer I believed the Lord would answer it. At ten a.m. the people began to gather ; we commenced the meeting ; that morning several souls were converted — It was a time of great power. At night the congregation was so large, that the house could not hold more than half. Every person seemed deeply affected — an awful solemnity rested on the people. Next morning the prayer-meeting exceeded the one preceding, some six or seven more were converted. At night the congrega- tion was still larger, and the people hung on the ministry of the word. The following morning was another scene of great power. At night while addressing the people about their eternal interests, I remarked that, perhaps this time would be the last that some there would ever have of seeking Salvation again, and just then a loud scream of terror rose from a young woman on my left ; the mother rushed from where she stood to the young womnn who had fallen down, threw h , arras t> THE n\NDOLPH GROVE CIRCUIT. 2U around her, weeping, '*0 Catherine, my child, my child!" It was the above yomig woman referred to. Having heard of the numerous converts, many of tliem her young associates, she could stay away no more — to-night she was smitten — her mother's prayers were answered — mother and daughter wept in each other's arms ; the congregation wept too. All the way home she wept, and all that night she prayed. Early the next morning she came to the meeting, and as I invited forward, she came saying : *' I can but perish if I go, 1 am resolved to try, For if I stay away, I know I must for ever die ! " With her came forward a large number, every one of whom was converted that morning. The last was a young lady of sixteen, whose father was an infidel ; he was on the outskirt of the crowd looking at his daughter, when the heavenly light shone on her face, and her soul wnv made happy in God. He burst into tears — bowt d ir. ((.'.Myer — called on the name of the Lord — was cleariy \rnveited — joined the church — and afterwards beuunic n v.- /^i al class-leader. His wife was religious, the youngest daughter, fourteen years old, also sought and found. An old woman who was an Universalist, became deeply moved ; bursting into tears, she began calling on the Lord and found Salvation. Twelve years have pans she is yet faithful ; her youngest son was power- fully : ."erfced while I knelt by his side. The above young 'Aornan referred to had her sorrow turned into joy. She sacrificed the person to whom she was engaged, I w f. W ^ I. ■ 212 TWKr.VK YKARS IN AMKRICA. ns ho anrl his family were scoffino: nnhelievcrs. She lias since married a pious man with whom she lives happy. Several of the young Dutch people were also converted, and their parents rejoiced as well as prayed over them in Dutch. We sometimes sang the same hymn and tune in Dutch and English together. Mrs. Gillespie, the praying mother, had all her children converted, four vjs and one daughter ; the youngest, that was then a \i has since been saved. About forty persons were cc verted at that meeting, the five members ])ecame fifty, and the fifty since increased to a hundred. The old school-house has been replaced by a new and large one, and quite near it a new Methodist chtirch is now filled with a large congregation from Sabbath to Sabbath. A few months since, they con- tributed above €100 (600 dollars) to the centenary offerings of the church of their choice, some of which goes to the Irish Mission. n ' , ti..-. M:. •■: I. _ ,, .. J,; (, LEROY CAMP MEETING. ,' i-i^J .i^?? The town of Leroy lies about sixteen miles south-east of Bloomington. It is spread out on a small green prairie, almost entirely surrounded by timber. In the town, and around the edge of the groves, are several wealthy merchantr; and farmers. Some three churches and a seminary adorn the town, beside several shops and stores. On Sabbath, 16th of September after preaching in Randolphs Grove, I set out for a Metho- dist camp nieeting in a grove near Leroy, having been invited to preach for them at the camp meeting that evening. The day was fine, the afternoon warm, the THE l.ANDDl.I'H (iROVE ClliCUlT. 2i;j evening pleasant. On riding with some friends into the grove, we heard delightful singing. On approaching the camp the crowd of people appeared ahout 2000 ; horses, waggons, and carriages were all romid the camp. The pnlpit-stand was erected for the preachers, and numerous plank seats beneath the trees for the people ; on cither side of these were the numerous tents, and soon the people rehired for evening tea, or supper. Shortly after the caLi^- fires were kindled, the lights hung up to the trees shed down their radiance. The people came thronging in at the sound of a horn, and soon the vast area of plank seats was covered with a Ir.rge congregation. I preached, toward the close of the sermon a shout of Glory to God went up from the preachers around me on the stand, and the members around the altar. I sat down in the midst of this ex- citement. Kev. S. Martyn, the son of an Irish Catholic, but one of the most eloquent preachers, gave an exlior- tation. Wliile speaking, twenty-eight persons came forward to seek religion, many of whom were converted before midnight — the rest continued all night in prayer. At two A.M. I retired to get some sloepjbut could not, li'om the cries of the mourners and the songs of the pardoned. At the morning meeting the last of them had obtained mcrcv. " It ir((< a iihiht nnu-h in he iciiioiibcrcd.'^ ■■"■■■ f CHAPTER XIII. }■■■■.! BLOOM INGTON WEST CHABGE. m TRIP TO PARIS CONFERENCE — METHOD OF CONDUCTING CHURCH COURTS IN AMERICA METHODIST EPISCOPAL AND PROTEST- ANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES CITY OF BLOOMINGTON : POPU- . LATION, CHURCHES, ETC. THE WEST CHARGE METHODIST CHURCH REVIVALS : IN THE EAST CHARGE CHURCH, BETHEL, DECATUR GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANOPOLIS FIRST SESSION OF THE CENTRAL ILLINOIS CONFERENCE AT PEORIA ILLINOIS CONFERENCE AT QUINCY SICKNESS AND RECO- VERY — APPOINTMENT TO PElbRSBURG STATION. Our labours on the Randolph Grove circuit closed har- moniously. Our congregations had more than doubled ; our membersliip had nearly doubled ; our finances were greatly imjproved ; and our missionary collections were larger than ever before. We found it hard to paii; the old members, and harder still the young converts. Having commended them to God, we prepared to depart for the session of the Illinois conference at Paris. Oii Monday, September 8, 1855, Rev. Mr. Barthelow aud myself set out for Paris, in the south-east part of the State, one hundred miles distant, in a carriage, across the Grand Prairie. The day was v ly warm, the roads good, and our horses strong aud spirited. Soon tho BLOOMINUTON WK^T CHAIKJK. 21 Grove was far behind, and we were fairly laimched on one of the largest prairies in the world. Far as the eye could see before us there was no grove, and scarcely any settlement : only the natural meadow spread out before us in undulating form, and with little variation. At noon we, however, reached a small settlement, where a few farmers pitched their tents, built their shanties, and were turnuig over the virgin soil, some of which already was covered with a heavy crop of Indian corn, from the last year's ploughing and this year's planting. Here we remained, dined, and rested for some two hours, and set out again for our lengthened journey. In the evening we reached Monticello, the county seat of Pyatt county, a town of about 1,500 population, with some four churches, one of which was a Methodist. We drove through, and hastened forward to reach a country tavern, about two miles from town, on the crest of a beautiful hill that overlooked a vast stretch of prairie toward the east. Here we remained for the night, supped heartily, had prayer with the family, and retu'ed to rest. When leaving in the morn- ing the landlady would receive no payment either for ourselves or horses, as we were ministers. This custom is more the rule than the exception in America. Hun- dreds of instances of kindness shown to ministers by the people, even by the unconverted, are quite general. As we drove on, the grass in some places was so high as to reach the top of the covered carriage in which we rode. In the distance we saw the whitened covers of tented waggons with large di'oves of stock moving westward, perhaps 500 miles to Kansas, or 1,000 to Co- ll ! Ill 210 TWELVE YEAKH IN AMERICA. loiaclo. They were emigrauts journeying to a distaut State or new territory to find a larger farm and a bettor home for themselves and theii* childi'en. How remark- able, that as hosts of emigrants land upon the eastern shores and melt into the surrounding population, the native American is moving westward, spreading the language, laws, and institutions of his country, so that as the wave of European population rolls on, it falls into the grooves and channels already cut for it, and soon takes the national type, and assumes the national form already prepared for it. About noon we reached Sadora's Grove and passed by a lonely settlement. In the evening we reached a small village, where we spent the night, and resumed our journey next morning. In the forenoon we got out of Prairie country, and sldrted the bank of a stream and the edge of a grove. Having crossed both we en- tered a beautifully picturescjue country, with rich farms, fine houses, and large orchards, the trees of which were laden with apples and peaches. Soon the spires of the Paris churches were in view, and we di-ove into the streets, passed through the square, and fomid our lodging-place at the residence of a local preacher, Brother Anderson. His house stood in the midst of a beautiful grove in the suburbs of the town. Here we found a very pleasant home with this kind family, with whom we enjoyed sw^eet intercourse in social and religious conversation. The town of Paris, Illinois, is very unlike its namesake in France, on the banks of the Seine. While the latter numbers more tluui ii million of souk, the other did not number two thou- DLOO.MIXGTON WEST CHAR(iE. '217 i blind. But names in the Old World are often reproduced iu ths New. The conference opened its session in the Preshyterian church, as the new Methodist church was not quite readv. In America the custom is, whenever a synod, assembly, association, or conference of any of the dnu'ches meets in any town or city, all the churches and pulpits (except Episcopalian and Catholic) are open to their ministrations, and the families of the (litTercnt denominations welcome the ministers to their respective homes, during the sittings of these ecclesias- tical courts. Many a time during the session of his conference has the writer stayed at the home of a pious Episcopalian, Baptist, and Preshyterian, who received him as the messenger of the clmrches. It is a beautiful illustration of the unity and catholicity that exists among the churches in America. As the method of carrying on ecclesiastical courts iu America is somewhat different from the course pursued by similar bodies in the Old country, a brief ilescription may not be out of place. About six o'clock, A.M., an early prayer-meeting is held in the church, at which several ministers, members and visitors attend. Such meetings are often seasons of great power and blessing from on high. About half- past eight, a.m., conference opens with singing, reading, and prayer. The secretary then calls the roll, and the by-laws or rules are read for the government of the body during its session, especially when in debate. The various committees of the Bible, tract, and missionary cause arc read out. If there are clergymen belonging to 218 TWELVE YKAIliS IN AMERICA. Wi other churches present, they are introduced by the presiding bishop to the conference, and invited to a seat in the body, the conference remaining open nearly all the time. If there are cases of trial, these are given to a committee elected by the conference, to whom the committee report, and upon the report the conference decides. Then come in the reports from different fields of labour and different parts of the work. At this time much of the business is done up in a hurried manner. As the method of conducting church bodies of this kind in America is very much modelled after the political customs of the country, so to the mind of Europeans a great deal of disorder and confusion will appear, especially at the close of a session, when often important questions are rushed through without proper examination, some of which often have to be repealed at the ensuing session of the following year, when their action is found injurious. There is much room for improvement on this subject, and improve- ment is going on as the country becomes more settled, and the customs more fixed. An American assembly, or conference, will despatch more business in half the time that a similar body would take in Europe. In the afternoon, or at night, the conference seldom holds a session, for durmg that time the presiding bishop is in consultation with the presiding elders tis his cabinet council, to assist in forming the stations of the preachers. Dm-ing the same time the conference committees of the Bible, tract, and missionary cause, are busy preparing theii* reports for the morning session. Committees for the examination of candidates for the BLOOMING TON WEST CHARGE. 210 ministry are also proceeding with thcu* work ; also on candidates of the Jirst, st'voiid, thinl, and fourlh year's probation, before admission to ministerial orders. Can- didates who have honorably fulfilled their tico years of probation are now eligible to deacon's orders, and deacons who have filled their four years, to elder's orders. Each night a missionary, tract, Bible, or Sim- day school meeting is held, at which several eloquent speeches are made, and contributions taken for the objects presented — these meetings are generally crowded. On Saturday, appointments are announced for ministers to preach in the different churches in the city. About half-past eight on Sunday morning, the con- ference love-feast commences, at which many of the ministers speak ; these are often powerful scenes of reh-eshing from on high. At half-past ten, or eleven, A.M., the bishop preaches. At the close of his service, he ordains the candidates for deacon's orders. In the afternoon, at the close of a sermon by some leading minister, the bishop ordains the elders, in which service he is assisted by the laying on of the hands of the pres- bytery. The whole service is very solemn, the form being that of the Episcopal Chui'ch, as abreviated by Mr. Wesley. The Methodist Episcopal Church has been considered by many as legitimate a successor of the old Established Church in America, as her junior sister the Protestant Episcopal. Francis Asbury, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was the first, and for years the only bishop, in the United States, and as real a bishop as ever trod in apostolic steps, since the days of the Apostles Peter and Paul; and the church of i i 220 TWKLVi; YKAHS IK AMKItlCA. ii ;«f? I || |i f , ;,>r< which he was bishop was orgaiiizotl bcfoio tlie Pro- tostaiit Episcopal was formed at all. While the latter does not subscribe to the Thlrtij-tdnc Ailiclcs, or the Athaiiasian Creed, the former makes tiirnh/-foiir of the Thirty-nine Articles her standard of doctrine, binding both on mhiisters and members. AVhilc some of the bishops and ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church preach doctrines, and use practices, contrary to the doctrines an'l usa^'es of thc^^ii" church, and vet are retained within it, those ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church who dare preach doctrir.es contrary to the lidnw standditls, would find themselves debarred their ow n pulpits, and excluded from their own ministry. But if it be objected that the Methodist Episcopal Church has abridged and altered the Articles of Religion, and ritualistic services of the Established Church, so has the Protestant Episcopal. But, after all, the unity lies hi the oneness of faith and love, more than in the outward and ceremonial conformity. In the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace, may both these churches be one in Christ, with all the true Israel of God, in every place, who call on the name of tlie Lord, both theirs and ours. The last business done, at the close of a conference, is tiie reading of the appointments and stations of the preachers by the bishop, in the presence of a crowded congregation, who are waiting with anxiety to hear where the ministers are to go, and who shall be their own. The ministers, old and young, with many of their wives, attend, and are waiting to hear their names and appuintmentn read out ; then the doxology is sung, I ! BI-OOMINciroN WK-iT ClIAROIi;. •221 fintl the conference is dismisserl with a solemn bene- diction. The preachers, knoAving in a way no otlier ministers Icnow, that they are itifwnnits — loaders indeed of the church militant — bid each other farewell, most of them to meet no more for another year, and some never, until they meet in heaven. The meeting of a Methodist conference of 200 or 250 [ircachers, with their powerful preaching, earnest prayers and sweet singing, attract crowds to their services from town and country, and produce a wonderful excitement in any town where they are assembled Every church wliere they liave ministered appears to catch something of the heavenly fire, and the unconverted are moved to liear the Gospel once more, and are often melted to tears if not converted to God. Seasons of revival ge- nerally accompany or follow the session of an annual conference. Special trains or extra carriages await the ministers at the close of conference to bear them to their different homes by the different roads at half fare. For the railroad companies generally allow Methodist ministers Avho live on their roads to travel for half fare all the year roimd, as well as to and from an annual conference. At this conference Bishop Janes presided, and was assisted at the close by Bishop Ames. Both bishops are very popular with the Illinois conference ; both are excellent presiding officers, and eloquent preachers of the Word. On Sunday, the services were held in the New Methodist church. At the close of the morning service a debt of dg650 was paid off in a few moments, and iii I \ TWf^T.VE YEARS IX AMERICA. the building was consecrated to the Triune God tor Divine Worship. The church was a beautiful structui'e : cost about £3,000. At night the Rev. Dr. Cartwright preached his semi-centennial sermon — having travelled fifty years in the ministry. The church was crowded to overflowing, and the Backwood's preacher recorded the events of his life in brief but graphic style, and so exciting as to move the audience to frequent bursts of laughter and weeping. Many of the facts he mentioned are told in his autobiography, and produce the same effects. At the close of the conference, the wi'iter was received as a member of the Illinois conference — his ordination in the Irish conference being recognized — and his name was read out as stationed minister of the West Charge Methodist Church, Bloomington. Late on Monday night the conference closed its session, and early next day the members were on their way home to their diiferent fields of labour. On our way home we passed through the towns of east and west Urbana, the former numbering about 1,500 inhabitants, the latter had but a few new houses built around the railroad station. It has since changed its name to Champaign city, and has now a population of about 6,000, and is the seat of the next session of the Illinois conference for September, 18(57. So rapidly do towns expauy. iL. CHAPTER XIY. PETEIISBURGH STATION. PETERSBURGH PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND THE WIDOW's SON — THE CHURCHES, PRESBYTERIAN, BAPTIST, METHODIST im. CARTWRIGHT CONVERSIONS A THREE MONTHS* TRIP TO THE OLD WORLD AND BACK JOURNEY EASTWARD RETURN VOYAGE SAFE ARRIVAL FINANCIAL CRISIS AND INDIAN REBELLION VISIT TO SCOTLAND, CLYDE, GREEN- OCK, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH THIRD ATLANTIC VOYAGE NIAGARA FALLS SAFE ARRIVAL IN BLOOMINGTON RE- APPOINTED TO PETERSBURGH SECOND YEAR's LABOURS — CLOSE. On Friday, the 81st October, 1 left Blooiniugtoii, and reached Petersburgh next day. The town of Peters - biu'gh stretches along the side of an elevated ridge that overhangs the Sangamon river, and forms a very pictui-esque appearance. It is the county seat of Menard county, and contains a population of 1,500 persons. A railroad runs through it, designed, when finished, to connect the place with St. Louis on the one side, and Chicago on the other. Near this place, at a country shop, the late President Lincoln, when a young man, did business as a merchant's clerk, and studied law m the neighbourhood. The family with whom ho hvcd, in later jears loat the father; the widowed luot her 284 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. struggled to bring up her family iii decency. One of her sons, whom I knew well, was charged with the crime of murder. The whole county was excited by the trial. Mr. Lincoln, believing the young man was not guilty, volunteered his services as a lawyer for the widow's son. The testimony on the i)art of the witnesses had closed, and the lawyer for the defence arose. He fixed his attention on the testimony of the principal witness, who he thought was iniluenced by revenge. Having observed that this witness swore, on cross-examination, that he saw the accused commit the crime by moon- light, at such an hour. Mr. Lincoln obtained an almanac, and proved there was no moonlight tliat night at that hour. He then appealed to the jury in a most touching and powerful address, and closed the defence. The jury retired, and in a few moments returned witli a verdict of acquittal. The mother of the accused could not control her feeling: she burst into loud weeping, tln'ew her arms round the neck of her son, and fell at the feet of her deliverer to thank him. The whole ourt was affected to tears. A few years later she followed the remains of the assassinated president to the grave, weeping. ■ For many years the place was a scene of great ungodlmess: Unlrenalist principles were professed by many of the leading men; the moral effect of this ou the place was very blighting. There were three churches in the town — Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist ; the latter stood on the side of a beautiful hill, an ex- cellent brick structui'e ; its sonorous bell was heard along the side of the hill and the bank of the river for PETKRSBUROH STATION. •285 miles, calling the people to worship, autl the children to Sabbath school. In the towns of tin West the bells of all the churches may be heard ringing together, for the same time of worship on Sundays, and the same hour of ])rayer on week evenings. As much of the immorality of the place was connected with the sale of whiskey, the cjiurches united, and in the corporation vote put down the sale of intoxicating Hquor. The moral eflfect 017 the community was most beneficial. In olden times, before the railroad reached the place, the merchants chartered a steamer to bring their goods from St. Louis up the Sangamon river ; but the masts and chimney of tJie steamer caught in the branches of the trees that uvcrhmig the stream, and the labor of disentangling the vessel prevented the success of the plan. "T"!' chiu'ches in Petersburgh were not in a prosperous condition : the Methodist chui'ch suffered from a series of difficulties between some of the members, which (Uvided many of the families in the town and of the congregation. One of the piiucipal actors died suddenly at a camp meeting shortly after, and the other has since left the church under censure. My boarding place was at Ml". Thomas Peak's, the Presbyterian minister boarded with his brother. Mr. Peaios was a man of larger soul than body, a good stew^ard, class-leader, and faithful Sunday school superintendent. His wife was an industrious house-keeper ; both brought up a large and interesting family of children. My study was nicely fixed on the sunny side of a hill, and the shady side of a grove, where I spent many an hour in medita- tion and prayer. i^ ill I ■ lie 280 TVVKLVE YEARS IN AMERICA. t Two country appointments were attached to the town, and received occasional preaching. Twice every Sabbath I preached in town to the same congregation, super- intended, or taught in the Sabbath-school, met one or two classes, and conducted the weekly prayer- meeting, and presided over the official board. There were about seventy members in church fellowship, some five classes, and some talented class and prayer-leaders. The congregation, at lirst small, began to increase until, in the summer when I left, there was not room enough to contain them ; every pew was filled, and the aisles occasionally. The singing was fine, and a very solemn feeling rested on the people. In the winter protracted services were continued for a shoi't time, and some souls were converted. The class-meetings were well attended, and the Sunday school was in a prosperous state. My presiding elder was the venerable DR. CARTWRIGHT, Of Backwoods notoriety. To those who never saw the Doctor, I might say that he is a man of large muscular frame, brilliant dark eyes, that always twinkle like stars when some witty saying is about to be expressed. His wit jets forth like streams from a fountain and moves his hearers to the most boisterous laughter, lie never loses sight of the point before him, but carries it with ease against his antagonist. His powers of imagination are vivid in graphic description ; his ideas appear clothed with flesh and sinew, and are so full of life and energy as to move before you like livhig realities rather than mental images. I remember once PETERSIHT.GH STATION. 2JJ7 very hearing an aged ministev take farewell of the conference in very affecting language, so as to draw tears from the eyes of many. Cartwright was not so moved — for he thought the brother could have labored a few years longer — he rose and said, that several years ago he offered to e titer into covenant-relation with the devil, and proposed to his satanic majesty a trace, that if he would locate and give up going about as a *' roarin.LT Uon," he would locate also ; but the devil wordd not consent, and Cartwright said, -'As long as the Lord gives me life and strength I mean to travel and preach, winning souls to God." The effect of this on the con- ference was remarkable : those that shed tears with the old preacher burst into laughter at the contrast. No man ever had such influence in the lilinoiw con- ference as Peter Cartwright, and no man was kinder to the young preachers on liis district under him. Mfiiiy of them were his own sons in the Gospel. No stranger can understand his book : and the man is like the book. Five different editions of his Life have been published in England and Ireland, and one or two in France in the French language. He is liberal to all the in- stitutions of tho church, and ahvays one of the first to assist his suffering brethren. His ministry in Peters- burgh, as he came once a quarter, always drev. cvowds to hear him, and these were always alfected to tears aH well as smiles. In his younger days he was one of the most powerful preachers of the west. In addressing the great centenary meeting at Blooinington, October, 186G, he said he could not say, "Men, bretln-en, and fatbevd,'' as he had no fathers there. He is now in the ml 288 TWEI.ME years in AMERICA. via ■»lHiijed all things free, as the Qu6*p8 of i"ingland did i>ot ^Joo-w them U^ diarge. '* Look here, Hftid (mic of tiw itlx/v^ f^Tytlemen • that is where Riz/io, tlhe ^uefif'/t mniQ'ktiimn tmA i*dore<«r/ lell, and was i pini ), ■ -1' IMl ' i 1 II , . |U l| I^^H n 1 : ,fig 1 mIIIi ;| ■■ ""'"'^^fti! E '- : ! ma, p--i'St 254 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. killed. One night as lie was sitting with the queen, a band of armed men riuhed in and dragged him from her side, and stabbed him to death there." We saw the dark, gi'easy stain of the blood, spread toward the lobby window. Several ladies moved back with a sliudder ; they had been standing on the spot. It is supposed Darnley was the cause of the murder ; he was jealous of his queen and her secretary. Shortly after Lord Darnley himself was blown up, and the house where he lay sick ; his body was scattered to atoms. His wife, the queen, is suspected to this day. A few years after she laid her head on the block ; and she, too, died a tragic death. What dark times were those ! What scenes and secrets the day of Judgment will make known ! Leaving these apartments, we went out to see the Chapel Royal, a very ancient monument of the Gothic style ; much of it is in ruins. Here stood the altar, witli the priest standing before it ; there s«t the queen and the royal family ; yonder the orchestra where the organ pealed out. but now silence and solitude prevail. Such is the glory of this world. Within and witliont were tombs of distinguished persons — royal and noble. Our living feet w^ere walking over the ashes of the noble dead. So shall it be with us. On returning to the palace, wc were f?hown into other rooms on the opposite side, said to belong to the Dukes of Hamilton and Argyle, and the Mnrquis of Bradalbane. In these rooms were some of the most splendid paintings and portraits I ever saw. Tlie\ were originals by the old masters— Rubens and Vandyke. PETERSBURGH STATION. ^55 The guide iJointed out to us the portrait of the Earl of Lauderdale, the persecutor of the Covenantors. I have no doubt but the likeness was a true one, for it wore a ferocious grin upon the countenance, as if he took pleasure in the sufferings of his fellow creatures. His memory descends to posterity with infamy upon it. Several other distinguished portraits we saAV, but those of the family of Charles I., by Vandyke, took my attention, they were so life-like ; there were some classical and Biblical paintings and portraits that were attractive and valuable. On leaving the palaces of the Stuarts, the Scottish kings and queens, we asked, where are the Stuarts who have reigned upon the thrones of Scotland and England so long ? Credible historians inform us that they came from Ireland with the Scots, who emigrated from the latter country, invaded Scotland, stamping their namo and rule upon it for ages. We answer, God has s^.Yept them from the throne, thereby giving a solemn warning to princes to rule in righteousness. After James I. had married his daughter Elizabeth to Frederick, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, the popish house of Austria robbed t/tem of their dominions. They appealed to tlieir father, James I., in vain. The English nation was willing to help, but James would not, because he was seeking the hand of a popish princess at the time for his son Charles, whom he wished to see strengthened on the throne by an alliance with France. As the result, Frederick died of a broken heart, Eliza- beth retm'ned a poor widow, and a pensioner to Fing- land, where she sometimes needed, it is said, *'the I ir f-::^ ■-'■.f.fv ■^m 256 T^VELVE YEARS IN AMERICA, common necessaries of life." And now the posterity of James, through Charles, rule no where. God lias reversed the whole. James sacrificed his religion and his daughter for his son Charles and popery, and now the daughter of that broken hearted Frederick, and forsaken Elizabeth, sits upon her island throne, ruling the sixth part of the world. Truly "there is a God that reigneth, the Judge of all the earth doeth right." With these reflections in our mind, we bid adieu to Scotland and her people ; shortly after we were sailing down the Clyde. Next morning we were in Dublin, and in an hour or two more we were safely resting ourselves in Lucan, and preparing for the next day's Sabbath exercises. We felt pleased and profited by our visit, thougli it was that of a few days, grateful above all for a kind and preserving Providence. THIRD ATLANTIC VOYAGE. After preaching several times in Lucan and Celbridge, and visitinu: numerous friends, I prepared to return. Mrs. S. and myself took passage for Liverpool in a Kingstown steamer. Soon the well-known faces and forms of our dear friends faded from our view, but not from our memory, and the green shores of Erin receded from our sight in the twilight of the parting day. That night, for the first and the last time, I felt the power of sea-sickness, and bad to yield to its potent sway: thongli short, it was never foigotten. On Satiu'day, the 19th September, we embarked in the A robin steamer for New York. Sunday we had no religious ;servic<' as the day was windy, and the vessel I- PETERSBUBGH STATION. 257 rolled gi'eatly. For several successive days we had stormy weather, the sea occasionally coming overboard. On Saturday, 26th, we were on the Newfoundland banks ; weather cool and pleasant. Next day (Sunday) Rev. Mr. Cuyler, of New York, preached an excellent sermon. On the following Friday, October 2nd, we landed at New York, where one of my brothers met us. In the evening we left for the West, by the Hudson river railroad, which skirted the shore of the beautiful river, passing through Albany, Utica, Rome, Syi'acuso, Rochester, and Buffaloe, by the New York central railroad. Albany, the capital of the State of New York, has a population of 65,000. Utica, Rome and Syracuse are large centres of trade and commerce, Rochester, on the shore of Lake Ontario, is remarkable for its excellent flouring mills, and grape and fruit nurseries. It is a beautiful place, almost a city of chiu-ches, groves and vineyards. Buffaloe, on the shore of Lake Erie, is a largo and l)eautiful city, of 100,000 inhabitants. Its streets are wide and clean, the side-walks are over- shadowed with trees. From its beautiful squares is a fine view of Lake Erie. Bufialoe lias forty churches and several educational institutions. FALLS OF NIAGARA. On Saturday we crossed Suspension-bridgc.'and spent the I'emaiuder of the day and Sabbath at Niagara. Niagara town has a population of 2,000 souls ; Sus- pension-bridge 1,000. The bridge crosses the Niagara river two miles below the Falls. While crossing, the B 258 TWELVE YEARS IN AMEBIOA. m Falls were in sight, and seemed less than half a mile distant. The roar of the waters seemed like rolling thunder. The bridge is a single span of 800 feet in length by 230 above the river. The abyss beneath looked awful. The bridge is suppoi*ted by four wire cables 9| inches in diameter, with a power of sustaining 10,000 tons. It cost ^80,000, and connects the New York railroads with the Great Western railroad of Canada. The Niagara Falls are justly celebrated as one of the greatest natural wonders in the world, not so much for the depth of the Falls — being only 160 feet — as for the volume and width of the water. The combined waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie rush over them into Ontario, and pass out to the sea by the river St. Lawrence. For a mile above the Falls the river descends with a fall of fifty- seven feet, rushing over every impediment in its way. The waves, crested with foam or formed into breakers, dash over with resistless force into the chasm beneath. We have stood under Table Rock until we felt the earth beneath and the rock above tremble by the weight of the water and the force of its sound, as it passed over our heads above or fell at our feet below. No living thing can survive the Fall, as the weight of the water buries the lost in the fathomless abyss below ! More than 100,000,000 tons of water are precipitated evory hour into the boiling abyss, with a rush and a roar like the howl of a tempest, or the peal of loudest thunder. Sometimes the sound is heard at Toronto, forty-five miles distant. "The thoughts are strangf, that crowd upon rny brain, While I look upward to theo, it would tfoenj PETEBSBUROH STATION. Ab if €h>d poured thee from His ' hollow hand,' And hung His bow upon thine awful front, And spoke in that loud voice, which seemed to him Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour's sake, * The sound of many waters ;' and had bade Thy flood to chronicle the ages back, And notch the centuries in the eternal rocks. * Deep calloth unto deep.' And what are we That hear the question of that voice sublime ? Oh ! what are all the notes that ever rung From war's vain trumpet, by thy thundering side? Yea, what is all the riot that man makes In his short life, to thy unceasing roar ? And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him Who drown'd a world, and heaped the waters far Above its loftiest mountains ? A light wave That breaks and whispers of its Maker's might." Brainard. 259 i i "'• I. »-•; ?:: 1 Thirty-seven islands clot the bosom of the river above the Falls ; and one, Goat Island, divides it into two sheets of 900 feet on the American side, and 2,000 feet on the Canada side. Geologists think it has taken the river 35,000 years to cut its way from Queenstown, a distance of seven miles, to the Falls, through solid rock. Hundreds have written on the Niagara Falls, artists have painted its beauties, and poets have sung of its wonders ; but there are two things comiected with it, I have not seen noticed by any writer. The first is, the immense depth of the river below the Falls ; the other, the fact, that the grandeur and sublimity of the scene only increases as you continue to look and ex- amine it, so that the last sight of it is more impressed on the mind than the first. Father Henepin, the 260 TWEUTE YEARS IN AMERICA. French missionary, was the first to discover the Falls in 1678 ; it is said 40,000 persons annually visit them now from all parts of the world. Niagara is an Indian word, signifying "Thunder of waters." Early on Mon- day morning we passed through Canada, on the Great "Western railroad, to Hamilton, thence to Detroit, Michigan, and at five p.m. we reached Bloomington, where we found all our friends well. After a lapse of three months, and a journey of 10,000 miles, we arrived in safety under the Divine protection. Next day I hastened down to the session of the Illinois conference in Decatur, and received a cordial welcome back from my ministerial brethren ; as in my absence the friends at Petersburg]! had invited us back for another year — we were returned to them. The latter end of October found us installed in our work for the second year. In my absence several had fallen sick, and some had died. About new year's day we commenced a series of meetings, and several persons obtained Salvation ; a goodly number joined the church, some of whom remain yet as pillars in it ; some of the prayer and class- meetings were special seasons of refreshing from on high, and the Sabbath congregations began to increase again, and the Sunday school to flourish. The Pres- byterian church was also blessed with a good revival, and so was the Baptist. On Sunday night, the 12th of September, I preached, for the last time, to this people; the church was densely crowded. Next day we bid the friends farewell, and left for our next appointment. The church at Petersburgh has passed through strange agitations during the war : some of the members, who PETERSBURGII STATION. 2G1 were of southern birth, sympathized with the South in the late war, and disloyalty to the American govern- ment was followed by disloyalty to God ; but the church has been lately blessed with a good revival, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Wolf. s t IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A ^ 1.0 if I.I ^ "21 1 2.5 12.2 2.0 1.8 1-25 111.4 1.6 « ' — 6" ► m 0> ^ ^>. 4V-^ '/ >!^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (7)6) S73-4S03 >/ A i/. \ CHAPTER XY. OLDTOWN CIBCUIT. THE GROVE— OLDTOWN CHAPEL — DIAMOND OBOVE — BENJA- MINVILLEAND THE NEW CHURCH — BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH — UNION CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS DECLENSIONS — THE CANE- RIDGE REVIVAL AND CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERUNS — A R£- - MARKABLE DREAM AND ITS FULFILMENT — THE SPRINGS SCHOOL HOUSE AND GREAT REVIVAL. Oldtown Timber derived its name from the ruins of an old Indian town, and burying ground that remained at the head of the grove long after the Indians had left the country. Many a time I walked over the graves where their dead lay, and the grounds where then* wigwams stood. Some fellows of the baser sort distu^'bed the graves and the bones of the sleeping dead, looking for gold and silver ornaments which were buried with their chiefs, or their wives. Oldtown circuit embraced the grove for its centre, with a few churches within it, and several preaching appointments around it. The mem- bership and congregations resided within these bounds ; many of them wealthy, nearly all of the leading men were extensive farmers. The cu'cuit formed a part of the first circuit I travelled four years before, and the congregations and preaching places were the same as then, only they were larger, and a few new places were OLDTOWN CIBCUIT. 