GIFT OF Je r, s ft T . , Rosenberser THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON THE MARTJZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SKNDAl THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY REV. NATHANIEL COLVER, D.D., IN 1852 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES COLVER AND ROSENBERGER LIVES AND TIMES 1620-1922 By JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS c COPYRIGHT 1922 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO All Rights Reserved Published February 1922 Composed and Printed By The University of Chicago Press Chicaso, Illinois, U.S.A. TO THE MEMORY OF SUSAN ESTHER COLVER ROSENBERGER 478364 PREFACE Stalwart, intrepid men were those in this line of Colvers. New settlements and small villages, together with farm life, attracted them, but did not completely absorb them. Some of them were particularly distinguished as Indian scouts, and some as soldiers. Then came those who took on more of the character, not only of soldiers, but of sturdy standard-bearers in the cause of righteousness. Devotion to duty and a deep de- sire to serve others, particularly those in out-of-the-way places, strongly marked them. The better qualities of the Puritan became brighter in them from generation to generation. Take the Nathaniel Colver whose life-story is told at some length. Starting with very little schooling or as a graduate of a brush heap, as he once quaintly remarked but filled with the Bible, and possessed of unusual natural ability and elo- quence, he became a noted preacher and reformer as well as later a sort of pioneer in ministerial educational work. New England and northeastern New York constituted his first field of activity. Next, it was centered in Boston, where he was the pastoral founder of the Tremont Temple Church. Slavery and intemperance he fought unremittingly and unflinchingly at every turn, even in the face of mobs. Then, in Chicago, he not only had much to do with the founding of, but he gave the first regular theological instruction, at the old University of Chicago, for the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, which is the Divinity School of the University of Chicago of today. Last of all, when he might well have claimed the right to rest, he went, regardless of the effects which it was likely to have, and did have, on his health and in the shortening of his life, to Richmond, Virginia, where he opened, in an old slave pen, a school for vii viii THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the freedmen which, with accretions, has become the Virginia Union University. As a background, or for explanatory purposes, many refer- ences have been made to historical events; villages and cities, local customs, and general conditions have been described; some phases of religious history, especially of the early Baptists and their ministers, have been recounted; educational developments have been traced; and considerable of the history of the old or first University of Chicago has been given. It is hoped that it may all prove of some general interest and value, as also that it may help to increase, to a degree, the interest in, and the sentimental importance or individuality of, certain endowments that have been made for educational or religious-educational purposes, with which will be permanently connected the names of Nathaniel Colver, Charles Kendrick Colver, Susan Colver Rosenberger, or of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse L. Rosenberger. Special acknowledgment is due to Dean David Allan Robertson, of the University of Chicago, for helpful suggestions. This opportunity is also taken to thank most heartily everyone who has in any manner aided in this work. JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER CHICAGO January, 1922 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi PART I COLVERS AND NEW ENGLAND IN EARLY DAYS CHAPTER I. IN EARLY PURITAN TIMES 3 II. IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS 9 III. Two EARLY BAPTIST MINISTERS 16 PART II REV. NATHANIEL COLVER, D.D., AND HIS DAY I. EARLY LIFE AND TIMES 23 II. FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 31 III. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 47 IV. PASTORATES IN DETROIT, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO, AND OTHER PLACES 66 V. WORK IN CHICAGO FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION . . .82 VI. EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN 103 VII. MUSTERED OUT in PART III THE LIFE OF REV. CHARLES KENDRICK COLVER I. THROUGH BOYHOOD 127 II. NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 138 III. EARLY MINISTRY 151 IV. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 166 V. LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 188 VI. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 199 ix THROUGH THREE CENTURIES PART IV THE LIFE-STORY OF SUSAN ESTHER COLVER PAGE I. A CHILD or NEW ENGLAND 227 II. GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 241 III. PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION . . . .258 IV. THIRTY YEARS OP SERVICE IN CHICAGO SCHOOLS . . .270 PART V JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER AND HIS TIMES I. PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 295 II. VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 308 III. WORKING AND STUDYING 347 IV. THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 363 BIBLIOGRAPHY 385 INDEX 393 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FAcmG PAGE REV. NATHANIEL COLVER, D.D., IN 1852 iii THE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE IN WEST CLARENDON, VERMONT, BUILT IN 1798 33 THE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE AT FORT COVINGTON, NEW YORK, BUILT IN 1827-29 33 THE FIRST TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, IN 1843 .... 47 THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT HOLMESBURG, Now A PART OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 47 THE OLD BOTTSKILL BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE IN UNION VILLAGE, Now GREENWICH, NEW YORK 79 VIEW FROM OLD COURTHOUSE IN CHICAGO OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, MOVED IN 1864 FOR SECOND CHURCH. ... 79 LUMPKIN'S JAIL, THE OLD SLAVE PEN IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, IN WHICH DR. COLVER STARTED A SCHOOL FOR THE FREEDMEN 105 THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 105 REV. CHARLES KENDRICK COLVER IN 1891 127 SCHOOLHOUSE AND BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE IN KlNGSBURY, NEW YORK 141 HAMILTON LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION ... 141 BROWN UNIVERSITY IN 1840 141 THE THREE SUCCESSIVE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSES IN WATER- TOWN, MASSACHUSETTS 151 FIRST BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE, PROVIDENCE, ERECTED IN 1775 163 THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS . . .163 xi xii THROUGH THREE CENTURIES FACING SUSAN ESTHER COLVER AT THE TIME OF HER GRADUATION PAGE FROM THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO IN 1882 . . . 227 THE HOUSE IN WHICH SUSAN ESTHER COLVER WAS BORN . . 229 STREET VIEW SHOWING THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN WHITMAN, FORMERLY SOUTH ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS . . . .229 THE OLD MOUNT CARROLL SEMINARY 261 COLLEGE HALL, Now CALLED "WAYLAND HALL," AT BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN 261 THE HORACE MANN SCHOOL, CHICAGO 276 THE NATHANAEL GREENE SCHOOL, CHICAGO 276 JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER IN 1904 295 THE MAIDEN'S ROCK ON LAKE PEPIN, AS PICTURED IN 1825 . 301 LAKE CITY, MINNESOTA, IN 1867 301 A BIT OF LAKE PEPIN 338 GATHERING SAP FROM MAPLE TREES IN SUGAR BUSH . . . 338 THE OLD OR FIRST UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 356 THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER IN 1886 356 THE COLVER LOT IN OAK WOODS CEMETERY, CHICAGO . . .381 THE TEMPLE BUILDING, THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING IN CHICAGO 381 PART I COLVERS AND NEW ENGLAND IN EARLY DAYS CHAPTER I IN EARLY PURITAN TIMES The period of American history from early Puritan days in New England, or for nearly three centuries, was spanned by a line of eight successive members of the Colver family. All of them were good, patriotic citizens, who helped to promote the public welfare, in one way or another. Five or six of them rendered military service, and assisted in building up and safe- guarding new settlements. Four of them were Baptist min- isters, at least two of whom gave themselves unreservedly to advancing the spiritual and moral welfare of the people over wide areas of the country. The last one a woman was an unusually successful public-school teacher and prin- cipal, who devoted her life to educational work in the city of Chicago. The life-stories of the last three, or of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., of Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver, and of School- Principal Susan Esther Colver (afterward Rosenberger), are special subjects of this volume, taken up separately. However, it will give a better understanding of the general character of these three, or of what they were and what they did, and it will also in itself be interesting to go over the main facts known of the others and to note something of the times in which they lived. Certain fundamental characteristics will be found to be more or less common to all of these persons such as courage, inde- pendence, determination, energy, and a love of pioneering and of adventure; and sturdy service was the contribution of them all. 4 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES First, there was Edward Colver, 1 who came from the south- east of England with a party of colonists brought over by John Winthrop, the younger, in 1635, or just fifteen years after the Pilgrim Fathers came in the Mayflower. In Edward Colver the restless, dauntless, adventurous spirit of the pioneer was strongly manifested. He apparently went first to Boston, which had been founded about five years before that time and probably had more comforts to offer him than any place to which he afterward went. Still, he remained there only a year or so and then went to the new settlement of Dedham, Massa- chusetts, founded in 1635 or in 1636, about ten miles southwest of Boston, but which must have seemed a long way by ox team over the rough roads through either forest or stony, brush- covered wilderness, frequented by Indians and wild animals. In Dedham he married "An Ellice," or, as it is generally spelled, Ann Ellis, and prolonged his stay there to upward of ten years. After that he moved to Roxbury, which is now incorporated into the city of Boston. From there he went into southeastern Connecticut, residing a while in the little settlement of Pequot, then in one of Mystic, and, last, at another location in the town of New London. Nor was he content to follow one occupation all of the time. He was a wheelwright by trade, but engaged occasionally in other kinds of business and farmed more or less. Besides all this, he took part in the Pequot War, as well as, notwithstanding his advanced age, being a scout in King Philip's War. 2 He had great influence with the Indians. 1 The name of Edward Colver and of others of the Colvers will fre- quently be found written "Culver"; but "Colver" is the correct spelling according to Frederic Lathrop Colver, Colvcr-Culver Genealogy (New York: Frank Allaban Genealogical Co., 1910), p. 18. ' "During Philip's War, Edward Culver was a noted soldier and partisan, often sent out with Indian scouts to explore the wilderness."- Frances Manwaring Caulkins, History of New London, Conn4cticut_(N$w London, 1852), p. 309. Again, the same historian says that in 1676, the seat of war being transferred to the neighborhood of Connecticut River, "Edward Culver and his Indian scouts trailed off in that direction, and in IN EARLY PURITAN TIMES 5 From the historians of Dedham, Massachusetts, a good idea can be obtained of the early days in New England and of some of the conditions under which Edward Colver lived. When he went to Dedham he found the earlier settlers, who held the grant of the lands, denying admission to newcomers until it could be ascertained what provision could be made for them, and he, along with others, had to wait for a new survey of lands. 1 He found also that the first settlers had prepared and signed a covenant which persons later admitted into the settlement were required to sign, and which he was the sixty-eighth person to sign. This covenant is of importance as showing, what was generally true in New England, that it was not only the object of the first settlers to provide homes for themselves which they could own and where they would be free from obnoxious religious and political restrictions, but that it was also their purpose to build up and protect there exclusively their own peculiar form this county a short period of security intervened." History of Norwich, Connecticut (1866), p. no. At a meeting of the Council of War, in Hartford, on February 10, 1675, the "Councill" ordered Edward Colver and John Stedman, "w th some of the Indians to goe forth upon the scout, betwixt this and Springfeild, to make what discouery they could upon the enemie to the eastward of the river"; and, on March 16, the " Councill" advised that Edward Colver, "w th about 20 Moheags and Pequots, com up to Hartford forthwith," etc. The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from 1665 to 1678; with the Journal of the Council of War 1675 to x ^7^ (Hartford: F. A. Brown, 1852), pp. 408, 417. Edward Colver died in 1685 at the age of about seventy-five or eighty years. 1 Samuel F. Haven, An Historical Address Delivered before the Citizens of the Town of Dedham on September 21, 1836 (Dedham: Herman Mann, 1837), p. 13. After a time, in 1637, according to the records in the "Ded- ham Towne Booke," it was "Ordered that Edward Colver [written also 'Ed. Coluer'] wheelwright shall haue twoe Acres layd out for ye p r esent imployment in his trade & after to haue an addicion els wher as shalbe found needfull. In the meane tyme to haue free liberty of taking Timber for his trade every mans ppriety Reserved." Dedham Records (Dedham, 1892), III, 37. Other like small parcels of land were granted him in 1639, 1642, 1645. Ibid., pp. 57, 95, no, 112. 6 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES of religious and political establishment, barring all others and everybody and everything discordant with their notions. The Dedham covenant, as recorded in the "Dedham, Towne Booke, for the Entering, and Recording, of all such Orders as ar or shall be for the Gouerment there of as followeth," was, in part: "i We whose names ar here vnto subscribed, doe. in the feare and Reuerence of our Allmightie God, Mutually: and seuerally pmse amongst our selues and each to other to pffesse and practice one trueth according to that most pfect rule, the foundacion where of is Euerlasting Loue. " 2 That we shall by all meanes Laboure to Keepe of from vs all such as ar contrarye minded. And receaue onely such vnto vs as be such as may be pbably of one harte, with vs as that we either knowe or may well and truely be informed to walke in a peaceable conuersation with all meekenes of spirit for the edification of each other in the knowledg and faith of the Lord Jesus: And the mutuall encouragm* vnto all Temporall comforts in all things: seekeing the good of each other out of all which may be deriued true Peace." 1 A law of the colony, as well as the dangers which for the first fifty years or more beset the people, compelled them to build their houses near one another. Those built first were rude log structures, roofed with thatch, and in Dedham a town ordinance required that there should be a ladder from the ground to the chimney, for use in case of fire. Like the dwelling-houses, only larger, was the first meeting- house built in Dedham, in 1637, which was used for more than thirty years. It was 36 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 12 feet high. It was built of logs. The roof was thatched with long grass. A large ladder rested on the roof. The walls on the inside of the meetinghouse were left bare. After nineteen years, when 1 60 families were worshiping in it, it was voted to have the meetinghouse lathed upon the inside, "and so daubed and whited 1 Dedham Records, III, 2. IN EARLY PURITAN TIMES 7 over, workmanlike." The "pitts," as the pews were called in the records, were 5 feet deep, and 4! feet wide. The elders' and the deacons' seats were in front of the pulpit, with the communion table so placed before them that it could be approached from all directions. According to the general custom of those days, the men sat on one side in the meetinghouse and the women on the other, while the boys and the girls were seated either in the aisle or on raised seats in the rear, where they could be easily watched. The tithingman, as he was called, had arduous duties, and many years received as much pay for his services as did the deputy to the general court. He was obliged to go on errands for the elders, to whip the dogs out of the meetinghouse, and to prevent disorder among the boys. The business of seating persons in the meetinghouse came under the jurisdiction of the elders. The greatest taxpayer had the best seat. Discourses of four hours' length were not a rarity, and laymen spent much time in discussing such subjects as whether a believer is more than a creature, and whether a man may be justified before he believes. Even their humor, jests, and puns were generally given a scriptural phrasing. Near the meetinghouse there was built, somewhat later, a schoolhouse. That was 18 feet long, 14 feet wide, and two stories high, with a watchtower of small dimensions on top, beside the ample stone chimney. Edward Colver or anyone else, standing on the watchtower soon after it was built and looking out on the plain beneath him, saw about two hundred acres of land that had been cleared and partially subdued, yet which was full of stumps and roots. Around him, at a farther distance, he saw the common feeding lands, or "herd walks," as they were called. The first minister, who served for thirty- two years, depended on voluntary contributions and liberal grants of land for his compensation and was at the time of his death the largest 8 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES landholder in the community, save one deacon. But all of that minister's successors had salaries voted to them, although many times the salaries were voluntarily paid by the people, without the levying of a tax. For upward of seventy-five years the amount granted a year for schools was twenty pounds, except for a time when it was reduced to ten pounds a year. The numerous dogs in the settlement, which were so an- noying to the worshiping congregation, were kept largely as a protection against the Indians and the wild beasts that sur- rounded the settlement, but they were not an entire protection against the wolves which abounded almost everywhere. The prevailing traits of character of the inhabitants of Dedham and some of the conditions there at different periods were summarized somewhat to this effect: At about 1644, the people were religious, harmonious, patriotic, and successful in their enterprises, and the town devoted sufficient land to support one schoolmaster all the year; 1664, the character of the people remained nearly the same, but the town began to relax in the support of the schools, and was indicted for neglect in 1674; 1684, there was a vacancy in the ministry, which what were termed four candidates successively declined to fill; 1704, there were disorderly elections, church quarrels, bad manners, bad records, incompetent town officers, and (in 1691) the town was again indicted for neglect in supporting schools people dis- persed into parishes; 1724, the character of the people was nearly the same as in the preceding period, the school farm was sold and the proceeds thereof were misappropriated; 1744, four men, seeing the deplorable lack of school education, made donations to support the schools and to teach good manners; 1764, there were still quarrels in the First Church, ecclesiastical councils, and a dismission of the minister in the Third Parish. 1 1 Erastus Worthington, The History of Dedham, from the Beginning of Its Settlement in September, 1635, to May, 1827 (Boston: Button & Went- worth, 1827), pp. 14, 35, 124; Samuel F. Haven, An Historical Address, etc., pp. 15-16. CHAPTER II IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS Twenty-two years or thereabout after Edward Colver left Massachusetts to make his home in Connecticut, and long after his name had become fixed in the public records of the latter colony, the name of another Edward Colver began to appear also in those records. He, too, was an Indian-fighter, and took part in King Philip's War. In the course of time he became a lieutenant of Connecticut scouts. He rendered considerable military service and is known principally for that. But he was also a farmer and a surveyor, and in the latter capacity he rendered an important service to the early settlers. There seems to be little doubt in the minds of genealogists but that he was a son of the first Edward Colver, 1 although there appears to be no direct recorded evidence of that fact, which may be accounted for by his having been born, as it is assumed, about 1653, or after the removal of the elder Edward Colver and his family to Pequot, where probably no records were then kept of births, or at least none was made of the birth of the younger Edward. He is heard of first in Norwich, Connecticut, about fifteen miles up the Thames River from Pequot or from New London; and in Norwich, in 1682, he married Sarah Backus, 2 1 Frederic Lathrop Colver, Colver-Culver Genealogy, pp. 52-54; George Norbury Mackenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America (Baltimore: The Seaforth Press, 1914), IV, no-u; Royal R. Hinman, A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Con- necticut (Hartford: Press of Case, Tiffany & Co., 1852), pp. 772-73. 2 Norwich and Backus are names familiar to many Baptists because the author of A History of New England, with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists, was Isaac Backus, who was born in Norwich in 1724. 10 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES daughter of Lieutenant William Backus, Jr. Later, Lieutenant Edward Colver showed the spirit and the courage of the pioneer by moving from Norwich northwest to Lebanon, and by after- ward moving from Lebanon about fifty miles farther northwest, into the interior, to Litchfield. While such removals may now seem comparatively short and of little moment, they were then quite difficult to make and important in effect. To begin with, there was hardly anything that could be rightly called a road, or at best the road was a very poor one, hard to travel over. Then, such removals meant increased dangers or troubles from the Indians and the numerous wild animals. They also required the building of new houses and other structures, and the giving up of some social and other comforts previously enjoyed. In other words, each removal was much like making a new start in life, in an entirely new country, partly compensated, perhaps, by an increase in the number of acres which might be secured, or by the acquirement of land of a better quality than that possessed before. Like Lieutenant Edward Colver in rendering military service as occasion required, and in times of peace rendering equally valuable service to the community as a surveyor, as well as like him in also being a farmer, was his son, Sergeant Samuel Colver. The latter was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on February n, 1691. When he was about seven years of age, the family moved to Lebanon, where he grew up into manhood, and when he was about twenty-three years old he married Hannah Hibbard. After he had lived in Lebanon about twenty-five years, he moved to Litchfield, probably when his father did. He took a special interest in local governmental affairs, and as he com- manded the respect and confidence of his neighbors he was chosen at different times to hold various local offices, including that of school trustee. In 1741 he was the representative or deputy from Litchfield to the general court or assembly. He also took a considerable interest in the activities of the church, IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS II and in this he was following, too, somewhat in the footsteps of his father. 1 Of the religious character of the first Edward Colver even less is directly known, except that he was one of the early Puri- tans. But the Puritans were not all religious enthusiasts. The term Puritan was applied originally in derision or as a reproach to persons demanding a reform in politics as well as to those insisting on one in religious matters. The year 1635 was marked by the number of persons of high character, called Puritans, who came to America, perhaps most of them for religious reasons, but some out of political considerations, and some because allured by the prospect of obtaining free land. Just how Edward Colver should be classed in this respect is left to conjecture. Possibly the strongest evidence of his character is furnished by his signing the Dedham covenant and being received into that then very particular and severely religious community. 2 It may also be of some significance that twenty-one years or more after the baptism of John and at a time when the family were living in Pequot, Connecticut, the town record says that "John Culver is chosen for this next yeere, to drumm Saboth days and as formerly for meetings," the drum being used at that time, in lieu of church bells, to call the worshipers together. lieutenant Edward Colver died on April 7, 1732. Sergeant Samuel Colver died about 1770. 3 But the children baptized at Dedham, Massachusetts, are referred to in the old First Church records after this manner: "John y e sone of our Sister Culver was baptized iQ th of y e 7 m 1641"; "Samuell y e sone of our sister Culver & hir husband .... Culver was baptized i2 d n m 1644"; "Joseph y e sonne of our Sister Culver was baptized 2o d of y e 7 m 1646." "Anne Culver, y e wife of Edward Culver," it was recorded, was admitted into the church on the "i7 th of y e 7 m 1641"; while the marriage record, of 1638, was simply: "Edward Coluer & An Ellice, were married iQ th 7 mo/' Dedham Records: The Records of Births, Marriages, etc., in the Town of Dedham (Dedham, 1886-88), II, 25 ff.; I, 126. 12 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Nor is it more than an evidence of a custom of the times and of what now seems one of the strange notions of right and the "public good" that were then entertained along with strict religious views, that the same town record, in which the entries were made by the moderator, contained the following references to Edward Colver, who became established in Pequot as a baker and as a sort of innkeeper: "Goodman Culver is chosen and allowed of by the towne for the making of bread and bruing of beere for the publicke goode"; and, "Goodman Culver is allowed by the towne to sell liquors, provided he shall brew also, ells not: provided also the court allow of it, ingaging always to have good beere and good dyet and lodging for man and horse, to attend alsoe to good order." 1 As another sidelight, and as that only, account may be further taken here that John Colver, probably Edward Colver's son, once chosen to "drumm Saboth days" for meetings, was apparently of a religious nature and became one of the earliest and most faithful followers of John Rogers, or one of the "Rogerenes," "Rogerines," "Rogerene Quakers," or "Rogerene Baptists," as they were variously called, who maintained espe- cially that what they designated as the "New England idol" was being made of the Puritan or first-day Sabbath, and that it was their duty to demolish that idol, which they sought to do by breaking up religious meetings by interruptions, and by working on Sunday near meetinghouses and along roads used by people in going to church. They also took work with them into the meetinghouses, but they sometimes did that when they attended their own services, the men whittling out basket splints or doing other noiseless work, and the women sewing or knitting. The culmination of their attempts to break up meet- ings was apparently reached when, as a contemporary quaintly and tersely wrote in his diary for "Aprill," 1716: "Sund 22 fair. mr. adams Pr. all day John Rogers & his Crew 1 Frances Man waring Caulkins, History of New London, pp. 134-37. IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS 13 att meeting foren and aftern. 5 of ym put into prison vizt Jno Boles & his wife Jno Culver & his wife & Jno Rogers Senr his wife but She was discharged next day." 1 In May the general court ordered John Bolles and his wife and John Colver and his wife released from the "goal," representation having been made by the "Governour" that some related to the prisoners had assured him that they were altogether ignorant of the law, and that if their offense should be overlooked it might be hoped that they would not offend again in like manner. 2 But in 1725 a party of eight, which included a Sarah Colver, called by them a "singing sister," were arrested at Norwich, and locked up, for traveling on the Sabbath. They said that they were on their way to Lebanon to attend a baptism. Never- theless, on the following day as a justice of the peace Mr. Joseph Backus, the grandfather of the historian, sentenced them to pay a fine of twenty shillings each or to be whipped; and when the fines were not paid they were whipped. The sect, which took its rise at New London about 1674, also proclaimed loudly against a "hireling ministry," or priestcraft, which it desired to destroy along with the alleged Sabbath-day "idol." In 1734 John Colver removed to New Jersey with his Rogerene family, consisting of his wife Sarah, five sons and five daughters, and nine others in their families. 3 The Puritans established in New England churches of practically only one character and, to begin with, one church 1 Diary of Joshua Hemps lead of New London, Connecticut (New London: New London Historical Society, 1901), p. 55. 2 The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from October, 1706, to October, 1716 (Hartford, 1870), p. 559. 3 David Benedict, A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of the World (Boston, 1813), II, 422 ff.; Frances Man waring Caulkins, History of Norwich, pp. 290-91; Julius Friedrich Sachse, The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1900), III, 98 ff. 14 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES only for each community. This church was without any dis- tinctive name. It was simply "the church." Later, when growth and spread of population required more of these churches to accommodate the people, the churches were designated by number, as the "First Church," the "Second Church," the "Third Church," or the "First Parish Church," and so on. There was no denominational characterization of them. In the course of time, however, they became generally known as Congregational churches, many of which eventually became Unitarian churches. The Puritan founders of these churches were not all originally separatists or in favor of founding a church or churches different from that to which they had be- longed, which they desired rather to purify from within; but when they once reached New England, and breathed its free air, they organized there churches that were ecclesiastically independent, but which were intended to be more or less con- nected with the state and to be supported by taxation. How- ever, in so far as they thought to make their churches the permanent and only ones of the various communities or of the state, they were soon to meet with disappointment. Religious thought could not be controlled in New England any more than it could be in Old England, and one church could not possibly be made to do for everybody beyond the limited time that the population remained strictly homogeneous. In fact, it was not long before even among those who were at first accounted of one mind on religious questions there began to appear divergencies of opinion. The renunciation of outside authority and the making of the Bible the sole guide in all religious matters greatly tended to this end. Individual study and interpretation of the Scriptures by those of thoughtful mind produced in particular many of those who were denominated Baptists. Others brought Baptist doc- trines with them, especially from England and Wales, and spread them among the people, many of whom received them gladly. IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS 15 Then Baptist churches were formed. What has generally been called the first Baptist church in America was founded by Roger Williams, in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639. Another Bap- tist church was founded in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1644. The third one was founded at Swansea, Massachusetts, in 1663, and what is now the First Baptist Church of Boston was founded in 1665. But in early days Baptists were not welcome in New England generally, and in Massachusetts particularly they met at first with strong opposition and even bitter persecution, though perhaps with hardly as much as did the Quakers. Nevertheless, the Baptists increased in numbers, and their churches were multiplied. CHAPTER III TWO EARLY BAPTIST MINISTERS Among the men who, in the second century of the history of the Baptist church in New England, contributed by their labors to its development were three, each one of whom bore the name of Nathaniel Colver. The first two of them in particular were typical of most of the Baptist ministers of that and of the preceding century. The first Nathaniel Colver, of these three, was born on June 29, 1728, in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was a son of Samuel Colver. It is not known at what time or in what man- ner he became a Baptist. Until after the Revolutionary War when he was about fifty-five years of age, he is known chiefly for his military service, of which he rendered considerable, the last being in the Revolutionary War. He apparently attained some rank, such as that of first lieutenant. By occupation he was a farmer. He also took an interest in local affairs and held some minor offices. In 1752, he married Ruth Kilbourn, a descendant of an old and illustrious family. 1 When he was about thirty years of age, he moved to Spencertown, in what was then a part of Albany County, New York; and in 1767 he was sent, with another appointee, to England to seek an adjust- ment of disputed land titles. After the Revolutionary War he appeared again in the northwestern part of Connecticut, labor- ing among the scattered settlers and in the small settlements as a sort of itinerant Baptist minister, which suggests that he may have done some of the same kind of work before. Later he 1 Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1856), p. 103. 16 TWO EARLY BAPTIST MINISTERS 17 moved from Spencertown to the still newer settlement of Hubbardton, Vermont. There it was recorded that, after there had been a revival of religion from which ten had been added to the Baptist church, "in January, 1788, the people moved Nathaniel Culver into the place, having previously built for him a log house. He had settled on the west side of Castle- ton Pond, far away from any inhabitants, and was there taken down with rheumatism, and was helpless for a number of months. As soon as he was able, they gave him the lead of their meet- ings licensing him to preach; he and his wife uniting with the Baptist church, making twenty-four members. They now had regular preaching until 1796."* The same authority furnishes the material from which to construct a very good mental picture of the early conditions in Hubbardton, and therefore an equally true one of the newly settled rural portions of Vermont generally, which were settled comparatively late. The town of Hubbardton was somewhat less than six miles square, and was situated in a rough mountainous region. The first settlement, which in 1784 consisted of about twenty fami- lies in as many log houses, was in the southeastern part of the town. The roofs and gables of the houses were constructed of elm bark. The windows were either of grained sheepskin or of greased paper. The floors were of split logs, hewed on one side, and were often so uneven that one side of the table would be higher than the other and a chip would be placed under one edge of the porridge dish. Fireplaces with large chimneys were constructed of stone. The household furniture was principally homemade. Often whole families would live a long time on roasted potatoes, boiled or pounded corn, and even boiled wheat. The clothing was all homespun and homemade. The children 1 Amos Churchill, in the Vermont Historical Gazetteer (Claremont, N.H. : Claremont M'f'g Co., 1877), III, 777, This Nathaniel Colver died on February 19, 1809. l8 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES went barefooted among the stubs in summer; and some of them even went barefooted all winter. There was little opportunity for getting any education, except what the more diligent and studi- ous could obtain in the long winter evenings by the light of blazing pine knots or splinters, previously got ready for that use. The home library usually consisted of little more than a Bible, a psalm book, and a catechism. The Baptist ministers generally, and many of the others, were of the itinerant class, self-educated and for the most part self-supported, mainly by farming. The people, as a rule, wanted no others. They objected to both an educated ministry and a "hireling" one. But these itinerant ministers were with few exceptions noble, self-sacrificing men, full of the Bible and of the Spirit. They were a hardy lot, able and faithful, and did great good in their day, of which almost no record has been pre- served and for which but little credit has ever been given them. It was not long after the settlers began to appear in the state in considerable numbers before these ministers might be seen traversing the mountains and valleys, following such roads and trails as there were, or going often where there were none, seeking out the Lord's sheep in the wilderness. They rode on horseback, or went on foot, according to circumstances; in the one case taking nothing along but a pair of saddlebags con- taining a Bible, a psalm book, and an extra shirt or two; and in the other case carrying even less baggage. Thus they trav- eled through the forests, through rain or through snow, and through mud, even swimming streams. Sometimes, too, they were overtaken by storms, lost their way, and lay out all night. Still, they hesitated not. In Hubbardton the first meetings were held in the homes of the people, then in the schoolhouse, and after that in a log meetinghouse that was built in 1787. This last was furnished with benches, not pews, and had seats on the sides for the singers. After the people began to build meetinghouses and to TWO EARLY BAPTIST MINISTERS 19 meet in them, there was for many years no thought of such a thing as a stove for warming them, except that the women might have their foot stoves, which were boxlike in form and had pans for hot coals, to warm the feet; and on cold days it was encouraging both to the minister and to the people to see a good number of the foot stoves brought in, well filled. The people valued highly the privilege of meeting together; and when there was no minister they were still wont to assemble for worship by prayer, reading of the Scriptures, exhortation, or perhaps the reading of a sermon, with singing, line by line, in the old-fashioned way that was followed to enable all to join in the sacred songs when hymn books were scarce. The people also quite generally maintained family worship and attended to the catechizing of their children. The conversation of the ministers when they called was mostly on things spiritual. The second Nathaniel Colver, in this line of three Baptist ministers of that name, was a son of the first one, and was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on September 27, 1755. He was between two and three years of age when the family moved to Spencertown, New York. When he was about nineteen years of age he married Esther Dean, of a family noted for the natural eloquence of its members. He gained his livelihood by farming. He is not generally mentioned as having performed any military service, but it seems quite possible that he may have rendered some of that which has been attributed to his father, especially in the Revolutionary War, their names and places of residence having been the same. Early in March, 1793, he moved to Orwell, Vermont, not many miles from Hubbardton, where his father was located. Two years afterward, he moved to Champlain, on the frontier in northeastern New York, and about fifteen years after that he moved near to what is now called West Stockbridge Center, Massachusetts. Comparatively early in his life he engaged in the work of a Baptist minister, extending it as widely as he could over portions 20 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES of Vermont, of northeastern New York, and of western Massa- chusetts, for, besides serving at times as pastor of certain small Baptist churches, he traveled extensively through the country roundabout, preaching in dwelling-houses, or in the open air, or wherever a congregation, large or small, could conveniently be gathered. It was no disparagement to him that he gave him- self to the work that he did, but of the greatest credit, when all of the circumstances are considered. It was not only ministerial work, but also very largely home-missionary work when and where it was greatly needed and meant much more than such work would now. He was a man of strong character and of a great deal of abil- ity, a remarkably close thinker, a logical reasoner, and a clear expounder of the Bible. A glimpse of his life for a few days after he arrived in Orwell, Vermont, has been preserved from his diary. On Sunday, he preached. A day or two after that, he went to a neighbor's " to get an axe laid." The day following, he "studied in the forenoon; in the afternoon, tapped sap- trees." The next day, he " gathered sap in the forenoon; after- noon, studied." When Sunday came again, he preached again. The following Monday, being stormy, he "did chores and read Alleine." A few days later, he was visiting the sick, and soon after that he was attending a church council. In short, he was a self-sacrificing, studious, laborious, and mainly self-supported, worthy minister of the gospel, and self-appointed home mission- ary on the frontiers. 1 He died on April 16, 1831. 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., with Lectures, Plans of Sermons, etc. (Boston: Durkee & Foxcroft, 1873), pp. 10 ff. PART II REV. NATHANIEL COLVER, D.D., AND HIS DAY CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE AND TIMES This Nathaniel Colver was a son of the second Baptist minister of that name. He was born at Orwell, Vermont, on May 10, 1794. His inheritance from his father was a good name, good ability, the Colver fighting-blood and restlessness, fearlessness, firmness, independence, and eagerness for service to mankind, with a liking for frontier life and for frontiersmen, or for the common people in general. From his mother he apparently inherited in particular the Dean-family gift of natural eloquence. When he was about a year old, the family moved to the northeastern part of the state of New York, on to a farm on the bank of the Champlain River, near what is now the village of Champlain. At that time there were in two townships together only thirteen families. It was a wild region, in the broad valley between the St. Lawrence River on the north and the Adirondack Mountains on the south. There the child Nathaniel grew up into a strong and healthy boy, inured to a life of privation and hardship. His years for play were few. He alone of the family being well and his father being away a great deal of the time preaching, there fell to the boy's lot more than the usual share of toil for one of his years, even on the frontier where all boys were expected to work. Still, he had his pleasures also though as a part of the neces- sities of the situation in hunting, trapping, and fishing, which could hardly have been better. Particularly did he trap, or help to trap, the muskrat and the mink, the wolf and the bear. He also became very successful in spearing salmon. 23 24 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Then came another moving of the family when he was about fifteen years of age. This time it was southward, what must have seemed a long way, into the mountainous district of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Moreover, mere boy though he was, for some reason he went or was sent ahead, alone and on foot, the whole distance over the necessarily poor roads or what served as roads, along which he would only occasionally see a human being or habitation, but more often would see or hear wild animals of various kinds, including perhaps mountain lions, or "painters," as they were then commonly called, bears, and wolves. The new home was located, not at what is now called the village and railroad station of West Stockbridge, but four or five miles southwest of it, in the westerly part of what was then the town of Stockbridge, near what is now called West Stock- bridge Center, the word "town" being used to signify, as gen- erally in New England, one of the political subdivisions of a county, approximating more or less closely a township in size. There his father preached, and Nathaniel not only continued at farm work, but also contrived in some way to learn the trade of tanner and currier, and perhaps that of shoemaker as well, for during his enlistment in the War of 1812, when he had nothing else to do, he made and repaired shoes for the soldiers. On April 27, 1815, just before he was twenty-one, he married Miss Sally Clark. The first great turning-point in his career came, however, in 1817 in his conversion when he was twenty- three years of age. It seems a little strange that his conversion did not occur many years earlier, for, besides the fact that his father was a minister, his mother was a pious woman, who taught him to love the Bible, so that in childhood he wept over the story of the cross, and he had a brother Phineas who, at about the time that his father left Champlain, was ordained pastor of the Baptist church which his father had built up there. But when it came, the EARLY LIFE AND TIMES 25 conversion was a striking one. Nathaniel had been to an evening meeting, and had been greatly moved by it. On his way home, over a lonely road across a dark mountain, it seemed to him that he could go no farther until the burden that was upon him had been removed, and he turned aside and wrestled in spirit all night. As the morning light broke upon him, he felt the victory won. 1 He was afterward baptized by Elder John M. Peck, the great Baptist pioneer preacher of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, who was on a visit to the East. Then the question arose in the mind of Nathaniel Colver as to what the Lord would have him do. He had just been making plans for improving his business of tanning and shoemaking, apparently intending to make it his life-work. Should he give that up and follow the examples of his grandfather, his father, and his brother, and become a minister of the gospel ? He felt that he could not do it because he did not have the talent for it. But some of those who knew him better than he knew himself in that respect thought otherwise. Undoubtedly his father and mother did, and were praying that he might be led into the ministry. While the subject was thus under consideration, word was sent, on a Saturday, to some member of the church at West Stockbridge Center that a preacher was wanted for the morrow at Austerlitz, a place of a few houses and a center for worship, six or seven miles across the mountains and in the state of Another night, a little more than a half century after that one, he wrote on a slip of paper during his last illness, apparently inspired by the recollection of his experience on the mountain, and following his frequent custom of expressing himself in numbers: "Cheer up, my trembling soul, be strong; Cling fast to thy old midnight song. Though fierce the conflict, hard the fight, The victor's song is thine tonight." 26 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES New York, not far from Spencertown where Nathaniel's grand- father had once had a farm and lived. Nathaniel was asked to go. He said that he could not do it. Finally he was persuaded to the extent that he agreed to go and lead a prayer meeting; but when he got there the people would not consent to that. They demanded a sermon. He told them that he could not preach; that he did not have even a text. Some one then suggested the words: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accep- tation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." That was enough. Nathaniel admitted that he knew something about that, and he went ahead and preached his first sermon. It astonished all; and without consulting him it was announced that he would preach again in the afternoon, after which it was announced that he would preach in the evening at a neighboring schoolhouse. The last sermon was the best of the three. His father and mother were present at the last service, and at its close the father turned to the mother and exclaimed with joy: "Our Nathaniel is a preacher!" After that Nathaniel preached from time to time at Austerlitz and at other places, as there was occasion for it, for a year or so. His education was ample, if not almost ideal, for the minis- terial work in which he first engaged and in which he continued for years, and he added constantly to his education in such a way that by the time he was called on to fill more exacting positions he was prepared for them. To begin with, he was largely what is some tunes called a man of one book. But that book in his case was the Bible. His education began at home, where he was taught by his parents, and by his mother in par- ticular, as is best for any child who has the right kind of mother. The principal textbook was the Bible, because, fortunately for him, there were then in the house in the way of books, as he afterward remembered it, only the family Bible, his father's "little Bible," which his father took with him when he went to preach, a psalm book, a spelling book, and what he called the EARLY LIFE AND TIMES 27 "third part," without stating of what. 1 The result was that when in 1864, six years before the close of his life, he revisited the scenes of his childhood on the bank of the Champlain River, and reconstructed in his mind the little log house which had been his home, he recalled the blessed Sabbaths which he had spent in it, with his mother and with the family Bible, and then wrote in his diary: "I here record my gratitude to God that, instead of Sunday School novels, I was shut up in my younger days to that dear old Bible. If I have any strength in the preaching of the gospel, to that mother and that book am I indebted. I had nothing else to feed my mind with, and so I ate up that Bible. Dear, precious Bible! And dear, precious mother, who taught me to love it!" Then he mentioned that his had been the lot of service and toil, but he did it only to add that, "In it all I can see the hand of God, in his providential training, and forming my body and mind for my subsequent life." While the family lived on the farm in northeastern New York, he attended school for two winters, which was all the schooling that he ever got. Beyond that and what he was taught at home, he was self-educated, as all must be in the last analysis. Nor is it recorded that he ever lacked the books really needed for study. At the time of his conversion he wanted to know the different doctrines, and borrowed from the Congregational minister all the books that the latter could sup- ply him with, and studied them well before making his final decision to join the Baptist church. It is also significant that while he was in the army he undertook the defense of a comrade, and was so skilful in it that he was offered an opportunity to get a legal education, which he did not accept, perhaps because 1 These may have been all of the books that he remembered because they were all that he as a boy could very well read or study, while his father may have had some other books as well, for his father was studious and mentioned reading Alleine on a stormy day, as if he was but a favorite author of a man who had books, read, and loved them. 28 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES he was then planning to get married or preferred to follow the trade that he had learned. Moreover, for either the pulpit or the platform, he had a rare gift of natural oratory, which he knew well how to develop and to make the most of. 1 At the time that Nathaniel Colver joined the church and entered upon the ministry, the preaching of the Baptist ministers was almost entirely extemporaneous, due largely to the strong prejudice which the people manifested to written sermons. Doctrinally, the preaching, especially that of the ministers of British descent, was strongly Calvinistic, and on the whole was effective, although most of the ministers felt that they ought not to make direct appeals for repentance, because that could come only with divine aid. There were occasional revivals, but as a general thing without the manner in which the meetings were conducted being materially changed. Depth of feeling was the main thing sought for, much dependence being placed on the silent working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people. 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., with Lectures, Plans of Sermons, etc., pp. 17 ff. Dr. Smith, in seeking to explain Mr. Colver's religious perplexities at the time of his conversion, suggests that it might be that at West Stockbridge Mr. Colver found himself in an atmos- phere more or less charged with doctrinal controversy, because that had been the home of Jonathan Edwards when driven from his pastorate at Northampton, and that "it may be presumed that the effect of such a personality as that of Mr. Edwards would continue to be felt long after its actual presence had ceased, and that the minds with which young Colver came most in contact were those which had been molded under doctrinal teaching such as will ever stand associated with the name of Edwards" (ibid., p. 34). Others have seen in this an educational influence.. But any special personal influence from Mr. Edwards on Mr. Colver seems improbable, because (i) more than sixty years had intervened; (2) Mr. Edwards did not live either at West Stockbridge or in the vicinity of what is now known as West Stockbridge Center, where Mr. Colver lived, but he lived at Stockbridge; (3) at Stockbridge, Mr. Edwards was not a preacher to white people, but he was simply a missionary to the Housatonic Indians, and not a very successful one at that, though during that time he wrote several of his more important works. EARLY LIFE AND TIMES 29 Where there were organized churches, they usually made yearly contracts with their ministers, just as a man might make a contract for a farm hand, often bargaining as closely, and feeling little more obligation to renew their contracts if there was any dissatisfaction of any kind with the ministers, although in those days the people were more concerned about having what they deemed sound preaching than for any great numerical increase in the church membership. There was this difference also between their contracts for ministers and those for farm hands, in that it sometimes seemed as though in the case of the former there was more often a failure to make full payment of the promised amounts, and that generally, too, without any apparently great misgivings. Still, the ministers were as a class exceedingly faithful, and were usually highly regarded, or even beloved. They tried hard to make the best of everything. Churches were often formed with from nine or ten up to about twenty members of ordinary circumstances. The ministers understood and approved of this, and themselves often farmed or worked at various trades in order to make themselves as little burdensome on the people as possible. When wild land was easily acquired, it was a common thing for a minister to get enough for a farm, to have the help of his neighbors in building a log house for him and at a "logging bee" or log-rolling for clearing the land, and then to leave the cultivation of the farm largely to his sons, of whom there were usually several in the family. One did not hear very often in those days of ministers quitting what they deemed their divine calling because they could make more money at some- thing else. The renting of pews was not much depended on, outside of Boston, for the support of the ministry and to defray the other expenses of the church. In some of the better class of meeting- houses pews were sold outright and became the private property of the purchasers, and sometimes those not sold were rented. 3O THROUGH THREE CENTURIES But free pews or benches was the rule in Baptist meetinghouses partly because most of them were not finished off and furnished on the inside in such a way as to make the selling or the renting of pews possible, yet more likely because the meetinghouses were mainly for a class of people to whom the idea never occurred of making pew rents pay the expenses of the churches, or because the people were opposed to it on principle. Church discipline in those days was very severe, and con- tinued to be so in many of the churches for upward of half a century more. All of the members of a church felt that it was their duty to watch over the deportment of their brethren. The distinction between the church and the world was drawn sharply, and transgressions were reported to, and acted on, by the church. Differences between brethren must not be taken to the law for settlement, but must be brought before the church, and if a member sought the aid of the courts first, he might be required to retrace his steps and to proceed in what was termed the scriptural manner. Expulsions were frequent, and were much dreaded in the earlier days because they were in effect nearly equivalent to social ostracism. "Elder" was the title given to Baptist ministers almost without exception, 1 as, for example, each Nathaniel Colver who was a Baptist minister, was called either " Elder Colver" or " Elder Nathaniel Colver," until the last one came ultimately to be called "Dr. Colver," which latter designation will here- after generally be used here, although at first somewhat pre- maturely, to distinguish him from the other Colvers and Nathaniel Colvers who were Baptist ministers. 1 David Benedict, Fifty Years among the Baptists (New York: Shel- don & Co., 1859), pp. 55 ff., 166. CHAPTER II FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY In the year 1819, Dr. Colver entered formally upon his life-work, which he was to continue for just fifty years. It may be divided into four periods: (i) preaching mostly in small places, beginning in Vermont, but continued chiefly in the state of New York twenty years; (2) pastorate in Boston thirteen years; (3) pastorates principally in the cities of Detroit, Cin- cinnati, and Chicago approximately thirteen years; (4) inau- gurating theological instruction at the old University of Chicago for the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, and for the freed- men, in Richmond, Virginia four years, with a portion of the time being given to preaching and to pastoral work. 1 1 Dr. Colver was pastor of Baptist churches in the following places, at apparently about the following dates: West Clarendon, at what is now Chippenhook, Vermont, 1819-21; Fort Covington, New York, 1821-29; Kingsbury and Fort Ann, New York, 1829-31; perhaps Kingsbury and part of the time supplying for the pastor of the Bottskill Baptist Church, in Union Village, now Greenwich, New York, 1831-34; Holmesburg, now a part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May-November, 1834; Union Village, now Greenwich, New York, November, 1834, to December, 1837; Boston, Massachusetts (first pastor of the First Baptist Free Church, afterward called the Tremont Street Baptist Church, or better known as " Tremont Temple"), 1839, to April 4, 1852; South Abington, now Whitman, Mas- sachusetts, April, 1852, to April, 1853; Detroit, Michigan (First Baptist Church), April, 1853, to April, 1856; Cincinnati, Ohio (First Baptist Church), probably from May, 1856, to December, 1860; Woodstock, Illinois, January-July, 1861; Chicago, Illinois (Tabernacle Baptist Church, which became the Second Baptist Church), September i, 1861, to 1865, and (Fifth Baptist Church), 1865, to June 13, 1867. The year 1838 and part of 1839 Dr. Colver gave mainly to the cause of antislavery. His principal ministerial educational work was done in 1865-68. 32 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES It is necessary to bear in mind at all times, in trying to estimate for any period the extent and importance of Dr. Col- ver's work, that he never confined himself entirely to his pas- torates, and a good portion of the time not alone to preaching, but made his pastorates centers from which he went out into the country roundabout to deliver his gospel messages and to urge reforms. It is likely, too, that he changed his pastorates as frequently as he did mainly to get into new fields or centers from which to extend his influence for righteousness and reforms, though possibly sometimes he was somewhat unconsciously led by the same spirit that caused his New England fore- fathers to move so often to new places. His love for rural life and for country people was shown by the fact that several times, when he terminated city pastorates, he by preference accepted calls to smaller and more rural places, and when he held city pastorates he was constantly going out during the week to preach in the rural districts, as opportunities presented them- selves. He never left a pastorate where he might not have staid longer, and generally it was with great reluctance that the best and the most of the church membership parted with him. Moreover, fifty years after his death, persons were still to be found, in almost every place where he had been a pastor, who, either from personal recollections or from what they had heard of him, treasured his memory and the fact of his pastorate there. Dr. Colver's first regular pastorate was in the west part of the town of Clarendon, Vermont, at what is now the hamlet of Chippenhook. He began his pastoral work there in 1819, after he had been ordained there as a Baptist minister for it. There must have been an attraction in the location, which was about twenty-five miles southeast of Orwell where he was born, and perhaps eight miles nearer to Hubbardton where his grandfather had been a pastor, while in character it was quite like the mountainous region of West Stockbridge Center, Massachusetts, in which he had been living. THE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE IX WEST CLARENDON, VERMONT, BUILT IN 1793. HORSE SHEDS IN THE REAR THE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE AT FORT COVINGTON, NEW YORK, BUILT IN 1827-29, THE STEEPLE BEING ADDED LATER FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 33 The Baptist meetinghouse in West Clarendon was a typical frame one, which was very plain. It was built about 1798. Some of the contributors to the cost of the building, who had no money, paid with grain or cattle, which was not an unusual form of making payments in those days. The door was on the side of the meetinghouse. Inside of the building were the old- fashioned box pews, a sloping gallery, and a pulpit with a sounding-board above it. At some time, long after Dr. Colver's pastorate, the whole interior of the house was remodeled. A floor was put in so as to make the building a two-story one, the upper part to be used for church purposes, and the lower part for a town hall. For entrance to the church part, a door was cut through one end of the building. It was not of much consequence that there were but few dwelling-houses near the meetinghouse. That part of Vermont was settled largely by people from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, among whom were quite a number of Baptists, and they and almost all of the other settlers were willing to go considerable distances, if necessary, to attend religious services. Indeed, this church, which had a membership of over one hun- dred, was relatively much more important then than later, and was relatively more important then than are many churches now which are apparently much better situated. Crowds, it was said, came to hear the young preacher. It was not, however, because he sought to be popular. It was because he delivered his messages in a bold, striking way that irresistibly drew people to hear him. He scorned anything like time-serving, and he did not please everybody. He was told that his preaching was too plain, too severe. " 'Speak unto us smooth things: prophesy unto us deceits,' " he wrote in an article for the Rutland Herald, "was the language of the multi- tude of old, nor is the natural heart at this day less averse to the heart-searching and sin-condemning doctrines of divine truth. Men of the world are still calling for 'smooth things.' 34 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Their language is," he continued, in verse of his own compo- sition, " ' Speak thou, but mind and shun the truth, or if The truth you speak, speak that so smooth, so well Mix't up with flattery that all our Consciences may sleep.' "It is true that by sliding round all controverted points a minister will please more and gather a larger flock by whom he will be called a good shepherd; but he will not distinguish between them that serve God and them that serve him not. By so doing he may escape the bonds of Paul, but he can never, like him, say he has fought a good fight." 1 As for himself, it was very clear from the first, and ever afterward, that Dr. Colver meant to fight "a good fight," and it was a veritable fight which he kept up throughout his life. His restless spirit and earnest purpose and determination were shown in the termination of his first pastorate after two years, and shown yet more distinctly during the years that fol- lowed. One might have supposed that his first field of labor would have been large enough for him for a much longer time. But during the second year he appeared in northern New York and preached at Fort Covington, which was a somewhat impor- tant, though small, village, without a church organization of any kind in it. Then, soon after his return home, he received a letter from a committee appointed by citizens of Fort Coving- ton, in which they stated that the inhabitants of the village and its vicinity were unanimous in their desire that he should come and settle there as their minister. A salary of four hun- dred dollars was promised to him, with this qualification: "It is, however, understood that you will want a considerable part of this sum in the produce of the country necessary for the support of a family." 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 40-43. FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 35 Dr. Colver saw that he was more needed in that northern country than where he was, and went to Fort Covington in June, 1821. Still, going there was a great ordeal for him at that time. His third son, the one who was named Charles Kendrick Colver, had just been born on May 21, and Mrs. Colver was in such poor health generally that Dr. Colver had to leave her and that child and the next older one at the home of a relative in Vermont. 1 But it seemed to Dr. Colver to be the Lord's plan for him, and he was ready to enter on it. The new field was larger than the old one, or one that could be made larger by going to the various surrounding places which were like open doors bidding him to enter, and he was not slow to do it. He traveled mostly on horseback, and his tall figure, wrapped, when the weather was cold, in a camlet cloak, gathered about the waist with a long scarf or belt, Dr. Smith says soon became a familiar and a welcome sight in many a hamlet and in many a rude, remote dwelling. Another description given of Dr. Colver stated that in the fall of 1825 " a noble-looking man" called, just on the edge of the evening, at a public house in New Lebanon Springs, New York. He was on a journey. He inquired at once of the innkeeper if there were any Christians at that place who held evening meet- ings. On being told that the Baptists did whenever they could get a preacher, he announced that he was one, and requested that the people be informed that if they would make arrange- ments for a meeting that evening, he would preach to them. The necessary notice was given by ringing the academy bell, which it was understood meant that there would be a meeting in the new Baptist meetinghouse. The stranger was Dr. Colver, and a large number, attracted by his impressive appearance and manner of introducing himself, gathered to hear him. Opening his Bible, he stated that he usually preached without notes, but 1 Some time during the following winter she was taken with the chil- dren to Fort Covington; but she died there on February 27, 1824. 36 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES had concluded to use them on that occasion, notwithstanding the prejudice which he knew that the people had against them. He then took up Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and illustrated and explained it in a way that made those who heard him think that they had never properly read it; and that sermon made a more lasting impression on the mind of the narrator of the incident than any other sermon that he ever heard. 1 His wife having died the year before and left him with the care of young children, Dr. Colver, on January 25, 1825, took in marriage, for his second wife, Mrs. Sarah F. Carter, of Platts- burgh, New York, a widow with a young daughter, Mary B. Carter. To Mrs. Carter he wrote very characteristically: "In tendering you my heart and hand, though I think I can do it with that affection and those sentiments which become so inti- mate a connection, still it must be in subjection to God, in whose service I hope I have once dedicated them without reserve, or power to recall. Indeed, did I think you would be unwilling to enlist with me in it, I should feel under bonds to desist. With regard to future prosperity, I leave it with an overruling Providence . ' ' 2 With this consecration to his work, it could not but prosper. The meetings at Fort Covington were held in the town house or hall, or in the schoolhouse, or in private houses, as the case might be. A Baptist church, called the "Baptist Church of Christ at Fort Covington," was soon organized, that is, in 1821 or in 1822, with nine members or with eleven, according to different accounts. Finally a meetinghouse was built, which was ready for dedication March 5, 1829. Steeple and bell were added later. As a matter of fact, steeples for their meeting- houses were not altogether favored by the Baptists of early times, partly on account of the cost, and partly because they were looked upon as vanities that were not in keeping with 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 44-46, 58. a Ibid, pp. 63-64. FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 37 proper religious simplicity, or with the spirit and teachings of the Master. 1 For two or three years prior to 1829, Dr. Colver kept giving more and more of his time to outside or missionary work, on account of what he deemed its importance and claims on him. During this period he acted to some extent as a missionary for the Northern Missionary Convention, even going into Canada, and he was also appointed an agent of the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York. Nor did the Fort Covington church object. On the contrary, for example, according to an entry made in its records for March 31, 1827, when Dr. Colver requested leave of the church to go to Ogdensburg for one year, "the church voted that they were willing he should go, on considering the present pressing call for his services in that place." However, he does not appear to have spent a whole year at Ogdensburg. 2 'The picture of this meetinghouse shown facing page 33 was made from a photograph taken in the fall of 1919, or ninety years after the build- ing was dedicated by Dr. Colver. At the side and at the rear of the meet- inghouse are shown quite extensive horse sheds, which were very important adjuncts to meetinghouses when people went with teams and on horseback long distances, and in all kinds of weather, to attend meetings, often taking their lunches or Sunday dinners with them and staying for two services. 2 Rev. A. M. Prentice says, in the historical discourse which he delivered on October 3, 1909, at the observance of the centennial of the First Baptist Church of the city of Ogdensburg, New York: "It has been stated that the first pastor of this church was the Rev. Nathaniel Colver, a man of great gifts, courage, and efficiency. I would be very glad if such were the case. But the fact is that he came and labored here for a while as a mission- ary, and was very much interested in the welfare of the church, finding them in a very needy condition. Mr. Colver became pastor at Fort Coving- ton in 1821 and continued there for several years, dividing his time with Malone. In view of the needs of the outlying district he seems to have been constrained to take up missionary work in this region It is not strange that Mr. Colver's name should have become associated with the church as an early, if not the first, pastor. He became an eminent man in the Baptist ministry." 1809-1909, Centennial Anniversary, October yrd to 5th, First Baptist Church, Ogdensburg, N.Y. (Ogdensburg: Ogdens- burg Advance Co., 1910), pp. 5-6. 38 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Something of the great work that Dr. Colver was doing is shown by a letter which he wrote from Ogdensburg, New York, on July 22, 1827, which was in part to the following effect: "It has been the most interesting time the winter and spring past ever known by our churches in this region. Almost all of them have been refreshed. Since the third day of December last, I have baptized one hundred and ninety, who have will- ingly put their necks under the yoke of Christ in several of the churches around me. The increase of our churches has been truly astonishing. The Lord has made the wilderness to bud and blossom as the rose. In Fort Covington there was no church when I came there, and only two Baptist professors in town. Now their number is something rising of one hundred. They expect to complete their meetinghouse this fall, and are in a flourishing situation. Many of our churches have increased in the same proportion. The church in Parishville had last September but eight members, and has now one hundred and seven, and a number more are waiting for me to come and baptize them. The church in Hopkinton has had about an equal increase. I should delight had I room and time to give you a detailed account of a work which has been the most astonishingly glorious of anything. I have seen convictions that have been pungent and severe, and the joys of those released from their burden of sin have brought out the praises of a Savior. The gray hairs and the child of ten have begun their lives anew together. But I can give you no idea of the glory of the work by writing. Words are lean. I can only say my heart has been melted over and over again. Oh, what a precious Savior there is for lost sinners! At every new turn of our lives we discover some new excellency in Jesus Christ; but, oh! what ill returns we make to him for all his benefits." 1 1 This letter, which shows something of the quaintness of Dr. Colver's early style and his peculiarly striking illustrations from common, everyday life, which always took hold of people, was written to Mr. Lewis Walker, who FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 39 A peculiar situation which had arisen, involving the Baptist church in Kingsbury and that at Fort Ann, in Washington County, New York, and, with the churches, affecting his brother Phineas who had been their pastor, led Dr. Colver, in 1829, to sever his connection with the church at Fort Covington, and to accept the joint pastorates of those other churches. The trouble originated in views which his brother had expressed, or was believed to hold, on the Sabbath question, in which his churches agreed with him, but to which some other Baptist churches objected. Dr. Colver seemed to be the only person with suffi- cient courage and power to face the difficulty and straighten things out, which led him to take his brother's place as pastor of the churches. An entry of May 10, 1829, in the records of the Fort Covington church reads: "Sabbath. Voted that we earnestly desire Eld. Colver to stay with us." But a week later the church voted to grant the request of the Fort Ann and Kingsbury churches; and on August i the church "voted to give Eld. Nathaniel Colver a letter of dismissal and recom- mendation." 1 The Baptist church in the town of Kingsbury was a country church, located about a mile and a half south of the village of a few houses called Kingsbury, to which the meetinghouse was subsequently moved. The church had nearly forty years of history back of it when Dr. Colver became its pastor. It was, or it became, the mother of three or four other Baptist churches. The "Baptist Church of Christ" at Fort Ann was a village was one of the leading members of the church of which Dr. Colver had been pastor in Vermont. The letter is now in the possession of Mr. Walker's great-grandaughter, Mrs. F. A. Wilcox, of Kansas City, Missouri. 1 Fort Covington is in Franklin County, and a recent local historian says that Dr. Colver was, with possibly a single exception, "the strongest man intellectually who ever served in Franklin County as a clergyman," and that he remained at Fort Covington eight years, "a tireless worker." Frederick J. Seaver, Historical Sketches of Franklin County, New York (Albany: J. B. Lyon Co., 1918), p. 351. 40 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES church about seven years old. The two churches were about five or six miles apart. They had meetinghouses which they had built in union with bodies of Christians of other denomi- nations, to be used by the respective owners in turn or as might be agreed upon, which made one minister enough at that time for both Baptist churches. What gave the Baptist church in Kingsbury special importance for a long time was that, while there were few people who lived anywhere near the meeting- house, its location was central to a large territory from which people came to worship, some coming from five to fifteen miles. Besides, in early times meetinghouses were often built near where some influential member of the church lived, or where a lot could be obtained for it free, without much regard to where the population or the membership was. In this case the land was leased for a peppercorn a year, which was to be delivered when called for. Some time in 1830, Dr. Colver 's health began to show serious indications of giving way, and he took a trip southward for a rest and a change. On the way he stopped to preach for a while in Poughkeepsie, New York, and after he reached Phila- delphia he preached a number of times in the First Baptist Church, for Dr. W. T. Brantly, who was holding a series of protracted meetings. The two men were in the beginning personally unacquainted with each other. Dr. Brandy's first invitation to Dr. Colver to preach once for him was extended as a matter of courtesy; but Dr. Colver had not proceeded far in his sermon before Dr. Brantly perceived that his visitor was a preacher of uncommon power, and by the time that the sermon was finished pastor and people were bathed in tears, and thanked God for sending such a man to them, and impor- tuned Dr. Colver to remain and preach for them until the special meetings were ended. Moreover, an unusually warm friendship was formed between the two men, notwithstanding that Dr. Brantly was of southern extraction and sympathies, FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 41 In the fall of 1831, Dr. Colver returned to Philadelphia, to help Dr. Brantly again. Afterward he went to Washington, and from there, apparently at Dr. Brantly's instance, he visited Richmond, Virginia. Evidences of cruelty that he saw at Washington and at Richmond gave to Dr. Colver his first great hatred of slavery. In fact, he might have had the pastorate of a Baptist church in Richmond, but he declined to settle there on account of slavery. Dr. Colver's pastorates in Kingsbury and at Fort Ann extended over about two years, although he apparently lived in Kingsbury until 1834, and may have preached there, more or less, up to that time. But about twenty miles south of Kings- bury, and, like it, in Washington County, was Union Village, the name of which has since been changed to Greenwich. That was quite an important place, and in it was quite an important Baptist church, called the "Bottskill Baptist Church," a name in some way derived from that of the Battenkill River, which flows through the village. Various dates, such as 1767, 1774, and 1775, have been given as that of the organization of the church. Its pastor since 1794 had been Elder Edward Barber, who, by reason of age and infirmity, had come to need a strong helper, if not a man to take his place, and Dr. Colver was induced to come a part of the time to his aid, which he did for two or three years. It has been stated that Dr. Colver might have had the pastorate, but refused to accept it while Elder Barber lived. Then, in 1834, Dr. Colver was prevailed on, largely through the efforts of Dr. Brantly, to accept the pastorate of the Baptist church at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, then a suburb ten miles north of Philadelphia and now within the city limits. As a result, he preached quite often also in Philadelphia. During that pastorate, one of the most competent members of the church to judge, on being asked how his pastor was doing, replied: "Better and better. He has just been preaching a 42 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES number of most interesting sermons from the same text. Hav- ing finished on Sunday before last, he said last Sunday that he would gather up the fragments, and the sermon of fragments was the most wonderful of them all." That pastorate, however, lasted but from May to November, on account of the death of Elder Barber and a call from the Bottskill Baptist Church to become its pastor which Dr. Colver was unable to refuse. A historian of the town of Greenwich says that in early days there had been a large influx of Rhode Island colonists into the town, from which the Bottskill Baptist Church was subsequently organized. The men who formed the church were men before whose sturdy strokes the forests fell, who braved the dangers of pioneer life with steady persistence, and who put into their church relationship the same earnestness that characterized them in their secular affairs; and its activities thus became a component part of the history of the town. The organizations which have contributed the most to the moral well-being of society in the town have been its churches and primarily the Bottskill Baptist Church. While in the history of that church there may be incidents which will cause a smile from their quaintness, or a sigh and a tear from their illiberality, there is one feature of its past that stands out prominently and entitles it to unqualified respect: Bottskill Baptist Church never shrank from the performance of disagreeable duties. Mistaken and unjust, it may sometimes have been; weak and vacillating, it has never been. People respect and admire strength of principle and purpose, and this church grew in numbers from strong adherence to the rigid morality of the Bible. Coming to " Elder Nathaniel Colver," the historian says that he was " a man of excellent powers of mind and strong convic- tions, who, with the church, took advanced ground on the questions of slavery and intemperance. So high did the excite- ment run that from 1834 to 1837 the church edifice itself suffered damage from missiles, and it is stated that Elder Colver, in FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 43 defense of his principles, did not hesitate in the exercise of muscular Christianity. His pastorate closed January i, 1838, leaving the church strong and vigorous." From meetings called and held by Dr. Colver and Dr. Hiram Corliss, a physician who was one of the strongest of the tem- perance and the antislavery agitators in the community, sprang the intense feeling on the slavery question which made the town of Greenwich noted throughout the land as a prominent station on the line of march toward Canada and freedom which was known as the underground railway. Many slaves who were concealed in the town were tracked by their owners; but not one that reached this point was ever taken back into slavery. The movement carried with it the best element of the town's population. 1 Dr. Colver's preaching at that time was described as strongly doctrinal, yet vividly practical and telling; earnest and unsparing, yet tender and pleading, which, while it drew about him a throng of intelligent hearers, was effectual in con- versions to an extraordinary degree, so that during the time that he was with the Bottskill Baptist Church, first relieving Elder Barber, and then as pastor, in all upward of six years, he baptized according to some statements, nearly seven hundred persons. 2 1 Elisha P. Thurston, History of the Town of Greenwich from the Earliest Settlement to July 4, 1876 (Salem, N.Y.: H. D. Morris, 1876), pp. 19, 23 ff., 44, 71. As an example of the disciplinary actions of the church, one of ten cases considered when the church was in conference, on April 29, 1837, may be taken. It was the case of a sister, concerning which the record was made that "a letter was presented from her partially acknowledging her faults, and requesting a letter. The letter was unsatisfactory, and the clerk was directed to notify her that she is required personally to renew her covenant with the church, and if she has a difficulty with any member of the church (as her letter intimates), she must take the method to settle it; or withdraw it." The church voted five hundred dollars for the pastor's salary for a year. 2 A later pastor of the Bottskill Baptist Church said: "Nathaniel Colver was pastor here a few years, and did splendid work. It was a time 44 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES According to the records of the church, Dr. Colver requested in October, 1837, to be relieved of the pastoral charge of the church, which was not done; and again, in December, he "pre- sented his request for dismission, with the reasons, which were that he felt it pressed upon him to devote himself for a time at least to plead the cause of the slave," in view of which he was released, on December 30. Still, the church kept hoping that he would return, and kept the way open for it, until, in April, 1839, the church passed a resolution which stated that the cause of truth and the good of the church required that he should comply with the request of the church, "and settle with us as our pastor, and to this decision we do unhesitatingly and yet most affectionately advise him." Most men, and rightly, too, if they had been in his place would have wanted nothing better than to have remained with such a church, where the previous pastor had spent his entire life of service of twoscore years. But Dr. Colver could not be content to stay anywhere when what he thought was a greater need called him elsewhere. He always wanted to be doing the most that he could, and doing what he could where it would count for the most. Nor did the passing years cause him soon to be forgotten by the Bottskill Baptist Church, for nearly three decades after he finished his labors with it, or near the close of the year 1866, he was recalled to preach the dedicatory sermon for its new meetinghouse. The preaching of the gospel was always the main thing with Dr. Colver, although he joined more or less closely with it work for reforms, and later for ministerial education. Even when he was giving his attention for a time principally to one of these, he still found plenty of opportunity for preaching. of great ingathering, and he probably gathered in about all that could be reached at that time, and then went to other, larger fields, where his great gifts could be utilized. Dr. Colver was popular and evangelical." Rev. Thomas Cull, "Introductory Sermon," Minutes of the Eighty-third Annual Meeting of the Washington Union Baptist Association with the Bottskill Baptist Church, Greenwich, N.Y., June 5-6, 1917. FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF MINISTRY 45 The cause of temperance he took up while he was located at Fort Covington, and all through his life he delivered many telling blows for it. He was very much ahead of his times in that matter and was an important factor in helping to create the early sentiment in this country in its favor. That he made many bitter enemies by it at a time when drinking and the liquor traffic were deemed more than halfway respectable did not make him hesitate, but rather spurred him on. He never seemed to know anything of personal fear. Near the close of his Fort Covington pastorate, he also enlisted in the anti-secret-society movement which was then sweeping over several states, and over New York State in particular. It had largely a political aspect, yet it was also taken up very seriously by many of the churches. With regard to his position, Dr. Colver once said: "I speak as an investi- gator, not as a witness. The revelation of secrets is not my business. My means of knowing may be enjoyed in common by other citizens. I take the thing as I find it. A fair and candid investigation can do it no harm, if it is right; if wrong, it must bide its time." And to the members of the secret society he said: "I owe you no possible ill will. Your best good is the sincere desire of my heart." But when the mere announcement of his subject beforehand caused great excitement and unusual crowds gathered, apparently to overawe him, he said: "My purpose was exceedingly simple. I merely intended to show that it was such a brotherhood, such a yoking with unbelievers, as is incompatible with the relations and duties of a disciple of Christ. For its friends to fret, or scold, or threaten is all labor lost. If trepidation, or excited severity is anticipated, that expectation will be disappointed. I shall neither be angered nor alarmed, but go steadily and kindly forward to the end proposed. Consider, I pray you, the responsibility of my station. My way is not of my own choosing. The young men of my church and congregation are committed to my care; and it is a matter 46 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES with which I may not trifle. The minister of Jesus Christ is under oath to his Lord; and woe be to him when, for sinister ends, for the sake of name, quiet, or any other selfish considera- tions, he shrinks from a faithful discharge of his duty. Woe be to him when he fails to abide the truth, or to declare the whole counsel of God." But, outside of his preaching and of the work which he did in his last years for ministerial education, Dr. Colver is best known for what he did as an abolitionist. Antislavery kept claiming more and more of his attention, and he felt its increas- ing importance, until finally he gave the year 1838 and part of that of 1839 nominally all to it, but still preaching here and there as he found opportunity to do so. A portion of that time he labored under the auspices of the American Antislavery Society, but he did most of his work for, reforms independently of any organization, or in connection with his church work, and with total indifference as to whether he was given any credit for it or not. The field for that particular year and more of service and warfare was practically the whole of New England and perhaps a part of New York State. Moreover, warfare it was in reality, and not merely as a figure of speech. In it, Dr. Colver met with many thrilling experiences. The mob spirit was at its worst, and he was mobbed and vilified. But no man could deal with a mob better than he, who knew no fear, who had an eye that could check wrath, who had great presence of mind and tact, so that he invariably came out all right. THE FIRST TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, IN 1843 THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT HOLMESBURG, NOW A PART OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA CHAPTER III BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE In the course of one of his tours, in 1838, in which he worked for the abolition of slavery, Dr. Colver visited Boston and spoke at the Capitol and at Marlboro Chapel. Among those who went to hear him were certain Baptists of the city, who were also very anxious to have slavery abolished. Dr. Colver greatly interested them both by his views and by his sturdy personality. They felt at once that he was a born leader such as they needed in that great center for a somewhat new form of Baptist church and work. They talked matters over among themselves and with him and became convinced of it, although, while he from the first heartily favored their general idea and was ready to help it along all he could otherwise, he hesitated about becoming its standard-bearer. But he finally agreed that, if they would organize a Baptist church with free seats and particularly opposed to intemperance and to slavery, and if then the church called him to become its pastor, he would accept the call. However, it took nearly a year, with some personal work and a period of preaching by Dr. Colver, before enough persons were sufficiently united and heartened for the undertaking. It is easy to be seen that Dr. Colver was peculiarly fitted by nature and by training to be the pastor of just such a church and to make a success of it. His importance to the enterprise can hardly be overestimated. It required a man for the pulpit who was a lover of the people, one who could reach and move the masses, a man of courage sufficient for those troublous times, a man of imagination and of no little ability as an orator, a reformer as well as a preacher, all of which essentials were to 47 48 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES be found in happy combination in him. It must also be remem- bered that he had already had twenty years of practical expe- rience with churches of all grades, and with audiences of all kinds, and with mankind in general. He had attained very nearly to the maturity of his powers and had overcome the early disadvantages under which he had labored, or he was otherwise compensated for them. Looking back over the history of Tremont Temple, which was the outgrowth or development of the First Free Baptist Church of Boston, as it was originally called, and seeing its three destructive fires and financial struggles of three-quarters of a century, one must realize that for its ultimate success it was necessary that during Dr. Colver's pastorate there should be more than satisfactory accomplishment for the time being. It was as essential that good foundations be laid and demon- strations made of the value and practicability of the general plan, in order to take such a hold on men's minds that for more than two generations afterward, with good succeeding pastors, they would not let the enterprise die, but would be willing to make almost any personal sacrifice to see it perpetuated, although beset by great discouragements. Nor was it without some sacrifice on his part that Dr. Colver cast in his lot with the First Free Baptist Church of Boston. The only advantages that he could count on gaining were in being able to help establish an important new Baptist church and to get for himself a new and somewhat different field in which to labor, while he had been having one about as large as he could well travel over. His going to Boston was never of any real financial benefit to him. 1 It cost more to live there 1 Deacon Timothy Gilbert became the leader of the Baptists in Boston who desired the establishment of this church and co-operated in its organi- zation and subsequent maintenance. He was a manufacturer of piano- fortes, the dominant objects of whose life seemed to be to do as much as he could toward providing in Boston, particularly for strangers and the BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 49 than in a smaller place, and he could no longer have a farm or garden. Besides, the Bottskill Baptist Church, which was very anxious to have him return to it and repeatedly urged him to do it until his actual settlement in Boston, asked him to state what salary he wanted. In a historical sketch prepared by Mr. Charles L. Jeffrey, it is said that the Tremont Temple Baptist Church had its incep- tion in a desire on the part of several devoted Baptist brethren, who met on July 26, 1838, at the residence of Mr. Thomas Gould, to establish a Baptist free church in the city of Boston. A committee, representing the six Baptist churches in Boston, was appointed to plan for future procedure. Two weeks later the committee reported a form of association for the purpose of establishing a Baptist free church, "it being understood that all who make, sell, or use intoxicating drinks, and all who practice slavery, or justify it, shall be excluded from masses, a Baptist place of worship very much of the character taken on by the First Free Baptist Church, with free seats and strong for temperance and the abolition of slavery; and, by other means, to do his utmost toward helping to secure freedom for the slaves. He came to be, in many respects, Dr. Colver's foremost helper in the church. He especially bent his back to the financial burdens of the church and the Temple enterprise, which would have dismayed or crushed almost anyone else, and he helped to carry them through many long years to a point from which ownership of the valuable Tremont Temple property free from debt was ultimately to be obtained. But his biographer, Dr. Justin D. Fulton, who was the pastor of the Tremont Temple Baptist Church from about 1863 to 1873, says of Deacon Gilbert that "in the support of a pastor he had peculiar, and, we think, erroneous views He believed that the Temple could never be a resort for the rich. He therefore acted upon the principle that it must be made the home for the very poor This caused him to feel that the salary of the pastor should never exceed a thousand dollars, and that the residue should be provided for by voluntary contributions." Yet at some time Dr. Colver's salary was apparently increased to $1,200, and at a later date a further small increase in it was made, when Deacon Gilbert wrote to Dr. Colver: "I have frequently, and that recently, said that you deserved a large salary, as much and more than any of the ministers in the city; for SO THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the church and its communion." At a general meeting, held on January 31, 1839, resolutions were adopted in favor of the free-seat plan and pledging the church to the same doctrines and sentiments as those of other Baptist churches. "Rev. Nathaniel Colver closely identified himself with this Christian movement." The organization of the church, with eighty- two members from the six Baptist churches of the city, was com- pleted on Sunday evening, April 21, 1839, at Baldwin Place. The sermon was preached by Dr. Colver. On September n, 1839, Dr. Colver was, with appropriate services, installed as pastor of the church. 1 What was meant by the name "First Free Baptist Church" was a Baptist church having free seats, which any and all persons who wished to do so might come and occupy. The other Baptist churches of Boston, in common with most of the no one that had even two thousand dollars gave away as much as you did, and did not entertain so many of the poor ministers from the country, .... but I never thought your salary should have been raised above $1,200." Dr. Fulton says further of Deacon Gilbert that, "in religious as in other matters, he was exacting, and so became a trial to his pastor He could not understand the necessity which makes it imperative for a minis- ter to seek recreation in other pursuits. Dr. Colver had an inventive genius, and was fond of tools Deacon Gilbert had little or no sympathy with these pursuits, and would quite likely inquire as to the condition of some sick sister or some inquiring soul, when the pastor was in a glow over some new invention; thus rebuking him in his quiet and provoking way for neglect. Indeed, to such an extent did this disposition lead him that, in consequence of it, more than all else, was the first pastor of the Tremont Street Church [Dr. Colver] led to resign [in 1852] But he never did and he never could have succeeded without the help of his giant brother, who toiled and rested. Deacon Gilbert did not appreciate this fact, and so worried the life and disturbed the peace of his pastor. "- Justin D. Fulton, Memoir of Timothy Gilbert (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1866), pp. 177-79, J 82. 