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 MAC 
 
 LOOKING BACK FROM THE 
 SUNSET LAND 
 
 PEOPLE WORTH KNOWING. 
 
 Rev. N. R. Johnston. 
 
 Oakland, California. 
 
 189S.
 
 To My Wife 
 
 who has ever been my loving and faithful 
 companion and indispensable co-vVorker in^ 
 all life's toils, my wise counselor in times 
 of doubt, my tender sympathizer in time 
 of trouble, and who has lightened many 
 of my burdens that I could not haVe borne 
 alone, this book is most affectionately 
 dedicated by 
 
 The Author.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Horace Greeley said that "no man should die without 
 planting a tree or writing a book." I have planted many a 
 tree and I have written much in various forms; why should I 
 not write a book also ? The only apology I feel like making 
 is that it has in it so much about myself. But if I had not 
 written it the book would never have been written. If any 
 apology is due to the reading public for the issue of such a 
 volume at all, I have more than one. I owe it to others as 
 well as myself to explain or account for several occurrences 
 in my life as known to the church— events that were not 
 understood then and that yet remain unaccounted for. And 
 then I desire to leave on record a narrative of events that 
 otherwise would be unknown to my survivors, and to leave 
 behind me a testimony in behalf of truths which, however 
 much neglected or despised, are the very truths of God. 
 In no other way can I now be of use to my children and 
 theirs .some of whom would know nothing of events recorded 
 herein unless told to them by the writer. 
 
 It is due to the reader to know that this volume was 
 written when life's shadows were lengthening out rapidly. 
 The first manuscripts were sketched hastily with the pencil 
 on Chinese paper during the winter of 1896 and '97 when 
 the writer was in his 77th year and in feeble health. Well 
 did he know that the sands of Hfe were running nearly out. 
 As the time was short no days nor even hours could be lost; 
 and hence the entire work was done in haste as well as in 
 the midst of many other labors all the time pressing their 
 claims. The writer hopes therefore that the literary reader 
 will be lenient in his criticisms of the book. It was written 
 not .so much to please the lovers of literature as to benefit 
 the friends of truth who will survive the writer.
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 N. R. Johnston Frontispiece 
 
 Dr. J. R. WiLLSOX Facing page 65 
 
 Dr. R. J. DoDDS . . . 
 Wm. Llovd Garrison 
 Rev. Samuel May . . 
 Rev. J. M. Armour . . 
 Dr. R. G. McNiece . . 
 Wendell Phillips . . 
 Dr. S. O. Wylie . . . 
 Corporal Divoll . . . 
 Dr. R. a. Browne . . 
 Dr. J. R. W. Sloane . 
 Dr. Otis Gibson . . . 
 Dr. a. M. Milligan . 
 Rev. Geo. M. Elliott 
 Dr. David Metheny . 
 
 Wm. Still 
 
 Rev. Jee Gam 
 
 Rev. Chan Hon Fan . 
 
 189 
 200 
 204 
 209 
 240 
 257 
 277 
 36S 
 
 392 
 26 
 480 
 492 
 516 
 617 
 568 
 592 
 598
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 XXIX 
 
 XXX 
 
 XXXI 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Page, 
 
 Foreshadowings and Ancestry 9" 
 
 Early Education ^^ 
 
 A New Home in tlie West ^ 
 
 At the University ^ 
 
 Two YearsofaTeaclier's Life . . ... ' ' ' J 
 
 Tlieological Studies ^ 
 
 Summer Vacation 
 
 The Third Year and Fellow-students 77 
 
 Response to Freedom's Call 
 
 Fourth Year of Theological Study 1°° 
 
 Licensure and Evangelistic Work •••;•• " '"^ 
 The Fugitive Slave Law and the Underground^^ 
 
 Railroad 
 
 The Licentiate's Work and Jottings . . . • • • • ^3^ 
 Home Again. Old Field Revisited Afflictions 
 
 and Trials of Faith ^^o 
 
 The Field. The Decision. The Ordination . . . i55 
 
 The Flock and the Shepherd's Work 162 
 
 The Field Widens , |^^ 
 
 In Sorrow and in Straits ' ^ 
 
 Church Work J^" 
 
 Work for the Slave ^J^ 
 
 Under the Father's Rod ^°^ 
 
 Busy Days 
 
 Work at Home and in the Courts 222 
 
 Eventful Days • J^ 
 
 The Winter Is Past. Joyous Spring Comes ... 247 
 
 Wendell Phillips. Anniversaries 257 
 
 The Trumpet Blown. To Arms ! 265 
 
 Unexpected Call to Special Duties 275 
 
 "They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships" ■ • ' ^^ 
 
 Among the "Contrabands" ^ 
 
 The Spelling-book, the Bible, the Sword • 29O 
 
 A Little Vacation. Fort Pulaski Taken 309 
 
 (vii)
 
 vin 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXXIII. "What Was Slavery, Uncle Tom?" 316 
 
 XXXIV. Homeward Bound. Pastoral Duties Resumed . . 325 
 XXXV.* Trials of Faith. Home Duties 333 
 
 XXXVI. War Problenns 342 
 
 XXXVII. Bloody Scenes. Pastoral Life. National Reform . 355 
 
 XXXVIII. Sad Events and Dark Shadows 367 
 
 XXXIX. In Sad Straits and Sadder Partings 376 
 
 XL. A New Home and a New Work 381 
 
 XLL Pleasant Recollections 396 
 
 XLII. Our New Field of Labor 408 
 
 XLIII. Geneva's Old Bell Rings Again 415 
 
 XLIV. In the Home Mission Field 429 
 
 XLV. Missionary Work among the Chinese in California 446 
 
 XLVI. Yo Semite Valley 461 
 
 XLVII. Mission Work.and a Missionary Tour 469 
 
 XLVIII. Lights and Shadows 484 
 
 XLIX. In Memoriam 491 
 
 L. Home Work Resumed 497 
 
 LI. Southern Missions Visited 507 
 
 LII. Selma and Beaufort 515 
 
 LIII. The Synod of 1889. Important Questions . . . .526 
 
 LIV. White Ribboners and Sabbath Workers 532 
 
 LV. From Ocean to Ocean 536 
 
 LVI. In Philadelphia as a Journalist 546 
 
 LVII. A Family Reunion 561 
 
 LVIII. New Home for Our Banner 572 
 
 LIX. Our Pacific Home Again 580 
 
 LX. Missionaries Sail for China. Days of Gladness . .591 
 
 LXI. A Chapter of Epistolary Gems 600 
 
 LXII. Nearing the Sunset 616
 
 LOOKING BACK Som™ SUNSET LAND 
 
 OR 
 
 PEOPLE WORTH KNOWING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FORESHADOWINGS AND AnCESTRY. 
 
 On the inner walls of our cottage home haug two old 
 pictures and fine specimens of Scottish art, a Covenanter 
 Conventicle and the battle of Drumclog. On other walls 
 hang three life-size pictures of distinguished men, James 
 Renwick Willson, William Lloyd Garrison, and John Brown. 
 The first was my theological professor, a genuine Covenanter 
 and zealous abolitionist. The second, as all know, was the 
 worthy leader in the great anti-slavery struggle; and the 
 third was the old abolitionist whom the Virginia slavehold- 
 ers hung at Charlestown and "whose soul is still marching 
 on." On another wall hangs a smaller picture, a portrait 
 of the great anti-slavery orator, Wendell Phillips. And 
 over there hangs an ideal picture of Mrs. Stowe's great 
 hero, Uncle Tom, and beside him the little angel Eva saying 
 to him, "What was slavery, Uncle Tom?" And yet an- 
 other, a fine oil painting of an old castle, the artist being 
 a Chinese young man, a Christian convert and now a mer- 
 chant in San Francisco. Now if all these pictures be only 
 
 (9)
 
 lO LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 a slight index of the character of the writer, or if they even 
 sHghtly foreshadow the character of this volume, the reader's 
 fears may be excited already, and so perhaps he had better 
 close the book and read no more lest afterward he may not 
 know when to stop. 
 
 A few years ago when in conversation with a daughter of 
 old John Brown I unwisely asked her if on any occasion she 
 had ever felt ashamed that her father died on the gallows. 
 With an almost indignant expression she immediately re- 
 plied, "Never, never for one moment!" And why should 
 any descendant of the now honored martyr to freedom be 
 ashamed ? 
 
 Pride of ancestry may not be commendable, 3'et I confess 
 that as a Covenanter I always shared my father's pleasure if 
 nof pride when I heard him tell our friends that we were 
 lineal descendants of Sir Archibald Johnston, or Lord War- 
 riston, whom the enemies of civil and religious liberty in 
 Scotland hung in Edinburg. Of such the world was not 
 worthy. 
 
 In the new world there are now multitudes of the descend- 
 ants of Sir Archibald Johnston who cherish his martyr 
 memory as sacred. Away back in the early years of the 
 American Colonies three young brothers, all Presbyterians, 
 came from Scotland and settled in eastern Pennsylvania. 
 Their names were Samuel, Nathan, and Archibald Johnston. 
 They were descendants of the martyr, but of what generation 
 is not known now. Down through all the succeeding gen- 
 erations these three names have been retained. The name 
 of my father's grandfather was Nathan; his father's name, 
 Samuel; one of his brother's, Archibald. Thus it is proba. 
 ble that they all wished to cherish as sacred* the memory of 
 their martyred ancestor; nor will it ever be forgotten so long 
 as Christian men and women do not lose sight of the Cove- 
 nanter's "old blue banner."
 
 FORESHADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY. II 
 
 My father, Nathan Johnston, was born near Carhsle, Cum- 
 berland County, Pennsylvania, in 1775. Though brought 
 up on the farm with his father he subsequently became a 
 tanner. In 1801 he was married to Mary Black, the daughter 
 of James Black, an elder in the Presbyterian Church. She 
 was born in York County, Pennsylvania, in January, 1782. 
 When she was about twelve years of age the family removed 
 to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. She rode the en- 
 tire distance over the mountains on horseback. They set- 
 tled on a farm on a part of which the town of Blairsville is 
 built and now in Indiana County. It was in this new home 
 that the happy couple were married when she was nineteen 
 years of age. After their marriage they resided at Armagh, 
 Pennsylvania. Here, after the birth of their first child they 
 united with the Presbyterian Church. Probably in the 
 spring of 1805 Grandfather Black and family and my father 
 with his small family removed to eastern Ohio, at that time 
 almost an unbroken wilderness. They bought unimproved 
 and adjoining lands in what is now Harrison County. They 
 began by cutting away the forest trees and building small 
 log cabins for present use. After some years, when sufficient 
 lands were cleared out, my father planted a large orchard, 
 opened a tan yard and built a good-sized "hewed log house." 
 Here I was born October 8, 1820, the youngest of a family 
 of eight children, seven sons and one daughter. The three 
 first sons were John Black, Samuel Power, and James 
 Stewart. The three next sons all died in infancy. The 
 seventh child was a daughter, Mary Jane; and the youngest 
 son, Nathan Robinson. The first name was for my father, 
 the second in honor of a much beloved uncle, Robert Robin- 
 son, who married my mother's sister; and my parents all 
 their lives called me Robinson, the n being silent. 
 
 It is not designed to make these pages a genealogy or a 
 history of either ancestors or descendants, yet as the writer
 
 12 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 is the only surviving member of his father's family it is due 
 to those who may read these pages in coming years that the 
 thread of the narrative be broken for a little and that a few 
 items of tradition or unwritten history be given here. 
 
 My great-grandfather, Nathan Johnston, and his wife, 
 Blizabeth Power, were killed by the Indians in the time of 
 the old French war in Pennsylvania, and under these circum- 
 stances. Many of the settlers had taken refuge in a fort at 
 ■or near the present site of Shippensburg; but sometimes 
 when the danger seemed to be slight some of them visited 
 their new farms to look after their stock or growing crops. 
 
 Taking his wife and seven children he went to his farm, 
 seven miles distant, to care for his growing corn and stock. 
 Fearing that they might be attacked by the Indians in the 
 night, the parents put the children to bed in the haymow in 
 the barn, while they themselves slept in the house. One 
 morning before sunrise the children were startled by the 
 crack of two rifle shots almost at the same moment. Samuel, 
 the oldest boy, hastily looking out between the logs of the 
 barn, saw his mother near the house fall dead, and saw the 
 Indian run and scalp her. What had been done by the other 
 gun he did not know then. The mother was thought to have 
 been shot while in the act of holding a ewe sheep that her 
 lamb might suck. As soon as the Indians had fled, the boy 
 being too much frightened to risk the danger of going to the 
 house, left the other children concealed in the barn, and 
 fled to the fort to report to the inmates. When some of 
 these went to the place, they found the dead body of the 
 husband and father in a grove not far from the house, and in 
 the kneeling posture beside the trunk of a fallen tree. Evi- 
 dently he had been shot while engaged in morning secret 
 prayer. 
 
 His son Samuel probably never forgave the Indians their 
 bloody deed, but may have always cherished the spirit of
 
 FORESHADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY. I3. 
 
 revenge. As the hostilities between the whites and Indians 
 continued a long time, on one occasion he had an oppor- 
 tunity to kill an Indian. A company of the warriors had 
 invaded the country at night, killed some of the people, 
 and carried away much booty. The next day a company of 
 the whites, mostly farmers, armed themselves, got on the 
 trail of the fleeing Indians, and late in the night came upon 
 them when fast asleep around their camp-fire on low ground,. 
 According to previous arrangements the whites quietly took 
 their position on higher ground and almost surrounding the 
 camp-fire and the sleeping warriors. Each man took aim 
 at his picked Indian. At the signal given by the captain 
 they all fired at the same moment. The Indians who were 
 not killed seized their blankets, guns, etc., and in flight 
 attempted to escape. One of them was met face to face by 
 my grandfather, Samuel Johnston. A hand-to-hand fight- 
 ensued. The Indian, who would not be taken prisoner, was 
 killed. 
 
 The victor became possessor of the spoils, and brought 
 home all worth possessing. My father fell heir to the In- 
 dian's powder horn and shot pouch. They were beautiful 
 specimens of art, and I had expected to inherit them, but 
 they were given to his grandson, Nathan M. Johnston, who 
 bore my father's name. I found them in his possession long 
 years after the death of the donor. I tried to be reconciled' 
 when I considered that they were only relics of war, of cruel 
 and revengeful war against a race as noble by nature as the 
 noblest savages, and who, if Christians had dealt justly and 
 kindly with them, offering them the gospel of the Prince of 
 Peace instead of the revengeful sword, might have been 
 partakers with us of the blessings of salvation. Indeed, 
 with honorable exceptions the history of the aborigines of 
 our country is but the history of wrongs endured by the 
 redmen — wrongs inflicted by both government and people-
 
 14 I.OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 who profess to believe in the Golden Rule as well as in the 
 gospel of peace. 
 
 Until several years after all their children were born and 
 baptized my parents continued in the membership of the 
 Presbyterian Church. My three brothers also were members 
 of the Beechspring Presbyterian Church, Reverend James 
 Rea pastor. Before these years the denomination in the 
 United States had used the Psalms of the Bible in worship. 
 As in the Beechspring church many were opposed to the 
 introduction of "Watt's Psalms" or hymns of any kind, these 
 were introduced gradually and cautiously. Bible songs 
 were used during both forenoon and afternoon services until 
 after the second sermon, when a hymn or one of "Watt's 
 Psalms" was sung. After a while only hymns were sung. 
 The change was the occasion of no little opposition. Some 
 of the families never gave up the Bible Psalms in family 
 worship. 
 
 A little incident which I remember of hearing my father 
 tell may amuse the reader. When the hymns were first 
 introduced, books were very scarce as well as very costly. 
 The pastor was almost the only one who had a copy of the 
 liymn-book; so the lines had to be read that the people 
 might sing. My father was the precentor. He stood in the 
 pulpit and used the minister's book when reading out the 
 lines. One day he came to a verse from which one or two 
 lines were lost. The precentor turned around to the pastor 
 and called his attention to the omission and asked what he 
 should do. "Oh, just make a line and read it!" He did 
 so, read it out as if it were in the book, and the people sang 
 it, supposing it to be part of Dr. Watt's poetry. 
 
 About this time the question of slavery began to agitate 
 the churches. The question was twofold — whether chattel 
 slavery was a sin "par se" or not, and whether slaveholders 
 should be admitted to church-membership or retained in
 
 FORESHADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY: 15 
 
 "her fellowship. At this time the whole Presbyterian Church 
 in both the north and the south, all one body as yet, fel- 
 lowshiped slaveholders. Very few saw any impropriety in 
 it. Even the pulpits justified it. Not a few ministers in 
 the Presbyterian Church apologized for it or defended it by 
 the Bible. In the south many ministers held slaves, few if 
 any objecting to it. Nathan Johnston was one of the few 
 early abolitionists and soon became so dissatisfied with his 
 church because of her position on slavery that he became 
 restless and was thinking of withdrawing from her fellow- 
 ship. It is probable that his friends thought to allure him 
 into pohtics, for previously they had nominated him on the 
 Whig ticket for the State Legislature. At the election his 
 competitor, a Democrat, was chosen by a majority of one. 
 This occurred probably before I was born, or when I was 
 only a child. I never knew of it until I was a young man; 
 and I have often regretted that when I had the opportunity 
 I did not talk with my father about it. And I have some- 
 times thought that if the majority of one had been in favor 
 of the Whig candidate and my father had gone into the Leg- 
 islature, he never would have become a Covenanter. Civil 
 ofhce and pohtical dissent are not twin brothers. That one 
 ballot seemed like a lot determining the future of the un- 
 successful candidate. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the 
 whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." 
 
 About this time a few Covenanters settled in the neigh- 
 borhood and agitated the question of slavery and the duty 
 of withdrawal from a slaveholding church and from an 
 anti-Christian government whose Constitution was full of 
 pro-slavery compromises. How much influence the early 
 Covenanter settlers had upon the mind of Nathan Johnston 
 and his wife and three sons is not known to the writer, who 
 at that time was only a small child, but most probably they 
 had much. Whether or not, we find this anti-slavery Pres-
 
 1 6 I<OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 byterian attending the Covenanter "society meetings," as 
 the prayer-meetings were called. Meanwhile it is probable 
 the family had been attending occasional preaching by 
 Covenanter ministers sent as supplies to the praying society; 
 and perhaps this had helped to swell the tide of influences 
 leading to a change in their church relations. 
 
 The next time we hear of Nathan Johnston is when on a 
 two days' journey on foot to attend a communion in one of 
 the Covenanter congregations in the vicinity of Pittsburg. 
 Here he was received into the fellowship of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church which had never opened her doors to 
 slaveholders, and whose members would not swear oaths of 
 allegiance to the Constitution or Government, nor accept of 
 oiflce or the ballot in a political society that disregarded the 
 rights of God and trampled upon the rights of man. It 
 could not have been very long after this change that my 
 two oldest brothers, John Black and Samuel Power, followed 
 the example of my father and united with the Covenanter 
 Church. My mother, however, and her third son, James 
 Stewart, were slow to give up the hymns and to leave the 
 mother church, and did not for some time, but after a while, 
 becoming so imbued with anti-slavery and Covenanter 
 truths they gladly joined the ranks of the abolitionists and 
 political dissenters. For the entire family the change must 
 have been a severe ordeal. Almost all the family connec- 
 tions on both sides of the house, from grandparents down, 
 were Presbyterians. Most of them were men and women of 
 warm piety and great worth. Devoted to the church of 
 their fathers, they grieved at the departure of loved chil- 
 dren and grandchildren. These, however, could not forget 
 the words of the Master, "He that loveth father or mother 
 more than me is not worthy of me." 
 
 These events all occurred during the years of my early 
 childhood. I had no knowledge of them afterwards except
 
 FORE9HADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY. 1 7 
 
 as I learned them from ray parents and brothers. And 
 though I was baptized in the Presbyterian Church, yet after 
 childhood all the home influences tended to take me into the 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church. About as far back as I can 
 remember, the Greenfield congregation was organized, my 
 father being one of the elders. Soon afterwards he traveled 
 east and canvassed some of the city congregations for funds 
 to help to build a good brick church. My first pastor was 
 Rev. WiUiam Sloane. He was installed probably when I 
 was about nine years of age. He was a profound theologian 
 and a good man, but I think I feared him more than I loved 
 him, for as I now remember him he lacked the power to 
 please boys; yet the fault may have been all my own. In 
 later years, however, Father Sloane became very dear to me. 
 But more of this farther on. My father was a delegate to 
 the Synod of 1833 in Philadelphia at the time of the "New- 
 Light division," as it was afterwards called. Much as he 
 loved some of the brethren who went into that defection he 
 had no sympathy with the sentiments or actions of those 
 who practically abandoned the testimony of the church and 
 went into the government and into politics. At that time 
 I was only twelve years of age, but well do I remember 
 how the congregation was agitated and how my father's 
 mind was engrossed in the question on which the church 
 was divided. I often heard him describe the scenes that 
 occurred in the old Cherry Street church when the actual 
 separation took place; and probably these things had much 
 to do in causing my early prejudice against the "New 
 Lights;" and I am not sure that I ever got rid of it. 
 
 I can not close this chapter without saying more about 
 those who loved me and to whom I owe so much. Chief 
 among these of course were my father and mother. I know 
 they were not perfect, but just as well do I know that few 
 sons are blessed with better parents. My father had only 
 2
 
 1 8 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 an ordinary education, but he was a great reader and a man 
 of far more than ordinary intelligence. As a father he was 
 faithful. Compared with my mother, however, I can re- 
 member him as almost stern in government and severe in 
 discipline. She was peculiarly amiable in disposition and 
 mild and gentle in discipline. He taught me theology; she 
 taught me to pray. He taught me my duty, and urged me 
 to do right; her mother's love and her beautiful example 
 were an inspiration to me. His word was law; probably 
 her known wish was a stronger incentive to loving obedience. 
 He loved me, I know, and he used to call me his "little 
 Benjamin," but he knew my faults better than I knew my 
 own, and he seemed so much greater and better than I that 
 my love to him was more like reverence and fear to dis- 
 please. Yet I know that I loved him. Well do I remember 
 that in my boyhood I rarely ever was happier than when he 
 took me with him when he went a-fishing. I was proud of 
 my father, and I thought it quite an honor to be his sole 
 companion when we two, father and I, went ambling down 
 our beautiful Brush Run. And many a good lesson was 
 taught me in those happy hours — happy hours of boyhood 
 long past but never forgotten even in gray hairs. 
 
 I should have said before this that my father was a great 
 lover of music, and probably he was regarded in early life 
 as a good musician. This is indicated by the fact that he 
 was so long the leader in the congregational singing. I 
 remember his voice as clear and melodious. He often sang 
 in his sleep. In the night I was occasionally awakened by 
 his singing. The words could not be distinguished. He 
 never sang the tune more than once; and it was not any tune 
 I had ever heard before, and my mother said she had never 
 heard it before. It resembled a church tune and was ex- 
 ceedingly beautiful. I think the voice and tones and expres- 
 sion were clearer and sweeter than when he was awake.
 
 FORESHADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY. I9 
 
 Sometimes when in a still hour of the night I was waked 
 out of sleep by the singing, it seemed as music by some 
 angel voice, and I was sorry that it ceased so scon. In the 
 morning he had no recollection of his singing, nor of any 
 dream connected with the music. Only One knew where 
 was the spirit of the singer. In early life he was a violinist 
 and excelled on the instrument. I do not know at what 
 time of life or why he ceased to play, but as long back as I 
 can remember he had no violin of his own in the house. 
 When I heard him play, it was when a neighbor or friend 
 would bring an instrument to him and ask him to play. 
 He seemed familiar with it. I was always charmed almost 
 to an ecstasy when I listened. To this day it seems as 
 though I have never heard such exquisite music. But then 
 I was a boy and ray father was the player. Since his death, 
 now fifty years ago, I have often wondered why he ceased 
 to play, and what had become of his old violin. When I 
 could have learned I did not think to ask, and now no one 
 survives to tell me. Yet I have tried to account for it. 
 From my first recollection he always seemed to be a man 
 of a sad heart. Financial reverses, sore family afflictions, 
 severe sickness, from which he did not expect to recover, 
 subsequent feeble health, troubles in the church, and other 
 causes, must have greatly changed his mode of life. When 
 two of his sons wished to go to college, he made distribution 
 of his little property, and, giving the farm into the charge 
 of the second son, he spent his remaining years in retire- 
 ment except when he attended church courts or visited 
 friends. Most of his time was spent in reading. During 
 his last years he read all through the "Comprehensive Com- 
 mentary," Matthew Henry and Scott's notes. I can not 
 doubt that all through those years the divine Spirit was pre- 
 paring him for the higher life into which he was permitted 
 to enter in his seventieth year.
 
 20 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 But what shall I say of my mother ? Her love to me was 
 so tender and sweet I always wanted to be with her and 
 learn from her lips and receive her benediction. When I 
 now look back upon her character and mode of life, she 
 seems to me as perfection or an angel of mercy through 
 whom from God I received all the good he could bestow 
 upon one so incapable of appreciating or receiving his pre- 
 cious gifts. I know that to me she was one of God's 
 choicest blessings. I can not love him sufficiently for giv- 
 ing me such a mother. Under God her influence in molding 
 my character was all-powerful. If it had not been for her 
 there were many temptations I never could have resisted. 
 And all through my life until she passed beyond the veil 
 which hid her from my mortal vision, her prayers were a 
 benediction to me and mine. 
 
 Next to this mother, affectionate mention must be made 
 of my sister. I had but one; I never wanted another. It 
 always seemed as though I had no love to share with 
 another. Being nearly three j^ears older, in my childhood 
 she was my teacher, my example, my guardian angel, my 
 idol. We played together, we worked together, we hunted 
 eggs together, and we gathered apples together. When I 
 began to go to the old log schoolhouse, nearly two miles 
 away, she led me by the hand or wailed on me when I 
 lagged behind. At noon when the children ate lunch under 
 the shade trees, she gave me my share and the best out of 
 the little dinner basket. If at play or at any time I got 
 hurt, my sister was my surgeon. If I cried, Mary Jane 
 would say, "Don't cry, Robinson, it will soon get well." I 
 am not sure, but I think I never refused to do what she told 
 me to do. She was to me an angel of light. In her I saw 
 nothing but perfection. And as long as I was a minor at 
 home, as far as I now remember, this sisterly influence over 
 me never weakened. And I leave on record my testimony
 
 FORi^SHADOWINGS AND ANCESTRY. 2l 
 
 that under God and my parents I owe more to her for early 
 rehgious and formative influences than to all others all 
 through life. God pity the boy that has no such sister. 
 
 I have no remembrance of my brothers until after they 
 were young men. The youngest of the three, James S., 
 was over fourteen years my senior. The first I remember 
 of him and the oldest, John B., was when they were students 
 at college. Samuel P., the second, was the farmer at home. 
 The first I can remember of him was when I was eight 
 years old, when he brought home his beautiful young wife, 
 Ellen Thompson. On subsequent pages I will have occa- 
 sion to speak of these good brothers again. All these, 
 father and mother and brothers and sister, and all their life 
 companions, have passed on before, saved as I hope by the 
 blood of the Ivamb, while of my father's family, only wife 
 and I remain to mourn their loss. Is the hope of a joyful 
 family reunion in the Father's house the privilege of one 
 who hopes he can say, "Behold, what manner of love the 
 Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 
 children of God ' ' !
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Early Education. 
 
 Does the character of an education depend upon whether 
 the schoolhouse is made of bricks or of logs? If it does, 
 mine must be peculiar, for all the years of my common-school 
 training were in a log schoolhouse. The first was nearly 
 two miles from home. My sister was my guide and guar- 
 dian. In Ohio in those days there were only six months 
 public school in the year, three months in winter and three 
 in summer. If more were desired, the parents would employ 
 a teacher for what was called a "subscription school." 
 
 In winter the schools were crowded, many of the scliolars 
 being adult young men and young women who cou'd not 
 attend in the summer. The facilities were very limited, and 
 often the teachers inferior. In the old schoolhouse I re- 
 ceived about all that was ever taught, a superficial and 
 limited knowledge of reading, writing, geography, arith- 
 metic, and a little of English grammar. A scholar that 
 had "ciphered" through the book — and only one was used — 
 and who could "parse" a little, was ready to graduate from 
 the log-cabin school. None but men ever taught in winter; 
 in summer, sometimes a woman. My first teacher was a 
 young woman who taught a summer "subscription school." 
 My sister took me with her, probably more for company 
 than with the expectation that I would learn much. Here 
 I learned my alphabet at least. It was pasted on one side 
 of a wooden paddle, a la mode. About the only thing I can 
 remember of my teacher is when at noon playtime I got a 
 
 (22)
 
 EARLY EDUCATION. 23 
 
 thorn in my foot, my sister ran and brought her to take it 
 out. She set me up on a stump near by and pulled out the 
 thorn. Among the teachers well remembered was a Meth- 
 odist local preacher. Most of the families in the district were 
 either Covenanters or Presbyterians. According to the 
 custom of the times, it was his duty to hear the Shorter 
 Catechism recited once a week b}' all the children who had 
 learned or were learning it. On Friday or Saturday after- 
 noons if we wished we were allowed to go out and lie upon 
 the grass or sit in the shade and study the catechism, and 
 then in the school we all sat in a line and answered the 
 questions asked by the teacher. Whether our good Meth- 
 odist preacher believed in the doctrine of the divine decrees 
 or of election I do not know, but, whether Armenian or 
 Calvinist, he had to ask the questions and see that they were 
 answered properly. The school directors all believed in the 
 Catechism, and they were the paymasters. But what holy 
 horrors there would be in this year of grace, 1897, if teach- 
 ers in our public schools were required to hear the pupils 
 recite the old Westminster formula! In those early years 
 the Bible was used almost everywhere as a text-book for 
 reading classes. The advanced scholars read in the Old 
 Testament; the younger, in the New. We stood in a line 
 and read each one a verse. My recollection is that in the 
 Old Testament the Psalms and the prophets were read gen- 
 erally; in the New, the evangelists and the Acts of the 
 Apostles more than other parts. To the reading of the 
 Bible I think no one ever objected. I^ike geography or any 
 other study, it came as a matter of course. Indeed, in all 
 that part of the country there were no Roman Catholics, 
 and I think few, if any, unbelievers in the Bible as the 
 Word of God. The teachers were, presumably, all mem- 
 bers of some of the evangelical churches; not many of them, 
 however, knew how to govern their schools without the use
 
 24 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 of the rattan or the ferule. Some of them kept a rod in the 
 hand or under the arm much of the time, to have it ready 
 for use any moment. Sometimes it was used with great 
 severity. Fortunate was the boy who e.scaped without a 
 whipping. I must have been a favored pupil or a very good 
 boy, for the only time I can remember of being punished 
 was when I courted the rod. A boy had in some way dis- 
 pleased the master. He either had no rod or wished a 
 larger one. Many of the boys thought the punishment 
 would be unjust. Thomas Ford and I were sent out to 
 bring in a rod. He climbed into a beech tree and cut a long 
 and slender branch, measuring probably eight or ten feet. 
 When it was trimmed up I carried it to the master, handing 
 to him the large end, while the other was still outside the 
 open door. This was our way of expressing our disapproval 
 of the threatened punishment. The master was angry. 
 Using his pocket-knife he cut the unwieldy rod into two 
 pieces, threw out the larger part, and with the other gave 
 each of us two or three heavy strokes. Probably we de- 
 served it, but as it was what we expected, and as we knew 
 we had the sympathy of the other boys, we tried not to 
 wince, and we went to our seats thinking ourselves heroes. 
 
 If I may digress a little I will say that even in those days 
 I saw a little of the evil of depending upon the rattan for 
 school government, and I am glad to be able to say that 
 years afterwards, during a vacation in the Theological Semi- 
 nary, I taught in that same old schoolhouse and governed 
 the school, I think successfully, without the use of the rod. 
 I may not deny the right of the teacher to use corporal 
 punishment if he use it properlj^ but I would advise him to 
 suspect his fitness to be a teacher if he can not govern with- 
 out the rattan or the ferule. 
 
 If any reader had a similar experience he will excuse me 
 for alluding to the difficulties under which I began the study
 
 EARLY EDlJCATIO^f. 25 
 
 of Latin. It was some time in the winter of 1830 and 1831, 
 when I was a httle over ten years of age. My brother J. B. 
 was then in Pittsburgh with a few others studying theology 
 with old Dr. John Black. He and another student, John 
 Wallace, were also teaching a select school for boys. As he 
 was keeping house, probably he or my parents wished me to 
 be with him and to be helpful in his family. My father 
 went with me in our midwinter journey to Pittsburgh. 
 Here I went to school with the two theologians and studied 
 the common English branches. Probably my brother wished 
 me to be a preacher some day; and so he put me at the 
 Latin grammar which I was expected to study morning and 
 evening and recite to him at home. I do not know how 
 much of the grammar I mastered, if any at all, but I re- 
 member that after a while my teacher had me trying to read 
 in his old Historia Sacra. With the coming of spring I 
 became homesick; I wanted to see my mother. The session 
 of theological study being closed, I think Thos. SprouU 
 and several others were licensed by the Pittsburgh Presby- 
 tery. My brother Samuel being there on a visit at the time, 
 I returned home with him, and the Latin grammar was left 
 behind, and its Amo, Amas, Amat, etc., all forgotten. 
 
 A summer or two afterwards, when I was eleven or twelve 
 years of age, I again took a few lessons in Latin grammar, 
 this time with my pastor. Rev. William Sloane. I suppose 
 I made little progress, however. I not only walked about 
 three miles to recite to him at his home, but was attending the 
 common school at the old log house about^half way between 
 the two homes. And as the boy of the Latin grammar had 
 no brains to spare, nor any classmate, nor a very merry 
 teacher, it is quite probable that he was more interested in 
 the schoolhouse exercises or on the playground. And it is 
 not very probable that his Latin teacher would report to the 
 boy's parents that some day he would be a likely candidate
 
 26 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 for the Latia chair in some university. This much I re- 
 member, however, that at the close of that term of school, 
 work on the farm and in the tan-yard was resumed, and Latin 
 paradigms all forgotten until six or seven years afterwards, 
 and elsewhere. Little knowledge of the Latin had been 
 acquired, but memory, a mental faculty of the greatest 
 importance, had been educated somewhat. 
 
 It was probably the next winter or summer after my private 
 lessons to my pastor that he taught a term or two in the 
 public school, or perhaps a subscription school, a fact which 
 indicates that his salary was insufficient. Some of his oldest 
 children attended the school, among whom was the second 
 son, Renwick, afterwards. Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, D. D., and 
 now among the celestials. It was during these years, while 
 his father was my pastor, that between Renwick Sloane and 
 Robinson Johnston grew up a friendship, and, at least on the 
 part of the latter, a warm affection which never died out 
 but grew into the still stronger principle or grace of brotherly 
 love which continued until his Master released him from his 
 labors on earth. His oldest brother, John M. Sloane, of 
 Oakdale, Illinois, was the oldest of the family, and is now 
 the only survivor. Of Renwick Sloane we will hear more 
 after a while. 
 
 The first school at which I remember to have been fond 
 of study and began to see the importance of education, was 
 at New Richmond, Ohio, to which town my parents moved 
 for the time, partly, I suppose, that my sister and I might 
 attend the school. It was a private academy taught by 
 Rev. J. C. Tidball, a Presbyterian minister, without charge. 
 His assistant was his younger brother, David. Except pri- 
 mary algebra, all my studies were common English branches. 
 In these I recited to the assistant, a superior teacher; and 
 though I was only a boy of fourteen or fifteen years, I then 
 formed for David Tidball an attachment that in after years
 
 J. R. W. Sloane, D. D.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A New Home in the West. 
 
 Near the time of our return to the old home on Brush 
 Run — it was in the autumn of 1836 — my brother James, then 
 living in Logan County, Ohio, visited his family friends, 
 •bringing with him his newly married wife, Mary Hyndman. 
 During their visit it w^as arranged that 1 should go as soon 
 as practicable to live with him. He was then engaged in 
 merchandising in a "country store" in the village of New 
 Richland, near one of the head streams of the Miami River. 
 It was within the bounds of Miami Congregation of which 
 my brother, John B., was pastor. Whether my parents 
 and my brother James then intended me to become a busi- 
 ness man, I do not know; nor do I remember that I had 
 any well-defined purpose of my own, but whatever may 
 have been their design God had other purposes, as subse- 
 quent events showed. Having returned to our old farm 
 home, preparations were made for my departure to western 
 Ohio. But before I write further of it I must linger to see 
 what I was about to leave behind. Here was my birth- 
 place. Here were my early childhood associations; and, 
 still better, all that made it to me sweet home. The farm 
 life, with its work among the animals and in the woods 
 and fields and meadows, did much to shape my mode of 
 thought and my character. Like much of the country 
 around, the farm itself was beautiful. The little stream, 
 called Brush Run, with its several branches, ran through its 
 entire length. The valley was wide, and on the meadows 
 (28)
 
 A NEW HOME IN THE WEST. 29 
 
 had b^en left t ) grow a large number of sugar maple trees, 
 which every spring were a source of both pleasure and 
 profit. This httle valley with its rich soil and abundant 
 crops of hay and corn, was bordered by hillside grain fields 
 and pastures and forests, the whole making a picture 
 of such beauty that it left its deep iippression upon my 
 memory. The brooklets flowing into the larger stream, 
 the hills, the forests, the whole landscape, than which, as 
 memory has it painted, none beheld since was more beautiful, 
 must have done much to cause that imperishable love of the 
 country and admiration of landscape and mountain scenery 
 that has possessed me all through my life, and has been the 
 source of my highest terrestrial enjoyments. It is God- 
 given; and I can not suppress the hope that it will ever be 
 a source of delight in the "better country," whose rivers 
 and trees and mountains will be illumed by the Sun of 
 Righteousness. 
 
 But the time came when I must leave home. My father 
 gave me good advice and prayed for the blessing of God 
 upon me. My sister kissed lue good-by and cried. My 
 mother embraced me and kissed me, and wept as she said, 
 "God bless you, my Robinson." In bitterness of heart I 
 tore myself away and hurried off to my long journey. I 
 walked alone from the house to the stage road, a mile or 
 two distant, crying nearly all the way. Though I had 
 consented to go and had desired to go, such was my love to 
 those left behind that it seemed cruel that I must be sepa- 
 rated from my mother when I knew not what was before me. 
 The journey had been mapped out for me by my father. 
 It was made partly by stage and partly on foot. There 
 were no railroads in the country then. I had no baggage 
 but what I could carry in my hand. The first Sabbath 
 was spent in Salt Creek Reformed Presbyterian congrisga- 
 tion, old Rev. Robert Wallace pastor; the second was in
 
 30 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LAND, 
 
 Columbus, the capital, with my cousin, Dr. William Awl, 
 superintendent of the lunatic asylum, the only one in the 
 state then. During the days I remained in the city, and by 
 the kindness of my cousins — Mrs. Awl was a niece of my 
 mother — I was so entertained by new things that my grief 
 from having to leave home was much assuaged. Dr. Awl 
 took me through the asylum several times. With him I 
 visited the Legislature. He took me to see a new orrery, or 
 planetarium, and probably the largest ever constructed. 
 It gave me my first clear conception of the vastness and 
 the glory of the astronomical world. At that time Ohio 
 had no blind asylum. Dr. Howe, of the Boston asylum, at 
 the invitation of the friends of the blind, had brought 
 several of the inmates of his institution to Columbus to 
 influence the Legislature to make appropriations for an Ohio 
 blind asylum. By the kindness of my friends I was present 
 when the blind from Boston gave illustrations of what 
 marvelous attainments could be made by this unfortunate 
 class. I was intensely interested, and thought then that if it 
 were possible I would gladly devote my life to the instruc- 
 tion of the blind. 
 
 On Monday I started again on my journey, and during 
 two days I walked fifty-five miles to Bellefontaine, and on to 
 Richland, where, with sore feet and weary limbs, I was 
 welcomed by my brother James and his young wife. A 
 new life was before me. 
 
 With the change in my home came the change of associa- 
 tions, new temptations and new responsibilities. I was 
 yet only a boy of sixteen. I still needed a mother's love, 
 a father's control, and a sister's help and care, all which 
 had been left behind at the old home. But my brother 
 was to me as a father. His wife was kind, and made my 
 new home pleasant. But the want of a sister I felt keenly. 
 Except my two brothers and their families, all the people,
 
 A NEW HOME IN THE WEST. 3 1 
 
 old and j^oung, were strangers to me; and to homesickness 
 I was not a stranger. And, though the postage of a letter 
 back to the loved ones from whom I was far separated was 
 then eighteen and three-fourths cents, many letters passed 
 to and from the old home. Gradually I became reconciled 
 to my lot. 
 
 The village in which my brother lived was within the 
 bounds of Miami congregation, of which my oldest brother 
 was pastor. The house of worship was about two miles 
 distant and near a post-oflfice and little country store, where 
 the village of Northwood afterwards grew up, and became 
 the location of Geneva College. The church building, 
 which was about half a mile from the store, was a hewed- 
 log house scarcely large enough to hold the members of 
 the church. When adherents and others- came, the house 
 was overcrowded. At communion seasons, when many 
 people from the country around attended, the services were 
 necessarily held in the Beach grove adjacent, and near to 
 which is now the old cemetery. In a few years a large 
 brick church was built by the old log house. This new 
 house was soon well filled by a large and growing congre- 
 gation. 
 
 It was in the old log house that I heard the truth of the 
 gospel preached with such power and pathos that, by the 
 gracious Spirit of God, my stubborn will was subdued and 
 my heart won to Him whose salvation I had been tempted 
 to neglect. Whether it was under my mother's influence 
 in my boyhood or at the later period when the Word preached 
 so persuaded me that I joyfully gave myself to Him who 
 has become all my salvation and all my desire, I am not 
 sure; but this I know, that during the three short years in 
 which I heard the gospel in that old log church, a great 
 change of mind or of heart, if not of both, was experienced. 
 During the protracted services of the first communion season
 
 32 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 after I was received into church-fellowship my emotions, 
 both of fear and of joy, as well as the depths of my heart, 
 were moved as never before. Whether it was the saving 
 work of the divine Spirit I can only hope. It was at this 
 time, or soon afterwards, that a desire to preach the gospel 
 began to be strong. What God's purpose was I could not 
 know, nor had the time come for me to decide the question. 
 I continued as a clerk in my brother's store and as a help 
 to him in his business and work until the early winter of 
 1837 when I joined a private class of six or seven students 
 in Latin, my brother J. B. being the teacher. During the 
 few months of study I boarded with his family. They lived 
 in a log cabin and on a little farm about a half mile from 
 the church where we met to recite. And here I must tes- 
 tify to the great worth of his wife, Mrs. Sarah Johnston, nee 
 Bruce. She was a woman of wonderful energy, as well as 
 eminent piety. To her industry and economy the pastor of 
 Miami congregation was greatly indebted. They were 
 poor, but by her assistance and frugality he was able to 
 attend to pastoral duties without anxiety about domestic 
 matters. While I was a boarder in the family she was to 
 me almost as kind as a mother. With the return of spring 
 the Latin class was scattered, all of them being sons of 
 farmers within the bounds of the congregation. I returned 
 to the store and family of my brother James. About mid- 
 summer I was taken down with a fearful and long-continued 
 fever such as was common in that new and malarious coun- 
 try. The physician was of the old school, or allopathic class, 
 about the only kind known then. After the first two or 
 three weeks I became reduced so low that my friends did not 
 expect my recovery. Two others of the same school were 
 called in as consulting physicians, and waited upon me for 
 two or three weeks, during which time the patient became 
 greatly emaciated and seemed to be hanging between life
 
 A NEW HOME IN THE WEST. 33 
 
 and death. But it was the will of the All-merciful Father 
 that his child should recover. After about seven or eight 
 weeks I began to convalesce and finally returned, though 
 very slowly, to something like former health. It may seem 
 out of place here for me to say so, but I can not refrain from 
 recording the fact that such great quantities of allopathic 
 medicines were given to the patient, and such free and fre- 
 quent use of the lancet made, that it often seemed almost 
 marvelous that the doctors did not kill me outright. Even 
 then, especially after I began to recover and could recall the 
 kind of treatment I had received, I greatly doubted the 
 wisdom of their practise; and not many years afterwards, 
 and after careful study of the laws of health, and after 
 impartial comparison of the different systems of medical 
 practise, I lost confidence in every other except the hygienic. 
 More than this I may not write here except to say that after 
 that long sickness I never enjoyed good health. During 
 my protracted sickness I was greatly favored by the pres- 
 ence and help of my sister who had come to visit her brothers- 
 She was my faithful and tender and constant nurse. Her 
 presence and sympathy were a great comfort to me. As 
 soon as I was sufficiently recovered, I accompanied her on 
 her return home. As at the time there were no railroads in 
 Ohio, we traveled by stage two nights and one day. At 
 Morristown, Belmont County, we stopped to visit our old 
 teachers, formerly of New Richmond, Rev. J. C. Tidball 
 and his brother David. The former was at this time a sup- 
 ply in the Presbyterian Church of Morristown. As formerly, 
 he was yet a zealous abolitionist. In our conversation the 
 evening we spent with him he narrated the following inci- 
 dents, illustrating how the pulpits of the slave-holding 
 churches were chained and their pastors muzzled. A few 
 years before, he was a pastor of a Presbyterian Church in 
 Ohio. In the prosecution of his ministerial work he occa- 
 3
 
 34 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 sionally bore testimony against slavery. The people were not 
 satisfied with his testimony. One da}' a committee waited 
 upon hira, informing him that his preaching on the subject 
 of slaverj^ was not acceptable to the congregation and that 
 they requested him to desist from it. He heard the com- 
 mittee courteously and they departed. After a while he 
 preached, as formerly, a clear-cut, anti-slavery discourse. 
 Another church meeting was held and another committee 
 appointed which waited upon him and informed him that 
 the church had authorized them to say that he must not 
 preach any more on the subject of slavery or they would be 
 compelled to have the pastoral relation dissolved. The 
 pastor arose in the presence of the committee and said: 
 "Gentlemen, please go back to your brethren and say to 
 them for me that before I promise to preach no more against 
 slavery they may all go to the devil." 
 
 I remained at home until late autumn, when I returned to 
 Logan County and resumed the study of Latin. Before late 
 spring we had read three or four of the ^neids of Virgil. 
 
 Again I returned to the store and remained at business 
 and work with my brother through the summer and early 
 autumn. Sometime during the summer my faith was tried. 
 As my brother had taught me to keep his books, and as I 
 was supposed to have acquired some business habits, a flat- 
 tering oSer was made to me through m^y brother by a man 
 who contemplated opening a store in a town in the same 
 county. He had the necessary capital but he knew nothing 
 about the business and could not keep books. And so he 
 wished a partner in business. After several conversations 
 with my brother, he authorized him to confer with me and 
 offer to me the position of an equal partner, he to furnish 
 all the capital. It was a trial of my faith. He was a Cov- 
 enanter, in the possession of considerable money, and a clever 
 Irish bachelor. Here was what seemed to be a good oppor-
 
 A NEW HOME IN THE WEST. 35 
 
 tunity to go into a profitable business, and perhaps acquire 
 some wealth after a while. But if I would accept the offer I 
 would have to abandon my studies and the thought of being 
 a theological student. I do not know that I made it a sub- 
 ject of special prayer, but I know that I was not long in 
 making a decision. Without much delay I thankfully 
 declined the offer, and I never regretted my decision. Sub- 
 sequently I have often thought how different would have 
 been my whole course of life if I had accepted the tempting 
 offer and given my mind and heart to business. But He who 
 chooses for us our lot had ordered it to be otherwise. He 
 had something better in store for me. The hope of it led to 
 the decision He caused me to make. 
 
 The three years spent in Logan County, prior to my en- 
 tering college, were, in some respects, formative years. I 
 should have had better society. The population was greatly 
 mixed. Some of the early settlers were illiterate and un- 
 cultivated, as well as irreligious. Too many of the Cove- 
 nanters who first removed thither, and were associated with 
 that class, were harmed by the contact and learned their 
 ways. Those who had enjoyed greater advantages and who 
 made a higher profession should have been educators of the 
 others instead of being "conformed to the world." I needed 
 refined and elevating companions. I was not prepared to 
 be a reformer among the rude and uncultivated. It is easier 
 to fall to the low level of such than to lift them up to a higher 
 moral plane, either by the power of religious influences or 
 good example. I know that I was culpable, and I know 
 that too many of the youth of the church loved the pleas- 
 ures of the world. Their lives were not marked by that 
 spirituality which becomes the disciples of the divine 
 Master. Religion is refining. All Covenanters should have 
 been models. 
 
 As early as 1837 that part of Logan County was new.
 
 36 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I,AND. 
 
 The farms were small and few. The roads were mostly 
 through the unbroken forests, and with little or no cultiva- 
 tion. The dwellings were nearly all log houses, some only 
 small cabins. The people traveled on horseback or in farm 
 wagons. Buggies or carriages were almost unknown. As 
 for railroads, there were none in the entire state. Tele- 
 graph lines were not introduced until some time after rail- 
 roads were built. Such was the society and such the con- 
 dition of the country and the environments of the Covenanter 
 congregation in which I resided and where I prepared for 
 college. The central and southern parts of the county were 
 much better improved, but the Covenanter settlements near 
 the northern boundary were nearly the last to be opened up, 
 and, farther north, several whole counties were nearly an un- 
 broken forest. 
 
 It was during these years in the little town of New Rich- 
 land that the first movement was made towards the establish- 
 ment of a literary institution to be under Covenanter in- 
 fluence. This movement, which finally resulted in the 
 founding of Geneva College at Northwood, originated with 
 brother J. S. Johnston. After two or three small meetings 
 were held for consultation and with the intention of locating 
 the college at Richland, some leading citizens of Bellefontaine 
 who had heard of the movement asked for a meeting at 
 which they might be heard in favor of locating the college 
 at the county seat. Subsequent meetings were held and 
 vigorous efforts made in behalf of Bellefontaine, but nothing 
 substantial was done, and the movement ceased for a while. 
 When it was renewed it was led by Rev. J. B Johnston, and 
 in favor of Northwood as the location, but "Geneva Hall," 
 the first name, was not founded until nearly ten years after- 
 wards. The history of Geneva College since that time was 
 published by Rev. W. M. Glasgow in 1888 and .subsequently 
 to its removal to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
 
 A NKW HOME IN THE WEST. 37 
 
 It was during these years that I formed the acquaintance 
 of ray subsequent college mate, John French. He was the 
 son of Elder John French, a member of Miami church ses- 
 sion. He was my senior by nearly five years, and had made 
 considerable progress in the study of Latin and algebra, and 
 some in Greek also, prior to his joining the Latin class 
 taught by the pastor. We read Virgil together, and this 
 opened the way to an intimate acquaintance that gradually 
 grew into a warm friendship. He was intellectual, cheer- 
 ful, a lover of wit and repartee, of hopeful piety, and, withal, 
 an intelligent Covenanter. It was to my advantage that 
 subsequently we became fellow-students in college, and that 
 we lodged and boarded together. In the summer of 1839 
 we determined to enter Miami University at the beginning 
 of the next college year. 
 
 Several times during the early summer I had met a young 
 and beautiful Christian girl, residing in Bellefontaine. In 
 the later months the acquaintance ripened into something 
 more than friendship. And so it happened that when the 
 time came for the two students to leave home to enter their 
 chosen university, it was more difficult for the younger than 
 the older to depart. If the risible faculties of the reader are 
 excited by this confession of one who was then only in his 
 teens, and if said reader ever had such an experience in 
 his early life, he will be willing to wait a little for fuller 
 information.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 At thk University. 
 
 In the autumn of 1839 the two Covenanter students took 
 the stage-coach at Bellefontaine on their way to Oxford as 
 candidates for the freshman class in Miami University. At 
 West Liberty where the first change of stage horses was 
 made we weighed ourselves on a pair of scales standing on 
 the sidewalk. The exact weight of each was one hundred 
 and forty pounds. From Dayton to Hamilton we traveled 
 in a canal boat, then by stage to Oxford. The Troy coach 
 was filled with students under way to the university. Those 
 who had been there before were all members of the same 
 literary society, the "Union Literary," and so powerfully 
 did they electioneer that we all afterwards united with it 
 and always were glad that we had done so. 
 • Mr. French and I rented a large room in the "old wing." 
 We had an open fireplace in which we burned wood, and 
 we furnished our own room and kept "bachelors' hall." 
 That open fireplace was a health institution, and our frugal 
 and hygienic diet was so promotive of health that we had no 
 doctor's bills to pay. Bach was cook every alternate week; 
 each was ambitious to excel the other in the art of cookery ; 
 and which was entitled to the prize was ever an un.settled 
 dispute. Once upon a time, however, when we had a roast 
 goose for an exceptional feast, my rival, who was the cook 
 that week, did not remind me of his superiority, for the 
 bird of the web-foot, whose age was not known when 
 bought, lasted us nearly a week. 
 
 (38)
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY. 39 
 
 We occupied that same room during the whole college 
 year, and it gives me pleasure to be able to record the fact 
 that every morning and evening we united in Scripture 
 reading and prayer as in family worship at home. 
 
 Except in the department of Latin I was not prepared 
 for admission to the freshman class. In Greek and in mathe- 
 matics I was five months in "candidate classes" under the 
 special instruction of the Head Master of the academic de- 
 partment. During those months I knew nothing but hard 
 study. When the spring vacation came, and when on our 
 way home we stopped again at the same stage station, and 
 again weighed ourselves on the same scales, Mr. French 
 had gained five pounds, I had lost five. He never weighed 
 less, I never weighed more. 
 
 During the second half of our college year we were 
 members of an eating club of twenty students. They were 
 all Christian young men, or of Christian faith and demeanor, 
 of the same literary society, but of several difierent churches. 
 By this method of boarding we had more time for study, 
 and our expenses were far less than if we had been at an 
 ordinary boarding-house. And as I had very little money 
 with which to carry me through my college course, I had 
 to study economy all the while. 
 
 Miami University was one of the two state institutions. 
 It was partly endowed by the rents obtained from a town- 
 ship of land owned by the state. Members of the faculty 
 were elected by the board of trustees, and these were ap- 
 pointed by the State Legislature. Thus the control, the 
 management, and the character of the institution, were 
 liable to be influenced by party politics. As to denomina- 
 tion, it was largely under Presbyterian influence. During 
 my year there President Bishop and the professors were all 
 Presbyterians, some Old School and some New, except 
 Professor McCracken of the chair of higher mathematics.
 
 40 LOOKING BACK FROM TliE SUNSE^T I,AND. 
 
 He was of the Associate Reformed Church. Whether out 
 of courtesy to him and to the psalm-singing students, of 
 whom there were many, or whether it was because President 
 Bishop, who formerly had been a member of the Associate 
 Reformed Church, retained much of his love of the "old 
 psalms," I do not know; but this I well remember that 
 in the morning chapel services the psalms were often sung 
 and none so frequently as the second part of the 119th. 
 "By what means shall a young man learn," etc. In this 
 service most of the students took part. During the entire 
 chapel service the deportment of the students was grave as 
 well as gentlemanly. I never saw an act of irreverence or 
 disorder. Indeed, it would not have been permitted for a 
 moment. From the time they entered the chapel until they 
 rose and passed out class by class, their demeanor was as 
 grave and quiet as if they were in divine service on Sabbath. 
 Now after the lapse of fifty-six years it is not probable that 
 this can be said of many colleges. The young men of the 
 colleges then were not the young Americans of to-day. 
 
 On Sabbath morning at nine o'clock, as on other days, all 
 the students assembled for chapel services; and, as on 
 other days, they all went to the class-rooms to recite 
 their Bible lessons to the members of the faculty. Presi- 
 dent Bishop taught the senior class. Our freshman class 
 recited to Professor John Scott, professor of the chair of 
 natural sciences. He was a New School Presbyterian min- 
 ister and a very fine Bible teacher as well as an exceedingly 
 amiable man. He was a favorite among the students. 
 During that year he so won my affections that I never 
 ceased to love him though I never met him but two or 
 three times afterwards until in his old age I called upon 
 him in the White House in Washington where he made 
 his home with his daughter, the wife of President Harrison. 
 Many years had passed since we had met in Ohio, and he
 
 AT TH^ UNIVEIRSITY. 4I 
 
 was now partially blind, so that he could not know me by 
 sight, yet after he learned who his visitor was he seemed 
 like a loving father to a long-absent son. His recollection 
 of his students of fifty years ago was very vivid. When 
 Dr. John Scott passed from the White House to a mansion 
 in the Father's house, great loss was sustained by the family 
 and President, and probably by the nation also. 
 
 In the year 1840, about twenty years before the War of 
 the Rebellion, the anti-slavery agitation was increasing rap- 
 idly. The Covenanters, the Friends, and the Garrisonians 
 were the early agitators. Neither the Covenanter church 
 nor the society of Friends would receive slaveholders into 
 their fellowship; and neither Covenanters nor Garrisonians 
 would vote or hold office under the pro-slavery Constitution. 
 On the subject of slavery, or the right to buy and sell and 
 exchange human beings as chattels, there was no difference 
 between the two great parties, the Whig and the Democratic. 
 But among some of the people and some of the churches 
 that fellowshiped slaveholders there had already begun no 
 little agitation. Some pulpits were "disturbers of the peace 
 of our Zion." Some anti-slavery papers were witnesses 
 against what Wesley had called the "sum of all villainies." 
 And some lecturers as anti-slavery prophets were beginning 
 to leaven the public mind with the hatred of oppression. 
 Miami University was not free from this agitation. When 
 it began is not known now, but in 1840 it was rapidly in- 
 creasing. Many of the students were from the south. The 
 members of the faculty were nearly all Presbyterians, but a 
 majority of them were New School and were less in sym- 
 pathy with slaveholders than were the Old School men. The 
 Board of Trustees was composed largely of pro-slavery men. 
 Like the Presbyterian Church, especially the Old School, 
 thej' were disturbed at the growing anti-slavery sentiment 
 and often in fear lest the university might lose its southern
 
 42 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 students if the anti-slavery agitation should continue to 
 grow. Prominent among the anti-slavery members of the 
 faculty was Dr. Bishop. He was a New School man, and 
 he was a subscriber of 77^1? Philanthropist, an anti-slavery 
 weekly edited in Cincinnati by that prince of editors, Dr. 
 Gamaliel Bailey. With the increase of the investigation 
 and discussion the lines of division between the students and 
 the professors and the Board of Trustees became more and 
 more distinctly defined. In our Union Literary Society 
 were a few students who were known even by the southern 
 students to be abolitionists, prominent among whom were 
 the Covenanter students. But the opposition to the agita- 
 tion of the subject of slavery developed itself in an effort to 
 get rid of the anti-slav^ery president. Even many of the 
 students were drawn into the opposition. Before the close 
 of the academic j^ear a petition was circulated among the 
 students asking the Board for the election of a new 
 president, though tacitly for the removal of President 
 Bishop. The principal reason urged was his alleged inabil- 
 \\.y because of age, though he was by no means an old man. 
 The result of this growing opposition to the anti-slavery 
 sentiment was that at the first meeting of the Board after 
 the Commencement, Dr. George Junkin, of Kentucky, was 
 elected president. He was the man who had been the leader 
 of the opposition to Dr. Albert Barnes in the great trial 
 which resulted in the division of the Presbyterian Church 
 into Old School and New School. Strange as it may seem, 
 the fact remains that in the ranks of the Old School were 
 the greatest number of pro-slavery men, and in the New 
 School the greatest number of anti-slavery. And this differ- 
 ence characterized the two Schools until in after years the 
 re-union occurred. 
 
 The removal of Dr. Bishop and the election of the South- 
 ern Old School pro-slavery president was the beginning of the
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY. 43 
 
 revolutionizing of Miami University. From that day the 
 glory of "old Miami" began to fade away, until, after the 
 War of the Rebellion, it was suspended for a time and did not 
 regain its former standing among literary institutions until 
 a few years ago when the causes of its former troubles had 
 all passed away into history. 
 
 This my first year in college was in some ways an impor- 
 tant formative year. I was brought into contact with all 
 kinds of students and with scholarly professors both of 
 whom had much to do with the shaping of my mind. To 
 my loss I was almost wholly deprived of Covenanter society. 
 Mr. French and I often walked on Sabbath mornings four 
 miles to a small prayer-meeting ("society") at the house of 
 Elder Robinson in Beechwood's congregation, then without 
 a pastor, and occasionally, when there was a supply of 
 preaching, six miles to the church. But during all the other 
 days of the week we were in the company of students and 
 professors, who with slight exceptions, knew little or nothing 
 of Covenanters. Except in our literary society and in occa- 
 sional mtercourse with students, we had no favorable oppor- 
 tunity to propagate our principles. Our professors soon 
 learned that we were Covenanters, but they never troubled 
 us about our peculiar belief, and with only a few of the 
 students did we ever have any controversy. We were there 
 for study, and we were both ambitious to lead our classes. 
 Yet occasionally we had opportunity to defend our Cov- 
 enanter faith and practise, and I think neither of us was ever 
 ashamed of them. With very few of the southern students 
 did we ever have conversations about slavery, but often with 
 northern students, members of pro-slavery churches. With 
 one of the seniors, a Kentuckian and a Presbyterian, I 
 became intimately acquainted; indeed, we were warm friends. 
 At graduation he was twenty years of age. His father, now 
 deceased, had been a slaveholder. To a large number of
 
 44 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 slaves the son would fall heir when he came to majority. 
 During his university course at Oxford he had become an 
 Abolitionist in sentiment. After Commencement when we 
 both were leaving for our homes, we traveled together to 
 Cincinnati and during the journey he told me that, whatever 
 would be the consequences, it was his purpose to emanci- 
 pate every slave the very day he would become twenty-one. 
 At Cincinnati I went with him to his Ohio River steamer, 
 which would take him part way home. We parted sadly, and 
 yet I was joyful in the hope that in due time he would loose 
 the bonds of those who would shortly become by law his chat- 
 tels. It showed that not all the worthy young men of that 
 day were north of Mason and Dixon's line. 
 
 I must not forget to say that when our freshman year 
 was closed, John French, my fellow-student and dearly 
 beloved brother in Christ, bade me good-by, he to go to his 
 home in Logan County, and I to mine in Harrison County, 
 as he started first and left me behind, I wept in heart. I 
 was lonely and far from home and seemed almost friendless. 
 Yet when we parted we expected to meet at college again 
 at the opening of the next year. We both left our books 
 and furniture, intending to occupy the same room on our 
 return. But God had ordered it otherwise. Probably I 
 would have returned to my brothers at Logan County if 
 my sister at the old home had not written me that she 
 expected to be married during my vacation, and that she 
 was anxious forme to be at home at the time. Accordingly, 
 following the dictates of love to parents and sister, at Cin- 
 cinnati I took an Ohio River steamer to Steubenville, and in 
 due time was back at Brush Run and in the old brick home 
 with father and mother and sister. Whatever of trouble or 
 sorrow I had endured was now almost forgotten. A long 
 vacation was before me; sister was shortly to be married, 
 and then I would return to Oxford to take up my sophomore 
 studies with dear Mr. French.
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY. 45 
 
 Weeks passed and sister's marriage was postponed. If I 
 would return to college at the opening of the year I could 
 not be at her wedding. Money to go to college was scarce 
 if at all obtainable. My mother wished me not to go back 
 but to remain at home for a while and then enter Franklin 
 College at New Athens, only fifteen miles away. Her love, 
 her pleas, my desire to be at sister's marriage, and the 
 scarcity of money, all kept me at home for the time. 
 
 After a while sister was married to Dr. John Carter, of 
 Bloomingdale, a well-educated and skilful physician of the 
 old school, of Presbyterian education, and a Free Mason 
 though not a lodge attender. After a while, through the 
 influence of his Covenanter wife, he changed his creed and 
 abandoned Masonry and gradually became a zealous Cov- 
 enanter and a foe to the lodge. 
 
 That I might make a little money for present and future 
 needs, I engaged to teach school in a country district adja- 
 cent to that in which I had received, my own primary edu- 
 cation. The wages promised were $i8 per month. The 
 schoolhouse was only about two miles distant, so that I 
 could board at home. My walk was mostly through the 
 woods lying between the farms on the right and left. My 
 love for the forest, always strong, increased. The oppor- 
 tunity for meditation was favorable. Health was promoted. 
 The house was a first-class log cabin. The school was large. 
 The scholars' ages ranged from six up to twenty or more. 
 The young men and young women, "boys and girls," had 
 studied the common-school branches more or less every 
 winter for years, and some of them had "ciphered" through 
 the arithmetic several times and knew more about the text- 
 book than did the teacher. But as he had been at college 
 and had studied algebra and geometry, he was supposed to, 
 be able to teach the best of the scholars. It was quite prob- 
 able, however, that at home the teacher spent more time than
 
 46 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LANjj. 
 
 any of his scholars "working out" the difficult arithmetical 
 problems in the text-book he had not seen before. But the 
 teaching was not so difficult as the governing. In this I 
 was not prepared; and I know now that I made many a 
 blunder of which I was ashamed afterwards. But my first 
 term of country school-teaching must have been regarded as 
 at least a partial success, for I was employed to teach a 
 second. At its expiration I immediately left home for New 
 Athens to resume my college course. 
 
 Franklin College was one of the oldest in the state. New 
 Athens, a village in Harrison County, was in a community 
 largely Presbyterian. Of Associate and Associate Re- 
 formed Churches there were several in the county. Proba- 
 bly the most influential man in the founding of the college 
 was Rev. John Walker, pastor of an Associate Church 
 in the vicinity of the town. The members of the faculty 
 from the first were nearly all members of some of the 
 Presbyterian Churches.- During the early years of the insti- 
 tution the president was a Presbyterian. John Armstrong, 
 professor of mathematics, and eminent in his profession, was 
 a Covenanter. The "Seceder" influence, however, was, no 
 doubt, the strongest. Rev. John Walker, the leading spirit 
 in the Board of Trustees, was a very earnest Abolition- 
 ist; and in the entire community anti-slavery principles had 
 leavened society to some extent. The majority of the Board 
 of Trustees were Abolitionists. Soon after I entered college. 
 Rev. Dr. Edwin H. Nevin was elected president. He was 
 a Presb3'terian, an outspoken anti-slavery man, and an 
 eloquent public speaker. As the question of slavery was 
 now agitating the college circles. Dr. Nevin was most proba- 
 bly elected president more for his anti-.slavery principles and 
 his eloquence than for his scholarship. Rev. Andrew T. 
 Black, first professor of languages, was a Seceder and an 
 abolitionist. Prof. Geo. K. Jenkins, of the department of
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY. 47 
 
 mathematics, was an orthodox Friend (Quaker), and, of 
 course, anti-slavery. One of the tutors, or assistant professor, 
 was a Seceder and presumably anti-slavery ; another was a 
 Presbyterian and conservative. Nearly all the students 
 were mature young men, and the majority of them were 
 Presbyterians and Methodists; a large minority were Seced- 
 ers and Associate Reformed. During my stay I was the only 
 Covenanter. 
 
 All the years of my college life in Franklin I was obliged 
 to study strict economy, and in finances and for the want of 
 money I was deprived of many things necessary to health 
 and comfort as well as education. Most of the time I 
 boarded with Mrs. Moody, an excellent Christian woman 
 who kept three other boarders, all Christian young men. 
 During a large part of the junior year, however, I roomed 
 alone and kept "bachelor's hall." This had two advantages: 
 it was more economic, and it was favorable to close study 
 and private devotion. During that junior college year I 
 think I accomplished more in my studies than in any other. 
 The larger half was done at night. New Athens had 
 no gas works. Kerosene oil had not yet been discovered. 
 For much of my student's lore I am indebted to the historical 
 tallow candle. Snuffers were an indispensable institution. 
 Mine were my mother's gift when leaving home for college. 
 My first-born daughter has fallen heir to them. To such a 
 luxury as the tallow candle, and the whole light of it for one 
 student! college boys of to-day are strangers. And let not 
 these boast of "midnight oil," for "there were giants in 
 those days," the days of the dipped tallow candle. And 
 the candlestick, too; it must not be forgotten. To this day 
 bright visions of the old 1)rass candlestick rise up in the 
 chambers of niemorj^ with hallowed associations. 
 
 During my college life at Franklin my Sabbath privileges 
 were limited. In the town there was no psalm-singing
 
 48 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 church. I was fifteen miles from home where my pastor 
 preached only on alternate Sabbaths. There was no public 
 conveyance between the two places; and so I had my choice 
 to be an "occasional hearer," or to remain in my room and 
 spend the day in reading, or to walk home to spend my 
 Sabbaths with those who loved me, and in the old church 
 of the Covenanters. Without any attempt to justify myself 
 I only record the fact that I compromised between the three. 
 I rarely attended preaching in the town. Many of my Sab- 
 baths I spent alone, but I never studied any college lessons. 
 Only rehgious books were read. They were obtained mostly 
 from the library of my literary society. Among those re- 
 membered were the volumes of Neal's "History of the Puri- 
 tans." Many of my Sabbaths were spent at home. lyove 
 drew me there. The desire to worship in the old church 
 with father and mother, sister and brother, and those whose 
 faith I believed to be scriptural, had much to do with my 
 going so far for Sabbath services. Asking leave of absence 
 from my Monday A. m. recitations, my custom was to walk 
 home on Saturday p. m., my road leading through Cadiz, 
 the county seat of Harrison County. In those days a walk 
 of fifteen miles was easy. To fatigue, the student footman 
 was almost a stranger. When Monday morning came my 
 mother gave me an early breakfast and hurried me off in 
 time to be at my boarding-house for dinner. These long 
 and frequent walks might have been avoided if the student 
 had not loved home or the Covenanter Church, or if he had 
 been favored with plenty of money to hire a livery stable 
 conveyance; but they gave him many outings and conse- 
 quent rest from close study, and they were so health- 
 promoting that he had no need of a gymnasium and rarely 
 need of athletics of any kind except frequent and .short 
 walks in the adjacent grove. Indeed, Franklin had no 
 gymnasium, and probably healthier and more muscular
 
 AT THE UNIVERv<>lTY. 49 
 
 students were to be found in no college in the whole country. 
 
 In the junior year all the students of the class gave what 
 were called the junior orations. Their delivery gave occa- 
 sion for the students' first appearance in public. Every 
 orator selected his own subject. Mine was John Quincy 
 Adams. It was a eulogy upon the anti-slavery ex-president 
 as the distinguished advocate of the right of petition. For 
 years while he was in Congress most of the petitions that 
 went up from all parts of the north, asking for the abolition 
 of slavery in the District of Columbia, were sent to Mr. 
 Adams, and he always presented them. For this the south- 
 ern members hated him. When he presented a petition 
 asking for the dissolution of the Union between the north 
 and the slave holding states, the House of Representatives 
 voted to expel him. He went back home as an exile be- 
 cause of his claim that the people's right of petition must 
 be recognized and guarded. His constituents promptly sent 
 him back again to his seat in the House where he continued 
 an honored and active member until the day and hour of 
 his death. 
 
 To the ordinary college student his literary society is of 
 great benefit. In Franklin there were only two, the Phil- 
 osophical and the Jeffersonian. These were not secret 
 societies, but the rivalry^their desire to excel in the liter- 
 ary exercises of both — ran so high that the doors of both 
 were ordinarily closed against each other; and, except 
 members of the faculty, no person was allowed to enter 
 unless by vote of the society. The spirit of rivalry arose 
 to its greatest height before the annual contests, and after 
 the contestors had been chosen each society made great 
 efforts to conceal from the rival society who the contestors 
 were. Ordinarily these were not known by any of the other 
 society until they appeared on the stage the evening of the 
 contest. As a member of the "Philo" Society I sup- 
 4
 
 50 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 pose I was a partisan, and I labored hard during all my 
 college course to excel in the society's exercises. These con- 
 sisted in declamations, essays, debates, and orations. The 
 greatest honor was awarded to the student who was the 
 most regular in attendance and who was the most punctual 
 in performing his well-prepared literary exercises. I know 
 I was ambitious to excel, and I confess that I sought literary 
 honor. Several times it was bestowed, and especially when 
 in my senior year I was chosen to be the orator to represent 
 the "Philos." It came about in this way: At the first 
 election I was chosen to be the debater. According to 
 custom the question had been selected by the Philo 
 Society, and then the choice of sides was the privilege of 
 the Jeffersonian Society. The question involved not only 
 moral principle but also the civil duties of a political citi- 
 zen. The other society chose, as I thought, the side on 
 which the truth lay. I could not have debated in favor of 
 the side that fell to me to advocate; and in this opinion 
 my society did not agree with me. I positively declined to 
 debate in favor of a proposition I did not believe. The dif- 
 ficult}^ was the greater because the question involved moral 
 principle in civil relations. I was honorably excused and 
 another debater was elected. Subsequently I was chosen to 
 give the oration. My subject selected was, "Proper Moral 
 and Religious Principles Essential to the Welfare of the 
 Nation," or words to that efiect. In the preparation of the 
 oration I labored hard. When the two orators appeared on 
 the rostrum my rival proved to be William Brown, very 
 tall, and considerably older than I. His theme was, "The 
 Statesman's Influence." The oration was good, very good, 
 and very well delivered. His style of oratory was popular. 
 But the tree bore more flowers than fruit. The style was 
 so ornamental that good critics would call it bombastic. 
 Perhaps this had much influence upon the judges of the
 
 AT THE UNIVER.SITY. 5 1 
 
 contest who awarded the honor to the Philo student, 
 four thus voting and the fifth dividing the honor between 
 the two contestants. Of course the Philo contestor did 
 not disHke the decision. Indeed, he can not deny that 
 he was lifted up with pride. Perhaps it would have been 
 better for him if he had lost the honor, for what is more dan- 
 gerous than pride? and what is more beautiful than humility? 
 In their decision as to the merits of all the exercises the 
 judges awarded three honors to the Philos, viz., the 
 declamation, the oration, and the debate, and one to the 
 Jeffersonians, namely, the essay. After the decision of the 
 judges had been announced, and while the Philos and 
 their friends were giving great applause, my rival love 
 of my own society was so strong, and my joy so unconceal- 
 able, that I instinctively and heartily joined in the applause. 
 My fellow-students saw my thoughtless lack of modesty and 
 laughed at me, and rightly. And yet I almost forgot the 
 unspoken reprimand when, after we came out of the church 
 where the contest was, some of the rejoicing Philos seized 
 me and carried me on their shoulders to my boarding- 
 house. How much I slept that night I do not now remem- 
 ber, but in my pride I suppose I forgot the words of the 
 wise man, "Be of a humble spirit with the lowly." 
 
 During my junior year I became intimately acquainted 
 with a fellow-student, William Robinson, a senior, to whose 
 memory I owe more than I can express. He was a Presby- 
 terian of manifest piety, intellectual, modest, and gentle- 
 manly in deportment. As my acquaintance with him grew 
 into intimacy it gradually ripened into a friendship and 
 unspoken affection that has been lifelong. I think it was 
 mutual; and I hope it will be undying. After more than 
 half a century I can not remember what led to our first inti- 
 mate acquaintance; and it would hardly be expected, for we 
 were not of the same college class, nor of the same church.
 
 52 LOOKING BACK FROM THE vSUNSET LAND. 
 
 But I remember this, that he was poor; that for a time we 
 both boarded ourselves, each in his own room in different 
 parts of the village; that, owing to some irregularity in his 
 studies, he recited one term in my class in Homer's Iliad. 
 And after we both had thoroughly studied our daily lessons, 
 we met in one of our rooms and read the lesson together to 
 see if in our own judgment we had translated it accurately. 
 We had no "ponies" in those days. I never saw one or 
 knew that there were such books until long after I had left 
 college. Having thus studied our Homer we believed that 
 we were ready for the recitation room. 
 
 Mr. Robin.son graduated in 1842. It was his desire to 
 study theology, but he was too poor. Being straightened 
 in finances it was his purpose to teach school for a while. 
 He thought of going into the south for this purpose, and he 
 tried to persuade me to join him, but as I had one more 
 year in college and could not go then if at all, his plans 
 were modified. Partly that we might be together a little 
 longer, and partly in the hope that we could make a little 
 money in our time of need, before his graduation we planned 
 a lecturing tour. President Nevin had recently given 
 astronomical lectures in college, using the magic lantern and 
 appropriate diagrams for help. He wanted to sell them, 
 and we bought them. A genius of my acquaintance had 
 invented a new kind of electrical machine that he wished 
 men of science to see. So we arranged to spend our 
 vacation in a lecturing tour on astronomy and electricity. 
 He may have known more of both sciences than I did, but 
 I am now sure that I did not know how little I knew of 
 either. "A little learning is a dangerous thing." Begin- 
 ning at Amsterdam, Jefferson County, Ohio, the residence of 
 my uncle David Johnston, and next night at Carrolton, 
 where we were met by Rev. Mr. Robinson, pastor of a 
 Presbyterian Church and brother of ray friend, we traveled
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY. 53 
 
 in a kind of serai-circular route, stopping at the larger towns. 
 The graduate lectured one evening and the other was door- 
 keeper and received the entrance moneys. Next night the 
 junior lectured and the graduate was doorkeeper. The 
 quality of the lectures and how many crowded houses we 
 had may easily be guessed. Our last lectures were at 
 Dresden on the Muskingum River. Our aggregate expenses 
 had exceeded our receipts. On leaving our hotel the next 
 morning we had not money sufficient to take us down to 
 Zanesville. We pawned our trunk and departed. At Zanes- 
 ville, or Putnam on the west side of the river, I borrowed 
 five dollars from Rev. John Wallace and redeemed the 
 trunk. Mr. Robinson found a friend in West Zanesville 
 through whose influence he obtained a school and so 
 remained to teach. Meditating upon the vicissitudes of 
 student life and the folly of two unknown collegians hoping 
 to make money by scientific lectures to unscientific people 
 in obscure towns, I took the stage to New Athens to resume 
 my studies. Whether I was exalted or humbled may 
 easily be supposed; and the reader can as easily guess that 
 the "strapped" student did not wish to be interrogated as to 
 his success in his lecturing tour. Nevertheless, it was not 
 all loss; and I never regretted that I had such an opportu- 
 nity to be so long with ray beloved friend. I never saw him 
 again. After teaching a year in Zanesville, and hoping that 
 after graduation I would go with him into the south to 
 teach awhile, he departed alone. He went to Fulton, 
 Hickman County, Kentucky, married, became a father, and 
 at last word was living, a happy old man. It is pleasant to 
 hope that we shall meet again in unfading youth in the 
 Father's house.* 
 
 * Since tlie above was written I have received a letter from his 
 daughter that her father had departed this life.
 
 54 LOOKING BACK FROM THB SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Franklin College could not escape from the influences of 
 the anti-slav^ery agitation now growing rapidly all over the 
 north. A majority of her students were Abolitionists more 
 or less outspoken. Every member of the faculty was anti- 
 slavery the president a zealous and fearless antagonist of 
 slavery whether tolerated in the church or fostered by the 
 government. In the literary societies the question was 
 discussed freely. The outspoken pro-slavery students were 
 few in number. The conservatives and the apologizers for 
 slavery were outnumbered when debates involved the 
 questions of frtedom. The Board of Trustees could not 
 escape from the growing agitation. The pro-slavery 
 members and those who saw that the college was in danger 
 of becoming a hot-bed of abolition excitement, feared that 
 the peace of "our church" would be disturbed. As the 
 college was in debt, the leading pro slavery member of the 
 board, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, took ad- 
 vantage of the claim to get rid of the obnoxious Abolition- 
 ists. By law he secured a claim against the institution and 
 put the property up at auction. The pro-slavery party 
 bought it at sheriff's sale. A new Board of Trustees was 
 organized; a new faculty was elected; and the new rival 
 institution was dubbed " Providence College." Few 
 students came; and before the pro-slavery college was 
 ready to walk alone it died of starvation and was buried 
 without honors. We never learned whether the funeral 
 services were conducted according to Masonic rites or 
 Christian; nor did we ever hear whether or not the defenders 
 of the cherished "patriarchal institution" erected on the 
 grave a monument "sacred to the memory of Providence 
 College." 
 
 To .show how most of the students felt, and to follow the 
 order of time, it .should have been written sooner that the 
 first Saturday after the college buildings were sold, and to
 
 AT THK UNIVERSITY. 55 
 
 carry out their resolutions the evening before, the students 
 of both literary societies, with their own hands, emptied both 
 halls of all the property, — furniture, Hbraries, and cabinets, 
 and had all carted away to new rooms or halls made ready to 
 receive them. The people of the town, whether Abolitionists 
 or pro-slavery, were excited spectators, some of them help- 
 ing the students. To the pro-slavery party it was an 
 unexpected and almost death blow. On the next Monday 
 morning recitations began in the Presbyterian Church and 
 adjacent rooms. Franklin College survived and Providence 
 College soon died, as if a prophecy of the great events nearer 
 at hand than even the friends of the slave could foresee. 
 The old bell that remained with the old building soon 
 became silent. On the new bell, cast for the new edifice, 
 was the memorable command, "Proclaim liberty throughout 
 all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof," forshadow- 
 ing the coming glad day of the lyord when the chains of 
 nearly four millions of chattel slaves were broken by the 
 proclamation of emancipation when the blood of the Civil 
 War was flowing like rivers. 
 
 Prior to and during the years of my college life co- 
 education in the literary institutions of the country was 
 almost unknown. A very few, like Oberlin, admitted female 
 students. Franklin had none. If no young women applied 
 for admission it was not so much because of opposition to 
 co-education as because it had not been the custom. As in 
 female seminaries young men were not admitted, and are 
 excluded yet and wisely, so in most of the colleges young 
 ladies were not desired. In subsequent years a gradual 
 change came and co-education now is not the exception but 
 the rule. Whether this change has advanced the cause of 
 higher education and should be continued must depend 
 much upon whether or not there is in the faculty parental 
 authority. With good rules rightly enforced co-education 
 may be proper, otherwise it is believed to be an evil.
 
 56 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LAND. " 
 
 The graduates of 1843 were few — only seven. The stand- 
 ing of the Covenanter student in the class may have been 
 indicated by the fact that to him was awarded what was 
 called the "first honor," viz. , the Greek Oration at the Com- 
 mencement. But one thing is certain, the honored graduate 
 would have preferred to translate the whole of Demosthenes 
 de Corona rather than to prepare and deliver that Greek 
 Oration to which almost none gave attention except his 
 Greek professor. 
 
 Thus closed my college years. They were too short. 
 This I did not know then as well as subsequently. And 
 here I record my advice to all Christian students, viz., that 
 in pursuing college studies they hasten slowly. Too often, 
 if not generally, the scholarship of graduates is much lower 
 than it should be. Study to excel, not for the sake of ex- 
 celling but for the sake of what is gained in order to excel. 
 The course of study may not be insufficient, but the evil is 
 that too few master it. 
 
 On bidding good-by to my fellow graduates I parted with 
 a class of noble young men whom I had learned to love. 
 Five of them became students of theology and useful pastors. 
 Except the writer they have all passed over to the other 
 side.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Two Years of a Teacher's Life. 
 
 It had long been my desire to become a student of theol- 
 ogy and to preach the Gospel of Christ, and I would have 
 entered the seminary the next session after leaving college 
 if I had not been destitute of the necessary funds. Besides, 
 in my wish to continue in and graduate with my class of 
 1843 I had incurred debt to my good landlady who kindly 
 agreed to wait with me for the payment. Hoping to be 
 able to make some money by teaching, through the kindness 
 of my former teacher and friend, David Tidball, then a 
 teacher in St. Clairsville, Ohio, a door was opened for me in 
 that town. There was no school in the place except the 
 public schools. In the late autumn of 1843 I hired a room, 
 issued a circular and advertised in the papers that at such a 
 date I would open the St. Clairsville High School. On the 
 first day only thirteen students were enrolled. I was almost 
 a total stranger in the old and aristocratic town; and had it 
 not been for my friend Tidball and his brother. Rev. J. C. 
 Tidball, then studying law, I might have opened a school 
 without scholars. I persevered, however, and before the 
 end of the first term the number had increased so as to need 
 a larger room. I rented a hall on Main street, divided it 
 into two parts by a movable partition, employed a young 
 lady assistant teacher, and opened the second term with a 
 large increase of students. At the opening of the second 
 year another class-room and a second assistant teacher were 
 necessary. As there were several classes in the higher 
 
 (57)
 
 58 LOOKING BACK FROIVI THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 branches and college studies which the assistants could not 
 teach, and as some of these studies, as botany, and "Geo- 
 graphy of the Heavens" (Burritt's), had not been in my 
 college course, I was obliged to study hard to be able to 
 teach my too numerous classes. Many a midnight hour 
 found me yet at study to be ready to hear my next day's reci- 
 tations. And though ray energies were too severely taxed 
 and ray health endangered, yet at the end of two years my 
 store of knowledge, or what we call education, was increased 
 and I better prepared to enter the Theological Seminary. 
 
 Though ray debt had been canceled and a High School 
 built up that had the favor of the friends of education, it 
 could hardly be called a paying institution. Low tuition 
 fees, high boarding bills, high rents, teachers' salaries, and 
 many incidentals had prevented me from accumulating as 
 much as I had hoped. But as a good school had been 
 established I could easily have been persuaded to reraain if 
 there had not been strong inducements to the contrary. 
 Not until afterwards did I see or feel the hand that led rae. 
 
 During those two years in St. Clairsville I was almost 
 unavoidably thrown into fashionable society. I came into 
 contact with the educated and refined, but in the gay circle 
 God was forgotten, and religion, even though many were 
 church-members and all church-goers, was ignored. The 
 pleasurable took the place of the profitable, and often in 
 the social party the silly play or the promiscuous dance was 
 introduced. No doubt I enjoyed the society of the intelli- 
 gent and refined, but often after having spent an evening in 
 such a manner when I retired to my own room I was un- 
 happy in the belief that precious time had been lost if not 
 also spent sinfully. I found that others were of the same 
 mind, and the result was the formation of a select literary 
 society whose members agreed to decline all invitations to 
 the fashionable parties. Ever}^ week we had a most enjoy-
 
 TWO YEARS OF A TEACHER'S LIEE. 59 
 
 able and profitable evening spent in literary exercises. 
 Though this was done more for our own profit than to reform 
 society, yet after a while the mere pleasure-seeking social 
 parties almost ceased to be. In after years many a time I 
 silently exclaimed, O! the follies of youth! And how long- 
 suffering the patience of our heavenly Father towards his 
 sinful children! 
 
 During these years I suffered much loss for want of the 
 society of brethren in the church. I was far away from a 
 Covenanter Congregation. In the town there was not an- 
 other Covenanter. I generally attended either the Associate 
 Reformed Church or the Presbyterian. Probably I was 
 often induced to go to the latter because of the influence of 
 my friend Tidball and because many of the students in the 
 High School were from Presbytcrrian families. At one time 
 the superintendent of the Sabbath school pressed me into 
 service as a teacher of a class of boys of about sixteen years. 
 But I soon became discouraged at their lack of study and 
 their ungovernable habits, and gave up the class and attended 
 the school no more. Besides, I had soon discovered that a 
 Presbyterian Sabbath school was a poor place for a Cove- 
 nanter young man to be. Soon after this I was wailed upon 
 by a committee of young people, mostly teachers in the Sab- 
 bath school, who invited me to teach a class of such in the 
 afternoon and independent of the school. I was glad to do 
 so. We studied the Epistle to the Hebrews I think most 
 diligently. And this was my first pleasant experience as a 
 teacher of Bible lessons. 
 
 About this time occurred an incident that after explana- 
 tion may be recorded here because of its connection with 
 the temperance reform. During the months preceding and 
 especially in the St. Clairsville Lyceum I had formed a 
 somewhat intimate acquaintance with a young lawyer, a 
 Quaker, and a very active friend of the temperance reform.
 
 6o LOOKING BACK I^ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 At that time in the Ohio Legislature there was a bill pend- 
 ing with reference to the liquor traffic. It was not as radi- 
 cal as that afterwards passed by the lyCgislature of Maine, 
 but it was similar, as it was prohibitory in its aim and tend- 
 ency. A public meeting had been called in the town of 
 Belmont, a few miles distant, and my young friend, the 
 Quaker lawyer, was invited to give oae of the addresses 
 and to bring a second speaker with him to give the other. 
 He asked me to go with him. Never before had I an oppor- 
 tunity to make a temperance speech, and so I embraced 
 this. I knew I was not master of the subject but I dtter- 
 mined to do the best I could. It was to be my maiden 
 temperance speech. To a full house I argued in favor of 
 the entire prohibition of the liqu:)r traffic by civil enactment. 
 I remember even yet an argument which I u.sed in answer 
 to the objection that the people are not prepared for such 
 advanced legislation, viz., that the existence of a state law 
 and its proper and faithful enforcement are educators, and 
 partly because the majority of the ordinary citizens not 
 skilled in the principles of law look no higher for the stand- 
 ard of right than the existence of an enforced Civil Code. 
 Both the speeches were in favor of the positive and imme- 
 diate prohibition of the hquor traffic; and though this was 
 in the year 1844 or 1845, more than half a century ago, I 
 think my sentiments in favor of prohibition have never 
 been more radical than these expressed in that "maiden 
 speech." 
 
 Early in the month of January, 1845, learning that my 
 father was in feeble health I visited home and found him 
 quite sick. He evidently thought it was his last sickness, 
 for before I left home to return to my post of labor he called 
 me to his bedside and gave me most earnest and affection- 
 ate advice and all about my religious duties. A week or 
 two afterwards a messenger came from home to St. Clairs-
 
 TWO YEARS OF A TEACHER'S LIFE. 6l 
 
 ville to inform me that my father was not expected to live 
 long and hastened me home. Dismissing the school and 
 procuring a horse and saddle I rode nearly all night. It 
 was a dark and cold winter night. I reached home before 
 daylight but not until after my father's eyes were closed in 
 death. My now widowed mother met me and embraced 
 me, a fatherless son, and took me to the death-chamber. 
 In sorrow such as I had never known before we stood and 
 wept together. Bitter were the tears shed as there came to 
 me the recollection of how often I had sinned against the 
 loving and faithful father whom God had now taken from 
 me to himself. More than ever I loved him, and more than 
 ever I loved and clung to my mother. In sorrow unknown 
 before I rode with her to the burial in the old graveyard at 
 the Beechspring Presbyterian Church where were the graves 
 of Grandmother and Grandfather Black. Turning away 
 from the newly-made grave and kissing my mother good-by, 
 I hastened back to my work praying that my heavenly 
 Father would not only comfort and sustain her but make 
 her son more worthy of such parents. 
 
 Some time during my second year in the High School I 
 formed the acquaintance of a Franklin College student from 
 New Concord, Ohio, to whom afterwards as a theological 
 student I became attached. It came about in this way. 
 He had not entered college until after my departure, but 
 while I was teaching in St. Clairsville I was invited to 
 address the Philo literary society. The addre-s was given 
 before a mixed assembly in the Presbyterian Church. As I 
 came down from the rostrum I was introduced to the stu- 
 dent, William F. George, a Covenanter. Though he was 
 not a member of my college society, we were bound by a 
 stronger tie, the bond of church brotherhood; and yet I 
 confess I would have been glad if he had been a Philo, for 
 from the first nearly all the Covenanter students had been
 
 62 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 members of that society. At that meeting, however, neither 
 of us knew what was before us; we knew only this, that 
 we were brothers in the church, and that probably we might 
 some day be fellow-students in the seminary.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Theological Studies. 
 
 At the R. P. Synod of May, 1845, the theological seminary 
 was removed from Allegheny, Pa., to Cincinnati, Ohio. I 
 think that my brother J. B. Johnston had feared that I might 
 abandon my purpose of studying theology and make teach- 
 ing my profession, for after the action of Synod he opened a 
 correspondence with me urging me to leave the St. Clairs- 
 ville school and enter the seminary when it would be opened 
 in its new location and under the professorship of old Dr. 
 J. R. Willson. I yielded to his persuasions, and as soon as 
 convenient arranged for entering the seminary. 
 
 At the close of the summer session I resigned the charge 
 of the institution. Whatever time I had to spare I spent at 
 home with my mother and sister. Then according to pre- 
 vious arrangements I met Mr. George at Wheeling, Va., 
 where we took an Ohio steamer for Cincinnati. On arrival 
 at the Queen City we took boarding with the family of Mr. 
 Moses Glasgow, a carpenter and a member of the little 
 Covenanter congregation. We were roommates and class- 
 mates only for a few months. His health failed so that he 
 was compelled to leave the seminary for the time; and thus 
 I was left without a roommate. 
 
 As there was no seminary building, students met for 
 lectures and recitations in a hall rented by the little congre- 
 gation for public worship. Dr. Willson was the sole pro- 
 fessor and teacher except that sometimes he employed a tutor 
 in Hebrew; and as the congregation had no pastor he 
 
 (63)
 
 64 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 preached on Sabbaths. Subsequently he was appointed 
 stated supply or installed as pastor. 
 
 Dr. J. R. Willson was regarded throughout the church as 
 the greatest preacher in the denomination, a superior scholar, 
 and an excellent teacher. As to the last I was not capable 
 of judging, but my first impression was unfavorable especially 
 as to Hebrew. Most of the freshmen students were ignorant 
 of the language For our text-book our professor gave us 
 copies of his manuscript Hebrew grammar and for the lirst 
 few months we had no other. We submitted to his mode of 
 teaching but we did it under silent protest. And as he was 
 greatly opposed to the Masoretic points, we spent our first 
 session in the study of the language without the points. 
 At the beginning of the second session we began to use 
 Gesennius' grammar and to learn the points. We had to 
 unlearn what we had learned before, and the whole system 
 of pronunciation, as every Hebrew scholar knows, had to 
 be changed. The consequence was that I never thoroughly 
 mastered the language, or never was able to read it fluently. 
 
 Our text-boak in theology was Turritin, in I,atin. Of 
 this our professor was master. The L,atin text was easy and 
 pure, good Latin but not classical. To study the great 
 French theologian was a pleasure and to recite to such a 
 teacher was a delight. And during all the four years of the 
 seminary, no text-book in didactic theology was used except 
 Turritin' s Latin volumes. This continued in the seminary 
 until during the professorship of Dr. J. R. W. Sloane when it 
 was exchanged for Hodge. A while after the change, in 
 private conversation with Dr. Sloane I asked why Turritin was 
 dropped. "Simply because so many of the students could 
 not read it," was the learned doctor's reply. Did he do 
 injustice to the students? 
 
 As a pulpit orator Dr. Willson had few if any superiors. 
 Large of frame, muscular but not corpulent, with large
 
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 J. R. WiLLSON, D. D.
 
 THROLOGICAL STUDIES. 65 
 
 brain, well-cut features, piercing e3'es, good lungs and 
 sonorous voice, full vocabulary and freedom of utterance, he 
 prepossessed his hearers before he had finished his introduc- 
 tion. And then he had .so much of the majestic in his form 
 and countenance, such a clear and full perception of the 
 great fact and truths of the atonement, such an appreciation 
 of the glory and the beauty of the atoning Mediator, and 
 withal such a towering imagination and so much of unction 
 and pathos in his utterances, his .sermons had immense 
 power to persuade. As a logician he was only ordinary; of 
 Rhetoric he was master. His closing paragraphs were 
 ordinarily the most sublime or powerful; and to him might 
 have been applied what Burke said of another: "His enthu- 
 siasm kindles as he advances; and when he arrives at his 
 peroration, it is in full blaze." As his God-given oratorical 
 powers were used with seeming unconsciousness when in his 
 di.scourses he dwelt upon the themes of the cross or the 
 kingdom of Christ, the hearer, if interested in tho.se themes, 
 would become .so enthused as to be oblivious of all else and 
 afterwards awake as from a dream. Such at least was the 
 influence felt by the writer when he heard Dr. Willson before 
 he passed out of his prime. Tho.se who did not hear him 
 until in his declining years may have thought that his great- 
 ness as a preacher had been overestimated. And yet he 
 did not always preach great discourses. Occasionally he 
 fell below his ordinary sermons Sometimes his hearers 
 would be disappointed. Great men are not always great. 
 
 On entering the seminary, except Wm. F. George and 
 John C. Boyd with whom I had some acquaintance at 
 Miami University, all the students were total strangers to 
 me. Nearly all of them had been in the seminary in Alle- 
 gheny some two or three years and so were in advance of 
 me in the .studies. To recite with them in the same studies 
 and the same lessons was quite an ordeal. Freshmen in the 
 
 5
 
 66 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 same class with seniors was unlike what had been in college. 
 But as we had only one professor it seemed to be necessary 
 except in Hebrew studies. After the first year, however, I 
 was put into the same class with the advanced students. 
 
 Early in the session a students' debating club was 
 organized in w^hich theology and allied subjects were dis- 
 cussed. In that arena swords were often measured, and 
 occasionall}^ a Damascus blade was broken. Here as well as 
 in the regular recitations and in the weekly prayer-meetings 
 acquaintances were formed and in some cases warm attach- 
 ments, even brotherly loves that became golden cords never 
 to be broken. 
 
 At the close of my first year's study I returned to the old 
 homestead and spent three months in teaching public school 
 in my old native district. I boarded with the family of my 
 brother Samuel P. wh) now occupied the old brick house. 
 Several of m}' cousins, adults, and from the families of three 
 uncles, two from a distance, attended the school that summer. 
 They helped to make it exceedingly pleasant. Cousin 
 Margaret I,. Johnston, of Amsterdam, Ohio, was the star of 
 the group of cousins. They all studied some of the higher 
 branches. 
 
 As much of my time as I could spare I spent at interses- 
 sional reading and study. Rev. James Love was the pastor 
 of the congregation and preached in that branch of his charge 
 every alternate Sabbath. My love to him as a good man 
 and most faithful servant of Christ grew with the passing 
 months, and to this da}' I think of him as one of the best 
 men I ever knew. He served his generation beloved by all 
 and is now among the celestials. He was m}' third and last 
 pastor, and as a pastor the most beloved. 
 
 With the return of autumn I returned to the seminarj' to 
 pursue the studies of my second year. I boarded with the 
 students' well-known friend, Mrs. Murphy, and was favored
 
 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 67 
 
 in having A. M. Milligan as my roommate. It was his 
 fourth year in the seminary and he was expecting licensure 
 in the spring. I was his senior by a year or so but his 
 advantages in early life had been far superior; and as his 
 father had taught him Hebrew from boyhood he was 
 qualified to be my teacher in that study, and from him I 
 received much help. During the previous winter session we 
 had become quite well acquainted but not intimately. I 
 can not now recall what led to our being roommates at the 
 same boarding-house, but I know that it was so ordered, 
 and I can understand it now better than I did then. I hope 
 the benefit was mutual. I am sure I needed his help, and I 
 knew that he was not all that he should have been and 
 might have been under the tutelage of his parents. But 
 during the six months we were together our acquaintance 
 grew into friendship, then warm attachment, then love like 
 that of David and Jonathan. We were not blind to each 
 others' faults, but we knew that we loved one another and 
 had confidence in each other as brothers in Christ, as we 
 hoped. My estimate of Dr. Milligan, as written after his 
 death, is found in the minutes of the R. P. Synod of that 
 year (1885) and in the memorial volume published after his 
 death. 
 
 As I now remember him when a student he was large, 
 muscular, healthy, athletic, ofruddy and cheerful countenance, 
 and black and piercing eye. He was a pleasant and cheerful 
 companion, a lover of mirth and frolic, of strong will, and 
 born to be a leader rather than a follower, a master and not 
 a servant. If I had not been, in comparison with him, 
 small and of delicate structure, and if I had been as fond of 
 athletics as he, we might have had many a scuffle and 
 contest for the mastery; but he was too manly to tackle one 
 so below his match, though sometimes in his glee he would 
 pick me up in his arms and carry me around the room as if
 
 68 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 to show his strength. But sometimes we were like boys 
 together, and I remember my boyish vanity when in our 
 early morning walks for health I was not afraid of being left 
 behind. We studied until late at night, and then at the 
 clatter of our alarm clock we rose at five in the morning, 
 resumed our studies until daylight and then went out to 
 take our morning walk of nearly a mile and back. We 
 walked as fast as we could, and if either excelled it was not 
 the athlete whose legs had to carry the most muscle. We 
 were now ready for family prayers and breakfast and more 
 study. As to health, during all the time in which we were 
 companions I think I never knew Mr. Milligan to be even 
 slightly unwell. He enjoyed perfect health. 
 
 Many who read these lines may know that in subsequent 
 years Dr. Milligan was generally regarded as a great pulpit 
 orator, and in some respects he was. In extemporary- 
 speaking or unstudied or unwritten discourses he excelled 
 probably all his co-temporaries He was a born orator. 
 He had a rich vocabulary at his command. Sometimes and 
 on some themes there was in his mode of thought, his utter- 
 ances, and his manner of delivery something that fascinated 
 or enthused his hearers. For this and other reasons the 
 people of his own charge, especially in Pittsburgh where he 
 ministered so long, would not have exchanged their pastor 
 for any other. And yet a student of theology of 189^ must 
 not suppose that his eloquence was all bestowed without 
 study or effort. As a student he was ambitious to excel as 
 a speaker. Sometimes this was too apparent in his student's 
 discourses in the seminary. But perhaps without this effort 
 and this ambition he never could have been the great 
 preacher and the useful pastor he was. God-given talents 
 must not be hid in|a napkin. 
 
 A few weeks after the close of the seminary Mr. Milligan 
 departed for his home to prepare for licensure by his Presby-
 
 THEOLOGICAL STUDIlCS. 69 
 
 ter5^ It was his first license, for in those days theological 
 students were not licensed to preach until after they had 
 been in the seminary four years. As students we parted in 
 sadness to meet no more in that relation ; but on these pages 
 we will hear of him again. 
 
 During the session of the seminary now closed I formed 
 intimate acquaintance with several fellow-students whose 
 brotherly friendship I have greatly prized all my life. 
 Special mention must be made of two of them, Charles L,. 
 Williams of New York and R. J. Dodds of Western Penn- 
 sylvania. Student Williams was a colored young man, and 
 a son of a Mr. Williams of Coldenham, N. Y., who in his early 
 life was a slave in that state before the act of emancipation. 
 There were quite a number of sons two of whom are still liv- 
 ing in the city of New York. These are intelligent and 
 earnest Covenanters. Charles had received part of his 
 academic education under the instruction of Dr. Willson in 
 Allegheny, Pa., of whom he was a great favorite. He was tall 
 and straight and handsome, tolerably dark in complexion, 
 gentlemanly in his bearing and very companionable. After 
 a few months' acquaintance I became much attached to him 
 and always liked to be with him. In those days, " the dark 
 days of slavery," it required some courage and disregard of 
 reproach to receive a negro on equality. In Cincinnati, just 
 across the river from Kentucky, there was much of the pro- 
 slavery spirit and prejudice against colored people. When 
 walking on the streets with Mr. Williams, going to and 
 from the seminary, sometimes arm in arm with him, for I 
 loved him, I was often insulted by men or boys who would 
 laugh aloud, or cry out "Nigger lover!" or "Chalk in de 
 eye." I u.sually passed along as though I did not hear 
 their harmless insults, but I always felt sorry for Mr. 
 Williams. He was a man of a sensitive nature, though he 
 seemed to be oblivious to the wrongs done to him ; but he
 
 70 I^OOKING BACK I^ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 knew that he was an object of that cruel hate peculiar to 
 those who had the caste feeling, a prejudice against color 
 that was born of slaver3^ Even some of the students of 
 theology did not care to be seen walking with the colored 
 student ; and yet he was not only very gentlemanly in his 
 demeanor but what people call a fine-looking young man. 
 Prejudice against color ! To the writer it always seemed 
 not only ciuel and mean but also unaccountable. And here 
 I leave my record that, as far as I can remember, from mj' 
 early life and on through all these j-ears I was a stranger to 
 the feeling. To God be all the praise, for he gave me anti- 
 slavery parents and these gave me anti-slav^ery books to 
 read; and I so early was trained in an anti- slavery school that 
 I can not remember when I became an Abolitionist. 
 
 During this the first and only session of Mr. Williams, 
 theological studies, a sad accident occurred that so affected his 
 subsequent life I record it here. 
 
 One evening on his way home quite late from prayer- 
 meeting or lecture, as he was passing down street he came 
 up to some men who were leading or forcing a negro down 
 street towards the Ohio river and, as Mr. Williams believed, 
 to take him over to Kentucky; but whether he was a fugitive 
 slave or a kidnapped man, Mr. Williams did not know. 
 Under the impression that they were kidnappers, and being 
 much excited, he went up to the men and asked them who 
 that man was and by what right they were forcing him 
 away. Seeing that he was a colored man, they answered 
 him roughl}^ and ordered him to go away. Under still 
 greater excitement he repeated his question and demanded 
 that their victim should be released. Again and with an 
 oath he was ordered away and told to "go and mind his 
 own business." Seeing that he could effect nothing, and 
 resolving to hasten to find a policeman, he hurried to turn 
 off the street at the first corner towards his boarding-house.
 
 Theological vSTudies. 71 
 
 He had not passed more than a rod or two when a man from 
 behind, following him stealthily, struck him on the back of 
 the head with a brick, and hastily ran back. Mr. Williams 
 was felled to the sidewalk and lay semi-unconscious until 
 some colored men from a barber shop near by carried him to 
 his boarding-house and sent for a surgeon. On examination 
 it was found that the skull was fractured. He lay in a 
 very critical condition for a week or two and then began to 
 convalesce. Several weeks passed before he was able to rise 
 from his bed and walk out. As it was now late in the 
 session, he did not return to his studies. After a while he 
 had slight attacks of epilepsy and his health became im- 
 paired. His physician advised him to avoid close study. 
 Following the advice in the hope of returning health, and 
 being poor, he taught school for a while; but he never re- 
 gained health. Subsequently he returned to New York, 
 where he was a member of the second Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church. He became a victim of consumption and finally died 
 as he had lived, a devoted Christian and a genuine Covenanter, 
 Charles L. Williams was the first colored student in our 
 theological seminary, and manj^ years passed before there 
 was another. His removal from the seminary, his sub- 
 sequent afflictions, and his death made a dark page in the 
 history of the seminary. To some of us it seemed that if 
 he had been spared to finish his studies and to be licensed to 
 preach he might have been of great use in some gospel or 
 anti-slavery field. Such a man was greatly needed. The 
 millions in bonds needed both freedom and the gospel. It 
 seemed then as though any two of us students could have 
 been spared rather than the genial colored man who 
 wished to devote his life to the work of Him who came to 
 proclaim liberty to the captive. But He whose time to break 
 the yoke of bondage had not yet come saw fit to remove our 
 beloved friend to the land of health, and it was ours to learn 
 submission to the will of the Master.
 
 chaptp:r VII. 
 
 Summer Vacation, 
 
 Needing funds with which to continue at seminary 
 studies the next year, and following providential indications, 
 I determined to remain in or near Cincinnati and spend the 
 summer in teaching. Through the kindness of a friend I 
 was introduced to the secretary of the directors of a vacant 
 school near Carthage, a town about seven miles north of the 
 city. To this man belonged the duty of employing a teacher. 
 Prior to my meeting him my friend had recommended me 
 and had told him of my qualifications At my first inter- 
 view with him he said he was ready to make a contract with 
 me to teach the school the next term. I asked him how he 
 knew I was qualified or was a suitable person. He promptly 
 answered: "Just as Napoleon knew how to choose his 
 officers, by the shape and length of the noses. Yours is a 
 sufficient recommendation." I accepted the compliment and 
 the agreement was closed in writing. 
 
 I received my teacher's certificate from Professor Ray of 
 Woodward college, the author of the popular mathematical 
 text-books. Professor Ray was a graduate of my Alma 
 Mater and when in college was a student under the dis- 
 tinguished Covenanter Professor of Mathematics, John 
 Armstrong. Subsequently I had a better acquaintance with 
 him and was indebted to him for several kindnesses in the 
 department of mathematics. He was a man of culture and 
 of piety and a member of the Presbj-terian Church. 
 
 During that summer vacation I taught two terms of public 
 
 (72)
 
 SUMMER VACATION. 73 
 
 school in the same district, boarding part of the time in the 
 country and part in the town of Carthage and in. each place 
 with a Christian ("Campbellite") famil}'. But I lodged 
 with them during only the secular days of the week. On 
 Saturdays I walked into the city, lodged at my former board- 
 ing-house, Mrs. Murphy's, attended the Covenanter Church, 
 and then walked back to my school early Monday morning. 
 
 During this summer two fellow theological students, Levi 
 Purvis and R. J. Dodds, were teaching in country schools 
 not far distant. And during those summer months Mr. 
 Dodds and I were often and much together. In the evenings 
 or on Saturdays he came over to my boarding-house and we 
 rambled together or read and talked together, and often 
 walked into the city together. Our former acquaintance 
 grew into intimacy and warm friendship. Many a sweet 
 hour did w^e spend together; man}- subjects of greater or less 
 importance were discussed, and though we did not know or 
 think of it then, we were laying the foundation of a mutual 
 love that ever continued to grow and that is as deathless as 
 the soul. 
 
 Sometime during this summer and at a great outdoor 
 public meeting at Carthage I heard Ohio's great orator. 
 Gov. Thomas Corwin, when he was discus.sing the national 
 questions which afterwards led to the formation of the 
 Republican party. In the audience and a very attentive 
 hearer was a greater man, viz., Salmon P. Chase. He was 
 at that time a prominent member of the Cincinnati bar and 
 had won the favor of anti-slavery men by his successful 
 advocacy of the cause of a negro whose freedom was at stake. 
 At this time he was active in the interests of the liberty 
 party. He and Mr. Corwin were acquainted and the speaker 
 watched Mr. Chase closely, knowing that the latter was in 
 advance of him on questions involved in the discussion. I 
 was standing near to Mr. Cha.se and often noticed how
 
 74 tOOlCING BACK FROM THK SUNSET^ lAnD. 
 
 attentive he was and how his emotions were stirred at timeSj 
 and I imagined that he would have been greatly pleased to 
 have had an opportunity to speak. 
 
 This was the first time I had had a good opportunity to 
 see Mr. Chase; though I did not know his future I studied 
 his character as well as I could then. He was large of 
 frame and mu.scular but not corpulent. He had a large 
 head, blue eyes, fine features, open and pleasant counte- 
 nance, and every index of a great man. In sulxsequent years 
 his state and the nation both showed their appreciation of 
 the excellency of his character. 
 
 During this summer I had time for much profitable read- 
 ing and made some progress in intersessional studies. After 
 the close of the second term of school I attended the fall 
 meeting of Lakes Presbytery under whose care I had been 
 taken at the first. This meeting was held at Garrison, Ind., 
 church. Rev. Josiali Dodds pastor. According to appoint- 
 ment I was expected to attend and preach a sermon as a 
 "specimen of improvement " in theological studies. The 
 distance from Cincinnati was a long day's journey by car- 
 riage. There were no railroads in that part of the country. 
 My going was on this wise. As Rev. William Willson, 
 pastor of the ' ' Newlight ' ' Covenanter congregation in 
 Cincinnati, and his elder also were going to a meeting of 
 their presbytery in the same place and about the same time 
 (a strange coincidence) my professor and I arranged to join 
 with them in hiring a two-horse carriage for the journey. 
 Being a farmer's son I had the honor of being the driver for 
 the party. Being only a student and the driver, it was but 
 fit that in the conversation by the wa}', whatever the subject, 
 I should be a silent listener. Both ministers and elder 
 proved to be very pleasant and profitable companions, and I 
 enjoyed the journey greatly. At that meeting our traveling 
 companion, Rev. William Willson, applied to the "Old
 
 Summer vacation. 75 
 
 Light" presbytery to be received as a member. His 
 exatiiination was not satisfactory. He was adjudged to be not 
 sound in the distinctive doctrines of the church as to Civil 
 Government and the duty of dissent therefrom when not prop- 
 erly constituted; and so he was not received. In this result my 
 old professor was evidently disappointed, for he had used his 
 influence to bring over the ' ' New Ivight ' ' pastor to our side 
 of the church, and I thought then that the younger had not 
 told the older the exact state of his mind as to the points of 
 difference. Whether the N. S. pastor hoped to take his 
 people with him into our church I do not know, but though 
 the pastors long since passed away from their earthly lal)ors 
 both Covenanter congregations continue separate until this 
 day. 
 
 The morning after the adjournment of presbyter}' our 
 quartet of co-travelers started home by a road that led 
 through Connersville, the county seat of Fa3'ette County, Ind. , 
 where resided my friends, Mr. David Patterson and family, 
 who had formerly lived in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I had not 
 seen them for more than seven years; and as one member of 
 the family had been speciall}' dear to me, I could not pass 
 through that town without stopping. Having arrived in 
 the town I gave the reins to the elder in the carriage, and 
 informing the trio of presbyters that I would stop over 
 until the next day, I bade them good-by and hunted up my 
 old friends. Among the first to"»meet and welcome me was 
 Eliza to whom, though not named, allusion was made on a 
 previous page. And I now owe it to her memory and to 
 her surviving friends and to my own, to stop here a moment 
 to say that Eliza was the third daughter of Elder Patterson, 
 the two older being married and gone. I had met her and 
 formed acquaintance when the family resided at Bellefontaine 
 and when she was only a girl of "sweet sixteen." This 
 acquaintance was renewed during the year before I entered
 
 76 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LANU. 
 
 college and grew into friendship and finally into affection 
 that proved to be imperishable. During the spring of 1841 
 in the vacation of my freshman year, I spent with her what 
 leisure time I had, but being far away never had an opportu- 
 nity to see her again until after more than seven j^ears and at 
 the time and place above mentioned. During these years 
 she had a severe and long-continued attack of bilious fever 
 followed by the fever and ague so common then, and during 
 which she was subjected to the practise of the vicious system 
 of drug medication by an old school physician, the "family 
 physician," presumed to know all science and to be too 
 honest to deceive his patients The result was permanently 
 impaired health. When I met her at Connersville, how- 
 ever, her health was sufficiently restored to permit her to be 
 a teacher in the public school. After tarrying until next 
 day, and having learned that during all the years of separa- 
 tion our mutual friendship had remained unchanged, I bade 
 her good-by and took the stage and returned to Cincinnati to 
 resume studies in the seminary.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The; Third Year and Fellow-Student.s. 
 
 The third session and my last in Cincinnati was one of hard 
 study. My domestic arrangements were changed. I united 
 with students French and Armour in hiring lodging-rooms 
 in the house occupied by Mr. Chas. Williams now trying to 
 teach. He needed help and we helped him a little by rent- 
 ing two rooms which we furnished. We took our meals at 
 my old boarding-house, Mrs. Murphy's, about a mile distant. 
 Thus when we ate our three meals every day, we walked 
 about six miles every day, and this besides our walk to and 
 from our recitations and lectures. We had no need of a 
 gymnasium; and for football or baseball games there was 
 neither time nor need. Books, lectures, lessons, sermons, 
 religious duties, sleep, and those walks, all left no time for 
 play nor for even reading the daily papers. These even in the 
 "Queen City" were not as bad as the ordinary daily papers 
 of this day; the "Sunday paper" as yet was not known. 
 And yet our professor saw fit to apologize for the reading of 
 them. One cold winter morning when to be kind to him 
 while in feeble health the students went to his residence to 
 recite some of our lessons, two or three of us were a few 
 minutes too early. On entering the room we found him 
 sitting at his open grate reading the morning news. Lay- 
 ing the paper down and turning to receive us he said: "Good- 
 morning, gentlemen. You have caught me reading the 
 morning paper again. Well, I have to read the papers to 
 
 (77)
 
 78 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 know what the devil is doing so that I niaj' know how to 
 pray." 
 
 This anecdote illustrates the character of this great and 
 good man. And with all his excellencies he had his infirm- 
 ities which we tried not to notice but to forget. On some 
 questions of public importance he was very conservative or 
 non-progressive; but this was overbalanced by his radical 
 and advanced views on others of greater importance. Mem- 
 ory recalls an illustration. In common with many good 
 men of that time he was very much opposed to women 
 lecturing or speaking on the public platform. But he was 
 such a friend of the slave and so hated all that kept him in 
 bonds that when Stephen S. Foster of Massachusetts, and 
 Abby Kelley, of national reputation, afterwards Mrs. Foster, 
 came to Cincinnati to hold Garrisonian anti-slavery meet- 
 ings, Dr. Willson forgot his prejudices against women speak- 
 ing in public. For nearly a week thej^ held nightly meet- 
 ings in one of the largest audience rooms in the city, the 
 "Millerite Tabernacle." Mr. Foster was one of the most 
 radical and earnest and fiery of the early anti-slavery 
 prophets. They called him "The Hornet." Abby Kelley 
 was one of the ablest and most eloquent of the Abolitionists. 
 Pure in her style, rhetorical, and sometimes pathetic, she 
 was a powerful advocate of freedom. I^ike Mr. Foster, she 
 was irresistible in her logic, proving the pro-slavery charac- 
 ter of the United States constitution and the guilt of all who 
 voted or held office under it. The argument and the con- 
 clusion to which she endeavored to bring her hearers were 
 the same as were commonly used by the Old School Covenant- 
 ers. Great audiences attended the lectures. Dr. Willson 
 and his family, and generally the students also, attended. 
 One evening while Abby Kelley was speaking or as soon 
 as she was done, a man in the audience and a well-known 
 citizen was so influenced with the sentiments of the lecturer
 
 THK THIRD YEAR AND FELLOW-STUDENTS. 79 
 
 that he rose to his feet, held high up a large copy of the consti- 
 tution and said: "I reject it, I despise it, I spit upon it, I 
 trample upon it," and with the last words he threw it down 
 upon the floor and trampled upon it. His rash action 
 created manifest excitement in the audience, but no dis- 
 turbance followed. 
 
 Sometime during these meetings Dr. Willson invited the 
 lecturers to dine or take tea with his family, probably at two 
 different times; and we all knew that he was greatly 
 delighted with the work done by these Garrisonian speakers. 
 And so, one morning when three or four of the students 
 went to the class-room a little early, and after he had spoken 
 warmly in approbation of the truths uttered the night before, 
 with much hesitancy if not in fear I said to him: "But, 
 Doctor, I thought you were opposed to women speaking on 
 the public platform. How does it come that you are carried 
 away by Abby Kelley's speeches?" Rising from his 
 chair and looking at me in silence for a few moments he 
 replied slowly but forcibly: "Gentlemen, when men can 
 speak but will not speak for the slave, then I say, let woman 
 speak, and God bless her! ' ' The last part of the sentence was 
 spoken with emphasis and with manifest deep emotion. 
 
 During this my third session of the seminary student 
 R. J. Dodds boarded not far from our lodging-place. He 
 was an occasional if not a frequent visitor to our rooms; and 
 he was always welcome not only because we all loved him 
 but because he was exceedingly cheerful and companionable. 
 He had rare conversational powers and abounded in mirth 
 and repartee. Whether he had more brain power than the 
 rest of us, or because he had been at theological studies 
 longer, I do not know, but he did not seem to need as much 
 hard study as some of us, and as he roomed alone and 
 yet loved company he was often in our room. And though 
 at that time I did not see the evil of the tobacco habit nor
 
 8o LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the sinfulness of the vice as I did afterwards, yet even then 
 his temptations would have annoyed me if he had not been 
 so pleasant and mirthful when offering them. He generally 
 used a cob pipe of his own make. Sometimes he would 
 bring in two newly-made pipes and filling them with prepared 
 tobacco he would j'cosely say tome: "Come now, Johnston, 
 let us have a nice smoke." and with the words offer me 
 one of the pipes. Probably he expected me to decline the 
 offer, as I always did; but as Mr. French did not object to 
 the use of the weed the extra pipe was generally passed over 
 to him. I had this consolation, however, that Mr. Armour 
 also was an abstainer and cuuld not be induced to follow the 
 example of even such beloved chums. The abstainers still 
 survive; and I think that if those who continued to use the 
 poisonous narcotic were here now to speak to the living, 
 especially to the young, they would affectionately persuade 
 and warn and testify' saying, ''Touch not, taste not, handle 
 not." 
 
 John M. Armour was a student from Illinois Presbytery 
 and a graduate of Geneva College. Prior to his entering the 
 theological seminary we had no acquaintance, but we soon 
 found him to be all that we could desire as a fellow-student 
 and room-mate. He was not onl}' intellectual and fond of 
 study and a ckse thinker, but he was modest and amiable 
 and companionable and withal a model of purit}^ and integ- 
 rity. It was not long until he found a warm place in my 
 affections. 
 
 About the close of the session I was taken down with an 
 attack of fever which prevented me from being present at 
 the closing exercises and from giving with the others my 
 prepared discourse. Before I had recovered most of the 
 students had departed to their homes. After the close of 
 the session and being left alone, Mrs. Murphy, always the 
 students' friend, invited me to make my home for the time
 
 THB THIRD YEAR AND FELLOWSTUDENTS. 8 1 
 
 at her house. I did so and received medical advice from 
 her son, Dr. John Murphy, afterwards professor in the Ohio 
 Medicil College. As ray health continued feeble, and as 
 my funds were exhausted, I was ready to follow the advice 
 of Dr. Murphy which was that I should not think of teach- 
 ing during the vacation but get a horse and saddle and 
 spend some months in travel. To make this practicable he 
 introduced me to John D. Thorpe, a book-seller in the 
 city in charge of the Presbyterian Book Rooms, and the 
 publisher of the Presbyterian of the West, a religious weekly 
 journal. Mr. Thorpe offered to give me the agency of the 
 paper in a part of the state and a fair percentage upon col- 
 lections and new subscribers. My brother J. B., of North- 
 wood, kindly offered me the use of his horse and saddle for 
 the purpose of my proposed canvass. After visiting my 
 brothers in I^ogan County, and getting ready for my new 
 business, I mounted the saddle and started out into the field 
 as a collector and canvasser. Following the direction of 
 Mr. Thorpe, my work took me among Presbyterians in the 
 congregations of central Ohio. My traveling expenses were 
 not light, and as the families that I had to see were gen- 
 erally in the country and often far apart, I spent about three 
 months in the canvass with almost no pecuniary profit 
 though my health steadily improved. I did not tire of the 
 saddle but rather enjoyed it. My associations were almost 
 wholly with Presbyterians, and I often lodged with hospita- 
 ble families some of whom were intelligent and genuine 
 Christians whose society I greatly enjoyed. Most of my 
 Sabbaths were spent at Presbyterian Churches and I heard 
 many a good sermon by Old School Presbyterian pastors, 
 and occasionally I had good opportunities to advocate Cov- 
 enanter truths and to make pleas for the slave. Though the 
 kind of life I lived during those months of canvassing was 
 not of choice yet on the whole I did not regret that they 
 6
 
 82 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 were thus spent. I learned much of the character of Chris- 
 tian professors and not a little of the condition of the Pres- 
 byterian Church. By the blessing of God upon horseback 
 riding as the means in part, my health was restored and I 
 was better prepared for the work that the Master was about 
 to give me to do. 
 
 Before the close of ray canvass I spent three consecutive 
 Sabbaths in Covenanter congregations, viz., Sandusky, 
 Rev. J. C. Boyd, pastor; Utica, Rev. A. McFarland, pastor, 
 and New Concord, vacant. When traveling in this vicinity 
 my beautiful bay mare that had carried me so faithfully and 
 so long, stumbled and almost fell. This was followed by 
 lameness that I feared would be permanent. As soon as I 
 could I took the animal to a Covenanter farmer and put her 
 out to pasture and to rest. 
 
 At this time my former fellow-student and good friend, 
 William F. George, was professor of Greek in Muskingum 
 College at New Concord. Since we had parted at Cincin- 
 nati he had taken a good wife and now was happy in his 
 new home as well as honored in his professorship. While 
 I waited there and enjoyed their hospitality, the stockhold- 
 ers of the New Concord Free Press, an anti-slavery paper, 
 were prospecting for a new editor, as Matthew Hull, the 
 editor and proprietor of the Clarion of Freedom, had sold 
 the paper to the said stockholders and intended soon to de- 
 part to enter the lecturing field. Some of the new owners 
 of the paper were Covenanters and I suppose wished a 
 Covenanter editor. Professor George, though not one of the 
 stockholders, was deeply interested in the paper. And before 
 I departed he interviewed me to ascertain whether his 
 theological student friend, and now the sun-burnt collector, 
 could be had for editor. The thought of having charge ot 
 an anti-slavery paper, however new to me, was not unpleas- 
 ant, but doubts about my fitness for the work, and the
 
 THE THIRD YEAR AND FELLOW-STUDENTS. 83 
 
 thought of abandoning theological studies even for a time, 
 caused me to hesitate and to avoid definite reply. 
 
 Obliged to give up my agency and to leave my lame horse 
 in pasture, I took stage and hurried home not only to see 
 my mother and other friends again, but to have opportunity 
 to prepare the trials for licensure that had been assigned by 
 Presbytery. They were what at that lime were called an 
 "Exercise and Additions" and a Latin essay on "What Is 
 anti-Christ? " 
 
 As all my books had been left behind, and that I might 
 have access to the library of my old college professor, A. M. 
 Black, I went to New Athens and spent about a month in 
 study. To help me financially as well as by giving me free 
 access to his library, he gave to me his class in Virgil. For 
 teaching it he paid to me what met my boarding bill. This 
 was another evidence of Professor Black's kindly feeling 
 towards me the only Covenan^^er student in any of his 
 classes while I was in college. That dear man to whom I 
 owe so much as a teacher holds a large place in my affections. 
 
 During my visit at home or while at New Athens I 
 received a letter from the secretary of the stockholders of the 
 New Concord Free Press informing me that I had been 
 elected the editor. What reply was made I do not remem- 
 ber, but I know that on my way to Presbytery at Utica I 
 stopped at New Concord and made arrangements to take 
 charge of the paper after my return from Presbytery or as 
 soon as Mr. Hull would retire. What led me to this deci- 
 sion I have forgotten, but I remember that I was strongly 
 persuaded by my anti-slavery and Covenanter friends at 
 New Concord, and I think I had the approbation of my 
 mother and brother and sister at home. It could not have 
 been money, for the paper was not a "paying concern," and 
 I had no promise of any pay except the income of the paper, 
 viz. the subscriptions and a few advertisements. At that
 
 84 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 time the anti-slavery excitement was becoming intense all 
 over the country and as strong in Ohio probabl}' as in any 
 other state. The Liberty party had become the Free Soil 
 party. Among the anti-slavery people the questions were: 
 Shall new slave states be admitted into the Union? and 
 may slavery be introduced into any of the new territories 
 belonging to the United States? In the fall of 1848 General 
 Zachary Taylor, a southern slave-holder, was the presiden- 
 tial nominee of the Whig party, and Martin Van Buren was 
 nominated by the Free Soil party. At the same time the 
 Garrisonian Abolitionists were intensely active by means of 
 the press, public lectures, and conventions, in their advocacy 
 of the duty of immediate emancipation and of separation 
 from the pro-slavery government under the pro slavery 
 Constitution. The agitation was increasing rapidly. The 
 only Garrisonian organ published in Ohio was the Anh'- 
 Siavery Bugle printed at Salem and edited by Oliver John- 
 son. The Clarion of Freedom had been edited in the 
 interest of the Liberty party. As the paper had now come 
 into the ownership of Covenanters mostly, they intended it 
 to be free from party politics and to be the advocate of anti- 
 slavery truth as held by Covenanters in common with 
 Garrisonian Abolitionists. To have such an opportunity to 
 plead for the slave and at the same time advocate the duty 
 of dissent from the pro-slavery government, was a strong 
 incentive to suspend my theological studies at least for a 
 time. And so after weighing the matter well and a good 
 while, and having asked for divine direction, I accepted the 
 position offered and promised to take charge of the paper 
 after my return from Presbytery. 
 