268 opened, and several new faces were founc> among Vie old ones. These had lately moved in, bought property, and settled down as useful citizens in the place ; conse- quently I need not describe places described abeady in Chapter XII. The farthest point of the grove was from Bloomington, about twenty miles ; the nearest about six miles. Bloomingtou became once more my residence, and Ohltou'ii my field of laboui*. OLDTOWW CHAPEL Was a large country church, which stood on the north side of the grove in the midst of a rich and fertile tract of country. Around the chm'ch ^"sre some beautiful residences, and farms and orchards under a high state of cultivation. A large congregation attended this church, and some four or five classes met with theu' respective leaders. Here were some men of iuteUigeuce and moral worth as well as wealth, who gave character to the community. Many of them were able in prayer and useful in the chm'ch. For many years there had been a prosperous society here. The year before, under the labors of Bev. Hiram Buck, as presiding elder ; Bev. Preston Wood, as pastor, and Bev. Mr. Jackson, as assistant, the place was visited with a great revival. There were nearly one hundred conversions, and some of them remarkable instances of the power of Divine Grace. The chm'ch was new and large, yet filled with an intelligent congregation. In the beginning of February, 1859, we commenced a protracted meeting. Still there were not many persons left without con- version after the great revival of the year before ; but m 264 T^V£LV£ YEARS tN AMERICA. etrnngers liad come in, and some young people were yet unsaved. The services commenced with prayer- meetings through the day, and preaching and prayer at night. Invitations were given to persons to come foi*ward to seek religion. Night after night several came seeking. On Sunday night, the 18th, several remark- able conversions took place, who continue to this time to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour. At the close of the meeting it was found some eighteen persons had obtained mercy and imited with the church, to whom were added others through the remainder of the year. The chmch membership were greatly edified and united, and the work of God continued to prosper. '. , DIAMOND GROVE. ^ Early in the same month, at the request of the mi- nister and members of the church of the United Iheihrcn, I assisted in preaching at a meeting commenced in a new and beautiful church in the above grove. The first night, at the closo of my sermon, about thiittj persons came forward to seek religion. It was a night of "overwhelming power of saving gi*ace:" many were converted. The night following thirty-tno persons came forward, a large number of whom were converted. Prayer and class-meetings continued through the day ; at night the church was crowded to excess. Above forty persons were converted at these meetings, several of whom united with the Methodist chm'ch. One of the nights referred to, after I was done preaching and had led so many to the altar, I sat down in the pulpit to rest, having given the control of the OLDT0^^'N CIRCUIT. 265 meeting to the minister of the church. There was gi-eat weeping among the penitents. He asked me to go and speak to them, and try to lead then* minds direct to Clu-ist. I had spoken to several, and was speaking to another, when a gentleman came to me and said, *' Sir, that lady is converted." I said, ** I tliink not." He replied, *'U she believes she is saved, she is saved. Seeing that this kind of doctrine was dangerous to seekers of religion, I repUed, "You might as well say that if I believed I have a farm I have one, when at the same time I know I have not.'' He replied as above. I said, *• You reverse God's order of saving souls, who has said, * He that believeth shall be saved ;' and before we are saved we must believe. Faith is the instrimiental cause of Salvation, not the effect; for Salvation is then not a matter of faith, but of fact — of Divine testimony bearing witness to our own, and followed by fruits of faith, in love, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost thi'oagh beUeving." He continued to maintain his former state- ment ; then I turned and said to the lady, " Has the Lord yet converted your soul ?' ' She exclaimed, weeping, '* Oh ! no, sir ; I know he has not : but I am seeking." The gentleman turned aside and went away. The reply of the lady was more than my arguments. Afterwards he came to me and apologized, while I tried to show liim the Word of the Lord more clearly. The next night Mrs. B was converted so clearly that she came shortly after, leading her husband to Ghiist. I knelt beside him in prayer, and he also received Salvation. At Whitcomh's School-house, in the north edge of the grove, on the banks of the Kickapoo stream, some 266 TWELVS YEABS IN .UIEBICA. excellent meetings were held, and several conversions took place. Two miles further north» BENJAMINVILLE, A new village, spread out on the prairie, eight miles east of Bloomington, had been built since I had been there four years before. Then there were only farms and houses, but now in the midst, was a new Uttle town, with one Quaker meeting house, several shops, a post-office, and a considerable population for so short a time, and out in the countiy eight miles from railroad. Mr. B , the founder of the town, was a Hicksite, or Unitarian Quaker from Pennsylvania, who having bought several hundred acres here, led out a colony of the same rehgious persuasion to settle on the place. Town lots were laid out and sold off, and a large number of people bought, and settled in the place, among whom were some Methodists, Lutherans, and Gongi'egationalists. There was a school in the place, where we held meetings ; but the effect of our labors were in danger of being counteracted by the pecuhar views of the Friends, who regarded not the Sabbath more sacred than any other day, but outraged the religious feelings of the community by working in theii* gardens and fields on the Lord's day. The laws of the United States forbid such work, wherever it interferes with the order and decorum of society, and the worship of religious assemblies. A heavy fine is the penalty attached to the transgression of the law, and in general, the Sabbath is respected, so that no regular trains run on the roads. It is only where the Irish Cathohcs, OLDTOWN ciBcurr. 267 aud French and German settlers are so numerous, that the law may be rendered abortive. The Methodist congregation in Benjamin viUe had so increased as to need a larger place of worship, in other words, a new church. Some of the brethi'en had spoken to Mr. B for a place to build on ; he refused, and manifestly did not wish to encourage the Methodists there. I took two leaders with me, and went one day to see him, to ask a place to build on. I said, " Mr. Benjamin, I believe you are the founder of this place, and the builder of this town ; the people have done you the honor of calling it after you, so that, I suppose, it will bear your name to the end of time. It is a con- siderable monument to leave behind. I wonder you have not given the Methodists a place to build a church on." \ i He said, " I am a Fnend, ai\d belong to the Society of Friends, we believe it our duty to help our own people, build meeting houses for them, not for others." I said, " If that is the kind of friendship you practice, I regard it as selfishness instead of friendship, for Christ said, * If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye, do not even the publicans the same ? ' • Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.' He commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature ; you are not able to preach the Gospel to every creature, but we are trying to extend it to all the world." He still maintained his former opinions. Finding the religious motives could not move him, I tried the honorable : I referred to the delight and satisfaction 268 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. he would realize, aiid the honorable ambition he might laudably feel in connexion with donating a lot to the church, and seeing a beautiful structure built upon it, dedicated to God, and filled with devout worshippers. He was still immoveable — so I appealed to his pecuniary prmcix)les, believing these to be stronger than his re- ligious or honorable. I said, " I presume you are aware that, in this country, wherever a gentleman divides his property into town lots to build a town upon, one of the first things he does is to set apaii. some of the best lots in the place for schools and churches, knowing that if these are built, they draw the more people to the place, and increase the value of the property so much, as to often quadruple the price of the lots donated. I wonder, sir, you have not done this." Smiling, he said, **I will give you two lots to build a church upon. As we went to see the lots, two other gentlemen came up ; we all stood on the ground together. I said, " This place is too low, can you not give us that lot on the other side of that street, oj* one on that beautiful hill, beside the Friends' meeting house ? " He said he could not. Just then, one of the gentlemen, who had come up, said, ♦* I will give you land to build a church on." I asked, *' Where ?" Ho said, *' There, or yoiuler on that hill.'' Said I, *' Do you own that hill there ?" He said, ♦* Yes." We went to see it. I said, '< This is the place, sir, above all others I would prefer." It was on the top of a hill, overlooking the village, and miles round of the country; a new street separated it from the Quaker church, which stood on the same hill, only a few rods apart. Mr. Murphy, OLDTOWN CIRCUIT. 269 who was brought up a Presbyterian, gave me a deed in fee-simple for two large lots ; on it we shortly after built a beautiful church by the side oi the Quaker meeting house. The church was built to hold about 850 people, who thronged into it. At the request of the people I preached in it to them before it was ceiled or finished, as I was about to leave. A few weeks later Dr. Cartnvbioht dedicated it to the ser\ic3 of God, when many came to see the beautiful church, and hear the celebrated back woods' preacher. A good society and a large congregation gather there now to worship God. Before I left, I had the delightful satisfaction of receiving Mr. Murphy, who donated the lots, into the church, and made him a class-leader. Having thus consecrated his property to God, and his heart to Christ, he became a useful man. > . i BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH. In Chapters XII. and XIII. reference has been made to this place, when gracious revivals of religion took place three and four years before. While I was away a great change for the worst had come over the congrega- tions. As the heading of this section indicates, the church was a Baptist church ; one Sabbath morning a notice was affixed to the door, stating the Methodists were not welcome there to worship, and the house would not be given to them any more. The Methodist minister and congregation had just come up to worship ; when they read this they withdrew to a neighbouring school house and held worship there ; subsequently the congregation went over to other churches to worship 270 TWELVE TEARS Hf AHEEICA. in ; the outfiide people foUowing the Methodists, left bnt a few to attend the Baptist church ; the result was, their reUgious interest weut down, and they were about to dismiss their minister. The old elder, that was charged with being the cause of turning off the Metho- dists, was an Irishman of strong Galvinistic views, lio was expelled the church for contumacy. Such was tlie state of things when I returned. Immediately after, I received a cordial invitation to preach in the church, and the old Baptist elder wept over the cause of the disruption between them. I stated, as they publicly in\dted us to leave their church, I would not go back unless they would as publicly invite us to return. This they did. I went back, and back came the con- gregation. The Spirit of God returned, and the power of God rested once more upon the assembly. Sinners were awakened and souls were converted to God, and the spirit of unity and brotherly love prevailed. The Baptists were revived, and their minister remained with them. A large number was added to the Methodist societies, and I baptized several children in the church. The old Irish elder was restored to his place in tlie church. When holding special revival services I called on Baptist and Methodist to pray in the prayer-meetings, and the spirit of grace and supplication rested on them. I left the place at the close of the conference year in September, with about two hundred in the Methodist societies, where, four years before, I found bnt some five or six. Many had come from other States and settled there, while numerous conversions among the young people were recorded to the glory of QoA, OLDTOWN ciscurr. 271 From the above facts, it is evident that the existence and prosperity of other churches are, to a great extent, dependent upon the existence and prosperity of Me- thodism. The reason is, Methodists are mostly all trained to sing, pray, and labor for souls, while others are not so trained. I have known other churches to labor in vain among themuelves until they got some Methodist leaders to assist them, when prosperity im- mediately followed. In the greater number of towns other churches wait for the Methodist angel to trouble the waters, or the heavenly fire to kindle, when many step in and are made whole ; others catch the heavenly flame, and bear it from church to church, and from family to family, until the whole are baptized together with the same spirit of love, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost. Indeed the most of the other churches are Methodized in spirit, life, and doctrine, compared to what they had been fifty years ago. UNION CHUBCH. In the chapters before referred to, allusions were made to the above place, and the revival there in the winter of 1855. The remarks made above in relation to the Baptist church will help to throw light on some of the facts connected with Union church. Uniou Church was the property of the Cumberland Presbyterians and Methodists — built by both — and used by each for their religious services on alternate Sabbaths, during which Sabbath each minister and congregation had the ex- clusive use of the church, and entire control of the 272 TWELVE YEABS IM AMERICA. meeting. This branch of the Presbyterian church origi- nated in the great revival of 1790 and 1800. THE CANE-RIDOE REVIVAL MEFTINO IN KENTUCKY Originated in the united labors of Methodists and Presbyterians: Methodist quarterly conferences and Presbyterian sacramental meetings being eras of re- vival. On one of those occasions at Cane-ridge, as the late Rev. J. B. Finley was preaching from — ** For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ," his voice was lost amid the loud weeping of the peni- tents, there being about 10,000 people on the ground around him. About 500 fell on the ground prostrate, in the deepest agony of distress, while every few mo- ments scores were rising rejoicing in the Lord, as they obtained deliverance. The work continued for about three days and nights without intermission. On the following Simday there were about 2( 000 people on the ground from the neighbor ring counties and surrounding States. These came in carriages and waggons with their entire families and many of their servants, bring- ing with them food to last a few days, and covering for the nights, turning their waggons into tents, or building tents and camps in the grove around the meeting. Hence originated the American Feasts of Tabeniacli's, or camp meetings in America. At these meetings thousands were converted, and carried the heavenly firo with them wherever they went, so that the churches, congregations and settlements along the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, and among the Cumberland moun- tains, were greatly revived. OLDTOWN CIRCUIT. 278 ongi- ) and B antl of re- gc, as -"For lirist," e peni- ground )8trate, BW mo- as they : about On the 3 on the funding QS with ,, bring- ring for luilding leeting. Among the Presbyterians along the Cumberland river and among the mountains, a new order of things arose. There were not ministers enough to supply the congre- gations and feed the people with the Bread of Life. The old assemblies insisted that candidates for the ministry must study a certahi number of years, and attain a certain amount of scholastic and theological training, before they could be admitted to tlio mini.ifrv or oversight of churches. The conj^rcgations thought the term of years too long, while souls were perishing for lack of food. Here were several young men, of '. Jr education and pron^^'se, converted to God in the late revival, who wish to consecrate their lives to God in the work oi the ministry, ♦' We want you to ordain them, and we are willing to receive them as preachers and pastors." The assembly refused. Several churches called to their pulpits those young men as preachers, whom God had already honored as instruments in the conversion of many. Whole presbjrteries in the Cum- berland country followed the example, and originated a new church called THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Which soon became popular and the ministers useful, spreading societies and forming churches along the Border States, and down to Alabama and Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. All the dogmas of Calvin they reject, except the "unconditional and final p^. ^severance of the saints." In spirit, doctrine, and manner of wor- ship, they are Methodistic ; in form of church govern- ment, Presbyterian. 274 TWEL.E YEARS IN AMERICA. !;■ ii III i Such were the people that worsliipped with tho Methodists at Union church, between whom and the writer a close intimacy existed, on account of his being the instrument in the conversion of some of their young people, four years before, at the same place. *• But another kuKj arose who knew not Joseph,^' The old minister they had then removed, and a new one re- placed him. Some of the ministers of the above church are allowed to follow secular pursuits in life, in order to obtain support, when their congregations are not able wholly to sustain them ; hence, many of them are not wholly given up to the work of the ministry. Tho Rev. Mr. T was one of this kind : he was a smart trader in horses as well as preacher of the Gospel ; his mind became secularized, it did not profit his people. He resolved on rooting out Methodism at Union church, and to a great extent he succeeded in doing away with its class-meetings, and merging the Methodist congre- gation into liis own, and so absorb the one into the other. Of his success he boasted freely in the town of Leroy where he resided ; not knowing that in destroying the one, he was in danger of destroying the other. Such was the state of things when the writer was appointed to this work, after four years absence. He found Mr. T unfriendly, for he had resolved on carrying out his plans. The Lord designed to defeat them, and the writer became the unexpected instrument in the hands of God in doing so ; " / was led by a wai/ that I knew not.'' Mr. T had commenced a pro- tracted meeting at Union church, which lasted for five weeks, during which time the ^vriter went and preached OLDTOWN CIBCUIT. 275 in tlie church every alternative Sabbath, and opened the doors of the church for the admission of members each time, as was his custom. The meeting was now drawing to a close — there were but three conversions. On Saturday, February 5th, 1859, I rode out from Bloomington to the grove, and stopped at Mr. Case's, a wealthy farmer in the neighbourhood, who was one of the stewards in the Methodist church. Mrs. C was herself a devoted mother in Israel, and their children were all members of the church. At night I preached at Campbell's school house, on the north side of the grove ; the congregation was large, and a gracious influence rested on them from on high. I returned to spend the night at brother Case's, wheii the following DREAM AND ITS FULFILMENT , ...> Occurred, before the next twenty-four hours ended. I dreamed I was at a large church where different denominations were assembled in a large concourse, to whom different ministers were to preach. I being selected as the firat, though secretly preferring other- wise, but as I was considered the representative of our church, duty demanded that I should lead in the ex- ercises as arranged. 1. — As I rose to speak I felt confused in my mind from the number of persons on the platform with me, who crowded me inccnveniently, thus producing an unpleasant feeling. 2. — In attempting to give out a hymn, I found only a small old hymn book, with the edges and leaves worn ; when I held it uefore the respectable congrCbation, a 1 il 27G TWEL\^ YEA»a IN AMERICA. I' ' /Kill 1" ■ '■ ■! feeling of shame, on acoonut of the appearance of the book, eame over me. 8. — In giving out the hymn, some one started the tune, but the singing was going down, until an old gentleman in the congTegation urged his daughter to sing, which she did, when immediately the singing went on and became exceedingly fine. 4. — In stepping forward to address the people, I suddenly felt the left skirt of my coat pulled behind me, ill turning round to see the cause of the interruption, a gentleman said to me, " Sir, your time is out, it is ours now to go on with the meeting." I said, •' No, I have not commenced yet, and our people expect me to go on, I must therefore proceed." " Sir," he continued, "this is our meeting and our time; we object to you going further." The excitement following this alterca- tion awoke me, but the impression made on my mind was, that I am going to have some difficulty with some denomination ere long. On coming down I told my dream to Mrs. Case and family, and added, I know I am going to have trouble with some church. They thought there was no danger; to none of us did the Union church occur, yet there it was destined to be fulfilled. At ten a.m. we all arrived at the church, and there was a very large congregation assembled ; I went straight on to the pulpit, after which the Rev. Mr. T , Elder M , and one or two others walked up and sat down in the pulpit beside me, and so crowded me as to confuse my thoughts, and produce precisely the state of mind in the first part of my dream. Looking for the hymn book, I found none, and stepped down OLDTOWN CIRCUIT. 277 and got the loan of one from Mrs. C , wliicli, when I held it up before the congregation to read, the same feeling of shame came over me that I had in the second part of the dream, for the hymn hook was pre- cisely the same kind in size and appearance. Having given out the hymn, 'Mv. B siarted the tune, but the congregation held back singing, until Miss K and her father joined in the singing, and then the whole congregation sang, and the praise was delight- ful. I looked at the father and daughter; he was an old class-leader, she was not converted ; neither was ever there before. I at once saw these were a part of the fulfilment, but did not know what was to come next. I preached from Hebrews vi., 17 — 20, and took up the hymn book to give out the closing hymn, com- mencing with, " Am I a soldier of the cross," and said, while we sing this hymn I will open the doors of the church, and receive into clnu'ch fellowship those who are now ready to unite with us, and go to the heavenly world. Having read the hymn, the congregation rose to sing, and I to receive the candidates for membership. As I was stepping out of the pulpit, I suddenly felt the left skii-t of my coat pulled ; I turned to see what interrupted, when Elder M said, "We object to you receiving members into the Methodist church here to-day, this is our time and our meeting." I said, " Brother, you are mistaken, this is my time, and our meeting." He repUed, " This is our church and our time; we object to you therefore doing what you propose." In .i moment it flashed into my mind what to do, and I resolved to do it. The whole congregation was standing, wondering, 278 TWEUTE YEARS IN AMERICA. I ' aiul waiting for me to proceed ; from Elder M , I turned to them, and said, *' Elder M objects to me opening the door of the Methodist church here to- day. It is strange that I have been invited to the United Brethren's church, to receive there those who wished to join us, and you all know I went and received several ; but here in the church that we have principally built and own, we are not allowed to receive these who prefer to join us." Just then, Mr. M said, '* Go on; go on then." I turned and said, "No, sir, I will not go on at this time, for if I had known you would have objected, I would not have invited ; for I know that those who prefer to join us will do so, and those who do not, we do not want them. I will preach at Spring's school house in the afternoon, and there receive those who wish to join us." The congregation looked amazed — some of them indignant — several ladies burst out weeping — and among those that wept was Mrs. C , who laughed at the dream in the morning. On coming out, she said, "I suppose we must consider you a prophet." The congregation was dismissed. The Cumberlands continued that night at the Union church ; very few attended, for they had already roused the popular feeling against them. Their minister preached — invited to seek religion — none came — to join their church — no one would join it — he called on the elder to pray ; he would not do it — he was cast down — they then closed the meeting. At half-past three in the afternoon I reached the school house, the crowd was ah'eady there ; while preaching a Divine power vested on the people. At the close seven persons came OLbTOWX CIRCUIT. 279 forward to imite with the church, one of whom was converted at the other meeting, the last was an old gentleman, who, when his wife, who was a member, saw him come forward, burst into tears, and praised God aloud. We then arranged to commence a pro- tracted meeting at the school house, the brethren to hold prayer-meetings until I returned. The school house where this meeting was held, was not the old one where we had the meeting four years before ; that was taken down, and a new neat one was built in its place. REVIVAL AT spring's SCHOOL HOUSE. On Sunday, February 20th, I returned and found that the brethren had commenced the prayer-meeting, and that some were already converted. Jesse Oswaldt was local preacher, and labored with great acceptance and ability. Michael Leard was a father in Israel, a descendant of one of the Leards of Drumsna, Ireland. He was mighty in prayer and the Scriptures, and a sweet singer. He was steward and class-leader. Mr. Ijams and Thomas Savidge were also useful in assisting. On Sunday night, at the close of a sermon, on the prodigal son, as I gave the invitation, tuentij-tivo persons canio forward, among whom were John Wesley Savidge and wife : both were converted together. This is the person referred to in ixuje 200, who was so dis- tressed on account of his soul, four years before, at a protracted meeting in the same place ; he never obtained pardon until this night, when he and his wife were made to rejoice together. Among those converted at this meeting were Frances K , the young lady wlio iJi ! 280 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. Illi I ! i^ ' I sang so well at Union cliiu-cli. Her brother and sister were also saved and made happy in God. Several others also were made partakers of the Salvation of Christ that night. The meeting continued on. After preaching the next night, above twenty more came forward seeking the Lord, and a great many were saved. From night to night the meetings continued, and prayer-meetings in the day-time, until when we closed, two weeks later, Jifty-seven persons sought and found the mercy of God. Above sixty united with the church. Such was the ful- filment of the above dream, and its remarkable results. As some of the young people had never been baptized, being brought up under Baptist influence, I arranged for baptisms at the river. The springs which gave name to the place were like the waters of -tEnon ; to a great extent they fed the small river that flowed past. On the banks of the stream we gathered, on Sunday, March 6th. The day was one of the most beautiful, the crowd was vast, the congregation attentive, the singing delightful, and services solemn. Kneeling on the sandy beach by the side of the springs and the stream, I baptized several ; others I led into the waiter and immersed them as they desu-ed. Then having sung again, the vast assembly retired to their homes. Many of the above young people who were converted and received into the church under my ministry, whom I consecrated to God in baptism, I also united in mar- riage, are still living in the enjoyment of true rehgiou, and walking before God in love. The place is still the scene of holy gatherings in this forest sanctuary. God overruled the whole for good. Methodism is still pros- Ww-' OLDTOWN CIRCUIT. 281 peiing on the circuit : her membership is ilnrc t lines that of all other churches within the bounds of the circuit. Cumberland Presbyterianism still lives and prospers, although it suffered much from the above rash attempt to interfere with Methodism. The minister who was the cause of it shortly after was dismissed by his church, and another supplies his place. In the latter part of the year I had a good deal of sickness, frequently preachuig to large congregations. At the close of the year I found we had 90 conversions, and above 20 accessions by letter — 110 in all. To God we gave the gloiy. CHAPTER XYI. |;i I II; V. DECATUH CIRCUIT. DANVILLE CONFERENCE DECATUR TOWN — DR. STAMPER — ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS NOMINATION TO THE PRESIDENCY LONG CREEK SULPHUR SPRINGS CONVERSIONS MOUNT OILEAD brown's CHURCH STEVEN's CREEK HARRIS- TOWS NIANTIC CONVERSION OF MR. B. CONTROVERSY WITH CAMPBELLITES CAMP MEETING THE CLOSE OF LA- BORS ON THE CIRCUIT — RESULTS. ?! I i;^ Having finished my labors on the Oldtown ch'cuit, I left for the session of the Illinois conference at Danville, in the east part of the State. My home during con- ference was at Professor Hammond's, the principal of the Danville seminary, with whom and his interesting family I found a most pleasant home. Bishop Simpson presided ; Bishop Ames visited at the close, and as- sisted in the ordinations on conference Sabbath. Both preached excellent and eloquent sermons. As the weather was fine, the ordination of the elders took place in a grove adjoining the town, at the close of which Rev. William Taylor, of California celebiity, gave a powerful exhortation. At night he gave another in the same place, and some three persons professed rehgion. At the close of the conference I found my name was DECATUB CIRCUIT. 283 down for Decatur circuit. At first I did not like it, as the circuit was large. Subsequently I found the Lord was with us, and made it a very i^rosperous year, and the people were very kind. ; lame was DECATUR TOWN. The town of Decatur is the capital of Macon county. It is beautiful for situation, on the crest and slopes of a few gentle hills, and in the midst of a beautiful and fertile country, at the junction of the Illinois central railroad with the Great Western : the one running north and south, the other east and west. It has a population of about 8,000, and lies about forty miles east of Spring- field, the capital of the State. As it stands exactly in the centre of the State, and has railroads running in difl'erent directions, a strong effort has been made to transfer the capital from Springfield to this place : the fi-iends of the movement offering as liigh as ^6 200, 000 to accomplish it. It is the centre of considerable manufacturing interest at present, and has more than trebled its population since I first saw it. It has some very large shops or stores, fine hotels, and numerous churches : about sixteen churches in all, of which the Methodists have three, Presbyterians one. Episcopalians one, Baptists and Lutherans one each. The member- ship of the Methodist church is numerous, and some of them very wealthy. Through the ministry and labors of the late Dr. Stamper, Methodism took an elevated and extensive position here, which was increased by the faithful labors and frequent revivals of several ministers who followed. The society in the town was ?♦ i II H I- « i v. vl / 1 J, i 284 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. orgauizeil into a beparate church from tho circuit in 1854-5, and the wiiter, who had then just arrived, received a cordial invitation to it, but declined, as ho preferred travellhig for a while on circuits, so that he niij,'ht know more of the country, climate, and people ; for city life in America is very like what it is in Great Britain and Ii-eland. The Rev. Alexander Semple was the first to organize the town society into a station, to which are added two other churches since. In 1855, I went down from liloommgton to assist Rev. Joseph Montgomery in a blessed work of revival then going on imder liis ministry. Then I became acquainted with a family of the name of Lutrell, late of Dublin, Ireland. At this meeting they had taken an active part. Mr. Lutrell was an ardent, devoted member of the church. He died a few years later, suddenly, while in the midst of active life. Alexander, his son, was converted at the above meeting. John was a member of the Episcopal church. Theophilus, Alexander and John, the three sons, enlisted in the Union army in the late war. John died in hospital as assistant surgeon, in the peace of God ; Alexander was killed at the battle of Cliicka- mauga, in September, 1868; Theophilus only returned to his widowed mother, and weeping wife and sisters to comfort them. The late Dr. Stamper was about fifty years in the ministry, and one of the old eloquent preachers of the west, always reminding us of what those early preachers were. His memory was tenacious — ^his imagination brilliant — his powers of description almost unrivalled — his voice was music itself — its tones and modulations DECATUR CIRCUIT. 2ft6 fell on the ear like notes of harmony. We have seen vast congregations swaying to and fro, like trees in a storm, under the moving, meeting pathos of his appeals and powers of description. Once we heard him describe tlie coming Saviour and attendant angels, the shout of the descending host, and the rapture of the waiting saints, when the preacher's voice was lost in the shout of glory ! glory I that went up from rejoicing hearts ; others were melted into tears. It was a time much to be remembered. While the wiiter labored on this circuit, Dr. Stamper, who was then 8Ui)eranuated, often came to his aid at protracted and camp meetings. He died not long since in the enjoyment of that blessed hope he longed so much to present to others, in such beautiful language, while living. At the time I was on the circuit the Rev. Hiram Tuck was presiding elder, and Rev. R. Travis stationed minister. As Bloomington was the place where the republican party arose, so Decatur was the scene of the first Republican State Convention, where Mr. Lincoln was nominated for the presidency. It was in the summer of 1860 — the day was very fine — a large wigwam tent covered an open space near the town square ; in this the several county republican delegates assembled from all parts of the State; there was a vast concourse of people. Receiving an invitation to attend, I went, and sat beside S. Allen, Esq., one of our stewards. After the opening exercises, the name of Lincoln was pronounced by many; we looked round, and saw the tall and slim figure of Abraham Lincoln walk up the aisle and ascend the platform, amid the cheers of the people. A little 286 TWELVE YKARB IN AMEBICA. (f ;' ' I 1 h later a shout rose belmid us, I looked, and saw two men carrying two rails, with one nailed across the top of both ; they bore them to the platform, amid the most enthusiastic applause I ever witnessed. When the excitement was down a little, one of the men, Mr. Hanks, explained by saying, that, "although he was not of the pohtical party to which his friend Mr. Lincoln belonged, yet he thought it was due him as a matter of courtesy, when coming to Decatm*, to present him with some of the rails that Mr. Lincoln and he made, many years ago, on his farm near that town." Mr. Lincoln rose and said — ' ' he well remembered when a yoimg man, to have made rails with his friend Mr. Hanks on the farm referred to, whether these were the rails he made or not he could not say, but he thought they looked very like them." When cheer after cheer weni up, and the excitement abated, I eaid to my friend Mr. Allen, •* The picture of this scene, and these rails will be in Harper's Weeklij before two weeks, and I should not wonder if these rails elect Lincoln to the presidency. This was the first time I saw Mr. Lincoln, and there was something so truthful in his countenance, and so bland in hip manner, as completely to carry the man above almos' all others of his political rivals in my estimation, th I did not wonder at the elevated position he afterwt. Is attained in the nation. In a few moments, after the .leeting was over, the rails were cut up, and divided m ong the delegates and friends. A few days later there was not a rail left on John Hank's farm that was not transported to all parts of the Union, and republicans walked, leaning on golden-headed canes DECATUn CIRCUIT. '287 made of Lincoln rails. Harper's Weehhj faithfully represented the scene in one of its numerous engravings. A few weeks after, the United States' Republican Con- vention met at Chicago, Illinois, and confirmed tlio meeting at Decatur, })y ruminating Mr. Lincoln. In the following November he was elected, and in March, 1801, inaugurated President of the Urited States. DECATUR CIRCUIT At the above time was one of the largest and wealthiest in the conference, it was nearly thii*ty miles long by fifteen wide. The parsonage was in town, the circuit all round the town, and en:l>raced some seven or eight appointments, all of which needed preaching on the Sabbath day ; to this large work I was sent without a helper. The work, however, was so great, and the prosperity so successful, that in March I received for a colleague the Eev. Trueman Lapham, a student from the Theological Institution, who proved to be one of the most faithful, laborious, and successful ministers. He now occupies an honorable place in the conference. The parsonage was newly modelled and furnished by the members, and proved to be a commodious and comfortable home. The Sangamon river divided the circuit into two, over which we rode on bridgts, or crossed the fords when dry. LONG CREEK CHURCH Was beyond the river, eight miles east of town ; here was a large congregation and prosperous society, which enjoyed many showers of blessing and seasons of revival. 288 TWELVE YEARS IN A3IEEICA. Here were some men of means and piety, and gifts and graces in the church, and usefulness in the community. I!-: !' '! ' MOUNT ZION AND SULPHUR SPRINGS Were another appointment, a few miles further south, in a lovely district of country. The Cumberland Pres- byterians had here a large academy, where the classics were taught, and the sciences learned. Near the church and academy, on the side of a hill, from under the trees, flowed spa waters and sulphur springs, that may be of use some day, when more fully known, and their waters more highly prized. By the side of these mineral waters the wells of Salvation flowed, the fountain was opened for sin and uncleanness. Here, in the summer, we often preached the Word of Life to large congrega- tions in the grove, the seats being adjusted beneath the spreading trees : one of the most beautiful scenes opened to the gaze of preacher and congregation. In the winter we commenced a protracted meeting, at which several souls were powerfully converted to God, and the society ".heered and strengthened ; some excellent stewards and leaders lived here, and were pillars in the churches. Among the converts at this meeting was a man of the name of Shisler, of Dutch descent, an ex- cellent farmer, under the first sermon the writer preached at Mount Gilead, from Gen. xxviii., 10 — 22. Ho was dceplv convinced of sin. A short time after, he lost a lovely little child, to whom he was very much attached. She died of dyph- theria. He felt the loss very much. The little arms that clung to his neck were now cold in death, and the little DEOATUR CIRCUIT. 