1 Charles L. Jeffrey, Pastor's Assistant [to Rev. P. S. Henson, D.D.], Historical Sketch of Tremont Temple Baptist Church (Boston: 1906), pp. 1-3. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 51 other churches of the city, rented their pews, depending on the income therefrom to pay their expenses. But here rich and poor were to meet on an equality, as far as seats were concerned. Nor was there any corner set apart, in a gallery, for colored people, as was usually the case in other churches at that time. Another special feature of this church was that temperance and antislavery, and other important reforms, might be freely advocated from its pulpit, which became not only a powerful one religiously, but also a Christian center for the discussion of vital moral and civic questions. The name became quite generally changed in use to "First Baptist Free Church," but, being still often mistaken to mean a free-will Baptist church, or one practicing open communion, it was finally changed to Tremont Street Baptist Church, without the character of the church being in any way changed. Boston in 1839 was not the city that it is today. For one thing, it was much smaller then than it is now. On February i, 1839, there were but 180 street lamps in use. The city directory for that year contained 16,737 names, and the total population was not far from 92,000. Stagecoaches were still principally depended on for public overland travel, the directory giving two and one-half pages to a list of them. It also listed separately "People of Color," in number something over two hundred, while it was estimated that there were in the city upward of two thousand colored persons, all told. But if Boston was no larger then, it was nevertheless very important as a center for the promotion of ideas and the radi- ation of influence. Besides, being no larger than it was, and with fewer and smaller newspapers and less of other printed matter than it has now to usurp the attention and to mold public opinion, it was by so much the more open and sensitive to public addresses. Indeed, the ten-year period from 1840 has been stated to have been the most important one in some respects of any in the city's history. Moreover, that Boston 52 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES was then a particularly good place for a church to have free seats is shown by the character of the population, as indicated by the statement in the city directory issued in 1846 that there were then in the city about 11,000 dwelling-houses, occupied by 19,037 families, of which 15,774 did their own household work. This directory also furnishes the interesting information that in 1846 the number of the clergy in Boston was seventy-five; that the amount of their salaries was $102,510; that church music cost $26,000; that the other expenses of public worship were $42,601; and that it might be safely estimated that the whole amount annually paid in Boston for the support of reli- gious worship was not less than $200,000. At about the time that Dr. Colver settled in Boston, in the latter part of 1839, there were in the whole state of Massachu- setts 210 Baptist churches, with a total membership of 23,684. Of the churches there were 127 having less than 100 members each; 61, with from 100 to 200 members each; 12, with from 200 to 300 members each; 2, with from 300 to 400 members each; 5, with from 400 to 500 members each; and 3, with from 600 to 700 members each. 1 In April, 1840, the American Baptist Antislavery Con- vention, of which Dr. Colver was one of the guiding spirits, was organized in the city of New York, and he was made the chair- man of the executive committee. In June, of the same year, he was sent, as a delegate both of the convention and of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, to the World's Antislavery Convention in London. There, early in the proceedings, he was called on to speak, without any previous notice, before many of the world's great men, and he did it with such marked effect that it gave him large influence in the convention. For one thing, while he felt that he could not maintain church fellowship with slaveholders, he opposed and was able to defeat 1 The Thirty-eighth Report of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, Pre- sented by the Board of Directors at the Anniversary in Boston, May 28, 1840. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 53 a resolution that was strongly supported which declared that a slaveholder could not be a Christian. After the convention was over, he spent several months in preaching in different parts of England; and particularly in Birmingham did traces of his power in "handling the Word" long remain. He also delivered some telling blows for temperance. On one occasion, at a banquet, he declared that slavery was no more the besetting sin of America than was intemperance that of England. On his return to Boston he was splendidly welcomed by his church and by the public. Dr. Colver's next specially notable efforts to aid in bringing about the aboliton of slavery were directed to helping hold true to that cause the national missionary organizations of the denomination; after which separate societies were formed by the Baptists of the South. The matter first became acute in 1841, with reference to the management of the foreign-mission convention or organization, after some members of the governing board had been given Southern votes, at Baltimore, on the strength of a statement intended to allay opposition, and after other endeavors had been made by the compromising element to please the South, in which Dr. Colver felt that truth and righteousness had been sacrificed, leading him to write a review of the case. In his review he said, among many other things, that "in the Baltimore transaction they have chained the foreign mission organization to the giant sin of American slavery. They have labored to hide the chain in the abundance of their circum- locutory phrase, but the South have uncovered it, that they may gaze upon its beauty, and the North are seeing and will see it, and God sees it, and God will sink them both together, unless that chain is broken Now what is the object of this labored obscurity? It may not be mine to say; but, certainly it affords a great facility for the different parties who have coalesced in it to give it a Northern or a Southern 54 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES interpretation, as best suits their convenience." Or, as he expressed it, in the verse which it required no effort for him to write: "Chameleon-like, ' 'tis black, 'tis green' As by the South or North 'tis seen, And, hence, its Northern friends deny The hue it wears to Southern eye." Taking up the question, "What can and ought abolitionists to do?" Dr. Colver continued: "Can they consistently act through the present board, while things remain as they now are? .... Those who are acquainted with the facts of this case cannot. However much they may love the cause of mis- sions, they cannot. They cannot consent to the crushing of the poor slaves, nor to the enslaving of the churches, to procure from the hand of slaveholders the fruits of the unpaid toil of the slaves, who are heathenized at home for the purpose of sending the gospel to the heathen abroad I insist upon resig- nation, because to repudiate the compromise and still retain their position would be unjust to the South. It would be taking back the price of those votes and funds without restoring their equivalent. However wrong the South may be in setting so terrible a price upon their co-operation, yet, so far as I am concerned, they have a right to insist upon it, and it would be wrong to seek to avoid their exaction by fraud. It would be unjust for the signers of that document to take advantage of their own wrong. The honor of Christ and the precepts of the gospel alike forbid the Christian, ever, or under any circum- stances, or for any end, either to descend to fraud, or to invade the personal rights of any individual, even the most vile." With regard to his own personal feelings toward those whose actions he thus condemned, he said: "No one would more seriously regret that the character of the individuals concerned should suffer in any respect than the writer. He feels, as deeply as man can, for them, and would gladly sacrifice almost anything BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 55 but the cause of truth and righteousness that they might be rescued from their painful position, and the cause in which they are engaged from the embarrassments which these transactions have brought upon it With individuals I have no war, offensive or defensive. I will have none. The controversy is not a personal one. The cause of missions is God's cause is humanity's cause. It has been wounded It has been chained to the abominations of slavery. God's frown is upon the transaction. It must be unchained." Again, he declared: "I can say, in truth, I would most gladly have avoided this task. It has been one of the most painful duties of my life. I can and do appreciate their [those individuals'] worth. Nor have I ceased to love them as breth- ren. I have no desire to cast them down from my heart or affections. Peter ' dissembled,' that he might please the Jews, and Paul 'withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.' 1 But Paul did not love Peter the less, nor cast him from his heart. My dear brethren have sadly dissembled in this matter, and many have been carried away with their dis- simulation, and they are 'to be blamed.' I am sure that Jesus is displeased with it. The church has been weakened by it. By it the cause of missions has been sorely wounded. Liberty and its friends have by it been thrust to the heart. Truly they are to be blamed. But I will blame them in love. My prayer shall still be, Lord, heal and prevent the injury, and forgive and bless those who have erred. Yours, in the patience of the saints." 3 Naturally, very little information of a definite character has been preserved with regard to what Dr. Colver did through 'Gal. 2:11-13. 2 Rev. Nathaniel Colver, A Review of the Doings of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions and of the Triennial Convention at Baltimore, April, 1841, (Boston, 1841), pp. 2-3, 8-1 1, 33 ff. The review was published first in the Christian Reflector in December, 1841. 56 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES many years to aid runaway slaves in their efforts to attain their freedom. But one incident is reported by George Lowell Austin, who says that in the autumn of 1842 George Latimer, a native of Virginia, was arrested in Boston, without a warrant, and claimed as a slave. The greatest excitement prevailed. Then it was that Rev. Nathaniel Colver agreed to pay the sum of four hundred dollars on the delivery of free papers for Latimer and the surrender of a power of attorney to reclaim the latter's wife. The offer was accepted; and Latimer was released. 1 About this time, and for quite a while, Boston and much of the country at large were greatly disturbed by the preaching, and more particularly by the prophecy, of William Miller that the second coming of Christ and the end of the world were to occur in 1843. Miller was a farmer-preacher, apparently of sincerity and of a kindly disposition, who had made up for his early disadvantages as best he could, and who had been licensed, but not ordained, to preach, by a Baptist church. Almost incredible was the effect which his preaching and prophecy had on vast numbers of people, as were also the preparations that were made by many of his followers to be ready to meet the Lord when he should appear. This led to the delivery, by Dr. Colver, in Marlboro Chapel, of three lectures on the prophecy of Daniel and its application. Something of the nature of the lectures may be inferred from his statements in them that " the idiom of prophetic language is so highly figurative as to afford a rich field for the exercise of a fervid and uncontrolled imagination. Nor is there wanting, in men in general, a strong tendency to abandon the slower progress of surefooted truth, and of stern and jealous investigation, for the more sunny and airy regions of imagination, and for lofty flights of fancy. How far these remarks are applicable to the recent lectures and books upon prophecy, with which our city and country are now being flooded, and to the influence they 1 History of Massachusetts (Boston: B. B. Russell, 1875), p. 438. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 57 are exerting upon many minds, everyone must judge for him- self We enter upon this investigation not insensible of its difficulties; and would be glad, if we could, to pursue and finish it without making any allusions to the opinions of others. .... We can only engage that, when necessary, they shall be made in the spirit of kindness Do these numbers in Daniel, '2,300,' '1,290,' and '1,33s,' 1 afford any clew to the time of the second advent of Christ ? On them .... has been based an argument to show that the time is to be 1843 Before we close, permit us to remind you, beloved friends, that our subject of discussion is not, whether or not Christ is coming in 1843. With reference to that event, let us continually bear in mind the injunction of our Lord, 'Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.' 2 He may come to us or to some of us even in 1842. .... And while we can best regard a man-made 'midnight- cry ' as the very delirium of fanaticism, if not a fearful assump- tion of the divine prerogative; let us remember that it is the height of temerity, and surpassing madness, for anyone to suffer a single day or hour to pass him unprepared for that cry which shall one day break upon the ear of a slumbering world." 3 The letter of the church for the associational year of 1842-43 stated, according to the report of the association: "A few have been added to their number. Yet they say 'the year has not been so prolific in showers of mercy, as in winds of doctrine.' They have been under the necessity of excluding several of their number, 'not for believing that Christ is coming in 1843, but because a belief in that doctrine was made not only a test of Christianity by its advocates, but a rallying point around which 1 Dan. 8:14; 12:11-12. 2 Matt. 25:13. 3 Nathaniel Colver, The Prophecy of Daniel Literally Fulfilled (Boston: William S. Damrell, 1843). 58 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES all faiths and creeds were mixing in a communion embracing the most destructive heresies.' " x During the first three years of Dr. Colver's pastorate in Boston, the church occupied three different halls in succession, the second one being larger than the first, and the third larger than the second, each one in turn being found to be too small to accommodate the growing congregations. Finally, what was known as the Tremont Theater, which was centrally located, was purchased, remodeled to adapt it to church purposes, and then called "Tremont Temple." Eight thousand dollars, Mr. Jeffrey says, was raised, "largely by appeals from the eloquent lips of Dr. Colver," this amount being sufficient to transform the theater into a church building. The work was completed, and the edifice dedicated on Thursday evening, December 7, 1843, from which time the Temple was " constantly filled by the crowds who listened attentively to the masterly preacher who remained pastor for thirteen years. Prosperity crowned the earnest efforts of pastor and people, until immedi- ately after the resignation of Dr. Colver." 2 The Tremont Theater was, in its day, considered one of the finest specimens of architecture in the city of Boston, the front being of Quincy granite and of Ionic design. As the building was remodeled, it gave the church an auditorium about 88 by 90 feet in size, capable of seating two thousand people, and, besides that, two commodious lecture-rooms, while the remainder of the building was converted into stores and offices which were rented out to produce an income to help defray the expenses of the church. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Dr. Colver, 3 and a hymn written by him for the occasion was sung. 1 "Digest of Letters .... Tremont Street Baptist Church," Minutes of Boston Baptist Association, September 20-21, 1843. 2 Historical Sketch of Tremont Temple Baptist Church (Boston, 1906). 3 His text was: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:31-32. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 59 Of Dr. Colver's ministry in Boston it has been said that it "was a remarkable one, unique in the history of the Boston pulpit, and scarcely equaled anywhere in this country at any time for boldness, energy, the mastery of formidable difficulties, and its hold upon popular interest. In the higher results of spiritual effectiveness it was no less notable." 1 Dr. Smith says that it is easy to see how such a ministry as Dr. Colver's would have its own place in Boston, and its own elements of powerful effect. Indeed, it seems quite certain that just because Dr. Colver was not a typical Boston preacher he was the more a power. Certain it is that Tremont Temple, while he filled its pulpit, became the center, not only of a peculiar fascination, but, what was much better, of an influence in behalf of truth and righteousness in all their forms, which made itself felt in the most exclusive circles of either the social or intellectual life of the city, and indeed went abroad widely over the land as an inspiration to what was good; a felt rebuke to all that was evil. Visitors from far and near flocked to his preaching as to one of the great attractions of the most fasci- nating city in America. How these visitors were often impressed was illustrated in the fact that a Baptist minister of distinction from one of the southern states while visiting in Boston went to hear Dr. Colver preach. On being asked how he liked him, he replied: "I abhor the man's abolitionism; but he is the best preacher that I have heard in Boston." 2 Dr. Rollin H. Neale, the very able and eloquent pastor at that time of the First Baptist Church of Boston, after describing Dr. Colver as in many respects a most remarkable man, said that "those who knew him when in Boston will agree with me, I am sure, when I say he was one of our greatest preachers. I 1 The Baptist Encyclopaedia, edited by William Cathcart (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881), p. 254. 2 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 137-39, 153. 60 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES have heard him many times, and never without being impressed with his extensive biblical knowledge, his correct views of gospel doctrine, his strong thought, and vigorous reasoning power. He must have had an uncommon amount of native talent, a large brain, and a still larger heart. His mind was uncommonly clear . . . , his sermons were unusually methodical His arguments were well arranged, appropriate, clear, logical, increasing in weight and interest as he proceeded. There was no rambling, nothing extraneous. .... Then, 'his inferences ' ! Here he laid out all his strength. They were as nails fastened by the master of assemblies. The power which had been gathering and increasing in the preceding parts of his discourse, came to a resistless concentration at the close, like the seventh wave of the incoming tide." 1 After the enactment by Congress, in 1850, of the Fugitive Slave Law, which provided for the recapture of fugitives from Southern bondage, and through its application to all the states required citizens of the free states to aid in its execution, Dr. Colver preached a sermon in which he said that with the strange and iniquitous provisions of this law humanity had been shocked. The feeling was almost universal that its execution would be the commission of a monstrous crime. Under such cir- cumstances the inquiry had been bitter and earnest, "What shall be done ? What is our duty ?" To no class in the community did this inquiry more appropriately appeal than to the spiritual advisers in the church of God. "With that appeal," he went on to say, "as an ambassador of Christ, I dare not trifle. With a painful and trembling reluctance, I yield. I shrink with in- describable distress from the thought of seeming, for a moment, to counsel disobedience to the laws of the land. But when, on the other hand, it is obvious that a crime of appalling magnitude is about to be committed in the name of the law a crime involving the hopeless ruin of thousands, the conscience of the 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 137-38. BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 6l nation denied and humanity outraged, I dare not be silent." He recognized that subjection to the civil magistrate is a scrip- tural doctrine. But our allegiance to civil government must be subordinate to our allegiance to the higher government of God. The "duty of the subject cannot be doubtful. If he take counsel of his fears, he may hesitate; but, if he take counsel of his duty, he will prefer the authority of God to the authority of men. Such a decision may be costly, but it will be just, and safe in the end." From his text 1 he derived two propositions which he sub- mitted for consideration. The first one was: "Whenever the law of any civil government demands of its subjects either active or passive disobedience to the known will, or law, of God, disobedience to the former, in favor of the latter, becomes an imperative duty." On this point he said, in part: "Let the proposition be distinctly understood. I do not say that resist- ance to every unrighteous law is a duty. Laws may make very unrighteous and oppressive exactions upon us, and it may be our duty to submit. ' If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.' 2 The exaction may be unjust and cruel, but it is to be borne. It is only when the law commands the subject to do that which the law of God forbids, or to fail to do that which the law of God commands, that he is bound to resist it. We shall greatly err if we do not keep this distinction constantly in view. This proposition, thus carefully defined, is sustained, I remark, in the first place, by men acting under the inspiration and approbation of God. The three worthies mentioned in the third chapter of Daniel afford a case in point There is a like confirmation of our proposition in the conduct of Daniel under the iniquitous law of Darius, 3 with this difference, the law of Nebuchadnezzar 1 "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5 : 29. 3 Matt. 5:40. 3 Dan., chap. 6. 62 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES required active, that of Darius passive, disobedience to the law of God. The case is so much in point as to demand our careful attention, as it shows conclusively that the man who truly fears God will not, and cannot, yield to the interposition of the civil law, between him and his God, in the least particular, be the consequences what they may." The second proposition submitted was that such was the inherent and manifest iniquity of the Fugitive Slave Law, such its hostility to the law of God, as to render disobedience to its demands a solemn duty. With regard to what he meant when he urged disobedience to this law for the recapture of fugitive slaves, Dr. Colver said: "We have urged such disobedience, not as a capricious resistance of some heavy burden imposed upon us, but as a moral duty a duty solemnly required of God, because this law requires us to violate his law, and to stain ourselves with no ordinary guilt. And we urge it still. But let no one suppose for a moment that we urge rebellion As to the extent of disobedience, I may say, in safety, that whenever and wherever and in just so far as it requires a violation of the gospel of Christ or the moral precepts of God, it should be disobeyed, and disobeyed with a firmness that knows no hesitation or change. It shall console us to know that we are not the first who have found themselves hedged in between duty and danger; a position into which, first or last, God usually brings his children, that he may test their fidelity to himself and bring them forth as gold purified in the furnace." "But," said Dr. Colver, "I submit whether there is not a relation which we sustain to this bill, which, whether we obey it or not, involves us in its guilt. In this country the people are the government. Legislators are but agents of the people. .... Nor let the fault be all laid upon the citizens of the South But if, after all, I am mistaken if for past delinquencies you are not responsible for the existence of this BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 63 bill yet I beg to assure you that you will be responsible for its long continuance. The mischief has been done by our per- mission, now let it be undone by our exertion. Repeal is a duty unconditional duty." 1 By 1852, Dr. Colver had come to think that it might be well for him to close his work in Boston. He was then fifty- eight years of age. He had given thirty- three years to the hardest kind of pastoral, home-missionary, and reform work, without sparing himself, which he could not have done if he had not had an unusually strong constitution. Yet, robust as he was by nature, his health had several times been near to giving way. So he decided to resign his pastorate of the Tremont Street Baptist Church, or "Tremont Temple." He did not have to do it. 2 The church loved him; how much is indicated 1 Rev. Nathaniel Colver, The Fugitive Slave Bill; or, God's Laws Paramount to the Laws of Men: A Sermon Preached on Sunday, October 20, 1850. Published by Request of the Church (Boston: J. M. Hewes & Co., 1850). On the second page of the cover of this pamphlet, which had a wide circulation, were printed resolutions which were adopted by the Tremont Street Baptist Church of Boston on October n, 1850, and which were signed by "Nathaniel Colver, pastor," and by "Joseph J. Howe, clerk," which resolutions were, in part: "That, as disciples of Christ and members of his church, we ought not, we cannot, and, as we fear God, we will not render obedience to the said [fugitive slave] law. We should regard it as practical atheism, for a moment to give it the supremacy over the law of God, with which it is at direct and manifest war. We do indeed recognize our duty with all meekness to abide whatever penalities a wicked and oppressive government may see fit to inflict upon us for our fidelity to the laws of God. But be the con- sequences what they may, we feel solemnly bound by every means in our power to feed, comfort, shelter and aid the fugitives from southern bond- age, the same as if no such law existed, and the same as if they were our own children, fleeing from the savages of the wilderness, or from any enemy who was seeking feloniously to deprive them of their liberties or lives." 2 If, as has been suggested, his leading deacon sometimes tried him by inconsiderately exacting too much of him and that had somewhat to do with his resignation, still they were one at heart in the work and cordial in their relations, as was evidenced by the fact that when Dr. Colver sent his goods away he went to the deacon's house to stay overnight, or longer. 64 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES by the fact that, eighteen years later, when he was in his last illness, the church sent its pastor, Dr. Fulton, to Chicago to visit him and to bear its message of love to him. It is not so surprising that he should have thought of leaving that work as it is that he remained in it as long as he did, which, with his manifest disposition to be constantly seeking out new places needing help, he would hardly have done if it had not been an exceptionally great work, in a great center, at a great time for such work. At least, he could feel that he was leaving the church in good condition, and that it ought to be able to get along all right without him. So he resigned, accepted another call, arranged to preach his farewell sermon on Sunday, April 4, and sent his household goods away on March 30. Then, in the early hours of Wednesday, March 31, 1852, one of the historic fires of Boston occurred, the light of which was seen by the passengers on a steamer sixty-five miles away. It was Tremont Temple that burned. Taking the account of it that was given in the Boston Daily Courier, the alarm was sounded at one o'clock in the morning, by the Old South bell. At first several men attempted with buckets of water to extin- guish what appeared to be a slight flame issuing from the north- west corner of the upper floor. Soon after that a fire company arrived, but by some fatality they found themselves wanting in a sufficiency of hose ready for use. During the time lost in detaching this hose from its machinery and lengthening it for service, the fire gained a rapid headway, which enabled it to baffle the most diligent efforts to check it. It raged with tremendous fury. Indescribable consternation was caused by the falling in of the roof, as unexpected as it was terrific. The lofty granite front, which was originally the best piece of archi- tecture in Boston, remained standing during the greater part of the conflagration, although the granite blocks crumbled and flew in shreds from time to time under the intense heat. At half-past two, the massy pediment was seen to totter, and in a BOSTON OR TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE 65 few seconds the whole wall gave way and fell with a terrific crash into Tremont Street, the masses of masonry being thrown completely across the street. At a little before three o'clock, the southern walls likewise fell. By four o'clock, the fire had been got under such control that it could spread no farther. A negro had a very narrow escape from the fire. He was sleeping in the attic, and was driven by the flames up to the roof of the building, from which he escaped, nobody knew how. The Courier learned that the room in which the fire originated was occupied by a landscape painter, and that the bursting of a camphene lamp was the origin of this great calamity. But the Daily Evening Transcript got later, and apparently better, opinions, which were to the effect that the fire could not have caught from camphene, but probably originated from a defective furnace flue. According to the Transcript of Tuesday, April 6, Dr. Colver preached his farewell sermon on Sunday, April 4, to a crowded congregation, at the Lowell Institute, which occupied the prem- ises formerly known as Marlboro Chapel; and after the morning service he administered the rite of baptism at the First Baptist Church. CHAPTER IV PASTORATES IN DETROIT, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO, AND OTHER PLACES The place to which Dr. Colver went from Boston may seem small in comparison with that which he left, but he always liked small places, and he needed a rest. Moreover, he went there intending to remain but a short time. Other, and larger, places wanted him. He chose to go to South Abington (now Whitman) , in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, about twenty-one miles southeast of Boston, because he was in some manner drawn thither, and because he had some things which he wished to look after or to do which he could attend to better from there than he could from much farther away. They were matters that he desired to have disposed of before he started for what was called the " West," where he was then undoubtedly planning to go as soon as he could well do it. The year before he had made a trip to Illinois, stopping at Detroit, Michigan, and other places, studying the field. The First Baptist Church of South Abington was organized as the First Baptist Church of Abington in 1822. Its record on the slavery question was a somewhat remarkable one. It sold its pews in its first meetinghouse, incorporating into the deed given for each pew the condition that the house was to be a " Calvinistic Baptist meetinghouse forever," and the further condition that the grantee should not "suffer the pew or any part thereof to be conveyed to, or occupied by, or in any manner come into the possession of, any colored person or persons, or anyone classed with him or them." This latter condition remained in force until 1836, when it was abandoned as a 66 PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 67 church policy and waived as to pews that had been sold under it. In 1841 the church was sorely rent by a controversy over the subject of slavery, which culminated in a vote in favor of debarring slaveholders and traffickers from the pulpit and from the communion. The published digest of the letter of the church to the association, after Dr. Colver became pastor of the church, stated that "they speak decidedly deploring the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law, and especially that its supremacy over the law of God should be admitted by any who stand on the walls of Zion." Since Dr. Colver became the pastor of the church, " they have sat together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and fed sweetly on the bread of life." 1 Twenty years later, a pastor of the church, in a historical sketch, said that Rev. Nathaniel Colver became pastor April i, 1852, and served the church one year. "Declining several calls to labor in other fields, he accepted the invitation of this church from a deep conviction that hither the Lord had directed his steps. He brought with him the fruits of a large experience. His sympathies were broad and earnest. In his comprehensive mind he took in the great field for Christian toil which God had spread before the church here. His first and special aim therefore was to search out ministerial gifts among his brethren and bring them into use. In the months of September and October he delivered a series of discourses, which greatly awakened the interest of the church in this matter. The result was that three members were approved as suitable candidates for the ministry. All of them engaged in preaching as occasions presented themselves. Two of the number have since received ordination, Leander P. Gurney and Noah Fullerton, and are at present pastors of churches. The name of Nathaniel Colver is held in high esteem in this church, not only because he was once their pastor, but also for his noble self-sacrifice since hi behalf x " Digest of Letters, Abington," Minutes of the Old Colony Baptist Association, October 6-7, 1852. 68 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES of the freedmen, a class in whose elevation the sympathies of this people are warmly enlisted." 1 When the church was formally notified by Dr. Colver that his pastoral work in South Abington would have to end with the one year contracted for, the church passed resolutions, one of which was, "that it is with unfeigned grief that we look forward to the time when we shall be deprived of his labors." Dr. Colver, at a later date, referred to the year spent at South Abington as a precious one, which he and his family had enjoyed in the service, love, and kindness of the people, and as a year which, from its beginning to its close, was almost con- stantly attended by a gentle revival influence, so that the last meeting was one "mingled with joy and pain; joy in the grace of God, but pain at our separation." From South Abington, Dr. Colver went, in April, 1853, to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit had a population of 26,648, according to a census for 1852. The city directory for 1853-54 gave the population as 37,436. In 1852 there were said to be in the city 7 stone, 601 brick, and 4,077 wooden buildings, or 4,685 in all, of which 2,567 were dwelling-houses. There were three Baptist churches, one of which was for colored people. The First Baptist Church of Detroit was organized in 1827. For some time it occupied a room in the building belonging to what was at one time called the "University," and at another time the "Academy." The church had a nominal membership of upward of four hundred when Dr. Colver went to it; but it was in a deplor- able condition spiritually. The letter of the church, dated October i, 1853, to the Michigan Baptist Association stated: "Many of the flock have become scattered. Our present pastor 1 Charles A. Snow, Historical Discourse Given on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Baptist Church, South Abington, Mass., November 6, 1872 (South Abington: Published by the Church, 1873). PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 69 [Dr. Colver] is engaged in calling them by name, hoping, like the Good Shepherd, to know and be known of them. The labor is arduous, and will require long and patient toil. Many are lost to the church militant, and we fear their names will not be known in the church triumphant." Rev. Samuel Haskell, who was the last pastor of the church before Dr. Colver, said, in a memorial address which he delivered in September, 1877, that when he retired from the pastorate, in April, 1852, there were 399 accessible as resident members. "But many of the later accessions were persons of yet slightly established principles and habits, and of changeable pursuits in life. It was a sore test to these, and a trying disappointment to all, that a year passed without the settlement of a pastor, and with very unsteady supplies, even, of the pulpit. It could not but result that the membership was sadly scattered, the spirit of the body demoralized, and many persons were found bereft of their interest, or were not found at all, when again the shepherd's call was heard. That shepherd's call was Nathaniel Colver's. He was pastor during the three years from April, 1853, to April, 1856 His ministry, here as elsewhere, was an able work of doctrinal and practical instruction, and a powerful advocacy of the causes of social and public reform. He had long been eminently a public man, and the calls which drew him from home, and the interests which taxed his energies in those exciting years, necessarily interfered with such personal attentions to all the people in a pastoral way as their condition peculiarly required. The church endeavored to supplement his work by her personal labors, and commenced, what was after- ward carried forward, the employment of Elder Cornelius to visit all the members of the church and congregation. A debt of $2,000 was reported as finally cleared off, and an encouraging revival of some extent was enjoyed during the last winter of Dr. Colver's service Native born to the platform, and graciously born to the pulpit, stalwart in physical frame, the 70 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES mighty debater and the fearless and indomitable reformer, he put into the history of this church a goodly portion of his ripest ministry." 1 After Dr. Colver had tendered his resignation as pastor of the church and had declined to accede to the urgent request of the church that he recall his resignation, the church adopted resolutions expressing its deep regret, and stating, among other things "that we cherish a high appreciation of the value of Brother Colver's labors among us; especially of his ability as a preacher and expositor of the Divine Word; of the fidelity with which he has pressed the claims .of God upon the consciences of men, and of the fearless manner in which he has borne testi- mony against all sin and unrighteousness." It was to the First Baptist Church of Cincinnati, Ohio, that, as Dr. Colver interpreted it, the call of duty required him to go, and considered from the point of results achieved there, he again made no mistake in changing his field of labor. Cincinnati had in 1856 an estimated population of 174,000. Of Baptist churches it had seven, two of which were for colored people. The building that was occupied by the First Baptist Church, on the north side of Court Street, between Mound and Cutter or Wesley Avenue, has in recent years been occupied by the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, and the church was, in 1914, merged with the Ninth Street Baptist Church. As Detroit was on the border between the United States and Canada, or of freedom for escaping slaves, so Cincinnati was on the border between the slave states and the free states, and both cities were important stations or places of assistance on the "underground railway" for fugitives from the South, as the secret scheme for aiding them was called. For twenty years before the Civil War, Cincinnati was divided in the views of its citizens, and was in more or less of a 1 Rev. Samuel Haskell, D.D., A Half-Century Memorial of the First Baptist Church of Detroit (Detroit, 1877), pp. 38-39, 54. PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 71 turmoil, over the question of slavery; and the trouble was greatly increased by agitators from the outside. Not only were there frequent clashes of opinions and words, but serious riots were not unknown. Many persons were afraid to express them- selves or to take any open stand in the matter, and would not have thought of calling themselves abolitionists; but Dr. Colver made it known at once that he was an "abolitionist," out and out. After John Brown had made his raid on Harper's Ferry, had seized the national arsenal, and had been captured, and while his fate was as yet undetermined, Dr. Colver addressed a letter to Governor Wise, of Virginia, in which he said, along with other things of interest: "You have in your hands a prisoner, the disposal of whom will affect yourself and others far more seri- ously than it will the prisoner himself Earth's foulest blot, the great anomaly of a nation of professed vindicators of the inherent and inalienable rights of manhood, with their heels upon the necks of three millions of their fellow men, may indeed have sapped the prudence and discretion of John Brown. It may overturn the intellect and unsettle the brain of the large- hearted Gerrit Smith. It may yet drive thousands to acts of rashness and even madness But it will never unsettle the mind of Jehovah, nor impede in its progress the great wheel of justice Should John Brown be hung, .... his death will be the beginning of the end As a lover of man, as a lover of freedom, in all this I see nothing to fear. Above all this, above the storm, above the cloud, in the region of God's impar- tial holiness, in the just government of his affairs, all is serene. The end is right. Impartial justice will be done To die for principle is not dreadful. To die for sympathy for poor, crushed, and downtrodden humanity is not dreadful. But to shed the blood of such a one is quite another thing. To shed the blood of such a one that thereby the hands of the oppressor may be made strong is a deed that shall find no covering, either 72 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES from the sheltering wings of human governments, or from the rocks or the mountains in the day of God These are not the chimerae of a distempered imagination. The things that God has said in his Word are verities. There is a world where the fictitious distinctions of earth are unknown, and where justice reigns. I think of you as a man. I love you as a brother man. God forgive me, if it is not in my heart to do good to my brother- men involved in the meshes and even guilt of slavery, with as tender and self-sacrificing zeal as I would to any friends I have on earth Slavery is madly rushing upon its own doom. You cannot save that. In God's name, save yourself." 1 At one time Dr. Colver announced a series of Sunday even- ing lectures on "Slavery as a Sin." The house was crowded to overflowing from the very first. He was, by turns, closely argumentative and energetically denunciatory. He was humor- ous; he was pathetic; sometimes his irony cut like a Damascus blade; again, it tore in pieces and burned, as when the lightning strikes an oak. In one of these lectures he declared, as he had at other places, that the Fugitive Slave Law was a flagrant outrage on the laws of God, and that, as such, men ought not to obey it. One of his hearers became so much excited that he called out, "That is nothing but rank treason." Dr. Colver paused, drew himself up to his full height, and, looking keenly at the man for a moment, said in his most majestic tones: "Treason to the devil is loyalty to God." The effect on the 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 236-39. On Sunday, December n, 1859, which was nine days after the execution of John Brown, Dr. Colver preached a sermon that was afterward published at the request of the congregation. The publication was under the title and subtitle: Slavery or Freedom Must Die: The Harper's Ferry Tragedy a Symptom of a Disease in the Heart of the Nation; or the power of slavery to destroy the liberties of the nation, from which there is no escape but in the destruction of slavery itself (Cincinnati: Printed at the Office of the Christian Luminary, 1860). His text was: "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned ? " Prov, 6:27, PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 73 audience was something wonderful. An indescribable thrill ran through it, men turned pale with excitement, and it was a common remark afterward that "Dr. Colver made my blood run cold." But, as much as Dr. Colver did to help bring freedom for the slaves, that was not the most important feature of his ministry in Cincinnati. It was the revival and heartening effect of his preaching that was most remarkable. A great work of grace was soon begun, and carried on, so that many were added to the membership of the church. Although he was sixty-two years of age when he went to Cincinnati, he was described as not having lost a whit of his power. For many months he conducted meetings every even- ing, except on Saturday evenings, generally preaching, and preaching exhaustive sermons, often of an hour or more in length. His powerful frame appeared not to show the least effect of the pressure of years. He was full of vigor. His intellectual strength was also marvelous. He had the logical faculty to an extraordinary degree. His memory was stored with an inexhaustible stock of anecdotes and of quaint and pithy illustrations. His expositions of the Scriptures were especially rich, for he was an expository genius who poured a flood of light on the sacred page. The old First Church never before or since numbered so many able and thoughtful men in its congregation as it did then. A Presbyterian clergyman of Cincinnati said that Dr. Col- ver's grasp of the truth was wonderful. The clearness with which he set forth the doctrines of the gospel could never be forgotten by those who heard them. There was a directness and boldness in uttering truth that reminded one of Knox, of Luther, and of Paul. Another side of Dr. Colver's nature and life was emphasized by another minister of Cincinnati, who said that Dr. Colver's warm heart glowed in deep sympathy for the poor, the aged, 74 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the distressed, and the oppressed. In their lowly rooms, and by the bedside of the sick and enfeebled, he loved to linger, to speak words of comfort, and to utter his fervent prayers. He particularly liked to visit the Widows' Home, and to preach Jesus to its forty aged inmates. On one of these occasions he insisted on a blind woman, eighty years of age and very deaf, coming into the chapel. She sat by his side, with her trumpet, while he declared the gospel of the grace of God; and she spoke of that sermon time and time again afterward as the only one that she had heard for many years. It has been further said that his heart, his house, and his church were homes for the stranger, and that more than one orphan was made glad by him. 1 At Cincinnati Dr. Colver gave increased attention to the systematic promotion of ministerial education. He gathered about him a class of young men who were looking forward to the ministry; and he instructed them, out of the abundance of his practical experience and wisdom, on what to preach and how to preach, besides enriching them with many helpful expositions of the Scriptures. Moreover, he was made a trustee of, and rendered valuable service to, the then existing Fairmount Theological Seminary, which was established in 1851 by the Western Baptist Education Society, and was located at Fairmount, about two miles north- west of the courthouse in Cincinnati. He was also tendered the position of district secretary for the West of the Baptist Home Mission Convention, or Society, but he declined it at the earnest entreaty of his church, and more particularly at that of the young men who had been but recently brought into the church through his preaching, thirty of whom sent to him a remonstrance against his leaving them when they so much needed his guidance and instruction. 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., pp. 225-29, PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 75 In 1857, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Denison University, of Granville, Ohio. In 1860, Dr. Colver felt that he must again have a rest and lighten to some extent the load that he carried. So he resigned his pastorate in Cincinnati, his resignation to take effect at the close of that year, after nearly five years of strenuous labor there. From there he went to Woodstock, Illinois, or to a farm which he had purchased near Woodstock. At the same time he accepted the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, but he retained it for only seven months, from January 4 to July 26, 1861. The reason he did not remain longer at Woodstock was that, after he had somewhat recuperated, he could not resist the strong appeal made by the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Chicago to him to transfer his ministerial labor to its larger, and in a sense needier, field, which he then felt that it was incumbent on him to do. The Baptist churches in Chicago in 1861 were seven in number. They were, according to the city directory of that time : the First Baptist Church, which was located on the south- east corner of Washington and LaSalle streets, diagonally opposite the courthouse, where the Chamber of Commerce building now stands; the Tabernacle Baptist Church, across the river, on Des Plaines Street, between Madison and Wash- ington streets; the Berean Baptist Church, on the corner of Des Plaines and De Koven streets; the Edina Place Baptist Church, on the corner of Edina Place and Harrison Street, Edina Place being just west of State Street; the North Baptist Church, at Dearborn and Ohio streets; the Union Park Baptist Church, at West Lake and Sheldon streets; and the Zoar Baptist Church for the colored people, on the corner of Buffalo Street (renamed Fourth Avenue) and Taylor Street. But not one of those churches remains where it was in 1861, while the names of most of them are now to be found only in history. 76 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The First Baptist Church was organized on October 19, 1833, a little more than two months after the town of Chicago was organized. It had the first church building erected in Chicago, called the Temple Building, because it was built mainly through the efforts of Dr. John D. Temple. The build- ing was near the corner of Franklin and South Water streets and had a second story that was used for school purposes. Other denominations were also given much use of the church part. The Tabernacle Baptist Church was organized on August 14, 1843, by members dismissed for that purpose from the First Baptist Church. It was composed largely of the antislavery party of the First Church, and passed a resolution declaring "that slavery is a great sin in the sight of God, and, while we view it as such, we will not invite to our communion or pulpit those who advocate or justify, from civil policy or the Bible, the principles or practice of slavery." Such was the church that decided that it must have Dr. Colver for its pastor, and to which he ministered from September i, 1861, until in the early part of 1865, or during nearly the period of the Civil War, a time that tried men in many ways, took the best of the younger ones to the front, and distracted those who remained to such an extent that there was small possibility of having any great revival in the church. This made the need and the work of the times more than anything else the spiritual upbuilding of such members of the church as there were left at home, and, as far as possible, the moral strengthening of all persons of all classes drawn to the services; and that was largely the work that Dr. Colver did during this pastorate. 1 'The Christian Times, of Chicago, of November 6, 1861, said: "At the Tabernacle Church, Dr. Colver has fully entered upon pastoral service, with the energy and eloquence that have characterized his ministry for so many years." On January 14, 1863, the Times, after mentioning that on the preceding Sabbath Dr. Colver had preached twice on the "Restora- tion of the Backslider to Divine Favor," in the evening delineating the emotions of the restored, said: " Dr. Colver is one of the able preachers of Chi- cago, and the Tabernacle Church has never been more prosperous than now." PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 77 When President Lincoln, on April 10, 1862, called on the people at their next weekly assemblages to render thanks to God for recent victories, and to invoke the divine guidance for our national councils, that they might speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and equity throughout our borders, Dr. Colver preached on Sunday, April 13, from the text: "And rejoice with trembling." 1 Dr. Colver said in the course of his sermon that "God has never relinquished his right to rule over the world. Kings, judges, and nations may spurn his law, and trample upon his authority, but not with impunity His mercies are infi- nite, and we have reason to rejoice in the visitations of his love ; still, in view of his justice and our sinfulness of the sinfulness of our nation, we have reason to 'rejoice with trembling.' .... The present peaceful attitude of foreign nations toward us, and the recent victories over our traitorous foes at home, are indeed occasions for gratitude to Almighty God, for his signal inter- position. Cheerfully do we respond to the call of our beloved President, to render thanks to God. But, in doing so, well may we take heed to the exhortation of our text, to 'rejoice with trembling/ ' Looking at the situation from a military point of view, Dr. Colver said that the end was not yet. " Before we welcome the return of peace to our borders, there can be no doubt that a fearful amount of treasure and of blood will be demanded. Many precious lives are yet to be sacrificed The ele- ments of Southern society are peculiar, and well adapted to a stubborn and protracted struggle. The knowledge and wealth of the South are not distributed among the masses, but mostly confined to the favored few. The slaveholders are an oligarchy, ruling the masses of the poor and ignorant with almost despotic sway. Having the key of knowledge, they can modify and con- trol the masses to any extent they please. That ruling oligarchy 1 Psalms 2:11. 78 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES have staked their all upon the issue of this conflict The entire wealth, and mind, and muscle of the South are at their command. Until they have exhausted their resources, they will not yield. Hard, and costly, and bloody fighting is yet between us and peace." From a political point of view, the prospects appeared darker still to Dr. Colver, who went on to say that "this disruption of our peace is not without a cause. It is now obvious to all that that cause is American slavery. That which we should have learned by the light of nature, and the teachings of sound phi losophy, but which we had determined not to learn, we have now learned by bitter experience, namely, that slavery and liberty cannot quietly dwell together in the same republic. They never have. They never will Slavery must die, or all well- grounded hope of peace expires. But will it die? Is there moral light enough ? Is there faith enough in the higher law ? Oh, is there enough of far-seeing patriotism in the land to pluck up that root of bitterness and put an end to that fatal disturber of our nation's peace ?" In order to secure the permanent, prosperous peace of the country, Dr. Colver declared the restoration of the conscience of the nation to be indispensable. As the result of careful observation and much thought, he said: "It is my solemn con- viction that the present state of the nation's conscience forbids the hope of permanent peace in the country. Emperors and despots may rule a people destitute of conscience. But the safety of a republic is found only in the right state of the public conscience. The want of it destroyed the republics of Greece and Rome, and gave them over to suicidal strifes within. The want of it numbered the days of the French Republic. And the fearful progress of this moral disease is now preying upon the vitality of our own country. Without conscience, without conscience trained to fear God and to hold the higher law, the law of eternal right, as paramount and authoritative, no repub- PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 79 lican government can long stand. As well might the stars keep their course if the great central law of attraction were broken up. Man severed from his God is loosed from his fellow As the national conscience can be restored only by the restora- tion of the consciences of the nation, let us serve God with fear, 'and rejoice with trembling.' Let us use every legitimate means to reach, and quicken, and elevate, and purify the individual consciences of all around us and with whom we come into contact. We shall then contribute our mite toward the desired end." 1 The year 1864 was a notable one in the Baptist church history of Chicago, on account of the sale that year by the First Baptist Church of its centrally located site, which it sold to the Chamber of Commerce for $65,000. It gave a portion of the proceeds to the other Baptist churches of the city, except that to the Tabernacle Baptist Church it gave, instead thereof, its brick church building and fixtures, which were valued at $10,000 and were not included in the sale. The building, erected in 1854, had been a prominent feature of its locality, second only to the courthouse. It was particularly famous for its tall shapely spire, which, while not exceptionally high, was admired by competent judges as well-nigh architecturally and artistically perfect. The First Church got a new site, on the southwest corner of Wabash Avenue and Hubbard Court, where it erected, at an expense of $175,000, what was said to be the largest Protestant church edifice at that time in the West, which would seat two thousand persons. This was dedicated in 1866, and was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871. The Tabernacle Baptist Church had the building which was given to it taken down and removed to the southwest corner of Morgan and Monroe streets, on the west side of the city, where it was 1 Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., sermon preached on April 13, 1862, and, at the request of the congregation, published in the Christian Times of April 23, 1862. 8o THROUGH THREE CENTURIES re-erected, with some few changes in it, yet so that it presented much the same appearance as it had before. It still stands there, being used now as a Baptist institutional church center, called Aiken Institute. Along with its prospective change of location and the acquisition of a larger house of worship, the Tabernacle Baptist Church, on April 5, 1864, changed its name, or was reorganized, with an addition to its membership from the First Church, to be called the Second Baptist Church. Toward the end of that year, Dr. Colver, on his own initiative, suggested that with the entrance into the new field a younger man should be called to the pastorate, as the work would need such a one; which sug- gestion was adopted. Dr. Colver resigned, his resignation to take effect in December, but he was requested to continue his services until the new pastor was ready to take up his duties. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Dr. Colver on Sunday, January 8, 1865. His ministry left such a strong impress on the church that it may still be traced, through many vicis- situdes, in the Second Baptist Church of Chicago of today. Dr. Colver perhaps intended that this should be his last regular pastoral work; but he was induced to enter again into the work, this time for the Fifth Baptist Church, a new name for the Berean Baptist Church, which was probably organized in 1856, although the date is sometimes given as 1859. The Christian Times and Witness, of Chicago, of December 14, 1865, reporting on the observance of the national Thanksgiving in the city, said that Dr. Colver preached in the Fifth Church to a large congregation. His subject was ''National Thanksgiving for Emancipation." 1 "It was an interesting service; in the sermon a great subject was well handled." The same paper, on February i, 1866, said that a brother in the Fifth Church 1 Psalms 105:1-2, was the text: "O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works." PASTORATES IN OTHER PLACES 81 wrote, on Monday: "We had a good day yesterday. The house was uncomfortably filled, both morning and evening. Two heads of families were baptized. Dr. Colver, our pastor, never seemed in better health, and he was 'in the Spirit. " On June 13, 1867, the paper said: "Yesterday at the Fifth Church was a 'good day in Zion.' Dr. Colver preached his farewell sermon to the church 1 from this text, 'Finally, brethren, fare- well.' 3 It was a solemn meeting." The Fifth Baptist Church, a history of Chicago says, prospered until 1867, under the minis- tration of its prior pastor and of Dr. Colver; and then, becoming ambitious and looking upon their modest edifice as quite too small for so large and prosperous a city, they determined to erect a large and magnificent building, which was only partly completed, and fell into the hands of an insurance company, after which the church disbanded. 3 During all of these pastorates, Dr. Colver had frequent calls from Baptist churches in surrounding places and states to preach or to speak on special occasions, to participate in church coun- cils, and to help settle local church troubles, in liberal response to which requests he rendered valuable services and preached many sermons that were long cherished in the memories of those who heard them. 1 Dr. Colver had already left Chicago, but had returned in order to attend the Baptist Anniversaries, which were held in Chicago that year. a ll Cor. 13:11. 3 A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884), I, 32i. CHAPTER V WORK IN CHICAGO FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION Chicago, in 1861, when Dr. Colver went there to make it his home and to work for the Master, was in many respects different from the Chicago of today, just as the youth is different from the man that, in the course of tune, he becomes. The city was then in what may be termed its youthful, plastic stage, want- ing in many things, yet giving promise of its future greatness. To begin with, it was but twenty-eight years since Chicago was organized as a town, by the election of five trustees. That occurred on August 10, 1833. It had then twenty-eight voters, and a population of 150, according to one estimate, or 350 by another. It was incorporated as a city on March 4, 1837, on July i of which year the first official census was taken, showing a population of 4,179. Moreover, as late as 1840, it was still known as a government trading post on the extreme Indian frontier. But by 1850 it had grown in population to be the twentieth city in size in the United States; and by 1860, to be the ninth, having had in that decade the greatest percentage of increase of any city. Its population was then given as 109,263 by the federal census. For those who know something as to the location of the streets, it is interesting to recall that the original boundaries of the city were Madison, Des Plaines, Kinzie, and State streets. In 1 86 1, the city limits were Lake Michigan, on the east; Fuller- ton Avenue, on the north; Western Avenue, on the west; and on the south, the Chicago River to Halsted Street, Halsted Street to Thirty-first Street, and Thirty-first Street to the lake. By the third extension of the city limits, under the enabling act 82 WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 83 of February 13, 1863, Egan Avenue, afterward called Thirty- ninth Street, now Pershing Road, was made the boundary on the south, from Western Avenue to the lake. In 1859 State Street was paved with cobblestones to Twelfth Street, now Roosevelt Road, and south of that there was a plank road to what was called "Cottage Grove," later the site of Camp Douglas. In that or in the following year a single-track horse railway, with turnouts, was laid on State Street, from Randolph Street to Twenty-second Street, thence on Twenty-second Street to Cottage Grove Avenue, and on Cottage Grove Avenue to Thirty-first Street. Prior to that, omnibuses furnished the only means of local transportation. Looking over the heart of the city in 1861, a person saw buildings mostly of three or four stories in height, with here and there one of five stories. These buildings were chiefly con- structed of brick, with some frame ones, and now and then one of stone. Lake Street was the principal business thoroughfare and the center of the banking, shopping, and wholesale interests, although business was spreading out on to La Salle Street and beginning to invade other streets as far south as Monroe Street. Outside of the business district, or rather beginning in it, and spreading toward the north, the west, and the south, for some blocks, were residences, mainly of one and one-half or two stories in height, and of frame construction. La Salle, Wash- ington, Madison, and Monroe streets were still used principally for residential purposes, while on Washington Street was where the fashionable set lived. Gardens were also so much of a feature of the city that it became known as the " Garden City." The secret of Chicago's rapid growth in population and destined greatness was in its location. This natural advantage was developed in such a manner that by 1861 the city was a great railroad center, with railroad connections not only to the east, but reaching into all parts of the great western and northwestern sections that were fast being settled, for which it was the 84 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES natural gateway and trade center. It was also an important shipping point by water, due to its favorable location on the shore of Lake Michigan with the Chicago River for a harbor. It had the Union Stock Yards, commodious grain elevators, and quite a number of manufacturing plants. It was a great grain, live-stock, and lumber market, and wholesale distributing point. Nor was its development up to that time wholly material. The preceding half a dozen or so years had been especially rich in the establishment of churches, educational, and other insti- tutions, some of which would, in their way, keep pace with the growth of the city. The first University of Chicago was fairly started, and connected with it was a law school. The Presby- terians and Congregationalists had each a theological seminary. There were three medical colleges: Rush, Hahnemann, and the Chicago; a college of pharmacy, hospitals, dispensaries, and asylums. There were fifteen public schools, including one high school; also several libraries. The Chicago Academy of Sciences and the Chicago Historical Society had been founded. The first University of Chicago was incorporated on April 2, 1857. It was fostered by the Baptists; but it was opened, in the autumn of 1858, in St. Paul's Universalist Church, which stood on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street. On September 19, 1859, it began the scholastic year in its new building, which was located on a campus of ten acres of ground in Cottage Grove, donated by Stephen A. Douglas. Its location was variously described as "Cottage Grove Avenue, adjacent to the city limits," "Cottage Grove Avenue, terminus of State Street horse railway," and as " within four miles of the court- house, on the route of the Cottage Grove horse cars, within a few steps of the shore of Lake Michigan." The Chicago City Directory for 1865-66 said: "The location of the University is on the high gravelly beach of Lake Michigan, embracing ten acres of ground, covered by a beautiful natural grove, on the line of the State Street horse railway." It also described the WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 85 "main building," which was the only building, as "136 by 172 feet, of Athens stone," and as the "finest college edifice in the West, with nothing wanting in recitation rooms, halls, chemical laboratory, cabinet, gymnasium, etc. The rooms for students, arranged in suites of a study and two bedrooms, in convenience, ventilation, are all that can be desired." The City Directory for 1866-67 gave the additional information that "the 'Dearborn Tower,' which stands connected with the main edifice of the college group, contains the celebrated Alvan Clark telescope, the largest refractor in the world, having an object glass of i8j inches aperture, and a focal length of 23 feet." But as good as the first University of Chicago was for a new institution and measured by the standards of those times, Dr. Colver had not been in Chicago long before he was impressed with the great need that there was still for some provision, in that important, rapidly growing center, for specially training men for the Baptist ministry, in addition to what the University was prepared to do for them, which was principally to give them a liberal, classical education under Christian auspices. He had long felt the need of the denomination everywhere for more ministers, and for properly trained ones. In fact, he realized from the beginning of his own ministry the scarcity of laborers in the Master's vineyard, and for many years he tried to do several men's work by going about over large sections of the country, preaching to churches which had no pastors and in places where there were no churches because there was no one to plant and to care for them. Then, when he could personally do less of that work, he began looking out and encouraging suitable young men to enter the ministry, giving more and more of his time to aiding them in their preparation for it. Another striking thing in this connection was the importance which he attached to the need of more attention being given by the church to determining concerning the call of young men to the ministry, which was probably first impressed upon him by his 86 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES own experience, when he was almost forced to preach though he thought that he could not do it. His views on the subject were expressed in a sermon which he preached before the Boston Baptist Association, in 1847, from the text: "For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" 1 In the course of the sermon he said: "If the thoughts of any young man are turned toward the ministry, he should allow himself to be governed by no sudden impulse or vague desire or impression. He should bring himself to the standard which God has set up, and judge soberly in view of the facts, as he does in other cases. But it is not safe to rely too sanguinely upon his own judgment. The influence of pride and ambition on the one hand, or of modesty and diffidence on the other, is so subtle as to endanger the soundness of his decision. The antidote, both of vanity and of self-distrust, is found in the safer judgment of the church. The called of God have generally felt a great shrinking in view of their own unworthiness for such a work." Again, he said that he wished that the church would discover and call out her gifts, instead of leaving it to the control of juvenile impressions or to the wisdom of inexperienced youth. Were this the case, she would be better guarded and better furnished, while modest worth would be brought out and made available, and many a gem that now lies useless in the mass would be brought from the quarry and made to shine as a star in the breastplate of our spiritual Aaron. Other themes than this, of the call of God to the ministry, " might have given us," he said, " a wider field, and spread before us a richer luxury for the passing hour. But I am persuaded that few subjects are more intimately connected with the vital interests of the churches at the present time. Many churches are destitute of pastors and teachers, while, at the same time, there are many ministers for whose labors there seems to be no opening. Many have left, and are leaving, the ministry for 1 1 Cor. 9:16. WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 87 other professions. These startling facts proclaim the over- whelming importance of our theme." As throwing some light on the call to the ministry, Dr. Col- ver said that Christ selected the twelve from the mass of those who fell under his observation in the course of his per- sonal and early ministrations. But after a few brief years had passed, in his view an instrument varying in many respects from the ones already chosen was demanded. Hitherto, the Lord had chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. The man now wanted sat at the feet of Gamaliel. " But, for such a work, can that young man be obtained ? Can that wolf be tamed ? Can that pride be made to kiss the cross ? Can those fearful energies be withdrawn from that mad career, and made subservient to the ministry of peace and love ? To these thrilling interrogations our text is an answer. The proud Pharisee is the weeping penitent, and the devouring wolf is henceforth the tender shepherd of the flock." On taking up the consideration of what are the definite indications of a call to the ministry, Dr. Colver began by saying that personal piety is not one of them. However indispensable to the ministry and indispensable it surely is it is neverthe- less no indication of a call to preach. Piety is common to all the disciples. Neither is a desire for the conversion of souls, or to do good, an indication of a call to preach. This exercise -is common to all Christians, and ought to be cherished by them all. Such a desire should only lead us to inquire what is our duty, and to perform it when known. Nor is an impression that it is one's duty to preach an indication of such a call. More than that, Dr. Colver declared that " the doctrine that the Spirit is our guide, at the expense or neglect of the Scriptures, is the prolific fountain of fanaticism, and the apology for satanic fraud and pious infidelity. This is one of the devil's chief instru- ments of mischief to the devout. If he can possess them of the impression that it is their duty to preach, they are thenceforth 88 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES greatly blinded to all those duties which in reality claim their attention. The strength of their pious emotions, and the author- ity of the Spirit, are appealed to to strengthen the delusion, until they are pushed quite out of the sphere of their usefulness, into one for which the Lord never designed them a sphere in which they are to be a source of affliction to themselves and all concerned. 'Impression'! 'The call of the Spirit'! These have been the forged commission of every enthusiast or impostor whose officiousness has ever afflicted the church, or brought religion into reproach. Impression, as the result of sound con- viction, is good; but, as the basis of conviction, it is illusive and mischievous. The same remarks will hold good with refer- ence to remarkable dreams and the almost voiced occurrence of passages of Scripture to the mind. The Lord may, indeed, give good dreams; and the Spirit may, and no doubt often does, bring Scripture to our minds, and all for the promotion of our piety, and the enlargement of our hearts. But neither dreams, however pious, nor the fact that Scripture has been presented to our minds, is to be relied upon as a source of knowledge, or to be referred to as a standard of particular duty. Satan can make dreams, and quote Scripture even to the Son of God him- self, and that, too, with the direct intention to mislead as to duty. Our sole security from his devices is to take everything 'to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.' " J There are two scriptural and definite indications of a call to preach, neither of which alone is sufficient; but, when united, they are not to be mistaken. They may be denominated a preparation in nature, and a preparation in grace. The first is comprehended in the ability to teach others. 2 On those having x lsa. 8:20. 2 Paul affirmed to Timothy that a bishop must be "apt to teach." I Tim. 3:2. Again, he said: "And the things that thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." II Tim. 2 : 2. WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 89 it, Timothy was to lay his hands; not on those who thought they could preach, or desired the conversion of souls, or who had had a wonderful dream, or to whose mind the Scriptures had strangely occurred; but on such as were able to instruct others. Ability to teach is an indispensable mark. Without this, piety, or faithfulness, or all of the common graces of Christianity will be in vain, and no indication of a call to preach. Yet this gift alone is not a sure indication of a call to preach; but with a preparation in grace, it is. This preparation may be more difficult to explain and require more care and experience to distinguish than the other, still it is no less definite or indis- pensable to a call to preach. A further, and perhaps even better, suggestion of Dr. Col- ver's views on the character of those who are called to the ministry, and the training that is desirable for them, is furnished when he goes on to say that "it will be seen that the nature of those peculiar gifts which indicate a call to the ministry are such as admit of and demand improvement. That man who is ' apt to teach,' who can communicate what he knows, because he knows it logically, that man, on the peculiar susceptibilities of whose mind the very lineaments of the gospel are stamped, is worth teaching. He, of all others, is worth the best mental discipline that can be given him. Came he from the receipt of custom, from the fish boat, from the farmer's plow, from the mechanic's shop, or from the feet of some presiding Gamaliel over our universities no matter whence; he is worthy of the place of a disciple for three years at the feet of Christ, or in the best school of the prophets which can be furnished him. I should like, did the time or the occasion permit it, to express a few thoughts on the best method of training such for the minis- try; but I can say only, they should be trained thoroughly trained. I know that objections are felt and made to theological schools; and I cannot say that I have not, to some extent, sympathized with those doubts. There are some important 90 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES respects in which I should be glad to see a change in the manner of ministerial education. But, while I say this, I am free to say that those failures which to any extent have been realized are not to be charged to the schools so much as to the churches, for sending them unpropitious materials upon which they have had to operate. I have no hesitation in saying that those young men who exhibited scriptural indications of a call to preach when they entered have derived essential benefit from the instruction there imparted. It is not the province of the schools to make ministers; but to train them." 1 The conditions which Dr. Colver found in Chicago were somewhat peculiar. The city was beyond any doubt a strategic point. The founding of the first University of Chicago by the Baptists was clearly the part of denominational wisdom, if all of the steps afterward taken were not. The University was intended largely for the education of young men for the ministry, as were most of the early collegiate institutions. But a theo- logical seminary, or a department in the University correspond- ing to one, was no less necessary. Many persons saw that; and some preliminary measures were taken toward establishing the one or the other, but for years little progress was made. First of all, beginning with the panic of 1857, there were several years of financial disturbance that interrupted or thwarted many plans, and not only badly crippled the University, but made many of the friends of the latter averse to the starting of any important new project, lest it should imperil the University or perhaps both fail. Then the Civil War broke out and took the most and the best of the young men for its service, which lasted well into the year 1865, leaving very few to take up the study of theology. Besides all that, there were a great many cross- currents, hindering jealousies among the local denominational 1 Rev. Nathaniel Colver, A Call of God to the Christian Ministry, Definite and Imperative. A sermon preached before the Boston Baptist Association, on September 15, 1847, and published by request of the Associa- tion (Boston: William D. Ticknor & Co., 1847). WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 91 leaders of that time, which not only sadly injured the University, but affected more or less the theological seminary enterprise. Not a little of what Dr. Colver did in behalf of Baptist theological education in Chicago lay in the fact that, while things were as they were, he quietly and unostentatiously went ahead alone and gathered about him classes of young men to which he gave theological instruction, thereby, if not actually laying the foundation of the Seminary, at least helping to focus the denominational mind on the subject and hastening the day when effective concerted action should be taken and a seminary established. There is no record of just when he began this work in Chicago, or of how much of it he did, but the Christian Times of September 22, 1864, spoke of Dr. Colver as having had experience in teaching "in the theological classes he has been accustomed, year by year, for a long time past, to gather around him." Beyond that, it has been variously stated that he taught such a class in his study at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, also during the time that he was the pastor of the latter after it became called the Second Baptist Church, and that he at one time instructed a class at his home. Then, the fact that he was doing this work, coupled with his recognized ability as a preacher and as a teacher, and with his cheerful readiness for any service to which he seemed to be called, especially when it was one which lay close to his heart, made it but natural that he should be chosen to inaugurate the giving of the first regular theological instruction for the Seminary, when that was finally being given form, the instruction being given by him at the University of Chicago. Furthermore, he had a large part in all that was done by the denomination or by its representa- tives, after he went to Chicago, toward founding the Seminary. He was instrumental, too, in getting $7,500 to help start it. Mr. Mial Davis, of Burlington, Vermont, in explaining, many years afterward, the origin and first purpose of this fund, as well as its ultimate application and importance, wrote that 92 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES " that great preacher, the man of great intellect and spiritual power, Nathaniel Colver, .... came to Burlington, preaching in the First Baptist Church on the Sabbath. His sweet spirit and deep insight into God's truth, with his great force of delivery, greatly interested Mr. Lawrence Barnes. The writer was not less interested, but he had listened to Dr. Colver 's powerful preaching in Boston twenty years before. On the Monday following, Dr. Colver wished to see Mr. Barnes and myself, and an interview followed. An adjournment was made till we could call William Cook, of Whitehall, a godly man, full of good deeds. At this meeting, held at the home of the writer, Dr. Colver said substantially this : that God had laid upon him the work of providing a theological seminary for the West, where young men called to the ministry could, in some measure, pre- pare themselves for their great work. He said there were to be a great number of them; that they were generally poor, and could not come East for training and study. With great earnestness he pleaded for these young men. He continued, 'The churches must have trained pastors.' As he walked the floor he said, 'Oh, we must have the Seminary.' Then he told us his plan; that we three men pledge his salary for five years, at $1,500 per year, while he should work it up. We agreed to this, and pledged as follows: Lawrence Barnes, $3,000; Wm. Cook, $3,000; Mial Davis, $1,500, or $7,500 for the five years. Dr. Colver started off happy .... to his work. Very soon he returned to us and said that God had blessed him in pre- senting it, so that he was sure it would come. 'Now,' he says, 'I wish, if you will, to pay the $7,500 as the commencement of the fund for the institution.' This we did The Seminary came up. Dr. G. W. Northup has said to the writer that the nest egg of the Seminary was laid in Burlington, which was true." 1 1 Rev. Henry Crocker, History of the Baptists in Vermont (Bellows Falls: The P. H. Gobie Press, 1913), pp. 535-36. Mr. Davis is quoted there as stating that it was "in June, 1867," that the events first narrated WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 93 As early as 1858 or 1859, the Baptists of the West and the Northwest discussed the need of establishing a Baptist theo- logical seminary at some point, but nothing tangible came of it. In 1860, what was called "The Theological Society for the Northwest" was formed, at a meeting of Baptists held in Chicago, which showed a continuance of interest in the same cause and more of a determination to do something to advance it, and that is about all. It may have been only a coincidence, but not long after the settlement of Dr. Colver in Chicago, or September 24, 1861, a society was organized with the title "The Theological Union of Chicago." The date, name, and fact of organization were announced in a communication signed by "J. B. Olcott, Cor. Sec'y-" 1 which appeared in the Christian Times of October 16, 1 86 1. He went on to state that " the object of the Union is to provide facilities for the theological education of young men connected with our University. At the first meeting of our board measures were adopted to carry out the design of the society, by arranging for courses of lectures on pastoral, bibli- cal and systematic theology, and upon ecclesiastical history," Dr. Colver and four other Baptist ministers of the city being appointed as lecturers. "The following note is annexed to the constitution: 'We, the persons subscribing to the fore- going constitution, hereby disclaim any attempt to prevent or took place, which date would seem to be much too late, but there is nothing to show when or how the error was made, if it was an error, and it need not count against the general intendment of the other statements, made from memory by a man who apparently remembered the transaction with a deep and continued interest. Dr. Colver's returning "very soon" should also perhaps be understood as meaning "after a time, or comparatively soon, " but giving time enough for much to be done and important develop- ments to be seen. 1 Rev. James B. Olcott was then the financial agent of the University of Chicago. 94 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES embarrass the measure of building up a theological seminary for the Northwest, in which it is expected the brethren of the several states will unite. But the Union is formed to meet the neces- sities of young men now congregated at the University of Chicago, and we hold this Union in its plans and aims subject to the ascertained wishes of the Baptist denomination of the Northwest/ " The lecture plan stated was tried, but it was ultimately abandoned, and the Theological Union apparently did little or nothing more of practical value for the furtherance of its object. Then, in 1863, what was named "The Baptist Theological Union," was formally organized at what was said to be a large meeting held at the First Baptist Church. Whether or not it should be considered as only a more or less direct continuation, with reorganization, of the Theological Union formed in 1861, it indicated a new determination. However, it was slow in the accomplishment of results. This was shown by the fact that, on September 22, 1864, under the heading "The Baptist Theo- logical Union," the Christian Times said that this would be a new name to many of its readers. It then explained that brethren in Chicago and in the Northwest had felt for a long time that provision for theological teaching was needed in that city, commensurate in its scope with what was contemplated in the University of Chicago. " An effort is in progress to endow two chairs. Provision for one of these, it is expected, will be made in the state of Indiana, and the board have tendered the professorship, when endowed, to Rev. Silas Bailey, D.D., of that state. To the other, Rev. N. Colver, D.D., has been called in a similar way, it being expected that the endowment will be procured in other parts of the general field The names of the two brethren who are expected to enter this service are names loved throughout the West. Both of these brethren have had experience in teaching: Dr. Bailey, for many years as president of Franklin College, and Dr. Colver in the theo- WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 95 logical classes he has been accustomed, year by year, for a long time past, to gather around him .... while of Dr. Colver's remarkable facility and power in the unfolding and illustration of Bible truth it is unnecessary to speak. His pupils find these qualities fully as marked in the classroom as in the pulpit, and many a zealous preacher has thus begun a new life in his minis- try He is always welcome wherever he goes." Still, this plan, like all of the other plans thus far made, for some reason failed. In 1865, by a special act of the General Assembly of the state of Illinois, approved on February 16, "The Baptist Theological Union, located at Chicago," was incorporated, the object of this incorporation being stated to be "the founding, endowment, support, and direction of an institution for theo- logical instruction to be styled ' The Chicago Baptist Theological Institute.' ' The name of "Nathaniel Colver" appears second in the list of fifteen incorporators. Thus, in general outline, did six or eight years pass with reference to the establishment of Baptist theological instruction in Chicago, for that city and for the Northwest. Then there came a change. On February 22, 1866, the Christian Times and Witness published a special notice, with the heading "The Baptist Theological Union," that "pending the regular and formal opening of the Theological Institute being founded by this society, Dr. Colver, by direction of the board of trustees, will open a class for instruction in doctrinal and practical theology, at the University. Instruction will commence on the first day of March next. Rooms for the accommodation of students will be furnished at the University, until other arrange- ments are completed. The instruction given will be adapted to the special wants of the brethren who attend, and all pastors, or others, who would feel it a privilege to enjoy the advantages of the class, are invited to join it. Board at the University can be obtained for four dollars per week. The tuition will 96 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES be free." Referring to this notice, the paper said, under " Baptist Matters in Chicago," that "it will be seen that Dr. Colver, under instructions of the board of the Theological Union, is to open a class in theology at the University, on the first of March. 1 Accommodations are there furnished for this purpose, while more permanent arrangements are being made. The board has purchased ground, fronting upon University Square, for the buildings of the theological school. The endow- ment of professorships is also making progress, and the school may be regarded as, in the good time Providence may appoint, as much a certainty as anything future in the plans of men can be. In the meantime it has been thought best for Dr. Colver to receive such brethren as may wish to enjoy his instructions, and to that end this announcement is made. Applications and inquiries may be addressed to Rev. N. Colver, D.D., Chicago." On August 30, 1866, the Christian Times and Witness said that "during a considerable portion of last year, as our readers are already aware, Dr. Colver conducted a theological class at the University building in accordance with the instructions of the board. This is regarded as the commencement of work in the Theological Seminary, for whose complete equipment meas- ures are now pressed as rapidly as possible. With the opening of the next University year, on the tenth of September, Dr. Colver's class will be resumed." On September 20, the paper said: "We are happy to announce that the prospects of our Seminary are unexpectedly brightening By the asso- ciation of Rev. J. C. C. Clarke with Dr. Colver, arrangement is made for the immediate beginning of a fuller course in the usual 1 The General Catalogue of the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, 1867-1892 (2d ed., 1892), after referring, in its historical statement, to the Baptist Theological Union, says that "under direction of this organi- zation Dr. Nathaniel Colver gave some lectures .... in the University in 1865-66, and in the fall of 1866, assisted by Rev. J. C. C. Clarke, began more regular instruction"; while under "The Instructors, from Origin to 1867," it gives "Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., 1865-67," and, "Rev. John C. C. Clarke, 1866-67." WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 97 branches of theological study. Dr. Colver, full of vigor and heart, will continue his lectures on theology, and give church order the benefit of his ripe and varied experience These brethren are in hearty accord in their work. They design to arrange the studies conformably to a complete systematic course ; but also to give each student just such help as he may most need, whether by aiding him in extra studies, or allowing a partial or protracted course. They are earnestly anxious that the Seminary may be a help to loving, spiritual, active piety. The classes are now formed, and new students will be welcomed to immediate entrance upon their studies. They may meet the professors at Dr. Colver's room in the University." 1 On October n, the announcement was published that "one pro- fessorship, that now held by Dr. Colver, is regarded as endowed." On January 31, 1867, the Christian Times and Witness said that, "Good work is being done at the Theological Seminary by Dr. Colver and Professor Clarke. Dr. Colver has now two classes daily, and both his instructions and those of Professor Clarke are highly valued A very important service, in every view, is being rendered by those in charge." On February 14, the paper said: "We feel that a word is due, here, to the excellent brethren who have, for months past, been doing a very impor- tant work in connection with the school itself. It has fallen to their lot, as to many good and great men often before, to labor amidst the discouragements of 'the day of small things.' . . . . Outside of the classroom it has been well known what faithful, well-directed, acceptable service was being done by Dr. Colver and Professor Clarke They have been first among the teachers, and the first to make an enduring mark upon the minds and characters of young men preparing for the ministry." It has been stated that one of Dr. Colver's students, while he was giving instruction at the Tabernacle or Second Baptist 1 The Chicago City Directory for 1866-67 gave Dr. Colver's address as "h University of Chicago." 98 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Church, was Dwight L. Moody. 1 Among his students at the University there was one who became a missionary to Assam. Another was Dr. Henry C. Mabie. A third was Dr. John Gordon, who was still hard at work in Philadelphia in 1920, when he wrote what he did about Dr. Colver, given in a later chapter. Dr. Colver rendered further important service to the cause of ministerial education through the Ministers' Institute that was for several years held at the University of Chicago, and by lectures which he delivered at other somewhat similar institutes, as at one held at Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, Illinois, in 1865, and at one held at Franklin, Indiana, in 1866. What this meant is best told by Dr. Clough,"the apostle to theTelugus." He says that, after having made application, in 1864, to be sent to the foreign field, "while everything was still pending, I went to Chicago to attend a Ministers' Institute. Many of the ministers then in the West had received little theological train- ing. They eagerly came, at least one hundred of them, to this Institute every summer to study portions of the Bible and attend lectures. The man who presided over it, Dr. Nathaniel Colver, was one of the leading men of the denomination. He, too, had not been a student in a theological seminary. He was called a giant of Calvinistic faith. I came under the spiritual influence of the man during those weeks. Of my studies in the Institute I remembered little afterwards. What remained with me and served me was the pattern of such a school. For six years, out in India, during the hot weather, I called the native preachers together, into Ongole, and taught them after the pattern given me by Dr. Colver. Thus did I train the men who were to be my fellow workers when thousands were baptized." 1 A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: The A. T. Andreas Co., 1885), II, 438; Moses Kirkland, History of Chicago (Chicago and New York: Munsell & Co., 1895), II, 116. WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EDUCATION 99 Another phase of Dr. Colver's strong personality and influence is illustrated in an incident told by Dr. Clough. When Dr. Clough was going, from Iowa, to his prospective field of missionary labor, he had an hour between trains in Chicago. Dr. Colver had attended and taken an important part in meet- ings which had been held in Iowa before Dr. Clough's departure, and he was a passenger on the same train with him, as far as Chicago. Then Dr. Clough says: "One of the most important events of my life now happened. Our train was ready Dr. Colver and I stood outside near the steps. The first gong had sounded; it was nearly time for the next. Then, as if moved by some powerful impulse, Dr. Colver took both of my hands in his. In his impressive way he said, ' Brother Clough, I believe that God from all eternity has chosen you to be a missionary to the Telugus. Go, nothing doubting. Remember that you are invulnerable until your work is done.' With this he handed me up the steps, the train started, and we were off. I had received a benediction that was far more than a bene- diction. The strong feeling which I was to cherish for many years, that I was an ambassador of Jesus Christ to the Telugus, was here born into conscious conviction. The assurance that I was invulnerable until my work was done stayed by me, all through, like a sword of fire. It was a spiritual anointing given by one who had the power to give it. It was received in all humility. The effect remained." The year of 1868 was one of crisis. " If I had seen a way to do it honorably, I might have withdrawn from Ongole If I was that man for Ongole, then I was elected to stay, come what might. The words of Dr. Colver rang in my ears, ' Brother Clough, I believe that God from all eternity has chosen you to be a missionary to the Telugus.' '" 1 John E. Clough, D.D., Social Christianity in the Orient: The Story of a Man, a Mission, and a Movement; written down for him by his wife, Emma Rauschenbusch Clough, Ph.D. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1914), pp. 49-50, 58, 129. 