 I can not remember now what was the subject of my 
 "Exercise and Additions" nor how it was received, but I 
 do not forget Rev. A. McFarland's criticism upon the Latin 
 dissertation. He was the chairman of the committee into
 
 THE THIRD YEAR AND FELLOW- STUDENTS. 85 
 
 whose hands it had been put for examination. Among 
 other things he reported that the essay was a splendid 
 piece of Latin composition and almost perfect in its ety- 
 mology, but in its syntactical structure or collocation it was 
 "miserable." Notwithstanding the fact that Presbytery 
 voted approval and acceptance of my "trial pieces" for 
 licensure and so passed me up among the ' ' fourth year 
 students," I was not satisfied, and as often before I was 
 greatly depressed in the fear that I could never preach the 
 gospel; and I remember that sometimes I was strongly 
 tempted to abandon theological studies.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RESPONSE TO Freedom's Cali,. 
 
 After Presbytery I made a hurried visit to my brothers 
 in lyOgau County, gathered up nu' books and effects left 
 there during my horseback ride, and returned to New 
 Concord to take charge of the paper. In doing this I knew 
 that I was assuming responsibihties which I was not pre- 
 pared to meet. I knew little about a publisher's work and 
 not much about an editor's; but I had resolved to make the 
 effort in reliance upon the Spirit of God. And yet there 
 were so many inducements to work, and so all-important 
 were the questions involved in the anti-slavery conflict now 
 growing more and more crucial, I would have been ashamed 
 of myself if I had not entered into the work with a zeal 
 becoming one who had heard the appeal of the slave — "Am 
 I not a man and brother?" We took boarding with a good 
 Quaker woman, Mrs. Berry, sister-in-law of William E. 
 Lukens, more philanthropist than Christian, and a mer- 
 chant doing business in the same house. He was of Quaker 
 ancestors but had drifted away from the old Orthodox faith; 
 yet he was a very earnest Abolitionist, more Garrisonian 
 than political. The only other boarder with Mrs. Berry 
 was David Paul, a young student attending Muskingum 
 college, a rising institution under the control principally of 
 the Reformed or psalm-singing churches. At this time the 
 three principal professors were President David A. Wallace, 
 of the Associate Reformed Church, Professor William F. 
 George, Reformed Presbyterian, and Professor Irvine, 
 (86)
 
 RESPONSE TO FREEEOM's CALI,, 87 
 
 Associate (Seceder). The leading member of the board of 
 trustees was Rev. Benjamin Waddle, pastor of the Associate 
 Reformed congregation and resident in New Concord. 
 
 The Covenanters of New Concord and vicinity were 
 members of Salt Creek congregation, old father Robert 
 Wallace pastor. He was the father of Rev. James Wallace 
 and Rev. John Wallace, the stepfather of Rev. J. L. Mc- 
 Cartney, and the grandfather of Rev. S. R. Wallace late of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. The congregation was divided into three 
 branches, New Concord being in the north branch. The 
 house of worship was about a mile from the town and there 
 pastor Wallace preached only every fourth Sabbath. On 
 the other Sabbaths most of the members met in prayer- 
 meetings at private houses. 
 
 In those days, as ever since the Westminster Assembly, 
 it was the law and practise in the Covenanter Church to 
 read on three several Sabbaths the bans of marriage after 
 the public religious services. Had the reader of these lines 
 been in the New Concord church on the second or third 
 Sabbath of November, 1848, he would have heard after the 
 benediction the following notice read by the precentor, viz. 
 "Marriage is intended between N. R. Johnston of New 
 Concord and Miss Kliza A. Patterson of Connersville, Ind." 
 And then if the same listener had seen the New Concord 
 Free Press of November 28 he would have read the follow- 
 ing notice under the head of "Hymeneal," viz. "Married 
 on the i6th inst., Mr. N. R. Johnston," etc. as above. 
 This notice will recall to the reader what is recorded on a 
 previous page. 
 
 David Patterson was an elder in the Old School Presby- 
 terian Church. His wife, nee Ann McCracken, and all the 
 family were Presbyterians. Mr. Patterson especially was 
 familiar with the doctrines and practises of the Covenanter 
 Church, and so far from being prejudiced against them
 
 88 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 under favorable circumstances would have been a Cov- 
 enanter. So long as the famil)^ lived in Bellefontaine, Ohio, 
 they mingled much with Covenanter societj^and often heard 
 Covenanter preaching, and the oldest daughter was married to 
 the son of a Covenanter. After my visit at Connersville the 
 autumn of the previous year, our correspondence by letter 
 was renewed and during the year the questions of the Cov- 
 en inter Creed and practise were much discussed and books 
 on distinctive principles were read and studied. The result 
 was that at the first opportunity soon after our marriage Eliza 
 united with the Reformed Pre-sbj^terian Church during a 
 communion in Salt Creek congregation. 
 
 On my journey from New Concord to Connersville I 
 stopped in Cincinnati to visit my old professor and ni}^ fellow- 
 students. He expressed his regret that I was not in the 
 seminary but congratulated me upon my having such an 
 opportunity to disseminate anti-slavery and kindred truths. 
 He said that the New Concord Free Press was the first 
 weekly paper ever edited b}' a Covenanter; and jocosely 
 added that the second number was the best of all. In that 
 number I had reprinted his late tract on "Wicked Rulers." 
 It came out just about the time of the election of General 
 Zachary Taylor a slaveholder. 
 
 After the marriage festivities -at Connersville, and the 
 Sabbath over, we made our wedding tour through Cincin- 
 nali, up the Ohio River toSteubenville and to Bloomingdale, 
 Ohio, where we visited my mother and the other friends. 
 After Sabbath we hurried on to New Concord to my post ot 
 duty. Now I had a helper and life was less lonely and 
 work more joyous. Did the wise man need inspiration to 
 be able to write: "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good 
 thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord? " 
 
 Furnishing our own rooms in the house of the good 
 Quaker lady with whom we boarded, I made our private
 
 re;sponse to freedom's cai^i.. 89 
 
 parlor the editor's sanctum. The printing office was only a 
 few doors distant. Busy were the days of the winter and 
 spring months of my new and responsible position. To the 
 work of the paper were added some others that I might not 
 lose my interest in theology. 
 
 In Muskhigum College the three leading professors were 
 students of theology. Thej^ and the young editor organ- 
 ized a theological club or lyceum in which we read essays 
 and skeletons or homilies and debated questions germane to 
 our position and purpose. We had a good time and profit- 
 able; and though of different churches our love to each 
 other grew and continued through life. President Wallace 
 became eminent as a pastor in Kast Boston, Massachusetts, 
 and then as president of Monmouth College. After having 
 finished his studies, Professor Irvine was sent as a missionary 
 to Oregon and spent a long and honored life as pastor of a 
 United Presbyterian congregation at Albany of that state. 
 Of Professor George we will hear more on subsequent pages. 
 All these have passed away from earth's labors to the 
 heavenly rest and glory. 
 
 During the late autumn of 1848 I had the pleasure of 
 forming the acquaintance of Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, long a 
 member of Congress from North Ohio. During all his time 
 in Congress, from 1838 to 1859, except a short interregnum, 
 he was a prominent anti-slavery" champion. In this respect 
 he may be ranked with John O. Adams, Charles Sumner, 
 and Thaddeus Stevens. "In 1842 he introduced resolutions 
 justifying the slaves of the Creole, who captured that vessel 
 on her way from Virginia to New Orleans, and carried her 
 into Nassau where their right of freedom was recognized by 
 the British authorities." His action caused such great 
 excitement in the House that he withdrew his resolutions; 
 nevertheless he was formally censured by Co ogress. This 
 induced him to resign. But his anti-slavery constituents
 
 QO LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 would not permit him to remain at home. They reelected 
 him and he continued in Congress until 1859. 
 
 It was in 1848 and shortly after Mr. Giddings had left the 
 Whig party and joined the "Free Soilers" that he came to 
 New Concord to give an address in behalf of freedom. Some 
 of us met him on his arrival to conduct him to the meeting. 
 It had rained recently and the streets were muddy. At the 
 first crossing he said: "I see you have plenty oi free soil 
 here." He knew that he was in the center of a large com- 
 munity of Abolitionists. The incident was characteristic of 
 the man — cheerful but not trivial, full of vivacity and vigor 
 but not egotistic. His speech was far above mediocrity, 
 clear, abounding with important facts spcfken with an ear- 
 nestness that carried conviction in the minds of the applaud- 
 ing audience. 
 
 Ohio never sent a truer man to Washington. After Con- 
 gress had passed censure upon Mr. Giddings, James Russell 
 Lowell wrote to him among other lines the following: 
 
 "And thou shalt aye be honorably known, 
 As one who bravely used his tongue and pen. 
 As best befits a freeman, — even for those 
 To whom our law's unblushing front denies 
 A right to plead against the lifelong woes 
 Which are the negro's glimpse of Freedom's skies." 
 
 For attainmeats in general knowledge useful in subsequent 
 life my year at New Concord was better than any previous. 
 By correspondence, by the reading of exchange.«, and by 
 contact with Christians and Reformers, my mind was led 
 into new channels of thought and my love of the truth and 
 the right increased and intensified. On the exchange list 
 .were the Ohio Anii-slavery Bugle and the North Star of 
 Rochester, N. Y., edited by Frederick Douglass. In the 
 Free Press was an editorial under the head of "Errors 
 in lyOgic" in which it was shown that some of the Aboli-
 
 re;sponse to freedom's call. 91 
 
 tionists had been led into opposition to Christianity, as 
 understood by the Evangelicals, by the fact that many 
 Christian ministers were defenders of slavery and that most 
 of the large Christian denominations fellowshiped slave- 
 holders and were identified with the government under a 
 pro-slavery Constitution. Even the mind of Mr. Garrison 
 himself had become so soured against the churches that he 
 seemed to be alienated against if not opposed to some of the 
 fundamental Christian doctrines. The error consisted in 
 not clearly distinguishing between pure religion and its pro- 
 fessed adherents — between the true coin and its counter. eit. 
 The fact was that the pro-slavery character of so many min- 
 isters and so many churches led -ome of the Abolitionists 
 into partial if not real infidelity. If not, some infidels u.sed 
 the character of the churches as an argument against Chris- 
 tianity and a justification of their non-acceptance of it. In 
 reply to the Free Press the Bugle had an ably written arti- 
 cle under the head of "Cobwebs." The editor, Oliver 
 Johnson, though a most excellent man, earnest Abolitionist, 
 and able writer, undertook to brush away all that we had 
 written under "Errors in Logic." He himself was so far 
 from being Evangelical in his religious belief that he was 
 really although not professedly a foe to Evangelical Chris- 
 tianity. Indeed, immense wrong was done to religion by 
 the pro-slavery churches and ministers. They were called 
 "The Bulwark of American Slavery," and Henry C. Wright 
 wrote a book calling them ' 'The Den of Thieves ' ' And it 
 can never be forgotten that to their shame the Christian(?) 
 slaveholders of the United States did not cease to buy and 
 sell unoffending men, women and children until after the war 
 and the emancipation act set free their captives. As with 
 God all things are possible, we may hope that many of them 
 were led to repentance and were saved by the blood of the 
 Lamb.
 
 92 LOOKING BACK F'ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 M}^ first acquaintance wiih Frederick Douglass was on 
 paper when he was editor at Rochester. After he obtained 
 his freedom up until about the time that the Free Press 
 came under my charge he was a Garrisonian Abolitionist, 
 i. e. he believed the Federal Constitution to be a pro-slavery 
 compact and consequently that no Abolitionist could rightly 
 swear to support it or vote under it. The Garrisonians 
 were called "Comeouters" because they came out of the 
 government or ceased to be in any way identified with it. 
 Covenanters differed from them in this, that these had 
 never been in the government and so could not come out. 
 Mr. Douglass changed his position and maintained it in his 
 North Star, arguing like Gerrit Smith, William Goodell 
 and others, that the Constitution was an anti-slavery docu- 
 ment and that it empowered Congress to abolish slavery. 
 This strange and most untenable position, as it was main- 
 tained by Mr. Douglass, was confronted in the Free Press 
 and its fallacy shown in as kind words as the editor could 
 use. It led to some controversy between the two papers. 
 Then some years afterwards, at one of the anniversaries of 
 the National Anti-slavery Society held in New York, Presi- 
 dent William Lloyd Garrison in the chair, Mr. Douglass 
 engaged in the discussion of one of the resolutions and 
 defended his change of position. Two Vermont Covenanter 
 ministers were present, one the pastor of Craftsbury con- 
 gregation and the other the pastor of Topsham. Strange 
 to say, without any forethought or previous plans, it fell to 
 the lot of the two Covenanters to antagonize Mr. Douglass' 
 new theory. The Garrisonians applauded, and, being largely 
 in the majority, when the vote was taken on the resolution 
 it was adopted almost unanimously. Mr. Douglass was too 
 much of a gentleman to show any ill feeling, and never 
 afterwards did he allude to it. My estimate of the man, not 
 noticing his faults, appeared in the public daily Press soon 
 after his death in Washington City.
 
 RESPONSE TO FREEDOM'S CALL. 93 
 
 During the anti-slavery struggle the churches most deeply 
 involved in the sin of fellowshiping slaveholders were the 
 Old School Presbyterians, the Methodist, the Baptist, and 
 the Episcopal. They all had a large membership in the 
 south and the northern members generally approved of 
 their brethren in the south holding slaves. In none of these 
 four churches was there any statute law prohibiting the sin. 
 Moreover, when any of the anti-slavery members agitated 
 the question and testified against slaveholding they were 
 denounced as "disturbers of the peace of Zion." This 
 agitation in the Presbyterian Church and in the Methodist 
 increased until from each there were many withdrawals and 
 the number sufficient to constitute new denominations. 
 The Presbyterians, most of whom were in eastern Ohio and 
 western Pennsylvania, organized a presbytery in 1847 called 
 the Free Presbytery of Mahoning. This and the Presbytery 
 of Ripley, Ohio, united and formed the Free Presbyterian 
 Synod. In the former. Rev. Arthur B. Bradford and Rev. 
 Joseph Gordon were active and leading members. As the 
 organ of this anti-slaver}^ Presbyterian Church a weekly 
 paper, the Free Presbyterian, edited by Rev. Gordon and 
 published at Mercer, Pennsylvania, was inaugurated in the 
 year 1850. Some years afterwards it was merged in the 
 Cliristian Press of Cincinnati. 
 
 To illustrate the spirit of the times and the influences 
 that led to the organization of the Free Presbyterian Church 
 the following may be recorded. Joseph Gordon, when a 
 licentiate in the Old School Presbyterian Church and when 
 occupying the chair of mathematics in Franklin College, 
 was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in 
 New Athens. This occurred after the action of the General 
 Assembly at Cincinnati in 1845 i" which, after hearing 
 memorials asking some anti-slavery deliverance by the 
 assembly, it was declared that "dome-tic slavery under the
 
 94 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 circumstances in which it is found in the southern portion 
 of our country is no bar to Christian communion." Pro- 
 fessor Gordon had written one or two letters which were 
 pubHshed in the Cadiz Liberty Advocate in which in strong 
 and severe terms he condemned the action of the assembly. 
 In the St. Clairsville Presbytery the call of the New Athens 
 congregation was accepted, and after his examination for 
 ordination had been approved and everything was ready for 
 the ordination, a member informed the court that the can- 
 didate had publicly written language about the action of 
 the General Assembly that should be known by Presby- 
 tery. A committee was appointed to examine the published 
 letters and report on their character, etc. The committee 
 reported a series of resolutions condemning Mr. Gordon and 
 depriving him of his license to preach. After fruitless 
 efforts to have Presbytery rescind its action, the congrega- 
 tion withdrew from the church, the pastor elect asked ordi- 
 nation of Ripley Presbytery of the Free Church, and this 
 was followed by the congregation going over into the same. 
 Subsequently he and the congregation were connected with 
 the Mahoning Presbytery of the Free Church. 
 
 After the war and emancipation when Presbyterians could 
 hold slaves no more, the Free Church gradually diminished 
 by the members going back into the mother church or into 
 the New School branch; and finally the Synod and the 
 Presbyteries were dissolved. The anti-slavery Presbyteri- 
 ans who had come out of a pro slavery church now fell 
 back into the same church whose members had lost their 
 property but who, neither church nor old master, had re- 
 pented of the sin. But the people of this generation either 
 forget or approve of the deed. The War of the Rebellion 
 which resulted in freedom to the millions was a leveler; 
 and to-day few members of the great reunited Presbyterian 
 Church of the north know that there ever was a ''Free
 
 RESPONSE TO freedom's CALL. 95 
 
 Presbyterian Church." Even the Presbyterian Christian 
 Kndeavorers of to-day hardly know that ever there were two 
 churches, Old School and New School; and if it were not 
 for the Presbyterian Church of the South that still refuses 
 to unite with the Church of the North, they would hardly 
 know how slow old slaveholders are to repent of their en- 
 slaving their brothers and sisters in the church. 
 
 In the Methodist Church similar causes led to similar 
 effects. Some of the anti-slavery Methodists of the north 
 were so dissatisfied with the toleration of slavery and the 
 fellowship of slaveholders in all the southern states that 
 they .seceded and organized the Wesleyan Methodist Church. 
 They were generally called "The Wesleyans." They were 
 great agitators. They disturbed the peace of the mother 
 church from which they obtained recruits. lyike the Free 
 Presbyterians they fought a good fight; and, like the i-ame, 
 most of them went back into the mother church shortly 
 after the Lord of hosts by the bloody sword had broken the 
 oppression's yoke so that neither Methodist nor other slave- 
 owner could any longer compel his fellow-man to grind in 
 the prison-house or stand upon the auction block. 
 
 These two little anti-slavery churches were two brave 
 companies in the Army of Freedom. They were two bands 
 of witnesses for human rights and for a free church. They 
 hastened the day when God set free the captives. It would 
 have been for the honor of others, as the great Baptist 
 Chu- ch or the Episcopalians, if from these there had been 
 seceders sufficient to organize anti-slavery churches. But 
 emancipation came without their aid, and they as well as 
 the freemen share with others the blessings of the jubilee 
 which followed the blowing of the trumpet throughout all 
 the land. Let God have all the glory. 
 
 Besides the great questions involved in the anti-slavery 
 conflict the Concord Free Press endeavored to be a leader of
 
 96 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 thought in other reforms. In its advocacy of total abstinence 
 and in the fight against the legahzed liquor traffic it knew 
 no compromise; and by its opposition to the secret lodge 
 system it gained the disfavor of the Sons of Temperance to 
 whom our columns had been given for the defense of that 
 secret order. The paper was a Free Press. 
 
 The editor wrote occasionally in favor of "female physi- 
 cians," or the right of women to study and practise medicine. 
 A highly-educated old-school practitioner in the town, and 
 a professor in the college, came out in a series of articles 
 against the reform. He would permit no woman, however 
 well qualified, to practise medicine according to any system 
 or "pathy;" and in this he voiced the popular sentiment. 
 Against this narrow sentiment and in defense of woman the 
 editor freely used the columns of the paper. At that time 
 there were almost no women physicians in the whole country. 
 No woman could enter as a student in anj- medical college, 
 nor was there a woman's medical school in all the land. 
 Perhaps the writer will now be tolerated in saying that at 
 that time, nearly half a century ago, his convictions in favor 
 of this right of woman were as strong as now when all fair- 
 minded people award the right to woman. Let reformers 
 who are almost alone be encouraged to speak boldlj' for the 
 right. 
 
 Will the reader tolerate the writer in speaking as freely 
 about the different systems of medical practise? I am con- 
 strained to record it here that during the year I had charge 
 of the Press my opinion as to their relative worth or merit 
 underwent an entire change. From my own experience 
 with allopathic physicians during two attacks of sickness in 
 fever, from my own observation, and from what I learned of 
 treatment given to my friend before our marriage, I became 
 so persuaded that there is something radically erroneous in 
 the theory as well as the practise of the old- school doctors,
 
 RKSPONSE TO FREEDOM'S CALL. 97 
 
 I was ready to adopt some other, not to saj^ any other, that 
 I believed to be better. On the exchange list was Dr. R. T. 
 Trail's monthly journal of health, an able advocate of the 
 hygienic system. During the year I read it as well as other 
 exchanges as much as my time would permit. Gradually I 
 accepted the truths of the hygienic system, renounced the 
 errors and fallacies of every system of drug medication, and 
 denounced especially all alcoholic medication, not only 
 because it leads to drunkenness but also because of the 
 harm done to the patient. Having become satisfied that 
 neither in sickness nor in health is it proper to take poison 
 into the stomach, even poison called medicine — that the God 
 of nature has furnished all necessary medicines, and that 
 "Vis Naturae" is the all-powerful healer whether with 
 or without prayer, from that day to this during nearly half 
 a century I have conscientiously and totally eschewed all 
 drug medicines and have never tasted a drop or a grain of 
 poison even though called medicine. By the blessing of 
 God during all this half century, though never enjoying 
 perfect health, I never have been so sick as to call in a 
 physician. Nor do I complain of cross-bearing when I here 
 record that during all these years some of my friends, and 
 some who were not my friends, whatever of good they may 
 have seen in me, because of my peculiar opinions as to 
 hygiene and dietetics ever regarded me as "too crotchety" if 
 not an outright "crank." Well! What of it? If I who 
 after the doctor had drugged me almost to death never 
 enjoyed a year of good health, had a mortal fear of the lance 
 and the pills and the powders and the drops and the alcoholic 
 tonic, and if I choose to eschew swine's flesh and the fiery 
 condiments and coffee and tea, why could not my friends 
 see that I would rather be called "crotchety" or even a 
 "crank" than to have the pleasure of lying upon a sick bed 
 and the luxury of paying doctor bills ? 
 7
 
 98 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSF.T LAND. 
 
 That we might be more retired and enjoy the advantages 
 of country life, and that I might have a health-imparting 
 walk every morning and evening, when the spring time came 
 we took boarding with a Covenanter family, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wylie, living about a mile and a half in the country. Mrs. 
 Wylie was a sister of student J. L. McCartney afterwards 
 pastor and professor at North wood. We greatly enjoyed 
 our country life and our home in such an excellent family, 
 kind, intelligent, and pious. Would that the church were 
 full of such. Part of my daily walk to and fro was b)^ a path 
 through the native forest. This added much to my enjoy- 
 ment. The quiet, the solitude, the beauty of the woods! 
 Yes, "the groves were God's first temples." 
 
 During the latter part of the summer or early autumn 
 some of my friends, notably my brother J. B. and my old 
 fellow-student, A. M. Milligan, who seemed to fear that I 
 might be inclined to continue editor nnd not return to the 
 theological seminary, wrote to me several times urging me 
 to resume my studies, insisting that as I had set my face 
 towards the ministry I should not remain connected with the 
 Press after the expiration of my year. I can not forget the 
 conflict through which I passed. I always had suffered 
 through the fear that I never could attain to much usefulness 
 in the ministry. I greatly feared that through lack of mem- 
 ory and vocabulary and of almost everything that is requi- 
 site to what people call a good speaker, I could never be an 
 acceptable preacher or successful minister. And on the 
 other hand I saw the great need of witnesses and workers in 
 the cause of truth and right; and I knew the influence of 
 the Press for good. God knew best; and I tried to follow 
 the leadings of his providence. Not unmindful of the advice 
 of my friends, I opened a correspondence with Mr. Matthew 
 Wilkin, a teacher and an elder in the Greenfield congrega- 
 tion, to whom I offered the paper. It resulted in the trans-
 
 RESPONSE TO FREEDOM S CALL. 99 
 
 fer of it into his hands; and the name was changed to The 
 True Witness. 
 
 Thus sped my year as a witness for freedom and in testi- 
 mony against a system and a constitution and government 
 and people that made merchandise of one-seventh of all the 
 people of the land and having no apology but that they were 
 black. As 
 
 ' ' They are slaves who fear to speak 
 For the fallen and the weak," 
 
 SO I thanked the God of the poor that he called me to speak 
 for the slave and to plead with the people to break every 
 yoke. And if in any measure He used the influence of the 
 Free Press to hasten the day when liberty was proclaimed 
 throughout all the land, I do not regret that I gave a j^ear's 
 time and hard work to the cause. It was a school in which 
 I was better prepared for the duties to which my Master 
 called me afterwards. Within two years the infamous 
 fugitive-slave law was passed, and in less than half a genera- 
 tion the slaveholders hung John Brown and raised the flag 
 of rebellion.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Fourth Year of Theological Study. 
 
 By the action of the last Synod and the board of superin- 
 tendents the theological seminary was removed from Cincin- 
 nati to Northwood. This change was made partly in the 
 interest of Geneva College and largely for the sake of the 
 Seminary. Rev. J. M. Willson, pastor of the First Philadel- 
 phia congregation, had been chosen president of the college 
 with the expectation that he could teach also in the seminary 
 during its sessions. Mr. Wilkin relieved me of the paper in 
 time for me to be present at the opening of the seminary. 
 
 I left New Concord with reluctance and not without sad- 
 ness. We had many friends there. I think that both the 
 Covenanters and the friends of reform would have been glad 
 if we had remained. Perhaps if the paper had been remun- 
 erative or even paid its own expenses we would. But after 
 using all possible economy and paying all dues, not a dollar 
 of surplus remained. It could hardly have been otherwise 
 as the paper was the organ of an unpopular cause, had a 
 small subscription list, and had no revenue except from the 
 subscribers and from a few advertisements. And so when 
 we reached Northwood our funds were almost exhausted. 
 I remembered the saying of the old professor that "it is no 
 sin to be poor but it is very inconvenient . ' ' Perhaps it was 
 best for us that we were poor. By the unexpected kindness 
 of a friend to poor students we were able to rent a room in 
 an old log cabin and to furnish it so that we could remain 
 in it through the five months of the session. It served the 
 (loo)
 
 FOURTH YEAR OF THEOLOGICAL STUDY. lOl 
 
 purpose of kitchen, dining-room, parlor, bedroom and study. 
 No king or queen ever lived more happily. Our fuel did 
 not cost much. I bought beech logs hauled from the forest 
 and cut our own stove-wood. I had no need of a gymna- 
 sium. The axe was better than dumb-bells. 
 
 It was my last session in the seminary. I had entered 
 with the determination to make it one of hard study and 
 hoping that the last would be the best of the four; and I 
 had expected it to be the most pleasant of all. But the old 
 Adversary had been laying his most malicious plans to 
 destroy the seminary. He took advantage of the weak- 
 nesses of both men and women, and in an evil hour brought 
 ruin. If the events of that session of the seminary had not 
 been recorded upon the pages of history I would hope that 
 they might pass into oblivion. All that I need to say here 
 is that within a month or two troubles arose between the 
 professor and the students that resulted in the withdrawal 
 from his administration of eleven of the sixteen students. 
 Our reasons of withdrawal were written and addressed to 
 the professor and laid upon his table in the class-room, after 
 which we retired. This was followed by our formal suspen- 
 sion by the act of Dr. Willson. In sorrow of heart and in 
 the hope that reconciliation might be made, and that we 
 might continue our studies as closely as possible meanwhile, 
 we chose two of our members to hear the class lessons, and 
 these after a week or two exchanged with other chosen two. 
 In this way we were able as best we could to finish the 
 principal studies arranged for the session. The greatest 
 labor was bestowed upon Hebrew and Turritin's Theology. 
 Our greatest loss was in not having the lectures of the 
 professor. A while after the withdrawal the eleven issued a 
 circular letter to the ministers of the church, in which we 
 made our defense. Not long afterwards the eleven, after 
 fasting and prayer, engaged in an act of solemn covenanting
 
 102 tOOKiNG BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 in a bond that had been prepared with great care. It was a 
 time of heart-searching and sorrow, and we all thought that 
 it was also a time of revival. The bond, written and sub- 
 scribed on paper only, never was made public until in the 
 year 1895 or 1896 when it was published, but without 
 authority, in the Christian Nation. At this writing only six 
 of the eleven are living; and of these only four are now in 
 the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Of the five students 
 who remained with the professor only two continued their 
 studies and were licensed; and only one of these continued 
 in the church until his death, viz. Rev. Dr. McDonald. 
 
 At the close of the session and at the meeting of the Board 
 of Superintendents the professor preferred charges against 
 the eleven. In the trial we defended ourselves as well as 
 we could; and without either party being censured some 
 kind of compromise was made, and amid tears and hand- 
 shaking the sad scenes of the session closed. Many years 
 passed before the wounds were healed. The first to manifest 
 his forgiveness to me (I can not speak for the others) was 
 my dear old professor whom I loved all through the troubles 
 and to the end. Through the mercy of God our Saviour, 
 whom he served so well, I hope to sit with him at the feet 
 of our divine Teacher in the Church of the Redeemed.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IvICEXSURR AND EVANGELISTIC WORK. 
 
 The time of the spring meeting of Presbytery was now- 
 near at hand, and it was expected that I would be prepared 
 for licensure. As the time drew nearer I was greatly de- 
 pressed in fear that I could not stand the examination or 
 that I was unfit to preach the gospel. My friend and 
 brother, John French, who was shortly to be ordained and 
 installed as pastor of Cedar Lake congregation and to whom 
 I had expressed m}' fears, encouraged me and assured me 
 that Presbytery would no doubt license me. I was influ- 
 enced by his advice and appeared for examination and gave 
 my final "trial pieces." These were a lecture on Hebrews 
 6: r -6, and a sermon on the text, "By grace ye are saved." 
 The former being a very difficult passage was carefull)^ 
 studied and was given extempore i. e. neither read nor 
 memorized. In the discussion I argued that in the verses is 
 a description of the sin against the Holy Ghost, or the un- 
 pardonable sin; but the lecture was too lengthy, and when 
 about two-thirds of it had been given a member arose and 
 said he was satisfied with what he had heard and thought 
 Presbytery did not need to hear the whole of the lecture. 
 Meanwhile I sat down to wait to see what Presbytery would 
 do, and I confess that I felt a little unconcerned for I thought 
 that they should not have given me a pa.ssage so difficult. 
 Rev. J. C Boyd arose and said: "No, Mr. Moderator, we 
 have the time, and I wish to hear that lecture all through.'" 
 The moderator turning to me said, "Go on." I went at it 
 
 (103)
 
 104 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 again but "cut it as short" as I could. My sermon was 
 written and memorized and was only about fifteen or twenty 
 minutes in length. That was the last sermon I ever memo- 
 rized and delivered verbatim. 
 
 The examination had been "sustained," and now "the 
 pieces of trial" for licensure were approved. The crucial 
 time was past and I was greatly relieved. I am sure that 
 no member of Presbytery could know through what fears 
 and anxi.eties I had been passing. All being ready, Presby- 
 tery proceeded according to their usual form to license me to 
 preach the gospel. L/icensed? lyicensed to preach? To 
 preach what? The gospel of the Son of God. None but 
 the Searcher of the heart could know with what fears and 
 trembling hesitation I accepted the license. I could not be 
 sure that the divine Master gave me license, and I was over- 
 whelmed with the thought of "who is sufficient for these 
 things ? ' ' And yet I suppose that at the time I felt author- 
 ized to attempt the work because I had no better way to 
 judge the mind of Christ than by the voice of his church. 
 The licensure occurred in April, 1850. 
 
 And now the time had come when the little dual family in 
 the Northvvood log cabin must be separated. Disposing of 
 our few articles of household goods, Eliza prepared to make 
 a loug visit with the old folks at home and I prepared to 
 depart to fill appointments. A few of these were in L,akes 
 Presbytery, the two first Sabbaths being at Macedon, Ohio, 
 where was only a mission station. Thence I went to Beech- 
 woods and to Garrison to preach two Sabbaths for the pastor. 
 Rev. Josiah Dodds. iVs the latter was not far from Conners- 
 ville. Father Patterson's residence, Eliza rode with me to 
 church. This was the first time after my licensure that she 
 had the opportunity to hear her husband preach. My next 
 appointments were in Cincinnati where I remained probably 
 three or four Sabbaths, and then by the order of Synod I 
 went into the Presbytery of Illinois.
 
 I^ICENSURE AND EVANGELISTIC WORK. I05 
 
 On the Fourth of July, 1850, wheu cholera was raging in 
 Cincinnati, I took an Ohio steamer bound to St. Louis. I 
 was glad to get out of the city on account of the cholera 
 and because the hot season had already begun. Soon after 
 I had gone a')oard the boat a man and wife took pa.ssage for 
 St. Louis. The man was sick and it was soon ascertained 
 that his di.sease was cholera. Afterward his wife also was 
 attacked. They had no friends on the steamer. The physi- 
 cian could find none to act as nurse. A young man with 
 whom I had become slightly acquainted and I agreed to care 
 for the sick man and told the physician that we would. 
 Following the doctor's directions we watched with him, 
 gave him his medicines, rubbed him when he had cramps, 
 and did all we could for him, one of us being with him all 
 the time night and day. While with him and indeed all 
 the time 1 had little or no fear of the disease. My compas- 
 sion for the man in his sufferings disarmed my fears. He 
 was very anxious about his sick wife whom he could not see 
 as she lay in a separate room. Before our steamer reached 
 Evansville, Indiana, where I had to leave it, the sick man 
 had passed through the worst stages of the awful disease and 
 the doctor said he would recover. I learned afterwards that 
 his wife died on board the steamer and was buried in the 
 sand near the river at Cairo, Illinois. 
 
 Landing at Evansville I went to the hotel at which my 
 friend, William T. Acheson, licentiate, had died of cholera 
 a short time before. He had taken passage on an Ohio 
 steamer on his way to Princeton where he had appointments 
 to preach. He was taken sick on board the steamer, left it at 
 Evansville, found his way to a hotel, and wrote to one of the 
 elders at Princeton. Two of them came and took care of 
 him until his death. They buried the body in the Evans- 
 ville cemetery. I loved William T. Acheson. He was the 
 son of my father's friend, Elder William Acheson of the
 
 io6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 First Reformed Presbyterian congregation of New York, a 
 man of rare excellence as well as a faithful Covenanter. I 
 formed the acquaintance of the son after his licensure and 
 saw him to be a young man of brilliant mind and superior 
 scholarship and of lovely character. When I stood at his 
 newly-made grave I could not suppress the reflection: When 
 such young men are so much needed and so promising, why 
 does the Master who teaches us to "pray the Lord of the 
 harvest that he will send more laborers into the harvest," 
 remove one hence when his usefulness is only beginning? 
 
 Having fulfilled my appointments at Princeton I hastened 
 on to St. lyouis and thence to Hickory Grove congregation 
 in Iowa, now called Sharon. The sacrament of the supper 
 had been administered the Sabbath before by Rev. James 
 Wallace a.ssisted by licentiate James M. McDonald. On the 
 Monday following, Mr. Wallace had moderated in a call 
 which resulted in the choice of Mr. McDonald. At that 
 time the congregation was young, not numerous in member- 
 ship, and without any house of worship. The communion 
 had been held in a hickory grove, whence the first name of 
 the congregation. While I was there the services were part 
 of the time in the grove and part in the barn of Elder 
 William Mcllhinny. This was the first Covenanter congre- 
 gation organized west of the Mississippi River. It soon in- 
 creased rapidly, mostly by immigration, until it became a 
 large church and has ever since continued to have the larg- 
 est membership west of the river. 
 
 While in the bounds I preached on week days at several 
 distant schoolhouses at places where afterwards congrega- 
 tions were organized, as at L,inn Grove where was the resi- 
 dence of my warm friend. Elder Robert Brown. On the 
 Monday evening after the last Sabbath spent at Hickory 
 Grove I preached in the Presbyterian Church in Burlington, 
 Iowa, where were a few Covenanters. At that time cholera
 
 wcensure; and evangelistic work. T07 
 
 was raging in the town, not yet a city. Six deaths occurred 
 the day before. 
 
 My work in Iowa being done I came by boat down to St. 
 Louis where I preached again and as before in a private 
 dwelling. The number of Covenanters was small and they 
 had no house of worship. My lodging-place was in the 
 family of Mrs. Armour, the widowed mother of my friend 
 John M. Armour. It was in the heated season, the nights 
 very hot, and the people of the city in fear of the cholera 
 now increasing daily. I was glad when my appointments 
 were all fulfilled. 
 
 In those days there were no railroads anywhere in that 
 part of the great Mississippi valley, and I had my choice to 
 return home by the river route or by stage through Illinois 
 and Indiana. Because of the prevalence of cholera on the 
 river steamers I preferred to travel by stage. 
 
 In our coach leaving St. Louis Monday morning was 
 a young Catholic priest or student on his way to the 
 Catholic seminary of Notre Dame, Indiana. He was in 
 mortal fear of the cholera. At the first place for changing 
 horses he went into the bar of the hotel to get his glass of 
 liquor. After a few hours' travel and coming to another 
 hotel with its bar, our student companion was again about 
 to get his dram when I remonstrated and tried to persuade 
 him not to go. He persisted and urged as his excuse that 
 brandy or whisky was a preventive of cholera. In the after- 
 noon of the day he was attacked with symptoms of the 
 disease, and having medicine in his packet he took doses of 
 it but grew worse rather than better. Becoming alarmed, 
 on our arrival at a large county town he left the coach to 
 inquire if there was a Catholic priest in the town. Learning 
 that there was he bade me good-by and stopped. I never 
 heard of him afterwards; but I had the satisfaction of remem- 
 bering that in my travel with him I had labored to show
 
 108 LOOKING BACK I^ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 him the errors of Romanism and the sm of using strong 
 drink. I think he learned by experience that the use of 
 liquor did not ward off disease. He was a pleasant and 
 rather intelligent young man. I felt kindly towards him, 
 and I could not leave him behind without a mental prayer 
 for his recovery and a desire that he might someway escape 
 from the awful influences of Roman teachers. More to be 
 pitied than blamed are those who under the training of 
 Catholic mothers and Roman priests never learn a better 
 religion. 
 
 Traveling da}' and night through the prairies of Illinois 
 and the comparatively new state of Indiana, and tired of my 
 long stage ride, I was glad to reach Connersville and rest in 
 the home of Father Patterson with the loved one from whom 
 I had been so long separated. 
 
 After a somewhat protracted rest I was oflf again to fulfil 
 appointments in I^akes Presbytery. At the fall meeting I 
 was sent first to Southfield, Mich., and afterwards to 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 My journej' to the former took me from Sandusky, Ohio, 
 by lake steamer to Detroit, Mich. This was the first time 
 I had seen Lake Erie and my first experience in travel on a 
 large body of water. It was autumn, the weather was 
 stormy,- and I had my first experience in seasickness. 
 From Detroit to Birmingham was a new railroad whose 
 rails were of wrought iron and flat and spiked down upon 
 timbers extending lengthwise. There were occasional 
 "snake heads," i. e. the ends of the rails so bent that some- 
 times they would turn up and enter a car and endanger the 
 passengers. The travel was so slow that the people were 
 complaining. One of the dissatisfied, who said he lived 
 somewhere near the road, told of one of his neighbors who 
 had had some quarrel with the railroad company and who 
 studied how he might annoy it. To show how small and
 
 LICENSURE AND EVANGELISTIC WORK. I09 
 
 insufficient were the engines and trains he said that one day 
 as a train was passing up a steep grade the farmer hissed his 
 big bulldog upon the train, whereupon the animal ran out 
 and seized the engine and held it tight until he stopped the 
 train. Whether the narrator expected his hearers to believe 
 the story did not appear. That was more than forty-five 
 years ago. In railroad travel a wonderful change has come. 
 
 Southfield congregation was now without a pastor because 
 of the late resignation of Rev. James Neill. From what 
 causes I do not now remember but the fact I have not for- 
 gotten that the congregation was not in as peaceful condi- 
 tion as was desirable. Having fulfilled my appointments I 
 returned to Ohio. At Detroit while waiting for a steamer I 
 lodged at a hotel. The time was not lost. Henry Bibb, a 
 fugitive slave, was then residing in Winsor on the Canada 
 side opposite Detroit. I had formed his acquaintance pre- 
 viously when he was on a lecturing tour in Ohio. Calling 
 at his residence where he was safe under the British flag, 
 
 "Beneath whose folds no slave could breathe," 
 I found a colored woman who, with some other fugitives, 
 had the night before arrived safe from the land of bondage. 
 And yet such had been her fear of the bloodhounds that 
 when she saw me, a stranger, she was so afraid that Mr. 
 Bibb could allay her fears only by assuring her that his 
 visitor was a friend of the slave. Her narrative, like that 
 of most of the fugitives, was one of sorrow. For a verifica- 
 tion of this let the doubting read William Still's great book, 
 "The Underground Railroad." 
 
 At this time Henry Bibb was editing and publishing in 
 Detroit an anti-slavery paper, The Voice of Freedom. 
 He accompanied me back to the city and to his office where 
 he gave me a card of invitation to a levee of the colored 
 people that evening at the Methodist Church at which 
 Father Henson was to be. There were in the city at that
 
 no LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 time two Scotch girls, Covenanters and members of the 
 Southfield congregation. They were milliners or dress- 
 makers; their names I have forgotten. Telling Mr. Bibb of 
 them, he requested me to take them with me to the levee. 
 I did so. In the large assemblj' of colored people there were 
 no white persons except the three Covenanters. The young 
 ladies were intelligent and cultured, but though they were 
 no doubt friends of the negroes they had never been at such 
 a meeting before and "felt sh)^" of the colored people. I 
 felt a little mischievous and planned so as to test their caste 
 feeling or prejudice against color; and, accordingly, by the 
 help of Mr. Bibb they were introduced to several young gen- 
 tlemen of manifest refinement, while I, an Abolitionist and 
 a married man, was "at home" with the "ladies of color" to 
 whom I had been introduced. So m}^ young friends with 
 great difficult}- had to conquer their prejudices, and erelong 
 they were walking arm in arm with the young men in the 
 promenade. They saw that I enjoyed the joke at their 
 expense; but afterwards I jocosely assured them that I would 
 not tell on them in Detroit. Nor was it difficult to keep my 
 promise for I knew no one in the city, and left it the morn- 
 ing of the second day never to return. 
 
 At that levee the most honored guest was "Father Ben- 
 son," a somewhat aged Methodist minister of great influence 
 among his people. He was the man after whom Mrs. Stowe 
 modeled her "Uncle Tom." When the large company 
 went to the hall to partake of the feast prepared, and after 
 all had taken their positions and were standing at the table, 
 Father Benson, at the head of the table, "asked the bless- 
 ing." It was in the form of a verse of poetry, long meter, 
 and sung by the people around the table to the tune of Old 
 Hundred, he "giving out the lines," two by two, and start- 
 ing the tune. The singing was such as only colored people 
 can give.
 
 LICENSURE AND EVANGELISTIC WORK. I 1 1 
 
 On a previous page I should have recorded the fact that 
 while tarrying in Southfield congregation I formed the 
 acquaintance of some most excellent Covenanter families of 
 whom I have only pleasant memories but few of whom I ever 
 met again. Probably it was the last Sabbath I was there 
 that I preached four times — twice at the usual hours at the 
 church, then in the late afternoon at a schoolhouse some- 
 where between Southfield and Pontiac, and then in the 
 evening in the Presbyterian Church of that town. This 
 service had been arranged by Mr. McCarroU who resided in 
 the place. 
 
 After bidding good-by to the good Covenanter Scotch 
 girls in Detroit, and buying a copy of Henry Bibb's "Nar- 
 rative of a Fugitive Slave," a very interesting book, I went 
 aboard the lake steamer bound for Sandusky. Here I 
 entered the train for Bellecenter. I busied myself reading 
 my new book; and just as I was reading the last page the 
 whistle blew and soon the conductor cried out, "Belle- 
 center." Here, as many a time before, I was happy in the 
 home of my brother James S. Johnston. 
 
 Where my next appointments were I do not now remem- 
 ber, probably at Walnut Creek, a mission station near 
 Columbus, and another near Xenia in whose vicinity were 
 several families of Covenanters. Among these I have a 
 grateful recollection of Elder Foster, the honored father of 
 the three Foster brothers all now active pastors of congre- 
 gations as well as earnest "Testimony Bearers." I remem- 
 ber however that Presbytery had appointed me "stated 
 supply" in Cincinnati during most of the winter. I was 
 glad of this arrangement as for some time I had purposed to 
 take special lessons in Hebrew with some superior Jewish 
 teacher the first opportunity I could have. 
 
 According to previous arrangements I was met here by 
 my wife, and we were soon comfortably boarded in the home
 
 112 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNvSET LAND. 
 
 of my friend Hugh Glasgow, brother of Klder Moses Glas- 
 gow and uncle of Re^. W. M. Glasgow the present pastor 
 of Beaver Falls congregation.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Law and the Underground 
 
 Railroad. 
 
 While tarrjang in Cincinnati two incidents occurred 
 which are here placed on record to illustrate the character of 
 the times. In both of them fugitive slaves were concerned, 
 and my interest in both was intensified because the fugi- 
 tive-slave law of 1850 had been enacted recently by Con- 
 gress. Notwithstanding the fact that this law was in accord- 
 ance with the United States Constitution, Article 4, sec. 2, 
 which required the people of the northern states to deliver 
 up to their masters all slaves escaping for their freedom, no 
 law ever passed by Congress created so much excitement or 
 called out so much indignation on the part of the friends of 
 the slave. With the growth of anti-slavery sentiments in 
 the north the number of fugitives increased, for many of the 
 slaves had heard — it was told to them b}' some bird of the 
 air — not only that they had friends in the north but that in 
 Canada they were safe under the British flag. The south- 
 erners saw that among the anti-slavery people of the north- 
 ern states the United States Constitution was a dead letter. 
 The law of God expressly declared, "Thou shalt not deliver 
 unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master 
 unto thee ; " but the Constitution says: "No person, held to 
 service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping 
 into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
 therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
 be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
 
 8 (113)
 
 114 LOOKING BACK FROM THE) SUNSET LAND. 
 
 or labor may be due." (Article 4, sec. 2, third clause.) 
 Abolitionists had consciences and believed that it is better 
 to obey God than man — better to obey the divine law than 
 human even if this is a constitution. And so the slave- 
 holders found that oftentimes the Constitution was onlj' a 
 rope of sand and therefore they asked for and demanded a 
 congressional law in the execution of which they would not 
 be so liable to lose their property. They demanded it; they 
 threatened to go out of the Union if it were not given. The 
 .south was contending for the right to take their slaves into 
 the territories and new states. The Whigs of the north 
 objected to this. The contest was growing hotter and 
 hotter. The troubles in Kansas were an illustration of it. 
 And so, to appease the south, the politicians of the north, led 
 by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, gave them the fugitive 
 slave law and so saved the Union. The law was pas.sed by 
 Congress in the summer of 1850 and approved by President 
 Fillmore September 18, following. 
 
 Among the members of the Cincinnati congregation was 
 Mr. John L,. McFetridge whose residence or place of busi- 
 ness was in Covington on the Kentucky side of the river. 
 One Sabbath, I think at the interval between the two church 
 services, Mr. McFetridge came to me to inform me that in 
 Covington there were five or six slaves who had been brought 
 in from the interior and were kept there by the owner for the 
 time until he could find a purchaser or a slave-trader to buy 
 them for the southern market. The slaves were living in 
 dread of being sold for the southern market where they would 
 most likely be bought for the rice or cotton or sugar plan- 
 tations on which much of the restless labor is performed 
 under the overseer's whip. To escape from bondage and 
 get to Canada was the great desire of the slaves. At Mr. 
 McFetridge' s place of business he became acquainted with 
 one of the men, Patterson Randall, a husband and father.
 
 THE FUGITIVE SI^AVE LAW. II5 
 
 In reply to Mr. McFetridge's questions he told who and 
 what he was. Then after he had learned to have confidence 
 in Mr. McFetridge as a friend of the slave, he told how he 
 longed to get away from slavery and escape to a free country. 
 Mr. McFetridge, however, could do little for him. Being 
 an employe, a clerk and bookkeeper in an extensive lumber 
 yard, to whose proprietor the owner of the slaves had hired 
 out his "boy" Randall until he could find a buyer, the book- 
 keeper did not dare to be known as friendl}^ to the slave. 
 So at an hour when he could not be seen he told Mr. Randall 
 that he would find a friend in Cincinnati who would help 
 him and the others across the river to go to Canada. Accord- 
 ingly my friend, on the Sabbath above mentioned, asked me 
 to come across to Covington and he would devise for me an 
 opportunity to have a meeting with Randall. On Monday I 
 went over and after waiting awhile I succeeded in having an 
 unseen interview with Randall in which I told him what to 
 do and I would see that he and his friends would all be taken 
 over the river at a specified time and place. The time set was 
 Wednesday or Thursday night, I think. But before the 
 time came Mr. McFetridge brought me word that the slaves 
 could not safely attempt to escape before Sabbath night. 
 Meanwhile I laid the whole matter before three well-known 
 friends of freedom, viz. Hugh Glasgow, my host (than 
 whom no truer friend of the slave ever walked the streets of 
 Cincinnati), a leading colored business man, and that noble 
 and well-known friend of human rights. Friend Levi Coffin, 
 a Quaker whose life was devoted to the cause of the slave. 
 
 Carrying out the plan as I had given it to Mr. Randall, 
 when Sabbath night came — it was a bright moonlight night 
 when the people were on the streets — Mr. Glasgow and his 
 Quaker friend went to the river away down below the busi- 
 ness part of the wharf and hired a skiff, rowed over to the 
 Kentucky shore, and fastened the boat to a timber raft where
 
 Il6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 I had promised to have the skiff left for them. But there 
 were no fugitives there. To avoid suspicion the two rescuers 
 walked up into the town and. to and fro until finally they 
 saw the expected five hurrying towards the boat and then 
 entering and rowing across. Then going up to a ferry-boat 
 the rescuers crossed over to look after the boat. Mean- 
 while my colored friend and I had gone down to the wharf 
 where we expected the fugitives to land, and there waited 
 for their coming. We had not long to wait, for soon we saw 
 the coming skifi" and Randall at the ores rowing as for dear 
 life and liberty. We had selected a good place to land and 
 he rowed to us, and all came ashore. No one was near 
 enough to see who the people were. 
 
 Tying up the boat that our friends who had taken it over 
 at first might return and take it to its owner, our company 
 walked up one of the principal thoroughfares towards the 
 place where arrangements had been made for the hiding 
 away of the fugitives. We the rescuers led and the res- 
 cued followed, two and two, at such a distance that no sus- 
 picion would be excited. And probably we would have 
 been successful if some policemen, in those times always 
 watching for such prey, had not noticed that one or two of 
 the colored people, at least the wife and mother, was carry- 
 ing a small bundle of clothes tied up in a cotton handkerchief 
 slave fashion. The policemen followed at a short distance 
 and noticed into what house the fugitives entered. Then 
 one or two of the policemen walked back and forward on the 
 pavement as if to see whether the colored people would 
 remain. Our fears were so excited that my colored friend 
 went out by the back door and alley and hastened to the 
 residence of another anti-slavery family to ask protection for 
 the fugitives. Soon they were quietly hurried away to the 
 new hiding-place. Fearing lest there might be an attempt 
 to rescue the fugitives, the proprietors of the house procured
 
 The fugitive slave law. 117 
 
 a closed carriage and in the night drove them out about seven 
 miles to the first station on the "underground railroad" and 
 returned the same night. Anxious to know if all was well, 
 on Monday morning Mr. Glasgow and I hired a horse and 
 buggy and rode out to the hiding-place of the fugitives. 
 Riding up to the front gate, Mr. Glasgow sent me in to 
 make inquiry, for we were not certain yet that we were at 
 the proper place. The young lady who admi:ted me into the 
 house and heard my inquiries, somewhat cautiously worded, 
 was even more cautious in reply and was almost reticent. She 
 evidently feared that possibly I might be a "man hunter" 
 and she took care not to betray those who had fled to her 
 for protection. Her conduct only convinced me that the 
 slaves were there. Politely asking me to be seated until she 
 would call her father in, soon a farmer, worthy of such a 
 daughter, entered. I plainly made known my errand and 
 told him who we were. He saw at once that I was an 
 Abolitionist and told me to ask my friend in. After hearing 
 our narrative the gentleman rose and said, "Come with 
 me." We followed. He took us out to his double corn- 
 crib, a wagon shed being between and a closed trap down 
 overhead. Then he brought a ladder, stood it up to the 
 trap door and rapped on it saying, "Mr. Randall, here are 
 some friends who want to see you." The door was lifted. 
 "Follow me," said the man as he went up. When I entered 
 I was welcomed and greeted most kindly and joyfully. As 
 Mr. Glasgow had not seen them before, I had the pleasure 
 of introducing him to the party. It consisted of Mr. 
 Randall, wife and two children, and another man whose 
 name I have forgotten. He and his wife had been owned 
 by diiferent masters. Having no hope of securing her free- 
 dom then, he had fled in compan}^ with Randall when he 
 had the opportu dty. 
 
 Perhaps the reader will be curious to know how the slaves
 
 tiS LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 got awa}- from their owners. Thej^ were Methodists or 
 attended a Methodist Church while they were in Covington; 
 and they wished or permitted their slaves to attend the 
 colored church It was Sabbath evening and church-time. 
 The master and mistress having probably no suspicion 
 whatever of the plans their chattels personnel were laying to 
 get on the highwaj- to liberty, left them at home supposing 
 they would go to church. As soon as all the whites were 
 gone, Mrs. Randall took her bundle of clothing out at the 
 back door and threw it over into the back alley. Then 
 going out the front waj^ as if going to church, and getting 
 her bundle, they all passed slowly along the street but not 
 going towards the river. When out of the view of those who 
 might suspect anything wrong they turned and went to the 
 place appointed for the departure of the boat. The next 
 morning while the fugitives were resting in the ' ' loft ' ' of 
 the corn-cribs of the .station agent, the master and his pos.se 
 were in Cincinnati in search of the lost property. The 
 result the reader may easily see. The fleeing fugitives knew 
 the north star; they knew that it pointed the way to Canada, 
 and their friends did not cease to aid until they were in a 
 land where there were neither bloodhounds nor auction 
 block for the sale of men, women, and children. 
 
 Only a few months had passed since the fugitive slave law 
 had been enacted by Congress. But Ohio and the northern 
 states generally, after the adoption of the Constitution, had 
 been the legal hunting-grounds of the southern masters. 
 Now that the nation had said that all who would not obey 
 the Constitution but would lend aid to escaping slaves mu.st 
 be punished with the severest penalties, the masters to whom 
 the United States marshals had to be the officers and aids in 
 catching and returning fugitives, became more haughty and 
 defiant than before. On the other hand there was less sym- 
 pathy with masters w^ho lost their property; and the north
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. I19 
 
 became more and more ashamed. The conflict became, as 
 William H. Seward had described it, more and more "irre- 
 pressible," while the cries of the poor became more audible 
 to the good people of the north until they became ashamed 
 and longed for an opportunity to break their ' ' covenant with 
 death ' ' and their ' ' agreement with hell. " In a short 
 decade it came; and after the War of the Rebellion had become 
 more than a play at arms Congress repealed the fugitive 
 slave law. This was a prophetic forerunner of the speedily 
 approaching Proclamation of Universal Emancipation. 
 
 During the winter I formed a fuller acquaintance with 
 Friend Levi Coffin. He was one of the most ardent and 
 benevolent Abolitionists I ever knew, and withal apparently 
 a man of quiet piety. He was a Friend but of which branch 
 of the society I do not now remember. His business was 
 merchandise in free-labor goods. He bought and sold only 
 the products of free labor, believing that the purchase of the 
 products of slave labor was aiding and abetting slaveholding. 
 If all the people of the north who believed slavery to be a 
 sin had always acted in the same manner cotton would not 
 have been king so long and the whole system would have 
 gone down much sooner. 
 
 It was in the latter part of the winter that at the house of 
 lycvi Coffin I metSeth Conklin, of Philadelphia, who was on 
 his way to Alabama to attempt the rescue of four slaves, the 
 wife, two sons and a daughter of Peter Still who had been a 
 slave in Alabama, but who after long effort had purchased 
 his own freedom. He was a brother of Mr. William Still, 
 the eminent colored man of Philadelpeia and the author of 
 that great book, "The Underground Railroad." 
 
 Peter Still and his brother Levin had been kidnapped from 
 New Jersey and sold into southern bondage when they were 
 small boys. _ Their mother never had heard of them after- 
 wards and finally in her old age had given up all hope of ever
 
 I20 LOOKING BACK P'ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 seeing them. When Peter obtained his freedom he formed 
 the idea of the possibiHty of finding his mother in New Jerse}- 
 or somewhere, and he resolved to make the effort. Coming 
 to Philadelphia and making persevering search he finall}^ 
 found his mother neither of whom knew each other, but 
 finally by circumstances that both remembered became cer- 
 tain that they were mother and son. 
 
 After consulting with his friends Peter Still determined to 
 secure the liberty of his family if it were possible. A man, 
 Seth Concklin, was found who was willing to go to Alabama 
 and make effort to bring away the family from the hou.se of 
 bondage. He was a laboring man, a boatman of some kind 
 in Philadelphia; and his plan of rescue was by means of a 
 skiff on the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. To insure success 
 it was necessary for Peter Still to return to Alabama to lay 
 the plans all before his family so that they could cooperate 
 with Seth Concklin when he would go to help them away< 
 Accordingly the free husband and father went back and by 
 prudent caution had interviews with his wife, Vina, and 
 informed her of all the plans and what .she would need to do 
 so as to meet Seth Concklin and be .sure that he was the friend 
 from Philadelphia. 
 
 Peter Still now returned to Philadelphia and told to Seth 
 Concklin all that had been agreed upon. Soon Concklin was 
 on his way to Florence, Alu. Stopping with Levi Coffin to 
 get htlp in his plans, and especially to find some family not 
 far from the Ohio River to which he might safely bring the 
 fugitives and thence start them on their way to Canada, the 
 good Quaker came to ray lodgings to ask me to go to see 
 Concklin and give him help. He supposed I would know 
 some Covenanters in Southern Indiana or Southern Illinois 
 who could be depended upon to protect the fugitives on 
 their arrival. I went and learned from Concklin his plans. 
 All I could do was to tell him of Princeton congregation and
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 12 1 
 
 those in Randolph County, III., both of which were farther 
 from the river than desiral)le. After we parted he went to 
 Southern Indiana but could fiad only one family nearer than 
 the Princeton Covenanters. The result of his efforts 
 appears from a few lines of a letter written by him to 
 William Still of Philadelphia before he left the neighbor- 
 hood. They are as follows: " After I arrive at the mouth 
 of the Tennessee River, I will go up the Ohio seventy -five 
 miles to the mouth of the Wabash, then up the Wabash 
 forty-four miles to New Harmony, where I shall go a'^hore 
 by night, and go thirteen miles east, to Charles Grier, a 
 farmer (colored man), who will entertain us, and next night 
 convey us sixteen miles to David Stormont's near Prince- 
 ton, who will take the command and I be released." David 
 Stormont was a Covenanter farmer living probably about 
 four or five miles west of the town. That letter was dated 
 at Princeton, Feb. i8, 185 1. But neither Levi Coffin nor 
 I had a-iy knowledge of the letter nor of Concklin until 
 about the first of April, and under the following circum- 
 stances. In fulfilment of Presbyterial appointments I was 
 at Princeton preaching two or three Sabbaths the latter part 
 of March and the first of April. Early in the week before 
 my last Sabbath there, Mr. David Stormont came to my 
 lodging-place (Elder Robert Stormont's) and told me that 
 Seth Concklin and the four escaped slaves were at his house 
 having recently arrived safely from Alabama. Of course I 
 accepted Mr. Stormont's invitation to ride with him to see 
 his guests. They all were well though tired and sleepy, 
 and all were anxious about their safety as they knew that 
 though they were now in a free state they were not free 
 from the danger of being captured and. taken back to slavery 
 again. They had arrived the night before, having been 
 conducted by the colored man, Charles Grier. Mr. Conck- 
 lin gave me a warm welcome and was somewhat cheerful.
 
 122 LOOKING BACK FROM THE; SUNSET LAND. 
 
 With the others I soon became acquainted, though the two 
 sons and the young daughter were reserved and diffident 
 having had no other school than the slave plantation. Mrs. 
 Still, "Aunt Vina," was quite free in conversation. She 
 was manifestly a woman of great natural ability and of rare 
 common sense. I spent the day and the evening with the 
 fugitives and their rescuer and from them learned the whole 
 story of their flight and journey. To me it was intensely 
 thrilling, and I am sure it would be the same to the reader 
 if I could give it at length and with all its incidents as 
 narrated by the fugitives. All I can do is to give the 
 merest outline as told to me so that the reader maj' know 
 how the escape was effected. 
 
 At Cincinnati Mr. Concklin bought a large skiff" and took 
 it with him on board an Ohio steamer ^nd afterwards up 
 the Tennessee River to Florence, Alabama, not far from 
 the plantation on which the slaves were. Here under the 
 assumed name of Miller he busied himself in inquiring for 
 work and representing that he was a miller, as he once had 
 been, he tried to explain to the inquisitive why he had 
 brought a skiff with him. In his meanderings he went to 
 the plantation and to the shoe-shop by the wayside where 
 one of the slaves was the cobbler for the others. Concklin 
 needed some shoe mending done and thus he had an 
 opportunity and without suspicioti to obtain desirable informa- 
 tion as to localities, for the time was near when, according 
 to the appointment that had been made by Peter Still and 
 his wife, he must go to visit her in the night. When the 
 hour came Concklin was there "sharp." After waiting a 
 while in the tolerably dark night, a colored woman ap- 
 proached quietly accompanied by one of her sons, (no doubt) 
 timidly. In subdued voices they spoke to each other. 
 How could "Aunt Vina" know that this man was the very 
 man that her husband had sent from Philadelphia to conduct
 
 YhE fugitive slave law. 12^ 
 
 her and her cliildren out of the house of bondage? I will 
 tell the reader, but in my own words, as she told me that 
 afternoon at the house of David Stormont. She said: 
 "When ray husband was about to leave me to go back to 
 Philadelphia, I took off the cotton cape I had on and gave 
 it to him. It had a hole in one corner. I said, ' Give that 
 cape to the man that is to come for us and tell him to bring 
 it back to me, and when I get the cape and find the hole in 
 it I'll be sure that he is the right man.' " And as she told 
 me this incident she went to her bundle of clothes and 
 brought the cape and said to me: "See there, sir; there is 
 the hole," showing it to me; and then she added : "Then 
 I knew all was right and I was glad." 
 
 Their interview was necessarily brief. Concklin told the 
 woman what to do and when to bring the children to join 
 him in the boat. They came at the appointed time and 
 place and were soon rowing down the Tennessee River. 
 When daylight came and when they saw people on the 
 shore who might suspect they were fugitives, these lay down 
 in the boat so that they could not be seen from the land. 
 At one place some men on shore shouted to the boatman to 
 stop. He did not obey the order but rowed on the more 
 stoutly. The fellows on shore then fired guns at the boat, 
 but the God of the oppressed preserved those in the skiff 
 from harm. Passing out into the Ohio and thereon up to 
 the mouth of the Wabash, they rowed up this stream to 
 New Harmonv and then carried out their plan as written in 
 the letter to William Still as quoted on a preceding page. 
 
 The night that I lodged at Mr. Stormont's Mr. Concklin 
 and I slept in the same room and conversed until a late hour 
 about things in which we both were interested, and we 
 were not forgetful that the house might be surrounded any 
 hour of the night by a posse of pursuers of fugitive slaves. 
 
 That was probably the last time that Seth Concklin ever
 
 124 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 slept on an ordinaiy bed. The next day duty called me 
 away and I bade gOD 1-by to the fugitives and their faithful 
 friend and guide. Shortly afterwards they all were on the 
 highway towards Canada. 
 
 What happened after their departure from Mr. Stormont's 
 was not known except from some unreliable reports from 
 published telegrams and from Seth Concklin's letter to David 
 Stormont written after Concklin had been lodged in prison. 
 Probably the reader may understand the situation at this 
 time if I here copy a brief extract from a letter I wrote from 
 Evansville, Iiid., to William Still of Philadelphia under the 
 date of March, 31, i85i.''- 
 
 "I think it was twenty-three miles above Vincennes, 
 Indiana, where they were seized by a party of men and 
 lodged in jail. Telegraphic despatches were sent all through 
 the south. I have since learned that the marshal of Evans- 
 ville received a despatch from Tuscumbia to look out for 
 them. By some means he and the master, so says report, 
 went to Vincennes and claimed the fugitives, chained Mr. 
 Concklin and hurried all off. As soon as he was cast into 
 prison Mr. Concklin wrote to David St rmont at Princeton 
 to find bail. As soon as he received the letter and could 
 get away, two of us were about setting oflf to render all 
 possible aid, when we were told they all had pas.sed south 
 a few hours before through Princeton, Mr. Concklin in 
 chains. What kind of process was had, if any, I know 
 not. I immediately came down to this place, and learned 
 that they had been put on a steamboat at 3 p. m. I did 
 not arrive until 6. Now all hopes of their recovery are 
 gone." 
 
 After the letter from which this is extracted was written, 
 additional facts were learned that threw some light upon 
 
 *The reader may .see the entire letter in Mr. Still's ^'Underground 
 Railroad. ' '
 
 THK FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 1 25 
 
 the dark tragedies. I communicated some of them to 
 William Still, and this letter also he published in his book 
 which came out nearly twenty years afterwards. I did not 
 hear of the capture of the fugitives until Mr. Stormont came 
 into town and informed me of the sad intelligence. This 
 was sometime on Saturday. Nothing could be done for 
 the prisoners until after Sabbath when I was expected to 
 preach. Besides, Mr. Concklin's letter said that the trial 
 had been fixed for Thursday of the week following. Ac- 
 cordingly we made arrangements to go to Vincenues as soon 
 as the Sabbath was over that we might do all in our power 
 to rescue the captives. 
 
 In the Covenanter Church of Princeton that was a sad 
 Sabbath. Either in the explanation of the psalm or in the 
 sermon, I spoke at length and with deep feeling from the 
 fifth verse of the twelfth psalm: "For the oppression of the 
 poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith 
 the lyOrd; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at 
 [from them that would enslave] him." And special prayer 
 was offered in behalf of those supposed to be lying in 
 prison only because they loved freedom and did not wish 
 to obey the fugitive slave law of a slave-holding nation. 
 
 Harly on Monday morning Mr. Stormont and I were 
 seated in the buggy and the lines in his hand ready to set 
 out from Princeton on our errand of rescue as we tried to 
 hope; when a friend hurriedly came to inform us that we 
 need not go as, on the day before, the captured party had all 
 been taken through the town going south in charge of the 
 United States Marshal from Evansville and accompanied 
 by the slave-owner, McKiernon, from Alabama. After- 
 wards the following facts were learned. The telegram that 
 had been sent from Evansville into the south had been read 
 by McKiernan who hastened to go for his chattels. Taking 
 the United States officer with him from Evansville he hur-
 
 126 I.OOKING BACK FROM THEJ SUNSET I^AND. 
 
 ried to Vincennes and claimed his slaves. They were given 
 up to him and into the possession of the Marshal without 
 any trial whatever. The law was obeyed to the letter and 
 the persons surrendered "on the claim of him to whom 
 such service or labor is due." Concklin was handcuffed by 
 the Marshal and put into the stage-coach with the colored 
 people. Behind the coach rode in their own carriage the 
 slave-master and the United States officer. They left 
 Vincennes on Sabbath morning and reached Princeton in 
 time for dinner. While the master was in the hotel eating, 
 the prisoner was retained in the stage under guard and 
 without food; and then they all hurriedly drove on to 
 Evansville. 
 
 What I have here recorded occurred without the knowl- 
 edge of Covenanters and others who were in their several 
 churches at the time. Perhaps if the Abolitionists had 
 known of the presence of the captors and the captured at 
 the hotel, they would have attempted a rescue. Sabbath as 
 it was. But from what we were told on Monday it was 
 probable that at the very time the Covenanter preacher was 
 speaking of God's promise to the oppressed the slaves and 
 their friend, in manacles, were in or passing through the 
 town. 
 
 As I was expected to preach in St. L,ouis the next Sabbath, 
 and as I believed it to be my duty to do everything possi- 
 ble to prevent the dragging of the fugitives back into bonds, 
 and if possible to save poor Concklin from chains and from 
 the awful fate that seemed to await him if carried into Ala- 
 bama by the bloodhounds who had caught him, I hastened 
 to take the morning stage for Evansville in the hope that I 
 might reach the city before the departure of the captives 
 and their captors. It was my purpose to hasten to employ 
 an attorney and have writs issued for the release of the cap- 
 tives who had been brought away from Vincennes without
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 1 27 
 
 any trial whatever. But I was too late. Three hours 
 before my arrival all the party had departed by steamboat 
 for Paducah, a town at the mouth of the Tennessee River. 
 That same night I took the first steamer going down the 
 river, and still hoping that possibly if I could reach Paducah 
 before the departure of the company I might do something 
 for the friendless captives. Vain hope! An hour before my 
 arrival at Paducah the master and his slaves had taken the 
 stage for Florence, Ala. I could do nothing. But what of 
 Seth Concklin ? My boat was detained an hour or two, so 
 that I had time to go ashore and make inquiries of some col- 
 ored men, laborers on the wharf. They told me what they 
 had heard the people say, and from what I learned afterwards 
 I believe they were partly correct, as we will soon see. The 
 United States Marshal had gone down to Paducah still hav- 
 ing in his charge the slaves and Mr. Concklin. The passage 
 was in the night. The officer sat up in guard of the cap- 
 tives, Concklin still handcuffed. Report said that after 
 the. boat landed at Paducah and while it was yet night 
 the Marshal fell asleep or had asked McKiernan to guard 
 his prisoner while he would sleep. It was reported, more- 
 over, that when the Marshal returned to where he left 
 Concklin the latter was gone. McKiernan told the officer 
 that while he (McKiernan) was watching he fell asleep and 
 on awakening saw that the manacled man was missing. 
 No one had seen anything of him. When morning came 
 search was made and the dead body of the man, yet in his 
 chains, was found in the river. On the side of his head 
 was a very severe wound, probably a broken skull. The 
 body was taken to a sand bank on the shore, not far 
 distant, and buried in his clothes and irons as before death. 
 All kinds of conjectures and reports were afloat. Having 
 learned all T po-sibly could in the sliort time I had, I re- 
 turned to m\ steamer and went on to St. I^ouis. On land-
 
 128 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I,AND. 
 
 ing I hastened to find the vessel which had brought the 
 fugitives from Evansville to Paducah and sought an inter- 
 view with the officers to learn what I could from them. As 
 the boat was owned by northern men I felt free to converse 
 with the officers, though while the boat lay at the wharf at 
 Paducah waiting for the morning nearly all the officers were 
 asleep except the clerk, so that he was almost the only one 
 that could tell me anything reliable. He had seen nothing 
 of the parties after a late hour of the night until in themorn- 
 mg after the man in irons was missing; but he told me what 
 he had seen and heard after that time. Some of the reports 
 or opinions expressed was that Concklin (known by the 
 name of Miller) had jumped overboard to drown himself 
 rather than be taken to Alabama to fall into the hands of 
 slaveholders or southerners. Another was that he had 
 jumped into the water in the expectation of wading or swim- 
 ing a--hore even though wearing heav}' manacles, but that 
 in leaping to the water he had been struck accidentally on the 
 head, the blow causing death. A third supposition or rather 
 suspicion was that during the short time that Miller was 
 guarded by McKiernan, the master, the latter had struck the 
 hated man a fatal blow on the head and then had thrown 
 him overboard, and that, to avoid suspicion, in the morning 
 he had told the Marshal that while on guard he had fallen 
 asleep and that on awakening he discovered that Miller was 
 gone. Any of these reports might have been true as 
 Miller was kept upon the hurricane deck where no other 
 person was at night except his guard. But after learning 
 all I could, and after the friends of Seth Concklin in Phila- 
 delphia had sent a deputation to Paducah to ascertain all 
 possible as to his death and burial, I regarded the last 
 opinion as the most plausible. The following facts led to 
 this belief. It was said, but on what authority I do not now 
 remember, that McKiernan had promised to pay the United
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 1 29 
 
 States Marshal one thousand dollars on condition that he 
 would return the fugitives and the man Miller at South 
 Florence, Ala. As at Paducah Miller was found dead, and 
 as the four slaves were in the possession of the master in his 
 own state, he had no more need of the Marshal wbo now 
 returned to Evansville. Report said, moreover, that Mc- 
 Kiernan and the Marshal had quarreled about the money- 
 promised, the former refusing to pay it because Miller was 
 not returned according to contract; this probably had not 
 been written. Then the supposition was inferred, viz., that 
 in order to have revenge upon the man who had taken away 
 his property, and to get rid of the payment of the one thou- 
 sand dollars, he had taken a bludgeon or something and had 
 struck the fatal blow upon the head of Miller and then 
 threw him overboard, expecting to escape detection as all 
 were fast asleep and none could testify to the facts that 
 would condemn the murderer. 
 
 The foregoing forms a long, dark, and sad page in the 
 history of slavery. It illustrates the legitimate working 
 of the United States Constitution and the fugitive slave law 
 founded thereon. The scenes in the narration of which I 
 have studied brevity, tended to excite my deepest sympathy 
 for the sufferers and my intensest indignation against slavery 
 if not also against slaveholders and their allies including 
 the Constitution and its executors. Compassion for the op- 
 pressed and almost rage against the oppressor were growing 
 into a combined passion that had much to do in shaping 
 my action in subsequent years. If I sinned against my 
 fellow-men, I hope I have been forgiven. 
 
 In the foregoing narrative I have confined my record 
 mostly to matters with which I had something to do or of 
 which I was cognizant. If the reader wishes to know the 
 whole story of Peter Still and family he will find it in 
 a book entitled ' 'The Kidnapped and the Ransomed' ' writ- 
 9
 
 130 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 ten by Mrs. Pickard of Rochester, N. Y., four or five years 
 after the death of Conckhn and after the wife and children of 
 Peter Still had been purchased and brought to New Jersey. 
 The book is as interesting as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and is 
 an illustration of the old saying, "Truth is stranger than 
 fiction." But as Mrs. Pickard's book was written and 
 issued while slavery and the fugitive law were yet popular 
 existences it was unsafe to publish all the facts. Prudence 
 and the safety of several persons concerned made it necessary 
 to suppress some facts. Besides, there are in the book some 
 mistakes, as I know from what Mr. Concklin himself told 
 me in Mr. Stormont's house and from the testimony of the 
 ofiicer of the steamer that carried the fugitives and their 
 captors from Kvansville to Paducah. As the book is almost 
 out of print and difficult to find, perhaps I should add here 
 that when Peter Still heard of the capture and return of his 
 family he was heart-broken at first but subsequently rallied 
 and determined to save them from the prison-house to which 
 they had been dragged back b}^ the master aided by the 
 United States Government. Visiting Cincinnati and obtain- 
 ing counsel and help from Levi Coffin, Hon. Salmon P. 
 Chase, and others, he finally succeeded in engaging an 
 agent who went to Alabama and negotiated for the purchase 
 of his wife and children at a specified price and probably 
 less than the owner would have taken if they had never 
 tasted the sweets of freedom. Peter returned to the east, and 
 traveled far and near to find Abolitionists to contribute 
 to the fund necessary to bu}^ his famil3\ When the thou- 
 sands were raised he employed an attorney to go to Alabama 
 to pay the promised ransom fees and secure the legal papers 
 to make the contract sure. Their freedom secured, they 
 were brought to New Jersey where Peter had a home pre- 
 pared for his happy family. The children were educated, 
 and Aunt Vuia lived to see them in happy homes of their 
 own.
 
 THE FUGITIVE SI.AVE LAW. I3I 
 
 Prior to the events recorded of vSeth Concklin I had not 
 seen Mr. Willian Still of Philadelphia with whom I had had 
 letter correspondence, but subquently I met him and formed 
 an intimate acquaintance that grew into warm friendship 
 that has grown to this day. The reader will hear of him on 
 these pages again.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Licentiate's Work and Jottings. 
 
 During my stay in Illinois Presbytery fulfilling my 
 appointments mostly at Princeton and St. lyOiiis, I was 
 invited to assist at the spring communions in the congrega- 
 tions of Elkhorn and Old Bethel, Rev. William Sloane and 
 Rev. James Wallace the pastors. As the former had been 
 my first pastor I was somewhat? anxious to be able to preach 
 acceptably; and it was the first time I had been invited to 
 assist on a sacramental occasion. As Rev. Mr. Wallace also 
 was assisting, I did not preach until Saturday. Mrs. Sloane, 
 my mother's beloved friend during many long years, was 
 sitting in the pastor's pew near the pulpit while I preached 
 from that sweet text, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and 
 come away." At the close of the service when I went down 
 to meet and to speak to her, she rose and taking my hand 
 said: "I am so happy! I sympathized with you, and I was 
 afraid you might fail; but oh! you preached so well." 
 Whether her loving plainness was more useful than harmful 
 to the licentiate, I am not sure; but this much I know, that 
 the kind words of that most excellent woman whom as her 
 pastor's wife my mother loved so much, helped me when I 
 was afraid I was not fit to preach at all. Among all the 
 good and lovelj^ women of faith and good works whom I 
 have ever known, Mrs. Sloane, it now .seems to me, was 
 among the best. And she was a model wife and a model 
 mother. How much her children, one of whom was Rev. 
 Dr. J. R. W. Sloane, owed to her for what they were no man 
 can tell. 
 
 (132)
 
 THE licentiate's WORE: AND JOTTINGS. I33 
 
 On Sabbath the "action sermon" by the pastor was wor- 
 thy of a great theologian. Well do I remember the text: 
 "The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." 
 It was, indeed, a great sermon, and yet it was spoken with 
 little modulation of voice as in what people call eloquence, 
 and without gestures. His eloquence was in the greatness 
 of the truths uttered and in the solemnity of the expression. 
 
 On Sabbath evening after the services were over I was 
 invited to lodge with the family of "old John McClurkin," 
 the father of the two preachers, J. J. and H. P. An incident 
 not forgotten illustrates the character of ihe old elder so 
 well known in the church. In the evening when the time 
 for family catechising came, and when all the family, includ- 
 ing several young men and, if I do not forget, some daugh- 
 ters also, were seated ready to "say the catechism" and to 
 be questioned in its theology according to the common cus- 
 tom in Covenanter families, the venerable head of the family 
 said to me, "Now, Mr. Johnston, we are all ready. You 
 will please ask the questions and be our teacher," at the 
 same time handing me a copy of the shorter catechism. I 
 begged to be excused saying that I would rather be a pupil 
 under him than to attempt to teach such a large family of 
 adults. He replied, "No, I wish you to ask the questions, 
 for our pastor is getting old and we will need another after 
 a little, and I want to see what kind of a teacher you are." 
 Hoping that in such embarrassing circumstances I had the 
 sympathy of the family if not of the elder and father, I went 
 at the assigned duty as well as I could. Whether he 
 adjudged me to be fit for his next pastor, I was not careful 
 to inquire. 
 
 That "old John McClurkin" was no ordinary man. Though 
 not always wise he was worthy of all honor. He was one 
 of a large number of Covenanters, mostly heads of families, 
 who on account of slavery fled from South Carolina and
 
 134 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 sought new homes in southern Illinois and southern Indiana, 
 The early Covenanter congregations in these states had their 
 origin in such immigration, men and women who loved the 
 truth and the right and were able to defend them. Their 
 numerous descendants, though not all Covenanters now, 
 may well be proud of such ancestors. They loved liberty 
 and the slave more than their southern plantations. 
 
 The following Sabbath Father Sloane and I assisted Rev. 
 James Wallace at his communion in Old Bethel. During 
 both those occasions I am sure I was profited by my associ- 
 ation with the pastors and their people; and to this day 
 those two Covenanter seasons are cherished in grateful 
 memory. Nor can I forget that during my stay in St. Louis 
 I was most kindly provided for by Mrs. Armour and family. 
 It was for the time as a home among friends chief of whom 
 was my brother J. M. Armour soon to be ready for licensure. 
 When I left the city, that we might prolong our visit he 
 accompanied me to southern Illinois, and during the week 
 of my stay at Old Bethel, his former home, we were much 
 together and ate communion bread together. Already a 
 threefold cord bound us together. 
 
 The Monday services being over I joined the company of 
 the ministers and their elders who were starting to Pittsburg 
 to attend the approaching meeting of Synod. On our way 
 to Chester on the Mississippi River where we were to take 
 a steamboat for Pittsburg, we lodged Monday night with a 
 Covenanter family. Our host told us an incident illustrative 
 of the character of old Dr. James Milligan, former pastor at 
 Eden. He was lodging one night in the same family and 
 expected to depart on his journey early in the morning. 
 Before retiring he asked the lady of the house to leave some 
 water where he could get it in the morning as he would 
 need to shave. He rose in the morning before daylight 
 while all others were fast asleep and shaved himself. After
 
 The; IvICEntiate's work and jottings. I35 
 
 all were up and the lady had her teakettle full of hot water, 
 she said to Dr. Milligan: "I have the hot water for you now 
 if you want to shave." "Thank you, madam, I have 
 attended to that matter already." "O, yes, I see; but 
 where did you find a looking-glass?" "O, I went out-of- 
 doors and just looked up into the full moon. It was a good 
 mirror." 
 
 On the arrival of the steamer at Chester we found others 
 going to Synod. One of them was licentiate J. J. Mc- 
 Clurkin. On the voyage up the Ohio he was sick. As I 
 was the younger and well, I was able to give whatever 
 nursing he needed. This was our first acquaintance. Ever 
 afterwards we have been friends and brothers. During all 
 his long life he has ever been a lovely Christian, a genuine 
 Covenanter, and an Israelite in whom there is no guile. 
 
 One evening we held divine service in the cabin in the 
 steamer. Father Sloane was the preacher. Strange to say 
 that though most of the people present needed the pure 
 gospel and a call to repentance, he preached from the text, 
 Obediah 17, "The house of Jacob shall possess their posses- 
 sions," discussing the question of the return of the Jev\s to 
 Palestine. "Great men are not always wise." 
 
 At Steubenville Father Sloane and I left the steamer and 
 our friends, he going out to Richmond to visit his brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Hugh McNiece, the only Covenanter in the 
 town, while I stopped in Steubenville and, on invitation of 
 the few Covenanters there, preached in the house of a Mr. 
 James Steele afterwards a resident of Belle Center, Ohio, and 
 whose daughter, Mrs. Nannie McClure, is now in Tennessee 
 a missionary to the "poor mountain whites."* Some of the 
 school-girls, formerly my pupils in the St. Clairsville Acad- 
 emy but now in the old and popular Steubenville Seminary, 
 
 * Since that sentence was written Mrs. McClure has passed over to 
 the other side where there are no poor.
 
 136 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 were among the hearers. One of thera was Mary Happer, 
 a niece of Rev. Dr. Happer long a missionary in Canton, 
 China. 
 
 On Monday Mr. Sloane and I joined each other as fellow- 
 travelers by stage-coach from Steubenville to Pittsburg. It 
 was mine to enjoy a great privilege, "a rare treat. " Rarely 
 if ever have I found a traveling companion so entertaining 
 and so profitable During Synod we lodged together in the 
 family of that dear blind old lad}', Mrs. Algeo, the mother 
 of Mrs. C. A. Oudry yet resident in Allegheny and inherit- 
 ing the excellencies of her mother long since gone to the 
 home where there are no blind mothers and to that city in 
 which ' 'the lyamb is the light thereof. ' ' 
 
 At that meeting of Synod I was assigned to New York 
 Presbytery for at least six months. At that time the New 
 England states as well as the congregations in Philadelphia 
 Presbytery were all included in the Presbytery of New York. 
 My first appointments were in the Kensington Mission con- 
 gregation now called the third Philadelphia Church. During 
 part of the time that I remained in Kensington I was most 
 kindly lodged in the famil}- of Robert Paisley. In subse- 
 quent years they were always very warm friends of their 
 first pastor, Rev. A. M. Milligan, whom they followed when 
 he went to New Alexandria and subsequentl}^ to Pittsburg. 
 Such devotion to the pastor is as rare as it is beautiful. 
 
 I had not been in Philadelphia long until I hastened to 
 hunt up William Still with whom I had had correspondence 
 with reference to Seth Concklin and Peter Still and family, 
 but whom I had never seen. I found him in the office of the 
 Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society where he officiated as clerk 
 of the state society that published the Pennsylvania Freeman. 
 It did not take long for us to get acquainted; indeed we 
 were friends already. At this time Mr. Still was very active 
 in the work of the underground railroad. Many fugitive
 
 THE licentiate's WORK AND JOTTINGS. 1 37 
 
 slaves came to Philadelphia, were harbored, and then sent 
 on to Canada. He made records of the narratives of the 
 fugitives; and these afterwards formed a large part of his 
 wonderful book published after emancipation. 
 
 My next appointments took me to Argyle, New York, 
 where I preached I think only two Sabbaths and lodged 
 most of the time with Mr. William Shaw of whose family I 
 have a very pleasant recollection. On his farm was the first 
 abundance of wild or uncultivated raspberries I had ever 
 seen. They abound in northern New York and in Vermont 
 and are freely used by nearly all the people. They are supe- 
 rior to the cultivated fruit. 
 
 In obedience to Presbytery I went from Argyle to Top- 
 sham, Vermont. The journey thence was by railroad to 
 Whitehall at the head of Lake Champlain, and then by 
 steamer to Burlington in Vermont. I greatly admired the 
 beautiful lake and the distant Green Mountains. At the 
 dinner furnished for the passengers of the steamer I ate for 
 the first time of lake trout, and I greatly relished the fish. 
 Except the brook trout of Vermont and New Hampshire no 
 fish is more desirable. 
 
 From Burlington to Montpelier, Vermont, the capital of the 
 state, I traveled by rail up the Winooski or Onion River 
 which passes through a gorge of the Green Mountains. On 
 the south. Camel's Hump was visible and near, and on the 
 north the Mansfield Mountains, the highest part of the 
 range. The scenery in this part of my journey was the 
 finest I had ever seen; and as it was mid-summer, I was 
 charmed with the beauty of the country as well as with the 
 grandeur of the .scenery. This was my first experience in 
 traveling in a mountainous country and it brought me into a 
 new school in which I reveled in delight and learned more 
 and more to enjoy the picturesque and the grand. 
 
 I lodged that night in Montpelier and in the morning took
 
 138 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the stage-coach for Topshaui. This took me over the east- 
 ern spur of the Green Mountains from the highest part of 
 which the traveler has a fine view of the main range on the 
 west through which I had passed the day before. This 
 stage ride was the most inspiring I had ever enjoyed. As 
 I passed down the eastern slope, riding outside with the 
 driver, I felt a conscious desire that it might be the will of the 
 Head of the church to permit me to live and labor in that 
 beautiful state. To such a desire I had been a stranger 
 before. 
 
 Coming within the bounds of the congregation I easily 
 found my way to the house of John McNiece, oldest son of 
 Elder Robert McNiece the father-in-law of my first pastor, 
 Rev. William Sloane, and grandfather of Rev. Dr. J. R. \V. 
 Sloane. In going first to this family I followed the direc- 
 tions of the chairman of the committee of supplies at New 
 York, and because the house was the nearest to the stage 
 road over which I had traveled. And it seemed strange that 
 the first famil}^ that I met in this place where all were 
 strangers was so intimately connected with those whom I 
 had known and loved in my bo37hood. John McNiece, my 
 host, was a brother of my mother's most loving friend, Mrs. 
 Sloane, her pastor's wife. 
 
 In Topsham I was among New Englanders. It was the 
 first time I had been appointed to preach to Yankee Cove- 
 nanters; and I was a stranger to all the people. At that 
 time I could have no knowledge of the will of the Head of 
 the church, and so I went there as I had gone to other 
 places to fulfil my appointments and depart without any 
 right to expect ever to be back again. My appointments 
 kept me there four Sabbaths in August, 1851. 
 
 The last pastor of the congregation was Rev. William 
 Sloane. Twenty-five 3'eai^ had passed .since his departure. 
 This would be seven 5^ears before the division of 1833.
 
 THE licentiate's WORK AND JOTTINGS. 1 39 
 
 During all this quarter of a century the congregation had 
 depended upon supplies and had remained true to the old 
 Covenanter Church and her Lord. The membership had 
 become reduced and had not been as active as is desirable in 
 doing the work that even feeble congregations can do; but 
 the remnant continued faithful to the distinctive principles 
 of the church and God had blessed them in their faithfulness. 
 The men were few in number, the women constituting more 
 than two-thirds of the entire membership. 
 
 During my stay in Topsham I was taken to see some of 
 the leading families, though I lodged mostly with two, that 
 of John McNiece and that of Elder Josiah Divoll. 
 
 By invitation I gave an anti -slavery lecture at Ryegate 
 Corners to a very large audience mostly Covenanters and 
 old Seceders, and one at East Corinth on the subject. 
 
 The pulpit themes and the attendance had almost passed 
 from memory until recently when I was looking over my 
 private diary. A few extracts will illustrate how my mind 
 worked at the time. On the afternoon of my arrival, Tues- 
 day August 5, among other things: "Am far from home and 
 friends. What God intends to make the result of my labors 
 here, I know not. If he cause sinners to be converted and 
 his kingdom to be advanced, I will endeavor to trust in him 
 and detain patiently until my appointments are fulfilled." 
 After the first Sabbath: "Preached to a large congregation. 
 I think two-thirds or three-fourths of the people were women, 
 many of them young. It was the most interesting congre- 
 gation to which I have preached as yet. Paraphrased the 
 psalm and lectured in order. In the afternoon I preached on 
 the humiliation of Christ. Most of the audience gave very 
 good attention, a few were in tears, while some gave evidence 
 of utter indifference. O that God would give me more 
 compassion for sinners! " 
 
 "Monday, August i8. Preached in the same church as
 
 140 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 ou the pieceding Sabbath but to a LOiigregation r.ot so large, 
 as a New L/iglit Covenanter minister preached in another 
 house (the town hall) not far distant. Satan seems deter- 
 mined to give our people here .some trouble from this quarter. 
 Lectured in course from Eph. 4:14-16. Preached in the 
 P. M. with some freedom and I hope profit from 'To the 
 blood of sprinkling that .speaks better things than the blood 
 of Abel.' " 
 
 "Wednesday 20. L-'dging with Mr. P., a kind of liberal 
 Yankee Covenanter who, I guess, would as lief be a New 
 Light. No particular care about our distinctive principles. 
 Takes neither the Covenanter nor the Reformed Presbyteriaji 
 and knows nothing about the doings of the church except 
 a little from hearsa3\" 
 
 After the third Sabbath I find the following entry: 
 "Preached in the afternoon to a large and attentive congre- 
 gation from the text: 'Shall the throne of iniquity have fel- 
 lowship with thee,' etc. Endeavoring to be faithful to 
 King Jesus, I know I said much to displease his enemies. 
 Some I suppose would have gnashed their teeth up(<n me. 
 Even some Covenanters, I think, would have been better 
 pleased had I preached 'smooth things' and sentiments 
 more popular. But by divine grace, while permitted to 
 speak for Christ I will utter the whole truth regarding his 
 kingly office and the wickedness of ungodly civil govern- 
 ments, let men hear or forbear — let Covenanters be pleased 
 . or displeased — endeavoring to rise above the fear of man 
 which bringeth a snare. Let my great concern be to see 
 that the King whose rights I plead rule in my heart." 
 
 In reference to the fourth Sabbath, August 31,1 find this 
 among other things: "Preached in the forenoon on Gideon's 
 victory. I feel and confess that. I was left to myself, and, as 
 it seemed to me, I was scarcely able to utter a well -formed 
 sentence. How justly am I thus chastised for my sin.
 
 THE IvICENTlATE'S WORK AND JOTTINGS. I4I 
 
 Besides great bodily weakness, I felt so depressed in spirits 
 that I was near sitting down in silence. In the afternoon I 
 was helped to speak with more freedom and I hope with 
 more profit. In the forenoon I preached myself- — ^in the 
 afternoon I preached Christ from Prov. 8:17, "Those that 
 seek me early shall find me." In preaching this sermon I 
 was greatly encouraged and fully repaid for all my study 
 and toil for the work to which I have devoted myself. Not 
 a few of the congregation, especially of the young, were 
 bathed in tears. Throughout the sermon I appealed to sin- 
 ners especially to youth and to parents. My labor seemed 
 not to be in vain. To see evidences that conviction is being 
 wrought and that the heart is aiFected under preaching, 
 gives courage to hold on. To be the means of saving if but 
 one soul is reward sufficient to repay for all I have done or 
 can do or may suffer. A tear from a hearer is like an oasis 
 in the desert; many tears give joy inexpressible. I praise 
 God that I have had this token for good. lyord Jesus, may 
 this be but the first ripe fruits of a rich harvest." 
 
 It is now nearly forty-six years since those words were 
 written. They were not intended for the public eye; and if 
 I were permitted to write the sentiments over again I would 
 do it in very different terms, perhaps. I give them here 
 only to show the frame of mind I was in then when I had 
 no knowledge of the future. They were not prophetic, for 
 I do not know that many conversions resulted from my sub- 
 sequent preaching in Topsham. When those records were 
 made I did not expect ever to be there again. I had no 
 right to expect it for I did not know that any member of 
 the congregation had any thought of my being called as 
 pastor at any future time. Indeed, the congregation was so 
 reduced in members and so feeble that it did not seem possi- 
 ble for them to support a pastor. And yet I remember how 
 delighted I was with the country and how much I liked
 
 142 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 many of the people. And if I do not forget it was the first 
 place I had preached in which I thought I would like to 
 live and labor. But I thought little about the probabilit}^ 
 of my ever being settled in the Topsham congregation. 
 Never was a word spoken to me by any person in the con- 
 gregation or place by way of inquiry as to whether I would 
 like to be the pastor; nor subsequently was ever a word 
 written. I knew nothing whatever of the mind of the peo- 
 ple until the winter following. But who can doubt that the 
 Head of the church, the Shepherd of Israel, had determined 
 what would be. His purposes were all formed. To me 
 they were all unknown. It is well that he chooses our lot 
 for us. He doeth all things well. 
 
 On Monday afternoon, September i, I bade farewell to 
 many friends and took the stage for Montpelier, starting 
 back to Argyle again where I had an appointment. I 
 remained only one Sabbath. The friends then wished me 
 to give an anti-slavery lecture before I would depart, and 
 they asked the use of one of the churches in the town, and 
 then another. Both refused to give their houses for the 
 purpose. One was the Associate Reformed Church; the 
 other the Methodist. The Covenanters, however, resolved 
 not to give it up and appointed the lecture in their own old 
 house of worship in the outskirts of the town. 
 
 The audience was not large but some pro-slavery people 
 were there. One of them interrupted the speaker several 
 times by asking questions. The answers could not have 
 been satisfactory to him for as soon as I had closed the 
 lecture, which was very radical I suppose (I was not glad 
 that the churches had been closed against me) he rose and 
 began to make a speech. The people did not care to hear 
 him and so rose and departed. His speech was short for 
 want of hearers. 
 
 Some of the Covenanters feared disturbance; and as the
 
 THE licentiate's WORK AND JOTTINGS. 1 43 
 
 good elder drove me away towards his home he put the 
 whip to his horse lest some fellows might follow to do harm. 
 I thought his fears groundless and I lost no sleep that night. 
 
 In reflecting upon my two visits to Argyle congregation, 
 which afterwards was called West Hebron where their new 
 church was built, I remembered I found there an excellent 
 people, few in number but well to do and faithful Cov- 
 enanters. Until I was reading in my diary recently I had 
 forgotten that I had brought away from that old place any- 
 thing but pleasant memories. I now read two that as 
 recorded then may show that the Buckeye probationer had 
 not attained to perfection. The one reads thus: "Saturday, 
 Sept. 6. Last night I had very little comfortable sleep. 
 Those horrible animals annoyed me most inhumanly. Un- 
 able to endure it any longer, at three o'clock in the morning 
 I rose, lit my candle, and made war upon my enemies, slay- 
 ing not exactly 'my ten thousands; ' but much blood was 
 spilled on the field of battle, and not a few were put to flight. 
 Still, however, the skirmishers returned and annoyed me 
 sorely leaving many wounds. When daylight came they 
 seemed to flee into their dens or hiding retreats, and I was 
 hoping for some sleep when I was summoned to breakfast." 
 I could have forgotten the battle if it had not been that in 
 the family, well to do on a large farm, there were two able- 
 bodied young women who might have known, if they did 
 not, that in the preacher's bed there were blood-thirsty 
 enemies of Morpheus. But perhaps they had not read the 
 classical(?) author who wrote: "Blessed be the man that 
 invented sleep." 
 
 The other record runs thus: "Tuesday 9. Rose at five, 
 had a cup of tea" (in those days I was yet an anti-hygienic 
 transgressor) "and rode to Dunham's Basin to take the 
 train. Elder Shaw, who came with me and whom I regard 
 as the best man in the congregation, handed me four dollars
 
 144 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 and seventy-five cents and said he hoped I would Couie back 
 into the Presbytery again because they had not paid me all 
 that was due, and they would like to have a chance to pay 
 me the balance." I never was at Argyle again. 
 
 On my way to Newburgh I stopped over one train at Sar- 
 atoga to visit the mineral springs that have made it one of 
 the most fashionable "watering-places" on the continent. 
 That the water of any of the springs has any medicinal 
 properties is very doubtful. No water is so pure or so 
 healthful as what falls from the clouds, or spring water free 
 from all foreign mineral substances. If anybody is benefited 
 by drinking Saratoga Spring water probably it is by its sub- 
 stitution for alcoholic drinks, or coffee, or tea, the use of all 
 which is alwaj'S more or less injurious. 
 
 At Albany I stopped to visit Professor Robert Trumbull, 
 uncle of the three Milligan brothers. He and his wife were 
 probably the only Covenanters left in that capital city, 
 where at one time Rev. J. R. Willson was pastor and where 
 he preached his great sermon afterwards printed and called 
 "Prince Messiah." Mr. Trumbull was afterwards appointed 
 professor at Geneva College and continued in that position, 
 I think, until his death. 
 
 Passing down the beautiful Hudson to Newburgh, where I 
 had never been before, I spent a very pleasant week and 
 formed acquaintance with many excellent Covenanters, sub- 
 sequently life-long friends, and had a real good time with 
 my dear friend and fellow-student, J. Ren wick Thompson, 
 preparing for licensure. Recurring to my diary I see that in 
 company with the pastor or with Mr. Thompson I attended 
 a wedding (Rev. Carlisle the prie.st) where wine was served 
 to the guests, most of them partaking but not without my 
 subsequent protest to the pastor. (Total abstinence was not 
 yet a declared statute law in the church.) While I was at 
 Mr. Thompson's I saw a copy of Rev. John Little's sermon
 
 the; licentiate's work and jottings. 145 
 
 teaching the duty of obedience to the fugitive slave law, and 
 which, after the reading, I denominated an "empty and 
 heretical production." On Sabbath I preached two sermons 
 for Mr. Carlisle, pastor of the Newburgh church. On Mon- 
 day I wrote in my diary the following: "The congregation 
 was attentive, especially in the afternoon. This is the most 
 prepossessing congregation I have yet seen in the church. ' ' 
 The elders, of whom I always had the warmest recollections 
 as noble men and loyal Covenanters, were William Thomp- 
 son and Matthew Duke. They and their families were not 
 only most worthy members, but also ornaments in the 
 church. Of Mr. Thompson and all the members of his 
 family I always had the most grateful memories. During 
 many long years in which I was often at Newburgh attending 
 Presbytery or Synod, or visiting, I was always welcomed to 
 that beautiful home in Orange County and near Coldenham 
 in whose church graveyard are the graves of so many 
 precious saints, notably J. R. Willson, D. D., and Rev. 
 Moses Roney. 
 
 Leaving Newburgh, the most beautiful city on the Hudson, 
 on my way to New York I stopped at Coldspring to visit 
 my friend Charles L. Williams who was temporarily in that 
 place in search of health and "trying to make a living." 
 The violence he had suffered when at the theological semi- 
 nary had resulted in consumption from which he died in 
 New York City probably two or three years afterwards. 
 Though a fallible man he is of precious memory. 
 
 My next appointments were in Kensington, Philadelphia, 
 where I remained three Sabbaths. On the third I preached 
 in the forenoon from "And on the side of the oppressor 
 there was power," etc.; in the p. m. from "Behold, I 
 stand at the door and knock," etc. Then walking to Cherry 
 Street church I preached for the pastor. Rev. J. M. Willson, 
 from the words: "Who is sufficient for these things?" 
 
 ID
 
 146 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 During the weeks I was in Philadelphia I had much 
 Christian fellowship with friends with whom I had pre- 
 viously become acquainted, and I formed new acquaintance 
 with quite a number of most excellent people of whom I 
 would like to write at length. I must not fail to mention 
 Elder John Evans, a rarely excellent man, an old teacher 
 (from whom I bought a second-hand copy of Bishop 
 Mant's metrical version of the Book of Psalms), and Elder 
 Robert Forsyth, an Israelite in whom there is no guile. 
 
 My work in Philadelphia being done I returned to New 
 York to attend the fall meeting of Presbyter}-. It was mem- 
 orable because of the trial of Rev. John Little, pastor of the 
 third New York congregation, who had preached a sermon 
 in reference to the fugitive slave law and who had been 
 libeled for teaching doctrines contrarj^ to the church's creed 
 as to civil government. The trial occupied much time in 
 Presbytery and there was much ex.citement. David Torrens, 
 a member of the second congregation, was the prosecutor. 
 This fact led to the opinion b}^ .some that the libel had been 
 instituted more in opposition to the sister congregation than 
 out of love to the purity of the church or of her ministry; 
 and I have no doubt that if there had been less congrega- 
 tional animosity and more brotherly love the trial of a min- 
 ister and pastor charged with erroneous teaching, and this 
 on a vital point in the Covenanter Church, would have been 
 more harmonious and productive of good. Nevertheless, 
 Pastor Little had committed a grave offense against Christ 
 and his church and the .slave. The trial occupied most of 
 the time of Presb5-tery during several days. I was present 
 all the time and heard and .saw all that was said and done. 
 I had no interest in the issue except as it bore upon the 
 church of Christ and of freedom. To be at all able to judge 
 the ca.se now, at least the following facts must be con- 
 sidered.
 
 THE LICKNTIATK vS WORK AND JOTTINGS. 1 47 
 
 1. At that time the "deacon controversy" wa!> still 
 agitating the church greatly, the question being whether con- 
 gregations should have deacons or not, and the question was 
 modified by another, viz., the extent of the deacon's power. 
 And the church was largely divided into "deacon men" and 
 "anti-deacon men." 
 
 2. It was noticeable during many years that the "deacon 
 men" were, "as a rule," more interested and active in the 
 anti slavery cause than the anti-deacon men, though I see 
 little if any moral connection between the two positions. 
 
 3. The excitement all over the countr}- that followed the 
 passage of the fugitive slave law about a year before, still 
 ran high, and no wonder. Covenanters unanimously testi- 
 fied against it and denounced it notwithstanding its constitu- 
 tionality as an infamous act and a law to be only trampled 
 underfoot. So it followed that when a Covenanter pastor 
 would preach on the subject at all he would be expected, 
 especially by his own people and other Covenanters, to be 
 outspoken in testifying against the law and everything that 
 favored slavery. It appeared from the testimony, however, 
 that Pastor Little had said nothing against the law or in 
 favor of freedom for the slaves; but that all he had said was 
 in favor of conscientious submission to existing law in any 
 providential government; and the "Seceder doctrine" of 
 obedience to the "powers that be." The preacher, who had 
 recently come from Ireland, was a young man who mani- 
 festly had given little attention to the subject that had been 
 agitating the minds of American Covenanters; and he was 
 rightl}' judged to be "not a good Covenanter." 
 
 4. He was the pastor of the New York third congregation 
 that had broken off from the second on account of the differ- 
 ences of opinion on "the deacon question," and the hostility 
 between the two congregations had not diminished much. 
 It was unfortunate, therefore, for the truth that the elder
 
 148 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 who preferred the charge against Mr. Little was a member 
 of the second congregation. 
 
 5. During the trial I noticed that in almost every vote on 
 the several "counts" in the libel the "deacon men" voted 
 to sustain the charges while the " anti-deacon men" voted to 
 acquit. With slight and rare exceptions the looker-on 
 could anticipate what the vote would be. The record that 
 I made in my note-book at the time confirms the accuracy 
 of the statement. The men who were the most outspoken 
 and active leaders on both sides have long since passed 
 away from the exciting scenes of the church militant. Two 
 of the leaders lived and died loved and honored and with 
 characters unsullied, but it can not be forgotten that they 
 and others were divided in a church trial and on a case in 
 which there should have been no divi-sion. The fugitive- 
 slave law is now among the things of the dead past except 
 as it is remembered only to be hated by all true friends of God 
 and the poor; but it still remains a lamentable fact that in 
 quite too many congregations there are still no deacons not- 
 withstanding the order of Synod many years ago that no 
 new congregations may be organized without deacons. 
 
 I take pleasure now in copying this sentence from my 
 record of Presbytery's actions: viz. "After passing some 
 strong resolutions on (against) slavery and the fugitive-slave 
 law, and doing some other business, Presbytery adjourned." 
 And I may rejoice to add that after the Presbytery no 
 minister in the Covenanter Church ever thought to dare to 
 preach in apology for the infamous United States law of 
 1850. 
 
 I have failed to record what should have been written 
 sooner, viz. the final action of Presbytery in Mr. Little's 
 trial. On the principal counts of the libel he was con- 
 demned. Against this action notice of intention to com- 
 plain to Synod was given by a leader in the minority. On
 
 THE licentiate's WORK AND JOTTINGvS. 149 
 
 the part of the majority it was moved that Rev. Little be 
 called upon to retract or explain to the satisfaction of the 
 count his doctrine as taught. This was passed unan- 
 imously. He responded at some length. His explanations 
 were regarded as somewhat satisfactory ; and then the 
 following resolution was offered and I suppose was adopted 
 though I do not now remember, viz. "Whereas it is the 
 judgment of this Presbytery that Mr. Little, while it appears 
 from his explanation that he has not intended to be hostile to, 
 has not clearly presented the doctrines of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church concerning civil government in the 
 sermon referred to on the libel. Resolved that he be and 
 hereby is admonished by this Presbytery to be careful in 
 future to so exhibit the doctrine and testimony of the Re- 
 formed Presbyterian Church as to occasion no suspicion that 
 he does not intend to be faithful in the matter." 
 
 And this writing would not be complete without the 
 following record which I copy from Rev. W. M. Glasgow's 
 "History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church," viz. 
 "For causing defection and abandoning his charge, he was 
 suspended by the New York Presbytery, April 20, 1852" 
 (six months after his trial). "He connected with the 
 Presbyterian Church, and was received by the Presbytery 
 of the city of New York, February 9, 1853. He preached 
 but a short time, when, becoming despondent, he sickened 
 and died in great distress, January 2, 1855." 
 
 Before closing this chapter it should be noted that among 
 the papers before the Presbytery was a petition from the 
 congregation of Topsham, Vt., asking for the moderation of 
 a call for a pastor. Rev. R. Z. Willson of Craftsbury was 
 appointed to moderate in the call. Meanwhile suppHes 
 were granted.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Home Again. Old Fields Revisited. Afflictions 
 AND Trials of Faith. 
 
 The next morning after the adjournment of Presbytery 
 I was off for Ohio to meet loved ones and to fulfil appoint- 
 ments in the Presbytery of the Lakes. Going by Dunkirk, 
 N. Y., and Sandu.sky, O., I was met by Eliza at Bellecenter. 
 We had been separated four months; hope said it would be 
 the last time to continue so long. We spent the following 
 Sabbath with my mother who was now making her home 
 with Dr. Carter and my sister in Northwood. I now look 
 back upon that Sabbath as a happy one. Years had passed 
 since we all had met — our most precious mother, our dear 
 brother-in-law, and our sweet sister Mary Jane — and we all 
 went to church and worshiped together when brother J. B., 
 the pastor, preached, and when brother James and his 
 family were at church* also. Had brother Samuel and his 
 family, yet at the old homestead, been there it would have 
 been a family reunion. On the following Sabbath I preached 
 in the same old Miami pulpit in the forenoon and then in 
 the evening in the Presbyterian Church in Bellefontaine. 
 My appointments for the autumn and winter were in the 
 vacancies and mission stations of the Presbytery ; and Rev. 
 A. McFarland, pastor of the Utica congregation, had invited 
 me to fill his pulpit for a few Sabbaths during his absence. 
 On the 29th of January, 1852, when at our temporary home 
 in Bellefontaine, I received an official letter from Rev. R. 
 Z. Willson, of Vermont, informing me that he had moder- 
 
 (150)
 
 HOME AGAIN. 15I 
 
 ated in a unanimous call for me in Topsham congregation. 
 For some reasons I was made glad by the reception of the 
 intelligence but that I had great fears is evident from what 
 was written in my private journal at the time, viz. "What 
 a tide of thought concerning solemn and sacred respon- 
 sibilities flows in upon me at the reception of this letter ! 
 What means this providence? What is duty? Who is 
 sufficient for these things? O God, show me what thou wilt 
 have me to do, and then make me willing and able to per- 
 form my duty." 
 
 During this winter there was widespread agitation in 
 Ohio on the subject of temperance and prohibition. It was 
 occasioned by an earnest effort to secure a state law similar 
 to the Maine liquor law. During the early winter as the 
 agitation grew, and between Sabbaths when fulfilling 
 appointments, in response to invitations I gave several 
 lectures at different places, the last being at Utica. During 
 the previous week I had attended a great state convention 
 at Columbus, one of the largest and most enthusiastic I ever 
 saw. My old professor of Latin in Miami University, 
 Chauncey N. Olds, was the president. Some of the most 
 eminent public speakers in the state gave addresses. The 
 enthusiasm ran up to white heat; and if that convention 
 had been an index of the sentiments of the majority of the 
 people, and if it had not been for the mountain barrier in 
 the way, the liquor power of the state, Ohio might have 
 had a Maine liquor law before the adjournment of the 
 legislature then in session. But to this day the license 
 system rules in Ohio. While in the city I lodged with Dr. 
 Awl whose wife was my cousin and ever dear to me for my 
 mother's sake. This was the last time I ever saw them. 
 
 My next appointment being at Utica where I was a 
 stranger except to Covenanters, and as I was fresh from the 
 convention, arrangements were made for a public meeting in
 
 152 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the Presb3'terian Church 011 the Monday evening at which I 
 was invited to give the address. The weather was intensely 
 cold, the first day of March. The house was densely crowded 
 by people who, as others, were carried on the rising tide 
 I spoke a full hour in an impure atmosphere, for it was so 
 cold outside that the windows could not be kept open. I 
 became heated more than I was aware of and going out sud- 
 denly into the cold, and lodging with a friend in a fireless 
 room, I contracted a cold that soon threatened to be disas- 
 trous. The next night, however, according to announcement 
 on the Sabbath, I gave a lecture on church music but with 
 much difl5culty. I was expected to preach the next Sabbath 
 at Jonathan's Creek. My cold which settled upon my throat 
 and lungs grew worse but I was able to reach the home of 
 Elder William Wylie, the father of (Rev.) Preston H. Wylie, 
 who lived within the bounds of the congregation. Here I 
 grew worse and became so sick with inflammation of the 
 lungs that I was not able to sit up nor to speak above a 
 breath. Word was sent to the church on Sabbath morning 
 that there would be no preaching. My sickness, accompanied 
 by a severe and painful cough, continued for nearly a week; 
 but I would not consent to have a physician called. Mrs. 
 Wylie was a kind and considerate nurse, and it was the will 
 of the divine Physician that I should recover. Knowing that 
 I could not fulfil my appointments at Jonathan's Creek, I 
 returned home as soon as I was able to travel. For a month 
 or more I had such a painful cough with more or less fever 
 that I feared that disease was fastened upon my lungs for 
 life. I was able to fulfil no more appointments that winter. 
 I remained at our temporary home in Bellefontaine until the 
 cold weather was over. 
 
 On Thursday the 15th of April, accompanied by my wife 
 and the two Milligan brothers, licentiates, I started east to 
 be present at the New York Presbytery to meet at Newburgh
 
 home; again. 153 
 
 the following week. We went b}' rail to Sandusky and then 
 by boat to Cleveland intending to spend the Sabbath with 
 friends in the latter. These were ray aunt, the widow of my 
 uncle Archibald Johnston, and Mr. David Pollock, the hus- 
 band of her daughter. Mr. Pollock was an elder in the 
 Secession Church of Cleveland, Rev. McGill pastor. We 
 all were invited to preach, and that we might there were 
 three services. 
 
 On Monday we went aboard a lake steamer bound to 
 Dunkirk, but the ice which had recently broken up on the 
 lake was so abundant we were detained at Erie a long time. 
 This was then the western terminus of the Lake Shore Rail- 
 road, or as far as it had been built west of Buffalo. The 
 delay prevented me from reaching Newburgh until after the 
 adjournment of Presbytery. I had been requested to be 
 present that the Topsham call might be presented. As I 
 failed to be there as expected, the committee on supplies was 
 directed to make me stated supply at Topsham until the next 
 meeting of Presbytery, the only thing that could be done 
 under the circumstances. Eliza and our traveling compan- 
 ions stopped at Albany with their uncle Robert Trumbull. 
 As they came down on the Hudson steamer the next day, at 
 Newburgh I joined the company and proceeded to New York, 
 making our home with Mr. James Wiggins. On Sabbath I 
 preached for Rev. Dr. Stevenson. According to invitation 
 and promise we returned to Newburgh and visited with Mr. 
 Thompson's family, having a good time with my fellow- 
 student, and preached on Sabbath for the pa.stor, Rev. Samuel 
 Carlisle. 
 
 On the following Tuesday, May 4, we left New York for 
 Topsham by the New Haven train and lodged overnight at 
 Springfield, Mass. The next day on our arrival at Bradford, 
 Vt., on the Connecticut River, we were met by Elder Josiah 
 Divoll of Topsham and taken to his delightful home. Here
 
 154 LOOKING BACK FROM THK .SUNSET LAND. 
 
 we were welcomed by his famil}^ wife, two sons and two 
 daughters, the children all in early youth — a family than 
 whom I have rarely if ever found more excellent people. 
 We will hear more of them after a while.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Field. The Decision. The Ordination. 
 
 ONI.Y those who have been pastors can fully know how 
 anxious I was on entering upon my new field of labor. The 
 providence that prevented me from arriving at Newburgh in 
 time to be at Presbytery made it more unpleasant than if I 
 could have been ordained and installed without more than 
 usual delay. To show how my mind was exercised at the 
 time, I copy here the first entry made in my diary. "Having 
 received a call from Topsham congregation, but not arriving 
 at Presbytery in time for its formal presentation and accept- 
 ance, the committee directed me to come on here and labor 
 as supply until next meeting of Presbytery, advising me to 
 be prepared for ordination at that time, and assigning me 
 subjects for lecture and sermon. Accordingly I have come 
 forward, though in the midst of many fears and under many 
 discouraging circumstances, and have entered upon my 
 labor. That it was my duty to come, I was satisfied; and 
 yet I came with considerable reluctance. I have had great 
 fear that this is not the field in which I .should labor. But 
 as the call was unanimous, as the congregation has been 
 vacant a long time and is in great need of a pastor, and as it 
 was the first call, I have thought it my duty to cast my all 
 upon God whose will is that I should be here. What he 
 intends to do with me here I know not." 
 
 Farther on I find the following: "I fear that this field, in 
 which I have been called to labor, has been .so long without 
 cultivation, it will require more labor than I can bestow to 
 
 (155)
 
 156 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 produce abundant crops. The fences are all tottering or 
 prostrate, thorns and briers have grown all over the fields, 
 the boar of the forest has entered, the adversary has sown 
 tares, and so great are the obstacles in the way that unless 
 the good Husbandman himself will labor as well as direct and 
 strengthen his feeble servant, my labor must be fruitless. 
 O ! that the Master may direct, strengthen and comfort. 
 Especially, Lord Jesus, give me the hearts of the young of 
 the flock, that I may be the means of leading them to thee, 
 thou Good Shepherd." 
 
 On the second Sabbath I began to explain the Psalms in 
 order; and believing then as I do yet in the great value of 
 expository preaching I began to lecture in the forenoon on 
 the Gospel by John. In the afternoon I preached from the 
 text I Cor. 2:2. "For I determined to know nothing 
 among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Under 
 the date of the following day I find this entry in my journal: 
 "B}' thy grace, Lord Jesus, I shall know nothing among the 
 people with whom I am called to labor which shall not tend 
 to exalt thyself and advance thy cause. Forbid that I 
 should glor}' save in thy cross." 
 
 We continued to lodge in Elder Divoll's house though 
 boarding ourselves until the 31st of May when we moved 
 into the village taking the upper story, four rooms, of a com- 
 fortable house belonging to George Downs, brother of the 
 village doctor, on the bank of the stream, the north branch 
 of Waits River. As there was a waterfall adjacent we 
 always had the music of the flowing stream. At night it 
 sang us to sleep; in the morning it called us to rise to activ- 
 ity in the work of the day; and the daily work was for the 
 Master whose servants we are. As we were poor and had 
 very little furniture and no money to expend on more, we 
 had little need of four rooms, yet they were convenient and 
 cost us almost nothing — only twenty-five dollars for a year!
 
 THE ORDINATION. 1 57 
 
 But that was enough for a pastor to pay when his salary- 
 was only three hundred and fifty dollars, or less than thirty 
 dollars per month. To this promised salary Presbytery had 
 resolved to add a small supplement. Small as was the 
 amount it was as much in proportion as eight hundred 
 would be now; and with a small family and by the study of 
 economy we had all we needed and were happy in our 
 penury. We had no right to complain of the people. They 
 were few in number, only about thirty-five communicants. 
 Some of these were poor, none rich; a large majority were 
 women and quite a number of them aged and without fami- 
 lies. The greatest wonder was that the congregation had 
 kept together all through the troublous times that culmi- 
 nated in the division of 1833 and for eighteen years after- 
 wards without a pastor. The leading families were loyal Cov- 
 enanters; nothing could draw them away from the old blue 
 banner. Yet there were others among the membership who 
 were on the roll rather because of education or because that 
 was the only Presbyterian Church of any kind in the eastern 
 side of the town and the only church organization except a 
 small society of Methodists, but they had no regular preach- 
 ing. And as the house of worship, now becoming an 
 ancient structure, was a Union house, /. c. built and owned 
 by the pewholders who were of different denominations, all 
 kinds of church-going people attended worship there. For 
 many years after my settlement in Topsham the house was 
 generally filled with "Presbyterians" (as Covenanters had 
 always been called) and Congregationalist'^, Methodists^ 
 Baptists, and Universalists. The Presbyterians were the 
 most numerous, and probably the Universalists, in belief, 
 next in number. And then some who could not be classified 
 except as people who went to church because of the force of 
 custom and because it was regarded as an evidence of respec- 
 tability or good citizenship, were generally in their pews on
 
 158 I.OOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET IvAND. 
 
 the Sabbath. Besides these church-goers there were not a 
 few in the village and all over the town who were of the 
 second or third generation of some of the pioneers who were 
 of the class generally called infidels or wholly unconcerned 
 about religion and who rarely ever "went to church" except 
 perhaps at a funeral; and to this class belonged the unedu- 
 cated and the immoral. 
 
 Thus Topsham was manifestly a good mission station, a 
 place needing much hard work by any zealous missionary. 
 And this reminds me of "old Father Bailey," a Congrega- 
 tional minister who in his e ^rly life was a pastor in New- 
 bury, the town adjacent on the east. After his retirement 
 and in his old age he resided in the town of Hardwick 
 through which I was passing one day on my way to Crafts- 
 bury. He was a man of whom I had heard so much as an 
 excellent man and eminent minister that I desired to see 
 him, and I called upon him. After a very brief conversation 
 he said to me: "Where are you settled. Brother Johnston ?" 
 When I informed him he added: "In Topsham? O, I am 
 glad you are there." "Why?" I asked. "Because," said 
 he, "that is a place where the devil has his seat; and that 
 is the place for you." 
 
 The fact mentioned above had very much influence in my 
 mind in helping me to decide the question of accepting the 
 call. But there were other reasons beside. Topsham was 
 a New England town. The people were educated, moral, 
 and as a class religious or respectful to religion. Compared 
 with the west, what we call societ)^ was superior and desir- 
 able. If located there I would be a laborer among a people 
 to whom I was a stranger so that I could enter the field free 
 from " bygones." Besides, I would not be building upon a 
 foundation laid by another. M}^ work would be largelj- de 
 novo. And then except its long and cold winters the 
 country is most desirable. Its springs of pure cold water,
 
 THE ORDINATION. 1 59 
 
 its great multiplicity of never-failing and most beautiful 
 brooks and streams, its pure atmosphere and invigorating 
 climate, and its charming summers, all make it one of the 
 most beautiful and desirable places of residence east of Cali- 
 fornia. The stream was the North Fork of Waits River 
 whose head streams and brooklets originated near the tops 
 of the hills. The river emptied into the Connecticut at Brad- 
 ford, twelve miles below. Within the limits of the village 
 there were several waterfalls making altogether seventy feet 
 of descent; and these falls were utilized for five or .six mills 
 or works of different kinds. 
 
 The water used by nearly all the families in the village 
 was obtained from springs or brooklets on the hillsides and 
 brought from th^ main pipe into the houses mostly by 
 wooden pipes. On three sides were high hills from whose 
 highest tops could be seen the White Mountains of New 
 Hampshire, some of which, as Mt. Washington, the highest, 
 were covered with snow seven or eight months in the year. 
 I confess that all these things had much influence upon my 
 mind. From early life I was fond of the picturesque and 
 the grand and the beautiful in nature. This love grew upon 
 me the longer my residence continued in Vermont; and I 
 never had much patience with those who were devoid of it. 
 For what were eyes given to as if not to afford us delight in 
 beholding the beautiful in the works of God. 
 
 Owing to reasons given on previous pages there had been 
 no opportunity to present the call from Topsham congrega- 
 tion though the people expected it would be accepted. The 
 fall meeting of Presbytery was at New York on the 6th 
 of October. Elder Daniel Keenan went with me as the 
 representative of the session and congregation. He was a 
 good man, an intelligent man, and a good elder; not perfect 
 but one of the best men I have ever known and loved From 
 the finst to the last he grew in my estimation, and my love
 
 l6o LOOKING BACK P^ROM THE SUNSET EAND. 
 
 to him grew stronger and stronger to the end. We will 
 hear more of him after a while. 
 
 The congregation had been able to promise a salary of 
 only two hundred and fifty dollars. Elder Keenan carried a 
 petition to Presbytery- asking a supplement of fifty dollars. 
 Dr. Stevenson moved to make it one hundred dollars. Dr. 
 Christie and Rev. J. M. Willson and Rev. S. M. Willson 
 advocated the one hundred dollars. The pastor of Colden- 
 ham opposed it fearing that Presbytery could not pay it. 
 Its advocates argued that to settle a pastor on a salary no 
 more than is paid to a common day laborer is to lower the 
 office of the ministry. The motion passed unanimously. 
 The call was presented and accepted — accepted certainly not 
 for the sake of the salary, though in those days country 
 pastors, especially in the Covenanter Church, did not expect 
 much more if any. We had faith and trust in God that 
 we would ' ' not lack any good. 
 
 I was examined in Theology, Church History, Church 
 Government, Pastoral Theology, and Greek and Hebrew; 
 and the examination was unanimously sustained. Rev. 
 James Christie (not yet a D. D.), Rev. R. Z. Willson, and 
 Rev. James Beattie, together with three elders from Ver- 
 mont, were appointed a commis.sion to ordain and install the 
 pastor elect on the loth of November following. Rev. Mr. 
 Christie, Moderator of the Commission, came to Topsham 
 the week before the ordination and was our guest all the 
 time he remained in Topsham. On the Sabbath before, 
 he preached both forenoon and afternoon. His texts were: 
 ' ' And unto Him shall the gathering of the nations be, ' ' and 
 ' ' The light is short because of darkness. ' ' 
 
 The Commission met on Tuesday, the 9th, to hear the 
 trial discourses that had been assigned by Presbytery. The 
 lecture was on Hebrews 4 : 14-16, about the priesthood of 
 Christ. The ' ' trial pieces ' ' were given under very un-
 
 THE ORDINATION. l6l 
 
 pleasant circumstances. For a week or more I had been 
 sufiFering greatly from a large carbuncle on my back. It 
 became so intensely painful that it was with great difficulty 
 that I could preach at all. It seemed to be a chastisement 
 to humble me. Few of the people knew of my affliction, 
 and perhaps none of the Presbyters except Dr. Christie. 
 
 On the day of ordination Dr. Christie preached the ordi- 
 nation sermon from the text, i Tim. 3:15. "That thou 
 mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the 
 house of God." He asked the ordinary queries and led in 
 the ordination prayer. After the devotional exercises were 
 over Rev. R. Z. Willson gave the address to the pastor, and 
 Rev. Mr. Beattie to the people. 
 
 No one who has not had a similar experience can know 
 the heart of a sinful man coming under ordination vows; so 
 solemn are his responsibilities. It is now forty years since 
 the following words were written in my private journal; why 
 need I hesitate to call them up now? "Thus I have been 
 ordained to the office of the ministry to which I have long 
 looked forward with much prayer and anxiety. As it has 
 pleased God to induct me into this office and to place me as 
 pastor over Topsham congregation, there are two things for 
 which I most ardently desire and pray: ist, that he would 
 give me all necessary wisdom and grace to perform well the 
 duties of pa.stor; 2nd, that he would give me many ' souls 
 for my hire. ' The work is thine, O God. Work the work 
 here. Lord, and bear the glory. Follow, thou Good Shep- 
 herd, the imposition of the hands of Presbytery with an 
 unction of the Holy Spirit: and to thee I now vow to dedi- 
 cate my all and to labor for Jesus Christ. ' ' 
 
 II
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Flock and the Shepherd's Work. 
 
 On the Sabbath following the ordination I preached from 
 Jer. i:6: "Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I can not 
 speak: for I am a child." Beginning with the second Sab- 
 bath after our arrival in Topsham I preached habitually 
 from wTitten discourses, not written out in full but in full 
 skeleton or homily, wdth proof texts and the substance of 
 the whole argument or truths declared and illustrations 
 used. Thus every lecture and every sermon would be writ- 
 ten out about half as much as would be spoken in the pulpit, 
 and sometimes much more or nearly all. I formed this habit 
 of writing my discourses to help me in study and so that I 
 might be sure of being well prepared as to the matter to be 
 presented. Thus I did not preach extempore sermons in the 
 sense of not having carefully studied and mastered the 
 themes; and never after my licensure did I memorize and 
 speak verbatim what had been written before. Moreover, 
 except on one special occasion and under peculiar circum- 
 stances did I ever read a sermon. 
 
 In the exerci.se called "explaining the psalm" I followed 
 the order of the Bible, i. e. on the second Sabbath after our 
 arrival I explained the first psalm before it was sung; then 
 the next Sabbath the second psalm, or a part of it, and so 
 on until the whole book had been gone over. Then I began 
 again at the first. Thus the book of Psalms was thoroughly 
 studied. My habit w^as first to read critically the Hebrew of 
 the psalm, then* analyze the portion, then read the Com- 
 (162)
 
 THE FLOCK AND THE SHEPHERD'S WORK. 1 63 
 
 mentators. In the analysis I was helped much by Adam 
 Clarke and Henry, both of which follow the analytical plan. 
 Otherwise Clarke could not be followed safely. He rarely 
 finds Christ in the Psalms if he can avoid it. 
 
 In like manner I pursued my courses of lectures. I began 
 first with the book of John and lectured through the book, 
 the number of verses being determined b}- the sense or bj- 
 the size of the paragraph. This mode, commonly called 
 expository preaching, is certainly a most profitable method — 
 profitable to the preacher because he is obliged to study 
 carefully before he attempts to expound and because he has 
 a complete view of the whole book studied. In the Inter- 
 national S. S. lessons only small portions are selected and 
 the most of the entire book omitted. The pulpit students' 
 method is surperlatively better. 
 