289 lonj^ite wAs silent in the gi-ave. I was asked to preach the chikVs funeral sermon. Wliile I did, the father'H Jieart was melted more and more. At the close, he and liis wife joined the elmrch. He was here at this meeting on Sahbath night, and came forward to seek Salvation. I knelt by his side, leaving the other mourners on tlio other side ; I called on Colonel OrrraN to pray, intending myself to follow. While the Colonel was praying, the power of God came down on Shisler's soul, and he rejoiced with joy unspeakable. Others also received the Divine blessing, and our prayers were turned to praise, and our fears to rejoicing. Suisler lost his child, but found the Saviour. The grace of God slione in his face, and transformed his whole soul, so that lie became one of the most exemplary examples of the power of God unto Salvation. MOUNT OILEAD ■M Was another appointment, four miles south-west of Decatur. Here was a large and beautiful church in the midst of one of 'he lovliest groves of oak, ash, and walnut, and surrounded with some of tlie finest country residences, and highly cultivated f;irms. Here stood also the wooden tents of an old camp meeting belonging to different families around, like the family pews in the old churches in England. There they had stood for years ; the preachers' stand also stood beneath the spreading branches of the lofty trees, which screened their heads from the burning sun. Here, on this old camp ground, hundreds of souls were converted ; and in this beautiful church, in the winter, protrncted meetings til f *f ii % ■3 I ul 290 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. were held, and many a soul saved. Since I left, the place has been again and again revived with showers of blessing. PASSELY's SETTLEMENT AND BROWN's CHURCH Were a few miles farther west, where was a large society and congregation. A gentleman from Ohio, Francis AsBURY Brown, who sat on the Imees of the first American bishop and was called after his name, bought a large tract of country here, and settled with a large and respectable family. His whole heart appeared bound up in the cause of his Lord and Master. A new and beautiful church has been built in the neighbourhood since I left it, where now a large congregation and Sabbath school gather to worship. , . . , • ixr STEVEN S CREEK CHURCH Was four miles north-west of the town, an old appoint- ment often favored with showers of blessing and gracious revivals. Five miles north of tliis, Coleman's school house stood on a beautiful prairie, surrounded with new farms, beautiful residences, and an increasing population. Here we had some excellent meetings, and good and gracious seasons from above. Harvhunni is eight miles west of Decatur, on what is supposed to be the highest point of land in the State. Here a railroad station was made, and a small village rose around it. Here we had also some gracious seasons of worship. A new and beautiful Methodist church adorns the village and the country around, from wliich many come to worship. Two miles farther north, at DEC\x'Ur. CIRCUIT. 291 Allen's scliool house, we had some excellent meetings ; but the appomtmeut is now merged into the other, as they are not far apart. At Tivo-})ilU- Grove, a few miles farther north-west, we also had some excellent meetings. . , - NIANTIC , - . Is a village twelve miles west of Decatur, on the rail- road, where a small society had gathered and a con- gi'egation formed, to whom we preached on Sabbath evenings. Here we had a few faithful men, Shatzer, Dr. Wilson, and others. Shatzer was a local i)reacher, and very useful; could speak either in English or Dutch ; a true and earnest little man. Dr. Wilson was a native of Georgia ; graduated in a medical college in New York, was a fine scholar, an excellent physician, and a large land owner. These, with others, were my right-hand men in protracted meetings. In the winter we held special services for the conversion of souls in this town, at which much good was done, and some fifteen souls were brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light. It was the beginning of a good and gi'acious work there. About this time a Mr. B , an Episcopalian, born in England, but for several years had lived in America, took sick of typhoid fever. He became convalescent, went out too soon, relapsed, and grew worse than he was before. His physician, with the advice of his patient, called another doctor. Under the charge of both the man grew worse, until they announced to the family they could do no more for him, and they could I"' m 292 TWEL^T. YEARS IN AMERICA. H not see how he could recover. The man was very low, a mere shadow. He ascertained their views, and gave vent to the anguish of his broken heart in tones of despair. In his sorrow he expressed a wish for the writer to be near him, to pray with him before he died. An unconverted man of the name of Foster, touched with the dying man's state and wishes, said he would go for me. That night, on the midnight train, he came and left his message for me to go down as soon as I could to see him. Next morning I rode down. The snow was deep, the weather cold, the day clear. Often the case of Peter and Cornelius came into my mind, and I thought — "I do not know this man personally; he has only heard me preach a few times : his message is singular — he may be dead before I reach him ; but if not, should the Lord convert his soul before I return, I would regard it as a very remarkable occurrence." I did not know the Lord would do this and more. About noon I reached his place, found him prostrate on the bed, without a hope of life or of heaven. I conversed with him about his state, and soon ascertained it. He was barely able to articulate, *' Oh ! if I knew my sins were forgiven before -eath then I could die." I tried to show him the slioi- way to God by simple faith in Christ, and direct him to the Lamb cf God. I brought the case of the dying thief as an iiiustration ; said that God's time was just ixnr — for mnv was the accepted time and the day of Salvation. We went to prayer, and the power of God came down. The man's heart melted like wax before the flame ; the tears of sorrow gushed from his sunken eyes ; he wept IL. T)ECATUR riRCUTT. 203 as if liis heart would break ; he called on the Name of the Lord with tears and supplication, like another wrestling Jacob. I rose and again exhorted him. He was not far from the kingdom. The heart was broken up, but not yet unburthened. We went to prayer again, and again the Lord drew nearer. It was as if tlie Lord descended in the cloud, and proclaimed his Name and mercy. The dying man looked, and got a sight of the passing glory, and exclaimed, **Thou Son of David have mercy on me." I rose and began to sing — ■ ' " My God, the spring of all my joys," when, suddenly, the man shouted,** Glory ! glory! glory !" I looked : his face was lit with celestial radiance, his tears of joy were flowing fast, his tongue was loosed, and he exclaimed, ** Now I know my sins are forgiven ; now I can die; gloiy, glory, glory be to God." For some time he continued in this state of exultant joy : his wife and children weeping round him, with other friends who had accompanied me, or come in while praying. We all rejoiced together. I sat down me- ditating on the wondrous mercy of God and His mysterious Providence that led me to be the instrument in tliis man's Salvation. I left him rejoicing in the Lord, and expecting to die in joyful triumph ; but the Saviour who healed his soul also healed his body : the next day he rose ; in a week he was better. About two weeks after I received him mto the church with his wife, the congi'egation looking at him as if alive from the dead. When I had seen them last they were on their way to heaven. 1 *! f 54: I' I ■I fl ^^ 294 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. CONTROVERSY WITH CAMl^BELLITES. Ill and around this town there was a large number of CamphelU^es, a sect to whom I referred in Chapter X., on the American churches. They viewed witli jealously the encroachments of the Methodists. As they are generally ioi^C> of controversy, and their preachers flippant proclaimers of the ^'Gonpel in the Water,'' their sermons are a strange medley of all sorts of stuff about Salvation by immersion. Their style — that of an auctioneer, reserving their wit and railing for other churches, and their praises for their own. Bible, mis- sionary societies, Sunday schools, and colleges, recc* 'ed their lo^i.dest denunciations. Things the most sacred they ridiculed, and institutions the most solemn they reviled. The Sabbath they disregarded; the forgive- ness of sins, a change of heai*t, they laughed at, unless what was connected with immersion. The Divinity of Christ they did not generally believe in ; the tersonality and operation of the Holy Sj)irit they scoffed at. They were literally immersed infidels, having little of the form or power of godliness. Where evangelical chm'ches were cold and lukewarm, these prospered ; but when alive and earnest, the Campbellites sank to their coverts by the waters. They had repeatedly challenged the Methodist ministers to debate, but my predecessors did not mind them. Our official bretlu'en wished me to take up their challenge and refute them. As yet they had not challenged me personally, and I should wait to hear them before I should attempt to refute them. The opportunity was shortly given. At Allen's school house the preacher preached against " Salvation by DECATUR CIKCUIT. 205 faith," and proclaimed Salvation by immersion. lie ridiculed the idea of sudden conversions, and the for- giveness of sins; said, that '* the Methodists mesmerised their converts instead of converting them ;" and bemg present, I annoimced that such dangerous doctrines I would endeavour to confute at an appointed time. The time was announced, and hundreds thronged to hear the refutation ; several reporters sat, with pencil and paper, taking notes. I endeavom-ed to show that faith in Christ was the Divinely appointed method of Salvation ; that sudden conversions were the rule, and not the exception from the word of God ; that if immersion was the means of Salvation, then Salvation came by works, and not by grace, tln-ough faith; that if the Salvation which Methodists professed was mes- merism, then Job, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and John were also in fits of mesmerism, for they pro- fessed the same. Quoting their language, I then warned the congregation against all such dangerous doctrine, and false teachers of religion, and exliorted the people to seek for that holiness without which no man could sec the Lord. '•'•"" Having preached a sermon shortly after this at Niautic on b^'.^tism, and baptized six children at the close of the service, it annoyed the Campbellite preacher so much, that he announced he would review my sermon. I said I was glad to hear it, and that I would try to be present. The day came : it was very fine. I preached in the morning, and announced that Dr. H would review my sermon on Baptism in the afternoon. The appointed hour arrived ; fi huge In ■'i m I, I 296 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. congregation assembled, and the Doctor spoke for nearly an hour and a half: only half of which he devoted to the arguments I advanced. At the close, I rose to respond, and replied to his principal arguments, which was, ** that as I had represented the Christian church, founded on the Jewish church, and the Jewish on the Abrahamic covenant " — ^he quoted Heb. viii. 8, to show that covenant was done away, and, consequently, that neither the Christian church nor infant baptism could be founded on the Abrahamic covenant ; that Christs atonement was not complete until He went up to heaven to sprinkle His blood on the throne ; that re- pentance and remission of sins were never preached iii this world until after the resurrection of Christ. In reply, I said I would now quote the arguments I advanced, to which the Doctor made no reply. Having read and numbered them one after another, I took it for granted these he could not answer, as he did not try, that I would now reply to those he did attempt. In reference to the Abrahamic covenant, I said that it was not that to which the apostle referred, but the covenant at Sinai, showing that the apostle was quoting the prophet Jeremiah, and that both prophet and apostle referred to the Sinai covenant ; that the apostle himself, in the Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 15), showed that the Abrahamic covenant could not be dis- annulled : that if it were done away, then Christ could not have come; that the Gentiles could not be con- verted ; that the dead could not be raised ; that there could be no hope of heaven without it ; that if that covenant were done away, there was no Saviour and DECATUR CIRCUIT. 297 no Salvation for us at all ; that becauBe it was an everlasting covenant we all might be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. That David, Isaiah, Daniel, Joel, the patriarchs and prophets, all preached repentance and remission of sins, quoting several pas- sages in proof thereof: that "to Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name, whosoever belie veth in Him shall receive remission of sins." — Acts X. 43. So far the debate closed that day, but was resumed again by liis wi'iting a slanderous letter about our cluu'ch and meeting to one of their papers. Al- though his people tried to hide the paper, I foimd it, and then sent a challenge to debate the statements ho made in the letter. This he dechned doing. So I took the letter at an appointed time to the town, and an- nounced I would read it and review Camphclli.sm at the close. Finding that the excitement this notice caused was great, and that a great crowd of people were coming to the meeting, om* brethren built a large tent adjoining the new seminary in the town ; the windows were taken out, the weather was warm. When the writer arrived in the morning at the village, the streets were thronged with carriages and waggons, and about 1,000 people assembled within the building and outside under the tent. At a quarter before ten in the morning I com- menced by reading for my text from 2 Peter, ii. 1 — 3. I then read the letter the Doctor wrote, in which he slandered our church. His people felt ashamed of it. I next read out twelee projwsitiom from the works of their founder, Campbell, and the well-known tenets of their preachers, some of which were the substitution of :|| I: i 1 Ii r?: II I « 298 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. (( Salvation by hnmersmi in ivattr,'' for Salvation by grace through faith. I spoke for six hours, during which the whole of the large concourse of people listened with the deepest attention, and at the close I received the cordial thanks of our people. That night I could not sleep, my mind had been so excited with the subject. Although I had invited Dr. H to come and defend his opinions before the meeting, he did not come, but wrote me a letter regretting the controversy, and wishing me to close it up, which I did immediately. Notmthstandiiig the severity with which I exposed their en*ors, yet this people thronged out to hear me whenever I returned to preach, and many a time I have seen the tears in the eyes of some while I was urging Salvation by faith upon them. Shortly after, the brethren made arrangements to hold a camp meeting in the neighboui'hood, at which some 4,000 people assembled to hear the Word of Life. CAMP MEETING. It was on a Wednesday evening in September, 1800, that the carriages and waggons bore several families, with their tents, to the scene of the encampment in a beautiful grove on the banks of the Sangamon river, near IlHopolis. Soon the stroke of the woodman's axe was heard felling down some trees, and putting up tents, seats, and a preacher's stand. The groimd was cleared, the tents were fixed, with the seats and stand in the centre, and aisles were cleared for the congre- gations to pass to and fro. Lamps were hung to the trees and stoves were adjusted, and fires kindled for DECATUR CIRCUIT. 299 cooking. Soon the voice of prayer and the song of praise were heard in this "Forest Sanctuary." Brotliers Lapham and Honnold assisted in preacliing and con- ducting the meeting. By Friday and Saturday several other famihes with their carriages had come and pitched their tents for the remainder of the meeting. On Saturday a large number of people were on the ground, and the meeting was growing more interesting. Eev. Hiram Buck preached at night a powerful sermon, and some came forward to seek religion. At this time I had lain down in a tent, having taken a chill, and was then in a high fever. Some who were in deep distress urged that I should go and pray with them. I went, but " that night caught nothing" — the net was not on the right side of the ship. Sunday morning came. The roads were thi'onged in all directions with carriages coming to the meeting. At eight, a.m.. Rev. Mr. Travis preached an excellent sermon : an early prayer-meeting, conducted by the young preachers, Lapham and Honnold, having preceded it. At half-past ten. Dr. Stamper preached with great eloquence and power. The crowd of people was vast all round. In the afternoon Mr. Buck preached another powei-ful sermon. In the evening all my great preachers re- turned home, and I was left with my young bretlu'en. At night I was quite ill, but found I had to preach. The congregation was vast, the camp li res blazed on the outskirts of the encampment, and the lamps hung on the trees, reflecting the beautiful foliage. I sat upon the stand, choosing my hymns : my text was selected. An old local preacher came to me to urge I If. ->aiWo!H fi Q ;i»rtd in heaven. There were two local l^reachers, Mr. BoLi who has since died in the Lord, and Professor McCoRii ::, the teacher of the seminary, lie was a good classical scholar, an excellent preacher, and a man of fine literary taste. His wife was well fitted for him as a companion. They were blessed witli a large and interesting young family. We had a nu- merous body of stewards and class-leaders, and some sisters who were powerful in prayer. Ttvo classes met in the morning before preaching in the church, two at the close of the forenoon sermon, two in th^ afternoon after Sabbath school, one in the parsonage, and mie in another house — eight in all, on the Sabbath day. The Sunday school was large, and numbered above 200 childi'en and young people. In it were some excellent Bible classes of young ladies and young men, one of which the writer taught while there. My work was to preach twice every Sabbath to the same congregation, meet a class or two, teach in the Sabbath school, preside at official meeting on Monday night, teach a large Bible class on Tuesday night, conduct prayer- meeting Wednesday night, and through the day and week be ready to attend to the sick, to fimerals, mar- fi i CLINTON STATION. 807 riages, and pastoral visitation. I also introduced a female prayer-meeting, wliicli is still kept up. The Tuesday evening Bible class was for older members in the church, and was the most interesting I ever met with. The deepest subjects were discussed, and the most profitable examined. RE\TVAL. About the middle of January, 1861, we commenced a protracted meeting, wMch lasted almost day and night for eight weeks. Under the preaching of the Word the congregations continued to increase, until pews and aisles, and every vacant spot were filled, sometimes as many as fifty men might be seen standing in the aisles for whom we could get no seats, while night after night the altar was crowded with weeping penitents. Some of the most remarkable conversions I ever witnessed took place at this meeting. Some old backsliders were reclaimed ; some prodigals returned to their Father's house again; many found the ''pearl of great price." Where the family altar had been forsaken or cast down, it was now erected and encircled with praying families. Upon the dwelling-places of this Zion the cloud of glory lingered: fathers and mothers rejoiced over their converted children ; young men and maidens praised the Lord; the grand-father and grand- daughter were converted at the same meeting, and united with the church at the same time ; two twin-brothers were born again at the same meeting ; above twenty young men were converted, and nearly as many young ladies. All classes and almost all ages were brought under Divine i 808 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. f:< inilnence. Several heads of families were made lieirs together of the grace of life, and husband and wife walked together to the house of God. Crime and drunkenness almost disappeared. New side-walks were built, and general improvements in the town were carried on ; and the people in their stores and shops talked about the revival, for some blasphemers had learned to pray. The class-meetings were crowded, and some of them were overwhelming scenes of saving grace. The Spirit of glory and of God rested on the people. Such times of saving power and exalted joy I have rarely seen and can never forget. About one hundred persons obtained the pardoning mercy of God, not a few of whom are now in glory, and nearly all of the rest are on the way. Jacob Ewing, the old sexton, who, for eight weeks, rang the bell for morning prayer and evening meeting, was one of the most upright men I ever knew, has passed through the gates of glory and is now in Paradise. His devoted wife still lingers on the shores of time, and looks forward to their meeting in glory. Eeligion and intelligence went hand in hand with this people. They patronized their own church periodicals to the following extent — weekly religious papers, 62 ; monthly magazines, 84 ; and Sunday school l^apers, monthly, 200, beside other books. Nearly half of the monthly magazines were taken by the members of other churches and persons of no church at all. i. THE CWTL WAR. About the middle of April the war commenced, and CLINTON STATION. 800 the president's call for volunteers came along the tele- graph \vires. The excitement hecame intense. Meetings were daily held, and volunteers, young men, and some old, stepped into line, and were enrolled to fight for their country. Sermons were preached at nearly all the churches, while the excitement in the Methodist congregation was the most intense. Almost all the young men converted at om* meetings volunteered to go to battle. Company after company was raised, officers appointed, and regiments organized, and gathered at the raikoad stations, and leave in the long trains for the scene of battle in the South. Never can we forget those parting scenes, as hundreds of soldiers were about to go, and thousands of their fi-iends gathered to bid them adieu. Addresses were delivered, prayers offered, and farewell hymns sung. When the railway whistle blew, and the long trains of crowded cars moved oil, amid the tears of weeping wives and widowed mothers, for their husbands and sons, some of whom never returned, but fell on the field of battle, or perished on long marches, or died in hospitals or prison-pens, far from home. For weeks and months the sound of fife, the beat of di'um, and the cry to arms were daily heard in the streets, and the constant drilling of recruits and volunteers went on incessantly, as call after call came for more men to hasten to the relief of the first who went to battle. Toward the end of July a dark cloud settled on the North as the tidings of the battle of Bullrun came in. ^^ For the divisions of Renhen there were i/reat thonfjhls of heart f'' while the ciu'se of Meroz fell on those who were if ■ -t.i. I it i ![ 310 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. not willing to come to *' the help of the Lord against the mighty." — Judges v. Late in autumn the conference met in the town of Carlinville, during which time there was gi'cat excite- ment on account of the war. Several of the preachers resigned their place in conference to lead companies to regiments, and regiments to battle. Out of the Illinois conference nearly sixty preachers left, three of whom became brigadier-generals ; several were colonels, ma- jors, chaplains, captains, and lieutenants. One was called the preachers' regiment, as they were made up of that material, under General Jackquess. They fought bravely at Perryvillc and Stone River. As the writer was invited to return, he was sent back to Clinton for another year. Shortly before and after his return he and his family received several substantial presents from friends within and without the church, as tokens of esteem and regard, which increased the mutual attachment between pastor and people already existmg. At this time the following visit to St. Louis and Missouri was made, and the incidents, published in the Irisk Evamjeliist, are trans- ferred here : *' MISSISSIPPI, ST. LOUIS, AND MISSOURI. (( Having received a cordial invitation from Dr. Elliot, at the session of our conference, to spend some time with him in the study of Hebrew at St. Louis, I hastened to avail myself of the privilege. Hence, on the evening of the 28th of October, I took the train in Clinton, Illinois, and next morning was on the sandy shores of the Mis- sissippi, the " Father of Waters." Having never seen this celebrated river before, I gazed upon it with feelings CLINTON STATION. 311 of unmingled pleasure, as I saw its majestic stream roll by, which extended a distance of more than 8,000 miles, from its scource in Lake Itasca, to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. There was a time when the morning stars looked down upon a vast expanse of water, stretching between the Alleghany and the Rocky mountains ; when the wing of an angel, like a flash of light, might have swept from the top of the one to the crest of the other, and nought but water beneath, and the blue skies above. But the hand of God has unlocked the ancient bars, and the flood-gates have been opened, while the Mississippi rushed through the everlasting hills and primsBval rocks, toward the ocean, and di'ained the valley diy. The same hand has since prepared the valley as the garden of the Lord, to be the home of millions of our race, and the fertile and unfailing granary of this continent, and of a large portion of Eui'ope. Arriving at the terminus of the road, I stepped out of the train into an omnibus, and in it, on to a steam ferry-boat, that soon bore me over to the other shore and the wharf of St. Louis. Here were steamers plying up and down the river, from above St. Paul's in Minesota, to Cairo and Cincinnati ; there were others arriving and departing from and to different destinations. The Americans are a bell loving and a bell ringing people — ^bells chime from the towers of their cathedrals, bells ring from the spires of their Gothic churches, bells ring from the churches of all denominations. From the law courts, the college buildings, the academic bowers, the common schools, the river steamers, and the rail cars, the slave plantations, and the hands of the auctioneer, there comes the chime of bells, at all houi-s and on all occasions. In a large city, there is a concentration cf these sounds. ♦' Saint Louis stretches away some seven miles along the western shore of the river, and some four miles back in the rere on rising ground ; it was built by Catholic Frenchmen in 1764. In 1820, there was a population of 4,598; in 1861, the population rose above 162,000 ; in 1867, 200,000. The streets and houses near the ill pS ill n 1 ' ffll^HI T ■} ^m iJilEHil HP" ' '■ 1 HI 1 B ■1 I ,1:,? 11: fl ii' *'■: )!' .\ IN 312 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. I river are built nan*ow and high, after French style. Streets running parallel with the river, and extending back are numbered first, second, and third ; while those running east and west, intersecting these at right angles, are distinguished by other names. The shops and hotels are very fine, and some of the private residences magnificent ; the churches are numerous, some of them costly. Here Protestantism has gained the ascendancy in numbers, wealth, and influence. St. Louis is now the great metropolis of the south-west, and is the central depot for the immense mining regions of Missom-i. Here the vast tide of travel across the continent from east to west reposes, and resumes its journey. Here the largest rivers on the continent meet ; here the varied lines of raikoad centre and diverge, and here the tele- graph stretches its Ibics of wire and wings of light, from the lakes of the north to the gulf of the south, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Mississippi valley is destined to be the garden and granary of America, the resting place and home of, perhaps, two hundi'ed millions of the human family. St. Louis will be the metropolis of that valley. **In a few moments after arriving in the city, I was in the office of the Central Chrialian Advocate, and received the cordial welcome of its editor. Without attempting to describe the buildings, or the press, whence the Central Christian Advocate emanates, permit me to say a few words about the editor. Dr. Elliot, the editor, stands some five feet eight inches high ; broad-shouldered and strong in bones and muscle. With a countenance very animated ; eyes grey, clear, and quick ; forehead remarkably high, and brows indicative of a strong memory and good linguistic power ; his voice stamped mth the Scotch Irish accent, and his white locks falling carelessly down his shoulders, exhibit the external appearance of the man. He reads fast and writes quick, putting the burning thoughts down on paper as fast as they leap from his brain, seldom waiting to trim or improve them ; hence the originality, vigour, and power of his wiitings. When he left Ireland for America^ he CLINTON STATION. 818 brought with him the grace of God, and a good English and scientific education, with an excellent practical knowledge of Greek and Latin. Identifying himself with Methodism in the new world, as he had been in the old ; he has filled various offices in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, as missionary to the Indians, itmerant preacher, stationed pastor, presiding elder, professor, an J president in various colleges, and editor of several church papers for more than twenty years. He has also become a voluminous author on the popish controversy, and the slave question ; liis works on these subjects, especially the first are imrivalled. His Roman Catlwlicism is a master-piece, a store-house, on that subject ; on the second, his arguments are drawn from the Mosaic laws, the teacliing of Christ and of Paul ; from the Apostohc Constitutions, and the Code of Justinian, which contain all that is of importance on the subject. He has become a good linguist, as he can pray to God, and preach to men in English, Irish, French, and German, in Indian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and can read in Spanish and Italian. A few years since he wished to go as a mis- sionary to Eome, but the powers that be restrained him, fearing he might be assassinated, and not wishing to bring his blood upon the Pope, and the Church of Eome, (knowing there was enough there already,) they con- strained him to abide. He yielded unwillingly ; he said to me, *• If they had let me go then, the principles of Methodism would have been taught, and a broad foundation laid for EvangeHcal Christianity, which would have taken precedence now i a the altered state of the Italian mind." With all the great and benevolent enterprises, which have arisen in the church and country, he has been connected. At his suggestion the StiHdaif School Advocate was pubhshed, which has at- tained a circulation of some 300,000 copies, semi- monthly. He started the first female college or academy in the midst of great opposition ; now female colleges are scattered all over the land, and send out polished diamonds, to shine amid the varied scenes of life, as mothers and dftugliters io Israel. He has an M fji U-'i 314 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. excellent work in manuscript, called Political Romanism about the size of his Roman Catholicism. Long may he be spared to advocate the cause of Christ, the interests of the church, and the claims of humanity. May his path be " as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."'-' ■. ♦■-•!' ** MISSOURI. ** Having spent a considerable time with the doctor, hours, late and early, at Hebi.^w roots and verbs, I took the train one Saturday morniig for the United States' camp at Irojicon, Missouri, some ninety miles south of the city, to see my brother and some friends in the army. For forty miles above and along the river, yet under sandy bluffs on the other side the road stretched. Then for the remainder of the way through low valleys, and tun- nelled hills, and deep dark forests, and diversified scenery, more remarkable for geological specimens and mineral ores than for agricultural productions, I went, until I arrived at the terminus of the road, at the base of some three lofty hills of solid iion ore, where are the same number of towns between the hills, which have risen in the interests of the several mining companies. Here around Ironton, the county town, and principal of the other two, where some 6,000 United States' soldiers encamped, guarding the valuable lead and iron mines in the neighboui'hood. Not far from here, a few days before, the rebels had 275 men of their army killed in an en- counter with the government troops. After passing by the sentries, and through the lines, I received a cordial welcome in the camp from officers and men. America is a wonderful country for singular natural productions, and as singular customs among the people. In the service of the government there are regiments of Irish, and Scotch, of Swiss, Swedes, and Germans, of French, Dutch, and Italians, and here is the 83rd Illinois Volunteers, called the Normal Regiment, because its * Dr. Elliot resides at present in Mount Pleasant, lowft. Qmauism CLINTON STATION. 815 colonel was the principal of the lUiHois Normal Uni- versity. Its professors and teachers were officers and heuteiiants in this regiment, none of whom ever received a military education. The rank and file were thus made up o/ school-teachers and educated men, having as much biaias as muscle, and considerable of both, being distinguished from their fellow- soldiers by the cognomen, •* The hrain Kegimeut." The camp was stretched on the north side of a hill, whose top was fortified by strong bastions, and a well built fort, who^e guns commanded the two towns that lay on either liide of the hill, and every approach to the place. By the side of large thirty-two pounders and other guns, we saw canisters of shot and grape, and round shot in abundance. Next day, Sabbath, after divine service was over, I visited the hospital, and found some eighty sick belonging to this regiment. Coming roimd to where one young man lay, whom I knew well, I said, ** Samuel, do you know me?" optmng his eyes, he stretched out his hand, exclaiming, " O I'm lad to see you! " "Do you feel that Christ is with you, and that your hope of heaven is bright '? " I asked. "0 yes," (said he, laying his hand on his breast,) "I fear I shall never rise from this place, but I feel that Christ is with me, and my only comfort now. If it were not for that it would be hard, but I can look up to heaven with confidence, I hope to meet you there," &c. Soon after he died. He was the son of a local preacher, and a most excellent young man. The follo^vulg morning, Monday, my brother, myself, and some of the soldiers formed an excursion party to explore the sides, and summit of Pilot Knob, one of the highest hills in tho neighbourhood, and one solid mass of iron ore, yielding a very large per cent. We ascended the sides, passing through scrubby oaks, and wild grape vines, whose fruit refreshed us by the way. It was noon when we gained the summit, and although the 4th of November, it was as warm as the 12th July in Ireland. By the aid of a good glass, we saw away in the distance down the slopes of the hills, along the banks of streams, through the trees, and spread out ou the valleys, the white tents of m ^m. ft=f i' § ! ! IS I "at 816 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. the encamped troops, and platoons of soldiers performing evolutions. A fire was kindled among the old rocks, and we dined heartily in nature's halls on roast beef, prepared after the Indian style, with bread, butter, cheese, fruit, &c., and then hastened to explore iron quarries for geological specimens. A small double track iron railroad from the quarries at the top, to the smelting furnaces at the bottom, convey the full cars down and the empty ones up, by the same power and at the same time. Here we found several specimens of iron ore, quartz, and magnet, around which nails and needles fairly danced and jumped." " Next morning I bid farewell to my friends in tlic camp, and in the evening reached St. Louis, and received an Irish welcome from the doctor. Being strongly urged to visit the museum in St. Louis, I availed myself of the opportunity a short time after. On entering the halls we were brought by a guide into the rooms, and there met with Mr. Bates, the original proprietor of the institution, who presented me with a catalogue, the late and real owner having fled to the South, as he manifested some rebel propensities. Anionp; the insect tribes we saw huge beetles and fireflies, aiul insects of almost all size, shape, and color — some of them harmless, and others very destructive. Of fisJies, we saw the sturgeon, the shark, the sword fish, the flying fish, &c. Among amphibious animals, there was the seal, the alligator, and the crocodile from Egypt. There were shells from almost all seas and shores, and of different size and beauty. There were ores and sti'ata from all the states and territories in the Union, from distant volcanoes and from dittereut mines, ami from the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Among the foreign silks and native cottons, we saw the indestructible and celebrated asbestos. Of small wild animals, native and foreign, there was a great variety. The reptiles were numerously represented, from the large igauna and cameleon to the small lizard ; from a young boa to tlio vicious rattlesnake. Of antiquities, there were helmets of ancient warrors, weapons from the South Sea I im mmmmmsm CLINTON STATION. 317 erformiug )ld rocks, oast beef, lI, butter, plore iron uble track p, to the ! full cars )ower and Bcimens of nails and jnds in tlic louis, and or. Being t. Louis, I time after, guide into he original me with a lied to the es. Among reflies, and r — some of Of tiyJics, ■d fish, the , there was •om Egyi't. yhores, and and strata nion, from ami froui the foreign uctibio and native and ptiles were igamui anil boa to the ere lielniets South Sea Islands, and Indian dresses of the aborigines at h me. There was the ancient bark canoe,, superseded by the river steamer. There were curiosities from India, China, and Japan ; and relics from Egypt and Palestine, from Greece a,nd Eome, and the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. There were paintings in oil and canvas, and busts in bronze and marble, and statues of distinguished personages, and ambrotypes of Caiiforaian scenes and /ejects. There was a magniticcnt collection of birds: the ostrich, the swan, the albatross, &c., webfooted and waders ; there were eagles, vultures, hawks, and a singular vaiiety of owls. There was the argus pheasant so remarkable for size and beauty, in breadth of wing and length of tail. There was the cockatoo from Australia, and the well-known cuckoo and thrush from Ireland. There was the bird of Paradise aud the lyre bird, far surpassing the finest pictures I had seen of them. There were sixty-four varieties of humming- birds, and about half that number of parrots. There were two mummies from Egjnpt, a woman and a boy, the one about forty-five, and. the otiier fourteen years of age ; the woman I would infer was an Arabian instead of a native Egyptian, from the shape of her head, the form of her features, and the symmetry of her body. What thoughts the sight of these " imperishable types of evanescence" produced in my mind? Who were tliey '? What were their names ? Where did they live, and how ? What were the circumstances of their birth, life and death. ? We know not until the Judgment morn, then shall their private life be disclosed. The most attractive object in the museum is the fossil skeleton of the huge basilosaurus, or zeuglodon, an amphibioii! anim}':,! combining in its form and structure the cim- racteristicc of the whale, the alligator, and the serptut. It was found in 1848, in Alabama, ra a field belonging to Oolonel Prince. Never shall I forjei the appearance of this antediluvian monster, ninety-six feet in length, whose enormous jaws, lengthened spine, and numerous ribs filled the centre, and extended beyond tlie length of the hall. There is but another, a smaller specimen ^11 •X > '« »«"Uit« ^m^ 818 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ii of this species known ; its fossil remains are in Berlin, Prussia. What a time when such animals lived and roamed the earth ! How appUcable the Unes of Milton, we never thought of seeing them thus applied — < Extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size, /' Titanian or earth bom, that warred on Jove, Briarieus, or Typhon, whom the den I . By ancient Tarsus held ; or that sea beast. Leviathan, which God of all His works, Created hugesi.' . (( Having bid farewell to the doctor, and the friends at St. Louis, I left there on the morning of the 8th of November, and reached home in Clinton, Illinois, same evening, and found all well. Next Sabbath after preaching in the evening, I took inflammatory sore throat, and was prostrated for several days. On tlic Tuesday night after, our eldest little daughter, Mary, pged three years and ten days, took a similar disease, and died on the following Monday night, 18th Novem- ber. On the Thursday night after thr.c, our youngest and only little one, Katie, took it, and died on that night two weeks, December 6th. Were it not for the grace of God, and kind friends, and the sure hope of soon meeting them in Paradise, we would have been overcome with much sorrow. The eldest loved to go to church, class-meeting, and Sabbath school; ere her mind understood these privileges, her young heart felt their influence and power. Scarcely had the youngest begun to lisp her parents' names on earth, until she went to sing the name of Jesus in heaven." i| On the 1st of January, 1862, we welcomed the advent of a little stranger, who in part relieved our solitude and solaced our bereavement. Since then he has been a light in our family, and a favorite in every church and Sabbath school with which we have been connected. CLINTON STATION. 