MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 
 
 HEMAN HUMPHREY. 
 SOPHIA PORTER HUMPHREY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1869.
 
 LIPPINCOTT'S PRESS, PHILADELPHIA.
 
 HEMAN HUMPHREY.
 
 TO THE GRANDCHILDREN OF HEMAN AND 
 SOPHIA PORTER HUMPHREY. 
 
 \~\ 7" HEN, in 1861, your grandfather died, his 
 sons projected an extended Memoir of his 
 life and times. The execution of the project was 
 delayed by the ill-health of two of those by whom 
 the work was assumed. Then came the civil war, 
 which so completely absorbed the public attention 
 that we felt constrained to wait until a more tranquil 
 period for a hearing : our story was too quiet for 
 stormy times. Then death deprived us of the most 
 graceful pen upon which we had relied. Then the 
 whole work was committed to the son-in-law whose 
 initials are here appended. He had scarcely gath- 
 ered his materials when the grandmother followed 
 her husband into the other world. Then the Me- 
 
 1* 5
 
 6 To the Grandchildren. 
 
 moir was laid aside for the present Memorial, 
 which, though it be but an imperfect outline of 
 two precious lives, is, at least, better than a mere 
 monumental inscription. Its familiar cast will, we 
 hope, make it more acceptable to you than any 
 statelier delineation could be. Should no elaborate 
 memoir of either grandparent ever be printed, this 
 will remind you of ancestral virtues, and teach you 
 of that which makes one's life a priceless legacy. 
 
 Z. M. H. 
 
 H. N.
 
 HEMAN HUMPHREY. 
 
 I. 
 
 A PERFECT biography can never be written : 
 L*- an outline of a human life can be drawn, but 
 it will be scarcely better than one of the first rude 
 sketches of a master in art distinct, but wanting 
 in that detail which is essential to the finished 
 picture. A perfect portrait, indeed, is impossible, 
 though the artist should exhaust the resources of 
 form and color. The painter works to an ideal ; 
 and when he has succeeded in the expression of 
 that ideal, he has left unexpressed very much which 
 characterizes his subject. The biographer has this 
 advantage : that he may present a series of sketches, 
 a gallery of portraits, representing his subject in 
 varying moods and under varying conditions ; but 
 he can never reproduce the innumerable touches 
 of detail which are essential to the perfection of 
 each of his sketches. 
 
 The Memorial herein presented, does not profess
 
 8 H eman Humphrey. 
 
 to be even a biography. It is roughly and imper- 
 fectly drawn, rather as a suggestion than as a com- 
 pleted work. It is a memorial to those for whom 
 it is prepared, because reminding them of a life 
 with which they were familiar. They will readily 
 supply, from their own memories, many of the de- 
 tails which are omitted. Thus the life may stand 
 out to them in much of its rounded beauty, how- 
 ever imperfect may be the memorial in itself con- 
 sidered. 
 
 We are fortunate in having the materials of our 
 present work abundantly provided in posthumous 
 papers, among the most important of which are 
 somewhat voluminous autobiographical sketches, 
 whose fresh tints will be continually employed. 
 These sketches were written by their author in 
 leisure hours, near the close of his life, at the re- 
 quest of his children. They were composed in no 
 ambitious mood, but in that of a man sitting down 
 in the evening of his days to talk with his family 
 of the incidents of his career. This will appear in 
 the style which clothes the quotations we shall make 
 from them. They are to us the more charming on 
 account of their homely simplicity. Indeed, \ve 
 would be glad to retain the familiar quality of the 
 fireside talk in all these pages, for they are intended 
 only for partial eyes. Should they be read by any
 
 A Representative Life. 9 
 
 to whom their subject was unknown, this intention 
 will not be forgotten. Read in the spirit in which 
 it was prepared, this memorial may perhaps give 
 any one some vivid impressions of a life whose per- 
 fect record is in heaven only ; the whole of whose 
 earthly influences can no more be traced by us, than 
 can those of a stream, which runs into the countless 
 leaves and fruits it nourishes along its course, as 
 well as into the broad sea in which it loses itself at 
 last. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE life of HEMAN HUMPHREY may be consid- 
 ered as a representative life. It covered a 
 period of transition. It began when society in 
 New England bore the type of Puritan culture. 
 It ended when that type had almost disappeared in 
 the American culture of to-day. It began when a 
 clergyman's parish was a township when, .in many 
 villages, all were taxed for the support of the Gos- 
 pel, irrespective of creed. The "meeting-house" 
 of the day was a central rallying-spot and the focus 
 of influence. The "minister" had all interests 
 religious, social, educational, and even political 
 very much under his control. He was regarded 
 by all with a respect and reverence at present 
 rarely accorded to his successors. In that day the
 
 io Hcnian Humphrey. 
 
 " ti thing-man " was an important functionary in the 
 house of God. With a long staff in hand, he busied 
 himself during the hours of worship in controlling 
 the too-wakeful children in the gallery, and in 
 arousing the too-drowsy adults in the pews "be- 
 low." An hour-glass often stood upon the pulpit, 
 and was solemnly turned by the preacher as he be- 
 gan his sermon. It was frequently .turned again 
 before he had ended. The square pews of the 
 " meeting-house" were uncarpeted and uncushioned. 
 The seats were hinged, so that when the audience 
 rose for prayer, the wooden leaves could be raised 
 and thrown back against the high parapets of the 
 pews. No heating apparatus except the " foot- 
 stove" was allowed in the sanctuary. A modern 
 furnace would then have been considered no less a 
 heresy than an organ in the place of public wor- 
 ship. A shelter from wind and storm, was luxury 
 enough for those whose ancestors first offered their 
 public devotions under the pine trees of Plymouth 
 in the winter season. 
 
 The dwellings of those days were generally plain, 
 if not absolutely rude. The more substantial farm- 
 houses were framed with solid timbers. An idea 
 of the prevailing style of domestic architecture may 
 still be gained by the traveler in New England, from 
 some weatherbeaten structure, covered by a " gam-
 
 Birth and Ancestry. n 
 
 brel" roof, sloping backward at the rear almost to the 
 ground. The sides, as well as the roofs of these 
 old houses, were often protected by shingles, thus 
 reminding one of Norman soldiers encased in scale- 
 plated armor. The kitchen, with its wide fireplace, 
 was the favorite resort of the family. The " keep- 
 ing-room" was used in the later hours of the day. 
 The parlor was opened only upon " state occasions." 
 The loom occupied some convenient corner, and 
 the spinning-wheel was always ready to be set in 
 the firelight of winter, or in the shades of summer. 
 Many glimpses of prevailing habits and ideas will 
 be gained by those who glance through the follow- 
 ing pages. So also, the gradual change which 
 those habits and ideas underwent in the progress of 
 a long life, will be observed. 
 
 III. 
 
 TTEMAN HUMPHREY was born in West 
 *- -- Simsbury, now Canton, Hartford county, 
 Connecticut, March 26, 1779. His father's name 
 was SOLOMON HUMPHREY, descended in direct line 
 from MICHAEL HUMPHREY, who came to this 
 country from England some time previous to 1643, 
 and among whose numerous relatives and descend- 
 ants are found many of distinguished name ; such as
 
 12 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Thomas Dudley, Governor of the Massachusetts 
 Colony for seventeen years, and William Leete, 
 Governor and Deputy Governor for many years of 
 the New Haven Colony. " Piety and integrity are 
 general characteristics of those in this line of de- 
 scent, whose names have never become famous." 
 In 1647, Michael Humphrey, having then become a 
 resident of Windsor, Connecticut, married PRIS- 
 CILLA GRANT, daughter of a merchant of Windsor. 
 Of seven children, born of this marriage, SAMUEL 
 was the third: born, 1656. He married Mary, 
 daughter of Samuel Mills, and died in 1736, aged 
 eighty years. His third son, JONATHAN, married 
 MARY, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, of 
 Suffield. From this marriage descended SOLOMON, 
 third son, who settled in West Simsbury, and there 
 married NAOMI, daughter of Brewster Higley. The 
 third son of Solomon Humphrey bore his own 
 name. He was born in 1747, and married a second 
 wife, HANNAH, daughter of Capt. John Brown, of 
 West Simsbury. The first issue of this marriage 
 was HEMAN, the subject of this memorial. 
 
 When the historic Mayflower cast anchor in 
 Plymouth harbor, December, 1620, on the list of 
 her passengers stood the name of PETER BROWN. 
 To this member of that famous band of emigrants 
 was born a son, to whom he gave his own name.
 
 77/5 L in cage . 1 3 
 
 This son is believed to have left Plymouth with a 
 colony of settlers who removed to what became 
 the Windsor alluded to above. A tombstone still 
 standing in the town of Old Windsor bears the 
 name of Peter Brown, and a date (1692) which 
 corresponds with our theory. A tradition cherished 
 in the family lends corroborative evidence. From 
 the last-named PETER BROWN, was descended the 
 mother of Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Her father, Capt. John Brown, died in the ser- 
 vice of his country during the war of the Revolution, 
 having hastened with his company of volunteers to 
 the defence of New York. He expired in camp 
 on Haarlem Heights, June, 1776, aged forty-eight 
 years. 
 
 Hannah was the eldest of his children, and at his 
 death was eighteen years of age. The widow was 
 left in stinted circumstances, on a rough farm, with 
 eleven children. She was, however, a woman of 
 remarkable strength of character, and exhibited an 
 uncommon degree of energy, fortitude and discre- 
 tion in conducting her farm and in rearing her 
 children during the trying period of the war. 
 
 Solomon Humphrey, the husband of Hannah, is 
 described as a man of " good common-school edu- 
 cation ; of a more than ordinary taste for reading ; 
 of good sense and unblemished moral character, 
 2
 
 14 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 temperate, industrious and frugal." He resided in 
 West Simsbury until 1755, at which time he re- 
 moved to Bristol ; thence in 1813 to Barkhamstead, 
 where he died in 1834. His occupation was that 
 of a farmer. He had a numerous family of chil- 
 dren fourteen in all. Three of them died in early 
 childhood. Eleven of them lived to adult age, 
 several still surviving. Their names are HORACE 
 and SOLOMON, born of his first wife; HEMAN, 
 LUCY, LUTHER, CLARINDA, CANDACE, NAOMI, 
 HANNAH, ELECTA and HARRIET. 
 
 The mother of this large family was a woman 
 of uncommon mental capacity, and eagerly read 
 such books as could be obtained. The number of 
 these, however, was very small. " For years we 
 had not half a dozen on the shelf, except the Bible, 
 the Assembly's Catechism and the spelling-book." 
 She did what she could for the education of her 
 children, and did not fail to instruct them in that 
 standard compend of doctrine the Catechism each 
 Sunday, " after meeting." 
 
 IV. 
 
 r I "'HE first seminary into which Heman was intro- 
 -* duced was a barn. It was, however, in sum- 
 mer days. The flail stood in the corner, and the
 
 Early Education. 15 
 
 swallows made nests for themselves among the 
 rafters. The little scholar was perched upon a high 
 bench, and learned the alphabet and some of Dr. 
 Watts' Hymns for Infant Minds. "I have a dim 
 recollection of acting in an infant dialogue prepared 
 for the entertainment of visitors." 
 
 He was about six years of age when his father 
 removed to Bristol. There the opportunities afforded 
 for instruction were slender. For three years the 
 mother taught the little ones as she had time, her 
 manuals being Dilworth's Spelling-Book and the 
 Bible. The story of David and Goliath was one of 
 the first of her Scripture lessons. Then followed 
 the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, which young 
 Heman committed to memory. 
 
 "When I was nine or ten years old, we had a 
 winter school (as it was called), kept by a neighbor, 
 for a few weeks, in his own house. He was a 
 small farmer, of no education, and of the very 
 flattest Yankee pronunciation. His shaggy eye- 
 brows, his frown, his heavy stamp, which made the 
 rickety floor tremble, and his rude ' ferule,' are 
 about the only things of his administration which I 
 remember. The next winter, another neighbor, 
 more skilled in catching trout than in teaching, took 
 the pedagogical chair. He had a little smattering 
 of common-school learning ; but was, if possible, a
 
 1 6 Pieman Humphrey. 
 
 still flatter Yankee than his predecessor. Of thin 
 visage, sharp voice, and with long birch whip and 
 heavy ferule, he tried to keep us in order, to lead us 
 along in ' Dilworth,' and to teach some of the older 
 boys the art of writing. To do him justice, he was 
 a very good penman for those times. As paper was 
 scarce and dear, he used white birch-bark for his 
 ' copies.' " 
 
 A better teacher was Mr. Simeon Hart, to whom 
 Heman was sent in his thirteenth year. In Mr. 
 Hart's school he passed four successive winters, 
 when he supposed he had finished his education. 
 How complete that education was, we may under- 
 stand when we hear him say, " I knew almost 
 nothing of geography as- taught by globe and map, 
 was but indifferently versed in the higher rules of 
 arithmetic, and knew nothing of English grammar, 
 except a little found in one of the earlier editions of 
 Webster's Spelling-Book. I had never parsed a 
 sentence. Thus scantily furnished, I expected to 
 go forth and make my way in some humble em- 
 ployment. 
 
 "I was from childhood fond of reading; but my 
 difficulty was to find anything to read, except the 
 New England Primer, Robinson Crusoe and The 
 Pilgrim's Progress. We took no newspaper. In- 
 deed, there was none to take, except the Connccli-
 
 Farm Work. 17 
 
 cut Courant) which was printed on a very small 
 sheet, and which rarely found its way into our retired 
 and humble parish." 
 
 Before long, however, a small library was col- 
 lected under the auspices of the pastor of the 
 parish. To this our " educated" boy had access, 
 and soon read many of its volumes, chiefly histories, 
 by the light of pine torches or of the kitchen fire. 
 
 V. 
 
 \T7HILE this educational process was going on 
 * * in successive winters, the summers were oc- 
 cupied in manual labor upon his father's farm. 
 When the education was " finished," he left home 
 and placed himself in the employ of a neighbor. 
 He was then seventeen years of age. It indicates 
 his physical strength and skill that, during this first 
 summer as "hired man," he reaped and bound an 
 acre of wheat in one day. 
 
 During the next summer he was employed at 
 higher wages, by a Mr. Cowles, of Farmington ; 
 so also during the following summer. Here he 
 learned much of the art of husbandry. His taste 
 for reading was gratified by the Connecticut 
 Courant. " I well remember how impatiently I 
 used to wait for the post-rider to bring it, and how 
 2* B
 
 1 8 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 eagerly I read it advertisements and all." Here 
 also he learned his first lessons in temperance, dis- 
 covering that he could endure the heat and toil of 
 the harvest-field better without alcoholic drinks than 
 with them. 
 
 His fourth summer away from home was spent 
 with Governor Tread well, of Farmington. " I can 
 never be sufficiently thankful for the kind Provi- 
 dence which gave me a home in his inestimable 
 family. I now see him as he rode up to my father's 
 door, on a fine horse, to engage me for the summer. 
 I need not say that he was a Puritan of the old 
 school, and in every way worthy to succeed Gov- 
 ernor Trumbull in the highest office in the State. 
 He was not a man of quick parts and popular 
 address ; but of a clear, logical, comprehensive 
 mind and solid judgment. He was a Christian, and 
 an exceedingly able theologian, as well as an able 
 judge and an incorruptible statesman. During the 
 summer I spent in his employ, he was one of the 
 principal writers in the New York Theological 
 Magazine; and some of his metaphysical articles 
 would have done no discredit to President Edwards 
 himself. He was very kind to me, and gave me 
 the free use of his library, which, though not very 
 large, helped me to the reading of many volumes. 
 As we went to our work early and returned early,
 
 School Teaching. ig 
 
 I had an hour before dark almost every day for 
 reading. Occasionally I used to carry a book, or 
 inkstand and sheet of paper into the field, and read 
 or write a little, while the cattle were ' baiting' at the 
 * noon-spell ;' sometimes using the cart for my 
 shade, and the ' hind-board' for a desk." 
 
 The following summer was spent in Newington. 
 The summer succeeding this, he expected to 
 spend in the employ of Governor Treadwell ; but 
 being detained in his journey to Farmington by a 
 freshet, he found, when he reached the house of 
 Governor Treadwell, that he had already engaged 
 all the help he desired. With inexpressible disap- 
 pointment the young farmer returned to his father's 
 home ; being led by a way which he knew not. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE intervals between these five summers of 
 farm-life were spent in teaching school. "My 
 first essay in this line was while in my seventeenth 
 year. I taught three months at seven dollars per 
 month, and ' boarded 'round.' My school was held 
 in one of the front rooms of a one-story private 
 house. The other front room and the kitchen were 
 in the closest proximity, so that the pupils could 
 hear all that was going on in the family." The
 
 2O Heman Humphrey. 
 
 three following winters were spent in teaching in 
 three separate districts of Burlington. 
 
 Thrown upon his own resources by the failure of 
 his engagement with Governor Tread well, he was 
 encouraged by his pastor, Rev. Jonathan Miller, to 
 occupy the summer in study. He was then twenty 
 years old. Mr. Miller volunteered to give him some 
 instruction in the rudiments of Latin, suggesting the 
 hope, which seemed almost as wild as a dream, that 
 perhaps Mr. Humphrey might one day become a 
 minister. A Latin grammar was procured. A little 
 knowledge of English syntax was acquired, and the 
 study of the Latin began. The health of the 
 student soon suffered from the confinement of unre- 
 mitted application. Two months were spent in the 
 harvest-field. Then to study again. Then to 
 teaching through the winter. Then once more to 
 the Latin: Once again to the harvest-field. Once 
 more to the school-house and to the books of study. 
 And so the process went on until the spring of 1803, 
 when Mr. Humphrey was advised by one of his 
 clerical friends in Harwinton, where his later 
 labors as teacher were pursued to make an effort 
 to enter the Junior class of Yale College in the suc- 
 ceeding autumn. 
 
 Before following him to that institution, we must 
 pause by the path we have been traversing to speak
 
 The Teacher's Disadvantages. 21 
 
 more at length of his experiences in the school- 
 room and of his religious development. 
 
 VII. 
 
 *nr^HE low standard of common-school instruction 
 *- in that day, in Connecticut, has already been 
 spoken of. Strange as it may seem, one of the 
 teacher's greatest difficulties arose from the magni- 
 tude of the Common-School Fund of the State. This 
 Fund, the result of land sales on the "Western 
 Reserve," Ohio, increased gradually to two millions 
 of dollars. Taxes for the support of schools were 
 made lighter and lighter, until the people, learning 
 to depend upon the Fund, would not contribute even 
 to make up its small deficiencies. They " began to 
 calculate, in many places, for how many months the 
 dividends would pay the teachers, at the lowest 
 wages ; and to content themselves with raising but 
 little by tax, subscription, or any other means." 
 Thus, what should have been only a help, was, 
 through some not very obscure law of human nature, 
 only a hindrance. 
 
 " Those who are now young can scarcely con- 
 ceive the disadvantages under which we labored 
 teachers and scholars, both a half century ago. 
 Webster's Spelling-Book and 'Third Part,' The
 
 22 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Columbian Reader and Dwight's small Geography 
 were about all our class-books. Such a thing as a 
 blackboard, or apparatus of any kind, was never 
 thought of. And what shall I say of the school- 
 houses? So small and low, so miserably fitted up 
 and warmed were most of them, that it was a real 
 penance to be shut up in them six mortal hours 
 each day. There was not one comfortable seat for 
 the little sufferers, who were huddled together in the 
 smallest space, leaving scarcely room for the teach- 
 er's table to stand anywhere. Outside, there was 
 no wood-shed ; not even a screen of boards." All 
 shade trees had been carefully taken from the vicin- 
 ity. " It was not uncommon, when we came on the 
 appointed day to open our schools, to find every- 
 thing in a ruinous condition doors off the hinges ; 
 glass out ; benches broken ; dirt accumulated every- 
 where ; perhaps not a stick of wood for a fire. A 
 neighbor or two might be there with hammer and 
 saw, with putty and three-cornered pieces of tin, 
 taking out the windows, mending the doors, the long 
 writing-desks and the slab benches ; promising, 
 meanwhile, that some one should bring a load of 
 firewood before night. Many a time, through the 
 winter, some of us had to dig out our fuel so 
 called from beneath the snow-drifts, and to set the 
 boys to reducing it from sled length' to the proper
 
 Plans for Improvement. 23 
 
 dimensions ; that we might not freeze, if indeed the 
 ' fuel' would burn when it was prepared. Some- 
 times our schools must be dismissed for a day or 
 two, because we had no wood at all." 
 
 Having all these difficulties to contend with, Mr. 
 Humphrey and some of his fellow-teachers in the 
 vicinity, formed an association for mutual improve- 
 ment. Few of them had any early advantages 
 except of the slenderest kind. With one exception, 
 none of them had ever enjoyed the instruction 
 afforded by an academy, or by any of the higher 
 schools of the day. As an association, they were 
 accustomed to spend an evening together once in 
 two or three weeks. Their object was to report 
 successes, discuss difficulties, compare methods and 
 consider new plans of effort. At these meetings 
 they also introduced critical exercises in reading, 
 both in prose and poetry ; settling questions of 
 accent or pronunciation by an appeal to the highest 
 authority within their reach Webster's Spelling- 
 Book. 
 
 They also adopted the expedient of school visita- 
 tion. The plan was, for each teacher to suspend the 
 ordinary exercises of his school for half a day, oc- 
 casionally, that, with his larger scholars, he might 
 visit some neighboring school. The visit was made 
 without previous notice ; and was designed to give
 
 24 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 the pupils an idea of the relative excellences or 
 defects of all the schools in the neighborhood. 
 
 "It is difficult for any one who has never wit- 
 nessed it, to conceive the healthful emulation with 
 which it inspired both teachers and pupils ; how 
 eagerly the visitor-boys watched every movement 
 in the school ; how they listened to every class 
 in reading and spelling ; and with what interest 
 they talked about the visit for days and weeks 
 afterward." 
 
 Great efforts were made, also, to induce parents 
 and friends to visit the schools. " Sometimes, a 
 little notice would bring in half the district of an 
 afternoon. When the people grew remiss, we took 
 care to remind them how much we relied upon the 
 stimulus of their more frequent visits ; and such ap- 
 peals were generally successful. In this way we 
 kept up an interest in our schools, which we could 
 not have secured by any other method." 
 
 " Then again, at the close of the winter schools, 
 we had what we called our ' quarter days,' when 
 we brought half a dozen or more schools together in 
 the meeting-house, for exercises in spelling, decla- 
 mation and dialogue. These were great days 
 with our scholars, and with their parents. The 
 house was filled. Every one was there, and all 
 came to be pleased and to see which school did the
 
 School Exhibitions. 25 
 
 best. It required some time to prepare for these 
 occasions ; but no part of the term was spent to bet- 
 ter advantage." 
 
 It seems to have been customary to close each of 
 these exhibitions with a brief address by one of the 
 teachers. We find among the papers of Mr. Hum- 
 phrey two or three addresses prepared by himself 
 for this purpose. From one of them we quote 
 somewhat extensively, as therein a vivid idea is 
 conveyed of the manner in which the more dramatic 
 part of these entertainments was conducted. Some 
 objection appears to have been made to this feature 
 of the exhibitions, especially as they were given in 
 the " meeting-house." This objection is briefly 
 considered, and disposed of by the plea that all the 
 dialogues had been carefully expurgated ; and that 
 wit and humor were used only for the purpose of 
 exposing vice, and of elevating the moral standard 
 of the .community. "And now, in view of all this, 
 and when it is considered that no other place will 
 conveniently accommodate a large collection of 
 people, can any one seriously object to such exhi- 
 bitions in the meeting-house? Does it harm the 
 building? All public business is done in this house, 
 and against that no objection is made. Why then 
 should it be thought so very criminal for schools to 
 meet here once or twice in a year ; and in a decent, 
 
 3
 
 26 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 orderly manner give specimens of their learning and 
 proof of their activity." 
 
 He then recapitulates the exercises of the 
 evening. 
 
 " Several of the introductory pieces, which were 
 very short, and spoken by our smallest scholars, 
 were designed rather to amuse than to inform ; yet 
 we conceive them not to be entirely destitute of 
 moral instruction. The little orator, who assumes as 
 much importance as if he were master of all the 
 eloquence of Greece and Rome, does not stand 
 alone. How often do we see persons giving them- 
 selves airs of superiority upon subjects of which 
 they are as profoundly ignorant as is a boy of three 
 feet high of the boldest flights of rhetoric !" 
 
 Following these " introductory pieces" were some 
 of greater pretensions. One presenting the case of 
 a gay young lady who had visited " Vanity Village," 
 and returned with a head bewildered with " gal- 
 lants, balls and sleigh-rides" one calculated to re- 
 press superstition by its rehearsal of the experiences 
 of Mrs. Goblin and Mrs. Tremor one satirizing 
 the boastfulness of farmers, and one intended to 
 promote family discipline. Simple and harmless 
 enough were these rural "theatricals," but doubtless 
 answering their end. The next year the dramatic 
 portion of the entertainment was given in the even-
 
 Valedictory Addresses. 27 
 
 ing of the exhibition day, while arithmetic and spell- 
 ing took the honors of the afternoon. 
 
 The date of this address is " Harwinton, October 
 14, 1802." The public exhibition appears, in this 
 case, to have been given at the opening of the win- 
 ter term. 
 
 In a valedictory address delivered to the " mem- 
 bers of the Middle School District of Harwinton, in 
 i8oi,"Mr. Humphrey discourses in more elevated 
 strain upon the advantages of education in general. 
 After specifying the ordinary motives which should 
 influence the parent in providing the best possible 
 education for his children, he refers to the recently 
 acquired blessings of a free republic, and the jealous 
 care with which it should be guarded. A part of 
 this address glows with a true patriotic fervor, whose 
 heats were always quickly kindled in his breast, if 
 we may judge from a Fourth of July oration he 
 delivered in Harwinton at about this period. 
 
 By the methods above described, the standard of 
 public-school education was considerably raised. 
 Improvement was made in every respect. Yet even 
 then, "the three principal departments were spelling, 
 reading and writing, with a smattering of geography 
 and arithmetic." To carry the more advanced 
 scholars a little farther, evening schools were often 
 established.
 
 28 He man Humphrey. 
 
 As to Mr. Humphrey's own methods of govern- 
 ment, they were eminently judicious for a period 
 when the rod and the ferule were made so conspic- 
 uous in the armory of a school-house. Oliver Wen- 
 dell Holmes is not the only man who counts it 
 among the recollections of the school of his boy- 
 hood, that 
 
 " The tree that grew near it had the flavor of birch." 
 
 Mr. Humphrey had no code of laws. He simply 
 required obedience and diligence of every pupil. 
 He dealt in no threats, and although not insisting 
 upon the abolition of the rod, never used it but 
 once; although, he says quaintly, "I shook the 
 mischief out of a good many." 
 
 "Wishing to keep alive an interest, through the 
 summer, among the older scholars of the districts 
 where I taught most, I used to write a sort of cir- 
 cular, and send it to them once in two or three 
 months, urging them to keep up the habit of study 
 as far as they were able, so as not to lose what they 
 had gained. I also visited them, occasionally, by 
 appointment ; and I am quite sure that these little 
 attentions were more to them than they cost me." 
 
 Of his "boarding 'round" which expresses, in 
 the vernacular, the prevalent custom of entertaining 
 the teacher gratuitously in several families, a week,
 
 Religious Development. 29 
 
 perhaps, being spent by him in each he speaks 
 approvingly, as useful both to himself and pupils, 
 though he was always a visitor, and had never a 
 home. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 HIS religious development began very early, in 
 the home of his childhood. Neither of his 
 parents was a professor of religion, in the technical 
 sense, while he remained an inmate of their family. 
 The theological teaching of the time was unfavor- 
 able to an early connection with the Church. The 
 influence and the savor of Christianity were, how- 
 ever, always in the household where Mr. Humphrey 
 was nurtured. His father and mother had both been 
 trained in the atmosphere of Puritanism. Daily the 
 father ministered at the family altar. All the out- 
 ward observances of Christianity were rigidly en- 
 forced. The sunset of Saturday was the hither 
 bound of " holy time." Then all work ceased, and 
 all were enjoined to lay aside worldly cares, and 
 compose themselves for the worship of the following 
 day. Nor, although the Sabbath, as by Jewish rule, 
 was supposed to end with Sunday's sunset, was any 
 secular employment allowed on Sabbath evening. 
 Even social visits were interdicted, that the impres- 
 sions of the day might not be dissipated by talk and 
 
 3
 
 30 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 laughter. The Sunday-school of modern times was 
 then unknown ; but the catechising of the afternoon 
 made a Sunday-school of every family. Indeed, 
 the Shorter Catechism was then taught in the public 
 schools every Saturday morning ; and the minister 
 made it a part of his duty in pastoral visitation, to 
 examine the children of his flock as to their famil- 
 iarity with this universally adopted formulary of 
 doctrine. 
 