 After it was too late I saw that I had made a mistake in 
 beginning with John's Gospel. As his design was to show 
 that Jesus is the divine and eternal Son of God, I should 
 have begun with any of the other three evangelists as they 
 give the biography of our Lord. 
 
 After John was finished, and it required a long time, I took 
 up the book of the Acts. This I studied and expounded with 
 great delight and with much profit; and I had evidence that the 
 people were interested, some of them greatly, as we advanced 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath. Subsequently I lectured on the 
 epistles of Peter; and finally on the book of Isaiah, though this 
 arduous work never was finished; two or three of the last 
 chapters were not expounded in Topsham. And I am here 
 reminded of what occurred about the time that I began the 
 lectures on Isaiah. Shortl}- after I began I was in conver- 
 sation with the wife of Elder Josiah Divoll who said that 
 when she heard me announce the finst lecture in Isaiah and 
 knew that I intended to expound the entire book she was 
 sorry and had a presentiment that I would never finish the
 
 164 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 work. One of her former pastors had begun the exposition 
 of the same book but did not finish it. No wonder that she 
 was sorry. And I myself began the lectures with great fear; 
 but I thought it my duty to leave the New Testament for a 
 while as I had been lecturing in it from the first. And I 
 here and now testify that those pastors who do not habitually 
 practise expository preaching, as well as those people who 
 do not have the advantage of it, suffer great loss; nay more, 
 the pastor who does not practise it is verily culpable. He 
 does not follow the Great Example who spake as never man 
 spake. 
 
 When I began work in Topsham there was no Sabbath- 
 school, probably there never had been. It was manifest 
 that the children and the youth had been neglected except 
 in religious families. I do not now remember whether there 
 was any thought or effort to start a Sabbath-school; but as 
 yet I was not a pastor but only supply for the time, and so 
 I thought it best to begin in a humble way and take the 
 burden upon myself To make an experiment— I think it 
 was the second Sabbath after my arrival — I announced that 
 on the next Sabbath morning before the public religious 
 services I would meet with the youth to organize a class for 
 religious instruction. At the appointed time a goodly num- 
 ber came and we began the study of the Westminster Shorter 
 Catechism. The class increased in size and interest. It 
 was the beginning of a Sabbath-school and meanwhile it 
 was a kind of normal class, for several of the members after- 
 wards became good teachers in the school. In a few years 
 the Topsham Covenanter Sabbath-school became the largest 
 in the county. But this could not continue very long. 
 After a while the Methodists had preaching one or two Sab- 
 baths in a month and then after a while again they organized 
 a school, meeting in the town hall or in the village school- 
 house. The children of Methodists and others who were
 
 THS I^LOCK AND THE SHEPHERD'S WORK. 165 
 
 more in sympathy with them, left our school. This never 
 was as large as formerly. 
 
 For many long years the families of the church had not 
 enjoyed the advantages of family visitation because they 
 had no pastor. As during the first six months of my work 
 I was only a supply, I could not officially perform the duty. 
 The duty, however, devolved in part upon the elders. These 
 requested me to undertake the work unofficially. I agreed 
 to do so provided one of them would always accompany me 
 to perform whatever part implied official duty. In our 
 rounds among the families I found so many in which relig- 
 ious instruction had been more or less neglected, I became 
 greatly discouraged. In such families I suspected that our 
 visits were not desired. The natural tendency of such dis- 
 couragements would be to write down such families as 
 unworthy of ministerial help; but on sober second thought 
 I inferred that the condition of said families was owing to 
 lack of pastoral labors during long years, and that in this 
 fact I should be incited to far greater and more patient 
 effort. In subsequent years some of those families became 
 almost all that a pastor could expect. 
 
 In this connection I am constrained to leave on record 
 my estimate of the ruling elders upon whom such respon- 
 sibilities rested and who gave the pastor such valuable 
 help. When I was installed there were four elders and 
 only one deacon. The oldest was Robert McNiece, 
 Sen., a man of nearly eighty years, and the father of three 
 sons, heads of families belonging to the congregation. As 
 he was about superannuated he rarely ever attended meetings 
 of session. He was a man of great worth, and he must have 
 been exemplary and faithful as a father for his children all 
 revered him and except one, a physician, all continued to 
 the end loyal Covenanters. He was the father-in-law of 
 Rev. William Sloane, a former pastor for many years. In
 
 1 66 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the order of their ages Daniel Keenan was the next elder. 
 He was a man of such rare excellence and I loved him so 
 much, I have no room here to make a record such as is 
 due to his memory. If the reader would like to know 
 something of his greatness and goodness he will find two 
 somewhat lengthy obituaries of this excellent man in the 
 Covenanter, a church magazine, one written by Rev. Dr. 
 A. M. Milligan an'd the other by the writer of these pages. 
 A word now and here must suffice. Daniel Keenan was 
 a man of superior intellect, keen perceptions, strong emo- 
 tions, and natural high temper; but he had made the high 
 attainment of power to restrain his passion when provoked 
 to excitement. He was a great reader, not of newspapers 
 or light literature but of the very best class of books as 
 biography, history, and theology. He was poor and had 
 only a small library but it contained a choice selection. 
 His early training had been in the Episcopal Church, but 
 when only a young man he became a Covenanter, and all 
 through life he was an intelligent member and a most 
 devoted Christian, always able to maintain his principles 
 and ever ready to propagate them. Large in public spirit 
 he was always active in all the benevolent schemes of the 
 church. His greatest excellence, as it always seemed to 
 me, was his warm personal piety. He was a loving and 
 devout disciple who walked with God, and a man of faith 
 and of prayer. He was too good to be appreciated except 
 by the good; and he was not without enemies. As an 
 elder he was regarded by some as too strict and too ready 
 to resort to discipline; but after long years of association 
 with him in the -session I regard that estimate of his char- 
 acter as incorrect if not unjust. It evidently arose from 
 lack of knowledge of the man or from loose views of the 
 design or character of discipline. And yet he was not 
 infallible as an elder. However, I can now recall only 
 one case in which he erred in judgment.
 
 THE FLOCK AND THK SHEPHERD'S WORK. 167 
 
 Mr. Keenaii was my warm personal friend; and he was 
 a faithful friend. I can remember at least two times in 
 which he decidedly disapproved of his pastor's action; the 
 one in the time of the War of the Rebellion when he told 
 me that he feared I preached too often on themes connected 
 with slavery, and the government, and the war; the other 
 when I resigned my pastoral charge. He said to me that 
 he thought I was making a great mistake. Not many 
 years afterwards I was ready to confess that his judgment 
 was superior to my own. And I may add here that he 
 was a man of fine taste. An illustration is at hand. At 
 our first visit to Topsham after the dissolution of the pas- 
 toral relation, my wife asked him for his signature in her 
 autograph album. He wrote as follows: "The Elder 
 Daniel Keenan to the elect lady and her children whom 
 I love in the truth." Our two little daughters were with us. 
 
 I never afterwards saw my dear old friend except once 
 when on another visit to tlie place I loved so well. We 
 had several protracted interviews, and they were precious. 
 During the last and when we were walking through a long 
 and dense grove or native forest near his own home he 
 talked sadly of the condition of the church, and when he 
 told me his own personal troubles he wept like a child. 
 When we had to part — and we parted in that beautiful 
 forest clothed in richest August foliage— he spoke words 
 of warmest affection and invoked God's blessing upon me 
 as he uttered his final' farewell. We knew we would not 
 meet again on this side of the river. Not long afterwards 
 I heard of his death. One of God's dear children had 
 passed into the paradise whither Jesus went. 
 
 Josiah DivoU both as a man and as an elder was quite 
 diiferent from Father Keenan. He had some excellencies 
 as well as some faults not belonging to the other. He was 
 intellectual but limited in education. As a farmer he was
 
 l68 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 industrious and frugal; and be was always ready to give 
 for the cause of Christ. Exceedingly quiet in his demeanor, 
 if not also diffident in disposition, he was not ambitious to 
 be a public leader, yet he was always ready to follow in any 
 good work. He was a genuine Christian and of undoubted 
 piet)', but his most manifest excellence was his natural 
 amiability. He was a Melancthon rather than a Luther. 
 Hence though he had the spirit of a reformer, in the session 
 he was not so much a leader as a balance wheel and a 
 peace-maker. Indeed, he was so averse to whatever had 
 the semblance of strife it is questionable whether ever there 
 would have been any discipline exercised by the session 
 if other elders had not taken the lead in enforcing the law 
 of Christ's house. Yet Elder Divoll was a standard-bearer. 
 Few men in the congregation, if any whatever, had as much 
 influence for good. Generally he was an umpire. He was 
 always ready to help in a good cause; and in all cases when 
 money was needed for church purposes his contribution or 
 subscription was the largest. And he remembered the poor. 
 If more is due to his memory I may add that all the while 
 he was an intelligent and zealous Covenanter. He was of 
 Baptist parentage, and most of his brothers being politicians 
 or opposed to the Covenanter position of political dissent, 
 his faith was often tried, yet to the end he was a faithful 
 Covenanter. As a reformer he was zealous; and after the 
 emancipation of the slaves he was the most interested in 
 the cause of Anti-secrecy. He hated the lodge system. 
 
 I will be forgiven if I err in alluding to his personal 
 regard to his pastor. Always kind, always confidential, 
 and always faithful, I knew he was a friend. Hence when 
 he was called to endure sore afflictions my heart went out 
 in sympathy with him and it was a pleasure to do what I 
 could for him and his. When the Civil War broke out 
 he gave his two and only sons, Charles and Morris, to the
 
 THK PivOCK AND THE SHEPHE^^d'S WORK. 169 
 
 conflict. I think he did not desire them to enlist, but 
 when they wished to be soldiers and did enlist he gave 
 at least tacit consent. The sequel will be found on a sub- 
 sequent page. 
 
 Of the fourth ruling elder, Horace Divoll, I need not 
 write at length. He was a good man but very peculiar in 
 his character and church deportment. He had some most 
 excellent traits of Christian character, but he could never 
 have been a good Covenanter, and he was not fit for the 
 eldership. My first estimate of him I find in my journal of 
 May, 1852, when I wrote thus: "Called this evening a short 
 time on one of the elders of the congregation. I find him 
 very familiar with his Bible and very conversant with the 
 doctrines of grace, which speaks very highly of him as a 
 Christian; but he is very ignorant of many other points. He 
 knows almost nothing about the state of society, or the 
 geography of the country, and he knows very little about 
 the history of the church and scarcely anything about her 
 present condition. Pity to see so worthy and apparently 
 pious man so limited in intelligence. He takes no period- 
 ical or paper. How can he but be ignorant?" 
 
 A few years afterwards he married a Baptist wife, an 
 excellent woman, but as she was of superior ability and 
 withal a very zealous and firm Baptist who had no love to 
 Reformed Presbyterians, she was no help to him as a Cov- 
 enanter and ruling elder. The result was his leaving the 
 church or his suspension from membership partly because 
 of his erroneous views on baptism and partly because he did 
 not agree with his own church on the subject of civil gov- 
 ernment. Though he did not unite with the Baptist Church, 
 for he could not acknowledge that his adult baptism was 
 invalid, yet he never returned to the Covenanter Church. 
 Thus the congregation had only three ruling elders. After- 
 wards his place was filled by the election of Deacon Parker
 
 lyo LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 McNiece. Tnis new elder wa.s a man of great worth, true 
 to bis principles, loyal to his church, and a warm friend of 
 his pastor. But as a man and as an elder he was not the 
 equal of the two senior elders described above. Yet there 
 was something in the natural temperament of Elder Mc- 
 Niece, and he was so tender in his feelings and so kind and 
 affectionate, I loved him dearly. He was a great admirer of 
 his nephew. Rev. Dr. Sloane, who often visited Topsham, 
 his native town; and the doctor always made his home with 
 his Uncle Parker. 
 
 After Deacon McNiece was made elder another deacon 
 was chosen, Robert Mclyam, of Scotch parentage and for 
 integrity and trustworthiness fit to be not only a deacon but 
 a prince or a president. Yet he was limited in education 
 and not well-read, but by no means a novice. Having 
 faithfully performed the duties of the deacon for several 
 years, and after the War of the Rebellion had become so 
 serious that there was urgent call for more soldiers, he vol- 
 unteered and joined the Vermont 6th Regiment and went 
 into the Virginia division. Some years after his return and 
 after the death of his wife he was elected to the eldership. 
 After a while when both needed a companion in their declin- 
 ing years he was married to Mrs. Sarah Caldwell. The new 
 pair lived in lovely harmony and increased usefulness and 
 were ycleped "Uncle Robert" and "Aunt Sallie," loved and 
 honored by all. With only a few others he survived to 
 help to bear aloft the old blue banner more worthy of his 
 honor than that under which he carried a musket in many a 
 hard-fought battle against the Slave-holders' Rebellion.* 
 
 A year or so after my settlement in Topsham the con- 
 
 * Since the above was written I have learned that Elder McLam 
 has gone back upon his Hfe-long profession and gone over to the 
 "New Lights." Had "Aunt Sallie" been living I think she would 
 not have gone with him.
 
 THE FLOCK AND THE SHEPHERD'S WORK. I71 
 
 gregation manifested much liberality in buying a paisonage 
 which we were glad to make our home. It had a nice 
 garden, a good stable, and carriage shed. The garden gave 
 me outdoor healthful exercise, the wood-shed with the big 
 piles of cordwood plenty of athletics without either bat or 
 ball or broken bones, and the stable plenty of room for 
 horse and buggy or "cutter." All that the parson needed 
 to have a "full rig" with which to brave the snow drifts 
 was a fur coat and another buffalo robe. 
 
 However, when on any special occasion, as a funeral or 
 wedding or any appointment which compelled me to buffet 
 the snowstorms when the mercury might be down to freez- 
 ing point, as I saw it two or three times in Vermont, I had 
 several good neighbors who were ever ready to offer me 
 another buffalo robe or a fur coat. Indeed, every one in 
 that quiet and peaceful village nestled among the hills 
 seemed to be a kind neighbor. The people differed widely 
 in their religious faith, and some had none at all, but I dare 
 to say that in pure kind neighborship it would compare 
 favorably with Drumtochty. 
 
 I loved my home. Few pastors ever have a better. With 
 a beloved helper as pure and good and faithful as natural 
 amiability and unassuming piety could make her, and with 
 a loving little flock, and so many beautiful lambs, to lead 
 and feed which was a pure delight, I had everything for 
 which to live and labor. Indeed, it was an almost ideal 
 New England home. The flock I loved so well was not 
 of my own choosing; it was assigned to me by the Good 
 Shepherd as indicated by the choice of the people who 
 needed a pastor. The parsonage, not far from the c^hurch, 
 was at the head of the main street, and on a road that 
 led out to beautiful natural forests through which flowed 
 as pure and delightful trout brooks as anywhere refresh 
 and beautify the earth. In the privacy of the summer
 
 172 tOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 forest or beside those little noisy streams I loved to j amble; 
 and many a sweet meditation was there enjoyed or sermon 
 studied. In the sugar maple grove on the hillside how 
 often did we, like happy children, gather spring flowers. 
 And how many of those dear friends who rambled with us 
 have been taken up to the paradise of God where flowers 
 never fade. 
 
 Across the street opposite the parsonage lived "Squire 
 George" and his family of wife and youthful son and 
 daughter. They were as good neighbors as ever a pastor 
 had, though he by no means subscribed to the Westminster 
 standards. Whether he believed in the inspiration of the 
 Word of God at all is very uncertain. But he was not 
 only a good neighbor but a most intelligent citizen and 
 reformer. Though for several years after the settlement 
 of the pastor none of the family w^ere members of the church 
 yet they owned a pew and were regularly there on Sabbaths. 
 Mr. George was passionately fond of sacred music. The 
 precentor, Robert McNiece, was a fine singer. "Squire 
 George" was a great bass singer and could sing any tune 
 the precentor introduced. He always had his old psalm 
 book and sang with the Covenanters as if he were as devout 
 as the most sincere w^orshiper. When the congregation 
 employed a music teacher and met weekly for practise he 
 was always there and led ofi" on the bass. Among the 
 hearers of the Gospel none seemed more attentive than 
 he. In early life he was a school-teacher. In later years 
 he was a magistrate, and then a member of the legislature. 
 "Squire^George" never slept in church; and full well did the 
 preacher know that if any mistake would be made in Eng- 
 lish grammar or in history the old teacher would detect it. 
 And if the Covenanter preacher had deviated from the 
 "good old paths" or introduced any "new-fangled" dog- 
 mas, the old bass singer would be ready to sound the alarm
 
 THE FLOCK AND THE SHEPHERD'S WORK. 1 73 
 
 for he knew the whole Covenanter creed and practise. But 
 he did not care so much to hear orthodox theology or even 
 "Gospel sermons" as reform discourses. As an intelligent 
 enemy to the drink habit or the liquor traffic he had no 
 superior. In his hatred of slavery and in his advocacy 
 of "free soil and free men" few Abolitionists were more 
 earnest. And so it came to pass that except when the 
 teetotal pulpit and the anti-slavery pastor preached the 
 duty of dissent from a pro-slavery constitution and a slave- 
 holding government he was not tempted to fear the criti- 
 cisms of the pew of ' ' Squire George. ' ' 
 
 Near to this was the pew of Judge Tabor, a man of rare 
 intelligence and in his reform principles similar to "Squire 
 George," and if possible a more critical hearer; but he was 
 a Universalist of long standing and always ready for con- 
 troversy. A kind neighbor, a man of public spirit, and 
 long prominent in politics, he was one of the most influen- 
 tial citizens in the whole town. Accompanied by his wife, 
 an excellent Methodist woman, he was always in his pew 
 and willingly hearing all kinds of preaching except against 
 the doctrine of Universalism. And if on any Sabbath he 
 heard the contrary doctrines he was sure to be ready for 
 criticism the first time he would meet the preacher. He 
 was familiar with every verse in the Bible upon which 
 Universalists depend; but he was always courteous and 
 pleasant in our conversations, and I had few warmer per- 
 sonal friends or better neighbors. Besides these prominent 
 men there were quite a number of pew-holders or regular 
 hearers who were Universalists, or silent infidels, or mem- 
 bers of the evangelical churches who had no other place 
 to worship. One of these was an old Scotchman of rare 
 intelligence and of undoubted piety, but also a very rigid 
 and zealous Baptist. His wife was a Covenanter, and he 
 owned a pew, so that I always expected to see old John
 
 174 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Renfrew in his place. Thus the reader will readily see 
 that if the Topsham pastor was controlled by the fear of 
 men he would be easily ensnared. Yet such was the great 
 variety of hearers that no way was left for him but to declare 
 the whole counsel of God and leave the results with him. 
 And one of the greatest helpers to faithfulness was the ever- 
 present assurance that the well-informed and faithful Cov- 
 enanters expected their pastor to be true, in the pulpit and 
 out of it, to the principles of the church. Next to the 
 approbation of the Master, this was an incentive to faithful- 
 ness, and for that incentive I ever owed a debt of gratitude.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Field Widens. 
 
 During my first winter in Topsham there was throughout 
 the state much interest in the cause of temperance. Maine 
 had recently adopted its liquor law. This was the occasion 
 of a revival of interest in the reform, and its friends deter- 
 mined to spare no effort to secure a state prohibitory law as 
 good as that of Maine. My good neighbor, ' 'Squire George, ' ' 
 became an active worker and an occasional lecturer. By his 
 importunity the new pastor was pressed into the service so 
 far as to join him in holding "Maine law" meetings in 
 different parts of the town. It was the winter season and 
 sleighing good. All I had to do was to get into his "rig" 
 with him and at the meeting make one of the speeches. 
 Mine was always short for he was master of the subject and 
 an able logician. I was not much needed, but the Judge 
 thought that if he would take the new preacher with him 
 more people would attend. However, the result was that I 
 became greatly interested in the movement, helped forward 
 a good cause, and formed acquaintance with the people in 
 the different parts of the town. 
 
 The agitation was widespread all over the state, and the re- 
 sult was that at the next legislature an act was passed giving 
 the people the opportunity to vote at "the March meetings" 
 for or against the bill afterwards called ' 'the Vermont liquor 
 law." In some respects it is better than the Maine law. 
 At the election the people by a very large majority voted for 
 it and it subsequently became a law. When it went into 
 
 (175)
 
 176 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 force ever}^ saloon and every bar in the Green Mountain state 
 was closed. They remain closed, abolished; and a drunkard 
 is almost never seen. Now, after more than a generation, 
 the state is wholly revolutionized and is a genuine prohibi- 
 tion state. 
 
 \'ermont Covenanters generally voted for the Vermont 
 law. How came this? Are they not non- voters? Yes, but 
 not always. This was an exception and rightly, w^hich will 
 appear from a statement of the facts. According to the 
 constitution of that state there is a diiference between the 
 ordinary state elections and those called "the March meet- 
 ings." At these when home matters only are attended to, 
 such as repairing the roads, building new schoolhouses, 
 taking care of the town's poor, etc., all the men in the town 
 may vote, i. e., all persons living in the town, whether aliens 
 or native born, whether "freemen" or not, whether 
 registered citizens or not. In Vermont every citizen, before 
 he can vote at any state election, or be a political citizen or 
 member of the state political body called government, is 
 required to take a citizen's oath or the "freeman's oath." 
 But at the March meetings all men over twenty-one, whether 
 "freemen" or not, are or may be voters. At these meet- 
 ings Covenanters always voted. Some of them had been of 
 foreign birth and never were naturalized. These as all 
 others were voters. Thus the state provides that all persons 
 living in the town, irrespective of political relation, and all 
 dissenters from the government, may vote on all local or 
 town questions. So Covenanters could vote and did vote on 
 the question submitted to all other adults as well as freemen, 
 and thus they helped to make Vermont a prohibition state; 
 and in the little Green Mountain state "prohibition does 
 prohibit. ' ' 
 
 About this time or probably the next winter I was 
 reluctantly drawn into a public debate on the question of
 
 THE FIELD WIDENS. 177 
 
 slavery, A 3'oung man, a son of a Congregationalist, a 
 native of the town of Corinth and who had received his 
 education in the state, had gone into the south and became 
 an attorney. Here he had been ' ' bought up ' ' by the slave- 
 holders. Returning home on a visit he was anxious to 
 convince his old friends and companions that their anti- 
 slavery notions were all erroneous, and that slavery was a 
 good thing and Abolitionists fanatics. Learning that the 
 pastor of the ' ' Presbyterian Church ' ' in Topsham was an 
 Abolitionist, through some of his friends who wished to 
 hear such a discussion he invited or challenged me to a 
 debate. After persuasion by my friends I consented to meet 
 him in public. The people arranged to hold the meetings 
 in the East Corinth Congregational Church about four miles 
 south of Topsham village. I do not now remember the 
 statement of the question but it was some form of the 
 question in dispute between anti-slavery people and pro- 
 slavery. Some leading citizen was invited to preside and 
 decide points of order. The rules of discussion were agreed 
 upon and the disputants "went at it." The meetings 
 continued through three evenings. The house was crowded 
 every night and the excitement continued to increase to the 
 end. The young lawyer proved to be no mean debater. 
 He was subtle in logic and he was eloquent. If he had had 
 a good cause he might have carried the people with him; 
 and he fought as one determined to win if possible. On the 
 other hand I had the advantage of him in this, that I knew 
 I was called to advocate the truth and a great cause, and 
 that I had the sympathy or favor of the mass of the people 
 whose applause of the anti-slavery sentiments maintained 
 increased as the debate progressed. At the close of the 
 third evening's discussion, when the whole audience was in 
 the height of the agitation, and in accordance with the 
 previous arrangement, the question (not the debate) was put 
 12
 
 178 LOOKIIsG BACK FROM THE .SUNSET LAND. 
 
 to the people. The anti-slavery vote was almost unanimous 
 and was followed by long-continued applause. Of course 
 the Topsham Covenanters went home rejoicing. But that 
 vote was by New England men and women in a state that 
 had never been cursed with slavery and from which almost 
 no fugitive slave had ever been returned to his master. 
 Since those three nights of defense of freedom and of the 
 divine law of liberty, forty-four years have passed away, 
 and how wonderful the change ! 
 
 I should have said in the paragraph above that the 
 pro-slavery lawyer in his defense of the "patriarchal insti- 
 tution," as slavery was sometimes called, used the old 
 arguments drawn from the Scriptures, both old and new, 
 following the example of the southern divines who had 
 always labored hard to show that the law of Moses and 
 the teachings of Christ and his apostles authorized slave- 
 holding; and they all agreed that the relation of slave and 
 master was lawful and that the sin was only in the abuse 
 of the system; and they all insisted that if the owner of 
 slaves, few or many, would be kind to them and not sepa- 
 rate families, he had a right to own and buy or sell as 
 many as he saw fit. In defense of this theory, what Dr. 
 Gamaliel Bailey, editor of the National Era, called, 'dam- 
 nable philosophy," they had certain portions of the Bible 
 worn threadbare. These passages I had studied carefully 
 years ago; and before going into the debate with the cham- 
 pion of slavery I had studied them afresh and felt able to 
 show from the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek 
 of the New that they all were written in the interest of the 
 poor against the rich, and for the defense of the servant 
 against the master, but never — not one of them ever — in 
 justification of any man holding property in his fellow-man 
 or compelling another, not chargeable with crime, to work 
 without wages for a master. And I thank God for the
 
 THE FIELD WIDENS. 1 79 
 
 belief I had during that whole debate that I was able to 
 convince all unprejudiced people present that nowhere in 
 the Bible can be found any justifica ti c of "involuntary 
 servitude" (except for crime) or of ownership of human 
 beings. And I may be pardoned for addi'ig here that all 
 my subsequent life I was impatient with fellow-Christians 
 who believed that the law of Moses permitted slaveholding 
 of any kind. Besides, it is not so very strange that some of 
 the old Abolitionists, influenced by the teaching of the 
 pro-slavery divines, became infidels or unbelievers in the 
 inspiration of the Bible. 
 
 In only the wealthy and most densely populated towns 
 of Vermont were there good academies or schools for those 
 who wished more education than the public schools afforded. 
 As Topsham had no such academy many of the youth went 
 to other towns for their advanced education or to be pre- 
 pared for college. Thus when any of the Covenanter young 
 people of Topsham went from home to attend an academy 
 they were not only out of the bounds of the congregation 
 but exposed to the ordinary temptations that so often draw 
 youth or others awa)" from the truth. We had not been 
 in Topsham more than two or three j'ears when I was asked 
 by Elder Josiah Di^^oll and others to give lessons in aca- 
 demic studies to their children. He had two sons and two 
 daughters who wished more than a common school educa- 
 tion. As I saw the youth going away from home and as 
 I desired to make it easier for them to study at home, I 
 yielded to the appeals of the parents; and when the winter 
 season opened I received a small class of students. I heard 
 the recitations in my study in the forenoons. Sul)sequently 
 I taught such students during the spring and fall terms 
 when the public schools were closed. This accommodated 
 teachers and such as wished to attend the common schools. 
 These private classes soon increased in size so that I had
 
 l8o LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 to employ an assistant teacher or permit my own time to 
 be too much taken up. I preferred the former; and then 
 we heard the students thou.^h at different hours in a large 
 room not far from the parsonage. The school became 
 popular, and not a few of the youth besides those from 
 Covenanter families became students, and others from neigh- 
 boring towns entered what was now called "The Topsbam 
 High School." And as some were teachers, and manj' 
 intended to be teachers, it was sometimes called the 
 " Topsham Normal School." 
 
 What first led to the teaching of a class has been stated 
 above. There were additional reasons for continuing the 
 school for several \'ears, though there were only two short 
 sessions per year of about two and a half months each. 
 The school brought to the pastor a little revenue which 
 helped him to meet necessary outlaj^s and to support the 
 family with a salary of only three hundred and fifty dollars. 
 The necessary review of studies and the teaching of such 
 students were helps to the right performance of pastoral 
 duties. And especially, the school brought together such 
 an excellent class of youth who became acquainted and 
 attached, it was the occasion of bringing into the Sabbath- 
 school and church quite a number of most excellent young 
 people. Bej'ond doubt the pastor's influence for good was 
 much increased. Quite a number of the students became 
 useful teachers, some entered professional life, one is in 
 the ministry, several fell on the battle-field; and not one 
 as far as I know ever disgraced his school or his teach er^- 
 nay, rather, of many of them we are proud as beloveo. and 
 honored workers in the church and in the fields of reform 
 or as useful parents in Christian families. 
 
 During two years about this time I was called to the 
 position of school superintendent, chosen by the people 
 of the town (township; at their March meetings when all
 
 THE FlEtD WIDENS. l8l 
 
 voted whether "freemen" or not. No oath of office was 
 required. The duties were not onerous. They consisted 
 mostly in examining teachers, visiting the schools once per 
 term, and holding teachers' institutes occasionally. These 
 duties brought me into contact more or less with the friends 
 of education and with teachers; and thus again the pastor's 
 usefulness, as he hoped, was increased. 
 
 During nearly all the years of my pastorate in Vermont I 
 preached occasionally by appointment of Presbytery in the 
 town of Fayston where there were three or four families of 
 Covenanters, all intelligent and influential. It was a prom- 
 ising mission station. Occasionally it was visited by the 
 other Vermont pastors. Fayston was about forty miles west 
 of Topsham and near the pastern slope of the Green Moun- 
 tain range. The ride thither was most beautiful and health- 
 ful. It led through Montpelier, the vState capital and the 
 half-way resting-place. The most influential of the Fayston 
 Covenanters was Dsacon Strong. He had been a deacon in 
 the Congregational Church, but marrying Miss Divoll, a 
 sister of Elder Josiah Divoll, of Topsham, and an intelligent 
 Covenanter, he accepted Reformation principles and became 
 a zealous Covenanter. They were members of Topsham 
 congregation. Whether she was the instrument or the 
 occasion of his conversion I do not now remember. This 
 much, however, I do know, that Deacon Strong was a man 
 of great ability, rare excellence, and genuine piety, and 
 withal a most zealous defender of the faith. He had qual- 
 ifications sufficient to make him a great leader in any good 
 cause, but for want of opportunities his sphere of influence 
 was limited almost to the mountain town in which he lived. 
 
 In the adjacent town of Waitsfield the pastor of the Con- 
 gregational Church was a strong anti-slavery man but he 
 advocated the "Goodell theory," or the "Spooner theory," 
 that the Constitution of the U. S. was an anti-slavery
 
 182 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I.ANl). 
 
 document, and that those sections commonly called pro- 
 slavery compromises were not made in the interest of slavery 
 but could and should be understood and interpreted as anti- 
 slavery. Some who accepted this theory held or professed 
 to hold that notwithstanding those pro-slavery clauses 
 Congress had power to abolish slavery. This theory was 
 advocated by Hon. Gerrit Smith. Deacon Strong and the 
 Waitsfield minister were intimate friends but outspoken 
 and constant disputants as to the duty or sinfulness of voting 
 under the Constitution. And so it happened that my good 
 friend, Deacon Strong, wishing the truth to be disseminated, 
 challenged the Congregationalist minister to debate the 
 question (as to the character of the Constitution) with the 
 Covenanter pastor from Topshanj. This arrangement was 
 made without my knowledge as he confidently expected 
 that I would agree to do whatever he would ask of me. I 
 consented to his plans and it was arranged to hold the dis- 
 cussion in the Waitsfield Congregational Church. The 
 statement of the question and the terms or rules of the 
 debate were agreed upon and the time fixed on the next 
 week in which I was expected to preach in Fayston. When 
 the time came the community was on tiptoe of expectation 
 and the large church was full during the two evenings of 
 the debate; I do not remember now, if I knew then, how 
 the audience was divided on the question, or how they 
 voted or would have voted if it had been left to the people 
 present; but this I well remember that at the time I felt 
 confident in the rightfulness of my cause and almost as con- 
 fident of my ability to maintain it. Years ago I had studied 
 the question, and I had made myself familiar with the 
 unanswerable argument of Wendell Phillips in his "Review 
 of Lysander Spoaner." Mr. Phillips' little book was called 
 "The Constitution a Pro-slavery Compact." I do not know 
 the result of the debate on the people who listened so
 
 The fiei<d widens. 1^3 
 
 intently to it, but I remember how confident the Fayston 
 Covenanters were that the truth had triumphed and how 
 glad they were that the discussion had taken place. 
 
 The foregoing narrative briefly illustrates how diversified 
 were the sentiments of the anti slavery people of the North. 
 The great majority of them believed slavery to be a sin of 
 grave magnitude, and an evil which threatened to destroy 
 the country if not abolished; but they thought the only 
 thing that could be done was to abide by the compromises 
 of the Constitution but not permit the Southerners to gain 
 new slave territory or take their slaves into any place 
 belonging to freedom. To prevent the extension of slave 
 territory and to secure the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, were the objects of the Republican party. 
 There was no declared purpose to affect the abolition of 
 slavery or to disturb the slave-holders in the peaceable pos- 
 session of their property. Then there were those who hated 
 slavery so much and whose con'^ciences would not permit 
 them to vote under the Constitution if it tolerated or in any 
 way supported slavery but who were so anxious to continue 
 to use the ballot or to exercise the priceless privilege of a 
 citizenf!) that they saw no way to do this but to adopt the 
 new theory that the Constitution was anti-slavery as defined 
 above. These were generally called "Gerrit Smith men," 
 or voting Abolitionists. Then there were the non-voting 
 Abolitionists; and of these there were two kinds, the Old- 
 lyight Covenanters who never had voted under the pro- 
 slavery Constitution, and the Garrisonians who were called 
 "Comeouters" because they had been in the government 
 and accustomed to vote but now had come out and refused 
 to vote because the Constitution was a "Covenant with 
 Death and an Agreement with Hell," as Mr. Garrison was 
 accustomed to call it. But as Covenanters had never been 
 in the government they were not commonly called "Come-
 
 1^4 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET I,ANr). 
 
 outers." From the first they had refused to make a "Cov- 
 enant with Death," and with Hell they never made an 
 agreement.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 In Sorrow and in Straits. 
 
 Not long after my settlement in Vermont I was called 
 to weep with my only sister at the death of her husband, 
 Dr. John Carter, of Northwood, Ohio, whither they had 
 removed from Bloomingdale in eastern Ohio. After his 
 death my mother continued to make her home with her 
 widowed daughter. It was a sad home— two widowed 
 women, mother and daughter, living alone except that the 
 latter had a Uttle son, Arthur Carter, and her only surviving 
 child. To this dear sister sorrow followed sorrow. On the 
 i8th of December, 1855, my mother was taken to her heav- 
 enly home. Her death was very sudden. Sister Carter 
 had gone to the evening prayer-meeting in the village, 
 leaving mother and the son Arthur at home, for the night 
 was stormy and mother was suffering with a cold that had 
 brought on a severe cough. While sitting at the fire and 
 while coughing violently, sudden and very profuse hemor- 
 rhage from the lungs began. Uttle Arthur ran to the 
 prayer-meeting to tell his mother; but before she could 
 reach home, unconsciousness or death had occurred. The 
 last enemy had done his work and the redeemed soul of a 
 lovely saint of God had passed within the veil into the 
 beatific presence of her glorified Saviour. The body was 
 laid away in the old Miami church-yard beside the grave of 
 Dr. Carter. And thus sister was left alone, a heart-broken 
 orphan and widow. Ever afterwards she scarcely knew 
 aught but sorrow. Her letter soon brought the sad intelU- 
 
 (185)
 
 l86 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 gence to me — to me whom that mother used to call her 
 " httle Benjamin" but now so far away where I could 
 hardly be reconciled to my inability to close her eyes in 
 death or weep at her grave. Yet from that time forward 
 heaven seemed nearer. Separated only by the veil beyond 
 which father and mother had passed, they seemed not far 
 away. 
 
 The first time after our removal to Vermont that Eliza 
 and I visited our friends in Ohio we brought home with us 
 sister Carter and her son. She came to spend the summer 
 in the hope that the invigorating climate would be beneficial 
 to her in her broken-down health. We did all we could to 
 alleviate her sorrows; and we had while she was with us 
 many a happy time. One is well remembered. Procuring 
 a second horse and buggy and for the driver that most 
 excellent woman and sweet Christian, Miss Maria Grow, 
 brought out of the world into the Covenanter Church in 
 Topsham, we visited Wright's Mountain in the town of 
 B ad ford. According to previous arrangements we were 
 met on the summit by Rev. Dr. Silas McKeen and wife. 
 He was the pastor of the Congregational Church in the 
 village of Bradford. Though of different denominations we 
 had become intimate friends. He was a Christian of rare 
 worth. On that beautiful mountain-top we rambled, we 
 talked, we lunched picnic fashion, prayed together, and, at 
 his request, sang the twenty-third psalm. It was good to 
 be there — two Congregationalists, most excellent Christians, 
 and three as good Covenanters and lovely women as ever 
 picnicked together on mountain-top. In subsequent years it 
 was often my privilege to be with Dr. McKeen and enjoy 
 profitable as well as sweet Christian fellowship. In former 
 years he had been intimate with other Covenanter ministers 
 and was well acquainted with our principles. He was a 
 ver}' strong anti-Mason and had at one time resigned his
 
 IM SORROW AND IN STrAII^S. I §7 
 
 charge in Bradford because Masons were in the church 
 there. Time passed. A change came; and the old pastor 
 was recalled. He was too good a man to be in any other 
 than a reforming church. Except Arthur Carter all of 
 that .select company have passed up to the celestial moun- 
 tains leaving me behind to wait for my invitation to join 
 the departed saints of God. 
 
 At the Synod of 1856, which met that year in Philadelphia, 
 I was placed in unexpected and trying straits where I did 
 not know my duty. It was at that Synod that the foreign 
 mission to Syria was determined upon and when I was 
 chosen to be the co-laborer of Rev. R. J. Dodds in that field. 
 As the facts are connected with the beginning of our foreign 
 missions, they may be stated briefly as nearly as I can 
 remember them. 
 
 After Synod had resolved to engage in mission work in 
 some foreign field there was diversity of opinion as to what 
 field it should be. After lengthy discussion it was finally 
 decided to locate the mission in Northern Syria. This 
 being determined, the next duty was to appoint two mis- 
 sionaries. It was done by nomination (probably ])y a 
 committee) and then the choice by ballot. Rev. John 
 Crawford, pastor of the Baltimore congregation, was chosen. 
 A committee was appointed to confer with the missionaries 
 elect to learn whether they would accept the appointment. 
 The next day the committee reported that Rev. R. J. Dodds 
 accepted but that Rev. Mr. Crawford did not. As he was 
 in feeble health he had consulted his physician who advised 
 him not to accept. Mr. Crawford died of consumption 
 about three months afterwards. Another ballot was taken 
 and it resulted in the choice of the pastor of Topsbam 
 congregation. It was not unanimous, a few ballots being 
 cast for Joseph Beattie, licentiate. But as most of the votes 
 were for Rev. N. R. Johnston, on motion the election was 
 made unanimous.
 
 1 88 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 This action of Synod was altogether unexpected by me. 
 It suddenly brought me into a great strait. I did not know 
 what to do. Ever after I entered the theological seminary 
 I had a desire to be a foreign missionary, though the desire 
 was not ver}^ strong. The church' as j^et had not attempted 
 the foreign work and had not called for laborers. But now 
 the time had come and I must decide very soon. Shortly 
 after Synod adjourned that afternoon, my beloved Brother 
 Dodds came to ni}- lodging-place to confer with me in refer- 
 ence to my acceptance of the appointment. If there had 
 been no obstacle in my wa}^ I would not have needed any 
 persuasion. Such was my love to him, and I knew that 
 mine was reciprocated, and such was my desire to be a 
 missionar}^ in some foreign field, I would have rejoiced in 
 the opportunity to join him in the good work. He remained 
 with me all the evening in conference on the question then 
 so all-absorbing to me. When he started to his own lodging 
 I walked out with him to prolong the conversation. It was 
 a warm evening, and the full moon lighted the streets ot 
 Philadelphia. We walked on Chestnut Street.' We walked 
 up aad down, up and down, until near midnight, he using 
 every argument and inducement to persuade me to accept 
 the appointment. We bade each other good-night with the 
 promise to make the matter a subject of special prayer. 
 
 Returning to my lodging I retired to rest but not to sleep 
 except a little. The most of the remaining hours of the 
 night were spent in anxious thought and in prayer for 
 divine direction. Morning came but I was j^et undecided. 
 Synod would meet at 9 o'clock. The committee would 
 expect me to tell them my decision, and Synod would expect 
 to hear the report of the committee during the morning 
 session. Whether in answer to prayer or not I do not know, 
 but I was led to this determination, viz., that as I believed 
 hat Mr. Beattie would be chosen by Synod provided I would '
 
 R. J DCDDS, r. D.
 
 IN .SORROW AND IN STRAITS. 1 89 
 
 decline the appointment, I resolved to see him before Sj^nod 
 would assemble and say to liitn that if he would assure me 
 that he would accept the appointment in case I would 
 decline it, then I would decide not to go. 
 
 Remembering still that I had access to the throne of grace 
 I hastened to seek an interview with Mr. Beattie before 
 Synod would meet. I laid my case before him and said that 
 I had decided that if he would assure me that if I would 
 decline the appointment and in case he would be chosen, he 
 would accept it, then I would inform the committee that I 
 could n(?t accept. With little or no hesitation he replied 
 affirmatively, assuring me that he would go. My decision 
 was made and much of my anxiety was gone. I sought the 
 committee or rather the chairman and told him my decision. 
 During the forenoon the committee reported to Synod. 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Beattie was elected and subsequently 
 accepted. 
 
 My friend Dodds was disappointed. He and Mr. Beattie 
 were almost strangers. As Mr. Dodds and I had been warm 
 friends so long it was only reasonable that he would wish 
 me to be his companion; and when we met after he knew 
 my decision he almost chided me for my unwillingness to 
 go. But our Master knew what was best for us both, and 
 for the cause of missions. 
 
 As some who may read these lines know what I have often 
 written and said in reference to the cause of foreign mis- 
 sions, I owe it to myself and others to put on record the 
 reasons that weighed heavily on my mind to cause me to 
 decline the appointment to the Syrian mission. The most 
 important were these: 
 
 I. The ballot was not unanimous, and I knew that 
 several of the prominent members of Synod wished Mr. 
 Beattie to be sent. Besides, it seemed to me that the cause 
 of missions would be better served if he would go. He was
 
 IQO LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 several years younger; he was fresh from studies, having 
 been hcensed only one week, and he was in excellent health. 
 
 2. My brother. Rev. J. B. Johnston, and my senior by 
 nearly nineteen years, who had always been my counselor, 
 and who was a member of Synod at that time, did not 
 encourage me, though he did not positively dissuade me. 
 I do not now remember his reasons except that he feared the 
 church would not be hearty in support of the mission. I 
 did not know it then but I learned it afterwards that he was 
 losing confidence in the church. Within two years he 
 withdrew from her fellowship and went into the United 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 3. My wife was in very feeble health and probably 
 unable to endure a sea voyage or do the work of a foreign 
 missionary. If I could have known her mind she might 
 have advised me to accept the appointment; but she was at 
 our home in Vermont and so far away it was impossible for 
 me to hear from her in time, for in those days there was no 
 communication by telegraph. Under these circumstances 
 I could not accept the appointment without knowing her 
 wish or judgment. 
 
 4. Only three years and a half had elapsed since I was in- 
 stalled pastor of Topsham congregation. And though I 
 knew that Synod had the power to remove me and send me 
 into the foreign field, I did not desire to abandon my charge 
 where I was so pleasantly located and where there was a 
 prospect of successful labor if continued in that field. 
 
 5. But the greatest reason for declining the appointment, 
 and a reason whose force I could not resist, was the fact 
 that the mission was not located in a pagan land among 
 idolaters to whom the gospel had not been preached. 
 Whtn the question of location was before Synod I opposed 
 the choice of Syria. There the gospel had been preached 
 ages ago; there Christianity had had a foothold and had
 
 IN SORROW AND IN STRAITS. IQI 
 
 gone down before other forces. In Syria false systems other 
 than idolatrous prevailed. I felt sure that we should enter 
 some foreign field where the name of Christ had not been 
 named. I had always desired to preach the gospel among 
 idol worshipers whose minds had not been poisoned by con- 
 tact with teachers of a false religion other than pagan. 
 Had I gone to Syria I might have labored long as one dis- 
 satisfied with his field and thinking that some other would 
 have been better. 
 
 For such reasons I had to say to Synod, Please excuse me 
 and send the young brother preferred by some; and for such 
 reasons I was compelled to say to my dear brother Dodds, 
 whom I loved as David did Jonathan, "Do not persuade me 
 any more; I think the Master indicates that I should not go 
 with you." More than four decades have passed since that 
 sad parting. Many a time I have feared that the Master 
 was then displeased with me for not saying, "Here am I, 
 send me." A young brother in Synod at the time said to 
 me, "Consult not with flesh and blood." To him I suppose 
 my decision seemed as if I did. And during all these years 
 I have often feared that that decision was the blunder of my 
 life. On the other hand I have hoped that in it all I was 
 led by the Spirit to do what was the will of Him whom I 
 have tried to serve. Brothers Dodds and Beattie did their 
 work well and were taken to the rest provided; I am left to 
 see others, their succes'-ors, occupying a greatly widened 
 field and approved of the church. Surely He has done all 
 things well.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Church Work. 
 
 During the early years of my pastorate the communion 
 seasons were times of anxiety and special prayer and study. 
 As the years passed they became seasons of revival and often 
 of spiritual joy, as I hoped. I now look back upon them as 
 the best and most joyous times and seasons of my whole 
 life. I thank God for them and for the hope that by them, 
 as means of grace, precious souls were taught and sanctified. 
 In my pastor's journal a record of them, as well as of other 
 work and events, was kept; but most of what was then 
 written has passed from memorj^'s page never to be recalled 
 until in the life immortal. 
 
 Our first communion was on the third Sabbath of June, 
 1853. I was favored with the assistance of old Dr. James 
 Milligan, then without charge, and Rev. R. Z. Willson, 
 pastor of Craftsbury congregation. Referring to my journal 
 I find this written on the Tuesday before, viz. "The session 
 met. . . . One young lamb, Emily Divoll, was admitted 
 into the fold. She is only fifteen. Stood a good exami- 
 nation and manifested evidence of piety. I rejoiced that 
 even one was added to the church, but I was sad that there 
 were no more. ' ' 
 
 In those times the pastor was always expected to preach 
 "the action sermon" or the discourse on the Sabbath A. M. 
 before the administration of the supper. Mine was from the 
 text Eph. 3: 19, "And to know the love of Christ which 
 passeth knowledge." In the study and delivery of that 
 (192)
 
 CHURCH WORK. 
 
 193 
 
 sermon I think I saw and felt more of the wonderful love of 
 Christ than ever before. The whole number of communi- 
 cants was fifty-seven or fifty-eight. Ten or twelve of these 
 were from Ryegate or Barnet. The complete church roll at 
 that time numbered only forty-five or forty-six. 
 
 That I was located in a needy mission field is illustrated 
 by what I find in my journal under the date of November 
 10, 1853, or less than four months after our first communion. 
 It runs thus: '%ast evening I had quite a long and close 
 contest with a Universalist. I learned more and more of 
 the delusion and subtlety of that great heresy. I am 
 placed, unavoidably, just between two Universalist families, 
 having hired rooms from one, and I know I shall have to 
 set my face as steel against this dangerous error. When I 
 was looking forward to the work in which I am engaged, 
 I expected to contend often against Seceders, Associate 
 Reformed, old and new school Presbyterians, or the errors 
 held by them. I expected to be a soldier in the battle for 
 the right of Jesus as king of nations, and for the rights of 
 man. But contrary to all my expectations I am thrown 
 among infidels, Universalists, Baptists, Methodists and Con- 
 gregationalists. Hence I have to meet heresies, errors and 
 dogmas of all kinds that I did not anticipate. God is leach- 
 ing me by this not to trust in my own powers; and how 
 important it is for me, a soldier of Christ, to have on the 
 zvhole armor of God and particularly the sword of the Spirit 
 which as yet I have learned to use but awkwardly. Lord 
 Jesus, teach me to use it both expertly and successfully." 
 And then I find by reference again to my diary that on the 
 third Sabbath of November I began to preach a series of 
 sermons on the fundamental doctrines of religion. The first 
 was on the evidences of Christianity, and on this I preached 
 two discourses. 
 
 Notwithstanding these records it gives me pleasure to be 
 13
 
 194 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 able to state both from memory and from my record of all 
 the texts from which I preached during all the years of ni}^ 
 service in Topsham that a very large majority of the dis- 
 courses preached were what are commonly called "gospel 
 sermons." Purely doctrinal discourses and especially con- 
 troversial were rare. The cross, the doctrines of the atone- 
 ment, and all the many coordinate themes were kept ever 
 before the people whatever other important subjects might 
 demand occasional attention. 
 
 Pastoral or family visitation was performed two times a 
 year most of the 5'ears. The elders "in turn" accompanied 
 the pastor and generally gave assistance. And we ordinarily 
 called upon all families or persons who attended our church 
 services unless we knew we were not desired. And espe- 
 cially in visiting the sick no distinction was made. As there 
 was no other pastor in the town, though at the west village 
 and at another on the south side there were churches in 
 which there was preaching most of the time, I was expected 
 to be a kind of pastor for all sick folks. I thought then that 
 this gave me access to many people who did not attend 
 Sabbath services and to whom I could preach the gospel 
 informally. In like manner I was often called to perform 
 funeral services on the death of irreligious persons or in 
 families that did not attend public worship on Sabbath. 
 And so many sent for me to preach at funerals, and every 
 now and then on -the Sabbath, I was obliged to announce 
 from the pulpit that except in extraordinary circamstances I 
 would not attend funerals on that day. Some were dis- 
 pleased, but I resolved not to be turned aside from my pur- 
 pose. One result was fewer funerals on the Lord's day; 
 and some pastors in neighboring towns followed the example. 
 Prior to this the people often expecte.l the minister, when 
 he was wanted at a burial, to leave his congregation without 
 preaching. Another common practise I succeeded in chang-
 
 CHURCH WORK. 195 
 
 ing. At funerals the rule had been to have some religious 
 services first at the house; then the funeral procession went 
 to the church in the village, the pall-bearers carrying the 
 corpse in and up to the pulpit before the preacher who was 
 always expected to preach an appropriate sermon; then after 
 all would see the remains of the departed the funeral pro- 
 cession was foimtd and the body taken to the cemetery at 
 the lower end of the village. For reasons that I need not 
 rehearse here, I let the public know that I would prefer the 
 burial to be first and then have the people assemble at the 
 church for religious services. This practise soon became 
 common, and the people seemed to like it better than the 
 old. And in later years I preached often to crowded houses 
 a.id ordinarily to more people than usually attended worship 
 on Sabbath; for many of the irreligious people who almost 
 never went to church always attended funerals. Besides, 
 such was the force of custom or the regard for religion that 
 all kinds of people, though they never went to church, 
 regarded it as disgraceful to bury their dead without a 
 funeral .sermon. Such was called "the burial of an ass." 
 Thus it was that some fellow-town.smeu never heard the 
 gospel except at funerals. I am thus reminded of the 
 burial of an old man, a wicked man. a common drinker, 
 and a practical skeptic. His two sons, married men, were 
 respectable men, good citizens, and friends of benevolence, 
 but in their religious belief Universalists. They and their 
 families generally attended our Sabbath services; one owned 
 a pew. When their father died— a man who probably had 
 not been at church for many years — I was asked to preach 
 the funeral sermon. As I had not learned the art of praising 
 the dead because they were dead, I preached from the text: 
 "What a man soweth that shall he also leap," and made 
 no allusion whatever to the departed. If I gave offense to 
 any one I never heard of it.
 
 196 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 During the spring and early summer of 1854 I had little 
 rest. About the first of March the congregation bought a 
 house and lot for a parsonage. We moved into it on the 
 30th, exceedingly thankful that we had a permanent as well 
 as comfortable home. By appointment of Presbytery I went 
 to New York in May to assist Dr. Christie in the dispensa- 
 tion of the lyord's supper in the 3rd New York congregaton 
 now vacant. Rev. S. O. Wylie of Philadelphia was invited 
 to assist. During what leisure I had during my week's 
 stay in the city, and at the request of the Topsham people, 
 I "begged" money to help them to pay for the parsonage. 
 It was not very pleasant to my pride! During the week 
 following the communion, the Presbytery met in Newburgh 
 where I was chosen Moderator; and this was my first 
 experience "in the chair." After Presbytery adjourned 
 I went out to Coldenham and assisted the pastor. Rev. 
 William Shaw, in his communion services on the Sabbath 
 following. Then at home came special duties, the election 
 and ordination of two deacons, Parker McNiece and Robert 
 Mclyam. (This reminds me of my incorrect statement on a 
 previous page when I remembered the election of only one 
 deacon.) B}^ the order of session they were ordained not 
 by imposition of hands but only by prayer. This led to a 
 memorial to Presbytery asking whether, in the election of 
 de icons, hands should be imposed, for the members of ses- 
 sion diflfered in opinion. Then came a difficult pastoral 
 duty required by act of session after they had found a mem- 
 ber of the congregation guilty of tippling or drunkenness 
 when he had been disciplined two times before for the same 
 offense. They now required him to submit to a public 
 rebuke before the whole congregation on Sabbath at the 
 close of the P. M. services. In seeming humility he sub- 
 mitted to the rebuke; but to the pastor who had to adminis- 
 ter it before a large congregation it was a very painful duty.
 
 CHURCH WORK. I 97 
 
 Our second communion season occurred on the first Sab- 
 bath of July, 1854. My helpers were my brother Rev J. B. 
 Johnston, who was visiting us at the t'me, and Rev. J. M. 
 Beattie, of Ryegate. My action sermon on Sabbath was 
 from that great text: "Behold! the Lamb of God." On 
 this occasion there were four additions to the church and 
 two baptisms. On the Tuesday following we held our 
 annual Sabbath-school festival in an adjacent grove. It 
 was a joyous time. Rev. Dr. McKeen, of Bradford, and 
 brother J. B. gave addresses. The Sabbath-school had now 
 grown to be very large and the workers, including the 
 pastor, were very hopeful of the results. 
 
 Not long after this we were made glad by visits from my 
 dear friend J. M. Armour. At his second visit he' lingered 
 with us and preached for me on Sabbath. He may have 
 forgotten his text; I have not. It was: "All things work 
 together for good to those who love God," etc. Prior to 
 this time I had been too poor to own a horse and buggy, 
 something that every country parson needs to have. We 
 had studied economy and had been able to lay by enough to 
 buy the horse, for which I paid one hundred and twenty 
 dollars; but I could not have had the buggy unless the man 
 had offered to wait with me for the seventy-five dollars, the 
 cost of the "wagon" as the Yankees then called it. So I gave 
 him my note for that sum payable on the first of April the 
 next year. This was the first time I had ever contracted a 
 serious debt, and I felt considerably .shaky. But I now had 
 my own "bran new rig" and I felt more independent both 
 of my neighbors and of the livery stable. My first use for 
 the "rig" was when I had the pleasure of driving my friend 
 Armour down to Bradford there to bid him "good-by, 
 brother; we will meet again." But I soon had to part with 
 that beautiful bay mare as fleet as a deer. She proved to be, 
 as many people are, too high-strung and hard to manage.
 
 198 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 She knew too well the use of her teeth and of her heels. 
 One day when Elder Keenan was visiting at the parsonage 
 he went into the stable to see his pastor's new bay mare. 
 As he passed behind her, suddenly and most viciously she 
 kicked at him and might have broken his leg if the animal's 
 heel had varied two or three inches. I offered her for sale 
 and received one hundred dollars for an animal that I did 
 not wish to keep. I thought more of the elder and myself 
 and of my wife for whom I wanted a quiet family horse, than 
 I did olr the biting and kicking animal. 
 
 Perhaps the reader is fond of horses? So I'll tell him 
 more about my "luck" (?) with them. After awhile I gave 
 my one hundred dollars for another horse owned by a near 
 neighbor. One da}- when I loaned him to some needy 
 neighbor he took fright and ran away and made shipwreck 
 of the little wagon. As I believed the old saying that after 
 a runaway no horse is ever safe, I sold him to a farmer who 
 knew of the horse's bad conduct. How much I lost in this 
 second transaction I have now forgotten. But I must have 
 a horse to do pastoral work among the people; and so one 
 day ("the third time is the charm") young Josiah Keenan, 
 a church-member and a son of Elder Keenan, brought a 
 young horse, so beautiful that at once I liked him. He said: 
 "Mr. Johnston, here is the horse you want." "For how 
 much?" "One hundred dollars." "It's a bargain." "Well, 
 keep him a week and if you don't like him bring him back." 
 I kept him. He was as gentle as a lamb and as beautiful 
 as a young deer. I kept him and trained him, and he 
 became a model famil}' horse and a petted animal that my 
 Eliza could drive, and yet he was too spirited to bear the 
 whip. He did us good service for years until we needed him 
 no more. If the reader will wait, after a while I will tell 
 him more about my good pet "Charlie" unless it be thought 
 that a Covenanter pastor has no right to love a good horse.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Work for the Slave. 
 
 During the early years of my home in Vermont and 
 while the ami slavery agitation was becoming more and 
 more intense, I formed the acquaintance of quite a number 
 of the leading New England Abolitionists. As I was a 
 subscriber for the Aiiti-slavery Standard, of New York, the 
 organ of the National Anti-slavery Society, and for the 
 Liberator, of Boston, the organ of the New England Anti- 
 slavery Society and edited by William Lloyd Garrison, to 
 both of which papers I was an occasional contributor, I was 
 not a stranger to Abolitionists. And as the anniversaries of 
 the National Society were held in New York City in May, 
 and as in those years my Presbytery met every spring in 
 Newburgh, it was generally convenient for me to attend the 
 anti-slavery anniversaries. This gave me opportunities to 
 form personal acquaintance with some of the leading friends 
 of the slave. Moreover, as I was occasionally in Boston by 
 appointment of Presbytery and preaching to the little society 
 of Covenanters that soon grew into a good-sized congrega- 
 tion, I had opportunity to meet some of the Boston Abohtion- 
 ists. Some of them were not orthodox Christians but of 
 them as Reformers it may be said "the world was not 
 worthy." The longer I lived in Vermont the more I 
 became acquainted with Covenanters and with other anti- 
 slavery people in different parts of the state. This led to 
 my being invited occasionally to give anti-slavery lectures 
 before mixed audiences. Then from time to time it was my 
 
 (199)
 
 200 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 privilege to arrange lecturing tours and open the way for the 
 old "anti-slavery apostles" as they have been called subse- 
 quently. Among them I can recall William Wells Brown, 
 the fugitive slave, Charles Lenox Remond, the eloquent 
 colored man of Linn, Mass., Mrs. F. E. W. Harper, the 
 colored poet and oratorical advocate of human rights. Miss 
 Sallie Holley, a devoted friend of the slave, C. C. Burleigh, 
 the Quaker and eloquent orator, Parker Pillsbury, the most 
 prophetic and perhaps the ablest of them all. On two 
 occasions I secured Mr. Garrison as a lecturer at a few of 
 the more prominent places. On one of these occasions Mr. 
 Garrison and Rev. Samuel May, Jr., lectured in the Cov- 
 enanter church in Topsham to a crowded house, for almost 
 all classes of people were curious if not anxious to hear the 
 great Abolitionist. They were both my guests at the par- 
 sonage, though at that time when in sorrow and in affliction 
 I went to Mr. Parker McNiece's for my meals. Never did 
 we have in the parsonage as guests two more gentlemanly 
 and companionable Christian men. Some of the people, 
 mostly of the pro-.slav^ery mould, who came to hear Mr. 
 Garrison's lecture expected to see a hard man — a .soured 
 misanthrope and a cross and denunciatory .speaker. They 
 were greatly disappointed when they saw a peaceful and 
 Quaker-like man, with a placid countenance and benevolent 
 face, with voice and words so tender and kind that every 
 one could .see that he was so far from being a monster he 
 was more like a Howard or Wilberforce. No harsh word 
 fell from his lips; and his greatest enemies went away say- 
 ing: "Well, Mr. Garrison isn't such a bad man after all," 
 and some of them who had been di.spleased at me for bring- 
 ing him to Topsham thanked me for doing it. 
 
 Among all the above-mentioned lectures I was freer to 
 arrange meetings for Charles C. Burleigh than for any other, 
 and at two different times I opened the way for him quite
 
 William Lloyd Garrison
 
 WORK FOR tHE SLAVE. iOl 
 
 extensively, and went with him to some of the meetings. 
 He had but one aim, freedom for the .slave. His person, his 
 demeanor, his freedom from vituperation, and his impas- 
 sioned eloquence in pleading for the oppressed millions, all 
 showed that he was in earnest and had no sinister motive. 
 Charles C. Burleigh was a lovel}- man, and I loved him. 
 On two occasions he was a guest in our family and we saw 
 more of his real worth than others could know wdio were 
 not so favored. He evidently had a tender affection for his wife 
 and young children left at home. One day I went into the 
 parlor where he was sitting alone, and I found him looking 
 lovingly at a picture of the loved ones at home. He handed 
 the picture to me as though he wished me also to love them. 
 Notwithstanding his grave demeanor and gentlemanly dig- 
 nity everywhere in public, he had a vein of mirth and fun. 
 One day I entered the parlor when he was alone. I found 
 him down on the carpet playing with a kitten and laughing 
 merrily. Such was the Quaker Abolitionist who, I suppose, 
 during the long years of the anti-slavery excitement spoke 
 for the bondman oftener than any other; and among all the 
 brave men who never tired in the long-continued battle for 
 the right I place him among "the three mighties" and 
 worthy of imperishable honor as well as gratitude. 
 
 Of all the other lecturers mentioned above, especially 
 Mrs. Harper and William Wells Brown, I would gladly 
 write at length if space would permit. Except Mrs. Harper, 
 they all were Garrisonian Abolitionists, that is, because of 
 its pro-slavery Constitution and admini.stration they would 
 neither vote nor hold office in the government. They would 
 not "strike hands with the oppressor;" and they "remem- 
 bered them that were in bonds as bound with them." 
 
 Probably the most important meetings in behalf of free- 
 dom were the state conventions, two at Bradford and the 
 third at West Randolph. They were nominally under the
 
 ^62 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 auspices of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, } et the 
 burden of the arrangements devolved upon me. The first 
 was at Bradford. As there were more Covenanters than Gar- 
 risonians in that part of the state, the former shaped the 
 character of the convention and controlled its actions quite 
 largely. As the call did not specify or foreshadow the 
 character of the convention except as anti-slavery, the polit- 
 ical Abolitionists were dissatisfied when they learned that 
 some of the prominent speakers were Garrisonians, among 
 whom was Parker Pillsbury who was unpopular among the 
 churches because he had so often testified against some of 
 them as pro-slavery. Rx-Governor Fletcher had promised 
 to give an address, but when he saw the names on the pro- 
 gram of some Garrisonians he did not come. Even my 
 friend Rev. Dr. McKeen, a Congregational minister did not 
 attend after the first day. Yet one of the leading members 
 of his church, Asa lyow, Esq., was the chairman of the con- 
 vention. Among the speakers were Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, 
 of New York, and Charles Ivcnox Remond, of Massachusetts. 
 The Covenanters from Ryegate and Barnet and from Tops- 
 ham were prominent on committees and had much to do in 
 shaping the resolutions. These were very radical. Mr. 
 Sloane and I lodged together at the Old Trotter House, and 
 the resolutions had much of the Covenanter ring. We had 
 a good time as loving brothers during those two convention 
 days and evenings. After the adjournment he came home 
 with me to visit his friends and to remain over Sabbath. 
 Those were days of sweet communion never to be forgotten. 
 The next year, or perhaps two years afterwards, the state 
 convention met at West Randolph. In that part of the state 
 there were few Covenanters, but the Garrisonians were 
 numerous. But as the call included all anti-slavery people, 
 every shade of anti-slaver)' sentiment was represented, th^^ ugh 
 in the organization of the convention the Garrisonians were
 
 Work i^ok The stAV^. ^03 
 
 the most numerous. The pastor of Topsham congregation 
 was made the chairman and of course he had much to do in 
 shaping the committees. The convention continued through 
 two days and evenings and was largely attended to the end. 
 The presence of William lyloyd Garrison and of Rev. Samuel 
 May, Jr., gave tone to the entire convention. Mr. Garrison 
 gave two or three regular addresses, and took a prominent 
 part in the discussion. He was always heard with great 
 interest. He never uttered a trivial sentence or an unfit 
 word. He had little or no wit or humor, and he never con- 
 descended to anything like abuse of any one or of vitupera- 
 tion or irony or sarcasm. His addresses were always clear, 
 logical, grave, earnest, even to solemnity. His power as a 
 speaker was in his array of great facts in relation to slavery, 
 its iniquity, its wrongs done to the slave, to the nation and 
 in the churches. On all matters connected with the ''Patri- 
 archal Institution" he was so well informed and so in sym- 
 pathy with the oppressed, no man could gainsay. His 
 utterances, always as harsh as truth, carried conviction in 
 the minds of all not blinded by prejudice. 
 
 One of the ministers who attended through all the sessions 
 of the convention was a Baptist, a man of more than ordinary 
 ability, a foe to slavery but unwilling to hear blame laid to 
 the charge of the churches that fellowshiped slaveholders. 
 Hence, when one of the resolutions on this subject was under 
 discussion, he antagonized it and with much effort argued 
 against what Mr. Garrison had said on the subject. I 
 expected Mr. Garrison to reply, but he insisted that I 
 should. He said, "lyCt preacher meet preacher." I left the 
 chair and spoke at length in defense of the truth. The ex- 
 citement ran high. Others, laymen and ministers, engaged 
 in the debate, and I felt sure that the truth prevailed. 
 
 Rev. Samuel May and I were entertained in the family of 
 a good Methodist brother. Though a member of a church
 
 204 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 that fellowshiped slaveholders, he was a warm Abolitionist. 
 We had family prayers morning and evening. In theology 
 we did not see eye to eye; as to the right of every human 
 bii ig to free lorn we were of one mind. Mr. Mav, whatever 
 his religious creed may have been, always seemed to be a 
 truly Christian man. He was consecrated to the cause of 
 the oppressed and made many sacrifices in its behalf. 
 During our residence in Vermont I received mau}^ letters 
 from him. Some of them were gems. Some of them are 
 historic and should not be given to the flames. 
 
 Rev. Mr. May was corresponding secretary of the New 
 England Anti-Slavery Society. Under the date of June 4, 
 1857, he wrote to ask me to do what I could, without neg- 
 lecting ni}' pastoral duties, by way of lectures in Vermont. 
 In this letter he wrote: 
 
 "Our position is so much in harmony witli that occupied hy your 
 church that we feel no doubt of your sympathy. We wish to have 
 the people of Vermont understand, better than they do now, the real 
 character of our movement, — its moral character, — its truly religious 
 character,— the reasons of our 'No Union' position, both in matters 
 of state and church, and why it is that we have got ourselves so 
 proscribed and odious, why it is that we are accounted infidel, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 "No movement (in my humble judgment) ever had. a clearer foun- 
 dation in reason, common sense, the fundameatal principles oi mor- 
 als, and the whole genius of Christianity, than our movement. As 
 such, we wish to have the people understand it, and cease to be 
 duped and misled by the tricksters who now sit in editorial chairs, 
 mount political stumps, and preach in professedly Christian pulpits." 
 
 Under the date of January, 1858, he wrote among other 
 things the following: 
 
 "I am right glad to hear you were so bold for God and the truth, 
 at Waitsfield, and I hope, in the old church phrase, that you will 
 have many souls there as the seals of your ministry. This is the 
 power of the Gospel itself The movement embraces so manj^ of the 
 vital principles and essential aims and methods of the Gospel, that it 
 may justly be called the Gospel now — not any modern Gospel, but
 
 Rev Samuel Way
 
 WORK FOR THE SLAVE. 205 
 
 the old, unchanging, and everlasting truth, on which the men of this 
 da)-, and especially those who profess to be its chief ministers, have 
 turned their backs, and become its revilers and deadly foes, annnated 
 with the spirit of antichrist. But to us it is the power of God, and 
 the wisdom of God, though to 'the wise,' etc., it is a stumbling-block 
 and foolishness. But I hope that many in Vermont will see its glori- 
 ous light, and come to it, and be no longer halting between two 
 opinions and courses, and trying to serve God and mammon. The 
 support of this government and Union, and a voluntary participation 
 therein, is utterly irreconcilable with a genuine faith in God, and a 
 full acceptance of his laws. This must be pushed home to the con- 
 sciences and souls of the people. Oh, what a history is this nation 
 writing out, from day to day! What a hideous spectacle it presents 
 to the nations of the earth, and to the all-seeing eye of God!" 
 
 And then again in April of the same year he wrote: 
 
 "But I have thought of you often and much. Garrison and I often 
 speak of your position, your brave anti-slavery action, your trials, 
 etc , etc. He understands thoroughly well the spirit of proscription 
 which has begun its mean and cowardly work against you and the 
 cause of just and uncompromising freedom. I think /understand it 
 pretty well. These assaults are sharpest, as I feel very confident, 
 just now — indeed, I incline to think the worst of them over,— or at 
 least until we give them fresh provocation, which I hope may be 
 before a great while. I could truly wish 3'ou had a few more strong 
 friends close around you, to help hold up your hands. The sympa- 
 thy and cheer of friends is a great support— but the consciousness of 
 bciug- right is still better,— 'O;/^', with God, is a majority.' We can 
 afford to wait."
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Under the Father's Rod. 
 
 We had hoped that our residence in Vermont would help 
 to restore Eliza's health. She became better or worse at 
 different times though she never enjoyed good health. She 
 suffered much and often from indigestion and acidity of the 
 stomach. Neither the climate nor the hygienic remedies 
 used effected a cure. In the autumn of 1856 she spent 
 some weeks at Dr. Trail's Hygienic Institute in New York, 
 but received no permanent benefit except some lessons as to 
 the proper diet for sufferers of her class. With the return 
 of spring, in May, 1857, she accompanied me to Presbytery 
 in Newburgh and thence to Synod in Ohio, where we visited 
 our friends as long as my duties at home would permit. 
 On our return we brought with us a nephew, Patterson 
 Pollock, and a niece, Ella Davis, both young children whose 
 parents were willing to have them come and pay us a visit 
 and perhaps remain a long time with us in our quiet home, 
 lyittle Ella was a pet of mine; and Eliza hoped to be of 
 special use to her sister's son. After an absence of over 
 four weeks we reached our loved home in the Topsham 
 parsonage on the evening of Thursday, June 11. I had 
 hoped that the journey and the visit would be useful, but 
 they were only slightly beneficial. God had willed that she 
 should be removed to the land where the inhabitants "shall 
 not say, I am sick." On the afternoon of July 3, she 
 entered upon her heavenly rest. I hope that now after forty 
 years have passed it will be admissible to copy here a little 
 (206)
 
 UNDER THE FATHER' vS ROD. ' 207 
 
 of what was written in my journal when the rod of the Chas- 
 tiser lay upon me. "Her death was happy. The struggle 
 of pain had been passed the night and morning before, and 
 as she drew nearer her end she seemed more calm and easy. 
 During the afternoon she conversed freely, and seemed 
 aware that she would not live. I could not think it possible 
 that she would now be taken away from me. Still we had 
 much precious conversation while I hung over her in anxiety 
 and prayer. Many a precious word, expressions of faith and 
 hope, mingled with fear, fell from her lovely lips. The 
 Saviour, I think, was her support. I could not give her up. 
 It seemed strange that God would take her from me with so 
 Uttle warning— strange that he should leave me alone, with- 
 out earthly friends (relatives) save the dear little nephew and 
 niece whom we had brought home with us from the west. 
 Shortly before her departure I went alone and wrestled with 
 God that he would not take her away from me and leave me 
 alone in this cold and almost cheerless world. But he heard 
 not my prayer. Bitterness alone was in my cup. I had to 
 drink it. But I mourn not as those who have no hope. 
 Among the many words which fell from her lips, soon to be 
 cold in death, she said, 'Lord Jesus, save my soul. Pre- 
 cious S wiour, sustain me.' When I remarked to her that I 
 feared God was about to remove her from me but that we 
 would meet in heaven, she said, 'That will be a- happy 
 meeting.' She prayed much, sometimes audibly and some- 
 times .Slently, her lips moving. Just before her last, .she 
 kissed the children and bade ihem good-by, giving them 
 good advice. Then she reached out her hand to the friends 
 standing by, saying, 'Friends, farewell.' I asked her 
 what she had to say to me. 'O, ask God to direct you, and 
 be faithful unto death,' were her words in reply. Soon 
 afterwards she clasped me in her arms while I kissed her. 
 and then bade me farewell. And then with a full voice she
 
 2o8 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 said, 'Come, Lord J^siis, come quickly,' and soon the 
 redeemed spirit went to God." 
 
 Four decades have passed since I stood at that newly 
 made grave in which we laid away all that was mortal of 
 one who had long been to me as an angel of God. I think 
 I was not blind to her imperfections, but if it is possible for 
 any child of God on earth to be without fault, or free from- 
 wrong-doing, she was guileless. In womanly chastity and 
 virtue she seemed to me to be spotless. In sweetness of 
 temper, in amiability of disposition, in harmlessness and 
 innocence, she was lamblike and dovelike. Of priceless value 
 was her silent but consta it influence over me. Her Chris:- 
 like gentleness was always a check upon me. "In her 
 tongue was the law of kindness." From her lips, as I 
 remember, never fell a word of passion or of hate towards 
 any one. That she was sinless I dare not say, but He who 
 made her and He who saved her had adorned her with rarest 
 beauties and virtues. Her feeble health and her sufferings, 
 o'^ten acute, no doubt the Sanctifier knew were necessary to 
 prepare her for the compaii}' of those who are clothed in white 
 robes before the throne of God. In the school of affliction 
 through which she passed I learned many a lesson. Her 
 meek submission in all her sufferings, of which she never 
 uttered a word of complaint, was a silent but constant rebuke 
 of my insubmission to the will of the Chastiser; and it always 
 seemed to me that I was the one who should have been 
 made to feel the smarting of the rod. But I did not know 
 then that her Redeemer, the heavenly Husband, was prepar- 
 ing her by the work of the Sanctifier for the companionships 
 of the celestial city. 
 
 The burial and the funeral services would have been on 
 Saturday the 4th if it had been possible. Besides, Rev. 
 Mr. Beattie could not be present until Sabbath evening ; and 
 the hour of 4:30 o'clock was fixed. At 11 o'clock on Sab-
 
 X ^ 
 
 Rev. J, M, Armour
 
 UNDER THE FATHER'S ROD. 209 
 
 bath the congregation met in two prayer-meetings, one large 
 at the town hall, and one small one at the parsonage. The 
 few who were with me that daj^ in ni}^ hour of sorrow con- 
 ducted the services in a becoming manner. The dearbreth_ 
 ren seemed to have loving sympathy with their pastor and 
 tenderly asked that the Comforter would be near to him in 
 his bereavement. 
 
 At 5 o'clock a very large funeral procession, all on foot, 
 followed the bier from the parsonage to the grave. The 
 elders and deacons were the pall-btarers. Then followed 
 the members of the cliurch and their families, then the 
 Sabbath-school, and then the many friends and neighbors 
 assembled. After the coffin was lowered into the grave the 
 dear children dropped flowers upon it. The burial over, the 
 procession w^as reformed and all returned and entered the 
 church where Rev. J. M. Beattie, pastor of Ryegate congre- 
 gation, preached from Rev. 5 : 6, "And I beheld, and lo, in 
 the midst of the throne," etc. At the setting of the sun I 
 returned to the parsonage, and with a sense of desolation 
 that long night of sorrow passed. Dear Mrs. Divoll had 
 taken the little children to her home, and two or three good 
 friends lodged in the parsonage that night that it might not 
 seem .so desolate to the bereaved. 
 
 During the week following the elders seemed solicitous 
 about m)^ health, and, speaking for them, dear father Keenati 
 affectionately advised me not to think of preaching at home 
 the next Sabbath but to take the little bereaved cousins and 
 go up to Craftsbury to visit with Brother Armour. I 
 followed the advice. Though he was a stranger to such 
 sorrow, I think he was in sympathy with me; and to be 
 with him was comforting. On Sabbath he pressed me into 
 some service, asking me to preach at least one sermon, which 
 I did from the text: "There shall be no night there." 
 
 The Sabbath after oiir return home I preached both fore- 
 14
 
 2IO LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 noon and afternoon from the text: "Lord, increase our 
 faith." On Monday, accepting the invitation of Mrs. 
 DivoU, I took the children up to that restful farmhouse and 
 lodged with them there at night and left them during the 
 day while I went back to the parsonage to stud}' and look 
 after things there. Meanwhile I had written to friends in 
 Ohio of Eliza's death. On the 24th of July I went to 
 Bradford to meet Mrs. Pollock, Eliza's oldest sister, and my 
 niece Augusta Johnston. The former came to take home the 
 little children. After remaining a few weeks and adjusting 
 affairs for me, she and the children departed for their homes. 
 Niece Augusta remained to be the housekeeper at the 
 parsonage. During the following fall and spring she was 
 a member of a class of students in some of the higher 
 branches; and she had a high standing in all her classes, so that 
 I was not ashamed of my niece, the oldest daughter of my 
 beloved brother James. She was a loving and kind niece. 
 After a year or so she returned home leaving me alone in 
 the parsonage. I lodged and studied there but boarded 
 across the street with the family of Judge George. Mrs. 
 George was the daughter of a Covenanter mother and had 
 been a church-goer but had never made a profession of faith 
 in Christ. Her son and daughter also attended worship and 
 were in our Sabbath-school, but none of the family sought 
 fellowship in the church until some time after I had been a 
 boarder with them. First the daughter, Ellen, the youngest, 
 became a Christian and was baptized, thus coming into the 
 kingdom and leaving father, mother and brother behind in 
 the world. Not long afterwards, however, her mother 
 appeared before the session asking baptism and a place in 
 the little Covenanter Church with her daughter. I believe 
 that the good woman had long been a believer in the Lord 
 Jesus, but had not such strong co.ivictions or such courage 
 as were sufficient to lead her to publicly confe.ss his name in
 
 UNDKR THE FATHER vS ROD. 211 
 
 a dissenting church when her husband was such an un- 
 believer and such a politician. To the pistor, however, 
 they were joyful days when both mother and daughter were 
 numbered among the d'sciples. 
 
 Prior to this time quite a number of most excellent women, 
 young and old, had been brought into the church. Except 
 two or three, they were connected with Covenanter families. 
 Among the men there were two whose profession of faith 
 and coming into the church gave joy to the pastor, viz. 
 Charles DivoU and Samuel Mills, a resident in the village. 
 He and his wife had formerly been members of the Free 
 Church of Scotland. After my settlement in Topsham they 
 attended woship with us and their children came to the 
 Sabbath-school. After a while Mrs. Mills united with us. 
 At first Mr. Mills could not give up the privilege, as he then 
 regarded it, of being a citizen of this great government and 
 a voter and eligible to office. After a while, however, he 
 appeared before the sessioa and asked membership with us. 
 This was a joyful day, for Mr. Mills was an intelligent man 
 and capable of doing great good as a member of the church. 
 In a year or two after his admission he was chosen and 
 ordained a deacon.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Busy Days. 
 
 The fall and winter of 1857 were busy seasons not to be 
 forgotten. Presbyter}- met at Craftsbury to ordain and 
 install J. M. Armour. The only duty put upon me was to 
 give the address to the installed pastor. I was exceedingly 
 glad to have that dear brother located so near to me. 
 After Presbytery I brought home with me another beloved 
 brother, Rev. J. R. Thompson of Newburgh, N. Y., wdio re- 
 mained with me over Sabbath and preached part of the day. 
 During the autumn and winter I attended to the duty of 
 pastoral visitation, officially visited the schools of the town, 
 and gave numerous anti-slavery lectures in adjacent towns 
 and villages. Having appointments in the New York 
 First Congregation now vacant, on my way thither I held 
 anti-slaver}' meetings and spoke at Claremont, N. H., and 
 at Brattleboro, Vt. While in New York I preached in the 
 Sullivan Street Church two Sabbaths and one in Brooklyn 
 to which Rev. James Dickson had been called as pastor but 
 not yet installed. 
 
 In that Sullivan Street Church was an old elder, Hugh 
 Glasford, who for his excellence of character had many 
 warm friends and'who was a zealous Abolitionist. On the 
 afternoon of my last Sabbath there I preached an anti- 
 slavery discourse on the text, Eccl. 4. i. "So I returned 
 and considered all the oppressions that are done under the 
 sun," etc. I suppose Mr. Glasford. had not heard many 
 such sermons in that pulpit; so when I came down he came 
 (212)
 
 BUSY DAYS. 213 
 
 forward to meet me and taking my hand said to me: "Why 
 didn't 3'ou tell us you were going to preach that sermon and 
 we would have had this house crowded full?" I guess I was 
 "dumfoundered;" at least I do not remember ni}' rep'y. 
 
 When I left home to fill Presbyterial appointments I 
 expected to go from New York to Cleveland at which had 
 been called a disunion Convention. At the metropolis I 
 learned that the convention had been postponed to a later 
 date, and so I did not go. I had been invited to attend, 
 and I had signed the call; for though not in the political 
 union with slaveholders 1 was in hearty sympathy with the 
 Garrisonians whose motto was, "No union with slavehold- 
 ers." As they saw no prospect of "immediate and uncon- 
 ditional emancipation," the great aim of those noble phi- 
 lanthropists, they were in favor of the entire separation of 
 the northern free states from the southern and slaveholding. 
 I do not know that they had as 3^et devised any exact 
 method by which the separation should be accomplished, 
 but they favored and publicly declared in favor of a total 
 separation under a new constitution because the existing 
 union with a pro-slavery constitution was a "covenant with 
 death and an agreement with hell." Though this disunion 
 movement had but few advocates it caused great excitement 
 among some classes of politicians and especially in the 
 south where it aroused bitter animosity. Perhaps the reader 
 of history is reminded by the above statement of an event 
 which occurred while John Quincy Adams was in Congress- 
 To that champion of the right of petition was sent for presen- 
 tation a memorial asking measures looking towards sepa- 
 ration from the south. It was called the "disunion petition.'' 
 He presented it. This act was followed immediately by the 
 passage of a resolution by the House "that for said action 
 Mr. Adams should be expelled." He went home, but soon 
 afterwards and by his own constituents he was triumphantly 
 sent back to Congress.
 
 Si4 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Only a few weeks passed until I had to return to New 
 York to attend the fall meeting of Presbytery. By appoint- 
 ment I preached in Boston on ray way home. Thus as I 
 was kept busy in so many ways God showed his love to me 
 by giving me little opportunity to sit down and brood over 
 my sorrows in bereavement. I did not think of it then but 
 I see it now. I see that on my return home from the Pres- 
 bytery I wrote in my journal among other things: "Glad to 
 get back to the old parsonage once dear but now so lonely 
 since she is here no more. ... I find it hard to be 
 reconciled to His will." But He dealt kindly with me by 
 giving me so much to do. I needed to forget, if possible, 
 His chastising rod. But I could not. Mj^ sweetest hours 
 of the daj' and the happiest days of the week were in soli- 
 tude. And after my niece had returned to her home, during 
 the year or two that I was a boarder but lodged alone in the 
 parsonage and bus\- in my study, I desired to be left alone. 
 I disliked to hear any one knock at the door. Such was 
 my growing selfishness that the divine goodness was shown 
 to me by my Master's compelling me to go out to the work 
 that must be done. Then I was prone to complain ; now I 
 am thankful. 
 
 It was in the month of January, 1858, that our first state 
 anti-slaver}^ convention at Bradford was held to which I had 
 reference on a previous page. By looking at my journal I 
 can correct some misstatements. The chosen chairman was 
 a Mr. Dyer, a Garrisonian from Randolph. Mr. Lowe pre- 
 sided at the closing evening session when the excitement 
 ran the highest. Ex-Governor Fletcher and Rev. Dr. 
 McKeen were present the first da}^ and the former took 
 part in the discussion on a resolution in favor of the disso- 
 lution of the Union, but neither returned the second day. 
 The discussion over the offensive resolutions occupied a part 
 of two or three sessions. One of the most outspoken in
 
 BUSY DAYS. 215 
 
 Opposition was William Goodell, of Massachusetts, who in 
 the afternoon session offered a substitute which was lost. 
 Then in the evening and last session he moved to lay the 
 original resolution on the table. This was holly debated 
 and finally lost; so that the truth triumphed. Some other 
 Abolitionists besides the Garrisonians and Covenanters voted 
 for it. And not much wonder when such eloquent speakers 
 advocated it, as William Wills Brown, Charles Lenox 
 Remond (both colored), and Parker Pillsbury. Mr. Sloane 
 (not yet a D. D.) gave his eloquent address during the 
 closing session, but I think he did not engage in ihe dis- 
 cussion on the agitating resolution. At the adjournment of 
 the convention Mr. Sloane said to me that the two addresses 
 of Parker Pillsbury were the most powerful he ever heard. 
 Whatever sentiments he may have held on religious ques- 
 tions (and I know some of them were erroneous) he did not 
 utter a word to which any Covenanter could object. Subse- 
 quently he gave two addresses on two consecutive nights 
 in Topsham that were so remarkably prophetic and awe- 
 inspiring that some of the older and most intelligent people 
 present (and the house was full) said they never had heard 
 anything so overwhelming in power. It was their deep 
 conviction and the consciousness of being right that gave 
 such power to the anti-slavery apostles who began the agi- 
 tation that resulted in the revolution of the nation's mind 
 and in the destruction of slavery. 
 
 Having finished the exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 in January of 1858 I began lectures on the first Epistle of 
 Peter. In the afternoons I gave a series of sermons on the 
 ten commandments; and after these, another series on the 
 petitions of the Lord's prayer. In both these series I often 
 preached two or three discourses on the same command- 
 ment or the same petition. These were followed by another 
 series of discourses on the beatitudes which continued dur-
 
 2l6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 ing the early summer of 1858; for during such series I 
 sometimes broke the chain b}^ preaching on some other 
 texts or special themes as providences indicated. As I now 
 recollect I think I enjoyed, yea, delighted in the study of 
 those precious words of Jesus more than in any other series 
 all my life. The beatitudes! O, they are, indeed, "wonder- 
 ful words of life." In all these studies I was greatly inter- 
 ested and I hope profited; and it is pleasant to hope that the 
 children of God who heard the discourses were benefited. 
 Moreover, I here leave my testimrny that in all the studies 
 that I ever pursued in none was I so habitually interested 
 and absorbed as in the study of the Word of God. And 
 this delight now, as I draw near the end of life, does not 
 diminish. If this is true of the study of the written Word 
 now, with what ineffable delight will we study the Word 
 that was made flesh! 
 
 During the summer of this year, 1858, I had much enjoy- 
 ment in the companj^ of some of the dear brothers who 
 visited me. During the communion season of this summer 
 I was assisted by Rev. J. R. Thompson. His company was 
 all the more enjoyable because his most estimable wife was 
 with him. That good brother had read Solomon carefully: 
 "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth 
 favor of the Lord." The action sermon at this communion 
 was from the text, John 12 127, "Now is my soul troubled; 
 and what shall I say," etc. The theme was and is one that 
 might fill the minds even of angels with sorrowful admira- 
 tion. I can not now remember any action sermon whose 
 theme so filled ray soul with mingled sadness and delight. 
 The summer months following this communion season 
 were interspersed with pleasurable events that tended to 
 keep me from brooding in .solitude over my bereavement 
 that I could not forget. Rev. J. R. W. Sloane spent some 
 time in visiting his friends in Topsham, and I shared with
 
 BUSY DAYS. 2t^ 
 
 them the pleasure. Very few were so companionable. It 
 was a privilege to be with such a good and pleasant servant 
 of Christ. Accompanied by a large company of the youth 
 of the congregation we visited Wright's Mountain and "the 
 devil's den" on the side of the same. 
 
 At our annual Sabbath-school festival in July, among the 
 speakers was Miss Sallie Holley, an anti-slavery lecturer 
 who at the time was holding meetings in the state. Her 
 traveling companion was Miss Caroline Putnam. They 
 were Garrisonians and did a good work for the slave. When 
 she gave her lecture in Topsham she stood in the pulpit 
 probably to the disgust of some who believed that ^he was 
 disobeying Paul: "lyet the women keep silence in the 
 churches." 
 
 Miss Holley was a warm personal friend of Mr. Garrison, 
 and he had great confidence in her judgment on questions 
 involved in the anti-slavery conflict. Eut they did not 
 always agree; and so his friends told this incident about 
 him. On one occasion they differed in opinion on some 
 important matter pertaining to the work in which they were 
 engaged. He labored hard to convince her that his way 
 was right; but she defended her position and would not 
 yield to Mr. Garrison's judgment and will. His patience 
 became exhausted, and with unusual feeling, and looking at 
 her, slowly and sorrowfully said: "I have seen an end of all 
 perfection." 
 
 Miss Putnam who was only a personal friend and travel- 
 ing companion of Miss Holley, was a woman of fine educa- 
 tion and culture. Going from Topsham to South Ryegate, 
 where Miss Holley lectured the next day, Miss Putnam, 
 who was a great ornithologist, was greatly delighted with 
 the forests and streams and the birds. Her familiarity with 
 their names and habits put me to shame. I refer to these 
 things to illustrate the fact that the womt n who, in their
 
 2I§ LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 advocacy of the cause of the slave went upon the public 
 platform, were not women of a low type nor untutored 
 enthusiasts but of a high rank in morality and culture. 
 
 The longer I resided in the Green Mountain state the 
 more I admired and loved it for its great beauty of moun- 
 tains and hill and forest and stream. My love of the pic- 
 turesque and the grand found almost full satisfaction. And 
 so it happened that I was glad to respond to an invitation to 
 join a party of Christian friends to visit Lake Willoughbv. 
 The company was made up by Brother Armour of Crafts- 
 bury, one being Robert Shields a licentiate. We traveled 
 by carriages. The lake lies in Orleans County which bor- 
 ders on Canada and outflows into Lake Memphremagog on 
 the north; It owes its beauty largely to the high mountains 
 that border it, Mount Pisgah on the east and Mount Hor on 
 the west. Pisgah, only a little higher than the other, is 
 nearly two thousand feet in height. From the lake it rises 
 up almost perpendicularly, presenting a bold rocky front or 
 wall but so irregular or jagged as to admit such a growth of 
 bushes or small trees as to make the whole surface exceed- 
 ingly beautiful. This wonderful mountain wall is so nearly 
 perpendicular that it is said that a man standing nearly at 
 the top can throw a stone that will fall into the lake. The 
 ascent is made by a path or trail up the east side where it is 
 not very steep. On the top was an old wooden tower higher 
 than the surrounding trees and from whose top there was a 
 magnificent view in every direction. 
 
 The fronting surface of Mount Hor on the west side of the 
 lake is not so perpendicular, and the forest is dense. The 
 lake lying between these mountains is less than a mile wide 
 though the length is six. It is said to be very deep and 
 abounding with fish of rarest quality. But the most remark- 
 able thing about this beautiful lake is its echo properties. 
 Noises made by persons in a boat are echoed with wonder-
 
 feUSY DAYS. 219 
 
 fill clearness. The reverberations are audible three or four 
 times; a pistol or gun shot, oftener. Loud talking, singing, 
 and laughter are echoed with every different intonation of 
 the voice. The difference between the rising and falling 
 inflection of a question is as distinctly noticeable as between 
 the speakers in the boat. 
 
 Our company lodged at the hotel at the head of the lake. 
 Rising with the first appearance of Aurora, Mr. Armour, 
 his sister-in-law. Miss Sudborough, Robert Shields and 
 I ascended to the top of Pisgah. Walking up the trail 
 about two or tw^o and a half miles in length, we spent an 
 hour in taking in the grandeur of the sights, the White 
 Mountains on the east, the Green Mountains on the west, 
 the entire range from Camel's Hump on the south to Jay's 
 Peak and Owl's Head on the north; and then returned in 
 time for late breakfast. Probably we boasted of our ante 
 jentaculum excursion, but I am sure we were all ready to 
 enjoy our full share of the lake trout that the cook had 
 reserved for the mountain tramps. We were loath to leave 
 Lake Willoughby. It left a picture on my memory so vivid 
 that to this hour I often linger to behold it with great 
 delight. Would the question be culpable if any lover of the 
 beautiful in nature should ask whether there will be beauti- 
 ful lakes among the mountains of the "better country"? 
 
 In the memory of the writer Lake Willoughby associations 
 are all pleasant. And it is due to the memory of one of that 
 select company to record here my estimate of Robert Shields 
 who though much my junior was long ago called to the 
 higher life. I knew him first as a student in Geneva Col- 
 lege. He was intellectual, amiable, and truly pious. Of 
 Scotch ancestry, and the son of a Scotchman, Elder Alex- 
 ander Shields of Craftsbury congregation, he was full of 
 Covenanter blood. He was an enthusiastic student of 
 nature, excelled in the ma.stery of the natural sciences, and
 
 220 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 he was a great botanist. He should have been a professor 
 in this department in some college or university, for he was 
 better adapted to this than to the ministry. His godly 
 parents, however, would have been disappointed and proba- 
 bly dissatisfied if he had not been ordained to the ministry. 
 As he was a younger brother of Mrs. Josiah Divoll, one of 
 the elders in Topsham whom he visited often, I was often 
 favored by his company. It was a privilege to be with 
 him, so much did he know of the wonderful works of 
 God in the kingdom of nature. 
 
 A while after licensure Mr. Shields was sent by the Board 
 of Missions to labor among the Contrabands at Fernandina, 
 Fla. He had not been there many months until the military 
 or governmental officers gave him trouble, and because he 
 would not take the oath required of him he was obliged to 
 leave that field of labor. Subsequently he was employed 
 by the Board as a missionary among the freedmen at I^ittle 
 Rock, Ark., and then in Washington, D. C. Afterwards 
 he was ordained and installed as pastor in Ramsey congre- 
 gation in Canada where he labored in feeble health until his 
 death in 1883. How many good men and useful ministers 
 never live to see threescore and ten! 
 
 Before going to Craftsbury to preach for Brother Armour 
 the Sabbath before our excursion to lyake Willoughby, I had 
 written an address ready to be given at a Sabbath-school 
 convention at Bradford. Accordingly I returned home on 
 the cars via Bradford. The convention was largely attended 
 by Sabbath-school workers. Several able addresses were 
 given by Dr. McKeen, Professor King of Newbury Semi- 
 nary, and others. The theme that had been assigned to me 
 was, "The Qualifications of Sabbath-.school Teachers." At 
 that convention were most of the teachers and many of the 
 youth of our Topsham Sabbath-school, and I was not 
 ashamed of them nor of our school which at this time was
 
 BUSY DAYS. 221 
 
 the largest in the county and I have no doubt the best. 
 And during all these years while laboring among children 
 and youth my love of the former and my interest in the latter 
 grew steadily. After my pastorate ended, though it may 
 not have appeared to others, I never changed my opinions as 
 to the great importance of the religious education of the 
 young. The neglect of it is ruinous to the church as well 
 as to the individual. 
 
 Prior to this time Eliza and I had organized a Band of 
 Hope into which had been gathered the children and young 
 people of the entire neighborhood or the bounds of the con- 
 gregation. At one time it numbered one hundred and eighty 
 members. The pledge of total abstinence included tobacco 
 also, though twelve of the members, gro vn boys, would not 
 sign the double pledge for they had already become addicted 
 to the use of either cigars or the quid. It is with pleasure, 
 however, that I record the fact that no member of the church 
 or son of a Covenanter was included in the twelve exceptions. 
 I have to add though that if memory is not imperfect I never 
 heard that any of those twelve ever united with any church. 
 On the other hand it is pleasant to record that I never heard 
 of any of the entire membership violating his temperance 
 pledge except one who when the war broke out became a 
 soldier and was not able to resist the temptations to which 
 the boys in blue were exposed, to the shame of the govern- 
 ment and army be it told. That soldier was the son of a 
 wicked man who loved strong drink, and of a pious mother 
 who lived to mourn the loss of her son buried in a soldier's 
 grave.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Work at Home and in the Courts. 
 
 During the autumn of 1858 I saw no rest from excessive 
 work, much of it outside of the home pastoral duties alwavs 
 sufficient for one man. By appointment of Presbytery I 
 went to Boston to administer the sacrament of the supper on 
 the fourth Sabbath of October, and to moderate in a call for 
 a pastor. I was assisted by licentiate F. M. Elder. On 
 Monday after the services he was elected as pastor. Subse- 
 quently he declined the call. As Presbytery was to meet in 
 New York that week, we went thither by way of the Eong 
 Island steamer. On the boat I fell in compan}' with my 
 former neighbors froniTopsham. Mr. Isaac Tabor and family, 
 on their way to New York whence they were soon to sail for 
 California. Mr. Tabor had been a merchant in Topsham, a 
 very kind neighbor, a regular pewholder in our church, his 
 beautiful children members of our Sabbath-school, a great 
 lover of music and ahvays joining heartily in singing the 
 psalms, and yet a Universalist in his faith if he had any at 
 all. One day we were riding together when our conversa- 
 tion turned upon Universalism, for I desired to win him from 
 error to the truth, and after he had been listening for a few 
 minutes he said: "Well, Mr. Johnston, I can not believe 
 that a man can continue to live in wickedness and die with- 
 out repentance and then go to heaven." Whatever religious 
 faith he had was only in theory, for he was given up to 
 business. In this he succeeded finely for a series of years; 
 but reverses came and he became bankrupt. Having lost 
 (222)
 
 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE) COURTS. 223 
 
 all, he was too proud to remain in Topsham and he departed 
 to make a new home in California. Mr. Tabor was a kind- 
 hearted and genial man, a warm friend of Elder Parker Mc- 
 Niece, and such a kind neighbor to the pastor, I had a lov- 
 ing regard for him. When he and his family reached San 
 Francisco they were poor, yet they courageously went to 
 work as opportunity was afforded. His oldest son, Rodney, 
 went into the printing office of the Occident, the Presby- 
 terian religious organ. The editor, Dr. Woodbridge, favored 
 him. Attending Presbyterian Church and Sabbath-school, 
 he became a disciple of Christ in that church, received an 
 education, studied theology, and was called to the pastorate 
 of the Presbyterian Church in Alameda, Cal. I was present 
 at his ordination and installation in the autumn of 1875, 
 seventeen years after they left Vermont. Perhaps the in- 
 fluences that resulted in all this began during the years of 
 his attendance in our Sabbath-school and church. Good 
 seed sown in faith is not likely to be wholly lost. Is it ever? 
 
 During the November meeting of Presbytery in New York 
 a very painful event occurred. Rev. S. O. Wylie of Phila- 
 delphia instituted a libel against Rev. Dr. Christie charging 
 him with a heinous crime against the law of the seventh 
 commandment. This made an extra or pro-re-nata meet- 
 ing of Presbytery necessary. This was set to be on the 
 30th of the month, when I would have to return to New 
 York. Meanwhile beside the regular pastoral work some 
 important events occurred one of which I may not fail to 
 narrate. I will do this by copying from my diary, under 
 the date of Thursday, November t8, when I wrote the 
 following: 
 
 "I have just returned from my last meeting with my little 
 .school which has been in session during the past ten weeks. 
 Being assisted by Miss I^ora Mills, I was relieved from teach- 
 ing all clas.ses except Latin, Algebra, Astronomy and Moral
 
 224 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Science. I^ast evening we had a literary exhibition in 
 which the students displayed great merit. Besides the 
 ordinary essays, declamations, and orations, the}- read a 
 number of the newspaper published by the society, and had a 
 debate on the dissolution of the Union. The debater who 
 advocated dissolution received no applause, while the other, 
 opposing it and defending the Union, received a shower of 
 plaudits. Afterwards Mr. Charles Divoll, in an oration on 
 New England, gave a slight expression in favor of disunion 
 which at the close of the oration was followed by hisses. 
 Like a gentleman he rose, stepped forward upon the plat- 
 form and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I could have written 
 an oration so as to have received only your applause; but I 
 did not choose to do so. I spoke my sentiments.^'' I can not 
 deny that I was proud of Charles Divoll that night. He 
 had grown up to mature youth since I had become his 
 pastor. He had been a student with me for some time. He 
 had been a careful hearer of the Word preached, had heard 
 the anti-slavery gospel, and had accepted the truth of the 
 Covenanter Church of which he was now an active member. 
 And so when he did not cower at those pro-slavery hisses 
 but stood up in his young Christian manhood and said: "I 
 spoke my sentiments," I admired him and loved him. 
 
 Of Charles Divoll we will hear more on subsequent pages. 
 All that need be written now is that he was the oldest son of 
 Elder Josiah Divoll, a noble youth who had made a public 
 profession of faith in Christ a year or so before the event 
 recorded above. He was a diligent student, exemplary in 
 his deportment, the hope of his father and the pride of his 
 sisters. He desired to obtain a good education, but his 
 father did not wish to send him away from home for this 
 purpose lest he might be exposed to temptations which he 
 would not be able to resist. And for this son's j-ake, in 
 part, the father had previously urged me to teach a private
 
 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE COURTS. 225 
 
 class. As this grew into a little school with only two short 
 sessions of ten weeks in the 5'ear, Charles continued to work 
 on the farm most of the year. After he became well pre- 
 pared he taught public school a few terms. Then he was 
 appointed town superintendent of schools and served honor- 
 ably for one or two years prior to the breaking out of the 
 War of the Rebellion in which he enlisted early in its prog- 
 ress as a soldier in the Vermont Sixth Regiment. 
 
 To attend the pro-re-nata meeting of Presbytery on the 
 30th of November, I left home with a sad heart knowing 
 that as a Presbyter I would be called to a most painful 
 duty— the trial of an aged minister who all his life had been 
 prominent, and a man greatly beloved by many in the 
 church and who was now a professor in the theological 
 seminary. Probably I felt it more deeply as I remembered 
 that at my ordination and installation he had presided and 
 upon my head he had imposed the hands of a Presbyter. 
 And I could not forget that afterwards, by appointment of 
 Presbytery, I had assisted him during a communion season 
 in the third New York congregation then vacant; and that 
 the other assistant was Rev. S. O. Wylie who now came 
 before Presbytery as the accuser of Dr. Christie. Because 
 of this and similar facts I would have remained at home if 
 I did not fear that I might be chargeable with insubordina- 
 tion. 
 
 After the Presbytery was prepared for the trial. Dr. 
 Christie being present, the libel was read and he was asked 
 if he were guilty, or if he vi^ould put himself upon trial. 
 He then arose and read a written paper in which he declined 
 the authority of the court and heaped reproaches upon the 
 Presbytery and ministers of other Presbyteries. As soon 
 as he had finished the reading he withdrew and left the 
 house. 
 
 Notwithstanding his withdrawal Presbytery proceeded to 
 15
 
 226 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the trial as if he had been present. Many persons, both 
 men and women, some of these, no doubt, farmer members 
 of the congregation when he was pastor, were present to 
 hear the trial. Some member of Presbytery without giving 
 a reason, moved that the women be required or requested to 
 retire or leave the church. It was likely to pass without 
 debate for it would probably be taken for granted that the 
 testimony would be such as women should not hear. I saw 
 at once that it was improper and unjust for Presbytery to 
 make an unwarranted distinction between men and women, 
 and urged that women, Covenanter women (I think there 
 were no young women present) had as good a right as men 
 Lo hear the trial, that there was no reason why it would 1 e 
 improper for women to hear the testimony that would not 
 apply equallj' to men, for men should be chaste as well as 
 women, and that women who loved their old pastor should 
 have the opportunity as well as the men" to hear the trial 
 and know that no injustice was done to him. And I urged 
 that at all events the women themselves should be the j udges, 
 not Presbytery, whether it was proper and right for them to 
 remain. I do not remember whether an}- one spoke in favor 
 of the motion, but when it was put it was voted down; and 
 the women remained. Probably it was at the next session 
 of the court or the next day, some one handed me a letter 
 
 sajnng, "Mrs. asked me to hand this letter to you." I 
 
 opened it and found a five dollar bank-note in it, but it had 
 no name and gave no reason for the dui.a'.i >n; I supposed, 
 however, that it was to show her appreciation of ni)^ action 
 in Presbytery the day before. 
 
 The trial was protracted as well as painful. The evi- 
 dence was of several kinds, and all tended to conviction. 
 Among others were letters in the accused's own handwrit- 
 ing. It was my unhappy lot to be one of a committee of 
 three to read these letters and report their character. The
 
 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE COURTS. 227 
 
 readers could not doubt the guilt of the writer. The other 
 evidences were as convincing. Presbytery was unanimous 
 in the decision that the accused was guilty of adultery. 
 The sin was the more aggravated because the wife of the 
 accused, though an invalid, was yet living. He was de- 
 posed from office and suspended from the privileges of the 
 church until evincing repentance. 
 
 This case of scandal, probably the most aggravated of the 
 kind ever occurring in the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
 in America, was painfully humihating. Sadness and gloom 
 rested upon the whole church, and the wound inflicted was 
 long in healing. What lesson the Head of the church was 
 teaching her was not known, but it clearly showed into what 
 an abyss of depravity man has fallen and from which there is 
 no rescue but by the blood of the atonement. 
 
 After the adjournment of Presbytery I met with a disap- 
 pointment that prevented me from getting home before 
 Sabbath. Being detained I had opportunity to hear several 
 eminent speakers and persons, as Horace Greeley and Dr. 
 Cheever, at a public meeting in favor of "the People's 
 College," Cornell. Also George P. Marsh and Henry 
 Ward Beecher. The theme of the latter was, "Sympathy 
 in common life." It is no wonder that "the great Brooklyn 
 preacher" was so popular. On Sabbath I preached for Dr. 
 Sloane and in the evening heard him preach on "the Bible 
 in the public schools." 
 
 After Sabbath I hurried home. Among letters that had 
 accumulated I found one giving me the unexpected and 
 painful intelligence of the defection of my oldest brother. 
 Rev. J. B. Johnston. He had left the Old Covenanter 
 Church and gone into the United Presbyterian. He had 
 always been a bold and uncompromising advocate of Refor- 
 mation principles. In my early life he had been my teacher 
 and one of my most influential friends to lead me into the
 
 228 1.00KING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 witnessing church. In his mature youth he had come out 
 of the great Presbyterian Church, and I was baptized in the 
 same. When I united with the Covenanter Church I 
 followed his example. Like myself probably nearly the 
 whole church would have said: "John B. Johnston was the 
 last man I would have thought to be likely to leave the 
 church." I leinied afterwards that his friends in Ohio 
 apologized for him on the ground that he had been wronged 
 or persecuted bj^ brethren, ministers and laymen, in the 
 church. They said he never would have gone out if he had 
 not been driven out. Some alleged that he was "courted" 
 by the United Presb3-terians. To me, his youngest brother, 
 neither reason seemed valid or of any force. To grant 
 either would assume that he was a man of weak mind. But 
 he was not. If persecuted or wronged he should have en- 
 dured patiently, and gone forward in the path of duty until the 
 Head of his church would vindicate his cause. If ' 'courted' ' 
 or tempted, he should have resisted and continued to "stand 
 up for Jesus' ' as Lord of nations. It is more probable that 
 he had changed his opinions as to the importance or practi- 
 cabilit}' of our distinctive principles, if he did not disapprove 
 of them entirel}'. That he continued to believe, as formerly, 
 that incorporation with the government is sin, is not pre- 
 sumable because it is improbable that he ever advocated the 
 duty of the United Presbyterian Church to exercise discipline 
 against her members who do incorporate. 
 
 I think several j^ears had passed after my brother's con- 
 nection with the United Presbyterian Church before I met 
 him. At that time — it was when I visited him in his own 
 home — we conversed freely on the subject. I was grieved 
 at his departure from the old church I loved so well, and I 
 assumed the aggressive and tried to show that he had made 
 defection and had gone into a church occupying a lower posi- 
 tion and in sinful connection with an antichristian govern-
 
 Work at home and in the courTvS. 229 
 
 ment. He replied that the United Presbyterian Church is a 
 reforming and rising and progressive church while the 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church is a divided and retrogressive 
 body. As our conversation assumed the character of contro- 
 versy he became vexed or excited aim st to passion. This 
 made me so sorry that I ceased to contend. I remembered 
 that he was my senior by more than eighteen years and that 
 he always had loved me and had ever been exceedingly 
 kind to me. I had ever loved him and looked up to him; 
 and I knew I would ever love him. And so when I left his 
 house I resolved that I never would introduce the unpleasant 
 theme again; and I never did. 
 
 In May 1859 Synod met at Pittsburg. I lodged with 
 Dr. Samuel Sterritt, afterwards an elder in the Pittsburg 
 congregation. It was during the days of Synod's sessions 
 that I formed the acquaintance of young David Metheny 
 who was studying medicine with his uncle, Dr. Sterritt. He 
 was a young man of such amiability and rare excellence 
 I became greatly attached to him, though at that time I had 
 no thought that he would ever be a medical missionary. 
 
 During the days of Synod I was a voluntary reporter of 
 the daily proceedings. They were published according to 
 previous arrangements in the Pittsburg Daily Gazette and 
 mailed to all throughout the church who had ordered them. 
 This was the first time that ever full Sy nodical reports were 
 given in a daily paper. At several subsequent Synods I 
 gave similar reports. For one or two years Rev. R. Z. 
 Willson gave reports but they were printed in pamphlet 
 form. After I ceased to publish the daily reports Synod 
 appointed her own reporters; and so the practise has con- 
 tinucG since. 
 
 After the adjournment of this Synod I went from Pitts- 
 burg to St. Clairsville, Ohio, to meet my brother J. B. and 
 his family. He had accepted a call from the United Presby-
 
 230 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 terian congregation of that place and was removing thither. 
 We met at Bridgeport on the Ohio River and rode together 
 to St. Clairsville. He invited me to preach for him part of 
 the Sabbath; and in the evening at 5 o'clock I preached by 
 the invitation of the pastor in the Presbyterian Church. As 
 twelve or thirteen years had passed since I had been back to 
 that old town where I had been a teacher before I entered 
 upon theological studies, many old friends and former stu- 
 dents came to see me and I enjoyed my visit there very 
 much. As my brother had not yet begun to keep house I 
 was entertained in the family of my old friend William Askew, 
 the father-in-law of my lifelong friend, Dr. Tidball. Mrs. 
 Tidball was visiting at her father's at the time William 
 Askew and family were Orthodox Friends (Quakers) and 
 most excellent people. When I was teaching in the academy 
 there they all were Quakers. After the marriage of Dr. 
 Tidball to Martha, the second daughter, she united with the 
 United Presb)'terian Church as the doctor had done. Sub- 
 sequently Ann Askew, the oldest daughter, united with the 
 same church and was a member of it when my brother became 
 the pastor in St. Clairsville. And I desire to record here my 
 testimony to the excellenc}- of the character of Ann Askew 
 whom I knew well and with whom as an intelligent and 
 earnest Christian I was intimately acquainted so long. For 
 amiability of temperament, for refined culture, and for con- 
 versational powers as well as true piety, I have never known 
 many if any superiors. Though educated a Friend she con- 
 tinued to the end of a long life a consistent member of the 
 United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 On my return home from S3'nod I found plenty of work 
 that needed a worker. Entries made in my journal from 
 time to time show that I had little or no rest. I did not 
 complain, rather I rejoiced in it, for I know that I loved the 
 work — work for Christ and for his own, the flock over which
 
 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE COURTS. 231 
 
 he had made nie his shepherd. I see that soon after my 
 arrival home the following entry was made: "And now I 
 praise God for his goodness in bringing me safely back to 
 my dear flock. My prayers shall be that the Good Shep- 
 herd may go before me and lead me and his flock here by the 
 still waters and in the green pastures. And, O that I may 
 be instrumental of bringing many into the fold under Christ 
 the Head. I long to see sinners flocking to him that he may 
 be glorified and many saved. ' ' 
 
 On the second Sabbath after ray return home I assisted 
 Rev. Beattie at his communion in Barnet. Served three 
 tables. On Monday after preaching I baptized ten or fifteen 
 children. That congregation, like Ryegate, (Mr. Beattie 
 was pastor of both) was made up largely of either the chil- 
 dren of Scotch people or of pure Yankees. The women were 
 not ashamed of motherhood, and the mothers trained their 
 children for Christ. 
 
 Two Sabbaths afterwards was our communion in Topsham. 
 As at several previous times, I was greatly encouraged by 
 the conversion of youths most of whom were brought in 
 from the world. On the Monday before the communion five 
 young people were admitted into the church. They were 
 converted from the world or from families of other churches. 
 One was a son of a Congregationalist, one the daughter of 
 Congregational parents, one was educated in the Free Church 
 of Scotland, another was a member of an irreligious family, 
 the fifth was of Covenanter parentage. The heart of the 
 pastor was full of gratitude to God. I find this entry in my 
 journal of that date, June 26, 1859: "For this addition to the 
 church I thank God and take courage. Jesus has heard my 
 prayer. O that I may be able to consecrate myself to him 
 and his church. There are more sheep and lambs, I can not 
 doubt, belonging to Christ in the bounds of the congregation. 
 O that I may be instrumental of bringing them into the fold. ' '
 
 i^2 tOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 At that communion I was greatly helped by Rev. J. R. W. 
 Sloane, the assistant; and Rev. Beattie also preached two 
 or three times. The "action sermon" was from that great 
 text, 2 Cor. 3 : lo. "For even that which was made glori- 
 ious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that 
 excelleth." My journal records that there were three tables 
 and fifty-five communicants, and adds: "The house was full 
 to overflowing, and nearly all remained to the very last of 
 the services. Great interest w^as manifested. I fondl}' hope 
 that it was a good day and that the Saviour rejoiced in his 
 w^orks. My soul, bless God for his goodness to us heie in 
 Topsham." My soul did rejoice in God my Saviour. The 
 recent converts who were at the communion table for the 
 first time made my heart glad. Such was the condition of 
 the community and so many deaths occurred, especially of 
 the old people of the congregation, the membership would 
 have decreased rather than otherwise if these additions from 
 time to time had not occurred. Besides, commmiion seasons 
 always seemed to me, and I think to many of the people I 
 loved so much in Christ, as seasons of genuine revival. 
 
 Having finished my lectures on the two Epistles of Peter 
 I undertook a great work and wrote the following in my 
 journal under the date of July 23, 1859: "After much 
 hesitation I concluded to undertake the exposition of the 
 prophecies of Isaiah. Though I have sought divine direc- 
 tion, I enter upon the work with trepidation. And I may 
 add, it is very uncertain that I shall live to finish so great an 
 undertaking. If I live to complete the lectures, it will take 
 years of hard labor both in my study and in the pulpit." 
 
 Nearly five decades of years have passed since those lines 
 were written; and now I can say that I never regretted, not 
 much at least, that I undertook that very difficult task. I 
 sometimes feared that I had shown too much temerity in the 
 attempt; but as I progressed in the study and exposition I
 
 Work at home and in the courts. 233 
 
 became so interested and felt that I derived so much profit, 
 and all the while hoped that I was useful to the people, I 
 approved of my own action. As I advanced in the study I 
 saw more and more the propriety of the name commonly 
 given to Isaiah, "the Evangelical Prophet." And during 
 the course of lectures, always given in the forenoon, I often 
 found in the verses expounded rich texts for the afternoon 
 sermons. And when I came to the fifty- third chapter I 
 omitted the lectures and preached in the forenoon a sermon 
 on every verse, sometimes two. Where in all the New 
 Testament can a preacher find better texts for "Gospel 
 sermons ' ' ? 
 
 Not long after beginning these lectures I had another 
 favorable opportunity to gratify my love of the grand in 
 nature. If I need to apologize for copying from my journal 
 of that date it will be this; that at that time modern improve- 
 ments for the benefit of White Mountain tourists were un- 
 known, and in the fact that at that time I had not crossed 
 the Rocky Mountains nor had I seen the more beautiful and 
 grand Sierra Nevadas with their matchless Yo Semite Valley. 
 
 "Thursday, August 11. Last night I returned from the 
 White Mountains which I was visiting in company with my 
 dear friend Rev. J. M. Armour. I left home on Monday 
 and met him at Ivittleton, N. H., whence we passed on to 
 Bethlehem to lodge overnight. Early Tuesday morning we 
 started and rode to Braebrook's Hotel for breakfast, and 
 thence five miles to the Crawford House at the entrance of 
 the White Mountain Notch. Here we arrived just in time 
 to join a party of fifty seven on horseback to ascend Mount 
 Washington. We left at about 9 o'clock and arrived at the 
 summit at about i p. m. The path leads up the forest- 
 covered side of the mountain for some three or four miles, 
 after which it comes out upon bare mountain tops. Before 
 we reach Mt. Washington we pass over the other mountains
 
 234 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 — Clinton, Pleasant, Monroe. The path is steep, craggy, 
 rough, stony, dangerous, wild; and to one who is unused to 
 such a sight, it would seem impossible for horses to pass it. 
 The view from the mountains as we ascend is grand. From 
 Washington it is so magnificent, .so far beyond my most 
 sanguine expectations, I could never describe it. Soul ele- 
 vating indeed is the vision. I feel that I not only know more 
 but I hope am better since ni}- feet stood on that mountain 
 summit, 6,200 feet high. What grand and awful mountains 
 and chasms lie in every direction, no person can describe. 
 And those White Mountains! Pile upon pile, they tower 
 up, up, up until the peak of Washington seems to be in 
 heaven. And how craggy, rocky, grand, and picture.sque — 
 no! how vast, majestic, awful! What is He whose hand 
 rolled up those everlasting hills ? 
 
 "I should have said that there were about one hundred 
 people, probably one-third of them ladies, on the summit 
 when we were there. Nearly one hundred took dinner at 
 the Tip Top House. The provisions are all carried up on 
 pack-horses, eight or nine miles from below. Never shall I 
 regret my visit to Mt. Washington." On the Sabbath after 
 my return from the mountains, while the pictures on my 
 mind were fresh, I preached from the text: "Great and 
 marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty!" Of course 
 I used the old classification, works of creation, of provi- 
 dence, and of redemption or grace. 
 
 During the years now passing I think there was in that 
 part of Vermont a very great interest in the cause of Sab- 
 bath-schools. Never since have I seen anything like it. 
 Within two weeks after my return from the White Moun- 
 tains there were two very large public meetings, or "celebra- 
 tions," so called, in the interest of Sabbath-schools. The 
 first was at Bradford to which I was invited and special 
 duty assigned. Several thousands were present, mostly
 
 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE COURTS. 235 
 
 Sabbath-school scholars and workers including pastors and 
 people. The whole day was spent in appropriate exercises. 
 My old friend, Dr. McKeen, was most active and prominent. 
 The next week our Topsham Sabbath-school and seven 
 others from the adjacent towns and villages united in a 
 grand celebration or festival at Waits River village in an 
 adjacent grove. As at Bradford, several thousands were 
 present, brass band music, feasting at long tables burdened 
 with the richest viands that Vermont women could supply, 
 and four addresses by selected speakers. Rev. Professor 
 N. P. Gushing, Rev. Kingsbury, J. O. Peck, a theological 
 student, and the Topsham pastor. The subject of his 
 address was: "This is the Children's Age: It is the Prelude 
 of the Golden." Nearly the whole day was spent in those 
 joyful festivities; and the good people of Topsham were 
 proud of their Sabbath-school which was the largest of the 
 whole number present. It is probable that never afterwards 
 was it any larger but soon began to diminish as not long 
 afterwards the ever active Methodists organized a new and 
 separate school and graduall}' drew off some of our outside 
 or mission .scholars as well as their own children.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Eventful Days. 
 
 The fall meeting of Presbytery occurred on the 2d of 
 November. The days preceding and following were some- 
 what eventful. Having an appointment at Boston, for the 
 congregation was yet vacant, on my way thither I stopped 
 oflf at Manchester and Eawrence, Mass., to visit several 
 friends employed in the mills, some of them members of 
 Topsham congregation. At Boston I met licentiate J. C. K. 
 Faris, the first time, I think. He preached for me one-half 
 of the day; and on Monday we traveled to New York to- 
 gether. He was a pleasant as well as intelligent traveling 
 companion. 
 
 On Monday evening in New York I called upon a friend 
 at No. 26 Twenty-third Street, with whom I spent the 
 evening at the celebrated Dusseldorf Gallery of Paintings. 
 On Tuesday evening after hearing the sermon at the open- 
 ing of Presbytery I was taken sick. The next morning 
 though unable to eat breakfast I went to Presbytery but 
 was soon attacked with sickness so violent that I had to ask 
 leave of absence from Presbytery. I went to my home-like 
 lodgings at Mr. Andrew Knox's, went to bed and did not 
 leave my roDm until the morning of the third day. This 
 temporary sickness, the severest I had experienced for years, 
 was, I suppose, the result of the use of unhealthy diet for 
 some time especially after leaving home. To disobey is to 
 suffer. Friday the 4th was spent with a special friend in 
 visiting that beautiful and populous city of the dead, Green- 
 
 (236)
 
 EVENTFUL DAYS. 237 
 
 wood Cemetery. The evening was spent in the Inter- 
 national Art Gallery of Paintings. Saturday was spent at 
 the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and in Central Park. 
 This was about the first time since I had begun to preach 
 that I could find time to visit so many desirable places. 
 Perhaps between the lines the reader may be able to see the 
 reason. 
 
 It was not long after my return home that we heard 
 startling news from Harper's Ferry. Topsham village is 
 hid among the hills and twelve miles away from the Con- 
 necticut River Railroad. At that time there was no tele- 
 graphic communication with the outside world except as 
 brought to us by the newspaper. The account of the bloody 
 s:;enes that occurred at Harper's Ferry on the night of 
 the 17th of October, 1859, reached us first by the New 
 York Tribime. It sent a thrill to the hearts of all classes 
 interested in the question of slavery. Covenanters espe- 
 cially were anxious to know the result of the trial of 
 Captain John Brown. Very few others were in sympathy 
 with the old hero who had dared to take the sword to cut the 
 bondman's chain. Indeed, we were so anxious about the 
 result of the trial we had little time to discuss the question 
 of the rightfulness of his raid upon the slaveholders in 
 Virginia. Subsequently the intelligence of his being con- 
 demned to death by a Virginia court, and that on the 2d 
 of the approaching December he would be hung, gave to 
 some of us both sad hearts and indignant souls. At the 
 first opportunity — it was the first Sabbath after my return 
 from Presbytery — my afternoon's sermon was from the text: 
 Eccl. 7 17. "Oppression maketh a wivSeman mad." When 
 that sermon was preached, about seventeen months before 
 Fort Sumter was fired upon, none of us could foresee a 
 War of RebsUioLi; probably very few northerners either 
 expected or feared a war so soon if at all. The lack of such
 
 238 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 expectation will appear in the following extracts from the 
 notes of the discourse. They are given here and now only 
 to put on record what was thought in advance of the hang- 
 ing of John Brown and what the Topsham Covenanters 
 endorsed at that time. The occasion was peculiar and the 
 discourse was an exception. Its sentiments may not be 
 judged from the standpoint of tc-day but from that of 
 nearly forty years ago when we had not begun to fear a 
 Civil War. A few sentences will suffice to show the tenor 
 of the whole. 
 
 "Hurried to trial before his wounds are healed, and before 
 his counsel can be brought forward, he is condemned as a 
 traitor, an inciter of insurrection, and as a murderer. But 
 he did not commit treason, he failed to incite insurrection, 
 and he did not intend to shed blood, nor did he until attacked 
 and compelled to strike in self-defense. If he be hung he 
 will die a martyr to principle. His zeal may have been 
 rash but his motive was good. A martyr to liberty wWl 
 John Brown die. His blood will cry for vengeance, and from 
 that blood will rise up thousands of John Browns armed 
 with moral weapons and sworn to conquer and to destro}- 
 slavery or die. The terror with which this event fell upon 
 the south, shows the conscious weakness of 4he system. 
 Slaveholders know they tread on a volcano. What would 
 Virginia be without the power of the United States to keep 
 down her slaves ? Such scenes must be reenacted. Insur- 
 rection will be the order of the day, the rule, not the excep- 
 tion. Oppression will yet madden the slave, and who can 
 stay the hand of justice? That divine attribute can not 
 always slumber. How^ heartless are politicians who are 
 earnestl}^ calculating only the effect this tragedy wull have 
 on their party! Where is the guilt? What caused this 
 bloodshed ? What trained John Brown to this ? How comes 
 he to lie in a murderer's cell ? At whose hand will God re-
 
 EVENTFUL DAYS. 239 
 
 quire the blood of this victim of malicious wrong? Of the 
 people who hate the colored man, who sustain and apologize 
 for the vile system, who sustain a slaveholding civil govern- 
 ment and Federal Union, and who in their church relations 
 strike hands with the oppressor. What is our duty ? Pray 
 for the old hero. Imitate his zeal, not his unwisdom. Oh, 
 it is good that even one man can go mad, as they say Brown 
 is, in hatred of slavery! Is it not strange that there are so 
 few who become frenzied in hatred of oppression? If John 
 Brown be mad I would rather be a mad man than be among 
 his butcherers and his murderers. I would rather be in his 
 lonely cell or die his martj-red death than be the slaveholder 
 or a pitiful apologizer for the 'sum of all villainies. ' Give 
 us John Brown's zeal rather than cold-hearted apathy when 
 millions lie bleeding under the iron heel of the oppressor." 
 As usual there were many in the church besides the 
 "Presbyterians" — some pro-slaver}^ Democrats besides many 
 Republican politicians most of whom were strongly anti- 
 slavery. I did not preach to please any of them. I thought 
 I had the approbation of the Master and I felt confident that 
 the Covenanters would stand up for the right. That the 
 young men of the church followed their pastor, evidence was 
 not lacking. To be able to judge rightly of their character 
 and actions the reader must remember that the.se events 
 occurred eighteen months before the southerners attacked 
 Fort Sumter and two or three years before northern 
 soldiers sang: 
 
 'John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave, 
 As we go marching on." 
 
 The evening after the hanging of John Brown the Aboli- 
 tionists of Topsham held a public meeting in the town hall 
 at which resolutions were introduced and discu.ssed in part. 
 During the week following the hanging there were three or 
 four meetings, all largely attended, at which the discussions
 
 240 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 continued until the resolutions were finally disposed of. 
 Among the speakers who stood in defense of the Charles- 
 town martj^r were young Robert McNiece and Charles Divoll. 
 They used no carefully studied words to please pro-slavery 
 politicians or apologizers. While young McNiece was speak- 
 ing from his place in the audience, a big stout man walked 
 excitedly and hurriedly to the speaker and, shaking his 
 weapon at him, ordered him to "stop that talk," or some- 
 thing like that. The speaker did not stop. Too much 
 Scotch and Yankee blood was running hot in his veins. But 
 the words were scarcely out of the mouth of the man with 
 the bludgeon when two muscular Abolitionists rushed up to 
 him, caught him by the arms and, pulling him away, ordered 
 him to sit down and behave himself He believed that 
 obedience was the better part of valor, and young McNiece 
 finished his John Brown speech. The reader may not know 
 that that Covenanter boy was then a student in Dartmouth, 
 afterwards a popular principal of a city High School, then a 
 masterly editor of a daily paper, then a theological student 
 in Princeton but a Covenanter no more, and then the pastor 
 of the Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, and a man 
 who fought so nobly in the battle against polygamy that 
 Joseph Cook said of him: "There is no man in Utah whom 
 the Mormons fear so much as little Dr. McNiece." 
 