819 n Berlin, ived and f Milton, e friends at the 8tli of 1, Illinois, bbath after latory sore '8. On tlie iter, Mary, lar disease, Hh Novem- ir youngest Led on that not for the lire hope of have been oved to go )ol ; ere her ig heart felt le youngest 1, until she I the advent our solitude he has been jvery churcli a connected. Shortly after, special services were commenced, to seek an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the church. The great revival of the year before led the people to look for more. Many of our young men were gone to the army; frequent letters from them were received by the friends at home, and several by their pastor. These letters were full of piety toward God, and loyalty toward the government. For about five weeks I held protracted services, preaching every night, and holding prayer-meetings every day. Night after night souls were converted, and at the close of the meeting about fortif persons professed to have received thf renewing grace of God, in the conversion of their souls. Many of these were young ladies in the Sabbath school. In February, the battle of Fort Donaldson was fought, and the surrender of Forts Henry and Donaldson accomplished under General Grant. These were followed up by the more sanguinary battles of Shiloh and Corinth in the April following. At the above battles many of the soldiers of the West suffered, especially at Donaldson. Several of the sick, wounded, and dead, were brought home for treatment and interment. We went to the train to meet them, five corpses were borne from the railroad station to a public hall in the town, to await interment the next day. It was decided giving them a military burial and a public funeral. Early next day thousands gathered from all parts of the country to attend the funeral procession. The procession formed nearly a mile in length, the clergy going before, the hearsed with the dead soldiers next, the band and volunteers after, and behind these IS i 820 TWELVE TEARS IN AJIERICA. I: a concourse of several thousand people. Hon. Mr. Weldon delivered an oration, and the writer an addi-eas ; then were committed to one grave, the bodies of Lochlin RcTEES, Samuel Day, Daniel Malone, Samuel Woolcot, and Spencer Page, all of whom were killed in the battle of Fort Donaldson. With the dead, came on the same train Egbert Murphy, dying. A few months before, there gathered round him in the church, one Sabbath afternoon, several young men who were just converted ; he was not, but was under deep conviction. That evening he sought the Lord sorrowing : those young friends gathered round him, prayer was made to God on his behalf, and while he was calling on the name of the Lord, his soul was set at liberty. His brother John was a devoted young man, a sweet singer, and a consistent Christian. In the great revival that we had, John too\ an active part, leading other young men to Christ. Long had he been praying for his brother Robert, now his soul was filled with joy as he saw him converted. Both enlisted in the army. I went down to see them in camp ; John was holding prayer-meetings in the tents with his fellow- soldiers. Wlien I bade him farewell, he had a Testament and hymn book tn hin band, some time after he died in hospital, but in the arms of Jesus. The morning after Robert came, I went up to see him, being shot in tlie neck, his face was greatly swollen, I could scarcely know him ; he was glad to sec me, and stretched out his hand to greet me. He was shot at Fort Donaldson, and for a night lay in his wounds on the gory field of battle. Having met him in the train the evening CLINTON STATION. 821 before, he at once broke out into exultant language, in reference to his boi^e of a glorious resurrection, the passengers were affected to tears by the sight of the dying soldier, and the testimony he bore to the power of religion. This moniing he was exceedingly happy, although in excessive pain ; he referred to the time of his conversion, to his trials in the army, his consola- tions as he lay wounded on the battle field, to the prospect of meeting his brother in heaven, and his hope of a glorious immortality. Lifting his hands upward, with tears in his eyes, he said, "I want to meet you in heaven." He then asked me to pray : we knelt around his bed, and while commending him to God, his soul felt very happy. Just then the wound burst out afresh, and the mother, rising, held a bason to catch the life blood as it flowed from his wound — it was a sacrifice she made for her country. His strength was gone — he could speak no more — the blood stopped flowing — he beckoned to his parents and sisters, who came near — he took the hand of each and put it into mine — I did not understand — his mother, bursting into tears, said, " He is committing us to your pastoral care." In two hours after his soul went to Jesus. Young Morrison was of Irish descent, and obtained religion some time before he enlisted. In the army he lost liis health, was discharged, came home to die with his uncle at Clinton. I was with him as he passed down the dark valley, which to him appeared bright as he went on, looking to Jesus. He died in peace, and was buried with the rest of the soldiers in the soldier's cemetery. Asa Wilson Kane was a tall and slender youth, w H • i H i! 11 1 ^m. i hI Ii f , I: f r ' 322 TWEM'E YFIABS IN AMERICA. ^*^! li naturally bashful. I was kneeling by his side praying, when the Lord converted liis soul at the meeting of 1860. He came home to die. One morning I went to see him ; he was sinking fast, but his mind was clear, and his prospect bright. After praying with him, and commending him to God, we stood by the bed side to see the last struggle. " Father," said he, " my soul is happy, I do not fear to die, Christ has saved me ; I shall soon meet my mother in heaven; I know she is waiting for me there. Draw near to me, my feet are growing cold, and the room is dark, but the light of heaven is in my soul ; I shall soon be home and be witli Jesus." The room was not dark : he was passinj^ tlirough the darlc valley ; he continued speaking until within a moment of death; his intellect was clearer tlian I ever witnessed it in life. He told me that when he first enlisted he was afraid he could not maintain his religious enjoyment, but when on duty he often poured out his soul to God, and was greatly blessed, and thus kept. . '■ ■. Samup:l McMurry was a young man of much hope and xu'omise. He was one of my best assistants in the prayer-meetings among the young people. Many a time I left him in charge of these when I could not be present. He was very useful among the young me^^ in leading them to Clirist ; a sweet singer, and powerful in prayer. While in the army he wrote me several spiritual and interesting letters, which appeared to breathe the spirit of Christ. He died in Mound City Hospital, with no mother nor sister to close his eyes, but the Friend of sinners was with him. CLINTON STATION. 823 Edward Haynie, the son of a respectable older in the Presbyterian church, was a bright, intelligent youtli. He died in peace, trusting in Jesus, far from home, in the South. And there were others whose remains I interred, and their death improved to listening himdreds * of sympathizing friends. There were some who w^ere starved to death in Andersonville prison in Georgia. Frequently, after I left Clinton, I returned to preach the fimeral sermons of those who died in the Lord, and their cotmtry's service. > ' :\^ I remarkable conversion and recovery. •• While attending the funeral of the five soldiers, al- ready referred to, Mr. S. T. took a severe cold, that turned to pneumonia, which grew worse, mitil it resulted in violent hemorrhage of the lungs. His pliysician lost all hope of his recovery, and made known his opinion to the friends. About half-past one at night I heard a loud rap at the parsonage door, I was in a profound sleep. I arose, dressed, went to the door, saw F. T. standing at the door with a lantern in his hand. " Sir," said he, in a tremulous voice, "my brother Smith is djdng, he wants you to pray with him." I went down. The house was full of people, for the family was large. His wife was sitting in the corner of the room, Aveeping. His p&rients bore up under the approaching sorrow with Christikn fortitude. His only sister was present, and much affected. Some of his wife's friends were there waiting for thie final close. His doctor was present, hftvihg being still in attendance on him. The room where he lay was small. I went in and stood beside : urn 824 TWELVE YEARS IX AMERICA. m h's bed, his mother came in with me ; his wife remained without, weeping. The blood was passing from his lungs in jets into a vessel before him. He was pillowed up in the bed to give him the more ease, and prevent suffocation from the blood in the air-vessels. His pain of body was great ; his pain of mind was greater. His soul was in deep distress, and he was unprepared to die. He called on the Name of the Lord. I tried to direct him to the Saviour. We knelt in prayer, and the power of God came down upon his heart : it melted ; tears of deep penitence began to gush from his eyes, while the life-blood was passing from his lungs. Be- tween the jetting of the blood, he prayed in broken sentences, but in unbroren faith and earnestness. We prayed the second time. His mother prayed ; she was a devoted woman. We rose. His earnestness was greater. I tried to direct his mind to Christ in the most simple and direct manner. His soul hung between heaven and hell ; his body between life and death. Jesus only could save him. I spoke of the love of Christ — His willingness and ability to save — to save von- — to save for erer ! The man looked up, as if he saw the Son of God by faith, and could see no other. He looked and prayed, until I saw the light shining in his eye and lighting up his face, when, presently, he shouted, '* Glory ! glory ! glory ! the Lord is come. Glory ! the Lord has saved me : all my sins are forgiven ! Glory to God in the Highest!" As the man was large, his voice was loud, I thought he would awaken every family in the street. His wife rushed in and wapt with joy. His parents and friends drew near and rejoiced CLINTON STATION. 32' Avith him. The doctor hastened to the door, and ex- claimed, "hell live, he'll live. Now I know he will recover." Dr. A was not at that time mistaken. The moment God blessed his soul the blood stopped flowing ; he began to recover ; shortly after was up ; and is now a respectable merchant in the town of P . He and his wife arc trying to live for God and heaven. As soon as his soul was blessed, I looked at my watch — it was a quarter past two in the morning. - THE ORPHAN GIRL. During our revival meeting of the second year, one night a little orphan girl, of the Sabbath school, came forward with others to seek the Saviour; they found pardon, she was still distressed; she was a givl of remarkable intellect and intelligence in the Scviptures. Next morning she came to the church to seek ; while forward at the rails, kneeling in deep distress, I called upon a lady to lead in prayer for the girl ; she declmed. I called upon another ; she also declined. Just then the child, in an agony of distress, lifted up her head, with tears gushing from her eyes, she appealed to heaven, saymg, ** Oh! Lord, will none of them pray for me ? — have mercy upon me, and save me." This led out another to engage in prayer for her, during which the Lord sealed the blessing on her heart, and she arose with the light of heaven in her face, and the love of God in her heart, and seemed for a while as if eveiy passage in the Bible, bearing on forgiveness and iLe Salvation of the soul, wa.^ quoted by her in reftrence to the blessing she had received. " Out of the moutU ifi ^«l I;1 wn 826 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise."' The scene made every one in the church weep. THE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR. Henry Hovey was the son of an elder in the Presby- terian church, a youth of fine form and appearance, a telegraph operator in town. He was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He frequently attended one of the above meetings ; also the Bible class in the Sabbath school, and appeared deeply affected. He was taken sick of typhoid fever, and grew worse. One day, at the request of his father, I went to see him ; the youth was dying. When the father found this, he upbraided himself for not speaking to him about his state, for he had often prayed for him in private and in the family. I drew near to speak to him about his soul, and asked him about his state, he tried to speak, but I could not understand him ; I stooped, but could not get a word of comfort that I knew ; I asked one or two of the friends to stoop and listen, they could not make out liis words, and still he tried to speak, but the tongue was thick and the lips were swollen ; I knew he wanted to tell me something, but could not get his meaning. Perhaps it was a word of comfort to his weepuig father. I tried to dii'ect his mind immediately to Cluist for Salvation ; we went to prayer ; the room w as filled with the Divine presence. The youth was struggling into the arms of Jesus: turning away from us, he lifted his eyes to Christ ; his lips were moving, his soul was looking unto Jesus. We were standing rouad him, when suddenly the CLINTON STATION. 827 muscles of his face relaxed, and a gleam of glory shone over the whole face, that made some of those around start ; suddenly another came tliat lit up his whole face with glory, the tears flowed ; tlic soul had just got a sight of Christ : in a few moments after he l>roathcd his last. The train was passhig hy on the railroud, and the chariot of Ihe must have borne him up to glory, as the train swept along the passengers on earth. Last summer I returned to preach a funeral sermon for a young soldier, who was starved to death at Ander- sonville, Georgia. The church was crowded to over- flowing. Wliile writing this chapter, a letter from there informs me of a blessed revival, and one hundred and fifty conversions. To God be all the glory. ^ CHAPTER XYIII. „ EUbHVILLE STATION. RUSI'VILLE STATION — CHURCHES : MEMBERS — TRIP TO CANADA, EAST AND WEST MONTREAL CITY CHURCHES INSTI- TUTIONS — POPULATION DENOMINATIONS STATISTICS — RETURN SURPRISE PARTIES DONATIONS SOCIAL CIRCLES AND CHURCH PARLORS TRAVELS THROUGH ILLINOIS, INDIANA, OHIO, AND PENNSYLVANIA, BY THE FORT WAYNE AND PENNSYLVANIA CENTRAL RAILROADS — PHILADELPHIA — GENERAL CONFERENCE — ACROSS THE ALLEGHANIES PITTS- BURGH — RUSHVILLE THE MIDNIGHT SACRAMENT. The Illinois conference met in the autumn of 1802, at Bloomington. It was largely attended. Bishop Janes presided. Many changes took place in connexion with the re-ad^^ ission of some ministers who had left a couple of years before for the army as chaplains or officers ; others were leaving to take the place of these. The political and war excitement still continued great, and necessarily affected the state of the country, and the condition of the churches. The Kev. Preston Wood succeeded me at Clinton, and I was sent to Rushville. Rushville is the county seat of Schuyler county, and is one of the oldest towns in the State, and the county was one of the first settled. The town has a population of about 1,500, and is a great centre for the pork RUSHVILLE STATION. 82J) market and the cooper trade. It lies between tlio Illinois and Mississippi rivers, being only a few miles from the former. Before the age of railroads Rushvillc was one of the greatest markets in the West. A few leading merchants in the town bought the principal produce of the adjoin- ing counties, and shipped it to St. Louis and Chicago, and, in return, purchased dry goods and groceries to sell to the farmers in the country ; consequently, some of tliwse merchants became wealthy in the community by this double trade. "We have seen in meadows near the town cartloads of hogs' feet and heads thrown out to rot, which in other countries are counted as luxuries for food. Here were also several coopers' shops, in which barrels and vessels of various sizes were made foi" hoi' and foreign markets, the county u^lng one of the bi.st in the State for the growth of oak and hickory, the best material for staves and hoops. ' ' There were ^ficc cliui-ches i.i the town, representing as many denominations, between whom much cordiality existed. There were also three large district schools, and one classical seminary. The population of the town was of dift'erent nationali- ties : English, Irish, Scotch, German, and American. These were all represented in the church of which the writer was pastor, and which also represented a largo amount of the wealth and intelligence in this locality. They were so connected by intermarriage, that the con- gregation and Sabbath school were nearly all cousins. Of the English, the Scripps' of London, formed some three or foiu* families, remarkable for their literary I U 1 ms^B ] ■ ■ I ^SB \h 1 'MK I 1 >wi^^Hi' flB{ r^ 1 ij^^H^Bil « M- 1 I 1 1 i m 330 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ,:^:)< Wf ■ :«i i: ii i 1 1 Mf if H :j mm 'l H [■4 I H 1 1 tastes. Five of these jj^entlemeu were at one time editors of influential papers. Of tliis family none were more remarkable than the late Rev. John Scripps, who was born in London, and emigrated with his parents in early life to America, where he became one of the pioneer preachers in Illinois and Missouri. Mr. Scripps was a man of small body, large soul, and tenacious memory ; of fine gifts and graces as a preacher, and successful as a minister of Jesus Christ. He claimed to have been the first Protestant preacher in St. Louis and Missouri. He also was presiding elder, and twice a member of the general conference. But having early lost liis voice he gave up travelling, and settled down in business in Rushville, and became editor of the county paper for many years. He was a Gamaliel in the town and church, at whose feet sat the youth of three generations. He was teacher of a large Bible class, and president of a literary society. The British poets were on his tongue to illustrate a truth or point a moral. To hear him tell the incidents and adventures of his early life in the ministry, in Illinois and Missouri, one might go far. He brought up a large and respected family in the fear of God and the service of his Master. He died on the 26th of July, 1805, i;i the 80th year of his age, and in the blissful hope of immortality. Jane Scripps was the sister-in-law of John, being the widow of his brother. Although independent in fortmie, she wi«s the daughter of much affliction. She was one of the holiest and most devoted women we ever knew. Like Anna of old, she was much in the House of the Lord, and appeared to dwell imder the shadow BnMUini«IIBa\Bni!S«KtBni»IKHBnSHVKHWI RUSHVILLE STATf ON . 831 of the throne. In the female prayer- meeting tshe was powerful in prayer, and useful in leading sjouly to Clniot. A short time after we left, she went home to glory. Doctor Sweeny was an excellent physician, a gentle- man in manner, and a Christian in life. .He was a sweet singer, an excellent steward and class leader, i\ pillar in the church of God. Paralysis prostrated his tine form, and his spirit went to God. Mrs. Clarke Uved with her son-m-law, Mr. Wilson ; she was then above ninety years old. She still lingers on the shores of time, buiTounded with her posterity of the foui-th and fifth generations. Born in Jxeland, she loved to speak of the old preacliers of tl\e first and second generation, who visited her fathers house when she was a child, and her own when a young woman. In the above town wo dined with six old Irish ladies, whose miited ages reached 400 years, the oldest i)eiiig ninety and the youngest sixty. . The Rev. John Clarke was son to the above motlier in Israel. He was a man of fine intellect, and one of the most able preachers in the West. He was ble;>8t}d with an excellent family, brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Thomas Wilson was born in the county Tyrone, li-eland. He was blessed with a hirge share of this world's wealth, and was a liberal supporter of tJic cause of God. He also had an interesting family. Never can we forget the happy weeks we spent with this Idud family. The names of Graff, Baker and Ramsey were pillarti in the chui-ch at RusLville. There were other persons m m I ■lli. 1 ( II ^m^ 332 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ;:3 and families enrolled in the class-book, whose names are in the Book of Life. Never can we forget their kindness, their piety, and their usefulness. The congregation was large, and the Sabbath school one of the best in the country. The superintendent, G. W. ScRipps, was one of the finest singers, and one of the most popular and successful superintendents. The congregational singing was some of the best we ever heard. In the church there were voices remarkable for sweetness and power. The library of the Sabbath school cost about thirty pounds a year for new books. The year before I was appointed to the place, was one of trial to my predecessor, who was a faithful and successful preacher. The great war affected the town, and there were some members in the church who sympathized with the South in their revolt from the Union ; some had left the church before I reached it, and some threatened to leave it after my arrival, but we got on with peace and some measure of prosperity. At the last quarterly meeting for the year, the writer was invited to return for the next year. As tlie annual conference approached, instead of attending it, he embraced the opportunity of maldug a visit to Canada for some four or five weeks. Here he transfers to these pages, from the Cent ml Christian Advocate, a sketch of this visit, as it gives a general and statistical descrip- tion of what the writer saw of the country and the churches at the time. ''CANADA EAST AND WEST — MONTREAL CITY — CHURCHES, ETC. ••On the 22nd of September, 18G3, about two o'clock BUSHVILLE STATION. 333 3 names in the morning, I left Rusliville, Illinois, for a promised trip to Montreal, Canada. The night was calm and clear; the stars looked down from their lofty heights like lamps of light from the upper world. The state of the country, politics and religion, engaged our conversa- tion, until we reached Mount Sterling a little before sunrise. An hour after, the train came up for the East ; wc stepped in, and were soon moving at the rate of thirty miles an hour. At noon we were at Spring- field; in the afternoon we arrived safe in Bloomington. At twelve next night we left Bloomington for Montreal ; seven next morning found us at Chicago, same hour in the evening at Detroit junction. We were now on the Grand Trunk railroad. " About eight p.m. we crossed the river between Ports Huron and Samia. While in the boat we passed the dividing line between the United States and Canada. Next morning, 25th, we took breakfast at Toronto. The greater part of the day we skirted the shores of Lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte, passing tlu-ough a beautiful well cultivated country of hill and dale. The day was fine. Our back was toward the great West. On our right lay the beautiful expanse of the lake, lifting its placid bosom to the liglit of the sun. On our left were the deep, dense forests. We hastened onward and eastward through several beautiful towns, such as Coburgh, Port Hope, Brockville, and Prescott. The Canadian forests we saw were not so remarkable for the extraordinary size of the trees, as for their immense number and gigantic height, standing together as close as soldiers in a line of battle. In summer they must form an impervious shade from the rays of the sun, as well as a great barrier to the speedy cultivation of the soil. Li some places the tin^ber was cut down, but so thickly strewn as to cover the entire ground on which it lay ; in other places it was piled in great heaps waiting to be burned. It would take a farmer a large portion of his life to clear out a farm in the woods of Canada. How different from tlie speedy cultivation of the prairies of Illinois. Along the road we saw thou- m B84 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. sands of beautiful evergreens, tamarisk, cedar, and arborvitfe, which, if transferred to the south-west, would add to the beauty and value of the country, liimestone rock appeared plenty every where ; many of the best houses in town and country were built of it, forming substantial and comfortable structures. The frame and log houses in the country were greatly inferior in size and beauty to the same kind in the States. The men look larger and healthier, more erect in form, robust in limb, and ruddy in cheek. When at Prescott, in the afternoon, we looked across the southern shore of the St. Lawrence, and saw Ogdensburg with its numerous churches and stately buildings. This is a great depot for the lake steamers in their transit pas- sage through Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior; connecting Buft'aloc with Chicago, the upper lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, and the Western States and Canada with the European market. '' That night, at twenty minutes past ten, we were at Montreal, and in a few moments were in the residence of a brother, where long parted friends had met again in social converse. The night was far spent when we retired to rest. Early next morning we drove round the mountain and into the cemetery. Mount Royal, or Boyal Mount, gives its name to the beautiful city that lies at its bass — Montreal. It is a very picturesque hill, from which one of the most extensive views may be obtained of city, river, and surrounding country, even the distant mountains of Vermont are plainly visible, and the vast forests on the shores of the Ottawa and tlie St. Lawrence. The mount and city stand on a beautiful island, thirty miles long by ten broad, formed by the confluence oi tlje above two rivers. The island is one of great beauty and fertility, bearing the name of •the garden of Eastern Canada.' The Jew that longed for the garlic, leeks, and onions of Egypt, might feast with the Frenchman on the abundance of these escu- lents raised in the gardens of Montreal. The cemetery is a beautiful house of the dead, stretching along the side of the mountain, studded with natural and orna- '■'^3 RUSHVILLE STATION. 335 mental trees ; costly tombs and beautiful monuments of Aberdeen gi-anite, and marble, Italian and native. I love to see the gi'aves of the departed adorned mth tree and flower, and the place of the repose of the dead beautified with nature and art, not in costly florid style, but in simple and congenial taste. It lifts the heart to the Paradise above, and to the spirits of tlie redeemed there. "In 1535, Montreal was an Indian village of the name of Hochalaga ; in 1642 it was consecrated under the name of Villa Maria ; in 1644 it was given by the French king to the Sulpicians, a religious order of the church of Rome, who built a seminary, which yet stands. The city is at the head of ship navigation, 600 miles from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The roofs of the larger buildings are covered with tin, which can be seen with a glare of light for a long distance. There are few cities on the American continent having finer public buildings, mostly of limestone, which is abundant in extensive quarries round the city. The French ca- thedral is 255 feet by 134 ; the principal towers 220 feet ; the east window at the high altar 64 feet in height. It will hold about 7,000 persons. St. Patrick's cathedral, where the Catholic Irish worship, is 240 feet by 90. Christ Church cathedral (Episcopal) is 187 feet by 70, built in the cruciform stylo, witli tower and spire 224 feet rising from the intersection of the arms of the cross. There are also .several nunneries and convents belonging to the Catholics, French and Irish. The *' Hotel Dieu" (House o:;' God) we visited. The building is divided into wards and rooms. Each room and bed is devoted to some patron saint. This institution is for the sick and infirm poor. Father V , a French priest of fine education hnd polished manners, led us through the several parts of the institution. From tlio brief intercourse I had with this gentleman and scholar, 1 could not doubt the reality of his piety. God has still a people in the church of Bome to whom He says, "Come f^yy'j of her, my people." I also formed the acquaintance of Rev. Mr. O'Farrell, of tine personal 830 TWELVE YE\nS IN AMERICA. appearance and noble countenance, who is an excellent classical scholar, and devoted priest. I was also shown a relative of Maria Monk, and the nunnery from which slie escaped. Priests swarm in Montreal ; we have seen hundreds of them dressed in long black petticoats walking the streets in processions. The French Catholics are much less excitable and bigoted than their co- religionists of Ireland. On Beaver Hall Hill there are some four or five beautiful churches: Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational, standing in close proximity, which add much to the beauty and scenery of the place, making it a Mount Zion. "The Central Weslevan Methodist church in Great St. James-street is the largest Protestant church in British America. It will seat about 3,000 people. It is of the florid gothic style. Its organ cost above 6,000 dollars. The pulpit is the most magnificent we have seen. Standing in it, the minister can see every face in the house, whether in the vast galleries above, or the cushioned seats beneath. To the same deno- mination belong St. Anne's chapel, Griflfentown, and St. Mary's ; the one holding a congregation of 1,500, the other 500. The banks, the law courts and the varied institutions, are all imposing buildings of massive structure and varied architecture. •* The wharves and quays extend for miles along the river, built of stone, separated from the city by a broad terrace, faced with stone, and surmounted with iron railing. It was crowded with shipping at the time I was there. The Victoria tubular bridge, of solid stone and iron, is the largest work of the kind in the world, crossing the St. Lawrence, connecting the Grand Trunk railroad with the New England States. It is about two miles long, and cost 5,000,000 dollars. Between it and the city is the grave-yard, and large monumental stone which marks the spot where sleep the bodies of 6,000 emigiants, who died of ship fever, induced by the Irish famine. The stone was raised from the bed of the river, and the monument erected by the kind-hearted men who built the bridge. For weeks and months the mmm ms RUSHVILLE STATION. 837 xcellent 3 shown Q wliicli ve have etticoats Jathohcs heir co- Jiere are jyterian, •oximity, he place, in Great ihurch in iople. It >st ahove ificent we see every ies ahove, bine deno- owii, and of 1,500, 3 and the of massive along the )y a broad with iron ihe time I iolid stone ;he world, ,nd Trunk is about Between inumental . bodies of ced by the [the bed of id-hearted ^onths the emigrants lay in tents in quarantine until the disease subsided. Few escaped ; many perished. The tents, tho clothes, the earth around were burned, to prevent the spreading of the fever. Many noble-hearted individuals plunged into this abyss of suffering, to rescue the perish- ing from destruction, who, in the attempt, perished themselves ! But their record is on high. "From the side of the Mount, 200 feet above the city, the reservoir sends down its pellucid streams with force sufficient to throw the water to the top of the highest tower ; to quench in a short time the spreading and ascending fire ; to supply the numerous fountains in the squares; the wfints of every family in the city; and turn to motion and to music several of the organs in the churches. The reservoir is supplied from the St. Lawrence, above the Lachine rapids. Montreal has suffered much from former fires, l)ut her losses in this respect have become gain. The city is now well pro- vided with tire-bells and telegraph, directing the citizens in a moment to the ward where a fire originates. " At the base of the mountain, and head of a street, in a picturesque spot, stands McGill college, deriving its name from the Honorable James McGill, who be- queathed it a valuable estate, and 50,000 dollars for an endowment fund. Professor Cornish brought us through the dift'erent departments. Doctor Dawson, the principal, was absent. Having read with pleasure and profit his Archaia, some time since, I wished to see its author. The natural history society's rooms will afford the visitor to Montreal much pleasure and interest. Anatomy was represented by a variety of curious spe- cimens, among which we noticed the skins of a boa and an anaconda, the one twenty-one, and the otlier eighteen feet. Canadian birds were well represented. Of antiquities, there were coins, weapons, garments, urns from Pompeii, idols from Mexico, and weapons from the South Sea Islands. The Fen-icr collection of Egyptian antiquities was very fine. There were two mummies, a man and a woman, the latter in her coffin, and two mummy skulls, and hands and feet. These WM m 'fe;»^^! m' : ^]*i :!<: "■■' ■"->-' ■■""""'^ 338 TWELVE YF.ABS TN AMERICA. were siirroiiiided by the images of their guardian deities, Osiris, Osis, Isis, and by shawls, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, rings and scarabei, sandals, lamps and pa- pyrus, images and hieroglyphics in bronze, brick and granite, with urns, jars and pots from tombs and tem- ples of Thebes, Philte, Kamac and Ghizeh. Some of the bricks and papyri have upon them cartouches of Piameses II. and Thothmus III. of Moses' times. " The Zoological gardens will also well repay a visit to them, as thev exhibit some rare and choice animals. ' t.' The Champ de Mars is a beautiful parade ground. Here we saw the evolutions of the Queen's Life Guards performed one morning to great perfection in drill. The Bonsecours market is an immense pile of buildings in the Grecian Doric style of architecture, erected at a cost of 400,000 dollars. The offices and rooms of the corporation and police are here ; one room will seal 4,000 persons. The streets in the olden part of the city are narrow, and not very well lighted; those in the new are wide and spacious, and beautifully ornamented mtli shade trees. The more important thoroughfares are well provided with the street rail-cars, which are a great convenience. The population of Montreal has increased rapidly. In 1851, it was 75,000; in 1861, it was 90,000; now it is about 110,000. Of these, there are 43,509 of French origin, and 14,179 of Irish origin. There are 65,000 Catholics, the remainder are Pro- testants ; of these, there are in round numbers, 9,000 Episcopalians, 7,000 Presbyterians, and 9,000 Metho- dists. There are few people who do not belong to, and attend some church. The last Sabbath I spent there it seemed as if eveiy person was at church. The streets wore literally thronged with people returning home from worship. During the few weeks I remained there I heard but one oath, and saw but two drunken persons, although there are immense breweries and distilleries in the city. The French are an industrious people, while the Catholic Irish are bent on fight, fun, and frolic ; yet here they appear to better advantage than in some of the cities of the States. K RU8HVILLE STATION. 889 ieities, 50ches, ,nd pa- Lck and id tem- iome of dies of f a visit Lnimals. ground. Guards in drill. )uildings eted at a IS of the will seal rt of the ise in the lamented pughfares tich are a treal has a 1861, it !se, there ih origin, are Pro- irs, 9,000 Metho- ig to, and it there it le streets ng home ned there persons, listilleries IS people, fun, and ge than in " The first Sabhath I attended worship at Great St. James'-street Wesleyan church ; heard tlie Eev. Mr. Lavell preach an excellent sennon, plain and jiractical. His style is polished, and his mannev impressive. In the evening I heard Mr. Bland, a good gospel sermon, with energy and force. The following Wednesday, Mr. Harper, the superintendent, in same place. His style was beautifully simple and transparent, rich in matter, and appropriate ij\ language. The following Saturday evening I attended, by invitation, a local preachers' meeting, in the house of one of the brethren. There were some eight or nine present, with one of the ministers, the city missionary, and Mr. Harper super- intending. The subject for conversation was "The intermediate state." Each one gave his opinion, com- mencing with the younger. The superintendent summed up, and closed by giving his own view. Much thought and a vatiety of views were elicited. We parted with an earnest desire to be fully prepared for that state. At this meetmg the local preachers compared their plans, made aiTangements for supplying the pulpit at different places for the next Sabbath ; some in the suburban chapels, some in neighbouring to^vus, and some in country congregations. They were mostly men of fine business, and fair theological talent, earnest, ardent, and devoted. In the afternoon of the next day, being Sabbatli, at the request of Father Morris, city mis- sionary — an aged and devoted man, with a saintly face, and a voice of thunder — I stood on tlie deck of a ship in the harbor, and preached to the sailors on board, and a crowd of people on shore, who continued gathering and listening to the close of the meeting with deep attention. Then the missionary distributed tracts among them in French and English, which were eagerly taken and read. Never shall I forget the deep feeling mani- fested on the countenances of the people. There was no interruption, no uncivil or unkind word, in-everent or deiisive. What a field is there here for doing good. "In the evening I preached to a good congregation at St. Ann's Metliodist church. At tlie close, Mr. 840 TWELVf; YEAR« IN AMERICA, m ''■"4s ■I" ^? Lavell conducted an excellent prayer-meeting, at which the greater part of the congregation remained. On Wednesday evening I preached at Great St. James' - street Wesleyan church. The following Sabbath mor- ning, same place, to a congregation of about 3,000 people. At two in the afternoon I again stood on the deck of a ship, as the Lord of gloiy once did on eartli, and i)reaclied to the people. Never shall I forget that meeting ; so eagerly did tlie people listen, that they con- tinued around tlie missionary while I passed through the crowd on my way to the Sabbath school of the above church. At the request of Hon. Mr. Ferrier, the superintendent, and assistant, Mr. James A. Mathewsox, I addressed the school, and then followed the superin- tendent and teachers into a class-room, for the purpose of prayer for the school, in which several joined. May our Sabbath schools follow the example. At four p.m., I accompanied Mr. Mathewson, by request, to Bona- venture Hall, to attend a religious temperance meeting. The hall and galleries were crowded. People of all kinds of religion, and of none, attended. The speakers were lay and clerical, and addresses varied and in- structive. The president unexpectedly announced my name to the audience. I rose, not knowing at first what to say, but thought and language followed. I trust some good was done, for tears were shed. At the close of the meeting several signed the pledge. Although in the evenhig I felt tired, having spoken in public four times that day, yet I was persuaded to accompany my brother to St. John's Episcopal church, to see what I never saw before, the Puseyite services performed. The church is of fine style, windows stained glass ; no pulpit, but a small moveable reading desk. At the end wall, under a large window, filled with images painted on the glass, stood a large table, covered with beautiful cloth, on which, in gilt letters was the name Jesus — it was the altar. The congrega- tion was motley, and looked irreverent. At the proper time, three ministers, dressed in robes, passed quickly from the vestry along the aisles, followed by a group of KUSIIVILLE STATION. 