 Mr. Humphrey was required, in his boyhood, to 
 attend public worship with the strictest regularity. 
 " I rarely stayed at home, whatever the weather 
 might be, unless I was sick; which, in the good 
 providence of God, was seldom the case. Once on 
 a fast day, instead of going to meeting, I wandered 
 over the fields and woods in the forenoon with a 
 companion ; but my conscience smote me so that I 
 never tried it again." 
 
 It was not until the winter of 1798-9 that he had 
 any marked religious experience. He was then in 
 his twentieth year. Rev. Dr. Griffin, then settled at 
 New Hartford, was preaching \vith all the freshness 
 and ardor which characterized that remarkable man. 
 A powerful revival began in his parish during the 
 winter referred to. Its influences extended far and 
 wide. They reached the parish where Mr. Hum- 
 phrey resided. His heart and conscience were
 
 His Conversion. 31 
 
 touched, but not until the revival had been some 
 time in progress in Burlington. In his case " the 
 process of awakening, inquiry, and conviction was 
 very gradual." But he awoke at length to the con- 
 sciousness that, although he desired to become a 
 Christian, his " heart was opposed to God, to his 
 government and his requirements." Once or twice 
 before this, his thoughts had been seriously directed 
 to the subject of personal holiness, under the faithful 
 preaching of his pastor ; but they had speedily been 
 diverted. Now they abode with him day and night. 
 He prayed ; he read the Bible ; he attended all the 
 meetings ; and as often as some friend expressed 
 a personal hope in Christ, he murmured at the par- 
 tiality of Him who "took one and another, while 
 he was left." The rebellion of his heart became 
 declared. " Were not some of these converts 
 greater sinners than I ? Have they sought salvation 
 more diligently?" Then the doctrine of Divine 
 Sovereignty, so earnestly insisted upon by the 
 preachers of that day, presented itself to him in an 
 odious light. " I saw it was in the Bible ; I could 
 not disprove it ; yet I was very loth to believe it." 
 He was not slow to use all the familiar arguments 
 against it. "I took to myself the credit of enter- 
 taining more honorable thoughts of God's character 
 and government than others ; whilst, as I afterward
 
 32 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 found, I was fighting against him. But God, of 
 his infinite mercy, was pleased to show me, after 
 I had struggled for weeks and months, that in his 
 electing love was all my hope. I became convinced 
 at length, that I never should repent if left to my 
 unassisted efforts. I was brought to feel that I lay 
 under the righteous condemnation of God's law, and 
 that he was under no obligation to save me. I 
 knew that salvation was freely offered through the 
 Atonement of Christ ; I was urged to come to him 
 that I might have life ; but I refused. I saw no 
 beauty in him that I should desire him. The invi- 
 tation, ' Come, for all things are now ready,' 
 sounded continually in my ears ; but I would not 
 come. It was my own fault ; I could make nothing 
 else of it ; but so obstinate and averse to holiness 
 was my heart, that I despaired of ever making my- 
 self better. If God did not give me a new heart I 
 must certainly perish. And here I saw that the 
 doctrine of election, which I had so stoutly opposed, 
 was my only ground of hope. It may be this was 
 now my argument that God, in the infinite riches 
 of his grace, has chosen me to salvation through 
 sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 
 If he has, he will make me willing in the day of 
 his power ; for he never changes. His ' gifts and 
 calling are without repentance.' If there be no
 
 His Conversion. 33 
 
 election, I am lost; for I shall never come to Christ 
 * except the Father who hath sent, him draw' me. 
 If I am not one of the elect according to the fore- 
 knowledge of God, woe is me for ever ! 
 
 " This was my condition. This was the hope to 
 which I clung. I had too much light to expect to 
 enter the strait gate without striving ; but I knew 
 that I should fail if the Saviour did not help me ; 
 and my prayer was 'Lord, save, or I perish !' There 
 was no such marked and sudden change in my 
 feelings that I could ever, in looking back, fix upon 
 the day or week of my ' passing from death unto 
 life.' The light broke in gradually. It was some 
 time before I dared to indulge even a trembling 
 hope ; and much longer before it was so confirmed 
 that I offered myself for admission into the Church." 
 He connected himself at last with the Congrega- 
 tional church in Burlington, Rev. Jonathan Miller, 
 pastor. 
 
 This record of experience is, perhaps, what one 
 would expect when considering the strong nature 
 of Mr. Humphrey and the presentations of truth to 
 which he was accustomed. Conversions are always 
 colored by prevailing ideas and habits of thought. 
 " If I was then born again," says he, " I was born 
 a Calvinist, ' Not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the 
 will of man, but of God, who hath mercy on whom 
 
 c
 
 34 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 he will have mercy.' I then fully embraced the 
 doctrines of the Shorter Catechism, and from this 
 platform I have never swerved." Then follow some 
 expressions of occasional doubt and fear, but closing 
 with this: "Still I cling to the cross, I pray for 
 strength and grace to fight the good fight of faith 
 and lay hold on eternal life. Blessed Jesus, I cast 
 myself upon thine Almighty arm, as one of the least 
 and weakest of all saints, trusting alone in thine all- 
 sufficient righteousness and atonement !" If the 
 conflict with sovereignty was severe, the final de- 
 pendence upon Christ was real and complete. 
 There was both submission to God and faith in his 
 dear Son. Under another form of preaching and 
 habit of mind, the idea of Faith in Christ would 
 have been most prominent. He would have been 
 the " Calvinist" still. God was always great to him 
 as a Sovereign, but Jesus always chief among ten 
 thousand and altogether lovely. 
 
 He was himself accustomed to say, in later years, 
 that the revivals and conversions of different periods 
 are marked by peculiarities of type. But he always 
 thought, as will hereafter appear, that, while in the 
 earlier part of this century, the duty of immediate 
 repentance was not sufficiently insisted upon, the 
 " law-work," and the lengthened " concern" of the 
 impenitent, sometimes continuing for many months,
 
 Neighboring Clergymen. 35 
 
 i 
 
 resulted in a greater thoroughness of religious cha- 
 racter than do the quicker experiences of the present 
 day. The converts of Dr. Griffin's time were cer- 
 tainly much better "indoctrinated" than those of 
 this period of faster, and, perhaps, more superficial, 
 movement. 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE clergymen to whose preaching Mr. Hum- 
 phrey was early accustomed, were men of 
 genuine power, and of no inconsiderable culture. 
 He frequently heard others than his own pastor, as, 
 in the summer months, the necessities of agriculture, 
 to which all these clergymen were accustomed, took 
 the preacher away from his study and led to con- 
 stant " exchanges." For many weeks the congre- 
 gations expected to find strangers in their pulpits 
 every Sabbath. Mr. Miller was " a sound and in- 
 structive, but not eloquent preacher. His voice was 
 rather heavy than elastic ; and though always seri- 
 ous, he rarely betrayed much emotion in the pulpit. 
 He was esteemed by his brethren in the Association 
 as one of their soundest theologians. As he lived 
 nearly a mile from the meeting-house, I remember 
 how he used always, in summer, to ride to meeting 
 on horseback his wife on the pillion behind him. 
 After tying his horse in the shade he would walk in,
 
 36 Neman Humphrey. 
 
 with his small Bible under his arm. The elderly 
 part of the congregation, who ' sat below,' rose in 
 a body as he passed up the aisle. When he had 
 hung up his hat back of the pulpit, and turned 
 round, the young people in the gallery all rose to 
 receive his fatherly recognition." 
 
 Among the neighboring pastors were some of 
 honored name Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, of Can- 
 ton ; Rev. Giles Cowles, of Bristol ; Rev. Dr. Grif- 
 fin, already alluded to; Rev. Joseph Washburn, of 
 Farmington ; Rev. William Robinson, of Southing- 
 ton, described as being equal in metaphysical acu- 
 men and logical power to Dr. Dwight, of New 
 Haven ; Rev. Joshua Williams, of Harwinton, and 
 Rev. Samuel J. Mills, of Torringford a man noted 
 for serious discourse, but also for many quaint 
 flashes of humor. 
 
 These men were most faithful and laborious in 
 their own parishes, through long-continued pastor- 
 ates. Their missionary labors, also, were neither 
 few nor small. They frequently went on journeys 
 to the then distant and destitute regions of Vermont, 
 where but few churches were gathered ; and where 
 the most of those which had begun to live were too 
 feeble to support pastors. Thus this Connecticut 
 Association furnished some germs for that handful 
 of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains,
 
 Preparation for College. 37 
 
 whose fruit now shakes like Lebanon The Ameri- 
 can Home Missionary Society. 
 
 V. 
 
 AFTER reading this record of mental culture 
 and religious experience, it does not surprise 
 us that in the spring of 1803, Rev. Mr. Williams, 
 of Harwinton, the clerical friend above alluded to, 
 encouraged Mr. Humphrey to study with a view to 
 the ministry. Nor are we surprised, that in view 
 of the difficulties to be surmounted, even a man of 
 resolute mind and consecrated heart, might, at first, 
 shrink from such a path of duty. Mr. Humphrey 
 was then in his twenty-fifth year. His Latin studies 
 had extended no farther than " several books in 
 Virgil and most of Cicero's Orations." It was now 
 the month of May. Horace was to be read. Al- 
 gebra was to be mastered. He had not even learned 
 the alphabet of the Greek language, and must pass- 
 examination in the whole of the Greek Testament 
 and in two books of Homer's Iliad. All this prep- 
 aration must be made in six months. But after 
 accustoming himself a little to the thought, Mr. 
 Humphrey resolved to make the trial. Mr. Wil- 
 liams volunteered to conduct his recitations. He 
 addressed himself to the task, and during those six 
 
 4
 
 38 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 months applied himself to his studies twelve hours 
 each day. The Annual Commencement of Yale 
 College was then in September. Just before its 
 occurrence in this year, one of the professors Rev. 
 Jeremiah Day, afterward President spent a day or 
 two with Mr. Williams. He examined Mr. Hum- 
 phrey sufficiently to give him encouragement to 
 present himself for admission to the Junior Class at 
 the close of the fall vacation. On the designated 
 day he appeared at the Institution. 
 
 " I had never been in New Haven before. Every- 
 thing looked new and strange. My heart fluttered 
 when the hour of trial came. Two of the profes- 
 sors, Messrs. Day and Kingsley, examined me in 
 several branches of study- I was poorly fitted, as 
 they must have seen at a glance. I hardly did my- 
 self justice, perceiving which, perhaps, they made 
 some allowance, and admitted me, knowing my 
 anxiety for an education, and being willing to give 
 me a fair trial. I paid my fee of thirty dollars for 
 advanced standing, and brought my scanty furniture 
 into the room which was assigned me. This was a 
 new era in my life. It remained to be seen how I 
 could compete with classmates who had already 
 been accustomed to the drill of the recitation-room 
 for two years. My first trial was anything but satis- 
 factory to myself. I was embarrassed. I often
 
 Boarding in Commons. 39 
 
 blundered where I was sure I was prepared ; but 
 instead of relaxing my efforts under discouragement, 
 I always resolved to do better next time. 
 
 "Taking an advanced standing, I was prepared 
 for many difficulties, but encountered some which I 
 did not expect. Though a Junior by the catalogue, 
 I was really a Freshman. I had everything to 
 learn of college customs, and of a hundred name- 
 less things, before I could be wonted to my new 
 life. When I entered Yale, the Junior and Senior 
 Classes were allowed to send Freshmen on errands. 
 The custom struck me as absurd. I never availed 
 myself of it. I was glad that this privilege, together 
 with that enjoyed by the Sophomores, was soon 
 withdrawn." 
 
 Want of means occasioned another draft upon 
 the strength and resolution of our student. He 
 supplied the deficiency in part, at first, by acting as 
 waiter in the dining-hall, where the students boarded 
 " in commons." The custom was, to reduce the 
 expense of boarding by a mutual association, the 
 members of which used a kitchen and dining-room 
 provided by the College, free of expense ; nothing 
 being charged for the food except the actual cost. 
 A few of the students served as waiters for the rest, 
 their compensation being afforded by a reduction of 
 their bills for boarding. Such a service was con-
 
 40 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 sidered no degradation, and affected in no way the 
 social standing. During the third term of his Junior 
 year, Mr. Humphrey became the bookkeeper of the 
 establishment. 
 
 The custom was a bad one, notwithstanding its 
 economy. Dr. Bushnell says that emigration tends 
 to barbarism. College life, in the heart of cultivated 
 society, was not without that tendency in those days. 
 The dining-room of the " commons" was very long, 
 and the students were hungry. To maintain some 
 show of order, the College tutors sat at a table 
 slightly elevated upon a platform at one end of the 
 hall. One of them must always be in his place to 
 crave a blessing at the commencement of the meal. 
 The doors were kept locked until all was ready. 
 Then the bell struck, and the whole mass of the 
 besiegers, two or three hundred strong, rushed into 
 the room. Each grasped his knife and fork, and 
 stood ready for action as the last word of the 
 " grace" was pronounced. Then came the racket 
 and the struggle for the choicer viands. The plat- 
 ters were cleared in an instant. "Waiter! waiter!" 
 resounded on every side. The unaccustomed visitor, 
 respecting the ordinary decencies of the table, stood 
 by in astonishment, and so lost his dinner After a 
 day or two, however, hunger overcame etiquette. 
 So fierce was the general onset that "crockery"
 
 Close of College Life. 41 
 
 would have soon been annihilated. The table fur- 
 niture was all of pewter. Even that was soon bored 
 through by the forks of the invaders. Great pains 
 was taken by the steward to furnish wholesome 
 food, but he sometimes failed. Then, notwithstand- 
 ing the presence and the watchful eyes of the tutors, 
 scraps of butter and pieces of meat would fly, as if 
 under the influence of invisible spirits, about the 
 hall. Indignation meetings would sometimes be 
 held ; eloquent speeches would be made ; a memo- 
 rial, praying for a redress of grievances, would be 
 sent to the president, though not always with much 
 effect. 
 
 At the close of the Junior year, Mr. Humphrey 
 found his finances running so low that he resorted 
 to his old method of replenishing the treasury the 
 schoolmaster's work. This did not greatly interfere 
 with his studies, as, during the Senior year, he had 
 but one recitation per day, and that not difficult. 
 He also discharged the duties of Librarian in one 
 of the Society Halls ; and thus was able to take his 
 diploma without debt, and having a small sum with 
 which to commence his professional studies. 
 
 In many respects his college life was very pleas- 
 ant and profitable. He greatly enjoyed the sermons 
 and lectures of President Dwight, whose eloquence 
 in the class-room eclipsed even that of his pulpit 
 
 4*
 
 42 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 discourses. Jeremiah Day had then just been placed 
 in the professorship of Mathematics and Natural 
 Philosophy. Professor Silliman adorned the Labo- 
 ratory, and Professor Kingsley was teacher of the 
 Ancient Languages. 
 
 A powerful revival had brought large numbers of 
 the students into the Church just before Mr. Hum- 
 phrey entered college. His religious associations 
 were therefore good. 
 
 His literary privileges, as member of the " Lino- 
 nian," were greatly valued. He attended all the 
 meetings of his society, and was always ready for 
 debate, either as appointee, or as substitute for some 
 lazier member. He was diligent also with his pen. 
 He even courted the muses ; but, as he afterward 
 thought, with indifferent success. His old taste for 
 the work of the educator developed itself in several 
 newspaper articles, published in one of the New 
 Haven journals, over the signature Lictor. He 
 used to thrust his manuscript under the door of the 
 printing-office and hastily leave the premises. These 
 articles attracted much attention ; but even the editor 
 was ignorant of their authorship until after several 
 of the series had been printed. 
 
 That the rank of our student in his class was by 
 no means low, when the disadvantages under which 
 he had labored are considered, is evidenced by the
 
 Theological Education. 43 
 
 fact that his graduating appointment was an Oration. 
 Among the well-known members of his class were 
 that prominent educator of the blind, Rev. T. H. 
 Gallaudet, and Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York. 
 
 After leaving college, Mr. Humphrey remained 
 in New Haven a few months, in charge of a school ; 
 at the same time commencing his theological studies 
 under the direction of President Dvvight. 
 
 XL 
 
 "XT O Theological Seminary then existed in the 
 * ^ country. The " schools of the Prophets" were 
 small, and scattered, mainly, in retired villages. 
 Some pastor, well fitted for the task, would gather 
 about him a few pupils each year, and instruct them 
 as he was able. " In these private schools there 
 was no critical study of the original languages of 
 the Scriptures. The period of study, which rarely 
 extended over eighteen months, was almost wholly 
 occupied in reading standard English theological 
 authors, such as Hopkins, Bellamy, and, above all, 
 President Edwards ; also in writing, and in disputa- 
 tions upon a long list of questions, embracing the 
 whole system of Christian doctrine, drawn from the 
 Word of God, and embodied in the Westminster 
 Assembly's Catechism.
 
 44 He man Humphrey. 
 
 A favorite school of this class was conducted by 
 Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Connecticut. He. 
 was, in person, somewhat above medium stature, 
 "well proportioned, of black hair, mild eye, sweet 
 and placid countenance and lovely spirit. He had 
 a clear mind ; and, though not so profound as some 
 of the great masters, was, on the whole, a good 
 teacher. His preaching was sound, instructive and 
 persuasive. It was eminently doctrinal, as well as 
 highly practical and experimental. He was not an 
 orator, but he had a good voice, which he managed 
 well ; and his delivery was winning in an uncommon 
 degree." 
 
 Several of Mr. Humphrey's college acquaintances, 
 already under the care of Mr. Hooker, invited him 
 to join them. He did so in the spring of 1806, and 
 became an inmate of Mr. Hooker's family. Four 
 or five other students resided under the same hos- 
 pitable roof which sheltered him. Some theological 
 question was proposed for discussion at almost every 
 meal. The ordinary debates were held in the class ; 
 dissertations were presented and subjected to the 
 freest criticism. " We built an arbor during the 
 following summer, in a beautiful primitive forest 
 near by. There we used to declaim, and sometimes 
 read, in pleasant weather. We exercised our voices 
 in the meeting-house. We wrote three or four ser-
 
 He is Licensed. 45 
 
 mons with which to begin our ministry. Still further 
 to prepare us for our work, Mr. Hooker took us with 
 him, or sent us to hold meetings in several districts 
 in his parish. He sent us every Sabbath, two and 
 two, to read sermons and conduct all the regular 
 services, excepting the benediction, in a remote 
 corner of the town, where a small meeting-house 
 had been built for ' winter privileges.' We selected 
 the best sermons we could find, and delivered them 
 as well as we were able. By this means we were 
 gradually introduced to our work, so that when we 
 began to preach we felt the less embarrassment." 
 
 In October following, Mr. Humphrey was licensed 
 to preach by the Litchfield North Association, then 
 holding its sessions in Salisbury. He would gladly 
 have continued his studies, but yielded to the advice 
 of his friends and his own anxieties to be about his 
 Father's business. " With my license in my pocket, 
 I purchased a horse, saddle, bridle and portmanteau, 
 and was ready to enter the field, without knowing or 
 conjecturing in what corner of it I was to find em- 
 ploy. Up to this time my funds held out. I was 
 '* even with the world,' paid all my bills, and had 
 a few dollars left very few for contingent ex- 
 penses." He had " paid all the expenses of his 
 education without any aid, except that some of his 
 clothes had been furnished by his mother."
 
 46 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 He preached his first sermon in the pulpit of Rev. 
 Mr. Stone, at Cornwall, Connecticut, and before a 
 meeting of ministers. The following Sabbath, he 
 preached at Watertown, in the absence of the 
 pastor of that village. A week or two subsequently, 
 he received an invitation to preach as candidate at 
 Fairfield. He went to that place early in Novem- 
 ber, having but four or five sermons ; and preached 
 "straight on "three months, and then went away. 
 Very soon after he left, he received a unanimous 
 call from the church and society of Fairfield, to 
 become their pastor. While considering this call, 
 he preached in his old haunt, "the winter privi- 
 leged" meeting-house of Goshen. He then returned 
 to Fairfield. 
 
 XII. 
 
 r I "'HIS town is pleasantly situated on Long Island 
 -* Sound, twenty miles west of New Haven. It 
 was then " a considerable village, and the half-shire 
 town of the county ; but very plain in its external 
 appearance. Not more than four or five of the 
 houses, I believe, had ever been painted, and these 
 were now so weatherbeaten that the signs of paint 
 had wellnigh disappeared. Fairfield had been 
 burnt, during the Revolution, by that bloody traitor 
 Arnold. By this calamity the inhabitants were very
 
 Society in Fairfield. 47 
 
 much impoverished, and were obliged to rebuild in 
 as plain a style as was consistent with the comfort 
 of their families." 
 
 He found an uncommon social equality in the vil- 
 lage. " Some had more property and intelligence 
 than others ; but while none were rich, few were 
 very poor. And there was a freedom and cordiality 
 in social intercourse which was delightful. Whole 
 neighborhoods lived together like one great family 
 of many branches." This was attributed to the 
 fellowship of suffering, produced by the calamities 
 of war. " There was at that time very little enter- 
 prise in Fairfield. The farmers maintained their 
 families comfortably, but their sons generally left 
 them for more inviting and lucrative fields, as soon 
 as they had reached their majority. Many went 
 into the coasting trade ; others into the cities, where 
 some became rich and then retired upon their for- 
 tunes. But although Fairfield was a social, friendly 
 and moral place, it was not, strictly speaking, relig- 
 ious. The church was small, the rules of admitting 
 members were very lax, and discipline was greatly 
 neglected. Upon inquiry, I could find but two 
 members of the church who prayed daily with their 
 families. Two or three others, I believe not more, 
 prayed on the Sabbath and sometimes on week-days. 
 When I settled there, not a man could I call upon
 
 48 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 to lead in prayer at a religions meeting. Not one 
 had ever prayed in public. Nothing like a revival 
 in the congregation was remembered by any one. 
 Doubtless there had been many conversions. There 
 had been no revival." The congregation had never 
 been long without a pastor ; but when he was absent 
 as he generally was each summer sometimes 
 for weeks together, the meeting-house was never 
 opened. Such a thing as a deacon's meeting was 
 unknown to them. 
 
 " This condition of affairs was largely due to the 
 prevalence of the ' Half-way Covenant,' which was 
 then quite a feature of church-life in New England. 
 This was an expedient adopted to secure the bap- 
 tism of infants whose parents had never made public 
 profession of religion. The conditions of the ' Half- 
 way Covenant' were, that parents who desired bap- 
 tism for their children, must, before presenting 
 them for the ordinance, ' give their assent to certain 
 Church articles, expressing a belief in the Bible as 
 the Word of God,' engaging to lead a good moral 
 life, to bring up their children in a religious way, 
 and to come to the Lord's Table, or into full com- 
 munion, as soon as they should see their way clear." 
 This gave church membership to those who made no 
 pretensions to personal holiness, and admitted them 
 to the Lord's Table without piety. The " way" to
 
 The Half-way Covenant. 49 
 
 the table was "seen clear," in general, at some period 
 of unusual seriousness, like that of affliction. The 
 custom thus established was afterward continued. 
 Some were perhaps genuine converts ; but very 
 many were not. As a consequence of this system, 
 a regular Church membership, formed after the 
 usual method, w r as very rare. "A lady, then eighty 
 years of age, born in Fairfield, and always a resi- 
 dent, told me she had never known but one young 
 person, whom she named, to join the church." 
 Doctrinal preaching also had been very much ne- 
 glected. Formalism and morality had extensively 
 taken the place of true devotion and godliness. 
 
 These facts coming to Mr. Humphrey's know- 
 ledge \vhile he was preaching at Fairfield, before 
 his call to the pastorate, he aimed to be explicit in 
 the statement of his views. He preached the strong 
 doctrines of that Calvinism in which he had been 
 trained, and into which he had been converted. " I 
 told the people that I could find no warrant in Scrip- 
 ture for this ' Half-way Covenant,' and that in no 
 case could I administer the ordinance of baptism to 
 children, neither of whose parents was in full com- 
 munion with the Church." It seemed to him very 
 unlikely that such "trial sermons" as these would 
 result in a call. But the way had been somewhat 
 prepared for them by the previous faithful preaching 
 
 5 D
 
 50 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 of Rev. Noah Porter, afterward his brother-in-law, 
 who had supplied the pulpit for a short period, but 
 was now settled in Farmington. 
 
 Nevertheless, the call came, as we have seen. It 
 was accepted, and the day of ordination was fixed. 
 The events immediately following are thus described 
 by Rev. William B. Sprague, D.D., in a communi- 
 cation to the Neiv York Observer : 
 
 "When he returned to them after having accepted 
 their call, he called on Mrs. Eliot, his predecessor's 
 widow, and asked her to show him the Confession 
 of Faith and Covenant which were in use in the 
 Church. She brought to him a little piece of paper, 
 containing, as a Confession of Faith, little more 
 than a recognition of the divine authority of the 
 Scriptures, while the Covenant was something like 
 this : ' We promise to devote our children to God in 
 baptism, and when we see our own way clear, to 
 come also to the Holy Communion.' He imme- 
 diately called on Judge Sturges, one of the most 
 prominent members of the church, and asked him 
 if that formed the whole basis of communion in 
 their church ; and he told him that it did. Mr. 
 Humphrey then told the Judge, with all frankness, 
 that he could not settle on such a basis ; but the 
 Judge advised him not to make any trouble about 
 it, and intimated that it would be easy to remedy the
 
 New Confession of Faith. 51 
 
 difficulty afterward. Mr. H. insisted that, if it were 
 not remedied at once, he should feel constrained to 
 withdraw his acceptance of the call. 'What, then,' 
 said the Judge, 'shall be done?' Said Mr. Hum- 
 phrey : ' I will draw up a Confession of Faith, and 
 do you draw up one also, and let us see how far 
 they agree.' And to this the Judge consented. Mr. 
 Humphrey prepared one embracing all the leading 
 orthodox doctrines ; but when he asked the Judge 
 for his, it turned out that he had only written an 
 article or two, which, however, suited Mr. Hum- 
 phrey so well, that he willingly incorporated them 
 with those he had written himself. 
 
 "A church meeting was now called to see whether 
 they would adopt the new ecclesiastical basis ; but, 
 in the mean time, it had come to be noised abroad 
 that there was trouble arising, and that it was 
 doubtful whether the ordination would take place. 
 Mr. Humphrey was quite as popular with the con- 
 gregation as with the church ; and they manifested 
 a deep interest in the result of the church meeting. 
 There was a very general attendance of the mem- 
 bers ; and when they had assembled, Mr. Hum- 
 phrey read the old articles and made his objections 
 to them ; and then the new ones, and gave his rea- 
 sons in their favor. The church was then called 
 upon to express their opinion, and the result was the
 
 52 Hcman Humphrey, 
 
 unanimous adoption of the new articles. The way 
 was now clear for the ordination. But the question 
 arose, after the ordination, how the ' Half-way Cov- 
 enant' folks should be disposed of. The church 
 voted that all who had owned the Covenant, and 
 were not in full communion, should have six months 
 to consider whether they should come to the ordi- 
 nance of the Supper or not ; and that, in case they 
 decided in favor of coming, nothing more should be 
 necessary than that they should signify their wish to 
 the pastor otherwise they would be considered as 
 not belonging to the church. Some came, and 
 some who did not within that time, were afterward 
 hopefully converted. About a year after his settle- 
 ment, Roger Minot Sherman moved into Fairfield, 
 and was ever afterward an important helper to him 
 in his ministry." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 MR. HUMPHREY was ordained March 16, 
 1807, Rev. Mr. Miller, his former pastor, 
 preaching the sermon. His ministry in Fairfield 
 continued about ten years. 
 
 He felt it to be his duty, immediately after his 
 ordination, to establish a weekly prayer-meeting ; 
 but as no member of his church was willing to lead 
 in public devotion, he began by privately collecting
 
 Routine of Duty. 53 
 
 a few of the more pious and gifted of the members, 
 agreeing with them that each perspn of the little 
 circle should lead in prayer at each of their informal 
 meetings. In this way a few of them gradually 
 gained sufficient confidence to assist in public 
 meetings. 
 
 The discipline of the church was also restored. 
 " Cases were taken up and disposed of very harmo- 
 niously. There seemed to be a common desire to 
 purge out the old leaven, and to keep the unity of 
 the Spirit in the bonds of peace." 
 
 In forming his plans of labor, he resolved to 
 preach two carefully-prepared sermons in the meet- 
 ing-house each Sabbath, and to deliver an extem- 
 pore lecture each week in one of the " out-districts" 
 of the town, taking the districts in rotation. This 
 method he found very satisfactory, as affording his 
 people and himself the benefit of both the more 
 elaborate and the freer discourse. 
 