100 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Something of what the students who were under Dr. Colver's instruction at the University thought of it, was shown by a report that was included, under the subheading " Theological Department," in the report of the Eighth Annual Commencement of the University, published in the Christian Times and Witness of July 5, 1866. That gave an account of a meeting of what was called the "theological class," at which, it said, "An opportunity was given to each member to express his feelings in regard to the instruction of Rev. N. Colver, D.D., the teacher of the class We need not say that the class were unani- mous in their high esteem and appreciation of Dr. Colver as a teacher of divinity. He is not only known as a sound theo- logian among our own denomination, but also among others; they all know that he understands the power of the gospel, and makes that power felt wherever his voice is heard We shall not forget the lessons he has so faithfully tried to impress upon our minds; that we should be preachers of the gospel, and not mere hirelings; that we should follow the example of our Savior, and have no other object in view than the glory of God and the salvation of our fellow-men." A resolution was then passed, "That we return our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Colver for the faithful manner in which he has labored with and for us, not only in teaching the gospel to us, but in teaching us how to bring it before the people. We have reaped the choicest fruits of his own mature intellect and that experience which a long life in the service of his Master has given him." Such were some of the things which, according to various accounts, Dr. Colver did to help to prepare men for the ministry and to promote theological education and the establishment, in Chicago, of the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, which is now known as the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. It should be remembered, too, that during practically all of this time he was rendering full and arduous service as the pastor of a city church. But when the Seminary became an assured WORK FOR MINISTERIAL EOTCAfflCN 101 fact and no longer needed him as it had, he heard another call, to a lowlier and then more needy work, although still to help lay foundations for theological instruction and to aid in the preparation of men to preach the gospel; and in order to accept that new call, toward which his heart went out, he resigned his position in connection with the Seminary. After accepting Dr. Colver's resignation, on February 26, 1867, the board of the Baptist Theological Union, the Christian Times and Witness of March 7, 1867, said, adopted resolutions stating that, "We recall with thankfulness, and hereby recog- nize with great pleasure, his entire devotion to the interests of theological instruction in connection with our Seminary, and the readiness he has shown to make every needed personal sacrifice for their promotion. We esteem the service already rendered by Dr. Colver, in his classroom, as most valuable. The brethren, under his instruction, have felt their minds enlarged, their views of divine truth cleared and confirmed, and their hearts made to burn within them as the Scriptures have been unfolded in the daily exercise. Dr. Colver's method of instruction we regard as, within its own attempted range, peculiarly valuable. The truly evangelical spirit of it, we desire may remain in the Seminary, and characterize it during its whole history. In giving Dr. Colver up to another and most important sphere of service, we part with him as a brother and as a man greatly beloved. His long and eminent labors in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ, have entitled him to a foremost place in the hearts of all American Baptists; and we trust that their prayers will be joined with ours, that God will give him yet many years in which to perform what we regard as the appropriate crowning work of his long and useful life." A largely attended meeting of the Baptist Union, with representatives from all of the Baptist churches in Chicago and some from churches elsewhere, was held as a farewell to Dr. Colver. In the course of an address which he made, Dr. Colver 102 TtttHOUGH THREE CENTURIES said that for fifty years he had preached the gospel of God, and during that long time had been laid aside by illness only four Sabbaths. It was also stated during the evening that Dr. Colver had authorized the proposition to be made to the Bap- tists of Chicago that, whatever amount they would contribute to the cause of ministerial education among the freedmen, not exceeding $5,000, he would cover with a like amount as his own personal contribution to the endowment of the Seminary in Chicago. Resolutions were adopted, of which a portion of one was: " We will hold near to our hearts, and with God's blessing will carry on to its consummation, that important enterprise in behalf of ministerial education, with whose beginning in this city the name of Dr. Colver is permanently identified." 1 1 From Christian Times and Witness of March 14, 1867. In its report of the meeting, the paper said also that one of the speakers of the evening was Dr. J. C. Burroughs, the president of the University of Chicago, who "followed in some remarks, expressing the surprise and regret with which he had learned, while absent from the city, of Dr. Colver's resignation, and his own entire inacquiescence in such a step, urging the importance of the service already rendered by Dr. Colver, and our own need of him in all our work, as a denomination, in this city and the West, as reasons why he felt unwilling to see him go." CHAPTER VI EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN Dr. Colver's last great work, one of peculiar self-sacrifice, to which he went enthusiastically when he was past seventy-two years of age, was still another pioneer undertaking. It was the opening of a school and the laying of a durable educational foundation, in Richmond, Virginia, for the freedmen, particu- larly to train men of their own race needed at once for the ministry among them. Dr. Colver had striven long and hard to help free them from physical bondage, and now he seized eagerly the opportunity to do something personally toward releasing them from their mental and spiritual enslavement. He would not leave them to grope their way up from the depths unaided, nor cast upon others the whole burden of instructing them in the way of life as now opened before them. He would yet go to them and do for them what he could. They were in a sense his charge. As he himself once expressed it, "I cannot rest; I have got my drowning man out of the water on to the ice, and he will freeze to death, if I do not go to take care of him." Moreover, brethren in Boston and in Washington were urging him on to the task, under an appointment by the National Theological Institute, a society formed for the education of ministers for the freedmen. 1 Dr. Colver went first to Boston, and a correspondent in that city wrote that "he spoke of your meeting in Chicago, of his love for the West, but of the deeper hold which the imperiled condition of the freedmen had obtained upon his heart. He 1 The work of the National Theological Institute was in 1869 trans- ferred to the American Baptist Home Mission Society. 103 104 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES regretted that he had not more years and more vigor to give, but such as he had he placed on this altar, desirous of dying with his face this way. He has now gone South to survey the field at St. Helena, 1 and at different points where schools have been, or are to be, established." After that, he returned to the head- quarters of the society in Boston, and then he went to Richmond, Virginia, to establish a school there for the freedmen; and the same correspondent stated that " the departure of Dr. Colver for Richmond attracted much attention in Boston. Who can fail to appreciate the value of having such a man in Richmond?" 2 Dr. Colver entered upon his new work with such energy and efficiency that when he returned to Chicago to attend the Baptist Anniversaries, in the latter part of May, 1867, he was able to give considerable information about the condition and educational needs of the freedmen in the South, and was able to report that he had made all needful arrangements for the opening of a school, in Richmond, for the education of freedmen, mainly, but not exclusively, for the ministry. In the different addresses which he delivered, he declared among other things that there was no work of greater importance at that time than the education of a ministry. But he would speak especially of the South. There were some eight thousand there preaching the gospel, and many of them could not read. It was dark there. They needed a sun. In Richmond, a man came to him who was liberated when the city surrendered, after he had been confined for fourteen years, without any sentence of a court, for the crime of teaching a negro to read. When the man was asked how he lived so long in the dungeon, he replied, "Oh, it was not dark there; they left me my Bible." But in many parts of the South the people had no light. The poor freedmen could not read. They had not, therefore, the light of the Bible. But they were eagerly seeking the light. They wanted to be 1 On St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. 3 The Christian Times and Witness of April n and of May 23, 1867. LUMPKIN'S JAIL, THE OLD SLAVE PEN IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, IN WHICH DR. COLVER STARTED A SCHOOL FOR THE FREEDMEN THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN 105 able to read the name of Jesus. They would rather spend half an hour in spelling out that name than to have you pro- nounce it twenty times to them. They hungered for the Bible. They thirsted for it. They had a great capacity for receiving the gospel. Just below the old Baptist Church in Richmond stood what had been Lumpkin's slave jail and slave market, occupying a space of some 150 feet square. That was being fitted up for the school. There the freedmen-preachers were to gather for light, for instruction. Dr. Colver added that he went to unbind some of the chains which slavery had bound there in days gone by; that he was to be confined in that old slave jail in Richmond for life. 1 However, it was not easy in those days to get any kind of a place in the South to be used for a school for the freedmen. 2 If, in an exceptional case, an owner of property was personally favorably disposed to the project, he was nevertheless afraid to go against public sentiment. Even many of the colored people themselves were afraid to act against it. For this latter reason Dr. Colver's original plan of starting the school in one of their churches had to be abandoned. At last, in his perplexity, he devoted a day to fasting and prayer. Toward evening he went out on to the streets to see, as he afterward said, what answer the Lord might give him. He had not walked far when he met on the sidewalk a group of colored people. He stopped them, and engaged them in conversation. He told them his object in coming to Richmond, and of the obstacles which he had encoun- tered. In the midst of the group was a large, fair-faced freed- woman, nearly white, who said that she had a place which she thought that he could have. The place was the Lumpkin's 1 The Christian Times and Witness of May 30 and of June 6, 1867. 2 For example, Dr. J. G. Binney at one time attempted the opening of a school in Richmond under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, but he did not remain long in Richmond, because all efforts to provide suitable accommodations for the school failed. There was no relation between his efforts and what Dr. Colver did. 106 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Jail property. The woman, who had been bought by Lumpkin as a slave, but had been married to him after the war, had, as his widow, come into possession of the property. She was a member of the First African Baptist Church of Richmond, and, Dr. Colver said, was a true Christian. She was not only willing to lease the property for the school, but let it for five hundred dollars a year less than she could have rented it for to others. The Lumpkin's Jail property occupied about half an acre of land near the center of the older portion of Richmond. It was in a deep hollow, or bottom, through which a creek flowed sluggishly. Around the outer borders of the property was a fence that was, in some places, 10 or 12 feet in height. Inside of the fence were four brick buildings. One of them, a tall, old brick building, very close to the fence, had been used by Lump- kin for his residence and his office. Another of the buildings had been used as a boarding-house for those who came either to buy or to sell slaves. A third building had served as a kitchen and as a barroom. In the center of the plot was the fourth building the chief object of interest a low, rough brick structure that was known as the "jail." It was 41 feet long and 18 feet wide, and two stories in height, with a piazza for each story, on the north side of the building. There slaves, male and female, had been lodged for safe-keeping until they could be disposed of at public or private sale. Moreover, in that building Lumpkin had been accustomed to imprison dis- obedient slaves and to punish refractory ones. A stout iron staple at about the center of the rough floor held the whipping ring. Strong iron gratings guarded the windows, some of the bars being still to be seen years afterward. 1 According to a visitors' guide, of 1871, to Richmond, in the days of slavery, jails were built in which negroes for sale and hire 1 Charles H. Corey, D.D., A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary; with title on cover: "Reminiscences of Thirty Years' Labor in the South" (Richmond: J. W. Randolph Co., 1895), pp. 46-48, 52-55, 73-76. EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN 107 were kept and boarded by the day, and halls were fitted up in which they were exhibited whenever any possible purchasers appeared. Soon these jails were insufficient to accommodate all of the business, and sellers, wishing to take better advantage of competition among the buyers, many of whom came from the far South every year to increase or replenish their labor, opened auction-houses. In these the slaves were arranged in rows, on benches, around the room, awaiting their turns to be called to the auctioneer's block. It was thought necessary that the jails should be in close proximity to the auction-houses, and so they were, almost without exception, in the bottom, between Frank- lin and Broad streets, on "Jail Alley," as it was called. The most noted of these, because the largest and therefore able to accommodate the largest number, was the one known as Lump- kin's. This was built some time about 1825 for the purpose of a jail, and it was used as such until the close of the war. During the war, it was used, in connection with Castle Lightning, another negro prison on Lumpkin's Alley, as a temporary receptacle for political prisoners. After the war, it was fitted up by Dr. Colver, from Chicago, as an institute for the training of young colored men for the ministry. 1 After what he called "this school of colored prophets" had been removed, as he said, " to a much more respectable place in Richmond," when, in 1870, the old United States Hotel, on the corner of Main and Nineteenth streets, was purchased for it for $10,000, although it originally cost $no,ooo, 2 another writer, in describing the first location of the school, said that it was in a "low" place, in both meanings of that word. Dr. Colver, with Mr. Holmes and his family, lived in the old Lumpkin dwelling-house. The students lived in the building where, a 1 Benjamin Bates, Visitors' Guide to Richmond (Richmond, 1871), pp. 24-25. 3 Charles H. Corey, A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary, pp. 86-87. 108 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES few years before, white men met to discuss the price and value of just such "boys" as they were. The lockup, or jail, was turned into a schoolroom. There, morning and evening, was heard the voice of prayer and of praise, in the same room where, of old, the cries of the bondman, the harsh grating of handcuffs, and the clanking of chains had been heard. 1 Dr. Colver made arrangements with Rev. James H. Holmes, the pastor of the First African Baptist Church of Richmond, to reside with his family on the school premises, and to look after the latter. Mr. Holmes subsequently said that when Dr. Colver first came to Richmond, in 1867, ne was suspicious of him, because he thought that his professions of love for the colored race were too strong to be heartfelt, but, after living in the same house with him, he found that what he did was more than his words. For instance, he said that Dr. Colver would take the little Holmes boy on his lap, rock him to sleep, and place him on his own clean bed, although the little fellow's clothing was often badly soiled with the mud of Lumpkin's Alley. 2 Dr. Colver gave the best that there was in him to the work in Richmond. With regard to some of the difficulties which had to be overcome, he wrote to Dr. Corey, who later succeeded him in the work: "The field is new and peculiar, and peculiar treat- ment is demanded. We almost have to make the mind to instruct I have a large evening class of over thirty that I have to teach to speak and read properly; and some in figures and writing I have a class of pastors and preachers with whom I spend an hour and a half daily. I have gone mostly through the book of Hebrews. We first read a chapter, and I take great pains to have them read properly, naturally, dis- tinctly, minding the pauses, observing proper emphasis, intona- tion, pronunciation, etc. Then I seize upon the points of gospel truth consecutively, in the order of the apostolic argu- 1 "Mallah, " in the Watchman and Reflector, of Boston, of August 25, 1870. 3 Evening State Journal, of Richmond, of October 25, 1870. EDUCATIONAL WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN 109 ment, and I try to make them understand it as well as I can. Progress is very slow, and much patience is required. They have never been taught to think consecutively. We take any good young man, whether looking to the ministry or not. Most learn well. Some do not You must ' cut and try ' Our work is a hard, but an important one." 1 But there were also brighter and more encouraging features of Dr. Colver's work, which he gave in a letter published in the Christian Times and Witness of September 19, 1867. In that he said: " There is a good work going on in the First African Church, for which I preach most of my Sabbaths. Their pastor, one of my students, last Sabbath baptized twenty-nine. Inde- fatigable in his labors, he yet spends about six or seven hours a day in the school There are among his people many anxious inquirers .... so that my room is a place of inquiry and of prayer with and for anxious souls Another of my students preaches to three churches in Louisa County, going on foot from church to church, with a compensation that one would think no one could live on. But he is in very deed a man of God, uncomplaining and happy. His home is, I think, some seven miles from the city. Last Sabbath he baptized forty- two in one church, preached to them, and broke bread; then walked to another church some miles away, preached again, baptized six, and broke bread to them; and on Monday he was in school again, earnestly seeking to prepare himself for the Master's work, in which his whole heart is engaged. Oh, I am content to cast in my lot with the poor crushed ones of Virginia. God is with them. I bless God every day for the work he has given me to do here. I have one student who came in about seventy miles, a man of some intellectual, but more heart promise. He is so happy in his opportunities for instruction that his face shines with joy. He lives in one of the rooms furnished by Chicago benevolence. Thinking that he was very 1 Charles H. Corey, A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary, pp. 55, 62-63. no THROUGH THREE CENTURIES poor, I asked him yesterday how he lived. He said, with a con- tented, happy look: 'Oh, very well/ I pressed him a little fur- ther, ' What do you get to live on ?' ' Oh,' said he, ' I gets enough ; for ten cents I gets bread enough for the day.' I said, .'Do you live on that?' He said, 'Yes, but sometimes I gets five cents of butter. But, Oh,' said he, Tse so happy if I can stay and study, I don't care what I lives on.' Think of that, dear brethren, you that 'abound.' Think of the multitude of God's crushed little ones, so poor, so ignorant, yet so hungry for the bread of life Our school increases every day Reconstruction agitation is unpropitious to the spiritual inter- ests of the blacks, and to the conciliation of the whites; but you see the Lord works through it all." 1 The school has had several different names. On January 2 2 , 1869, the executive committee of the National Theological Institute adopted a resolution to the effect that the school should thereafter be designated the Colver Institute, "in honor of its first teacher and a lifelong friend of the slave and the freedmen." In 1876, the name was changed to the Richmond Institute, when the school was incorporated. In 1886, it was made the Richmond Theological Seminary. In 1899, what was known as the Wayland Seminary, which had been located in Washington, D.C., since 1865, was transferred to Richmond, Virginia, and united with the Richmond Theological Seminary to constitute the Virginia Union University. The University has forty-five acres of land, six substantial granite buildings, or " halls," and a power-house. It maintains three departments : a preparatory department, or academy with manual training; a collegiate department; and a theological department, which last is regarded as a direct continuation of what was previously the Richmond Theological Seminary, the Richmond Institute, and the Colver Institute. 1 Ministers' institutes, patterned somewhat after those that had been held in Chicago, were also held in connection with this school, at various places at one time or another, with gratifying results. CHAPTER VII MUSTERED OUT When Dr. Colver entered upon his educational work for the freedmen, not only did he give up for himself the comforts of his home, which a person generally needs and clings to more as he advances in years, but he also left behind him his wife in failing health, though in the good care of her daughter, Mary B. Carter, who was very faithful to her. Nor was he himself well. His physician told him that he might die on the way, but he declared he must go in any event, so strong was his sense of duty and his desire to do what he felt that the Lord had called him to do, even if it meant a shortening of his life. In many respects he was like an old soldier, with his whole heart in the cause for which he was enlisted. By the spring of 1868 his wife's condition had become such that he returned home. On April 18 of that year, Mrs. Colver passed away. Then Dr. Colver went back to Richmond, and Miss Carter, like an own daughter, went with him, to care for him and to help him what she could, for he sadly needed it. But his health failed so fast, on account of his grief and the anxiety which he had had, the hard work which he had been doing, and possibly the effects of the change of climate, that he had to give up his work in Richmond, which he did by resigning it in June, 1868. Thus was he, as it were, mustered out of active service, much against his natural inclinations, but with perfect submission to the divine will. Not long after that, he returned again to Chicago, where, by reason of his strong constitution, he lingered on for more than two years, sometimes feeling better and sometimes worse. His in 112 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES particular ailment was said to be an affection of the heart, complicated with dropsical symptoms, and sometimes with difficulty in breathing, which often made it impossible for him to lie down at night. Sometimes he was affected with great nervous agitation, and, again, with nervous depression. At times, too, he suffered much, and longed for the end. On March 19, 1869, he wrote to Dr. Corey, who had suc- ceeded him in the charge of the school at Richmond: "How I should love to be with you. This is a glorious work. I am glad that I engaged in it, though I have no doubt that it was such an overdraft on my bodily powers as to bring me to an early grave. I have got to die, but it will not be death. I shall pass over dry-shod. Death in the Master's service, or in his work of preaching the gospel to the poor, is a privilege. I think my work is done. I never expect to be well again. I think a few months will send me home May God strengthen all of us to do and to suffer all his will." 1 He apparently rallied somewhat in the fall of 1869, for the Standard, of Chicago, of September 2, 1869, stated that "the congregation of the University Place Baptist Church were much gratified, on last Sabbath morning, to see amongst them once more their venerable and beloved brother, Dr. Colver. He came, as the aged John used to come into the Christian assembly at Ephesus, leaning upon the shoulder of one younger and stronger than he, and testifying by his presence his love for the Savior and for the brethren." Again, on October 21, the Standard said: "The Fifth Church was honored on last Sabbath with a visit from their old pastor, Dr. Colver, who, standing, as he expressed himself, with his feet in the river, very near his home, preached a sermon to the church that they can never forget." The text was, "Ye are complete in Him." 2 1 Charles H. Corey, A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary, pp. 63-64. 3 Col. 2:10. MUSTERED OUT 113 Then, on November 18, 1869, the Standard published a letter that Dr. Colver wrote, as an urgent appeal for aid for the Home Mission Board in its great work of giving literary and Christian education to the freedmen of the South. He mentioned, as one of the special sources of danger to the freedmen, that there was a large class among them of "vain, untaught, but shrewd and enthusiastic men, ambitious to lead some church or party, who take advantage of the prejudices and the ignorance of the people to substitute, for the sober and holy religion of Christ, rant and noise, and the wildest imaginings, and gross errors, and the most boisterous and disreputable disorder and confusion; and, with great power over the people, turn them away from all who are able and willing to do them good We have but to wait a little while, and the mischief will be complete, and our efforts will be too late. Now is the time. Let it pass, and it will never return to us again Richmond is the Mecca of slavedom. The foundations are well laid there for a great and glorious work. It is in good hands." Dr. Justin A. Smith, in reviewing Dr. Colver's life, said that "Dr. Colver was a warm friend of missions, and always active in their promotion, both as a member of various mission- ary organizations and as a pastor It was in a like spirit of interest in wider relations of Christian service, and as prompted by a profound sense of the need of more preachers, and especially of more preachers filled with the truth and power of the gospel itself, that he devoted himself, in the later years of his life, to the instruction of young brethren preparing for the service. There are not a few brethren most, perhaps all of them now in the field who will remember till they die the lessons they received at his lips It was, however, upon his removal to Richmond and the gathering of a class of colored brethren there from various parts of the South, that he seemed to have found his crowning work. His long interest in the cause and destiny of the colored race, his service and sufferings in their 114 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES behalf, his large hope for them, realized at last beyond even his expectations, prepared him to find a joy in the work of fitting these brethren for a more intelligent and efficient service, that sometimes seemed more than his heart could hold. I have seen some of his lectures delivered to his class in Richmond models of condensed, clear, simple, yet thorough statement. Illus- trated extemporaneously in his own happy way, and filled with his spirit of zeal and love, these lectures were a feast to those who sat at his feet, many of them pastors, some of them having traveled long distances on foot that they might come to this banquet, and all of them enduring more or less of privation with the cheerfulness peculiar to their race. He continued in this work some time after it had become a question whether any morning might find him alive, and until repeated attacks of his complaint forced him to say, at last, with what reluctance some of us know well, that his work was done The one thing which made him restive under this enforced inaction, was his unwillingness to believe that he really had no more to do in the world. His interest in every great cause was just as warm and strong as when he was in the prime of his years. For the pulpit, especially, he used to long with a desire that seemed irrepres- sible. He still sought all ways of working for God, in gathering to his room groups of students for a kind of conversational lecture upon the way to preach, in such use of his pen as he still had- strength for, and in every other possible way. No man ever loved the Lord's work more." Again, Dr. Smith said that "the theology under which Dr. Colver had been reared was of that strong, scriptural tone which, we know, alone found favor with our Baptist fathers, and his Christian experience, from the very first, took the same tone. I think we shall all agree that the theology which he preached was the theology made experimental with him in his own con- version Whether assaulted by mobs in his own dwelling and in the bosom of his family, or threatened with violence and MUSTERED OUT 115 even death when standing in the pulpit; whether it was the fury of an excited populace; or the scarcely less barbarous fury of a hostile press, he met all, not only in the strength of a true man, but in the more beautiful spirit of a man of God. Unspar- ing and terrible, often, in his words; yet, I think I may truly say, with a heart whose controlling pulses always throbbed to the sway of a large and generous soul." With reference to Dr. Colver's general mental attitude and spiritual insight during his long illness, Dr. Smith said: "I think it must be true that never in his life was his apprehension of Scripture teaching more clear, just, and searching. For myself, I have almost never left his room but with some new thought upon either doctrine or experience to cherish and to treasure, or some look into the deep things of God as revealed in his word, altogether fresh and full of inspiration. These were his chosen themes. Of the body's pains, he spoke but seldom and briefly; of secular matters rarely at all, save as they related in some way to things higher; of the kingdom of God and great human interests, often and with all of his old warmth." 1 Dr. Colver's sick room seemed to many persons as being almost an anteroom to heaven. His ministerial friends espe- cially delighted to visit and converse with him. Students from the University of Chicago and from the Baptist Union Theological Seminary for a long while attended him at night, and all who did it seemed to remember it as a blessed privilege. The Standard said: "It is a treat to spend a few moments with him in his sick room. To witness his perfect peace is a pleasure; to talk with him how good the Lord is, is still a greater one; while the views of truth, the wonderfully sweet and bright 'Rev. J. A. Smith, D.D., "Nathaniel Colver: A Review of His Life, as Presented at the Funeral Held in the First Baptist Church of Chicago on September 28, 1870," which was published in full in the Standard of October 6, 1870. Dr. Smith took for a text: "All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!" Jer. 48:17. Ii6 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES illustrations of those great things of the kingdom, so long the theme of his ministry, which come to him alike in his waking and sleeping thoughts, are a feast to the soul." 1 Nine months later, 3 the Standard said again: " It is a great feast to sit with him in his sick room, and gather from his lips the ripe fruit of a half century of Christian experience, of service in the ministry of the Word, and of that study of the inspired Scriptures in which he 'profited above many.' The young men of the Uni- versity and Seminary, such of them as love divine things, find it good to be there." Something of his own feelings at times was indicated when he wrote, 3 on a flyleaf, on February 9, 1869, at one o'clock in the morning, "while," as he made record, "the watcher slept," these lines, which were published in the Standard of March n, 1869: "On Jordan's eastern bank I stand And hold a sweet survey; Before me lies the promised land, Behind, the pilgrim way. I joy to think that way is trod And all its terrors past; Though long and rough has been the road, I near my home at last. E'en death's cold stream has lost its dread Since Christ the way hath trod; Joyous I wait the last command To pass and rest with God." 1 December 3, 1868. 2 September 2, 1869. 3 It was easy for Dr. Colver to write in verse, and during his ministry he sometimes wrote the hymns which he desired to have sung on special occasions. MUSTERED OUT 117 Again, at the same hour in the morning, on October 22 of that year, being compelled to sit upright in his chair in order to get his breath, he wrote : " And while the weary watcher slept, A way-worn pilgrim waked and wept; He longed his home, his rest to see, And cried, My God, I wait for thee. My God, I wait for thee, My work on earth seems done, I long my Father's face to see As imaged in the Son. My God, I wait for thee, O, when will Jesus come ? A mansion is prepared for me, O haste, and take me home." 1 At last the summons "home," which he had often longed for after his work seemed to him to be done, came to Dr. Colver, on Sunday, September 25, 1870. His last words were: "It is all right; I am going to that Savior who died for me." 2 The Standard, in announcing in its leading editorial 3 the death of Dr. Colver, said: "We know well with what mournful interest the tidings of this event will be received throughout the country. Not only is it a father in Israel who has left us; but a champion, a war-worn soldier of Jesus Christ, a veteran in every cause most precious to humanity, has fallen fallen on the field, we may say. For while he stood in his post of service till strength absolutely failed, and even when lying upon his couch of suffering, he still was eager to testify for the truth and 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., p. 326. 2 " Hesperius, " in "Correspondence from Boston," in the Standard of October 20, 1870. 3 September 29, 1870. n8 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the right, as opportunity served. The last two years of his life were passed in a struggle with the common enemy, death, in which he overcame even as he fell." In Boston, the Watchman and Reflector paid tribute, 1 in its leading editorial, to the memory of Dr. Colver, whose death, it stated, had been announced by telegraph. It said that "the pilgrimage of the valley was a long one, but the pilgrim in traveling it has had unceasingly songs in the night, and the many who have visited him there have come forth from a favored interview with the worn soldier of the cross, as from the presence chamber of the King of kings." It also reported that at the meeting of the Social Union, held on Monday even- ing and presided over by Hon. Joseph Story, tributes were paid by Mr. Story and others, and a telegram of fraternal sympathy was sent to the bereaved family, "with congratulations for a life whose influence is a felt power in the church, in the denomi- nation, and in the Republic." At Tremont Temple, in Boston, Dr. Justin D. Fulton preached a commemorative sermon which, on request, was repeated on the following Sunday afternoon, and was published in full in the Watchman and Reflector. He said: "Nathaniel Colver, the John Knox of the American pulpit, is at rest Like Elijah, he ascended to God in triumph, praying that a double portion of his spirit might rest upon the ministry who remain to carry on the fight His life is an illustration of the truth that it matters not where we begin; the determining fact about every one is within, not without. What are you ? not, Where are you ? is the important question His common sense way of dealing with difficult passages of Scripture and of solving knotty problems compensated the most learned when they gave him their attention He gloried in being hidden with Christ in God, but not in being hidden in man. Before the world he was a standard-bearer, and he would not 1 September 29, 1870. MUSTERED OUT 119 brook rebuke or control in serving his Master. Policy was unable to bind him either with the silken cord of love or with fetters of iron His very temperament made him great for an emergency. But his commonplaces were for most men uncommon utterances Though he has not won the reputation which adheres to the name of Robert Hall or Andrew Fuller by the products of his pen, it may be questioned whether he has not accomplished as important work. As a debater he stands unrivaled His unselfishness was proverbial. He found pleasure in giving a lift to any needed work, whether it was to a poor man tugging away at his load in the highway, or to a brother battling with a force too great for him As a teacher he possessed rare gifts. He knew how to put a point and place a subject in the light of truth relieved of obscurity and doubt His mantle has been left behind for others. Who can wear it? Who will try? His spirit walks with Christ and the redeemed. The warrior is at rest." 1 Mr. George Trask, a Congregationalist, of Fitchburg, Massa- chusetts, wrote a letter to the Standard, which was published on November 10, 1870, in which he said that the frequent refer- ences in the columns of the paper to the sickness and death of Dr. Colver were read with intense interest by old friends in the old Bay State. "In the early days of the temperance and anti- slavery reforms, I was often associated with him on occasions when his strong and original mind, his benevolent and volcanic heart, appeared to great advantage. His iron logic, his ready wit, his burning zeal for the glory of God and the rights of man, rendered him irresistible in assaulting our vices, our national crimes and sins. He was a reformer of the apostolic type. When laboring with us, in this state, he 'conferred not with flesh and blood.' He was almost ubiquitous, from Cape Cod 1 Rev. J. D. Fulton, "The Warrior at Rest: A Sketch of the Life and Character of Nathaniel Colver," the Watchman and Reflector of October 13, 1870. 120 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES to the Berkshire Hills, and hurled God's truths as an avalanche upon distillers and dramshops upon slavery and all its apolo- gists. Though he was intensely a Baptist, he was a broad man, and had broad views. Every wholesale reform found in him a brave defender. Few men have had an equal amount of sheer power in sweeping an audience. A celebrated and extraordinary judge of men in all of the vocations of life said to us a few days ago, 'I never heard Colver talk in our conventions but he reminded me of Daniel Webster; his grasp upon us was the grasp of a giant!' I add that, in point of experimentalism, wit, poetry, and self-sacrifice for the cause of God and the rights of man, he often reminded me of John Bunyan; and I hazard the opinion that an honest and unreserved presentation of his specific traits, character, and life-struggles would show him to be no very inferior edition of his illustrious prototype the glorious old dreamer in Bedford prison." Dr. Cyrus F. Tolman, of Chicago, who was for thirty-five years, from 1866, district secretary for the western district of the American Baptist Missionary Union, now the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, in a conversation in 1920 described Dr. Colver as a man, as a student, as a preacher, and as a teacher. Dr. Tolman, who was a comparatively young man in a responsible position when he knew Dr. Colver, said that what impressed him the most about Dr. Colver was his fatherliness, in the full meaning of the word; that Dr. Colver treated him just as if he were his own son, and in that sense he was truly fatherly; that Dr. Colver always took great interest in young men preparing for, or in, the ministry. Another very impressive thing about Dr. Colver was that he was a man of prayer a man who communed with God. He had fellowship with the Spirit. He prayed a great deal about the Baptist Theological Seminary, waiting on God, believing that his prayers would be answered. Personally, Dr. Colver was always agreeable, pleasant, cheerful, and hopeful. He smiled, and was MUSTERED OUT 1 21 pleasant. He thought and felt in harmony and sympathy with other people. He was not sanctimonious hi any respect. He was not a pietist. But he was a man of genuine piety. He was always serious when Dr. Tolman met him. He never joked about anything. Dr. Tolman added that he always felt that he had received a blessing when he had been with Dr. Colver. Dr. Tolman said that Dr. Colver was a great student, and said further that he was pretty certain that, if Dr. Colver was not what might be called a Greek scholar, he was at least a student of that language, as conversations with him on inter- pretations of the New Testament indicated that he was familiar with the Greek. 1 "Dr. Colver/' Dr. Tolman went on to say, "was a great preacher. He was very popular. He had great and apprecia- tive congregations. He studied his congregations, as well as his text. He watched closely to see if what he said was apprehended by them, and, if not, he restated it so that they would grasp it. He gripped his congregations, and took them with him. He sought to win them, and he was very successful in leading men to Christ. He was a great, orthodox theologian. His doc- trinal statements were concise, clear, and convincing. He had also the power to teach, as well as to preach. His students were never in doubt as to what was the meaning of his words. He was never ambiguous; never indefinite." With special deliberation Dr. Tolman said that he con- sidered that Dr. Colver was not only one of the leaders in starting the Baptist Union Theological Seminary in Chicago, but that, in spirit, he was largely the originator of it. Dr. John Gordon, of Philadelphia, who was one of Dr. Colver's students at the first University of Chicago, writes that "Dr. Colver was a man of unusual ability. He was large in body, mind, and heart. As a man, he commanded respect and esteem; as a Christian, he was sincere; as a preacher, he was 1 Some of the footnotes to Dr. Colver's three lectures on The Prophecy of Daniel Literally Fulfilled show a knowledge of Latin. 122 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES ever zealous and was 'mighty in the Scriptures.' He fed the flock, and was faithful in warning the unsaved. As a teacher of theological students, he was inspiring, and his delight was to 'open the Scriptures' and reveal their priceless treasures. His whole life was one of consecration to God and to the best inter- ests of humanity, and his memory is a lasting benediction to the church and to the world. He was a ' living epistle, known and read of all men'; and, as a workman, he 'needed not to be ashamed.' He was one of Christ's most faithful servants, and few men ever preached more earnestly or eloquently the glorious gospel he loved so well. He had in himself all of the elements of nobility. He was 'a prince and a great man in Israel.' " Continuing his description of Dr. Colver, Dr. Gordon says that he "was a man of unusual common sense, quaint humor, and was able to meet emergencies. He was a keen antagonist of what he believed to be wrong; and, by eloquence, sagacity, and wit, was a formidable opponent in debate and public speech." Again, Dr. Gordon says that "Dr. Colver was a Nathaniel 'whom God gave,' and in whom was no guile. Never did he fail to encourage and befriend the lowliest of God's ministers. He was a sagacious man and readily and wisely met every emer- gency. During the great 'May Meetings' (then so called) in Chicago, in 1867, announcements were made one day that the alumni of the various universities and theological seminaries would meet at certain hours in stated rooms of the First Baptist Church. Many of the delegates to the meetings were not graduates of any college or seminary, and, fearing that they might feel somewhat depressed, Dr. Colver, who took in the situation at once, rising, announced with clear and ringing voice, ' The Alumni of the Brush Heap will meet in such a room, and at such a time.' Loud cheers followed, and the gloom was dispersed; and the largest gathering held that year was that of the 'Alumni of the Brush Heap.' 'A word spoken in season, how good it is.' MUSTERED OUT 123 "The foundations which Dr. Colver laid were neither plastic nor crumbling, but were as compact and solid as the granite of his native Vermont. His was Pauline theology. He knew no compound of grace and works as the remedy for sin. The great doctrines of God's sovereignty, of Christ's atonement, and of the Holy Spirit's office were the themes of his teaching. His classroom instruction was profitable in the highest degree, and his students were led to ' search the Scriptures,' and thus qualify themselves to be the teachers of others. In addition to his class in biblical theology, he met several of the University students every Friday afternoon in his own home, on Douglas Place, for the study of homiletics, and thus enabled them to prepare their sermons. "Dr. Colver, humanly speaking, laid the foundations of the Tremont Temple, in Boston; the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, in Chicago; and of the Colver Institute, 1 in Richmond . 'The Evening State Journal, of Richmond, "official paper for the government," on October 25, 1870, reported "exceedingly interesting and impressive" memorial services as having been held on the previous after- noon, at the First African Church, in honor of "Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., who founded here the Colored Theological College, known now as the ' Colver Institute. ' " The paper stated that the students of the Institute marched to the church, "and these young men presented as respectable and intelligent a body as we have seen for a long time." Dr. Corey, who took for his text: "There is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel" (II Sam. 3:38), said of Dr. Colver that, "old and infirm when he came here, the heavy task he had undertaken proved too much for him, but not before he had shown its practicability and so started it as to insure its success." Even Dr. J , of this city, says: "We sincerely respected him for his earnestness, courage, and consistency." Rev. Mr. Wells lauded Dr. Colver as the founder of the Theological College, and, pointing to the students before him, "said to the assembled multitude: 'There is the labor that will elevate you and our whole race in Virginia and the South. Those young men, thanks chiefly to Dr. Colver, are in training, both heart and head; and when they go forth among our people, their influence and example, their teachings and their practice, will have the effect to raise us from the degradation into which we have been plunged." 124 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES He was a wise master builder, and yet he 'built better than he knew/ and the whole history of these great and marvelous institutions, with their untold blessings to countless thousands, loudly proclaims the name and deeds of Dr. Nathaniel Colver. "It was my sacred privilege to be much with Dr. Colver during the last months of his illness, as, like other students, I watched by his bedside during many nights. The experiences one had there were solemn and invaluable lessons." There are two oil paintings of Dr. Colver. One of them, showing him standing and as he appeared in the earlier portion of his ministry in Boston, is in one of the halls in Tremont Temple, Boston. The other one, a bust portrait made in later life, is in one of the rooms of the Divinity School of the Uni- versity of Chicago. The name plate on the frame of this picture says he was "A Founder of the Divinity School. In 1865-66 He Began the Work of Theological Instruction in the Old University of Chicago." There is also, in Tremont Temple, a bust portrait in crayon, evidently made near or after the close of his pastorate in Boston. The frontispiece of this volume is a reproduction from an old photograph. In sending a photograph of himself to his eldest son, Dr. Colver wrote, in 1868, among other lines these: " Despise not my wrinkles Old Time's little crinkles; They speak of the battles for Right. In the work of reform I have faced every storm, And never turned back in the fight. "For three score and thirteen I a pilgrim have been; Over fifty the trumpet have blown; Through the kind hand of God, By his staff and his rod, Ne'er faltered in making him known." PART III THE LIFE OF REV. CHARLES KENDRICK COLVER REV. CHARLES KENDRICK COLVER IN 1891 CHAPTER I THROUGH BOYHOOD Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver, son of Dr. Nathaniel Colver, was the fourth and last of the Baptist ministers in this line of Colvers. He inherited many of the distinctive characteristics of his father and imbibed much of the latter's sturdy, heroic thought, yet became a man of his own strong individuality, who endeavored to live his own life, in its apparently appointed way. Consequently, while his life was projected on the same high plane as was his father's, and was equally consecrated, it was a different one from his father's. It was not so broad in its under- takings, nor was it so spectacular in its various phases, as was his father's life; but it had great depth, and it had, too, its points of interest, perhaps all the more in this connection because of the contrasts between it and his father's life, as well as because it was an exceptional example of a comparatively quiet, earn- est, remarkably self-controlled, simple, and sincere life of great moral and intellectual strength, which was patterned as care- fully as it well could be after the life and teachings of the Man of Nazareth, yet was also imbued with much of the spirit of the Old Testament. Charles Kendrick Colver was born in the Green Mountains, or, as his family record had it, in Clarendon, Vermont, on May 22, 1821. By Clarendon is here meant one of those units of government into which counties are subdivided, called towns, which are so important in New England polity, but which are generally of less consequence elsewhere, being little more than convenient, subordinate subdivisions of the counties, which are commonly the real units. This was never a home of the Indians, 127 128 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES but it had been a part of a common hunting- and battleground of several war-loving tribes. The Clarendon landscape is especially delightful in its com- binations of mountains, valleys, and uplands, with their woods, fields, pastures, and rushing streams. Much of the land, how- ever, is quite stony; and the winters there are long and rigorous. But the attractions sufficiently outweighed the disadvantages, so that, by 1821, these valleys had been settled for more than half a century by a hardy people, a considerable proportion of the first settlers being Baptists from Rhode Island, while the first settled minister in the town was a Baptist. Farming, including dairying, has always been the chief occupation of the inhabitants. Of fine, fertile valleys between the mountains there are several in the town. One not very large one, but of pleasing aspect, with a stream flowing through it, is located in the western part of the town, or in what may be called West Clarendon. In that valley, where is now the hamlet known as Chippenhook, there was built, at some time during the years 1797 to 1799, a typical small, plain, frame Baptist meetinghouse, to which people not only from that valley, but from the surrounding country as well, came to worship. There it was that Dr. Colver was ordained to the ministry and served his first pastorate. He lived on a farm about a mile from the meetinghouse, and on that farm this son was born. That was still in the era of the wooden plow, of the spinning wheel, of the tallow candle, and of the open fireplace. The clothing was generally plain, homespun, and homemade. But log houses were being superseded by frame ones of one story in height. The common plan was to have a huge chimney in the center of the house, with a room on one side having a large open fireplace in it, which room was used as kitchen, dining-room, and sitting-room, while on the other side were two square rooms with an entryway between them, and with doors to all so arranged THROUGH BOYHOOD 129 that when all of the doors were opened a passageway was formed which the boys and girls utilized in chasing one another in their play of "running round the chimney. " The life of the times was centered in the home and was con- fined almost entirely to the home and to the church. The workdays were long and were filled with hard toil. The diver- sions were few and were largely utilitarian in their nature, such as hunting, trapping, and fishing, husking bees, apple-parings, and quiltings. There was but little of class or social distinc- tions. Visiting between neighbors was quite common, espe- cially in the long evenings of winter. The women might also from time to time have their afternoon teas together. The boys, and sometimes the young men, when the opportunity was afforded for it, played old-fashioned ball, pitched horse- shoes or quoits, or engaged in various contests of strength and skill. Money was scarce. There was not much of it in circulation. For that reason the few wants which could not be met by home production or labor were usually supplied by some sort of barter. The ministers were generally paid a large portion of their meager salaries in produce of one kind or another. The school teachers were also often paid in it. For example, it is stated that in one school district in the town it was voted, about the year 1820, to pay the teacher, a woman, sixty-seven cents a week in grain, for teaching the school. The wood needed for the schools was generally obtained by assessing a certain number of feet of it to each scholar, to be delivered by lot. 1 In marked contrast, in physical features, with the place in Vermont where he was born, were the places in the state of New York where Charles K. Colver spent his boyhood and grew up; and this difference in topography undoubtedly influenced many of the early settlers in the former state to move into 1 Vermont Historical Gazetteer, III, 552ff.; History of Rutland County, Vermont, edited by Smith and Rann, pp. 70-73. 130 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the latter, where the cultivable areas were of much greater extent, farms were larger, the soil less stony, the country more level, and where the facilities for transportation and travel were earlier and better developed. It was none of these things, but a sense of duty, that took Dr. Colver to Fort Covington; yet they all contributed toward giving him a larger and more populous field than he had before, and some of them materially aided him to cover that field. Fort Covington was an important village in the northern part of the state of New York, about a mile from the Canadian frontier, in the broad valley of the St. Lawrence River and a few miles only from that river. The outlook was quite a pleasing one, on a rolling, farming country, with deer to be seen frequently, if not daily, feeding in the meadows not very far away. Dr. Colver went to this new field of labor some time in June, 1821, the month following that in which Charles was born. On account of the somewhat poor health which Mrs. Colver had been having, it was thought best that she and the child should remain for a while with relatives in Vermont, and they stayed there until the following winter. Then they were taken to the new home prepared for them in Fort Covington; but that was sadly darkened by the lengthening shadows cast by the con- tinually failing health of Mrs. Colver, until the little boy was finally left motherless. Concerning Mrs. Colver, little record has been preserved beyond this and the fact that Dr. Colver found in her a wife like-minded with himself, whose sympathy and approval were with him when he entered upon a calling which promised to set before them both a life of hardship and self-sacrifice. 1 1 Mrs. Colver's grave, grass-covered and shaded a portion of the day by trees, is in the southeast corner of the old burying ground in Fort Coving- ton, but a few blocks from the center of the village. It is just west of a street which runs alongside of the old Baptist meetinghouse, a couple of blocks north, that was built during Dr. Colver's pastorate; and it over- THROUGH BOYHOOD 131 Time passed, and before Charles was quite four years old his father brought into their lonely home one who was to be a new helpmate for himself and a new mother for the little lad, a most important thing for good or otherwise in any child's life. In this case it was distinctly for good, for both the father and the boy. This second wife and mother proved to be much like the first one in her complete sympathy with Dr. Colver and his work. When, through many years, he stood in the forefront of reform movements that had few friends and many enemies, and, as it were, carried his life in his hand, her brave, true heart never quailed. The love which she bore him was strength, not weak- ness, to him; and she was ever ready to share with him to the end whatever might come from fidelity to truth and the right. As a pastor's wife, she was one whom all loved, and to whom the poor and the sorrowing turned, drawn by the magnetism of her kind heart. She was a peacemaker, counselor, and consoler, found much oftener in the home of mourning than in the house of feasting. Her kindness to the poor was especially marked; and her hospitality, which was constantly being put to the test, was always, in the most emphatic sense, "without grudging. " She delighted, too, to be where Christians assembled and to hear their testimonies; but she herself was less demonstrative as a Christian than many. What distinguished her most was her unswerving faithfulness to duty, what was right being with her ever the first question, the determination of which determined every other. 1 These characteristics of hers perhaps explained looks a bend toward it in the Salmon River, just east of the street. It is marked by an old-style marble tombstone on which is inscribed: In memory of SALLY, conjort of Rev. Nath 1 Colver Died Feb. 27th, 1824 Aged 28 years Not lojt, but gone before 1 Rev. J. A. Smith, in funeral sermon published in the Standard of May 7, 1868. 132 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES whence came some of those developed by Charles. It is easier to believe than not that this undemonstrative, good woman, strong in her sense of duty, and ready to endure anything in the cause of right, must, as guardian of the home, early teacher, and example, have had much influence over that sensitive young child and in the shaping of his character, which in some re- spects either became very much like hers, or else was in those respects by nature strikingly similar to hers. There were, of course, other influences, of persons and of environment, which had to do, through the formative years, with the creation of Charles's character. Some of these will be noted in their appropriate places. One more may be con- sidered now the influence of the boy's father, who was revered. He not only in himself furnished Charles with a high ideal of Christian manhood and consecration to the Lord's work, but he also, notwithstanding that he was occupied with other things to a great extent and that he was away from home much of the time preaching and working for reforms, had much to do with the training of his son. What that meant may be inferred from his published essay on Parental Discipline, which shows that he had some very decided ideas about how children should be brought up. In order that parents may meet their responsibility in this matter, Dr. Colver declared that it is not sufficient to store the child's mind with any definite amount of knowledge, or theory of morals. Nor is the task one that can be accomplished suddenly, or by fitful application. To secure a child's con- tinuance u in the way that he should go, " he must be trained in that way. The habits of the way must be fixed in the mind ; and they must be made effectual there by the constant application of some efficient law. Mere habits, when established, have in themselves much of the self -perpetuating power; but, for secur- ing a continuance in righteousness, they will be found insufficient. In addition to them, there must be some ever-present, efficient THROUGH BOYHOOD 133 motive, prompting to a blameless life, and also the habit of con- stant recurrence to that motive; so that it may affect the mind, not by reflection and induction, but, as it were, by intuition. Two things are therefore indispensable to the attainment of the end desired. It is necessary, first, that while the child is under the molding influence of the parent, an upright life should be made his habitual deportment, and, secondly, that the fear of the Lord should be made his habitual motive to such a life. In ten thousand instances where temptation would have stolen the march on slow-footed reasoning and induction, it has been met and repelled by early impressions of the fear of the Lord. The flange of a partially trained conscience, with the rail track of youthful habits, has prevented us from being turned aside to our destruction. Take the great mass of the people together, and the extent, not of their knowledge, but of their correct early home training, will be the measure of their security against temp- tation the measure of the probability that their lives will be marked by uprightness of manner and character. 1 Dr. Colver was also very particular about the kind of reading that was furnished or allowed to young persons. He particularly objected to "Sunday-school novels," or to the light reading which he found being introduced to a large extent into the Sunday schools, and he strongly expressed the wish that other and better books might be used instead. It is not to be wondered at that, reared in a home where such influences, views, and examples prevailed, Charles should develop into an earnest, studious, and God-fearing boy, and 1 Rev. N. Colver, Parental Discipline: An essay on the duty of parents by their own training to form the habits and characters of their children, in order to the success of Sabbath schools. This essay was read before the Sabbath School Teachers' Convention of the Boston Baptist Associa- tion at its annual meeting, at Cambridge, in 1846, and was published in compliance with a vote of the convention and also at the urgent solicita- tion of many parents, who felt that its circulation would be productive of great good to the cause of truth (Boston: New England Sabbath School Union). 134 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES later, man. He lived at Fort Covington until he was about eight years of age. The first years were, of course, mainly years of play, developing his mind and training his muscles, while at the same time he was learning some of the primary requirements of life. Then came little chores, and after them larger ones and the beginning of study, first at home and afterward at school. His great love and knowledge of the Bible shown in after-years suggests that, while he may not have been shut up with the Bible as closely in childhood as was his father, who had almost nothing else to read and who devoured the Bible, still it must early have been lovingly read and taught to him and after that have been his companion a large part of his Sabbaths at least, and perhaps on other days as well. Nor was his young mind ever weakened by his reading trashy books of any sort, but it was trained to feed on substantial thought, which became a life- long habit. When the family moved from Fort Covington southward to Kingsbury, in Washington County, New York, where they were to live for several years, it was decidedly to a country life that they went, with a country school for the older children to attend, for Charles was not the only child in the family. 1 A boy's clothing in those days was still generally homespun and homemade, or at least homemade, and consisted of a waist to which a pair of trousers were buttoned, and of a jacket or coat. He usually had two such suits, an "everyday" one, and a "Sunday suit," to wear on Sundays and on special occasions. J The children in the family were, by Dr. Colver's first wife: John Dean Colver, born in 1817, and Phineas Clark Colver, born January 4, 1819, both born in the town of West Stockbridge, near what is now called West Stockbridge Center, Massachusetts; and Charles Kendrick Colver, born May 22, 1821, in the town of Clarendon, Vermont. By the second wife: Hiram Wallace Colver, born August 18, 1826, and William Nathaniel, known later simply as Nathaniel Colver, born March 17, 1829, both born at Fort Covington, New York; a daughter, Sarah Colver, was born March 24, 1833, in Kingsbury, New York. Like a daughter must also be counted Mary B. Carter, born August 18, 1818, Mrs. Colver's daughter by a former marriage. THROUGH BOYHOOD 135 He might have a straw hat for summer; or he might go bare- headed. He would certainly have a cap for winter, which might be made of cloth or knit of woolen yarn, yet was more apt to be made of the fur of some animal, perhaps one that he had himself trapped or shot and then prepared the skin of for his own use. In summer he went barefooted; but in winter he wore home-knit woolen stockings and cowhide top-boots. He would also have for winter a pair of mittens made of cloth or knit of woolen yarn, or made from some kind of tanned skin, deerskin mittens being great favorites on account of their wearing quali- ties and softness. When the housewife could not, in addition to all of her other work, make all of the clothing needed for the family, she might have a needlewoman, a dressmaker, a tailor, or more frequently a tailoress come in and help her with her sewing or the making of clothes, which was done in the fall particularly. Shoemakers used also to go to the homes, especially in the autumn, to make the boots and shoes needed for the coming year. After a boy got to be old enough or strong enough, and sometimes before that, his life, especially in the country, became almost wholly one of toil, the days often beginning for him with chores before the dawn, and lasting with the evening chores until after dark. Sometimes bad weather brought him a rest; sometimes, none. Sunday alone brought regularly a change among the devout in going to church, or in reading the Bible or religious matter of some kind at home. Then there were occa- sional trips to mill or possibly late on Saturdays to the nearest village, to take in produce or to get needed supplies and the mail. Once in a great while he might have the delight of going to the village to attend some sort of a celebration there, as on the Fourth of July. Occasionally a boy might also get to go hunt- ing or fishing. In the autumn, husking bees and apple-paring bees, commonly held in turn by all the farmers, gave him his greatest social pleasures. 136 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES If not deemed to be too old or too much needed for work, even a well-grown boy or young man might still, after the fall work was done and the frost had put an end to plowing and doing many other things, be permitted to go to school for several months during the winter, if he desired to do so, doing the chores at home before going to school in the morning and after return- ing in the evening, and doing extra things needed, like getting up wood or feed for the stock, on Saturdays. In school, he perhaps studied reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, geography, grammar, history, and possibly one or two other subjects. For boys with a good start and studiously inclined it was a great privilege and something of a pleasure to attend school in the winter, while for some others, untrained and slow of mind and prematurely worn-out with work, it was a good deal of an ordeal and of less benefit. Where many large pupils attended the school in winter, a man was generally hired for teacher. School in other months was intended for the younger children of the district alone those not yet old enough for work on the farm or in the house and a young woman was usually the teacher. All of the pupils, excepting possibly a few living quite near the schoolhouse, carried their "dinners" with them to school and remained until the school closed in the afternoon. During the noon hour, after hurriedly eating, and at the recesses they sought relaxation and amusement in various games. The smaller boys played such games as tag, "I spy," and sometimes marbles; while the larger boys often played ball or engaged in other games and contests which showed and tended to develop their alertness, strength, and endurance. The girls jumped the rope, or played games like ring around the rosy, and sometimes tag, or "I spy." After what was practically a country life, it was a great change for Charles when he was thirteen years old to have his home transferred to Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, due to his THROUGH BOYHOOD 137 father's acceptance of a pastorate in that place which was then a suburb of Philadelphia, ten miles north of the city, but is now incorporated into the latter. The journey there, and after it the proximity to a great city, gave to the boy a new and some- what different as well as a larger personal outlook on life than he had yet had. It was even more memorable for him because Holmesburg became the place of his conversion, and of his baptism on August 24, 1834. But his stay in Holmesburg was for only about six months on account of his father's yielding to the urgent and almost irresistible call of the Bottskill Baptist Church in Union Village, afterward called Greenwich, in Washington County, New York, which took the family back to within about twenty miles of Kingsbury. Union Village was a somewhat important and attractive place of possibly a thousand inhabitants; but the fact that a year later Charles gave his place of residence as being in Greenwich would indicate that the family lived on a farm in the town of Greenwich outside of the village, which, however, would not prevent his getting all of the benefits that he could possibly derive from the village, including, undoubtedly, attendance at the village school. CHAPTER II NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY When Charles was fourteen years of age, the door was opened for what seemed to him a great opportunity a chance to enter on academic study with a view to preparing himself thoroughly for the ministry. That it came to him as it did showed that he had made good use of such educational advantages as he had had, and that he was considered a promising youth. It was late in the summer of 1835. He was out either in the garden or in the field working. A man who came in a buggy stopped at the house. That in itself was no unusual occurrence, for in those days Baptist ministers as a rule kept open house, or "Baptist inns," as they have been called, where other Baptist ministers and sometimes laymen were wont, as occasion arose for it, to seek lodging or to stop for a meal, on account of com- mon interests and a desire for religious conversation; and at Dr. Colver's house the latchstring was always out, and his guests were many. Furthermore, it was a Baptist minister who stopped there this time. But after a while Charles was called into the house. Then he was asked whether he would like to go away to school. The question almost stunned him. Could it be true that the way was being opened for him to do it ? He could hardly realize it, for it was altogether too good just what he most longed to do. It meant so much to him, partly because such opportunities were fewer in those days than they are now, and partly because he had thought that no such good fortune could come to him in particular. His father asked him if he could "live close, and would study hard. " The boy answered unhesitatingly in the affirmative. He found satisfaction in the 138 NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 139 hard study; but he once said, many years afterward, that perhaps he had tried to live too "close," and it did probably affect somewhat his whole subsequent life. The visitor referred to was a Baptist minister named Edmunds, who, as an agent or representative of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, located at Hamilton, in Madison County, New York, traveled about to raise funds, and incidentally to get desirable students, for the school. After the matter with regard to Charles's going to Hamilton had been satisfactorily settled, and Mr. Edmunds had perhaps rested for the night, he went on his way. In the course of a couple of weeks, after ample time had been given for all needed prepara- tions to be made, he returned, and when he went away that time he took Charles along with him, the boy's clothes and books being in a box or chest which his father made for him, which was put into the back part of the buggy. The Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, which afterward became Madison University, and is now Colgate University, had three buildings on the side of a hill overlooking a beautiful, peaceful valley, in many respects an ideal place for it if solitude and repose contribute to the highest mental culture. It was unique in its character, being for about twenty years, until 1839, devoted exclusively to the education of young men for the ministry. The catalogue for 1835-36 said that the institution was open to young men possessing the requisite qualifications, from every denomination of evangelical Chris- tians ; that candidates for admission were examined in relation to their Christian experience, call to the ministry, and studies; and that everyone was required to present testimonials from the church to which he belonged, certifying that he had the appro- bation of the church in entering upon a course of preparation for the gospel ministry. But while the faculty urged on the churches the utmost caution in recommending young men as proper candidates for the ministry, they would have it known 140 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES that a full license was required of none previous to his commen- cing the study of theology. According to the same catalogue, there was a faculty of eight, which included such men as Nathaniel Kendrick, Barnas Sears, Thomas J. Conant, and Asahel C. Kendrick. There were 153 students. The name of Charles K. Colver, residence Green- wich, was given as that of a student in the academic department as it was also in the catalogue of 1836-37. The charge in 1835-36 for board, washing, and lodging was one dollar a week; in 1836-37 it was $i .25 a week. Tuition in the academic depart- ment was $20 a year. Chapel services, which the students were required to attend, were held twice a day in the morning and in the afternoon. The morning services, which were held at six o'clock, were con- ducted by the students in turn; while the services in the after- noon, at five o'clock, were in charge of the professors. The Hamilton students of that period were for the most part, if not altogether, from pious families of limited means, and were, as they have been described, consecrated to a sacred vocation, and commenced and pursued their studies under the over- shadowings of a high and holy purpose and the solemnity of their individual responsibility to God. Their teachers aimed to elicit the native powers and peculiar tendencies of the students to make them think for themselves and to stand up firmly, independently, and self-reliantly upon their own mental and moral bases. The Hamilton student was therefore pre-eminently self-centered, self-poised, self-pronounced, and self -regulated. He was natural, manly, serious, earnest, loved to study, to investigate, and to think. He was practical, intrepid, prompt to take hold of hard work, to go anywhere, to endure anything whereby God might be glorified and man benefited. Furthermore, he scorned fopperies and finicalities, affectations, and facile accommodations to fashion, and artificial etiquette. Yet the Hamilton alumnus was a Christian gentleman, who SCHOOLHOUSE AND BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSE, KINGSBURY, NEW YORK HAMILTON LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION BROWN UNIVERSITY IN 1340 NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 141 knew how to be gentle and courteous to all men, and perfectly meet the proprieties of good, considerate, and delicate behavior to men and women of sense and refinement. 1 Charles K. Colver was very much such a student and after- ward man. That was on account of his serious, studious nature, his aim in life, and his home training, together with the effect, to some degree probably, of the two years which he spent at Hamilton in association with other students of the kind described, and under teachers who did all they well could to encourage and promote the development of something of that type of character in every student. After Charles had completed the two years' course of study at Hamilton which prepared him for college, he for some reason remained at home for a year. Then he went for four years to Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, which was of benefit to him in several ways. It gave him new associates in study, and some with different aims and views from his own. For example, one of his classmates at Brown was Albert Hark- ness, who afterward became the distinguished author of text- books for the study of Latin. New teachers also meant new influences -and inspirations, while residence in such a city as Providence could not be without its advantages. Brown University is remarkably well situated. It is on a hill, in a comparatively quiet residential district favorable to study, while at the foot of the hill, within a few minutes' walk west, is the business section of the city. Moreover, the city itself, which has always been an important center of influence, could not then any more than it can now, be said to be too large or too small for the best interests of the University, which has been peculiarly an integral part of the city as well as of the state of Rhode Island famous as an early abode of religious tolera- tion and liberty and which was in a sense the birthplace of the 'Rev. George W. Eaton, "Historical Discourse," in The First Half- Century of Madison University (New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872), pp. 31-32. 142 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Baptist denomination in America. The city had in 1840 a population of 23,172, of whom 1,302 were colored persons. Brown University was founded in 1764 as Rhode Island College, principally to educate young men for the Baptist ministry, although that was never made its exclusive purpose. In 1838-39, when Charles K. Colver went there and became a member of the class that was to be graduated in 1842, the University had three buildings: University Hall, which was built in 1770; Hope College, a dormitory, built in 1822; and Manning Hall, used for library and chapel purposes, built in 1834. To these was added, in 1840, Rhode Island Hall, dedi- cated to the sciences. The first two buildings were built of brick ; the other two of stone, covered with cement. The entire property was estimated to be worth over $150,000. According to the Brown catalogue for the year 1838-39, the University then had a faculty of nine. Of students it had 188, one of whom was Charles K. Colver, freshman. He lived that year at a private house, but thereafter had a room in Hope College. Board in Commons cost, in different years, from $1.25 to $1.80, or from $1.50 to $2 a week. Tuition, room rent, and incidentals were $63 a year. But what distinguished Brown University the most at that time was its president Francis Wayland, who was one of the foremost educators of his day. He was in particular a great moral and intellectual stimulus to the students who came under him. His influence on them was extraordinary, and the impres- sions that he made were lasting. Like many others, Mr. Colver throughout his after-life cherished the memory of Dr. Wayland, and he from time to time, especially in his home, referred with marked respect to what he regarded as important statements that had been made by Dr. Wayland. The regulations of the University, the catalogue declared, were formed with the single design of promoting the intellectual and moral advancement of its members. The discipline was NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 143 intended to be strictly parental. The officers desired to culti- vate with their pupils habits of kind and familiar intercourse, and to influence them rather by an appeal to the better prin- ciples of the heart than by severe or disgraceful punishment. But one rule which Dr. Wayland was very insistent upon required the members of the faculty to occupy rooms in the University buildings during the hours prescribed for study and to visit the rooms of the students. This was not very popular with either the professors or the students. Dr. Wayland himself set a good example and could regularly be found hard at work in his room in Hope College. What student life was for the class of 1842 was afterward described by Albert Harkness. He said that it was academic life pure and simple. The students lived together in the college, and dined together in what was called "Commons Hall," which was in University Hall. The hours for devotion, for study, and for recitation were the same for all, and were regulated by the college bell with the precision of clockwork. The entire aca- demic body of officers and students was expected to attend chapel services at six o'clock in the morning, and again at five o'clock in the afternoon, on which latter occasion, after prayer by the president, some junior or senior would deliver a spirited oration on some theme of academic, local, or national interest. Every student was required to meet his teacher in the classroom directly after prayers in the morning or before breakfast, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and at four o'clock in the after- noon. From seven until nine o'clock in the evening it was his bounden duty to be in his own private study. Such was the cloistered life in those days at Brown; and it was not without its advantages. The faculty and students constituted an academic family. Ties of friendship were formed which not even the cares of the busiest life could ever sunder. 1 1 Memories of Brown (Providence: Brown Alumni Magazine Co., 1909), p. 68. 144 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES But the friendly personal relations between professors and students were confined almost entirely to the classroom. Nor did the students as a rule go into society in the city before their senior year, and not many of them then. The studies were principally Greek, Latin, and mathematics, especially during the first two years. However, at a little later period, Dr. Wayland introduced at Brown the first important elective system in this country. No provision was made for physical culture; but some of the students got exercise and relaxation by playing baseball and football in a simple way back of Hope College. During his four years at Brown University, Charles Ken- drick Colver made a fine record. He stood especially high in mathematics, in Greek, and in Latin, and nearly as well in the philosophies. He was graduated in 1842 with honor, being appointed to deliver the philosophical oration. His subject was " The Uses of the Imagination in Philosophical Inquiry. " He was also chosen for membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society, though before he would accept that honor he had to be satisfied that he was not incurring any obligation of a secret organization, contrary to his principles. He was given the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently that of Master of Arts. "Commencement" in those days was held, not at the end of the scholastic year, as it is now, but at the beginning of the ensuing year, or in the fall, instead of in the spring. This necessitated the return to the University, after the summer vaca- tion, of those who were to be graduated, which did not matter much for most of them, as they did not live very far away and all probably felt well repaid for such trouble as it was to them. Then, how the commencement was celebrated! It was not only the greatest event of the collegiate year, but it was of almost equal importance for the entire community. It was the city's festival. Time was often calculated with reference to it, as it is now to and from the Fourth of July, or to and from Christmas. NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 145 People came from considerable distances to attend it, or to make it the occasion for visiting their relatives and their friends in the city. In fact, a common form of invitation was, " You will come to see us at commencement time, won't you ?" So they began coming on Monday of commencement week. By Tuesday the city was full of them. On Wednesday it was overflowing. Booths for the sale of refreshments and of souvenirs were erected along the main thoroughfares and in the public places where the crowds would be the greatest. In addition, in 1842, a "magni- ficent display of fireworks" in the evening was a feature, in the nature of a side show, provided by an enterprising man for private profit. The chief exercises were held on Wednesday, in the historic old Baptist meetinghouse at the foot of the "hill" and dedicated in 1775 "for the worship of Almighty God and to hold Com- mencement in," which meetinghouse with its spire 200 feet high was itself one of the notable features of the city. The sheriff, with his sword at his side, used to sit on the platform, as he does still at commencements, being required by law to attend them, a custom that is preserved, not from any real necessity, but to link the commonwealth with the occasion. Business in general in the city was largely suspended on commencement day. As an example of this, when the Seventy- third Annual Commencement was held, on September 7, 1842, the Providence Journal of that date gave notice that " this day being Commencement, no paper will be issued from this office tomorrow. " Two advertisements in that number of the Journal are also of some interest. One of them is an advertisement that appeared under the heading " Brown University. " It announced that the commencement would be celebrated in the First Bap- tist Meetinghouse, and that "applications for the degree of Master of Arts must be made to the Register at or before 12 o'clock M. of the day preceding Commencement, enclosing the 146 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES graduation fee, and containing the name of the applicant written at length. " The other advertisement referred to is mentioned here merely as reflecting one phase of the morals of the times. It was one of a number of advertisements of lotteries. It stated that there was to be a drawing at Providence that day, in the " school fund lottery of Rhode Island granted by the legislature at the January session 1839 for the benefit of the public schools," the drawing to be "under the superintendence of the secretary of state. " And that is a reminder here that a part of the cost of the First Baptist Meetinghouse, which was erected for the use of both the church and the University, was raised by a lottery authorized by the state of Rhode Island. Before Mr. Colver came to his second summer vacation at Brown University, his father had moved to Boston, which was of an educational benefit to the young man. It brought instruc- tive new local subjects into the letters which he received from home. It also gave him an entirely different environment from any that he had yet had in which to spend his vacations, although that was not an improvement in so far as it was a continued confinement within brick walls and narrow streets, instead of being a release from the confinement of school life to an open outdoor one. First the family lived for three or four years at 28 La Grange Place, which was in what was then a part of the residential section of Boston, about four or five blocks south of the successive halls in which the services of the First Baptist Free Church, of which Dr. Colver was the pastor, were held, and a little distance east of the southeast corner of the field early set apart for the drilling of troops and the pasturing of cattle, called Boston Common, whereon the pasturage of cows was allowed up to 1830. La Grange Place was a typical, short, narrow street, with narrow brick pavements, and walled in on both sides with brick buildings of three or four stories in height that were built one NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 147 against the other. But what were once residences are now all used for business purposes; and No. 28 has within recent years been replaced by a new building. From there, in 1843, at much the same time that the church moved into Tremont Temple, Dr. Colver moved to 2 Province House Court, later known simply as Province Court, which originally derived its name from the fact that at its east end was the Province House, built in 1679, which was the official residence of the royal governors of the Province of Massachu- setts Bay from 1716 to 1776. Province Court greatly resembled La Grange Place in its main features, but it was nearer to the heart of the city. No. 2 was a red brick building of three stories and a basement. It was on the southeast corner of Prov- ince Court and of likewise short and narrow Province Street. Moreover, it was directly back or southeast of, and less than 200 feet from, the rear of Tremont Temple, from which it was separated by other buildings. The City Hall, the old State House, and other public buildings were not far away; and the law offices of Daniel Webster and of Rufus Choate were within a couple of blocks to the northward, while Boston Common was no farther off in another direction. After his graduation from Brown University, Mr. Colver was still further greatly influenced and helped educationally by spending three years in the study of theology at the Newton Theological Institution. This theological seminary is another Baptist educational institution located on a hill, while it has the additional advantage of having a far-reaching and inspiring view of hills and dales dotted over with houses and villages. Looking east on a clear day, one may see the upper portion of the Bunker Hill Monument, in old Charlestown, and one or more of the tall towers in Boston, nine miles away; while in a northerly direction he may see a mountain peak fifty or sixty miles distant, in New Hampshire. Near the foot of the hill is Crystal Lake; also, the main portion of the village of Newton Centre, 148 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Massachusetts, an orderly, quiet place, of which the Newton Theological Institution is the distinctive feature. Surely it ought to be easy there to apply the mind to the study of theology and to meditation on the infinite. The Newton Theological Institution was founded in 1827, the aim being to establish an institution of equal excellence with the theological seminaries at Andover and at Princeton, but one placing more emphasis on biblical study. In 1842-43 it had four professorships as follows: Christian theology, ecclesiastical history, sacred rhetoric and pastoral duties, and biblical litera- ture and interpretation. One prominent requirement of the last-mentioned department was the making of translations from the Greek New Testament into Hebrew. Barnas Sears, who, according to the catalogue for 1835-36, was the professor of biblical theology at the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, Hamilton, New York, the first year that Mr. Colver was there, was now the president of Newton Theological Institution and its professor of Christian Theology. One of Mr. Colver's classmates at Newton was Ebenezer Dodge, who afterwards became widely known as a teacher of theology and as the president of Madison (now Colgate) University. Another classmate was John Hunt. He was a classmate of Mr. Colver's for not only the three years at Newton, but he was also his classmate during his last three years at Brown University. Mr. Hunt had the distinction, in 1920, of being the oldest living graduate both of Brown and of Newton. During Mr. Colver's last year at Newton, about two-thirds of the members of his class petitioned to be honorably dismissed from the institution and permitted to re-enter as special stu- dents. Their object, for some unrecorded reason, apparently was in that way to avoid being required to attend further certain instruction. The result was that after considerable perturba- tion in the faculty and among the trustees the request was granted and there was a resignation from the faculty. NINE YEARS OF HARD STUDY 149 Charles Kendrick Colver was graduated from Newton Theological Institution on August 20, 1845. In accordance with what was then the custom there, the members of the graduating class committed to memory and delivered as they would orations what were called essays. Mr. Colver's subject was "The Eternity of God as Connected with Speculative Difficulties in Theology. " He showed that he had been think- ing on deep questions to which he desired to find answers. His conclusion, however, was that there must ever "remain con- nected with the nature and acts of Jehovah insolvable mysteries. But pure, blameless ignorance concerning questions known to be beyond our reach is seldom a source of painful anxiety. Led in our meditations clearly to perceive the boundaries of our knowledge, humbled by the narrowness of the human vision, and filled with adoring reverence for the incomprehensible Jehovah, we shall lose our anxiety in cheerful confidence, while we wait for those developments of the Eternal Mind with which He may condescend to satisfy our expanding souls during the long experience of an endless life." These few sentences, with which he closed his essay, perhaps express better than any other words would Mr. Colver's mental attitude as he neared the end of his life. A lifetime of thought and study left him pretty much where he was when he wrote those sentences, except that he realized even more clearly human limitations. But he believed with his whole heart in God and left his unsolved problems to him. He was possibly even less certain than he was in his younger days as to how much he actually knew concerning many things, yet he faced everything calmly and trustingly, confident that whatever the Lord might ordain or do would be right and for the best. Rev. John Hunt wrote two letters in the early part of 1920, in what was for him his ninety-eighth year, in which he gave his recollections of Mr. Colver as he knew him as his classmate at Brown and at Newton, briefly describing him physically, I$o THROUGH THREE CENTURIES mentally, as a student, as a Christian man and worker, and in his relations with his father. Combining the two letters, Mr. Hunt said, substantially, that he never knew of Mr. Colver's losing a day from sickness. He had a sound and vigorous constitution. He inherited a good mind and body, which fitted him for long and useful work, and to stand better than many. He always appeared of about the same mood and state. He had much cheerfulness. He was not depressed in his intercourse with others. He was good company in society. He dressed neatly and decently, always. There was nothing flighty, or change- able, or unbecoming about him. Mr. Colver, Mr. Hunt went on to say, was a diligent student and faithful in the performance of college duties. As a scholar he was above the average. Throughout his whole course he was an earnest Christian worker, consistent and even in his work, words, and acts. He meant to throw his influence on the right side always, and to make his work do good. He expressed him- self freely on all proper occasions, no matter whom it might hit. He cared not whether his words made him popular or unpopular. He meant right, and meant to stand for the truth. He was a good and faithful friend to do good to all, and an enemy to none, except to the enemies of the truth. Nor did Mr. Colver confine himself entirely to his duties as a student, but engaged in religious work and preached more or less. He was a copy of his father in body and in mind. They were one in work, in views, and in doctrine. They worked together in perfect unity, always united, and always speaking from the heart no hypocrites. They both took strong ground on the antislavery side. "Brother Colver was always ready to assist his father in meetings, and sometimes I think was quite a help while at Newton. I thought much of Charles K. Colver as a Christian scholar and preacher." 1900 THE THREE SUCCESSIVE BAPTIST MEETINGHOUSES IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER III EARLY MINISTRY It spoke well for Mr. Colver that a church located within three miles of the Newton Theological Institution, one which had to some extent been fostered by the latter, voted unani- mously, shortly after his graduation from Newton, to call him to its pastorate. The church was the First Baptist Church of Watertown, Massachusetts. Watertown, which is about seven miles west of Boston, was settled in 1630, at much the same time that Boston was. The First Baptist Church of Watertown was founded just two hundred years later, in 1830. When it called Mr. Colver to become its pastor it had a membership of over two hundred, which made it one of the larger Baptist churches of the state. 1 Three months passed before Mr. Colver wrote a letter of acceptance. He waited until after he had been able to spend a month with the church, during which time, he stated in the letter, he had endeavored by protracted, prayerful inquiry, and in various ways, to ascertain the Master's will. "It is no less criminal, " he said, " to withhold service when commanded than to rush forward unbidden He whose conduct is regulated by the commands of Jesus Christ may safely look to his Lord for needed resources. But the great question for you and for me to determine is this, By what decision and by what course of action may we secure the approbation and assistance of God ?" 1 There were at that time 225 Baptist churches in Massachusetts, with a total membership of 30,108. Of these churches, 113 had a membership of less than 100 each; 75 had a membership of from 100 to 200 each; 22 had a membership of from 200 to 300 each; and the remaining 15 had memberships ranging between 300 and 900 each. Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, May 28, 1846. 152 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES An ecclesiastical council was convened at Watertown on December 24, 1845, for the ordination of Mr. Colver as a Baptist minister. The public exercises were held on January 8, 1846. These included the reading of the Scriptures by Dr. Rollin H. Neale; a sermon by Dr. Nathaniel Colver; the ordaining prayer by Dr. Daniel Sharp; and the concluding prayer by Dr. S. F. Smith, the author of "America." For four years and a little more Mr. Colver labored faith- fully at Watertown, "as a minister of Jesus Christ," as he expressed it. He went there, he said, because it seemed to be the indication of the divine will that he should do it. The work which the obligations imposed by his ordination seemed to involve on his part he endeavored to perform, not shunning to declare, so far as he might be able, all the counsel of God. This he stated in his letter of resignation, dated January 13, 1850, and he con- tinued: "How far the effort has been successful, I may not judge; but in regard to my purposes, motives, and feelings, I may speak with confidence. I have loved this people. I have labored to promote your best interest. I have desired your perfection and salvation. I have been conscious of no wish to shrink from responsibility or sacrifice. So long as the path of duty was known, my great object has been, and it is now, faith- fully to fulfil my ministry. I am not aware of being influenced by personal interests or feelings, or by motives at variance with a primary regard for your welfare. The will of God is what I seek. That will manifested, I accept with equal thankfulness, whether it bid me labor here or elsewhere. The severing of Christian ties will cause pain; but this pain is more than counterbalanced by the privilege of conforming to the divine will, in connection with the firm belief that God will secure the interest of his own cause. " Mr. Colver's second pastorate was as the second pastor of the Pleasant Street Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachu- setts. EARLY MINISTRY 153 Worcester was an important and fast-growing industrial center. It had in 1850 a population of 17,000. Although the settlement of the town dated from 1713, it was ninety-nine years after that, in 1812, before the First Baptist Church was organ- ized, and that was but the third organized body of worshipers in the town. One writer significantly remarks that "the only Baptists known here in colonial times were brought by the constables of neighboring towns to be held in jail for non- payment of their ministerial rates." 