841 strutting boys, up to a lar^e platform witli plain seats. Here the pastor, who is one of the most priostly-lookin,i; men we have seen, commenced the serv ices by intomng them, in which the greater part of t!ic congregation joined, assisted by ilie vociferous boys on the platform. All the services were intoned, except the Scripture lessons and the sermon. When Psalm Ix., 8, "Moab is my washpot, over Edom will I cast out my shoe," &c., was sung in the above style, the effect to many of us appeared ludicrous. This was heightened a little after by a gentleman on my left, who sung out, " Au-men," in the wrong place, thus endangering the sublime with the connection of the ridiculous. We do not believe that God requires people to worship him in an artificial and unnatural voice. The text was: 1 Jolm iii., 2, latter clause : ** But we know that when he shall appear," &c. The introduction was beautifully simple. •' The great object of Christianity is to be like Christ. The divisions were : We are made like Christ, 1, in baptism; 2, in the church ; 8, in life ; 4, in heaven. Great stress was laid on baptism and the church ; nothing said about repentance, faith, conversion, &c. The sermon was brief, dry, unfeeUng. The point was : If you are baptized by ministers in the aj^ostolic suc- cession ; if you are in the true church of Christ under their pastoral care, you are Christians, you are saved, and will be for ever. Having had a strong desire to visit a Jewish Syna- gogue at the time of service, we went one Saturday, being the Jewish Sabbath. The ladies were in the gallery ; men and boys below, who wore their hats and phylacteries on their heads and shoulders all the time of service. The Kabbi, Dr. De Sola, chanted the services throughout, the congregation responding occa- sionally. The wild and melancholy tones of the chanting reminded me more of the Jews with their harps on the willows by the waters of Babylon, than the soul- stirring times of David, and the assembled worshipers on Mount Zion. Yet the place, the worship, and the worshipers * 4 'I lit:.'* 'mi ail It';" 842 TWKLVE VEARH IN AMERICA. suggested a traiu of thought and feeling whioli could only find expression in the prayer, that the "Lord would come out of Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob." At the close of the meeting I had a pleasant interview with the Rabbi. It is but a few years since ht. Freshman, of Quebec, a Jewish Rabbi, was con- verted to Christianity. He is now a useful minister in the Methodist chm-ch in the Canada conference. May these sons of Levi be purged and consecrated to the true Messiah. Ir 1 It 13 ' Lord, visit thy forsaken race, Back to thy fold the wand'rers bring; Teach them to seek thy slighted grace, ; And hail in Christ their promised KiD(j^. Hail, glorious day — expected long ! ' , W hen Jew and Greek one prayer shall pour ; With eager feet one temple throng, With grateful praise one God adore.* " It was a pleasant surprise to form the acquaintance of several persons whose friends I had known in Ire- land, among whom were Mr. John Mathewson, his son and family, and his nephew, Mr. John A. Mathewson, already mentioned in tliis article. From the latter I obtained several valuable histories of Ireland, to assist me in a similar work on the same subject. At the residence of the former I had an intellectual feast in looking over a variety of autograph letters from dis- tinguished personages. There were letters of Mr. Wesley, Dr. Coke, Adam Clarke, Jabez Bunting, and Mr. Black, first Wesleyan missionary to Nova Scotia, whose daughter is mariied to Mr. Mathewson, jmiior ; also, a brief note account of Philip Embury's, the year before he left Ireland. There were letters of King William III., and the Duke of Wellington, besides several of distinguished noblemen, celebrated painters and authors of the last century, and of the present, deceased and living. " The Sabbath morning before I left, I heard Rev. Mr. Johnson, at St. Mary's, preach an excellent sermon. In the evening I preached for him again, at St. Aim's RUSHVII-LE STATION. 813 chapel. On the following Wednesday, I called witli my brother on the Hon. D'Arcy McGee, of Iriyh celebrity. He is one of the most popuhir and eloquent orators at present in Canada, and one of tlie most attractive writers. Our inter viev , though necessarily shoi-t, was pleasant, and to mo interesting. He is a member of the Provincial Parliament. At night I preached again in the Centre church, and ))ado farewell to my ministerial brethren, Harpkr and Lavell, who with their colleagues alternate in the dft'erent pulpits, while their pastoral labors are restricted to respective spheres ; thus combining variety and pulpit ministra- tions with the responsibility of personal pastoral effort. ** Early next morning I bade adieu to my friends, and left for home. The morning was pleasant. Toward noon we passed through a light shower, and then met a train with snow upon it, which made the passengers wonder. Shortly after we passed through a snow tract ; again emerged in light and warmth, where there had no snow fallen. At night we had to lie over it Toronto. Next morning, although raining hard, I took a walk through the city, which has spacious streets, fine build- ings, and a good harbour on the lake shore, which is guarded by a breakwater, extending for miles outside. I called at the Wesleyan book room, expecting to see the editor of the Christian Guardian. The stock of books was not large, but there was variety ; several from the London Wesleyan book room, while the greater part were from the book room in New York. In the evening, at Wilder station, on the Grand Trunk raih'oad, Canada West, I espied a cousin whom I had not seen for seventeen years. We kiicw each other at the first glance. That night I was at his home in Warwick, receiving the hearty welcome of his kind wife and interesting children. Next day other cousins gathered round with their families, and we talked until late, of the scenes of our childhood, and the friends of our early days. These were pleasing and touching reminiscences mdeed, which brought feeling to the heart and tears to the eye. 844 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. w H Wv ii ;^;ftM "The Rev. Mr. Atkinson, the Wesleyan minister, called and gave mo a cordial invitation to preach, in one place the announcement was made in anticipation ; consequently, on Sabbath morning I preached in a l)eautiful little country church, to a crowded congre- gation, almost all of whom sung with energy and spirit. In the afternoon I preached at the Methodist church, in the village of 'Varwick. To myself, and to not a few, these were scenes of refreshing, of hallowed me- mories and blessed hopes. Their minister was spending his third conference year with them, and was greatly beloved, wi\as stronger for the North. I was surprised to find a large number of young men from Westerii Canada in the United States' army, besides many wL - !iad fallen fighting in her ranks. I was infovmed the xrent affair retarded the enlistment, and repelled the sympathies to a great extent. May the two peoples, one on eithn. side of the lakes and the St. Lawrence, so much one in blood, language, laws and religion, continue at peace with each other for many years to com , developing the vast resources of their country, and enuilating eacli other in the swift diffusion of the light of life over this conti lent. '•In addition to the lake and river route, the Cana di»ris have two large railroads traversing tin ])rovince with intersecting lines. One of these, the Grand Trunk railroad, is the largest on the continent. At present, while it gives to travellers at a distance at either eiid of the road the cheapest travelhng in America, its loca' rates are very high. Each end of the road is located in the States, the on^ vi Portland, and the other at Detroit, thus drawing a large amount 'f American travel, rivalling tie other roads, by giving cheap ex- cursion tickets for moie than three montlis of tlie year from July to November — so that eiti/ens residing in Chicago or Detroit, in Portland, Jjoston and (Quebec, can travel this road and back, single ticketH, for 25 to 80 dollars, a distance of more than H,(M)0 miles, conse- quently, many of the i)assengej s are American citizens. *' Tli»3 imports to Canada for the year IHOl, were above 18, ()()(), 000 dollars. The e.KKorts same year were above 80,000,000 dollarn ; of this above 18,000,000 dollars were exported to Great Jhitnin, and above 20,000,000 dollars imported ; above 1G,UOO,000 dolUrs 346 TWELVE YEARS IX AJIERICA. exi^orted to the United States, and above 20,000,000 dollars imported from same place ; thus showing the vast trade between the two latter countries, ** Her educational resources and appliances are rich and powerful. More than a fiftli of her population are at school. Her universities, colleges, and high schools are not numerous, but large. Her faculties we think too large for the proportion of students, and too ex- pensive for the size of the institutions. It is not so common with them for one professor to fill tint depart- ments in a college as in the States. When the means are abundant, and the students numerous, it is es- sentially necessary ; when they are not, especially in new countries, it may endanger the institution by ab- sorbing its finances. Her educational means are derived from Jnid' sources : land grants, state eudowments, municipal assessments, and religious and charitable contril)utions. All the land grants of the French kings to the French Catholics in Canada liave been respected and confirmed by the English government. More than 8,500,000 acres have been given from time to time, to free and endowed schools. The number of thes<3 schools, in 1801, was 8,1B0 ; students, 547,000 ; school proi)erty and apparatus, 7,500,000 dollars ; aggregate annualincome, 2,972,500 dollars. From 1850 to 18G1 there were above 5,000,000 dollars worth of books im- ported into Canada. "Denominational statistics give a favorable view of the religious state of tlie country. There are but iow persons unconnected with church organizations. The four largest denominations are respectively, tlie Ca- tholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. These form 01 per cent, of the entire population. In Lower Canada the Catholics are most numerous ; in Upper Canada the Methodists. The Catholics form 47 per cent, of the population ; the Methodists, 14.85 ; the Episcopalians, 14.0(3 ; and Presbyterians, 13.84 of tlic population. In the decade, between 1851 and IBCl, the Catholics lost 2 per cent, of the population ; tie Methodists gahied 2 ; the Episcopalians remained sta rous ; 111 RUSHVILLE STATION. 817 tionary ; and the Presl)ytori}ius f];aiiietl 1 ])er cent. In Upper Canada dnrin*^ the same decade, the Methodists have gamed on tlie Episcopahans 45, ()()(), and on the PiCHbyterians nearly 35,000. Of the 372,000 Methodists, 244,300 are Wesleyans ; tlie Episcopal Methodists, 78,000; the New Connexion, about 30,000 ; other Methodists, about 25,000. Tlie Wesloyans, with whom we are most ac(iuainted, stand in affiliated relation to the English Wesleyan confcrenco, and in fraternal, to tlie Methodist Episcopal church of the United States. Their intluence in Canada is great, and necessarily becoming greater. Their ministers, as a body, are men of iinv pulpit talent, administrative ability, and laboriou - effort. They have taken a leading part in the educational movement in Canada. Their people are wealthy and decided Methodists, generally attending thMir class -meetings. The Episcopal Methodists arc r .'!' ras num<^rous nor as wealthy. Their ministers aim jishops are laborious men, toilhigon their arduous labor amid iii; lifliculties which beset them. The same may bo suk j*' the other Methodists in Canada, to a considerable "xi. tt. *' Almost the .< of the Presbyterian bodies in Camwla are now united in one body, as the Caiuohi Prrshtffii'rian liuirvh. They arc realizing 'How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.' Ma^y the time come when their noble exami)le will be followed by othej- divided bodies who hold the same doctiiio^^s, and yet remain apart in administration and labor. 11^' future of Canada is bright. May the great Head of the Church carry on tlie work of Salvation with gi'eat power tkii'ougii His servants, until the wnole province become as £^ of l>ftttk' '** September. Xcw uolitiuil cymbiu^iou:^ uA (Xriju^grAck:) arose 848 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ^1 Fm^n ^^H 'A fHffi ^^MHW' |ln|H ^^k ' ni t ^ctmBbt IHI ^^^^Hj 1 IN 9 ■;i against the government, that endangered its existence. We felt the need of preacliing faithfulness to God, and loyalty to the government, m an institution of God. In the church the agitation subsided, and we endeavoured to live in the unity of faith and tlie bonds of peace. By hold- ing a firm rein in the government of the church, and acting with prudence and forl)earance, we lost none througli the excitement of the war, but gained a few to the cause of God and the stability of government. Special services were held, at whicl.\ a few obtained a blessing, and the membership of the church was greatly edified ana imited. We had some very blessed seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The pre- siding elder, Rev. James Leatox, an Englishman by birth, was an excellent preacher, a good church financier, and a laborious and effective elder ; none excelled him in the conference for faithfully attending to all the duties of his district. SURPRISE PARTIES AND DONATIONS Arc quite frequent in America, and I believe originated with the Puritans. They are not designed to supplement ministers' salaries, but given as extra tokens of regard, although sometimes they have been abused to the former purpose. The writer and his family have been made the recipients of several such visits, which, in every instance, save one, have been to him sui-priscs. The 1st of January, 1864, was remarkably cold, the thermometer being 20** below zero ; on that day four weeks it was 80*^ above ; the snow was on the ground, >Yc were invited to a sleigh ride a short distance out of RUSHVILT,E STATION. 340 tovm, to (line and spend the day. In the evenmg we returned, but it was to find the parsonage full of friends, young and old. As we entered, the church choir commenced singing, " We wish our pastor a happy new year," &c. After this Sunday school hymn was sung, the Sunday school superintendent, in the name of the friends present, and on behalf of some absent, presented us with a purse and some valuable tokens of regard, which amounted to a considerable sura. A brief reply being returned, cakes and fruit were then distributed among the visiters by those who brought them. An hour or so spent in cheerful con- gratulations, another was devoted to instrumental and vocal music in the Psalms of David, or the Hymns of Wesley ; prayer was then offered, and the hapi)y com- pany retired to their homes. CHURCH PARIiORS AND SOCIAL CIRCLES, As they are commonly called, are an American custom, greatly admired and extensively used- among other churches as well as the Methodist. They are designed to introduce new members who have lately jomed to the older, and to make all more acquainted with one another. No feature of American life is more prom- inent than the social intercourse of the people. The feeling of national pride and \mity is so strong as to become absorbing and controlling, in reference to other things. The vastness of the country, the greatness of its resources, the unity of the government, and equality of the people before the law, throws a remarkable bond of brotherhood around the nation, and kindles a glow 850 TWKLVE VKAR8 IN AMERICA. '3?f of social feeling among the people that brings thoin more together, and throws down the middle walls of partition, that otherwise would separate them from each other. In fact American society appears more modelled after the Jewish Theocracy and the New Testament church, than after the feudal times of the dark ages ; still the ricli are not supposed to lose tlieir dignity by mixing with the poor on such an occasion, or the educated tlieir character, by meeting with the illiterate ; nor does such an introduction entitle the in- troduced to continue visits where they are not returned, or family intercourse where it is not desirable. In connexion with many of the city churches are church parlors, or suits of rooms set apart for the reception and introduction of society in coimexion with the church. These rooms are neatly carpeted, and nicely furnished with seats and sofas ; pianos and cabinet organs, at which ladies play, and the whole company sing sacred songs, or Sunday school hymns. The conversation is general and free, but always under religious control. The meetings always close with the reading of the Scriptures and prayer by the pastor, or some minister present. In s naUer towns where there are no church parlors, these meetings are held from house to house of the leading members of the church. Those having the largest rooms throw them open for such occasions. Tea nwetiiufs ami hnuikfast mHetiiitf.H are seldom held in America, and arc not suited to the habits of the people ; but ice cream and strawberry festivals are numerous in the summer., and suppers m tijie winter, RUSHVII,I,K STATION. 851 I tliom rails of a from 3 more le New of the se their 3casion, nth the 1 the in- jturiied, hes are for the ion with ed, aiwl 108 and e whole hymns. /a under with the istor, or e there Id from ilmrch. open for held ill people ; lerouB in ir ACROSS THE ALLEGHANIES AND BACK, BY THE PENNSYLVANIA, CENTRAL, AND FORT WAYNE RAILROADS. Ch'cumstances connected with the Irish mission led me to see Doctor Scott at the general conference in Philadelphia, as he could not come west. I left Rush- ville, Illinois, for Pliiladelphia, on the morning of the 9th of May, 1864. Monday night spent at Decatur, where I met several young soldiers from Clinton going to the seat of war. At Blooinington, next day, similar scenes were going on at the railroads. Hundreds of friends were parting soldiers who were leaving for the field of battle. Grant was moving on Richmond. The battles of the Wilderness had already commenced; more soldiers were needed for the front ; great was the excitement along the whole line of road. A fierce gale had swept the face of the country, and the surface of lake Michigan. Some ships were WTecked, and some lives were lost. Heavy rains drenched the lands. The fields in some places were flooded. On Wednesday, afternoon, the sun shone out, and Nature robed itself in summer beauty. Between Bloomington and Chicago the prairies spread out in undulating form, as we swept past them on tlie evening train. Heavy swards of gi-ass bowed before the breeze, which was laden with the scent of prairie flowers, while in the distance appeared dark and waving forests, following the rneandermg of the stream, or the silent flow of the winding river. At nine in the evening we reached Chicago, and started on •i t:l ^ Jim .>52 TWET.VE YEARS IN AMERICA. imim wm e THE PITTSBURGH AND FORT WAYNE RAILROAD, Wliicb runs through and connects the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Indiana presents a soil more light, and forests more nmnerous than Illinois, with trees so thick and tall as to shut out the light and heat from the sun. Passing through several beautiful little towns along the way, we reached Fort Wnifnc, one of the largest towns in the State, with a population of 15,000, and numerous factories, stores and shops ; a great railroad centre ; having nearly twenty churches : three Methodist, and a Methodist female seminary of great celebrity. From Fort Wayne we passed into Ohio, through the large to^viis of Bucyi'us and Mansfield, Crestline, Alliance, and Madi- son. Some of these are remarkable for their beauty of situation and great manufacture, and some for their railroad connexion. At every station along the line the places were thronged with soldiers going to the field of battle, and friends bidding them farewell. The morning despatches of the day before, from Grant's army, near Richmond, raised a ferment of excitement among the passengers on the train, some of whom had their friends at the scene of war, and were anxious for their safety. At Beaver and Ptochester we caught sight of the Ohio river for the first time. Rising in the western slopes of the Alleghany mountains, it traverses a large portion of Pennsylvania, sweeps the southern border of the State of Ohio, dividing the South from the North, after travelling 1 ,000 miles, pours into the Mi«sissippi, at Cairo, Illinois. Much of the trade and traffic of the West is ilinois, resents .8 tlian )ut the several witli a , stores nearly otliodist , Wayne )W11S of d Madi- eanty of or their line the field of morniuf? ^y. near ong the d their or their the Ohio fi sloi^es portion of the |th, alter it Cairo, West is RUSH'SILLE STATION. 853 upon this river ; on its bosom float numerous steamers. Large rafts of timber floated past, with little houses for the raftsmen to cook and rest in, and long poles to guide the course of the raft to its destined place. : At night we were at Alleghany city and Pittsburgh, where we took the train on THE PENNSYLVANIA CENTRAL RAILROAD, Which connects Pittsburgh with Philadelphia. This is one of the best roads in the United States, and one of the speediest and most du-ect between the East and the West. It is double track, a sure guarantee for speed and safety. The trains pass and repass with great rapidity and ease to the passengers. The carriages amil seats are the most comfortable we have travelled in. The seats are so constructed, that by leaning gently back, a spring is touched, the bottom of the seat moves forward and the top back, giving to the body a half reclining posture, which makes the cushioned seat a luxury to sit or sleep in. ' All night we were ascending the western sides of these celebrated mountains. In the morning we were descending the eastern slopes. Awaking early we looked out and found we were sweeping round the shores of the Juniata and Susquehanna rivers at the rate of forty miles an hour. At every bend of the river and curve of the road the train swept by with such velocii-y that we instinctively drew back as we gazed on the depths * The reader may conaolt the map at the commencement of this book of the " Pennsylvanic Central Railroad and its t'on- iiexions," expressly obtained for this volume. f. 1-^51 t\v?:lvk years tn amkkica. m^ l)eiieatli. From hnse to summit the hills were covered with trees, through the dark foliage of which we saw the white streams like sheets of silver flowing into the hroad Susquehanna. It was raining heavy all the morning. Here the river is crossed by two bridges, l)etwcen which is a lovely island. It was early in the morning when we reached Harrisburgh, the capital of the State. It has a population of 16,000, with numerous factories, mills, banks, State asylums, and fifteen churches, three of which are Methodist, three Presbyterian, two Episcopal, and ore Baptist, &c. The country from HarriKl)U]gli to Philadelphia is beautifully undulating, and rich in sylvan scenes, like the Irish yarks or the English lawns. No wonder that the State was called l'riiiisi/lr(iiiit( — the (jai'dena or the irooih of Penn ; while beneath its surface lie the richest coal- fields in the world. Penn was wise in selecting it as the home of Quaker emigrants, whose peculiar traits liave stamped the die of quiet repose and industrious habits on the population. PHILADELPHIA. Passing through Lancaster and several smaller towns, wo reached Philadelphia at eleven, a.m., on Saturday. While crossing the Schuylkill river, we had a fine view of the city and its stately buildings, among which appeared conspicuous the Roman-catholic cathedral and the Girard college, which looked like some Grecian temple, 97 feet high, 218 feet long, by IGO wide. It is for the education of orphan boys. Girard, the founder, was a Frenchman by birth, an RUSHVILLK STATION. i^overcd we saw nto the all the bridges, y in the capital )0, with ma, and Hi, three &c. The jautifuUy the Irish the State icooih of est coal- ing it as iar traits dustrious her towns, I Saturday. fine view kng which cathedral le Grecian lide. It i« birth, au American by adoption, a wcaltliy merchmit and l)anlver in the city, and a real infidel. Wishing to shut out of his institution, and from the minds of the youth educated there, all Christian doctrine and agency, he 80 drew up his deed, that priests and clergymen were excluded from any connexion with, or autliority in the college ; yet it is so managed, that Christian doctrines are daily taught, and Christian teachers and professors control it, and the orphan boys receive, after all, a Christian education. On entering the city, the train was drawn by liorses, down Market -street, to its depot, in the heart of tho city, from wliich we hastened on to Union church, in Fourth -street, the seat of the general conference. From there I went to the residence of Bishop Simpson, at Mount Vernon, wliich the friends of the eloquent bishop had lately presented him with ; thence, by the street rail-car to Germantown, where I found the English and Irish deputations, Revs. L. Thornton, and Dr. Scott : both looked well. Mr. Thornton I had not seen for twelve years ; Dr. Scott for seven. After spending a pleasant evening with them, I returned by the nine P.M. rail-car to the city. - - Phihuh'Iphiii stands on an elevated plain, between the Deleware and Schuylkill rivers, covering an area of twelve square miles, and having a population of 600,000, being the second largest city on the conti- nent. Although ninety-six miles from the sea, tho tidal wave ascends both rivers far beyond the limits of the city; so that ocean vessels ascend and descend the river on either side. The city was founded in IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■^1^ 121 Sf "^ IS I LS, 12.0 1.4 111.6 ^ vi Hiotographic ^Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STRKT WnSTIR.N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4503 B56 TWELVE YF.AB6 IN AMTEBICA. 1688, by WiLUAM Penn, and called by its present name, not so much after its Asiatic namesake, as to indicate the fraternal love that should animate the citizens toward each other, and the feelings of its founder toward them all. The name was prophetic of the character of its people. There are few cities whose citizens have done more for the education of the ignorant — the relief of the distressed — the alleviation of human suffering — and the religions instruction of the people. Her numerous churches and charitable institutions stand as striking monuments, to attest the truth — that Philadelphia is the city of brotherly lore. Here several literary and religious societies locate their centres ; fi*om tlicnce, their influence radiate like rays of light, or flow in streams of blessing to the country. Thf streets cross each other at right angles, and are wlJe and spacious, generally shaded with trees ; the uniformity is relieved by numerous squares, ornamented with trees and fountains, and stocked with deer. The fronts of many of the churches and banks are built of marble ; there is scarcely a street without a church or two. There are 350 in the city, of these 64 are Episco- pal ; 67 Methodist ; 70 Presbyterian ; 82 Baptist ; 30 Eoman Cathohc ; 14 Lutheran, and 14 Friends. It is nearly a centui'y since Methodism was intro- duced to Philadelpliia ; great has been its progress sihce. Here Captain Webb, Boardman, and Pilmoor labored with great success, and Asbury was received as an angel of God, and Summerfield preached like a burning seraph. The Philadelphia conference has given to the church many great and eloquent men, among RUSHVILLE STATION. 857 whom stand the secretaiy of the missionary society — Dr. DuRBiN. There ara at present above 12,000 mem- bers in the Methodist churches of Philadelphia. On Saturday forenoon I atteu^^ed conference ; met with several old friends among the diiierent delegates. In the afternoon we all marched, in procession, to the Hall of Iiul('(u'ii(h'Hce, where we received a welcome on behalf of the city, to which Bishop Simpson gave an eloquent reply on behalf of the conference . All then united in singing the doxology, the voice was as the sound of many waters. This was the hall where the signers sat, and announced the declaration of independence eighty-eight years before. That evening and next day I spent at Mr. ''ones's, with Bev. Messrs. Moore and Guthrie, of the Illinois conference. Sunday 15th, was a beautiful morning; the sun was bright, the air clear, the flowers were in bloom, and the trees in foliage ; the bells of the diflerent chui'ches were ringing for morning worship, as we crosced to west Philadelphia. A sad sight, however, threw a gloom over all this beauty : several ambulances, with wounded soldiers, were coming in from the battles cf the Wilderness, on theii* way to the city hospitals for medical attendance. At the Centennial church Mr. Guthrie preached, and I closed the services. In the afternoon we attended the Sabbath school and I delivered an address. Nearly all the cliildren and young people sang. At night we went to hear the He v. Henry Ward Bekcher preach at the Music hall ; the place was densely crowded. He had come to assist in organizing a second Congregational cliiuch ; strange 858 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. there was only one of that denomiuatiou iu the second largest city of the Union ! The personal appearance of Mr. Beecher was youtliful for his years ; his voice rose from a solemn bass to a full tenor, having great ilexi- bility and compass. His manner of worship was more Methodistic than Congregational ; more bold than re- verential. Taking the hymn book in his hand, and giving out the hymn, he said, " Let us all rise and sing," and all rose to sing. His prayer was one of the best to which we ever listened, full of faith, tenderness, and pathos. His text was John xvii., 20 — 21 : "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word," &c. The subject was : '' Christian unity." In the first part of the discourse, the preacher showed the great mistake of the church in the past, was seeking and compelling hfeless nuiformity, instead of Christian imity. On the churches that were guilty of this sin, the wit, the sarcasm, and force of the arguments were concentrated. In the second part, he unfolded the natm'e, and pressed the claims of Christian duty on the attention of the congregation. The sermon was a long one, and the preacher was sometimes very rapid and forceable in his delivery. Although Mr. Beecher is considered one of the greatest preachers in America, we have heard much greater sermons than this ; yet it was a most excellent one in spirit, language, and thought. On Monday forenoon, Bev. Mr. Thorn- ton preached before the general conference, from Luke X., 18. The church was crowded — the thoughts were sublime — the illustrations beautiful — and the descrip- tiou» of the triumphs of Christ and Christianity gi'aiiliic ; RUSIIVILLE STATION. 869 lie ; but the voice was deficient in utterance, being some- times so low as to be scarcely audible. Mr. Thornton's address touched every heart, and brought tears to several eyes. Dr. Scott's address was listened to with profomid respect, it stirred up the hearts of many, and brought them into more intimate sympathy with Irish Methodism ; his name is as a household word in the American churches, and liis mission dear to the Ame* rican Methodist hearts. Revs. Mr. Carroll and Doctor Nelles, deputation of the Canada Wesleyan conference*, delivered very excel- lent addresses. That of Doctor Nelles presented the following important facts in reference to Canadian Methodism — the yj/-.s/ large book store, they//-.s7 church paper, the ^/int university graduate, and the jirst female college in Canada, originated with the Wesleyans, and the largest now in successful operation is the Wesleyan female college in the city of Hamilton. Thus the Methodists in Canada, as well a» the United States, were the first to introduce female colleges, which are now so popular in America. On Tuesday I visited the grave of Doctor Franklln, which is in Christ Church grave-yard, near whore the conference sat. The inscription on the toml) ran thus — BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, AND DEBORAH. 1790. There lay the great American sage with his faithful wife. His influence was great on tlie American mind, and }»is inventions and proverbs on the civilized world. ,)•' :'J| i\ 860 TWELVE YEARS IX AMERICA. On Wednesday morning 1 went with the Rev. Mr. 8hiels, one of the city pastors, to the ** Hall of Inde- pendence," to take a more minute survey of this cradle of American liberty, and the mementos that adorn it — for here the mition iraft horn in a dny. We ascended the top of the cupola, and had a magnificent view of the city, as it lay under a summer's sim and between the rivers. The Dele ware was crowded with steam and sail vessels. The eye took in a square of twelve miles, crowded with the marts of commerce, the residences of citizens, tJie temples of worship dedicated to God, and the monuments of art and science commemorative of man. Beyond the suburbs of Germantown and West Philadelphia, stretched the native forests, cultivated gardens, the rich fields, and the distant hills, whose summits rose heavenward. Descending, we passed mto the hall where the de- claration was read, and saw the bell that first rung out the announcement of the fact to the assembled thou- sands who were waiting in the streets to know what the congi'ess would do. The bell rung, and the people shouted; the declaration was read, and the whole colonies were moved as one man. Three millions arose, and, after eight years' war, achieved their independence. Fifteen years before, the bell was cast with the following motto, name, and date upon it — " Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, Unto all the inhabitants thereof." « By Order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House of Philadelphia." " Pass & Stow. •♦MDCCLIII.'* RUSHMLLE STATION. T 801 In tho afternoon I accompanied Mr. Rae to the Fair- mount water works, wliioh forms one of the most attractive scenes, and abundant supplies for the city population. The water is raised from the Schuylkill river, ninety- two feet high, by machinery, to four reservoh's covering four acres of ground, and a depth of twelve feet and a half, and capacity of 20,000,000 gallons. In the evening I went with my friend Rae to see the << Continental Hotel" — said to have been one of the largest in the world. It stands in Ghesnut-street, 235 feet by 194 ; six stories liigh. We ascended the rail-car from the first to the sixth story, and descended in the same way. Boarders, who not wishing to climb so many flights of stairs to their rooms in the fifth or sixth story, enter a small room or car, take seats or sofas ; soon the room, sides, ceiling, floor and all begin to arise, and as they ascend, other rooms, halls and stories appear and disappear, till they reach their destined places, when the car stops, the door opens, and each one goes to his own room. The same process is repeated going down — in a moment or two. From the hotel we went to the "Academy of Fine Arts," and spent some pleasant hours among paintings and sculpture. The original painting of "Death on the Pale Horse," by West, is gorgeous, as well as solemn and impressive. On Thursday I was invited to accompany the depu- tation from the general conference to President Lincoln, at Washington, to express the loyalty of tlie body to the government ; but as my time was limited, I declined 'I'l i 862 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. going. The piebideut's reply is well wortli remembering, for its catholicity and iutegiity — ** Gentlemen, — In response to your addiess, allow me to attest the accuracy of its historical statements, endorse the sentiments it expresses, and thank you in the nation's name for the sure promise it gives. Nobly Fustamed as the government has been by all the churches — I would utter nothmg that in the least appears invidious against any — yet without this it may be fairly said that the Methodist Episcopal church, not less devoted than the rest, is by its greater numbers the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist chiu'ch sends more soldiers to the field, more nm*ses to the hospitals, and more prayers to heaven than any other. God bless the Methodist church ; bless all the churches ; and blessed be God, who, in this our great trial, giveth us the churches." Having taken my leave of Dr. Scott, Mr. Thornton, and several of the brethren of the conference, I took my departure by the ten p.m. train on Thui'sday night. Now that the beloved Thornton is gone to his Master's presence in the Paradise above, there is one thing I can never forget about him — ^his introduction of Scriptm-e topics and passages at the tea table, for Godly edifying and profitable conversation. He preachod "in season and out of season." If this custom were more general, sm-ely the benefits would be more conspicuous. ACROSS THE ALLE6HANIES. Early in the morning we awoke on the eastern slope of the mountains. A heavy fog arose from river, stream and lake, veiling the face of nature with a misty wicath. As the day advanced and the sun arose, &CSHMLLE STATION. 868 the veil was rent, and the mist departed, and soon forest, field, mountain, stream and flood, appeared bathed in the golden light of the summer's sun. The trees were fresh in their young foliage, the flowers in their early bloom, the orchards in their varied blossoms, and the verdant meadows in their grassy carpets. Soon the outlying liills of the Alleghany Mountains began to appear, like the scouts of an advancing army. We followed the track of the iron horsey now south, again north, or west, as the valleys opened and the rivers led. At eight, a.m., we arrived at Altoona, a lovely town, like Jerusalem, at the foot of Olivet or Hebron, among the liills. The Alleghany or Appalachian Mountains, stretch from the ** Green Mountains," in Vermont, on the shores of the St. Lawrence to northern Alabama, 1,800 miles, while its greatest breadth in Pennsylvania extends about 100 miles. At the mouth of the Hudson river they approach within fifty miles of the sea, but as they trend southward they widen fi'om the Atlantic shore some hundreds of miles. In the northern parts of the range the peaks sometimes rise 2,000 feet, while in the southern they reach 6,000. "One ridge succeeds beyond another, all continuing the same general com*se in parallel lines, like successive waves of the sea. As one curves round into a new d ;ection all curve with it ; thus the valleys between the ridges preserve a uniform width, and are as re- markable for their paralleHsm as are the hills which bound them." From the nature of the strata and character of the 864 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. 8oil it is bupposeil that they are of older date than the Alp8 or Appeniues. The gaps in the mountains have been formed by the rush of retreating waters, as the mountains rose in successive impulses after long inter- vals of rest. The AUeghanies abound with some of tlie most valuable mineral ores — iron, copper, and coal ; forests of pine, oak, beech and maple cover the sides and summits. From the eastern and western sides of the mountains rivers rise and roll, watering plains and fertilizing fields, and bearing on their bosoms the com- merce of the country to the ocean. As we descended the western slope of the liills we felt the atmosphere change fi'om a colder to a wanner temperatiu-e, from a buoyant air to one more oppressive. Passing through several towns along the road, at noon we were in PITTSBURGH. As the hills were roimd about Jerusalem, so are hills ai'ound Pittsburgh. Their verdant sides and summits contrast strikingly with the dingy and dusty appearance of the town and streets. It stands at the head of the Ohio river; here formed by the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahala rivers. It has a popu- lation of 120,000. When in the possession of the French it was called Fort Duquesne. When taken by the EngUsh, Fort Pitt, after the English minister. As a town rose around the Fort it became Pittsburgh. From the sides of the hills and on the banks of the river the coal crops out abundantly, revealing the sources of untold wealth to the people and country. It is one of the greatest manufacturing towns in America. BV8HTILLB STATION. 