 His pastoral visitations were also, after the first 
 three or four years, systematized ; public notice 
 being given from the pulpit, each Sabbath, of the 
 district he would visit in the ensuing week ; the very 
 day when he might be expected by any particular 
 family being specified. By this method he gener- 
 ally reached all the members of his parish, and 
 held religious services with all the families of his 
 
 5 *
 
 54 Heman Humphrey, 
 
 flock, as he went "preaching and teaching from 
 house to house." 
 
 These methods appear to have been fruitful in 
 promoting the spiritual life of the church and the 
 conversion of souls. There was, however, for some 
 time, no revival. Mr. Humphrey and his more 
 earnest parishioners mourned and prayed over " the 
 desolations of Zion." " Our prayer was in public 
 and in private, ' O Lord, revive thy work.' And we 
 were not alone. The Association to which I be- 
 longed was led to the inquiry, ' Lord, what wilt 
 thou have us to do ?' A monthly concert of prayer 
 for the outpouring of the Spirit was agreed upon. 
 The pastors went forth, * two and two,' upon a visit 
 to all the parishes of the district. The report at 
 the next meeting of the Association was discourag- 
 ing. In most places the concert was thinly attended. 
 There was nowhere a noise or shaking among the 
 dry bones. The question went round Shall the 
 concert be continued another year? The vote was 
 unanimous in the affirmative. The year wore away 
 like the preceding, without any special token of the 
 Divine presence : our faith was again put to the test. 
 Should the concert be continued? No one was 
 ready to give it up. We agreed to make more 
 special efforts to rouse the minds of Christians in 
 our several parishes. This condition prevailed for
 
 Religious Revival. 55 
 
 three or four years. We were ready to ask in our 
 despondency, 'Are the mercies of God clean gone 
 for ever?' 'Will he be favorable no more?' At 
 length the set time came, and the heavens poured 
 down righteousness. Eleven of our seventeen par- 
 ishes shared more or less in the blessing. Our 
 mourning was turned to rejoicing, and we were 
 ready to say, one to another, ' What hath God 
 wrought ! Lo, this is our God. We have waited 
 for him and he will save us ; this is the Lord ; we 
 have waited for him ; we will be glad and rejoice in 
 his salvation !' " 
 
 In Fairfield the revival began suddenly in the 
 Academy, the pupils of which were mostly under 
 fourteen years of age. It soon extended throughout 
 the parish. " It was a new thing in Fairfield, and 
 ' marvelous in their eyes.' The church was very 
 much strengthened, and the revival changed the 
 face of things in many of our leading families." 
 Owing to the peculiar conditions which had so long 
 existed in the congregation, and in accordance with 
 the practice of the day, none of the converts were 
 admitted into the church until after a ' probation' of 
 several months. Every human test of conversion 
 was applied, and the younger converts were long 
 subjected to catechetical instruction. 
 
 Who, while reading the history of this revival,
 
 56 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 can fail to think of Elijah upon Carmel, praying, 
 and then sending his servant to the outlook, that he 
 might scan the brazen horizon as it bent to the 
 cloudless sea praying and looking for the cloud 
 seven times before the first indication of rain was 
 seen? Also, how, when at last the cloud rose upon 
 the west, it spread like magic over the sky, and 
 broke in torrents upon the thirsty land? 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A S may be surmised from the course of this nar- 
 ^* rative, Mr. Humphrey was always ready to 
 identify himself with any public movement which 
 promised to benefit society at large. He had not 
 been long settled at Fairfield before the "Moral Soci- 
 ety of Connecticut" was formed. The object of this 
 society was to secure a better observance of the Sab- 
 bath, and, if possible, to check the tide of intemper- 
 ance which was sweeping over the land. Whatever 
 would promote good morals appears also to have 
 been included in the plan of the organization. A 
 similar society existed in Yale College while Mr. 
 Humphrey was a student in that institution. We find 
 among his college papers an " Oration on Account- 
 ability to God," which he delivered in 1804, in the 
 early part, probably, of his Senior year, before a
 
 Temperance Movement. 57 
 
 meeting of that society. Its introduction is as 
 follows : 
 
 " To unite all the serious and well-disposed mem- 
 bers of Yale College in the bonds of harmony and 
 friendship, to promote the cause of true morality, 
 and to check the alarming progress of vice, were 
 the objects for which the Moral Society was insti- 
 tuted. Whatever, therefore, has a tendency to ac- 
 complish these important objects, cannot fail of 
 being deeply interesting to every individual present. 
 And as a solemn and realizing sense of accountabil- 
 ity to God is so material here, and is a subject which 
 so nearly concerns us all, I shall make no apology 
 for introducing it on the present occasion." 
 
 Of the Temperance movement in this country, 
 Mr. Humphrey was one of the earliest and most 
 vigorous pioneers. In the winter of 1811 12, he 
 preached several sermons on this subject to his con- 
 gregation. It was a delicate subject, for very many 
 of the families in his congregation made daily use 
 of intoxicating drinks. He assailed the evil, how- 
 ever, with his wonted fearlessness. The convictions 
 which began in the harvest-field, when, as a matur- 
 ing boy, he found that he could accomplish more 
 without the aid of spirituous fluids than with it, 
 were confirmed by the experience and the observa- 
 tions of the man. Two of the sermons alluded to
 
 58 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 are before us. The first of them a " double-ser- 
 mon" is founded upon Prov. xx. i: "Wine is a 
 mocker : strong drink is raging." The materials 
 upon which he depended for facts and principles 
 were scanty. " I had not then seen anything to aid 
 me except a small pamphlet by Dr. Rush, of Phila- 
 delphia." But he made good use of his materials. 
 
 " I am aware" so runs the sermon, after its in- 
 troduction has brought out the necessities of the case 
 " that almost every step of my progress will be 
 on tender ground. It is a melancholy fact that 
 most, if not all, even of our religious assemblies 
 contain some who are themselves addicted to excess- 
 ive drinking. And where this is not the case if 
 indeed such a congregation can be found many 
 who compose it have friends that are deeply in- 
 volved in the guilt and shame of this worse than 
 brutal practice. For these reasons it is difficult, 
 perhaps impossible, to avoid the appearance and 
 suspicion of personalities in preaching against it. 
 Besides, I will frankly tell you, my hearers, that in 
 the course I deem it my duty to pursue, I hope to 
 suggest something profitable for admonition, for re- 
 proof and instruction, to the most pious and tem- 
 perate part of my congregation. While, on the 
 one hand, I solemnly disclaim any intention unne- 
 cessarily to wound the feelings of those who hear
 
 Sermons on Temperance. 59 
 
 me. I will not knowingly ' daub with untempered 
 mortar.' It is a case of life and death. The evils 
 of intemperate drinking must be faithfully pointed 
 out. Those who have begun to go after the monster 
 must be pulled back with friendly violence. The 
 innocent and inexperienced must be warned." 
 
 Then follows an exposition of the text : 
 
 " Wine is a mocker. It makes fools of those who 
 use it to excess. Then they are prepared to scoff 
 at the conscientious, and treat even things sacred 
 with mockery. Strong drink is raging. It gives 
 its victims no rest. It creates an appetite which 
 nothing can satisfy. It rages like a fever in the 
 body, like a demon in the head, like a wild beast in 
 the family, like a pestilence in the community." 
 
 We have no space for the glowing arguments 
 which follow. They have since become familiar in 
 the literature of this reformation. One leaf we give 
 from his own observation : 
 
 " I have seen the fires of genius extinguished by 
 strong drink. I have known men who once were 
 numbered with the wise and honorable, gradually 
 reduced almost to a level with idiots by intemper- 
 ance. I have seen the masculine and discriminating 
 mind dwindling into premature old age and second 
 childhood. I have known of more than one prom- 
 ising youth, tender and well beloved, of high hopes
 
 60 If cman Humphrey. 
 
 and of flattering prospects, ensnared and taken by 
 the subtle enemy. The doting parent began to 
 tremble and weep over his son. Hope and comfort 
 fled from the abode of him who begat and of her 
 who bore him. The young man who had begun to 
 attract the attention and to gain the confidence of 
 the public, neglected the culture of his mind, be- 
 numbed all his faculties by excess, and sank away 
 into insignificance and contempt. When I extend 
 my view, and think how many thousands of minds 
 have been destroyed in the same way, it reminds me 
 of some noble city in ruins. I walk over the spot 
 where it stood, examine with painful reflections the 
 fallen columns and broken arches, survey the broad 
 foundations of magnificent buildings which are no 
 more, and sigh to think the glory is departed for 
 ever." 
 
 The double-shotted sermon of the following Sun- 
 day was upon the text, " Look not upon the wine 
 when it is red," etc., Prov. xxiii. 31, 32. In this he 
 considers " The causes and the insidious progress 
 of Intemperance." Wine-bibbers received no more 
 comfort from this discourse than did the devotees 
 of distilled liquor from the first. "It is the bad pre- 
 eminence of the rich and the great to ruin their 
 health, drown their reason, extinguish their natural 
 affections and murder their souls with wine. It is a
 
 Total Abstinence. 61 
 
 happy circumstance, that, with us, the common 
 people cannot afford to share in this expensive kind 
 of intemperance. When, however, I say that ex- 
 cess in wine is mostly confined to the rich and the 
 great, I mean nothing more than that many such 
 are addicted to it. Can this qualified charge be 
 denied? .... If we could know the whole truth, 
 how many bankruptcies are produced by this expen- 
 sive mode of sinning against God and of plunging 
 both soul and body into hell ! How many creditors 
 are defrauded, how many families are beggared, 
 how many hearts are broken !" 
 
 The ground of this sermon was really that of 
 Total Abstinence a ground not generally taken 
 by the most of the advocates of temperance up to 
 that day. 
 
 The fervid words thus spoken in Fairfield were 
 not without effect. They were reiterated in other 
 places. The subject was brought before the Fair- 
 field West Association, with which Mr. Humphrey 
 and his church were connected. Resolutions were 
 adopted, by which the use of ardent spirits was in- 
 terdicted at meetings of the Association, and pledges 
 were made to discourage, by conversation and by 
 example, both the use and the vending of spirituous 
 liquors. Mr. Humphrey was appointed chairman 
 of a committee to prepare an address to the churches 
 
 6
 
 62 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 on the subject. This address was full of the argu- 
 ments and appeals which had been presented in the 
 pulpit at Fairfield It was widely circulated, and 
 produced a marked result. 
 
 " The reports of ministers and delegates at the 
 next annual meeting were exceedingly encouraging. 
 It appeared that a great change had been produced 
 in the views and habits of all the more enlightened 
 classes throughout the district. In some churches 
 and congregations the consumption of ardent spirits 
 had been reduced one-third, in others, one-half, and 
 in others, more than half. In nearly all the respectable 
 families within our limits, the decanters and glasses 
 had been swept from the sideboards ; a great many 
 of our church members and others had adopted the 
 principle of total abstinence ; some of our largest 
 farmers carried the principle successfully through 
 haying and harvesting ; all our ministers had entered 
 heartily into the reformation ; and I am confident 
 that from that day to this, embracing a period of 
 twenty-two years, no ardent spirit has been provided 
 at their stated meetings." 
 
 No more consistent advocate of these principles 
 has ever been found than was Mr. Humphrey to 
 the close of his career. 
 
 In 1815, he preached a sermon before the 
 Connecticut Moral Society, at New Haven, which
 
 His Marriage. 63 
 
 was printed, and is full of impulse and encour- 
 agement. 
 
 XV. 
 
 ON the 2oth of April, 1808, one year after his 
 settlement in Fairfield, Mr. Humphrey was 
 married to Sophia Porter, only daughter of Deacon 
 Noah Porter, of Farmington. A fitting tribute to 
 her memory, by one of her sons-in-law, may be 
 found at the close of this volume. In the autobio- 
 graphical sketches occurs a reference to this event, 
 which is full of devout thankfulness to that God who 
 provided such an " help meet for him." No wife 
 was ever loved more truly ; no husband was ever 
 more honored. No children ever more revered a 
 mother before whom it was a delight to rise up and 
 call her blessed, than did her offspring. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 r I "'HE ten years of life in Fairfield wore swiftly 
 *- and happily away. The causes which led to 
 a severance of the pastoral relation at the end of 
 this period were these : 
 
 The salary of six hundred dollars, which was at 
 first sufficient, became inadequate for the support of 
 a growing family. The war of 1812 occasioned a 
 rapid advance in the prices of the necessaries of
 
 64 Hcman Humphrey* 
 
 life. The first expedient for supplying deficiencies 
 was, to receive a few boys, pupils in the Academy, 
 into the family as boarders. But this expedient told 
 severely upon the health of Mrs. Humphrey, never, 
 in that portion of her life, very strong. Many a 
 night she sat at her table, repairing the raiment of 
 her boarders, until the " wee sma' hours ayant the 
 twal," only to rise before the dawn to superintend 
 the preparation of their meals ; her "help" being of 
 the most unreliable sort. 
 
 The health of Mr. Humphrey also yielded under 
 the pressure of his labors. His eyes, in conse- 
 quence of what he terms injudicious habits of study, 
 suddenly failed. For several months he was unable 
 to use them in reading, writing or preaching. 
 When at length he began to recover their use, he 
 employed an amanueusis ; and the fair, round cha- 
 racters of his wife's penmanship were often found in 
 his manuscripts. We have one sermon before us, 
 prepared at this period, in which his own chirogra- 
 phy alternates curiously with that of his assistant. 
 Some difficulty in the way of increasing the salary 
 was also experienced, partly from the indifference 
 of a few who still clung to their prejudices in respect 
 of the Half-way Covenant. It gradually became 
 evident that the pastoral tie must be broken. In 
 1816, the vacant pulpit of Middletown was virtually
 
 Dismission at Fairfield. 65 
 
 offered him. It was the pulpit which, of all others 
 in Connecticut, he would have preferred ; but at that 
 time the fruits of the revival we have described were 
 ungathered. He could not then leave his harvest- 
 field. The year passed ; the harvest was over. He 
 announced his intention to request a dismission. 
 Amid many remonstrances a meeting of the Conso- 
 ciation was called, and " after a full hearing, "yet in 
 the face of many protests, both from the church and 
 the members of the Consociation, he was dismissed, 
 May, 1817. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 LEAVING his family in Fairfield, he preached a 
 few Sabbaths in Hartford. While there he 
 received an urgent invitation to visit a vacant Con- 
 gregational church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He 
 complied with the invitation. He found the church 
 in a somewhat critical condition. Two divided por- 
 tions of one " tribe" were seeking reunion. A few 
 years previous a political convulsion had rent the 
 church. One party withdrew, built a new meeting- 
 house and settled a minister, Rev. Mr. Punderson. 
 "The other party retained their aged pastor, and, 
 after his death, settled his son, Rev. Mr. Allen. 
 There was for some time great bitterness of feeling 
 
 on both sides ; but it gradually subsided, and at the 
 6* E
 
 66 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 end of seven years there was found to be a strong 
 and general disposition to reunite. There was no 
 need of two congregations. One minister could 
 care for all." Some opposed reunion, but both 
 pastors favored it. To promote it, both resigned, 
 and the two congregations came together under the 
 old roof. The difficult process of organic reunion 
 was now to be promoted. Mr. Humphrey was soon 
 invited to undertake the task. He shrank from it. 
 He feared the effect of the severe climate of the 
 Berkshire hills upon his family. His "politics" 
 might be regarded with suspicion. But some one 
 must become their pastor. "I did not wish to go to 
 Pittsfield. Not that I had any objection to the peo- 
 ple. They were an intelligent congregation. There 
 was a good degree of active piety in the church, 
 and they had treated me kindly. But the congre- 
 gation was spread over the whole town six miles 
 square. They were united, but not amalgamated. 
 A good deal of the old leaven remained. Some of 
 the prominent families stood aloof. And, to increase 
 my perplexity, I was strongly solicited to return and 
 be resettled over the church and congregation in 
 Fairfield. I was assured of a competent support. 
 But my convictions of duty at length overcame my 
 objections. I became convinced that the ' call' was 
 from a higher source than the voice of the people,
 
 Installation at Pittsfield. 67 
 
 and that it was not for me to choose, but to obey. I 
 accepted the call, and was installed in November, 
 1817, by a council." Rev. Dr. Hyde, of Lee, 
 preached the installation sermon. 
 
 The call reveals the transition then taking place 
 from the old parish system to that of modern times. 
 By the then existing laws of Massachusetts, the 
 whole population of each town was taxable for the 
 support of the pastor, except such as filed certificates 
 setting forth that they belonged to some other than 
 the Congregational denomination. Thus the settle- 
 ment of a pastor was a " town-meeting affair." 
 Certain lands for the use of the pastor were set 
 apart by the township, and the salary was thus pro- 
 vided for by a sort of Puritanic union of Church and 
 State. 
 
 Mr. Humphrey's call is in these words : 
 
 " At a legal meeting of the freeholders and other 
 inhabitants of the town of Pittsfield, belonging to the 
 Congregational Society in said town, qualified by 
 law to vote in town affairs, at the Town-House in 
 said town, on Monday the I5th day of September, 
 1817, 
 
 " Voted, That Joshua Danforth be moderator. 
 
 " Voted, That the town agree to unite with the 
 Church of the Congregational Society, in inviting 
 the Rev. Mr. Humphrey to settle over them in the
 
 68 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Gospel ministry : provided an agreement can be 
 made with him for his salary agreeable to the views 
 of the town. 
 
 " Voted) That in case the Rev. Heman Hum- 
 phrey shall conclude to accept the invitation of the 
 town to settle over them in the work of the Gospel 
 ministry, they will, and do, hereby agree to grant 
 him the sum of nine hundred dollars as his stated 
 salary, so long as he shall continue their minister as 
 aforesaid : provided that he shall relinquish to the 
 town all claims that he may have to the ministry 
 lands or property belonging to the town. 
 
 " Voted, That Josiah Bissell, Esq., Gen. John 
 B. Root, Mr. Samuel D. Colt and Nathan Willis, 
 Esq., be a committee to convey the invitation to 
 Rev. Heman Humphrey, of Fairfield, Connecticut, 
 to settle over the Congregational Church and So- 
 ciety in this town, in the work of the Gospel minis- 
 try ; and who are also authorized to offer him the 
 sum of $900 as his annual stated salary, on the con- 
 ditions stated in the preceding vote." 
 
 When Mr. Humphrey was installed the whole 
 town virtually formed his parish. A feeble Baptist 
 church existed in the western portion of the town- 
 ship ; a few Methodists were scattered here and 
 there, but enjoyed no regular preaching. Some 
 families neglected the Sanctuary ; but with the ex-
 
 Description of Piltsfield. 69 
 
 ceptions noted, all were under his pastoral care, 
 whether they attended public worship or not. 
 
 Pittsfield is one of the most beautiful towns in 
 Massachusetts. It occupies a high plateau, en- 
 circled by the lower ranges of the Green Moun- 
 tains. The whole horizon is rimmed by hills. On 
 the east is the range from which the Ashley pours 
 its arterial streams for the water-supply of the 
 village. On the west is a somewhat irregular 
 range, from the crown of which one may see the 
 valley of the peaceful Hudson spreading its emerald 
 floor to the base of the Catskills. On the north the 
 blue summits of Saddle Mountain close in the 
 view. The southern horizon is pierced by the val- 
 ley of the Housatonic. Nearly all the hills are par- 
 tially shorn of their forests. Rich pasture-lands 
 creep up the slopes, and appear to end in sharp but 
 softened lines against the sky. Four beautiful lakes 
 present their mirrors to the passing clouds and to 
 the fringes of foliage on their shores. The atmos- 
 phere is famed for its purity, and for the brilliancy 
 of the effects of sunlight and shadow produced in 
 summer days. Nowhere are sunsets more beauti- 
 ful ; nowhere are beautiful sunsets more frequent. 
 The western hills are distant enough for long per- 
 spectives of evening cloud ; they are near enough 
 to catch all the glories of the departing light. They
 
 70 Neman Humphrey. 
 
 often appear as if transfigured, in their dreamy mists 
 of mingled rose and gold. 
 
 When Mr. Humphrey was installed, the village 
 consisted of four streets, broad and shaded, meeting 
 at a small park in the centre. The names of these 
 streets were derived from the four points of the com- 
 pass toward which they led. At the focus of the 
 village, in the centre of the park, stood a forest elm, 
 which unfolded its leafy canopy from the summit of 
 a tall and shapely trunk. This elm was long the 
 pride of the town, and was preserved with jealous 
 care for many years after age and storm had de- 
 prived it of its beauty. It was not removed until 
 decay had so weakened it that it creaked and 
 threatened to fall in every unusual wind. When at 
 last it was removed in consideration of public 
 safety, the inhabitants gathered sadly to see it fall. 
 Twigs and leaves, as well as branches, were borne 
 away as mementoes. The sounder portions of the 
 huge trunk were cut and shaped into little articles 
 to be preserved by children's children. 
 
 Directly opposite this elm stood the meeting-house 
 of the Congregational church a large and well fin- 
 ished structure of wood. It has now given place to 
 a more enduring edifice of stone, in the tower of 
 which the clock, presented by a wealthy citizen in 
 1823, still marks the hours. Mr. Humphrey's resi-
 
 His Growing Influence. 71 
 
 dence was on East street, in a house since owned 
 by the Campbell family. It has been greatly 
 altered ; but the magnificent maples, many of 
 which were planted by Mr. Humphrey, still stand 
 before it. 
 
 When he assumed the charge of the congrega- 
 tion, " very few of its leading men, such as law- 
 yers, physicians and merchants, were professors of 
 religion." They were, however, regular attendants 
 of public worship. The first object of the new pas- 
 tor was to win the respect of all for the pulpit. 
 But little pastoral visiting was, therefore, attempted 
 during the first winter. The effects of careful study 
 being realized, systematic visitation began in the 
 opening spring, and was vigorously conducted 
 through the succeeding months. The old methods 
 so successful in Fairfield were adopted. A weekly 
 lecture was established in the out-districts. The 
 Sunday-school, which then began to take a recog- 
 nized place among the institutions of the Church, 
 received much attention. The baptized children of 
 the church were collected once in three months, for 
 public catechetical instruction. A Bible-class of 
 young women was also established. Soon all was 
 working smoothly, and success crowned every form 
 of pastoral labor. Old wounds began to heal, and 
 the congregation gradually became organically one.
 
 72 He man Humphrey. 
 
 Many anecdotes of Mr. Humphrey's skill and 
 prudence in winning the disaffected or the indiffer- 
 ent are still related by his parishioners. One of 
 those oftenest repeated is that of his conquering the 
 heart of a farmer who had steadily refused to attend 
 the Sabbath services. By visiting him in his har- 
 vest-field, and, without a word of professional exhor- 
 tation, engaging him in conversation upon farming, 
 and then taking his "cradle," cutting a swath of 
 grain, as if he had been used only to a farmer's life 
 all his days. 
 
 His educational tastes also had free exercise in the 
 schools of the town, which he regularly visited as a 
 member of the school-committee. These visits gave 
 him great influence, particularly over the children 
 of the parish. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 r I "HE principal event of his ministry in Pittsfield 
 *- was a remarkable revival, whose history has 
 been perpetuated as prominent in the movements of 
 Rev. Dr. Nettleton's day. Up to 1820, no general 
 revival had ever been known in the town. In the 
 spring of that year, revivals began to occur in some 
 of the neighboring villages. The church in Pitts- 
 field was roused to unusual prayer. On the first 
 Sabbath in May the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
 
 Religious Interest. 73 
 
 per was celebrated with unusual solemnity. Imme- 
 diately afterward, the early rain appeared. An 
 interesting journal kept by the pastor, records the 
 history of several succeeding weeks. 
 
 About forty, most of whom were received into the 
 church in the autumn, were the fruits of this sum- 
 mer's awakening. 
 
 In May following, Rev. Asahel Nettleton, the 
 evangelist, came to visit Mr. Humphrey, for the 
 purpose of rest from his exhausting labors. A gen- 
 eral desire to hear him was immediately expressed. 
 He did not yield to it at first ; but being persuaded 
 to deliver an evening lecture, he saw such signs of 
 encouragement that his rest was soon at an end. 
 " In two or three weeks we had unmistakable evi- 
 dence that God had again begun to revive his work. 
 Our lecture-room was crowded ; men were there 
 who had not been wont to attend our evening meet- 
 ings, and there was a very marked solemnity in the 
 congregation on the Sabbath. Through the whole 
 month of June the interest increased among all 
 classes ; toward the close, very rapidly. By the 
 middle of July the work was at its height. It per- 
 vaded all classes, and extended to all parts of the 
 town ; but principally affected heads of families, 
 particularly the prominent men of the village. The 
 whole face of the community was changed. Re- 
 
 * 7
 
 74 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 ligion was the all-absorbing topic of conversation. 
 The revival continued all summer. On the first 
 Sabbath of November the harvest was gathered in ; 
 and a glorious harvest it was. Between eighty and 
 ninety, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, 
 stood up together in the long, broad aisle, and before 
 angels and men, avouched the Lord to be their God, 
 and were received into the church. Never had such 
 a scene been witnessed in Pittsfield. The joy of the 
 church overflowed in tears and thanksgivings. I am 
 sure there must have been great joy in heaven." 
 
 Many of the incidents of this revival are of un- 
 usual interest. We record but one, perhaps the most 
 striking of all. On the Fourth of July, the religious 
 interest was so absorbing that it was determined to 
 substitute for the usual noisy celebration of the day, 
 a service with sermon in the meeting-house. Mr. 
 Humphrey was designated to preach the sermon. 
 The meeting was appointed to be held at two o'clock 
 p. M. As, however, he was busy on the morning 
 of the Fourth in preparing his discourse, he was 
 waited upon by a committee of young men, who 
 informed him that they had arranged for an oration 
 of the usual sort, to be delivered in the forenoon, in 
 the meeting-house. He was desired to " open the 
 meeting with prayer." These young men had been 
 incited to this act of opposition by some of the ene-
 
 Fourth of "July. 75 
 
 mies of the revival, in the village. The usual " In- 
 dependence dinner" was also to be held in a public 
 hall near the church. Mr. Humphrey declined the 
 invitation of the committee ; but the oration was 
 delivered. 
 
 The hour for the religious service arrived, and the 
 house was filled with a solemn and reverent congre- 
 gation. The young men and their companions of 
 the morning assembly gathered in the park in front 
 of the church, and amused themselves with fire- 
 crackers, etc., as the service went on. The hour 
 for the public dinner approached. Toasts were to 
 be drunk, according to the usual custom, to the 
 firing of cannon in the park. A promise had been 
 made that all such noisy demonstrations should be 
 deferred until the close of the religious services. 
 But as the sermon was protracted, the celebrators on 
 the green became impatient. They procured a drum 
 and fife, and marched beneath the windows of the 
 meeting-house. A few of the congregation went 
 quietly out to silence the noise, but poorly suc- 
 ceeded. The service within went on amidst the 
 disturbance. The " patriotic" crowd resolved to try 
 the effect of gunpowder, and applied the match to 
 their cannon. 
 
 "The first discharge shook the house. My text 
 was, ' If the Son make you free, ye shall be free
 
 76 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 indeed.'' It was one of the most appropriate I could 
 think of for the occasion. In two or three minutes 
 there was another discharge. The shock of the 
 first being over, the second produced a solemnity 
 more profound than the sermon would have occa- 
 sioned, and gave me opportunity for enlargement 
 which I had not anticipated. I had reached the 
 application of my sermon. By the time of the third 
 discharge the whole congregation seemed perfectly 
 composed. As the cannonading went on, I took oc- 
 casion to hold up the contrast between Christ's free- 
 men and the servants of Satan, as strikingly illus- 
 trated both without and within the house. By this 
 train of extempore remark I added something like a 
 quarter of an hour to the length of the sermon. 
 Each discharge of the cannon overpowered my 
 voice for a moment, but I went on. When I had 
 finished, I called upon Rev. Dr. Shepherd, of Lenox, 
 who was present, to lead in prayer. His remark- 
 ably heavy voice sounded triumphantly over the 
 disturbance. When we came out, some of our more 
 prominent men, among whom was the sheriff of the 
 county, were very much excited, and proposed to 
 have the leading rioters arrested and punished. I 
 said, ' By no means. In attacking us they have 
 shot themselves through and through. They have 
 so outraged the feelings of the whole community
 
 Result of Disturbances. 77 
 
 that we have only to leave them to themselves, and 
 go on with our Master's work, praying God to give 
 them repentance.' 
 