 After the Harper's Ferry disaster, and especiall}- after the 
 martyrdom of John Brown, the excitement that always 
 accompanied the discussion of the anti-slaver}- question con- 
 tinued to increase all over the north. Throughout the south 
 there was a growing apprehension of a coming storm. Slave- 
 holders were becoming more and more alarmed and more 
 threatening in their demands. They were angered at their 
 failure to make California a slave state. And then when the 
 struggle in Kansas resulted in forever shutting out slavery 
 and in securing it safe to freedom for all time, the wrath of
 
 R. G. McNiECE, D, D.
 
 EVENTFUL DAYS. 
 
 241 
 
 the slave power was almost demoniac. What John Brown 
 the fiery soldier had done to repel the border ruffians who 
 had determined to make Kansas a slave state, was well known 
 to southerners. When now they had the Kansas soldier at 
 their mercy in a Virginian prison, they hastened to execute 
 vengeance upon the helpless hero. They made quick work 
 of it. But they were not aware that they were only firing 
 the long-suffering heart of the anti-slavery north whose 
 people had not read the Bible and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 
 vain. The smouldering fires were soon to burst out; as yet 
 we did not know how soon. God's time had not come yet. 
 Our winter communion in this year, 1859, occurred on the 
 last Sabbath of December. Brother Armour of Craftsbury 
 was my assistant. For nearly a week prior to the Sabbath 
 I was a great sufferer from neuralgia in the face, and had to 
 go to Bradford to submit to a slight surgical operation. 
 This compelled me to throw the burden of the work upon 
 Mr. Armour which he bore pleasantly and well. However, 
 on Sabbath I was helped by the Spirit and preached the 
 "action sermon" 1, jm the text, Ex. 28:2. "And thou 
 shalt make for Aaron thy brother holy garments for glory 
 and for beauty." 
 
 On Tuesday following I went to New York City on a 
 special errand and in fulfilment of a willing promise made to 
 a special friend there. I did not consult the elders nor did I 
 notify the wives or their daughters of my intention to go to 
 the metropolis. All any one knew was that I had gone to 
 Bradford Tuesday morning. When I returned home Friday 
 evening I learned that there had been no little curiosity 
 among some who belong to that class that think they have a 
 right always to know the plans and whereabouts of the 
 pastor. Madam Curiosity was on tiptoe, but no one cared 
 to ask me directly where I had been. And as the friends 
 with whom I boarded (I was still lodging alone in the par- 
 16
 
 2^2 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 sonage) did not ask any questions, I found it somewhat easj' 
 to let them be ignorant. But I did not escape the wit of 
 Judge George, ' ' mine host, ' ' who, remembering how ear- 
 nestl)' I had advocated John Brown's cause, insisted before 
 his family at the breakfast table that I must have been away 
 making arrangements to bring the old martyr's widow to 
 occupy the parsonage. I uttered no denial but helped him 
 to enjoy the joke. 
 
 Perhaps the reader's curiosity is excited. I can satisfy it 
 only in part yet a little. While in Gotham I did not report 
 myself at Mr. Knox's where I had been accustomed to lodge 
 when attending Presbytery. On arrival I took lodging at a 
 quiet hotel but spent the afternoons and evenings with my 
 special friend who did not board in a Covenanter family. I 
 confess I did not care to advertise myself to the brethren and 
 sisters of that city as present in it. It was winter holidays 
 and intenseh' cold during the time I was in the city ; and so 
 I got out of it on Friday morning without being discovered 
 by m}' Covenanter friends. 
 
 The second Sabbath after my return home was Brother 
 Armour's communion at which I had promi.sed to give him 
 assistance. Thus I was awaj' again nearly a week. But 
 who that believes it is not good for a man to be alone for 
 years in a country- village parsonage could blame the parson 
 for loving to be with Brother Armour during another of his 
 precious communion seasons? During the four days I 
 preached a sermon ever>' day and performed nearly all the 
 other services. But even if in no "other way, I was amply 
 repaid by having the privilege of hearing Mr. Armour's 
 "action sermon." Like all I ever heard him give on sacra- 
 mental occasions, it was great and good. 
 
 Friday evening after returning home was the 3d or 4th 
 John Brown anti-slaver}- meeting. The resolutions reported 
 at the first meet-ing had not yet been voted upon and so were
 
 EVENTFUL DAYS. 243 
 
 discussed again. It was the evening of Janiian' 13, i860. 
 Opening my journal of this date I find the following record : 
 "I spoke nearly two hours to a large audience, a majority of 
 whom were Democrats. I gave them a heavy fire against 
 pro-slavery doctrines. The conflict here is fiercer than ever 
 before. Some would hang Abolitionists if they dare Our 
 testimony is working in the minds of not a few. The truth 
 will triumph yet. and Christ will be honored and the slave 
 freed." Whether the resolutions were adopted is not 
 recorded. Probably they were not or the fact would have 
 been stated. 
 
 During the remainder of the winter I was busy at ordinary 
 pastoral duties and at family visitation. This was alwaj's 
 attended to twice a year. While performing this dutj' in a 
 family whose head, a son-in-law of one of the elders, had 
 been under suspension several ^-ears before I was installed 
 pastor, but whose wife was in regular standing and whose 
 children attended Sabbath-school, the following incident 
 occurred and showed in what an embittered state of mind he 
 was, for he so hated the church he rarely ever attended any 
 of the services. The father-in-law was the elder with me 
 that da}-, and that elder was hated by the head of the family. 
 The record in m}- journal reads thus: "He showed great 
 aversion to my attending to m}- dut\-. After some talk I 
 asked him if he was willing for me to pra}- in the familj'. 
 He said, not if I prayed as I did the last time I was there 
 but that I might pray if I did not pra}- about him, 'twitting 
 and slurring,' I think were the words. I rose and, bidding 
 farewell with Mrs. Caldwell, came away. I mentalh- shook 
 the dust from m\- feet as a testimony against him. To his 
 God and judge I commit him." I hope few pastors if any 
 have such experiences. 
 
 In those days I preached occasionally in neighboring 
 towns or villages in which were either members of the con-
 
 244 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 gregatioii or friends of Presbyterians. In the village of West 
 Topsham, situated on the western boundary of the town, 
 was a good woman and a genuine Covenanter but she resided 
 so far away she could not always attend preaching at the 
 church in the center of the town. She had been trained up 
 in a Congregational family but subsequently embraced our 
 principles and ever contended for them. Her husband was 
 a lawyer and a politician but always kind to her and some- 
 times brought her over to church. In West Topsham the one 
 house of worship was a union church occupied on alternate 
 Sabbaths by the Methodists and Baptists. A few of both 
 were somewhat anti-slavery, but the ministers had to be 
 cautious how they .spoke or prayed in reference to the "Sum 
 of all Villainies." Mrs. Dickey wished the whole of the 
 Gospel to be heard in the village and opened the way for her 
 pastor to preach one Sabbath in the union church. In 
 the forenoon I di.scoursed from Acts 17 : i-g, deducing the 
 truth that "Christians are agitators," meaning, of course, 
 that they should be, and I showed that ' 'it always has been 
 so, ' ' and that ' Sve would expect it to be so. ' ' In the after- 
 noon the sermon was from that great text: "God forbid that 
 I should glory .save in the cross of our L-ord Jesus Christ." 
 In one of the pews was an old man who occasionally shouted 
 out, ''Amen!''' and at one time cried aloud and wept like a 
 child. I had not been accustomed to such Methodist-like 
 demonstrations at home and was ."^omewhat disturbed ; but 
 on a second thought the inquiry arose, Are such emotional 
 demonstrations proper ? Should they be permitted without 
 di.sapproval ? Mu.st we restrain and hide from others our 
 deeply stirred emotions when hearing the great awakening 
 truths of I he Gospel? Or must the preacher be cautious and 
 take care lest he arouse the deeper emotions of his hearers ? 
 What is a .sleeping congregation worth? or a dead church ? 
 Mrs. Dickey, that precious woman, is yet living in West
 
 EVENTFUL DAYS. :545 
 
 Topsham and as far as I know coutinues faithful to Christ 
 and her Covenanter vows; but she is yet the only Presby- 
 terian there except a few baptized members who have not 
 the courage of their own convictions. 
 
 If the reader had been in the Topsham church on Sab- 
 bath, February ii, i860, at the close of the services he 
 would have heard the following notice read by the precentor: 
 viz., "There is a purpose of marriage between N. R. John- 
 ston and Miss Rosamond Rogers, of New York." This 
 "proclamation of bans" as read in the Third New York 
 Church, Rev. J. R. W. Sloane pastor, was modified and 
 read thus: "There is a purpose of marriage between Rev. 
 N. R. Johnston of Vermont and Miss Rosamond Rogers of 
 this congregation." 
 
 The parson's secret was out. He and his New York 
 friend had kept their own matters to themselves up until 
 the public proclamation. "Madam Curiosity" now under- 
 stood better where the pastor had been during the holiday 
 week, but was not .satisfied in her ignorance of the person 
 named in the notice read by Precentor McNiece. It was 
 read after the benediction at the close of the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian service. While it was being read the victim of the 
 old law was standing with his back to the congregation and 
 was engaged in putting on his overcoat or stooping down 
 putting on his overshoes. Before he was done with this 
 unhurried process the people were going out of the church 
 to the relief of the same victim. The New York victim of 
 the other sex, as I learned afterwards, escaped from the 
 ordeal by sitting that Sabbath afternoon near the church 
 door and making her hasty exit immediately after the bene- 
 diction. 
 
 I do not write thus lightly about these proclamations of 
 bans because of any objection to the law and custom. In 
 subsequent years Synod, under the stress of long-continued
 
 ^46 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAKD. 
 
 opposition to it and because so many declined to obey it, 
 repealed the law in its old form. It the civil law had been 
 what it should have been the church would have had no 
 trouble. But many mistaken (not to say foolish) people' 
 take the civil law as the rule of action. In Vermont the 
 law was reasonable and proper. It required public procla- 
 mation of bans, three weeks before marriage, or public 
 written notices on the door of the church or on the door of 
 the town hall. So when the proclamation was made in 
 Topsham it was in obedience to the law of the state as well 
 as of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. And that old law 
 should never have been repealed. The state of Vermont 
 had and has more good sense in this matter than have the 
 churches that have repealed the old law of the Westminster 
 divines. The evils that grow out of secret or hasty or 
 unpublished marriages are legion. The whole divorce sys- 
 tem in the states of this Union is in defiance of the law of 
 Christ and it smells rank with pollution.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Winter Is Past. Joyous Spring Comes. 
 
 As foreshadowed by the proclamation of bans, the mar- 
 riage occurred in New York on Thursday P. M. March i, 
 i860. The ceremony was performed in the Twenty -third 
 Street Reformed Presbyteriam Church by the pastor, Rev. 
 J. W. R. Sloane, assisted by Rev. J. C. K. Milligan, and in 
 the presence of a large number of invited friends. Intend- 
 ing to spend the Sabbath in Boston, as soon as our good- 
 bys were said we took the first New Haven and Boston 
 train and took lodging in the latter city at the old Marlboro 
 House, the "New England Ministers' Home." We wor- 
 shiped on Sabbath with the Covenanters whose preacher was 
 licentiate William Graham. The congregation had called 
 him and he had accepted the call but had not been ordained 
 yet. This was the last time I ever worshiped in that con- 
 gregation until after the death of the pastor about thirty- 
 three years later. 
 
 On Monday when the Bradford stage landed us at East 
 Corinth we found a company of friends who had come to 
 meet us and escort us to the parsonage. When I had left 
 home, starting for New York, I had driven my horse and 
 sleigh to Corinth and left them there to be ready for use on 
 my return. My horse, my beautiful Charlie of which I had 
 always been proud, now dancing in his bells so eager to get 
 home, led the company and brought us to the parsonage 
 almost "in a jiffy." We found the house crowded full of 
 friends who had come to welcome home the pastor and his 
 
 (247)
 
 248 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 new wife and, after the Yankee fashion, make them a "dona- 
 tion party." Only the older folks were present that even- 
 ing. The next evening the young people came in like 
 manner. And now after nearly three years of loneliness and 
 only partial occupancy the Topsham parsonage was once 
 more the home of joy and gladness. 
 
 Rosamond Rogers was born in Albany, Vermont, March 
 2, 1832. She was the oldest child of James Rogers and 
 Nancy (Chamberlain) Rogers. Her father was the second 
 son of Jesse Rogers and Sarah (Wylie) Rogers, he of Puri- 
 tan ancestry, she of Scotch Irish. Grandmother Rogers 
 was born in New Hampshire, of Covenanter parents, and 
 after removal to Vermont was one of the charter members 
 of Craftsbury congregation. Some of her children were 
 Covenanters and some Congregationalists. Rosamond's 
 parents were the latter, but she herself was so much influ- 
 enced by her grandmother's teachings and example that she 
 followed in her footsteps. 
 
 From girlhood Rosamond Rogers was a devotee to temper- 
 ance principles and an intelligent foe of slavery. Early in 
 the history of the an ti -slavery agitation she had the oppor- 
 tunity of hearing some of the ablest and most earnest lec- 
 turers, such as Henry Highland Garrett and the Clark 
 brothers. Under the culture of her Covenanter grand- 
 mother and her anti-slavery parents and their pastor who 
 was a most zealous Abolitionist, and by the reading of such 
 anti-slavery books as "The Thousand Witnesses" by Theo- 
 dore Weld and the Grimkes, she had become a hater of 
 oppression and an Abolitionist before she read "Uncle Tom's 
 Cabin." 
 
 Her father was a Verm.ont farmer, and she grew up in a 
 home in which she had the advantages of New England 
 farm life and of a Vermont education. Before completing 
 the course of study in the Craftsbury Academy she visited
 
 JOYOUS SPRING COMES. ^49 
 
 her uncles in New York City by whom she was persuaded, 
 after obtaining her parents' consent, to remain and become 
 a teacher. Subsequently she entered the New York City 
 Normal School, now New York City College, in which she 
 graduated. She continued to teach until the time of her 
 marriage. Her profession of faith was made in connection 
 with the Third Reformed Presbyterian Church of New York, 
 Rev J. R. W. Sloane pastor. This had occurred some years 
 before we first met and formed acquaintance, and she con- 
 tinued a member of the third congregation until her removal 
 to Topsham. 
 
 It was easy for the young wife to adapt herself to her new 
 life and to her new responsibilities in the parsonage and 
 in the congregation. Having superior qualifications as a 
 teacher and as instructor in music, the Sabbath-school 
 received a new impetus. 
 
 Shortly before leaving New York she had heard her 
 pastor preach his great John Brown sermon; and coming to 
 Topsham before the agitation at the time of the John Brown 
 meetings had subsided, she was in full sympathy with the 
 Topsham Covenanters in their war against oppression. 
 
 As the months passed and when the Vermont forests, 
 always beautiful, had put on their richest foliage, we were 
 favored with a visit from the eloquent colored lecturer, 
 William Wells Brown. In arranging his anti-slavery meet- 
 ings I planned them so that we could be with him while on 
 our way to Fayston where I had a Presbyterial appointment 
 to preach. Beginning with Monday, and driving our own 
 Charlie from town to town, we had full houses every after- 
 noon. At most of the meetings Wells Brown was the prin- 
 cipal speaker; but in all of them we supplied the song music. 
 Before leaving home we had drilled ourselves in the use of 
 George W. Clark's grand old "Liberty Minstrel," full of 
 the soul of freedom and of appeals for the bondman. We
 
 250 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 were not rivals to the Hutcbinsons but our anti-slavery 
 song's seemed to help greatly to produce a deeper hatred of 
 the auction block, the slaves' dark prison-house and the 
 overseer's lash. Those who live now a generation after the 
 emancipation of the millions can hardly know what pity for 
 the bondman and what hatred of oppression were intensified 
 by the anti-slavery songs of that time whether as sung by 
 theClarks, the Hutchinsons, or fugitive slaves who repeated 
 their sad plantation melodies. And those who never heard 
 the Hutchinsons sing their anti-slavery songs in the dark 
 days of slavery — ^the Hutchinsons when all the brothers and 
 sisters were in their prime — were deprived of a very rare 
 privilege. No such sweet and yet soul-stirring song music 
 ever had an equal until after emancipation when the Fisk 
 jubilee singers gave to the north their plantation songs. 
 The Hutchinsons often sang at the anti-slavery anniversaries. 
 I heard them for the first time in New York when, among 
 others, three of the greatest Abolitionists and platform speak- 
 ers, Theo. Parker, Charles Sumner, and Wendell Phillips, 
 gave addresses in the old Metropolitan Temple. Their song 
 pleas for the slave were eloquently persuasive; and much of 
 the success of the great evangelist Moody is due to the 
 singing of Ira D. Sankey. Well did Martin Luther say: 
 "Whoever despises music, I am displeased with him." 
 
 The songs we sang most were of the plaintive kind such 
 as Whittier's 
 
 "Gone, gone — sold and gone, 
 To the rice swamp dank and lone, 
 Where the slave- whip ceaseless swings," etc., 
 or 
 
 "From Virginia's hills and waters, 
 Woe is me, my sons and daughters;" 
 
 or Elizur Wright's touching plea, "The Fugitive Slave to 
 the Christian," with its chorus:
 
 JOYOUS SPRING COMES. 25 1 
 
 "Tlie houncls are baying on my track, 
 O Christian, will you send nie back?" 
 
 or Lewis' " Wake Ye Numbers" with its chorus: 
 
 "Afric's bleeding sons and daughters, 
 Now before us, loud implore us. 
 
 Looking to Jehovah's throne. 
 Chains are wearing, hearts despairing; 
 
 Will you hear a nation's moan?" 
 
 After our meeting at West Randolph where Wells Brown 
 did grand service against oppression, he was called to 
 other towns anxious to hear him and we had to part from 
 him to fulfil the appointments at West Brookfield and at 
 Waitsfield. At the former the arrangements for the meet- 
 ing had been made by Rev. Jehial Claflin, the pastor of the 
 Freewill Baptist Church. He was a zealous Garrisonian 
 Abolitionist and in full sympathy with my most ra li 
 lecture in which I promulgated the duty of separation from 
 the pro-slavery government under a slaveholding Constitu- 
 tion. The church was crowded full of people whose senti- 
 ments I did not know, though I presume that many of them 
 were anti-slavery as were nearly all Freewill Baptists in New 
 England. In one case I had no doubt. An old man, per- 
 haps one of the deacons, who sat in a front pew could not 
 be quiet, but as he warmed up, every now and then he 
 shouted out: "Truth!" or " That's the truth ! " "Truth! 
 Amen!" That the speaker was emboldened by such demon- 
 strations I may not deny. He was only a mortal. 
 
 Our anti-slavery songs and the singing of the "better 
 half" must have been pleasing to Pastor Claflin in whose 
 beautiful home we were entertained, for when we were all 
 about to begin family worship, no book being present except 
 the Bible, he said to us: "Will you and Mrs. Johnston please 
 sing Northfield?" My thoughtful helper relieved me of the 
 embarrassment of having to inform my Baptist brother that
 
 ^52 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 we were old psalm-singers, for she promptly replied: "Mr. 
 Ciaflin, please excuse us, we are tired." At morning 
 prayers nothing was said about singing. 
 
 Our last meeting was at Waitsfield, near Fayston. That 
 was the town in which, a year or so before, I had had the 
 discussion with the Congregational pastor on the character 
 of the United States Constitution and when the Covenanters 
 present thought a great victory for the truth had been won. 
 The large church was crowded full; and though I gave them 
 only a half-hour's speech the interest seemed to increase to 
 the end. The reasons were not accidental. We gave them 
 our best songs, and one or two of them were called for again. 
 That community had been well leavened with anti-slavery 
 truths, for Rev. Mr. Prindle was an outspoken Abolitionist 
 of the Gerrit Smith class; and Vermont, like the whole 
 north, was in that state of ebullition which followed the 
 hanging of John Brown and the nomination of Abraham 
 L/incoln for President. 
 
 Rarely ever in the history of the c^luntry was there such 
 agitation in both church and state on all subjects interwoven 
 with the great question of slavery as there was during the 
 summer and autumn of i860. The organization of the 
 Republican party and the election of Abraham Lincoln were 
 on the issue of the non-extension of slave territory-. That 
 party agreed to carry out the pro-slavery provisions of the 
 Constitution, including the return of fugitive slaves as pro- 
 vided for by the fugitive slave law which had been enacted 
 to appease the south and assure them that the Constitution 
 would be kept in good faith. When the Republican party 
 succeeded and President L,incoln was inaugurated, the south 
 saw that it was the determination of the north and the new 
 party now in power to prevent the extension of slave terri- 
 tory or the admission of new slave states. The south 
 determined not to submit to that decision. These northern
 
 JOYOUvS SPRING COMES. 253 
 
 men with southern principles became more apologetic for 
 slavery. E\'en members of churches that tolerated slavery 
 or that had members in the southern states who held slaves, 
 apologized for slavery or argued that it was not in itself 
 wrong but that the sin was in the circumstances, e. g., in 
 separating families or in cruelty to the slaves. Of such kind 
 were some professors in Topsham. And then some of the 
 go^d Methodist brothers and sisters took umbrage at the 
 "Presbyterian minister " because he had said that tlie Meth- 
 odist Church was pro-slavery. At that time there was no 
 Methodist Church North or South, All were in one church. 
 The conference had decreed that ministers must be non- 
 slaveholders; but laymen and women continued to buy and 
 sell slaves as they chose and went un whipped of justice. 
 Such subjects were agitating the community so much at this 
 time that I was urgently requested to preach on the institu- 
 tion of American slavery and show everybody exactly what 
 the Bible teaches about the "patriarchal institution" or 
 "the sum of all villainies." I responded by giving a series 
 of discourses, four in number, in four or five successive Sab- 
 baths.' I suppose they did not diminish the excitement and 
 perhaps did not change the mind of "northern men with 
 southern principles." I hoped, however, that at least Cov- 
 enanters and other Abolitionists would be better able to 
 defend the Bible against every as.sertion that it gives sanction 
 to slaveholding. 
 
 After the nomination of Abraham Lincoln, Topsham Cov- 
 enanters found it difficult to avoid the censure of anti-slavery 
 Christians. These thought that now when the Repubhcan 
 party had been organized on what some called an anti-slavery 
 platform — anti-slavery not because it proposed to do any- 
 thing to destroy slavery but only to confine it to its present 
 limits — Covenanters should vote for Mr. Lincoln. Many 
 anti-slavery Republicans, however, really thought that this
 
 254 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 party was a real anti-slavery party. In the campaign in 
 Vermont they employed Lucy Stone to speak at political 
 meetings. One of these was appointed at East Corinth four 
 miles below Topsham. I went to hear her because it was 
 Lucy Stone. Because of sickness she was not there. Nor 
 was any Republican speaker present. On motion of a friend, 
 though a politician, I was invited to take her place and speak. 
 I could hardly resist the temptation, but on a moment's 
 reflection I had to decline. I could not advocate the Repub- 
 lican cause or platform or the election of Lincoln, and to 
 make a speech in advocacy of my own real sentiments would 
 be in such bad taste or so discourteous I would give only 
 displeasure; and, more, I would appear before the public as 
 acting with the Republican party. I respectfully asked to 
 be excused partly because I could not speak without some 
 forethought. For this act I was severely censured by many 
 who said if I had wished to speak I could. But I could not 
 on a compromise platform. I could not speak at a meeting 
 called to favor the election of even Abraham Lincoln who 
 was pledged, by his official oath to enforce the Constitution 
 and the fugitive slave law. Rather would I endure the 
 obloquy of a " comeouter " or a dissenter. 
 
 Those who have read Mrs. Swisshelm's "Half Century" 
 will be remin:led of the defense she makes of herself when 
 she, during this same campaign, was a platform advocate of 
 the Republican party. How lame and how unfair a great 
 woman may become when she engages in a bad or even 
 doubtful career ! Mrs. Swisshelm was a new-school Cov- 
 enanter. At this time she was editing a Republican paper in 
 Minnesota and was on a political platform, good as far as it 
 extended but bad because it demanded no more than this: 
 " No extension of slave territory." Here is a part of her 
 defense: "Yet even then, the opposition of the Garrisonians 
 was most persistent. There was a large anti-.slavery element
 
 JOYOUS SPRING COMES. 255 
 
 among the original settlers of Minnesota, but it was mostly 
 of the Garrisonian or non-voting type, and had laid dormant 
 under pro-slavery rule. To utilize thi.s element at the polls 
 was my special desire. The ground occupied by thern was 
 the one I had abandoned, i. e., the ground made by the 
 Covenanters when the Constitution first appeared. They 
 pronounced it "a covenant with death and an agreement 
 with hell," and would not vote or hold office under it; 
 would not take an oath to support it. So firmly had Gar- 
 rison planted himself on the old Covenanter platform, that 
 it is doubtful whether he labored harder for the overthrow of 
 slavery or political anti-slavery; whether he more fiercely 
 denounced slaveholders or men who voted against slave- 
 holding. Once after a "flaming" denunciation of political 
 Abolitionists, someone said to him: 
 
 " Mr. Garrison, I am surprised at the ground you take ! 
 Do you not think James G. Birney and Gerrit vSmith are 
 anti-slavery ?" 
 
 He hesitated, and replied: 
 
 " They have anti-slavery tendencies, I admit." 
 
 "Now, James G. Birney, when a young man, fell heir 
 to the third of an Alabama estate, and arranged with the 
 other heirs to take the slaves as his portion. He took them 
 all into a free state, emancipated them, and left himself 
 without a dollar, but went to work and became the leader 
 of political Abolitionists w^hile Gerrit Smith devoted his 
 splendid talents and immense wealth to the cause of the 
 slave. When their mode of action was so reprehensible to 
 Mr. Garrison, we mav judge the strength of his opposition 
 to that plan of action which resulted in the overthrow of 
 slavery. His non-resistance covered ballots as well as 
 bullets, and slavery, the creation of brute force and ballots, 
 must not be attacked by any weapon, save moral suasion. 
 So it was, that Garrisonianism, off the line of the under- 
 ground railroad, was a harmless foe to slavery, and was 
 often used by it to prevent the casting of votes which would 
 endanger its power.
 
 256 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 "From the action of the slave power, it must bj^ that time 
 have been apparent to all, that adverse votes was what it 
 most dreaded;. but old-side Covenanters, Quakers, and Garri- 
 sonians could not cast the.-e without soiling their hands by 
 touching that bad Constitution. But that moral dilettante- 
 ism, which thinks first of its own hands, was not confined to 
 non-voting Abolitionists; for the 'thorough goers' of the 
 old Libert}- party could not come down from their perch on 
 platforms which embraced all the moralities, to w^ork on one 
 which only said to slaver)', 'Not another foot of territory.' 
 
 "Both these parties attacked me. The one argued that I, 
 of necessity, endorsed slavery everywhere by recognizing the 
 Constitution; the other that I must favor its existence where 
 it then was, by working with the Republican party, which 
 was only pledged to prevent its extension. To me, these 
 positions seemed utterly untenable, their arguments pre- 
 posterous, and I did my best to make this appear. I claimed 
 the Constitution as anti-slavery, and taught the duty of 
 overthrowing slavery by and through it." 
 
 But Mrs. Swisshelm knew that her claim was wholly un- 
 tenable. Hers was a vain subterfuge. If that talented 
 woman and brilliant writer had said all this during the 
 whirl of the political campaign instead of twenty 3-ears after- 
 wards and subsequent to the amendment of the Constitu- 
 tion, charit}' might say that she really believed what she 
 said about that fundamental law. But to even her admirers 
 and friends it must be incredible. And probablj' not one 
 intelligent statesman of any party, much less au}^ judge of 
 any court in the land, now holds to that exploded theor}'. 
 If it had any merit whatever it was that it seemed to furnish 
 an opiate to the consciences of some excellent Abolitionists 
 who thought thev must vote if not be in office also.
 
 Wendell Phillips
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Wendell Phillips. Anniversaries. 
 
 M\ first personal acquaintance with Wendell Phillips was 
 only casual. I had heard him speak at several anniversaries 
 and had had some correspondence with him by letter before 
 we had any personal interview. I knew his personal worth 
 and his irreproachable life, his orthodox Christian belief, 
 his sacrifices made for the slave, and his wonderful power as 
 a public speaker; I had a most profound admiration of him 
 as the greatest and the best of the whole host of Abolitionists 
 outside of the Covenanter Church, and I had long desired to 
 be personally acquainted with him, but I had had no oppor- 
 tunity. I was not a stranger to him, however. He knew 
 something of what I bad tried to do for the anti-slavery 
 cause in Vermont, if not before, and he may have read some 
 of the numerous articles that appeared from time to time in 
 the National Anti-Slavery Standard and in the Liberator; so 
 when we did meet it was not as strangers. He knew me as 
 an old Covenanter and in full sympathy with him and the 
 Garrisonian Abolitionists. We needed no introduction. 
 When in his company I knew I was in the presence of a 
 fine scholar, a polished gentleman, and an acknowledged 
 leader who in all the ranks of the anti-slavery hosts as a 
 classical orator and advocate of the right and in scathing 
 denunciation of the wrong, had no peer. The anti-slavery 
 people of both divisions admired and honored him; the 
 Garrisonians loved him and were proud of him. Yet he 
 never seemed to know it. Even when receiving the greatest 
 
 17 (257)
 
 258 I.OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 outbursts of applause from the listening thousands no one 
 could detect in him then or at any time the least evidence of 
 vanity. One would think he was wholly unconscious of the 
 applause. 
 
 The secret or the hidden sources of Wendell Phillips' 
 eloquence are indefinable. His was unique. He had copied 
 after no master. It would have been folly for any one to 
 try to imitate his oratory. Many on hearing him the first 
 time were disappointed, his was so unlike what most people 
 call eloquence. He used very few gestures; and except when 
 at rare times he was greatly aroused, his body was almost 
 motionless. He rarely ever became "impassioned," and 
 never declamatory. To appreciate the superior eloquence of 
 him whom they called the "Silver Tongued" the intelligent 
 listener needed only to give attention to his sentiments, for 
 he was the friend of the poor against the rich, and of the 
 oppressed against the oppressor; or to the chaste and classical 
 •style in which he advocated the right against the wrong 
 whether in the church or in the state. And it must not be 
 forgotten that it was his zeal in the cause of human rights 
 and his hatred of American slavery that made Wendell 
 Phillips what he was as an orator. On other or ordinary 
 platforms he may have had some peers; on the anti-slavery, 
 he had none. Those who never heard him as an Aboli- 
 tionist and in the dark days of the reign of the oppressor, 
 never could know his greatness as an orator. And if they 
 wish to see, as far as it is possible to see in type, a specimen 
 of his unique mode of giving expression to imperishable 
 truths, let them read the eulogium of John Brown pro- 
 nounced at the burial at North Elba fcy the ' ' heaven-inspired 
 soul of Wendell Phillips.'"-'- His style of thought was 
 original. The great truths to which he gave utterance were 
 clothed in the purest and finest rhetoric. His logic was 
 
 *Redpath's "Life of John Brown."
 
 WENDELL PHILLIPS. ANNIVERSARIES. 259 
 
 without fault. Anything light or trivial or undignified never 
 fell from his lips. To low invective he was a stranger; yet 
 of deserved and withering .sarcasm he was master. Cunning 
 politicians feared him, and not a few of those who aspired to 
 honors won at the sacrifice of right fell before his Dama.scus 
 blade. Daniel Webster might have been President after his 
 gigantic efforts to persuade the north to con.sentto the enact- 
 ment of the fugitive slave law if Wendell Phillips had not 
 stood in the way. When in the nation's capitol right and 
 wrong were being weighed in the scales — when millions 
 were wanting to see whether Congress would so far forget 
 God and the slave as to grant to the southern slaveholders 
 that their demand that national law should give them the 
 right to hunt and drag back to bondage the fleeing slave 
 whenever he might be caught — when at that crucial hour 
 Webster proved treacherous to justice and false to the slave 
 and by his great influence and b}' the greatest effort of his 
 life he helped to secure the passage of the infamous "black 
 bill of 1850," not New England only but the best people of 
 the north were aroused by the voice of Wendell Phillips to 
 indignation at Webster's treachery to humanity as well as to 
 the right; and Massachusetts' proud aspirant to the presi- 
 dency lost his honor and lost the nomination. Not long 
 afterwards he pas.sed away from earth wept by those who 
 had ever cast their crowns at his feet but who were now sad 
 in heart that such gigantic powers had been prostituted to 
 win the favor of slaveholders and to save the Union. 
 • To not lose sight of the chronology I am trying to follow, 
 in this connection I may mention some incidents connected 
 with .several anti-slavery^ anniversaries. Those of the Na- 
 tional Society were always in New York City. Rev. Dr. 
 Andrew Stevenson, pastor of the Second Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church, being a warm Abolitionist, was nearly always 
 pre.sent, and to show on which side of the great question
 
 26o LOOKING BACK FROM THU SUNSET LAND. 
 
 then before the nation he was, he sat on the platform, Mr. 
 Garrison, the president, in the chair. I think it was in that 
 year which followed the great financial panic of 1858 and 
 when a remarkable religions awakening or revival swept 
 over the whole country. Among the Garrisonians were 
 always some who were far from orthodox in their religious 
 faith — some Hixite Quakers, some unbelievers if not "infi- 
 dels" who were glad to use the pro-slavery character of the 
 churches as an argument against them as "dens of thieves," 
 as denominated by Henry C Wright in his book against 
 slaveholding churches. 
 
 As Mr. Garrison in his Liberator always advocated both 
 free speech and a free press, always giving a column of 
 his paper to pro-slaver}- writers or copied articles, as the 
 presiding officer he gave, as some thought, I among others, 
 too much freedom of speech in the discussions during the 
 anniversaries. At this meeting several argued that the 
 revival that had been active during the winter previous 
 must be spurious, or that the religion of many of the revived 
 must be worthless because it was followed in no case by the 
 emancipation of slaves. The argument was: "By their 
 fruits ye shall know them." 
 
 During the discussion sentiments were expressed that 
 many present disapproved or thought should not have been 
 tolerated. One of the speakers was a woman, a prominent 
 Jewess'^ of New York City, and an eloquent advocate of 
 human rights, but who probably hated Christianity as much 
 as slavery. In the discussion she took the opportunity to 
 make a "fling" at the Bible. When she had closed her 
 speech, Wendell Phillips, who was sitting in the avidieiice, 
 was called to the platform. He began his speech in these 
 words: " Yoii can't whistle doivn the Bible!''' He spoke a few 
 sentences in the same strain and disapproved of what had 
 been said by the Jewess, but the applause that followed that 
 
 * Ernestine L. Rose,
 
 WENDELL PHILLIPS. ANNIVERSARIES. 26 1 
 
 first sentence and my own mental excitement at the time 
 prevented memory from doing its work. 
 
 Before I bad left home to attend Presbytery and the 
 anniversary I had correspondence with Rev. J. M. Willson 
 of Philadelphia urging him to be at the latter, for I was 
 anxious that Covenanters might be associated with the 
 Abolitionists not only to be co-workers in the cause of the 
 slave but that they might counteract whatever infidel influ- 
 ences were chargeable against any of the Garrisonians. 
 Mr. Willson was present the first day and heard the unhappy 
 discussions mentioned above. I thought he was disap- 
 pointed if not also displeased; at all events he did not remain 
 the next day. Dr, Stevenson, however, was back again and 
 in his place on the platform. Not far from him' Lucy Stone 
 took her seat. She was to be one of the speakers that 
 session. I knew his antipathy to "women speakers." I 
 doubted whether he would have gone upon the platform if 
 he had known that a woman would be there. After a while 
 she was announced and as she proceeded in her plea for the 
 slave and especially for the slave mother, I looked at Dr. 
 Stevenson to see how he enjoyed the address. He was sit- 
 ting somewhat bent forward, with both hands resting upon 
 his cane, and the great big tears were streaming down his 
 face and falling upon the floor. His heart was so moved by 
 the warm eloquence of Lucy Stone he forgot she was a 
 woman. He was such a true friend to the slave I would be 
 glad to know that afterwards he endorsed the sentiment long 
 before expressed by his father-in-law, old Dr. Willson, that 
 "when men, who can and who should speak for the slave, 
 will not, then let woman speak; and I say, God bless her!" 
 It was probably the autumn following that I was invited 
 to attend the annual meeting of the New England Anti- 
 slavery Society in Boston and to allow my name to be on 
 the program as one of the speakers. I assented though with
 
 262 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 much hesitation for I knew well that it was not meet that I 
 should be associated as a speaker on the platform with the 
 old and eloquent "Apostles of Liberty." But I knew that 
 Mr. Garrison, Mr. May, and other prudent leaders were 
 anxious to have the cooperation of Christian ministers, 
 especially Covenanters who, as they knew, held sentiments 
 as to the character of the United States Constitution and 
 Government similar to their own. And I confess that I was 
 desirous of having an opportunity in Boston to let it be 
 known that there was an orthodox church in the United 
 States that had no union with slaveholders — a church that 
 had been dissenting or "comeouter" before Mr. Garrison 
 came out of the old slaveholding Baptist Church. It had 
 been arranged that at one of the sessions of the convention I 
 should be the second speaker and be followed by Mr. Phillips. 
 The hall was crowded. One side of the gallery was nearly 
 filled with Harvard students who had come to hear Wendell 
 Phillips and presumably had no other object. Probably they 
 knew nothing of the program except that Mr. Phillips was 
 to speak at that session; and he was sitting on the platform. 
 I do not remember what the president said when introducing 
 me; but I was a stranger to the audience, and I had spoken 
 only a few introductory sentences when the Harvard boys 
 began to show vigorous signs of uneasiness, stamping slightl)^ 
 at first, then louder and more frequently. I had no difficulty 
 in taking in the situation. I saw at once that they wanted 
 to hear Wendell Phillips. I knew^ that I could not gain 
 their attention; and determining that I would not attempt it, 
 in the middle of their noise I bowed to them, then turned to 
 the chair and said, "Please excuse me, I can not speak 
 here." 
 
 The president, knowing the students wanted to hear Mr. 
 Phillips but determining not to let them control the meeting 
 if he could prevent it, immediately introduced Aaron M.
 
 WENDELL PHILLIPS. ANNIVERSARIES. 263 
 
 Powell, a well-known and able speaker, who immediately 
 plunged right into his theme as if saying, / will be heard. 
 The boys had failed to get what they wanted; they saw they 
 had a better speaker and one who had faced such audiences 
 before. Mr. Powell spoke briefly, and Mr. Phillips was 
 introduced. Not a student left until that address was 
 finished. I had learned a lesson. If I had had pride it was 
 rebuked. If I had had courage, it all oozed out at my finger 
 ends. All the Boston Abolitionists could never have per- 
 suaded me to dream of speaking when Wendell Phillips was 
 on the platform; and j^et I suppose I had the sympathy of 
 my friends present. 
 
 I remember of being at some public meeting, probably an 
 anniversary about this time, when Mr. Phillips was one of 
 the speakers. While the one who preceded him was speak- 
 ing I was sitting on the platform beside Mr. Phillips. I 
 could see by his movements that he was agitated. Prior to 
 this time I had always supposed that he had full self-poses- 
 sion when speaking and even before it. I noticed that as 
 the time of the speaker had nearly expired Mr. Phillips was 
 slightly nervous. He was sitting where few in the audience 
 could see him. He hurriedly took from his pocket a small 
 piece of blank paper, quickly wrote probably a half dozen 
 words upon it, looked a few moments at them, and then 
 crushing up the paper in his hand put it into his pocket. 
 In a few minutes he was addressing the audience. He 
 seemed perfectly calm. No one could have known that ten 
 minutes ago he had been almost trembling with agitation. 
 The lesson: Even great men are only human. 
 
 When J. R. W. Sloane came to New York City as pastor 
 he was unknown to the New England Abolitionists. For 
 manifest reasons it w^as desirable to have his cooperation. 
 He had been at one of our Bradford conventions but not at 
 any of the New York anniversaries. I corresponded with
 
 264 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Rev. Samuel May, secretary of the New England society, 
 recommending my friend Mr. Sloane as a representative Cov- 
 enanter and an able speaker. The result was that at the 
 next national anniversary Mr. Sloane was one of the speak- 
 ers. He was welcomed and won honors as an advocate of 
 the right and a Garrisonian Covenanter. After Oliver 
 Johnson became editor of the National Anti-Slavery Stand- 
 ard he and Mr. Sloane became intimate as Abolitionists; 
 and he was on the platform several times doing valiant 
 service for the slave and for a free government. Indeed 
 few of all the Abolitionists had greater power on the plat- 
 form. Covenanters were always proud of him as a repre- 
 sentative of the church. 
 
 On one occasion, just before the war probably, Mr. Sloane 
 was invited to give one of the addresses in the New York 
 annual meeting. He was not available at the time. As his 
 substitute I recommended to Mr. May Rtv. Dr. A. M. Milli- 
 gan. He accepted the invitation. He had never been at an 
 anniversary before and had never spoken on the platform 
 with any of the New England men. He evidently came not 
 well prepared. He had been regarded one of our greatest 
 Covenanter platform speakers. I was disappointed. He fell 
 much below himself. I think that when he found himself 
 in the presence of Wendell Phillips, Mr. Garrison and others, 
 he was conscious of their superiority on the anti-slavery 
 platform, and he lost that self-possession with which he 
 generally spoke.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 The Trumpet Blown. To Arms! 
 
 The hanging of John Brown and the election of Abraham 
 Lincohi on the platform of "no extension of slave territory" 
 had widened the breach between the north and south, thus 
 preparing for the coming war. Fort Sumter was captured 
 on the 1 2th of April, 1861. Soon afterwards President 
 Lincoln issued his proclamation of war. The whole country 
 had been in a state of agitation; now it became intense; and 
 yet few people foresaw how fearful the war would become. 
 The taking of Fort Sumter and the warlike acts of the 
 south which quickly followed were an attack upon the Union 
 and the United States Constitution. At first it was thought 
 that the organized Rebellion would be of short duration. 
 Even the President himself did not foresee how powerful and 
 persistent the Rebellion would be. At first he called for 
 only 75,000 soldiers. With these he expected to suppress 
 it. The southern states formed the Confederacy intending 
 to cut loose from the Union, or be independent of it, and 
 subsequently they formed a new Constitution for the "con- 
 federate states " Thus they did not propo.se to wage war 
 against the United States Constitution and Government but 
 only to form and maintain a new southern confederacy. 
 And thus President lyincoln's declaration of war was for the 
 defense of the Union and the Constitution, or to maintain 
 their integrity against the rebellious states. In no sense 
 except indirectly or remotely was it a war for freedom. 
 Neither the government nor the President had any intention 
 
 (265)
 
 266 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 to iiileifeie with the iiisliiUtioii of slavery or to give freedom 
 to any of the slaves. The President expressly declared that 
 the constitutional pledges or compromises, and even the 
 fugitive slave law founded upon the Constitution, would be 
 faithfully executed and obeyed. He would put down the 
 Rebellion against the Constitution and union slavery or no 
 slavery. He assured the south that their slave property 
 should not be disturbed, but that the United States Consti- 
 tution should be preserved intact. And even after the war 
 had been in progress some time, slaves escaping from their 
 masters now in rebellion against the government and fleeing 
 within the lines of the northern army, were returned to their 
 masters; and in many cases these came within the Union 
 lines and claimed and took back their slaves who had fled 
 for protection to our northern armies. Besides, in no case 
 until near the close of the war were any black men, whether 
 bond or free, permitted to enlist or fight in the Union army. 
 Moreover, two prominent generals, Phelps and Fremont, 
 who at different times and in different divisions of the army 
 had issued proclamations of freedom to the slaves within 
 their military jurisdiction, were dismissed from office and 
 dishonored before the nation. 
 
 Thus as it was a war onlj' for the Union and the Constitu- 
 tion, the question naturally arose whether Abolitionists, 
 especially Covenanters, should enlist as soldiers. Some 
 Covenanters argued that as the Rebellion was wicked and as 
 it was a Rebellion of slaveholders, we should help to 
 suppress it. Others of us urged that as it was a war only in 
 defense of a Constitution and Union that we had always 
 declared to be pro-slavery and atheistic, we could not now 
 fight for them. We had favored a dissolution of the Union; 
 how could we now fight to restore it ? If it had been a w^ar 
 for freedom — to give liberty to the captives — we would not 
 have hesitated for a moment to take up arras. If the officers
 
 mn TRUMPET BLOWN. TO ARMS! 267 
 
 in the Union army had been so many John Browns leading 
 their regiments into the south to emancipate the millions, we 
 might have been ready to be colonels and captains or common 
 soldiers in the army of liberation. But it was not so. 
 The Union army was not the army of the Lord of hosts but 
 only the army of the Union— an army to keep the slave- 
 holders in the Union and the slaveholding Union as before. 
 We would not join it. We could not be volunteers. 
 
 What has been written thus far has reference to the origin 
 of the war and its character during the first years of its prog- 
 ress. We do not forget that as the Rebellion became more 
 and more formidable and threatened to be a success unless a 
 new policy should be adopted and something more vigorous 
 be done, the question became modified and more difficult of 
 solution. The God of the slave and the Lord of hosts with- 
 held victory from the armies of the north. It was his sover- 
 eign will that unless the Federal Government, with President 
 Lincoln at the head of its Union army, would change its 
 policy towards the oppressed and towards the oppressor, it 
 should be broken to shivers. The pro-slavery policy of the 
 administration in conducting the war became ultimately so 
 offensive to many of the people of the north while our ' 'boys 
 in blue" were being cut down by the bullets of the rebels or 
 the fearful diseases that decimated the Union army, a very 
 different policy had to be adopted or the Rebellion would be 
 a success. And as God in his infinite mercy intended to 
 break the yoke of the oppressor by ' 'the terrible swift sword, ' ' 
 he compelled the President and the leaders to change their 
 policy for the sake of saving the Union. Whatever the 
 motive, as God was pleading the cause of his poor, the 
 changes came, one by one, until the war seemed more like a 
 war for freedom. But prior to these changes, or so long as 
 the war was carried on without any favor being shown to the 
 oppressed millions and only to save the Union, to us it was
 
 268 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 clearly the duty of Covenanters to remain at home and see 
 what the God of armies would do. 
 
 For uttering such sentiments in private and teaching such 
 truths from the pulpit, the pastor of Topsham congregation 
 endured all kinds of obloquy and threats. Many of the 
 Republicans, and probably a few of the members of the 
 church, disapproved of my course; but the opposition and the 
 threats came from the pro-slavery Democrats who had alwa5'S 
 hated the Abolitionists. One morning after William Wells 
 Brown had given an anti-slaver}' lecture in the church, a 
 note addressed to me came to the parsonage where he was 
 entertained, threatening that if Brown did not "leave the 
 town within twenty-four hours" he would be "carried out." 
 But the bold fugitive slave lectured the next night "all the 
 same." On Sabbath, the 5th of May, a few weeks after the 
 proclamation of war, after closing the forenoon services, and 
 when about to open the exercises of the Sabbath-school 
 (which met during the interval) I saw, in large letters writ- 
 ten on the wall at the side of the pulpit, these words: "Death 
 to traitors and nigger preachers." Some one had clandes- 
 tinely written it there and no doubt to intimidate the 
 preacher. 
 
 On the first Sabbath after the President's proclamation of 
 war against the south, I preached a sermon from the text, 
 Matt. 24 : 6. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of 
 wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must 
 come to pass, but the end is not yet. ' ' The following is a 
 part of the brief notes used in the discussion: 
 
 "The nation could not expect tranquillity and prosperity. 
 It was not founded on Christian principle — not in subjection 
 to God or Chri.st the King of nations, or to his law, but only 
 like ancient republics all which passed away because God 
 was not with them. The government began on the false 
 hypothesis that God's law can be disregarded and violated
 
 THE TRUMPET BI^OWN. TO ARMS! -269 
 
 with impunity. There was no professed regard for the Sab- 
 bath, the Christian religion, or God's friends. His enemies 
 have been honored and wicked men have ever been not only 
 eligible to office but often elected. How great is this 
 national rebellion against the throne of heaven! 
 
 "And then the organic nation began not by setting free the 
 
 poor but by enslaving them. How could we expect God's 
 
 blessing to rest upon it? Rather does he say: 'Shall not my 
 
 soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' The war is not 
 
 for freedom, not for the slave, not between free and slave 
 
 states, for slavery is still in the states remaining in the 
 
 Union and is still protected, nor is there any intention to 
 
 disregard the constitutional pledges to the south. The war 
 
 is only against rebels to the Union and for property which 
 
 they have seized. Hence while we regard the southerners 
 
 as very much more guilty than the northerners as to the 
 
 causes of the war we can not take sides with either. Both 
 
 are wrong. Hence, brethren, be not troubled. Be not 
 
 carried off your feet. This is not freedom's battle. Be not 
 
 carried away in the whirlpool of agitation. Our kingdom 
 
 is spiritual and is to be propagated not by the sword but by 
 
 the weapons of warfare furnished by our divine Leader. By 
 
 all means lo.se not sight of God's hand. Our King still 
 
 rules, and out of all this strife he will yet bring good to his 
 
 church and to the slave." 
 
 After that sermon occasional threats came to my ears. On 
 the same Sabbath in which the writing on the wall was 
 observed I was told that some of the pro-slavery party had 
 said that if I would speak another word on the subject they 
 would mob me. A member of the church informed me that 
 it was reported that a mob of fifty men from Bradford and 
 Corinth was coming to attack me. 
 
 Perhaps I was somewhat uneasy though I guess I was 
 not much alarmed; at all events I went on with my work
 
 270 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 as before. That I was not without deep concern is manifest 
 from what I find in my journal written the day after these 
 reports came to me: "Lord Jesus, give me grace to stand 
 unmoved in this time of peril, and allow me not to withhold 
 any of thy truth, or to make any compromise with sin, 
 through fear of man. Restrain them — thine enemies — that 
 they may not harm me. They call me traitor because I 
 have testified against the infidelity and pro-slavery charac- 
 ter of this government — because I have stood up for thee 
 and thy poor children, the oppressed. Well, let me be 
 traitor to such an ungodly govennnent as the United States 
 if I can only be loyal to thee. Thou hast taught me that 
 treason to this government means loyalty to thee. Why 
 then need I fear the wrath of man? " Then below are the 
 following items, kind of "straws:" 
 
 "Tuesday, May 7. Attended a wedding to-day, and at i 
 P. M. married Mr." etc. 
 
 "Wednesday. At 3 P. M. met with the youth of the Sab- 
 bath-school to sing." 
 
 "Thursday. Went with some little girls to gather wild 
 flowers." 
 
 During these months of agitation caused by the breaking 
 out of the war I saw no rest from labors of various kinds. 
 I can not forget the goodness of God in sustaining me in 
 them. Besides the regular duties of study for pulpit duties, 
 visiting the sick and family visitation, about this time I 
 attended more funerals than usual. During the year pre- 
 ceding quite a number of aged members, including Elder 
 McNiece, the grandfather of Rev. Dr. Sloane, were removed 
 to the heavenly state. Several of the loveliest of the young 
 women, victims of consumption, were lost to the congre- 
 gation. Conforming to the prevailing custom I always 
 preached a funeral sermon of ordinary length in the church 
 after the burial. As oftentimes some people attended funer-
 
 THE TRUMPET BI,0\VN. TO ARMS! 27 1 
 
 als who rarely or never went to church on Sabbath, I gen- 
 erall}^ studied to adapt the discourses to the needs of the 
 unconverted. So many of both aged and young were re- 
 moved by death from time to time, the congregation would 
 have been steadily diminished by death if it had not been 
 for the frequent conversions of young people and their addi- 
 tion to the church. By these I was greatly encouraged. 
 
 Among the questions that either all the time or occasion- 
 ally agitated the pubhc mind was the stereotype question 
 of temperance. About this time there were two public 
 meetings in the town hall, the second being an adjourned 
 meeting to discuss a resolution that had been reported at 
 the former, viz., "That above all classes of persons physi- 
 cians should be most active in the cause of temperance, 
 and that they should cease to prescribe distilled liquors as 
 medicines." At the previous meeting it was arranged or 
 understood that I would discuss the resolution at this. 
 Accordingly I spoke at some length in favor of the resolu- 
 tion especially the second part. In the village there were 
 two practising physicians and both allopathic or old school 
 and both in the habit of prescribing alcoholic liquors. One 
 of these. Dr. Foster, was present. He was a worthy citizen, 
 a well-informed man, and we were friendly neighbors. His 
 wife, a Congregationalist, and he generally attended our 
 church. He followed my speech and spoke at length in 
 defense of his own practise and that of his school in the 
 use of alcohol. We both spoke a second time. In voting 
 on the resolution it was divided. The first part pas.sed 
 without any negative votes, but in favor of the second there 
 was not a single vote besides my own, though Deacon 
 Samuel Mills, the presiding ofiicer, had left the chair to 
 make a speech in favor of it. Thus I was regarded as an 
 ultra reformer and was voted down; but I was not discour- 
 aged by being alone. I believed then that I was right. I
 
 272 LOOKING HACK FKOM THE SUNSRT LAND. 
 
 said, I will not abate a jot or a tittle. And I have lived 
 long enough to know that now the great majority of tem- 
 perance people, and many of the best physicians of different 
 schools, are decidedly opposed to alcoholic medication. Let 
 reformers of every kind be more anxious to be right than 
 to have the applause of the multitude. 
 
 On Monday the 29th of April, 1861, the inmates of the 
 parsonage were made joyous when an event occurred of 
 which the following entry was made in mj^ diary: "This 
 evening at nine o'clock my Rosamond gave birth to a 
 daughter, a healthy babe." "I pray and hope now that as 
 I am a father I may be made a better man and a better 
 shepherd of the dear flock of Christ." 
 
 A few weeks atterwards I had to leave the mother and 
 babe and go to attend Presbytery at Newburgh and Synod 
 i'l New York. While in these cities I spent leisure time in 
 soliciting funds to help the Topsham people to build a new 
 house of wDrship. The old house was not only somewhat 
 dilapidated but antiquated in style. The people were divided 
 in sentiment, whether to repair the old home or to build a 
 new. Serious difficulties arose growing out of the fact that 
 quite a large number of the pews were the personal property 
 of the occupants who were not members of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church. Some of these were unwilling to join 
 with the others in the necessary repairs. After several 
 meetings the Covenanters agreed to buy out all the pew 
 owners who did not wish to help in the repairs and who 
 would sell their pews ; and this plan was adopted. A few 
 were dissatisfied; and one old lady (one of the "outsiders") 
 who did not love the "Presbyterians" too much, rolled 
 up her pew cushion and took it away as her testimony 
 against the new arrangement. As soon as the entire prop- 
 erty came into the ownership of the congregation the old 
 house was remodeled entirely, and with new pews and new
 
 THE TRUMPET BLOWN. TO ARMS! 273 
 
 pulpit appeared like a new church. When it was completed 
 and ready for occupancy they arranged to have a time of 
 gladness, a "dedication." It was on a week day. I had 
 invited Brother Armour to be with us. His address was on 
 "The white schoolhouse and the white church: What they 
 mean." And we had a real good time. These dedicating 
 exercises were in the forenoon of the day of our annual 
 Sabbath-school festival. The addresses, etc., connected with 
 the latter were in the new church in the afternoon. 
 
 Ever after the old house of worship came into our posses- 
 sion and was made new we all felt more at home in it and 
 less dependent upon others, but the denominational lines 
 were more tightly drawn and our Methodist friends more 
 active in efforts to build up their own; though a majority of 
 the people who had always worshiped with the Presbyterians 
 and were more attached to us continued with us. Except 
 that they did not unite with the church they .seemed part of 
 us; and from the families of this class came the majority of 
 those who "joined themselves to the Lord." 
 
 During the first week in November, 1861, I left home to 
 attend Presbytery at New York and, by invitation, the 
 annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society at 
 West Chester, Pa. On my way I stopped overnight in 
 Philadelphia and went with William Still to the Aboli- 
 tionists' social gathering at the home of Eucretia Mott, the 
 most distinguished of the Quaker women in the Garrisonian 
 ranks. Among the guests present were William Eloyd 
 Garrison, Robert Purvis, the eloquent colored man, Sarah 
 Pugh, Mary Grew and Oliver Johnson, editor of the Atiti- 
 Slavery Standard (New York). At the convention the 
 principal addresses were given by Mr. Garrison (always 
 powerful and faithful), Robert Purvis, Mary Grew, a noble 
 Quaker woman who gave her whole life to the cause of the 
 slave, and Miss Anna Dickinson, then resident in Philadel- 
 18
 
 274 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 phia, and one of the most eloquent of all the women who had 
 pleaded the cause of the oppressed. I had been pressed into 
 the service and had promised to give at least a short addre.ss 
 or I could scarcely have dared to speak on the platform with 
 such persons. However, at the evening session I spoke 
 about twenty minutes on the guilt of the pro-slav^ery 
 churches. This gave me an opportunity to show, incident- 
 ally, that Covenanters like the Quakers were an exception 
 to the rule. It was a duty the more difficult to perform be- 
 cause of the presence of J. Smith Futhey, Esq., an elder in 
 the Presbyterian Church in West Chester, whose guest I 
 was while there. Part of my errand there was to form his 
 acquaintance and obtain important information from him. 
 Mr. Futhey's grandfather was a brother of my grandmother 
 Mary (Futhey) Johnston. At the time that I was at the 
 convention and entertained in his family he was engaged in 
 writing a genealogical history or family record, tracing the 
 line of our family back to Sir Archibald Johnston, or Lord 
 Warriston of Scotland. I had been helping him a little in 
 his work, and he promised me a copy of the book when 
 published. But he never completed it, or did not get it 
 ready for the press before his death. Subsequently I tried 
 several times to see the manuscripts or to get the use of 
 them for a while, but I failed. Mrs. Futhey, his widow, in 
 whose possession they were, became so enfeebled in mind for 
 a time that I had to cease from my efforts.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Unexpected Call to Special Duties. 
 
 Our winter comnmnioii this year was on the last Sabbath 
 of December when the war, becoming more and more threat- 
 ening, occupied the minds of all classes of people. Wishing 
 to use this fact for the good of souls to whom it was my 
 privilege to preach, for the action sermon I chose the text: 
 Ps. 20 : 5, second clause: "In the name of our God we will 
 set up our banners." Making the whole discourse subser- 
 vient to personal religion and the highest good of the church 
 of God, using military terms to illustrate the holy war of 
 religion, I spoke of the Army, the Leader, the Cause, the 
 Banner, and the Soldier's Vow. Communion Sabbath was 
 the 29th of December. On Wednesday, January i, 1862, 
 this entry was made: "To-day I write my twofold motto for 
 the year upon which God has permitted me to enter: 'Thou 
 God seest me, ' and, 'Redeeming the time because the days 
 are evil.' " The next day's mail brought me a very un- 
 expected letter from Rev. Dr. S. O. Wylie of the Board of 
 Missions, Philadelphia, informing me that they were con- 
 templating a mission among the ex-slaves, afterwards called 
 "contrabands," at Port Royal, S. C , and asking me if I 
 would be willing to go thither to explore or see what could 
 be done provided the board wished me. I replied that the 
 inquiry came so unexpectedly and at a time when I did not 
 see how I could leave my work at home, yet if it was the 
 will of the Board to send me I would try to go if no serious 
 obstacles would prevent. 
 
 (275)
 
 276 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Shortly before that letter was received the northern army 
 had taken possession of Port Royal and the sea islands on 
 the South Carolina coast between Charleston and Savannah. 
 The little city of Beaufort (pronounced Bufort), about twelve 
 miles up the Beaufort River above Hilton Head, and the 
 principal business center of the cotton trade for those sea 
 islands, as well as the home of many of the rich cotton 
 planters, was now in the possession of the Union Army. 
 At the approach of the UniQn Army the whites had all fled 
 into the interior leaving nearly all the slaves — almost every 
 one except some house servants that were willing to go 
 with them. The great mass of the plantation slaves re- 
 mained on the islands, and others yjere fleeing from the 
 interior or mainland within the lines of the Union Army. 
 It was to these slaves that the Board thought it their duty 
 to send the Gospel and the spelling-book. 
 
 After the lapse of several weeks I received a letter from 
 the Board informing me that they had appointed me as 
 agent to proceed to Beaufort to explore and labor for the 
 educational and religious interests of the ex-slaves now 
 within the lines of the army ; and to remain if practicable 
 until Synod. 
 
 On the Sabbath following the reception of this letter I 
 asked the session to call a meeting of the congregation that 
 I might inform them of the action of the board. The meet- 
 ing was on the next Tuesday. I narrated the action of the 
 board and asked the approbation of my own action. This 
 was unanimously granted; though some expressed regrets 
 that I would have to be absent so long. I promised, how- 
 ever, that I would try to have the pulpit supplied at least 
 part of the time in my absence. 
 
 With what reluctance I left home appears from the entry 
 made in my journal after my departure: "I bade good-by to 
 my beloved wife and little child. Never was it so hard to
 
 S. O, Wylie, D. D,
 
 UNEXPElC'rED CALL TO SPECIAL DUTIES. 277 
 
 leave home. The call seemed providential, wholly unex- 
 pected, yet so peculiar and pressing I could not refuse to 
 go. I was in a strait betwixt two. The heart said: 'Stay 
 with dear wife and daughter, and with the flock so beloved 
 and loving.' But the Spirit said: 'Go and preach Christ to 
 God's poor children long scattered and peeled.' Conferring 
 not with flesh and blood, I gave myself to the work at least 
 for a time." 
 
 Following the instructions of the Board I hastened to 
 Philadelphia to make arrangements for my departure to 
 Port Royal. I could not get there without a passport from 
 military officials or the Secretary of State at Washington. 
 Going on to the Capitol I there met Rev. Mr. French, 
 of New York, a Methodist minister who had been at Port 
 Royal and was now making arrangements to take back 
 with him a company of teachers to labor among the slaves. 
 Arrangements were being made by which he and they could 
 go from New York on passports given them by the custom- 
 house officials to go on one of the government transport 
 vessels. Consulting with Senator Harlan, Rev. French, 
 and others, I followed their advice and returned to Phila- 
 delphia and reported to the Board at a called meeting. 
 They advised me to pursue the method suggested by 
 Rev. Mr. French. Indeed there seemed to be no other way 
 of getting a passport and of getting to Port Royal. 
 
 As I could not get away from Philadelphia until after the 
 Sabbath the Board made arrangements for me to preach and 
 present the claims of the proposed mission. During the day 
 I preached for Rev. S. O. Wylie; and in the evening, as 
 requested by the Board, in the Cherry Street church, Rev. 
 J. M. Willson pastor. Both pastors and Rev. R. Z. Willson 
 were in the pulpit. I preached from Luke 7: 22, last clause, 
 "To the poor the Gospel is preached." The house was 
 crowded full, not because of the speaker, for he had no
 
 278 I^OOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSElT I,AND. 
 
 reputation as a preacher, but because of the condition of the 
 country and the importance as well as newness of the work 
 undertaken by the Board. Besides Covenanters there were 
 many colored people present, William Still among others. 
 On coming down from the pulpit man}' friends, especially 
 the colored people, gathered around me and bade me God- 
 speed and blessed me. Two of them, lately from South 
 Carolina, said they could testify from experience to the 
 truth of much that I had said as to the condition of the 
 slaves. Among others was a large and noble-looking white 
 man who manifested much interest in the cause. He bade 
 me Godspeed and put a five-dollar bill into my hand to help 
 in the work. The next morning he called upon me at my 
 lodging, and took the address for sending clothing to Port 
 Royal, and told me that the women at his house were pre- 
 paring to put up two boxes of clothing for the ex-slaves at 
 Beaufort. That man was the brave old hero of the "branded 
 hand," Jonathan Walker. In the palm of his hand were 
 the two large letters, S. S., that had been burnt deeply into 
 the flesh by red-hot irons. Those letters meant slave stealer. 
 He had been master of a sailing vesstl that plied between 
 some southern port and one in Massachusetts. Some fugi- 
 tive slaves had taken refuge on board the vessel hoping to 
 escape north. The vessel was seized by the man-hunters. 
 The captain was tried and condemned, thrown into prison, 
 and his hand branded, S. S. The event occurred probably 
 in 1846. It gave inspiration to one of Whittier's most 
 indignant "Voices of Freedom," ''The Branded Hand,'" 
 from which I beg leave to copy only two stanzas: 
 
 "For, while the jurist sitting with the slave-whip o'er him swung, 
 From the tortured truths of freedom the lie of slavery wrung, 
 And the solemn priest of Moloch, on each God-deserted shrine, 
 Broke the bondman's heart for bread, poured the bondman's blood 
 for wine —
 
 UNEXPECTED CAlvI, TO SPECIAI, DUTIES. 279 
 
 "While the multitude in blindness to a far-off' Saviour knelt, 
 And spurned, the while, the temple where a present Saviour dwelt; 
 Thou beheld'st Him in the task-field, in the prison shadows dim, 
 And thy mercy to the bondman, it was mercy unto Him ! " 
 
 While I was detained in Philadelphia, both times, I was 
 entertained by the family of that grand old Abolitionist, 
 William Brown, an elder in the Second Congregation. At 
 that time the women had gathered clothing sufficient to fill 
 two large boxes to send to the "contrabands" at Port Royal. 
 
 Rettirning to New York I was detained over Sabbath 
 waiting for the sailing of the transport ship. In the fore- 
 noon I preached in the Sullivan Street church, J. C. K. 
 Milligan pastor, on the text: " And when He was come near 
 He beheld the city, and wept over it." In the afternoon I 
 addressed the Sabbath-school of the Third Congregation on 
 the claims of the proposed mission at Port Royal, and heard 
 Pastor Sloane preach an earnest and powerful sermon from, 
 "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ," etc. 
 
 In procuring a passport I had much difficulty but was 
 greatly assisted by Brother Sloane. He was a member of a 
 committee appointed to examine members of a large com- 
 pany of missionary teachers, mostly from Massachusetts and 
 under the superintendence of Mr. Pierce, of Boston, and 
 now on their way to Port Royal. These missionaries were 
 sent by Secretary Chase of the Treasury Department at 
 Washington to take charge of the abandoned plantations on 
 the sea islands and to look after the interests of the contra- 
 bands on them. The work of the committee was to examine 
 the men who had volunteered their service and to see that 
 no tinfit or disloyal persons might receive passports. By 
 the same government vessel quite a number of other persons 
 were going to the new mission field, among whom were 
 Rev. Mr. French and wife, of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, who took with them a band of lady teachers.
 
 28o LOOKING BACK PROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 They all were expecting to get their passports through the 
 same agency. 
 
 It was probably on Saturday afternoon I went to the room 
 where a sub-officer of the custom-house, and a Christian 
 young man, was in charge. I had expected to meet Mr. 
 Sloane there. He did not come. The young man handed 
 me a copy of a passport on which was printed a form of a 
 pledge or promise or oath which he asked me to sign. I 
 read it and asked him to explain it as I did not know what 
 it was or what its design. It pledged the signer to loyalty 
 to the United States Government. I said I could not sign 
 it as I believed the Constitution and government were both 
 unchristian and pro-slavery. He replied, however, that the 
 oath was intended to be only a test of loyalty to the north 
 against the south — loyalty to the government against the 
 Southern Confederacy — and that its design was simply to 
 prevent any one from getting a passport to go into the army 
 lines who was not friendly to the north, or who might betray 
 the northern cause there. I accepted his explanation and 
 said that I would sign the document with that understanding. 
 I signed it and put the passport in my pocket supposing 
 that nothing more would be needed. No oath was adminis- 
 tered; it was merely signed. I never had seen or heard an 
 oath of allegiance, and at that time it did not occur to me 
 that it was the regular oath of allegiance, as probably it was. 
 
 The Sabbath being over, early on Monday morning my 
 trunk, partly filled with books, etc., to be used in the schools 
 for the slaves, was sent to the ship and put on board. After 
 early breakfast and family prayers in the home of my beloved 
 friend. Elder Andrew Knox, he went with me to the ship, 
 saw me aboard, and bade me good-by. Soon afterward the 
 custom-house officer, Arthur Tappan, then collector of the 
 port, came to the vessel just as they were about to haul in 
 her cables and asked me for my passport. I showed it to
 
 UNEXPECTED CALL TO SPECIAL DUTIES. 28 1 
 
 him He said, "That is all right," and then asked me to 
 raise my hand, whereupon he administered the oath, signed 
 it officially, and handed it back to me. Just as the ship was 
 being loosed and pushed out from the wharf. Brother Sloane 
 came hurrying towards the vessel only in time to wave his 
 hand and say, "Good-by." 
 
 I have been thus minute in this narrative because it ap- 
 peared afterwards that I had been ensnared and because in 
 due time my action was brought under review.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 "They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships." 
 
 Our steamer, the Atla^itic, was one of the old Cunard line. 
 It had been chartered by the government and was now used 
 as a war transport ship. Besides the soldiers on board and 
 the missionaries, there were a few persons specially favored 
 by the government. One of these was Rev. Dr. Floy, a 
 Methodist of New York. He was my room-mate. Mrs. 
 Harlan, wife of Senator Harlan, whose acquaintance I had 
 formed at Washington, being in feeble health, was a passen- 
 ger. The senator had requested me to befriend her during 
 the voyage. I was amply repaid for it for she was a highly 
 cultured Christian woman, and a good Methodist. 
 
 We steamed out of New York harbor on Monday the 3rd 
 of March. It was my first sea voyage. The first part of it 
 was exceedingly boisterous, even fearful. One of the ofiicers 
 told me that he had crossed the Atlantic many times but had 
 never seen such a stormy voyage. The storm arose the first 
 night we were out and did not begin to subside until after 
 we passed Cape Hatteras. Of several hundred passengers 
 it was said that only five or six went to the breakfast table. 
 I experienced such seasickness as is the lot of the many 
 " who go down to the sea in ships," and as long as the storm 
 continued I had no notion of becoming a sailor. And yet 
 the experience was useful to me. The storm was most 
 violent on Wednesday evening and night. On Thursday 
 morning after describing it in my journal, I made the follow- 
 ing entry : ' ' Deep emotions of grandeur and of awe were 
 ( 282 )
 
 AN oce;an voyage;. 283 
 
 commingled. I felt as near to death and to God as ever in 
 my life. I tried often to lift up my heart to him in ejacula- 
 tory prayer. I found the greatest calmness, however, when 
 endeavoring to allay the fears of poor Mrs. Harlan. She 
 was exceedingly alarmed. I tried to calm her mind, but I 
 could not. She sickened. Violent palpitation of the heart 
 followed. I sought medical aid of the ship surgeon; but I 
 did not leave her until after midnight. Mrs. French and 
 Mrs. Nicholson aided in taking care of her." 
 
 During the remainder of the night, to avoid seasickness, 
 some of us put on our rubber overcoats and went upon the 
 hurricane deck and remained until morning, the good ship 
 all the time rolling and tossing as though she must be broken 
 to pieces by the waves. As ray companions were Christian 
 young men mostly from Massachusetts, on their way to 
 mission work, the hours of that dark night were spent in 
 pleasant religious conversation. 
 
 During the voyage we had two interesting meetings in 
 the upper cabin. The first was a prayer-meeting which was 
 attended by a large number. The second was a meeting 
 under the arrangement of Mr. Pierce, the superintendent of 
 the government's company of teachers going to take charge 
 of the abandoned plantations. His plans were stated and 
 his directions given in an address of great beauty in which 
 he labored to impress upon the minds of the appointees the 
 benevolent character of the work and the responsibility of 
 the workers. Rev. Mr. French also spoke and emphasized 
 the necessity of strict Sabbath observance. 
 
 Because of the long-continued storm and of head winds, 
 we did not reach off Hilton Head harbor until Friday night. 
 The tide being low we could not cross the bar and we had 
 to lie out at sea until Saturday at 12 o'clock when at high 
 tide a pilot took us into harbor, where we dropped anchor at 
 1:30 P. M. The bay was full of boats, ships and gunboats.
 
 284 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 The fortifications on French Island and Hilton Head were 
 low and not very formidable. From our ship we could see 
 that the place was occupied by a strong military force, Gen- 
 eral Hunter in command of the entire division. After long 
 delay we were transferred to an ordinary river steamer to 
 take us to Beaufort, twelve miles up the river. Owing to 
 low tide we were stranded and did not reach the landing 
 until near midnight and had to remain on board until morn- 
 ing. As there were no beds in the boat, like the others I 
 had the luxury of a sleep on the floor with my valise for a 
 pillow. 
 
 The war began in the spring of 1861. Port Royal was 
 taken by the northern army in the following autumn. On 
 the entrance of the Union gunboats and transport ships into 
 the harbor at Hilton Head, the whites of all the islands fled 
 in haste into the mainland taking with them nothing but 
 their carriages and personal effects and such ' 'home servants' ' 
 (slaves) as they could persuade to go with them, and leaving 
 to the tender mercy of the Yankees their houses, furniture, 
 stock, and nearly all the slaves on the plantations. These 
 were nearly all cotton plantations and produced the finest 
 quality grown in the south. The whole number of slaves 
 left amounted to many thousands on five or six islands. 
 The commercial center of these was the little city of Beaufort 
 on the island and river of the same name. 
 
 When our Board of Missions resolved to open a mission 
 among the slaves on those islands, it could not be known 
 what the results of the war would be. The Board could not 
 foresee whether the slaves there would become free or not. 
 But the God of the oppressed had decreed that they should 
 become "contrabands" of war, that the contrabands should 
 become freedmen, and that the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
 should have a freedman's mission. I was not appointed 
 missionary except to visit the place, explore, make the
 
 AN OCEAN VOYAGE. 285 
 
 experiment, teach and preach, thus beginning the work and 
 then report to the board. This all was done in the confi- 
 dent expectation that it would be approved by Synod and 
 the mission be established. I went to the field alone and a 
 stranger. I knew no one there, and no one knew me except 
 some who went down on the same steamer. Without delay 
 I began to obtain necessary information and look for an 
 open door. The greatest obstacles were two — the whole 
 region, including the city of Beaufort, was under military 
 control; and the "contrabands" were greatly demoralized. 
 All had been thrown into confusion, and the abandoned 
 slaves could not know whether they would become free or 
 fall back into the hands of their former owners. Besides, 
 all the ex-slaves were held by the government which claimed 
 the right to control them and to require them to work on 
 the plantations or for the army. Moreover, all the houses 
 in Beaufort as well as the planters' homes that had been 
 abandoned were held by the military, the officers being 
 quartered in the mansions of the rich. The churches were 
 the only exceptions. These could be occupied for worship 
 or schools only by the permission of Brigadier- General 
 Stevens then in command at Beaufort. He was a southerner 
 by birth and residence but had been in the military service 
 in the north before the war. He was strongly pro-slavery 
 and was believed by many of the soldiers and officers to be 
 in sympathy with the Rebellion or with the slaveholders in 
 it. I did not know these facts at first but soon found out 
 that he was not at all in sympathy with the educational and 
 missionary movements that were begun. Before the double 
 force that went down on the Atlantic steamer had reached 
 Beaufort, two missionaries had entered the field and had 
 begun work, viz. Rev. Dr. Peck, of Boston, who went under 
 the auspices of the Baptist board to look after the Baptist 
 slaves and to preach in the Baptist Church. A very large
 
 286 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 majority of the abandoned slaves were Baptists, and hundreds 
 of them had been owned by the pastor of the Beaufort 
 Church. The other was Mr. McCrea, a layman who occu- 
 pied some position in connection with the quartermaster's 
 department and who was a kind of missionary acting under 
 the auspices of the American Missionary Association. He 
 was an uneducated Scotchman, and did not teach or make 
 any provisions for schools; but he had one good trait — he 
 was in sympathy with the slaves and tried to see that they 
 might not suffer wrong at the hands of the soldiers. 
 
 The Sabbath morning's southern sun having risen, the 
 missionaries and teachers were conducted from the boat to 
 places that had been provided. Mr. McCrea came and in- 
 vited me to breakfast with him, and then conducted me to 
 the headquarters of Colonel Leasure of the Pennsylvania One 
 Hundredth ("Round-head") Regiment, Rev. R. A. Browne 
 chaplain, to whom I had letters of introduction. Dr. Browne 
 was the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church of New 
 Castle, Pennsylvania, and a large number of the "Round- 
 heads," called also the "Psalm-singing Regiment," were 
 United Presbyterians. At the hour for regimental religious 
 services Dr. Browne took me with him to the cliurch — a large 
 old Episcopal house that had been left vacant by the flight 
 of the rector and his parishioners. In this house the regi- 
 ment worshiped on Sabbaths where the chaplain preached 
 as at home. They u.sed the Bible psalms in a little book of 
 selections. 
 
 Colonel Leasure, a phj^^sician and a New Light Cov- 
 enanter of New Castle, Pa., on learning who and what I was, 
 kindly invited me to remain at his headquarters and be his 
 guest until I would find a place of lodging. Meanwhile Dr. 
 Browne's kindness was that of a brother, for he shared the 
 chaplain's room and the chaplain's bed with his newly- 
 found Covenanter friend during the week that I remained
 
 AN OCEAN VOYAGE. 287 
 
 at the regimental headquarters. The house had been the 
 mansion of a rich planter so that the present occupants lived 
 " in style." It was not easy, however, to forget that a little 
 while ago that old mansion had been the home of a family 
 whose wealth consisted largely in the ownership of men, 
 women, and children bought and sold and separated at the 
 will of the master, made to toil without wages, driven by the 
 overseer's lash in the cotton field, deprived of education and 
 the Gospel, and made beasts of burden herded together in 
 the "nigger quarters" of the plantation. On every wall I 
 could almost see the blood of the beaten house servant, I 
 could hear the echo of his cries for mercy, or the wail of the 
 mother whose son had been sold to the "rice swamp dank 
 and lone," or whose beautiful daughter had been purchased 
 by some lecherous brute whom the people called a "chival- 
 rous southerner."
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Among the "Contrabands." 
 
 Having surveyed the town on Monday and getting such 
 facts as bore upon the question of the location of the mission , 
 desiring to be separated from other workers as much as would 
 be practicable, and learning that on Barnwell Island none 
 of Mr. Pierce's superintendents would be located, I accepted 
 Colonel Measure's offer of his confiscated horse and carriage 
 and colored driver and rode over the old oyster-shell road 
 ten miles to the military encampment on the river separating 
 the two islands. As the colonel had given me a pass, and 
 also a letter to Lieutenant Critslow, son of Rev. Dr. Critslow 
 of New Brighton, Pa., I was quickly ferried over the river 
 and accompanied by the lieutenant outside the picket lines 
 to the slave quarters at the upper end of the island. Here I 
 found only a few slaves in an almost abandoned "nigger 
 town." * They had been exposed to the fire of the rebels 
 across the river, for the place was about a mile outside the 
 picket lines of the Union soldiers, and being nearly starved 
 
 *This was the name commonly given to the slave quarters on the 
 southern plantations. This, like all I saw on the cotton plantations 
 of those "sea islands," so called, consisted of two parallel rows of 
 shanties in which the slave families lodged. The overseer's house 
 was not far distant. The whole island of five hundred acres belonged 
 to Mr. Trescott who, under President James Buchanan, had been As- 
 sistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior. His residence, at 
 the other end of the island, about two miles from the slave quarters, was 
 a lordly mansion. When I was there it was the headquarters of a 
 company of the "Round-head Regiment" left to form the picket guard. 
 
 (288)
 
 AMONG THE "CONTRABANDS." 289 
 
 for want of provisions the slaves had escaped to Beaufort 
 to get work and food. One of the few remaining told me 
 that the "old preacher" was yet there. He took me to the 
 preacher. He had been a kind of exhorter in the evening 
 meetings. I asked him if any of the colored people there 
 could read. "Yes sah, one." "Who is he ? " " I can 
 read, sah." I took out of my pocket a tract or paper and 
 asked him to read a little to me. "O sah, I don't know the 
 letters." "But you told me you can read." "Yes sah, I 
 can read out the hymns, sah." "Ah, I see." Poor old 
 "Renty." He was a fine-looking black man and he might 
 have been a scholarly doctor of divinity if he had had as fair 
 a chance as the ordinary white D. D. But he had been a 
 plantation slave and had tried at the night meetings of the 
 slaves to "read out" the hymns, line by Une as he had 
 learned them by hearing others read them. He did "what 
 he could," more than some who have all the lore of the 
 schools and seminaries. 
 
 After fuller study of the situation I saw it was useless to 
 think of locating the mission there under the fire of the rebel 
 guns; and so I returned to Beaufort. On thinking over the 
 whole field, seeing the difficulty if not the impossibility of 
 doing proper mission work on any of the plantations, and 
 believing that the Covenanter Church had as good a right 
 as any to occupy the best part of the whole, I resolved to 
 locate the mission in Beaufort. What followed this resolu- 
 tion will appear from entries made in my journal from time 
 to time. Some of them may be slightly modified in verbiage 
 as they were not written except for private use. 
 
 "Wecfnesday, March 12. To-day I have been trying to 
 procure a suitable house in which to open a school and to 
 preach. I can do nothing without the leave of the miHtary. 
 Rev. Dr. Peck, a Baptist from Boston, has partly preoccupied 
 the field, but it is large and there is room yet." 
 19
 
 290 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 "Thursday, 13. This morning at 7 o'clock I heard the 
 driver's horn, not on the* plantation but on the levee where 
 are employed many of the slaves making a new pier. They 
 are under a supervisor or driver, and I fear they are driven 
 and abused almost as much as when on the plantations. They 
 have a change of masters only. The government or army 
 claims the right to control them now. They seem to know 
 nothing but to obey." 
 
 "Friday, 14. This afternoon I saw an old man, Toby, 
 almost naked. His master had left him destitute. All his 
 children were gone. He said he had had no shoes for three 
 years. He was trembling with disease or age. He said he 
 was on his way to General Stevens for a piece of bread. I 
 will clothe him." (None of the boxes of clothing from the 
 north had arrived yet.) 
 
 " I have had a long talk with an old man, Tarquin Cohen, 
 a deacon in the Episcopal Church (colored) before the mem- 
 bers had been taken away. He seems not to have known 
 the sinfulness of slaveholding. His master was good and 
 kind (he says), would not separate families, was not cruel. 
 Hence he seems not to regard his master as a sinner. I 
 labored to give him light. He received it. When I rea- 
 soned from the Scriptures he seemed to be gladdened. I 
 read several passages from the Bible against slavery and 
 then asked him if he had ever heard them read in the church or 
 anywhere. He had often heard portions of the New Testa- 
 ment and had become familiar with them, but he did not know 
 that such as I had read were in the Bible. He listened to 
 them and asked me to explain them. He was exceedingly 
 delighted. At this interview he told me that his master had 
 taken away all his (Cohen's) children, and he had no idea 
 where they were." 
 
 On learning that I had come from the north to teach and 
 to preach to the slaves he became greatly interested in my
 
 AMONG THE CONTRABANDS. 29I 
 
 work and afterwards gave me much needed help in getting 
 scholars into the school and in putting things into shape. 
 After the school was under way he attended when he had 
 time, took a lively interest in it, and was always ready to 
 give help whenever it was needed. And he was careful to 
 tell the colored people whom he met that "the minister from 
 the north" would preach on Sabbath at the church specified. 
 With such a voluntary helper it was easy to open the mission 
 school; and this opened the way for labor as a spiritual 
 teacher among a people long confined in the dark prison of 
 American slavery. 
 
 My second Sabbath was a busy day. "At 9 o'clock I 
 went to the Baptist Church to see the Sabbath-school for 
 colored people now under the self-appointed superintendence 
 of Mr. McCrea. There were sixty or seventy, old and 
 young, taught by soldiers and in about fifteen classes. As 
 there were many other soldiers present Mr. McCrea formed 
 them into a large Bible class and asked me to hear them. 
 I did so, and found among them some quite intelligent and, 
 I hope, pious men. It gave me pleasure to speak to so 
 many men so far from home, on the love of Christ. 
 
 "At loo'clock, according to the suggestion of Dr. Browne 
 who expected to be away, I preached in the Episcopal 
 Church to a congregation of colored people who probably 
 for the first time sat in the pews. In the gallery were many 
 soldiers, one or two hundred. Of the colored people there 
 were about the same number. No public notice had been 
 given, but the people were assembled by the eiForts of Tarquin 
 Cohen, my good friend, the deacon. Preaching from the 
 text, 'Jesus wept,' I taught that he though now in heaven 
 sympathizes with us in all our afflictions. The colored peo- 
 ple were exceedingly attentive and some of them were 
 affected to weeping. No wonder. I felt that it was good 
 to be there: I pray God to give me access to the hearts of
 
 292 I.OOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 this people that I may win them to Christ and help to com- 
 fort them in their afflictions." 
 
 At the above-mentioned meeting an incident oc. urred that 
 I do not find in my diary. I have mentioned before that 
 General Stevens, now in command of the brigade at Beaufort, 
 was a southerner and of course had the southern prejudice 
 against the negroes. As the chaplain of the "Round-heads" 
 had been preaching in the old Episcopal Church it is probable 
 that the general expected Dr. Browne to be there that day, 
 or he may have heard that another would preach in the 
 chaplain's absence. Shortly after the beginning of the 
 services, probabl)' when I was reading the Scriptures, General 
 Stevens, accompanied by his wife and her arm resting on 
 his, entered the church. When they had walked about half 
 way up the broad aisle he looked around over the church and 
 saw the colored people sitting in the pews, they paused and 
 for a few moments surveyed the situation, and then quickly 
 turned about and walked out of the church. This new order 
 of things was too much for the brigadier-general. But if 
 any one was culpable it was the preacher who previously had 
 requested the "deacon," Tarquin Cohen, to say to his 
 fellow "contrabands" that the northern missionary wished 
 them to occupy the bod}^ pews as the preaching would be for 
 them. And j-et more than half the pews were empty, and 
 there was room for a hundred generals if they wished to 
 worship and hear the Gospel. 
 
 "At six o'clock in the evening at the invitation of Mr. 
 McCrea I preached in the African Baptist Church to a 
 dense congregation from the words, ' God forbid that I 
 should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 
 How good and how pleasant it is to preach Christ and him 
 crucified to this people. They seem to drink in the truth, 
 and their piet}^ seems so earnest. At the close of the 
 services when many crowded around me and pressed mj^
 
 AMONG THE "CONTRABANDS. 293 
 
 hand so warmly, and spoke so earnestly about the cross of 
 Christ, and blessed me for speaking such comforting words, 
 I felt repaid a thousand times for all my trouble and expense 
 in coming here. May God bless ray labors among this poor 
 and docile people, that I may be largely instrumental in 
 their instruction, elevation, and salvation." 
 
 "At 7:30 o'clock I went to the 'tabernacle,' an old 
 church now used for a 'praise house,' where was an evening 
 service. It was to have been conducted by Rev. Dr. Peck, 
 1 think; he was not there, however, and Mr. McCrea took 
 his place. He called on me to speak. I spoke to the peo- 
 ple, all colored, from the words, 'lyCt us go on unto perfec- 
 tion.' Some of them are wonderfully gifted in prayer. 
 Their religion seems so warm, so devout, and their faith so 
 simple." 
 
 Before copying any more from my diary it is due to the 
 reader that I explain the situation of affairs at Beaufort. 
 On the landing of the Union fleet in the Port Royal harbor 
 and on French Island, the night following the entire white 
 population fled into the mainland leaving almost everything 
 behind. Nearly the entire slave population remained. 
 When I reached Beaufort there were four regiments in 
 possession of the island, their headquarters in the city. 
 Beaufort had been the home of many rich slaveholders who 
 owned large cotton plantations on that and adjacent islands; 
 and it had been the summer resort of many who lived on 
 the mainland. The churches and county buildings and 
 arsenal were all held by the military for the government. 
 I was to'd by one of the soldiers who took possession that at 
 the time of the hegira only one white man remained in 
 Beaufor', "but he was so drunk he could not get away." 
 
 The four regiments or brigade in camp in or around the 
 city were the Pennsylvania One Hundredth, the New York 
 Sixty-ninth, the Michigan Eighth, and another I have now
 
 294 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 forgotten. In addition there was a Connecticut Battery 
 Company. Some companies from these regiments were sent 
 to outposts to intercept the rebel forces in case the}- should 
 attempt to cross any of the tide rivers that surrounded the 
 islands. This brigade, or any regiment of it, was liable to 
 be removed at any time and others sent into quarters there. 
 Thus it was that some of the regiments with their chaplains 
 could meet occasionall}- or regularly in some of the vacated 
 churches for worship. The thousands of contrabands were 
 under military control and martial law, but they and the 
 few free blacks in the city were not prevented from attend- 
 ing the churches or mission schools now being opened, 
 though all had to be at home or in their quarters by nine 
 o'clock at night or be liable to be locked up, or kept under 
 guard until morning. And this martial law included all 
 persons within the picket lines. Prior to the hegira there 
 had been four white churches, the Baptist, much the largest 
 or most numerous, then the Episcopal, the Methodist, and 
 the Catholic the least of all. Among the slaves there had 
 been one or two Baptist Churches, one very large, and one 
 Episcopal; I think the Methodists had none. As to schools, 
 I think there had been two for the whites, one a kind of 
 parochial Episcopal school, and judging from the buildings, 
 what remained of them, they both were small. Of course 
 there had been no school for the black people. If they had 
 souls at all it was not allowable to educate them. A "nigger" 
 was presumed to have no need of a spelling-book; and in 
 most of the southern states the laws forbade the teaching of 
 slaves to read; the penalty in some was death. And I pre- 
 sume that among all the many thousands of slaves on those 
 South Carolina sea islands there was not one who could 
 read intelligently. Yet the great mass of them were pro- 
 fessing Christians of some kind. On Ladies' Island, across 
 the river from Beaufort, there had been thousands of planta-
 
 AMONG THE "CONTRABANDS." 295 
 
 tion slaves. Nearly all of them were Baptists. A large 
 proportion of them were at one time owned by Dr. Richard 
 Fuller, pastor of the Beaufort Baptist Church, afterwaids a 
 pastor in Baltimore.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 The; Spelling-Book, the Bible, the Sword. 
 
 "Monday, April 17th. This has been a very busy day. 
 At 9 o'clock I met with the colored people in the Baptist 
 Church to organize a school. The house was nearly half 
 full. Some could spell in two or three letters; some could 
 name the letters of the alphabet; and many did not know 
 any of them. I have found only one, an old man, who can 
 read any at all. Two or three could make out easy portions 
 of Scripture that they have often heard, for on some of the 
 plantations some kinds of missionary preachers were em- 
 ployed by Christian planters, but they can not read. Many 
 have been trying to learn their letters. Some of the soldiers, 
 Christians, and some connected with the quartermaster's 
 department, have been teaching the slaves since the army 
 came here. 
 
 "Thus a wonderful change has taken place. Many are 
 now anxious to learn. I divided the whole number into 
 three divisions, men, women, and children, intending to 
 hear them separately. At 2 o'clock I met with a class at 
 the Episcopal school or lecture-room, and made similar 
 arrangements. Then at night, 6 o'clock, at the Baptist 
 'praise house' I met with a large class of men — strong 
 workingmen — employed at hard work until 5 o'clock: and 
 O! how eager they are to learn! " 
 
 "Tuesday 18. Have moved my quarters. Since I came 
 to Beaufort I have been lodging with Rev. Dr. Browne at 
 Colonel lycasure's headquarters. Yesterday I procured a 
 ( 296 )
 
 THE SPEIvUNG-BOOK, THE BIBLE, THE SWORD. 297 
 
 new lodging-place — a room in a house formerly owned and 
 occupied by Colonel Johnston, a leading politician, candi- 
 date for governor, but who was killed in the battle of Bull 
 Run, Virginia. Having no fixtures for keeping house, I 
 have had great trouble in finding anything to eat or sleep 
 on. Through the kindness of a colored family, however, I 
 have been favored much. Through Mr. Jacob Robinson, 
 whose wife is very pleasant and kind, I am to be provided 
 with my meals. I have a straw bed on which to sleep, a 
 chair on which to sit, and my colored waiter, Mr. Robinson's 
 little son, brings my meals on a large salver. I find the 
 provisions and Mrs. Robinson cooks for me for a dollar and 
 a quarter per week." 
 
 "Thursday night, 20th. Dark clouds hang over my pros- 
 pects. I thought my school was about to be a success. So 
 many have been crowding in and so anxious to learn I have 
 been happy in the prospect of doing good. But the mili- 
 tary power here is absolute and is exercised mostly for the 
 prevention of any benevolent efforts in behalf of the colored 
 people. Last night the soldiers crowded in and prevented 
 me from teaching the night school. I could have no redress. 
 I had done all in my power to procure the exclusive use of 
 the house. This morning I laid the case before the provost- 
 marshal. To-night he called on me to inform me that I 
 could not have the house at night, and that the colored peo- 
 ple would not be allowed to worship there but must be kept 
 in their own quarters. This will prevent me from preach- 
 ing to them on Sabbath as I had intended. General Stevens 
 orders positively that the colored people shall not go to the 
 church where whites go — -that they must never worship 
 together. This is martial law. It can not be disobeyed; 
 but I shall protest against it, here and elsewhere. Jesus 
 reigns, and these wicked men in power will not always have 
 their own way. The Lord rebuke them! There seems to
 
 298 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 be a determiuation by Stev^ens and others to compel the 
 poor slaves to gather their own straw and still make the 
 bricks:" 
 
 Rev. Mr. French, the Methodist missionary, bj^ this time 
 had taken possession of a large old mansion, vacated by some 
 fleeing slaveholder, and was preaching and looking after the 
 wants of the poor and distributing clothing and shoes among 
 them. He called it an "Industrial School." The aim was 
 high, but the institution could not accomplish much while 
 the people were all in confusion under military control. In 
 his work he was assisted by several 3'oung women who had 
 gone thither with him from the north. He had visited 
 Smith's plantation on the Beaufort River about four miles 
 below the town and found there a field that needed laborers; 
 and he had found two of the contrabands who wished to be 
 married. He reported the case to me and urged me to go to 
 attend to it, as he had promised to go or send another minis- 
 ter. Glad to have an opportunity to get out into the country 
 and away from the soldiers and picket lines, I promised to 
 visit Smith's plantation. Accordingly I find the following 
 entry: 
 
 "Saturday 22. This afternoon I obtained a horse and 
 rode down the Port Royal and through several plantations 
 to visit the John J. Smith plantation. Here are more than 
 a hundred colored people living in eight small houses. My 
 time being limited I could do little with them. I visited 
 their church but I have not descriptive powers to do it justice. 
 
 "I have been told that the master was a Methodist, that 
 his slaves had been brought up Baptists, that they wanted 
 to be Baptists but the master would not allow them, and so 
 they were mostly Methodists. This house may therefore be 
 called a South Carolina Methodist Colored Church. 
 
 "It is about fifteen or twenty feet square, or possiblj' more. 
 Its windows are small holes in the house, without glass —
 
 the; spe^llinc-book, the; bible, the sword. 299 
 
 never had any— but with rough shutters. It has no floor, 
 the ground being covered with straw. The pulpit is as 
 strange a piece of mechanism as the house. I can not 
 describe it. I^eft an appointment to preach at this place 
 to-morrow at 10:30, and promised to marry a couple." 
 
 "Sabbath evening, 23. To-night I am weary, and yet 1 
 am joyous. I hope my labor to-day has not been in vain in 
 the lyord. I walked this morning to the Smith plantation, 
 visited yesterday, and preached to the people living there. 
 The house was full of men and women, no children. They 
 were pretty well dressed. I noticed the children about the 
 houses were ragged and dirty. I presume the want of 
 clothing was the reason of their absence from meeting, 
 though it may have been from custom or for want of room. 
 The people were very attentive and evidently devout. I read 
 the psalms, starting the tunes; and nearly all the people 
 joined in the singing. I addressed them on the sympathy of 
 our Saviour. I felt that it was good to be there. Until last 
 Sabbath they had not had any preaching since the rebels left, 
 for more than six months at least. At the close of the serv- 
 ices I invited the couple to be married forward to the desk. 
 They came, well dressed, neat, clean, she quite tastily. I 
 took the occasion to speak of marriage as a divine institution 
 never to be broken up except by death, and bore a full testi- 
 mony against the separation of husband and wife by masters. 
 I married them on Sabbath not of choice but because under 
 all the circumstances I thought it best. The arrangements 
 had all been made for the marriage before they knew who 
 would preach there and not knowing that they could be 
 married at any other time. And as there has been so little 
 legal marriage among the slaves I was glad to have the 
 opportunity to celebrate a marriage among them. Their 
 names are Moses Wallace and Pattie Wright. Before I left, 
 a piece of very fine wedding cake was sent to me. May the
 
 300 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 God of the poor bless this new couple and the curse of slavery- 
 soon be swept from the earth." 
 
 Returning to town, I preached in the Episcopal Church at 
 2:30 to the soldiers, the Seventj'-ninth New York Regiment 
 being there in a bod}" and b)- special arrangement. The band, 
 the softer instruments only, led the music, most of the soldiers 
 joining in the .singing.* They sang old tunes; Old Hundred, 
 Devizes and Balerma. I preached with freedom from Heb. 
 2:3, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?' ' 
 
 "Monday 24. Busily employed in teaching and organiz- 
 ing classes. By the order of the military power here I have 
 had to change the place of instruction. I am now teaching 
 in the Methodist Church during the day, and at night in 
 what had been a billiard saloon. I have called to my aid 
 MissMena Hale, a j-oung lady from Boston." She was one 
 of the teachers who had come with Rev. Mr. French to assist 
 him in his work. As I was in urgent need of help in the 
 school, at my request he "detailed" her to give me the 
 needed assistance. 
 
 The school continued to grow in numbers and became 
 more regular in attendance so that I had to draw on Mr. 
 French for two more teachers, Miss Powell of Philadelphia 
 and Miss Wight of New York. 
 
 I. do not now remember to what church these teachers 
 belonged; most probabh^ they were Methodists; but I re- 
 member that they were in full sympathy with the slaves and 
 were enthusiastic teachers. I opened each half day's .session 
 with prayer and brief Scripture reading, always inculcating 
 some truth or dut}^ that I knew the people needed. Pre- 
 sumably the .slaves were mostly Christians or members of 
 some of the churches, but at first I knew almost nothing as 
 to their denominational preference. Nor did I care much. 
 With slight exceptions thej' all were not only unable to read 
 
 * I had distributed psalm-books among them.
 
 the; vSpkivUng-book, thk bible, tiik .sword. 301 
 
 but were very ignorant except as to common matters that 
 needed no books. Though the entire school was divided 
 into three parts or divisions, some of them came to all the 
 sessions. Much of the teaching was done in concert, e. g., 
 the alphabet, in large letters, was hung on the wall before 
 the class so that all could see and learn, the teacher using 
 the pointer. I hnd taken with me from Philadelphia a large 
 supply of spellers. These w^ere given out free, one to each 
 scholar. After the letters had been learned the whole class 
 would sit together and spell the same lesson. In this way 
 much was done in short time. I had taken also a large lot 
 of the Bible reader. The system was called ' word reading. ' ' 
 The words, arranged promiscuously in perpendicular lines, 
 were learned first, never spelled; and on the opposite page 
 these words were arranged into sentences and then read. 
 One class, some of them women but mostly men who had not 
 known the letters, learned in three or fovir weeks to read 
 these numerous portions of Scripture easily. 
 
 Desirous of making more explorations and getting all 
 needed information, on Saturday the 29th, I took passage on 
 a little yacht down the river to Hilton Head. It was a 
 pleasant sail but the sights on the islands were doleful — 
 plantations abandoned and planters' mansions vacated. A 
 curse seemed to rest upon the land. The boatmen pointed 
 out a blackened plantation on which the owner, when the 
 Yankees were coming, set fire to his cotton crop to prevent 
 it from falling into their hands. In the conflagration the 
 planter's house had caught fire and nothing was left visible 
 but a long black chimne5^ It stood alone like a black 
 monument of God's wrath. 
 
 Ivanding at Hilton Head I called upon a Mr. Boynton 
 engaged in teaching the contrabands, and upon superin- 
 tendent lyce, who as a government appointee had the general 
 oversight of thetn. From both I received important infor-
 
 302 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 mation. I called also upon George W. Smalley, the able 
 correspondent of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley 
 editor. Mr. Smalley was then and has ever since shown 
 himself to be the prince of journalistic correspondents. On 
 his table I saw the National Standard, the organ of the 
 National Anti-slavery Society to which I sent occasional 
 letters during my stay at Beaufort. Before leaving Hilton 
 Head I met a slave who with some others had just escaped 
 from Charleston in a small boat. They were now rejoicing 
 in the hope of freedom. While I remained in Beaufort 
 companies of slaves were frequently arriving who had 
 stealthily fled from the mainland hoping that the Yankees 
 would not return them to their masters. 
 
 Returning to Beaufort Saturday evening I was alone and a 
 little homesick I suppose when I wrote these lines: "I have 
 been in Beaufort almost three weeks. What good has been 
 accomplished can never be known until the days of eternity. 
 I have labored in anxiety and in opposition but in hope. If 
 I can be only a humble instrument in lifting up and sus- 
 taining these poor people to whom God has sent rae, I am 
 sati.sfied. Let him do with me what seemeth him good, 
 only let me see of the travail of the Redeemer's soul." 
 
 On the yacht which took me to and from Hilton Head 
 was a colored man, a servant in the employ of the owner. 
 Robert and his wife and children had been the propertj' of 
 Rev. Walker, the rector of the Episcopal Church in Beau- 
 fort — house servants in the minister's family. On his flight 
 at the approach of the Union Army the rector would have 
 taken all the famil)^ servants if he could, but Robert pre- 
 ferred to risk the Yankees and would not go. The minister 
 compelled the wife and children to go with him, leaving 
 the husband and father alone. 
 
 On the Friday evening before my visit to Hilton Head 
 two colored men called upon me. One, an old man, had
 
 THE SPELLING-BOOK, THE BIBLE, THE SWORD. 303 
 
 just come from the mainland having escaped from his 
 master. The other, John Middleton, told me his history 
 in part. I made the following record of it: "He had 
 passed through several hands, his last lawful owner being 
 a widow lady. She desired to emancipate her slaves, but 
 the laws not allowing it, when she died she gave them 
 into the charge of a friend, as her executor and their 
 guardian to manage or take care of them as free. This 
 man controlled them until his death, after which these 
 slaves were divided by law among his heirs. John was 
 thus held as a slave by his new master until the Rebellion. 
 His master fled but could not take him with him. John 
 preferred to try the Yankees. He did not believe the story 
 told him that they would sell them to Cuba. His wife 
 and children belonged to another master who at the flight 
 took them away, thus leaving poor John without wife and 
 children. He don't expect ever to see them again. He 
 told me that he was a carpenter — that his master gave 
 him his own time, allowing him to make as much money 
 at his trade as he could. He had to pay his master five 
 dollars per week and find his own board. Out of the 
 wages left he had to buy many things for his wife and 
 children whom their master only partly supplied. This 
 same man is very intelligent. He needs no instruction as 
 to the evil of slavery. He has no high opinion of tke 
 slaveholders. He is anxious to go north, and said he 
 would like to go with me. He is one of my class in 
 spelling, a good fellow, a Baptist." 
 
 Middleton afterwards came to see me several times before 
 I left Beaufort. He was very anxious to come north with 
 me; and I would have brought him if the governmental 
 agent had not refused to give him leave to depart (see a 
 subsequent page). As I learned from a friend in Beaufort 
 long after the war, John Middleton, when the military
 
 304 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 department of the government had been driven to the 
 necessity of accepting the service of colored men as sol- 
 diers, joined the Union Army, was a brave warrior, and 
 fell in battle. 
 
 "Saturday evening, 9 o'clock. A poor colored man, 
 Abraham Jenkins, called on me to-night to get a book. 
 He was the slave of William Adams who lived in the 
 interior. On the taking of Port Royal Island by the 
 Federals he fled from his master and succeeded in getting 
 his wife and children with him. He was a Baptist. So 
 was his master. His master sometimes had prayers in the 
 house but never had any of his slaves in. He said his 
 master would flog, 'almost cut up,' some of his servants 
 on Sabbath morning and then go to church. He had even 
 seen him flog and then lock them up in some house as 
 prisoners and then go to church. 'Was your master a 
 good man?' 'Don't know, sir; he was awful cruel to 
 his servants, sir.' 'Was he not a Christian?' 'Don't 
 know, sir; he belonged to church, sir, but don't know as 
 he had any religion, sir; but he cut us up terrible, sir: 
 and he t'ink nothing of sellin' de husband from de wife, 
 and de child'n from de fadder and modder. Sir.' Poor 
 Abraham had never seen the guilt of slavery except in its 
 cruelties." 
 
 Military law is iron- clad. After numerous annoyances 
 and hindrances while trying to get a permanent place for 
 the mission school and for preaching, in obedience to Gen- 
 eral Steven's orders I took possession of the Methodist 
 Church across the town from the larger Baptist Churches. 
 On the Sabbath after the events recorded above, in accord- 
 ance with previous announcement in the school, I preached 
 at 1 1 o'clock to a small congregation of colored people, not 
 more than fifty or sixty. Indeed, it was a wonder that so 
 many were present. That house had never been used by
 
 THE SPELLING-BOOK, THE BIBLE, THE SWORD. JOS 
 
 colored people. There had been very few Methodists in 
 he own Tnd the few white Methodists who had wor- 
 shped there were now all gone. As 'the smallpox wa 
 p elding in the city many of the colored people were sen 
 out to the plantations; and the picket guar s would not le 
 any of the contrabands pass through the hues. But as I 
 had often preached to much smaller congregations it was 
 naa one" f slaves all anxious 
 
 not difBcult to preach to fifty or sixty slaves 
 to hear the new Gospel. The text was: Follow holiness 
 without which no man shall see the Lord." As always I 
 7ead out the lines of the psalm. They all seemed to sing 
 Tnd especially the psalm after the discourse they .^ang with 
 git pathos and power. Wonderful "-the singing of 
 fhe plantation slaves whose souls were saddened by the 
 tne piau comine out of the church 
 
 woes of oppression. As I was coming o 
 an old lady took my hand and said to me O snl^-s^ 
 very sorry, very low down dis morn.n' before I c-me 
 church- but you built me right up, bless de Lord ! 
 
 Icco'rding to the appointment made at the Methodls^ 
 Church in the forenoon service, I went back at 7 c oc*. 
 to preach. To my astonishment I found the house full of 
 soldiers mostly of the Michigan Eighth, whose chaplain also 
 was present. The colored people were coming and going 
 Tond'ering what it meant. This was another of the many 
 trials we had to endure under military controh But as I 
 was there I did not choose to run away in haste. Ihe 
 rhaplain who had not known that General Stevens had 
 assigned the house to our use, expressed his regrets and 
 asked me to address the soldiers, which I did briefly from 
 the words, "Leaving us an example." and exhorted them 
 to take Jesus for their model. 
 
 "Monday morning, March 3.. The first sound I heard 
 this morning upon awakening was, as often, the ctap or 
 song of the red-bird. He is my morning crower. He sits 
 
 20
 
 3o6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 among the shrubbery right under my window and, as soon 
 as the morning light appears, in his cheerful and stirring 
 notes he says: 'Awake, arise, behold the day!' Does he 
 not call me to the praise of God? Should not my heart 
 be as joyful in this service as is the morning song of the 
 bird?" 
 
 "Monday evening. The school was fuller to-day than 
 usual. Called on General Stevens to ask leave to u.se a 
 small vacant house for two of my classes. He is a gen- 
 tleman in manners but he has no smile for any one he 
 meets. He walked with me to see the house and then 
 promised to send me word in the afternoon whether or not 
 I could have the house. It is now 9 o'clock but I have 
 no word yet." 
 
 "Wednesday, April 3. Had several visitors at the school 
 to-da}'. Among others was a drunken soldier from the 
 New York Sixty-ninth Regiment. He did not believe in 
 teaching 'darkies.' He said we were only preparing a 
 people to cut our throats. He had been an old Whig, a 
 member of the state Legislature, a lawyer, and a Mason; 
 and in the u^e of profane language he was profu.se." 
 
 "Went to see a sick woman, Jenny, who had fled with 
 her children from her master in the interior. She lay 
 concealed three weeks in the marsh and rain and cold, 
 and soon after reaching Beaufort she sickened and has 
 been sick for three months. She left everything behind 
 in her flight. She has four or five children. The oldest 
 son is at work for the government and draws rations for 
 himself. Upon this he, his mother and his brothers and 
 sisters have lived for months. When Miss Wight, my 
 assistant teacher, found her she was lying on the floor, 
 with no bed under her, and nothing but rags, pieces of a 
 blanket, to cover her, and almost dying of hunger. I 
 conversed with her and found her a great sufferer. She
 
 THE SPELLING-BOOK, THE BIBLE, THE SWORD. 307 
 
 had worn a heavy yoke. The iron had sunk deep into 
 her soul. Her master had been awfully cruel; but 'missus 
 was far worse. ' I asked her if her master would not pro- 
 vide for her now in her sickness if she were back with him. 
 She seemed to think I had come to have her taken back, 
 or my words galled her soul and she said with tremulous 
 voice almost like that of a dying woman: 'Don't carry me 
 back, massa; don't carry me back. I'd rather go to my 
 grave thi.-> minute. Carry me to my grave, massa; but 
 don't carry me back to my ole massa. I nebber wants to 
 see him again.' Poor Jenny! My soul was moved for 
 her. I hope her master will never see her unless he repent 
 of his wrongs done to poor Jenny. Said I, 'Jenny, was 
 your master a Christian.' ' He went to church, sir.' 
 'Did you go to church?' 'When he would let us go, 
 sir.' 'Can you pray, Jenny?' 'I can pray inside, sir.' 
 'Then pray to God, and he will deliver you; and I hope 
 your master will never own you again. Be patient and 
 pray to God in trouble, and he will save you. Trust in 
 him and he will deliver you at last in heaven.' 
 
 "On inquiry the second son, a young boy only, told me 
 he had been working three months for government and 
 had not received a single dollar yet. My soul sickened 
 as I turned away thinking of the guilt of our country in 
 so long protecting the awful crime and curse of slavery." 
 
 "Friday, 4. A little boy brought me a beautiful bouquet 
 this morning. His name is James Simmons. It is worth 
 more to me than a golden eagle from a lich man: it is 
 aflfection's grateful offering, childhood's token of regard, 
 though probably a mother's heart devised and a parent's 
 hand shaped the gift." 
 
 "Monday, April 7th. The school was larger to-day 
 than ever. Had to call in the aid of a soldier and one 
 of the pupils. The most of the boys are very ragged and
 
 308 IvOOKING BACK FROM THE .SUNSET LAND. 
 
 dirty. We clothe them as fast as we can. The clothing 
 is all used up, but the ladies make some out of the new 
 material. The pupils, young and old, love to sing, and 
 they learn very fast and sing finely." 
 
 "Tuesday, 8th. Met with some of the adults of the 
 school to-night for prayer. About fifteen or twenty came. 
 I led in the singing, led in the first prayer, read and 
 commented upon a part of the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews, 
 and especially upon verse 3: 'Remember them that are 
 in bonds as bound,' etc. Two others led in prayer. Such 
 prayers I never heard, so earnest, so expressive of faith, so 
 from the heart, so without form, so appropriate. They 
 prayed for their brethren in slavery, for their relatives lost 
 and in slavery, for the many sick, for the soldiers; and 
 most earnestly and beautifully for me, their teacher; also 
 for my family, asking God to watch over them and keep 
 them in health and peace. They prayed for my health, 
 and thanked God most devoutly for sending me to them 
 to preach and to teach them so ignorant and needy. One 
 thanked God that I did not get out of patience with them 
 in their ignorance. Every manner of blessing was asked 
 for me. O, it was one of the happiest hours of my life— 
 to be in a prayer-meeting of slaves, pupils in the school, 
 who seemed to love me so much and to pray so earnestly 
 for me. I felt that Jesus was with us in that little meeting 
 to bless us and to do us good."
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 A Little Vacation. Fort Pulaski Taken. 
 
 For about a week prior to the loth of April I had been 
 suffering in temporary sickness brought about partly by my 
 unhealthy mode of Hving, and this beyond my control. As 
 the town was wholly under military law and without any 
 market, and with- almost no provisions except as needed for 
 the army, and these all under the hand of the Commissary 
 Department, it was almost impossible to get any healthy 
 food. The colored woman who cooked my meals and sent 
 them to me by her half-grown sons was anything but a 
 connoisseur, nor did she know the value of soap. Fasting 
 was sometimes a necessity. I had many a daydream of the 
 home table abundantly covered with healthful viands pre- 
 pared by my own Yankee-girl cook now far away in the 
 old parsonage. Meanwhile I was overworked by constant 
 labor day and night as well as on Sabbath. These two 
 causes combined to induce me to follow the advice of Rev. 
 Mr. French and his family and to seek health in a few days 
 of rest from the school. Obtaining an additional assistant 
 from his supply, and committing the school to the women, 
 on Wednesday afternoon I took passage on a boat to Hilton 
 Head. On the way I formed the acquaintance of a contra- 
 band, Abraham Mercheson, who had escaped from Savan- 
 nah, coming in a skiff by night. He was a deacon and an 
 exhorter in the Baptist Church. As his wife and children 
 belonged to another master, and he had no hope of seeing 
 them again unless the Federal armies should conquer the 
 
 (309)
 
 3IO l^OOKING BACK FROM THE; SUNSET LAND. 
 
 south, he was exceedingly anxious for the Union Army to 
 take Savannah. At this time Fort Pulaski was under siege 
 by the Union batteries on Tybee Island. Mr. Mercheson, 
 who was now staying at Hilton Head, the headquarters of 
 General Hunter, informed me that the general had declared 
 his purpose to arm the colored men and muster them into 
 companies if they would volunteer. 
 
 Receiving an invitation from Mr. Blake, a young man in 
 charge of Elliot's plantation about three miles from Hilton 
 Head, to visit his post of labor, I obtained a horse and 
 joined him in a ride out to the plantation. It was growing 
 dark and much of our way was through a dense pine forest. 
 We had to pass two or three picket lines, and so had to get 
 the countersign from the officer at Hilton Head. Coming 
 up to the guards, one on each side of the road, we were 
 accosted with, "Halt, dismount." We obeyed orders, and 
 the guards, coming to us with their presented guns, said, 
 "Give the countersign." We gave it. "All right; remount 
 and pass on." We obeyed orders again. I had often 
 mounted and dismounted my own horse and saddle, but to 
 have to "dismount" and "remount" in the darkness of the 
 night at the command of some fellow with his bayoneted 
 musket pointed at me, was a new experience. It was moon- 
 light, but the forest was so dense our way was gloomy. And 
 all was still and silent save the tread of our horses and the 
 mournful sound of a night-bird like the whip-poor-will. I 
 could not forget that I was in the land of slaves and auc- 
 tion-blocks and lashes and bloodhounds, and that probably 
 in this same old pine forest the hounds may have been in hot 
 pursuit of some weary fugitive who feared the master or the 
 overseer more than the dogs; and a kind of sickening gloom 
 came over me. I wished I were back in my own free and 
 peaceful mountain home. 
 
 That night I slept with my friend on an old board bed-
 
 A LiTTIvK VACATION. FORT PULASKI TAKEN. 3 II 
 
 stead on which was a corn-husk mattress extemporized by 
 Mr. Blake. I had left Beaufort tired and unwell hoping to 
 get rest and health by a change. I did not sleep much on 
 those boards softened only a little by the hard husks. 
 After our breakfast, prepared by a slave mother whom her 
 master had to leave behind when he fled before the northern 
 guns, I sauntered awhile among the contrabands out in the 
 fields preparing to plant cotton. These and the manage- 
 ment of the work were under the hand of Mr. Blake, one 
 of the superintendents sent by the Treasury Department at 
 Washington to look after the abandoned plantations and 
 slaves. I had formed his acquaintance on board the vessel 
 coming down from New York. He had been a student in 
 some Massachusetts institution. He was a member of some 
 of the churches there and I suppose anti-slavery, but he 
 had no piety to spare, and he was not fit to have the control 
 of the colored people, for he ruled them with rigor, with a 
 pistol in his pocket, and as one "clothed with a little brief 
 authority" whom the slaves must have regarded only as a 
 new overseer. No man is fit to be a ruler over laborers who 
 is not in sympathy with the poor and the lowly. 
 
 Spending what little time I could spare among the con- 
 trabands I heard some sad stories from their own lips. I 
 had forgotten them long ago, but on opening my journal at 
 this date I find the record written after I returned next 
 morning to Hilton Head, as follows: "Saw an old man, Eko, 
 whose father, Cato, had been brought from Africa by a slave 
 ship. Kko had fled with his family from the mainland and 
 is now living in an old cotton house partitioned off into 
 rooms (?) for several families. The fire was on a box filled 
 with earth. The smoke had no place to escape except at 
 the doors and cracks. Several were sick. No wonder. 
 In this same group, around the same fire, were grandmother, 
 mother and grandchildren. The youngest, six months old,
 
 312 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 was laughing in its mother's arms, unconscious of the misery 
 around it or which it may soon know." 
 
 "Friday nth. Last evening I preached in Hilton Head 
 in the contrabands' church to a large congregation of the 
 contrabands, mostly men and women. They have organ- 
 ized themselves into a Baptist Church and have chosen a 
 colored man as pastor, viz. Abraham Mercheson, the refugee 
 slave from Savannah. He escaped in a boat leaving his 
 family behind and hoping to get them away yet. The people 
 were very attentive hearers, many of them nodding assent 
 at different places in the discourse with an appropriate 
 ejaculation. Lodged last night in a room occupied by Mr. 
 Smalley, the N. Y. Tribune' s Port Royal correspondent. 
 
 "About 9 o'clock this morning, in company with Mr. Lee, 
 the contraband supervisor, I took passage on the Mattano, 
 a small steamer, for Tybee Island, Ga., to witness the battle 
 going on there, the bombardment of Fort Pulaski, and to 
 recruit my health by a trip on salt water. We passed up 
 the bay or Broad River and through Skull Creek. This is a 
 narrow river or passage of salt water between Hilton Head 
 Island on the east and Pinckney's and Dafuskey on the 
 west. On each side of the river are plantations. Some of 
 the mansions appear well. Some seemed large, judging 
 by the number of houses in the negro quarters. I noticed 
 one or two plantations with houses enough to keep three or 
 four hundred. 
 
 "Before we passed the southwestern extremity of Hilton 
 Head Island we could distinctly see Fort Pulaski and the 
 bombardment. From the batteries on Tybee Island there 
 was a busy fire upon the fort. Our boat anchored in the 
 bay near the shore of Tybee, a short distance from the old 
 lighthouse and the old French fort. Here we were within the 
 range of the rebel guns from the fort, and they might easily 
 have riddled our boat, or thrown a shell into her, if they
 
 A LITTLE VACATION. FORT PULASKI TAKEN. 313 
 
 had chosen ; but they were too busy in defending themselves 
 against the batteries to care to harm us : so we lay at anchor, 
 though in a stormy sea, and witnessed the bombardment. 
 Shells and shot were poured in upon the rebel fort with 
 terrible effect. The batteries had opened fire upon them 
 about 6 o'clock Thursday morning and continued until 
 2 P. M., Friday. By Friday morning two large holes were 
 opened into the fort, and these were increasing in mag- 
 nitude. Through these, shells might soon be thrown in the 
 direction of the magazine. At 2:30 the rebel flag was taken 
 down, and immediately the white flag of truce floated in the 
 breeze. Now the firing from the batteries ceases. Then 
 General Gilmour* sends over (or goes) to capitulate. Then 
 orders come from General Hunter, on board the McClelland 
 at anchor off Tybee, to our boat to take on board a thousand 
 troops to be ready to man the fort. Our boat now goes up to 
 the north or upper end of the island that the soldiers may em- 
 bark. Now yonder goes over in a small rowboat or scow, a 
 few officers bearing the Stars and Stripes to display on the 
 captured fort. There! they are up on the flagstaff where not 
 long ago was the rebel flag. After much difficulty, owing to 
 adverse wind and tide, the Connecticut Seventh Regiment, 
 Colonel Terry commanding, is landed on the island on 
 which the fort stands. By the invitation of Colonel Terry 
 Mr. Ivce and I joined him at the head of his forces. The 
 regiment marches up the gangway with martial music 
 right to the fort, all frowning but shattered and silent. 
 The moon, about full orbed, makes all light. The whole 
 scene was most peculiarly romantic and yet solemn. When 
 the music was silent all was silent. Nothing was heard 
 
 * This general, in command on Tybee Island, before opening fire 
 on the fort had sent over a demand to surrender. Colonel Olmstead, 
 in command of the fort, replied, "We are here to defend not to sur- 
 render Fort Pulaski."
 
 314 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 save the tramp of the regiment until we were under the 
 shadow of Pulaski. One portion of the regiment was 
 stationed inside the fort, and one bivouacked outside the 
 entrance but within the moat. In company with the 
 officers we passed into the fort. What I here saw I can 
 not begin to describe. Everj^where were to be seen the 
 effects of shot and shell. One of the men taken prisoner — 
 an officer whose name I do not remember — took us through 
 the fort now in comparative ruins, and showed us around on 
 the parapet, pointing out where the shot and shell had done 
 the greatest execution. Going down we were taken into 
 some of the officers' rooms and were introduced to them. 
 I had brief conversation with some of them. One officer. 
 Major Walker, was a very fine-looking man. Into the room 
 came a colored man bringing water to the officers. I took 
 him for the cook and followed him out and asked him for 
 some lunch, for I had not had supper and it was now 1 1 or 12 
 o'clock at night. Presently he took me into the kitchen or 
 dining-room of the fort, the room for the officers, and set 
 before me a dish of rice, some fine cold biscuit, and a cup of 
 hot coffee. Being very hungry I relished my rebel meal 
 finely, all the while talking with Cczsar (a slave of a Savan- 
 nah master) about freedom, etc. I improved every moment 
 of time to infuse into his mind what slaveholders would 
 call incendiary doctrines. Rising from the table I handed 
 him a quarter of a dollar with thanks. On receiving it he 
 smiled and said, 'That, sir, is the first silver I have seen 
 for six months.' I will never forget Caesar. What will 
 become of him now ? Will the United States Government 
 be so base as to ever allow him to be a slave again?" 
 
 Coming out of the fort now held by one thousand soldiers 
 and in which were three hundred rebel prisoners, we returned 
 to the MattanodX i o'clock in the night. Here I witnessed a 
 scene most shameful. The officers quarreled, and swore
 
 A LITTLE VACATION. PORT PULASKI TAKEN. 315 
 
 terribly. On board the boat in the afternoon they had been 
 drunk, some unable to manage themselves. In the little cabm 
 of the boat all the passengers aboard had to sleep. I lay on 
 the seat with my shawl for my pillow, close beside a drunken, 
 snoring miUtary officer, Major Hough. I scarcely knew 
 what sleep was. In the morning our boat steamed down to 
 the foot of Tybee to put the officers on board the McClelland 
 to report to General Hunter. So rough was the sea that our 
 boat was almost dashed to pieces before we got out of the 
 dangerous place and behind the island of Hilton Head. At 
 Seabrook I came aboard the Flora and came back to Beau- 
 fort, Saturday evening.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 "What Was Slavery, Uncle Tom?" 
 
 "Sabbath 13th. Owing to my absence from school last 
 week, the word had gone abroad among the colored people 
 that I was away and would not preach. On going to the 
 church I found only a few of them there. Owing to the 
 absence of the chaplain the Connecticut Battery was without 
 preaching. One of the officers came and invited me to 
 preach to them. I assented. They were soon conducted 
 into the church in military order and I preached to them 
 from James 1:12. 'Blessed is the man that endureth temp- 
 tation,' etc. In the P. M. I went to the African Baptist 
 Church and on the invitation of Mr. McCrea preached to a 
 large congregation of colored people from the words of Jesus, 
 'I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I if 
 already it be kindled?' From the text I preached such 
 truths respecting slavery, slaveholding churches, etc., as 
 must have startled the people who have long heard a slave- 
 holdijig Gospel, if I may be pardoned the use of such a 
 phrase. Some white persons present who belong to slave- 
 holding churches may have been as much dissatisfied as the 
 negroes were astonished." 
 
 During the week following that Sabbath I was very busy 
 in the school and looking after the needy. This part of the 
 work was more than I could do as I had no help nor any 
 place where to store the boxes of clothing and shoes sent 
 from the north; therefore I had the boxes placed under the 
 care of Mr. French at- his home, and when distribution was 
 made he gave me the use of his contraband carriage when 
 (316)
 
 "what was slavery, uncle TOM?" 317 
 
 one of the women would accompany me to give out clothing 
 to destitute women or children. Moreover, as I had consid- 
 erable correspondence with friends in the north as well as 
 with the inmates of the parsonage, and an occasional letter 
 to the National Ayiti- Slavery Sta7idard, I often sinned against 
 myself by writing in the hours of the night when I should 
 have been sleeping. Like many another unwise man I for- 
 got the word: "For so He giveth his beloved sleep." 
 
 Isaac Middleton, a contraband and a carpenter, had been 
 working for the government for two months and had received 
 no pay. The wa^es was fixed by the government, the laborer 
 having no voice. He had been attending the night school 
 from the first and became very anxious to go north with me 
 when I would depart. I promised to be his friend and guide. 
 He told me, however, that he could not go unless he had a 
 permit from the government agent. I told him I would try 
 to get his permission. I went to Mr. Broad and requested 
 him to give Isaac Middleton such permit. The answer was 
 a prompt refusal. He said: "No one is permitted to leave 
 under any circumstances except at the option of the govern- 
 ment. The right to control the labor of the negroes is 
 claimed by the government. We can not regard their whims 
 and notions." That means that they were \h& government' s 
 slaves for the time. 
 
 On the 1 8th I received letters from, home urging me to 
 return as soon as possible not only for the sake of the loved 
 ones at home but on account of the condition of the congre- 
 gation because of my long-continued absence. My plans to 
 have the pulpit supplied at least part of the time had not 
 been successful; and as pastor I was greatly needed. And 
 so I resolved to respond to this call and adjust affairs in the 
 mission so that I would not need to remain much longer. 
 
 The longer I remained at Port Roj^-al the more I saw of 
 the iniquity of American slavery and the duty and the
 
 3l8 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 necessity of speedy and universal emancipation. Every day 
 while prosecuting the work of the mission I became cogni- 
 zant of new illustrations of it and wrote some of them in my 
 journal, though not with the expectation of ever publishing 
 them. 
 
 "Saturday, April 19. Spent most of the day in distrib- 
 uting clothing among the poor. Clothed some very destitute 
 children and old people. Visited old Toby's hut, and such 
 a sight I never saw. His master had run away leaving him 
 alone in his little house, so filthy and black. His dirty bed 
 lay on the floor. He was ragged and dirty himself. He 
 told us he had no way to get his bread except as the colored 
 people gave it to him. Thus he is a pauper on the poor 
 who are moneyless. Distributed Bibles and Testaments 
 among scholars that have learned to read. Called on the 
 grandparents of little John Allen, a colored boy of .'^even 
 years now coming to school. John's parents are both sold 
 away, one in Texas and the other no one knows where. 
 The grandparents have no hope that they will ever be heard 
 from. I asked leave to bring John north with me to adopt 
 and educate. The grandfather assented, but the grand- 
 mother said she could not part with him. He was the only 
 one to comfort her. The driver had taken away the father, 
 then the mother, her own daughter; and now she could not 
 part with John. He is a bright and amiable boy. I pray 
 God will never allow him to fall into the hands of a master. 
 