805 In 1860, 1,600,000 tons of coal were shipped from this place. There are twenty-three large iron and steel works in operation, employing 6,000 handu, and yieldmg £8,000,000 sterling. In the year 1867, ploughs, spikes, nails and rivets were made to the amount in value of £1,000,000; sixteen foimdries yielded annually i>250,000. Here are located the government arsenal and cannon foundry, where a largo cannon was cast, weighing 49,050 lbs. The whole manufacturing and commercial products of the city for 1860 amounted to j£20,000,000. Many of the old citizens and settlers arc from the north of Ireland, and have become quite wealthy, giving to the place the character of sobriety, industry, and hospitaUty. Few cities are better repre- sented in educational and reUgious institutions. There are several collegiate institutions, and 115 churches. Early on Saturday morning I readied Chicago, and was pressed by the brethren to preach in Clark- street church, on Sabbath. But as I was a good while h'om home and anxious to return, I left on the afternoon train for Bloomington, where, on next day, Sunday, I addressed the Sabbath school in the afternoon, and preached at night in tiie East church, having heard Brother Andbus preach an excellent sermon in the morning. On Wednesday, 25th, we reached Rushville, after two weeks' absence, and 2,000 miles joui'ney, and found all well. From that time to the end of the conference year, in September, we had not many changes in the church to record, but great ones in the country to chronicle, in 8GA TWELVE TKAB8 HI AMEBIOA. coniiexiou with the war. Vicksburg hacl fallen. The MiRHissippi was opened from its source to its mouth. Sherman was sweeping through the southern con- federacy, and Grant was knocking at the gates of Richmond. All things portended the fall of the con- federacy. In the summer we lost some who took part in our prayer- meetings, and received special blessings from on high. THE MIDNIGHT SACRAMENT. Mrs. E was boni in Virginia, and brought up in connexion with the Episcopal church. After moving to the West, she sought and found Salvation ; attended our special revival services, and obtained a deeper work of grace. Beautiful in form and feature, she early proved the truth of the Scripture statement — ♦* All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth av. *y." Soon she withered before the wasting power of disease : consumption laid her low. But in her sickness she leaned on the arm of Chiist, and found His might sustained her soul. As her end drew near she longed to partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Late one night she expressed a wish to receive it. I was sent for. It was midnight when we knelt by the side of the dying woman ; with a few devoted Christians, in the presence of a weeping husband and little daughter, I admi- nistered to her the symbols of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. It was a solemn scene — ^when we thought of Gethsemane and Calvary, the Last Supper, KUflHVILLE STATION. a()7 and the now, at the Marriage Snpi>er of the Lamb in the Father's Kingdom. '* Where death shall all be done away, And bodies part no more." Shortly after she died in peaceful triumph, and went to Jesus. At the end of September our conference year closed, and we bade farewell to our numerous friends in Rushville. Rev. Mr. M'Ellfresii succeeded the writer, and was received as u ihiister of Clmst, whose labors were blessed to the people. That winter a blessed revival commenced in t) . Pre^^yteriau church, soon it reached the Methodist ; man,> nere converted to God, and great grace rested on the people. They are now in a prosperous condition. CHAPTER XIX. ATLANTA STATION THE CONFERENCE AT DANVILLE A SAD SCENE OF MURDER THE TOWN AND COUNTRY MILK SICKNESS ^ATLANTA 5 STATION MINISTERIAL MEETINGS CHURCH CHOIRS AND MUSIC ASSASSINATION AND FUNERAL OP PRESIDENT LIN- COLN — BISHOP Simpson's oration — spotngfield city — , cemetery REVIVAL RETURN TO ATLANTA FOR ANOTHER YEAR ACCIDENT TO CHURCH REVIVALS. The conference assembled in the autumn of 1864, at Danville, where it met a few years before. Bishop Ames presided. The conference was largely attended; several members who had been in the army returned to visit, and some for re-admission in the conference, while a few others were about to take their place in the army, several of the first were present in the^r military uniform, some as chaplains, captains, lieutenants, majors, colonels, and generals, which gave to the con- ference and church a militant aspect ; this conference afforded no loss than three generals to the army. The emancipation proclamation of Lincoln was pro- ducing its effects on the South. The Union army had begun its victorious march through the Confederacy. Some of the Union soldiers had returned home on furlough, and were visiting their friends in town and ATLANTA STATION. 869 coimtiy. One ol' these yoiing soldiers was in town, on Saturday evening, with several of his comrades. They had entered a dmggist shop, where they met a town physician of southern birth and southern feelings. The soldier taunted the physician with the defeat of his friends in the South ; the latter drew his revolver and shot the soldier in a moment, then leaped out of the house, fled to the one where he resided, and barred himself in. The comrades of the murdered soldier gatliered, and pursued the murderer to his residence; they surrounded the house and demanded the physician, or they would burn the house down. Finding there was no hope, he opened his room door, to fly or fight, when the brother of the deceased shot and seized the doctor, dragged him down stairs, while others fired at him. We were just sitting down to tea, when wo heard the firing. Rimning up town, I saw the soldiers drag the body of the wounded physician to the hall where he shot the soldier, and left liim on the side walk to die. Men were running in different directions to escape dange^.*, for the soldiers were firing; the town people were greatly excited. I went over to the wounded physician where he lay ; the soldiers were still shooting at him. I besought them to let the man die without mailing his body a target. The father of the dead soldier came up, and urged them to desist. They ceased. I stood by the man for some minutes, his breast still heaving and his temples throbbing, and there I lilted rp my heart to God in prayer for the dyhig man, that God might have mercy on his soul. At ten He had been a very wicked a that niglit lie was dead! 870 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. man, and the cause of a similar scene a year before, in the same town, where some lost their lives. He fled, until the trials and excitement were over, and had just ' 3tumed a short time before, when he met his fate under the above circumstances — " Surely bloody and deceitful men will not live out half their days." The next day the soldier was accorded a military funeral, and a public procession followed him to the grave. A few weeping friends attended the funeral of the physician. The town of Danville is beautifully situated as the seat of VermilUon county, close to the Wabash river, and dividing line between the States of Illinois and Indiana. It has a population of nearly 3,000. The streets are wide and spacious, the side walks well shaded, the soil is sandy and the streets clean. From the town square, in the centre, the streets take divergent courses. Standing on the square, at the head of the streets, the eye can look up each street for a mile or two, to beautifully wooded hills which encircle the town at a couple of miles distance. Much of the country round is subject to what is commonly called MILK SICKNESS, The origin of which is not well known, for physicians, chemists, and geologists are divided in opinion, not knowing whether the poison is mineral or vegetable ; whether the cattle take the disease by the eating of certain herbs, or the drinking a certain kind of water ; while all agree that poison infests some groves more than others, and is worse certain seasons of the year. ATLANTA STATION. 871 and hours of the day, than at other periods, or at other hours. For mstance, in the autumn of the year, and early in the morning when the dew is on the grass, the danger becomes greater to the cattle, and worse for the people who drink the milk or eat the butter. The cattle affected by this poison rarely recover ; but grow weaker, until at last they droop and die. Persons who take the disease by eating the flesh, drinking the milk, or eating the butter, are seized witli a lingering disease, which, if not arrested in time, prostrates them ultimately, and very often leads to death. We have seen some who were affected for years by it, finally recover. As the country opens to settlement, and the lands to cultiva- tion, the disease vanishes ; so that in some places where it was once prevalent, it is not known now; in others, groves where the poison is, have to be fenced in, and cattle to be herded off for a few months in the year, when the danger passes away. The soil of Dan- ville is good for fruit, flowers, and vegetables. Some of the finest .wcct potatoes we ever saw have been cul- tivated here. Timber is plenty, and some of the fincnt coal beds in the State are about the town ; these are extensively worked, and yield a large quantity of coal for export, as well as home consumption. At the close of this conference, the writer was ap- pointed to ATLANTA STATION, A town midway between Chicago and St. Louis, and upon the Chicago and St. Louis railroad. In 1852-B, it was originated, and has a population of 1,C00, witli a jiijt J ;■;. "J I 872 TWELVK YEARS IN AMERICA. fiue fertile farming ooimtry around it, stretching toward Springfield in the south-west, and Bloomington in the north. It is an important com market, where grain is sliipped for St. Louis and New Orleans, Chicago and New York. Some of the first settlers were Baptists from Ohio, and Congregationalists from the East. The Methodists moved iu a little later. In 1855, when I was sent to Bloomington West Charge, my colleague of the year before, Mr. Barthelow, was sent to Atlanta, and the adjoining country which formed a circuit. Under his labors a new church was built in the town, both comfortable and respectable, the spire of which can be seen for a long distance. The Uttle society under his care increased, and the following year, under the ministry of Eev. Alexander Semple, the society in to^vn was separated from the country, and organized into a church by itself, able to support him as their minister for two successive years, during which it was greatly blessed with revivals, conversions, and accessions to the church. Mr. Semple is an Irishman by birth, full of ^vit, originality, and force, an impressive preacher, and popular speaker. Twice was he appointed to this station within ten years, and twice was he blessed with revivals in it. The labors of Revs. Peston Wood and Mr. M'Ellfresh were greatly owned to the up-building of the church. Three other churches, Baptist, Camp- bellite, and Congregational, were in the town, and a fourth organized among the Presbyterians, who were preparing to build. Between those difi'erent churches a good deal of harmony subsisted. Sunday school ATLANTA STATION. 878 concerts, embracing the children of the Sabbath schools of all the churches, met once a quarter together on Sabbath afternoons, for singing, addresses, and prayer. Annual Sabbath school county conventions also met, embracing pastors, Sunday school superintendents, ond teachers of different Sunday schools in the county, for the puii)0se of mutual consultation and prayer, in the management of the Smiday schools. One of these con- ventions met in the Congregational church, Atlanta, in the summer of 1866, over which the wiiter presided. The meeting was largely attended by ministers and teachers, and lasted for three days. MINISTEBUL MEETINGS Amoiig the ministers of the different chm'ches in towns, are quite customary, and productive of much good. The writer introduced them to Atlanta. Every Mon- day morning, for some two or three hours, we met together for the purpose of mutual consultation and prayer. Our custom was to present a sketch of one of the two sermons we preached on the day before, and examine the matter and style of each briefly, and also consult about the best way of advancing the temperance, educational, and moral state of the community ; so that on any subject affecting the prosperity of the churches, and the welfare of society, we miglit be united. Never shall I forget the pleasant intercourse, the varied Scripture illustration, and interchange of thought we enjoyed in those ministerial meetings. 874 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. ANNIVERSARIES OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY Brought the cliiferent ministers and congregations to- gether once a year, on a Sabbath evenmg. At the hist of these meetings we had in Atlanta, the writer pre- sided ; when the report was read, and various addresses were delivered on behalf of the society, the writer was made a life member of the society by contributions toward it, by the congregation. Next to the State of New York, the State of Illinois contributes the largest amount to the American }3ible Society. The officers of the society, whether of the United States, State, or county, are taken from the different churches, and assist in the distribution of its Bibles, as Avell as in the contribution of its funds. CHURCH MUSIC AND CHOIRS. Many a time, through the summer of 1806, have I stood at the parsonage door, on a Saturday evening, and listened to the choirs and organs of all the churches at the same time, in their own places, play and practise the hymns and times for the foUowmg Sabbath. In our church we were blessed with a gcod instrument, an accomplished organist, and excellent singers. The church organ controversy has created a good deal of unpleasant feeling in the American churches, especially in the west, where some of the older members regard it as an innovation in church worship. On either side of this question are ranged some of the holiest and the best of men, as John Wesley and Adam Clarke among the Methodists. As this is an important question affecting the condition and prosperity of the churches, ATLANTA STATION. 875 the writer would take the Hberty of expressing a few remarks, which he has found beneficial in calming troubled minds, who have allowed themselves to be canied away on one extreme or the other. Chi'istian worship in Protestant congregations con- sists of preaching, prayer, and praise. Under the first, conviction is brought to the conscience; under the second, power to the heart ; under the third, iSalvation to the soul. All are important: each has its respective place in the Divine order of Chi'istian worship. Church choirs and instrumental music in reUgious worship are of Divine oriffin, and Divine aiqn-oval, A congregation cannot well sing without a leader, no more than the voice can be in harmony without a tune. If three or more assist a precentor in leading, the power is in- creased, the harmony is doubled, and the congrega- tional singing better. Those who thus lead and assist are a choir. The use of a choir and instrument in rehgious worship is to lead and assist, not to do the singing for the congregation. Where choirs select tunes, the congregations cannot sing ; they are a curse instead of a blessing. Neither should congregations confine their singing to a few tunes, but the pastor can judiciously selecl; an occasional new tune, which the congregation ought to learn and sing. Whenever a choir get up on a galleiy, or behind the congregation at the end of the church, opposite the pulpit, so as to require the congre- gation to wheel about to see and hear them sing, it is a nuisance that ought not to be tolerated in the house of God. As well might a congregation worship golden calves in an idol temple, as hiuuau calves in a Christian ill m^ 87G TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. cliiu'ch. For when tlie eye and ear of a cougrcgatioii are turned to the organ player and the chanting choir, instead of the heart and voice being lifted up in praise to God, it is sm, if not idolatry. The priests and Levites were not only to offer sacritice, but to lead in Bongs of praise in the tabernacle and temi)le service, assisted by the whole congregation in this pai-t of the worship. When God said to Moses, "See that thou make all things after the pattern shown thee in the Mount," among the things made, were the silver trumpets a .d cymbals with which to praise the Lord. The things shown in pattern on the Mount were the types of things in heaven; hence, we read of the angel trumpet, and the golden harp. The Psalms of David were given by inspu'ation of God, but many of these psalms were composed for instruments, and the inspired language of some of them is: "Awake psaltery and harp," Sec. Now God cannot contradict himself, what he commands should be obeyed ; what he enjoins must be right. So full was the soul of the Psalmist with the praise of God, that he calls on all things, animate and inanimate, to praise the Lord. And this is precisely the feeling of every heart filled with the love of God. It may be objected, that all this referred to the Jewish dispensation, not to the Christian. The Christian dis- pensation is represented as the fallen tabernacle of David set up by Christ, and the glory of the Eedeemer was connected with both. Besides the Psalms are as much a part of Christian worship now, as they were of Jewish then. If every congregation of the Chiistian church now ATLANTA STATION. 877 were to worship as the Jewish did,in spirit oud faith, ou the following occasion, sui'ely the glory of God would rest upon them — "It came even to pass as the trumpets and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voices with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying. For he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever, that then the house was tilled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord : So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. — 2 Chron. v., 13—14. Li the winter we were favored with some special indications of good ; class and prayer-meetings were better attended ; some souls passed from death unto life, and were made partakers of Divine grace. '■:'':! i ASSASSINATION AND FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. Early in the spring all thiiii^s portended a speedy col- lapse of the rebellion. Sherman had marched through the heart of the Confederacy, laying it waste for forty miles in the sweep of his track. Nearly all the leading cities and forts of the South had fallen before him, and were in his possession. The rebel army retired before the advance of his victorious march. Sheridan had triumphed in the Shenandoah Valley, and cut off nearly all the retreats from the rebel capital. Grant was in- vesting Petersburgh, and thundering at the gates of Bichmoud. On Sunday afternoon, a telegi'am from Lee to Davis, while at church, annouuced that he ik 878 TWELVE YE ABB IN AMERICA. could not hold his lines. On Sunday night they were broken. On Monday morning the Union army entered Eichmond, as the rebel army was leaving it. Grant pursued the retreating general and fugitive aimy, and took them jji-isoners. The rebeUion was over; the South was subdued; the last battle was fought, and the Union saved ; Lincoln's work was done, and his mission accompUshed. On Friday night, the 14th of April, 18G5, he was assassinated wliile attending a theatre in Washington. Next morning he died ! The nation mourned. His funeral procession was a national one of more than 1,500 miles in length, and two weeks in dm'atiou. His remains were borne through the leading cities in the east and west, on their way from Washington to Springfield, Illinois. Hundreds of thou- sands gazed on his silent face, and marched in pro- cession to liis grave. Strong men were bowed in sorrow, and mothers who named their children after Lincoln, burst into tears. Nearly two weeks after the remains left Washington they reached Illinois. About the dawn of day. May 2nd, the cannon boomed in Atlanta, the sad announcement that the remains of the President were coming. At six, a.m. , we went down to the railroad station ; thousands were there before us. ** Masons and Oddfellows," in the insignia of their orders, were there to receive the dead. The children of all the Sabbath schools were there on either side of the platform, dressed in mourning, waiting to sing a funeral dirge. Another and another cannon boomed, and through the smoke we saw the distant train slowly coming, bearing the dead. It was near seven, a.m., ATLANTA HTATION. ayy whcu it arrived : then arose the fuueral song ; others burst out weeping; the wliole multitude were bowed in sorrow. Two coffins were seen through the ghiss sides of thd mouniiug carriage. They covered the remains of father and son. Little Willie Lincoln died a few months before liis father. Generals, admh'als, senators and judges were on the train accompanying the remains from Washington. Special trains preceded this to Springfield, others followed after. Li the evening we went down to attend the fimeral next day. It was only forty miles distant — an hour's ride by railroad. Early next morning the square was full and the streets crowded. Soldiers were stationed in different places to keep order and prevent confusion. It was half-past eight in the morning when Mrs. S., myself, and little son, with a few others, stepped into the procession that was going i'^ at one door of the State House to see the deceased president, while those who had seen were moving in another procession to the opposite side of the House, and the south side of the square. In this way order was kept, and all that morning thousands passed through after seeing the remains of the dead. For a moment or two we stood gazing on that sad face : our little son shrunk back from the sight. I lifted him up, and told him to look and remember. He looked and saw; he has ever since remembered. The president's remains were the first of the dead he ever saw. W^e passed on to make room for others who were pressing behind us. The walls within and around were hung with portraits of the deceased, and placar i quotations &om his last words. Outside, the walls, the m m in BBC TWELVE Y£ABii IS AMKRICA. roof, and the dome of the State House, were hung with long stripes of mourning, cloth and crape, that waved in the breeze. Sirtu thnumnd people had assembled to see the dead president, and follow his remains to the grave. At noon, religious services were held ; the band played, and 200 voices sang «' Ployel's Hymn," and the procession formed and moved to tlie houae nf ilw deail, at Oak Ridge cemetery, two miles from the city. The tomb was on the north side of a liill, by the side of a stream that murmurs by. Thousands sat under the shade of the trees, or stood by the side of the streams, or reclined on the smTOunding hills, while soldiers marched back and forward to keep the avenues clear and crowds steady. All things were orderly and solemn. By the side of the tomb a stand was erected for the officiating ministers ; around these were seats for about 500 more ; beyond those were the band, and 200 leadhig singers of the United States. Hymns were sung and prayer offered, and Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal chm'ch, delivered the funeral oration. Bishop Simpson is the son of an Iiishman. He is one of the most eloquent preachers in America. He was the intimate friend of Lincoln, and at the request of the f] ends of the deceased, deUvered the oration, extracts r which are here jiresented — " aATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON AT THE FUNEfiAL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "Fellow-citizens of Illinois, and of many parts of our entire Union, — Near the capital of this large and ATLANTA STATION. B8] growing State, iu the midst of thiw beautiful f^ove, and at tlie moatli of this vault which has just received th« remains of our fallen chieftain, we Tather to pay a tribute of respect and to drop the tear of sorrow around the ashes of the mighty dead. ♦• A little more than four years ago, from his plain and quiet home in j'ondor city, he started, receiving the parting words of the concourse of friends who gathered around him, and in the midst of the dropping of the gentle shower, he told of the pangs of parting from the place where his children had been born and his home had been made pleasant by early recollections ; and as he left he made an earnest request, in the hearing of some who are present at this hour, that as he was about to enter upon responsibilities which he believed to be gi-eater than any which had fallen upon any man sinco the days of Washington, that the people would offer up prayers that God would aid and sustain him in the work which they had given him to do. " His company left your quiet city, but as it went snares were in waiting for the chief magistrate. Scarcely did he escape the dangers of the way or the hands of the assassin, as he neared Washington, and I believe he escaped only tlurough the vigilance of officers and the prayers of his people. So that the blow was sus- pended for more than four years, which was at last peimitted through the Providence of God to fall. How different the occr«oion which witnessed his departure from that which witnessed his return. Doubtless ho expected to visit you all again ; doubtless you expected to take him by the hand, and to feel the warm gi'asp which you had felt in other days, and to see the tall form walking among you, which you had delighted to honor in years past. But he wa^" never permitted to return until he came with lips mute and silent, the frame encoffined, and a weeping nation following as his mourners. Such a scene as his return to you was never witnessed among the events of history. There have been great processions of mourners. There was one for the Patriarch Jacob, which came up from m ¥. ! li-i u 882 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. Egypt, and the Egyptians wondered at the evidences of reverence and fiHal afifection, which came up from the hearts of the IsraeHtes. ** There was mourning when Moses feU upon the heights of Pisgah, and was hid from human view. There have been mourning in the kingdoms of the earth, when kings and princes have fallen, but never was there in the history of man such mourning as that which has accompanied this funeral procession ; and has gathered around the mortal remains of him who was our loved one, and who now sleepeth among us. ''If we glance at the procession which followed him we see how the nation stood aghast ; tears filled the eyes of many sun-bm-nt faces — strong men, as they clasped the hands of their friends, were unable to find vent for their grief in words. Women and little children caught up the tidings as they ran through the land, and were melted into tears. The nation stood still. Men left their ploughs in the fields and asked what the end should be '? The hum of manufactories ceased, and the sound of the hammer was not heard — busy mer- chants closed their doors, and in the exchange gold passed no more from hand to hand. Though three weeks have passed, the nation has scarcely breathed easily yet. A mournful silence is abroad upon the laud Nor is this mourning confined to any one class, or to any district of country. Men of all political parties and of all religious creeds have united in paying this mournful tribute. "Far more eyes have gazed upon the face of the departed than ever looked upon the face of any other departed man. More eyes have looked upon the pro- cession for 1,600 miles or more, by night and by day, by sunlight, dawn, twilight and by torchlight, than ever before watched the progress of a procession. " We ask, why this wonderful mourning — this great procession ? I answer, first : A part of the interest has arisen from the times in which we live, and in which he that had fallen was a principal actor. It is a principle of our nature that feelings once excited pass readily ATLANTA STATION. fr' 883 snces of om the )on the 1 view, of the it never as that n ; and lim who ng us.^ wed hhn iUed the as they e to find children ihe land, [>od still. what the ased, and usy mer- .nge gold gh three breathed upon the ine class, political in paying 36 of the my other the pro- hy day, Hit, than m. Ihis great lerest has I which he I principle is really from the object by which they are excited to some other object which may, for the time being, t6,\e possession of the mind. *« Another principle is, that the deepest affections of our hearts gather aromid some human form, in which are incarnated the living thoughts and ideas of the passing age. If we look, then, at the times we see an age of excitement. For four years the popular heart has been stirred to its utmost depths. War has come upon us, dividing families, separating nearest and dearest friends. A war, ihe extent and magnitude of which no one could estimate ; a war in which the blood of brethren was shed by a brother's hand. A call was made by this voice, no w^ hushed, and all over this land, from hill and mountain, from plain and prairie, there sprang up hundreds of thousands of bold hearts, ready to go forth and save our National Union. This feeling of excitement was transferred next into a feeling of deep grief, because of the danger in which our country was placed. Many said, is it possible to save the nation? Some in our own country, and nearly all the leading men in other countries declared ii to be impossible to maintain the Union, and many an honest and patriotic heart was deeply pained with apprehensions of common ruin, and many in grief and almost in despair anxiously enquired, what shall the end of these things be? In addition to this, ^.ives had given their husbpnds, mothers tlieir sons — the pride and joy of their hearts. They saw them put on the uniform. They saw them take the martial step, and they tried to hide their deep feeling of sadness. Many of these dear ones sleep upon the battle field never to return again, and there was mourning hi every mansion and in every cabin in our broad land. Tiien came a feeling of deeper sadness, as the story came of prisoners tortured to death, or starved through the mandates of those who are called the re- presentatives of tlie chivalry, or who claim to be the honorable ones of the earth, and as we read the stories of frames -attenuated and reduced to mere skeletons, our grief tm-ned partly into horror, and partly into a cry for vengeance, 884 TWEL\'E YEARS IN AMERICA. '• Then this feeling was changed to one of joy. There came signs of the end of this rebellion. We followed the career of our glorious generals ; we saw our armies, under the command of the brave officer who is guiding this procession, climb up the heights of Lookout Mountain and drive the rebels from their strongholds. Another brave general swept through Georgia, South and North Carolina, and drove the combined armies of the rebels before him, while the honored lieutenant- general held Lee and his hosts in a death grasp. Then the tidings came that Kichmond was evacuated and that Lee liad surrendered. The bells rang memly all over the land ; booming of cannon was heard ; illumi- nations and torch light processions manifested the general joy, and families were looking for the speedy return of their loved ones from the fields of battle. Just in the midst of this wildest joy, in one hour, nay, in one moment, the tidings thrilled through om* land that Abraham Lincoln, the best of Presidents, had perished by the hand of an assassin, and then all that feeling which had been gathering for four years in forms of grief, horror, and joy, turned in an instant into one wail of woe — a sadness inexpressible, an anguish un- utterable "But it is not the times merely which cause this mourning. The mode of his death must be taken into account. Had he died on a bed of illness, with kind friends around him ; had the sweat of death been Aviped from his brow by gentle hands while he was yet con- scious ; could he have lived to speak words of affection to his stricken widow, or words of counsel to us, like those we heard in his parting address — that inaugural which shall now be immortal, how it would have softened or assuaged something of the grief. There might at least have been preparation for the event. But no moment of warning was given to him or to us. He was stricken down, too, when his hopes for the end of the rebellion were bright, and the prospects of a joyous life were before him. There was a Cabinet meeting that day, said to have been the most cheerful and happy of any held since the beginning of the rebellion. ATLANTA STATION. 885 [here iowed mieB, liding okout liolds. Soutli lies of enant- Tlien d and dly all illumi- ed the speedy battle. ir, nay, ur land fcs, had all that n forms nto one ish un- "Bnt the great cause of this mourning is to be found in the man himself. Mr. Lincoln was no ordinary man — and I believe this conviction has been growing on the nation's mind, as it certainly has been on my own, especially in the last years of his administration. By the hand of God he was especially singled out to guide our government in these troublous times, and it seems to me that the hand of God may be traced in many of the events connected with his history. '* His early life, with its varied struggles, joined liiin indissolubly to the working masses, and no elevation in society diminished his respect for the sons of toil. He knew Avhat it was to fell the tall trees of the forest, and to stem the current of the broad Mississippi. His home was in tlie growing West — the heart of the re- public, and invigorated by the winds that swept over its prairies, he learned lessons of self-reliance that sus- tained him in scenes of adversity. " His genius was soon recognized, as true genius always will be, and he was placed in the legislature of his State. Already acquainted with the principles of law, he devoted his thoughts to matters of public interest, and began to be looked upon as the ** coming statesman." As early as 1839 he presented resolutions in the legislature, asking for emancipation in the dis- trict of Columbia, while, with but rare exceptions, the whole popular mind of his State was opposed to the measure. From that hour he was a steady and uni- form friend of humanity, and was preparing for the conflict of later years. •'If you ask me on what mental characteristics his greatness rested, I answer, on a quick and ready per- ception of facts — on a memory unusually tenacious and retentive, and on a logical turn of mind which followed sternly and unwaveringly every link in the chain of thought on any subject which he was called upon to investigate. I think there have been minds more broad in their character, more comprehensive in their sweep, but I doubt whether there has been a mind which could follow step by step with logical A A 886 TWELVE YEARS IN AMEKICA. power the points which he desu'ed to illustrate. He gained this power by the close study oi* geometry, and by a determination to perceive the truth in all its rela- tions and simplicity, and when perceived to uttev it. It is said of him, that in childhood when he had any difficulty in listening to a conversation to ascertain what people meant; when he retired to rest he could not sleep tUl he tried to imderstand the precise point intended, and when understood, to convey it in a clearer manner to others. Who that has read his messages fails to perceive the directness and the simplicity of his style, and this very trait which was scoflfed at and derided by opponents, is now recognized as one of the strong points of that mighty mind, which has so power- fully influenced the destiny of this nation, and whicli shall for ages to come influence the destiny of humanity. "It is not, however, chiefly by his mental faculties that he gained such control over mankind. His moral power gave him pre-eminence. The convictions of men that Abraham Lincoln was an honest man, led them to yield to his guidance. As has been said of Cobden, whom he greatly resembled, he made all men feel a kind of sense of himself — a recognized individuality, a self-relying pow^er. They saw in him a man whom they believed would do what was right regardless of all consequences. It was this moral feeling which gave him the greatest hold upon the people, and made his utterances almost oracular. " There are moments which involve in themselves eternities. There are instants which seem to contain germs \vhich shall dcvelope and bloom for ever. Such a mon ont came in the tide of time to our land when a questic .; must be settled, affecting all the powers of the earth. The contest "svas for human freedom. Not for this republic merely. Not for the Union simpl}", but to decide whether the people, as a people, in their entire majesty, were destined to be the government, or whether they were to be subject to tyrants or aristo- crats, or to class-rule of any kind. *' But the great act of the mighty chieftain, on which ATLANTA STATION. 887 a his power shall rest, long after his frame shall moulder away, is that of giving freedom to a race. We have all been taught to revere the sacred characters. We have thought of Moses, of his power, and the prominence ho gave to the moral law, how it lasts, and how his name towers high among the names in heaven, and how ho delivered those millions of his kindred out of bondage. And yet we may assert that Abraham Lincoln, by his proclamation, liberated more enslaved people than ever Moses set free — and those not of his kindred. "Abraham Lincoln was a good man. He was known as an honest, temperate, forgiving man ; a just man, a man of noble heart in every way. As to his religious experience I cannot speak definitely, because I was not privileged to know much of his private sentiments. My acquaintance with him did not give me the opportunity to hear him speak on those topics. This I know, how- ever, he read the Bible frequently — loved it for its great truths and profound teachings, and he tried to be guided by its precepts. He believed in Christ the Saviour of sinners, and, I think, he was sincerely trying to bring his life into harmony with the great principles of re- vealed religion. Certainly if there ever was a man who illustrated some of the principles of pure religion, that man was our departed President. As a rule, I doubt if any President has ever showed such trust in God, or in public documents so frequently referred to Divine aid. Often did he remark to friends and delegations that liis hope for our success rested in his conviction that God would bless our eiforts, because we were trying to do right. To the address of Pj largo religious body, he re- plied, 'Thanks be unto God, who in our national trials, giveth us the churches.' To a minister who said, 'Ho hoped the Lord was on our side,' he replied, * That it gave him no concern whether the Lord was on our side or not,' for he added, * I know the Lord is always on the side of right,' and with deep feeling, added, * But God is my witness that it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and this nation should bo on the Lord's side.' : \ rt88 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. " In his domestic life he was exceedingly kind and affectionate. He T.as a devoted husband and father. During his presidential term he lost his second son Willie. To an officer of the army he said not long since, • Do you ever find yourself talking with the dead ?' and added, * Since Willie's death I catch myself every day involuntarily talking with him, as if he were with me.' For his widow, who is unable to be here, I need only invoke the blessing of Almighty God that she may be comforted and sustained. For his son, who has witnessed the exercises of this hour, all that I can desire is, that the mantle of his father may fall upon him [exclamations of ' Amen'] . **Let us pause a moment on the lesson of the hour before we part. This man, though he fell by an assassin, still fell under the permissive hand of God. He had some wise purpose in allowing h*m to fall. What more could he have desired of life for himself ? Were not his honors full ? There was no office to which he could aspire. The popular heart clung around him as around no other man. The nations of the world had learned to honor our chief magistrate. ' * He had a strange presentiment in early political life, that some day he would be President. You see it indicated in 1859, when of che slave power he said, ' Broken by it, I, too, may be ; bow to it, I never will. The prohahilit}/ that we may fail in the stniggle ouffht not to deter us froni the support of a cause which I deem to be just ; it shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimen- sions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world besides, and I standuig up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before High Heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my love.' "And yet he recently said to more than one, * I never shall live out the four years of my term. Wlien the !ll feel ever the ATLANTA HTATIOX. 