 "I have never witnessed a more striking example 
 of the moral sublime than on that day and evening. 
 Those who had been foremost in the disturbance 
 hastened away as soon as they could. By eight 
 o'clock there was scarcely a soul left upon the green ; 
 whereas, on all former like occasions, a large num- 
 ber lingered there and kept up their ' celebration' 
 until late at night. The evening lecture, which had 
 been appointed from the desk under the cannon's 
 roar, was unusually full and solemn. The work 
 went on for some days with more power than ever. 
 We had but to ' stand still and see the salvation of 
 the Lord.'" 
 
 A writer in the Charleston (S. C.) Intelligencer, 
 describing this scene, says : 
 
 " So skillfully did the preacher allude to and 
 apply his discourse to the conduct of the opposition 
 out of doors ; such advantage did he take of every 
 blast of the cannon and every play of the drum, by 
 some well-pointed remark, that it all went like a 
 two-edged sword to the hearts of listening sinners. 
 Indeed Mr. H. afterward informed me, that had he 
 showed the heads of his sermon to his opposers pre- 
 viously, and earnestly requested them, when he 
 
 7*
 
 78 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 reached such a point in his sermon to fire, and 
 when he reached another point to fire, they could 
 not more effectually have subserved the purpose of 
 his discourse than they did. Those gentlemen who 
 had walked in the opposers' procession, hung their 
 heads, were disgusted, and in some instances were 
 convicted deeply of sin. One gentleman who had 
 been previously somewhat serious, declared to me 
 that every shot of the cannon pierced his soul, filled 
 him with an indescribable horror, and brought him, 
 through the blessing of God, to such a hatred and 
 detestation of sin in himself and others, as con- 
 strained him quickly to fly to Christ. 
 
 " I sat near the Rev. Mr. Nettleton ; and so de- 
 lighted was he with the discourse, and so accu- 
 rately -prescient, too, was he of the result, that 
 whenever an apt allusion dropped from the lips of 
 the preacher, he would turn round with a holy 
 smile ; and whenever a shot from the cannon pierced 
 our ears he would say it would involuntarily es- 
 cape from him ' That is good that is good? 
 Speaking afterward of the events of this day he ob- 
 served to me : ' Did you not feel calm ? I thought 
 there was a deep majestic calm overspreading the 
 minds of Christians.'" 
 
 Great care was taken in the instruction of the 
 converts of this revival ; and they, with their chil-
 
 Invitation to Amhcrst. 79 
 
 dren, have been among the most honored members 
 of the church to the present day. 
 
 The experience thus obtained confirmed in Mr. 
 Humphrey's heart a love for revivals which he 
 never lost. Few have been more judicious and 
 successful in promoting and conducting them than 
 he. He was often invited to aid his brother pastors 
 in their revival labors. In the winter of 1822 he 
 was especially active in assisting Rev. Sereno 
 Dvvight, of the Park Street Church, Boston. He 
 was always a firm friend of Dr. Nettleton ; and, 
 when occasion required, his staunch defender. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 TN 1823, Mr. Humphrey received the degree of 
 -*- Doctor of Divinity from Middlebury College. 
 He had at this time before him an invitation to as- 
 sume the Presidency of the Collegiate Institution 
 which now bears the name of Amherst College. 
 Rev. Dr. Moore, the first President, died in June, 
 1823. In July, Dr. Humphrey was elected to the 
 vacant position. He describes this appointment as 
 occasioning "the most trying crisis of my pastoral 
 life." 
 
 He was ardently attached to his people. They 
 were equally attached to him. To go, was to leave
 
 8o Heman Humphrey. 
 
 the pastoral office in one of the largest and most de- 
 sirable congregations of the State. As pastor he 
 was eminently successful ; could he hope to be 
 equally successful as President? The Institution to 
 which he was invited had no permanent foundation, 
 except in the hearts and the prayers of its friends. 
 A petition for a college charter had the year before 
 been unceremoniously thrown out of the Legislature 
 of the State, nearly all the representatives, including 
 those from Amherst itself, voting against it. Yet 
 he could not dismiss the invitation without a thought. 
 His parishioners, when they learned that the invita- 
 tion had been extended, smiled ; when they learned 
 that he was considering it, they remonstrated ; when 
 he proposed a council of his brethren to aid him in 
 deciding the question of duty, they declined. He 
 was obliged to call a council without their co- 
 operation. That council advised him to accept the 
 Presidency. The congregation most reluctantly 
 consented, and the pastoral bond was dissolved. 
 " Nothing now remained but to make arrangements 
 for my removal, and to take those sad farewells, 
 which cost me more anguish of soul than anything 
 in my long life, except the loss of children." These 
 farewells over, he removed to Amherst, and was 
 inducted into office, October 15, 1823.
 
 The Town of Amherst. 81 
 
 XX. 
 
 A MHERST is scarcely less beautiful as a village 
 ^* than Pittsfield. Its horizons are wider, and their 
 outlines are less bold. Standing upon the tower of the 
 college chapel, one's eye follows the regular line of 
 the parapet of the eastern hills, till, bending around 
 to the south, that line is lost in the undulations of 
 the Holyoke range. At the western extremity of 
 this range, Mt. Holyoke itself one of the favorite 
 mountain resorts of New England stands out like 
 the last gate-tower of some broken Cyclopean wall. 
 Far in the north, like another similar tower, stands 
 Sugar-Loaf Mountain. Between the two the whole 
 west lies open ; not indeed as a plain, but as a valley 
 whose farther slope rises gently to the sky, broken 
 here and there by low, intermediate hills, one of the 
 most prominent of which is Mt. Warner. Through 
 this valley flows the Connecticut, revealing itself 
 here and there in silvery glimpses. In the middle 
 distance lies Hadley, folded in by a broad curve in 
 the river. Beyond is Northampton, so long the home 
 of President Edwards. This whole valley is often, 
 during the autumnal season, shrouded in morning 
 mists, which, leveled above by the upper winds, 
 spread out like a sea. Then Holyoke becomes a 
 mountain shore, Mt. Warner an island. The glow- 
 
 F
 
 82 H eman Humphrey. 
 
 ing maples, touched by recent frosts, and showing 
 themselves in some places above the surface of the 
 lake of cloud, appear to rest like clumps of flowers 
 upon its bosom. Here and there a lofty pine shows 
 its top, like a ship becalmed, its sails all spread. 
 The sun quickly dissolves the vision ; but the mem- 
 ory of it lingers in the mind of the beholder for 
 many a day. 
 
 The President's house, in which all the younger 
 children of our family were born, was a square 
 brick structure, which still stands under its sycamore 
 shades in the heart of the village. When Dr. Hum- 
 phrey assumed the presidency, the college could 
 boast of but a single building, which was used for 
 a variety of purposes. The village meeting-house, 
 a weather-beaten structure, stained or mottled by 
 dark yellow paint, stood directly opposite the Col- 
 lege Hall, on the spot now occupied by the Cabinet 
 and Observatory. This structure we well remem- 
 ber as the Sunday resort of our boyhood. The 
 entrance was through the base of the steeple, in the 
 summit of which swung the village bell. The pews 
 were square, and surmounted far above the heads 
 of children by an open railing. Once penned for 
 the Sabbath service, there was no escape from the 
 enclosure ; there was no outlook except toward the 
 pulpit or the ceiling. The floor was uncarpeted ;
 
 Foundation of the College. 83 
 
 the seats were without cushions. The Benjamin of 
 the household generally carried to meeting in win- 
 ter the mother's foot-stove, quite as sacred to him 
 as Prayer-Book or Bible are to some modern wor- 
 shipers. In summer, he was sometimes allowed to 
 carry a few branches of fennel from the garden, for 
 his solace as the sermon went on. This venerable 
 meeting-house gave way before long to the church, 
 which, with ambitious pretentions to Grecian art, 
 arose not far away. This has been superseded in 
 its turn. The College Chapel and the Second Dor- 
 mitory were also erected very soon after the inaugu- 
 ration of the new President. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 r I ^O give an idea of the condition of the Institu- 
 -*- tion in 1823, of its original design and its early 
 struggles, we condense an account of its foundation 
 from " Historical Sketches" prepared by Dr. Hum- 
 phrey in his later days, at the request of the Trustees 
 of the College : 
 
 " There were several years of preparatory work, 
 before the vision of an established college, with full 
 powers and franchises, gladdened the hearts of its 
 founders. They felt the want of an academy in 
 Amherst for the education of their own children, and 
 of others who might wish to enjoy its privileges.
 
 84 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Accordingly, in the month of July, 1812, a subscrip- 
 tion was opened to erect a suitable edifice for such a 
 school. With the avails of this and other free-will 
 offerings the building soon went up, and in due time 
 was opened with highly encouraging prospects, 
 with a corps of competent teachers. In the winter 
 of 1816, an Act of Incorporation was obtained. The 
 aim of the corporators was high. They determined 
 to have an academy of the very first class. To this 
 end, November 8, 1817, a project was presented and 
 adopted, for increasing the usefulness of the Acad- 
 emy, by a fund for the gratuitous education of pious 
 young men for the ministry. It was at once resolved 
 to establish a Professorship for instruction in the 
 Languages ; also to organize a plan for raising the 
 proposed fund. 
 
 "The plan, however, failed, because too narrow 
 to reach the end in view. A new one was adopted, 
 which involved the raising of a Charity Fund of 
 fifty thousand dollars. While subscriptions to this 
 Fund were being taken, it was proposed by the 
 friends, of Williams College to remove that institu- 
 tion from Berkshire to one of the more central 
 counties of the State. Overtures were made from 
 Amherst, looking toward a union of the Academy 
 with Williams College, at Amherst, or some other 
 convenient point. Negotiations followed, but re-
 
 The First Building. 85 
 
 suited in nothing. The friends of Amherst felt 
 pressed to carry out their original idea of an Insti- 
 tution specially for the education of indigent young 
 men for the ministry. This they finally resolved 
 upon ; still leaving open the door for further negoti- 
 ations with Williams. Williams College was never 
 removed ; and from this beginning Amherst Col- 
 lege grew into being. Its aim was from the first, 
 benevolent and evangelical in a high degree. 
 The corner-stone of its first building was laid, 
 August 9, 1820." 
 
 The erection of this building is thus described by 
 Dr. Humphrey : 
 
 " The committee proceeded to execute the trust 
 committed to them, secured a title to the land, 
 marked out the ground for the site of a building one 
 hundred feet in length, and invited the inhabitants 
 of Amherst, friendly to the design, to contribute 
 labor and materials, with provisions for the work- 
 men. With this request, the inhabitants of Amherst 
 and a few from Pelham and Leverett most cheer- 
 fully complied. The stone for the foundations was 
 brought chiefly from Pelham by gratuitous labor, 
 and provisions for the workmen were furnished by 
 voluntary contributions. The work went on so 
 rapidly, that on the nineteenth day from the laying 
 of the corner-stone the roof was on." The building 
 
 8
 
 86 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 was four stories in height, and was commenced with 
 scarcely a dollar in the treasury. 
 
 The number of students when President Hum- 
 phrey was inaugurated was one hundred and 
 twenty-six. The following schedule, taken from 
 the cover of his inaugural address, is, in many 
 respects, instructive and interesting : 
 
 AMHERST COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION. 
 FACULTY. 
 
 REV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D., S. T. P., President. 
 
 REV. GAMALIEL S. OLDS, Professor of Mathematics and 
 
 Natural Philosophy, 
 JOSEPH ESTABROOK, A. M., Professor of Latin and Greek 
 
 Languages. 
 REV. JONAS KING, A. M., Professor of Oriental Literature 
 
 (to be absent for two years). 
 ZEN AS CLAPP, A. B., Tutor and Librarian. 
 SAMUEL M. WORCESTER, A. B., Tutor. 
 
 STUDENTS IN THE INSTITUTION, 
 
 OCTOBER, 1823. 
 
 SENIOR CLASS 19 
 
 JUNIOR CLASS 29 
 
 SOPHOMORE CLASS 41 
 
 FRESHMAN CLASS 37 
 
 Total 126 
 
 Hopefully pious Students, 98
 
 His College Duties. 87 
 
 From Massachusetts, 79, Connecticut, 21, New Hampshire, 
 10, Vermont, 4, New York, j, New Jersey, I, Pennsylvania, I, 
 South Carolina, I, Kentucky, \, Mississippi, I. 
 
 That President Humphrey was introduced into no 
 sinecure is made clear by a simple rehearsal of the 
 duties assigned to him. He instructed the Senior 
 Class in Rhetoric, Logic, Natural Theology, The 
 Evidences of Christianity, Intellectual and Moral 
 Philosophy, and Political Economy. He also pre- 
 sided at the weekly declamations in the chapel, and 
 criticised the compositions of one or two of the 
 classes. He preached on the Sabbath, occasionally, 
 in the village meeting-house, where, until the col- 
 lege chapel was finished, the students worshiped. 
 After the chapel was completed, in 1827, he sup- 
 plied its pulpit regularly for two or three years, 
 being relieved, however, in his educational duties, 
 by the appointment of a Professor of Rhetoric. He 
 was installed pastor of the College church on its 
 formation, March 7, 1826. One paragraph we 
 give from the close of his address upon this oc- 
 casion : 
 
 "You will permit me to congratulate the friends 
 of the Redeemer and of the College upon the trans- 
 actions of this solemn and interesting occasion. The 
 Institution is now at length fully organized. A 
 church is established, which, we trust, will never be
 
 88 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 moved, on whose ample records the names of unborn 
 thousands will be enrolled, in answer to whose 
 prayers tens of thousands will be brought into the 
 kingdom of Christ, and by the instrumentality of 
 whose sons the Gospel will be carried to the ends of 
 the earth." 
 
 The anticipations of that day have already been 
 in great measure fulfilled. 
 
 After two or three years the pastoral labors of 
 President Humphrey were somewhat lightened by 
 the assistance of the Professors, all except one of 
 whom were clergymen ; and who, each in turn, 
 alternated with him in the supply of the pulpit, and 
 in the delivery of the regular Thursday evening 
 lecture. He was also gradually relieved of a part 
 of the burdens of instruction. But his labors as a 
 President, seeking to procure a charter and a suit- 
 able endowment for the College, were multiplied. 
 Even his vacations were almost wholly spent in this 
 slow and vexatious work. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 WE have already seen how the earlier applica- 
 tions to the Legislature for a charter were 
 defeated. A few leaves from an address delivered 
 by Dr. Humphrey to the Alumni of the College,
 
 Efforts for a Charter. 89 
 
 August, 1853, will reveal a part of the toil and the 
 triumph of his labors : 
 
 "The prospect of our ever succeeding was any- 
 thing but encouraging. The powerful friends of 
 both Harvard and Williams thought that a third 
 college was not wanted ; besides, there were local 
 jealousies and competitions which seemed insuper- 
 able. The great majority of the representatives 
 from our own county were arrayed in opposition, 
 and used all their eloquence to prevent the incorpo- 
 ration. Even half the town of Amherst was opposed 
 to the location and voted against us. Still, the 
 petitioners determined to persevere. They put the 
 Institute, with its four classes and regular course of 
 college studies, under the wing of the charter of 
 Amherst Academy. At the next winter session of 
 the General Court, the application was renewed, and 
 prevailed in the Senate, but was defeated by a large 
 majority in the House. Hope deferred made the 
 hearts of many of the students sick. We could 
 give them no diplomas, however worthy they might 
 be of the highest college honors. In looking back 
 upon those dark days, I wonder they did not leave 
 us in a body and go elsewhere. Nothing but a 
 providential esprit de corps could have kept the 
 classes unbroken. 
 
 "At that time our Legislature held two sessions in 
 
 8*
 
 90 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 a year. In the spring of 1824 the petitioners were 
 again promptly on the ground. At their request I 
 appeared before a joint committee of the two Houses, 
 and in a speech of some two hours argued the 
 cause as well as I was able. In the debate which fol- 
 lowed, it was manifest that our petition was gaining 
 friends, and those who opposed it seemed afraid to 
 come to a direct vote. To stave oft' the question 
 and ultimately defeat us, they had a commission ap- 
 pointed, with ample powers to come to Amherst, 
 call the petitioners before them, look into the state 
 of the funds, inquire by what means they had been 
 obtained, and report at the next winter session. The 
 committee was constituted of five members of the 
 lower House, none of whom harmonized with us in 
 our religious faith ; and not one of whom, I believe, 
 was known to be in favor of giving us a charter. It 
 was confidently predicted by many, that this search- 
 warrant would settle the question against us, by 
 showing that the pecuniary basis on which we relied 
 was fictitious. 
 
 " Our next business, therefore, was, to prepare for 
 the investigation. We never claimed to have any 
 endowment, except a subscription of $50,000, as a 
 permanent fund, to help educate indigent pious 
 young men for the ministry ; and although this was 
 a bona fide subscription, a large part of which had
 
 Efforts for a Charter. 91 
 
 been paid, it was not in the best condition to abide 
 the searching inquisition of the legislative commit- 
 tee. As none of the subscribers were holden unless 
 the sum was made up to $50,000, several indi- 
 viduals were obliged, after all the papers were re- 
 turned, to guarantee the deficiency, which amounted 
 to about $15,000. This guarantee they made in 
 good faith ; but as they had already subscribed very 
 liberally, it was understood that they must be re- 
 lieved as soon as other subscriptions could be ob- 
 tained. Besides this, it was known that some of the 
 subscribers to the fund refused to pay, alleging that 
 they were deceived by the agents who circulated the 
 papers. It was deemed essential by the trustees 
 that the $15,000 should be lifted from the shoulders 
 of the warrantors before the committee came upon 
 the ground, and this was no easy task. The ques- 
 tion was, where, after having turned every stone, 
 the trustees should look for so much money, and in 
 so short a time. At their request I went to Boston, 
 laid the case before a select meeting of our friends, 
 and in a few days obtained about half the sum which 
 was wanted. The rest was made up by the trustees, 
 faculty and other friends in Amherst and vicinity. 
 The investigating committee notified us of the time 
 when we might expect them. As the day drew 
 near, a gentleman called upon our treasurer, with
 
 92 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 an order from the chairman of the investigating 
 committee, to submit our subscription list to his in- 
 spection. The demand was referred by the treas- 
 urer to our prudential committee. Upon consulta- 
 tion they could not precisely see by what right or 
 authority our papers were thus prematurely de- 
 manded. They accordingly directed me to return 
 this answer : 
 
 " ' We cannot comply with this demand, for these 
 among other important reasons : First. We do not 
 understand how any one has a right to send for our 
 papers, or in any way to interfere in the proposed 
 investigation, whatever interest he may profess to 
 represent. 
 
 " ' Secondly. By adverting to the resolution of the 
 House of Representatives, June 10, 1824, appoint- 
 ing the investigating committee, we find that said 
 committee is empowered to meet at such time and 
 place as they may think proper, previously to the 
 next session of the General Court, and to send for 
 persons and papers. But we do not find that the 
 committee is empowered by the aforesaid resolve, 
 to call for our papers previously to their meeting, or 
 indeed at any other time, for the purpose of putting 
 them into the hands of any other persons. 
 
 "'Thirdly. If the committee had been so em- 
 powered, we believe they have never acted on the
 
 Efforts for a Charter. 93 
 
 subject, and, of course, that the present call for our 
 papers does not come from them. 
 
 " ' Fourthly. The chairman of said committee has 
 given public notice in the newspapers that they will 
 meet in Amherst, on the fourth day of October, at 
 which time and place all persons interested in the 
 investigation may be heard. Of course, the Trus- 
 tees of the Collegiate Institution are allowed all the 
 time till then to arrange their papers and prepare 
 for the investigation ; and they will doubtless en- 
 deavor to have everything ready to be laid before 
 the committee.' 
 
 " This satisfied ourselves, at least, and we heard 
 no more of the order ; the agent was left to execute 
 his commission as best he could, without our help. 
 
 ' When the day of trial came, a lawyer employed 
 for the purpose was promptly on the ground to 
 cross-question us in the investigation, and as a 
 volunteer to assist the Legislative Commission in 
 searching the matter to the bottom. All our papers 
 were promptly put into the hands of the committee, 
 and the investigation lasted a fortnight. Our prin- 
 cipal agent in obtaining the subscriptions was pres- 
 ent, and closely questioned. A lawyer who had 
 been employed to look up testimony to condemn us, 
 was also there, with the affidavits which he had in- 
 dustriously collected ; and at his request, a large
 
 94 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 number of subpoenas were sent out to bring in dis- 
 satisfied subscribers. 
 
 "No similar investigation, I believe, was ever 
 more thoroughly conducted ; and some incidents in 
 the progress of it were quite amusing to the spec- 
 tators. Among the papers examined were notes to 
 a considerable amount, which were protested by the 
 counsel against us on the score of irresponsibility. 
 The first was a note of a hundred dollars, and as 
 soon as it was objected to, S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., 
 one of our Trustees, advanced to the table and said, 
 * Mr. Chairman, I will cash that note,' and laid 
 down the money. Another was produced as doubt- 
 ful. ' I will cash that, too !' said he, and laid down 
 the bills. And so of a third ; and if I remember 
 rightly, a fourth, till the chairman interposed and 
 said, with some warmth, 'We did not come here to 
 collect money for you.' Whereupon Mr. Wilder, 
 bowing gracefully to the chair, put up his pocket- 
 book. 
 
 " I have said that there were a good many small 
 subscriptions to the fund, by minors, and other per- 
 sons. These, of course, went into the hands of the 
 committee with the rest, to make up the fifty thou- 
 sand dollars. On these, it was obvious at a glance, 
 there might.be very considerable loss. This advan- 
 tage against us could not escape gentlemen so astute
 
 Efforts for a Charter. 95 
 
 as our learned opponents. It was reported, and I 
 believe it was true, that they sat up nearly all 
 night, drawing off names and figuring, so as to be 
 ready in the morning. Getting an inkling of what 
 they were about, two of our Trustees drew up an 
 obligation, assuming the whole amount, whatever it 
 might be, and had it ready to- meet the expected 
 report. No sooner was the session opened than the 
 report was laid upon the table, with an air of satis- 
 faction which seemed to say, * Here, gentlemen 
 petitioners, is a poser for you.' I leave you to im- 
 agine what a change of countenances there was 
 when the guarantee was instantly produced and 
 read. 
 
 "The appointment of this commission proved a 
 real windfall to the institution. It gave the Trustees 
 opportunity publicly to vindicate themselves against 
 the aspersions which had been industriously cast 
 upon them, and constrained them to place the 
 Charity Fund on a sure foundation. 
 
 " The investigation, to be sure, cost us some time 
 and trouble ; but it was worth more to us than a new 
 subscription of ten thousand dollars. I really do 
 not see how the sum could have been made up, in 
 cash, as it was on paper, without it. There were 
 those, and some men of renown, who ' meant not 
 so, neither did their heart think so.'
 
 96 H cman Humphrey. 
 
 " Soon after the opening of the next winter ses- 
 sion we went to Boston to hear the report of the 
 committee. When we arrived, what was our sur- 
 prise, to find that a large number of printed affidavits 
 had been smuggled into the House and laid upon 
 the seats of the members, setting forth various 
 reasons for declining to pay their subscriptions. 
 The committee, nevertheless, reported in favor of 
 giving us a charter ; and then came on the final 
 struggle. The debate was long and earnest ; and 
 when the vote was called for, the result seemed very 
 doubtful. But it prevailed. The charter was 
 granted, with the names of a good Board of Trus- 
 tees to carry into effect its provisions. Great rejoi- 
 cings and an illumination quickly followed, and the 
 college was duly organized by the choice of a 
 Faculty. 
 
 "The charter was a God-send to the institution. It 
 brought us into the honorable sisterhood of New 
 England colleges, and though the youngest of the 
 family, not the least. The number of undergradu- 
 ates rapidly increased, till in less than ten years, it 
 rose to more than two hundred and fifty ; and for 
 several successive years stood next in number to 
 Yale College. 
 
 " But fair and promising as the young sister was, 
 she could get nothing to begin with from the parent
 
 Solicitation of Funds. 97 
 
 who had bestowed ' never so much dowry' upon the 
 elder. 
 
 "Though the charter gave the institution a legal 
 existence, it was nothing more than a roll of parch- 
 ment. It brought us no money, and everything 
 was yet to be done. We had no chapel, no recita- 
 tion and lecture-rooms, no library, and nothing de- 
 serving the name of an apparatus in any depart- 
 ment. In these respects it was truly a day of small 
 things." 
 
 The labor of procuring funds was greater than 
 that of obtaining a charter. It was especially an 
 irksome work, and one for which Dr. Humphrey 
 thought himself poorly fitted. 
 
 One of the family traditions, however, shows that 
 he had some of the requisites of a solicitor. On one 
 of his journeys to Boston in the stage-coach of the 
 day, the vehicle stopped at a village to take up a 
 lady. The rain was falling the coach was filled. 
 The driver, opening the door, asked if any pas- 
 senger would resign his seat for one on "the deck," 
 in favor of the lady. No one moved for a moment. 
 The next instant Dr. Humphrey was on the ground, 
 and the lady in his place. Some time afterward, 
 when this village was canvassed for subscriptions to 
 the College, the husband of the lady was called 
 upon. He looked at the subscription-list, subscribed 
 9 G
 
 98 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 a handsome sum, and returned it, saying, " I do not 
 know much about Amherst College, but I know its 
 President is a gentleman." 
 
 The incessant toil which marked these years told 
 severely upon even his robust constitution. His 
 health was nearly broken, when, in the winter of 
 1834, sorne friends of the College proposed to defray 
 the expenses of a few months' travel in Europe, for 
 the restoration of his flagging energies. This jour- 
 ney was undertaken in the following spring, and 
 was of inestimable service. A series of letters, 
 written during that journey, and printed in the New 
 York Observer, obtained a wide circulation. The 
 paths of European travel had not then been beaten 
 hard by American tourists. 
 
 After his return, his official duties were less bur- 
 densome than they had been. The College was 
 favored with a full corps of eminent professors. He 
 was, however, continually employed in some useful 
 College labor. He was a most systematic student, 
 and devoted many of his leisure moments to literary 
 composition. He was a regular contributor to the 
 religious journals of the day. He identified himself 
 with all popular movements for true reform. His 
 advocacy of temperance was constant and effectual. 
 His public addresses in the pulpit and on the plat- 
 form were frequent. His voice became familiar at
 
 Personal Relations to Students. 99 
 
 all the great centres of benevolent effort. He was 
 an earnest friend of the Colonization movement, so 
 long as that promised most for the relief of the slave. 
 The soundness of his judgment became as widely 
 known as the mingled wisdom and eloquence of his 
 lips. He was consulted in ecclesiastical matters far 
 and near. 
 
 By the students in the College he was singularly 
 revered. There are many now living, by whom 
 President Humphrey is recollected as the embodi- 
 ment of all that is wise and good. He obtained a 
 powerful influence over the students by his personal 
 interest in them ; by his familiar lectures in the 
 class-room to Freshmen on college-life to school- 
 teachers on life in the school-room ; and by his fre- 
 quent fatherly counsels to all. His patience was 
 occasionally tried by college pranks, but his wisdom 
 and his good-humor never failed to serve him. The 
 twinkle, or rather gleam, in his eye often showed 
 that he appreciated the fun he was bound to rebuke. 
 