1 The Pleasant Street Baptist Church was organized in 1841 as the Second Baptist Church of Worcester. Its first place of worship was in the town hall. After that it built a meeting- house on Pleasant Street, on part of a cow yard about 200 feet west of Main Street, which some persons thought was too far back from Main Street. Its membership was nominally about three hundred when on March 15, 1850, it called Mr. Colver, who had preached for it for five or six Sundays, to become its pastor, with a salary of eight hundred dollars a year. He was also to be allowed to be absent on a vacation for six weeks in each year, with the understanding, however, that the church treasury should not be drawn upon for defraying the expense of supplying the pulpit during his absence. This provision for an annual vacation was made because his health, which had appeared to be so good while he was a student, was now showing some weakness, and it seemed as though it would have to be recruited each year. On April 14 he accepted the call. It was said with regard to his pastorate, that he "filled the position with great benefit to the church. " 2 It was also said that "his faithful words and warm sympathy with many of the families in sorrows and bereavements were long remembered." 3 1 Arthur J. Bean, in History of Worcester and Its People, by Charles Nutt. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1919), II, 827. 2 Worcester: Its Pas land Present (Worcester: Oliver P.Woods, 1888), p. 66. 3 History of the Pleasant Street Baptist Church, prepared by the Clerk to be read at the Seventy-fifth Anniversary held on January i, 1917. 154 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The letter of the church, in 1852, to the Worcester Bap- tist Association, as published in the " Minutes," said, "The wants of the hunted fugitive from slavery have been allowed to move our hearts and our hands, " which were probably the words of Mr. Colver. The letter of the church to the association two years afterward was: "Our pastor, Rev. C. K. Colver, who had labored unceasingly to make straight and plain the path of duty before us, felt constrained, on account of ill health, to leave us in May." A History of Worcester says that after a little more than four years of labor Mr. Colver received an offer of a voyage to Val- paraiso, and his failing health, with the advice of friends, induced him to accept the offer. After making his determination known to the church, he devoted the time before that for sailing in the most earnest endeavors to diminish the church debt, which efforts were crowned with success. During the time in which he was the pastor of Pleasant Street Baptist Church, the moral strength of the church increased; a debt of long standing was diminished, and through his efforts mainly one of the best organs in the city was placed in the church. The accessions by baptism during the period of his pastoral ( labors were the same as during the corresponding period immediately prior to his pastorate. " Mr. Colver was a faithful pastor, a bold and fearless preacher, a devoted, conscientious, consistent Christian, and a firm, faithful friend. With him, to determine that a course of action was right was to enter upon that course without 'conferring with flesh and blood.' He was a ripe scholar, and the light of learning was all brought to bear upon the elucidation of divine truth." 1 The records of the church state that at an adjourned meeting of the church which was held on April 14, 1854, when Mr. Colver was out of the city, " the pastor being absent, free remarks were 1 Charles Hersey, "History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1836 to 1861," in Lincoln and Hersey, A History of Worcester (Worcester: Charles Hersey [1861]), p. 326. EARLY MINISTRY 155 indulged in in regard to the character of his preaching; and a strong expression of high estimation, with respect to the sound- ness, straightforwardness, unflinching faithfulness, and distin- guished ability of his discourses seemed to be the prevailing characteristic of all the remarks on that point. A high regard was also expressed for him as an upright, devoted, self-sacrificing servant of Christ." On April 28, 1854, Mr. Colver tendered his resignation on account of his poor health and his proposed voyage to Val- paraiso, Chile, a voyage that it was expected would require a large part of a year. He began his letter of resignation with the characteristic statement that "the relation of a pastor to his people involves so much of sacredness and of grave responsi- bility that it should not be assumed nor laid aside without prayerful reflection and satisfactory evidence of the Lord's approval." In accepting his resignation, the church passed resolutions of sympathy with him on account of the "feeble state of his health," and declaring "that we will endeavor to profit by the truths of the gospel which he has so faithfully labored to instil into our minds, and also by the example of an upright Christian deportment which he has uniformly mani- fested since his connection with us; that we will cherish a kind remembrance of him and his untiring efforts to do us good ; and that he be requested to continue as our pastor until the time fixed for his departure from Worcester." 1 No information has been preserved about the voyage to South America, and none as to how much Mr. Colver's health was benefited by it. When he returned home, however, it was to undergo what was for him an almost paralyzing blow the loss of his wife, who was, prior to their marriage on June i, 1846, Miss Esther B. B. Hill, daughter of Deacon Samuel Hill, of South Boston. Mr. Colver was greatly attached to her; but 1 Mr. Colver's successor in this pulpit was Rev. Daniel W. Faunce, the father of Dr. W. H. P. Faunce, the present president of Brown University. 156 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES disease seized her, and on September 15, 1855, carried her off. It took him a long while to get over the benumbing effect of losing her, although in the meantime he devoted himself to ministerial work as best he could. His father was then pastor of the First Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, and Mr. Colver went to Detroit and assisted him. When his father insisted on resigning from that pastorate, to take effect in April, 1856, Mr. Colver was asked to take his place, at a salary of $1,000 a year. He hesitated about doing it, although he held himself in readiness to enter any field of labor that duty seemed to indicate. He particularly expressed an apprehension that the climate might not agree with him, and that on that account he might not be able to perform the duties required of a pastor; but he finally concluded to try it. The church had then a membership of about four hundred. The church was not in a very satisfactory spiritual condition when his father became its pastor, and, notwithstanding that strenuous efforts had been made during his father's pastorate to improve its condition, it had not been brought entirely to the desired standard by the time that Dr. Colver left it. That was shown by the letter of the church, dated September 26, 1856, to the Michigan Baptist Association. It stated that in laboring to discharge their obligations as Christians, and to maintain proper discipline in the church, duty had seemed to compel them to exscind many of their members. "Before the resigna- tion of our late beloved pastor, Rev. N. Colver, the church felt that, collectively and individually, some new and decisive action was necessary to promote its best interests. Acting in accord- ance with this, several days of fasting and prayer were held, and an effort was made by our pastor to make each member feel his individual responsibility, return to God, and do his first works. A long series of business meetings were held, a minute and thorough investigation was made of the state of the church, and all absent and delinquent members were looked after. When EARLY MINISTRY 157 these first steps had been taken, a gradual awakening to the vital importance of religion and the worth of the soul took the place of long continued apathy and indifference During the winter, our pastor, feeling that duty called him to another field of labor, was succeeded by his son, our present pastor, in whom the church are all united. Under his faithful and judicious ministrations we hope to be blessed, and that the cause of Christ will be promoted." 1 Sixty years after these pastorates, in December, 1916, two framed crayon portraits were unveiled in the First Baptist Church of Detroit. One of them was of Nathaniel Colver; the other, of Charles Kendrick Colver father and son. The portrait of the former was draped with the Stars and Stripes, and that of the latter with the white flag of peace bearing on a blue field the red cross. This, in a beautiful manner, suggested something of the individualities of the two men, who, although they were remarkably alike in many respects and were har- monious in their views, were yet possessed of strong, differing personalities. In Nathaniel Colver there was much of the militant. Or, as Dr. Charles H. Watson, of Boston, recently said: "Colver was a lion. " Charles Kendrick Colver, on the other hand, had more of the character of the lamb and sought more the paths of peace, although he, like his father, was neither weakling nor 1 Rev. Samuel Haskell, in a historical discourse delivered in September, 1877, after describing the pastorate of Dr. Nathaniel Colver continued: "In this his son, Rev. Charles K. Colver, who after his early bereavement was spending some time at his parental home, shared usefully in ministerial labors. These labors led to the call of the younger Colver to the pastorate, after his father's resignation. A laborious and faithful ministry of fifteen months followed. The young pastor gave himself to earnest labor, both in the pulpit and from house to house. It was a worthy supplement to the good work of his father." A Half-Century Memorial: Second Quarter- Century Historical and Biographical Sketch of the First Baptist Church in Detroit (Detroit, 1877), p. 38. 158 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES coward, but was "one who never turned his back but marched breast forward. " The inscription on the name plates for the pictures were also significant. That of the one tersely described Nathaniel Colver, the man of intense action, as "Preacher, Abolitionist, Educa- tor." The other described Charles Kendrick Colver as "A Man of Exceptional Character; A Scholar Firm for the Truth." Mrs. Marceline B. Hudson, of Detroit, when inquired of in the fall of 1919, remembered them both quite well. She was a young girl when Dr. Colver became the pastor of the church in 1853. She began to read the Bible, and was converted, she said, under the preaching of Charles K. Colver, but did not join the church until after he left; and she thought it was the same with a great many others. Mr. Colver, she went on to state, still showed that the loss of his wife had been a great blow to him. He was rather reserved. He did not mingle freely with people. He lacked the contact which endeared his father to them. Perhaps he was best described as somewhat of an ascetic. As to dress, he was somewhat indifferent, but not careless. He always dressed in black. His sermons were powerful, searching, and spiritual. They seemed to be even more spiritual than his father's. He was more scholarly than his father was; but he was not so popular as his father was. He did not have very much to do with outside matters, such as the reforms of the times to which his father gave a great deal of attention. Some of Mr. Colver's texts, which have been remembered all these years, were: "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" 1 "Will ye also go away?" 2 "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God," 3 "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." 4 Mrs. Hudson added: "I had the feeling that he was preaching right at me. " 1 Luke 17: 17. 2 John 6: 68. 3 Eph. 4:30. John 5 139. EARLY MINISTRY 159 On being asked the question whether she thought that, in his way, Mr. Colver showed himself of equal ability with his father, Mrs. Hudson answered: "Yes. He was more of a student and a deeper thinker than his father was; but he was not so forceful as was his father. " Then the question was asked : "Was Charles K. Colver as interesting a speaker as his father was?" That was answered much the same as was the first question: "Yes, but he was quieter than his father was; his father used more gestures. " Mrs. Hudson stated further that there were those in the church at that time who hindered the pastors in their work. Some members were strongly in favor of slavery, but more were the other way. It was the pro-slavery element, few in num- bers but very powerful, that caused the most trouble for the pastors. Dr. Colver helped along the underground railway. His resignation was greatly regretted by many. He was one whose friends were very devoted, but whose enemies hated him. Charles K. Colver did not make enemies as his father did. From Detroit Mr. Colver returned for a few years to Massa- chusetts, where he served, for short periods each, several churches which seemed to need him, most of them being at the time in an unhealthy condition. First he went to the High Street Baptist Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he was the pastor for some time between the latter part of 1857 and the early part of 1859, although of his pastorate there as well as of the church itself but little tangible evidence remains. Possibly he labored there for a while before accepting the responsibilities of a pastor, as it was more than seven months after he resigned at Detroit before the Detroit church was asked for a letter of dismission, which request the church complied with on March 18, 1858, by voting him "a letter of commenda- tion and dismission, with testimonials of esteem, to unite with a Baptist church at Charlestown." 160 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Charlestown, founded in 1628 and annexed to the city of Boston in 1873, holds a very interesting place in early Baptist church history, but a rather indifferent one in that of later times. It has been recorded that in 1665 some residents of Charlestown separated themselves from the First Parish Church "because of (i) infant baptism, (2) their allowing of none but such as had human learning to be in the ministry, (3) their severe dealing with those of a contrary judgment from them- selves. " These persons were joined by others from neighboring towns who were in sympathy with them, and together they organized a Baptist church which in 1668 had about twenty members. Their action was denounced by the civil authorities and those engaged in it were looked upon as disturbers of the public peace. They were summoned before the magistrates at different times and subjected to disfranchisement, fines, and other annoyances bred of the intolerant spirit that then pre- vailed. The general court even ordered some of them to depart from its jurisdiction, on pain of imprisonment; and some of them were confined in the jail at Boston for nearly a year. For fourteen years they held their meetings in private dwelling- houses in Charlestown, in Boston, and in other places, the zealous vigilance of the authorities rendering it impossible for them to assemble in a public manner. But by 1679 a more tolerant spirit prevailed, a small house of worship was erected in Boston, and the church finally became located there, as the First Baptist Church of Boston. More than 120 years elapsed after that before another attempt was made to form a Baptist church in Charlestown. Then, in 1801, the present First Baptist Church of Charlestown was organized. From that in 1844 the High Street Baptist Church was formed, with some 220 members, "because an influ- ential minority objected to the employment of an evangelist. " x 1 History of the High Street Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts (Boston: Press of J. Howe, 1853), pp. 3 ff. EARLY MINISTRY 161 A glimpse of the Sabbath school of the High Street Baptist Church and an indication of what the field was, is furnished by the City Advertiser, of Charlestown, of June 16, 1858, which stated that the fifteenth anniversary of the school was appro- priately observed on the preceding Sabbath afternoon. It said that, in addition to exercises in which the children took part, an "interesting discourse" was delivered by the pastor, Rev. Charles K. Colver, founded upon the seventh verse of the Seventy-eighth Psalm: "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his command- ments. " As the paper summarized it, Mr. Colver, in adverting to the object of the Sabbath school, said that it was to produce true practical knowledge of the gospel, which done, the effect would be to produce a true religion, the end of which was the foundation of a true religious character. The school, the paper went on to say, was composed chiefly of destitute children who had been reclaimed from sin, clothed, and educated at the expense of the society. It consisted of 31 classes composed of 375 scholars, and was in a prosperous condition. An event of general historical interest was recorded by the Advertiser of August 18, 1858, when it reported that there was an illumination of the city on the preceding evening and general rejoicing of the citizens on account of the completion of the Atlantic telegraph and the sending of the first messages over it, in which the people of Charlestown took an especial interest because Professor Samuel F. B. Morse was born in Charlestown. Mr. Colver did not deem it his duty to remain with the High Street Baptist Church beyond June, 1859, if he remained with it that long. For the next two years he labored temporarily in different places, where he seemed to be the most needed. South Abington (now Whitman), Massachusetts, was one of those places. He supplied the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of South Abington for approximately nine months from about July i, 1859, while some accounts would make him the 162 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES pastor there for that time. His father was the pastor there for one year, from April, 1852, and after he resigned the church asked Mr. Colver to become its pastor, but he did not see his way clear to accept the call. In 1859 the church had been without a pastor for some time, and he apparently went there to help it out. This is indicated by the statement of the pastor who followed him, that "Rev. C. K. Colver supplied the desk nine months, commencing July i, 1859 "; J while another and later pastor said, in a carefully prepared historical discourse, that "the church remained without a pastor two years and seven months, though favored with the excellent labors of Rev. Charles K. Colver about nine months of that time. " 2 Mr. Colver had a special interest, too, in the First Baptist Church of South Abington, because on October 25, 1858, while he was yet a pastor in Charlestown, he was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Champney Reed, of South Abington, who was a member of the First Baptist Church of South Abington. His friends hoped that this marriage would not only give him needed companionship, but that it would also be a great help to him in his pastoral work. Instead of very much of such help, how- ever, it brought to him within a couple of years a new test of his character, which continued throughout the remainder of his active public ministry and could not but more or less affect the latter. This test came in the form of such a failure of his wife's health that she thereafter more or less of the time required some degree of care and to be relieved of some of the manage- ment and work of the household. Joined with this came a considerable part of the care and most of the training of the 1 Rev. N. Judson Clark in History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, by Benjamin Hobart (Boston: T. H. Carter & Son, 1866), p. 201. a Rev. Chas. A. Snow, Historical Discourse Given on the Fiftieth Anni- versary of the Baptist Church, South Abington, Mass., November 6, 1872 (South Abington: Published by the Church, 1873), p. 24. EARLY MINISTRY 163 daughter who had been born unto them on November 15, 1859, and who had been by them named Susan Esther Colver. Mr. Colver never delegated to others very many of these duties, but he assumed them as specially appointed for himself. Nor did he ever treat this situation as calling for anything like sac- rifice on his part, but as being perfectly natural and what it should be, under all of the circumstances. He never sought to make capital out of doing what he considered was his duty. In 1 86 1 Mr. Colver received a call from the Baptist Church in Andover, Massachusetts, which he accepted. Puritanic Andover, which in earlier times had been obsessed with a belief in witchcraft and had even had several so-called witches hung, did not at first like the Baptists, and for a long time refused to exempt them from taxation for the support of the parish churches. But the persistence of the Baptists, with the influ- ence of others who abetted them in it, eventually secured, or helped to secure, general freedom of worship and the abolition of other than voluntary taxation for the support of religious teachers and churches. Then, as it often occurred, after there had been repression and all restrictions were removed, that a meetinghouse was built where a church could hardly be main- tained, so it apparently was in Andover, where a Baptist church was organized in 1832, which practically abandoned the field in 1857, but was re-established in the following year. As an aid to the support of the Baptist Church in Andover, the lower story of its meetinghouse, which was built on the hillside near the business center of the village, has practically always been rented out for use for a general store. Andover must also be remembered as long the seat of the Andover Theological Seminary. There must have been much in the theological and scholastic atmosphere of the place that was congenial to Mr. Colver, and he was admirably adapted to fill a pulpit there, particularly so far as he might have students from the seminary or persons imbued with its spirit to whom 164 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES to preach. But they were few at the Baptist Church. More- over, the times and the conditions were generally unfavorable for successful church work. Mr. Colver's pastorate at Andover was from August, 1861, to November, 1863. x That was within the most distressing portion of the Civil War, and strange as it may first seem to some, war times are not particularly good times for churches and church work. The Baptist Church in Andover belonged to what was known as the Lowell Association. Something of how the churches of the latter and of how Mr. Colver looked upon the war was shown by a report of the Association for 1862, signed by Mr. Colver, which stated that the letters from the churches spoke of losses by death and by the absence of members engaged in military serv- ice; and that expressions of sympathy with the government of the United States were frequent and earnest. " The President's recent proclamation in reference to slaves in rebellious states," the report added, "is hailed as looking in the right direction, and encouraging hope that by military necessity God will wrest from us that which a simple regard for justice has failed to yield. Terrible as are these scenes of blood and of woe, they are accepted as an answer to prayer, as God's way and means of satisfying righteousness and establishing justice. " Mr. Charles N. L. Stone, a deacon in the church, who remembered Mr. Colver quite well, said in 1919 that "Mr. Colver was a modest man, who dressed neatly, but was not over- careful about his clothes. He was a first-class preacher; I know that well. He preached without the use of notes. His preaching was deep; it went right to the bottom. There was nothing wishy-washy about it. It was grand preaching. He was quite a friend of ours. My father considered him a great scholar, and thought a great deal of him. But his preaching was too deep for some people. He did not get very much 1 Sarah Loring Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, Massachusetts (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1880), p. 502. EARLY MINISTRY 165 salary, as the members of the church, who numberd about one hundred and fifty persons, were, generally speaking, quite poor. This was not a Baptist town." The Andover pastorate was Mr. Colver's last pastorate in the East. His health appears to have improved; but throughout the remainder of his life it seemed to demand plain living as one of the conditions of its preservation. Plain living was equally as important for Mrs. Colver. Medicine would not help her plain living would; in fact, it was absolutely essential to her welfare, just as it was to Mr. Colver's. Therefore, the family became known to an extent for its plain living, without all of the reasons for it being understood. CHAPTER IV PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN The call of duty in some form, perhaps largely in the fact that his father was then located in Chicago and wanted him nearer, caused Mr. Colver to transfer his ministerial labors from Massachusetts to Illinois. There is a slight confusion about the exact date that he did it, as he is credited in a list of pastors of the First Baptist Church of Elgin, Illinois, with having begun his service as pastor of that church in October, 1863 , x while the records of the Baptist Church in Andover state that he tendered his resignation there on November 23, 1863. The explanation may be that he visited Elgin and preached there for some Sun- days before he formally resigned at Andover. At any rate, there was not much time lost between the two pastorates. Naturally there were some contrasts in the conditions which he left and those to which he went. Still they were not so many nor so great as might be imagined. Probably one of the most important was in the more democratic spirit evinced in the greater social and religious freedom and friendliness in the younger state than in the older. As to Baptist churches, there were those in Illinois as old and as strong as many of those in New England; and a couple of the places in Wisconsin in which Mr. Colver had pastorates had in a way a greater relative importance, as had also the Baptist churches in them, years before Mr. Colver went to them than they had in his time or have ever had since. x The list of pastors gives: "Rev. Charles K. Colver, October, 1863, to November, 1867, four years." Fear Book of the First Baptist Church of Elgin, III., 1907. 166 PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 167 By coincidence, there was a striking similarity of charm of place in all of Mr. Colver's pastorates in Illinois and in Wis- consin, which were two in the former, and three in the latter state. They were all places delightful of location because they were situated on low hills or on slightly elevated and rolling ground on the banks of beautiful streams. These streams in all probability led to the original settlements, because they assured an abundant supply of water at all times and for all necessary purposes, including natural power to turn wheels to grind grain and to saw lumber, which was of the utmost importance in a new country where transportation was slow and difficult, especially in the winter and in the spring, and when the distance to the nearest mill anywhere about was often comparatively great. So it was that in 1835 Elgin, Illinois, was founded on the banks of the Fox River, about thirty-six miles northwesterly from Chicago, and a substitute for a mill was very soon improvised. This latter consisted simply of a section of a thick log, cut about 6 feet in length, which was set up on one end and was hollowed out deep at the other like a huge mortar, with a long-handled pestle or pounder attached to a spring pole after the manner of a well sweep. With this rude device, a somewhat enlarged and modified form of the aboriginal mills, grain was ground, or rather pounded, into meal. It proved to be a great convenience temporarily for the first settlers. Moreover, it was toll-free, the only exaction by the owner being that each man should do his own pounding. But in 1836, or as soon as it could well be done, a gristmill was built on one side of the river, and a sawmill on the other, with one dam for the use of both. After the most pressing physical wants were provided for, religious and educational needs were generally early looked after in pioneer settlements of sufficient size, both in Illinois and in adjacent states. Meetings of some kind, perhaps at first only 1 68 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES prayer meetings or else meetings where published sermons would be read, were usually arranged for as soon as practicable. As a rule, they were held at first in private houses and were undenominational, or "union," in character. When a minister came, in order to get more room, the meetings might be held in some convenient new barn, or, when the weather invited it, out of doors in the great temple of the Almighty; and as soon as a schoolhouse was built it would be pretty certain to be the place. Then would come church organization, and after that the building of some kind of a house of worship. For the Baptists at first, and often for many years, some beautiful stream would serve as a baptistry, as did streams in New Testament times. In Elgin the first meeting was held in September, 1835, in a private house, where a sermon was read; and that log house continued to be used for meetings for some time; also in it the first school was opened, either that same fall or in the summer of 1836. The formal organization of the First Baptist Church of Elgin was effected on July 14, 1838, with thirteen members. It was under the "New Hampshire Articles of Faith." It took place in a log cabin. The first communion service of the church was celebrated in a barn, and the church continued for some months to hold its meetings either in a barn or in private houses. The first distinctive house of worship in Elgin was built in 1839. It was a frame one, either 24 by 28 or 25 by 30 feet in size. It was called the "Elgin Chapel," or the "Elgin Union Chapel," the latter designation being due to the fact that it was owned jointly by the Baptists and the Congregationalists and was used by them respectively on alternate Sundays for about four years. Then the Baptists bought out the interest of the Congregationalists. In 1849 the Baptists built a new and larger church, of cobblestones, a material that was plentiful and from which several of the best of the early residences were constructed. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 169 This building was used for church purposes until 1870, and it was then converted into a schoolhouse. 1 Something of what Elgin was at the time of Mr. Colver's pastorate there is indicated by the fact that in 1860 its popula- tion was 2,797, an d by 1870 it was 5,441. But his ministry there was during the latter part of the Civil War and the beginning of the subsequent era of reconstruction, which were trying times for almost everyone everywhere; still, his pastorate has been included within the period of the history of the church wherein the latter has been described as having "enjoyed a good degree of spiritual and temporal prosperity." While the war was ruthlessly destroying lives and property and spreading woe throughout the land, Mr. Colver kept calm and confined himself closely to what he deemed his particular duties. He sought to do his entire duty, as he saw it with sympathetic vision. But he never forgot the call of eternity in that of the passing hour. He declared the full Bible message, as he understood it. His mission was not to inflame men's minds unnecessarily, but to tell them where and how they could find true peace. Yet he strove with all of the power at his command to help them bear their burdens and solve their perplexing prob- lems, in the light of the gospel, encouraging and strengthening them by his ministry. He also did what he could to comfort the sorrowing. Nor did he forget his bleeding country, for his regard for government and duly constituted authority within its proper sphere was second only to his reverence for the sovereignty and laws of God, and he had the utmost sympathy with the efforts to abolish slavery and to preserve the Union. There are still several persons in Elgin who remember Mr. Colver's pastorate there, who unite in speaking of it in high terms generally. They all agree that he was an exceptional man, 1 The Past and Present of Kane County, Illinois (Chicago: W. Le Baron, Jr., & Co., 1878), p. 371; Kane County (Chicago: Beers, Leggett & Co., 1888), pp. 1016 ff.; Joslyn, History of Kane County (Chicago: Pioneer Publishing Co., 1908). 170 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES a deep student of the Bible, who preached many doctrinal sermons; or, as one woman quite recently expressed it: "He was a born student; and he meant to have the people well grounded in the faith. " She said that some thought him very radical, but that she did not think him so; that his preaching was more conservative than his father's. He was unassuming, too. If he was asked anything that he did not know, he would say frankly that he did not know it. She also referred to him as "a man of great kindness of heart," and to Mrs. Colver as "a very sweet woman." Mrs. A. Gilbert, whose father, Deacon Padelford, lived on a farm near Elgin, says that " Rev. Charles K. Colver and family added much to my childhood joys. He seemed to have perfect health while in Elgin. He loved to come out to the farm and to jump on to the bobsleigh and to help to bring in wood from the wood lot. I can still see how active he was, and how he would play with the children. We were always proud of him in the pul- pit. He seemed to have a wonderful knowledge of the Scriptures. I think that he studied them prayerfully, and that God helped him to open up His truths and to make them plain to us. Even we children could grasp them. I remember that his text once was 'That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, .... and that every tongue should confess.' 1 Oh, how sacredly the name of Jesus was brought out. I shall never forget the impres- sion that it made on me. Then, at the family altar, in our home, he never read from the Bible without explaining it as he went along; and how we loved to hear him I cannot find words to express. Out of the fulness of his heart his mouth spoke. To me he was a man with a richly stored mind and a noble soul, sowing good, pure seed wherever he went. I thank my dear Heavenly Father for having given it to me to know Mr. Colver. " That Mr. Colver appeared to one who lived in his family practically as he did to others was shown by letters written 'Phil. 2:10. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 171 recently from South Pasadena, California, by Mrs. Amelia M. Vail, who lived for some time in his home in Elgin while she attended the Elgin Academy and prepared herself to become a school teacher. She said that "Mr. Colver had a very strong personality. He was a man of strong convictions, who lived up to those convictions. He was also a very scholarly man. He could always give a reason for what he had to say. He was constantly delving into his Hebrew and Greek Bible to find the original meaning of some passage of Scripture. He was a fine speaker; and a fine singer. He could fill any pulpit." Moreover, Mrs. Vail said that "Mr. Colver was very democratic. Foolish pride did not enter into his lif e at all. He was fond of gardening, and worked early and late among his vegetables. One evening the pastor of the African Baptist Church called and asked him to go to that church the following evening and 'plow around among the souls for a little while.' Mr. Colver went, as requested." Ministers in those days did a large amount of visiting among the members of their churches; and Mr. Colver would often hitch up his horse to the buggy, and, with Mrs. Colver and their little daughter, go to spend the day, or sometimes longer in visiting members of the church, many of whom lived in the country; or they would go to visit members of a country church for which Mr. Colver often preached on Sunday afternoons. "Mr. Colver took many papers and periodicals, and was always perfectly informed on current matters. He was inter- ested in political issues, the termination of the war, and such things, but never discussed them, so far as can now be recalled, except with his father." Two donation parties were remembered. " The farmers came in with bags of potatoes, turnips, cabbages, etc., to be put into the cellar; and there was cake enough in the house when the people left to feed a family of twenty for a week. " Something special was also given to each member of the household. 172 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES "Mr. Colver," Mrs. Vail further said, "was very much beloved by those who understood him. He was exceedingly devoted to his wife, who was a very sweet and lovable woman, but very frail in health." After closing his ministerial labors in Elgin, Mr. Colver, early in January, 1868, accepted and entered upon the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Mount Carroll, Illinois, situated about one hundred and twenty-five miles west of Chicago, and ten or twelve miles east of the Mississippi River. Mount Carroll was a place that had an early local importance as the county seat of Carroll County and as a business center for a rich agricultural district. It was built for the most part lengthwise along the top of a hill partly encircled by a pictur- esque stream that had in places cut its way down many feet through rocky strata and that was soon set to work by the pioneers, first to run a gristmill and then to run a sawmill as well. In 1868, Mount Carroll probably had a population of between 1,200 and 1,800; and it has not grown greatly since then. Today the chief distinction and pride of Mount Carroll is in having the Frances Shimer School of the University of Chicago, with all that that means in cultural influence; and for the school, which is called a home school for girls and young women, Mount Carroll is perhaps as fine a location as could well be found any- where. The school, which now has eight modern, harmonious and attractive buildings, solidly constructed of brick and stone, on a spacious campus adorned with many large trees, was founded in 1853 and was for a long time known as the Mount Carroll Seminary. A former teacher in the seminary once declared that she had learned more from Mr. Colver's preaching than she ever did from that of anyone else, because he said so many things that she at first questioned, but when she looked them up, she invariably found that he was correct in his statements. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 173 The wife of the church clerk in those days describes Mr. Colver as having been a tall, strong-looking man, who gave one the impression of intellectual power, as his speech did too; she said that she and her husband felt very warmly toward him and considered him "a fine preacher"; that while he was not sensational enough for some, and some thought that he preached too much doctrine, she and her husband felt that "he preached the gospel," as they understood it; that he was true to his convictions; that they always felt that they knew where he stood. One of the substantial business men of Mount Carroll stated not very long ago that he was glad that in his formative years he heard Mr. Colver preach; that Mr. Colver was a strong, sterling man, and a thinker; that he preached funda- mental doctrines in such a manner that one could not get away from them; and that he was a thorough teacher. To show how warm and tender-hearted Mr. Colver was, the man said that Mr. Colver had an old gray mare, called " Katie, " which, if tired, might stop to rest at a hill, and that he would wait patiently, even half an hour if necessary, until "Katie" was ready to go. The Carroll County Mirror of February 18, 1868, in reporting what it described as the last public exercises of the Mount Carroll Literary Association, which were held in the Union School building, said that they were attended by a large and appreciative audience, and that the chief feature of the evening was an address by Rev. C. K. Colver, on the "Desirableness of Self-Reliance. " Then, after stating that it had not the space to give an epitome of the address, the paper continued: "It is enough to say that it was listened to with profound attention. Mr. Colver demonstrated that he is as much at home in the lecture room as in the pulpit. His illustrations were pointed, clear, and appropriate; and the address could not fail to do much good." 174 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES In reporting a meeting of the Carroll County Sunday School Teachers' Association, held in the Baptist church in September, 1869, the Mirror said that, on Wednesday, Rev. C. K. Colver addressed the Association on "What Constitutes a Good Teacher, and How Good Teachers Can Be Obtained." On Thursday evening he spoke on "The Importance of the Sabbath School Work." On Friday he introduced the discussion of the topics: "How to Secure the Early Conversion of Sabbath School Children" ; " How Can Parents Be Brought with Their Children into the Sabbath School?" and "Responsive Reading." The annual Thanksgiving sermon for 1869 the Mirror announced would be preached by Rev. C. K. Colver, in the Baptist Church, where all of the churches proposed to meet and engage in the services. The following week the paper reported that he preached the sermon from the text: "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising sun unto the going down thereof," 1 and that the sermon "was listened to with manifest interest. " The letter which the church sent in August, 1869, to the Dixon Baptist Association, described the year as " one of instruc- tion and ingathering," with an "increase in spiritual grace." This pastorate was terminated in the spring of i8yo; 2 but, besides his pastoral work, Mr. Colver had been doing consider- able teaching in the Mount Carroll Seminary, and continued the latter for perhaps a year or so longer, giving to it for a while practically all of his time. For a considerable period he, with his family, lived in the Seminary building; then he bought near it a small house and garden plot. The permanent importance to the Seminary at that stage of its development of the close connection, for several years, 1 Ps. 50:1. 2 The First Baptist Church of Mount Carroll was organized August 28, 1853, with fourteen members. Rev. C. K. Colver "was pastor from January, 1868, to the spring of 1870." History of Carroll County, Illinois (Chicago: H. F. Kett & Co., 1878), pp. 338-39- PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 175 with it and with those who determined its policies, of a scholar of such ability, thoroughness, and strong direct and indirect educational influence, may easily be conjectured. Just how much satisfaction Mr. Colver himself took in doing this educational work, and whether he liked it as well as, or better than, preaching, is likewise a subject left for speculation. But a number of persons who knew him quite a while have said they thought he would have done well if he had devoted his life entirely to teaching, in either a collegiate or a theological insti- tution, preferably the latter. However, as it was, he made his preaching largely a matter of teaching, suggesting questions very freely for the purpose of inducing thought, which, unfortunately, did not make for his popularity with that large class of people that wants its thinking, especially its religious thinking, done for it. In the first number of the Seminary publication called the Oread, which appeared in January, 1869, an advertisement of the Seminary gave under " Board of Instruction ": " Rev. C. K. Colver, Languages and Phonography." In March, 1870, the advertisement had: "Rev. C. K. Colver, Department of Ancient Languages," which advertisement was continued as late as December, 1871. The Oread of June, 1869, in describing the Seminary said: " Ancient Languages. This department has, in Rev. C. K. Colver, a teacher competent to make it fully equal to that of any college in the country." Under " Report of the Examining Committee," it was stated: "The Rev. C. K. Colver, who has in charge some of the most advanced classes, is evidently a very thorough and able instructor." He was also mentioned as teaching "criticism, Latin, and logic"; and Dr. J. A. Smith, editor of the Standard, of Chicago, was quoted as saying that Mr. Colver had "rendered most valuable service, especially in Latin and logic." In March, 1870, the Oread said: "Our classes in Latin are progressing finely under the thorough train- ing of Rev. C. K. Colver." 1 76 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES In this connection it may be interesting to see the following short article, on ''Thoroughness," that appeared in the Oread of February, 1869, which was evidently written for it by Mr. Colver, as indicated by the style of the article and by the "K" with which it was signed, which was his usual signature answer- ing to a pseudonym. "THOROUGHNESS "Is it true, that whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well ? What shall we say of small matters ? admissible trifles ? the tying of a knot? the arranging of one's dress? the shaping of a sentence that accomplishes its purpose by being uttered ? What is it to do such things well ? "Must a glass bead, in order to be well made, be accu- rately cut and polished ? Must wood cuts give place to steel engravings? Are not some things done well by being done cheaply? Ah, then the maxim might mean that such things should be done slightly. Only let them have their own excel- lence, being so done as best to accomplish their end at an expense not beyond their value. "The making of toys for children requires no small expendi- ture of money, of time, of skill. Is the value produced worth the expenditure? If it were not so esteemed, who would be willing to continue the making? Yet the wheelbarrow well made for use on the bricks and in the sand will still differ from the wheelbarrow well made for the play room and the carpeted floor. The toy well made for the two-year-old will differ from the toy well made for the seven-year-old, or for the fashion worshiper of still more advanced years. "Education, too, has its toys, its trifles. Are educational toys worth the making? If so, let them be made well. Let them not cost too much; too much of time; of life. Let not the making of them, nor the use of them, supplant more sub- stantial benefits. If they may contribute to wholesome gratifi- cation, to the full, happy development of the human mind in its PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 177 various susceptibilities and powers, then let them have their portion of attention. Gilding may be better for some uses than solid, heavy gold. "Yet, with all these allowances, most persons who act thoughtfully would choose some other employment, rather than toy-making, or the use of toys; some better occupation than to be made into toys, or to live for show, or for temporary gratifi- cations. Especially in the work of education, of intellectual development, of personal cultivation and preparation for the employments and experiences of anticipated years, the impor- tance of a judicious selection of studies and pursuits, and a faithful, thorough, persevering use of the selection made can scarcely be overestimated. "K." Mr. Colver wrote, too, some reviews of books for the Oread, as, for example, of a book of first lessons in geology and miner- alogy, of a book giving an alleged new and easy method of learning the German language, and of a dictionary of the Bible. Of the last he said in part: "This book, like many other valuable works on biblical topics, requires wakefulness, discrimination, and a careful judgment on the part of the reader. Without these qualities of mind, one would be little benefited by any Bible dictionary." About April, 1871, Mr. Colver accepted a call from the First Baptist Church of New Lisbon, Wisconsin, a place of something like 1,200 population, situated in a farming commu- nity upward of seventy miles northwest of Madison. The church had a membership of considerably over one hundred. In March, 1872, when Mr. Colver's first year there was nearing completion, the record says that the church voted: " (ist) That a call be extended to Rev. C. K. Colver to remain as our pastor the coming year; (2nd) that the church pay him for his services six hundred dollars and make him a donation." 178 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Mrs. Joseph Curtis, of New Lisbon, reduced to writing several years ago a little of the history of the church. With reference to the period preceding that of Mr. Colver's pastorate, she said that the surprising thing was that pastors were as successful in those times as they were, for the conditions were very trying. Politics played a great part in those days; and the large percentage of men in the church men of both political parties, of strong opinions, extreme sensitiveness, and often hasty speech, placed pastors in a position where they had need of great wisdom, if they touched on the dominant questions of the day. For a time the anti-secret-society agitation also invaded many of the churches; but the First Baptist Church of New Lisbon, believing in personal responsibility, refused to make it an issue and thereby escaped the turmoil that wrecked some other churches. But the political excitement was quieting down, and the church was left more to its regular work, before Mr. Colver was called to the pastorate. Indeed, the pastorate preceding his at New Lisbon, Mrs. Curtis said, "ran high tide, followed by an ebbing of prosperity. There were losses by removal, by death, and by discipline. Other churches were organized, other pastors were at work, and New Lisbon was losing some of its prominence as a pioneer town." Mr. Colver was described by Mrs. Curtis as "a great student, a deep thinker, and an able speaker, as well as a good musician. He could both fill the pulpit and take the place of a choir, if need be. Wrapped in thought, he often passed people on the street, and was passed in turn, without friendly recognition. But whoever was fortunate enough to hear him preach found a very different-appearing man. Well built, with magnificent dark eyes, short cut hair brushed straight up from his forehead, he was very much alive in the pulpit, where he loved to scatter error as chaff is winnowed from the wheat." Whether or not Mr. Colver in this instance received the full salary promised to him, which he did not always get, is problem- PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 179 atic. Mrs. Curtis said that he was too easy with his churches to draw a good salary; that he did not want people pressed for money, but favored letting them pay whatever they deemed proper, and he said that when they did not pay him enough, he would take it as his dismissal. Mrs. Curtis also tells with satisfaction of how Mr. Colver won the friendship of one of her brothers. It was at the noon hour, at her father's. Her brother had been working in the field and, on learning that the minister was at the house, did not want to go in to dinner, but wanted that brought out to him, on account of his being in his working clothes, which he thought rendered him unpresentable. But Mr. Colver being the minister, and learning of this, went out and soon put the young man at his ease, so that the two went into the house together, and the young man always liked him very much after that. In addition to this, a sister of Mrs. Curtis describes Mr. Colver as having been "a splendid preacher, and a grand singer, who sometimes greatly moved people with his singing." She says that, "wearing a linen duster over his regular suit, he once went to a meeting of a Baptist association, and was hardly noticed at first, being taken for an ordinary delegate. Then, when it came time for the meeting to begin, and it was lamented that there was no organist present, Mr. Colver quietly took his place at the organ, and astonished all with his playing. The singing failed, and he took that up, so that the people discovered that he could both play the organ and sing. Afterward, he preached to them, and then they knew that he could play, and sing, and preach. He had a powerful voice, and a pleasant one; and he played and sang as if he meant it from the heart. He was not a man for style; not in the least. Some thought that he was a little hard to get acquainted with, but once people got acquainted with him, they found him very friendly. The church was greatly taken aback, and felt very sorry, when he tendered his resignation," to go to another field in March, 1873, l8o THROUGH THREE CENTURIES whither he was constrained in some way to believe that duty called him. The church to which Mr. Colver went from New Lisbon was the Menomonie First Baptist Church, of Menomonie, Wisconsin. There his wisdom and courage as a pastor were severely tried, as they were nowhere else, by the development of a serious scandal and division in the church, which eventually caused him to sanction and even to aid a seceding party in the organization of a new church, as well as apparently placed him in open alignment with those who had been opposed to the predominant anti-secret-society party of the First Church. The Menomonie First Baptist Church was organized in December, 1864, with ten members. Afterward it adopted, or incorporated into its covenant, an article against all forms of secret association. Sworn secrecy was deemed to be incom- patible with His gospel, who said: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candle- stick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." 1 Perhaps Mr. Colver was wanted for pastor of that church because he was believed to be, on principle, in sympathy with its position. Be that, however, as it may, the weight of evi- dence at the present time is that at Menomonie as elsewhere he practiced a wise neutrality on the subject of secret societies. His first year at Menomonie apparently passed off well, with a number of pleasing incidents in it. For example, accord- ing to the Dunn County News, of February 7, 1874, on the preceding Friday evening he lectured in the Congregational church, before the Chippewa Valley Teachers' Association, on "Self-Control." The News said that the lecture was "very interesting," and "afforded his auditors a genuine feast of reason. He was listened to from first to last with the closest 1 Matt. 5:14-15. Mrs. Bella French, "Menomonie and Dunn County, Wisconsin," American Sketch Book, I (1875), 301-2. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 181 attention and evident approval. The teachers, for whom the lecture was prepared, were highly pleased, and it was frequently referred to afterward in our hearing, and always spoken of in terms of praise." The crisis in the church came when on May 4, 1874, a com- munication signed by eighteen members was presented, request- ing letters of dismission for the purpose of uniting in a new Baptist church to be formed. On May 12, what was called the Olivet Baptist Church of Menomonie was organized at a meeting held at Mr. Colver's residence. The basis of the organization was stated to be the "Articles of Faith and a Covenant known as the New Hampshire Confession of Faith." Mr. Colver became at once the pastor of the new church. In the letter of this church, dated May 31, addressed to the St. Croix Valley Baptist Association and evidently written by Mr. Colver, it was said, among other things: "We cordially accept the Word of God alone, as our constitution. We are therefore Baptists. Human enactments and devices we may be jealous of, but the strictest right construction of Christ's law, by whomsoever brought to light, it is our purpose to maintain. We have covenanted with each other to maintain the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. That fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ broad enough; exclusive enough. It embraces all that the Father approves. It shuts us in from all from which Christ is excluded. We can be partakers in no association, in no work in which we must part company with Christ. As the truth is in Jesus, in the love of it, so would we hold the truth. Its high standard of faith and practice is none too high." With regard to the name, the letter said: "We shall count ourselves happy if we may deserve the name, Olivet Baptist Church. Olivet! the famil- iar retreat of Jesus. Gethsemane was there; there, too, was Bethany the place of agony, of prayer, of resignation; and, not far away, the welcome abode of solace and of rest." 182 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The letter a year later, of the church to the Association, expressed gratitude for peace and spiritual comforts, with the privileges of public worship, adding that the occasions of solici- tude felt a year previous "may have narrowed our usefulness, but we have ourselves found comfort in harmonious labor. We have endeavored to follow the things which make for peace." At a meeting of the Olivet Baptist Church held on June 5, 1875, it was " voted unanimously" to ask Mr. Colver to remain as pastor; but there is some evidence that he terminated his active pastorate soon after that, or by the end of October, although he continued as nominal pastor a year or so longer. The Dunn County News, of January i, 1876, said: "It will be generally regretted by our citizens when it is learned that Rev. C. K. Colver has accepted a call from the Baptist Church of River Falls, and has already departed with his family for the new field of labor. Mr. Colver is a gentleman of culture and ability, and our neighbors at the Falls are to be congratu- lated upon so desirable an acquisition to their society." The Olivet Baptist Church performed its mission, and that, too, a very important one, even if, "on the retirement of Mr. Colver, the church subsided." 1 It could not do after he left as well as it had done before; but it continued to have some services for a while and kept its spark of life alive until it was disbanded, on August 8, 1886, preceding the organization, on August n, 1886, of the Immanuel Baptist Church of Menomo- nie, which is now the only Baptist church in Menomonie. The records of the Immanuel Baptist Church begin with the explanatory statement that the Baptist cause in Menomonie after the efforts made by the Olivet organization had been in a lamentable condition. "It may seem strange that any sect claiming as large a number of adherents as does the Baptist denomination in this place is content to remain for such a length 1 History of Northern Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881), p. 280. PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 183 of time without a fold and shepherd; but there were compli- cations that were sufficient to make the hearts of those most loyal to the cause of Christ hesitate from making an attempt at denominational work." One explanation, and only a partial one, given of the original trouble was that a prominent member of the First Church had built and furnished, at a cost of $8,000, the church building, of which he gave the church the use on the condition that it should continue to retain the same distinctive principles which had been adopted; and on the day of the dedication, in 1871, he told the congregation that he intended to deed the property to the church on the same condition as soon as the organization was in a position to maintain it free from debt. " The announce- ment of this intention greatly increased and strengthened the opposing influences which had always operated against the church from various sources. But the chief factor in those influences was the position of the church against secret societies. It resulted in the depletion of the numerical strength of the association by the withdrawal of eighteen members under the leadership of Rev. C. K. Colver, who was the pastor for one year, 1873-74. . . . The majority of the seceding members formed a new organization known as the Olivet Baptist Church, which discarded the anti-secret resolution that had been adopted by the First Church." 1 A retired Methodist minister, of Menomonie, who remem- bers Mr. Colver well as a good, straight man, perhaps a little strict according to his convictions, says, "I never heard anything against him. I do not think that he made any per- sonal fight against secret societies, but was neutral. The anti- secret society warfare was apparently futile." To similar effect a prominent citizen of Menomonie, who was once a worker in the First Baptist Church Sunday school, 1 History of the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin, edited by George Forrester (Chicago: A. Warner, 1892), pp. 154-55- 184 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES said that he used to hear Mr. Colver preach; that "he was a good man, well thought of in Menomonie. I never heard him say anything against secret societies, and I do not think he preached against them, but was silent on the subject, which may have had something to do with his leaving the First Church. Mr. Colver took an interest in the Sunday school, and taught the young men's Bible class." Mr. Colver's last settled pastorate was with the First Bap- tist Church of River Falls, in Pierce County, Wisconsin. River Falls had a population of from 1,200 to 1,500. It had several gristmills. It was of primary importance as a trading center and outlet for an extensive and prosperous farm- ing community. Besides that, it became the seat of the River Falls State Normal School, which was opened at nearly the same time that Mr. Colver went to River Falls. The First Baptist Church of River Falls was organized on April 12, 1857, and is the oldest church in River Falls. It has always been somewhat small in numbers, but generally strong in a few of its individual members, and often, if not continuously, of considerable influence in the community. Moreover, Mr. Colver's pastorate, which has officially been counted as begin- ning in September, 1875, and which extended into July, 1879, making it of a little less than four years' duration, was one of the longer pastorates of the church, which had some five or six pastors before Mr. Colver and has had something like seven- teen since, with several intervals without a pastor. Many of the pastorates were for one year or less. The salary which the church was able to pay was small, and it has been said that Mr. Colver left the matter too much to the people to contribute to his salary as they felt able or saw fit. The salary was some- times augmented once a year by a donation of produce and a purse. The baptisms were always in the river. Mr. Colver's ministry in River Falls was of the same dis- tinctive character as elsewhere untiring, uncompromising, PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 185 earnest, scholarly, strong, and doctrinal, yet with friendly re- lations with the churches of other denominations, more par- ticularly here with the Congregational and Methodist churches. For instance, in November, 1875, he preached the Thanksgiving sermon at a union service held in the Methodist Church. Mr. Colver was described as "a speaker of unusual grace, talent, and refinement" by the River Falls Journal of September 17, 1875. Concerning him and a lecture on " Self-Control," which he delivered at the Methodist Church, under the auspices of the Library Association, the River Falls Advance of January 31, 1876, said that "it was a sound, logical discourse, inter- spersed with enough of the amusing to give it variety, and, also, to make his subject, as well as his discourse, leave a lasting impression upon the mind of the hearer. He is an able, eloquent speaker, with a clear, well-cultivated voice, uniting correct pronunciation with distinct enunciation, thus combining enough good qualities to make him, as he really is, one of the finest speakers in this part of the country." In commenting on an address on "Knowledge" which Mr. Colver delivered before the Natural Science Association, the Journal of January 10, 1878, said that "the speaker, with his usual closeness of reasoning, fortified his position so strongly that all attempts to break through the line proved failures. The address was as full of topics for thought as an egg is of meat, and was listened to with manifest interest by a large audience." A paper by Mr. Colver before the Science Association on "Trance and Epidemic Delusions," made timely by local occur- rences, the Journal of March 28, 1878, reported "was listened to by a large audience. The speaker claimed that what seemed to be truth or delusion today, might prove to a better informed generation to be the opposite. Some preferred to be deluded in some things. Some of the issues of the day, religious and financial, were probably epidemic delusions. The paper was not only sound, but interesting, although the subject was abstruse." i86 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Of a sermon on temperance, which Mr. Colver preached at a temperance meeting in the "hall," the Journal of February 20, 1879, said that "it was one of the ablest and most satisfactory discussions of the question we have heard during the agitation. The speaker, who is versed in the original languages of the Bible, showed that all the passages usually quoted by tipplers in defense of their course are really temperance precepts. He justly held that he who does not touch alcohol shows more control over the appetite than he who boasts of his liberty, saying that he has the power to drink or to let alone, and, in the face of such declaration, daily takes strong drink. It gave much pleasure to many to hear Mr. Colver, who does not form his opinions to accord with prevailing sentiments or without a critical survey of the ground on which they rest, speak so decidedly in favor of total abstinence as the only true temperance. For sound reason- ing and sound sarcasm, his discourse had no equal. The hall was well filled, and all were profited." Forty years after Mr. Colver left River Falls, different persons there say of him: "He was an unusual, a wonderful man"; "he was very scholarly and able"; "he was a good minister, and well liked"; "he preached interesting gospel ser- mons"; "his sermons were to the point, and deep"; "he was strong in his convictions " ; "he always said just what he meant ; he did not mince matters"; "he was a plain-speaking, rugged, forceful character, whom everybody liked to hear preach"; "he was too big a man for this place." One woman says that Mr. Colver went to River Falls to do what he could to build up the church, which was rather weak. "He had no stated salary, but just took what the people gave him. He did not like extravagance ; and he once remarked on how little we need to make us comfortable. He did not want to dress so as to attract attention. His sermons were biblical, and dealt with what God wanted of his people, especially the kind of lives that he wanted them to lead." One day, when PASTORATES IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 187 Mr. Colver was at their house and they were all seated at the table, the woman said to him that she had wanted to ask him a question, but that she had been afraid to do it. He then asked her why that was so. She replied that it was because he was so highly educated. He said that he was very sorry that she felt that way about him. He might know some things, but not everything. To illustrate, there was a nice cake there on the table, but he did not know how to make one like it. That little conversation removed from her mind all of that fear of him. For a short time, while the Congregationalists were without a pastor, Mr. Colver preached for them, generally in the morn- ing, and in the Baptist Church in the evening, the two con- gregations uniting for their services. A number of the Congregationalists still speak very appreciatively of it, and especially of having had him to help them with their singing. One of them says that "Mr. Colver was a tall, fine-appearing man, with a splendid bass voice. The people used to enjoy singing with him. He drew a good congregation. His sermons were deep, and grand. It was worth going miles just to hear him read the Bible. His prayers were also very impressive. He was a great leader, and was equal to a larger place." With regard to the closing of his pastorate, the River Falls Journal of July 17, 1879, stated that "Rev. C. K. Colver has severed his connection with the Baptist Church at this place, and will start for Chicago in a few days, making the trip with his horses and carriage. Mr. Colver is a very learned and able divine, and has performed his pastoral duties here to the entire satisfaction of his church. The best wishes of our citizens go with him and his family." CHAPTER V LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY The great reason why Mr. Colver moved to Chicago when he did, in July, 1879, was to enable his daughter, Susan Esther Colver, to attend the old University of Chicago, so that she could get a collegiate education and prepare herself thoroughly for educational work, yet still live at home where he could continue to oversee her studies. Then, too, he owned in Chi- cago a part of the frame building of five connected houses of practically three stories in height, which had been built in his father's time and might be called the " Colver Block," facing south on the north side of what was then Douglas Avenue, but which is now East Thirty-fifth Street, the location being a few hundred feet west of Cottage Grove Avenue, and about the same distance almost directly south of the old University building. Mr. Colver did not stop preaching, but preached at various places where he seemed to be needed that could be reached easily on Saturday, as well as sometimes at city missions and other places in Chicago. A deacon in the Baptist Church at Wheaton, Illinois, recently informed a new pastor that "Rev. Charles K. Colver came to the Wheaton Baptist Church on September 30, 1882. He closed his work here on October 14, 1883. He came for the express purpose of saving the field. We were weak in numbers and in financial strength. Some even considered the advisability of closing the church doors. Mr. Colver did not move to Wheaton, but he generally came out in time to spend Saturday in pastoral work. On Sunday he 188 LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 189 occupied the pulpit both morning and evening. He also came out sometimes for the midweek prayer service. He was strong on the doctrines. He also paid considerable attention to Old Testament sacrifices and ordinances, finding in almost every instance some lesson or application for the life of our day. A resident of Wheaton, who was not a church member, and, if he was of a religious character at all, it was not of a very pronounced type, became interested in Mr. Colver and came regularly every Sunday evening to hear him preach, and it is doubtful if any of the members of the church could give a better analysis or quote more of the sermon a week after than could that man. Mr. Colver left his mark upon the church, even though he was here but a year; and when he resigned we were in condition to call a pastor and to continue the work." Beginning in 1884, Mr. Colver preached with considerable regularity at Campton, or, as it was renamed, Lily Lake, Illinois, until, largely out of the little church there, a Baptist church was organized in 1890 in Wasco, four miles east, where a house of worship was built and dedicated in 1891, an interest he helped to start. A member of that church says that he used to come out at the week-end, to preach on the Sabbath. He seemed to think little about salary, and got but little, perhaps hardly more than his railroad fare, Lily Lake being about forty- five miles west of Chicago. " He was a lover of the truth. His preaching had no uncertain sound. He left the people estab- lished in truth and righteousness. He was a great scholar. In the pulpit he used to read, or rather translate into English for us, from his Hebrew and Greek Bible, which was the only one that he carried. He usually stopped at our house; and we loved hhii as a father. He was a dear, godly man. It was an inspiration to know him. I wish that we had more like him today." For a time Mr. Colver preached at Union Pier, Michigan, and one of the family with which he usually stayed over the IQO THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Sabbath, who also sometimes visited at his house in Chicago, says that he was one of the finest men that she ever knew; that her respect for him was beyond expression. " In the pulpit, he was very conservative. He was a teacher, rather than an exhorter. He had little confidence in revivals. He never wanted to create an ecstasy of religious fervor; but he seemed to feel that he was standing on holy gound when he was giving God's messages to the people, and his sermons impressed them with awe. He made everyone in the church feel his spirit of piety, until it bordered on solemnity. His reverence for God was the sin- cerest that mortal man could have. His attitude and every expression of his voice were reverent worship. Whenever he spoke the word Jehovah and he spoke it often it seemed to me that his soul was glorified, and that he had a vision not only of the power and majesty, but also of the compassion, of the Infinite One. His face even seemed illumined with reverence and humility. He was one of the most unaffected and unassum- ing of men; and he was always self -poised. Another thing about him that impressed me very much was that I never heard him murmur or complain. While he was serious and thoughtful by nature, he was at the same time always cheerful. Toward those with whom he became well acquainted, he was not only friendly, but cordial." In all, Mr. Colver spent something like forty years in pretty active ministerial labors. 1 Besides his regular pastoral work, he did also a great deal of preaching as opportunity offered in 1 To summarize them as well as it can now be done, the pastorates of Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver were with the Baptist churches in the following places: Watertown, Massachusetts, December, 1845, to January, 1850; Worcester, Massachusetts (Pleasant Street Baptist Church), April, 1850, to May, 1854; Detroit, Michigan (First Baptist Church), April, 1856, to June, 1857; Charlestown, Massachusetts (High Street Baptist Church), about 1857 to 1859; South Abington (now Whitman), Massa- chusetts, temporarily, July, 1859, to March, 1860; Andover, Massachusetts, August, 1861, to November, 1863; Elgin, Illinois, October, 1863, to November, 1867; Mount Carroll, Illinois, January, 1868, to the spring LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 191 places round about, in that respect following somewhat the example or policy of his father, but confining himself more strictly to preaching than did his father, although he also some- times gave lectures, especially on temperance. But whether he preached or lectured in a place, he was so forceful that, even if it was but once, it was pretty apt to make a lasting impression on those who heard him, as did a sermon or lecture by his father. He likewise exerted a large and wholesome influence on the many associational meetings and church councils of various kinds which he attended, as well as in the weekly meetings or conferences in Chicago of the Baptist ministers of Chicago and vicinity, which meetings he attended as regularly and as long as he could. The importance in the aggregate of these outside influences of his can hardly be overestimated, although for the most part unrecorded and now forgotten. Nor did Mr. Colver's life lose its spiritual value to the world when in the course of time he gradually gave up preaching, except to help out here and there for a Sunday or so. That simply gave him a new sphere of influence, in giving him the opportunity, of which he made the most, of attending the serv- ices of the First Baptist Church of Chicago, of which he was then a member, and of which Rev. P. S. Henson was the pastor. Bad weather never kept Mr. Colver away; but, except when duty called him elsewhere, he would always be at the morning and of 1870; New Lisbon, Wisconsin, April, 1871, to March, 1873; Menomo- nie, Wisconsin (Menomonie First Baptist Church), March, 1873, to May, 1874, and (Olivet Baptist Church), May, 1874, to September, 1875, but nomi- nally somewhat longer; River Falls, Wisconsin, September, 1875, to July, 1879; Wheaton, Illinois, September, 1882, to October, 1883. Intervals between pastorates, as in 1860-61 and in 1879-82 and shorter gaps, and much of later years, were given to supply work or preaching for desti- tute churches. At Mount Carroll, Illinois, educational work in the Mount Carroll Seminary was done in addition to the pastoral work for the church, and, after the termination of the latter in the spring of 1870, entire time was given to the educational work for about a year, with some outside preaching. 192 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES evening services on Sunday, at the Sunday school, the weekly prayer meeting, and the teachers' meeting, which he some- times led. His mere presence at a meeting, humble, reverent, extremely earnest, and attentive, as well as looked up to as a scholar as he was by all who knew him, had its influence on all who saw him. When he spoke in the prayer meetings he was always listened to as one having a special message. Naturally, too, he was frequently appointed as a delegate to represent the church at associational meetings, ordinations, or church councils for special purposes. His influence on such occasions was always of one kind, and never to be discounted. Besides, for years he taught a Bible class in the Sunday school, the Scriptures being studied in such a manner as to ascertain as nearly as possible their true meaning. To all of the services which he attended he always carried his Bible, which was a rather large one, composed of the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, bound together for him in one volume. Dr. Henson strongly emphasized some of these things when he paid his last tribute to him. He said that Mr. Colver was a notable, scholarly, and able man, who had filled important pastorates, where he was honored and beloved. He was a man of unusual character. Several things remarkably distinguished him. One of them was the severe simplicity which marked his whole life. If ever there was a man who obeyed the injunction, "Be not conformed to this world," 1 it was Charles K. Colver. He was a man of great independence of thought and action. He inherited this from his father, Nathaniel Colver, who was a mighty man in Israel, a great warrior, who believed in contend- ing for the faith. Charles K. Colver was distinguished also for his reverence for God. He seemed to realize the infinite majesty of the Almighty. He was a great believer in God's sovereignty. He had furthermore a profound reverence for God's Book, loving x Rom. 12:2. LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 193 to study the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. In the prayer meetings at the First Church he attracted attention. He had something to say. He spoke like the old prophets, for he had a message. In the Bible class he would also be greatly remem- bered. And he was no mean antagonist in the ministers' conference. How keen was the edge of the sword he wielded! 1 Mr. William R. Raymond, who was for many years the clerk of the First Baptist Church of Chicago, says that in imagination he can still see Mr. Colver and his daughter 2 on Sunday mornings going down Vernon Avenue to the church, which was at the corner of South Park Avenue and Thirty-first Street, "Mr. Colver with his large Hebrew and Greek Bible under his arm, and father and daughter in animated conver- sation about the lesson for the day. Mr. Colver loved his Bible. For years he had a Bible class in the Sunday school. I occasionally went to the class that he taught, and I was always impressed with his deep insight into the truths of the lesson. He sought always to draw out of the class these truths, rather than to state his own conclusions from a careful study of the passage in question. I used to think that he would have impressed his class still more had he given his own views as to the meaning of the lesson, but he adhered closely to the teacher's method of drawing out of his auditors by questions and reference to the plain statement of the Word." As an example of one of Mr. Colver's talks in the prayer meetings of the church, Mr. Raymond says: "One of the finest interpretive lessons I ever heard Mr. Colver give was on the passage in which Jesus seeks to woo Simon Peter back to intimate fellowship after his sin of denying his Lord, and asks him three times, 'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?' 3 1 The Standard, of Chicago, of October 31, 1896. 3 Mrs. (Susan C.) Colver died in Chicago on September 12, 1889, of intestinal disease. J John 21:15-17. 194 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Mr. Colver called attention to the exact words used for ' love ' in this passage, and gave the different shades of meaning, bringing out the beautiful tenderness of the Savior in assuring Peter of his complete forgiveness and restoration as a beloved disciple. I wish that I were able to reproduce his teaching of this passage; but I cannot do it. His talk was like an inspiration. I do not suppose that he could have duplicated it in writing." Dr. Cyrus F. Tolman, of Chicago, who was for more than a third of a century district secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, as the foreign-mission society was then called, said that "Mr. Colver was distinguished for his great and accu- rate scholarship. He was an authority as a scholar. He was very critical in his investigations, looking on both sides, and balancing evidences, so that what he said was final, or as nearly so as it could well be. There was no question about his scholar- ship. He was also extremely conscientious about everything. Besides, he was a man of faith and of prayer." That Mr. Colver had as many pastorates as he did was, under all of the circumstances, a great deal better for the amount of good that he could do than if he had spent his life with one or two churches. An evangelist, as a rule, accomplishes the most when he does not tarry too long in one place. Mr. Colver was not an evangelist, in the sense of being a revivalist, but in some respects quite the opposite. He would not try, nor wish, to get people to join the church by special persuasion, or by any oratorical or psychological artifice. He wanted them to come through conviction or manifest "conversion" and a "new birth." He was very much like one of the old prophets, who had his message to deliver and delivered it without regard to whether it was wanted, or how it would be received. His ministry was of an intensely earnest, scriptural character, with deep doctrinal teaching, not designed to be popular, nor to build up a church very fast in numbers, but rather to educate, develop, strengthen, and guide. For such a one, and for such preaching, LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 195 it was clearly a gain that his pastorates were moderately short and numerous, to enable him to accomplish the most possible. At most of the places where he was a pastor, Mr. Colver could not, by remaining longer, have done much more than he did except to have added in kind to it, and it was better that he should go to new fields. He quickly made a strong and indelible impression on a church and those whom he would be likely to be able to help, and he could extend this best by going to new places every few years, following in that respect some- what the method of the evangelist, although his mission was a different one. The simple life which he led, partly from expediency, but much more from the conviction that it was the right kind of one, not only went far toward enabling him to maintain his independence of thought and to stand out for what he deemed right, but it also made it possible for him to go to some of the struggling churches which sorely needed him, and to remain with them as long as he did, as he could not have done if his requirements had been greater. He learned early the difference between the essentials and the nonessentials, and he wasted little time on the latter. He never received a large salary, and not many years even a fair one. Still, with the aid of his garden and doing for himself the things that he could do, and doing without many things that he did not feel that he needed but which others deemed necessaries, he managed not only to live on his income, but in the course of his lifetime to save enough so that, with conservative investment and continu- ing the same principles of living, he was financially as well as intellectually independent and was able to live through his last years without any salary and without having to appeal to any one for assistance. Neither was he hi the least covetous, nor parsimonious; but on the contrary, he was in his way generous and indifferent about money matters almost to a fault. He was indeed extremely 196 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES cautious about the objects to which he gave aid, and he declined to give to many causes generally favored by others. But what he had to give was limited in amount, and when he did give he generally did it in such a way that few or none besides himself knew of it. In addition he was strongly averse to making prom- ises for future fulfilment, not knowing what a day might bring forth. So if he could not pay at once, he would wait until he could before he made any bargain or arranged for any con- tribution; otherwise he paid at once what he could and wished to pay. In direct line with this fact Dr. Thomas W. Goodspeed has brought to light that, as he says, "to the Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver belongs the distinction of having made the first cash contribution for the founding of the new Uni- versity of Chicago. The amount was $100. There were earlier subscriptions, but the first actual cash received came from Charles K. Colver." 1 Mr. Colver did not live for himself; and he sought neither personal pleasure nor material profit. His was the life of a man of fine natural ability and sensitiveness, thoroughly educated, who subordinated self and all natural ambitions to live according to his conscience and the will of God, as he perceived it, and he succeeded therein to an unusual degree. Thus, there was the self-renunciation of a strong man, who did not try to flee from any of the duties and trials of life, but faced them calmly, and endeavored to live humbly, and humbly to meet and to bear the will of God. Beyond that, he lived to do what good he could in the world in the way in which he felt he was called upon to act. This in its application included his family, to which he was always faithful. In his home life, he was vir- tually the same man that he was everywhere else. He was devout, quiet, self-possessed, considerate, and cheerful. He was devoted and tender in the care of his wife, and ever ready to render any helpful service needed, but doing it all so naturally 1 University Record (New Series), V (1919), 75. LATER LIFE AND SUMMARY 197 that it was hardly noticeable. The training and education of his daughter was also of the greatest moment to him, and formed a part of his daily life until after she had gone through the University and had entered upon her life-work. For superficial social conventionalities he had little respect. He wanted something more than a factitious veneering. He wanted kindliness of word and action bred of the heart. He himself was a gentleman in the best sense of the word, and in spirit the spirit of the Master. He was always considerate of others according to the occasion, and shaped his conduct toward them by the Golden Rule, kindness of heart, and thoughtfulness rather than by rehearsing platitudes and following set forms. He had a fine sense of humor, but he was very cautious about giving it expression. The Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek furnished him with his principal subjects for study in his later years, as they did before. He was still just as anxious as ever to get at the original and true meanings. He even attended one of Dr. Harper's summer classes in Hebrew in order to get new suggestions. He also retained a reasonable interest in every- thing that a scholar and a citizen should. One year he attended the Baptist Anniversaries in Philadelphia, and at another time in Denver, Colorado. Near the close of his life, he visited the Holy Land, but some have thought that it may have been too hard a trip for him, and have hastened the end. The details of the trip, and how it impressed him, and what he got from it as a biblical scholar, have, unfortunately, like the details of his voyage to South America, not been recorded nor in any other way preserved. Charles Kendrick Colver entered into the reward of his life and labors on October 28, 1896* 1 Mr. Colver died of nephritis at the Baptist Hospital which was then maintained in Chicago in the original building of the Baptist Union Theo- logical Seminary. The attendants in the hospital spoke of his exceptional 198 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES His life was certainly an unusual one. It was particularly remarkable for its biblical character and the fidelity with which, humanly speaking, it followed, in letter and in spirit, with great persistency and consistency for more than threescore years the teachings of the Old and the New Testaments, as orthodoxly interpreted in his day. It was also a useful life, encouraging and helpful in numerous ways to many individuals, and impart- ing moral, spiritual, and doctrinal strength to a considerable number of churches. Looked at from the viewpoint of eternity, in the light of which it was lived, it was clearly a successful life, in the best sense of the term. Its immediate compensation and happiness were found chiefly in the consciousness of right pur- poses and attempted right doing, as well as in being as close as it was in harmony with what was understood to be the divine will, and with nature. Good should still long continue to come, in one way or another, from its strict adherence to principle and devotion to duty. and especially uncomplaining character, manifested even when, from other causes than the disease for which he was there, he must have suffered excruciating pain, as probably he had suffered it more or less for a long time before without ever having given any intimation of it. The funeral services, by request of the pastor, were held in the First Baptist Church. Dr. P. S. Henson, the pastor of the church, preached the sermon, some of the main points of which have already been mentioned. The deacons of the church were the pallbearers. CHAPTER VI SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS Mr. Colver was very methodical and painstaking in every- thing that he did; and he was particularly careful about every word that he spoke or wrote, for he took deeply to heart the admonitions of the Bible with regard to using wisdom and caution in speech. Even his handwriting, which was light, neat, and easily read, showed deliberation and distinctiveness. But no manuscripts of his of any sort, original memoranda of thought, written sermons, or even letters have been preserved. Nor did he concern himself in any way with authorship. Fortunately, however, he was induced to write, between October, 1890, and July, 1892, some short articles and paragraphs for the Bul- letin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School, of Chicago ; and this chapter will be devoted to a reproduction of most of them. Many of them were undoubtedly suggested by some- thing in the Sunday-school lessons, prayer-meeting topics, or other subjects being considered at the time. They show clearly a desire to stimulate and direct thought, as well as to encourage an independent study of the Scriptures and the making of them the guide, rather than any disposition on the writer's part to impose on other persons any particular conclusions of his own. Furthermore, the most of these articles are more in the nature of short meditations than anything else, some of them being almost medieval in character, and almost all of them without any purpose of expressing finality, except perhaps on a few of the many points presented for consideration. They should have an increased value now, both for those who delight in meditations on the Word and find too few of them in this 199 200 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES hurrying age, and for those who are desirous of comparing the religious thought of different generations. MEDITATIONS Go forward. What way is forward ? As to a better dis- charge of duty ? How can I know what is duty ? I am to be led by the Spirit. How shall I know His leadings? I am inclined to do this or that. Does the Spirit incline me? A suggestion comes to my thoughts; an impulse moves me. If it is from the Lord's Spirit, I would obey. How can I know ? Family religion. Does this mean personal religion in the family? Noah had some special prerogative. "Come thou and all thy house." 1 Lydia had a household. 2 Cornelius had much to do for the salvation of his house. 3 If sprinkling, or some administration of some religious ceremony would save one's house, the saving would be easy. If controlling the actions and the habits of children could save them, then parents might know their relation to family religion. What can any member of the family do for the other members of it ? Religious behavior in the family is this family religion ? Lewticus 19:33-34- Be kind to the stranger. So teaches the Old Testament; so also the New Testament. The religion of the Bible is kind. Kindness should be expressed. RESOLUTIONS The new year was the occasion of review and anticipation touching personal attainments in piety. Resolutions were formed with earnest intentions. Does that earnestness prove effective ? Does the first week of effort 4 encourage the hope of success through the year? If in any particular thus far the endeavor has failed in its intent, it may be wise to review again and reinforce the right purpose. If the purpose shaped itself 1 Gen. 7:1. 3 Acts 10:22. 3 Acts 16: 15. * This was published on January 9, 1892, SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 201 into a vow or any sort of promise, of course the thing promised must be done. 1 If the promise must fail of fulfilment, of course there should be repentance both for failure in the duty promised and for the falsehood involved. The falsehood must not be repeated. The vow is not to be rashly made again. A firm purpose may, how- ever, take its place. If the resolution was only a definite intention earnestly cherished, then a partial disappointment or a painful failure may serve to arouse latent energies and insure better results by renewed efforts. If the beginnings of failure and even the indications which threaten failure, are promptly noticed and provided for, the hope of this new year may even yet be fulfilled. IDLE WORDS 2 Every utterance that is of no account must be accounted for. What talk is idle ? What talk is valuable ? What talk is helpful ? What talk offers good to the talker ? To the listener ? How much value is necessary to make the talk other than idle ? Must its value be estimated by its bearing upon some particu- lar interest? Some words seemingly of light weight may subserve helpful uses. " Good morning," may not be always an intended prayer, but it develops friendship. "This is a pleasant day," is not uttered to convey information, but it may develop gratitude to God, or it may at least offer and invite mutual oneness of thought, human fellowship. The same may be claimed for certain sportive utterances, such as contribute to elasticity of 1 "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay." Eccles. 5:4-5- 2 " Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matt. 12:36. 202 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES spirit. If musical tones may affect mental states helpfully, so may words spoken irrespective of their definite meaning. Words are signs of ideas. They intimate the ideas of him who utters them. They appeal to ideas in him who interprets them. They facilitate interchange of thought. Even if they mean little to him who speaks, they may enrich him who hears. If one speaks only to himself his words may serve as a rehearsal helpful or otherwise to himself, acceptable or other- wise to his God; and, indirectly, valuable or otherwise to his fellows. Is it possible that speech may pervert, counterbalance, or annul its own value? May speech be wicked? malicious? harmful by indiscretion ? frivolous ? an objectionable substitute for words that ought to be spoken ? May speech be faulty in a negative way ? failing to be of requisite value ? In whatever way faulty it cannot escape judgment. Speech is an index of character. What I say shows what I am. Judgment of my words is judgment of myself. Will silence avoid this judgment ? Taciturnity may be no virtue. Folly unuttered may be folly still. If sound speech is due, the debt will not be paid by silence. Let me remember, then, that my tongue is responsible to God always. The responsibility of speech can never be evaded. No use of speech can be too insignificant to be judged. I must meet all my words in judgment. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink." 1 Is it a sin to drink ? That is the drinker's sin. Is it a sin to induce a man to sin ? That is the tempter's sin, making the drinker's sin his own sin also. The guilt of the tempted is complete in itself, undiminished by any aggravation of the tempter's guilt. Aggravation? Alas! aggravation is possible, to an extent that 'Hab. 2:15. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 203 is inconceivable, and in ways innumerable. " Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet." 1 WILL AND INFLUENCE When Jehoiakim defied the Almighty and wronged men, 2 he acted out himself. Being left to himself, he cut and burned the hated message. Could the blame be referred to any other person than himself ? Could his guilt find any apology in his freedom from restraint ? If God does not prevent a man from choosing evil and doing evil, is the evil-doer any less responsible ? Any less blameworthy ? What bearing has influence upon responsibility? Was Judas Iscariot any less responsible because Satan entered into him ? Was his guilty action any the less his own ? The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, did Satan's influence lessen the freedom of Judas's will ? Judas was Judas all the time. When the Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things spoken by Paul, 3 was her responsibility thereby dimin- ished? Was the dignity of the human will dishonored? She herself gave heed. When the Lord writes his law on a man's heart, is the man any less responsible ? If the issue of that heart is a good choice, a righteous character, is not that character the man's own? Is his will any less free ? Choice is always determined by considerations. Will is always governed by motives. It is never free from such control, even in weighing considerations. It is never free from respon- sibility. The boasted freedom of the will is a fallacy. In what- ever sense true freedom of the will may be affirmed, responsibility always attends human choice and conduct. 1 Heb. 12 : 12-13. 3 J er * 3^ : 23. 3 Acts 16:14. 