88l> rebellion is crushed my work is doue.' So it was. He lived to see the last battle foiiglit, and to dictate a dispatch from the home of Jefferson Davis — lived till the power of the rebellion was broken, and then, having doue the work for which God sent him, angels, I trust, were sent to shield him from one moment of pain or suffering, and to bear him from this world to that high and glorious realm where the patriot and good shall live for ever. His example teaches young men that every position of eminence is open before the dihgent and worthy. To the active men of the country his ex- ample m-ges to trust in God and do right. *' Standing, as we do to-day, by his coffin and his seimlchre, let us resolve to carry forward the work which he so nobly begmi. Let us do right to all men. Let us vow m the sight of Heaven to eradicate every vestige of human slavery, to give every human being his true position before God and man, to crush every foim of rebellion, and to stand by the flag which God has given us. How joyful that it floated over parts of every State before Mr. Lincoln's career w^as ended. How singular that to tlie fact of the assassin's heel being caught in the folds of the flag we are probably indebted for his captm-e. The flag and the traitor must ever be enemies. J " Om- country, too, is stronger for the trial. A re- public was declared, by monarchists, too weak to endure a civil war, yet we have crushed the most gigantic rebelUon in history, and have grown in strength and population every year of the struggle. We have passed througli the ordeal of a popular election while swords and bayonets were in the field, and have come out unharmed. And now, in our hour of excitement, with a large minority, have profi'ered another man for pre sident. The bullet of the assassin has laid our president prostrate. Has there been a mutiny ? Ha.: any rival proposed his claim ? Out of our army of near a million no officer or sohlier uttered one note of dissent, and in an hour or two after Mr. Lincoln's death, another, by constitutional power, occupied his chaii'. If the gov- 11 U 1*1 iii ! 'I ^ 890 TWEL^'E YEABS IN AMERICA. ernment moved forward without one single jar, the world will learn that reiniblics are the strongest gov- emmeuts on earth. *' The time will come when, in the heautiful words of him whose lips arc now for ever sealed, * the mystic chords of memory which stretch from every battle-field, and from every patriot's grave, shall yield a sweeter mu- sic when touched hythc angels of our better nature.' " SPRINGFIELD CITY, CEMETERY, AND REVIVAL. : Twelve months later, I visited Springfield, on the pressing invitation of my friend, James Rae, Esquii'e. Springfield, the capital of the State of Illinois, is situated in Sangamon county, about three miles south of the Sangamon river, and nearly in the centre of the State. The ground on which it stands is a flat and open prairie, surrounded on all sides with large forests of oak and maple. A beautiful view of the city and surrounding country may be obtained fiom the dome of the State House. It was laid out for a county town in 1821. In 1837 the State legislature was transfen-ed from Vandalia to Springfield ; in 1839-40 it held its first session there ; the senators' meeting in the old Methodist church, and the representatives in the Pres- byterian church. The State capitol is a very fine building, and stands on a square of three acres, beau- tifully ornamented with trees, shrubs and flowers. Twelve years ago, when I first saw it, it had a popu- lation of 6,000 ; at present it has above 20,000. The streets are wide and spacious, the shops large and imposing, the hotels numerous and magnificent. One new hotel, just now built, covers an acre square, is six ATLANTA STATION. 8JH stories high, and contains about 200 rooms, designed to accommodate the senators and legishitors. There are above twenty churches, three of which arc Methodist, three Presbyterian, and one Episcopalian. Three rail- roads pass through the city. Street rail-cars were introduced a few months since, and now convey visitors to and from the city cemetery, which is two miles north of the city, in a beautiful grove of seventy-two acres, surrounded by hedge and fence, ornamented with trees, shrubs and flowers, marble shafts and granite tombs. The sui-face of the ground is beautifully di- versified with hill, dale and ravine. The cemetery is under the management of a corporation, chartered by the State. Springfield, the home of Lincoln, and Oak Eidge cemetery, where his ashes lie, have become the Mecca of the pilgrims of liberty from all parts of the world. In less than a year after his death 24,000 persons visited his tomb, and recorded their names in the curator's bock. REVIVAL. A few weeks before I made the above visit a gracioii« Ilirinil had commenced in Springfield, and was spread- ing to all the churches. At eight in the morning I accompanied Mr. Rae to the State House, where a prayer-meeting was held at that early hour. As wo were going the side -walks were thronged with people hastening to it. Going iip the stairs we passed by the large entrance hall, w'here the remains of Lincoln lay a year before in State, when 60,000 persons passed in and out looking on the face of the deceased president. '1^ !; i 802 TWELMS YEARS IN AMERICA. A veiy diflferent scene was now bringing the people together. We entered the hall of representatives ; about 700 people were already assembled, and more were gathering. On the speakers' platform were several clergymen of diflerent churches, alternately conducting the meeting, the exercises of which consisted of singing, prayer, brief addi-esses, and the recital of experiences. Among the numerous speakers who rose to tell of their conversion, or of the conversion of some of their friends or famiUes, were doctors, lawyers, judges : the tears flowing down the cheeks of many. It was a most affecting scene. Much of the Divine presence was there. I thought of Pentecost, and said to my EpiscopaUan friend, "This looks like a Methodist love-feast." Many of the gentlemen who spoke in the moruuig meeting we saw in the afternoon at the corner of the streets and around the city square, talking to unconverted men, m'ging them to come to the meeting — to give their hearts to Cludst, and seek reUgion. I never saw such a beautiful and practical illustration of Proverbs, i. 20 — 23 : " Wisdom crieth without ; she ut- tereth her voice in the streets : She crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gates : in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? and the scomers delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? Tiu'n you at my reproof : behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." At that time there were more than one thousand persons professed conversion. How many since I do not know. The meeting continued daily all the past ATLANTA STATION. 8U8 summer ami autumn, while all the Evangelical chm'chea shared in the blessings and the fruits. On the 20th September, 1865, the Illinois conference met in Decatiu*. Bishop Janes presided. The weather was very warm ; some sickness prevailed. The attend- ance at the conference was largo, but the session was brief. At the request of the friends in Atlanta I was sent back again for another year. In the winter we commenced a protracted meeting which promised good. But just as some were seeking the Lord and had found Him, our church caught fire, but was saved by the energetic efforts of the citizens ; yet, so much iiijm'ed, that we could not worship in it for fhree months. The Baptists invited us to the use of their church for babbatli evenings, which we accepted, until our own was repaired. The cloud of blessing thus lingering over the Methodist chm*ch, interrupted by the above lire, rested on the Baptist and Congregational churches, in which were several conversions and a gracious re- vival. After retm'ning to the church our congregations increased, and class and prayer-meetings were more prosperous ; the Sabbath school was large, and the prospect for approaching good cheering. At the con- ference, in September, 1866, we pai-ted from our dear friends there, among whom are some of the most earnest, pious, and devoted members. Letters from there, just now, inform me of a gracious revival of the work of God, resulting ::- the conversion of about forty souls. To God be ascribed the glory for ever. m If) v^ 'yf» CHAPTER XX. THE CHUECH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. GENERIC AND SPECIFIC FORMS — HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT — DOCTRINAL BASIS, AND MEANS AND MEASURES OF SUCCESS STATISTICAL RESULTS AND COMPARATIVE TRIUMPHS. Methodism is a vital principle, a living power, a great fact, a vast ecclesiastical organism ; too vast to be ignored ; too important to be unnoticed, and too ex- tensive in its influence on society, to be passed by with a slight allusion, or treated with silence. It is the child of Providence, primitive Christianity, or as Chal- mers called it, "Christianity in earnest. ' Its sudden rise and rapid gi'owth have astonished men of all classes and creeds. The most beautiful and popular biographies have drawn insph'ation from its life, and the most successful religious novels have been based upon its usages. Cabinets and councils have studied its principles and laws in then* eflfects on societj', churches, and nat'ons. RicASOLi is not ashamed to point to its triumphs in America, and intimates the same liberty for it in Italy, by the side of the papacy. The philosopher views it from the ground of moral philosophy, but often mistakes its character and its mission. The poUti- cian measui'es it by the principles of political economy, '11 THE CHURCH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. 895 and wonders at its social influence. The historian is baffled with its factb and figures, as transcending those of other churches and former religious develoDmcnts for the time of its existence. But we rise ^roni the low plain of cabinets and councils, i)hiloscpliors and politicians, to the lofty platform of the word of God, and in the society of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, examine it by their teaching; its clain:^ by their standard, its character by their infallible signs. Woidd we describe its humble origin and early training, we read: "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him." Would we describe its triumphs over its rival foes, even those of its own household, we read : ''Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bo'gh by a well ; whose branches run over the wall : the archers have sorely giieved him, and shot at him, and hated him ; but his bow abode in strength, and the arras of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." With the Chaldean seer we ascend the heights of Peor, and from thence survey the goodly tents and spreading tribes of God's Israel, and say, " From this time it shall be said, what hath God wi'ought '?" With the sacramental hosts of God's elect we would say, '• The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." Would we mark the period of its origin, its evangelic ministry, and extensive mission, we " See an angel fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach imto them that dwell I 890 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. 111)011 the earth, and to every nation, and tongue, and people." Many have viewed this passage as prophetic of the Keformers and the Refoimation, but this cannot well be, as the Eeformation was confined to Eiu'opc: this extends to the world. The Reformation was a great poUtical, as v/ell as spiritual change ; but this is a pure evangelism. The Reformers lived and labored in the same places ; but these are ministers and mis- sionaries that are itinerant — the world is their parish. It was through its agency and instrumentality the doctrines of the Reformation were brought beyond the bounds of Europe to other lands, and far distant nations. Methodism, in its rise and spread, has assumed generic and specific forms. Like the rise and flow of the River of Life, part of the hef-ling stream has watered the Establishment, and originated the evangeUcal move- ment in the church : the Climch Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society; part has reached the dissenting churches in England, Wales, and Scotland, through the ministry of Whitefield and others, and originated the London Missionary Society, and kiudi'ed institutions. The remainder flows on its destined course in its own specific channel, widenin;^' and deepening m the Wesleyan and Methodist Episco- pal chui'ches, and their allied branches, bearing life, peace and blessing to many nations, and to many hearts. But the limits of this chapter confine us to an outline sketch of Methodism in America. Its HISTORICAL DEVET^OPiilENT Claims a brief notice, and forms one of the greatest THE CHURCH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. 397 exhibitions of tlie grace of God in the Salvation of men that the church Jias had to record from its commence- ment to the present time. There are two elements that have entered into the warp and woof that wove the web of Methodistic life in America : these were German solidity and Irish tenacity. There are national characteristics and characters God selects for important missions and providential openings — as Paul was made a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ unto the Gentiles. Some of the brightest trophies the grace of God has won through Methodism have been from among the Germans and the Irish. Few churches have had such men as Philip Embury and Thomas Walsh. The tenacity of the Irish character, whether for good or evil, is like the green ivy of its native isle, clinging to the oak of a thousand years : it will live and last, grow, and flourish on. It is a law in the moral government of God, and a part of His mysterious dispensations, that through much tribulation we enter the kingdom. The Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through suffering, that He might bring many sons unto glory. His people follow in 'Jieii Master's steps. After the brealdng up of the Roman Empire by the Saracens, Vanc'jtls, Huns, and Goths, Ireland became an asylum of rest to the learned and pious of the empire who fled thither for safety. From the fifth to the eighth century her schools and colleges wn'e the largest, most renowned, and successful in the world. During the same period her misHionaiies were in almost every land, and her missions extended from the icy J Hi 1 ■ i 896 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. coasts of Lapland to the sunny slopes of Italy ; from the island rock of lona in the west to the shores of Kent in England, and as far east as Germany. Her scholars were also the founders of the great universities of Europe, of Paris in France, Pavia in Italy, Franconia in Germany, and St. Gall in Switzerland. At the close of ihe eighth -centmy she was the most Protestant church in Europe, not excepting the Waldenses. The Danish invasions overthrew her institutions, literary and religious, and prepared the way for her subjection to the Normans. The Normans came and corn^ut vec'', and bowed her neck to the Man of Sin, to wL '^i .. has since become a willing slave, and a degraded subject. Ever since, her history is that of mourning, lamentation and woe. But the time is near at hand when she shall rise and burst from the chains of her degraded thraldom, and come forth, amid the nations and the churches, as "Great, glorious, and free; First flowor of the earth, and first gem of the sea." There are two events in history by which Victoria ip queen of Great Britain, and Methodism is the largest church in America. Both originated in the Palatinate of the Rhine. Both parties were driven from tlitit country : one became enthroned in England, the other established in the hearts of the people in America. Queen Victoria is the descendant of the Prince Frederick Palatine, who was driven from his princi- pality, nearly 800 years ago by the Austrians. She now sits on her island throne, and reigns over the sixth part of the world. nice |nci- Ishe tht V,et i THE CHURCH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. 899 Lucan,tbe ancient hamlet where I write this chapter, and the beautiful estate around it ontheLiffey, were once owned by Sarsfield, James II. 's general, who became celebrated in the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim, in IGCO, and the siege of Limerick in 1691, where, having capitulated, he led with him 19,000 Irish soldiers into the service of France. These, with others who had gone before, formed a part of the French army, under TuRRENE, on the Rhine, and Catinat, in Piedmont, by which the Palatines were driven from the Rhine, and the Vaudoia from their Alpine homes in Savoy. Ac- cording to Barrister O'Connor, the Irish soldiers in the French service were some of the most cruel in devas- tating the homes of the Palatines and the Vaudois.'"' The fugitive Palatines fled to the camp of Eugene and Marlborough, and were subsequently received by Queen Anne, in London, and 500 families of them settled on Lord Southwell's estates in the county Limerick, Ireland, fifteen years after their persecutors left the same place. On the 17th March, 1749, a strange preacher was heard in the streets of Limerick, preaching from Matt, xi. 28. A young Roman-catholic heard — the Word Tf^ached his heart — he was converted, and became one of the greatest preachers in Great Britain and Ireland. Such was the sainted Thomas Walsh. The Palatines also heard — were deeply affected, and Swindells and WiLLi/.Ms were invited to visit and to preach to them, which they did. * Military Uiitory qfthe Imh Nation, Chapters V. and IX. 400 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. The next year, 1750, Wesley reached the Palatine settlements, and while preaching to the peojile his voice was lost amid the loud weeping of the large congregation. Many were converted and joined society ; and Philip Embury, who was converted on Christmas Day, and Philip Guier were made leaders and local preachers. Shortly after, Embury's name was on the conference plan for reception into conference, but marriage and emigration prevented his entrance into the regular mi: i fv of the Ii-ish conference. Tci. ars later, the homes made beautiful by their industry were torn from them by landlord tyranny, and the Palatines were forced to leave and seek a home in some far distant land. On a summer's day, in 1760, Embury xH'eached his farewell sermon from the deck of a ship in Limerick harbor to a weeping congregation, and then sailed for America, with several of his Palatine friends, and landed in Now York on the 10th of August following. Six years later, in October, 1760, we find him preaching, at the request of his relative, Barbara Heck, to a congi-egation of jive persons in his own hired house. Soon the house became too strait for the congregation, and they removed to an upper room in Barrack-street, w^here many souls were converted. From this upper room they went to the more spacious rigging-loft, w^here Captain Webb joined the little band, and assisted Embury in preaching the Word of Life to the people. Great was the success. The rigging-loft became too limited to contain the crowds that thronged to hear the Irish Palatine and the English ofiiccr. THE CHURCH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. 401 Barbara Heck, the mother of American Methodism, liad a new plan presented to her mind while at prayer — it was to collect fmids and build a house of worship. At her suggestion and by her aid the funds were raised, and soon a church was built and dedicated to Almighty God, in John-street, wliich has become the cradle of American Methodism. Philip Embury preached the dedicatory sermon in it on the 80th of October, 1708. The touching story of the rise and spread of Metho- dism iL New York, has been beautifully told by Wakely, Stevens, aad Crook, in their invaluable histories. That of the last writer, Ireland and the Centenarij of American Methodism, is romance in real life, full of touching incideni;s, and affecting narratives. To these the writer would refer his readers, while an outline sketch may be sufficient for this chapter. Webb and Embury were soon strengthened by the speedy arrival of Eobert Williams from the Irish con- ference ; he had been travelling the Castlebar circuit. Sent over by Wesley, he arrived in New York, in August, 1769, two months before Boardman and Pilmoor arrived from the English conference. He was the first regular minister sent by Wesley, the first pastor, and the first book agent. ** He was," says Stevens, "one of the most effective pioneers of American Methodism — the first Methodist minister in America that pubUshed a book — the first that married — the first that located — and the first that died." He was the apostle of Metho- dism in Virginia and Carolina, and tlie assistant of Strawbridge in Maryland. Jarrett, an Episcopal clei-gyman in Virginia, received him to his home, and I ' ( B B 402 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. preached with him in his parish, and wrote higlily of him as "an indefatigable preacher of the gospel." During the same time, Eobert Strawbridoe, another Irishman, from Drumsna, Ireland, was laboring faith- fully in Maryland, along the shores of the Potomac, and in the city of Baltimore, planting and estabHshing Metho- dism. These two men, Williams and Strawbridoe, were far in advance of the times they lived in, in reference to literary enterprise and ecclesiastical inde- pendence. The church and the nation are receiving the benefits of their enterprise now. On Tuesday, the 1st of August, 1769, the English conference met at Leeds. Wesley asked, ** Who will go to assist our brethren in America?" there was no response. Next morning he preached at five, from '* I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." On the re-assembling of conference, the question was again asked, and Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor volunteered to go : they were sent. A conference collection was taken up. The amount was ^670, £20 of which went to pay the mis- sionaries' passage, and ^650 to assist in paying oft* the church debt in New York ; part of the subscription was in Weshj/'s Notes and Sermons, which, no doubt, was from himself. This was the first Methodist missionary meeting held in the body, and this the first missionary subscription given, and Leeds the first place where it was held. Forty-four years after, in 1813, the first missionary society was organized in the same town. Since then, what hath God wrought ? The &1Q con- tributed in 1769, has become in 1867, £148,140 14s. 9d., THE CHURCH OP A HUNDRED YEARS. 4nn it 3t and the society sustained by it, the largest and most prosperous in the world. '- The American Methodist church, the eldest daughter of the church at home, which received the above i*70 in 1769, contributed in 1866, £200,000 for her missions, £20,000 toward Irish Methodism, as an expression of thanks, and ^1,000,000 sterling as a centenary thank- offering to God. The single church aided by that £50, is now represented by 11,000 additional churches, worth £7,000,000, and the '' Notes and Sermons of Wesley," which formed the nucleus of a book room, under Robert Williams, has now become the largest pub- lishing establishment in the world. Its capital worth £200,000, and its circulation 4,500 books; perodical monthly issues, above one million. Boardman and PiLMooR sailed from Bristol in August, and arrived in America on the 24th of October, after -:* stormy passage of nine weeks. Soon the little band was strengthened by these additions. Embury resigned his charge into their hands, and retired to Camden, Western New York, where he was honored by the office of magistrate among his fellow-citizens, and labored with great success to build up Methodism, until in August, 1773, he died at the early age oi fortij-jin'. Subsequently, his family, and Mrs. Barbara Heck and family, moved across the St. Lawrence into Canada, and founded Methodism there, which also has grown into the most leading denomination in the provinces. But as these passed over into Canada, or ascended up to Paradise, others were raised up to take their place in the States. From the shores of the Chesapeake, the Delaware, the I ^04 TWELVE YEARS IN AMEMCA. Hudson, and St. Lawrence, the sainted spirits of these Ehjahs ascended to God, hut their failing mantles fell on the shoulders of Coke, Asbury, Whatcoat, Sum- MERFIELD, McEeNDREE, GaRRETTSON, GeORGE, BoBBRTS, Hedding, Bangs, and others, who went on planting the Tree of Life by the banks of the great rivers and the shores of the great lakes, and the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, until millions have found repose beneath its shade, and safety under its protection. Years of agitation and trial awaited the church. Through the revolution of 1776, the war of 1812, the church divisions of 1828 and 1835, the secession of 1844-45, and the rebellion of 1861-66, it passed in safety, and, like the burning bush at Horeb, remains unconsumed. Years of prosperity and showers of blessing have fallen on it. During the revolutionary struggle it was blessed with frequent revivals. When the country was threatened with a deluge of French infidehty at the close of the revo- lution, it was blessed with accessions of 17,000 mem- bers. In the war of 1812 it had an increase of 15,000 ; and in 1816, the year of Asbury's death, 80,000 were added ; in 1827-28 there was an increase of 100,000 ; in 1848-44 tb-s year before the memorable pro-slavery secession, it had an increase of 250,000 ; in 1857-58, the time of the great financial crisis, preparatory to the breaking out of the war, it had about 200,000 increase ; at the close of the war, and in the year of its centenary celebration, in 1866, it had an increase of nearly 108,000. Thus the Lord blessed the church with showers of refreshing and eras of revival. THE CHURCH OF A HUNbRED YEARS. m THE DOCTRINAL BASIS AND MEANS OF SUCCESS, By which the Methodist church in America attained such unparalleled prosperity, claims attention. If we analyse her doctrine, examine her agencies and usages, we shall find that here her great strength lay. If ever she should give up these, she would be like another Samson, shorn of her locks, grinding in another mill, or seekmg some one to lead hex in her darkness, while the world might look on in spoi-t, and Israel mourn in captivity. When Wesley was charged with preaching a new gospel, he appealed to the prayers, the articles, and homilies of the church of England ; the confessions of the reformers, the creeds of the primitive churches, and the inspired teaching of prophets and apostles. Here he stood on the Truth of God, and reasoned with an eloquence that all his adversaries could neither gainsay nor resist. In all his teaching he never forgot those mighty truths which saved millions in the days of prophets, apostles, martyrs, and reformers. Hence, the doctrines of repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Clmst, justification by faith, and the regeneration and sanctification of the soul by the Holy Ghost, were preached in every sermon, urged at every meeting, and sought in every prayer. These were the truths the apostles and reformers preached, by which millions were turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. The same eft'ects followed the preaching of the Wesleys and their sons in the gospel. In connexion with the preaching of these evangelical truths, W^esley insisted on a c(m verted t i [ r . li i 'i, y j iOG TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. ministry to proclaim them. He saw there was no use in sending out dead preachers to awaken the dead in tresi3a8se8 and sins — men unsared themselves to save others, the disloyal to preach loyalty to rebels, the blind to lead the blind. In such hands and by such messengers the Truth was useless, the Sword of the Spii'it was sheathed, and the arrows of the Lord point- less. Therefore, Methodism msisted in eveiy place, that tliose who preach Salvation to others must be saved themselves. Knowing that when Christ commis- sioned His apostles to preach repentance and remission of sins, they were witnesses of these things. Methodism also insisted on a converted uiemhershi}) as well as ministry. None were acceptable to her membership unless they professed ** a desire to flee from the wrath to come;" they were to be "living epistles known and read of all men ;" seals to the ministry of the messengers of Salvation. For them were instituted the cluHs-nwethuja and love- feasts, after the apostolic example and primitive model. These formed a test by which then* spiritual state was ascertained, an evidence of their real piety, and a means by which the doctrine of the Apostles' Creed was not only believed but practised : ** I beUeve in the Communion of Saints" was the doctrine of the ancient church and of modern Methodism. Wherever two or three, ten or twelve, or more persons, full of the love of Christ, and the hope of heaven, come together, and speak of the things of Christ, these living coals soon kindle a radiant flame, and the place becomes a Dethel, a Tabor, a little heaven below, of which God THli CHURCH or A HUNURED YEAKS. 4U7 says, ** There am I iu the midst of them. " Even in Jewish times there was a difference between the " assembly of the upright" and the " great cougi-egation." In the days of the last of the prophets, those that thus met received the Divine approval — "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those that feared the Lord and thought upon His name," &c. Not only had the doctrines and agency of Methodism much to do with its success, its manner of worship had also much to attract, impress, and convince the people. When their services commenced, two held on Sabbath days were quite uncommon in the national and dis- senting chui'ches. But the success of Methodism has provoked many to adopt theh' usages in this respect. Sinijiny was scai'cely known in country chm'ches, and little used in town and city congregations, unless in cathedral choirs. Scarcely anything was sung but cold and hfeless translations of the Psalms, few of even the paraphrases being then composed at all, and not more than some two or three tunes went the circle of the churches and the practice of congregations. It was Methodism originated almost all the hymns of modern times, unless those of Watts and Doddrip .: whose writings were, in part, influenced by that grttU revival. The hymns of Nkwton, Cowper, and others, originated in that revival, as well as those of Wesley. The exulting joy and immortal hope of new- converts soon found expression in new and hvely notes of melody, introduced by the Wesleys, as all s/rt/t-v of j'edimj Cr^ 408 TWELVE Y£ABU IN AMEBICA. found utterance in tlieir incomparable liynuis, from the deepest penitence to the strongest faith, and most exultant joy. Such singing drew crowds to listen, who also became affected. The manner of preaching also was different. Perhaps in nothing was the difference greater than in preacliing. In the establishment, the glowing style of tlie reformers, and the doctrine of justification by faith had given place to cold and formal essays on morality, delivered by men whose hearts had never been changed, or their souls converted. In the dissenting churches the earnest style and fervent fire of Baxter, Bunyan, Howe and Allein were gone, and in their place a cold and icy formalism reigned, with a gospel offered to a few, called '* the dear elect." The rest were left as sheep without a shepherd — tst without a Saviour. How changed the scene anu ser- vices, when Wesley and his sons arose to preach, with hearts full of faith and love, and souls full of fire and zeal. Their simple, plain, and earnest manner took hold of the people, as their message of a free and full Salvation took hold of the hearts and conscienceij of sinners of all ages and all kinds. Their services were attractive, their congregations were crowded, their meetings were scenes of revival and showers of blessing ; their preaching was owned of God to the Salvation of vast multitudes, who became living epistles known and read of all men. The moral essay of the church estabUshment, the icy homily of the' dissenting meeting-house, gave way to the power of the gospel as preached by the Methodists. The rueful ilirgc of the old conventicle, and the chilling •rUE CHURCH OF A HUNDRED YEARS. AOO Bolo of the cathedral choir, gave place to the exultant songs and raptui'ous melody of joyful believers at a Methodist love-feast or revival ruccting. These scenes of holy services and earnest preaching soon became crowded, while the conventicle and cathedi'al were deserted. It is only as these services have been changed, and the Methodistic mode of preaching and manner of worship has been adopted by more earnest and godly men, that the congi-egations have been in- duced to return. While Methodism has greatly affected the Theology and manner of worship in the Old World, she has completely changed it in the Ne . Her sti/le of preach- ing and manner of worship has been adopted by nearly all, and her gospel of an immediate, free, and full Salvation has taken the place of the "horrible decrees" of Calvin. Three-fourths of the hymns and tunes used in American churches and Sabbath schools no a- have been composed by Methodist authors. Protracted meetings, camp services, the penitent form, anxious seat, or altar rails, for mourning and seeking souls, and revival services, so common now among almost all chiu'ches in America, are of Methodist usage and custom, so that these churches are Methodized in doctrine, spirit, and manner of worship. The church courts, or quarterly, annu J, and quad- rennial conferences, and the simple code, or book of discipUne, have had a powerful effect on the Methodist church, in keeping her ministry and members pure, and her numerous converts united. In every great cmergeiicy that affects the chm*ch, the nation, or the 410 TWELVK YKARW IN AJIERIOA. world, the whole connexion, however vast, are moved as one man. Her literary institutions are without a parallel in the history of chm-ches — in the number of her schools, colleges and universities, the talents of the teachers, and the multitudes of students, while her church hterature enters every state and territory, every town, hamlet, and city, and almost every family. These facts, however, are better seen in a glance at the .... STATISTICAL RESULTS, Some of which belong to the whole body of Americsin Methodists. In 1766, when Embury and Stra^vbridgk commenced preaching, they were alone : now they are followed by a ministry, local and itinerant, of 28;,6t50. The membership of the two or three that met in New York are now followed by a membership of more than two mUlioHH souls. In 1776, one hundred years ago, jive persons went up to hear Embury preach in his own hired house. Now about tcit millions of hearers ascend this hill of the Lord, and attend worship at the Methodist Zion every Lord's Day all over the country. This is almost douhle the present populatio)i of the Ireland Embury left one himdred years ago. The hired house in which he preached is followed by thousands of preaching places, and the church ho dedicated in 1708 is followed by 11,000 churches tuid 4,000 parsonages, worth about £7,000,000 sterling, in the Methodist Episcopal church alone. Tho yotes and Sermons Wksley donated in 1769 be- came the origin of the vast book concern which now RWHMaMramuui THK CliUIlCH OV A UU' "^RKD YEARS. Ill takes tlieir place with 4,500 books, a circulation of one million montlily of periodicals, and a capital of about 4*200,000. Kobert Williams, tlie first agent, is followed by 500 editors, clerks, agents, and operatives in the book room, and about 7,000 agents in the country among the people. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY ' Was originated in 1819. She has 1,059 missions, 1,128 missionaries, and 105,675 members and com- municants, with an annual income of .^200,000, • " SUNDAY SCHOOLS Were originated by Robert Raikes ; those of the pre- sent system in Europe and America by John Wesley. AsBURY introduced the Sabbath school to America. There are above 5,000,000 children attending these schools, of whom nearly 2,000,000 attend the Methodist Sabbath schools. "' ' ' COLLE'GES AND UNIVERSITIES, Theological and otherwise, are twenty-live in number, worth nearly i 1,000, 000 sterling, with 158 teachers and 5,315 students ; 77 academies, with 550 teachers anJ 17,761 students ; in all, at pvosent, about 1,000 teachers and 25,000 students. "'Vhat schools otlier branches of the Methodist body may have, we are at present unable to say. „ .. Compared with the following ieadinjg denominations in America, Methodism is — . - . „ One and a-half times as large as the Baptists. Tln'co times as larw as the Roman catholics. ' i a] !il il ■A12 XWfiLVK YEARS IN AMERICA. Four times as large as the Presbyterians. Eight times as large as the Congregationalists. Fifteen times as large as the Episcopalians. '•= As the wave of population rolled on, the Methodist itinerant went with it ; as the voice and tread of marching millions were heard ascending the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, and passing down the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast, there was ever and anon heard above that hum, the voice of the Methodist itinerant, saj^ing, '* This is the way, walk ye in it." And when the cloudy pillar rested, like another Moses, lifting up his hands, he blessed the migratory tribes in the Name of the Lord, saying, " The Lord bless thee and keep thee : the Lrrd make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Nur-'bers vi. 24— 26. Little childi'en sang again, Hosannas to the Son of David ; old men and matrons praised the Lord ; young men and maidens worshipped at His footstool ; millions enrolled themselves among the ** sacramental hosts of God's elect." The sl.oiit went up from the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, from the shores of the great lakes and the banks of the great rivers, from the sanctuaries in the thronged cities and the forest glades. It was as the sound of many waters, saying, "Alleluia, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." * See the last Census of the United States, and Schem's Amermtn JUcdeaiaatical Year Book, for 1860. ^1' • y^-fif -, f CHAPTER XXI. METHODIST CENTENAKY CELEBRATIONS. NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS CELEBRATIONS AMONG ALL NATIONS JEWISH FESTIVALS AND JUBILEES RIETHODIST CEN- - TENARY CELEBRATIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA CENTENARY MEE-LING AT BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS SPEECHES OF CARTWRIGHT, CREWS, VANCLEVE, HANEY, AND BISHOP SIMPSON CENTENARY MEETING AT COOPER ' INSTITUTE , NEW YORK THE ASSEMBLY : SINGING, SPEEC HES, CONTRIBUTIONS WILLIAM M'ARTHUR, ESQ. In all ages and among all nations, national and religious celebrationf* have taken place, oramemorative of im- portant and historic events. While Egyptinu, Assyrian, Chaldean, Greek, and Roman nations had theirs, none were more remarkable, or more numerous than tlie Jewish, which were of Divine origin and Divine ap- proval. Their fasts and festivals commemorated great events in the history of their nation and their church. Beside the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, there were the weekly and the yearly Sabbaths, the new moons and years of Jubilee. These were epochs in the flight of time, eras in the journey of life, monumental pillars, around which gathered mementos of the past, and from which were learned lessons of faith and hope in the Providence of God, and the future mission of ,: i 414 TWTILVE YEARS IN AMERICA. their church and nation. When the feet of the priests, who hore the Ark of God, touched the waves of Jordan, the waters divided, and the people passed over. God commanded, and Joshua sent twelve men — a man from each tribe — to lift twelve stones from the place where the priests stood in the midst of Jordan, and set them up as monumental pillars of the power of God, and memorial signs io their childi'en of the passing of the Jordan by their fathers. In 1839 the first centenary of Engli.