 One incident of the early days of the College is 
 so characteristic and so well known that we give it 
 in Dr. Humphrey's words : 
 
 " Two rooms in the old College had been thrown 
 together for a temporary chapel, with a small, rough 
 desk at one end, in which, I suppose, it was thought 
 a good joke early to try one's metal, and see whether
 
 ioo Hem tin Humphrey. 
 
 it would ring or not. Accordingly one morning, as 
 I came in to prayers, I found the chair preoccupied 
 by a goose. She looked rather shabby to be sure, 
 but nevertheless was a veritable goose. Strange as 
 it may seem, she did not salute me with so much as 
 a hiss for my unceremonious intrusion. It might be 
 because I did not offer to take the chair. As any- 
 body might venture to stand a few moments, even in 
 such a presence, I carefully drew the chair up be- 
 hind me as closely as I safely could, went through 
 the exercises, and the students retired in the usual 
 orderly manner; not more than two or three, I be- 
 lieve, having noticed anything uncommon. In the 
 course of the day it was reported that as soon as 
 they found out what had happened they were highly 
 excited, and proposed calling a college meeting to 
 express their indignation that such an insult had 
 been offered by one of their number. The hour of 
 evening prayers came, and at the close of the usual 
 exercises, I asked the young gentlemen to be seated 
 a moment ; stated what I had heard, and thanked 
 them for the kind interest they had taken in the 
 matter ; told them it was just what I should expect 
 from gentlemen of such high, honorable feelings ; 
 but begged them not to give themselves the least 
 trouble in the premises. ' You know,' I said, ' that 
 the Trustees have just been here to organize a Col-
 
 Presidential Toils. 101 
 
 lege Faculty. Their intention was to provide com- 
 petent instructors in all the departments, so as to 
 meet the capacity of every student. They thought 
 they had done so. But it seems that one student 
 was overlooked, and I am sure they will be glad to 
 learn that he has promptly supplied the deficiency 
 by choosing a goose for his tutor. Par nobile 
 fratrum'" 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " I "*HE foregoing pages afford but a faint conception 
 -*- of the early labors devolved upon the President 
 of Amherst College. The anxieties which attended 
 the obtaining of a charter can never be appreciated 
 by those who simply read the history of the institu- 
 tion. No pen could ever record the long confer- 
 ences, the perplexed thoughts, the fearful appre- 
 hensions, the wearying vexations which excited the 
 brain and wore on the nerves of one whose whole 
 heart was given to this enterprise. Nor can any 
 mere reader understand how much was involved in 
 the earlier efforts made by President Humphrey to 
 procure funds for the College when it had received 
 its charter. Week after week was taken from the 
 time appropriated to collegiate duty for this pur- 
 pose. Vacation after vacation was consumed in this 
 work, which was, in some respects, more wearying 
 9 *
 
 IO2 Heman Humphrey, 
 
 than that of appeal to a Legislature. To plead for 
 rights is one thing ; to ask for charities is another. 
 It is true, that such charities as these are, in one 
 sense, rights. All men are God's stewards, and a 
 just plea for benevolence is a plea for the rights of 
 the Master. But he who stands firmest in this con- 
 viction is unable to forget, as he urges his claim, that 
 all solicitors for benevolent objects are regarded as 
 in some degree like all askers of alms. Compara- 
 tively few of those who give for benevolence give as 
 if the act were a privilege. The freest givers are 
 so continually plied with arguments from every side 
 that it is necessary to convince them by cogent rea- 
 sonings that they may, conscientiously, devote to 
 one object what is claimed for another. Besides, it 
 is well understood that the earlier endowments of a 
 collegiate institution are, almost always, obtained 
 with far more difficulty than the later ones. Here, 
 as elsewhere, the law prevails, " Whosoever hath 
 to him shall be given ;" and there is continual fear 
 that "Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken 
 even that which he seemeth to have." " How do I 
 know that my hundreds, given to an enterprise 
 which is yet so feeble as to be of doubtful life, may 
 not be cast into the sea?" is a natural question. 
 " My thousands given to an enterprise which has 
 already the elements of an enduring life, will be
 
 Visions of the future. 103 
 
 like new stones in a temple which will stand for 
 centuries," is a natural argument. 
 
 Had President Humphrey no further honor than 
 this, that he secured the launching and the dress of 
 his ship, and piloted it out of a crooked harbor into 
 the open sea, that were enough for one who beholds 
 Amherst College as it now is. But his honor is 
 greater than this. He, more than any one else, was 
 instrumental in giving the College its character. 
 Under his administration the purpose of its founders 
 was realized. They desired it to be a training- 
 school for the Church, a seminary for the education 
 especially of ministers and missionaries of the Cross. 
 That this desire might be realized was the cogent 
 motive which drew him from the pastorate in Pitts- 
 field. A single paragraph, already quoted from his 
 address at the foundation of the College church, 
 shows how earnest was his sympathy in this desire. 
 We give another paragraph, taken from the close 
 of his inaugural address, as pervaded by the same 
 feeling : 
 
 "As we cast our eyes down the long track of time, 
 from this consecrated eminence, how many bright 
 and interesting visions crowd upon our view ! We, 
 indeed, shall soon be gone ; but other generations 
 will come, and what may they not enjoy and accom- 
 plish, canopied as they will be by these Arcadian
 
 104 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 skies, invigorated by the pure breath of the moun- 
 tains, and inspired to rapture and to song as they 
 look abroad upon all the riches, life and beauty of 
 this great amphitheatre? How many favored sons 
 of this institution will hold sweet converse here with 
 the muse that loves the hill of Zion ! How many 
 statesmen, historians and orators will be trained on 
 this ground to shine in senates, to grace the bar, to 
 adorn the bench of justice, and to record the doings 
 of the wise, the brave and the good ! But more 
 than all that has been mentioned, what may not this 
 seminary do for the churches at home ; what victo- 
 ries may she not gain in distant lands, by sending 
 forth her sons under the banner of the Cross, and 
 clad in armor of heavenly temper to fight the battles 
 of her King? 
 
 " Who is there in this assembly that is not ready 
 to answer, May these glowing anticipations be more 
 than realized in the future prosperity and usefulness 
 of this institution ? May it live to gladden and 
 bless the Church through all future generations, and 
 in that world where holiness is perfect and know- 
 ledge is transcendent, may all its founders, patrons 
 and friends meet and dwell together for ever in the 
 presence of God and the Lamb." 
 
 Let any one who is curious to see what order of 
 students has come from this institution, study its
 
 College Revivals. 105 
 
 last Triennial, see what distinguished names are on 
 its roll, and how many of those names are printed 
 in the honored italics which designate ministers of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 President Humphrey was successful in impressing 
 all students by the force of his own character. One 
 of the most widely-known preachers in America has 
 more than once borne public testimony that, while 
 in Amherst College, he was more influenced by the 
 President as a man than even as an instructor. His 
 personal character was like an atmosphere or a sun- 
 shine. What he was, the College, to a great ex- 
 tent, became. 
 
 That he was continually solicitous for the religious 
 interests of the institution, is evidenced by his activ- 
 ity in promoting the frequent revivals which occurred 
 under his administration. In his address to the 
 Alumni in 1853, he said : 
 
 "There is nothing which I look back upon during 
 my connection with the College, with so much satis- 
 faction and so many thanksgivings to God, as * the 
 times of refreshing from his presence' which we en- 
 joyed. I have ever regarded them as so many 
 testimonies of the Divine approbation of the motives 
 of its founders. They meant to make it a College 
 for Christ and the Church ; and that it might remain 
 so, was, I have no doubt, the burden of their pray-
 
 106 lie-man Hum-phrey. 
 
 ers. By this hope they were cheered in the darkest 
 times, and in every revival they greatly rejoiced. 
 Of how many will it be said, when Christ makes 
 up his jewels, This and that pastor or missionary 
 was born there ! It seems to me the richest smile 
 of Heaven upon Amherst College, that no class has 
 ever graduated without having passed at least once 
 under the cloud which has so often ' poured out 
 righteousness' upon it. If, in its former straits, 
 every drop had been fine gold, how meagre the 
 blessing compared with the effusions of the Holy 
 Spirit by which the Church has been refreshed, and 
 in which so many sinners have been converted to 
 God ! I shall never forget the charge I received 
 when I was installed pastor of the church. ' Con- 
 tend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the 
 saints,' said the venerable father upon whom that 
 duty devolved. ' We would rather come here to 
 bury you than that you should depart from the true 
 faith.' So I now say : Let this College be swept 
 from under these glorious heavens sooner than any 
 other Gospel shall be preached within these walls 
 than that which has been made ' the wisdom of God 
 and the power of God' to the salvation of so many 
 souls !" 
 
 It had long been his declared intention to retire 
 from some of his more responsible trusts when his
 
 Return to Pittsfield. 107 
 
 threescore years should be rounded. "At sixty," 
 he would say, "a man may still be vigorous; in 
 some respects he may be more efficient than ever ; 
 but he cannot be so sure of his mental operations 
 as in middle life." He was already sixty-five when 
 he felt constrained to resign the office he had held 
 for twenty-two years. The College had long been 
 a recognized power in the land. He felt that it 
 could be safely committed to a new leadership. 
 
 In April, 1845, he tendered his resignation, and 
 made his arrangements to retire from collegiate life. 
 He has been followed by able and distinguished 
 men ; the first of his successors, Pres. Edward 
 Hitchcock, being then already known as among the 
 foremost savants of the scientific world. 
 
 He did not, however, retire into an idle repose. 
 His residence was fixed for the most of the ensuing 
 year with Rev. Henry Neill, at Hatfield, Massa- 
 chusetts, but his time was largely occupied by re- 
 vival labors and by the supply of vacant congrega- 
 tions in the neighborhood. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Where now should be the home of his old age ? 
 His former parishioners in Pittsfield plead for his 
 return to them not now as pastor, but as friend.
 
 io8 If email Humphrey. 
 
 He yields, and to this place of fond memories re- 
 turns for the evening of life. A new house near his 
 former residence was procured, and he was soon at 
 home again among those who welcomed him with 
 all their old affection. For a few years the numer- 
 ous demands made upon him by the churches 
 drew him frequently from his family. He supplied 
 vacant pulpits, assisted his brethren in extraordinary 
 labors, traveled through Western Massachusetts to 
 rouse new interest in the cause of Missions, and de- 
 livered several lectures in behalf of the American 
 Colonization Society, principally in New York and 
 Boston. His face was as familiar as ever on anni- 
 versary platforms. And while at home his pen was 
 more nimble than ever. He visited his children at 
 Louisville, and at Milwaukee, as well as at Lenox, 
 Binghamton and New York. He made summer 
 tours for health and pleasure. He revisited his old 
 haunts and homes in Connecticut. Scarcely any 
 young man was more active than he. Gradually, 
 however, he fell into a more reposeful life, still re- 
 taining his interest in all the movements of society, 
 and resuming the regular habits which had cha- 
 racterized his yonnger days. In the early summer 
 morning we used to hear the click of his hoe in the 
 garden. In the evening we were his companions 
 as he took his regular walk. In winter mornings
 
 His Daily Habits. 109 
 
 he substituted the study of the Scriptures for the 
 early physical exercise. After breakfast and family 
 devotion the study was his resort. There, from 
 nine o'clock until the bell struck for dinner, he 
 spent the hours in writing ; sometimes a chapter of 
 a book, sometimes a communication from " The 
 Old Man of the Mountains," sometimes a letter to a 
 friend, or a few pages of a sermon or of autobio- 
 graphical reminiscence. The results of these con- 
 tinued literary labors can only be appreciated by 
 those who review the accumulations of his unre- 
 mitted toil. After dinner came miscellaneous read- 
 ing, of new books, of current periodicals and news- 
 papers, "to keep up with the times." Then came 
 the walk, the visit, the genial talk with friend or 
 family. After tea the religious meeting, or the 
 friendly call, given or received. Then as ten 
 o'clock approached, the familiar Bible was pro- 
 duced, the fervent prayer was offered, and soon 
 after was heard the whirr of the wheels in the tall 
 old clock in the hall, as he wound it for another 
 twenty-four hours of faithful service. 
 
 By such regular habits the health of both body 
 and mind was wonderfully preserved. He was 
 seldom even partially disabled by illness. His 
 sleep was almost never disturbed. Uniformly 
 cheerful, and seeming to our partial eyes more 
 10
 
 no Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 and more genial as the mellow sunset came on, 
 he contributed greatly to the happiness of all about 
 him. 
 
 All village affairs interested him. When he 
 returned to Pittsfield from Amherst, he found that 
 the old church whose severed parts had been so 
 kindly knit again under his ministry, had become so 
 large that division was now as much a duty as union 
 had been twenty-eight years before. A colony was 
 soon formed. He identified himself with this colony 
 in a spirit of rare self-sacrifice, as most of his former 
 friends remained in the First Church. A new house 
 of worship was provided for the colony, largely in 
 consequence of his influence and exertions. A 
 pastor was installed one of the choicest in New 
 England Rev. Dr. Harris, now President of Bow- 
 doin College, Maine. Dr. Humphrey returned to 
 the First Church a few years afterward, when his 
 mission in the colony appeared to be accomplished. 
 
 He interested himself greatly in the establishment 
 of a Public Library, which is now large, and of 
 great benefit to the village. He promoted also a 
 " Tree-Planting Association." A coming generation 
 will rejoice in shade which he was instrumental in 
 providing. Thus his influence was felt in many a 
 healthful touch given to all the springs of village life 
 and prosperity. To the last, he was the friend and
 
 Marks of Affection. in 
 
 the counselor of the young. He prepared a series 
 of sermons to this class of society, which he loved 
 to deliver wherever he had opportunity. They 
 were listened to by hundreds with eager attention. 
 In 1859, as ne rounded his eightieth year, he pre- 
 pared a sermon on " Old Age," which he delivered 
 in the First Church at the request of the pastor, 
 Rev. J. Todd, D.D., who always revered him, and 
 who was loved in return. This sermon, full of 
 pleasant reminiscences, is marked by nothing so 
 much as by the interest it reveals in those who are 
 fresh in the circuit of life. 
 
 The citizens of Pittsfield maintained the warmth 
 of the welcome with which they had greeted him on 
 his return, to the very end. Those who had not 
 known him as pastor soon learned to respect him as 
 citizen and love him as friend. The children of his 
 former parishioners seemed to have brought such 
 memories of him out of their forming years, that 
 they regarded him with a reverence as nearly saintly 
 as is consistent with Puritan character. The tributes 
 of respect and affection he continually received were 
 very precious to him, and will always be remem- 
 bered as precious by his children. He used to say, 
 as he walked about the village, "All these lawns 
 and gardens are mine ;" referring only to the pleas- 
 ure he derived from them, and the freedom with
 
 112 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 which all these gates were open to his foot : " They 
 are mine without the trouble and expense of taking 
 care of them." Very often, in his walks, he would 
 enter the highly-cultivated grounds of some neigh- 
 bor, and wander for a time among the glowing beds 
 or under the drooping boughs, feeling that sense of 
 ownership which was derived from the thought that 
 God paints his tints and distills his odors for all his 
 children ; and from the consciousness that were he 
 known to wish it, no flower or fruit would be so 
 precious as to be refused him. Indeed, his parlor 
 and his table bore continual witness that " all gar- 
 dens were his." It was no formal tribute it was 
 but the natural sequel of all that had gone before, 
 that when at last his dust was borne to the grave, 
 the stores along the line of the procession were 
 closed, all the bells of the village were tolled, and 
 those who had abandoned all other duty, went in 
 solemn order to the place where the revered form 
 was laid. Dr. Todd spoke for many when he said 
 in his funeral sermon, " It will be a rich legacy to 
 our children, that they can walk through our beauti- 
 ful cemetery and point the finger and say, ' There 
 sleeps Dr. Humphrey.' "
 
 Golden Wedding. 113 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 of the brightest points in Dr. Humphrey's 
 domestic history during the tranquil evening 
 of his life, was the celebration of the fiftieth anni- 
 versary of his marriage, April 20, 1858. At this 
 " Golden Wedding" all his surviving children, 
 nearly all of his sons and daughters-in-law, and 
 most of his grandchildren, together with several of 
 our more distant relatives, were present. From 
 widely-scattered homes they came, with glad hearts 
 and with many a significant tribute of affection. 
 The citizens of Pittsfield expressed almost as much 
 interest in the occasion as if they had been members 
 of the family. Their substantial gifts are treasured 
 among the most valued heirlooms of the house. 
 
 On the morning of the anniversary, the family 
 were gathered in the familiar parlors to receive the 
 greetings of the day. The family altar was sur- 
 rounded by a group whose devotions were quick- 
 ened by a thousand happy memories, and led in 
 such outpourings of the soul as seldom fell from 
 even the venerable lips of him whom all the wor- 
 shipers so much revered and loved. 
 
 An address which Dr. Humphrey had previously 
 prepared, was then read. It was full of reminis- 
 cence, and radiant in all its passages with gratitude 
 10* H
 
 H4 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 and affection. It was too personal for insertion in 
 these pages. The written prayer with which it 
 opened may, however, be inserted, as revealing the 
 heart out of which it came : 
 
 " Almighty and ever blessed God, w r e adore thee 
 as our Creator and Preserver. We are fearfully 
 and wonderfully made. Thou hast endowed us 
 with social natures as well as immortal spirits. 
 Thou settest the solitary in families, and in thee are 
 all the pious families of the earth blessed. 
 
 " O Lord, we thank thee for what our eyes see 
 and our hearts feel to-day. We thank thee for this 
 great and joyful family gathering. What hast thou 
 wrought for us ! We are like them that dream. In 
 great mercy hast thou spared the lives of thine un- 
 worthy servants, the united head, to number fifty 
 years of our pilgrimage since the holy rite that 
 made us one. We thank thee for the children 
 whom thou hast given us. We miss some of them. 
 They are not all here. But we thank thee that the 
 most of them still live, and that thou hast brought 
 them home to us with their children, on an occasion 
 so uncommon in this dying world. And now, Lord, 
 what wait we for but thy presence and blessing? 
 Thy favor is life and thy loving-kindness is better 
 than life. May this sacred hour, with its kindred 
 reminiscences, be one of the most refreshing and
 
 Golden Wedding. 115 
 
 profitable of our lives. May we enjoy the presence 
 and approbation of the same Divine Guest whose 
 smiles gladdened every heart at the marriage-feast 
 in Cana of Galilee. May the words of our mouths 
 and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in 
 thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. 
 We thank thee that our hearts flow together in this 
 great family gathering, and that there is no absent 
 prodigal to mourn over in the midst of these joyous 
 greetings of parents and children and children's 
 children. May our souls be more closely knit to- 
 gether in bonds which can never be broken, how- 
 ever widely asunder our earthly lot may be cast. 
 May we gain new strength to meet the duties and 
 trials of life. May our whole intercourse while we 
 are together, be such as shall secure thine approba- 
 tion which is life, and thy loving-kindness which is 
 better than life. We all feel that it is good for us to 
 be here. It is a sweet fellowship of kindred souls, 
 and, O Lord, we thank thee that we are allowed to 
 rest for a few days at this stage of our earthly pil- 
 grimage ; to look back upon the ground, rugged 
 and smooth, already passed ; and leaning upon thine 
 Almighty arm, to renew our strength for what yet 
 lies between us and the end of the journey. Pardon 
 all our sins and shortcomings, we humbly beseech 
 thee. Receive us graciously and love us freely, for
 
 n6 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 the sake only of our adorable Redeemer, to whom 
 be glory for ever. Amen !" 
 
 In the evening came a throng of friends from the 
 village to offer their congratulations. If such occa- 
 sions can be dignified by a title borrowed from 
 precious substance, it was a "golden wedding," 
 indeed. 
 
 When the delightful days of this family reunion 
 were spent, the children and the children's children 
 were once more brought together for benediction 
 and farewell. The trembling hand held the manu- 
 script. The trembling voice pronounced the words 
 of parting : 
 
 " Our prayers have been answered. Our lives 
 have been spared, and God has brought you home 
 from your wide dispersions, to gladden our aged 
 hearts with your filial greetings, and to rejoice with 
 us and with one another on an anniversary such as 
 but few families are permitted to enjoy. Our cup 
 of blessings has been more than full ; it has run 
 over. It would be delightful to have you all build 
 your tabernacles around us and remain. But it 
 may not be. As Peter, James and John must come 
 down from the Mount, and betake themselves to the 
 rough and self-denying duties of life, under the 
 direction of their Master, so you have homes and 
 duties to which you must return
 
 Golden Wedding. 117 
 
 " Farew ell, notwithstanding its good meaning, is 
 a word that lingers, reluctant to leave our lips. But 
 this is not even your earthly rest. You must go 
 your several ways ; and may the angel of the cove- 
 nant go with you ! . . . . What changes may 
 await you on the journey of life it is not granted us 
 to foresee ; and you know r , ' It is not in man that 
 walketh to direct his steps.' Trust in the Lord at 
 all times, and lean not to your own understand- 
 ings. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he 
 
 shall direct your paths As we give you, 
 
 one after the other, the parting hand, we bless you 
 in the name of the Lord. May you be shielded 
 from all the dangers of the way, and resume your 
 duties with renewed health and 'encouragements ! 
 Take care to adorn your Christian profession. We 
 have no greater joy than that our children are walk- 
 ing in the truth. Serve God and your generation 
 faithfully, according to his will, and whether we 
 meet any more in this world or not, may we all be 
 received as welcome guests at the Marriage Supper 
 of the Lamb ! 
 
 "And now, O Lord our Heavenly Father, go 
 with these beloved sons and daughters, and the 
 children thou has given them. Hitherto thou hast 
 appointed the bounds of their habitation in great 
 mercy. Whatever future changes of abode may
 
 1 1 8 If eman Humph rey . 
 
 await them, choose out all such changes for them : 
 guide them by thy counsel, and screen them by thy 
 grace. May these thy servants, the beloved heads 
 of so many families, bring up their children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord ! Fulfil to the 
 widow and the fatherless all thy great and precious 
 promises. Wilt thou cause the widow's heart to 
 sing for joy ; and may all their children rise up and 
 call them blessed ! 
 
 "As they now leave us we give them a parting 
 blessing. ' Guide them, O thou great Jehovah.' 
 Such another meeting we shall never enjoy here 
 below. We thank thee, and call upon our souls and 
 all that is within us to bless thee that thou hast 
 granted us this, so rare a favor. May we be reunited 
 at last, an unbroken family, where they go no more 
 out for ever. This is opening our mouths wide. 
 It is asking for blessings infinitely great ; but it is 
 asking them in thy name, O thou infinitely great 
 and adorable Saviour, to whom with thee, O Father, 
 and the Holy Ghost, we will render equal and undi- 
 vided praises. Amen." 
 
 So we separated, with a double benediction upon 
 our heads, that which he pronounced and that which 
 came in answer to his prayer. 
 
 Most of us were permitted to come, once and 
 again, to receive the patriarchal welcome and bless-
 
 Eighty-First Birth-Day. 119 
 
 ing before the silver cord was loosed and the golden 
 bowl broken. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A S our father's eighty-first birth-day was ushered 
 ^* in, he sat down to record some new reminis- 
 cences some fresh expressions of gratitude, some 
 further outpouring of prayer. He is still strong, 
 but he reviews the year just closed with a careful 
 self-scrutiny. " I can see that my outer man has 
 decayed faster than in any preceding year, but I 
 suffer very little." " When I sit down to write, it 
 takes me longer to collect my thoughts than it once 
 did. The wings of my imagination are clipped. 
 But, if I am not entirely deceived, my judgment has 
 suffered less. I seem to be a better critic of popular 
 books and speakers than I was twenty years ago." 
 "As yet I am a stranger to depression of spirits. 
 I still look on the bright side of things and enjoy 
 cheerful society. It affords me great satisfaction, as 
 I am passing off the stage, to carry with me the 
 strong persuasion that the world is growing better." 
 Then follows the review of the year. Then the 
 prayer of which these are portions : 
 
 " I thank thee that thou hast given me this pleas- 
 ant home in the bosom of my family, and surrounded 
 by friends whose hearts are always warm and whose
 
 I2O H cman Humphrey. 
 
 hands are often filled with testimonies of their kindly 
 Christian regard. I thank thee that the doors have 
 not been shut in the streets ; that I have been able to 
 go out and come in ; that I have not been left to 
 want any good thing ; that I have had health regu- 
 larly to go up to the House of the Lord. I thank 
 thee, O divine Redeemer, that I have so often during 
 the year enjoyed the privilege of showing forth thy 
 death at thy table. I mourn that I have not loved 
 thee more and served thee better. I lament the 
 poor returns I have made to thee for thy boundless 
 love and compassion in bearing my sins upon the 
 cross, and in opening the fountain of thine own 
 precious blood to wash them all away. Oh what 
 infinite compassion ! Oh what unspeakable mercy ! 
 Oh what sweet and melting invitations ! Oh what a 
 privilege to have lived another year of borrowed 
 time so near the gate of heaven ! Oh for a thousand 
 tongues to praise thee for what thou art and for what 
 thou hast done to save a lost world ! 
 
 " This day I enter upon a new year of my long 
 life. It may be the last. I may scarcely pass the 
 threshold ere the final summons comes. If so, Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit ! If I am spared a little 
 longer, teach me so to number my days, so to im- 
 prove the time which remains, that when the mes- 
 senger comes I may be found with my loins girded
 
 Patriotic Sermon. 121 
 
 about and my lamp trimmed and burning. Grace ; 
 rich grace ; free grace ; this is all my hope, flowing, 
 as it were, from the pierced and bleeding heart of 
 the Lamb of God, whose blood alone cleanseth from 
 all sin !" 
 
 The year thus opened passed as peacefully as the 
 preceding, until, in its closing months, the storm of 
 the Southern Rebellion rose on the sky. Dr. Hum- 
 phrey's loyal heart was intensely moved by the 
 events which so quickened the pulses of the country. 
 His interest in public affairs was almost painful. 
 When the clergymen of Pittsfield met to make 
 arrangements for the day of National Fasting and 
 Prayer, to be observed January 4, 1861, he was ap- 
 pointed to deliver, at a union meeting, the sermon 
 of the day. He accepted the invitation with all the 
 ardor of his youth. He repaired to his study on the 
 very day of his appointment and commenced his 
 work. His hands trembled with eagerness ; his 
 face glowed with excitement. His family remon- 
 strated against his attempting the duty assigned to 
 him ; but he thought himself strong enough to 
 undertake it. Could he refuse to take the pen 
 when so many were buckling on the sword? The 
 result was a sermon which, for argument, for elo- 
 quence, for religious and patriotic fire, was consid- 
 ered equal to the best efforts of his meridian days. 
 11
 
 122 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 " It now lies before us," says an article in the Inde- 
 pendent, " in a pamphlet published by request of 
 Governor Briggs and other leading citizens of Pitts- 
 field, who heard it preached ; and it seems to us in 
 every way a remarkable discourse to have been pre- 
 pared and delivered by a man standing on the edge 
 of his eighty-third year." 
 
 It is probable that the excitement attending the 
 preparation and delivery of this sermon depressed 
 his vital energies, and hastened the assault of disease 
 by which the citadel of life was beseiged and 
 carried. 
 
 In February, while on a visit to Amherst, he 
 experienced the first premonition of danger. He 
 treated it lightly, as but the consequence of the 
 intense cold of the season. It was but a difficulty 
 in breathing which disturbed his sleep. Soon after 
 his return to Pittsfield he suffered from a recurrence 
 of the unpleasant symptom. This time no reason 
 could be found in the temperature. The difficulty 
 returned again and again. It became alarming. 
 Yet it is significant of his energy of character, that 
 he maintained the customary round of his life ; and 
 while so much distressed by panting lungs and 
 shattered nerves that he could not guide his pen, he 
 dictated to one of his family a communication for a 
 newspaper conducted by one of his grandchildren^
 
 His Last Sickness. 123 
 
 Ere long, he was prostrated by an attack so severe 
 that for the time his life was despaired of. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 EARLY in March, his absent children were 
 startled by telegraphic summons to Pittsfield. 
 They hastened thither, scarcely expecting to find 
 him living. The assault, however, had been success- 
 fully resisted. His constitution, so strongly braced 
 and invigorated by early care and lifelong prudence, 
 was not easily overpowered. For several days after 
 the collection of the family he was able to be with 
 them, occasionally, at the table or at the family altar. 
 But the conflict with death had evidently begun. 
 He lingered for nearly a month, gradually becoming 
 weaker. It was like the pounding of a well-riveted 
 ship upon the beach on which it is cast, losing mast 
 and sail and the lighter fabrics of the deck, rocking 
 in the breakers, striking in the stormier days with 
 a force which threatened an immediate parting of 
 bolt and rib and knee, yet resisting all with a won- 
 derful power. 
 
 At first his mind was clear. He understood his 
 danger, but for several days after his physicians 
 regarded his case as almost hopeless no such an- 
 nouncement was made to him. He was still able to
 
 124 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 move from room to room, when, by one of his sons 
 who has now rejoined him in glory, he was told that 
 the end was near. For a moment he was startled. 
 An expression of the most intense solemnity then 
 overspread his countenance as, for the moment, he 
 gave himself up to the thought of standing before a 
 holy God. Soon afterward he retired to his room 
 and gathered about him his family for the prayer 
 and counsel of dying breath. 
 
 The first characteristics of his religious experience 
 in view of death were such as one might naturally 
 expect, when considering the type of his conversion, 
 his early theological training, his remarkable con- 
 scientiousness, and his equally remarkable humility. 
 The thought of God's perfect holiness was one of 
 the grandest in his creed. He, before whom the 
 heavens are unclean, and who chargeth his angels 
 with folly he who cannot look upon sin but with 
 abhorrence, was now to be the Judge of one who 
 was acutely sensitive to his own shortcomings who 
 often in his prayer felt like laying his hand upon 
 his mouth and his mouth in the dust, while far 
 above him he heard the chant of the angels, "Holy, 
 holy, holy Lord God Almighty !" 
 
 "How can I, how can any mortal, stand before 
 God?" 
 
 The thought of Christ as a perfect sacrifice then
 
 His Closing Days. 125 
 
 came to his relief, and he expressed his confidence 
 in the redemption he has provided. He did not 
 tremble in anticipation of the judgment, but felt 
 humbled that his character would stand out in such 
 contrast to that of his Judge. After a time this feel- 
 ing gave way to those softer and more glowing ex- 
 periences which centre themselves upon Christ the 
 glorified Saviour, rather than upon the holy Judge. 
 Thenceforth the humility of the conscious sinner 
 blended with the glad anticipations of the saint, re- 
 deemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. 
 