204 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES WICKED DOERS OF RIGHT "Shall the ax boast against him that heweth therewith ? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shake th it ?" J Jehu is commended in II Kings 10:30, as having done well in executing that which is right in the eyes of the Lord in refer- ence to the house of Ahab, for which service he had been divinely appointed and anointed. 2 Nevertheless he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord. 3 Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the model sinner in Israel's apostasy, was called to his kingship by divine encouragement, 4 and confirmed against Judah by the Lord's assurance, "this thing is of me." 5 Righteousness was enjoined upon him, 6 but he was a very unrighteous doer of the one right deed, namely, the rending of the ten tribes from Rehoboam's kingdom. The lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets 7 found satisfactory employment in leading Ahab to his death, executing however wickedly the decree of divine justice against the wicked king. So might a python be let loose against a threatening tiger. The king of Assyria is more than willing to act as a rod of anger against Israel, not from loyalty to Jehovah, but for pur- poses of his own. It is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few. "Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria." 8 His very wickedness is wielded as a rod, and is itself punished afterward. If by the word of the Lord severe smiting must be inflicted upon an unoffending prophet, a friend shrinks from the service. 9 When by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, 1 Isa. 10: 15; cf. vss. 5-14. 2 II Kings 9:1-10. 6 1 Kings 1 1 : 38. all Kings 10:31. 7 1 Kings 22:19-23. * I Kings 11:29-39. 8 Isa. 10:12. s I Kings 12 : 24 (R.V.). I Kings 20: 35. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 205 Jesus must be delivered up, 1 no friend such as John or Peter is required to do the smiting. A Judas is found. Blind passion and unbelief are not reluctant. Roman soldiers are ready to do they know not what. There is no power but of God. Satan himself can do nothing of himself. He is a creature under control. His energies can be turned to good account with no credit to him. God worketh after the counsel of his own will. 2 If only righteous agencies could be employed by him, what use could be made of any human agency ? All forces are subject not only to his control, but to his use. Moral evil is none the less evil because restrained; none the less evil because compelled to subserve some good purpose. The responsibility of moral evil remains with the sinful impulse, whatever any other being may do about it. If God in his providence allows the evil in a man's heart to be stirred up, or causes it to be stirred up, the stirring up does not sanction it, nor extenuate it, nor lighten the responsibility of it. In every act of every man, that which is right God will recognize as right. That which is wrong God will disapprove, whatever direction he may give to the man's energies whatever purpose he may cause that wrong thing to accomplish. The responsibility of the wrong will be kept where it belongs. However mixed and confused and varied may be the agen- cies in the events of divine Providence, one may be sure that the Judge of all the earth will do only right. TEMPTATION IS FROM WITHIN "Each man is tempted by his own lust, being drawn away by it, and enticed." 3 Opportunity may develop character; but opportunity does not make character. Inducements to evil may detect an unsuspected inclination to evil. The induce- ments do not originate the disposition, however much they may 1 Acts 2:23. 3 Eph. 1:11. 3 jas. 1:14 (R,V,m.). 206 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES contribute to its development. The heart itself is the spring of all its wickedness. The sinner is responsible for his own sin. YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT A spider brushed off from your table is likely to be found on the same spot soon after. The web spun so suddenly may be unseen but the clue is sure. Your sin never loses its connection with you. Its trail is certain. It will find you. Counterfeit money is likely to be traced to the person who passed it pur- posely. The responsibility of a sin can never miss. Jehovah traces it with certainty. There is a dog whose master cannot, by effort, lose him. Through crossing trails, through ways confused, distant, pur- posely obscured, he will find his way back. Your sin cannot be separated from you. Other persons may share your guilt, but your guilt will stick to you. You may blame your neighbor; but your own blame you cannot give away. Divine retribution makes no mistakes. "Be sure your sin will find you out." 1 FOR WHAT HE IS "As he reckoneth within himself, so is he." 2 Words and deeds are not always a true index of character. They may be commendable or otherwise, while the person speaking or doing may be the reverse. For what he is a man is responsible no less than for what he does. A perverse moral nature is blameworthy. It may be disguised, it may be dormant, it may be unknown to one's consciousness, but it is blameworthy still. Omniscience detects it. Perfect holiness abhors it. The fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria must be punished, though the deeds done by his perverse disposition were approved. 3 Jehu was praised and rewarded for executing 'Num. 32:23. 3 Prov. 23:7; cf. R.V.m., "as one that reckoneth within himself." 3 Isa. 10:12. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 207 zealously his commission against the house of Ahab, but his zeal for Jehovah was not above asking, "Who is on my side?" 1 The law of Jehovah he followed not with all his heart. He did certain things that were commanded, but he was not loyal. 2 He was commended for what he did, and condemned for what he was. "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born from above." 3 A SUFFICIENT MOTIVE "The love of Christ constraineth us."< Does this mean that our appreciation of the generous com- passion which moved our Redeemer constrains us to respond with gratitude and to carry forward his generous work ? Does it mean that his love is reproduced in us, a divine affection in human hearts? Does it mean that our love to him compels us to crave any service that will further his plans or please him ? However interpreted, is the love of Christ a sufficient motive ? Of course it is sufficient to determine obligation, to make service a duty. Is it sufficient to make duty welcome? Is it sufficient to insure content in service ? Is it sufficient to sustain cheerful perseverance, the greatest efficiency, even passionate devotion ? It ought to be. Is it ? This motive touches all other motives. Under temptations from within and from without, under encouragements or dis- couragements, the love of Christ holds the heart steady in its courage. If duty is known and opportunity manifest, the service of love is a joy. What is my testimony in the social religious meeting, does or does it not bring to me a sympathetic response ? Do I know that the testimony was right and timely, and constrained by love ? Let the loving service be its sufficient reward. 1 II Kings 9:32. a John 3:7 (R.V.m.). 2 II Kings 10:31. * II Cor. 5:14. 208 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Sunday-school work, mission work, various kinds of Chris- tian work, a hireling might not covet. Yet the worker needs no more effective inducement than the indulgence offered by it to the exercise of Christian kindness. That kindness will not indeed claim credit as a martyr-like endurance for benevolent purposes. It must be real, generous, delighting in its oppor- tunities. For the various exigencies of Christian service such a motive is essential. If it exists it will be found sufficient. UNSELFISH "It is more blessed to give than to receive." 1 Is that a motive ? Let not the motive defeat its aim. To be induced to give by the consideration that the greater blessed- ness will be experienced by the giver may detract from the generosity of the giving, from the very blessedness desired. Christianity gives; its joy is in the giving, its love is generous. Heat radiates; so does Christian kindness. The impulse is outward. Its exercise is its joy. Kindness may win appreciation, gratitude, responsive kind- ness. Such response may be due, may of right be demanded, may be desired, may be missed. What then ? Love may still love, and all the more purely. At low tide, the mountain stream gives its sweetness undiminished to the sea. Let me then engage in Christian service of whatever sort, by the impulse of unselfish generosity. Let all questions con- cerning, re turns and rewards be held in abeyance if not wholly dismissed from my thoughts or from my list of motives. The Master will take care of them. Let my work be a labor of love. ALL IS THE LORD'S ALREADY The holder of millions is only a steward in care of millions. The holder of two mites is a steward in care of two mites. 1 Acts 20:35. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 209 In what sense can a steward give to his Lord that which is his Lord's already ? "Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Am I then my Lord's steward in charge of myself as well as of my possessions? What shall I think then of tithes? of gifts ? of service ? Can I then be anything more than a willing payer of debts ? THE LORD'S TREASURY When at a recent Wednesday evening prayer meeting the "Widow's Mites" were considered, there was one present in whose mind the following questions were suggested, which should be weighed well by all, not to furnish an excuse for with- holding that which should go into the contribution basket, etc., but in order to do justice, and particularly in the matter of judging others. What is the Lord's treasury? The contribution basket? The fund for church expenses ? The fund for missions ? The fund for benefactions to the poor ? Has a mother only two mites all her living ? Has she in her own family two little feet needing shoes ? Is it more pious to put the two mites into some contribution basket for unknown recipients than to care for persons in her own family ? If she uses the mites judiciously in providing for real wants of persons who have a claim upon her, or even for her own personal needs, may it be true that she has none the less cast the mites into the Lord's treasury ? THE SABBATH A seventh day is in the Scriptures enjoined upon men to be observed by them as hallowed, set apart, distinguished from other days, sacred as a day of rest. 1 1 Cor. 6: 19-20. 210 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The rest required is not idleness, inactivity, sleep. The activity of drudgery, the toil of bondage, the service of servants, the burden of ordinary work, such as taxes man's energies through the six common days, is to cease. The seventh day is to be used as God's own, hi such quiet or in such activity as the worship of God and the service of God may require. The industries proper in the six days are under divine law. They are enjoined as duty. They are in some sense service to God. The uses of the seventh day are exclusively religious. Its rest is holy rest. Its activities are holy activities all for God in a specific, exclusive sense. The Sabbath's duties are designed to be privileges. Its rest is a freedom; its service a joy. Gratitude is a duty, yet thanks- giving is the glad overflow of conscious joy. Who values a commercial kiss? A love token which betokens no love? A service that is irksome, a task reluctantly performed, is not duty done. The Sabbath lets up the burdened toiler, inviting and enjoining the freest play of man's best impulses. PRAYER Prayer asks God to do something. If in using words of prayer I am really trying to move the persons who are listening, as if to stir them up by words not addressed to them, but intended to be heard by them and to influence them by being heard, I may well pause and consider whether this is really prayer to God. If it is in reality an appeal to men, would not a direct address to them be more consistent with honesty and with the proper offering of real prayer ? There is a difference between praying at people and praying for people. Real prayer, however, is more than an indirect expression of a wish. If I say, may we be this or that, may we do this or that, or may this person turn from evil to good, my prayer is a request that God will cause the being or the doing. When my prayer SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 211 craves a revival of religion or success in teaching, or in any religious effort involving my own activity, or involving the activities and responsibilities of persons for whom the prayer is offered, what is it that I am asking the Lord to do ? My request may be for increased efficiency of the means used, or it may be for some work of God himself, other than making means efficient. Jesus was a faultless preacher. His personal appeal to individuals was always wise, appropriate, exactly right. Yet not all his hearers were converted. Preaching does not create. Persuasion does not create. Instrumentalities do not create. There is only one Creator. The regenerate soul is a new creature. Beyond all that can be accomplished by means, beyond all efficiency that God in answer to prayer may give to our words and works beyond all this is God's own work. Let not man's efficiency become an idol, a rival to God himself. Pray for highest excellence and efficiency in the message-bearing and the personal influence, and pray also for the putting forth of divine power. THE AWAKENING To be a Christian! Ah, that is a good thing! Happy he who is a Christian. May that be said of me? I would that it could be. I wish what do I wish ? To be what I am not ? I speak not of privilege, possession, heirship, hope, gratification, happiness. Wherein does the very nature of a Christian differ from my nature ? He is said to have been begotten by the Spirit of God, born of God, begotten by the word of God. Does that mean spoken into being, as light was spoken into being? Made a new creature by the breath of the Creator ? Wherein does this new creature differ from the old man? The old man was a failure. I am a failure. I have missed the aim of my being. I am a sinner. My nature takes to sin. As an ill-balanced 212 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES arrow, I go not straight to any aim. I have a conscience, but its promptings do not insure righteousness. I do not doubt the truth of the gospel. I honor its ideals of character. Yet the character which it approves is not my character. Would that it might be ! But character is only the development of one's nature. My nature is what troubles me. Can any decision of mine change that nature? Can any decision of mine make it certain that God will change my heart? My heart! My heart! The loving and the hating! I must love. I ought to love. It is my shame, not to love the Perfect One! It is my sorrow also. Oh, for a godly sorrow! No act of my will can be a substitute for godliness in my heart. No doing of mine, without this godliness, will amount to piety. I am exhorted to look to Jesus. Yes, I do fix my attention upon him. He claims love from me. My sensibilities are moved. Is he moving them by the power of his spirit ? Is he changing me ? Only from him can help come. Will it come ? Has it come ? CONVICTION The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, "will convict the world in respect of sin, .... of sin in that they believe not on me." 1 " They believe not " that must include me. Believe not? I do believe that Jesus Christ is what he claims to be, but to believe on him, to have faith in him, certainly includes heart work. Love, trust, devotion, dependence, subjection, obedi- ence, discipleship, fellowship in his experiences, absorption in his interest Oh, how much is included in the required faith! No, the world does not believe on him. Do I believe on him ? He is the word of God. God's law is in his mouth. Does it control me ? God's love is in all his missions. Does that con- trol me ? If he had not come at all into the world as a Savior, 'John 16:8-9 ( R -V. followed, except "in that" is used instead of "because"). SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 213 the penalty for sin would have been due from a sinful world. If, notwithstanding his coming, the world remains disloyal to God, rejecting the message of peace, the condemnation is aggravated. The world? That includes me again. The sin of violating God's law, and the aggravated sin of continued disloyalty against the admonitions and overtures of the gospel; this is proved against me. If I am reminded of specific deeds or faults against the commandments, these are only telltale jets from the heart's volcanic ebullitions. A life serene in unquestioned morality cannot quiet my conscience so long as I know of the depravity beneath. Sin Ah, sleeping tiger, I fear thee! Sinful indulgences, tasteless as water, or pleasing as nectar, are none the less poison- ous, deadly. Tasteless ? Only to the carnal sense. Does not my soul shudder at the very thought of sin ? It did not always so shudder. Has the Holy Spirit awakened in me or created in me a new sense? A taste that detects the loathsomeness of sin ? The guilt of sin how have I failed to appreciate that Excuses, palliations, habits, examples, associations, stupidity, indifference, blindness, passion, heredity none of these can relieve my sense of this guilt. Neither can an amended life, nor promised exemption from punishment. Not only in gross acts offensive to common culture; specific sins, as murder or social wrongs abhorrent by their effects; not only in these, but in disloyalty itself; in the very impulse or thought that is dis- pleasing to God, the guilt remains a perpetual, intolerable thing. To think that I could ever relish sin! I am ashamed of my possibilities. Let me hate sin itself, and dread it worse than any penalty or consequent suffering. Sin! the one bad thing in the universe. What a wonder that it can be forgiven! I do not deserve forgiveness. But God does forgive, and heal, and save. Oh, the guilt; the shame of saying no to such a friend! 214 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES REPENTANCE "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." 1 Sin is against God. If the wrong is against man, its sinful- ness lies in its opposition to God, to his law, to his standard of right. If the act involves no perceivable wrong against man, this fact is of minor importance. God is higher than man. An act, an impulse, a thought against God scarcely leaves room for the consideration of human interests in its measure of guilt. A right mind groups all wrongs, nay, condenses them all into one wrong, and that against God. Thus any one wrong, how- ever trivial it may have seemed before, becomes as a sin an unutterable offense. So a right mind judges sin. Is my mind right then ? There are sins that I hate; but do I hate sin ? Sin in my own actions, impulses, thoughts do I detect it as readily as in others ? and condemn it as cordially ? as promptly ? Well may I hate sin. It is a monster. It is an insanity. It is against good. It brings woe. What if it did not bring woe ? Would I hate it for itself ? The consequences of sin, its bitter fruits, the wickedest selfishness can hate them. To regret sin because of its fruits, or because of the penalty incurred by it, may be no proof of penitence. To be scared out of evil courses by fear of retribution may indicate awakened sensibility, but it does not prove repentance. It does not prove hatred of sin as sin. The wages of sin are not to be coveted. Death! Ah, what does that mean ? Wages ? They are earned ! My sin, so excuseless, so treasonable, deserves its doom. Yet penalty cannot assuage guilt. Oh, the sting of conscious guilt! Guilt everlasting, unmitigated by punishment everlasting! How fearful a thing is sin! Yes, I do dread; I hate both it and its fruit. My shame can find no hiding from the face of the Holy ^ Ps. 51:4. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 215 One. The wrath of the Lamb, my convicted conscience dreads as an added shame. Shame that my depravity, perversity, sinfulness incurs wrath from such a being! If hiding were possible, or escape from so just a doom, would it not be mean in me to wish for escape? Mean? Yes, but meaner still to refuse when he invites! It would be mean to wish for evasion or compromise; but pardon is another scheme. But pardon becomes possible only by the vicarious death of Jesus Christ. Can I wish for pardon so produced? Ah me! Must my sin pierce him ? Can I bear the thought ? But he waits not to be asked. He has died! The atoning work is finished. This is God's will. Atonement becomes law! Shi against law of commandment shames me. Sin against law of grace shames me no less. The atonement commands me. If now my mourning for sin is genuine, a godly sorrow work- ing genuine repentance, I am to welcome every expression of the Lord's will. The comfort promised to such mourning has already begun. I can afford to wait for its fulness. FAITH AND EXPECTATION Expectation depends on recognized probabilities. Faith is independent of probabilities. Faith expects what is promised, but with or without a promise, with or without expectation of good, faith finds content in clinging. LED "Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led." 1 Certain silly creatures are described by Paul as led by divers lusts. 2 This leading is not dragging. The led follow willingly. The way they are led is the way of their choice, an evil choice, a guilty choice. 1 1 Cor. 12:2 (R.V.). * II Tim. 3:6, 216 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES By a mob the Lord Jesus was led to the brow of a precipice. x By the Spirit he was led into the wilderness. 2 His following was a submission to another's choice. In becoming Christians the Corinthians submitted to a new leading, and with as hearty willingness, by a new choice. "No one can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of services, and the same Lord. There are diversities of work- ings, but the same God who works all in all." 3 To be a Chris- tian is to be led rightly, willingly, effectively. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." 4 SOVEREIGN GRACE When David prays, "Incline my heart unto thy testi- monies," 5 he confesses his need of a work of God upon or in the person who prays. He does not ask for a work which God cannot do. The old covenant 6 was weak through the flesh. 7 The obedience required was not secured. The flesh was unreliable. The new covenant 8 promises the obedience itself, not by any cramping process, not by any diminution of personal freedom, but by Sovereign Grace. This is a better covenant, enacted upon better promises. 9 The triumph of the Redeemer is to depend, not upon the pliability of human depraved nature, not upon some persons proving less obstinate or less perverse than others, and so ready to accept proposals, but upon a work which God himself under- takes. "I will put." "I will write." This is the promise. 'Luke 4: 29, "hill." 3 Luke 4:1. 3 Cor. 12:3-6 (R.V., slightly modified). 4 Rom. 8:14 (R.V., except in retaining "the" before "sons"). s Ps. 119:36. 6 Exod. 34:28. 8 Jer. 31:31-33. 7 Rom. 8:3. Heb. 8:6. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 217 The flesh is still weak, and worse. Faith's assurance rests on God's promise, on God's power, on God's faithfulness. It is useless, dangerous, wicked, to flatter and pet the human will in its relations to God.' The enmity of the carnal mind can never be wheedled into loyalty. "Thou shalt love," is the divine ultimatum. 1 To this demand the human heart replies, "No." The only genuine compliance with this demand is prompted by the divine Spirit. Theorize as men will, genuine piety thanks God for the very first submissive thought. Prayer confesses that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." 2 JOY or GOD'S SALVATION Is this a glad consciousness of being saved ? A lively sense of benefits received or promised? Appreciation of the soul's best interests assured ? Is that all ? Is that the main request in David's prayer ? 3 If he gains what he seeks, will his thoughts and feelings be occupied chiefly with his own personal good, or with the manifested attributes of the Being who saves ? Thy sal- vation ! Wonderful exhibition of grace ! Only one being possesses this high prerogative. The Sovereign Source of Law can pardon. He who made man upright can restore the fallen. He who hates sin infinitely can love wonderfully. He who looks through all contingencies, who controls all forces, can save with certainty. I, too, hate sin. Defiled, I hate my defilement. My own sin I hate most of all. I could almost crave the punishment of it. But I need not. God can remove the stain. God can make just. God can restore hope, peace, joy. Joy of recon- ciliation. Joy of love. Joy of gratitude. Joy of devotion to righteousness, devotion to God. A joy unselfish, holy, worthy to be desired, itself a gift from God, a beam of the glory of God's wondrous salvation. 1 Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:37-39. a Jas. 1:17. 3 " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." Ps. 51:12. 218 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES ASSURANCE The scattering of Israel by reason of departure from God was foretold by Moses; 1 with its consequences to individuals. "Thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life." 2 The prophet Isaiah vividly portrays the near fulfilment of this prophecy, 3 but looks beyond, to a day of divine favor. 4 "Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness; and "righteous- ness shall abide in the fruitful field. And the work of righteous- ness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence ('assurance') for ever." 5 What is Hezekiah's privilege to be thus confident under Rabshakeh's taunt? He said to Isaiah: "It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, .... and will rebuke the words which the Lord thy God hath heard." 6 Was that possibility sufficient? Did he need the definite promise which Isaiah returned to him ? 7 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were "not careful" to answer Nebuchadnezzar. They knew that their God was "able to deliver" them. They trusted that he would deliver them. "But if not," their quiet purpose remains undisturbed. 8 Sennacherib's assurance was impudence. Hezekiah's was modest, but enduring. A false hope may encourage self-assertion; but genuine righteousness, with or without expectation of desired good, furnishes assured peace. YOUNG PEOPLE What is the line of distinction between "young people," and other people ? Is it an imaginary line ? Is it a variable 1 Deut. 28:64-66. 5 Isa. 32: 16-17 (R.V. and A.V. combined). * Deut. 28:66 (R.V.). 6 Isa. 37:4 (R.V.). a Isa. 32 : 9 -14. 7 Isa. 37 : 6-7. Isa. 32:15-18. 8 Dan. 3:17-18. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 219 line? Is it an appreciable line ? Is it a line of division ? Does it suggest any dangers ? Does it suggest helpful possibilities ? In either direction is it wise to make this line of distinction more conspicuous ? The young people: Who are they? In some sense, all vigorous persons are counted young. The most advanced in years, if still in sympathy with youthful dispositions, are some- times counted the youngest. But who are expected to consti- tute the societies of young people ? Certainly not aged people, however vigorous and genial. Neither are the children all of the proper age to be included. Between the periods of life in which people are accounted either children or old people, the youth are found in their bloom and vigor. If these young people can the better develop their growth and use their vigor in useful service by some young people's organization, the question of exact age may be referred to some sliding scale, or to each person's sense of propriety. If the line of demarkation proves to be obscure, that may be an advantage. Frequent trespass from each side of it to the other by mutual and mingled service may develop and magnify unsuspected elements of fellowship. It will, however, be well to remember that young people will not be young always. Now is your opportunity; make the most of it! Whatever question may arise as to the propriety of persons not included in young people's organizations offering counsel or co-operation in their work, no question of this sort need hinder the young people from the freest participation in all church work. CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE The beginning of a Christian experience is the new birth. Wherein does he who is bora of the Spirit differ from what he was before ? What work of the Holy Spirit has been wrought in him? 220 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES What reliable testimony can a Christian be expected to furnish as to his own spiritual birth? He can tell what he knows. What does he know? His own thoughts, feelings, purposes, conduct, past and present, at least in part. But these are only tokens, not the birth. He can narrate incidents and occasions of interest, that have impressed his mind. He can attest his firm belief and his satisfaction in his confidence; but belief is not testimony. Even if he can speak of a marked and impressive change in his mind at some definite time, he can only infer and leave other persons to infer the cause of it. Then as to the change itself, was it in his own mental nature? or in his way of looking at things ? a change in himself ? or only in his activities? Some remarkable changes have been followed by disappointment. In more particulars than one, "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation." 1 Not with the new joy of hope, not with the first assurance of peace, does the new life begin. Not with any remembered act, or thought, or wish; but in the secret chambers of the soul there was begotten "the will to do his will." The salt of healing was cast into the bitter fountain, before the first issue of new life from the heart. The time of the new birth is often, perhaps always, unknown. The first startling manifestation of it may be dated. But subsequent reflection may detect signs of the new life having begun yet earlier. Sometimes the signs of the new life may fail to be rec- ognized as proof, even though impressive. These are to be observed with care, but always to be distinguished from the new birth* itself. All that is involved in the new birth becomes the sum of the Christian experience. Only the less essential, the less vital portions, can be directly told. The items that are told are mainly valuable as indicating what cannot be told. The items may vary infinitely; but their meaning is one. Time, place, 'Luke 17:20. SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 221 nationality, personal peculiarities, attendant circumstances, previous and subsequent history may shape the utterances of converts, but the attested Christian experience is a unit, a common fellowship. All are one in Christ Jesus. 1 Though no statement of a Christian experience can tell it all, a very brief statement can indicate it all. The indication may be indirect and unexpected, yet none the less reliable and satisfactory to one who considers that the chief value of the narrative resides, not in its appeals to sympathy; not in start- ling contrasts of pain and comfort, sorrow and joy, despair and hope, depravity and reform, darkness and light, trouble and peace; not in any form of nervous agitation; but in its reliable indication of spiritual birth. That indication may be furnished by a cry or a sob, not less reliably than by definite utterances. He who is sure that he knows his whole experience and can tell it all, may suspect its shallowness. There ought to be in it a depth which consciousness cannot sound. "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 REMEMBERED EXPERIENCE If the beginnings of my Christian joy and love and hope were more brilliant than my later experiences, ought I to put the first out of mind ? Ought I to forget them ? If my later experience, or want of experience, justifies the belief that the first joy and love and hope were spurious, the sooner I leave the spurious, and enter upon the genuine, the safer for me. It is not certain, however, that diminished bril- liancy proves me to have been deceived. The spiritual quality or nature of affections and emotions is not always discernible by their fervor, their pungency, or their strength. Nervousness is not spirituality. Freedom from conscious nervous agitation is 1 Gal. 3:28. 2 II Cor. 4: 18. 222 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES not proof of death. If, however, I have been born of God, I am alive. Signs of life will certainly attend later moments than the moment of birth. He whose spiritual pulse-beat is so faint as to necessitate a reference to some old record for proof that he was once alive, needs invigoration more effective than the stimulus of an old fancy. On the other hand, it is well to remember past mercies, the day of espousal, the first love to Christ. THE CHURCH COVENANT The obligations of membership in a Baptist church are to be learned from the New Testament. They do not originate in any pledge. For the purposes of mutual understanding and of personal remembrance and helpfulness, a carefully prepared statement of recognized duties and declared purposes or inten- tions, called a covenant, has been deemed desirable. Such a statement should be neither overestimated nor underestimated. Its specifications of duties are only selections. Other selections might have been included. Some of those made might have been omitted. If it assumes to originate obligations, these obligations may be questioned. If it binds any person oppres- sively, or dictates for duty what the New Testament forbids, it becomes self-contradictory and void. The right of private judgment and of personal conscience under the law of Christ, it cannot annul nor disregard. If in any particular the covenant is wrong, it is so far invalid. In so far as it is right, it is only an index and a response to the law of Christ in the New Testament. COVENANT MEETINGS The observance of the Lord's Supper is in many churches preceded by a preparatory service. Baptists value for this purpose a social meeting in which all the members present may, if so inclined, make mention of their personal experience, remind- SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS 223 ing each other of their mutual privileges and obligations, and of their common relations to the Lord Jesus Christ. The read- ing of the church covenant suggests reminiscences, confessions, exhortations, words of encouragement, tending to a revival of brotherly love and of gratitude and loyalty to him who as our Passover was sacrificed for us. Absent members are called to mind, especially any to whom special sympathy or service may be appropriately extended. This is a family gathering. AN OLD-TIME COVENANT MEETING In the old Bottskill Baptist Church, at Greenwich, New York, on Saturday afternoon of covenant meeting day the farmers and their families and the members generally would be found together in their house of worship. Good old Deacon Parker, respected by all, would lead the meeting. He would call each brother by name, in order, until all the brethren who chose to speak had spoken. Then Deacon Adams would invite each sister by name to speak, if so inclined. Inclined ? Yes, the most of them were inclined to speak. By the time that Sister Phillips was reached, the fire was hot, and listening to her the entire assembly seemed to be transported with sublime enthusiasm. In this white heat no personal alienations could remain. Some man would say, " I have nothing against anyone, and if I have hurt anyone, you all know your privilege." They did know it, and they used it. The brother would be called out into the vestibule. There loud whispers or subdued voices would be heard for a time. But soon these brethren would come in, understanding each other. No church hardness could pass through such a covenant meeting. The members of that church knew each other, and they loved each other. SURE Among the last words of David are these: " Verily my house is not so with God; yet he hath made with me an 224 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." 1 Con- tingent conditions, depending on human integrity, would intro- duce an element of uncertainty; but what God takes singly upon himself is reliable. In Isaiah 55:3, "the sure mercies of David" are assured to persons who comply with the invitation, " Incline your ear, and come unto me." To David they are sure. To whom else? In Jeremiah 31 133, a new covenant with the house of Israel promises, " I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 2 No */ here! Compliance here will be with the divine invitation, conformity to divine law, but that compliance appears under the new covenant, not a contingency, an element of uncertainty; nay, it is a gift in the covenant assured by direct, specific promise, guaranteed by the faithfulness of God. This is the "better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises." 3 'II Sam. 2 3 :s(R.V.). 2 R.V. a Heb. 8:6 (R.V.); see vss. 6-13. PART IV THE LIFE-STORY OF SUSAN ESTHER COLVER SUSAN ESTHER COLVER AT THE TIME OF HER GRADUATION FROM THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO IN 1882 CHAPTER I A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND Susan Esther Colver was born on Tuesday, November 15, 1859, in the New England village of South Abington, which since 1886 has been called Whitman, Massachusetts. Her New England ancestry of strong, able, public-spirited men, on the side of her father, Rev. Charles Kendricl^ Colver, has already been described. Of equal length in New England, and also of equal respectability, although perhaps more strictly of the farmer type and inclined to remain in one locality, was her ancestry on the side of her mother, Susan C. Colver, whose maiden name, in full, was Susanna Champney Reed, and whose place of birth was South Abington. Mrs. Colver was a woman of a very even temper and of a very pleasant disposition; a woman of refinement and of good education for her day. She is still spoken of by persons who knew her as having been an especially fine-looking woman. She was a devoted member of the Baptist church. 1 Her parents were Jonathan Loring and Lucy Champney Reed. Jonathan Loring Reed was a sturdy New Englander, a Baptist, and a veteran of the War of 1812, who probably should be classed as a farmer, although he was not exclusively one. He was a descendant of William Reade of Weymouth. The latter came from England in 1635; was made a freeman in 1 Jacob Whittemore Reed says, with reference to those bearing the name of Reed, that "they have been usually of a religious turn of mind, being firm supporters of the institution of the gospel; but they are fond of mirth and fun, a propensity which seems to run through all of the name within my observation." History of the Reed Family in Europe and America (Boston: John Wilson & Son, 1861), Introduction, p. 7. 227 228 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES September of that year; and was soon taking an important part in public affairs, becoming Weymouth's first representative in the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England, being sent as a deputy in September, I636, 1 with two others, which two were at once dismissed, while he (Goodman or "Goo": Will: Reade) was accepted, one representative from Weymouth being considered enough. Not only was Susan Esther Colver of Puritan descent, but her ancestry could also be traced, maternally, to one of the Pilgrim band that came over in the Mayflower, for her line of descent from William Reade of Weymouth was through his son William Reed, who was born in Weymouth and in 1675 married Esther (or Hester) Thompson, a granddaughter of Francis Cook (or Cooke) who was a member of the Mayflower company, Esther Thompson's mother being Francis Cook's daughter Mary. 2 The term "South Abington" was first and for a long time used, beginning in the eighteenth century, simply to designate the southern portion of the quite large agricultural district in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, which for local governmental 1 In the following month, "At the Generall Court houlden at Boston, .... The Court agreed to give 4oo towards a schoale or colledge whearof 2oo to bee paid the next yeare, & 2oo when the worke is finished." Two years afterward, in consequence of a bequest to this first American college from Rev. John Harvard, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, of one-half of his estate, together with his library of something like 260 volumes, the general court "ordered, that the colledge agreed vpon formerly to be built at Cam- bridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge./" The Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Boston, 1853), I, 183, 253- 2 Jacob Whittemore Reed, History of the Reed Family in Europe and America, p. 311; John Ludovicus Reed, The Reade Genealogy; Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635 to 1902 (Baltimore: The Friedenwald Co.), pp. ix, 5. cf. Aaron Hobart, An Historical Sketch of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts (Boston: Samuel N. Dickinson, 1839), P- Si- i THE HOUSE IX WHICH SUSAX ESTHER COLVER WAS BORX STREET VIEW SHOWING THE BAPTIST CHURCH IX WHITMAN, FORMERLY SOUTH ABINGTOX MASSACHUSETTS A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 229 purposes was called the town of Abington. But that part of the town had its own distinct settlement, which became more often than not what was referred to when "South Abington" was spoken of; and when that settlement developed into an impor- tant village, the latter took the settlement's name of South Abington. The village of South Abington was located about sixteen miles northwest of Plymouth, twenty-one miles southeast of Boston, and perhaps ten miles south of Weymouth, on rolling ground very much like that roundabout it, which was somewhat stony and apparently better adapted for grazing purposes than for tillage, yet, on the whole, more desirable for settlement than were many other places. In the course of time, the Plymouth branch of the Old Colony Railroad was built through the village to connect, by that route, Plymouth and some other places with Boston. By 1859 the village had a population of perhaps two thousand. It, of course, had its churches, schools, stores, shops, and post-office. It had also a bank and, notably, a tack fac- tory, as well as possibly some other industries. In short, it was a very typical, thrifty New England village. Nor was it an unattractive one, although it was without any especially great attraction. When Susan Esther Colver was born, her father was filling the pulpit of the Baptist church in South Abington, and he and Mrs. Colver were living at the home of the latter's father, Jonathan Loring Reed, who had quite a large house for those days. The house, with trees around it, faced toward the south, in a somewhat sheltered position on the north side of what is now called South Avenue, on a gentle slope toward the east, and five or ten minutes' walk east of the Baptist church, which was at the business center of the village. The house was on what was then a portion of Mr. Reed's farm. A later owner moved the house across South Avenue and turned it around to front north on the avenue. 230 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Village life in New England around 1859 was, generally speaking, life on a comparatively high plane. It probably aver- aged better, in morals and in general well-being at least, than did the life in the large cities, and it was more pleasant in some ways than was life in the country. It had its center primarily in the home, and, outside of that, mainly hi the church, for the women especially. During six days in the week the men gave most of their active attention to their business or work, what- ever it might be. At times they also took a great deal of interest in political matters. Both the men and the women were char- acteristically thrifty, due largely to what they had to contend with in the rather severe climate and in the somewhat sterile soil; but the vast majority of the people did not live wholly for themselves, nor for this world. They believed in God, and in an eternal, conscious, personal life hereafter which they con- sidered was of incomparably more importance than was this fleeting existence. If their actions did not always accord with their belief, the latter was nevertheless a great controlling force in their lives. The question arises as to whether their times were better or worse than those of a century or so earlier; and, How would their times compare with our times ? The short answer is, that they were at an intermediate point of development between Puritan tunes and the present. This was particularly true educationally. Looked back upon from today, their times seem better to some persons than those of today, as has always been the case when past times have been considered, with many of their details hidden. In some respects, life then was simpler than it is now; yet it is quite likely that as much was gained as was lost by that fact. The people in the villages in particular were, on the whole, reasonably comfortable and contented yes, happy. They were neighborly, and in that they found their chief, and sufficient, diversions, beyond what they found in going to meetings, which had a social as well as a religious A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 231 side. They did not have much time or desire for amusements as such. Still, taking everything into account, few persons would want to exchange life under present conditions for life under such conditions as then existed. A few comparisons with conditions in early colonial times will show that there was a general improvement rather than any retrogression up to the tunes in question. To begin with, child life had a much better chance to survive and to develop, in the middle of the nineteenth century, than it had in the seventeenth or in the eighteenth century. Many things were improved. The homes were more comfortable. Children were not ordi- narily required to work so much or so hard as formerly. They had greater advantages, particularly with regard to books and the opportunity of attending school as well as in the schools themselves. But the rule was still that children were to be seen, and not heard, that is, they were not to speak or to give their opinions, unless requested to do so, when older persons were talking. Their wills and wishes did not often dominate the household. They were taught to be respectful to their parents and to their elders in general, and to aged persons in particular. They commonly addressed or referred to their parents half reverentially as "father" and "mother," while their own given names were used quite as punctiliously, without abbreviation or substitution, by their parents. As an illustration of this last fact, Mr. and Mrs. Colver almost or quite invariably addressed, or spoke of, their daughter, even when she was but a child, as lt Susan Esther," so that she became known by that name only; and because such was the case, that is the name which will generally be used here for her as a child, and after- ward as a young girl. If some biblical names were still, as they are yet sometimes, given to children, it was principally because relatives after whom it was desired to name the -children had the names, and those names had come into general use. The ideas concerning the 232 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES naming of children which had prevailed in early Puritan times were no longer current. The old records of the town of Abing- ton show that such names had been given to girls as Remember, Experience, Prudence, Silence, and Thankful. Again, in one family six children were named, respectively, Bathsheba, Daniel, Susanna, Job, Esther, and Abner. Moreover, in the middle of the nineteenth century, the women of New England, besides having much more comfortable homes, or houses and house furnishings, were also better, or more warmly, clothed than were the women in part or all of colonial times. Still it would seem that the latter had the greater need of warm clothing, considering the general severity of the climate, the comparative coldness of their dwelling-houses, and the greater coldness of the meetinghouses to which they went on the Sabbath, which were never warmed in winter, while the sermons were often several hours long, with prayers of corresponding length. It is no wonder that they took foot stoves with them to meeting in winter. Then, too, some of the dogs that were annoying to the congregations were undoubtedly taken into the meetinghouses to help keep their owners' feet warm. However, between the morning and the afternoon meetings, fires were frequently built in fireplaces in one end of the "noonhouses" or horse sheds, where the people often went to eat their cold dinners. 1 The Baptist church in South Abington, which was organized in 1822 and was the first Baptist church in the entire town of Abington, was still strongly Calvinistic and exacting in many things, but it was not narrow or intolerant, and it had progressed with the times. For one thing, it had, through a hard struggle, come out strongly against slavery. Something of the advance that this showed in the application of Christian principles is indicated by the fact that a century earlier the minister for the 1 Alice Morse Earle, The Sabbath in Puritan New England (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891), pp. 90 ff. A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 233 first church established in the town of Abington recorded the admission of "his negro man Tony, and his negro woman Flora," as members of his church. It is also to be remembered that it was largely New England, and especially Boston, capital that financed and fostered the African slave trade, although slave- holding was not sufficiently profitable in New England for it to take deep root there, as it did in the South. Nor was that enough, but when her ships went back to Africa, New England loaded them with her vile "New England rum" to debauch and destroy the natives; and when the frames of many of the early New England meetinghouses were raised, that event was celebrated with a liberal quantity of rum, as it was to some extent in the case of the Abington church just mentioned. In the course of time, various charges were preferred against that apparently slaveholding New England minister, yet not for his having his negro man and his negro woman, but because, as it was averred, he believed such things as " that the seed of grace is implanted in the soul before conversion, and there grows till it is ripe for the new birth"; "that our being thankful for mercies received, moves God to bestow more"; and "that the tears of unfeigned repentance [as it was alleged that he had said in a sermon] would quench the fiery stream of God's wrath." But a majority in the church sustained him, as against those accusations, as they also did when he showed himself unfriendly toward Mr. Whitefield, the revivalist. The dual character of church organization and management in New England is well shown in an embroilment, in 1806, of that Abington church over the church music and the right to appoint the chorister. When there, was but one church in a community for everybody, and everybody was supposed to attend it, and all taxpayers were required to help support it, what in a broad sense might be called the church was composed of two parts. One of these was the "church" proper, which consisted of the regular church members. The other was known 234 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES as the "society," which included all persons obligated to help maintain the church, or, after taxation for church purposes was abolished, the society was commonly composed either of the members of the congregation or of the financial supporters of the church. This double form of organization was adopted by the churches generally in New England; and each, the church and the society, was recognized as having certain specific rights; the one, pertaining principally to things spiritual; the other, chiefly to business matters. The society of the Abington church at the time mentioned was described as including all of the inhabitants of the town of Abington and several families from another town. The trouble in the church arose over the ques- tion of whether the movement in the church music should be a little faster or a little slower. That brought up the question of the right to appoint the chorister. The church proper claimed the right; and so did the society, or town. Then, on a certain Sabbath, the singers took seats in two divisions, one with a chorister appointed by the church and the other with one chosen by the town. A hymn was read to be sung. The two choristers named different tunes, and the hymn was sung to both tunes at once. The immediate effect was what might be expected. Afterward there was a compromise, the church being accorded the right to name the chorister, subject to the approval of the society. At a town meeting the men voted, in 1775, "that it is an indecent way, that the female sex do sit in their hats and bonnets to worship God in his house; and offensive to many of the good people of this town." This seems plain enough, but just what was meant by it is rendered a bit uncertain by the suggestion that was made, fifty years later, that, prior to the action of the town meeting, the women as well as the men had sat with uncovered heads in the meetinghouse. A more appropriate subject for town regulation was that decided by a vote, in 1793, "that all persons that suffer their A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 235 dog or dogs to go to meeting, at the meetinghouse, when the people assemble for public worship, shall pay the same fine as is provided for breach of the Sabbath." In the Baptist church, the first instrumental music was obtained from two violins and a bass viol. A pipe organ was placed in the gallery in 1847. The first schoolhouse in the town of Abington was built, near the first meetinghouse, in 1732, and for twenty- three years it was the only schoolhouse in the town. On account of the large area of the town and the consequent difficulty for children living in the more remote parts of it to go so far to school, or to equalize the distance which all of the children must go in order to attend the school, the school was occasionally held in private houses in different parts of the town, alternately. Subse- quently the town was divided into school districts, for the various settlements, or according to the parishes. In one hundred years, or altogether up to 1835, thirty natives of the town of Abington received collegiate educations, eleven of them at Harvard, and twelve at Brown University; the others, at different colleges. Of the total number, thirteen became ministers of the gospel. About 1769, the casting of bells for meetinghouses was be- gun in that part of the town which became South Abington; a little later the manufacture of cut nails and tacks was under- taken; and during the Revolutionary War cannon and cannon balls were made there. The nails and tacks were made at first by cutting, with lever shears, old iron hoops and afterward rolled iron plates into angular points, which were one by one taken up by hand, put into an ordinary vise, and headed with a hammer, one person being able to make about a thousand nails or tacks in a day. The situation of the town was, on the whole, considered quite favorable to health, although epidemic diseases occasion- ally made their appearance. For example, in 1751-52 236 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES was called the "throat-distemper" prevailed, which carried off many of the inhabitants, particularly children. Then, in the fall of 1805, there broke out and soon spread through the town a "malignant typhus fever which," it was said, "in a large, crowded city might have been yellow fever." There were numerous cases of it, and many deaths. In some instances it affected whole families. "What its remote or predisposing causes were, like the causes of most epidemics," the chronicler declares, "was a mystery, which baffled investigation. At the time it was thought by some to have had its origin in the exhala- tions of a pond, in the south part of the town, near which the fever began." Such was some of the medical science of that day. Hints that, after the bears and the wolves had been killed off or driven away, there remained smaller animals and pests which it was desired to exterminate, are to be found in several votes of the town; as when it voted in 1716 "that every man sixteen years old and upwards, shall kill twelve blackbirds, or pay two shillings to the town charge"; while in 1737 it was voted "that any person that shall kill any grown wildcat this year, within our town, shall have twenty shillings"; and in 1753 it was voted "that the foxes shall be killed, and he that kills them shall have two shillings per head, for grown ones." 1 Such, with somewhat of a historical and explanatory back- ground, is a partial description of the times and of the place in which Susan Esther Colver was born, and of the general locality and conditions in New England where her maternal ancestors lived, of whom one, Captain William Reed, son of the William and Esther Reed previously mentioned, was the first town clerk of the town of Abington, holding that office for the years from 1713 to 1718, inclusive. However, South Abington was Susan Esther's home for less than two years. Her father's acceptance of a call to Andover, 1 Aaron Hobart, An Historical Sketch of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, pp. 27 ff., 40, 48, 62, 83 ff., 130 ff. A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 237 Massachusetts, took the family there late in the summer of 1861. Perhaps they went by team; one day to Boston, and the next day the remaining twenty-odd miles north to Andover. The road from South Abington to Boston was through a some- what rough, barren country. Along it were built many frame farmhouses in quaint colonial style, with more or less of orna- mental trimming, while here and there enough houses were grouped together to form hamlets or villages. Still, there was much vacant or pasture land to be seen, interspersed with many wood lots. The fences, except around the houses, were gener- ally of split rails or of stones gathered off the land. To an imaginative mind the landscape easily suggested earlier days when this was a natural abode of the Indian, the bear, and the wolf, and one or the other of them might appear almost any- where at any time. From Boston north, the first part of the way lay through a number of important villages, and then through a wilder region, between ragged hills, weighted time and again with huge bowlders, or made picturesque with rocky facings, culminating finally, in the vicinity of Andover, in some especially interesting, very ancient geological formations and much later remains of glacial action. The settlement of Andover dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century, and for generations strong, uncom- promising Puritanism held sway among the people. Since the latter part of the eighteenth century, and more so from the early part of the nineteenth century, Andover has been best known for its educational institutions, particularly in the nineteenth century for being the seat of the Andover Theo- logical Seminary, until that was removed to Cambridge and annexed to Harvard University, in 1908. The Colvers lived in what is now known as the old Abbot house, so called after one of the historic families of Andover. The house was on High Street, a block or a little more north of the Baptist church and of the business center of the village. 238 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES It was on the edge or top of a hill, on the west side of the street, and close to the latter. In outward appearance it strikingly resembled the Reed house, in South Abington, in which Susan Esther was born. West and south of the house there was a small garden plot, and west of that there was quite a steep descent of several hundred feet into a valley, through which flowed the Shawsheen River from the southwest to the north- east. The view from the rear or west windows of the house, as also from the yard back of the house, was a fine one to look upon, embracing the declivity of the hillside, the fairly wide valley below with its river, and, beyond all that, a gently rising, some- what rocky, yet distinctly picturesque landscape. Clearly, it was a pleasant place in which to live, taking into account the physical, moral, and intellectual environments. Susan Esther, in her childish way, found it delightful. She had plenty of room out of doors in the yard, in good air, and with wholesome surroundings in which to play, while in the spring, summer, and autumn she spent a great deal of tune in the garden with her father, as he planted, cultivated, and gath- ered the vegetables needed by the family. She also made many trips with him to the Baptist church, on week days as well as on Sundays. It was at Andover that she began to learn con- sciously something about going to church, although she had been taken to church at South Abington. In those days parents took their little children, even infants, with them to church; and Mr. Colver would not follow a different course in this respect with his child. As a child, she looked serious beyond her years, whereas, in her later life, she looked like, and had the activity of, a person ten or fifteen years younger than she was. As a child, too, she appeared to be the embodiment of good health. With that she seemed to have inherited a good mind, and a good disposition. She had a full face, with regular features, a fair complexion, soft brown hair, and beautiful large, wide-open, honest, trustful, A CHILD OF NEW ENGLAND 239 yet inquisitive brown eyes. She was quite an ideal little miss, who could on occasion calmly fold her hands and wait patiently for what might come next. In other words, she was from the first taught self-control. She was never babied. So strong were her characteristics as a child that Deacon Charles N. L. Stone, of Andover, in 1919 remembered her as a "bright" child, "lady- like" both in her manner and in her speech, while what she used to say he thought was both "cute" and "scholarly," for one of her age. Two things tended to produce these characteristics. First of all, there was the natural inclination to imitation which inheres in children and often becomes peculiarly noticeable where there is an only child that has but little association with any other child or children, but is mostly with its parents, which leads the child to adopt as much as it can of its parents' ways of thinking, acting, and speaking. Besides that, there was, in Susan Esther's case, the strong, self-possessed, and careful training by her father, who did not believe in "baby talk" nor in foolish actions, although he could enter into the spirit of his child, and play with her, and be to her all of the companion that she apparently desired. As another example of his attitude in this respect, a woman who was once one of his parishioners says that, on a certain occasion, he called at their house and found her suffering from a very severe headache and her little boy adding greatly to it. Mr. Colver saw what ought to be done and took charge of the child for a while, so that its mother could get needed rest and relief. But to quiet and control the child, which he succeeded in doing, he reasoned with it and appealed to its better nature, as by saying to it, in a calm, effective manner, "You are not a baby, but a little man," and suggesting corresponding action. With Susan Esther, the molding and principal determining influences of her home life emanated almost entirely from her father, on account of the breaking down of her mother's health 240 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES to such an extent that, although her mother could still attend church and do many things, even to singing sometimes in the choir, occasionally teaching a class in the Sunday school, or to going frequently with Mr. Colver when he went to make pas- toral calls or away to preach, she had to be relieved as much as possible of all of the more trying duties of the household. This caused Mr. Colver early to assume much of the care and most of the home training and instruction of Susan Esther, who was deep in his fatherly affections, and whom he wished to see developed into the best and most useful womanhood possible for her. So those two, father and daughter, became, and until the end of the father's life remained, close companions, a companionship which was most marked in the earlier life of the daughter, yet was always distinctive of their relationship. CHAPTER II GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN In the autumn of 1863, when Susan Esther was four years old, the family moved from Andover, Massachusetts, to Elgin, Illinois. It was a great experience for her, child though she was. She had inherited from her Colver ancestors an inquir- ing and somewhat adventure-loving turn of mind; and this was her first great adventure of travel and out into the world. It was all new to her. She watched with intense interest every- thing that came within her view and remembered some of it for a long while. Illinois was in general appearance quite different from Massachusetts. For the most part, it was a rolling prairie, easy of cultivation, and very fertile. It was especially adapted to the raising of corn, but wheat also did well. Later, the northernmost part of the state was devoted largely to dairying, and the southern to the production of fruits and berries. Besides its surface values, it was underlaid with extensive coal fields. The population of Illinois in 1863 was not far from two millions, the census of 1860 having given it as 1,711,951. This was largely from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and other states, as well as from European countries. Of the foreign-born, the Germans led in numbers, with 130,804 in 1860, while the Irish were second, with 87,573. The New Englanders settled largely in the northern part of the state had much to do with its educational and religious development, and also were generally supporters of the temperance and of the antislavery movements of the times. The beauty of the New England character, it was said by an observing traveler 241 242 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES through Illinois, was not seen at its best until it ripened a while in the West. It was true that there was more wealth, more culture, and more social refinement in the East; but there was more individuality, more freedom from conventional restraint, more independence in manners and opinions, more native originality more of what is commonly called character, in the West. No longer was Illinois to be counted as a frontier state. The frontier was somewhere farther west and northwest. Aside from the fact that the Illinois Central Railroad Company still had about a million acres of unimproved land for sale, the new- comers who wanted farms had to buy out the earlier settlers, a course which they had been pursuing for several years, whereby the pioneers were being superseded and freed to join in the migration westward, giving to the state a more substantial class of citizens for its upbuilding. The farmers of Illinois, as a whole, prospered during the Civil War, and at the same time by what they raised they con- tributed largely to the support of the nation. Such a network of railroads had been previously spread over the state that it was quite easy for the farmers to get their produce to market. In addition to that, many of them enjoyed the benefits of good transportation by water, over the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and on the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers in particular. Laborers, skilled and unskilled, did not fare so well. Wages were low while the cost of living was high. Before the war, common labor was paid but about a dollar or a dollar and some cents a day. By the end of 1863 wages in general had been raised from 15 to 100 per cent, but the cost of living had increased from 50 to 300 per cent. The rents asked for the cheapest kind of houses were often exorbitant, because the demand for houses exceeded the supply, owing to the rapid increase in population. Then certain classes of workers began to form unions, and to strike, in order to secure higher wages and better working con' GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 243 ditions, especially to obtain an eight-hour day, instead of having to work ten hours or longer. Colored persons, free or refugee, were not wanted in Illinois by the majority of its people. To keep them out, a law was passed in 1853 which provided a heavy fine for a colored person, whether a free one or not, to enter the state, and that, if the fine was not paid, the person should be sold at auction to the highest bidder for the shortest term of service. That law was enforced with considerable strictness for upward of nine years, and in some instances in 1863. Yet there were in 1860 over 7,600 colored persons in the state, and by 1863 the number was increased by nearly three times as many more that were sent in as contrabands of war until vigorous protests caused the stream to be deflected elsewhere. A foreign writer, after visiting Illinois, which he called "the garden state," said: "There are few countries where the literary and religious privileges are greater District schools of good character are all over the country, in which portions of Scripture are read, the Lord's Prayer repeated by the scholars, and hymns sung with the teacher. Schools and seminaries of higher character are found in every town, and young ladies' colleges, where all the higher branches of education are taught, are supported in the cities by the different denominations The state has expended largely on schools for the young, and a thorough education is at a premium in the country." 1 The state was already well supplied with colleges by 1863. A large number of them had been incorporated, hi the preceding fifteen years especially, some of them with the more pretentious name of university. Almost every important city or town in the state seemed to want one. Perhaps a third of the total number incorporated were developed, though only through many hardships. A majority of those were founded and fos- tered under denominational auspices. 1 Rev. James Shaw, Twelve Years in America (London, Dublin, Chicago, 1867), pp. 83-84. 244 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The scene at Elgin, Illinois, in 1863, was that of a thriving Western or Middle- Western city of about 3,500 or 4,000 popu- lation, situated on the banks of an attractive stream in this case the beautiful Fox River. On account of the nature of its location, many people called it the " Bluff City." It had its stores, a woolen-mill, a couple of gristmills, and some other manufacturing establishments. It had nine schools, with a total average attendance of about 450 pupils. It had also an academy and a seminary. In the surrounding country considerable milk was produced, which was shipped to Chicago. These conditions in state and city contributed to the forma- tion of the environment into which Susan Esther was taken to live, which had its educational effect on her. It was also of educational value to her that, during her formative years, her home was several times changed, from one city or village to another of a somewhat different character, and with different children and grown persons for her to come into contact with at church, at Sunday school, and later at day school, as well as, to an extent, in some of their homes. What may be called the general atmosphere of Elgin was quite different from that of New England, although the char- acter of Elgin was determined largely by people from New England together with other settlers who joined with them in their views. In Elgin everything was yet comparatively new. The people were still engrossed with trying to establish them- selves better in their various undertakings of home-building, farming, dairying, and business, while in New England that stage of intensive struggle had been passed by a century or more. Furthermore, most of the people in Elgin being comparatively newcomers, there was more of that freedom and heartiness of association and expression which are characteristic of a new country. Even the children felt and showed a more democratic spirit in their association, actions, and speech than did those in the East. However, Susan Esther was always very carefully GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 245 guarded, wherever she was, with reference to those with whom she might play or associate freely. Besides, she was still in many respects the little Puritan maiden of Andover and New England, if no longer in New England; and it must take time before she would show much effect of the change of her sur- roundings, although children are as a rule by nature very democratic and easily fall into democratic ways. Mr. Colver bought a comfortable brick house and a garden plot for their home in Elgin. The location was a desirable one in that it was close to the Baptist church, out of the business district, and yet not far from it. It did not command such a fine view as their home in Andover did, yet it was perhaps, on the whole, just as pleasant a place in which to live. Susan Esther's life in Elgin was largely one of play. She was not in any sense a precocious child, but just a normal, healthy little girl, full of promise, or, as some Elgin people have described her, "very keen," "bright," "talented." The per- manent breaking down, in Massachusetts, of her mother's health, revealing a somewhat weak nervous system, made both her mother and her father feel that it was better neither to send Susan Esther to school nor to have her studying very much at home too soon, but first to let her grow to be as strong as possible. So, with skilful parental guidance and such training in conduct and for character-building as was deemed necessary, she was left for a while to educate herself primarily through play. Nor was she overwhelmed with any great number or changing variety of toys; but she was further wisely left almost entirely to her own devices, not only to determine what she should play, but also to create her own playthings, and thereby to develop her imagination, her ingenuity, and her self-reliance, a course which gives vastly more of satisfaction and of real benefit to children than does the opposite method of surrounding them with large quantities of manufactured and intricate articles, no matter how much temporary enjoyment the latter may seem to afford. 246 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Mr. Colver was a very strict though judicious disciplin- arian, who acted not on impulse, but from carefully considered reasons. He looked upon life as being given for a divine pur- pose and as being fundamentally a serious thing, even for children, who ought to be reared accordingly. Quite a char- acteristic illustration of these points is furnished by an incident related by an Elgin woman. At the time referred to, she was a light-hearted girl, eight or nine years old, and Mr. Colver was making a pastoral visit at her father's house. Something led Mr. Colver, appropriately enough, to ask her the question: "When is a rose perfect?" She giggled and tried to evade answering. But Mr. Colver was determined, and gently yet firmly insisted on an answer; and when she afterward asked her mother, who was present on the occasion, why she did not help her out, her mother replied that she felt that it would do no harm for her to have to do a little serious thinking once. What Mr. Colver sought was to develop a thought that might be beneficial, as the long and distinct remembrance of the conversation shows that it proved to be, for he kindly and patiently aided the girl to formulate something of the sort of answer that he desired, which, as it is recalled, was to the effect that "a rose is perfect, not merely when its petals are per- fect, but when it accomplishes the purpose for which it was designed" a principle applicable to persons as well as to flowers. But after all this has been said about Susan Esther's char- acter, home life, and childhood discipline, the mistake should not be made of thinking of her as altogether staid and proper. She was not, just as most of the children of New England in its most Puritanical days were not. Even also as those children found it difficult to sit quietly and reverently through all of the long and for them often tedious services which they were required to attend every Sunday, and as not only the boys frequently, but the girls sometimes as well, by trying to enter- tain themselves disturbed the congregations, so once, while her GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 247 father was preaching, though he never preached as long as did the ministers in earlier times, Susan Esther startled him by dropping on the floor a button with which she had begun quietly playing. A little different episode of much the same kind is recalled by Mrs. Amelia M. Vail, who for several years lived in Mr. Colver's family, while she attended the Elgin Academy. She says that "Susan Esther was very fond of pretty things, and, like most children, loved jewelry. She liked to sit and string beads, and to make of them rings and earrings for herself. One Sunday, she slipped her earrings into her pocket, and in church hung them over her ears, much to the astonishment of her father, and perhaps of some others, who happened to notice it." " She saw and said funny things," is another report of her. The children of Elgin, and perhaps the older people who knew her, generally called her " Susie." But one woman, who was also then a child, says: "I used to see her sitting in the sunshine on the steps of her father's house. A sweet and demure little maiden she was, bright and merry, too. We called her 'Birdie Colver.'" According to Mrs. Vail, Susan Esther played out of doors when possible. She was her father's almost constant com- panion when he was at home, and when he went away he usually took her and her mother with him. They quite often spent the day, or now and then several days, visiting here and there among the members of the church who lived in the country. Then, too, when he went to preach in the country, as he did on Sunday afternoons much of the time, often going as far as twenty-five miles from Elgin, he would take Mrs. Colver and Susan Esther with him, if the weather was pleasant. Mrs. Vail says that she sometimes tried to coax Susan Esther to stay with her, when Mr. and Mrs. Colver went visiting, but that her coaxing was always unsuccessful. Nor did Susan Esther ever claim from her any service such as children are apt to ask of 248 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES those residing in the family and helping with the work. Again, Mrs. Vail says that while Mr. and Mrs. Colver did not wish Susan Esther to begin regular studying too soon, she was learning the scales and little tunes from her father; and while she did not go to day school in Elgin, she went to Sunday school regularly and learned her Sunday-school lessons. There is also evidence that she in some way got a good start at home in reading, spelling, and perhaps other subjects. There were several reasons why she always wanted to go on their trips with her parents. One was the undoubtedly strong desire that she had to be with them, and with her father espe- cially. Then, every trip held out a promise of a certain amount of novelty and adventure. Besides, there were special attrac- tions for her in the animals on the farms; and in some cases she knew that she would find some excellent playmates and some splendid opportunities for playing. One of the places to which she took special delight in going was Deacon Padelford's. There were there two girls and two boys with whom to play; and they had a congenial, somewhat older sister, who is now Mrs. A. Gilbert. Mrs. Gilbert says that, "her rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes made Susan Esther look the picture of health and fun. She was full of life, fun, and play. I do not know whether she cared anything for dolls; but I do know that she loved to come out to the farm and to play with my sisters and brothers. She seemed to love the farm life, and nature. She was very active, and happy. She could run and romp and play; and never seemed to get tired. Her father was proud of her splendid health. He sometimes played with her and the other children, on the farm. He entertained her a great deal. He used to lead his horse several blocks to water it, and 'Susie,' as we called her, would ride on its back." When Susan Esther was eight years old, the family moved to Mount Carroll, Illinois, which was ninety miles west of Elgin, GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 249 and had about one-fourth of the population that the latter had, but was even more picturesquely located, being situated on a hill around which, on a part of three sides, there flowed a winding creek through what in places might be termed a ravine, a valley, or a gorge, some of its way having been cut through rocky strata leaving walls and ledges of rock delightful to view. However, their home was a little distance from these attractions. For some time they lived in the Mount Carroll Seminary build- ing, which then contained over 150 rooms. The Seminary, which was incorporated in 1852, three years before the free school system was adopted in Illinois, was opened in 1853 as a general school, but from 1864 it was limited to the education of girls and young women, and subsequently it was made a school for young women only. Mr. Colver became one of its most highly valued teachers, and Susan Esther began going to school there. But as good a place as it was for her to go to school, it was not such an ideal one for so young a girl to live in, and she was glad when, in the course of time, her father bought a small brick house with plenty of ground for a garden, not very far from the Seminary, and they thereafter had their own home and garden. There was yet plenty of play for her, and her father still very often joined with her in it. But it was henceforth subor- dinated to her going to school and any needed studying at home. Each year also she was called on to help a little more with the housework, according to what she was able to do without injury to herself or to her school work. She also assisted her father more or less in the garden, by pulling weeds and help- ing to gather the vegetables as they were wanted for the table, or when it was time to harvest them. A woman who had been a playmate of Susan Esther's at Mount Carroll, says that " the home life of Mr. Colver and his family was ideal. He and Susan Esther were good comrades. She went to him with all of her little troubles, which seemed 250 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES strange to me because I went to my mother with mine. Mr. Colver always saw that Susan Esther had her lessons pre- pared before she went to school in the morning. They had a piano, and she took music lessons. She had a sled with which we went coasting at noon, in winter, usually just the two of us. She enjoyed that kind of play. I feel quite sure that the sled was made by Mr. Colver. It was a good running one. I lived about a mile out of town, and Susan Esther often went home with me after school, and would be with me in the garden, and help me to do the evening chores. But she always returned to her own home before dark. To show how Mr. Colver sometimes entered into her play with her, I remember that once, when there had been a small circus in town, in a vacant field opposite Mr. Colver's house, after the circus had gone he ran around the ring with Susan Esther, for her enjoyment. At another time, one or the other of them arranged a string for reins, while she and a playmate became his 'horses/ which he drove up to town, telling a man as they passed him: 'This is my team.' ' These incidents in Susan Esther's life at Mount Carroll show a correspondence in character with those of the latter portion at least of her life in Elgin. They present her in a somewhat different light from that in which she appeared in the East. Still, the two views are not contradictory, but evolu- tionary. Her more energetic and self-assertive life in Illinois was but the natural expression of child life as it manifests itself from about six or eight years of age to that of eleven or twelve, when a child generally has about the best health and exhibits the greatest and most varied activity and freedom from fatigue, delighting particularly in vigorous play out of doors. In 1871, when she was going on twelve years of age, the family moved to New Lisbon, Wisconsin, a village of nearly the same size as, and approximately 125 miles north of, Mount Carroll, and seventy miles northwest of Madison. It, too, was a pleasant place in which to live, being located on high rolling GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 251 ground and having many large and beautiful shade trees. It had its stores, post-office, shops, grist- and sawmill, local news- paper, churches of which the strongest was the Baptist church and good public schools. The public school system of Wisconsin, like that of Illinois and of other northern states, is traceable largely, in its American origin, to New England and to the influence of the New Eng- landers who migrated westward as new territory could be reached for settlement. One is apt to think of the legacy of the Pilgrims and the Puritans of New England as principally religious, or as religious and political, whereas they made a no less important contribution educationally for the enrichment of life and the perpetuation of a free government. Their schools were originally almost wholly of a religious character, and perhaps largely for the religious purpose of enabling those coming after them to read the Bible and thereby to learn its requirements. But it would seem not improbable that joined thereto there was some sort of a belief in the need and value of having their children get some education for its own sake, and then of having all children do it. 1 At any rate, the indispensability of a sound general education for a self-governing people came to be sufficiently realized, so that the several states, one after another, established systems of public schools and assumed complete control of them. However, the system devel- oped in New England and first adopted by the older northern 1 Mr. Arthur Lord says, in The Charles K. Colver Lectures at Brown University for 1920, that the Pilgrims had seen in Holland a system of free public schools, supported at the public expense, the result of which was that there, according to Motley, every child went to school, almost every inhabitant could read and write, the middle classes were proficient in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more languages. Arthur Lord, Plymouth and the Pilgrims (Boston and New York: Hough ton Mifnin Co., 1920), p. 84. Still, the Hollanders who came to America left it for the New Englanders, especially those of Massachusetts, to found the American public-school system. 