 "Called to see a sick man, Abel Middleton, who was a 
 member of the school. He is very sick with fever. Fears 
 death. Told me he was not a member of any church, 
 though alwaj'S went to meeting. He seemed anxious 
 about his condition — said he had greatly desired to go north 
 with me. When I told him that I might come back again, 
 and probably he could go then, he said: 'I fear I shall not be 
 alive then.' He asked me to pray with him. I poured out
 
 "what was slavery, uncle TOM?" 319 
 
 my soul in strong crying for him. O God, spare his life 
 and give him freedom. I'll never forget how eager he was 
 to read. On the forenoon of the following Sabbath I preached 
 again in the Methodist Church to a good-sized congregation, 
 nearly all colored people, from the text : 
 
 " 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.' I 
 showed the meaning, that it did not give license to sin, nor 
 freedom from restraint, but that when God by his Spirit gives 
 his favor and his blessing there \s freedom, e. g. 
 
 "i. In God's law. The Bible is a law of liberty. Here I 
 showed the falseness of the southern or pro-slavery inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 "2. In the Gospel. Grace is free — salvation is free. The 
 Gospel makes no distinction on account of color. 
 
 "3. In the church. In her there should be no slaveholder 
 or slave. How can any church be Christ's in which mem- 
 bers are enslaved by members — no liberty to read, to speak, 
 to print or to preach the truth as to slavery ? « 
 
 "4. In \.\iQ: government. On this I said but little, showing 
 only that the nation is guilty, that the present war is a 
 divine judgment, and that there would be no peace without 
 emancipation. God is giving blood to drink. I closed by 
 exhorting them to faith in Christ and to freedom from sin 
 and wrath. 
 
 "A few whites were present, all members of slaveholding 
 churches. The colored people not only were attentive but 
 many of them showed excitement. They were hearing a 
 new and strange Gospel: and then and there I prayed God 
 to bless it for their salvation. 
 
 ' ' In the afternoon I preached my farewell sermon from the 
 text, 'There shall be no night there,' adapting the words 
 spoken to the people in the night of fear and sorrow such 
 as only slaves know." 
 
 After the services I went again to visit the sick man.
 
 320 I.OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Abel Middleton, in a critical condition in fever. He again 
 asked me to pra}^ with or for him. When bidding me 
 farewell he warmly pressed my hand as though he did 
 not wish me to go away. He was not a member of any 
 church, only a slave. I feared he would die, yet I prayed 
 for his life and for his salvation, and as I turned from that 
 sick bed I offered up the ejaculatory prayer, Lord, save 
 him. lyCt the reader note that twenty-five years afterwards 
 I saw that man and had evidence that God is the hearer of 
 prayer. On a subsequent page we will hear from Abel 
 Middleton again. 
 
 In the evening of that my last Sabbath in Beaufort I met 
 with the adult members of the school for prayer and to give 
 them a parting advice. I find the following record of it: 
 
 "I have just come from the meeting as it seems to me 
 rebaptized with the Holy Ghost. It was good to be there. 
 I led in the singing, reading the psalm line by line. Sharper 
 Green, a man with a wooden leg, led in the first prayer. 
 Among other things he prayed most earnestly for me, for 
 my family, for a prosperous journey, and that I might be 
 brought back to them. He thanked God for sending me 
 to teach and to preach to them, praying that I might have 
 a rich reward. 
 
 "The second prayer was by Tarquin Cohen, who also 
 prayed and thanked as the other, and alluded to the case 
 and quoted the language of Paul who went to Jerusalem, 
 ' I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing 
 what shall befall me there, ' and prayed for my safety and 
 success and return. I read a portion of the fourteenth 
 chapter of John without comment, and followed by an 
 exhortation to the following effect: To continue their studies, 
 not to tire until they could read well, to avoid the influences 
 of the wicked soldiers, to shun their vices, and keep their 
 children from them, to not trust all professing to be friends,
 
 "WHAT WAS SLAVERY, UNCLE TOM?" 321 
 
 as among the government's superintendents, to not enlist 
 as soldiers, in case opportunity be given, except on the 
 pledge from the government that they shall be free. I 
 asked them to let me hear from them, to pray for me; and 
 I told them we might never meet again here but hoped we 
 
 would meet on high. -a a u ^^.^ 
 
 "I then led them in prayer. I hope I was guided by the 
 Spirit- and this farewell prayer-meeting I will never forget. 
 It is a bright spot in life's Sahara. I may never agam see 
 these good people whom I have learned to love dearly; 
 but while memory holds her sway I'll never forget them. 
 Whatever their ignorance or their want of education, they 
 seem to be true Christians and to love all who they think 
 love Christ. The I.ord bless and guide them is my earnest 
 
 prayer." ' ,. , ^^ 
 
 After the meeting was over most of the men lingered as 
 though they did not wish to separate. I sat and talked 
 with them about their probable future condition. They 
 were fearful lest the war might end and slavery continue, 
 for most of them knew that the war as waged by the 
 northern government had not the abolition of slavery as 
 its design I could not assure them that emancipation 
 would result but I told them I hoped it would. God was 
 on their side and he would break their yokes. I asked 
 them what they would do, or what the slaves on these 
 islands would do if the masters would be permitted to come 
 back and claim their slaves again. One large man who 
 looked as though he had become embittered by the long 
 endurance of the galling yoke, and on whose face were 
 depicted strong emotions and determination, quickly straight- 
 ened himself up and answered slowly, but with emphasis: 
 *' Why sir, dese rivers would all be full of dead men. 
 After he uttered these words all were silent. I did not 
 know whether he meant that they would rather drown 
 
 21
 
 322 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 themselves, or that they would kill their masters if they 
 should attempt to come over and re-enslave them; and I 
 did not like to ask him which he meant. 
 
 On Monday after hearing some lessons in the school 
 and giving a parting advice I bade all good-by, leaving 
 them in the charge of Miss Wight. In the afternoon I 
 visited the sick and called on some families from which 
 children had come to school. In one of these, three little 
 girls gave me some beautiful little toys and said: "Mr. 
 Johnston, please take these home with you for your little 
 daughter." How could I fail to offer a prayer for those 
 dear little girl.s — a prayer to Him who loved and blessed 
 little children? They were the children of bond-servants; 
 mine was free. What became of tho.se little girls I may 
 never know unless it may be mine to learn in the heavenly 
 kingdom of Him who came to proclaim liberty to the 
 captives. 
 
 More than thirty-five years have passed since the above 
 quoted records were made though not for the public eye. 
 They are copied here and now to show that I loved my 
 work and that there is a probability that the Board of 
 Mi.ssions afterwards erred seriously in not continuing the 
 mission in Beaufort. If a proper person had been sent 
 down without unnecessary delay he would have found the 
 school, and possibly the old Methodist Church, ready for 
 occupancy. When the missionary did go he found things 
 somewhat different from what they had been, and following 
 the leading of the military' he went to Fernandina, Fla., 
 to open the mission there. It never got a good foothold 
 but after awhile was abandoned, though the work was 
 subsequently begun again in Tennessee and Washington. 
 
 "Tuesday 22. Preparing for my journey homeward. 
 Visited the headquarters of the government agent (Mr. 
 Broad) who had the oversight of the contrabands or people
 
 "what was slavery, uncle TOM?" 323 
 
 of color in the employ of the government. There I saw a 
 sad sight. In a shed adjacent to his office stood a j^oung 
 man with his hands tied with ropes to a beam overhead, 
 his arms stretched out and up to their farthest extent, the 
 position evidently a very painful one especially if long con- 
 tinued; indeed, it would become torture. I asked the poor 
 sufferer for what he was tied up. He said that he had 
 worked a month for the government and had received no 
 pay; and that he had engaged as a servant to work with 
 the captain of a boat on the river without first going to ask 
 leave of Mr. Broad. For this he had l^een tied up to be 
 kept, as he supposed, all day. On inquiry I learned from 
 several of the negroes that Broad was in the habit of punish- 
 ing them in this way, that if a man was sick a day or so as 
 not to be able to go and report himself at headquarters, the 
 next morning he would be put in 'the cross.' This cross 
 I went to see. It is made of two pieces of timber or posts 
 .set in the ground about four feet apart, with a cross piece of 
 timber fastening the two together at the top. The hands 
 are tied to this top piece, higher than the head, with the 
 arms stretched out at length. Then the feet or legs are 
 stretched out, spread out wide and tied to the lower end of 
 the posts. Here the man is compelled to stand in torture as 
 long as Broad pleases. Some colored men told me that some 
 man is in one of the places almost all the time. Last Sab- 
 bath a man was in the cross ironed to the posts all day. I 
 inquired the cause of the offense. He had been sick the 
 day before and could not come to work and so did not re- 
 port himself at the headquarters until the next morning. 
 Accordingly he was chained for delinquency. 
 
 ' ' I have taken Dr. Peck with me to remonstrate with 
 Broad. This man says he has authority from General 
 Stevens for using such punishments, though he says he 
 would not use them if he had the ball and chain. The
 
 324 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 negroes who told me about the tortures said that they never 
 had seen anything like it in the days when their masters 
 ruled. What inference must they draw? That the Yankees 
 are just as bad as the Southerners — that they might as well 
 be slaves of their former owners as of the United States Gov- 
 ernment. It is to be regretted, however, that they do not 
 know that this same Broad is a southern man and probably 
 a Secessionist at heart. He has been trained to ov'erseer 
 life, I am told. It is a shame and a heinous offense against 
 humanity that General Stevens did not appoint a Christian, 
 at least a humane man, to occupy such a post." 
 
 " 8 P. M. Called again on Abel Middleton, the sick man. 
 Also on Sharper Washington. Here at his mother's I saw 
 Sarah Jane, a little girl w^ho comes to school. She is very 
 bright and interesting and as black as jet. She is the only 
 daughter of a woman who was born and lived until nine or 
 ten years ago in Northampton, Va. There she had a hus- 
 band who belonged to another master. When Sarah Jane 
 was a year old a slaveholder bought the mother and her 
 babe and took them to Norfolk. Here another trader 
 bought her and took her to Richmond. Here a third trader 
 bought her and took her to Charleston. Here Richard 
 Reynolds (her late rebel master) bought her and brought her 
 to Beaufort. Who will next buy or sell her? Will the 
 United States Government ever be so base as to permit her 
 late rebel owner to claim her? If this be done how can God's 
 forbearance last any longer? Who can tell what infernal 
 deeds have been done under the Stars and Stripes! Shall 
 they be permitted in the future? ' '
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Homeward Bound. Pastoral Duties Resumed. 
 
 On the morning of Wednesday April 23, after bidding 
 good-by to many colored friends I went aboard a small 
 yacht for Hilton Head, homeward bound. I left Beaufort 
 two or three weeks sooner than I had intended. Several 
 things beyond my control led to this early departure. The 
 principal one was that my home pulpit was vacant. When 
 I left Topsham I expected it to be supplied at least seven or 
 eight Sabbaths. In this I was disappointed. My wife had 
 written urging me to return home before Presbytery. The 
 Atlantic was expected to sail from Port Royal on Thursday 
 the 24th. If I had waited for her next trip I could not 
 reach New York in time for Presbytery, nor could I have 
 any assurance that I could get passage by any other vessel. 
 Besides in Beaufort smallpox had broken out and not 
 only was I greatly exposed to it but there was danger of 
 both the school and the Sabbath services being broken up by 
 its prevalence. I left the school in the charge of Miss Wight, 
 the first assistant, and Miss Hale the second, but not without 
 fears that it might be diminished in number. But I had 
 found them to be most excellent women and good workers; 
 and what else could I do? 
 
 On reaching Hilton Head I called upon friends with whom 
 I had formed acquaintance. I learned that General David 
 Hunter had issued an order declaring free all slaves that had 
 been compelled to do army work for the rebel army. This 
 order would give Hberty to many. I rejoiced in the knowl- 
 
 (325)
 
 326 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 edge that not a few of my friends in Beaufort would be 
 freed by it. My friend Mercheson, the refugee from Savan- 
 nah, showed me the first emancipation certificate put into 
 the hand of a slave. I took a copy of it which I sent to the 
 Aiiti-Slavery Staiidard for publication that it might give joy 
 to the Abolitionists. It was the first case of actual freedom 
 given to a southern bondman, and it foreshadow^ed what was 
 to come erelong, the freedom of millions I am sorry, how- 
 ever, to have to add that it was not long until this order of 
 General Hunter was revoked by President Lincoln. And yet 
 within nine months the President himself was compelled to 
 issue a similar and fuller order or proclamation of freedom to 
 millions. The facts as to General Hunter's orders are 
 briefly stated in "Higginson's United States History" thus: 
 
 ' ' The war had not been originally waged for the abolition 
 of slavery, but to preserve the Union; and when Union 
 generals — Fremont, Phelps, and Hunter — had, at different 
 times and places, undertaken to set .slaves free, the President 
 had revoked their action, or limited it to the slaves actually 
 employed against the government. ' ' 
 
 The President's or the government's conduct towards 
 General Hunter in another case was equally unworthy of the 
 administration. Soon after the issuing of free papers to the 
 contrabands General Hunter on his own responsibility 
 organized a regiment of black men. This regiment was 
 soon disbanded by the government at Washington. For 
 some unknown reason one company was allow^ed to remain 
 in the service. In the process of time, however, the gov- 
 ernment was glad to get the aid of as many black men, north 
 or south, as were willing (and they nearly all would have 
 been glad) to bear arms against the rebels. 
 
 As soon as practicable I called upon General Hunter and 
 narrated to him the conduct of Superintendent Broad referred 
 to on a previous page. The general asked me numerous
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 327 
 
 questions but did not commit himself to any course of action; 
 but he was so gentlemanly and manifested so much interest 
 in the case I was very hopeful that my visit to him would 
 not be in vain. 
 
 The next morning I learned that the evening before, after 
 I had called on the general and told him about the actions of 
 Broad at Beaufort, he inquired of Mr. lyce and Mr. Smalley, 
 the Tribune reporter, who and what I was. When they 
 had informed him, he assured them that he would immedi- 
 ately dismiss Broad from his post and send him away. The 
 news seemed too good to believe. Not long, however, after 
 reaching my northern home I read in the public news that 
 General Hunter had dismissed the "overseer" from the 
 service and had sent him in disgrace to the north. No 
 doubt thousands of the contrabands at Beaufort were 
 jubilant.- 
 
 On Thursday about i o'clock the steamer hauled off her 
 cables from the Hilton Head dock and was soon steaming 
 out towards the ocean. I was anxious that she might reach 
 New York by Saturday evening. She had on board a large 
 company of passengers, mostly military officers. In charge 
 of some of them were about one hundred rebel prisoners. 
 These were a shabby-looking set of fellows. Though sol- 
 diers, no two of them were dressed alike. 
 
 Except that we encountered no storms but had an average 
 sea, my return voyage was not so pleasant as the former. 
 The passengers were nearly all in the military department 
 and I found almost none who were companionable. And then 
 I was unfortunate in not having engaged a state-room. All 
 had been engaged previously. All that I could do was to 
 take a "private berth." The purser assigned one to me. 
 On going to it at bedtime I found it occupied by some sound 
 sleeper. He seemed so happy in the arms of Morpheus, and 
 thinking of the wag who wrote the complex sentence.
 
 328 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 "Blessings be on the head of the man who invented sleep," 
 I returned to the upper cabin and lay all night on one of the 
 side seats. I forget what I utilized for my pillow, but I 
 know it was softer than Jacob's and my bed better than his 
 the night the patriarch lay out on the ground at Bethel. 
 
 Friday morning I learned a little lesson in the Atlantic 
 Coast navigation. I remembered that when we left Port 
 Royal harbor the ship started and continued to run onl)^ a 
 little north of east. When morning came — and my bed did 
 not hold me until 9 o'clock — I noticed that we were still 
 running east nor'east. I could not understand it for I knew 
 that New York was nearly north. I noticed also that one of 
 the crew occasionally dipped up water from the sea and by a 
 thermometer tested its temperature. Risking the liability of 
 being laughed at for m}^ ignorance — for it is better to appear 
 ignorant than to be ignorant — I asked the man at the wheel 
 why he was running nearly east, and what the testing of the 
 temperature of the water meant. He promptly answered: 
 "We are running out into the gulf stream, and we know 
 when we get into it by the temperature of the water. We 
 are now coming into it. Then we will steer north." Rec- 
 ollecting what I had learned about ocean currents, I needed 
 to ask no more questions. The lesson: We should sail in 
 life's currents only when they bear us towards our wished- 
 for harbor of peace and home. 
 
 On our return voyage the first land we saw was at Barne- 
 gat lighthouse which we passed at 6 o'clock Saturday 
 evening. I was very anxious to reach New York in time 
 to lodge with some of the dear brethren; but our good ship did 
 not fasten her cables in her pier until a little after midnight. 
 Needing good sleep I hastened to a hotel for lodging. As 
 Sullivan Street church. Rev. J. C. K. Milligan pastor, was the 
 nearest, on Sabbath morning I found my wa}^ to it and heard 
 the pastor preach from: "Great is the mystery of godliness; ' '
 
 HOMKWARD BOUND. 329 
 
 in the afternoon from: "God was manifest in the flesh." 
 When he asked me to preach for him in the P. M., I had to 
 dechne; but when he asked me to lodge with him I was glad 
 to accept and once more enjoy the rare luxury of a soft and 
 clean bed. 
 
 On Monday after transacting some business connected with 
 the mission I hastened to take my journey homeward, and 
 on Tuesday the 29th of April I made this brief entry in my 
 diary: "Reached home in safety and found my dear family 
 well. And now I wish to record my gratitude to God my 
 Father for sparing me and mine and permitting me to return 
 home in peace. H!itherto the Lord hath helped us. Now 
 let me love my God more sincerely and serve him more 
 devotedly." 
 
 On returning home I found much work clamoring for a 
 worker. As to pulpit duties, in the explanation of the 
 Psalms and in the exposition of the prophecy of Isaiah, I 
 began where I had left off before leaving home. In the 
 afternoon of the first Sabbath I preached from the text: "For 
 unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much 
 required," etc., deducing the doctrine, "our responsibilities 
 are in proportion to our privileges," and showing how much 
 greater ours are than those of the enslaved. 
 
 The Sabbath-school that had been suspended during the 
 months of the deep snow was reorganized. The class of 
 adults that fell to the pastor as teacher numbered fifteen or 
 sixteen. 
 
 Responding to the requests of friends, on the following 
 week I gave two evening lectures on Port Royal, its planta- 
 tions and contrabands, etc. Both evenings the house was 
 crowded and the people manifested great interest in the sub- 
 ject. It could not be otherwise when the minds of all were 
 so absorbed in the questions involved in the war as well as 
 in the condition of the country growing more serious every 
 day.
 
 330 LOOKING BACK I^ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 The next week Topsham was greatly agitated on the 
 question of the liquor traffic. A citizen who loved money 
 and rum more than law had been secretly selling liquors in 
 violation of the state prohibitory law. He was arrested and 
 tried, the state against the rumseller. Many witnesses tes- 
 tified and the jury^ was divided. At the second trial about 
 fort>' witnesses gave evidence. Most of them were men 
 who were known or believed to have bought rum of the 
 accused. Many of them manifestly testified falsely. The 
 lawyer for the accused used every effort to exculpate him 
 and thwart justice. The friends of temperance and of law 
 were indignant. The deceptions, falsehoods, and perjury 
 were so bare-faced and the scenes during the trials so appal- 
 ling, I felt that the pulpit should not be silent, and on the 
 following Sabbath I preached against lying and perjury. 
 Three texts used demanded plain speech; they were: 
 "Speak ye truth every man to his neighbor, love no false 
 oath" (Zech.). "I will be a swift witness against the false 
 swearers" (Mai.) and, "The law is made for liars, for per- 
 jured persons" (Paul). 
 
 Two propositions were amplified: Truth is of inestimable 
 value, and there is no place where God's law, in this regard, 
 is so violated as in the courts of justice. The whole town 
 was agitated by the efforts of the "rummies" to defy the 
 law. There were so many and the efforts so determined 
 and fostered by the lawyers who themselves loved rum, I 
 was reminded of the words of old Father Bailey, the Con- 
 gregational minister who had said to me: "I am glad you 
 are located in Topsham. Wherever the devil has his seat is 
 the place for you." The week following these trials I held 
 two diets of catechizing in different parts of the congrega- 
 tion. These diets and family visitations I held twice a year, 
 as a rule, during all my labors in the congregation. A 
 pastor who neglects these duties "stands in his own light."
 
 homKward bound. 331 
 
 After my return from Port Royal I saw so many evidences 
 of a low state of religion in the congregation and com- 
 munity, caused in part by the fearful scenes of war that 
 engrossed the minds of all classes, I saw the need of revival; 
 and I see now by reference to my journal that during the 
 following months of spring and summer I preached many of 
 what people call "Gospel sermons"— sermons that I hoped 
 might awaken and arouse the people to more concern about 
 personal religion and greater activity in efforts to save sin- 
 ners and to revive the church. 
 
 On Sabbath, May 18, after preaching two sermons from 
 the texts, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is 
 the day of salvation," and "O taste and see that the Lord is 
 good," a baptism occurred. The record made at the time 
 reads thus: "At the close of the afternoon discourse I bap- 
 tized a son of Mr. and Mrs. Morrison. The name of the 
 babe is Nathan Robinson Johnston. I hope he will become 
 a greater and better man than the one for whom he is 
 named." Mrs. Morrison was a most excellent woman, of 
 Scotch but not Covenanter parentage. She had been 
 admitted to the fellowship of the church on examination a 
 year or so before. Wm. Morrison was an intelligent and 
 worthy son of a Covenanter mother, a most zealous Abolition- 
 ist but not a Covenanter by his own profession. He had 
 asked admission to the church but in his examination by the 
 session it was ascertained, as the moderator had known 
 before, that he held to some Arminian theology. His 
 further examination was deferred. Session hoped that 
 before the next communion his difficulties as to Calvinism 
 could be removed. He came a second time, but his views 
 remained about the same, and the session, in sorrow of heart, 
 felt constrained to not sustain the examination. To the 
 moderator, indeed to all the elders, it was a cause of grief, 
 for we all would have been made glad if Mr. Morrison could
 
 332 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 have been one with us and his beloved wife. He felt 
 aggrieved, for he thought the session was too strict, and he 
 desired greatly to be in the church of his mother and of his 
 wife. But the elders were all strict Calvinists and did not 
 wish to open the doors to any, however worthy in other 
 respects, who could not subscribe to the church's cov- 
 enanted creed. The judgment of others, however, was that 
 the "Presbyterian" session was severely illiberal if not 
 unkind also. And I must confess that in all my experience 
 as moderator in cases of the kind this was the most painful. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Morrison were not only most earnest Aboli- 
 tionists — they called another son John Brown — but they 
 were and continued to be warm friends of her pastor and 
 his family.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Trials of Faith. Home Duties. 
 
 The next morning, Monday the 19th, I left home to 
 attend Presbytery at Newburgh and Synod at Pittsburg. On 
 the Hudson River steamer, Mary Powell. I had the company 
 of my lifelong friend and brother, J. R. W. Sloane, always, 
 like his father, a most interesting traveling companion; ana 
 then, at our lodging during Presbytery, I had the always 
 welcome company of Brother Armour. As soon as the way 
 was open in Presbytery I presented my own case to which 
 reference was made on the previous page. I read a carefully- 
 prepared paper explaining how, in what sense, and under 
 what trying circumstances I had taken the oath. In my 
 statement I concealed nothing but voluntarily confessed what 
 I then regarded as sin— a sin into which I had been ensnared 
 because of my ignorance and in my anxiety to get a passport 
 to Port Royal. But what I had done did not satisfy all the 
 members of Presbytery. An elder who had not welcomed 
 Pastor Sloane to New York and who knew that Mr. Sloane 
 had helped me to secure my passport, notwithstanding my 
 confession in Presbytery presented a previously-written 
 charge against me and asked Presbytery to exercise disci- 
 pline. I suspected then, as I think others also did, that one 
 of the motives of that formal charge was to have an oppor- 
 tunity to strike a blow at my friend Sloane. All my co- 
 presbyters, ministers at least, knew that I had not been 
 inclined to liberahsm toward the United States Government. 
 After brief discussion in which only a few took part, Pres- 
 
 (333)
 
 334 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 bytery voted that I should be admonished, though quite a 
 number did not vote at all. I asked the brethren to give 
 me more time to consider my duty. I made it a subject of 
 special prayer until the next session of the court when I 
 agreed to submit to the admonition on the condition that my 
 voluntary confession and written statement would be printed 
 in the minutes with the printed action of Presbytery in the 
 case. As no action was taken to the contrary, I understood 
 that my request would be granted. It was not. The 
 minutes were recorded without any mention of my voluntary 
 statement. Afterwards as well as then I felt that Presbytery 
 had done me wrong. My friend. Elder Andrew Knox, of 
 Mr. Sloane's session, said to me that I should not have sub- 
 mitted to the admonition as I had done no wrong. But I 
 thought that in Presbyterj' I had done only my duty. I felt 
 that whatever Presbytery might do or not do it was all- 
 important for me to do right. What was the judgment of 
 others outside the Presbytery I do not know. The minutes 
 were not published, and in the Presbyterial report to Synod 
 no mention of the case was made. 
 
 Returning to New York I hunted up some contrabands 
 who had arrived from the south. One was from Virginia 
 and who had been the coachman of Jefferson Davis. The 
 other was my kiud friend Caesar, General Olmstead's cook 
 who had given me my supper in Fort Pulaski the night after 
 its surrender. The next day I found with Caesar William 
 Ferguson, one of my Beaufort scholars who had just arrived 
 at New York. I gave each of them a speller and a New 
 Testament. They promised me that they would persevere 
 until they could intelligently read the Bible. 
 
 Hurrying on towards Synod, I stopped at Philadelphia to 
 confer with members of the Board of Missions, to hand in 
 my report of the work at Beaufort, and to spend the Sabbath. 
 I lodged again with my old friend William Brown, the slave's
 
 TRIAI.S OP FAITH. HOME DUTIES. 335 
 
 staunch friend. Again his pastor, Dr. S. O. Wylie, pressed 
 me into service in his pulpit, and I preached Sabbath after- 
 noon from Jesus' words: "I am come to send fire on earth," 
 etc. And right here I wish to record my estimate of this 
 beloved brother and father who for so many years was among 
 the most influential ministers in the church. My acquaint- 
 ance with him was neither as early nor as intimate as with 
 some of his cotemporaries, but I was so long a co-Presbyter, 
 and I saw so much of him in Synod and in his own cit}' and 
 congregation, that I could hardly be mistaken as to his real 
 worth. In my judgment he was wrong on the question of 
 the deacon, and I suppose on some collateral questions or on 
 cases growing out of that long-contesled issue, and perhaps 
 he did not at first take as lively an interest in the National 
 Reform movement as he should have taken; but as to per- 
 sonal integrity and personal worth, as to brain power and 
 accurate scholarship, as a great preacher and faithful pastor, 
 and especially in his very earnest and active interest in the 
 cause of foreign missions, in which he was the acknowledged 
 leader for many years, he had few superior.s if any. To me 
 personally he was alwaj's gentlemanly, affable, kind and 
 warm-hearted, and fraternally trustworthy. His piety and 
 Christian worth those who knew him best could never doubt. 
 Except in the case of Dr. A. M. Milligan I never knew any 
 congregation that loved the pastor as much as did the Second 
 Philadelphia. His death was a great loss to his congrega- 
 tion and to the whole church. 
 
 During Synod I was, as before, most hospitably enter- 
 tained in the family of Dr. Sterritt. On invitation of Father 
 Crozier, pastor at Elizabeth, I spent the Sabbath with him 
 and preached in his pulpit half the day. He was greatly 
 interested in the mission movement at Beaufort, and, indeed, 
 all his life that good man was actively interested in all the 
 church's missions.
 
 336 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 In one of my intennews with Dr. S. O. Wylie prior to our 
 departure from Philadelphia, or at Synod prior to the Board's 
 report in reference to what had been done towards establish- 
 ing a mission among the contrabands, he interrogated me 
 as to my willingness to be the missionary if recommended 
 or appointed. I replied that if desired and if it were prac- 
 ticable for me to go, I would most gladly accept and devote 
 myself to the work; but I earnestly requested him not to 
 nominate me or say or do anything towards my appointment. 
 Much as I would like to go, I could not. The condition of 
 my family required my presence at home, and I could not 
 take them with me. The interests of the congregation of 
 which I was pastor made it imperativ^e that I abide with 
 them; and I loved both the people and the place as a home 
 so much, I did not wish to leave them or it. Besides all this 
 I feared that what had occurred in Presbytery in reference to 
 my getting my passport to Port Royal might make it un- 
 advisable for me to go if I could. The result was that after 
 the Board's report was approved and adopted, and after 
 Synod resolved to establish the mission, Rev. Joshua Kennedy 
 was appointed missionary. What followed is known to those 
 who have been interested in the Freedman's Mission. Before 
 Mr. Kennedy went to Beaufort the military condition was 
 somewhat changed and the circumstances of the contrabands 
 different. Under the influence of the military officers he 
 removed to Fernandina, Fla., where he opened a mission 
 school and acted as chaplain in the army a short time. Licen- 
 tiate Robert Shields was appointed his successor as mis- 
 sionar3^ I never was reconciled to the change of location. 
 There may have been better reasons for it than I knew; but 
 it always seemed unwise. At Beaufort there was a very 
 large number of most needy slaves among whom the work 
 had begun. A fair experiment had been made. The field 
 had been occupied so long and such a foothold gained the
 
 TRIALS OF FAITH. HOME DUTIES. 337 
 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church had a right to claim posses- 
 sion. When I left Beaufort it was in the expectation that 
 some one would be sent soon to carry on the work temporarily 
 left in charge of others until a Covenanter missionary would 
 come to relieve them. Some one should have been sent with- 
 out delay. A well-organized mission school, holding three 
 sessions, forenoon, afternoon, and night, was ready for the 
 returning teacher. A good house of worship, of medium 
 size, in which religious services according to the forms of 
 the Reformed Presbyterian Church had been held for some 
 time, was awaiting occupancy by the missionary. If so many 
 obstacles to my return had not lain in the way, most gladly 
 would I have gone back to the field and to a work I loved 
 so well. Yes, that field should have been occupied and held 
 permanently unless the missionary had been driven out by 
 military force. Long years passed before the Freedman's 
 Mission was permanently located. And I close this para- 
 graph by adding that it is more than a noticeable fact that in 
 that same little city of Beaufort, S. C, in which the Cov- 
 enanter Church first began her mission work in the south, 
 there is now a flourishing Freedman's Presbyterian literary 
 institution* at the head of which is Rev. G. M. Elliott, .so 
 long the Covenanter pastor and teacher in our mission at 
 Selma, Ala. 
 
 A few Sabbaths after my return from Synod our summer 
 communion occurred. I was assisted by Rev. J. C. K. Milli- 
 gan of New York . On the Friday before that communion Sab- 
 bath this entry was made in my diary: "Last night I was 
 grieved on hearing that one of our deacons is resolved to 
 stay away from the communion on the ground that the 
 church is wrong on the question of civil government and 
 the Synod wrong on the question of the war. He seems to 
 
 *Harbison Institute. 
 22
 
 338 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 be drifting towards New-Iyightism. The war has turned his 
 head and he hardly knows what he believes." 
 
 Samuel Mills, the deacon referred to, had been a member 
 of the Free Church of Scotland. When he united with us 
 the session believed him to be not only a good man but 
 intelligent and sincere in his acceptance of the Covenanter's 
 creed as to the duty of political dissent. I do not remember 
 certainly but I think he did not leave our fellowship until 
 after the lapse of a year or two. He was a man of superior 
 intelligence and ability, fond of debate, and not without 
 ambition. His wife, a woman of rare excellence, had had 
 much influence in bringing him into the church. They had 
 a family of lovely children. I had a warm personal regard 
 for Mr. Mills and always enjoyed his society; but after he 
 became unsettled in his views and began to oppose our dis- 
 tinctive principles, the session feared his influence in the 
 congregation. Yet no discipline was exercised. 
 
 In former years at nearly every communion there were 
 encouraging additions to the church. The majority of them 
 were from the young people. At this communion, however, 
 there w^ere only two; one w^as Renwick McNiece, younger 
 brother of Robert McNiece then in Dartmouth College, and 
 the other was Mrs. Ruth Kimball. This good woman was 
 a convert from the world. Her daughters had been scholars 
 in our Sabbath-school. Then they became students in our 
 Topsham Normal School and associated with our Covenanter 
 youth. One of these daughters had been converted and 
 received into the church by baptism. Erelong the mother 
 made an intelligent profession and was received and baptized. 
 As always when such were added to the church there was 
 joy among Christ's disciples in Topsham. 
 
 On Friday, June ii, 1862, the following record was made 
 in the pastor's diary: "Last night at about i o'clock my 
 wife gave birth to a second daughter. Both are doing well. 
 The Lord be praised for sparing the life of mother and child. ' '
 
 TRIALS OP FAITH. HOME DUTIES. 339 
 
 During the year now passing the excitment caused by the 
 war continued to grow more and more intense. Scattered 
 over the town of Topsham there were numerous citizens who 
 were in sympathy with the rebels. A few such were in the 
 village but they were obliged to be reticent or very cautious 
 as to their words. Probably these things were the occasion 
 of my preaching a sermon on the text: "For rebellion is as 
 the sin of witchcraft," in which I applied its truth to the 
 south and argued and illustrated this proposition, viz., "The 
 rebellion of the southern slaveholding states is exceedingly 
 wicked." 
 
 Probably it was about the first of August when President 
 Lincoln issued a new call for six hundred thousand more 
 soldiers. Three hundred thousand were to be drafted im- 
 mediately, and if the remaining three were not made up by 
 volunteers by the 15th of August they were to be drafted. 
 Partly through fear of being drafted several Covenanters, 
 including some young men, were thinking of enlisting in 
 the army. In the present condition of the country and in 
 the present manner of conducting the war against the south, 
 I deeply regretted their purpose, and I could not suppress 
 the conviction that to be faithful to God and to myself as a 
 pastor I should warn the brethren against the course con- 
 templated. That the readers may not be swift in their 
 condemnation of this conviction of the pastor let them be 
 reminded of the fact that prior to the date of this draft and 
 some time afterwards there was no change in the policy of 
 the administration — no intention as yet to do anything to 
 harm the darling institution of the south; and let it be 
 remembered that within a year or two after this draft the 
 pressure upon President Lincoln and the fear of the success 
 of the Rebellion became so great he and his cabinet were 
 compelled to change, step by step, the character of the war. 
 If the administration had done prior to August i, 1862,
 
 340 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 what it did aftenvards from time to time from absolute 
 necessity, the sermons on this subject preached by the 
 Topsham pastor would never have been preached. And 
 let it be remembered also that on the question of the sin or 
 duty of Covenanters enlisting as soldiers the church was 
 much divided, and not a few were rushing into the army, 
 their motives varying, and some without studying the prin- 
 ciples or responsibilities involved. One pastor left his con- 
 gregation and as a captain led a large number of his people 
 with him into the fields of battle. Of course the plaudits of 
 the people would tend to quiet the consciences of Covenanter 
 soldiers or close their ears against those who might plead 
 with them not to go. But it has passed into history' that 
 some Covenanters did not and would not become soldiers. 
 In declining to volunteer they were loyal to Christ and to 
 the slave. 
 
 Unless by those who have read some minutely' written 
 history of the administration during the war, it is not 
 known that there was an effort to colonize the people of 
 color, thus reviving the principles held by the American 
 Colonization Society. I do not remember with whom it 
 was first originated or by whom it was first proposed, but 
 Congress having voted a large sum of money to be used in 
 colonizing the blacks, President Lincoln proposed a plan to 
 some of the leading men of that class and began to carry it 
 out. The plan was to found a colon^^ in Central America to 
 which all would be sent who would consent to go. Of 
 course the colonization scheme would not meet with the 
 favor of the despised race, and it soon died out. The 
 purposes of the Ruler of nations could not be frustrated. 
 
 Descending from the sublime to the ridiculous, the follow- 
 ing items are copied from my journal of September 15, viz. 
 "Went to Bradford on business. Saw the soldiers there 
 riding a Secessionist on a rail."
 
 'Trials oi^ faith, homk duties. 341 
 
 "lyearned from a friend that some loyal (?) citizens of 
 Bradford think that Abolitionists should be hung, and that 
 they had mentioned three as specimens with whom to begin: 
 viz. William Lloyd Garrison, Rev. Silas McKeene, pastor of 
 the Bradford Congregational Church, and the Presbyterian 
 minister in Topsham. I thus find myself in honorable 
 company . ' '
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 War Problems. 
 
 On the 29tli of September, 1862, in the progress of the 
 war against the Confederate slaveholders, the President 
 issued a remarkable document declaring his intention to 
 proclaim freedom to all the slaves of rebel states not return- 
 ing to the Union before the ist of January' next. This was 
 a marvelous advance from previous acts by the President. 
 It made glad the hearts of millions in the north and multi- 
 tudes of northern soldiers. Abolitionists rejoiced in it but 
 would have rejoiced ver^' much more if the proclamation 
 had been far better. But there were other things in that 
 presidential proclamation that all right-hearted men approved 
 and praised God for. It enjoined upon the military officers 
 the enforcement of the acts of Congress, viz. 
 
 1. No military officer may return fugitive slaves. 
 
 2. All slaves of rebels — slaves coming into our lines — 
 were to be forever free. 
 
 3. No slaves of rebels were to be returned at all. This 
 and similar advanced steps were not of the President's own 
 choosing but the result of the pressure brought to bear upon 
 him by anti-slavery men in his cabinet and in Congress or 
 from northern men. As this new and advanced step was 
 now greatly agitating the people, and as the first part of the 
 proclamation was so far from what it should have been, I 
 felt that I would be culpable if no testimony would be heard 
 from the pulpit. Accordingly on the following Sabbath I 
 preached on the subject using several verses as the text, viz. 
 
 (342)
 
 WAR PROBI^EMS. 343 
 
 "Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand of 
 the wicked;" "Relieve the oppressed;" and "Behold, 7iow 
 is the accepted time." 
 
 In the discussion I acknowledged that the proclamation 
 was a wonderful advance upon the previous policy of the 
 administration and that it introduced the dawn of hope. 
 "We now have crossed the line. The days will become 
 longer and the nights shorter. And for the first time we 
 have a decided policy on the part of the administration. 
 The deed can not be revoked. General Hunter's proclama- 
 tion had been nullified; this can not be. It is law. Possibly 
 it may become a dead letter, but who can revoke it?" 
 
 Yet such queries as these arose and were asked: viz.. Is 
 this proclamation what God demands? Is it what it should 
 be now when God is judging the nation for its sins, especially 
 for its slaveholding? Should we. Covenanters and Abolition- 
 ists, be satisfied with it? When the war broke out — the war 
 of slaveholders against the government — the President in 
 the exercise of the war power had full authority to declare 
 all slaves free. But here, after eighteen months of fearful 
 bloodshed, he still adheres to his old theories. It declares 
 his readiness to return fugitives to loyal masters. It renews 
 the old proposition to colonize the free people of color; and 
 he is ready to pay the slaveholders for freeing their slaves. 
 In all these the President puts human law above divine, 
 lyook at the facts. The proclamation only threatens the 
 rebel masters that if they do not lay down their arms within 
 three months he will declare their slaves free. But this 
 should have been done, and long ago, as an act of justice tc 
 the slave. God, humanity, and patriotism all called for it 
 But it was done only as a last resort when pressed on all 
 sides by the enemy and by God's wrath. It was done 
 merely to save the Union, the unholy union with slave- 
 holders; it was only an act oi policy. It should have been
 
 344 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 universal, to all the four millions, slaves of loyalists, as well 
 as of rebels. Why? Because slaver>^ was the cause of the 
 war and the cause of God's wrath. If only the slaves of 
 rebels be freed there will be more than half a million remain- 
 ing in bonds in the five loyal slave states. Moreover, the 
 Proclamation of Emancipation should have been immediate 
 and unconditional. Why? God so commands. ''Now is 
 the accepted time. " " Break eve)y yoke 7iow. ' ' Why? Lest 
 the rebels take advantage of the delay. Why? And I em- 
 phasize this, because if the design of the President be effected 
 and the rebel states return to the Union as he desires them 
 to do, and as he endeavors by his threat to drive them to do, 
 the four millions of slaves would still wear the chains. Then 
 the rebels would be unpunished. The cause of God's wrath 
 would still exist, and the old causes of troubles between the 
 north and the south would still remain. But though an 
 awful blunder has been made no doubt God intends to frus- 
 trate the purposes of men. The day of universal and un- 
 conditional emancipation is near at hand. God's silver jubi- 
 lee trumpet, "proclaiming liberty throughout all the land 
 and to a// the inhabitants thereof," will yet be blown from 
 the National Capitol and all the world shall hear it, for 
 Jesus reigns. 
 
 As the months of autumn passed, the struggle between 
 the north and the south became more and more terrible, and 
 many observant patriots were fearful that the southern Con- 
 federacy might be a success. More and more the southern 
 sword was devouring the thousands of our choicest 3^oung 
 men. From Topsham congregation some of the pride of 
 our best famiUes had enlisted and were now in the Army of 
 the Potomac while loving hearts at home were in almost 
 sleepless anxiety for their boys in blue. Under these circum- 
 stances I feared that the duties of family and personal relig- 
 ion might be neglected, and that those who most needed
 
 WAR PROBLEMS. 345 
 
 "the great salvation," might altogether neglect it. Accord- 
 ingly, during the autumn and winter I preached much and 
 often, or nearly all the time, such sermons as I thought 
 would tend to bring sinners to Christ and to awaken into 
 livelier Christian activity the members of the church. Early 
 in the autumn I began a series of week-evening lectures on 
 several subjects that I hoped would interest and call out 
 the people. The most of them were written and read. 
 Three or four of them were on the Bible, and the Bible in 
 the schools. These were largely attended by the young peo- 
 ple of almost all classes. Two on Church Fellowship or in 
 defense of ' 'close communion' ' occasioned no little disputation 
 in the community. Our semi-annual pastoral visitations 
 were made prior to our winter communion. This occurred 
 on the first Sabbath of January, when I was again favored by 
 the assistance of Brother Armour. I had assisted him at 
 his communion two weeks before. To add to my work and 
 in obedience to the appointment of Synod, during the winter 
 months I canvassed all the Vermont congregations to solicit 
 money to endow the Theological Seminary. I think I was 
 a poor beggar. However important the object I didn't like 
 the service. 
 
 As was foreshadowed by the President's proclamation of 
 September 22, on the ist of' January, 1863, lyincoln fulfilled 
 his promise to the north and his threat to the south and 
 issued his proclamation of freedom to all the slaves in the 
 states in actual rebellion. It did not affect the status of the 
 slaves in the border states that remained in the Union, viz., 
 Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and 
 parts of Virginia and lyouisiana. As the act of emancipa- 
 tion was only a war measure, the President as the head of 
 the army having this power, he had no legal authority to 
 disturb the relation of master and slave in the loyal states. 
 Practically slaveiy continued in all the states until after the
 
 346 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I^AND. 
 
 war when by constitutional amendment it was abolished. 
 The proclamation of January i did not make any actual 
 change in the condition of the three and a half millions of 
 slaves. Few of them heard of the proclamation. Their 
 rebel masters and the rebel soldiers would not be expected 
 to convey the intelligence to them. It could not have been 
 otherwise for the southern armies as yet held the situation in 
 their own hands. The only change that followed the procla- 
 mation was that all thought of returning fugitive slaves to 
 any owners in the states in the Rebellion was abandoned. 
 Actual freedom did not come to the slaves for almost three 
 years or when on December i8, 1865, eight months after the 
 death of the President, slavery was declared to be constitu- 
 tionally abolished. 
 
 As in Topsham we had to depend upon the Boston or 
 New York papers for news from Washington, we did not 
 hear of the emancipation proclamation until a week or 
 more after its issue. When the good news came there was 
 general rejoicing by all kinds of anti-slavery people. We 
 knew that God had determined the speedy and total over- 
 throw of chattel slavery in the whole land as well as that 
 this awful destruction of human life must soon cease. 
 
 The week preceding our winter communion (January, 
 1863), was one of anxiety and sorrow to many. Death 
 from diphtheria occurred in several families. To others 
 came sad news from the battle-field or the hospital. On 
 Saturday morning the church bell tolled the death of Morris 
 Divoll. News had come the night before of his death in the 
 army near Fredericksburg, Va. This sad intelligence cast a 
 gloom over many. He was the second son of Elder Josiah 
 Divoll, a lovely young man, and a favorite in the family and 
 neighborhood. It was only a few months before that he had 
 volunteered and gone with his brother Charles to join the 
 Vermont Sixth Regiment, though not until after his marriage
 
 WAR PROBLEMS. 347 
 
 to Miss Ellen George. At the tolling of the bell these fol- 
 lowing sentences were written in my journal: "If before his 
 departure he had given good evidence of piety, the affliction 
 would not be so sore. We all feel the stroke. We are about 
 to renew our vows in the sacrament of the supper under 
 afflictive circumstances. May God make the ordinance very 
 useful to all especially the afflicted." The young soldier's 
 death was caused not by the shot of a rebel foe but by dis- 
 ease. One night he had been on picket guard and had to 
 stand in the rain and in a marsh. He sickened and in two 
 or three days died in the camp hospital. The body was 
 coffined and sent home arriving the Tuesday night following 
 our communion. That dead soldier lay in the same military 
 dress and in the same place in the parlor in which a short 
 time before he had stood in the marriage ceremony in which 
 he held the hand of his beautiful young bride. Now the 
 white robes of the bride had been changed to the garments 
 of the young widow. After brief devotion at the house the 
 body was carried to the church and lay in the vestibule 
 while the funeral services were held within. (The Cov- 
 enanters of Topsham objected to the common custom of 
 carrying the dead body into the church and placing it before 
 the pulpit.) A very large assembly filled the house. It 
 was the first case of a soldier's burial and he had many 
 friends. Standing beside the pulpit and before the devotions 
 began I gave a carefully prepared eulogy of the dead soldier 
 and then from the pulpit preached from Dan. 9:26: "Unto 
 the end of the war desolations are determined. ' ' The hor- 
 tative part of the discourse was addressed to three classes, 
 the mourners, the large Band of Hope of which he had 
 been a prominent member, and the people present. 
 
 As the whole nation was passing through the terrible 
 ordeal of the Civil War, and when many Christian patriots 
 were in fear lest the Confederate armies might gain a final
 
 34^ LOOKING BACK F'ROM THE^ SUNSET LAND. 
 
 victory, at the urgent pleas of many who believed that the 
 people should humble themselves before the God of battles, 
 the President appointed a day of national fasting, viz., 
 Thursday, April 30, 1863. Following the mind of the 
 elders, we met for public worship and I preached an appro- 
 priate discourse. I had a good opportunity to discuss the 
 principles involved in national fasts, the duty of civil rulers, 
 the causes of fasting now, and to show that the Covenanters 
 can not observe the day because of any acknowledged divine 
 authority in the gov^ernment, yet I urged that as this was 
 the best official call to fasting or thanksgiving ever issued 
 from Washington, and as we have been guilty in many ways 
 as well as those who are identified with the government, and 
 are chastised with the people, we can heartily unite with 
 them in humiliation and confession and prayer. 
 
 As several times before, my wife and I were pressed into 
 service as teachers of a select class of youth mostly teachers 
 or intending to be teachers. Quite a number of them, if 
 not a majority of them, were young people of the congrega- 
 tion, and we wished to make it unnecessary for them to go 
 away from home to attend academies outside the bounds of 
 the church. She taught the normal classes, I the languages. 
 The natural sciences and mathematics were divided between 
 us. More than a generation has passed and I am not sure 
 about it now, but I think if we had been asked then for our 
 motives for teaching such classes we would have replied: 
 We loved the companionship of the intellectual and virtu- 
 ous young people; we were anxious to do what we could to 
 train them to usefulness and to bring them to Christ and into 
 his church; and as the pastor's salary was barely sufficient 
 to meet the absolute needs of the family, we tried to make it 
 easier to be free from anxiety about them. Besides, our 
 plan seemed to be kindness to the families of the con- 
 gregation none of which were in more than moderate 
 circumstances.
 
 WAR PROBLEMS. 349 
 
 As the approaching meeting of Synod was to be at 
 Sharon, Iowa, and as Mrs. Johnston had not seen her 
 parents since their removal to that state, we resolved to lock 
 up the parsonage and all cross the Mississippi together. And 
 who knows but that their mother wished to show their grand- 
 parents what nice little granddaughters they had in Ver- 
 mont? On my way to Presb> tery we stopped a few days to 
 visit friends in New York. It was anniversary week. 
 Attending that of the National Anti-slavery Society, we 
 had the opportunity of hearing some eminent speakers 
 among whom were Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, Robert Purvis, 
 the eloquent colored Philadelphian, Theodore Weld, and 
 Wendell PhiUips. I had never heard Mr. Weld before. I 
 was charmed with the man. His early history when a 
 student at Lane Seminary, his wonderful book, "A Thou- 
 sand Witnesses," his remarkable power of self-control, and 
 his readiness to bring in episodes and yet continue the thread 
 of his speech, all made him to me an exceedingly interesting 
 speaker. And then he was a very fine-looking man — tall 
 and straight, with fine physique, a keen, eagle eye, and a 
 most benevolent countenance; and though not seemingly old 
 but youthful, his hair was white as snow. In the evening 
 Theodore Tilton and Wendell Phillips were the speakers. 
 At this time Mr. Tilton was editor of the New York Inde- 
 pendent, then and ever since among the most influential of 
 all the religious papers; and it was before the occurrence of 
 the remarkable case of scandal in which Henry Ward 
 Beecher was involved. The theme of Mr. Tilton 's power- 
 ful address was ' ' Miscegenation . ' ' Before the great audience 
 in Cooper Institute he boldly favored the intermingling of 
 the two races and showed that the result would be a race 
 superior to either now — superior both physically and in 
 intellectual capacity, and likely to become the great dom- 
 inating nation of the world.
 
 350 I.OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 As the war and its relation to slavery' were the all- 
 absorbing themes before the public mind, the address of 
 Wendell Phillips was one of sublimity and power. No 
 man in the nation spoke on the public platform the very 
 truth, and the whole truth needed then, with such power. 
 If the people and those who have the control of the 
 government had heeded his voice the country might have 
 been saved from the wa\'es of divine wrath that were 
 sweeping over it. 
 
 At the anniversary of the American Temperance Union, 
 held in Dr. Cheever's church, eminent speakers set forth 
 the fearful effects of the use of liquors in the army. Senator 
 Pomeroy said that one-half of all the deaths were to be 
 traced to rum and quinine. Farseeing men feared that 
 after the war an army of drunkards would come back 
 to us. 
 
 At the convention of loyal women I had the privilege 
 of hearing that eminent and good woman, Mrs. Angelina 
 Grimke Weld. She was the daughter of Judge Grimke of 
 Charleston, S. C. She and her sister Sarah became Aboli- 
 tionists, emancipated their slaves, joined the Quakers in 
 Philadelphia, and by their writings and public addresses 
 did much to awaken public opinion against slavery. She 
 was married to Theodore Weld in 1838, and, like her hus- 
 band, was ever true to the cause of freedom. 
 
 After Presbytery we started on our long journe}^ by rail 
 to the Mississippi. At McGregor, Iowa, we were met by 
 Mrs. Johnston's brother and sister who had come with a 
 conveyance to take her and the children to their home at 
 Eden, Faj^ette County. Parting from them at McGregor 
 I hastened to the meeting of Synod. During its sessions 
 Rev. J. ly. McCartney and I were kindly entertained by 
 the family of Mr. McCune. On Sabbath we heard Dr. 
 S. O. Wylie preach from the text, "A name which is
 
 WAR PROBLEMS. 35 1 
 
 above every name. The sermon was such as few have the 
 privilege of hearing. 
 
 That meeting of Synod was somewhat stormy. War 
 patriotism ran ver>' high. The American flag, the Stars 
 and Stripes that some of us had always looked upon as 
 the emblem of oppression as well as of national disloyalty 
 to our divine Lord, was used to drape the pulpit and the 
 church inside, the entrance door of the house, and the 
 arched gateway into the grounds. Probably it was the 
 last day of Synod, the ladies of the congregation prepared 
 a most sumptuous dinner for the members, the tables being 
 out-of-doors and on one side of the ample grounds. In 
 front of the church a procession was formed and thence 
 marched behind the floating Stars and Stripes to the tables. 
 It seemed as though the people then, if not Sjaiod also, 
 were afraid lest the Covenanters might be regarded as dis- 
 loyal. The flaunting of the flag ever>^where, they appeared 
 to think, would convince the people that Covenanters are 
 ready to fight under ' ' Old Glory ' ' to put down the Rebel- 
 lion whether to restore the Union or to give liberty to 
 the slaves. Many Covenanters were already in the army, 
 though Captain Todd, the pastor of the Elkhorn congrega- 
 tion, had obeyed the order of Synod and had left the army. 
 (See "Glasgow's History.") Two of the ministers who did 
 not care to march under the Stars and Stripes, especially as 
 these did not symbolize freedom to the bondman, did not 
 "fall into line" behind the flag. For this silent method 
 of showing their disapprobation of Synod's fustian patriot- 
 ism these two brethren were subjected to no little ridicule if 
 not also harsh censure. Yet their garments did not smell of 
 fire. 
 
 The question that awakened so much discussion in Synod 
 assumed this form: May Covenanters enlist in the army? 
 The animus of Synod may be inferred from the passage of
 
 352 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 a motion to lay on the table, or to reject, the following 
 proposition, viz., "Ministers of this church can not, in con- 
 sistency with our principles and testimony, voluntarily enter 
 the military service of the United States while the Constitu- 
 tion and the government retain their ungodly character." 
 This statement had been moved as an amendment to the 
 report anent the war question. Some argued that it made 
 an "indirect issue." This might have been true if the 
 language "can not voluntarily enter the militar>^ service" 
 had not been intended to include as a reason the character 
 and conduct of the present war. Only twenty members 
 voted in favor of the amendment. 
 
 Subsequently, in finally adopting the report of the com- 
 mittee S^'nod voted that "the ordinars' .soldier's oath is 
 objectionable and can not receive the approbation of Synod," 
 and passed the motion to appoint a committee to obtain from 
 the proper authorities the sanction of a better and proper 
 soldier's oath. The minutes give no account of any com- 
 mittee being appointed; and I have no recollection of any 
 change in the form of the oath being made. Covenanters 
 then in the army had taken the soldier's oath, and after- 
 wards others took it, and yet discipline was not exercised. 
 Indeed, the case stood thus: Synod knew that in the present 
 excitement of the country and when men were rushing into 
 the army, the motives being various, some of our young 
 men would become soldiers whatever the moral obstacles 
 might be; and Synod knew that to attempt to exercise dis- 
 cipline upon the soldiers who had taken the sinful oath 
 would most likely cause them to leave the church. What 
 should be done was difficult to know; and the church was in 
 a critical position and liable in the progress of the war to be 
 carried ofi" her feet bj- the irresistible wave of the militar}^ 
 excitement. 
 
 After Synod I hastened to Eden to find my family resting
 
 WAR PROBLEMS. 353 
 
 and enjoying the visit with the friends on their trans- 
 Mississippi farm. The large family that Father and Mother 
 Rogers had taken with them from Vermont was already 
 being diminished by marriage and by the war. Among the 
 sons four had volunteered for the service and were in the 
 army of the Mississippi. No wonder that the parents and 
 sisters were in constant anxiety and that many prayers 
 ascended from that family altar for the absent "boys in 
 blue." Sister Almira, the third daughter, a young and 
 lovely girl, was a teacher in the village in the home district. 
 On vi.siting the school I saw that she had the elements of a 
 good teacher and of a useful woman; and we did not lose 
 sight of her afterwards. Our farewell with Father Rogers 
 that day was the last. Before the next time we passed west 
 of the Father of Waters he had pas.sed over the Jordan and 
 into the land of rest. 
 
 Our visit over, we started on our long journey homeward 
 through Chicago and stopping a little while at Bellecenter 
 and vicinity to visit friends and rest a little before starting 
 for the Green Mountain state. We reached home in health 
 and thankful for the kind Providence that had preserved us 
 all during the days and nights of wearisome travel. Sabbath 
 work and pastoral duties were resumed. 
 
 At the summer commvniion there were several additions to 
 the church, two by baptism. They both were from families 
 outside of the church and both excellent women. One was the 
 wife of an unbeliever, skeptical in his religious belief though 
 an honorable and prominent citizen and always a kind 
 neighbor and friend of the pastor. Though an unbeliever 
 himself I think he was always glad to send his children to 
 our Sabbath-school, and he gave evidence of more than 
 approbation when his wife united with the church. Did 
 becoming a disciple of Jesus ever harm a good wife ? The 
 other was the only daughter of another unbeliever though a 
 23
 
 354 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 constant attendant at church and a most honorable and 
 influential citizen. Association with Christian people may 
 be very profitable even though the man may not be evangel- 
 ical in his faith. The conversion of these excellent women 
 gave joy to the church, and the pastor thanked God and 
 took courage. 
 
 The text of the action sermon was John 19 134, "But one 
 of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith 
 came thereout blood and water." 
 
 On Monday the congregation elected another elder, Alex- 
 ander Shields, Sr., formerly an elder in Craftsbury congrega- 
 tion. He was the father of Rev. Robert Shields and one of 
 the best men I have ever known. At his installation shortly 
 afterwards I preached a discourse on the office of ruling elder 
 and dwelt at some length on the divine authority for it. I 
 did this partly because all the other churches in the town 
 and in the whole region are without the office; and I was 
 always anxious that good people in .sister denominations 
 might learn that the form of our "church polity " is not left to 
 the opinion of the people but has good .scriptural authority. 
 
 Shortly after our communion the .sad intelligence came to 
 one of the mothers of the congregation, Mrs. Craig, that her 
 soldier son had been killed in battle. At the burial the text 
 of the funeral discourse was: "Clouds and darkness are 
 round about Him."
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 Bloody Scene.s. Pastoral Life. National Reform. 
 
 During the week ending Saturda3% July i8, 1863, the 
 city of New York was the scene of such a riot as had never 
 occurred in any city in the United States. For several days 
 the city was in the hands of a merciless mob. Infuriated 
 rioters resisted the authorities by violence, murder, pillage, 
 and fire, bidding defiance to policemen and strong military 
 forces. Multitudes of houses were burnt, multitudes of 
 houses and stores were plundered, many innocent lives were 
 taken by violence; and the poor and unprotected negroes 
 were hunted and driven out and murdered, and some hanged 
 and burnt in the streets. The immediate occasion (not the 
 cause) of this riot was the action of the Federal Government 
 in drafting men for the war. The Union Army was suffering 
 such fearful losses both on the battle-fields and from sickness 
 that the volunteers did not meet the demand so that the 
 draft became an absolute necessity. The opposition was not 
 only to the draft itself but to the exemption giv^en to any who 
 would pay three hundred dollars. This, it was alleged, 
 favored the rich who could buy exemption and throw the 
 burden on the working classes and the poor. To add fuel 
 to the flames some of the Democratic and ' ' Copper Head ' ' 
 papers that had opposed the draft came out with fierce arti- 
 cles calculated to infuriate the mob. 
 
 In Topsham many knew the occasion of these riots but 
 few would consider the real causes. Therefore on the Sab- 
 bath following I preached on the subject using as my texts: 
 
 (355)
 
 356 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Eze. 7:23, "Make a chain; for the land is full of bloody 
 crimes, and the city is full of violence;" and Hosea 4:2, 
 "By swearing and lying and killing, and stealing and com- 
 mitting adultery, they break out and blood toucheth blood." 
 In the discussion I gave some of the causes in the following 
 order: Misanthrop}-, or negro hate. The rioters directed their 
 greatest malice against the colored people of the cit}'. Love 
 of slavery, or opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation. 
 Party spirit. By the success of the party in power many 
 office seekers had been disappointed and some of them 
 enraged. Popery, for the mass of the rioters were Catho- 
 lics, superstitious or drunken papists who knew little but to 
 swear by the Pope and to "damn the niggers." And, most 
 of all, Impiety; for men who fear God and love the Prince 
 of Peace do not join in angr^^ mobs and bloody riots. The 
 discourse closed thus: "What are the remedies for such 
 evils ? How are we to save the land from violence and blood 
 and anarchy? We repl}'. Light must be disseminated among 
 the people. There must be more of the elements of life, 
 truth, philanthrope^ religion. The masses are destitute of 
 that religion which is love to God and man. There must be 
 less of that selfishness which is so sinful in God's sight and 
 so unlike Jesus. We must have more sound moralit^^ less 
 intemperance, more philanthropy, and less negro hate; and 
 consequently more pure religion and less of popery. Had 
 the authorities of the city more fear of God and less of man 
 and a determination to protect the innocent even though it 
 should cost the lives of the guilty, the riot might soon have 
 been put down. Nay, had the rioters known that they would 
 have been met b}^ the stern arm of fearless officers, they 
 would not have begun. Hence we conclude that the civil 
 power is incompetent. The Federal Government is weak 
 because not standing up in the might of God's law for the 
 right. National corruption permeates the whole people, and
 
 BLOODY SCENES. NATIONAL RKF'ORM. 357 
 
 every part of the body politic is enfeebled. The remedy for 
 all is in God, in religion, morality and truth." 
 
 The first draft for soldiers in Vermont was taken in July of 
 this year. It created great excitement and many families 
 were in fear or distress lest loved ones might be compelled 
 to go to the front. Many volunteered rather than be drafted. 
 To induce men to volunteer, the government offered a large 
 bounty to every one. Not a few Covenanters were in straits. 
 In making the draft the lot was used. This called for a 
 testimony from the pulpit. It was a discourse upon the 
 institution of the lot and as to the propriety of its use in 
 drafting soldiers. In the study I was brought to the opinion 
 that all soldiers should be volunteers, that no man should go 
 into the army unless he believed the war to be righteous and 
 the soldier's oath proper, but should suffer rather than fight. 
 If, however, the conscript believed this war to be righteous 
 and .saw no moral obstacle in the way, he should not refuse 
 to go though drafted by lot. In the progress of the war and 
 in subsequent drafts the importance of these questions 
 became manifest. 
 
 The national and church Thanksgiving day, November 25, 
 called for special services. From appropriate texts I endeav. 
 ored to point out both present and prospective demands upon 
 our benevolence growing out of the war. Even this early 
 in its progress numerous philanthropic movements, all which 
 showed the benevolent character of Christians, were already 
 in good working order; e. g., the Sanitary Commission, the 
 Christian Commission, the Freedman's Relief Association 
 and many missionary efforts in behalf of the ex-slaves. 
 No great prophetic vision was necessary to foresee that after 
 the war there would be multitudes of widows and orphans 
 to care for, many ex-soldiers to be pensioned, a mighty tide 
 of intemperance to be resisted, and probably a nation of 
 emancipated people to be lifted up to the enjoyment of what
 
 358 LOOKING B VCK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 schools and the Gospel only can give. In the afternoon, 
 causes of Thanksgiving were found in the wonderful changes 
 for good that had occurred since the war began, such as the 
 following: "The colonization scheme is a failure; slave- 
 hunting on northern soil is almost broken up; General 
 McClellan who at first promised the Virginians that "with 
 iron hand" he would suppress any attempt of the slaves to be 
 free, is himself dismissed from his high position; slavery in the 
 District of Columbia is abolished; slave-pens and auction- 
 blocks are almost wholly broken up, or will be soon. What- 
 ever may be the result of the war northern public opinion 
 will never permit the millions to whom freedom had been 
 promised to be reinslaved; many thousands of ex-slaves are 
 now soldiers in blue and their rights as citizens recognized; 
 other thousands of northern negroes are mustered into the 
 army; the women of the north are engaged in an effort to 
 obtain a million names of their own sex to a petition asking 
 Congress to abolish slavery throughout all the land includ- 
 ing the border states not in the Rebellion. How marvelous 
 the change! and how it foreshadows a disenthralled nation!" 
 
 Our winter communion was on the last Sabbath of De- 
 cember. Rev. J. M. Beattie assisted. Our fast day before 
 communion was Friday 25. To the people of the middle 
 and western states it would seem strange that we did not 
 observe Christmas, generally a day of feasting and gladness. 
 But it must be remembered that in Vermont as in the other 
 New England states Christmas is either nearly or wholly 
 unknown or forgotten. The Puritans did not follow Catholic 
 or Episcopal customs. In Topsham the Covenanters followed 
 the Puritans, and so all classes ignored Christmas if they 
 did not absolutely forget that others observed the holiday. 
 
 The session met on the fast day and examined and re- 
 ceived into church fellowship five good women, four by 
 baptism and one on examination. This one had been a
 
 BI^OODY SCENE^S. NAT'IONAL REFORM. ^^^g 
 
 member of the Congregational Church in Massachusetts. Of 
 the others, one was an aged lady, a convert from the world; 
 another, in middle life, also a convert from the world. The 
 other two were young women, most interesting and excellent 
 daughters of non-professing fathers, and one of a Methodist 
 mother, the other of a Baptist. These four were all baptized 
 on Saturday. There was joy in the Congregation that day. 
 In the heart of the pastor there was gratitude as well as 
 gladness. These five added to the five who had been re- 
 ceived at the communion in July made ten for this year, 
 nine women and one man. The entire number of communi- 
 cants or members at the end of the year was sixty-two, of 
 whom forty-five were women and fourteen men. This was 
 about the proportion during all the years since my installa- 
 tion over what I always regarded as only a mission church. 
 
 At the meeting of session referred to above Mr. William 
 Morrison appeared a second time for examination and ad- 
 mission to the church. His examination was satisfactory 
 except in theology in reference to the doctrine of the atone- 
 ment. He could not subscribe to the Confession of Faith in 
 its statement on that subject; and so the ses->ion was unani- 
 mous in the opinion that he should not be receivt d. While 
 I did not disagree with the elders it seemed hard to not 
 admit a man so worthy in other respects. I had labored 
 hard to convince him of the truth of the Confession and the 
 catechism, but his belief remained unchanged. In after 
 years he went into the M. E. Church, and became a zealous 
 worker in it. 
 
 On Wednesday after communion Colonel Thomas of the 
 Eighth Vermont Regiment addressed a large meeting in the 
 town hall and called for volunteers. To induce enlistments 
 and to avoid a draft, the town offered a bounty of three 
 hundred and twenty-five dollars to every volunteer. At the 
 prayer-meeting next day we heard that Robert McEam, the
 
 360 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 older of the two deacons, had volunteered for a term of three 
 years. This made me sad. He was a good man, and as a 
 deacon he was needed at home. 
 
 Prior to the war little had been done in the work of 
 National Reform except what had been attempted by cov- 
 enanters. Probably the Civil War, now raging so fiercely, 
 gave an impetus to the new movement. At first and for 
 many years, like other Covenanters, I was sanguine in the 
 hope that by well-devised plans and vigorous efforts the 
 United States Constitution might be amended so as to make 
 it a Christian fundamental law, or a Constitution to which 
 Christians might consistently swear obedience. I thought 
 that whatever might be the result of the movement the effort 
 to amend would give an opportunity to teach the people the 
 atheistic and infidel character of the Constitution and gov- 
 ernment and so would be an educator if nothing more. 
 
 On the 19th of January, 1864, I received a letter from Rev. 
 A. M. Milligau, then at New Alexandria, Pa., inviting and 
 urging me to attend a National Reform Convention called 
 to meet in Pittsburg on the 27th of the month. It was the 
 first natio7ial convention of the kind, and I was anxious to 
 go. Elder Keenan, always interested in the movement and 
 always thoughtful about such matters, asked and raised a 
 nice little sum of money to bear at least a large part of my 
 expenses, and so I went. On my way I fell in company with 
 Rev. Dr. Mcllvaine, professor in Princeton College who was 
 going to the convention. I had a very pleasant time with 
 him between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. I found him, 
 however, to be semi-New School in theology, semi-pro- 
 slavery, and only semi-temperance. The most prominent 
 members of the convention, as I now remember them, were 
 Rev. Dr. Page, an Episcopal rector of Pittsburg, Rev. Dr. 
 Mcllvaine, Rev. J. M. Willson, of Philadelphia, Rev. Dr. 
 SprouU, Rev. A. M. Milligan, Rev. Dr. Douglass, Rev.
 
 BLOODY SCKNES. NATIONAL REFORM. 36 1 
 
 Dr. Samuel Collins, and Rev. J. S. T. Milligan, Rev. H. 
 H. George and John Alexander of Philadelphia must have 
 been there, but I do not now remember. 
 
 As I could not make speeches in a convention of great 
 men, I suppose they wished to bestow some honor or get 
 some work out of me, and so they made me the secretary of 
 the convention. I wrote up its proceedings and they were 
 published in several of the leading papers. 
 
 As that was the first national convention, it was thought 
 important to lay the foundations well, and much time was 
 spent in preparing a full statement of the fundamental 
 principles of the association and of the terms to be used in 
 the proposed amendment of the Constitution and in the 
 memorials to Congress. The statements finally agreed upon 
 have never been changed except very slightly. Before the 
 adjournment a delegation of fourteen was appointed to go 
 to Washington and lay the action of the convention before 
 the President and before Congress, and to ask hiiu to make 
 the matter the subject of a special message to Congress. 
 Dr. Mcllvaine was the chairman of the delegation. I 
 was one of the delegates but I did not accompany them 
 to Washington. My pocket was too near emptiness, and I 
 needed to hurry back to home duties. On the? first Monday 
 evening after my return I responded to an invitation and 
 gave a public lecture on National Reform and an account of 
 what had been done at Pittsburg. From that time on I 
 think the Covenanters of Topsham were good National 
 Reformers. 
 
 From the records of my diary I see that a few days after 
 my return I visited the death-bed of the oldest member of 
 the congregation, Mrs. Orr, aged eighty -seven; and that on 
 the afternoon of the same day the congregation elected 
 another deacon, David lyang, to take the place of Deacon 
 McLam gone to the war. Mr. Lang proved to be worthy
 
 362 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 of the office. Years after when he removed to Ryegate they 
 elected him to the eldership. But at this writing he is in 
 Southern California and has g ne out from us into the Pres- 
 byterian Church. The vows of some Covenanters seem to 
 be made of ropes of sand. David Lang is too good a man 
 and with too good antecedents to be in the Presbyterian 
 Church. Perhaps, though, he hopes to make it better! 
 
 Having finished the explanation of the Psalms in regular 
 course, in May, 1864, I began to explain them a second time. 
 By reference to my diary of that date I find the following 
 record: "My earnest desire is that I may be directed by the 
 Spirit of God so that I may explain truthfully and in such a 
 way as to instruct, convince, convert, sanctify and comfort." 
 And now after nearly a half century I leave my testimony 
 that I love the Psalms of the Bible more than ever. As the 
 years of my life passed, and even now in old age, those 
 divine songs have been and are my solace and my joy. The 
 study of them was of great use to me, and I hope that in 
 explaining them on Sabbath morning I was useful to the 
 people of God, If Covenanters have more spiritual vigor 
 than others it is owing largely to their familiarity with the 
 Psalms and their love of them. Those who do not use them 
 in praise suffer great loss. When will all true worshipers 
 see this and reform their practise ? 
 
 But this is not all the truth as to the Psalms of inspiration. 
 It must not be forgotten that they are worthy of being put 
 into the most accurate translation and into the finest poetic 
 form for use in praise. In advocating this I have at several 
 times been exposed to criticism. And so here conies in a 
 little item of history. 
 
 Shortly after my settlement in Topsham I wrote an article 
 for the Philadelphia Covenanter, edited by Rev. James M. 
 Willson. I did not advocate a new version. I supposed the 
 church was not yet ready for this. I favored few changes
 
 BLOODY SCENES. NATIONAL REFORM. 363 
 
 except such verbal emendations as would eliminate all obso- 
 lete words that had been in the version used for nearly two 
 centuries, and such slight modifications as were necessary to 
 make the measure perfect. The United Presbyterian Church 
 had done this, and in some of our Sabbath-schools, and 
 perhaps a few congregations, their amended book was used; 
 but this had been done without any church action on our 
 part. The editor of the article returned it to me with a 
 reason for declining to publish it. He was opposed to the 
 proposed changes. I then sent it to the Rev, Dr. Sproull, 
 editor of the R. P. and C. at Allegheny. He also declined 
 to publish it, alleging that he did not care to admit into his 
 magazine what had been refused by the other. I felt some- 
 what aggrieved, and I was so confident of being right that 
 I had the article printed in tract form and a copy mailed to 
 every minister in the church. This was the first time but 
 not the last that I found it necessary not to acquiesce in the 
 judgment of "the fathers." 
 
 The need of emendations in our psalm-book was discussed 
 somewhat throughout the church, and a few favored an 
 entirely new version or a complete revision of the old. Not 
 long afterwards at a meeting of Synod a letter was received 
 from the United Presbyterian General Assembly asking our 
 Synod to open a correspondence with the assembly having 
 in view an entire revision of the book or a new version if 
 necessary, and this to be effected by the cooperation of the 
 two churches. The proposition met with little favor from 
 any of the leading men in Synod. Rev. James M. Willson 
 was one of the most outspoken against it; and the proposi- 
 tion to cooperate was voted down. Not only some of the 
 ministers but many of the people were dissatisfied; and the 
 question continued to be discussed. Meanwhile the United 
 Presbyterian Assembly went forward alone in the work and 
 after a while adopted and published a new Psalter free from
 
 364 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. « 
 
 the obsolete words and bad measure and, in addition, many- 
 new versions and varieties of meters. A few of the Cov- 
 enanter congregations used the United Presbyterian book with 
 the emendations, but nearly all continued to use the old 
 book with all its faults. This was evidence that the Cov- 
 enanters of that time were loyal to the church and obedient 
 to authority, however much they believed that Synod had 
 erred greatly when she refused to cooperate with the United 
 Presbyterian assembly. And the writer now believes that if 
 the two churches had worked together in getting out a new 
 book they both would have had a much better Psalter than 
 either has to-day. Moreover, there is so much dissatisfac- 
 tion with the Reformed Presbyterian book now in use, 
 probably the work will all have to be done over again ere- 
 long. Besides, the church should not be satisfied with a 
 version so full of imperfections. 
 
 During the months of February and March this year I 
 spent much time in the study of the doctrine of the atone- 
 ment and gave a series of discourses on the subject emphasiz- 
 ing the statement that it is limited and that all are saved by 
 the power of the divine Redeemer for whom he made atone- 
 ment. No truth taught in all God's words is more important 
 than that of the atonement, and the study of this theme is 
 the most delightful and profitable. It will occupy the 
 minds of the redeemed and of angels as long as heaven's 
 school shall continue, Jesus the loving and everlasting 
 Teacher. "So shall we be forever with the Lord." This 
 series was followed by a sermon on the text: "Work out 
 your own salvation with fear and trembling, " etc. 
 
 The outlines of that discourse had been written in my 
 journal or sermon-book on Saturday morning. The book 
 lay open where I had been writing and left a blank page. 
 While I was out of my study our older daughter, Rosie, then 
 not quite three years old, went into the room, took my pen.
 
 BLOODY SCENES. NATIONAL REFORM. 365 
 
 and on the blank page made all kinds of marks, blots, and 
 scratches, no doubt supposing that she was imitating her 
 father's hand. When after her departure I returned to my 
 table and saw the child's effort at sermon writing I made a 
 note of it thinking that in coming years she might read it: 
 "She thought she would finish my notes. (?) I hope she 
 will write in more intelligible hieroglyphics when she 
 becomes a grown girl. And if her eye should perchance 
 fall upon this page years hence and after her father has been 
 removed from earth, she will see how great advancement she 
 shall have made, as well as an illustration of the many little 
 annoyances to which children subject their parents. And 
 let the blotches made on her father's book, and which can 
 not be removed, remind her of the nature of sin in the soul. 
 vS tains made there can be removed only by a divine process. 
 The blood of Jesus alone can remove the blots which sin 
 makes on the pages of our hearts. And, blessed be God, the 
 blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, docs cleanse us from all sin. 
 Moreover, as Rosie's father has fully and freely forgiven his 
 daughter, and will soon forget the little misdemeanor, so 
 God, our Father, freely and fully, for Christ's sake, forgives 
 all our iniquities." 
 
 Within a month after this record I made another of per- 
 haps equal triviality to the reader but quite serious to the 
 writer at the time: "Sold my horse (Charlie) to-day. I was 
 very loath to part with him for he is a gentle, kind, and trusty 
 horse; and I have had him so long as to become attached to 
 him. But I am in debt, and while living on so low a salary 
 I see no way of being able to keep a horse, the expenses 
 being fifty or sixty dollars a year. 'It is no sin but it is 
 inconvenient to be poor.' " Not long afterwards my favorite 
 Charlie was sold to go into the army and became the property 
 of a Union colonel. I never heard more of him but I always 
 hoped that no rebel shot or shell ever killed him.
 
 366 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 During the second week of May the Orange County 
 Teachers' Institute was held in Topsham under the superin- 
 tendence of Hon. J. S. Adams, secretary of the State Board 
 of Education. He was assisted by Mr. Edward Conant. 
 They both were our guests at the parsonage during the days 
 of the institute, and we had a good time. Mr. Adams was 
 an exceedingly companionable man as well as a fine educator. 
 Among all the distinguished men in the Department of Edu- 
 cation that I have ever known he was the best qualified for 
 the place he occupied. Remarkable for his accuracy, energy, 
 vivacity, executive ability, and "snap," and power to awaken 
 enthusiasm in the teachers, it seemed as though he had them 
 under his own cojitrol. As state superintendent I could not 
 forget him; but, alas! that same man whom I admired so 
 greatly and to whom I became much attached, after the 
 lapse of a good many years became a victim of appetite for 
 strong drink and lost his high position. "How are the 
 mighty fallen!"
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 Sad Events and Dark Shadows. 
 
 My second going to Washington City was occasioned by 
 sad news from the seat of war. I had gone from home to 
 attend Presbytery and Synod, the latter to meet in Phila- 
 delphia. Soon after reaching New York I received a 
 telegram from Elder Josiah DivoU asking me to hasten on 
 to Washington and to Fredericksburg, Va., to look after 
 his son Charles who had been severely and perhaps fatally 
 wounded in one of the battles of the Wilderness. I started 
 by the first train for Washington. I spent almost two days 
 there endeavoring to find out where Corporal Divoll was. 
 I became sure that the wounded soldier had not been 
 brought to any of the hospitals in Washington which at that 
 time was full of hospitals and these crowded with sick, 
 wounded, and dying soldiers; and I ascertained that he was 
 not in Alexandria whose hospitals also were crowded. Then 
 I determined to go, if pos.sible, to Fredericksburg, to search 
 for the wounded soldier; but after persistent efforts I found 
 that I could not possibly obtain a pass, so strict were the 
 military rules. In sadness of heart, therefore, I could do 
 nothing but return to Synod. During its sessions I took 
 daily and full reports which were printed in the Philadelphia 
 Inquirer and sent throughout the church. On the Sabbath 
 and on the invitation of my friend William Still I was 
 permitted to address a large mission Sabbath-school among 
 the colored people. 
 
 I had not been home long until Elder Divoll received word 
 
 (367)
 
 368 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 from the chaplain of the regiment that Corporal Divoll was 
 in a hospital in Alexandria and probably in a dying condition. 
 The father again came and begged me to go to his son for 
 he (the father) could not. I hastened to Washington and 
 to the office of the Vermont Commission where I found the 
 name of Charles Divoll on the list of the dead. He had 
 died probably only a few hours before. Hoping to reach 
 Alexandria before the burial I hastened down the Potomac 
 and on to Wolf Street Hospital, and to the office of the sur- 
 geon to inquire about the body of Corporal Divoll. The 
 surgeon replied: "He is buried. We have just come from 
 his grave." My heart sank within me. At first I had 
 hoped to see that dear young man before his death, but I was 
 too late. Going to the soldiers' cemetery out on the west 
 side of the city, 1 found the newly-made grave. Standing 
 alone where lay the body of one whom so many loved, I had 
 only tears of sorrow to shed — sorrow that the light of a 
 young man so promising had gone out. 
 
 Returning to the hospital I went to the nurse who had 
 charge of the wounded soldier and was with him after he 
 had been brought to the hospital at Alexandria until the 
 time of his death. He told me that Corporal Divoll was in 
 almost a dying condition when he was brought to the 
 hospital. In his last hours he repeated Scripture verses and 
 what the nurse called "a hymn." I asked if he (the nurse) 
 remembered what hymn it was. He remembered only some 
 words or what it was about. I knew at once that it was the 
 twenty-third Psalm. Thus died Charles Divoll, an honorable 
 young man, a worthy son of a most excellent Covenanter 
 elder, and a young disciple of Christ that might have fol- 
 lowed the Master into some Macedonian land if he had been 
 called of God. I loved him as one of the flock that the 
 Good Shepherd had put under my care; but I was ever sad 
 when I remembered that he gave his life ' ' for the Union and
 
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 Corporal Charles Divoll
 
 SAD EVENTS AND DARK SHADOWS. 369 
 
 the Constitution ; ' ' yet I could wipe away my tears when I 
 remembered that that war, unrighteously waged by slave- 
 holders, had b}^ the right hand of the Almighty brought 
 libert}^ to the captives. 
 
 Charles Divoll was a brave soldier. On my way home I 
 stopped in Philadelphia and visited the army hospitals at 
 Germantown and there received information from one of his 
 fellow-soldiers; and years afterward the story was told to me 
 ])y Deacon Mclvam who was standing near to Corporal 
 Divoll at the time he was wounded. The Union soldiers 
 were standing in Hne and fighting under the heavy fire of the 
 enemy. A rebel ball struck Divoll on the upper part of the 
 forehead. It bled profusely but he wiped away the blood and 
 contiiuied his firing. Soon afterwards another ball struck 
 him in the groin and made a fearful gash and shattered the 
 iMjne in that region. He was carried off the field of battle 
 and laid in the shade of a tree to be cared for b}- some one, 
 and the battle went on. The rebels won the fight or at least 
 took po.s.session of the ground, and Corporal Divoll fell into 
 their hands. Subsequently the Union forces regained pos- 
 .session of that lost ground and the wounded soldier fell into 
 the hands of his friends and was removed first to Fredericks- 
 l)urg and then to Alexandria. How much he suffered dur- 
 ing those long fifteen days and nights when no friend could 
 minister to him, can only be supposed, for no one has ever 
 told the sad story. Yet well do I remember what the sur- 
 geon and nurse in the Wolf Street Hospital told me — that 
 ' 'after his death the brains, in large quantit}^ oozed out of the 
 fractured skull." This illustrates the truth of what Corporal 
 Smith, of the same company, said to me in the hospital in 
 Washington: "There was no braver soldier in his regiment 
 than Corporal Divoll." 
 
 It was during one of these times while I was in Washing- 
 ton that I had an opportunity of meeting President Uincoln. 
 24
 
 370 LOOKING BACK FKOM THK .SUNSKT I AND. 
 
 I would have known him anj'where l)y the similarity l:)etween 
 his pictures and his real face. It was, indeed, the face of an 
 "honest" man though perhaps not so intellectual as kind. 
 But his countenance was sad. No wonder. The burden of 
 a great nation was resting upon him; and all eyes were 
 turned towards him. And now after the battles of the 
 Wilderness Washington was a vast liospital and the whole 
 land in mourning; and the great heart of Abraham Ivincoln 
 was bleeding for his countr}-. 
 
 Our summer communion occurred shortly after my return 
 home from Alexandria. On the Fridaj' before, at the 
 request of Polder Divoll, I preached a sermon appropriate 
 to the death of his son. Many people were there. The 
 text : ' 'Your young men I have slain with the sword . ' ' That 
 the loss of .so many 3'oung men in the war was a cause of 
 sorrow, was shown from three facts: They are so numerous, 
 so many of them are unconverted, and the converted are so 
 much needed. I was anxious to use the occasion for the 
 good of the living, and so the hortatory part of the discourse 
 was addressed principally to the people present. A few words 
 were addressed to the family and to the congregation, thus: 
 "To the father, Remember Jacob's mi.stake who, when he 
 had lost two sons, said, 'All these things are against me.' 
 What God intends by bereaving you of your two sons w'e 
 know not now; we may know hereafter. Meanw^hile be a 
 father to the fatherless. To the sisters, Set your affection 
 on the Elder Brother. Lean on him through life and he will 
 be with you in death. To young men, Be strong for God. 
 Stand up for Jesus. How few there are to be soldiers of the 
 cross, you know. One after another they fall in rapid suc- 
 cession. The pious fall. Who will fill their place? Prepare 
 for death. 'There is no discharge in that war.' To the 
 church. Our ranks are being thinned. Our young men are 
 few. Train up the young aright that we may yet have an
 
 SAD EVENTS AND DARK SHADOWS. 37 1 
 
 army of strong young men, ready to fight valiantly the battles 
 of the King, the Lord of hosts." 
 
 At that communion I was assisted by licentiate Robert 
 Shields and by missionary Joseph Beattie then on a visit 
 home from Latakia, Syria. The attendance all the days of the 
 feast was large and in the communion service there were four 
 tables, one more than had ever been before. I had served 
 the first and dear Brother Beattie followed and served two. 
 I had not expected a fourth and so had to perform the serv- 
 ice extempore. At the table I spoke from the words of 
 Jesus: "Having loved his own which were in the world he 
 loved them unto the end." At that time I did not know nor 
 had I thought of the probability that that was my last com- 
 munion as pastor in Topsham; but it was, though months 
 passed before that question required my attention. On 
 Monday I was joyous, for we had had a sweet season of 
 fellowship; but I was sad because of the troubles through 
 which the congregation was passing. In my pastoral address 
 at the close of the services I exhorted the people to this 
 effect: "Be thankful. Be loyal to Christ at all hazards. 
 Neglect not the ordinances. Study the times and see God 
 in all. Don't be politicians. Avoid the influences of the 
 coming presidential campaign. Be prepared for trouble and 
 be familiar with death. Beware of sectarianism. Avoid 
 debt on the church. Be liberal alwa^'s. Don't try to see 
 how little you may give and yet belong to the church. 
 Avoid loud talking in the church (on Sabbath). Avoid 
 sitting in prayer." 
 
 At the close of the religious services a congregational 
 meeting was held in which it was resolved to take steps to 
 pa}^ off the debt on the church and to increase the pastor's 
 salary one hundred dollars. 
 
 During the summer months following this communion I 
 spent all the time I could spare in pastoral visitations and in
 
 372 BOOKING BACK FROM TIIIC SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 visiting the public schools. At this time most of the teach- 
 ers in these schools were young women who had been 
 students in our Topsham normal classes, and several of 
 them were Covenanter girls. It was very pleasant to me, 
 their teacher and pastor, to see .so many of them model and 
 successful teachers. 
 
 If the reader be a parent, or if a poor pastor needing or 
 owning a cow, he may read some brief extracts from the 
 journal of these months. 
 
 "Monda}', July ii. Last vSaturday evening a farmer was 
 hauling a load of hay along the top of a distant high hill 
 east of the village. PVom our house the load, drawn by a 
 hor.se, seemed to be moving along among the clouds, or in 
 the sky. Rosie, now over three j-ears old, saw it. Suppos- 
 ing the object to be up in the sky, and being so high and 
 unlike anything she had ever seen before, supposed it to be 
 God ; and in great excitement told Mary, her little .sister, to 
 'run and tell mama to come and see God.' Mary came 
 running and cr^'ing out, 'Come, see God ! ' and pointed up 
 to the moving wagon load of hay. 
 
 "Some time ago T had tried to teach Rosie a primarj^ 
 lesson about the divine Being, telling her that he was 
 up in heaven, away, above the sky. The foregoing incident 
 shows how signally I had failed to teach her what God is. 
 I hope I may succeed better hereafter, and that in years to 
 come the Spirit will teach mj^ dear daughters lohat God is. ' ' 
 
 "Thursda}', Augu.st 4. This evening I was visited by 
 Mr. Duncan Stewart and Mr. William Morrison, who made 
 us a present of fortj^-three dollars, stating that it had been 
 collected to buy us a cow, but that b}^ our bu3'ing a cow we 
 had prevented them from giving us a surprise with a cow. 
 The money was in good season, as we are in danger of embar- 
 rassment if the times continue. We have been fearing debt. 
 God has thus relieved us of fear. To him be the praise."
 
 SAD KVENTS AND DARK SHADOWS. 373 
 
 Having an appointment at Fayston on Sabbath the 14th, 
 and as I always enjoyed the company of young men, 
 especially of pious and brainy students, I invited m}^ friend, 
 Robert McNiece, to be my traveling companion with the 
 design of taking in Camel's Hump on our way. This is a 
 somewhat remarkable peak in the Green Mountain Range 
 and not far south of the only higher part of the range, viz., 
 the Mansfield Mountain. We drove our own horse and 
 buggy the first day and stopped overnight at a hotel (Rid- 
 le)^'s) near the foot of the mountain. After returning home 
 I made the following record of our ascent : "After breakfast 
 Robert and I set out for the mountain. We took our horse 
 and buggy two miles over a tolerably good road. Leaving the 
 buggy we saddled the horse and rode and walked time about 
 to near the top of the mountain. At the end of the forest 
 and at the foot of the ledge, within a quarter of a mile of 
 the tip-top, is a small house in which a familj^ lives to pre- 
 pare meals for visitors. The top of the mountain is a won- 
 derful place. It lifts its head, sharp, high and craggy'T'up 
 into the clouds. The precipice on the south end of 'the 
 hump' is perpendicular and several hundred feet high. 
 
 "After spending an hour or two here among the clouds and 
 rocks we descended, dined, and went on our way to Fa3'Ston." 
 
 "Friday, September 9. Last evening I heard the painful 
 intelligence that Mr. S. Mills had taken the oath of natural- 
 ization, and the freeman's oath, and had voted at the late 
 election. For this news I was partly prepared. But I am 
 sad, as he is a deacon and a leading member of the congre- 
 gation. Ever since the war began, he has been inclined to 
 become a citizen, and some time ago filed his intention to 
 become one. He is lost to the church. 1 feel very sad in 
 \'iew of this defection. The deacon is gone to the war. Two 
 of our finest young men are away in college, and the congre- 
 gation is very small and weak."
 
 374 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 "Saturday, October 22. Yesterday I visited Father Kee- 
 tian and opened my heart to liim as to my leaving Topsham 
 congregation. The result of the consultation was a confir- 
 mation of my fears that I can not remain much longer. I 
 expect another interview with him to-night. The Redeemer 
 alone, however, can show me the way I should go. I have 
 sought his guidance and only wait to know his will." 
 
 At the next meeting of Presl)ytery I petitioned for a disso- 
 lution of the pastoral relation. I do not now remember the 
 reasons assigned. In my diary under the date of Novem- 
 ber 4, I find only this brief record: "My petition to Pres- 
 bytery for a dissolution was not granted. No favor was 
 showai to it. One hundred and fifty dollars were added to 
 my salary. I returned home to find that God had been 
 kind to my family in answer to prayer. And now my peti- 
 tion to God my Saviour is that I may have every requisite 
 grace given to rightly discharge my personal and official 
 duties, and that he would give me success in my labors." 
 
 Submitting to the will of Presbytery I returned home 
 and continued my work as before though under many dis- 
 couragements that were multiplying every month. Mean- 
 while the war continued to rage and the result yet was 
 uncertain, so terribly did the rebels fight. The administra- 
 tion had made great advancement in the manner of con- 
 ducting it. No more fugitive slaves were returned to rebel 
 masters, and there were not so many fugitives from the 
 border and loyal states as before the war, and when any 
 did escape it w^as far more difficult to capture them. Slaves 
 escaping this way from the rebel states and getting within 
 the lines of the Union armies were taken as recruits; and 
 colored men in the north were enlisted as volunteers. The 
 Abolitionists everywhere rejoiced in these changes. They 
 caused a very strong hope that the God of armies would 
 give the victory to the north and that universal emancipa-
 
 SAD EVENTS AND DARK SHADOWS. 375 
 
 tion would in some way result, though as yet it did not 
 appear how freedom could come to the half million slaves 
 in the loyal states. Meanwhile Abraham lyincoln was 
 reelected to the presidency by such a majority that gave all 
 people to understand that the war, as now beginning to be 
 conducted, would not cease until the slaveholders' rebellion 
 would be subdued. 
 
 On Thanksgiving day I preached from the text, 2 Kings 
 II : 12. "And he [the high priest] gave him [the king 
 being inaugurated] the testimou}'," /. e., the law% or the 
 Pentateuch, the only Bible as yet. The doctrine: It is the 
 dut}' of the church and ministry to demand of the state 
 and the civil magistrate, or the government, obedience to 
 the law of God. It led to the consideration of the duties of 
 the government at the time — duties that in times of war and 
 revolution we should demand of civilians and statesmen, e. g., 
 that the Federal Constitution be made so that the nation will 
 have a God, a Mediatorial King, a Bible, a religion. Chris- 
 tian rulers, and liberty for all. God's voice now demands 
 this. The old Constitution is disannulled, and the people 
 vote for a better. In the Baltimore Platform they say: "We 
 are in favor of such an amendment to the Constitution as 
 shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery." 
 God's voice demands that every yoke be broken and all the 
 oppressed go free; that no compromise be made with the 
 slaveholding rebels nor they be allowed to return to the 
 Union -except as free; and that all men shall be equal before 
 the law. 
 
 This discourse was preached three months before the 
 second inauguration of President Lincoln and when no one 
 could know how the war would result or what the govern- 
 ment at Washington would do provided the Rebellion should 
 be put down.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 In vSad Straits and Sadder Partings. 
 
 Shortly before Thanksgiving I had received letters from 
 some of the Geneva College Board inquiring whether I could 
 be induced to go to Northwood to take charge of the institu- 
 tion provided I would be invited by the Board. I had re- 
 plied that possibly I could provided circumstances would be 
 favorable and if the inducements were sufficiently strong. 
 The circumstances that led to this correspondence are not 
 known now except to a very few who at th .t time were 
 conversant with college matters. The institution was deeply 
 involved in debt. In the progress of the war the .<-tudents 
 had nearly all enl'sted in the army, the college was now 
 closed entirely and the institution suspended indefinitely. 
 The property being in private ownership and with almost 
 no prospect of a revival of the school, it was in danger of 
 being sold under the sheriff's hammer. The United Presby- 
 terians were ready to buy the property if sold by the sheriff. 
 The Covenanters, the friends of the institution, were grieved 
 at the fear that it might pass out of the control of the church. 
 But the debt was so heavy there, was no prospect of the 
 property being held unless the school would be opened again, 
 and of this there was no prospect. The date of the sheriff's 
 sale had been fixed. The parties who had opened the 
 correspondence with me and who knew of the scholarship of 
 Mrs. Johnston and of her reputation as a teacher, were wait- 
 ing to hear my reply. They had assured me that if we 
 w^ould go and open the school without de^ay, the property 
 
 (376)
 
 IN SAD STRAITS AND SADDER PARTINGS. 377 
 
 would not be sold. As the time fixed for the sheriff's sale 
 was near at hand the correspondence now had to be by 
 telegraph. I wired our acceptance and intention to go soon; 
 and so the sale was arrested. I made this decision in the 
 confident hope that when Presbytery would learn the facts 
 both at North wood and in Topsham, my request to be re- 
 leased from my pa.storal charge would be granted; and in 
 this hope I sent my petition to Presbytery that the pastoral 
 relation might be dissolved. If I erred in promising to go to 
 Northwood before obtaining Presbytery's consent, my apology 
 was in the peculiar circumstances as narrated above. Be- 
 sides, even the urgency of the call to go to save the college 
 from being lost to the church would not have induced me to 
 leave my charge and home in Topsham if for reasons not 
 3'et stated I had not become so discouraged, probably sin- 
 fully, that I was almost ready to ask a second time to be re- 
 lea.sed. When at this time the unexpected call came from 
 Northwood I believed it was my duty to go. Among dis- 
 couragements in Topsham these may be mentioned: the war 
 had taken away so many of the young men, some of them 
 being sons of the church and others members by their own 
 profe.ssion; and the congregation was growing weaker though 
 the number was kept up by the addition mostly of women. 
 A member of the congregation who had been tried by the 
 session for a violation of the rules of the church in the use of 
 rum and in suf^plying it to his co workers in the harvest- 
 field, would not confess his fault and so was under suspen- 
 sion. On the other hand one of the elders, who used the 
 rum supplied, confessed his fault and submitted to censure. 
 The defection and the expected departure of Deacon Mills, 
 who was a man of much influence and who I feared might 
 sow bad seed in the congregation, had much influence on 
 my mind. 
 
 Moreover, the pastor's .salary was so small that we could
 
 37^ LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 scarcely "make ends meet," and the people, nearly all of 
 whom were poor or in very moderate circumstances, were 
 unable to pay what was necessary for our support except 
 in straitened circumstances. The Presbytery had supple- 
 mented the salary so long I feared some might be tired of it. 
 By one not knowing the character of the community nor the 
 personnel of the congregation, the pastor might be adjudged 
 to be inefficient, and so my pride was touched. But the 
 most discouraging fact was that two of the elders had become 
 alienated in consequence of a strife originating in some 
 business matters. The other elder and the pastor labored 
 earnestly to bring back a reconciliation and brotherly love, 
 but failed. Our meetings of session were not marked by 
 love and harmony as in times bygone. I lost heart for I 
 saw little prospect of a return of former fraternal love. But 
 I had determined to resign my charge and notify the con- 
 gregation of it, however painful the duty. In my diary of 
 December 9 I find the following entry: " I have petitioned 
 Presbytery for a disjunction which I confidently expect. 
 The trial of .separation from this people will be great. Long 
 have they been endeared to me by the holiest ties. But my 
 work here seems to be done. ' ' 
 
 I regretted that I would have to depart before my exposition 
 of the prophecies of Isaiah were complete. My interest in 
 them had grown from the fir.st. I had seen how justly he 
 had been called "the evangelical prophet." The last lec- 
 ture was on the last paragraph, verses 17-25, of the sixty- 
 fifth chapter As the book had not been finished I was 
 reminded of the elder's good wife who had expressed her 
 fears when I began the difficult work of the exposition of 
 the book. 
 
 Reviewing my journal for the months previous to m}' de- 
 parture, I see that nearly all my sermons were from texts 
 tending to awaken sinners or to strengthen and comfort the
 
 ■ iN SAD STRAITS AND SADDER PARTINGS. 379 
 
 disciples. On the Sabbath before the last, the text was: 
 "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee " On the last 
 Sibbath, in the forenoon: " We shall all stand before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ " In the afternoon the farewell 
 sermoi was from 2 Cor. 13: :i. " Finally, breth en, fare- 
 well. Be perfect, be of good comfort, ' ' etc. The valedictory 
 was to the brethren in Christ, to the aged, to parents, to the 
 youth, to the elders and to the entire congregation. On 
 Monday, the last day before departure, the following entry 
 was made: ' ' Yesterday I preached in sadness to a large congre- 
 gation. O that I could have been spared the severe task of 
 preaching my farewell sermon to a people so good and so 
 affectionate. To-morrow I am to bid adieu to these loved 
 scenes, the grave of Eliza, these dear brethren, and these 
 places of sweet communion." 
 
 On Tuesday morning, December 13, 1865, we said good- 
 by to many dear friends, gave up the keys of the parsonage, 
 and took our last look at the dear old church whose bell had 
 summoned us so often to the worship of God and to the 
 fellowship of his dear saints. Good friends drove us in 
 their sleighs to Bradford and we were soon on the train for 
 Springfield, Mass., and thence to Belle-Centre and North- 
 wood, Ohio. There were five of us, husband and wife wnth 
 our two little children, and our sister Almira Rogers who 
 had been with us in Topsham a short time as a member of 
 our family and a student in the school. On the way I had 
 time for meditation and review. I was not joyous, for we 
 had left behind so many sacred recollections and were going 
 we knew not whither. The geography of the place we 
 knew, but what reception we would meet and what would 
 be our success in resurrecting a dead literary institution, 
 who could tell us? In this sense we were going to a land we 
 knew not of. 
 
 In turning my back upon a field in which I had labored
 
 380 tOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 about thirteen years — a field I loved and a work I loved — ■ 
 and fearing lest I might be making a great mistake in what 
 I was doing, I know I was not very joyous nor very hope- 
 ful. Reflecting upon the work of those past 3^ears I knew 
 I had much satisfaction, and I kno\v I \vas thankful for 
 what God had wrought. When I took charge of the con- 
 gregation it had Ijeen destitute of a pastor for twentj'-five 
 years, the majority of the members were old people, and 
 most of these were women. I regarded the place as little 
 more than a mission field. During its occupancy I learned 
 to love aged people more than ever before; and the memor}^ 
 of those dear women from whom I learned so much, to 
 whom I so often broke the bread of life, with whom on their 
 death-bed I had so man}' sweet seasons of communion, and 
 whose bodies I followed to the grave, is ver}^ precious. 
 How joyous will be the meeting when in the Father's hou.se 
 their youth and mine will be perennial. During the same 
 3'ears many others in youth and some in middle life were 
 removed to their heavenh^ home. Only two or three w^ere 
 removed by suspension. During the entire pastorate about 
 fift}^ persons were added to the church most of them on 
 examination and baptism and a majority' of them ^-oung 
 people. Thus if there had not been so many deaths, besides 
 numerous removals, the roll of membership would have 
 been over one hundred. If He whom I tried to serv^e in 
 humility blessed m}' instrumeutality for the salvation of 
 man}' wdiose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, 
 let Him have all the glory. He onl}^ is their Saviour.
 
 CHAPTER Xh. 
 
 A Nkw Home and New Work. 
 
 On arrival at Northwood we found an empty college and 
 cold and dreary rooms in the empty and almost tumble- 
 down seminary building which we were expected to make 
 our habitation. It was in vexatious contrast with the beau- 
 tiful cottage parsonage we had left behind. But as we had 
 not made the change for the sake of a better home we 
 hastened to prepare for our work as teachers. W^e went to 
 that little village not for its sake but to rescue the college, 
 to save it to the church, and to revive the institution. And 
 as this could be done only by making a beginning and by 
 hard work, we immediately announced by a circular and by 
 advertisements in the papers that on a certain date the 
 "Geneva Collegiate Institute" would be open for the recep- 
 tion of students. We could not say college, for there was 
 no such institution unless brick and mortar make a college. 
 Nor had we a Board of Trustees at our back. The buildings 
 were offered to us free of rent, and that was all that was 
 done to help lis. It was mid- winter. We expected little. 
 But the sheriff's hammer had not been heard as had been 
 feared, and now a beginning must be made even though the 
 young men were nearly all gone to the war. And so on the 
 morning of the appointed day, January lo, 1865, the old 
 bell was rung. It had been silent so long its sound almost 
 startled the villagers who may have adjudged us revivalists 
 crazy who would think of awakening into life a dead body 
 that had not had even a decent burial. But it must be 
 
 (381)
 
 3S2 I^OOKING BACK KROM THR) SUNTSHT L.\ND. 
 
 attempted; and so the old bell rang out the call for students 
 to assemble. About fifteen came the first morning, and we 
 began to work. The next morning there were more; but 
 during this short term the number probabh^ did not exceed 
 twenty. It was a wonder even to ourselves that so many 
 came then. 
 
 During this short winter session our recitations were con- 
 ducted in the rooms of the seminary building. At the 
 opening of the spring term we met in the college and the 
 number of students was much larger. A few came from 
 other parts of the church, and a few boarders were received 
 into the seminary building. We were busy workers and 
 had no help except a little from our dear sister Almira who 
 was also a student in college and hard at study. The second 
 term closed with two days of examination of classes and 
 with a good program of literary exercises on the evening of 
 the last da}'. The students acquitted themselves so honor- 
 abl}' we were greatly encouraged . The institution was saved 
 to the church, and between the clouds that had been dark so 
 long there were some bright openings. 
 
 During these first months of college work the bloody scenes 
 of the war were multiplying and the nation trembling as in 
 the balance, though the preponderance was in favor of the 
 north. Charleston was captured, Richmond was evacuated 
 by General Lee and occupied by colored troops of the Union 
 Arm}', Lee surrendered, and other Confederate generals soon 
 afterwards. Jefferson Davis, the president of the slave- 
 holder's confederacy, disguised in woman's clothes, was cap- 
 tured in Georgia. Peace was proclaimed at Washington, 
 and the great Civil War was over. Covenanters rejoiced with 
 all others, and no wonder, for the}' too had been sufferers 
 and longed for peace in the hope that it would be followed 
 by universal emancipation as it finally was. The war lasted 
 four years during which there had been an awful holocaust
 
 A NEW home; and new work. 383 
 
 among both northern and southern soldiers, more than half a 
 million in all ; and it left the United States with a debt of 
 more than two billion seven hundred million dollars. Five 
 days after L,ee's surrender to General Grant, President 
 IJncoln was assassinated while sitting in a theater in Wash- 
 ington. This was followed by universal excitement and 
 great lamentation. The President had evidently been edu- 
 cated during the war to a higher regard for human freedom. 
 If he had not been bound by the fetters of a pro-slavery 
 Constitution and slaveholding Union he might have been 
 an Abolitionist, for he was a man of a tender heart and 
 magnanimous soul. The man was better than the Constitu- 
 tion and government to which he was sworn to be loyal. 
 But he erred as did politicians and most of statesmen, in 
 being governed by human enactments more than by divine. 
 For this the whole nation was punished and its honored 
 President cut down by the hand of the assassin. Meanwhile 
 I had attended Synod at Utica and had preached frequently 
 for the pastors of the Fir.st Miami and Rusheylvania congre- 
 gations. They had no compassion for a teacher who was 
 already overburdened and had no time for study except for 
 the class-room unless it would be stolen from King Morpheus 
 who always punishes poor mortals that violate his laws. 
 
 During the summer vacation we attended the Ohio State 
 Teachers' Convention at Cincinnati. For much that made 
 that occasion pleasant we were indebted to Brother J. U. 
 McCartney, the pastor in North wood. During the days 
 spent in the "Queen City" Mrs. Johnston went with me over 
 into Covington, Ky., from which place I had at one time 
 helped to rescue the fugitive slaves. This was the first time 
 .she had ever set her foot on slave soil. And I must not for- 
 get to mention that one night during the state convention I 
 enjoyed the company of my old friend, Hugh Gla.sgow, in a 
 visit to the great observatory on Mount Adams. He had
 
 384 LOOKING BACK FROM THE .SUNSET LAND. 
 
 not forgotten our rescue of the slaves, and he jocoseh^ called 
 me "nigger thief." That good Abolitionist was never 
 ashamed of having been a slave emancipator. 
 
 According to previous arrangements, during the summer 
 vacation we had a normal school, or a large class of normal 
 students who either were teachers or preparing to teach ; and 
 they were noble yoiuig men and women who afterwards 
 l^ecame honored teachers. During this brief term I gave 
 seven or eight lectures before the normal class, the themes 
 being as follows : The Teacher's Work, (two lectures) ; Lit- 
 erary Qualifications of the Teacher; Physiology in the 
 Schools; Music in the Schools; Personal Habits of the 
 Teachers; Aptne.ss to Teach ; and How to Conduct recitations. 
 We regarded this normal school a success, but this success 
 was due largety, I am sure, to my "better half," a graduate 
 of New York Normal School and ever afterwards a deserv- 
 edly popular teacher. 
 
 August ist being the anniversary of the British West India 
 emancipatic>n, there was a great celebration by the colored 
 people at Urbana, O., at which in accordance with previous 
 invitation I gave an address. The convention was very large 
 and enthusiastic, for they rejoiced in the hope that in the 
 United States slavery would soon be no more. 
 
 At the late Synod in May, a Board of Education was 
 appointed consisting of Rev. A. M. Milligan, Rev. T. P. 
 Stevenson, Rev. H. P. McClurkin, Rev. J. Iv. McCartney, 
 and four elders. They were instructed " to confer with the 
 present owners of the college building and Female Seminary 
 at Northwood and purchase the same if they can be obtained 
 on reasonable terms and free from all claims and incum- 
 brances, if this will, in their judgment, conduce to the 
 furtherance of the object committed to them." At the same 
 meeting Synod took action towards the education of colored 
 students. The language of the resolution is this : "That we
 
 A NEW HOME AND NEW WORK. 3^5 
 
 take measures for establishing a school in which talented 
 colored persons may receive preparatory training for the 
 work of teaching their brethren and preaching the Gospel of 
 Christ. This school shall be under the control of a Board 
 elected biennially by the Synod, consisting of four ministers 
 and four laymen of the church, who shall receive instruction 
 from this court and report annually." That said school was 
 designed to be at Northwood does not appear from the reso- 
 lution, but I know it was so intended provided the buildings 
 could be purchased by the church. Another resolution 
 directed the Board of Missions to appeal to the church for 
 pecuniary aid ; and Synod appointed a delegation of three 
 ministers and an elder to visit Europe and to solicit funds to 
 assist in this educational scheme. They were Rev. S. O. 
 Wylie, Rev. J. M. Willson, Rev. A. M. Milligan and Elder 
 John Caldwell. This delegation went to Europe sometime 
 during the following summer but did not report until the 
 next Synod. It was generally understood, however, that 
 very little money was raised. 
 
 On the 6th of August following the Board met at North- 
 wood to carry out directions of Synod and among other 
 business transacted was the election of four'professors, viz. 
 J. C. K. Milligan of New York, N. R. Johnston, Professor 
 Newell of Pittsburg, and Mrs. R. R. Johnston. 
 
 During the fall and winter sessions of our institute the 
 number of students increased ; they were of a superior class 
 of youth from the vicinity and from distant parts of the 
 church ; and we were much encouraged though pressed with 
 hard work as there were only three teachers beside the music 
 teacher. During the winter months Mrs. Johnston taught 
 in the college chapel a very large class in vocal music. 
 
 Some time in February, 1866, the Board of Educalion met 
 in Allegheny, Pa , and elected Rev. J. C. K. Milligan of 
 New York as president, and Professor Stevenson, principal
 
 386 LOOKING BACK FROM THE; SUNSET LAND. 
 
 of the High School of Norwalk, O., as his first alternate, and 
 Rev. D. McAllister of Walton, N. Y., his second alternate. 
 Rev. Mr. Milligan did not accept the appointment. Pro- 
 fessor Stephenson visited Northwood and soon after return- 
 ing home sent to the Board his non-acceptance. He was of 
 Covenanter parentage but at this time he was a member of 
 the Presbyterian Church. I do not now remember what was 
 the decision of the second alternate. Nor was it strange 
 that the elected did not accept the offered positions. They 
 could easily see that it would be no easy task to build up a 
 literary institution that had been dead and that had no 
 endowment and no rich chiirch to furnish the needed money 
 or patronage. They must have seen that it would take 
 years of patient toil to make the school a success, and years 
 with little if any pecuniary remuneration. Besides, a factor 
 in the problem that had to be solved must have been seen by 
 all of them, viz., the social and ecclesiastical atmosphere ot 
 Northwood was not favorable to success; and not a few saw 
 that for other reasons that village was not the proper place 
 for a college. Meanwhile all these things which indicated 
 how unsettled the affairs of the institution were and were 
 likely to be, operated seriously against the present interests 
 of the institution which as yet was only private. We desired 
 it and expected it to be a church school, but we were dis- 
 couraged by the action and the inaction of the Board and 
 others, and we believed that if the school had been left in 
 our hands without interference we could have soon made it 
 a success. But the church needed and wished a denomi- 
 national college, and to this end we wished to cooperate with 
 others in all proper effort. One of the greatest hindrances 
 to the prosperity of the institution was the presence of two 
 rival or hostile congregations of the same denomination. 
 The former pastor of the first church had been the principal 
 agent in founding and building up the school. He had
 
 A NEW HOME AND NEW WORK. 387 
 
 opposed the organization of the second church because oi 
 the opposition to the office of the church deacon; and so the 
 "anti-deacon congregation" with an "anti-deacon" pastor, 
 so called, did not cooperate in efforts to make the school a 
 success. Such was the fact and it was known all over the 
 church. To harmonize these hostile forces so divided on 
 "the deacon question," was the aim of Synod in her subse- 
 quent action. To accomplish this end the friends of the 
 college thought it would be better to compromise the pres- 
 ent teachers than to fail to secure the favor of those who 
 had withheld their favor heretofore. Meanwhile we could 
 do nothing but stand at our post of labor and endeavor to 
 keep the school in good working order until it would become 
 in every way a church institution. 
 
 As other duties besides teaching were devolved upon me 
 sometimes I had to leave my classes in charge of others. This 
 was done twice during the spring season, first when I went to 
 Presbytery and afterwards to Synod. As I had been trans- 
 ferred from New York Presbytery to that of the I^akes, and 
 had been moderator in the latter during the past year, it 
 devolved upon me to preach the opening sermon at the 
 spring meeting. This was held in Cedar I^ake congregation, 
 Rev. John French pastor. The sermon was from the text: 
 I Tim 4: 15. "Give thyself wholly to them," and was a 
 '■'Concio ad Clerum.'' This attendance upon Presbytery 
 gave me opportunity to visit my dear old fellow-student, 
 Rev. J. French. 
 
 Synod met this spring at Rochester, N. Y. I was glad to 
 be able to attend the meeting; and I expected to meet at it 
 my beloved brother R. J. Dodds who was now on a visit 
 home from the Syrian Mission. I was late in arriving and 
 was not present until he had been chosen moderator and 
 was in the chair. So we had no opportunity to meet until 
 after the forenoon session. As soon as the prayer of adjourn-
 
 388 LOOKING HACK I'KOM TUK SUN.SET LAND. 
 
 ment was concluded I hurried up to the platform where he 
 made his way past others and met me. We embraced each 
 other and, after the oriental manner, kissed each other. 
 How pleasant is brotherly love; besides, it is deathle.ss. 
 
 At that meeting of Synod Rev. Joseph McCracken was 
 chosen principal of "Geneva Collegiate Institute" with 
 power to employ the other teachers. What were the motives 
 of Synod in taking this action I did not know certainl}' then, 
 nor do I now, though I see that in making a note of it in my 
 journal after my return home I wrote the following sentence 
 aaiD ig others, viz.: ' His election was owing not to dissatis- 
 faction with us as teachers or managers but as a matter of 
 l^olicy, party spirit, and in compromise." If I could have 
 foreseen what has transpired since that time, now a genera- 
 tion ago, I might not have written as I did then. There 
 may have been much dissatisfaction with the principal, 
 though I tlid not know of any, but I know that with the 
 vice-principal, Mrs. Johnston, there could be none. More- 
 over, it was manifest from what was said in Synod it was the 
 design and expectation that the principal elect would retain 
 the teachers now in the school. With the action of Synod, 
 however, we were dissatisfied. We saw no need of it, but 
 we saw what we feared would be against the interest of the 
 institution as a school for the education of colored students, 
 and we never had known of a College Board that gave power 
 to a president to fill the other chairs of the faculty; and so 
 the action of Synod made us somewhat restless. 
 
 The summer session of college closed about the 21st of 
 Jmic. As Synod had assigned me to Pittsburg Presbytery 
 during the month of July, we resolved to visit some friends 
 in western Pennsylvania while I would be fulfilling appoint- 
 ments there. On our wa}^ we visited my oldest brother, 
 Rev. J. B. Johnston, now pastor of the United Presb5'terian 
 Church in St. Clairsville, O. Here I left my family for two
 
 A NKW HOME AND NKW WORK. 3^9 
 
 Sabbaths while I went on to preach as per appointments at 
 New Alexandria and at Clarksburg, recently made vacant 
 by the departure of Rev. A. M. Milligan to the new organi- 
 zation in Pittsburg. Returning from Clarksburg, I stopped 
 at Saltzburg to visit my aged aunt, Elizabeth Robinson, at 
 her home there. I had never had an opportunity of seeing 
 her. She was the only surviving sister of my mother. In 
 honor of my Uncle Robert Robinson I had received my 
 middle name, and I knew before I met my aunt, for I had 
 heard much of her, that I would love her; and I did, and 
 had a precious visit with her and with her children, two or 
 three families of them. A few years afterwards I visited 
 her again several times. I found her to be one of the loveli- 
 est Christian women. To this day I can not remember of 
 knowing any one more Christlike. 
 
 After this visit I went according to appointment to meet 
 my family at Rochester, Pa., whence we went to New Castle 
 to visit my old and long-tried friend. Dr. Tidball. 
 
 We had not been home long until I very unexpectedly re- 
 ceived official information that I had been elected president 
 of Franklin College, my alma mater. The war had taken 
 away so many students and had so affected the faculty that 
 the president's chair was vacant and the institution in need 
 of special efforts looking towards revival. Strong influences 
 were brought to bear upon me, but after prayerful consider- 
 ation I did not feel free to accept the position offered, and 
 sent my declinature to the Board of Trustees. The greatest 
 difficulty in the way of acceptance was the fact that neither 
 in New Athens nor near to it was there any Covenanter 
 congregation. Neither of us could consent, even under the 
 strong inducements, to make our home where we would be 
 isolated from the church we loved so well. Nor were we the 
 only ones concerned. We could not forget that our two 
 little daughters, if spared, would be in such environments
 
 390 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 as would tend to take them out of the old Covenanter Church. 
 This and our daughters we loved more than I loved my alma 
 mater; and we never regretted my decision. 
 
 During our visit at New Castle numerous friends, includ- 
 ing Rev. Dr. R. Audley Browne, the late chaplain of the 
 "Round-head" regiment, endeavored to persuade us to go 
 there to open an academy. Accordingly I again visited that 
 city, surveyed the field, and returned home again. We lost 
 no time in giving notice of our intention to leave North wood 
 and to remove to New Castle. On the i ith of September 
 we opened the "New Castle Academy and Ladies' Seminary" 
 with twenty-two students mostly in the higher branches. 
 The number of students in subsequent terms increased until 
 we had a good school and man}^ most interesting and excel- 
 lent 3^oung men and young women most of whom were pre- 
 paring to enter college or to be teachers or to study for the 
 professions. The community was eminently moral and relig- 
 ious except the foreign population employed in the numer- 
 ous iron works. Among the Protestant churches there were 
 two Presbyterian, Old School and New, a large congregation 
 of United Presbyterians, Dr. Browne the pastor, a small 
 "New Light" Covenanter congregation. Rev. Theodore 
 Wylie pastor, and the "Old Light" Covenanter, Rev. J. C. 
 Smith pastor. He had charge of the two other "branches" 
 besides, so that he preached in New Castle only every third 
 Sabbath. 
 
 During that autumn and winter Mr. James Buck, licen- 
 tiate, was engaged in teaching near the city, but he was in 
 such feeble health that he did not wish to receive Presby terial 
 appointments. As there were two Covenanter preachers 
 there, Pastor Smith invited us both to preach in his pulpit 
 the Sabbaths he was absent, which we did, so that the people 
 had preaching every Sabbath. As I had some appointments 
 elsewhere in Pittsburg Presbytery I had little time to rest.
 
 A NEW HOME AND NEW WORK. 39I 
 
 My reward was in the hope that the service I rendered 
 would not be in vain. The service that Mr. Buck and I 
 rendered was gratuitous and to help both the pastor and the 
 little congregation. In a few jxars they became able to call 
 and support a pastor all the time. 
 
 During that fall and winter I became well and intimately 
 acquainted with Mr. Buck, and I soon learned to love him; 
 and no wonder, for he was indeed a lovable man. His most 
 prominent natural trait was amiability. He was also in- 
 tellectual and scholarly, genial and sometimes versatile. 
 Though sorely afflicted, for he was a marked victim of con- 
 sumption, he was always cheerful; and I can not doubt that 
 his was the joy of the Spirit. Moreover, he was an excel- 
 lent preacher. He had clear and well-defined perceptions of 
 truth with ability to express it in good style though not very 
 oratorical. He evidently studied to be clear and logical in 
 his enunciations of truth, so that as a preacher he was both 
 didactic and convincing. He loved the truth and dared to 
 express it. He had been trained in the Associate Reformed 
 Church, but becoming convinced of the truth as held by 
 the Reformed Presbyterian Church he became a Covenanter 
 and continued firm in his attachment to our distinctive 
 principles to the end. When the spring came Mr. Buck was 
 sent by the Home Board as a missionary or stated supply to 
 Elliota, Minn., where he preached with such acceptance that 
 he was called as pastor and continued to labor as such to the 
 end of his short life. If the Covenanter Church in the 
 United States ever had a McCheyne, he was James Buck. 
 
 Prior to our going to New Castle I had only a slight ac- 
 quaintance with Pastor J. C. Smith. During our residence 
 there I became well and intimately acquainted with him and 
 soon learned to prize him highly. I assisted him at several 
 communions and was always glad to help him in active labors 
 in any way possible. In the pulpit and out of it, at home
 
 392 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 and almost everywhere and alwa^^s, he seemed to me to be 
 an IsraeUte indeed in whom was no guile. As his residence 
 at Rose Point was eight miles distant, I was more frequently 
 thrown into the society of the pastors in New Castle. Rev. 
 Theodore Wylie was genial and very companionable. A 
 bond of union between him and us was his lovel}- daughter 
 who was one of our students; and he ever acted as though 
 he thought Old School Covenanters were as good as the 
 New — a rare attainment. While we remained in New 
 Castle he acceded to the New School Presbyterian Church 
 and became pastor of the second Presb3'terian congregation. 
 Nearly all his former parishioners followed him. In this 
 new relation he was the successor of Rev. A. B. Bradford, 
 formerly of the Free Presbj^terian Church and who in his 
 later j-ears became so "broad-church" in his religious belief 
 as to be more infidel than Christian. 
 
 But our warmest friend and most beloved was Rev. Dr. 
 Browne, the same who had been so kind to me at Beaufort, 
 S. C. He was pastor of the large and only United Presby- 
 terian Church in the town. Now there is a second. This 
 broke off from the old because they believed in the organ 
 and wanted one in the church. Dr. Browne and a majority 
 of the congregation opposed its introduction, and the result 
 was a second church in which the loud-sounding wind 
 instrument leads the singers or makes music for the hearers. 
 
 As Dr. Browne yet survives and is still a pastor and active 
 worker, I hesitate to write freelj' of him; but as the writer 
 will soon be here no more, I can not withhold my testimony 
 as to his worth. With only one exception there was no one 
 in New Castle whom I knew so well. He was emphatically 
 a Christian gentleman. For amiability of character, up- 
 right and honorable deportment, devotion to principle, and 
 activity in Christian work. Dr. Robert Audley Browne had 
 no superior if any equal in the community. None received
 
 ^^<(^t 
 
 Robert Audley Browne, D. D.
 
 A NEW HOMK AND NEW WORK. 393 
 
 SO many honors; none bad more influence. He was active 
 in benevolent and reform movements. He was a zealous 
 and outspoken National Reformer. He was a warm friend 
 of Covenanters. None would have been more welcomed 
 into our fellowship. Indeed, I loved him so much I would 
 have stolen him awa}' from the United Presbyterians if it 
 could have been. No one adored him as did his worthy 
 wife; and no children loved their father more than did his. 
 He occasionally asked me to preach in his pulpit, and except 
 in some Covenanter pulpits in none did I feel more at home. 
 When the time came for our leaving New Castle I would 
 have been more loath to depart if I had not hoped to meet 
 Dr. Browne often again. 
 
 The pastor of the Old School Presbyterian Church was 
 D. X. Junkin, D. D., a brother of the distinguished Dr. 
 George K. Junkin, a strong pro-.slavery divine of Kentucky. 
 The New Castle pastor was a man and minister of superior 
 ability, of gentlemanlj; deportment, and sound in theology. 
 He had more than respect for Covenanters, and several times 
 invited me to fill his pulpit in his absence. But, like his 
 brother, he had been pro-slavery, and he was a strong 
 opposer of the National Reform movement. As he was 
 very fond of debate we gave him several opportunities to 
 show his combativeness. The first was at the time of a 
 large National Reform Convention when he stoutly fought 
 against the passage of some of the resolutions. Others, as 
 the editor of the leading New Castle paper, and several 
 prominent lawyers, two of whom were members of Dr. 
 Junkin's congregation, opposed the reform. The people of 
 the town were aroused, pro and con, and the papers entered 
 into the discussion. As I had been most active in getting 
 up the convention, I determined afierwards to keep up the 
 agitation for the truth's sake, and invited Rev. Dr. Sloane, 
 professor of theology in Allegheny, to come to give a lecture
 
 394 1.00KING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 on National Reform. It was given before a very large audi- 
 ence. At its close Dr. Junkin arose and challenged Dr. 
 Sloane to a public debate on the subject. It was accepted. 
 The arrangements were soon concluded. The debate was 
 between two strong men. Two giants met. Dr. Sloane, 
 always powerful in debate, had met his match; but as the 
 conflict continued he rose above himself, and as he had 
 truth on his side he evidently gained the mastery over an 
 able and honorable opponent. And such was the judgment 
 of the great audience present, a majority of whom were 
 National Reformers, Covenanters and United Presbyterians. 
 Many came from a distance to hear the debate. The ap- 
 plause made it manifest that a majority were with Dr. 
 Sloane. The debate lasted four nights. The agitation 
 increased to the end and the whole community was aroused. 
 During the time of these debates Dr. Sloane and Dr. A. M. 
 Milligan were guests in our family, and we all had a good 
 time. 
 
 The agitation did not cease. Not long afterwards a 
 public meeting or convention was called in a neighboring 
 country church, perhaps near Bedford. I had secured Dr. 
 Milligan as one of the speakers. Two or three United 
 Presbyterian ministers were present to maintain the right. 
 Editor Durbin of New Castle, and a member of Dr. Junkin's 
 church, was there to oppose. He was an able debater. 
 Dr. Milligan, in a speech of great power, gained the victory 
 over him. Never before had I heard my Covenanter friend 
 make such an able and eloquent defense of the truth. At a 
 later date a second National Reform Convention was held in 
 New Castle. At the former the meetings continued through 
 three days or evenings. At the second the meetings assumed 
 the form of a debate, the question being: "Should the Con- 
 stitution of the United States be amended as proposed by 
 the National Association?" The discussions continued
 
 A NEW HOME AND NEW WORK. 395 
 
 during five consecutive nights. The ablest talent in the 
 city, ministers, lawyers and others, opposed the reform. 
 One was a Jew and a Democrat. His son and daughter 
 were students in our school. Some of the leading defenders 
 of the truth were Rev. J. C. Smith, student Quarles, a 
 young colored man and Covenanter, formerly of Geneva 
 but now at Westminster College, Rev. J. W. Bain (United 
 Presbyterian), Dr. Browne, A. M. Milligan, and Dr. Sloane. 
 I find in my journal of that date the following entry: 
 "Throughout the debates Truth won victories, and at 
 the close she evidently gained a grand triumph. I think 
 great good will result from the discussions; and I am glad 
 that I have had the opportunity to speak for Christ and his 
 cau.se. ' '
 
 CHAPTER XU. 
 Pleasant Recollections. 
 
 During our long summer vacation of 1868 Mrs. Johnston 
 and I, with our little girls, made a visit back to their birth- 
 place and the grave of one whose dust had Iain in the 
 Topsham cemetery eleven long years. Leaving home on 
 the 9th of July our journey lay through Syracuse, N. Y., 
 where we stopped a few hours to visit our old friends, Rev. 
 J. M. Armour and family. He was pastor there then. 
 Thence we went by Oswego and on Lake Ontario and by 
 the Thousand Islands to Ogdensburg and on to Lisbon 
 where I was expected to preach on Sabbath. While there 
 we were kindly entertained in the family of Elder John 
 Coleman whose sons are now honored workers in Pittsburg 
 Presbytery. 
 