 Gradually his mind became clouded. The dis- 
 ease, which made his breathing often paroxysmal, 
 deprived the blood of oxygen, and so disturbed the 
 brain. Sometimes in a lucid interval he would give 
 some parting instruction or say some parting word. 
 He would send a farewell to an absent one, or turn- 
 ing to the wife anxiously seeking to soothe and 
 help him would say, " I trust we shall spend long 
 ages together in heaven. To dwell with Christ 
 that will be heaven !" Then some expression like 
 this would drop from his lips : " To love and serve 
 God for ever, without any imperfection how differ- 
 ent from the imperfect service I have rendered 
 here !" 
 
 ' It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but 
 we shall see him as he is, and be for ever with 
 11*
 
 126 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 the Lord for ever and ever and ever with the 
 Lord ; worship him glory inexpressible nothing 
 but glory and happiness in the face of Jesus 
 Christ !" 
 
 " A glimpse of that glory, how wonderful ! Ever- 
 lasting happiness, and this just upon the dying-bed 
 of the believer ! I stand and contemplate this 
 blessedness, and am filled with rapture and love 
 O glory ! O heaven ! O bliss ! Abounding grace 
 and mercy in Jesus Christ !" 
 
 Sometimes, when water was given him, and which 
 he continually craved, he would smile and refer to 
 a spring which flowed near his father's house in 
 Barkhamstead. Like David of old, he thought of 
 the spring where he slaked the thirst of his boyhood, 
 as the sweetest in the world. Oh for a draught 
 from that hill-side fountain ! " But then," he would 
 add, " how much sweeter will be the river of the 
 water of life which flows from beneath the Throne 
 of God and of the Lamb !" 
 
 At times we could hardly decide whether his ex- 
 pressions were those of a collected or of a wander- 
 ing mind ; but always they showed his strong cha- 
 racter, his unyielding faith, and his trust in the 
 redeeming blood of Christ. 
 
 " My own powers of investigation are entirely 
 broken down. I have nothing to do with meta-
 
 Religious Experiences. 127 
 
 physical investigations nothing to come between 
 me and the cross of Christ." 
 
 "In days past, truly what comforts and deliver- 
 ances have there been !" 
 
 " God, help me to soar to soar to soar away to 
 glory, honor and immortality for ever !" 
 
 " Draw out my faith and love in far more raptur- 
 ous strains !" 
 
 " Why should I linger any longer here, O Divine 
 and adorable Redeemer ! What should keep me 
 back?" 
 
 In one of his more clouded moments he imagined 
 that his spirit had already escaped the clay. Then 
 the obscure consciousness of his suffering gave a 
 tone of disappointment to his expressions. 
 
 " I confess that I had expected more of the glories, 
 and of the immediate opening of the heavenly 
 world, and less of the trial after death." 
 
 But soon the disappointment gave way to experi- 
 ences such as these expressions reveal : " Blessed 
 be God for his eternal rest ! It is so unexpected to 
 see these glories and hear that music ! Swallowed 
 up and lost !" 
 
 " Glorious things !" cried he, on another occasion. 
 "Who could desire more? And where is the 
 crown? Where is the seat of the Saviour's 
 kingdom?"
 
 128 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 It is impossible to describe those heavy-footed 
 days in which he lingered in waiting for his release. 
 But they ended at last on Wednesday, April 3. 
 He passed his eighty-second birth-day in suffering, 
 just a week before. We had almost hoped that 
 would be the day of his departure, that thus the 
 earthly might run evenly into the heavenly calen- 
 dar. Perhaps that last week of the "tribulation" 
 out of which he " came" at length, was important to 
 the perfecting of his glory among those who have 
 " made white their robes in the blood of the 
 Lamb." 
 
 Another pen has told the rest of the story. In 
 the funeral sermon by Rev. Dr. Todd a discourse 
 so eloquent in thought and feeling, so just and dis- 
 criminating in its tributes to Dr. Humphrey's mem- 
 ory is this passage : 
 
 " His last sickness was an exhibition of one of 
 the mysteries of our nature, when disease preys 
 upon the nerves with a power which no medical 
 skill can control, and which seems to make the 
 whole body a collection of diseased cords not one 
 of which can be quieted till the body and intellect 
 are overpowered a state most painful to bear, and 
 hardly less so to witness. For the most part the 
 reason was clouded ; but even then, in the dark 
 prison-house, his spirit was feeling after the pillars
 
 The End. 129 
 
 of truth and searching for her accustomed light. 
 Samson, in the prison-house, dark and dreary, is 
 noble, even there. At one time, in the mazes of a 
 beclouded intellect tempted, as he thought, to 
 apostatize he told his imaginary tempter : ' No, I 
 cannot become a Jew !' And as the trial was crowd- 
 ing harder, and he felt that he was persecuted to 
 turn Mohammedan, he said, with his own emphatic 
 voice and manner, ' No amount of suffering, mental 
 or physical, will make me iurn Mohammedan !' and 
 then added and in the circumstances of the case it 
 was sublime ' I know in whom I have believed ! I 
 know that my Redeemer liveth ! I stand upon the 
 Rock of Ages !' 
 
 "At another time, when a friend intimated to him 
 that his end was near, he seemed to start up out 
 of the lethargy, the cloud at once lifted, reason 
 rallied to her throne, and for a few minutes, like the 
 dying Jacob, he sat up, called for his wife and chil- 
 dren to come around him, when he gave to each a 
 few words of love more precious than jewels and 
 sent special messages to absent children and friends. 
 It was the sun breaking out between the evening 
 clouds clear, soft and beautiful. In a few moments 
 he fell back, and the bright daylight was gone ; and 
 when the spirit again became conscious, she was in 
 unclouded, everlasting day. When the hour of 
 
 I
 
 130 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 dismissal came, the angel of death walked the room 
 so softly that his steps were not heard. Like David 
 of old, ' he fell on sleep,' as on a pillow, and the 
 only difference to him between sleep and death was, 
 that in the one case, the bosom barely heaved, and 
 in the other it was still, and the prophecy was ful- 
 filled, ' Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, 
 like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season !' 
 and the great prayer of the Redeemer was answered 
 ' Father, I will that those whom thou hast given 
 me. be with me where I am, that they may behold 
 my glory.'" 
 
 The funeral was attended, April 8, from the Con- 
 gregational Church. The building was heavily 
 draped in black. An immense concourse was pres- 
 ent. The services were conducted by several cler- 
 gymen. And when the benediction was pronounced, 
 the last look at the peaceful face was taken. Then 
 the long procession, then the words of burial, then 
 the rounded grave. Now the granite monument, 
 inscribed with a favorite text of him whose dust 
 reposes beneath it : 
 
 INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 
 
 Now, also, ten thousand precious memories ; count- 
 less influences ; words that cannot die ; a character 
 which stands, strong and shapely, where thought
 
 His Characteristics. 131 
 
 sets up its models, one of the few realities among 
 our ideals of human excellence and symmetry. 
 
 Having thus imperfectly traced the connected line 
 of Dr. Humphrey's history, it still remains to delin- 
 eate analytically his characteristics. In attempting 
 this we are fully aware of the difficulty besetting the 
 partial pen of a son. Yet there is an advantage in 
 the intimacy of a child which no stranger could ever 
 enjoy. Public men are often studied from the dis- 
 tance, somewhat as the astronomer of to-day studies 
 the planets. We have maps and globes represent- 
 ing Mars. We are told of the snows at its poles, 
 and of the seas and continents which clothe its 
 milder zones. An inhabitant of the planet if such 
 there be could tell us far more of his world than 
 an earthly astronomer could ever learn, though his 
 glasses were never so powerful. In the use of that 
 knowledge which is derived from the most intimate 
 relations to our subject, we shall endeavor to be im- 
 partial ; we shall be pardoned if we overdraw. 
 
 THE MAN. 
 
 In physical constitution he was unusually strong 
 and vigorous. He was subject to few maladies, was 
 haunted by no chronic disorder, and was seldom 
 prostrated by acute disease. The vital machinery 
 ran on for eighty years, with scarcely an interrup-
 
 132 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 tion in its regular movements. He was of bilious 
 temperament, and so well balanced, that while sel- 
 dom unduly excited, he was as seldom unduly 
 depressed. He was never so much burdened by 
 care that he could not sleep through the hours of 
 repose. His load was never carried beyond the 
 door of his bed-chamber. In person, he was 
 of medium height and well developed. His eye 
 was dark and mild. His hair, in earlier life, was 
 black, and curled about the high and rounded 
 " dome of thought," which, in later years, was 
 smooth, from eyebrow to summit. Till past middle 
 life his face was full and ruddy. He was fond of 
 physical exertion, and never abandoned it. The 
 habits of the farmer clung to him to the last. 
 Throughout the period of his presidency he con- 
 ducted a small farm, the operations of which he 
 always found time to oversee. 
 
 It is related of Rev. *Dr. Emmons, that he 
 adopted a life so sedentary that he wore holes in 
 the floor of his study by the incessant chafing of his 
 chair; and that he would not abandon the " Lord's 
 work" at the writing-table to help secure his hay, 
 imperiled by a coming shower. We have often 
 followed the President from the study to the hay- 
 field, under both bright and clouded skies. No one 
 was a better judge than he of the quality of an axe
 
 His Wisdom. 133 
 
 or a scythe. No one better knew where to insert a 
 wedge into a refractory knot. He was fond of 
 driving or rambling amid the beautiful scenery 
 which always surrounded him. He was skillful in 
 the use of rod and gun, though he seldom allowed 
 himself to gratify the tastes of the sportsman. The 
 garden, the field, the orchard, afforded him the most 
 of his exercise. 
 
 In mental constitution he was unusually sym- 
 metrical. If any qualities were prominent, they 
 were those which made him a man of practical 
 wisdom and judgment. John Locke would have 
 referred to him as an example of " roundabout 
 sense." Dr. Todd says of him : 
 
 " A rare thing it is to find a man who has lived 
 more than fourscore years always in action who 
 has said and done so few unwise things as Presi- 
 dent Humphrey. It is an original gift. Those 
 who have gone to him for counsel, those who have 
 acted with him on committees or on ecclesiastical 
 councils, those who have wrestled with him in deep 
 discussions in ministerial meetings, those who have 
 sat under him as an instructor or pastor, have all, 
 without dissent, accorded to him the appellation of 
 'a wise man.' On all moral questions his instincts 
 were quick and unerring. Though he made no 
 pretensions to far-reaching views, yet all knew that 
 12
 
 134 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 to follow his advice was to walk in safety. I never 
 knew an instance where it was disregarded when 
 the mistake was not most manifest sooner or later. 
 You might pour over him a load of theories and 
 opinions, and he would instantly pick out the true 
 from the shams." 
 
 Associated with this wisdom, was an unusual tact 
 in reading character, in discerning motives and in 
 harmonizing conflicting feelings. His success in 
 eradicating the Half-way Covenant from the church 
 in Fairfield, in cementing the broken fibres of the 
 church in Pittsfield, and in promoting the interests 
 of Amherst College in its days of struggle, are 
 ready illustrations. 
 
 His logical faculties were not uncommon. His 
 reasonings were conducted more by analogy than 
 by demonstration. Yet his deductions from facts 
 were clear and convincing. The Baconian method 
 was his especial favorite. Facts were the "stub- 
 born things" out of which he loved to frame his 
 arguments. He was not marked as an original 
 thinker, but he was distinguished for the solid fire 
 of talent, if not for the brilliant corruscations of 
 genius. 
 
 He had a lively fancy, but not a powerful imagi- 
 nation. His writings were often as highly illumi- 
 nated as a missal ; but the tints of the illumination
 
 His Humor. 135 
 
 were, like those of a missal, borrowed, though skill- 
 fully combined. So, while he had little wit, he had 
 an abundance of humor. This played on the sur- 
 face of all his familiar conversations. It made his 
 after-dinner speeches on Commencement occasions 
 always agreeable. One of the laws of the College 
 was, that no firearms should be kept in the students' 
 rooms or used by them during term-time. We well 
 remember meeting him one day as he was coming 
 down the College hill, with a gun on each shoulder. 
 " I have captured two stand of arms," said he, with 
 the air of a conqueror. A clergyman of no very 
 distinguished ability once received the "semi-lunar 
 fardels" at a college Commencement. Delighted 
 with the dignity, he asked President Humphrey, 
 " On what principle do you confer these titles?" 
 "We give them," was the reply, "to three classes 
 of men : First, to those who eminently deserve 
 them ; second, to those whose friends would be 
 gratified by the honor conferred ; third, to those 
 who cannot possibly get along without them !" 
 
 No one ever enjoyed a harmless joke more than 
 he. No one was more fond of a good story. He 
 had many College jokes in his repertoire, and often 
 related them. We have often seen him linger, as 
 he was leaving a room in which his children were 
 relating the humors of the day, that he might carry
 
 136 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 away the flavor of the jest. Sometimes, when the 
 joke seemed a little questionable, he would stop 
 behind the half-closed door until the burst of laugh- 
 ter came, and then go away, his white teeth glisten- 
 ing along the hall ; not quite willing to rebuke, nor 
 unwilling to enjoy. 
 
 His moral sensibilities were predominant. Chief 
 among them all was conscience. In the Mint at 
 Philadelphia is a delicate machine for testing the 
 weight of coin. A quantity of gold-pieces is poured 
 into a receptacle which opens against the breast of 
 a wheel. This wheel is put in revolution. The 
 coins pass down the periphery, and are received on 
 a series of scales, so contrived that if the coins which 
 fall upon them are below the standard weight, they 
 are thrown into one compartment below ; if above, 
 into another ; if of standard weight, into a third. 
 Dr. Humphrey's conscience was as sensitive and 
 discriminating as this machine. His own thoughts 
 and acts, as also the thoughts and acts of others, 
 were incessantly tried by it. Nothing could induce 
 him to put a rejected coin in circulation. We have 
 already referred to the uneasiness of soul which re- 
 sulted from a single neglect of public worship, while 
 a lad, on a day of fasting. In his papers we find : 
 " In thinking over my fanning days, one reflection 
 gives me great satisfaction : I never, that I can
 
 His Conscientiousness. 137 
 
 recollect, deceived my employers, and never disap- 
 pointed them if I could help it. When I went home 
 on a visit, I made it a point to return at the time which 
 was set ; and I cannot remember that I ever failed." 
 He speaks reproachfully of having, on one occasion, 
 slept an hour among the leaves on a warm April 
 day, when he should have been' at work. It was 
 his onlv offence of this nature. None but a man of 
 
 m/ 
 
 sterling conscience would have remembered it so 
 long. He was habitually exact in his dealings with 
 men. 
 
 An Amherst merchant has recently told us that 
 Dr. Humphrey invariably threw himself upon the 
 conscience of the dealer in selecting his purchases, 
 and then paid the uttermost farthing. He once 
 purchased a horse of a man who, while accepting 
 the price offered, told him that the animal was worth 
 ten dollars more than the limit his customer had 
 fixed. After trying the animal, Dr. Humphrey was 
 so well satisfied with the purchase that he returned 
 to the dealer and insisted upon his accepting the 
 extra sum. This scrupulous conscientiousness un- 
 doubtedly gave its tone to his religious experiences. 
 It was this which in his dying hours made it seem 
 so fearful a thing for a sinner even a sinner re- 
 deemed to stand before a holy God. 
 
 Closely allied to his conscientiousness, was a re- 
 12*
 
 138 II cman Humphrey. 
 
 markable humility. He was not inclined to depre- 
 ciate his abilities ; nor was he ever guilty of over- 
 estimating them. He never coveted places of 
 honor ; he spontaneously shrank from them, yet 
 assumed them when it became plain that duty called 
 him. He was never jealous of other men, though 
 they were occupying positions which his friends 
 thought he could better fill. Dr. Todd says of him : 
 
 " Humility pervaded his whole character. We 
 never heard him complain of neglect, hard usage, 
 or of any disappointment. Even in age, when the 
 old war-horse could not snuff the battle and laugh 
 at the rattling of the spear as he once could, he sub- 
 mitted as quietly and as meekly as a little child who 
 had never left the shadows of his father's house. 
 It was not the humility produced by comparing 
 himself with other men, but humility before God, 
 learned by leaning against the cross and looking 
 into the face of Jesus. And when we beheld his 
 face shining as did the face of Moses, we knew it 
 was because he had dwelt long in the mount with 
 God." 
 
 His humility was nowhere so conspicuous as in 
 his estimate of himself as a subject of God's govern- 
 ment. " What is man, that thou art mindful of him, 
 and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" was the 
 frequent exclamation of his prayer. He looked up
 
 His Benevolence. 139 
 
 to the great Jehovah with an awful reverence. His 
 " Invocation" in the sanctuary was often as solemn 
 as if he expected the departed glories of the She- 
 kinah to burst again in the house of God. 
 
 Associated with his humility was a beautiful sim- 
 plicity and magnanimity of character. He was as 
 guileless and transparent as a child ; as ready to 
 apologize for or to forgive an enemy as if he could 
 not see a bad intention. His friends were some- 
 times almost impatient with him for his want of 
 what they considered a just resentment. Mean- 
 while he went forward, subduing by his magnanim- 
 ity those who perhaps might have only impatiently 
 thrown off the " coals of fire" which resentment 
 kindles. In his simplicity he was often surprised 
 that others should "stand upon etiquette." In his 
 magnanimity he would go far to say a kind word 
 or do a kind act for one who had injured him. 
 
 His benevolence was large and systematically 
 cultivated. He believed in God's promises to the 
 cheerful giver and to the liberal soul. In his later 
 years, he invariably laid aside a certain proportion 
 of all his pecuniary receipts to enable him to meet 
 the constant calls of charity. Among his papers 
 is a memorandum-book, in which he was in the 
 habit of entering all his income ; the smallest frag- 
 ments, that which was paid for a newspaper article
 
 He man Humphrey. 
 
 or a Sunday's preaching among the rest, and 
 against every entry was a cross, followed by the 
 fractional sign which indicated the proportion 
 appropriated to benevolence. The "chanty fund" 
 was generally kept between the leaves of this book. 
 Hence he almost always had " something to give" 
 which had already passed into the Lord's treasury. 
 Thus he always knew how much to appropriate, 
 and giving was " easy." Sometimes, however, he 
 would give " upon faith." We have often heard 
 him relate the story of an impoverished woman, 
 who, being reduced to the last extremity, declared 
 to him that she did not know what next to do except 
 " to begin to give." On one occasion, at least, he 
 illustrated the theory underlying the poor woman's 
 remark, by a gift which, on any other theory, would 
 seem extravagant. The American Board of Com- 
 missioners for Foreign Missions was near the close 
 of one of its difficult financial years. A special 
 appeal was made for funds. It was so urgent that 
 he felt impelled to contribute a sum which at that 
 time could not on any system of worldly economics 
 be spared. "The Lord will provide," said he, as 
 he gave it. During the following week he received 
 an invitation to perform a marriage ceremony in a 
 neighboring town. He complied, and, to his great 
 surprise, received a fee of exactly the sum con-
 
 His Affections. 141 
 
 tributed. Dr. Humphrey's affections were deep 
 and rich, yet he was not peculiarly demonstrative. 
 The current was even and tranquil, without freshet, 
 without waterfall. 
 
 That with these excellences of character some 
 defects were mingled, he, if now living to read this 
 sketch, would be foremost to declare ; but no fault 
 in him was ever so clear as the lowest of his virtues. 
 Let us appeal once more to the language of his 
 funeral sermon : 
 
 "In speaking of the character of this father, I 
 should fear to express my honest convictions in full 
 among any people who did not know him as you 
 have done. I, certainly, have had good opportuni- 
 ties to read his character, and I may speak with the 
 reverence of a son and the frankness of a friend. 
 And I honestly and deliberately say, that though it 
 would be weak and wicked to call any man perfect, 
 yet I have never known a man who, in my estima- 
 tion, came so near being fatdtless as Dr. Hum- 
 phrey. High praise, you will say ; and yet there is 
 not a man in this community who would dissent 
 from it." 
 
 If the qualities thus delineated are kept in view, 
 we shall carry some light with us in conducting the 
 remainder of our analysis.
 
 142 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 THE PREACHER. 
 
 It would naturally be supposed that the peculiari- 
 ties of Dr. Humphrey's early culture would exhibit 
 themselves in his pulpit discourses. To a certain 
 extent they did, at the outset of his ministry. Yet the 
 style of his first sermons was not more defective than 
 that of many a young preacher who has all the edu- 
 cational advantages of the present day. It was, 
 perhaps, somewhat ambitious ; yet our teachers now 
 prefer occasional flights by their pupils to a tame 
 and level propriety. A bird will never draw its 
 even circles on the sky without first venturing on 
 irregular wings. What is most observable in the 
 style of Dr. Humphrey's early productions is an in- 
 tense earnestness and a certain robust quality. The 
 sweep of his sentences was like that of the arm 
 which could reap an acre per day in the harvest- 
 field. The thought is clear and the manner of 
 expression is forcible and vivid. The quotations we 
 have made from his sermons on Temperance, in 
 Fairfield, afford an average example. By practice 
 he gained rapid improvement, and soon became one 
 of the most attractive preachers of his day. Per- 
 haps his power in the pulpit was never so great as 
 during the period covered by the twenty years be- 
 tween 1815 and 1835. His voice was then strong
 
 In the Pulpit. 143 
 
 and mellow ; his delivery was animated and often 
 powerful. He was frequently invited to preach on 
 important occasions, and seldom disappointed his 
 audience. His eloquence was never stormy, but 
 was often impassioned in a high degree. The 
 cast of his sermons was, for that day, " fresh" and 
 " modern." He emancipated himself from the me- 
 chanical divisions and subdivisions, the " improve- 
 ments" and the interminable vertebras of inference, 
 so much employed by celebrated preachers before 
 him. Not that he wrote without a " plan ;" not that 
 he rejected the numerals and the " heads" which 
 they designated ; but that he made his divisions so 
 few and so natural that the articulations of his 
 " skeletons" were not painfully apparent. He 
 sought the advantage of freshness in his preaching, 
 so far as it could be made promotive of true power. 
 He would sacrifice nothing to effect ; he would make 
 use of effect so far as it might aid him in promoting 
 the triumphs of the Gospel. 
 
 He was never " sensational" in the pulpit. He 
 never there indulged in wit or sarcasm scarcely 
 ever in the mildest humor. His strain was always 
 dignified and lofty. One would say that in his 
 ordinary ministrations he was rather a " legal" than 
 a "spiritual" preacher that is, in this modified 
 sense, that he dwelt much upon the governmental
 
 144 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 as closely associated with the redemptive aspects 
 of Christianity. He had no confidence in " works." 
 Faith was to him the one condition of eternal life ; 
 yet he stoutly proclaimed God a Sovereign, and man 
 a rebel under infinite obligations to repent and sub- 
 mit to a rejected authority. He centred all his 
 hopes and all the hopes of the world upon the 
 Cross ; yet the life of obedience was made, perhaps, 
 more prominent than the life which is fed in con- 
 scious union with Christ. He preached the hard 
 doctrines, stripping bare the heart in its depravity, 
 then throwing it back on the mercy of Him whose 
 *' strong decrees" already enclose the destiny of 
 every man. Christ was to him a Sovereign Re- 
 deemer, rather than a personal intimate for every 
 man's heart and home. 
 
 The results of his preaching were eminently 
 " spiritual." He aimed to secure that obedience 
 which springs spontaneously from a sanctified heart. 
 The piety he loved was thoroughly experimental. 
 One of his favorite books was " Edwards on the 
 Affections." He had no confidence in a piety based 
 upon a simple act of submission to God and a reso- 
 lution to live a holy life. Regeneration and sancti- 
 fication by the Holy Ghost were central ideas in his 
 creed. His presentation of the hard doctrines was 
 designed to promote an absolute dependence upon
 
 Dependence and Free Agency. 145 
 
 the Triune God as Sovereign, as Sanctifier and as 
 Redeemer. He was satisfied with nothing less than 
 a rectification of the affections as well as of the 
 will. In these respects, as well as in many others, 
 he was representative of the period over which his 
 life was spread. When the type of popular preach- 
 ing was so far changed as to bring man's responsi- 
 bility into the foreground, he was not slow to recog- 
 nize the usefulness of this mode of address. He 
 sought to blend the advantages of the earlier and 
 of the later type, so as to avail himself of both. 
 
 " However paradoxical it may seem," he writes 
 in his autobiographical papers, "I am persuaded 
 that sinners ought to be just as earnestly exhorted to 
 give their hearts immediately to God as if no divine 
 help were needed ; for there is nothing in the way 
 but their own desperate depravity. On the other 
 hand, the agency of the Holy Spirit in turning men 
 from darkness to light ought to be kept as distinctly 
 in view as if no other agency were concerned in the 
 matter ; for no sinner ever will come to Christ except 
 the Father draw him. There is no way to deprive 
 him of all his excuses, and make him despair of 
 helping himself, but by preaching free agency and 
 entire dependence upon the sovereign mercy of 
 God." 
 
 His exalted idea of the preacher's office is well 
 
 13 K
 
 146 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 exhibited by a passage from a sermon delivered 
 before the Annual Convention of the Congregational 
 Ministers of Massachusetts, in Boston, May 29, 1830 : 
 "Never, surely, were duties so momentous de- 
 volved by any temporal prince upon his most confi- 
 dential servants as those which devolve upon every 
 minister of Christ. Never were such mighty inter- 
 ests suspended upon a single word or action. 
 Never, in the proudest days of Assyrian or Persian 
 glory, did those who stood nearest the throne act 
 under such amazing responsibility. Never were 
 such rewards promised to good and faithful servants. 
 Think, oh think, of the unspeakable difference ! A 
 minister of State may, by his wisdom and fidelity, 
 gain a new province for his master, or may lose half 
 the kingdom by his treachery or neglect. An am- 
 bassador may, by a skillful and timely negotiation, 
 dissipate or turn away the gathering storm of war 
 from his country ; or he may so misrepresent his 
 sovereign in a foreign court as to darken the politi- 
 cal heavens at once and bring down the tempest in 
 all its fury. For his fidelity and success he may be 
 rewarded with domains or titles, or, if unfaithful to 
 his high trust, he may be banished or beheaded for 
 his crime. But weigh these interests, these rewards, 
 these penalties, if you can, against the interests of 
 the kingdom of Christ; the worth of the undying
 
 The Kingdom of Christ. 147 
 
 soul ; the smiles, or the wrath of the Lamb ; the 
 heights of 'glory and honor and immortality,' or 
 the unfathomable depths of shame and remorse and 
 agony ! Time here, and eternity there ! A feather 
 in one scale, and the everlasting mountains in the 
 other !" 
 
 His views of the glory of Christ's kingdom are 
 also presented in the same discourse. Redemption, 
 to him, meant the subjection of a world to him whose 
 right it is to rule and reign, King of nations as he 
 is King of saints. 
 
 " How glorious is the kingdom of Christ, in its 
 constitution, in its laws, in its administration, and in 
 its peaceful advance to universal empire ! Every 
 great movement, every new conquest, every trophy 
 reminds us that it is not of this world. Its all-per- 
 vading spirit is the spirit of holiness, of love, of 
 pure disinterested benevolence. While the factitious 
 glare of earthly monarchies conceals a vast amount 
 of corruption, misery and crime under an imposing 
 exterior, the kingdom of Immanuel ' is all glorious 
 within ;' and the emanations of this central glory 
 will shine ' more and more unto the perfect day.' 
 As in the natural world the empire of the sun 
 advances just as fast and as far as the light shines, 
 so it is with the Sun of Righteousness. His domin- 
 ion will become universal, just as soon as he shall
 
 148 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 irradiate all lands. Behold, then, how his celestial 
 beams already gild the spires of ten thousand tem- 
 ples dedicated to his worship ! See how fast the 
 light wings its way from one dark mountain to 
 another. See how the shadows of death flee be- 
 fore it, as it glances upon the pagoda and the 
 mosque ; as it shines broadly upon the islands of 
 the Pacific and penetrates the savage wilderness 
 of our own country. Extend your view still far- 
 ther. See every great valley of death illumined, 
 every moral desert reclaimed, every foul spirit 
 cast out, every pagan altar thrown down, every 
 nation and every tribe under heaven coming joyfully 
 under the peaceful sceptre of Jesus ! Then listen 
 to ' numbers without number' of jubilant voices in 
 every variety of human language hymning praises 
 to the Redeemer !" 
 
 Among the favorite sermons which he loved to 
 preach in the evening of life, were two, one of 
 which is upon the text, " On his head were many 
 crowns." Rev. xix. 13. It presents a glowing pic- 
 ture of the glory of Christ, as he shall appear when 
 all things shall have been placed under his feet. 
 