252 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES states to which New England people went in considerable num- bers was at best only partially supported by the states, and preferably in indirect ways, such as by the division among the schools of funds derived from land grants; sometimes by giving them the local license fees, as, for example, those for selling intoxicating liquors; and sometimes by authorizing lotteries. Beyond that or, in a few instances, a limited and inadequate general taxation^ the schools were left to depend for the sums still needed on private subscriptions and rate bills apportioned among those sending children to school according to the number of pupils sent, the bills being collectible as taxes. Owners of property who had no children to be educated strenu- ously insisted, as a class, that it would be very unjust to tax them to maintain schools for other people's children. So strong was the opposition to general taxation for school purposes that it took many years of hard effort throughout the country to get laws enacted providing for free public schools to be supported by the general taxation of all taxable property. In Illinois, the struggle was long and hard between what may be called the holders of New England views in the northern part of the state and the adherents to Southern views in the southern part of the state. The former finally triumphed in the school law passed in 1856. In Wisconsin, the constitution adopted when the state was admitted into the Union in 1848 provided that the district schools should be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of four and twenty years. In New Lisbon, life for Susan Esther again began to take on new aspects. First of all, she began to give up some of the kinds of play which had before pleased her very much, and, so far as she yet played, she chose the forms of play or games appealing to a girl of her age. She also began to take a larger view of the world about her, and more interest in it. She attended the public school, and showed that she felt the impor- tance of doing it and of getting her lessons well. But, notwith- GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 253 standing these changes, her father was still her chief companion, and he adapted himself to her growing mind .and requirements as completely and satisfactorily as he had made himself a good playmate for her before. They seemed to be almost inseparable. At the same time, he kept a close supervision of her studies. He helped her with them as much as was needed, but in such a manner as to do her the most good. He saw to it, too, that she did as well as she could. To that end, he carefully examined the monthly report cards which she brought home and sought to have improved anything that did not appear to him to show as well as it should. He also looked after her health, as of even greater importance. Finding it otherwise difficult to get a suitable place in which to live, Mr. Colver again bought a home. This time it was a frame house of fair size, with a good barn and several acres of land for cultivation. Such a property did not cost so much then as it would now, while as owner of it he could work on it as he wished, and afterward either sell or let it. This home was on a desirable street, and not so far from the post-office and the stores but that Susan Esther could easily go for the mail or to get little things wanted from the stores. She also had her small chores to do at home, after school, and could now help considerably more with the housework. Nor was she without her diversions. She joined with other girls of about her age in playing games at school, sometimes before it commenced in the morning, and at noon, as well as during the recesses. Among the girls, too, she had particular friends with whom she passed many an enjoyable hour on Saturdays and at other times. Occasionally there was an entertainment of some kind given by the school, or there would be a lecture or a concert that would interest her. On Sundays, there was going to church and to Sunday school, which, to one trained therein, tended to give a pleasurable variety to life, in addition to building up a stronger character morally and 254 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES spiritually. In the winter there were also church " socials," per- haps now and then a children's party which she might attend, coasting, and possibly a little skating. The summer had its birds and wild flowers, church festivals, and most likely a school or a Sunday-school picnic somewhere, as down by the Lemonweir River, which touched one edge of the village and had some attractive places along its banks. That was nearly the typical life of a young girl at that time, in a village in Wisconsin. Besides, Susan Esther practiced more or less on the piano, under her father's instruction. She also still took many trips, which in winter were sleigh rides, with her father and her mother when her father went away to preach, or when he wished to visit members of the church who lived in the country, though these trips were never allowed to interfere with her attendance at school. One of the places to which they went was the farm of an uncle who had a great deal to do with getting her father to go to New Lisbon, and who became the clerk of the Baptist church there, while another uncle was the chorister of the church. On some of the trips which she took, she saw, within a few miles of New Lisbon, a number of fine examples of castellated rocks, or outliers, which must at first have seemed wonderful to her, for these sculptured products of the running waters of past ages aided by the work of the winds appeared not only in the imaginable forms of old castles, but also in those of great monuments, towers, pillars, pinnacles, and the like, some of them 200 feet or more in height, standing out boldly, sentinel- like, on a peneplain, while others of them might be conceived of as having a resemblance to various living creatures. How- ever, the most common sights along the roads traversed were the farms with their houses and barns, and, in their seasons, fields of waving grain, green meadows, and pasture lands on which cattle grazed, some wooded land, and a good many places where cranberries were being raised. GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 255 After Susan Esther had had about two years of such life in New Lisbon, the home scene was again changed for her, this time to Menomonie, Wisconsin, which was over a hundred miles farther north and west. Menomonie was only a village politi- cally, with about 2,500 population, while it claimed 3,500; but it was a great business place, due to its natural advantages and leading men. It was located on the Red Cedar River, adjacent to great pineries, and was made one of the most important centers of the lumber industry in the United States, having a very large sawmill and a large shingle-mill to which the logs were floated down the river. It had also other mills, manu- facturing and business enterprises, stores, a couple of banks, a newspaper, churches, and good schools. Its general appear- ance, too, was attractive, as that of a place having for the most part comfortable homes in well-kept surroundings, and with fine views from many different points. This change of environment was educationally beneficial to Susan Esther in giving her a different outlook on life from any that she had yet had, although the daily round of life was not much changed for her at first, unless in its points of contact out- side of the home it was a little more conventional, which did not matter much to her as she was getting to be of an age to meet that. She formed a few close friendships with girls whom she met at church, in the Sunday school, and at the public school which she attended. But as she advanced in her studies, the latter became more exacting upon her and required correspond- ingly more of her time outside of school. Play, as she had once engaged in it, was for her a thing of the past, though there remained a variety of games in which she still participated, with delight, when the opportunity for doing so was afforded her. But to some of the games in which young people occasionally engaged at church socials and elsewhere her father had decided objections, while plenty of other games, amusements, and diversions met with his approval. As in her earlier play Susan 256 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Esther engaged whole-heartedly, so she did now in whatever games she joined; and her father continued to try to make life for her what he thought it ought to be, having full regard for her age and nature. She was getting to be old enough, too, so that she could appreciate church and Sunday school much better than before, and get more enjoyment out of them. An important part of the diversions of those days was furnished by the entertainments gotten up to raise money for church or charitable purposes, and, secondarily, to afford an evening of social pleasure. For example, after it had been voted, in the spring of 1874, that no saloon licenses should be granted in Menomonie, a combined library and reading-room was estab- lished in order to provide a place where the young men could spend their leisure time, and a spelling match was held in Olivet Hall, "for the benefit of the reading-room association." That hall was the place in which the then recently organized Olivet Baptist Church held its public services and Sunday school; and another spelling match was held there, ice cream, cake, and lemonade being served at the close, the proceeds being given to the church society. This match, it was subsequently stated, in the Dunn County News, passed off pleasantly and netted the church society about twelve dollars. Toward the end of June, the ladies of the Methodist church used the hall for a strawberry and ice cream festival. Then, the ladies of the Olivet Baptist Church announced that they would give a festival in the hall on the Fourth of July, day and evening, dinner to be served from noon until 2 P.M., and ice cream, strawberries, lemonade, and other refreshments until 9 P.M. ; but that was abandoned for the reason that "ample entertainment for all would be found at the Temperance Festival, near the M.E. and Congregational churches." An annual or occasional donation party for the minister was also a common thing. One was given to Mr. Colver at his home, near the close of 1875 and of his labors in Menomonie, at which the contributions of "money and valuable GIRLHOOD IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN 257 articles" were estimated to amount to over one hundred dollars, while "refreshments in abundance were provided by liberal and skilful hands." In expressing his appreciation of the visit, Mr. Colver mentioned especially " the informal, but happy, gathering of young people connected with the high school, whose lively enjoyment of the hours spent together contributed to the pleasure of all the rest." This suggests that perhaps Susan Esther had entered the high school. CHAPTER III PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION That no place, however pleasant or desirable it may be for a home or for other purposes, has a monopoly of advantages was again shown when Mr. Colver and his family moved, late in November or early in December, 1875, from Menomonie to the village of River Falls, Wisconsin, which lay between thirty- five and forty miles to the westward. River Falls did not have such mills as distinguished Menomonie; but it nevertheless had its mills, which were situated on the Kinnickinnick River that flowed through the village and furnished an abundant water power. The village, located on a tableland elevated from 30 to 60 feet above the river, was practically walled in and partially protected by low hills, locally termed "mounds," rising quite abruptly from 60 to 70 feet in height, with rocks protruding here and there near their tops. It was the commercial center of a prosperous farming community, yet in appearance it was more of a home place for its possibly 1,500 inhabitants than it was a market place. Almost all of its houses were well built, home- like, and stood in generous-sized lots. The general tone, too, of the village was peaceful and restful. Yet along the river there were some delightfully contrasting scenes of rushing, noisy waters, walls of rock, steep hillsides, and the falls from which the village derived its name. Of its institutions, the most prominent was a new state normal school, which was opened in September, 1875. Miss Colver, as Susan Esther had now come generally to be called, went on with her studies much as before, making good advancement therein all the while. In 1877-78, she attended 258 PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 259 the normal school, as a student in the "normal department, normal grade." One who knew her then characterized her as being " a fine young woman of high aims and exceptional mental ability a brilliant student." She also kept up her practice on the piano, and for some time played the organ for church and Sunday school, or else sang in the church choir. Her health continued to be of the very best, and she enjoyed life in its simplicity, with fulness of occupation. Besides, she still had her diversions, in church and Sunday school, with select friends, sometimes in little expeditions to the river, and occasionally in trips with her parents into the country, or even to attend Baptist associational meetings when held not too far away. During the school year of 1878-79 she attended the Wayland Academy, at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, about forty miles north- east of Madison. That was her first and only long absence from home, while any real absence, except in company with her parents, was very rare. The Wayland Academy, which was opened in the fall of 1855, was styled the academic or prepara- tory department of " Way land University," which latter the Baptists in Wisconsin took steps, in 1854, to found, but of which the academy was all that was ever established. Indeed it required a hard struggle and much sacrifice through many years, up into the eighties, to secure permanently even the Academy alone. Private and semi-private academies, the former often on denominational foundations and the latter supported in part by public funds, were important educational features for a considerable period and vital links in the developing school system, supplying a great need. They were the American substitutes for what often have been called the Latin grammar schools, which were derived from England and made a part of the public-school system of New England, to prepare young men for college. But those grammar schools were too narrow, both hi their aims and in their curriculums, to satisfy very long 260 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES American ideals and requirements. The academies were there- fore established, with provisions for teaching more in the English tongue, and, besides the subjects necessary to prepare youths for college, other branches deemed desirable for those not contemplating attending college, or instruction beyond that given in the reading and writing schools, which were the prede- cessors of the public elementary schools. From the academies were evolved, in the course of time, the public high schools and the state normal schools. What is generally considered to have been the first academy founded in America was the one that is commonly called Franklin's Academy, because it grew out of his suggestions and he was the first president of its board of trustees. It was founded in 1 7 5 1 and was subsequently incorpo- rated as the "College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania." One of its functions, according to its charter, was to be the training of some as teachers. It developed into the University of Pennsylvania. The first high school was established in Boston in 1821, as the "Boys' Classical School," the term "high school" being officially applied to it three years later. In 1839, the first normal school in America was opened at Lexington, Massachusetts. The first state nor- mal school in Wisconsin dates from 1866. The River Falls Normal School was the fourth in Wisconsin. Wayland University, or what became instead of it Wayland Academy, which was at first for boys or young men only, but was afterward made coeducational, was located at Beaver Dam because that place made the best bid for it. The site obtained there for it was on an eminence, about four blocks from the business portion of the city. College Hall, now called "Way- land Hall," was the Academy's only building in 1878-79. It was four stories in height, counting the basement. There was a central part, in which were the offices, recitation rooms, and chapel; and from that part extended what might be called two wings, which were used as dormitories, one for young men, the THE OLD MOUNT CARROLL SEMINARY COLLEGE HALL, NOW CALLED "WAYLAND HALL," AT BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 261 other for young women. In the basement were the dining-room and the kitchen. Some of the students, however, boarded themselves. All had to take care of their own rooms as well as to furnish them with whatever was needed or wanted in them, except bedsteads, mattresses, chairs, tables, and washstands. Miss Colver went to Wayland Academy for just one year, in order to complete her preparation for college, in certain branches, better than she could do it in River Falls. Greek was the main subject that she wished to study then, which she found was very thoroughly taught at the Academy at that time by a daughter of Professor James R. Boise, the eminent Greek scholar who had been connected with the old University of Chicago. Miss Colver was described as being "a rather retiring, very close, or accurate, student." Wayland Academy was, at the request of its trustees, during a portion of its early history, under the care of the old University of Chicago. In later times, it was affiliated for many years with the present University of Chicago. The Academy's high Chris- tian standard, or religious atmosphere, without sectarianism, has always been emphasized. In many other respects the passing years have witnessed various changes, including an increase in the number of buildings, in the endowment, and in the attendance. For a number of years all of the students were required to attend not only the daily chapel services during the week, but also church and Sunday school on Sunday at some church selected by their parents or guardians. The chapel exercises were originally principally devotional. Now, accord- ing to a recent catalogue, besides always containing a distinct devotional element, they also contain much that is otherwise informational and inspirational talks upon matters of current interest, bits of history, sketches of men and movements, musical programs, readings in poetry, fiction, and essays, and frequent stereopticon lectures. The same catalogue shows further changed conditions by stating that teachers and students 262 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES are alert to find ways for social pleasures, that there is an ice rink on the campus, coasting when the snow permits, gymnasium frolics, class parties, bowling and billiards in the boys' club- room, picnics, and picture shows. The entertainment feature is also dwelt on at some length, it being sufficient to charge ten dollars a year for it. However, it is said that work is the first thing at Wayland; clean, right conduct is second; good health is third; and pleasure and real happiness is next; and all have constant emphasis. A somewhat interesting difference in the relative importance appeared to be attached in different years to certain articles which it was stated that the students should have. The Bible was always mentioned first. Bath towels were among the later suggestions. One year it was said that each student should be provided if possible with a good dic- tionary, fountain pen, umbrella, and bathrobe. Another year the fountain pen was placed next to the Bible, and ahead of the dictionary. Finally the bathrobe was called for next to the fountain pen, while dictionary and umbrella were placed on the "if possible" list. The later-mentioned needs also included a broom and a dustpan. To save Miss Colver from having to go away from home again, in order to attend college, her parents decided to move to Chicago, where they had a house a block south of the old University of Chicago. Having their own horses and carriage, the family drove from River Falls to Chicago, starting in the latter part of July, 1879, somewhat as might be done now with an automobile, only that it took them longer to make the trip, for which they were compensated by having a better chance to study the country through which they passed. Their house in Chicago, in which they were thenceforth to live, was at No. 100 of what was then variously known as Douglas Place or Avenue, or Thirty-fifth Street, the numbering beginning at the lake and running west, No. 100 being on the north side of the street about midway between Cottage Grove and Rhodes PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 263 avenues. The house was a frame one that might be called three stories high, and it was the next to the last house on the west in a block of five connected houses. The Standard of August 28, 1879, in announcing that Mr. Colver had become a resident of Chicago, and saying, "We are truly glad to have Brother Colver as a near neighbor, and to number him with those in this great city who have a real interest in the Lord's work and are efficient in its promotion," called special attention to the fact that his home was very nearly the same as that in which his father, Dr. Colver, had spent the last years of his life, that being at 98 Douglas Place, or in the same block of houses as No. 100, and east of the latter. The southern boundary of the city was still at Thirty-ninth Street, or Egan Avenue, as it was called. The location of the University was given in the city directory as 570 Cottage Grove Avenue, the numbering beginning at Twenty-second Street; but two years later it was given as 3400 Cottage Grove Avenue, thus placing it at Thirty-fourth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, in conformity with the numbering beginning at Lake Street for the through streets. One of its advertisements stated that the University had " collegiate, law, and preparatory departments; classical, scien- tific, and elective courses of study"; adding, "young ladies admitted to full privileges." Along with the other notable developments in education in America, and in some respects the greatest of all, was that relating to the education of girls and young women. In colonial times it was generally considered sufficient if women could read, write, and had a little knowledge of arithmetic. Nay, more, in some localities in New England girls were debarred from attending the town or district ele- mentary schools in winter, while the doors of all higher schools were closed to them entirely. Then there came an era in which private schools for girls were established. In the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century, seminaries and colleges 264 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES for young women, and, more numerous than those, coeduca- cational colleges and universities were founded or developed, coeducation being adopted in the newer states largely as a matter of economic expediency. The University of Chicago became coeducational in 1874. Twenty-one years from its inception brought the University, not into a position of healthy development and good standing, whence it could go forward in strength, but into a pitiable state of almost complete financial paralysis and breakdown. Its affairs were in a deplorable condition, especially pecuniarily. The faculty was not only sadly depleted in numbers, but the names which had been its glory no longer appeared on the list. A correspondent of the Examiner, of New York, said, as quoted in the Standard of March 16, 1882, that the University had in 1878 " reached the lowest point of its history. Its creditors were clamorous, its current expenses were unmet, and its professors unpaid. General opprobrium rested upon it. The press of the city was unwilling to give it respectful mention. The disastrous controversies connected with it had made it a term of reproach." It was at that juncture that Dr. Galusha Anderson, who was then the pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Chicago, was asked (in February, 1878) to accept the presidency of the University, as the only man who could be hoped to save it. He accepted the task, and put his shoulders under the burden; On the other hand, this correspondent said that, notwith- standing the financial embarrassments of the University, it had always maintained a high standard of scholarship, and had rendered efficient service in training men for the ministry and for other departments of Christian labor. " Deduct those men furnished by this institution, and there would be a great void in the ranks of Christian laborers. Its graduates stand in no wise behind those from other institutions, either in scholarship or efficiency. They are found East and West, in the home field and in foreign Jands. The denomination is in vital need of it. PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 265 We cannot do the work that God has committed to us without its aid. If the University were to close its doors and cease to exist, Baptists would be under the necessity of establishing another to take its place All our churches and the Theological Seminary are [in 1882] experiencing the blessings of union and harmony in our denominational matters. The day of discord and jealousy is past; brotherly love and progress are now the watchwords. The University has been most deeply imbedded in the mire, and is the last to feel the rising tide; now there are indications that it will soon float. The evidences are conclusive that it is gaining in the confidence of the public and in the sympathies of the denomination. The moral tone and standard of scholarship have been greatly elevated." Dr. Anderson began his administration by giving the most of his time to financial matters, but by 1879-80, which was Miss Colver's first year in attendance at the University, he was devoting himself more to the general duties of administration and to teaching, giving such time as he could spare to looking after the finances of the institution. That year, too, there were several important additions made to the faculty. The Standard of August 26, 1880, quotes Dr. Anderson as having stated that, in the collegiate department, there were "courses of study equal to those of the best colleges of the East"; that there were frequent unannounced examinations; and that the marking system had been introduced under his administration. But a new crisis was reached in the affairs of the University when, according to the Standard of February 24, 1881, a suit was commenced through which the question as to the property of the institution and the whole financial interest involved would be tried in the courts, so that it might be anticipated that upon one basis or another the matters so long pending would be brought to an issue that must be final. More par- ticularly, the court was asked to declare void a trust deed given to an insurance company, in 1876, for $150,000, on the 266 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES ground that by the conditions under which the property had been donated it was not subject to such alienation, and because the original loan was but $60,000, while the other $90,000 was made up of interest and interest compounded, whereas the company had been offered $50,000 in settlement of its claim. The litigation that was developed from this step hung over the University for several years, and, as the debt involved had done, prevented any very decided further advancement. Any thought of repudiation was denied, but the duty to protect the first trust imposed upon the University was asserted, while the offer made for a settlement was regarded as a fair one, considering the condition of the University and in view of all the circumstances. In his report to the board of trustees, at the close of the year 1 880-81, Dr. Anderson said that there had been throughout the entire year the most perfect harmony in the faculties of instruction. "The professors have given themselves to their work with great enthusiasm and with rare fidelity. I am anxious that all the trustees should know that it would be difficult to find anywhere a more able and efficient faculty than that which now serves and adorns this institution of learning. But these professors are overworked We have only $600 of endowment, and the few dollars of income from that are applied exclusively to the extinguishment of an old debt. Our reliance is on our tuition. The law department is made to sustain itself, in a poor way, by its tuition fees, .... each professor receiving a little more than one thousand dollars for his services. But the tuitions of the departments of philosophy and the arts, and of the preparatory department, cannot be made to meet the current expenses of those departments. These tuitions are depleted by fifty or sixty scholarships. The endow- ments of these scholarships were consumed as they were gath- ered, while we are compelled to keep the contracts, and educate those put upon such scholarships without compensation. The tuitions are again depleted because the children of ministers of PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 267 all denominations are required to pay but half the ordinary rates. These things are not to be complained of, but they show how our financial work is burdened. It becomes necessary for some one to raise, each year, by personal solicitation, from $6,000 to $8,000. As no agent is provided, this task falls on me. This, in addition to my teaching, often seems to me more than I can endure. What it costs of time and labor no one knows until he has undertaken it on behalf of an institution in debt. To such an institution men give their money very reluctantly." 1 At the end of the following school year, the Standard of June 22, 1882, in reporting the Twenty-fourth Annual Com- mencement of the University, said: "We are not in a position to do more than speak generally of the financial prospect; but if we say that it is such as to encourage President Anderson still to stand at his post, readers will rightly infer that there is an outlook and a hope We think it only right to say that each year since Dr. Anderson accepted its presidency the institution has gained ground in public estimation The derision or complaining tone once so common among our citizens, and Western people generally, is now, so far as we know, never heard. The success of the new administration, the high char- acter of the instruction given, the fine literary spirit among the students, the general most creditable standing of the University among the great schools of the land these facts are recognized by those who are at pains to inform themselves." The presi- dent's report showed an enrolment during the year of 59 students in the collegiate department, 80 in the preparatory department, and 130 in the law department or school, or, in all, 269, of whom 27 were young women, 26 of them being in the department of liberal arts. "The work of the classrooms," Dr. Anderson said, "has been performed with rare fidelity and thoroughness. The able professors ought to be more liberally compensated. Their salaries are less than the salaries of some of our teachers in the 1 The Standard of July 7, 1881. 268 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES public schools of the city. They have tempting offers by other institutions, and only their heartfelt loyalty to this University holds them in their places." It was at that commencement, the public exercises of which were held in Central Music Hall on June 14, 1882, that Susan Esther Colver was graduated by the University of Chicago, and was given the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After she entered the University, at the beginning of the fall term, in September, 1879, she did the four years' work of the classical course in three years, and she did it exceptionally well, showing herself to be a very conscientious, thorough, and capable student, finishing with her health as good at the end as it was in the beginning. To do that necessarily kept her pretty well occupied and left her little or no time for social pleasures as such. She got some change and indoor exercise by helping more or less with the housework, especially on Saturdays, and a certain amount of diversion by practicing on the piano, either classical compo- sitions or religious pieces. There might also occasionally be a concert, a lecture, or an entertainment of some sort which she would attend. She never studied her week-day lessons on Sunday, which gave her that day for rest, particularly through attending church and Sunday school, the afternoon being employed in studying the Sunday-school lesson for the following Sabbath, in select reading, in the playing of hymns on the piano, or sometimes in going to some mission Sunday school or to some special services. Her vacations were filled with studies, prac- ticing on the piano, helping in the household, and various simple and wholesome diversions, which included considerable walking, visits to the parks, and the like. Her father continued his interest in all that she did, and helped very greatly to make those years both profitable and pleasant ones for her. The Daily Inter Ocean of June 15, 1882, speaking of the graduating exercises generally, said that "they in every way reflected the highest credit upon the faculty of the University. In all the three perfections broad, clear thought; the embodi- PREPARATORY AND COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 269 ment of that thought in beautiful, expressive, and forcible language; and the utterance of that language in clear, sonorous voice, correctly modulated and accompanied by suitable ges- tures whose union constitute true eloquence, the graduates or, at least, the nine who delivered orations or read essays, did not only themselves the highest honor, but reflected in so doing their own victory on that alma mater which had fostered them." Miss Colver read an essay on " Personality." The Standard said: "No one will complain if, in our brief comment, we give precedence in the order of mention to the one lady on the list. Miss Colver read her essay in a ladylike manner, and commended herself to the audience alike by the excellence of her thought, and the good English of her diction." From the Times and the Journal it may be gathered that Miss Colver took the position that, as in the world of matter no two things are precisely alike, so there are no two persons just the same. All men have certain qualities in common; but, besides inherited differences, others come to be developed by environment, by experience, by education, and by the particular influence of men of high character, all of which effects go to make up what is called individuality or personality. Self-control is one of the most important elements of a lofty type of personality, and it should be specially cultivated. The great advances made in the world have almost all been due to men of marked personality. Char- acter, inclination, and perseverance are necessary to success in life. A large proportion of the failures in life have occurred among men who were continually changing who had no personality. It is of vital importance that everyone should cultivate wisdom, integrity, and a high and pure personality, for on these depend the civilization of the future. The last number on the commencement program was a beautiful rendering, by a ladies' quartette, of Miss Colver's and her father's favorite hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee." The University of Chicago conferred the degree of Master of Arts on Miss Colver on June 16, 1886. CHAPTER IV THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE IN CHICAGO SCHOOLS After her graduation from the University of Chicago, Miss Colver lost no unnecessary time in getting into what was to be her life-work, a work for which she had long and carefully been preparing, and one that was in her case undoubtedly wisely chosen, in order best to serve humanity with her talents. She spent a good portion of the summer vacation in getting ready to take the examination set for September 23, 1882, for teachers for the public schools of the city. She passed the examination satisfactorily and was given a certificate to teach in the grammar and primary grades. She received her appointment as a teacher on October 26, 1882. She was assigned to the Wallace Street School, a grammar school, the name of which was subsequently changed to McClellan School. It was located at the southeast corner of Wallace Street and Douglas Avenue or Thirty-fifth Street, and was about a mile and a half west of where she lived. The public schools of Chicago offered a capable woman about as good a field for useful service of a high order, especially with a fair remuneration, as she could find forty years ago; and if real service was the dominant aim, perhaps no better position could be asked than one in a primary or grammar school. In Chicago the first recorded regular teaching, partaking somewhat of the nature of school tuition, was in the winter of 1810-11. The teacher was a boy about thirteen years of age; the one pupil, a boy of six years; the principal aid, a spelling book. The first school was opened by a discharged soldier, in the fall of 1 8 16, in a log building that had been used as a bakery. He had seven or eight pupils. The first public school dates 270 THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 271 from 1834, an appropriation made to aid it giving it its char- acter. A woman teacher of 1834-36 wrote afterward that "it was not uncommon, in going to and from school, to see prairie wolves, and we could hear them howl any time of the day. We were frequently annoyed by Indians. But the great difficulty we had to encounter was mud. No person now can have a just idea of what Chicago mud used to be. Rubbers were of no account. I purchased a pair of gentlemen's brogans, and fastened them tight around the ankles, but would still go over them in mud and water, and was obliged to have a pair of men's boots made. What few buildings there were then were mostly on Water Street." 1 The first superintendent of the public schools of the city entered upon his duties in May or June, 1854. In his first annual report, dated in December of that year, he stated that he had found a want of system, and had graded and classified the schools, as well as had established a teachers' institute, with sessions to be held on two Saturdays in each month. He also mentioned that in some of the schools a large percentage of the pupils on entering could not speak English, and that, "as might be expected, those schools were best taught which were best governed." The schools then were all either primary or grammar schools, in which were taught principally, according to grades, reading, writing, spelling and definitions, written and oral arithmetic, geography, and, either then or soon after, United States history, and perhaps the outlines of English history. Instruction in vocal music was first provided in 1842; in German, in 1865 ; and in drawing, in 1869. The first high school was opened in the fall of 1856, with a normal department to prepare young ladies, residents of the city, for successful teaching in the public schools of the city. The first experiment in organ- izing free evening schools was made during the winter of 1856, 1 Fourth Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools of the City of Chicago for the Year Ending February i, 1858. 272 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES with an enrolment of 208 and an average attendance of 150. In 1870 the first step was taken toward establishing a school for deaf-mutes. Among the general regulations of the public schools which were published in the report of the board of education for the year ending February i, 1860, one was that " the morning exercises of each department of the several schools shall commence with reading the Scriptures, without note or comment, and that exercise may be followed by repeating the Lord's Prayer and by appropriate singing. It shall be the duty of every teacher to join in the opening exercises." In September, 1875, so much of the rules of the board as provided for "reading the Scriptures without note or comment and repeating the Lord's Prayer" at the opening morning exercises of the schools each day was stricken out. 1 By 1882 the public schools of Chicago had been brought to a comparatively high standard of development. There was still, however, as there had been all along, a lack of sufficient accommodations, due to the ever and fast increasing number of pupils caused by the unparalleled rapid growth of the city. Matters were not improved in that respect, notwithstanding that new school buildings were constantly being erected. Other buildings, although poorly adapted for the purpose, had to be rented for school use. Rooms in the basements of school and other buildings were often used as schoolrooms; and not infre- quently what were called double divisions were resorted to, the pupils of one division attending school in the forenoon, and those of the other division in the afternoon, which arrangement was the more unfortunate because approximately four-fifths of the pupils beginning at six years of age attended school but from three to five years. In 1882, the city owned 67 school buildings, and rented 9 other buildings to be used for schools. '"Historical Sketches of the Public School System of Chicago," Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education for the Year Ending July 31, 1879. THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 273 The school census of that year gave the total population of the city as 560,693, which included 110,389 children between six and sixteen years of age, while the total enrolment in the public schools of the city was 68,614, which was an increase of 5,473 over the enrolment of the year before. Corporal punishment had been abolished in the city schools not long before that, and disciplining without it but with suspension as a substitute for the incorrigible was still some- what in the experimental stage; while it was said that, whether believed in or not, the sentiment of society was such that the older modes of discipline could no longer be employed, and that a kindly and loving interest was taking the place of the old system of compulsion. The general aim in the work of the schoolroom, the superintendent stated, was to get away from the old system of restraint and repression, and to attempt rather to awaken and to inspire; to supplant the old memorized rule and definition by better understanding and correct use. The teaching of words, instead of the individual letters of the alpha- bet, to beginners was also being employed. Moreover, the day of the old-time declamation was declared to have gone by, because, so far as it had any result beyond terrorizing the timid, it induced a style of speaking no longer in demand outside of the political caucus. Nor was that to be a stopping-place in the development of the school system. It was more like the beginning of a new era. The next thirty years were destined to show further great prog- ress in the adjustment to new conditions and discovered needs. Every one of those years brought its special problems. To meet them, many changes had to be made in the courses of study and methods of instruction in the schools. The mere growth of the city, with its attendant effects, made many of these changes necessary. It introduced many foreign ideas and elements which had to be amalgamated and brought into harmony with American ideals. It changed the home life, 274 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES too, in various ways that made new demands on the schools. It took away the most of the old style of family instruction and discipline. Children as a rule were no longer watched over and trained as they once were. Many of them never even got the benefit of good, wholesome play. Their eyes and hands and brains were not trained by doing things and making things, as was the case when all home and personal wants were supplied at home, so far as they could be. The boys, for example, lacked the exercise and training to be got from doing chores and helping with all kinds of work, especially that of the different seasons on the farm; while the girls no longer learned the arts of cooking, baking, sewing, mending, darning, and general housework, as girls once did. Therefore it gradually became evident that the schools must try to make up in some way, to some extent, for these disadvantages to the children who suffered them, if those children were ever to be reasonably well fitted for the practical duties of life. So, one by one, various things which were at first ridiculed and called " fads " came to be added to the already seemingly overcrowded courses of study. Manual training was one of the first of them, but it did not get its rightful place until after a number of years of agitation and the over- coming of much opposition. As a teacher, under these conditions, Miss Colver always strove earnestly both to carry out the prescribed rules for teachers and to make her work as successful as possible. A soldier is no better trained to obedience to those in authority than was she. In turn, she expected what was right in this respect from those under her. That made her a strong disci- plinarian. At the same time she had great sympathy for the unfortunate and the wayward, and she endeavored to be fair always, to everyone, being willing in proper cases to overlook all that could well be disregarded. But she must have order and the spirit of obedience as far as practicable. Then, with her strictness in discipline she coupled thoroughness in instruc- THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 275 tion, and sought thoroughness in her pupils, a reflection undoubt- edly of her own training from her childhood up. So far as she could, she stressed, too, the fundamentals more than the less important matters in education. Punctuality was another thing which she sought to promote, and that she herself set a splendid example in, regardless of conditions. To illustrate: She walked to and from school, and when the weather was bad she simply started earlier in the morning. These qualities in combination with the others which she possessed, including unusual self- control and cheerfulness, made her an exceptionally efficient teacher, one who worked faithfully and intelligently for the best interests of her school and of those in it committed to her care, and one who was respected accordingly, but who never sought popularity. She still carried on various studies, mostly of the more solid sort, for her self-improvement, particularly in such time as she might have for doing it in the evening and on Saturdays, instead of seeking amusement. Nor did she drop her music when she took up school work. She continued to practice quite regularly on the piano, and during some of her vacations attended a musical college and took private lessons on the piano under special teachers. However, her hands were not strong enough to endure such long and hard practice as was required at that stage, and she had finally, on that account, to give up all thought of greater accomplishment in that direction. That she was permanently compelled to desist from any long, arduous practice on the piano was in one way a benefit to her, in that it removed a division in her interests and left her to concentrate her attention more completely on educational work, thus giving her more time for general advanced study, some of which she used to prepare herself for taking fur- ther examinations. The first of these was an examination for principals for primary schools, which she took on December 27, 1889, and successfully passed. A year later, on December 23, 276 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES 1890, she took and passed the examination given for princi- pals for grammar schools. Then, on December 27, 1892, she passed an examination given for teachers in the high schools; but the certificate awarded to her therefor she never sought to use, for she then held a position which she preferred to that of teaching in a high school. She did her most distinctive educational work as a prin- cipal, after the board of education, on August 20, 1890, had elected her "to the position of principal of the Horace Mann School." That was a new primary school which was to be opened on the first of September. The building, which was 125.5 feet long by 87.4 feet wide and three stories in height above a basement, was constructed of brick and contained fifteen class- rooms and an assembly hall. It was valued at $50,000, the furniture in it at $2,000, and the heating plant at $15,000; which indicated that it was a good building for that time. It was located on the south side of the city, at the northeast corner of Thirty-seventh Street and Princeton Avenue, which was about a mile west and two blocks south of where Miss Colver lived, but it had an environment entirely different from that of the old University neighborhood, one more akin to that surrounding the Union Stock Yards, which were about a mile southwest of the schoolhouse. The parents who lived in the district were mostly of the working class, born of various nationalities, who on the whole were pretty good citizens. The houses in which most of them lived were either old frame or brick ones, usually two stories in height, which might be occupied by one or two families. The children of the district were the typical ones from such parentage and homes, the majority of them being destined to become ordi- nary workers, clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, and the like, and desiring at most an elementary school education only; but Miss Colver always urged those fitted for it, and who might do it, to go on to high school and then to the University, or, in cer- THE HORACE MANN SCHOOL, CHICAGO THE NATHANAEL GREENE SCHOOL, CHICAGO THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 277 tain cases, to the Normal School. Nor were there lacking chil- dren of a sort to cause the principal of the school a great deal of trouble, while more of the rowdy kind lived just outside of the district and came into it whenever there was a special oppor- tunity for them to do some mischief, apparently liking particu- larly to attend school entertainments when given in the evening. For this reason it was sometimes deemed prudent to have a policeman there on such occasions, which may explain why it was that in later years Miss Colver frequently remarked when she saw a policeman: "There is a friend of ours." The population of the city, due partly to the annexation of suburban territory, was more than double, and the number of schools in the city was more than treble, of what they were when Miss Colver began teaching in 1882, the school census of 1890 giving the population of the city as 1,208,669, and the number of school buildings owned by the city as 219, with 58 rented. The number of teachers was 3,001, and the total enrol- ment of pupils, 146,751, which was an increase of 11,201 over that of the previous year. The first superintendent said: "The public schools should be sustained not only as a political, but as a philanthropic measure. Education is necessary not only for the public safety, but for the happiness of the individual In a country of free competition and equal rights, where 'every man is heir to the highest honors of the state,' a good education is indispensable to the full enjoyment of those rights." But a still larger view was taken, in the superintendent's report of 1890, when Mr. George Howland said: "It is the prevailing theory that the public school is supported by the state as a means of self- preservation. That this might be a sufficient reason for its existence is admitted, but the free public school, I believe, rests upon a broader and deeper basis upon the inalienable right of childhood to an education suited to the condition of the society hi which it has its birth. Under any government claiming the 27& THROUGH THREE CENTURIES faithful allegiance of its citizens, even to the sacrifice of life, the citizen, too, has a claim upon the government for an education enabling him to fulfil his duties. The state has a claim upon the child which no parent can maintain, and so, too, has the child a counterclaim upon the state which no parental authority can withstand, and the direction and extent of the education may be determined by the state. The general purpose of the school may remain the same, but the just demands of the child today may be quite unlike those of his brother of the seven- teenth century. The youth may not enter gladly into his heri- tage, but it is his, and he may rightfully be compelled, under state guardianship, to take possession and enjoy its fruits, till he shall learn to know and value the worth of his inheritance a good education. Much more than the three R's is required for the humblest citizen of the Great Republic. The ability to spell out the name on his ballot is of little worth, unless he can read there the character and purposes of those who planned the ballot; unless he has read something of his country's history and understands somewhat of the causes that have made it what it is, and knows, too, of the influences now active for its upbuilding or its degradation." For more than twenty years Miss Colver held the principal- ship of the Horace Mann School, in Chicago. She began with it as a new primary school, started it at the full standard of that day, and kept it always in the forefront of educational develop- ment. She did not object to the locality in which the school was located, nor to the class of people and pupils as a whole with whom she had to deal; but she felt perfectly satisfied to work among and for them. Her only objection, if any, was as to the considerable number of vacant lots that there were in the dis- trict, and most of them were rather unsightly, too. She would have preferred to have had the lots occupied, and the school larger than it was, but she did not covet any other larger school. On August 17, 1892, the school was changed from a primary to THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 279 a grammar school. Every new thing in educational ideas, methods, or equipment, which she thought would improve the school, she wanted for it, and if it was something that must come through the action of the board of education or of some of its officials, she none the less usually got it without unavoid- able delay. In short, she put her whole soul into her school, and gave it not a little of her own sterling character. In con- sequence, it soon became one of the best schools of its grade in the city a grammar school to which visitors who were looking for the greatest efficiency were frequently sent. That efficiency was to be seen, of course, mainly in the work of the teachers under Miss Colver, but it was to be found there principally because they reflected her zeal and sought to carry out her methods and wishes. She was very painstaking and thorough in training her teachers, and knew just how, by placing responsibility on them, encouraging and sustaining them, with a hint here and there, and showing appreciation for everything worthy of it, to get the best out of them for the school that there was in them. She could, as a rule, develop and make the most of any special talent that there was in a teacher. One result of this was that but few of her teachers were ever willing to leave the school, except for the strongest of reasons. Some of the teachers first assigned to the school remained there as long as she did. But two consecutive head assistants became principals of other schools; and several others of her teachers were pro- moted from her school to the Normal and practice schools, while some of her teachers refused to take such a promotion, away from her school, although urged by her to do it as well as recommended by her for the work. She was never selfish in her dealings with anyone. Another characteristic of hers that helped to make the school what it became was the manifest interest which she took in, and the sincere enthusiasm which she showed for, every department of the school work, which in time came to include, 280 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES among other things besides the regular courses of study, a kindergarten, special instruction in music, drawing, cooking, sewing, physical culture, and manual training, which interest of hers was extended to expressed appreciation for every special effort made by any teacher or special teacher to make his or her work therein for the school effective. The kindergarten was started soon after the opening of the school, not by the board of education, but by the latter's granting the use of a room in the school for free kindergarten classes, a kindergarten association to pay all the expenses connected with the conduct- ing of such classes. Gymnastic apparatus for the school was ordered by the board in the fall of 1898, and equipment for manual training in May, 1908. In January, 1894, the board made an appropriation of one hundred dollars "for the purchase of a library" for the school. Various other activities were fostered. Perhaps the most important of them was the establishment and maintenance of a parents' association or club, which held meetings at stated intervals and was intended to interest the mothers of the pupils in the school, an incidental feature being to get their organized help toward providing necessary articles of clothing for needy children. In November, 1896, the board received and granted a petition from the graduates of the school for the use of the assembly hall one evening each month for a literary society. Then the school usually gave one or more entertainments, perhaps on an average two each year, for which a small admis- sion fee was charged. They were always great events in the school year. They were allowed in order to give the school funds for the purchase of articles deemed beneficial for the school to have, but for which the board could not see its way clear to provide. When the stereopticon first came into use as an auxiliary to public-school work, it was taken up as a private enterprise by what was called the "Projection Club." This was composed of schools interested in it and willing to contrib- THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 281 ute or pay dues each year for the purchase of lantern slides to be used in common by the member schools, of which the Horace Mann was one of the first. Miss Colver might quite regularly be seen carrying back and forth boxes of lantern-slides, which were kept for the club at the board rooms. The stereopti- con for the school and the means for paying the annual dues to the club came from the proceeds of some of the entertainments, which also made possible additions to the school library. In 1905, a sta- tion of the penny savings system was established at the school. 1 On June 2, 1909, the board of education voted to make what had been the Hartigan School, which was located at 4101 Federal Street, near Root Street, a branch of the Horace Mann School, the change going into effect at the beginning of the new school year, in September. During the months of January, February, and March, 1910, a school for carpenters' apprentices was conducted at this branch of the Horace Mann School, under Miss Colver's charge. It furnished a new and severe test of her power as a disciplinarian, but she met it successfully. The ninety or more young men who attended the school were from about sixteen to twenty-one years of age. Their attendance at the school for the three months was required by the carpenters' union. The subjects taught were English, mathematics, and architectural drawing. Great satisfaction with the results was expressed. When the city became too large for the superintendent alone to look after all of the schools, district superintendents were 1 Among other developments of the public-school system of Chicago, some of which directly affected all schools while others but indirectly, were the appointment of a superintendent of compulsory education and the employment of truant officers, the establishment of the Chicago Normal College, practice schools, industrial schools or courses, a parental school, a department of child study and educational research, a bureau of vocational guidance, homes for delinquents, centers for the blind, centers for the deaf, centers for epileptics, low-temperature open-window rooms, open- air rooms, and an open-air school for the tuberculous; also, in some schools, penny lunch rooms. 282 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES appointed to assist him. Mr. Leslie Lewis was for many years the district superintendent of the district in which was included the Horace Mann School. In 1920 Mr. Lewis wrote that he knew Miss Colver well as the principal of that school. "The people in the neighborhood of the school belonged, for the most part, to the laboring class, and many of them were poor. Many of them were foreigners. I found Miss Colver just the person to have charge of the children that came from such homes. She was thoughtful, kind, sympathetic, and just, but at the same time firm in her government. She seemed to get closer to her pupils than most teachers do. She always found out something about the home life and surroundings of each child. This made them not only trust and respect her as a principal, but love her as a woman. She had, also, the confidence of the mothers of the neighborhood. They seemed glad to place their children under her care." With regard to Miss Colver's relations with her teachers, Mr. Lewis said that she was respected and looked up to as a leader by her teachers. "She was thoughtful and helpful, rather than critical. I never knew one of them who was not more than willing to do whatever she wanted done and in the way she wanted it done. At the same time she did not attempt to make automatons out of them. She recognized the fact that each one had an individuality of her own. She was especially helpful to young teachers just beginning their work." "Our relations as principal and superintendent," Mr. Lewis went on to state, " were exceedingly pleasant. She was thought- ful, courteous, and always seemed to try to anticipate every wish of mine. I always enjoyed my visits to her school. It was always an inspiration to me to see her among her pupils and teachers." To sum up as it were in a few words, Mr. Lewis added: " She did not appear very much in the limelight. She was too shy and modest for that. She was eminently successful as a THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 283 teacher, and efficient as a principal. Hundreds of her old pupils and many teachers look back with gratitude to the years spent with her, and are grateful for what she did for them." The distinct musical ability and training that Miss Colver had also make peculiarly interesting the statement of the super- visor of music in the elementary schools of Chicago, that "Miss Colver, in my opinion, was a delightful principal in every way, being interested in all sides of a child's development. She was very musical, and full of appreciation of the cultural effect music had upon children. In consequence of this, her school always excelled musically. You cannot tabulate the influence for good of such a life. She radiated love and goodness." To somewhat of the same general effect the supervisor of art in the elementary schools says: "I remember Miss Colver very well as a fine principal, a big-hearted, broad-minded woman, a splendid support to the teachers of art in their work. The fine points of such work as hers are not a matter of record." Moreover, not only did the regular teachers in the school and the special teachers of special subjects like it there, but cadets, as graduates from the Normal School were called, highly appreciated being sent there for their last training before being assigned anywhere as teachers, while a teacher deemed it extra- good fortune to find a vacancy in the teaching force of the school and to get the assignment to it. So Miss Agnes G. White says that she remembers well how delighted she was when she got her assignment to the school and knew that she was to be one of Miss Colver's teachers. "Miss Colver," she goes on to state, "was always at the school before any of the teachers. She was a shining example of the punctuality which she expected of others. On the first morning of every school term, no matter how busy she was, she would greet each teacher as she entered the office with a hearty hand- shake, and welcome her back. We all enjoyed hearing her play on the piano. When she taught the music in the eighth grade, 284 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES it was a pleasure to listen. Whenever we had a performance of any kind, she always wanted it to be as nearly perfect as possible." Miss White says further that Miss Colver liked a merry joke, or a bit of fun, now and then. For instance, she says: " When we bought our stereopticon, Miss Colver rented some lantern slides, for which she herself paid, and some of them were very amusing. One showed a young lady with a net chasing a butter- fly. Miss Colver asked the children, 'What teacher is that like ?' They all answered, ' Miss .' Then she said, ' The next slide will show what she caught.' That showed, under the net, on his knees a man, which made everybody laugh good- naturedly, and heartily." Again, Miss White says: " We, as a family, first knew Miss Colver as a teacher in the McClellan School, although none of us was directly under her teaching. When an engineer at the school died, she gave to my mother a sum of money to buy food and clothing for the widow and children, as needed. That was just one of the many such kindnesses which she showed." Concerning Miss Colver's generosity, Mrs. W. A. Rowley says that "in giving, she believed in not letting the left hand know what the right hand did; but I learned, in indirect ways, of families in the district whom she had helped." To the fore- going it may be added that in several cases Miss Colver made up to cadets or young teachers what she thought were unjust shortages in the payments to them. Miss Colver was a member of the Immanuel Baptist Church of Chicago; but she lived, rather than professed, her religion. She was broad-minded and liberal in her views, welcoming any well-tested light furnished by sound, modern scholarship. She gave liberally, but quietly, to help on the work of the church, choosing generally to give the most toward the objects to aid which she thought it would do the most real good. Her pas- tor kept her name on his private list of those whom he felt that THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 285 he could call on in emergencies for financial aid; and on one occasion she gave him enough to enable him to start a mission school in a needy neighborhood. It was once said of her that "she was always ready to give freely. She was loyal in friend- ship; and one needed to fear only her generosity." However, she did not enjoy very much helping people who appeared too willing to have things done for them. She was always inter- ested in missionary and Salvation Army workers, wherever she met them. Another characteristic of Miss Colver's was her intense love of animals and birds, which is suggested in this connection by the statement of Mrs. Rowley that Miss Colver, on her way home from school, frequently went past the house of a woman who raised chickens and had pet cats and rabbits, and that Miss Colver always showed great interest in them. To this it may be added that she sometimes borrowed a rabbit or other pet animal and took it to the school, or encouraged some child to bring one, so that she might use it in an object-lesson to increase the interest of the children in the dumb animals, and to impress upon them their duty to be kind to all animals. For horses, in particular, she had both admiration and sympathy, the latter especially for faithful, hard-worked ones. She could never bear to see one mistreated. Mrs. Rowley, who was trained and developed as a teacher at the Horace Mann School and was afterward promoted to the Parker Practice School, says that "Miss Colver was ever an inspiration; her philosophy and cheer meant more to me in that formative period of my life than I can tell. She was a woman of great character, great energy, and overflowing life. None realized that more than did those who began their careers as teachers under her guidance. Her untiring energies were always employed for the benefit of all who were associated with her. She, herself, had had splendid educational advantages, and, having also a fine mind, she was able to make the most of 286 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES her opportunities. The effect was shown in all of her relations with teachers, parents, and children. In the teacher and in the child she always looked for the good which she said was in everyone. " 'Never pull down, unless you can build up,' she would say. She believed so thoroughly in doing and saying that which was constructive, that she never criticized a method of teaching, unless she could follow it with helpful suggestions, or show a better method. She believed also in filling the mind with good thoughts, and often wrote a helpful thought or quotation on a small blackboard, which she set in a prominent place in the corridor, where it could be easily seen on entering the school. That was a morning greeting, and a splendid one with which to begin the day." With regard to music, Mrs. Rowley says that it would be difficult to overestimate the value of Miss Colver's work in it. "She inspired the children to sing with spirit and enthusiasm. When she played the patriotic songs in the assembly hall there was not a child who did not feel a stronger love for his country." A few hints as to what her old pupils at the Horace Mann School think of Miss Colver were obtained by Mrs. Rowley from one of those pupils, who told Mrs. Rowley that he had seen many of the former pupils of the school, and that when he mentioned Miss Colver's name to them they all spoke of how much she had meant to them, and of her fairness in deal- ing with them. No one to whom he spoke on the subject had anything but a good word to say. For himself, he declared that she had treated him very nicely, and that he had nothing but good memories of her. He also emphasized that "she always seemed to be fair," and that "her dealings with the children were always square." Other points which he men- tioned were that the rules and regulations of the Horace Mann School were kept to the limit; that special effort was made to prepare the pupils to cope with the conditions or difficulties THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 287 which they would meet; that Miss Colver seemed to be very full of life and very vivacious; that she was very patriotic, and was very fond of music. Miss Colver never missed a day from her school work, except in connection with the loss of her parents. 1 She found her most frequent diversion in playing on the piano. She attended some concerts and a good many lectures. The latter she endeavored to make doubly beneficial by recounting at school as much of what she had heard as she thought would not only interest, but instruct or inspire, the children. One of her summer vacations she spent chiefly in the study of Hebrew, attending with her father a summer school in Hebrew that was conducted by Dr. W. R. Harper. A large part of the summer vacation of 1893 she spent at the World's Columbian Expo- sition, which was held in Chicago. During the winter holidays of 1895, she, with her father, visited the Cotton States and Industrial Exposition at Atlanta, Georgia, and visited the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. She also visited the Trans- Mississippi Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898; the Pan- American Exposition at Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1901; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, in 1904; and the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition at Seattle, Washing- ton, in 1909. Besides, she attended some of the meetings of the National Education Association held in different cities, and made trips into Canada, along the Pacific Coast, into Mexico, to Colorado, to the southern states, and back to Massachusetts. But some of her vacations were spent mainly at home, being varied by short day trips to the country, or, more often, by boat trips or outings on Lake Michigan. One day in March, 1911, Miss Colver was called up on the telephone from the superintendent's office and was asked if she would accept a transfer to the Nathanael Greene School, an 1 Her mother died on September 12, 1889; her father, on October 24, 1896. 288 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES elementary school with eighteen rooms and an assembly hall, located at the corner of South Paulina and West Thirty-sixth streets, on the west side of the city. An immediate decision was requested. Tired, to some extent, by the hard work of the winter, and not feeling quite as well as she usually had felt, the thought came to her that perhaps the change might be beneficial, and she said that she would take the transfer. The date that it was effected has been given as March 21, while the printed proceedings of the board of education for March 22 record her transfer from the principalship of the Horace Mann School to that of the Nathanael Greene School as "under date of March 13, 1911." Her work at the latter school showed the same characteristics that marked her service at the Horace Mann School, 1 but it continued only until June 26, or the close of the school year, in 1912. Miss Josephine C. Ford, who was the head assistant at the Nathanael Greene School, says: "I knew Miss Colver slightly for many years before she came as principal to this school. I knew that she enjoyed the reputation of having an excellent school at the Horace Mann, and of being a loyal friend to her teachers. When she came to us she showed great tact in generous and genuine approval of the children, the teachers, and the school work, and in introducing changes very gradually. She was very appreciative of the teachers' efforts, and never failed in giving credit where due, assuming none herself. Thus she won our hearty co-operation. She was always cheerful and kind. She was a woman of deep religious convictions, with a strong sense of truth, justice, and right. This is as I knew Miss Colver when closely associated with her. She was at the Nathanael Greene School less than a year and a half. During that time her health failed, and she resigned." 1 Since then the conditions of the neighborhood and school have so changed that the Horace Mann School was, in the fall of 1919, made a branch of another school. THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 289 Miss Ford learned from the two teachers in the kinder- garten at the Nathanael Greene School that they always felt that in Miss Colver they had a sincere friend, as well as a sympathetic and just principal. They said that "her interest in and sympathetic understanding of the kindergarten was a constant inspiration to us, and a great delight to our little people. Again and again she planned happy surprises for our babies, and they, with true childish instinct, reciprocated by giving her their unbounded love and confidence. To them she was a beloved comrade." To this one of the teachers added: "It was a coincidence that, when I was assigned to the Greene kindergarten, I should find that my new principal was none other than my beloved Miss Colver, who had greeted me many years before, at the Horace Mann School, on my first day at school. As a child, I was fond of Miss Colver; she was always so cheerful and friendly. I felt right at home at the Greene, for I found my principal to be the same interested children's friend as formerly." Miss Lydia K. Eck, who was a teacher under Miss Colver both at the Horace Mann School and at the Nathanael Greene School, recalls with evident pleasure the markedly cordial spirit in which Miss Colver received her when she was sent, as a cadet, to the Horace Mann School; and she says that she frequently noticed that cadets, substitutes, and visitors, even some who met Miss Colver only once, would inquire about her years after- ward, when the opportunity to do so presented itself. "She was perfectly lovely to me," constituted the usual remark, voiced by all. Her life was a frequent reflection of the thought that we pass this way but once, and should do now any good, or show any kindness, that we can. She aimed to be the first at the school in the morning, in order to welcome and to inspire every teacher for the day's work. The office often rang with the sounds of merriment; but work was the standard of merit in the school, for both teachers and pupils. Miss Colver 290 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES particularly urged and encouraged the teachers to take up higher studies and to continue their own education, so as to make advancement as teachers. She appreciated and commended every worthy effort that anyone made. The feelings of others were always considered by her. Justice to all was the keynote of her dealings with teachers, pupils, and parents. Parents who came to complain generally went away satisfied, feeling that they had found a friend. When a parent was sent for to be advised of a case that could not well be disposed of otherwise, Miss Colver would always try to find something in the erring pupil to commend before taking up his fault, and she always aimed to follow that with the suggestion of a practical remedy. When she kept a pupil after school, to talk over with him his misdeeds, she seldom failed to bring about the correctional result desired. Possessed herself of a fine education and cul- ture, she met people of all classes in the spirit of simplicity, which "softens asperities, bridges chasms, and draws together hands and hearts." The Horace Mann School was a pioneer in the organization of a parents' association, to keep the mothers in closer touch with the work of the school, and to enlist their aid for it. Some of these mothers became so much interested in Miss Colver personally that, after she went to the Nathanael Greene School, they visited her there. Still there were occasion- ally disagreeable occurrences and even people that tried Miss Colver sorely, and then she would often look up to one of the pictures that she had hung on the walls of the office, which, with its hills or mountains, would remind her of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-first Psalm and of the help that comes from above, which would give her new strength and composure for her ordeal. She also drew others to her, who came that she might give them help and comfort. A long-time personal friend, who knew Miss Colver quite well in her home life in Chicago, says of her that she dis- closed a character of rare ability and tact. "One could not be THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE 291 associated with her without honoring and loving her. A host of people friends, associates, and acquaintances, will have occasion to remember her generosity, geniality, independence, and energy, all of them expressed many times, and in many ways. But one of her strongest characteristics was that of strict adherence to what she believed to be right. While she was a great strategist, she was honor to the core. She was wonderfully gifted intellectually and her simplicity and sin- cerity were proportionate. The influence of her great, positive mind will go on and accomplish great and far-reaching good, and good only of the hundred-fold quality." Miss Colver's determination to complete the school year, which ended on June 26, 1912, enabled her to do it. But it did not seem as if she had strength enough left after that to have conducted the school another day. Nevertheless, she yet made out every report required for the term and year closed, although it was no easy thing for her to do under the circum- stances. On July 2, 1912, Miss Colver was united in marriage with Mr. Jesse L. Rosenberger, of Chicago, and the remainder of her life-story is told as that of Mrs. Rosenberger. PART V JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER AND HIS TIMES JESSE LEONARD ROSENBERGER, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT THE CHICAGO CAMERA CLUB IN 1904 CHAPTER I PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE The name of Rosenberger has been a prominent one in the annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, since the year 1729, when Henry Rosenberger settled in that county, in Indian Creek Valley, Franconia Township. He was a Men- nonite, who, like others of his faith, had fled from Germany on account of religious persecution. From him was descended Jesse Rosenberger, who was my father. 1 My father's prospects and probably the whole course of his subsequent life I have been led to think were entirely changed when, in his childhood, he lost his father. One reason for my thinking so is that he used to recall having heard that his father had boasted that when his boys were old enough they should have their horses and buggies, which young men there in those days considered were just as necessary to their proper distinction as some young men now deem it to be to have their automobiles. That pointed toward a farmer's life for him, in the home neigh- borhood, although it may be that my father had enough of a roving or change-loving spirit in him to have led him to break away from the traditional life of the family. 'The line of descent, briefly stated, was: (i) Henry Rosenberger; (2) Daniel Rosenberger; (3) David Rosenberger, who married Ann Funk, and died in 1829, aged about eighty years; (4) Christian Rosenberger, who was born about 1773, married Elizabeth Kraut, and died in 1821; (5) Jacob Rosenberger, who was born on August 19, 1797, married Mary Detwiler, and died on April u, 1831; (6) Jesse Rosenberger, who was born on May i, 1827, married Esther Heim, and died on March 20, 1909; (7) Jesse Leonard Rosenberger. Rev. A. J. Fretz, Rosenberger Family History [Milton, N.J.], 1906. 295 296 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES At any rate, instead of his getting his horse and buggy in his youth and having the way prepared for him to become a farmer in Montgomery County, he was early apprenticed I believe that they called it "bound out" to learn the trade of a shoe- maker. His early educational advantages were comparatively limited. What he became, he became largely by reason of the mental qualities which he inherited, and by self-culture. He was especially religiously inclined, became a Baptist, and was quite an active one throughout the most of his life, yet he was ever just as ready to work with Christians of other denomi- nations, when he was where there was no Baptist church. After he had completed his apprenticeship, he started west- ward, and kept on going, from time to time, for three decades. He was never strictly a pioneer, but he appeared to be attracted to the newer settlements. Thus it came about that the year 1850 found him in Ohio. One evidence of that was a certificate which stated that, on June 2, 1850, Mr. Jesse Rosenberger, of Stark County, Ohio, and Miss Esther Heim, 1 of Columbiana County, Ohio, were joined in holy matrimony. Of that marriage but two children were born who lived any considerable length of time. One was Amos Rosenberger. 2 The other was myself. My mother, as I remember her, was a woman of medium size, with regular features and dark chestnut-colored hair that tended toward black. She was a woman of natural refinement and good taste, a thorough Christian, and a model housekeeper. She was also very discreet, quiet, and unassuming, yet self- possessed and of great force of character. Withal, she was a very strict disciplinarian. But for many years she had poor health and suffered more or less of the time; still, she bore it 1 Esther Heim was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1833. 2 Amos Rosenberger was born on May 29, 1852, and died on February 14, 1904. PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 297 cheerfully. I never heard her spoken of by anyone except in praise, even in praise for the composed and saintly manner in which she departed this life, "in the Lord she loved," as it was recorded of her. 1 From Ohio, my parents moved to Indiana, and from Indiana to Sterling, Illinois. In Sterling, they were charter members of the First Baptist Church of that place. A historical souvenir published in commemoration of the observance on May 31, 1906, of the semicentennial of the church, stated that Mr. Jesse Rosenberger was the one "who first proposed the organizing of this church." At a meeting of the church held on April 3, 1858, letters of dismissal were voted to "Jesse Rosenberger and Esther Rosenberger, to take with them to Minnesota." Minnesota was then just entering upon statehood. The census of 1860 gave its population as 172,022, of which number two-thirds were born in the United States; 17,289 in Germany; 12,869 m Ireland; 11,692 in Norway and Sweden; and the remainder in other countries. Taken all together there were representatives of sixteen different languages. In 1850 a book was published with the title Sketches of Minnesota, the New England of the West. 2 The reasons which were particularly assigned for thus designating Minnesota were its northern lati- tude and healthful climate, which were calculated to foster habits of industry and enterprise; its extensive water-power, beautiful scenery, forests of pine, relative situation to the remaining portion of the Mississippi Valley, and superior advan- tages for manufacturing enterprises. Its climatic advantages and great healthfulness were then and later widely proclaimed. But the state became known principally as one of fertile prairies especially adapted to the raising of wheat. In size it is about one-third larger than all of New England. 1 Her death occurred on December 12, 1871. 2 The author was E. S. Seymour, and the publishers Harper & Bros. 298 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The course usually followed, at about 1858, in going to Minnesota, was, after navigation on the Mississippi had opened in the spring, to go to the river, and to go up the latter by steamboat. The customary route from Chicago had been for several years to go by railroad to Galena, Illinois, which was the starting-point for some of the boats; but from 1856 there was a shorter line to the river via Sterling to Fulton, Illinois, a town about twenty-six miles beyond Sterling; and to Fulton one would assuredly go from Sterling, to take a boat. Father purchased his steamboat tickets to Lake City, which was a village on the shore, a little below the center of the Minnesota side, of that part of the Mississippi River called Lake Pepin, the lake being an expansion of the river differing from the other portions of the latter by its breadth, general depth, and free- dom from islands. The lake, the outlet of which is just above that of the Chippewa River, was formed by a kind of natural dam being built of sand or alluvium which that river brought down and emptied into the valley of the Mississippi. To many minds, the lake, which is about twenty-eight miles long and from two to three miles wide, is the most picturesque and beautiful portion of the great Father of Waters. Its setting is particularly fine, being in steep, rugged, verdure-clad bluffs that rise from 250 to 400 feet in height and are cut through or separated at intervals by narrow ravines, often called "coulees." Most of the bluffs run lengthwise with the lake, although some of them, as for example those back of Lake City, are of coni- cal or truncated form. The water flows through the lake in a southeasterly direction, but quite slowly owing to a lack of fall, which is much less than the average elsewhere in the Mississippi. Lake Pepin has been known to American history for more than 240 years. In 1680, Hennepin called it Lac des Pleurs or "Lake of Tears," because, while he and his companions were prisoners of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, they slept at a point of the lake, and a chief who had had a son killed by the Miamis PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 299 shed tears all night, or, when he got tired, caused one of his sons to shed tears, in order to excite his warriors to compassion for him and induce them to kill their captives and pursue their enemies to avenge the death of his son. 1 Penicaut called it Lac Bon Secours, meaning "Lake Good Help/' apparently in allusion to the abundance of buffaloes and other game found in its vicinity. But history has failed to record for whom and why it was named Lake Pepin. It may have been in honor of Pepin le Bref, king of the Franks from 752 to 768 and father of Charle- magne. 2 On May 8, 1689, Nicholas Perrot, a French trader, who was commandant for the West, took formal possession for the king of France of an extensive region which included that of the lake. In 1700, Le Sueur, in his journal, described the lake in a general way. He said that it was called Lake Pepin; 1 John Gilmary Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley (New York: Redfield, 1852), pp. in, 117, 121. As Hennepin described it at another time: "About thirty Leagues higher [above Black River] we found the Lake of Tears, which we nam'd Jo becauje the Savages, who took us, as it will be hereafter related, confulted in this Place what they Jhould do with their Prijoners; and thoje who were for murthering us, cry'd all the Night upon us, to oblige, by their Tears, their Companions to consent to our Death. This Lake is form'd by the Mesch a jipi, and may be Jeven Leagues long, and five broad. Its waters are almojt J tagnant, the Stream being hardly perceptible in the middle." A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America. Reprinted from the second London issue of 1698 (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903), I, 222. 2 Warren Upham, Minnesota Geographic Names (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 1920), XVII, 557. On account of the lateness of his date, the suggestion seems hardly plausible which was made by Neill and is quoted by Lafayette Ho ugh ton Bunnell in the latter's Winona and Its Environs on the Mississippi in Ancient and Modern Days (Winona: Jones & Kroeger, 1897), p. 57, namely, that the name Pepin might perhaps be accounted for by the fact that there was a Jean Pepin who was related, through his wife, to the commander of an expedition sent in 1727 to establish on the lake a post or fort that was named Beauharaois, which it was stated was located at Point de Sable (Point of Sand), a site subsequently occupied by the village of Frontenac, about six miles northwest of Lake City. 300 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES that near it there was a chain of mountains in which there were caves that the bears retired into in winter; and to this he added that it would be dangerous to enter the caves in summer, because they were full of rattlesnakes. 1 The De 1'Isle map of Canada or New France which was published in 1703 shows the lake with the name "L. Pepin." 2 The first establishment of the French in Minnesota, Neill says, was on the west shore of Lake Pepin, a short distance above its mouth. It was called Fort Bon Secours on a map of 1700; but Fort Le Sueur, and abandoned, on the De 1'Isle map of 1703; while on a much later map it was correctly called Fort Perrot. 3 Diagonally across from Lake City, so as to be about two miles farther up Lake Pepin and not far from the center of the Wisconsin shore of the lake, is to be found one of the most conspicuous and picturesque as well as traditionally interesting features of the lake. It is a bluff about 400 feet high, which extends into the lake as a bold headland where there is such a bend in the shore as to increase the effect and to make it appear from some points of view either as if it almost divided, or was at the end of, the lake. This bluff is also different from the other 1 John Gilmary Shea, Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi (Albany: Joel Munsell, 1861), p. 98. 3 Edward Duffield Neill, The History of Minnesota (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858), map opposite p. xlii. 3 Ibid., p. 145, and note: "See Jefferys' map, 1762" (opposite p. 300). The exact number, locations, dates, and respective names of the forts that the French built on the shores of, or adjacent to, Lake Pepin, have been the subjects of a great deal of discussion and have been variously stated, due to the impermanence of the forts and to the indefinite records concern- ing them. For example, compare with the statements by Neill those of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (nth ed., 1911), XVIII, 552, that, "in 1686, Nicholas Perrot, the commandant of the West, built Fort St. Antoine on the east bank of Lake Pepin, in what is now Pepin County, Wisconsin. .... In 1762, Sieur de la Perriere, acting as an agent of the French govern- ment, established on the west bank of Lake Pepin a fortified post (Fort Beauharnois), which was to be a headquarters for missionaries, a trading post and a starting-point for expeditions in search of the 'western sea.'" THE MAIDEN'S ROCK ON LAKE PEPIN, AS PICTURED IN 1825 LAKE CITY, MINNESOTA, IN 1867 PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 301 bluffs in that vicinity in that, after a rather steep, tree-decked ascent from the edge of the water, the last third of its height is a cliff or perpendicular face of rock. From its top there are to be had the best views to be obtained, in any one place, of the northerly and the southerly portions of the lake and of the Minnesota side of it. The scene is fully equal to that from the surface of the lake, if it is not an even more impressive one. The spectator does not stand on a pinnacle, but on the edge of an extensive, elevated, rolling tableland, practically level with the tops of the bluffs, and marked and crossmarked here and there with ravines. A person there sees before him, as it were, a large sunken lake, at the bottom of a sort of natural amphi- theater, the sides of which are green, brown, black, or white according to the season of the year. The channel of the Missis- sippi, which through the upper half of the lake is near the Minne- sota shore, crosses over close to this point, which has been a land- mark to steer by as long as boats have plied the lake, as it has been also one of the notable sights for the passengers on the boats. There is an interesting Indian legend connected with this cliff that caused the latter to be called the maiden's rock, from which the whole bluff or point came to be designated " Maiden's Rock," and finally "Maiden Rock." The legend, in brief, is that an Indian girl of the Dakotas, whose name was Winona, became strongly attached to a young hunter of the same tribe by the ties of mutual love and waited only for satisfactory arrangements to be made with her parents, before devotedly taking up, as his wife, the burdens of an Indian woman's married life. Instead, however, of her lover being able to purchase her, as was the custom, from her parents, they had him driven off into the forest, and they informed her that they had made a bargain that she should become the wife of a warrior who had won distinction in defending their village against the Chippe- was and wanted her, but for whom she had no affection. That all occurred at the village of Keoxa, where is now the city of Winona. The tribe was that of Wapasha. The time was 302 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES somewhere between 1750 and 1800. Then a band of the Indians, which included Winona and her parents and the war- rior, took their canoes and went up to Lake Pepin to get a supply of the blue clay which they could obtain there and were wont to use as a pigment. They also planned to do some hunting and fishing there. They stopped at this point, and encamped at the base of the bluff, where there was a good shelter from high winds, plenty of shade, and a bubbling spring of clear, cool water. In that delightful place, much like a lovers' retreat, the warrior urged anew to have Winona made his wife, and her parents told her that there could be no more delay, but that she must, on that very day, become the wife of the warrior. That she was determined she would not do. So, true to her young lover, the hunter, she ascended alone to the top of the cliff, sang or chanted a dirge, and threw herself over the precipice to her death. There are a number of different accounts of this "lover's leap," several of them being in poems entitled "Winona," each account, whether in prose or in poetry, varying from the others in some of its details, yet all alike emphasizing her faithfulness in her love. What is probably the oldest record of it, and the one which, directly or indirectly, most likely furnishes the basis of all the other stories about it, is that preserved by Keating, who gave it as a quotation from an Indian guide. Further- more, Keating said that the story was told to Major Long in 1817 by an aged Indian, who avowed that he was present, although he was at the time quite young, when the tragedy occurred, of which he spoke with considerable feeling. 1 But the scenic beauty of Lake Pepin is one thing, and its fitful temper is quite another. Fairly placid a large portion of 1 William H. Keating, Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River (London: G. B. Whittaker, 1825), I, 290-93. One of the four illustrations in the volume is, on account of its early date, of special interest, it being of "The Maiden's Rock on Lake Pepin," or "The Maiden's Rock on the Mississippi," and based on a sketch that was said to have been made in 1817. It is reproduced facing page 301. PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 303 the time, it is notoriously subject to being swept by sudden squalls, and it frequently becomes turbulent to a surprising degree, and often with astonishing quickness, as storms pass over it. The steamboats built for the navigation of the Upper Mississippi, being of the flat-bottomed type, adapted to places of shallow water and not for rough seas, were times without number tied up in some protected place when they reached the lake during a heavy storm; or under some circumstances they went through the lake without landing, which latter was what the boat did that father was on, with his family and household goods. The captain decided that, on account of the conditions due to a strong wind, it would be inadvisable to try to stop at Lake City. The passengers and freight for that place were kept on the boat and landed on the down trip. Father was offered the privilege of stopping at St. Paul, but he pre- ferred to go to Lake City, about sixty-four miles by water south of St. Paul. Nor is it certain that he would have gained any- thing by it if he had chosen to remain in St. Paul, for he was no speculator, and not a particularly shrewd investor. Lake City was quite an important " river town," as the designation was in those days, it being practically the only one on the lake, that is, between the towns at the head and the foot of the lake. It had been laid out only two years, but that may have been owing largely to the fact that after the Sioux Indians had been removed from that part of the state, a strip of land along that side of the lake and extending back for fifteen miles had been reserved for the half-breeds. The site on which Lake City was built was part of a large, sandy flat that was a number of feet above the surface of the lake, the range of bluffs being some distance back and having, through it, a ravine or opening that formed a natural passageway leading to a good farming country of prairie land, which required this shipping point and market. That there was a natural attractiveness in that site was shown by the fact that a part of it had once been occupied by the mound-builders. One of the early white settlers counted 304 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES about a hundred round mounds there, occupying, perhaps, a space of thirty acres. It was his assumption that those mounds were the remains of what had originally been turf houses, in a regularly laid-out town or city. He said that there was in the center of the place and of the widest street in it a mound much larger than the rest, where he thought very probably had been the headquarters the residence of the chief, or it might have been the town hall. Another large mound, just in the rear of the city of mounds, he believed to be what was left of a pottery, while certain elongated mounds were the remains of fortifica- tions, there being back of all a line of outposts with wings extending to the lake. 1 At least, the various mounds were there, arranged according to some plan. I was born in Lake City, Minnesota, on January 6, 1860. The name "Jesse" was given to me because that was my father's name, and the middle name "Leonard" on account of its having been the name of my grandfather Heim. Just how much farming my father did before he went to Minnesota, I do not remember ever to have heard. But there he got a farm that was about ten miles west or back of Lake City. On that we lived during the summer. In the fall we moved into town, where, through the winter, father worked at his trade of shoemaking moving out on to the farm again in the early spring. Father never idled. He was a man who wanted always to be doing something useful. Relative to the Civil War, the most that I can recall now is the influence which it had in determining the principal toys and play of boys. The most common and most desired toys then were representations of soldiers, swords, guns, and cannon, small drums, and bugles; while the play of boys was largely that of being soldiers and of some form of warfare. Then, in our family as in many another a "dandelion coffee" that was 1 Dr. L. C. Estes, "The Antiquities on the Bank of the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin, " Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smith- sonian Institution for the Year 1866 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), pp. 366-67. PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 305 made chiefly of the dried, roasted, and ground roots of dande- lions was used as a substitute for pure coffee; and our folks came to have such a preference for it, by reason of its mildness, that it was afterward used in our home as long as it could be purchased at the stores. More vivid and enduring than the impression that was made at any time on my young mind by the Civil War as a war was that of the Sioux Massacre, not directly, but indirectly, as the outbreak occurred in August, 1862, when I was less than two years old. It was practically suppressed within two months. But the widespread fear and horror which it induced in Minne- sota continued long, and there were expeditions against the Indians in 1863 and 1864. Minnesota had in earlier times been "the land of the Dakotas" or Sioux Indians, who in 1862 were for the most part living on a reservation in the interior of the state. The scene of the massacre was only a hundred miles or so west of Lake City, which was one of the places to which the panic-stricken refugees fled, on the way hiding by day in the tall prairie grass, bushes, or wherever they could. With the exception of a few friendly ones, the Indians showed no mercy, but brutally killed men, women, and children. It was esti- mated that probably not less than thirty thousand persons were involved, in one way or another, either in the loss of life or in the loss of property from pillage, destruction, or abandonment. Again, it has been stated that "more white people perished in that savage slaughter than in all the other massacres ever perpetrated on the North American continent. Add the num- ber of white victims of the Indian wars of New England during the colonial period to the list of those who perished in the Wyoming and Cherry valleys, and to the pioneers who were killed in the early white occupation of the Middle West and South, and the aggregate falls far short of the number of people in Minnesota who were slain by the Sioux in less than one week." 1 1 Minnesota in Three Centuries ([New York:] The Publishing Society of Minnesota, 1908), III, p. 269. 306 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Perhaps, however, the strongest and most lasting early impression that was made on my mind was made by the death of the father of one of my playmates in Lake City, which was caused by a slight cut received from a razor with which a barber had previously shaved a man who had a cancer. The portion of Lake City which I most distinctly recall to mind is not that where we lived, but "the point," a sandy extension into Lake Pepin. On the point, which inclosed a triangular-shaped pond, there were warehouses, icehouses, and, above all for me, " Brown's Hotel," a brownish, somewhat long, two-story frame building facing the water toward the south. What called for those structures there was the fact that the steamboats generally landed at the point, the boats making a specialty of carrying passengers usually landing on the south side of it, opposite to or near the hotel, although the side of the point on which boats landed was often determined by the direction and force of the wind at the time, for it paid to be cautious when there were high winds or storms on the lake. My special interest in the hotel was due to the fact that our family and the Browns were warm friends, so that we some- times visited there, or made it convenient to patronize the hotel. It was a typical hotel of early days; but one without a bar. It had on the first floor an office, a ladies' parlor, a dining-room, and a kitchen. On the floor above were the simply furnished rooms for guests. The lighting was done with kerosene lamps. For the heating as well as for the cooking wood stoves were employed. There was no running water in the house. Nor was there any bathroom. Consequently there was little or no plumbing of any kind. The water that was used was obtained from a well by the means of an ordinary pump. In the dining- room, there were a couple of long tables on which all of the food was placed, in quantity, in large dishes from which each person was expected to help himself to as much as he wished. The serving of individual portions was not thought of as a rule; nor PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 307 would it have suited the average traveler in those times as well as the home style followed. What was wanted, and what was furnished there, was an abundance of plain, substantial, well- cooked food, with something by way of relishes and desserts. Across the road back of the hotel, there was a commodious stable, which was necessary in order to care for the country trade, and for travelers overland. Indeed, Lake City was for many years more or less of a trading center for almost as large a section of Wisconsin as that primarily served in Minnesota, the people crossing over the lake on the ice in whiter, and by boats at other seasons. The earliest entertainment that I remember anything about was a concert at which Miss Brown, the daughter of the hotel- keeper, sang a piece that referred to the Indian massacre; and the first few lines of the piece constitute the bit of formal composition which I have the longest remembered. 1 When I was at Brown's Hotel for the last time, I heard Miss Brown tell a strange story of a peculiar attraction which she sometimes seemed to possess. It was an attraction of insane persons. She illustrated this by relating several instances in which persons got off the boats and went to the hotel, without anyone there knowing or suspecting them to be insane, until after she had but narrowly escaped from thrilling and dangerous encounters with them, which revealed them as madmen espe- cially attracted to her. 1 The lines referred to were: "Minnehaha, laughing water, Cease thy laughing now for aye, Savage hands are red with slaughter Of the innocent today." I cannot say whether the words of the song were the same throughout as the poem beginning with those lines quoted by Harriet E. Bishop McConkey in her Dakota War Whoop: or, Indian Massacres and War in Minnesota of 1862-63 (rev. ed., St. Paul, 1864), pp. 194-95. CHAPTER II VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 After the fall work was done in 1866, father and mother, taking me with them, went East for a winter's visit among their relatives and their early friends, going as far as Philadelphia, and into Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, but stopping on the way in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. It was too late in the season to go down the Mississippi by steamboat to a convenient railroad point. Consequently the first portion of the journey, a distance of about seventy miles, had to be made by stagecoach, namely, to La Crosse, Wisconsin, from which place there was then railroad transportation. The trip, taken all in all, was to me of some educational value and of considerable pleasure in various ways. Many of the customs of the people whom we met, especially in Pennsylvania, were different from those that I had been used to in the West, yet I found most or all of them agreeable. We had some minor accidents and troubles along the route, which father insisted were due to our having started on Sunday. His views with regard to that, being repeated from time to time, made such a strong impression on my mind, as with other considerations tended to make me ever averse to beginning any journey on Sunday, which for many persons seems for some reason to be a favorite time for it. But on the whole all had a very enjoyable winter, and one that was after- ward looked back upon with considerable satisfaction. Never- theless, father expressed relief when it was over, because, while he liked good living, he said that he had had altogether too much of it too much pastry, preserves, and such things, without enough exercise to offset them. Nor did he quite relish such long enforced idleness. 308 VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 309 Instead of our returning to Lake City, and to the farm back of it, to live, in the spring of 1867 father bought a new home for us, in the village of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, which is about nine or ten miles in a northerly direction from Lake City, or across and on the other shore of Lake Pepin, and about four miles up the lake from the point called Maiden Rock. The village was originally called Harrisburg, but its name was soon changed to Maiden Rock, on account of its nearness to and fine view of the bluff of that name. The village is situated at the mouth of a comparatively narrow ravine where that terminates at the lake, just below where the Rush River, a stream of about thirty-five miles in length, empties into the lake and the shore of the latter bends toward the Minnesota side in such a manner as to form a sort of cove or corner of the lake. Several per- manent settlers came there in 1855, and that fall the erection of a sawmill was commenced. During the following year a few more settlers arrived, and a shingle-mill was built in connection with the sawmill. A special post-office was established under an arrangement by which the postmaster was to have the receipts of the office and to pay for the carrying of the mail from and to the nearest regular post-office, the result being that he received eleven dollars for the first year and had fifty dollars to pay. The first regular religious services were held in a pri- vate house in the spring of 1856, by a Methodist mission- ary. The first school was taught by a young woman from Illinois, who had thirteen pupils. The village was platted in 1857-' Because of its accessibility, a small village was needed in just that place by the slowly-developing farming country back of it. But in early days it suffered the disadvantage of being enough off the shortest course for the boats, along the main channel of the Mississippi through the lake, so that they, having 1 History of Northern Wisconsin (Chicago: The Western Historical Co., 1881), pp. 714-15. 