 From Lisbon we journeyed by rail to Plattsburg and thence 
 by boat to Burlington, remaining there over night. That 
 day and night, July 13, were said to be the hottest ever 
 known. In the coolest place to be found in the shade the 
 mercury stood at ninety-nine degrees. On our arrival at 
 White River Junction on the Connecticut, at noon it stood 
 at one hundred and one degrees in the shade, hotter than 
 ever known before. By cars and stage we were in Topsham 
 by 6 o'clock in the evening, happy again at seeing the 
 grand old hills, the beautiful forests and streams, and the 
 old church and parsonage. Most of all was I happy to 
 meet with many of the dear friends of former years. Old 
 memories were revived, happy days of communion and labor 
 
 • (396)
 
 PLEASANT RECOLLKCTIONS. 397 
 
 among a good people who loved rae as pastor and friend 
 c )uld not be forgotten, and I wished I had never left my 
 first field of labor when so many, all as far as I know, wished 
 me to remain. Had I not done them a great wrong ? 
 
 As the pulpit was vacant and it was known that I would 
 preach on Sabbath, a large assembly came to worship in the 
 old church. Besides the brethren and their families there 
 was a large concourse of hearers of all kinds of non-professors 
 and of other churches. The text for the morning service 
 was: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" for 
 the afternoon: "And few there be that find it," i. e., the 
 narrow way that leads to life. 
 
 Between the two Sabbaths I attended the commencement 
 at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H., at which Carlos 
 White, one of the young men of the Topsham congregation, 
 had finished the course of study. He was the son of Con- 
 gregational parents. When a growing boy he attended our 
 Covenanter Sabbath-school and afterwards was a student in 
 the pastor's school. Under such influences he accepted our 
 principles and was received into the church by baptism. 
 While I was yet the pastor he volunteered as a soldier in one 
 of the Vermont regiments. After he was mustered out he 
 entered college and completed the course. At one time I 
 had hoped he would become a theological student, but after 
 his graduation he went into business as a book-seller. After 
 a few years I heard of his going to California and engaging 
 in business there. 
 
 x\s I could not remain more than two Sabbaths, on the 
 .second I preached in the forenoon from, "The stone which 
 the builders rejected is become the head of the corner," and 
 in the P. M. from, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with you all." At the time I thought that would probably 
 be ray last visit and sermon in Topsham. In the closing 
 address I was moved to speak earnest and loving words to
 
 398 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 three classes of people with which the church was largely 
 filled, viz., unconverted sinners, professors of religion espe- 
 cially Covenanters, and the afflicted and sorrowing. Of 
 these there were many. Some had lost soldier sons and 
 others, not a few, were mourning bereavements from other 
 causes. 
 
 While we lingered at our old home we spent most of the 
 time in visiting friends and receiving visits from the brethren. 
 One day was spent in a picnic in Elder Divoll's grove. This 
 gathering was arranged for 'largely by my dear old friend 
 Elder Daniel Keenan; and he was happy and made a little 
 address, something he rarely ever did. That church gath- 
 ering was made the more pleasant by the presence of two 
 young ladies recently from Washington, D. C, and teachers 
 in our Freedman's Mission there, viz., Miss Sarah Morse of 
 Craftsbury, and Miss Helen Johnston of Ohio. They were 
 visiting Mrs. Emily Divoll Taggart, also a teacher in the 
 mission. Miss Clough, the fourth teacher, had gone over to 
 Ryegate, her home. It was their vacation. 
 
 After having spent over two weeks with our old friends, 
 and leaving my family to remain a week or two longer while 
 I went forward to Lisbon and to Sterling, N. Y., where I was 
 expected to preach, I bade good-bj^ to the people from whom 
 I was loath to separate. No spot on earth was so dear. 
 
 At Sterling I was most royally entertained by Elder John 
 Hunter and family whom I had never seen before. On the 
 journey thither I read "Old Mortality," Walter Scott's 
 subtle and unjust" attack upon the Covenanters of Scotland; 
 and the next week while waiting the arrival of my family I 
 read what I found in Mr. Hunter's library, Herbert Spen- 
 cer's work on education, a dangerous book though abound- 
 ing with excellent thoughts. 
 
 On Friday Mr. and Mrs. Hunter went with me to Fulton 
 to meet ray family. We were most kindly entertained by
 
 PI.EASANT RECOI.1.ECTIONS. 399 
 
 them during our stay. Few Covenanter congregations have 
 such excellent people among them. Would that the number 
 of such were greatl)^ multiplied all over the church. Her 
 institutions would not languish. Long years have passed 
 since we parted from those kind friends, but I never can 
 forget how, during our stay in Sterling, those good people 
 so won my aflfections that I can remember no fault in them. 
 Of few of all my friends can I so write. Sabbath over, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hunter brought us to Fulton to take the train 
 homeward bound. At Syracuse we again visited a few hours 
 with Brother Armour, and then were off for our New Castle 
 home. Thus was spent one of our most pleasant vacations. 
 
 During the autumn and winter I preached nearly every 
 Sabbath either in the New Castle church or fulfilling appoint- 
 ments within the bounds of Presbytery. For the first time 
 I became an active worker in the Y. M. C. A. The occa- 
 sion of it was an invitation to take charge of the Bible class 
 which met in the hall of the association. I was free to do 
 so as onl}^ the Psalms of inspiration were used in their devo- 
 tional meetings. This was due largely to the many United 
 Presbyterians and Covenanters in the association. I began 
 my work in the class by a lecture on the Bible. At this time 
 there were no International Bible Lessons. This system had 
 its origin at a later date. We selected the book of Acts. It 
 was during these years that I formed the acquaintance of Ira 
 D. Sankey, the "Gospel singer." His home was in New 
 Castle; he was the leader of the choir of the First Methodist 
 Episcopal Church; and he was an active member of the 
 Y. M. C. A. 
 
 In New Castle there was a lecture lyceum that brought 
 some able and popular lecturers. Among these was Theo- 
 dore Tilton. His lecture was on "True Statesmanship." 
 He showed what should be the character of the legislation 
 of the country with reference to convicts, Indians, foreigners,
 
 400 LOOKING B \CK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 colored people and women. On all these subjects he was 
 radical and generally accurate. At that time there was in 
 the country no more advanced thinker. His greatest needs 
 were piety and a fuller belief of evangelical truth. It was 
 during this course, though earlier, that Frederick Douglass 
 gave his lecture on "The One IVfan Power," or against the 
 veto power. His greatness as an orator did not appear so 
 manifest as in former years when he pleaded for his people 
 in bonds. But the meanness of the caste feeling or of 
 prejudice against color was shown by the shameful neglect 
 shown to Mr. Douglass b}^ the lyceum in which were Demo- 
 crats and former pro-slaver}^ professional men. It was the 
 rule and had been the practise of the lyceum to make pro- 
 vision for the entertainment of all the lecturers, and a com- 
 mittee or an officer of the lyceum was expected to meet the 
 coming speaker at the railroad station and escort him to the 
 appointed place of lodging. But the eloquent orator was a 
 negro. When his train from Pittsburg arrived no represen- 
 tative of the lyceum was there. I was not a member, but as 
 a personal friend I went to meet him and welcome him to 
 our city. After salutations he said to me, "Where is the 
 committee?" "I do not know." I was much ashamed of 
 my neighbors but I could onh' try to apologize for them 
 supposing that there might be some mistake somewhere. 
 He said nothing more, but Frederick Douglass had sharp- 
 ness sufficient to see it all. Taking his gripsack in my hand 
 I conducted him all the way up Main Street to our little 
 cottage to the wonderment of many beholders who had never 
 before seen Frederick Douglass. And so we had the pleasure 
 of entertaining the popular colored . orator, and we were 
 glad if for no other reason than that we had the opportunity 
 of silently testifying against caste prejudice. But though he 
 said nothing Mr. Douglass was mad. We walked with him 
 to the hall where we were met bj- the president of the lyceum,
 
 PLKASANT RECOLLECTIONS. 4©! 
 
 a United Presbyterian and a city teacher, to whom I intro- 
 duced Mr. Douglass. They went upon the platform together. 
 Professor Aikenroseandsaid: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have 
 the pleasure of introducing Fred Douglass who will speak to 
 vou on 'The One Man Power.'" Mr. Douglass arose and 
 said- "Ladies and gentlemen, negro slaves were presumed 
 to have onlv one name. My master called me /^Ar^'mrX'. My 
 name is Frederick Douglass." As soon as the applause 
 ceased he proceeded to give his lecture; and it was an 
 unanswerable argument against the veto power whether 
 presidential or gubernatorial. We had the pleasure of enter- 
 taining Mr. Douglass and we enjoyed his company, yet there 
 was one thing wanting. The great orator lacked the one 
 thing needful. He was not a foe to religion but he was 
 destitute of that piety that so generally characterized the 
 slaves and the freedmen. If he had had the religious 
 element as highly cultured as was desirable he would have 
 been a far greater power for the elevation of his race. 
 
 The editor of the New Castle Courant, the leading paper 
 in the citv, had taken an active part in the discussions in one 
 of the National Reform Conventions. A while afterwards m 
 his paper he renewed the attack upon the Reform movement. 
 Believing in the power of the press, I used his own columns 
 in reply to the editor. The disputations continued m the 
 weekly paper over two months. That good to the cause of 
 truth resulted was hoped. Whether or not, I could not see 
 error disseminated by the press without an effort to counter- 
 act it The duty is ours; the consequences are God's. And 
 is it not probable that if ministers or other competent writers 
 would use the columns of other papers than our own for the 
 advocacy of the truth, the seed would be sown much more 
 
 extensively? . . 
 
 ' The Synod of 1869 met at Newburgh, N. Y. During its 
 sessions I took full reports of the proceedings and debates 
 26
 
 402 LOOKING BACK FROM THE vSUN.SET LAND. 
 
 which were published in the Morning Jour nal. They were 
 sent to about four hundred subscribers. This method of 
 reporting vSynod's proceedings which I practised quite 
 a number of times led afterwards to Sjaiod's appointing her 
 own official reporters. On the Sabbath occurring during 
 Synod I preached l)y the invitation of the pastor in the 
 Methodist Church, colored people. Did any one enjoy a 
 greater privilege? 
 
 Soon after returning home, in company with friends I 
 attended the commencement of Westminster College, the 
 United Presbyterian institution at New Wilmington. There 
 had been a prize contest between four or five juniors one of 
 whom was our Covenanter colored student, J. F. Quarles, who 
 had gone from Geneva to Westminster. The prize was won by 
 Mr. Quarles. Only a few years ago he had been a slave. The 
 sword had been God's instrument to cut his chains. Give 
 the millions of freed-people a fair opportunity and erelong 
 they will rank high in the scale of education. 
 
 About the middle of November I was pressed into a public 
 debate on a question involved in our distinctive principles. 
 At that time my nephew. Rev. N. M. Johnston, was pastor 
 of the congregation at New Galilee. He was a zealous Cov- 
 enanter and often talked and preached against the United 
 States Government as unchristian. He was challenged to 
 debate. Arrangements were made to call in others, three on 
 each side, to debate this question: "Is the United States 
 Government the moral ordinance of God? " Coming to me 
 for aid he pressed me into the service as one of the three. A 
 layman, one of his elders, Mr. Young I think, was the third. 
 On the other side, the affirmative, were three ministers, a 
 Presbyterian, a New School Covenanter, and a United Pres- 
 byterian. They were all strangers to me. The ablest 
 disputant was Rev. Dr. Scott, the New Uight Covenanter. 
 He struggled like a giant in a net. The ablest of the entire
 
 PLEASANT RECOIvLPXTlONS. 403 
 
 six was my nephew. He was a powerful debater, and he 
 was master of the subject. From boyhood he had been 
 trained in a radical Covenanter school and he was at home 
 on governmental questions. The meetings were at Darling- 
 ton, Beaver County, and they continued I think three half 
 daj^s. Of course we Covenanters thought we had won the 
 victory. If at the close of the contest any one had told me 
 that my beloved "N. M. " would some day change his church 
 relation or go into another body, I would have said: No, 
 never ! 
 
 During our residence in New Castle a providence occurred 
 that for a time produced a deep impression on my mind. 
 Elder Robert Speer, who lived in the country, had made 
 arrangements for my preaching on a special theme in a New 
 Light Church not far from his home. We went out on Satur- 
 day evening to lodge with hisfamih^ On Sabbath morning 
 we saw the church all in flames, and it was soon in ashes. 
 Knowing that the people from the countr}^ all around would 
 come expecting preaching, Mr. Speer and the near neigh- 
 bors hastened to extemporize board seats on the threshing- 
 floor of a large barn near the burnt house. Fearing that I 
 could not preach on the subject which I had been studying, 
 I changed mj' mind and with very little preparation lectured 
 on 2 Peter 3 : 10-13. I thought afterwards that I was 
 helped by the Spirit; and the presence and aid of Mr. Buck, 
 the licentiate, gave me no little relief. A new house was 
 soon built and I was invited back to preach the discourse pre- 
 pared before. 
 
 And right here I ow^e it to a good man and to his friends 
 to say that Elder Robert Speer was ranked among those men 
 and elders who in the family are a blessing and in the 
 church pillars. There were other elders of great worth in 
 that congregation but no one was more worthy of being a 
 leader and no one had so much influence. At this writing
 
 404 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 he is still on this side of the veil, but after they laj- his bod}^ 
 iu the earth the congregation of New Castle should place 
 upon his grave a beautiful monument in memor}' of his 
 worth and his w^ork for Christ. On that marble I would 
 cut this epitaph: In memory of a noble Christian man who 
 well and honorably served his generation. He loved his 
 church; he knew" her principles, and he was never ashamed 
 of them but always read}' and able to maintain them. 
 
 Anent the academy a few additional facts ma}" be recorded. 
 We had no athletics except .some light gymnastics as taught 
 by Dio Lewis in his book on that subject. We had no gym- 
 nasium except a large room off the main hall, and our exer- 
 cises were mostly with the bean-bags and the wooden dumb- 
 bells. There were two cla.sses, the larger made up of girls 
 and young ladies, the smaller of boys who preferred the 
 school gymna.stics to the public baseball games on the com- 
 mon. These "light gymnastics" were fascinating but inno- 
 cent, and some of the young ladies attributed their good 
 health to their exerci.se with the dumb-bells and the bean- 
 bags. 
 
 Among the students were some who became greatly 
 endeared to us; and some of them became honored workers 
 in the church as well as useful members of Christian fam- 
 ilies. A peculiar instance was that of Oliver Shiras, the son 
 of honored Methodi.st parents. He was of brilliant intellect 
 and in moral character a model. He was fond of the classics 
 and read the lyatin poets with great delight. But for .some 
 unaccountable reason he became somewhat skeptical as to 
 religion. This was known to few if any except his sister, 
 also a student in the academy and a lovely young Christian. 
 See told me of her brother's danger, and she hoped that I 
 might do something to save him from what she feared. 
 Among other books I recommended him to read the book of 
 Job, the translation of Hebrew Hexameter (?). Sometimes
 
 JPLEA.SANT RECOLLECTIONS. 405 
 
 we read portions of it together for its fine English literature. 
 After we left New Castle I learned from his sister that he 
 became so fond of reading Job that he was led to the reading 
 and study of other portions of the Bible for their literature, 
 and the result was his love of the Bible and his conversion to 
 Christ; and after a while he became an earnest preacher of 
 his Gospel. Precious Word of God! Not least among its 
 beauties is its incomparabl}^ beautiful literature. 
 
 In partial contrast with this case mention may be made of 
 a student of Jewish parentage. He was ambitious to be a 
 good speaker, but he had an impediment in his speech. 
 Except when giving his declamations he was a stammerer. 
 But he continued his determined efforts to overcome his 
 impediment until he succeeded; and he became almost the 
 finest declaimer in the school. He studied law and became 
 a successful practitioner. His father was one of the debaters 
 In our National Reform Conventions — the Jew and the Chris- 
 tian standing side by side in opposition to the proposed 
 Christian amendment. He and the leader in the opposition 
 were Democratic in politics. And so when the oldest 
 daughter of the Jew was to be married, the ceremony by a 
 Jewish rabbi from Cleveland, the Presbyterian pastor and 
 the teachers of the Jewish children were invited to the 
 marriage and its subsequent feast. It was royal. Rhine 
 wine of the finest quality was on the table. Rabbi and 
 Christian pa.stor both partook, the former freely, the latter 
 only to "sample" it or to be courteous to the family whose 
 guests we were. But wife and I were so well known by the 
 family to be total abstainers we had no difficulty in saying, 
 ' 'Thank you, plea.se excuse us. ' ' 
 
 One of our assistant teachers in the New Castle Academy 
 was our young niece, Eliza Johnston, the oldest living 
 daughter of Brother J. B. of St. Clairsville, Ohio. She had 
 l)een a student with us at Geneva and we knew her worth as
 
 4o6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 well as her adaptedness to teach. She was a beloved mem- 
 ber of our family and she did much in the primary education 
 of our little daughters Subsequently she went to Egypt as 
 a missionary under the United Presbyterian Board. After 
 doing good service for some years she became the wife of 
 Rev. Dr. Stewart and with him went to the United Presb}-- 
 terian mission field in northern India. She is now the 
 happy mother of several beautiful children and living again 
 in St. Clairsville. Dr. Stewart's book on the India Missions, 
 written since his return, is not onl}' elaborate but verj^ 
 readable. 
 
 After about four j-ears of residence and hard work in New 
 Castle we were induced to make a change which we thought 
 would be for the better. We were not tired of our home. 
 In many ways it was exceedinglj^ pleasant. In no place 
 could we hope to find better society, in few places as good. 
 To most of the Covenanters we became greatl)- attached, 
 though some were far from being models. A few were 
 unable to resist the temptation of Bacchus and were too often 
 victims of the insatiable thirst for strong drink and so gave 
 grief to their brethren. Would that all who bear the name 
 of Christ were strong in the Lord. 
 
 During the time we remained there the school grew 
 steadily both in numbers and in character. Under favor- 
 able circumstances we would soon have had a success more 
 than expected at first. But we had to pay high rents for 
 our own residence as well as for the school-rooms occupied. 
 We could scarcely make ends meet. After the first or 
 second session we had to employ assistant teachers. When 
 these were paid and other expenses met, nothing was left. 
 Under such circumstances we were persuaded to remove to 
 New Brighton, a large town lower down the Beaver Valley 
 and across the river from Beaver Falls where Geneva Col- 
 lege was located afterwards. Here was a large building
 
 PLEASANT RECOLLECTIONS. 407 
 
 that had once been used for a ladies' seminary but was now 
 vacant. We thought that both economy and our comfort 
 would be promoted by using the house for both residence 
 and school. To secure the house we had to rent also the 
 surrounding two or three acres of ground including garden 
 and orchard. The site was so beautiful, the surroundings 
 so fine, and the prospects so flattering, we agreed to pay 
 what afterwards proved to be an enormous rent, and then 
 prepared to move to the new home. The owner of our 
 school-rooms in New Castle was a rich man and an honored 
 citizen. When we informed him of our intention to remove, 
 giving as one of our reasons the fact that we had no per- 
 manent house for the school, he said to us: "Why did you 
 not tell us all this sooner? We would have soon built a 
 good house for your use." But it was now too late. And 
 about the same time one of the Covenanter elders said to 
 me: "Mr. Johnston, why did you not let us know that you 
 thought of leaving us? We would Mot have let j^ou go." 
 Though I could not tell him so, yet the reason he assigned 
 was one of our reasons for wishing to leave New Castle.
 
 CHAPTER XI.II. 
 Our New Field of IvAbor. 
 
 After spending a short vacation in putting the seminary 
 building in better shape for the school and for 3'oung lady 
 boarders, we opened the spring term of "The Young I^adies' 
 Boarding and Day School" on Monday, April 4, 1870. 
 The number of students was encouraging. Some of the 
 5'oung ladies were from a distance and from Covenanter 
 families, and some were daughters of ministers. We em- 
 plo3'ed two assistant teachers, one for the class-room and 
 one a music teacher. The students were of such a char- 
 acter that we were happ}^ in the hope that we were prepar- 
 ing pious 3^outh for usefulness in the church and in the 
 educational departments. 
 
 As in New Castle I was not permitted to have rest but 
 was from the first pressed into ser^nce on Sabbaths. Rev. 
 Dr. A. G. Wallace was the pastor of the United Presbyterian 
 Church, and Rev. Dr. Critslow of the Presbyterian, both able 
 preachers and most excellent men. Indeed among all the 
 ministers with whom I have ever formed an intimate acquaint- 
 ance I can think of none more worthy of affectionate regard. 
 During all our time in that beautiful old town our friendl}^ 
 intercourse was intimate, and, to me, profitable. At his 
 invitation I filled Dr. Critslow's pulpit once or twice, and 
 Dr. Sloane once. Dr. Wallace often constrained me to 
 occupy his pulpit, especially in his absence. In private 
 social fellowship he was a most pleasant and profitable com- 
 panion. I can not forget the many happ)^ hours we were to- 
 
 (408)
 
 OUR NEW FIELD OF LABOR. 409 
 
 gether in fraternal intercourse; and with the exception of Dr. 
 Audley Browne and probabl)^ one or two others, no United 
 Presbyterian minister ever had a warmer place in my affec- 
 tions. At this writing they both are living and in active 
 and useful work, but they may never read these lines, at 
 least not until after the hand that writes them is turned to 
 dust. 
 
 While in New Brighton I had occasional Presbyterial 
 appointments to fulfil but they were at such a distance and 
 so added to my burden of study and work, my energies were 
 overtaxed all the time; and they added both care and hard 
 work to my tireless co-worker. Rest hours or rest days 
 rarely ever came to us. During the same period Rev. N. M. 
 Johnston, pastor at New Galilee, had a preaching station at 
 Rochester, Pa., a short distance below New Brighton. On 
 the Sabbaths of his appointments there we and the Cov- 
 enanter girls with us in the seminar}' walked down to worship 
 with his people. We never heard poor preaching in that 
 little hall. It was private property belonging to Mr. and 
 Mrs. Johnson of Rochester and fitted up for preaching. 
 They were the only Covenanters in the town, and the}- 
 should be remembered as faithful witnesses for Christ to the 
 end. 
 
 In New Brighton was a large Temperance I^eague that 
 had kept up the agitation against the liquor traffic. In a 
 public lecture which I was requested by the League to give, 
 I argued that the reform will not succeed so long as radical 
 evils continue, such as a lack of a sense of the guilt involved, 
 alcoholic medications, and the license system. Might not 
 the same things be said now? It was here that I first had 
 the privilege of meeting and hearing Neal Dow, the apostle 
 of Prohibition. Few reformers were ever more devoted to a 
 good cause. Only a few months ago, and at the ripe age of 
 ninety-three, this great and good man ceased from his labors,
 
 4IO LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 lamented by all the friends of temperance and honored by 
 even those who opposed the Maine liquor law. The truth 
 which he maintained with such tenacity triumphed in his 
 own state long ago, but is received as yet by very few 
 others. But that truth was not buried with his body. It is 
 still "marching on," and must 3'et prevail in the other states 
 of the Union long before the name of Neal Dow is forgotten. 
 
 During our long summer vacation we held a normal ses- 
 sion of six weeks. Ft was attended by a large class of 
 teachers the majorit}^ of whom were students in the sem- 
 inary. During the session I prepared and gave eight new 
 lectures for the special benefit of the teachers. Rev. Dr. 
 Critslow gave one of the lectures of the course. I am per- 
 suaded that for all our labors for that class of teachers we 
 had our reward in the assurance that they were the better 
 fitted for usefulness. 
 
 The fall session opened with a larger attendance than 
 before and with more young lad}' boarders in the seminary. 
 Most of these now are useful and honorable members of the 
 family and of the church. 
 
 During this more than busy term I attended Presbyteiy at 
 North Union Church. On our way I formed acquaintance, 
 I think it was the first, with Rev. R. J. George then the 
 young pastor of the Mahoning, O., congregation. My first 
 impressions of his character have never been changed; and 
 I have ever been thankful that I was favored with the fra- 
 ternal regard of one so worthy of my own. As there was 
 no railroad communication to the place, several of the 
 farmers came with double teams and wagons into Allegheny 
 to convey the ministers and elders out to North Union. As 
 the way was long we all stopped at some village or country 
 hotel for dinner that I suppose had been ordered by our 
 friends, the farmers. On the table there was an abundant 
 supply of cider, hard cider, such as most of the Pennsyl-
 
 OUR NEW FIELD OP LABOR. - 41 1 
 
 vania farmers used freely. As far as I could see I thiuk 
 nearly all of our party, some of the ministers as well as the 
 laymen, partook, and some very freel5^ One I know did 
 not. Probably if their wives had been present more would 
 have drank .only water or coflfee. But at that time, a short 
 generation ago, there were no White-ribboners in the land, 
 and not until a good many years afterwards was the 
 W. C. T. U. organized. 
 
 Two or three weeks after Presbytery I was invited by 
 Rev. John Galbraith, pastor of the North Union church, to 
 assist him during the fall communion season. Few con- 
 gregations have pastors so worthy of their affection and 
 honor. Beloved by all and of spotless reputation he has 
 come to a ripe old age. 
 
 Some time during the following winter we all went into 
 Pittsburg to see and hear Wendell Phillips who gave a 
 lecture on "Questions of the Future" — Temperance, Labor, 
 Woman. As we expected, it was characterized by wonder- 
 ful prophetic vision, logic, and eloquence. According to 
 previous arrangement we had a short interview with him 
 after the lecture. It was exceedingly pleasant. On meeting 
 them Mr. Phillips lovingly kissed our little daughters. The 
 parents, if not the children also, appreciated the token of his 
 affectionate regard. That was the last time we ever saw 
 Wendell Phillips. 
 
 Within a week or two afterwards the following entry was 
 made in my journal : "Monday, January ^o, 1871. Heard 
 to-day of the death of my very dear friend and brother, Rev. 
 R. J. Dodds, D. D., of Aleppo, Syria, foreign mis.sionary. My 
 heart is deeply pained at this sad intelligence. Alas ! that 
 one so dear and so useful — so needed in the foreign field — 
 should be called away in the midst of a career of great use- 
 fulness. Who can fill the vacancy ? Alas for the mission ! 
 But the Master knows what is best. Our loss is Brother
 
 412 IvOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LANO. 
 
 D )dds' gain. And we ma}' yet see the Master's design." 
 Under the date of March 24, I find the following: "I 
 should have noted the fact some time ago, that Mrs. John- 
 ston and I have been notified of our election to professors' 
 chairs in the institution at Northwood, Ohio, where we 
 formerly taught; and that we promptly declined the appoint- 
 ments. We should be there as teachers in a school under 
 the care of our church; but under all the circumstances we 
 feel that we can not go honorably unless the action of the 
 Board of Kducation be different." 
 
 Tlie Synod of 187 1 is memorable for its act of covenanting. 
 For several years the subject had been before the church, 
 and at a Sj'uod a few years previous some preparation was 
 mad:; for covenanling at that meeting; but it became mani- 
 fest that the proper time had not yet come. But at the 
 Synod of 1870 it was resolved to engage in the solemn act 
 the next year, and preparations were made for it. The origi- 
 nal draft of the bond had been prepared by a committee, 
 Rev. S. O. Wylie, D. D., chairman, and had been printed 
 and scattered over the church for examination; and it was 
 confidently expected that the covenant would be sworn. 
 When the time came the previously-prepared program was 
 carried out and a time of refreshing was enjoyed. That 
 solemn transaction and the exercises connected with it now 
 form a part of the history of the church and need not be 
 repeated here. In my journal at the time I made a record 
 of the whole and what I then thought is manifest from that 
 record. The following will suffice: "I record my gratitude 
 to God for his great goodness to the church and to me. It 
 was a meeting (of Synod) at which the long-desired act of 
 covenanting was engaged in. There were evidences of the 
 presence of the divine Master and of the Holy Spirit. Tlie 
 covenant was sworn and signed by one hundred and forty- 
 four members of Synod and by licentiates and many elders
 
 OUR NEW FIELD OF LABOR. 413 
 
 present. Never in the history of the church in America has 
 she engaged in a work so solemn and important." 
 
 According to previous arrangements I took and pubhshed 
 very copious reports of the proceedings and the discussions. 
 They came out in the Pittsburg daily Gazette and were 
 sent to about five hundred subscribers throughout the 
 church. 
 
 During that meeting the action of the Synod's Board of 
 Education in the appointment of Mrs. Johnston and myself 
 as professors in the college at Northwood was confirmed by 
 a unanimous vote, that is, no one voted in the negative. 
 As the act of Synod followed the act of covenanting it 
 settled the question of our going to Geneva again. Our 
 letter of acceptance was now forwarded to the Board and we 
 shaped our plans to remove to Northwood about the first of 
 September. 
 
 Our spring term at New Brighton closed about the middle 
 of June and was followed by a short normal se.ssion. At the ' 
 opening I read to the teachers a specially prepared lecture on 
 "The Bible in the Public Schools." This was followed by 
 other lectures as at former sessions. Some of these were 
 given by invited professional men. 
 
 This normal session closed our labors in the New Brighton 
 Seminary. When we went there we supposed it was to be 
 our permanent home. But we did not dream -that we would 
 ever be recalled to Geneva or that we could lie induced to 
 return. But after w'e received notification of the action of 
 the Board, and when its action was approved by Synod, the 
 path of duty was tolerably plain. There were two additional 
 considerations that had much to do in our decision. Owing 
 to the enormous rents which we had to pay for the grounds 
 as well as the house, we feared financial loss; but we had no 
 sinking fund. The other consideration was weighty. We 
 were not within the bounds of any Covenanter congregation
 
 414 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 SO that not only we ourselves but the Covenanter girls 
 attending the seminary were deprived of regular ordinances. 
 At that time there was only one Covenanter family living 
 in Beaver Falls. The congregation was not organized there 
 until in November, 1874. Accordingly the good-will of the 
 seminary which -had begun to put on fair proportions was 
 transferred to a professional lady teacher who, with assist- 
 ants, engaged to carr3' on the school. With manj' regrets 
 on leaving a home with most beautiful surroundings and 
 many friends to whom we were bound by very strong ties, 
 we bad adieu to New Brighton.
 
 CHAPTER XUII. 
 Gkxeva's Old Bell Rings Again. 
 
 We arrived at Nortliwood on the loth of August, 1871, 
 and immediately began to make preparations for work. As 
 the Board expected us to reoccupy the seminary- and make 
 it a comfortable home for young ladies from other parts 
 of the church who might wish to board there, we set about 
 renovating it and putting it in good shape, all of which took 
 most of our spare funds. 
 
 Before our arrival the two Miami congregations and that 
 of Rushsylvania had made arrangements to unite in taking 
 the covenant that had been sworn by Synod, and the minis- 
 ters of the entire Presb3'tery were expected to be present to 
 engage in the act. This was to be followed by a Presbyterial 
 communion. We prepared to join with the people in both 
 the solemn services, and parts of these were assigned to me 
 though not then a member of Presbytery. The ser^-ices 
 continued during four days, every member of Presbytery 
 having some part. The covenant bond was sworn on 
 Saturday afternoon. Rev. J. C. Boyd being the oldest min- 
 ister, read the bond, the people all standing. While reading 
 the language of the oath proper they all held up their right 
 hands saying Amen at the end of each section, and at the 
 close all saying: "All that the Lord hath spoken will we do 
 and be obedient." The communion ser\nces of Sabbath 
 were remarkably solemn. It was no doubt a time of revival, 
 a day of joy and gladness. The only duty devolved upon 
 me on Monday was the exposition of the Psalm. I explained 
 that part of the seventy-second beginning with 
 
 (415)
 
 41 6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 " His large and great dominion 
 Shall from sea to sea extend." 
 
 According to previous announcement the college year 
 opened on Tuesday, September 12. On the first day only 
 eleven students were enrolled, though the number increased 
 afterwards and grew larger ever3' term. I do not know 
 who had been the teachers during the previous term or 
 3"ear, but I find this entr}- in my diary of that date, viz.: 
 "Tuesday, September 12. B}^ bad management and bad 
 teaching the institution has been almost ruined. Whether 
 the school can be revived is doubtful. Ours is to labor in 
 hope and wait the indication of God's will. If even a few 
 3^oung men should be prepared here for the theological 
 seminary, we will not labor in vain." Rev. William Milroy 
 was the acting president and taught some of the Latin 
 classes and perhaps some others. Of the Latin he was a 
 thorough master. Professor McCartney taught some of the 
 natural sciences. As both were pastors the heavier burden 
 rested upon Mrs. Johnston and me. A fe\V colored students 
 were 3Xt in college, among whom were George M. Elliott, 
 Webster Boxley, Franklin Pepper, and several boys from 
 the south. I remember that the three named were mem- 
 bers of my class in Haven's Mental Science. In a tolerably 
 large class the first of the three was as good as the best. 
 He was among the leaders in all his classes, and 3^et he 
 worked to pay for his board. The second did not excel in 
 his studies but he was genial, full of fun, and a favorite. 
 The third could not "grasp" the science of metaphysics and 
 sometimes made unfortunate blunders whereat the second 
 was almost certain to laugh and had to be checked b}' the 
 teacher. It was probabh' at the end of the winter term that 
 the evening literary exercises excited more than ordinary 
 interest. Prizes in books had been offered for the best 
 essays and orations. "Webster's Unabridged" was one of
 
 geneva's old bell rings again. 417 
 
 them. I have forgotten the results of the contest except 
 that the judges awarded the dictionary to George M. Elliott, 
 and that Webster Boxley gave an excellent oration on ' 'John 
 Brown of Harper's Ferry." One thing at least was made 
 manifest, that the negro has brains. Mr. Ouarles, an eman- 
 cipated slave and one of the most brilliant of all the students, 
 had gone to Westminster to finish his studies. Afterwards 
 he became enamored with law or politics, received an appoint- 
 ment to some minor consulship and was lost to the church. 
 
 During the winter I gave a few lectures in neighboring 
 towns on National Reform; and accompanied by my brother 
 James and some others I attended a national convention at 
 Cincinnati. There were two hundred and fifty delegates. 
 It continued two days during which again I had to do the 
 work of the secretary. Among the prominent speakers 
 were the Boston infidel editor, Mr. Abbott, and Rev. Dr. 
 Mayo who triumphantly vindicated the truth against the 
 opposition of the infidel. 
 
 Late in the month of March I assisted Rev. Mr. Milroy, 
 pastor of the second congregation, during his communion 
 season. Preached four sermons and served two tables, the 
 first and the fourth. I was greatly profited by the service 
 throughout the entire season. A few weeks afterwards Rev. 
 McCartney, of the first congregation, held his communion, 
 Rev. A. M. Milligan assisting. As Mrs. Johnston held her 
 membership in that congregation, we were communicants 
 though I performed no ministerial part except to .serve one 
 table when I spoke before the distribution of the elements 
 from, "Behold the Lamb of God" and after from, "And we 
 beheld his glory." I think that was the last communion 
 ever enjoyed at North wood. But I can not forget that dur- 
 ing all the months of that winter and spring when we nearly 
 alwaj'S worshiped in the first church, we heard most excellent 
 preaching. Many of the sermons were the work of a master. 
 
 27
 
 41 8 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 They were full of richest Gospel truths spoken in most beau- 
 tiful style and adorned with appropriate illustrations. 
 
 The Synod of 1872 met at York, N. Y. My brother 
 J. S. was the delegate elder from first Miami's session. 
 Neither of us had ever seen Niagara Falls, and so we ar- 
 ranged to visit them on our way to Synod. As he was a foe 
 to Masonry and all the secret lodges he started a day or two 
 in advance that he might attend an anti-secret convention 
 at Oberlin, O. Wcmet at Cleveland and then traveled to- 
 gether to Niagara. We spent one day in beholding that 
 great world's wonder that must be seen before its grandeur 
 can be known. 
 
 At York I was most kindly entertained at the house of 
 Elder Daniel Mc]\Iillan. The other guests were pleasaiut 
 companions but not all free from vice. Two of the ministers, 
 and young men too, were tobacco smokers and habitually 
 made the office sitting-room blue with smoke. Were those 
 times of ignorance that God winked at? I trow not. One 
 of those j^oung pastors after a while went out of the church; 
 the other some 5^ears afterwards repented and ceased to 
 befoul his "temple of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 As yet the institution at Northwood has become only in 
 part a church school. The propert}^ belonged to individuals, 
 and the efforts to endow the college had been a failure. 
 The only support for the teachers was the tuition fees. 
 Synod was almost united in the opinion that a church school 
 was a necessity, but the question was, How can the two old 
 hostile wings of the church, the deacon and the anti-deacon, 
 be united in the support of the college ? This question 
 "would not down" and perhaps could not so long as there w ere 
 two rival if not hostile congregations at Northwood. With 
 this question the Synod at York tried once more to grapple. 
 In the faculty during the past j^ear there were only four, the 
 two Northwood pastors and the two who had been brought
 
 geneva's old beivL rings again. 419 
 
 from the New Brighton Seminary. These attended the first 
 church and were supposed to belong to the dominant wing. 
 It could hardly be expected that all would always be like a 
 company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. At that Synod 
 at York, and presumably after a recommendation by the 
 Board of Education, Rev. H. H. George was chosen to be 
 president and the former four teachers continued in the 
 faculty. Whether this action was wise and just was doubted 
 by some then and need not be raised now. The dead past 
 has buried its dead. The institution now on College Hill, 
 Beaver Falls, may be the evidence of it. 
 
 Having returned home from Synod, as soon as practicable 
 the new faculty, now consisting of five and including H. H. 
 George president elect, met to modify the course of study, 
 agree upon the "chairs" to be occupied, and to i.ssue the 
 new catalogue. In those days the Board of Education 
 allowed the faculty to assign to each member his own chair. 
 I remember that Mrs. Johnston was made principal of the 
 Academic Department, and to me was assigned the chair of 
 Greek. 
 
 During the previous college year I had been overworked 
 and needed rest and change. To getaway from Northwood, 
 and hoping to gain health, I arranged to spend the summer 
 vacation among the hills of Vermont whose pure air and 
 pure waters were always invigorating. Reluctantly leaving 
 my little family alone in the seminary at Northwood, I took 
 my journey to the Green Mountain state via Buffalo, and 
 hastened on to Craftsbury and arrived a day or two before 
 the fast day of the approaching communion. His Presby- 
 tery had appointed Rev. J. B. Williams, an old fellow- 
 student in the seminary, to dispense the sacrament of the 
 supper in the congregation then vacant, and I had been 
 invited to assist him. While there and all the time I tarried 
 in Craftsbury I made my home in the family of Elder Aurelius
 
 420 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSp:T I^AND. 
 
 Morse; and it was a good home. Intelligent Yankees, good 
 Covenanters, and devout Christians — why should not such 
 always make a good home? 
 
 During the communion season I performed the work and 
 services usually assigned to the assistant. On Saturday 
 after I came down from the pulpit a lady came up and gave 
 me her hand. Her face was all smiles, but though I knew 
 she was a former young friend in Topsham I could not name 
 her. I asked her na.ne. "It used to be Mary Currier; now 
 it is Batten." She had been one of the many young people 
 brought into the church in Topsham. And she told me 
 that she who used to be lyizz'e Hood, now married, lived 
 her neighbor. They both had been converts from the 
 world and were devout disciples and still adhering firm to 
 their early faith. Do not such fruits of labor bestowed 
 make the heart joyful? 
 
 On Monday P. M. I joined Elder Morse and Brother 
 Williams to Barnet church where a delegation from Presb}-- 
 tery met to organize a new congregation. Formerly it had 
 been united with Ryegate, under Pastor Beattie, but they 
 now wished to be separate and call a new pastor for his full 
 time. In the new organization there were seventy three 
 members. Many of the Topsham people were at the meet- 
 ing and I was happy to meet them. 
 
 Returning with Elder Mors 3 to Craftsbury I remained 
 there tw^o or three weeks longer, and though in feeble 
 health I preached every Sabbath. Much of the time I 
 could eat very little food, though to help me to recuperate I 
 worked often and long in the hay-field with Mr. Morse. I 
 rambled in the adjacent forests, or rode over the hills as 
 often as possible, but my health did not improve until after 
 I started on my journey homeward. Two or three days 
 before I left Mr. Morse's, when something was said about 
 my ill health, he said to me: "I guess, Mr. Johnston, you
 
 gkneva's old bell rings again. 421 
 
 are hotnesick. " Said I: "Why do you think so?" He 
 replied: "You may as well own up." Said I: "How would 
 you feel if you were a thousand miles from your family and 
 could not hope to see them for long weeks?" To which 
 his daughter replied: "Father would be crazy if he were 
 away from home only three days.'' That daughter was 
 Sarah (now Mrs. L,ittle) who had been a teacher in our 
 Freeman's Mission in Washington, D. C. 
 
 On the last Sabbath of July I preached as per appoint- 
 ment at the Barnet church. While there I was entertained 
 in the family of Elder A. Shields, son of one of our former 
 Topsham elders and brother of Rev. R. Shields. Here I 
 met Rev. Mr. Calderwood and family, missionaries from 
 India. They were visiting his sister, Mrs. Shields. He 
 was a New I^ight Covenanter and afterwards returned to 
 India. While remaining at Mr. Shield's I enjoyed the 
 company of the returned missionary and the other friends 
 in a fishing party on "Harvey's Pond," one of the most 
 beautiful little lakes in the state, and they are numerous. 
 My record says, "We caught fifty-five good-sized perch," 
 but I guess /didn't catch many of them, though I expect I 
 ate my share of them for I always loved the fresh fish of 
 Vermont, and now I was coming to my appetite. 
 
 The next week I passed on to Topsham where I was 
 expected to preach two Sabbaths, but because of what my 
 wife had written in several letters from home I could remain 
 only one. While tarrying there I was happy in visiting and 
 receiving visits from dear old friends. My texts that Sab- 
 bath were, "Kxcept a man be born again he can not see the 
 kingdom of God," and "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." At 
 that time I supposed I never again would see the Topsham 
 people. 
 
 While in Vermont I received frequent letters from Mrs. 
 Johnston. After I had left home she had received two
 
 422 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 letters addressed to me from Rev. Dr. D. W. Collins of Blairs- 
 \dlle, Pa., which she forwarded to me. The second was an 
 official letter from him as the president of the Board of 
 Trustees of the "Blairsville Bo3^s' Academ}^" informing me 
 that I had been elected principal of the academy and that 
 they wished to hear from me soon whether I would accept. 
 All this was wholty unexpected news. I knew none of the 
 people there and had never had any correspondence with 
 any one in reference to the academy. I do not remember 
 that I had known that there was such an institution there. 
 In her letter in which she forwarded this official letter my 
 wife expressed a strong desire that I would accept the offered 
 principalship. She wanted to get out of Northwood as soon 
 as possible, and she saw herein an opportunit5^ 
 
 On Monday I bade good-by to Topsham and returned 
 home b}^ way of Blairsville that I might see the place and 
 get desirable information before replying to the Board. 
 After conferring with several of the trustees and learning 
 what I had desired, I decided to accept but did not formal^ 
 signify m\' intention until after I arrived home when I wrote 
 to the Board m^^ letter of acceptance. The next day after m}^ 
 arrival home I wrote the resignation of my professorship and 
 forwarded it to the president of the Board of Education. In 
 this letter of resignation I concealed nothing from the Board 
 but in plain and pointed words gave m}'^ reasons, nine in 
 number, for my resignation. 
 
 During our occupancy of the seminary- we had made 
 extensive repairs and had gone to much expense to furnish 
 it to make it comfortable for young lady occupants. As 
 we could not or did not need to remove our personal property- 
 we offered it for sale at auction. Much loss was incurred. 
 vSome valuable articles were almost given away. But we 
 had incurred no debts and had enough left to pay our fare 
 to Blairsville and l^egin housekeeping in our new home
 
 GENEVANS OLD BELL RINGS AGAIN. 423 
 
 among strangers. Here we soon found new friends, and 
 ever)^ member of the Board of Trustees and others were 
 ready to help to open the way before us and make our home 
 pleasant. We lost no time in issuing circulars and in adver- 
 tising the opening of the academy. This occurred on the 
 loth of September, 1872. 
 
 Blairsville is a large old town in Indiana County, Pa., and 
 on the east bank of the Conemaugh River, a tributary of the 
 Alleghany. It lies near the Chestnut Ridge, the western 
 ridge of the Alleghenies. In all that part of Pennsylvania 
 the religious element prevails, and it is largely Presbyterian. 
 In no place that I have ever known is the standard of intel- 
 ligence, morality, and religion so high. If there had been a 
 Covenanter Church there we could have found no more 
 desirable home. But there was only one Covenanter family, 
 colored people, in the town. This was a model family. 
 Lewis Johnston and wife were the parents of Rev. Lewis 
 Johnston, formerly of the Selma Freedman's Mission. 
 Lewis Johnston, Senior, was a very intelligent man, a 
 thorough Covenanter, of undoubted piety, and most highly 
 esteemed by all his neighbors. He was, indeed, one of 
 earth's true noblemen— a true Christian gentleman. It was 
 a privilege as well as a pleasure to be in his company; and 
 most of the time of our residence there our two families met 
 together in prayer-meeting in his house. The four Protest- 
 ant churches were the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the 
 Lutheran, and the United Presbyterian. Of this last Rev. 
 Dr. Collins was the pastor. Of the Presbyterian Church the 
 pastor was Rev. Dr. Hill. To both of those excellent men 
 while we resided there a warm attachment grew up. They 
 were scholarly, dignified, and companionable Christian gen- 
 tlemen whose society we enjoyed and whose friendship we 
 highly prized. And they both were earnest National 
 Reformers. Many a time I wished they were also Covenant-
 
 424 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 ers: and, indeed, Dr. Collins and his estimable wife were 
 about as mvich Covenanter in principle as United Pres- 
 byterian, and she "a little more so" if she hadn't been a 
 loyal wife. But do 3-ou not know, O reader, that in these 
 modern times the wife is expected to go with her husband, 
 especially if he be a minister? But these two last sentences 
 may be read in parentheses. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hill was one of the lovely Christians; and 
 probabl}- no pastor was ever more loved by his people than 
 was he. If I have not forgotten he had been pastor there 
 since his ordination long 3'ears ago. And he was a warm 
 friend of Covenanters. With some of our ministers he had 
 been well acquainted, and he always spoke and acted as 
 though he honored the church of the witnesses. Among 
 his parishioners were Dr. Marshall an elder, and his family. 
 Mrs. Marshall was m}^ cousin, a daughter of my mother's 
 sister. I had no acquaintance with her before, but we soon 
 learned to love her not onh' for her mother's sake but her 
 own. 
 
 Among the Methodists were two men whom I can not for- 
 get, Rev. Dr. Sinsebaugh, the presiding elder, and "old 
 John Graff." The former was a ver}- scholarly and dignified 
 though aflfable gentleman. His son, an exceptionall}' bright 
 and good bo}'. was a student in the academy, and probablj^ 
 this had something to do with the warm friendship which 
 grew up between us. At that time we did not know that he 
 was a Free Mason. As he feared that he would become a 
 victim of consumption, after we left Blairsville he removed 
 to Denver. Having learned that he was a Mason I opened 
 a correspondence with him about secret societies. Some 
 years afterwards he moved to Los Angeles, Cal., where I had 
 the pleasure of dining with him and his family, but as he 
 evidently had forgiven me for my friendly attack upon him 
 for his being in the lodge, I did not introduce the subject 
 again. "Let your moderation be known unto all men."
 
 geneva's old bell rings again. 425 
 
 The other of the two Methodists, "old John Graff," was 
 a grand old patriarch, an Enoch and an Elijah combined. 
 He was a prince among his people, an old-time Abolitionist, 
 and now a National Reformer. "I guess" if he had not 
 been a Methodist he would have been a Covenanter! I 
 never loved a Methodist quite as much as I loved myself, but 
 I greatly loved that dear old man. I can not see him now, 
 but I doubt not that he is among the celestials. 
 
 The Blairsville Academy was for boys or 3^oung men onh*. 
 The building was a fine brick house in modern stj'le. It 
 had been built b)' some of the leading citizens in the town 
 and vicinity who were stockholders, each one having a 
 scholarship so that his son or a substitute received his tuition 
 free. Thus the teachers derived no revenue from those who 
 held scholarships, and a majorit}' of the Trustees or Board 
 were stockholders. But we were there partly of necessity , and 
 we had a prett}^ large share of confidence in ourselves as 
 teachers; and so we went to work to build up a good school, 
 and we were hopeful. 
 
 The academy had no bell though it had a nice belfry wait- 
 ing for the bell. After conferring with the trustees I said: 
 "We must have a bell." Going into Pittsburg and ascer- 
 taining the cost of such as we needed, I returned and solicited 
 from the stockholders one hundred and twenty-five dollars 
 with which I bought a three hundred pound bell, had it 
 hung, and it was soon heard far and near calling the students 
 to chapel .services and to recitations. The Board gave us a 
 vote of thanks and we worked all the more cheerily. We 
 found the academy also without a library, and it was greatl}" 
 needed. How could we get it .-* Not wi.shing to beg for it, 
 and probably dreaming of popularizing the school, I again 
 conferred with the officers of the acadeni}- and having their 
 approbation I arranged for a course of popular lectures by 
 the ablest good men obtainable. Most of the invited lee-
 
 426 LOOKING BACK li'ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 turers, to whom I told the object of the course, agreed to 
 come without pay, I having promised to meet all their travel- 
 ing expenses and give them entertainment. I was fortunate 
 in obtaining first-class men. I do not remember for what 
 we sold the course tickets but single tickets were sold at 
 twent5'-five cents, and they went "like hot cakes" for every- 
 body wanted the academy to have a good library. Among 
 the lecturers were Dr. George P. Hays, then president of 
 Washington and Jefferson College, Rev. Dr. Gill of Pitts- 
 burg who gave his great lecture on the ' 'Siege of Derr}^ and 
 the Battle of the Boyne," Rev. Dr. A. M. Milligan who gave 
 his lecture on John Knox, probably his greatest literarj' 
 masterpiece, and Rev. Dr. Methen}^, our missionary then on 
 a visit from Syria. The finest literary treat was by the 
 eminent elocutionist, Professor Evans, of the Pittsburg High 
 School. All the lectures were first-class. The needed 
 money was raised, and in due time we had on the shelves a 
 large and well-selected library adapted to the needs of stu- 
 dents. The citizens were pleased and the Board voted thanks 
 for what had been done. 
 
 One more improvement was needed. In the academy 
 grounds there were neither shade nor ornamental trees. B}' 
 the generous help of quite a number of the students we pro- 
 cured and set out young maple trees which, if the}^ grew 
 well, must have made the surroundings much more beautiful 
 in a few years. Trees! lyCt no house, whether for common 
 school or university, be without them. The celestial city, 
 as seen in vision, was beautified with them; and will not the 
 "better country" be adorned by them? 
 
 While we remained in Blairsville I accepted few Presby- 
 terial appointments. I was not able to fulfil them, though 
 I preached frequently in the pulpits of the two Presbyterian 
 Churches, especially the United Presbyterian. Nor were we 
 able to attend worship at the New Alexandria church; it
 
 gene;va's old bell rings again. 427 
 
 was too far distant. Yet, by the invitation of the young 
 pastor, Rev. Thomas Sproull, in May, 1873, we enjoyed a 
 delightful comtiiunion season. He was a lovely young 
 minister, and when that congregation lost their pastor they 
 suffered a very great loss. 
 
 In the winter of that j^ear there was a successful National 
 Reform meeting in the Presbyterian Church. Both Presby- 
 terian pastors did good service. Rev. Dr. Sloane was the 
 principal .speaker in the evening, and he did excellent serv- 
 ice. Dr. Collins and the principal of the academy were 
 appointed delegates to the approaching National Convention 
 in New York. This was a grand meeting, largely attended 
 by delegates from nineteen .states. Rev. Dr. Ting was one 
 of the platform speakers. The presence and cooperation of 
 such a good and great man were presumptive evidence that 
 the cause was of God. Yet infidels were there and endeav- 
 ored to get a hearing, and they succeeded in getting in a 
 remon.strance. It was bitter and defiant. Mrs. Jane G. 
 Swisshelm was there from Pitt.sburg to speak for the cause. 
 The city papers either ignored the convention or ridiculed it. 
 
 Synod met that year at Northwood, Ohio. By giving my 
 cla.s.ses to a .special teacher during my ab.sence, Mrs. John- 
 ston taking charge of the academy, I was able to attend. 
 As several times before, I took daily reports of the proceed- 
 ings and sent them to the Pittsburg Eveniyig Telegraph. 
 
 A while before Synod the congregation of Klliota, Minn. , 
 which had had no permanent .supply since the death of Rev. 
 James Buck, asked the home Board to send me thither as 
 stated supply. Subsequently I was appointed by the Board, 
 and after taking it into prayerful consideration accepted the 
 appointment. As soon as practicable I asked a meeting of 
 the Board of Trustees that I might notify them of my inten- 
 tion to resign. Accordingly I sent in a letter of resignation 
 expressed in very kindly and regretful terms, for we had
 
 428 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 received only kindness and honor from all. I gave only two 
 reasons for resignation, viz.: "i. Because the institution does 
 not afford adequate support; 2. Because at their request I 
 had been appointed to take charge of a church or congrega- 
 tion in the west." There were additional reasons, however, 
 that had much influence upon us in making this decision. 
 Two or three members of the Board of Missions, my warm 
 friends, advised me to return to more direct ministerial work. 
 While in Blairsville we had no opportunity to enjoy fellow- 
 ship with our own brethren in public ordinances, besides, if 
 we would continue there our children would be deprived of 
 privileges to which they were entitled bj^ birth. And then I 
 hoped that Elliota would be a good missionary field. 
 
 The academic year being closed, adjusting our domestic 
 affairs so as to remove to a new, strange, and far-distant 
 field of labor, and bidding adieu to the many friends whom 
 we had learned to love, we bade good-by to beautiful west- 
 ern Penn.sylvania than which I know of no more desirable 
 place for a Covenanter home.
 
 CHAPTER XUV. 
 In the Home Mission Field. 
 
 On our journey to Minnesota we stopped first at Pittsburg 
 to bid good-by to Dr. Metheny and family soon to return to 
 Syria; and then with my sister at Belle-Centre we spent the 
 Sabbath. From this place we had in charge "little Eddie 
 Buck," the second sou of the late pastor of EUiota. The son 
 was going home to his widowed mother. 
 
 After crossing the Mississippi at McGregor, Iowa, my 
 family turned aside to visit friends at El Dorado and at Rich- 
 field, Iowa, while with my little boy in charge I went on 
 direct to EUiota. From Decorah, Iowa, the terminus of the 
 railroad, we rode on a Covenanter lumber wagon to EUiota, 
 twenty miles or more, and did not arrive until one o'clock 
 in the night. That was a strange introduction to my new 
 field of labor. Riding on a pile of boards, behind a mule 
 team, the night so dark I could not see even the long ears 
 of the donkeys, and with a driver that, though a Covenanter 
 brother, had neither fun nor cheer sufficient to while away 
 the dreary hours of night, and then entering into the little 
 Minnesota town now enveloped in darkness and as silent as 
 the grave, a wave of gloom passed through and over me. 
 Is this the place to which the Master has sent me to work 
 for him ? Or was it only the Board of Missions that wished 
 me to come? Or was it only I myself that thought I had 
 a divine call to work in Minnesota ? Such questions must 
 have been in my mind when our muleteer drove us up to 
 a farm cottage and set us down before the door. That 
 
 (429)
 
 430 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 cottage was the dwelling of Elder Henry Dean. I had 
 formed his acquaintance in St. Louis long years ago. Then 
 he was unmarried. Now he was the head of a large family. 
 Mrs. Dean was the sister of my friend Rev. J. M. Armour 
 at whose mother's house in St. Louis was my home while 
 as a licentiate I was fulfilling Presbyterial appointments in 
 that cit3^ 
 
 Rising with the morning sun, I looked out upon a beau- 
 tiful country but a poor little pioneer town in no way invit- 
 ing to one who had so long been among the hills and streams 
 and forests of Vermont and western Pennsylvania. -But 
 there were men and women and children there as well as 
 elsewhere. They needed the same Gospel that had saved 
 others; there the souls were just as precious as in more 
 highly favored lands; and there church-members needed 
 some one to help them to live a higher and more Christ- 
 like life. I found myself in the faniil}' of an Irishman but 
 a generous soul, an intelligent and public-spirited Cov- 
 enanter and, withal, ambitious to be a leader. His wife was 
 almost a model and her children interesting and beautiful. 
 No man in Elliota was so quick to anticipate the wants of 
 the new preacher, and no j^ouug man so quick, to help in 
 time of need as his oldest son, Willie Dean. In this kind 
 family I was entertained until my own came up from Iowa. 
 
 Before I entered upon the work in Elliota I was anxious 
 to be guided by the Spirit and to be blessed as a laborer. 
 Before the first Sabbath the following was written in my 
 journal; "Not without anxiety do I look forward to my first 
 Sabbath here. Wh}' the Master has brought me here, what 
 he has for me to do, what he intends to do with me and with 
 the members of my family, I can not know. Let him do with 
 me as may seem good to him; but, O that he may bless me 
 as a laborer in this part of his vineyard, making me an instru- 
 ment in the conversion of many and of the growth of his
 
 IN THE HOME MISSION FIELD, 43 1 
 
 church here. And I pray God to make the bringing of my 
 dear family here the occasion of the conversion and salva- 
 tion of my daughters and the comfort and usefulness of my 
 wife. Here I desire to reconsecrate myself to the work of 
 Christ." 
 
 The house of worship, a neat and medium-sized church, 
 was nearly half a mile outside of the village. On the first 
 Sabbath it was tolerably well filled by people of whom I 
 suppose about one-half were Covenanters. There was only 
 the forenoon service. While Mr. Buck was the pastor his 
 health was so feeble he was unable to preach more than 
 once, or the people may not have desired more; at all events 
 the people had become accustomed to only one service and 
 wished no more. But there had been a Sabbath-school 
 which they supposed would be about as profitable as another 
 .sermon. It is a lamentable fact that in many places and in 
 various denominations the people do not wish more than one 
 .service, and not a few wish this one to be short. 
 
 Very soon after the first Sabbath I hastened to meet my 
 family at the house of Mr. Brockway, the husband of our 
 sister Almira Rogers who had been with us in Topsham and 
 then at Northwood up until we left to go to New Castle. 
 During those two years in Northwood she was with us as a 
 student and as an assistant teacher. She was a lovely child 
 of nature, but I am not sure that prior to her coming to be 
 a member of our family she was a child of grace. Now .she 
 heard good preaching, attended prayer-meetings, studied 
 Covenanter principles, and sat at the feet of the divine 
 Teacher. She learned of him and found rest to her .soul. 
 Then she was found sitting with us at our Covenanter 
 communion table. She was happy and we rejoiced. Her 
 religion was not mere profession. She loved her I^ord, and 
 she was ready to bear reproach for his sake. A year or two 
 after her return home to her mother she was married to Mr,
 
 432 LOOKING B\CK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Brockwa}^, a returned soldier. Erelong her health failed, 
 and soon she became a victim of the ' 'fell destroyer. ' ' Before 
 her sickness and to the last neither her faith in Christ nor 
 her love to the church ever weakened. Far awa}' from the 
 fellowship of the brethren and surrounded by the people of 
 other churches, she continued true to her vows and con- 
 tended for the truth she had espoused and the church in 
 which she had made an intelligent profession. After a 
 while I visited her a second time and found her near the 
 dark valle3', but she was a meek sufferer and a happy 
 Christian. Faith had triumphed and she was waiting the 
 coming of the L,ord. How beautiful is the death of a good 
 woman who walks through the valley of the shadow of 
 death "leaning upon the Beloved." 
 
 vShortly after the arrival at Elliota of our little stock of 
 household goods we bought a small cottage of three rooms 
 and a half acre of ground adjacent to the church lot. The 
 cost was six hundred and twent^'-five dollars, a part of which 
 we "paid down." For the remainder I gave mj' note. Elder 
 Elliott and son volunteering to go my security. That was 
 the first real estate we ever owned, and I am not sure that 
 I did not feel a little proud of our riches so suddenly acquired. 
 That good old elder and son ever had our gratitude, for they 
 helped us to get a nice little home so that monthl)' rent bills 
 did not stare us in the face. Three rooms only? Yes; and 
 we lived like king and queen, and our little country girls 
 were as happy as princesses. 
 
 After two or three Sabbaths of rather tentative preaching 
 I began to explain the Psalms in order and to preach in the 
 afternoons in neighboring schoolhouses. For a while I 
 preached at a schoolhouse four miles north, and afterwards 
 at another about the same distance south in Iowa. At both 
 places many of the church-members attended as well as fair 
 audiences of the "world's people." Meanwhile there was
 
 IN THE HOME MISSION El ELD. 433 
 
 organized in the Sabbath-school a large Bible-class and I 
 was invited to teach it. We began the study of the book of 
 Hebrews. As yet the International lycssons had not been 
 introduced. During the first year I ceased to preach at the 
 schoolhouse in the north and preached every Sabbath after- 
 noon at the house in Iowa. And here we organized a 
 Sabbath-school, Henry Dean superintendent. It was largely 
 attended b}' people some of whom had never before studied 
 the Bible. We had a corps of good teachers and distributed 
 Sabbath literature. The attendance upon preaching by all 
 classes in the neighborhood was good; and it grew until the 
 house was always crowded. I think m^- labors there were 
 blessed. Some that attended at first in the schoolhouse 
 afterwards came to the church as regular hearers, and some 
 of them afterwards came out of the world and united with 
 the church. The attendance at the church continued to in- 
 crease until the house was nearly always full if not crowded. 
 The missionary was much encouraged and was joyful and 
 thankful. 
 
 S^mod met this year, 1874, in Philadelphia. The distance 
 was great, the expenses heavy, but I felt that I must go. 
 At that time the temperance crusade was growing rapidly 
 and, as never before, w^omen were coming to the front. 
 Only a few days before leaving home, at a temperance meet- 
 ing in our church in Elliota a woman gave a lecture marked 
 by abilit}' and earnestness. Even in Minnesota the tide was 
 rising rapidly. Leaving my little family in the care of Him 
 who had always cared for us I started alone on the long 
 journey. At Chicago I stopped long enough to hear part of 
 the great trial of Professor Swing on the charge of heresy. 
 His prosecutor in Presbytery was Rev. Dr. Patton. At Fort 
 Wayne I remained over a day to visit friends, Mr. J. C. 
 Davis and family, brother-in-law of Eliza, all being devoted 
 Presbyterians; also my young friend Robert G. McNiece 
 28
 
 434 i.uoKiNG i;vcK from the sunskt i^and. 
 
 who had gone there as principal of the high school but was 
 now editor of a daily journal. While I tarried in Fort 
 Wayne I attended two sessions of the Woman's Indiana State 
 Temperance Convention, a great gathering of the women 
 who had been engaged in the crusade of the winter before. 
 Mother Stuart was one of the leading spirits. Prior to that 
 time I never had seen so many good women and earnest 
 souls in one as.sembly. It was good to be there; and I 
 received a new baptism in the cause of temperance. 
 
 Pa.ssing on in my pilgrimage to Synod I stopped off al 
 Belle-Centre, O., and spent the Sabbath with my sister, a 
 privilege always prized ])y her youngest brother. I had 
 time to stop over a few hours at Pittsburg where I found the 
 Crusaders and other temperance friends in great agitation. 
 Thirty-two of the crusaders (women) had been arrested and 
 put in prison on the charge of obstructing the sidewalks be- 
 fore the saloons where the}' met for praj-er. In the afternoon 
 a great mass-meeting was held and indignation speeches 
 aroused the greater opposition to the liquor traffic. At that 
 time there was in Pittsburg an active temperance organiza- 
 tion of women, the "Woman's Temperance League." The 
 president was Mrs. Collins' wife of Dr. Samuel Collins. He 
 was a senior in Franklin College when I was a sophomore. 
 He was a vSeceder, I was a Covenanter, but we became friends; 
 and .so when I was invited at the time of that excitement in 
 Pittsburg to dine with the doctor and his good wife I was 
 "at home." Busy workers in good causes are earth's 
 nobles. 
 
 During the week of Synod a public temperance meeting 
 was held in the church. It was arranged by Dr. T. P. 
 Stevenson, who with many others had caught the spirit of 
 the crusaders. He had the audacity to call me to the plat- 
 form as a .speaker without previous warning. I was helped, 
 however, b\' what I had so recently seen and heard at Fort 
 Wayne and Pittsburg.
 
 IN Till'; IIUMK IMLSSION I'lKLU. ■ 435 
 
 The sacrament of the supper was not administered in 
 ElHota until a year after I began to preach or soon after my 
 return from Synod. At that communion there were nine 
 persons, nearly all young people, received into the church 
 on profession of faith. A tenth was received on certificate. 
 Before this addition there were only twenty -nine members. 
 Thus there were now thirty-nine. One of the twenty-nine 
 was an invalid and could not attend public worship; another 
 lived so far distant that she was rarely there. At the com- 
 munion I had no assistance. I had invited Rev. U. H. 
 Coulter and expected him until near the time, but he failed 
 to come. I was greatly helped all through the four da>-s of 
 the service. My journal of that date tells how happy I was. 
 "Monday, June 29. Yesterday, our communion Sabl^ath, 
 was a great and good day to me. What joy filled my soul, 
 and what gratitude my heart, because, in the good providence 
 of the Redeemer, my own dear daughters sat with us at the 
 communion table; and I hope their hearts have been touched 
 by the love of Christ. I was greatly helped during the day; 
 and I hope the Spirit of God did not leave me alone, though 
 I had no help from man." 
 
 In March, 1874, I commenced a series of lectures on the 
 eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The design was to teach the 
 nature and power of faith as illustrated in the chapter. In 
 doing this it was necessary to try to .show the greatness, the 
 excellency, and the beauty of the characters catalogued by 
 the inspired writer. While I was preaching this long series 
 of discourses I often diverged from the line of worthies and 
 ]ireached on other themes as duty called or incidents sug- 
 gested; but I did not finish the course until after I left 
 Hlliota. These sermons required much and special study. 
 In this and in their presentation I had great deHght. What 
 study is more interesting and profitable than that of char- 
 acter and l)iography? On verse 32 .six or seven sermons
 
 436 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 were preached. That on Jephthah was the most difficult. 
 To the Bible student the reason is obvious. I did not follow 
 the common theory, that the Hebrew judge offered his 
 daughter in sacrifice, but I showed, I hope to the satisfaction 
 of the unprejudiced, that, by the consent of his pious 
 daughter, Jephthah devoted her to a life of perpetual 
 celibacy, and all this in accordance with the well-understood 
 principles of vows as made b)^ the Hebrews. 
 
 During the first year we were in Minnesota we formed a 
 pleasant acquaintance with Rev. D. L,. Keihle, a Pres- 
 byterian minister and the county superintendent of schools. 
 He was a first-class educator, and afterwards was chosen 
 principal of the State Normal School. During the winter of 
 1874 he held a county teachers' institute at Lenora, a town 
 seven or eight miles from Elliota, at which he had invited 
 me to give a lecture on the Bible in the schools. My wife 
 and I went to the institute with our own horse and sleigh. 
 It was a bitterly cold night. After I had given my lecture 
 we started home and had come within about a mile of home 
 when driving at a brisk rate our sleigh was upset and 
 the horse thrown down. The sleigh turned entirely over. 
 Mrs. Johnston was thrown out into the deep snow on the 
 side of the road and received no injury. I fell under the 
 sleigh and on the hard road. My arms and legs were so 
 pinioned under and by the sleigh which was held down 
 tight by the weight of the horse upon the shafts, that I 
 would have perished in the cold in a short time had not my 
 wife been able to lift the hinder part of the sleigh off me. 
 Being released, and then releasing the animal from the 
 broken shafts, we walked home, I with pain and difficulty. 
 In the overturning of the sleigh one of my lower limbs was 
 seriously injured and for several weeks I was a cripple but 
 by the use of crutches I was able to get to church on Sab- 
 bath and preach as before; but I never forgot that that night
 
 IN THE HOME MISSION FIELD. 437 
 
 I owed my rescue if not my life also to Him who had given 
 my wife strong arms. Other members of the family were 
 victims of serious accidents. While riding in a "spring 
 wagon" in company with some of her friends, Mrs. John- 
 ston was thrown out violently upon the ground. Falling 
 upon her head she received serious injury to the spinal 
 column in the region of the neck. From this injury she 
 never fully recovered but often suffered severe pain. How 
 often we narrowly escape from death ! About the same time 
 our second daughter, Mary, was riding in a similar wagon 
 in company with Miss Nettie Dean; their seat broke and 
 they were both thrown out and both received harm. In the 
 fall our daughter's collar-bone was broken. We had five 
 or six miles to drive home. I did not know how serious 
 was the injury, but that hour or more was one of great 
 anxiety and intense and painful sympathy on the part of the 
 father. How divine is the instinctive parental sympathy! 
 
 "Such pity as a father hath 
 Unto his chiklren dear." 
 
 Those who have read the former pages of this book 
 remember that I was fond of a good horse and loved to be 
 in the saddle. At Elliota I was not a pastor but a quasi- 
 pastor, and so had constant need of a horse and bugg}' or 
 sleigh. I bought a beautiful animal, not a "Charlie" but 
 as beautiful and kind. For winter we had our sleigh and 
 buffalo robe and "freestone." For summer when it was 
 needed for the family I hired a buggy. When not needed, 
 I mounted my saddle, and off loped my dapple gray, "Fan- 
 nie." Anent the harness there is a little incident. One 
 winter morning when I went to the stable to look after 
 Fannie, the harness was gone. It was new and valuable. 
 As snow had fallen recently I traced the footsteps of the 
 thief through the grove back of the stable and around to 
 the public road where I could trace them no more. I sup-
 
 438 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 posed I never would hear of the lost harness again. M}^ 
 neighbors soon heard of my loss and gave me no ground to 
 expect ever to recover it. After a week or two when I went 
 out to the stable in the morning, lo! there hung a nice new 
 harness very similar to the other. Had the thief's con- 
 science troubled him? Or had some "brownie" been there? 
 After a week or two some bird of the air told me that a few 
 of our Covenanter brethi'en had bought the new harness and 
 piit it in the stable when we were enjoying "nature's sweet 
 restorer." When that harness was needed no more it was 
 sold and the money handed over to one of the donors for the 
 benefit of a poor widow and mother in the congregation. 
 
 But what about the lost harness? A month or two after 
 it was stolen I was informed that it had been discovered in 
 the possession of a farmer some eight or ten miles distant. 
 He had sent word to me that if I would go for it he would 
 return it to me. The thief had sold it to him. The bu)'er 
 said he did not know that it was stolen property. When I 
 went for the harness I identified it as mine and he gave it 
 to me without charge. T always suspected that a part of the 
 truth was not told. 
 
 As my salary was small and we in debt for our little 
 home, and that our daughters might have the advantage of 
 a school, Mrs. Johnston taught two terms in the district 
 public school. This helped to bring in more children into 
 the Sabbath-school. And for similar reasons I taught dur- 
 ing two short terms a small class in the higher branches. 
 This gave our older daughter an opportunity to continue 
 her Latin that she had begun in Blair.sville. Most of the 
 young people of the class were in our Sabbath -school. 
 
 Sometime during the summer of '75 there was a total 
 eclipse of the moon. It began probably about 10 or 11 
 o'clock at night. The weather was pleasant and many 
 hoped for a clear sky that the eclipse might be seen. Wish-
 
 IN THE IIOMIC I\[I.SSION FIELD. 439 
 
 ing to teach the people a lesson on astronomy and to lead 
 their minds to the works of God, on the Sabbath preceding 
 the eclipse I announced that on the evening of the eclipse I 
 would give a lecture on eclipses. The church was crowded 
 with young and old from the entire region round about. 
 With what little apparatus I could extemporize the lecturer 
 thought he had an interested audience that learned much 
 about a phenomenon of which most of them had known 
 almost nothing. Every pastor should be master of astron- 
 omy, the greatest of the natural sciences. If he is not, he 
 is a great loser himself and he lacks what is necessary to a 
 good pulpit teacher and expounder whose duty it is to use 
 all possible means to help the people to know God. 
 
 In October of the first year I organized an evening class, 
 mostly of youth, for the study of Bible truth. We used the 
 larger catechism as the text-book. For a juvenile class in 
 theology no better text-book can be found. One leading 
 design of this class was to prepare teachers for Sabbath- 
 school work. 
 
 The Synod of 1875 met at Coulterville, 111., I was 
 away from home only one Sabbath. That was spent at 
 Elkhorn in whose old brick church I had assisted Father 
 Sloane at his communion shortly after my licensure. This 
 old church was now the property of the United Presbyterian 
 congregation. Rev. Jas. Henderson the pastor. He had 
 been a college mate of my oldest brother, and they were 
 very warm friends. I had formed his acquaintance during 
 my residence at New Concord, Ohio, where he was a 
 seceder and an Abolitionist of the Boanerges kind. As he 
 attended several sessions of Synod he hunted me up, and, I 
 suppose more for mj^ brother's sake than my own, invited 
 me to preach for him on Sabbath, Saturday P. M. I rode 
 home with him and on Sabbath preached one sermon and 
 was royally entertained the two nights. In the evening we
 
 440 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 went to hear Rev. Dr. Jas. Kennedy preach in Oakdale. 
 No man on this side of the Atlantic could preach such a 
 sermon as was his, so queer and withal instructive. 
 
 Our summer communion was held soon after Synod. I 
 was favored by the assistance of Brother Armour who was 
 then making a long visit with his sister, Mrs. Dean. Dur- 
 ing the occasion he gave us good sermons all the time. My 
 action sermon was on the text, Matt. 26:29: "And he went 
 a little farther and fell on his face, and prayed, saying: O 
 my Father," etc. It was a preciolis season of communion. 
 Three new members were received on examination, all heads 
 of families. Two of them were mothers and widows. Both 
 had buried their husbands recently. One of them brought 
 with her four little children who were baptized on Sabbath 
 afternoon. Did these make seven additions to the church ? 
 Besides the three who were admitted, a young man, a son 
 of an excellent Covenanter mother, applied for admission 
 and was examined by the session. In my journal of that 
 date I find this record: "But as he did not approve of our 
 principles and practice on Civil Government and on Psal- 
 mody, he was not admitted. I fear, however, that there 
 is a great and deeper evil. I can see in him no good evi- 
 dence of conversion. I earnestly hope God will hedge up 
 the way against every one whose heart is not changed." 
 
 During the two years of labor in EUiota there were many 
 things that made it a pleasant home and a hopeful mission- 
 ary field; but there were also some dark clouds that hung 
 low sometimes. The country though not old was beautiful 
 and fertile and healthful. Some of the members of the 
 congregation were God's chosen ones; and such was one of 
 the elders. Father Lemon. His memory is precious yet. 
 And many of the youth were not only promising but 
 endeared to us all. Besides, except a small Methodist 
 Church ours was the only one of any kind in the neighbor-
 
 tN THE HOME MISSION FIELD. 44I 
 
 hood. On the other hand the whole community had been 
 leavened largely with isms and sects and almost anything 
 except orthodox religion. No sane Covenanter minister 
 could expect to build up a good-sized congregation except 
 by many years of hard work, if ever. More disheartening 
 than all were the alienations that existed between some of 
 the people; the worst of which was the lack of love between 
 two of the elders, and between an elder and the deacon. 
 Two of the elders who were of the same nationality, and 
 who had hot grace sufficient to enable them to resist the 
 devil or to bridle the tongue, sometimes manifested in ses- 
 sion their lack of brotherly love. As moderator I had to 
 hold tight reins. By this I suppose I gained the disfavor 
 of one of them if not both. These things were known to 
 the people and harm followed. I saw the need of addition 
 to the session, and I believed that some of the evils could 
 be removed better if I were an installed pastor instead of 
 only a stated supply. I indicated these facts to the secre- 
 tary of the Board of Missions but he did nothing, and the 
 congregation seemed to have settled down in the opinion 
 that I was there as a fixture and that church matters were 
 sufficiently prosperous to lead to contentment. To the 
 quasi-pastor it did not appear thus. He was there by the 
 appointment of the Board and not by the choice of the peo- 
 ple, and he did not know what emergencies might arise. 
 When in this state of mind the following entry was made 
 in my diary: ''Tuesday, July 6. To-day I have written my 
 letter of resignation to the Board of Missions signifying my 
 intention of leaving m)' charge here as soon as a substitute 
 can be sent. I have also written letters to the elders here 
 informing them of my resignation and that I have written 
 or will write to the Board to that effect. This course I 
 pursue not because of any known dissatisfaction with me, 
 either on the part of the congregation or of the Board, but
 
 4-1-2 LOOKING BACtv VRIM THE SUMSef LAND. 
 
 for various reasons mostly known only to myself — my feeble 
 health, my belief that the settlement of a pastor would be 
 very advantageous to the cause and people here, but that 
 the pastor should be a young man, while I would not likely 
 be desired. At all events, I have been here two years, dur- 
 ing which time I hear of no purpose to arrange for a call. 
 I am liable to liv^e and labor here a few years, and then may 
 have to leave and be homeless. Then, I see no prospect of 
 being able to educate ray children if we remain here. Be- 
 sides, their society is not such as I could desire for them. 
 I am not contented to .see them form attachments here that 
 might be permanent." 
 
 In addition to these there were other things that led to 
 m}' determination to resign. During the summer I had 
 read much about the growing influx of the Chinese in Cali- 
 fornia and of how they were accessible b}^ missionaries. M}" 
 interest in the cause of missions increased and ra)" desire to 
 work among the Chinese became strong. While thinking 
 on these things, but before I saw any way b}^ which it could 
 be practicable for us to go to the Pacific Coast and be mis- 
 sionaries there, I received a letter from a friend residing in 
 Oakland, Cal., but doing bu.siness in San Francisco — Mr. 
 Carlos White. He had been a member of Topsham congre- 
 gation, was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and had 
 married and removed to Oakland. He was now' engaged in 
 printing and supplying parts of .sheets for country newspapers; 
 the}' were called "patent outsides," He needed an editor. 
 As I had been his pa.stor, and as he knew that I was not 
 installed at Elliota, he wrote to persuade me to go to San 
 Francisco. He offered me a fair remuneration if I would go 
 and do for him the needed work. This letter seemed to 
 indicate the hand of Providence and the mind of the Master; 
 but I did not see it so clearly then as I did afterwards. 
 
 After the close of the services on Juh' 1 1 one of the elders
 
 IN THE HOME MISSION FIELD. 445 
 
 read a public notice: "That as Mr. Johnston has notified 
 the elders that he has forwarded his resignation to the Board 
 of Missions, there will be a meeting of the congregation 
 to-morrow at 5 to take necessary action to secure preaching 
 or Gospel ordinances." 
 
 "Monday, 12. At the congregational meeting, as I have 
 been informed, nothing of consequence was done. The 
 people had been told by a leading elder that the meeting was 
 called mostly to please me, and that there was nothing 
 specially to be done. Hence few came out; and as that elder 
 proposed nothing, nothing was done." (Diar}'.) 
 
 On Wednesday of the next week there was a meeting of 
 the congregation. None of our family were present. The 
 record in my diary reads thus: "As far as I could learn its 
 object it was to see what could be done to secure me as pastor. 
 A vote, by ballot, was finally taken to see how many are in 
 favor of calling me. All voted in favor of it except two (so 
 I am informed). And two of the elders were in.structed to 
 write to the Board to .see if the}^ could promise a supplement 
 to the call provided the congregation would call me. Had 
 action of this kind been taken months ago, or before I sent 
 my resignation to the Board and notified the elders of the 
 same, I might have been induced to remain, at least until I 
 would see the result. But I fear now that it is too late." 
 
 Prior to this congregational meeting I did not know for 
 what object it had been called. But in my own mind a 
 decision had been made. I did not know it then but now I 
 hope we w^ere following the voice of Him whom it is always 
 safe to follow. E'xpecting that we would be there onlj' a 
 few weeks more, I was anxious to use the time to the best 
 possible advantage for the utterance of truths that the people 
 needed. Among other things I remembered that some of 
 the men of the church were too fond of "an occasional glass" 
 of .strong drink, and so I preached a temperance sermon on
 
 444 tOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the Golden Text of that day's International Sabbath-school 
 Lesson, viz. John 2:11. "This beginning of miracles," etc. 
 The sermon was needed, for only a few members of the con- 
 gregation were zealous and active workers in the cause of 
 temperance, while some did not believe at all in total absti- 
 nence. And though I had taught the duty often, and 
 always as kindly as I could, I feared that I had effected 
 little change in their minds. This condition of the congre- 
 gation on the subject of abstinence I now believe was partly 
 owing to the practise of their late pastor who, notwithstand- 
 ing his great excellence as a man and Christian minister, 
 was induced by his physician to use whisky freel}' as a tonic. 
 The people of the church and of the world around, too, must 
 have known this. The influence of a good man's example is 
 immeasurable. What Elliota is now I do not know, but 
 the probability is that the evil influence of that beloved pas- 
 tor's example did not cease with his burial but may have 
 continued all through that generation. And who can know 
 how great is the influence for evil of that physician who pre- 
 scribes for his patients alcoholic poisons or intoxicating 
 drinks of any kind ? The only physician in Elliota was an 
 allopath and a drunkard who habitually prescribed wine and 
 liquors to his patients. Is it not strange that any Christian 
 man or woman would implicitly submit to this practise 
 or follow his advice? By what law of right do Christians 
 patronize such a doctor at all ? And probably the cause of 
 temperance can never be victorious in any land so loiig as 
 alcoholic medication continues. But whatever others may 
 do or not do, members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
 should not only be total abstainers but non-employers of 
 doctors who poison their patients with what not only tends 
 to generate a love of strong drink but can neither remove 
 disease nor cure the sick. 
 
 According to previous annouucemeut, on Sabbath August
 
 IN THE HOMP: MIvSSION FIELD. 445 
 
 15 I preached my farewell sermon. The text has been used 
 no doubt by many a pastor when about to leave his charge, 
 viz., "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect; be of one 
 mind," etc. The di.scussion was textual: The Exhortation, 
 the Reward, and the Valedictory. The record made soon 
 afterwards reads as follows: "The attendance was very large; 
 the house was fuller than ever I saw it before on the Sabbath, 
 full to its entire capacity. The people, both of the church 
 and others, were very attentive, and many of the friends in 
 tears. 
 
 "With reluctance and fears, as well as with the severance 
 of strong ties, I go from this people to many of whom I have 
 become very warmly attached. Why I was sent, what work 
 has been accomplished by my instrumentality, what is their 
 future, whether I am ever to preach again, and what God 
 has in reserve for me, whether tears in affliction or joy in 
 his favor, he only knows. I go trying to commit this dear 
 people, as well as myself and family, to the guidance and 
 care of my God and Saviour. Let him do with me as seem- 
 eth good in his sight; only grant to my dear wife and children 
 thy salvation and thy paternal love and care and blessing, 
 O my Father, and I am satisfied in the hope of joy and rest 
 at thy right hand." (Diary.)
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Missionary Work among thk Chinksh in California. 
 
 After many farewells on Monday, earh' Tuesday morning 
 Ave were oif for our long journey to the Pacific. Turning 
 aside a little we spent some days with our family friends in 
 Iowa and thence passed on, partly by rail and partly by 
 steamboat, to Clinton on the Missi.ssippi. Here we stopped 
 two nights and one day, the Sabbath, resting "according to 
 the commandment." On Monda}' we bought our tickets 
 through to San Francisco. In those days the rates were so 
 high that four through tickets pretty nearly depleted a poor 
 man's pocket; and at that time it required the most of six 
 days to go from the Mississippi to the Pacific. For this 
 reason we had gone to Clinton on Saturday so that we could 
 begin our overland travel on Monday. We had a prosperous 
 journey and reached Oakland, Cal., on time, late Saturday 
 afternoon, August 27, 1875. 
 
 At that time the "overland" travel to California meant 
 more than it does now. To us it was all novel and strange. 
 The long journey across the Rockies, the plains, and the 
 Sierra Nevadas, was full of incidents and wonderful sights 
 not to be forgotten. Our going to the Pacific Coast was not 
 as tourists. Our e5^es were always open to see the beauty of 
 the valleys, the grandeur of the mountains, or the desolation 
 of the plains, but our deeper thoughts were away forward, 
 and we prayed God to open before us a door of access to 
 needy souls. 
 
 On our arrival at Oakland we were met at the railroad 
 
 (446)
 
 WORK AMONG THK CHINESE. 447 
 
 Station by our friend, Mr. White, who conveyed us to his 
 residence. I had not seen him after his return from the war. 
 He had been in California several years and that meant 
 exposure to temptations to leave the Covenanter Church. 
 He had married a Baptist wife, the daughter of a Baptist 
 minister. She would not become a Covenanter and he would 
 not be a Baptist; and so they agreed to compromise and to 
 attend the Congregational Church, Rev. Dr. McLean pastor. 
 They held a pew but had not united with the church. We 
 lodged with our friends a few days until our goods came and 
 we found a little cottage in which to reside. On Monday I 
 went into Mr. White's newspaper office, surveyed the situa- 
 tion, and began my work. It consisted principally in read- 
 ing, selecting and clipping articles from magazines and 
 journals, mostly eastern, with which to fill the pages printed 
 for country papers or journals in remote cities all over the 
 coast. Thus I was called the "scissors editor." I had to 
 read everything before clipping it for use, for the same matter 
 was set up for forty or fifty different papers whether Repub- 
 lican, or Democrat, or Independent, or reformatory. Then 
 for most of the papers I had to "write up" news columns 
 filled with condensed articles giving intelligence from abroad 
 and from the east. For a few papers editorials were prepared, 
 no two the same, however; and these could not be partisan. 
 One paper was edited entirel\- in the office and for the matter 
 of this I was responsible only in part. In addition to these 
 duties it devolved upon me to keep the books of the estab- 
 lishment. This part of the work was light except at the 
 end of each month when long bills had to be made out and 
 mailed to the publishers all over the coast. The office hours 
 were from nine to three or four, or optional provided no 
 work was left undone. As our residence was in Oakland I 
 had to cross the San Francisco Bay, to and fro, daily. From 
 pier to pier it v^as about four miles. On each side of the
 
 448 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 bay I had a long walk b}^ which health was promoted; and 
 when on the water I had time for reading. "Snatch the 
 moments; let no time be lost." 
 
 For my "scissors editor's" work Mr. White paid me good 
 wages as upon me, his friend, he laid many responsibilities 
 which he could not have trusted to others. But m\- agree- 
 ment with him was only provisional and temporary. This 
 appears from a record in my diarj' written the evening after 
 my first day in the printing office. It reads thus: "Here I 
 expect to remain until we succeed in establishing a mission 
 among the Chinese. This is my great object in coming to 
 California. What God has in reserve for me — what work 
 he intends to give me and my family to do, I can only hope 
 and wait to see. I always had a great desire to be a foreign 
 missionary. Here I hope to be permitted to labor for the 
 conversion of heathen idolaters in our own land." As soon 
 as we were "fixed up" in our rented cottage we began to 
 make explorations and to get all needed information neces- 
 sar}' to the opening of the contemplated mission. We 
 visited the Chinese Sabbath-schools in Oakland where there 
 were two; and the Chinese missions in San Francisco where 
 there were five, though only two were fully equipped and 
 owned mission buildings; these were the Presb^-terian and 
 the Methodist, the former being under the superintendence 
 of Rev. Dr. Loomis and the latter under that of Rev. Dr. Otis 
 Gibson. 
 
 Meanwhile we went in search of stray Covenanters. There 
 were several in San Francisco who had been members in the 
 eastern cities but had gone into other churches here, notably 
 the United Presbyterian, Rev. M. M. Gibson, pastor. One 
 of them was a brother of Rev. William Graham of Boston. 
 Subsequently he went into the Presbyterian Church. In 
 Oakland we found only one Reformed Presbyterian family, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Kkey, and her brother, Mr. James McCullough,
 
 WORK AMONG THE CHINESE. 449 
 
 brother of Elder McCullough of Lisbon, New York. With 
 these we held prayer-meetings on Sabbaths for several 
 months, or until I began to preach in our own Chinese 
 mission chapel. During the first two or three months after 
 going to Oakland we formed the acquaintance of several 
 Chinese converts, Presb^^terians and members of the Presby- 
 terian Chinese Sabbath-school, whom we informed of our 
 intention to open a mission night school and Sabbath-school 
 also. As there had been no such missson or school for 
 teaching the English language to the Chinese, our friends 
 were greatly pleased and offered to give us all needed assist- 
 ance. We procured at a fair rent a room partly furnished 
 and used on the Sabbath by the Y. M. C. A. as a kind of 
 mission chapel. The word soon went abroad that we had 
 opened the school, and in a week or so the seats were filled 
 with Chinese men and boys eager to learn the English 
 language. Probably about the half of them had alreadj^^ 
 learned to read a little. The teachers were the four members 
 of our family. Our hands were full. We began at the gas- 
 lighting and continued until half past nine o'clock. As we 
 were often crowded and needed more teachers, one or two of 
 the best readers gave us the needed help. One of these 
 volunteer teachers was Huie Kin, afterwards a student in 
 Geneva College, now a missionary in New York. As eight 
 or ten of the scholars had been taught elsewhere and could 
 read English sufficiently to use the New Testament as a text- 
 book, I organized these into a Bible-reading class, having 
 two objects in view, to teach the language and to teach Bible 
 facts and truths. This class was heard after I had spent an 
 hour or so among the hitherto untaught. 
 
 The evening school sessions were opened by prayer and 
 
 singing portions of psalms printed on canvas and hung up 
 
 before all. We closed by a brief talk on whatever w'e thought 
 
 most needed by the heathen, and then by either pra3'er or 
 
 29
 
 450 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 singing or both. After some of them had learned the 
 Lord's prayer it was recited in concert either in Chinese or 
 in EngHsh. From the first there were a few of the scholars 
 who had learned to speak English so well that I had little 
 difficulty in finding an interpreter. Several who came to 
 the night school for lessons in English were baptized converts 
 and were always glad to interpret when I spoke to the whole 
 school. After a while I employed an interpreter and as.si.st- 
 ant teacher and helper. 
 
 After we had thus entered fairly upon our work I reported 
 to the Home Board of Missions in Allegheny what progress 
 we had made and what we intended to do, and about the 
 same time I issued an appeal to the friends of missions in 
 the church asking for contributions to meet the expenses of 
 the new mission which we had undertaken without the ap- 
 pointment of the Board. These expenses were furniture, 
 monthl}^ rent, and incidentals. Erelong we had as much 
 or more than was needed. 
 
 During these months I went occasionally on Sabbath 
 afternoons to the East Oakland Jute Mills where there were 
 five or six hundred Chinese employees, nearh^ all pagan 
 idolaters, to whom through a Christian interpreter I tried to 
 preach the Gospel. Afterwards others who could preach in 
 Chinese visited the mills and preached. Soon quite a large 
 number of the emploj'ees came to our new mission. 
 
 After we had been several months in the rooms of the 
 Y. M. C. A. but which we could not have for use on the 
 Sabbath except at night, we opened the school in another 
 part of the city, furnished the hall nicely, and began work 
 on the Sabbath. This building, prepared for the mission, 
 had a small hall in front, two class-rooms back of the hall, 
 and in the rear a room for the janitor. We had found in 
 Oakland several families of United Presbyterians one being 
 Rev. David Morrow, witliout charge. They had no preach-
 
 WORK AMONG THE CHINESE. 45 1 
 
 iiig unless they would cross the bay to San Francisco. With 
 the change of location I began to preach , the United Presby . 
 terians and the Covenanters and quite a number of the 
 Chinese being the hearers. As the jute mills were closed on 
 Sabbath many of the Chinese there came to our Sabbath 
 meetings both day and night. We now began to employ an 
 interpreter and assistant teacher. He had been baptized 
 several years ago by Rev. Dr. Otis Gibson, of the San Fran- 
 cisco Methodist Mission. The attendance was so large that 
 I had to take my large class of young men, now tolerably 
 good readers, across the street to our private residence. In 
 this way I could teach them in quietness. At this point I 
 find in my journal the following record of Sabbath work: 
 "The hall of our mission house we use for preaching and 
 Bible class. Our Chinese Sabbath-school meets at 9 o'clock. 
 At 1 1 I preach to a small congregation of Covenanters 
 and united Presbyterians, with a few Chinese who remain 
 after the Sabbath-school. Then, after public worship I hear 
 the class (of whites) in the International Bible Lesson. 
 Then Chinese Sabbath-school again at 7 in the evening. 
 Thus our Sabbaths are days of much labor. But the 
 laborers have their reward." Among the first sermons 
 preached were several from the different parts, taken one by 
 one, of Matt. 28 : 18, 19, 20. I never can tell with what 
 mingled delight and sadness I preached to the Chinese most 
 of whom were almost as great strangers to the way of 
 salvation as before they had left their homes in China. I 
 rejoiced that I had opportunity to offer salvation to so many 
 heathen; I was sad because I could not preach this Gospel 
 to Ihem in their own language. 
 
 As the months passed we all were busy day and night. 
 As our family expenses were heavy — it then cost much 
 more to live in California than it does now — and as the 
 furnishing of the mission rooms, and the rent, and the
 
 452 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 salary of the helper, all made our bill of monthly expenses 
 so large that we could not pay them unless more money 
 would come to us from eastern friends, my wife, alwa^^s 
 ready for work, accepted an honorable position as teacher in 
 the Oakland public schools. It came about thus: The 
 city superintendent of schools was a graduate of the New 
 York Cit}^ Normal School, and her classmate. By his kind- 
 ness a vacant position was offered to her. This lessened 
 our anxiety about funds needed to carry on our work. Our 
 daughters were in the city high school; and being teachers 
 every night in the mission school they had no time for play 
 or worldly amusements or social pleasures. They never 
 complained of too much work. They loved home and 
 home duties. They loved their studies; and they shared 
 with their father and mother their interest in the benevolent 
 mission work in which we were engaged. Thej^ had and 
 have their reward. It always was more blessed to give than 
 to receive. 
 
 In May, 1877, Mr. John Rice, from Elliota, Minn., came 
 to Oakland. They came in .search 'of a farm, either in this 
 state or in Oregon. After lingering awhile they changed 
 their plans and remained in Oakland. About that time the 
 United Presbj'terians endeavored to open a mission in the 
 city, Rev. Mr. Niblock being the preacher. They hired a 
 hall for the preaching, and those who had attended our Cov- 
 enanter services at the Chinese mission followed the United 
 Presbyterian preacher. They were disappointed. Some 
 of their people moved to southern California and their 
 mission was abandoned. Thus, except Rev. Mr. Morrow 
 and family, the Covenanters were left alone. After a while 
 we were glad to welcome to our little company a young man 
 from New York, Mr. Moore, a member of the fourth con- 
 gregation there. He attended our Sabbath services and 
 prayer-meetings and we greatly enjoyed his fellowship.
 
 WORK AMONG THE CHINESE. 453 
 
 About this time the an ti- Chinese excitement was rapidly 
 growing under the influence of "the sand-lot orator, " Den- 
 nis Kearney, an Irish Catholic, whose war cry was, "The 
 Chinese must go." Under his leadership the agitation 
 became so intense and the hatred of the foreigners who did 
 not drink whisky and who would work for low wages 
 rather than be idle became so bitter and cruel that it was 
 hardly safe for Chinamen to appear on the street alone. 
 They were subjected to all kinds of abuse and wrongs. 
 Those who came to our mission night school were afraid to 
 come except in groups. They knew who were their friends 
 and often came to us for help in trouble. Sometimes the 
 hoodlums would gather before the mission and annoy the 
 scholars going in or coming out as much as possible, and 
 some were seriously injured. When we appealed to the 
 police for redress the ofl&cer was more in sympathy with the 
 hoodlums than with the missionaries. Most of our neigh- 
 bors also were anti-Chinese. Some of them thought they 
 had an opportunity to show it. In the progress of our work 
 we found it necessary to have a kind of home or lodging- 
 hou.se for the homeless Chine.se who belonged to the mis- 
 sion; it was needed especially when they were out of em- 
 ployment. We secured a lot adjacent to our own residence 
 and not far from the mission house and made arrangements 
 to put up a small and cheap building for this purpo.se. The 
 men who owned property and lived on the same block pro- 
 fessed to be alarmed lest this would depreciate the value of 
 their real estate, and they determined to prevent the erection 
 of the building if possible. One evening when I was in the 
 mission busy at routine work a rap was heard on the door. 
 On opening it I saw quite a number of men, our neighbors, 
 probably seven or eight, whose spokesman said they wished 
 to have a conference with me. I invited them over to our 
 residence and seated them in our parlor. • Through the
 
 454 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 spokesman they said: "We have come, Mr. Johnston, to 
 remonstrate against your building that house on the next 
 lot as we have been told it is to be for the Chinese. We do 
 not want them in this neighborhood. Your mission is 
 alread)^ doing harm; and if you build a home for their occu- 
 pancy it will be against our interests. People do not want 
 to live near Chinese; and we do not. If the}' occupy that 
 house it will depreciate the value of property in this neigh- 
 borhood, and we object to your going on with the work;" 
 or words to that effect. I replied: "Gentlemen, I wish to 
 be a good neighbor, but I think you wrongfully object to 
 my doing only what is right. You do not know that an}' 
 harm will follow the building of the house. We intend it 
 only for a lodging or temporary home for such Chinese 
 Christians as may be out of employment or who may be sick. 
 They are orderly and peaceable and quiet, and they will harm 
 no one. Our object is only benevolent. We have no pecun- 
 iary interest in it. If any propert}' on the block would 
 suffer depreciation it would be ours, the nearest. But such 
 a consideration should have no weight in view of the need 
 of the hou.se and the kindness we wish to show to the poor 
 strangers in our midst and who need our protection as well 
 as our help. Such is the Spirit of the religion of Him to 
 whom we are trjnng to bring the people for who.se salvation 
 we are laboring," or words to this effect. 
 
 Several of the committee or self-appointed delegation 
 replied, and I rejoined. They were, more mandatory rather 
 than less, and some one said that I could have no assurance 
 that the house would not be burned down if I persisted in 
 erecting it. They continued the talk until Mrs. Johnston 
 came in, when I said, "Gentlemen, here is Mrs. Johnston; 
 please state your case to her and I guess I will abide by her 
 decision." Some one did so. After some preliminary words 
 Mrs. Johnston said: ' 'We have begun to do what we thought
 
 \VORK AMONG THE CHINESE. 455 
 
 we should. I see no good reason for changing our plans. 
 I guess we will go on and build the house at any rate; and 
 then decide for what it shall be used." Whereupon the 
 delegation arose and bade us good-night. The spokesman 
 was a "squire" — no friend to religion — and a Republican 
 politician. The next most active in the movement was a 
 prominent member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 In the evening paper of a day or two afterwards this Method- 
 ist brother came out in a malicious attack against both of 
 us and against the toleration of the mission and missionaries 
 because we were bringing the Chinese into that neighbor- 
 hood. He also informed the people that Mrs. Johnston was 
 a public school-teacher and that no woman who was favor- 
 ing the influx of the Chinese should be tolerated in the 
 schools. In the next evening's paper I replied to his rabid 
 article and tried to show to the public that we were not 
 only doing nothing inimical to the public interests but also 
 nothing except what we had a right to do. 
 
 The anti-Chinese agitation resulted, as every historian 
 knows, in Federal anti-Chinese legislation in violation of 
 national treaty; and this again by infamous California laws. 
 The next Congressional restriction laws were still more 
 restrictive and cruel as well as unjust. The causes which 
 led to this anti-Chinese feeling and legislation were several 
 but specially two, viz., caste prejudice, second the unwilling- 
 ness of the laboring classes to permit foreigners of another 
 race to introduce cheap labor, or cut down their wages 
 which had always been very much higher than in the east- 
 ern states. Then the question got into politics and the men 
 who were anxious for office -took advantage of the opposi- 
 tion to the Chinese and hoped to ride into office by shouting, 
 "The Chinese must go." The reader may remember how 
 many riots and massacres occurred and from how many 
 places on the Pacific Coast the Chinese were driven out. In
 
 456 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 many ways these things seriously aflfected mission work. 
 The Chinese exclusion acts diminished the number of im- 
 migrants. To avoid persecution by the disciples of Dennis 
 Kearney (who as to the anti-Chinese sentiment were in the 
 majority), many of the Chinese left California and went to 
 the eastern and southern cities; and not a few went back to 
 their native land. 
 
 During all these years of agitation and the triumph of 
 iniquity and of wrong done to the poor strangers in our 
 midst, three things occurred: i. The missions in San Fran- 
 cisco and ours in Oakland did not abate their efforts for a 
 moment but went "right on" as before. 2. In the public 
 journals here and in the east, e. g. in the Philadelphia 
 Christian Statesman, the Oakland Covenanter missionary, 
 and almost no other, used his pen in testimony against the 
 wrongs done to the Chinese and against the injustice and 
 iniquity of the Congressional and state restriction laws. 
 Even some Covenanter ministers wrote in apology for these 
 laws. 3. All the while the work went on and conversions 
 occurred from time to time. 
 
 The first baptism of converts in our mission was on 
 Sabbath, June 23, 1878, or about two and a half years after 
 we first opened the mission. There were three in number. 
 I should have said sooner that some time before this the 
 Board of Missions had recognized our mission and author- 
 ized us to receive and use the church's contributions for the 
 work. . They promised us no salary, however, nor did we 
 ask it. The moneys received met all the expenses of the 
 mission, furniture, rents, teachers and helpers. We were 
 working with our own hands and asked no reward for mis- 
 sion work except the favor of the Board and the prayers of 
 the church. Moreover, I had consulted with some members 
 of the Board and other ministers as to the right and propriety 
 of our baptizing converts, all of whom assured me that I
 
 WORK AMONG THE CHINESE;. 457 
 
 should not hesitate to baptize those whom I believed to be 
 genuine converts. At this time there was no organized 
 congregation or session to admit applicants to baptism. In 
 my journal of that date 1 find this record: "During these 
 last mouths we had a Chinese prayer-meeting which has 
 been attended by those scholars that have been inclined to 
 become Christians. Within a few weeks three of our schol- 
 ars have asked baptism. I have met with them frequently 
 for prayer and instruction, and more recently for examina- 
 tion. Having found these sufficiently intelligent and giving 
 sufficient evidence of faith in Jesus Christ and of repentance 
 for sin, I have admitted them to baptism." 
 
 The next baptisms were on Sabbath, December 15, 1878, 
 when two more made a profession of faith in Christ. And 
 then four weeks afterwards four more were admitted to bap- 
 tism. In all these cases the candidates were instructed and 
 examined through an interpreter and alone, prayed with 
 several times, and all possible means used to be assured, if 
 possible, of the genuineness of their conversion. That in 
 some cases we were deceived is quite probable. 
 
 After having consulted by letter with the ministerial mem- 
 bers of the Board of Missions I resolved to administer the 
 sacrament of the supper to those nine converts and to the 
 few American Covenanters then in Oakland and known to 
 be in good standing. Accordingly, after the customary 
 preparatory days and services, on the second Sabbath of 
 January. 1879, nineteen disciples of Christ sat down at his 
 table together to commemorate his death. Of the nineteen, 
 ten were Chinese converts. At that communion I had no 
 assistance; none could have been had unless he had come 
 from Kansas or farther east. Yet I thought we enjoyed the 
 presence of the Master. There were no elders. In receiving 
 the converts to baptism I had acted alone. Necessity 
 knows no law. In receiving them to the communion table
 
 45^ LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 I acted alone; necessity required it. But it was what mis- 
 sionaries in foreign lands do. And I followed the advice of 
 Presbyterian Chinese missionaries here. They all said : 
 You should not hesitate. Others agreed. The deacon from 
 Minnesota, Mr. Rice, officiated in the handling of the bread 
 and wine. To the Chinese converts it was a solemn as well 
 as strange service. To us all it was a season of joy. On 
 Monday after the communion this was Written in my journal: 
 "Thus, in our Chinese Mission, not yet organized into a 
 congregation, we have held the first Covenanter communion 
 west of the Rocky Mountains. I think we enjoyed the 
 presence of the Master and of the Holy Spirit. And I praise 
 God that I and my family have been permitted once more to 
 enjoy the New Testament feast. 'We will remember thy 
 love more than wine.' " 
 
 At the Synod of this year, 1879, the Oakland missionary 
 was instructed "to gather together any known elders in 
 California and to organize a congregation." I opened a 
 correspondence with Elders Mitchell and McCloy of Santa 
 Ana, Cal., who promised to come to assist in the organiza- 
 tion. It was arranged to organize about the last of August 
 and to hold a communion afterwards. 
 
 On Friday we met for fast day services. Elders McClo)' and 
 Mitchell being present. After worship a session was con- 
 stituted, certificates were received and two applicants were 
 examined and admitted to church-membership. In the 
 evening after the religious services the session was consti- 
 tuted for the organization of the congregation. 'A roll of 
 membership was made out, twenty-four or twenty-five in all. 
 Two elders were elected, viz. John Rice and Ju Sing, and 
 one deacon, Edwin Rice. At the same meeting they were 
 examined and the examinations sustained. On Saturday 
 after the sermon the elders elect were ordained and installed. 
 (The deacon declined to serve.) The addre.s.ses to both con-
 
 WORK AMONG THE CHINESE. 459 
 
 gregation and elders were given by the moderator. As a 
 part of tiie services preparatory to the communion I read the 
 covenant of 187 1. In every congregation on the Saturday 
 before a communion the pastor would do well to read the 
 covenant. I know of no better service before a Covenanter 
 sacramental feast. 
 
 On Sabbath, August 31, after the action sermon I bap- 
 tized two young Chinese converts who had been received by 
 the session the day before. At that communion table sat 
 Chinese and Americans, about the same number of each, all 
 one in Christ and all in one organized congregation under 
 Christ the Head. Two of the Chinese members were absent. 
 Ju Guy had returned to China. It was the first congrega- 
 tion of the kind in the whole history of the church. It was 
 a time Of joy and gladness. But a heavy burden both of 
 responsibility and labor rested upon me. I was alone in all 
 the ministerial services. Yet I was mercifully sustained and 
 found in his great goodness abundant cause of gratitude to 
 the Head of the church. Only four years had passed since 
 we came to California. Not more than three and a half had 
 passed since we had been fairly under way in the mission; 
 and now a Covenanter congregation had been organized the 
 most important half being Chinese only lately cut loose 
 from the yoke of pagan idolatr}-. True, the beginnings 
 were small but we hoped that the latter end, however far 
 distant, would greatly increase. 
 
 During the summer and autumn following, the attendance 
 in the mission increased and the interest manifested did not 
 abate. Subsequently other converts were baptized. After 
 the organization these were always examined and received 
 by the session. Besides the regular weekly prayer-meetings 
 in the mission chapel, these being partly missionary meetings 
 also, we held Chinese meetings in our residence where 
 .several of the converts prayed in the Engli.sh language.
 
 460 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 On the fourth anniversary of the starting of the mission 
 we had a good time. To incite and to encourage the mis- 
 sion scholars to effort in their night school duties, we gave 
 a public entertainment in one of the smaller city halls. It 
 consisted mostly of Scripture rehearsals, declamations, and 
 vocal music. One special exercise was a kind of dialogue 
 which I wrote for the older scholars in which they expressed 
 their sentiments in reference to the anti-Chinese excitement, 
 the Kearneyites, etc. They gave it in such good English 
 and with such manifest belief of what they said, it won great 
 applause, for the hall was filled with the friends of missions 
 from the several churches that had Chinese missions in San 
 Francisco. At our invitation Rev. I. M. Condit, Presby- 
 terian missionary, gave an address to the Chinese in their 
 own language and Rev. Dr. Otis Gibson, Methodist Epis- 
 copal missionary, an address in English.- This public exhi- 
 bition of attainments met with such appreciation by those 
 present we were urged to have it repeated in a larger hall. 
 After enlarging the program and giving still better drill, we 
 announced the entertainment in a large hall in the center of 
 the city. The attendance was larger and the success other- 
 wise greater. On neither evening did we ask or take any 
 money from any one, but paid hall rents and all other ex- 
 penses. On the whole we thought the interests of the mis- 
 sion and our usefulness by means of it, were advanced. 
 Besides, as those public entertainments were novel and 
 attracted some public attention they tended to silence the 
 anti-Chinese tongue of the enemies of missions, and showed 
 to them that we "meant business."
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 Yo Semite Valley. 
 
 Somebody once said: "See Yo Semite and then die." 
 Everybody that knows anything about it would presume 
 that a tour to the wonderful valley would help to prolong life. 
 I had a great desire to visit it. A favorable time came. The 
 Cahfornia State Sabbath-school Association had appealed to 
 the Sabbath schools all over the state to give contributions 
 to a fund to build a chapel or small house of worship in the 
 valley in which the Gospel might be preached on Sabbaths 
 during the tourists' season so that all visitors spending the 
 Sabbath there could have a place in which to worship God 
 if desired. The fund had been raised; the church was nearly 
 finished; the state Association resolved to hold its next anni- 
 versary in the valley and dedicate the chapel; the days of 
 the dedication were fixed and all the arrangements for the 
 services arranged; and the railroad and stage companies sold 
 tickets at reduced rates. 
 
 Obtaining leave of absence from my "better half," engag- 
 ing extra teachers for the mission school, and having the 
 promise of the company of one of our daughters whose 
 school vacation occurred at the time, I determined to seek 
 rest in a tour to Yo Semite. We went, we saw, we heard; 
 and on our minds a picture was made that will remain 
 indelible while memory is on the throne. I have made 
 some feeble attempts to reproduce it. I will not try it 
 again. Those who may read these pages have read descrip- 
 tions of Yo Semite Valley; some of them, though probably 
 
 (461)
 
 462 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 few, may have been there. Only these can know that not 
 the hundredth part has ever been told. If the reader wishes 
 to see the finest description of it that I have ever read, let 
 him read Miss Frances E. Willard's in her book, "Glimpses 
 of Fifty Years." Few distant readers know how far Yo 
 Semite is from the California metropolis. The facilities for 
 travel now are better than then. It required three da^'s' 
 travel; the first by rail to Merced on the Soulhern Pacific 
 Railroad, thence by stage two days, two thirds of the way 
 over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and among its immense 
 forests. Our stage route was over the "Old Coulterville 
 Road," one of only three routes into the valley. It was the 
 best as it afforded the grandest views and passed through 
 the greatest forests. One of our four fellow- travelers in the 
 stage was Rev. Dr. Guard, an eminent Methodist preacher; 
 and it was a delight to be in his company. As our stage- 
 driver had contracted to carry the bell donated to the new 
 chapel, our travel over the mountains from Coulterville was 
 greatly retarded. Night came upon us as we drove up to 
 "Dudley's," a small but nice lodging-house and two or three 
 log-house cottages near together — a kind of half way house 
 for tourists, and the only house on the road for probably 
 twenty or thirt)'^ miles. Here we found Rev. Dr. Willey, a 
 pioneer Congregational minister, who had stopped over one 
 day for rest. He was the chaplain of the Monterey con- 
 vention that formed the first constitution of the state of 
 California when the great question was pending, viz., 
 whether California should come into the Union a free or a 
 slave state. This same excellent man is at this writing the 
 president of our California State Sabbath-school Association. 
 Our cozy cottage, high up on one of the Sierra Mountains 
 and surrounded by such monstrous pines (not the big trees) 
 as are to be found nowhere else on the continent, was a good 
 place to win the favor of King Morpheus.
 
 YO SEMITE VALLEY, 463 
 
 Rising before the sun I hurried out to behold a forest such 
 as I had never seen before. The cultivated ground around 
 the house was white with frost, though it was the 7th of 
 June. Taking my ramble into the woods I unexpectedly 
 came upon a widely extended growth of mountain azalias in 
 full bloom and in their gayest attire. As I had never seen 
 that species before I did not know what they were. I had 
 often gathered wild flowers most beautiful and rare but these 
 were the most beautiful of all. Away from human habita- 
 tion, no sound disturbing the stillness of the mountain forest 
 except the song of the birds, and the air "as pure as the 
 breath of heaven," as I beheld the unknown flowers all 
 tinted with beauty by the hand of Him who said, "Consider 
 the lilies," my soul was in an ecstasy of delight. "The 
 hand that made them is divine. ' ' Never since have I seen 
 such a profuseness of wild flowers nor any more beautiful. 
 Probably they abound in the Sierras where no human eye 
 ever beholds them. For what are they made to grow there? 
 
 "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 
 But the eye of Him who made them delights in the works of 
 His hand. Let me behold the beauty of my Lord and be 
 permitted to walk with him among the flowers of the celes- 
 tial mountains. 
 
 We entered the valley at 6 o'clock Saturday evening. 
 Multitudes of friends of the Sabbath-school had arrived 
 before us and almost every place was full of guests. With 
 difiiculty we found lodgings at "Barnard's," the Yo Semite 
 Valley House. Here we found Joseph Cook and wife. 
 While there we ate at the same table with them and this was 
 our first acquaintance with him. He had responded to the 
 invitation to give some of the addresses on the occasion. 
 Among the distinguished men who had come to the anniver- 
 sary were Rev. Dr. Vincent, now bishop, and John Muir the 
 eminent geologist.
 
 464 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LA.ND. 
 
 The new chapel was dedicated on the Sabbath. In the 
 forenoon, the sermon was preached by Dr. Guard; the ded- 
 icatory prayer was by Joseph Co 3k. In the afternoon Dr. 
 \^incent preached in the open air. At night Joseph Cook 
 preached on the omnipresence of God, a sermon such as only 
 he could preach. Monday was devoted to sightseeing. Such 
 was the rush to get horses and mules to ride up the trails to 
 the peaks and outlooks, I failed to get them. Others had 
 pre-engaged them, and we had our choice to walk or be disap- 
 pointed. Rosie accepted my banter and we started oflT, 
 father and daughter, both good walkers, for the Vernal and 
 Nevada Falls, six miles up the Merced River. The first 
 two or three miles are up the level valley near the stream; 
 the other miles are up a steep trail from the Vernal Falls to 
 the Nevada. Over each the whole body of water falls in one 
 unbroken sheet. Their height I have forgotten. Between 
 the two falls the river flows in one continued cascade parts of 
 which are in fearful rapidity. For beauty they can scarcely 
 have a rival. From Nevada Falls the view is among the 
 finest. Snow's Hotel, near the falls, supplied us and other 
 tourists with a good dinner. After rambles to take in new 
 sights we retraced our steps to our hotel praising each other 
 for our pluck and for our walk of twelve or thirteen miles 
 without much fatigue; but the father awarded the prize to 
 the daughter. 
 
 On Tuesday it rained so as to prevent any sight.seeing. 
 At the assembly we heard Joseph Cook's great sermon on 
 "The Certainties of Religion," and John Muir's lectures on 
 the "Forests of California." On Wednesday we joined a 
 company of about one hundred and fifty, mostly members of 
 the assembly, in a ride up the mountain trail to Glacier 
 Point. This is generally regarded as the finest point of obser- 
 vation. Rosie's nag was a well-trained little mare conscien- 
 tiously scrupulous to .set her foot ju.st in the right place.
 
 VO SEMITE VALLEY. 465 
 
 Mine was a sure-footed donkey that treated me as if he 
 beHeved me to be a gentleman. We parted friends. While 
 our company was resting on Glacier Point John Muir gave 
 us a lecture on "The Mountains of California." He is a 
 Scotchman, a scholar, a Christian, and worthy of the posi- 
 tion he then held as state geologist. The magnificence of 
 the views from Glacier Point have often been portrayed. A 
 thousand times is he rewarded who ascends to it. 
 
 On Thursday my fleet-footed daughter joined me in the 
 ascent of the trail to the top of Yo Semite Falls two thou.sand 
 six hundred and thirty-four feet above the valley into which 
 the water of the river descends almost all in one perpendicu- 
 lar plunge. On reaching the top we fell in company with 
 Rev. Dr. Trowbridge and wife of Detroit, Rev. Dr. Willey, 
 and a young man, Mr. McClintock, from Pittsburg. After 
 lunching here we all continued up the trail about two and 
 a half miles farther on and up to the top of Eagle's Rest. 
 From this point is obtained the finest view of the distant 
 Sierra Range with its perpetual snow-covered peaks. The 
 elevation, moreover, is greater than Glacier Point, but the 
 distance from the valley is so much greater not so many 
 tourists visit Eagle's Rest. The Yo Semite Falls, the most 
 wonderful of all in the valley- because of the immense height 
 and extent of the perpendicular fall, are of a small river that 
 empties into the Merced, the river that runs through the 
 entire valley. 
 
 On our return from Eagle's Rest and comino- down through 
 the immense forest that covers the whole .slope abo\'e the 
 falls, we came upon a company of United States surveyors 
 about to encamp for the night. Dr. Willey accepted their 
 invitation to go into camp with them while Rosie and' I 
 hurried down our trail. It was dark when we reached our 
 hotel. We were "as tired as tired can be" but were more 
 than rewarded by what we had .seen of the wonderful works 
 of God. 
 
 30
 
 466 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 There is at Yo Semite a place of observation called "Inspi- 
 ration Point. ' ' From it most of the tourists who enter the 
 valley have their first view, and it bursts upon the beholder 
 so suddenly and so grandly it overwhelms the soul with 
 emotions of awe. It is illustrated by an incident told b}^ 
 
 Miss Willard. A Judge , of Sydney, Ohio, was going 
 
 into the valley. When the stage-coach rounded Inspiration 
 Point and stopped, he rose to his feet, clasped his hands as 
 if in prayer, and exclaimed: "Merc)^ mercy! Havel lived 
 sixty-six years that I might see this glory! God made it 
 all!" and he lifted up his voice and wept. 
 
 Almost any point of observation, whether in the valley as 
 we look upward, or on the heights as we look downward, is 
 an " Inspiration Point." Every new view inspires the soul 
 of the devout with a holy awe as if in the presence of an 
 Almighty Power too great to comprehend. The longer we 
 remain this inspiration grows until the lips are sealed in 
 silence for want of words to tell the emotions of the soul. 
 Let Miss Willard 's pen of matchless beauty try to tell it. 
 She writes: "Except beside the dying bed of my beloved I 
 have never felt the vail so thin between me and the world 
 ineflfable — supernal. What was it like? Let no pen less 
 loft}^ than that of Milton, less attuned with nature's purest 
 mood than that of Wordsworth, hope to 'express unblamed' 
 the awful and ethereal beauty of what we saw. 'Earth 
 with her thousand voices praises God,' sang the great heart 
 of Coleridge of the Vale of Chamouni, but here, the divine 
 chorus includes both earth and heaven, for El Capitan rears 
 his head into the sky, while Sentinel and Cathedral Rocks 
 and sky-climbing Cloud's Rest round out the full diapason 
 of earthly and of celestial praise. A holy awe rested upon 
 us, and tears were in all eyes. At last the sacred silence 
 was broken by a rich voice, beloved b}^ me for man}" a year, 
 as Mrs. Dr. Bentley led the 'Gloria in Excelsis,' in which
 
 YO SEMITE VAI.LEV. 467 
 
 the jubilant soprano harmonized with the melodious bass of 
 humanity's united utterance of praise. 'O come, let us 
 worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our 
 Maker,' these inspired words leaped to our lips, and we 
 found thatMn this supreme moment of our experience, be- 
 yond all poets, was the fitness of the grand old words our 
 mothers taught us from the Book of God: 'The Lord is in 
 his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.' 
 "What is man that thou art mindful of him?' 'Stand in 
 awe and sin not.' " 
 
 On Friday morning we entered our homeward-bound 
 coach returning by the Oak Flat road. This brings the 
 tourist through the "dead giant" in one of the "big tree" 
 groves. It is the stump of an old Sequoia Gigantea broken 
 off about twenty feet from the ground. An opening is cut 
 out through which a four-horse Troy coach may be driven. 
 Our stage took us through. The "giant" stands ' close 
 beside the highway. F^ach of the roads leading into the 
 valley passes through a grove of big trees. The Mariposa 
 is said to be the largest. Two of our traveling companions 
 were Dr. Vincent and Dr. Guard, both pleasant, though the 
 former showed himself to be little in sympathy with the 
 smaller denominations engaged in reform work. Unless the 
 Methodist Episcopal bishop has changed since he put on the 
 gown, he will not set the world on fire by any movement 
 more advanced than conservative Methodism. 
 
 During our stay at the Yo Semite Hotel with Joseph Cook 
 he was inquisitive as to the Chinese and our work among 
 them, and he promised me that if the way w^ere open he 
 would lecture on the subject. The anti-Chinese agitation 
 w^as raging yet. After our return home we arranged for a 
 lecture in the San Francisco Opera House. The great 
 auditorium was full of both friends and foes of the Chinese, 
 and for an hour and a half he made a characteristic argu-
 
 468 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 ment and appeal in behalf of the stranger in onr midst and 
 poured in shot and shell upon the hosts that whether on the 
 sand-lot or in the press or pulpit shout, "The Chinese must 
 go! " Subsequently in Oakland he gave his great lecture on 
 "Does Death End All?" He called on us at our residence, 
 and nearly the first thing he did after entering was to ask 
 to see the last copy of the Christian Statesman. 
 
 Joseph Cook with all his greatness, had serious personal 
 defects. He lacked that warm social element that is sure to 
 win others to us. He was not exactly' an ascetic recluse, liv- 
 ing within himself, but not far from it. He lacked that quiet 
 gentlemanly demeanor and affability of manners which all 
 admire and which are sure to win our affections. But in brain 
 power and culture, and as an original thinker and writer 
 and speaker, Joseph Cook was head and shoulders above the 
 majority of the great men of this generation. As a leader in 
 advanced thoughts and as a courageous reformer and witness 
 against popular errors and popular wrongs he is or was 
 almost without a peer. His lecture on "Does Death End 
 All?" is a marvelous manifestation of close thought and 
 logical power.
 
 CHAPTER XIvVII. 
 MivSsiON Work and a Missionary Tour. 
 
 The Christians of both nationalities in the mission were 
 sufficient in number and intelHgence to observe the week of 
 prayer in January, 1880. The Chinese Christians were 
 more numerous than the others so that most of the prayers 
 and remarks were in their own language. The Chinese 
 elder who was also the native helper, was interpreter when 
 needed. Two or three, however, during the services both 
 spoke and prayed in English. On the evening in w^hich the 
 subject of missions was the theme, two of them spoke with 
 earnestness and fluency. 
 
 Soon after the meetings another Chinese convert w^as bap- 
 tized, Lo Ho3^ a jj-oung man of most lovely disposition and 
 who, though long and often tried sorely, at latest accounts 
 continued a firm disciple. Then shortly before our next 
 communion, which was on the second Sabbath of April, 
 another convert, Wong Chu, was admitted to the church. 
 The baptism was on Sabbath after the action sermon from, 
 "Behold what manner of love the Father," etc. 
 
 During this communion season again I was without 
 ministerial aid. How joyous it would have been to me if I 
 could have been favored with the presence and assistance of 
 some dear brother. But we were so far away how could I 
 expect it? Yet I had such a burden of cares and labors 
 resting upon me I now wonder that I was brought through 
 it all. I did not see it then. but afterwards I learned how 
 unwise I had been in undertaking such manifold labors. 
 
 (469)
 
 470 LOOKING BACK FROM THE vSUNSET LAND. 
 
 The work of the night schools, seven nights every week, in 
 a room full of Chinese scholars, or in another not well ven- 
 tilated, imperceptibl}' and graduall}' undermined m)^ health. 
 Yet I continued for I did not know how to avoid it; and I loved 
 the work for the reward came with it. If there is joy in 
 heaven over one sinner that repents, why should not we be 
 happy in our efforts to bring sinners to repentance? 
 
 Believing that duty called for rest and change, and desir- 
 ous of being at Synod to plead for the Oakland mission 
 and to awaken in the church more interest in the behalf 
 of the Chinese of California, I followed the advice of my 
 wife and determined to make a tour east. Procuring extra 
 teachers for the mission in my absence, and giving it into 
 the charge of Mrs. Johnston and the helper, and taking our 
 daughter Rosie for my traveling companion, I bade good-bj^ 
 to loved ones at home and took the overland train on Mon- 
 day evening, April 19. We spent our first Sabbath in Chi- 
 cago with my niece, Mrs. Helen Hervey. We all met in 
 prayer-meeting with a Mr. Smyth and family. Covenanters 
 formerly from Irelatid but now members of one of our con- 
 gregations in Iowa. And while in Chicago I called on my 
 life-long friend. Dr. David Tidball, who had removed thither 
 from New Castle, Pa. It was good to see his face once 
 more. No more faithful friend was ever on my List, and 
 this was by no means short. Our second Sabbath was spent 
 among our friends at Belle-Centre and Northwood. In the 
 First Reformed Presbyterian Church in the latter place I 
 gave a lecture on "California — Its I^ight and Shade." This 
 included a discussion of the Chinese questions. On Sabbath 
 evening we had a large missionary meeting in the college 
 chapel where I spoke at length on the Chinese missions in 
 California and especially of our own. Journeying eastward 
 we stopped at Utica and visited with nephew Robinson 
 Johnston and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Here
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 47 1 
 
 also I gave a lecture anent the Chinese mission. Thence we 
 journeyed to St. Clairsville to visit my brother, J. B. John- 
 ston and family. Here we spent our third Sabbath, and I 
 lectured in the United Presbyterian Church, also in the 
 Methodist. At this time my brother was growing old and 
 feeble, being about seventy-eight years of age. I felt that I 
 would never see him again. He had ever been to me a 
 faithful and loving brother. I now loved him more than 
 ever. Our talks together and alone were pleasant and lov- 
 ing. His last prayer — it was at his family altar the morning 
 of our departure — was characteristic and seemed to me 
 almost a divine benediction. We parted to meet no more 
 on this side of the vail. In less than two years and a half 
 he departed to be among the celestials. He had his infirmi- 
 ties — who has none ? — but he was a true child of God and a 
 man eminent in faith and prayer; and his works follow him. 
 Leaving my daughter with brother's family for two or 
 three days and then to meet me on the way eastward, I went 
 to New Athens to see my alma fnater once more. It had 
 been revived after peace came, and Rev. Dr. Vincent was 
 the president. He invited me to lodge with him, and I 
 gave my lecture on California in the college chapel. Except 
 President Vincent, the faculty and students were all stran- 
 gers. It didn't seem like days of yore in student life. Then 
 slavery was the overshadowing and dominant institution in 
 the land; now the millions were free and thousands of the 
 freedmen in the colleges of the .south or north. The desolat- 
 ing war which had broken the bondman's chains and also 
 had for the time silenced old Franklin's bell on which was 
 cast, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land," was long 
 since over and the old bell again calling the students together 
 for chapel service. Coming out of the old town next morn- 
 ing and looking back to take my last view of what was dear 
 to me now only because of its hallowed associations, I could
 
 472 LOOKING BACK F^ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 not conceal m}^ sadness as I said, ''Vale, alma mater mea, 
 vale. ' ' 
 
 Next I found my way to the homes of my two cousins, 
 Hervey and Stewart Black, my older playmates in child- 
 hood. Cousin Herve}^, now an old elder in the Presbj^terian 
 Church, kindly drove me to my father's grave in the old 
 burying-ground beside the old brick church in which my 
 parents once worshiped and in which I w^as baptized. I had 
 not seen that grave for thirty-five years, when one cold 
 winter da}- my weeping mother rested on my arm as we saw 
 them \2iy awa}' all that remained of one we loved so well. 
 No voice was heard as I gathered some grasses that grew 
 beneath the shadow of the old marble headstone and turned 
 away sorrowing that I had not been a son worth}- of such a 
 father. Three miles further took us to the old farm — to the 
 spot where sixty j^ears ago these eyes first saw the light — to 
 the old brick house we used to call our home. But, O how 
 changed! Things I thought to see were gone. The old 
 oak tree under whose shade sister and I used to play or sat 
 to study our Bible or our catechism, was gone and the spot 
 where once it stood was all bare! I asked leave of the 
 strangers who now occupied the house to pass through it 
 and once more to look upon its walls and its old fireplaces at 
 which I had sat to hear my father read from the old family 
 Bible and where my mother when we were alone had taught 
 me to pray. But all seemed so strange and desolate I could 
 not linger but hurried away in sadness from the old home of 
 my childhood. 
 