 The other embodies the anticipations of one who 
 has devoted many long years to a study which, how- 
 ever profound, can carry one but little beyond the 
 alphabet in this mortal state. He felt, with Sir Isaac
 
 A Favorite Sermon. 149 
 
 Newton, that he had been like a child gathering 
 shells on the beach of an unexplored sea. He 
 looked forward with longing to the experiences of 
 that period when the sea itself should be traversed 
 and sounded. The text of this sermon is, Col. i. 
 9, 10. Its key-words are those already quoted as 
 cut upon his monument, so vividly expressive of 
 what he has already begun to realize "Increasing 
 in the knowledge of God." On the cover of the 
 manuscript is written the title ; a record of the pul- 
 pits in which the discourse was preached twenty- 
 seven in all ; also the first lines of several appropri- 
 ate hymns, such as : 
 
 " Lord, when my raptured thought surveys !" 
 " Great God, how infinite art thou !" 
 " Come, O my soul, in sacred lays !" 
 " My God ! my portion and my love !" 
 Its style of thought and expression may be in- 
 ferred from the following passages taken from near 
 the close : 
 
 "We have as much evidence that the saints 
 in light will increase in the knowledge of God, 
 as that their happiness will increase ; for happi- 
 ness and knowledge in the world of glory are in- 
 separable. The more they know of God the more 
 they will love him ; and the more they love him the 
 happier will they be. The human soul is made for 
 
 13
 
 150 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 progress. It thirsts for knowledge ; and though a 
 depraved heart weakens and obscures the intellect, 
 still, when knowable objects are presented to the 
 mind, it will learn something ; how much more, 
 when, renewed, washed and perfectly sanctified, it 
 enters heaven, and all its glories break upon the 
 enraptured vision ! There may be latent energies 
 in the soul of man which will astonish angels when 
 they come to be developed. We know that the 
 human mind is essentially spiritual and active. 
 There is no proof that it ever sleeps a single hour 
 from infancy to old age. Nor, after it leaves the 
 body and gets the free use of its wings, have we 
 reason to think it ever tires. 
 
 " Think of the countless millions of suns and sys- 
 tems which astronomy has already revealed to mor- 
 tal vision. Who can tell how many of these the 
 redeemed will visit, or what discoveries they will 
 make of God's ineffable glory beyond what hath 
 entered into the heart of man? And then, beyond 
 all these stars and the nebulae yet unresolved, there 
 is room enough in the infinite depths of space for 
 millions of other suns and systems to one that has 
 yet been discovered. Who can tell how many mil- 
 lions of them the saints will be permitted to visit in 
 the progress of everlasting ages, or what new dis- 
 plays of God's power and glory they will witness in
 
 The Knowledge of God. 151 
 
 each of them? Oh, what a mighty range, what a 
 vast duration, what advantages for increasing in the 
 knowledge of God ; of studying his adorable cha- 
 racter in the garnished heavens, and through the 
 endless cycles of his governmental rule ! But that 
 which the redeemed will study with the most intense 
 interest ; that which will ravish their souls beyond 
 all other knowledge, is the great mystery of godli- 
 ness God manifest in the flesh. Whatever else 
 may occupy their minds, this theme will ever be 
 uppermost. The glory of Christ will eclipse all 
 other glories. The knowledge of God in Christ 
 will, as it were, swallow up all other knowledge. 
 Wherever sent, in whatever ministrations employed, 
 their thoughts will not for a moment be withdrawn 
 from him. 
 
 "And if, as we have reason to believe, other 
 worlds and orders of beings are, in ways unknown 
 to us, deeply interested in the work of redemption, 
 how much wider views may be opened to the ador- 
 ing contemplation of the general assembly and 
 Church of the first-born ! We can hardly suppose 
 that angels and men are the only beings in the 
 universe who desire to look into this mystery of 
 mysteries. Moreover, who can tell but that God 
 has yet other attributes to display to an admiring 
 universe beside those which have been already un-
 
 152 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 folded? His justice and mercy were both kept con- 
 cealed from eternity till the fall of angels and men 
 brought them out ; and I ask again, who can tell 
 what other attributes may be disclosed to an adoring 
 universe as eternal ages roll on? Oh, what un- 
 speakable advantages will the righteous enjoy for 
 increasing in the knowledge of God as long as God 
 himself shall exist to irradiate the universe with his 
 glory ! How will their faculties expand as the in- 
 effable brightness is poured in upon their minds ! 
 how fast will they increase in the knowledge of 
 God ! how will their hearts glow with love ! with 
 what ecstasy, as they rise from glory to glory 
 through everlasting ages, will they shout, ' Unto 
 Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in 
 his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father, to him be glory and do- 
 minion for ever and ever ! Amen.' Oh, how will 
 they make the arches ring with their hallelujahs ! 
 Why cannot we hear the celestial chorus? We 
 shall hear it and join in the innumerable throng be- 
 fore the throne of God and the Lamb, if we are 
 washed in the same atoning blood." 
 
 What thoughts are these to carry with one 
 through the sunset, whose fading glories may well 
 be left behind without a sigh ! 
 
 In thus describing Dr. Humphrey as a preacher,
 
 The Educator. 153 
 
 we have rendered it unnecessary to speak of him as 
 a theologian. He was deeply interested in all the 
 theological controversies of the time. How notable 
 and how warm those controversies were, will appear 
 to any one who recalls the Unitarian discussion 
 whose centre was Boston, and whose principal cham- 
 pions on the side of Orthodoxy were Dr. Griffin, 
 Dr. Lyman Beecher and Dr. Leonard Woods ; 
 the New Haven controversy which centred about 
 Dr. N. W. Taylor ; and the discussion occasioned 
 by the revival movements of Dr. Nettleton on the 
 one side, and Pres. Finney on the other. In these 
 controversies Dr. Humphrey played no mean part. 
 On what side his lance was couched may be gath- 
 ered from our statement of his views. The conflicts 
 are now over ; their dust is blown out of the hori- 
 zon ; most of their principal contestants are gone 
 where men see eye to eye. Their results indeed 
 remain, but we will not attempt to record the history 
 of the struggle. 
 
 THE EDUCATOR. 
 
 Wide and deep as was Dr. Humphrey's influence 
 in the pulpit, the great work of his life was that of 
 the educator. We have seen how the tastes formed 
 in the obscure school districts of his native county 
 abode with him, impelled him to the teacher's work
 
 154 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 while in college, led him to interest himself in the 
 public schools of his two parishes, and finally ob- 
 tained their full development and exercise in the 
 office of President. The theme of education in the 
 home, in the school, in the academy, in the college, 
 was ever present in his mind. He wrote many 
 sermons on the subject. He delivered many ad 
 dresses in State and County Educational Conven- 
 tions. The atmosphere of such conventions was 
 congenial to his spirit. While breathing it, old 
 memories were sure to wake, and his thoughts were 
 ever near his lips. Very touching are these words 
 from the opening of an address before a Convention 
 of Teachers, held in Hartford, November 10, 1830 : 
 
 "I congratulate myself on being permitted this day 
 to meet, and to exchange salutations with so many 
 zealous and enlightened friends of education from 
 every part of Connecticut. And it greatly heightens 
 the pleasure of these greetings that I appear among 
 you, not as a stranger, but as a native-born citizen. 
 You will believe me when I say that the objects of 
 this convention and the presence of early friends 
 and associates, awaken in my breast recollections 
 and feelings which I love to cherish. 
 
 "Memory, that mysterious chronicler of bygone 
 years, carries me back with the swiftness of thought 
 to the period when the ' dew of youth' lay fresh
 
 His Educational Tastes. 155 
 
 upon my buoyant spirits ; and when, in a humbler 
 sphere, I first assumed the responsibilities of a school- 
 master. Time and space for a moment seem to be 
 annihilated. I am again in the very house where 
 first I met the bright and inquisitive glance of twenty 
 scholars. I look out, and the same snow covers the 
 hills. I look up, and the same winter clouds are 
 hurrying through the skies. I listen again, as I did 
 thirty years ago, to the oracular voices of old and 
 experienced teachers ; and I feel again the stirring 
 of the same young enthusiasm which then glowed 
 in my bosom. I forget that with me the warm 
 spring of life is so long past, and -that autumn is 
 even now sprinkling its flakes upon a spot so bleak 
 that it cannot retain them. Those fine chords so 
 long untouched, which once bound the heart to the 
 village-school, again vibrate and pour their harmony 
 into its secret audience, bringing me into near and 
 delightful fellowship with all the friends of popular 
 education throughout the land." 
 
 Of his ideas as an educator but little need be said 
 to those who have read the foregoing pages. Chris- 
 tianity was the base and the animating principle of 
 them all. He would educate the country for the 
 sake of Christ and of the world. 
 
 When he assumed the Presidency of Amherst 
 College, he felt that if profound and varied learning
 
 156 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 were the great requisite, then he was unfitted for the 
 post. But he saw that something more than this 
 was needed ; and he dared not resist the verdict 
 which decided that he was the choice of Providence. 
 How he struggled in fulfilling his duties, how he 
 succeeded, we have already told. Let another wit- 
 ness speak in words stronger than we have ventured 
 to use. Again we quote from the funeral sermon : 
 
 "Few men could, or would have toiled on, year 
 after year, as he did. Slowly the walls went up 
 as did the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah ; and 
 after a toil of twenty-two years a toil that seldom 
 has a parallel and without stopping an hour, save 
 once to hasten across the Atlantic when worn down 
 and ready to perish, he came to the place where he 
 must stop. Loving labor more than food, and 
 loving his College with the love of a father, he saw 
 that it was the will of God that he should now lay 
 down the burden and retire. It then seemed as if 
 he could never rally, and that he must die soon. 
 What had he done? He had gathered around him 
 a noble Faculty of teachers ; he had raised new 
 buildings as fast as needed ; he had gathered 
 around the College the confidence and the sym- 
 pathy of the Christian community ; he had gathered 
 funds and friends that would sustain the institution 
 in full vigor ; he had placed it among the brightest
 
 Amhcrst College. 157 
 
 luminaries of the land ; he had got it incorporated 
 and made it to be respected ; he had superintended 
 the education and seen graduate under his own eye 
 795 }' oun g men, sent out to leave their mark upon 
 the world, of whom 430 he saw become ministers 
 of the gospel, and of these 84 are numbered as pas- 
 tors in Massachusetts at this hour, and 39 were sent 
 abroad as missionaries of the cross. Sixty-eight of 
 these young ministers have passed away, and were 
 on the other side of the river to welcome their be- 
 loved instructor. Some of them were bright and 
 shining lights. He, being dead, yet liveth and 
 speaketh through all these and they, to tens of 
 thousands and onward and downward the influ- 
 ences roll to the end of time. What the results are 
 and will be in this world, no tongue can tell ; nor 
 will they cease for ever. The hallowed influences 
 which have been impressed upon other minds and 
 hearts are so many cords of love and mercy which 
 remain to draw souls to Christ. And many a poor 
 boy, and many a poor schoolmaster, will grow 
 strong and be lighted up in hope and courage, as 
 he tries to prepare himself for usefulness, by know- 
 ing that the great and the good Heman Humphrey 
 was once a poor boy and a poor schoolmaster, urg- 
 ing his way up to one of the highest posts of useful- 
 ness in the land !" 
 
 14
 
 158 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Had he accomplished no other work than this, he 
 would have gone down to an honored grave. 
 
 He never lost his interest in the College. He 
 had loved the faithful instructors who wrought with 
 him in his work, he had loved the very walls of the 
 buildings which grew up under his administration. 
 He delighted in nothing more than to revisit the in- 
 stitution, to review the past with those who had 
 been his fellow-workers, and to congratulate his 
 successors upon the prosperity of the College under 
 their hands. He was grateful for the cordiality 
 with which he was always received, and never 
 ceased to pray for and to rejoice in the growth of 
 the institution. 
 
 Much might be said of the influence he exerted in 
 moulding the Common-school system of Massachu- 
 setts. He believed that the college sent some of its 
 roots down into the common schools ; and for its 
 sake he would have these lower seminaries as per- 
 fect as possible ; for its sake he manfully contended 
 for the use of the Bible in those schools when a 
 persistent effort was made to exclude it ; for the 
 sake of the college, but not less for the sake of the 
 State and of the Land.
 
 His Philanthropy. 159 
 
 THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey wrote high on his list of maxims 
 that old Latin sentiment, Homo sum, etc. He was 
 in the highest sense a humanitarian ; not the less, 
 but the more, because he held so tenaciously to 
 an orthodox theology. No mistake is greater than 
 that a man must cease to care for the temporal inter- 
 ests of his fellows in proportion as he seeks the sal- 
 vation of their souls. His labors in behalf of tem- 
 perance were not intermitted until the temperance 
 reformation was fully established. One of his most 
 vigorous discourses was an address, delivered to the 
 students of Amherst College, July 4, 1828, the sub- 
 ject being a Parallel between Intemperance and the 
 Slave Trade. This address was printed, attained a 
 wide circulation, and like Dr. Marsh's " Putman 
 and the Wolf" was extensively useful. 
 
 His sympathy for the slave was quick and strong. 
 He was never an Abolitionist, in the technical sense 
 of that term. He fully believed, up to the period 
 of the civil war, that the American Colonization 
 Society presented the most hopeful means for the 
 mitigation, and perhaps for the ultimate removal, of 
 the blight and the wrongs of American slavery. 
 Yet, while recognizing the constitutional difficulties 
 which embarrassed political action in this matter, he
 
 160 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 looked with favor upon all schemes which promised 
 a gradual emancipation. He strenuously opposed 
 all extension of the area of slavery by governmental 
 action. When, in 1854, tne "Missouri Compro- 
 mise," which declared that from all territory " pur- 
 chased of France, lying north of 36 deg. 30 min., 
 slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in 
 the punishment of crimes, shall be, and is hereby 
 for ever prohibited," was threatened by the "Ne- 
 braska Bill," his blood was stirred. He delivered 
 an address on the subject before the citizens of Pitts- 
 field, in the Baptist Church, on Sunday evening, 
 February 26, which was characterized by all his 
 youthful fire. The repeal of this Compromise 
 seemed to him so gross a violation of the public 
 faith, that he could not restrain his indignant pro- 
 test. It was to him like one of the vital questions 
 of the Revolution. And, as the ministers of 1776 
 were impelled to speak, so he thought those of 1854 
 should keep not silence. 
 
 "What if," said he in his sermon, "that vener- 
 able man of God, Rev. Thomas Allen, who sleeps 
 in yonder tomb, could be waked up, and have the 
 Nebraska Bill with its black section put into his 
 hand what would HE say? I declare to you, I 
 would not for any price go and knock at the door 
 of that tomb, if I knew that I would bring him up,
 
 The Nebraska Bill, 161 
 
 except it were in the last extremity of expiring 
 liberty, that he might again buckle on his armor and 
 march up to the cannon's mouth. No ; let him 
 sleep, and never till the day of judgment know any- 
 thing of the atrocious conspiracy which has been 
 concocted this winter at the seat of Government !" 
 
 It is well known that the Nebraska Bill was 
 among the beginnings of the end ; that, in the 
 providence of God, the whole question of slavery 
 was solved by the war which in a few years fol- 
 lowed ; that Mr. Douglas himself, the great advocate 
 of the repeal of the Compromise, became one of the 
 instruments by which the power and the existence 
 of slavery were for ever destroyed in the United 
 States. The burning words which Dr. Humphrey 
 again poured out in Pittsfield when the first gun 
 had been fired upon Fort Sumter were those of one 
 who loved his country, and hated that system which, 
 through the precipitancy of its advocates, was 
 hastening to its end. 
 
 The same feeling which made him the friend of 
 the slave, made him the friend of all the oppressed. 
 In 1829 he delivered an address in Amherst, Hart- 
 ford, and other places, on " Indian Rights and our 
 Duties." It was occasioned by the forcible expul- 
 sion of the Indians, "in violation of a score of 
 treaties," to the western bank of the Mississippi. 
 H* L
 
 162 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 "I could not help remonstrating with all the 
 power I had. I said then, and I say now, that I 
 would rather receive the blessing of one poor In- 
 dian, as he looks back for the last time on the 
 graves of his fathers, than to sleep under the marble 
 of all the Caesars." 
 
 He was also an early and an enthusiastic sup- 
 porter of Christian Missions. He enjoyed the honor 
 of preaching the sermon at the ordination of the first 
 missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M. to the Sand- 
 wich Islands Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. Asa 
 Thurston. The service was held at Goshen, Con- 
 necticut, September 29, 1819. He was identified 
 with almost every prominent organization in his 
 day for the spread of the Gospel. He was inter- 
 ested in Asylums and Retreats for the unfortunate. 
 He sought the mitigation of unnecessary discipline 
 in Prisons and Penitentiaries. A sermon preached 
 in Pittsfield, on the day of the Annual Fast, April 
 4, 1818, upon " Doing Good to the Poor," shows 
 how great his compassion for this class of society 
 whom "we have ever with us," and how just his 
 discrimination in affording them a needed relief. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey wielded a facile and unwearied 
 pen. From the time when the educational essays
 
 His Literary Style. 163 
 
 of Lictor appeared in a New Haven journal, he 
 made frequent use of the press. After the struggles 
 incident to the founding of Amherst College were 
 over, he was in almost constant communication with 
 the public, by type as well as by tongue. His style 
 as a writer was simple and direct. " First clear- 
 ness, then force," was his maxim. His sentences 
 were like crystal lenses rather than like pictured 
 windows. Yet, when occasion served, he was 
 graphic in description or eloquent in thought. His 
 writings commended themselves, however, more by 
 the ideas they conveyed than by the rhetoric with 
 which they were adorned. Some one compares the 
 style of John Foster to " a lumbering wagon filled 
 with gold." The comparison would not describe 
 the style of Dr. Humphrey, even in his more negli- 
 gent moods. Yet it may be truly said that he was 
 more solicitous to have the gold in the vehicle than 
 to have the vehicle itself highly ornamented. It 
 would not be difficult, nevertheless, to fill many 
 pages with extracts whose rhetoric is as pure as 
 their thought is valuable. As a writer for news- 
 papers, he was among the most popular of the day. 
 Probably no letters from abroad have ever been 
 more widely read than those which he published in 
 the New York Observer. His " Letters to a Son 
 in the Ministry," first issued in the columns of a
 
 164 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 religious journal, were perused almost as eagerly 
 by the occupants of the pew as by the occupants of 
 the pulpit. His "Revival Conversations," appear- 
 ing first in the New England Puritan, were read 
 with universal interest and profit. The demand for 
 each of these serial issues was only satisfied by their 
 collection in permanent form. The same also may 
 be said of his "Letters on Domestic Education." 
 His miscellaneous contributions to the periodical 
 press would fill many volumes. What he wrote 
 may not go into the permanent literature of the 
 land, except by indirection. It was enough for him 
 to reach and influence the minds of thousands while 
 he lived. 
 
 Among the most important of his published ser- 
 mons and addresses are 
 
 1. Sermon before the Moral Society of Connecti- 
 cut. New Haven, 1815. 
 
 2. Sermon "On Doing Good to the Poor." Pitts- 
 field, 1818. 
 
 3. Sermon before the Berkshire County Educa- 
 tion Society. Lenox, 1818. 
 
 4. Sermon at the Ordination of the Missionaries 
 destined to the Sandwich Islands. Boston, 1819. 
 
 5. Address commemorative of the Landing of 
 the Pilgrims. Pittsfield, 1820. Second Centennial 
 Anniversary.
 
 Sermons and Addresses. 165 
 
 6. Address at his Inauguration as President. 
 Amherst, 1823. 
 
 7. Sermon before the Pastoral Association of 
 Massachusetts. "The Good Pastor." Boston, 1826. 
 
 8. Sermon at the Dedication of the Chapel at 
 Amherst College, 1827. 
 
 9. Address. "Parallel between Intemperance 
 and the Slave Trade." Amherst, 1828. 
 
 10. Sermon on " Indian Rights and our Duties." 
 Amherst, 1829. 
 
 11. Massachusetts Convention Sermon. "The 
 Kingdom of Christ." Boston, 1830. 
 
 12. Address before Teachers' Convention. Hart- 
 ford, 1830. 
 
 13. Sermon before the American Sunday-School 
 Union. Philadelphia, 1831. 
 
 14. Sermon at the Funeral of Nathaniel Smith, 
 Esq., of Sunderland. "The Good Arimathean." 
 Amherst, 1833. 
 
 15. Sermon before the Students of Amherst Col- 
 lege. " A Glorious Enterprise." Amherst, 1834. 
 
 16. Sermon on the Sixth Commandment. "Duel- 
 ing." Amherst, 1838. 
 
 17. The Bible in Public Schools. "American 
 Institute." 1843. 
 
 18. Valedictory Address on leaving the Presi- 
 dency. Amherst, 1845.
 
 1 66 Hcman Humphrey. 
 
 19. Address at the opening of a Normal School- 
 house, Westfield, Massachusetts. Boston, 1846. 
 
 20. Tribute to the Memory of Rev. Nathan W. 
 Fiske, Professor. Amherst, 1848. 
 
 21. Sermon at the Funeral of Miss Mary Lyon, 
 South Hadley. " The Shining Path." Northamp- 
 ton, 1849. 
 
 22. "The Missouri Compromise." Pittsfield, 
 1854. 
 
 23. Sermon on the Day of National Fast. Pitts- 
 field, 1861. 
 
 His published works, in volumes, are : 
 
 1. Prize Essays on the Sabbath. 1830. 
 
 2. Miscellaneous Discourses and Reviews. 1834. 
 
 3. Christian Memoirs. 1836. 
 
 4. Tour in France, Great Britain and Belgium, 
 2 vols. 1838. 
 
 5. Domestic Education. 1840. 
 
 6. Revival Conversations. 1844. 
 
 7. Letters to a Son in the Ministry. 1845. 
 
 8. Life and Writings of Prof. N. W. Fiske. 
 1850. 
 
 9. Life and Writings of Rev. T. H. Gallaudet. 
 
 1857- 
 
 10. Sketches of the History of Revivals. 1859. 
 
 He also wrote numerous articles for Religious 
 Reviews and monthly periodicals. His earlier
 
 As Father and Friend. 167 
 
 papers of this description appeared in the Panoplist 
 and the Christian Spectator. 
 
 "As an author," says Dr. Sprague, "he has 
 commanded high respect on both sides of the At- 
 lantic ; his works are all characterized by that 
 sobriety, transparency and richness of thought, 
 and that simplicity and purity of style, that are 
 fitted to secure for them an enduring posthumous 
 usefulness." 
 
 To render our analysis complete, we should speak 
 of Dr. Humphrey in his domestic relations and in 
 his character as a friend. Let it suffice to say, that 
 he was as evenly balanced in his most private life as 
 in the recitation-room, the pulpit or the ecclesiasti- 
 cal council. His "unbending" was never so abso- 
 lute as that of some strong natures ; but especially 
 in the twenty last years of his life, he was a most 
 genial companion in the household or in general 
 society. A popular preacher discourses upon the 
 different shadows men cast. Acts v. 15. Dr. Hum- 
 phrey's shadow was always pleasant, and oftentimes a 
 soothing one, if not, like St. Peter's, full of healing. 
 " Shadow" is another term for what is sometimes 
 described as "atmosphere." Dr. Humphrey's at- 
 mosphere was warm, yet brisk. If it was not as 
 full of magnetic attractions as that of some men, it 
 was not as full of repulsions as that of some others.
 
 1 68 Heman Humphrey. 
 
 Every one, in fact, enjoyed his society. The stranger 
 found, in a little while, that Dr. Humphrey had nu- 
 merous points of contact with all about him. If he 
 was never so young as to be charged with foolish- 
 ness, he was never so old as to be out of sympathy 
 with those of freshest life. He became more and 
 more genial with advancing years. To visit his 
 children and to gather them and their children 
 about him was one of his highest pleasures. 
 
 His family was large, but had been many times 
 broken in upon by death. Our parents had ten 
 children. Edward, James, Sophia and John, were 
 born in Fairfield ; Lucy, the first Mary, and Henry 
 Martin, in Fairfield ; Zephaniah, the second Mary, 
 and Sarah, in Amherst. But four of the ten are 
 now surviving. The first Mary, Sophia and Henry, 
 were buried in Amherst. John sleeps in Pittsfield, 
 James in Brooklyn, and Mary in Honesdale, Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 The dying sire has left behind him no ancestral 
 wealth, but he carried with him into the other 
 world that which " cannot be gotten for gold, nei- 
 ther shall silver be weighed for the price thereof." 
 He has left none of the reputation of a great dis- 
 coverer, but he learned that of which "the depth 
 saith, It is not in me ; and the sea saith, It is not in 
 me." His choicest bequest to us is that " good
 
 The End. 169 
 
 name which is rather to be chosen than great 
 riches," and that memory of the just which is 
 blessed. 
 
 Z. M. H. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, April, 1869. 
 15
 
 MRS. SOPHIA HUMPHREY.
 
 TO THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN 
 
 MRS. SOPHIA HUMPHREY, 
 
 AT the close of one of the bright days of the 
 month of October, 1807, a young lady could be 
 seen in the town of Farmington, Connecticut, stand- 
 ing at the front door of the house adjoining that now 
 occupied by the wife and daughters of the late Rev. 
 Noah Porter ; and looking, as she wrote in one of 
 her letters, at " the serene and solemn beauty dis- 
 played in the Creator's works." 
 
 There is reason to believe that the quality which 
 on that evening revealed itself to her with unwonted 
 vividness, as investing the objects of Nature, had for 
 many years dwelt in every chamber of her mind, 
 and even given attractiveness to her person. Her 
 form was one of unusual symmetry. She was tall, 
 erect, well-proportioned. Her movement was grace- 
 ful, and had withal a gentle dignity. The features 
 of her face, with only a glimmer however of their 
 pleasing expression, can still be seen in the photo- 
 
 15* 173
 
 174 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 graphs you have, taken when she was about seventy- 
 six years of age. This young lady was Miss Sophia 
 Porter, the daughter of Noah and Rachel Merrill 
 Porter, "the descendants of ancestors who had lived 
 in the Farmington Valley since 1652." Mr. Porter 
 had recently sold his farm and landed estate, and 
 purchased a house in the village, and moved into 
 it, that he might pass his remaining years with not 
 less usefulness, and in more tranquil enjoyment of 
 the mercies which God had conferred upon him. 
 He had three sons and two daughters : Edward, 
 a minister and teacher ; Robert, a judge in New 
 York ; and Noah, for sixty years the minister of 
 Farmington. The second daughter and youngest 
 child was your grandmother, born December 27, 
 1785. And it is from her diary and compositions 
 written at school, and from her letters to her friends 
 and to Mr. Heman Humphrey, then a young minister 
 at Fairfield, that we get the first glimpse of the dis- 
 interested nature, the tender affection, the scrupulous 
 integrity, the discerning and well-balanced mind, 
 and the desire to honor God, which characterized 
 her entire life. 
 
 None who knew your grandmother had ever a 
 doubt that, whatever it was that prompted her con- 
 stant and sustained activity, it was nothing that 
 terminated upon herself. She never thought of
 
 Her Life and Character. 175 
 
 herself. And it was this self-obliviousness that gave 
 that charming simplicity and grace to her manners, 
 and that real affectionateness to her heart, which 
 distinguished her. Endowed with what would be 
 called in these days a vigorous intellect and a 
 sound judgment, yet she never regarded these as 
 worthy of taking the leading place in the conduct 
 of her social, domestic or religious life. In a letter 
 written to a very dear friend, in December, 1807, 
 about three months before her marriage, she says, 
 after alluding to the conflict between the Rev. John 
 Newton's head and heart, " I have also a contro- 
 versy between my head and heart, or at least they 
 are each of them determined to take all the merit to 
 themselves. Head insists that the perpetuity of 
 affection depends entirely on the observance of ex- 
 ternal duties ; and of course that these must be the 
 foundation of happiness. This I think is plausible. 
 On the other hand, heart is decided in the opinion 
 that duty will be more strictly performed, and hap- 
 piness better insured, by a conduct influenced by 
 real disinterested affection, than that constrained 
 by any set of rules." 
 