310 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES a monopoly of the transportation for that region, would not take the trouble to go out of their way to stop there, unless they had a great deal of freight to land or to get, as a rule leaving at Lake City the freight and the passengers for Maiden Rock. Nor was the site of the village a good one for much development. There was room in the mouth of the ravine for only a limited number of buildings, which was pretty well taken up by the first stores, shops, hotel, schoolhouse, and a few dwellings. Therefore the village remained small, and a great many people went through it, and some from it, to the larger market at Lake City, to sell their produce or to buy goods, when they thought that it would pay them to do so. In the village of Maiden Rock there were, when we went there in 1867, as I now remember it, something like fifty frame buildings, all told, of which about a dozen were used for business purposes and the remainder to house a population of from 125 to 150 persons, counting young and old. There were two or three general stores, in one of which was the post-office, a hardware store and tinshop in a stone building the second story of which was used as a public hall, a warehouse, two blacksmith- shops, a wagon-shop, a harness-shop, two carpenter shops, a hotel, a boarding-house, a schoolhouse that was used also for meetings, and two old mills. The two mills were no longer being operated, but they were afterward converted into one for the manufacture of staves and heading, in conjunction with which there was established a cooper-shop in which barrels were made to pack the heading in for shipment. The ravine ran approximately from east to west to the lake and terminated between two bluffs that were locally usually referred to as hills, the one extending north, and the other south. The hotel was located on the somewhat narrow and mostly stony lake shore, just at the foot of the south hill. A little farther south were the mills, and then the warehouse. The front end of the warehouse was something like 8 or 10 feet above the edge of the lake, VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 311 with a pier extending into the water, while the other end of the building almost touched the hill, which was there quite steep, the space between them being bridged over, near the top of the warehouse, in such a manner that a car or hopper could be run out to receive the grain from the farmers' wagons or sleds on a road on the hillside, thus doing away with an^ need of an elevator for the grain. Afterward a second warehouse was built, on the same plan, between the first one and the mill. Farther south there was a limekiln, near "Rattlesnake Hollow," and over a mile distant, on a creek, there was a gristmill. I have gone thus into detail, in this enumeration, because almost every one of those places entered more or less, in one way or another, into, and formed a part of, my life. As boys are generally wont to do, I watched the work in each and all, and participated in some portions of most of it. Especially did the wagon-shop, the blacksmith-shops, and the tinshop attract me, the wagon-maker in particular sometimes letting me use some of his tools and a workbench. But there was one other shop, which was opened just after our arrival, that meant even more to me than did all of the others. It was my father's shoeshop. I presume that one reason why father went to Maiden Rock was because there had never been a shoemaker there and one was needed. For years father had his shop in a room over one of the general stores that were located at the intersection of the two streets or rather roads in the village, the one running down through the center of the ravine, and the other at right angles across its lower end and going up about one-third of the way on to the side facing the lake of the north and south hills, along both of which it ran, to the north, and to the south. I naturally spent a great deal of time in father's shop and learned from obser- vation considerable about shoemaking, yet without any thought of ever learning the trade and, perhaps because I was too young for it, without ever being asked to do any more than to stay in 312 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES the shop to wait on customers, so far as I could do it, when father had to be away. Still, I liked to watch the work, to use the tools, and to make and to use waxed ends. I even made one or two tiny boots of an inch or two in size; but I never did any real shoemaking. This shows some of my boyish interests, but it has a greater value, I hope, in illustrating some of the advantages which a small village, such as Maiden Rock was, has for the devel- opment of a boy intellectually and mechanically, while its benefits for him physically are no less apparent, for there he has plenty of pure air to breathe and an abundance of room in which to play, as well as being compelled there generally to lead a simple life close to nature. As indicated, he has there not only an exceptional opportunity to learn much by seeing how the different things making up the round of ordinary life are done, but he has also a good chance to increase his knowledge and manual ability by trying to do some of them, where men are not always too busy to be bothered with him. In fact, he soon knows every person in the village, and something about everyone's business, and how it is conducted. In addition, he has his chores to do at home, which aid in building him up physically and in training him mentally. His very deprivations tend to teach him how to get along without many things, as well as how to make or to repair others, which develops in him initiative, resourcefulness, and skill, while he finds an incentive to work and to study to improve his future prospects. Further- more, everybody that he knows in the village knows him just as well, and what he does, which has a very wholesome restraining influence on him, and spurs him on not a little toward doing what is right. At least, so it seems to me, as I think over these things, although many of the conditions of village life are different now from what they were when I was a boy, which furnishes perhaps the greatest reason for recording what they were then. VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 313 Some of the dwelling-houses of the village had been built along the line of the road on the side of the two hills facing the lake, several of them on the north hill, but more of them on the south hill. The lake shore was not desirable for residence pur- poses; the lower part of the hills was too steep for it; and no one wanted to go above where the road went along the hill- side. Our house was on the south hill, back of the road, a few hundred feet south of what was the "top of the hill" so far as the road was concerned, and almost directly above the old mills that stood on the lake shore. The house, the outside of which was covered, as were the most of the frame houses, with drop or lapped siding, was painted white, was two stories in height, and consisted of a main part and a wing. It was built into the side of the hill in such a way that the rear of the second story was on a level with the ground and could be reached by a rather steep path around the house. In front of the house there was a narrow yard, separated from the road by a picket fence. A good cellar was an important part of every house. It was needed in the summer as a place in which to keep cool articles of food, ice and ice boxes not being in common use. In the winter it was required even more for keeping things from freezing, especially overnight, and for the storage of potatoes and other vegetables for use through the winter and the spring. It was also generally the place where the milk was kept, when nearly every family had its cow and made its own butter. The cellar was usually under the house, but ours was on a level with the first floor of the house, like a large, dark, back room, with the rear wall and the rear half of the side walls and of the floor covered with cement, which form of construction was made possible by the house being built into the side of the hill. On the south hill there was but one well. Everybody was permitted to use it, and in the summer time I occasionally went there for a pail of fresh drinking-water, although I more fre- quently got that when it was wanted from one or the other of 314 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES two springs that were down on the lake shore. But our main dependence for water for all household purposes was on a cistern into which rain water was collected by wooden troughs under the eaves of the house. Our cistern was on the back side of our house. It had an opening at the top that was a few feet only from the door into the second story of the house, while a pipe ran from near its bottom into the cellar, terminating in a faucet. Near the end of the winter father sometimes got from the lake several loads of ice and put them into the cistern, which kept the water cool for quite a while. When we had horses, they had to be watered at the lake. The cow was left to go there herself. Back of our house, on the hillside, father had four or five lots, and he made on them by far the best garden in the village, although the prior outlook was not very encouraging for it. Moreover, he did most of his work in the garden in the morning and in the evening. To begin with, he built terraces, some of which, with what he planted on them, remain to the present time. On some of them he planted several choice varieties of grapes, which did particularly well. On others he planted both red and black raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants, and several beds of strawberries. He also set out some apple, crab- apple, and plum trees. He had a bed or two of pieplant or rhubarb. Besides, he generally raised some sweet corn, pota- toes, cabbages, tomatoes, string beans, peas, onions, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, parsnips, squash, pumpkins, and a few melons. As the cabbages and the tomatoes required a lengthened season, plants were first raised in boxes or beds covered with glass, and then the plants were set out; or some of them were sold. Car- rots were looked upon as feed for cattle only. Father also kept in his garden a dozen or so hives of bees. If I was not taught shoemaking, I was taught to do chores and to work in the garden; to help spade up the ground in the spring, because it could not well be plowed, to help plant what- VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 315 ever was to be planted, and after that to hoe or cultivate, pull up weeds, and particularly to help gather the berries and the vegetables. It was also made one of my duties to watch the bees during their swarming- times, and, if father was away, to hive the new swarms. The interior of the average dwelling-house was lathed and plastered, and the walls were from time to time whitewashed. The woodwork was either painted white or grained. The win- dow shades were of a strong green paper, fastened up at the top, and rolled up from the bottom to the desired height, where they were held by the tying together of cords that came down in front and behind. What were desired in the way of rooms were a kitchen, a pantry, a sitting-room or parlor, enough bed- rooms for the family and any hired help, and a spare room for guests, with sufficient closets in which to keep the clothing. The sitting-room corresponded very nearly in the uses made of it to what is now frequently called the living-room. It was the common gathering-place of the family, as well as that where visitors were entertained. Either it or the kitchen had to serve also as the dining-room, which sometimes the one did, and sometimes the other, depending on circumstances. The chairs in the sitting-room and in the kitchen were usually of the same kind, much like what are now termed kitchen chairs, with hard- wood bottoms, although in some instances there were chairs with cane seats for the sitting-room. It also almost always had a couple of rocking-chairs containing cushions with bright tops made of pieces of cloth or of braided rags sewed together. The ordinary family table was a rectangular one consisting of a central board supported by four legs and having two side leaves hinged to it so that they could be let down out of the way when not needed. The floor of the sitting-room was covered with a rag carpet. For this rags, torn into strips about an inch wide, were sewed end to end and wound in balls to the size of about 6 inches in diameter. Sometimes the rags were left in 316 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES their original colors, or after being sewed were dyed, either at home or by the person to whom they were sent to be woven into carpeting. A thick layer of straw was usually put under the carpet. Small rugs were made by braiding strips of rags and sewing the braids together. The pictures hung on the walls of the sitting-room were usually crude photographic, wrongly called crayon, enlargements of family portraits; steel engrav- ings, as for example of Lincoln or of Washington; wood engrav- ings, as of a bit of scenery; and chromolithographs, or chromos, in bright colors; all of them framed plainly. Then, too, there were framed mottoes, worked with colored yarns on perforated cardboard. One of the most common of these was " God Bless Our Home," which was reverently hung up as a sort of perpetual prayer by persons who believed both in the sanctity of the home and in its daily dependence on the blessing of the Almighty. The certificate of marriage, sometimes with the photographs of the husband and the wife inserted in places in it for that purpose and occasionally with the photograph of the minister who performed the ceremony added, was also frequently framed and hung on the wall. The engravings and the chromos were generally obtained as premiums for subscriptions to periodicals. In the sitting-room, too, there almost invariably stood, on a small shelf especially provided for it, a clock in an upright wooden case with a glass door through which were to be seen the dial and a pendulum, the latter monotonously swinging back and forth, measuring off the passage of time, the hours of which were loudly sounded on a gong or bell. The winding of the clock, which was done with a detachable key, was usually one of the self-imposed and reserved duties of the head of the household, marking Saturday night. There might also be in the sitting-room a combined book- case and writing-desk made of black walnut or other wood, with drawers below the desk, and with the bookcase of three or four shelves above it. Less frequently there might be an organ in VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 317 the room. If the home contained a piano, the room in which it was kept was pretty certain to be called a parlor, which indi- cated a little more of aristocracy in the family and somewhat less of freedom in the use of the room, for instance preventing its use as a dining-room. A parlor, or even a sitting-room, might further have in one corner of it a triangular whatnot of several shelves to hold bric-a-brac, while a sitting-room was more apt than a parlor to have a wall-pocket to hold the current newspapers. Very often the parlor was kept closed, with the window curtains drawn down, except when there were visitors. Some of the bedrooms were carpeted, Often with carpets that first did service in the sitting-room. A bedroom might contain, besides the bed and a chair or two, a looking-glass, one or two pictures, a bureau, a washstand with washbowl and pitcher, and, if it did not have a closet for clothes, a row of nails on which to hang them. The bedstead was ordinarily a plain wooden one with wooden slats about 3 inches wide and 3 inches apart extending from one side of it to the other, or with a small rope passed back and forth and drawn tight, to support the bedding. On slats or rope was laid the bedtick filled with straw or with soft inner corn husks. In the winter, a feather bed, or tick filled with feathers, might be placed on top of the other tick, and woolen blankets substituted for the sheets. A bolster long enough to reach across the bed, and of about the same width as the pillows, was filled with the same material as the bedtick and placed under the pillows. Sometimes pillow shams, or embroidered covers, were laid over the pillows during the day. The sheets, pillowcases, and quilts were all homemade. A quilt was made by stretching out smooth a piece of cloth of the desired size, the edges of which were attached to the inside of a frame made of four strips of lumber about 8 feet long that were clamped together where they crossed near their ends, which were placed on the tops of the backs of four standing 3l8 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES chairs, so that persons could sit in other chairs while working on the quilt. On that first cloth cotton batting was spread out, and over that whatever was to be the upper side of the quilt, which was usually made of pieces of variously colored calico or other cloth arranged according to some simple pattern and sewed together. If the pieces were of various sizes and colors arranged in a haphazard style, the final product was called a "crazy quilt." The edges of the two sides of cloth had to be sewed together, and the quilt tied throughout to keep the filling in place, which was done by taking separate stitches at regular intervals of some inches and tying the yarn used in the operation. This was the work of the quilting bees, to which neighboring women were invited to enjoy themselves socially for an afternoon and at the same time to help one of their number. As the work progressed, two opposite sides of the quilting frame were turned over and over, thus folding up the finished portions of the quilt and giving easy access to the center. The shelves of the closets and of the pantry were often covered with old newspapers or with old wrapping-paper, the outer edge of the paper used in the pantry being bent down 2 or 3 inches over the edge of the shelf and more or less elaborately scalloped and notched. There was little fine china, glassware, or silverware. The dishes were of the common kind, while some of them were decorated in blue. The knives and forks were of steel, with handles of bone. The forks had but two tines. The spoons, large and small, were of iron, pewter, or sometimes German silver. About the only individual dishes used, besides plates, cups, and saucers, were sauce dishes for berries, stewed fruits, and some other desserts. With two-tined forks, knives were much used to convey food to the mouth. Water was not ordinarily served at meals. Tea or coffee was, more often than not, drunk from the saucer, especially by the men. VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 319 A pail of water, with a tin dipper, was kept in the kitchen or in the pantry. In the kitchen there would be, too, a bench, with a tin wash basin and a piece of hard soap or a dish of homemade soft soap on the bench, and a towel hanging near it, all for common use. Stoves made to burn wood only were used exclusively; in the kitchen, a cookstove; in the sitting-room, a heating-stove; and perhaps a smaller heating-stove in one of the bedrooms. The heating-stoves were taken down in the spring and set up again in the fall. Such bedrooms as had doors opening into the sitting-room or the kitchen were warmed in the winter by opening the doors, and, when in the second story, sometimes from the stovepipe from downstairs going through them. Other bedrooms, generally occupied by healthy young persons, would frequently get very cold, so that the breath would condense and freeze on the top covers. Sometimes hot flatirons would be put into the beds to warm the feet. The lighting was done entirely with kerosene lamps, except for some slight use of candles. To keep not only the lamps filled with oil, but the chimneys clean, and the wicks properly trimmed, was somewhat of a daily test of the good housewife. The lamp which gave the best light and was preferred for the sitting-room was known as the student lamp with an Argand burner. As for the candles, the farmers all had molds with which they made the candles they needed, while other people usually bought their candles at the stores. Occasionally a per- forated tin lantern which held a candle for light was to be seen. Sometimes a family had a hired girl, but no servant, for the latter designation was never used. She might be the daughter of a relative or of a respectable farmer a girl or young woman not particularly needed at home, who wanted to earn something for herself and to provide her own clothing. She became as a member of the family for which she worked, ate with them at the table, went with them on some occasions, and if deserving 320 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES of it had really as good social standing as they had, and often married as well as any young woman in the community could marry, making as good a wife as anyone. Women did not try to follow the fashions very closely in their dress, which they either made for themselves or had a dressmaker make, though when new garments were made they wanted them to be in somewhat near the prevailing style as they got their ideas of the latter from their magazines, what they saw others wearing, and what the dressmakers told them. But garments were seldom discarded until they were worn out, although they might be remodeled or made over once or twice in the meantime, and after that they went into the rag bag. Calico was the staple material for everyday use. Ginghams and dress goods of some such texture were also much used. The best dress was sometimes one made of alpaca. Dresses made of silk or satin were rarities. Of styles, my earliest recollection is of that of the hoopskirt, which, however, I never saw expanded to such an extreme as some pictures indicate that it was in certain cities. At a later date came the bustle or extension of the skirt by a pad or form worn on the back below the waist. But all of the dresses were long. Then one woman in the village, followed by one or two others, came out in bloomers, or with a dress reaching somewhat below the knees and with long, loose trousers of the same material as the dress. That created a great and lasting sensation accompanied with some derision, which the wearers disregarded if not really wel- comed. Elderly women greatly emphasized their age by their dress. Nightcaps constituted another feature of the times. In the winter, women quite generally wore either warm hoods or woolen nubias, instead of hats. Men, with few exceptions, dressed mainly according to convenience and for comfort. A man generally had two suits of clothes, one for Sunday and special occasions, and the other for everyday wear. Sometimes he wore a linen suit in hot VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 321 weather, or overalls as trousers in which to work. He usually had a felt hat which did duty until it was worn out, being super- seded in the summer by a straw hat that cost not far from twenty-five cents, and in the winter by a warm cloth or fur cap made with flaps or coverings for the ears. In the summer men either dispensed with socks or wore cotton ones which they bought. In the winter they wore home-knit woolen stockings, and underwear made at home as two separate garments, from gray or red flannel. Their shirts, usually colored and of cotton, were also homemade. Their white shirts for Sundays and special occasions had closed, stiff bosoms, and opened and buttoned in the back. Other shirts opened in front, but none clear through to the bottom, so that all shirts had to be put on and taken off by being drawn over the head. Sometimes a stiff, white false shirt-front or bosom called a dickey was worn over a colored shirt. Along with either a white shirt or a dickey, stiff white detachable cuffs made of paper, rubber, cotton, or linen cloth were worn. Workingmen did not wear collars, except when they wanted to dress up, and then they commonly wore paper ones, bought by the box. Men bought, at one of the general stores, their suits or separate outer garments ready made. They looked at the probable wearing qualities of the goods more than at the style, while not much was exacted with regard to how the clothes fitted. There were never any alterations made in them by the sellers. No pressing was done; all creases and rumples were left. For many years after the Civil War blue army over- coats were much to be seen in the winter, being worn not only by former soldiers but by many other men. Overcoats made of buffalo skins tanned with the hair on them were also very common, and quite cheap; as likewise were buffalo robes. More scarce and expensive were overcoats made of raccoon skins. Mittens were used more than gloves. Those bought were most often made of buckskin, calfskin, furs, or with 322 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES buckskin or calfskin palms and fur backs and wrists, while there were homemade ones of heavy cloth or knit of woolen yarn, which were sometimes worn inside of the others, or were sometimes faced with buckskin, calfskin, or some other leather. On their feet, almost all men wore boots, and not shoes, particularly in the winter. The upper leather in the best boots was called, from the method by which it was tanned, French calfskin; then came American calfskin, French kip, American kip, cowhide, and split leather made from cowhide. The kip was made from the skins of young animals older than calves, and it was heavier than calfskin, but lighter and more pliable than cowhide. The boots had tops about 12 inches high, without any lacing. They were drawn on to the feet by pulling with the fingers inserted in looped straps on the sides of the tops, at their tops. That was quite an ordeal if the boots were too small, or were badly shrunken by snow water, and the operation might be aided by standing up and kicking against some firm object. Only a little less difficult at times was pulling off the boots at night, as an aid to doing which a bootjack was almost indispensable. A homemade one consisted of a piece of board about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide, with a V- or a U-shaped notch at one end and a crosspiece about i inch thick just back of it, to be placed on the floor, so that a person stand- ing with one foot on the bootjack back of the crosspiece could catch the heel of the boot on the other foot in the notch and thus pull the boot off, the task being made easier, when neces- sary, by holding down the toe of the boot with one hand. The uppermost 2 to 4 or 5 inches of the front half of the tops of the boots were frequently covered with, or composed of, red, blue, green, or other colored sheepskin, occasionally fancifully shaped and sewed, with sometimes a narrow band of the colored leather behind. That gave a touch of style when the legs of the boots were drawn over the lower ends of the legs of the trousers, as was frequently done when a man had to walk through deep snow VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 323 or mud, while occasionally a dandy affected fancy boot-tops as a part of his dress. The price of boots made to measure, by hand, with the bottoms pegged, ranged from about four to eight dollars a pair, according to the leather used in them. With the bottoms sewed on by hand, the boots cost more. Boots made in factories and sold in stores were a little cheaper. Shoes for women were usually purchased at the stores, and were designed more for service than for looks, being almost hidden by the skirts. Small, high heels were viewed askance and frowned upon, although there were those who wanted them. Shoes for girls and boots for boys were also bought at the general stores, and were quite commonly made of split leather and with copper toes, narrow curved bands of copper at the toes to protect them from being kicked or stubbed through. The boys went barefooted the most of the time in the summer, and the small girls did a great deal of the time. In the winter the boys' boots gave much trouble by becoming water-soaked, hard, and shrunken, requiring frequent greasing or oiling to make them at all comfortable. Overshoes were seldom worn, except arctics sometimes for warmth. The clothing for boys and for girls, with the exception of hats, boots, and shoes, was almost all made at home. The styles for both were simple. A very young boy was dressed much the same as a girl, with a short dress. Next, he was given short trousers, universally called "pants," which were buttoned on to a waist made of calico, gingham, or some other cloth. For use when needed, he also had a jacket. Long after he thought that he ought to have them, he got "long pants," which he considered made a man of him, particularly when he got sus- penders, a shirt, and a vest also. As she grew up, a girl was just as anxious to get into a long dress, to make a woman of her, as the boy was to get his long trousers. Some of the boy's handkerchiefs were made of calico, while his father might be using a red or a blue cotton bandanna. Like 324 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES his father, the boy had a cheap straw hat for the summer, and a cap with protection for the ears for the winter. He wore underclothes in the winter only. They were made of flannel, at first combined like union suits. His mittens were usually either made of cloth or knitted at home, and were connected by a cord worn over the shoulders. He might also have a pair of home-knit wristlets. He was pretty certain to have a bright- colored woolen scarf that was either knitted at home or pur- chased at the store. When he was taken anywhere in the winter, say in a sleigh, he was bundled up in a robe, blanket, or bed quilt, or sometimes he wore one of his father's coats as an overcoat, for he did not have an overcoat of his own. When a boy was small and was dressed by someone else, he was put into a nightgown or a pajama-like single garment, in which to sleep at night. But when the average boy got large enough to dress himself and to wear a shirt instead of a waist, he discarded the nightdress and in the summer slept either in the shirt that he wore during the day or in one like it, while in the winter he slept in his underwear. In the summer, he did his bathing mostly by going in swimming, often signifying his intention in that direction, and giving an invitation to other boys at a distance to join him, by holding up one hand with the first two fingers extended V-like. In the winter, he sometimes, but not always, took a bath on Saturday night, in a washtub, in water that was warmed with water heated for the purpose in a kettle on the kitchen stove. Life for all ages and classes was in many ways simpler in those days, and particularly in a Western or Middle- Western village, than it is now. There was little of hurry and nervous strain in it. Electricity was scarcely used for anything but telegraphing. The telephone was unknown. Wireless teleg- raphy was a third of a century from being realized. There were no bicycles, no automobiles, and no aeroplanes. A small village could not support a theater, and moving-picture shows VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 325 were undreamed of. Daily newspapers from the large cities were taken by but few of the people, and were of few pages. One mail a day, excluding Sundays, was considered a plenty, while small places inland might receive mail but once a week, or twice a week at the most, and there was no delivery away from the post-office no rural free delivery. Still, it is doubtful if the individual got much less satisfaction out of life by reason of these deprivations and most others incident to those times, while he may have obtained more real enjoyment from living at the slower pace and closer to nature, for much of happiness depends on health and contentment. Even better were those conditions for the children. Their nerves were spared much, and their minds were left to normal gradual development. There were few class distinctions between children, although there were, of course, natural attractions and special friendships between certain ones of them. All practically got all of the play needed for their well-being. Some perhaps were given more work to do at home than others, yet all were expected to do some work, and none was seriously overworked or deprived of attending school a fair amount of time. The games and plays of the small boys were largely the same as those that interested generations of little fellows before them and are still doing service. They usually began in the spring with the playing of marbles and the spinning of tops. The boys generally made their own tops out of old spools from which the thread had been used. They did it by driving a tight-fitting wooden peg through the hole in the spool and whittling down the lower part of the spool and of the peg so as to make a tapering point. Then came the playing of ball, most often what was called one old cat, or two old cat, according to the number of the batters. The homemade ball consisted of yarn raveled out of old stockings, wound into a ball of the desired size, and covered with cloth or with leather cut from an old boot-top. The boys also played blindman's buff, 326 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES hide and seek, leapfrog, pussy wants a corner, and tag. At other times they flew homemade kites, rolled barrel hoops, or teetered. Two boys seated on the ground would also sometimes play mumblety-peg, a game wherein the loser, in a contest of skill in throwing in various ways an open or a partially open jackknif e so that its blade would stick in the ground, had to pull out with his teeth a wooden peg driven well into the soil by the winner. As they got a little older, the boys took more to a simple form of baseball, playing duck on a rock, fox and geese, shinny, snapping the whip, jumping, pitching of horseshoes, playing of prisoner's base, racing, tipcat, tugs of war, wrestling, and other games and feats of skill and strength. These they kept up as long as they went to school, and to some extent afterward when several of them chanced to be together, espe- cially on a holiday, although after they once got to working regularly they did not care much for such diversions. Then, in the summer, came croquet, occasional hunting or fishing, boating, and swimming; in the winter, skating, sleighing, going to parties, and often dancing. The younger girls engaged in some of the same games as the boys. Among their own specialties were jumping the rope and swinging. They also liked to play such games as drop the handkerchief, ring around the rosy, spatting out, "button, button, who's got the button?" and forfeits. For the fireside, during the long evenings of winter, there were such games and pastimes for the boys and the girls as authors, checkers, dominoes, fox and geese on the checker- board, lotto, jackstraws, bean porridge hot, cat's cradle, guessing at charades, conundrums, enigmas, and riddles, and working at puzzles and rebuses, a constant supply of these mental exercises being furnished by special departments in almost all periodicals for, or seeking to interest boys and girls. Except for the work that the men must do, the lives of the married men and women were lived largely in as well as for VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 327 their families. Some of the men, and most of the women, spent nearly all of their evenings at home; the men, in reading their newspapers or perhaps in work of some kind; and the women, in work or sometimes in reading. In our home, for example, we had a religious weekly, two or three local newspapers (although none was published in our village), and a woman's magazine, while for some years I had a small monthly that was published for boys and girls. A new book was also occasionally purchased. To get the dates of the days of the month, the changes in the phases of the moon, the hours of sunrise and of sunset, and sometimes even forecasts as to what the weather would likely be at a future time, recourse was had to one of the small green, yellow, or other colored, paper-covered annual almanacs which were distributed free, through the stores, by patent-medicine concerns to advertise their nostrums. But for predictions as to the weather, men usually studied the signs and decided for themselves. The men who wanted some place to go in the evening generally found it at the stores, which were kept open until nine o'clock or later. The social life of the married women consisted largely in the informal visiting back and forth between themselves of those of congenial natures and interests, in going to religious meetings, in getting up and attending church festivals and sociables, in going to the occasional school entertainments and to the debates when there was a debating society, and in entertaining friends and relatives, as well as sometimes ministers coming as guests. Many women also found some diversion by joining the local temperance society and helping on that cause when it was being pushed; and again for a short while they got some social enjoy- ment out of a farmers' grange, when that movement was at its height. From time to time, too, they found occupation for their sympathies and their hands in assisting such of their neighbors as were unfortunate enough to have sickness in the family, for there were no regular nurses, and even physicians 328 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES could not always be obtained without going to some larger place for them. A box of medicines or a supply of family and emergency remedies was practically a household necessity that was well looked after and used by careful housewives. In religious organization and the maintenance of religious services, Maiden Rock was weak, yet still typical even in that. The underlying trouble was that its religious element was divided among too many denominations, having representatives of seven or eight of them and not enough members of any one to build a church or to support a minister. This was partly overcome by the members of several of the sects joining in what were practically union services, although the most of the preach- ing was supplied by Methodist ministers. The Methodists were not only the first to conduct religious services in the village, but they had the advantage of their system whereby a minister was assigned annually to a circuit of several small places at which to preach. That gave Maiden Rock regular preaching at least on every other Sunday morning. Besides, the minister resided there and was at home a good portion of the time through the week. On some of the vacant Sundays, ministers of other denominations, from Lake City or elsewhere, were secured to preach. A union or undenominational Sunday school was also maintained most of the time. For upward of seventeen years, or until about 1877, the services on Sunday were held in the schoolhouse. When there were prayer meetings on evenings during the week they were often held in private houses. Whenever there was a funeral, the schoolhouse bell was tolled, and almost everybody, including farmers who lived miles out, went to the funeral. Near the close of one winter, a Baptist evangelist visited Maiden Rock and held revival serv- ices, which resulted in several requests for baptism. The baptisms were administered in the lake, in a hole something like 8 by 10 feet in size that was cut through the thick ice at such a distance from the shore as to afford the desired depth of VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 329 water. It was a somewhat cold, windy day, yet a considerable number of people stood out on the ice to witness the ceremony, which passed off as happily as if it had been in midsummer. Family worship was regularly conducted in the morning and in the evening, and the divine blessing was asked on every meal, in pronounced Christian homes, as a part of duty and privilege for the daily renewal and proper maintenance of the spiritual life. My father followed the custom with a beautiful simplicity and devotion impressive to witness. For some years he also did more or less preaching, without financial compensation, going on Saturday and returning home on Monday, one of the places to which he went being in the heavy woods about fifteen miles back of Maiden Rock, and another one being nearly twenty miles distant, over on the prairie in Minnesota. He prepared his sermons through the week, while he worked at his trade, keeping near him a folded sheet of paper on which he wrote down in pencil his thoughts as he developed them. The social side of church life found expression, in the winter, in sociables, suppers, and a donation party; and, in the summer, in strawberry and ice cream festivals. All of them almost always had two objects: the furnishing of social pleasure, and the raising of a little money for the minister, or for some other purpose. The refreshments served were provided by the women most interested, usually as the result of considerable labor and some expense. What were called "pound socials" differed from the others mainly in that each person attending them was required to bring at least a pound of something for the minister. The donation parties were either to help complete the payment of a promised salary, or to augment one otherwise admittedly too small, as where the original promise was of a salary of a certain sum and a donation. Many were the common sayings of the people. Some of them were old proverbs, but that only went to show a certain continuity of thought and purpose running through many 330 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES generations of people in various parts of the world. All maxims in general use revealed to some extent the inner char- acter and thought of these modern users, as some selections will show: It takes all kinds of people to make a world. The world was not made in a day. Haste makes waste. Look out for Number One. Strike while the iron is hot. Look before you leap. He who dances must pay the fiddler. Take things by the smooth handle. Be just before you are generous. As a man makes his bed so must he lie. Many a man has become rich by attending to his own business. Everybody's business is nobody's business. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Don't blow your own horn. Actions speak louder than words. Little pitchers have big ears. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Handsome is that hand- some does. There are none so blind as those who won't see. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A stitch in time saves nine. Many a mickle makes a muckle. Enough is as good as a feast. There is no use crying over spilt milk. What cannot be cured must be endured. There is no great loss without some small gain. Evil to him who evil thinks. A friend in need is a friend indeed. He who would have friends must show himself friendly. One good turn deserves another. A man's work is from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done. He laughs best who laughs last. Every tub must stand on its own bottom. Experience teaches a dear school. The least said, soonest mended. Let bygones be bygones. Other common sayings, equally expressive of the general view and philosophy of life of the people, were originally based on observations of natural phenomena, animals, birds, fish, and even worms. Examples of those most frequently used were: Time and tide wait for no man. It is darkest just before the dawn. Every rose has its thorn. Every cloud has a silver lining. It is a long lane that has no turning. Red at night, the sailor's delight; red in the morning, the sailor's warning. VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 331 It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. April showers bring May flowers. More rain, more rest. The lightning never strikes twice in the same place. Great oaks from little acorns grow. Distance lends enchantment to the view. Blessings brighten as they take their flight. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Birds of a feather flock together. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. One swallow does not make a summer. What goes up must come down. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. All lay burdens on a willing horse. If wishes were horses beggars might ride. A cat may look at a king. When the cat is away the mice will play. The early bird catches the worm. Old birds are not caught with chaff. First catch your hare, and then cook it. Barking dogs seldom bite. Men don't hunt ducks with a brass band. The empty vessel makes the most noise. Still waters run deep. Let sleep- ing dogs lie. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Never buy a pig in a poke. He is as independent as a pig on ice. How we apples swim! Every dog has his day. You can- not teach an old dog new tricks. The tail wags the dog. The tail goes with the hide. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Molasses catches more flies than vinegar. There are still as good fish in the sea as any that ever were caught. Dead fish float with the stream. You cannot tell from the looks of a toad how far it can jump. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. You cannot get blood out of a turnip. Chickens come home to roost. Even a worm will turn if trod upon. Fish or cut bait. Make hay while the sun shines. There was little or nothing of stern Puritanism in Maiden Rock, and none of the roughness and vice that flourished in some places along the Mississippi River. Perhaps it was a moral gain for the village, if it was of some commercial dis- advantage to it, that it was enough out of the way for the steamboats so that they did not make it a regular stopping- place. Nevertheless, for years it depended entirely on them 332 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES to come to get its shipments of grain and to bring supplies of merchandise to it or to Lake City for it. The steamboats that plied the Upper Mississippi, or ran between St. Louis and St. Paul, had to be somewhat smaller than could be run below St. Louis, on account of the differences in the depth of the river, especially in times of low water. The boats for the upper division of the river varied in length as from 150 feet, more or less, to the extreme of 240 or 250 feet, and in breadth from 24 to 40 or 50 feet, with holds of about 5 feet in depth. They were all of one or the other of two types or classes. The larger ones, with side wheels up to 30 feet in diameter and quite commonly called packets, were primarily carriers of pas- sengers, although all of them also carried some freight and some of them carried mail, which last fact was indicated by certain bands painted on the smokestacks. The other boats had stern wheels and gave more prominence to the freight business and to towing, yet they carried some passengers too. The packets were particularly showy, being built out wide, with considerable height or space for stowing freight between the main deck and the saloon or cabin deck, while above the cabin, on the hurricane deck, was the texas, containing the officers' quarters, and above that the pilot-house. In the finishing off and furnishing of the main cabin, there was also often much to attract the eye, some- times paintings being a special feature, with the bluff of Maiden Rock as one of the favorite subjects. The average life of the boats was said to be five years, but when their business was at its best they made money for their owners at that, not- withstanding the shortness of the season. The capacity of the staterooms did not at all limit the number of passengers that a boat carried, but, back in the fifties, more people than it would seem possible were often crowded into the cabin, while others were glad to find places on the lower deck. From our house on the side of the hill facing the lake, we had a fine view of the upper half of the lake, with the bluffs on VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 333 both sides of it, including Maiden Rock point; but the scene was always improved when it contained a steamboat with a long trail of smoke behind it, as well as a goodly wake following it. The smoke sometimes had a soft-coal color and smell, although cord wood was the usual fuel, a boat consuming about twenty-five cords a day. Nor was it a rare thing to see two or three boats at once, going either in the same direction or in different directions, while one of them might be a side-wheeler and another a stern-wheeler, the latter possibly towing down the lake a great raft of logs or of lumber. In the earlier days, the rafts, most of which came from the St. Croix River, were floated by the current down the Mississippi to the head of Lake Pepin, whence they were towed through the lake, and from there were left to float the remainder of the way to their points of destination on the river, being steered and helped along by raftsmen who camped on them throughout the journey. Sub- sequently the rafts were generally towed all of the way by stern-wheel towboats. The first boat of the season was a particularly welcome sight, even if it did go through without stopping at Maiden Rock. Navigation usually opened sometime between the middle of March and the latter part of April, and closed along in November, lasting from 200 to 240 days. The river above and below Lake Pepin was generally free from ice two weeks before the lake was, and, before the railroads extended to St. Paul, when there was an urgent demand to get the first freight through as soon as possible, it was transported by boat up to near the foot of the lake, unloaded there, hauled by team along the Minnesota side to the head of the lake, and loaded on to another boat to be taken to destination. 1 1 George Byron Merrick, Old Times on the Upper Mississippi (Cleve- land: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1909), pp. 234 ff. Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi deals mainly with the lower river, but it has a short chapter "On the Upper River," and one on "Legends and Scenery" which refers to "that grandest conception of nature's works, incomparable Lake Pepin," and to "the sublime Maiden's Rock." 334 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES To see a steamboat on the lake at night, with its rows of bright, moving lights set off against a broad background of darkness, was always interesting, but the sight became more attractive when the lights gradually increased in brilliancy by the coming nearer of the boat, for the purpose of landing. The climax was reached when finally a large swinging iron torch was set up at the bow and fed liberally with pieces of pitch pine and with rosin, which lighted up strongly the front of the boat and quite a space on the shore. In later times an electric searchlight took the place of the torch and became also of great service to the pilots in locating landmarks and in running through perilous places at night. When grain was to be shipped away, the warehousemen would arrange to have sacks left for the purpose, which would be done by one of the boats, the sacks apparently being furnished by the steamboat company, some of them having stenciled on them " Stolen from the Diamond Jo Line," to prevent thefts. Then the sacks would be filled with the grain, tied, and piled up on the main floor of the warehouse, sometimes crowding the space to the utmost. After that, a boat going down the river would stop at the pier of the warehouse, and the deck hands or roustabouts would, in a close line, carry the sacks of wheat on their shoulders on to the boat, with the mate continually urging them in forcible language to hurry a little faster, while the loading might take many hours. It was the stern-wheel boats which more frequently stopped at Maiden Rock, in the early years especially. Then there came a time when the packets were more ready than they were before to do it, as their business, which was not so good in the sixties as it was in the fifties, continued to fall off in the seventies, due principally to the railroads. 1 Now, scarcely a steamboat 1 In the latter part of 1870, or in the early part of 1871, what is now a portion of the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway was completed from St. Paul to Lake City, and by December, 1872, to VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 335 of any description is ever seen on the Upper Mississippi, except an occasional government boat working on the river, to improve it by dredging or otherwise, or an excursion boat going from one town to another to take out excursions, and here and there a local ferryboat. When we moved from Lake City to Maiden Rock in 1867 we did so on a small steamboat, which, as I remember it, was a side-wheel one, and I suppose that it was the same one that was built, in 1857, at Maiden Rock for service exclusively on Lake Pepin. It left Maiden Rock in the morning and returned there in the evening, after making the round, on week days, of the villages on the lake below Maiden Rock. Several years after we went to Maiden Rock, a tugboat was brought there, in the necessarily long and roundabout way, from Lake Michigan. In order to make the boat larger, it was cut in two in the middle, the two parts were separated some feet, and the space between them was built in. The cabin was also lengthened, and was made the full width of the boat. As the boat remained a propeller, it came to be almost universally called the " Polliwog." It superseded the other boat in the service on the lake. While the packets carried the mail, they left that for Maiden Rock at Lake City, and the local boat brought it from Lake City. When the railroad on the Minnesota side of the lake began carrying the mail, that for Maiden Rock was left at the station back of Frontenac, two and one-half miles across the lake, and was daily brought over in a skiff or on the ice, according to the time of year, the mail-carrier sometimes taking considerable risk in crossing the lake, especially when the new ice was still weak after the freezing over of the lake in the fall, or when the old ice had La Crescent, opposite to La Crosse, Wisconsin. What is now a part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was built, in the eighties, along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi and of Lake Pepin, around Maiden Rock point and on the lake shore in front of the village, to St. Paul, fifty- two miles northwest. 336 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES become rotten in the spring. The freezing over of the lake and the going out of the old ice were both events of much concern, and in some respects nearly equally welcome. The opening up of the lake took the longer time. Gradually the ice became honeycombed, and then awaited the action of the winds for its final removal, which they accomplished by blowing it back and forth and breaking it up with loud crunching, ultimately sweeping most of it out of the way, or where it would go down the river. My father and my brother Amos purchased a skiff which proved to be both a convenience and a source of pleasure. It was possibly a little too broad to be rowed with the greatest ease, but that was more than compensated for by its increased sea- worthiness. There was hardly a storm on the lake too great for us to go out in the boat, if there was sufficient reason to do so. My task was generally that of steersman. Sometimes we took passengers across the lake to Frontenac, or we even took them to Lake City, when they came too late for the little steamer. But more often we used the boat simply for our own convenience in going to Lake City, not infrequently stopping on the way at Maiden Rock point to get a drink of cold water at the spring there. Nor was it always necessary to row the boat. It had a spritsail, and much of the time the wind fur- nished ample motive power, with now and then more than was needed. I remember once only to have felt being in any particular peril. Father and I had gone to Lake City on what had promised to be a nice day, when a storm came up and the wind increased to such violence that the little steamer for Maiden Rock and several large steamboats deemed it best not to start out. Still, father thought that we could go home all right. A neighbor, who had bragged much of what he had done as a sailor on the Great Lakes, wanted to go with us. Father let him do it, and also let him do the sailing, to start with. The result was that before we had gone very far the boat was filled VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 337 with water and we had to keep bailing it out until we could return to the shore and empty it out. Then father, who never made any pretensions to being a sailor, took charge of the sailing, and we went along without any further trouble or apparent danger. But the land as well as the water had its attractions. As the lake had a special interest by reason of its manifestations of force, so had the land on account of its rugged character. There was before the eye, whichever way it turned, a change of view, not barren, but full of life and strength, which gave a certain unconscious satisfaction. Not only was the landscape in season covered with green, but from early spring on it was brightened by many wild flowers, which grew in great variety and profusion. Nor was it all a silent beauty, but birds of divers colors and notes filled the air much of the time with their songs and chatter. A little way out of the village there were also, in their seasons , some wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, plums, and grapes. In the autumn, there were, for the boys, hazelnuts, black walnuts, butternuts, and hickory nuts. Of game birds, there were in the spring wild ducks and great flocks of pas- senger pigeons, which latter, alas! have become extinct, with even a scarcity of mounted specimens for the museums of natural history. In the fall, there were again ducks, returning from farther north, also partridges, pheasants, prairie chickens, and quails. There were also gray and fox squirrels, some rabbits and raccoons, and, along some of the streams, muskrats. Once in a great while a deer was seen. Of timber, there was con- siderable oak, maple, black walnut, butternut, ash, elm, poplar, and basswood. One of the industrial signs of spring was the making of soft soap for the family use in doing the washing and household cleaning. Prior to that a barrel of ashes would be saved, and another barrel or a box of soap grease or scraps of fat. When the time came to make the soap, water would be poured in on 338 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES top of the barrel of ashes, to come out slowly at the bottom as lye. The lye and the soap grease or fat, in proper pro- portions, would be boiled together, in a large iron kettle, out of doors, to make the soap. Less frequently hard soap might be made, but that was generally purchased at the store, comparatively little of it being used when there was plenty of the soft soap. Another occupation of the early springtime, for a relatively few people only, and out in the country, was the making of maple syrup and maple sugar. I visited a sugar bush for a few days, one year. There was a one-story log house there that was divided into two parts, in one of which the men ate and slept, while in the other the sap was partly boiled down in a great pan made for the purpose. One man looked after the cooking, and the most of the boiling-down. The others gathered and brought in the sap. Every maple tree that was suitable had been tapped by boring a hole a little way into it and driving into the hole a wooden spout of about a foot in length. Under the outer end of the spout, a wooden trough or a cheap unpainted wooden pail without any handle was placed to catch the sap as it dripped down. Then the men made the rounds from time to time, with an ox team drawing a rough sled on which there was a large cask or tank into which the men emptied the contents of the troughs or pails for conveyance to the log house. After the partial boiling-down in the big pan, the final sugaring-off or completion of making maple syrup or sugar, took place outside of the house, by further boiling down to the desired point, in a large iron kettle such as the soap-makers used, that part of the process, which was given to me to look after, requiring constant stirring and watching. To test the degree of thickening, as well as to get a deliciously sweet mouthful, a little of the hot syrup was poured on to a bit of clean snow; something like what was often done, at young people's parties, with maple sugar melted espe- cially for the purpose. When thick enough for maple sugar, A BIT OF LAKE PEPIN GATHERING SAP FROM MAPLE TREES IN SUGAR BUSH VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 339 the contents of the kettle were dipped out into molds, to make cakes of the desired shapes and sizes. The summer furnished the best fishing, but nothing extraor- dinarily good. Along the lake shore, bass, pike, and pickerel might be caught, which was usually done by trolling with a spoon hook. Catfish were sometimes caught by setting baited lines, overnight, at the warehouse pier, or in Rush River. Muskellunge and sturgeon were got farther out in the lake. There was little seining and less spearing done. In the winter the scene on the lake was far more animated than it was in the summer. To begin with, and continuing until it was somewhat spoiled by the snow, there was a great deal of skating on the ice in front of the village. Thereafter there was less skating done, and the most of that which was done was confined to places where the water overflowed the ice and snow and froze. But it was the teaming that was done over the lake throughout the winter, from the time that the ice got strong enough for it until it became too weak again in the spring, that broke the monotony that must otherwise have prevailed, and enlivened the view. At almost any hour from early morning until dark in the evening of fairly pleasant week days, a person could see horse teams going or coming, sometimes scores of them at once. Of course, sleds only were used, except now and then a cutter. Certain roads were generally followed, either for directness or for avoiding ridges in the ice, and because the horses could travel easier in them than on the smooth ice, or on unbroken snow on the ice. The ridges, not only in mid- lake, but more or less along the shore, were formed by the expansion or the movement of the ice from one cause or another, the event often being accompanied by either a loud report or a great grinding sound. What the teams hauled mostly were loads of cordwood or of timber from the country back of Maiden Rock, some of it being first hauled in and piled up on the ice or elsewhere to be reloaded and taken from there. The reason that 340 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES there was so much of such hauling was that the people of Lake City and many of the farmers on the Minnesota side of the lake were largely dependent on the more timbered land of Wisconsin for their fuel and fence posts, while railroad ties also came to be needed; and the winter, when the lake was securely bridged over with ice, was the best time to get the year's supplies. It would be difficult to say whether a boy got more of real enjoyment out of the summer or out of the winter at Maiden Rock. The pleasures of the two seasons were entirely different, and when either came he was generally glad for the change. But Maiden Rock was a particularly good place for coasting, or sliding downhill, as it was commonly called, because there were good hills right at hand, and usually plenty of lasting snow for it. The south hill, on which we lived, was the favorite, being long enough and steep enough, without being too steep or too rough. There was no prohibition against coasting in the road, and I recall no serious injury from it. If a boy unexpectedly met a team, he steered his sled to the side of the road and tumbled off into the snow. What were considered the best handsleds were made by the village wagon- and sleigh-maker. They had solid hardwood board runners, and for shoes, half- round irons, or, better yet, round irons partly sunk in grooves, the ironing being done by the blacksmith. Subsequently, a boy had to have two such sleds, combined with a connecting board about i foot wide and 6 or 7 feet long to form a bobsled, which the boy, sitting on the board, would steer by pulling on a rope attached to the two ends of a crosspiece on the front sled, that sled, by a bolt through its center, being loosely attached to the board, so that it could be turned as on a pivot, while the rear sled was attached to the board with two bolts in such a manner as to have a little play up and down, but not sidewise. Two or three other boys could ride behind the one who steered. Occasionally some large boys got a teamster's sled, and one of VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 341 them, sitting on his small handsled in front, held the end of the tongue of the large sled and thus guided it while it carried down the hill a load of happy youth. Then there was sometimes a sleigh-ride by team, in a large bobsleigh with a wagon box on the sleds, the box having hay or straw put into it to sit on, down in the bottom of the box, some of those going for the ride sitting with their backs to one side of the box and others with their backs to the other side, thus facing one another, with robes or blankets over their laps. However, going to school was, for about seven or eight years, the main business of a boy's or of a girl's life at Maiden Rock. But I did not begin going to school until after we had been at Maiden Rock a little while. Nor was I set to studying at home very early. Yet after I was once put to studying, I was kept at it pretty regularly, even more or less during vacations, with- out any crowding; and I believe my studying at home counted for more than did my first years at school. Much of my study- ing I did in my father's shop, often having lessons to learn while other boys were out playing. Moreover, I was not allowed to go out to play at night, or after supper, as it was termed, the three meals of the day being breakfast, dinner (hot or cold, at noon), and supper. That gave me the evening, in the winter especially, for books or reading and studying, from which I acquired something of a habit of studying by myself and without dependence on having prescribed lessons or a teacher. The schoolhouse at Maiden Rock, which was built in 1860, was a one-story frame one, a little longer than it was wide. It was a short distance up the ravine, one end of it being near the base of the north hill. In the other end there were two entrances, one for the boys and one for the girls, each entrance being through a small vestibule with hooks on which to hang hats or caps and wraps. On the sides of the building were the windows, with outside shutters which were painted green, while the building itself was painted white. On top and near the 34$ THROUGH THREE CENTURIES front end of the roof was an open belfry that had in it a rather small bell. In the building there was one room only, which contained four rows of combined wooden desks and seats, for two pupils each, with a total seating capacity of eighty or more. A wood stove furnished the heat needed in winter. A wooden pail and a tin dipper were used for the drinking-water, which was brought in from a well close by. Kerosene lamps, suspended from the ceiling or held in brackets on the sides of the room, furnished the light whenever needed at night. Several of the larger boys, without any special necessity for it, kept their schoolbooks under lock and key in wooden boxes which they had made for them. Schoolbooks were almost invariably bound in boards, having the outside covering of paper instead of cloth, in con- sequence of which the covers soon became badly worn and soiled. That led some mothers and many of the older pupils to cover the books with colored calico or other cloth, or with strong brown wrapping-paper. Copy books for practice in penmanship were at first made at home, of the desired size, out of foolscap paper, with a brown paper cover, all being stitched together. The teacher wrote on the lines at the tops of the pages the copies, which consisted of admonitory proverbs. Then came copy books with engraved copies, which were still usually proverbs or of that nature. Instead of improving, the pupil's writing more often became poorer the farther down the page he got from the copy. In the summer a woman was always employed to teach the school; but in the winter, when more and older pupils attended, some of them young men, a man was generally the teacher. Two of the men who were at different times teachers I think of as having been particularly good ones. For me it was a great advantage to have one who was willing to let me take up special studies and was able to give me some help in them, bookkeeping being one of the subjects. Corporal punishment was not used, VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 343 unless it was sometimes in the application of the ferule to the palm of the hand. In various respects I felt very keenly the loss of my mother just before I was twelve years old. Then, after a due time, father brought into our home a woman who was an entire stranger to me, to be my stepmother. 1 His second marriage was wise, as by it he got a good wife who for over thirty years faithfully shared with him the burdens of most of his later life, which otherwise he would have had to bear alone. She was different from my mother, but I came to appreciate highly her faithfulness and other good qualities. From the time when I became old enough to work and to earn wages, I was permitted to work where and about as much as I wanted to, and to have what I earned, the understanding being that I should use what was necessary of my earnings to provide for myself needed clothing, and when I worked steadily pay a moderate sum for my board. That was better than most boys were treated in that regard, and it was intended to develop industry and self-reliance. I worked at certain seasons only, when not going to school or studying at home. Two or three times I went to Minnesota to help in the harvesting, being attracted, as were many, by wages of from $3.50 to $5.00 a day, with board. An old farmer used to say to me, "Take whichever road you will, you will be sorry that you did not take the other." The road which first opened before me, and somewhat allured me, was to a village mercantile life, the opportunity to begin as a clerk in one of the stores having been given me. When I was about fourteen years old, a physician who had been located at Maiden Rock for several years, with a practice that extended from ten to fifteen miles back into the country, 1 Father married, on December 12, 1872, for his second wife, Miss Huldah Jane Holcomb, of Rock Elm, Wisconsin, where he had sometimes gone to preach. She died on April 29, 1904, aged sixty-three years and twelve days. Of that marriage, one child was born, a son, on July 7, 1876, who was named Franklin Henry Rosenberger. He died on August i, 1900, 344 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES bought out the drug-store that had been established in the village for a while, and hired me to work for him for one year for one hundred dollars. Young as I was, and without any special previous training for it, I was left in sole charge of the store during the doctor's absences, in some instances for days at a time, and yet got along pretty well. I had his horse, a very spirited one, to take care of, the store to keep clean, the stove and the lamps to look after, bottles and utensils to wash, to wait on customers, and to put up prescriptions, which last, fortunately, was confined mainly to times when the doctor himself was present, as most of the prescriptions were his, given orally. But I was ready to quit at the end of my year, my ambitions lying more in other directions. After that, a member of one of the oldest and largest stores in Lake City came over to Maiden Rock and asked me to go to try the work in their store. A general store like that one was a proto- type of the modern department store, in that it kept for sale about everything that people wanted, except perhaps hardware, millinery, and drugs, while real country stores kept some of those articles too. That particular store kept a good stock of dry goods, hats, caps, clothing, boots and shoes, groceries, china, and other commodities, and bought butter and eggs from the farmers. Kerosene oil, vinegar, molasses, sugar, and some other things were purchased for the store in barrels, and sold from them. There were few things put up for sale in the original packages. Canned goods, such as are now so much used, were then unknown. People who wanted anything canned or pre- served generally put it up for themselves, in the proper season, as we did with our fruits and berries. Sweet corn and tomatoes were about the only vegetables ever canned, and those not to any great extent. Winter apples were shipped in barrels, in the fall, from either Michigan or New York State. Candy, mostly of the stick kind, came in five-pound pasteboard boxes and was put into glass jars which were kept on a shelf. There were no VILLAGE LIFE FROM 1867 TO 1879 345 plate glass windows, and no displays of goods were made in the store windows. I had to open and to clean the store in the morning, and to close it at night, at about nine o'clock, the same closing hour that I had in Maiden Rock. Such spare time as I had I spent in reading a history of Rome. After I had duly tried the work, I concluded that, while I liked it in some ways, I did not want to enter into the contract for three years which was offered to me with the expectation that I would make merchandising my permanent business. Then I went to school again in the winter, at Maiden Rock, and worked off and on a great deal of the time for several years in the nursery and on the farm which my father and my brother Amos had opened up on the hill a little over a mile back of Maiden Rock, my brother having learned the nursery business, and my father having given up his shoemaking. Thus I learned something about farming, and considerable about the nursery business. I acquired a fairly good working knowledge of how to raise and take care of seedlings for grafting, what and how to graft, likewise about planting, cultivating, trimming, digging, filling orders, packing, shipping, and delivering apple and crab-apple trees, grapevines, and berry bushes. I also became able to distinguish many varieties of apple trees by peculiarities in the color or shape of their leaves or the forms of their tops or branches, as each variety seemed to have some special feature. In the meanwhile I kept at my studies as best I could, took a county teacher's examination, got a second-grade teacher's certificate, and later a first-grade certificate. That led to my doing some teaching in country districts in the county, begin- ning in the fall of 1876. I received about $40 or $50 a month, and paid about $2.50 a week for board. I had to open the schoolhouse in the morning, build the fire, and sweep out after school. The pupils ranged all of the way from those who had the alphabet to learn to young men and young women well 346 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES along in arithmetic, grammar, geography, the history of the United States, and wanting to take up algebra and other studies. A teacher could only make a list of everything the pupils wanted to study, divide up the time as equitably as possible among all of the subjects, and then do the best that he could hi the time allotted for each one, giving some of the younger pupils, who had but one book to study, as many as four short recitations each day. Nevertheless, I enjoyed many things about that work, and I have always felt that the teaching of children during their formative years, whether in a country school or elsewhere, is about as useful an occupation as a person can find, unless he is clearly better fitted by nature to do some- thing else. However, I was still irresistibly drawn in a different direc- tion from any in which I had yet labored, and my next step was virtually determined by the fact that in 1879 father wanted to go to a somewhat warmer climate, and bought eighty acres of land, where the surface was rolling, along the railroad, a little over three miles north of lola, Kansas, to which place he moved that fall. To be more specific, I had developed the notion that I wanted to be a lawyer; I had read Blackstone; and father suggested that I correspond with the lawyer connected with the real estate, or land office as it was called, in Tola through which he had purchased his farm, which resulted in my also going to lola. CHAPTER III WORKING AND STUDYING The city of lola is situated in the southeastern part of the state of Kansas, on the Neosho River, one hundred and ten miles by railroad southwest of Kansas City. It has a some- what warm and dry climate perhaps a little too dry at times, and too warm a few days in the summer for the greatest com- fort, although its hottest days are generally followed by cool nights. Then it sometimes suffers from cold waves such as sweep over all sections of the country. But the weather a large part of the year is delightful. The population of the city was 1,096 according to the census of 1880. I spent two pleasant years in lola. I believe that they were also profitable years for me, on account of the peculiar practical experience in business which they afforded me. There was enough of varied business activity there to create a good busi- ness atmosphere, while it was still easy, because the place was not larger than it was, to get pretty well acquainted with all of the different business men. There were two or three dry-goods stores, as many grocery stores, a hardware store, a drug-store, a furniture store, a bank, a newspaper and printing office, a real-estate office, a dealer in farm implements, a grain elevator, a livery stable, a blacksmith shop, a shoeshop, several lawyers, two physicians, a post-office, railroad station, three hotels, three or four churches, and adequate school accommodations. The chief distinction of lola, however, consisted in its being the county seat of Allen County, and that it was the county seat was of a decided advantage to me in that it gave me an oppor- tunity to become familiar with the various offices and records 347 348 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES of the county. A few years later the city gained new impor- tance from the discovery in its locality of natural gas, which was piped to it and led to the establishment of several large smelters for reducing zinc ore shipped in from Missouri, and of plants for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, Portland cement, and brick. That was followed by a great increase in population. The offices which gave me quite a unique position were in a long, old, weather-beaten, one-story frame building, one end of which faced on the main business street that ran along one side of a large central public square which was not used at that time. In that end of the building, in a room none too large, was the real estate office. In a little larger room at the other or rear end of the building, there was a law office. The two offices were conducted more or less together, under some kind of partnership arrangement, and jointly furnished me my employ- ment, there being no other employee in either office, except a man in the real estate office to show land to prospective pur- chasers. The real estate office did a general real estate, loan, and insurance business, besides having the agency for the sale of such railroad-owned farming land as there was yet undisposed of in that vicinity. The man who conducted that business was an unusually good business man, who worked long hours and had the fullest confidence of the public. The lawyer like- wise was a good, capable man, who was at the time the mayor of the city. Between the two offices, I soon found plenty of work to do. It began early in the morning with sweeping out and cleaning up the offices, and ended with closing them at night, after they had been kept open through the evening. But most of my work was clerical, and of a somewhat legal character. Everything was still written out by hand, and copies of docu- ments had each to be made in that laborious manner. There was no thought of using a typewriter; nor do I remember to have seen one anywhere in lola at that time. WORKING AND STUDYING 349 The most notable undertaking for which those offices were a center was the securing, against strong competition, of the location through lola of a section of railroad that was built from Fort Scott to Wichita, Kansas, which undoubtedly had not a little to do with the subsequent development of lola. For quite a while the promoters and builders of the road were much in the law office, in particular, and considerable of the promotional work was done there. My most important employment, on the whole, however, was the searching of the county records and the making there- from of abstracts of title to real estate. I had a great deal of that work to do. I was started on it surprisingly soon. My abstracts, certified to by myself, were used not only in con- nection with local sales of land, but for loans made by a banking company in New York and by other lenders of money on real estate. Moreover, I had the credit of making the first abstracts of title on which loans could be obtained on certain railroad lands in the hands of settlers, as I gave essential information that previously had been omitted. Along with my work, I did some studying of law, but it was necessarily limited. I also took a course in shorthand, by correspondence. That afterward proved to be very helpful to me. It had been a question in my mind as to whether the best way for me to become a lawyer would be by going into a law office. How I first decided the question was shown by the action that I took. No compensation was promised me for my work, beyond what I might derive in practical benefit from being in the office, but I was soon paid a little, and finally enough to cover my necessary expenses. Then, when the year 1881 was nearing its close and I was approaching twenty-two years of age, I came to feel, from my wider experience and outlook, that I could still lay a better foundation for my after-life. Clearly, if that was so, there was no time to be lost in setting about doing it, if it could be done notwithstanding a lack of adequate funds in hand for it. 350 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES The result was that I gave up my position in lola and went to Chicago as soon as I could well do it; and in January, 1882, I was enrolled as a student at the old University of Chicago. There I spent four years in study, three years less one term in the preparatory department, and one year and one term in the collegiate department, or through the first term of the sopho- more year (in the class of 1888), leaving there at the close of 1885. At the University I found, even in the preparatory depart- ment, other students as old as I was and quite a number who were working their way through, as well as several who were not only supporting themselves, but occasionally sending small sums of money home to help out there. The University had but one building, which was never fully completed, as the original design had been to have a central or main part with north and south wings, while only the main part and the south wing were ever built. Nevertheless, with its turrets and towers, it was quite an imposing structure, especially when it was viewed from a southeasterly direction, as it stood in the center of a lawnlike campus with trees here and there about it. The building was constructed of a rough- faced, light-colored stone, the main part and the main portion of the south wing being five stories in height, counting the basement. Joined to the main part of the building, in the rear, on the west side, was the astronomical Dearborn Observatory. In the main part of the building were the recitation rooms and the chapel. Four of the professors, two or three of them married, had rooms and lived in the building. The remainder of it, above the basement, was subdivided principally into outside study-rooms, each with two small interior sleeping-rooms, which constituted the chief dormitory accommodations for the young men. Table-board was furnished by a club, in a dining-room in the basement, near where the janitor lived. Most of the young women who attended the University were residents of WORKING AND STUDYING 351 Chicago and lived at home, while the others boarded in private families. As a matter of necessary economy, I chose a room on the top floor of the main part of the building, where several other young men had their rooms, and boarded themselves, or lived much as I deemed that it would be expedient for me to live for a while. 1 The windows there were of the dormer style and were so high up and so placed that a person standing on the floor could see nothing but a bit of the sky, which, however, was no great disadvantage for a student. Some called it " Cynic Hall." A small iron bedstead about the size of an ordinary cot; a small, plain wooden table; two or three common wooden chairs; and a small sheet-iron coal stove, were the principal furnishings of those rooms. Whatever more was wanted the students had to provide. They had also to buy their own coal, carry it up, and carry down the ashes, as well as to take care of their rooms and have their laundering done. The life that I thus entered upon I did not count one of any hardship. I had been taught from the time that I was large enough for it to help as I could, when needed, with the house- work at home, and found no difficulty or unpleasantness in taking care of myself at this time, particularly with others about me doing the same thing. When I came to need the time more for other work, I moved into one of the suites in the south wing, where I had a roommate to share in the care of the rooms; and I then took my meals in the dining-room. Nearly all of the students who lived in the University build- ing were either partially or entirely self-supporting. Some of them carried newspapers in the morning, delivering them at the houses. Others did similar work in the afternoon. The aver- age time required was from an hour and a half to two hours a T One of the students was wont to sing: "Practice economy, But don't be mean." 352 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES day. Two or three of the students owned their own routes and had whatever they could make out of them. The others worked for general deliverers of the papers and earned from $3 to $3.50 a week. Then, once a month, a number of students, including some of those who carried newspapers, found employ- ment for three or four days taking gas-meter statements for the gas company, going from house to house on designated streets and noting in a book provided for the purpose the read- ings of the gas meters, and afterward delivering the gas bills made out therefrom by the company. Some might do it with- out missing their classes, while others got excused from their recitations for it. It paid about $1.75 a day. But what was deemed the most desirable work, because it paid $25 or so a month, was the lighting and extinguishing of gas street lamps. That, however, but few could get, and those few usually held on to it as long as they remained at the University, and then arranged as to who should have their places. The hours for doing that work varied according to the moonlight, sometimes the lighting of the lamps being early in the evening and again late at night, while the time for extinguishing them was as variable, from convenient to very inconvenient hours for sleep. The lighting was done with a torch on the end of a stick much like a broom handle, and the extinguishing was perhaps done with an old broom handle. Various stories have been told of how students doing that work, or carrying newspapers, managed to do more or less studying of their lessons at the same time. There was little or no tutoring to be got among the students, and not much of it on the outside. As a newcomer and a stranger in the city, I was very glad that I could almost at once begin earning $2.50 a week by carrying a newspaper that then had no Sunday edition, which last fact also reconciled me to the further facts that I had to get up at about four o'clock in the morning, and had consider- able more territory to cover than had the carriers of the other WORKING AND STUDYING 353 papers, who had routes much nearer the University. After- ward, I added to that work the taking of gas-meter statements. Then a man who was connected with the general freight office in Chicago of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and who had come to know me, offered me employ- ment in that office for such hours as I could work, which I, of course, accepted. From that office I was before long transferred to the freight claim office. There I worked in the afternoons of school days, and all day on Saturdays and during my vacations, payment being made therefor on a monthly basis for the actual number of hours that I worked. In the claim office, at one time or another, I did something of almost every kind of work done in the office, from adding long columns of figures and keeping records to making vouchers for the refund of over- charges, investigating claims, and checking over the work of others, of which last I did a great deal. I was treated very considerately in that office, under three successive claim agents. I want to say, too, that it was my decided conviction from what I observed that all of the men employed there endeavored to be perfectly fair in their treatment of claimants, although some of the latter complained of the amounts allowed them, or of the length of time that they had to wait for settlements, due to seemingly almost unavoidable causes, such as handling the claims in their order and getting the information necessary for their proper adjustment, often from different stations and from different railroads. There was no gymnasium at the University. There had been a time when the young men who attended the University gave a moderate amount of attention to sports, such as the playing of baseball and the maintenance of boating clubs for row- ing on the lake, each club owning its own boat. But that day had passed with the period of the greatest apparent prosperity of the University. At the time now under review most of the students got too much physical exercise from their outside work, and 354 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES had too little time left, to indulge very much in sports or athletics. Nor was there any hazing, so far as I know. There were nine or ten men in the faculty of the University who gave practically their whole time to the work of the colle- giate and the preparatory departments. They were all of them good, scholarly men, kept there by a sense of duty and faith in the future of the institution. But their lot was a hard one, owing to the small compensation which they received for their services and the number of hours of diversified instruction that was required of them, some of them, as the professors of mathe- matics, Greek, and the sciences, having to give either all or most of the instruction in their subjects in the preparatory as well as in the collegiate department, while for a time the pro- fessor of Latin taught all of the Latin and a class in French, or at another time one in Greek. Still, the work of the classical course was considered to be particularly good, and to compare favorably with that of other colleges. But there was all the while a dark, overhanging cloud in the financial condition of the University, which it was declared did not injuriously affect the quality of the work done, although it did prevent any development of the institution and led finally to its suspension. Encouraging reports and disquieting rumors followed one another at various intervals through the years, yet a certain amount of hope and confidence persisted to the last. The crisis was reached in 1885 when a decree was entered by a federal court foreclosing the mortgage on the land and the building of the University and ordering the sale of the property, which took place on May 9, with fifteen months allowed for redemption. Many who had been hopeful before now despaired. The trustees considered the question of closing the University, but voted down the proposition and appointed a committee to formulate a plan to secure funds sufficient to pay the debts of the institution and to endow it. 1 In August, 1 The Standard of June 4, 1885. WORKING AND STUDYING 355 Dr. Galusha Anderson resigned the presidency, which was afterward tendered to Dr. George C. Lorimer, the pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church, who declined it, although he finally agreed to act ad interim. Later, Dr. William R. Harper was elected to the office, but he decided that, everything considered, it would be a mistake for him to accept it. A conciliatory effort to get the best terms possible to save the property dis- closed that it would require a payment of $291,500, with a further amount of $37,000 to be compromised, and accrued interest on that sum. Offers, first of $150,000 and then of $200,000 were made, but were refused. Subsequently the demand was reduced to $275,000." Under the fifteen months of grace which the law gave it, the University continued its work through the school year of 1885-86. "A phenomenal opening," was the way that of September 10, 1885, was characterized on account of the number of students who appeared at the chapel services and the amount of enthusiasm which they displayed despite the adverse circumstances. 2 Near the end of the term, the acting president held a reception in the University parlors, and it was declared that "a finer body of students than those assembled is seldom seen in the West. Their devotion to the institution is manifest." 3 Even as late as August 12, 1886, the Standard said that, "by far the most encouraging and hopeful meeting of the trustees in a long time was held .... last week The amount, ten thousand dollars, upon which the occupancy of the property for another year is conditioned, is now so nearly secured that the resumption of work at the University as usual, in September, may be looked upon as settled." Indeed, announcement was made that the University would open again at the regular time for it. A few days before the time of open- ing, however, it was ascertained, according to the Standard of 1 The Standard, Feb. n, and May 13, 1886. 3 Ibid., Sept. 17, 1885. 3 ibid., Dec. 3, 1885. 356 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES September 16, 1886, "that what were supposed to be reliable assurances of help could not be relied upon; the effort had failed. The executive committee recommended to the board that, in view of this, the educational work at the University be suspended, and this recommendation, after some discussion, was adopted. The suspension is regarded as equivalent to discontinuance At the time this decision was reached, we were already within two days of the announced time of reopening." Thus passed out of active existence the old, or first, University of Chicago, a worthy institution, which rendered creditable service in its day, but which could not survive its financial handicaps and the jealousies and divisions among those upon whom it depended the most to establish and maintain it. To me it was more of a surprise than otherwise that the University was able to complete the year of 1885-86. The prospect for it was not very good, according to all of the infor- mation that I could get on the subject during the fall term. What I regarded as the best advice, and that on which I acted, was to go, before the beginning of the next term, to another college or university. The University of Rochester, at Roches- ter, New York, was especially recommended to me, and after due consideration it became my choice, so that I went there and in January, 1886, became a member, in the second term of the sophomore year, of the class of 1888. I had again to look for outside employment by which I could, by working in the after- noons and the most of the day on Saturdays, earn what I needed toward my expenses. I was exceedingly fortunate in being able to obtain it in a good law office where I got legal training of a somewhat different nature from that I had before. The University of Rochester was founded, in 1850, as the effect of a movement that originated in a belief among some of the Baptists in the state of New York that Madison (now Col- gate) University ought to be removed from Hamilton, New THE OLD OR FIRST UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SIBLEY HALL ANDERSON HALL THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER IN 1886 WORKING AND STUDYING 357 York, to Rochester, which, fortunately, resulted in the estab- lishment of the University of Rochester without the removal, so that there are now two good educational institutions where otherwise there would have been but one. It was a benefit to me to go to the University of Rochester, if for no other reason, on account of the change of environment which it afforded me. There I came into contact under new conditions with new teachers and with new students, although, as in Chicago, some of the students were young and some were about as old as I was. It gave me new points of view and had a broadening effect. It also furnished me new stimuli, though with my outside work I was at some disadvantage where most of the students had much more time for study than I had. Then, too, there was a great change in my boarding-places. When I arrived at Rochester, the president of the University suggested to me that, although I could not, in any sense, be called a German, even in the use of the language, I should see if I could not get into the German Students' Home, which was maintained for the German Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary. I succeeded in doing so, secur- ing there good, plain living at a moderate price and becoming acquainted with a still different, yet fine, type of young men, mostly of humble extraction, who were exceptionally earnest and diligent in their efforts to prepare themselves for spiritual leadership. The University of Rochester had when I went there two buildings, with a third one under construction, on a campus of twenty-three and one-half acres of land about a mile and a half northeast of the business center of the city. It had also a small astronomical observatory and telescope. The main build- ing was Anderson Hall, which was completed in 1861. It was built of brownstone, very plain and substantial, 150 by 60 feet in size, with a central projection of 15 feet on the front and the rear, the height of the building being three stories above 358 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES a basement. In it were the recitation rooms and the chapel. There were no dormitories. The second building was Sibley Hall, the main floor of which was used for library purposes, while on the floor above that were kept the very good geological and mineralogical cabinets. The building being constructed was the Reynolds Memorial Laboratory, for the classes in chemistry. The faculty of the University was a strong one, of ten professors, some of whom were exceptionally fine, and, besides doing excellent work, made marked, helpful impressions on the young men who came under their influence. There were about 150 students enrolled, two- thirds of which number took the classical course. Young women were not admitted as students. Chapel exercises were held at 9:15 hi the morning. From 9:30 A.M. until 12:30 P.M. was devoted to recitations, each class having three, of one hour each. On Saturday mornings there was, for three-quarters of an hour, some special study, instruc- tion, or lecture, for each class. The solid and distinctive character of the University of Rochester was in a large measure wrought into it by, and was a reflection of the sturdy character of its first president, Martin B. Anderson, who served it from 1853 until 1889. In a figurative sense, he was the University, and the University was Martin B. Anderson. The one was hardly to be thought of without including the other. A man of stalwart build, in his later years he walked with the aid of two heavy canes, and his strong face and white locks gave him somewhat of a leonine appearance, which was not altogether out of harmony with his character. His speech was authoritative and impressive. His talks in the chapel were especially memorable. He had been an editor of an important denominational paper, and he carried with him into the chapel something of the editorial instinct and habit, or what he termed the "editorial function of the teacher." The regular services in the chapel, with which WORKING AND STUDYING 359 the work of the day was begun, consisted of the reading of a portion of Scripture, singing, and prayer. But he added to those services frequent and peculiarly striking comments on important current events and public questions, on morals, and on fundamental religious truths and duties. Two of the things which he insistently dwelt upon, and often reiterated in one form or another, were the divine call to everyone for self- sacrifice for the welfare of others, and the duty to "bring things to pass." A few quotations will help to a better appreciation of this, his character, and his vigorous form of expression. A graduate of the University, who revisited it in April, 1886, wrote that on " Saturday morning it was delightful to be once more in the college chapel, and to hear one of the president's chapel talks, which stimulated all the intellectual faculties, and in this writer aroused pleasant memories. Dr. Anderson on this occasion made a recent article in the North American Re-view the basis of an improving talk on the influence of Mr. Lincoln on his cabinet. He compared and contrasted him with Seward and Stanton, and claimed that succeeding ages would see that Lincoln was the Washington of his time. The young men greatly appreciate these chapel talks; and in after- years they will appreciate them still more highly. Dr. Anderson will never know how remarks of this kind have stimulated and directed the thought of many of his students who are now scattered all over this broad land." 1 For the subject of his address to the graduating class of 1887, Dr. Anderson took "The Law of Self-Sacrifice." Among other things he said: "You are entering a world governed by a living God. In this government there is one all-embracing law which imposes its obligations on all moral beings alike. That law is set forth in the doctrine of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Like gravitation in the solar system, it penetrates all moral beings and forces. Among men it is the basis of every ' "Stuart," in "New York Letter" in the Standard of April 29, 1886. 