 Another short ride took us to the old home of my Grand- 
 father Black and that sweet old grandmother who, whenever 
 in my childhood I went to see her always took me on her 
 lap and kissed her "little Robinson," and never let me start 
 back home before she had given me a piece of bread and 
 butter "with honey on it." The reader may smile, but that
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 475 
 
 dear grandmother always seemed to me like an angel. With 
 the eye of memory I yet see the old cottage and near by the 
 twenty or thirty beehives where grandfather used to handle 
 the swarming bees as if only pets, while I ran far away in 
 fear. But now all was gone. The grass-covered lot and 
 the old spring near by were all that remained. 
 
 Having visited the friends, and lodging with Cousin Stew- 
 art, also an honored elder in the old church, I hastened to 
 Bridgeport, opposite Wheeling, Va., to meet my daughter 
 and pass to Pittsburg where I had an opportunity to lecture 
 on the Chinese question. At Beaver Falls I lectured on 
 Chinese missions, and thence went to New Galilee to spend 
 the Sabbath with nephew Rev. N. M. Johnston. On Mon- 
 day afternoon I had an important meeting with the Board 
 of Missions. I think Dr. Thomas Sproull was the chair- 
 man at that time. He asked me numerous questions in 
 reference to the work, whether for his own information or 
 for the Board I do not know; but the result was advanced 
 and favorable action. 
 
 The next two days were spent in New Castle where I 
 lectured two evenings in Rev. Dr. Browne's church, visiting 
 many old friends and lodging one night with the Reformed 
 Presbyterian pastor. Rev. S. J. Crowe, and the other with 
 Dr. Browne. Later in the week I Itctured in Wilkinsburg, 
 lodging with Brother Joseph Hunter. At the close of the 
 lecture Mrs. William Wills invited me to diue with her 
 family next day. While I was there she handed me fifty 
 dollars for the Chinese mission. As I had not been solic- 
 iting any funds whatever, this contribution showed how 
 much she was interested in the cause. 
 
 During the most of the remaining time before departing 
 to Synod I was kindly entertained in the family of Mrs. 
 Oudry of Allegheny. On several occasions before at meetings 
 of Synod I had lodged with the same family, and to no other
 
 474 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 in that city am I so indebted for kind hospitalities which 
 alwa^'S made that house a home to her many friends. Pure 
 religion and undefiled ever made it such. 
 
 From the first inauguration of the mission in Oakland 
 Rev. Dr. Milligan was deeply interested in it. It had 
 always been his judgment that the church should devote 
 her energies and expend her funds in home mission work 
 among the freedmen, the Indians, and the Chinese, rather 
 than in foreign mission work. Rev. Dr, Sloane, on the 
 other hand, had not been much interested in the Chinese 
 work, alleging that we had as many missions already as we 
 could support. Recently, however, he had changed his 
 mind. In an interview with him while I was tarrying in 
 Allegheny on this occasion he said he had changed his mind 
 and that hereafter he would do all he could for the new mis- 
 sion among the Chinese. Accordingly, as he was at that 
 time pastor of the Allegheny congregation he arranged for a 
 missionary meeting in his own church on Sabbath evening. 
 The house was crowded full. In the opening devotional 
 exercises he read the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah in which 
 occurs that wonderful prophetic verse (the twelfth) closing 
 with these words: "And these from the land of Sinim" 
 (China). Profes-ior D. B. Willson gave the opening address. 
 I followed and spoke a short hour in reference to the Chinese 
 mi.ssions in California, especially the Covenanter mis.sion. 
 This was followed by another address by Dr. Milligan. As 
 most of the leading members of the Board were present I 
 hoped that night that hereafter the Oakland mi-ssion would 
 receive more favor; and it did. 
 
 Oa the following Wednesday evening Synod met in Phila- 
 delphia. The weather was very hot nearly all the 'time of 
 its sessions. I was in feeble health, for I did not recruit as 
 fast as I had hoped before leaving home. As usual, the 
 church in which Synod sat was generally crowded and the
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 475 
 
 members suffered with the heat. This lack of comfort was 
 always a hindrance to prompt and proper synodical work 
 and, as I always thought, a strong reason for Synod's meet- 
 ing earlier in May and before the hot weather that so often 
 occurs about the first of June. The most important conven- 
 tion or legislative body in any land is the annual Synod of 
 the old Covenanter Church. That body should always meet 
 at the best season of the year and have abundance of time 
 for doing her work well without that rush that nearly 
 always characterizes the .sessions of the last day or two, and 
 especially the last session. Such ru.sh must be offensive to 
 the church's Head in whose name Synod convenes. 
 
 The Sabbath that occurred during the time of Synod was 
 spent in New York where, under the conduct of Mr. McKib- 
 ben, wMth whom I lodged, I visited the Chinese mission on 
 Mott Street, the only one in that city then. x\t the First 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church I heard a characteristic ser- 
 mon by Dr. A. M. Milligan, and then in the evening I 
 lectured on the Bible. 
 
 In accordance with the arrangements of Synod's com- 
 mittee on missions a public meeting was held in the First 
 Church on Tuesday evening. Rev. J. C. Todd, then labor- 
 ing on the extreme western boundary, .spoke in behalf of 
 domestic missions. Elder Boxley, of Selma, Ala., in behalf 
 of the freedmen's mission, and I in behalf of the Chinese mis- 
 sion in California. Mr. Boxley, always a plea.sant speaker, 
 evidently had the favorable attention of the people. The 
 freedmen's mission was always regarded, and rightly, with 
 special favor. That was the first time the claims of the work 
 in California had been pressed upon the Synod. I would 
 have had le.ss pain of mind if I had not known my utter 
 inability to press tho.se claims properly. To say in Synod 
 what I wished to say on any important subject was always 
 one of the most difficult duties I ever had to perform.
 
 476 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND, 
 
 My consciousness of inferiority as a public speaker was 
 always embarrassing. Nevertheless it was manifest at that 
 Synod that the work among the Chinese in California had 
 already a strong hold upon the friends of missions. 
 
 Synod adjourned late on Wednesday night. In company 
 with many of the western members I took the homeward- 
 bound train and reached Belle-Centre, O., Thursday night 
 about midnight and was met at the station by my daughter 
 who had been visiting her uncles and aunt !^Iary Jane while 
 I was at Synod. On Saturday morning we bade good-by to 
 friends beloved and were in Chicago by the evening. Again 
 we lodged over Sabbath with that most beloved niece, Helen 
 Hervey. According to previous arrangements I preached 
 in the house of Mr. Smyth, the elder mentioned on a pre- 
 vious page, and baptized his child, a beautiful babe, "little 
 Susie." This baptismal rite I performed at the request of 
 Mr. Smyth's pastor in Iowa, Rev. R. C. Wylie. Elder Smyth 
 was a very intelligent and good man and one of the "most 
 straitest sect" of the Covenanters. Why was he not 
 spared to be one of the new Covenanter congregation now 
 in Chicago? But God took him, and now "little Susie," a 
 grown-up and beautiful girl, is in Oakland, but not of the 
 Covenanter fold. Her mother took Susie with her into 
 the Presbyterian fold where there was more room than in 
 the little h;^ll occupied by the "bigoted Covenanters" and 
 the hated Mongolians. 
 
 "Saturday, June 12. By the good hand of our God upon 
 us, Rosie and I have had a prosperous journey and at 11 
 o'clock were met at San Pablo by wife and daughter Mary 
 who welcomed us home. And for bringing us safely home 
 again I here and now record my devout gratitude to God our 
 Preserver." (Diary.) 
 
 Three or four months after our return home the mission 
 lost one of its best teachers. We felt the less all the more
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 477 
 
 becau'^e she was not only among the best but one whose 
 services were gratuitous. For years, indeed from the open- 
 ing of the mission during all the years up to the time of her 
 retirement, she worked voluntarily seven nights in the week 
 and up to 9:30 o'clock, all for the good she was doing. 
 True, we were glad to give her her board and lodging in 
 part pay, and furnished her clothing also, which did not cost 
 very much as she did not care to be dressed up to "the tip 
 of the fashions." Yet as we did not pay her a teacher's 
 salary we could afford to be generous in the supplying of 
 her needs. We were exceedingly sorry to lose her from the 
 mi.ssion for she had been with us from the beginning, always 
 at her post and doing her work well. Besides, we knew full 
 well that we could never find another to fill her place. This 
 teacher was our second daughter, Mary Adela, who on the 
 2otli of October, 1880, was married to James Henry 
 Kirkpatrick of Utica, O. They were married by her father 
 in our own parlor. We did not charge him with theft in 
 stealing her heart, but as by the first overland train he took 
 her away, leaving a vacant chair in our house, we could 
 only lament our great loss. That vacant chair was often 
 wet with tears. We had this partial consolation, however, 
 that what was our loss was gain to him. But did he con- 
 sider that he had found and that we were giving away to 
 him a woman whose price is far above rubies? 
 
 During our absence the care of the mission devolved upon 
 Mrs. Johnston and the helper, Ju Sing, assisted by young 
 women teachers in the night school. He was a tolerably 
 good interpreter but not sufficiently taught in the Scripture 
 and Gospel truths to be a lay preacher; but he was a faith- 
 ful man, and I gave him as janitor the care of the mission 
 rooms. In looking after the wronged Chinese, or the sick, 
 or the unfortunate, he was always a great help to me. Soon 
 after the mission was in good working order I procured a
 
 478 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 home or lodging-house for the converts or the unemplo5'ed 
 adherents, /. <?., those who had abandoned idols and were 
 learning the lessons of Christianity and examining it. This 
 lodging-house needed some reliable person in authority to 
 have care of it and oversight of the lodgers. This also 
 devolved upon Ju Sing. And he was ever faithful. Besides, 
 while he continued to be the helper we gave him special 
 instruction in Bible and religious truth. We sent him to 
 the public school also, that he might become a good English 
 scholar. But he was not brainy, and he never could have 
 become a superior scholar or good missionary. 
 
 After the church saw that the Oakland mission was doing 
 a good work and after Synod asked congregational collec- 
 tions for it, liberal contributions came from all parts of the 
 church. Added to these were numerous and generous con- 
 tributions from individuals. When anj of these were sent 
 to me directly I reported them every month to the Board. 
 We never lacked money necessary to carry on the work in 
 our humble and economical method. Wketi now the work 
 had grown into fair proportions and required more of my 
 attention, when health required me to avoid excessive labor 
 too long endured, and when the contributions of eastern 
 friends of the mission were sufficient to free us from anxiety 
 about the financial future of the mission, I resigned my posi- 
 tion in the newspaper office and gave myself wholly to mis- 
 sion work, though at no time did I ever ask or receive any 
 salary from the Board, nor did any of the family; yet we 
 never "lacked any good thing." After our older daughter 
 completed her studies in the classical course of the High 
 School, and then after two years" additional study graduated 
 in Snell Seminary, she accepted a position as teacher in the 
 same institution. She taught on a low salary, but the wages 
 of mother and daughter were sufficient to meet our family 
 expenses, and thus we all were able to work for the mission
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 479 
 
 without any salary from the Board. Our God blessed us, 
 and we had our reward in the work. 
 
 After the furnishing of the mission home, the regular and 
 ordinary expenses were the monthly rents, gas, and fuel, and 
 the rent of the lodging-house, though a part of this was paid 
 by some of the lodgers who were able. Then there were the 
 wages of the helper and of the other teachers. 
 
 From the first I was anxious to see some of the young 
 converts at .studies that would fit them to be helpers or mis- 
 sionaries among their own people whether here or in China. 
 In the early years of the mission there were several who, as 
 I thought, should be educated. They w^ere poor and could 
 obtain scholarship onlyl)y the help of others. I appealed to 
 friends who had means. A few liberal contributions for this 
 students' fund were received. By means of it I was able to 
 help three of the converts to attend the Oakland public 
 schools for some time. Before they were admitted, however, 
 they had to cut oif their cues and put on American clothes. 
 One of these, Chu Gock, paid for his board by working as a 
 house servant morning and evening, and he continued in the 
 school until he had become a pretty good English scholar. 
 In arithmetic he always led his class. It was not the design 
 of this fund to educate only one but to help all who could be 
 profited by it and who would use it well; yet if the fund had 
 been sufficient I would have rejoiced to help several to be 
 prepared to enter Geneva College in the hope that after a 
 while educated Chinese might be ready to be sent out by the 
 church to China. And during all these years I have been 
 sorry that we have had no Chinese students in our own col- 
 lege. What better work, in the educational department, 
 could the church do now than to train students of all three 
 of the races for whom we have missions, negroes, Chinese, 
 Indians ? 
 
 Much of my time was taken up in helping the unfortunate
 
 480 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 or in protecting them from wrong-doers. For years, all 
 through the agitation of the "sand-lot" meetings, held on 
 the Sabbath day, the unoffending strangers were liable to all 
 manner of abuse and inj ustice by hoodlums and ' ' Damn the 
 Chinamen" Paddies and more respectable (?) people who 
 resorted to all kinds of means to get rid of them wherever 
 they were rivals in business or labor or manufactures. 
 Oftentimes the police courts gave them no relief. As in the 
 da3^s of slaver}', the power was on the side of the oppressor, 
 and they had almost no friend who would take time or risk 
 reproach in ridding them from ill men's might or securing 
 justice for them in the courts. Many an innocent man had 
 to pay a fine or lie in prison because of false witnesses or 
 lack of truth. 
 
 In San Francisco there was one man who was ever and 
 everj^where the friend of the Chinamen, viz. Dr. Otis Gibson, 
 superintendent of the M. E. Chinese Mission in San Fran- 
 cisco. In his untiring and courageous efforts in behalf of 
 the poor and the wronged, he had no peer. Being of large 
 and strong physique and dauntless in his courage whether 
 on the street or in the courts, even hoodlums and policemen 
 feared him. The}' knew he was a man of God and was in 
 the right. The innocent and the persecuted and the dis- 
 tressed went to him for help. They were not disappointed. 
 Good men, especially the friends of missions, loved him, and 
 though his life was cut short he lived to be honored by many 
 who had hated him because he stood in their way when they 
 sought to do wrong to the poor. But God bade him rest 
 from his labors. If they could have been at the burial, thou- 
 sands whose friend he had been would have wept at his 
 grave. In Oakland there was not so much violence or wrong 
 so that the missionary's time was not taxed so heavily? But 
 I learned much from Dr. Gibson and I admired his courage 
 and kindness so much that I instinctively followed his exam- 
 ple; and it was a pleasure to help the needy.
 
 Otis Gibson D D.
 
 MISSION WORK AND A INIISSIONARY TOUR. 48 1 
 
 Amonf^ the other honorable and beloved missionaries, 
 superintendents of Chinese missions of their own denomina- 
 tions and in vSan Francisco, it gives me pleasure to make 
 special mention of Rev. Dr. Loomis, Pre.sbyterian, Rev. Dr. 
 Hartwell, Baptist, Rev. William Pond, Congregationalist. 
 Dr. Loomis and Dr. Hartwell had been mi-ssionaries in China 
 and were good Chinese scholars. Dr. Pond was general 
 superintendent only; the work in San Francisco was done 
 largely by Jee Gam, the helper. Rev. I. M. Condit took 
 charge of the work in the Presbyterian mission after the 
 death of Dr. Loomis. During all the storm}^ j-ear of the 
 anti-Chinese excitement tho.se noble men stood up together 
 in behalf of the insulted and wronged strangers in our midst; 
 and under the leadership of Dr. Gibson during two or three 
 years we held monthly meetings for prayer and mutual 
 counsel and help against the enemies of the Gospel and of the 
 poor. (These meetings occurred before Dr. Condit and Dr. 
 Masters became the succes.sors of Dr. Loomis and Dr. Gibson, 
 decea.sed.) And it gives me pleasure to have the oppor- 
 tunity here and now of .saying that to those faithful workers 
 I was greatly indel)ted for wise coun.sel. Ours was the only 
 mission in Oakland at that time, and to me and my co- 
 workers they were a tower of strength. 
 
 In the outskirts of Oakland there was a large fruit cannery 
 in which for several summers five or six hundred Chinese 
 were employed. As they were not at work on Sabbaths I 
 thought it an open door for the preaching of the Gospel. 
 They lodged in cheap houses on the ground and had com- 
 mand of their own time on the Sabbath. I .spoke to the 
 proprietor and obtained permission to hold outdoor mis.sion- 
 ary meetings in the afternoons. Taking with me several of 
 the most advanced Christians of the mission and the helper, 
 and some Psalm-books and Chinese tracts, we went to the 
 grounds, took a favorable position for the meeting, and 
 
 31
 
 482 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 1)egan by singing. This was an invitation to come to hear 
 the Gospel, and generall}^ one or two hundred came, some- 
 times not more than fifty or sixty. As often as convenient I 
 took with me the best available Chinese-speaking preacher 
 or missionary or native helper from any other mission. 
 After prayer two or three preachers addressed the people. 
 Many heard attentively all the time. Some would come and 
 listen a while or go away without showing any interest I 
 alwa3"S spoke through an interpreter for almost none of them 
 understood English. It required every possible effort to 
 secure their attention and hold them to the end. Ordinary 
 Gospel sermons failed. I often thought, O, if Jesus had 
 i)een there to speak to those dying souls! They know so 
 little. How can we reach them? And yet some seemed to 
 listen as if longing to know some better way than the wor- 
 ship of idols, or as if saying. Tell me more about Jesus. 
 After prayer and singing and giving out a tract or leaflet to 
 every one, we bade them good-by. Sometimes one who 
 could speak a little English would say to me, "Come back 
 again." 
 
 These meetings were kept up for several months, or during 
 the canning season of two summers. Perhaps it was shortly 
 after the opening of the third season we went one Sabbath 
 afternoon to find the laborers all busy in the works as on 
 other days. They continued to work on the Sabbaths, and 
 we had to abandon our Eusk Cannery missionary meetings. 
 Whether any soul was. saved or even profited we could not 
 know. Probably a few afterwards came into our mission 
 school, but this was the onlj^ good resulting as far as we 
 knew. Probably more may be known in the life to come. 
 
 Some of the Psalms used at our missionar}- meetings, 
 whether at Eusk's or on the street in Oakland's Chinatown, 
 were selections from Rev. J. C. Nevins' (L^nited Presb}^- 
 terian) translations. He was regarded as the best Chinese
 
 MISSION WORK AND A MISSIONARY TOUR. 483 
 
 scholar among Americans in California. While in China he 
 had translated into Chinese meters about fifty of the Psalms. 
 From his versifications and by his permission we copied quite 
 a number upon canvas for use in the mission. At first effort 
 the Chinese are "miserable singers." Among the masses 
 in China there is no knowledge of vocal music as a science. 
 Their common singing is merely barbaric. When they begin 
 to sing Psalms their voices are painfully harsh. After a 
 while, however, by much drill a few of them become beauti- 
 ful singers. 
 
 In the progress of the work we found it necessary to 
 change the location of the mission nearer the center of the 
 city. Here we had a larger mission chapel and more con- 
 venient. And the change called for large expense in new 
 furniture and costly matting, etc. And not far from the 
 chapel we rented a cottage for the Christians' home. This 
 occasioned the displeasure of the families near by who hated 
 the Chinese whether Christians or pagans, and they threat- 
 ened to give us trouble; but we went on in our duties as 
 before. The Chinese lodgers were as peaceable and ([uiet 
 as others even the best. But they wore "pigtails." A 
 whisky saloon was on the corner. The people could en- 
 dure the saloon, and without objection; but they could not 
 endure the presence of the Mongolians who never entered 
 anv saloon.
 
 CHAPTER XLVIIL 
 
 Lights and Shadows. 
 
 Soon after we went to California we formed the aa^uaint- 
 ance of old John Brown's family now consisting of his 
 widow and two danghters, one married. They had lived 
 in Humboldt County where his son Solomon was a sheep 
 rancher. Now they resided in Santa Clara County and had 
 a little home near the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains. 
 A steep mountain road of two miles more or less led to their 
 residence. They were poor and in debt for the little ranch 
 which they had set out in fruit trees and vines. Mrs. John- 
 ston and I visited them in their new home, and repeated the 
 visit at a later date. Mrs. Brown was a plain woman, not 
 highly educated, but she was good and noble, and .she believed 
 in the old martyr. In these and subsequent interviews Mrs. 
 Brown gave me much information that is not found in any 
 of his biographies. Among other mementoes she gave me 
 some of his manuscript letters. They are gems. Her daughter 
 Sarah, as noble a young woman as ever mourned a martyr 
 father, helped to maintain the family and pa}^ off the debts 
 by giving music lessons to scholars down in the village of 
 Saratoga at the foot of the mountain. Afterwards she became 
 an artist and is now making her living in an artist's studio 
 in San Jo.se. The ^^oungest daughter, Mrs. Fablinger, a 
 beautiful woman, is the mother of a family of lovely chil- 
 dren. Mr. Fablinger w^as then a teacher; now he owns a 
 little fruit ranch near Saratoga. They all are Congrega- 
 tionalists and model Christians. Grace is not inherited, but 
 
 (484)
 
 tIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 485 
 
 his children seem to have inherited John Brown's virtues. 
 Mrs. Brown honored us b^' paying us several visits in Oak- 
 land. Her grave is in the Congregational church-yard at 
 Saratoga. Since her mother's death Sarah has often 
 been our guest. We honor her for her father's sake 
 and highly esteem her for her own good qualities, one 
 of which is her almost devout adoration of her martyred 
 father. Since the death of Mrs. Brown it was my privi- 
 lege to visit his daughter Ruth to whom it was thought 
 he was peculiarly devoted. She was the wife of William 
 Thompson, one of the heroes of Harper's Ferry, and she 
 was the mother of several children. They were living 
 at that time on a little ranch a few miles north of Pasa- 
 dena, southern California. While in their home I was in 
 the presence of good people worthy of more honor than the 
 world awards to those who have fought the battles of truth 
 and righteousness. 
 
 I have a pleasant recollection of service done to the aged. 
 At the request of the lady managers of the "Home for Aged 
 Women" I went one Sabbath a month for a year or more to 
 preach to the inmates of the institution. Most of the women 
 were Christians; and to preach Christ and the consolations of 
 his Gospel was a ver}- pleasant service. Mrs. Johnston often 
 went with me and led in the singing. We used a little book 
 of selections from the Psalms, and the books were left with 
 the old people that they might learn the beauty of the songs 
 of inspiration. 
 
 At the invitation of the Covenanters residing near Santa 
 Ana, southern California, and by appointment of the Board 
 of Home Missions, I made a hurried visit there and preached 
 one Sabbath. There were the families of Elder McCloy, 
 Elder Mitchell, and Mr. McClurkin. A while ago there 
 might have been a prospect of a little congregation at Santa 
 Ana. Now it was too late. Mr. McCloy was preparing to
 
 486 LOOKING BACK I?ROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 remove to Texas. The United Presbyterians had taken 
 possession of the field. Mr. Mitchell began to attend the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and erelong all hope of a 
 Covenanter congregation at Santa Ana was abandoned. 
 
 On my way to or from Santa Ana I called upon a Cov- 
 enanter family in lyos Angeles, Mr. and Mrs. Swizer, formerly 
 members of first Philadelphia congregation. They had come 
 to California for his health, but after fighting hard several 
 years to ward off the enem^^ he finall}^ died of consumption. 
 A while afterwards Mrs. Swizer's stepfather, David Lang, 
 formerly a deacon in Topsham and then an elder of Ryegate 
 Vermont congregation, came to southern California, bought 
 a ranch in the country, held onto his Covenanter principles 
 for a while, and then becoming discouraged, went into the 
 Presbyterian Church at Azusa. Mrs. Swizer had preceded 
 him in the same way. In California soil Covenanter seed 
 does not .seem to flourish. There are some other Covenant- 
 ers in that part of the state yet. Will these be faithful unto 
 death ? 
 
 Around Puget Sound the soil .seems to be better adapted 
 to the growth of Scotch heather. Sometime in the eighties 
 a few pioneer Covenanters settled at and near Kent, Wash. 
 These were the families of Dr. Ewing, Mr. Elsie, and Mr. 
 Clark. When living in Minnesota Dr. Ewing had been a 
 very liberal friend of the Chinese mission in California, and 
 had often contributed to it. Soon after he went to Kent he 
 wrote to me inviting me to visit them and give them some 
 preaching. I laid the petition before the Central Board. 
 They appointed me to go and preach two or three Sabbaths. 
 My route by rail took me near the base of Mount Sha.sta and 
 over the Siskiyou Mountains. At that time the road was 
 not finished. Stages carried travelers from Cole's Station, 
 near the Si.skiyou Range, over the mountains to A.shland, 
 Oregon. When the road was built afterwards it showed
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 487 
 
 engineering skill rarelj^ seen in the country. On this tour 
 for the first time I saw the Columbia probably the most 
 beautiful of the large rivers. 
 
 While in Washington I lodged part of the time with Dr. 
 Ewing's family and part with Mr. Elsie's. Greatty did I 
 enjoy m}^ home with them. 
 
 In a schoolhouse in Mr. Elsie's district and in a dense 
 forest Mrs. Elsie had been superintending a Sabbath-school 
 during the summer. In this schoolhouse they had arranged 
 for the preaching. The house was full both Sabbaths, and 
 I preached two sermons both days. The Sabbath-school 
 met between the services. In the evening of the second 
 Sabbath I preached in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 Kent. Those five sermons were the first Covenanter dis- 
 courses ever preached in the Puget Sound country. At that 
 time there were no Covenanters in Seattle. 
 
 During the days between the two Sabbaths I made a hasty 
 visit to Victoria, in British Columbia. My principal object 
 was to see the Chinese mi.ssions in that old city. There 
 were many Chinese there, and considerable work had been 
 done among them. The principal worker was young Mr. 
 Gardiner, son of a Presbyterian returned missionary. His 
 widowed mother is a Chinese Christian woman of great 
 excellency. The steamer that plied between Seattle and 
 Victoria stopped at Port Town send where I called upon a 
 son of Henry Ward Beecher and had a pleasant inter\dew. 
 He was collector of the port. Shortly before I was in Seattle 
 had occurred those fearful anti-Chinese riots in which for 
 several days the governor of the territory' with a large mil- 
 itary force had kept the mob at bay when they were deter- 
 mined to drive away every Chinaman from the city; and 
 there were many of them there. When I was there they 
 nearly all had gone away afraid to remain after such terrible 
 opposition.
 
 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 At Tacoma similar riots had occurred and the Chinese had 
 been driven out. Not one was left. The citizens in public 
 meetings had resolved that they would not permit any 
 Chinaman, at any time or for any purpose, to enter the city. 
 This their vow they kept by their loaded guns. 
 
 Ju Bong was one of the young converts who was anxious 
 for a good English education, and that he might get it in 
 the Oakland schools he cut off his cue and put on American 
 clothes. But his studies were hard for him and he did not 
 continue very long in school but returned to work again. 
 He was amiable and kind-hearted and among his fellows he 
 was a favorite. As a Christian he was consistent in his life 
 and alwaj'S at his post. He was one of the few who became 
 so familiar with the English language as to be able to use it 
 in our prayer-meetings. Having accumulated a little money 
 he became a partner in a Chinese store in compau}' with a 
 member of the Baptist Church. He had the principal charge 
 of the store and lodged in a room in the rear. But he con- 
 tinued to attend the mission .school and was alwaj-s at the 
 weekly evening praj^er-meetings. Going home from one of 
 these meetings one of the 5'oung men walked with him to 
 the store, bade him good-night, and passed on to his lodging. 
 That was the last time Ju Bong was seen alive by any of his 
 Christian friends. From testimony obtained afterwards it is 
 quite probable that not long after he entered his store and 
 had locked the door a man, or probably two, rapped. He 
 opened the door and recognizing one of them as an acquaint- 
 ance admitted them. They were Chinamen. At a later hour 
 he was seen by some one who was passing by, lying pros- 
 trate in the open front door groaning with pain from a pistol 
 shot in the back in the region of the loins. To the police- 
 man who came to his assistance and asked him what was 
 the matter, the dying man said: "Frank Eee* shot me." 
 
 "This was his American name by which he was best known.
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 489 
 
 The police ambulance was sent for. He was placed in it and 
 carried to the receiving hospital; but before arrival the spirit 
 of Ju Bong had passed away, the first of the race, of our broth- 
 erhood, whose redeemed soul was permitted "to be with the 
 Lord." When the sad intelligence of his death was brought 
 to us earl}^ the next morning I could not repress my grief 
 that our dear brother had died among strangers, no friend or 
 Christian brother being present to speak words of comfort or 
 to hear the last words of testimony from his dying lips. 
 
 By the coroner's jury a verdict was rendered that Ju Bong 
 had died by a bullet fired by Chu Chew (Frank lyce). 
 From all the testimony that could be obtained it was estab- 
 lished almost beyond doubt that he had been murdered by 
 the man whose name he had given with his dying lips to the 
 policeman, and that the motive of the murderer was .solely 
 money. Another man was implicated. They had escaped 
 by the back door. In the back yard the murderer's hat was 
 found in the morning. A pistol with an empty barrel was 
 found lying in the rear room. And from numerous .similar 
 circumstances it was almost certain that Ju Bong had walked 
 to the front door to blow a policeman's whistle when he was 
 shot by the murderer who escaped the back way. 
 
 The body of our lost brother was taken to the parlor 
 of the undertaker and prepared for burial. The funeral 
 services were held in the mission chapel. It was filled 
 with his lamenting friends and brothers of the mi.ssion and 
 Chinese Christians from other mis.sions. Addresses were 
 given by two well-known missionaries, Rev. Dr. Otis Gibson 
 and Rev. I. M. Condit, one in Chinese and the other in 
 Finglish. W'e laid away the bod}^ of our lamented brother 
 in the Mountain View Cemetery, more beautiful than 
 Greenwood. We met the funeral expenses ourselves, but 
 afterwards when we erected a becoming monument upon 
 his grave the Chinese brothers of the mi.ssion generously 
 contributed most of the money.
 
 490 LOOKING HACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 After two or three weeks of search by the Oakland police 
 the murderer was arrested in his hiding-place in Watsonville, 
 Monterey County. After a long trial in the county court 
 the jury was unanimous in the verdict, and Chu Chew was 
 sentenced to Hfe confinement in the state prison. Most 
 probably it would have been the death penalty had it not 
 been that the evidence was all circumstantial except the 
 dying testimony of Ju Bong, and from the fact that during 
 the trial it was made certain that another man was impli- 
 cated and might possibly have fired the fatal shot.
 
 CHAPTER XIvIX. 
 
 In Memoriam. 
 
 DuRiNCi the following autumn Rev. Dr. A. M. Milligan, 
 of Pittsburg, accompanied by his wife, came to California 
 in search of health. Before they left their eastern home 
 they informed us that they were going to Los Angeles. 
 We could not think of his staying there among strangers 
 and so determined to invite them to come to Oakland and 
 make their home with us until his health would be restored 
 if possible. The next day after their arrival at Los Angeles 
 I was there and found them at the house of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Swizer. It was not long until they determined to go home 
 with me. What followed as long as he remained in Cali- 
 fornia was written and was and is known to all his friends 
 who read the church magazines and papers, so that it need 
 not be written on these pages except very briefly for those 
 who were not his cotemporaries. When Dr. Milligan came 
 he was hopeful of improved health and somewhat of recov- 
 ery. As soon as he was rested from his long journey he 
 began to ride out and then to take short walks. Almost 
 daily he took long "sun baths" on our rear piazza. Mrs. 
 Johnston closely studied his dietetic needs, and he was 
 greatly pleased with his hygienic meals. After a while he 
 occasionally walked about a block to see how much he had 
 gained in weight, and was greatly encouraged when he 
 found it increased slowly. He read little and wrote less, 
 but always conversed freely and often cheerfully. He was 
 good company, and he and Mrs. Milligan added much to 
 
 (491)
 
 492 I^OOKING BACK FROM THE .SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the happiness of our family. He rareh' felt able to attend 
 the religious services on Sabbath. One day when he was 
 present I preached on the words of our lyOrd to the great 
 apostle: " Be of good cheer, Paul." After we were at home 
 he said: "That was all for me." One evening when he 
 felt sufficiently strong, by the help of two Chinese Chris- 
 tians he went with us to the mission about a block and a 
 half distant. I had asked him to give a brief address to 
 the Chinese. Most of the Christians were present. He 
 spoke in the sitting posture and with ease and apparent 
 delight. 
 
 As the winter months or the rainy season came on his 
 health was not so good or did not continue to improve, and 
 his friends in Pittsburg wrote and urged him to go farther 
 south. He followed their advice and went to I^os Gatos, 
 a town at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa 
 Clara County. Here he lodged with a Presbyterian pastor 
 who in youth had been a member of the Craftsbury Reformed 
 Presbyterian Congregation. His health declined rapidly 
 w^hile there. Then they went to be the guests of the family 
 of John M. Flemming near San Jose, once a Covenanter 
 elder in New York. Here also he steadily declined in health. 
 The first time I vi.sited him there I saw a great change in 
 his condition for the "w^orse. He suffered much pain and 
 had lost his appetite and could receive almost no food. Mr. 
 Flemming brought him back to our house. I think he had 
 lost hope of recovery. His greatest desire now was to be 
 able to reach home that he might die among his friends. 
 By his permission I called in Rev. Dr. Wythe, M. D., who 
 gave him no reason to hope for recovery, but he hoped that 
 he might be able to endure the journey home. At this 
 time he was no more able to .sit up in his chair, and the 
 only way he could hope to make the journey almost acro.ss 
 the continent would be on his bed. As Mrs. Milligan could
 
 A. M. MiLLIGAN, D. D,
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 493 
 
 not go alone with liim, at their request I agreed to accom- 
 pany them. Without delay it was arranged that we would 
 start on the journey as soon as the Sabbath was over. It 
 was a sad Sabbath day. On Monday we carried him into 
 a carriage, laid him down in a reclining posture, carried 
 him into the Pullman sleeper and laid him upon a bed in 
 the drawing-room which I had engaged for them through 
 the entire journey. Over mountains and plains two nights 
 and a day brought us to Ogden. He ate little or nothing, 
 suifered pain more or less, was almost helpless except in 
 the use of his arms, conversed little, but slept tolerably 
 well. All the while however he was evidently steadily 
 drawing nearer the gates of death. As we had the room 
 for exclusive use we had opportunity for Bible reading, 
 religious conversation, and prayer. His anxiety to reach 
 home in time to die was freely expressed, and I think he 
 did not lose hope until after we passed Ogden. Here we 
 had to change sleepers. With much difficulty two strong 
 men carried him into the drawing-room of a Union Pacific 
 sleeper. The change was a .severe ordeal. It was followed 
 by increased pain and exhaustion. Erelong he fell into 
 an unconscious (comatose) condition which continued until 
 toward midnight when he peacefully and silently fell asleep 
 in Jesus. All through the anxious hours and days of that 
 journey thus far passed we sat at his bedside to care for 
 him, to read the Bible to him, to talk and to pray and to 
 help to fix the eye of the dying Christian upon the Lamb 
 of God. And now when the respiration ceased, when pul- 
 sation was no more, and when we knew that the soul had 
 gone to be with the lyord, and when all was quiet save the 
 noise of our train, we again bowed the knee in supplication 
 for ourselves, for friends in the east, and especially for poor 
 Mrs. Milligan in the hour of her deep sorrow. I had 
 watched that noble woman and faithful wife all the time
 
 494 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 they were with us to admire her loving and tender and 
 constant care for her husband. Never w^as there a more 
 dutiful wife. Now she w^as bereft. Now she was a widow 
 and far from home. It was midnight. We were near 
 Rock Springs, a little east of the Wyoming western border. 
 I went out to a kind Christian man who had shown sym- 
 pathy with us in our anxiety, and told him of the death of 
 our friend. He offered his help in caring for the dead body. 
 Insisting on Mrs. Milligan trying to rest until morning, we 
 informed the conductor of the death of the sick man. Know- 
 ing the law of the trains, that in case of a death the body 
 must be taken off at the first suitable station, I besought the 
 conductor to permit us to take it on to Laramie or Cheyenne 
 when it would be daylight, and because I could not bear the 
 thought of Mrs. Milligan being put off at some little station 
 in the mountains in the dead of the night. He wired to the 
 officer at Cheyenne who, learning that the man had not 
 died from an}^ contagious disease, gave permission to take 
 the body on to Cheyenne where it could be embalmed. On 
 arrival, the bodj* was carried directly to Governor Warren's 
 embalming rooms. Here it lay until prepared and ready for 
 burial and until the coming of Rev. J. S. T. Milligan to 
 whom we had sent the sad intelligence and who came to 
 meet us. Taking the remains with us we passed on our sad 
 journey and stopped in Omaha over Sabbath. Thence we 
 journeyed to Kansas City and St. Louis where friends met us 
 and kindl)' detained us for breakfast with the widow of Rev. 
 James Wallace whose former husband. Professor Trumbull, 
 was an uncle of Dr. Milligan. B3- the Pan Handle railroad 
 we reached Pittsburg where the arrangements had all been 
 made for the burial the day after our expected arrival. This 
 was followed by a post-mortem examination which resulted 
 in the decision that the fatal cause was "Addison's disease 
 of the kidneys." Perhaps it was; but some present were 
 not satisfied with the decision.
 
 IN MKMORIAM. 495 
 
 At the church there was a very large concourse of people. 
 Numerous beautiful memorial addresses were given by min- 
 isters representing the various churches. Mrs. Milligan had 
 requested Dr. McAlHster, who had charge of the memorial 
 services, to ask me to speak and give a brief sketch of Dr. 
 Milligan' s .sickness in California and of his last days and 
 last hours. As I did not know of her request until a short 
 time before I was expected to speak, and as I knew my total 
 inability to do well what I should do, I spoke under great 
 embarrassment and with a humiliating .sense of my weak- 
 ness in the presence of so many of the friends of the de- 
 parted who were anxious, no doubt, to hear what could not 
 be learned from any other. A very large procession followed 
 the remains to their last resting-place in the Allegheny Belle- 
 view cemetery. In less than a year afterwards the body of 
 his most intimate friend and brother. Dr. J. R. W. Sloane, 
 was buried near the same spot. Over both graves are now 
 appropriate monuments placed bj^ those who loved them 
 most. And the whole church mourns the early death of 
 two useful, beloved, and honored servants of Christ. If any 
 one wishes to read what was subsequently written bj^ this 
 pen soon after Dr. Milligan 's death, he will find it in the 
 memorial volume published by Mrs. Milligan. 
 
 After the burial I came to Belle-Centre, Ohio, to visit my 
 sister and the other friends in the vicinity and remained 
 with her until the time of Synod which met this year, 1S85, 
 at Morning Sun, Iowa. One of the most important duties 
 imposed upon me by the moderator was the preparation of 
 the report of Synod's committee in the death of Dr. Milli- 
 gan. As chairman of the committee I prepared it with 
 special care. It was adopted in committee and afterwards 
 by Synod without any change whatever. It formed a part 
 of the memorial volume published afterwards by Mrs. Milli- 
 gan and other friends.
 
 496 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 It was ray "hap" to be entertained during vSynod in the 
 famih- of Elder Mcllhinney, son of one of the pioneers of 
 Sharon congregation whose house of worship was in the 
 neighborhood. One of the other guests was Elder Thomas 
 Walker, the delegate from the session of the second Phila- 
 delphia congregation, Rev. S. O. Wylie, D. D., pastor. 
 Though I had often been in Philadelphia I never before had 
 a favorable opportunity to form his acquaintance. As he 
 was l)orn across the water, and as he was elder in a congre- 
 gation that had always fought against having deacons in 
 the church, perhaps I was disposed to study him a little 
 before I would "take to him." Such is fallen human nature- 
 Gradually he grew in my estimation and so won my affec- 
 tions that before Synod adjourned there was no one in our 
 company of guests whose fellowship was so pleasant to me. 
 This was the beginning of a friendship that in later 3'ears 
 ripened into a brotherh' love that is deathless. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon our host, Mr. Mcllhinney, took a 
 wagon-load of us some miles over the country to the old 
 barn of his uncle and the hickor}- grove adjacent in which I 
 had preached two Sabbaths nearly thirt3--five 3-ears before or 
 shortly after my licensure. The barn was falling into decay; 
 the body of the preacher had lost its j^outhful vigor. The 
 trees had grown larger and would continue their }-outh 
 indefiniteh'. My mind had grown with the trees; and 
 when the)" shall have perished the immortal part will have 
 only begun the life everlasting. 
 
 As soon as Synod adjourned I was on my way home. I 
 reached Ogden and Salt Lake Cit}' before the Sabbath and 
 rested with my friend, Rev. Dr. McNiece; until Monday, in 
 due time after which I was once more at home to unite with 
 the loved ones in thanksgiving to God.
 
 CHAPTER L. • 
 
 Home Work Resumed. 
 
 Ju Sing, the helper in the mission, having gone to New 
 York, it became necessary to procure another. After a 
 while we obtained the services of Ju Guy. He was one of 
 the earliest of the baptized converts and one of the best 
 English scholars. He had recentlj^ returned from a protracted 
 visit to China where he had obtained much information that 
 would qualify him for his work as a helper. He lacked 
 some of the desirable elements of a model native helper, to 
 which I was not blind, but as he was the most intellectual 
 and the best scholar of all tlie Christians of the mission I 
 thought it well to employ him and endeavor to educate him 
 while acting as helper. Accordingly I gave him lessons 
 every day in language and the English branches, also in the 
 Bible and systematic truth. He memorized the shorter cat- 
 echism with ease, committing ever}^ day a certain number of 
 answers together with the proof texts. Then the recited 
 answers were examined critically and doctrinally so that he 
 might understand clearly the truths declared. This method, 
 by way of question and answer, was continued all through 
 this most perfect of all the Westminster standards. This 
 done, we next took irp our Reformed Presbyterian testimony. 
 Each chapter, or a portion of it if large, was first read as a 
 school reading lesson and cursorily explained. Then the 
 scholar studied it until the next day when it was recited or 
 examined by way of question and answer. Then the teacher 
 hoped that when the whole book would be mastered he 
 
 32 (497)
 
 498 LOOKING BACK FROM THE) SUNSET LAND. 
 
 would have a knowledge of the doctrine of the Word of God 
 sufficient to be a safe teacher of others. I never saw any 
 one drink in so rapidly the truth of the Bible. And he 
 seemed to have at* least an intellectual delight in the study 
 of the doctrinal truth. The teacher, also, had delight in the 
 work as he saw how a , mind not long released from the 
 bondage of pagan idolatr>^ delighted in the study of divine 
 truth. True, the class was not large, and I was not very 
 fearful that the professors of the Allegheny Seminary would 
 be jealous of me as a rival intending to start a new Theolog- 
 ical Seminary on the Pacific Coast. Nor did I tire with my 
 theological class (!), for I hoped that while helping in the 
 mission he might be trained to become an excellent native 
 helper in China some day; for I had been hoping and labor- 
 ing and praying that the church would inaugurate a foreign 
 mission in China and that after a while we would be able to 
 send our missionaries there a qualified native helper. But 
 in an evil hour the arch-enemy of missions sought to ruin 
 ours. His attack was upon the one for whom I had done so 
 much and on whom of late our hope had been set. B}' some 
 of the Christians he was suspected of immoral conduct that 
 if known would harm the mission and require his dismissal 
 as helper. By some of the others he was informed of this 
 and left the mission without dela)^ I knew nothing of it 
 until after he had departed. It was a heavy blow against 
 the mission. The enemy had gained his point. How cun- 
 ning are his devices! I studied to be reconciled to the will 
 of the Master whose wisdom is supreme; and perhaps what 
 seemed to us only evil was overruled for good. But I was 
 discouraged. Other discouragements followed and they 
 would have weakened our hands altogether if we had not 
 believed that our work was the very work the compassionate 
 Master would have us do. And so we tried hard to perse- 
 vere in it in reliance upon the promises.
 
 HOME WORK RESUMEIX ' 499 
 
 In the progress of the work we found it desirable to change 
 again the location of the mission. At that time into what 
 was called "Chinatown" a large number of the idolaters 
 had gathered, some in business but mostly in lodging- 
 houses. These were occupied largely by laborers employed 
 elsewhere during the day or by those out of employment 
 The number of this class had been increasing ever since the 
 successful efforts all over the state to "boycott" all employers 
 of Chinese in manufacturing establishments. The result was 
 the crowding of the unemployed into the Chinatowns of the 
 other cities besides San Francisco. To reach this class, if 
 possible, and for the convenience of the majority of the 
 Christians and others already in the mission, we rented a 
 hall, with rear rooms, located adjacent to the Chinese quar- 
 ters. The removal hither removed also our work quite a 
 distance from our residence; but as it was for the interest of 
 the mission we were satisfied. Besides those who had been 
 in the mission .schools on Market Street, new scholars entered 
 and increased the number of attendants. Besides our own 
 family it was necessary to employ two young lady teachers 
 besides the Chinese helper. 
 
 As soon as the rainy season was over we tried a new 
 method of reaching the heathen by the Gospel. If they 
 would not come to our open chapel to hear the glad tidings, 
 we would carry the Gospel to them. Ju Guy (for this was 
 before his departure) went with me to notify the people of 
 our change and to invite them to come to hear about the ' 'Jesus 
 religion." This he did several times and distributed cards of 
 invitation and "talked the Gospel" to any who would listen 
 to it. Yet few came. So we resolved to take Chinatown by 
 violence, /. e. by street preaching. In the chapel I preached 
 at II to both Americans and Chinese, whether converted 
 or unconverted, using an interpreter as circumstances indi- 
 cated. This service was followed bv Bible lessons and such
 
 500 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 as the untavight needed. At the close of these exercises in 
 the chapel, taking with me as man}^ of the converts as could 
 go, each one armed with a Psalm-book, or taking two or 
 three canvas-printed Psalms in either language, we began 
 our sidewalk meeting by singing a Psalm. In a few min- 
 utes the sidewalk would be full of Chinese coming quietly 
 on hearing the .singing. After prayer in the Chinese lan- 
 guage the Gospel was preached in some form, either by the 
 missionary through the interpreter or by some invited 
 Chinese helper or lay preacher, and frequently by an invited 
 missionary. Sometimes several well-qualified persons would 
 give short addresses. These were always followed by prayer 
 and by the distribution of Chinese tracts and sometimes by 
 English leaflets, for some of the people had learned to read 
 the language. 
 
 What good resulted from these meetings we did not know 
 nor did we pause to inquire or wait to see. Ours was to 
 obey Him who said : Preach the Gospel to ever}' creature. 
 He who waits to find out "what good it will do" before he 
 acts when God commands, will never do much. The sower 
 who will withhold the seed until he has the answer to his 
 question. Will it produce a crop? will never sow his grain. 
 One design of our street meetings was to teach the ignorant, 
 to awaken the careless, and to offer Christ and his salvation 
 to the lost. And though we could not foresee the result it 
 was pleasant to see that frequently when some Chinese 
 speaker was addressing the heathen man}- of them gave close 
 attention and often manifested great delight. They may 
 have been of that class mentioned b)^ the great Teacher who 
 "hear the Word and anon with jo}- receive it" but who by 
 and by are offended; but this was not ours to wait to .see. 
 Another design of our meetings was to tr}' to allure the 
 pagans of Chinatown into our mission which was just around 
 the street corner. But as far as we knew few ever came.
 
 HOME WORK RESUMED. 501 
 
 The evil one may have said to them, "Don't be caught with 
 chaff." More probably they themselves thought: "There 
 is no money in it." Or others may have said: "Let them 
 repeal their wicked laws against us Chinese and then we will 
 listen to what they have to say about the 'Jesus religion.' " 
 During all the years of our labors in the mission I was 
 anxious for the conversion of individual Chinese. It would 
 be folly to deny that in the case of many hopeful 3^oung men 
 who continued so long with us that I became aflfectionatel}' 
 attached to them. I "travailed in birth again until Christ 
 might be formed in them;" and though I had no right to 
 expect eminent success in "winning souls to Christ," yet I 
 knew that I often experienced sadness of heart because of 
 disappointment. It was not mine to be made joyous in see- 
 ing the saved ones "flocking as doves to their windows;" 
 and yet all through these 5'ears of anxious effort there were 
 some evidences that we were approved of God! The first 
 baptism of converts occurred in June, 1878, or about two and 
 a half 3'ears after we opened our mission chapel. From time 
 to time during all the subsequent years of our continuance 
 in the work others were baptized until the number amounted 
 to thirtj-four. But the amount of good resulting ma}' not 
 be limited to this numl)er. Many others were weaned Irom 
 idols; some of these became believers in Christianity and 
 received its truths as divine but did not evince saving faith 
 in Christ. Besides, man}- who received much if not nearly 
 all their knowledge of Bible truths and of the wa)' of salva- 
 tion in our mission, subsequently made their profession of 
 faith in the mission of other churches. Could we wonder ? 
 We had no church organization here and they knew 
 how feeble a folk Covenanters were. Some of the most 
 promising and excellent Chinese Christians now in other 
 denominations owe nearly all their attainments to the Cov- 
 enanter mission. Dea Woo, now a successful merchant , in
 
 502 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 San . Francisco and a very intelligent Congregationalist, 
 began to learn English and to hear of Christ with us and 
 continued long with us. Lee Keet, one of the most lovely 
 5^oung men I have ever known, was with us for several 
 3'ears, and we thought he was almost a Christian. But he 
 procrastinated. His heart was not touched by the convinc- 
 ing and converting Spirit of God. Now, after years of halt- 
 ing, his name is enrolled among the disciples of Christ in 
 San Francisco. Was our labor lost because he followed not 
 with us ? Lee To, probabl}' as lovely by nature as the dis- 
 ciple who lay on Jesus' bosom, and almost remarkable for 
 his diligence in searching the Scriptures, was with us and 
 studied the Bible with me for j^ears, and whom I regarded 
 as a probable convert, in his freedom from guile was "stolen 
 from us" by some who saw his superior character and attain- 
 ments. After I had resigned the mission he was received by 
 immersion into the fellowship of the Baptist Church. After 
 pursuing studies a while under Rev. Dr. Hartwell he labored 
 some time in China as a native helper. After his return he 
 was employed a few months in the R. P. Mission, then in 
 Portland, Or. He is now at Spokane, Wash. 
 
 There is, however, a dark page in this histor3\ Among 
 the numerous baptized converts some afterwards made ship- 
 wreck of the faith. One became offended at some of the 
 brethren and abandoned the flock. Two or three in after 
 years proved to be weak disciples or fell into the snare of 
 the world and lost their first love. And two or three fell 
 into temptation and have not manifested genuine repentance. 
 Whether these or any of them were and are yet the children 
 of God whose purpose it is to bring them to repentance and 
 back to Christ, or whether they and those who received them 
 to baptism were deceived as to their heart conversion, is not 
 ours to know certainly. "The day will reveal it." It is 
 probable, however, that among the Chinese who profess
 
 HOME WORK RESUMED. 503 
 
 faith in Christ there are fewer false professors in proportion 
 than there are among American church-members. Besides, 
 let it be remembered that among all whom in any denomi- 
 nation I have known to become backsliders I have never 
 known one to return to idolatry. Nor have I ever known 
 one to become an opium smoker or a user of strong drink. 
 And let it be remembered that in California these as well as 
 other Christians are exposed to far greater temptations than 
 others in the east. He must be a strong man who can live 
 in San Francisco or Oakland and not fall before his many 
 foes such as abound in no other place. 
 
 Once more: To weigh well the probable amount of good 
 resulting from missionary efforts we must not forget that 
 many Chinese who were baptized and sooner or later 
 departed from Oakland went to other places to be thrown 
 among other people who were or are benefited or brought to 
 Christ. Pleasant to think of are several instances of which 
 mention might be made if this were the design of this writ- 
 ing. Some went back to China to be as lights shining in a 
 dark place. One precious young Christian whom we were 
 so sorry to lose, went to the Sandwich Islands and has long 
 been a witness for Christ among his own people there. One 
 whose integrity and zeal are well known among his brethren 
 went to his native(/2ity and labored several years as a self- 
 appointed private or lay missionary among his fellow towns- 
 men and, being too poor to remain longer and wishing to be 
 again with his brethren in Oakland, endeavored to return. 
 But as he would not, even if he could, bribe the ofiicials of 
 the custom-house to land him in San Francisco, he went by 
 the Canadian Pacific to Montreal where he remains yet not 
 able to get over the boundary line except by stealth, which 
 he is too conscientious to do. He is doing good there no 
 doubt. Perhaps there are some of God's elect in Montreal 
 whom he may savingly affect.
 
 504 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 In an evil hour the old enemy of Christ and of his church 
 made an assault upon her and sought to break up the work 
 in Oakland. The organized congregation was small at first. 
 Several Covenanters who came afterwards were poor and did 
 not remain long. John Gillies, formerly of Vermont, and 
 who resided in Sacramento but whose membership was with 
 us and who was with us during two communion seasons and 
 giving us great joy of fellowship, was of a ripe old age and 
 soon after the second communion passed over to the higher 
 fellowship. Ju Sing, the Chinese elder, had gone to New 
 York. John Rice, the other elder, through the influence of 
 enemies of the mission became disaffected and ceased to 
 attend, and taking his family with him attended the Second 
 Presbyterian Church. Then the Oakland congregation 
 became disorganized as there were no elders to form a ses- 
 sion. I reported the disorganization to the Board. The 
 mission, however, continued as before, the only difference 
 being in this, that the missionaries had to endure the suffer- 
 ings caused by the tongue of slander. Perhaps the Divine 
 Chastiser knew that it was needed. Thus it was to them a 
 merciful visitation. 
 
 For several years in my correspondence with the Board I 
 endeavored to persuade them to send a young man, a theo- 
 logical student or a licentiate, who might be an assistant in 
 the mission, study the Chinese language, and thus be pre- 
 pared either to take my place in the mission in Oakland or 
 to go to China as a foreign missionary. I knew that in my 
 feeble health I could not continue in the work much longer 
 and that a successor would be needed. I knew that I was 
 not a popular preacher such as might be desired by the 
 American Covenanters and such as might be necessary to 
 build up a congregation in Oakland. But the Board always 
 declined to take any action in the matter. I saw that unless 
 I would do something more I would neither receive help nor
 
 HOMK WORK RE.SUMKD. 505 
 
 would any one be sent to the mission to be in preparation for 
 the foreign field. I was so anxious for this, believing it was 
 the very work of foreign missions in which the church should 
 engage as soon as possible, I determined to embrace the first 
 opportunity to make it almost compulsory for the Board to 
 carry out my plans. I saw only one wa^', however, by 
 which it could be done. I went to the meeting of Synod 
 that year in Newburg, New York. During its sessions, 
 probably it was in the discussions on the report of the Board, 
 or of the Committee on Missions, such unjust things were 
 said about the Oakland mission and the missionary by some 
 members of Synod, notably by an elder and by a minister 
 both of whom not long afterwards went over to the Presby- 
 terian Church, that I resolved to offer my resignation to the 
 Board at its next session. Under the impulse of the moment 
 I felt that if after all I had done in good faith for the mission 
 and when I was conscious of rectitude — if I must yet be 
 submitted to suspicion of wrong-doing and be a victim of the 
 tongue of .slander, the sooner I can retire and be permitted 
 to enjoy peace the better. I knew I had some friends in 
 Synod but they seemed few, and I was sad, and in this 
 moment of sadness I determined to offer my resignation. 
 This I did soon after my return home and probably at the 
 first meeting of the Board after Synod. Mj'- resignation was 
 positive and accompanied by several reasons. I can now 
 remember only two or three of them: 
 
 I . I had been doing excessive work in the mission under 
 unfavorable circumstances so long mj^ health was becoming 
 feeble. I think it was owing to late hours in the night 
 school and in its vitiated atmosphere during so manj- years, 
 that I had had two attacks of pneumonia, one very serious, 
 leaving disease of the bronchia from which I have never 
 recovered. And I thought that I could not expect long life 
 unless I could get out of the mission.
 
 5Q6 I.OOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSEIT LAND. 
 
 2. I hoped that if the Board would send a young man of 
 proper qualifications he might be the means of building up 
 a Reformed Presbyterian congregation in Oakland, and 
 where we and other Covenanters could reside in a winterless 
 climate and enjoy the ordinances also. 
 
 3. And, especially, because I hoped that the appointment 
 of a young man, if possessed of the proper qualifications, 
 would prepare the waj^ for and result in the inauguration of 
 a foreign mission in China. 
 
 Thus my resignation was of necessity not of choice, for if 
 it could have continued consistent with duty I would gladly 
 have labored among the Chinese to the end. I never was 
 tired of the work. 
 
 My resignation was accepted but accompanied by the 
 request that I would continue in charge of the mission until 
 a successor could be found and come to relieve me. After a 
 while licentiate James Patton was appointed. We were not 
 acquainted, but as he had received a call to Cincinnati con- 
 gregation he wrote me asking my advice. I replied and 
 gave him information as to the mission and urged him to 
 come to Oakland, rather than to go to Cincinnati. He 
 accepted the appointment to Oakland, married a young wife 
 who had the good qualities of a good missionary', and then 
 came on to take charge of the work. After the first Sabbath 
 I passed all over into his hands, promising whatever help 
 he might at an)' time need and request. Our unmarried 
 daughter, who had always been a devoted and acceptable 
 missionary, was retained for a time as a teacher, and the work 
 went on much as before. The new missionary employed a 
 teacher and began the stud)- of the Chinese language, but 
 discontiiuxed it at the end of one month. His reasons may 
 have been good, but his abandoning the study indicated that 
 the hope that my successor might develop into a foreign 
 missionary, would be disappointed.
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Southern Mission.s Visited. 
 
 For many long years I had cherished the hope that some 
 day I might be permitted to visit the missions in the south 
 and see the condition of the freedmen and the progress of the 
 work done for their elevation. Not long after my release 
 from my post in Oakland the opportunit}' came. It was 
 the spring before the great National Reform Conference in 
 Pittsburg. My plan was to take a tour through the south, 
 visiting as many missions and schools for freedmen as possi- 
 ble including especialh' our own at Selma, Alabama. When 
 I was contemplating the missionary' tour which I knew 
 would be expensive, I wrote to the Philadelphia C/irisfia)i 
 Statesman offering to write weekl}' letters for its columns 
 during my tour provided the editors would give me a fair 
 remuneration. They plead poverty. As from the beginning 
 of that able journal I had been writing frequent letters for its 
 columns and had never received a dollar for them, I felt 
 excused for my act of begging. Indeed, as I had never 
 received a dollar for anything I had ever written for the 
 press, and as now for the first time I had hoped for some 
 remiuieration for hard work, I was somewhat disappointed 
 perhaps. But I went, nevertheless, and I was free to go and 
 .see and hear and be happ}' in learning so much that I had 
 long wanted to know, and all without needing to use pencil 
 or pen for anybody. I was a freeman among the frecdnioi. 
 Receiving from Rev. Dr. vStrieby, secretar}- of the American 
 Mi.S-sionary Association, letters of introduction to the princi- 
 
 (507)
 
 5o^ LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LANd. 
 
 pals of their leading institutions in the south, I bade good-by 
 to the loved ones of home and set my face towards the south 
 and the east via. the Sunset Route. At Los Angeles I 
 stopped over one day to see good Covenanter friends. Mr. 
 John A. McKee and family, and his son J. R. McKee, from 
 Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, were at Pasadena in search of 
 health. It was good to see good and live Covenanters on 
 California soil; and again I thought, Can such seed grow in 
 such soil? 
 
 From Los Angeles I passed on through Yuma, said to be 
 the hottest spot in the United States, and through the barren 
 wastes and mountains of Arizona and into Texas to turn 
 aside to spend the Sabbath in Galveston. Here I rested at 
 a hotel whose servants used to be slaves; now all were free. 
 One object of my visit to this old city was to see my Chinese 
 Covenanter brother, Ju Hing, who was there in business. 
 The women of the First Presbyterian Church had a large 
 Chinese Sabbath-school. Ju Hing was their helper and 
 interpreter. He had told them that his "old pastor" was 
 coming; and when I visited the Sabbath-school I was wel- 
 come and of course had to "speak to the school." I did 
 not care to inquire how many of these women had been 
 slaveholders, but I could not forget that I was among a peo- 
 ple who formerly had kept the Bible out of the hands of 
 their "servants." 
 
 As I had had correspondence with Rev. Dr. , the 
 
 pastor of the Presbyterian Church, in reference to Ju Hing, 
 he called upon me at the hotel on Saturday and invited me 
 to preach for him the next day. I did. After the services, 
 his wife, on being introduced, said, "Mr. Johnston, we will 
 be happy to have you dine with us, and our carriage is wait- 
 ing at the door." "Thank you, madam, I will be pleased 
 to go with you." I was glad to be in the family of a Pres- 
 byterian pastor on the Sabbath where I found a refined wife
 
 SOUTHERN MISSIONS VISITED. 509 
 
 and three or four beautiful daughters and sons all ungrown . 
 On the table were two roast chickens; I forget what more; 
 and at it stood two colored "boys," serv'^ants. After the 
 blessing was asked, one of the servants brought a demijohn 
 and set it down on the carpet on the right of the pastor. I 
 sat on his left. A wine-glass was at my plate and another 
 at his own. Lifting up the demijohn, he said: "Brother 
 Johnston, will you have a glass of wine?" Not quite 
 speechless I replied: "Thank you. Doctor; please excuse 
 me." Then he filled his own glass and proceeded to carve 
 one of the fowls. During the meal he emptied one wine- 
 glass and part of a second. He and his wife were good 
 company and free in religious conversation, and I tried 
 to seem to forget that wine had been offered to me at a min- 
 ister's table, and for the first time in my life. If I could 
 attempt an}^ apology for "mine host" it would be in the fact 
 that he knew I was from California and that Californians 
 are presumed to be wine drinkers. But how could I apolo- 
 gize for him when he offered me wine in the presence of son 
 and daughters and wife and when his face showed unmistak- 
 able signs of his being a hea\^^ wine drinker? Whether he 
 drank wine habitually at his own table I could only infer 
 from what I saw. On Monday, in conversation with a 
 colored gentleman, a teacher, I was informed that none of 
 the women of the Presbyterian Cliurch were members of the 
 W. C. T. U. The connection of the two facts may be 
 apparent. 
 
 My next stopping-place was New Orleans. Here I pre- 
 sented my letter of introduction to the president of Straight 
 University, one of the leading institutions of the x'Vmerican 
 Missionary Association for the educati ni of the colored people. 
 I spent several hours at the University under the courteous 
 leadership of the president who showed me through the 
 various departments, mechanical and industrial as well as
 
 JIO LOOKING BACK FROM TTIP: SUNSET I.AND. 
 
 literary. He invited me to be present the next morning at 
 the chapel service that I might address the students. Of 
 these there were several hundred and nearh^ all adults. 
 Man3^ of the students, of both sexes, were from distant 
 places and quite a number from the West India Islands. 
 Two of the members of the faculty were women. Never 
 before had I enjoyed the privilege of addressing such a large 
 assembly of colored students. 
 
 While I tarried in New Orleans I could not forget how 
 long that southern city had been one of the greatest slave 
 markets of the world. In her slave dungeons untold multi- 
 tudes of God's unoffending children had been confined wait- 
 ing for the day of sale. On her auction-blocks, during 
 generations, untold thousands of bondmen and bondwomen 
 and mothers and babes had been sold and bought as other 
 chattels by men who bore the name of Him who commanded. 
 "Let my people go," and of Him who came "to proclaim 
 liberty to the captives." When General Butler of the Union 
 Armj^ proclaimed the slaves "contrabands of war" the blood 
 of the southern soldiers had not covered the blood of the 
 slaves. At the foot of the whipping-posts all over the city 
 this blood cried for vengeance. The blood of northern sol- 
 diers did not cover it. And he who has ears can hear the 
 cry yet as it mingles with the sound of the clanking chains 
 and galling manacles and yokes of the oppres.sed. As I 
 passed bj' those old prisons I could almost hear the moaning 
 of the prisoners. When I stood where had been the auction- 
 blocks I could hear the sobs and the moans of the mother to 
 be sold from her children and to see them driven to the sugar 
 plantation or the rice swamp "dank and lone." And in the 
 silence of the night I seemed to hear from the distant whip- 
 ping-posts the crack of the masters' whips as the cords were 
 buried into the flesh of poor and innocent victims pleading 
 for mercy. And I said: If the torch in the hands of the north-
 
 SOUTHERN MISSIONS VISITED. 5II 
 
 ern soldiers had left that old slave market in ashes and never 
 to be rebuilt, no one could forget that "verily there is a God 
 that judgeth." But that great southern city still stands as 
 a monument of infinite mercy and divine forbearance. 
 
 When our train from New Orleans to Mobile stopped a 
 few minutes at the station a mile or so from the old mansion 
 of Jefferson Davis I inquired of the agent if Mr. Davis were 
 at home. IvCarning that he was ab.sent; I returned to my 
 car disappointed, for I had purposed to stop over one train 
 and call on the ex-president of the slave-holding confederacy 
 and the hero of the petticoats. '■' From that station, Biloxi, 
 Miss., there is a distant and partial view of the old home of 
 Mr. Davis. It fronts south over the gulf but the planta- 
 tion extends back north to within a short distance of the 
 railroad to Mobile. The land is level, and north of the 
 plantation lies a wide stretch of pine forests. It looked 
 dark and gloomy suggesting the bloodhounds that may 
 often have hunted for the fugitive slaves upon .which they 
 had been .set by the proud owner, and reminding me of 
 Elizur Wright's appeal: 
 
 "Tlie hounds are l)aying on my track, 
 O Christian! will you send me back?" 
 
 At Mobile I took lodging at an old and aristocratic hotel 
 that formerly was the headquarters of slave-traders from "up 
 country" and the "dark belt" of to-day. A New England 
 man was landlord now. During the long years when "cotton 
 was king" in the whole country as well as in Alabama, 
 Mobile was a great commercial city and cotton market. 
 The railroads have greatly changed the trade, though the 
 old city is .still important in commerce. The colored popu- 
 lation is large and much more numerous than that of the 
 whites. I spent as much time there as I could spare, and 
 
 *T1k' reader may not have forgotten that Jefferson Davis was cap- 
 tured in woman's dress in wliicli he was endeavoring' to escape from 
 the country.
 
 512 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 I had a "real good time." My friend, Rev. G. M. Elliott 
 of Selma, had sent me letters of introduction to two of his 
 friends there, Rev. Albert F. Owen, pastor of one of the 
 Methodist Churches, and Prof. William A. Caldwell, a promi- 
 nent teacher in the colored high school. Rev. Owen was 
 also teacher in one of the cit3' institutions. By their many 
 kindnesses they brought me under great obligations to them. 
 Rev. Owen had been a slave but after emancipation was 
 educated in the north and was now a pastor of a church 
 made up mosth' of the educated Methodists who had come 
 out from a very large congregation and leaving the unedu- 
 cated freedmen and women whose mode of worship contin- 
 ued to be much the same as had prevailed among the slaves. 
 Rev. Owen's people are the bon-ton church with a scholarly 
 pastor. He opened the wa}' for me to preach in all the 
 three colored churches, forenoon, afternoon, and evening; 
 and he invited me to address the Sabbath-school of his own 
 church. xVt night I preached in the Baptist Church, a very 
 large old house with extensive galleries, to a great assembly, 
 probably a thousand people. The pastor, a man past middle 
 life and full of pathos, sat in the pulpit and conducted the 
 devotional exercises. He read the h^-mns "line b}- line," 
 or rather two lines at a time, and led in the singing. 
 Probably no one had a hymn-book, and it seemed as though 
 everybody sang; and O, what music! The volume of sound 
 was immense. Man3^ of the people were old and gra}'- 
 headed and some of them wonderfully demonstrative. I 
 preached on some verse or theme that led to the recollection 
 of former times and to the goodness of God in the emanci- 
 pation of the millions. Many of them seemed unable to 
 restrain their emotions, and to my sentiments expressed 
 (and I preached a kind of Covenanter sermon) there were 
 loud ejaculator}^ expressions of approval. After the dis- 
 course was done the pastor spoke with earnestness in appro-
 
 SOUTHERN MISSIONS VISITED. 513 
 
 batioii of my most radical National Reform teachings, and 
 thanked me for them. Neither he nor his people had been 
 trained in the northern political school. 
 
 My friend accompanied me to the academj'' under the 
 auspices of the American Missionarj^ Association and intro- 
 duced me to the principal. We were invited into the pro- 
 fessor's parlor where I was introduced to his young wife, 
 one of the teachers. She was a woman of such fine culture 
 and superior intelligence I was curious to know her antece- 
 dents and former home. In our conversation she informed 
 me that this had been in Ashtabula, Ohio. "O, then," said 
 I, "you must have known that excellent W. C. T. U. 
 woman, Mrs. Bateham." " O, yes sir, I know her very 
 well; she is my mother." She and the professor were con- 
 gratulated. 
 
 While I remained in Mobile the Congregational confer- 
 ence of ministers and la}- delegates held their annual 
 meeting. Nearly all the members were colored. I think 
 President De Forest and another professor from Taladega 
 College were the only exceptions. I was introduced to 
 most of them, was admitted to the "privileges of the floor," 
 and listened to most of their discussions and addresses. 
 They all would compare favorably with any I had ever 
 heard in New England. Indeed, many of the pastors of 
 the colored churches organized by the American Missionary 
 Association have been educated in northern if not in New 
 England theological schools. With one exception while in 
 Mobile I had no occasion or opportunity' to form acquaint- 
 ance with the whites except those who were working for 
 the colored people. I learned that one or two of the promi- 
 nent officers of the state W. C. T. U. resided in the city. 
 As my wife at that time was the president of the California 
 W. C. T. U. I wished to get some intelligence items of 
 importance. Obtaining the address of one of these ladies 
 33
 
 514 IvOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 I called at her residence, introduced myself and told her 
 m}^ errand. In the conversation I learned that she was a 
 Methodist. And this led to conversation about Methodist 
 ministers as reformers; and forgetting that I was talking 
 with a southern woman and, as I learned afterwards, an 
 ex-slaveholder, I incidentally remarked that in Vermont 
 I had known many Methodist ministers and except one 
 they all were anti-slaver5\ In a moment she changed her 
 demeanor, her eye flashed fire, anger was depicted in her 
 countenance, and I soon saw what a silly blunder I had 
 made in the presence of a lady from whom I had asked 
 information. I did not prolong my call. It was too mani- 
 fest that a northerner of anti-slavery antecedents was not 
 VN^elcome. Perhaps she was only a typical southern woman.
 
 CHAPTER IvII. 
 Selma and Beaufort. 
 
 From Mobile my railroad ticket took me to Selma, Ala., 
 a place and whose institutions and people I had long desired 
 to see. When I found myself in a Covenanter atmosphere 
 and among Covenanter friends I was happy; and during the 
 two weeks spent there I saw so much and learned so much 
 that gave me joy I would like to write it all here if space 
 would permit; but it will not. I had previously seen Rev. 
 Mr Dill, principal of Knox Academy, but we were ver}' 
 slightly acquainted. I had better acquaintance with Elder 
 Pickens, the teacher at Pleasant Grove Mission; but Rev. 
 G. M. Elliott, the pastor of the Covenanter congregation 
 there, was the only one with whom I had intimate acquaint- 
 ance. To add to the pleasantness of my visit. Rev. S. G. 
 Shaw and wife of Walton, New York, were in Selma on a 
 visit and were lodging with Rev. Dill's family. He was a 
 serious cripple from a fall he had received. Most of the 
 time I made my home with Rev. Mr. Elliott and wife, an 
 educated lady whom he found in Selma. She had been 
 a Congregationalist but had acceded to the church of her 
 husband. vShe was loyal to him, but I question if she 
 was as good a Covenanter. Birds of the real vScotch-blue 
 plumage are rare. 
 
 The city of Selma is situated on the Alabama River and 
 in "the black belt," that part of Alabama almost wholly 
 devoted to the growth of cotton, and where the slave popu- 
 lation had been very large. Most of the colored people 
 
 (515)
 
 5l6 LOOKING BACK F'ROM THE vSUNSRT LAND. 
 
 reside outside of the city proper. The whites, preferring 
 to have their own way in municipal elections and to be 
 free from the control of the blacks, ha.d shut these out of 
 the corporation. This part of the city was growing; the 
 old vSelma was not. Our Covenanter Church and Knox 
 Academy are on the north side of the street which divides 
 the two parts of the city. So also is the Baptist College, 
 a rising institution and most likely to wholly overshadow 
 our academy unless this be well endowed as a college giving 
 a full course of study. If this can not be, our students who 
 complete the academic course should be sent to Geneva and 
 as beneficiaries rather than not at all; otherwise they will 
 graduate at the Baptist college. Each Sabbath that I spent 
 in Selma I preached for Brother Elliott and had the pleasure 
 also of hearing him preach. He was more didactic and 
 scholarly than eloquent. He lacked that unction and ear- 
 nestness that generally characterize preachers of his race. 
 I suppose he is better adapted to teaching. He has good 
 executive ability and is a fine scholar; and the Allegheny 
 Board did wrong to him and to the academy when they 
 removed him from the principalship. It would have been 
 better to have asked him to resign the pastorate of the con- 
 gregation; for though he was a good pastor and preacher he 
 was a better teacher. And I do know that the colored people 
 in Selma and friends of the academy would all the time pre- 
 fer to see a colored man at the head of the literary institution, 
 other things being equal. 
 
 At the time I was in Selma Rev. J. W. Dill, the efficient 
 principal of the school, was assisted by Mrs. Dill, a superior 
 educator, and four or five colored teachers, women of worth 
 and refinement. The music teacher was Mrs. Cardoza, a 
 daughter of James Williams, formerly the colored elder and 
 precentor in Brooklyn, N. Y., congregation. 
 
 While I remained in Selma I lost no time but was kept
 
 Rev. G, M. Elliott
 
 SELMA AND BEAUFORT. 517 
 
 bus}' seeing and hearing what greatly interested me; and to 
 this day I feel grateful to the many friends who showed me 
 so much kindness. One Sabbath Professor Dill took me 
 with him to Pleasant Grove, a mission station about four 
 miles distant, in which Klder Pickens, a graduate of Geneva, 
 teaches week-school and conducts a Sabbath-school. Rev. 
 Dill preached here on Sabbaths. At his invitation I preached 
 that day and addressed the Sabbath-school. The mission 
 house was only a good log cabin, but it stands in a charm- 
 ing grove and was occupied by a live missionary. I almost 
 envied him his post of labor among the freedmen of that 
 country district. 
 
 In company with Mr. and Mrs. Elliott I was present at a 
 fine literary entertainment given one night by the students 
 of the Baptist college. The music and the genuine oratory 
 were of a very superior grade. But with one of the exer- 
 cises I was greatly dissatisfied, viz., the cantata of Jephthah's 
 Daughter. The writer of this otherwise excellent piece of 
 literature represents the Hebrew father and general as actu- 
 ally sacrificing (/. e., murdering) his daughter. The acting 
 of such a horrible scene on the platform was as shocking 
 as disgusting, and all the more because that godly man 
 never did offer up his lovel}' and only daughter in a bloody 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The next morning, according to invitation, I was present 
 at the opening exercises of the college and was asked to 
 address the students. I took occasion to speak in high 
 praise of the literary exercises of the evening previous, but 
 also to testify against the wrong interpretation put upon the 
 record of Jephthah's actions, etc. As cautiously as possible 
 I protested against presenting such a cruel scene upoii the 
 platform as though God was well pleased with it. 
 
 At the Congregational conference in Mobile I had become 
 acquainted with Rev. Mr. Peters, pastor of the Congrega-
 
 5lS LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 tional Church in Selma. He was a scholarly gentleman 
 and had charge of the Burrell Academy under the manage- 
 ment of the American Missionary Association. This made 
 the third literar}' institution in Selma for the education of 
 freedmen. While I was there we renewed our acquaintance, 
 and I had the pleasure of dining with him and his highlj- 
 cultured wife. Both were educated in the north. He and 
 Mr. Elliott were intimate friends. The two academies did 
 not seem to be rivals but rather cooperative. In benevolence 
 this is beavitiful. 
 
 During the week between the two Sabbaths the Alabama 
 State Teachers' Institute (colored) held their annual meeting- 
 in Selma. . To me it was the most interesting of my life. 
 Many of the leading members of the association were men 
 and women of brilliant talents, fine education, and cultured 
 eloquence. The addresses given and the papers read were 
 nearly all of a high order. My friend, Rev. G. M. Elliott, 
 was president of the institute. His opening address was a 
 master performance. I was proud of him, and I was glad 
 that a student in whose education I had had somewhat to do 
 was worthy of the honor bestowed upon him by the Alabama 
 teachers. At the election of officers before the convention 
 closed, Mr. Elliott was elected president for a second year. 
 Principal Dill gave a good address on the Bible in the public 
 schools and bore faithful testimony in behalf of National 
 Reform principles. Mrs. Dill and another of the Knox 
 Academy teachers were active members. But the most mas- 
 terly minds among all in the convention were Professor 
 Booker T. Washington and President De Forest, both con- 
 nected with leading colleges under the patronage or control 
 of the American Missionary Association. At the closing 
 session of the convention the state superintendent of schools 
 was present and gave a short address. I could not but 
 wonder at the follv of the southerners who do not blend the
 
 SELMA AND BEAUFORT. 519 
 
 schools, both black and white, together. Were the few 
 white members of this Selma convention harmed by intel- 
 lectual contact with the negro teachers ? Was Principal Dill 
 humiliated by being in a convention whose presiding officer 
 was his colored brother in the church ? What consummate 
 folly! The objection to equality between the races is not in 
 the color but in the condition. Let the race so long enslaved 
 and hence so much wronged and degraded be lifted up by the 
 race that did the wrongs. I^et the freedmen be educated and 
 freed from the vices and immoralities that adhere to a people 
 only beginning to get away from the southern flesh-pots, 
 and then the question of caste will be half solved. The 
 solution of the other half will be found in the religion of 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Since my visit to vSelma another mission station has been 
 opened a few miles out of the city and is under the super- 
 intendence of Elder J. C. Phillips, a very worthy colored 
 teacher; and the entire administration of both church and 
 academy has passed into other hands. Rev. Solomon 
 Kingston, a most excellent colored man and a graduate of 
 Geneva and of our Theological Seminary, is pastor of the 
 congregation; and Rev. R. J. Mclsaac, assisted by a full 
 corps of teachers, some of both races, is the principal of the 
 literary institution. The mission in all these departments is 
 reported to be flourishing and rising. lyooking back from 
 this standpoint to the day I landed at Beaufort, S. C, when 
 there were nearly four millions of slaves in the south and 
 when I began an experimental w^ork among the "contra- 
 bands of war," my soul exclaims, What hath God wrought! 
 
 W^ith such emotions I departed from Selma to visit other 
 missions and schools and on to Beaufort, S. C. At Atlanta, 
 Ga., one of the most northern-like cities of the south, I 
 spent what time I could spare in the two schools under the 
 American Missionary Association. The history of the
 
 520 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Storrs School is interesting, and the institution I found in a 
 flourishing condition with lady teachers of rare and superior 
 qualifications. The one in charge would not let me depart 
 until I had visited every room and had spoken to every 
 cla.ss. At Augusta, Ga., I formed a pleasant acquaintance 
 with a colored clergyman who had the superintendence of a 
 graded school and was also the editor of a denominational 
 religious weekly. I can not now remember his name but I 
 well remember he was an enthusiast in the education and 
 elevation of the freedmen, and he had suffered persecution 
 at the hands of his southern neighbors. 
 
 During the da}' that I remained in Augusta the state 
 W. C. T. U. was in convention. I formed the acquaintance 
 of the president, Mrs. Sibley, and of the popular Sallie 
 Chapin who gave one of the princij^al addresses. At Mrs. 
 Sibley's request I addressed the convention and gave a 
 synopsis of the work being done in California and of the 
 condition of society there in reference to the wine production 
 and wine-drinking habits. I was favorably impressed with 
 the appearance of the temperance women of Georgia, and 
 for the time being I forgot that I was in an old slave state. 
 Georgia, however, had more northern blood in her veins 
 than probably any of the planting states. 
 
 As the train for Beaufort, S. C, was behind time I did not 
 get into the old camp-ground until after dark and I could 
 see little of the place until morning. Rising before the sun 
 I sauntered through the little cit5^ Twenty-five years had 
 wrought such changes I could scarceh^ recognize it as the 
 same place. The sound of the reveille was not heard. No 
 countersign was demanded by a mounted guard. No regi- 
 mental camps were visible. No tramp of marching soldiers 
 was heard. Old mansions of ante-bellum slaveholders that 
 had been the headquarters of Union generals and colonels 
 and majors were now occupied by peaceful citizens. Some
 
 SELMA AND BEAUFORT. 521 
 
 slaveholding families that had lived in affluence now re- 
 occupied their homes in ver>' limited circumstances. What 
 had once been a cit}^ of six thousand people and the sea- 
 coast summer-home of many whose plantations and slaves 
 were inland or "up countrj-," had become the home of peo- 
 ple who mourned the loss of fathers or huslxxnds or sons 
 who had fallen in the Confederate Army, and perhaps they 
 also mourn the loss of slaves set free by the emancipation 
 proclamation. Beaufort whose jiopulation at one time was 
 largely white, for the slaves mostl}' were out on the planta- 
 tions, now had a population largeh' negro. In the munici- 
 pal elections the colored voters were three-fourths of the whole 
 number. The colored people at every election, whether of 
 the county or of the cit)', could elect their own choice, all 
 negroes if they chose; but they had found that when they 
 did this they had almost civil war and were liable to all 
 manner of abuse or assaults or riot. Hence for the sake of 
 peace the negroes permitted tlie whites to choose their own 
 officers in the higher departments. The peaceful freedmen 
 let the "ole massas" have the judges and mayors, etc., while 
 they choose from among themselves the sheriffs and con- 
 stables and "squires" and policemen, etc. Thus they had 
 peace; thus they avoided lynchings. 
 
 So changed was the old city that in that ante-breakfast 
 saunter I had difficulty in finding the Methodist Church in 
 which I had preached to the contrabands. I found it but it 
 had been remodeled and changed so that it appeared like 
 another house altogether. The old stone Episcopal Church 
 from which General Stevens and his wife had fled in haste 
 had undergone little change. The old "praisehouses" had 
 been removed and some new churches built. Where no 
 schools had been except for "contrabands" taught by a few 
 northern missionaries, now there were two good schools, 
 one denominational and the other the public .school or
 
 522 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 academy with a large and fine brick building. At this 
 writing there is another and flourishing school, Harbison 
 Institute, who.se honored principal is Rev. G. M. lilliott, 
 formerly the principal of Knox Academy, Selma, Ala. The 
 institute is under the care of the Northern Presbyterian 
 Board of Missions for the freedmen. 
 
 During my stay in Beaufort I made diligent search for 
 any of the colored people whom I had known before and 
 who might be living 3^et and still residents. I had with me 
 the roll of scholars ("contrabands"; who had been in the 
 .school. I found a few. They were mostly women. Many 
 of the men had become soldiers in the Union Army and were 
 killed or had never returned. Others had removed else- 
 where. My good old friend, Tarquin Cohen, had gone to 
 heaven and his surviving children and grandchildren were 
 scattered. I found a good old colored woman who, though 
 she did not recognize me at first, remembered me well as 
 her teacher and told me how much she remembered of my 
 preaching. She begged me to remain and preach the com- 
 ing Sabbath. When I told her I could not remain over 
 Sabbath (it was several days yet) she said: "O, Mr. John- 
 ston, dear Mr. Johnston, do stay and preach again. I'll go 
 round and tell all the people that our teacher that came 
 away from the north time of the war to preach to us the 
 gospel of freedom, is here again; and the house'll not hold 
 the people that'll come to church." How^ gladly would I 
 have remained, but I could not. My arrangements had all 
 been made to be elsewhere the coming Sabbath. 
 
 On inquiry I learned the residences of two brothers and 
 their families whom I resolved to see. I remembered them 
 as half-grown boys, sons of a carpenter, a free man, living 
 across the street from my lodging-house, whose name was 
 Robinson. His wife had cooked my meals for me and sent 
 them over on a tray by one of the boys. I was told that
 
 SBLMA and BEAUFORT. 523 
 
 their father and mother had been dead a long time but that 
 these two sons were well-to-do carpenters yet in the cit3\ 
 My informant promised to tell the Robinson brothers that at 
 the hotel there was a gentleman who wished to see them the 
 next morning. Soon after breakfast some one rapped at m}- 
 door and told me that there were two men down in the par- 
 lor who wished to see me. I went down to meet them. I 
 did not know them nor did they know me. In them I could 
 see nothing to remind me of the boj-s who twenty-five years 
 before had brought me my bread and broiled fish. But when 
 I told them who I was and recalled to them the service the}' 
 had rendered me, they remembered it all; and we talked over 
 the past. From them I obtained much desired information, 
 among other things, that they had received a good educa- 
 tion, that they both had held ofluces in the city, and that 
 one of them had been a member of the state Legislature one or 
 two terms. They both owned good houses, were members 
 of one of the churches, and had children in the vSabbath- 
 schools. Before I left Beaufort I called upon them and saw 
 their interesting families in their comfortable houses. 
 
 There was one man whom I was anxious to see and whom, 
 after inquiry, I easily found, viz. Abel Middleton, the tailor 
 and sick man of whom I have written on a previous page. 
 He was the contraband who at the time of my departure 
 north feared he was on his death-bed. At that time he was 
 not a professor of religion in au}^ church. When I told him 
 that 1 expected to return home shortly he said he had had a 
 great desire to go with me but now could not. I told him 
 probably I might be back again. He replied: "I am afraid 
 I'll not be alive then. Pray for me." No one was present 
 but the Hearer of prayer. I kneeled and begged God to 
 save him and to spare his life, and then bade him farewell 
 hardly daring to hope that ever I would see him again. 
 
 To return to my narrative. On the street I met an old
 
 524 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 citizen and asked him if he knew Abel Middleton and if he 
 was living yet. "O yes, he is alive and well and has a 
 tailor shop right around the corner on that street." I went 
 around the corner and found the tailor shop. I found a fine- 
 looking colored man alone at work. Twenty-five years 
 had wrought such changes I would not have known him 
 had I met him elsewhere. Said I: "Is this Abel Middleton?" 
 "Yes sir, that is my name." Extending my hand I said: 
 "Do you not know me ?' ' "No sir, I can not recognize you." 
 Holding my hand and looking steadily at me with a smile 
 coming over his face, he added slowly: "Yes, I've seen 3'ou 
 before, but — I — O ! is this Mr.Johnstoni' ' ' On being assured 
 that he was not mistaken, he manifested much joy and said: 
 "O, I am so happy to see you again," and handed me a 
 chair. Our talk was not very long — my time was limited— 
 but it was very pleasant. He told me of his recovery, of 
 what had occurred in Beaufort after my departure, and how 
 long he had lived if not an openly wicked life yet as if an 
 unbeliever. But said he: "Mr. Johnston, I never forgot 
 your teaching, your preaching, and your prayer the last 
 time I saw you. I lived too long a careless sinner; but now 
 I am a Christian. Not long ago [and he mentioned the 
 time] I was led to Christ and am, I hope, a saved sinner." 
 He told me with what church he had united but I have for- 
 gotten. In thinking over the whole matter I could not 
 repress the hope that this was another evidence that ours is 
 a prayer-hearing God. He does hear prayer, but he answers 
 in his own time. If Abel Middleton was one of his chosen 
 ones given to Christ, the good Shepherd did not lose sight of 
 him though outside of the fold. In the exercise of his 
 sovereignty he permitted him to wander long; and then in 
 his own time called him to himself. And his words may 
 not be forgotten: "Other sheep I have which are not of this 
 fold." Since the foregoing was written I have received a
 
 SEIvMA AND BEAUFORT. 525 
 
 letter, under the date of April 17, 1897, from Rev. G. M. 
 Elliott in reply to one of inquiry from me. He says: "Abel 
 Middleton is still in the same place where you saw him. He 
 is a member of the Baptist Church. He made a vest for me 
 about a month ago. He seems to be leading a consistent 
 Christian life. He lives only a few doors from me. He has 
 an excellent wife. She has been very kind to us in our 
 recent sickness. Mr. Middleton sends much love to you." 
 
 In reference to the Robinson brothers Mr. Elliott writes: 
 "Peter is dead. Joseph is still alive and active in the church 
 (Baptist). He is now an ordained preacher. This is the 
 one that was in the legislature. He is now out of politics 
 as politics has grown away from him." 
 
 As my time was limited I hurried away from Beaufort to 
 take my journe}^ north through Atlanta and Cincinnati.
 
 CHAPTER UII. 
 
 The Synod of 1889. Important Questions. 
 
 Saturday evening found me at my sister's home in Belle- 
 Centre, O., on my way to the National Reform Conference 
 at Pittsburg. Here I had the pleasure of hearing numerous 
 addresses on the great themes involved in the movement, 
 and some of them by eminent speakers among whom were 
 Rev. Dr. T. P. Stevenson, editor of the Christian Statesman 
 and always at home on the National Reform platform, Rev. 
 Dr. McAllister, whose address on the Bible in the schools 
 w^as the best I ever heard on that theme, Rev. Wilber S. 
 Crafts, the author of "The Sabbath for Man," Mrs. Wood- 
 bridge, the secretary of the National W. C. T. U., and Rev. 
 A. T. Pierson, D. D., whose theme was the "Relation of the 
 Civil Powers to Foreign Missions," in which he showed the 
 wickedness of the governments that tolerate or foster the 
 traffic in intoxicating drinks in heathen lands. Mrs. J. C. 
 Bateham also was one of the speakers. As she was the 
 national superintendent of the Department of Sabbath 
 Observance in the W. C. T. U., she spoke on that theme. 
 Mrs. Bateham, as she seems to me, is the most beautiful 
 writer on all subjects pertaining to the Sabbath Reform, but 
 her public addresses are ordinary in comparison with the 
 productions of her pen. Her leaflets, of which there is a 
 great number and variety, have done very much in behalf of 
 Sabbath observance. It was at that conference that I had 
 the pleasure of my first acquaintance with those two good 
 women at the home of Mrs. Dr. Sterrett whose guests they 
 
 (526)
 
 THK SYNOD OF liSSg. 527 
 
 were during the convention. Since then Mrs. Woodbridge 
 has been admitted into the Father's house. 
 
 Synod met this j^ear in Belle-Centre, O., Rev. D. C. 
 Coulter, moderator. As my sister's residence was here, I 
 was happ3^ at her home all the time of Synod, and Brother 
 Armour was again my fellow-lodger. In a hall near the 
 church the W. C. T. U. of the town furnished the dinners 
 for the members of Synod. This helped to make the time 
 of recess both social and joyous. For the meals a fair price 
 was paid, and the women received quite an increase to their 
 treasury. 
 
 Two questions of special importance were before Synod, 
 viz., the adoption of the new "Psalter," and the old ques- 
 tion, "May we vote on constitutional amendments?" The 
 report of the committee on the Psalter had been before Synod 
 at a previous meeting and had been recommitted. The 
 church was not satisfied with it. At this meeting there was 
 much opposition to it but a majority adopted it. It was 
 manifest that many had not examined the new book suffi- 
 ciently to vote intelligently. Some voted to adopt more 
 because they wanted something new tlian because of any 
 knowledge of the real character of the new book; that is, 
 they knew that the old book had many imperfections and 
 some gross, and they supposed that a committee of reputed 
 scholars would surely make it better rather than worse, and 
 so the adoption of the new would be at least an improvement. 
 If the whole church had examined the book carefully they 
 would have seen that the new Psalter had many imperfec- 
 tions, many things very objectionable, and then some others 
 gros.sly and decidedly wrong. In the judgment of the 
 writer, therefore, there was too much haste in the adoption. 
 It should have been sent down in overture for the examina- 
 tion of all the sessions. With all its imperfections it should 
 have been kept back or not adopted until after closer and
 
 528 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 more general examination. The result would have been 
 either such modifications as would bring it nearer to perfec- 
 tion^ or the rejection of it altogether until a Psalter will be 
 prepared so good that all the Psalm-singing churches will 
 agree upon its adoption. As it is now it is quite probable that 
 after a little the present Psalter will have to be laid aside to 
 give place to another and far better. 
 
 On the question of voting for or against constitutional 
 amendments there were several long-continued debates. 
 Whether b}^ previous arrangement or by common consent 
 did not appear, but in the discussion the speakers made 
 their arguments alternateh^ or so that no two consecutive 
 speeches would be made on either side. This made Synod 
 appear like a debating club rather than a court of Christ or 
 legislative bod}-. As the question had been before Synod in 
 some form two or three times before, it could not be expected 
 that much in the argument on either side could be new; yet 
 new interest was derived from the fact that in the state of 
 Pennsylvania a constitutional amendment was pending. 
 The question to be decided by the voters was: Shall the sale 
 of intoxicating liquors be prohibited ? or words to that effect. 
 In that state the number of Covenanters was greater than in 
 any other, so that it would be a practical question shortly. 
 As all Covenanters were presumed to be prohibitionists and 
 anxious to help to suppress the liquor traffic, if S3'nod would 
 vote no, /. c, say that we may not vote on amendments, 
 then church-members would have to disobey Synod or not 
 embrace an opportunity to help to destroy a great evil. 
 Thus the incentive to vote affirmativel}^ on the question 
 pending in Synod was very great. Able speakers made 
 arguments on both sides. The ayes an<i noes were taken 
 and every voter permitted to give briefl}' his reason for his 
 vote. The a^-es prevailed b^^ a decided majority. The}- 
 were exultant. A large minority- recorded their dissent;
 
 THE SYNOD OF 1889. 529 
 
 and the members went home presumably with opinions the 
 same as before Synod. Many of the best men in the church 
 were greatly dissatisfied and not a few discouraged and sad 
 fearing that Synod's decision portended evil and defection in 
 the body. 
 
 The writer of these pages thought then and still believes 
 that many who favor voting on constitutional amendments 
 have superficial views and that the truth lies deeper than is 
 supposed. And it may be so simplified and tersety stated as 
 to be discovered by honest seekers. The government 
 whether federal or state, is a political organization or volun- 
 tary society. Its moral character depends largely upon the 
 character of the Constitution. By this test the govern- 
 ment is both immoral and non-Christian or anti-Christian; 
 therefore membership in it is sinful. All voters are mem- 
 bers. Voters on constitutional amendments are as really 
 members as those who vote for officers, for none can vote in 
 either case whose names are not on the "great register" or 
 who are not political citizens or members of the society. 
 The register is the index of membership. Thus, whatever 
 may be the wish or design of the Covenanter voter the 
 government or political society understands him to be a 
 member bound by the Constitution to which he has tacitly 
 given his approbation. By his vote at the polls he virtually 
 or tacitly signs the Constitution. To all this there is and 
 can be only one exception. This is when a .state passes an 
 act permitting all the people within the limits to vote on the 
 question— all who live in the state whether naturalized or 
 not, alien or not, foreigner or not — /. e., all inhabitants over 
 a certain age. An illustration makes it plain. If the Penn- 
 s)4vania lyCgislature had enacted that Covenanters as well 
 as others — Covenanters who are known by the Legislature 
 and the people to be dissenters and non-voters — might vote 
 on the question of prohibition, then the hindrance would be 
 34
 
 530 LOOKING BACK FKOM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 removed and then it would l^ecome a dut}^ to vote for prohi- 
 bition. Thus the logic of the truth is plain. Membership 
 in the political society or government is sinful. Only mem- 
 bers of the government can be voters. By voting for con- 
 stitutional amendments the voters become members, or act 
 as members. Therefore, all voters are culpable. 
 
 But the objector says that by not voting we refuse to help 
 the state or government to make the Constitution better 
 when we have an opportunity offered. We reply: The p'iso- 
 ple who made the government and who 3'et make the gov- 
 ernment have made it so that we can not help them. They 
 have hedged up the waj^ against us. We are outsiders, and 
 except as we use or do not use our moral influence in the 
 education of public opinion, are not responsible for the con- 
 stitutional sins of the body politic or government. As we 
 can not go into a Masonic lodge to help to make its consti- 
 tution better, so we can not go into the government to 
 amend its constitution. Governmental atheism and anti- 
 Christianism and infidelity and Sabbath desecration and 
 the liquor traffic and wrongdoing against the negroes and 
 the Chinese, are all so great and make the whole soul and 
 body of the civil structure so offensive to God and his Son, 
 the lyOrd of nations, we are shut out as out of a Masonic 
 lodge. The politicians must attend to their own affairs. 
 We can not unite with them in their anti-Christian govern- 
 mental society. Our work is to revolutionize it. If they 
 will not hear us, God will overturn it and the Omnipotent 
 arm of his Anointed One will dash it to pieces as a potter's 
 vessel is broken. 
 
 But the Synod of 1889 did not see it so. Many of the 
 church's best friends who, as others, wished to be loyal to 
 her Head, voted with the majority. It was a question of 
 opinion not of character. But it was an evil hour. By the 
 vote of Synod she abandoned the church's tower of strength.
 
 tub: synod of 1889. 531 
 
 From that hour she has been growing weaker. It was a 
 heavy blow upon the wedge of division. Defection followed. 
 To too many the covenant of 1871 seemed as a rope of sand. 
 And even among those who continue together under the 
 shadow of that covenant banner there is a painful lack of 
 unanimity, and the cause of Christ tends to languishing. 
 Our only hope lies in the divine Spirit. "Help us, O God 
 of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; and deliver us, 
 and purge away our sins, for Thy name's sake."
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 White Ribboners and Sabbath Workers. 
 
 Hurrying home from the Synod of 1889 I found my 
 "better half" busy among the California crusaders. Mrs. 
 Johnston's life-work had been largely that of a teacher; not 
 so much from necessity as for the love of the work. The 
 wine cup and the beer and whisky saloons were the curse of 
 the golden state. After the burden of our mission work 
 was in younger hands, Mrs. Johnston put on the white 
 ribbon and joined in the battle against the saloons. After 
 serving awhile in the department of literature, in the fall of 
 1888 and without her seeking the position, the White Rib- 
 boners of the state called her to the presidency of the 
 W. C. T. U. She was elected to this honorable and useful 
 position not because she was a Covenanter, for probably 
 almost none out of our own city knew to what denomination 
 she belonged, but because a new president was wanted, 
 because she was an active worker in the cause of temper- 
 ance, and because she was known to have the proper quali- 
 fications for the position. Her official duties called her away 
 from home much of the time. Thus more home duties de- 
 volved upon me. Besides, our home daughter who con- 
 tinued during these years to teach in the Snell Seminary 
 was called to the presidency of the Oakland Y.'s, the junior 
 department of the W. C. T. U. - Thus neither mother nor 
 daughter had any time to attend the theater or the dance or 
 the social party! Was it not a w^onder that they did not 
 pine away for want of "society"? The reader must for- 
 
 (532)
 
 WHITE RIBKONERS AND SABBATH WORKERS. 533 
 
 give the exclamation aud the question alike, for the writer 
 has more pity than contempt for the "society women" who 
 are unhappy unless they can live in a round of worldly 
 pleasures. During Mrs. Johnston's administration of be- 
 tween two and three years, by . her devotion to the cause, 
 her executive ability, and her kind and impartial demeanor 
 towards the good women of the state, *she evidently won 
 their favor and opened the wa}^ for her doing very much 
 good in behalf of the manj^ departments of benevolence 
 connected with the state \V. C. T. U. But with some other 
 classes she did not grow in favor. For some matters in 
 which she was not like the presidents who had preceded 
 her she was the subject of criticism and sometimes severe. 
 Nearly all the women were hymn singers. In all places she 
 adhered to her church's creed and practise as to the exclu- 
 sive use of the inspired Psalms in divine worship. In the 
 matter of Sabbath observance she would not conform to the 
 practise of the people. Many of the women of the W. C- 
 T. U. are as loose in their sentiments and practises as to 
 Sabbath sanctification as are the average California Chris- 
 tians; and the standard is low. When she would not hold 
 public meetings on the Sabbath many said she was too 
 strict. Probabty she became the most unpopular with some 
 friends of the secret orders because she did not honor the 
 Good Templar lodges. To ignore them was as offensive as 
 to oppose them. 
 
 Mrs. Johnston was re-elected the second and third time, 
 but before the third year expired she resigned. She 
 thought that dut}' called us east. During her public work 
 as a White Ribboner I endeavored to lighten her home 
 duties that she might do the more for the temperance cause. 
 Besides, as the lady superintendent of the Sabbath observ- 
 ance department of the W. C. T. U. had been called east, 
 at her request I was appointed to act as her substitute for a
 
 534 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 while and especiallj- during the campaign in behalf of a state 
 Sabbath law. The explanation is this. From the first, 
 California had a state law similar to those of the other 
 states. It had become almost a dead letter. The liquor 
 saloons, which the law required to be closed on the Sabbath, 
 were open and did more of their nefarious business on the 
 Lord's day than on any other. In Oakland and some other 
 cities a special effort was made to enforce the law against the 
 open saloons. Of course the saloonists fought against the 
 movement. At the next Legislature almost the first act 
 passed was to repeal the law. Thus this great golden state 
 had no Sabbath except the "Sunday" holida}-. From that 
 day until now both intemperance and Sabbath desecration 
 have been on the increase. While in several localities the 
 temperance reform has made progress, every effort to restore 
 the old ' ' Sundaj- ' ' law or to procure a new Sabbath law has 
 resulted in failure. Many of the Christians who really love 
 the Sabbath sa}' it is useless to trs' to get a law. To help 
 the good women and because of interest in the cause, I 
 gave my time freely to the work. Pulpits were open for 
 preaching in favor of Sabbath observance, in behalf of 
 civil legislation to secure rest to the laborer, and to punish 
 Sabbath desecration. A few successful conventions were 
 held, literature was scattered, and petitions for a Sabbath law 
 were circulated. In that campaign our main effort was to 
 besiege the Legislature and by moral influence to compel them 
 to enact a good law. One studied address was given b}^ 
 invitation before the annual School of Methods of the 
 \V. C. T. U. at Pacific Grove, and another, upon which 
 special labor was bestowed, before the California annual 
 Methodist Episcopal Conference, Bishop Goodsell presiding. 
 In all these special ser^dces, w^hether in the pulpit or on the 
 platform, I was peculiarh* interested because they gave me 
 opportunities of presenting the truth in reference to the 
 claims of God's law upon civil government.
 
 ■White ribboneus and sabbath workers. 535 
 
 About this time God gave us the privilege and the 
 opportunity to give a home to our aged and feeble Mother 
 Rogers and her invalid daughter Nanc5^ They had been 
 li\ing at her home in Iowa, but owing to causes beyond 
 mother's control her comfort required a change. We invited 
 her to bring her daughter and come to California to make 
 her home with us. She was happy with her oldest daughter 
 from whom she had been separated so long ; and her presence 
 was a blessing to us. After a year or so she sickened and 
 slept in Jesus. A lovely and faithful Christian mother had 
 served her generation. As she was a member of the Con- 
 gregational Church, we asked two of our most loved Con- 
 gregational ministers to be with us at the funeral services, 
 and we laid away her mortal part in our lot in the Mountain 
 View Cemetery not knowing whose grave would be dug next. 
 As we turned away from that newly-made grave we thought 
 of the words of a beautiful writer : "And now in the strife 
 and tumult of life, when the cold world frowns darkly upon 
 us, her gentle words come back bidding us look above. 
 Who can fathom the depths of a mother's love? "
 
 CHAPTER IvV. 
 
 From Ocean to Ocean. 
 
 The love of home is not inconsistent with the love of the 
 brotherhood and of the church. The Synod of 1890 was in 
 New York City. Home duties were not so pressing as to 
 prevent me from attending, and I had a strong desire to be 
 with the assembled elders once more and thinking it would 
 probably be the last, for I was approaching my threescore 
 and ten beyond which few pass except those blessed with 
 better health than mine. But I did not care to go across the 
 continent alone if I could have good company. After fre- 
 quent famil3' conferences it was agreed that I should have a 
 traveling companion without disturbing the relations existing 
 between the partner of ni}' toil and the state W. C. T. U. 
 Our daughter, the teacher, needed vacation ; she had never 
 been at Synod ; and she wanted to see the east and visit her 
 Green Mountain birthplace. Our trunks were packed, and 
 we bade good-b}' to our loved home. The first Sabbath was 
 spent with my old-time friend in Salt Lake City, Rev. Dr. 
 McXiece. From Utah we passed over the great scenic route, 
 the Rio Grande, to Denver. As our tickets took us over the 
 Baltimore and Ohio route, our second Sabbath was spent in 
 Washington, D. C, where we were happih^ entertained b}^ 
 Dr. Ingalls and wife. She is my niece, the daughter of my 
 lamented brother, James S. Johnston. As there was no 
 Reformed Presbj'terian Church in the capital city — it is not 
 good soil for the growth of dissenters — we were "occasional 
 hearers" and went to church with "Cousin Lois " and the 
 
 (536)
 
 FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 537 
 
 doctor. In the afternoon I heard an eloquent colored 
 preacher, pastor of one of the Congregational Churches. 
 How is it that our colored friends monopolize such a large 
 share of pulpit eloquence and good church music ? 
 
 Monday or Tuesday was Independence day. In the 
 National Soldiers' Cemetery we attended a great public 
 meeting and heard some good speeches and some others more 
 spread-eagle than good. In the afternoon we went down 
 the Potomac to Alexandria and visited the grave of Corporal 
 Charles Divoll, The first time I had seen it was only a half 
 hour after it was made. Now it was all sodded and green. I 
 pulled some grasses from it to take to his father and sister in 
 Vermont and bade farewell to a grave not to be seen again 
 but not to be forgotten. 
 
 On our arrival at New York my daughter and I were sep- 
 arated as to our places of entertainment. I was most favor- 
 ably located near the church (Second New York) in which 
 Synod's sessions were held and in a family so good and so 
 kind that they soon became endeared to me — the family 
 of Mr. William McClean. And here again my lifelong 
 friend and brother, Rev. J. M. Armour, was my "chum." 
 Who was it that said: "Fortune favors the brave?" My 
 daughter was kindly entertained in the family of Mr. W. H. 
 Cochran, a member of the Boulevard Mission in the north- 
 ern part of the city. Our acquaintance happened in this 
 way. Some years previous, Mr. Cochran had business in 
 San Francisco and knowing of the mission in Oakland came 
 on Sabbath to worship with us. We invited him to make 
 his home with us. For several days he was quite sick. 
 Mrs. Johnston took care of him and "doctored" him hy- 
 gienically. He was grateful. W^hen he learned that our 
 daughter intended to go to New York to Synod he invited 
 her to be a guest in his family. She accepted. On "-Sab- 
 bath she worshiped in Boulevard Mission, Rev. T. Holmes
 
 53^ LOOKING BACK FROM THE vSUNSET LAND. 
 
 Walker being the missionary in charge. In the afternoon 
 the Sabbath-school met and had some special exercises. As 
 Rosie had been a teacher in the Chinese misaon, probably 
 at Mr. Cochran's suggestion Mr. Walker asked her to 
 address the Sabbath-school in reference to the work in 
 Oakland. She did so; and the missionary in charge must 
 have been pleased with the address, .and perchance with the 
 5'oung woman also, for we may hear something more about 
 them after a while. 
 
 Two important questions engaged the special attention of 
 the Synod, viz. Organic Church Union, and a foreign mis- 
 sion to China. In the discussion of the former much time 
 was consumed, and it took the form of a debate in which 
 much warmth of feeling was evolved. The question came 
 before Synod by the report of a committee that had been in 
 correspondence with a similar committee from the "General 
 Synod" of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, /. e., the 
 "New Light" body. The committee reported a basis of 
 union with that body. Two delegates were present from the 
 "General Synod" to advocate the proposed union of the two 
 bodies. The plan devised was to unite the two with the 
 declared understanding or agreement that holding office or 
 voting under the United States Constitution should be made 
 a matter of forbearance, or that dissent from the government 
 should not be a term of communion. (I write from memory 
 as I have no copy of minutes available.) After long discus- 
 sion during parts of two days, the proposition for the iniion 
 on that condition was voted down b}^ a large or decided 
 majority. The next year shortly after Synod many of those 
 who favored the union on the specified terms left the church 
 and went into other bodies. They favored union probably 
 not because they themselves wished to vote or hold office in 
 the government but because they favored organic union on 
 the principle of forbearance on "questions of interpretation."
 
 FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 539 
 
 The majority believed that it would be the abandonment of 
 the old and clearly-defined position of the church or civil 
 government. Besides, if the union of the two bodies had 
 been consummated it would ha\'e been by the abandonment, 
 on the part of the larger, of the very truth on account of 
 adherence to which the smaller had gone off in 1833. More- 
 over, if the two bodies had been combined into one the lack 
 or cohesive attraction would most likely have made the 
 united church onl}^ a divided union. Union that is only a 
 compact is not union. Nothing but real unity will satisfy 
 the Head of the church. 
 
 On the question of inagurating a new foreign mission in 
 China there was diversity of sentiment. The Foreign Board 
 did not favor it. Some prominent men in Synod opposed it. 
 Rev. Dr. Metheny, the .senior missionary in Turkey, was 
 present and plead earnestly and powerfully for it; and for 
 its support he pledged thousands of dollars or nearly enough 
 to make it a financial success from the first. A few others, 
 among whom was the retired missionary from the Oakland 
 Chinese mission, favored the new mission and helped our 
 earnest foreign missionary all he could. But Synod was not 
 ready to begin the work, and the matter was referred to the 
 Board. The cause was deferred but not lost. 
 
 After vSynod daughter and I started for Vermont to take 
 in Boston by the wa3\ Here we spent the Sabbath with 
 Mrs. Clara McFall, widow of the Rev. David McFall, and 
 daughter of Rev. Dr. A. M. Milligan. At her invitation 
 President W. P. Johnston preached a memorial sermon. It 
 was in his own peculiar and beautiful style. While we 
 tarried in Boston we visited the grave of Wendell Phillips 
 who had recently been numbered among the dead. We had 
 not time to go out into the country to the grave of William 
 lyloyd Garrison but we called upon his two sons resident in 
 the cit3^ As honorable and loyal sons they have a profound
 
 540 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 and affectionate regard for their father as the acknowledged 
 leader in the great anti-slavery movement that culminated in 
 the emancipation of the slaves. 
 
 At the invitation of the Rev. J. C. K. Paris, pastor of 
 Topsham Vermont congregation, I was expected to assist 
 him at his communion on the Sabbath following; but while 
 we were in Boston I received word from him that owing to 
 sickness and death in his family the communion had been 
 postponed for a time. Accordingly we went from Boston to 
 Ryegate and visited with my good friend, Elder William 
 Bone, and with other friends, and thence to vSt. Johnslniry to 
 visit my earlier friends, Mr. Renwick McNiece and wife, 
 formerly Ellen George, whose home had been so long oppo- 
 site the Topsham parsonage. We remained in vSt. Johns- 
 bury over Sabbath and I pre.iched in the Reformed Presby- 
 terian Church who.se pulpit was vacant. 
 
 During the following week we found our way to Topsham 
 and were welcomed to the house of my old and ever-loved 
 friend. Elder Josiah Divoll. We had not seen each other for 
 about eighteen years. When we met he grasped my hand 
 and said: "For a long time there has been no man on earth 
 I was so anxious to see as my old pastor, and now I thank 
 God I have lived to see you once more." As his wife had 
 been removed by death, his widowed daughter, Mrs. Emily 
 Taggart, was now his housekeeper. I can not tell how glad 
 I was to be at home with such old-time friends. On the 
 adjacent lot was the old parsonage now occupied by the 
 pastor and family. As it was my daughter's birthplace and 
 as she had not seen it since she was a child she was glad to 
 inspect it both inside and out and drink again from its cold 
 water fountain. 
 
 While we lingered among the old famihar hills and friends 
 of bygone days I greatly enjoyed the fellowship of the saints 
 during the communion season while assisting Pastor Faris.
 
 FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 54I 
 
 After this I had a feast of happy reminiscences at a reunion 
 of the surviving- students of the Topsham Normal School of 
 former years. This happy meeting was due to the efforts 
 of Mrs. Taggart and her sister who had invited others from 
 distant places and arranged for the reunion in the grove and 
 for appropriate reminiscent exercises. It was only natural 
 that I should be expected to help to call up the events of 
 former years. The long roll was called in mingled jo}?- and 
 sadness while the past and the present of many whose names 
 were on it were narrated briefly by some one present. Hours 
 of joy were spent in happy recollections. They were fol- 
 lowed by prayer and by singing one of the old familiar 
 Psalms. On memory's page that reunion is written indel- 
 ibly. When afterwards we bade good-by to Topsham I did 
 not expect ever to see it again. During these weeks the 
 Northfield, Mass., meetings were in se.ssion. We left Top- 
 sham in time to be at the students' convention. At "The 
 Northfield," where we were boarders, we found ourselves 
 in the company of representatives of the best people of New 
 England, Christian people interested in all that was meant 
 by Mr. Moody's schools and vacation conventions. During 
 the days of the students' meetings some addresses were given 
 by representatives of the ablest and best men in the country, 
 and one or two from London. Those meetings owed their 
 life and influence for good very largely to Mr. Moody's 
 power over them to shape them at his will. His word was 
 law; his control almost absolute. All this is owing to the 
 entire confidence of good people in Mr. Moody's integrity 
 both of motive and aim. Mr. Sankey's singing also added 
 interest to the meetings. 
 
 Northfield, where Mr. Moody's schools are located, is a 
 most beautiful spot. The buildings, the grounds, the Con- 
 necticut River, and the whole landscape, make it charming. 
 But the best thing about it is its moral and religious atnios-
 
 542 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 phere. This and its absolute freedom from almost all that 
 would tempt youth to go astray probably make Northfield as 
 safe a place for the education of children of religious parents 
 as can be found on the continent. Of course in this state- 
 ment I refer only to evangelical influences in general and 
 not to denominational. If I had a son or a daughter whom I 
 wished to educate I would not send him to Mt. Hermon or 
 her to the Northfield Girls' vSchool. I would fear that the 
 undenominational influences and the great advantages of 
 the institutions would tempt the student to believe that such 
 truths as we call "distinctive" are of such comixiratively 
 trivial importance that we need not adhere to these and that 
 there is no need for the little Covenanter Church, a statement 
 to which I could give assent no not for a moment. As a 
 father I would have no right to expose my child to such 
 temptations. The desired education can be obtained else- 
 where. If not, I would keep my child at home and educate 
 her m^'self or'emplo}' another. And right here I wish to say 
 that my heart's desire and prayer to God is that our own 
 Geneva could be made as free from temptation as is North- 
 field. If the whole moral and religious atmosphere on and 
 around College Hill could be as pure as that of the Moody 
 schools, Geneva would be an educational paradise. \\'h>' 
 may it not be yet ? 
 
 Bidding good-b}' to New England's beautiful hills and for- 
 ests and streams — nowhere are there an}' more beautiful — we 
 turned our faces toward the Pacific Coast stopping only at 
 Niagara Falls, which daughter had not seen, and to \4sit 
 very briefly among our Ohio friends and once more to see 
 my mother's grave. 
 
 Shortly after our return from Synod official duties called 
 me to Seattle. A Presbyterial commission had been appointed 
 to organize a congregation there and to ordain and instal 
 licentiate Dell Johnston as pastor. His father, Rev. N. M.
 
 FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 543 
 
 Johnston, was the moderator or chairman of the commission, 
 two elders near Seattle the other members, and Professor J. K. 
 McClurkin of the Allegheny Theological Seminary and my- 
 self added members. Professor McClurkin, who was making a 
 tour of the coast, spent the Sabbath previous to the meeting of 
 the commission in Oakland and preached in the mission. I 
 was charmed with his service. His preaching was more than 
 goo4; it was beautiful and full of instruction. On our jour- 
 ney to Seattle we traveled together as far as Albany, Oregon, 
 where he stopped over one day. I learned to love the man. 
 At Seattle we lodged in the same hou.se, ate our meals at the 
 .same table, and worshiped together in our private parlor 
 morning and evening for about a week. The more I .saw of 
 him the more I loved him; but it did not take long to see 
 that he was a very liberal Covenanter and that he held 
 views, especially on organic church union, altogether at 
 variance with our distinctive principles. In the organiza- 
 tion of the congregation and in the examination and ordi- 
 nation of the officers we met with serious difficulties. Two 
 of said officers elect held loo.se and erroneous views on sev- 
 eral points in our distinctive principles. One did not give 
 his consent and adherence to the church's position anent the 
 exclusive use of the inspired Psalms in divine worship; and 
 the other did not subscribe to her po.sition on political dis- 
 sent, though he promi.sed that as long as he would remain 
 in the Reformed Presbyterian Church he would refrain from 
 the use of the ballot at political elections. All the members 
 of the commission except myself voted to sustain the exami- 
 nation. I disapproved and entered my dissent; but as I did 
 not wish to give the new organization or the young pastor 
 any trouble I told the commission I would not carr>- the 
 case to Presbytery or make complaint. Subsequently I feared 
 that in this I had erred. Perhaps faithfulness to the church 
 would have required me to complain or report the case to
 
 544 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 Presbytery. Whether or not, it is worthy of note that both 
 those officers (one an elder and the other a deacon if I do 
 not forget) not ver^^ long afterwards left the church. Nor 
 is this all. The other two ministers on the commission, as 
 well as the young pastor installed and the two elders on the 
 commission, all left the Covenanter Church not long after- 
 wards. At that time liberalism was growing and leavening 
 the bod}" rapidly. Yet it is cause of gratitude to the Head 
 of the church that he did not permit the young pastor of 
 Seattle to take away with him all the people. The majority 
 proved faithful and amid all their discouragements remained 
 true to Christ and his church. The organization continued, 
 asked for supplies, and now has a young and lo^^al pastor. 
 It is to be hoped that they will never abandon the testimony 
 of Jesus. lyong may the old blue banner wave in that beau- 
 tiful city on Puget Sound. 
 
 The evening before leaving Seattle I read in the daily 
 news that a large company of Chinese, nineteen or twenty 
 in number, had been seized by the United States marshal 
 some place north and near the boundary line, charged with 
 coming over the line into United States territor^^ They 
 had been taken to Tacoma and were Wing in jail awaiting 
 trial for violating United States law forbidding any Mongo- 
 lian to come over the line. The next da}^ on my waj^ home 
 I stopped at Tacoma and gained permission to enter the jail 
 to see the prisoners. A 3^oung Chinese Christian whom I 
 had met in Seattle had gone to Tacoma. Hunting him up 
 I took him into the jail with me presuming that I might 
 need an interpreter. My object was to ascertain from them- 
 selves whether or not they had violated the law by coming 
 over from British Columbia. I could not certainh^ discover 
 that any one of them had. Several of them had gone up 
 toward that northern boundary and near to Whatcom in 
 search of work. They were arrested on suspicion and
 
 FROM OCKAN TO OCEAN. 545 
 
 brought to Tacoma to be lodged in prison. I conferred 
 with some of the officers of law and ascertained that I could 
 do nothing to release the prisoners nor to secure justice to 
 them even if I could remain until the time of the trial. 
 This I could not do. So I departed homeward praying 
 that God would befriend the poor men who had done no 
 wrong and that he would "rid them out of the hands of 
 the wicked." At the trial they were found guilty — guilty 
 of what? — and sent to the territorial penitentiary at Olympia 
 for a term of I think three j^ears. Such was a specimen of 
 the working of a Federal law almost as iniquitous as the 
 fugitive slave law of 1850. And this anti-Chinese law is 
 still in force. The people have become accustomed to it 
 and are unconcerned about it even if some of them disap- 
 prove of it. For this and all the Chinese exclusion laws 
 God will surely smite the nation yet. " He forgetteth not 
 the cry of the humble." 
 
 35
 
 CHAPTER IvVI. 
 
 In Philadelphia as a Journalist. 
 
 Sometime during the autumn of 1890 I received a letter 
 from the publishers of Our Banner, a religious monthly 
 magazine and recognized as one of the organs of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church. At first it had been owned and edited 
 by three church pastors, Rev. J. C. K. Millig^an and Rev. 
 Da\'id Gregg, both of New York Cit}-, and Rev. J. Boggs 
 of Brooklyn. After a while it passed over to the ownership 
 of the Christian Statesman Publishing Companj^ of Phila- 
 delphia and w^as edited b}- Rev. J. C. K. Milligan alone. 
 Partly owing to the editor's views on church union and 
 communion, and partly because the magazine was not a 
 financial success, the publishers wished to get rid of it in 
 the hope that it would be a better exponent of the principles 
 of the church. These and perhaps other reasons led to the 
 opening of a correspondence in reference to the transfer of 
 the magazine. Prior to the reception of the letter I had 
 no expectation of anything' of the kind. It took me wholly 
 by surprise. The owners offered to sell the magazine to 
 me and give me entire control of its pages. This led me 
 into a strait; I did not know what to do. I tried to seek 
 divine direction. In the family it was a subject of free 
 conference, and all thought I should accept the charge of 
 the Banner. They said it would give me an opportunity 
 of doing good in the propagation of the truth in the present 
 condition of the church. Besides, there was a probability 
 that after a while both our daughters would go east to 
 
 (546)
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA AS A JOURNALIST. 547 
 
 reside; and then we would not be so far separated from 
 them. But the financial problem was difficult. To meet 
 it I had to incur debt. This proved to be a snare and a 
 burden and hindrance to success. But like others I thought 
 I could "worry through" and be free from debt after a while. 
 And so the correspondence after a month or so resulted in 
 my purchase of the magazine, the new ownership to begin 
 with the beginning of the next volume, January i, 1891. 
 Meanwhile we hastened to adjust our affairs in Oakland 
 hoping to be in Philadelphia in time to issue the January 
 number of Our Banner. This proposed change made it 
 necessary to leave behind us both our daughters. Mary, or 
 Mrs. Kirkpatrick, now the mother of several little boys, 
 was residing in Oakland, Mr. Kirkpatrick being a sheep 
 rancher out in the interior. Rosie was a teacher in the 
 seminary where she had graduated. Mrs. Johnston was 
 hard at work in the third year of the presidency of the 
 state W. C. T. U. At the first meeting of the state Board 
 she sent in her resignation. 
 
 It is due to the truth as well as to its advocate to add 
 that here during the years in which Mrs Johnston was 
 active in the W. C. T. U. work I am persuaded that she 
 had greater influence and greater controlling power than is 
 ordinarily exercised by women in similar positions. This 
 was owing not so much to her natural and acquired ability 
 to lead or to govern as to the power of the truths which she 
 ever maintained. She kept in view the important distinct- 
 ive principles of the church and they controlled her actions 
 and her utterances in public. By her thorough belief in 
 them she was better able to resist temptations to yield to 
 the popular will. 
 
 About the time of the winter holidays we bade good-by 
 to Oakland friends and were soon on board the overland 
 train taking with us our little adopted daughter, Gracie. It
 
 548 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 was midwinter. Saturday night came on us at Cheyenne, 
 Wyoming. Here we stopped and spent the Sabbath. The 
 weather was intensely cold. As we had not seen an eastern 
 winter for fifteen years we not only felt the cold severely 
 but dreaded the eastern winters so much we almost relented 
 that we had left our winterless climate in California. 
 
 As we had a section in a Pullman from Oakland through 
 to Philadelphia, I took some spare time en route to write 
 letters to several of the brethren asking contributions for 
 Our Banner. I wrote also to the editors and owners of 
 the Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter offering to buy 
 their magazine that I might combine the two, for it was 
 manifest that the constituency in the church was too small 
 to give both magazines a good support. And I offered, 
 if they preferred it, to unite with them in the publishing 
 and editing of the combined monthly. I am not sure now 
 that this .second offer was made 'during that journey to 
 Philadelphia, but, if not, it was made subsequently and in 
 several modified forms 
 
 On our arrival at Philadelphia we went directly to a hotel 
 and asked for a room with an open grate and blazing fire, 
 a rare luxur>^ in that old city of brotherly love. The first 
 man to call on us and welcome us was Rev. J. C. McFeters, 
 pastor of the Second Reformed Presbyterian Church. Prior 
 to this our acquaintance was slight. This was the beginning 
 of a friendship that subsequently ripened into a brotherly 
 love that is imperishable. He invited us to be his guests 
 until we could find a house in which to live. Thankfully 
 we declined the invitation and very soon afterwards took a 
 room in a private house in which we lodged, going out for 
 our meals until our household goods arrived by freight. 
 
 Meanwhile I busied myself looking after Our Banner. 
 Prior to this both journals had been published b}-- the 
 Christian Statesman Company, and if both were taken by
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA AS A JOURNALIST. 549 
 
 the same subscriber the price of the two was greatly reduced, 
 I divorced the magazine from the weekly, and after the 
 January number I had the magazine printed by another 
 company onlj- a few doors from the old Covenanter Cherr}- 
 Street Church. This was now owned by a congregation of 
 colored Baptists. It was the house in which the Synod of 
 1833 had assembled and out of which the "old-side Cov- 
 enanters" came when a suspended New Light took the 
 moderator's chair and from which the Comeouters marched 
 two and two to another house to constitute the loyal and 
 regular Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church ever 
 since called "Old Light. " What the character of the maga- 
 zine was after the new editor took charge of it is known 
 best by those who read it during the three and a half years 
 of its continuance. All that I wish to say here and now 
 is this, that I entered upon the work with fear and anxiety, 
 for I knew that it was difficult as well as responsible; and 
 all the more difficult because of the condition of the church 
 then more critical than prior to or at the division of 1883. 
 I tried to commit myself to Him whom I had resolved to 
 serve and glorify by the use of my pen; and I entered upon 
 the work with full faith iu Him as the Author of the truth 
 whose organ the Banner had promised to be. The cover 
 title-page had a beautiful cut of a flagstaff and floating 
 banner which bore the words "For Christ's Crown and 
 Covenant." Underneath were these, " Our Banner,'" in 
 large letters and then, "Devoted to the principles and inter- 
 ests of the Reformed Presbyterian Church;" and then the 
 quotation, "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the 
 name of our God we will set up our banners." I liked 
 that floating banner with its grand old motto, and I never 
 was ashamed of the principles to which the magazine was 
 devoted. And more here: I hope that none of the descend- 
 ants of the editor will ever be ashamed of them or love them
 
 550 tOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 less than he did. They will triumph yet, but not until "the 
 good time coming" comes. " Blessed is he that waiteth." 
 
 While we were waiting for our household goods, and it 
 was several weeks, we lodged near the Second Church. It 
 was most convenient for us to go thither. Otherwise we 
 would have been more likely to attend the First Church 
 with whose pastor and people, especially of the former 
 generation, I had been better acquainted. As time passed 
 we began to feel at home with the good people and from 
 the first to enjoy the Word preached by the pastor almost 
 every sentence of whose sermons contained some beautiful 
 simile. An unoccupied pew was kindly offered for our use. 
 Mrs. Johnston handed in her certificate to the session and 
 "little Gracie" attended the Sabbath-school. Thus it was 
 for the time our church home, though I attended the other 
 sometimes and occasionally preached in the pulpit. The 
 Third Church was so far distant I was rarely there. At 
 the proper time I was transferred to the Philadelphia Pres- 
 bytery; and I so loved the brethren of it that even after I 
 removed from its bounds I did not care to ask a change. 
 