^h Methodism was celebrated. At one of these meetings the writer was present, and though young in years, remembers distinctly the occasion. At the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church of America, at Philadelphia, in 1864, a centenary committee was formed to take measures and adopt a plan for the celebration of American Methodism in 1866. On their suggestion sermons were preached in every Methodist church on the first Sabbath Of 1866, and meetings were held and contributions raised at different times through the summer, while in September and October the principal celebrations took place, and the larger contributions were subscribed. Before the end of the year more than ten tlwmaml celebrations took place, in as many Methodist churches throughout the land, and about 5,000,000 dollars, or £1,000,000 sterling, was contributed toward the bene- volent institutions of the church. Of these, an outline sketch of tiio — one in Bloomin^ton, Illinois, and one in New York city, will, perhaps, suflficiently illustrate this chapter : METHODIST CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 415 CENTENARY MEETING AT BLOOHNGTON, ILLINOIS. At the close of the session of the Illinois conference, in Decatur, September, 1866, a resolution was passed, inviting the Southern Illinois, the Central Illinois, and Rock River conferences to unite with the Illinois con- ference at the city of Bloomington, in the autumn of 1866, to celebrate together the Centenary of American Methodism. To this resolution the other three con- ferences responded affirmatively, and through the mercy of God they were spared to meet in the above place, on the afternoon of September 24th. As the different trains arrived from North and South, hundreds of clergymen were seen wending their way to the East Charge Methodist Church, in the centre of the city, there to meet and receive the cordial welcome of the citizens, and the friendly greetings of their fellow- laborers in the ministry. Beside the citizens, hundreds of people from the country rount? were there with their children to witness the joyful jubilee. It was a scene never to be forgotten. These four conferences were originally one, imtil prosperity compelled them to divide. Old ministers, as they grasped each others hands, wept for joy, and young ministers and their wives praised the Lord. Hundreds of parents led their children up to see the men that led them to Christ. It was a scene of weeping. Tears stood in the eyes of unconverted men, who said, ** We never saw the like before." There were above seven hundred ministers in attendance most of whom were from all parts of the State, and some from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, some from the great lakes of the NortJi, and some from ]'■ ! ? 416 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. the Gulf of Mexico. Some of them were born in Eng- land, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the rest in different parts of America. A beautiful tjrpe this great assembly was of the great multitude before the throne. The Ven. Dr. Cartwright gave the address of welcome. Several centenary relics were presented and exhibited, among which was Asbury's Bible, on which was delivered an address by Dr. Peck, on the power that attended the ministry of the fathers. At night several of the city churches were filled with attentive hearers, listening to either love-feast ex- periences, or addresses from different ministers, while Phcenix Hall was crowded to hear Dr. Newman from New Orleans. Next morning, 25th, at eight o'clock, Boyce's Hall was literally crowded, in all its parts, by friends and ministers who came to take part in the exercises. Those of the preceding evening were introduct/ory, those of to-day were formal. Bishop Simpson, the son of an Irishman, presided ; Dr. Eddy led in a powerful prayer. Dr. Cartwright gave the opening address, in which he said he would not call them •" Men, brethren, and fathers,' but ' men and brethren,' as he had no fatliers there." He was the only member living of the first conference formed west of the Alleghany mountains. In 1824 he was transferred from Kentucky to Illinois. In the two States there were only twenty-five members, now there are eleven conferences, and above 160,000 members. His district covered two -thirds of the State, and part of the State of Indiana. He travelled from Cairo to Galena. There were venerable men and METHODIST CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 417 ministers, fathers and grandfathers, in this assembly, whom he baptized and received into the church, and many whom he had licensed to preach the word of God ; he was glad to meet them there, and he hoped they would have a better reunion in heaven. Rev. HooPEs Crews, of the Bock River conference, said he returned, on behalf of himself and the Rock River conference , thanks for this kind welcome . Twenty- seven years ago, in this city, they separated from the Illinois conference ; they then met in a log cabin, now they meet in this large hall. The Rock River conference represented there that day 200 ministers, 20,000 church members, 800 Sabbath schools, and above 25,000 children. They represented church property to the amount of 1,000,000 dollars (^200,000). They had a university with an endowment of 400,000 dollars, a Theological institute with an endowment of 800,000 dollars. He felt that to whom much was given, of them much should be required. The Rev. J.Vancleve, of the Southern Illinois confer- ence, said, that he was greatly honored in having the privilege to represent the third division of the Illinois conferences. He also repiesented that part of Illinois that gave the most beautifui flowers, the most luxuriant fruit — the grape, the peach, the strawberry — to the markets. They had 130 ministers and 21 ,000 members, while their Sunday schools and teachers were in the same proportion. Rev. Richard Haney, the son of an Irish local preacher, said, on behalf of tlie " Central Illinois con- ference," w)iich was the youngest of the four, you liave 418 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. heard from grandmother, mother, and aunt, you are now to hear from the granddaughter ; you know that the little ones generally come to the last table. The Central Illinois is a blushing damsel of only ten years. We have in our conference 165 preachers, 22,000 members, and 2,500 babes in the cradle-^ (laughter). He counted among their educational institutions, the Hedding and Onarga seminaries, and a share in the Illinois Wesley an university. At this part of the meeting Judge Scott was introduced, who adjourned his court in order to be present at the centenary. He said, although he was a Presbyterian, he had a heart large enough to embrace the whole body of Methodist preachers. He was glad to welcome them to that town. He remembered with pleasure the venerable fathers of the Illinois conference ; they planted the gospel of their Master and the civil- ization of the age in Illinois. He honored the Methodist church on accoimt of its vast numbers, religious influence, and great power in the land, and because of the strength it gave the Government in its late trials. The people of this great State were indebted to the Methodist ministry for what they did in making Illinois great. Dr. Newman, of the Mississippi conference, from New Orleans, said their conferenca was organized last Christmas ; then they had sixteen Ministers and 8,200 members, and a few thousand dollars' worth of property ; now wo have thiiiiy ministers and 7,000 members, * Members on probation. METHODIST CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 119 id its led 93,000 dollars' worth of church property. They had an orphan home for the children of freedmen, to which a French gentleman, finding it in operation, gave 10,000 dollars. Dr. Peck, of the California conference, greeted them from the Pacific coast ; he brought the cordial greetings of his bretluren, also, from Oregon and Washington territory, and of the new States and temtories of Idahoe, Navada, and Montana. i Bishop Clark and Dr. Eeid gave very impressive addresses; and several brethren of different conferences, including the Geiman, told, in brief words, their experiences. At the close of these addresses Bishop Simpson de- Hvered the closing remarks, extiacts of which arc here presented : BISHOP Simpson's address. ^ "I have come, brethren beloved, boti) in tl»o ministry and membership, who are present to-day. to the closing exercises of the Central Illinois conference with no or- dinary emotions. The design, I believe is, before the appointments shall be read out, that the conference shall assume its organization, and the appointments be read out in regular order. But prior to that, some remarks may be made to the whole of the conference, and first I desire to express my great gratification at meeting the ministers of the Illinois conferences in this their most delightful re-union. "Five years ago it was my privilege and made my duty under the circumstances of the year, to travel throughout the State of Illinois, and I believe that in the year 1801 I visited and preached in every presiding elder's dist.ict in the State, with, perhaps, two or three exceptions, called together the conferences in the 420 '*•''' TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. different districts, to confer together on the missionary interest of the church, as well as other interests. It was then a day of gloom : the war was upon us. A day of financial disaster : the whole banking system had given way. But I have this to say, I formed then an estimate of the firmness and devotion of the ministry and membership of the people of Illinois to the Methodist church of the very highest character. " The Garden of Eden had its river to water it, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads ; and so may you go out as four great branches of the sacramental host, to fertilize the land wherever you go. " It seems to me that there are circumstances gather- ing around us on this occasion which will tend to inspire us with a deeper love for Christ's cause, and a deeper conviction of the possibilities of success than we have ever had before. In the first place, look out upon these circumstances. •' Our fathers have been looking to this period for the last sixty years. Long had they doubts of the downfall of Mahomedanism and popery. I long to see the coming of millenium glory. It is said in the case of Egypt, that the coral insects of that continent had been work- ing at the mouths of harbors for, possibly, thousands of yeft-rs before their existence was suspected. So we see God's providence working in this world: He brought men from England, Ireland, and Scandinavia ; He brought them here to prepare the way. All the nations were being concentrated, and the great upheaval of the nations has taken place — Russia was upheaved, and serfdom was done away. Behold the continent of America ! "What an upheaval has been here ! During the past few years every chain has been broken and every manacle removed, and 4,000,000 of freed men rise up to a life of freedom. The spirit of freedom has been marching over the land. They caught the sound in Italy, and Garibaldi fought for a free, united Italy. Austria threw down the gaimtlet to Prussia and some of the other States, and the Western power is swept away, and for ever has lost a place among the German METHODIST CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 421 Lons Ithe lud of powers. The papal power has lost its great right arm. Whether the conflict shall close in 1806 I know not, but this I know, popery is gravitating to its fall, and soon will be buried beneath its ruins. The Mahomedan power shall also be overturned. It is a solemn day in which to live. God gives honor to man. He is shaking the nations and claiming them for His own. The whole earth is gazing on the movements of Divine Providence. ** Then, again, in our land, as has been remarked by other able speakers and by myself on other occasions, we are glad that this centenary year comes in such glorious connection with our own history. Had it come in 1868 or '64 there had been mourning in our land. God called Methodism and our country to ad- vance together. The jubilee of one is the jubilee of the other. While we rejoice that this flag floats over our land, we rejoice at the same time that Methodism comes up to celebrate her centenary year, and to say, *' What hath God wromjhtr The idea brings up the thought of the fathers. It seems to me that I can almost look upwards and discern the forms of some of those men, and they speak back the idea, and sing the song of glory. I am glad that I am here. Who will not renew his vow to be a more devoted and faithful Methodist preacher. There was an old custom among the Komans, that when a young man attained his majority, he was taken up to the temple of the gods, then to his home, and his friends gathered around him, and they took from him the garments of his youth and weakness, and they put on him the toga, the garb of manhood. Then he entered into a little room hung with the portraits of heroes — into the pre- sence of the greatest men of the nation — and the young man pledged himself to emulate their virtues, imitate t'leir examples, and be a man in society. What an impression was produced upon their minds, standing in the presence of the mighty dead. I think of the youiig men in this meeting. They have come up to this roimion. They are not few, und now just as we 422 TWELVE YKAUS I.N AMEUICA. are girding oiu'selves and putting on the armour and going out to the battle again, how do we stand ? '•Then again look at tlie representatives here. We have had voices from Sweden, the Pacific Coast, India ; and the fathers are here, the men that did theii' duty in their days, the men that confronted perils, that dared to do battle for Immanuel ; and now, in the presence of these heroes, this strong man leading in the van of the battle, I say to these young men, gird yourselves. Have the spirit and daring, and perse- verance of these fathers, and go out determined to do or to die. "I honor these men. But it seems to me there hovers over this place a crowd of witnesses — names we love to honor — sainted names — the glorious horizon above us is full of the sons of light, patriarchs, apostles — the hosts of the men and women of God gather around ; and above all, the eye of the great Head of the Church is upon us. Oh, for the holy anointing! Oh bai^tize us as ministers, and may our commissions be renewed to preach the gospel of the Sou of God. None of us shall ever see another centenary like this. But our spuits, ransomed and rap- tiu-ed, may be commissioned to come down and join our brethren in the next century. If Wesley anu Fletcher and AsBURY and Jesse Lee, who have entered into the tlie heavenly Jerusalem through sufferings and labors, are permitted to come and witness our joys this moming, we may come again to gaze on the triumphs of Methodism." centenary meeting at the cooper institute, new YORK. As the centenary meeting in Bloomington, Illinois, was the largest in the West, the meeting at the Cooper institute, New York, was the largest in the East. Both were held on the same day. The centenary con- tributions for Illinois reached about £1^0,000. Those of the Cooper institute, New York, reached £142,750, METHODIST CKSTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 128 of which Mr. Drew gave deiOO,000. The institute was so crowded that many had to retuni. The singing by three thousand voices was some of the finest ever heard on earth. The speecijes were eloquent, and the sub- scription, perhaps, the largest ever lifted at any meeting before. The eloquent voice of the devoted Wallace was not there to plead for Irish Methodism. His spirit went up to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn 'n Paradise ; but his place was ably supplied by the presence of William M* Arthur, Esq., of London, himself the son of an Irish Wesleyan minister. 1 ITU. )is, Ion- lose 150, SPEECH OF WILLLUI M'ARTHUR, ESQ. •* William M' Arthur, Esq., of London, was the next speaker. He thanked tLu assembly for its warm re- ception. He resided in London, but for many years had been connected with Irish Methodism, and felt a deep interest in its prosperity. When requested by the conference to accompany its deputation, he consented. He referred in very affecting terms to the heavy blow they had sustained by the death of the Rev. Robert Wallace, who had been taken away suddenly by cholera but an hour before he was to have preached to the people of Cincinnati. Mr. Wallace was one of his most intimate friends. He was no ordinary man. His deep piety, gentle and loveable disposition, sound judgment, enlarged views, admirable powers of debate, and commanding abihty, placed him in the very fore- most rank among his brethren. His last sermon was preached in this city. His last words were, ' I can leave all my concerns in the hands of Jesus.' *' He taught us how to live, and, O ! too high A price for knowledge, taught us how to die. ^ ** Mr. M'Abtbur then read an extract from a letter 421 TWELVK YEAUa IN AMERICA. liG had received from the Rev. William Abthuh, pre- sident of the British conference, sending his love to the brethren in America, which was received with applause. He rejoiced that he had come here when the cause of truth and righteousness had been triumphant — w^hen slavery no more had an asylum in the Methodist ohm'ch. He testified to the faithfulness of Rev. Dr. M'Clintock, as an American, a Methodist, a lover of liberty, and a hater of slavery, on the other side of the Atlantic. He had come, however, to represent Methodism in Ireland. He rejoiced that tliis had been placed as one of the objects of the centenary fund. In Ireland there was a population of 6,000,000, of which 4,500,000 are Roman-catholics, and 1,500,000 Protestants. The Pres- byterians are mostly in the North; the Wesleyans are all over the country. The atatm of the churches in Ireland was then stated. Methodism in Ii-eland had suffered much by emigration to this country. From seven to eight hundred of their best members had left them yearly, and this represented at least 4,000 of their congregations. The greater part had come to the United States, and had contributed to the strength and prosperity of the Methodist Episcopal church. Therp were now found more Irish Methodists in New York than in the city of Dublin, and throughout the Union they largely out-numbered the parent church. • At least 300 of their ministers had been the fruit of Irish Methodism. *' Mr. M* Arthur then refeiTed to the difficulties which this state of things had produced. With diminished numbers they were obliged to keep up the same minis- terial staff, as they could not leave their scattered flock as sheep without a shepherd. It had been suggested that they ought to give up the rural districts, and confine their labors to large towns exclusively ; this they could not, they dare not do. Some of their most distinguished men, and Lhe greatest ornaments to the body, had been raised up in remote parts of the country. A district near which he had resided, wild and unpromising, had given Dr. Elliott to the United States, and Dr. Iikiiey "> i METHODIST CENTENAilV CELEBRATIOXa. 425 and lere York nion At !risli :ted nfine could ished been strict had CIIEY to Canada, Adam Olarkje was tlie fruit of such labors. WiLULAM ArthtjBj tlic presGiit President of the British conference, was led to a Itnowledge of the truth by hearing the gospel preached in a small farmhouse in the extreme west of Ireland. *' Thojr had been making great efforts. When almost at the lowest ebb, one-third of their number ha\ang emifn'ated in a few years., thev held a meetintj in Belfast, and raised ,418,000 for what was termed "• A Fund for the Increase of Methodist Agency in Ireland." The Ilev. William Arthur and Dr. Scott visited this country and obtained about i'7,000 more. This enabled them to increase their aggressive xjower in various ways, and str<^ngthened ail their institutions. *' Wliat they needed now was a college where their youth could be t::ained, and which also would serve as an institution for their rising ministry. To accomplish tliis they raised in Ireland last year nearly one hundred thousand dollars. That amount, however, would be required for the building alone. An additional one hundred thousand dollars was wanted for an endowment, without which, instead of proving an element of strength, it would only add to their difficulties. " They had come over to join in their centenary celebration, to convey the fraternal greetings of their bretlu-en in Ireland, and to ask their sympatliy and nid on behalf of the work they have undertaken. They felt they had some claim, for the reasons lie had stated. Great Britain and Ireland and tlie United States were united to each other by ties wliich should not, which would not be broken. They were of the same Anglo-Saxon race, and boasted a common and a noble ancestry. Their literatm-e was the same. IJilton, Locke, Newton, Bacon, Shakspeare, Howe, Wesley, Watson, Clarke, were household names in England ; they were equally so in America. Their glorious language was the same ; they had the same Bible — the foundation of their faith, the palladium of their liberty, the source of all tlieir prosperity and greatness. England and America, the two great Protestant powers of the earth, led the van in i^ 426 TWELVK YEARS IN AMERICA. the cause of humanity, civilization, and religion. Then* respective flags floated on every breeze, and the sails of their merchant ships whitened every sea. If to England was given the gold of Australia, to America was given that of California. Let each, then, fulfil the high and holy mission assigned to it ; emulate each other in spreadmg the glorious Gospel of the blessed God ; one proceeding eastward and the other westward, until, encompassing the world, they would meet to celebrate the triumi)hs of the cross, and rejoice in the advent of that day, ; " When He shall come, And, added to His many crowns, Take yet this crown — the crown of the whole earth, He who alone is worthy !" i.a- m- CHAPTER XXII. THE CANADA CONFEDERATION. CESSION OF RUSSIAN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES —THE CANADA CONFEDERATION — TRAVEL THROUGH IT TORONTO — MONTREAL CENTENARY MEETING — QUEBEC — THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION THE NORTH SEA VOYAGE BY THE STRAITS OF BELLEISLE AND THE COASTS OF LABRADOR AND NEW- FOUNDLAND RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF FIRST AND SECOND SABBATHS ON BOARD — LANDING AT DERRY — CALL AT MONAGHAN — SAFE ARRIVAL AT LUC AN. At the close of 1866, the centenary year of American Methodism, the two nations on each side of the lakes and St. Lawi'ence were undergoing some changes : the one in its territorial extent, the othei in its political relations. The cordial puhlic reception accorded to the United States' naval officers at Petersburgh by the Russian government was but the prelude to the sale and cession of the whole of Russian America, with the adjacent isles to the United States' government for the sum of £10,000,000 sterling. The territory ceded is about 500,000 square miles, and increases that of the Ux^:t*^d States to about 8,825,000 square miles. The most of the territory thus ceded is wild and inhospitable, cold and mostly unproductive, but contains large coal- jtields and valuable fisheries. Altliougli it may never J 428 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. be suited for agricultural purposes, it may be valuable for mineral productions. The Canadians appear not to regard this accession to the United States with either fear or favor, con sideling that it will not afifect their destiny one way or the other. While the officers of the United States were receiving ovations in Eussia, deputations were sent from British North America to England to facilitate the union of all British North America into one con- federation, and to obtain means to build a Pacific railroad from Halifax on the east to British Columbia on the west. The deputations have returned with the promise of £4,000,000 sterling, to build the Pacific railroad, and to carry into execution the union of all the British provinces imder one confederation. The providential hand of God directs the destinies of nations, and controls their as He does the planets in their orbits. He can turn adverse circumstances into the most prosperous, and afiUctive dispensations into the most beneficial, and thus ''make all things work together for good to them that love Him." The late Fenian raid has been a benefit to Canadti.. It has roused her martial spirit and national feeUng, developed her latent patriotism, and converged her scatierod policy to a central plan — her separated in- terests to a national unity. British North America covers an area of nearly 4,000,000 square miles : is still larger than the United States, and as large as the whole of Em*ope. The bay of Fundy, the St. Croix and St. Lawi-ence rivers, the great lakes, and the 40" parallel of latitude form her THE CANADA CONFEDERATION. 429 southern boundai7, while the Arctic regions and the North Pole form her northern limits ; the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans form her eastern and western coasts. This vast country has some seven or eight provinces : I. Canada, £ast and West • -^ II. Nova Scotia - III. New Brunswick IV. Prince Edward's Island - • 'V. Newfoundland - VI. New Britain, VII. British Columbia, and Van- couvers' Island Total I Population. 8,080,056 368,781 295,084 91,443 180,000 23,756 4,000,000 The above figures are approximate — and given ac- cording to the latest returns, by one who claims to know the facts and figures in connexion with govern- ment returns. More than half of the population are Protestant ; the largest denomination are the Boman- catholis, the next largest are the Methodists, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians come next. The Canadian Almanac for 1867 give the Canadian clergy thus : Atethodist Clergy in Canada 1,008 Bcman-catholic ,, 906 EpiscopaHan ,, . 420 Presbyterian ,, 416 Baptist ,, - , . 230 All others . 219 430 TWELVE YEABS IN AMERICA. The whole of British North America is to be called by the name of the *' Canada Confederation."' Four of the provinces have already entered it, including Canada and British Columbia, with the liberty of the remaining provinces to enter, and share the responsi- bility and the benefits. There is to be a viceroy or governor-general to represent British sovereignty, a central parliament like that of England, and local legislatures like those of the United States. £4,000,000 are promised to assist in the building of the Pacific railroad, making the Grand Trunk already 1,500 miles long, its central chain, running it east to Halifax, and west to Columbia on the Pacific. Newfoimdland is unrivalled for her fisheries ; Novia Scotia for her coal- fields; New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island for their forests ; New Britain for her firs ; Canada for her wheat and timber; Vancouver's Island for its pastures, and ColumbiV. for its gold. At the com- mencement of the present century the population was 882,000 ; at present time 4,000,000. In another century it may be ten times that. The time may not be far distant when passengers landing from the ocean steamer at Halifax may enter the train in waiting at the station there, then hastening through the deep forests of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, pass by the shores of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, tlirough the extensive plains of New Britain, to the golden slopes of British Columbia on the Pacific coast. Along this future line of travel towns shall rise and cities be built, and settlements shall be extended, until the vast plains of the Hudson THE CANADA CONFEDERATION. 481 tenitory send down their immense resources toward this liighway of the desert, then shall the wilderness become as Eden, and the desert as the garden of the Lord. At the end of the session of the Illinois conference in Bloomington, September 24th, 1866, the writer closed his twelve years' labor in America. In the centenary meeting of the next day I met about sixty persons who had been brought to the Lord through my instrumentality during those twelve years. These I recognized with gratitude to God, as seals to my mi- nistry which the Lord hath given me, with hundreds of souls in other places, who were not there. Finding it necessary to retire for a few months from the charge of a church, I obtained from Bishop Ames and my conference a year's release from regular pastoral labor. I prepared to revisit my native land, taking Canada by the way. Many were the prayers we received and kind wishes from my brethren in the ministry, and dear friends, for our safe arrival and return. Our com- pany consisted of myself, my wife, little son, and my mother, who was going to spend the winter in Canada with her sons. Dr. Munsell, president of Illinois Wesleyan university, accompanied us to Chicago. About 12 o'clock on Wednesday night, October 8rd, we left Blocmington, reached Chicago in the morning, spent the greater part of a beautiful day there. Started in the evening train on the Michigan central, and reached Detroit junction early next morning. About 9 A.M. we crossed over from Port Huron to Sarnia. The morning was remarkably fine, the river looked beautiful, and the scenery was delightful. After taking 482 TWELVE YEARS IN AMERICA. a little refreshment we were seated, and going in the carriages of the Grand Trunk raih'oad, which differ but little from those in the States, either in appearance or management. As we skirted the shores of the river and lakes on our right, we passed by vast forests of stately trees on our left. On many, the leaves were sere, on others they were green as in summer. Thou- sands of young cedar and pine trees adorn the hills and sides of the railroad. Nothing can exceed the beautiful tints the frosts give the maple leaves in autumn. The ladies of Toronto and Montreal gather the falling leaves, select the most beautiful, arrange them in wreaths of different colors, and cover them with gum, which thus preserves them for years, in all the variety of the colors when gathered. Along the road the farms looked well cultivated, but small; the grass green, and the streams and rocks numerous. In the towns there seemed very little stir or life. The houses looked more comfortable than neat, being built of substantial stone, and solid workmanship. >i ., TORONTO. In the afternoon the broad expanse of Lake Ontario spread out on the right, and Toronto appeared to the left. Soon we were met by a brother, at the depOt, and conducted to his home to rest for a few days. On Sunday I attended, with brother and family, two of the Methodist churches ; heard the Rev. Mr. Young in the morning, and the Rev. Mr. Potts in the evening ; both preached excellent sermons. The congregations were large, the singing was the best congregational singing we heard THE OANAPA CONFEDERATION. 183 for years. Almost the whole congregation lifteil up their voices and sang. The orchestra and organ were in every instance in the rere of the pulpit, and a little above it. The singing threw such life and interest into the worship, as made us feel the whole service was of that cheerful, happy kind, that characterized the early days of Methodism. If Montreal is a city of churches, Toronto is a ohurch-going city. Scarcely could we pass the streets through the crowds that were going to and from the various chui'ohes, both morning and evening. Through the week I visited, with a collegian, a friend of mine, the provincial university and the normal schools. The university is located about two miles from Toronto, in the midst of a beautiful park of about 100 acres, studded with native and foreign trees. The buildings are a massive pile of brick and limestone. Here some of the members of the Canada conference gi*aduated. The faculty were returning from their sunamer vacations, and the students were gathering from their various homes to attend the fall lectures, and winter sessions. On our way from the university we called at the *' Knox Theological seminary," under Presbyterian supervision, for the training of candidates for their ministry. The building was so gloomy, and the rooms so dark, that it looked like an institution of the past dispensation. Formerly the students in the seminary had to be graduates of some university before they could enter this. Now they pass through the Toronto university, and the seminary at the same time, and graduate in both places in four years, instead of screti. P D 484 TWEL^-E YEARS IN AMERICA. About the time the Presbyterians changed theur plans for a better system, some of our teachers were for taking it lip and applying it to our Biblical institutes. How beautiful our Theological students would look in the cast-off garments of some dilapidated system, that other churches have had sense to discard ! The normal schools are located in the city, in the midst of beautiful gardens and fragrant flowers, which the children do not disturb. No normal schools on the American continent bear a higher character than these. The citizens have shown a deep interest in them, by providing beautiful halls of statuary and painting, and valuable donations of fossil remains and antiquities. Beside an extensive apparatus for the illustration of the various branches of science, valuable museums of natural history are connected with the schools and the university. On Tuesday evening we left Toronto, and reached Montreal next day at noon, by the Grand Trunk railroad. The carriages on this part of the road were destitute of many of the comforts with which those in the States are favored. Montreal has increased in population and improved in appearance since last we were in it. Narrow streets are being made wider, old houses new, and new ones built of beautiful and massive material. Princely resi- dences and beautiful terraces adorn the sides of the mountain, from whose sunny slopes and garden bowers the dwellers look down on the thronged city, and the flowing river with its numerous shipping. One of the above residences is owned by a wealthy Methodist, and THE CANADA CONFKDKRATIOX. 485 is worth £12,000. He is also oue of the most liberal and beuevolent men, The Methodists have built some five or i-'.x churches siiice I was here three years ago, bome of which are of costly style and architecture. The Presbyterians have also added some two or three fine chm'ches to their number. On Wednesday evening I attended i)reaching at Dorchester-street Methodist church, and* heard an ex- cellent sermon. On the following morning I preached in Griffenstown church to a large congregation. In the afternoon I addi-essed a congi*egation on board the Queen of the Clyde, at Captain Button's request, who had charge of the meeting, and followed in an earnest address on personal religion. The Lord was with us in both services. At night I heard an excellent cen- tenary sermon from Mr. Douglass, who analysed the doctrines and agency of Methodism in a masterly manner. On Monday evening, the 15th October, the ceiitenary meeting was held in the Wesleyan church. Great St. James' street. James A. Mathewson, Esq., presided, an Irishman of noble and liberal principles, of large and benevolent heart. On the platform were Rev. Messrs. Elliot, Douglass, Briggs, Johnson, Boreland, Dr. Nelles, Captain Dutton, Mr. Mc Arthur and the writer. Captain Dutton spoke on the power of Methodism saving men, as he saw it at home, and on the foreign missions abroad. Dr. Nelles spoke on the importance of an educated ministry, and Mr. McArthur presented the claims of Irish Methodism in a forcible and eloquent manner. There were several of the descendants of PuiLip Embury at the Meeting. lao TWELVE YEARS IN AMEIUCA. The Canada conference resolved to give 6,000 dollars to the Irish mission out of their centenary collections. On Wednesday evening I preached to a good congre- gation in the centre church. We had a good meeting. QUEBEC CITY. On Friday evening we bade adieu to Montreal and our friends there, and stepped on board the steamer (^>nehec to catch the steamer Hibernian next morning at Quebec. The steamer Qnehec is a stately river palace of three decks, and superb and gorgeous rooms, bei'ths, and saloons. It is one of the finest on the American waters. The night was beautifully fine ; the St. Lawi'ence smooth as a sea of glass ; the moon shone on the broad expanse of the river and surrounding shores, clothing every object in its own beautiful light. At the dawn of next morning, October 20th, we were roused by a brother's voice urging us to rise and get a sight of the r-itadel and fortifications, while the steamer was passing into the Quebec harbor. Truly we could say that Quebec was a city built on a hill ; yet high above the city rose the citadel with its frowning fortifications over- hanging the magnificent river, while away in the distance stretched the plains of Abraham. There was seen where Montcalm fell ; yonder where Wolfe died ; and here, right above the Hibernian, on which we stood, was seen the spot where Montgomery fell in his attempt to take Quebec. A large bronze plate marks the spot. How soldiers could have climbed up the steep ascent I could not tell, much less to take the fortifications. Whoever has the Quebec fortifications THE CANADA CONFEUKRATIOX. 137 liokls the priiicipul key of the American continent, and the gates of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence. Popes gave almost the whole contment to France, Spain and Portugal, on condition of keeping out all heretics ; but the heretics have got in, and own the best portion of the New World ; while the successor of St. Peter has lost his own in the Old World. The pro- vidence of God and British cannon have defeated the bulls of the popes. The city of Quebec is the militaiy capital of Canada, as Moittrt'al and OtUtna are the commercinl and political capitals. It stands on the north bank of the St. Lawrence river, on a lofty promontory and angle, between the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles rivers. It consists of an upper and lower oown. The upper town consists tf shops, offices, and residences of the gentry, the for- tifications and the citadel which crowns Cape Diamond, 860 feet above the St. Lawrence. The lower town stretches along the wharves for two or three miles, between the river and the cliffs, and is a busy scene of commerce, where the principal trade is done. The city contains a poi)ulation of 56,000. On the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence is Point Levi, a flourishing and picturesque town, with numerous houses and stately buildings. Between Quebec and Point Levi ferry-boats and steamers are constantly plying. As the morning was exceedingly fine we spent several hours in walking round the fortifications, and through the city up and down its naiTOW streets which look like those of Edinbiu'gh. In the distance stretched the burned district, while here and there among its 4a8 TWELVK YEABS IN AMERICA. blackened ruins rose some isolated walls, or a few buildings, monuments of the desolation that swept around them. About fom' o'clock on the preceding Sunday morning, as the di'unken gamblers were con- tinuing theii- orgies of debauchery and thi-unkenness far through the night, a fire was seen to burst from the house of Trudel, near the C artier Market Hall, where they were. As the door was opened by the police to quench the fire, the flames rushed out and swept over streets, squares and blocks, consuming almost every thing in its way. In a few hours desolation swept over a large poriion of the city suburbs. 3,000,000 doUars' worth of property were destroyed, and 18,000 people were left without houses to cover them 'in tue m" inclement season of the year. About twenty persons loot their lives, and all this the result of drunkenness ! The loss fell on those least able to bear it. The Methodists of Quebec possess a very fine lookiiig churc)i in a conspicuous pai-t of the city, and the mem- bership &rl congregation are represented as prosperous. Still, one Methodist church, however large, is but small for so large a city as Quebec. NOKTH SEA VOYAGE. About two in the afternoon we bade farewell to our friends, and with solemn feeling and tearful eyes set our faces eastward. Our little son of four years waved his hand to his uncle standing on the deck of a distant steamer, and then the child burst into tears. Nothing could exceed the fineness of that autumn cuiv. The afternoon sun shone on the falls of Montmorency as they fell in a sheet of foam on our left into the St. Lawrence. I i THE CANADA CONFEDERATION. 439 i ^iH| On either shore stretched continiions villages, and from their nidst the spires of churches rose pointing heavenward. The Steamer Hibernian (of the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company) is a large iron vessel of 2,000 tons. Her commander. Captain Dutton, is also Lieu- tenant in the British navy, and a local preacher in the Wesleyan church, Eii'iland. We had not many pas- sengers on board. A few Enghsh officers and their wives, and a few English, Scotch and Canadian passengers formed our cabin company, with whom we had pleasant intercourse. On Sunday morning, 21st, the Captain read prayers, and I preached in the cabin. :it night I preached to the sailors in the forecastle, and the Captain to the passengers in the cabin. All the meetings were seasons of good to us all. Thp Captain'? sermon at night waf an excellent one. On Taesday wc lay at the entrance of the Straits of Belh-inle in fog, afraid to move. Wednesday the fog lifted, and we steamed on, leaving the Cf