 The sentiment expressed in these lines took such 
 possession of her in the bloom of life that it never 
 left her. To every minor act of her after days it 
 gave direction and beauty. Whether in bidding wel-
 
 176 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 come to a stranger, or in preparing for a guest 
 what her husband called in patriarchal language 
 "savory meat," that same desire to make some 
 one a little happier animated her face and moved 
 her hand. Neither age, nor deafness, nor change 
 of place, could diminish the strength of this habit of 
 mind. What came forth in the letters and glowed 
 in the heart of the maiden at Farmington, and 
 burned as a flame at Fairfield, lost none of 
 its intensity at Pittsfield or at Amherst. Widening 
 the sphere of her usefulness could neither diminish 
 the strength nor alloy the quality of her self-ab- 
 negating spirit. After her return to Pittsfield, 
 although the almond tree had begun to blossom, 
 and her years were approaching fourscore and 
 three, the passion of her heart still lived and 
 wrought, ' ' burning brightly amidst the frosts of 
 age." Even during her last sickness, in her days 
 of extreme weakness, when not only the silver cord 
 began to loosen, but the golden bowl to break, she 
 did not cease y to inquire after the comfort of what- 
 ever had been near her. "Have you fed the bird?" 
 she would say, as one daughter looked into her face. 
 "I was afraid you had not." " Have you kept any- 
 thing for her?" as she thought of her grandchild re- 
 turning from school. And on the very last day of 
 her life, when every sound was brought low unto
 
 Her Life and Character. 177 
 
 sobbing, she would place her hand in those of her 
 daughters and say, " Take care of yourselves, don't 
 mind me." 
 
 This forgetfulness of herself made her value at 
 far less than their real worth her own powers and 
 acquisitions. Whilst she never ceased to exercise 
 her rare capacity for discriminating between the 
 false and the true, the superficial and the substan- 
 tial ; and did not hesitate to express, in remarkably 
 appropriate phrase, her opinion when asked for it; 
 yet when in the presence of any who occupied or 
 claimed positions of usefulness, she was disposed to 
 sit at their feet. 
 
 She not only did not assume anything, but she 
 was pained at receiving the marks of deference in- 
 voluntarily manifested toward her. "You need a 
 word of caution," she wrote to one whose regard for 
 her was profound ; "do not rate me too highly ; I 
 fear you will be disappointed." Thus was she at 
 the beginning of life, and thus at the end. This 
 desire not to be overvalued made her perfectly- 
 transparent. She could not affect anything. She 
 shrank from exaggeration as from a falsehood. 
 When addressed in words of admiration she would 
 write, " I cannot consider these words as addressed 
 to me, as I am by no means deserving of the appella- 
 tions. Convinced as I am that adulation was not 
 
 M
 
 178 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 your design, yet so far as an expression has this 
 appearance, so far it will never be pleasing to your 
 friend." 
 
 Do not think, however, that because of this indis- 
 position to press her personality out and make it 
 felt, that she was without character. Far from it. 
 Every step she took, every plan she formed, every 
 child she encouraged, every beggar she relieved, 
 every sick person she remembered, every store- 
 keeper with whom she dealt, can attest that under 
 that quiet and genial face, and within that unobtru- 
 sive form, there dwelt deep feeling and outspoken 
 honesty. No emotion of her nature was cold. She 
 could become impassioned when off her guard ; nor 
 was she always unwilling to let persons know that 
 they must not attempt to impose upon her. For her 
 husband and her children she laid out her strength 
 and thoughts with a prodigality ceaseless and un- 
 measured. She could not do too much for them, 
 and found ample reward in her freely-given toil and 
 their love. Had it not been for her inborn sound- 
 ness of judgment, she would have erred on the side 
 of an unrestrained abandonment of herself to the 
 comfort of her family. But her regard for their 
 usefulness and her instinctive good sense would not 
 let her forget that to be right is more than to be 
 happy. And her reason came to the help of her
 
 Her Life and Character. 179 
 
 energy and love, and thus she did for them the most 
 that she could, temporally and spiritually. And in 
 the circumstances in which she was placed at Fair- 
 field, at Pittsfield and at Amherst, this was no light 
 task. To shield ten children from temptation, to 
 foster in them elevated aspirations, to constrain them 
 to industry, and to keep the wolf from barking too 
 loudly at the door, required no little administrative 
 talent and skill. And yet, by reason of her hus- 
 band's necessary absorption in public labors, these 
 burdens she took upon herself and carried them 
 cheerfully. Neither as a mother, nor as a parish- 
 minister's wife, nor as the sympathizing friend of 
 young men, nor in the entertainment of strangers, 
 especially during those twenty-three years that the 
 College occupied her thoughts and those of your 
 grandfather, did she fail nobly to do her part. 
 Common as it may be to quote the words spoken to 
 King Lemuel, " She riseth up while it is yet night, 
 and giveth meat to her household. She girdeth her 
 loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 
 Her candle goeth not out by night ; she stretcheth 
 out her hand to the poor, yea she reacheth forth her 
 hands to the needy. Strength and honor are her 
 clothing ; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She 
 openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue 
 is the law of kindness ;" yet who can read this de-
 
 iSo Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 scription without thinking of her whose "children 
 now rise up and call her blessed?" No one ever 
 doubted that your grandmother had intellect, and a 
 great deal of it, and that it showed itself in the 
 places where it was most desirable that it should 
 appear in her daily life and in the management of 
 her affairs. Nor was she without education- a 
 good education, in the technical sense of the word. 
 Her father, whose circumstances were never strait- 
 ened, and who was himself fond of books, placed 
 her during her childhood at the best schools which 
 were to be found in the neighborhood, and at the 
 age of fifteen sent her from home to a superior semi- 
 nary under the supervision of her brother Edward, 
 a man of learning who had relinquished the clerical 
 profession in consequence of failing health and the 
 loss of his voice. The journal which she kept at 
 this Academy is still with us, and has in it her com- 
 positions, her abstracts of the sermons preached at 
 the church on Sunday, and such remarks on attire, 
 society, and nature, as a young girl might be ex- 
 pected to make. "Asked permission on Sunday 
 to curl my hair ; had a repulse ; felt a little morti- 
 fied ; did not lay it to heart however," appears on 
 the first page. The exercise on manners enforced 
 once a week, occasions many piquant remarks. 
 Her observations on some of the young gentlemen
 
 Her Life and Character. 181 
 
 to whom she was introduced, are also made with 
 much naivete and freedom. She does not forget to 
 write of Mr. B. : "By attempting to be witty he 
 became very foolish, and even descended to sauci- 
 ness." The books which formed part of her read- 
 ing during the period (which was not very long) 
 covered by her journal, were Miss Hannah More's 
 Works, Newton's Letters, Volney's Travels and the 
 History of Paul and Virginia. On Sunday she en- 
 tertained herself with the Theological Magazine, 
 consisting of essays and sacred poetry. She also 
 read and studied the Bible, and committed to 
 memory the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. 
 
 If you would like to see one of her compositions, 
 here is a part of that on the " Critic's Vocation :" 
 
 "True criticism is the application of taste and 
 good sense to the fine arts. The object which it 
 proposes is, to distinguish between what is beautiful 
 and what is not. Critics who judge by rule, not by 
 feeling, are pedants, not critics. Even though the 
 public may praise, true criticism may often with 
 reason condemn. 
 
 " Taste and genius are different things. Taste is 
 the power to judge, genius to execute. One may 
 have a degree of taste for the fine arts who has 
 hardly any genius for composition, or for executing 
 those arts. But genius cannot be found without in- 
 
 16
 
 182 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 eluding taste. Genius therefore deserves to be con- 
 sidered as a higher power of the mind than taste. 
 Genius always implies something inventive or cre- 
 ative ; but taste rests in mere sensibility to beauty 
 when it is perceived. Refined taste makes a good 
 critic, but genius is necessary for a poet or orator. 
 Genius is a talent or aptitude which we receive from 
 nature for excelling in any one thing." These 
 points she afterward illustrates. 
 
 After thus receiving instruction at the seminary at 
 Waterbury, and at Clinton, N. Y., she returned to 
 her father's house, about eighteen years of age ; 
 there she enjoyed the society of her parents, and 
 that also of her brother Noah, who was four years 
 older than herself, a graduate of Yale College, the 
 valedictorian of his class, and at that time studying 
 for the ministry. With this brother she had much 
 intimacy of intercourse and much congeniality of 
 spirit. They confided to each other their most 
 sacred purposes and feelings. They wrote on sim- 
 ilar subjects. But for this friendship, begun in 
 childhood and growing closer and more precious 
 every year, and her deep sympathy with him in his 
 pursuits, you would be surprised to learn that she 
 composed and wrote a number of essays on theo- 
 logical themes. They were on such subjects as 
 The Being of God, and how to Glorify Him ; on the
 
 Her Life and Character. 183 
 
 Divinity of Christ ; Justification by Faith ; Atone- 
 ment ; Regeneration, etc. Nor can it be supposed 
 that the intimacy between this sister and brother was 
 diminished at all by the fact that, as not far from 
 this time Mr. Heman Humphrey found that "the 
 town of Farmington had many charms," especially 
 that portion of it which contained your great grand- 
 father's house ; so, her brother was beginning to 
 discern that the city of Middletown was not without 
 its attractions. Such was the effect of one of its 
 habitations and what it contained on the young 
 Farmington divine, that he is constrained to write to 
 his sister in the month of May, and aver how 
 " heartily pleased" he is with Miss " Hetty Meigs." 
 
 Therefore, we say that under the influence and 
 teaching of good schools, intelligent society, and 
 well-instructed divines, old and young, your grand- 
 mother was not without some knowledge of the way 
 to put out her thoughts and her feelings. 
 
 I will insert here two of her letters which I have 
 selected, not because they fairly represent her epis- 
 tolary gifts, which were really remarkable, but be- 
 cause of the long interval between them the one 
 having been written in the early morning and the 
 other late in the evening of her life. The first is 
 dated December 7, 1795, when she was ten years 
 of age (this is given without correction), and the
 
 184 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 last was written when she was nearly eighty-three 
 years old, November 13, 1868, after the death of 
 her grandson, James Humphrey, Jr., and only four 
 weeks before her own decease. These were her 
 latest written words. 
 
 FARMINGTON, Dec. 7, 1795. 
 DEAR BROTHER : 
 
 I am pleased that you have not forgotten me 
 in your absence from home, but have sent me 
 an agreable letter full of brotherly advise, which 
 I intend to mind ; and, indeed, I find no difficulty 
 in attending to that part of your advise with respect 
 to Mr. Wards worth,* for I find him very agreable. 
 I think that I learn to wright very fast, but I fear 
 you will have reason to think otherwais when you 
 se this letter. I find that we shall miss you at our 
 school, for the boys have almost cut to pieces that 
 pegg that you made in the door to keep out the cold, 
 and we want you to make another. But I hope you 
 will be able to shew your kind offices in that school 
 as well as here. I shall hope for another letter from 
 you. I shall improve every opportunity to express 
 my regards for you. 
 
 Mr. Noah Porter. 
 
 * Her teacher.
 
 Her Life and Character. 185 
 
 PlTTSFIELD, NOV. 13, 1 868. 
 MY VERY DEAR URANIA : 
 
 You may be assured that you and yours have 
 been much in my thoughts in all James' long and 
 painful sickness. And now that he is gone, I would 
 express my sorrow and sympathy for your sore 
 bereavement, though beyond my feeble words. I 
 feel devoutly thankful that our sorrow is so far 
 relieved by the consolation and hope that he is now 
 in rest, rejoicing in the glory of God. 
 
 Most of our family have gone before us ; but 
 thanks to a merciful God we may trust that they 
 
 are rejoicing together in the heavenly world 
 
 I thank you for the paper sent to me giving an 
 account of the funeral, and something of James' 
 character and religious experience. This was 
 quite satisfactory and comforting. My health and 
 strength I think are slowly failing. I want very 
 
 much to see you and your dear family 
 
 With much love and sympathy for you all, I am 
 Your loving mother, 
 
 SOPHIA HUMPHREY. 
 
 Thus far we have said very little about your 
 grandmother's religious life. 
 
 As the child of pious parents, and as the subject 
 of much biblical instruction at home and in the 
 
 16
 
 186 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 church, it was to be expected that her thoughts 
 would often ascend to the Father of her spirit. 
 
 At school her reflections were not unlike those of 
 most intelligent and carefully-reared young people 
 of her age. When for the first time she saw a per- 
 son upon a deathbed, she called it an " awful spec- 
 tacle," and could not withhold her prayer that God 
 would " make her ready for such a trying hour." 
 So after an evening party, where there had been a 
 great want of spirited conversation, or a great deal 
 of what her companion called " a flatness," she ex- 
 pressed the wish that " subjects would arise in such 
 places interesting to and becoming a rational mind." 
 The natural thirst of her immortality for some object 
 adequate to meet its wants made itself felt at this 
 period of her life the period when so many aspiring 
 souls feel the need of something grander and nobler 
 than this world can give. 
 
 Not until four years after this date, August, 1801, 
 do we hear from her again. And now the thoughts 
 which, as a school-girl of sixteen years of age, came 
 to her just long enough to reveal their beauty and 
 majesty, and then passed away, take up their abode 
 in her, widening her intellect, stimulating her im- 
 agination, quickening her conscience, fortifying her 
 will and comforting her heart. She loves the 
 mountains now as they point toward heaven, and
 
 Her Life and Character. 187 
 
 admires the glory of the evening skies. " In the 
 solitude of the stage-coach" she " finds an opportu- 
 nity for contemplating nature," sees "flowers and 
 trees answering the end for which they were made," 
 and wonders and is sorry " that the noblest part of 
 creation, to which all else is subservient, should 
 neither know nor perform the part for which it is 
 designed." Very decidedly does she express in the 
 diary from which we are quoting, her sense of the 
 insufficiency of any temporal joy to meet the deeper 
 wants of her spirit. She shrinks from " seeking 
 gratification in objects which I already find are as 
 inadequate to satisfy the cravings of an immortal 
 mind as husks are to satisfy the natural appetite." 
 Nor does she hesitate to aver that " without religion 
 in the soul there is a void which nothing else can 
 fill." 
 
 Indeed there is dawning in her the existence and 
 beauty of the Kingdom of God. "Lord fill my 
 soul with thy love," is now her prayer. And when 
 asked " whether she would wish to be religious 
 were there no future state?" she answered, "Yes; 
 there appears to be a fitness in serving and glorify- 
 ing the God of heaven and earth, my great Creator, 
 Preserver and bountiful Benefactor. There is a 
 happiness in it which I hope and wish ever to 
 enjoy." Nor did she desire this blessedness only
 
 i88 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 for herself. When "the rain was falling refresh- 
 ingly upon the earth," she writes, "Oh that the 
 Lord would grant showers of divine grace on the 
 hearts of the people !" About this time she ex- 
 presses very deep interest in an account given by 
 a neighboring clergyman of the conversion of a 
 number of persons in his congregation, especially in 
 the new life of a little boy of ten years of age. 
 
 " Oh, that, encouraged by this," she writes, 
 " Christians would be oftener at the throne of grace, 
 imploring, as a great favor, that God would pour 
 out his Spirit !" On the day of her brother's ordina- 
 tion, Nov. 5, 1806, she makes this record : 
 
 " I feel as if I could joyfully give him up to God, 
 to be devoted to his service, and to promote his 
 kingdom in the world." 
 
 "The ordination of my dear brother to the pas- 
 toral care of this church and congregation binds 
 him to me with a double tie. He is both my minis- 
 ter and brother." 
 
 Her desire now was to come into the closest pos- 
 sible relations with the Redeemer. "Why this 
 remaining unbelief? Why this fear? Why do I 
 not come and cast myself on Jesus, believe on him, 
 hope in his mercy?" " May I receive Christ into 
 my heart, and enjoy sweet and holy communion 
 with him !"
 
 Her Life and Character. 189 
 
 " May I see my way clear to make a public pro- 
 fession of his name !" She seeks her dear brother 
 again, and he encourages her. What transpired in 
 those conversations is not recorded. She alludes to 
 them : " Had a conversation with my brother. Gave 
 him an account of my feelings. Told him I had a 
 faint hope. He had hopes of me. But I would not 
 take encouragement from this. I ought not to trust 
 to man's judgment. O Lord, help me ! I would 
 look into my own heart and search it. By the rules 
 of thy Word I would compare myself, and know 
 what manner of person I am." With trembling step 
 she advances. The glory of the Lord appears at 
 times, and the sense of his favor. " How sweet, 
 how endearing, how comforting, how quickening, 
 is it to unite in singing the praises of our God !" 
 Then on another day a cloud comes : " Why am I 
 thus unbelieving? Why these doubts? Why sepa- 
 rated from God, from communion with him? It is 
 sin. This body of sin and death within me, when 
 will it be destroyed? There are sins hidden from 
 my view by my own blindness. O Lord, tear them 
 from my heart, however painful the separation, so 
 that by any means I may enjoy the display of thy 
 glory and beauty to my mind ; and especially the 
 light of thy reconciled face." And her prayer is 
 granted. December comes. The divine Spirit
 
 190 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 again takes of the things of Christ and shows them 
 unto her. " I never felt more ardent love to Christ, 
 more fervent desire to be like him ; to be conformed 
 to his image, to serve and glorify him with my 
 whole heart." Nor does she lose sight of the Lord's 
 Supper, and the sacred espousal, and mysterious 
 unition comprehended in it ; on the contrary, her eye 
 is steadily upon it, as was that of the ancient Israelite 
 on the Holy of Holies. " Dedicated to God in bap- 
 tism, I feel my covenant obligation ; I wish to renew 
 this, and dedicate myself to him." 
 
 With this month of the year 1806 her diary 
 closes. But her heart is moving on to the sacra- 
 ment. On the last leaf but one she writes : " Christ 
 has said, ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
 heavy-laden.' ' For salvation he has provided a 
 glorious way ; a way exactly fitted for such a help- 
 less creature as I am.'" And then, as if in her mind 
 receiving and resting upon the Redeemer as he is 
 freely offered in the Gospel, she says: "O Lord 
 Jesus, I come ; laden with sins, I come ; pollutions 
 have stained my guilty soul, yet if thou wilt, thou 
 canst make me clean ; my Lord and my God, I 
 believe." " The all-cleansing fountain of thy blood 
 is sufficient. The way of atonement is full and 
 clear. Here would I rest. On nothing in my 
 heart can I for one moment rely. I cast myself on
 
 Her Life and Character. 191 
 
 Jesus Christ, reconciled and delighted." "May 
 the Sun of Righteousness shine into my soul." 
 
 During the next year, 1807, she united with the 
 Church. 
 
 " He has induced my heart publicly, and I hope 
 sincerely, to set my seal to his covenant of grace, 
 and unreservedly to dedicate myself to him as the 
 supreme portion of my soul," is her statement. 
 
 If the feelings which have been recorded were 
 of the Holy Spirit, superinducing a new, even a 
 divine life in her soul, making her " accepted in 
 the Beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace 
 who predestinated her to the adoption of a child," 
 then it was to be expected that her after years 
 would ripen and reveal the fruit of such an election. 
 Nor in this was there any disappointment. 
 
 As early as July 24, 1807, she writes to Mr. H. : 
 "I think it must greatly rejoice your heart, as I 
 trust it does in some measure my own, that God is 
 encouraging you to expect that he is about to carry 
 on a work of grace among the people of your charge. 
 I hope that instead of considering yourself as ' in 
 the way,' you will be encouraged to exertion in so 
 glorious a cause as that of the welfare of precious 
 and immortal souls." 
 
 At a later period she writes: "I thank you for 
 the pleasing intelligence you give me respecting the
 
 192 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 dear people of your charge ; dear I hope they may 
 ever be to each of our hearts, and that I may lend 
 you every possible assistance of which my feeble 
 endeavors are capable, and you be the means of 
 feeding their souls with the bread of life." 
 
 And again : "I see how much your heart is set 
 upon them ; I can participate with you in any 
 pleasing appearances attending them or yourself." 
 "That the Spirit of God would make the word 
 effectual to the conversion of many is my ardent de- 
 sire." Often does she speak now of the " dis- 
 tinguishing goodness of a merciful and long-suffer- 
 ing God ;" and in January, 1808, she wishes Mr. 
 H. " a happy new year;" " very happy;" she soon 
 adds k * happy in much calm, serene, sweet com- 
 munion with God, which is joy and peace to the soul." 
 
 With her characteristic humility, she looks for- 
 ward with trembling to the burdens that "she ought 
 to and must soon assume." " I am so unworthy, 
 sometimes it almost sinks my spirit to think of 
 them.'' "But," she adds, " by divine assistance I 
 hope to be strengthened." If what we are quoting 
 seems to give too sombre a view of life for one an- 
 ticipating a bridal very soon, it must be remembered 
 that we are now looking at the religious life of your 
 grandmother ; and that we may not lay before any 
 eye the wealth of sentiment and affection that gives a
 
 Her Life and Character. 193 
 
 rare value to these early letters. Besides, it was the 
 well-established and often-expressed conviction of 
 your grandparents that a full and abounding enjoy- 
 ment of God, instead of detracting aught from the 
 choicest gratifications to be found in the rational 
 pleasures of time, only adds to them by augment- 
 ing the capacities of our human nature, whilst it 
 regulates and simplifies its thirsts. 
 
 " That we may ' mark the hand of our heavenly 
 Father, and thus so live that we may most ex- 
 quisitely relish the blessings of the world,' as you 
 expressed it, is my most ardent wish," was the form 
 in which her own hand recorded her assent to a pro- 
 found philosophy, and her faith in the God who 
 made heaven and earth. And then is added, "That 
 we may ' live as we ought' as fellow-citizens of the 
 New Jerusalem, and fellow-travelers to it is the 
 prayer of your affectionate friend." 
 
 In April, 1808, Miss Sophia Porter was married 
 to Rev. Heman Humphrey by her brother, Rev. 
 Noah Porter. Already had the grounds around the 
 house at Fairfield been laid out and adorned with 
 more than usual care. He who so often calls her 
 his "greatest earthly treasure" had done what he 
 could to prepare the place for one whom he ever 
 after delighted to honor ; and Nature withheld not 
 her aid. "The grass begins to look green for 
 
 17 N
 
 1 94 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 you," Mr. H. writes on the 3Oth of March ; " I have 
 been trimming the trees ; the birds sing among the 
 branches, and seem to say that they will tune 
 their voices to sweeter notes when Sophia comes. 
 Everything seems to smile around our intended 
 habitation. 
 
 "The thoughts of your coming to enjoy these 
 pleasant things adds tenfold charms to them even 
 now. How charming will they be when you shall 
 have arrived ! There is room for the exercise of a 
 little taste, and I would give more for yours than my 
 own. The present garden-plot is laid out into 
 squares, the alleys of which are lined with rows of 
 English box. I told you about the two evergreen 
 trees in front of the house. I intend to set out the 
 woodbine near them. Some of my friends would 
 fain persuade me that they wish to have you come 
 almost as much as I do. They will not, however, 
 convince me of that." 
 
 Thus welcomed, the young bride left Farming- 
 ton, and her brother's society, and her father's and 
 mother's house, and came to the habitation prepared 
 for her by one who never ceased to give thanks that 
 she had been persuaded to do so. And the piety 
 which shone so beautifully in her mother's house, 
 lost none of its brightness in her own. 
 
 It manifested itself in the spirit with which she
 
 Her Life and Character. 195 
 
 made that sacred home so useful, so happy. Gen- 
 erous, because she could not be otherwise, when 
 the love of God intensified this original impulse of 
 her nature, it burned with new lustre and with too 
 costly a flame. Her husband knew it, and has 
 recorded his testimony. And so, had they the op- 
 portunity, would those young people and students 
 of Divinity, to whom, by her personal exertions 
 and the free hospitality of her house, she secured 
 an education. Nor was it only in the house that her 
 renovated affection found subjects for its exercise. 
 The people of the towns in which she lived and the 
 students of the college felt it. One of these writes : 
 "She sent to me, when in college, a book called 
 ' Decapolis,' with a little note, containing a request 
 that I would accept it from her, and expressing a 
 wish for my best welfare ; the impression from that 
 note and that book never left me." How large the 
 number is that would bear witness in similar form to 
 her desires for their permanent and highest happi- 
 ness ! She loved the Church also. It was her 
 delight to "minister to the saints;" to make the 
 bread and prepare the wine for the communion 
 table, and to mend the clothing of the indigent. 
 Deep in the hearts of young men whose means were 
 limited, and whose friends were few, is her name 
 and memory engraved.
 
 196 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 Entering thus readily and largely into Christian 
 labors, she grew more and more into the self-abne- 
 gating spirit of the Master, and into the image of 
 His holy temper and sympathies. 
 
 Nowhere did this manifest itself more than in her 
 patience and in her gratitude. She had, of course, 
 much to irritate and annoy, as have all mothers and 
 housekeepers, from the infidelities of the service, 
 the constancy and magnitude of the demands, and 
 the difficulties of supply where the household is 
 numerous. But in addition to these not uncommon 
 infelicities, there came upon her in mature life a 
 calamity which deprived her of the joy and strength 
 and ease of apprehension that belonged to all around 
 her. What would she not have given could she, 
 from the fortieth year of her age until her death, 
 have readily distinguished the voices of her friends, 
 her children, her husband, her servants, as in utter- 
 ance they addressed her ! But she could not. In 
 the midst of her years her hearing was impaired. 
 And with what an intelligent and beseeching look 
 did she often search the countenances and watch 
 the lips of those around her, in the hope that she 
 might extract from their faces the meaning of their 
 words ! How often, too, did she have to turn that 
 expressive face away in disappointment, and direct 
 those eyes in gentle sadness to the ground ! But
 
 Her Life and Character. 197 
 
 with what patience did she bear it ! Instead of 
 complaining that those around her did not exert 
 themselves and thus make her hear (as often they 
 could not), she retired from their presence to her 
 plain and homely labors, and found her solace in 
 toiling for them. Under this chastisement her soul 
 grew strong for the endurance of heavy sorrows. 
 She was compelled to see Henry die in his early 
 manhood ; and John and James and Mary in the 
 midst of life ; as before this she had buried two 
 young daughters. On these occasions she never 
 uttered a murmuring word, and scarcely spoke aloud 
 her grief. Her eyes filled with tears, and she went 
 about her duties in quietness, with her head some- 
 what bowed, as if saying, " The Lord gave and the 
 Lord hath taken away." It was so also when your 
 grandfather was taken sick. The tokens of pain 
 upon her features as she stood and looked at him 
 and took his hand, unable, as he cast his last look 
 upon her, to catch the words which in weakness he 
 articulated, seemed to say, If it be possible let this 
 cup pass away ; but after kneeling by his bedside, 
 and then rising and ministering ministering, toiling 
 toiling on, for anybody's relief but her own, there 
 came over her face the expression that never after- 
 ward entirely left it, of " Not my will, but thine be 
 done." 
 
 17*
 
 198 Mrs. Sophia Humphrey. 
 
 After this your grandmother continued with us in 
 the enjoyment of good health, for a person of her 
 age, for seven years and eight months. 
 
 She took pleasure in seeing her friends ; went as 
 before to the house of God ; received her children 
 and children's children at her own home ; shared in 
 their joys ; took a deep interest in their usefulness ; 
 and approached the close of her earthly journey 
 with the serenity and ripening glow with which 
 spring and summer merge their days of seed-time 
 and promise into the autumn of golden fruits and 
 grateful songs. 
 
 On Sunday, the 6th of December, 1868, she was 
 prevented in consequence of a severe cold, from 
 going to the sanctuary. Soon she laid down upon 
 her couch, and then, early in the evening, retired 
 to her bed. From this bed she never rose. Her 
 disease became acute bronchitis. An excellent 
 physician and kind friends came to her ; her two 
 remaining daughters never left her side ; she con- 
 tinued to grow weaker, but sang her song in the 
 night from a hymn that had become a favorite with 
 her, as well it might : 
 
 "Then shall I hear, and see, and know 
 All I desired or hoped below." 
 
 Nor did anticipations alone fill her mind. Grati- 
 tude and words of penitence came from her lips.
 
 Her Life and Character. 199 
 
 On one day it was " Lord, have mercy on me a sin- 
 ner ;" on the next, thankfulness for favors in the 
 past took possession of her ; until at length in the 
 very language in which, sixty years before, she had 
 expressed her sense of the loving-kindness of God 
 when looking forward to her earthly bridal, she now 
 distinctly articulated : "What shall I render unto the 
 Lord for all his benefits to me?" as she moved on to 
 the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 
 
 Having been taken sick on the Sabbath, she con- 
 tinued through the days of the following week to 
 entertain and in her occasional bewilderment, to 
 express the desire that she might go to church. 
 And she was not disappointed. On Sunday, the 
 i3th of December, 1868, soon after the church bells 
 in Pittsfield had ceased to ring, she left these earthly 
 scenes, no longer shut out from the sweet melodies 
 of sound, to hear the music, and join in the worship 
 of the skies. 
 
 And may it not be that the voice which once wel- 
 comed her so affectionately to the home prepared 
 for her on earth, lifted itself up again in thanksgiv- 
 ing and praise, with that of her brother, and of each 
 child who had gone before, as the Master of Assem- 
 blies bade her welcome to the place he had prepared 
 
 for her in the mansions of the blessed? 
 
 H. N. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, April, 1869.
 
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