 When Our Banner came into my hands there w^ere other 
 journals that asked and depended upon the patronage of 
 Covenanters, and in a loose sense they were church organs. 
 The Reformed Presbyterian aiid Coveiianter^ issued at 
 Pittsburg, and the Herald of Mission News, of New York, 
 were monthlies. The Christian Nation, of New York also, 
 was a weekly. The Reformed Presbyteria^i a)id Covenanter 
 was the oldest and so had the advantage of the others. The 
 Bajtner had been started somewhat as a rival monthly, ask- 
 ing for patronage as a second organ of the church. The 
 Herald was devoted to missions, especially foreign, and was 
 ably edited by Rev. Dr. Sommerville, secretary of the For- 
 eign Board. The Christian Nation, the weekly, had been 
 started by Mr. John W. Pritchard as a kind of rival of the
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA AS A JOURNALl:-T. 55I 
 
 Christian Statesman, the organ of the National Reform 
 Association and ably edited by Rev. Dr. T. P. Stevenson 
 and Rev. Dr. Mcx\llister. The Statesman, also, depended 
 largely for its support upon the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church or people. When those two monthlies and, the two 
 w-eeklies all clamored for church patronage, how^ could Our 
 Banner expect a hirge subscription Hst ? 
 
 It could hope to live at all only by being worthy of the 
 favor of the friends of the truth who w^ere not fully satisfied 
 wdth the other journals or unless they could aiford to take 
 all of them or more than one. And thus it happened that 
 the Blue Ban>ier never enriched its proprietor nor was read 
 by more than a portion of the church. If it had any claims 
 more than the others it was because of the truths it main- 
 tained or the manner in which it was conducted. It came 
 into our hands in a very stormy time in the church and 
 during the agitation that followed the issuance of the "East 
 End" declaration or platform, and only four or five months 
 before the Synod of 189 1 at which occurred the "great trial" 
 of those who had signed that "East End platform." At 
 and soon after that Synod many ministers and people 
 left the church because of the action of Synod. As the 
 Banner justified the action of Synod, at least in the main 
 question at issue, many of the patrons of the magazine ceased 
 to take it. Then as the Banner ceased to club at reduced 
 rates with the Christian Statesman, some dropped the former 
 because they could not get it for less than a dollar. There 
 was yet another cause of the diminution of the subscription 
 list. When it came into our possession, hundreds were 
 delinquent, owing both the Banner and the Statesman. 
 According to contract wdth the Statesman company the dues 
 to the Banner were to be paid to the proprietor of the Banner. 
 After a while w^e sent bills to the delinquents accompanied 
 by an explanatory circular. A large proportion of them
 
 552 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 declined or neglected to pa}', and most of them finalh' dis- 
 continued the magazine without paying their dues. All 
 these causes tended to cut down the subscription list; and 
 the Banjiej- could not have survived at all if it had not been 
 that from all parts of the church new subscribers continued 
 to come in to supply in part the loss from the causes 
 mentioned. 
 
 During the Synod of '91, which met at Pittsburg, in fulfil- 
 ment of promise and assisted b}' Rev. T. H. Walker of New 
 York, I took full reports of the "great trial," as it was 
 called afterwards, and published them in an extra Banjier. 
 The taking of the reports, some parts of which were very 
 copious, and sending them oflf every day to the press in 
 Philadelphia, involved much hard work as well as anxiety 
 to be able to give a fair and impartial report. For most 
 efficient help especially in copying, which had to be done 
 during the recesses and mostly at night, I was greatly 
 indebted to my young brother, Mr. Walker. Several nights 
 after late sessions of Synod we did not retire to rest until 
 after midnight. And I wish to record here how much I 
 was indebted to my lifelong friend and benefactor, Mrs. 
 Oudry, of Allegheny, with whom we were guests during 
 Synod. All that was necessary to make her friends com- 
 fortable was alwa^'s done and supplied ; and all for the 
 Master's sake, for she loved Him as Mary loved her lyord. 
 
 That was indeed an important as well as sad Synod. 
 Looking back upon it now after the lapse of over six years 
 I can judge with more accuracy of the character of its 
 actions. A few facts ma^^ be stated: 
 
 1 . Others and older men in different parts of the church 
 were more culpable than the young men in Pittsburg 
 Presbytery who were under trial. 
 
 2. Some of the 3'oung men who were condemned were 
 better all-round Covenanters than some who were most active 
 in the prosecution or the most ready to condemn.
 
 IN PHIIvADETvPHIA AS A JOURNALIST. 553 
 
 3. Lack of brotherly love or personal dislike had some- 
 thing if not much to do in influencing the votes that decided 
 the issue. 
 
 4. The trial did not indicate the real character of the 
 questions upon which the church was divided. 
 
 5. Two or three of the young men on trial said more 
 when making their own defense to merit censure than for 
 their action as to the "East End Platform." 
 
 6. It would have been better for the cause of truth if both 
 the prosecutors who represented Pitt.sburg Presbytery had 
 been known by the church and Synod to be sound in the 
 faith on questions gcTmane to the one involved in the trial. 
 
 7. The trial was conducted too much in the manner of 
 the civil courts. Too often the contention seemed to be for 
 the mastery. Nevertheless, that the final effect of the trial 
 would be good was at that time the hope of the Banner. 
 This is manifest by what was written by the editor in the 
 first issue after Synod. We quote it as follows: 
 
 "The truth for which the Covenanter Church has long been con- 
 tending, and the truth for which she now stands alone among all the 
 churches, is just as important as ever. And the question now is : 
 Shall we, as a cliurch, whether few or inany, continue to maitttain 
 the truth as to the claims of the Mediator as Lord of nations ? And 
 shall ive continue to refuse to incorporate with the United States Gov- 
 ernment so long as it is disloyal to Him atid to His law? We are sorry 
 that at last Synod this question was so mixed up with other and far 
 less important issues that it was almost lost sight of; and we are 
 pained to have to confess that while both Pittsburg Presbytery and 
 the Synod endeavored to stand for the truth and the right, for the law 
 and order of the church, there was so much that was wrong as well 
 as indiscreet on the part of both, it was difficult to know what should 
 be done. Nevertheless we repeat what we said in our last issue, viz.: 
 
 "The question that was settled by the Synod is this : That office- 
 holding and voting in the United States Government and under the 
 United States Constitution are sinful — that persons, however good 
 otherwise, who do not so believe and practise can not be received 
 into or retained in the fellowship of the church — and that the propa-
 
 554 LOOKING BACK FROM THE; SUNSET LAND. 
 
 gation of Sv^^ntinieiits contrary to this well-known and long-practised 
 position of the church is so hostile to her best interests that it can not 
 be tolerated. That in the settlement of this question too much has 
 been said and done that was both painful and shameful must be con- 
 fessed in sorrow and humiliation ; but the fact remains ; and however 
 men may continue to agitate it, the qticsiiou is settled.'' 
 
 In reviewing the manner in which the Banner was edited 
 during the years it was under my control I may say that I 
 endeavored to make a free journal. No contributor, what- 
 ever were his sentiments, was shut out from its columns 
 unless by his mode of writing he violated the rules of Chris- 
 tian courtesy or when the article as to its literary character 
 was unfit to appear in type. Of either kind there were only 
 a few instances. 
 
 The editor was adjtidged by some, perhaps many, as being 
 too radical on some questions, or too severe in his testimony 
 against error or wrong. If he had not been outspoken 
 against evils existing in the church, or perhaps if he had 
 been more "suaviter in modo" he would have won more 
 favor. Moreover, among all the church papers the Banner 
 stood alone in its advocacy of some truths or reforms or 
 measures believed to be important to the interests of the 
 church; and in its judgment the other journals were either 
 silent or opposed the right. 
 
 The magazine always invited contributions but received 
 little help from able writers in the church. And yet nearly 
 all its pages were filled with original matter and most of it 
 written by the editor. I am sure that he was so anxious 
 to furnish the reader with first-class religious matter that its 
 pages always seemed too few. I cotild have filled double as 
 many every month, and often I added more pages than I 
 was under promise to print. Except the very liberal assist- 
 ance given by my wife in the publishing department, I had 
 no help. I could not afford to hire it. And many a time I 
 w^as weary; but God was kind. "Balmy sleep" was his 
 gift.
 
 IN PHILADEI.PHIA AS A JOURNALIST. 555 
 
 After it came into my hands I think I made some improve- 
 ments in the magazine; most notably in keeping out of its 
 pages matter not suitable for Sabbath reading. Fewer long 
 obituaries appeared and fewer common-place ones. And 
 then I gradually got rid of all advertisements and instead 
 filled the pages of the cover wdth readable matter. 
 
 There were two things w^hich I tried hard to effect, but as 
 to both I utterly failed. I made several efforts by corre- 
 spondence with the proprietors of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 and Covenanter to combine the two magazines. If properly 
 edited one was all the church needed; one was all the church 
 could afford to support. And in this belief I wrote at several 
 different times asking correspondence in reference to the 
 com]:)ination of the two. At first I offered to buy the Re- 
 formed Presbyterian and Covenanter. Then I offered to 
 unite the two under the same editor, and later I offered to 
 sell. But they were unwilling to make any change what- 
 ever, and even declined correspondence on the subject. 
 And so we both plodded on as before. The other failure 
 was in the effort to induce Synod to publish their own min- 
 utes or to give us material aid in publishing them. And 
 two or three times I begged the Reformed Presbyterian and 
 Covenanter to join with the Banner in an effort to persuade 
 Synod to either print their own minutes, as most of the 
 churches do, or to help us to bear the expenses. As to this 
 also, correspondence was declined. And I had cause to com- 
 plain; for soon after the Banner was suspended and the 
 Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter had to print the min- 
 utes without help, the editor complained of the burden. 
 Not long afterwards even the old familiar yellow-covered 
 monthly had to suspend, I suppose for w'ant of pabulum. 
 The inference is that if the two had been married legally and 
 honorably (they twain one) the church might have had a 
 good and much-needed magazine to this day. Now the 
 church is suffering for want of it.
 
 556 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Not wishing to spend the heated season in Philadelphia, 
 as soon as the Daiiner with Synod's minntes was mailed, we 
 went to Vermont to spend onr vacation among the old famil- 
 iar hills and brooks of Topsham. Since my last visit there 
 my dear old friend, Elder Josiah Divoll, had been removed 
 to the circle of elders about the throne of God and the Lamb. 
 His daughter, Mrs. Taggart, and her son Charlie were 3^et 
 residing in the old mansion near the church. Here we 
 engaged boarding during the hot months; and here was my 
 temporary sanctum or editorial "den." 
 
 We had not been there long until we were joined by our 
 daughter Rosamond. She had remained in California with 
 her married sister, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, until the close of the 
 seminary year when she resigned her position, bade farewell 
 to Oakland, and came on directly to Topsham to spend the 
 vacation with us. On the way she was met by the young 
 minister in charge of the Boulevard Mission, New York, 
 who came on with her to Topsham. Thus for a while Mrs. 
 Taggart had five boarders, and we all had many a joyous 
 ramble in the forests and among the trout brooks, or rides 
 over the hills. During this vacation w^e had the comfort of 
 another communion season during which I again assisted 
 Pastor Faris. 
 
 The hot season being over we returned to Philadelphia in 
 time to get out the September number of the Banner. On 
 the evening of the 20th of October, in our parlor and in 
 the presence of a select number of friends, occurred the 
 marriage of our daughter to Rev. T. Holmes Walker, of 
 New York. In the marriage ceremonies I was assisted by 
 her cousin, Rev. A. W. Johnston, M. D., and Rev. Dr. D. W. 
 Collins, Rev. J. C. McFeeters also was present. After a 
 protracted social and festive hour or two with the friends, 
 the young married folks took the night train for New Y'ork, 
 thus lea^^ng a vacant chair in our family room. Those
 
 IN PHir^ADELPHTA AS A JOURNALIST. 557 
 
 parents who have had to see their last child depart from 
 home to constitute a new family ma}" imagine how we felt 
 that night when we worshiped at our family altar, the last 
 loved one gone. 
 
 The year 1S92 was one of hard work and of some incidents 
 worthy of record. I could have carried the burden of Our 
 Banner more joyously if to buoy it and to keep it afloat I 
 had not been compelled to incur debt. I had paid one 
 thousand dollars as purchase money and had been led to 
 expect that from the old dues of the magazine I would be 
 able to collect sufficient to pay back the purchase money. 
 So little was collected that I was not onl^^ disappointed but 
 saw little probability of getting out of debt. This troubled 
 me, and all the more because the magazine scarcely paid the 
 printer's bills while we had nothing wherewith to pay our 
 house rents and other family expenses. From a financial 
 standpoint it was not easy to be optimistic. But the work 
 had to be done and the monthly bills paid whatever might 
 be or not be. 
 
 The death of my beloved and only sister, Mrs. Jameson, ot 
 Belle-Centre, O., occurred in the winter of 1891 and '92 at 
 Mansfield, O., whither she had removed to be with her son, 
 then residing in that city. Her last sickness was short and 
 4ier death sooner than expected. That I was not able to 
 visit her on her death-bed or attend the burial was a source 
 of deep sorrow. She had been to me a most affectionate and 
 faithful sister. The latter 5-ears of her life had been full ot 
 sorrow. As a devout child of God she had been sanctified 
 thereby and at last was lovinglj- carried in the arms of the 
 Angel of the covenant into the presence of His Father and 
 her Father in the New Jerusalem in which there is no 
 sorrow. The departure of that sweet sister, Mary Jane, 
 sundered another tie that bound me to earth. I did not 
 doubt that she had been taken by the Bridegroom to be
 
 558 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 clothed with the white robe she had longed to wear, but I 
 was sorely grieved that I could not be with her to receive her 
 dying benediction. Our brother Samuel was with her in 
 her last hours and closed the eyes of our sister in death. He 
 and her son carried the body to Northwood Cemetery and 
 laid it beside the dust of our mother to rest until the resur- 
 rection of the just. 
 
 A while after our daughter's marriage and their keeping 
 house in New York, the}- persuaded us to join them and 
 make our home there for a time, but we did not remove the 
 publication of Our Banner ixoxa. Philadelphia thinking that I 
 could do the editorial work in New York without an}- other 
 change. We had not been in Gotham long until it was 
 time to go to Synod. It met that year, 1S92, at Mansfield, 
 O. I spent as much of my time as I could with the family 
 of my nephew, Arthur Johnston Carter, where sister had 
 died. The}^ had an adopted daughter who was very ill and 
 it was her last sickness. She was then being prepared for 
 the fold of the Good Shepherd. She had been a pupil of her 
 grandmother and so must always have been a child of many 
 pra^^ers. 
 
 This meeting of Synod when placed in contrast with that 
 of the preceding year was exceedingly pleasant. What the 
 editor of Our Banner thought of it appears from what he 
 said in the first issue after Synod. Only a condensed state- 
 ment is admissible here. 
 
 "The late meeting was characterized by at least six things: 
 
 "i. Its penitential and prayerful spirit. 
 
 "2. Its freedom from the disturbing element commonly called Lib- 
 eralism. 
 
 '3. Its freedom from acrimonious debate and personal animosities. 
 
 "Still more remarkable, probably, was the vote for the establish- 
 ment of a foreign mission in China. Look at the facts. Except Our 
 Banner, not a paper or magazine in the church had ever favored the 
 new mission. The Christian Nation had even opposed it. Two
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA AS A JOURNALIST. 559 
 
 years ago, when our beloved missionary, Dr. Metheny, of Tarsus, 
 and others, plead so earnestly for the new mission, several of the 
 leading member of Synod— members of whom we had a right to 
 expect better things— strongly opposed it. And again at this meeting 
 the same and some other members, and even some members of jMis- 
 sion Boards, decidedly opposed the new mission. And yet, when 
 the vote was finally taken, so full and large was the majority in favor 
 of it that not one opposing vote was given. E.xcept in the minds of 
 some who did not vote, it was unanimous. The right finally pre- 
 vailed without opposition. Such unanimity in the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church is almost without a parallel. What hath God 
 wrought ! " 
 
 In this connection and in illustration of the g^rowing inter- 
 est in the proposed mission to China I give here a little 
 editorial that appeared in Our Baiiiicr in the same number. 
 It reads thus: 
 
 "Enthusiasm. No subject discussed in Synod awakened such 
 intense interest as that of the establishment of a foreign mission in 
 China. Some of the speeches in its favor carried conviction. That, 
 especially, of the .secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions was one 
 of great power. It awakened enthusiasm in the hearts of not a few. 
 It must have caused conviction in every soul alive to the needs of the 
 heathen world and to the duty of the church to give the Gospel to the 
 nations noiv. Such enthusiasm had been awakened that when the 
 final vote was taken not one of the opposers of the new mission had 
 the courage, even if they had the desire, to vote no. 
 
 "At a subsequent session some of these non-voters spoke disparag- 
 ingly of this 'enthusiasm,' as they called it. As though enthusiasm 
 were not laudable. Alas! for those who have none of it. Entiuisi- 
 asm! Enthusiasm in a good cause! The more the better. Why, it is 
 a divine gift. It is the glory of the Great Redeemer who 'was clad 
 with zeal as a cloak,' and who, as his disciples remembered, had 
 said: 'The ze^l of thy house hath eaten Me up.' Would God that 
 all the Lord's people, especially ministers, and more especially pro- 
 fessors of theology, had enthusiasm in every good cause— Christlike 
 enthusiasm in the cause of missions. Then God, even our own God, 
 would bless us; and then would the nations be glad and sing for 
 joy."
 
 560 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 The final action of Synod on this subject was the author- 
 izing of the Foreign Board "to appoint two missionaries, one 
 of whom shall be an ordained minister, and the other a phy- 
 sician, to establish a mission in China as soon as practicable." 
 But progress does not always mark the action of Synod. 
 . The Banner always urged that the church's position in 
 reference to the use and sale of tobacco should be more pro- 
 hibitory — that no toleration should be given to either the use 
 or the traffic. But this Mandfield Synod fell below its former 
 testimony and action, as all it could say was in these feeble 
 words that would not greatly disturb the feelings of any 
 sinner, viz., "That we condemn as earnestly as heretofore the 
 use of tobacco in any of its forms; that the tobacco habit is a 
 preparation for the more dangerous one of intemperance." 
 Here is not a word against the sale of tobacco and no prohi- 
 bition of its use, when the committee that prepared that 
 report knew that even some ministers as well as elders use it 
 habitually. Suppose that Synod a while ago had said: "We 
 condemn the use of whisky," but had done nothing io pre- 
 ve?it its use by members nor pass any law against its sale. 
 Covenanters would be drinking and selling whisky to this 
 day. No ! The church will not get rid of the tobacco curse 
 and filth until her legislation is absolute prohibition of both 
 the use and the sale.
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 A Family Reunion. 
 
 It had been planned that as soon as the number of the 
 Banner with Synod's minutes would be out and mailed we 
 would again spend our vacation in Vermont. As Rev. Mr. 
 Paris had resigned his pastoral charge, the parsonage as 
 well as the pulpit was now vacant. The elders had offered 
 us the use of it free during our vacation and had made 
 arrangements for a summer communion while I would be 
 there. Mrs. Johnston had gone on in advance and had 
 arranged affairs so that we could keep house during the hot 
 season and have a family reunion in the birthplace of our 
 children. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick (Mary) of Oakland, 
 Cal., were about to remove thence and come to Utica, O., to 
 make the old homestead their future home as both his parents 
 had gone to their rest. To carry out her mother's plan for 
 the family reunion Mr. Kirkpatrick sent forward Mary and 
 the children, five boys, while he remained to arrange busi- 
 ness matters. She came by the northern route through 
 Detroit and Canada to Montpelier and thence to Topsham. 
 This was her birthplace, but she had never been there since 
 she was a little girl. And now all our family^grandpar- 
 ents, children, and grandchildren — three generations, were 
 together in the old parsonage, an unbroken band save one 
 
 " There is no flock, however watched and tended, 
 But one dead lamb is there ; 
 There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
 But has one vacant chair." 
 
 36 (561)
 
 562 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 Waldo Johnston was Mary's second son, a beautiful boy of 
 about eight years. Sometime during the previous summer 
 he sickened and died. They laid his body in Mountain 
 View Cemetery beside the grave of his great-grandmother. 
 As he was my namesake, as his death was the first that had 
 occurred in our family, and as he was a favorite among us 
 all, I give place here to a letter written by his father and 
 that appeared in Our Banner sXioxWy after the loss of his son; 
 and I pray that by the reading of it here not a few may 
 be profited and perhaps some heart comforted. 
 
 THE LETTER. 
 
 "We have received a number of letters of condolence from our 
 friends but none that toucli the heart Uke those who suffer with us. 
 
 " Your letter written to Mary before Waldo's death seemed to 
 express a doubt of his having fu'l knowledge of the way of salvation or of 
 his having accepted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. But in that I think 
 your fears were unfounded. We are wont to speak of 'childlike 
 faith.' During his life I have often thought what an example he was 
 of that unquestioning kind of faith. No doubt ever seemed to come 
 across his mind that the Saviour had died for /liui and his eager 
 acceptance of every truth contained in the Divine Word was often a 
 rebuke to me as well as an inspiration. His vivid imagination and 
 spirituality enabled him to comprehend matters that the other chil- 
 dren do not seem to take hold of at all. From the time I saw him 
 after his fatal illness began I feared the worst and often wondered 
 what could be said to him that might bring him nearer to his .Saviour. 
 I could think of nothing that he did not already know and believe, 
 and his sufferings were so incessant and severe he could not at any 
 time carry on a conversation for any length of time. So nothing was 
 said beyond the often expressed wish to him that Jesus would heal 
 him but if not to make him ready for heaven. 
 
 "On the Wednesday night before he died — the last night he was 
 wholly conscious — I was undressing the little children at his bedside 
 and they were saying their prayers in my hearing. Waldo wanted 
 me to say his prayer for him and later he asked me again. Each time 
 I complied with a feeling diat I was as near my Father God as I ever 
 had been. I had omitted the second time to say — as his custom was — 
 'to give Waldie a new heart.' He reminded me of the omission,
 
 A FAMILY REUNION. 563 
 
 showing he was following me closely. He would improvise a prayer 
 for his 'grandma back home' 'that came from the heart so fervently 
 that it was plain that he felt that he was talking to a Hearer of prayer 
 that was a personality to him. 
 
 " Surely some'children are saved, for Jesus said so, and I am just as 
 confident that Waldo is one of them. I do not think much of con- 
 fessions made on the death-bed — nor do I value the ' last words ' as 
 some seem to. Waldo's life for years was what gave me the 
 confidence I have in his being numbered among the redeemed. Of 
 highly nervous temperament, easily irritated because of the sensitive 
 condition of his brain which was predisposed to ths disease that 
 terminated his short life— he was ever ready to ask forgiveness for 
 wrongdoing, and grant a pardon which seemed to carry with it a 
 forgetfulness of a wrong done him. 
 
 ' ' My fondness for him is a secret to nobody. He was my one com- 
 panion and his loss is to me beyond anything that language can 
 e.xpress. 1 can not see in any of the other children the traits of 
 character that made him so precious to me — though I love them all 
 very dearly. ' / am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of 
 His wrath.' Another grief that heavily bows down the strong man 
 I am doubtless soon to suffer, but His grace shall be sufficient, and 
 my sorrow is tempered with the blessed hope that I shall one day go 
 to the loved ones who precede me. God grant that we may meet all 
 our loved ones before His throne ! He gave and He hath taken 
 away: Blessed be His name." 
 
 Shortly after Mary and the boys came to Topsham Mr. 
 and Mrs. Walker went from New York, and I followed soon. 
 Then came the communion season. It was largely attended 
 by the people and greatly enjoyed by our family, none 
 absent save Mr. Kirkpatrick away on the Pacific Coast. 
 Some weeks after the communion Mrs. Walker gav^e birth 
 to a beautiful little babe that the happy father named Rosa- 
 mond Johnston. Thus another was added to our family 
 reunion circle, and this in the old parsonage where the babe's 
 mother first saw the light. 
 
 When Mary's allotted time had expired and Banner diUXxt's, 
 called me back to Philadelphia, she and the boys and their 
 grandfather bade good-b}' to the others who could linger
 
 564 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 behind. We traveled together as far as Greenfield, Mass., 
 where we parted, she and the children going to Utica, O., and 
 I to Philadelphia. When their long vacation was over those 
 who had lingered behind for the time joined me in Phila- 
 delphia. Prior to this Rev. Mr. W^alker had resigned the 
 charge of the mission church in New York. As he expected 
 to be awa}' from home preaching in fulfilment of appoint- 
 ments, he removed to Philadelphia where he left his little 
 famil}' in our charge. 
 
 During the winter and spring of 1893 I was closely con- 
 fined to my post except when after the death of Rev. William 
 Graham I went to Boston to preach two Sabbaths in the 
 vacant pulpit. During m}^ stay I was most pleasantly 
 entertained in the family of Mrs. Graham, the bereaved 
 widow. 
 
 The S^-nod of 1893 met at New Castle, Pa. Two memo- 
 rials were before Sjniod, one asking that advanced action be 
 taken against the use and sale of tobacco, and another peti- 
 tioning that Synod would rescind its resolution of 1889 in 
 reference to voting on constitutional amendments. Sj-nod 
 granted the request of neither, though on the tobacco ques- 
 tion the deliverance was in advance of that of the previous 
 year. The action of this year reads thus : 
 
 '^Resolved, i. That we reiterate our condemnation of the filthy, 
 expensive, and sinful habit of using tobacco as demoralizing the 
 character, ruining the health, and draining the income, as well as 
 entailing disease and an enfeebled constitution upon posterity. 
 
 "2. That we urge once more that a practical testimony be borne 
 against this vice, by refusing financial aid to students, licensing 
 theological students, giving appointments to supplies, or ordaining 
 to any office in the church those who persist in its use." 
 
 As to the foreign mission in China no progress had been 
 made. No action was taken except to vote that "Synod is 
 still ready to go forward in establishing a mission in China
 
 A I^AMILY REUNION. 565 
 
 SO soon as the leadings of God's providence shall indicate 
 his willingness to grant us the privilege. No one has 
 responded to the call for a missionary, and the Geary 
 exclusion law may close the door temporarily." 
 
 As Rev. James Patton had resigned the superintendence 
 of the Oakland Chinese mission, the Central Board reported 
 that they had appointed Rev. D. McAllister, Jr., to its super- 
 intendency at a salary of $1,000, and that the mission was 
 " in a very satisfactory condition "! 
 
 During that meeting of Synod and by special invitation 
 I had an opportunity of having a good visit with my dear 
 friend, Rev. Dr. Robert Audley Browne, and family. Most 
 probably that was our last meeting on this side of the river, 
 but, my beloved United Presbyterian brother, may we not 
 hope to eat bread together in the kingdom of heaven ? 
 
 Soon after Synod I heard of the death of my brother 
 Samuel. It occurred on the i4tli of May. His wife had 
 died only a few weeks before. As he was several years 
 older, he had expected her to survive him. After her death 
 he was cast down in sorrow and seemed to pine away at his 
 great loss. Samuel P. was the last of our family whose 
 death I was called to mourn. Brother James was younger 
 than he, but the older survived the younger by quite a num- 
 ber of years; and he outlived my sister who was many years 
 younger. As he was the only farmer in the family he was 
 blessed with health and long life. His age was nearly ninety. 
 He was the father of thirteen children. They all loved him 
 as few fathers are loved. And well they might. Never was 
 a father more faithful to his children. And among Cov- 
 enanters none were more loyal to the old blue banner of 
 Scotland and her covenants. Five of his sons were named 
 for her reformers "of whom the world was not worthy." 
 Yet he lived to see some of them turn aside to the flocks of 
 the companions, and it gave him grief. Since this dear
 
 5^6 LOOKING BACK I^ROM THE SUNSKT LANt). 
 
 brother's death, by which I was left alone, the last of our 
 mother's children, I have been sad in my loneliness. But 
 the time will not be long. 
 
 While we resided in Philadelphia I had frequent inter- 
 views with my dear friend of early years, William Still, 
 author of that wonderful book, "The Underground Rail- 
 road." He was president of the Board of Supervisors of the 
 Home for Aged People of Color. He generally arranged 
 for religious services on Sabbath da3^s. Several times at his 
 invitation I preached in the Home. The services were in 
 the chapel into which probably about one hundred old peo- 
 ple, some very old, gathered to worship. Many of them had 
 been slaves. Most of them were very attentive hearers. 
 Sometimes after the services were over many would come to 
 me to talk over the dark and painful scenes through which 
 they had passed when under the yoke. Would it not be easy 
 to preach to such people ? 
 
 In the city of Philadelphia yet continues to exist the oldest 
 and only anti-slavery society in the United States. Mr. Still 
 is the president. Under his leading influence it was agreed 
 to hold a public meeting on the anniversary of the emanci- 
 pation of the slaves. The meetings continued through the 
 afternoon and evening and were very large. Mr. Still was 
 the chairman. They were held in the great auditorium of 
 the Y. M. C. A. and consisted largely of negroes. Friends 
 (Quakers), and old people. Among the speakers on the 
 program were several of the old Abolitionists who had plead 
 the cause of the oppressed, such as Robert Purvis, Mary 
 Grew, and Rev. Dr. Furness. Mr. Still had pressed me into 
 the service and I ventured to prepare and give an address on 
 " What Hath God Wrong hf f On the preparation of that 
 address I bestowed much labor, and its sentiments seemed 
 to meet the warm approbation of the audience. It was my 
 last public testimony in behalf of the old Abolitionists of
 
 A FAMILY REUNION. 567 
 
 whom their generation was not worth5^ I can not give it 
 here; it is too lengthy; but the writer may be pardoned for 
 giving at least the two paragraphs with which the address 
 closed . 
 
 "The philosoph}^ of the old Abolition movement has not 
 been understood except by a few. It was too high for the 
 politician; too deep for the mere churchman. The honor of 
 the final result is too often ascribed to party or to the martyr 
 President. The thought in the mind of the old Abolitionist 
 — 'What hath God wrought!' — is as true as it was sub- 
 lime. To the enthroned Mediator, the God of armies, let all 
 the glory be ascribed. For generations he had been bottfing 
 up the tears of the oppressed. No prayer of the millions of 
 his own enslaved children begging for deliverance was for- 
 gotten. And now when the cup of his indignation was full 
 and the hour of their deliverance had come, the torch of Johu 
 Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry was thrown into slavery's 
 magazine, and the old warrior and hero became a sacrifice 
 to appease the rage and allay the fears of the south. But 
 God had determined the destruction ot the slave power and 
 of the auction-block; and so the maddened south fired upon 
 Fort Sumter. Then followed the rush to arms to resent the 
 insult done to the Stars and Stripes. Then followed the 
 nation's baptism of blood to save the Constitution and the 
 Union, not to deliver the oppressed. But God meant it 
 otherwise. Emancipation as a war measure resulted, and 
 in God's own time the chains were broken. Lans Deo! 
 
 "Who should be here to-da^- to commemorate emancipa- 
 tion? If I could I would summon from the north, from the 
 south, from the east, and from the west and gather into 
 one vast assembly the old slave mothers who were bereft 
 of their children, the surviving husbands and fathers whom 
 the cruel slave-dealer sold to the dreaded cotton and sugar 
 plantations, and the old fugitives who fresh from the bloody
 
 568 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 lash ot" the overseer l)ecame the prey of the bloodhound; and 
 then with these emancipated ones as our leaders we would 
 join in the glad shout of ' Halleluiah, for the Lord God 
 Omnipotent reigneth.' " 
 
 A few weeks after that anniversary meeting Mrs. Johnston 
 and I were invited to an evening dinner with Mr. Still's 
 family. All the other guests were colored men and their 
 wives. The men were an Ivpiscopal bishop, a Methodist 
 D. D., Rev. Dr. Reeves, pastor of a Presbyterian Church 
 of which Mr. Still is a member. Rev. Mr. Anderson, Pres- 
 byterian minister and Mr. Still's son-in-law, and another 
 minister who was editor of a religious magazine in the 
 interests of the colored people. In that little company of 
 friends were men and women of brains and culture such as 
 are rarely found at any festive board. We found ourselves 
 in the presence of men of such high attainments and relig- 
 ious worth that if we had had any pride of caste or color 
 there was now no room left for it. And the dinner was 
 like a royal feast. Mr. and Mrs. Still pre.sided as if they 
 were king and queen. Rarely if ever in life was it our 
 honor to be guests on such a festive occasion. 
 
 The Banners containing the minutes of the Sjniod of 1893 
 all being in the Philadelphia post-office, w-ife and I once 
 more hurried off to Vermont to spend our summer vacation 
 in the old parsonage among the hills and the people we 
 loved so well. This time we had to go alone except that 
 we took our "little Gracie" with us. Our children were 
 away west at their own homes. Sometime during the 
 past year Rev. Mr. Walker had been called to the pastorate 
 of Cedar L,ake Congregation at Ra}-, Indiana, and had 
 removed thither. The Top.sham parsonage was now occu- 
 pied by Mrs. Emily Divoll Taggart and her son. We were 
 all happy together. Charlie had been a student at Mt. 
 Hermon, Mr. Mood^-'s school for boys; and he was such a
 
 William Still
 
 A FAMILY RKUNION. 569 
 
 lover of music and such a master of so many musical instru- 
 ments, we never were allowed to grow sad or morose; and 
 our daily concert tickets were always free. 
 
 As the summer before, the church session requested me to 
 conduct the religious services of another communion season, 
 and I was authorized to invite Rev. J. C. McFeeters to assist. 
 By correspondence we arranged to meet at Northfield, Mass., 
 to remain as long as we could at the missionaries' conven- 
 tion in session at that time. We lodged in one of the build- 
 ings on the extensive and beautiful grounds consecrated to 
 religion and Christian education. Brother J. R. Thompson, 
 pastor of the Second Church of Newburgh, N. Y., was there 
 before us, and we had a good time. He was spending a short 
 vacation there. Where could he or any hard-working pastor 
 find a better summer resting-place ? Brother McFeeters and 
 I lodged in a large room supplied with two beds. As he was 
 born on the Green Isle and I in the United States twenty- 
 eight years earlier, and a lineal descendant of Sir Archibald 
 Johnston, or Lord Warriston whom the Scotch Covenant- 
 breakers hung in Edinburgh, we thought it prudent to occupy 
 different beds. But we read the Bible together and prayed 
 together morning and evening; we lay together on the lawn 
 under the shadow of one of the old elms while he read to 
 me Professor Drummond's latest book; together we attended 
 the meetings and heard great lectures from great men and 
 returned missionaries from far-distant lands; together we 
 listened with joy or in tears to the great evangelist, always 
 the central object and mainspring of all the wheels ever in 
 motion there; and together we listened with rapture to Mr. 
 Moody's song companion, Ira D. Sankey. By the way, if 
 ever an "old Psalm-singer" is tempted to become a hymn- 
 singer it must be at those meetings where everybody joins 
 in chorus with Mr. Sankey in some of his songs as no other 
 can .sing them. By the way again, Ira D. Sankey' might not
 
 570 1.00KING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 be the last one to be brought to our beUef in the exclusive 
 use of the inspired songs of the Bible. He has a great admi- 
 ration for them, and he once said to me that he would like 
 to use them if they were more beautifully versified. His 
 emphasized statement is that in his public singing he is only 
 "singing the Gospel." As yet, however, he is far from 
 accurate in his views. Some A^ears ago, in pleasant talk 
 with him in San Francisco, I could not convince him that 
 the "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" mentioned by 
 Paul are all found in the book of the Bible called the " Book 
 of Psalms." Nor is Mr. Sankey alone in his opinion. Some 
 good people believe that the "hymn" which Jesus and his 
 disciples sang after the Passover and before he went out to 
 the Mount of Olives, was only the effusion of some poetic 
 genius among his followers. 
 
 During our communion season in Topsham Mr. McFeeters 
 gave us such preaching as he only can give. The little rem- 
 nant of the once beautiful flock were almost all out to be 
 happy during the da^'S of the sweet season of communion; 
 and many others heard the Word preached. As the duties 
 of a pastor devolved upon me, I tried on Monday to give as 
 kind and yet faithful exhortation as was needed. At that 
 time I supposed but did not know that that would be my 
 last communion with those dear people. "His ways are past 
 finding out." 
 
 While Mr. McFeeters tarried with us as our guest we had 
 many a season of sweet fellowship, and some pleasant ram- 
 bles. In one we obtained some relics from the farm home 
 in which Rev. William Sloane, the old-time pastor, had 
 lived. That house was the birthplace of his son, James 
 Renwick Willson Sloane, and to it others would yet be more 
 likely to make pilgrimages if the Topsham Covenanters had 
 continued loyal to Christ. 
 
 After the communion we lingered some weeks and tried
 
 A FAMILY REiUNION. 57 ^ 
 
 to do what we could for the Master's cause. I contmued to 
 preach on Sabbaths. Mrs. Johnston did much W. C. T. U. 
 work and continued to teach the Sabbath-school Bible class. 
 I prepared the matter for the September number of Our 
 Banner, rambled often among the forests and brooks yet 
 familiar, made my last visit to the grave where, alone and 
 unseen by mortal eye, I had often wept— wept tears but 
 wiped away by the hand of one who loved me more than I 
 deserved.
 
 CHAPTER IvVIII. 
 
 Nkw Home for "Our Banner." 
 
 After the issue of the September number of Our Banner 
 we changed the place of pubUcation to Pittsburg. Our resi- 
 dence, however, was at Beaver Falls an hour or more distant 
 by rail. This change was made not because we disliked to 
 live in the city of brotherh' love, for we had many friends 
 there, and for many reasons it was a most desirable home; 
 but the expenses of living were heavy, my health was fail- 
 ing for want of what it was almost impossible to find, a 
 house with open grates. Mrs. Johnston was restless be- 
 cause she could do nothing to help meet our family expenses; 
 and Pittsburg was not so far from the homes of our children. 
 We rented a house on College Hill where she hoped she 
 could "make a little money" by boarding and lodging a few 
 young lad}^ students and thus help to keep the Ba?iner afloat 
 and pay the interest on our debts incurred by its purchase 
 and its continued publication. We furnished two rooms for 
 boarders and said to our friends, "Please tell young lady stu- 
 dents that at the opening of the term we will have rooms for 
 four of them." One came, and only one, the daughter of 
 one of our Pennsylvania friends. It did not pay. But we 
 were too proud to whine over it; and the winter passed 
 away and we survived, though our indebtedness steadily 
 increased. Meanwhile I occupied my "den" and from time 
 to time sent to the Pittsburg printer my "copy" for the 
 Banner and. received from him now and then a roll of "proof 
 slips," so that I did not need to go into Pittsburg more than 
 
 (572)
 
 NEW homp: for "our banner." 573 
 
 once a month and this to make up what the printers call 
 "the dummy" and to leave the addressed wrappers. 
 
 In Beaver Falls we had warm friends, some of them 
 friends in daj^s of yore, old and tried. Had it not been for 
 our unpleasant financial circumstances and the unhappy 
 condition of the church there, we would have been glad to 
 make it our life home. The beautiful country around, the 
 good society, Geneva College, and the many excellent friends 
 and brethren in the church, all would have made it a desira- 
 ble place of residence. But it was not ours to enjoy it. 
 Nor was it desirable then. During the eight or nine months 
 we were there the most of the people, church and college, 
 were in a state of ebullition. Exciting scenes growing out 
 of the discussion of National Reform questions and follow- 
 ing the calling of a pastor to the Geneva congregation pre- 
 vented us from enjoying that peace and quiet and comfort 
 which are almost essential to growth in the Christian life. 
 We could not escape from them, we could not ignore them. 
 I w^as not a member of Pittsburg Presbyter>' but I w^as resi- 
 dent within its bounds. Mrs. Johnston did not present her 
 certificate to the session of the new congregation, but we 
 worshiped with them on Sabbaths in the college chapel, and 
 for the sake of our common mother church we were deeply 
 interested in whatever interested them and her. The ques- 
 tion that then agitated the National Reformers had reference 
 to the proper terms to be used in the constitutional amend- 
 ments which Congress was petitioned to favor. The ques- 
 tion agitating the Geneva congregation referred to the 
 settlement of the pastor who had been called. His alleged 
 sentiments as to the Christian Endeavor Society and proba- 
 bly as to all involuntary associations, were offensive to a 
 minority, and these endeavored to prevent his installation. 
 And so it was almost impossible for us to be neutral in 
 questions of public church interests. Besides, as the resi-
 
 574 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 dent editor of a magr.zii.e legarded as a church organ, I 
 could not ignore the moral or ecclesiastical battles that were 
 being fought. And so it happened that when there were 
 public meetings in the interest of the one or the other, or 
 meetings of the Presbytery to settle questions on which the 
 congregation was divided, the Banner was expected to 
 report the proceedings and the editor to characterize them. 
 For endeavoring to do so correctly and faithfully he was 
 subjected to all manner of censure or severe criticism. 
 Some strong partisans said: "Stop my Bcunnry Some 
 used the pen in other journals to rebuke it; and so the 
 Banner was tossed about somewhat roughly in the stormy 
 winds of strife. I would gladly have been back in the "City 
 of Brotherly Love." It happened also that the /hnmer was 
 not popular with the college. The editor did not like the 
 prominence given to the outside and beastly forms of ath- 
 letics when so few of the students, children of the church 
 or members of it, were interested in the cause of missions. 
 He disliked the toleration given to the use of tobacco; and 
 he was especially grieved at the Sabbath desecration to 
 which the Saturday ball-game contests led. For speaking 
 his mind and for his efforts to eifect the reform, the editor 
 was not in danger of being too popular with many members 
 of faculty or of the students. Well, it did not hurt him 
 very much, but yet it did not tie him to College Hill when 
 for other reasons he wished to be away. 
 
 In our desire to be free from debt and to be able to con- 
 tinue the Bonner whose friends assured me was doing a 
 good work as an organ of the truth, I made a hasty trip to 
 California in the hope of being able to sell our little property 
 in Oakland. I remained there two or three weeks in a 
 fruitless effort. Such was the condition of the finances and 
 the real-estate market that I had to return in disappoint- 
 ment. It seemed impossible to continue the Banner with-
 
 NEW HOME FOR "OUR BANNER." 575 
 
 out incurring more debt and to this I could not consent. In 
 my straits I tried once more to negotiate with the proprie- 
 tors of the other monthly in the hope that the two might be 
 combined. I failed as before. Then — well, I began to fear 
 that my "better half" would be sorry she ever married a 
 poor preacher and a poor publisher. And then my pride 
 was touched. I feared the shame of failure in my efforts to 
 keep afloat the Jyauncr of truth. For who does not know 
 that in the judgment of the world (and in this church peo- 
 ple are much the .same), failure, however good the cause, is 
 shameful. Success in whatever effort, l)ad or good, meets 
 with applause. 
 
 "And wlien thou to thyself d<jst well, 
 Men will thee praises sive." 
 
 In my perplexity I resolved to make another effort to 
 diminish the number of church papers, and I opened a corre- 
 spondence with the publisher of the Christian Nation, the 
 weekly paper that Synod had commended to the patronage 
 of the people. This correspondence began shortly before 
 the meeting of Synod in 1S94. It resulted in a harmonious 
 agreement that I wf)uld give to Mr. Pritchard the subscrip- 
 tion list and the "good-will" of our Ban)icr on two condi- 
 tions, viz., that he would send the Natioi free of charge to 
 Ba)i)ic)- subscribers who had paid in advance, whether a 
 month or a year, and that I would collect and retain any 
 moneys due to the Bau)uy at the time of the transfer, viz., 
 the middle of the volume or June 30. In our agreement, 
 however, it was expressly stipulated that the contract and 
 the transfer would ncjt be confirmed or take place in case 
 Synod would take any action with reference to a church 
 paper that would make it unnecessary^ for me to give up the 
 Banner. Synod took no such action, and so our bargain 
 was closed. Immediately after Synod I handed over my list 
 to Mr. Pritchard. In the next issue of the Nation I an-
 
 576 LOOKING BA.CK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 nounced the transfer and explained its conditions, and all the 
 subscribers of the Baiuicr received that number of the A^ation 
 and subsequent numbers. Mr. Pritchard honorably fulfilled 
 his contract. Letters which I received from time to time 
 from my old friends indicated regret that I had been obliged 
 to give up the Banner. Had it not been for the burden of 
 debt under which I was still laboring, I would have felt a 
 great relief now that I was a free man, no longer caged in 
 an editor's "den" or harassed by a publisher's corroding 
 cares. 
 
 If the reader has not already seen the causes that led to 
 the indebtedness alluded to above a few words will make it 
 plainer. When I paid $i ,000 for the Banner list and "good- 
 will," I was assured by those who, as I supposed, knew the 
 facts, that at least that amount would be collected from the 
 subscribers who were in arrears. Few of the dues were ever 
 paid. The debtors either had trivial excuses or never made 
 any response whatever to the bills sent to them. Thus most 
 of the money paid out in the purchase of the Banner was a 
 loss without anything to balance it. Then hundreds who 
 had accepted the peculiar sentiments of the former editor 
 ceased to be subscribers. Many were dissatisfied because 
 they no longer received both Statesman and Banner at 
 reduced rates. The weekly papers had preference with very 
 many who could not pay for a monthl}"- also. Many who 
 had always taken the Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, 
 upon which even two editors bestowed little editorial labor, 
 seemed incapable of appreciating the Banner upon which so 
 much was bestowed. Besides all this, many whose names 
 were on our list never paid a dollar and had to be dropped 
 as "dead-heads." 
 
 All the above makes a dark picture. For want of a 
 brighter the Banner that had so many rivals, all clamoring 
 for support, had to succutnb. Yet no one may infer that it
 
 NEW HOMK FOR "OUR BANNER." 577 
 
 lacked friends. It had many, but the entire membership of 
 the church was too small to support so many papers, monthly 
 and weekly. Some had to fail. At this writing there is 
 only one weekly, the Xafioii, and one monthly, the Herald 
 of Mission Neics, both published in New York. In this 
 reckoning the smaller local papers are not counted. Some 
 of these, as the Covenanter Record 2i\\di the Covenanter Ensign, 
 are well edited and are doing a good work. 
 
 The last number of the Banner, June, 1894, was issued in 
 time to be in the hands of most of the ministers before the 
 meeting of Synod in Philadelphia. At that time I did not 
 know that it would be the last, though I feared it. It 
 depended upon what Synod would do or not do. This last 
 issue had forty-eight pages, thirty-one of which contained 
 fresh editorial matter. Among the editorials were such as 
 these: "A Plea for the Young Men," meaning the theological 
 students; "Plea for the Proposed Mission to China;" "Shall 
 We Obey the I^aw of Purity?" or a testimony against tobacco; 
 "Mint, Anise and Cummin," a testimony against ministers 
 wearing the mustache if alone; and an article that had been 
 sent to the Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter but shut 
 out. This was about "Chhiese Mission Work," meaning 
 work in the Oakland mission. In another, "What Synod 
 Should Do," the following were mentioned: "Appoint Mis- 
 sionaries to China;" "Authorize the Board to Select and 
 Educate at Geneva College Brainy and Pious Students from 
 Our Missions, Southern, Chinese, and Indian, That They 
 May Be Prepared for the Theological Seminary and the Mis- 
 sion Fields," "Stop the Reading of Sermons by All Ministers 
 and lyicentiates," or erase from our Testimony (chapter 24, 
 section 7), the declaration that "the ministers of religion 
 have no warrant for reading their sermons to the congrega- 
 tion." On the last page was a significant item, viz., "When 
 the editor began his work in Our Banner he had pleasant 
 37
 
 578 LOOKING BACK FROM THE) SUNSET LAND. 
 
 expectations of being able not to please everybody. He now 
 rejoices that thus far he has met with no serious disappoint- 
 ment." 
 
 After Synod, when the Christian Instructor , a United Pres- 
 byterian paper, had learned that Our Bajuier had been 
 merged in the Christian Nation, the editor. Rev. Dr. Collins, 
 said: "We are sorry that Our Banner, which has been a 
 fearless journal during its history, and especially since it fell 
 into the hands of the late editor. Rev. N. R. Johnston, has 
 ceased to exist. We shall miss its spicy columns." The 
 Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, a Covenanter paper, 
 said: '"'Our Banjier, edited and published by Rev. N. R. 
 Johnston, has been disposed of to the publisher of the Chris- 
 tia7i Nation. The June number of Our Banner concludes 
 the issues." The reader can see the difference. 
 
 The Synod of 1894 met in Philadelphia and in the second 
 Church. Rev. J. C. McFeeters, the pastor, was the moder- 
 ator. Mrs. Johnston went with me, and among our many 
 old friends we had a good time. 
 
 That Synod was somewhat memorable for its progress in 
 efforts to inaugurate the foreign mission in China. Our 
 beloved physician, Rev. Dr. Methenyof the Tarsus mission, 
 was present. He presented a petition of his own that Synod 
 would, at this meeting, appoint missionaries to China. The 
 Board had previously prepared its report saying, "Nothing 
 has been done toward the establishing of a mission in China. 
 There is money in hand to begin the work, but no response 
 has yet been made to the repeated calls for volunteers." 
 The committee on missions recommended that Synod now 
 elect two missionaries. Rev. Elmer McBurney and Rev. R. 
 J. Mclsaac were chosen. Objections being made to the 
 latter because of his connection with the Selma freedman's 
 mission, he did not accept, and the Board was authorized to 
 select another and send him out with Mr. McBurney. The
 
 NEW HOME FOR OUR BANNER. 579 
 
 prospect of a mission to China now looked very hopeful. A 
 great amount of important business was transacted, but 
 Synod showed that Our Banner was not received as its dic- 
 tator. Except in the appointment of the missionary to 
 China, nothing was done in reference to the things that the 
 June number of the magazine had said should be done. As 
 to the tobacco part of the report on temperance the following 
 remarkable deliverance was made: "We renew our condem- 
 nation of the use of tobacco, . . . and we warn the 
 young against this insidious evil," etc. Anti-cigarette 
 clubs were commended whose members promise not to 
 smoke until after they are twenty-one years of age; and min- 
 isters and church-members were enjoined to obey the com- 
 mand, "Keep thyself pure." Did that committee of Synod 
 expect this action to introduce the millennium of purity? 
 
 During that vSynod I had much delight in frequent inter- 
 views with Dr. Metheny. I will go down to the grave ever 
 having a joyous remembrance of them. His influence in 
 Synod to bring about the appointment of missionaries to 
 China was very great. I question if any progress would 
 have been made, as the Board had done nothing, if he had 
 not been so earnest in his pleas. When the time of our 
 parting came I was sad in the fear that we would never meet 
 again on this side of the veil.
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 Our Pacific Home Again. 
 
 As at Synod nothing occurred to prevent the transfer of 
 the Banner list to the publisher of the Nation, before we left 
 Philadelphia we had decided to return to our home in Oak- 
 land, Cal., where our cottage was standing empty waiting 
 for us. Accordingly soon after our return to our temporary 
 home at Beaver Falls we began to prepare for removal. We 
 had found so many good people there and so many warm 
 friends, it was not without regrets that we thought of leav- 
 ing College Hill. There was my beloved nephew. President 
 W. P. Johnston, ever dear to me not only for his father's 
 sake but for his own. And then his most excellent wife and 
 family had become endeared to us. It was not pleasant to 
 think of lea\dng behind all our friends including our own 
 children perhaps never to meet again. After our goods were 
 packed and billed for California we were detained some time 
 before the}' could be shipped. It was just at the time when 
 the great railroad strike was in progress and when in Chi- 
 cago and other places the riots and conflagrations caused by 
 the strikers were causing terror all over the country. 
 
 Leaving Beaver Falls we journe^^ed to Utica, O. , to visit 
 our daughter, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, and famil5^ They were 
 residing in the old mansion and on the farm lying adjacent 
 to the town, and he and the older boys were all farmers. 
 On that same old farm had lived and died two generations of 
 Kirkpatricks and Covenanters— Grandfather Peter Kirkpat- 
 rick, a ruling elder, and James M. Kirkpatrick, also an elder, 
 
 (580)
 
 OUR PACIFIC HOME AGAIN. 58 1 
 
 the father of the present occupant. Before marriage Mary had 
 become quite an artist. We found her now busy caring for 
 her boys, big and Httle, and looking after her numerous 
 broods of young chickens. The brush had been left behind 
 in California and now the duties of a mother and of a farm- 
 er's wife left no time for the study of landscape or canvas 
 lights and shades. While lingering here I rambled with the 
 boys, or went a-fishing in the neighboring creek, more con- 
 cerned about the grandchildren than the finny tribe, and 
 studying and wondering what those boys would become and 
 what they would do after I had passed from earth. Happy 
 boyhood ! How little did they know of their future! Nay, 
 rather, how little did they know of themselves as under 
 parental authority and divine law, or of the responsibilities 
 that will erelong rest upon them; and just as little do chil- 
 dren know of a mother's anxiety about them and her intense 
 desire for their future usefulness and salvation. Close by on 
 an adjacent farm resides my nephew and mj^ namesake, 
 Robinson Johnston, whose most excellent wife is a sister of 
 our son-in-law, Mr. Kirkpatrick. He is an elder in the Utica 
 session and is happy in his family, all beautiful daughters. 
 Peculiar sight was that — Marjory's children all girls, Mary's 
 all boys. Perhaps the cousins were satisfied. As for the 
 parents, the one may sing: — 
 
 " So may our sons in bloom of youth 
 Vie with the palm tree's stately growth; " 
 
 and the other: 
 
 "With sculptured stones our daughters vie, 
 That grace some royal structure high." 
 
 While we remained with our children at that old home- 
 stead every hour seemed precious to me, for I could not know 
 whether that would be my last visit with those I loved so 
 well. I always loved that loving and faithful daughter, but 
 when I saw her an anxious and faithful mother of so many
 
 582 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 little boys, I loved her more than ever. When the hour of 
 separation came it was hard to say, "Farewell, Mary." If it 
 could have been I would have remained in that old house 
 with the loved ones whom I could hardly hope to see again 
 with these eyes then growing dim in the light of their 
 seventy -fourth summer. And then the distance between 
 Ohio and California seemed so great. 
 
 Our next visit was at Ray, Ind., with our daughter Rosie, 
 Mrs. Walker, now the mother' of two little children. At 
 that time the pastor was happy in his relation with the flock. 
 It seemed as though that would be his life field of labor. 
 But the Good Shepherd knows best. Happy is that servant 
 who can submit without complaint to the will of the Master. 
 
 On our return to California we found our Highland Park 
 cottage empty and ready for our occupancy except that it 
 was in very bad repair. Much of the time that we had been 
 in the east the property had been rented to parties that had 
 been little better than vandals ; and a part of the time it 
 had been unoccupied and exposed to all kinds of marauders 
 who had injured the lawn and fences and fruit trees. Every 
 thing around our home that we had tried to make comforta- 
 ble for ourselves in our old age was now so abused, notwith- 
 standing that we had paid a man to care for it in our absence, 
 that for some reasons we were sorry we ever left it for the 
 sake of the Banner or aught else. Was that sorrow sinful ? 
 Did it result from greater love to bodily and earthly interests 
 than the higher interests of religion and of the life immortal ? 
 I do confess, however, that I could not forget that our going 
 east to publish and edit the magazine had resulted in what 
 many would call a failure and had involved us in heavy 
 financial loss and debt. To this was added another source 
 of sorrow. When we came back to our former field of labor 
 we found the Oakland mission in a more dilapidated condi- 
 tion. At first we did not understand it. It was not long.
 
 OUR PACIFIC HOME AGAIN. 5S3 
 
 however, until the causes were manifest. But the low and 
 sad condition of the mission was due to causes that could 
 not be made public or known to the church in the east and 
 which are almost unknown yet. How happy might have 
 been the condition of the mission if all had done their duty ; 
 but now its hedges were broken down, the vineyard neglected, 
 and the garden almost waste for want of culture. Who that 
 loves the cause of mis.sions, the cause of Christ, could be 
 aught but sad ? Yet there was a partial antidote. The 
 avenues to labor or effort to make things better were not all 
 closed ; and probably the best cure for despondency is work ; 
 and everybody knows that work is healthful. In this is 
 manifest the goodness of Him who made this law : Work and 
 be healthful, work and be useful, work and be happy. 
 
 We found plenty to do. I had no authoritative appoint- 
 ment, but when the missionary in charge was absent on the 
 Sabbath I preached in the mission. I did this partly to keep 
 the mission together, for some of the American Covenanters 
 had gone into the Presbyterian Church and some of the 
 Chinese members had gone away or had dropped out; and 
 partly that I might not be compelled to worship in a Cov- 
 enanter mission where unappointed lay preachers conducted 
 the service. One of these was not a member of the church. 
 Strange though it may seem yet the missionary in charge 
 preached only one Sabbath in the month, and then on the 
 other Sabbaths his place was occupied by a United Presby- 
 terian minister and two laymen, one a United Presbyterian 
 and the other a Covenanter. With such arrangements and 
 practises I was so dissatisfied that I was willing to risk 
 criticism or censure in an effort to abolish them ; and so I 
 preached without appointment. The missionary was often 
 absent, though no one knew where he was. After his 
 departure east I preached every Sabbath. I knew I had the 
 favor of the Chinese Christians and I hoped I had the
 
 584 LOOKING BACK PROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 approbation of the Master. Judged by the law of prudence 
 or poHc}' perhaps I was not justified, for my action may 
 have had somewhat to do with the diminution of the number 
 attending the Sabbath services in the mission chapel. Three 
 families of the United Presbyterian brethren had long 
 worshiped with the Covenanters because they would not 
 unite with the United Presbj^terian congregation that used 
 the organ in worship. They now united with the "New- 
 Light" Covenanters and so ceased to attend our meetings. 
 For a long time some had hoped that those anti-organ United 
 Presbyterians would become Covenanters and be an addition 
 to the little Covenanter mission society ; but they were all 
 too much wedded to the ballot, and they continued to oppose 
 our Covenanters position of political dissent. As there is 
 no organization of " New-Lights" in Oakland, at this writing 
 they attend worship at the United Presbyterian Church 
 though the organ is still used. In this writing I do not 
 forget that those quondam United Presbyterian friends were 
 and are all honorable and excellent Christian people with 
 whom I had long had most pleasant Christian fellowship. 
 Rev. Mr. Morrow was and is a man and Christian of sterling 
 integrity ; and I ever prized him highly. But I was a "stiff" 
 old Covenanter that would not go to the polls, and he was 
 just as stiff in his determination to use the ballot at every 
 election. And so we could not be in the same church society 
 and sit at the same communion table. To the world and to 
 the liberal Christian this seems " awfuU}- illiberal." Nor 
 shall we denounce our political friends. Not without good 
 reason did the great apostle write : ' ' But why dost thou 
 judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy 
 brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ." 
 
 During the later years of our home in California Mrs. 
 Johnston had been busy in W. C. T. U. work. On learning
 
 OUR PACIFIC HOME AGAIN. 585 
 
 that she had returned to the state again, Mrs. Bateham^ 
 national superintendent of the Sabbath Observance Depart- 
 ment, appointed her as superintendent of the same depart- 
 ment for the Pacific Coast. Mrs. Johnston accepted the 
 appointment and began to arrange for the work. But before 
 she had accomplished anything she became a severe sufferer 
 from a slight cause. Before we left Beaver Falls a sewing 
 needle, or broken part of it, was accidentally lodged in her 
 foot. She suffered no pain and paid little attention to it. 
 Weeks passed, and shortly after our return to Oakland the 
 foot became inflamed, the sore festered, and the needle was 
 taken out. This was followed by blood poisoning. During 
 many weeks of suffering the foot and limb were in a critical 
 condition and she a cripple unable to walk. This arrested 
 all plans of work for the Sabbath ; and she was obliged to 
 communicate the same to Mrs. Bateham. 
 
 During these weeks the California State Sabbath Asso- 
 ciation, which had become defunct, was reorganized and 
 began vigorous efforts in behalf of Sabbath observance and 
 especially to procure a state Sabbath law. At the first state 
 convention, when the association was organized, I was chosen 
 corresponding secretary. In the progress of the new move- 
 ment the appointment devolved upon me a large amount of 
 work, and during our campaign in behalf of a state law 
 this work increased. Besides this, as a member of the 
 executive committee of twelve, of which I was the secretary, 
 I had much work to do, and, together with other members, 
 attended many meetings and conventions, and occasionally 
 spoke or lectured in behalf of the Sabbath. These gave me 
 opportunities to teach and defend the truth, so little known 
 or believed, as to the duty of the state or government to 
 recognize the divine law as supreme and the duty of the 
 lyCgislature to enact a state Sabbath law because the fourth 
 commandment requires it, /. e., because God requires it. On
 
 586 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LANt). 
 
 this committee were representatives from the leading evan- 
 gelical denominations, and mosth^ ministers. Some of these 
 were the ablest and mo.st influential men in the churches. 
 As I was without a pastoral charge the pastors in the com- 
 mittee imposed upon me more than my share of the work, 
 and I submitted to it partly because it gave me an apology 
 for my frequent advocacy of the truth as to the relations of 
 the Sabbath to law. They knew I was a Covenanter; and 
 while some of them tolerated me and did not care to combat 
 my sentiments, others sometimes did and pleasant discussions 
 resulted. I hope the truth did not suffer. 
 
 While working with these friends ot the Sabbath I had 
 much pleasant and profitable Christian communion; and to 
 some of them I became warml}^ attached. Working with 
 others in any good cause tends to the love of the co- 
 workers. There were others whom I loved, but two have a 
 very warm place in my affections. One was Rev. John 
 Kimball, a Congregational minister and the managing editor 
 of the Pacific, the organ of that denomination on the coast. 
 He was a Vermonter. He came to San Francisco soon after 
 we did and in a short time we were friends. W^e were of 
 different churches, but we agreed on so many important 
 truths and reforms we did not care to dispute about the 
 others. He was interested in the work among the Chinese, 
 and the Pacific was always open to whatever I chose to write 
 for it. When he came into our Sabbath Executive Com- 
 mittee we almost alwaj's agreed on Sabbath questions and 
 worked in harmou}'. And then he was a lovely man — tender 
 in his feelings, in sympathy with the poor and the wronged, 
 genial and gentlemanh', and orthodox too. And he was a 
 man of sorrows. These were blessed for his betterment. 
 At this writing he is in bodily sickness from which he may 
 never recover. I feel sure that after a little, when his life's
 
 OUR PACIFIC HOME AGAIN. 587 
 
 work is done, he will be with Him whose saved ones never 
 say, I am sick.* 
 
 The other brother beloved is a Presbyterian, Rev. H. A. 
 Ketchum, D. D., until recently pastor of the First Presby- 
 terian Church of Berkeley, near Oakland. He is an Ohioan 
 and resided in that state until about the time we went to 
 Philadelphia in 189 1. I first met him at our Sabbath con- 
 vention for the reorganization of the state association^ and 
 when he was asked to lead in prayer, that prayer convinced 
 me that he was right on the vSabbath question. At and ever 
 after the first state convention he was always "on hand," 
 ready for work and intensely in earnest. Side by side we 
 have worked together in the executive committee, much of 
 the time he as the chairman and I as the secretary. We often 
 were on sub-committees together and in harmony working 
 together. A man of uprightness, purity of motive, and of 
 courage, and withal kindly, tender-hearted, I loved him. 
 He was a Presbyterian ])y birth, education, and choice, but 
 he was too good to be at home in a Presbyterian California 
 pulpit. He should have been a Covenanter. He was nearer 
 this than Presbyterian mortals often get. He was. greatly 
 dissatisfied with his brethren because of their laxness or their 
 irregular life. He longed to see them better and the church 
 purer, but did not know how to bring it about. When I 
 wrote a series of articles in the Occide?it, the organ of the 
 Presbyterian Church on the coast, in which I showed why I 
 was a Covenanter and not a Presbj'terian (there were five 
 articles), after he had read them all, when we first met he 
 said: "Brother Johnston, I have read your articles; I don't 
 know but you are all right; but what can I do?" A few 
 weeks passed when, tired of preaching to a people who 
 under the shadow of the great California State University, 
 
 * A few months after the foregoing was written, this dear brother 
 was taken to the Father's house. We who remain deeply mourn 
 our loss.
 
 588 LOOKING BACK FROM THK SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the hot-bed of Uuitarianism and of secularism, would not 
 receive his teachings and follow his leadings, he resigned his 
 charge and will go out not knowing whither he will be led. 
 I could not say to him, "Come with us and we will do you 
 good;" he was not ready for that, and I had nothing to 
 promise him; but my heart longed to be able to press his 
 right hand as a Covenanter brother. He read all the Cov- 
 enanter documents I gave him and never dissented from any 
 of them. I know he is not far from the kingdom. But he 
 is a Presbyterian minister and sees no way to be anything 
 else. Under favorable circumstances I believe he would be 
 with us in his belief and practise, but I have no hope of it. 
 Yet I love him and I know I will to the end. Of what will 
 be over on the other side I may not speak except with care. 
 Soon we will know what now is unknowable except in part.* 
 
 The Reformed Presbyterian Synod of 1895 met in Denver. 
 I could not overcome the strong desire to be with the dear 
 brethren once more. If the meeting had been east of the 
 Mississippi I suppose I would not have gone; but Denver 
 seemed so near compared with the ordinary places of meet- 
 ing I thought I must go. Besides, I hoped to meet my son- 
 in-law, Rev. Mr. Walker, and then if I should be unwell or 
 need any help or care I knew he would be kind to me, so 
 that I did not hesitate to leave home at m}^ advanced age. 
 In the question of missions I was especially interested. 
 Prior to the Synod the Board had succeeded in obtaining a 
 second missionary, Rev. A. I. Robb, who had volunteered 
 to join Rev. Elmer McBurney in the mission to China. To 
 some of us this was a cause of great joy and thanksgiving. 
 What I had desired and labored for so long I now saw to be 
 near at hand. 
 
 From the Chinese Christians in the Oakland mission and 
 
 * Since the foregoing was written Dr. Ketchurn has accepted a call 
 to the First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon.
 
 OUR PACIFIC HOME AGAIN. 589 
 
 all connected with it, I had carried a petition to Synod 
 asking the appointment of a missionary to Oakland. The 
 petition was referred to the Committee on Missions which 
 afterwards recommended that the Board be directed to send 
 such missionary. The report was adopted, but another 
 year passed without any one being sent. At the next Synod 
 the Board reported that no one could be found who would 
 accept the appointment. To the Chinese of the mission that 
 statement seemed exceedingly strange. 
 
 Believing that it is the duty and the privilege of well- 
 quaHfied women when called by the Master and having a 
 desire for it, to exercise the office of evangelists or preachers 
 of the Word when licensed by a Presbyter>^ and that women 
 should be appointed as missionaries and religious teachers 
 or medical missionaries, I moved in Synod that hereafter our 
 theological seminary in Allegheny shall be open to educated 
 women and on equality with men. The resolution was 
 strongly opposed by some leading members, but after a 
 spirited discussion it was adopted by a large majority. I do 
 not know that the majority believed that women may become 
 evangelists or be licensed preachers, but it was manifest that 
 they believed that women should be admitted to all the 
 advantages of the seminary if they wish it. And why not? 
 I never did maintain that women may be ordained to the 
 office of the ministry nor to the office of a ruling elder, for 
 either implies the exercise of authority as a ruler. A 
 deaconess may be ordained because in the office of the deacon 
 no authority or lule is impHed or exercised. There is much 
 difference between licensing a woman to preach the Gospel 
 as an evangeUst and ordaining her as a pastor or to bear 
 rule and to administer the sacraments. This is not the place 
 for the argument ; I only state where the truth hes. As yet, 
 however, I have not heard of any women students in the 
 seminary. I would hope, though, that if some would enter
 
 590 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 and avail themselves of all the advantages of the seminary 
 others, and after a little while, many would enter. In India 
 and China, not to mention other pagan lands, no one can do 
 as much good or have such access to the women as lady 
 physicians have. And I would rejoice now to see a large 
 number of well-educated young women in the seminary 
 being prepared to be medical missionaries. Let the women 
 of America hasten to China to give the Gospel to China's 
 millions. God hasten the dajM 
 
 While at Synod I was informed that Colorado Presbytery 
 had appointed me to administer the sacrament of the Supper 
 in the Oakland mission, and Rev. J. C. McFeeters, of Phila- 
 delphia, was invited to assist as he was about to visit the 
 Pacific Coast. Rev. Professor D. B. Willson, who also was 
 coming on such a visit, was my traveling companion to 
 Oakland. The professor was better company in travel than 
 I had expected, and we had many a good talk and comfort- 
 able fellowship. His scholarship and his superior intelli- 
 gence make him very profitable company. He remained in 
 Oakland over two Sabbaths, preaching on preparation Sab- 
 bath and during the communion season. Rev. McFeeters 
 did not come until late in the week. It was a sweet season 
 of communion. For the first time in the whole history in 
 the work in Oakland we had three ministers at a com- 
 munion. It was good to be there. Rev. McFeeters was 
 our guest during his stay, and we enjoyed his visit greatly. 
 "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to 
 dwell together in unity."
 
 CHAPTER IvX. 
 Missionaries Sail for China. Days of Gladness. 
 
 After years of labor and faith and waiting 'in hope, as the 
 months passed I was permitted to see what I had long 
 prayed for — the sailing of Covenanter missionaries to China. 
 I had been impatient ; the Lord of the harvest took his own 
 time. Sometimes either because of our sins or for our good 
 his chariot wheels move slowly. We would wish to have 
 the seed germinate and grow and ripen very soon after the 
 sowing; according to His law it must have time. Then we 
 gather in the sheaves, and sometimes far more thanw^e dared 
 to expect. 
 
 When our young brothers McBurney and Robb, together 
 with their wives, arrived in Oakland on their way to their 
 appointed field, all connected with the Oakland mission wel- 
 comed them joyously. A few evenings after their arrival 
 the Christian Chinese gave them a nice reception at the 
 mission chapel. The hall was crowded. The exercises 
 were exceedingly pleasant as well as profitable. The 
 addresses were appropriate. The young wives of the mis- 
 sionaries w^on the favor of all. The refreshments were such 
 as only Chinese cooks can prepare. I was compelled to be 
 prominent, and probably no one was so happy as I who had 
 labored and w^aited and hoped during so many years to see 
 what I saw that night; and I was glad in God my Saviour. 
 They had two Sabbaths to spend with us before the sailing 
 of the steamer. On the first Sabbath one preached in the 
 
 (591)
 
 592 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSKT LAND. 
 
 forenoon and the other in the evening. The time between 
 the Sabbaths was spent in preparing for the voyage, in 
 visiting the Chinese temples in San Francisco, the Chinese 
 missions also, and stores, etc. For our guide companions 
 we had our friends Mr. Chung Git of our Oakland mission 
 and Rev. Chan Hon Fan, assistant superintendent of the M. 
 E. mission in San Francisco. The former took us to a Chi- 
 nese restaurant for lunch, and here our young brothers took 
 their first lesson in the use of chop-sticks to the amusement 
 of our Chinese friends. Chan Hon Fan, who is a very good 
 English scholar and speaks our language with great fluency, 
 gave our 5^oung missionaries many lessons that would be 
 helpful to them after their arrival in China. 
 
 One day between the Sabbaths our generous brother 
 Chung Git and the other Chinese Christians of the mission 
 had a feast prepared for the four missionaries and invited 
 eight or ten other friends also. It was a royal feast, and we 
 had a time of joy and gladness such as does not often come 
 in one short lifetime; and all this for the Gospel's sake, all 
 for the sake of China whose millions need the salvation that 
 has made us so glad. 
 
 The missionaries preached again on the second Sabbath. 
 Many Chinese came at night to hear them. The varied 
 exercises were peculiarly interesting and solemn. 
 
 Our farewell missionar}^ meeting was the night before the 
 sailing of the steamer. As our mission chapel was too 
 small, by the kindness of the Presbyterians of the First 
 Church the meeting was held in their house of worship. 
 Addresses were made by Rev. Dr. Condit, Rev. Jee Gam, 
 Rev. S. J. Masters, and by the missionaries and their wives. 
 Those three invited speakers were all Chinese-speaking mis- 
 sionaries and represented three denominations, Presbyterian, 
 Congregational and Methodist. As many Chinese were 
 present. Rev. Jee Gam gave part of his address to them,
 
 Rev Jee Gam
 
 MISSIONARIES SAIL FOR CHINA. 593 
 
 In preparing the program I had printed on the reverse side 
 two selections from the Psalms, the sixty-seventh and the 
 closing stanzas of the seventy-second, which the mixed con- 
 gregation sang as if they had all been "old Psalm-singers." 
 Rev. Dr. Calhoun of the United Presbyterian Church and 
 Rev. Ur. Ketchum, Presbyterian, led in the prayers. As it 
 fell to my lot to preside during the evening, the substance 
 of my short and extemporaneous address, .shortly before the 
 close, was to express my joy and thankfulness at what God 
 had done and was now doing for us as a church, and to say 
 that with one exception the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
 had more missions and gave more money in proportion to 
 her membership than any other in the land. This I was 
 led to say at the time because so many were present who 
 knew little or nothing of the missionary character of the 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 
 On the day of their sailing a large company of friends, 
 including the Chinese Christians, accompanied them to the 
 steamer or assembled on it to see them off. They were 
 loaded with presents and conveniences for the voyage. 
 Shortly before the steamer was ready to c'raw^ in her cables 
 we held a brief prayer-meeting commending the out-going 
 missionaries to the favor of God in the long voyage. Rev. 
 Dr. Calhoun, United Presbyterian, was with us and led in 
 prayer. The departing friends were joyous. The}^ showed 
 no signs of regret that they were going far hence to the 
 Gentiles. We bade them farewell; and leaving the steamer 
 we all stood on the dock waving handkerchiefs and hats 
 until the good ship Doric was under headway out towards 
 Golden Gate and the Pacific. As I gazed upon the staunch 
 steamer carrying away the dear missionaries to the far-off 
 land of Sinim I rejoiced in God that I had lived to see an 
 answer to many prayers. My heart went with them. And 
 all over the church, no doubt, daily prayers were offered to 
 38
 
 594 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 the blessed lyord Jesus who promises : " I^o ! I am with you 
 alway even unto the end of the world." 
 
 About the holidays in the winter following I was invited to 
 Seattle to assist Rev. Mr. McDonald at his communion. I 
 w^as glad to go. I had not been there since the organization 
 of the church. Meanwhile the pastor, Rev. Dell Johnston, 
 my nephew's son in whose ordination I had taken part, had 
 gone out of the church and had taken as many of the people 
 as he could into the United Presbyterian Church. The 
 faithful ones did not follow but rallied and ultimately called 
 a pastor and are yet lo^-al to the old blue banner. I was 
 glad, moreover, because Rev. Mr. Armour's family were 
 now residing in Seattle, and I had not seen him since he left 
 Philadelphia. Old friends like "bad pennies will turn up." 
 
 It was a happy communion season. I greatly enjoyed 
 the services and the fellowships. I was the guest of the 
 pastor and family, both as kind to me as if I had been their 
 father. Except the action sermon the heaviest part of the 
 work was put upon me, and rightly, as I was the invited 
 helper. My stay was unavoidably short, but while in 
 Seattle I met many good people, visited friends, and became 
 much interested in that little band of disciples, the only 
 fully organized congregation on the coast. If they continue 
 faithful, erelong the}^ may- be a prominent part of a Pacific 
 Coast Presbytery. Why not? 
 
 In the following summer, by appointment of the Presby- 
 tery, Rev. Mr. McDonald dispensed the sacrament of the 
 supper in the Oakland mission, I assisting. His family 
 wife and two children, were with him and were our guests 
 during the week. They were on their way home from the 
 Synod at Cincinnati. Fewer communicants were at that 
 communion I think than ever before. The Christians were 
 scattered, though the few who remain are faithful and are 
 making steady progress in knowledge. If all who had been
 
 MISSIONARIES SAIL FOR CHINA. 595 
 
 baptized in this mission and who have continued faithful 
 disciples could be residents in Oakland and organized into a 
 Covenanter congregation, it would indeed be a beautiful 
 sight. At this writing Elder J. H. Willson is superin- 
 tendent of the mission. He has occupied this position by 
 the appointment of the Board ever since the resignation of 
 the last missionary. He is a most excellent man and full 
 of the spirit of missions. Prior to his coming to Oakland he 
 had been engaged in mission work among the Zuni Indians 
 in Arizona, which work he resigned after the death of his 
 wife. As superintendent of the Chinese mission Mr. Willson 
 has shown himself to be a man of great worth, of undoubted 
 integrity, a good and well-tried Covenanter, and a faithful 
 friend of the Chinese. Both before our going to Philadelphia 
 in 1 89 1 and since our return to Oakland, I have had much 
 intimate fellowship with him and I prize him and love him 
 as a true friend and brother. It is to be regretted, however, 
 that for some time his health has become greatly enfeebled, 
 and now he is scarcely able to attend the mission at all. 
 His will is good but the ability is wanting. He has been 
 assisted by Miss Mary Hill and Miss Trimble, zealous and 
 faithful teachers who love the work and never tire of it. 
 They merit success in their efforts to bring the untaught to 
 Christ. At this writing Mrs. Johnston is greatly interested 
 in teaching in the mission a Bible class in the International 
 lycssons. Some of the Chinese members have memorized 
 and recited all the twenty-six parables of our lyord. This 
 class exercise follows the religious service of the Sabbath, or 
 the preaching of the Gospel to the Chinese. 
 
 As an illustration of how pleasant it is to work among the 
 strangers on the coast mention may be made of what occurred 
 recently' . As a recognition of the merits of those who had 
 memorized the parables, the teachers in the mission planned 
 a surprise gift of a beautiful copy of a teacher's Bible to each.
 
 596 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 The presentation was made at the close of the weekly praj^er- 
 meeting. All present were asked to remain a little. The 
 act of presentation with a suitable address to the recipients 
 was assigned to me. The Bibles were laid upon the table. 
 I called forward to it the young men who were to receive 
 them. They did not know what I was about to do, but 
 they obeyed my call, for I said: "You are my children, and 
 you must be obedient." With complete surprise to them 
 the beautiful books were put into their hands with an ex- 
 planation of the act of donation by the teachers. The 
 remarks as to the excellency of the Bible were for the benefit 
 of all present as well as of the recipients. These responded 
 with nice little speeches in English. Then followed refresh- 
 ments and a half hour of .social enjoyments profitable to 
 Christians. All were happy. To me that evening's prayer- 
 meeting and what followed gave a richer feast than if I had 
 been in a king's palace or the White House at Washington. 
 And right here at the close of this chapter I wish to add 
 that during all the years of a long life of service I never 
 enjoyed any other more than I did that done among the 
 Chinese. A people of marked intellectuality, peaceable, kind 
 and grateful and yet coming to us for help — -coming from a 
 darkness of pagan idolatrj' and superstition out of which if 
 we do not lead them they must perish— have a claim upon us 
 that has no superior. And when these darkened minds and 
 burdened souls are brought into the light and into the free- 
 dom of the Gospel, they become very dear brothers in Christ. 
 They are his grateful saved ones and we rejoice with them. 
 Our motto has been "China for Christ." Will not those 
 who survive us bear it on until the triumphant banner of 
 the cross shall wave over ever^^ valley and on every moun- 
 tain-top of "the middle kingdom"? Except during the 
 short time that we remained in Oakland after Rev. Mr. 
 Patton took charge of the mission, during all the eighteen
 
 Missionaries sail for chin A. 597 
 
 or nineteen years of our residence there I was deprived most 
 of the time of the privilege of fellowship with my brothers in 
 the ministry. It was a sore trial and I suffered great loss. 
 I submitted to it in the hope that my loss would be balanced 
 by gain to others. Similar loss is suffered by all mission- 
 aries w^ho labor alone among any people. In the work in 
 Oakland it seemed to be impracticable for more than one 
 ministerial laborer to be employed. Perhaps, however, the 
 law that requires two missionaries to be employed together 
 was fulfilled in my having a wife as a co-laborer. We were 
 twain but yet one in interest. Probably no unmarried man 
 should enter and labor alone in a foreign field if in any other. 
 Infinite wisdom has He who sent out His appointees ' 'two 
 by two." And yet another fact is remembered. During 
 those same long years of deprivation I was more or less 
 associated in various ways with ministers of other churches. 
 With some of these I had most comfortable Christian fellow- 
 ship, for the}^ were most excellent men and loving disciples 
 of our common Lord though they were not of our fold. 
 The superintendents of the four leading Chinese missions in 
 San Francisco were men of eminent worth. Under the 
 leadership of Dr. Otis Gibson, who was a born leader, for 
 several years we held regular monthly meetings for confer- 
 ence and mutual aid in the work. They w^ere greatly help- 
 ful to me, and I think I was not silent when truth should be 
 spoken. Through that long struggle against the anti- 
 Chinese tide we stood together for the right and for the 
 poor; and this union in work tended to greater love of one 
 another. 
 
 Among all the Chinese converts in California I know of 
 none more worthy of mention on these pages than Rev. Jee 
 Gam and Rev. Chan Hon Fan. I became acquainted with 
 them many years ago in their youth and not long after they 
 had abandoned idol worship. I have known them long and
 
 598 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 well. They are dear brothens in Christ; and I owe them 
 debts of gratitude for what they have done for me and for 
 the cause of missions. 
 
 For man}^ years Jee Gam was assistant superintendent in 
 the Central Congregational mission in San Francisco, Rev. 
 Dr. Pond having the supervision of all the missions in the 
 state. While laboring as helper he prosecuted his studies 
 until he was adjudged worth}' of licensure and shortly after- 
 wards was ordained as a minister of the Gospel. He is now 
 acting as pastor of the mission church. Few Chinese in the 
 .state speak the English language as fluently. His personal 
 worth, his activity and sufficienc}^ as a missionary-, are well- 
 known. For long years he has been a most reliable and 
 vigilant friend of the Chinese people. As m^^ personal 
 friend I owe him much of gratitude as well as good-will; 
 and our Reformed Presbyterian mission is greatlj^ indebted 
 to him for many good deeds. In the domestic circle as a 
 husband and father he is both happy and useful. He has 
 two sons in the public schools of Oakland, noble boys that 
 promise great usefulness in the cause of missions. 
 
 When I first knew Chan Hon Fan he was a j^outhful 
 student of theology, taking special lessons under Rev. Dr. 
 Otis Gibson, superintendent of the Methodist Chinese mis- 
 sions in the state. A few 3^ears ago he was ordained as 
 missionary' and is now the acting pastor of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church connected with the city mission. As a 
 well-read and genial gentleman, and as a teacher and 
 preacher of the Word and devoted to his work, he is w^orthy 
 of all honor among the friends of missions. His most excel- 
 lent wife, the daughter of a missionar^^ in China, and his 
 lovely little daughters, make his a model Christian home. 
 If it be not in bad taste here I would like to add that Rev. 
 Chan Hon Fan is a good friend of the writer, and that 
 between us has grown up a warmer friendship than is ordi-
 
 Rev. Chan Hon Fan
 
 MISSIONARIKS SAIL FOR CHINA. 5^9 
 
 narily found between the old and the young of different 
 denominations. The fact is suggestive of what might be 
 and should be. 
 
 Besides these two special friends other Chinese mission- 
 aries have done and are doing great good among their own 
 people; and on this Pacific Coast there is room as well as 
 great need of many more such faithful laborers. Moreover, 
 much greater success might have attended the labor expended, 
 in the Oakland Reformed Presbyterian mission if such a 
 native helper had been in it all the while. To this day its 
 greatest need is a well-educated Chinese-speaking missionary 
 thoroughly imbued with the Spirit and consecrated to the 
 work.
 
 CHAPTER IvXI. 
 A Chapter of Epistolary Gems. 
 
 During all these 3'ears of life thousands of letters have 
 been received from various kinds of correspondents, personal 
 friends, brethren in the church, reformers and others, some 
 of whom were distinguished men. Not a few of those letters 
 were gems highly prized at the time ; but as the 5-ears 
 passed they accumulated and then were lost or helped to 
 make occasional bonfires kindled by those who did not know 
 their inherent value. Now they are gone forever unless 
 they are to be recalled on memory's pages in the life beyond. 
 Regrets now are useless, though I could wish I had been 
 wiser and had preserved more of such letters from beloved 
 friends and brethren so that now I could give at least some 
 extracts on these pages. I am glad, however, that a few 
 have been saved from the flames ; and so for the pleasure of 
 the reader I can give such specimens as will not be unworthj' 
 of the t^'pes. As the early historj^ of the anti-slavery move- 
 ment, especially under the leadership of William Lloj'd 
 Garrison, occupies a prominent place in this book, some 
 paragraphs from a few of his letters will be read with lively 
 interest. And from them and others it will be seen that the 
 old Abohtionists were men of philanthropic hearts, tender 
 feelings and religious convictions rather than censorious and 
 misanthropic agitators and disturbers of the peace, as multi- 
 tudes regarded them who did not know them. 
 
 The first Vermont State Convention attended by Mr. 
 Wm. Lloyd Garrison was at West Randolph in August, 1858. 
 Garrison. A short time before it I received a letter from 
 (600)
 
 A CHAPTKR OF EPISTOLARY GEMS. 6oi 
 
 him closing with the following sentences which illustrate 
 the character of the old reformer : 
 
 "Of course the convention at West Randolph will be advertised as 
 free in its platform to every phase of anti-slavery. 
 
 "Trusting these meetings will help to remove many unfounded 
 prejudices, and deepen whatever interest is felt in the great struggle 
 to bring to a perpetual end 'the sum of all villainies,' I remain, 
 
 " Yours for universal freedom, Wm. Lloyd Garrison." 
 
 Two years afterward in his letter tinder the date of October 
 15, i860, abottt an approaching convention at Bradford, the 
 following characteristic passage occurs : 
 
 "It seems but as yesterday that I was with you and Mr. May at a 
 similar convention in Bradford. Our reception, you will recollect, was 
 far from being enthusiastic. A meager attendance during tlie day, 
 and less in the evening, in consequence of a tremendous rainstorm. 
 But what should we be good for, if we had only sunshine in our path- 
 way, and the applause of the multitude ringing in our ears? 'No 
 cross, no crown,' said good William Penn. 'Wo unto you when all 
 men shall speak well of you,' said a far greater th:ui Penn. Let us 
 endeavor to be true witnesses for God, and find our consolation and 
 reward in well-doing. Nor shall we testify in vain." 
 
 Since that letter was written nearly fourteen years had 
 passed, the War of the Rebellion was already on the pages 
 of history, and chattel slavery in the United States was no 
 more, when under the date of December 4, 1874, I received 
 a letter which is given here almost entire. After introduction 
 Mr. Garrison writes thus : 
 
 "I thank you for your expression of continued personal esteem 
 and high appreciation of my labors in the anti-slavery cause, and 
 rejoice with you that we have been permitted to see the liberation of 
 all who were held in chattel sf rvitu ie on our soil. What a marvelous 
 transition from the lowest menial condition to complete citizenship — 
 from the auction-block as marketable commodities to the ballot-box 
 as American freemen !
 
 6o2 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 " Did we dare, 
 In our agony of iirayer, 
 
 Ask for more than He has done ? 
 When was ever His ris^ht hand, 
 Over any time or land. 
 
 Stretched as now beneath the sun ? 
 
 "True, there is still left a good deal of old slaveholding virus in the 
 hearts of the southern whites, but the horrible slave system which 
 gave birth to it is extinct, and the sublime act of emancipation is 
 attended with many 'crowning mercies,' to be multiplied indetinitely 
 to future generations. It came as divine justice had duly appointed, 
 and, though the chastisement was grievous, we deserved it all. 
 
 "Be assured that I had not forgotten you, and therefore I needed 
 no reminder of our acquaintance years ago, when there were so few 
 to lift up their voices against ' the abomination of desolation,' and so 
 many to defend it as compatible with Republicanism and Christianity. 
 In your own person and position, you acquitted yourself so coura- 
 geously, faithfully and uncompromisingly, that you will always deserve 
 to be honorably remembered in connection with the anti-slavery 
 struggle. It gives me great pleasure to proffer you afresh my warmest 
 regards and best wishes. 
 
 "Though retired from public observation, my spirit is deeply inter- 
 ested in every phase of progress and reform, increasing years not 
 affecting me in that particular. On the 12th of this month, if per- 
 mitted to witness it, I shall complete my threescore years and ten. 
 The fact seems to me almost mythical, but there is no escape from 
 it, especially in the presence of eleven grandchildren. It shows, 
 moreover, that I have reached an age when I must expect at any 
 time to be summoned hence. Death is the co-equal of birth — as 
 natural, as beneficial, as indispensable, and to be accepted as thank- 
 fully and joyfully." 
 
 Though I had heard. Wendell Phillips several times on 
 Wendell the platform of the anniversaries of the American 
 Phillips Anti-slavery Society, until later 5-ears I did not 
 have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with him. 
 Subsequently, however, it was my privilege to meet him 
 frequently and to have occasional correspondence with him. 
 This was mostly in reference to the questions and events 
 involved in the anti-slavery struggle. Mr. Phillips was
 
 A CHAPTER OF EPISTOLARY GEMS- 603 
 
 not what we call a letter- writer; nor was he a theologian. 
 He was a fine classical scholar, and he was trained in the 
 law schools though never a practical barrister. But he was 
 not a novice in theology. His religious education was 
 in an Orthodox Congregational famih' and church. His 
 brother was a pastor of a Congregational Church; and Mr. 
 Phillips himself worshiped in a Boston Congregational 
 Church. If he was a theologian at all he was a Calvinist; 
 and he was a great admirer and eulogist of John Calvin as 
 the defender of civil and reUgious liberty and one of the 
 founders of the Republic of Geneva. Illustrative of the 
 secret of his power as a public speaker and reformer we 
 introduce here the testimony of Rev. Dr. A. T. Pierson 
 who writes thus: 
 
 " Wendell Phillips was recognized as perhaps, in his day, the fore- 
 most of American orators. There was especially noticeable about 
 him a marked ethical vwmentum. No other word so well expresses 
 it. Momentum is the product of the mass of matter by the velocity 
 of movement. When he spoke on great moral questions, he carried 
 his auditor with him by an oratorical force, into which entered two 
 grand elements: iirst, there was a noble, strong, weighty manhood 
 back of the speech; and second, there was a rapid, onward move- 
 ment in forcible argument and intense earnestness of emotion and 
 lofty purpose, all facilitated by simplicity of diction and aptness ot 
 illustration. 
 
 "This American Demosthenes had gone through the temptations, 
 which a rich young man confronts, to early dissipation, and developed 
 a great moral character, which must cause him ever to remain one ot 
 the noblest figures in the history of New England. 
 
 "An interesting fact is related of his early boyhood : 
 
 " One day after hearing Lyman Beecher preach, he repaired to his 
 room, threw himself on the floor, and cried, 'O God, I belong to thee! 
 Take what is thine own. I ask this, that whenever a thing be wrong 
 it may have no power of temptation over me, and whenever a thing 
 be right it may take no courage to do it.' 
 
 " 'And,' observed Mr. Phillips in later years, 'I have never found 
 anything that impressed me as being wrong, exerting any temptation 
 over me, nor has it required any courage on my part to do whatever 
 I believed to be right.'
 
 6o4 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 "What a key lo a human Hfe ! In that supreme hour his higher 
 moral nature, with God"s help, subjugated his lower self; and for him, 
 henceforth, there was no compromise with animal passion, carnal 
 ambition, selfishness, cupidity, or any other debasing inclination ; 
 they were ' suppliants at the feet of his soul.' " 
 
 Northerners who admired the classical eloquence of 
 Wendell Phillips called him " The Silver Tongned." The 
 friends of slavery charged him with severity. Slaveholders 
 winced under his deserved lashings. A specimen is at hand. 
 While John Brown was lying in the Charlestown, Va., jail, 
 in a speech at Brooklyn Mr. Phillips said : 
 
 " v^irginia is only another Algiers. The barbarous horde who gag 
 each other, imprison women for teaching children to read, prohibit 
 the Bible, sell rrien on the auction-block, abolish marriage, condemn 
 tlieir women to prostitution, and devote themselves to the breeding 
 of human beings for sale, is only a larger and blacker Algiers. The 
 only prayer of a true man for such is, ' Gracious heaven, unless they 
 repent, send soon their Exmouth and Decatur.' " 
 
 The two or three letters from which I give extracts below 
 are brief specimens of man}' received from Mr. Phillips dtir- 
 ing the years of our acqtiaiutance. The first given was in 
 reply to one of mine when we invited him to speak at one of 
 our Vermont State Conventions, or to write a letter to be 
 read at the convention provided he could not be present to 
 speak. He said: 
 
 "I never write letters — to you why should I? who can say the 
 needed word as well as I can write it. But say to the friends who 
 come together at your call that I wish I could be with them— that 
 every day convinces me more and more how indispensable is our 
 moral movement to uphold all efficient action for the slave. If the 
 Republican party fail you must reinvigorate them — if they succeed 
 you must guard them from the temptations of success. I dread the 
 last even more than the first." 
 
 At the time of emancipation and subseqtiently Mr. 
 Phillips publicly and always plead for the rights of the 
 freedmen and insisted that as by their rebellion as well as
 
 A CHAPTER OF EPISTOLARY GEMS. 605 
 
 by their previous wrongs done to their slaves the rebel 
 slave- owners had forfeited all right to their plantations as 
 well as to their slave property, the P'ederal Government in 
 the acts of reconstruction should divide up the plantations 
 and give to every family that had tilled the soil without 
 remuneration a portion of land so that every one could have 
 a little farm of his own. In this advocacy Wendell Phillips 
 stood almost alone; and to this day millions of ex-slaves are 
 landless and poor because no provision was made for them 
 when the government had both the right and the power to 
 secure justice to the poor who by their unrequited toil had 
 enriched others. 
 
 In like manner Mr. Phillips insisted that the leaders of 
 the rebellion, most of whom were slaveholders, should not 
 be pardoned but punished according to national law. I had 
 sent to him the printed sentiments of a distinguished citizen 
 who advocated the pardon of all, even Jefferson Davis. Here 
 is a part of what Mr. Phillips wrote in reply to me, under 
 the date of May i , '71: 
 
 "Thanks for the slip and for the sight of your handwriting. The 
 writer's spirit is good enough. His philosophy is in error. The 
 south mistakes clemency for cowardice. Only administer with abso- 
 lute justice four or five times the ivholc law and then having shown 
 that we can subdue we may pardon all we please. How much we see 
 the muddle mistaken religious views lead men into. The fault I find 
 with the theology of to-day is it lacks and fears logic." 
 
 Some time afterwards I wrote to Mr. Phillips asking the 
 favor of his photograph for mj^ drtighter's album. He did 
 far more than I asked; he sent me fine pictures of three 
 other eminent Abolitionists, including Charles Sumner's and 
 his autograph. Then he added these words to his letter: 
 
 "I add mine; the small one for your dear child's book, the others 
 thinking you or some friend may like one. Give my kindest regards 
 to your wife, and tell the little girl I'll keep a kiss for her the next 
 time we meet and expect a very sweet one in return."
 
 6o6 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 The reader will excuse a father for adding here that "the 
 next time" came shortly afterwards when we all (all four of 
 our family) went to the city of Pittsburg to hear Mr. 
 Phillips lecture. As soon as the lecture was over he came 
 down from the platform to greet us and then kissed both the 
 little girls with apparent affection. 
 
 The following letter from Rev. Samuel May, of Boston, 
 Rev. Samuel was written shortly before the anniversary of 
 May, Jr. the American Anti-slavery Society in New 
 
 York in 1859 and in reply to mine in which I had ex- 
 pressed the hope that on the platform none of the speakers 
 would transgress in their mode of speech. I feared, because 
 several times, though in less public places, I had heard 
 utterances that I regarded as both unwise and offensive. 
 Mr. May's reply will show the character of the times and 
 through what stormy and fiery trials the Abolitionists of 
 that period had to pass. He wTote thus: 
 
 " You express the hope that the speakers will not make their 
 attacks, open or covert, upon the 'orthodox views' of any who, in a 
 sincere anti-slavery spirit, go up to the meeting. I hope so too; and 
 shall certainly think and say, of any one who should be led to stray so 
 far from our true platform, and from what I believe to be its custom 
 and habit, that he is censurable, and is to be openly censured. I have 
 been a constant attendant at and an observer of fair intelligence upon, 
 our anti-slavery meetings in New York, Boston, and elsewhere for 
 twenty-one years past, — and that too (I hope I may say it in no boast- 
 ful or conceited spirit) from the point of sincere reverence and love 
 of Christianity — (to you I need not say I mean the Christianity of 
 Christ's life, character, principles, precepts, and doctrines as I under- 
 stand them), and I must and will everywhere testify that nozvhere and 
 at no time, tliat I can recollect or that I believe, have the religious 
 viezvs as such of anybody, on our platform or off it, nor of the Ameri- 
 can sects and churches generally, north or south, been attacked or 
 assailed! I wish to make my assertion just as broad and strong as it 
 well can be made, and to stand to the truth of my assertion; — for I do 
 think the society has nobly, and very jealously, vindicated, guarded, 
 and preserved tfie Catholicity of its platform. When sects, churches,
 
 A CHAPTER OP EPISTOLARY GEMS. 607 
 
 pulpits, priests, )ninisters, religious cksociafioiis, have been arraigned, 
 examined, censured, rebuked, denounced, — as they often have been, 
 and undoubtedly will again and again be, (for their repentance is yet a 
 very distant work, unless all signs fail), it has been for their support 
 and countenance of slavery, by direct justification, apology, or 
 equally criminal silence. No man's creed, or religious opinions, as 
 such, have ever been assailed on our platform, in my hearing, that I 
 can remember, and according to what seemed to me the obvious 
 meaning of the speech. Still I do not deny that, from H. C. Wright — 
 and it may be once in a great while from some others — I have heard 
 sayings which were offensive and disagreeable to me, beyond 
 measure, — which I judged foolish, useless, mischievous, — what Miller 
 McKim calls 'tricks of speech, as shallow as offensive;' — these have 
 usually been objected to on the spot, and very often by way of private 
 remonstrance; but it is true of them, that they were not leveled at 
 'orthodoxy' more than at 'heterodoxy,' at views like yours more than 
 at views like mine; and I must add, in justice, that they were not 
 wholly without excuse. Shoals of professed Christians — real disciples 
 of Beelzebub — have openly averred that God justified, and justifies, 
 a system which includes whoredom and all conceivable impurity, 
 cruelty, violence, inhumanity, robbery. What an awful temptation 
 and spur to an indignant soul, to say, ' If God says this is right.' But 
 /would resist that temptation, as a weakness. I would be more true 
 to my moral nature, to my own strength of faith, and to my assured 
 belief in God, than to suffer such an 'if to cross my lips. I would 
 to the extent of my power, expose the blasphemy and atheism of the 
 man who brought the Holy and Righteous One to the defense and 
 support of every damnable and accursed lust and passion that can 
 bestialize and ruin the body and soul of man, and I. would riddle him 
 thro' and thro' by the sword and the arrows of truth, if I could. That 
 would be my way — it ought to be Wright's, and Foss's (orthodox 
 men by birth and training) in my view. Now thisris the full extent, 
 according to the best of my knowledge and belief, of the real errors 
 committed on our platform. I have as good ground to complain of 
 them as you. The society is as pure as innocence itself of all idea or 
 purpose of assailing anybody's 'orthodoxy,' or 'heresy,' as such. In 
 this belief, I am ever yours, S. May, Jr." 
 
 In a postscript to the foregoing letter Mr. May added the 
 following which, to be faithful to him, I copy here; viz.
 
 6o8 LOOKING BACK FROM THEJ SUNSET LAND. 
 
 "Let me say I heard you yourself say one of those strong and 
 sweeping things, which, had it been said on our platform, in public 
 meetingrwith the usual warmth and stress of Wright, or Foss, would 
 have called forth the pious ejaculations of such religious papers as 
 the Observer, New York Herald, and Journal of Commerce. As 
 Girrison, you, and I were descending from that 'mount of vision' 
 just over against your house, you said, very emphatically, 'If I believed 
 that Jesus Christ and his religion justified such an abomination as 
 American slavery, I would discard them forever, and cast them behind 
 me.' We said, 'Amen! But we hiozv they do not.''" 
 
 I am loath to believe or confess that I ever used the 
 language that Mr. May attributes to me; but his testimony 
 is against me. If I did, I stand condemned by what he 
 says of the "if" used by Henry C. Wright; though the 
 word was used in different connections. I might possibly 
 be tempted to believe as declared above, though it would be 
 a most heinous if not unpardonable sin; but ^Vlr. Wright's 
 supposition would be of an impossibility predicated of the 
 divine Being. 
 
 What Mr. May meant by the "mount of vision" lam 
 not sure; though perhaps he referred to the old Covenanter 
 Church in Topsham on the high ground, in front of "the 
 parsonage, in which Mr. Garrison and he gave anti-slavery 
 lectures on a week day a few years before the war; I rather 
 guess, however, that he had reference to the old-fashioned 
 high pulpit in -the old church before that venerable house of 
 worship was remodeled and the high pulpit changed to an 
 ordinary platform as it now is. Well might he call it a 
 "mount of vision," for the speaker literally looked down 
 upon the hearers. Or, yet again; most likely Mr. May was 
 thinking of the mount on which Peter said: "It is good for 
 us to be here; ' ' for it was a rare privilege for Mr. Garrison 
 and Mr. May to address an audience of old Covenanters 
 whose motto, like that of the Garrisonian Abolitionists, ever 
 had been, "No union with .slaveholders in either church 
 or state."
 
 A CHAPTER OF EPISTOLARY GEMS. 609 
 
 In the autumn of 1859 I had correspondence with Mr. 
 May in reference to our approaching Vermont State Anti- 
 slavery Convention which we hoped he and Mr. Garrison 
 could attend. On the 2d of December following, old John 
 Brown was hung by the Virginians whose slaves he had 
 desired to help to liberate. Eight days afterguards I received 
 a letter from Mr. May containing the following paragraph: 
 
 "How much you have suftered and sympathized in the case of the 
 brave and wonderful old man, John Brown, I can well believe and 
 partly imagine! What an appeal has he made to all hearts! (Some 
 have no hearts of flesh, — they are stone, or wood, — and such spit at 
 him their venom.) What an impulse has he given to the spirit of 
 freedom! What a noble example of perfect willingness and joy to 
 ^/;V for the truth. — Will not our whole land be sobered and mightily 
 instructed by that sad event? Will it not be inspired by that glorious 
 self-consecration? — Though his weapons were not the same, was not 
 his spirit of self-sacrifice, of trust in God, of sympathy with the 
 oppressed, the very spirit of Christ? God forever bless him, and 
 cause him 'to walk among us still, with his rebuke and love.' Surely, 
 as tens of thousands have said, '■He still lives,' and his name will be a 
 rallying cry, and watchword, until slavery's last death-knell is rung 
 out.— Surely, and without irreverence, may we apply to him the 
 words, ' I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me,' and yet not to 
 himself, but to the principles of eternal rectitude and justice, and to 
 the heart-subduing sentiment of willingness to die for God's poor and 
 suffering children, which he so simply yet admirably illustrated in his 
 life and death." 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion a letter from Mr. May 
 contained this characteristic paragraph: 
 
 " Was there ever such a set of blinded, besotted fools as the people 
 of the slaveholding states ? Are they not palpably throwing them- 
 selves on the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler? rushing headlong 
 on their own destruction ? It will prove, I believe, as absolute and 
 thorough an overthrow as that of Pharaoh and the Egyptians at the 
 Red Sea. Upon what wonderful times we have fallen! So long used 
 to peace, ourselves, we could not believe in a state of civil war! To 
 the slaveholder it was an easier matter, and a small change. Violence, 
 bloodshed, torture, absolute authority over underlings, have been 
 
 39
 
 6lO I^OOKING BA-CK FROM THE SUNSET LAND, 
 
 familiar things to him always. War and fighting are new business to 
 our northern men. But Yankees learn fast, and I trust will give a 
 good account of themselves — Much as I love peace, I prefer a war 
 for the overthrow of slavery to a hollow and false peace, based on 
 acquiescence in slavery, and complicity with the slaveholder. I pray 
 that this war may tend (as I believe it does) straight to the deliverance 
 of the captive and the opening of their prison doors, and that the 
 north will steadfastly refuse all propositions for peace, until accompa- 
 nied with the freedom of every American slave. God grant it, and 
 give us faith and strength to go through the struggle well. It is an 
 anxious hour. ' God defend the right,' and give it the victory. 
 
 " Ever truly yours, Saml. May, Jr." 
 
 Among the old ' ' anti-slavery apostles' ' none were more 
 Charles C- faithfttl, few were more eloquent, and none 
 Burleigh. were better known than Friend C. C. Bur- 
 leigh. My correspondence with him was occa.sioned by his 
 lectures in Vermont, most of which it devolved upon me to 
 arrange for him. Several of his letters have been preserved 
 more because of his personal worth and my appreciation of 
 the excellence of his character than because of their inherent 
 value. I may quote onh' a few short portions of two of 
 them. They are indicative of his character. During his 
 first tour in the state he was our guest while he remained 
 in Topsham. On his departure he undesignedly left behind 
 him a beautiful photographic picture of his wife and children. 
 I wrote to inform him and asked him how I could get the 
 picture to him. Among other things in his reply he says: 
 
 " It gives me pleasure to hear your favorable judgment as to the 
 apparent result of my labors in Vermont, and I do earnestly wish 
 that they may have been productive of lasting good to the cause of 
 truth and freedom. If so they have been or shall be, I feel that no 
 small share of their good effect is to be ascribed to your warm and 
 hearty co-operation in the various ways in which it was given. 
 
 I have not a word to say against your 'falling in love with 
 that little group in the picture;' for I can not deny tliat 1 liad a similar 
 experience some time ago, and how can I blame another for following 
 my example ? But I would be glad to have you come here some day
 
 A CHAPTER OF KPISTOLARY GEMS. 6l I 
 
 and see the originals, and change 3'our 'ahnost' into quite an accjuaint- 
 ance with them. They all would unite with me in giving you a cordial 
 welcome by way of testifying their grateful sense of the kindness 
 experienced at your hands and those of your good wife by one whom 
 they dearly love. If you are 'almost acquainted' with them, so are 
 they with you, for they know something of the extent to which you 
 contributed to my comfort and aided in my work." 
 
 Abotit nine months later I received a letter with reference 
 to his coming to the approaching state convention, in which 
 occurs the following paragraph of condolence: 
 
 " Yes, I have heard of your sore bereavement, and have felt a warm 
 sympathy for you in your great sorrow. I am well aware that only 
 an experience of the same kind can enable one fiilly to appreciate the 
 greatness of your loss, but I think I can in some measure understand 
 it from what I do know by experience of the value of such a blessing 
 as has been withdrawn from you. But I rejoice to know also that you 
 are of those who can see the Father's hand, even though it bears the 
 rod; and can still trust the Father's love, even while bleeding under 
 the stroke it gives. I rejoice, too, to know that you can see beyond 
 this temporary bereavement to that blessed reunion whose joy shall 
 immeasurably overpay the present sorrow." 
 
 I can not suppress the inclination to ask the reader to share 
 Minor with me my pleastires of memory in giving a few 
 Letters, excerpts from letters received from various friends 
 and on various subjects and at variotis dates. In 1855 Rev. 
 Wm. Sloane, my first pastor, and before that the pastor in 
 Topsham, Vt., where his son, J. R. W. Sloane, was born, 
 wrote me: 
 
 "I am sorry to hear that the situation of the church is no better 
 with you than with myself Lukewarmness and apostasy seem to be 
 the order of the day. It is much easier to make apostates, than to 
 make converts. The preaching of a disagreeable truth will do the 
 first; but the Daughter of Zion must be in pain, and labor to bring 
 forth, to effect the last. 
 
 "That the Lord may bless you, and grant you many seals to your 
 ministry, is the earnest prayer of your brother in the Gospel, 
 
 "Wm. Sloane.'
 
 6l2 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 At a later date he wrote: 
 
 " Dear brother, you are located in a barren soil; it is exceeding! j* 
 desirable to be the instrument of gathering in the travail of the 
 Redeemer's soul; but it is cause of thankfulness, that a minister's 
 fidelity is not estimated by his success. Isaiah 49 : 4, John 3 : 32, and 
 12:37. 
 
 "That you may rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days, 
 is the prayer of your brother in the Lord, Wm. Sloane." 
 
 From ail eminent seceding Methodist, Prof. Hiram Mat- 
 tison, of New York, j^ears before emancipation: 
 
 " May God forgive our northern Methodist preachers for their com- 
 plicity with slavery, and their efforts to deceive and mislead the more 
 earnest and more honest laity. 
 
 "Yours, for God and humanity forever." 
 
 From Congressman Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, after 
 wards U. S. senator: 
 
 " I do believe slavery to be an evil and that age does not improve 
 it. How any party or sect can in this era of the world tolerate i's 
 extension passes my compreheinsion." 
 
 If a Covenanter or a Garrisonian had been writing the 
 letter he would not have said merely "extension" but 
 '^existence'' or '^ perpehdty.''' 
 
 From Tarquin Cohen, my good Episcopal "deacon" in 
 the Beaufort mission to the contrabands, under the date of 
 May 18, i860: 
 
 " Our school is getting along bravely but we miss you very much as 
 some of the boys that more particularly depended on your help have 
 been so much disappointed that they have fallen back a great deal in 
 their studies. John Middleton, Abel Middleton, Jacob Simmons, 
 and Sharper Washington and the rest of the boys all join in sending 
 their love to you. What j'ou told us about our freedom is coming to 
 pass more and more, and 1 live in- hopes that we shall be fully assured 
 of it yet. I do not rest myself entirely on that, as life is very short, 
 and I am trying to live so that I can get an everlasting freedom with 
 the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,"
 
 A CHAPTER OF EPISTOLARY GEMS. 613 
 
 During our residence in Blairsville, Pa., we were happy 
 in the intimate fraternal fellowship of Dr. 
 Rev. Dr. Hill. QgQ^gg Hill, the pastor of the Presbyterian 
 Church. No man in the place was more beloved. His 
 influence in his own church was unbounded. He was the 
 pastor of my cousins, Elder Dr. Marshall and wife, and this 
 occasioned my acquaintance with him soon afjer taking 
 charge of the academy of which he was one of the trustees. 
 The longer we remained the more we prized him and were 
 benefited by his company. The letter from which an extract 
 is given below was written shortly after we had gone to 
 EUiota, Minn. 
 
 "I sympathize with you in your feelings in reference to the work 
 of the ministry. It is the greatest, the noblest, the most blessed work 
 to wliich God has ever called man; and I do not wonder that you 
 followed the leadings of Providence which called you back to it. I 
 sincerely rejoice with you in the possession of a quiet and pleasant 
 home where you can devote yourself wholly to this delightful but 
 responsible work." 
 
 In reply to what I had written about an article of his in 
 a Presbyterian journal he said: 
 
 "I more and more feel that the question of the age is: Christ? or 
 antichrist? It seems to me that the 'many andchrists' are leaguing 
 their forces, and marshaling their powers for one grand mighty 
 onslaught upon the ' King in Zion. ' Hell from beneath seems to be 
 moved, and all the pride and enmity of men seem to be aroused to 
 crush the Lord's Anointed. But why should his people fear? 'He 
 that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' " 
 
 I close this chapter by giving very brief extracts from two 
 letters written by two persons of more than national reputa- 
 tion, in reply to mine in reference to the Chinese question so 
 much agitated during the earlier years of our labors among 
 the Chinese. The first reads thus: 
 
 "My religion taught me from childhood and permeating my soul,
 
 6 14 LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 reminds me that I have no right to limit the word 'neighbor' to any 
 
 race, condition or color. 
 
 " Sincerely yours, O. O. Howard, 
 
 ''Maj. Gen. U. S. A. 
 ''''Headquarters Division of the Pacific.'''' 
 
 The other is from a letter dated Atnesbury, Mass., Jan- 
 uary, 1890: 
 
 " Of course I regard the treatment as inhuman and unchristian, as 
 is also our dealing with the colored people. God bless thee in thy 
 good work! 
 
 "Thy old friend, John G. Whittier." 
 
 As a kind of appendix to this chapter of letters, on the 
 opposite page we give a few specimens of 
 autographs, all except two clipped from letters 
 received from correspondents during my years of public life. 
 Other pages might have been filled with similar facsimiles 
 of the autographs of good and great men, but these must 
 siiffice. 
 
 The two exceptions are those of John Brown and Charles 
 Sumner. For the former I am indebted to Mrs. Brown 
 after she and her family came to California; for the latter I 
 am indebted to Wendell Phillips who kindly sent it to me 
 while Mr. Stimner was yet in the United States Senate. 
 
 To some who are not skilled in hieroglyphics there may 
 be three or four names that are illegible, \dz. Gerrit Smith, 
 Charles Sumner, S. P. Chase, and perhaps Wendell Phillips. 
 
 Readers familiar with the history of our own country 
 need not be told who and what the people were whose 
 autographs are given. If there are exceptions they are the 
 first two on the list. William Sloane was my first pastor 
 and the father of the late Prof. J. R. W. Sloane, D. D. The 
 other is that of Gamaliel Bailey. When I first knew him 
 he was editor of The Philanthropist published in Cincinnati. 
 This was one of the ablest anti-slavery papers published
 
 ^^^^ .^.^^^^^Z^^'l^ 
 
 
 dyT- j^i^v^x^ 
 
 
 e^ 
 
 OrxyrT^t.^,^
 
 CHAPTER IvXII. 
 
 Nearing the Sunset. 
 
 When the sky is cloudless and the air pure, from our 
 cottage home or adjacent heights we can look out at even- 
 tide upon the Pacific and behold the sun as if sinking into 
 the ocean. It is a beautiful sight. But when the king of 
 day is gone and the shades of night envelop us, how sad 
 we would be if we did not consider that in a few hours that 
 same glorious orb will arise on the other side of the conti- 
 nent making the whole land to rejoice in his light! What 
 will that country be where there shall be no night ? What 
 that celestial city whose light is the Lord God and the 
 lyamb? 
 
 I write from the "Land of the Sunset." How rapidly 
 the shadows lengthen! In this retrospect I have had much 
 of pleasure and much of sorrowful regret. And so of this 
 book. If I had time to write it again I would throw into 
 the waste-basket much that is already in type, and I would 
 add somewhat if it were not too late. My critics will have 
 the more to say, my friends the more to forgive. 
 
 Very soon after I had written the last chapter except one, 
 the all-wise Chastiser called me to learn submission "by the 
 rod of his wrath." Severe and protracted sickness, from 
 which my friends feared I would not recover, taught me to 
 say to Him who brought me down so near to the valley of 
 the shadow of death: Do with me what seemeth good in 
 Thy sight if Thou wnlt only let me hear Thy sweet voice of 
 forgiveness and have one satisfying vision of the glory and 
 (6i6)
 
 ^ 
 
 i^ 
 
 ^?» 
 
 
 ■1 -■ 
 
 
 ^j2^ 
 
 / 
 
 ■'•T*^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 X 
 
 
 Rev. David Metheny, M. D.
 
 NEARING THK SUNSET. 617 
 
 the beauty of Him about whose throne John saw the celes- 
 tial rainbow. From the mission as well as from the sick 
 chamber special prayer went up to Him who, as a father, 
 pities His children; and it was His will that His child should 
 recover. No physician was called. There was no hygienic 
 physician in the city, and we could not risk the life of the 
 sufferer in the hands of any doctor who depends upon drug- 
 poison medication. The divine Healer blessed the means 
 used by my own loving and faithful Rosamond than whom 
 no husband ever had a better nurse. 
 
 I was not forgotten by my sympathizing friends and 
 brothers in the ministry some of whom came to pray with 
 and for me. And from some at a distance I received most 
 precious letters of good cheer. The writers can not know 
 how much of comfort and joy God was pleased to impart 
 through their instrumentality. I^et all praise be ascribed to 
 Him who loves His own unto the end. 
 
 Among the many who visited me during my sickness I 
 should make special mention of the pastor of the Baltimore 
 Reformed Presbyterian congregation. By telegram he had 
 learned the condition of his distant friend. The anxiety of 
 his wife, our daughter, urged him to hasten across the con- 
 tinent to the sick chamber in Oakland. Before his arrival, 
 however, I had begun to convalesce. He remained over 
 a week and preached two Sabbaths in the mission, and 
 taught in the night school most of the evenings of the 
 week. By what he saw and heard, if he did not know it 
 before, he was convinced of the duty of the church to prose- 
 cute earnestly the good work among the Chinese in Cal- 
 ifornia. 
 
 During my sickness I received the sad intelligence of the 
 death of my beloved friend and brother. Dr. Metheny, of 
 Mersine, Turkey. It was not altogether unexpected, but 
 he was much needed in the home as well as in the mis-
 
 6lg LOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 sion,'and he was so dear to me, that my grief could scarcely 
 be assuaged. Of the cords that bound me to earth one of 
 the strongest was sundered; and in common with his many 
 friends and the whole church I can only learn to say to her 
 Head, Thy will be done. 
 
 As soon as I was sufficiently restored to health I was 
 again pressed into work in behalf of the Sabbath cause 
 (which in this state means more than in any other), and 
 again took mj^ place in the Executive Committee of the 
 state association. Within a few months important changes 
 in the personnel of the committee had occurred. Rev. Dr. 
 Willey, last year's president of the association, had removed 
 from the city. Rev. John Kimball had been removed by 
 death; and Rev. Dr. Ketchum, elected president for this 
 year, had been called to a pastorate out of the state. Of the 
 several leading Christian women who had been in the com- 
 mittee at different times only two remained, viz. Mrs. Nellie 
 B. Eyster and Mrs. R. R. Johnston. Mrs. Eyster has long 
 been an active worker in the state W. C. T. U. and other 
 fields of benevolence; and she is now the editor of the 
 Pacific EtisigJi, the weekly organ of the California W. C. 
 T. U. As an active member of the union and as a laborer 
 in behalf of proper Sabbath observance, she and Mrs. John- 
 ston have long been warm friends and co-workers. As a 
 Eutheran she is attached to her own church. As a friend of 
 literature and in the use of the pen of a ready writer she has 
 few compeers. As a woman of culture and rare vivacity, 
 and as a writer and editor, she has had much influence in 
 reform circles. For her active interest in the Sabbath cause 
 its friends owe her much gratitude; and though she is often 
 quite erratic in her sentiments on questions involved in the 
 Sabbath reform, the standard of morals and of religious life 
 in California would be very much higher if in the State 
 there were more Christian women like her. But among all
 
 NKARiNG The; sunset. 619 
 
 the good women of California "worth knowing" as workers 
 for a better-observed Sabbath I know of none so worthy of 
 mention as Mrs. Christine Armstrong, of Salinas. As state 
 superintendent of the Department of Sabbath Observance of 
 the W. C. T. U., and in accuracy of belief on all Sabbath 
 questions, as well as in persevering devotion to the cause, 
 she has no peer in the state. 
 
 Among all the remaining and faithful members of the 
 State Executive Committee none are more worthy of special 
 mention than Rev. Dr. Alex. Calhoun, pastor of the United 
 Presbyterian Church in Alameda. Genial in temperament, 
 courteous and gentlemanly in his intercourse with his 
 co-workers, and almost always accurate in his opinions as to 
 questions involved in the Sabbath reform in California (and 
 not ashamed of the Covenanter blood in his veins) , during 
 all the years of his membership in the committee he has 
 been a most reliable standard-bearer and worthy of all honor. 
 I hope he may live to see that for which we have so long 
 labored and prayed — a good civil law in California to help 
 to save the Golden State from the shame and threatened 
 moral desolation resulting from the toleration of all kinds of 
 Sabbath desecration. 
 
 On account of broken-down health, Elder Jas. Willson 
 was obliged to resign the superintendence of the Oakland 
 Chinese mission. Mrs. Johnston was appointed by the 
 Board to take temporary charge of the work. As yet no 
 ministerial missionary had been appointed. With the return 
 of health I was glad to be able to resume my voluntary 
 preaching service. That all might be able to attend, this 
 service was held in the evening. When there were many 
 in the chapel who could not understand the Gospel spoken 
 in English, as there was no helper in the mission our ever 
 reliable friend and brother, Chung Git, acted as interpreter. 
 He was baptized about twelve years ago, has been a growing
 
 620 l,OOK:iNG BACK FROM TH© SUNSET I^AND. 
 
 Christian, and he has long been an active and useful mem- 
 ber of the mission. He is also a successful business man; 
 and for his genial disposition and kindness of heart and 
 generous hand as well as his lively interest in the cause of 
 missions, he has many warm friends. 
 
 As there was no missionary in charge, near eighteen 
 months had passed since the dispensation of the sacrament 
 of the Supper. By the action of the Board and of the min- 
 isters of the Presbyter>^ I was authorized to hold the com- 
 munion. I endeavored to procure the assistance of Rev. 
 Mr. Armour, of Seattle, but was disappointed. 
 
 For a length of time there had been a number of Chinese 
 attending the mission w^ho were regarded as candidates for 
 baptism. Anxious that these and others might be brought 
 to the cross of Christ, during several Sabbaths I preached a 
 series of discourses designed to show clearly the way of 
 salvation. Special meetings for instruction, examination 
 and prayer were held with candidates and inquirers. On 
 the evening of Friday, Elder John M. Flemming, of San 
 Jose, co-operating, eight of the candidates were adjudged to 
 be penitent believers and worthy of admission to the church ; 
 and on Saturday evening they received the rite of Christian 
 baptism. On Sabbath these eight, together with three 
 others recently baptized, sat at the communion table with 
 the other and former converts yet resident in the city, all 
 loving and rejoicing disciples of the lyord Jesus. Some of 
 the older members say that it was the largest number of 
 Chinese ever together at any communion in the mission. 
 
 The entire number of baptized converts from the first 
 until this writing, including two or three who were "received 
 on letter" and examination, is probably about sixty-five. A 
 large majority of them were baptized by the pioneer and 
 senior missionary, the others by the two subsequent mis- 
 sionaries. Probably nearly two-thirds of the entire number
 
 HEARING THE SUNSET. 521 
 
 have removed to other places or lands or are ^" C^iina or 
 have been removed to the land of silence; so that at this 
 riJe there are not more than twenty-five resident members 
 Toakland, and not all of these could be present at the 
 
 ^rshould be remembered, moreover, that in addition to 
 the baptized converts, of the many hundreds who from time 
 to time during all the years of the mission heard the Go pel 
 preached, or attended the night school or the Sabbath- 
 school, many were weaned from idol-worship and from open 
 sin and accepted Christianity as the only true «hgK,n but 
 did not publicly confess Christ in our mission. Some oi 
 them, however, united with other missions »■• churches in 
 Oaktand or elsewhere. Thus it is manifest that the good 
 done in this or any Chinese mission is not to be estimat d 
 merely by the number of baptized converts. No one can 
 foresee how extensive and happy may be the results of the 
 sowing of the seed of the kingdom. , , ,■ f 
 
 To us all that communion season was indeed a time ot 
 joy and gladness. The text of the "action sermon tha 
 day was, ■' Behold the man!" Whether it is to be my last 
 communion it is not given to know, but I would fondly 
 hope that my own spiritual growth was advanced and that 
 my own soul rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
 
 The real Christian character of these Chinese converts 
 can be known to only those who are personally and intl- 
 matelv acquainted with them. As among professors of all 
 nationalities, a few of the baptized of former years have 
 showed themselves to be unworthy of membership m the 
 church or to be weak Christians; but the most of them will 
 compare favorably with Christian professors m any of the 
 churches. Many of them, moreover, are most excellent 
 men some of them model Christians, lovely and loymg dis- 
 ciples of the divine Master. Under a worthy missionary
 
 622 IvOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 and after a little preparation for their new relations and new 
 duties, the resident Chinese Covenanters should be organized 
 into a regular congregation. In process of time, and per- 
 haps soon, American Covenanters will be added to the new 
 organization and a good congregation grow up in Oakland 
 and be ready to call a pastor to feed a flock having among 
 its membership no caste feeling. Our prayer is that the 
 enthroned Mediator may hasten the day when all such feel- 
 ing shall cease and all nations call Him blesse d. 
 
 " His blessing on the world shall rest. 
 And by the world His name be blest." 
 
 And now though the spirit may be willing the hand 
 that holds this pen is growing weary. To the writer it 
 will soon be sunset; but his heart's desire and prayer to 
 God is that his surviving friends may enjoy many days 
 of happy sunshine in the favor of Him whose ' ' loving- 
 kindness is better than Hfe." The readers and the writer 
 must soon say "good-night." But here is a young friend 
 who asks my "creed." I have not the time to write it; the 
 sunset is too near. My creed? Too often creeds are only 
 floating bubbles. "Show me thy faith without thy works, 
 and I will show thee my faith by my works." Yet I 
 have a creed. I first learned it from my mother, and then 
 of my father and my pastor. Then I went to Moses and the 
 prophets, to Jesus and Paul and John. Then I summoned 
 together in one grand council the early fathers, and Luther, 
 and Calvin, and Knox, and the Westminster divines, and 
 then Cameron and Renwick and McLeod. But with one 
 voice they all sent me back to Jesus, the divine Master of 
 them all. In imagination or vision I sat at His feet as He 
 taught in the temple. I asked Him to help me to write 
 my creed. He replied: "Wait until you can write it with 
 the blood of My cross." I waited, then wrote, and then
 
 NEARING THE SUNSET. 623 
 
 sought Him after His resurrection and His enthronement. 
 I showed Him my creed. He said: "Yes, but it is incom- 
 plete. Add to it what you call the sermon on the mount 
 and the Golden Rule." I rejoiced to obey, and again 
 showed Him my written creed; and again He said: "Yes, 
 but yet one thing more is needed. With that same blood 
 of the cross underscore the Golden Rule and your creed will 
 be golden." My heart and hand promptly obeyed my divine 
 Master; and then on the italicized lines fell a golden beam 
 of heavenly light. I awoke from my vision. In this faith 
 I have lived; in this faith I hope to die. In humility I 
 would try to obey the will of my Lord and wait for His 
 coming. 
 
 My life? It has been one not only of failures and mis- 
 takes and blunders but also of sins great and manifold, so 
 that my hope of salvation and of a future life of glory and 
 blessedness is founded solely upon the merits of the atone- 
 ment and in the mercy of God in Christ Jesus by whose 
 "grace we are saved through faith." Yet with almost 
 trembling hand but jo3''ous heart I here testify that, as life's 
 years were passing, the conviction has been growing upon 
 me that of all the studies I have pursued in none have I 
 had such interest as in the study of the precious Word of 
 God; and that in the study of no life and character have I 
 had such ineffable delight as in the study of the matchless 
 character of the "Man of Galilee" and of Him whose 
 "name is above every name," and whose priestly and royal 
 robes are wrought "for glory and for beauty." Not mine 
 alone is this conviction. Many contemporary friends can 
 bear the same testimony. And so as we pass along towards 
 the city celestial let us look from the land of Beulah over to 
 the other side of the river to behold the King in His beauty; 
 for it is the heritage of all His saints to see
 
 624 IvOOKING BACK FROM THE SUNSET LAND. 
 
 " Beyond the glooms and mystery, 
 Glimpses of glory, not far away, 
 Nearing and brightening every day; 
 Golden crystal and emerald bow, 
 Luster of pearl and sapphire glow, 
 Sparkling river and healing tree, 
 Evergreen palms of victory. 
 Harp and crown and raiment white, 
 Holy and beautiful dwellers in light; 
 A throne, and One thereon whose face 
 Is the glory of tliat glorious place." 
 
 Miss Havergal, the writer of the above lines, had an 
 engraving of "an old man, worn, but peaceful, sitting at his 
 cottage door in evening sunlight, with the Book on his 
 knee." To accompany the picture as it hung on the wall, 
 and tinder the sacred words, "At evening-time it .shall be 
 light," she wrote six beautiful stanzas, of which this is the 
 last: 
 
 " And now my loving Jesus is my Light at eventide, 
 The welcome Guest that enters in forever to abide; 
 He never leaves me in the dark, but leads me all the way, — 
 So it is light at evening time, and soon it will be day." 
 
 "Unto Him that loved us, and wa.shed us from our sins 
 in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
 God and His Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion 
 forever and ever. Amen."
 
 27164
 
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