360 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES social organism, the taproot of all virtue, the fundamental ele- ment in every force which elevates our race. With this law wrought into the soul and determining its ends, all labor becomes dignified, every achievement becomes heroic, our whole lives a consecrated offering to God." 1 A somewhat different example or application of Dr. Ander- son's views in this direction was supplied when, on a very different occasion, he declared that it is the duty, in the sight of God, of every Christian to engage diligently in the production of moral or economical values. "The obligation to labor is imposed upon us by the capacity for it. The man who lives on the labor of the public, without adding anything himself to the wealth or moral well-being of the community, is a pauper. If he is capable of work, and refuses, he adds to the character of the pauper that of the thief. The possession of inherited wealth does not release him from the obligation to work. His wealth can make his exertions enormously productive. His failure to work is, therefore, more criminal even than if he were poor; for his capacity in the production of values, both moral and economical, may equal that of a thousand men. Here we see the unsoundness of the advice often given to men who have secured wealth, to retire from business and cease from labor. It is every man's duty to labor as long as he has capacity. The merchant may justifiably withdraw from the most dangerous risks of business, but he many not escape the obligation to work, and thereby to add to the means of the public welfare. .... No amount of learning or discipline will relieve the scholar or the moral teacher from the duties which his acqui- sitions themselves impose. The greater his capacity, the more imperative is the duty to use it With the Christian, wealth is mainly to be valued as the evidence of industry and 1 Papers and Addresses of Martin B. Anderson, LL.D., edited by William C. Morey (Philadelphia; American Baptist Publication Society, 1895), I, 180. WORKING AND STUDYING 361 self-denial on the part of its possessor, and as the means of elevating, purifying, and saving men. The accumulation of wealth is simply the accumulation of power, which is valuable in the sight of God only so far as it is turned to noble uses." 1 To illustrate yet further the manner in which Dr. Anderson from time to time impressively set forth various phases of the requirement for self-sacrifice, a sermon may be taken, which he preached in the chapel of the University on the day of prayer for colleges, as it was afterward summarized, by "J. L. R.," in a " Letter from Rochester" that was published in the Standard of February 4, 1886. It was stated there that he spoke with wonderful power and earnestness from the text "A man's foes shall be they of his own household," 2 and declared that a man's foes his moral foes might be among his dearest friends, associates, memories, and habits. Temptations are dangerous in proportion as they are personal and take forms that one is least prepared to fight against. The spirit of the age is tempt- ing, not by persecution to apostasy, but through some of its best literature, business, science, and the very arts of life. The difference between a good and a bad man is not that the one is naturally good and the other sinful. It is that the one strives against his sinful disposition within and the bad influences without, being anxious and laboring to do God's will, while a man of the other class maintains no struggle, has no special consciousness of temptation, and is constantly drifting farther and farther from God. This difference is not marked by the separation of men into churches. There are some inside that follow the drift, and some outside that buffet against it. In the day of judgment, the one great question will be, "Have you 1 M. B. Anderson, The Right Use of Wealth; an address delivered before the Evangelical Alliance, New York, 1873 (New York: Published by request, 1878), pp. 3 ff; republished in Papers and Addresses of Martin B. Anderson, I, 217 ff. 2 Matt. 10:36. 362 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES maintained a struggle against evil; have you done what you could to bring yourself into a higher plane and to conform yourself to the pattern of the Lord Jesus; and have you borne about His marks in your body, seeking also to elevate those around you ?" Another form of Dr. Anderson's remarkable influence on many of his students was in the private conversations which he had with them. He would frequently call a man into his office, talk with him about his plans and prospects, and make sug- gestions to him of the greatest practical value, always in the direction of having him make the most of himself, or of doing something of importance which he either had not thought of himself, or had not before felt that he was fitted or called upon to undertake. I was graduated from the University of Rochester in the class of 1888, being then given the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1891 that of Master of Arts. After my graduation I returned to Chicago, where I again found employment for a while in the freight claim office of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. During that period I attended an evening class of the Chicago College of Law, from which I was graduated on September 21, 1889. On October 7, 1889, I was licensed by the Supreme Court of Illinois to practice law in the courts of the state. Thereafter I took a postgraduate or practice course in the law school, and on June i, 1891, I received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Lake Forest University, of which the Chicago College of Law was then the law department. CHAPTER IV THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 The three decades since the year 1890 have been exceedingly important ones in the development of the United States, as well as in the history of the world and of civilization in general. Within this time, distance and other barriers between the nations and peoples of the earth have been to a great extent annihilated. The whole social and industrial complexion of the world has been largely changed. Federated labor has entered into the contest for dictatorship not only industrially, but more or less generally. Young men have been given the preference once accorded to older ones in many departments of business and industry. Women have become formidable competitors with men in almost all vocations. Established forms of govern- ment have been menaced in new ways. The American doctrine of the supremacy of the individual and of individual rights has been considerably modified or superseded by that of the pre- dominance of the state and of the public welfare. In the United States the population increased from 62,622,250 in 1890 to 105,710,620 in 1920, which has done a great deal to change both rural and urban conditions. Of further great importance has been the trend of much of the population to the cities and the rapid growth of the latter, so that now over one-half, or, to be more exact, about 51.9 per cent of the total population of the United States is in incorporated places of 2,500 or more inhabitants, and nearly one- tenth of the whole population is in the three cities of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, while only 38.8 per cent of it is in what may be called purely country districts. The city of Chicago alone grew from 1,099,850 in population in 1890 to 2,701,705 in 1920. 363 364 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES This growth in the population of the country as a whole, and in that of the cities in particular, much of it being by immigration from many different foreign countries and composed of different classes of people from each of those countries, has had its effect on the customs, home life, and opinions of the American people taken as an entirety. During this period there have been great developments and extensions in the use of electricity for various purposes. As a source of motive power, gasoline must also be mentioned for its distinct importance in various applications. The improvement of the telephone and the wide extension of its use, and the intro- duction and almost complete development of the automobile since the early nineties, have given a new outlook to life in the city and in the country, as well as to business, as likewise have the development of the mammoth department stores and great mail-order houses, with the establishment of the parcel post and the rural free delivery of mails. The aeroplane, wireless teleg- raphy, and the Roentgen or X-rays also belong to this period. In matters of religion many readjustments have been made, the appraisement of which must depend largely on the individual point of view. Some of them are manifestly of no vital impor- tance, and possibly none of them can be said to be universal. In higher education the classics have not been abandoned, but the emphasis has been increasingly placed on what is deemed to be more practical, or on vocational courses to make specialists in chemistry, various forms of engineering, education, commerce, journalism, agriculture, and the like, whereas before 1890 young men went to college mainly to lay foundations for becoming ministers, lawyers, or physicians. Even the heads of the colleges and universities are being chosen more and more for their administrative ability rather than for their scholarship. Withal there has been a great growth in these institutions themselves since 1890. For example, Brown University shows it. The University of Rochester shows it. But perhaps the THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 365 most wonderful of all is the founding and development since that date of the present University of Chicago. This all becomes the more important because many persons now believe that the hope of the future is more largely than ever before dependent on soundly educated men and women, and through them on the right education of the masses. It is appropriate, too, to note in this connection the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as proclaimed on January 29, 1919, becoming effective on January 16, 1920, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage pur- poses. No less significant was the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, as proclaimed on August 26, 1920, that " the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex," which conferred on women the right of suffrage, equal with that possessed by men. What has been the record with regard to wars? During the first thirty years of my life there were, to mention only the more important wars: The Civil War in the United States, from April, 1861, to April, 1865 ; the Franco-Prussian War, from July, 1870, to May, 1871; and the Russo-Turkish War, from April, 1877, to March, 1878. In the three decades since 1890, there have been, besides some smaller conflicts, the Chino- Japanese War, from August, 1894, to April, 1895; the South Afri- can or Boer War, from October, 1899, to May, 1902; the Russo- Japanese War, from February, 1904, to October, 1905; the Spanish- American War, from April to December, 1898; and the Great War, from August, 1914, to November, 1918. This last war was especially characterized by the employment in it of aeroplanes, submarines, poison gases, and armored and armed tractors called "tanks." The year 1890 was an epochal one for me because in it I opened up my own law office and entered upon the practice of 366 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES law in Chicago. That office was in the Chicago Opera House Building, which stood on the southwest corner of Clark and Washington streets, opposite the courthouse; and I kept my office in that building until in 1914, when I had to move because the building was to be torn down. The building was an unusually substantial one, termed fireproof, ten stories in height, with thick brick walls erected on a massive foundation of stone. It was built as if to stand for generations; but, like many a costly and what was once deemed fine business block, residence, or church, in Chicago, it was comparatively soon outgrown, out of place, or no longer profitably adapted to the site which it occupied, and, the demand arising, it was removed in order that a different structure might be erected in its stead. For the same reason the stately building of the old University of Chicago was taken down so that residences might be built on its site, after that institution was closed. I confined my legal practice mainly to office work. So far as I specialized, it was in real estate law. I did not do any criminal law business. Neither did I take divorce cases. Then, perhaps because I both found it to be agreeable and believed it to be a useful service, I came to giving considerable attention to the dissemination, through the press, of practical legal information, particularly relative to important recent decisions of the courts of last resort. Once, when I was a small boy, I folded a piece of writing- paper so as to make four pages of about 4 by $ inches in size, to represent in miniature a newspaper, and on that I carefully printed, with pen and ink, a variety of matter, including adver- tisements, suggestive of a newspaper. Then, while I was attending the old University of Chicago, I did, when it was convenient, occasional reporting for the Times and afterward for the Inter Ocean. In those days the newspapers published, on every Monday morning, comprehensive abstracts of what were considered the most interesting and important sermons THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 367 preached in the city on the day before, even frequently pub- lishing sermons in full; and I reported many sermons. In 1890, under the date of September 14, I started the publication of the Bulletin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School, of Chicago, which I edited and published weekly up to July 23, 1892. It varied in size from four pages of approximately 9 by 12 inches to eight pages of 10 by 13 J inches. About two thousand copies of each number were printed, to be distributed free at the close of the Sunday school and church services. The expenses were paid by the adver- tising which I secured for it. The First Baptist Church was then located at the southeast corner of South Park Avenue and Thirty-first Street, and was in its prime, with Dr. P. S. Henson as its pastor. My plan was to have in each number of the Bulletin at least one good, appropriate original article and as many shorter helpful suggestions as I could, with as nearly as possible all of the news and notices of the church, the Sunday school, the young people's activities, and the women's mission- ary and benevolent societies. Dr. Henson wrote an interesting and timely special article and items for most of the issues, and other good contributors assisted. When the paper was large enough, it contained "Pulpit Echoes," or reports of the sermons of the preceding Sunday. 1 1 Dr. Henson said, among other things, in the issue of Saturday, April n, 1891: "That the Bulletin fills a most important place, and is doing admirable service in connection with our widely extended church work is universally and heartily acknowledged. As a medium of general inter- communication among our church people it has come to be invaluable, and as a consequence its columns are eagerly scanned by all the members of our numerous family not only by those who are with us every Sunday, but by many more who by various disabilities are detained at home, and whose loneliness is cheered by the spicy, breezy, newsy, wide-awake para- graphs of our weekly 'organ.' Nor by these alone are its visits welcomed, but away it flies on the wings of the fast mail to .... Tacoma, .... Pasadena, .... Paris, .... London; besides -to ever so many more scat- tered up and down the earth who are mightily refreshed by 'the la test news from home.' Few things have done more to develop our esprit de corps than this same weekly Bulletin." 368 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES This will help to explain the bent in my nature which led to the course that I adopted with reference to writing up and publishing legal matter. I got the earliest obtainable and reliable printed reports, preferably so far as possible in advance sheets, of all the legal decisions in the United States that were regularly reported, and from those I selected the cases, or more often special points, which I considered of sufficient practical importance for me to report in plain, untechnical language for one or the other of a number of special journals and trade papers, and sometimes for newspapers and certain magazines. What, however, I prepared of general interest, I usually dupli- cated by the mimeograph process and sent to quite a large syndicate of publications. Most of my reports were used to make legal departments, under various captions. Afterward some of the reports were republished in book form. 1 1 Three volumes were thus published as Street Railway Law (Chicago: Windsor & Kenfield Publishing Co., 1901 and 1903; and Kenfield Publishing Co., 1905). The title-page description was: "A comprehensive working compendium of important street railway decisions in all parts of the country, covering practically all new legal questions, including promotion, charter, construction, equipment, and maintenance problems, general relations to the public and to other roads, rights and duties as to passengers and employees, with many other points brought out in the large number of controversies which daily arise in the operation of street railways; for managers, and for operating, legal, and claim departments. Compiled for the Street Railway Review by J. L. Rosenberger, A.M., LL.B., of the Chicago bar." Another volume was: " Law for Lumbermen: A digest of decisions of courts of last resort on matters of interest to lumbermen, arranged by subjects; reprinted from the columns of the American Lumberman, with the addition of marginal references and a copious index. Compiled by J. L. Rosenberger, of the Chicago bar. Chicago: The American Lumber- man, 1902." Professor Roy L. Marston, of the Yale University Forest School, New Haven, Connecticut, wrote, on October 21, 1902, to the American Lumberman, as quoted by the latter in its next issue: "Accept my sincere appreciation of your 'Law for Lumbermen.' I think it is the best book ever printed for lumbermen. I have ordered the men in my courses THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 369 As a somewhat natural outgrowth of this part of my work, and in addition to it, between September, 1894, and February, 1900, I did considerable experimenting in the publication of what was designed to be a condensed, yet sufficiently compre- hensive, plain, practical business law journal for business men generally, and to aid young men in preparing for business. I tried it in several different forms and sizes, and with different names, such as Business Law, Rosenberger's Law Monthly, and Rosenberger' s Pocket Law Journal. On general principles, and judging from the interest with which what I sent to other publications appeared to be read, I thought that there ought to be a place for such a journal, in which I was to an extent confirmed by my experiments. It seemed to me best, however, not to proceed further with the undertaking for a while, so I let it rest until July, 1907. Under that date I started a new magazine, called Business Aid, a little broader in character, but still mainly legal. This I edited and published as a monthly through six volumes, and for the year 1914 as a quarterly. The change to a quarterly was not a disadvantageous one, but it was occasioned principally by my inability at that time to give the necessary attention to monthly publication, under circum- to get the book for a supplementary textbook in the lumbering department. I had long thought that the columns on forest law in the Lumberman should be put into permanent form." To meet what the publishers declared appeared to be a "strong demand for the matter in book form," a small volume was issued of "Real Estate Decisions of the Supreme Courts of the Various States, .... digested especially for the National Real Estate Journal by J. L. Rosenberger, LL.B., of the Chicago bar. [St. Paul and Chicago:] R. L. Polk & Co., 1912." What was described as "A handbook of practical information on bank cashiers, presidents, directors, etc., extracted from decisions of the courts, especially those of recent years down to date," had the cover-title, Bank Officers: Rights, Powers, Duties, Liabilities (Chicago: J. L. Rosenberger, 1914). 370 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES stances which led me to give up the publication entirely at the end of the year IQI4. 1 With one exception, I never seemed to find time or to care for a hobby, unless what I did in editing and publishing might to some degree be called one. The exception referred to occurred during the interval when I was not doing any pub- lishing. I then got interested in amateur photography. After I had become well started in it, I joined the Chicago Society of Amateur Photographers, which had its rooms, with certain valued privileges, in the Art Institute. I was soon made the librarian of the society and succeeded in building up quite a good reference library for it. After that society was dissolved I helped to organize the Chicago Camera Club, which was incorpo- 1 Business Aid was intended, as was stated on the cover of the first number, to furnish "aid for improving business methods; safeguarding business relations; buying and selling; handling accounts and bookkeep- ing; dealing with commercial paper and securities; manufacturing, patents, and trade-marks; having to do with land, landlord and tenant; insurance, etc. every item a help." Another, later statement of contents was: "Busi- ness world review; special articles; practical points for store and office; debtor and creditor; things to know pertaining to real estate; interstate commerce commission decisions; important points made by business leaders; what different editors are saying," etc. There were some short talks to those starting in business, and a department was introduced of suggestions on advertising, for those who write it and for those who pay for it. Short editorials also became a feature, and increasing attention was given to the current law and subjects of special interest to bankers and to credit men. As a quarterly, it was described as "A quarterly review of banking, commercial paper, credit, collection, real estate, and other important decisions, boiled down, arranged, and indexed for quick reference." The pages were 6| by 9! inches in size. One promi- nent business man referred to Business Aid as his "best investment." A company located in the state of Washington wrote: "We have gotten the benefit of the subscription price a thousandfold since we have been subscribers." A banker in Kansas said that Business Aid had saved him over a thousand dollars, while a banker in Illinois declared it had saved him over two thousand dollars in one year. THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 371 rated in February, 1904, under the state law. I was named as one of the directors, and was made vice-president. The next year I was elected president. My greatest pleasure as an amateur photographer was in seeking out and taking landscape views, carefully focusing them on the ground glass. Seconda- rily to that, I enjoyed doing my own developing, printing, and enlarging. Various circumstances and considerations kept me from entering early into matrimony. But, on July 2, 1912, I was united in marriage with Miss Susan Esther Colver. 1 Miss Colver had been for perhaps a year or so feeling the nervous strain of her work as the principal of a large city school. At the close of the fall term of 1911 she practically collapsed, but recovered wonderfully during the Christmas holidays. On being urged to give up her school work for the sake of her health, she said that she wanted to finish that school year any- way, if she could not do more, and the physician whom she consulted advised her, perhaps mistakenly, that it was best for her to go on. For these reasons, she exercised her will-power and went through to June 26, the end of the year. She was then completely exhausted, physically and nervously. Never- theless, knowing how well she had always been, and how rapidly she had improved with her short rest in the winter vacation, we felt extremely hopeful that with a longer rest, and freedom from the care of the school, she would soon regain her health and strength, and that it would be a case for the application of Browning's lines: " Grow old along with me ! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made." J The ceremony was performed at Yorkville, in Kendall County, Illinois, by Judge Clarence S. Williams. We went there in order to avoid all possible formality and injurious nervous strain for Miss Colver, on account of the condition of her health. 372 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES We had been friends for over thirty years. I had heard of her grandfather, Dr. Nathaniel Colver, in 1869 or 1870. Some years later I heard several times of her father, " Elder" Charles K. Colver, and even heard him lecture once or twice on tem- perance. I also heard that he had a daughter of exceptional mental ability and health. Then, in the spring of 1879, when I was trying to decide what course I would best pursue to enter the legal profession, my father, who was somewhat acquainted with Mr. Colver and his family, suggested that, as business was taking us near enough to River Falls, where Mr. Colver then lived, we would better call on him to get his advice. We did so. I no longer remember what he advised me to do; but I do remember that for our entertainment Miss Colver played on the piano several selections, one of which was a musical version of Tarn o' Shanter's ride, and that as she played that piece Mr. Colver sat at the end of the piano and kept time by patting his hands on his knees, while he described interestingly what was supposed to be happening as the music progressed. Then, when late in 1881 I went to Chicago to attend the old University of Chicago, one of the first things that I did was to go to confer again with Mr. Colver, who generously insisted that I should stay at their house until I had everything ready to begin work at the University; and he afterward kindly gave me his cordial "welcome home" on various occasions when I called. I also frequently met Miss Colver at church. After our marriage we kept house, until the next spring, in an apartment near the southwest corner of Washington Park, when we moved into a very nice, quiet apartment of four rooms and bath on Lake View Avenue, just off Lincoln Park, about four or five blocks northwest of the conservatory and the zoological garden. As soon as we could do it in the summer of 1912 we took some trips on the lake, on the boat that left the latest in the morning and returned the earliest in the even- ing; but the trips seemed to have on Mrs. Rosenberger little of THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 . 373 their former tonic effect. Rest helped her somewhat physically, but not much nervously. We then changed physicians, getting a neurologist of high standing in his profession, which was followed by a certain amount of improvement, due partly to a lessened amount of drugging. A peculiarity of Mrs. Rosenberger's case that was very clear to me and that caused me a great deal of worry, but which few others could fully understand, was that, whatever her apparent condition and sometimes it was better than at other times to have a visitor come, whether friend or relative, was likely to be followed by ill effects, oftentimes for days afterward. It was probably because Mrs. Rosenberger had always been vivacious, and wanted still to be just as hospitable and enter- taining as ever, or to appear as well as possible, which was very exhausting for her and likely to be followed by a reaction at the least requiring a sedative to soothe her nerves. To meet and to talk a little generally with strangers did not have the same effect. But for her even to be looking for a possible caller, or for a letter and then to be thinking about getting it answered, although I did the writing for her, was always wearing on her. Besides, everyone wanted to know each time how she was doing, to which the less her attention was called the better; while some added depressing accounts of their own ills. For these reasons, and because she seemed to get along best without visitors and without letters, and really preferred to do it, after never having had much time for social life, we lived as much by ourselves as possible, reduced our correspondence to a minimum, and had no telephone. Nor did we want any housekeeper. We had a woman who came in once a week to clean up the apartment; and sent out the laundry. Beyond that we needed no help, but we got on nicely with what Mrs. Rosenberger and I together could do, and she pleaded to be permitted to do whatever she could of what there was to be done. That mode of life was made the easier for 374 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES us, too, because the physician put her on an exceedingly plain, wholesome diet, which was quite easily prepared, and was one that suited me also. During this period, I kept my office open, but I made only short visits to it, doing most of my work at home. Then, almost every day that the weather permitted it, we took a walk in the park. After we moved to the vicinity of Lincoln Park, Mrs. Rosenberger gradually became able, by taking rests on the way, to go to the conservatory, and then to see all of the animals, which fortunately were all grouped close together, and not scattered over many acres as in some parks in other cities. Another pleasant walk for us was across the park to the lake front. Not wanting to leave anything undone that had a ray of hope in it for us, after about two years of treatment by the specialist we had employed, we arranged for a change of physi- cians, to another neurologist of wide reputation and commen- surate ability; but about the only difference that it made was that he relied possibly still a little less on medicine in this case than did the other physician. The one treated us a good deal as if he were a brother; the other, as a father. At the end of 1914 I gave up entirely my publishing busi- ness; and in the spring of 1915 I closed my office. But I continued writing at home for several publications in such time as I had for it; and some of the most important of that work I have kept on doing up to the present time, wherever I might be. The great reason why I continued that work as I did was that Mrs. Rosenberger needed to rest a portion of the day, and I knew from observation that she would do it better when I was occupied with regular work, required to be done; while for me it was a beneficial as well as a somewhat paying diversion. In the fall of 1915 we decided to try a change of climate and scenes, and set out for California. Mrs. Rosenberger not only stood the journey remarkably well, but enjoyed it. One thing THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 375 that particularly helped her from that time on, but did not cure her, was a change to a quite newly discovered medicine that she had just begun taking shortly before we left Chicago. We went first to San Francisco, where the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was being held to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific Ocean. We secured hotel accommo- dations at the Inside Inn, on the exposition grounds, and went pretty thoroughly through the exposition, some portions of it several times over. It seemed to do Mrs. Rosenberger good. She was interested in almost everything, including the grounds, the adjacent bay and warships, the buildings, the "Tower of Jewels," the exhibits, the organ recitals, and the band concerts. After we had finished with the exposition, we visited all of the places of interest that we cared to in and around San Francisco, including the University of California. Then we took short daylight journeys to the southward, stopping here and there until we reached Los Angeles, where we remained until we had seen all that we wanted to there, when we went on to San Diego, where the Panama-California Exposition gave us new enjoyments, in addition to such regular ones of the city as the latter afforded us. That exposition was much smaller than the other, yet we found it in its way hardly less attractive, and spent considerable time in it. At San Fran- cisco we had found pleasure in feeding and watching the sea gulls, while at San Diego the feeding of the pigeons on the Plaza de Panama was equally entertaining. Again, San Diego had an "outdoor organ," or one for out-of-door concerts and recitals, the instrument alone being protected by a small pavilion, and Mrs. Rosenberger enjoyed very much hearing that organ in the open air. Thus we got about as much pleasure out of our visit to California as it was possible for us to get, under the circum- stances, in that length of time. Still, we were not altogether 376 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES sorry when the end of December drew near and the limitation of our railroad tickets for returning to Chicago required us to leave. The weather had on the whole been exceptionally fine ; yet we at times found a certain dampness and chilliness in it which were not pleasant, but were partly offset by the fact that our rooms at the hotels where we stopped were, with two or three exceptions, comfortably warmed. Nevertheless Mrs. Rosenberger contracted, in the muscles of her arms, a painful rheumatism, something she had never had before, which seemed to await the steam-heated apartment in Chicago to eradicate it. Even when we got to where we saw snow on the ground it looked rather good to us, by contrast with the dry, dusty land which we had been seeing. A little over a year later, or early in the spring of 1917, we again felt impelled to try a change of climate and environment, this time in the East. We had previously settled our affairs and disposed of about everything except our household goods, in order that Mrs. Rosenberger might not only see it done and join in doing it, but, if anything happened to me, might not have any business cares to worry her. Now we gave away our household goods, most of them to Baptist institutions in which Mrs. Rosenberger was especially interested. We were not automobilists. We preferred as a rule, when we could do it, to ride in trains or on street cars. At the same time we aimed to make only short daylight journeys, stopping here and there as long as we might find it interesting to do so. We tried, however, to reach places where we could secure comfortable hotel accommodations, with a good cafeteria or restaurant near by where we could make selections of food according to our dietary restrictions. Nor did we many times fail in this. So far as climate was concerned, we were much disap- pointed. It was a rather cold spring, and at times we heard of better weather in Chicago than we were having in the East. THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 377 Furthermore, some of the hotels that we got into were not properly heated, and then we went elsewhere. For example, one day was enough for us at Atlantic City, where we got choice rooms overlooking the ocean but they proved to be uncomfortably cold, the season for heating them having passed, while the air outdoors was chilly even in the sun. In Washing- ton, Philadelphia, and New York we got along very much better. In those cities we found the zoological gardens the greatest attractions, and spent considerable time in them, for each one had not only fine specimens of all of the animals usually kept in such gardens, but it had also some animals of kinds that we had never seen before. The museums in Washington were full of interest, too, for us, in addition to which we enjoyed visiting the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Capitol, and Washington Monument, and had a delightful trip by boat to Mount Vernon. In New York, besides the two zoological gardens, the aquarium, and some other places, we visited several tunes the Metro- politan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. In the latter museum Mrs. Rosenberger was espe- cially interested, and apparently most of all in seeing there one of the five dog-sledges that on April 6, 1909, reached the North Pole in the Peary Expedition, and, near it, one of the three sledges used by Amundsen's Party that reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911. But she was hardly less inter- ested in seeing innumerable other exhibits of various classes. "Billy" Sunday was still holding his revival meetings in New York, and she greatly wanted to hear him, in the afternoon. I was afraid that the excitement would be too much for her, yet we went, not only once but two or three times, and to my surprise she was not in the least excited by it. For the summer we returned to Chicago, where we got rooms in a hotel that faced on Lincoln Park. That fall of 1917 we went, by way of St. Louis and New Orleans, to Florida, taking our time and stopping at one place 378 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES and another until we reached Miami. There a national water- ways convention was being held, and the central part of the city was decked out gaily with flags, while the streets were festooned with rows of varicolored incandescent lamps, all furnished for the occasion by a contractor from Chicago, who made such decorating his business. One of the speakers at the convention whom we went to hear was Mr. Peary, who spoke, not on his polar explorations, declaring that they were "ancient history," but regarding aeronautics, concerning which he appeared to be exceedingly enthusiastic. We had both heard him before, in Chicago, tell of his plans for reaching the North Pole and afterward of his success; and Mrs. Rosenberger was particularly pleased to see and hear him again, and to get a glimpse also of Mrs. Peary. We remained in Miami until the latter part of April, 1918. Our ordinary daily routine began with going to a cafeteria for breakfast and returning to our rooms, where I worked during the forenoon while Mrs. Rosenberger rested or looked over Chicago and Miami papers, or some magazine. Then came another visit to the cafeteria. The afternoon was generally spent at the Royal Palm Park, where for about three months a band, employed by the business men of the city, gave open- air concerts, and, not far away, men pitched horseshoes. Toward evening, we might go to the adjacent pier and boat landings to see what catches the fishermen had to show. On several occasions we took quite extended walks about the city; and a number of times we took the trip across the bay to the ocean beach. On a few Sunday mornings we had the pleasure of hearing William Jennings Bryan address, from the band stand in the park, an outdoor tourist Bible class. Did we at last find, in Miami, the ideal climate for which we had been looking? No. Two or three times that winter the freezing-point was reached, and men might be seen wearing ulsters and heavy clothes, instead of Palm Beach suits. We THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 379 moved once to get rooms having a fireplace, and, in addition, bought our own oil heater and a number of gallons of oil, so that we might keep comfortable. Of course it is not that way there every winter; but in Florida, as probably everywhere else, when there is a strong wind from the north in the winter it pierces and is most unpleasant, and doubly so when the humidity is high. As was stated in an editorial in the Florida Times-Union, of Jacksonville, of November 22, 1917: "A great many people think the South is a land of balmy breezes in winter. This is not true of any part of the South unless it is the extreme southern part of Florida. Nearly all the South is a region of bleak winds in winter." It was said further, in describing the provision that should be made for men at a training camp in Georgia, that " the proper clothing for middle Georgia in winter is the same as the proper clothing for New York City The coldest weather ever known in Atlanta was two degrees colder than the coldest ever known in New York City." But in Miami there were some days and nights, in February, 1918, when the weather was uncomfortably warm. When we left Miami, we resumed our plan of short journeys. We left Miami with the sun shining, and before we reached West Palm Beach, our first stopping-place, we encountered a downpour of rain in such volume as one seldom sees in the north, but which is not an uncommon characteristic of Florida rains. In St. Augustine we were particularly interested in looking up the "oldest houses" and other historic features. Richmond, Virginia, had a special appeal to us because it was there that Mrs. Rosenberger's grandfather, Dr. Nathaniel Colver, founded a school and worked for the education of the freedmen. There we spent about a week, and went more than once to see the Virginia Union University, the outgrowth in a way of what was for a while called the Colver Institute. Then we went on once more to Washington, where we remained about a month, visiting over and over again the National Zoological 380 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Park and some of the other places that we liked the best. Mrs. Rosenberger also took special interest this time in visiting the two houses of Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States while they were in session. But in Washington, as in almost every place where we went, the first thing to be noticed was the evidence on every hand of the participation of the United States in the Great War. Proceeding northward, we in due time came to Providence, where the great attraction for us was Brown University because Mrs. Rosenberger's father, Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver, was graduated from it. She took a great interest in it on that account and because of the high regard with which her father had been wont to speak of it. Thence we went to Boston and north to Portland, Maine, turning from there toward Chicago, which we reached but shortly before the influenza broke out with its exceptional violence in Boston. When we left Florida Mrs. Rosenberger was again suffering from rheumatism in her arms similar to that which developed in California. For that reason we planned to try the drier climate of Arizona and the Southwest for the coming winter. We delayed starting from Chicago on account of the alarming reports that we read daily of the rapid spread of the influenza. This led to another visit to the doctor. Mrs. Rosenberger was then having trouble with her left eye, and a sort of occasional neuralgia in the left side of her face, which had not before been regarded as of any special s ; gnificance, but which now brought the suggestion that she should have an oculist chart her field of vision, and have a Roentgenologist make Roentgenograms or X-ray pictures of her head. The results gave clear indica- tions of the existence of a brain tumor, although its precise character could be determined only by an operation, which, furthermore, offered the only possible hope for either the restoration of her health or a much longer prolongation of her life without great suffering perhaps paralysis and blindness. THE COLVER LOT IN OAK WOODS CEMETERY, CHICAGO THE TEMPLE BUILDING, THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING IN CHICAGO THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 381 This view was practically confirmed by the other neurologist when he saw the chart and the Roentgenograms, and by other physicians with whom I consulted as friends, all of whom were emphatic in declaring that Mrs. Rosenberger ought to have the benefit of the one chance, against many, of a suc- cessful operation. One of the best surgeons in Chicago, and probably as good a one as there was then available anywhere for such an operation, according to the best advice that I could get, was chosen to perform it. The prevalence of the influenza and the danger of complications from it caused the post- ponement of the operation for a month or more. Then, on Tuesday morning, November 19, 1918, it was performed at St. Luke's Hospital, in Chicago. The result was fatal. 1 Mrs. Rosenberger passed quietly into her long and sometimes longed- for rest, without coming out from under the effects of the anesthetic. 2 1 The tumor, which was removed, was described as a slow-growing or benign, fibroid, pituitary one, of very large size, which was probably the cause of all of Mrs. Rosenberger's ill health, but which had not been more manifest because of its having been mainly in what was termed a "silent area" of the brain, beyond which it had at last begun to extend. 2 Her grave is in the northeast corner of the Colver lot, in Oak Woods Cemetery, in Chicago. The lot faces toward the east on the west side of a roadway beyond which there is a little lake. The inscriptions on the marble monument are becoming somewhat weatherworn and portions of them illegible. They are as follows: On the east side, or front, above the word "COLVER," "Rev. Nathaniel Colver. Died at Chicago Sept. 25, 1870, Aged 76 Yrs. 4 Mos. 16 Dys. 'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister'"; on the south side, "Sarah T. wife of Rev. N. Colver. Died at Chicago April 19, 1868, Aged 75 Yrs. 5 Mos. 18 Dys. She stretched out her hand to the poor; yea, she reached forth her hands to the needy"; on the north side, "Rev. Charles K. Colver, 1821-1896 his wife, Susan C. Reed, 1827-1889." The inscriptions on the six head- stones in a row back of the monument, beginning with the north one read: (i) "Rev. Charles K. Colver, May 22, 1821 Oct. 24, 1896 "; (2) "Susan C. Reed, wife of Rev. Charles K. Colver, Dec. 30, 1827 Sept. 12, 1889"; ( 3 )"N.C."; ( 4 )"S.T.C."; (5) "Sarah Colver, Mar. 24, 1833 382 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES It was said of Mrs. Rosenberger that her influence would not only continue long through the thousands whom she met and helped during her practically thirty years of service in the public schools of Chicago, first as a teacher and then as a princi- pal, but longer still through the permanent provisions which she, with her husband, took pleasure in making for educational purposes, comprising lectures and various forms of aid for students. 1 Supplementary to those endowments, two permanent educa- tional memorials were established in 1919 in her honor and to help perpetuate her influence. One of these memorials consists of an endowment at the University of Chicago of "The Susan Colver Rosenberger Educational Prizes." These prizes are to be awarded, alter- nately, in two or more different departments of the University, as, for example, one prize may be awarded in the school of education for a dissertation giving the results of valuable original research on some important phase of sound elementary, home, kindergarten, primary, or grammar-school education, its principles, needs, methods, or discipline, or pertaining to child welfare. Another prize may be given, as a reward for meritorious original research and an acceptable dissertation, in some other department of the University, on some important phase of education or educational principles, needs, or methods in relation to or as an essential part of religious, home-mission, July i, 1854"; (6) "Mary B. Carter, wife of Dr. Ira Hatch, Aug. 18, 1818 Feb. 25, 1879." Sarah Colver was Dr. Nathaniel Colver's only daughter; and Mary B. Carter was his faithful stepdaughter. In front of the monument is the headstone for his son, "Phineas C. Colver, Jan. 4, 1819 Sept. 19, 1905." The one other headstone on the lot has engraved on it: SUSAN E. COLVER wife of Jesse L. Rosenberger 1859-1918 l The University of Chicago Magazine, Vol. XI (January, 1919), p. 103. THROUGH THE THREE DECADES FROM 1890 383 foreign-mission, Sunday-school, social-settlement or better- ment work, or in relation to the general welfare, whichever it is believed at the time will do the most good. 1 The second memorial is an endowment at Brown University of what are there called " The Susan Colver Rosenberger Prizes," with an alternate provision for a medal. These prizes are not to be assigned permanently to any one department of the University, nor continuously for any one thing, but to be awarded for whatever, from year to year, it is believed will at the time do the greatest good, either in the interests of scholar- ship or for the development of character. 2 In view of the endowments referred to and these memorials for educational purposes, with all of which the name of Mrs. Rosenberger is connected, and in consequence of the fact that some of the endowments are named in whole or in part in honor of her father, Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver, and of her grand- father, Dr. Nathaniel Colver, it seemed to be desirable that a somewhat full account of the lives of the three should be pre- served, in order to give increased significance to the endow- ments, as suggested in the Preface. Besides, it was believed that their life-stories, taken by themselves, would prove interest- ing, instructive, and inspiring. For the better understanding of their distinctive characters, and what they did, it was thought best, if not absolutely necessary, to follow the line of their descent from early Puritan days in New England, and to tell considerable about the times in which they lived, or to give a sort of cross-section of American history. This historical matter furthermore held a promise of adding to the permanent, general value of the work, particularly as one to be used for reference. Part V was included to com- plete the historical plan. 1 Annual Register of the University of Chicago, 1918-19, pp. 89-90. 'The Catalogue of Brown University; also, Brown University, Treasurer's Report, 1919-20, pp. 16-17. 384 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES There was no material at hand for the undertaking. The most of that for which citations of sources have been given was found in libraries, large and small, here and there. Files of local newspapers helped out very much, especially by furnishing contemporaneous accounts of many things. Old records of churches supplied some dates and items of interest. But some of the churches had no records preserved going back to the points desired, due mainly to the general indifference to such records. Other churches had only very imperfect records. The records of one important church which was merged with another were destroyed, just before the merger, so as to prevent the members of the other church from seeing them. Moreover, of some records and documents that I knew had been sent to certain churches and libraries for safe-keeping no trace could be found when I wanted to consult them. Under these circumstances has this volume been prepared, trusting that it may in some measure serve the purposes indicated. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, Martin B., Papers and Addresses, 360 n. , "The Law of Self-Sacrifice," Papers and Addresses, 359 The Right Use of Wealth, 361 n. , Sermon, Standard, 361 Andreas, A. T., History of Chicago, 81, 98 n. Annual Register of the University of Chicago, 1918-19, 383 n. Austin, George Lowell, History of Massachusetts, 56 n. Backus, Isaac, A History of New England, with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists, 9 n. Bailey, Sarah Loring, Historical Sketches of Andover, Massachusetts, 164 n. Bates, Benjamin, Visitors' Guide to Richmond, 107 n. Benedict, David, Fifty Years among the Baptists, 30 n. , A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of the World, 13 n. Boston City Directory for 1839, 51 Boston Daily Courier, 64 Brown University, Treasurer's Report, 1919-20, 383 n. Bunnell, Lafayette Houghton, Winona and Its Environs on the Mis- sissippi in Ancient and Modern Days, 299 n. Catalogue of Brown University, 383 n.; for 1838-39, 142 Catalogue of Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, 1835-36, 139, 140 Cathcart, William, The Baptist Encyclopaedia, 59 n. Caulkins, Frances Manwaring, History of New London, Connecticut, 4 n., 12 n.; History of Norwich, Connecticut, 4-5 n., 13 n. Chicago City Directory, 1865-66, 84; for 1866-67, 85, 97 n. Christian Reflector, 55 n. Christian Times, 76n., 79n., 91, 93, 94 Christian Times and Witness, 80, 95, 96, 97, 100, 101, 102 n., 104 n., 105 n., 109 Churchill, Amos, in the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, 17 n. City Advertiser [Charlestown], 161 385 386 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Clough, John E., Social Christianity in the Orient, 99 n. Colver, Rev. Charles K., "Scriptural Meditations," Bulletin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School, 199 , "Thoroughness," Oread, 176 Colver, Frederic Lathrop, Coher-Cuher Genealogy, 4 n., 9 n. Colver, Rev. Nathaniel, Article in Rutland Herald, 33 , A Call of God to the Christian Ministry, Definite and Impera- tive, 90 n, , The Fugitive Slave Bill; or God's Laws Paramount to the Laws of Men, 63 n. , Parental Discipline, 133 n. , The Prophecy of Daniel Literally Fulfilled, 57 n., 121 n. -, A Review of the Doings of the Baptist Board of Foreign Mis- sions and of the Triennial Convention at Baltimore, April, 1841, 55 n. , Sermon Relative to the Civil War, Standard, 77-79 and n. Corey, Charles H., A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary, 106 n., 107 n,, 109 n., 112 n. Crocker, Rev. Henry, History of the Baptists in Vermont, 92 n. Cull, Rev. Thomas, "Introductory Sermon," Minutes of the Eighty- third Annual Meeting of the Washington Union Baptist Associa- tion with the Bottskill Baptist Church, Greenwich, N.Y., June 5-6, 1917, 44 n. Daily Evening Transcript, 65 Dedham Records, 5 n., 6 n., n n. Detroit City Directory, 1853-54, 68 Diary of Joshua Hemp stead of New London, Connecticut, 13 n. Dunn County News, 180, 182, 256 Earle, Alice Morse, The Sabbath in Puritan New England, 232 n. Eaton, Rev. George W., "Historical Discourse," The First Half- Century of Madison University, 141 n. Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 300 n. Estes, L. C., "The Antiquities on the Bank of the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin," Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year 1866, 304 n. Evening State Journal [Richmond], 108 n., 123 n. Florida Times-Union, 379 BIBLIOGRAPHY 387 Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, 151 n. Fourth Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools of the City of Chicago for the Year Ending February i, 1858, 271 n. French, Mrs. Bella, "Menomonie and Dunn County, Wisconsin," American Sketch Book, 180 n. Fretz, Rev. A. J., Rosenberger Family History, 295 Fulton, Rev. Justin D., Memoir of Timothy Gilbert, 49-50 n. , "The Warrior at Rest: A Sketch of the Life and Character of Nathaniel Colver," Watchman and Reflector, 119 n. General Catalogue of the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, 1867- 1892, 96 n. Goodspeed, Thomas W. ["Nathaniel Colver, D.D."], University Record, 196 and n. Haskell, Rev. Samuel, A Half-Century Memorial: Second Quarter- Century Historical and Biographical Sketch of the First Baptist Church of Detroit, 70 n., 157 n. Haven, Samuel F., An Historical Address Delivered before the Citizens of the Town of Dedham on September 21, 1836, 5 n., 8 n. Hennepin, Louis, A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, 299 n. Henson, Rev. P. S., in the Bulletin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School, 367 and n. , Tribute Paid to Rev. Charles K. Colver in Funeral Sermon, Standard, 192-93 Hersey, Charles, in Lincoln and Hersey, A History of Worcester, 154 n. Hinman, Royal R., A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut, 9 n. History of Carroll County, Illinois, 174 n. History of the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin, 183 n. History of the High Street Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massachu- setts, 160 n. History of Northern Wisconsin, 182 n., 309 n. History of the Pleasant Street Baptist Church, 153 n. History of Rutland County, Vermont, 129 n. Hobart, Aaron, An Historical Sketch of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 228 n., 236 n. 388 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Hobart, Benjamin, History oj the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 162 n. Inter Ocean, 268 Jeffrey, Charles L., Historical Sketch of Tremont Temple Baptist Church, 50 n., 58 n. Joslyn, History of Kane County, Illinois, 169 n. Kane County [Illinois}, 169 n. Keating, William H., Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River, 302 n. Kilbourne, Payne Kenyon, The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn, 16 n. Kirkland, Moses, History of Chicago, 98 n. Lord, Arthur, The Charles K. Colver Lectures at Brown University for 1920, Plymouth and the Pilgrims, 251 n. McConkey, Harriet E. Bishop, Dakota War Whoop: or Indian Massacres and War in Minnesota of 1862-63, 307 n. Mackenzie, George Norbury, Colonial Families of the United Stales of America, 9 n. Memories of Brown, 143 n. Merrick, George Byron, Old Times on the Upper Mississippi, 333 n. Minnesota in Three Centuries, 305 n. Minutes of Boston Baptist Association, September 20-21, 1843, 58 n. Mirror [Carroll County], 173, 174 Morey, William C., Papers and Addresses of Martin B. Anderson, LL.D., 360 n. Neill, Edward Duffield, The History of Minnesota, 300 n. Nutt, Charles, History of Worcester and Its People, 1 53 n. Oread, 175, 176 Past and Present of Kane County, Illinois, 169 n. Prentice, Rev. A. M., i8oQ-iQog, Centennial Anniversary, October 3rd to 5th, First Baptist Church, Ogdensburg, N.Y., 37 n. Providence Journal, 145 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from 1665 to 1678, with the Journal of the Council of War, 1675 to 1678, 5 n., 13 n. Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from October, 1706, to October, 1716, 13 n. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 228 n. BIBLIOGRAPHY 389 Reed, Jacob Whittemore, History of the Reed Family in Europe and America, 227 n., 228 n. Reed, John Ludovicus, The Reade Genealogy; Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635 to 1902, 228 n. River Falls Advance, 185 River Falls Journal, 185, 186, 187 Rosenberger, J. L., Bank Officers: Rights, Powers, Duties, and Lia- bilities, 369 n. , Bulletin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School, 367. , Business Aid, 369, 370 n. , Business Law, 369. , Law for Lumbermen, 368 n. , Real Estate Decisions of the Supreme Courts of the Various States, 369 n. , Rosenberger' *s Law Monthly, 369. , Rosenberger's Pocket Law Journal, 369. , Street Railway Law, 368 n. Sachse, Julius Friedrich, The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 13 n. Seaver, Frederick J., Historical Sketches of Franklin County, New York, 39 n. Seymour, E. S., Sketches of Minnesota, the New England of the West, 297 Shaw, Rev. James, Twelve Years in America, 243 n. Shea, John Gilmary, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 299 n. , Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, 300 n. Smith, Rev. J. A., Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., with Lectures. Plans of Sermons, etc., 20 n., 28 n., 34 n., 36 n., 59 n., 60 n., 72 n., 74 n., 117 n. , "Nathaniel Colver: A Review of His Life," Standard, 115 n. , Funeral Sermon of Mrs. Sarah T. Colver, Standard, May 7, 1868, 131 n. Snow, Rev. Chas. A., Historical Discourse Given on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Baptist Church, South Abington, Mass., Nov. 6, 1872, 68 n., 162 n. Standard, 112, 113, 115 n., 116, 117 n., 119, 193 n., 264, 265, 267 and n., 269, 354 n., 355 n., 359 n., 361 390 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Thirty-eighth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, 52 n. Thurston, Elisha P., History of the Town of Greenwich from the Earliest Settlement to July 4, 1876, 43 n. Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi, 333 n. Twenty -fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education [of Chicago] for the Year Ending July 31, 1879, 272 n. University of Chicago Magazine, 382 n. Upham, Warren, Minnesota Geographic Names, 299 n. Vermont Historical Gazetteer, 129 n. Watchman and Reflector, 108 n., 118, 119 n. Worcester: Its Past and Present, 153 n. Worthington, Erastus, The History of Dedham, from the Beginning oj Its Settlement in September, 1635, to May, 1827, 8 n. Yearbook of the First Baptist Church of Elgin, III., 1907, 166 n. INDEX INDEX Aeroplanes, 324, 364, 365 Aiken Institute, 80 Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 287 Almanacs, 327 Amendment to the Constitution, Eighteenth, 365; Nineteenth, 365 American Antislavery Society, 46 American Baptist Antislavery Con- vention, 52 American Baptist Home Mission Society, 74, 103 n., 105 n., 113 American Museum of Natural History, 377 Amusements and diversions: few and mainly utilitarian, 23, 129, 230-31; apple-paring, corn-husk- ing, quilting bees, _ 129, 135; church festivals, sociables, sup- pers, donations, 254, 327, 329; in fraternal organizations, 327; friendly visiting, 129, 230, 327; going to meetings, 230, 253, 327; going to town, and at stores, 135, 327; hunting, fishing, trapping, 23, 129, 135, 326; occasional lectures or concerts, 253, 307; reading in the evening, 327; school entertainments, debates, picnics, spelling matches, 253-54, 256, 327; skating, sleighing, parties, dancing, 326; theater- going, none in small villages, 324; war-time play of boys, 304; whiter fireside pastimes, 326; games of boys and girls, 129, 136, 325-26 Anderson, Galusha: president of old University of Chicago 1878-85, 264, 355; previously pastor of Second Baptist Church, Chicago, 264; some things he did and said as president, 265, 266-68 Anderson, Martin B.: appearance and character, 358; distinguished for ability as first president of University of Rochester, 358-62; emphasized call to self-sacrifice and duty to bring things to pass, 359; on a man's foes, 361; on obligation to labor and right use of wealth, 360; talks in chapel and to students privately, 358-59, 362 Andover, Mass., 148, 163-65, 236-38 Andover Theological Seminary, 163, 237 Animals, etc.: animals, wild, pres- ence of, 4, 10, 24; bears, wolves, mink, muskrat, and deer in northern New York, 23, 130; bears, wolves, foxes, wildcats in Massachusetts, 8, 236; black- birds a nuisance, 236; prairie wolves in Chicago, 271; bears, buffaloes, rattlesnakes hi vicinity of Lake Pepin, 299, 300; fish in lake, 339; game near Maiden Rock, Wis., 337; uses of skins or furs, 135, 321-22 Atlantic City, N.J., 377 Atlantic telegraph, celebration of, 161 Austerlitz, N.Y., 25, 26 Automobiles, 324, 364 Backus, Isaac, 9 n., 13; Joseph, 13; Lieutenant William, Jr., 10; Sarah, 9 Bailey, Dr. Silas, 94 Baptisms: early, m northern New York, 38; many at Union Village, now Greenwich, N.Y., 43; in streams, 168, 184; of thousands (in India), 98; through hole cut in ice on lake, 328; of infants, opposed, 1 60 393 394 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Baptist Anniversaries or "May Meetings," 81 n., 104, 122, 197 Baptist Board of Foreign Missions and the Triennial Convention of 1841, review of doings of, relative to slavery, 53-55 Baptist churches in places named: Andover, Mass., 163-64, 190 n., 237-38; Boston, Mass.: First, 15, 59, 65, 160; First Free, afterward Tremont Street or "Tremont Temple," 31 n., 47~5 2 , 58, 59, 63-65, 118, 123, 124, 146, 147; Burlington, Vt., First, 92; Charles- town, Mass.: First, 160; High Street, 159-61, 190 n.; mChicago, III.: in 1 86 1, Berean, Edina Place, First, North, Tabernacle, Union, Zoar (colored), all, 75; First, 75, 76, 79, 94, 122, 191, 193, 198 n., 199, 367; Fifth, 31 n., 80, 81, 112; Immanuel, 284, 355; Second, 31 n., 80, 91, 97, 264; Tabernacle, 31 n., 75, 76, 79-80, 91, 97; University Place, 112; Cincinnati, Ohio: First, 31 n., 70, 73; Ninth Street, 70; Detroit, Mich.: First, 31 n., 68-70, 156- 59, 190 n.; Elgin, III.: African, 171; First, 166, 168, 190 n.; Fort Ann, N.Y., 31 n., 39; Fort Cov- ington, N.Y., 31 n., 36, 37-39; Kingsbury, N.Y., 31 n., 39-40; Holmesburg, Pa., 31 n., 41; Hub- bardton, Vt., 18-19; Massachu- setts: number in 1839, 52; in 1845, 151; Menomonie, Wis.: First, 180, 183, 191 n.; Im- manuel, 182; Olivet, 181-83, 191 n., 256; Mount Carroll, III., 172, 174 and n., 190 n.; New Lisbon, Wis., 177, 178, 191 n.; Newport, R.I., 15; Providence, R.I., First, 15, 145, 146; Ogdens- burg, N.Y., First, 37n.; Rich- mond, Va. } First African, 106, 108, 109, 123 n.; River Falls, Wis., 182, 184, 191 n.; South Abington, now Whitman, Mass., 31 n., 66, 161, 162, 190 n., 229, 232, 235; Ster- ling, III., 297; Swansea, Mass., 15; Union Village, now Greenwich, N.Y., "Bottskill," 31 n., 41, 42, 43 and nn., 44, 49, 137, 223; Wasco, III., 189; Watertown, Mass., 151, i9on.; West Claren- don, Vt., at what is now Chippen- hook, 31 n., 32-33, 128; Wheaton, III., 188, 191 n.; Woodstock, III., 31 n., 75; Worcester, Mass., Pleas- ant Street, 152-54, 190 n. Baptist church organization, 29, 36, 50, 1 60, 1 68, 1 80, 181; records, 384 Baptist Education Society of New York, 37 "Baptist inns," 138 Baptist meetinghouses described or pictured, references in italics being to pictures facing those pages: Andover, Mass., 163, 163; Boston, Mass., Tremont Temple in 1843, 47, 58; Chicago, 111.: first or Temple building, 76, 381; First, moved for Second Church, 7g, 79; Elgin, 111., 168; Fort Covington, N.Y., 33, 36, 37 n.; Holmesburg, Pa., 47; Hubbard- ton,Vt., 18-19; Kingsbury, N.Y., 39-40, 141; Providence, R.I., First, erected in 1775, 145, 146, 1 6 3; Richmond, Va., First Afri- can, 105; Union Village, now Greenwich, N.Y., "Bottskill," 7g; Watertown, Mass., three successive, 151; West Clarendon, at what is now Chippenhook, Vt., built in 1798, with added horse sheds in rear, 33, 33, 128; Whit- man, formerly South Abington, Mass., 229; some of the meeting- houses had benches, 18, 30; some, box pews, 33 ; some pews were sold, 29, sometimes conditionally, 66, but the rule was free seats, except in Boston, 30, where in 1839 its "First Free Baptist Church" was organized, 50-51; steeples were not always favored, 36; uses of horse sheds like those in views facing p. 33, 37 n., 232 INDEX 395 Baptist preachers: early, were mainly self-educated, itinerant, self-supported, 18, 20, 29; ex- amples, 16-17, 19-20, 35-36,^38; hardships endured, 18, 29; little baggage, but carried Bible and psalm book, 18, 26; many Calvinistic, 28, 66, 98; preached extemporaneously, 28, 35-36; salaries paid pastors, 34, 43 n., 49-50 n.; yearly contracts made, 29; should not be hirelings, 100; supply inadequate, and essentials to call, 85-90; title, "Elder," 30; unable to read, many in South, 104; untiring colored workers, 109 Baptists: early, 14-15, 141-42; general character, 19, 29, 42, 178; harshly treated, 15, 153, 160, 163; held meetings at first in log cabins or private houses, barns, schoolhouses, town halls, or out- doors, 20, 36, 160, 167-68; held meetings without ministers, 19, 167-68; house of worship built by, in Boston in 1679, 160; old churches of, 15, 76, 166, 168; reasons of, for leaving parish churches, 160; sought freedom of worship and from taxation for religious pur- poses, 153, 1 60, 163; strict in church discipline, 30, 43 n., 156; went early into New York State, 42, and Vermont, 33, 128; Roger- ene, 12 Baptist Theological Union, 94, 96 n., 101; incorporated, 95 Baptist Union Theological Sem- inary: Chicago as place for, 85, 90, 92; founding, efforts preced- ing, 90, 93-95; organization and incorporation of the Baptist Theological Union, 94, 95; origi- nal site of Seminary, 96; part taken by or attributed to Dr. Colver, vii, 91-92, 95-96 and n., 97, 101, 120-21, 123, 124; second professor, 96 and n., 97; Ver- mont, aid from, 91-92; years later blessed with "union and harmony in denominational mat- ters," 265, and afterward made the Divinity School of the Uni- versity of Chicago, vii, 100 Barber, Elder Edward, 41-43 Barnes, Lawrence, 92 Beaver Dam, Wis., 259, 260 Bible: effect of making sole guide, 14; example in Dr. Nathaniel Colver of being filled with it in childhood, vii, 26-27, and be- coming a notable expounder of it, 35-36, 59-60, 95; how loved, studied, and used by Rev. Charles Kendrick Colver, 134, 135, 169-71, 187, 189, 192-93, 197-224; itinerant Baptist preachers carried it, 18, 26; light from it needed in South, 104; meditations on, 200-224; not defense for slavery, 76, nor for tipplers, 186; read at one time in public schools of Illinois, 243, and of Chicago, 272; religion of it is kind, 200; students urged to have it, 262 Binney, Dr. J. G., 105 n. Boer War, 365 Boise, Professor James R., 261 Bolles, John, 13 Boston, Mass., approximate time founded, 4; called "most fascinat- ing city in America," 59; Com- mon long used for pasturage, 146; disturbed by prophecy of end of world, 56; excited over arrest of fugitive slave, 56; First Free Baptist Church, 47-51; had first high school in America, ' 260; important center of influence, 5 1 ; La Grange Place and Province House Court described, 146-47; Marlboro Chapel, 47, 56, 65; out- break of influenza, 380; outlying country, 237; population, white and colored, and number of street lamps in 1839, 5 1 ; Province House, 147; stagecoaches, 51; statement in 1846 of number of 396 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES dwelling-houses, families, families doing own work, clergy in city, and church expenses, 52; treat- ment of early Baptists who after- ward (in 1679) built small meet- inghouse, 1 60; Tremont Temple pastorate of Dr. Colver, 47-65; Tremont Temple, shown facing page 47, created from archi- tecturally admired theater, 58; utter destruction of Temple by fire, 64-65 Brantly, Dr. W. T., 40, 41 Brown, John, 71, 72 n. Brown University, date and purpose of founding, as Rhode Island College, 142; discipline, 143; distinction in Francis Wayland as president, 142; faculty, students, and expenses in 1838-39, 142; four buildings in 1840, 142, pictured, facing p. 141 ; graduated Charles Kendrick Colver with honor in 1842, 144; has "Charles K. Colver Lectures," 251 n.; introduced the elective system, 144; location, 141; Master of Arts, advertisement as to applica- tions for, 145; physical culture not provided for, 144; property valuation in 1840, 142; regula- tions, 142-43; relations between faculty and students, 143-44; student life for class of 1842 as described by Albert Harkness, 143; Susan Colver Rosenberger Prizes, 383; time and manner of celebrating commencement, 144- 45, including use of historic meet- inghouse pictured, facing p. 163 Brush Heap, graduate of, vii; alumni of, 122 Bryan, William Jennings, 378 Bulletin of the First Baptist Church and Sunday School of Chicago, 367 Burroughs, Dr. J. C., 102 n. California, 374-76; University of, visited, 375 Campton (Lily Lake), 111., 189 Carter, Mary B., 36, in, 134 n., 382 n. Carter, Mrs. Sarah T., 36 Castellated rocks, 254 Castle Lightning, 107 Champlain, N.Y., 19, 23, 27 Charlestown, Mass., 147, 159, 160-61 Cherry Valley, 305 Chicago, 111., appearance, business and residential districts in 1861, 83; Baptist churches in 1861, 75; boundaries, original, in 1861, and by third extension, 82, also southern in 1879, 263; com- mercial advantages and industries in 1 86 1, 83-84; conditions in 1834-36, 271; "Cottage Grove" and Camp Douglas, 83; fire, 79; First Baptist Church and a bit of the city in 1864 pictured, facing p. 79; first or Temple church building, 76, and picture of it, facing p. 381; first teaching and school, 270-71; first high school opened, 271; "Garden City," 83; incorporated, 82; institutions developed up to 1 86 1, 84; Lincoln Park, 372, 374; omnibuses, 83; organized, 82; population in 1833, 1837, 1850, 1860, 82; in 1882, 273; in 1890, 277, 363; in 1920, 363; railroad center, 83; secret of rapid growth, 83-84; State and other streets and street railway in 1859, 83; strategic point, 90; trading post on frontier in 1840, 82; World's Columbian Exposi- tion, 287; see also Baptist churches in Chicago; Baptist Union Theo- logical Seminary; Chicago, ele- mentary public schools in; Chi- cago, old or first University of Chicago, elementary public schools in: amis of work in, 273, 277-78; buildings for, in 1882, 272, and in 1890, 277; census figures of 1882, 273, and of 1890, 277; conditions in 1854, 271, and in INDEX 397 1882, 272-73; corporal punish- ment abolished, 273; date of first school, 270-71, and of first superintendent, 271; declama- tion, day of declared past, 273; discipline, new modes of required, 273; evening schools, first, 271; experiences of teacher hi 1834-36, 271; "fads," reason for introduc- tion of, 274; field for service offered women, 270; first pro- visions made for deaf-mutes, 272, and for instruction hi drawing, German, vocal music, 271; grad- ing and teachers' institute estab- lished, 271; manual training strongly opposed, 274; number of schools in 1861, 84; opening exercises hi 1860, 272; pupils' length of attendance, 272; sub- jects taught hi 1854, 271; various developments, 281 n.; Wallace Street (afterward McClellan) School, location of, 270; work of Miss Colver as principal of the Horace Mann School, 276-88: date made grammar school, 278; description and location of build- ing, 276; environment, 276-77, 282; former Hartigan School made a branch, 281; gymnastic apparatus and equipment for manual training provided, 280; kindergarten soon started, 280, 289; library begun, 280; other features and best methods intro- duced, 279-80; parents' associa- tion early organized, 280, 290; public entertainments a feature, 277, 280, 284; school for car- penters' apprentices, 281; stere- opticon used, 280-81; teachers, treatment of, 279-80, 282-83, 285-86; transfer of Miss Colver to the principalship of the Nathanael Greene School, 287-88; views of the two schoolhouses face p. 276 Chicago, old or first University of: attractive appearance, 350, and view facing p. 356; building de- scribed, 85, 350; campus, size and location of, 84; coeducational from 1874, 264; condition after 21 years, or hi 1878, 264; crippled by panic of 1857 and by jealousies, 90, 265; "Cynic Hall," 351; departments, 263; endowment $600, 266; endowments of scholar- ships consumed as gathered, 266; enrolment, 1881-82, 267; financial condition hi 1881, 265-67; fore- closure of mortgage or trust deed, 354; incorporation, date of, 84; indebtedness hi 1886, 355; min- isters' institutes, 98; object of founding, 90; observatory and telescope, 85, 350; opening, original, and hi own building, 84; presidency of Dr. Galusha Ander- son, 264, 355; presidency offered to Dr. William R. Harper, and to Dr. George C. Lorimer who acted ad interim, 355; professors, work and pay of, 264, 266-68, 354; rooms and furnishings, 85, 350-51 ; scholarship high, 264-65, 268-69, 354; student life, change in, 353- 54; students chiefly self-support- ing, and some sent money home, 350, 351; students, outside work of, and what it paid, 351-53; theology taught by Dr. Colver, vii, 95-97, ioo, 124; year of closing, 355-56 Chicago Academy of Sciences, 84 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road Company, freight claim office of, 353, 362 Chicago Camera Club, 370 Chicago College of Law, 362 Chicago Society of Amateur Photog- raphers, 370 Chippenhook, Vt., 31 n., 32, 128 Chippewa Indians, 301 Chippewa River, 298 Choate, Rufus, 147 Church and religious matters hi New England: aim of first settlers and character of their 398 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES churches, 5-6, 13-14; boys and girls at church, 7, 246; church and society distinguished, 233-34; Dedham covenant, 6, n, meeting- house, 6-7, prevailing conditions, 8; dogs in meetinghouses, 7, 8, 232, 234-35; drums used instead of bells, ii ; meetinghouses not warmed, 19, 232; music, 19, 234, 235; ministers, 7-8, 160, 233; offense given by "female sex," 234; parishes and parish churches, 8, 14; Puritans, religious char- acter of, ii, 13-14; religious character of people in general, 6, 8, 230; Rogerenes, trouble from, 12-13; rum used to celebrate raising of meetinghouses, 233; seating of congregations, 7, 18; sermons, 7, 232; taxation, 8, 14, X 53> 2 33; tithingman, 7; trans- formation into Congregational and Unitarian churches, 14; see also Baptist churches Cincinnati, Ohio : approximate population of, in 1856, 70; Bap- tist churches, number of, 70; Fairmount Theological Seminary, 74; location of First Baptist Church, afterward merged with Ninth Street Baptist Church, 70; pastorate of Dr. Colver, 31 n., 70-75; scene of many conflicts over slavery, 70-71; station of underground railway, 70 Civil War: date of, 365; military and political situation in April, 1862, 77-79; prerequisites to peace, 78-79; prosperity of farm- ers in Illinois, 242; wages and cost of living, 242; effect on play and toys of boys, 304; work of pastors of churches, 76, 169 Clarendon, Vt., 32, 127-28, 134 n. Clark, SaUy, 24 Clarke, Rev. J. C. C., 96 n., 97 Climate, quest of ideal, 374-80 Clothing, boots, and shoes: all clothing at first homespun and homemade, 17, with gradual change, 128, i34~35> 321; apparel of men, 35, 320-22; boots, and need of bootjack, 322; clothing for boys, 134-35,323-24; clothing of women in New England, 232; dress goods and styles of women, 320; girls anxious for long dresses, 323; shoemakers, tailors, and dressmakers went to people's homes to do their work, 135; shoes for women, boys, and girls, 323; in Vermont some children went barefooted all winter, 18; requirements in Georgia, 379; ulsters in Florida, 378 Clough, Dr. John E., 98-99 Colgate University, 139, 148, 356 Colver: Mrs. Anne, 4, ii n.; Edward, 4-5 and nn., 9, ii n., 12; Lieutenant Edward, 9-11 and n.; Mrs. Esther B. B., 155-56; Hiram Wallace, 134 n; John, ii and n., 12-13; John Dean, 134 n.; Elder Nathaniel, 1728-1809, 16- 17; Elder Nathaniel, 1755-1831, 19-20; Phineas, 24, 39; Phineas Clark, 134 n., 381 n.; Sergeant Samuel, 10-11 and n., 16; Mrs. Sally, 24, 130 and n., 134 n.; Sarah, 134 n., 381-82 n.; Mrs. Sarah T., 36, in, 131-32, 134 n., 381 n.; Mrs. Susan C., 162, 165, 193 n., 227; William Nathaniel, 134 n.; spelling of name " Colver," 4n.; view of Colver lot in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, faces p. 381, with copies of inscriptions, 381-82 n. Colver, Rev. Charles Kendrick: born in the Green Mountains, 127; boyhood in New York State, 129-37; educated at Hamilton Literary and Theological Institu- tion, 139-41, Brown University, 141-45, and Newton Theological Institution, 147-49; graduated with honor from Brown Univer- sity, 144; graduation essay at New- ton, 149; he was distinguished INDEX 399 for his character, scholarship, and simple life, 127, 149-50, 157-58, 192, 194; lectures at Brown University named for him, 251 n.; looks, 150, 158, 178, 187; love and use of the Bible, 134, 170, 187, 189, 192-93, 197-98; marriage tests and home life, 155-56, 162- 63, 165, 170-72, 189-90, 195-97; meditations, scriptural, 199-224; musician, 178-79, 187; ordina- tion, 152; pastorates, in their order: at Watertown, Mass., 151-53; Worcester, Mass. (Pleas- ant Street Baptist Church), 152- 55; Detroit, Mich. (First Baptist Church), 156-57; Charlestown, Mass. (High Street Baptist Church), 159-61; South Abington (now Whitman), Mass., 161-62; Andover, Mass., 163-65; Elgin, 111., 166, 169-72; Mount Carroll, 111., 172-74; New Lisbon, Wis., 1 7 7-79j Menomonie, Wis. (First Baptist Church), 180-81, and (Olivet Baptist Church), 181- 83; River Falls, Wis., 184-87; Wheaton, 111., 188-89; pastorates, list of, with dates, 190-91 n.; por- trait, facing p. 127; preached at Campton (now Lily Lake) and Wasco, 111., and Union Pier, Mich., 189; preaching, character of, 155, 158-59, 169-70, 172-73, 178, 184- 86, 190; salary, too easy about, 179, 184; statements touching slavery, 154, 164; taught in Mount Car- roll Seminary, 174-77; themes of lectures, 173-74, 180, 185, 191; on "Thoroughness," 176-77; trip to South America, 155; Univer- sity of Chicago, made first cash contribution toward, 196; visit to the Holy Land, 197; summing up, 194-98 Colver, Rev. Nathaniel, D.D.: appearance, 35, and portrait (frontispiece), iii; preacher, aboli- tionist, ministerial educator, vii; ability and other qualities in- herited, 23; boy life in northern New York, 23; early education limited, except that he devoured the Bible, 26-27; early occupa- tions, 23-24; conversion, 24, 25 and n. ; educational growth, 26-28 and n., 48, 118-21; degree of D.D. conferred by Denison Uni- versity, 75; first preaching, and ordination, 25-26, 32; pastorates, in their order: West Clarendon, Vt., 32-35; Fort Covington, N.Y., 35-39; Kingsbury and Fort Ann, N.Y., 39-41; Holmes- burg, now a part of Philadelphia, Pa., 41-42; Union Village, now Greenwich, N.Y. (Bottskill Bap- tist Church), 41-44; Boston, Mass. (First Free and later called Tremont Temple Baptist Church), 47-65; South Abing- ton, now Whitman, Mass., 66-68; Detroit, Mich. (First Baptist Church), 68-70; Cincinnati, Ohio (First Baptist Church), 70-75; Woodstock, 111., 75; Chicago, 111. (Tabernacle and Second Baptist Church, and Fifth Baptist Church), 75-81; pastorates, list of, with dates, 31 n.; portions of letters, 36, 38, 71-72; position with regard to secret societies, 45-46; portraits, 124; preaching described, 35-36, 43, 59~6o, 69, 73, 12 1 ; subjects discussed: call to the ministry, 86-90; cry for ' ' smooth ' ' preaching, 33-34; fugitive slave law, 60-63 J military and political conditions in April, 1862, 77-79; parental discipline, J 32-33; prophecy of Daniel alleged to foretell end of world in 1843, 56-57; temperance, long and strong champion of, vii, 42, 45, 47, 53; trustee of Fairmount Theological Seminary, 74; twice married, 24, 36; verses, 25 n., 34, 54, 116, 117, 124; visits to Philadelphia and Richmond, 40- 41; in War of 1812, 24; warfare 400 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES on slavery, vii, 4i~44, 46~47, 53~ 56, 60-63, 71-72, 78; work for ministerial education: in Cin- cinnati, 74; in Chicago, 85, 91- 102, 120-21, 123; in Richmond, for the freedmen, 103-10, 113-14, 123 and n.; mustered out, 111-17 Colver, Susan Esther: ancestry, birth, portrait, 227; birthplace, and view of house born in, 229; child, appearance and character as, 238-39, 245-47; father play- mate and guide, 239-40, 249-50, 253; girlhood, 252-57; health always good, 238, 248, 259, 268; mother an invalid, 162, 239-40, 245; education, 244-45, 248, 249, 252-53, 255, 258-59, 261, 268; essay on "Personality," 269; degrees received, 268, 269; diver- sions, 238, 245-48, 250, 253-57, 259, 268, 287; musical develop- ment, 248, 250, 259, 268, 275, 283, 286; qualifications indicated by examinations passed, 270, 275-76; teacher in public school, 270, 274- 75; twenty- two years a principal, 276-291; travels, 241, 287; vaca- tions, 268, 270, 287; religion, 284, 288; marriage, 291; see also Chicago, elementary public schools in, and Rosenberger, Mrs. Susan Esther (Colver), 371-83 Colver Institute, no, 123 n., 379 " Commencement," i44~45 Conant, Thomas J., 140 Congregational Church, 14 Cook, William, 92 Corcoran Gallery of Art, 377 Corey, Dr. Charles H., 108, 112, 123 n. Corliss, Dr. Hiram, 43 Cotton States and Industrial Exposi- tion at Atlanta, 287 Curtis, Mrs. Joseph, 178-79 Daily papers, 325 Dakota or Sioux Indians, 298, 301, 3Q3&OS, 307 n. Dandelion coffee, 304 Davis, Mial, 91-92 Dean, Esther, 19 Dearborn Observatory, 85, 350 Dedham, Mass., 4, 5; character of inhabitants, 8; covenant, 5, 6, n; houses and customs, 6-7 Degrees, applications for, 145-46 Detroit, Mich. : population, number of buildings and of Baptist churches in 1852, 68; station of underground railway, 70; when First Baptist Church organized and room occupied, 68; pastorate of Dr. Nathaniel Colver, 31 n., 68-70; of Rev. Charles K. Colver, 156-59, 190 n.; powerful pro-slavery element in church, 159 Detwiler, Mary, 295 n. Dodge, Ebenezer, 148 Dogs, 7, 8, 232, 235; dog-sledges, 377 ^ Donation parties, 171, 177, 184, 256, 329 Douglas, Stephen A., 84 Eck, Lydia K., 289 Educational development: advan- tages few in early days, vii, 18, 27, 263; conditions described, 8, 18, 136, 235, 263; elementary schools evolved from reading and writing schools, 260; first high school, 260; Franklin's Academy the first, 260; function of academies, 259-60; Illinois, educational development in, 241, 243; normal school, first, 260; Pilgrims and Puritans, schools and educational legacy of, 251 and n.; public schools, difficulty of establishing free, 252; schoolbooks and copy books, 342; school districts, formation of, 235; schoolhouse at Dedham, Mass., 7; school- house at Kingsbury, N.Y., picture of, facing p. 141; schoolhouse, first, at Maiden Rock, Wis., 341- INDEX 401 42; schoolhouses used for meet- ings, 18, 36, 168, 328; schools, early, supported by license fees, lotteries, taxation or rate bills, 252; teacher of country school, duties of, 345-46; teacher, pay- ment of early, 129; wood for schools, how ob tamed, 129; see also Chicago, elementary public schools in Edwards, Jonathan, 28 n. Elgin, 111.: called "Bluff City," 244; date founded, 167; early settlers and their character, 244; First Baptist Church, organization of, 1 68; first meeting and first school, 1 68; first mills, and prior sub- stitute for gristmill, 167; houses and church built of cobblestones, 1 68; population in 1860 and in 1870, 169; population and in- dustries in 1863, 244; pastorate of Rev. Charles K. Colver, 166 and n., 169-71, 190 n.; schools and pupils, number of, in 1863, 244; seat of an academy and of a seminary, 244, 247; union chapel, 168 Epidemics, 235-36, 380, 381 Fairmount Theological Seminary, 74 Fashions, 320 Faunce, Rev. Daniel W., 155 n. Faunce, Dr. W. H. P., 155 n. Fishing, 339; see amusements Florida, 377-80 Food: of early settlers, 17; of freedman student, 109-10; in German Students' Home, 357; at pioneer inns and hotels, 12, 306-7; plain for health, 165, 374; raised hi garden, 314 Foot stoves, 19, 232 Ford, Josephine C., 288 Fort Ann, N.Y., 31 n., 39-40 Fort Covington, N.Y., 31 n., 34-39 Forts established by the French near Lake Pepin, 299 n., 300 and n. Fox River, 167, 244 Frances Shimer School, 172; see Mount Carroll Seminary Franco-Prussian War, 365 Franklin College, 94 Franklin's Academy, 260 Frontenac, Minn., 299 n., 335, 336 Fugitive Slave Law, 60-63 n -> 6 7> 7 2 Fullerton, Noah, 67 Fulton, Dr. Justin D., 49 n., 64, 118 Funk, Ann, 295 n. Furnishings of houses: at first home- made, 17; lighting, 18, 128; libraries, 18, 26-27 and n.; in villages in Wisconsin in 1867-79: for bedrooms, 317; beds and bedding, 317, 319; bookcase and writing-desk, 316; bureau, 317; candles and lamps, 319; carpets made of rags and laid on straw, 315-16; chairs, 315; clock, 316; framed certificates of marriage, 316; mottoes and pictures, 316; possibly organ or piano, 316-17; quilts, and how made, 317-18; rugs, homemade, 316; shelves, covering for, 318; sitting-rooms, what in, 315-17; soft soap, homemade, 319, 337-38; stoves, 319; tables, 315; tableware, 318; wall-pocket and whatnot, 317; washstand and bench, 317, 319; water, pail and dipper for, 319; window shades, 315; furnishings of hotel, 306 Games and plays; see amusements German Students' Home, 357 Gilbert, Deacon Timothy, 48-50 n. Goodspeed, Thomas W., 196 Gordon, Dr. John, 98, 121 Gould, Thomas, 49 Great War, 365, 380 Greenwich, N.Y., 31 n., 41, 42, 43, 137 Gurney, Leander P., 67 402 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Hahnemann Medical College, 84 Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, 139-41, 148 Hamilton, N.Y., 139, 356 Harkness, Albert, 141, 143 Harper, Dr. William R., 287, 355 Harvard University, 228 n., 235, 237 Haskell, Rev. Samuel, 60, 157 n. Heim, Esther, 295 n., 296 and n. Hennepin, 298, 299 Henson, Rev. P. S., 191-92, 198 n., 367 "Herd walks," 7 Hibbard, Hannah, 10 Hill, Esther B. B., 155 Hill, Deacon Samuel, 155 Holcomb, Huldah Jane, 343 Holmes, Rev. James H., 108 Holmesburg, Pa. (now part of Phila- delphia), 31 n., 41, 136-37; view of Baptist Church, 47 Horace Mann School, see Chicago, elementary public schools in Houses: built by "logging bees," 17, 29; descriptions of early log houses, 6, 17; fireplaces long used, 17, 128; frame house in Wisconsin described, 313-15; needed cellar and cistern, 313-14; hotel in Minnesota in 1865, 306; see furnishings of houses Hubbardton, Vt., 17, 18, 32 Hudson, Mrs. Marceline B., 158 Hunt, Rev. John, 148, 149-50 Illinois: agriculturally attractive and possessed of extensive coal fields, 241; condition of farmers and laborers during Civil War, 242; educational and religious needs early looked after, 167, 243; good district and many higher schools and colleges, 243; nature and size of population in 1860, 241; number of colored persons and legal restrictions on them, 243; railroad and waterway transportation, 83-84, 242 Illinois Central Railroad Company, 242 Illinois and Michigan Canal, 242 Immanuel Baptist Church of Chi- cago, 284, 355 Indian scouts, vii, 4 and n., 9; wars, 4 and n., 9, 305, 307 and n. Influenza in 1918, 380, 381 lola, Kan., 346, 347~49 Jeffrey, Charles L., 49, 58 Kendrick, Asahel C., 140 Kendrick, Nathaniel, 140 Keoxa (now Winona), Minn., 301 Kilbourn, Ruth, 16 King Philip's War, 4 and n., 9 Kingsbury, N.Y., 31 n., 39-41, 134; pictures of schoolhouse and Bap- tist meetinghouse face p. 141 Kinnickinnick River, 258 Kraut, Elizabeth, 295 n. Labor in 1863, 242 La Crosse, Wis., 308 Lac des Pleurs, 298 Lake City, Minn.: attractive site, formerly part of half-breed reser- vation, and once occupied by mound-builders, 303-4; impor- tant "river town," 303; "point" and old hotel described, 306; stirred by Sioux Massacres of 1862, 305; store described, 344; trading-point for a portion of Wisconsin as well as of Minnesota, 307; view of, in 1867, faces p. 301 Lake Pepin: derivation of name unknown, 299 and n.; called "Lake of Tears," in 1680, 298, 299 n., and later "Lake Good Help," 299; designation by Mark Twain, 333 n.; described in 1700, INDEX 403 299; fish in it, 339; forts estab- lished by the French, 299 n., 300 and n.; navigation, 332-36; temper, 302-3; winter uses, 339; views of bits of the lake face pp. 301, 338 Latimer, George, 56 Lebanon, Conn., 10, 13 Lewis, Leslie, 282-83 Lexington, Mass., 260; first state normal school, 260 Lincoln, President, 77, 164 Litchfield, Conn., 10, 16, 19 Long, Major, 302 Lorimer, Dr. George C., 355 Los Angeles, Calif., 375 Lotteries, 146, 252 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 287 Lumber rafts, 333 Lumpkin's Jail, 105, 106; and slave market, 105 Mabie, Dr. Henry C., 98 Madison, Wis., 177, 259 Madison University, 139, 148, 356 Maiden Rock point or bluff: description, 300; Indian legend associated with name, 301-2; landmark for pilots, 301; loca- tion, on Lake Pepin, 300; Mark Twain's characterization, 333 n.; scene from top, 301; view of "The Maiden's Rock" as pictured in 1825 faces p. 301 Maiden Rock, Wis., village of: location, 309; first called Harris- burg, 309; first settlers, arrange- ment for post-office, religious services, school, 309; buildings, population, and chief occupa- tions in 1867, 310-11; clothing, boots and shoes worn, 320-24; environmental attractions in sum- mer, of lake, 332-34, 339, and land, 337, with change in whiter, 339-41; fashions, 320; fishing, 339; game, 337; games and pastimes, 325-27; a garden in, 314; hired girls, 319; making of soft soap and of maple sugar, 337-38; maxims, 329-31; news- papers and almanacs, 327; reli- gious conditions, 328-29, 331; river and lake boats and naviga- tion, 331-36; schoolhouse and school, 341-42; schoplbooks and copy books, 342; social life, 326- 27; teaming, coasting, and sleigh- riding in winter, 339-41; timber, nuts, and wild berries, 337; see also houses, and furnishings of houses Mammoth Cave, Ky., 287 Maple sugar bush, 338 Massachusetts Abolition Society, 52 "May Meetings," 122 Maxims, 330-31 Medicines, family, 328 Menomonie, Wis., 180-84, 191 n., 255 Methodist ministers, 328 Metropolitan Museum of Art, 377 Miami, Fla., 378-79 Miller, William, 56 Minnesota: described as "New England of the West," 297; how reached in 1858, 298; population in 1860 representing 16 languages, 297; Wisconsin help for harvest- ing, 343 Mississippi River, 242, 298, 299 n., 303, 309, 33i, 333, 332, 333 and n., 335 and n. Montgomery County, Pa., 295, 308 Moody, Dwight L., 98 Morse, Samuel F. B., 161 Mount Carroll, 111.: early impor- tance, 172; picturesquely located, 172, 249; population in 1868, 172; Rev. Charles K. Colver pastor of Baptist church, 172-74, 190 n.; seat of Frances Shimer School, 404 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES formerly Mount Carroll Seminary, 172 Mount Carroll Seminary: date of founding and early character, 249; fine location, 172, 249; Rev. Charles K. Colver teacher of Latin, logic, and other subjects, 174-77; view of Seminary, facing p. 261 Mount Vernon, 377 Mystic, Conn., 4 Nathanael Greene School, Chicago, 287-91; view of building, 276 National Education Association, 287 National Theological Institute, 103, no National Zoological Park, 379-80 Neale, Dr. Rollin H., 59, 152 New France, 300 New Hampshire Articles of Faith, 1 68, 181 New Jersey, 13 New Lebanon Springs, N.Y., 35 New Lisbon, Wis., 177-80, 191 n., 250, 252-55 New London, Conn., 4, 9, 13 New York City, 52, 377, 379 Newport, R.I., 15 Newspapers, 3 2 5, 327, 352 Newton Centre, Mass., 147 Newton Theological Institution, 147-49, 151 "Noonhouses," 232 Normal College, Chicago, 281 n. North Pole, 377, 378 Northrup, Dr. G. W., 92 Norwich, Conn., 9, 10, 13 Ogdensburg, N.Y., 37 and n., 38 Ohio River, 242 Olcott, Rev. James B., 93 and n. Old Colony Railroad, 229 Organ, pipe, in 1847, 235 Orwell, Vt., 19, 20, 23, 32 Packets, 332, 334 Padelford, Deacon, 248 Pan-American Exposition at Buf- falo, 287 Panama-California Exposition, at San Diego, 375 Panama Pacific International Ex- position, at San Francisco, 375 Panic of 1857, 90 Parents' Association, 280, 290 Peary, Robert E., enthusiastic on aeronautics, 378; polar expedi- tion and dog-sledge, 377 Peck, Elder John M., 25 Penicaut, 299 Pequot, Conn., 4, 9 Pequot War, 4 Perrot, Nicholas, 299 Pews, renting, 29, 30, 50 Philadelphia, Pa., 40, 41, 137, 308, 377 Pilgrims, 4, 228, 251 and n. "Pitts," 7 Plymouth, Mass., 229 Princeton, N.J., 148 Projection Club, 280 Proverbs, 329-31 Providence, R.I., 15, 141-42, 380 Province House, 147 Puritans, n; churches of, 13-14; Sabbath of, 12, 232; not all separatists, 14 Quakers, persecution in Massachu- setts, 15; Rogerene, 12 Railroads, 334; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 334-35 n.; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, 334 n.; Fort Scott to Wichita, Kan., 349 Raymond, William R., 193 Reade, William, of Weymouth, 227; representative in General Court INDEX 405 of Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 228 Reconstruction agitation and era, no, 169 Red Cedar River, 255 Reed: Jonathan Loring, 227, 229; Lucy Champney, 227; Susanna Champney, 162, 227; William, 228; Captain William, 236; Reed characteristics, 227 n. Revolutionary War, 16, 19, 235 Rhode Island, famous for religious toleration, 141; lotteries, 146 Rhode Island College, 142 Richmond, Va., 31, 41, 103-14, 123 and n., 379 Richmond Theological Seminary, no River Falls State Normal School, 184, 259, 260 River Falls, Wis., 182, 184-87, 191 n., 258 Robertson, David Allan, viii Rochester, N.Y., 356 Rochester Theological Seminary, 357 Roentgen rays, 364, and Roentgeno- grams, 380 "Rogerenes," 12-13 Rogers, John, 12 Rosenberger: Amos, 296 and n., 336, 345; Christian, 295 n.; Daniel, 295 n.; David, 295 n.; Mrs. Esther, 295 n., 296-97 and nn.; Franklin Henry, 343 n.; Henry, 295 and n.; Mrs. Huldah Jane, 343 and n.; Jacob, 295 n.; Jesse, 295 and n., 296-98, 303, 304, 308-9, 311, 314, 329, 336-37, 343 and n., 345, 346; Mrs. Susan Esther (Colver), 291, 371- 83 Rosenberger, Jesse Leonard : Amer- ican ancestors and parents, 295 and n., 296-97; birthplace and birth, 303-4; boyhood, 304-12, 314-15, 325-26, 336-45; employ- ment at various times, 311-12, 314-15, 341, 343-46, 347-49, 352-53, 356, 362; attended old University of Chicago, 350-56; was graduated from University of Rochester, 356-58, 362; was graduated from law school, and admitted to bar, 362; degrees received, 362; opened law office in Chicago, 365-66, 374; repor- torial and editorial work and publications, 366-70 and nn.; interest in amateur photography, 370-71; marriage, and after life, 371-84; places of residence: Lake City, Minn., 304; Maiden Rock, Wis., 309; lola, Kan., 346; Chicago, 111., 350; Rochester, N.Y., 356; Chicago, 362 Rowley, Mrs. W. A., 284-86 Rush Medical College, 84 Rush River, 309 Russo-Japanese War, 365 Russo-Turkish War, 365 St. Augustine, Fla., 379 St. Croix River, 333 St. Helena, S.C., 104 St. Paul, Minn., 303 San Diego, Calif., 375 San Francisco, Calif., 375 Sayings, common, 329-31 Scriptural meditations of Rev. C. K. Colver, 199-224. Sears, Barnas, 140, 148 Secret societies, movement against, 45, 178, 180, 183-84 Sharp, Dr. Daniel, 152 Shawsheen River, 238 Shurtleff College, 98 Sioux Indians, 298, 301, 303; Mas- sacre, 305, 307 and n. Slavery, see Colver, Rev. Nathaniel, D.D. 406 THROUGH THREE CENTURIES Smith, Gerrit, 71 Smith, Dr. Justin A., 113, 131 n., i7S Smith, Dr. S. F., 152 Soap, soft, 319, 337-38 South Abington (now Whitman), Mass., 31 n., 66, 68, 161-62, 190 n., 227-29, 232, 235-36 South Pole, 377 Spanish- American War, 365 Spencertown, N.Y., 16, 17, 19, 26 Steamboats, 303, 306, 331-36 Sterling, 111., 297, 298 Stone, Charles N. L., 164, 239 Storey, Hon. Joseph, 118 Sunday, "Billy," 377 Swansea, Mass., 15 Telegraphy, wireless, 324, 364 Telephone, 324, 364, 373 Temperance, 43, 45, 51, 53, 119, 186, 327, 365 Temple Building, Chicago, 76; view of, 381 Temple, Dr. John D., 76 Theological Society for the North- west, 93 Theological Union of Chicago, 93 Thompson, Esther, 228 Tolman, Dr. Cyrus F., 120-21, 194 "Towns," in New England, 24, 127 Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha, 287 Trask, George, 119 Tremont Temple, Boston, see Bap- tist churches, and Boston, Mass. Tremont Theater, 58 Underground railway, 43, 70, 159 Union Pier, Mich., 189 Union Stock Yards, 84, 276 Union Village (now Greenwich), N.Y., 31 n., 41, 137 Unitarian Church, 14 United States, development of, 363; in Great War, 380; population, 363-64 University of Chicago, first cash con- tribution, 196; founding and development, 365; Divinity School, vii, 100, 124; Susan Colver Rosenberger Educational Prizes, 382 University of Chicago (old), see Chicago, old or first University of University of Pennsylvania, 260 University of Rochester: origin and date of founding, 356-57; loca- tion, 356, 357; buildings in 1886, description and view of, 356, 357- 58; chapel talks, 356, 357; enrol- ment and hours of recitation, 358; faculty, 358; students, ages of, and course taken by majority, 357> 358; young women not admitted, 358; reflects sturdy character of first president, Martin B. Anderson, described, 358-62; shows great growth, 364 Vail, Mrs. Amelia M., 171-72, 247- 48 Valparaiso, Chile, 154-55 Vermont, early days in, 17-20, 128- 29 Village life: advantages of for boys, 311-12; in New England around 1859, 230-32; of girls in Wis- consin in 1871, 253-54; typical, in Wisconsin, 1867-79, 39~45 Virginia Union University, no, 379 Wapasha Indians, 301 Wars: Chino- Japanese, 365; Civil, see Civil War; War of 1812, 24, 227; Franco-Prussian, 365; Great, 365, 380; King Philip's, 4, 9; Pequot, 4; Revolutionary, 16, 19, 235; Russo-Japanese, 365; Russo- Turkish, 365; South African or Boer, 365; Spanish- American, 365 INDEX 407 Wasco, 111., 189 Washington, D.C., 41, 377, 379-80 Washington Monument, 377 Watertown, Mass., 151-52, 190 n. Watson, Dr. Charles H., 157 Wayland Academy, 259, 260-62; under old University of Chicago, 261; religious atmosphere, 261; things emphasized, 261-62; view of Wayland Hall, 261 Wayland, Francis, 142, 144 Webster, Daniel, 120, 147 West Clarendon (now Chippen- hook), Vt., 31 n., 32-33, "8 West Palm Beach, Fla., 379 West Stockbridge Center, Mass., 19, 24, 25, 32 Western Baptist Education Society, 74 Weymouth, Mass., 227, 228, 229 Wheaton, 111., 188-89, iQi n. White, Agnes G., 283-84 Whitefield, Mr., revivalist, 233 Whitman, Mass., see South Abington Williams, Judge Clarence S., 371 Williams, Roger, 15 Winona, Minn., 301 Winona, Indian legend of, 301-2 Winthrop, John, the younger, 4 Wise, Governor, of Virginia, 7 1 Woodstock, 111., 31 n., 75 Worcester, Mass., 152-55, 190 n. World's Antislavery Convention, 52 World's Columbian Exposition, in Chicago, 287 Worship, family, 170, 329 Wyoming Valley, 305 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. LIBRARY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. 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